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.
Are the Dead Walking Among Us?
By Sofia Kathleen Fairfax (Lead Correspondent)
It is nearly that time of year, All Hallows Eve. The time when the thin line between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Most mock this belief as mystical nonsense, and I would usually agree. But lately, scattered reports continue to come in describing… unnatural goings-on.
Cowpokes across the Five States describe seeing men and women, walking in the cold dead of night. They wear tattered clothing and smell absolutely revolting. These people are supposedly the living dead, zombies.
Cemeteries have been reporting an increase in graves suddenly being found open. Local tenders might publicly say grave robbing is merely rising, but they worry that it’s something else in private.
These reports sound like the rambling of the drunk and confused, but it’s the sheer number of reports that is astounding. Hundreds of cowpokes are claiming to see these creatures, and some are reputable figures at that.
Whether there is any truth to these rumors cannot be verified. But one thing is blatantly apparent. Someone or something is digging up graves, and many people are claiming to see things that are not of this world. One cowpoke said it best when called on others to pray that October passes sooner than it began, for all our sake.
The Grey Cowboy cleans up Gaptooth Ridge
By Alois Burditt
Gaptooth Ridge is a little bit less lawless this week after the Grey Cowboy swept through the area bringing his own brand of Justice. Where once he was known to leave gang leaders alive, he has recently taken to killing them. This week he left quite the trail. Authorities first heard gunshots coming from Cueva Seca. A posse rode out to the area but arrived long after the Grey Cowboy left the area. “We found a massacre. Everyone of them fools were dead and their leader too,” said a responding deputy. The leader, Gustav Crann, was the only one not killed by gunshot. He was found with a hangman’s noose around his neck, though he was laying on the floor. “Saved us some time, as far as I’m concerned,” said Tumbleweed Sheriff Sam Freeman. Crann was a wanted man and was scheduled to me his end at the gallows once he was caught. As the scene was being investigated, more gunshots were heard coming from the south. A few members of the posse stayed behind while most moved south toward the gunshots.
As they neared the gunshots came to an end. They rode on until they found another massacre at Gaptooth Breach. Gaptooth Breach is an abandoned mine that is often used as a a base of operations by outlaws. The outlaws here were found similarly to those at Cueva Seca, only the leader was still alive and struggling to breathe. “He was hangin’ by a short noose inside the mine,” one of the deputies said. The man flailed about but was left to hang when he was identified as Melton ‘Dagger’ Dugger, another wanted man who had a date with the gallows. Much to the posse’s shock, they once again heard gunshots and detached two members to ride quickly south.
Those two men arrived at the Sea of Coronado where they saw the Grey Cowboy. “As impressive a gunfighter as I have ever seen,” said a deputy, “every shot resulted in a death.” As they made their way down the cliffs and closer to the waterline, the Grey Cowboy allegedly wrapped a noose around a man’s neck before throwing him into the water and placing his boot on the back of the man’s head. When the two men in the posse made it down, the Grey Cowboy was riding off and the gang leader was found dead. “We were unable to identify him as anyone currently wanted, but if the Grey Cowboy killed him, he must have been bad,” said the deputy. The two men did not pursue the Grey Cowboy. “Sheriff Freeman likes the man, so I didn’t think arresting him would be smart.”
Meteorologist head to Ambarino to study the rain
By Jane Duran
The center of the mystery that meteorologists are looking to solve is why rain is so common given that conditions in Grizzlies East should lead to snow. “The surface temperature across most of Grizzlies East is regularly lower 32 degrees Fahrenheit,” said resident Five States meteorologist Colter Snows. “Yet it usually rains instead of snows, so I called for some friends to investigate.” The meteorologists plan to use cutting edge to measure the temperature not only at surface level but far above the surface as well. “We think there is a layer of really warm air melting the falling snow. We believe it is so warm that the water warms up enough to not turn back into snow before hitting the surface,” one of them explained. Confirming their hypothesis will take time and money, which they claim to have an abundance of.
US Marshall posted in West Elizabeth in Response to Gang War
By Sofia Kathleen Fairfax (Lead Correspondent)
In response to the armed conflict between several violent gangs, a senior US Marshall has been sent to West Elizabeth to maintain order. Marshall Raymond Gibbons is no stranger to gang warfare. He was old enough to remember hunting down Otis Miller and his gang decades ago.
Armed with his trusty repeating shotgun and a custom Cattleman revolver, Gibbons claims to be ready for just about everything. For the foreseeable future, he is expected to patrol the regions in between Blackwater and Strawberry and break up any armed conflict he finds. Locals, for the most part, seem okay with Gibbons being sent here. Local lawmen are… less than happy to see the US government interfering in their affairs.
A senior US Marshall is quite the rare sight in these parts, and everyone is expected to take notice, for good and ill. There are some worries that high profile outlaws like the Great Plains Sniper or Myra Rose Hart might see a tempting high-value target. Gibbons himself is unworried about such threats; whether that confidence proves to be his undoing remains to be seen. Personally, I wish him the best of luck, for if there’s one thing I’ve learned out here, the Five States can be relentless to those looking to speed up the gears of progress.
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The hunt for “river monster” has begun
By Frederick Vannesse
Rumors of undiscovered creatures hiding within the Five States are not new, however, rumors about a so called river monster have begun to pick up steam. Many have claimed to hear the creature but so far, nobody has claimed to see it. Searchers have begun systematically combing through the largest bodies of water in the Five States: the Lannahechee River, the San Luis River, and Flat Iron Lake which sits between them. Many hunters, however, have dismissed claims that such a monster exists. “They are hearing ornery alligators, maybe mating bears,” a hunter said with a laugh. “Folks get a little more scared at night and so they just mishear things, or hear things they are familiar with but are too damn focused on being scared to realize it.
“Bullshit,” said one of the searchers of the illusive creature, “Sorry for my language but it’s the only thing I can say. For fellers to think we are just fools misidentifying animal calls! I was a damn hunter for 10 years before I started searching for creatures that made sounds I could not recognize.” Indeed, many other searchers are either retired hunters are still hunting when not looking for hidden or unknown creatures. Searchers are also aided by special tools brought by Pawnee County folks. “Those PC cowpokes sure know how to do things,” said one searcher. It is through the tools of those from Pawnee County that recordings of the creature’s alleged sound have been made. Though the validity of those recordings is being challenged and even those who accept the validity of the recordings have challenged the claims that it is the sound of an unknown creature. “I think it is foolish to assume every new sound we hear is a new creature, how well do we know the creatures around us?” said amateur paleontologist Charles Click. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these ‘dinosaur’ bones people are finding are from the same breed of creature at different stages alive instead of the different breeds many claim!”
Saloon brawl leads to several arrests and discovery of a moonshine operation
By Emery Cosberry
Smithfield’s Saloon is host to brawls nearly every night. Drunk patrons do not take much to get upset and escalate an argument into a fist fight. However, this brawl was more than just drunk men getting out of control. “This was a matter of business and competition, believe it or not,” said Sheriff Curtis Malloy. It was unknown at the time, but two groups of bootleggers and moonshiners arrived at Smithfield’s one after the other. Several witnesses reported that they argued over who Smithfield’s belonged to and threatened each other with violent expulsion from the establishment. “A few folks came to my office,” Sheriff Malloy admitted, “but there ain’t no laws against arguing as such and it ain’t my business to be concerned with federal tax laws.”
The argument soon exploded into a full on saloon brawl. “That’s when it was our turn to act,” Sheriff Malloy said. He sent in several deputies to bust the fight up but it was no easy task. Both groups of bootleggers knew how to fight and were described as being “as tough is bad jerky.” Eventually the two sides tired each other out and the deputies seized the moment. While a few of the brawlers managed to escape during the chaos of the fight, many of them were captured. It did not take long for federal revenuers to arrive to question the prisoners. “It did not take long for one of these fellas to crack,” said one of the agents, “which led to the location of a literal underground moonshine operation. The equipment in the building was seized, however, nobody was there to arrest.
“It is likely they knew their partners in crime were in jail and knew they would give them up sooner or later,” the agent explained. The Bureau of Internal Revenue is celebrating the bust as the first step on the road back to the agency’s glory days. The lead agent, Artemas Mallicoat is rumored to soon be taking charge of the bureau. Mallicoat is described as a man who does not deal in nonsense and who will crack down on moonshiners, bootleggers, and all of those who help them.
Unprovoked assault leads to death on Saint Denis streets
By Xavier Phillips (Freelancer)
Blood was spilled in Saint Denis recently when an altercation between two men ended with one of them lying dead in the street. It was early afternoon when a moustached man with facial scarring exited the office of Dr. Joseph R. Barnes, M.D. and offered a nod of greeting to a man in a white hat apparently preparing to enter the same establishment and who returned the nod with a wave as the scarred man mounted his horse. This polite exchange offered no hint as to what happened next, as the scarred rider trotted away only for the man in the white hat to give chase on foot and, without warning or provocation, pull him from his saddle at the corner of Saint Nicolas Street and Rue de la Diligent.
“But then the fella in the white hat just stood there, not doing or saying anything,” claimed George Kemper, an employee of Armstrong & Price Ship Chandlery who witnessed the incident. “Naturally the scarred fella took umbrage and swung a punch at him, only the fall from his saddle must have rattled his head some, because he missed and hit his own horse on the haunch.” The startled animal kicked out, violently knocking both men to the ground, but the scarred man swiftly rose to his feet, took his rifle from his back and shot his prone harasser once in the chest, killing him instantly. He then remounted his horse and fled at speed, heading north.
Further gunshots were heard soon afterwards on the northern outskirts of the city, although whether these were connected to the fleeing man is unknown as no details regarding the source of these gunshots have been forthcoming. Both killer and victim currently remain unidentified. Saint Denis police have claimed they will be on the lookout for the killer, although sources suggest this vigilance will be perfunctory at best given the scarred man not being the instigator of the aggression and the police department currently being preoccupied with more prominent issues in regard to crime in the city. “I don’t know what that fella in the white hat was thinking, but he got what was coming to him,” Mr. Kemper stated. “You pull a man from his saddle for no reason then just stand there like a dullard, well, I figure you’re not long for this world.”
Masked marauders roam the Five States robbing and killing with impunity
By Adam Parvey
Residents across the Five States have reported roaming bands of masked men and women terrorizing folks. The masked marauders are accused of all manner of indecent and unlawful acts. In New Hanover, a group of masked cowpokes lasso’d a man off his wag and then chased down and hogtied his family. The group looked through the family’s belongings but nothing was noted as missing. “Those fellers were lucky,” said Rhodes Sheriff Leigh Gray, who told a story about some folks robbed and murdered. “Not the whole group, mind you,” Sheriff Gray elaborated, “They left the pa and one of the boys alive, forced ’em to watch the rest of the family be executed.” Authorities do not believe that this is a single group, but believe that multiple groups of folks have taken to masking up and causing levels of terror ranging from mischief to murder.
“The masks themselves are part of the attack,” said a federal investigator. “These aren’t the typical bandit masks, but masks with frightening and imaginative appearances.” According to the investigator, the masks are meant to disorientate the victims and slow down their defensive reactions. “By the time they realize what is happening, it is too late to fight back.” According to authorities, murder was the least reported offense. Theft is the most frequently reported crime and the most stolen item is typically sweets. In fact, the family who reported being hogtied but not robbed also said they do not indulge in sweets of any kind and so had none on them.
“The one thing reported in every case regardless of the severity,” the investigator said, “is that as they launched their attack they screamed ‘trick or treat!'”
Midterm elections look tense as progressives push for reform
By Humphrey Harker
Elections loom in the U.S. and voters prepare to cast their votes in another important election. The waning Spanish-American war is a high priority for many voters, wondering when the end will become official. Several members of the House of Representatives have begun demanding the White House issue a statement regarding the official end of the war in hopes of currying favor with voters. The Republicans control both chambers of Congress and hoping to strengthen that control, though many suspect the Democrats may take control of the House. Meanwhile, the Populist party hopes to find a second wind, as the party has been struggling as of late. Whatever the outcome, American men are poised and ready to decide the fate of the nation.
Former Venezuelan President, Joaquin Crespo has died
By Ivy Seager
Joaquin Crespo served two terms as President of Venezuela, but opted to not run for a third term. Instead, Crespo supported Ignacio Andrade, who defeated Jose Hernandez. However, Hernandez questioned the validity of the election, claiming fraud had taken place. This led to an ongoing civil war in Venezuela as Hernandez and his followers fight to espouse a regime they say is invalid. It is this conflict that claimed the life of Joaquin Crespo. Though he did not want to be the president, he still wanted to serve his country and government. Crespo remained a military man and when Hernandez started a civil war, Crespo defended his government. It was in the course of fulfilling his duty that he was killed. He will be given a hero’s funeral.
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