New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-11-11

pris'ner and his guards will please sci
right over thar" pointing To his left
The hon'rable jedge. which same is
me, will please set right thar indi-
cating ii spot nj the base of the gnarle1
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
a line of twelve mountaineers-the so
called jury. To his left was the self
appointed judge, and to his right
lounged Il score or more of men whose
attention was then being turned to-
ward a jug Of fiery new whisky that
had never been near TO Il revenue
stamp or anything else that was hon
est. The jug Travelled rapidly from
one hairy mouth to another.
Old Ball passed the jug to a men,
Der Of the jury and announced:
well, dammit, co'te's open now"
Kitty, kitty, kitty" tainted Walt
Turner. pore little kitty"
The mOckery began. 1t 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
1t wouldn't have helped if Dale had
had n proyerbial Philadelphia lawyer
on the grounds all the proof and clio,
quence and pleading in the world never
would have changed, In the slightest de-
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 1t they were insulting the majesty
of the law and making their ven
geance sweeter. Ii became worse than
II ~travesty.
Night fell during the wordy and
profane ~harangue of the Ball leader,
and ii was ordered hat a fire be built
at once. Al once a fire was built, dry
brushwood being used, and in its red
and pickering glare the faces Of the
hillmen looked doulIy dark and dOubly
wicked. Then the Judge begged a
of tobacco and deliberately kept
the whole twist, and told the jury to
go ont and bring back a verdict with
out losing time.
The twelve mountaineerS rose un.
stAn1flk+ and N#nnf IA th.. nt.aAl- aud ]
there one of them uncovered another
Jug of fiery new whisky that was alien
% n revenue stamp. They drank
and returned to the walnut
rec court without mentioning the
rial.
The foreman was n Torrey, and a
particularly bad one. His swarthy
ace, with its high Cherokee check
and its thin-lipped mouth, was
u~ltra-vicious. He entered
he circle of red and flckering freight
smiling evllly, and the other
.leven crowded MP close behind him.
Ie cleared his throat, spat between
fingers at the fire, and turned TO
he judge.
"Gcntlemcn a the jury" growled
he ruling Bali, "haNe We reached Il
crdictf'
I've have. yorc honor very prompt
answered the Torrcy who was fore
And we ha' found the pris'ner
utility o the wust kind o coldblooded,
mudder in the fust de-
rec, yOre honor"
Old Ball leveled II knotty forcfinger
lwnrl Bill Dale.
"fo' the KILN o my son Adam"
q pronounced sentence. you sh'll
ang by the neck Ontel dead, from n
o this here warnut tree, by gon-
les, ut sunrise In the mornin'."
Although he had well known what
he sentence would he, Dale went sud
ashen. THEN he took a firm
IN himself and began to reason.
He could not hope, he decided, that /.
he Morelands and the Littlefords /,
ruld find him before the sun rose. !,
hsy would miss him, of course, and !,
icy would suspect foul play and look !
n him but finding him in that wild ,
lain To him that he would asye to ,
Va himself If he were saved. lie
'lleyed his best chance lay ia his =,
that he was anything but a :
admired n brave man. :