The Sheriff and his Partner

The Sheriff and his Partner by Frank Harris

In July 1869, a young English immigrant clerking at Lawyer Locock's office in Kiota, Kansas, reads in the "Kiota Weekly Tribune" that Ex-Judge Shannon has been robbed on the road by a highwayman named Tom Williams, who took his watch, money, and prized trotting mare Lizzie D., and sent word that Sheriff Johnson could find him at the saloon in Osawotamie. The narrator recalls having once heard that Sheriff Johnson himself had fled Pleasant Hill, Missouri, after a fight with a former partner named Williams, in which Johnson shot Williams after gripping his knife-hand and losing a finger. That evening the narrator goes to the Carvell House bar, where the town's men have gathered in tense anticipation. Sheriff Johnson arrives; farmer Crosskey shows him the newspaper account; Reid, resentful at having lost the Sub-Sheriff election to Johnson's man Jarvis, asks if he'll take help and leaves angrily when refused. Amid joking about the newspaper's language among gamblers led by Morris, the narrator impulsively declares that only one man should go after Williams, not several, and that he himself would go alone if paid. Johnson reacts with suppressed anger, then withdraws. The narrator's outburst leaves him shunned by the crowd; Morris tells him he "took a hand in a game" without paying the "ante." The next morning Johnson visits the law office, ostensibly checking whether the narrator is busy, then swears him in as Deputy-Sheriff, hands him five dollars twenty-five cents, and charges him to bring in Tom Williams "alive or dead." He offers revolvers and his own buggy, and pointedly gives the narrator a chance to back out, which pride prevents him from taking. Outside, the town's men are gathered silently; horse-dealer Martin quietly urges the narrator to make a joke to ease things, then wishes him well as he drives off toward Osawotamie. En route the narrator debates fleeing but resolves to go through with the arrest. In Osawotamie's saloon he finds Tom Williams armed with two ivory-handled revolvers, drinking with the bartender Joe and a man called Zeke. Williams admits robbing "a man in a buckboard." The narrator draws his own pistol and announces he is Sheriff Johnson's deputy sent to arrest him. On hearing the sheriff's name and description, Williams reacts with shock and fury, questioning the narrator closely about Johnson's age and appearance, and about the old Missouri quarrel and the missing finger. Convinced this is truly his old rival, Williams calms, has drinks all around, tells Zeke to saddle up if he doesn't return in two hours, and agrees to accompany the narrator back to Kiota unresisting, wanting no mistake of identity. During the drive Williams muses that the narrator may not know the true, more favorable version of the old quarrel, but says Johnson being sheriff is enough for him. Approaching Kiota they find armed vigilantes gathered at the bridge and along the street; Williams recognizes Johnson has called out the town. At the Sheriff's house, Johnson emerges armed with deputy Jarvis behind him. Williams declares he has come because Johnson sent for him; Johnson confirms it. Both draw and fire simultaneously; Johnson falls first, shot in the chest with two wounds; Williams, fleeing toward the crowd, is shot in the back of the head by Jarvis and collapses dead. Jarvis is wounded in the shoulder but not seriously. The narrator goes to Williams's body, then to Johnson's, where the men uncover two bullet wounds on his chest as the account closes.

By Frank Harris · First published 1907 · Genre: Western, Adventure, Crime · 8,864 words

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One afternoon in July, 1869, I was seated at my desk in Locock's law-office in the town of Kiota, Kansas. I had landed in New York from Liverpool nearly a year before, and had drifted westwards seeking in vain for some steady employment. Lawyer Locock, however, had promised to let me study law with him, and to give me a few dollars a month besides, for my services as a clerk. I was fairly satisfied with the prospect, and the little town interested me. An outpost of civilization, it was situated on the border of the great plains, which were still looked upon as the natural possession of the nomadic Indian tribes. It owed its importance to the fact that it lay on the cattle-trail which led from the prairies of Texas through this no man's land to the railway system, and that it was the first place where the cowboys coming north could find a bed to sleep in, a bar to drink at, and a table to gamble on. For some years they had made of Kiota a hell upon earth. But gradually the land in the neighbourhood was taken up by farmers, emigrants chiefly from New England, who were determined to put an end to the reign of violence. A man named Johnson was their leader in establishing order and tranquillity. Elected, almost as soon as he came to the town, to the dangerous post of City Marshal, he organized a vigilance committee of the younger and more daring settlers, backed by whom he resolutely suppressed the drunken rioting of the cowboys. After the ruffians had been taught to behave themselves, Johnson was made Sheriff of the County, a post which gave him a house and permanent position. Though married now, and apparently "settled down," the Sheriff was a sort of hero in Kiota.

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Western · Law enforcement · Friendship · Adventure · Crime · Justice · Rural · Conflict · Partnership · Courage · Community · Heroism

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The Sheriff and his Partner is listed on Textopian as a short story by Frank Harris, dated 1907 CE.

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