by Alan Black
“Hi, scamp,” Art shouted at LillieBeth.
“Hello the wagon,” the girl shouted back.
Susanne was struck by how much Clayton Grissom looked like his matched set of Belgian draft horses pulling his wagon. She watched LillieBeth rub the horse’s noses as soon as they got close enough. The girl had to reach up to pet them, but she would have had to reach up to pet Grissom’s nose too.
Everyone could tell there was something wrong. Susanne was crying in Clare’s arms, but no one wanted to broach the subject. LillieBeth cleared her throat and said something to cover the silence. “What are you doing over this way? The river road is straighter.”
Clayton Grissom said, “Yes, Miss Hazkit, but the ridge road is still faster. Once you get up on the ridge, there isn’t near as much climb. Plus, this is not too much out of the way, since we have to stop by the new Hazkit place for Hoffman’s sake.”
Art said, “I don’t expect that team of yours would even break a sweat on the upgrade to Galena from the river with this light load. Still, I appreciate your coming around this way.” He jumped down from the wagon, leaned over and gave Clare a quick peck on the cheek, patted Susanne on the shoulder, then walked to the back of the wagon.
Passing LillieBeth, he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He touched the .38 revolver hanging from her shoulder holster. He gave her a quizzical look, but did not speak about it.
Art said, “I wanted to drop Ruth off. I rode her pretty hard last night and into the morning. She might rest some, but will be good to go and be a help to Naomi draggin’ the cart full of our goods over to our new place.”
He untied Ruth from the back of the wagon and walked her to the corral. He stripped the saddle off, setting it and the saddle blanket on the top rail rather than putting them in the shed. He looked askance at the three other saddles lined up on the rail.
Susanne could tell he was curious about having twice as many saddles as he thought they owned. She was curious herself. It was obvious LillieBeth was biting her lip to keep from telling him about the gun and the saddles.
LillieBeth said, “Sheriff Grissom, there is plenty of water in the trough by the corral for your team, if these pretty young things don’t mind drinking after our mules have slobbered things up a bit. I am supposed to clean the water trough today, but I haven’t quite got there yet.”
“Thank you, Miss Hazkit. I don’t imagine Jezebel and Delilah will mind one little bit. Grace, if you just back up a bit.”
Grace said, “I sure do not know why you, a Methodist lay minister, insisted on naming those two sweet mares of yours after such evil women.”
Clayton grinned at his wife and said. “Just to get your goat, Darlin’. Anyway, what are you doing here this time of the morning?”
Grace said, “We have a bit of trouble and needed your guidance.”
Clayton said, with a wave of his hand. “You women hold your troubles in abeyance until Art and I get back. Whatever the problems, we will fix them then.”
Art said, “Anything that can’t wait?”
Clare shook her head. “It’ll be all right. You take care of business in Galena. LillieBeth and I will take care of things here.”
The high-sided wagon rolled by LillieBeth, moving toward the water trough. The young girl saw Trance and Dangle Braunawall, leaning up against the back of the bench. Their hands were in manacles, but otherwise they were not chained down. Hoffman’s body was wrapped and tied in an old blanket. He lay in the back with the Braunawalls.
Trance said, “Well, lookee here, Dangle. LillieBeth done come by to see us off on our trip.”
Both men laughed. They looked completely unconcerned that they were being taken to jail to be held for trial on the charge of murder. Their faces were bruised and battered, but they were smiling as if they did not have a care in the world.
Dangle said, “That was right nice of her, considering how mean she’s been to us lately.”
Grissom said, “You boys just hush up now.”
Trance laughed and jangled his manacles. “Now Grissom, you done got our hands tied up tight, but we still got our tongues free and we got us a right to talk, laugh and even sing if we wants to.”
Dangle started singing ‘Oh Susannena’ as the wagon ground to a halt. It was as if the two young men were headed for a picnic instead to a hanging.
The .38 revolver leapt into LillieBeth’s hand. She pointed it at Dangle’s chest. The barrel unmoving, the hammer cocked back and her finger twitching on the trigger.
Everyone froze. Dangle’s singing squeaked to a stop in mid-word.
LillieBeth managed to speak through her clenched teeth. “You shut your stinking hole, Braunawall.”
Susanne held her breath. She did not want LillieBeth to shoot the Braunawalls, but she wanted someone to shoot them. All she could think about was how this man and his brother had raped her. She knew he tried to rape LillieBeth and Clare and they had killed the young girl’s friend Fletcher Hoffman. Of all of the songs Dangle could have chosen to sing, he picked the one song that set Susanne’s teeth on edge. She knew it must have reminding LillieBeth of the same thing.
Grissom said, “Hold on there, Elizabeth Hazkit. The law will take care of these two. No sense in getting yourself in trouble over the death of Fletcher Hoffman.”
Trance’s eyes grew wider at the sight of the gun. He said, “Yeah, hold up there LillieBeth. We didn’t do nothing to you, certainly nothing worth getting shot with my own pistol.”
Art started to speak, but LillieBeth interrupted with a shout.
“Liar!” She twitched the revolver barrel to point at Trance.
Art lightly put a hand on LillieBeth’s shoulder. He made no attempt to take the handgun or startle her in any way.
“What do you mean, honey?” he asked.
Trance held up his manacled hands as if to ward off any bullets. “Please, Miss Hazkit. I will admit that Dangle and I ain’t been the best of neighbors, but you are a good Christian girl with a good heart.”
“Heart?” LillieBeth shouted. “You want to see my heart?”
She bent down and grabbed a fist-sized rock from the yard. Holding the pistol in her right hand, she slammed the rock down on the wagon bed with her left hand. The crack sounded like a gunshot, startling everyone.
“This is my heart. It is what you made it. This is a hunk of granite; hard, cold and ragged. It will be so until I hear you have been hanged for the crimes you’ve been arrested for and for your other untold crimes.”
Dangle said, “We haven’t been found guilty of anything yet, but you got us swinging from a rope already. Sheriff, that ain’t right.”
Trance added, “And letting this child keep threatening us with our own gun ain’t right either. You ought to arrest her for stealing our gun, our saddlebags and two of them saddles on that rail are ours, too.”
LillieBeth said, “Daddy, you and Sheriff Grissom be careful with these two. They are guilty of a lot more than murder.” She eased the hammer back down on the revolver.
Susanne wondered if the girl really would have shot two unarmed men, chained up and already under arrest. She wondered if she could.
Grissom said, “Oh? Anything that I should know about?”
LillieBeth shook her head. “Nothing that will get them hung more than what they got coming for killing Fletcher Hoffman.”
Trance said, “That weren’t murder. It was self defense and I know the jury will see it our way.”
Grissom said, “I doubt it. I got a half a dozen signed statements saying Hoffman never pulled his gun.”
Trance said, “He was going to, but we was faster.”
LillieBeth said, “Liar!” LillieBeth grabbed the rock and slammed it on the floorboards of the wagon again for emphasis. “My granite heart calls you a liar.”
Art said, “Mama, you should talk to your daughter. This really is men folk work.”
Clare shook her head. She continued to stand with Susanne in her arms. “Sh
e is doing fine. She is saving me from having to shoot these two myself.”
Art looked surprised, but nodded. “Okay LillieBeth. Do you want to tell us about the gun and those saddles?”
LillieBeth said, “I know of at least two women these men took by force and had their way with.”
Trance said, “They was willing, I swear.”
LillieBeth said, “Liar!” She slammed the granite rock on the floorboards of the wagon as hard as she could. “My heart calls you a liar, again.”
Clare said, “She is right, Art. They done it and I know it, too.”
LillieBeth said, “They would have fouled me as well, but Mr. Hoffman stopped them. That purple patch on Trance’s face is from where Mr. Hoffman clipped him with his rifle butt. These two are the ones who ripped my dress last week.”
Art’s face clouded up.
Before he could speak, LillieBeth continued. “Daddy, they did not hurt me. They would have hurt…someone else if I had not stopped them. That yellow and green mark on Dangles jaw is where I whacked him with a club and the notch in Trance’s ear is where I shot him. I took their guns, saddles, saddlebags and clothing, right down to their bare skin as punishment for attacking me.”
Trance said, “See? She stole from us at gunpoint. We was just funnin’ with them-”
LillieBeth interrupted, “Liar. Liar. And again, liar.” She slammed the granite rock on the wagon bed, emphasizing each word. She pulled the gun’s hammer back again with her thumb and aimed it at Trance. “You can lie to the law, you can lie to my Daddy, but you issue forth one more stinking lie to me and I will send you to God and you can try your lies on Him.”
MONDAY - DAWN
Dangle hid his face behind his arms as if he was hiding from the bullets that might come his way. Trance stared back, but for once he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.
LillieBeth eased the hammer back on the revolver and holstered it. With a sigh, she turned and hugged Daddy. “You be real careful with those two. They claim to have friends in the Klan.”
Everyone knew the Ku Klux Klan had grown big after the Civil War, but the group had all but died out in the hills. Then a few years ago, a resurgence of the Klan began catching on again in the Ozark Mountains. The group was an offshoot of the Klan out of Georgia. In the far deep south the men in cone hats had been around for about five years, but they were just starting to grow strong again in the hills. The group’s aims and goals had changed a little. They were more concerned now with Catholics and coloreds than carpetbaggers.
In the past few years or so, the rumors of late night raids of men in sheets and hoods increased. The Klan was also against moonshine and anyone running a still, whether they were making it for their own consumption or starting to sell it. They were strong supporters of prohibition. That was a surprise to most hill folk because every other man had, ran or knew of an operating still.
Anything or anybody the Klan deemed to be less Christian-like than them became targets of terror and invited the new and strange tactic of burning a cross. Most of the crosses burned in the Ozark Mountains were of the St. Andrews variety, but the cross of Christ had been burned on property owned by a Catholic family up in Osage.
On the other hand, the Bald Knobbers, while not growing in numbers, were growing in force and action, in opposition to the Klan. The Bald Knobbers mostly kept to Taney County, with the exception of a few raids into Stone County. Strangely, both groups seemed to be against the same things, but against each other as well.
Art chuckled at LillieBeth’s statement that the Braunawalls might be Klan related. “Really? They told me that the Bald Knobbers would break them out of jail before a trial even started.” He shook his head at the Braunawalls. “You can’t have it both ways, Trance.” He took LillieBeth’s rock from her hand. He hefted it, feeling the weight and rough edges. He slammed it down on the wagon bed. “Yep, sounds like more lies to me.” He handed the rock back to LillieBeth.
LillieBeth said, “So, should I shoot them now?”
Art laughed again, with real gusto, “No. Then we would have to clean up their blood and dig more graves ourselves. Let’s just let the Stone County Sheriff handle the hanging after their trial. That sounds like a lot less work and we have enough to do already.”
Grissom said, “Say, suppose we could take your shovels and that pick axe you have stacked up over there? We could tote them to your new place. I guess I didn’t think to bring anything for the Braunawalls to use in digging Hoffman’s grave.”
LillieBeth said, “There is a couple of shovels and a pick ax in Hoffman’s shed up near the house. They are easy to see, hanging on the back wall, but we would be much obliged if you took with you as much as you can carry. Your wagon is a lot bigger than our cart.”
Grissom said, “No sense in taking any chances with these two by giving them a shovel and turning my back.” He reached in and locked the manacles into rings on the sides of the wagon.
By the time the sheriff’s wagon was back on the road, all of the goods from the shed and corral were neatly stacked around the Braunawalls and Hoffman’s body, safely on their way to the new Hazkit place.
Once the men were gone, Clare looked at LillieBeth.
Susanne held her breath waiting for Clare to give her daughter a tongue lashing for pointing a gun and interfering with Sheriff Grissom’s business.
Clare said, “Young lady, you still have to get to Mrs. Bailey’s chores. We don’t know for sure when she will get here. We have a lot to do at our place, so the quicker you get to it the quicker you get back to help me.”
LillieBeth said, “Yes, Mama.”
Clare started up the hill to the cabin. She called over her shoulder. “Tea in the house, Mrs. Grissom. Tea in the house, Miss Harbowe.”
“Tea in the house, Mrs. Hazkit,” Grace called back and trudged up the hill.
Susanne yelled out. “I will be there in a while. I wanted to speak to LillieBeth for a bit and maybe I will help her with her chores.”
Grace said, “Chores instead of tea? I am beginning to wonder if all of the people who LillieBeth chooses as friends are crazy.”
LillieBeth shouted at Grace’s back. “I already think of you as a friend, Mrs. Grissom, crazy or not.”
Clayton and Art were hardly out of sight before a buggy and another wagon came into view. It was a surprise the Baileys were here so soon after dawn. There was no way they could have traveled from Lake Taneycomo from first light to now. They had either driven the dark roads all night or left yesterday and camped out somewhere overnight.
Either way did not bode well for Clare and LillieBeth. They had not moved out yet.
LillieBeth said, “Mama expected us to have most of the day to get the cart loaded and have everything cleaned before the Bailey’s got back.”
Susanne put an arm around LillieBeth’s shoulders. She was unconscious of the fact that it was an identical gesture Clare often used with her.
LillieBeth waved at Mrs. Bailey as the woman pulled her horse to a stop in the middle of the road. Mrs. Bailey’s grandchildren piled out of the buggy and started running around like wild indians. They even had white streaks of paint all over their bodies. It looked like pale war paint. Susanne remembered them from their earlier visits, but she did not remember which one was which. They had never attended her school.
Mrs. Bailey looked frazzled. “That was a long ride.”
LillieBeth smiled in sympathy. The young woman nodded at the oldest Bailey boy. He must have been just a few years younger than LillieBeth, but he seemed much more of a child. LillieBeth said, “Ulysses” by way of greeting. She ignored the other two much younger children.
Susanne wanted to laugh. It had only been a week since LillieBeth was that young herself. The girl had matured into a young woman in record time. With a schoolteacher’s eye, she looked at the Bailey grandchildren. These children were like many youngsters, they had more energy than common sense.
Mrs. Bailey shouted over her sho
ulder, “Daughter, I am going to put this horse and buggy away. You go on in my house for now. You and all the youngsters need to put on more Calamine lotion. All three of them are scratching like chickens after a junebug.” She reined her horse over and headed toward her barn.
Young Mr. Bailey walked up. “Hello, LillieBeth. I haven’t seen you since we was up visiting last summer. Your father home?”
“No, sir,” LillieBeth said. “Daddy had to go with Sheriff Grissom into Galena. They are going to try to be back before sundown. Mama is up in the cabin with Mrs. Grissom. This is Miss Harbowe, our friend.”
Susanne knew it would be almost impossible for the men to get to Galena and back by nightfall. It was more than twenty-five miles each way. She decided not to correct the girl. It might be best to let Mr. Bailey think whatever he wanted to think. She hated the feeling of not trusting a neighbor, but he was a man and she had little trust in few men.
Mr. Bailey ignored Susanne. He said, “You ain’t outta my house yet, then?”
“No, sir. We are working on it. We expected to be out this morning before you got here.”
He nodded. “Them people down on the resort said my family was bad for business. That rash and the lotion looks so bad they said we was chasing away the tourists. Those city folk thought like’n as not we was carrying some new kinda influenza.” He looked at LillieBeth. “Don’t you worry none. It is just a rash. I think it is cause the resort doesn’t purify the water they run to the cabin, just pump it up from the lake, but I ain’t no doctor. Still they told us to get out quicker’n we planned. Now you got to get quicker’n you planned to make room for us.”
LillieBeth pointed at the children. “I am not a doctor either, but it seems to me anyone with that much energy cannot be too ill.”
Mr. Bailey laughed. “They are a handful. I expect they will make Ma crazy before too long. So, when can we get in the house?”
“We got the shed and corral just about ready for you now. I have to clean the shed and corral, but that will not take much time. I will move Ruth and Naomi out of the corral. You can park your rig up near the west door and put your horses in the corral. That way, we can park our cart to move out the east door and you can move in from the west side. We do not have much to move, but we will be out as quick as we can.”