Looking for help

[Deleted]

Madeie stood there for a couple of seconds.  Jake was laying at her feet.  This time she was sure he was dead.  She leaned up against the wall.  She needed to find someone to help her.  After a few deeep brearths she headed back to the Saloon.She was hoping that it was still open. When she makes it to the door.  She just stands there.  Her clothes are a mess.  There is blood on her blouse and her hair is down and loose.  She looks at Ralph. 'I think I need some help."

tag Ralphs

[Deleted]

For a few seconds, Ralph did not look to the door from his position behind the bar, he was busy stacking some glasses but when he did he could not miss Maddie's looks, that was blood! What the hell had happened to her? Although if he had to guess it was her troublemaking husband again. He moved out from the bar toward her.

"Have a seat, lemme take a look at ya," he directed.

"Where were you injured? Shot? Stabbed? Beaten?" he had plenty of questions.

He also took a few seconds to bellow at one of the customers gawking away, "You, Ben!  Go get the doc! Be quick about it!"

ooc: If our new doctor character is about and looking to jump in, that would be great!

[Mattie Barnett Davis]

As Mattie Davis strode down the wooden boardwalk toward the livery, a commotion arose within the Golden Palace, one of the grandest buildings on this side of the main street. Mattie and a few other passersby paused out of range of the saloon entryway, anticipating either a tangle of brawlers spilling out of the door or the owner summarily ejecting an unruly drunkard or a sneaky cardsharp.

Instead she heard a loud voice from within demanding that the doctor be summoned.

They were calling for a doctor, not the sheriff, Mattie realized, so walking into imminent violence was a little less likely. She slipped through the entryway and nevertheless made a quick assessment of the situation.

Seated, a beautiful woman in stylish clothing, her blouse stained with blood and her black hair tumbled down in disarray. Her face appeared ashen under the saloon's lights.

Standing near the woman was a tall, well-dressed man with a mane of dark hair and a luxurious beard. Based on his appearance and demeanor, Mattie suspected he was the saloon owner.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted some gawkers watching either the door or the fine man or the afflicted woman, and some other patrons minding their own business or their own drinks, except for one scruffy lad who was eyeing the hand of cards next to him while the rest of men at the Faro card table gawped at the bloody woman.

"I'm the ranch lady doctor," Mattie said, approaching the two but directing her attention primarily to the woman. "May I be of assistance?"

Whether the woman could answer for herself would give Mattie an idea of how shaken or injured she was. And how -- or whether -- the man responded might give Mattie an idea of his opinion of lady doctors or even any involvement in this woman's injuries.



[ooc: if I took too many liberties with spirit of place, I apologize for getting carried away with my interpretation of your fine establishment.]

@ralph
@madelaine

[Deleted]

Maddie gratefully took Ralph's offer of the chair. The last few minutes had passed in such a blur, she was feeling a little our of it. Jake grabbing her, the fight over the gun. Jake lying out her feet, with the knife sticking out of him. Dead she hoped. Her head hurt, she could tell her lip was swelling, and it felt like her cheek was swelling up. She went to adjust herself, and a pain shot through her upper. She wince. "Right arm," she tells Ralph. "The way it feels, thru and thru." One the girls from upstairs has brought Ralph a towel to press against the wound.

When the woman walks up and introduces herself as a doctor, Maddie just looks over at her. The adrenaline rush was wearing off. She was starting to shake a little, and feel a little faint. "Your assistance miss is much appreciated, as I have seemed to have sprung a leak.' She leans back in the chair and closes her eyes.

One of the other customers had gone out to check outside to what had happened. Jake was laying there on his back, staring up at the night sky. The other man reached down and checked. He was definitely dead. He headed back in to where Ralph was still standing. He whispered in his ear 'Jakes's dead. Looks there was a struggle. I am going to get the sheriff.

Having headed over to the Sheriff's home, he pounds on the door. "Hey, you're needed over at the saloon, there's been a shooting and stabbing.

@ralph Mundy
Mattie Barnett Davis Davis
Troy Slater Slater

[Troy Slater]

The sound of someone pounding on his door caused Troy to jolt, spilling his morning cup of coffee down the front of his uniform. “Damn it.” He pulled at his shirt, pulling the hot wet fabric away from his skin. Whipping the shirt off over his head as he as he hurried to the door. The notion that there’d been a shooting not sitting particularly well with him. “Who?” He demanded as he opened his front door. “Has anyone sent for the doctor?” He asked, as he headed to get another shirt. Pulling it on, Troy headed out the door. He caught the man’s arm, pulling him along heedless of the fact that his stride was nearly twice of that the other man’s.

“Who was shot? And who got stabbed?” Troy released the man’s arm, taking a moment to tuck his shirt into his pants as they walked up the street towards the dead body. He figured learning who the dead man was the most important thing. Since he wasn’t the doctor, he didn’t know what he could do for the injured one. And the questions could wait til after the doctor had seen to them.

Mattie Barnett Davis
@ralph

[Deleted]

Maddie was hit in the arm, fortunately she thought the bullet passed right thru. Ralph knew enough about such wounds from back in the war, operations to extract bullets which had often mangled bone usually meant amputations. She was probably not going to have to suffer that. One of the saloon girls helped out for the time being but the woman should still get medical attention. Luck was with them then as some stranger woman entered the premises and walked straight up to the drama.

"I'm the ranch lady doctor," the woman declared then asked, "May I be of assistance?"

"You don't say, so a ranch has itself it's own doctor? Interestin', " Ralph seemed almost amused but really it wasn't the time for such things.

Maddie wasted no time in taking up the offer for help, afterall she was the one who was shot and in pain.

"Do what you do, ma'am," Ralph backed off, he'd just get in the way otherwise. He hurt and killed people...he didn't fix'em up.

He glanced at his saloon gal employee, "Jenny, get her whatever she needs. Towels, rags, water, whiskey."

Jenny nodded compliantly, "Sure will."

[Deleted]

The man was trying to keep up with the sheriff and answer his questions. "Looks like that gambler Jake and the new lady gambler got into it. He's over there, with a knife in him. Pretty sure he's dead. She's in the saloon. Looked like she may have been shot. Came in with blood all over her top. Ben's gone to get the doctor."

Ben got over to the clinic. He wasn't sure if the doc was there or not. Worse came to worse, he could always go get the vet. He knew the doctor was a woman, and hadn't been in town long. He starts pounding on the door of the place. 'hey Doc, you're needed at the saloon. There's been a shooting."s

Ralph isn't able to go to far. Maddie has a pretty tight grip on his hand. 'looks like I won't be dealing for a few days. Anyone check on Jake. Is he dead."

tag
@talph
@sarah
Troy Slater
Mattie Barnett Davis

[Troy Slater]

Troy let out a sigh, hating the idea that he would likely end up having to arrest a woman. But if she had been the one to kill Jake then he might just be forced to. He was the law in these parts and murder was murder after all. He keep walking, following the shorter man's directions. "You don't have to come with me. But as Jake is dead we will need the undertaker." Troy grimaced, his nose leading him to the body. The smell of blood was a familiar one. Though he wished fervently that his life had been different, that he did not know the smell as well as he did.

His years in the army were where he'd come to know such things. His sleep was still often haunted by the things that he'd seen in war. And by the things he'd done during war. Men he'd killed in the heat of battle. Men whose faces he still saw in his dreams. Not every night, but sometimes.  When he reached the body, Troy knelt, pressing his fingers to the man's throat, feeling nothing fluttering under his fingertips.  He sighed again, passing his hand over Jake's face, closing the man's eyes before he rose.  "Fetch the undertaker would you?"  He called back over his shoulder as he headed for the saloon, to uphold the law.

[Mattie Barnett Davis]

“We’ll get you patched up and dressed in a fresh blouse as soon as possible.” Mattie smiled encouragingly, albeit noticing that the towel that had been wrapped around the lady gambler’s right arm was starting to spot with fresh blood. Her skin appeared to be getting more clammy and pale, except for the contusions on her cheek and mouth. “I can see it’s a small ‘leak’, but I’ll be as gentle and quick as I can.”

To the saloon owner, Mattie murmured urgently, “Thank you. I need two unopened bottles of the strongest alcohol you have, clean towels, and some large bowls or pie tins. I have the rest of what I need here.” She gestured with the small leather satchel that she carried. “Also get the lady some coffee with brandy and sugar, please.”

Jenny hastily returned with the collected items, and Mattie rinsed her hands and her tools with the whiskey, the best she could do for disinfectant at the moment. It was safer than well water, and the last of the carbolic acid she had was better saved for the gambler’s wound care afterwards.

“Where do you hurt? Try to tell me what happened, if you can.” Mattie said to her patient, carefully removing the towel. Faint black powder burns streaked material of her bloody jacket sleeve, showing that the derringer had been fired at close range. That fact along with the blows to the gambler lady’s face suggested a struggle for the weapon.

But the lady’s guilt or innocence was for the sheriff to determine. Mattie’s job was to heal, not judge. But, Maddie reflected, as she swiftly cut across the top of the armhole and down the length of the sleeve of both the jacket and the blouse, she’d save anything that the sheriff might want as evidence. Carefully she loosened the edges of the fabric where the drying blood had crusted against the bullet wounds and peeled away the remains of the sleeve, dropping the fabric onto the table. Typical of most perforating injuries, the bullet wound on the front was small, rounded, and bloody, but the exit wound was comparatively larger, ragged, and irregular.

What was truly worrisome to Mattie, though, was that the trajectory wasn’t linear – it looked like the bullet had glanced off the humerus bone of her upper arm. Fortunately it had missed the fine network of nerves and arteries as well as the tendon of her shoulder. But Mattie would have to check for bone fragments or any debris inside the wound.

“This is going to sting a little,” Mattie warned. She was glad the gambler lady was still gripping Mundy’s hand.

As gently as she could, Mattie swabbed her patient’s arm with a clean towel soaked in whiskey and then rinsed out the wound itself with a generous dose of more whiskey. Tonight Mr. Mundy’s most expensive drinkers were the towels, her tools, and the sawdust on the floor.

Quickly she probed the wound with a clean set of forceps, pulling out a bit of metal and then a bloody fragment of torn sleeve, murmuring “Just a few moments more; almost done.”

After ensuring the wound was as clean as she could make it, Mattie rinsed her hands, threaded a needle with silk thread, and neatly stitched her patient up.

After the lady gambler was bandaged with gauze treated with carbolic acid, Mattie rinsed her hands and tools with whiskey again. “You’ll mend just fine. Just have the dressings changed every couple of days using these bandages,” Mattie said, smiling, and pressed the rest of the packet of Lister’s Sterile Bandages into the gambler’s good hand.

To Mr. Mundy, she said, "Thank you for your help, and your supplies. I'll pay you for the whiskey after the bank opens."

@madelaine
@ralph
Troy Slater

[edited for simplicity regarding the bank; Western Union did interstate wire transfers via telegraph in the 1870s, but we're all in the same town with the same bank, haha...]

[Deleted]

Maddie hated the sight of blood, especially her own. She was feeling sick, but kept listening to the doctor. '"Sting a little, huh.", she remarked. When the whiskey soaked rag was applied to the wound, she let out with a string of curses, in French and English. 'As for what happened, I got into an fight with a jackass, named Jake." Maddie stops and looks at Ralph. "Everything is such a blur" She grits her teeth. "Right now i would love a shot of whiskey, and somewhere to lay down."


As Troy walks into the saloon, a few of the customers nod to him. There is a small gathering at a table. One of them, he would recognize as the owner. There is a lady sitting in a chair, with a bloodstained blouse and jacket on. It looks like the sleeve on both have bee cut away. She also has a split lip, and the beginning of a black eye. There is another woman working on the wound in her arm.

Jenny walks over to him. "Sheriff, you here about the shooting."

@ralph
Troy Slater
Mattie Barnett Davis

[Troy Slater]

Nodding back, Troy continued moving through the saloon, his long legs covering the distance between the door and where Miss Mattie was tending to the young brunette with the start of what looked like would become an impressive shiner. He also noted the cut on her mouth, and it made him unhappy, though relieved. He hadn’t wanted to arrest her, and that she had been abused increased the odds that he wouldn’t have to.

Troy looked at Jenny, a small smile on his lips, “Yes ma’am.” He said in response to her question about if he were here about the shooting.

Troy stopped a few feet away from where Miss Mattie was tending to the wound on Madelaine’s arm. When she was done and moved aside, he stepped forward to talk to her about the death of Jake at her hand. “Miss? I’ve some questions about what happened. Can you tell me exactly what occurred between the two of you?”

[Deleted]

Ralph was not about to get in the way of the doctor, female doc or not. Long as Maddie got some medical assistance, good enough for him. He directed one of his girls to run and fetch whatever was needed then stood off within hearing to watch it all go down. Maddie was taking it like a trooper but did ask for a drink of whiskey, he didn't hesitate.

"Sure, comin' right up," he went around behind the bar and opened up one of the better quality bottles and poured a shotglass full then made his way over to her and extended it to the woman.

When the doctor ....he hadn't gotten her name .....remarked she would pay him for the liquor she had used  treating Maddie, he simply waved it off.

"On the house, you don't owe me nuthin'...ma'am...uh..doc."

By now the sheriff had made his entrance and he was gentleman enough to wait for the doctor to finish before speaking to Maddie. Ralph already had a darn good idea what had happened with his new employee, it was that damn husband of hers. The man had gone too far this time and now he was dead. Just as well or Ralph would have found him and done the job. Needless to say the lawman wanted to know what had happened. Ralph was all ears. If worse came to worse, he'd jump in to back Maddie's version even if he had to lie to do it. He could always say he witnessed the whole thing and Maddie had only done it in self defense.

[Mattie Barnett Davis]

The ambient sound within the saloon dropped slightly when someone else entered; Mattie could almost hear the conversation between the sheriff and Jenny. Troy had a very distinctive voice.

When he neared Mattie’s makeshift operating theater, Mattie was nearly done stitching her patient. She reached into her satchel for the sterile bandages and caught the sheriff’s eye. She made a nearly imperceptible nod toward the pan of detritus from the wound, and the cut-off blouse and jacket sleeve bearing the evidence of black powder burns.

Hiding the smile that threatened to show, she let the beribboned item in her satchel show as she took out the bandages and carbolic acid. This was the sixth care package that Mattie had delivered to the sheriff -- a package of cookies baked by youngster Ravenna Leery, one of the children of the Flying K ranch cook. It amused Mattie that Ravenna’s knight in shining armor was still likely to blush a little at every reminder of the heroic act of sweeping the young girl out of way of a runaway hog running down the streets of Golden Valley three months ago. It was just like Troy to be reserved around womenfolk, even eight-year-old star-struck ones, and so exceptionally competent and confident in handling his professional responsibilities. One of the reasons she admired him so much, and was grateful to call him one of her first friends in the community. There was no better person to enforce the law, pursue justice, and maintain order than Sheriff Slater in her opinion.

After she was finished ministering to her patient, Mattie stepped to the side to continue her discussion with the saloon owner. Smiling, she said, “I surely do appreciate your kindness, but I would like to repay you for the cost of such expensive whiskey. If you will not accept payment, perhaps a barter would be acceptable?” Mattie expected that he’d ask for her to administer to some of his staff or for some good steaks the next time the ranch foreman had a cow butchered.

[OOC: the backstory in this post between Troy and Mattie was previously developed jointly between Mar and Nova.]

@ralph
Troy Slater
@madelaine

[Deleted]

Maddie downed the glass in one gulp. There seemed to be a lot of people around her talking. She knew the lady doctor was from one of the ranches nearby. Now was she going to come in and check on her, and remove the stitches, or was there a town doctor. And where the heck was her bacg and the derringer. Bag missing didn't bother her so much. But the darn gun cost her 10.00 in Denver. 6n top of that a ruined jacket, and blouse, both of which she had just purchased before leaving. This was not her day.

"No, don't worry, I'll cover the cost of the whiskey. What do I owe you Mattie doc." That didn't come out quite right. "Are you going to do the follow up care. I'm not sure if there is even a town doctor." She looks over at Ralph. "Could someone go to my room and get a change of clothes. Better yet maybe I should go lay down. Is there somewhere here maybe.?"

At the sound of the different voice, Maddie looks over in Troy's direction. She had seen the young man around town. Kept meaning to introduce herself. She nods to him. " Well you see I had kind of sort have had a run in with my "ex' husband. He didn't like the fact I took over his job. I want him arrested for assault, battery and attempted , well never mind attempted. I didn't even know he was still alive. We worked a riverboat on the Mississippi and I thought he was killed in a gunfight over a game of cards. Well Ralph, I mean Mr Mundy put him out the door, after I laid him out.
I worked my shift, and left headed for the hotel. Like an idiot, I went by myself. When I got to the end of the building, he grabbed me. He had a knife. We struggled. Everything just becomes a blur. Untill I was standing there with him at my feet with the knife in him."

@ralph
Mattie Barnett Davis
Troy Slater

[Troy Slater]

Troy didn’t notice any change in the conversations around the saloon when he entered, but then he seldom frequented such places, so it was understandable that he didn’t know much them.

Troy offered her a slight smile, then his gaze dropped to the items she indicated, the bloodied pieces of clothing and the things removed from the dealer’s wounded arm.

At the sight of the wrapped and beribboned parcel caused a faint flush to begin creeping up the back of Troy’s neck, from his collar upwards. Not that he regretted what he’d done for the youngster, but her constant stream of treats and sweets was beginning to wear on him. He didn’t want to hurt Ravenna’s feelings, but he wasn’t sure how else he could turn her affections from him to a boy her own age.

Troy’s brow furrowed at the story Maddie told him, not liking the idea that any man would so abuse a woman in such a way. “I see.” He murmured, glance back the way he’d come where the dead man’s remains lay. He wasn’t that happy about the saloon’s opening in the town, but that wasn’t actually up to him. The town elders had made their decisions and he had to abide by it.

“I am glad that you were not injured worse ma’am.” He said gently, then tipped his hat to her. He saw no reason to bother her further, then nodding to Mattie, turned to take his leave.