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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3959098" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-forty-six, “The Verdict” , Monday, June 19th, 8:00 P.M. The Promise City Town Hall quickly fills up. People continue to file in while Marshall Berg and Deputy Marshall Barker escort Wyatt Earp along with his brother Virgil and both lawyers through the back door and back to their seats. The faces of the jury do not reveal anything conclusive, with a mix of emotions visible. Once the room is full, with all of the seats taken and two dozen people standing Tomlinson orders the doors closed. Judge Isby warns the photographers not to take any photographs until the court is adjourned. He then pounds the gavel and declares court back in session. Judge Isby turns to the Jury and says, “What are the verdicts?” The jury foreman is Brown’s Ice House owner Maxwell Brown stands and says, “Judge, we have reached verdicts for eight of the ten charges and have a question for you regarding the remaining two.” Judge Isby says, “Very well, you can begin with the resolved verdicts.” Maxwell Brown looks at a piece of paper in his hand and says, “For the charges of premeditated murder against Claude Buckley, Gordy Bryson, Dennis Garvin, Colin Hunter, Jasper Ordway, Nicholas Thayer, Vaughn Palmer and Stephen Wicks we find the defendant Wyatt Earp to be ‘Not Guilty'.” There is much commotion in the court and the Judge has to pound the gavel to restore order. Kate groaned inwardly, not at the verdict, but at the lack of one on two charges. She held Conrad's hand tighter and waited. Once the court is quiet Judge Isby asks, “What is your question regarding the charges concerning Porter Norris and Charlie Villers?” Brown asks, “Judge, may we take into consideration a lesser charge than pre-meditated murder regarding the deaths of those two men?” Judge Isby says, “No, that was the sole charge that the prosecutor chose to levy. And under the laws of the United States Constitution regarding double jeopardy he cannot be tried a second time for the exact same incident. So for each of those two instances you must decide now if the defendant is either guilty or not guilty of that charge.” Kate shook her head. Wyatt Earp would go free because Sheriff Behan had reached too far. She tried to focus her mind and think through the ramifications of this for the elections, but could not. Judge Isby then asks the Jury Foreman, “Do you need time to return and deliberate further?” Brown replies to the Judge, “No, sir, not based upon that answer. We as a jury feel collectively that Mr. Earp’s actions on the 15th in deciding to shoot at and kill those men was wrong. Unlike the situation at the Crazy-8 Ranch on the 1st where the lives of the lawmen were clearly threatened, this time Mr. Earp did not know what was going on within Fisk’s house. Earp acted prematurely and used unnecessary force and we feel that punishment for those actions would be appropriate. However, he did not go there that morning with plans to murder those men, it was not premeditated, he acted on an impulse and with the best of intentions. Therefore, under the parameters given to us as a Jury, we have to rule ‘Not Guilty’.” Pandemonium breaks out as several photographers shoot pictures. Judge Isby pounds the gavel and stand up yelling. “Order! The next person who speaks or even moves will be jailed for contempt of court!” Kate's hands were shaking. Her head was swimming as the room burst into activity. Mr. Roosevelt was talking excitedly to Edwin Booth, but she wasn't really hearing as she sat glued to her seat. The room immediately quiets down. Judge Isby then says, “I thank the Jury for your service. Mr. Earp, you have been acquitted of all charges and are free to go. Sheriff Behan, I would like to see you immediately over at the Arizona Territorial Office Building. Court is adjourned.” Judge Isby pounds the gavel a final time and exits the stage. Several well wishers head up to Wyatt Earp to offer their congratulations to him. Other people leave the building with looks of absolute disgust on their faces. Deputy Barker accompanies Sheriff Behan and Deputy Sheriff Leslie over to the Arizona Territorial Office Building. Bat Masterson approaches Kate and whispers into her ear "El Parador stable, right?" She nodded. "The grey and the chestnut with the white stockings. Please go." Kevin Tomlinson heads over to where Earp is and ushers the man way from his fan base. Wyatt and Virgil depart, with photographer's snapping their picture. Kate notes that the jury for the most part makes their way quietly out the building with only Henry Weller and Maxwell Brown sticking around to talk to the reporters. "Conrad, my dear, can we leave please?" Kate said numbly. "I'd really like to get out of here." He says, "Of course. Do you want to go back to the El Parador now or your home?" She says, "I need a few moments of peace. Home for just a few minutes, then we can go back to the El Parador." Instead of offering his arm Conrad laid his hand against her back and guided her through the crowd. Once in the street they headed for her house. Edwin Booth remains with Roosevelt at the Town Hall. They soon reach the house and head inside. Conrad says, "Well, I guess that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Elihu Upton mounted an excellent defense." Kate replies, "Yes, but what freed him was Sheriff Behan reaching too far with his charges. Mr. Brown said it himself, Earp would have been convicted of lesser charges. I'm sure Behan's getting an earful from Judge Isby." Kate sat down on the sofa and sighed. "Is it really all over? Can I finally put that family in the past?" Conrad says, "Yes, you can. The long saga of the Earp's is finally over. They will be gone from your life." She says, "I keep thinking I must have imagined everything, that I'll wake up and they'll still be haunting me." Now that she was home she'd begun to relax the iron control she'd held over herself earlier. Looking suddenly much younger, tears began to leak from her eyes. Her voice caught in her throat, cutting off any words. Embarrassed, she hid her face behind her hands and tried to calm herself enough to speak. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's the matter with me." Conrad goes up to her and takes a handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket. He wipes her eyes and says, "You are feeling a huge weight finally lifted from your shoulders, a burden that has been weighting down upon you. I for one will be glad that he is gone for good, in all the time that I've known you the only argument we've ever had was about him. Good riddance to bad rubbish." Kate took his hand and coaxed him on to the sofa next to her. "I'll be glad too. Wyatt and his horrible brother Virgil will be gone and I can leave the last vestiges of the past where they belong." She laid her head against his shoulder and sighed. "Just a few minutes and then we can go. Don't worry about the wrinkles, I'll fix them for you." Conrad wraps his arms around her and gives he a warm embrace, "I am not worried about a wrinkled suit, my only concern is you." "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day." She settled herself against him and enjoyed the warm comfort of his arms in the quiet house. When her mind tried to race away she instead focused on the steady beating of his heart and sound of his breath going in and out, and her own as it steadied and calmed. After about fifteen minutes she kissed his cheek and said, "Thank you, that was just what I needed. We'd best go or people will think we've been up to something." She sat up. "Am I mussed?" Conrad replies with a smile, "No, but if you give me another opportunity I will be sure to take care of that for you." "I am nothing if not generous, I always like to give people a second chance," she laughed. Conrad leans over but instead of a tight embrace instead gives Kate a very soft and tender kiss upon the lips followed by an equally soft "I love you." She touched his cheek with her fingertips and breathed, "I love you, too." She kissed him again just as softly, but just couldn't resist teasing, "But you don't know how to muss a girl very well." He replies, "Well, I would suggest that practice makes perfect, but my brother will be waiting for us back at the El Parador and with the verdict in he and his traveling companions will be leaving tomorrow." "What a sad waste of this big, empty house." She sighed a dramatic sigh. "Let us do our duty and see your brother off. Family is so tiresome." This time she did stand up and fetch her shawl. "We have plenty of time to get mussing right, there's no great hurry." They depart for the El Parador. Earp juror Darla Peacock returns to the Lucky Lady and heads upstairs without speaking to anybody. Not long there after close to a dozen tournament watchers return exclaiming that Earp was acquitted on all charges. Jake continues with his fine meal, glass of water and tumbler of bourbon appearing to the world as uninterested in the Earp trial. It is around 8:30 when most of the tournament patrons as well as a few of the reporters begin to make their way back to the Lucky Lady. Darla Peacock emerges, having fixed her hair and put on a nice new dress. She has the "Hostess" arm band on. Cornelius Van Horne arrives shortly thereafter and from the look of things is planning to deal this hand. As the clock near 8:45 Brady Hawkes and Brett Maverick return and take their places at the table. When it is time to resume Evan Adair is still not back, nor is Artemis Gordon. Jake comments, "It is not like Mr. Adair to be less than timely. I would say give him a moment or two, and then begin. We can always toss his ante in for the first few hands until he arrives." Van Horne says, "Punctuality is important, the ante is now $ 300. Toss in three gold coins from his pile please." Jonathan Harker does so. Van Horne deals out the first hand. Cook finds himself with poor cards and takes three, leaving him with two pair. He discards the one stray card and finds himself with a full house Jacks over Fives. Maverick raises the ante by $ 200 which Hawkes calls. They turn to Jake for his move. Jake calls and wins the hand. Just as the next hand is about to be dealt Evan Adair returns accompanied by his two lady friends. Adair has on a new three-piece suit and is walking with his cane, which he checks at the door. He approaches the table. James West remains seated across the room. Jake says to Adiar, “So that is why you were delayed, I suppose one can never be overdressed for a poker game." Jake eyes him suspiciously. Looking for any signs that he is carrying hidden weapons, or even tell tale signs that this is someone using magic to stand in for Adair. Adair replies, "Well Mr. Cook, I wanted to be looking my best for when I win this building from you." Artemis Gordon arrives and stays by the front door, prompting James West to rise to his feet. Jake also sees coming in behind them Doctor James Eaton who to the best of his knowledge never visits saloons. Eaton is accompanied by Job Kane, who the doctor is sticking close to. Jake replies to Adair, "I would be disappointed if you did not at least try your best." Jake keeps his left hand on the table but allows his right to sit on his thigh. He glances down and takes in the exact distance from his hand to his Colt worn by Van Horne. James West approaches the table and says, "Excuse me, I am afraid I must interrupt. My name is James West and I am an agent for the United States Government. Mr. Adair, Please come with me sir." Adair looks up at him and says, "I know who you are Mr. West, as well as your partner Mr. Gordon over by the doorway. You came to Promise City last July regarding the James Gang. If memory serves, you arrived in town prior to the Gang's various robberies and failed to prevent it. I believe that you were removed from the Secret Service for that incompetence and have now been relegated to minor duties for the Department of State. You therefore have no jurisdiction here, so you had best be on your way." West replies, "I see that you are well informed sir." Adair replies, "Yes, and also well connected. I have just received a telegram from your former superior at the State Department, James G. Blaine, and he said that you are not to bother me." Adair thrusts the telegram into the Federal agent's hand. Jake rises and says, "You gentlement settle your differences, I will be right back. Ante for me if I am slightly delayed." He leaves the Lucky Lady and sprints to his home. He removes a document from the safe and runs hard to find Chumbley. Finding him he hands the halfling the three page document loaning $ 150,000 from Evan Adair to Republican Nation Chairman Zachariah Chandler dated November 22, 1876 . Panting Jake says, "This was found in some debris after the Palace was destroyed. Right now Adair is at the Lucky Lady weaseling out of his just rewards because he has some inside political pull. It is likely related to this document and some extortion. Read it quickly so you can publish something later, but after you read it put it in the hands of the federal agent at the Lady. It may help him do something about Adair. This is your big chance to get back at that snake in the grass, do not fall short. Er, you know what I mean." Kate and Conrad arrive at the El Parador and see that Wyatt and Virgil Earp are seated at the corner table surrounded by friends and well-wishers, with Wyatt's back to the remainder of the room. "Why are they here?" Kate said. Conrad felt her tense up for a moment before she deliberately forced herself to relax. "Foolish to be sitting with his back to the room, not everyone is happy he's free. Why don't you find your brother, I'm going to the stables for a moment and check on Meribel." Kate hurries out to the stable to find the two horses that she had brought in are gone. Grant Keebler is up in the loft moving bales of hay. Kate stepped behind Meribel and cast a detect magic on herself, then called up to the hayloft, "Grant, a couple gentlemen came and got those horses I brought in?" Grant climbs down from the loft and says, "Yes Ma'am, Wyatt Earp and Ben Thompson took them. They rode off fifteen to twenty minutes ago along with Luke Short, Bat Masterson and Billy Thompson." "And who is our faux Wyatt Earp inside then?" she asked, dropping her voice. Grant replies, "Dick Lockmyer, he and Wyatt are around the same height and weight. They changed clothes here in private. That'll also help throw Behan off the trail of you having supplied the mounts, since Lockmyer runs the Bar-H stables in town.” Kate nodded. "Not that Sheriff Behan can do anything to me for that. There's no law against me legally selling horses to Virgil Earp to use as he sees fit. He'd try anyway, of course." It occurred to her that Judge Isby had probably called for Behan to see him in order to give Wyatt a head start. She says, "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to see an Earp again, but I will tolerate Virgil until he leaves. Anything else I should know?" Grant says, "I was here when the brothers said goodbye. Virgil felt that his bum arm would just slow them down and his staying would help with the decoy charade. Plus Wyatt also charged him with Miss Marcus's safety." Kate replies, "Thank you, Grant. Stay safe." She took a deep breath and went back into the Cantina, determined to ignore Virgil Earp and enjoy the evening. She sought out Conrad and Edwin and moved in their direction. With her magically enhanced sight she looked over at the false Wyatt. Nothing appears to be magical at the corner table. Kate notes Deputy Sheriff Nagle out on the El Parador porch making glances inside every minute or so. Ten minutes later Sheriff John Behan barges in, flanked by his two Deputy Sheriffs. As they cross the room, making a beeline to the end table Behan exclaims, "Okay Earp, end of the line. Your Promise City accomplices may have decided to forgive you for your local crimes but there are still another two-dozen dead men who you have to answer for back in Tombstone. Get up, we're leaving." The man wearing Earp's clothing ignores them as does Virgil Earp. Leslie and Nagle both draw their revolvers and Behan grabs 'Earp' from behind and jerks him around. Dick Lockemyer just smiles and says, "Did you say something Sheriff?" Behan lets out an explicative. He then says, "Nagle, arrest every man at this table for aiding and abetting a fugitive. Leslie, let's go catch that criminal!" Behan and Leslie run towards the front door. Kate asks her companions, "They can't actually arrest them, can they? If there were more charges pending against Wyatt Earp he would have been returned to jail. Therefore it was not illegal to give him assistance until more charges were filed against him." Kate looked to the gentlemen at the table although she was mostly talking to Mr. Roosevelt. "That is right, is it not?" Roosevelt walks over to the table and says, "Deputy Nagle, I attended several years of law school and know something of the American legal system. It seems to me that all these six people were doing was playing cards together in a saloon. How is that a crime?" Nagle says, "Cow Manure, they all helped Earp escape." Roosevelt says, "Hasn't your Sheriff learned anything? He might have won his case if he wasn't overreaching, now he appears to be doing it again. What proof do you have that any of these men assisted Earp?" Nagle points to Lockemyer and says, "He's wearing Earp's clothes." Dick stands up and holds out his hands as an invitation to be handcuffed. Dick then states, "You're right, I'm guilty of wearing used clothing. Arrest me!" The saloon laughs. An angry Nagle says, "I'll be back," and heads out the door. "Thank you, Mr. Roosevelt," Kate said as he returned to the table. "Sheriff Behan, as everyone knows now, has a personal grudge and he doesn't care how many innocent people he drags into it." Virgil Earp goes up the Theodore Roosevelt and shakes his hand. "Thank you sir for your intervention. I must be off, is it alright if I contact you should Sheriff Behan bother me before the morning?" Roosevelt says it is and gives his room number. Virgil Earp departs. Once they are gone Estaban Fuente stands up with his guitar and says, "Now that the nonsense is over and done with let's get the party started!"</blockquote>

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