Fury Page #5

as my oath of office requires.

You and your wife

and that boy of yours...

Adams, you like to eat, don't you?

Sure, Will.

But some of the things people have had

to eat in this country lately...

...haven't agreed with their stomachs.

- But...

Well, who are you going to name?

You can't bring a town

full of John Does to trial...

...just to pull yourself

to heaven on a publicity stunt.

John Doe is not going to trial, Will...

...but 22 citizens of Strand...

...who I can prove are guilty of murder

in the first degree.

Because the law declares

that in a lynching...

...all who consent to the design

are responsible for what took place.

All who participate

are responsible for the act.

This may seem harsh...

...but when a mob takes it upon itself...

...to identify, try, condemn and punish...

...it is a destroyer of a government that

patriots died to establish and defend.

Every decent person in the country

feels the importance of this case.

The nation is hanging on the outcome

of this trial.

No lynching can be justified,

though sometimes attempts are made...

... to whitewash them by citing

the confessions of...

... or proofs of guilt against,

the by now silent corpse.

But no one can dare defend the lynching

of an innocent man.

American democracy and its system

of fair play for the rights of individuals...

...under the law is on trial here,

ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

To this end, you must be guided

not only by your common sense...

...but by your patriotism.

As counsel for these defendants,

Your Honor...

...ladies and gentlemen of the jury...

...I must point out that my clients

are not on trial for treason...

...against any philosophy

of government...

...as our esteemed district attorney

seems to think.

They're on trial for murder.

A charge you will see vanish

into thin air here...

...as the state, to cover up its own

criminal negligence...

...in not protecting this innocent man,

proceeds in this savage attempt...

...to kill as scapegoats...

...these 22 bewildered souls.

These defendants have pleaded

not guilty to the charge of murder.

We're ready, Your Honor.

Are you ready, Mr. Adams?

With the permission of the court

and of my friends for the defense...

...and their experienced associate

brought from the city of New York...

...l'll reverse the usual order

of procedure...

...and instead of establishing

the crime itself...

...first establish the whereabouts

of the accused...

...during the commission thereof.

As its first witness,

the state calls Edna Hooper.

Raise your right hand

and place your left on the Bible.

Do you swear you'll tell the whole truth

and nothing but the truth?

- I do.

- Be seated, please.

- Your name?

- Miss Edna Hooper.

- Your residence, Miss Hooper?

- Twenty-three Catalpa Avenue, Strand.

Strand is the town in which

this lynching took place?

Objection! Object as

to his incompetence.

- Question assumes a fact not in evidence.

- Sustained. Strike it out.

I will reframe the question.

Strand is where the jail burned down

on the night of October 26th, is it not?

Yes, but I certainly had nothing

to do with the...

You're not on trial, Miss Hooper.

Your occupation in Strand, please?

I am a couturier and a modiste.

By couturier and modiste, you mean

you're a dressmaker, do you not?

It's just the difference between a

dress shop and a gown shoppe.

On the afternoon and evening

of the day in question...

...you were employed in your capacity

as a couturier...

...in the home of Frederick Garrett

in Strand, were you not?

- I was.

- Who was in the house beside yourself?

The baby and Mr. And Mrs. Garrett.

And this Mr. Garrett...

...is the same Frederick Garrett

who is one of these defendants here?

Yes.

Will Frederick Garrett stand, please?

This man, charged with murder,

is the Frederick Garrett who...

...by the testimony of your eyesight,

Miss Hooper...

...was at home that Saturday afternoon

and evening, then?

Yes.

I will remind the witness

that she is under oath...

...and ask her again.

Edna Hooper, will you swear that during

the hours when this indictment...

...charges that this defendant,

Frederick Garrett...

...among others,

murdered Joseph Wilson...

...will you swear that during those hours

Garrett was peaceably in his own house?

Yes.

That's all. Thank you.

You can go.

Oh, Miss Hooper, isn't it true

that for years...

...you've been a close friend of, and,

before she married, roomed with...

...Mrs. Garrett?

- Don't answer that!

But this is a witness for the state,

sir, not for the defense.

- I'm sorry, I simply meant to object.

- I withdraw the question.

Miss Franchette...

...you are then the proprietor

as well as the hostess...

...of the Green Light Inn?

Well, it's my place,

if that's what you mean.

That's just what I mean.

The list, please.

Will the defendants

whose names I read stand?

Dawson, Piper, Lopez, and Durkin.

Miss Franchette,

do you recognize these men?

I most certainly do.

Did you see them at any time

between 5 and 9 p. M...

...on October 26th in Strand?

And, if so, where?

Well, they were all at my place.

In the caf.

From 6 till, oh, 10, 11, anyhow.

And what makes the presence of these

particular men stick in your mind?

Because, for once, Mr. Dawson

paid the bill.

You mean, by Mr. Dawson,

the defendant Kirby Dawson.

Oh, yes.

Two years in jail, not identified

with any church.

- Objection!

- Sorry. I was just thinking out loud.

Yeah.

This defendant, Kirby Dawson,

according to these notes...

...also known as Bubbles...

...for once paid the bill.

But he or someone else didn't pay you to

concoct an alibi for him and his friends...

...by any chance, did they?

- Objection!

Sustained. Strike it out.

I wonder if I haven't been calling

the defense witnesses by mistake.

His last remark proves

the district attorney...

...hasn't lost his humor,

in spite of the fact...

...that his attempt to establish

the presence of the defendants...

...at the lynching has either failed

or been ridiculed by the defense.

Wait. Just wait.

Thaddus Hummel, Sheriff of Strand

County, is now on the stand.

Can you identify any or all

of these defendants...

...as having been in the mob

that stormed your jail and burned it...

...thereby burning your prisoner

to death?

Objection!

To the latter part of the question as

assuming a fact not yet proved.

I will change the question to:

"Who stormed your jail

and burned it," then.

No, sir.

I can't identify them.

Can you, then, tell me the names of

anyone, other then these defendants...

...among those rioters?

- No, sir.

They must have been men

from out of town.

Oh, I see. Foreigners.

I will remind the jury of the easy habit

of putting on foreigners...

...events that disturb our conscience.

Or perhaps it was a roving band

of redskins. Indians, I mean.

Only red-skinned thing I saw

was that tomato...

...that plopped me in the face

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