Thaddeus Cooper, a mine owner in the mining district
of Bodie, fears he might be harmed or even killed. That fear prompts him to
commission Peter Dawes to visit his mine in Virginia City and then come to
Bodie so Cooper can inform him of what the danger “afoot” is.
Dawes takes the ferry, the train and stagecoach to
finally arrive in Bodie. He is eager to find out what his commission from
Cooper entails. He is shocked to find out that Cooper was killed before he
arrived. Who did the killing is a mystery, but
there will be an inquest held in an under construction meeting hall that may
provide answers to the questions Dawes has. The questions have broadened into
an investigation of the relationship between Cooper’s Esmeralda mine and one
run by Lysander Foggle.
Dawes pursues the answers to his questions by
contacting the town Marshal, Oculus Redfin, a reporter for the Daily Bodie
Standard and his old friend from San Francisco Eleanor Dumont, known
affectionately as “Madame Moustache.”
A circuit judge from Bridgeport will conduct the
inquest. Dawes receives information from his long-time associate in San
Francisco, Maudie Simpson, about the sister of the woman Cooper was involved
with. The sister evidently had said that she was going to make Cooper pay for
what he’d done to her sister.
Dawes meets a variety of characters as he seeks
answers to the questions he has. One that he’s determined to find an answer to
is why Xi Ching, a San Francisco tong member, is doing in Bodie.
All Dawes’ questions appear to be entwined with the
inquest.
Dawes hoped to have his main question answered at
the inquest. Would Cooper’s killer be named? That question ran through Dawes’
mind with the testimony of Dr. Millett and Marshal Redfin. Judge Barlow had
read the telegram Dawes had received from Maudie Simpson indicating that Flora
O’Keefe had motive enough to cause Cooper’s death, but did she have the means?
Or the opportunity?
Flora O’Keefe testified that she indeed did have the
means: a .41 caliber Derringer she kept in her stocking. Her testimony was that
she had fired the gun, not at Cooper but at an out-of-work miner who was
pestering her outside of The Royale saloon.
Marshal Redfin described the weapon as having
recently been fired and that it was indeed a .41 caliber Derringer. He added
that since the bullet was composed of very soft lead striking any bone would
deform it and render an estimate of its caliber suspect.
Dr. Millett stated that the slug that killed Cooper
was still lodged in his body. He stated that he had not done any dissecting
since leaving medical school and thus could not guarantee that probing Cooper’s
body would yield the fatal bullet.
Judge Barlow was averse to ordering an autopsy since
Dr. Millett opined that there was the possibility that a dissection would not
yield the slug.
The conclusion of the Cooper inquest was that the
person or persons who committed the homicide was undetermined. With that
conclusion the Cooper inquest was terminated.
In the meantime, Judge Barlow’s clerk said the
inquest into the death of Ezra Peeples would begin the following day.
Lysander Foggle took the witness place and gave his
side of the unfortunate death due to what appeared to be an accident with the
hoist.
Barlow pressed Foggle on how well trained Chang Wei,
the man operating the hoist when Peeples met his untimely end, was. Foggle was
adamant that Wei had been well trained by Spencer the usual hoist engineer who
was absent from work that day because his wife was ill.
Dawes testified as to what he knew of Ezra Peeples.
Barlow was frustrated that he could not hear
testimony from Change Wei since the man had been killed in a mine explosion
that very day.
As the inquest into Peeples death was about to wind
down, Xi Ching spoke up that he had something to say about the accident. He
testified that Chang Wei had told him that Foggle stated that the usual
operator of the hoist would be absent on the day Peeples was coming to the mine
for the audit. That showed Barlow that there had been a conspiracy and he
ordered Marshal Redfin to take Foggle into custody for the murder of Ezra
Peeples.
A short inquiry into Kevin Dodger’s shootout
exonerated Dodger.
Dawes was left with the nagging doubt about
O’Keefe’s role in Cooper’s death. He finally found out from her that she had a
secret concerning Cooper’s demise.
With that revelation, which Dawes’ had told O’Keefe
would be kept confidential, his questions about all the deaths that had
occurred since his arrival in Bodie had been answered.
Peter Dawes
confronts the last one of the Tulelakers from Susanville. The confrontation
occurs when Dawes and Eleanor Dumont are on a picnic. Using an old army dodge
Dawes is able to escape the pinned-down position and with Eleanor’s help
capture Braxton.
Back in Bodie
Braxton is handed over to Marshal Redfin and Dawes thinks that will put an end
to the threat Braxton embodies.
Later Braxton
escapes from Redfin, taking the marshal’s gun and seeking Dawes. Dawes asks him
which part of his body he’d like the bullet to enter. That question stops
Braxton momentarily but then he goes for the shot but Dawes is as fast and more
accurate. Braxton is hit mortally while Dawes has a hole shot through his coat.
Onlookers galore observe the shootout. Marshal Braxton arrives and tells Dawes
that it was self defense so no legal action will be forthcoming.
Dawes plans
on leaving Bodie after Cooper’s funeral but a telegram from Peeples’ firm in
Reno offers Dawes a commission to finish the investigation that Peeples started
before his untimely death at Lysander Foggle’s hands.
Chip
Sicklemore has taken over the Hart and Freeland Number One mine and he appears
willing to assist Dawes in his investigation.
After a tour
of the workings and a look at the nuggets inside the safe in the mine’s office
Dawes knows he will have to do a lot of research in the mine’s ledgers to find
the answers to the question he has regarding the amount of ore dug versus the
amount of bullion shipped.
A telegram
from Maudie surprises Dawes. It details a supreme irony that the beneficiary of
the trust that owns the Hart and Freeland Number One is or was Thaddeus Cooper.
Dawes
continues his examination of the ledgers. The inescapable conclusion is that
high grading has been going on. His question about “who” now centers on Chip
Sicklemore.
A new man
shows at the mine: James Strake an ostensible assistant superintendent. Dawes
holds his judgment of Strake until he has more information.
Meanwhile
Dawes asks Marshal Redfin to safeguard the incriminating ledgers as Dawes waits
for Mr. Cistern, the trustee to make his desires known for Sicklemore’s
disposition.
A telegram
from Cistern says that the trustee wants no adverse publicity so he says he
will terminate Sicklemore.
Dawes returns
to the Continental Hotel to write a report on his findings to complete his
commission.
I hope you’ve
gotten as much pleasure from reading another Peter Dawes adventure as I did
writing it.
