Digireads for October "Gamblers, Suckers and Gold--Peter Dawes in Bodie"

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.