A number of women are sitting
working together in a big room not unlike an old English tithe barn
in its timbered construction, but with windows high up next the
roof. It is furnished as a courthouse, with the floor raised next
the walls, and on this raised flooring a seat for the Sheriff, a
rough jury box on his right, and a bar to put prisoners to on his
left. In the well in the middle is a table with benches round it. A
few other benches are in disorder round the room. The autumn sun is
shining warmly through the windows and the open door. The women,
whose dress and speech are those of pioneers of civilisation in a
territory of the United States of America, are seated round the
table and on the benches, shucking nuts. The conversation is at its
height.
BABSY [a bumptious young slattern, with some good looks] I say
that a man that would steal a horse would do anything.
LOTTIE [a sentimental girl, neat and clean] Well, I never should
look at it in that way. I do think killing a man is worse any day
than stealing a horse.
HANNAH [elderly and wise] I dont say it's right to kill a man.
In a place like this, where every man has to have a revolver, and
where theres so much to try people's tempers, the men get to be a
deal too free with one another in the way of shooting. God knows
it's hard enough to have to bring a boy into the world and nurse
him up to be a man only to have him brought home to you on a
shutter, perhaps for nothing, or only just to shew that the man
that killed him wasn't afraid of him. But men are like children
when they get a gun in their hands: theyre not content til theyve
used it on somebody.
JESSIE [a good-natured but sharp-tongued, hoity-toity young
woman; Babsy's rival in good looks and her superior in tidiness]
They shoot for the love of it. Look at them at a lynching. Theyre
not content to hang the man; but directly the poor creature is
swung up they all shoot him full of holes, wasting their cartridges
that cost solid money, and pretending they do it in horror of his
wickedness, though half of them would have a rope round their own
necks if all they did was known-let alone the mess it makes.
LOTTIE. I wish we could get more civilized. I don't like all
this lynching and shooting. I don't believe any of us like it, if
the truth were known.
BABSY. Our Sheriff is a real strong man. You want a strong man
for a rough lot like our people here. He aint afraid to shoot and
he aint afraid to hang. Lucky for us quiet ones, too.
JESSIE. Oh, don't talk to me. I know what men are. Of course he
aint afraid to shoot and he aint afraid to hang. Wheres the risk in
that with the law on his side and the whole crowd at his back
longing for the lynching as if it was a spree? Would one of them
own to it or let him own to it if they lynched the wrong man? Not
them. What they call justice in this place is nothing but a
breaking out of the devil thats in all of us. What I want to see is
a Sheriff that aint afraid not to shoot and not to hang.
EMMA [a sneak who sides with Babsy or Jessie, according to the
fortune of war] Well, I must say it does sicken me to see Sheriff
Kemp putting down his foot, as he calls it. Why don't he put it
down on his wife? She wants it worse than half the men he lynches.
He and his Vigilance Committee, indeed!
BABSY [incensed] Oh, well! if people are going to take the part
of horse-thieves against the Sheriff-
JESSIE. Who's taking the part of horse-thieves against the
Sheriff?
BABSY. You are. Waitle your own horse is stolen, and youll know
better. I had an uncle that died of thirst in the sage brush
because a negro stole his horse. But they caught him and burned
him; and serve him right, too.
EMMA. I have known that a child was born crooked because its
mother had to do a horse's work that was stolen.
BABSY. There! You hear that? I say stealing a horse is ten times
worse than killing a man. And if the Vigilance Committee ever gets
hold of you, youd better have killed twenty men than as much as
stole a saddle or bridle, much less a horse.
[Elder Daniels comes in.]
ELDER DANIELS. Sorry to disturb you, ladies; but the Vigilance
Committee has taken a prisoner; and they want the room to try him
in.
JESSIE. But they cant try him til Sheriff Kemp comes back from
the wharf.
ELDER DANIELS. Yes; but we have to keep the prisoner here til he
comes.
BABSY. What do you want to put him here for? Cant you tie him up
in the Sheriff's stable?
ELDER DANIELS. He has a soul to be saved, almost like the rest
of us. I am bound to try to put some religion into him before he
goes into his Maker's presence after the trial.
HANNAH. What has he done, Mr Daniels?
ELDER DANIELS. Stole a horse.
BABSY. And are we to be turned out of the town hall for a
horsethief? Aint a stable good enough for his religion?
ELDER DANIELS. It may be good enough for his, Babsy; but, by
your leave, it is not good enough for mine. While I am Elder here,
I shall umbly endeavour to keep up the dignity of Him I serve to
the best of my small ability. So I must ask you to be good enough
to clear out. Allow me. [He takes the sack of husks and put it out
of the way against the panels of the jury box].
THE WOMEN [murmuring] Thats always the way. Just as we'd settled
down to work. What harm are we doing? Well, it is tiresome. Let
them finish the job themselves. Oh dear, oh dear! We cant have a
minute to ourselves. Shoving us out like that!
HANNAH. Whose horse was it, Mr Daniels?
ELDER DANIELS [returning to move the other sack] I am sorry to
say that it was the Sheriff's horse-the one he loaned to young
Strapper. Strapper loaned it to me; and the thief stole it,
thinking it was mine. If it had been mine, I'd have forgiven him
cheerfully. I'm sure I hoped he would get away; for he had two
hours start of the Vigilance Committee. But they caught him. [He
disposes of the other sack also].
JESSIE. It cant have been much of a horse if they caught him
with two hours start.
ELDER DANIELS [coming back to the centre of the group] The
strange thing is that he wasn't on the horse when they took him. He
was walking; and of course he denies that he ever had the horse.
The Sheriff's brother wanted to tie him up and lash him till he
confessed what he'd done with it; but I couldn't allow that: it's
not the law.
BABSY. Law! What right has a horse-thief to any law? Law is
thrown away on a brute like that.
ELDER DANIELS. Dont say that, Babsy. No man should be made to
confess by cruelty until religion has been tried and failed. Please
God I'll get the whereabouts of the horse from him if youll be so
good as to clear out from this. [Disturbance outside]. They are
bringing him in. Now ladies! please, please.
[They rise reluctantly. Hannah, Jessie, and Lottie retreat to
the Sheriff's bench, shepherded by Daniels; but the other women
crowd forward behind Babsy and Emma to see the prisoner.
Blanco Posnet is brought in by Strapper Kemp, the Sheriff's
brother, and a cross-eyed man called Squinty. Others follow. Blanco
is evidently a blackguard. It would be necessary to clean him to
make a close guess at his age; but he is under forty, and an
upturned, red moustache, and the arrangement of his hair in a crest
on his brow, proclaim the dandy in spite of his intense
disreputableness. He carries his head high, and has a fairly
resolute mouth, though the fire of incipient delirium tremens is in
his eye.
His arms are bound with a rope with a long end, which Squinty
holds. They release him when he enters; and he stretches himself
and lounges across the courthouse in front of the women. Strapper
and the men remain between him and the door.]
BABSY [spitting at him as he passes her] Horse-thief!
horsethief!
OTHERS. You will hang for it; do you hear? And serve you right.
Serve you right. That will teach you. I wouldn't wait to try you.
Lynch him straight off, the varmint. Yes, yes. Tell the boys. Lynch
him.
BLANCO [mocking] "Angels ever bright and fair-"
BABSY. You call me an angel, and I'll smack your dirty face for
you.
BLANCO. "Take, oh take me to your care."
EMMA. There wont be any angels where youre going to.
OTHERS. Aha! Devils, more likely. And too good company for a
horse-thief.
ALL. Horse-thief! Horse-thief! Horse-thief!
BLANCO. Do women make the law here, or men? Drive these heifers
out.
THE WOMEN. Oh! [They rush at him, vituperating, screaming
passionately, tearing at him. Lottie puts her fingers in her ears
and runs out. Hannah follows, shaking her head. Blanco is thrown
down]. Oh, did you hear what he called us? You foul-mouthed brute!
You liar! How dare you put such a name to a decent woman? Let me
get at him. You coward! Oh, he struck me: did you see that? Lynch
him! Pete, will you stand by and hear me called names by a skunk
like that? Burn him: burn him! Thats what I'd do with him. Aye,
burn him!
THE MEN [pulling the women away from Blanco, and getting them
out partly by violence and partly by coaxing] Here! come out of
this. Let him alone. Clear the courthouse. Come on now. Out with
you. Now, Sally: out you go. Let go my hair, or I'll twist your arm
out. Ah, would you? Now, then: get along. You know you must go.
Whats the use of scratching like that? Now, ladies, ladies, ladies.
How would you like it if you were going to be hanged?
[At last the women are pushed out, leaving Elder Daniels, the
Sheriff's brother Strapper Kemp, and a few others with Blanco.
Strapper is a lad just turning into a man: strong, selfish, sulky,
and determined.]
BLANCO [sitting up and tidying himself]-
Oh woman, in our hours of ease.::
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please-
Is my face scratched? I can feel their damned claws all over me
still. Am I bleeding? [He sits on the nearest bench].
ELDER DANIELS. Nothing to hurt. Theyve drawn a drop or two under
your left eye.
STRAPPER. Lucky for you to have an eye left in your head.
BLANCO [wiping the blood off]-
When pain and anguish wring the brow,::
A ministering angel thou.
Go out to them, Strapper Kemp; and tell them about your big
brother's little horse that some wicked man stole. Go and cry in
your mammy's lap.
STRAPPER [furious] You jounce me any more about that horse,
Blanco Posnet; and I'll-I'll-
BLANCO. Youll scratch my face, wont you? Yah! Your brother's the
Sheriff, aint he?
STRAPPER. Yes, he is. He hangs horse-thieves.
BLANCO [with calm conviction] He's a rotten Sheriff. Oh, a
rotten Sheriff. If he did his first duty he'd hang himself. This is
a rotten town. Your fathers came here on a false alarm of
golddigging; and when the gold didn't pan out, they lived by
licking their young into habits of honest industry.
STRAPPER. If I hadnt promised Elder Daniels here to give him a
chance to keep you out of Hell, I'd take the job of twisting your
neck off the hands of the Vigilance Committee.
BLANCO [with infinite scorn] You and your rotten Elder, and your
rotten Vigilance Committee!
STRAPPER. Theyre sound enough to hang a horse-thief, anyhow.
BLANCO. Any fool can hang the wisest man in the country. Nothing
he likes better. But you cant hang me.
STRAPPER. Cant we?
BLANCO. No, you cant. I left the town this morning before
sunrise, because it's a rotten town, and I couldn't bear to see it
in the light. Your brother's horse did the same, as any sensible
horse would. Instead of going to look for the horse, you went
looking for me. That was a rotten thing to do, because the horse
belonged to your brother-or to the man he stole it from- and I
don't belong to him. Well, you found me; but you didn't find the
horse. If I had took the horse, I'd have been on the horse. Would I
have taken all that time to get to where I did if I'd a horse to
carry me?
STRAPPER. I dont believe you started not for two hours after you
say you did.
BLANCO. Who cares what you believe or dont believe? Is a man
worth six of you to be hanged because youve lost your big brother's
horse, and youll want to kill somebody to relieve your rotten
feelings when he licks you for it? Not likely. Till you can find a
witness that saw me with that horse you cant touch me; and you know
it.
STRAPPER. Is that the law, Elder?
ELDER DANIELS. The Sheriff knows the law. I wouldnt say for
sure; but I think it would be more seemly to have a witness. Go and
round one up, Strapper; and leave me here alone to wrestle with his
poor blinded soul.
STRAPPER. I'll get a witness all right enough. I know the road
he took; and I'll ask at every house within sight of it for a mile
out. Come boys.
[Strapper goes out with the others, leaving Blanco and Elder
Daniels together. Blanco rises and strolls over to the Elder,
surveying him with extreme disparagement.]
BLANCO. Well, brother? Well, Boozy Posnet, alias Elder Daniels?
Well, thief? Well, drunkard?
ELDER DANIELS. It's no good, Blanco. Theyll never believe we're
brothers.
BLANCO. Never fear. Do you suppose I want to claim you? Do you
suppose I'm proud of you? Youre a rotten brother, Boozy Posnet. All
you ever did when I owned you was to borrow money from me to get
drunk with. Now you lend money and sell drink to other people. I
was ashamed of you before; and I'm worse ashamed of you now, I wont
have you for a brother. Heaven gave you to me; but I return the
blessing without thanks. So be easy: I shant blab. [He turns his
back on him and sits down].
ELDER DANIELS. I tell you they wouldn't believe you; so what
does it matter to me whether you blab or not? Talk sense, Blanco:
theres no time for your foolery now; for youll be a dead man an
hour after the Sheriff comes back. What possessed you to steal that
horse?
BLANCO. I didnt steal it. I distrained on it for what you owed
me. I thought it was yours. I was a fool to think that you owned
anything but other people's property. You laid your hands on
everything father and mother had when they died. I never asked you
for a fair share. I never asked you for all the money I'd lent you
from time to time. I asked you for mother's old necklace with the
hair locket in it. You wouldn't give me that: you wouldn't give me
anything. So as you refused me my due I took it, just to give you a
lesson.
ELDER DANIELS. Why didnt you take the necklace if you must steal
something? They wouldnt have hanged you for that.
BLANCO. Perhaps I'd rather be hanged for stealing a horse than
let off for a damned piece of sentimentality.
ELDER DANIELS. Oh, Blanco, Blanco: spiritual pride has been your
ruin. If youd only done like me, youd be a free and respectable man
this day instead of laying there with a rope round your neck.
BLANCO [turning on him] Done like you! What do you mean? Drink
like you, eh? Well, Ive done some of that lately. I see things.
ELDER DANIELS. Too late, Blanco: too late. [Convulsively] Oh,
why didnt you drink as I used to? Why didnt you drink as I was led
to by the Lord for my god, until the time came for me to give it
up? It was drink that saved my character when I was a young man;
and it was the want of it that spoiled yours. Tell me this. Did I
ever get drunk when I was working?
BLANCO. No; but then you never worked when you had money enough
to get drunk.
ELDER DANIELS. That just shews the wisdom of Providence and the
Lord's mercy. God fulfils himself in many ways: ways we little
think of when we try to set up our own shortsighted laws against
his Word. When does the Devil catch hold of a man? Not when he's
working and not when he's drunk; but when he's idle and sober. Our
own natures tell us to drink when we have nothing else to do. Look
at you and me! When we'd both earned a pocketful of money, what did
we do? Went on the spree, naturally. But I was humble minded. I did
as the rest did. I gave my money in at the drinkshop; and I said,
"Fire me out when I have drunk it all up." Did you ever see me
sober while it lasted?
BLANCO. No; and you looked so disgusting that I wonder it didn't
set me against drink for the rest of my life.
ELDER DANIELS. That was your spiritual pride, Blanco. You never
reflected that when I was drunk I was in a state of innocence.
Temptations and bad company and evil thoughts passed by me like the
summer wind as you might say: I was too drunk to notice them. When
the money was gone, and they fired me out, I was fired out like
gold out of the furnace, with my character unspoiled and unspotted;
and when I went back to work, the work kept me steady. Can you say
as much, Blanco? Did your holidays leave your character unspoiled?
Oh, no, no. It was theatres: it was gambling: it was evil company,
it was reading in vain romances: it was women, Blanco, women: it
was wrong thoughts and gnawing discontent. It ended in your
becoming a rambler and a gambler: it is going to end this evening
on the gallows tree. Oh, what a lesson against spiritual pride! Oh,
what a-[Blanco throws his hat at him].
BLANCO. Stow it, Boozy. Sling it. Cut it. Cheese it. Shut up.
"Shake not the dying sinner's hand."
ELDER DANIELS. Aye: there you go, with your scraps of lustful
poetry. But you cant deny what I tell you. Why, do you think I
would put my soul in peril by selling drink if I thought it did no
good, as them silly temperance reformers make out, flying in the
face of the natural tastes implanted in us all for a good purpose?
Not if I was to starve for it to-morrow. But I know better. I tell
you, Blanco, what keeps America to-day the purest of the nations is
that when she's not working she's too drunk to hear the voice of
the tempter.
BLANCO. Dont deceive yourself, Boozy. You sell drink because you
make a bigger profit out of it than you can by selling tea. And you
gave up drink yourself because when you got that fit at Edwardstown
the doctor told you youd die the next time; and that frightened you
off it.
ELDER DANIELS [fervently] Oh thank God selling drink pays me!
And thank God he sent me that fit as a warning that my drinking
time was past and gone, and that he needed me for another
service!
BLANCO. Take care, Boozy. He hasnt finished with you yet. He
always has a trick up His sleeve-
ELDER DANIELS. Oh, is that the way to speak of the ruler of the
universe-the great and almighty God?
BLANCO. He's a sly one. He's a mean one. He lies low for you. He
plays cat and mouse with you. He lets you run loose until you think
youre shut of him; and then, when you least expect it, he's got
you.
THE REST OF THE TEXT IS AVAILABLE IN THE FULL VERSION.
