Madigan could see a sadness on Roy’s face, so said nothing, just waited for the old-timer to talk again.
“Some of those things I kept forgetting were things like loading my guns. Ever faced a man in a gunfight when your gun was empty?” the old lawman asked.
“No, can’t say I have.”
“Well, I did once. Only I didn’t know my gun was empty. Just cleaned it an hour before and had forgotten to reload it!” the old marshal said, shaking his head.
“What happened?” Madigan wanted to know.
“A coyote of a gunslinger called me out in the street. We faced off about a hundred feet away and he drew iron. I was pretty darn fast in those days and before he could clear leather I had my gun leveled on him.
To this day I don’t know why I didn’t pull the trigger. Anyhow, he just froze and we faced each other for what must have been two minutes before he let his gun fall back in its holster, then he turned on his heel and walked to his horse and left. Something inside told me not to press the matter and I didn’t. Later I discovered my gun was empty.” Talley chuckled to himself. “I turned my badge in that night and rode away a big man in that town just as I had in countless others. Only this time it was for keeps.
“Been a good life and even though Durango’s a rough and tumble town, I’ve been at peace here. I only get my dander up when someone comes sneakin’ round my place in the dark.”
Madigan looked at the old marshal and deep down inside felt sorry for him. Many good men had been used up by the wild towns of the West, only to be cast aside when his usefulness ended. It wasn’t like a banker that retired, a respected member of the town. When a town marshal got too old for the job, there was nothing left but to leave town so that the new man taking over didn’t feel like his toes were being stepped on.
Some of them, like Talley, were lucky enough to have saved some money, not easy to do on a marshal’s salary. They bought themselves a small ranch or farm and settled in to live a less trying life than they had been used too. Some liked it, some didn’t.
Others, with no money and no place to go, simply rode out of town a few miles and put a gun to their head. In a way, they were striking back at the town that had deserted them, for there would be a funeral and the townspeople would know what they had done. To most it made no difference, but to a few it was enough of a shock that they started small retirement funds for future peace officers in their later years. In time things would change, but for now many a man who had given his best for years looked forward to old age with fear. Madigan was glad that Talley had been one of those with a future, for in him Madigan could see many aspects of himself.
“Well, I’ll be darned!” Talley said, shaking his head. Madigan looked at the old marshal wondering what was next. “I did it again!” he said, showing Madigan the shotgun that was now open, exposing two empty barrels.
“I’d suggest you check it every so often just to be sure it’s loaded,” Madigan advised him. “Never know when you might need to pull the trigger and you’ll want to hear more than just a click when you do.” Roy Talley looked at Madigan with a twinkle in his eye.
“Try to remember that, but I’ll not have to worry about much if that happens, at least not for long. Now, Mr. Madigan, what I really want to know is, should I give your horses some corn or not?”
“Give them grain,” Madigan answered.
Chapter 9
Madigan watched as Talley led the horses into a well-cleaned stall out of sight of the casual passerby. He had no reservations about leaving the buckskin and packhorse with the old marshal. They would be well taken care of, no doubt, and he was glad to have the opportunity to meet this once-legendary lawman of a day that Madigan was sure was fast coming to a close.
Rights of citizens to carry a gun for their own protection had already been taken from them in some of the eastern cities like New York, although most men still carried them hidden under their coats.
And Madigan had to admit that the basis for the law wasn’t altogether bad in some places-places where a strong lawman did a good job of protecting the townspeople. Trouble was, there just weren’t many places where a few men could protect the whole. And Madigan, like many of his breed, feared that in the end it would be the law-abiding people that lost out to the politicians that would take all from them.
Disarming the population just made it easier for the crook to steal from, and murder, the honest men and women. Yet, deep down in his heart, he knew the day was coming where the honest men and women carrying a sidearm would be a thing of the past if something wasn’t done to prevent it. Madigan hoped it would not come within his lifetime.
“By the way,” Madigan asked, “where did you learn that trick of tying the trigger back?”
“There was a time when I was young and ornery enough to bite a rattlesnake. Got somethin’ in my head in those days, and a person would be hard put to change me from it.
“Some Texas drovers came to town at the end of a drive and got all liquored up. Most of the time the trail boss kept ‘em out of trouble, but not this time. A real hard case outfit this bunch was.
“Couple of the boys got into it with one of the men from town. If I remember right, he was just crossin’ the street when, for no other reason than pure meanness, one of these hombres started a fight with him. It came to fist and before you know it, the drover was down for the count and everything should have been over. ‘Cept the drover and his friend didn’t see it that way. They ambushed the townsmen and shot him in the back. Good man he was, too. Had a wife and child and was respected.”
The old lawman looked Madigan straight in the eye. “Now I’m no bleeding heart, but after I jailed these murderous cutthroats I started hearing talk of lynching my prisoners.
“Didn’t give a damn about the jailbirds, it was the good townspeople I was worried about. Lynching’s bad business. If they were to get caught and have to go before the wrong judge, they’d stand a chance of gettin’ the noose themselves.
I decided to get the prisoners to the county seat for trial, but it was a full day’s ride and there was only one of me to do the job. And to make matters worse, I knew that I stood a good chance of being met on the trail by some of their friends. And that’s what happened a couple of hours out of town, but I was ready for them.” The old man laughed like someone remembering something funny from the past.
“They rode out in front of us and blocked the trail and just waited for us to ride up to them. You should have seen their faces when they saw I’d tied the triggers down and only my thumb was holding both of the hammers back! I’d had the blacksmith bend both hammer spurs so they came together at full cock, so it was real easy to hold ‘em back with one hand.
“At close range a sawed-off double-barrel makes a hell of a mess and these boys knew it. Didn’t take ‘em long to figure what would happen to their friends if I took a bullet. They just rode off sayin’ they’d get ‘em out of jail in the next town or somethin’ to the like. Didn’t though. They both swung the next day at noon, with nary a sight of the boys that were to save ‘em.”
“That’s quite a story, old-timer, and I’d say you were known for that Greener like I’m known for my Sharps! And if I remember right, they called you ‘Shotgun Talley’ after that,” Madigan said.
“You’re right on that account.”
“Where’s the best place for a tired man to stay the night?” Madigan asked Roy when he came out from feeding the animals. He waited as Talley scratched his head, then took a bite from his plug of tobacco.
“There’s always the Palace down the other end of town. It’s got rotgut and women who’ll spend the night with a lonely man for the price of a few drinks and a short meal. Course, you wouldn’t get much rest and would probably have a fight on your hands before the night was over!”