Dustin Steele, the American Ripper – Steal this Background

Dustin Steele was born late February, 1865, right at the end of the Civil War. His father had been a trained doctor supporting the South, but due to always being in the right place at the right time, he never saw any action during the war. So instead, he played the part of a Quartermaster, using his keen mind to some benefit. When Dustin was born, his father chose to leave his home state and start a new life in the newly formed Montana Territory. He applied his knowledge of accounting and medicine by starting a little supply shop for trappers and such passing through the area, and gave medicinal help to the travelers and town as needed.

Around the age of 10, a group of Canadian Crees had been caught hunting on U.S. Soil and had been brought in to be tried in court. Before they could be locked up they broke loose.  During the confusion, Dustin’s mother was shot and killed by one of the Crees as they escaped. His father sunk into a depression, driving his hard-worked business into the ground. A few years later, he took to fever and died. By the age of 13 Dustin Steele was an orphan with no inheritance, nor any family to fall back on.

Not knowing what to do or where to go, Dustin took his father’s old confederate pistol, some ammunition, and what gear he could find and left town. He had no idea where he was headed and within a week he was lost, starving and barely alive. That’s when he first encountered the Blackfoot Tribe. He was found by their hunters and was brought back to their camp and nursed back to health. Not understanding their language or culture, he was confused. The stories that the trappers used to tell of the savages that wandered the plains didn’t match up at all with what he was experiencing now.

When Dustin was back in health he was being treated as a guest. The Chief understood English and when Dustin told him that he was alone in the world and had nowhere to go, the chief just calmly smiled. He then explained to him that the Great Spirits had found him worthy and had sent him a vision of a child that would one day save their tribe. He had sent the hunters into the woods to rescue him because of that vision.

Through the next seven years he learned from them, and there came a day when Crees came through the area and attacked the Blackfeet. They came in shooting and hollering when the hunters had left earlier that week to track game. On instinct, he went for the Crees with bow and arrow and took out a few of them before they realized the camp wasn’t just the elderly, young and women. Two of the four went down in the chaos, but when they started to shoot back Dustin was quickly outmatched. He found himself running through camp and ended up in his tent. With his arrows spent, he threw down the bow and dug out his father’s old pistol. He hadn’t fired it in years and wasn’t even sure it would shoot, but he quickly loaded it and snuck out the back of the tent.

The two remaining Cree had dismounted and were going tent-to-tent,looking for him and anything of value they could grab before leaving. Dustin snuck up behind one and pulled the trigger right as he stuck the iron to the back of the Cree’s head. With the shot, the last Cree came around the bend and had him in his sights, but was tackled by an Indian woman. By the time the Cree forced her off of him, Dustin Steele was looking at him through the iron sight of his 44. It was at this point he realized this was the same man that had shot his mother. It was this man that the spirits had placed him here to defend against. The trigger was pulled and he was dead.

A few weeks later, Dustin left the Blackfoot Tribe and headed west to start a new life. About three years later he ended up in California.  He used his know-how to hunt and trap to earn money here and there, but finally ended up in San Francisco. It’s there where he met and fell in love with Rose Foster. They began courting and had planned on marriage as soon as they could afford to do so. Dustin was alienated from working, though, once people found out his connections to the “savages,” and they took to calling him “The Native.” Needing the money to start a future with Rose, he decided to go out trapping for a few weeks, hoping to earn enough to buy her an engagement ring. It was a tough couple of weeks and when he returned with his earnings he found his wife to be murdered. He went into a rage and followed every lead he could.  He found out that it was a man by the name of Clive May that had murdered his bride-to-be.  He vowed that nothing would ever prevent him from taking revenge on Clive May for what he did to Rose.

After that, his life was a blur. He hunted what seemed like a ghost and tracked him all the way across the U.S. until he finally came to the New York Harbor.  With barely any money, and only the gear on his back, he booked passage to England, where last he heard Clive May had just left for.  Dustin Steele, though, has no idea what he’s really getting into…  Rose Foster, murdered.  The mysterious Clive May, traveling to England.  If Dustin only knew of the dangers and demons that lurked overseas, would he still make the journey?  For Rose, absolutely.