The Ballad of Frankie Silver

D. Newland

“It’s a fine letter, Mr. Newland,” I said, for if I helped him with its phrasing or altered his misspellings, I would have had a hand in the document, which I did not feel able to do. “I hope it may achieve its purpose.”

He nodded happily. “The petition is done as well. You can see it has a goodly number of names on it. Some lawyers, and four of the jurors. The governor ought to sit up and take note of that.” He said no more, but he watched me expectantly.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Newland,” I muttered at last. I felt my cheeks redden as I spoke. “I do not feel able to add my name to the list of supporters. I do not know the circumstances of Charles Silver’s death, and so I cannot say if his widow should go free or not.”

Colonel Newland eyed me sadly. “You are dealing in justice, Mr. Gaither,” he said. “I am dealing in mercy. I hope some day-before it is too late-you find that Mrs. Silver is deserving of both.”

Burgess Gaither

SENTENCING

On the fourth Monday in September, the Superior Court of Burke County convened to hear the fall docket of cases. One minor matter in terms of the court’s time, but uppermost in the mind of Morganton, was the sentencing of the convicted murderess Frankie Silver. Her time was drawing nigh, and already people were talking of the crowds that would flock to town for the execution. No woman had ever been hanged before in Burke County, or indeed anywhere that we had ever heard of, and excitement was running high at the prospect of such a cruel yet extraordinary spectacle. No traveling circus or tent revival meeting could rival the thrill of watching a pretty young woman die at the end of a rope, or so the local pundits said in the tavern. I seemed to be the only one present who had no wish to see such a dreadful event, but I kept my opinions to myself.

This was Will Butler’s last Superior Court as sheriff. A county election would be held in November in conjunction with the presidential election and various statewide offices, and since sheriffs are not permitted to serve consecutive terms in North Carolina, Butler was already preparing to leave. He looked every inch a gentleman as he entered the courtroom that brisk autumn morning in a russet-colored waistcoat and shining brown boots, but his expression was that of a worried man, and I wondered what was amiss.

The courtroom was not as packed with spectators as it had been for the trial of Frankie Silver, for no momentous crimes were set to be tried and no sensational testimony was in the offing, but since no court day goes unmarked by the curious and the scandalmongers, there was no shortage of spectators for the proceedings.

Gabriel Presnell brought the prisoner in through the great double doors, and my first thought upon seeing her was that her borrowed dress fit better now. Her collarbone, sharp as a split rail, no longer protruded above the bodice of the garment, and she was not swallowed in a shroud of blue fabric as she had been last spring. The months of incarceration had left her rested and less gaunt than I had seen her at her trial.She eats better in prison than she did at home, I thought, and this saddened me.

I reminded myself that this woman had killed her husband without pity or remorse, and that she had cruelly butchered his body and left it as carrion for the scavengers of the sky and forest. It is a crime past human forgiveness; only divine mercy could pardon such a sin. But how odd that the wickedness had left no mark upon her person: there was no hardness in her features, no coldness of eye or scowl of unrepentant scorn. Her skin still held the blush of the summer sun, and her pale hair was bound up into a knot at the nape of her neck, framing her face with wings of gold. I remembered John Milton’s poemParadise Lost, wherein Satan is described as the most beautiful of all the angels. Surely this is Milton’s parable made flesh, I thought, but I could not wring any outrage from my heart, only regret and pity for a frightened girl who would never see her child again. Nearly a year had passed since the death of Charlie Silver, a man I had never even seen. It is easy to forget the victim when he is a stranger; it is especially easy to forget him when the accused is a forlorn and fragile creature who seems incapable of evil. Perhaps this is why the law is so inflexible in its strictures on punishment for those convicted of murder. The blindness of Justice protects us lesser mortals from the weakness of pity.

The prisoner followed the constable into the courtroom with the same careful detachment that I had seen before, but when Thomas Wilson rose to greet her, she shrank back and I saw her eyes widen in surprise. An instant later her face was expressionless again, and she nodded to him with grave courtesy, but as the attorney turned to sit down again, I saw her eyes searching the courtroom. I did not think she was seeking the faces of her family.

Nicholas Woodfin is not here,I wanted to tell her.He lives in Asheville, a long way from here, and he had no paying cases before the court here today. Besides, an attorney is not really needed at a sentencing hearing. There is nothing to be argued now.

I saw her set her lips in a tight line, and I knew that she would not ask for her erstwhile champion, not even if they put the rope around her neck this very minute, but I wished that someone would explain the circumstances to her.

Thomas Wilson was a local attorney. He had attended this session of Superior Court because he had other clients to represent, but out of courtesy, or perhaps sympathy for this poor lost girl, he came to stand by her side for the formal delivery of the death sentence, so that she might have an arm to lean on if she needed it, or someone to comfort her in her hour of need. I was glad to see Wilson there, an unsmiling scarecrow in a black suit, but I liked him all the better for it. What a cruel thing it would be to stand up all alone among strangers to hear your death sentence passed.

I glanced about the courtroom. Although the hour of nine was already upon us, the judge had not yet appeared, which meant that we all must wait upon his pleasure with but little to do. I left the day’s notes and papers at my desk and strolled over to Wilson, extending my hand as if it had been days since I had seen him instead of hours.

“Good morning, sir! I hope you and Mrs. Wilson are keeping well.”

“Tolerable,” said Wilson. A flicker of bewilderment crossed his face at my sudden effusiveness, but he shook my hand with perfect civility.

I inclined my head in the direction of Mrs. Silver to acknowledge her presence. To do more, I felt, would be unseemly, given the sad purpose for which we were assembled. She stared back at me without interest for a moment, and then she looked away, directing her gaze to the courtroom window, as she had throughout most of the trial.

“What do you hear from Mr. Woodfin these days?” I asked Thomas Wilson. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shoulders stiffen, and although she looked away quickly, I knew she was listening now.

“Nicholas Woodfin?” Wilson blinked, wondering no doubt what had possessed me to inquire of him. “Why, I believe that he is well. I have not heard otherwise.”

“Nor have I,” I said heartily for the prisoner’s benefit. “No doubt he is very busy with his legal practice these days, for he is an excellent trial lawyer. I think that we shall not see him today, though. I have the court docket, and I know that none of those who stand trial here today are represented by him.” I paused to make sure my words had sunk in. “For those who have already been convicted, no doubt Mr. Woodfin can help them more effectively outside the courtroom, with his letters and his influence.”

“No doubt,” said Wilson with a trace of asperity. “Good day, then.” Thomas Wilson is an able lawyer, but not much given to subtlety, and I am sure he thought my conversation was the babble of an eccentric. His client understood, though, for she gave me the faintest smile, and I took my leave of them.

I resumed my place at the front of the courtroom, and we waited for the circuit judge. That dour Scotsman John R. Donnell, who had presided over the trial of Frankie Silver, had served out his tenure in the Western District, and he had been replaced by a newly designated judge who was no stranger to the far reaches of the piedmont: Mr. David Lowry Swain of Asheville. I had never met him, but I knew him by reputation as an able and ambitious man. In anticipation of his visit to Morganton, I had overheard several persons in town