The Boys in Blue and Gray
By Chris James
Epilogue
Summer in San Francisco was hot that year, and not just because of the weather. Zach pitched six games of baseball that assured a win for the Golden Gate Club in a city wide competition. The opposing fans got rowdy and shot up part of town forcing the mayor to ban guns at future games. The whole thing was splashed across the pages of the Daily Union.
Abe was invited to join the Golden Gate Club, and declined the invitation. Zach was aghast at the refusal, but then Abe explained.
"I wear the badge, I represent the law. I won't join any organization, Zach... much as I'd like to. My presence will make it dangerous for all of you if word gets around what's going on there. A judge could force me to tell what I know... do you understand now?"
Zach nodded, disappointed, but he understood. That badge had nearly killed Abe, at least now that danger was past.
"Will you at least come and cheer me at the baseball games?"
Abe smiled. "I better, the mayor seems to have become a big fan."
Billy Ralston had solved Abe's problem by appointing him head of security for the Bank of California. With half a dozen branches throughout the state the institution was spreading as cities grew large enough to need them. Bank guards were carefully scrutinized and Abe had the job of checking their credentials before they were hired.
His new office at the bank's headquarters had its own telegraph device connected to Sacramento. But Billy had talked the governor into allowing Abe to keep the badge and the power that went with it. Banks got robbed and at least now Abe could reach out through the telegraph and direct the local sheriffs.
The position paid well, well enough for Abe to purchase a home on Montgomery Street halfway up the hill to the new Palace Hotel, Billy's latest venture. He had chosen the house because it had a large parlor, big enough for Zach and his friends to rehearse or give a small concert. Jenny Ardmore stepped forward to help with the decorating.
If there was any talk about the relationship it was muted because of the powerful people that circulated around them, Zach and Abe were certainly grateful. Lin Po assisted them by providing two names, reputable and discreet servants they were assured.
Mayor Coon had kept his promise, inviting Lin Po to a meeting of the businessmen's association. The leaders of the business community didn't quite know what to make of this strange man, but he spoke of their common interests in a quiet voice.
"I see before me merchants and bankers; owners and managers in many forms of business... we in the Chinese community are no different. The forces of nature affect our profits, ships sink and wagons falter in the mountain passes. Any man who places his eggs in one basket will suffer the consequences of his foolishness, for many baskets assure a certain amount of success.
"The supply of goods flowing to our fair city comes from many sources. The wider our base of supply the greater the flow to manage. But you look to the east for your goods while I look west to my old home country. I may be Chinese but California is now my home and your success is my success. We have much to discuss."
In two minutes Lin Po had expressed their common problems, embraced their desires to succeed as his own, and opened a door that none of them knew existed. Lin would engage the San Francisco business community like no other had before him. This would be evident by the end of the year when instead of only importing goods from the east, San Francisco began exporting goods from the Orient.
It was good that at least some segments of the different communities came together by that fall, for when disaster struck they were all in it together. In early October a large earthquake struck the foundations of the city, buildings crumbled and so did lives.
The walls of City Hall tumbled into the street but no one there was killed, it was a Sunday and barely one o'clock in the afternoon. The aftershocks came and then all was quiet. People poured out of churches across town and stared at the ruin. All along Kearney lay piles of bricks that had once been storefronts. In all, no one died.
The city mobilized the militia, the army sent troops and the cleanup began. Lin Po appealed to the Chinese community and soon there were Asian faces amongst the workers on the streets. The earthquakes had been felt halfway across the state, but all the damage was centered here.
The house on Montgomery sustained little damage except for a few broken pieces of china and a painting or two that seemed to leap off the walls. Zach had been terrified and like most of the neighbors they all ran out into the street in case the roof should collapse.
A man ran down the street with only a towel wrapped about his waist, a horse carriage ran amok and overturned in the street, and the horse car rails appeared bent.
"A fine way to begin the week," Abe said.
"I hope no one is injured," Zach said. "We didn't lose much this time."
"Your painting fell off the wall in the dining room," Abe said.
"You mean your painting; Victor and Evan presented that to you. I'm just the subject."
Abe smiled. "You could never be just the subject of anything; we'll hang it back up."
Matthew was gone a long time, almost a full year. But in the summer of 1866 he returned to the city... with a pretty young lady on his arm. It was Elizabeth Mason, the girl who had fancied him so much on their trip west. Matthew was proud, as proud as any man could be... they had been married for three months.
It was not fitting that such a lovely young lady should live in the old Drake House, but Abe had already planned for this occasion. The longer Matthew stayed away the more certain Abe was that he would not return alone. The house on Montgomery had an apartment attached, a lovely bright and airy home for the newest resident of San Francisco.
The next few years in the city went well. Matthew joined forces with Lin Po and began to manage the shipments pouring in from the Orient. Products like food and textiles had to be sorted and shipped to customers in the east and mid-west. California was on the verge of becoming the focal point of the nation. The Transcontinental railroad line was about to open for business.
It took some time, but by the early months of 1870 passenger service was up and running from Sacramento to New York, even if it did mean changing trains in several cities. Zach and Abe had waited a long time for this moment, they bought tickets.
Matthew had no desire to travel; he couldn't even if he wanted to. The serious boy had become a man, a man with a solid career, a wife, and three children... he wasn't going anywhere. But Abe and Zach took a coach to Sacramento and boarded the train heading east.
The landscape was distantly familiar, although now they saw it from a first class coach that resembled a small parlor. A passenger could ride first class from Sacramento to New York at a cost of around two hundred dollars, slightly less for immigrant class. It was expensive, but much cheaper than travel by wagon train. Baring flood and Indian attack, what had taken six months by wagon was now reduced to five days.
The scenery held their attention and became the focus of their conversation as they recalled the overland trip thru the Sierra Nevada. Now there were steep grades and tunnels which were soon left behind as they approached Truckee and headed into the flatlands of Nevada. Darkness fell and so they didn't get to see the salt flats or even much of Reno when they stopped.
Promontory Point where the eastern line met west quickly went past and onwards they moved. The mountains of Utah, Green River, Julesburg, North Platte and on into Elkhorn, close to where the wagon train had begun. The hours went by as did the memories, and then they reached St. Louis.
They were headed for Washington, the Nation's Capitol... it was as close to Richmond as they could go by train. The war had destroyed the south; this was evident by the things they saw from the coach to Richmond. The city itself was devastated and the Union was in no hurry to rebuild the defunct Confederacy.
The Crockett family had fared as badly as any of them who stayed on in the Confederate capitol until the bitter end. They still lived in a shattered house destroyed by Yankee artillery. But Abe gave Charlie's mother the news of her son's death, telling her everything he could remember of those days. They had given up on the boy long ago, but at least now they knew how he had died.
The trip to Culpeper took them through central Virginia, a chance to see the remnants of the war and what it had done to people. So many farms untended, buildings burned and totally destroyed, but there were signs that people were rebuilding. They rode through entire communities of black faces, former slaves that had banded together to scratch out a living in the soil. And they met Union soldiers, men who were tired and worn out.
Abe's mother was overjoyed to see them, and everything went well until Jess walked in the room. He walked with the aid of a cane and his left arm was missing, the shirt sleeve pinned up to his shoulder. He was a broken man and Abe could see his mother's despair, she didn't know what to do for her oldest.
Zach had no desire to see his mother's family in New York, and so they made their plans to return north and catch the train back to Sacramento.
"He's coming with us, isn't he?" Zach said.
"What would you have me do, Zach? My mother can't deal with him; he is my brother after all."
"No... I will never begrudge you the family you have left, we've both lost fathers to this damn war."
"Mother still doesn't know what happened to my father," Abe said. "He might as well be considered dead."
"And your brother survived a living hell in that Union prison. What can we do with him?" Zach asked.
"Help him escape like we did, show him the vast greatness of our country and allow him to breathe the briny breeze like we have. Clemens once said that California is the Promised Land. After all I've seen here the past two weeks I agree with him... this is hell."
"Then bring him with us, we'll find something for him to do," Zach said.
"I suppose we will," Abe said.
The End
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