Jesse Peers arrived in the plains an unhappy despondent man. Rose Sikes entered his life through the manipulation of the mothers. Such matchmakers these women were. The young entrepreneur tried many things that always seemed to turn out well, make a profit or gain. Jesse managed a sheep camp, then developed an implement business with machines that moved Nebraska farmers into progressive ways of farming. Jesse Peers quilted together property: a patch of land here, a failed homestead there, and a piece of farm land nearby. Hessie, the Oglala Sioux woman, was protected and nurtured by Rose. Pearl Lux, in the background but very prominent in their lives, becoming a county sheriff and finally a US Marshall, directing the lawlessness into a time of peace and prosperity. Hans Sikes seeking to protect his daughter and keep her close. Rose's family so close knit but troubled and sometimes volatile, ready to ignite and burn. Rose and Jesse married secretly sustained their vows and created a life. Rose's desire to have a large family when Jesse had ambivalence about it all. The families were huge, the land holdings were vast, and the people industrious and ambitious. This story from the late 1800's until the turn of the century and beyond, portrays the struggle of families who lived in the plains.

All The Pretty Children

By Donna R. McGrew

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Donna R. McGrew
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-3884-1

Contents

Part I. A New Beginning.............................................1Part II. Lena Comes to America......................................8Part III. Hans Goes Home............................................17Chapter 1. Going Home...............................................21Chapter 2. The Boarding House.......................................26Chapter 3. Ernest's Recovery........................................42Chapter 4. Piss Ant Pie.............................................47Chapter 5. Hettrick House on Sweet Creek............................53Chapter 6. A Decent Proposal........................................60Chapter 7. Quilting The Pieces Together.............................65Chapter 8. The Ashbaugh Affair......................................73Chapter 9. The Shotgun Camp.........................................83Chapter 10. The Wedding.............................................91Chapter 11. Home at the Sheep Camp..................................101Chapter 12. Hessie Riddle Returns...................................111Chapter 13. Home from Europe........................................121Chapter 14. New Friends, Old Problems...............................132Chapter 15. A Time to Remember......................................141Chapter 16. The Implement Business in Cairo.........................149Chapter 17. A New Home..............................................156Chapter 18. The Quilting Bee........................................164Chapter 19. Sister Aimee Arrives from St. Louis.....................174Chapter 20. Moving on...............................................189Chapter 21. The Long Way Home.......................................204Chapter 22. The Children on Shady Grazeland.........................213

Chapter One

Going Home

The railway station at Grand Junction was swarming with people, shouting, gesturing, dragging suitcases, and hat boxes, in a mad scramble to board the train. People crowded from the station waiting room door onto the platform, a crush of relatives and friends carelessly hugging each other, a storm of heavy clothing, women's hats some with bows tied under the chin, amongst a mixture of porters hoping for a gratuity getting people stowed away in the passenger cars.

Rose, her sister Annie and Willie, her brother in-law, struggled across the platform and boarded the train, amongst passengers struggling to get off and on. They sweltered in their extra clothing. On the platform people were pushing angrily, pummeling the arms of departing sons and daughters. Children cried and clung to their mothers skirts; babies wrenched their mother's hair.

The conductor pushed aside the un-ticketed, hurrying people along. Down the length of the train people hung from open windows, crushing and kissing outstretched hands for one last time, their faces contorted with grief. The train moved and a cry went up from those remaining on the platform, watching the train cars glide by; their faces becoming the masks of strangers.

A man shouted and ran along beside the train, his legs taking large strides over the rough gravel of the right of way. As the train curved preparing to pick up speed, the man plunged with a horrible scream and fell beneath the train. He fell on all fours motionless between the steel wheels as the locomotive ground over him.

The conductor pulled the emergency brake while the engineer prepared to stop. A railroad official grabbed a side rail and hurried toward the front of the train. Everyone inside took a ragged breath as they became aware something had occurred. As the word passed quickly among passengers, men began moving up the aisle of the train, attempting to learn what had happened.

Rose and Annie remained seated while Willie jumped up. "Sit tight, I will go see what happened. It is going to be awhile to get us started again." A frown crossed his face. "We will be late arriving in Denver." He hurried out.

Willie was a conductor for the Great Northern Railroad and had some experience with accidents that happened. People drove onto or stalled at railroad crossings or occasionally hobos fell beneath the moving wheels. Often livestock and deer and elk wandered on the tracks and were struck. As he strode along the aisle some man was now telling another, "He is always at the station. He is crazy. He thinks his brother is on the train, always running and pleading his brother to come back."

The story shook Willie. It seemed a bad omen. He was reminded to get word at the next station to Hans and Greta they would be late. Likely they would miss their connection in Denver. It left him in a morose mood, he did not like dealing with his father-in-law Hans.

The smell of human sweat along with food and the close association of crowded passengers, assailed his nostrils. He could never get used to it. Not even the acrid smell of coal smoke blotted out the human odor in cramped quarters of the passenger cars, especially the train that came out of Grand Junction, always loaded to capacity.

The engineer and fireman were in a huddle with the company official. As Willie pressed forward, they recognized him even in his dapper clothes and neat bowler hat. They had crossed some invisible bar making them neither arriving or departing. As if time had suddenly come to a halt while they stepped into a pocket of apprehension of what they must do. The engineer said, "I didn't see anything. Knew nothing till the emergency brake was pulled."

The conductor filled them in. " I saw the man running fast along the passenger car. I saw him lunge under the train." The engineer and firemen both stated he must put that in a report. The official was scrounging in his briefcase for the appropriate forms.

The engineer said, "We won't leave until the incident is reported and the body is recovered." Trainmen hurried by with tools and a body bag. "I assume the man could not have lived from his lunge beneath the passenger cars."

The crew hurried outside along the passenger cars till they came to the body strewn haphazardly along the tracks. A hat wedged neath a wheel where a hand peeked out above it, pointing dramatically at nothing. The man's legs were crushed and the body caught between the axle rods between the rails of the tracks. The trainman set about lifting the body off the underbody of the car. One of the firemen dashed down the right of way and vomited into the weeds. The rest turned their faces away, embarrassed they might do the same. Slowly, they retrieved body parts and wrenched clothing from the couplings and rods under the train cars.

At last satisfied they had done an adequate job, the crew boarded the train while the conductor gave the official his story. Willie started back to the bedroom suite where the women anticipated his return.

Along the aisles passengers grabbed at him inquiring what had happened. They were anxious to resume their journey. The crewmen threw down their smokes and called, "All Aboard." The hollow rumble of the wheels on steel ground slowly along the tracks. With a brittle whistle the train moved away.

The shadows grew long among the pines on the wayside. The light swept along in shades of green and gold as the breeze blew coal smoke and dust along the ground.

Willie entered the compartment where the silence was profound. Annie's face registered fear while Rose's expression was inquiring. Annie's experience with...