Guthrie smiled broadly, then picked up the money, folded it over, and stuck it in his pocket.
“Mr. Quentin, for this much money, I’ll build a gallows that anyone would be proud to swing from.”
“Get started on it,” he said.
Guthrie got a significant part of the gallows built in one day, and when Kathleen York walked by it just before supper that evening, she was unable to suppress an involuntary shiver. Someone had already printed a sign, and the sign was prominently posted on the base of the gallows being built.
In one more week
On the 17th,
The Murderer of
POGUE QUINLIN
will be hung on These Gallows.
“Check that there trapdoor, Jude,” Guthrie called. “We need to make sure it don’t hang up none.”
The carpenter named Jude pulled a handle, and the trapdoor fell open with a loud clatter.
Kathleen jumped.
“Ha! Scare you did it, Miz York?” Jude called to the woman, who was headed toward the jail, carrying a cloth- covered tray.
Without answering, Kathleen stepped up onto the porch, then pushed the door open to step into the jailhouse.
“Miz York, you got no business bein’ here,” Marshal Dawson said as Kathleen York let herself in through the front door of the marshal’s office.
“Your prisoner has to eat, Marshal Dawson,” Kathleen said, holding up the tray to emphasize her comment.
“Yes, ma’am, I reckon so, but you didn’t have to bring it over yourself. I could’a sent my deputy over to get the food.”
“Yes, well, there is a little problem with you sending your deputy for the food.”
“Really? And what problem would that be?” Dawson asked.
“It seems that not all the food makes it back to the jail when Mr. Wilson comes for it,” Kathleen explained.
Dawson laughed out loud. “Well, now, you have to admit that that is your own fault there, Miz York,” he said. “Truth to tell, if you wasn’t such a good cook, Wilson wouldn’t be pilferin’ the food as he brings it over. What are you feedin’ him tonight?”
Kathleen neither answered, nor offered to show him what she was bringing, so Dawson removed the cloth cover himself. When he did, he saw two pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and biscuits. There was also a piece of apple pie, upon which had been melted a slice of cheese.
“Well, now, Miz York,” Dawson said. “That is some dinner.”
“This is leftovers from my special over at the cafe tonight,” Kathleen said.
“That may be,” Dawson said. “But I know damn well the town ain’t payin’ you enough meal money for a prisoner to eat like that. What are you plannin’ on doin’? Stickin’ us with a higher bill later on?”
“No need. The city pays ten cents for the meal, I won’t charge you a penny more,” Kathleen said.
“Then I don’t understand. Why the feast?”
“From what I understand, the poor man is going to be hung when the judge arrives,” Kathleen said.
“Yes, ma’am, you understand that right,” he said. “Soon as Judge McCabe gets here, we’ll hold the trial, then we’ll hang him, prob’ly that same day.” Marshal Dawson chuckled. “I reckon you seen that they are buildin’ gallows out front.”
“Yes, I saw it as I walked by,” Kathleen replied. “I don’t know why you decided to build it right in the middle of Front Street. That is a little gruesome, if you ask me.”
“It may be, but that’s where Mr. Quentin wanted it built.”
“And you do everything Quentin tells you to do?”
“Well, let’s be fair here, Miz York,” Marshal Dawson replied. “After all, it was Quentin’s boy who was murdered. And he’s the one paying for the scaffold, not the town. So I reckon he can have the prisoner hung just about anywhere he wants to.”
“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? The jury hasn’t found the young man guilty.”
Dawson laughed out loud. “The jury ain’t found him guilty, you say?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Well, the thing is, Miz York, that’s just what you might call a technicality. I know you didn’t come to Billy Ray’s buryin’, but iffen you had come, why, you would of heard Pogue warn ever’one that might serve on the jury that they better find this murder guilty.”
“That isn’t right,” Kathleen said. “You can’t order someone to find a person guilty. There has to be a trial, the jury has to listen to the case and weigh all the evidence, before they can decide guilt or innocence.”
Dawson laughed. “You know all about juries, do you?”
“I know what is right and what is wrong,” Kathleen replied.
“Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. This fella is as guilty as sin and ever’one in town knows that, so there ain’t no way the jury won’t find him guilty, no matter whether Quentin ordered them to or not.”
