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.
The Eccentric Gunman identified at last
By Adam Parvey
The Herald has received a remarkable letter from a man claiming to have served alongside the fugitive known across the Five States as the Eccentric Gunman, and for the first time a name may be placed upon that strange and murderous figure: Baltasar Villaseñor. The writer, whose identity the Herald presently withholds, says Villaseñor was a “voluntario Mexicano,” who went to Cuba after the President of Mexico declared his nation neutral in the recent war between Spain and the United States. Though a foreigner among the Spanish ranks, Villaseñor evidently distinguished himself quickly. “He was a Mexican, yes, but he came to fight when he had no order making him do this,” the witness writes. “Baltasar was very daring, sometimes more than was sensible, and with a pistol he had a talent that made the soldiers respect him. When there was danger, he did not like to be the second man going toward it.”
It was not Villaseñor’s reported skill with a pistol, however, that convinced the writer that his former comrade and the Eccentric Gunman are one and the same. It was the fugitive’s infamous half-mustache. According to the witness, an explosion during a battle in Cuba started a fire and threw part of their position into chaos, with Villaseñor emerging from the confusion singed but alive. “The fire burned the mustache of Baltasar, but only upon one side. We laughed afterward, when there was again reason for laughing, and Baltasar kept shaving this same half. He said he would wear it this way so he remembers the day.” The witness says Villaseñor remained in Cuba until peace was brokered, after which the two parted company. Where the Mexican volunteer traveled afterward, his former comrade could not say. On that point, at least, the Herald can now supply the missing answer. Baltasar Villaseñor came to the Five States. And unless this extraordinary account proves false, we know him today as the Eccentric Gunman. We still, however, do not know why he is here.
Tourists robbed by false guide at Fort Mercer
By Jose Chavez
A party of tourists seeking a taste of New Austin history instead received a lesson in its present dangers after being robbed at Fort Mercer by the very man they had paid to guide them there. The travelers had hired the supposed guide to conduct a private tour of the old frontier fortification, whose heavy walls once served as protection for armed men guarding themselves against the many dangers of the territory, though several members of the party became suspicious when their guide proved remarkably ignorant of the fort’s history and could offer little explanation for its defenses beyond what any passing traveler might guess. Their suspicions came too late, for several mounted outlaws suddenly rode into the fort and the guide promptly drew his own pistol upon his customers, revealing the entire excursion to have been a trap. The tourists were relieved of money, jewelry, watches, and other valuables before the false guide rode away with his confederates, leaving his unfortunate customers stranded beneath the New Austin sun. The thieves did display one curious measure of mercy, however, abandoning the horse drawn wagon in which the party had arrived, thereby permitting their victims to escape the desert heat with their lives, if considerably lighter in their pockets.
Hunter cheated after taking rare Inahme Elk
By Delphia Atwood
A hunter who recently accepted a lucrative contract for the hide of the exceedingly rare Inahme Elk has found herself holding the prize but not the promised payment, after the wealthy gentleman who commissioned the hunt withdrew his offer only after the animal had been tracked and killed. The hunter succeeded in locating the elusive beast, bringing it down and securing its valuable pelt at no small expenditure of time and effort, only to learn afterward that her patron no longer intended to honor their arrangement. With so uncommon a hide nevertheless in hand, the hunter expects to sell it elsewhere for a sum considerably greater than that commanded by an ordinary elk pelt, though perhaps not what was originally promised. Asked whether she intended to seek satisfaction through the courts, the hunter declined, saying she would pursue no legal action against the gentleman.
War erupts in the streets of Blackwater
By Daisy Fairman
Residents of Blackwater found themselves unwilling spectators to what some have described as a small war after two bands of armed cowpokes descended upon the town and commenced shooting at one another with seemingly little concern for anybody unfortunate enough to be caught between them. Witnesses say one group could be distinguished by red fabric and the other by blue, though nobody questioned by the Herald could explain who the combatants were, what grievance existed between them, or why Blackwater had been selected as the place to settle it. Merchants hurried customers indoors, pedestrians fled the streets, and several businesses suspended trade while gunfire rang through town, with the surviving fighters disappearing before Chief of Police Oswald Dunbar and his officers could bring the disturbance under control. Several bodies were left behind, none of whom have yet been identified, and Chief Dunbar has opened an investigation into both factions as townsfolk count themselves fortunate that a private quarrel between strangers did not leave more of Blackwater’s ordinary citizens among the dead.
Friendly shooting contest ends in fatal mistake
By Emery Cosberry
A New Hanover man was arrested on a charge of murder early this week following what he insists was a tragic mistake made during a friendly shooting contest with several companions, who had challenged one another to see who could kill the greatest number of birds. The accused freely admitted that he is not an accomplished marksman and told authorities that, upon seeing a bird perched conveniently upon a fence, he took aim and fired in hopes of improving his poor standing in the contest; the bullet missed the bird and instead struck an unfortunate passerby, who died from the wound only moments later. The prisoner maintains that he never intended to harm the deceased and has made no effort to excuse the consequences of his careless shot, telling authorities that while the killing was accidental, the gun was in his hands and he accepts responsibility for what followed. Whether that distinction will spare him a conviction for murder will now be left for the law to determine.
Strange fight upon the Lannahechee
By Emeline Vickroy
A most peculiar fight upon the Lannahechee River drew considerable attention from persons along the Lemoyne shore after witnesses observed an unidentified woman deliberately pilot her boat into a smaller craft carrying two men, sinking the vessel and throwing both occupants into the water. The two men subsequently climbed aboard the woman’s boat, where a fight commenced, but she succeeded in fending them off with what one witness described as “a sword or a big knife” before making her escape along the river. What provoked the woman to ram the men’s vessel remains unclear, and no reliable account has yet established whether there was some quarrel between the parties beforehand. The woman remains unidentified and at large.
The Fate of Maggie the Call Girl!
By Sofia Kathleen Fairfield – Lead Correspondent
Saint-Denis has a long, possibly proud, possibly shameful history when it comes to prostitution. They have been around since the founding centuries ago, and probably will remain until the sun finally burns out. Throughout it all, people will rarely remember their names, except this one.
A sailor who had traveled to Sierre Leone met a woman outside of Doyles Tavern a week ago. She went by the name of Maggie, probably not her real name. The street Doyles resides on has sometimes been called Paradise Street due to the large number of prostitutes.
Well the unnamed sailor woke the next morning, missing his money, his service pistol, even his uniform minus his undergarments. He later found the gun sold at a gun store in the chinatown district and his clothing in the market.
It took little time for the police to find this Maggie and now she’s in a holding cell awaiting trial. This type of thievery is common, but it seems this was one sailor who had enough. Chants to deport her to Botany Bay has been heard for days, as if its the 1700s. Maggie is already garnering supporters of her own. The trial will certainly be altogether a messy little affair.
