The Hallelujah Trail Page #2

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this down your lyin' throat.

Good day, sir.

- Smythe.

- Yes, sir.

What's the name of that

temperance woman? Martindale?

Massingale, sir.

Cora Templeton Massingale.

Oh, yes, Massingale.

Do you know where she is?

On a tour of New England last month, sir.

Then Boston, to Philadelphia, to Trenton.

She may be a female hellcat

about whiskey, sir,

but a fine figure of a woman,

with eyes...

- Smythe.

- Sir?

I asked you where she is.

Oh. At Fort Russell, sir.

She got there yesterday.

Fort Russell?

Send a telegram to her. Mark it urgent.

The editor of the Julesburg Gazette

was quite right.

Indians did not read newspapers.

It's a matter of speculation therefore

just how they did

hear of the whiskey cargo.

There were couriers, of course,

and there was the smoke signal, first

used by the ancient Greeks and Hebrews.

How the Indians acquired it from them

is of no importance here. But they did.

Nor was smoke used exclusively.

A crude mirror, painted stone,

carved bark of trees

were quite popular.

And a peculiarly knotted string.

The message was always

transmitted in code.

A code which no white man

was ever able to break.

Regardless of what method

was used by the Indians,

it's a matter of record

that news of the whiskey train

became common knowledge

within 48 hours

to every tribe of every

North American Plains Indian.

We are still unaware

why only one tribe rode out

to investigate the firewater train.

But it's supposed there was competition

among the various tribes for the honour.

It is for us to make reconnaissance

of wagon-train position.

It is for me

to make such reconnaissance.

He is chief of Sioux.

And I am chief of Crow.

We will do it.

You will not do it. I will do it.

You and I are blocked.

Yes, we are.

Authorities agree that personal disputes

among the Plains tribes

were settled very quickly.

Just south of Cheyenne

stood Fort Russell,

famous throughout the West

as a bastion of military strength

and the home of the rugged,

disciplined, frontier soldier.

Stand up, stand up and sing it

Beat it on the drum

Stand, stand up and sing it

Down with demon rum

Stand up, stand up and sing it

Raise our banners high

Victory is coming

Victory is nigh, believers

Victory is nigh

And now, ladies, I give you once again

Mrs. Cora Templeton Massingale.

Oh, thank you, thank you!

Your reception has warmed my heart.

Ladies, you have heard it said

that man is all mouth and muscle,

that he is dirty boots on one end

and a dirty mind on the other.

Don't you believe it.

If we are to enjoy equal rights with man,

we must respect him,

and, if we are to respect him,

then we must save him from himself

and from the poison of alcoholic spirits!

- Do you agree?

- Yes!

Then let the world know it.

Let us spread the word of emancipation

to every corner of this great nation.

Emancipation! Let me hear it!

Emancipation!

- Freedom for women!

- Freedom for women!

Shout it out, ladies!

Women can remake the world!

Women can remake the world!

Mine eyes have seen the glory

of the coming of the Lord

He is trampling out the vintage

where the grapes of wrath are stored

He hath loosed the fateful lightning

of his terrible swift sword

His truth is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

His truth is marching on

Ladies! Let me hear it!

Emancipation!

- Shout it out!

- Freedom for women!

- Once again!

- Women can remake the world!

What do you think, Sergeant?

I hate to say it, Colonel,

but it sounds like

Sioux or Cheyenne war cries to me, sir.

An uprising at the fort?

- Ridiculous.

- Yes, sir.

I can read his righteous sentence

by the dim and flaring lamps

His truth is marching on

Those are bugles, sir.

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

His truth is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

His truth is marching on

That's cannon, sir!

- Form a skirmish line to the left!

- Form a skirmish line to the left! Ho!

In the beauty of the lilies

Christ was born across the sea

With a glory in his bosom

that transfigures you and me

Draw carbines! Ho!

Company B returning. Open the gates.

Glory, glory...

- My God! She's on fire, sir!

- Charge!

Glory, glory, hallelujah

His truth is...

- You!

- Good evening, Colonel.

Bandmaster, front and centre.

You're under arrest.

This entire band is under arrest.

You're confined to quarters

until further notice.

Dismissed!

Who are the idiots

who fired those cannon?

- Sergeant Perkins.

- Private McIntosh.

- Private Johnson.

- Private Williams.

Report to my quarters

tomorrow morning at nine.

Yes, sir.

Brady.

Return carbines.

In file, prepare to dismount.

Dismount.

Madam. Article twelve, section seven,

paragraph two of army regulations

states:
"Government property cannot

be used for political demonstrations."

Sir, we have never designated

our movement to be political.

Article nine, section two, paragraph four

of army regulations clearly states

that civilian meetings may be held

at military installations

when permission has been granted

by the commanding officer.

The commanding officer? I see.

Forgive me, madam. We've been on patrol

for six days. I'm somewhat weary.

Captain Slater gave you

permission in my absence?

He did.

- Brady, I want this mess cleaned up.

- Yes, sir.

Ladies, I see you have transport.

You'll be escorted back to town.

The party will leave

in five minutes exactly.

- Madam, do you have quarters here?

- I have.

Then you may retire

to those quarters, madam,

and remake the world on some

other occasion. Good evening.

- Buell.

- Sir!

- Buell, get me Captain Slater.

- Yes, sir.

Excuse me, sir.

Did the colonel wish to see me?

- Where the hell did you come from?

- I couldn't help but overhear, sir.

I want the colonel to know that what

happened tonight, the way it happened,

was so quick that I hardly

had time to marshal my forces.

Did you give that woman permission

for a temperance rally?

Yes and no. That is, I had no idea

it would get outta hand,

so to speak, sir.

What the hell did you expect?

Give a woman an acorn

and you're up to your rump in oak trees.

That's very true, sir. And I am sorry.

If only they hadn't started moving...

that is to say, marching.

- Led by the Fort Russell band.

- I'd say that Mrs. Massingale led them.

The band came next.

You see, they were playing

The Battle Hymn of the Republic,

and every time they got

to "Hallelujah"... boom!

- I'm sorry, sir, about the cannon.

- Spare me the details.

Slater, what if word got out

that Fort Russell stood behind

a temperance movement?

That I, a line officer,

could ever support such a movement?

Well, you got a point there, sir.

- And you let them go right ahead.

- Well, I, uh...

Actually, I was trying to keep

the colonel's daughter out of it,

for your sake.

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