"The Treasure of St. Mary's"
We open upon a sweaty shirtless Ke-Woh-No-Tay who is splitting wood in St Mary's Church, Pennsylvania. (Hopefully, Sally will count this as a Christmas present). He is at the local hotel and a man named Travers is sitting nearby talking to the Kiowa brave. Travers says that he is a good judge of character and it is obvious that Ke-Woh-No-Tey has a lot of internal pain since he showed up here a month ago. Travers also cites the fact that Scalphunter is dressed as an Indian but really isn't and he postulates that the trouble in the brave's heart is a squaw has left him broken hearted.
As the two walk into the hotel, Ke-Woh-No-Tey tells Travers that he talks too much. They deliver the firewood to the lobby and as they leave three men walk in. The manager asks what he can help them with and one man produces a pistol and demands all the money. Just then Scalphunter bursts back, wielding the axe he was using earlier. He tells them to leave but Henry, the man with the pistol, gets several shots off but none of them find their target. Scalphunter swings the axe and suddenly we are in the Mos Eisley cantina as there is a severed arm on the floor.
A second man whips out a shotgun and as he takes aim, Scalphunter kicks upwards hitting the barrel, driving the weapon up under the man's jaw just as he pulls the trigger (Not unlike Buster Scruggs several years later). The third man starts begging for his life, saying that there wasn't supposed to be any firearms. Scalphunter turns on him, raises the axe and buries it in the wall next the man's head. Travers has witnessed the whole thing and talking to the clerk, he asks what are they going to do with the remaining robber.
In a panic the man starts stammering, saying that he'll do anything, even tell them about the treasure.
In the silence you could hear a pin drop and the clerk replies "Did you say.... treasure?"
The man explains that Henry had told him of the Massacre of St. Mary's from about a hundred years ago. At a British fort on the Ohio river French trappers arrived to sell their furs. The Fort's captain, a British Lord promised to buy the furs for gold and he did just that. But when the trappers left the fort, the Captain sent local Indians that had given liquor and guns to follow the trappers, kill them and bring back the gold.
The French trappers realized they were being chased and took to the river and eventually had to abandon their canoes and head across country on foot. The French are killed one by one, with the remaining trappers picking up the dropped gold and continuing onward. Eventually they make a stand and confront the Indians and in the end only one trapper lived and managed to drag himself miles to a nearby road. There he was found by a Quaker before he passed away. The man told the Quaker of the gold and the Quaker had written down everything and passed that information on to his children. Finally, Henry discovered the book while robbing the house and the plan was to rob the hotel to get enough money to buy supplies to dig up the gold.
Travers asks the man if he could lead them to the gold and the man says that he could. The manager decides they could celebrate with a drink.
The next morning, the two dead robbers are buried, Scalphunter, Travers, the manager Wilson and Hodds the robber take their leave while a woman who has seen and heard everything stays behind. The four men travel through the woods in a wagon and during the ride Wilson whispers to Travers that he doesn't understand why they brought the Indian because what does an Indian need with gold? Travers replies that they will decide on that after Ke-Woh-No-Tay helps them dig up the gold.
As they continue to ride along in the February cold, the sun sets and the moon eventually rises. Hodds shouts that they have arrived, he recognizes a nearby hill that was described in the book. He jumps out of the wagon, grabs a pick-axe and starts digging. He kneels in the hole, unearthing human bones and throwing dirt to the side. He finally comes across a bag of gold and he reaches into the hole and pulls out the coins. He starts laughing and says he wishes that Henry could see him now.
Just then Wilson walks up and says that can be arranged as he crushes Hodds skull with a shovel.
Travers turns and realizes that Scalphunter is gone! Wilson and Travers continue to dig, pulling up more bags of gold and load everything into the wagon. Scalphunter is in the nearby woods, watching everything. The horse are acting skittish and Wilson and Travers climb aboard the wagon and take off. As they ride along, each man keeps eyeing the other until finally Travers pulls a pistol and shoots Wilson dead.
Wilson falls off the wagon, dropping the reins. Travers can't recover them and the horse are now running wild. Suddenly a pack of wolves erupt from the forest, attacking the horses. The wagon topples, throwing Travers and the gold far afield. An arrow strikes a wolf dead and the rest of the pack runs away. Ke-Woh-No-Tey arrives on the scene, surveying the body of Travers. He gathers the gold, places it into a bag and hefts it upon his shoulder and walks off into the emerging dawn.
Statistics for this issue
Men Killed by Scalphunter - Two robbers get killed and one gets disarmed (hyuk hyuk!!)
Running Total - 128
Compared to Jonah Hex - 27th appearance and Scalphunter has 126 vs Jonah's 119 (in WWT #38)
Scalps Taken - 0
Running Total - 20
Injuries - None
Timeline - Even though this one occurs over a month since last issue, it only covers one day.
This issue has a dedication to the films of John Huston, and I think it is an allusion to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a very nice film of folks trying to locate a mysterious treasure. I liked this one a lot with the axe tossing Scalphunter, the normal townsfolk turning on one another in their greed for gold and the finale where Travers is eventually undone by his own greed and the teeth of wolves.
Ads in this issue included:
Green Arrow and Fruit Pies rescuing folks in a cable car in "An Arrow in Time"
An In House ad for Jonah Hex and Weird Western
O.J. Simpson in an ad for Spot-bilt shoes
Next Issue: We learn what happens to the gold, a train and a conflagration.
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