THE SERENADE AT SISKIYOU
Unskilled at murder and without training in running away, one of the twoHealy boys had been caught with ease soon after their crime. What theyhad done may be best learned in the following extract from a certainofficial report:
"The stage was within five miles of its destination when it was confronted by the usual apparition of a masked man levelling a double-barrelled shot-gun at the driver, and the order to 'Pull up, and throw out the express box.' The driver promptly complied. Meanwhile the guard, Buck Montgomery, who occupied a seat inside, from which he caught a glimpse of what was going on, opened fire at the robber, who dropped to his knees at the first shot, but a moment later discharged both barrels of his gun at the stage. The driver dropped from his seat to the foot-board with five buckshot in his right leg near the knee, and two in his left leg; a passenger by his side also dropped with three or four buckshot in his legs. Before the guard could reload, two shots came from behind the bushes back of the exposed robber, and Buck fell to the bottom of the stage mortally wounded--shot through the back. The whole murderous sally occupied but a few seconds, and the order came to 'Drive on.' Officers and citizens quickly started in pursuit, and the next day one of the robbers, a well-known young man of that vicinity, son of a respectable farmer in Fresno County, was overtaken and arrested."
Feeling had run high in the streets of Siskiyou when the prisoner wasbrought into town, and the wretch's life had come near a violent end atthe hands of the mob, for Buck Montgomery had many friends. But thesteadier citizens preserved the peace, and the murderer was in theprison awaiting his trial by formal law. It was now some weeks since thetragedy, and Judge Campbell sat at breakfast reading his paper.
"Why, that is excellent!" he suddenly exclaimed.
"May I ask what is excellent, judge?" inquired his wife. She had a bignose.
"They've caught the other one, Amanda. Got him last evening in arestaurant at Woodland." The judge read the paragraph to Mrs. Campbell,who listened severely. "And so," he concluded, "when to-night's traingets up, we'll have them both safe in jail."
Mrs. Campbell dallied over her eggs, shaking her head. Presently shesighed. But as Amanda often did this, her husband finished his own eggsand took some more. "Poor boy!" said the lady, pensively. "Onlytwenty-three last 12th of October. What a cruel fate!"
Now the judge supposed she referred to the murdered man. "Yes," he said."Vile. You've got him romantically young, my dear. I understood he wasthirty-five."
"I know his age perfectly, Judge Campbell. I made it my business to findout. And to think his brother might actually have been lynched!"
"I never knew that either. You seem to have found out all about thefamily, Amanda. What were they going to lynch the brother for?"
The ample lady folded her fat, middle-aged hands on the edge of thetable, and eyed her husband with bland displeasure. "Judge Campbell!"she uttered, and her lips shut wide and firm. She would restrainherself, if possible.
"Well, my dear?"
"You ask me that. You pretend ignorance of that disgraceful scene. Whowas it said to me right in the street that he disapproved of lynching? Iask you, judge, who was it right there at the jail--"
"Oh!" said the enlightened judge.
"--Right at the left-hand side of the door of the jail in this town ofSiskiyou, who was it got that trembling boy safe inside from thoseyelling fiends and talked to the crowd on a barrel of number ten nails,and made those wicked men stop and go home?"
"Amanda, I believe I recognize myself."
"I should think you did, Judge Campbell. And now they've caught theother one, and he'll be up with the sheriff on to-night's train, and Isuppose they'll lynch _him_ now!"
"There's not the slightest danger," said the judge. "The town wants themto have a fair trial. It was natural that immediately after such anatrocious act--"
"Those poor boys had never murdered anybody before in their lives,"interrupted Amanda.
"But they did murder Montgomery, you will admit."
"Oh yes!" said Mrs. Campbell, with impatience. "I saw the hole in hisback. You needn't tell me all that again. If he'd thrown out the expressbox quicker they wouldn't have hurt a hair of his head. Wells andFargo's messengers know that perfectly. It was his own fault. Those boyshad no employment, and they only wanted money. They did not seek humanblood, and you needn't tell me they did."
"They shed it, however, Amanda. Quite a lot of it. Stage-driver and apassenger too."
"Yes, you keep going back to that as if they'd all been murdered insteadof only one, and you don't care about those two poor boys locked in adungeon, and their gray-haired father down in Fresno County who neverdid anything wrong at all, and he sixty-one in December."
"The county isn't thinking of hanging the old gentleman," said thejudge.
"That will do, Judge Campbell," said his lady, rising. "I shall say nomore. Total silence for the present is best for you and best for me.Much best. I will leave you to think of your speech, which was by nomeans silver. Not even life with you for twenty-five years this coming10th of July has inured me to insult. I am capable of understanding whomthey think of hanging, and your speaking to me as if I did not does youlittle credit; for it was a mere refuge from a woman's just accusationof heartlessness which you felt, and like a man would not acknowledge;and therefore it is that I say no more but leave you to go down thestreet to the Ladies' Lyceum where I shall find companions with somespark of humanity in their bosoms and milk of human kindness for thosewhose hasty youth has plunged them in misery and delivered them to thehands of those who treat them as if they were stones and sticks full ofnothing but monstrosity instead of breathing men like themselves to beshielded by brotherhood and hope and not dashed down by cruelty anddespair."
It had begun stately as a dome, with symmetry and punctuation, but theclimax was untrammelled by a single comma. The orator swept from theroom, put on her bonnet and shawl, and the judge, still sitting with hiseggs, heard the front door close behind her. She was president of theLadies' Reform and Literary Lyceum, and she now trod thitherward throughSiskiyou.
"I think Amanda will find companions there," mused the judge. "But hernotions of sympathy beat me." The judge had a small, wise blue eye, andhe liked his wife more than well. She was sincerely good, and had beenvery courageous in their young days of poverty. She loved their son, andshe loved him. Only, when she took to talking, he turned up a mentalcoat-collar and waited. But if the male sex did not appreciate herpowers of eloquence her sister citizens did; and Mrs. Campbell, besidespresiding at the Ladies' Reform and Literary Lyceum in Siskiyou, oftenaddressed female meetings in Ashland, Yreka, and even as far away asTehama and Redding. She found companions this morning.
"To think of it!" they exclaimed, at her news of the capture, for nonehad read the paper. They had been too busy talking of the next debate,which was upon the question, "Ought we to pray for rain?" But now theyinstantly forgot the wide spiritual issues raised by this inquiry, andplunged into the fascinations of crime, reciting once more to each otherthe details of the recent tragedy. The room hired for the Lyceum was ina second story above the apothecary and book shop--a combined enterprisein Siskiyou--and was furnished with fourteen rocking-chairs. Pictures ofMount Shasta and Lucretia Mott ornamented the wall, with a photographfrom an old master representing Leda and the Swan. This typified theLyceum's approval of Art, and had been presented by one of the husbandsupon returning from a three days' business trip to San Francisco.
"Dear! dear!" said Mrs. Parsons, after they had all shuddered anew overthe shooting and the blood. "With so much suffering in the world, howfulsome seems that gay music!" She referred to the Siskiyou brass-band,which was rehearsing the march from "Fatinitza" in an adjacent room inthe building. Mrs. Parsons had large, mournful eyes, a poeticvocabulary, and wanted to be president of the Lyceum herself.
"Melody has its sphere, Gertrude," said Mrs. Campbell, in a
wholesomevoice. "We must not be morbid. But this I say to you, one and all: Sincethe men of Siskiyou refuse, it is for the women to vindicate the town'shumanity, and show some sympathy for the captive who arrives to-night."
They all thought so too.
"I do not criticise," continued their president, magnanimously, "nor doI complain of any one. Each in this world has his or her mission, andthe most sacred is Woman's own--to console!"
"True, true!" murmured Mrs. Slocum.
"We must do something for the prisoner, to show him we do not desert himin his hour of need," Mrs. Campbell continued.
"We'll go and meet the train!" Mrs. Slocum exclaimed, eagerly. "I'venever seen a real murderer."
"A bunch of flowers for him," said Mrs. Parsons, closing her mournfuleyes. "Roses." And she smiled faintly.
"Oh, lilies!" cried little Mrs. Day, with rapture. "Lilies would look_real_ nice."
"Don't you think," said Miss Sissons, who had not spoken before, and sata little apart from the close-drawn clump of talkers, "that we mightsend the widow some flowers too, some time?" Miss Sissons was a prettygirl, with neat hair. She was engaged to the captain of Siskiyou'sbaseball nine.
"The widow?" Mrs. Campbell looked vague.
"Mrs. Montgomery, I mean--the murdered man's wife. I--I went to see if Icould do anything, for she has some children; but she wouldn't see me,"said Miss Sissons. "She said she couldn't talk to anybody."
"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Campbell. "I dare say it was a dreadful shock toher. Yes, dear, we'll attend to her after a while. We'll have her withus right along, you know, whereas these unhappy boys may--may be--maysoon meet a cruel death on the scaffold." Mrs. Campbell evaded thephrase "may be hanged" rather skilfully. To her trained oratorical senseit had seemed to lack dignity.
"So young!" said Mrs. Day.
"And both so full of promise, to be cut off!" said Mrs. Parsons.
"Why, they can't hang them both, I should think," said Miss Sissons. "Ithought only one killed Mr. Montgomery."
"My dear Louise," said Mrs. Campbell, "they can do anything they want,and they will. Shall I ever forget those ruffians who wanted to lynchthe first one? They'll be on the jury!"
The clump returned to their discussion of the flowers, and Miss Sissonspresently mentioned she had some errands to do, and departed.
"Would that that girl had more soul!" said Mrs. Parsons.
"She has plenty of soul," replied Mrs. Campbell, "but she's under theinfluence of a man. Well, as I was saying, roses and lilies are toobig."
"Oh, _why_?" said Mrs. Day. "They would _please_ him so."
"He couldn't carry them, Mrs. Day. I've thought it all out. He'll bewalked to the jail between strong men. We must have some small bokay topin on his coat, for his hands will be shackled."
"You don't say!" cried Mrs. Slocum. "How awful! I must get to thattrain. I've never seen a man in shackles in my life."
So violets were selected; Mrs. Campbell brought some in the afternoonfrom her own borders, and Mrs. Parsons furnished a large pin. Sheclaimed also the right to affix the decoration upon the prisoner'sbreast because she had suggested the idea of flowers; but the otherladies protested, and the president seemed to think that they all shoulddraw lots. It fell to Mrs. Day.
"Now I declare!" twittered the little matron. "I do believe I'll neverdare."
"You must say something to him," said Amanda; "something fitting andchoice."
"Oh dear no, Mrs. Campbell. Why, I never--my gracious! Why, if I'd knownI was expected--Really, I couldn't think--I'll let _you_ do it!"
"We can't hash up the ceremony that way, Mrs. Day," said Amanda,severely. And as they all fell arguing, the whistle blew.
"There!" said Mrs. Slocum. "Now you've made me late, and I'll miss theshackles and everything."
She flew down-stairs, and immediately the town of Siskiyou saw twelvemembers of the Ladies' Reform and Literary Lyceum follow her in a hastyphalanx across the square to the station. The train approached slowly upthe grade, and by the time the wide smoke-stack of the locomotive waspuffing its wood smoke in clouds along the platform, Amanda hadmarshalled her company there.
"Where's the gals all goin', Bill?" inquired a large citizen in boots ofthe ticket-agent.
"Nowheres, I guess, Abe," the agent replied. "Leastways, they 'ain'tbought any tickets off me."
"Maybe they're for stealin' a ride," said Abe.
The mail and baggage cars had passed, and the women watched thesmoking-car that drew up opposite them. Mrs. Campbell had informed herfriends that the sheriff always went in the smoker; but on thisoccasion, for some reason, he had brought his prisoner in the Pullmansleeper at the rear, some way down the track, and Amanda's vigilant eyesuddenly caught the group, already descended and walking away. Theplatoon of sympathy set off, and rapidly came up with the sheriff, whileBill, Abe, the train conductor, the Pullman conductor, the engineer, andthe fireman abandoned their duty, and stared, in company with thebrakemen and many passengers. There was perfect silence but for thepumping of the air-brake on the engine. The sheriff, not understandingwhat was coming, had half drawn his pistol; but now, surrounded byuniversal petticoats, he pulled off his hat and grinned doubtfully. Thefriend with him also stood bareheaded and grinning. He was young JimHornbrook, the muscular betrothed of Miss Sissons. The prisoner couldnot remove his hat, or he would have done so. Miss Sissons, who had cometo the train to meet her lover, was laughing extremely in the middle ofthe road.
"Take these violets," faltered Mrs. Day, and held out the bunch, backingaway slightly at the same time.
"Nonsense," said Amanda, stepping forward and grasping the flowers. "Thewomen of Siskiyou are with you," she said, "as we are with all theafflicted." Then she pinned the violets firmly to the prisoner's flannelshirt. His face, at first amazed as the sheriff's and Hornbrook's,smoothed into cunning and vanity, while Hornbrook's turned an angry red,and the sheriff stopped grinning.
"Them flowers would look better on Buck Montgomery's grave, madam," saidthe officer. "Maybe you'll let us pass now." They went on to the jail.
"Waal," said Abe, on the platform, "that's the most disgustin' foolthing I ever did see."
"All aboa-rd!" said the conductor, and the long train continued its wayto Portland.
The platoon, well content, dispersed homeward to supper, and JimHornbrook walked home with his girl.
"For Lord's sake, Louise," he said, "who started that move?"
She told him the history of the morning.
"Well," he said, "you tell Mrs. Campbell, with my respects, that she'sjust playing with fire. A good woman like her ought to have more sense.Those men are going to have a fair trial."
"She wouldn't listen to me, Jim, not a bit. And, do you know, she reallydidn't seem to feel sorry--except just for a minute--about that poorwoman."
"Louise, why don't you quit her outfit?"
"Resign from the Lyceum? That's so silly of you, Jim. We're not allcrazy there; and that," said Miss Sissons, demurely, "is what makes agirl like me so valuable!"
"Well, I'm not stuck on having you travel with that lot."
"They speak better English than you do, Jim dear. Don't! in the street!"
"Sho! It's dark now," said Jim. "And it's been three whole days since--"But Miss Sissons escaped inside her gate and rang the bell. "Now seehere, Louise," he called after her, "when I say they're playing withfire I mean it. That woman will make trouble in this town."
"She's not afraid," said Miss Sissons. "Don't you know enough about usyet to know we can't be threatened?"
"You!" said the young man. "I wasn't thinking of you." And so theyseparated.
Mrs. Campbell sat opposite the judge at supper, and he saw at once fromher complacent reticence that she had achieved some triumph against hisprinciples. She chatted about topics of the day in terms that wereingeniously trite. Then a letter came from their son in Denver, and sheforgot her role somewhat, and read the letter aloud to the judge, andwondered wistfully who in Denver attended
to the boy's buttons andsocks; but she made no reference whatever to Siskiyou jail or thoseinside it. Next morning, however, it was the judge's turn to be angry.
"Amanda," he said, over the paper again, "you had better stick to socks,and leave criminals alone."
Amanda gazed at space with a calm smile.
"And I'll tell you one thing, my dear," her husband said, moreincisively, "it don't look well that I should represent the law while mywife figures" (he shook the morning paper) "as a public nuisance. Andone thing more: _Look out!_ For if I know this community, and I think Ido, you may raise something you don't bargain for."
"I can take care of myself, judge," said Amanda, always smiling. Thesetwo never were angry both at once, and to-day it was the judge thatsailed out of the house. Amanda pounced instantly upon the paper. Thearticle was headed "Sweet Violets." But the editorial satire onlyspurred the lady to higher efforts. She proceeded to the Lyceum, andfound that "Sweet Violets" had been there before her. Every woman held acopy, and the fourteen rocking-chairs were swooping up and down likethings in a factory. In the presence of this blizzard, Mount Shasta,Lucretia Mott, and even Leda and the Swan looked singularly serene ontheir wall, although on the other side of the wall the "Fatinitza" marchwas booming brilliantly. But Amanda quieted the storm. It was her giftto be calm when others were not, and soon the rocking-chairs were merelyrippling.
"The way my boys scolded me--" began Mrs. Day.
"For men I care not," said Mrs. Parsons. "But when my own sisterupbraids me in a public place--" The lady's voice ceased, and she raisedher mournful eyes. It seemed she had encountered her unnatural relativeat the post-office. Everybody had a tale similar. Siskiyou had denouncedtheir humane act.
"Let them act ugly," said Mrs. Slocum. "We will not swerve."
"I sent roses this morning," said Mrs. Parsons.
"_Did_ you, dear?" said Mrs. Day. "My lilies shall go this afternoon."
"Here is a letter from the prisoner," said Amanda, producing thetreasure; and they huddled to hear it. It was very affecting. Itmentioned the violets blooming beside the hard couch, and spoke ofprayer.
"He had lovely hair," said Mrs. Slocum.
"_So_ brown!" said Mrs. Day.
"Black, my dear, and curly."
"Light brown. I was a good deal closer, Susan--"
"Never mind about his hair," said Amanda. "We are here not to flinch. Wemust act. Our course is chosen, and well chosen. The prison fare is asin, and a beefsteak goes to them both at noon from my house."
"Oh, why didn't we ever think of that before?" cried the ladies, in anecstasy, and fell to planning a series of lunches in spite of whatSiskiyou might say or do. Siskiyou did not say very much; but it looked;and the ladies waxed more enthusiastic, luxuriating in a sense ofmartyrdom because now the prisoners were stopped writing any moreletters to them. This was doubtless a high-handed step, and it setcertain pulpits preaching about love. The day set for the trial wasapproaching; Amanda and her flock were going. Prayer-meetings were held,food and flowers for the two in jail increased in volume, and every daysaw some of the Lyceum waiting below the prisoners' barred windows tillthe men inside would thrust a hand through and wave to them; then theywould shake a handkerchief in reply, and go away thrilled to talk itover at the Lyceum. And Siskiyou looked on all the while, darker anddarker.
Then finally Amanda had a great thought. Listening to "Fatinitza" onemorning, she suddenly arose and visited Herr Schwartz, the band-master.Herr Schwartz was a wise and well-educated German. They had a lengthyconference.
"I don't pelief dot vill be very goot," said the band-master.
But at that Amanda talked a good deal; and the worthy Teuton was soonbewildered, and at last gave a dubious consent, "since it would bleasede ladies."
The president of the Lyceum arranged the coming event after her ownheart. The voice of Woman should speak in Siskiyou. The helpless victimsof male prejudice and the law of the land were to be flanked withconsolation and encouragement upon the eve of their ordeal in court. Intheir lonely cell they were to feel that there were those outside whosehearts beat with theirs. The floral tribute was to be sumptuous, andAmanda had sent to San Francisco for pound-cake. The special quality shedesired could not be achieved by the Siskiyou confectioner.
Miss Sissons was not a party to this enterprise, and she told itsvarious details to Jim Hornbrook, half in anger, half in derision. Helistened without comment, and his face frightened her a little.
"Jim, what's the matter?" said she.
"Are you going to be at that circus?" he inquired.
"I thought I might just look on, you know," said Miss Sissons. "Mrs.Campbell and a brass-band--"
"You'll stay in the house that night, Louise."
"Why, the ring isn't on my finger yet," laughed the girl, "the fatalpromise of obedience--" But she stopped, perceiving her joke was not agood one. "Of course, Jim, if you feel that way," she finished. "OnlyI'm grown up, and I like reasons."
"Well--that's all right too."
"Ho, ho! All right! Thank you, sir. Dear me!"
"Why, it ain't to please me, Louise; indeed it ain't. I can't sweareverything won't be nice and all right and what a woman could be mixedup in, but--well, how should you know what men are, anyway, when they'vebeen a good long time getting mad, and are mad all through? That's whatthis town is to-day, Louise."
"I don't know," said Miss Sissons, "and I'm sure I'd rather not know."And so she gave her promise. "But I shouldn't suppose," she added, "thatthe men of Siskiyou, mad or not, would forget that women are women."
Jim laughed. "Oh no," he said, "they ain't going to forget that."
The appointed day came; and the train came, several hours late, bearingthe box of confectionery, addressed to the Ladies' Reform and LiteraryLyceum. Bill, the ticket-agent, held his lantern over it on theplatform.
"That's the cake," said he.
"What cake?" Abe inquired.
Bill told him the rumor.
"Cake?" repeated Abe. "Fer them?" and he tilted his head towards thejail. "Will you say that again, friend? I ain't clear about it. _Cake_,did ye say?"
"Pound-cake," said Bill. "Ordered special from San Francisco."
Now pound-cake for adults is considered harmless. But it is curious howunwholesome a harmless thing can be if administered at the wrong time.The gaunt, savage-looking Californian went up to the box slowly. Then hekicked it lightly with his big boot, seeming to listen to itsreverberation. Then he read the address. Then he sat down on the box totake a think. After a time he began speaking aloud. "They hold up astage," he said, slowly. "They lay up a passenger fer a month. And theylame Bob Griffiths fer life. And then they do up Buck. Shoot a holethrough his spine. And I helped bury him; fer I liked Buck." The speakerpaused, and looked at the box. Then he got up. "I hain't attended theirprayer-meetin's," said he, "and I hain't smelt their flowers. Suchperfume's liable to make me throw up. But I guess I'll hev a look attheir cake."
He went to the baggage-room and brought an axe. The axe descended, and asplintered slat flew across the platform. "There's a lot of cake," saidAbe. The top of the packing-case crashed on the railroad track, andthree new men gathered to look on. "It's fresh cake too," remarked thedestroyer. The box now fell to pieces, and the tattered paper wrappingwas ripped away. "Step up, boys," said Abe, for a little crowd was therenow. "Soft, ain't it?" They slung the cake about and tramped it in thegrime and oil, and the boards of the box were torn apart and whirledaway. There was a singular and growing impulse about all this. No onesaid anything; they were very quiet; yet the crowd grew quickly, as ifcalled together by something in the air. One voice said, "Don't forgitwe're all relyin' on yer serenade, Mark," and this raised a strangeunited laugh that broke brief and loud, and stopped, leaving the silencedeeper than before. Mark and three more left, and walked towards theLyceum. They were members of the Siskiyou band, and as they went onesaid that the town would see an interesting trial in the morning. Soonafter they had gone the crowd moved
from the station, compact and swift.
Meanwhile the Lyceum had been having disappointments. When the train wasknown to be late, Amanda had abandoned bestowing the cake until morning.But now a horrid thing had happened: the Siskiyou band refused itsservices! The rocking-chairs were plying strenuously; but Amanda strodeup and down in front of Mount Shasta and Lucretia Mott.
Herr Schwartz entered. "It's all right, madam," said he. "My trombonehaf come back, und--"
"You'll play?" demanded the president.
"We blay for de ladies."
The rocking-chairs were abandoned; the Lyceum put on its bonnet andshawl, and marshalled down-stairs with the band.
"Ready," said Amanda.
"Ready," said Herr Schwartz to his musicians. "Go a leedle easy mit derAllegro, or we bust 'Fatinitza.'"
The spirited strains were lifted in Siskiyou, and the procession wassoon at the jail in excellent order. They came round the corner with thetrombone going as well as possible. Two jerking bodies dangled at theend of ropes, above the flare of torches. Amanda and her flock wereshrieking.
"So!" exclaimed Herr Schwartz. "Dot was dose Healy boys we haf come togif serenade." He signed to stop the music.
"No you don't," said two of the masked crowd, closing in with pistols."You'll play fer them fellers till you're told to quit."
"Cerdainly," said the philosophical Teuton. "Only dey gif brobably veryleedle attention to our Allegro."
So "Fatinitza" trumpeted on while the two on the ropes twisted, and grewstill by-and-by. Then the masked men let the band go home. The Lyceumhad scattered and fled long since, and many days passed before itrevived again to civic usefulness, nor did its members find comfort fromtheir men. Herr Schwartz gave a parting look at the bodies of thelynched murderers. "My!" said he, "das Ewigweibliche haf draw them apovesure enough."
Miss Sissons next day was walking and talking off her shock andexcitement with her lover. "And oh, Jim," she concluded, after they hadsaid a good many things, "you hadn't anything to do with it, had you?"The young man did not reply, and catching a certain expression on hisface, she hastily exclaimed: "Never mind! I don't want to know--ever!"
So James Hornbrook kissed his sweetheart for saying that, and theycontinued their walk among the pleasant hills.