Chapter 8
June — December 1850
Josie and I continued our courtship dance as I healed, until she had to make the resupply trip for her boss to the stops on the Oregon Trail. I still wasn't sure how I regarded her. She was a wonderful woman and we had a lot of fun when we talked together, but I had a hard time imagining what I would do with another wife. While she was gone my other wives and I were going to have to talk about Josie and the family.
Meanwhile I had other things I needed to do that took up a lot of my time. I had started having a second house built after I managed to dowse a location to sink a well for an indoor pump. I was expecting to have a raising but I found that my display of how simple it was to do balloon framing had led to a new profession developing, private contractors. They weren't licensed of course and didn't call themselves contractors but that's what they were. A crew of men was hired and I signed a contract for building the house.
Louise and Claire showed them what they wanted and soon the framework began going up. They made a trip to Oregon City again to furnish the house and buy the appliances, but this time I hired a guard to go with them. They complained, but when they saw I was adamant about the guard, they gave in with poor grace. They became much more forgiving when Josh and his wives went with them.
For the first time since we had been married Elizabeth and I were alone except for the children. I had refitted the attic into three rooms for the children and they spent much of the time playing with each other while I watched over them and Elizabeth took care of the farm. It felt strange to have only one woman in the house and Elizabeth told me that it was a lot harder to take care of everything that needed to be done, especially those things I wasn't able to do until my leg healed. One thing she did like was having me all to herself for the two weeks that the others were gone and I had to admit that I really liked having only one woman to satisfy. It was during this time that Elizabeth became pregnant with our second child although I wouldn't find that out until November.
Louise and Claire had purchased appliances for the new house including a kitchen stove with an oven and one of the new indoor toilets. A crew from the Hudson Bay Company returned with them to install it and I told them to build a septic system to handle the waste. They were just going to pipe the waste directly into the nearby stream until I told them I would not allow it. I had a hard time finding enough concrete and finally ended up making the system out of brick with the leach pipes out of large clay pipes that I had to have specially made. It ended up costing almost as much to put in the indoor toilet as the rest of the house. It was worth it though when I saw the pride and pleasure that my wives took in having it.
The second house was finished November 10th and Josie arrived back from her trip on the 15th. We decided to have the Thanksgiving dinner in the new house and invite our close friends. We had a great time and I was surprised that the main attraction in the house was the indoor flush toilet we put up in a small attached building. I had gotten a lot of knowledge about it just by watching the men install the toilet and was quickly asked how much trouble it was to put it in. I had an idea that the wives of several of the men would soon want one in the near future.
I had managed to buy one of the combines from a man near Portland who had decided to quit farming to go to the gold fields and the entire town wanted to use it. A big problem we had with it was its tendency to break down at the drop of a hat. I ended up using the older tools and taking most of our grain to our threshing mill rather than try to keep it running. I ordered a manual for the combine hoping that I could get it running again next year.
When Elizabeth found she was pregnant, she told me. I was happy, but I still worried about it as well since she had such a hard time of it during her last pregnancy. She still wanted to go to California and hunt for English Jim with me but I told her that almost losing her once to childbirth was enough. I hired a married couple to work the farm and help her do the chores. Claire and Louise agreed with me about her not taking any unnecessary risks and between the three of us we convinced her that she couldn't go with me. That's when Josie spoke up, "I'm free until the spring. I'll go with him and help hunt down the polecat." My wives agreed that they wouldn't object if Josie went with me. I didn't want to have let her go and expose her to the dangers, but finally gave in when they all told me that I had to take someone with me to keep me out of trouble or I wasn't going.
I had healed from my wounds and began to plan on going to San Francisco to look for English Jim in the spring. I was still a deputy and was looking forward to resuming my duties when we got the news about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 being passed making it a crime for any public official to refuse to assist in returning a slave to their owner. A man made a claim to the magistrate that a black man living in the area belonged to him. I was ordered to arrest him simply on the man's claim that he owned him and he had not been officially freed.
I knew the man lied because he was notorious about never having more money than it would take to buy a jug of whiskey. I objected to the magistrate but was informed that the law made no exceptions for the truthfulness of the man making the claim. All that was required was that a claim be made. The black person named in the claim had no right to make any counter claims until the case went to court. I was damned if I was going to help any slave owner by returning anyone who had escaped! That's when I quit. I turned in my badge and suddenly was a civilian again.
When Claire and the others heard why I had quit they supported me quitting the deputy's job to protest the Fugitive Slave Act. The sheriff came out and tried to get me to reconsider quitting, "Alex I will guarantee that I will never ask you to arrest a black to return him to anyone."
I looked at him and said, "Will you do it, if ordered to?"
He looked around and whispered in my ear, "For some reason, every time I start to look for someone like that I get lost. Strangest thing isn't it?"
I whispered back, "And if one is brought in by a slave hunter?"
He sat back and said out loud, "You know I've been having the biggest problem with that sad excuse for a jail. I don't know how anybody can be kept in there against their will."
I thought about it, "Let me talk to my wives."
When we were alone I talked to them about the conversation I had with the sheriff. I wasn't expecting Josie to join in but my wives acted like they expected her to be there. Claire was the first one to speak out about it, "I think you should tell them no unless they publicly refuse to obey that immoral law!" Louise of course agreed with Claire.
Elizabeth was against me joining the sheriffs' department again but not just because of the Fugitive Slave Act, "I always worry about you when you go out. If you ever get killed I don't think I'd want to live either."
Josie weighed in then. She looked at my wives and snorted, "How much safer do you think he'd be running around as a civilian chasing English Jim? At least as a deputy he'd have the assistance of the local police when he tries to serve the federal warrant. Do you honestly think that he's not going to go after English Jim regardless of what happens now?"
The four women gave each other looks that I couldn't interpret. I was determined to make sure English Jim never threatened my wives again but I had thought that they didn't know. When Claire asked if that was true, I just shrugged my shoulders and nodded. The women gave each other another look and each nodded in turn.
The other three looked at Elizabeth, who seemed to be the spokeswoman for these occasions, "Alex, we think you should take the job back until you get finished with English Jim."
"Are you all sure? I'll have a hard time quitting again if I go back now."
Again the women exchanged a look between them. Sometimes I think women are telepathic, they seem to have entire conversations with a single glance. Elizabeth spoke up sounding resigned, "Yes, we're sure."
The next morning I went in to the sheriff's office and received my badge back. When I returned I asked Claire what had happened to the black man that had been the reason for my resignation. She just looked at me and said, "You owned a slave named John Shackly that has been manumitted and the papers are filed in Oregon City to prove it."
When I asked how she managed that, she just grinned and rubbed two fingers together. I wondered how much money I would have left if she kept this up. When I looked at her, she spoke up, "We used the money from the Underground Railroad for this one. I won't spend our money without telling you."
I continued to plan for our trip to California and Sydney Town(later known as the Barbary Coast) for spring while we waited for the newest members of the family to be born. On December 12 Claire had her baby, a son whom we named David after my father and Louise followed on the 30th with a girl we named Josephine after Josie.
On January 13th I proposed to Josie after being encouraged strongly by my wives. Elizabeth was perhaps the one who was the most vocal about her joining the family, "Alex! You propose to Josie before you go anywhere! She's waited long enough and we know that she would be a good addition for the family! Men, honestly!"
Josie gave me an answer I wasn't expecting, "Alex, I love you but I'm not too sure if I want to be married to you. I want to wait for a while longer before I give you my answer."
Claire and Louise were more surprised about Josie's answer than I was. "You mean that you'll go with Alex to California without being married?", Claire asked.
Josie gave me a wink, "Do you promise that you won't take advantage of me?"
"I don't know. You're looking awfully good and I may ravish you during the trip." My wives gave me startled and disapproving glances.
Josie started laughing and soon afterward my wives joined her laughter, "Do you really think I don't know how to take care of myself? I work with muleskinners twice a year hauling freight. Besides Alex is a gentleman, not at all like the muleskinners."
This led my wives and Josie into sharing another look and then they started to laugh again. God, I'm beginning to hate those shared glances. I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a conversation that everyone but me can understand. Irritated I stomped out of the house, leaving the women alone. Soon afterwards Josie came out and joined me while I heard laughter in the house where the other women were. Josie jumped into my lap and kissed me, "Alex, you're a handsome man and I may just let you ravish me during this trip. I love you and your wives but right now I don't see myself marrying you. I want to go with you because you need someone to keep you in check. Your wives have told me about how you get when you feel someone is threatening them. They say you change from someone who is kind and sweet, to someone who frightens them."
I looked at her in shock. Me frightening? Most of the time when I was in those situations, I was the one frightened! "Josie, I'm not going to fly off the handle looking for English Jim! If you or my wives think I need a minder then you can stay here with them!", I scolded.
"Too bad. I'm going with you, unless you can get your wives to tell me to stay."
I gave up. I had already gone through this before and I knew that I'd have no success trying to get them to have Josie to stay here. I began to talk about the trip, "I was thinking we could take the Siskiyou Trail to California and then head toward San Francisco and check in with the federal marshal there."
"Alex, do you have some reason you have to ride to San Francisco?"
"How else would we get there?"
"There are ships that carry passengers between Portland and San Francisco after they pick up coal from Vancouver. Isn't Sydney Town in San Francisco?"
I hadn't thought about it, but she was right. I guess I'm a landsman. I hadn't even thought about taking a ship to San Francisco. As long as we carried the supplies we needed with us to California, we should be able to buy horses easily enough.
I decided we would head toward Portland and try to see what kind of passage we could find. Besides I wanted to talk to the federal marshal there about what he had found out from the other people in the slavery ring who had been arrested.
February 12, 1851
Josie and I arrived at Portland today where we were met with news of the seizure of the British ship the Albion for a customs violation and its subsequent sale. This had led to bad feeling between the British and the Americans on the West Coast. Rather cynically I wondered who had bribed the customs agent to seize the ship and sell it for such a low price to the investors.
I talked with the federal marshall in Oregon City, "I'm going to Sydney Town to try and find English Jim to bring him back for trial. You know anyone I can talk to in San Francisco?"
He looked at me and shook his head, "Alex, that town is about as lawless as anywhere on earth. If you go there you better have someone watching your back all the time. I wouldn't trust the local police to help with anything. They're probably working for the Sydney Ducks anyway."
Josie and I looked at him. "What about the federal marshals or courts?"
"Well outside of San Francisco you might be able to trust them, but San Francisco is run by the Democratic Party and they are about as corrupt as the Sydney Ducks. The only man I can think of that you might be able to trust right now is Samuel Brannan. What I can do is give you a temporary appointment as a federal deputy for the trip to California."
Sam Brannan was a very successful merchant who had started the Gold Rush by spreading the word of the discovery (after buying the entire supply of mining equipment in San Francisco first) running around downtown with a vial of gold dust shouting out the news. The sheriff continued, "Sam's a well-respected man who's been talking a lot about the need to regain control over San Francisco back from the Sydney Ducks. If anyone can help you in that snake pit he can."
We made arrangements with one of the many sailing ships supplying California with goods from Oregon to sail to San Francisco the following week. I was given letters of introduction to Samuel Brannan and we waited to leave. Our next stop was San Francisco where the hunt for English Jim will begin.
Thanks Drahkan, for your help in keeping the story going.