Manifest Destiny

“That would be consistent, would it not, with the idea that a considerable amount of gunfire was being aimed at the three i

“Objection!”

“Sustained.”

“Sheriff, the voluminous gunfire you’ve described—it penetrated the horses and, above and behind them, the cutbank?”

“Yes sir, that’s right.”

“From what angles did this gunfire arrive?”

“From at least two different angles. It came from the direction of the trees where we found the boot prints, and it came from off to the right, that is, the direction of the river.”

“Now, what was the caliber of the slugs fired from the latter direction?”

“Those were the .38 caliber slugs, sir.”

“And the bullets that came from the direction of the trees?”

“That’s kind of hard to say, Mr. Long.”

“Why?”

“Because those bullets mostly disintegrated into pieces.”

“You mean they were smashed beyond recognition?”

“No sir. Not smashed. Exploded into pieces.”

“And there was no way to make a determination as to their caliber?”

“We were able to make a rough judgment, by measuring the curvature of some of the fragments and imputing a radius. They certainly were not small-caliber bullets. They were at least .38 or .40 caliber, and possibly as large as .44 or .45.”

“And these exploded bullets were found both in the horse carcasses and in the cutbank?”

“Yes sir.”

“And how about the unexploded .38 caliber slugs that had been fired from the direction of the river?”

“Most of them were in the cutbank up behind the horses. Two or three were found in the horses.”

“What conclusion can we draw from that distribution of bullets, Sheriff?”

“The man who fired the . 38 caliber bullets was shooting from the opposite side of the river.”

“How did you determine that?”

“Well, if the shooter had been on the near bank he’d probably have dropped a lot more ammunition into those horses, assuming he was shooting at people barricaded behind the dead horses. On the other hand, if the shooter was across the river laid up in the brush there, then he wouldn’t have been able to see much of the horses, because the brush on the near side of the river would have obstructed the lower part of his view, and all he’d have been able to see would be over the tops of the dead horses.”

Edward Allen said, “Your Honor, the Defense has listened with great patience to this litany of guesswork, and we feel obliged to object to the extensive expression of opinion on the part of the Prosecution’s witness.”

Ted Long said angrily, “May the Court please, the witness is merely testifying to the only possible interpretation that can be put upon the physical evidence he has described.”

Judge Francis studied both lawyers. After a moment he said, “I’m going to sustain the objection, Mr. Long, for reasons stated earlier. We’re interested in discovering facts here. It’s up to the jury to render the opinions. The questions and answers will be stricken from the record, regarding Sheriff Harmon’s opinions about where certain bullets may have been fired from.”

Ted Long said in pained exasperation, “Your Honor!”

“Proceed, Mr. Long.”

“I must register objection to this high-handed and arbitrary exclusion of vital evidence!”

“Mr. Long, you may proceed or you may depart.”

“Very well,” Long said through gritted teeth. He returned to his witness but the momentum clearly had gone out of his charge. “Sheriff, I take it you examined the weapons, if any, possessed by the Decedent and his companions?”

“In two cases I did. Two of the men, both injured, surrendered themselves immediately after the incident to the custody of Mr. Ferris, who kept possession of their weapons until my brother and I arrived on the train. In the third case I was unable to locate the man, Mr. Reuter, so I was unable to investigate the condition of his weapons, or indeed, to determine whether he had any.”

“In the two cases that you did examine, what did you find?”

“Mr. Luffsey possessed a rifle and a revolver. Both were fully loaded, and neither appeared to have been fired.”

There were rumblings and growls throughout the audience. Pack sat up straight. He was thinking: That’s not the way I heard it. But he hadn’t actually seen Luffsey’s weapons …

“And Mr. O’Do

“He had a rifle. It had been fired once, with the empty cartridge case still in the chamber. The magazine was fully loaded.”

The crowd’s voice became a roar. Opposing men yelled at each other. Bedlam broke loose.

Throughout the Trial’s early testimony the Marquis’s main show of emotion was one of arrogant disdain, but he must have been chagrined to hear some of the reports, even though it ought to have been obvious to any dolt that crucial portions of the evidence must have been manufactured as part of the overzealous effort by Sheriff Harmon and District Attorney Long to bring about the Marquis’s downfall by framing him: whether the Marquis was i

Nevertheless, whether true or contrived, the physical evidence that had been mustered by the District Attorney was more imposing than Pack had been led to expect. Throughout the first three days Long cleverly amassed his facts and lies, pounding home again and again evidence contrived to support the Prosecution’s contention that the Marquis and Paddock had conspired to ambush the three “i

At the end of the third day’s proceedings Pack was granted a brief audience with the Marquis in his cell. Madame Medora was there of course. She said, “Antoine and I want you to know how deeply we appreciate your support in these difficult times.”

The Marquis said, “Roosevelt has been in the same seat every day.”

“Yes, I’ve seen him.”

“You know, don’t you, Arthur, that he has financed the opposition.”

“I’ve tried to find evidence of that.”

“Roosevelt and the other Jews. I have heard some spectators behind me express their wonder at what one of them called ‘the strange courtship between the New York dude and his aristocratic enemy.’ There is of course no mystery in it at all. Roosevelt is there hoping to see me fall. But he is the one who is doomed.”

“Doomed to disappointment, you mean.”

The Marquis smiled. Even here, Pack thought—even in this dismal cell, with nothing before him but the prospect of a long solitary night and tomorrow’s continuing discomfort in court—even now the Marquis’s composure was uncracked, his smile cheerful. What an extraordinary man!

Pack said, “These have been dark hours for you both, I know. But you have the support of a great many good people, and the Defense will begin soon. I’ve every confidence you’ll make a shambles of the Prosecution’s trumped-up case.”

“Don’t give it another thought, Arthur. Just continue to honor us with your good wishes.”

His heart pounding, Pack offered to escort Madame la Marquise back to her lodgings. To his amazement she accepted. He gave her his arm and she came along with determined stride, skirt billowing and one hand holding the wide sombrero on to her head.

Theodore Roosevelt came around the corner and nearly blundered into the lady. He stopped, lifted his hat, showed his big square teeth and gave Pack barely a glance before he said to the Madame, “At least it’s a mild evening.”

“The weather has been very kind.” Her voice gave away not a thing. Pack thought sometimes that Medora would die as she had lived—with well-ma

His suspicions were inflamed to the point of absolute conviction. He saw the way they looked at each other. Feelings were bright in the burning of their eyes: he saw the hot instincts rising in both of them.