Searching for Silverheels Read online

  Mother, Russell, and I were the only ones who felt that we should look for her. We inquired with Mr. Orenbach, but he hadn’t sold her a train ticket or seen her board a train. We inquired with Mr. Johnson at the livery, but Josie had not been there either. She had apparently left town on foot without the boots she always wore, but no one had seen her, or if they had, they’d paid no attention.

  While no one else cared to look for her, everyone arrived at the café that evening to gossip and speculate about where she might have gone. Even the Crawfords came, all three of them looking smug. Mr. Crawford had the newspaper under his arm, but for once he didn’t bury himself in it. He seemed more interested in watching the festivities along with his wife. George hadn’t spoken to me since I had left him by the creek. I feared everything was over between us, so I was surprised when he turned his radiant smile on me. Angry as I was, that smile still made my heart give a little hiccup.

  “Maybe a dashing young gambler swept her off her feet and they ran away together,” Orv suggested, to a wave of approving laughter.

  “Maybe she’s gone off to enlist,” suggested Harry.

  “There is the nurses’ corps,” Russell said in all seriousness. “They do need women to sign on as nurses.”

  “Josie, signing up to help people?” Orv said.

  “I think I’d rather die of my wounds,” Harry muttered, and once again the laughter erupted.

  I didn’t find their jokes funny. I remembered her standing silently in the moonlight with her gun, watching the hotel the night Robert had gotten drunk. She did help people, sometimes.

  The chatter and speculation quieted when Mr. Orenbach entered with a slip of paper in his hand.

  “Telegram for you, Pearl. From young Master Frank.”

  “For me? From Frank?” I took it with a trembling hand. Telegrams hardly ever came to Como. There was a telegraph machine in the railroad office, but it was used almost entirely for railroad business. The only time anyone else received a telegram was when there was bad news, so of course, every eye in the room turned to me. Mother even came out of the kitchen.

  “It’s about Josie,” Mr. Orenbach said.

  “Josie?!” I took the telegram, more confused than ever.

  “Read it to us, Pearl,” Orv said. “We all want to know.”

  I unfolded the piece of paper and read.

  TO Pearl Barnell

  Como, Colorado

  Josie Gilbert in jail STOP See July 19 RM News p3 STOP Please advise what to do STOP Frank Sanford

  “Anyone got a copy of the Rocky Mountain News, July 19th?” Russell called out.

  Mrs. Crawford smiled triumphantly and took the paper from her husband. She brought it to the counter, already flipped open to the article on page three. George sauntered over behind her. Other folks gathered around to read as well.

  RALLY FOR ARRESTED SUFFRAGISTS TRIGGERS MORE ARRESTS

  I read through it quickly. The Colorado Chapter of the National Women’s Party, led by a Miss Josephine Gilbert, had organized a rally on the steps of the state capitol to demand the release of their sisters in Washington. When they were asked by police to disperse, a scuffle ensued. I didn’t have to read the details farther down the page to know how it had happened. I could see it clear enough in my mind. After all, I had seen Josie scuffle with the security men on the platform. The article ended with unsympathetic commentary about those who put their personal causes before patriotism in war time. It was exactly the sort of thing Mrs. Crawford had been saying all summer.

  I looked up from the article, taking a deep breath to calm myself.

  “Looks like she’s dangling off that cliff after all, doesn’t it, Pearl, and without a rope,” George said, smiling. He slipped an arm around my waist. “Now do you see why I’ve been trying to protect you? I’m glad you weren’t involved with her.”

  I ignored him and turned to Russell. “What are we going to do?”

  “Don’t see as how there’s much we can do,” said Mr. Orenbach. “If she insists on making her bed, she’s going to have to lie in it.”

  “But she’s in jail!” I said.

  “I’m sorry, Pearl,” Mr. Orenbach said, and walked away.

  “She got what she deserves, Pearl,” George said. “I tried to warn you.”

  My back stiffened and I stepped forward, away from his encircling arm.

  “Now, son, it’s best not to judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, as they say,” Russell said.

  George smirked, and I wondered what I had ever found handsome about his hard, mean face. “A mile in her shoes?” He waddled back and forth in front of the counter, imitating her lopsided gait and snorting like a donkey. Then he laughed and said, “I hope Sufferin’ Josie stays locked up forever, the traitor!”

  “Mrs. Gilbert,” my mother corrected him. “Please respect your elders when you are in my café.”

  “Actually, it’s Miss Gilbert,” I said. “She’s proud to have never taken on a man’s name, or his laundry.”

  Russell gave a surprised hoot of laughter. “That’s Josie, all right.”

  George’s eyes narrowed. “So you were working with her then.”

  “No, but I know she’s never hurt anyone in this town, and she’s been better to her neighbors than the Crawfords have been!” I said. There was a collective intake of breath around the room, then all eyes shifted to George’s parents.

  “Don’t hang yourself with the rest of them, Pearl. We have all the evidence, and we’ve already sent it off to Denver to prove our case. Josie Gilbert is going to stay in jail, and there’s going to be a full investigation of everyone who’s been helping her,” George said.

  “That’s right,” Mrs. Crawford said. “We’ve been keeping track of all the sedition around here. Mr. Orenbach letting Josie attack the president in front of all those soldiers. The Schmidts selling their Kaiser Dogs at the picnic. Your mother helping hand out Josie’s slander rags in here at lunch!”

  George nodded and looked me square in the eye. “It’s about time we cleared out all the traitors and Germans from this town. Do you really want to side with them?”

  “Get out!” I said.

  “Pearl.” He reached for me, as if he could melt my resolve by being near me. It had worked for him in the past, but not this time. As his hand closed on my arm, I pushed him away angrily. Surprised, he stumbled backward, caught his leg on a stool, and crashed to the floor in a clatter of furniture. Several people nearby could have caught him, but they stepped out of the way and let him fall.

  “Pearl!” said Mrs. Crawford. “How dare you!” She turned on me instantly and slapped my face, hard. Just like that, Willie was between her and me, his fists clenched. I could see the hair on the back of his neck bristling, like an angry bulldog.

  My mother caught her by the arm and began walking her toward the door. “Mrs. Crawford, I’d like you to leave.”

  Orv stepped to the door and held it wide.

  Mrs. Crawford yanked her arm free from my mother and glared around at everyone. “You’ll all be sorry when that investigation comes,” she said. “Don’t think I don’t know about all of you. I know everything that happens in this town!”

  “Out,” my mother said.

  “And don’t ever touch my sister again,” Willie growled at George.

  “You’re making a very poor business decision,” Mr. Crawford said. He was trying to stare Mother down, but she didn’t budge. “If your husband were here, he’d set you right.”

  “Come along, George,” said Mrs. Crawford. She turned up her nose and marched out the door as if she were the Queen of Sheba, and George followed behind as if he were the Queen of Sheba’s momma’s boy. Which is what he had turned out to be. Why hadn’t I seen it sooner? Mr. Crawford followed and closed the door behind them, and everyone in the café let out their breath.

  I turned to my mother when they were gone, rubbing my stinging cheek. “Do you really think there will be an investigation?”


  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Mother said.

  “Would they really shut down our café?”

  My mother shrugged. “The thing is, Pearl, sometimes you just have to do what you believe is right, and trust that good will prevail. It usually does, somehow.”

  “But not always,” I said. “It hasn’t for Josie. Someone’s got to go to Denver and get her out of jail!”

  There was a silence after that. Most folks wouldn’t look my way. No one wanted the responsibility, or the risk.

  Anger surged in me all over again. “Well, if no one else will, I’ll go!” I declared. “I’ll go if I have to walk every inch of the way!”

  “My, my,” said Russell, a smile pulling at the corner of his lip. “Ol’ Josie has been teaching you a thing or two, hasn’t she.” I looked at Mother. Her brow was knitted. “I’m sorry, Pearl, but I just don’t see how we can manage it. I would have to close the café.”

  “Then I’ll go alone,” I said.

  “No. That is out of the question.”

  “But you’re the one who said we had to stand up for what we believe in. You’re the one who insists neighbors do for neighbors!”

  “Pearl.” Mother’s tone was reproachful, which would normally have been enough to silence me, but not this time. I was finding strength in knowing I was right, and it felt good to stand my ground. Russell was right, Josie had taught me a thing or two.

  “I’ll go, Mrs. Barnell,” Russell said, stepping forward and undoubtedly getting me out of trouble by doing so. “I’ve been trying to talk sense into that woman for two decades, so there’s no point in me stopping now.”

  “And I’m going too,” I insisted. “If she won’t listen to Russell, she might listen to me. Please, Mother?”

  “I’ll wait tables while she’s gone,” Willie said. He gave me a little smile and nod that warmed me right through.

  Mother was still frowning, but she looked me in the eye. “This is what you believe is right, Pearl? You feel that strongly about it?”

  I straightened my shoulders and nodded. “I do.”

  Mother let out a big sigh. “Well, then. I suppose we better get you packed.”

  CHAPTER 25

  It took all the next day for Russell and me to get ready to go. During that time, a curious thing happened. Various people who hadn’t said a thing to Mrs. Crawford in Josie’s defense now came forward with offers of support. The miners’ wives offered to help mother run the café in my absence, and the old-timers agreed to look after Russell’s ranch. Willie assured me he’d do a good job of washing the dishes, even if it was women’s work. Several other folks came forward offering cash to pay Josie’s bail, if needed. I knew many of them complained about Josie, but as more than one of them said, she was a neighbor.

  I helped my mother through breakfast and lunch, then went upstairs to pack. We planned to catch an evening train so we could arrive in Denver midmorning the next day. As I gathered my things, I saw the old tintype on the dresser. It hardly mattered anymore, but I put it in my bag all the same. Perhaps Frank would like to see the young Tom Lee, since he had met the old man.

  That evening Russell and I said good-bye to Mother and Willie and boarded the eastbound train to Denver.

  The journey took all night. Russell and I couldn’t afford sleepers, so we tried to sleep in our stiff seats. It was no use. Even if I had been comfortable, I was too nervous about going to Denver, seeing Frank again, and seeing Josie in jail.

  By the time we stepped off the train the next morning, I was stiff, tired, and rumpled. Unlike our little platform in Como, the station in Denver was crowded. I looked around for Frank. I had wired him, but had received no reply before we left, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I certainly hadn’t expected the way my heart soared when I spotted him at the back of a big crowd, waving his arms in the air to catch our attention. I waved back. He broke into a huge grin, and once I made it through the crowd, grasped me in a hug that left me breathless.

  He and Russell carried our suitcases out of the station into the busy streets of Denver, and for a moment, I forgot about Josie. Streetcars clanged by, running on electric wires down the middle of the street. People crowded the sidewalks and motorcars whizzed past. Of course, I had seen cars before, but I hadn’t imagined there would be so many. And the buildings! Every one was brick or stone, and some had as many as four or five stories!

  Frank took my hand and smiled at me. “So what do you think of Denver?” I could see in his eager face how badly he wanted me to like it, but I was too amazed to even speak.

  As soon as we were out of the crowds in front of the station, Russell set down our suitcases and asked about Josie. I felt a little guilty that I had been gawking like a tourist instead of asking after her myself.

  “Josie’s in the city jail on ten dollars bond,” Frank told Russell. “I did go see her yesterday and told her you were coming.”

  “How is she?” I asked.

  “A little angry.”

  Russell chuckled. “I bet she is. Madder than a tomcat in a pack of hound dogs, I’d wager. When does she have her hearing?”

  “She goes before the judge tomorrow,” Frank said. “It’s a misdemeanor, so if she pleads guilty, she just has to pay a fine and she’ll go free. If she pleads innocent, I think they set another date for a trial.”

  Russell frowned. “Sounds like we got here just in time. Now if we can just talk some sense into her.”

  “Can we go see her?” I asked.

  Frank nodded again. “Visiting hours at the jail are at one o’clock. That’s when I saw her yesterday. Mother says I should bring you home and let you settle in. We don’t have a spare bedroom, but you’re welcome to stay with us. Russell can have my room, and you can sleep with my sisters, Pearl. After lunch, you can go see Josie.”

  Frank’s mother greeted us graciously and we spent the morning resting and freshening up after the long train ride. After lunch, Russell and I set off for the jail.

  I had never been to a jail before. I tried not to think of all the criminals that might be in there as we climbed the big stone steps and entered the building. I stayed as close as I could to Russell as he filled out papers at the front desk and we followed a policeman into a big room with a long table down its center. Several other visitors, mostly women, already sat on our side of the table, as the policeman now instructed us to do. We sat down and waited, listening to a clock on the wall tick out the minutes. At last a door on the other side of the room opened and five prisoners filed in under the watchful eye of a guard. Josie was the only woman in the group and the only one wearing street clothes instead of a striped prison uniform. I suppose they didn’t have prison uniforms for women, or maybe they just hadn’t been able to wrestle her into one.

  I stared at her as she entered. She was well dressed, in a dark suit and shiny black ladies’ boots. I had never seen her dressed so respectably before. She could have passed on the street as a regular citizen of the big city, completely lacking the small-town manner that I knew marked Russell and me, no matter how we might dress.

  She carried her chin high and her back straight as she approached the table. Her eyes flashed defiantly at everything around her, but when her gaze met mine, I saw fear there.

  I couldn’t believe it. Josie—who defied everyone, who did as she pleased, who made an effort to get herself into trouble—was afraid. And yet she had to have known when she came to Denver that it could lead to this. Had she been afraid before she had been arrested too? Had she put herself in danger, even as she feared doing so? And all the while I hadn’t even been brave enough to acknowledge my friendship with her. With a pang of guilt, I saw now how unworthy of that friendship I had been.

  “Well, don’t sit there gawking, girl. You don’t want everyone in Denver to think you are a complete hayseed, do you?” Josie said, breaking the spell of admiration as she settled her broad backside into the chair on the opposite side of the table from us. �
�Don’t know what the two of you think you’re doing here, but if you just dragged me in here so you can gawk at me, I’m going back to my cell.”

  “Good to see you too,” Russell said. “Honestly, Jo. You are the most infuriating creature on God’s green earth!”

  Josie gave her usual donkey snort.

  “We came to get you out,” I said. “We collected money back home for your bail. Everyone chipped in.”

  Josie raised her eyebrows. “Everyone? Good thing your mother isn’t here to hear you tell that whopper.”

  “Well, a lot of people. My mother, Mrs. Abernathy, the old-timers, Mr. Orenbach . . .”

  “Well, you can take their money right back to them. I’m not having you bail me out.”

  “Dagnabbit, woman! For once in your life, listen to reason!” Russell’s usually mild face was contorting and quickly turning red.

  “I’m staying, and I’m saying my piece in court,” Josie said.

  “Well, we’re not leaving this town without you!” Russell said. The two of them glared at each other across the table like two rams about to butt heads. I wouldn’t have been surprised if either of them had started pawing the ground.

  “But, Josie,” I said, not caring if she heard the fear in my voice, “don’t you want to get out of this place? You can still say your piece in court.”

  “If you bail me out, they’ll think they’ve broken me. I’m staying right where I am. I’m not going to let them forget about me for a minute.” She glared again at Russell, challenging him to try and stop her.

  Russell leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Fine. Rot in jail. Maybe it’ll give you time to come to your senses and see that accepting help from your friends wouldn’t hurt one little bit.” He stood so suddenly his chair tipped over and clattered to the floor. “I’ll be outside whenever you’re ready to go, Pearl.”