Longarm Faces a Hangman's Noose by Tabor Evans

Author:Tabor Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Longarm sat with his head bowed in his cramped and dirty cell and waited for the bailiff to come and take him back to the courthouse, where he would face the decision of the jury. Given Sheriff Belcher’s lying and damning testimony, Longarm had absolutely no doubt that he would be sentenced to hang. He’d been in plenty of court-rooms where men he’d arrested had been sentenced, and he knew by looking at the jurors’ faces that he was as good as dead.

Damn Etta Crabtree and Officer Kunkle for their lies! But most of all, damn Sheriff Bert Belcher for dropping the noose over his head!

How long would he have left before he walked the gallows? Three days at least while they build even a flimsy scaffold. But more likely, they’d give him a week in this shit hole of a jail cell to fret and worry about his impending death. Even a week carrying the weight of a certain death sentence could break the will of most strong men.

Longarm was not afraid of dying, but he sure didn’t want to die and leave a pack of liars to profit from his death. And he’d seen more than his share of men dance at the end of a hangman’s noose, and it was not a pretty sight. It left a scarring and indelible memory on the mind. Yet, the public seemed to love watching the condemned man climb the scaffold and stand on the gallows with his head bowed and his eyes wild with terror, his entire body shaking as if he were old and had the palsy. They loved how a preacher would ask the condemned if he had any last words to say in order to cleanse his soul of guilt so that he would be received in Heaven.

A few condemned men would raise their heads and actually become defiant. They’d curse the preacher, the town, the people, and then laugh at the sky and the world in a final gesture to mock their awful, public death. But most men wept, or worse, sobbed and begged for their lives. Longarm had seen men on the gallows vacate their bowels and piss their pants while slobbering and wailing for mercy. Those were the worst, and he would be damned if he would beg, weep, or curse.

No, if he had to die, Longarm decided he would do it with his chin raised and his eyes fixed on his lying accusers. He would call their names and he would tell them that they were going to burn forever in hell. And then he would die a brave man and that would be his legacy.

“Mr. Long,” a voice said, breaking through his dark reverie. “The jury has reached a verdict and the judge has asked me and these other men to escort you to the courtroom right now.”

There were five large men, all heavily armed, standing in wait. Everyone knew what the verdict would be, and they weren’t taking any chances should Longarm try to make a desperate escape.

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