Death Did Them Part

I sure paid no never mind to Mr. Dillon settin' back down so we could have more of Mrs. Cobb's wild plum pie and coffee tah go with it. It seems he and her come to some sort of agreement but I swarn I couldn't figure what it was or how they come to it. I was just happy to be eatin' all that pie.

It all begun when she invited us in fer pie and started in to tell her story of ole Jezra beatin' on her all these years, but I weren't really listenin'. It were somethin' about Reverend Blough tellin' her a month ago that the Good Book didn't say nothin' 'bout a man havin' the right to beat his wife whether they was married 17 years or a day and Jezra findin' out 'bout her givin' a drifter $300. After Mr. Dillon stood up to go out tah the barn tah talk tah Mr. Cobb and Mrs. Cobb went and handed him the rifle leanin' against the wall by the stove is when somethin' changed.

I did pay attention her sayin', "Jezra ain't never gonna beat me no more. So you see there's no hurry goin' to the barn. Won't you sit down and finish your pie? I'll put some coffee on. We'll have enough time for that won't we?"

I reckon he agreed with her 'cause that's jist when Mr. Dillon sat back down and all the hurry disappeared. We set thar eatin' pie and drinkin' coffee 'til there was none remainin'. Pushin' our empty plates and cups aside and thankin' her fer her hospitality, we stood tah leave. I weren't expectin' what Mr. Dillon said when he moved toward the kitchen door.

"Chester, I think it's time we saw to Jezra while Mrs. Cobb sees to things in here. Gather what you think you'll need," Mr. Dillon added to her as he picked up the rifle she'd put back in the corner while we was eatin' and stepped outside.

"We've got work to do," he added as we passed by our horses so's he could put the weapon in his rifle boot. "I'll look around in the barn while you hitch up their wagon. Then we'll get to burying Cobb."

"Mr. Dillon, what you want me to hitch up their wagon fer? Ain't we buryin' Jezra here on his own place?"

"Yes we are Chester, but we can't expect a woman like Mrs. Cobb to ride a horse all the way to Dodge."

"Oh, I see. Yah don't want her stayin' on out here by herself."

"That's not the only reason. Before you ask, she knows I've got to arrest her for murder."

Once we got out to the barn, while I hitched up the wagon, Mr. Dillon looked at ole Jezra's body and found the bullet. It had gone clean through into the beam holdin' up the hayloft behind where he lay. An hour later, we had buried the man and put the shovel and pick back where I found 'em. Mrs. Cobb gave us no trouble. She drove her wagon while we rode alongside all the way back to Dodge.

The trial took place a week later. We got us a fella they call a prosecutor that was jist voted in by all of Ford County. He asked everyone who he thought would help him to take the witness chair. Miss Kitty tole about how the drifter, Puggy Rado come into the Long Branch and bragged on how he was give $300 to kill Jezra Cobb and she told Mr. Dillon all about it once he got there. Then she tole how Rado grabbed her and stuck a gun in her back so Mr. Dillon couldn't do nothin' until Doc knocked into him at the door. Next Doc said his piece. Both ended what they had to say with Mr. Dillon killing Rado as soon as Miss Kitty got far enough away. After the prosecutor fella asked what I seen and done from the shot fired at them until we brung Mrs. Cobb to jail, includin' how she acted the whole time she were there. Finally, it was Mr. Dillon's turn.

"Marshal Dillon, please tell the court what occurred that afternoon a week ago," the newly elected first ever Ford County Prosecutor said. "You may begin with the events immediately prior to being summoned to the Long Branch."

"Jezra Cobb came to my office wanting to know why I hadn't arrested anyone for trying to kill him. He thought I should jail all of the Long Branch's girls if I thought one of them had either done the shooting herself or hired someone to do it for her since I thought they had reason to want to shoot him. He wouldn't accept that I had no proof it was one of them or any of 100 other people who had reason to hate him. Cobb especially didn't like me telling him I had reason to arrest him for beating up on those girls. I'd told him to get home and think about what useful information he might give me to help save his skin when Chester opened the door and asked to speak with me privately."

"Did what your assistant have to tell you narrow down the possibilities somewhat? Did it cause you to do anything right away?"

"Yep. I went with him to the Long Branch where Kitty pointed out Rado to me. After Clem, her bartender, called her over Rado must have realized I was there because of his bragging. In an attempt to escape grabbed her and stuck his gun in her back. There was nothing I could do until Doc came through the batwing doors just as Rado was shoving Kitty out of them. It gave Kitty a chance to get out of the way. Rado gave me no choice but to shoot him before he shot me. Then Jezra came in and seemed to realize something because he took off for his home. Chester and I also rode to the Cobb farm."

"Marshal, what did you and your assistant learn when you reached the Cobb farm? Don't forget you're under oath."

"Mrs. Cobb told us Mr. Cobb was in the barn and handed me a rifle that had been recently fired. When we went into the barn Chester and I found Jezra Cobb lying dead. He'd been shot at close range and a rifle bullet was buried in the beam behind him. The bullet was the same caliper rifle bullet as the remaining ones in the chamber of the rifle. I arrested her. I had no choice between the physical evidence and what she'd told me. However, I …

"You've said all the jury needs to hear. Your Honor, the prosecution rests."

I reckon our new man for showing a jury they should find a person guilty was quite pleased with himself. I've worked for Mr. Dillon long enough to know that he wasn't. He'd convinced a lawyer who'd planned on goin' on through to Denver but had to stay to because of snow in the mountains on west from here to earn a bit of money while in Dodge by presentin' Mrs. Cobb's side. He seemed to be doin' ok since he called a whole mess of folks to tell how rotten a man ole Jezra was, startin' with Miss Kitty's girls and finishin' up with Doc.

Now the jury and everyone else in Ford County, includin' the judge, knows the kind of man Jezra was, but I didn't reckon it hurt none for the jury to be reminded of it or to hear Doc's opinion that Mrs. Cobb's bad times was caused by her husband beatin' on her. Then Reverend Blough got to tell about her askin' him 'bout a man's rights when it comes to those beatins. Then he had Mr. Dillon come back up to the witness chair.

"Marshal Dillon, I believe you wanted to say something in Mrs. Cobb's behalf when the prosecutor dismissed you. Please state that now."

"You've had a parade of witnesses tell the court what I was gonna say. Jezra Cobb was a mean man. Doc's told you how bad Mrs. Cobb was beaten by him."

"Mr. Dillon, when you and Mr. Goode arrived at the Cobb farm did you ask Mrs. Cobb any questions related to beatings that both Dr. Adams and Reverend Blough referenced in their testimony?"

"Yes. I asked her how many times her husband had beat her during the 17 years she was married to him. She told us she didn't know how many times."

"Thank you Marshal. You may take your seat."

Mr. Dillon sat down on the aisle next to Miss Kitty and Mrs. Cobb took his place in the witness chair. She was just as calm as the day she was arrested.

"State your name for the record. Then tell us about what finally drove you to stop the abuse however you could."

"Mrs. Minerva Cobb. It were finally learnin' from Reverend Blough that Jezra'd been lyin' to me all the time we was married about what it said in the Good Book. I can't read so I didn't know no different 'til then."

"Mrs. Cobb, as a religious woman, that must have been quite a shock to know Mr. Cobb didn't have the right he claimed. Did you act on this knowledge immediately or did you act on impulse when the opportunity presented itself?"

"I didn't do nothin' till after three weeks passed; when a drifter stopped by our place. I gave him $300 from the egg money in the jar on the shelf. He shot at Jezra when we were in town of an evening, but the horse shied and he missed. I think the only one he hit that night was Marshal Dillon."

"So then you went home and were still there a week later while Marshal Dillon was dealing with the man you hired. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you neglect your domestic duties during this time?"

"Of course not. I was bakin' him a wild plum pie when Jezra come home from town. That's when he must have found out. He threw out the pie and I followed him to the barn when he went to get a hickory stick to beat me with. He told me he'd beat me until he almost killed me. I come as close to him as I could so I wouldn't miss him. Whatever happens to me, Jezra ain't never gonna beat me no more. I told the marshal all this and gave him the rifle I used when he and Chester come out to talk to Jezra and me."

First the new prosecutor, I think he's called, summed up the case agin Mrs. Cobb, sayin' she planned it all out and so should be found guilty of murderin' her husband. He claimed him bein' a bad husband and generally a miserable excuse fer a man made no never mind. Then her lawyer had his say 'bout how she was forced into it because she was afeered for her life. He called somethin' like justified homicide. Then the judge sent the jury out to decide. They come back three hours later sayin' she was guilty. The judge had her stand and told her what punishment she'd get. Mr. Dillon told me he could have given her life in prison, but expected it would be about five years even though he didn't think she should spend any time in prison. The judge must have understood what she'd been through 'cause he sentenced her to a year at the Ford County Work Farm in their kitchen.