Lionel Putnam is a big, powerfully-built Black man who came to Paiute Springs to escape the Confederacy. He is a guarded man with strangers, but friendly and generous with friends. His wife, Latrelle, is renowned throughout town as one of the best cooks. His three sons, Abel, Darius, and Frederick, are grown and help in the livery.

Lionel has been involved in a lot of the trouble that’s come to town, fighting hard to protect anyone he can. He was recently appointed Mayor in a no-contest special election held at the end of 1876 when former Mayor J. P. Jefferson stepped down.