The Brother
Chapter 12
The afternoon session was about to begin. Matt took Gannon from his cell and walked him across to the courtroom at the Dodge House. He left Billings staring at the brick wall. The man was either too ashamed or too scared to look at him, he wasn't sure which, not that it mattered, the damage was done.
Judge Brooking banged his gavel to bring the room to order.
"Do you have any other witnesses Marshal?"
Matt hated what he was about to do, to subject Kitty to questioning by Tunney, but he had little choice.
"Yes, your honor. I have Miss Kitty Russell and Doctor Adams."
Kitty was brought to the chair by the Judge's table and duly sworn in. Matt loved how she held herself proud and erect, he knew she would go to battle with the defense attorney in any way necessary, but that fact didn't make him feel any better.
Since there was no prosecuting attorney in this small town on the edge of the prairie, it was up to him to ask the right questions. He had done it many times before, but this was different, there was a lot at stake.
"Miss Russell, how long have you been part owner of the Long Branch?"
"About 5 years now Marshal."
"Have you ever seen Mr. Gannon before."
Kitty looked over at the man.
"Yes he was here about four years ago."
Judge Brooking decided to ease the tension on Dillon. He looked over at Kitty from his seat behind the big table.
"Please tell us what happened on that occasion," he said
"He was in a poker game at the Long Branch. He'd been playing there most of the afternoon and evening. It seemed like he was winning a lot of money from different cowboys that passed through. One of them came over to me and said the man was cheating so I went and watched the play." She stopped a minute to gather her thoughts. "I have dealt many poker games, your honor," she looked briefly at the Judge who was only too well aware of her business dealings, "this man was dealing off the bottom of the deck, pocketing aces and using several other well used means of gaining an advantage. Many of the cowboys around the table had lost a good deal of money to him and I knew that if I called him out there would be a lot of gunplay and probably someone would get hurt. I knew that the Marshal would be making rounds soon and thought if I could keep Mr. Gannon busy for a while he would show up and I could tell him what had been going on. So I sat in on the game and pulled a few tricks of my own to try and win back the money he had taken from those cowboys. I was doing a pretty good job of it too when Marshal Dillon came in and I told him what had happened. I think the cowboys were ready to kill Mr. Gannon – but the Marshal took him off to jail, so a gun fight was avoided and no one got hurt or killed."
Brooking nodded appreciatively at her testimony, and gave permission to Tunney to ask questions.
"So you run a saloon Miss Russell?"
"I run it and I own it," she replied.
"I ..er.. assume that you and Marshal Dillon here are good friends, shall we say – after all on the day in question you were seen riding out with him."
"That would be correct Mr. Tunney, we are friends." She gave nothing away but knew what was coming.
"Maybe the Marshal pays extra attention to the Long Branch Saloon," he said a little suggestively.
"The Marshal pays attention to all the saloons in town as well as all the other businesses." Her skills at Poker helped her to keep her face from showing any feelings.
"Have you ever cheated at cards, Miss Russell?"
"There have been occasions when it was called for." She could see no use in denying the obvious, after all she had admitted it just a few minutes ago.
"Are you good enough friends with Marshal Mathew Dillon that maybe he turns a blind eye to underhand dealing at the Long Branch?"
Kitty wanted to throw daggers at him, but kept her composure.
"Mr. Tunney, Marshal Dillon does not allow any crooked gambling in any of the saloons in town. Everybody knows that."
"But I thought seeing as you and the Marshal have a special," he underlined the next word, "er.. friendship, that maybe things were different at the Long Branch."
"Whatever kind of friends Matt Dillon has, he treats them all the same when it comes to the law."
She thought she had avoided his insinuation, but he tried again.
" I was just wondering how well you knew the Marshal, Miss Russell, after all you do run a saloon and employ several saloon girls, and I believe when you first came to Dodge you worked as one of those saloon girls.
"I did." She did not bat an eyelid, but at the same time she dared not look at Matt who was almost sitting on his hands to keep them from lashing out at the bespectacled attorney. "There are not many jobs available to young women who head out to this part of the country and if you don't want to sew or wait tables, a saloon is one of the few choices."
"I can't help but wonder if the fact that you are on such good terms with the Marshal didn't help you in procuring the business at the Long Branch, after all that is a lot of money for a saloon girl to accumulate. If she could, say, have an advantage at the card table that would help."
"Sir I came by the money by hard work and honesty."
The Judge got involved at this point.
"I am not sure what you are trying to prove, Mr. Tunney, but maybe you should say it out and then move on. I think we have discussed enough of Miss Russell's business."
"Your Honor, I was just trying to show that maybe she is not a reliable witness and that she was 'mistaken' about Mr. Gannon cheating at cards."
"Thank you Mr. Tunney for explaining that to us. I'll allow you one more question."
The balding attorney thought better of it.
"Thank you Judge, I have finished."
Matt watched as Kitty left the stand, he tried not to look directly at her and have his eyes give away his true feelings. Time for that later.
"Let's move on then. Marshal do you wish to call Dr. Adams."
"Yes please your honor."
Doc walked up to take the chair by the Judge. He had faced many attorneys before and this little squirt did not impress him overly. He went through all the usual routine stating his name, his occupation and how long he had practiced medicine. Everyone in Dodge knew Doc and they were looking forward to watching him deal with the little upstart that had appeared in their town to defend Lou Gannon.
"Go ahead Marshal," indicated the Judge, "ask your questions."
"Doctor Adams, you have had a lot of experience with bullet wounds over the years, could you tell us about it."
" I was a field surgeon during the war, I saw all kinds of bullet wounds from pistols, muskets and all kinds of rifles and shotguns. And I've removed my share of bullets since I came to Dodge."
"Do you see the bullet that you removed from my shoulder a couple of weeks ago?"
"Yes," Doc reached over to retrieve the small piece of metal from the table in front of the Judge, and then produced a magnifying glass from his pocket. Quickly he turned the bullet in his fingers and looked at it with the glass. He was happy at what he saw.
"Can you tell us anything about the gun that fired it."
Doc passed his hand over his mustache then took his spectacles from their case and put them on.
"First of all a bullet of this caliber could have been fired from a Winchester 1873 like the one you have there. That model is chambered for a .44 cartridge, which will also fit that Colt Army revolver. However there are two things to suggest this was fired by the rifle." He picked up the magnifying glass and handed it and the bullet to the Judge. "See here your honor, you can see a shallow groove cut along the bullet." The Judge looked and agreed. "That is correct," he said to the court.
"May I see?" Tunney was on his feet.
"Of course Mr. Tunney come up here and take a look. We can pass it around for any of the jurors that might like to see it for themselves."
"That groove is made by the effect of the rifling in the barrel of the Winchester." Doc paused giving them time to absorb what he had just said, then he continued pushing home his point. "You don't see it on a bullet fired from a revolver." He paused for effect and to let the information sink in.
"The second fact that suggests it was fired by a rifle is the length of the track the bullet left in the Marshal's shoulder. It was about five inches long and this bullet fired from pistol at that same distance would have not penetrated that far."
The Judge looked around the courtroom. "Do you have any questions Mr. Tunney?"
"Yes your Honor, just one or two."
"Doctor, I am not doubting your honesty here, but I am responsible for seeing that only fair evidence is offered against my client. How can we be sure that this .. this piece of metal," he was tossing the bullet in his hand, "is the bullet that you say you removed from the Marshal."
Adams said nothing, just glowered at the man for a minute.
"Sir, I am a doctor, I am proud of my shingle hanging out there on Front Street. I worked hard to earn that degree and I would not jeopardize it by standing up and committing perjury."
"I wasn't suggesting that Doctor – I don't doubt your integrity, but you previously told us that you remove a number of bullets in the course of your profession. I was just concerned that maybe, somehow there could have been a mix up. I am sure it could easily happen."
Doc glowered at him.
"Mr. Tunney, shortly after I removed that bullet I gave it to the Marshal and it has been in his possession up until a few hours ago, when I believe he turned all those pieces of evidence over to the court. To the best of my knowledge – and of course you can check with him – it was kept locked in the safe in his office with those two weapons as evidence for this trial."
The man nodded his head and paced the floor for a few seconds.
"Finally Doctor, we only have your word about the length of the bullet track. Maybe there is someway we could verify that."
The Judge stepped in.
"I don't think that will be necessary here in the courtroom Mr. Tunney. If you insist maybe we could arrange something in my chambers. I know Dr. Adams personally and would not question his integrity."
There was a few minutes pause in the proceedings. Then the Judge spoke to Dillon.
"Do you have any other witnesses Marshal?"
"No Sir."
Brooking turned to the defense attorney. "Does your client intend to take the stand?"
"We still need to discuss that, your honor. May I request a recess?"
The judge looked at his watch.
"I think we will adjourn until tomorrow morning."
He banged the gavel, the occupants of the courtroom rose and it is all over for the day.
Matt was about to put the handcuffs back on Gannon and take him across to the jail.
"If you don't mind, Marshal, I would like to have time to talk privately with my client."
"You can come over to the jail later this evening." Dillon was losing patience with Tunney, although deep inside as he had told Kitty earlier, he knew that the man was only doing his job. He wondered how much Gannon was paying him.
" I would hardly consider that private, maybe some alternative arrangement can be made?"
Dillon made no promises, instead he snapped the handcuffs closed and pointed Gannon in the direction of the door.
Later, Matt went to talk with the Lemay brothers. He knew that Max had done the best he could while giving his testimony. It was like the young man said, there were things he just could not remember. Wilton wanted to return home, but Matt explained that although there were no charges files against the younger man, they needed to stay around till the end of the trial.
"What happens if Gannon goes free Marshal?" Wilton was going over things in his mind. He did not want the man harassing his brother about a dubious gambling debt.
" I'm doing everything I can to see that that doesn't happen, but if it does there isn't much I can. Right now it is up to the decision of the jury."
When he left the Lemay brothers he did not feel much like eating supper and returned to the jail where he found Tunney waiting for him.
The man was demanding privacy to talk with his client. Dillon searched the man for any weapon and then locked him in the cell with Gannon. Unlocking the other cell he hauled Dragg Billings into the front office and handcuffed him to the cot, then he closed the door to the cells.
"Just call me when you are ready to leave," he told the little attorney.
-()-()-()-
Later that evening Kitty was pouring her best Brandy into two elegant glass snifters.
"Here Matt," she handed one of the glasses to him. "Let's drink to a good outcome."
Matt sat swirling the amber liquid in his glass and watching the small whirlpool that formed in the center.
"Matt," she said. He wasn't hearing her. She went over and touched his arm.
"I'm sorry Kitty, I just keep thinking about Gannon. There are too many weak points in our case against him. I don't know what else I can do."
There was silence for a few minutes. She sat on the settee next to him and took his hand in hers.
"You've done everything you can."
"I thought for sure that Billings was going to testify against Gannon, I didn't think he would back down like that. It really left me without much of a case."
He stopped looking at the drink and squeezed her hand that was holding his.
"I really hated putting you through that today."
"Don't worry Cowboy, us salon gals are pretty tough. Now drink that down and maybe you'll sleep better tonight."
TBC