continued........
Judge: You then tried to put out the fire with apparently no success?
Ezra: No, this time we did do what came naturally, we ran.
Judge: Then?
Ezra: Well, after we reached Crisp Water Landing, Samuel got this strange kind of smile on his face and started laughing like J.T. Williams did right before they hauled him off to that place up north.
Judge: Yes, sad, that was very sad, then?
Ezra: He laughed for a while, then he cried for awhile. Then he noticed the jugs Zeak and I had left behind when we went off chasing Samuel. He grabbed them in his arms started running toward the burning barn and threw the jugs into the flames and all the time shouting “demon rum, demon rum!”
Judge: That is strange, real strange.
Ezra: It sure was, Judge, we were not even drinking rum.
Judge: Hmm, do you concur with Ezra, Zeak?
Zeak: Do I what?
Judge: Concur, did Ezra tell the truth?
Zeak: (inaudible reply – cr)
Judge: I didn’t hear you Zeak, what?
Zeak: Yes, yes!
Judge: Okay, okay, Zeak, no need to yell. Samuel, what do you have to say for yourself?
Samuel: Not much, nothing really. Gee, your honor, I don’t remember nothing except waking up on the river bank with the Sheriff standing over me.
Judge: River bank?
Ezra: Yeah, I mean, yes, Judge. After Samuel yelled demon rum a few times, he ran back to the river bank and passed out.
Judge: Samuel, I under stand from Homer, the city jailer, that you spend a lot of time there.
Samuel: Well, yes, I do your honor, it is sort of like home.
Judge: Well, I’m going to see to it you become a real homebody. You are a disgrace to every drinking man in the county. I know you have had problems in the past, but so has everyone else. Every man is, or a least should be made to be responsible for his actions. This is not the first time you have been in this courtroom because of something you did while under the influence. I am going to make a example of you, Mr. Horn (clearing throat- cr) I sentence you to ….
Zeak: No!
Judge: No? No, what.
Ezra: Shut up, you fool.
Judge: What?!
Ezra: Not you, Judge, I mean the other fool!
Judge: What? Hey, Ezra, get you hands off Zeak’s throat!
Bailiff: Hey, you guys break it up, Sheriff help me.
Ezra: I’m gona kill you!
Zeak: (making choking sound – cr)
Bailiff: Judge, grab his feet, Sheriff get one arm there, I got his neck.
Judge: Look out! (crash – cr) There, now get a rope. Sheriff, tie this man up. There now, order in the court. What in blue blazes is this all about Thurman. Wait until I get behind the bench, Okay, now go ahead, what is this all about?
Ezra: You dirty, rotten feather headed skunk, I’ll kill you.
Judge: Sheriff, gag that man.
Zeak: (in a shaky voice –cr) Brown is a no good deceiving liar. He don’t know how to tell the truth. I was going along but I just couldn’t let another man pay for what another done.
Judge: Well then, why don’t you tell me what happened.
Zeak: Ezra’s right about Samuel getting drunk. But he didn’t burn no barn. Ezra done it. After Samuel passed out, Ezra and I kept drinking and, of course, talking. The more we drank, the drunker we got and the more we talked about things that we probably wouldn’t have talked about. I asked Ezra about the horse he bought from Branson (farmer –cr) and Ezra went into a rage. He said that the horse was a no good plug and he had been cheated And to top things off the horse had died and so on and so on. He really got madder and madder. The madder he got, the more he drank, and the more he drank, the drunker he got and the drunker he got, the more he talked and the more he talked and the more he talked the madder he got and the madder he got…
Judge: Yes, yes, I think I get the picture.
Ezra: Well, then, he goes to feeling sorry for himself. I tried to tell him that Branson wouldn’t cheat nobody on purpose, but he was way beyond listening to reason. He said it were folks like Branson that had made his life bad. He said everyone in the county has always been against him because he did not have a father anyone ever knew about. He said he was the only one in the county that people whispered about because of a situation like that. Then he drank some more and the more he drank the sorrier he felt for himself and the sorrier he felt for himself the madder he got at Branson. Then all of a sudden, Ezra said with a strange look on his face that he was going to show everybody and do the most terrible think imaginable to Branson. I told him to do what he wanted, I didn’t care. You see, I thought Ezra was just talking. I do remember telling him though not to burn Branson’s barn, that would be inhuman. No man burns another man’s barn, not for whatever reason.
Judge: But he did burn the barn anyway, right?
Zeak: Yes, and it was all my fault, He said he hadn’t thought of that and besides he made me give him my matches.
Judge: Did you help him?
Zeak: No.
Judge: Did you try to stop him?
Zeak: I told him it would be inhuman.
Judge: But did you try to physically try to stop him?
Zeak: No, I just sat on the river bank next to Samuel.
Judge: So, I take it that Ezra, after burning the bar returns to where you were waiting and then did what?
Zeak: Nothing at first. He just stared at the river for a long time and then at Samuel there passed out and all. Then he turned to me and said how I should have tried to help him stop Samuel from burning down the barn. He told me not to worry none though, because he would tell how I had helped him even though I hadn’t, stopped Samuel, that is.
Judge: Now wait. Are you saying that Ezra burnt the barn, then decided to make it look like poor old drunk Samuel did it and tried to blackmail you into saying Samuel did it? Why did you go along with the story?
Zeak: Yes, I was afraid you would believe Ezra and not me, and I was sort of scared of Ezra, he can be violent you know.
Judge: Take the gag off Ezra, Sheriff. Let’s see what he has to say.
Ezra: Pig, liar! Blast you all! Okay, I did it . Branson deserved it, the whole county deserved it, I’ll burn the whole county down. I ….
Judge: Order, order in the court!
Ezra: (obscenity – cr) I’ll burn the whole court down. You (obscenity – cr) have been against me all my life. All my life, even since my dear ole mother had me and never said who my Papa was, and didn’t leave town. Wouldn’t go to one of those places. You, you, and you are to blame. I’ll kill my pop when I find out, it might have been you, or you, or you. I’ll start with killing Zeak. (Noise, lunging, kicking screaming – cr)
Judge: Order, I demand order! Gag him again. Tie him up. There, good, finally. This court will be conducted with dignity. Zeak stop that crying. I can’t conduct a trial in this atmosphere. Court is recessed for fifteen minutes.
Fifteen Minutes later.
Bailiff: All rise, Court is now in session again.
Judge: Alright, be seated. Bailiff, are the three defendants ready for sentencing?
Bailiff: They are your honor.
Judge: Samuel, you go home and I never want to see you back in this courtroom under any condition that might resemble the using of alcohol. Zeak, you get yourself over to Steven Branson’s house, the farmer, help him rebuild his barn and anything else he needs help with for one month. Now, for you Ezra, no matter how a person’s past has been, or no matter how many hardships he has endured, each and everyone must be responsible for his own actions. No amount of blame and no amount of accusing can take away the God given right of each of us to behave in a manner that is acceptable in a polite and civilized society. You have proven to this court, more than once, I might add, that you are deceitful, cannot be trusted, and a liar. It is my duty to remove you from our society in this beloved county for once and for all. I hereby sentence you to one year in the Doodenville City Jail and after release I think it would be to everyone’s benefit for you to leave this county once and for all. It is hoped that by paying your debt to society and embarking on a new life, you may find it within you to start anew. Sheriff, escort this… barn burner … to the City Jail. Court dismissed.
Bailiff: All rise.
Officially Submitted, C.W. Flowers, Court Reporter (cr)
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