“Jury, how do you find the defendant?” Marshal Cummins asked the jury.
“Guilty!” they all yelled as one.
“So say you one, so say you all?” Cummins asked.
“Yeah, that’s what we all say,” one of the jurors said. He looked at the others. “Anyone say anything different?”
There were no dissensions.
“Mr. Matt Jensen, you have been found guilty of murder, and are sentenced to hang.”
“I’ll get a rope,” Hayes shouted.
“Yeah, let’s string the son of a bitch up right here, in front of the saloon for the whole town to see!” Another added.
“No!” Cummins replied. “I told you, we are going to do this legal.” The marshal looked at Matt. “You’ll be put on tonight’s train and taken to the territorial prison in Yuma, where the execution will be carried out.”
“Who are you going to send with him?” Hayes asked.
“Why? Are you volunteerin’?” Cummins replied.
“Yeah, I’ll see to it that the son of a bitch gets to Yuma.”
“Hayes, you was the one wantin’ to string him up now. I don’t know if I can trust you to get him there safe.”
“I’ll get him there,” Hayes said. “You got my word.”
Chapter Five
“I’m not going to let you put a convicted murderer in the same car as paying passengers,” the station agent said.
“Come on, Randall, he’s been tried, all legal, and we got to get him to Yuma to hang,” Hayes said. “I ain’t goin’ to trust him on a horse, and we can’t walk all the way.”
Randall drummed his fingers on the counter for a moment, then sighed. “I suppose you two can ride in the express car,” he said.
“The express car? Yeah, all right, that’ll be fine. We’ll ride in the express car.” Hayes looked over at Matt, who had said nothing from the moment the marshal had put him in shackles.
“All right, Mr. Killer Man,” Hayes said. “Take a seat out there in the waiting room. And don’t give me no trouble if you know what’s good for you.”
Matt’s ankles were shackled with just enough chain length to allow him to walk at a slow shuffle. He was also shackled by the wrists.
There were four other people waiting for the train, the assembly consisting of a mother and her two children and a salesman. One of the children, a young girl of about five, smiled at Matt as Hayes led him out into the waiting room.
“We’re going back home,” the little girl said to Matt. “We came here to see my Aunt Suzie. I’m named after my Aunt Suzie.”
“Suzie!” her mother called. “Get back over here and leave that man alone.”
“Mama, why is he wearing chains like that?” a boy of about seven asked.
“Jerry, get back over here and sit down,” the mother said, without answering his question.
Even before the train arrived, Emma Dawkins and her young son, Timmy, were just down the street from the depot, standing in front of small, brick building, looking at a sign.
ROBERT DEMPSTER.
“What are we doing here, Mama?” Timmy asked.
“This man is a lawyer,” Emma said. “I want you to tell him what you saw.”
Pushing open the door, Emma stepped inside. At first, she thought the office was empty, so she called out.
“Hello? Anybody here?”
Dempster came in from the back room.
“I’m here,” he said. He looked at the woman. “You are Mrs. Dawkins, aren’t you? The dentist’s wife?”
“Yes,” Emma said.
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Dawkins?”
“My son and I were in Millie’s dress shop,” Emma said. “A few minutes ago, we saw Deputy Hayes come out of the saloon, with a man in shackles.”
“Yes, the man in shackles would be Matt Jensen.”
“Why is he in shackles?”
“Why? Because he has just been found guilty of murder,” Dempster said. “He is being sent by train to Yuma prison to be hanged.”
“For shooting Deputy Gillis?”
