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Hallowed Ground is a western with a twist. The story is set in 1878, when the Civil War is still a fresh memory, and every
campfire and saloon is alive with stories of gunfighters and desperate outlaws.
A young girl is murdered outside of Big Springs, a small town on the Missouri-Arkansas border. Old Caleb McGill is the
sheriff of Big Springs, and the murdered girl is his granddaughter. Agonized that he cannot find any clues about the murder
and desperate for help, he sends for his friend, Coble Bray.
Coble Bray is a special agent for the U.S. Marshal's office, working out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, under the direction
of Judge Eli Johnstone. Whip cord tough, and with a snake-fast gun hand, his job is to apprehend only the toughest killers,
gunfighters, and renegades that normal lawmen have not been able to bring to justice. It is a job he does very well. In
direct contrast to the life he leads, he carries a Bible and reads it often. Like the warriors of the Old Testament, he fights
evil wherever he finds it. If the judge and his pastor have their way, he will find it often.
Soft spoken and outwardly gentle, his quick humor and wit cover a deep fire and anger that lies just below the surface.
And the main reason Caleb sends for his friend? Coble Bray can track a gnat across flat rock in the middle of a rain storm.
When Coble receives a letter from the Caleb McGill, he immediately heads for Big Springs.
Caleb finds a second body, and they uncover more questions than answers. Coble has seen a lot of killing, but he is completely
unprepared for this. The girl is found naked, kneeling before a woven cross. Her throat has been cut, and by the cuts and
bruises on her body, it is plain she was tortured before she was killed. The killer has deliberately left clues. On a smoothed
off patch of soil, they find a slip of paper pinned to the dirt. It looks like the drawing of a snake, with a straight tail.
On the left side of the straight line is written the letter I, and on the other side is written AM.
The sign is mistaken by the army and townspeople as the sign of the snake, an Indian sign sometimes used by the Comanche
and other tribes. Coble does not think so. He believes there is something far more sinister going on. The townspeople want
to attack the nearest Indian village and the he must work swiftly to avert a massacre.
Then they find that more girls have been taken. And killed.
Pastor A. Schuler is a friend and confessor of Coble Bray. He hasn't always been a minister. In the final showdown,
Coble finds out just what he used to be.
Wild Pony is an Osage warrior who, along with his followers, have never signed a treaty and have no intention of ever
doing so. His daughter, Otter, is missing and he blames the whites. The Osage will strike the war post and avenge the death
of the girl.
Hiram Jakes daughter is Isobel. Hiram is from Tennessee, and when his daughter turns up missing he sends for his family.
They have run out of people to feud with in the Tennessee hills and are looking for something to do. Someone murdering their
kin is reason enough.
Billy Stiles is the new sheriff, after old Caleb has been fired, and has ties with the local outlaws and ridge runners.
He is also the leader of the Baldknobbers, a vigilante group that started out doing good things and turn out to be worse than
the bushwhackers and renegades they are sworn to control. Billy wants Coble Bray's reputation as a gunman, and the only
way he can get it is to kill him.
Onofrio Perez is the real thing. He is deadly with any weapon, but prefers a knife. No one knows why he is in Big Springs.
Coble knows the man has killed several women, usually whores, but it has never been proven. Onofrio wants to kill Coble,
since he knows he is on Coble's list.
Johnathon Workman is a storekeeper, mousey, and plain. He is gone from the store a lot, and shows up in odd places.
No one thinks he has the gumption to do anything wrong, but how strong do you have to be to kill a young girl?
Jessica Davis is the mother of one of the murdered girls. Her husband has been dead a couple of years and she's been
having a hard time of it. She is also the daughter of Sheriff Caleb McGill. When she meets Coble, she decides it is time
to hunt a new husband, and puts him on her short list. She won't be able to understand the man he really is; how death follows
him like a cloud. And, she'll have competition from someone who does.
Annie Holt is blond, blue eyed, quick to smile and help someone in need. She was there with the miners at Mindenmines
when the Cholera used them up so bad, stayed with them when even the doctor ran away. So, the word is out among the miners
and cowpunchers that she is to be helped any time and anywhere. She also runs a bath house and parlor and her girls cater
to any other special needs the customers might have. Annie secretly owns a ranch to the north of Big Springs, and rides
and works cattle like a man. She has loved Coble since the first time she saw him, but feels she is not good enough for him,
even though she saved Coble's life in Abilene when he braced Texas Red Myrick and friends. She killed a man who was about
to shoot Coble in the back, and will be the closest thing Coble has to a social worker that can tell him just how depraved
men can be.
With all these factions coming together, Coble Bray must keep the peace and face down some very tough men to do it. While
he is doing all of this, he has to solve the murders of the girls. The marshal is confronted with a type of killer he has
never had to deal with. Everyone around him is at a loss at how to approach the case. There are clues and signs, but they
all lead nowhere. The only tools he has to solve the murders are his eyes and ears, and in the end, his gun. Because, this
is 1878 and there won't be any hung juries, tainted evidence, or legal loopholes to crawl through. Some cases are not destined
for the courts.
At the end, all the killer will have to deal with . . . is Coble Bray.
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