Don't Take That Gun To Town

   Don’t Take That Gun To Town

Suzanne Marsh

“Billy, please don’t take that gun to town! You are gonna get killed, you ain’t got the timin your brother Jake had, they’ll kill you too.” Billy pushed his ma aside, he was gonna kill the men that killed his brother Jake. Pa was gone up north fightin with General John Bell Hood and the Texas brigades. Now that Jake had gone and got himself killed and pa gone that left Billy Campbell to seek revenge for the death of his only brother Jake. Billy was sixteen, now suddenly he was not a boy but a man. Billy saddled Trampas the large bay horse he raised from a colt. He sat tall in the saddle, his ma was standing in the yard crying. Billy couldn’t leave her crying, he had to convince her he was doing the correct thing. Ma always taught him killin was not a good thing no matter what the reason. Billy understood that, but Jake was dead, nothing would bring him back except killin the man who had killed him. Billy held his Ma in his arms as she cried, trying to help her understand his point of view. Revenge was the only answer, kill the man before the man killed him. His Ma finally stopped crying, she gasped:

“Come home safe to me Billy please, you are all I have left. We don’t know how long

the war is going to last, or if will come home safe.”

With those words ringing in his ears Billy road off toward Six Shooter Junction. The law there was a marshal with a reputation for gunning down men for absolutely no reason, other than he did not like their looks. Tom Taggart, was a ruthless man, he stood six foot, with a hawkish face, and ice-cold gray eyes. He controlled Six Shooter Junction. He patrolled the streets with a sawed-off shotgun and colt.45. Most of the town was scared of him, his attitude of shooting first and asking questions later had been working until Jake Campbell arrived in town.

Jake Campbell arrived from Lawrence, Kansas in the spring of 1864, hired on as Jed Thompson’s assistant at the blacksmith’s shop. He worked hard during the day and practiced his draw at night. He was actually a Texas Ranger assigned to stop the killings taking place in Six Shooter Texas. Rumors had been saying that Tom Taggart was killing men for no reason other than to kill them: and that had made no sense at all to Jake. His first day working in the blacksmith shop had been an enlightening one; he’d watched a young man gunned down by Taggart for walking on the same side of the street as Taggart. Jake waited for an opportunity to corner Taggart, if he moved too quickly he would expose himself as a ranger. Jake watched Taggart from a distance, the man was just plain mean. Jake liked Six Shooter Junction, it was a nice town and growing every day. He questioned Jed one afternoon about how Tom Taggart ever became the marshal; Jed became contemplative as he began:

“We needed a marshal, Tom had guts, so he was hired; the problem was he and still is a

killer. He has no compunction about just shootin a man in the back or front makes him

no never mind. The town is afraid of him, the mayor despises him, and the saloon owner

pays him to keep the riff-raff out of the saloon.”

Jake kept that in mind as he began to think about a plan of action. He hoped that he could simply arrest Taggart, but then again he had to be ready for a gunfight. Taggart, Jake knew, was having him watched, one wrong word or move and Taggart would kill him. The cat-and-mouse game went on for several weeks. Jake sent a telegraph message home to let his ma know he was okay and would soon be returning home.

Jake while in Six Shooter had met a girl, he was falling head over heels in love with, her name was Sara Woodrich, daughter of Sam Woodrich the banker. He had taken her for buggy rides when he was not at the blacksmith’s. After attending a Saturday night square dance at the huge livery barn, Jake walked Sara home; he began walking up Main Street toward the hotel where he was staying. Out of nowhere came a shot, Jake tumbled to the ground, blood seeping from his back and neck. Jed heard the shots and ran toward the sound. Jake lay dead at his feet.

The following morning Jed sent a message to Jenny Campbell telling her that her son had been murdered. The city council sent his body home to be buried; they also informed the Texas Rangers that Jake had been murdered, and shot in the back.

Billy remembering all these things galloped on toward Six Shooter Junction, each night after he ate jerky he would practice his draw, just as Jake had showed him. He hoped he would be ready once arriving at his destination. He would seek out Tom Taggart when the time was right, at this very moment, he was more interested in a bath, shave, and a nice bed in a clean room at the hotel. Taggart observed the boy as he rode in, he thought he looked like that damn ranger he killed a couple of weeks back, but he would wait and see if this kid was going to be a problem like his brother Jake; if indeed they were brothers.

Billy roamed around the town, and found a place to eat dinner at the Blue Bonnet Cafe, things were already looking up, he was hungry after two months on the trail. He sat quietly eating his dinner of steak, potato, and a huge piece of peach pie. When he finished eating Billy headed over to see Jed, the blacksmith who had sent the telegram to Ma. He hoped he had some answers, he was going to take on Taggart but first, he had to know what happened to Jake. Jed stood at the fire making a rim for a wagon wheel when Billy walked in:

“I am lookin fer Jed, my name is Bill Campbell, Jake was my brother. I want to thank yer

fer sending Ma the telegram, she cried a lot but she finally got herself together. We buried

Jake is on the ranch where we grew up. What can you tell me about this Taggart that murdered

Jake.”

Jed felt as though he had been punched in the gut, he strode over to Bill, putting his rough worn hand on his shoulder:

“Boy, you don’t know what yer askin Taggart is a killer, he shot yer brother in the back, I

held his head as he passed. Jake was a good man, Bill, he did not deserve to die by bein

shot in the back. Don’t go up against Taggart boy or you are gonna meet the same fate.”

Bill was not about to heed the warning, he came to kill Taggart and that was what he was going to do; he had no intention of dying trying to kill Taggart. He knew he would have to be very cautious, he could not ask too many questions, that would tip his hand to Taggart. It became a cat and mouse game, Billy watching Taggart and Taggart watching Billy, the question in Billy’s mind was could he get the draw on Taggart before the man had a chance to fire.

Noon every day Taggart would patrol Main Street, his sawed-off shot gun ever present. Folks gave him a wide berth, no one wanted to die. Billy noted that Taggart once he finished on his patrol on Main Street enjoyed a drink at the Sheba Saloon with one of the ladies of the evening. Billy had a plan to bring down Taggart, it was time.

The following noon Bill Campbell walked down the center of Main Street, his gun at the ready:

“Taggart, you got one chance, surrender to me, I take you to Dallas for trial, if not you are

a dead man.”

Taggart laughed, who the hell did this young punk think he was talking to?

“Okay boy, you draw”

Bill knew what Taggart was going to do, before Taggart could move his arm to raise the shotgun, Bill fired his Colt .45 wounding Taggart in the arm. Bill threw the shotgun out of Taggart’s reach. He placed Taggart under citizen’s arrest for the twelve murders. Taggart was tried and convicted, hung in the Dallas jail.

Once Bill found justice for his brother Jake, he headed home. He rode up to the ranch house, and Ma came running out of the house:

“Billy, oh Billy you are alive and safe, thank God!” Bill jumped down from the saddle:

“Ma, I saw the man hang that killed Jake, I brought him in myself, justice did the right thing.

Taggart will never kill anyone else.

Together they walked into the house, the fear and revenge done. Bill also became a Texas Ranger, much to his Ma’s argument that he could be killed like Jake. That was the only time Ma did not succeed.