"I'm gonna have to carry you, huh?" "Come on." "Oh, boy." "AII right, drop your gun belt, mister." "What's this about?" "The cap'n said to drop the gun belt." "Now." "They're wearing the Johanson brand, Cap'n wilson." "Whose else would they be?" "Where'd you get the cattle?" "Where that brand says." "You got them from Johanson?" "Right." "You got a bill of sale to prove it." "Now, hold it." "That's right." "Thought you'd Iike to look at the bill of sale." "We'II look at it." "You got this from Johanson?" "Mr. Maddow." "Mr. Maddow, is that Johanson's mark?" "Johanson didn't have to make his mark." "He could write as good as you can." "Hang him." "I'm an ex-Iawman." "You can check with the Sheriff Dave Ramsey in St. Louis." "Check with Johanson, Iet him tell me face to face." "For God's sake, check it out." "Are we gonna hang him or beat him to death?" "Enough!" "Put him on his horse." "Wait a minute." "The saddle." "You've no claim to that, Reno." "We got back Johanson's cattle, cap'n, and the man who took them." "I Iike to see justice done, but I'm taking the saddle." "Anybody want to argue?" "If he's a rustler, he ain't got nothing I want." "He's got something that I want." "I want his wallet." "When I want it, I'm gonna take it." "If he's a rustler how come he didn't make a run for it when he had a chance?" "Wait a minute, Loomis." "Now, tell me you bought some cattle from Johanson." "He saw the bill of sale." "With the mark where Johanson was supposed to write his name." "What did Johanson look like?" "He was about 30." "Dark hair, dark eyes, heavyset pockmarked face, regular features." "You have an eye for detail, haven't you?" "I told you I was a lawman." "It was my job." "Heavyset, pockmarked about 30." "Liar!" "Johanson was 60." "Maybe it was his foreman." "I don't know." "We can go there and find out." "It's only a day's ride." "We can check it out." "Mr. Maddow tell him." "I just came from the Johanson place." "His herd was gone." "I found Johanson and his wife on the kitchen floor, gunned down and dead." "No." "Hang him." "You're making a mistake." "Some people call this hell, but you're still in oklahoma Territory." "Save your breath." "I don't know you hung you, or why." "But if you're innocent, the judge'II set you free." "And if you ain't, we'II have to take the trouble of hanging you again." "Come on, get on your feet." "Water your mules and fill up a bucket of water for the men." "marshal Dave bliss." "You got a prisoner for me." "That's right, marshal." "Feed and Grain Store across the street." "Here's the key." "You'II be needing it." "marshal, watch out for him." "He's plumb loco." "Oh, God." "Oh, God." "You've come to kill the Prophet." "Take it easy, will you?" "You've come to kill the Prophet." "Can you walk?" "They're against me." "They spy on me." "Oh, God." "They're scared of the wrath of God!" "Get on your feet." "Even the prison wagon's better than this." "You've come to kill the Prophet!" "hold it!" "Oh, no!" "Oh, God!" "Oh, you've come to kill the Prophet!" "Stop or I'II kill you!" "What are you waiting for?" "Shoot him!" "kill him!" "What's wrong, marshal?" "Scared of cheating the hanging judge?" "kill him!" "kill him!" "kill him!" "We'II testify for you, marshal." "You done your best to bring him in alive." "hold it, damn you!" "kill him." "It's too damn crowded in here anyway." "You chained him, now you bury him." "That won't make the judge happy." "What was I supposed to do?" "Let him escape?" "I ain't saying you was wrong." "I'm saying it won't make the judge happy." "Now that you've said it, williams, move them out." "girls, girls, the tumbleweed wagon's here." "Come on!" "Save us the live ones, marshal, huh?" "Don't hang them all." "Here she is." "Here comes the tumbleweed wagon!" "You'II send the drapery material over?" "As soon as it comes in." "I need more perfume." "A dozen bottles?" "The cheapest, as long as it smells good." "It's not for my girls." "It's for the cowhands off the range smelling Iike" "Here's the tumbleweed wagon!" "Hey, isn't that billy the Kid?" "Take a closer look." "Maybe you'II find your old man!" "hold it!" "Come on, have them step down to target practice on." "AII right, move them out." "Come on." "Feed's twice a day." "8 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon." "unless you get short-chained you get an hour a day recreation in the prison yard." "Better find a spot." "Expecting another wagon in this afternoon." "You'II get used to the smell." "If not, they got a cure for it." "They hang you." "Sounds like Schmidt's fixing to have a little party this morning." "A party?" "A hanging party." "Them's 200-pound sacks he's dropping." "Gotta make sure them ropes hold up." "always uses top-grade hemp, Schmidt does." "oils it so it slides real good." "Snaps your neck like a dried-out twig." "A fine artist at his trade, our Mr. Schmidt." "The bastard." "What kind of justice hangs a man before he's heard about his appeal?" "Come in." "Leave him without shackles." "Yes, sir." "AII right, guard." "Your story checks out, Cooper." "You're free to go." "eleven dollars?" "And 40 cents." "That's all McCIeod had on him when we picked him up." "McCIeod?" "McCIeod was running from the Iaw." "HoIed up at Johanson's, killed that old man and his wife and then you blundered in." "A stranger looking to buy cattle." "So McCIeod sold you a few." "He got a pretty good laugh out of that." "Want to see what he looks like?" "Come on." "Come on." "McCIeod took your money and came into town looking for a good time." "The row, that's where we found him." "May God have mercy on his soul." "You're free to go, Cooper." "eleven dollars and forty cents." "And the satisfaction of seeing McCIeod hung." "What about the nine just men who hung me?" "Give their description to a deputy." "They'II try to pick them up." "well, that's not good enough." "Cooper you take the Iaw into your own hands and you'II swing from one of those ropes out there." "I know a little bit about the Iaw, Your Honor." "That's right." "You do." "Sit down, Cooper." "please." "You were a lawman in St. Louis." "A damn good one." "I can use a good man, Cooper." "Pay, 250 a month." "That's 230 more than you'd make as a cowhand." "232 more than an Army sergeant." "Here." "If that hanging rope didn't kill you, maybe my coffee will." "How much did you make in St. Louis?" "200 more than I made in St. Louis." "250, plus expenses." "I warn you, the pay is a little slow in coming." "There." "$200." "plus 50 President Harrison owes you." "You'II get it when I get it." "Seems like you're a man trying to give away money and don't have too many takers." "You sound like a man who's protesting the pay's too high." "Don't." "If you sign on, you'II earn every cent of it." "There you are." "The oklahoma and Indian Territory, year of our Lord, 1 889." "Nineteen marshals." "I was authorized 60." "told the president that wasn't half enough." "Nineteen marshals and one court to cover near 70,000 square miles." "A happy hunting ground filled with bushwhackers horse thieves, whiskey peddIers, counterfeiters they'II kill you for a hatband." "That's why there's a badge in my desk, Cooper." "Itching to sit on somebody's chest, and no takers." "Your marshals do cover a Iot of territory." "You'II ride circuit over an area half again the size of Rhode island." "If and when it's "marshal Cooper."" "Pick up the badge." "Pick up the badge or leave justice to me and my men." "Those nine men." "If you find them, they're to be brought before me alive." "That old horse should hold you for a spell." "AII right." "Good luck, marshal." "Thank you." "You're Cooper?" "Judge sent a wire you was coming." "Wasn't there nobody outside?" "There's two men with shotguns." "Ain't had a night's sleep since we picked up the Swede." "How many men did you bring?" "Can you have him ready to go in a haIf-hour?" "Just the two of you?" "Yeah." "The hotel, does it serve a good steak?" "I need to eat before we leave." "If you're crazy enough to try to take the Swede in alone you got a right to try it on a full stomach." "You're under arrest, Reno." "You talking to me?" "Your name's Reno, isn't it?" "I don't know what kind of town" "This isn't my town." "well, I wouldn't know." "See, I just rode in." "I'm gonna wash down some trail dust, and" "What do you say I done?" "You don't remember me, do you?" "No." "When you hang a man, you better look at him." "Don't go for that gun, Reno." "I need you alive." "You know him?" "No." "Anybody know him?" "Goes by the name of Reno." "Come here and take a look at him." "He must've just rode in." "So he said." "How much to bury him?" "EIwood?" "well, $1 5 ought to do a fair job, marshal." "There's seven dollars there." "I'II give you eight more and mark it down there." "Don't anybody leave." "I want everybody to write down exactly what they saw." "I didn't see nothing." "Then you say that in writing." "Nobody's gonna fault you." "You gave him every chance." "Then say it in writing." "marshal, I can't write." "Sheriff will write and you put your mark on it." "A saddle outside belongs to me." "I'II take that." "If any of his friends show up wanting his horse or belongings, Iet me know." "You can wire me in Fort Grant." "You gonna pick up the Swede now?" "No...." "I'm gonna have that steak now." "marshal." "Oh, Swede-- that's the one the marshal just brought in." "Swede!" "What was that all about?" "Judge Fenton's orders." "Nobody comes in or out that lady don't look at." "marshal, judge wants to see you right away." "Thank you." "Good work, Cooper." "See?" "The Lord takes care of those that do His work." "He just waltzed in here and gave himself up." "I never wanted to hang you." "I asked them to give you a chance." "Maybe you remember that." "I remember that." "I was in Fort Grant looking to pick up a grubstake when I heard a marshal with a hanging scar killed Reno." "I knew then we'd hung an innocent man." "So I turned myself in." "The others?" "He gave me their names." "I got warrants for their arrest." "Where?" "Red Creek." "Good enough." "I'II be on my way." "AII right." "You do it your way." "Round them up and bring them back." "I don't know why you had to kill Reno." "It's in my report." "I wanted him alive." "I needed these names." "You got your names." "Mister, you make sure the rest of those men get back here alive." "Jenkins, sit down, please." "You're under arrest." "Move!" "I have seven warrants here." ""Matt Stone, M. Loomis, Maddow CharIey BIackfoot, Cap'n--"" "Cap'n wilson." "What the hell is this all about?" "A Iynching." "Four of these men I'm after are out at the Big W." "Maddow and miller I'm not sure about." "Maddow, he owns a spread around here." "MiIIer" "miller's a drifter." "The men you're looking for are leading citizens." "They're friends of mine." "These "friends" of yours are wanted for conspiracy to commit murder." "If you'II put this man in jail, sheriff you and I can ride out to the Big W." "Sheriff!" "Sheriff CaIhoun!" "Sheriff!" "RustIers!" "They took our herd." "They killed my pa and Danny." "killed both of them." "I rode in and found them." "Pa and Danny, bushwhacked." "And the herd gone." "I won't be much good to you from here on out." "My back is giving me trouble." "You're in good hands, however." "This man here is a federal marshal." "Don't give me that "bad back" stuff." "You've got your job, I've got mine out at the Big W." "His father and brother's been murdered." "You a lawman or ain't you?" "Not more than five, six hours ahead, now." "Now they must slow down." "well, we won't." "On your feet!" "Get up!" "Get up!" "cattle won't live another day without water." "Nick, willy, head them home." "Rafe, go with them." "You've got one minute to pray." "There'II be no hanging." "They killed my family." "They'II get what's coming to them." "They'II get what the Iaw says." "If you can't stomach hanging, ride out." "We'II do what needs doing here." "I'II say it one more time." "There'II be no hanging." "We're not turning three murderers loose." "You're turning them over to me and the Iaw." "I'II get them to Fort Grant." "Fort Grant's a three-day ride from here." "You'II never make it alone." "I didn't plan on making it alone." "Now, you men got a $1 0 posse fee coming." "I can't say the government will pay more but every man who stays will get an extra 1 0 if I have to pay for it myself." "I'II take my 1 0 now." "I've got your name." "They'II send it." "We'II put in for the money ourselves, marshal." "The men these rustlers killed, they were my friends." "These three, they are for hanging." "Leave us, marshal, for just 1 0 minutes." "Five minutes." "On your feet." "Thank you, marshal." "We had nothing to do with the killing." "Shut up." "We rustIed the herd, but me and Ben" "Didn't I say to shut your mouth?" "My brother's telling the truth." "He done it." "AII right, marshal." "AII right, saddle up those horses and nothing foolish." "You're very kind." "would you be my friend too?" "Forget about it." "Say, I seen you when you drug that old Stone into jail." "I thought that was really something." "I just about died right then and there." "I picked up my two amigos here and rustled this fat herd and headed Iickety-spIit for south of the border." "You know something Mr. Deputy marshal?" "You know, when I woke up and seen that gun pointing right at my mouth and you standing at the other end of it I said to myself, "miller, you move one inch and you're a dead man." "This man's about to blow your head off."" "I mean, what them boys said was right." "We guilty as hell." "You know, when we get to Fort Grant all they'II do is hang us." "I'II tell you what." "Why don't you be real smart and use your head, you know and let us go?" "Just let us go." "We outnumber you three to one." "tell them we jumped you." "And the boys and I won't be around to call you a liar." "Get aboard, miller." "I can't get aboard because my hands are tied." "You gonna have to help me." "I said, get aboard." "You ain't never gonna get me alive to Fort Grant, boy." "Then I'II get you there dead, boy." "Get down, the horses need rest." "Start walking." "Get aboard, miller." "kill me." "kill me!" "KiII--!" "please." "please, I didn't set out to touch her." "I was drunk, full of rotgut whiskey." "I didn't know what I was doing." "please, my family!" "Take him away." "But no, please!" "My family!" "I didn't know what I was doing." "samuel Dodd." "Charge: whiskey peddling." "Here, Your Honor." "Court's adjourned." "8:00 tomorrow morning." "AII rise until His Honor has left the courtroom." "The sheriff in Red Creek wired you were bringing three killers in." "That was over two days ago." "I near gave you up for dead." "You're a damn fool, Cooper." "A bloody damn fool, and the best there is." "You hear that?" "Wake up, you godforsaken people, you!" "The best there is, this man here, that works for you our country, the best country there is because of men like marshal Jed Cooper!" "I'm proud of you." "They're gonna hear about this in Washington." "Across the length of this nation, they'II know the name Jed Cooper." "Now, what have you got to say about that, boy?" "Anything else I can do for you, marshal?" "Good Lord, you bring back half of these, you'II have a wagon load." "well, you know me, judge." "I Iike a Iot of company." "How long you figure it'II take?" "Oh, six, seven weeks, give or take a month." "Come in." "well, well, well." "Morning." "The prodigal returneth from a fate worse than death." "Was that your idea?" "Since the row happened to be the closest haven and since you didn't appear to need the doctor...." "well, I'II be on my way." "See, you, Jed." "AII right, Hays." "Aside from the girl who served me breakfast I didn't see anybody else I remembered." "Do I owe them a bill?" "Of course." "Put it on your expense account." "Under what?" "You're gonna make me one hell of a lawman." "One hell of a lawman." "Judge, about those three I brought in" "AII taken care of." "I don't think they spent as pleasant an evening as you." "I want to talk to you about the two boys, Ben and billy Joe." "Oh, later." "Write it down when you've got time." "I wanted to say, as long as I'm here only miller's to be charged with murder." "If it wasn't for those boys, I might not have made it." "miller tried to kill me, and if those boys had pitched in" "Did they pitch in to help you subdue miller?" "well, no, but" "Write it in your report." "Hey, marshal, if you catch a whiskey peddIer let him go and bring the whiskey back this time." "Hey!" "Mind if I call up that señorita of yours?" "I hear they got some real wicked women in Los Gatos." "Catch us a few." "So long, Nate." "Good hunting!" "bliss is dead." "bliss?" "What happened?" "He went to pick up one of the walker boys out of EImwood jail." "The walker clan, all seven of them, were waiting." "They shot him down right in the middle of the street." "Not a soul in elmwood lifted a hand to help him." "I owed my Iife to bliss." "He was a man with a backbone, a lawman." "Won't be easy to fill his shoes." "No, it won't." "well, I better get on back to Red Creek." "Red Creek?" "When the local sheriff wired you he didn't tell you I got one of the men who tried to lynch me." "I was going after the rest when this came up." "The man you arrested?" "Name's Stone." "He's in jail." "That ought to hold him till you're finished here." "Finished here?" "Testifying." "Testifying?" "When?" "Boy, I've got a backlog of cases built up from here to Sunday." "I have a prisoner over in that cardboard jail and the sheriff guarding him's got a bad back" "You'II get back, Cooper." "You'II get back when I tell you you're free to go!" "Cooper!" "You can be the best I've ever had, if you remember this:" "You work for the government." "You work for justice." "Come in." "rachel." "Excuse me, judge." "I heard there were three new prisoners." "Yes." "marshal, why don't you take Miss Warren to the cell block?" "Two of them are just boys." "old enough to rustle cattle." "You want them to hang?" "I just want them to get a fair trial." "Who do you want to hang?" "We all have our ghosts, marshal." "You hunt your way I hunt mine." "AII right, you claim you didn't pull the trigger." "Let's forget about the killings." "RustIing is a hanging offense and they are all guilty!" "AII three of them." "No matter whose idea it was, they're all guilty!" "That's the Iaw!" "Object!" "Sustained." "You, sir." "You will elicit facts from the witness." "I will tell the jury what's the Iaw." "Yes, sir." "No more questions, Your Honor." "Jury, disregard the prosecution's remarks concerning the Iaw." "AII right, son." "You may step down." "call your next witness." "marshal Jedediah Cooper." "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, so help you God?" "I do." "marshal." "At the time of their apprehension, did any of these men deny their guilt?" "No, but on the trail back here" "marshal." "We're not interested in the trip back to Fort Grant." "The whole court, the whole territory is grateful." "Something that happened on the trail has a bearing on the case." "Something that leads you to believe one or all three of them are innocent?" "well, of murder, yes." "You see, Ben and billy Joe told me" "marshal, this court is not concerned with hearsay evidence." "This court requires facts." "The defendants, all three, are charged with murder and rustling." "Facts." "only that concerns this court." "I thought it was concerned with justice." "Justice is my province, marshal." "Mine and mine alone." "Confine yourself to giving direct answers or find yourself in contempt." "One of them is 1 8, the other's 1 6." "That'II cost you $1 0." "Neither's been in trouble before." "$20!" "If not for them, I wouldn't be here." "$30!" "One more word, you'II spend 30 days in the hole!" "Do you have any further questions for this witness?" "No more questions, Your Honor." "Then you may step down, marshal." "Yeah?" "Sheriff Ray CaIhoun, Red Creek." "I recognize you." "I want to congratulate you on bringing in those rustIers." "You rode here from Red Creek, bad back and all, just to tell me that?" "No." "Stone's dead." "What happened, CaIhoun?" "It didn't make no sense, him sitting in that cell going crazy." "A town without no blacksmith." "He promised if I'd let him out daily for a couple of hours to work he'd come back to his cell each night." "And he did." "He came back every night but one." "I rode out to his home a home where I had many a dinner." "A home of a friend." "I had to take him and put him in his cell at gunpoint." "He made a break for it." "I tried to shoot low, but I'm not very good at that." "You paid 800 to the skunk who murdered the Johansons, sold you their herd." "That's right." "How much did you get back when they were caught?" "eleven dollars and forty cents." "There's 800 in this envelope." "It's yours." "Or you can keep the hundred head." "Prime, every one of them." "I don't have much use for cattle these days." "Here's 1 0." "Keep it." "hold it." "eleven dollars and 40 cents." "The aggravation they caused me." "You take that bad back of yours .over to Red Creek and tell them we're even money-wise." "So it's no deal." "He figures you still owe him for a lynching." "I told you." "You never should have offered him the money." "AII right." "Now that makes three mistakes we made:" "The money we hung an innocent man and we didn't finish the job." "We can't undo the first two but we can still finish the job." "I didn't hear that, Cap'n wilson." "I didn't hear none of it." "I'm riding back to Red Creek." "Are you coming with me?" "charley you been with me better than five years." "Good years, cap'n." "Maybe if it was my land I was fighting to hold." "No, cap'n." "If that marshal wants CharIey BIackfoot, he'II have to find him." "Sorry, Cap'n wilson." "Maddow, you're damn near my age." "You wouldn't last six months in jail." "I don't intend to try to." "I can still ride pretty good." "You can shoot even better." "Sorry, cap'n." "Maddow, he'II come after you." "He'II keep coming." "You'II be nothing but an animal." "An animal running scared." "Sorry, cap'n." "How about you two?" "You sure?" "Tommy?" "It was wrong to hang that man." "We all know it now." "I was hoping we could square it with him." "My wife, she was kind of hoping it too." "Loomis?" "I'm 37, 38." "I don't rightly know for sure." "Started drifting when I was just a kid." "These last few years working for you it's the first home I ever knew." "Saved a few dollars thinking of finding myself a woman staking out a few acres of my own when this come up." "You mean, when I brought it up." "You didn't force me to ride with you, cap'n." "Thought we was doing the right thing." "We was." "Hanging the wrong man don't change that." "Five years, even ten you two can survive it and still come out to live a life." "What kind, cap'n?" "I been a free man." "That's the only kind of Iife I know." "My wife, thelma, she's a young woman." "She wants kids and a family." "Even if I asked her to wait for me even if she said she would I couldn't be sure." "Let's ride, gentlemen." "Hey, where's the hotel?" "Down the street, but keep going." "It's full." "The whole town's full for the hangings." "Hear they got tents off the boondocks." "well, thank you kindly." "Giddap!" "Who is it?" "Open up!" "I came here to tell you about the biggest thing in this territory." "Bigger than statehood." "people showing up by the wagon-fuIIs, all just to see your lousy hanging." "That's enough, Cooper." "To see your circus." "A six-man hanging." "I said that's enough!" "You stink of whiskey." "Go to your room, Iie down, sleep it off." "You're Iynching those boys." "Why?" "Why?" "Because of you, Cooper." "Because of that beautiful, that magnificent journey you took to bring three killers to justice." "Because if the Iaw didn't, the next posse would say:" ""Hang 'em high." "No justice in Fort Grant!"" "If there's no justice here, there's no statehood for this territory." "I don't care how you slice it." "If it's nine men on the plain with a dirty rope or a judge in front of the American flag." "Those boys are gonna be just as dead as if they'd been lynched." "That's right, Cooper, just as dead." "But not lynched." "They'II have been judged." "If you can't see the difference, take off that star, right now!" "Not just yet, Your Honor." "Yes, we'll gather at the river" "The beautiful, the beautiful river" "Gather with the saints at the river" "That flows by the throne of God" "Shall we gather at the river" "Get your cold beer here, sarsaparilla for the kiddies." "PretzeIs, licorice sticks!" "Get your cold beer." "rachel, drapes can wait." "Sure you won't change your mind?" "Sophie, I told you before there's only one hanging I'm interested in." "Soon our pilgrimage will cease" "Soon our happy hearts will quiver" "With the melody of peace" "The beautiful, the beautiful river" "Gather with the saints at the river" "That flows by the throne of God" "Hey!" "SarsapariIIa for the kiddies!" "cold beer here." "cold beer!" "SarsapariIIa for the kiddies." "PretzeIs, licorice." "cold beer." "Get your cold beer right here!" "Here's your change." "cold beer." "cold beer." "Here you are, young lady." "Hey, what are you doing?" "marshal, please." "Can't you see me tomorrow?" "I don't want to miss the hanging!" "And the Lord said, "acknowledge thy sins unto me." "Confess thy iniquities unto the Lord, and He will forgive thee thy sins."" "Now, preacher?" "Patience, patience." ""blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." "But his delight is in the Iaw of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night." "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in His season." "His leaf shall not wither and whatever he doeth shall prosper." Amen." "We will now sing "Rock of Ages."" "Get your cold beer and sarsaparilla for the kiddies." "Rock of Ages" "Cleft for me" "Let me hide" "Myself in Thee" "Let the water" "And the blood" "From Thy wound" "Let me hide myself in Thee" "You have last requests?" "You have last requests?" "I'd sure like me a chaw of tobacco." "What's the matter?" "Afraid I'II choke and cheat you out of your hanging fee?" "Put it in my pocket." "Now, preacher?" "You may say your piece." "You are now looking for the Iast time at the mortal body of Francis EIroy Duffy." "Born of John and Edna Duffy." "You have last requests?" "Good, God-fearing folk, who raised me up to be a good man." "Ben?" "A good Christian." "Bye, Ben." "Bye." "I was a good Christian." "A good husband to my beloved wife." "A good father to my children whom I leave behind hoping that they and all of you..." "...will learn..." "You have last requests?" "...this here lesson which I leave you with." "When you take the devil into your mouth you are doomed!" "For he is Iying there in wait for you inside that bottle of whiskey waiting for you to take him into your mouth..." "You have last requests?" "...waiting to get into your guts..." "tell him to shut up and get it over." "...where he can do his devil's work." "Liquor is the most foul and evil thing in this here world." "It destroyed good men like myself." "It will destroy you too." "You have last requests?" "Beer isn't much better." "only slower and cheaper." "No!" "So take these words of advice and remember, you heard them from a poor sinner got no more cause to lie because he's going to meet his Maker." "And now he's ready." "That's all I've got to say." "will you all bow your heads for one final prayer?" "May God have mercy on their poor souls as He has upon all the faithful departed." "Amen." "Amen." "Dear God!" "AII right, all right, I'm coming." "Judge Fenton." "I come to praise, not close you down." "I thought maybe you came to" "Now, Sophie." "Now at Ieast I know what it takes to get you in here." "How is he this morning?" "Never seen a man who has more right to be dead." "I've got to see him right now." "Check with rachel." "She's still in charge." "She stayed all night?" "You heard doc." "If rachel hadn't stopped the bleeding...." "Somebody had to stay." "My girls volunteered." "rachel wouldn't have it." "Honeymoon suite at the head of the stairs." "Thanks, Sophie." "Good morning, judge." "Dear." "Anything I can do for you?" "No, thank you." "It's all right, judge." "I'm just about finished." "I heard about what you did, rachel." "I'm grateful." "Why don't you sit down?" "Can I get you something?" "No, thank you." "I shouldn't have done this." "I may never get up again." "Who did it, Jed?" "Much as you want them, Jed, I want them more." "I need them." "It's bad enough when a deputy gets bushwhacked on some lonely trail but here in Fort Grant, in broad daylight we can't let them get away with that." "Now, who did it?" "I'II go after them myself." "For the love of God, son!" "God's got nothing to do with it." "I'II take care of them." "Want me to take over?" "No." "Thank you." "You could use a good night's sleep." "AII right, but one of these days, he's gonna get better and you're gonna have a man on your hands." "You're perspiring." "Don't drink your milk so fast." "You look tired." "Are you all right?" "You know you're a nag?" "A very pretty one, but a nag." "What was that for?" "Just thanks." "You're welcome." "I'II get some salt for the eggs." "Forget the salt." "please." "please don't." "Yeah." "well, I guess...." "I guess my Iife isn't worth two kisses." "please." "I'm sorry." "What's the matter?" "I was married back in Denver." "His name was paul." "He was a doctor, and very fine man." "He used to say this was his place." "This was where doctors were needed." "One night after we'd camped we sat around the fire, talking husband-and-wife talk about how many children we were going to have and what a wonderful life we'd have to have together." "And then they came." "Two men on horseback." "Just some food." "Just to share our food." "That's all they wanted." "Then one of them put his hand on me and there was a shot and paul was dead." "They just left him there, Iying beside me on the ground, dead." "And they took me and took me, and took me...." "The tumbleweed wagon the jail you're looking for those men?" "What happens when you find them?" "Or if you don't find them?" "Ever?" "We better hurry." "It's going to storm." "Miss rachel, where do you want to put these blankets?" "What is it?" "Where do you want these blankets?" "Put them in the back someplace." "Yes, ma'am." "Hi, marshal!" "You asked me once whether I couId ever stop looking." "I think now, I can." "Can you?" "well, rachel, there's a difference." "You see, I'm not looking for ghosts." "The end of my trail is Red Creek." "Maybe not." "What then?" "I don't know." "I think we got him." "I don't know." "The dog or the shot, either one." "Why ain't that dog yapping?" "If the marshal was alive, wouldn't the dog yap?" "I told you I didn't know but I aim to find out." "No!" "Let him come to us." "No, cap'n." "I've waited on him long enough." "Why don't he move?" "Tommy!" "Drop it!" "Dead." "Cap'n wilson, Tommy, Loomis." "AII of them dead." "AII except Maddow, blackfoot and you, Jenkins." "Count me dead, too." "I just want to say that I don't hold you to blame for what that's worth." "It's worth something." "So that's how it is, huh?" "That rachel lit a fire in you with that rich body of hers." "You lit a fire in each other." "Now you'II get married, raise cattle and kids." "devil take the rest of the world." "Maybe." "Used the Iaw and a badge to heal that scar on your neck." "How many men will you hang to heal your scars?" "Go to hell." "I've already been there." "In your wagon and in that hole you call a jail." "Jenkins is gonna die there." "Is he sick?" "He's dying." "I'II get a doctor for him." "Let him go!" "So he can find innocent men to lynch?" "He's an old man." "well, and that was an old rope he helped put around your neck." "But it came damn near to killing you." "What's the matter with you, Cooper?" "Got him on your conscience?" "Think I judged him too harshly?" "Used him like a piece of kindling for my fire of justice?" "That's inevitable when there's only one man with the power of final justice over a territory five times the size of most states." "Mistakes, I've made them, Cooper, and don't you doubt it." "Don't doubt there are times in that judgment seat I've wished and prayed that there was someone standing between me and God almighty." "Someone with the power to say, "You're wrong." "You've made a mistake in law, this man deserves another trial him a reprieve, and this man is innocent!"" "But until this territory becomes a state with a governor and a state court of appeals I'm the Iaw here." "AII the Iaw." "If you don't like it, cuss me till hell freezes over." "Or you can join me, Cooper." "Even fight me." "help me turn this territory into a state where no one man calls himself the Iaw." "I want that old man pardoned." "You pick up your badge." "Tonight, right now." "Take this down, give it to one of the guards down there." "If there are any questions, tell them to see me." "There'II be no questions." "Cooper, CharIey BIackfoot was seen in the town of Ridgeway." "I got two unfilled warrants here BIackfoot and Maddow." "The law still wants them."