An excerpt from the novel “The Crows’ Omen,” written by Jerry Potocnik

A week earlier, signs had appeared all over town:

Wanted! Coal miners for Weir City, Kansas, land of Paradise. Coal 3 feet, 10 inches high. One dollar per ton per day, paid twice a month, in cash. Special trains leave Birmingham on June 28. Get ready and join your friends in the Land of Plenty.

The train rolled out of Birmingham as scheduled in the late afternoon. The black passengers, mostly men but also a few women and children, embarked on a new and wondrous journey. They were excited to plant new roots. With nearly three hundred on board, they were on a path to Weir City. Overnight, the train made a special stop, in Memphis, where twenty white men cloaked under the cover of darkness loaded more than a dozen wooden crates into a freight car, then climbed aboard the last passenger car which had been empty.

Sol Porter had a window seat but never saw the guards board the train. He was twenty-one, tall and slender, with wide shoulders and long arms. He could throw a baseball faster than any man in Jefferson County, black or otherwise. He’d never been inside a coal mine before, but he wanted to see the world and put some money in his pocket.This seemed as good a way as any. In the seat next to him was a shorter man of huskier build, at least ten years his senior. The man had only one possession: a King James Bible. He eventually struck up a conversation with the younger passenger. “So you think they’ll treat us good in Weir City?” the man asked.

“I sure hope so,” Sol answered. “That K&T man told me, ‘Y’all ain’t gettin’ much down here. Up there ya get better pay and a chance to be your own boss, with real wages, a house and transportation to where ya can be free!’” He couldn’t help but be hopeful for what lie ahead.

“Amen to that!” the other man replied, but then asked, “Hey, what’s K&T, anyway?”

Sol chuckled. “You know, the place we goin’ to work for.” He was surprised the man didn’t know that already.

The other passenger was incredulous. “We ain’t goin’ to work for K&T,” he said. “This train is bound for Central Coal & Coke.”

Sol quickly dropped his smile and tried to reconcile the information. “But they said the train for K&T leaves on the twenty-ninth.”

The other man began to laugh. “But today’s the twenty-eighth. You got on the wrong train!”
Sol was dumbfounded.

The man could see his young companion was in distress, so he let the laughter fade away. “Hey, man, don’t worry ’bout it. We all goin’ to Weir City. If workin’ for K&T means that much to ya, I’m sure ya can just walk over there and get on with them. Sounds like they need lots of workers up there for some reason.” He then offered a hand to the younger man. “By the way, my name’s Poor Williams.”

Sol was still addled but took his hand. “Nice to meet ya,” he said. “My name’s Sol Porter.”

A few seconds passed in silence before Poor started shaking his head once more, then laughed all over again. “Got on the wrong train. Now how ’bout that?”

Sol could finally see the humor in it, too, and laughed with him. Eventually, though, he asked, “So why you goin’ to Weir City? For the money?”

Poor thought about the question. “Nah, man. Money don’t mean much to me. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like havin’ a few dollars in my pocket like everyone else, but that ain’t why I’m on this here train.” He held up the Bible for the young man to see. “God wants me there.”

“He does?” Sol asked, not understanding the comment. “Why?”

“Don’t know why. He ain’t told me yet. He just said go. I reckon he’ll tell me later.”

Sol wasn’t so sure about that. “You a religious man or sumthin’?”

Poor replied with a quote from Proverbs: “‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’”

Sol was impressed. “So you are a religious man.”

“How ’bout you?” Poor asked. “You believe in God?”

“Yes, sir.” Sol was quick to answer but then stumbled. “I mean, I think I do. But I don’t go to church or nuthin’ like that.”

“Well, that’s OK, ’cause it won’t help ya none anyways if ya don’t first open your heart.”
“How I do that?”

“I can’t tell ya. You gotta find your own way. Or he’ll do it for ya.”

“How’s he gonna do that?”

“I don’t know that neither. He works in mysterious ways. But he told me to go to Weir City. He wants me there for some reason. Maybe he wants you there too.”

“For what?” the young man asked, now taking a serious tone. He’d never considered God might have a plan just for him.

“I don’t know, but he got a reason for everything. You’ll find out when we get there.”

Read more in our December 24 issue, or buy a copy of The Crow’s Omen, available at local bookstores, Amazon, or at thecrowsomen.com.

Novel’s connection to Historic Northeast

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The Crows’ Omen is a work of historical fiction authored by local attorney Jerry Potocnik. It’s about two brothers navigating perilous times while mending their broken relationship. It has all the ingredients of a page-turner: suspense, intrigue, deception and betrayal. While most of the characters are fictional, a handful are based on real-life people such as Robert Alexander Long and Richard Keith. In 1899, as the story begins, both men were industrialists who lived in the Northeast and were prominent members of KC society.

It is well known that “R.A. Long” is the man who built Corinthian Hall, now the Museum of Kansas City. He was the major shareholder of Long Bell Lumber Company, which once operated more than 50 lumber yards in the western US. What is less known is that he got his start in southeastern Kansas. In 1874, Robert, his cousin Victor Bell, and another young man left Kansas City and journeyed to Columbus, Kansas to start a hay bailing business, taking with them a shipment of lumber to be used in erecting sheds. Unfortunately, a persistent drought and the death of their young friend plagued the infant start-up, and Robert and Victor soon called it quits. But when they dismantled the sheds, they quickly learned about another important commodity: lumber. Local farmers and ranchers were eager to buy the lumber, which set the men on a new course. From this humble beginning, Long-Bell Lumber Company was born. In 1891, the cousins moved their headquarters to Kansas City, and Robert moved his family into a large home along Independence Boulevard.

Richard Keith also lived in a mansion on the Boulevard. He made his name and wealth in coal, starting with his first coal yard in Quality Hill in 1871. Eventually, he and an experienced coal man named John Perry formed a partnership called Keith & Perry, which operated several mines in Missouri. In 1887, the men erected a building on the southwest corner of 9th and Walnut called the Keith and Perry Building, a handsome six-story building with a rounded corner and a conical roof. Their company occupied the first floor. (Long-Bell Lumber Company eventually had the third floor). With an infusion of eastern money in 1893, the business rapidly expanded under a new name, Central Coal & Coke, and it invested heavily in the Weir-Pittsburg Coalfield. By the end of that decade, the company operated mines in seven states and employed thousands of men.

Richard and Robert appear in The Crows’ Omen almost in dualistic fashion, like a devil and angel act, which is a common storytelling troupe but also a psychological metaphor for internal conflict. How to amass great fortune while giving back to the community? Robert Long, for one, was well known for his philanthropic endeavors (i.e., the WWI Memorial).

Both men had close ties to southeastern Kansas. It’s where Robert started his company, and it’s where Richard had considerable interests. Much of the real-life connections and interactions between these men are lost to history now, but in the novel, they are friends of sorts though different in both thought and demeanor. Robert’s character is reserved and attentive while Richard’s character is impulsive and brash, but together, they make an enjoyable though odd pair who rely on each other while guiding their respective companies through troubled waters.

The reader also will delight in scenes depicting local landmarks like Union Depot (i.e., the train depot before Union Station), the Thayer Building and the Keith and Perry Building. A Flemish Queen Anne-style home in Historic Northeast also plays an important role.

But perhaps the greatest attribute of The Crows’ Omen is its ability to connect us to the past. It’s a history lesson told through the lives of fictional men and women who toiled and rejoiced in the workings of everyday life during the Gilded Age. Anchored by imperfect yet relatable characters, this story will grab you from the first page, and it won’t let go.