It was the year of 1876 in the town of Waterdalle; it was a smaller town out in the middle of nowhere, some say, but, in this town, stood an outlaw by the name of Bennet M. Halbrook; he was often found in the Waterdalle Saloon playing poker with the other men. In front of the saloon was a train station with a beautiful steam engine, a 130 foot locomotive with many train cars behind it. This train often transports lots of cash from the Waterdalle bank to the Cedarwood bank about 80 miles out from Waterdalle. It was a large attraction representing Waterdalle. Having the biggest locomotive throughout a 900 mile radius. The Waterdalle Railroad Company is at high risk of a robbery attempt, but, with security guards posted at every car, it was nearly impossible. Bennet was planning to rob this exact locomotive for the last 12 months; the train schedule is only available to authorized personnel making it unknown to the public. Bennet marked the entire train schedule date and time, knowing exactly when the next departure is. The train departs on Tuesday, the 16 of May 1876 at 7:00 AM precisely which was 3 weeks away exactly. It was the next morning; Bennet threw a saddle on his horse and grabbed a Winchester model 1873, a legendary lever-action rifle chambered with 44-40 ammunition, and slipped it through the rifle loop on his saddle and rode to the Waterdalle Saloon. Once he arrived, he tied up his horse, grabbed a Colt M1873 out of his saddle bag, and slipped it in his holster, then grabbed some cash and went into the saloon. He walked over to the bar and sat down.
“Can I get you anything, partner?” asked the bartender.
“I’ll take a glass of whiskey, sir.” said Bennet.
“Alrighty, here you are, sir.” said the bartender. Bennet joined a game of poker and in the midst of dealing the cards, suddenly the door was kicked open and the saloon became silent. There stood a Waterdalle outlaw, Buck Winfeild. Buck slowly walked over to the poker table where Bennet was sitting.
“Look who we have here,” Buck said.
Bennet was quick to recognize him, now slowly lowering his hand off the table towards his revolver. “You got a problem Winfeild?”
“Meet me outside in no more than five minutes, Bennet.” Buck demanded. Bennet stood up and proceeded outside, Buck was standing down the road looking directly at Bennett. By this time, everyone was spectating on the roadside and knew what was going to occur. Bennett stepped into the dirt road standing parallel with Buck staring at each other straight in the eye. Both having their right hand near their revolvers. At this point the town became silent, so much so you could not hear anything but the faint sound of the shutters creaking on buildings nearby. The time had come, spectators waiting for them to draw, almost like time went into slow motion, until they both reached for their weapons and suddenly, a gunshot erupted and filled the silent air. There laid the body of Mr. Bennet Halbrook with a hole in his chest. Buck spun his revolver around his finger and slipped it back into his holster and began to walk over to Bennet. He took Bennett’s revolver and walked over to his horse, he searched his saddle bag and found a folded up piece of paper. He began to unfold it and soon found out it was Bennett’s log of departure dates of the Waterdalle Railroad Company. Buck put this in his pocket and got on his horse and rode off. Buck was heading to his cabin where two other cowboys lived. He arrived and pulled the log out of his pocket and showed the others.
“Bennet Halbrook made this log showing the exact departure times of the Waterdalle locomotive. I brought it home thinking it might be important. Do you folks know anything about it?” Buck said to the others.
“The Waterdalle Railroad Transports thousands of dollars from the Waterdale county bank to the Cedarwood bank about 80 miles out from Waterdalle. If we could rob that train, we could be talking thousands of dollars.” said one of the cowboys. So as the days passed on, it soon became the 16 of may, 1876, the departure of the locomotive. The boys woke up bright and early and saddle up their horses, Bennet put his Winchester M1873 in his rifle loop on his saddle, and a Colt M1873 in his holster and the boys hopped on their horses and rode a mile up the tracks from the station for an attempt to hijack the engineer from the cockpit. The time was 7:05 AM.
“The train should be approaching any minute,” said Bennett. The train tracks began to vibrate and the train whistle began to blare. The train was approaching quickly. Bennett hit his horse with his spool and caught up to speed with the train cars. Since it was only one mile out, it did not reach high speeds. Buck rode up next to the locomotive and grabbed on to a handle and jumped off his horse and dangled off the train. He planted his boot and climbed in between the coal car and the locomotive, the entrance to the cockpit. Buck rushed into the cockpit and pulled his revolver out of his holster and pointed it at the engineer.
“Hold it right there,” demanded Buck.
“Ye-yes sir” said the engineer in a frightened voice.
“Where’s the money?” demanded Buck.
“In the last car sir” said the frightened engineer .
Buck and the other cowboys jumped cars trying to make it to the last one on the train while having bullets whiz past them from security guards. Buck reached the back and kicked the door down. “Give me all the mon-”.
Suddenly a quiet voice behind him, “I don’t think so pal.” Buck turned around and saw Bennett Hallbrook with a 12-gauge shotgun pointed at him.