It cannot be denied that these rude forms of justice, known as "Judge
Lynch's Courts," have done some good in disorganized conditions of
society, by deterring, if not in punishing, crime. Indeed, in many cases
vigilance committees have been of the greatest service, even in places
where the law is supposed to be in force. At one time these committees
saved the city of San Francisco from the control of murderers and
gamblers.
But on the whole they do more harm than good, for, as in the present
instance at Hurley's Gulch, bad men join them for self-protection or to
carry out their own selfish ends.
The only men who can properly administer justice are those accustomed to
weighing evidence, and, no matter how well meaning, rough miners are apt
to be influenced by their feelings rather than their reason.
It would not have taken a stranger long to see that a majority of the
men gathered in that canvas-covered apartment, in the hotel at Hurley's
Gulch, were prejudiced against the prisoners.
To Mr. Willett, who was familiar with the dignified forms of courts of
justice in the East, the proceedings looked like a burlesque on law, for
an attempt was made to do things after the manner of long established
methods.
Before the prisoners were brought in, it was decided by the committee
having the matter in charge, that a man named Jacks, an ignorant,
red-faced fellow, who had occupied a similar position on a former
occasion, 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 dignified
bearing supposed to be essential to the office.
The judge rapped with the bottom of a heavy tumbler--the contents of
which he had just drank--on a little pine table by his side and called
out:
"The next thing in order, gents, is to 'lect a sheriff and a clerk, for
I 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 so
now, or forever after hold their peace."
When the judge had ceased speaking, a man with a bullet-head, a red
shirt and no neck to speak of--he was the proprietor of this remarkable
hotel--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 to
Badger 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 have
declared Shirley elected had not Mr. Willett leaped to his feet and
shouted:
"I protest."
"One of the prizners protests," said the judge, and he picked up the
tumbler with an angry gesture, as if about to hurl it at Mr. Willett's
head.
Frank Shirley evidently expected to act as clerk of the court without
any opposition, for as soon as his name was called he pushed himself to
the front.
"What objection have you got to Mr. Shirley, I'd like to know?" said the
judge, his face growing redder with anger.
"I have many objections," said Mr. Willett, not at all intimidated by
the 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 the
judge.
"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 my
bitter enemy. He has been setting the good men of this place against me
by his slanders and unblushing falsehoods. If you want this trial to be
fair you must not begin by making officers of men who may find it to
their interest to convict me."
"I mean to do what's fair," Shirley managed to say. "And I am not
seeking this place. If you elect me I will serve, and do my whole duty
like a man, forgetting the past bad character of this unfortunate man,
Willett, who married my cousin and sent the poor woman to the grave by
his cruelties."
This speech had a powerful effect on the mob, for the men began to
stamp, and some of them yelled:
"Don't pay no heed to the prizner, but go right straight on with the
trial!"
"Yes, we'll go on with the trial," said the judge, rapping for order, as
if determined to have it or break the table.
Still cool and undaunted, Mr. Willett stood up till the storm had
somewhat abated.
"If," he said, "I am to have no voice in my own defence, then this trial
is a farce and the sooner it ends in the murder of two innocent men the
better. If the judge did not mean that I could object to the officers
you were about to elect, why did he say so? I am simply availing myself
of the privilege you grant me, and I can give you still stronger reasons
for my opposition to this Frank Shirley, whom I here denounce, as a man
without manly courage or honest principle, and wholly unworthy of
belief. He is the one man in this territory who will reap wealth from
the death of myself and my son; are you willing to let such a man take
part in a trial that may seal my doom in his interest?"
The judge was about to make an angry comment on this, but he was
prevented by Collins, who pushed his way through the crowd, and said
with 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 stand
before my face, or the face of my pard, Si Brill, and say that either of
us don't always tell the right up and down truth. If thar is sich a man
har, I'd like him to trot himself out so that I ken git a good square
look at him for 'bout three seconds and a half."
As Collins said this, he quickly threw his strong right hand back on the
stock of one of his revolvers and took a calm survey of the sea of
astonished faces.
If there was any man present who had doubts as to the honesty and
veracity of Mr. Collins and his partner, he thought it the part of
prudence to keep them to himself, for the present at least.
"Now," continued Collins, after a half minute of painful silence, "I
happen 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 mean
ones too, in this camp, by keepin' of 'em howlin' drunk, will fall into
a big estate over thar in Michigan, if Mr. Willett's son should chance
to peg out afore he gits to be old enough to vote in politics. So, for
one, I ain't a goin' to stand by and let that cur have anythin' to do
with 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 man
who'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 charge
right here to his face. If he don't deny it, mebbe some of his new found
friends, Jacks, the judge of the court for instance, might like to take
it up. If so, I'm just about as ready to back my words now as at any
other time."
Again Collins drew himself up and looked about him, with his right hand
gripping the stock of his six-shooter.
"See har, Collins," said the judge, speaking in tones intended to be
very soothing, "we're not here to fight, but to do our duty as good
men----"
"But is it doin' yer duty to tell the prizners they kin object, and
then, when one of 'em does so, to try and choke him off, so's to put in
an enemy and a sneak as the clerk of this court?"
"Wa'll, Collins, thar's other folks that ken write in this camp," said
the judge. "So I'll withdraw Mr. Shirley, and let another be named."
Much crest-fallen at this decision of the judge, and the very
uncomplimentary opinion of himself which he had been forced to listen
to, Frank Shirley shrunk back into the crowd from which he had lately
emerged with so much confidence.
Even Badger, usually so ready to assert himself, remained dumb in the
presence of this strong, brave man.
A young miner, bearing the appropriate name of Clark, was selected as
clerk of the court, and then the judge said it was in order to swear in
a jury.
"'Cordin' to law," he added, "the prizners has a right to ax the jury
questions, and to object to 'em if they doesn't pan out all right. But I
hope we'll git along faster'n we've been doin' else this yar trial will
last from July to eternity."
As Mr. Willett did not know any of the men who were called to act as
jurors, 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 preliminaries
were over, and that he was now prepared to go on with the trial in
earnest, "and have justice did to the livin' and the dead."