Clayborns Revenge

The great depression of 1873 had several underlying causes. The American post-Civil War inflation, the huge investments in the railroads with a slow rate of return and silver dropping to an all-time low, due to Europe stopped using silver coins. These factors put a massive strain on the bank reserves, which dropped from $50 million down to $17 million.In September 1873, State Bank of Northern New York, a major part of the United States banking establishment, found itself unable to...
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The great depression of 1873 had several underlying causes. The American post-Civil War inflation, the huge investments in the railroads with a slow rate of return and silver dropping to an all-time low, due to Europe stopped using silver coins. These factors put a massive strain on the bank reserves, which dropped from $50 million down to $17 million.In September 1873, State Bank of Northern New York, a major part of the United States banking establishment, found itself unable to market several million dollars in Railway Bonds. The failure of the State Bank of Northern New York set off a chain reaction of bank failures and temporarily closed the New York Stock Market. All these actions shut down numerous factories, many railroads shut down construction. All these events caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. It was during this period of the downturn that Nathan Clayborn left the only security he had ever known due to cutbacks in the forces of the United States Army. Now he was joining the thousands of men heading west to find a better way of life in the midst of the worst depression that the country had ever seen.The State Bank of Northern New York needed to regain some of their former wealth, so they returned to the same method they used during the reconstruction. Foreclose of defaulted loans and estates with unpaid taxes. They would then resale the land for a huge gain, but this time they would foreclose on the land, split it into manageable farm size sections, and sell them to the people moving west. To ensure the success of this venture they had to make sure the ranchers were unable to repay their loans, by any means if necessary, that would put their ranches in default. Everything was going fine for the State Bank of Northern New York until Nathan Clayborn found Tom Blackstone wounded and near death on the northern plains of Texas. He was running from the outlaws who were trying to keep him from repaying the loan which would allow the bank to foreclose on his land. This battle to get Tom Blackstone back to his home in safety started a battle that would reach all the way from a small town named Cedar Wells, Texas to the State Capital of New York. Nathan Clayborn would put fear into the wrongdoers which demanded a vengeance they could not endure.