America 1881: Legend of the West

A few months after the longshore union fire, the San Francisco Archives also went up in flames.

Fires are not a rare thing in San Francisco.

From 1849 to 1851 alone, there were at least six fires in downtown San Francisco, and buildings including City Hall were burned down.

At its most exaggerated, less than half of San Francisco was burning, and it was said that the reflection of the flames could be seen on the sea from a hundred nautical miles away.

Therefore, the fire in the archives did not cause much repercussions.

Everything that could be burned at the scene was burned to ashes.

On the other hand, the San Francisco police officers routinely investigated the cause of the fire.

However, they found something interesting at the scene:

Two charred bodies, two revolvers, one unregistered and one registered, and a Pinkerton badge.

In addition to the badge, there was other evidence that identified one of the two bodies as that of a Pinkerton detective.

This energized the police.

These annoying guys can finally get out.

Naturally, William Pinkerton would not admit that this matter had anything to do with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He insisted that this was a frame-up.

However, the badge can be forged, but the registered revolver cannot be forged. No matter how powerful the fire is, the registration serial number on it cannot be burned away.

The captain who recruited Li Shiri gave his boss an idea. He believed that he could follow the example of the labor union and emphasize that this was the personal behavior of Li Shiri, a Chinese, and steer the matter towards the bad nature of the Chinese, thereby diverting the attention of public opinion. .

But he was scolded by William Pinkerton:

"You know that after the bill was introduced, it was illegal to hire undocumented Chinese workers. Can you now prove that that person is an American citizen?"

The captain lowered his head and remained silent.

William Pinkerton wished he could throw this piece of trash into the sea and feed it to the sharks.

What kind of nonsense are these Pinkerton cadres in the west?

No wonder they have lost troops and generals in a few months, and now they don't even know who their opponent is.

The San Francisco police pursued the case, insisting on multiple occasions that the fire was caused by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and prosecuted these "outsider monks" in state court.

State legislators did not miss the opportunity. They were also worried about the impact of Pinkerton's power on the political balance in the state.

They drafted a bill to limit the Pinkerton Detective Agency's law enforcement powers in California and submitted it to the state House.

After several months of back and forth, the final outcome of the incident ended with Detective Pinkerton completely withdrawing from California.

In a rage, William Pinkerton laid off all personnel in the original California office and moved the Western Command to Austin, Texas.

He began to reorganize Pinkerton's team in the west, preparing to regroup, vowing to dig out this shadowy opponent and crush it completely.

The main reason why Master William was so interested was because his father, Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, sent a telegram from New York.

The tone is always "elegant and easy-going".

He said that if William would ever again disgrace the company he had devoted his whole life to, he would just go to the grassroots and become an ordinary detective.

The old man was seriously ill and did not have much time left. William knew that if something went wrong again at this time, the family property would belong to his brother and he would lose all his hair.

On the other hand, after leaving the scene of the crime, Chen Jianqiu was not anxious at all.

He went to visit the painter again.

Nige had already figured it out. To be precise, he had made his decision from the moment Chen Jianqiu walked downstairs yesterday.

Who can have trouble with money?

He packed a large bag of things, but Chen Jianqiu told him that these things were not important and that he would have whatever he wanted when he arrived in Roswell.

There is money and there are people.

The next day, after explaining the follow-up matters to Huang Qingyun, Chen Jianqiu took several others and embarked on the return journey.

When he left New Mexico there were three people, and when he came back it had doubled to six.

Everyone gathered in the newly completed Roswell Chamber to welcome Chen Jianqiu's return.

Everyone is happy because the core team of this town has grown again.

Only two of them grimaced.

"What's wrong?" Chen Jianqiu walked to Maxim and Browning and asked with a smile.

"No progress, the problems with the machine gun are still there." Maxim sighed.

During Chen Jianqiu's absence, Maxim and Browning worked hard to improve the heavy machine gun, but with little success.

Of course Chen Jianqiu knew what the problem was.

On the charging powder of the bullet.

"Where is your brother?" Chen Jianqiu scanned the crowd and found no sign of Maxim's younger brother, Hudson Maxim.

"He was bombed and is lying in Madame Teresa's clinic." Maxim replied.

Chen Jianqiu was shocked.

"What's the situation? Is it serious?" He asked eagerly, rarely looking anxious.

These days, if something happens to someone playing with explosives, they may not be able to survive.

The image of Hudson missing his arms and legs, with his body covered in bandages, already appeared in his mind.

"Luckily, nothing happened. He was just a little dizzy and nauseous from the shock wave. My mother said he needs to stay in the clinic for observation." Holly interjected from the side.

It appears to be a concussion.

Chen Jianqiu breathed a sigh of relief and calmed down a little, but he still walked quickly towards the door.

"I'm going to meet with Hudson first. You guys should get familiar with each other first." Chen Jianqiu said to Wyatt and others in the meeting hall.

He wanted to see the explosives expert quickly.

When he stepped through the door of Theresa's clinic, Mrs. Theresa was examining the fundus of Hudson's eyes.

"The brain suffered some shock, and there shouldn't be any big problems now." Teresa noticed Chen Jianqiu's arrival.

She turned around and said to Chen Jianqiu.

"Oh, boss, the smokeless gunpowder you mentioned is really too dangerous." Hudson sniffed.

"There are actually experiments that scare you?"

In Chen Jianqiu's impression, Maxim's younger brother was bold and careful. He had studied explosives for a long time and had never seen him afraid.

"Actually, the development of smokeless gunpowder is not a big secret in the industry. Everyone recognizes that nitrocellulose is a direction. But..."

Hudson paused, looking frightened: "This thing is too unstable and dangerous. Boss, do you know how many times I blew it up?"

Chen Jianqiu shook his head.

"Five times! Didn't Maxim tell you that I changed laboratories? I blew all the glass out of the windows of the last laboratory."

Chen Jianqiu looked Hudson up and down.

It’s really a miracle that this guy is still missing any parts after studying it.

"I now know why they are not very interested in researching smokeless gunpowder. If the problem of instability of nitrocellulose cannot be solved, this thing has no practical value." Hudson lay dejectedly on the bench in the clinic. .

Chen Jianqiu slapped his head.

He was indeed too busy some time ago and forgot to give the chemist and inventor a hint.

These are brilliant, smart people who often just need a little hint:

"How about you try ether." Chen Jianqiu sat next to Hudson, "And ethanol, dissolve the nitrocellulose in it."

Hudson was staring at the ceiling in a daze. When he heard what Chen Jianqiu said, he thought for a while and jumped up from the bench.

"Boss, you are such a genius!"

He ran out of Theresa's consulting room and ran towards his laboratory.