Raymond Adkins

The Saga of Zeke Cooper: the Beginning Raymond Adkins

Zeke and his father, Zachry Cooper who had been a colonel in the confederate army, were on their way to Arizona, where they intended to recover some Confederate gold that Zachry had buried the day after he learned that the war had ended. Tragically, Zachry was killed in an ambush before they got to Arizona. Zeke buried his father and cared for their friend, Lance, who had been badly shot up in the ambush. Lance's mother was a princess of the Zuni nation. When Lance was able to travel, Zeke put him on a travois and took him to his grandfather's pueblo. With the aid of Indian scouts, Zeke trailed the ambushers to Tucson. The trail of two of the ambushers led north, out of Tucson. Zeke came across a stage hold-up while riding north. He interrupted the hold-up by shooting three of them and the fourth gave up. It turned out that there were seven members of the outlaw gang, two of which later laid an ambush for Zeke. Zeke learned of the suspected ambush and managed to capture the other three members of the gang. This action greatly impressed the U. S. Marshal for the Arizona Territory, who eventually made an offer to Zeke that he would have been foolish to turn down. Zeke's two uncles had been left in Virginia, to care for the plantation that Zachry owned. When they learned of Zachry's death they plotted to take the plantation for their own