“Yes, ma’am,” Mr. Peabody said nodding. “I thought that’s why you come to town. To watch the hanging and see justice done.”
“Walter Banks,” Maisie Jane whispered, “is the man that killed my brother. Mr. Peabody… was my brother’s death quick?”
The old man shook his head slowly. “Sorry, Miss, but I don’t think so. He was shot in the back and left out in the desert to die. Where he’d been shot, it wasn’t a mortal wound. If he’d got to help, he would have survived. Walter Banks left him out in the desert with no horse and no water. He left him out there to suffer, and die.”
Maisie Jane’s eyes were flooding with tears.
“I’m so sorry, Miss, but you deserve to know the truth.” Mr. Peabody said as he watched her fish around in a small bag for a kerchief. “I probably should been more gentle in the telling, ma’am.”
Maisie Jane shook her head and reached out, took his hand and gave it a sweet pat. “No. Thank you, Mr. Peabody. Thank you for telling me the truth.” Then she turned and walked away.
Maisie Jane walked down the sidewalk in somewhat of a daze, imagining the awful suffering her poor brother must have enduring before his death. Then, suddenly she raised her head, squared her shoulders and marched down the street. It wasn’t up to the law to make that man Walter Banks pay for her brother’s death—no that was up to her!
Jake had himself a fine breakfast at Caroline’s Café. He did so admire Mrs. Caroline’s cooking. The woman made the best biscuits he’d ever tasted and he’d told her so many times. She’d always teased him about how many biscuits he could eat, but she just kept bringing them out to him. Mr. Thomas, Caroline’s husband, was a lucky man. Caroline might be a way past the hefty mark, but her good cooking probably made it worth it.
After he finished his breakfast he went back to the jail. He packed up his saddlebags, and strapped on his holster but when he searched through his bedroll he couldn’t find his Walker Colt six-shot revolver. Then, he remembered that he hadn’t taken it back from Miss Maisie Jane after he’d told her to stay put in the coach the day before. By the time he’d remembered it, he’d already loaded the bodies and he hadn’t wanted to have to move them around searching for it. He’d have to go over to the livery stable and retrieve it. Old Moses would have cleaned out the stagecoach by now, and he’d have found it. Augustus Hindley, who everyone called Old Moses, for reasons he didn’t explain, was an honest man, he’d hold onto it until it was claimed.
Jake strapped on his back up. His second revolver was Colt Patterson five-shot had been given to him by his Pa when he decided to become a Deputy of the territories and he’d sworn that he’d stay alive to return it. Unfortunately, his Pa hadn’t lived long enough for him to return it. He wouldn’t go into court without being armed. This wasn’t a civilized courtroom and Judge Lement liked plenty of gun authority backing up his hanging decrees.
As he left the jailhouse, Jake looked up and down the street but he didn’t get a glimpse of the little belle. He walked over to the courtroom. He had business with Judge Lement. The court wasn’t in session yet, but there were several men standing around waiting for the trial to begin. Jake knocked on the door to the Judge’s chamber.
“Come on in.”
Jake walked in and set a black leather satchel on the Judges desk. “That’s the silver shipment that the Burnette Brothers stole from the Stage bound for Carson City. I caught up with them up by Navajo Springs.”
Judge Lement stood up and opened the bag and looked pleased. “Is it all here?” he demanded.
“I didn’t count it,” Jake answered with a shrug. “They had the bag and the bag is stamped Carson City. That’s pretty clear-cut. There was six days from time it was stolen until I caught up with them. They might have spent some, most likely they did, drinking and whoring. Stupid men spend money fast. But, I recovered what they had, made sure I emptied their pockets too.”
The Judge set the bag aside. “You’re a good man Jake Maddox. Most men would have taken it, hidden it, and claimed they never laid eyes on it.”
Jake didn’t reply he just looked the Judge in the eye. More than likely, that’s exactly what Judge Lement was going to do. The Carson City Bank would never see the recovered money.
“There was a hundred dollar bounty on Wayne Yorder, one of the men who tried to rob the stage. Fifty dollars on another, Roger Damon.” He handed over the posters.
Judge sat down at his desk and pulled out some forms and wrote the information down, and signed it.
“I’ll want to square up right after the trial,” Jake said.
“Good enough,” Judge Lement said and he got up and pulled on his black Judge robes.
Jake went ahead, he was witness and the arresting officer so he had to sit on the right side table directly in front of the Judges desk. He sat and then looked around. The courtroom was about half full of people, all men except... Jake gaped and he jumped up and stepped across to the other side of the room.
“Miss Maisie Jane Jackson, what in the dickens are you doing in here? This is no place for you!” He took her arm intending to march her out of the courtroom.
“All in order and rise,” Sheriff said loudly.
Maisie Jane jerked away from his grasp as the Judge walked through his door and sat down at his desk, his eyes immediately drawn to the only female in the courtroom. “Be seated,” Judge Lement snapped.
Jake walked back over to where he needed to be seated and glared as Maisie Jane took a seat on a pew, that wide hoop skirt at least keeping her a distance from the other men in the courtroom.
“Bring in the prisoner,” Judge Lement snapped and Sheriff Quinn unlocked the side door to the holding room and forced marched a filthy Walter Banks into the courtroom and sat him down in a chair.
Walter Banks had spent several months in Cree Creek Penitentiary awaiting a trial and he didn’t look the better for it. An ugly man to begin with, he was unshaven, dirty, and sported some heavy bruising on his face and some missing teeth.
“Walter Banks,” Judge Lement said loudly picking some papers and then tossing them back down on his desk. “You are charged with robbing the Mill Creek Bank and killing four men, Lawrence Monroe, Francis Staywater, Harold Calkren and James Jackson. You are charged with the Breezewood stage robbery and with the killing of …”
Jake Maddox shook his head when he heard the name James Jackson was read. He hadn’t remembered the name. James Jackson had to be Miss Maisie Jane’s brother. That’s why she’d come to Bisbee. Even so, she didn’t have any business being in a hanging court. She’d been brought up too genteel too…”
Jake attention snapped back as the Judge called on him to witness that yes he had been the arresting officer and that he had verified testimonies of witnesses of the crimes.”
“Good enough,” Judge Lement snapped. “I, Judge George C. Lement by right and justice of the territory of Arizona do declare that Walter Banks is guilty of all crimes as stated. Walter Banks, I am sentencing you death. Tomorrow morning at dawn, you are to be hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul because I don’t.” He slammed a gavel down. “Court is dismissed.”
Among the noise of men rising there was a small sound of distress. Men stopped and turned as a small frail figure rose, shaking her head and crying.
“No, that’s not enough. You killed my brother—you should die as he did.” Maisie Jane lifted a very large Walker Colt, holding it with both hands shaking so hard she could hardly hold it up. She pointed, turned her head, closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger.
Everyone ducked, as the rebound from the gun knocked Maisie Jane flat on her back, her hoops soaring upward, the gun dropping out of her grasp. Walter Banks dove for the gun, raised it to fire, and dropped it as three simultaneous blasts shot him dead in the chest. He fell backwards, half-on the girl lying prone on the floor.
Jake scrambled over men, jerked Walter Banks off of Miss Maisie Jane and tried to lift her up. She was limp.
Sheriff George Quinn checked the prisoner to make sure he was dead and moved onward to the little lady. “Is she shot?” he asked.
Jake shook his head. “No, fainted I think.”
“I heard a thump,” a man offered. “She might’a hit her head on the edge of a pew.”
“Who is that?” Judge Lement demanded standing over them and looking mean.
“Sister to one of the victims,” Jake said lifting Maisie Jane up into his arms. “I need to get her to a doctor.”
“Like hell,” Judge Lement growled. “She tried to murder a man in my courtroom. Put her in the holding room until I figure out what I’m going to do with her.”
* * * * *
Maisie Jane groaned. She tried to open her eyes but the light made her feel faint.
“Easy there.”
Maisie Jane’s eyes flew open and she cried out as pain in her head exploded. Jake was holding her upright in a sitting position on the floor. He took a cup of water and held it to her lips.
Maisie Jane turned big wide eyes to him. “Did I kill Walter Banks?”
“No,” Jake answered. “You missed him by a mile and you were only standing four feet from him. Why Maisie Jane? Why?”
“He killed my brother,” Maisie Jane said and she began to weep. “He made my brother suffer, and he should have been made to suffer too. I failed, and now I’m probably going to be hung too, aren’t I?” she asked her lips quivering.
“I don’t know,” Jake exclaimed. “You are in a lot of trouble. I have no idea how I’m going to get you out of this mess.”
A door opened and man dressed in black walked in. He starred down at Maisie Jane and shook his head. “You’ve ruined your life, young lady and that’s a real shame. Jake, I’ve got your paperwork done. You can hand in your badge, sign a release and you’ll be done.”
Jake followed Judge Lement into his office. The judge took an empty sack out of his desk and reached for the black leather satchel. He counted out $3,200 dollars in fifty dollar silver pieces and pushed it across the desk. “That’s your pay, your bounties and the bonus I promised to stay on another year. Sign that paper, hand in your badge, and you ain’t a lawman anymore.”
Jake took off his badge but he didn’t hand it over. “What are you going to do to Miss Jackson?”
The Judge sat down and pulled a cigar out of a fancy box on his desk. “That young woman tried to kill a man in my court. I don’t take lightly to someone, anyone, even that little bit a chit, taking my judicial judgments out of my hands.”
“She’s distraught, half out of her mind,” Jake reasoned. “She came out here to put a marker on her brother’s gravesite and have a minister say some words over him. She doesn’t have enough sense to realize what she was doing. Besides that, she missed. Walter Banks is dead. She just saved you the trouble of paying the hangman.”
“That little chit took the law in her own hands,” Judge Lement said lighting his cigar. “I can put the little lady away for twenty-five years for pulling that stunt.”
“She hurt herself, more than she hurt anyone else,” Jake said shaking his head. “She needs to be put back on the first stage going east.”
“Maybe, but not until she’s spent some time in Cree Creek Penitentiary,” the Judge said with a cruel, calculating smile on his face.
Jake froze. “No. You can’t do that to her.”
“That little gal needs someone to put her in her place,” Judge Lement snapped. “And, I’m the man to do it.”
“No,” Jake repeated. “If you send her to Cree Creek you know what will happen to her there.”
“What’s it to you, Jake?”
Jake Maddox felt the bile rise in his gullet. He walked over the window and then turned back. “You made me deal last year when I wanted to quit and you needed me to stay on.”
“And, I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain,” the Judge said giving a motion toward the money sack.
“Part of it,” Jake said. “You offered me a woman. A woman who would keep my bed warm through the long winter months until I could find me a wife.”
“Jake, I offered you one of my girls yesterday and you turned me down. You can have your pick. All my girls know how to treat a man.”
“I don’t want one of your girls. I want Miss Jackson,” Jake said.
Judge George C. Lement rolled his eyes. “Son, that little chit, probably don’t know the first thing about keeping a man’s bed warm. I’d bet you her cherry ain’t been popped yet. What do you want with a gal that ain’t broke yet?”
“I want her that way,” Jake forced out between gritted teeth. “Untouched. I’ll take her as my wife. I’m going to be homesteading. If I have a wife I can claim double the acreage.”
“Is she even marrying age yet?” Judge Lement demanded.
“Marrying age in the territories is twelve,” Jake said tightly.
The Judge was nodding his head. “All right, all right. You like ‘em young. Some men do. Some men like to pop those cherries. Not my taste, but each to their own.”
“You’ll let me have her?” Jake said.
“For a price,” Judge Lement snorted.
“How much?” Jake demanded.
Judge George C. Lement, threw back his head and laughed. God, he loved having power. “I’m setting a fine of $1,000 on that little chit. You want her, you pay for her.”
Jake opened the bag and counted out $1,000 dollars. “I want a marriage license, signed off and legal and I want the Padre over here to say the words. And, I want it done now.”
The Judge leaned back in his chair. “You seem to be in a mighty big hurry to get into that little gal’s britches, Jake. You sure you don’t want to take Sue Ellen or Darla with you, they’re getting a bit used looking, but they’d be of more use to you than that little chit. Although, after a couple of weeks over at Cree Creek, I’d be able to make some good money off her.”
Jake swallowed the bile again and jerked his head. God, he wanted to pull his gun and shoot the sorry excuse for man dead on the spot. He nodded to the money on the desk. “We have a deal.”
Judge Lement got up and walked out of his office to the sidewalk and ordered a boy to run over to the mission and tell the Padre to get over to his office. He returned to his office and made to scoop up the silver coins but Jake put his hand down on them.
“Not until the Padre says his words.”
The Judge grunted. “You’d better be telling that young’n she’s about to get her cherry popped.” He walked out of his chambers and shut the door behind him.
Jake opened the door on the holding room and Maisie Jane was across the room sitting primly in a chair. She looked up and she looked scared.
“Mr. Maddox, what’s going to happen to me?”
Jake took one of her small hands and held it. “Miss Maisie Jane, you’re going to have to trust me. You’re in some awful trouble here and I’ve done the best I can to get you out of it. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Now, listen to me. The Judge didn’t like what you did, one bit. Neither did I, because what you did was wrong, bad wrong, but we’ll have to take that up later. Right now, I need you to keep your mouth shut, and do as you’re told.”
“You don’t have the right to tell me do that,” Maisie Jane bristled.
“I will in a few minutes and a lot more,” Jake promised. “In a few minutes, the Padre will be here and we’re getting married.”
“No!” Maisie Jane jumped up and then swayed as the room tilted.
Jake pushed her back down in the chair. “Yes! Listen to me, because I won’t repeat these words again. Judge Lement is a crooked judge. He’s a hanging judge and he’s proud of it. He likes to throw his weight around. He don’t have any use for women except to use them. Either you marry me, or he’s going to send you up to spend some time in Cree Creek Penitentiary. That’s a men’s prison, Maisie Jane. Those guards are mean and most of men serving time in there are about half-dead. If the Judge delivers you up to the prison you’
ll be raped before the wagon gets turned around. Then, you’ll be passed around from guard to guard while they all have their way with you. If you last a couple of weeks, then Judge Lement will bring you back and put you in his whorehouse. A girl over there gets paid four bits for an hour of a man’s pleasure, whether it’s with his fists or getting some loving. She has to give half of that back to Judge. Is that what you want to happen to you?”
“No, that’s too horrible to believe,” Maisie Jane cried.
“Every bit of it is the truth,” Jake snapped.
The side door opened and Judge Lement was standing there. “The Padre is here.”
“Come on Maisie Jane,” Jake said gently and he helped her to her feet. He bend down and spoke into her ear. “The Padre is going to marry us. Do as you’re told. No sass. ”
Maisie Jane felt so weak and so dizzy. Mr. Maddox was so mad at her, but she’d heard those awful words he’d spoken and she feared he’d spoken in truth.
Jake stood beside her in front of the Judges desk. There was another small man standing by dressed in a brown robe of a Catholic father.
“You going to marry him?” Judge Lement demanded squinting at her.
Maisie Jane looked up at the tall man standing beside her and nodded and wet her lips. “Yes, sir.”
The Padre stepped up and opened a Bible and asked their names. He spoke for a long time and when he got to the “will you take this man and woman part”, Jake said yes. Then, Maisie Jane said yes.
The Padre blessed their marriage and bowed and signed the marriage license. Jake handed him two dollars and Padre picked up the pen and signed the certificate.
Jake bent over and signed and handed Maisie Jane the fountain pen. She signed and stepped back. Jake picked up the license, blew on the ink, and folded it carefully and put it in his shirt pocket. Then, he handed the judge his badge, picked up his Walker Colt, and stuck it in the back of his pants.
“Jake, can I speak to you for a minute?” the judge said motioning him outside the office.
The two men walked out, but the door wasn’t shut all the way. Maisie Jane heard the Judge tell Mr. Maddox that it wasn’t too late to change his mind.
Teaching Miss Maisie Jane Page 4