Heaven's Gate Page #3

Damn it, I just got this job.

Whoa, boy.

Aw, hell.

I was over last night to the Sage Hotel

having meself some Baltimore oysters...

when I met up

with a couple of citizens there.

A Mr. Morrison and Mr. Budley.

No, that ain't right. Dudley.

That's what it was. Dudley.

One of the biggest

damn citizens I ever seen...

with two eyes in his head like a dead fish.

Well, I - I had a long drink

with this Morrison and Dudley...

and-and they said to me -

they said to me that they was -

they was currently in the employ

of the Stock Growers Association...

and that the Association was hiring up

a big mob from all over the northwest.

Well, every citizen's business is his own affair,

not mine, damn it.

I believe I'll pay the Association

a little call while I'm here.

- Watch my goods, Cully.

- Right, Jim. Right.

Displace us and our capital...

and 50 years must pass

before the earth can be made...

to produce the same wealth

in any other form.

This is no longer a poor man's country.

These emigrants only pretend to be farmers.

But we know many of them personally

to be thieves and anarchists...

openly preying on our ranges.

No jury in Johnson County

will indict them...

even in the face of evidence as conclusive

as any ever offered in a court of justice.

Right.

Yeah, they're an ignorant,

degraded gang of paupers.

Their only stock-in-trade consists of

having large numbers of ragged kids.

Out of 180 indictments,

we have had one conviction in four years.

That man was caught with the hide

and the bones of the stolen animal.

He was found guilty of stealing

the hide and the bones only...

which were valued at $18...

making his crime petty larceny.

The jury evidently took it for granted...

that the rest of the animal

was still out roaming the range.

Unenforced law

is an invitation to anarchy.

Consequently,

the Stock Growers Association...

will now and publicly

wipe out these thieves and anarchists.

We are employing 50 men

on the basis of five dollars a day...

and $50 for every cattle thief shot or hung.

Good idea.

We will go to Johnson County...

we will depose

the incompetent civil authority there...

and we will keep possession of the town

until we can take charge of the courts.

- Good.

- Right.

We have placed 125 names on a death list.

I know that it is popular at present

to hamper justice for us.

But, gentlemen...

to kill...

125 people...

all at one time?

Huh?

Well, that will only further prejudice

public opinion against ourselves.

No. No.

So I'm going to move that we stop...

right here.

I had a very satisfactory talk

with the governor yesterday.

He asserted in the most positive terms

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes