Jake Richardson, the only child born to Rufus and Mary Richardson, was raised on a hard-scrabble farm near Beaumont, in the southeastern corner of Texas. He enlisted at the age of 20 when the War broke out in 1861 and served in John Hood's hard-fighting Texas Brigade, which was posted to the Army of Northern Virginia.

Jake learned to shoot using his grand-pappy's black-powder, flintlock Kentucky long-rifle, but it was during the War that he learned to kill men without flinching. The Texas Brigade was in the thick of the fighting during the fierce battles of the long war for Southern independence, and Jake's experiences toughened him considerably.

On the first day at Gettysburg Jake found a dead Yankee cavalryman's Spencer carbine, and he quickly became intrigued by the repeating rifle. He used it for the remainder of the war, and carried it back to Texas with him after the surrender at Appomattox.

Post-war Texas became the destination for many of the South's ex-soldiers and civilians, and the scrawl "GTT" (for "Gone To Texas") became a common parting message in many portions of what had been the Confederacy. Unfortunately, hordes of Northern carpetbaggers also headed south to take advantage of a destitute Texas and its people, aided and abetted by scalawags -- Southerners who let their greed triumph over their feelings for their fellow-Southerners. Soon farms and ranches were passing into the hands of these opportunists, often for pennies on the dollar, as a result of non-payment of taxes.

The Richardson farm was lost in this way. Jake's mother had died in childbirth soon after the war began, and his father did not long survive the loss of the family homestead. Having neither family nor roots, Jake began to drift from town to town. He eked out a hard living at various jobs, including laborer, bronc-busting (which seemed to be a lot more like Jake-busting), and ranch hand. But through it all, Jake held on to the Spencer carbine that he had carried with him during the last year of the war, and became an expert shot with it.

It was on the strength of his skill with his long-arm -- learned largely during his time in the Confederate army -- that Jake was able to land a job as a guard for local freighting companies, and, most recently, the Wells, Fargo Overland Stage Line. Unfortunately, a stage upon which Jake was riding guard was held up, and one of the passengers was killed when he foolishly tried to use a holdout gun on one of the robbers. Although the passenger's death was not his fault, the Wells, Fargo district manager blamed Jake for the mishap, and fired him. Accordingly, Jake finds himself at loose ends again . . .

Appearance: Jake is 36 years of age, stands 5' 8" tall, and weighs around 170 pounds. With black hair and brown eyes, he wears a moustache and chin-whiskers which are starting to turn gray, giving him a "salt and pepper" appearance. He is dressed much the same as other men of this place and time, and is rarely seen without his Spencer carbine, which he carries about as routinely as some men would buckle on a hogleg. Jack looks to be quick and wiry, but not overly strong.