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VCS
Chapter 28
Just as the Cartwrights' wagon travelled down the road to pull up in front of the courthouse, a ruckus broke out near the jailhouse drawing their attention.
"Look!" Jamie jutted his head towards the scene of the action. "Something's going on over there."
A group of men had surrounded the jailhouse, guns fully drawn. A few were just exiting the building, trudging their way forward and yelling at each other.
"Let's go check that out," Ben decided, taking quick strides towards the commotion with his family right on his heels. He quickly realized that a raging lynch mob aimed to see Billy and Gabe hung without a fair trial.
Joe pulled Jamie back to walk behind him and said in a low voice, "Stay behind me."
"Hop Sing, Joe!" Ben addressed. "Go in the back way and see what's happened to Roy and Clem."
The two men slipped off to follow Ben's order.
"What's going on here?" Ben boomed over the crowd.
Only out of respect for the Cartright patriarch did the seething crowd began to quieten down to a dull simmering murmur. "We're seeing justice done, Ben!" a hot-headed man in his thirties by the name of Mark Johnson called out. He had a tight grip on both of Billy Toliver's arms which were held behind his back.
"There ain't no reason to have a trial. We know they done it! You know it! And this gang has committed more crimes than any of us can count. Why sit through a trial and take the risk they don't hang? Ben, you and your family should be the ones kickin' the chair out from under them!" Another voice hollered through the crowd.
"No!" Gabe bellowed from the ground, curling in on himself as boots were viciously driven into every inch of his body. "No, I don't want to hang! I don't want to swing from a rope with no broken neck," he cried. "Please, please have mercy. Let me go, let me go!"
Billy remained silent, perhaps resigned to his fate, Ben figured.
"Yeah," Tom Randall agreed, grabbing Gabe by the shirt, and yanking him up to his knees. "They mighta killed your whole family just like they did my brother! You saw it with your own eyes! You're telling me you want to risk them staying alive? Sitting around in some prison, laughing and telling stories about how they terrorized you, robbed all them farmers? Shot down Carl in his own yard?"
"They killed my husband!" Dorothy Randell burst from the crowd; her own gun aimed shakily at Gabe's head. "He was a good man, a decent man. And they killed him like he was no different than a rabbit!"
"Then why won't you let the law see to it they pay for their crimes?" countered Ben. "What you're doin' makes you no better than they are!"
"We're taking these Tolivers and hanging 'em both from the highest tree!" Lyle declared. "And there's nothing you can do to stop us, Ben. So please, just get out of the way. We don't want you to get hurt."
"But if that's what it'll come to…" Mark warned. "Then so be it!"
Jamie watched the scene carefully, embarrassed to realize that he found himself agreeing with the mob while at the same time he didn't want them to hurt his pa, either. Just as the men were about to resume their coup, much to Jamie's surprise, it was Griff who stepped forward and addressed them.
"Now everybody just…just simmer down!" Griff said tentatively at first then taking a deep breath, he continued with growing confidence as his own feelings from the prejudice he had previously been subjected to bubbled up to the surface. "Is this what you've come to, threatening Mr. Cartwright so you can hang two men in the street? What kind of place is this? Now, I know I don't account for much in these parts or anywhere really but I do know a lot of you have much to be thankful for all the good the Cartwrights have done in Virginia City."
Griff's forceful but gentle oratory stilled the crowd. Many people dropped their gazes, but Mark and Tom did not relinquish their grips on the Tolivers.
"I can tell you all about a place where there ain't no law, no rules, just people acting however they want with no care about how it affects anyone else," Griff continued. "You all know about me bein' an ex-con. About my past. And if you didn't, you do now." He raised his chin to look more intimidating that his slender frame usually allowed him. "We gotta let the law handle matters like this, no matter what the Tolivers done or didn't do. Now, you got decent lawmen in Virginia City and a fair Judge. Give 'em a chance to make things right."
"But they did do it!" Tom countered. "We ain't advocatin' to pull innocent people off the street and kill 'em, Griff. Why should we take the chance of a trial goin' wrong and letting these two walk? Your trial went wrong," he sympathized with the younger man, knowing his circumstances of having been paroled. "And you got thrown in jail for defending yourself. How can you of all people believe in the law system?"
"Because if I don't, then there's no telling what I'd do, who I'd hurt," Griff answered honestly. His blue eyes flickered to Ben's as if to check in to see if what he was saying made any sense. Ben gave him an encouraging nod and Griff was grateful for the support. "The Tolivers thought jail mighta knocked all the good outta me," he revealed. "And sometimes, I wonder if they're right."
Jamie was shocked at Griff's confession and leaned in towards the ranch hand.
"But every day, I try to live my life to make sure my past don't define my future," Griff said honestly. "And maybe we gotta give that same chance to the Tolivers. At least allow them a fair trial. Something I never got. Don't let your anger cloud your judgement. You'll live to regret it. And trust me, I live with it every single day. That's all I gotta say."
A thoughtful murmur broke out through the crowd.
Larry stepped forward with his friend Harold and stood by Griff's side to offer support.
"He's right, boys. We're not the judge or executioner," Larry said, addressing the people.
"And that boy, he's younger than my own and probably not much older than some of your sons!" Harold pointed at Billy who was being restrained by two men. "Fact is, if it weren't for him, Larry and I wouldn't be here. Now, we're not asking anybody to let them go free. But not all of em are killers! Especially not the boy. Let the courts decide their fate is all we ask."
The atmosphere turned from blood lust to one of shame as each man reflected on what they were about to do and what their families would think of them considering many were fathers themselves.
Joe returned from the back of the jailhouse with Sheriff Coffee and Deputy Foster. Confused but relieved, the men hurried to check on their prisoners.
While the testimony was over by the end of the day, much to the Cartwrights' and Griff's relief, they couldn't help but feel uneasy about what the outcome could mean for Billy.
The jury had sat through a slew of testimonies about the Tolivers, including the string of robberies while Dorothy Randall's uncontrollable outburst that it was the Tolivers who shot and killed her husband almost had her removed from the courthouse.
Billy was a nervous wreck during the entire proceeding. Even with Harry Dobson defending him, he saw little in the way of sympathy from the people of Virginia City who filled the courtroom including the jury. He feared his fate and began to regret not taking his chances of escaping.
When the verdict was finally given, Judge Raynor passed on his sentencing. Gabe, who had remained extraordinarily subdued from any inappropriate outbursts throughout the trial, was sentenced to hang. It was a decision that Raynor never took lightly, but given Gabe's many crimes, lack of remorse, and obvious capability of continuing a life of violent crimes, the judge felt he had no choice but to declare him to his fate. Billy, on the other hand, would serve fifteen to twenty years, with the possibility of parole after serving two thirds of his term.
It was at this time that Gabe's tolerance to behave appropriately reached its limit. Hearing how he would hang while Billy could very well be free before he even reached Cole's current age made his blood boil. Where was the fairness in that? Sure, he had no fancy lawyer rise to his defense, but him and Billy were in it together!
"No!" Gabe cried out, jumping up and swinging his chained hands in the air and almost hitting the public defender beside him. "I can't hang! I won't be there at the end of no rope!" His eyes darted around the courtroom wildly until they landed on Griff and the rest of the Cartwrights. "You," he said quietly before lunging towards the family. "You did this to me! I shoulda killed y'all when I had the chance!"
Judge Raynor banged his gavel on the desk, calling for order.
The bailiff quickly restrained Gabe before he could get more than two steps away from his seat. "C'mon, Toliver!" He shoved Gabe towards the exit. "We gotta get you ready for the noose."
"No, please!"
It was the 'please' that caught everyone's attention.
"Please," Gabe said, his whole body beginning to quake. "I… I can't die. I ain't ready! I'm sorry, real sorry!" he blubbered, the bailiff dragging him away. "Billy? Judge? Somebody, help me!" the Toliver continued as he was taken out of earshot.
"It's too late for anyone to help you now, Gabe" Billy remarked quietly. "I just hope it ain't too late for me."
Harry Dobson placed a reassuring hand on the young man's arm. "It's not over yet, kid. I'm going to apply for an appeal to see if we can do something about your sentence."
Billy was at a loss for words. "You would do that for me? But why? I don't think Mr. Cartwright's gonna wanna pay for doing anything more for me."
"Billy, I take my job very seriously and not just because of the money but I don't like losing. Now, I came into this courtroom with the expectation that our case was going to earn you a reprieve. That ain't so right now and I'm going to keep on fighting until we achieve our goal. If you are willing to fight that is? Are you with me?" Dobson prodded with conviction behind his words.
Billy nodded. "Thank you, Sir."
"Don't thank me. Thank the Cartwrights once we get you through this," Dobson replied.
"Well." Ben inhaled somberly as he stood and began to put on his coat. "That's that." He noticed that his youngest son was staring forwards, almost in a daze as he processed the onslaught of information that occurred at the trial. "Jamie?" Ben nudged. "It's time to go."
"Go?" Jamie repeated. "They're gonna hang him, Pa. For everyone to see. Gabe'll be dead by tomorrow."
The lack of emotion behind Jamie's words made it difficult for Ben to discern what Jamie meant by the simple statements.
"Yes," Ben confirmed. "I for one never saw the need for executions to be public. Did you want to stay in town to watch it, Son?"
Jamie took a few moments to think about it before looking up into his father's eyes. "I guess not, Pa."
While Jamie's answer was the one he had sought, Ben was still concerned that his son had to consider it first. What had happened to the boy he had raised? Knowing now was not the time to dwell on it or discuss the matter, Ben planted a reassuring hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Let's go home, son."