Coyote Tracks

Bob Meldrum was Town Marshall
and a coward so they say,
who shot down young Chick Bowen
on the streets of Baggs that day.

Chick and friends tipped back a few
and decided to go eat,
at the old Elkhorn Hotel
just a short walk up the street.

The winter’s day was chilly
though there’d been a chinook thaw,
but it didn’t bother Chick
he was quarter Chickasaw.

When all the ‘pokes had ordered
and were waiting for their fare,
Chick felt a little woozy
and went out to get some air.

Out there on the sidewalk
feeling tipsy on his feet,
he let loose a few war whoops
and they echoed down the street.

Well Ol’ Bob Meldrum heard him
and was in one of his moods,
’cause his wife was sleepin’ ’round
with several different dudes.

She was leavin’ him tomorrow,
so he’d been on the jug
since early in the morning,
and was feelin’ like a thug.

Bob found Lorenzo Valdez
whom he sent to the hotel,
with a message for the waitress
that he’d heard the cowboy yell,

and to tell Chick he’d be waitin’
on the street to take him in,
but Bowen kept on eatin’
and answered with a grin.

They left a short while later
to go back to the saloon,
but Meldrum stood there waitin’
like a drunken ornery goon.

“Were you the one a yellin’?”
he asked Chick behind a gun.
Then George Salsbury replied,
“Bob, he’s just been havin’ fun.”

“Shut up George”, said Meldrum,
or I’ll arrest you too!”
as he grabbed ahold of Chick
and a struggle did ensue.

They jerked each other back and forth
Chick’s hat fell in the snow,
“Alright then Bob, he said,
let me get my hat. I’ll go!”

“I’ll shoot you in the legs”, said Bob,
his finger gave a twitch,
and then you’ll damn sure come along,
you sonofabitch!”

“Don’t call me a sonofabitch, Bob!”
yelled Chick, to Meldrum’s glee,
and the Marshall, taking one step back,
shot him in the knee.

Chick lunged upon him straight away
but Bob fired two more rounds,
point blank into the belly
as Chick took him to the ground.

Chick pounded hard on Ol’ Bob’s face
and broke his nose most dearly,
while Meldrum hollered out for help
he beat him up severely.

“Salsy, don’t let ‘em help, cried Chick,
for my belly’s full of lead.”
“If I let him up, or they pull me off,
I’m afraid he’ll shoot me dead!”

Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Davis
responding to the shooting,
busted up the bloody brawlers
and ended their disputing.

They took Chick to the doctor
and Bob to Vernon’s place,
where Tom straightened out his nose
and wiped off his bleeding face.

Chick wasn’t quite so lucky
his life they couldn’t save,
for he was a gut shot cowboy
a headin’ for the grave.

He spoke about his mother
and a sweetheart he had known,
but they wouldn’t see each other
and by morning he was gone.

The Marshall went on trial
but the jury was what hung,
so Bob escaped a hanging
and then went on the run.

When they held a second trial
he turned himself back in,
and served a five to seven
in the Wyoming State Pen.

Nobody knows what happened
it’s become a mystery,
to murdering Bob Meldrum
and his further history.

But I have a good idea
though I haven’t got a clue,
that maybe some “bad medicine”
gave a murderer his due.

© WFS 2009