Murder at the Deadwood Saloon

What better way to celebrate Brian's 30th birthday, then with a murder mystery party! On Saturday, October 4th, 35 people gathered at the Deadwood Saloon (AKA our house) to celebrate the completion of the 1st annual poker tournament and award the prize money to the winner. It was quite a gathering with bandits, sheriffs, bankers, saloon girls, gamblers, debutantes, and of course a few locals, in attendance.


Here we are, Harry & Henrietta High-Stakes!

When each person arrived, they were given an envelope, which contained a name badge, a list of objectives, and $500 in cash. Then, when everyone was present, Harry High-Stakes (AKA Brian), the owner of the saloon, welcomed everyone to the party and explained that he would be awarding the prize money later on in the evening. In the meantime, though, Harry encouraged participants to mingle with one another, complete their objectives, and of course, make use of bribery, extortion, and blackmail, if necessary. (That's where the $500 came in handy!)



When everyone completed their objectives and Harry High-Stakes was just about to present Mitch Maverick (AKA Tom), the winner of the tournament, with the $100,000 purse, the saloon went dark and gunshots rang out. When the lights came back on, there was Mitch Maverick lying on the ground, dead.



Immediately, Marshal Dalton (AKA Pete), outlined the body with chalk and addressed the crowd. Marshal Dalton requested that each person read their second list of objectives and complete them. During that time, Marshal Dalton questioned some of the patrons and conducted a thorough investigation.



When Marshal Dalton had collected all the pieces of evidence, he presented them to the guests. The evidence included the gun used in the murder, a handwritten list of signals (supposedly used by Mitch Maverick to cheat in the poker tournament), a foreclosure notice (indicating that the saloon was in financial trouble) as well as a telegram and newspaper clipping. The evidence was laid out on a table and the guests were encouraged to look it over. Then, each guest filled out a "Who Dunnit?" voting sheet, indicating who they believed to be the murderer, along with their nominations for "Best Dressed" and "Best Performer." After the voting sheets were tabulated, Marshal Dalton announced that based on the evidence, he believed the murderer to be Mr. Montgomery Money (AKA Mike H.). As it turns out, six of the guests had correctly identified Mr. Money as the murderer, too, thereby earning "Smoking Gun" awards! The "Dressed to Kill" award was presented to Marshal Dalton, while the "Drama Queen" award went to Montgomery Money.



And of course, we couldn't conclude the evening without singing "Happy Birthday" to Brian!