Cleveland County herald., 1921-09-15
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fer fo' it. Right here onder this here warnut tree we're a-goin' to hold cote and have yore trial by jedge and jury, and you'll shore git what's a-comin'
 Bill Dale cut in with some bitter ness: And you'll be the judge, and your plans have already been laid, and I'm to be hanged by the neck until dead eh? We'll, you'll pay dearly for it, l promise you. We always have to pay for what we get, you know The Morelands and the Littlefords will be quick to settle the account. You know that"
 No" old Ball disagreed hotly, q don't know that!"
 He turned to the others.
 "Set down, boys. It's the same price as standin' The jury will please set over thar" pointing to his right "The prisner and his gyards will please set right over thar" pointing to his left. 'The hon'rable jedge, which same is me, will please set right thar" indi- eating spot at the base of the gnarled walnut. .The rest" he finished, will set anywhar they d-n pleases Set down. men,
 His orders were obeyed. Dale found himself sitting on the ground between two pairs of mountaineers and facing q line of twelve mountaineers-the so- called jury To his left was the self appointed judge, and to his right lounged a score or more of men whose attention was then being turned to- ward jug of fiery new whisky that had never been near to a revenue stamp or anything else that was hon. est 1.-The jug travelled rapidly from one hairy mouth to another.
 Old Ball passed the jug to a mem Der of the jury" and announced:
 "Well, dammit, co'te's open now"
 Kitty kitty, kittyw taunted Walt Turner. Pore little kittyr'
 The mockery began. It was ridicu- lous, and yet it was grim. Adam Balls father himself furnished most of the evidence; also he acted as prosecuting attorney. Of course there was no counsel for the defense, and it wouldn't have helped if, Dale had had a proverbiaI Philadelphia lawyer on the grounds; all the proof and elo- quence and pleading in the world never would have changed, in the slightest de gree, the sentence that had been cut and dried for Bill Dale. The mock trial was being held solely because the Balls and Torreys felt that by hold ing it they were insulting the majesty of the law and making their ven- geance sweeter It became worse than a travesty. ..
 Night fell during the wordy and profane harangue of the Ball leader, and it was ordered that a fire be built at once. At once fire was built, dry brushwood being used and in it's red and fiickering glare the faces of the hllmen looked doubly dark and doubly wicked. Then the judge begged a chew of tobacco and deliberately kept the whole twist, and told the jury to go out and bring back a verdict with out losing time.
 The twelve mountaineers rose un- steadily and went to the creek, and there one of them uncovered another jug of fiery new whisky that was alien to "a revenue stamp. They drank heavily and returned to the walnut tree court without mentioning the trial.
 The foreman was a Torrey, and a particularly bad one. His swarthy face, with it's high Cherokee cheek bones and its thin-lipped mouth, was ultra-cruel, ultra-vicious. He entered the circle of red and fiickering freight slowly, smiling evilly, and the other eleven crowded up close behind him