The middle-aged woman was the head maid here, and also the first to follow Shawn.
She surveyed the scene; it was truly horrific!
Only a dozen or so women were left, and with so many corpses, if they weren't dealt with quickly, a few fierce beasts might wander in during the afternoon or evening.
Henry locked himself in the office that morning, spread two thick carpets on the floor, sat on the sofa, and began to search the bodies of the guards one by one. Besides pistols, rifles, and daggers, he only harvested 462.8 us dollars.
Fortunately, Shawn's safe still contained 8639 us dollars.
It was about right; there were so many people in their Manor, and many were cavalrymen.
Even at an average of 25 us dollars per month per person, the monthly salary alone would be over 2500 us dollars, plus other miscellaneous expenses.
In such a remote, mountainous area without a bank, it was normal for Shawn to prepare three months of working capital.
The biggest gain was the 12 pieces of 100-ounce gold.
Currently, the price of gold was 20.67 us dollars per ounce, which amounted to 24804 us dollars.
It was only because this was a mining area that Shawn could keep so much gold in a hidden compartment.
Given such a bountiful harvest, Henry no longer bothered with Shawn's silent suicide.
It was better for such a ruthless opponent to die early and be reborn early.
After counting, Henry continued to install delayed electric detonators in the tnt.
This time, in addition to 5-pound and 10-pound ones, he also installed 10 20-pound ones and 10 50-pound ones.
The 20-pound ones had a 5-second delay; Henry had to ensure he could escape.
For the 50-pound ones, five had a 15-second delay, and five had a 20-second delay.
A 50-pound one was enough to collapse a 3-story apartment building.
However, he primarily made 5-pound tnt, which he could easily throw about 30 meters. As long as it exploded within 5 meters of the target, the destructive power would be sufficient.
With the powerful sense of spatial and throwing control brought by his skill Flying Dagger LV4, achieving this was as easy as pie.
Not to mention five or six meters, he was confident even with five or six centimeters.
Henry had originally planned to dispose of Shawn and his guards, then leave some bandit corpses from his Storage Space at Dwyer Manor, faking a bandit raid.
After all, the corpses in his space looked as if they had just died.
However, he later thought that the only Federal Marshal, Duncan, was not nearby, so wouldn't that be like casting pearls before swine?
So he simply put everyone into his Storage Space; after all, one person's volume was only about 0.05 cubic meters, and 27 people would only be about 1.35 cubic meters, which was no bother!
This way, even if someone investigated later, with no one seen alive and no bodies found, even Sherlock Holmes would be helpless.
At the very least, it wouldn't affect Henry's early development.
Busy until noon, Henry casually took some food from his space to eat, then went home to catch up on sleep.
Around 2 PM, Commander Tom of the metal refinery was woken up by Fabio's men because Jimmy had gone to Dwyer Manor more than 5 hours ago and hadn't returned, indicating something had definitely happened.
Tom pondered for a long time and decided to respond to changes by remaining unchanged.
Because tomorrow morning, a shipment of silver ingots would be escorted to George Town. Nine men had already been lost yesterday, and if Jimmy was also lost today, that would make it ten.
Facing an unknown enemy, he decided it was best to proceed cautiously. After escorting the silver ingots tomorrow, half of the men would return to Dwyer Manor to investigate.
According to his understanding, Dwyer should have dozens of experienced warriors and several Gatlings, so there shouldn't be any major problems; at most, Jimmy might have been ambushed personally.
—
At Mayor William's home, Raphael reported, "I have notified the mining points at various mines to strengthen exploration, and the family's exploration team has also adjusted its exploration direction."
William nodded and said, "Based on McKinley's actions, we can infer that there might be a new significant discovery on the land where we have already obtained land use rights. You must closely follow intelligence gathering and confidentiality in this regard."
The key to America's 1872 Mining Act was to define the relationship between the federal government and miners. As long as mineral resources were discovered, one could freely stake claims on public land, define the boundaries on the ground, and then obtain the rights to explore or develop.
The federal government's only condition was that land use rights could be obtained at a price of 2.5 us dollars per acre, and the annual development expenses for that plot of land should not be less than 100 us dollars. After mineral extraction, no further rent or royalties needed to be paid.
One acre is 4046.86 square meters, and this price was for the government to encourage capital development in the West.
Currently, many mining giants have used the Mining Act to acquire vast areas of western mining land through various means, but the proportion of actual developed areas is extremely small.
So William's guess was that McKinley had discovered something within their own designated land, and it was in a place where they had already obtained exploration and development rights by staking a claim after discovering a certain mineral.
"How has Henry been these past two days?" William asked.
"Henry killed Billy the Kid who came to challenge him to a duel yesterday noon. In the afternoon, he was likely out in a carriage driven by Thor. Last night around 9 PM, the sentry only saw him return alone on horseback, and it's still unknown what exactly he did."
"Today, he left town again around 4 AM and returned three hours later. The sentry reported hearing three explosions from the direction of Dwyer Manor during that time."
"However, Old White said Henry had not gone to the police station to collect dana explosives and detonators."
"Today, the people from Dwyer Manor haven't come to the town's telegraph office to send or receive telegrams, nor have they picked up the supplies ordered from several long-term cooperating merchants."
William said, "If they don't come to pick up the supplies tomorrow, have one or two of the merchants whose goods are not easily preserved send someone to Dwyer Manor to urge them."
Raphael said, "Okay, although Dwyer Manor never allows outsiders in, they have never delayed picking up supplies for two days. Those merchants themselves should be very worried."
"Why has Duncan been gone for so long this time? It's almost 10 days." William asked worriedly.
"Black Caesar Ed Masterson is indeed very dangerous, and he might have escaped into the Arizona desert," Raphael said.
William sighed inwardly and gently waved his right hand.
Raphael bowed and strode away, just brushing past the butler, Pierce, as he exited.
Pierce quickly walked to William's side and handed him a telegram.
William opened it and found it was from his nephew, Richard Mellon.
Richard was a rising star in the Mellon Family, responsible for the family's mining company, which he managed very successfully.
The telegram stated that he wished to visit in the next two days.
"Reply to Richard's telegram, telling him he is welcome to visit anytime," William instructed.
"Yes, Master," Pierce turned and left the room.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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