Leah Steelgrave

ACTIVE

Posts
216
Last visited
Monday at 02:02 PM
Player
Flip

About Leah Steelgrave

Philanthropist

Custom Fields

Playby
Unknown
Goes By
Leah
Birth Date
April 10, 1851
Height
5'4"
Hair Color
Brown
Eye Color
Brown

Role

Main Character
Playby

Unknown
Aliases / Nicknames

None, but there are several that are not for polite company.
Goes By

Leah
Profession

N/A
Position

N/A
Birth Date

April 10, 1851
Status

Single
Height

5'4"
Hair Color

Brown
Eye Color

Brown
Physical Description

Petite, slim of figure but deceptively strong and agile. Long Brown Hair
Character Traits

Leah Steelgrave had been a devious, selfish, conniving young woman, spoiled, and damaged young lady.

She had used and abused strangers, friends and family alike, especially men until a rather unrevealing newspaper interview brought her up short about who and what she was.
Employment

She is wealthy and does not work at the present.
Expertise

Getting what she wants. A shrewd investor for the times.
Residence(s)

Evergreen Ranch, Belle St. Regis Hotel, Kalispell
Kith & Kin

Father: Elias Steelgrave

Mother: Elinor Steelgrave

Siblings: Case, Ben, Clay, Zeke, and Calvin (deceased)
Timeline

Birth 1851 - 1857 resided at home,

1857 - 1869 Privet school, depending on where they were living.

1869 - 1871 Finishing School in Boston

1872 Leah returned to the Evergreen

to the present she began acting out after he brother murdered her attacker.

Topics I Participated In

Into the Storm

Started by Matt Wentworth · July 16

Mature Content: No
With: Matt Wentworth, Leah Steelgrave, and others
Location: Mayor's Office
When: Mid-Late July 1876
Time of Day: Morning

After Matt escorted Leah to her seat in the Mayor's office, he took out his fob watch and checked the time. It was a little after 9 but the day already seemed a bit longer. The only other people presented were John Anderson and Marshall Guyer, who, unless someone else came were to be the witness of the signing of the papers letting Leah finally build her hospital. Both Guyer and Anderson were unaware of how precarious the situation had become but hopefully, with some luck, no-one would find until out after the election. Since only he and Leah were the only ones who knew the truth, it would be fine...unless Ben Robertson decided to come back. Robertson coming back, however, was a remote possibility at this stage.

Trouble would only arise if he didn't become mayor but according to the scuttlebutt around town, he was almost guaranteed the opposite. The only strong opposition was Cole Latham and he would only win if Elias Steelgrave managed to pay off everybody in town. Pettigrew and Priest were virtual non-starters with the former not being considered a serious candidate and the latter, a complete unknown who spent most of his time at the Star Dust, which wouldn't endear him to the church-going folks in town.

Any more thoughts about his chances in the upcoming election would have to be put on hold for now. It was time to get this transfer of property to Leah, done and dusted.

"All right, if there are no objections, may I suggest that we proceed with our business."

@Flip
Cause to Celebrate

Started by Jonah Danforth · April 14

Rating: PG-14 Content: N/A Mature Content: No
Author: Jonah
With: Leah Steelgrave, Jonah Danforth
Location: Hotel Dining
When: Mid July / 1876
Time of Day: Evening

Jonah made good use of his time, and fortunately, Mrs. Tillery's eggs were well-known to the local bakers, so he'd been able to strike a good bargain with the chef at the Belle-St.Regis, so dinner was taken care of, and now there was a good deal of room in his larder for more 'payments' from his patients!

Wearing his best suit -- black trousers and frock coat, as well as a gold-brocade waistcoat -- he made his way back to the Belle-St. Regis, where Leah was going to meet him. He was looking forward to supper, and conversation that would have a positive, optimistic tone to it for a change!

@Flip
Bracing for the Storm

Started by Matt Wentworth · March 29

Mature Content: No
With: Matt Wentworth and Leah Steelgrave
Location: Belle-St Regis Hotel first then Leah's house
When: The day after "A Gathering of Storm Clouds" and "The Property Question 2" (1876)
Time of Day: Morning (before 9am)

Matt had just finished his breakfast and was making his way back to his office to do some hotel paperwork before the meeting at nine o'clock when his day desk clerk, Walter Simpson stopped him.

"Mr. Wentworth, a young boy just dropped this off," Walter said as he handed Matt and envelope, "The boy said he was sorry and he would have delivered it earlier if it weren't for his mother making sure he finished his breakfast. He also said something about being told that he had to wait until this morning to give it to you."

"Thank you, Walter," Matt replied before continuing on his way. When he got to his office he sat down and briefly looked at the envelope to try to determine who it came from before opening it.

As he read the letter his emotions ranged from surprise to dismay. It from Ben Robertson informing him that he and his wife would be gone by the time Matt had received the letter. Ben apologised saying that he thought it best to leave as he didn't want to go into the reasons why he had delayed the hospital contract. Whatever those reasons were, they must be big to make a man like Ben Robertson to just up and go, Matt surmised.

The rest of the letter dealt with a matter that Matt and probably nobody else didn't know about. According to Ben, there was a town ordinance that stated that any contracts or deals the town council makes on behalf of the town must be signed in writing by all standing members. Ben mentioned that it was an obscure ordinance that had never really be enacted upon. The deal with Leah Steelgrave would be the first time that it would be enacted.

After reading the letter again, Matt stood up and began to pace the room a little. Ben was still delaying the hospital deal by leaving town but maybe there was a way around it. The only thing he could count was that this unknown ordinance remained unknown. There was already a plan formulating in his head but he would need to talk to Leah about it.

Looking at the clock in his office he noted that there was still plenty of time to work something out before the nine o'clock meeting. Without hesitating, he made left the hotel and headed to Leah's house. When he arrived there, he started to go towards the front door.

@Flip
A Gathering of Storm Clouds

Started by Henry S. Guyer II · January 6

Mature Content: Probably not, maybe some lingo.
With: Marshalls McNue & Cook, possible others
Location: Add specific location information here.
When: Mid July 1876
Time of Day: Afternoon

Town Marshal Speed Guyer sat at his desk in his office ruminating about the new he had received from Hector Wigfall and from Jacob Lutz. Tom Love was just one man, and he knew nothing of him, or his abilities as a gunman, but Case Steelgrave was another matter altogether. He knew plenty about him and the crowd he ran with. The gang he ran was more like it. The town of Whitefish had allowed him to run them almost in the open. But with no County Sheriff, nothing was ever brought to trail about him or his men. The Storm of '75 ended that, wiping out Whitefish, his stronghold. And they had been on the move for the most part ever since.

True, they had had their chance to convict Case, but a big city lawyer had ended that hope winning an acquittal. Would they come to Kalispell? The Evergreen? Their hideout? Anywhere else and any direction? The choices were all his, so combining to the two, Love and Steelgrave, well, that just made things all that much worse, and no Pronto Pike to stand with him.

He did not hear or see them ride up to the hitch rail in the front of the Municiple Building, and until the opened the front down and stated for the office he hadn't heard them, however their jingling spurs announced their arrival long before they opened the door and stepped inside..

"Whatcha cogitatin' on Guyer? Somepan got ya treed?" Cook asked.

"You boys ever hear of a Tom Love? Supposed to be a gun hand of some repute."

"Yep." McNue said flatly. "I ain't real sure how much of a gun hand he is, killed him a few, ain't too sure any was a stand up fight."

"Bad as that Wallace Oldham! Back shootin' son of a buck!" Cook was shaking his head. "Find him around the minin' camps over't Butte, Wise River, that area. Why?"

"Well, while you two were out sight seeing, got word both are headed this way. Tom Love, Case Steelgrave, with maybe a dozen hard cases, with him. They ain't together."

"Oh, now we heard about Steelgrave and that crooked lawyer that got him off. Might make ya feel some better ta know he was killed. Caught cheatin' at cards up in Helena. Sad thing that, he shoulda know'd better." McNue recited.

"Too bad. He was slick alright. So, now you've heard the bad news. And that would be plenty of it. Depends on where the Steelgrave outfit is headed and what plans he might have for this place. Tom Love? Can't say."

"You reckon Case'd throw in with his pa over this hospital fiasco?" Cook asked. It ell quiet for a moment.

"That? I don't know." Speed replied. "Count on you boys to stick around?"

McNue and Cook exchanged looks then both nodded that they would.

"Guess I best tell Miss Steelgrave, and her men." Speed informed them as he got to his feet, then he did something new for him, he opened the bottom desk drawer and took out a gun belt and holster, a left hand holster and strapped in on over his right hand rig, Lastly he took out another Colt, four and three quarter inch barrel, front sight removed, and dropped it into the holster. "Man outta be prepared."

Cook McNue
The Plans and The Property Question

Started by Leah Steelgrave · October 2, 2021

Mature Content: One can never be certain
With: List characters and NPCs in the thread.
Location: The Belle-St. Regis Hotel
When: Mid-July 1876
Time of Day: Mid Morning on.

Well, it had been two days now since the horrible fire, and the ghastly death of Richard Orr. Leah, although she despised the man, felt for the mans family. No one deserved to die the way he had, and no one deserved to be left behind in the manner that Mrs Dorothea Orr and daughter Anaesthesia Orr were. The estate of Richard would leave them well enough off that neither would have to worry.

But, there was a hospital to get built, and time was wasting. Leah Steelgrave was most certainly used to getting what she wanted when she wanted it, except for the past year when she broke off ties with her father, and her mother had absconded without so much as a word to her or anyone else.

It was time then to make a move on the property selection, and she had a good idea of where she would want to have it built, just south-east of town, just off the trail that ran east to west. It would be close to the route the railroad would take, close to town, and not far from the fort. It's immediate service area would be at it's most advantageous. True, the outlining ranches and farms to the north would be a greater distance from the hospital, but property in that north and north-eastern areas were not good, nor were they available, due mainly to the smaller ranches and farms not to mention the area Lost Lake and the Evergreen encompassed. So it was time.

She gathered up her materials, drawings, and plans, put o a bonnet and scooped up the material and headed out the door, From across the street three men left what they were doing to follow along behind her. The destination was quickly known to them, she made her way directly to the Belle-St. Regis Hotel. Opened the front door and stepped inside. She went directly to the front desk, her entourage taking up positions across the street.

"Good morning Mister Simpson. I wonder if I might speak with Mister Wentworth?" She asked.
@JulieS
The Long Awaited Town Council Meeting

Started by Richard Orr · July 8, 2021

Mature Content: No.
Author: Mr Richard Compton Orr.
With: Mayor Scott Cory (?); Judge Ben Robertson (NPC); Matt Wentworth; John Anderson (NPC); Hector Wigfall acting as amanuensis for Mr Orr.
Location: Town Council Meeting Room.
When: Early-Mid July 1876
Time of Day: Early Evening.

Blood is thicker than water.

That had been 'Tricky Dicky' Orr's main consideration during his ongoing opposition to Steelgrave's brat of a daughter's bombastic and self glamourizing little plan to build a hospital and orphanage in Kalispell. But, increasingly, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Oh sure, political cronyism had its uses: thanks to his position as a party animal of the Grant administration, the Governor of the Territory, another creature of the party machine, had secured him the salaried post of Postmaster (no pun intended) of this Town which not only provided a stipend, modest in comparison to the dollars he made in his legal and business dealings, but also a certain degree of power and pull in local affairs.

The downside was that the Governor, he gathered, was increasingly pro- the plan and now, nearer to home, so was his own darling sweet little daughter, Anæsthesia, who had actually extemporised a poem lauding both the scheme and Miss Steelgrave at a local meeting of the Ladies Society! As Secretary of the Town Council - a position involving some degree of work, and therefore coveted by few - he held the power of actually calling the meetings, and therefore was able to play the age old politician's trick of prevarication and filibuster: the council hadn't had a meeting in months, and thus Miss Steelgrave's plan could be neither motioned nor passed. Also, as Secretary, he was responsible for producing the minutes (although he paid a scribe to do the donkey work) and thus was sometimes able to somewhat rewrite the history of the deliberations of this august body.

However, at the end of the day, he had his own motions to propose and had been reluctantly forced to call a meeting. He arrived first and ensconced himself in his usual position, flanked by his amanuensis, or scribe, young Hector Wigfall: funny, sitting together like that, a stranger might actually take them for father and son, so alike were they. Orr wondered who would turn up next. Wentworth was usually pretty prompt, Anderson and Judge Robertson would probably turn up, if a little tardily. As for Mayor Cory, no one had seen him for months: was the fellow even still alive? Maybe not. The possibilities of the Mayorship dangled before his own eyes, only to be dismissed: the Mayoral chain glistened, but all that glistened was not gold.

He had called the meeting with very little notice, of course, in the hope that no members of the public would get wind of it and crowd the public gallery as was their right under the constitution of the increasingly large town.

@Flip @JulieS @Stormwolfe+ anyone who wants to be there.
Tea and Crumpets

Started by Emeline Pike · May 31, 2021

Mid-May, Mid-Afternoon

+++++++++++
With the invitation that had been extended to Miss Leah Steelgrave a few week prior excepted, and the date and time set, Emeline had closed the cafe for the afternoon, so she could concentrate on the meeting, and getting to know the other young woman. Rather than the usual fare, she had made small sandwiches and pastries, more in the tradition of high tea than cafe food, but it was a special occasion, and frankly, she had embraced the chance to do something different, and to have something different to eat.

Now, with a table set, and her dress changed to a nice dress without apron, she was just awaiting the arrival of the other young woman...and her bodyguards, that Barnabas had told her were always with her...Emeline had set up a table on the front porch, and was ready to feed them as well.

@Flip
Let's Dance !

Started by The Old Ranger · October 10, 2020

Mature Content: No
Author: Old Ranger
With: Too many folks to list.
Location: Horace Simpkin's Storage Barn just on outskirts of town
When: April 22, 1876
Time of Day: Late afternoon,

Well it certainly seemed that Mother Nature was giving her approval for this annual town event as the weather was unseasonably warm, a mostly sunny day with a steady breeze. As was the tradition the spring dance normally started up sometime after 3 PM though of course there were folks there even earlier doing last minute setup and the usual crew of local men working on the fires that would roast the donated beef. A small stage had been knocked together by those with carpentry experience so the assembled musicians could play upon it. Though a mite heavy for the stage, a piano had been laboriously brought in and set right next to the stage, donated (for the event only of course) by the Star Dust saloon. Long rows of tables were assembled against one of the walls and these were filling up with more donated goods such as bakery and other food items with pride of place going to the large punch bowl which would no doubt have to be refilled more than once before the fun was over sometime after midnight.

Gradually the place started to fill up as more and more dance goers showed up, dressed in their finery, looking to put aside their daily worries and toil and enjoy themselves for one evening at least.

OOC: OK, people start posting here for any dance related threads. This is going to be a site wide event so we are prepared to spend a LONG time on this one. It's a great chance to have your chars meet and mix other writer's charries in a social setting too.
Some Things are Never Easy

Started by Matt Wentworth · October 5, 2020

Mature Content: No
With: Matt Wentworth and others
When: Mid April 1875
Time of Day: Morning and Afternoon

Matt was looking over the last of the preparations for the event that was being held in the hotel's ballroom later that day. The Kalispell Ladies' Society were having a special afternoon tea and had invited a few speakers to come along. One of the invited was Leah Steelgrave, who Matt presumed was going to present her project for approval in the hopes of getting the ladies to influence their husbands and others about the benefits of having a hospital and orphanage. The spring dance at Horace Simkin's barn was last week and the town meeting to vote on whether or not to accept Miss Steelgrave's offer would be held in about a week or so.

In a way, he felt sorry for Leah. The Steelgrave name was proving to be more than just a hinderance. She was having a tough time proving that she was doing this on her own and that her father had nothing to do with it. The afternoon tea would be one of the few opportunities the lady would get to present her side.

As for the afternoon tea, it was coming along nicely. Ruth Johnson was busy organising the last of the seating and going over the guest list. When he told her about inviting a Miss Arabella Mudd to the party, Ruth had been a bit perplexed as she wasn't familiar with her. He told her that she was one of the survivors of Whitefish and Ruth seemed to be all right with that, mentioning something about being kind to the poor unfortunate souls who had survived the tragedy. Matt smiled at what she might have said if he had told her that Miss Mudd was now under the protection of the owners of the Stardust Saloon. He didn't have objections to it and Ruth probably wouldn't either but there would be one or two members of the Ladies Society that might.

Pulling out his watch, he noted the time. In about two hours, the room would be filled with women eating and chatting away. His plan was to spend the time in his office and be on hand just in case he was needed. However, he made a mental note that if Sarah turned up, he would make the time to say hello.

TBC
Returning From Helena

Started by Leah Steelgrave · August 3, 2020

Mature Content: No.
Author: Put your OOC username here ONLY if posting with a Shared NPC.
With: Leah Steelgrave, Dr. Jonah Danforth.
Location: Dr. Danforth's Office
When: Mid December 1875
Time of Day: Mid Day

Leah Steelgrave had left Helena Montana by stagecoach just as the wave of storms approached. The coach eventually could no longer continue on, the sow was too deep for the fur up team and the heavy coach, so the trip almost ended in a return to Helena. Fortunately for her, there was a man with a pack mule team that was willing to fight the snow to see her through to Kalispell.

It had been a harrowing experience, but at last she found herself safe in Kalispell with all of her belongings tanks to one Abe Lyndowski and his team of mules. A fearless man the had been willing to fight through the adversity of the storms to deliver his charge safe and sound. She had amply rewarded him and offered him a place in the hotel, but he declined, spending one night in the livery before pulling out the next day during a lull in the continuing storm.

The following day found Leah trudging through the snow to Doctor Danfoth’s office to share the results of her mission to the capitol. She reached his doorstep finding it at the end of shoveled pathway. Smiling at effort she rapped on his door.

Tag @Bongo