Original subtitles

You cheated me!

- Nobody's gonna slip cord me! - I want my money back!

Go outside and you stay there.

Get your hands off me you old sow!

I'm gonna leave here when I get my four dollars back from

that thieving dealer over there!

How do you wanna leave here friend,

walking on your feet or crawlin' on your belly?

Don't even ask, just throw him out!

Get out of here!

Hold it, hold it!

What's the problem here?

Why you!

Simmer down!

Ah he was nickel and dimin' the gamin' tables.

Eatin' his weight in free lunch.

I was cheated!

That skinny dealer in there cheated me!

She give him the eye to bottom deal me just

as my luck was runnin'.

You're the one that had the argument

with the store keep yesterday.

I told you then to stay out of town.

I just come in to put a dollar on my luck,

but I ain't gonna get out of nowhere until

that sorry excuse for a female coughs up my four dollars.

You ain't gonna... Simmer down!

Stinking crooked town won't do right

by it Jake, now let's get.

I want you and your kid out of this town.

I'm gonna get my money

or a piece of your hide no matter how long it takes me.

One more word out of you

and you're gonna spend the rest

of the summer on the county road gang.

Now get!

Now!

Come on, Jake.

Now, Jake there ain't no sense in doin' road all summer

at ten cents a day.

Took me a whole week to earn that four dollars.

A whole week.

You outta be gettin' some sleep Jay,

it'll be light soon.

You still figuring on going down

to Attatown and see if they need any cotton hands?

Nah, I don't care about right or wrong.

Just get.

Maybe we can wait at the crossroads

and maybe hitch a ride on a freight wagon south?

Did you get somethin' to eat in town boy?

Yup, stole me an apple

when the store fella had himself busy.

There's some meat in my coat.

Picked it up at the free lunch.

Where is my coat?

Hey I don't remember you wearin' it

when they threw you out of the Saloon.

I took it off just before I sit down

at that card table.

Well it'll be fair warm headin' south.

I left it hangin' back there on a hook.

Hey wait a minute, Jake, that old coat ain't worth it.

If that Sheriff sees you comin' back into town.

It's bad enough they stole my money

now they got my coat too.

There's meat in the pocket.

I'll be back before light.

Jake!

Anybody awake in there?

Anybody awake?

Oh.

Oh.

You alright?

Oh!

Now, who was that screamin'?

Sheriff, Sheriff!

Kate's dead.

I didn't do it.

Doc.

You're up kinda early aren't ya?

You know, I'm up late you you wanna know the truth.

You know, someday I'm gonna figure out

why babies always decide to get born just

as I'm gettin' ready for bed.

Where you headin' for?

I gotta got to Kingville.

I gotta wire from the Sheriff up there.

There's been a murder

and people are gettin' all stirred up, I guess.

Do you think you'll be gone long?

Not long.

So long, Matthew.

Take care of yourself now, you hear me?

Doc, you member them pills you went and sold me

to ease the twinges in my knee?

Sold them I gave 'em to ya, thirty day supply.

Well anyhow Doc, I need me some more of them.

Only supposed take one after each meal.

What's the matter with ya?

Well, that's exactly what I done Doc.

One after eatin' but they went awful fast, don't you see?

No, I don't see.

Well, like yesterday with Burke havin' coffee

and cinnamon rolls with him,

and then some breakfast eggs and bacon and biscuit

and gravy with old Sam, and then Marel Smally just

when I's a fixin' to eat my to eat my regular dinner,

she went to work and baked some green apple pies...

Wait a minute!

You mean to tell me, that you took one

of those pills every time you opened your mouth

and shoveled food in there?

That'd be about 28 times a day!

Well, how are the twinges?

Well, they eased up some in my knee, Doc,

but now I got there's here twitches in my head,

just.

Oh well there's nothing to worry about there.

That just means that you're uncompemedes.

Oh.

What that means is

that you've got a positive iron clad guarantee, Festus,

that you will never die

of over exercising your cerebral processes.

You see?

Huh?

That's good.

Sheriff, my Father said he'd be back by first light.

He's locked up.

What for?

He's charged with murder.

You can go in and see him.

Go ahead.

You can hear them buzzards clear in here.

Yeah, well, you can have five minutes with your boy.

What happened, Jake?

My luck run out.

I was gettin' my coat, seen Kate moving around the office,

stumblin' like she was drunk or somethin',

she fell hit her head, I guess.

I don't know, there was a lot of blood.

I never touched her.

The safe was open, there was all that money

and I took it.

And they caught you with it?

Yeah.

I just wanted to get my coat.

Kid,

do you know where Elbow Creek is?

Sure, it's where Jake and me spent a day cleaning a livery.

Look Sheriff, Jake never killed nobody.

That's up to the circuit judge to decide.

You talkin' about that old drunk

that gave me ten days up in Quartztown?

Judge Warfield is due at Elbow Creek today

to officially open some homestead land,

but I want you to tell 'em we need him at Kingsville

before some of these hot heads take over.

And tell Sims at the livery I said to lend you a horse.

Now, go ahead.

Hey.

What's that mob out there so het up for, anyway?

They found out I sent a wire

to the nearest US Marshal, Matt Dillon at Dodge City.

What do you need him for?

I'm guessin' the judge is gonna order your trial

set for another town.

Why?

Because there's no way

that you're gonna get 12 men around here

who haven't already made up their minds

that you deserve a rope and that includes me,

so I want a federal badge to take you out of here.

Might make some of these people think twice if they decide

they don't want you to reach that other town.

You tell Sheriff Ridder I concur.

A change of venue is indicated.

Look, I think the Sheriff meant

there wouldn't be no trouble if you were in town.

He's overly apprehensive there.

In any event, I will not be able

to arrive in Kingville before morning.

But you've got to ride in now,

I've been telling you that for the last hour!

And I'm tired of hearing it.

I told you there are several legal matters

that must be settled here first.

Like sobering up?

Well couldn't you just dunk your head in the water trough?

Respect for your elders has not been part

of your rearing I see.

Look come on Judge the town was gettin' awfully riled up

when I left.

And I'm getting mighty riled up now.

Look everybody knows Mr. King

doesn't want you in his town drunk.

Well if you're so afraid he's gonna see ya

why don't you just have some coffee and dunk your head.

I'm beginning to remember that loud mouth father

of yours striking my bailiff in Quartztown.

I see you've inherited some of his manners.

Look Judge, Jake is always arguing with people,

but he wouldn't hit no woman.

I mean he's yellin' all the time,

but that doesn't mean anything.

Kate had many friends throughout the county,

you tell Sheriff Ridder

that I think the trail should be held well out

of the county itself.

I'll see the papers are forwarded to any town

that he or Marshal Dillon selects.

But there shouldn't be no trial!

Jake couldn't kill nobody, much less a woman!

I don't share your confidence.

I'll be persuaded when...

You young whelp, I'll teach you!

You couldn't teach me nothin', you drunken sod!

You whelp!

Come back here, you brat, I'll...

Marshal.

Thanks for coming in.

Things quiet down in Kingville?

Some people told me to get out of town for a while.

What does that mean?

They said they had a citizens court to try.

Jake Fielder, the boy's Pa.

All right get Warfield sobered up

and get 'em back into town.

I'll get in there and stop that citizens' committee.

Marshal,

they found him guilty and they,

they hung him at the livery.

Jakes luck never did change.

Didn't even mark his grave.

Like he had no name.

His name never meant much,

maybe nothing, but it was all Jake had.

I'll see they put up a headstone, son.

Well I guess even Jake would say it don't matter.

When ever a man's lynched it matters.

Everyone's entitled to a fair trial

and I'm gonna see there's an investigation.

Investigation?

Two minutes of talkin' with the Sheriff or the Judge

or even Mr. King who owns this town?

No, I've been in a dozen towns like Kingville.

Dirt gets swept under the rug real quick.

It's not gonna be like that this time.

No?

Well I'll stick around and see.

Jake and me we run into a dozen men like Mr. King before.

The whole world jumps when they want it to.

Mrs. Nolen you say you came down here

at four o'clock this morning?

No more than a minute each way.

- And Kate was dressed? - Yes, sir.

Anybody else been here since then that you know of?

No, sir.

The Sheriff told Tom, he's our bartender, Tom Hart,

the room had to be locked for evidence.

What time did the saloon close up?

Midnight, sir.

You came down here four o'clock in the morning,

what are you, an early riser?

Uh, no sir,

I mean I kinda had a restless night like they say.

Wind keeping me awake, I guess.

Come down to make myself some coffee.

Was uh, Kate a heavy drinker?

Heavy?

Oh no, sir.

Kate never touched a drop in her life,

leastwise nothing I ever knew of.

Thank you, miss.

You could have denied his request.

You could have ruled that Fielder killed her

and that would have been it.

Such a denial in ruling

would imply an inquest had been duly held.

Dillon would have challenged it.

And what in the hell ever prompted you

to bringing a United States Marshal into this town.

I thought he'd come in

and the judge would hand Fielder over

to him for a trial in another town, that's all.

But you didn't have the spine to stand up to the crowd.

Marshal is poking his nose into everything.

He's been all over town asking questions.

All right...

let's try to get this thing in some kind of order.

Now, some hot heads took the law into their own hands

and they hanged Jake Fielder.

That's too bad, but it's done.

The Sheriff can't identify the men who did it,

so it's open and shut that unknown persons,

outsiders we'll call 'em, did it.

Let's be very careful how you word that verdict.

The inquest that Marshal Dillon requests

is a hearing into Kate's death not Jake Fielders.

Kate's death?

But Jake Fielder killed her.

He was arrested and being held for trial.

It's the legality

of his death the Marshal outta be concerned with.

You must follow his logic, Mr. King.

If the inquest verdict in Kate's death reads

that she was killed by the hands of a person

or persons unknown,

then Jake Fielder becomes an innocent lynch victim.

I don't wanna hear that word lynch again.

I'm merely pointing out

that Mr. Dillon is a very clever man.

He knows he'll walk into a blank wall

in any hearing on Jake Fielder.

He also knows that if Fielder's guilt is accepted,

so then will be the fact that he was simply hanged,

a bit before his time.

Justice slightly twisted,

but not too painfully out of joint.

But, if the verdict in Kate's death is

that she was killed by the hands of a person

or persons unknown and not by the hands

of Jake Fielder, then Jake Fielder must be presumed

to be innocent and hanged by the people of this town.

And that, Mr. King, is the very large can of peas

that the Dodge Marshal wants to open.

Alright.

Warfield, tomorrow morning you're going

to open and close that hearing within an hour.

Jake Fielder killed Kate Geer

and he did it beyond a question.

That Marshal goes back to Dodge

with nothing to hold 'em here,

because, just as you said,

nobody's gonna care about a killer

who died a little bit ahead of time.

And there's another reason why that hearing has

to be open and closed as quickly as possible.

There's a bunch of reporters in town

and if I see anything more than a back page story

there's gonna be a follow up story,

on your retiring from the bench because of your health.

Oh, where's that boy staying, Fielder's son?

Probably in the same shack he and his old man were usin'.

Better bring 'em into town.

I don't want it to look like the people

of this town don't care about the orphan

of a man who got himself hanged.

In fact he can stay right here.

That insulting brat here with me?

I don't want 'em stirrin' things up!

Just keep 'em here quiet.

See if you can pick up some facts about his father.

You know, I got a hunch that shouldn't be too hard

to prove that Jake Fielder

should have been swingin' from a rope years ago.

Ridder.

Oh uh, and Your Honor,

if you have so much as a nickel beer

before this inquest is over.

Come in.

Even barn doors are closed.

The Sheriff said to come here.

You eaten?

No, not for a while.

Pitch in.

I was raised to eat everything on my plate,

so use common sense.

You mean, you had to be told to eat everything?

I mean, one doesn't waste food.

Oh, that works out okay too, people wastin'.

I mean, Jake and me used to do pretty good

in the garbage cans around highfalutin places.

Once we got us a whole half a chicken out of a garbage can.

Somebody spit tobacco juice all over it,

we just clean it off at the livery pump

and ate the whole thing right down to the gizzard.

Ain't you hungry?

My appetite evaporated somewhere between

the tobacco juice and the gizzard.

I never figured no judge could afford to live like this.

Well, I can tell you frankly that he can't.

It's a sort of fringe benefit.

What's a fringe benefit?

Oh, just a deference to public figures.

People being gracious.

Making you comfortable when you're in town.

You mean they pay for all this

and then you kinda do 'em a favor back?

That's not what I said.

Jake used to call it one hand washin' the other.

That's why the fella on the bottom

kept gettin' his nose rubbed in, Jake used to say.

I don't think your father qualified

as a philosopher.

Am I right in presuming that your mother is dead?

As soon as she had me.

Who raised you?

Always been with Jake.

Them law books?

They are.

I always wanted to read a law book.

Ever since the time they stuck Jake and me in the Kansas City Jail.

What was the offense?

We didn't have ten dollars.

They said it wasn't allowed.

I always wondered if somebody wrote that down.

You don't have ten dollars, you go to jail.

It's called vagrancy,

and I'll thank you to take your greasy fingers off my pages.

Whew, here's a mouth full.

"Substantive law, defines the content

of the norms of behavior that are to be legally enforced."

You memorize all this judge?

More or less.

I happen to know that your father couldn't read,

where'd you pick it up?

Mail order catalog he used to carry 'round for me.

Hm, sore backside or learn to read and write.

Learning was easier.

You learned to read and write from a mail order catalog?

Yeah, I learned to count real good too.

I once figured out that the store was doin' alright

with them shippin' charges.

You know you add 2% to the nearest dollar they said

for shippin' charges?

But everything in the catalog was in 98s.

You know 1.98, 3.98, 6.98?

I finally figured out

that a fellow was payin' 2% shipping charges

on two cents he never even paid.

Which obviously stood you in good stead.

Are you finished eating?

Uh, well, can I wait and eat later?

It'll be here.

I think it might be a good idea if you took a bath

in that water they heated up for me.

A bath?

Well, I'm not accustomed to mentioning this in a social atmosphere,

but there's a gamey fragrance

that seems to be permeating this room.

Them fancy words mean I stink.

Blessed be for the mail order catalog.

Hey Judge, I was figurin' something

and you're sure the one to answer to it.

Yeah?

Well, if I was to memorize all them law books,

could I be like you?

I mean, maybe work for somebody like Mr. King

who owns this town and live like this?

And all I'd have to do is know what's in the book

and do what Mr. King tells me to do?

Get in there and take your bath.

Maybe there's another trick to it

and I just don't know about...

Take your bath!

Well, it was awful early in the morning like four o'clock

and I was sleepin' and I heard some screaming

that woke me up and well I grabbed my gun

and I ran outside and he was comin' out of Kate's

and I bumped right into him.

Well, he told me then that Kate was drunk and staggerin'

and she was holdin' on to the table

and she knocked the table over

and fell down on the floor and hit her head.

Well, everybody in town knows

that Kate never had a drink in her life.

Of course, he took the money from her safe.

You were witness the previous day

to certain threats uttered by Jake Fielder, were you not?

Yeah he was hollerin' at her, said he'd get even.

He said, "He'd get his money back

or have a piece of her hide," is the way he put it.

You may step down, Sheriff.

Your Honor, may I question the, Sheriff?

I would remind everyone

that they are considered friends of the court

and may question witnesses.

Go ahead, Marshal.

Sheriff, how much money did Jake Fielder have on him when you found him?

Almost $300.

And was there any left in the safe?

No, and I looked.

No, he cleaned it all outta cash.

Anybody search you?

You will remain quiet unless addressed.

You said anyone could ask questions.

Anyone does not apply to you.

I had a witness with me, Your Honor,

in case anybody thinks that I took any.

Oh, there's no reason for anyone to think that, Sheriff.

Any other questions, Marshal?

- No, Your Honor. - You may step down, Sheriff.

I now call Miss Minnie Nolen to the chair.

Just, just the shock of it.

I kept screamin'.

You were also present

at the time Jake Fielder made threatening remarks to Kate?

Yes, sir. He was powerful mad, I tell you.

You may step down, Miss Nolen,

unless the Marshal has further questions.

Miss Nolen, you say that Kate was fully dressed

- when you found her? - Yes, sir.

Was she always in the habit of being dressed

that late at night?

Ah, I don't know, sir.

Now, Your Honor, this is all just a waste of time.

We all burn a little midnight oil now and then

when there's work to be done.

I quite agree, Marshal,

obtuse speculation only delay these proceedings.

Well, Your Honor, it seems to me

that if Miss Geer was fully dressed

that late at night after the saloon was closed,

maybe she was expecting a visitor.

Are you suggesting

that we now probe into Kate's personal life?

Well this young lady has just told me

that Kate never took a drink in her life

and yet I found a broken brandy bottle

and several glasses on the floor of that office.

Who was she drinking with, Jake Fielder?

Oh no, sir.

I mean... Well what do you mean?

Well, I didn't mean anything.

I didn't see anything.

You know, Miss Nolen,

you've been pretty nervous during these proceedings.

Could it be because you're

not telling us something you know?

I...

Miss Nolen are you aware of the severe penalty

for obstructing justice?

But I tell you I didn't see anything, honestly.

Well then maybe you'd better tell us

what it was that you didn't see.

Well, I heard a noise downstairs,

uh, about 2:30

and I come down and I saw the light on in Kate's office

and I heard her screamin' and hollerin'

tellin' somebody to get out,

but it wasn't none of my business so I went back upstairs.

And you didn't see anybody in the office?

No, sir.

The door was just open a little.

I didn't even see Kate.

And she wasn't using anybody's name

- with all this hollering? - No sir.

She was just hollerin' at 'em to get out.

Now Miss Nolen I think maybe you got a pretty good idea

who was in that office even if you didn't see 'em.

Maybe that's why you're so nervous.

Marshal, this is pure speculation.

I'm sure Miss Nolen has told us everything she knows.

You may step down, Miss Nolen.

It is my finding after listening

to all of the witnesses at this inquest

that Kate Geer died at the hands...

Your Honor, I'd like to call the bartender here at Kate's,

Tom Hart.

We already have a deposition from Mr. Hart

stating that he closed the saloon as usual at midnight

and went directly home.

I know, Your Honor, but would you mind if he states

that in open court?

I now call...

Your Honor, will you please since we're going

to be crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is,

I think that Jake Fielder's son here oughta be questioned.

Why certainly nobody else could give us a better insight

into the man's character.

And, Your Honor, I suggest that we recess

to prepare for such a long afternoon.

Recess till one o'clock.

Thank you, sir.

Here you go.

Thank you.

Mr. Hart.

There's a witness chair waiting for you.

Marshal... I was just gonna ride out to my, to my sister's place.

I got word that she wasn't feelin' too good.

Sorry to hear it.

Want me to send a doctor?

Doctor?

No, no, I don't think she needs no doctor,

she ain't feelin' that bad.

Let's go.

Where did you pick up that disgusting habit?

What?

Get rid of that cud in your mouth.

You've had the upbringing of an animal.

You know you're like Jake was in a lot of ways.

Yellin' at me when you're mad at yourself.

I used to feel sorry for Jake, like I feel sorry for you.

I don't recall asking for your sympathy

or feeling any need for it.

You know, Jake was almost as smart as you,

in his way, I mean.

"A bunch of dogs," he used to say,

"and just so many bones to go around."

So you gotta be quicker and slier

and better at theivin' than everybody else

or you get left out.

And that philosophy placed 'em at the end of a rope.

Yeah, and Jake was stupid alright.

I resent your insulting your father.

I'm not insulting him I'm just sayin' the truth.

How in the world did he put up with you?

He didn't, I guess.

Always fightin' Jake and me.

Your father is dead.

If you can't return a little of the love he showed you,

then at least show a bit of reverence at his passing.

Jake never loved me.

I didn't love him, we just we're together that's all.

Like two fellas going in the same direction:

no reason to be together, no reason not to be.

What a pair.

Look Judge, I know you gotta say Jake killed that woman.

Well, maybe it just don't matter.

I mean I know you're afraid of Mr. King,

and I bet if Jake could say somethin' right now

he'd say, "Judge, it just don't matter."

You have an irritating habit

of treating your father's innocence as fact.

Jake was nothing, Judge.

I kept thinking about that watching you today.

You know, I was wrong about them law books.

Just learning them don't make a judge.

You know what it takes?

I'm afraid to ask.

Just being you.

I mean, Judge Warfield.

The way you look at people and they like ya.

Even if you're mad at them.

Or even if they know you get drunk

and work for Mr. King.

Even I come to like ya.

Well, you ain't slick, is the way Jake would put it.

Just bein' liked.

People seein' somethin',

sorta knowin' you wanna be kind,

sorta knowin' you trust 'em.

Sure is something to have.

Jake Fielder came into this town without one iota

of value to society, including conceiving you.

He was as unimportant in the scheme of things

as a falling leaf, less so.

A leaf at least adds something to the ground.

Yeah, like I said Jake was nothing.

I'll do the saying, he was your father!

I'll tell you something, boy...

it's the dead who rest in peace, not the living.

Yeah, I guess Jake was all them things.

I notice you keep referring

to your father by his given name.

"Given name" means his first name as opposed to...

I know what it means.

Ha, well you're an exceptionally bright boy.

I don't have to be bright to know what you're trying to do.

The one thing Jake used to always say:

"There ain't one lie outta ten anybody believes,

so it just ain't worth the breath to lie,

unless it'll save your skin."

Well summing up Jake Fielder's character,

we have a thief as well as a child beater.

You have a man who has never displayed even a shred

of affection for this boy.

You have a man with a violent temper

who has been jailed for various offenses,

including assault and finally murder.

I guess it's pretty clear what kind of a man Jake Fielder was.

How old are you boy?

Sixteen.

I don't agree with Mr. King

that you're very bright for 16.

Can you recall any instances of your father stealing?

Yeah, plenty of times.

He robbed a general store in Tuscan once

for a pair of boots that didn't even fit me right.

Picked a pocket of a drummer

when we needed train fair to Abbeyville.

And I remember once when I was sick

he butchered a range calf so he could make us a beef broth.

Was you father also sick at the time?

No, just me. Why?

Well, if you can't see the significance there, let it pass.

Speaking of significance,

what does this got to do with anything?

I'll handle this hearing, Mr. King.

About those beatings.

Plenty of times.

I already told ya once

he beat me whenever he damn well felt like it.

We can dispense with the profanity.

"Whenever he felt like it," now what does that mean?

Forcing you to read and write was one reason,

any others?

Well, there was runnin' away.

Took firewood to my back that time, near broke it.

And he never loved you?

Jake?

I told ya once.

You told everybody,

about an illiterate man

who couldn't express himself except in anger,

who was frustrated by his lot in life.

You told us about a man who beat his child

so that he wouldn't end up as he was.

Unable to read and write,

and thus, condemned to be another Jake.

You told us about a man who beat you

for running away

when that running away would have relieved him

of the responsibility of caring for you.

You told us about a man who stole,

not merely for his own benefit,

but that you might have boots

and nourishing food when you were sick.

You told us about a man who would have found it easier

to feed and cloth himself,

would have found it easier

to cut himself off from the ungrateful whelp

he was saddled with.

He brought you to the threshold of manhood

to the best of his limited ability,

and you say he has no affection for you, no love?

Tell me something boy, what is your conception of love?

A smile, a soft word?

He kept you with him, a newly born babe.

How, I'll never be able to understand.

Must have been a feat for him to feed and protect you

when you couldn't walk or feed yourself.

And you say he didn't love you?

How many ways must a father express his love?

Shut up.

You knew a man who loved you very deeply.

He just never knew the words.

Jake.

It's like I told everybody already.

I closed the place up at midnight, a minute after maybe.

And we all know that a side door was left open,

that's how Jake Fielder got in.

Now how is it you closed up the place

for the night and yet failed to close that door?

Well I, uh, must have forgot, I guess.

How much money did the bar make over the weekend?

Three hundred dollars, maybe.

And what about the gaming tables?

I don't know about that.

Would you like to take a guess?

Your Honor,

Mr. Hart has already testified he doesn't know.

Are you making a point, Marshal?

Yes, I am.

Jake Fielder was found with $300 on him.

Now that's the money taken out of the safe.

I'd like to know what happened to the rest of the receipts.

Maybe the tables broke even.

Oh yeah, that's right.

I remember now Kate told me, she'd come out even.

Mr. Hart are you aware of the penalties

for perjury, even in a hearing like this?

It's five years imprisonment.

Your Honor, this is downright intimidation!

Are you making a specific charge Marshal?

Kate employed six men to run those gaming tables

for her over the weekend.

Now they're paid on a 20% commission basis.

I checked the vouchers at the bank this morning.

Now, according to those vouchers,

over $1500 was made at the tables on that weekend.

Now are you still gonna tell me

that Kate said that she broke even?

Well maybe she meant for the whole week?

No she didn't mean that Mr. Hart

and you and I both know it,

but we'll let that pass for a minute.

You like Napoleon Brandy, do ya?

Oh she didn't get that bottle for me that...

Well who did she get it for, then,

if she doesn't drink herself?

Marshal you're askin' tricky questions.

Nothing tricky about it, but I'd advise you

to think pretty carefully before you answer.

Them reporters are writtin' all this down, Mr. King.

I gotta wife and two boys.

I don't want 'em to think I done nothin' wrong.

You're right Marshal we was there, all right,

but nobody done nothin' to Kate.

Who's we?

Mr., Mr. King and uh, me.

Mr. King and Kate was arguin'.

Seems that Kate was tryin' to hold out some money on him,

and suddenly Kate just up

and slapped Mr. King cross the face

and he raised his hand, and when he done that

she jumped back and slipped and fell over the table.

Mr. King never even touched her.

Are you saying Mr. King was a partner

with Kate in the saloon?

Well, Kate got all the money from the bar,

but all the money from the gamin' tables

and all the rest, well, that went to Mr. King.

Kate had to pay him every month in order

to stay in business.

But Kate was alive when we left, isn't that true?

Oh yes, sir, that's right, she was.

She hit her head on the wood box

and well there didn't appear to be nothing wrong with her,

she was just cussin' up a blue streak.

What happened when she hit her head on the wood box?

Mr. King tried to help her up,

but she knocked his hand away

and she told us both to get out,

so that's what we done.

Couldn't say nothing' to nobody about it,

because it just wouldn't look right

for nobody to know that Mr. King

was makin' money off of Kate's place,

but nobody done nothin' wrong.

No, nothing except leaving an injured woman

laying on the floor without even calling a doctor.

Letting an innocent man swing from the gallows, that's all.

Your Honor, the only important thing is,

that Kate Geer was alive when we left.

Now the fact that I had a little business deal...

And incidentally all those funds

went into the benefit of Kingville.

The important fact is that Jake Fielder later came

to her office, stole her money and killed her.

Any other questions, Marshal?

No Your Honor, but I do have an observation.

Now, nobody actually saw Jake Fielder kill Kate Geer.

Now, it could have been that she was more seriously injured

than these men thought she was.

Now it could also be possible

that when Jake Fielder came in,

it happened the way he said it was.

He found he staggering around the office

and she reeled backwards and fell on the floor.

It's possible, Marshal, but it's speculation.

Nothing at this trial has proved Jake Fielder's guilt.

On the other hand, nothing has proved his innocence,

and since by all the relevant testimony,

Kate Geer was alive when last seen,

I hereby rule that the evidence presented indicates

that she died at the hands of...

I hereby rule that Kate died

at the hands of unknown misfortune.

The probable cause of death was a fall.

The results most likely delayed until she was alone.

- What about Jake Fielder? - He was lynched.

It's a difficult word to use,

but lynched Jake Fielder certainly was.

People who did this terrible deed

will have to live with their personal guilt.

However there were many invisible hands on that rope.

- Sheriff Ridder's, Mr. King's... - Speak for yourself.

You're quite right.

My hands above all were on that rope

that swung Jake Fielder to his death.

None of us condone his murder.

Perhaps the least guilty of us all are those

who actually sent Jake Fielder to his death,

the citizens of Kingville.

They had no respect for law or judgment,

because they knew that the Sheriff's office

and this judge's bench were bought

and paid for over the years.

When there is contempt for law every man feels

that he is equal to passing judgment.

The major guilt is mine,

with Mr. King running me a close second.

You built a community solely dependent on you,

looking to you for guidance.

No one could see the rot your foundation is based upon.

Sheriff Ridder, only wanted to please Mr. King.

Only wanted to remain in an undeserved office.

Well, that's human enough.

My decision as to Jake Fielder,

my decision and perhaps my last,

is that he died at the hands of misfortune.

There are those who will say

when they've read the reporters comments,

that no justice has been done here.

I disagree.

Lynch towns cannot survive.

They inevitable wither into the obscurity

they've so justly earned.

We need no prediction from a gutter drunk.

Which is all you were, and will be again.

Well put Mr. King and quite right,

at least what I was.

Will be again?

Perhaps.

This hearing's adjourned.

Well, did you gain here, Marshal,

with all of your meddling?

Nothing has changed.

You haven't been listening, Mr. King.

Well Rob, what are your plans?

Oh, just move on, I guess.

Ever been in Doby Forks, Nebraska?

Ha, never even heard of it.

Well, it's a small town where I hung out my first shingle

a good many years ago.

I was a young lawyer then, a very impatient young lawyer.

Thinkin' of goin' back?

But a bit more patient now.

I suppose the town has grown a lot,

I wouldn't be surprised if I needed a law clerk.

What's a law clerk do?

Well, he's supposed to learn.

Read a lot, do a lot of running around,

receive no pay.

Sounds the same as I've been doing all my life.

I'll tolerate none of your impudence

and your disreputable appearance.