America 1881: Legend of the West

From a judicial perspective, cases in Shepherd Town should be handled by the nearest Billings County judge.

However, according to the mayor's wishes, he simply called on all the residents in the town to hold a public hearing and vote.

This is what most towns in border areas do anyway.

However, some townspeople disagree with the mayor.

At their insistence, the mayor had to go to the county to report the case.

Three days later, Chen Jianqiu and Roosevelt saw the judge riding a horse on the road at the entrance of the town.

Roosevelt and Chen Jianqiu greeted him.

"Mr. Howard, you have had a hard time traveling."

Roosevelt was familiar with the judge and exchanged pleasantries.

Judge Howard got off his horse and took off the black top hat on his head.

He looked to be in his forties and wore a black blouse with wide sleeves.

However, Chen Jianqiu noticed that the blouse was very dirty, full of wrinkles and mud spots, and there was even a piece missing from the edge.

The judge scratched his messy hair and looked tired.

"Mr. Roosevelt, I thought you had gone back. There is really nothing to stay in this damn place." He sniffed his nose.

Roosevelt smiled awkwardly, looked at the end of the road again, and asked with some confusion:

"Are you here alone? Where is the mayor? Didn't he come back with you?"

"died."

"While passing by a rugged area for camping, he said he was going to get some fish from the river, but then he didn't come back, and I didn't even find his body."

The judge looked normal and spoke calmly, as if he was telling something ordinary.

He turned around, took off a hat from behind the horse's butt, and handed it to Roosevelt:

"I don't know what was attacked. I only found his hat on the river bank."

Chen Jianqiu now finally understood why the mayor was unwilling to go to the county to report the situation.

The judge hung the mayor's hat on the street sign at the entrance of the town.

Said to be a street sign, it was actually a wooden sign with barely legible handwriting nailed to an upright broken stick.

One horizontal and one vertical, it can be considered a cross, and it can be regarded as an explanation to Jesus.

The three people took a few steps back, took off their hats, and lowered their heads towards the street sign.

"A moment of silence!"

The death of the mayor did not cause much disturbance in the town.

The previous mayor fell into a river while riding a horse at night and drowned the year before last.

The last mayor of the town froze to death while holding a street sign at the entrance of the town after drinking too much.

Yes, that's the wooden street sign that now wears the mayor's hat.

The townspeople were doing whatever they were supposed to do. They were more concerned about what crime the couple would be sentenced to.

Judge Howard gave full play to the fairness of Western American law and the transparency of justice.

Members of the jury include residents of the entire town, and the judge said he would fully respect the jury's opinions.

This made Chen Jianqiu extremely emotional.

He went to mourn the hat at the entrance of the town again.

Yes, the mayor basically died in vain.

A temporary court was arranged in the circus camp.

Open air and spacious.

The one-armed leader lent the town the platform that had not yet been dismantled.

Except for Judge Howard, who had a seat, everyone else stood.

However, this did not affect the enthusiasm of the townspeople at all.

In the end, only four people stood in the dock, Pink, Catherine, and two other their accomplices.

The others were killed in fierce fighting at the circus camp.

Judge Howard read out the crimes of several of them, and then asked the vigilantes Feiniao and Sean to bring up the evidence-the box.

"More! Come on, don't waste time!" The judge waved his hand at them.

"Give me a moment, please give me a moment."

A man's voice and the sound of a sheep came from the periphery of the jury room.

Everyone made a way.

Baldhead drove the dozens of sheep into the center of the camp.

But the former Pinkerton detective apparently had little experience herding sheep.

The sheep started running around after entering the inner circle.

People standing in the inner circle evaded and retreated, and those who couldn't dodge were gored a few times by the sheep.

The bald head began to chase the sheep running around in a hurry. The sheep were chasing people.

The scene became somewhat comical and chaotic.

This seriously challenges the seriousness of the court.

"Can't you find someone more professional?"

Judge Howard, good-natured as he was, could not bear it any longer and waved his arms desperately at the townspeople.

"Hey, Baldhead, I just said you can't do it."

The girl with twin ponytails squeezed in from the back of the crowd.

She got a border collie from nowhere, ran with it, and drove the straying sheep back into the herd.

Chen Jianqiu stood aside and watched with his hands on his hips.

This girl was probably a professional shepherdess before she became a detective.

As for the trial process, it was even more sloppy.

Judge Howard did not give other sentencing options in this case.

Guilty or not guilty.

Guilty, hanged.

Not guilty, released.

"If you are in favor of guilt, please speak out." The judge raised his head and looked at the surrounding townspeople, that is, the jury.

There was an uproar among the townspeople, with supporters shouting at the top of their lungs and waving whatever they could.

"Kill them! Revenge those innocent people!"

"Hang that slut!"

"Kill these foreigners!"

"Yes." Judge Howard nodded and pressed his hand downwards, indicating that he had felt everyone's surging public opinion.

"Then, those who favor innocence, please speak out."

It was quiet down there, with only some women whispering:

"Those men deserve to die, let's see if that woman deserves death."

"At best, she could only be considered as knowing but not reporting it, and it wouldn't even count as a conspiracy."

Compared with the voices just now, these voices of discussion are almost negligible.

"Yes." The judge arranged his things and then stood up from his chair.

“It was clear from the volume of voices that there was a preponderance of support for the guilty.”

He straightened his clothes and cleared his throat:

"I declare that Pinker and Catherine are sentenced to death by hanging! They will be executed tomorrow morning!"

The next morning.

Several criminals were escorted out of the cells of the police station and headed to the place where they were tried yesterday.

A temporary gallows was built there out of wood.

The materials are naturally provided by the circus.

It rained heavily the night before, and the potholes on the road turned into pools, making it extremely muddy and dirty.

The townspeople ran out of their homes early in the morning and lined both sides of the road to watch the prisoners being taken to the execution ground.

Compared with yesterday, they were much quieter. After the prisoners passed, they followed suit.

Four condemned prisoners climbed a wooden ladder onto the stage.

There are four nooses hanging on the gallows. Just below each noose is a trap controlled by a wooden joystick next to it.

The bald man stood aside, gearing up, with a bit of excitement in his eyes.

Today he was wearing a gray hat he found somewhere.

If yesterday he was embarrassed in front of everyone because he was not professional enough, today he finally entered his professional category.

Before Bald entered the Pinkerton Detective Agency, he was a professional executioner.

Even the construction of the gallows was carried out under his guidance.

Chen Jianqiu couldn't help but sigh, where did this circus detective agency find these talents, and they were doing everything.

Pink and the other two people had expressionless faces, making it impossible to guess what they were thinking.

Catherine's face was pale, she was trembling, and she was muttering something unknown.

"Headgear, throw the headgear over here!" The bald man rubbed his hands and shouted to Sean under the stage.

The black man threw several black linen hoods up.

The bald man picked up the hoods one by one, put them on each of the death row prisoners, and then put the nooses around their necks.

When it was Catherine's turn, the woman suddenly collapsed on the table,

Baldhead lifted her up.

"Hey, you'd better stand up straight, otherwise you'll be dead without even using the machine."

As he spoke, he put the woman's head into the noose.

At the entrance of the village, Chen Jianqiu and Roosevelt stood where they had been monitoring the circus.

"It's finally over." Chen Jianqiu said, looking in the direction of the gallows.

no answer.

He turned his head and found that Roosevelt had turned around.

"What's wrong?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

"Katherine shouldn't have died, she was just being used." Roosevelt held his hands on the stable railing and sighed.

"Yeah, but, this is the West."

Chen Jianqiu took out a cigarette.

"Execution!"

The bald man walked to the joystick and held the handle.

Suddenly, a voice came from under Pink's black hood.

He seemed to have said something.

The bald man did not stop what he was doing.

He pulled the lever.

The traps under the feet of several death row prisoners opened with a crash.

The four people hung in the air without making any sound, and soon turned into four corpses.

No one heard what Pink said before he died, and no one cared.