TITLE: Mending Broken Bow - 2 By Chuck Myers 06/13/06 |
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I was the taller man that Jackie saw at the funeral in Broken Bow. My name is Ross Peters. I’m a Texas Ranger, stationed in St. Louis; and I was one of those approached about helping out with a situation in Nebraska.
I lay in that horse stall, waiting for those men to come for me and continued to think back to that day in my office when this had all begun. I am captain of the Ranger Forensics Team in St Louis, Missouri. On the desk in front of me had been one of the stranger requests I had ever considered. Where was Broken Bow?
Captain Jim Smith, in town from Dallas, had entered my office just minutes later with the words, “You up to a unique job?”
“I don’t know.” I said. “I was just considering that.”
“We need a team of two men to go with Judge Jerry Hunt to a small town in Nebraska. He has received word that a gang of rustlers is buffaloing a town there. He wants to go shut down the gang and bring the leader back here for trial.”
“Where is this town?” I asked.
“Right smack dab in the middle of nowhere.”
“But I have a telegram right here asking for help in Nebraska as well. Could they be from the same place?”
“I really don’t know where this town is.” Jim said. “It’s a town named Broken Bow, somewhere south of the desert there.”
I was staring at my telegram in disbelief!
“Judge Hunt received a telegram from his friend, who is sheriff there, asking for some help...” the captain was continuing.
“You’re not going to believe this...”
“It appears things have gotten out of hand!”
“You’re not going to believe this, Boss!” I said.
“What?”
“Boss, I’m holding a telegram from that very town. Bess Wortman, Ann’s best friend, says she felt compelled to contact me about that very issue.” I said this quietly as I marveled at the miraculous Providence of God. “I guess we don’t have much of a choice, do we?”
“I guess not!” Jim said with a broad smile.
Captain Smith and I had a unique relationship. He struggled to think of me as an employee, and I thought of him almost as a father. When Ann and I had been married, Captain Smith had stood up with me. Jim had embarrassed me on occasion by making comments along the lines of, “Ross is one of the bright gems among many jewels in the Texas Rangers system.”
I was forced from my revelry as Captain Smith continued. “...leave in the morning? I asked Garren if he’d be willing to go with you. He agreed.”
“Great!”
“I figured you’d want to have him with you on this one.”
“Thanks, Boss! With Garren we can’t help but be successful.” I said. “And, of course, we will be praying that God will be bringing things to a successful conclusion.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Let’s end our time with prayer. We’ll need God’s help on this one.” Captain Smith said these words as we bowed our heads.
A week later found us preparing to leave Omaha. We had run into a man that was able to tell us how to get to Broken Bow, and he had informed us that it would take about three days to make the one hundred and fifty mile trek.
We then went to the local office of the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company for horses. The company started Omaha by selling plots for $25 per lot. Now, they were interested in land to the west; so they agreed to loan the three of us horses - if we would allow a company agent to go along.
So it was that four men had ridden into Broken Bow together the day before the funeral for Jackie’s father. Jackie had lost his mother and three sisters a couple of years before when Indians had attacked their ranch a few miles west of Broken Bow. His father - in grief - had moved into town. Now, with the loss of his father, he was truly alone in the world.
Bess did not live in Broken Bow. She had come to Broken Bow to see relatives and when she had seen what was taking place in town she was prompted to send the telegram to me.
When we arrived in town we met Bess because she had come back to visit relatives again. One of those same relatives had informed her of the plight of the small boy sitting by himself at the funeral dinner. She had quickly moved over next to him to see how he was doing. While she was sitting there trying to get Jackie to talk to her about his pain, I walked up behind her.
“Excuse us for interrupting,” I began with a smile, “but we heard you tell the boy that your name was Bess. You would not happen to be the magnificent friend of a certain lovely young lady from St. Louis would you?”
Bess turned around to find Ann’s husband standing there. She sprang to her feet as she said, “I know a lovely young lady in St. Louis who is married to a flattering young Texas Ranger, but I don’t know that ‘magnificent’ would describe me.”
I introduced the men with me, except for Garren, who she knew from the wedding.
“Thanks for coming so quickly Ross.” She invited us to sit down, and as we began to talk, Jackie listened closely.
After several minutes, Jackie burst out, “Can you men help me? My father was killed by some bad men, and I think I’ll need some help getting them! I want to kill the man who killed my dad!”
I instantly realized that I needed to spend some time with this young boy. The issue of revenge and bitterness could tear a young boy apart, and Jackie was headed down that path. While I could understand the pain and hurt he was feeling, I knew that if the lad could not move past the point of wanting revenge he would be in danger of destroying himself. Jackie would need to come to understand that hurting someone else when you are in pain does nothing to remove your own pain.
“How would you like to help us out while we’re here?” I asked Jackie with a quick glance at Garren. I knew Garren would pick up on what I was doing. “We always try to have a local resident help us with things in the area we are working.”
“We’ll need someone to tell us about the community, identify people who aren’t part of the town, and possibly do some spyin’ for us.” Garren picked up on my idea very quickly. “We always try to protect our informants, but it might be dangerous!”
Jackie’s eyes lit up as he understood what we were asking him to do. “Are you going after my dad’s murderers? That’s the biggest thing I want to do right now. But if you’ll help me with that I will help you with your job.”
“We think the two cases are probably tied together.” I said.
Jackie immediately wanted to know what he could do, and Garren left with him to get started. They would move around town with Jackie pointing out anything of interest. Garren could draw anyone into conversation and a lonely boy would probably give Garren more information than he could comprehend. I remained behind to talk with Bess some more.
Two hours later Bess had given me as much information as she could. She had also given me a little of the background of the town. We had concluded our conversation by talking a little about Ann and how she was adjusting to life in the ‘big city’.
“I think Ann’s adjusting quite well...”
“I’m glad to hear that!”
“But I think she’d be a lot better if you would come and see her some time.”
“Oh, I’d love that. St. Louis is one of my favorite cities!”
“Consider yourself to have an open invitation any time you can get there.” I said as I rose from the table. “We have lots of room in the house, and would love to have you come whenever it would work out. As a matter of fact, maybe you could go back on the train with us.”
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