They studied Parker, who was standing still, until finally they heard a murmur run over the crowd that filled the square. They watched as George Maledon led three men with their hands tied behind their backs to the gallows. He stood there and helped steady them as they climbed the few steps and then placed them very carefully in their positions.
As for Rosa, she was already beginning to wish that she had not come. It was one thing when violence explodes and somebody’s shot unexpectedly. But this was different. These men were all alive and well and knew that in a few moments their hearts would stop, their blood would stop flowing, and they would be no more.
When the men were in place, Maledon said, “If you have anything to say, go ahead.”
The first man was small and looked sickly. Neither Pye nor Powell spoke, and Pye seemed frozen by what was happening to him. Boog, alone of the three, did not seem to be afraid. He stared arrogantly out at the crowd and said, “Some of you deserve hanging as much as I do. Now get on with it, Maledon.”
Maledon shrugged and adjusted the ropes around all three men’s necks. He stepped back and without hesitation pulled the lever. The trapdoor opened, and the three bodies shot downward. As the bodies drew the ropes taut, a sigh of some sort went over the crowd.
Riordan shook his head. “Let’s get out of here, Rosa. That’s enough of this.”
As they left, Rosa found herself shaken. She had thought herself ready for this, but now she realized she was not. She felt sickened by what she had seen.
Riordan said, “It’s too late to go home tonight. We’ll go in the morning.”
“All right. Suits me.”
Rosa got up in the morning and saw that she had overslept. She had slept very poorly, as a matter of fact, and now wished she had not come to the hanging at all.
Hannah was already up and dressed and now turned to her and said, “Let’s go get some breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Well, you can have some coffee before we leave.” She hesitated then said, “I’d like to go to church. Would you go with me?”
Rosa automatically began to frame a reason why she could not go, but later when Riordan joined her and Hannah for breakfast, he said, “What would you think about all of us attending church this morning? After witnessing the events of yesterday, I feel the need for something spiritual in my life.”
“Okay, that sounds good.” Her answer shocked even her, for she had not had any interest in being religious before. Somehow she felt the same as Riordan. She needed something like this to maybe bring peace to her heart and mind.
Beecher was sitting at the table with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He now poured a tumbler full and drank it down. Red Lyle said “You’re worrying too much about that Riordan.”
“I’m not worrying about anything!” Henry snapped.
“Well, that’s good. You know the best thing to do is just lay back until Riordan gets off the ranch. Just shoot him in the back. Kill him out of hand. I’ll do it myself for a price if you’d like.”
“You’d have to, Red. You couldn’t beat him to the draw.”
“Well, he may have a faster draw than I do, but he ain’t faster than a thirty-thirty slug in the head.”
The two men sat there drinking until Sal Maglie entered. He took his hat off, beat the dust off of it, and then walked over. “Got all of them supplies, Henry.”
“You go to the hanging?”
“Yeah, I went. He went pretty good, Boog did, but he always did have nerve. You know Riordan was there with that woman, the Mexican, at the hanging, I mean.”
“They were? How’d he look?” Henry said, lifting his eyes.
“Well,” Sal scratched his head, “I heard some folks talkin’. They say Riordan’s sweet on the Ramirez woman.
“Can’t blame him for that,” Maglie said. “She’s a good-looking woman.”
Beecher was silent for a time. Finally he looked up, and there was a smile on his lips. “You know Riordan took something of mine. The only way I’ll feel like I beat him is if I take something of his.”
“Like what?” Red said in a puzzled tone.
Beecher knew none of the men understood him. He was a mystery. They knew he was deadly, and none would dare cross him, but he was a deeper thinker than any of the hands.
Now Red said, “I don’t understand you, Henry. What can you take of his?”
Beecher leaned forward with his smile broadening, his eyes glittering. “Here’s what we’ll do…”
CHAPTER 19
As soon as Rosa stepped into the small wood-framed church, she felt some sort of strange pressure. Religion had played almost no part in her life. She was told that she had been baptized in the Catholic tradition when she was a baby, but as she had grown up, her life had taken a different turn. During the last year, she had been working in saloons, fighting off lustful men, and simply trying to make some sort of a life for her family.
“Come along. There are some seats,” Hannah said. She put her hand on Rosa’s arm, and for a moment Rosa resisted, but then it was too late. She walked with Hannah down the aisle between the two rows of wooden pews, which were already, for the most part, occupied.
A quick glance around revealed that the church was filled with men and women and children from all walks of life. Some of the men and women wore expensive clothing and looked well groomed. On the other hand, some of the men were wearing what looked like work clothes, overalls, and they had the look of poverty on their faces. Their wives wore the cheapest sort of gingham dresses, and the children were dressed as well as the parents could afford.
Moving into the vacant space, Rosa sat down. Hannah sat down beside her whispering, “I heard this preacher is a wonderful speaker. I know we’re going to enjoy the sermon.”
At that moment, a tall, thin man stood up and in a deep voice said, “We will now sing ‘Old One Hundred.’”
The entire congregation stood up, and not wanting to be noticed, Rosa stood up with them. They sang a song that was very simple:
“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
“Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.”
The song leader smiled and said, “Now we’ll sing my favorite hymn, ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.’”
There were no hymnals, but everyone seemed to know the song. Rosa listened and found herself being strangely moved by the singing. Of course, the singing itself was not exceptional. Some of the people sang off-key and some too loudly, but the words came through to her.
“When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
The singing went on for almost twenty minutes. Finally the song leader stepped back and took a seat on the rostrum.
A short, well-built man with brown curly hair and direct blue eyes stood up. “We are glad to welcome you to our church. Those of you who are visitors, feel at home. We welcome you.”
He laid his Bible on the pulpit, flipped it open, and said, “The sermon this morning will be very short. I’m going to pray that if there be one in here who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that he or she will leave this building as a part of this family of God.”
He had
a pleasant look on his face. His voice was clear and carried well in the small building. “My sermon this morning,” he said, “if I had a title for it, would be ‘A Woman Who Found Jesus.’ As a matter of fact, if you were to go to most foreign countries where paganism rules, you would find women treated worse than animals. But when Jesus came, he lifted women from a lowly status to a place of honor. This morning I want us to think about one of those women who encountered Jesus.”
He picked up his Bible and began to read:
“‘And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.’”
The minister closed his Bible and began to speak with excitement in his voice. He obviously believed his message and did his best to communicate that feeling. “Isn’t that a wonderful story! This poor woman was unclean, for according to Jewish law any woman with an issue of blood was as unclean as a dead person. No one could touch her without becoming unclean. And for years she had sought to be healed and spent all her money on physicians but was no better.”
Rosa had come prepared to ignore the sermon, but she found herself caught up with the story the minister had read. She had never heard it before, and he went on to describe the woman so well that she was absorbed in the drama of it.
“This poor woman, who had been failed by man on every hand, thought, ‘If I could just touch the hem of the garment of Jesus of Nazareth, I will be healed.’ Ah, now there is faith, my friends. There is faith! And you have heard how she did touch just the hem of the garment of the Lord Jesus and instantly she was healed. Bless the Lord, O my soul! That’s what happens when people come to Jesus. They are healed. That’s what I would like to present for you today. A savior who is Christ Jesus, the Son of God.”
The minister continued discussing the story in great depth, drawing a picture of the poor woman who had struggled for so long and was so sick and how she had found healing in no place except in touching Jesus Christ.
Finally the preacher said, “Let me mention one other woman who found Jesus. It’s found in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. ‘And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?’
“The law indeed had such a verse, but Jesus did a very strange thing. He answered them not a word, but He ‘stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.’ Finally he looked up, and He said words that I have treasured and have kept very carefully. Jesus said, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.’ Well, dear friends, the Bible says that they were ‘convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.’”
The preacher ran his hand over his hair and said, “The Bible doesn’t say this, but I like to think this dear woman, who was the sinner but yet a beloved sinner, came to Jesus and bowed down and held to His feet. We do know what Jesus said. He said, ‘Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’”
This story went straight to the heart of Rosa. It was as though she could see the poor retched woman ready to die for her sin, and she could hear the voice of Jesus saying, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” A longing somehow such as she had never known before began to build within her, and as the sermon went on, she found her hands trembling. She held them to conceal it from Hannah.
Finally the sermon ended, and the preacher said, “We’re going to sing a few verses of an old hymn, and if there be one of you out there who does not yet know the Lord as personal Savior, and perhaps you are in the same condition as this woman, you have a sickness. You have sinned, and you don’t know where to go. I call upon you to look to Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of the world. He died to save sinners, and that means all of us. So come as we sing.”
Everyone rose and began to sing a hymn that Rosa, of course, didn’t know. She saw two people go down and speak with the preacher, then another who knelt at the altar, and she could not control the emotions that flooded through her. She stood there, her head bowed and her eyes closed, thinking about the two women that Jesus had touched. She felt tears come to her eyes, a very rare thing for her.
Finally the preacher dismissed with a short prayer.
As they left the building, Hannah, whose face was radiant, said, “Wasn’t that a wonderful sermon?”
Rosa could not answer. It had been such a moving experience she did not know how to identify it. One thing she felt sure of was that her thoughts of Jesus Christ had been wrong. She had seen statues in Catholic churches of Jesus, but they were not Jesus. They were merely statues. But the man the minister had read of was living and full of love and compassion, and she knew that she would never forget this morning.
Judge Parker was poring over documents on his desk, but when the door opened and four strangers entered, he rose at once. “Good afternoon,” he said. “I’m Judge Parker.”
“Oh, Judge Parker, I’m so glad to meet you,” the woman said. She was an attractive woman in her mid-forties with auburn hair and light brown eyes. “I’m Eileen Riordan.”
“Why, Mrs. Riordan, it’s good to see you.”
“This is my husband Caleb and two of my sons, Leo and Max.”
Parker came around from behind his desk, shook hands, greeted them all, then turned his head to one side, and smiled. “I expect you’ve come all the way out here to the frontier to visit your son.”
“Yes, we have. We just got off the steamboat, but we don’t have any idea where to start looking, so I thought we’d come and ask you.”
“Well, you’re fortunate, Mrs. Riordan. Your son is in town today.”
“Where has he been?” Caleb asked curiously. “We’d like very much to see him.”
“I’ve had him stationed out on a ranch. The owners have been threatened with outlaws, and I haven’t had the men to send a crew in to quiet them, so I sent Riordan.” He stopped and said, “I don’t even know his first name.”
“It’s Lafayette,” Eileen said, “but everyone calls him Faye.”
“Well, it’s a small town. Let me call one of my marshals.”
Parker went to the door and said, “Marshal Thomas.”
Heck Thomas stepped inside, put his hazel eyes on the visitors, and listened as Parker explained who they were. He smiled briefly and said, “You know your son saved my life.”
“You don’t mean it!” Caleb said. “How did that happen?”
“I was going out to arrest a minor criminal, and I thought I’d take Riordan with me just to get him used to the Territory. When we got there, the man I wanted as prisoner had two of his kinfolk with him, both of them gunmen. One of them drew on me, and I just had time to get off a shot. I really expected to take a bullet in the head, but another shot rang out echoing mine, and I saw the other outlaw fall. I turned around and saw that Riordan was holding his gun. None of us had any idea he had that quickness or was that certain a shot.”
“He—he killed a man?” Eileen asked tentatively.
“Yes, that’s the way it goes out here in the Territory. T
homas, they’d like to find their son. Do you have any idea where he might be?”
“He was with Miss Ramirez fifteen minutes ago. They were in the general store. Probably still there. They seemed to be loading a wagon with supplies. I’d be glad to take you over there,” he said to the visitors.
“Good. We’re so anxious to see him.”
“Are you planning to stay over?” Parker asked.
“Yes, we planned to make a lengthy visit of it.”
“You may have trouble finding a place to stay. The hotel’s full.”
“Yep, we had a multiple hanging today. Two of them were killed for murdering one of Miss Rosa’s hands.”
“Please take us to him,” Eileen said.
“Come this way. It’s just down the street,” Heck Thomas said as he started out the door.
“Why don’t you get some more apples? I like those apple pies,” Riordan said. He had been helping Rosa stock the wagon, and he picked up a large red apple. “I love apples.”
“All right. Get a dozen of them. We’ll have apple pie tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
Riordan obtained a sack, filled it with the fruit, and then he followed her around as she wandered through the store. “Did it bother you seeing that hanging, Rosa?”
“Yes, it did.”
“I know something that bothered you worse.”
“What?”
“The sermon that preacher laid on us.”
Rosa shot a quick glance at Riordan. “Well, I had never heard anything like it before. You probably grew up hearing sermons like that.”
“Yes, I did, but you know there was something in that man that’s not in most preachers. To tell the truth, he shook me up quite a bit.”
“But I thought you said you were converted when you were twelve years old.”
“Well, I thought I was, but I got away from my raising. Never got into any trouble… until I got out here.”
They were alone at one end of the store, and Rosa said quietly, “I don’t know what to think. I never thought much about God and heaven and hell, but I know they’re real.”
The Western Justice Trilogy Page 20