The news of Charley Norton's murder spread quickly over the county. For
two or three days bands of armed men scoured the woods and roads, and
then this activity quite unproductive of any tangible results ceased,
matters were allowed to rest with the constituted authorities, namely
Mr. Betts the sheriff, and his deputies.
No private citizen had shown greater zeal than Judge Slocum Price, no
voice had clamored more eloquently for speedy justice than his. He had
sustained a loss that was in a peculiar sense personal, he explained.
Mr. Norton was his friend and client; they had much in common; their
political ideals were in the strictest accord and he had entertained a
most favorable opinion of the young man's abilities; he had urged him
to enter the national arena and carve out a career for himself; he had
promised him his support. The judge so worked upon his own feelings that
presently any mention of Norton's name utterly unmanned him. Well, this
was life. One could only claim time as it was doled out by clock ticks;
we planned for the years and could not be certain of the moments.
He spent two entire days at the church and in the surrounding woods, nor
did any one describe the murder with the vividness he achieved in his
description of it. The minister's narrative was pale and colorless by
comparison, and those who came from a distance went away convinced
that they had talked with an eyewitness to the tragedy and esteemed
themselves fortunate. In short, he imposed himself on the situation with
such brilliancy that in the end his account of the murder became
the accepted version from which all other versions differed to their
discredit.
In the same magnificent spirit of public service he would have assumed
the direction of the search for the murderer, but Mr. Betts' jealousy
proved an obstacle to his ambitious design. In view of this he was
regretful, but not surprised when the hard-ridden miles covered by dusty
men and reeking horses yielded only failure.
“If I had shot that poor boy, I wouldn't ask any surer guarantee of
safety than to have that fool Betts with his microscopic brain working
in unhampered asininity on the case,” he told Mahaffy.
“Is it your idea that you are enlarging your circle of intimate friends
by the way you go about slamming into folks?” inquired Mahaffy, with
harsh sarcasm.
Later, the judge was shocked at what he characterized as official
apathy. It became a point on which he expressed himself with surpassing
candor.
“Do they think the murderer's going to come in and give himself up?--is
that the notion?” he demanded heatedly of Mr. Saul.
“The sheriff owns himself beat, Sir; the murderer's got safely away and
left no clue to his identity.”
The judge waived this aside.
“Clues, sir? If you mean physical evidence the eye can apprehend, I
grant it; the murderer has got away; certainly he's been given all the
time he needed, but what about the motive that prompted the crime? An
intelligently conducted examination such as I am willing to undertake
might still bring it to light. Isn't it known that Norton was attacked a
fortnight ago as he was leaving Belle Plain? He recovers and is about
to be married to Miss Malroy when he is shot at the church door; I'll
hazard the opinion the attack was in the nature of a warning for him to
keep away from Belle Plain. Now, had he a rival? Clear up these points
and you get a clue!” The judge paused impressively.
“Tom Ware has acted in a straightforward manner. He's stated frankly
he was opposed to the match, that when he heard about it on his way to
Memphis he turned back and made every effort to get to the church in
time to stop it if he could,” said Mr. Saul.
“Mr. Ware need not be considered,” observed the judge.
“Well, there's been a heap of talk.”
“If he'd inspired the firing of the fatal shot he'd have kept away from
the church. No, no, Mr. Saul, is there anybody hereabout who aspired to
Miss Malroy's hand--any rejected suitor?”
“Not that we know of.”
“Under ordinary circumstances, sir, I am opposed to measures that
ignore the constituted authorities, but we find ourselves living under
extraordinary conditions, and the law--God save the name--has proved
itself abortive. It is time for the better element to join bands; we
must get together, sir. I am willing to take the initial steps and
issue the call for a mass meeting of our best citizens. I am prepared to
address such a meeting.” The very splendor of his conception dazzled the
judge; this promised a gorgeous publicity with his name flying broadcast
over the county. He continued:
“I am ready to give my time gratuitously to directing the activities of
a body of picked men who shall rid the county of the lawless element.
God knows, sir, I desire the repose of a private career, yet I am
willing to sacrifice myself. Is it your opinion, Mr. Saul, that I should
move in this matter?”
“I advise you didn't,” said Mr. Saul, with disappointing alacrity.
The judge looked at him fixedly.
“Am I wrong in supposing, Mr. Saul, that if I determine to act as I have
outlined I shall have your indorsement?” he demanded. Mr. Saul
looked extremely uncomfortable; he was finding the judge's effulgent
personality rather compelling. “There is no gentleman whose support
I should value in quite the same sense that I should value yours, Mr.
Saul; I should like to feel my course met with your full approval,”
pursued the judge, with charming deference.
“You'll get yourself shot full of holes,” said Mr. Saul.
“What causes me to hesitate is this: my name is unfamiliar to your
citizens. You know their prejudices, Mr. Saul; how would they regard me
if I put myself forward?”
“Can't say how they would take it,” rejoined Mr. Saul.
Again the judge gave him a fixed scrutiny. Then ha shook him warmly by
the hand.
“Think of what I have said; ponder it, sir, and let me have your
answer at another time.” And he backed from Mr. Saul's presence with
spectacular politeness.
“A cheap mind!” thought the judge, as he hurried up the street.
He broached the subject to Mr. Wesley the postmaster, to Mr. Ellison
the gunsmith, to Mr. Pegloe, employing much the same formula he had used
with Mr. Saul, and with results almost identical. He imagined there must
be some conspiracy afoot to keep him out of the public eye, and in the
end he managed to lose his temper.
“Hasn't Norton any friends?” he demanded of Pegloe. “Who's going to
be safe at this rate? We want to let some law into west Tennessee, a
hanging or two would clear the air!” His emotions became a rage that
blew through him like a gale, shaking him to his center.
Two mornings later he found where it had been placed under his door
during the night a folded paper. It contained a single line of writing:
“You talk too much. Shut up, or you'll go where Norton went.”
Now the judge was accessible to certain forms of fear. He was, for
instance, afraid of snakes--both kinds--and mobs he had dreaded
desperately since his Pleasantville experience; but beyond this, fear
remained an unexplored region to Slocum Price, and as he examined the
scrawl a smile betokening supreme satisfaction overspread his battered
features. He was agreeably affected by the situation; indeed he was
delighted. His activities were being recognized; he had made his
impression; the cutthroats had selected him to threaten. Well, the
damned rascals showed their good sense; he'd grant them that! Swelling
with pride, he carried the scrawl to Mahaffy.
“They are forming their estimate of me, Solomon; I shall have them on
the run yet!” he declared.
“You are going out of your way to hunt trouble--as if you hadn't enough
at the best of times, Price! Let these people manage their own affairs,
don't you mix up in them,” advised the conservative Mahaffy.
The judge drew himself up with an air of lofty pride.
“Do you think I am going to be silenced, intimidated, by this sort of
thing? No, sir! No, Solomon, the stopper isn't made that will fit my
mouth.”
A few moments later he burst in on Mr. Saul.
“Glance at that, my friend!” he cried, as he tossed the paper on the
clerk's desk. “Eh, what?--no joke about that, Mr. Saul. I found it under
my door this morning.” Mr. Saul glanced at the penciled lines and drew
in his breath sharply. “What do you make of it, sir?” demanded the judge
anxiously.
“Well, of course, you'll do as you please, but I'd keep still.”
“You mean you regard this as an authentic expression, sir, and not as
the joke of some irresponsible humorist?”
“It's authentic enough,” said Mr. Saul impatiently.
The judge gave a sigh of relief; he could have hugged the little clerk
who had put to rest certain miserable doubts that had assailed him.
“Sir, I wish it known that I hold the writer and his threats in
contempt; if I have given offense it is to an element I shall never seek
to conciliate.” Mr. Saul was clearly divided between his admiration for
the judge's courage and fear for his safety. “One thing is proven, sir,”
the judge went on; “the man who murdered that poor boy is in our midst;
that point can no longer be disputed. Now, where are their fine-spun
theories as to how he crossed to the Arkansas coast? What does their
mass of speculation and conjecture amount to in the face of this?” He
breathed deep. “My God, sir, the murderer may be the very next man you
pass the time of day with!” Mr. Saul shivered uncomfortably. “And the
case in the hands of that pin-headed fool, Betts!” The judge laughed
derisively as he bowed himself out. He left it with Mr. Saul to
disseminate the news. The judge strutted home with his hat cocked over
one eye, and his chest expanded to such limits that it menaced all
his waistcoat buttons. Perhaps he was under observation. Ah, let the
cutthroats look their full at him!
He established himself in his office. He had scarcely done so when Mr.
Betts knocked at the door. The sheriff came direct from Mr. Saul and
arrived out of breath, but the letter was not mentioned by the judge.
He spoke of the crops, the chance of rain, and the intricacies of county
politics. The sheriff withdrew mystified, wondering why it was he had
not felt at liberty to broach the subject which was uppermost in
his mind. His place was taken by Mr. Pegloe, and on the heels of
the tavern-keeper came Mr. Bowen. Judge Price received them with
condescension, but back of the condescension was an air of reserve
that did not invite questions. The judge discussed the extension of
the national roads with Mr. Pegloe, and the religion of the Persian
fire-worshipers with Mr. Bowen; he permitted never a pause and they
retired as the sheriff had done without sight of the letter.
The judge's office became a perfect Mecca for the idle and the curious,
and while he overflowed with high-bred courtesy he had never seemed so
unapproachable--never so remote from matters of local and contemporary
interest.
“Why don't you show 'em the letter?” demanded Mr. Mahaffy, when they
were alone. “Can't you see they are suffering for a sight of it?”
“All in good time, Solomon.” He became thoughtful. “Solomon, I am
thinking of offering a reward for any information that will lead to the
discovery of my anonymous correspondent,” he at length observed with a
finely casual air, as if the idea had just occurred to him, and had not
been seething in his brain all day.
“There you go, Price--” began Mahaffy.
“Solomon, this is no time for me to hang back. I shall offer a reward
of five thousand dollars for this information.” The judge's tone was
resolute. “Yes, sir, I shall make the figure commensurate with the
poignant grief I feel. He was my friend and client--” The moisture
gathered in his eyes.
“I should think that fifty dollars was nearer to being your figure,”
suggested the cautious Mahaffy.
“Inadequate and most insulting,” said the judge.
“Well, where do you expect to get five thousand dollars?” cried Mahaffy
in a tone of absolute exasperation.
“Where would I get fifty?” inquired the judge mildly.
For once Mahaffy frankly owned himself beaten. A gleam of admiration lit
up his glance.
“Price, you have a streak of real greatness!” he declared.
Before the day was over it was generally believed that the judge was
wearing his gag with humility; interest in him declined, still the
public would have been grateful for a sight of that letter.
“Shucks, he's nothing but an old windbag!” said Mr. Pegloe to a group of
loungers gathered before his tavern in the early evening.
As he spoke, the judge's door opened and that gentleman appeared on his
threshold with a lighted candle in each hand. Glancing neither to the
right nor the left he passed out and up the street. Not a breath of wind
was blowing and the flames of the two candles burnt clear and strong,
lighting up his stately advance.
At the corner of the court-house green stood a row of locust hitching
posts. Two of these the judge decorated with his candles, next he
measured off fifteen paces, strides as liberal as he could make them
without sacrifice to his dignity; he scored a deep line in the dust
with the heel of his boot, toed it squarely, and drew himself up to his
fullest height. His right hand was seen to disappear under the frayed
tails of his coat, it reappeared and was raised with a movement quicker
than the eye could follow and a pistol shot rang out. One of the candles
was neatly snuffed.
The judge allowed himself a covert glance in the direction of the
loungers before the tavern. He was aware that a larger audience was
assembling. A slight smile relaxed the firm set of his lips. The
remaining candle sputtered feebly. The judge walked to the post and
cleared the wick from tallow with his thumb-nail. There was no haste in
any of his movements; his was the deliberation of conscious efficiency.
Resuming his former station back of the line he had drawn in the dusty
road he permitted his eye to gauge the distance afresh, then his hand
was seen to pass deftly to his left hip pocket, the long barrel of the
rifle pistol was leveled, the piece cracked, and the candle's yellow
flame vanished.
The judge pocketed his pistol, walked down the street, and with never a
glance toward the tavern reentered his house.
The next morning it was discovered that sometime during the night the
judge had tacked his anonymous communication on the court-house door;
just below it was another sheet of paper covered with bold script:
“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Judge Slocum Price assumes that the above was
intended for him since he found it under his office door on the morning
of the twenty-fifth inst.
“Judge Price begs leave to state it as his unqualified conviction that
the writer is a coward and a cur, and offers a reward of five thousand
dollars for any information that will lead to his identification.
“Judge Price has stated that he would conduct an intelligently directed
investigation of the Norton murder mystery without remuneration. He
has the honor to assure his friends that he is still willing to do so;
however, he takes this opportunity to warn the public that each day's
delay is a matter of the utmost gravity.
“Furthermore, judge Price avails himself on this occasion to say that
he has no wish to avoid personal conclusions with the murderers and
cutthroats who are terrorizing this community; on the contrary, he will
continue earnestly to seek such personal conclusions.”