A Watchman for Willow

Ever since her husband was killed in a logging accident, Willow Morrow has been struggling to take care of her two-year-old daughter, Ila Mae, and survive. Left with limited funds and no family or friendship ties to the area, a lumber camp foreman brought her to Sonora, California, the largest nearby city, and dumped her off with her husband’s final paycheck and two weeks extra wages. She feels fortunate to have found a job washing dishes at a local diner, plus she ends up delivering meals to inmates at the Tuolumne County jail.

Milton Pierson, a junior clerk for the Sonora city council, is tasked with advertising for a city night watchman. Aware of Widow Morrow’s plight, he decides to add an inducement to the job offer.

Jesse Randolph never liked working as a longshoreman, and San Francisco has grown too crowded for his tastes. With the financial panic that started in 1882 going into its third year, he learns his job has been terminated. He runs across an advertisement for a night watchman job in a small foothill city. Included is the condition of being willing to consider marriage to a widow with a young child. Not only must he find a way to get his own widowed mother away from the coastal air that aggravates her breathing problems, she has been after him to marry. What does he have to lose by at least looking into the situation?