Judge Priest Page #6

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...that you'd be working on

your Memorial Day address for tomorrow.

Oh, that'll take care of itself.

What I'm worried about

is this poor devil of a Gillis.

You know Gillis?

My trade takes me

into queer quarters sometimes.

Well, you know, I feel just as sorry

for that fellow Gillis as you do...

...but, uh, I'm, well- I'm plumb out of it.

Hod got the best of me.

He sure did.

Case is closed.

It's all settled...

...and I don't think Hod'll, uh-...

...he'll be fool enough to reopen the case

for nobody or nothing.

William, I have a duty to perform-...

...the Christian's duty.

I'm going to violate

the sacred confidence of another.

I'm going to break a pledge of secrecy...

...because it's the only course

that I see that lies before me.

I'm listening, Ashby.

Twenty-five years ago-

The judge is sure been

In misery

Reckon folks ain't been acting just right

Maybe his stomach's been complaining

And he needs a toddy this night

Yes, Lord Yes, Lord...

'Cause tomorrow

he's got to be like Mr. Samson

Saving Daniel from the lion's den

Saving Daniel from the lion's den

Yes, Lord Yes, Lord

The judge could do with

a toddy right now...

Yes, Judge

- Yes, Dilsey...

Soon as I gets me some mint

- Soon as you gets me some mint

Oh, Jeff. Jeff.

Yes, sir.

- Come on. Hurry up here.

Come on here when I holler at you.

Where you been?

- Yes, sir. I was-

Say, listen. You want to earn that

old coonskin coat of mine?

I can have that coon coat, Judge?

Thank you, Judge.

Wait a minute.

Come back here.

You can if you do everything I tell you to.

Uh, do you know a gentleman

by the name of Mr. Hod Maydew?

Yes, that mean man in that courthouse?

Yeah. Well, you see that he gets that.

But don't you let him know how it got there.

That's all I got to do, Judge?

Thank you.

Say, wait a minute. C-C-Can you

play 'Dixie' on that thing there?

For that coon coat? Yes, sir, I play Dixie,'

'Marching Through Georgia'-

Wait. Hey.

'Marching Through Georgia'?

Yeah. I got you out of one lynching.

Yes, but for that coon coat-

If you play 'Marching Through Georgia',

I'll join the lynchers.

Hello, childrens.

- Hi.

What do you all got in your baskets?

Fried chicken.

- Chicken.

That's just what I got.

That's what the judge likes, you hear?

Hey, Les. Hey, Les,

the jury's comin' in.

Hey. Come on.

The jury's comin' in.

I'm tellin' you, sir.

We've lost the bass drum.

How could you lose a bass drum?

Someone stole it.

We need it for the parade.

You may begin

your summation, Mr. Prosecutor.

May it please Your Honor...

...since adjournment yesterday,

certain information...

...has come to the hands

of the Commonwealth...

...which in the interests of justice,

impels me to reopen the case.

The Commonwealth desires

to recall the defendant

Gillis for further cross-examination.

Very well, Mr. Maydew.

Proceed.

Robert Gillis, take the stand.

Your Honor, as I recollect our procedure...

...for the time being,

I'm an ordinary member...

...of the bar in good standing?

Not ordinary, sir...

...but absolutely in good standing.

Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you kindly.

Then I have the, uh,

honor of announcing myself...

...as associate counsel for the defense...

...seeing as the case has, uh...

...been... reopened.

Mr. Gillis, were you always

a man of turbulent and violent nature?

I always left them alone as left me alone.

Is that so?

What was the name of the man

you once upon a time murdered?

L-I never looked on it as no-...

No, it wasn't murder.

- A man was killed, wasn't he?

Yes.

- And they stuck you in jail, didn't they?

Yes.

And they charged you with

murder, didn't they?

Yes.

- And the jury found you guilty, didn't they?

Yes.

- Were you sentenced to be hung?

No, l- I went up for life.

- Did you escape, or were you pardoned?

I ain't a-sayin'. I won't tell you no more

no matter what you ask me.

You don't need to.

Judge Priest, your witness.

No questions, Your Honor.

But Uncle Billy-

Hasn't the defense any evidence

to offer in rebuttal, Judge Priest?

One character witness, Your Honor.

Mr. Clerk, will you kindly call

Reverend Ashby Brand?

Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth...

...in the case now pending in this court?

- I do.

Reverend Brand, before

you come to this town,

what was your occupation?

In my early manhood,

before I took holy orders...

I had the honor to be

a captain of artillery in the late war.

In the War of the Rebellion?

No, sir. The war for

the Southern Confederacy.

Yes, sir.

That's right.

He's right.

- Yes, sir.

My- My error.

One moment please, Your Honor.

I yield to no man in love

and everlasting devotion...

...to that sacred lost cause

for which my people fought and bled.

But though I cherish all those dear

and everlasting memories...

...which even the bare mention

of that great conflict...

...must awaken in every

true Kentuckian's bosom...

I fail to see any possible connection...

...between this reverend

gentleman's military record...

...and the guilt of this man Gillis.

Hee, hee, hee, hee.

I think the court

will commit no grave legal error...

...by allowing a minister of the gospel

to tell his story in his own way.

Meander along, Reverend Brand.

As many of you know,

I am a Virginian.

On the day my state

seceded from the Union, I enlisted.

I was a private in Penn's Virginia Battery.

By the latter end of the third year,

I was in command of that battery.

All the officers ranking me

had been killed or disabled.

We lost heavily at Chancellorsville.

At Fredericksburg,

we were almost wiped out.

We kept our field pieces.

We kept our pieces until the end.

But we'd not sufficient men

to man those guns...

...nor anywhere to turn for more men.

There were no more men left to come in.

The Confederacy in '64...

...was robbing both the cradle

and the grave... for cannon fodder.

Well, sir, I got temporary leave...

...and went to Richmond

to see our war governor.

I said to him, 'Sir, I've come to you

to ask for men to serve my guns.'

He laughed and said,

'Tell me where they're to be found.'

I said, 'Among the chain gangs

from the state penitentiary.'

He said, 'You've come too late, young man.

'I've freed every convict that might

conceivably be trusted with freedom.

'There are left only the lifers...

'and I dare not turn them loose.

They're working under guard

building defenses for you to fight behind.'

He opposed me,

but I argued with him.

Finally, I won.

He gave me authorization,

signed it, and with his own hand...

...affixed the seal

of the sovereign State of Virginia.

I rode back to the lines, sir,

and I found my chain gang.

I told them to drop their tools

and line up before me.

I told them,

'If you go with me, you go to face...

'a hell of destruction

and suffering and death...

'but,' I said, 'if you do go,

you go as free men...

'as soldiers of the Confederacy.

'Your past will lie behind you.

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