Benjamin understood immediately that Henry intended to secretly help Linda's family.
"Henry, you have a heart of gold. No problem, I will assist you in handling this matter."
After spending more than ten minutes dealing with this request, Henry bid farewell to Benjamin and walked back to the police station.
At this time, at Mayor William Sinclair's home, a private detective, Raphael, was reporting to him.
"The Dolin Gang and the Doug Gang have been almost completely wiped out. Last night, after Ronald returned home, he arranged for James to deliver a letter to Dwyer Manor."
"Additionally, at around 5 or 6 AM this morning, there was intense gunfire in the Wild Wolf Valley area. The nearest Max Farm was awakened by the gunshots and was on high alert. More than an hour after the gunfire stopped, they sent people to investigate and found over 150 cavalrymen dead."
"Judging from the attire and warhorses of these cavalrymen, they should be the McKinley Family's private soldiers. The death of their renowned leader, 'Eagle Eye' Oliver, also confirmed this."
William Sinclair's eyes flickered. "Eagle Eye" Oliver was an extraordinary individual.
Raphael continued his report.
"Shortly after the investigation, a large contingent of McKinley cavalry returned to the battlefield to collect the horses and bodies."
"At around 5 AM this morning, Sheriff Henry left the town alone on horseback and returned around 7 AM."
"I have arranged for informants to closely monitor Dwyer Manor, but those private cavalrymen are not inside; they should be at another camp."
After listening to the report, William Sinclair pondered for a long time and said, "Send more people to find out what the McKinley Family's prospecting team has been doing recently. It would be best to ascertain if they have made any new major discoveries."
"Understood."
"Also, absolutely do not let Henry detect that you are investigating him. Do not cause him any misunderstanding."
"Understood."
"That's all then. Report to me at any time."
After Raphael left, William Sinclair pondered for a long time and sent telegrams to his children.
He had to figure out the full story of this attack as soon as possible.
As the overlord of the town, any action that endangered the town could be considered a provocation to him.
Henry, back at the police station, began to look through various files, mainly to understand the personnel situation in the town and the surrounding fifteen-mile radius.
No wonder this town was so prosperous; there were 3 large and small gold mines, five silver mines, five copper mines, eight coal mines, and six gypsum and other stone mines in the vicinity.
64% of the silver mines here in America are mixed silver-copper or silver-zinc ores, along with some lead, so silver and copper mines are often integrated, only separated after decomposition and refining.
Separate labeling was also for individual accounting.
William Sinclair's Sinclair Family owned two gold mines, one silver mine, one copper mine, and three coal mines.
McKinley had one silver mine, one copper mine, and two coal mines.
The Palermo family had one gold mine and one coal mine.
There were also numerous smaller forces mining here.
Everyone in the entire town served the mining industry, which was centered around these three families, including miners, prospecting teams, guard teams, and various commercial firms.
Moreover, the population at each mine was also very large.
There were more than fifty large and small Farms scattered around, providing the town with various meats, vegetables, fruits, and grains.
Even so, the meat shortage was still significant. Cowboys continuously drove cattle herds from spring to autumn along cattle trails starting from Texas, passing through New Mexico, then Colorado, and arriving via the state capital, Denver.
Coal, copper, and stone were transported to George Town, over twenty miles away, and shipped out by train from there.
The refined gold and silver ingots from the gold and silver mines were transported by guard teams to Denver City, 85 miles away.
There were countless banks and a mint there.
Therefore, mining magnates had to be powerful to protect their wealth.
In fact, the main job of the Flex Town Police Department was to maintain law and order in the town and its surroundings.
To deter the bandits who roamed around committing evil deeds.
Security at the mines was handled by the mining bosses themselves.
Henry counted and found that there were still thirty-four bandits on the wanted list issued by the police department since its establishment who had not been apprehended.
Half of them had been on the list for more than five years.
There were more wanted criminals originally, but these past two days, thanks to Henry's efforts, the number had decreased by eight.
Through careful comparison, Henry discovered that among the three particularly vicious corpses he had collected, there was one—a bounty of 500 us dollar.
However, he was not in a hurry to claim the bounty; these corpses would have suitable uses later.
The four bars here were closely related to the three mining giants and the police department.
As for local gangs, there were none.
Because the town was not too large, and there were many big sharks, there was no room for those guys to survive.
However, foreign gangs often passed through, and that was when police officers would step in.
—
Four hours earlier, in a Victorian-style manor in Denver, 84 miles away, Brendan, the head of the McKinley Family, had his brows tightly furrowed.
He had received a telegram from Sean around 8 AM, gaining a basic understanding of the losses.
The losses were truly heavy!
The previously hired Dolin Gang and Doug Gang only resulted in a maximum loss of 15,000 us dollar in deposits.
This morning's ambush on Henry was what truly caused heartache.
A dozen or twenty warhorses and those weapons were nothing; the 156 elite cavalrymen were the main cost!
It took at least 5 years to train a seasoned cavalryman, with a total cost of over 2,000 us dollar.
The entire family only had about 600 such warriors.
A quarter of them were wiped out in one go!
There were also pensions to consider.
Even with numerous family businesses, this loss was already crippling.
With such heavy losses, Brendan knew his time as head was nearing its end if he couldn't secure that immensely rich gold mine.
A foolproof plan had resulted in a painful failure due to a sudden appearance of a young man, Henry.
Moreover, even if William Sinclair of the Sinclair Family was slow, he would have somewhat detected the problem by now, at least becoming sufficiently vigilant.
This was mainly because the consecutive failures of the past two days naturally exposed many issues.
Ronald was probably controlled or even killed by William Sinclair.
Brendan let out a long sigh.
When he initially took such a risky action, three out of the six family elders were opposed.
Now, it was impossible to quickly occupy the entire gold mine. They could only try the method of the other three elders from the beginning, attempting to contact William Sinclair and his family to see if they could get a share.
After all, the discovery of this gold mine was also unexpected. If their own prospecting team didn't leak it, the Sinclair Family would take a long time even if they specifically went to explore, and without luck, they might never discover it.
At least they hadn't targeted the core members of the Sinclair Family yet, leaving enough room for maneuver.
But—Henry must die!
Brendan swore through gritted teeth.
This morning's ambush was inextricably linked to Henry.
He left at 5 AM and returned two hours later, a timeframe that perfectly coincided with the time the McKinley Family's cavalry was attacked.
Therefore, Henry was most likely one of the sharpshooters in the ambush.
Blood debt must be paid with blood!
It would also be a good opportunity to demonstrate the McKinley Family's strength, lest their weakness be perceived, and it would facilitate subsequent cooperation negotiations with the Sinclair Family.