Name: Arthur Ross
Alias(s): Unknown (for now)
Age: 29
Occupation: Ranch hand/cowboy
Appearance: Arthur is tall for the time, standing at around 6 foot 2, with the stocky, well built frame that comes from a life of hard work. He has brown, almost sandy hair and blue-green eyes, set in a handsome, rugged face. Like most working men, he sports the stubbled look of a man who is too busy to shave regularly, or lacks the money for the barber.
Brief History: Almost nothing is known about Arthur Ross's past before he arrived in Silver Creek some three years past, in just the clothes he wore, with two revolvers and a horse that was near collapse from exhaustion. Being a small town, and distrustful of lone men, in case they were scouting for a gang of outlaws, the sheriff, once Arthur had recovered for the night in the saloon, made sure to question him closely.
Satisfied with whatever the man had told him, the sheriff assured everyone they had no need to worry and to leave Arthur be. His quiet yet polite nature endeared him to all, especially the older women -who had sway over their menfolk- and he soon found work at the Meadows Ranch, as a hand for Mr Edward Lennox and his wife Catherine, who was known to all staff as 'the missus'.
Arthur was a good worker, and had a skill with horses and animals that surprised Mr Lennox, who had expected him to need training. He assumed, therefore, that his new hand had experience on a ranch and he soon gave Arthur more responsibility about the place. Noticing that Arthur preferred solitude after work most of the time, he gave him a small, one roomed wooden cabin, that had fallen into some disrepair but could be made homely once more. For several months Arthur worked, after his day's labour on the ranch, on repairing the cottage.
This impressed everyone, even the men who were a little jealous, as Arthur worked away all hours, never seeming to tire. However, when, one particularly hot day, he was stripped to just his work pants and suspenders, they noticed numerous scars, some many years old, and some looking very much like bullet wounds.
Naturally this caused talk. Why did a former ranch hand, if that was what he had been, have so many scars? The young ladies of the town, who loved the penny tales of outlaws and such, decided that Arthur had evidently been injured in his ranching work, likely saving his boss and family from a band of outlaws. They delighting in re-telling this tale, and would sigh whenever he past them by in town.
Arthur works hard, and has a routine after work too. He goes, most nights, to the saloon with his fellow hands, and has a few drinks then plays cards or dice for a time before retiring. He has never been seen to visit any whore or take up the offer of the saloon gals for a night of sin.
At first this was put down to him being a religious man, but that was soon ended when it became clear that Arthur, for all his other attributes, would not, under any circumstances, go to church, nor have any truck with the reverend, of whom he ran a foul within his first month. Even now, after 3 years in Silver Creek, the stoic ranch hand refuses, each week, to accompany his boss and the others to the church, preferring to stay and work alone.
There is clearly much more to him than meets the eye but with his shy, politeness holding people back from personal questions, no one gets close enough to find out.
Personality: Rather quiet, a man of few words -but one who means those he says- Arthur is a man who knows who he is. He is a man who thinks of himself as having lived a life already, and wishes to work now, until his end comes, to avoid looking back.
Capable of humour and a wicked sarcastic tongue, Arthur is no stick in the mud, and when he wishes can be the life of the party. However, in the midst of such events, he often looks so sad suddenly, as if he is seeing ghosts, and he then leaves, saying nothing.
Liberal in his views, for the time, Arthur holds nothing against the natives or blacks, and refuses to take part in any degrading talk of them; he has even, on occasion, been seen to cross over to men who are talking of such things, bend down and speak, quietly, to them, with such a look in his eye that they swiftly fall silent.
As such he has a good relationship with the natives and blacks of the area, going out of his way to help them when others look away.
Skills: A gifted horseman and skilled rider, capable of picking up a glove from the ground at a gallop, a trick the Boss's son never tires of asking him to do. Arthur is also a damn good shot with a revolver, shotgun, or bow, and often goes hunting alone, returning with a buck or wild boar, and other pelts besides, which he sells or gives away.
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