Emily (Danforth) Cunningham had accepted the invitation and had stayed only a few months, before moving into Olsen's falls. She, like her sisters Cora and Eula, had been raised on a plantation in Georgia and was accustomed to a great deal of social comforts that the Murdoch ranch simply did not provide. It did have nice beds, and decent if simple, food, but there were no servants or slaves to wait on her.

The worst of it was that Emily was naturally a socialite and enjoyed being around people. Unlike her younger sister Eula, Emily had never been without such pampering. Before her parents had gone broke due to her father's gambling debts, she had married Nelson Cunningham, the son of a wealthy Atlanta banker who had promptly moved them to Springfield Missouri to start up his own bank. Though the accommodations in Missouri were not nearly so plush as those she had been accustomed to in Atlanta, they did have slaves until the Civil War, and servants, after that. Thus, she never had to wait on herself.

Not long afterward, her parents, the once wealthy and respected Danforths of Atlanta, went bankrupt and lost the plantation. In a move designed to improve their fortunes, the Danforths went to Texas. Eula went with them only to watch both of them succumb to a cholera epidemic which hit Nacogdoches shortly after their arrival. Thus, while Eula had ended up waiting tables, and then marrying the tough but flighty Thomas Lancer, Emily had been living a life of relative ease.

She had been one of Springfield's leading socialites, and a member of several different ladies organizations, as well as a member of high-standing in the Springfield Methodist church. She was definitely a social creature who craved being around people and being involved in, if not the instigator of, every major social event in whatever town she was in.

As fate would have it, one day the James-Younger gang just happened to pick Springfield for their next bank robbery, and the bank they picked was that of Nelson Cunningham. Nelson had been in his office shortly after the bank had opened up for service that day. While going over some paperwork, he had heard a strident voice demanding that everyone put their hands in the air. The James-Younger gang had already robbed several banks so Nelson had a fairly good idea of what was taking place. He had instinctively grabbed up his Greener 12 gauge shotgun and bravely, albeit foolishly, charged out of his office toward the outlaws, some of whom were already inside the safe shoving money into burlap sacks. He was shot dead almost immediately. The outlaws soon completed their task, and rushed out the back door where one of their number had been holding the horses.

All of the outlaws save one, had worn linen dusters which extended just below their knees. Also, all of them save one, were careful to keep their faces covered by their bandannas. The one exception in both cases, wore Texas clothing; cowboy boots with high riding heels and large roweled, silver Mexican spurs, a black cowhide vest, and a black Texas style hat covering a head of shoulder length yellow-blonde hair. This one never uttered a word, but his bandanna had slipped down as Nelson charged out of his office, revealing the visage of a mere teen. This outlaw, had pulled his gun after dropping a money sack he'd been filling, but he never pulled the trigger. Cole Younger's bullet had been the first one to fatally strike Nelson Cunningham although several others soon followed.

Unfortunately for the young Texas outlaw, his face was the only one the teller and a few customers, had seen. Thus, it was he who was blamed for the murder of Nelson Cunningham. He was the youngest of the James-Younger bunch, and already famous. The thing that made it especially difficult for Emily Cunningham, was that this outlaw was none other than her nephew, Johnny Lancer.

Though only seventeen at the time, Johnny Lancer had already killed several men in gunfights, most of them however, were not in Missouri. The two that were, had been Yankee troublemakers who had been accusing a local youth of cheating them at cards. Johnny had been watching the game and knew the accusation to be false. The local boy had won fairly, and the two Yankees could not accept this fact. Johnny had cursed them both roundly and called them "yellow-bellied Yankee scum." They had grabbed for their guns--and rapidly departed for the great here-after. That gunfight, had been observed by Clell Miller, who was a member of the James Younger gang. He immediately beckoned Lancer to follow him out the door. After they had galloped some distance into the countryside, they introduced themselves and Miller promptly invited Lancer to meet Frank James.

Although to this day, Jesse has been thought to have been the leader of the gang, it was actually his older brother Frank, who did most of the planning and who had the final say-so as to who would be allowed to join up. The incredible success rate of the gang, was largely due to Frank's careful planning, rather than Jesse's reckless bravado. Frank took an almost instant liking to the youth, and soon asked him to join the gang. Johnny had gladly and proudly, accepted.

Lancer and Miller had not been vigorously pursued by the law for the slayings of the two Yankee bullies. The civil war still weighed heavily on the minds of many Missourians and a couple of dead Yankee no-'counts, was considered by many to be cause for celebration rather than anger. Nevertheless, it was soon known that it had been the young Texas gunfighter, Johnny Lancer, that had sent them to the here-after.

The problem with the Killing of Nelson Cunningham was that he had been a respected businessman, and was well liked by the community. The outlaws had all they could do to evade pursuit that time, and a heavy reward was placed on the head of Johnny Lancer, dead or alive. If captured alive, the only certainty that awaited him would be the hangman's noose.

Emily Cunningham, had been devastated by this tragedy, and hated even the mention of the name, Johnny Lancer. Although she had been left financially, very well off, she nearly suffered a complete mental collapse. Her sister, Cora Murdoch, after learning of Emily's misfortune, had invited her to come to Texas and stay with the Murdochs for a while. Emily accepted the offer.

After residing at the ranch only a few months, the longing for a more social lifestyle had hit Emily pretty hard. She decided she needed to move into town.

Staying at the ranch however, had taught her the value of keeping busy, especially, since it helped her to beat back the bitter memories of losing her husband, and previous way of life. Thus, Moose Murdoch had erected for her, a building that would serve as a boardinghouse and cafe.

While at the ranch, she had also acquired considerable skill at cooking, thanks to the Murdoch's long-time Chinese cook, Chang Lee, and Cora Murdoch herself. Emily found that she enjoyed cooking immensely, and enjoyed cooking for others even more so, especially since her cooking garnered her an enormous amount of heartfelt compliments.

Unfortunately, she had recently contracted malaria, and had been unable to attend to her duties. That was when Charlene had generously volunteered to fill in for her until she could recover.

Charlene herself, was also quite skilled at cooking, her own training proceeding from the same sources as that of Emily Cunningham. Today however, Emily had felt well enough to begin cooking again, and Charlene had only to wait on customers, for the moment, and at the moment, there were no customers.

Emily came out of the kitchen and noticed that Charlene was unusually quiet and somber. "What in the world is troubling you, Charlene?" Emily asked.

"A lot, well, two things mostly. " Charlene replied.

"Well, I hope one of them isn't that you have gone out with some wild cowboy and gotten yourself in a family way!"

Charlene's face turned red briefly, out of anger rather than embarrassment. She was far to used to cowboy bunkhouse humor, which was often downright raunchy, to be embarrassed by such a remark. She said, "I'd hoped you had a little more faith in me than that, aunt Em."

"After that stunt you pulled a few months ago girl, it is mighty hard to. That was the most shameless thing I ever heard tell of! It certainly was NOT the behavior of a lady!"

Charlene started giggling in spite of herself. The incident Emily had been referring to had happened the previous May.

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