Chastity

About the Book

Eldon Emory Black was born into this world as a slave for whoever would take him in, feed him and then work him half to death.  He ran away from the brutal life he was leading to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Territories.  He killed his first man at the tender age of 15.  

After killing the first man the others came easy.  Those who wanted an easy reputation came looking for Eldon Black.  There were too many men willing to stake their lives on a fast draw, and some were becoming a little too fast.  Black knew it would be just a matter of time before he came up against his equal so he moved on to El Paso, where he killed three more men who had just shot the sheriff in the Red Dog Saloon.

Leaving El Paso, he cut east for a couple of days, then followed the Pecos River toward Santa Fe.  Just south of San Miguel he came upon an Indian boy who had been shot by two outlaw brothers.  The Indian boy asked Black to say a prayer for him, but Black had no Bible of his own.   Black used the Bible given to him by the boy.  It was then that Black decided to change his own life.  Black buried the boy beside the Pecos, then proceeded on to San Miguel.

Black entered the Blue Owl Saloon in San Miguel where he overheard two men discussing shooting and stealing the Indian boy's pony.   Black challenged the two, but was forced to kill one of the men as the other one pleaded for his life.  As Black turned to ask some one to get the sheriff the other man, using his brother's gun, shot Black twice in his side and ran from the saloon.

Black spent the next two months recuperating from the gunshots.  During this time he read the Indian boy's Bible from cover to cover, discovering the Bible was from the Santa Fe Christian Missionary.  Soon as he could travel he went to the missionary, staying there for the next two years, learning all he could about God and the Christian life.  Then he set out to help other people and try to build churches wherever he could.

 Passing through Watson's Creek, Arizona Territory, he was forced to kill Tracy Watson, the town's founder.  The town's citizens, who witnessed the gunfight, convinced the Preacher, as he was now known, to leave town before one of the hotheaded sons attempted to avenge his father's death.  The Preacher rode south to a town called Chastity, where he took the job of town sheriff in exchange for the opportunity to build a church on Cemetery Ridge, adjacent to the town's graveyard.   Tracy Watson's two sons followed the Preacher to Chastity, where the Preacher killed one, and the other younger brother was incarcerated for attempted murder of the sheriff.

The Preacher learned from the town's mayor that a renegade band of Indian half-breeds, known as the "Comencheros" have threatened the town with murder, rape, and pillage when they return from the northern Arizona Territory.  The Comencheros leader, known as El Tigre, shot the prior sheriff, took his badge and called it the town treasure.  The badge has a 44.40 bullet hole in the center, put there by Lobo Jack, El Tigre's half brother.  Every time the renegade and his gang pass through Chastity El Tigre demands to see his treasure, which, on the threat of death, is entrusted to the mayor for safekeeping.

During the interim period, until the Comencheros return, the town has a murder, a gold mine is discovered, the bank is robbed, a kidnapping takes place, the church is finished and the dreaded Comencheros return to reap their vengeance on the town.  The new sheriff, the Preacher, decides to let El Tigre have the town treasure permanently.

About the Author

Shelby Jones visits and researches ghost towns, existing towns and cities that are rich in western history and lore, which date back to the early 1800's. Arizona is the museum of the Old West, its towns, places, characters, and events wake up the imagina