Ollie "The Butcher" Roberts

* 1897
* 1899
* 1912
* 1929

"The Soldier"

Tony Roberts

Hanging Dog City

## BACKGROUND

Ollie "The Butcher" Roberts was the Enforcer of Brennan's Raiders from 1897 to 1913, he served a critical role in the formation of the gang and as a proof-of-concept character to the rest of the gang.

### 1869-1875

Born to father George Roberts and mother Katherine Roberts in the small town of Strawberry in 1869. His early years were quiet, calm and productive for his family. However, due to unknown circumstances, the Roberts family moved to The Grizzlies by 1875. After 3 months of living in The Grizzlies, Katherine Roberts had committed suicide, leaving a deep impression of isolation and anger on Ollie.

### 1875-1887

During the grieving period, George brought Ollie into the deep wilderness of The Grizzlies to hunt and fish the local wildlife, on Ollie's first hunting trip, he had killed and skinned his first deer. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and developed his hobby into a profession. By the age of 15, Ollie was the sole provider of his family, earning the moniker "The Butcher" for after each trip to the wilderness, he arrived bloodied and smiling. At this time, Ollie had developed a keen interest in literature, often reading when he was awaiting his prey to be ensnared in a trap or while he was drying out the pelts of the animals he slain.

### 1887-1896

By the age of 18, Ollie had enrolled into the American Army, showing key qualities of a hunter's intelligence and brutality on the field which rewarded him several awards in his time, he was noted as such during the service in the Battle of Wounded Knee, where under orders and his undying grief, he mercilessly murdered and destroyed the last of the native American's land. On one event, his general complimented his throw of a stick of dynamite which blown up the chieftain's tent. Through the battle he developed an immense hatred towards the natives after several of his comrades' deaths. He also developed a disillusion towards the Army, as most of his friends received a Medal of Honor, yet he only received a Certificate of Merit Medal in return for his service. Ollie failed to comprehend how a damaged individual fought to protect his land, watching many comrades falling to the dirt below and eliminating the Chieftain's tent and combatants inside cannot be awarded for his services.

Despite his reservations, Ollie still fought for the Army, once more show vigor and skill in the Garza Revolution and became the lead scout various assaults, and, with his friend and lieutenant of the 3rd Calvary, J.T. Dickman, had captured one of the leaders of the Mexican side, Francisco Benavide in late January, 1893. By September, Ollie had been removed from his scouting as the Army withdrawn most of their forces from Mexico, however he was sent to Nogales to work in the customs house. It was quiet until August, where a day Ollie could never forget occurred.

There, a Mexican revolutionary had opened fire in the area, as Ollie and his comrades fought off the ensuing battle, and as he fried, Ollie witnessed a soldier bleeding in the street while the gunfight ensued. Ollie noticed the soldier to be a friend who was only 19. Angry, Ollie barged from his cover in the house and rushed to grab the boy by the collar, in which, he dragged him to a wagon and propped him inside. As he hoisted him up into safety, a deafening pain began to spread throughout Ollie's body; he was shot in the stomach from a sniper. Ollie collapsed, and his world faded into black.

When Ollie came to, he was in a hospital, with a bottle of whiskey to numb the pain and a Medal of Honor pinned to his shirt. Ollie's bravery in saving a life finally awarded him with an award he could never forget. Although angry at the Army for taking their time to award him and his removal from scouting, he took this as a bitter-sweet ending. His injuries, however, meant Ollie would be out of action for the better half of a year. Ollie was disheartened by the news, and it soon fell onto the nearby bottle of whiskey.

After being discharged from the army at the age of 21, Ollie had returned home to the news of George's death. Ollie had isolated himself in his home with very little outside contact, he resorted to reading and hunting over normal interaction. Over the course of two years, Ollie began to reach out to the church in Valentine. He soon became a follower of the faith and took up a job as a butcher to earn a larger living.

## Ollie's Cattleman

When working during the Summer of 1896, Ollie witnessed outlaws terrorize Valentine countless times; and after one confrontation between Ollie and the outlaw leader at the local saloon, he had killed the leader with a broken bottle. The Sheriff awarded Ollie with the $350 bounty for the outlaw's remains. Ollie saw this as a great opportunity to utilize his grief and hunting tactics to bring justice to the Wild West. With the money, Ollie also took his Cattleman Revolver and gave it personal etchings, making it his signature big iron.

At the age of 25, Ollie hunted down uprising outlaw John "The Quickfire Kid" Woodlock in the wilderness of Tall Trees for his enormous bounty, however, John had convinced Ollie to instead unite with the outlaw to eliminate Klaus Von Bettstadt in a mission of vendetta, in return, John offered Klaus' bounty and his own peaceful surrender if he assisted him. Ollie agreed to the terms, initially for profit, however he soon learnt of John's mission and empathized over the death of John's wife. Ollie soon aligned with John and formed Brennan's Raiders to further recruit members and disgraced members of society.

### 1898

While hunting Klaus and his gang during the Summer of 1898 in Río Bravo, they were attacked by a group of men who quickly overpowered them to the floor, where they began to beat the two mercilessly, until bullets struck the attackers dead, Ollie dragged John to his feet to greet "The Boy" Joe and Wind "The Farmer" Cries, although immensely against the notion of a native joining the ranks of the group, John overruled such idea and allowed the duo to join. In return for their services, Ollie, John, Wind and Joe stormed the ranch that Klaus recently stolen from the duo, killing every man in sight, yet failing to catch Klaus. The group resumed their journey on further.

Later on that year, the Raiders entered the East of the state in the pursuit of Klaus, learning of his whereabouts, they attacked his home and allowed him to get onto his boat to escape, while sailing, Ollie and Cries launched a barrage of dynamite at the boat while John and Joe fired, the boat began to sink in all the explosions, leading the group to believe they had killed Klaus.

### 1899

Ollie awaited for reports of Klaus' remains so he could claim both his and John's bounty, however the reports never came, with the arrival of gunmen under Klaus' paycheck attacking the camp, Ollie and the gang knew he was alive, and they were intending to go and kill Klaus once and for all.

On their journey to Armadillo, John and Wind finally spoke about their past, such as Ollie admitting he fought in Wounded Knee, and only hating the natives for the lost of his friends, and Wind speaking of his hatred towards the army after Wounded Knee, the duo saw past their hatred for the other and eventually saw that they're not defined by their past, but by their actions that affect the people around them now. Ollie saw Cries like a comrade in the war as Cries saw Ollie like a tribesman by his side. Ollie poked John to speak, however John would mention small events such as the fire and how he used to make his family in Blackwater so proud before all of this.

In Armadillo, Ollie was instructed to keep on a roof with a rifle in case Klaus got the better hand from John, and he obliged, finding a roof over a gun store to keep watch. Keeping it in mind. The next day, he scaled the roof from the balcony of the gun store, and ass he heard a slam of a door, he witnessed John and Klaus, preparing to duel, Ollie put his tracking skills onto Klaus from his scope, keeping an eye, however, he didn't expect Klaus to turn before finishing his paces, fearing the worse he saw Klaus pull the trigger, yet fire nothing. Relieved, he witnessed Klaus run into the post office, ready to shoot, he halted when he saw Cries emerge from the door to slam the outlaw into the door and onto the floor.

Quickly jumping from the roof to the balcony and once more onto the ground, Ollie rushed over to ensure his friend was okay. However, it was futile, as Klaus was strewn limp across the arms of the giant as he walked towards John, who was glazed over from the experience. As Cries dropped Klaus, Ollie watch the embodiment of grief drown the outlaw in a nearby water trough, then John raised his hands to Ollie once Klaus stopped squirming, implying his surrender, as Ollie looked at his friends around him, he realized that he cannot bring himself to watch another friend die. He walked over to John and lowered his arms before reaching for the remains of Klaus to cash in. Ollie never saw $1,700 in one bundle before for him, and the rush of it made him excited as he returned to the camp to drink beers and celebrate. There, he learnt that there was a plan from Joe and John; to use John's land to rebuild a ranch to quietly live. Ollie could've said anything, but he instantly said "Yes."

## HANGING DOG RANCH

On the journey to the ranch, Ollie served as the bodyguard of the posse, making sure roads were clean of ambushes, and those they did stumble upon were either grateful or hateful, in extreme cases, John either recruited the good, or killed the bad. John, Ollie, Wind, Joe and several other members rebuilt the ranch, leading to its completion in 1900. From there, Ollie had settled down for the foreseeable future.

### 1903

In early February, 1903, Ollie was greeted by a heavily injured Raider who explained that John and several members were killed by bounty hunters, angry and grief-stricken, Ollie got the Raider to rest before his death and began to fortify the ranch, replacing fences with tall stone walls, armed guards, creating a memorial for John and his friends who died in the event, becoming increasingly-more paranoid during the construction, opting to steal larger weapons and more munitions from military strong-points off of rouge units, making a larger target on his back in the process.

### 1907

In the Summer of 1907, the ranch was finally seized by the rouge unit, resulting an attack, claiming the unit's power and weaponry with injuries on both sides. After the attack, Ollie created another plaque celebrating the victory and remembering the fallen. During this time, Ollie had finally lost it and became a dictator, working the Raiders harder to be more efficient and alert.

This came to a head in late July as an insurrection rose through the town, only to once more be squashed by the Raiders, resulting in the injury of Cries as he was slashed across the heart by the insurrectionists, Cries was noted as to be taking down at least 12 men with a hatchet before being attacked. Another loss of people resulted in Ollie finding newer men to teach and command.

### 1909

In the early October of 1909, Ollie awoken to a commotion outside the walls, seeing the young men he commanded run down the streets out the gate, moving quickly, Ollie met the guards, with one grabbing a suited man, angered, Ollie clenched his fist and whacked the guard across the back of his skull, dropping him as the suited-man looked up, into Ollie's eyes. Ollie knew under the age, that it was John Woodlock, not dead, yet scarred and weathered. Acting tough, Ollie brought John and his accomplice into the renovated ranch to catch up and allow the men to rest.

### MEXICO

In February 1912, Ollie was approached by John for one more job, in Mexico for some gold to clear every person's name on the ranch, Ollie, following his faith in John and the men, joined along with his friend and posse with the addition of a new member who tipped them off, Corey "The Kid Clfc". Following the desert to the Mexican border, Corey explained to the men that the gold belonged to former pirates who had left the stock there before their ship was sunk, Ollie was interested in the story, but more in the gold. When the gang reached the San Luis River, they followed the newly-built train tracks across into Mexico, avoiding local law enforcement as they followed the map along the coast for the next two months.

## EL MEJOR CAMBIO

Circa: 1912

By April, the gang had arrived at El Mejor Cambio, the plantation-turned city Corey fled from. From there, the gang had to follow Corey’s instructions as John went on reconnaissance as the gang set up a camp by a nearby waterfall. During this time, Ollie began to write in a small journal about his adventure to the city, and his relationship with Joe, Cries and Clfc as they began setting up the camp and even planned to make a raft for fishing.

After a few days of working on their rafts, John had returned, greatly excited. On explaining his wild theory of the gold hiding in a cave beneath a large cliff-villa, Ollie suggested to re-purpose the fishing raft and use it to scout out the location, John agreed, smiling ear-to-ear. John and Ollie brought the raft to sea and Ollie began rowing the vessel while John mapped the area until he spotted the opening under the villa, where he believed the gold rested, verbally noting that it must be the cave system, and with no hesitation he told Ollie to return to shore and help construct a plan.

### MAY, 1912

Over the month, the gang had created two large enough rafts from local resources to sail in and steal enough gold, and John’s plan came to fruition as that very night of their completion, the gang boarded the rafts towards the cave and broke inside, once in, John lit his lantern, examining the chamber they entered, the gang saw weaponry and explosives littering the chamber, and, Ollie watched John fade into the cave for a few minutes, before climbing down, approaching them and pointed upwards to the men, trying to hide his excitement, he spoke of a plan which includes the dynamite.

John told Joe and Wind to move the ammunition and machine guns onto one of the rafts in preparation for a fight while John and Ollie fastened dynamite to walls of the cave along a lengthy wire. When the gang was done rigging one room, John used the wire and disappeared once more, this time for longer. Ollie quietly thought to himself, yet, he heard echos of a scuffle, following the noise, Ollie found a ladder and saw two figures climbing, he followed soon after as the door closed.

After climbing through, Ollie was shocked by the alluring decor, however, he failed to look behind him as John grabbed him and aimed his revolver, backing off once he realized it was the enforcer. The two were alerted by the army's arrival as they armed up and fired from the doors and windows of the villa. As more guards arrived, Ollie was told to retreat to the cave and John would return shortly, he complied and opened the small door in the floor, sliding down the ladder to escape. Ollie took this time to ponder his choices and his faith towards John, as he didn't even see a single piece of gold since entering the cave, however, that was halted as John returned to the lower areas, bruised along his face, to ignite the cave.

As John gave the all clear to the gang, Ollie heard a distant ladder creaking with Spanish-speaking men rushing down it, and with a quick ignition from Ollie's match, the gang reached the safest area of the cave; in direct view of Cries and Joe's guns. As the Butcher and the Quickfire Kid dived to the floor, bullets rattled the area from the machine guns until a hefty, deafening explosion shook the cave to submission, as the upper cave down as gold fell around the gang, however, debris had divided the main chamber from the area, with a moment to breathe, Ollie had noticed that Corey was nowhere to be seen, however, without a moment to waste, the gang loaded up the rafts with all the hefty gold before sailing off into the dark night.

Ollie felt guilty for leaving the remains of Corey behind, which left a depression on him as he fled into isolation once he returned home, only speaking to the closest members of the posse. However, that trend ended when a letter arrived to Ollie, informing him that he had a child and her mother recently passed away, shocked, Ollie had the child brought to the camp, a 15-year old kid named Tony, from there, the aging mercenary focused on caring and raising the boy, while giving him the support he could to suffice the 15 year gap from the two.

With a small community staying until 1913 before the formation of the ranch into a section of a new town along the nearby creek, during them latter years, Ollie served as a butcher, hunter, survivalist and guard of the community. Fans of The Butcher's work along his journeys from Dakota to Texas arrived at the ranch's door occasionally, which would give Ollie the opportunity to hunt and fish while explaining what he learnt, always expressing that he wished to pass on something before his death.