The Diary

2. Population Growth

Dodge was like a living organism. It spotted its prey and then captured it and hung on. No one intentionally came to live in Dodge City most arrivals were just passing through. The city selected those it wanted to keep and somehow held on to them and it would be a long time before they got to leave.

Dodge was also a city of extremes. The weather brought extremes. In the summer the intense heat sucked the very life out of a man, then again the winter was brutal enough to freeze his bones. In between the heat and the cold, the dust that pervaded every facet of life here, could be turned to mud in a few minutes, by a passing rain storm.

The town spent many months of the year in a quiet struggle to survive. This was only interrupted by the wild activity of cattle herds arriving in the spring. Suddenly bands of drovers were emptied onto the streets. These were young men who had been toughened by weeks on the trail. They had little regard for law and order, just a pocket full of money and a need for a place to spend it. Dodge had an insatiable appetite for that money, but had to suffer their abuses to earn it. The drovers hard-earned pay provided Dodge with the energy it needed to survive for the rest of the year.

The people came in extremes too. There were many hard working individuals trying to make an honest living here. People like Bill Pence, owner of the Long Branch, and Ma Smalley who ran a boarding house, Mr. Jonas who ran the general store and Mr. Botkin, owner of the bank. Of course there was also my young friend, the marshal, with his quiet dedication to uphold the law, and, inevitably, there were those individuals, equally determined to break it.

Daily life was very different to where I grew up. There was little in the way of luxuries to be had here. Entertainment was limited to gambling tables in the saloons and the occasional sociable in someone's barn on the edge of town. Sometimes there was a game of checkers to pass the time on a hot afternoon or an opportunity to share a few moments over a glass of beer with a was basic. Meat from the beef that came through Dodge, fish from local streams and rivers, and sometimes game from the prairie.

During the two weeks it took me to get my friend the Marshal back on his feet, I delivered a set of twins at the Hamilton farm just south of town – I spent two days and nights there, but there was great rejoicing when a healthy pair of boys were added to the family. In some ways it brought back feelings I didn't want to remember. I wondered what it would have been like to raise a family. Another young couple who had been married a little over two years called me to deliver their first child, and then one of the many poor hardworking farmers who lived in the countryside surrounding the town fell from a hay loft and broke a leg which I had to go out and set. Such was the nature of my work.

I never got paid much. Most of these folks had no money. Sometimes I would be given root crops or a chicken, but it was a rare occasion when I would receive hard cash.

I was standing in the Saloon at the Long Branch talking to Bill Pence. I'd left Ma Smalley watching over Dillon for me while I was away from the office. The saloon doors burst open and a pair of drovers forced their way in, half dragging a third man between them. They threw him into a chair and then made their way to the bar. These two were particularly scruffy looking individuals. Probably stragglers from the last cattle drive to make its to Dodge that spring. The third man was a little different, for a start his right leg stuck out straight, and he was definitely not a drover like the other two, nor did he wear a gun. He held his left hand in his right like it was hurting. I looked harder and saw he had a good size burn so I approached him.

"Say looks like you hurt your hand there, maybe I can help you, my name's Doc Adams." I held out my right hand to him and he took it. "Chester Goode," he replied.

The two drovers from the bar looked over and began to laugh.

"He's supposed to be a cook, but somehow he just tried to burn his hand off on the handle of a fry pan. I don't think he knows the first thing about fixing food. We don't need him any more." They returned to their drinks and continued to laugh.

I took Chester up to my office and dressed the burn. He was overly grateful.

"I'm sorry I can't pay yer nothing Doctor Adams, but if you have any work for me, I'll gladly do it."

I looked around and had an idea. "Most people just call me Doc," I told him. "If you come back in the morning I'll find a job for you to do."

Next morning he returned. I could tell he was hungry, but later understood that was a natural state for Chester Goode. I finished up taking him to breakfast. By the amount he ate, he would have to work for a week to repay me for that meal alone.

I took him back to the office and checked on my lawman. He was awake and trying to get up out of the bed.

"Oh no you don't," I said pushing him back, "I don't plan to let you open up that wound. It took me too long to sew you back together." I helped him sit up a little then set the breakfast I had brought back from Delmonico's, by the bed.

"Okay Chester this is your job. Help him eat this, make him some coffee and be sure he stays in that bed. I have to go make rounds in the country. Keep him right there till I get back, or no pay."

"Yes sir, Doc." He stumbled over the words.

Strangely enough it worked. The Marshal and the 'cook' played checkers and generally entertained each other every morning for a week. It cost me an expensive breakfast every morning but it was worth it. By the end of the week the two men had developed a mutual friendship. When Matt was able to move back to the jail, he took Chester with him, having told him he would be in need of some help for a few days to clean the place up after he had been gone for two weeks. He told the man that the pay wasn't good, "but you can sleep at the jail and I'll feed you when I can. All I want is someone to keep things tidy, get the mail, make the coffee and look after any prisoners I've got locked up."

I thought to myself that Dodge had captured another victim and knew Chester was going to be around for a while.

I had to wait on one more baby to decide to arrive, then I would be free to go on my way. I look at the now empty bags. Once that baby was here I could pack them again. Suddenly I was not so sure. Apart from my short married life I had never experienced the feeling of belonging anywhere. Over the months that I'd been here I had become a part of this place and its people. I'd delivered their babies, fixed their broken limbs and tended to their bullet wounds. In the evenings there was usually good company to be had at the Long Branch. It was not a profitable or glamorous job, and it barely provided me with enough money to live on, but I did feel needed and respected.

Meantime I had watched a good working relationship develop between the lawman and his new assistant. Sometimes Chester didn't seem to make the best decisions but he was loyal and would do anything Matt asked of him.

Several months went by and winter was approaching once more. One rainy day when the streets had turned to mud, a stage pulled up in front of the depot and three people emerged onto the street. One of the passengers caught my eye. A young woman stylishly dressed with a feathered hat partly covering a well coiffed head of red hair.

I watched her walk towards Delmonico's. I knew Matt would be over there eating breakfast and I was sure he would notice her. That afternoon I stopped outside the marshal's office. Matt and Chester were both sitting there doing nothing in particular. The marshal was leaning his chair back against the brick wall, his hat tipped over his eyes. I couldn't blame him for trying to catch a nap. Many nights he got little sleep. What with dealing with drunken cowboys and making rounds on the streets alone in the early hours of the morning he seldom got more than a few hours to rest. This was his only way of catching up.

I sat myself down in the third chair. "So this is how the law operates in Dodge."

"Oh it's you Doc, haven't you got a sick horse to go see or something," he said tilting his hat back and straightening his chair to look at me.

"Were you eating breakfast in Delmonico's this morning?" I asked while chewing on a toothpick, trying not to show undue interest.

"Yes .. and I saw her if that's what you're about to ask me."

"Oh no, …well I mean… I just wondered, a nice young man like yourself could…"

He cut me off. "I've already told you Doc, relationships and this badge don't mix."

He put his hat back over his eyes to shut me out. Yes, I knew he had noticed.

I enjoyed watching those two young people over the next few weeks. The young woman's name was Kitty Russell and she went to work for Bill Pence at the Long Branch. Goodness she had some outstanding dresses. They revealed enough to be interesting, but still maintained a little mystery. They were all made of fine fabrics and of colors that complemented her red hair.

Of course Matt noticed too. I saw him hanging around the saloon on many occasions, like a lost pup, just watching her move through the customers, comfortable around farmers, bankers or drovers alike. I realized she had noticed my friend too. She made excuses to stop and talk to him. Whether he was shy around women, or adhering to his principle of remaining unattached as long as he wore that badge I don't know, but she definitely put a lot of effort into getting his attention.

Kitty also became a good friend of mine. I would go by the Long Branch in the evenings. Sometimes she was sitting talking to Matt but would always invite me over to join them, other times she would just come and sit next to me and talk. I noticed that on those occasions her eyes kept wandering to the swing doors that led onto Front Street and I knew who she was watching for.

My 'family' was growing. For many years I knew nothing of Kitty's past. From watching her I could see she was a strong independent woman with a lot of common sense. She had a way with cards and with men. She could handle both with an easy-going confidence. I watched as Bill Pence relied more and more on her help in running the saloon. She was definitely an asset to his business and certainly a cut above the usual saloon girls.

I knew that, like the rest of us, the day she arrived she had no intention of making this place her home but the predator that was Dodge saw a need and held her in its grasp.

TBC