Finally, Clarity
"What's wrong with you, Poe?" Canby grumbled when the quartet were locked in the Dodge City jailhouse cells. "You had it made before you interfered with our fun. You didn't really expect a lawman to give you a break, did you? They don't care about anything but seein' poor folks like you be used until they find a way to kill ya."
"That's funny coming from you, a man who killed that old drunk rather than pay him," Billy replied. "His life meant nothing. It was a way for you to make the marshal suffer even more if he survived your thumping him on the head. You wanted him to wonder whether he mighta done the bum in. Then when Dillon survived but blind it still wasn't enough. We followed when he left. I wanted to make sure he got home okay but you, Wells and Danno set out to prolong his suffering before finishing him off. Come to think of it you guys are worse than any lawman I've come across. He has some principles to live by. All you've got is a mean streak. Why else would you want to drag a blind man or fight him?"
While Billy voiced his opinion to the other prisoners Dillon fired off a telegram to Elkader. The conversation on the trail and a bit of gloating once they reached Dodge was enough to warrant inquiries. The reply said the drunk had been stabbed. All that was necessary was for the barkeep at Kelly's to confirm the man lured Matt away thanks to his propensity to do anything for a drink. The Elkader doctor's statement would provide details of the time and cause of death. Canby hadn't had time to clean the knife that Matt now held. The other two were just as responsible by not trying to stop their partner. The trio could stand trial for murder rather than attempted murder of an officer of the law. Perhaps that would be enough to avoid a charge Matt would rather not bring. In his mind attempts on his life came with the job. Too bad seeing killers and spoilers were punished was also central to it and the cause of the life-threatening situations he faced.
US Marshal Matt Dillon expected the charge he hoped for against Canby, Wells and Danno to be the one for which they were tried. The two men in Elkader had provided sworn depositions witnessed by a local lawyer that would arrive later that night by special courier. It was far more than Dillon would have expected. Meanwhile he'd continue to seek the missing poker player Frank Walker. Matt had to make sure Poe got a fair shake by doing all he could before, during and after trial. Even so, if Poe was convicted the marshal would feel himself guilty of not doing enough.
Matt managed to locate Frank Walker and confront him in his room at the Dodge House thanks to the man's need to keep his belly full of whiskey. Walker's attitude was as expected based on what Kitty and Quint reported. However, without proof all Matt could do was put a scare into him, enough for Walker's conscience to push him into confessing. If that happened it could be too late to do Billy Poe any good. He had nobody to keep watch over Walker.
Normally Dillon would have called on his assistant Chester, but he wasn't available. The jailer was off fishing with his cousin in Thurlow outside Kalvesta, a community 30 miles or so northwest of Dodge. Chester deserved the time off. It had been nearly a year after his attempted visit that turned into a near disaster thanks to love struck Callie Dill and the object of her affection, the Indian he wounded. Everyone else Matt felt he could count on for surveillance was busy at blacksmithing or bartending or some other job to keep track of Walker's comings and goings and also put outside pressure on him.
The trials would take place no matter what Matt or Walker did. The marshal had come to know Judge Brooking as fair in that he listened to all the evidence, but the judge was also harsh when he felt there was enough to convict. If the charge was murder Brooking favored hanging nine times out of ten. There had to be something rather compelling in favor of the defendant for him to alter that decree to even a life sentence. All Matt could do, now that the charge was murder against Canby, Wells and Danno, was for the judge to try them first to give Frank Walker's conscience a bit more time to work on him.
Brooking, upon receiving the depositions, granted Matt the favor of more time. The courier who delivered them was the Elkader lawyer's young clerk and so had a thorough knowledge of the depositions content. A few simple questions sufficed for Brooking to skip reading them before the trial in order to determine the appropriate charge and also learn that Dillon was unconscious when the drunk returned to the alley. Marshal Dillon wasn't needed as a witness and could designate a representative to make sure the prisoners remained in custody if the verdict went against them.
Since Sam, thanks to Freddy taking his turn behind the bar at the Long Branch, could escort the three men with the help of Quint, Dillon was in his office when Walker entered to make his confession. His conscience had won out over the whiskey. Frank Walker was a gruff, selfish man but apparently he couldn't stomach allowing someone else to hang for what he'd done. It doubled his remorse for the first killing. Yes, he'd murdered Bud Hayes, but that wasn't his intention. While anger at losing at poker motivated him, all he wanted was to recoup his losses and some profit, not Hayes life.
Marshal Dillon locked up his new prisoner and set an amazed and grateful Billy Poe free. With Poe gone Dillon welcomed the chance to lock up the three men Brooking had found guilty in a bench trial. Canby, Wells and Danno had been certain any Dodge jury would take into account the attempts to take Marshal Dillon's life even if the lawman wasn't preferring charges. Hence they elected to forego a trial by their legal peers. To the trio's surprise the judge found enough in the depositions from the doctor and bartender, along with in person testimony from the courier and the bloody knife, to convict them of murdering the Elkader drunk they'd conned into bringing Dillon to the alley so they could have their fun.
There would be no jury for Frank Walker either. It was more a hearing than a full-blown trial. All that was needed was for Frank Walker to repeat his confession in front of Judge Brooking under oath. Matt and Quint could confirm it was the same as what he told them at the jailhouse while Doc and Kitty corroborated what happened at the poker game that led up to the robbery becoming a killing too. The marshal had no regrets about letting Billy Poe go before Walker's trial. What Doc, Kitty and he related would take care of any testimony Poe might have added.
With the verdicts handed down the four prisoners filled the jailhouse cells to capacity, but short of gross overcrowding. Deputies from Hays would bring the trio of Canby, Wells and Danno to their hanging in that town to the north. As soon as they rid him of those three Matt would escort Walker by stage to the Kansas Penitentiary in Lansing. Afterwards Matt planned to pick up and drop off government papers in Leavenworth before taking the train home. It would get him to Dodge sooner than a stagecoach. He'd deal with the remaining task of finding a sheriff for Elkader when he got back.
A week later the US Marshal in Dodge City found the cells temporarily empty. Soon drunken Texas cowboys would fill them to overflowing as another cattle season hit town. Matt Dillon put recent events behind him. With Chester's return he was free to do what he'd been missing since he rode to Elkader after Billy Poe. Matt was content. Life was back to normal when he told Kitty "see ya later" as he left the Long Branch before making his final rounds. He made short work of them and smiled as he climbed the saloon's backstairs to what had become home to him – her rooms.
As the time for her man to appear neared Kitty got ready by changing to her rather shear nightgown and unpinning her hair. She lolled on the settee, ready to hand him a brandy as soon as he entered and placed his hat and gun belt on the peg by the door. Matt closed and locked it for the night, then crossed to the settee. Kitty made room for him to sit and, once he did, leaned her head against his chest right after handing him one of the two snifters of brandy she'd already poured from the decanter.