Nicholas Hester

*"Melburg, I never really wanted to go back there but hey who isn't up for robbing some rich white racist asshole."* - Nicholas

Nicholas Hester was a former trader turned outlaw who after years of being in the trading business of general goods eventually had enough of the trading life and joined Duke's Boys where he became an enforcer for the gang as an extra gun. He eventually cut ties with the gang after losing so many where he eventually opened a general store in Cruxton.

## Biography

### Early Life

#### Trading Around

Around the late 1880's in 1888 Nicholas became quite well known through Little Cedar and Weirdale making his name as a good trader providing many shops with general goods such as food and other supplies to which he was paid handsomely for, he eventually wanted to stay in Little Cedar as he knew many black men there who were struggling for work however due to his demand in trading he found it very hard to go to that state. Eventually Nicholas would be trading from just Cruxton, Jericho and Bandera due to the increasing demand there which kept him more west than south where Little Cedar was.

#### Unlikely Business Partners

In the year of 1889 Nicholas had headed north to the more wild forest areas of the USA which had little to no settlement there yet and was wildly known for its natives, Nicholas had the idea to set up a hunting trading post with the Indians which could allow him to provide more food to the towns in Weirdale however he stumbled upon more of the opposite being that many of the Indians had been killed and butchered by the US army. Amongst the woods Nicholas would be ambushed by a single Native Indian who was scavenging for food, looking desperate Nicholas fed the Indian and tried to speak to him only realising that the Indian already knew basic English, the two men would become friends and Nicholas offered him a job to work with him within his trading business as a bodyguard to which he agreed and Nicholas found out the mans name was Harley Mills. The two would work together for around a year.

#### Meeting Emmet

The next year the two men would arrive in the southern state of Melburg where they would be robbed of a lot of their goods by a gang of white men who threw racial slurs at the two, the two men would only just be able to get away with their lives seeking help within the local town which Emmet Duke and Mike Burch would agree to help them and the four would track the gang that had assaulted Nicholas killing them and recovering the stuff for Nicholas who would instead join Emmet learning how to shoot a gun and also providing him with Harley Mills a deadly Native Indian.

### 1898

#### Making Money

Upon the gang's arrival in Weirdale the crew began to get to work on making money in various different ways which Nicholas would find out about a train carrying mail with oil bonds on board of the train which he found out on a poker table within the saloon at Jericho, during this time the gang also discovered Keller's Gang who had already been terrorising the state with their robbing and attacking on people and their valuables. Whilst Nicholas was planning to rob the train with some of the gang it would be Mike Burch who attacked a nearby base that belonged to Keller's Gang being their cabin with tents around it that housed Willis Olson who was a high ranking member in the gang, after attacking the cabin Mike uncovered that they too were planning to rob the train but thanks to them now only Nicholas would be able to. The train would be robbed with Nicholas and some of the gang however whilst the gang were successful they would attract the attention of David Beck who was already hunting many outlaws but now had a new scent with this train robbery as this train was very important with the oil bonds on the train belonging to Clifton Shepherd.

#### Onto Bandera

Not long after the train robbery with the death of his men and his score stole from him Abraham Keller had travelled to Jericho to capture William Green and would use him as bait for Emmet Duke so that he could kill him, unknown to him though Mike Burch had captured Willis Olson to which the gang used him as a trading chip for William, Nicholas at the time was busy in Cruxton selling cattle that he and some of the crew had rustled whilst his friend Harley Mills was with Emmet and Mike at the trade off in Jericho. After destroying the majority of Keller's Gang the crew had to travel to the city of Bandera as they found out a bigger problem being the Calderon Family who were business partners with Keller's Gang and had a lot of influence. Upon arriving into Bandera Nicholas would do some sniffing about finding some factories that belonged to Clifton Shepherd and would also help Emmet to eventually scout out the city bank upon being given permission to rob it from Curtis Calderon, however before doing any of this the gang was only allowed to redeem themselves by helping the crime family by attacking a rich rival of theirs in the form of Clifton Shepherd who was one of the most powerful men in the west at the time. Nicholas having already robbed a train belonging to Clifton he would find out about a train heading north into Native Indian areas which Clifton was hoping to do to expand the railroad network however the Calderon Family did not want this and so Nicholas, Harley Mills and some of the gang would blow up a bridge the train would cross stopping it dead in its tracks, with this and other jobs alongside this against Clifton the gang's notoriety would only climb higher.

#### Sad End

Eventually the gang would set their sights on the bank to which Nicholas and the rest of the gang were involved in however this bank job would not go smoothly with the crime family setting the gang up a few members of the gang would die and this would only decrease the morale and numbers of the gang that were left, with the crew barely escaping with anyone left Emmet now decided to clear up loose ends by killing Clifton Shepherd, Peter Conley and Curtis Calderon believing that they would then have some breathing room however in the process of killing these men Mike Burch would be killed with a train smashing into the wagon he was driving full of dynamite. With another member of the gang dead Clifton and Curtis were dead however Peter Conley was still hunting the gang and so Nicholas being one of the few gang members left abandoned the gang.

### 1907

#### Another Life

After his abandonment of the gang Nicholas would travel around the states once again hoping to start his trading business again however he did not want to try again and instead had bought himself with the money he had from some of his scores a building in Cruxton to which he converted into a general store where he lived the rest of his days out of.