The Luke Dressor Incident

“The stage was set
the sun was sinkin' low down…
As they came to town to face
another showdown.
The lawmen cleared the people
from the streets.
All you blood-thirsty bystanders,
won’t you try to find your seats?…”

Doolin-Dalton
The Eagles

Luke stood out in front of the White Water Saloon, waiting. He leaned back against the post that held the hitching rail upright. Anticipation surrounded Luke. He would lean back for a minute then he would stand straight or pace in front of the saloon and peer down the dusty street. It was obvious that he was waiting for someone.

The thud of the horse’s hooves could be heard before the cloud of dust blew across where Luke waited. He stopped his pacing and stood at the street side of the hitching rail. His hand caressed the butt of the Colt revolver he had slung low in his gun belt.

Luke worked for Marv Rumson over at the Balentine Ranch. Normally he was docile and the least of problems within the small cattle town. He lived at the edge of town with his sister Anna and their Mother Bessie. Mostly he rode the fence line that divided the foothills from the flat pastureland of the valley floor. Luke was capable of doing most chores on the ranch and was saving his money to buy twenty-five acres of grassland over near Navelencia.

Today would be different. Much different. Luke watched as the approaching horses descended on his location.

The four riders pulled their horses up to the trough at the hitching rail and dismounted.

Luke stepped out in front of them and squared off with the lead rider.

“Why Luke Dressor. You look like you’re filled with malicious intentions, standing there with that hogleg slung low like that. I surely hope you ain’t got any intentions of carving a notch on that smokewagon handle for me,” Jesse Angelo said to the young cowboy as he dismounted and flipped the reins of his horse loosely over the hitching rail. The other three Cowboys followed their leaders example and dismounted.

Luke stood facing the dusty cowboys, his hand shaking at first, had now steadied at his side.

“Jesse. My sister told me what you done to her after the Grangers dance last night. You had no call to go and treat her like she was a Saloon gal. She’s a decent girl and you shouldn’t have done that,” Luke said.

“Well, I’m sorry your sister didn’t have a good time. She sure seemed like she was having one last night over there in Barton’s Livery Stable. In fact the boys here were all there and I’m sure they’d step right up and tell ya what a good time she had with them after I was finished,” Jesse snickered at the young boy as he puffed out his chest and lowered his hand to the butt of his revolver.

Luke’s hand flashed and before Jesse could move, Luke had the Colt out of its’ holster. He depressed the trigger as he fanned the hammer in rapid session. The shots were so close together that they sounded like one long shot. The four horses, as well as a number of others tied up and down the street bolted at the sound of the explosion and reared up, breaking free of the hitching rail to run off to various parts of town. One of them, leaving a trail of blood spurting from the hole in its’ shoulder, left by a slug that passed through Tim Cardin’s neck. The bullet broke Tim’s neck and severed his spinal cord, then exited at the base of his brain, lodging into the shoulder of the horse.

Jesse took a step forward and looked down at the center of his chest. In amazement, a trail of blood trickled down his shirt. The other three cowboys fell to the dirt as the life drained from each of them. None of the cowboys got the chance to touch their guns except Jesse who touched the handle of his revolver but never cleared leather.

Jesse looked up at Luke as his eyes clouded over and he fell dead, face first to the San Joaquin dirt.

Smoke whiffed up from the end of the barrel as Luke stood staring at the death he had dealt out to the Cowboys.

From behind the young boy, a raspy voice commanded, “Drop that gun, Luke.” It was the gruff voice of Buford Miller, who with his brother Otto, had kept the law in the San Joaquin Valley for more years than most people had lived. Off to Buford’s left, twenty paces or so, stood Otto Miller, his colt in his hand, pointing toward the ground, ready to do what it was meant to do.

Luke turned and looked down the barrel of the Buford’s shotgun then glanced over at Otto.

“Drop the gun son, so we can find out what this is all about,” Buford ordered again. “I won’t be tellin’ ya again.”

Luke dropped the gun and sagged to his knees in the cow town dirt. The town folks saw that Otto and Buford had things under control as they slipped from where they had been hidden in silence and now gathered around the lawmen and Luke Dressor.


“Grandpa,
Everything is changing fast
We call it progress, but I just don't know
And Grandpa,
Let's wander back into the past
And paint me the picture of long ago
Where lovers really fell in love to stay
And stood beside each other come what may
When a promise was really something people kept
Not just something they would say and then forget.”

The Judds


“The Luke Dressor Incident”
1894
Chapter 4 in
The Settlers Series
By HLGordon


Luke sat on the edge of the iron cot in the cell at the back of the Marshall’s office watching Buford and Otto completing the paperwork that the court would need to schedule and conduct the trial.

In the office was two ancient wooden desks. One desk was Buford Miller’s, which was piled with wanted posters and mail. The other desk could barely be seen beneath the stack of magazines and boxes of test equipment that Otto Miller had collected in his exploration of new detective techniques. Otto had become consumed with ways to preserve evidence and collect it from the crime scenes that he and Buford visited. Slim Quinn, a local handyman and part time deputy, busied himself on the far wall of the office where the City Council had approved the funding to knock out the wall and extend it out another ten feet. The wall would then be rebuilt and lined with shelves for books and evidence boxes. Otto had been working on a numerical system of numbering the boxes and the evidence so that it could easily be kept track of and retrieved when needed for trial. Nether man cared much for paperwork.

“Ok. I guess that about does it. I’ll get this over to the telegraph office and send this out and then swing by the Post Office and mail the papers,” Buford told Otto.

“We should get word back in a day or two about when Judge Murray can get over here for an arraignment.”

This was a full ten years before Buford, in his opinion, was forced to shoot his brother, Otto, in the leg in order to make a point that he was the older brother and therefore in charge. For the most part the two brothers were inseparable and got along well with each other. Only occasionally, Buford felt the compelling need to establish a ranking system in which he was in charge. Otto, the smarter of the two, usually went along with it for a week or so and usually by then things would fall back into place and life would go on, as usual in the Valley.

As Buford returned from his errands, Anna and Bessie were preparing to walk out of the door of the Marshal’s office. Anna, a handkerchief, dotting at her tear-swollen eyes, looked down at the floor as the door opened and Buford stepped inside. Bessie nodded to Buford.

“Well, Marshal?” she demanded. “When you gonna set me boy free? You know he didn’t do nothing that you wouldn’t have done for your sister.”

Buford tossed his hat toward the hook on the wall and turned to Bessie.

“Now it isn’t just that simple anymore. I’ve known Luke for a long time and I know he’s a good boy. Can’t say as I wouldn’t have done the same thing myself. But times have changed and those men, laying over at McCroy’s have rights. They got family who have questions and everyone has a right to know what happened and why. As soon as we get word from Judge Murray we’ll know more about when we’re gonna answer all these questions. In the meantime, you and Anna come on by anytime and bring Luke whatever you like except maybe a gun or knife. If things are looking good here in a few days we’ll let him out for a walk when you come by. But we got to uphold the law.”

“Well, you know as well as I do that them boys was mean and a fight was a coming. Luke feels bad about killing them boys and so do I. But what’s done is done and my boy did what was right,” Bessie told Buford point blank.

“Well, Bessie. I know’d you a long time too. You know what has to happen and it’s gonna happen here and get over with. I’m sure Luke will be coming on back home when this is finished. But for now it’s gotta be this way,” Buford told her. “Now if you are finished, I gotta get back to building them shelves and straightening this place out so we can all live in peace. It’s always a pleasure Bessie.” Buford moved off to the other room.

“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right Bessie,” threw in Otto. “It’s the way it’s gotta be.”

“Alrighty then. If I can’t change your minds, I gotta get my bread to cookin’ for the Women’s Suffrage League Bake Sale tomorrow. There’s women folk in this town that got no men to take care of em and no jobs to pay their way. You boys is supposed to be the Law around these parts but you’re lettin’ women folk suffer on their own. Since you boys are the Government of sorts, ya oughta be making sure that women are safe in this town and not losing their homes and families to that Cole Carlson over there at that bank. He’s done far more robbin’ of folks, especially women folk, than any of them bandits you two are off chasin’ after all the time. My boy is the only man in this town that done what’s right in defendin’ us women and seeing that these drifters and other dregs don’t come in here thinking they can have their way with us and then mosey on down the road a piece. Good day to you boys.”

Otto and Buford stood staring at the floor as Bessie finished up here speech. Otto swallowed in rock candy he had been sucking on and looked up at Bessie as she moved toward the door. He turned and walked into the other room and picked up his hammer. Then he turned and walked back just as Bessie was opening the door.

“Bessie, we can use a woman’s touch around here if you can spare Anna for a few hours everyday. We can pay her $2.00 a week to tend to the prisoners and tidy up around here,” Otto said.

“That’s mighty neighborly of you boys. I’ll send her on by, startin’ tomorrow,” Bessie responded. “She probably knows more about buildin’ bookshelves and such than either one of you two sharp shooters anyway.” Bessie nodded and turned without further word as she walked out of the Sheriffs office into the warm Valley sun.

Three weeks later…..

“It is the decision of this Circuit Court of California, holding jurisdiction in this matter in Tulare County, California that you, Luke Dressor have been found guilty of murder on all four counts brought against you in this Court of Law. It is also the decision of this Court that on Tuesday next, at 6:00 PM sharp, you shall be taken to the Tulare County Courthouse in Visalia, California, where you shall be hanged for your crimes against the People of this State. May God have mercy on your soul.” Judge Murray’s gavel fell and he rose and walked out of the courtroom.

“ I don’t like it Buford,” Otto said. “It aint’ right. That boy did them killings but he was right in what he done.”

“Well, I reckon it don’t much matter what you and I think, at this point. The Law has decided and the Law will do what the Law does,” Buford added. “It’s up to you and me to uphold the Law even when we don’t agree with it.”

“Well, I guess there ain’t much arguing that point,” Otto said. “Just the same, Bessie ain’t gonna take to them hanging her boy, and I can’t say as I blame her. But just to be safe, I think we oughta have a couple of the Deputies stake out over there in Johnson’s Livery in that front tack room and keep an eye on this place from a across the street just in case Bessie tries something. That’s one woman I ain’t gonna let get the drop on me.”

“Oh come on now, Otto. You know Bessie always been sweet on you and the only drop she’d put on you is the kind I wouldn’t be telling anyone about,” laughed Buford.

“Well, just the same, Bessie can be a driven woman, and there ain’t many men folk around these parts that could stand up against her in a fight of any kind,” added Otto. “That woman is as deadly as any desperado that come through these parts, when she’s a mind to, and she ain’t gonna stand by peaceful like and let her boy meet Jesus at the end of a rope.”

“I reckon your right about that. What should we do about Anna?” Buford asked.

“It’s probably a mistake on my part and yourn for letting it happen, but I guess for now, we can keep her comin’ round. She might be useful in dealing with Bessie,” Otto said. “She might be the reasonable one of the bunch.”


The next day.

“Hey ya Luke?” Anna said to her brother.

“Hey Anna,” Luke threw back at her.

“How ya doing, Luke?”

“Well I guess I’m doing ‘bout as fine as the next feller who’s getting ready to do the rope dance,” Luke laughed uneasily.

“Don’t you worry Luke. Me and Mamma’s gonna get you out of here.”

“What about Buford and Otto?” Luke asked his sister.

“Well Mama’s gonna try and talk to Otto and get a feelin’ for if’n he’ll help us or not. If they won’t help and they won’t get out of the way, we gotta kill em, Luke,” Anna said.

“We can’t do that. They ain’t in control of this business. They’re both good men, just doing a job,” Luke argued with Anna.

“It don’t matter, Luke. Good people been gettin’ killed forever, and it ain’t getting’ none better,” Anna said. “They probably always will. That’s just the way of it.”

The next day Anna caught Deputy Floyd Logan by surprise when she brought in Luke’s dinner. She bashed him a good one on the back of the head and took his gun and keys. She later let him go thinking it would be easier to let him go than to watch him constantly.

Anna and Luke Dressor stayed barricaded in the Sheriffs Office for three days. They were out of water and out of time. Otto and Buford had taken up headquarters in the tack room at Johnson’s Livery. It was a waiting game. There was only one way out of the occupied Sheriffs Office and the two brothers had it covered. They both agreed that waiting it out was the safest course of action.

The time brought Anna and Luke closer and gave them time to talk about the childhood. Then they decided it was enough and there was only one way out of this situation. Anna realized praying was the only thing that they hadn't tried yet, so Anna took Luke’s hand in hers. She wasn't sure she knew quite how to pray so she looked up to the ceiling and said, ”You don't owe us nothin' Lord and as far as I know, we don't owe nothin' to you. So I ain't askin' for a miracle Lord just a little bit of luck will do.”

Anna and Luke stood facing each other holding Colt Revolvers in each hand. Anna looked at her brother, “Sorry I got you into this Luke.”

“Hey,” he said. “That’s what brothers are for? If a man can’t stick up for his sister, who can he stick up for?”

Anna and Luke looked toward the door as both pulled back the hammers of their guns. Luke spit on the dirty hardwood floor and they turned and walked out into that street.

Sheriff Richard Veals, from Contra Costa County, was down looking into a purchase of some stolen cattle that turned up in a Stockton Beef Yard and was setting in a chair over behind the water trough across the street reading a dime novel. The sudden appearance of Luke and Anna caught him by surprise and he jumped up and went over backwards in the chair. The commotion caught Anna by surprise and she let out a cry and a shot that caught Veals in the bottom of his left foot as he lay on his back in the upturned chair.

The gunshot brought Kelly Abrams out of the Livery Office and a slug from Luke’s pistol caught him in the shoulder and slammed him back against the closing door. Luke detected movement in the shadows of the tack room window and shot through the glass pane. The lead caught Otto on the tip of the ear lobe and blood squirted out across his shirt. Buford smashed out the rest of the window pane with the barrel of his scatter gun when a slug from Anna’s six-shooter crashed through the wall and knocked the brass lantern off the wall square onto Buford’s head, knocking him out.

Ed Erin was standing on the steps of the White Water Saloon when Anna spotted him. He immediately raised both hands into the air in a surrendering fashion.

The sound of horse hoofs brought their attention to the Sheriffs office side alley as three more slugs from Luke slammed through the Tack room wall sending all the occupants scurrying for cover. Bessie Dressor, at full gallop rode up to the front of the Sheriff’s office with two paints in tow. Anna got off two more rounds into the tack room. By the time the slugs penetrated the wall, all three Dressor’s were in the saddle and heading east out of town.

All in all there were 10 shots fired from Anna and Luke. Kelly Abrams was the worst hit but he survived. Sheriff Richard Veals limped on his left foot the rest of his life and told the story hundreds of time at the bar at the Gray Whale Saloon in Stockton. Otto sported a scar on his ear and was mostly wounded in pride. Buford took the brunt from his brother’s teasing him about “fainting” in the midst of the gunfight. Only one shot was fired at Anna and Luke and it was actually an accident when Buford’s scatter gun discharged when the lamp hit him on the head and fell to the floor. It wasn’t the Miller boys finest hour but with Luke, Bessie and Anna gone, things eventually quieted down and the small town returned to normal.

Anna, Luke and Bessie were never heard from again but stories emerged that they formed a gang and took up to robbing banks and trains. Otto received a letter a couple years later from the Sheriff in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It contained a wanted poster with a likeness of Luke Dressor on it. He was wanted for questioning in the killing of a gambler who had gotten into a dispute with a Saloon Girl and slapped her and turned up dead the next morning with a shot through the heart.