Hi! Winnie Griggs here. (pssst - look for giveaway info at the bottom of this post) I was thumbing through one of those 'infamous women of the old west' type books the other day and  came across a listing for a woman named Pearl Hart. The heading of First Female Captured Stagecoach Robber caught my eye. And the more I read about this woman, the more fascinated I became with her story. I did some additional research and found a number of different, sometimes contradictory, accounts of her life. I’ll stitch together my favorites here. While there is very little know about her early life, we do know that she was born Pearl Taylor in 1871 and lived the early part of her life in Ontario, Canada. She was one of several children born into an upper middle-class, church going family. At age sixteen she was sent to a boarding school, but she had an adventurous spirit that couldn’t be contained. That, combined with her attractiveness and wit made her quite popular with the men of her acquaintance. While at school Pearl became infatuated with a young man named Hart and eloped at about age 17. Hart has variously been described as a rake, a drunk and a gambler. Far from this being the romantic adventure Pearl had hoped for, it turned out Hart was also abusive. She left him and then returned to him several times and it is reported they had two children together. During their last reconciliation, the couple worked odd jobs the Chicago World’s Fair. There Pearl saw Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and developed a fascination for the cowboy life that would stay with her her entire life. She also visited the Women’s Pavilion where she heard speeches by prominent women’s activists such as Julia Ward Howe. Finally leaving Hart for good, Pearl placed the children in the care of her mother and took up with a man named Dan Bandman, a gambler and dance-hall musician. The two eventually moved to Colorado. Later, when Dan left to fight in the Spanish-American War, Pearl moved to Globe Arizona, a mining town. There are various reports that she may have worked as a cook, a singer, a laundress and/or opened a tent brothel. It is also said that she developed a fondness for cigar and liquor at this time. Pearl described her life at this time in these words: "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come. I do not care to dwell on this period of my life. It is sufficient to say that I went from one city to another..." Whatever her employment, Pearl’s finances hit bottom when the mine closed. Trying to find a way to earn money, she took up with a man named Joe Boot and together they tried to work an old mine claim he owned. But by 1899 the pair found themselves short on cash and decided to rob a stage, though it appears neither had done anything like this before. One account claims they took this desperate measure because Pearl had gotten word that her mother was ill and needed money, though there is little to substantiate this claim. Pearl cut her hair and dressed up like a man. Both armed with revolvers, they stopped a stage running between Florence and Globe at the Cane Springs Canyon watering point. They collected $421 from the three passengers on board. Pearl then reportedly took pity on them and gave them back each $1.00 so they could buy a meal at the next stop. But their lack of experience did them in. They did a poor job of covering their tracks and within six days the law had caught up with them. One account states that they were sleeping when the posses caught up with them and that while Joe surrendered quickly but Pearl tried, unsuccessfully, to fight her way out. Joe and Pearl were locked in the local jail. But the notoriety and attention Pearl received as a female bandit, coupled with the lack of proper facilities, caused the sheriff to throw up his hands and send her to the jail in Tucson. Pearl’s notoriety grew, and she did all she could to fuel it. Her story about her reason for the robbery (her ailing mother) gained her sympathy, and her avowal that she "would never consent to be tried under a law she or her sex had no voice in making, or to which a woman had no power under the law to give her consent" gained her a whole new level of attention. Never one to give up on her options, within a matter of days Pearl had charmed some of the men at the Tucson prison and managed to escape. Unfortunately for her, a New Mexico lawman recognized her and sent her back to the Tucson prison.   Joe Boot was eventually sentenced to 30 years in jail and Pearl to five. Pearl was given the dubious honor of being the first woman incarcerated into the Yuma Territorial Prison. But neither Pearl nor Joe served their full terms. Joe, apparently due to a show of good behavior, was given trustee status. He walked off while working outside the gates less than two years into his term and was never heard from again. Pearl, on the other hand, gained her freedom legitimately, well, sort of. The warden of the jail where Pearl was imprisoned like all the attention she was attracting from the public and the media. He provided her with a roomy 8 x10 cell as well as a small yard which gave her a space to entertain reporters, photographers and other guests. Pearl, who was the only female incarcerated in the facility, was not above using her wiles to play guards and trustees off of each other to improve her situation. In December of 1902, Pearl received a pardon from the governor and was released free and clear. The official reason for the pardon remains unclear, but it was given on condition that she leave the Arizona territory. Pearl herself claimed that she had been invited to play the lead in a play her sister had penned based on her life and this had played into her release. However, a later rumor emerged that she had became pregnant. The governor, wanting to spare the Arizona Territory the embarrassment of explaining how this could possibly have happened while she was imprisoned, pardoned her and set her free. While there is no proof that Pearl ever bore a third child, this doesn’t mean the wily woman didn’t use this as a ploy to secure her freedom. There are varying accounts of what happened to Pearl after she was released. Some say she parlayed her notoriety into a show business career, billing herself as “The Arizona Bandit.” One account says she traveled for a while with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. A less colorful theory is that she married a rancher named Calvin Bywater and settled down into a quite but happier life. If that last is true, then perhaps Pearl got her “happily ever after” after all. Folks who knew Mrs. Bywater described her as “soft spoken, kind, and a good citizen in all respects.” Mrs. Calvin Bywater lived well into her 80s. As I said earlier, there are a number of different accounts of Pearl’s life and this is only one of them. Her exploits have been featured in theater, film and pulp fiction. There was even a musical called The Legend Of Pearl Hart. And while we may never know the full true story of her life, there is no doubt that she lived it on her own terms.   And, as promised I'm doing a giveaway today.  In honor of my upcoming June release, A Baby Between Them, I'm giving away an advanced copy to one person who leaves a comment today.  Here's a little about this book: For two months, Nora Murphy has cared for the abandoned infant she found on their Boston-bound ship.  Settled now in Faith Glen, Nora tells herself she’s happy.  She has little Grace, and a good job as housekeeper to Sheriff Cameron Long.  She doesn’t need anything more - not the big family she always wanted, or Cam’s love...  A traumatic childhood closed Cam off  to any dreams of family life.  Yet somehow his lovely housekeeper and her child have opened his heart again.  When the unthinkable occurs, it will take all their faith to reach a new future together. Now avaiable for pre-order HERE

 

Dorence Atwater and The Death List

The story of Dorence Atwater and the price he paid for the truth

(Read carefully for a chance to win a signed copy of my 3 in 1 June release Sophie's Daughters Trilogy) In Andersonville, Ga, the most notorious Civil War prison of them all led to the deaths of 13,000 Yankee soldiers. There were terrible deprivations in prisons on both sides, but Andersonville became the best known. While doing research for my August release Over the Edge, book #3 of the Kincaid Brides Series, a quiet piece of history in Andersonville caught my attention. The story of Dorence Atwater and the price he paid for the truth. Dorence Atwater was among the first prisoners to be locked up in Andersonville and he was sick when he arrived at the prison and put in the prison hospital. While he was healing it was discovered that he was well educated (for a sixteen year old) and had beautiful handwriting. Dorence was put in charge of the Death List—a list of all the Yankee soldiers who died and where they were buried. Dorence was told to keep two lists. One for the Confederate Army and one to be sent North to the Union Army. Dorence feared that the south wouldn’t send the second list North, especially because of the horrors of Andersonville. So he began a third list and kept it hidden, knowing that he could be hanged for keeping this secret list. He remained in Andersonville for the duration of the war and even with the meager priviledges he received for working for the South, he was gravely ill. He wrote, “People are dying all around me. I can do nothing to save them, but I can let their families know exactly where they are buried--where to put flowers and pray.” He hid the list containing 13,000 names in his laundry bag and smuggled it out through the Confederate lines.

The Confederate army did send a list of all the dead soldiers to the north but there were thousands of names missing and much of the ink was smeared so badly the names were unreadable. Once home he handed the list to his father and immediately fell ill with diphtheria, typhoid and scurvy. Each of these diseases often kill, Dorence had all three. Within a month, Dorence, though thin and frail, was on the mend. He got a telegraph from Washington DC asking him to bring his Death List to them. On the train to the capitol word came that Abraham Lincoln had been shot. Only twenty years old, Dorence got a job as an intern in DC and his list was taken to be published. Except it never was. The men who’d taken the list refused to publish it or return it. Dorence stayed at his job hoping he’d have a chance to retrieve the Death List. Months went by and Dorence heard that Clara Barton was looking for the burial sites of all Civil War soldiers. She’d raised the funds to mark their graves but had no way to locate those graves. Dorence told Clara about the Death List and the two began a life long friendship. Dorence and Clara were receiving thousands of inquiries about loved ones who had not returned. With time the List became old news in Dorence’s office and nothing had yet been done about it; it was available to anyone who worked there. Dorence had only leased the List to the government and the lease was long expired. Dorence took the List since it was the only copy that wasn’t short thousands of names. Clara had already arranged the trip to Andersonville with Dorence for the purpose of putting markers on the graves. President Lincoln had approved this action before his death. Dorence took the Death List and traveled via boat with Barton, and forty-two headboard carvers. Upon discovering Dorence’s original List was missing from Washington, the government clique sent a messenger to Andersonville to bring it back. Dorence "accidentally" handed him the copy that the Confederates had kept so carefully—thousands of names missing, smudged, and generally unusable. The messenger never noticed. He went back to Washington carrying the Confederates’ useless list, while Dorence and Clara guarded the original with their lives. While the courier never noticed, the people who had sent him did. Upon return to Washington D.C., Dorence refused to tell where his List was. He’d hidden it at the house of Clara Barton. Dorence was given a choice to either tell them where the List was or be court martialed. When he refused to reveal it’s location he was put in ankle chains and marched through town to Old Capitol, a prison which housed the worst criminals. Atwater was placed under arrest and immediately taken to be court martialed. He was given twenty minutes, no defense, a dishonorable discharge and a life sentence. Clara Barton, knowing Dorence’s health was still fragile, knew he wouldn’t last even a month in prison. She consulted President Andrew Johnson who gave Dorence a full pardon and Johnson, impressed with Dorence’s will to stand up for what he believed was right, named him an Ambassador. He ultimately ended up in Tahiti and married a Tahitian princess. Dorence struggled with frail health for the rest of his life. During a trip back to America, while in San Francisco, he was caught in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1908. Dorence and his wife survived but the Death List did not. Dorence had kept his copy of the List with him at all times for the rest of his life. In the fire that resulted from the earthquake the official, carefully preserved List was burned. Dorence never regained his health enough to leave San Francisco, though he and his wife made plans to return to Tahiti several times. He died in San Francisco at age 65 in 1910.

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Leave  a comment to get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of Sophie's Daughters Trilogy containing three books in one. Doctor in Petticoats, Wrangler in Petticoats and Sharpshooter in Petticoats. Or Click to Buy

http://www.maryconnealy.com

  I'm not much of a TV watcher and until GRIMM started this year (coolest paranormal series), I never watched any particular show on a regular basis. But my hubby makes up for my lack of tube time, recording a ton of shows all day, every day, to watch at his leisure. Tonight he was watching a backyard make-over show (he's been building this massive patio structure in our backyard for the past two years--almost done!) when the words "frontier", "pioneer", and" reality show" drew my attention away from my computer screen. I had the hubby rewind the commercial (gotta love satellite TV) so I could get all the details. Don't know how many of y'all get the DiY (Do it Yourself) Network channel, but if you do, you gotta check out this show! Frontier House airs this Sunday. Three modern families are dropped in the Montana wilderness. Together they build cabins, raise livestock and form a strong, yet dysfunctional community. I don't know if there will be more than the four episodes listed on the DiY website. THE JOURNEY BEGINS:  (May 6)  Three families are chosen for one of the most extreme sociological experiments captured on film. They will shed their modern lives and step back in time to the Montana Frontier, circa 1883. Shock sets in as the pioneers start their journey. PROMISED LAND:  (May 13)  After a tough trip back in time, the homesteaders arrive at Frontier Valley. The harshness of their new reality sets in. First task: building shelters. Daily chores test their will and character while stormy weather and personalities clash. CRACKING UNDER PRESSURE:  (May 20)  Rumors fly about how some of our homesteaders have snuck in modern supplies, causing tensions to rise in already-strained relationships. Focus shifts from shelter to food as worries of starvation overshadow life on the frontier. A rare summer snow storm wreaks havoc on Frontier Valley. FAMILY AFFAIR:  (May 27)  The children steal the spotlight, as they prove to be valuable resources for survival on the frontier. The pioneers realize they are not alone in the Valley. Lions, coyotes and bears make their presence known. The show kicks off this Sunday night. I'm so glad for that recording feature on our TV because my baby boy turns 17 this Sunday and we're christening that new patio structure that has soaked up so much of my hubby's blood, sweat and tears. As I'm in the midst of building my fictional town for a new series, I'm really looking forward to this visual glimpse into the past.  I recall a show similar to this on PBS six or seven years ago where three families were dropped off in Montana wilderness for three months and had to build houses and start storing up food and supplies for winter. Historians graded their progress at the end and proclaimed they all would have frozen or starved to death before spring. A lot of insight can be gleaned from watching these re-enactments. Though I mostly recall the cold storage box they had tied to a dock to keep milk and butter cold, and how their stockings were hard and crunchy in the morning and they beat them against a chair or something to soften them up before putting them on. I have yet to incorporate crunchy stockings into a romance novel ;-) I have a feeling this show is going to reinforce my appreciation for the comforts of modern times.    

  The frontier army post must've been a busy place with soldiers coming and going, marching and saluting. But it wasn't only men who lived on the post. There were officers' wives and children. And a known fact is that up until 1878 the army hired laundresses, or washerwomen as some called them. They traveled with the soldiers in an official capacity and had free access to the army doctors and surgeons. In fact, they were the only women the army recognized and supported. To get hired, a laundress had to pass several hurdles. They had to have a certificate of good character from headquarters before they could assume duty and they had to be free of disease. Once they passed, these women were issued a tent, bedding straw, a hatchet, a large wash tub and two mess pans. Each day they received a ration of meat, bread and whiskey. The whiskey might sound odd but it was issued to remove stains. *wink, wink*  I'm betting more than a few drank it after a hard day of scrubbing clothes over a fire. It was backbreaking work. Each company was issued three or four laundresses. That averaged one for every 15-17 men. That's a lot of clothes for one person to wash. The women were lodged together on what was called Soap Suds Row. Their tents were often tattered and in disrepair. If a laundress married a soldier, which happened pretty frequently, he lived with her here. A laundress's work was extremely hard. She rose before dawn and chopped wood and hauled water. She often heated as much as 50 gallons of water a day in several tubs for soaking, scrubbing, and rinsing. Boiling was the final process (to kill lice, ticks, and fleas) before being hung up to dry. Lye soap was the only kind available to them and that plus the hot water made their hands crack and bleed. She used a rub board to scrub the clothes on and that too was unkind to hands. If a soldier wanted his clothes ironed that cost extra. Laundresses also did mending, sewed on buttons, and applied bluing to the final rinse to offset the yellowish tinge that light-colored clothing acquired from repeated washings. But, laundresses were paid well. An average soldier paid $1 to $4 a month, depending on his rank. So, while an average soldier might draw $13 a month, a hard-working laundress could make up to $40 or over. Not bad. At least it was better than other things. And they didn't have to be worried that the soldier wouldn't pay them because the army deducted it from the men's pay before they even got it. While some were soundly criticized for drunkenness and loose morals, the majority were honest, hard-working, kindhearted women who made a living doing a difficult job. It's strange that in light of the crucial service these women provided they were considered at the bottom of the social ladder. Maybe that was due in part to the fact that few could read or write. I'd like to read some accounts of their lives but little is known. More's the pity. Diaries and journals recording their experiences would've made for interesting reading. When I was a little girl, my mother who was uneducated took in washing and ironing to help make ends meet. I watched her slave, on her feet all day, to make a few dollars. I can't remember what she charged to wash the clothes, but I remember she got paid 50 cents a dozen to iron them. I still remember the smell of that starch and the freshly pressed clothes hanging all over the house. Do you have recollections of someone you know doing this? * * * Visit me at www.LindaBroday.com On Facebook: www.facebook.com/linda.broday1 On Twitter: http://twitter.com/lbroday

  Hello Everyone. I'm western historical romance author Julie Lence. This is my first time blogging on Petticoats and Pistols and I'd like to thank the Fillies for having me. When I asked Linda what I should write about, she suggested I write about something that was in one of my stories, such as a boardinghouse. That got me to thinking about many of the authentic things I have in my stories and how research has played an important role in this, so I decided to write about specific things I've researched for each of my books. Luck of the Draw is my first published work. I began writing the story back in the early 90's when I didn't know a thing about writing. Through the years I added and deleted scenes and always wondered if what I was writing made sense and was true to the timeframe. I decided to have the book professionally edited and found someone to work with. She went page by page editing everything; spelling, punctuation, dialogue and plot. Finally, she asked me a question that pertained to the timeframe of the story: was chocolate readily available in the west in the 1860? As an avid reader of western romance, I'd read about characters feasting on chocolate cake, so I'd always assumed chocolate was available back then. But I didn't know for sure, so chocolate became my first research topic. I didn't have the internet at this time, so I relied on books from the library. I learned a lot about the cacao bean and how it made its way around the world, eventually landing in Europe where folks enjoyed a hot chocolaty drink that we know today as hot cocoa. Eventually, Europeans brought the cacao bean to the United States and powdered chocolate was sold in small tins in mercantiles. Americans enjoyed the hot chocolaty drink, too, and also used the powdered cocoa to make chocolate cake. Needless to say, I was happy about that.                         My second work is Lady Luck. The bulk of the story takes place in a gaming hall on San Francisco's Barbary Coast. I wanted my story to be as true to that timeframe  and location as possible, but again, I didn't have the internet. Back to the library I went. My research led to a small cove along the water. Yerba Buena Cove and the ships that were permanently dry docked in the cove were being filled in with sand and businesses were being built on top of them. I thought this was a fascinating piece of history and included it in the story, but more fascinating were the ships themselves. I had to have one for my gaming hall, so I took liberty and moved my ship to the Barbary Coast, hoping the Barbary and Yerba Buena Cove were close in location to each other. Later, when the hubby had the internet connected to the home computer, I found some street maps of 1860 San Francisco and was happy to discover the liberties I took were true. The Barbary Coast and Yerba Buena Cove were not far from each, and they were on the same stretch of coastline. Luck of the Draw and Lady Luck are part of a series about the Weston brothers, cowboys making a living raising beef and breaking horses on the family ranch. In the third story, No Luck At All, the hero is a cowboy at heart, but he's also a doctor. I wanted Creel to attend medical school in Boston and to meet and marry a Boston socialite, because his mother was a Boston socialite and she played an important role in the first two books. I wrote the story, way back when and shelved it for when I could go back to it and make it better. When I did, that little research bug kicked in and I was back on the internet. I had to prove to myself and to my readers that it was indeed possible for Creel to attend college and medical school in Boston so he could meet and fall in love with his Boston socialite. The internet opened up a whole new world to me; histories of schools and colleges and discoveries made in the medical profession. Creel was able to obtain his education and medical degree at Massachusetts General, which was also connected to Harvard. Today the two schools are one. I also happened upon the discovery of ether and how to apply it to a patient. I'm not one for blood, guts and gore, but this was another fascinating piece of information I had to incorporate into the story, thus the scene where Bob is attacked by a mountain lion was born and Creel's talent as a doctor shined. My love for the old west doesn't stop at cowboys. Outlaws played an important role back then and I had one from my first two books in desperate need of his own story. Buck is ornery and temperamental and had always escaped the law in his looting, raiding and shooting, until now. He was also in need of a good eye-opener as to why he should settle down with the woman he loves and what better reason could there be than having been sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, with a sentence to be hung. I'd figured out his escape, but the prison itself kept bugging me. Or rather, what prison could I place him in. Since his story, Zanna's Outlaw, takes place in Texas, I wanted him somewhere close to that state. My first thought was Yuma, but Yuma didn't exist yet, so-you guessed it. Back to the internet I went, and found Huntsville State Penitentiary in Texas. There wasn't a lot of information on the prison, at least not what I wanted to know and that was what did it actually look like on the inside? Again, I had to take liberty with some things, but the nickname for the prison, 'The Walls', and the bell tower and the fact the prisoners seeded cotton is true. The prison is still in existence, and if I ever get to Texas, I would love to take a tour. Lydia's Gunslinger is my current release. This book didn't require much research, as it takes place in the same town as Zanna's Outlaw. One establishment that is linked to both stories is Miller's Saloon. The inside of Miller's wasn't important since there are numerous photos on the internet of old western saloons, but I wanted to know how easy it was for Miller to keep his saloon stocked, especially in a nowhere town such as Revolving Point. I researched the origins of beer and learned so much, from original breweries, to methods of transportation, to the birth of the beer glass, to brewery owners striking deals with saloon owners to only stock their beer that I couldn't possibly mention everything. In the end, I decided to leave Miller and his saloon alone and garnered from my research that beer wagons went far and wide to keep saloons well-stocked. Research had never held much of an interest for me until I began writing. Now, I could spend all day on the internet chasing down the smallest detail. Life back in the 1800's was hard, but it was also fascinating. And I enjoy proving what I think is true as much as I enjoy learning about new things, like Yerba Buena Cove in Lady Luck. And what color uniforms the police officers wore in 1860 San Francisco. To read an excerpt from any of my books, please visit my website at: www.julielence.com.  One lucky visitor to Petticoats and Pistols today will receive a free download of No Luck At All. Have a great day everyone and thank you for reading. I always enjoy talking about the west!

Writing books is a funny way to pass the time really. Sitting around, makin’ stuff up. Alone. So very, very alone!

Honestly if someone finds they just can’t write a book, even if they’d kind of LIKE to do it, just don’t feel bad. It’s not a very normal way to pass the time. So I want to share with you this little JAZZY moment in my writing life last week. And I deeply and profoundly suspect it’ll sound weird to a non-writer. So, about … two years ago, TWO YEARS! I was writing my book Out of Control and I have this accident in a cavern and one of three young boys is badly hurt, so badly hurt in fact that it brings an already very emotionally unhealthy set of parents to the breaking point. The three boys each blame themselves for the accident and ultimately for the end of their family. So follow the bouncing ball here. I’m trying to make that badly hurt little boy, with his awful burn scars, a crazy man as an adult. He has nightmares. He thinks wolves and fire talk to him. He heard the cavern (where he was injured) calling to him to come down where it’s quiet, where he can think, where he can be at peace. He’s not crazy all the time, you understand. Mostly Seth Kincaid functions pretty well. But he has his MOMENTS. So, to up the ante, I also had him fight in the Civil War and be imprisoned in Andersonville prison and be wounded, shot in the back. More scars for poor Seth. Emotional and physical scars. So I wanted him in prison for a while, this is all back story, NOT important. This is the kind of thing an author will read and read and read about and end up with one half of one sentence. In Out of Control, Book #1 in the series, starring big brother Rafe Kincaid, Andersonville is barely mentioned but I did a lot of reading, mainly with a goal of knowing when it opened and closed so poor confused Seth isn’t claiming to be in a prison camp that was closed before he got there. I spend about four hours reading…and I got the info I needed in the first three minutes. But I was interested. A bit more was talked about in In Too Deep, Ethan Kincaid’s story…which released last month.

Seth’s story, coming in August, Over the Edge, all that research into Andersonville is a bit more about it, but really, like I said, it’s not important. Much.

But then in my reading I hit this story about what went on in Andersonville that included talk of a group of bad guys called the Raiders and a group of good guys called the Regulators. In some twisted fashion I got a new series idea from that research. So how can my hours have been wasted, huh? Then last week, I’m working on book #2 of this new series, which we’re calling Trouble in Texas. (I wanted to call it The Regulators, but someone thought that sounded like a…ahem … let’s say … digestive aid. Or possibly like the guy who comes to fix your furnace) So we’re calling it Trouble in Texas and in book #1, Swept Away, I’ve alluded to some haunting TROUBLE in the past of a secondary character in book #1 who becomes the heroine of book #2. Even as I alluded to that TROUBLE I knew I had no idea what that trouble was. So then, I’m typing away on the troubled heroine's book, still wondering what that trouble might be and suddenly it HIT ME. This little passing sentence that I remember reading and wondering about two years ago sprang into the forefront of my brain. AND. I. HAD. IT. And it was PERFECT. A perfect thing to keep her and the hero apart. Her bad choice that drove her to a life she had to be rescued from and now her past might be catching up to her to ruin her chance at TRUE LOVE. And THAT is the wonderful, aha, yippee, eureka, moment writers love. Hang on tight, this is gonna be FUN. (At least for me!)

http://www.maryconnealy.com

Did you know that, without Eli Whitney, extraordinary mechanical engineer and inventor of the cotton gin, there would be no Colt “Walker” revolvers. In fact, there’d probably be no Colt firearms at all. From a young age, Whitney showed an amazing aptitude for all things mechanical. That’s how he paid for his Yale education--by fixing machines. After graduation, he planned to teach in order to pay for law school. Instead, he ended up working for the widow of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Green, fixing things on her Georgia plantation and creating a mechanized way to remove the seeds from cotton--the cotton gin for which he is so famous. Because of widespread pirating of his design and the costly court battles to protect his patent, Whitney never profited from his invention. Discouraged, Whitney turned his amazing mind to the manufacture of firearms, specifically muskets. Up until Whitney, muskets were hand-crafted, made one at a time, each weapon totally unique. That meant if something broke in a gun, the replacement parts had to be handmade to fit that gun. Whitney invented the method by which gun parts were so precisely made that they were interchangeable–and could be mass-produced. In a demonstration to prove the interchangeability of the gun parts he manufactured, Whitney is said to have put the parts needed to build ten muskets into a pile. When government officials were successful, Whitney, and arms manufacturing, would never be the same. Whitney is credited with pioneering the assembly production line. In 1841, Whitney Arms Company was placed under the control of Eli Whitney, Jr. Arms making was a competitive business in the United States in the 1840s and success required both technological efficiency and strong entrepreneurial instincts. With the rapid westward movement of the population in the 1830s, the market for firearms grew, a demand which couldn’t be supplied by gun-smiths—craftsmen--who operated on a small scale. In addition, the rise of the urban middle classes in the great eastern cities meant a market was developing for sporting arms, guns used for target-shooting and hunting. In the 1830s, Samuel Colt had tried his hand at manufacturing, producing around 3000 of his new revolver-style handgun before creditors shut down the Patent Arms Company. Though he lost his factory, Colt still controlled his patents and, in 1846, succeeded in selling a contract for 1,000 revolvers to Captain Samuel H. Walker of the Texas Rangers. Having only six months to deliver on the contract and no factory in which to build them, Colt turned to Eli Whitney, Jr. On July 7, 1843, Colt and Whitney concluded a contract for the production of the Whitneyville Colt—a weapon that would revolutionize the handgun and become famous as the Colt “Walker.”

Tomorrow will be Valentine’s Day.  For many folks that means roses and heart-shaped cards inscribed with sweet sentiments.  Not me.  I go for the good stuff...chocolate! Humankind’s love affair with chocolate goes way back.  In the early 1500’s, the first Spanish conquistadores to arrive in Mexico discovered the Aztecs enjoying chocolate as a beverage.  They called it the drink of the gods—they had the right idea.  But today I want to tell you about the chocolate that became part of Western history. Domenico Ghirardelli was born in Italy in 1817.  His merchant father apprenticed his son to a confectioner and spice importer.  At the age of 20, Domenico moved to South America, changed his name to Domingo and went into business for himself.  In Peru he opened a chocolate shop next door to an American piano maker named James Lick.  Lick decided to leave Peru for California, arriving in San Francisco on January 11, 1848, just 13 days before gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill. Lick had brought with him 600 pounds of Ghirardelli’s chocolate.  Soon he wrote Ghirardelli that he’d sold all the chocolate and there was a big demand for more.  Ghirardelli packed up and followed his friend to San Francisco. Arriving in 1849, he prospected a while, then owned a general store.  In 1852 he opened his confectionery now known as the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.  Early business was up and down, but by 1885 the company was importing 450,000 pounds of cocoa beans a year, as well as grinding spices and selling coffee, wine and liquor. Chocolate was the mainstay of the business.  The equipment to process the cocoa beans took up so much space that the business needed bigger quarters.  After Ghirardelli retired in 1892, his sons purchased the square block in San Francisco presently known as Ghirardelli Square.  Luckily it survived the 1906 earthquake and fire.  It remains a major tourist attraction today, even though the chocolates are now made at a modern factory in San Leandro. There’s no reference to chocolate in my March 2012 historical, THE LAWMAN’S VOW.  But it does take place in northern California at the time Mr. Ghirardelli was starting up his business.  Another connection—I fuel my writing brain by nibbling Ghirardelli’s bittersweet chocolate chips, so there’s a bit of Ghirardelli chocolate in every line of the book. Here’s a blurb for you. A MAN WITH A MISSION... San Francisco Lawman Flynn O’Rourke swore he’d bring his sister’s killer to justice.  So when suspect Aaron Cragun is identified, Flynn will do anything, even rent a boat and sail to Cragun’s remote home to find him.  But Flynn doesn’t anticipate the storm that wrecks his boat, the injury that erases his memory...or the beautiful woman who rescues him. Sweet Sylvie is loving and kind—and Aaron Cragun’s daughter.  As Flynn’s memory returns, will the lawman keep his vow or allow himself to fall for the one woman forbidden to him?    What’s your favorite kind of chocolate?  Today’s posts will be entered in a drawing for an autographed copy of THE LAWMAN’S VOW, and a special treat from Mr. Ghirardelli’s establishment.

I want to welcome my good friend Paisley Kirkpatrick to Wildflower Junction. Paisley is one of the first writers I met when starting on my quest for publication and has become a beloved friend and critique partner :) I'm thrilled to say her first western historical NIGHT ANGEL will be hitting bookstores this August, with many more to follow in her Paradise Pines western series. She's graciously agreed to fill in for me today and tonight we will give away reader's-choice of my e-books to one comment poster ~Stacey Kayne       My Mother gave me a great gift -- five, three-inch binders full of the history of my family. Apparently I come from a group with a colorful past and have used some of their activities in my stories. She often spoke of the ranch at La Honda and I treasure some items that belonged to my grandfather while he lived there. When I first started blogging, I found this great story and love to share it with others.   The following accounting was obtained from Roscoe Wyatt, Oscar John and Walter Ray.  Oscar and Walter both remember the Younger brothers in person.  Wyatt was a conscientious historian.  Personal interviews included two of my family members:  Emma John Weeks and Percy Weeks.  Oscar John (87 at the time of the interview) worked on the Bandit Built Store.  He knew the Younger brothers from when they hid out on his La Honda ranch.     Among the men hired to build John Sears’ store, referred to as the ‘Bandit-Built Store’ in 1877 were the Younger brothers from Forsyth, Kansas.   At that time no one in La Honda, CA, knew them as the Younger brothers, because they were posing as cousins to Oscar John and Walter Ray.  Jim Younger actually lived behind the Redwood City Court House for one year using the name of Joe Hardin.   [caption id="attachment_30047" align="alignleft" width="191" caption="Three Younger brothers and their sister"][/caption] Cole, Jim, Bob and John Younger lived in Forsyth, Kansas on their father’s ranch in May, 1861, when the Civil War broke out.  Cole, the youngest son, joined the Confederate Army and became a colonel.  In November of that year, a short leave gave him a chance to visit his parents.  As he approached the ranch, he found the place engulfed in flames.  A band of Union troops and local Northern sympathizers reached the ranch before him and stole all of the stock before burning the grain, corn, and feed.  They also threw his youngest sister, who suffered from tuberculosis, out on the cold ground, causing her death.  When their father discovered what had happened and put up a fight, they hung him from a tree on the ranch.  This left their mother, oldest sister, Molly, and three younger brothers homeless.   Within hours Cole, along with a friend, organized local Southern sympathizers and within a few hours they started wiping out their enemies.  It’s reported that Cole alone killed one hundred men that he knew had something to do with his father’s and sister’s death.  By the end of the war, Cole had a price on his head for desertion, killing for revenge, and a long list of other charges.  He left his family in the care of his cousin, John Jarret’s parents.  He, John Jarret and a few friends left for California where they hoped to find sanctuary at his uncle’s ranch in San Jose, but ended up using a ranch in La Honda as their hideout.   Oscar John and his stepfather met the gang as they rode onto the ranch.  Oscar was ten years old at the time.  He recalls unsaddling ten horses.  Everyone but Cole Younger and John Jarret left the ranch.  They helped build the lakeside Ray ranch into a large two-story building.  Cole and John traveled back to Kansas in order to bring the rest of their family west.  They learned their mother had died and that Jim and Bob Younger had been accomplices to the James gang robberies.  Cole was convinced the Ray ranch was the best place for the remainder of his family until everything blew over.   They arrived back in La Honda August, 1876, when big changes were happening.   A new sawmill belonging to R.J. Weeks (my ancestor) opened and John Sears just started clearing an old bear pit site for his store and hotel.  At last luck was with the Younger family.  Oscar John talked John Sears into hiring his cousins from the east, no questions asked.  The three brothers and John Jarret went to work on the store.  Oscar John recalls seeing Cole shingling the roof of the store.  When the store was finished, the men returned to the Ray ranch to work the harvest.   John Jarret spent that season at the Ray ranch, one season in Redwood City and then went back east.  He returned the next year and started work on my family’s ranch.  While he was there, he married Molly Younger, thereby becoming Cole’s brother-in-law as well as cousin.   The James Brothers were planning to rob the Northfield Bank in Minnesota.  They couldn’t pull the job by themselves and no longer trusted their gang.  They sent a message to Cole by a man named Giles.  Since the Youngers knew Northfield, they expected them to participate in the robbery.  Frank and Jesse James sent a message stating that if the Youngers refused to come, they would have them exposed to the law.  Cole decided to participate to save his sister and brother-in-law.  He left a rare set of pearl handled pistols with Jarret at the Weeks Ranch.  He realized if he got caught with them, they’d be a dead giveaway as to his identity.   [caption id="attachment_30048" align="alignleft" width="204" caption="Cole Younger Gang"][/caption] Cole had an agreement with Jesse James that this bank robbery would be their last appearance in the mid-west.  Jesse assured Cole that after this job, they would never have to worry about money again.   Unfortunately, the robbery went wrong.  During their escape Jim Younger was shot in the jaw.  Jesse wanted to kill Jim because it would hinder to their escape.  Cole absolutely refused.  So, while Jim lay bleeding in a wet creek bottom, the James brothers made a clean getaway.  The Younger brothers gave themselves up to the law to save Jim from bleeding to death.  Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were sentenced to serve terms in the Minnesota Penitentiary.   When John Jarret learned what had happened to his brothers-in-law, he happened to be working away from the Weeks ranch and only coming home on the weekends.   Giles showed up at the ranch with a forged note from Cole.  Molly wasn’t home so he gave the note to their housekeeper.  It was written to Molly and asked that she give Giles the two rare guns.  The note stated that Cole’s prison term was just about up and that he wanted to sell the guns so he could get a new start in life.  The housekeeper, remembering Giles from his first trip, thought he was on the level and handed over the guns.  Jarret, for some unknown reason, came home that night and found Giles there with the guns in his possession.  After he read the letter, he knew it was forged because Cole always wrote in of care of him, not Molly.  Giles confessed that he had a chance to sell the guns to an Illinois museum.   Jim Bartley, La Honda rancher and teamster, visited the Younger brothers at the Northfield, Minnesota Penitentiary.  He learned that an old sweetheart of Jim Younger visited him regularly.  She promised to marry him when he got out of prison.  Jim looked forward to that day, planning once more to start life anew.  However, the woman turned him down when he got out.  His heart was broken.  Having nothing to live for, he rented a room at a cheap boarding house and shot himself through the head.   Cole and Bob dropped into obscurity after serving their terms.   There was a lot of unjustified killing and bad deeds that happened during the Civil War. I know what the brothers did was not right, but maybe they thought it was the only way to get justice. I don't know how I would have reacted if I'd come upon the slaughter of my family members. It was a rough time in our history. Do you think they overreacted or that maybe hunting down the killers was justified?

 

You might be a writer if…… You might be a writer if….You pick up a mastodon tooth and write a whole story in your head in 10 seconds. You might be a writer if….you walk down a street in a historical village and imagine being pursued by killers and time traveling into the past. You might be a writer if….a woman in a museum starts talking about laundry in the 1870s and you’re riveted. You might be a writer if….you saw the end of the Sixth Sense coming. You might be a writer if….your children’s baby books are covered with writing and have almost no pictures. [caption id="attachment_29809" align="alignleft" width="155" caption="In Too Deep releases TODAY"][/caption] You might be a writer if….you take a tour of Carlsbad Cavern and are mentally transported back in time to the first guy who ever saw the place. And thirty four years later, you still remember that moment of being transported so vividly you write a series of romance novels about it. My one and only trip to Carlsbad Cavern was about 34 years ago. I didn’t write my first book for sixteen years. But when I did, I had a LOT of ideas, this was one of them. What would it have been like to be the first person to go into that cavern? When we walked through Carlsbad there was a nice sturdy fence, roping off all the dangerous pits. There were lights everywhere and we could see the beauty and easily avoid the danger. But what if you’d gone in there with no idea what it was? What if you’d seen bats fly up out of a hole in the ground and went to look for where they’d come from and found a deep, black hole? What if you were curious, as was Jim White, the first man on record as being in Carlsbad Cavern, and you got a long rope and lowered yourself down? There are bottomless pits…okay, they probably have a bottom eventually, but I suspect the bottom is way, way, way too far down to be anything but deadly. It’s pitch black. There are beautiful things—stunningly beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. Water dripping, building those rock formations. You’d be drawn by the glimpses of beauty. Your only light is a lantern or a handmade torch or a candle. You'd be fascinated and, if you weren’t really careful, you’d be dead in no time. When I walked through Carlsbad Cavern, long before I’d ever thought of writing a book, I was writing a book. And it stayed with me until finally it was time. I fictionalized the cavern because the true history of Carlsbad is so well known I couldn’t be faithful to it. [caption id="attachment_25507" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="In Bookstores Now"][/caption] Three little boys find a cavern on their remote Colorado ranch. Three boys close in age, all adventurous. All tough little guys without parents watching them very close. The brothers stick together. They imagined themselves as a team, three brothers against the world. And then disaster strikes. One of them is terribly hurt. Their parents can’t stand the strain of their boy's devastating burns and his screaming nightmares that will not end. Their family is torn apart. Ethan blames himself and he can’t bear the pain of what he caused. He left home the minute he was old enough. Now he’s back after years of lonely wandering. And though he’s sworn to never go near that cavern again, he’s found that his life may depend on finding the courage to face that dark pit. In Out of Control—Book One of The Kincaid Brides Series—I told Rafe’s story. [caption id="attachment_29926" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Coming in August"][/caption] Now it’s time for Book Two, In Too Deep. Ethan Kincaid and Audra Gilliland. A marriage of convenience between two easy going people. They should have rubbed along happily together for years. Except unexpected passion surprises them both. And unexpected danger draws them both into that deadly, beautiful cave. Coming in August is Seth's story. Over the Edge, available for preorder now. The crazy man who turns out to have some crazy things in his past that are catching up to him. To get your name in a drawing for a signed copy of In Too Deep, tell me the best vacation--or adventure--you’ve ever taken.

Or buy In Too Deep on Amazon

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http://www.maryconnealy.com