Bittner, Rosanne (50 page)

Lettie nodded. "Luke will be proud. We'll all be with you, Katie, every step of the way." She walked closer and grasped the girl's arms. "Remember, what I told you is our secret."

Katie studied her mother's gentle green eyes, seeing the woman in a whole new light, understanding her own suffering. "I won't tell." She blinked back tears. "I'm glad you found somebody like Pa."

Lettie smiled, looking out the window along with Katie, noticing Luke was standing outside the corral then talking to Robbie. She knew how miserable Robbie had been over what happened to Katie, blaming himself for not watching out for her, sure his father hated him and would never forgive him. Her heart swelled with love then when she saw Luke embrace the boy. Oh, how Robbie needed that. "I'm glad, too," she told Katie. "Your father and I have had our differences, but nothing could ever get in the way of how much I love him."

"When will the judge get to Billings?" Katie asked.

Lettie watched Luke and Robbie walk toward the house, arm in arm. "Sheriff Tracy says he should be here by Saturday." Oh, how she hated the thought of what poor Katie would have to go through, but it had to be done. There would be law and order in Montana, and men like Luke would make sure of it. Talk about a hanging was already rampant, and word was, people were already filtering into Billings from all over Montana and even from Wyoming to see the event. How sad that all that excitement had to be from her daughter's personal horror.
God be with us all,
she prayed.

CHAPTER 25

Lettie could see Tyler and Robbie in the street below. They had been permitted to join the crowds that swarmed into Billings for the hanging, but were ordered to stay together. Because of the delicate reason for the hanging that would take place today, Katie had chosen to stay away from the staring eyes of others and watch the hanging from a room Luke had taken on the second floor of the Billings Inn.

Lettie thought how almost none of the people milling about outside were originally from Montana. Nearly all were from other parts of the country and from all walks of life, some with past lives no one else would ever know about, come to Montana for a hundred different reasons. The Stowes, the middle-aged couple who had bought Will and Henny's place, had lost a son in the Civil War. They had owned and managed a hotel back in Ohio, then lost it all to a fire. They had moved west with their daughter to try farming, and when that failed, they had come to Montana because they had heard it was growing fast and figured they would get back into the business they knew best. Nial Bentley was from England, now married to Sydney Greene's daughter, the Greene family from Pennsylvania. The tailor,

Gino Galardo, was born in New York, and his parents had come to America from Italy. Reverend Gooding was from Illinois; Herbert Grass, the reporter for the
Billings Extra,
was from Wyoming and from places back east before that. Bill and Betty Richards were from Illinois.

The Double L was itself like a little village in its own right, with whole families living there now. Gone was the terrible loneliness of winter, but such a price they and others had paid for settling this untamed land. James Woodward was dead, and Matt Duncan. Little Paul was gone, and Nathan was out there... somewhere. Maybe he was dead, too. Will was gone, Henny dead, simply from a hard life. Now living here had cost poor Katie dearly.

The atmosphere outside was like a circus, people having come in from miles around. The boardinghouse and the hotel were packed to overflowing. Luke was indeed right that Billings needed another hotel, but what a hideous way to find out more room was needed. Some citizens had even rented out storage rooms, or rooms in their own homes, deciding to make a fast dollar off the hanging. Those who could not get rooms had set up wagons and tents outside of town, and vendors in the street were making money selling everything from food and drinks to little signs that read, I Saw the Hanging in Billings, Montana Territory, May 25, 1878. Programs had been printed up and handed out, giving the names of those to be hanged: Ben Walker, Jim Walker, and their uncle, Zack Walker. Because the kidnapping and blackmail scheme was Zack Walker's idea, and because he did nothing to keep his nephews from raping Katie, he was sentenced to be hanged right along with the two young Walkers. Two other men who had been brought in, a Terry Brubaker and Matt Peters, did not take part in the rape. They were given five-year prison sentences and had been sent to Montana's territorial prison at Deer Lodge, nearly two hundred miles to the west. A U.S. Marshal had already come to take them away, although the prison was not even finished yet. Only the north wing was completed, and they heard it was already filling fast with horse thieves and murderers, as Montana continued to struggle to bring law and order to its citizens, who had demanded an end to vigilante justice in their territory.

Lettie hoped such justice would end, that men like Luke could stop risking their own lives keeping the lawless out of Montana. He had brushed against death too many times over the years. If the bullet he'd taken rescuing Katie had hit him just a few inches to the left, it would most certainly have killed or crippled him. He still could not fully use his right arm, and to this day he still limped from the bullet wound that had shattered his right thigh the day the buffalo hunters had shot him down.

Today justice would be served legally. A hangman would pull the lever that would open the trapdoors beneath the three Walker men and send them to their reward, whatever that might be. Lettie hoped they would burn in hell forever for what they had done to her daughter, and she had no regrets over killing one of those men herself. By the time bodies were collected and identified after Luke's rescue of Katie, Tex told her that one she had shot was dead. It was learned he was Irv Walker, father of the two Walker boys to be hanged today, brother to Zack Walker, and just as no-good. Katie had told her that the one called Irv had urged his "boys" to have themselves a good time with their captive. Also killed were another nephew, Larry, who was one of those involved in the rape; and a man called Coolie, both shot down by Tex. They had picked Coolie up along the way on their journey of vengeance, and the man had never told them his full name. Tyler had wounded another man named Ken Justice, and the man had died on the trip back to Billings. It was Ty's first killing, and Luke and Lettie both hoped their son would never have to kill again. It had gone hard on him, and his only consolation had been that the man had been a part of the terrible gang that had hurt his sister. Ty had also wounded Brubaker, but the man had lived. Runner had captured Matt Peters, as well as the fleeing Brubaker, and it was those two who were headed for prison.

Nine men,
Lettie thought,
four killed, two going to prison, three to hang.
Even that did not seem like justice enough for poor Katie. It would take more than ending their lives for her daughter to recover from her ordeal. She well knew the kind of nightmares that would haunt the girl for a long time to come. The family had surrounded her with love. They were all doing everything they could to encourage her, and she was glad she had shared her own tragedy with her daughter. That had seemed to help more than anything.

Pearl came to stand beside her mother at the window. "Katie, you should see the crowd down there!" she told her sister. "I never saw so many people!"

Katie sat in a corner of the room knitting. "I don't want to look," she answered quietly. "Just tell me when it's over."

Lettie's heart ached at the evident pain in Katie's voice. The trial had been held inside the cattlemen's hall, and the poor girl had had to live her rape all over again when she testified to the jury about what had happened. Although the general public and the outlaws involved were not allowed in the room during her testimony, it had still been a humiliating experience for her, and she still had had to face the Walkers once more, just long enough to point out the culprits who had actually raped her.

It seemed almost ludicrous that the crowd in the street below was laughing and celebrating as though they were attending some grand picnic; but then deep inside she celebrated herself that this would be the end of men like the Walkers. It was too bad that two of them were so young. Perhaps if they had been brought up differently, they might have been decent young men. They had complained that they were worried about their mother and seven siblings left behind in Wyoming, and a wire had been sent to Cheyenne for the U.S. Marshal there to deliver a message to the woman that her husband and one of her sons had been killed, and that her brother-in-law and two more of her sons would be hanged. Lettie wondered what the woman would do, where she would go. It was a sad situation, but the Walkers had chosen their path in life, and a man's sins had to be accounted for.

Piano music filtered through the window, as well as laughter, people in saloons having a jolly time... all these people in a gay mood, making money, enjoying the gossip, visiting and picnicking... all looking forward to the hanging as though it was the event of the decade. Perhaps it was. She wondered how many of those below cared about poor Katie. Most of the citizens of Billings did. They had contributed their life savings to help get her back, and Lettie was glad the money had been recovered and returned. The others, the strangers who had come into town, probably didn't care one whit what Katie had suffered. They were just here to see the results. Whole families had come, determined that their children should watch and be "taught a good lesson." This is what happens to a man who chooses the wrong path in life.

She caught sight of Luke then. He walked to the hanging scaffold that he and his men had helped build. It was right in the middle of the main street of Billings, not far from the hotel. Lettie turned and looked at a clock on the wall. It was one-forty p.m. In just twenty minutes the hanging would take place. The crowd grew more excited and louder when Sheriff Tracy, accompanied by two deputies, came out of the jail farther up the street then, herding the three Walker men in front of them. "They're bringing them out," she told Katie, who did not reply.

Lettie noticed Luke look up at the hotel window. He saw her standing there, and their eyes held for a moment. Even though she was not right beside him, she knew he felt her with him. Both of them wanted this, yet they knew that the death of the Walker men could never erase what had happened. People began to shout curses at the three men as they were brought to the gallows, but a few gathered nearby and started singing hymns. Young Jim Walker walked just fine on his own, but Benny limped from a bullet Tex had planted in his right leg as he was trying to escape. Zack Walker had to be aided by two men, one on each arm. His injuries from Luke riding his horse over the man were extensive, and he was obviously in great pain, unable to walk on his left leg at all. Lettie wished she could feel sorry for him, but she felt nothing but contempt, glad for his pain, glad that soon he would feel nothing at all. The man was shouting terrible curses, and a few women either covered their childrens' ears or hurried them away. The two younger men said nothing, but Jim looked as though he were crying. Lettie was not touched by his tears, and she knew Luke was not either. Lettie could only imagine how the young man had probably laughed at Katie's tears while he was raping her.

Jim and Benny made it up the steps of the scaffold with no protest, neither of them even looking at Luke; but Zack Walker noticed him, and he let off another string of curses. "The devil will have his day with you, Luke Fontaine!" he shouted. "Piss on you, you rich, greedy bastard! Piss on your whole family! I wish I'd have kilt them all! All your pampered sons and that bitch of a wife and your prissy, ugly daughters!"

Lettie put a hand to her chest, glancing back at Katie, who had surely heard the words through the open window. She continued knitting feverishly, never looking up.

"Mama, Father just punched that awful Walker man!" Pearl spoke up. "And Ty is in there, too!"

Lettie looked back to see a tumble of men around Zack Walker, who was yelling with pain. A few women screamed and moved farther away, and finally several men managed to pull Luke away from Walker. Tex had hold of Ty, and Robbie stood nearby looking ready to cry. Luke was holding his arm, and Lettie knew he had lost his temper over Walker's cruel, ugly words. Luke bent over for a moment, holding his shoulder, and Ty and Robbie went to stand next to him while the sheriff and his deputies managed to get the still-cursing Walker up the platform and into position under his noose. The crowd was in an uproar of gossip now because of the scuffle, and some began shouting, "Hang them! Hang them high!" in a kind of chant.

Reverend Gooding climbed onto the platform then to talk to each man. Jim cried harder, but Ben just stood silent. Zack continued his curses, screaming so loudly that Lettie could hear some of the words above the crowd. He shouted to the reverend that the devil would get him someday, too, just like he'd get Luke Fontaine. The reverend ignored the man's swearing and turned to raise his arms, finally managing to quiet the crowd. Then he began reading from the Bible. When he finished, those who had been singing hymns began another song, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye." The rest of the crowd quieted as black hoods were placed over each man's head, then each noose put in place and tightened. The singers finished their hymn, and Reverend Gooding said a prayer for the souls of those about to die. He led the entire crowd then in singing "Shall We Gather at the River," after which Sheriff Tracy read each man's name and the charges for which he was being hanged, "murder, kidnaping, extortion, rape, and cattle rustling." He pulled a watch from his vest and announced that in just two minutes the hanging would take place.

The crowd was nearly silent then. A few of them began singing "Shall We Gather by the River" again, and Reverend Gooding and Sheriff Tracy stepped down from the platform. The two minutes seemed to take forever. Sheriff Tracy walked behind the scaffold with the hangman the town had hired, and people stared silently.