AfterwordThis historical fiction is based on two separate histories, melded together out of sequence.
Henry Plummer was both Sheriff and leader of the outlaws in this region, simultaneously. The beginning of his end came when a young man who was delivering a mule named Black Bess was killed by those outlaws in the fashion described in this story, and the body was also found as described. That was the tipping point for the good citizens of the Alder region. They organized around the Masons, who had themselves organized at an earlier funeral, at which was read the passage contained herein. A trial with a thousand men in attendance brought the main characters in that murder to justice. Simple-minded John Franck was tripped up in questioning about the mule, and earned his freedom with his tes
