The Trial and Execution of Leopold Tarkenfeld

He did have it coming...

I have had a Leopold Tarkenfeld problem for some time. He has at this point appeared in quite a number of stories, both corporeal and beyond the pale. In his first appearance, "In A Meadow", the deputy interviewed suspects Tarkenfeld of the murder of a prostitute in the alley behind Devitt's General Store. This Tale is set in 1874. His next appearance was without casting credits beyond "rat-faced man", but it is in reference to a fight that takes place in an alley during "Mercy Holds No Measure". This scuffle took place one cold winter night in 1871. The appearance after that is one that I choose not to reveal for it took me ever so long to recognize him after all that time. He is there though and I'm going to just leave it there, though where will remain the mystery. Finally, at last, in "The Journal of Caleb Walsh", Leo appears from beyond the grave with a vendetta in 1887. This means that some time between 1874 and 1887, Leo died. This is the basis of the problem... outside of the fact that he's a bit of an asshole.

By this point I had an idea of what was happening here with dear old Leo. I knew his demise was within the days of the town, just not sure when. I also had at this point, and really the reason for this Tale, realized just how powerful this character is. I knew I had a great villain here, a serious lout that one could, if they squinted, root for... or at least for what he deserves. I also knew I had two versions of this guy, both before and after the grave. As for who he was when alive, that had at this point become quite clear to me. Leo haunted, and still does, quiet regularly my thoughts. He is not a very pleasant person, even more so than I find I'm capable of conjuring. He's a thief, a murderer, a rapist and more, no longer employable by the Mortenson Mine and a fixture among the seediest denizens of Baird's Holler. He also gets his ass whooped quite a lot.

This is a little side fact which really does help define Leo. He's a diminutive man, short and rail thin with wiry muscles and a Napoleon-sized chip on his shoulder. He has shown a habit for acting well before thinking and then speaking with his foot fully lodged. He is also not alone. He keeps around him his confederate, or if you were really generous, his friend, Richard "Dickie" Donnelly, a giant of a man with less than the required wits to roam safely alone. Leo long before took Dickie under his wing and together they make a pretty effective team. There's never been enough to bring either of them in on until the brother-in-law of Kevin Devitt, the owner of Devitt's General Store, was found hung in Mortenson's Meadow near his wagon and his wife, Mrs. Devitt's little sister, was missing.

The other Leo is Dead Leo. "The Journal of Caleb Walsh" gave me a good, hard glimpse at the capabilities of this Leo and I like it an awful lot. That Tale as well gave me the idea of what needed to be, what Leo has been up to. Trust me, the List is full of Leo stories right now, ones just waiting for their turn in the chute. Why? Well, Dead Leo is pissed and he has serious and legitimate reason to be. He is pissed at the Judge, a Sultan named Worthington, and he has a serious grievance with the twelve men of who convicted him of whom Caleb Walsh was the foreman. He's a bit pissed at Marshal Thaddeus Barrett as well he should be and his grudge against his council holds water as well. In fact, he has at least as many or more possible postmortem Tales available as I have plans for his appearances while breathing. Dead Leo gives me an excellent opportunity, through the rotten eyes of one who just doesn't know when to quit, to explore the world of ghosts up here on the Bajazid.

Just got to say, Kevin Devitt has now appeared in a few Tales and I know a few things about him that haven't hit the page yet, things which are fallout from "Shanga-ree" as well as a few particular instances of note throughout the town. In fact, there is a novel planned from the POV of one of the two boys in his shop the day Hans Kroeger went to get some beans and matches and whiskey. I really wish I could do nothing right now but sit and roll off things I've learned of this gentleman, and yes, that he is. His appearances in "Shanga-ree" and "Claude" are who he is and that moral character, as well as his prominence as the primary dry goods merchant in Baird's Holler, gives him an outsized civic role which I am woefully behind on tackling. When it is his wife's little sister who is missing and her husband found swinging from a limb, the Law is most likely going to pick up the individual carrying the dead man's pistol and trying to sell his draft horse.

This is where we find ourselves, in the courtroom waiting in the sweltering heat of the crowded courtroom for Judge Worthington to return and for the verdict to be read. Now, I've been told I pile it onto some of my characters, you know, kick them when they are down and then just keep heaping indignities on the? Well, all it took to give Leo the time of his life at this moment was to ensure his dinner the night before was potato stew... not overly fresh. Yup, his stomach is not doing good and he is feeling the pressure in ways affecting his temperament quite negatively. Not a good idea with Judge Worthington on the bench.

Now this Tale is titled "The Trial and Execution of Leopold Tarkenfeld". True to the title, the story splits itself evenly between these two events with the night in extremely uncomfortable wait to keep the two themes from getting in each other's faces. Allow me to just say that the interim is most tense, more so than one might expect before their execution. That the meal left was potato stew from the same batch now stale in the summer heat didn't help his appetite. It didn't help him at all with his attitude in the morning nor that the crowd gathered demanded his hood be removed and his feet unbound because, well, it's a better show that way. That was a bit of a mistake and I'm just going to say the whole affair was one big shit-show.

"The Trial and Execution of Leopold Tarkenfeld" was finished on May 16, 2019, at 4,885 well satisfying words. Satisfying because as this story finished, a whole concept rushed out and I've been trying to play clean up since. See, as for story arcs that now exist, "The Crimes and Executions of Leopold Tarkenfeld" is the one with the greatest potential for racking up a serious pile of stories. As with "The Trial and Execution of Leopold Tarkenfeld", this story arc collection has two primary parts... Live Leo, the little shit who gets an arse whooping quite constantly despite the protection Dickie provides and Dead Leo, a raging vengeance machine on a mission.

I've got my work cut out for me 'cause Leo really can provide me with no less than two dozen more Tales without even really looking too hard. More than half are already set up along with a few other surprises I've learned about. For example, I know for certain that his legacy is felt even in the ridiculously long Sestina I am currently going mad on (just finished 58,000 words today... only 20k to go!) Beyond these Tales here mentioned (or not-mentioned) he has appeared four more times in the stories that have been written, both during his Crimes and his Executions. 

Oh, I should say that he is also pissed at Dickie. All the evidence was circumstantial but damning none the less and Dickie, well, he's kind of slow. Still, it doesn't matter how susceptible Dickie is to suggestion, something Leo had always relied on, it was so not right to sell him out like that. I mean, Dickie didn't finger him, but he didn't not finger him either. I'm gonna have to figure all this out because I know something that happened when a Dentist and his three traveling companions left Prescott on June 3, 1880 and made a right hand turn rather than continuing on to Tip-Top for the night.