I just saw a man die today and now I’m going to hang for it. I can barely believe my poor luck. His was name Mr. Oldbarrows who owns a pelt shop down by Castor River. He was talking to me about the morning weather when suddenly his face exploded. That’s what it looked like to me when his body went limp and fell like a sack of potatoes. I still taste the splatter of blood on my lips.
As it so happens, he and I were the only ones in the shop and at that moment. A young lady, perhaps one of the brothel girls from the Silver Bullet Saloon, screamed and told everyone that I had killed him. I’m writing this from the jail cells and they have hung a new rope from the gallows just for me.
I am new to Glen Rio having recently arrived from New York. They don’t know me and don’t trust me. No one believed me when I said I didn’t kill him. I don’t even own a gun as I detest violence, gore, and death. Nothing good ever comes from the devil’s weapons.
My only hope comes in the shape of a woman named Dusty Rose. There is no law around here but she is the leader of a nasty cabal of bounty hunters called the Hunters of the Rose. She is said to arrive by this time on the morrow. I hope she will see reason. I am no threat to anyone and perhaps she can save me from these backwater inbred savages.
– Dr. Marcus Listrum
Author J.M. Topp 