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Other Characters and Story Ideas
Town Naysayer/s
Weddings, births and funerals
Gunslinger/Johnny Ringo (R Franke)
Josiah heads to desert, others pull him back to preach
Whore episode
Buck reveals Chris' history to Mary. Chris pissed at Buck
Serial Killer
One of the Seven accidentally kills/injures an innocent person
Stalking Moon/Straw Dogs: Mary, Chris and Kid
Buck and Mary
Judge Story
Set up World: establish characters
Prison Camp Story (R Franke)
Indian Guy kills KId - or not (T John)
Two Women Outlaws
Nuns in Trouble (R Franke)
Man says woman kidnapped by Indians, turns out she ran off with him
TARGETS FOR THE FIRST SIX
6 Episodes, 8 Scripts, 12 Outlines
Establish Franchise
Types of stories
2 Comedy
2 Thriller
6 Adventure
2 Detective
(2 Romance) 1 Chris and 1 Vin
Arenas
4 in Town
8 Outside
Group
8 make Judge happy = are 'Mag 7' stories
Individual
6 deal with personal 'Mag 7' personal stories
2 Overlap
Magnificent Seven
Information Breakdown
(as produced)
CHARACTERS
Chris Larabee
General biographical:
Lost his son & wife in a fire: Adam & Sarah. (Pilot)
Speaks some Spanish. (Safecracker)
Likes to whittle/carve things with his knife. (Witness)
Almost got killed tracking a Cougar through the mountains. (Nemesis )
Ripped out TopHat Bob's eye in a fight after a rail-splitting contest in Indiana. (Collector)
Shot Jackie Pender Dead in Dodge City. (Inmate 78)
Has a black horse.
Medical:
Shot in the right arm just above elbow. (Witness)
Had to be stitched up above the left hip. (Inmate 78)
Vin Tanner
General biographical:
Lived with Indians. (Manhunt)
Worked at Hardware store. (Pilot)
Wanted in Tuscosa, Texas for murder: he was framed by Eli Joe. (Pilot)
Had a run-in with an outlaw named Bob Harper: Bob's gun stuck. (Safecracker)
Used to work as a bounty-hunter. (Safecracker)
Plays Harmonica. (Working Girls)
Mother raised him until he was five. Putrid fever killed her. (Collector)
Occasionally carries a knife on left hip.
Medical:
Buck Wilmington
General biographical:
Has horse named Old Bart. (Pilot)
Hates J.D.'s hat. (Pilot)
Known in Abilene, Dodge City, & Tombstone. (Pilot)
Was a lawman once. (Pilot)
Grew up in a brothel. (Working Girls )
Never paid for sex. (Working Girls)
Mother was a prostitute. (Working Girls )
Talked Chris into staying in Mexico the night Chris' family died. (Nemesis)
Medical:
Slashed across chest. (pilot)
Ezra Standish
General biographical:
From the Southern United States. {by dialect it would the Carolinas } (Pilot)
Jumped bail in Ft. Laramie. (Safecracker)
Carries a Derringer up his right sleeve. (Safecracker)
Once dressed like a woman. (Working Girls )
Sings. (Working Girls)
Has a mother, Maude, who is a con. (Witness)
Carries his money stash in his right boot. (Collector)
Ezra's Cons:
Once tried to get together with a man's daughter while running a preaching scam and got busted. (Pilot)
Conned kids into telling him where the gold mine was located. (Pilot)
Conned prostitutes into wedding placement scam. (Working Girl)
Pulled a Cotton Gin investment scam in Chicago with his mother. (Witness)
Conned the Indian village boys into working for him. In return he showed them card tricks. (Pilot)
Medical:
Dislocated his left shoulder. (Pilot)
Has a gold tooth, upper right incisor.
Josiah Sanchez
General biographical:
Ex-priest. (Pilot)
Father was a missionary. (Manhunt)
Studied with a Cherokee spiritualist. (Pilot)
Has a problem with turning the other cheek. (Pilot)
Like to drink 'turning to the wrong spirits' (Pilot)
Travelled in India. (Safecracker)
Believes that making love should be spiritual. (Working Girls)
Proposed to Emma Dubonett in San Francisco. (Collector)
Proficient with a staff, for combat. (Pilot)
Medical:
Shot in the right thigh. (Pilot)
Rifle shot grazed the right side of his ribs, in the lower area. (Pilot)
Nathan Jackson
General biographical:
Stretcher bearer in the Union Army. (Pilot)
Seminoles took in slaves that he ran with. (Pilot)
Love interest in Indian village named Rain. (Pilot)
Knife thrower, carries knife holster. (Pilot)
Left romantic interest in Indian village in order to aid Josiah. (Pilot)
Does not believe in using others to make a profit: "off the back of another human being" (Working Girls)
Not a doctor. (Inmate 78)
Medical:
Bullet grazes upper right arm. (Inmate 78)
Whip scars across back. (Pilot)
John J.D. Dunne
General biographical:
Took job as a sheriff. (Pilot)
Virgin, but claims not to be. (Working Girls)
Grew up in a big mansion with his mother. (Pilot)
Mother was a chambermaid who dies within the year prior to joining the Seven. (Pilot)
Never knew his father. (Pilot)
Taught himself how to ride horses. (Pilot)
Mother had saved money for him to go to college, but there was not enough. (Pilot)
Medical:
Knifed in chest, over the heart, close to the shoulder area. (Safecracker)
Mary Travis
General biographical:
Runs the newspaper, The Clarion News, as editor. (Pilot)
Knows how to tie ties. (Safecracker)
Husband, Steven, murdered. (Safecracker)
Has a son named Billy, eight years old. (Safecracker)
Son is living with grandparents. (Safecracker)
She was visiting her neighbors when her husband got killed. (Witness)
Her husband, Steven, fought for the truth by publishing it. (Witness)
The law claimed her husband's death to be a robbery. (Witness)
Father-in-law is Judge Travis. (One Day Out West)
Medical:
Judge Orin Travis
General biographical:
Wife named Evie. (One Day Out West)
Came from over 300 miles away. (One Day Out West)
Has hung twenty-three men. (One Day Out West)
Arrested Ezra in Ft. Laramie, Texas. (One Day Out West)
Locked Ezra up in jail. (One Day Out West)
Had a son who was killed, Steven, Mary's husband. (One Day Out West)
Medical:
Shot in the chest, right side. (One Day Out West)
VILLAINS
From The Collector:
*Guy Royal: leathery, 55, Custer style white hair, cattleman.
*Red: Guy's men.
*Curly: Guy's men.
*TopHat Bob Spikes, six foot tall, no hair or eyebrows, wears eye patch, stovepipe hat, marshall of Lobo county, sentenced to hang.
*Polecat, one of TopHat Bob's men.
From Inmate 78:
*Jessie O'Reilly, 54, owns saloon & boarding house in Jericho.
*Sheriff Quince, ran prison scam in Jericho. killed by Chris.
*Deputy Yanks
*Warden, killed by snake bite.
From Nemesis:
*John Blackfox, half-Indian horse thief, watched while Chris' family was murdered.
*Cletus Fowler, hired to kill Chris' & his family, dies in fire.
From One Day Out West:
*Lucas Jones, wiry man who works for his uncle, Stuart James.
*Stuart James, cattle baron
*Flint, works for Mr. Stuart
*Bone, works with Flint
*Russell, works with Flint
*Malcolm, works for Mr. Stuart
*Leroy, Malcolm's hired gun.
From Safecracker:
*Morgan Coltrane, killed by Chris.
*Starkweather, one of Coltrane's men
*Fallon, one of Coltrane's men
*Vargas, one of Coltrane's men.
*Beal, town undertaker and a card cheater, busted by Olivia and Ezra.
From Witness:
*Mr. Elliot, an elegantly dressed gentleman, who works in the bank. Also the man who killed Mary's husband, Steven.
*Curtis, hitman hired by Mr. Elliot
*Mr. Wheeler, the older man who partnered with Mr. Elliot to kill Mary's husband, Steven.
From Working Girls:
*Carl Wicks, large and boisterous man who ran Wick's town overseeing the whores and entertainment, until he was killed by Chris for being brutal to the women.
*Quint, Wicks' hired gun
From the Pilot:
*Colonel Anderson, a confederate army colonel, middle aged, with a bad knee. Killed by Chris
*Francis Frank Corcoran, a confederate veteran of many campaigns, demoted by Anderson for refusing to fight
*Sergeant Darcy, wears an eyepatch, killed by Ezra
SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE
From The Collector:
*Nettie Wells: 65, wiry & tough. Owns ranch house
*Casey, 18: tomboy. Nettie's niece
*Olson's: Guy Royale took their land, bought in foreclosure
*Burghart's: Guy Royale took their land, bought in foreclosure
*Tacketts: Guy Royale took their land, bought in foreclosure
*Ode Corder: land owner, burned out and hung by Tophat Bob
*Mrs. Potter: runs the general store
*Emma Dubonnet: from the 'Getting Gertie's Garter' show. Josiah loved her.
From Inmate 78:
*The Lawless Brothers: Gage, Fate, and Basil. Chris killed their cousin in Dodge City.
*Doc: an inmate and Doctor in Jericho prison
*Philips: prison guard who became the warden at Jericho
*Mr. Anderson: runs the Jericho general store.
From Manhunt:
*Owen Mosely: 50, big spiritual guy, who killed Claire
*Rafe Mosely: 20, trouble maker
*Chanu: Indian. married to Claire
*Claire Mosely, 19, married to Chanu. killed
*Ko-Je. Chief & Chanu's father
*Jonah-eh
*Tsosie
*Fredricks. towns people
*Glenn. townspeople
From Nemesis:
*Jock Steele, writer/photographer from New York City.
From One Day Out West:
*Glenn Potter. late 5O's. owns general store in Four Corners. killed by
*Lucas Jones.
*Mr. Conklin. refused jury duty.
*Mrs. Gloria Potter. now called Widow Potter. Husband shot by Lucas Jones.
From Safecracker:
*Terry Greer, the safecracker. a natural beauty, husband died of a fever. She used to run with Coltrane's gang of thieves.
*Olivia Greer. Terry's kid, 6. feisty.
From Witness:
*Billy. 8. Mary Travis' son, learned whittling from Chris.
*Maude. 5O. attractive mother of Ezra, a con and card shark.
*Virginia Elliot. a pretty young girl. J.D.'s interest and Mr. Elliot's daughter.
From Working Girls:
*Lydia. whore from Wick's town hired by Chris
*Emily, pretty whore from Wick's town that caught J .D.'s interest
*Nora. whore who was beaten by Wicks
From the Pilot:
*Tastanagi. a Seminole Chief
*Osceola. baby born in the Seminole village.
*Rain. a young mulatto woman, befriended Nathan.
*Eban. a full-blooded ex-slave who lives with the Seminoles. plays harmonium.
*Ope Locka. a plump, single Indian woman with the village
*Imala. Indian brave who caught Buck outside the village. Tastanagi's son. Killed in the final battle.
*Toakhulga. The Seminole mother
PETS AND ANIMALS
Buck's horse. Old Bart
PLACES
Landon - Fifth town from Four Corners (Inmate 78)
Eagle Bend
Where the man who hired men to kill Chris' & his family found his assassins. (Nemesis)
Where Chris catches the man who was hired to kill his family (Nemesis)
Pugatorio
Spanish outlaw town. full of ruffians.
Home to Dan Bloody Hands Barnes (Nemesis)
Where Vin used to bounty hunt (Safecracker)
Where Buck was taken with Coltrane's gang (Safecracker).
Where Chris went looking for the man who killed his family (Nemesis)
Bitter Creek - Nearby town where Terry and Olivia moved to (Safecracker)
Wick's Town
Where Carl Wicks set up a tent city that was centered around a
brothel and various entertainment. (Working Girls)
Jericho - Where Chris was jailed (Inmate 78)
Lobo county - Where TopHat Bob was the Marshal (Collector)
Poison Creek Summit - Where Chris and the others robbed Guy Royale after he collected the $300 from Nettie. (Collector)
Devil's Canyon - Where Vin captured Chanu at the watering hole. (Manhunt)
Baker's Pass - Where Josiah, J.D., and Ezra go to look for Billy (Witness)
Whitley Pass - A less traveled path out of Four Corners discussed by Vin and Chris as an escape for the prostitutes. (Working Girls)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
CHARACTERS
HEROES - Real People
Allan Pinkerton -Born in Glasgow, Scotland. Head of Secret Service in Civil War. Established detective agency in 1850. Pinkerton Men hired out as enforcers.
Annie Oakley -Phoebe Anne Moses, 5 ft tall. "little Sure Shot". Shot dime out of his hand and cigarette out of his mouth. Hit playing card thrown in air from 90 feet away.
Bradshaw - Snappy, sartorial dresser. Will kill anyone who makes fun of his clothes
Bronco Sue - From Wales, shot own partner
Calamity Jane - Woman disguised as man - dressed in men's clothing she boasted of her excellent marksmanship, exploits as Pony Express rider, as scout in Custer's troops.
Dragoons - sent to tame Comanches on Santa Fe Trail
Jim Beckworth - beaver fur trapper. Mulatto. Became Chief of the Crow. Went where no white man had ever stepped before. Told tall tales.
Jim Burnett - Justice of the Peace. Issued own warrants and served them with a shotgun - arrested people on the street or in saloon, and declared court open right then and there, and assessed and collected the fine.
Juan Miguel de Lacerda - King of the Gypsies. Claims to be decorated officer of the Brazilian Army, treasure hunter, fancy dresser, dark skinned
Judge Roy Bean - fined a corpse $40 for carrying concealed weapon.
Julius Caesar - Epicurean, portly, rubicund, triple-chin, like Friar Tuck.
Maximillian of Weid Nuweid - German Prince
Russian Nobleman
Sam Bass - stole from rich, gave to poor a la Robin Hood
Swedish Giant
Tuttle - Reverend
HEROES - Suggestions
2-Fisted fighting man
A gay cowboy
Banker
Bartender - used to handling difficulties in abrupt powerful strikes, can use anything as a weapon - a pool cue, stool leg, shotgun, pistol, knife -after quickly dispatching trouble, he writes on the mirror 'to be continued' (The Gunfighter pg 82)
Big Nose (female) - "Big nose" means strong, bold character
Black cowboy
Blind man with a map in his head leading to "stalagmites of silver".
Bowman - long bow and crossbow
Boxer
Brits.
Buffalo Soldier - former slave or Black/Seminole scout
Bullwhackers
Cardsharks
Child raised by Indians
Chinese railroad workers
Circuit judge
Civil War Veteran - used fighting skills used in war in other new situations.
Civil war vets
Cold-blooded killer with a great sense of humor
Comanches - world's best horsemen
Confidence Man
Doctor
Doctor - who served as dentist, coroner, pharmacist and veterinarian. Used catgut for stitches and sour-mash whiskey for an esthetic.
Escape artist
Escaped convict - one could join Mag 7; fellow escapee could be a bandit.
Female gambler
Fugitive who has changed his identity, but bad guy knows him, which makes others in team doubt him.
Gambler
Gunfighter / musician (fiddler?)
Gunman knits in downtime (male or female )
Gunman who is mortally ill
Hero inducted as sheriff because no one else will do it.
Hunter / Trapper / Trader / Guide / Frontiersman / Mountain Man
Indian fighter
Indian scout
Indian with white wife
Inventor - weapons and explosives are his specialty
Knife fighter - keeps knives hidden everywhere - back, boot, sleeve, hat, under collar (cord down back), etc
Lady saloon-keeper - Won the deed at a gambling table on a Missouri River
Lawman retiring
Lawman with a price on his head.
Loner cowboy
Man falsely jailed
Man with Indian Wife
Master of disguise
Mayor
Medicine Man
Mountain man
Mule-skinners
Painter
Photographer
Piano player
Pinkertons
Politician
Preacher
Rather obese and unattractive woman chasing after man. Turns up again later and has undergone a transformation - is a pretty thin thing.
Reporter
San Francisco Vigilantes - main force in a lawless city.
Scotsman
Sharpshooter - who's hung up his guns
Sharpshooting woman
Sheriff
Smithy
Soldier of Fortune/Machine-gun for hire - fought under the flags of seven nations and who carried 16 wound scars on his body - each with a harrowing tale of bullet, shell, bayonet and machete attack.
Swamper, or swampy - Man who works at saloon. Mops the floor, polishes the woodwork, shines the brass cuspidors, cleans the lamps.
Tenderfoot (suggest this be a female character disguised as male)
Texas Rangers - 'can ride like a Mexican, trail like an Indian, shoot like a Tennessean, and fight like the very devil'.
The missionary
Town Marshall
Traveling salesman
Trick-shot
True gentleman bandit (could be one of Mag 7).
U.S. Marshall deputies - these were the ones who usually tracked and captured criminals, not the Marshalls themselves.
University educated, New York
Vaquero - Mexican cowboy
Wagon train cook
White Indian - was taught how to handle bow, tomahawk, scalping knife, etc by Indians (good Indians, or was he captured?) Lost his family to Indians but he himself survived.
White man with Indian wife
Widewheeler. Her ex-husband taught her to play poker.
World traveler
Writer
VILLAINS - Real People
40 Thieves - enter hidden in jars, killed with boiling oil, enter cave with password.
Belle Starr - "The Bandit Queen", female outlaw.
BlaCk Bart - never spilled blood on his coach robberies. Wore sack over his head. Left poetry behind. Eventually traced through laundry mark on a
handkerchief found on the scene of one of his robberies.
Blackfeet Indians (Missouri) - reputation for killing any white man they met.
Bloods - Indian band.
Curly Bill - Horse thief and robber operating on a scale of wholesale magnificence.
Ghosts of the confederacy - Killed what they saw as belligerent negroes. Call themselves the society of regulators... pseudo vigilante law.
Hounds - Notorious band of ruffians made up of Veterans from the Mexican War and men off the streets of New York.
Jay Gould - Financier. Became leading railroad owner of 1800s, controlled more than 15,000 miles of track. Conspired with others to gain control of the gold market by buying up all the gold available in New York City, causing Black Friday panic of September 24, 1969. In 1880s gained control of Western Union Telegraph Company.
Jesse James - Son of Baptist minister. Rode with Confederate Army at 15. Learned to kill in cold blood and steal horses. Once held up two coaches in one day.
John Jacob Astor - founds American Fur Co. in 1808 - became richest man in U.S. by his death in '48.
Jonathan Wild - caught criminals for reward, then sold stolen property back to victims. But Wild actually orchestrated the robberies in the first place and the villains he handed over to the law had refused to obey him.
Jules - French Canadian. Horse thief - saved from hanging by local lawman while hanging from the rope.
Long Hunters - so called because they hunted in western forests for months at a time to meet the demand for furs and buckskins in the East.
Maximillian of Weid Nuweid - German Prince
Nana - In his late seventies, wrinkled, half-blind, crippled with rheumatism. Nana was a master of desert warfare. With only 40 men, he once led a 1000 troops on a wild goose chase across a thousand miles of desert. Nana fought 8 battles, winning them all without losing a man.
Quantrill's Raiders - Quantrill denied commission in Confederate Army. Took 450 irregular Confederate soldiers on a terrorist guerilla raid on Lawrence, Kansas (strongly Unionist & abolitionist) - killing 150 civilians, wounding 30 more, and leaving most of the town in a smoking ruin.
Russian Nobleman
Sawney Bean - from W, Scotland. Lived in damp set of caves. Robbed travelers on coastal roads. Became rich in everything except food, so ate the
victims. When his cave was discovered, they found it sheltering a clan of cannibal kids.
Swedish Giant
Texas Rangers - 'can ride like a Mexican, trail like an Indian, shoot like a Tennessean, and fight like the very devil'
Thugs - Hindu sect who strangled and chopped up travelers - weren't allowed to kill women, the blind, or carpenters.
William H. Ashley & Andrew Henry founded Rocky Mtn. Fur Co. in 1820 - were AFC's main rival for the fur trade.
Wreckers - on dark nights, they replaced normal navigation lights on rugged coasts with their own false lights - lured ships to wreck on the rocks, then raided them and disappeared into the night.
VILLIANS - Suggestions
12 year old killer (a la Billy the Kid)
A man with six wives
A rapacious woman who rapes a man
Army of prisoners - escaped or organized into military unit.
Bandit who sets fire to perimeter of robberies and disappears in the smoke.
Border raiders.
Bowman - long bow and crossbow
Brits
Cardsharks
Cattle barons - amassed fortunes and founded dynasties often by force, exclude settlers, driving them from their lands, and treated employees like serfs.
Circuit judge
Civil War Veteran - used fighting skills used in war in other new situations.
Civil war vets
Cold-blooded killer with a great sense of humor
Desperadoes
Dr. Loveless ("Wild Wild West") like villain - Mad genius scientist. Loves to invent evil ways to torture and kill, but can't stand the sight of blood.
Escaped convict - one could be a bandit; fellow escapee could join Mag 7.
Female bandit
Female gambler
Female highwaymen/road agents
Gunman knits in downtime (male or female)
Gunman who is mortally ill
Indian fighter
'Judge Lynch' - term for a lynch mob.
Land squatters - demanded more Indian lands, encroached on reservations.
Mayor
Mexican bandits
Mountain man
Piano player
Poet bandit - writes ballads which record exploits.
Politician
Preacher
Private in Mexican War deserted to hunt for Gold
Ravenous speculators - tricked Indians into moving off land by fraudulent selling of other land to them and promises of guns, tobacco, blankets, medicine, alcohol, etc.
Religious zealot (Mormon?)
Rustlers
Sailor
Sharpshooting woman
Sheriff
Smuggler
Someone who thinks he's General Custer -- who died 5 years ago.
Traveling salesman
True gentleman bandit.
Vigilantes
White Indian - character that was taught how to handle bow, tomahawk, scalping knife. etc by Indians (good Indians, or was he captured?) Lost his family to indians but he himself survived.
Whisky peddlers
PLOTS
7 hired to stave off ring coveting monopoly of Indian trade.
Bandits build secret underground railroad. Kidnap settler women for slave trade. Husbands hire Mag 7 to track them down and get them back.
Bandits impersonate Mag 7, rule town with an iron thumb. Real Mag 7 has to intervene.
Border ruffian's take over polling places. Mag 7 hired to help ensure a fair election.
Brothel hires 7 to protect them from ruling bandits.
Gypsies come to town to dig for buried treasure. But bandits get wind of the hunt and invade the town, taking over the forceable supervision of the dig. A townsman/woman sneaks away and hires the 7 to protect them for a cut of gold. ln the end the 7 defeat the bandits and find the gold, splitting it with the town, the gypsies and themselves. The leader of the gypsies joins them in the fight against the bandits and then as the 7th member of the team.
Mag 7 vs. Texas rangers
Man awaiting hanging for murder and robbery hires Mag 7 to find man who forced him into the crimes with deadly blackmail, thus setting him free and clearing his name (guy is related to one of the Mag 7?)
Man pretends to be a ghost, terrorizing families into giving him money (somehow?) One family hires Mag 7 to solve the mystery.
Man who's witnessed murder is target of murder - 7 hired to protect him
Miners hire 7 to stave off intolerable treatment by powerful mining co.
Opponents of President being murdered. President implicated, hires 7 to find who's really responsible.
Pony Express hires 7 to protect a particularly vulnerable stagecoach route suffering multiple robberies.
Smaller ranchers being harassed, driven off their land, and killed by larger ranching syndicate - hire 7 to protect them.
Someone's killing negroes. Mag 7 hired to protect them.
Town council hires a man to be sheriff from among those they had difficulty controlling. But he resorts to violence and intimidation to keep order and provokes more trouble than he prevents. Mag 7 hired to help get rid of him and bring real order to the town - one of them stays on as a new sheriff.
A colorful character mined for gold in Mexico and accumulated millions. Learning that the girl he had wooed years before, but not won, was still unmarried, he packed a team of ten mules with his silver and gold. He was sure that with his treasure, he could win her over. Because of the hostile territory he was riding through on his journey through Texas to New Orleans where the girl lived, he decided to bury his treasure except for a small portion to prove his wealth to the girl. He and his party of two Mexicans were attacked by Comanches. His companions were killed and he barely escaped. While hiding, he hid the last small portion of the gold and made a map. Traveling on foot, wounded and without supplies, he luckily came across a group of travelers. His wound was growing worse, so he made a map of his buried millions and sent it to his girl with instructions to hold it for three months and if he didn't arrive, to assume he was dead and to lay her claim to his treasure. He never arrived and it was years before conditions in Texas were safe enough to permit a thorough search. She never found the ten jack loads of silver and gold, but word of the story spread and there have been many searches since.
A man who, when his party was attacked by Indians, was the only survivor. He survived by falling into a pothole. While hiding, he realized that the rocks on the bottom of the hole were gold. He collected as much gold as he could carry, and set off by foot. He almost died of hunger and thirst and dropped his treasure along the way. When, at last, he reached a town, he only had three small gold nuggets left. He never found the pothole again.
Annual rendezvous of fur traders at Green River in present day Wyoming. Trappers brought years-worth of catch to trade and sell for supplies and money.
Apaches and Comanches had rich reserves of silver and gold which they used to make jewelry. They kept these mines very secretive and only a few whites ever discovered their whereabouts. The few who were lucky enough to ever see the source of the Indian wealth were captives who later escaped and attempted unsuccessfully to find their location again. In a few instances, whites would befriend the Indians and ride with them for years in order to gain their trust enough to see the mines. They would then 'slip off' and gather a search party to find the mines. None ever succeeded.
Buried treasure. Tells where it is buried when he dies, in our hero's arms. Hero goes in search of it.
Dislocated reservated tribes clashed with local Plains tribes in buffalo hunting, etc.
Dispute between cattle ranchers and sheep herders.
Escalating escape (a la RAIDERS), when he runs from a nest of rattlesnake, to get chased by a bear, to be shot at by outlaws, to be caught in a cattle stampede, and finally kidnapped by Indians.
Indians preparing burial chamber on sacred ground. Villains kill an Indian or two to make the point coming back for gold...or they'll all be dead. Villains ride off. Indians know that if they take on any white men they'll be wiped out. Wise man sees that white must fight white. Set against Anastasi ruins, mysterious Toas, NM.
Indians suspected of having secret gold mine by renegade post civil war bandits. Men who are the dregs of army that couldn't make change to civilization. Natives protest, how do you prove you have nothing.
Jessie James buried $2,000,000 treasure and his brother, Frank was unable to locate it after Jessie's death.
Mandan & Cheyenne tribes were bitter enemies but nonetheless determined to fight fairly - 2 rival Chiefs fight with guns on horseback, then dismount and fight with tomahawks, then knives. Cheyenne Chief is seriously wounded, but Mandan Chief lets him escape.
On a train, just when he is about to be killed, the train was ambushed by bandits. Persuades them to take him to his hideout.
Protect sacred lands - Non pyhrric Indian story, same lands still occupied by their descendants today.
Search for the richest hidden treasure of the Catholic Church in the southwest.
Shoot-out around the gravestones on Boot Hill - Runaway coffin. Corpse escapes.
Soldiers out hunting buffalo stumble upon Indians attacking Mag 7 and save them.
Spaniards supposedly buried millions worth of gold and silver throughout the southwest that has not been recovered.
Start in jail cell - gallows being readied outside. Writing his last memoir. Preacher comes in. Turns out to be his buddy and helps him escape.
Sutter's Fort - private fort; Sutter ruled over all the adjacent land and resources with Indian workers and hired rough and ready whites.
The jail is in a fort. They have to fight their way out. The cavalry ride out after them -- a posse coming the other way, vigilantes coming to witness his hanging. It seems hopeless. Indians appear on the rise and ride to his rescue, scattering the opposing forces.
The rainmaker. Brings his rockets and small cannon, kites and explosives. No chants or incantations. Sends up a kite with a slow fused bomb. Then fires the cannon. Then a line of rockets. Then his biggest rocket. Touches it off with a four-foot match.
BEATS
'circuit riders' - traveling preachers - performed religious services, weddings, baptisms, etc.
2 guns on a table - "reach!"
A gun that won't shoot straight.
Autopsy
Bandit makes bulletproof iron armor (or does Mag 7 guy make it?!)
Bandit shoots out the eye of a flying bird.
Bandit takes time out from a robbery for a dance with a beautiful woman (Frenchman Claude de Duval)
Bandit/killer caught because of handwriting analysis.
Bandits amble 240 miles in a day.
Bandits try to 'succeed' - set up own city / state.
Bank robbery
Barbed wire
Body shot through floor from gunfight in bar below
Bowie knife
Brand blotting - technique used by rustlers, running an iron over a whole brand and blurring the marking.
Brand someone - something funny that they have to live with.
Bribe the marshall
Buffalo herd
Buried alive
Camel chase across desert
Campfire
Captain Dodge (black) rescues outpost of white soldiers under attack by Indians.
Card-playing
Cattle plague - almost led to range war (The Gunfighter. pg. 67)
Cattle stampede - through town
Cigars with explosives (good for escaping a card game ).
Close fired gun catch the victims clothes on fire.
Cockfights
Codebreaking/Cypher (The Civil War. pg. 66).
Continue playing cards during a gunfight
Counterfeit money
Cowboy wrestling bear in a bar - good intro to character.
Creepers - 'tiered' grappling hooks dragged along bottom of seabed by rowboats to discover and collect hidden loot.
Cutting the telegraph wires.
Dance-halls called hurdy gurdies - men often danced together, because women were scarce.
Dead bodies or skeletons found on the roadside
Dead, abandoned animals being circled by vultures.
Desert thirst
Discovers gold, gets cheated out of his claim.
Dope a horse with arsenic to make it lively, with a good appetite. Effects soon wear off.
Drugs - morphine/quinine smuggled in hollowed-out dolls
Dust storms
Dying of thirst, open horse's veins to moisten lips with blood.
Dynamite
Eat barbecued rattlesnake, sourdough biscuits.
Explode a bridge.
Fake death
Fake hanging - planned with reinforced neck in shirt
Falling off horse and getting dragged.
False book case.
False teeth
Fingerprints
First indoor toilet in the west - it was an idea that took people a long time to get used to.
Forced to run the gauntlet by Indians - hands tied behind back, tied to horse without reins, run through woods where branches, etc, would wound (Simon Kenton)
Fording a river.
Fourth of July
Frozen man/men found on prairie/in shack
Gambler takes bets in the middle of a gunfight, on the outcome of the fight.
His tie fastened with a bejeweled horseshoe, a good luck symbol.
Getting teeth pulled
Gold mines and road to mines were popular site for banditry.
Guerillas kill, loot and rape any and all townspeople who 'welcome' enemy.
Gunman shot in his good hand, has to practice with his left.
Gunman shot in his good hand, has to practice with his other.
Guy rides through bandits hideout - 'shebang' - "Did you get your man?" - "No, but I rode plumb through the place without getting shot."
Handkerchief duel - each man grabs one end of a handkerchief and draws with the other. A duel from three feet (?!)
Hanging
Head torn from the body when bandit hanged (Black Jack)
Hero falls in love with the chief outlaw's girl. The outlaw makes him marry her.
Hero inducted as sheriff because no one else will do it.
Hides out in the hills with Indian band - poses as an Indian.
Hiding the loot by putting it in barrels and weighing them down so they rest underwater, marked by some kind of float. They'd be later retrieved by rowboat.
Horse chase
Horse in bar
Horse races, shooting contests, wrestling and boxing matches.
Horse-race
Huge brawl that consumes the entire town, raging in a thick mud slick on the main street. People are covered in mud and are swinging 2 x 4'5 at each other (women included)
If he fights, his woman will leave him.
Indian wants a cannon from US. Army. Soldier remarks - "gonna kill my soldiers with it?" - "No, kill cowboys with cannon, your soldiers we can kill with a club."
Indian/tracker reads hero's/villain's track including carrying back up gun on left ankle.
Informal rodeos featured expert horsemanship and other cowboy skills.
Intro town with snow. Hearse skidding up hill. Burying guy helped by miner... uses dynamite to fend off bad guys.
Jailbreak
James Gang ambushed by alerted townspeople while robbing a bank.
Lasso a rattlesnake
Long walk in desert
Lynch mob
Mag 7 set up dummies to lure badguys - then lay in wait for the ambush.
Man begs friend to shoot him to save him from the dishonor of hanging.
Man chased by a bear up a tree.
Man dies laughing to death.
Man dragged from behind a horse, coach, buckboard wagon, drawn-and-quartered
Man out shoveling a way for the wheels of a wagon/stagecoach is killed by collapsing ravine / creek-bank.
Man sees guy with his brother's watch.
Man shot at three times, finds two bullet holes in his coat, third in his best friend behind him or in his belly.
Man shot through heart, feels it in the leg, walks then collapses.
Man wore gun sewn into leather pouch in his coat. "See I'm not wearing a gun, no provocation. That's your problem."
Meets Annie Oakley-type in a shooting contest.
Messages flashed, hundreds of miles, with mirrors.
Mirage.
Modify gun for fanning.
Mortally ill gunman deliberately loses gunfight.
Mosquitos
Mountain lions
Mud fight
Mules
Murder in Sanctuary of church.
No problem killing in the heat of battle or in self-defense, but can't bring himself to kill a helpless victim.
Obsession with canal building in areas - brought more people. commerce.
One man says my brother was killed by Indians. Indian says mine too.
Outlaw's cronies draw their guns in court, freeing friend.
Pit bull kids - children 10 to 12 ordered to fight each other to the death.
Plague of locusts
Pretend a truce, till you can get back into hiding
Priest murdered.
Punching a guy's horse out.
Put body in tin coffin full of alcohol to preserve it for shipment home.
Railroads were enemy of poor farmers - ruined land, displaced them, etc.
Ranchers vs. cowmen
Rattlesnake strike
Ride 12 hours on an unsaddled horse.
Ride horses thru a saloon
Ride into saloon and order 2 drinks, one for himself and one for his horse (Nat Love/'Deadwood Dick').
Ring with secret recess for coded messages written on oilskin paper.
River-crossing
Rope and steal a U.S. cannon
Rope tied to back of horse's saddle. When horse moves, the saddle falls off, its rider with it.
Roping contest
Series of shooters, each one shooting the next in line
Set up camp in deep ravine with caves covered in thick undergrowth (Sam Bass)
Settlers formed 'Anti Horse-Thief Association.'
Shave with glass from broken bottle.
Sheriff has to imprison woman he loves.
Shoot-out around the gravestones on Boot Hill - Runaway coffin. Corpse escapes.
Shotgun wedding - forced to marry with a gun to the head.
Small pox
Soldiers out hunting stumble upon Indians attacking Mag 7 and save them.
Someone has the mark of a knife on him, flogging marks, or the hot branded iron.
Special jacket under clothes to hide stuff (for smugglers, etc)
Stagecoach arrival
Stagecoach hold-up
Stampeded cattle through town
Stays in burning house to be roasted alive rather than come out and face the villain(s)
Street shoot-out
Sword fight with a cavalry officer, or a Spanish don.
Tests gun with load so powerful blows the gun apart.
Throw three silver dollars in the air and shoot 'em each dead center. Then follow up, threatening to do the same with 3 dynamite sticks, aimed at somebody's head -- not really dynamite sticks but a broom handle cut in three.
Thrown down a well
Tie a rope across the street, to trip horses
Tied a man to a post, slowly shot him, tiring of it so shot him in the mouth and then cut off his ear for a fob watch.
Torture and punishment - boiling, lashing alive (slicing off skin), gouging out the eyes, the rack, dropped into water by hanging seat, thumbscrews, iron boot, crushed by weight on chest, trial by fire.
Town makes carrying firearms illegal
Trade a wild horse for a Russian made .44 revolver.
Train robbery and chase
Train robberies. Railroad or private co. hires Mag 7 for protection.
Traps - forces of nature, dam break, fire, old waggon train, filled with rocks, ropes cut, rolls down hill into bad guys. Rock traps, or drive off cliff like the buffalo.
Traveling dramatic groups and vaudeville shows.
Trick-shot/ sharp-shooter tries to impress: shoots 6 bullets through the first hole - "I'll bet this Schofield pistol (Smith and Wesson} against that nice alpaca coat you're wearin' that I can put the rest of the slugs through that same bullet hole I just made." - "You're on. Shoot." Fires five times in quick succession at a calendar. As the black powder smoke clears, there's but one neat hole... turns out the last 5 bullets were blanks.
Try to rope and steal a US army cannon.
Underground Water floods mine shafts.
Undertaker - "shoot 'em where it don't show"
Use bones of old waggon wheel as a lazy susan to reload rifles.
Use of mirrors for cheating at cards
Villain wounded, can't stop bleeding, can't escape, shoots himself.
Vultures
Wagon train attacked by Indians
Wealthiest man in town is broke, because can't get silver ore refined
Weapons: Spur as throwing star; Miners dynamite; Mortars; Lariat; Gatling gun; Guitar that is a gun; Six shooter with room for seven bullets.
Wife / sister hires 7 to break innocent man out of jail / escape from hanging.
Woman braves enemy fire to retrieve extra gunpowder when team's run out.
Woman defends herself...and children against Indian attack at her isolated prairie house.
Woman tied on train track
Wrap horse's hooves in animal skins. so as not to leave footprints. Jump from rock to rock to avoid prints.
STORY ELEMENTS
Scenarios
Nevada had not yet been made a territory of the United States. There were no laws - and no one to enforce them if there had been any.
Silver mining - the only way of recording a mining claim was by writing it down in a memorandum book kept in one of the saloons. And the only way the claims could be held was for the owners to work in pairs, one guarding the other with a rifle as he slept or mined ore and piled it on the ground. 'Sharpers' bribed a dishonest saloon keeper to erase the rightful owner's name from a claim book and substitute his name instead. Sometimes, prospectors were forced to take sharpers as partners.
Claim jumper to prospector, asleep in his hammock, with a prod from his pistol. "Mister, you got a fast choice. You can pick up your canteen and sashay out of here, or you can argue, and I'll plant your carcass under this pile of rock where I s'pose you stuffed your claim paper!" ...he reaches into the rock cavern with his free hand, yells, and withdraws his hand with a rattlesnake hanging by its fangs from his thumb. Prospector says, "Now, matey, you got a fast choice. You can sit here and swell up and die and or you can take that pistol and blow your thumb off."
200 men and 100 wagons carrying $200,000 worth travel from Missouri to Santa Fe in Spanish Territory.
A blind man named Johnson used to be a ranger and Indian fighter. One of the Indians was a Mexican who had been reared by the Indians from childhood. Bargaining for his life, he promised to lead the ranger captain to an Indian mine. He led him to a hill where they removed a thick rock slab. Underneath was a slanting hole. The ranger captain peered in and saw what appeared to be gleaming "icicles of silver" hanging from the roof of the cave. He kept the mine a secret and only confided in his close friend, Johnson. Shortly after, he was killed. The years passed, and by the time Johnson was ready to search for the treasure, he was basically blind. The treasure has never been recovered.
ANTECDOTES
'Long rifles' - like Daniel Boone's 46 incher.
'Peacemaker' - 6 shot, single action pistol.
1850- 1900 = conflicts between immigrants and Indians.
A walrus mustache.
Ambushing and sniping was not condoned, and killing someone while committing a robbery was unpardonable.
"Anyone who could testify to the speed of my draw isn't around to do so."
Bar-mirror - always the pride of the place, for it had to be carefully packed and hauled in a big freight wagon over 1000 miles of jolts and ruts. If its unity was threatened, the bartender would take action to preserve it.
Blanket of snow actually keeps you warm.
Bronco Bill was captured in Mexico by an American deputy posing as a "Bill collector."
Buckboard - wagon
Chuck wagon - food wagon
Cowboys rarely dressed in the splendor associated with the screen version, and rarely wore a gun.
Cut off the dead man's ears.
For various reasons, most relating to economics, town councils preferred fining troublemaking cowboys than to jailing them.
Gambling halls and saloons were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Guinness was favorite imported beer in better saloons.
Guns referred to as owner's best friend (D. Boone)
Guns were given names by their owners - 'Betsy'
Hanging and cut down, men often lived.
"If you have to shoot a man shoot him in the navel the shock will paralyse him, the head's too hard to hit"
Improvements of the late 1800s included repeating rifles, smokeless explosive powder and jacketed bullets, which have a tough metal cover over a lead or steel core.
Inflation is so high prices change 3 times a day.
Knife tomahawk (Plains Indian weapon)
Lead poisoning from bullets killed men.
Life expectancy of the sheriff is about a day.
On some reservations. Indian children wore clothing of white peers.
"One of the deadest men who every lived."
Owners gave their horses names.
Pawnee Indians believed that man who learned the nature of the bear became like him - hard to kill, with the power of the sun (No. plains, Montana)
Rode camels - until close to victims, then switched to horses for speed and agility.
Tall tale braggarts - "ring-tailed roarers"; "half-horse, half-alligator", "sired by a hurricane and rode the lightning."
"Whisky of a quality that it would make rabbits fight a bulldog".
Whisky used to heal wounds.
INDIAN BITS AND PIECES
Chief pain in the ass.
Desecration of tribal burial grounds.
Does Indian mystical stuff, and can read tracks in a major way... see tracker for ideas.
"Goddamn prairie niggers"
Indian band called 'Bloods' (don't know who)
"It's their will that you came here... smoke the pipe and there'll be no lies between us. If you don't smoke he'll know you're hiding something."
"Old man knows you... saw you in a vision... spirits told him."
Old man speaks English after all.
On some reservations, Indian children wore clothing of white peers.
Owl in the window scare.
Turtle rattle handed down by four grandfather's... 500 years old. Looks into flames of fire... sees family of his past.
Use Council of Elders - faces are so wonderful.
"When you go and visit an elder you bring tobacco as a gift"
SETTINGS
Black town.
Boot Hill
Campfire
Canyon
Chimney rocks - uneroded cores of ancient volcanos
Chinese Laundry
Church
Comanche village (So. Plains) - 60 to 800 tepees
Courthouses were usually nonexistent - trials took place in saloons or general stores
Family ranch
Hotel
Jails in frontier towns were often poorly built, and easy to escape from because of overcrowding and inadequate security.
Magnificent private coach on train
Mesa
Outlaw hideout
Peale's Museum - Natural history museum
River-crossing
Riverboat
Saloon
School
Shebangs
Telegraph office
The fort
The Santa Fe Trail - Begins in Independence, Mo. and ends in Santa Fe (780 miles), not really as dangerous as its reputation. Indians rarely attacked large, organized wagon trains.
Trading store
Train
Whorehouse
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