Theyre
not content to hang the man; but directly the poor creature is
swung up they all shoot him full of holes, wasting their
cartridges that cost solid money, and pretending they do it in
horror of his wickedness, though half of them would have a
rope round their own necks if all they did was known--let alone
the mess it makes.
LOTTIE. I wish we could get more civilized. I don't like all this
lynching and shooting. I don't believe any of us like it, if the
truth were known.
BABSY. Our Sheriff is a real strong man. You want a strong man
for a rough lot like our people here. He aint afraid to shoot and
he aint afraid to hang. Lucky for us quiet ones, too.
JESSIE. Oh, don't talk to me. I know what men are. Of course he
aint afraid to shoot and he aint afraid to hang. Wheres the risk
in that with the law on his side and the whole crowd at his back
longing for the lynching as if it was a spree? Would one of them
own to it or let him own to it if they lynched the wrong man? Not
them. What they call justice in this place is nothing but a
breaking out of the devil thats in all of us. What I want to see
is a Sheriff that aint afraid not to shoot and not to hang.
EMMA [a sneak who sides with Babsy or Jessie, according to the
fortune of war] Well, I must say it does sicken me to see Sheriff
Kemp putting down his foot, as he calls it. Why don't he put it
down on his wife? She wants it worse than half the men he
lynches. He and his Vigilance Committee, indeed!
BABSY [incensed] Oh, well! if people are going to take the part
of horse-thieves against the Sheriff--!
JESSIE.
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