Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "bermuda-triangle-steinbeck"

This Week
Thanksgiving Poem and Story
Spicer Hearing – Nickel-plated Pistol
Writers Notebook: John Steinbeck

Thanksgiving
November Nights grow longer and cold'
when a wedge of honking geese
flies past a harvest moon
that melts on the edge of the world at sunrise.
When turkey and dressing with all the trimmings,
becomes a feast-
Thanksgiving day is here.
Lenora Smalley

From The Little Boy Series:
A Thanksgiving Story from my Little Boy Series.
I was three of four years old and we were living in Bonita Springs, Florida at the time of this incident. It was only a short walk from our house into the Everglades. Dad walked with a purpose that day, a rifle slung over his left shoulder, and I followed along only a few steps behind. I didn’t know exactly where we were going, and it didn’t matter because Dad knew. He didn’t always tell me the purpose of our outings when we were going fishing or digging for oysters or just going for a walk, and maybe I didn’t need to know all the time.
In any event, we must have walked a mile or two at a slow pace; Dad seemed to be listening for something. Then all of a sudden he stopped beside a big palmetto palm tree, kneeled down and whispered for me to stay quiet and not to move away form the tree.
I nodded and without a sound he moved into the brush. It was so quiet I don’t even remember a birdsong that broke the silence.
My wait didn’t seem too long, just long enough for me to start worrying about being lost in the Everglades. But about the time I was sure Dad would never find me again I heard the crack of his rifle.
Then I bet it wasn’t more than a couple of minutes when I heard the brush rustle and my Daddy came into the clear wearing a broad smile on his face, the rifle in one hand and a turkey slung over his shoulder.
‘Lets go home, Son. We’ve got Thanksgiving dinner.’
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone – Spicer Hearing
Defense Attorney Tom Fitch's Cross Examination of Billy Allen.
Tom Fitch’s first question in his cross-examination of Billy Allen was, "When you first got to Fremont Street, where was the Earp party?"
"Between Fly's building and the next house. The Earps had already passed down Fremont Street when I got there."
"What were the first words you heard spoken between the two parties -- the Earps and Holliday and the Clantons and McLowry’s?"
"I heard Tom McLowry say, ‘I haven’t got any arms."
“Where were you at that time?” Tom Fitch asked.
“I was standing about ten feet away, in front of Fly’s building.”
“When Tom McLowry said he hadn’t any arms, did he make any kind of gesture or movement?”
“He held the lapels of his coat open.”
“Did anyone other than Tom McLowry say anything?"
"Billy Clanton held up his hands and said, 'I don't want to fight."'
Doc nudged Wyatt and whispered, "Allen just said Billy Clanton held up his hands. Like hell he did. He was holding a six gun and was pointing it at either you or Virg."
Wyatt nodded and pointed to himself.
Tom Fitch stared at the witness. "Did you see the first shot -- who fired it?"
"The first shot came from the Earp party, the smoke came from Doc Holliday."
"I don't understand." Tom Fitch looked directly into Allen's eyes. "Are you saying Doc Holliday fired the first shot?"
"Well, I saw Doc swing his hand up and then I saw the smoke come from him and hearing the shot and seeing the smoke I just think it came from the Earp party."
"But you did not see Doc Holliday fire the first shot. You just think because some smoke swirled around at that time that it was Doc Holliday who fired the shot. You were behind the Earp party and couldn't see a thing. Maybe it was Billy Clanton that fired the first shot." Tom Fitch then said neutrally, "Who fired the second shot?"
"I did not see it, but I know from the sound that the second shot was fired from a shotgun. When the shotgun went off, Tom McLowry threw his hands up to his breast."
"What did you do when the firing commenced?"
"I ducked between the buildings, I got out of the way, quick!"
Wyatt turned to Doc. "Sounds to me like he used pretty good gumption, ducking in between the buildings."
"He might duck well, but he can't count for beans." Doc grinned. "If I'd fired the Parker when he said I did, the horse would have caught the buckshot, not Tom. And something else, Tom had already fired at Morg and was lining up another shot when I unloaded on him."
Tom Fitch softened his approach and gently said, "Now, when you were back on Allen Street with Mr. Coleman. You say he walked away and gestured you to come along and you said, 'I don't want to see it."' Then the attorney snapped. "You didn’t want to see what?"
"I didn't want to see the quarrel, I knew there would be one."
"Quarrel?" Tom Fitch said mockingly. "No. It was not a quarrel you were concerned about. There was to be a gunfight and you were privy to that information. You knew the cowboy's plans didn't you?"
"I object. I strenuously object, Your Honor." The district attorney blurted out, "Mr. Fitch is badgering the witness."
"Calm down, Mr. Price." The judge gestured toward the overwrought attorney. "Objection sustained. Mr. Risley, strike Mr. Fitch's last remark from the record."
Tom Fitch grinned. "I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor.”
Wednesday, November 2nd
Judge Spicer opened the session by announcing that he was rescinding his rule on the closed-door session. Then he said to the bailiff, “Go ahead and open the door and let the folks in.”
Doc nudged Wyatt with his elbow and said, “I guess if you’re going to put on a show, you might as well have a good crowd.”
Once the bailiff opened the doors the people shuffled into the courtroom, but if they were expecting any fireworks that morning they were sorely disappointed.
The defense lawyers came up with a technical question in reference to Spicer’s authority to rule on evidence. Both sides argued points of law and quoted precedents. Their questions and debate took up the balance of the morning.
To open the afternoon session District Attorney Price summoned Sheriff Johnny Behan to the stand. Everyone in the courtroom knew where the sheriff stood. He was a politician and when it came to a court of law he could tap dance around an issue with the best of them.
Once the sheriff settled into the witness chair Price asked, "When were you first made aware of a possible difficulty on the afternoon of October 26th?”
“I was in the barbershop when I heard there might be trouble with armed cowboys,” Sheriff Behan said, “and I took it upon myself to disarm the men."
"How did you go about disarming the cowboys?"
"I first ran into Frank McLowry, and told him he had to disarm, there is likely to be trouble and I've proposed to disarm everyone in town that has arms. He said that he would not give up his arms, as he did not intend to have any trouble. About that time I saw Ike Clanton and Tom McLowry down the street. I said to Frank, come along with me. We went down to where Ike and Tom were standing. I said to the boys, you must give up your arms."
"How many men were in that group?" Price asked.
"I saw five standing there and asked them how many there were of them. They said four of us. The young man Claiborne said he was not one of the party. He wanted them to leave town. I saw the Earp's and Holliday coming down the sidewalk on the south side of Fremont Street. I said to the Clanton's. Wait here I see them coming and I'll go up and stop them."
“Then what did you do?”
"I went up the street and met them at Bauer’s butcher shop and told them not to go any further, that I was down there for the purpose of arresting and disarming the McLowry's and Clanton's. They did not heed me and I threw up my hands and said, "Go back. I'm Sheriff of this county and I'm not going to allow any trouble, if I can help it."
Then the witness shook his head and gave an embarrassed sigh. "They brushed past me. Then I turned and followed them by a couple of steps. When they got to within a few feet of the Clanton's and McLowry’s I heard one of them say, I think it was Wyatt Earp, ‘You sons-a-bitch’s you’ve been looking for a fight and now you can have it.’ About that time I heard a voice say throw up your hands. At that point I noticed a nickel plated pistol pointed at one of the Clanton party, I think Billy Clanton."
"Could you say with any certainty, who was holding the nickel plated pistol?"
"My impression, at that time, was that Holliday had the nickel plated pistol. I will not say for certain,” he added. “When the order was given, throw up your hands, I heard Billy Clanton say, ‘don’t shoot me, I don't want to fight.” Tom McLowry at the same time threw opened his coat and said, ‘I have nothing. Or I'm not armed.’"
"What was the position of Billy Clanton's hands, at that point?"
"I couldn't tell the position of Billy Clanton's hands at the time he said, ‘I don’t what a fight’, my attention was directed just at that moment to the nickel plated pistol."
"Who fired the first shot?"
"The nickel plated pistol was first to fire and another followed instantly."
"Both from the nickel plated pistol?"
"No. Those two shots were not from the same pistol, they were too nearly instantaneous to be fired from the same weapon."
"What happened after the second shot was fired?"
"All hell broke loose." The sheriff mopped his brow. "Two or three shots fired rapidly after that first shot."
"Who fired those shots?"
"By whom, I do not know." Behan cleared his throat. "The first two shots were fired by the Earp party."
“I have no further questions at this time, Your Honor."
When Judge adjourned court for the day the defense team stayed in their seats to discuss the day’s proceedings.
Doc picked up one of his notes. “Here’s something Behan said near Bauer’s Butcher Shop, which he conveniently left out of his testimony. I can recall him saying, ‘don’t go down there, they will murder you.’”
Wyatt perked up. “Damned if he didn’t say that, Doc. He sure as hell did.”
T.J. Drum said, “Good point but I doubt that we could prove it. Behan’s pretty slick with his answers. You might have noticed that he did not say that the cowboy’s hands were in any kind of position to surrender. He avoided that lie by simply saying that his attention was on the nickel-plated pistol.”

Writers Notebook:
You have committed to a project, finished the basic research and character prep work and you’re all set to begin writing. Suddenly you’re overcome with anxiety – you’ve got a knot the size of a baseball in your stomach. Stop!
You are not alone. It might give you some comfort to know that John Steinbeck experienced some of those same anxious moments. In one of his letters written in February 1936, which was included in his ‘A Life in Letters’ Steinbeck said, ‘I have to start [writing] and am scared to death as usual – miserable sick feeling of inadequacy.’ Then in the very next sentence he wrote, ‘I’ll love it once I get down to work.’

Tom's Books and Blogs
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
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