Heaven's Gate Page #2

Dudley, I do believe

I am finally workin' for a rich firm.

- George, we'll pick up the extra men.

- How many hands has he got?

- He's got five dozen. I got -

- Hi. How you doin', George?

How many gun hands you -

- Association?

- Name's Morrison.

Sign here.

I want a new suit of clothes

and a Witte's Special 12-gauge shotgun.

Suits are over there at the self-service rack.

I'll get the other.

Association?

No. Where's Zindel?

Died. Apoplexy.

Well, you struck it rich here, friend.

Mister, I ain't got spit enough

to pass the time of day.

- What can I do for you?

- Winchester '66. Brandy - B&B.

I think I'll go with the other one.

I feel like these immigrants

comin' in here these days are -

I think that's enough, friend.

I said you already won.

Says who, old man?

I can't believe you fixed your mouth

to say that, boy.

You people go back where you came from.

Go back where you came from!

Hey, Jim!

What's going on here, Cully?

Well, you hear a lot of things

around a rail depot, Jim.

Rumors mostly.

Listen, I-I -

I can't aff -

I can't afford to get involved.

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

his wholehearted support...

as well as that of the Senate

and the House of Representatives...

and the president of these United States.

If we fail,

the flag of the United States fails.

That's all I'm going to say

before we ask every one of you...

to express your approval

of the general plan of campaign.

We'll call the roll and take a voice vote.

Hear, hear. Hear, hear.

- Stratton.

- Yes.

- Vaughn.

- Yes.

- Hall.

- Yes.

- Ward.

- Yes.

- Cummings.

- Most definitely.

- Steel.

- Yes.

- Hardly.

- Yes.

- Weatherford.

- Yes.

Miller.

- Tower.

- Yes.

- King.

- Yes.

- Thompson.

- Yes.

Holy God of the Prophets.

James.

Hello, Billy.

We've just been debating...

one of your county's

more infamous legal decisions.

Incidentally, does anybody else

know that you're here?

Just you.

Why the hell did you come here?

Well, why do we do anything, Billy?

"As we ask but time to drift...

drift and note the devious ways of man.

To drift...

and to scan the truths...

that underlie the surface faiths

whereby men live and die."

W.C. Irvine, Hasty Pudding.

Billy, you're the only son of a b*tch I ever knew

worth getting seriously drunk with.

It's true.

Yes, that's true, you know.

James, you snookered yourself again.

Do you know, James...

one half of my drunkenness

can be accounted for...

by the fact that this building

is so poorly ventilated.

Two rails, side pocket.

What's going on here, Billy?

Ugly rumors, James.

That's a gob of spit, Billy.

A hundred names...

or thereabouts.

On a list.

Just some of these emigrants

that they're going to kill off.

Even they can't get away

with a thing like that.

Well...

in principle...

everything can be done.

In principle.

What'll you do, Billy?

I'm -

I'm a victim of our class, James.

- Good-bye, Billy.

- James.

Do you remember the...

good, gone days?

Clearer and better

every day I get older.

- Hey.

- What's he doing here?

You were blackballed

out of this club long ago, Averill.

You're trespassing.

We could have you shot here - legally.

Legally, you bastards have a right

to protect your own property.

But unless you got

a signed legal warrant...

for every name on that death list...

stay out of my county.

You offset every effort we make

to protect our property...

and that of members of your own class.

You're not in my class, Canton.

You never will be.

You'd have to die first and be born again.

Frank! Frank!

- Watch yourself.

- You all right, Frank?

- Frank. Frank, are you all right?

- Pete, help me get him up.

- Let's help him up.

Get him up first, all right?

- You okay?

- All right! I'm all right!

Let's go.

What happened?

They came this way and killed him.

Well, what'II you do out here now?

Work our land.

Without a man?

He paid, uh, $150 for it.

We own it now.

I'll take you back.

I'll settle this. I promise you that.

We'll work our land. Thank you.

Well, good-bye then. And good luck.

Thank you.

Whole damn country will be nothing

but widows and orphans soon.

The Stock Growers Association is the largest

association of its kind in the world.

We plan to publicly wipe out...

125 thieves, anarchists and outlaws.

I still need

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