Dime novel story blueprint
A story on William “Bill” Hawthorne (born 1847, America): job: freight rider works for hire in between. Personality: speaks sparingly but deliberately dry, sardonic humor when he does talk; calm under pressure but like a knife will cut if you push too far. Setting: A small cow town not too dissimilar to Oatman, AZ, or Springfield, MO, called Cedar Bend. It sits on the wide bend of a river that used to be used as a crossing point because of low predictable waters, and the banks were heavy with cedar trees, with people saying it's the bend near the cedar trees. Over time it became known as Cedar Bend and stuck when it became a permanent settlement. It was a small settlement with really only a small bar, general store/doctor, stable, sheriff's office, and where the majority of the money comes from, a hostel. It has a railroad station not too far off of town.
Bill, generally known as a get-things-done man, was approached by a local cowboy saying his cattle were stolen by a gang of rustlers, and he would pay him $50 to get his cattle and the men who stole them. He doesn't care about the condition of them other than one he wants alive, “Cutthroat Anne." Argyll, a known outlaw in the area, is the leader of this ragtag team; he wants her jailed for her crimes.
Cutthroat Anne, a notorious criminal known for a CA mark and leaving one surviving witness.
As a teen, Anne used to drive cattle with her family, having to go through Cedar Bend, but as the railroad was being built, they said that her family's land was improperly claimed, so the railroad company bought her land without their knowledge and then tried to have the family removed, but they refused, so the law came to remove them, and in the process they killed her parents, only leaving her alive.