"And didn't he have treatment on fast days?" asked Erwin. Kit answered,
"F'r that, the poor boy was always too hungry to go fas'n, onneway
ther's no praiste in the town at all, and Paddy had th' doc on'y onct
or twict--then him gett'n two holes in 'im, go 'long." Next morning
when Erwin came in, he remarked that he had suffered from chill air the
day before; he had on an overcoat and muffler, notwithstanding the
audience had shed coon skin caps and coats in the effort to keep cool
in the humid atmosphere. Laughter and ridicule came from the crowd as
Erwin pretended to shiver under his close-drawn, great coat for it was
known that he would make his closing appeal to the jury that morning.
Imagine the surprise and commotion in the audience when Erwin rose to
his six feet four inches of height and, throwing aside his long black
overcoat, stood before the crowded court in naked torso. He stood erect
like a proud Sioux chief, stripped to the waist. On his body had been
painted in colors the outlines of the lungs in blue; red indicated the
position of the heart, and ochre showed where the stomach was located.
With emboldened sophistry Erwin regretted, "The utter ignorance of
anyone presuming to make an autopsy without the least knowledge of
anatomy--it was preposterous, was it not?" He then, with great,
unconquerable ego, demonstrated by reference to the painted lines on
his breast the relation and purposes of the various inner organs of the
human upper frame. He delighted to mystify his hearers with
unpronounceable technical terms. Indeed, he was able to convince the
jury that he himself was the only, last and best authority on how
people are born, how they live and how and why they die, whether from
disease, accident or plain murder. He could prove by his own expert
analysis of this case that Pat McWeeney had not been killed at all;
indeed, he was dead before the bullet from Oswald's gun entered and
passed through his heart. He merely had one of his "fatty heart"
attacks while standing at the bar with Billy--and that Billy had
inadvertently shot the four bullets into a dead man's carcass for the
fun of the thing by way of carrying out his New Year celebration.
Meantime, the heated protests and objections offered by McKee were
overruled by the court. Erwin had won the court and jury. They and many
of the audience believed him, but when he sat down pandemonium broke in
the rear of the room. The scene that followed cannot be described; it
would have to be enacted to understand what it was. It was the protest
of hard-headed westerners. Only by frantic appeal from the judge, the
stern action of the deputies, together with the bold and defiant
attitude of the courageous Erwin, was the threatened lynching of Erwin
prevented, then and there. In the midst of the turmoil and unperceived
by the milling crowd, the prisoner shifted from the seat beside the
sheriff to one alongside of his mother, who taking his hand in hers
clasped it to her breast. Noting this little act in the great drama
Erwin stretched himself to his upright length and with a wave of his
long right arm almost touching the ceiling, roared at the top of his
powerful voice: "Behold!! "--then turning to the jury and pointing to
the tear-stained cheeks of the mother, "Judge ye not inconsiderately.
Reject not the Lord's command, 'judge not that ye be not judged;' be
merciful as ye would seek mercy." Court adjourned. Erwin had won.
Tomorrow morning the final plea of the District Attorney would be made
and the case given to the jury. It was a sullen crowd that filed out of
the big barracks that night. An atmosphere tense and apprehensive
prevailed in the town.