Some of the men were running for the hills
now, gun or no gun. Lafayette and Ross let them go, as long as they were no
danger to them. LaFayette hollered, “Run fer th’ hills, without yore gun, and
we won’t shoot ya. We got fifty men surrounding you. You got a day to clear out, an don’t stop till
you hit th’ Arkansas state line. Then we’ll be back.” The remaining men took
him up on his offer. As soon as all was clear, as best they could tell, LaFayette
and Ross grabbed Slim by his good arm, and were half carrying, half dragging
him toward the horses, still hidden back in the bushes. Sam saw Mama Dolly run
out to Slim, falling as she wrapped her large arms around Slim’s leg, crying
and screaming. LaFayette pulled her loose, and they continued on with Slim.
Mama Dudley stiffened suddenly, holding her chest, and was rolling about.
“Stop pullin’ on ma dang shoulder!,” Slim
hollered. “I can walk!”
Sam knew her duty now was to stand guard,
in case any of the Dudley’s returned, but their screams were receding in the
distance. Sam could not help herself. Crying, she ran to Mama Dolly. She knelt,
holding her in her arms as she cried. She knew Mama Dolly had a bad heart
condition….
Speaking in a whisper, Mama Dolly said,
“What have you done to us, Sam?”
Then she drew her last breath in
Samantha’s arms.
Mama Dolly had done a lot of bad things,
but she had been nice to Sam. Bad as she was, she was the nearest thing to a
mother Sam had. With tears in her eyes, she Lay Mama Dolly gently down, and did
her duty. Sam gathered up the buffalo guns lying around. It took two trips to
the horses to load them all. Then she
stampeded the Dudley horses, sent them high-tailing it toward Atkins. Sam went
back to Mama Dolly, crying still.
LaFayette said, “Sam, if she’s dead, we
gotta leave her! These woods are full of dangerous men, and when they realize
it’s just us three, they may come back. We gotta go now!”
Once on the horses, they all headed, at as
fast a pace as Slim could stand, in the direction of Atkins. Once there, the
town doctor sewed Slim up. He had lost a lot of blood. LaFayette would have to
hire extra guards at the jail, until Slim could ride. He could not risk having
the remaining Clan men coming in and breaking Slim out of jail. Once recovered,
Slim faced a long ride back to Taladega County, and Taladega justice. Taladega
wanted Slim so badly they agreed to send two Marshals to bring him back. The
Dudley clan was no more. An inspection of the Clan site two days later revealed
heavy wagon tracks going in all directions. Ever
which way, as Ross reported. But
this time, they had left in panic. But the Clan did bury Mama Dolly before they left. Not because they particularly
loved her, but because if Slim ever came back, and found her unburied, he would
chase them down. One at a time.
Sam put up a marker she had brought, and
insisted they say a few words over her grave.
So, I guess it would be fair to say, quite
correctly,
Sam ran the Dudley Clan plumb out of Alabama and Arkansas, and into
total oblivion – Forever.
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