Here's am excerpt from J.T. Edson's QUIET TOWN
Quiet Town
They all saw the three women walk by the window and thought nothing of it until Maggie Bollinger
shoved the batwings and came in. Roxie and Eeney followed her inside, moving one on each side of her.
The dancehall girls looked in surprise for the women of the town never entered saloons. Bristling like
alley cats the six painted girls moved together then came forward.
“Where’s Bearcat Annie?” Maggie asked.
In her office Bearcat Annie heard the voice and went to the door. She saw the three townswomen and
knew why they had come. She stepped out, eyes going to Eeney first, then Maggie and Roxie. So the
women aimed to take her, not Dusty Fog. She did not mind, it would give her a chance to get her
revenge on that German girl. “I’m here, “she answered and stepped forward.
In her eagerness to tangle with Eeney, Bearcat Annie forgot to lock the safe or her office door. She went
across the room and halted in front of Eeney, then looked at Maggie Bollinger. None of them spoke for
an instant. They looked like cats as they waited for something to happen. Behind them the gunmen
pushed back their chairs and moved under the balcony to give the women plenty of room. The man at
the window, seeing himself cut off and knowing it would be unsafe to be there moved round to his
friends.
“I’m arresting you,” Maggie said, eyes on the big blonde.
“You are, are you?” Bearcat Annie spit the words out. “Why you fat cow, I’ll teach you to come in here.
Throw ‘em out, girls!”
Roxie Delue swung a hard little fist as a red headed dancehall girl lunged at her, feeling it smash into the
girl’s nose. Then Roxie felt as if the top of her head was being torn off as another girl lunged in. The
centre of the room was a mass of screaming, fighting women.
Eeney and Bearcat Annie hurled at each other. Eeney’s fists were clenched and stabbed out hard but
Bearcat Annie was impervious to pain. Her clawing hands dug deep into Eeney’s hair and tore at it. A
scream of pain tore from Eeney’s lips; she forgot her fist-fighting training. Taking a double handful of the
other woman’s piled up blonde hair she drove her fingers in until they scratched Bearcat Annie’s scalp,
then pulled. Round they swung, clear of the others and staggered to one side screaming in rage.
The gunmen yelled their delight and approval, watching the fight which was to become a classic of the
old West. The battle in Bearcat Annie’s saloon was to be a legend and talked of the length and breadth
of the West, from Texas to California. Miners, cowhands, soldiers and every other denizen of the open
range would tell of it.
Roxie and Maggie were swamped over by screaming, clawing, kicking girls. One thing saved them. In the
wild mêlée there was no chance of sorting out who was who. It became a case of tearing the nearest
hair, kicking, punching, clawing or slapping wildly around, striking the nearest person. Roxie felt her
frock rip as she tore the skirt from a screaming girl. It was a wild tangle of flailing arms and legs,
screaming mouths, interspersed with ripping noises as clothes were torn. Then Maggie was on her feet,
swinging round with a couple of clawing girls hanging on to her. Her dress went, ripped off as the girls
staggered back. She swung a wild blow which knocked a third girl backwards into the bar. The girl
smashed into the polished wood and stood for an instant, her eyes glazed, then she stumbled forward
into the wild tangle once more.
Bearcat Annie and Eeney reeled across the room, smashing into the bar and staggering off again. They
stopped tearing at hair and swung wild slaps and punches which rocked each other. Bearcat’s clawing
hands gripped the neck of Eeney’s frock and ripped at it, swinging Eeney and as the gingham tore sent
her on to a table. The big blonde hurled after Eeney, landing on top of her but the table’s legs gave way
and dumped them on the ground once more where they rolled and thrashed in a wild tangle of flailing
arms and waving legs. Across the floor they rolled first one, then the other getting on top. They hit the
bandstand and still clinging to each other’s hair got first to their knees, then to their feet. Eeney tried to
push the other girl backwards; they hit the bandstand and Bearcat Annie was thrust on to it. She fell
backwards and brought Eeney down with her. Eeney pushed the blonde backwards, and Annie landed
on a stool, breaking the guitar which lay on it. She braced herself and lunged forward, her lowered head
ramming into Eeney. Back they went, crashing into the piano. Eeney’s fingers closed on Annie’s head,
dragging it down; they strained against each other, gasping and squealing. The piano started to move
backwards as their weight came down on it. Smashing the flimsy rail around the side of the bandstand
the piano went over, crashing to the floor with a hideous discordant jangle of the keys. Eeney and
Bearcat Annie went with the piano; they crashed on to it and rolled over it, landing on the floor again. It
was a brutal, savage fight with no holds barred. Bearcat Annie was well versed in this style of fighting; in
her life she had been compelled to defend herself in other fights like this. Their frocks were gone by the
time they got to their feet; both were naked to the waist but neither took any notice of it.
Coming to their feet again they staggered apart, gasping for breath. For an instant they stood like that,
then hurled at each other once more. Eeney struck out with wild fists now, feeling them strike home,
then Annie lashed out back. Their fists landed home hard; Annie felt blood running from her nose, her
right eye puffing up, Eeney, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her left eye starting to
discolor, closed again, hands clawing out. Round and round they swung, lost their balance and hit the
floor once more.
Up on the balcony Dusty Fog led his men forward and down the stairs. They held their guns but the
gunmen did not see them. Every one of these gunmen was completely absorbed in watching the sight of
the battling women; they could pay no attention to anything else. Dusty wondered if he could take the
men but there was the danger that the fighting women might get in his way. He must wait until there
was no danger. By his side Mark Counter watched Eeney and Bearcat Annie as they rolled over and
fought; he had to hold himself from shouting to Eeney to use her fist-fighting skill instead of trying to
match the big blonde in her own style of brawling.
The wild tangle of women broke up. Roxie clung to and locked one arm around the neck of a woman.
She rolled right over the other woman and fought with her, not realizing it was Maggie Bollinger she was
tangling with. It was Maggie who recovered first. She yelled at Roxie and the wild light died in the girl’s
eyes. They got to their feet; other women were still fighting with each other. Maggie went forward,
scooped up a pair of them and crashed their heads together, dropping them again. They lay limp and
then the other women were up and the wild tangle joined once more. Roxie rocked under the impact of
a wild, fist-swinging attack, her own fists lashing back.
Maggie staggered into the bar, a girl rushing at her. She ducked and caught the girl by the legs, heaving
and straightening. The girl went over the bar out of sight and Maggie hurled herself at the three
remaining girls who were ganging up on Roxie.
Bearcat Annie and Eeney fought their way back to the bar. Annie locked her arms round the other
woman’s bare waist, squeezing hard. Eeney gasped in pain as she was crushed, her fists pounding on the
blonde’s face. There was enough steam behind the blows to make Bearcat Annie scream and tighten her
hold. Then Eeney dug her fingers deep into the tangle of blonde hair and pulled with all her strength.
Annie howled like a train going into a tunnel. She swung Eeney round and lifted, throwing her on to the
bar top. Eeney’s feet came up into the blonde’s face and pushed her hard, then Eeney fell over the bar
and landed on the dancehall girl. The girl pushed Eeney over and got to her feet to attack her. It was a
mistake. Bearcat Annie caught up a chair and seeing a head come up ran back and brought it smashing
down again, Eeney forced herself up; the big blonde was leaning on the bar, gasping in pain and
exhaustion. Eeney caught the woman’s hair, jerked her head up and slammed it down on to the bar.
Annie was dazed by the blow but her own hands laced into Eeney’s tangled hair. She braced her foot
against the bar and pulled. Eeney was forced to go over the bar, she felt as if the very scalp was being
torn from her head. She was dragged over and on to the floor, hooking her leg behind Bearcat Annie’s
and bringing her down.
It was even worse now, Bearcat Annie fought with savage rage, her weight counting against Eeney. She
threw a leg over the German girl, holding her down by sheer weight, then her hands gripped Eeney’s
hair and tried to smash the head on to the floor. Eeney braced her neck muscles trying to hold back the
shattering force of the blows, but her head hit the floor hard. Her head was spinning and she could
hardly keep up her strength to try and fight back, her hands weakly pushed at the heavy weight on her.
At the bar the rest of the women were all but spent; only two dancehall girls were left on their feet,
struggling weakly with Roxie and Maggie. The big woman was just about ready to collapse, so were the
others. Then Maggie saw her chance, she gripped Roxie by the hair with one hand, the other digging
fingers into the back of one of the girls’ neck. Then with all her strength she smashed the two skulls
together, with the third girl’s head between them. The girl moaned and went down in a limp heap, once
more Maggie crashed the heads together and let Roxie and the last girl drop. She swayed herself and
almost fell.
Bearcat Annie, still kneeling astride Eeney and trying to smash the other woman’s head to the floor,
looked up. She saw Maggie was the last woman on her feet and knew she must try and finish the blackhaired
woman off. She knotted her left hand in Eeney’s hair and smashed a brutal right to her face, let
her head flop back to the floor. Gripping the edge of a nearby table, the blonde tried to pull herself up.
The table tipped over and Bearcat Annie dragged herself up by the edge. She swayed on her feet,
sobbing in exhaustion as she started for Maggie Bollinger who stood with her legs braced apart and
mouth hanging open.
Maggie was exhausted. She had taken the brunt of the attack by the saloon girls and was only barely
conscious of what was happening. She saw the big saloon keeper standing but her mind would not focus
or give her aching body any instruction. Bearcat Annie stumbled forward then as she came into range
swung a wild haymaker. It smashed like a club into the other woman’s cheek. Maggie’s head rocked to
one side, snapping over hard. She reeled back, smashing into the bar. Her legs gave way and allowed her
to slide down until she sat on the floor with her back against the bar. Bearcat Annie looked down,
swaying and almost falling, she gripped the bar to hold herself up and lifted her foot to stamp down on
Maggie.
Laying on the floor Eeney felt pain welling over her, from head to foot she seemed to be a mass of
bruises and pain. Then she sat up, dazedly, seeing Bearcat Annie staggering at Maggie. Weakly she
reached out then gripped the edge of the table to drag herself up on to her knees. Her bruised bloody
face showed her exhaustion, her eyes glassy. Through the swirling mists which whirled around her as
she tried to get up she saw something. Hanging to the table Eeney’s eyes managed to focus on the
stairs, at Mark Counter. The big Texan had holstered his guns and was watching her, he saw her eyes
meet his and clenching his fist swung it as if punching. Eeney gave a gasp, she recognized Mark even
though her mind was so dazed that it would hardly function. The she realized, this was the man who had
helped her beat Russian Olga, telling her how to handle the other woman. She saw him make the
punching motion once more and in a flash it came to her what he meant. She had fought Bearcat Annie
under the big blonde woman’s own terms instead of using the skill she had gained while travelling with
Mundy’s troupe. That was why she got whipped. Bearcat Annie knew more about all-in rough-house
fighting than Eeney did.
It took all Eeney’s will-power to shove herself to her feet, she could barely stand. The watching gunmen
yelled with delight, they had thought the fight was over, now it looked as if the girl was going to carry
on. They admired Eeney for her sheer guts and yelled the encouragement to her. Eeney was oblivious to
it all and in her head there seemed to be a roaring. Yet she kept her feet and closed with Bearcat Annie
who hung on to the bar and stamped at Maggie, missing the first time. Eeney caught Bearcat Annie’s
bare shoulder and turned the other woman round, then swung her fist. She tried to keep her fists in the
way she had learned from Mundy, swinging again, rocking the big blonde’s head back. Bearcat Annie felt
the punch, it slammed into her mouth. With a moaning scream Bearcat Annie lunged forward but Eeney
backed off, swinging a left then a right which rocked Bearcat Annie’s head again.
Still holding her fists clenched Eeney followed the staggering blonde, at every step slamming another
punch into the bloody face. Bearcat Annie was helpless now. Her hands flopping limp and helpless at her
sides as the punches rocked her head from side to side and staggered her back across the room. Eeney
shot out a right, her arm driving the fist full into Bearcat Annie’s mouth. The big woman looked as if she
was running backwards and hit the batwing doors, they parted just enough to allow her to go half out.
Then she hung there, her arms over the top of the doors, holding her up.
Eeney almost fell; she clung to a table to help keep her feet. Behind her the gunmen crowded forward
eager to see the end of the fight. Yet Eeney did not hear them. Sobbing in pain and exhaustion she
staggered forward. There was only one thing she could see, Bearcat Annie’s face, blood running from
nose and mouth, one eye blackened, the other swelling and discolored. Bearcat Annie hung there,
helpless, mouth hanging open. She did not even know Eeney was coming nearer. The German woman
halted, her breasts heaving and her fist clenching. She ached in evey inch of her body, the agony of her
hair, which felt as if the roots were on fire, the raw taste of blood in her throat, they were going now,
sinking into numbness. With every ounce of her weight behind her she swung her fist. It was a beautiful
punch, thrown with swing and power behind it. Bearcat Annie’s head rocked, the batwing doors swung
open and the big blonde went backwards. Her feet shot from under her and fell on to her back in the
street. Eeney staggered after her, out of the doors. Her legs were buckling as she crossed the sidewalk,
down to the street and dropped forward, sinking on to her knees, astride the unconscious Bearcat
Annie. Eeney’s hands supported her for a moment, then as men and women came running towards her
everything went black.
