Gunfight at Benedict Point Station
By Alois Burditt
Gunfights in New Austin are far from uncommon. With few lawmen and lots of outlaws, New Austin is as wild as civilized lands get. However, a recent gunfight did not involve a single outlaw but started over a misunderstanding between well meaning cowpokes. A few folks who had just departed the train witnessed the event and the following is put together form their testimony. A caravan of wagons was being loaded with good from the train. Three wagons in total, each with a shotgun messenger and a few other escorts on horseback. A cowpoke arrived as the train departed holding an object the witnesses did not recognize, later identified as a metal detector. The collector paid no mind to the wagons, even when more than one of the escorts aimed their rifles at him.

However, no escort fired a shot. They continued to wait as the wagons were loaded when a team of bounty hunters showed up. The bounty hunters began searching the station and asking folks questions about someone who may have departed the train. According to the witnesses it was very tense at this point. “I thought of just leaving instead of waiting for my wagon to arrive, but then I figured it was safer inside for the time being,” said a witness. The tension was tested when a rifle was fired not far from Benedict Station. “I reckon it was a fella hunting, but the bounty hunters pulled on the shotgun messengers, the horsemen pulled on the bounty hunters and the collector pulled out a pistol and took cover,” said another witness. It seemed that the tension was easing when gunfire started just south of the station. “A bunch of shooting started not far from us, stray bullets whizzed by,” said a third witness.

The wagons immediately took off as the escorts and bounty hunters started shooting at each other. The collector was caught in the middle, but managed to crawl into the station for cover while making a quick grab for something on a table. The gunfight lasted less than a minute. No witnesses were harmed, however the bounty hunters were all killed, being outnumbered by the caravan escorts. The escorts also took casualties, losing two of their number. The collector made it out unscathed clutching a tarot card in his hand.

Man found hanged at Hanging Rock, suspect unknown
By Wylie Frey
A hunter looking to track a cougar came across a disturbing site. “I climbed up the rock to get a good look of the land, see what I can see, and there was that poor fella all rotted and dead,” the hunter said. He found a man hanging from a tree on Hanging Rock, so named due to the hangings that took place there before Armadillo fell into disarray. The victim was already decomposing and their wrists and ankles were bound tightly with a reinforced rope. No identifying information was found on the victim.

Man kidnapped by a wanted outlaw, drawing victim’s allies and bounty hunters to Grizzlies East
By Jane Duran
A desperate outlaw kidnapped a Van Horn resident in an attempt to hold him hostage. The move only brought more attention to the outlaw. Though he did not know it, the man he kidnapped had well armed friends who were in pursuit. This is in addition to the bounty hunters already on the outlaw’s trail. He had boarded a train in Van Horn, and according to the victim, said he would leave him behind once he was able to leave the Five States. However, the bounty hunters caught up to the outlaw, stopping the train and killing the outlaw’s guards. During the gunfight, friends of the victim arrived. “It was a tense moment, nearly shot at one of them,” admitted one of the bounty hunters. However, the two groups were able to hold a tense peace.

The rescuers collected their friend and rode away as the bounty hunters dealt with the carnage. The man was dropped off safely in Van Horn. He promptly left the town and headed south to Lemoyne. “I think I’m going to try to live near civilization…” the man said.

Cougar afraid of Irishman?
By Nick McCrary
Many cowpokes have come to the Great Plains to hunt big game, such as bison or cougars. Bison have not been seen in the region, however, for weeks. Cougars, though rare, have still be spotted. Many hunters have noticed peculiar behavior from cougars near Quaker’s Cove. An Irishman named Sean has made camp in the region and folks say that cougars do not dare come near his camp.

“It was the damndest thing,” said a hunter in the area, “damn cougar caught me off my guard and attacked, barely fought it off. I ran to put some distance between us and noticed the cougar didn’t follow.” Though unintended, the hunter said they found themselves in Sean’s camp staring back at a big cat that refused to come closer. Nobody can explain, though many have admitted to exploiting it. “I set bait, then hang out at Sean’s camp for awhile before going back out to check my bait,” said another hunter.

The most common explanation is some kind of Irish magic or mysticism that keeps wild animals at bay. When asked about this, Sean merely laughed and would not confirm anything, even his name. Though he does not seem friendly to investigators, he does seem more than happy to allow visitors to use his camp for safety.

Trader loses cargo and life in ill-fated attempt at a shortcut
By Daisy Fairman
A trader tempted fate this week while attempting to deliver goods to Riggs Station. Their posse mate was riding with them on horseback when the trader announced they would take a shortcut across Bard’s Crossing. “I said I should ride up front, maybe stop the train if necessary, but they just went on,” their friend said. They pushed the wagon over the train bridge hard, however, the train had just left Riggs Station and was headed toward the wagon. The train was unable to be slowed in time and crashed into the wagon, killing the trader and the horse while sending the goods all over the track and into the Dakota River below. The trader’s friend said, “I managed to salvage some of the shipment, but my friend is gone and they ain’t comin’ back.”

Murder, Suicide, and Phantoms, a Lighthouse Legacy
By Sofia Kathleen Fairfax (Lead Correspondent)
Van Horn’s most recognizable structure is without question its lighthouse. Its keeper, Ervin Hatchell, retired some time ago, even if he sometimes shows up unannounced to keep the lights working. The building itself, however, does not sit quietly on most nights. Many residents claim to hear voices, music, and other infernal sounds coming from the derelict structure. Long before keeper Hatchell tended its grounds, the lighthouse bore witness to many horrific events. The most infamous was back in the early 1800s, when the stairs ran red with madness and blood.

The keeper’s name was Brandon Fitzgerald; he was a veteran of the War of 1812, a sailor from the upper Great Lakes. He took the posting as a way to find peace after such slaughter on the high seas, so he took his new bride Bessie with him. Back then, Van Horn did not exist; it was merely forest. The lighthouse was isolated, all on its own. To ease the tedium, Fitzgerald bought Bessie a piano after a few months. We know this only because of a personal journal he kept. Bessie only knew one song, the aptly named Joy to the World.

Years went by, with the only outside contact being a lighthouse tender. This little boat brought much-needed supplies every six months. But six months is an awfully long time, especially in the winter. By his fifth year, the job had taken a toll on Fitzgerald. He began to hear flutes and bugles in the cold morning hours of the day. By chance, a hundred years prior, a British expedition had passed through the area, only to be massacred by native tribesmen and wildlife.

Whether it was delusions from isolation or the spirits of fallen redcoats, it plagued Fitzgerald. Bessie was also now a problem; she never learned another piano song in all those years. She would always play Joy to the World after midnight, as a way to pass the time. Fitzgerald tried to tell her to stop, but she would not have any of it.

One late Christmas night in 1817, the entire situation became too much for the young lighthouse keeper. He could not rest, not with the ghostly drumming, and his wife and that damnable Christmas song. He crept down the spiral staircase to the bottom floor and snuck up on his wife. Then, he struck her with an ax. She died instantly, and for a moment, all was silent. We don’t know what happened soon after. Perhaps it was guilt for the foul evil deed, or maybe the spirits did not approve of such action. We do know when the lighthouse tender came in the summer; they found two skeletons, one with an ax wound in the head, the other still hanging from the staircase.

Perhaps that is what Van Horn citizens still hear, the eternal never-ending music, the same type that drove a man to kill his beloved and take his own life. Or perhaps the alcohol makes the mind imagine. If one would like to find out, well, there’s nothing stopping anyone from spending a night in the Van Horn lighthouse…

Kidnapped man rescued from Pleasance
By Mathilde Orry
A man was kidnapped from his home near Rhodes this week. The motive for the kidnapping is unclear, as the victim was not particularly wealthy and all of the kidnappers are dead, leaving nobody to question. A witness had ridden by the deserted town of Pleasance when she noticed the group of men with a hogtied man by the campfire. “I kept on ridin’ ’cause I ain’t no gunslinger. But I found a fella who could help. A man with a rugged beard and a fancy hat,” she said. The man rode off immediately toward Pleasance, moments later the witness said she heard several gunshots. Several minutes after the gunshots stopped she saw the cowpoke she told about the kidnapped man ride by with a man on his horse. She took cover as other riders followed behind shooting.

The cowpoke got the victim to the Rhodes Sheriff Office, where the victim reported the crime. “What am I supposed to do about a crime when the outlaws are already dead?” Sheriff Leigh Gray. The victim rewarded his rescuer and eventually returned home.

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Victim hogtied on tracks is freed and gets revenge on his attacker
By Aloysius Levron
A man was assaulted on a road in the Bayou, north of Saint Denis. The man said he had been minding his own business when a, “fella with no shirt lasso’d me off my horse and hogtied me on the train tracks!” At that moment several things went through his mind. “First, I knew no train was coming for awhile, but I also knew I couldn’t get out of those ropes. I was angry and scared,” admitted the resident of Saint Denis. However, though the man could not see what happened, he heard a galloping horse, followed by a “whoosh” sound, and his attacker grunting and fell to the floor wrapped in a bolas. “I saw the horse’s hooves and then a man’s boots,” he said. In short order the attacker was hogtied and then man felt the ropes that bound him being cut off.

“I felt elation at that moment. I thought I was gonna die and now I realized I was gonna live!” the man said. However, he admitted that when he looked down at the cowpoke who attacked him now hogtied and helpless, his rage overtook him once again. “I stomped that son of a bitch until he stopped squirming,” the man said with great satisfaction. Fortunately for the man, his rescuer turned out to be well known bounty hunter Nathaniel Cross. Cross accompanied the man to the Saint Denis police station, where Cross left the dead body and explained the situation. “If Cross says the fella was justified, well then I believe it,” said Chief Benjamin Lambert, “we can’t be everywhere, so folks gotta know they can protect themselves.” There was no bounty on the attacker, so Cross received no payment. Though the victim did open a tab in his own name for Cross to use at the Bastille Saloon.

Professional shooter begins training lady sharpshooters
By Frederick Vannesse
Ann Mosey, better known as Annie Oakley, has been vocal about women helping in the war with Spain. Despite her offers to help being ignored by President MacAlister, Mosey has begun training “several dozen” women in the art of sharpshooting. “They can’t be as good as me on such short notice, but they will be as good as any man currently in the war when I am done with them,” Mosey is recorded as saying. She goes on to claim that if President MacAlister continues to ignore her offer then he is merely confirming that he does not want to win the war with Spain. Though there is no official statement from the government, one source indicates that the war is going so well there is no need for desperate political ploys. Moreover, there is fear of political fallout should any the lady sharpshooters be killed in action.

U.S. wins another naval clash with Spain
Ivy Seager
The U.S. Navy advanced into the bay Santiago de Cuba, wiping out the Spanish fleet protecting the area. The win was decisive, leaving the Spanish force decimated. Spanish land forces are preparing for an extended siege, though sources in the military indicate that the Spanish soldiers are suffering from low morale and do not expect much resistance. The Naval battle is said to have been completely one-sided and soon turned into a rescue operation. U.S. seaman began pulling Spanish seaman from rescue boats that were “inches deep in blood.” Despite the hostilities, it is said the U.S. Navy treated the enemy soldiers with respect and made them as comfortable as possible. Many expect that Cuba will announce its independence soon and the end of the war will soon follow.

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