Hank Jones was a miner from Grantville. He was part of the group that formed around Mike Stearns and Dan Frost to investigate the aftermath of the Ring of Fire. After Frost was injured by one of two soldiers who had been pursuing a young girl, he deputized the entire group. When Ken Hobbs identified the attacker's weapon as a matchlock, Jones suggested that Hobbs should be careful so as to preserve any fingerprints. Since Frost had killed his attacker, Hobbs thought the advice silly.