*** Session 05 - Scene 3 (of 9) ***

Tex leads the others to the nearest saloon to get a drink, finding an Indian-friendly one called “Chief’s Bar and Grill”. Coltrane wonders if it is friendly to White people when he sees the older Indian bartender, but sees the sign above the bar says only, “No Chinamen!”

At the bar, Tex orders six whiskeys and beer chasers. Franklin says he’ll have six as well, not realizing Tex was ordering for the whole table. Earl jokes with the bar maid just one for him.

Once they get their pile of thirteen whiskey and beers (the baker’s dozen). Getting drunk, Franklin gives the Indian bartender an eye. He wonders if they should send over Squantum to talk with him since all the Indians are basically the same. Squantum notes the man is not of his tribe and it doesn’t work that way.

After a while, a man comes over to the table and asks who has the stagecoach parked outside. Franklin, quite drunk by this point, tells him it is none of his damned business. The man tells him there is no reason to get surly.

Tex tries to talk to the man but a belligerent Franklin keeps insulting the man. The man, in turn, tells Franklin (calling him “baldy”) that someone needs to teach him some manners.

Squantum grabs a chair and swings it at the man, defending his friend. His injured shoulder makes it difficult and he gets only a glancing blow.

Before anything gets too bad, the bartender gets out a shotgun from behind the counter and tells everyone to calm down. Franklin immediately sits back down and sips his whiskey, muttering under his breath. The older Indian looks at Squantum with disappointment, saying he expects that behavior from a White man but that he should know better.

The other man leaves in disgust. Coltrane follows the man out, worried he might do something to their stagecoach. The man doesn’t steal the stagecoach as Coltrane feared, but he does appear to be urinating on it.

He goes back in and tells the others. Franklin says something about “I would have done that.” No one is too worried about it so Coltrane yells at the man until he takes off. Earl tells him good job.

Tex goes to sit at the bar. The bartender asks what’s wrong with his friend. Tex says there is not enough time in the day, but says his companions are a bit shell-shocked from being shot so many times.

The discussion then turns to ways to make money in town. The bartender, calling himself “Chief” Mattawa, says the town is mostly a farming community but has been hit hard lately by the bandit activity.

Mattawa says to make things worse, the two town marshals, Anthony Beminio and Justin Martin, were ambushed and killed that morning. Tex asks what happened, and Mattawa explains they were killed by a crazy inbred mountain man named Steven Mathew Redd.

According to Chief, the crazy bastard went back up to his shack in the hills after the killings. The court has put a bounty of a thousand dollars on him, but no one has gone after him yet.

Tex asks who is the town marshal now. Chief explains there currently isn’t one – the head marshal was killed during the bandit raid which is why the sick fuck came in to town and killed the other two as part of some insane revenge scheme he had for imagined transgressions. With the cavalry having already left to pursue the remaining bandits, the town has no one working as the law.

Smelling the opportunity, Tex decides his group should go after him. He asks Chief about where the man lives. He says the man is one of those rough-looking crazy types who live in a shack up in the hills. Tex, looking over at Earl, says he knows the type.

Chief draws Tex a map of where the worthless excuse of a human being lives on his dirty handkerchief. Tex thanks him, then asks if there is any “smoking weed” he has that they can give the Indian (referring to Squantum) to mellow him out.

The bartender says he doesn’t imbibe such substances, but says there is a man named Manuel, and his sister Maria, who live on the south side of town and could furnish him with a calming sort of tobacco. Tex takes note of where that house is located too, convinced the Indian needs to mellow out.

Tex gets another round of drinks and heads back over to the others. Franklin quickly takes the drinks while Tex talks about the absolute pathetic shitbag excuse of a person they intend to go hunt down.

Earl notes if they are hunting people he’d like a better rifle. Franklin, double-fisting a couple more drinks, agrees he wants one as well.

*** Session 05 - Scene 4 (of 9) ***

Leaving the bar, they see the main stores in town appear to be Denny's Grocery and Thrift, a quilt store, and Ramm's Hardware. Tex tells the others he needs to go pick something else up and says they should go to the hardware store.

While Tex buys a bag of special tobacco from Manuel across town, Franklin, Earl, and Coltrane go to the hardware store. Franklin and Earl buy a couple of rifles from the owner, Dale Ramm, while Coltrane purchases a knife (which Ramm assures him was one used at the Alamo).

Annie decides to take a nap in the stagecoach while Squantum plays a song on his harmonica on the street, hoping to get some money.

As Squantum is playing his song, which he calls "Circle of Flames" he spots a man in an iron mask walking across the street towards the Wheatland Bank. The Indian quickly takes out his rifle, takes careful aim, and fires.

Unfortunately, Squantum's injury prevents him from hitting. Iron Mask notices the Indian and starts heading towards him.

Inside the stagecoach, Annie wakes up at the sound of gunfire. She heads to the window and sees Iron Mask heading for Squantum. She goes to grab her gun.

Iron Mask exchanges some shots with Squantum, but neither hits. He slowly continues his advance.

Annie's shot takes Iron Mask right through the leg. He stumbles and falls to one knee. Squantum runs up to hack at the man with his tomahawk but it bounces off of the iron mask.

Iron Mask tries to shoot Squantum with his pistol, but the Indian gets a second swing in before he has a chance, severing the man's throat where the plate doesn't protect him.

Squantum takes off the metal plate strapped to his face and proceeds to hack the man's head completely off.

*** Session 05 - Scene 5 (of 9) ***

By the time Tex arrives, Squantum has stripped the body and put it and the head in a compromising position while a shocked crowd stares on.

The Indian takes the iron mask and the metal plate the man also strapped to his chest as trophies. He also checks through the man’s possessions, finding little else but his pistol and a yo-yo.

The town mayor, a man named Dimitri, arrives and asks what is going on. Tex explains the Indian has killed Iron Mask and the denigration of the corpse is because of his hatred for men in iron masks. Tex asks Dimitri about claiming the bounty.

Squantum comes over and explains the man was on his way to rob the bank after attempting to rape young children. Dimitri notes he has not heard any stories about Iron Mask related to children. Tex says they are not good stories so no one would repeat them.

Seeing Tex, Annie, and Squantum, Dimitri asks Tex if they three are wanting the reward. Tex admits Annie and Squantum did all of the work. The man is confused why Tex would have a woman and an Indian do all his work for him. Tex says he was busy with other matters at the time.

Dimitri takes them over to the local magistrate’s office. He says he can sign as a witness, stating he is a very important man in town as he is a notary public.

Tex (falsely) claims that Squantum can’t read too well so he may need to read and sign the papers for him, and help him count the money. Dimitri says in the town they like the Indians, as they remind them of the “hill people” in Siberia (referring to the Samoyed peoples of the Ural Mountains).

Dimitri tells Tex they need new marshals in town and tells him they should consider being the new marshals. Tex tells the man they heard about the recent deaths and were very upset by the news as they are very honest folk so they were planning to hunt the man down. Dimitri says the attacker is, as they say in the English, a “miserable worthless bastard”.

When asked if they will take the job, Squantum says he is too busy earning money for steamship. Dimitri says it pays twenty dollars a week and Squantum says he’ll take the job. The mayor says the head marshal must be a White man. Tex agrees to take the job as it pays thirty dollars a week.

Dimitri has the magistrate swear them in as town marshals and assigns them to go out and bring the miserable worthless bastard to justice. He pins the badges on them, wiping off the blood of the old marshals first.

Afterwards, Tex gives Squantum his gift of the special tobacco weed, but the Indian isn’t interested. Since this particular herb is only usually used by Blacks and Mexicans, Tex decides he will hold on to it for later in case Squantum changes his mind.

*** Session 05 - Scene 6 (of 9) ***

Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin meet up with the others later. Seeing the badges, Franklin wants to know what is up.

Tex tells him they are the new marshals. Franklin and Earl both express their disbelief anyone would make Tex, Annie, and Squantum marshals.

Franklin wonders if they killed the marshals and took the badges off of the bodies. Tex tells him they were hired for ten dollars a week. Earl says they must have really been desperate. Squantum says, “Like you and that goat…”

After explaining the new state of the world to Franklin and the others, they notice a nude body with its head separated being carried over to the undertaker’s.

Seeing a mutilated dead body in a compromising position, Franklin asks Squantum what he did. Squantum says he closed down crime in this town.
Tex says the good thing is they are now the law in town and can collect the thousand dollar bounty for Redd. Earl notes they would have gotten that before, but Tex says now it’s legal.

Earl is willing to stick around for the reward, but after that he wants to head back to Quebrada Cruz to check on Jane. Franklin and Annie don’t want to stay in Odessa either.

Tex tells them all to get their supplies ready as their next step is to go take out Redd. Earl and Franklin ask him what the plan is, derisively calling him “sheriff”. He tells him the plan is real easy – Squantum will use his scouting skills to find the man’s location then they will ambush him and bring him back to town, dead. He asks if that was too much plan for them to follow.

Earl calls it a stupid plan, but says it is all they have. Franklin grudgingly agrees to go along with it as well. Since Coltrane is also a tracker, Tex has him and Squantum take point.

They make their way up into the hills surrounding the valley town. Tex makes sure the trackers are watching out for any tracks around, he doesn’t want any surprises.

Squantum carefully leads Coltrane up the mountain without making any noise or tracks to alert Redd. As they get closer to where the bartender indicated Redd’s shack was, they do discover a poorly-written sign that they assume was meant to read, “Private Property – Keep Out”.

As soon as they get close enough to see a cabin, the Indian whispers to Coltrane to take cover behind a large nearby boulder and cover the front door. He follows the instructions while Squantum sneaks his way around to the back of the cabin.

Unfortunately, Squantum steps on some dry twigs. The noise appears to alert someone inside but nothing happens yet so the Indian sneaks up next to the back of the cabin and starts a fire.

Just then, the front door bursts open as a large, crazy-looking man emerges. He has a rifle in one hand and a wood axe in the other.

Coltrane immediately fires, hitting the man with a grazing shot across his leg. Redd sees Coltrane, and rushes at him with his axe.

Hearing the gunfire, Tex calls for the others to gallop ahead to catch up with the scouts. Franklin decides to proceed at a steady trot.

Firing out another shot, Coltrane misses as the man swings his axe. Luckily, he gets out of the way in time. From behind, Squantum charges at the man with his tomahawk.

Redd’s axe cuts down on part of Coltrane’s leg just as Squantum’s tomahawk is embedded in the back of the man’s head.

By the time the others get there, Coltrane is wrapping up his leg and Squantum is cutting the head off the body and getting ready to put it in a compromising position.

Franklin attempts to help Coltrane bandage up his wound, but doesn’t prove to be very helpful. Earl goes to help Tex put out the fire.

Tex then goes to the door of the cabin and knocks. The door is answered by what he presumes is a woman, Redd’s inbred wife / sister. Unable to speak from deformities caused by generations of inbreeding, the woman says something barely intelligible that sounds like she says Tex has to be her husband now. Earl remarks Tex is really starting to settle in there.

Franklin is surprised the woman isn’t so concern about the death of her husband / brother, but seems to be focused on which one of them will marry her. He makes sure he gets away quickly when she starts giving him the eye.

Tex tells Squantum to grab the head so they can go. He also takes the shotgun and the axe, letting the woman take the clothes and the rest of the body back inside the shack; they don’t know what she has in mind for that and don’t want to know.

*** Session 05 - Scene 7 (of 9) ***

After getting the reward for Redd, Tex and his two deputy marshals head back over to the marshal’s office while Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin get the stagecoach ready for the trip back to Quebrada Cruz. They decide to head back to the bar for a few drinks and make the trip the next morning.

They find Hatfield there, who is surprised to see three of them are now marshals, which he says is very exciting. He tells Squantum he hears he’s also been doing interesting things with men.

Squantum and Hatfield then sit down for a friendly game of piquet for Squantum’s “last twenty dollars”. After a spirited game, Hatfield ends up winning this time. He says it will pay for his new scarf.

Coltrane eggs them on to play again, saying Squantum can put up his next week’s salary. Squantum and Hatfield agree, and since the Indian wins this time he ends up keeping his money. Earl makes a comment about Indians and their gambling. Hatfield suggests Squantum may be “gay for pay”, too.

Squantum offers to buy Hatfield a drink. Tex insists a gentleman can’t refuse a drink from an Indian on a Saturday. Since Hatfield is only having a single drink (as the saloon does not make mint juleps). The Indian tries to spike it with a peyote button, but all it does is make the man tired and he retires to him room early.

In the meantime, Tex has attracted the attention of a woman named Dixie Lee. She wants to show her appreciation to the law enforcement community by only charging him two bits. He agrees and she takes him upstairs to visit “Dixieland”.

Earl and Franklin then hatch a plan to take the iron mask and chest plate back to Quebrada Cruz to try and claim the reward for Iron Mask a second time.

*** Session 05 - Scene 8 (of 9) ***

The next morning, Tex discusses the bandit situation with Dimitri. The Russian tells him there is a bounty of ten dollars per Mexican. Tex tries to clarify he means Mexican bandits, but Dimitri says "well, Mexicans who could be bandits..."

Squantum is excited at the prospect of more money. Dimitri says many in the town are still upset about the killings and burnings from the other day. Tex hopes this will lead to a future run for sheriff or appointment as a federal marshal.

Tex tries to get Earl, Franklin, and Coltrane to stick around and hunt for bandits but Earl feels the better gambit is to try for that second bounty on Iron Mask. Franklin and Coltrane decide trying for easy reward money is better than getting shot at by Mexicans so they agree to accompany him. They don't have a fare for the trip; apparently the only man in town interested in a coach trip changed his mind after someone was rude to him in the saloon.

Forming a plan, Tex lets them go then has them follow the stagecoach from a distance. He knows it will make an obvious target to draw out the bandits. He makes sure they stay back far enough not to scare off the bandits, feeling Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin can defend themselves (and if not, well, it was their choice to leave).

It doesn't take too long before Tex's instincts are proven right. The bandits move in quickly, but not so quickly the coach doesn't see them coming.

Earl pulls the coach to a halt so he can fire. Franklin and Coltrane also stop their horses and fire with their rifles.

Coltrane misses, but Franklin hits one of the horses. It causes the animal to buck, throwing off one of the bandits to the ground.

The bandits also fire as they charge in. One shot hits Coltrane's horse but the wound is light and he's able to keep in control.

The firefight continues. One of the Mexican's guns jams, but another gets a solid hit on Bootjack. The horse falls to the ground and Franklin narrowly avoids being crushed.

From the driver's bench, Earl gets a shot of his own off. He hits one of the bandits square in the chest, killing him.

The two bandits still up on their horses continue to fire at Coltrane. They kill the horse and he manages to get off in time but is on the ground.

Nearby, Franklin raises his gun and shoots one of the bandit's horses. His horse goes down, rolling over and crushing the bandit. Earl tries to take out another, but misses.

By this time, Tex and his cavalry arrive. He shoots one of the bandits in the arm, disabling him. Annie kills another with a shot through the chest. Squantum rides in to run down one of the bandits on the ground getting ready to shoot Franklin.

Franklin shoots one of bandits on the ground in the chest. Tex mortally wounds another in the leg. Coltrane walks over and finishes off another while Squantum tramples yet another.

With all of the bandits dead, Franklin and Squantum try to attend to Bootjack. However, the horse is badly wounded. Franklin feeds him some laudanum to ease the pain.

Only one of the bandit horses is left, but Coltrane grabs it. Tex tries ordering them back to Odessa so they can claim the bounties on the Mexicans.

Franklin and Earl refuse to cooperate, despite Tex being a lawman. Franklin takes one of the heads of the bandits and says they can keep the others. They plan to use the head to collect the bounty on Iron Mask.

Tex and Franklin argue for some time. Eventually, Tex agrees to let them go with their plan in disgust.

With Bootjack too injured and drugged up to move, Tex agrees to take care of him while Franklin sits in the stagecoach for the remainder of the trip back to Quebrada Cruz. After they are far enough away, Tex puts the animal out of its misery and they haul the remaining bandits back to Odessa.

*** Session 05 - Scene 9 (of 9) ***

The stagecoach reaches Harrington by nightfall. As there is no magistrate in town, they can’t collect the bounty there.

Not wanting to risk news getting back to Quebrada Cruz about Iron Mask’s death, they decide to risk traveling the bandit-infested wilderness at night.

Sometime during their travels, they manage to get too far off the path and break a wheel and one of the horses gets a broken leg. They shoot the wounded horse and look for a spare wheel. Unfortunately, it appears the spare has already been used.

With the coach disabled, they decide to abandon the expensive stagecoach to take the remaining four horses and travel on to Quebrada Cruz. They make it there by the middle of the night, miraculously avoiding getting lost.

Earl says they need to go break into the telegraph office first to ensure no message about the death is there. If one is, he wants to steal it. The idea that the telegraph operator would have already read the message doesn’t occur to him.

Coltrane is elected to break into the telegraph office while Franklin keeps watch outside, Earl instructing him to knock out the operator who sleeps there if needed. Earl himself stays far away with the body.

Franklin tells him to make sure the man doesn’t see he face, so Coltrane puts his handkerchief over his face. Coltrane manages to get inside without waking the man up and finds a telegram concerning Iron Mask.

Unfortunately, outside Franklin spots one of the deputies heading up the street on patrol. Rather than alerting Coltrane, he tries to hide. When it is obvious the man sees him, he heads over to talk to the man.

Deputy Sullivan asks what he is doing. Franklin says he is out for a walk. Sullivan tells him it is late and he better head on home. Franklin agrees and leaves.

Sullivan walks by the telegraph office and sees the broken door glass. He stops to investigate and sees Coltrane exiting the building, wearing a bandana over his face and carrying the telegram. He draws his gun and tells the man to freeze.

Coltrane follows instructions, and is quickly arrested for robbing the telegraph office. Earl and Franklin watch from a safe distance as Coltrane is thrown into jail.

*** Session 05 - Session Notes ***

So, this was our last session that happened a bit over a week ago. My enthusiasm for the campaign has already dropped a bit - the group is still being a bit too zany for my tastes and having another historical type campaign might be feeling a bit same-y to me. So, this session went OK in most respects, but I'm just not as interested in it now as when I started; I'm hoping the trial (or whatever) of Coltrane and the prospect of three of the characters being lawmen will jump start things a bit for my creative juices.

* Squantum's vision is clearly a World Series joke. It took a bit for the players to catch that though.

* Hatfield shows back up solely so I could make the "gay for pay" joke that I forgot to make the previous session, inspired by a similar joke on this season's American Horror Story by Leslie Jordan's character (except in that case he meant it in the contemporary sense where I'm making a double entendre).

* Squantum is at the Grimway farm because I was eating carrot sticks as snacks during the session.

* The man who tries to approach them in the tavern really was going to ask for a stagecoach as part of a different plot thread. Franklin was belligerent because the player himself showed up to the session half drunk.

* Chief's Bar and Grill is a real place, but I invented the Indian bartender. Actually, he's named after the original name for a motorcycle race near the town.

* The two town marshals are named after two real police officers who were killed that day. The killer in the session uses an altered version of the real suspect's name.

* No one understood why Tex wanted to buy pot for Squantum, but it did lead to some stereotype jokes and some in-jokes about a recent incident with that player's kids.

* At the hardware store, Earl made a joke about remembering the Alamo (since he's so old).

* Squantum wanted to play "Ring of Fire" on his harmonica. We actually found a video of someone doing the same on YouTube.

* I think I mentioned before Iron Mask is a Marvel character. He was dispatched very quickly because of the way the rolls went.

* Iron Mask had a yo-yo because they are always searching the dead bodies as if they are kobolds with gold pieces.

* The notary public joke was inspired by something similar Radar said on an episode of M*A*S*H.

* I'm not sure some of my players actually knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the mountain people of Siberia. People in the U.S. often forget other countries have native peoples, too.

* Squantum actually used his "noodle incident" style joke about Earl and the goat multiple times but it was more or less OOC so it isn't in the write-up.

* I imagined Redd somewhat in the vein of Vincent D'Onofrio's character in the new Magnificent Seven.

* I debated having Redd do a Michael Myers type recovery after getting the axe in the head.

* Redd didn't originally have a wife, but when Tex made the joke about knocking on the door I figured why not.

* Dixie Lee is from a different Western and was part of a plot arc partially connected to the man in the tavern earlier.

* The plan to try and collect the Iron Mask reward twice was openly mocked by Tex, Squantum, and myself, but they went ahead with it anyway. I pointed out later how the reward was far less than the horses / coach cost that they lost.

* The Franklin player somehow didn't foresee Tex shooting his horse and was kind of upset (and, again, still kind of drunk).

* Them bungling the telegraph burglary (which was in itself quite stupid) was the comedy highlight of the night.

*** Session 06 - Cast of Characters ***

"One-Eyed" Earl: A 65 year old prospector from California. He's a rough, mountain man type but is missing an eye from an injury earlier in his life.

Squantum: A 27 year old Indian scout of an undetermined tribe. He's tough, if strange, and is hideously scarred.

Franklin Hennessy: A 45 year old barber from Maine. He's also quick with a knife or a pocket pistol.

Johnny Coltrane: A young hunter from the area looking for new ways to make money.

*** Session 06 - Scene 1 (of ***

The next day after Coltrane’s arrest, after hiding the head in the hay at the livery stable, Earl and Franklin meet up to discuss what to do next. They go over their options – hire a lawyer, try to bust Coltrane out of jail, look to bribe someone, etc. Franklin even suggests they could try to represent Coltrane, though admits Johnny may not like that plan.

Earl decides hiring a lawyer is the way to go. They head over to the only attorney’s office in town, the Brock Law Firm of Norman Brock and his younger brother Corey. Both primarily specialize in business and real estate law related to the farming in the area but they also rent out space to criminal defense attorney Lee Randolph “Rusty” McGuire. Earl knows McGuire is usually more interested in making deals than taking cases to trial, but he’s what’s available.

Rusty is able to see them right away and asks how he can help. Earl begins spinning a story about a friend of theirs who ran into trouble because he was in a hurry to get a telegraph for his beloved grandmother’s birthday; and because the friend couldn’t wait and entered the telegraph office in the middle of the night, he was mistakenly arrested because the law thought he was trying to steal something.

McGuire says he heard about an arrest for a robbery at the telegraph office last night. He’s clearly suspicious of the story about the message from the grandmother, but Earl passes it off as “well, that’s what he said anyway.” Earl, however, insists his friend wasn’t robbing anything and was found with no money on him.

Rusty asks what kind of help he wants for his friend, suggesting six months of hard labor. Earl says he was hoping for something lighter, such as a slap on the wrist. Rusty asks if he was armed, and Earl says he probably was as everyone carries guns. McGuire notes that isn’t good.

He then asks if anyone was present at the time. Earl admits the telegraph operator sleeps in the office. Rusty makes more notes, saying it definitely qualifies as “armed robbery” then.

McGuire asks if there was any other evidence of robbery paraphernalia, such as obvious forced entry or wearing a mask. Earl says it was mighty cold out last night and Coltrane needs to wear a handkerchief for his breathing problems. He also admits he may have knocked a little too hard when he came to the door. Rusty mumbles something about “that’s what I thought…”

Rusty tells them they have a heck of a case and asks what this man is to them. Earl says something about who he’d have to see to get Coltrane off with “time served”. Rusty ignores his suggestion of bribery and details that armed robbery is a major felony and Coltrane is looking at 2-20 years in the territorial prison. If he can find a lenient judge, maybe that gets down to 1-2 years and a $500 fine. Rusty says if he can take it to trial he might be able to get it knocked down to a minor felony and with the right judge the best they can hope for is 90 days with a $90 fine.

Earl asks how much this will cost. Rusty says he needs a $40 retainer and charges $5 an hour. Earl and Franklin discuss for a minute. They aren’t sure, so they want to take some time and go talk to Coltrane first.

The two also briefly discuss trying to get Jane involved, as she would be in favor of blowing a hole in the side of the jail with dynamite. But, as Earl found out already this morning, Jane disappeared a couple of days ago from the Black Bear Hotel for parts unknown without leaving a message.

They then head up to the jail. Deputy Oldman asks if they are there looking for more bounty work. Earl says that is tempting, but they are there to see the man picked up last night. Oldman says he didn’t know Earl knew Johnny Coltrane. Earl claims they met in the revival tent and are here because the preacher asked them to check on him.

Oldman recalls the tent fire. Franklin discusses being burned that day while saving many people. Oldman says many people ended up dying in the fire. Franklin claims more would have died if not for him. Earl sardonically comments, “can’t save ‘em all.” Franklin follows it up with “you win some, you lose some” and Earl finishes with “God takes who he wants.”

Before they are allowed to see Coltrane, Oldman searches them for any contraband. He mentions he’s heard stories about women passing in files in cakes and such, though Earl notes he’s never been much of a baker. Oldman then leads them over to Coltrane’s cell, which he’s sharing with Jack Blisters. Coltrane is knocking his tin cup across the bars while singing, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”.

After Oldman leaves, Earl explains about their meeting with McGuire. Coltrane says it could be worse, taking the idea of a 90 days sentence in stride. He tells them to go ahead and hire the lawyer. Before they leave, Earl tells Coltrane about what he told Rusty. Coltrane agrees, that’s exactly how it happened. Earl says it is a shame the sheriff jumped to conclusions.

Franklin has a different idea, saying they could scour the surrounding area for anyone who looks like Coltrane. Earl isn’t following, so Franklin says once they get one they can pull the “old switcharoo” and get Coltrane while he is headed to the courthouse. Earl thinks Franklin is drinking the whiskey too much again.

The two then head back and secure Rusty’s services. He takes their money and puts it in his safe. He asks if Coltrane has any friends or family in the area to speak to his character. Earl, getting an idea, says Odessa’s local law enforcement is very indebted to him. Earl belives he can at least get one of the deputy marshals from Odessa to come back and speak on his behalf.

Rusty likes the idea. He says in the meantime he’ll get working on the pre-trial work and get a hearing scheduled with the magistrate, assuming Coltrane is pleading not guilty. After reminding them of his hourly fee, Earl tells him not to work too hard.

Earl heads over to the telegraph office, telling the operator he needs to send a message over to the Odessa marshal. As he dictates the message about Coltrane being arrested and unfairly accused of robbing the telegraph office and needing someone to appear as a character witness, the operator starts giving him the eye. Once the message is coded out, he sends it out over the wire.

*** Session 06 - Scene 2 (of ***

With Tex and Annie off on a fishing trip (or at least, that's what they claim; Squantum believes they are off having carnal relations), Squantum is left in charge of the Marshal's Office in Odessa.

Squantum is busy at the desk writing up an edict – "All Mexicans take notice, we are watching you!" and signs his name. Dollar signs of the bounties for Mexican bandits are still in the forefront of his thoughts as a little blonde girl with her hair in pigtails comes into the office. He recognizes her as Pollyanna Porter, an orphan who lives with her spinster aunt.

Pollyanna tells "Marshal Squantum" she needs his help – her kitty-kat, Mittens, is stuck up in a tree. After confirming the cat is not Mexican (and in fact a Tabby) he agrees to help and follows the young girl over to a nearby tree where he finds the cat meowing.

Squantum tells her it is a tough problem. He gives her a dime, and tells her to head over to Ramm Hardware to get him some rope. As soon as she leaves, he gets his rifle ready to shoot the cat out of the tree; his thinking is even if he misses it will scare the cat out (though he doesn't plan to miss).

As soon as he gets the rifle out, one of the other townspeople, a man named Melvin, spots him and comes over, asking what hell he is planning to do. Squantum asks the man why he is bothering him, saying it is "marshal business". He threatens to run Melvin in, but the man continues to pester him, asking if he doesn't have anything more important to do that shooting cats in a tree.

Squantum insists he is not shooting the cat. He tells Melvin he has no proof and that the man must be crazy and should be locked up. As they continue to argue, Pollyanna shows back up with the rope.

Taking the rope, Squantum ties it around a large rock he finds on the ground then proceeds to hurl it at the cat. He misses the cat but hit the branch, knocking the cat out and into Pollyanna's arms. She thanks the marshal and hugs him. Squantum tells the girl not to let her cat out. Melvin tells the girl not to touch an Indian in public, saying it is unseemly.

Squantum takes a mental note about Melvin for later. He suggests Melvin may look a little bit Mexican to him. Understanding the threat, Melvin heads off.

The Indian then takes the several copies of his edict he wrote out and begins nailing them up around town. As he is doing so, a message boy comes up and tells him there is a telegraph for the marshal.

Since he is in charge, Squantum heads over and reads the message. He laughs at Coltrane's misfortune and has the telegraph office send a message back. It reads, "This funny – stop. Busy chasing Mexicans – stop. Will come anyway – stop. Squantum."

After the message is sent, Squantum gets some supplies together. He finds the town drunk, a man named Gregori, and deputizes him to be in charge while he's gone, giving him $5 and telling to do nothing while he's in charge. Gregori thanks him and drunkenly says "you people aren't as bad as they say".

*** Session 06 - Scene 3 (of ***

Back in Quebrada Cruz, Earl gets the response message from Squantum. He knows it will take a couple of days for Squantum to get there.

Earl is already having second thoughts about relying solely on the lawyer. He gets an idea about Jack Blisters and decides to head up the canyon to see Billy Kilburn to talk about it.

It is late in the day by the time they reach Kilburn’s makeshift bar in tent city. Billy greets Earl and says he hasn’t seen him in a while. Earl agrees he’s been mighty busy.

Earl proceeds to tell Billy they have found themselves in a spot of trouble. He explains a friend of his has gotten into trouble with the law.

Billy asks who the friend is. Earl gives Coltrane’s name. Billy recognizes the hunter’s name, saying he ate some of his meat once. He says the meat was sweet and tasty, though a salty aftertaste. Earl agrees that sounds like Coltrane.

Earl goes on to explain while they visited Coltrane they saw Jack Blisters was still in there. Billy knows all about Blisters and his fight with the sheriff that landed him his six month sentence. Earl asks if anyone is interested in Jack’s welfare or release.

Billy calls Jack a no good drunk with a mean temper. He says the man doesn’t have many friends, and is likely plotting revenge against the sheriff for when he gets out. Billy says it is a shame about Coltrane though, noting “you can’t beat his meat.” Earl says he believes you can, but Coltrane wouldn’t want you to.

Earl tells Billy if he has any way to help Coltrane, he’s sure Johnny would be mighty grateful and his meat would be at Billy’s disposal. He says according to McGuire, Coltrane is looking at doing at least 90 days.

Billy agrees that is the best “legal” option. He says there are alternative methods, such as a few hundred dollars in “undocumented fines” that can make the whole thing go away if you know the right people. Earl asks who they might see about that, but Billy agrees to act as agent to the exchange for a 10% fee of his own.

While the two men talk, Franklin looks around for anyone who looks like Coltrane. He doesn’t spot anyone, though does see one of Coltrane’s hunting companions, Miles. He decides not to talk to the man.

Earl agrees to the deal with Billy, handing over $500 for the bribe and another $50 for his fee. For his part, Billy throws in a “free session” at Ma’s for each of them.

Franklin finds the amount rather high, but Earl insists Coltrane will be good for it. Earl also plans to get his retainer back from the lawyer once Coltrane is free.

Not wanting to head down the canyon in the dark, they use their free sessions at Ma Kilburn’s to spend the night there. Since it is free, Ma gives them a couple of the rougher-looking girls, Gretchen and Ethel. Franklin takes Ethel, who is OK with kissing as long as she can take her chewing tobacco first.

*** Session 06 - Scene 4 (of ***

After spending the night in Harrington, Squantum heads out for Quebrada Cruz in the morning. Around mid-day, he spots the burned out remains of a stagecoach just off of the main trail.

He heads over to investigate. He can see the stagecoach apparently rode off the trail at some point and broke a wheel in a ditch. Someone apparently set fire to it afterwards. He's fairly sure it is the same one Earl was driving.

After looking it over he resumes his journey but it doesn't take long before he hears the hoof beats of many horses in the distance headed his way. He takes off from the trail and heads into the hills to hide.

Staying carefully hidden, he sees a small band of Indians riding into the area. They have red feathers in their hair and appear to be wearing war paint. They carry bows.

Squantum does not know much about the men, though he can tell they are from the local Calouse tribe. He sees the Indians spot his tracks and start off towards his location.

Springing into action, Squantum quickly circles around and gets behind them, quickly heading for Quebrada Cruz.

*** Session 06 - Scene 5 (of ***

Back in Quebrada Cruz, Earl and Franklin prepare to head back down the canyon into town. Franklin doesn’t know why, but he’s very itchy down in his groin area this morning. He decides to thoroughly wash the area and shave it.

As Earl looks over, he spots Franklin accidently cut his penis with his straight razor when it slips. The barber yells out in pain. Earl asks him what in the squirrely hell he’s doing.

Franklin begins wrapping up the scratched area to stop the bleeding. Earl does not offer to lend a hand.

Once that is all over, they head back down the canyon into town. A short time later, Coltrane is released from jail.

Franklin tells Coltrane he owes Earl a lot of money. Coltrane pays Earl what he has, $300, saying he’s happy he got out of jail (and notes he didn’t even get raped while he was locked up).

Earl also makes sure to collect the retainer back from McGuire. Rusty is a bit suspicious about the dropped charges, particularly Franklin’s story about “they got the wrong man” since he was caught red-handed. Earl mutters something about it being dark.

Since Rusty already spent a couple of hours on the case, he only gets back $30. Rusty asks is he’d like to just keep the retainer deposited with him (suggesting he suspects they’ll need his services again), but Earl insists that won’t be necessary.

Coltrane stops for a bacon and mayonnaise sandwich at Edna’s, hungry from his incarceration. Earl wonders if they should do something with the head hidden at the livery. They all agree they need a better plan for making money and don’t want to risk the Iron Mask gambit any more.

They then head over to Ernie’s Tavern for a drink, where they find Little Ernie running the place today. Earl asks Ernie if he’s seen Jane, but the man says he has not, noting his father is quite upset with her running out on them.

Earl says his niece is no good. Little Ernie asks if she ran off with a fella, but Earl believes Jane is happy on long, cold nights with her horse, Bitchface.

Ernie tells Earl he’s always been meaning to ask, how is it that he has a Mexican niece. Earl clarifies she is part Mexican and says something about his stupid brother who liked to rape whatever he could find. He says he probably has a half-Indian nephew somewhere or worse, perhaps a half-Irish one.

Little Ernie asks if Squantum could be related to him. Earl aggressively rejects the idea, calling Squantum a no-good Indian who took out his eye during the war.

Earl asks around at the bar for any news that could lead to something profitable. Ernie mentions a federal marshal is heading to town chasing after the McLaughlin Gang. He wonders if they finally found out where the gang is hiding out.

Thinking back, Earl recalls the open bounty on the McLaughlin Gang. Ernie talks on about the marshal probably looking to organize a posse to go hunt the gang down, saying with all the bounties there will be good money in it. He asks Earl why he never went after the McLaughlin Gang, knowing Earl and his friends go after bounties.

Earl mumbles something about being busy with other business and not having gotten around to it yet. He changes the subject to ask about Jake Kilburn, but no one has heard anything about him.

Franklin then asks about Preacher. Ernie says the man hasn’t started up his tent revivals yet but he heard he’s having some small, private sessions of worship at his house. Earl makes a note of where the man’s

*** Session 06 - Scene 6 (of ***

As they leave the bar to go check on Preacher, they spot a galloping Squantum heading into town. Franklin waves him over and explains they no longer need his help.

Squantum says big plan must have not gone so well. Franklin says it went just fine, saying they had the wrong guy. Earl notes the Indian is talking about Iron Mask plan.

After Franklin tries to explain they are still working out the kinks in the Iron Mask plan, Squantum asks about the stagecoach. Franklin tries to claim they still have it, but Squantum says he saw a burned out one on the road from Harrington that looked a lot like theirs.

Franklin insists their stagecoach wasn't burned so it must have been a different one. Squantum says it is a good thing they did not lose their stagecoach or get Coltrane arrested. Franklin agrees that would be a real fuck-up if that happened.

Earl says that justice was served and Coltrane released so everything is fine now. He tells the others a federal marshal is coming to form a posse for the McLaughlin Gang and they should help out.

Squantum says that is a good idea, though seems rather suspicious of Earl since he has a Mexican niece. Squantum again notes there is good money in hunting down Mexican bandits.

U.S. Marshal Lincoln Slade arrives in town a short while later on his large white horse. He starts asking around to see who will join up to take down the McLaughlin Gang and share equally in the reward - $250 for Billy "The Gun" McLaughlin and $125 for each of his men (rumors have the gang anywhere from two to twenty men in size). Squantum and Earl start thinking the reward will be even better if they can get the marshal out of the way.

Franklin, Earl, Squantum, and Coltrane sign up with the marshal. No one else in town appears to be interested.

Slade explains McLaughlin recently attacked a trader in the nearby village of Mondovi, killing trader Winslow Richardson and his son Wesley, and absconding with Richardson's teenage daughter, Missy. Slade has been following their trail and believes they are headed west towards Brown's Butte to hide out.