Sommersby Page #5

WOMAN 1:
Take care!

I always did have a hankering

to go see Nashville.

Proud to have you with me, Dick.

I'll be back, now.

MAN 3:

I wish I knew why you was arresting this man.

Stand clear! Federal marshals.

God bless you, now.

You promise to come right back.

I'll be back. We'll be back!

MAN 1:

We'll be with you in two days! Don't worry!

WOMAN 2:

We'll see you in Nashville, Jack!

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Did you bring the Acts of Assembly?

BAILIFF:

All rise, please.

Oyez, oyez. The Honorable

Barry Conrad lssacs is now sitting.

This court shall come to order!

All having suits to prosecute

or pleas to enter shall come forward...

and they shall be heard.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

Uh, well, we were playing

a game of five-card...

and Charlie, Mr. Conklin...

saw Sommersby slip a card

off the bottom of the deck.

Then he jumped up

and called him a damn cheat.

And what happened when you got outside?

Mr. Conklin hit Sommersby in the stomach.

He went down like a sack of potatoes.

Then Sommersby got up

with a gun in his hand.

Charlie hollered, "Don't shoot, Sommersby."

But he shot him like a dog, and he run off.

Now, is the man you refer to

as Sommersby...

here in this courtroom?

That's him.

Let the record show

witness identified the defendant.

WITNESS:

I was standing on the corner across the street.

I couldn't see too well,

because it was rather dark.

And I saw...

a man lying on the ground.

And then he gets up.

And I see he has a gun in his hand.

And I heard this other man say:

"Don't shoot, Sommersby."

And he shot him.

And the man fell to the ground.

"Don't shoot, Sommersby."

DAWSON:

Mr. Goldman...

- ...did you see him sign this register?

- Yes, sir.

Is that his signature right there?

- Yes, sir.

- Did there appear to be anything...

wrong with his hand?

No, sir.

The jury will observe this register

from the Grand Hotel...

and the signature of J. Sommersby,

and compare it...

to that of the signature

on a bank mortgage...

signed by Mr. Sommersby

seven years before.

The signatures are without a doubt identical.

ISAACS:
This court is adjourned

until tomorrow morning...

at 9:
00...

LAUREL:
Wake up.

When we'll hear arguments

for the defense.

BAILIFF:

All rise.

How'd we do?

Did just fine, son.

MARSHAL:

Mr. Sommersby...

will you come with me, please?

[ALL CHATTERING]

I know what you're thinking.

Orin, what are you doing here?

Watching over you.

We don't need watching, thank you.

The way things are going, he's gonna hang.

I can make sure he don't.

How?

You gotta tell them who you are.

If you tell them who you are,

they'll have to let you go.

- I can't.

- Yes, you can.

Who am I supposed to say I am?

Just who you are.

Do you really wanna know?

Yes.

Are you sure?

Yes.

I'm...

Jack Sommersby.

Pleased to meet you.

[CHUCKLES]

"H 93'"

[WHISTLES]

What'd I do?

You... You stubborn fool!

I'm not gonna let you do this.

I accept your offer.

Mr. Webb?

- Is the defense ready?

- Yes, Your Honor.

The defense calls as its first witness...

Mrs. John Sommersby.

Webb, what the hell is this?

BAILIFF:

Place your left hand on the Bible.

Do you swear the evidence you give

be the truth and nothing but the truth...

so help you God?

- Yes, I do.

- Please be seated.

- Please tell us your name, ma'am.

- Mrs. John Sommersby.

Mrs. Sommersby, here are the hotel

register and the mortgage paper...

the prosecution has submitted

as evidence.

Do you recognize the signatures there?

Yes, they're my husband's.

WEBB:
Could you point your husband

out to the court?

No, I cannot.

WEBB:

And why is that, ma'am?

Because my husband is not in this room.

[ALL CHATTERING]

Objection.

Objection.

- Objection!

- Come here, Webb. Webb!

DAWSON:

Your Honor, this is absurd!

- Silence! Silence!

- You Honor!

- Webb!

- This is...

- Silence!

- Webb!

I'm talking to you!

- Sit down, sir!

- Laurel. Laurel, don't.

- Don't do it. You don't have to do it.

- Sir!

You will sit down, or I'll have you seated.

Your Honor, this is a purely theatrical device

designed by the defense...

to throw these proceedings

into confusion.

Overruled, for the moment.

Mrs. Sommersby, are you saying

the defendant is not your husband?

As clearly as I can, Your Honor.

Ma'am, are you saying

the defendant is an impostor?

Yes, I am.

Your Honor, this is absurd!

It's absurd, Your Honor.

Quite possibly, Mr. Dawson.

However...

we cannot continue to try a man

for a capital crime...

if he is not the man in question, can we?

All right. Proceed, Mr. Webb.

Thank you, Your Honor.

And when did you realize

this man was not John Sommersby?

Well, it was the little things.

You know, at first, he looked different.

But so did everybody

coming back from the war.

He couldn't remember

a lot of things he should have.

- His own dog didn't know him.

- Oh!

A dog. It's a dog, y'all!

ISAACS:

Sustained.

He never talked about his father,

and he'd been the world to Jack.

DAWSON:

Uh, Your Honor! Your Honor, please.

Please!

Let's get our cows over their buckets,

Mr. Webb.

Please continue, Mrs. Sommersby.

And after that, when we were...

together in a private way...

I knew it wasn't Jack.

A woman would know

her own husband, Your Honor.

I'm sure most husbands would

like to think so, Mrs. Sommersby.

But when you realized

this man was not your husband...

why did you allow people

to believe he was?

People believe what they want to sometimes.

Everybody wanted

Jack to be alive and home...

and when this man showed up,

looking like him, acting like him...

it weren't hard just to let it be him.

But there were signs anyone could notice

if they had a mind to.

For instance, Mr. Mead, our shoemaker,

fit him for a pair of boots...

and saw that his foot

was two sizes smaller than Jack's.

Got them templates mixed up, that's all.

LAUREL:
Another thing,

one day these men came looking for work.

Drifters. They'd been in the Army

with Jack when he was wounded.

- Pop?

- And they said this man wasn't him.

Why is she saying that about you?

I don't know, son.

Tell her it's you. All right?

LAUREL:

I'd never seen him look like that.

- So I knew.

- Yeah.

All right. You go back and sit down now.

LAUREL:

Well, Jack, whoever he is...

pulled a knife,

so they couldn't expose him.

WEBB:

I see.

[PEOPLE MUTTERING]

WEBB:
Mrs. Sommersby,

I have here a promissory note...

offering an option to purchase land,

given to a Mr. Joseph...

signed by the defendant.

Is that your husband's signature?

No. He couldn't sign like Jack, so

he made up a story about a bad hand.

[ALL CHATTERING]

Your Honor,

this witness will say anything...

to save her husband.

I move we strike her testimony.

Mr. Webb.

Can you offer any support

to the claims of this witness?

I can, Your Honor, and do.

The defense calls Mr. Matthew Folsom.

Mr. Folsom. What is your occupation?

I have a farm of some 2000 acres

in Clark County.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes