Clay Gang Episode 3

The Clay Gang Chronicles: Part 3:
The Chatanooga Choo Choo Chootout

Ron Fargo – Rich – A (wise beyond his) 19 years old scout
Clay White – Dave – A well dressed gambler, coward turned psychopath, currently bed-bound and recovering from a serious gutshot
Jack White – Paul – Albino gunfighter from Mississippi
Bull Baxtor – Matt – Big, mean and bad blacksmith, hailing from Texas
Bill Peckerwood – Stu – An inexperienced, eager, but grim-faced gunfighter

Our story continues with our (anti) heroes hiding out from the law, US marshals, bounty hunters and bereaved relatives at Kurt Wilk’s ranch. Mr. Wilks is very grateful for them seeing off (read: killing them all) some ruffians who had been trying to oust him from his property.

Its early afternoon and a shout from outside the farmhouse gets everyone’s attention: “Is that Clay White and his boys in that there house? If so, come on out, I got a business proposition for ya!”

The boys make their way outside and find themselves facing two men who have dismounted their horses and are standing not far outside the gates. One is a big fat man in a dark suit and bowler hat. He has a revolver on his hip in a gunbelt and a shotgun is visible in a saddle on his horse. The other looks immediately more dangerous. In a black suit, with twin revolvers in tied-down holsters, the gunslingers in the party notice him quickly assessing the gang’s stances, weapons and traits. Behind these two, to the left and right are a couple of riflemen, both still on their horses.

The fat man introduces himself as Denby Douglas, a representative of the Pacific Railroads corporation, his companion is Shelby Martin, a name that rings a bell for one of the party – he was involved in a shootout in a nearby town a while ago where three men ended up dead in a saloon, and Shelby walked out without a scratch. Denby says he is aware of the activities of the Clay gang and that he can offer them an arrangement of mutual benefit. Pacific Railroads is in need of some accomplished gunmen to act as guards on a train going West, while the gang would benefit from getting out of the current area. A deal is cut where the gang will receive $3 per day each, plus food and drink. Bull makes a special deal and commissions the creation of a bizarre cow-horned metal helmet instead of the money. The gang will rendezvous with the train just East of Louisville in 2 days time.

The gang rest up some more and then leave the next day, with Clay still nursing his wound. After they ride out of Kurt’s very large valley they see an Indian watching them from a hill. When everyone starts looking his way, the brave disappears. The gang continue on their way and eventually make camp in a copse of trees. They set watches and on Jack and Bull’s watch they are disturbed by some noises and are sure that they are being watched by one or more people. They do not investigate. The next morning, looking for tracks they find only one broken twig and are not sure whether it was caused by one of the party or not.

The next day the guys meet up with the train – an amazing feat of engineering which several of them have not seen before - the Guard in the rear carriage directs them into an empty luggage/horse carriage, second from the rear of the train. The gang will not be meeting the passengers it seems. The train heads off. Nothing happens for a while and the guys get bored of staring out of the windows, so Ron and Bull climb up onto the roof of the train and crawl around a bit. No-one falls off.

Its much later and Jack has positioned himself at the back of the train with the guard. He’s the only one who notices several riders galloping alongside the train and starts opening fire on them. One stunningly lucky (or unlucky) shot hits one of the riders in the balls, blowing them both off – the rider falls of his horse and the train quickly leaves him behind. Jack fires some more shots with a couple of hits before the rest of the Clay gang know what is going on and Bill starts shooting out of the window as well. Between them they take out another rider, but the others have all boarded the train. From up ahead the guys can just about hear the sounds of shooting and screams from the passenger carriages.

Ron shoots up the ladder to the roof of the next carriage onto the roof. Bull and Jack go into the carriage – which is full of horses – and begin to carefully thread their way through. Ron manages to make his way along the roof, the wind rushing through his hair – it feels like this is the fastest he has every travelled! He makes it to the gap between that carriage and the next one – one of 2 passenger carriages. The door is locked and the blind is down. He is soon joined by Bull and Ron. The passengers on the other side are too scared to open the door….

Ron heads up the ladder onto the roof of the passenger carriage, while Bull and Jack slowly talk/threaten the passengers into opening the door. They head through the carriage to the next one, where they find the door ajar, but the blind down. They shout through to the passengers inside, but to their dismay are answered by a shot that comes through the window of the door and the harsh voice of one of the bandits, “Stay out there – we got hostages in here. In fact, throw your guns in, or I’ll shoot one of ‘em!”

Whilst Bull and Jack try to negotiate, Ron has made his way to the other end of the carriage and finds himself looking down on the back of a bandit who is trying to pick the lock to the armoured VIP carriage at the front of the train. Ron takes careful aim and shoots the bandit in the head and he drops to the baseboard, unconscious. Ron starts to climb down the ladder.

Inside the bandit has shot one of the hostages and a woman’s cry rings out “He done shot Henry in the foot!”
The shot triggers Bull and Jack into action and they burst through the door to see a bandit at the other end of the carriage, holding a hostage in front of him. Both of them fire and miraculously miss the hostage and hit the bandit in the arm and leg. The bandit fires at the same time, or would have if his gun had not jammed. He drops to the floor, dragging the hostage down with him.

Unfortunately for Ron there is a third bandit in the carriage and he had seen his companion go down outside. He ambushes Ron, shooting him twice in the leg. Ron returns fire, hanging onto the ladder with one hand, hitting his tormentor, but in return is shot some more in both legs.

In the carriage Jack sees the third bandit blasting away and then turn to look at him and Bull. Jack shoots him in the face and he goes down stone dead. The other bandit is fumbling for another weapon, so Bull shoots him again and he collapses unconscious.

Ron can barely walk and calls out for a doctor and one of the passengers nervously comes forward and starts to tend to him. Jack goes and hammers on the door of the armoured carriage and Shelby answers. Jack tells him all the bandits are dead this side and asks to come forward to check the front. Shelby tells him that he and his men have sorted that out and asks how many passengers are dead. He seems unmoved by the fatalities. He tells Jack to get the gang back to the rear of the train and Shelby’s men will take care of the bodies and the passengers.

Back in the carriage Bull is being barely restrained from looting the bodies of dead and wounded passengers, his eyes particularly fixed on a valuable looking pocket watch. He yells out “Respect the Clay Gang!!!” as he is dragged from the carriage. One of the lady passengers screams “Not the Clay Gang, too!” and faints dead away.

Extracts from the latest copy of the Louisville Times (fragments found in the passenger carriage after the gunfight)……

Clinton to Host Deadly “Fastest Gun” Competition!

Those strange folks in our sister town of Clinton have come up with another crazy idea. The town has been attracting all kinds of dubious characters with a ‘fastest gun in the West’ competition due to take place this week. Clinton’s new hotel has been reserved for the gunslingers and a small tent city put up to house spectators. Organisers are reputed to believe it will put Clinton firmly on the map.

Pacific Railroad Corporation Heads West

Trains heading West seem more likely as the Pacific Railroad corporation has made headway in building its route towards the coast. The railroad has been dogged by disaster and strange incidents (not least the explosion a week ago!).

Classifieds:

The Daniels family seek further information on the whereabouts of Clay White and his gang. A reward is available for information leading to the discovery of this individual. Contact James Daniels via the Louisville saloon.