For the Roses (61 page)

reminded her of a lizard.

His brother was just as ugly. His eyes were brown. His skin was pasty like his brother's, suggesting to her that neither brother had ever worked outside a day in his life.

Dooley was given the duty of guarding the door. Billie was told to spell him. Harrison continued to stay seated until Burns got to the end of the aisle. Harrison immediately stood up. So did Adam.

So no one else moved. The judge seemed pleased by the deference Harrison and Adam were showing him.

"With Your Honor's permission?"

Burns guessed what he was asking. He eagerly nodded. "Wait until I get on in the storeroom," he whispered. "This is gonna be a first, and I want to enjoy every minute." Adam started to sit down. Harrison wouldn't let him. "Stand," he whispered. Harrison waited until the judge had disappeared into the storeroom, and then called out in a loud, booming voice, "Hear Ye, Hear Ye. All rise. Court is now in session. Judge John Burns is presiding." The crowd immediately got out of their chairs. The judge peeked around the corner to make certain everyone was standing, then strutted into the courtroom, looking as pleased and proud as a peacock. He obviously loved formality and rarely got it.

He took his time going to his table and taking his seat.

"All right. Sit yourselves back down.

"I'm only going to say this once, so all of you hear me good. I won't tolerate shouting or cheering or making any other noises while my court is in session. This here is sacred ground right this minute cause of me squatting on it. First, I'm going to tell the jury the evidence against Adam Clayborne. Then I'll call two witnesses."

The judge paused to take a drink of water.

"John Quincy Adam Clayborne has been charged with murdering Walter Adderley. Adderley was the man who owned Adam during the slaving years. Adderley's sons brung me letters the Clayborne family had written to Adam's mother, Rose. Now Rose still lives down south on that same plantation with Adderley's wife, Livonia.

She takes care of her 'cause the woman's plumb blind. In six or seven of the letters, there's mention of Adderley's death. Ain't nothing damning though. Adam don't admit to killing Adderley, but he does admit to being in the house when Adderley died, and Adam also admits in writing that he ran. I'll question Adam all about that when he takes the stand. He is taking the stand, isn't he, Harrison?"

"Yes, Your Honor, he is."

"Fine. Now I got one last thing to say to you, jury. I want to see justice done here today. If any of you

have already made up your minds that Adam's guilty, raise your butts off them chairs and get on out of here. A man's innocent until proven guilty, and I ain't allowing no man to railroad him.

"Harrison, it's your turn now. You got something you want to say to the jury?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Harrison answered.

He stood up and walked across the room so he could face the twelve men.

"My client has been accused of a crime he didn't commit. If you listen to all the testimony, you will give Adam his freedom. Open up your hearts and your minds, rid yourselves of any feelings you might have regarding the color of his skin, and see that he gets a fair hearing. Abraham Lincoln believed in equality, and so did hundreds of thousands of valiant young men who willingly gave their lives so that slavery would be abolished. Don't mock the memories of those courageous men. Remember how they died and why. Adam's life is in your hands, gentlemen, and I will prove to you, without a doubt, that he is innocent."

Harrison turned and slowly walked back to the table. Mary Rose thought he was finished. She had to force herself not smile. She was so proud of her husband. His speech had impressed her, yes, but it was the extra touch he'd added that made it more forceful. There was a very, very subtle western drawl blended in with his deep resonant Highland brogue. She didn't think anyone else noticed the change in his speech though, and she thought she knew why he'd done it. He wanted the jury to think of him as one of their own.

"I'm going to tell you a little bit about John Quincy Adam. I'll start by telling you why his mother gave him the name. Some of you might recall your history and already know John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States. That isn't why Adam's mother so admired the man though. She'd heard a story about President Adams and found out later it was true. After Adams retired from being such a fine president, he went back on home, thinking he'd lead a nice, peaceful life, and he did just that until he heard about a shameful incident going on in our very own country. In 1835 or about, some Spanish pirates kidnapped fifty-two Africans and headed for Cuba. Two Cubans purchased all of them and headed for the sugar plantations to sell them. Well, now, the Africans didn't much like the notion of being slaves, so they revolted. They killed one of the crew too. When the ship reached Long Island, the Cubans had them tossed in jail and charged them with revolt and murder.

"Now, why do you think the incident bothered President Adams so much? Slavery was legal back then, wasn't it?"

Several of the jurors nodded.

Harrison's western drawl become a little more pronounced as he continued. "I sure was confused, I'll tell you, so I went and looked it up and found out why it was wrong. Slave trade with other countries had already been outlawed by 1835. A lot of other countries put the same law into effect too. So here's the law. A black man born in America in 1835 would be a slave, but it was illegal to bring slaves into our country from outside.

"Well, now, President Adams couldn't help but get riled up about it. He believed everyone should obey the laws they had all gone to so much trouble to write down. He didn't keep quiet about his opinion either. No, sir, he didn't. His friends told him to stay away from the issue because it wasn't popular to argue in defense of a black man. Of course that only got Adams more riled up. Know what he said?"

Several jurors shook their heads. "He said, 'May I walk humbly and uprightly, on this and all other occasions, flinching from no duty, obtruding no officious interposition of opinions, and prepared to meet with firmness whatever obloquy may follow the free expression of my thoughts.' Now, what he meant was that the law was the law, and he guessed he was going to have to kick a few backsides if he had to in order to protect his country's honor. The law is the law. If one or two men disregard it, and no one does anything about it, well then, pretty soon there's more and more folks willing to bend the rules to suit them. Before you know it, all the rights the forefathers gave us in the Constitution are plumb ignored…

even yours."

Harrison paused to stare at each one of the jurors before continuing. "Adams was seventy-four years old, but age and ill-health didn't stop him from marching into the Supreme Court and having his say. He defended those black men, and when he was finished, the Africans were sent back home where they belonged. The law is the law. Adams remembered that. I want all of you to remember it too. Adam's mother sure did admire the gumption of President Adams, and that's why she gave her son his name.

"My client was born into slavery. The law said that's what he was from the minute he took his first breath. He lived and worked on Adderley's plantation. Now Walter Adderley didn't think much of his slaves. He didn't think much of his wife, Livonia, either. I can prove what I'm saying. I have signed documents from southern white men who remember seeing Livonia all beaten up. Her husband liked drink, and when he got drunk, he got mean. He was a big man, over six feet tall. His wife was a little bit of a thing, around five feet on tiptoes. She certainly couldn't defend herself against her beloved…" Harrison sneered the word as though it were a blasphemy, "husband. Walter Adderley beat her pretty regularly according to all the accounts I gathered. He liked to hit her about her head. She's blind now, and the doctors all say the blows her beloved"—he sneered the word once again—"husband gave her caused the condition. Do any of you think it's all right to beat your mama or your wife?" Harrison knew he wasn't supposed to ask questions, and before he could be reprimanded by the judge, he hurried on. "No, sir, it makes you plumb sick to think about it, doesn't it?" Every single one of the jurors nodded. Harrison held them in the palm of his hand. He wasn't about to let them get away.

"It made Adam Clayborne sick too. Livonia wasn't the only woman who got regular beatings. Adam's own mama took her share. She tried to protect her mistress, you see, and one time she got her nose broken for her interference.

"When Adam was around thirteen years old, he heard terrible shouting going on inside the house. Livonia was calling out for help. Adam went on in to see what was wrong. He didn't like what he found. His mistress was down on the floor. Her beloved husband was kicking her. You'll hear Adam tell you all about it, of course. He knew Adderley was drunk 'cause he reeked of whiskey, and so he put his arms around his waist and pulled him back. Adam wasn't big for his age, so Adderley was able to shrug him off. He started in on Livonia again, and again Adam pulled him back. Adderley lost his footing then. He tumbled across the floor and went headfirst into the mantel. Adam didn't kill him. No, he did not. Drink and meanness destroyed Walter Adderley. Why did Adam run? Because his mistress begged him to run, that's why. She knew what would happen if her sons found out. Adam was a slave, remember, and slaves were never allowed to touch their masters. He'd be killed by those sons for doing a kindness and trying to keep their own mama alive."

Harrison turned around and started back to the table. He suddenly stopped. His voice turned hard, angry. "If a man ever was in need of killing, Walter Adderley surely was. Any man who beats a woman ought to die. Adam didn't kill him though. The evidence I've collected and will show you will prove his

innocence. I'll tell you one thing though. If I were wearing his shoes, and someone, even my father, was beating on my mama, I don't believe I would have been honorable. I think I'd have to kill him if he raised a hand against my mama. Yes, sir, I would."

John Morrison and two others gave quick nods.

Every one of the jurors remembered his own mother. In most instances, mamas were sacred to their sons. None of them liked Walter Adderley much now.

It was just the beginning. Harrison wanted them to hate the man, and then he would slowly turn that hatred toward the two sons.

It was still a black man up against two white men. The odds weren't in Adam's favor yet. Harrison was going to turn the focus. People who didn't know any better tended to hate anyone different from them, and Harrison was assuming that while the jurors might be sympathetic to Adam, they'd hang him all the same.

Unless there was someone else they could hate more.

His next task was to get all of them to like Adam. His voice took on a story-reading tone when he said,

"I'm only going to take another minute of your time. I think you ought to know a little about Adam Clayborne. Fact is, I think you have to be real curious about all of them. The Claybornes don't like talking about themselves. They're private, just like all of you, but I think you should hear how they all got together and formed their own family.

"After Walter Adderley died, Adam went to New York City. He slept in an alley with three other boys. Douglas and Travis and Cole were younger than Adam was, so they looked up to him to take care of them. It was quite a responsibility for a thirteen-year-old boy to take on, wasn't it? Well, he'd saved every one of them from near death, and he figured he'd go on doing just that until he got caught and taken back down South. He was scared all right, but not because Walter Adderley had died. That was his own accident, not Adam's doing. Adam was scared because he'd touched him when he'd put his arms around his waist. He knew they'd kill him for that insolence. Yes, sir, trying to save a mama would have been called insolent."

Harrison paused to shake his head. "Well, now, one night they found a basket someone had thrown into the trash. Rats were climbing all over the thing, but Adam was able to get the basket away from the vermin. Little Mary Rose was inside. Like Travis and Douglas and Cole, she'd been thrown away. Lots of kids roamed the streets back then because their daddies didn't want them around any longer. Some were gathered up, tossed on trains, and sent west. Others died of starvation. Well, now, little Mary Rose was just four months old. The boys didn't want to take her to an orphanage because they knew what went on inside those places, and they all believed she wouldn't last long. They wanted her to have a chance at life. And that's when they decided to all take the name Clayborne and head west, where people have such fine morals and values. It took them a long while, but they made it to Blue Belle. Adam was the only one who could read, his mama had taught him how, and so he taught his brothers. They wanted to be educated for their sister. They wanted her to have a good life, you see. They had help too. Sweet Belle made little dresses for her and showed her how to be a little girl. Then families started settling into the area, and pretty soon Mary Rose had friends to play with. And family. She had family, just like everyone should be entitled to. The boys scrimped and saved and did without so she could have piano lessons. When she was old enough, they sent her to a boarding school in St. Louis. None of them had an easy time of it. No, sir, they didn't. But they had neighbors helping, and whenever one of their friends was in trouble, every one of the Claybornes came running to help.

"Mary Rose knows all about how she was found. She gets mad when one of her brothers calls her Sidney. It was the first name they gave her until they found out she was a girl. She was bald, you see, and so, because the boys were so young themselves, they figured she had to be a boy." The jurors were smiling now. Harrison decided he'd said enough. "So now you know how they became a family. Mary Rose wasn't the thread that held them all together though, like the brothers believe. No, Adam kept them united. He's honorable and honest and good-hearted. If he'd killed someone, he'd be the first to admit it. Remember that, gentlemen. You're judging an honest man. Listen to what he has to say. Thank you."