"Justy, one of us is gonna get hurt if you go on holding that gun with your hand shaking like that." "You hold it right there." "I'm gonna get you some coffee." "My usual box at the opera tonight." "Yes, Mr. Paladin." "I think you're the man I've been looking for." "Paladin?" "This Paladin?" "If I may have a moment or two of your time, Mr. Paladin," "I've been sent to take a deposition from you in regard to the Groton Gang raid at Coffinville." "Well, that's at least ten years ago." "Well, 11 years and three months to be exact." "Frank Groton was the only member of the gang who escaped that day, and our records show that while he was attempting to waylay the Laredo stage, you, um, how shall I say it?" "You, uh..." "Killed him." "Exactly." "I have it all down here, Mr. Paladin, if you'll be good enough to attest to it by affixing your signature." "Well, perhaps you can tell me why this is all being raised now." "Well, uh, a minor error seems to have come to light in the case." "Regrettable of course, but those things do happen even under the most efficient administration." "And I might say that as far as efficiency is concerned, the Bureau of Territorial Records is..." "Uh, well..." "I'm certain that it is, yes." "But about the minor regrettable error?" "Oh, well, the only member of the Groton Gang taken alive at Coffinville was the youngest brother Justin." "It seems he was, um, 13 years old at the time." "The court sentenced him to hang, after he reached the age of 21, of course." "He should have been executed over three years ago, but the file on the case was misplaced." "And the only reason it came to light was that Justin Groton's file had been misplaced." "Exactly." "And you find that amusing?" "Well, all I want to do is close the file on him." "Well, how?" "Well, by getting him properly hanged, of course." "Hmm." "I'll be leaving for Coffinville." "The deposition, Mr. Paladin..." "No need to sign that." "I shouldn't be gone more than two weeks." "Then you won't be going to the opera tonight?" "No... not tonight." "Having trouble?" "Yes, this trace keeps slipping off." "I seem to have lost a strap." "You wouldn't, uh, by any chance just happen to be a harness maker, would you?" "No, I wouldn't happen to be." "Well..." "That doesn't look too serious to me." "Maybe that'll hold it until you can buy another keeper." "Well, thank you." "May I return the favor by offering you a lift?" "That is, if you're going my way." "Headed for Coffinville." "So am I." "In that case, you have just acquired a passenger." "Fine." "Whoa." "Well, Judge, I thank you." "Now that you're assigned to this district, we'll be meeting again and I'll look forward to it." "Well, I'm here on a pro tem basis." "Actually, I'm still attached to the First Judicial District of Boston." "Well, I hope you're enjoying the difference in the scenery, if not the difference in the law." "The law admits of no such difference." "The law is uniform, impartial and incorruptible." "And now if you'll pardon me," "I have a hearing to prepare for." "Yes, I know." "Excuse me, could you tell me where I might, uh, find Sheriff Carlson?" "Over there to the jail most times." "You the circuit judge come for the hearing on the Groton boy?" "You're wasting your time now." "I am?" "Why?" "He broke jail." "Posse's out hunting him down now." "You part of the posse?" "No." "Don't move, mister." "I don't want to hurt you none." "Well, one of us is bound to get hurt you keep holding that shotgun on me, your hand shaking like that." "Just keep back." "You hungry?" "Want some beans?" "Just keep back, and..." "and don't try mixing me up." "I told you once, I don't want to hurt you none." "Well, what do you want?" "I don't know exactly now, except that I had to get clear." "Just started thumping in my brain till-till I couldn't think about nothing else." "Except that I didn't think it'd be so..." "lonely and empty-like." "What do you keep doing that for?" "You're going to force me till I've got no choice left but to shoot." "And I will!" "I swear I will!" "'Cause I'm gonna keep going now that I started." "Well, whichever way you go, you're gonna need a horse, aren't you?" "That's right." "All right, sit down, Justin." "Sit down." "What are you gonna do with me?" "Well, first, I'm gonna get you some beans." "Ain't that pure luck, though?" "Finding a leaf right off that I don't have in my collection?" "Except that I don't know what it is." "That's Mentha piperita; peppermint." "I'm the sheriff from Coffinville." "I'll take over now." "All right." "What'd you have to go running off for, Justy?" "You just made things worse for yourself, that's all." "Yes, sir, I guess I did." "Well, it's done now." "You'll just have to face up and go back." "What's the rush to take him back?" "We can take care of things out here, ain't that right?" "Keel, you got no official capacity, so you'd better just stay out of it." "Now that depends on how you look at it." "I helped hang two Grotons, and I'm gonna see that he gets the same." "Just stay right up on that horse, mister." "Sheriff, I'll bring the prisoner in." "You go on back to town with your posse." "Who are you, mister?" "My name's Paladin." "And you better turn that horse around and move him." "I told you something'd happen." "Harboring a Groton when we should have strung him up the day we caught him." "That man's a gunman." "That's only gonna bring..." "All right, Justy, stay up here." "Come on." "Now you ain't gonna give us no more trouble, are you, Justy?" "No." "I-I'll just stay right here and fix my leaf up." "I didn't mean to cause you no trouble, but I kept remembering Jim and Harry." "They were my brothers." "Right through there." "I can remember... crawling up on the bunk and... and watching them hung." "It was like they seen me and was trying to call out to me." "That's an awful unkindly way for a man to die." "Where's the judge now?" "Across the street to the hotel, getting ready for the hearing." "Oh, Mr. Paladin." "Your Honor, in view of the spirit those men represent, do you think this is really the time or the place to hear the case of Justy Groton?" "Well, I'm aware there are a few agitators, but I see no reason for honoring a change-of-venue motion nor for ordering a delay for that reason." "Mr. Justice, this is not Boston." "Mr. Paladin, there are just two prerequisites for the administration of justice here or in Boston or at any other place:" "to know the law thoroughly and to pass on it impartially and to the letter." "Now, uh, Mr. Clerk, would you prepare to convene the hearing?" "Will you excuse me?" "Well, I gotta say that at first," "Justy here was pretty hard to handle, all right." "He'd kick and scream at anybody that'd come near him." "He wouldn't eat nothing, and he wouldn't say nothing, except how he was going to pay everybody back for hanging his brothers." "You made such statements as you just heard the sheriff testify to?" "Well, m-maybe I did, I guess, but it's been so long now, I-I don't remember much." "Uh, he never talked like that again." "As a matter of fact, he didn't hardly say nothing for more than a year." "He'd just sit on his bunk and stare off." "Then to keep from going off his head, I guess, he-he started collecting the leaves that would blow through his cell window." "Kind of gave him something to live for, you might say." "Then he wasn't no trouble at all." "Uh, leastways, until he took it into his head to run off." "This court is precluded from ruling upon any previously determined issues in this case." "It is the province of this court to recommend clemency to the governor general of the territory." "However, following accepted precedents, a prisoner's attempt to escape mitigates against any such clemency." "Therefore, unless there is further pertinent testimony to be heard, this court shall now, as set forth in the federal criminal code, fix a new date of execution, not to exceed 90 days from this date, nor less than 30." "Your Honor..." "I said "pertinent testimony," Mr. Paladin." "Your Honor, Justin Groton has spent 11 years, almost half his life, in a cell." "That's pertinent, isn't it?" "Isn't that enough punishment to pay for any crime he could conceivably have committed at the age of 13?" "It is not and it cannot be pertinent in the eyes of the law." "This court has no jurisdiction over the original sentence in this case." "It must be accepted a priori." "That is the law, Mr. Paladin." "And it must be accepted as it is set down." "Would you have sentenced him to death?" "Would you have hung a 13-year-old boy to teach him a lesson?" "That alters nothing." "Such a sentence was passed, and this court must abide by its determination." "Passed by whom?" "By reasonable, calm men?" "No, sir." "That sentence was passed and imposed by a town choked with hate." "Shut him up and get on with the sentence." "I will have silence, or I shall issue a contempt citation." "Hate just like that, Your Honor." "Sure, there was hate." "And why not?" "The Grotons raided this town twice over before we set a trap for them." "They burned." "They looted." "They killed." "Why, a life to one of them was no more than a blade of dry grass." "I had half papers on a mine here." "I'd have been clear of this place, with the vein still running thick and money in my pockets, if the Grotons hadn't stolen my payroll." "If you're going to let a gunman scare you out of doing your duty, then you ain't much of a judge." "I done my sworn duty when I passed judgment on his brothers." "And I'd have seen him swinging 11 years ago if the other two selectmen hadn't voted me down." "You sat as a judge?" "That's right." "Me and the other miners on the Vigilance Committee." "Your Honor, Justin Groton was convicted by a kangaroo court, a court of miners." "In effect, this boy has never been tried." "While it appears to have been an irregular procedure, still it has a quasi-legal basis." "And since the statute of limitations does not apply to a capital case..." "All right." "All right, Your Honor." "Now, you say you set a trap for the Grotons." "That's right." "And sprung it before they got into town." "Then any capital crime which was committed was committed before this raid." "Justy..." "Did you ever kill anyone?" "No, sir!" "I never did." "I swear it!" "He was with them, wasn't he?" "Anyway, he'd have done his share of killing, just like his brothers did if we hadn't locked him up." "Did he kill anyone?" "Did he?" "No." "Your point is very well taken, Mr. Paladin." "This court rules that since no capital crime was committed," "Justin Groton may not now be brought to the bar." "Sheriff, release the prisoner." "You can't do that!" "He's a Groton!" "Y-Y-You mean free?" "J-Just-Just free?" "Justin Groton, you are conditionally paroled to the present jurisdiction- that is, the town and environs of Coffinville- until such time as the legal certification of this ruling can be issued." "The same blood runs in his veins as in all the other Grotons'." "The only difference is they're dead and can't pick up a gun." "Clerk, clear the court." "Any of you remember here what the Grotons did 11 years ago?" "Well, I remember and I don't need no eastern city judge to tell me how to protect my womenfolk!" "Clear the court!" "What about the rest of you?" "Clear the court!" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "You got to let me in!" "I'm free!" "I'm free!" "The judge said so!" "I'm free!" "I'm free!" "You got to let me in." "I'm free!" "Help!" "What are we waiting for?" "You ain't gonna shoot nobody, Sheriff." "So put that gun away." "Go on back to your business, now, all of you!" "Get away from him!" "Now, I'm going to tell you one more time to get away from him!" "No." "They shouldn't have done that to him." "He didn't do anything to make them hurt him like that." "Groton, can you hear me?" "You ain't always going to have a gunman around to protect you." "My brother told me." "He said, "Kill 'em!"" "Kill 'em or they'll kill me." "What good is the law?" "He says I'm free, but I'm not!" "I can't even buy a penny licorice!" "What kind of men are you?" "You're all in contempt of court." "I'll see that you" "You ain't gonna see nothing." "Let's go get him." "I'll kill anybody that comes near me!" "Justy, put that gun down!" "If you kill someone, Justin, I can't help you." "Judge, this is indeed not Boston." "Now, will you let me have it?" "Now, you people, unless you're interested in seeing five dead men in the middle of this street, you stay where you are." "Justy!" "Keep back!" "Well, Justy, this is a different kind of a court." "You can be your own judge and jury now." "If Keel was right about you, all you have to do to prove it is pull the trigger." "It was... just..." "He said I was free." "You heard him." "But freedom doesn't come in a book." "There's no writ, no code, no citation that can guarantee it." "Then how?" "I don't know." "But I do know you have to keep fighting people like that without using their ways." "Until somehow, someday maybe you can tear away the scales of blindness." "¶ "Have gun will travel," reads the card of a man ¶" "¶ A knight without armor in a savage land ¶" "¶ His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind ¶" "¶ A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin ¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?" "¶" "¶ Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home. ¶"