Mission Statement:
To endeavor to bring to all residents of the Five States the most current and important news from across the entire Five States region. Never yellow, the Five States Herald vows to serve only the people of the Five States, from New Austin to Lemoyne, free of charge now and forever.
Death Stalks These Lands!
By Sofia Kathleen Fairfax – Lead Correspondent
It appears nothing good has come to Lemoyne since the Ghost Ship appeared. First, its appearance was not exactly normal, an unknown voyage, missing crew, no explanation. Then, frequent claims of sea serpents and monsters not far from Saint-Denis. Now? Well, now people up and believe Death is among us.
The Reaper, the personification of death, the one lord we all must obey. Farmers have claimed to see him, a skeleton riding a pale horse, with a scythe at the ready to take away those whose time has come.
By pure coincidence, a couple of people associated with the Ghost Ship have fallen prey to the jaws of Death. Two guards who had been posted to watch over the vessel, died this week. Found cold to the bone in bed with no immediate cause known. A local homeless man was even noted to have been singing a song called O Death when the bodies were found.
I’m not superstitious, but this has all been a bit much, even for me. I can handle outlaws and gangsters, but this? This feels beyond human understanding, and it unnerves me. As that homeless man reportedly sang, “O Death, O Death, consider my age, please don’t take me not this day.”
Wizard in New Austin?
By Jose Chavez
The strange stories in the Five States continue. This week a “wizard” was allegedly spotted in New Austin. A wizard is a type of character seen in fantasy stories that wields incredible magical power. They certainly do not exist in the real world but one witness said they saw one with their own eyes. “I saw fire flying in the sky and was unsure what it was,” the witness said, “so, I rode toward it.” The witness soon found the source: a person. “The balls of fire were bursting from their hands and flying through the sky,” the witness said, “and, well, lightning was all around their body!” The witness watched as the wizard took down multiple outlaws. “I didn’t provoke them, just showed proper reverence,” the witness said, “the I rode away, happy to not have become a target.”
Bounty wagon found abandoned, four dead men inside
By Jane Duran
A traveler hiking through the snow came across a tipped over bounty wagon. The lack of snow covering the wagon drew their attention. “I noticed not much snow was on the wagon,” they said, “figured it must have crashed recently so I checked for survivors.” They found occupants, but there was not a single survivor. Inside the wagon was four corpses. “I looked around for a guard, noticing it was a locked prison wagon,” the traveler said, “but found no one, not even a path.” They rode to Strawberry and reported the scene to the town sheriff. A posse rode out and investigated and identified all four bodies as those of men wanted in the area. They could not locate the wagon owner. Investigators believe that it belonged to a bounty hunter, as there is no reason for a prisoner to be transferred in this area, so they were likely captured here. Investigators believe the wagon fell down the mountain and the driver likely buried in snow somewhere.
Little Creek River turns red
By Odell Clifton
A bloody fight took place in the usually peaceful Big Valley. West Elizabeth lawmen patrolling the area first took notice of the bloody scene when they saw Little Creek River turning red. “There was so much blood that the river itself looked to be made of it,” one of the lawmen said, “it looked like out of the Bible!” The lawmen readied their rifles and rode onward and saw several bodies in the river and even more north of the river. “It seems there was a fight between multiple parties,” said one of the lawmen, “some outlaws from Hanging Dog Ranch seemed to have attacked the old Watson’s Cabin.” It is unclear what started the conflict, but lawmen believe that a third party intevened. “There was a set of horse tracks that indicated a fast and hard ride toward the fight,” said a lawmen, “and late we see a trail of horse tracks leaving the area.” Investigators have more questions than answers.
Have fun and be safe. America.
Valentine the center of gang turf war?
By Donna Deshner
The frequently violent Valentine has become the nearly always violent Valentine. Residents report the sound of gunshots to be even more common than the sounds of horses or sheep. Even town deputies have acknowledge the increase in violence. “It ain’t easy to notice, being honest,” said one deputy, “but things have gotten much worse recently.” While local law enforcement cannot explain it, state lawmen believe they know what is going on. According to New Hanover State Police, the state has become the center of gang turf wars. Valentine, being the center of society in the state, has become the main piece of territory the gangs are fighting over. “The gangs think local law enforcement cannot control the town,” said my source within the New Hanover State Police, “so they fight over the town, claiming ownership over it.”
“Ain’t no gang wars going on in Valentine, “said Sheriff Curtis Malloy, “just drunken cowboys with nothing better to do.” Local law enforcement maintains Valentine just draws a wild crowd. “Folks come to Valentine to escape the coming future,” Sheriff Malloy said, “we are a town of freedom in a rapidly restricting world, so naturally we get more violent types.” State police say they are unable to investigate the gang war fully as a result of local law enforcement not cooperating. “Valentine’s sheriff ain’t a fan of us,” said my source, “so they ain’t too forthright with information.” For residents and travelers, it is just the same violent Valentine, the cause seems to not matter at all, as they have continued about their business as usual.
Moonshiner arrested after run in with legendary ghost panther
By Aloysius Levron
Revenue agents were alert at a moonshine checkpoint when they saw a wagon speeding toward them. “It was going fast and only seemed to be getting faster,” one of the agents said, “we ordered it to halt but it kept picking up speed!” The agents pulled out their rifles as the wagon approached but as it go closer, they realized there was more to the speeding wagon than they knew. “There was a fella driving the wagon but he was trying to fight off a big cat!” an agent said, “but he didn’t seem to be having much success!” One of the agents fired a warning shot as the wagon veered slightly off course. The wagon crashed, sending the driver and the cat to the ground. As the beast slowly got up, one of the agents identified it as the elusive ghost panther. They fired another warning shot at the panther fled.
The wagon driver survived, but was severely bruised and cut up. The agents offered to ride him into town but noticed the contents of the wagon was moonshine. Half of the load was broken but the rest was still intact. The bootlegger was still taken to the doctor, but was placed under arrest. The Saint Denis doctor cleaned up the wounds and said the man will be fine, as long as he keeps the wounds clean. He is currently being held in Saint Denis awaiting transfer to Sisika Penitentiary.
Horse naming, is it that hard?
By Ivy Seager
The Five States is home to more horse owners than most regions of the Five States. Several cowpokes in the Five States are in fact, quite affluent and own multiple horses. This is in spite of an economy that most have described as stagnant for the last several years. Whether the powers that be support the residents of the Five States or not, if you work hard and grind hard, you can make plenty of money with not much but horses to spend it on. Whenever a cowpoke has more money than they can figure out what to do with, they buy a new horse. The horse buying has gotten so bad that folks are needing help naming their new horses.
“She’s just a beaut, isn’t she?” one cowpoke asked me when I asked them for a comment, “knew I wanted her from the moment I saw her but, well, what should I name her?” And so I wondered, is naming a horse difficult? “Well, I name all my horses after brother, so they are all called Jeremiah,” one man said, “I only have the one brother so only use the one name.” The man looked at me as if no further explanation was needed. I spoke to a traveler going in Blackwater about their horses as well. “I like my horses to have clever names, names that make you think,” said one woman, “I had a horse named panther once, meant to confuse predators while riding through the wilderness.” Every where I went and asked about horse names, I got dozens of stories and names. Stories of indecisiveness and last minute name changes. Mustangs named Sally. An Arabian named Little Sebastian. A horse called Mr. Ed. Some names were quite tame but very few made any sense to me.
And so I conclude that yes, naming a horse is quite difficult.
The Five States Herald 