 Ike
McSwain was afflicted with scarlet fever as a child; as a result, he was
left completely bald. Ike and his sister were raised by a pair of
loving parents, and the young Ike certainly had a mischievous side. Fearing
a scolding after drawing in the family bible, Ike was hiding in the shed
when a group of hired guns road up to his parents farm. The men gunned
down Ike's entire family; a cursory search of the shed failed to turn up
the terrified boy.
At this
point it might be wise to discuss Ike's muteness. It's uncertain
whether this disability is the result of the scarlet fever he suffered
as a child, or if it was a psychological ramification from witnessing the
massacre of his family. We do know that Ike has said that he "could
not" speak out upon witnessing the murders -- again, this could be from
physical or psychological reasons.
Ike was
sent to the same Catholic Mission School attended by Buck Cross.
The other children of the orphanage were afraid of him, fearing that his
touch would cause them to lose both their hair and their voices.
Ike encouraged this belief by deliberately making scary faces and trying
to frighten the other children. It was only when Ike stepped in to
assist the half-breed Buck -- outnumbered in a fight against the town's
bigoted drunks -- that the mute boy gained a lifelong friend whom he loved
like a brother.
Buck gave
Ike a way to communicate using Indian sign, and the two youths then left
the mission school and headed to Sweetwater where they joined the Pony
Express. It was not long afterward that Ike ran into one of the men
who was present at the massacre of the McSwain family. At first Ike
planned revenge, but upon learning that the man knew nothing of the hired
guns intention to kill, as well as seeing the obvious love the man held
for his two young sons, Ike was able to forgive and to put the past behind
him.
Ike was
fortunate enough to find love twice. The first time was with Annie
Lawlor. Annie had been brought to Sweetwater as a mail-order bride, only
to discover that her betrothed had been caught in a mine collapse.
She and Ike began a tentative courtship that would have resulted in marriage
had Annie's intended not resurfaced, alive and well.
Ike's second
love was Emily Metcalfe, a free-spirited independent tomboy who was new
to Rock Creek. Ike and Emily fell quickly in love, consummating their
relationship in a barn after a town dance. Emily's father, however,
had gotten on the wrong side of cardshark Neville -- when the elder Metcalfe
attempted to kill Neville, he was fatally shot instead. Emily tried
to avenge her father's death and Ike ran to stop her, taking the bullet
that was meant for his love.
Photo:
ABC First Season promotional photo of Travis Fine as "Ike McSwain"
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