Winfield 1887
Terminus Handcannon
WINFIELD 1887 TERMINUS HANDCANNON. (See also: WINFIELD 1887 TERMINUS, SHOTGUNS). When shortened, the Terminus becomes an incredibly powerful firearm to pack for a rainy day. It was favored for its efficient ratio between power, rate-of-fire and size.
Interviewee: William Carter
Topic: Local folklores
Single sheets. Typewritten transcription. 8 x 11 in.
5/5
Ethyl and Jana went round Marlinton, asking if anyone had been to the Carter Wild West Show, or knew the statue. Not a soul had. Except for one. Jane had been waiting for them. What she had to tell couldn't be spoke out loud in town.
The three women walked deep into the Monongahela forest. At dusk they settled in at the base of one of those blue-hazed hills that seemed to roll on forever. It was a cool night; for warmth they lit a fire, and drew long draughts from Ethyl s flask.
Jane confessed that she'd kept the secret for over a decade. All those years ago, she'd stopped the Marlinton wildcat. Jane had followed the twins to town to take the glory. Mr. Winfield had long been her sponsor, and confidant, and she was jealous of the sisters stealing the limelight.
Well, Jane chanced upon a troubled kid in the woods, Nika Felis. She was wild, half feral, blood on her hands. Something wasn't right with the girl, but Jane knew of a healer near New Orleans, Dr. John, who could calm her troubled mind. A boy was with her, Red. In a sorry state. Jane wanted to take him to his mother, but both kids seemed equally horrified at that suggestion.
In the end, she worked with Mr. Winfield to stage the killing of a cougar, if he would take the boy. That had been the last she'd heard of Red, till he'd turned up grown at the show just a few weeks before.
The ground trembled. A monstrous slurry of earth and rock was tipping down the slope, logs caught up in its flow. Jana sprang away, but watched horrified as the landslide engulfed Ethyl, then Jane. The earth settled, the fire smothered, only moonlight
Jana watched a lone figure lope down the hillside, her body adorned with rattling pale bones. She moved lithely, picking her way smoothly down the treacherous ground. Jana called out Felis?
The figure's head snapped up in recognition: wild braids concealed two dark glinting eyes. Jana cried out in pain, a flung knife had buried itself in her arm, her trusty LeMat went flying. Felis kept striding forward.
Jana took one look at the ground where her friends had gone under. Picking up the Winfield with her one good arm, she flung the barrel forward, spinning it on the lever. At the sound of cocking, Felis's eyes snapped up, alarmed. Ethyl raised the shotgun and fired
