Chapter 7 – Delayed Punishment

The scene before me changed as I watched. Without any violence to hold their interest the crowd dispersed, leaving only my son Matt, Chester and the suddenly hapless preacher. After a final look at Elias Dilborne lying on the ground with Chester, gun in hand, waiting to escort him to jail, the again in control Matt strode in the wake of the others towards Doc's stairs. Kitty had picked up the forgotten laundry basket and followed Doc who, along with Hilda Couch, supported the semi-conscious Jerry. Once all five were inside and the office door closed, Mrs. Couch focused on Doc tending to her son while Matt led Kitty into Doc's spare room.

I can look and listen in on anyone connected in any way to Matt as long as the person's within a mile of my son. Once his and Kitty's embrace became intimate I turned my attention elsewhere. By this time Chester had locked a somewhat recovered, loudly complaining Preacher Dilborne into one of the cells and shut the heavy door between those cells and the office. He wanted to muffle the prisoner's shouts as much as possible without gagging him while he practiced a rope trick and sang a tune about a rabbit to unwind from recent events. I loathed listening to Dilborne's rants as much as Chester, so I turned my attention to general observations of my son's town and what the citizens thought of him and his approach to law enforcement. When I reckoned I'd learned all I could, I returned my attention to Doctor Adams' office.

"Mrs. Couch, Kitty will testify against Dilborne but it won't carry much weight unless you file assault charges," Matt stated, looking from the mother to her injured, sleeping son and back. "It's the only way to put him away for a long time."

"I'll sign whatever papers you want if you can promise me it won't hurt Jerry even more. He's already been through so much in his young life."

"Dilborne's done this before, but wasn't caught," ignoring what he knew he couldn't promise the distraught mother. "He'll do it again unless you and Jerry make the hard choice to stop him."

"Matt's right. Men like him will keep beating women and children unless those who suffer at their hands do their part," Kitty added.

I wasn't sure if Kitty was speaking from her own experience or simply backing her man. Nevertheless, her statement convinced Mrs. Couch to file charges. Matt sent for Judge Bendt, who two days later set the trial for the following morning. Dilborne chose to represent himself but without the necessity to convince a jury, with whom he'd be at a disadvantage, in a town where he was a stranger and his adversary was, for the most part, well respected. The judge accepted the defendant's request and decided my son, the arresting officer, would prosecute.

Hilda Couch spoke of what she saw as she came out onto Front Street from the Lady Gay where she'd secured a new business arrangement. Doctor Adams told how the beating had not simply raised welts but drawn blood, throwing the boy against the horse trough had raised deep bruises on his chest and the hold on the lad's bunched up at the neck shirt, helped along by the hitching post rail, had choked the breath out of him. Finally, Kitty Russell recalled seeing the altercation from one of the Long Branch windows as she served her early customers. Elias Dilborne tried to undermine Mrs. Couch and Kitty's testimony by maligning their standing within the community but his attempt failed. It was Jerry Couch's turn.

"Jerry, how old are you?" Matt began as a way to ease the boy into the unfamiliar process of a trial. As soon as the youngster replied he continued, "Despite being only ten, you've become the man of the house. I'm asking you to take on the responsibility of a man in this courtroom. In your own words, tell us why you were in the Long Branch and what happened when you left it."

"When there's no school I help out Ma by gatherin' the dirty clothes and such for her from the places around town that give her regular business and haul the heavy baskets in a large cart over to our place at the river's edge near the end of Bridge Street. It's so she can wash 'em and then get paid when I help her haul it back all clean and ironed like. That's what I was doin' Monday mornin' at the Long Branch. That man over there," he indicated by pointing at Parson Dilborne, "tossed the basket of dirty things Miss Kitty told me to take aside and grabbed me before I could get it back and be on my way. Then he threw me for the first of many times against the horse trough, pulled down my pants, pulled up my shirt and, keepin' a choke hold, whupped my naked back and bottom with his belt while bending me over the hitching post. I don't know if he kept at it after Miss Kitty tried to stop him 'cause I passed out."

"Now I know a boy is taught in the Bible to obey his parents but it still behooves him to seek righteous interference to keep his mama from drawing him into sin like she and the woman who gave you the basket of laundry from that place of vile inequity did," Dilborne began. "What I'm saying is you endangered your mortal soul by visiting an evil place where the devil's brew is sold and women fornicate with men, most often for money. For that you deserve punishment."

"Reverend Dilborne," Judge Bendt interposed. "We're here to establish the events of Monday morning last not for you to give a sermon. Unless you have a question for this prosecution witness, I'll excuse him."

"Sorry, Your Honor. I do have a question. Boy," he said, turning toward Jerry. "Why did you not seek out assistance from a local parson or other morally upright individual to dissuade your mother from leading you into a life of sin? I'm sure there is at least one available in this Sodom, this Gomorrah of the Plains, even if the law's representative is unrepentant and hence in need of further punishment."

"That will be enough," Judge Bendt said in response to Matt's angry objection and his own sense of legal propriety. "This is a court of man's law, not God's law. I'll not abide any more impugning of the integrity of law-abiding citizens, especially of the law's representative in my court on the prosecution side. Personal vendettas have no place here. Mr. Couch, you may leave the witness chair. After a 15-minute recess I trust Reverend you'll be ready to call your first witness," the judge added as Jerry made his way back to where his mother was seated.

Dilborne tried to dredge up the past with his first witness to further impugn my son. Kip Wentworth informed all in attendance, before Judge Bendt halted his testimony and sent him to his seat between his two sons, that Matt Dillon didn't steal his horses 14 years ago. Nor did he deserve a beating at the hands of a mob inflamed by the man now on trial for assault. The accused man ran into the same judicial roadblock when he called my Matt to the stand. This time Judge Bendt issued a stern lecture explaining to Dilborne the mere act of calling the man prosecuting this case to the stand, let alone dredging up his alleged past indiscretions, was inadmissible. Thus, Elias Dilborne himself was his only remaining witness. After we all listened to a statement of his obligation under God's law to act as he'd done, Matt began his cross-examination.

"I take it your defense is your assault on ten-year-old Jerry Couch was justified because you answer to a higher authority than the laws of this community, this state and this country. Then how do you explain the pattern of wanton abuse you've shown over 20 years? Isn't that pattern the reason you've never been able to establish your orphanage anywhere along the frontier? Before you object, you're the one who brought up the past."

"Dillon, I'll deign to answer your questions. Yes, to the first one. It's my responsibility as God's representative here on earth. As to the second, in each place I stopped sinful yet powerful members of the community like you objected to how I disciplined my charges. They removed them from my care and drove me from their towns. However, until now none had the audacity to beat and then arrest me."

Both sides had presented their arguments and evidence, leaving only Judge Bendt's decision as to guilt or innocence before the proceedings drew to a close. He found Elias Dilborne guilty as charged and asked the defendant if he wished to make a final statement before sentence was passed. The disgraced preacher told a story he'd wanted to reveal during the trial.

"My beloved wife died in childbirth 25 years ago. The previous year her father Reverend Chauncey Hoover immediately accepted me as Esther's suitor upon my ordination. He shared my views that women and children would not remain on the righteous path without near constant hard work and frequent application of the rod as instructed in the Holy Book. My father-in-law submitted his wife and surviving children to that regimen throughout his life. Sadly, within a month of our marriage he and his household succumbed to a deadly fever. I inherited Reverend Hoover's church and my Esther a remembrance of her beloved mother – a ring, necklace and broach that she kept in a wrapped, small wooden box.

Following their deaths I applied her father's methods most rigorously. My adherence to this became more pronounced when the small package containing her inheritance, my only remembrance of my wife, was stolen in the tiny town of Seneca, Missouri where I'd come to preach. One culprit was punished by his father in my presence and repented of his sin. The other, despite all my efforts, has followed the devil's path. He has compounded his sin over the years since the moment his father deemed returning my property was sufficient – even consorting with fallen women. Yet he is the one who has conspired to send me to prison, Your Honor."

"Since you show no remorse for your vicious assault on and humiliation of a boy who was acting as a dutiful son to his widowed mother, I've no choice but to sentence you to ten years in the state penitentiary. Marshal Dillon, due to years of mutual personal animosity between you I won't require you to escort the prisoner. That duty will fall to Bill Hickok as soon as he arrives from Abilene."

Epilogue

I checked in on my boy a month later. He had a new prisoner awaiting transfer that he'd personally escort the next morning to the Kansas Penitentiary in Lansing. While momentarily alone with his long legs up on his desk, Matt contemplated a quiet supper with his Kitty while his assistant watched over the jail. I could tell he was daydreaming about a romantic evening before his trip by the smile on his face that disappeared when Chester burst through the door.

"Mr. Dillon!" he warbled excitedly, switching his weight from his good left leg to his stiff right one. "This just come from the prison. What's it say?"

"Didn't you read it?" Matt queried as he scanned the contents of the short wire from the prison warden.

"No sir," was the reply causing him to read it aloud for his assistant's benefit.

"Prisoner Elias Dilborne beaten to death by inmates Rupe Welby and Collie Flint. They informed me you'd understand. Perhaps upon arrival you can explain."

Matt stuffed the message in his pocket. He made sure Chester locked all the doors except the front, including the one between the office and the cells. Once both were outside he locked that last one. Then my son escorted his friend to the Long Branch for a celebratory drink. Four hours later as dusk fell, he and Kitty shared a picnic supper along the bank of the Arkansas River.

"Cowboy, you seem particularly content this evening. While I'm always pleased when you dress up and take me for a romantic supper followed by a moonlit buggy ride over the prairie, it's a bit of a surprise. Is the warden sending someone for your prisoner?"

"Kitty, I'm still leaving at sunup. It's just that Delmonico's isn't the best place to celebrate the warden's news with you."

"All you told me and Doc was a prisoner died. One less man to get out and seek revenge doesn't merit a special romantic evening even if you'll be gone at least a week."

"Elias Dilborne was beaten to death by two inmates. It's what he deserved."

With that said, Matt drew Kitty into an embrace, their supper momentarily forgotten. I took it as my cue to leave my boy alone with his girl. I was nearly as pleased as him as I sought the company of his mother. Our son could finally let go of his hate and enjoy the love Kitty offered as much as he and the badge allowed. At the prison he'd learn Rupe and Collie, Dilborne's first orphans, were eight-year-old witnesses to his beatings in Seneca. They took advantage of the first opportunity to run away from the abuse the preacher heaped upon them and the gift of his deliverance into their hands. Elias Dilborne's punishment was indeed what he deserved.