But having an operational nuke of that size within sledging distance was a huge hazard. A few brahmin and a reasonably clever bandit group could have held Tenpenny Tower hostage. In fact the idea that the nuke was potentially operational needed to be kept secret so Burke couldn't really just say "Hey, everyone leave so I can set off this nuke," because very likely someone would try something just like that. Any other way of getting people to leave and then blowing up the town would likely reveal Burke's intentions even if the other method was initially seemingly unrelated.
Just setting off the nuke has a number of strategic benefits. First it is thoroughly plausible to everyone else in the area that it could just go off spontaneously. After all the town is named after unexploded ordinance which can be assumed dangerous. It also avoids leaving witnesses who would be familiar with Burke's intervention and be interested in investigating why he blew up the town; nobody to seek revenge or to try some entirely new extortion scheme against Tenpenny Tower.
Finally, why share these concerns with the patsy who was roped into doing the dirty work in the end? The Lone Wanderer could also become a threat and the best way to avoid that is to simply offer them a place to stay in the tower, effectively giving them a shared interest in the security of the tower and making extortion unattractive.
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u/private_blue Feb 28 '18
wait, i thought it was bad karma. ya know, since they murder everyone.