CHAPTER XXIII.--THE TRIAL IN PROGRESS.
It cannot be denied that these rude forms of justice, known as "JudgeLynch's Courts," have done some good in disorganized conditions ofsociety, by deterring, if not in punishing, crime. Indeed, in many casesvigilance committees have been of the greatest service, even in placeswhere the law is supposed to be in force. At one time these committeessaved the city of San Francisco from the control of murderers andgamblers.
But on the whole they do more harm than good, for, as in the presentinstance at Hurley's Gulch, bad men join them for self-protection or tocarry out their own selfish ends.
The only men who can properly administer justice are those accustomed toweighing evidence, and, no matter how well meaning, rough miners are aptto be influenced by their feelings rather than their reason.
It would not have taken a stranger long to see that a majority of themen gathered in that canvas-covered apartment, in the hotel at Hurley'sGulch, were prejudiced against the prisoners.
To Mr. Willett, who was familiar with the dignified forms of courts ofjustice in the East, the proceedings looked like a burlesque on law, foran attempt was made to do things after the manner of long establishedmethods.
Before the prisoners were brought in, it was decided by the committeehaving the matter in charge, that a man named Jacks, an ignorant,red-faced fellow, who had occupied a similar position on a formeroccasion, should act as judge.
Mr. Willett and Hank Tims were given camp-chairs directly in front of"the judge," who was making a desperate effort to maintain the dignifiedbearing supposed to be essential to the office.
The judge rapped with the bottom of a heavy tumbler--the contents ofwhich he had just drank--on a little pine table by his side and calledout:
"The next thing in order, gents, is to 'lect a sheriff and a clerk, forI propose that everything in this court shall be square and reg'lar;and, if the prizners has any objections to the officers they must say sonow, or forever after hold their peace."
When the judge had ceased speaking, a man with a bullet-head, a redshirt and no neck to speak of--he was the proprietor of this remarkablehotel--pushed himself through the crowd and called out:
"I nominate Badger for sheriff of this here court."
Without waiting for this motion to be seconded, the judge yelled out:
"All in favor of Badger for sheriff say 'aye,' all opposed say 'aye,'too."
As this arrangement left no chance for those who might be opposed toBadger to say "no," he was declared to be unanimously elected.
"Next thing in order is to 'lect a clerk," said the judge.
The man who had nominated Badger now yelled out:
"I name Frank Shirley for clerk!"
The judge, without waiting for the forms in such cases, would havedeclared Shirley elected had not Mr. Willett leaped to his feet andshouted:
"I protest."
"One of the prizners protests," said the judge, and he picked up thetumbler with an angry gesture, as if about to hurl it at Mr. Willett'shead.
Frank Shirley evidently expected to act as clerk of the court withoutany opposition, for as soon as his name was called he pushed himself tothe front.
"What objection have you got to Mr. Shirley, I'd like to know?" said thejudge, his face growing redder with anger.
"I have many objections," said Mr. Willett, not at all intimidated bythe frowns of Shirley's friends.
"Can't the man write?" asked the judge.
"I suppose he can," replied Mr. Willett.
"Wa'al, if he can write what more do you want in a clerk?" said thejudge.
"Many things."
"What are they?"
"He should be free from prejudices."
"And so he is."
"And so he is not," said Mr. Willett, calmly but firmly. "He is mybitter enemy. He has been setting the good men of this place against meby his slanders and unblushing falsehoods. If you want this trial to befair you must not begin by making officers of men who may find it totheir interest to convict me."
"I mean to do what's fair," Shirley managed to say. "And I am notseeking this place. If you elect me I will serve, and do my whole dutylike a man, forgetting the past bad character of this unfortunate man,Willett, who married my cousin and sent the poor woman to the grave byhis cruelties."
This speech had a powerful effect on the mob, for the men began tostamp, and some of them yelled:
"Don't pay no heed to the prizner, but go right straight on with thetrial!"
"Yes, we'll go on with the trial," said the judge, rapping for order, asif determined to have it or break the table.
Still cool and undaunted, Mr. Willett stood up till the storm hadsomewhat abated.
"If," he said, "I am to have no voice in my own defence, then this trialis a farce and the sooner it ends in the murder of two innocent men thebetter. If the judge did not mean that I could object to the officersyou were about to elect, why did he say so? I am simply availing myselfof the privilege you grant me, and I can give you still stronger reasonsfor my opposition to this Frank Shirley, whom I here denounce, as a manwithout manly courage or honest principle, and wholly unworthy ofbelief. He is the one man in this territory who will reap wealth fromthe death of myself and my son; are you willing to let such a man takepart in a trial that may seal my doom in his interest?"
The judge was about to make an angry comment on this, but he wasprevented by Collins, who pushed his way through the crowd, and saidwith a flash of the eyes that boded no good to those who opposed him:
"Thar ain't no man in Hurley's Gulch, or out of it either that'll standbefore my face, or the face of my pard, Si Brill, and say that either ofus don't always tell the right up and down truth. If thar is sich a manhar, I'd like him to trot himself out so that I ken git a good squarelook at him for 'bout three seconds and a half."
As Collins said this, he quickly threw his strong right hand back on thestock of one of his revolvers and took a calm survey of the sea ofastonished faces.
If there was any man present who had doubts as to the honesty andveracity of Mr. Collins and his partner, he thought it the part ofprudence to keep them to himself, for the present at least.
"Now," continued Collins, after a half minute of painful silence, "Ihappen to know, and so does my pard, Si Brill, that that sneak, Shirley,who has been tryin' to make friends with the honest men and the meanones too, in this camp, by keepin' of 'em howlin' drunk, will fall intoa big estate over thar in Michigan, if Mr. Willett's son should chanceto peg out afore he gits to be old enough to vote in politics. So, forone, I ain't a goin' to stand by and let that cur have anythin' to dowith the case. And more than that, you fellers ought to feel ashamed,clar down to your boots, at 'lectin' for sheriff of this court a manwho's known in every minin' camp this side of the Sierras as a drunkard,a bummer--yes, and a murderer! that's Badger, and I make the chargeright here to his face. If he don't deny it, mebbe some of his new foundfriends, Jacks, the judge of the court for instance, might like to takeit up. If so, I'm just about as ready to back my words now as at anyother time."
Again Collins drew himself up and looked about him, with his right handgripping the stock of his six-shooter.
"See har, Collins," said the judge, speaking in tones intended to bevery soothing, "we're not here to fight, but to do our duty as goodmen----"
"But is it doin' yer duty to tell the prizners they kin object, andthen, when one of 'em does so, to try and choke him off, so's to put inan enemy and a sneak as the clerk of this court?"
"Wa'll, Collins, thar's other folks that ken write in this camp," saidthe judge. "So I'll withdraw Mr. Shirley, and let another be named."
Much crest-fallen at this decision of the judge, and the veryuncomplimentary opinion of himself which he had been forced to listento, Frank Shirley shrunk back into the crowd from which he had latelyemerged with so much confidence.
Even Badger, usually so ready to assert himself, remained dumb in thepresence of this strong, brave
man.
A young miner, bearing the appropriate name of Clark, was selected asclerk of the court, and then the judge said it was in order to swear ina jury.
"'Cordin' to law," he added, "the prizners has a right to ax the juryquestions, and to object to 'em if they doesn't pan out all right. But Ihope we'll git along faster'n we've been doin' else this yar trial willlast from July to eternity."
As Mr. Willett did not know any of the men who were called to act asjurors, he judged their fitness for the position by their appearance,and so he offered objections to only two, and they were drunk.
It was already noon when the judge declared that all the preliminarieswere over, and that he was now prepared to go on with the trial inearnest, "and have justice did to the livin' and the dead."