The Cogan Legend (35 page)

Mary and Ann made every effort to get there before three o'clock.  They rode up and down some steep terrain.  Mary kept looking at her watch, hoping they would make it.  Occasionally, Ann yelled for a time check.  When Ann felt they were well over three quarters of the way she yelled to Mary, “We're making good time, but we can't let up.”

They both sensed the horses' exhaustion as they got closer.

Time was now short for Poll Soll.  Phillip came to his cell at two forty-five.  Poll Soll was deep in a trance; his eyes closed but he kept right on chanting.  Phillip requested he stop, but the prisoner didn't hear him.  Phillip had to enter the cell and shake the prisoner.  Poll Soll just stared.

“It's time,” Phillip said.

Poll Soll then spoke his first words since he talked to Phillip in the burial cave.  “You're going to honor my request?”

Phillip knew exactly what he was talking about. “Yes, I will.”

“You will cover the entrance?”

Phillip again replied, “Yes.”

Then Poll Soll handed the stone bird to Phillip and told him, “This is powerful.”  Phillip just looked at it and put it in his pocket.

Poll Soll offered no resistance when they put the leg irons on him.  It was a bright, warm, sunny spring day, and as Poll Soll exited the stockade he had to cover his face to allow his eyes to adjust.  As he was led toward the gallows, he just looked down.  Both he and Phillip could hear the crowd taunting him.

The leg irons made it even more difficult for him to walk, which made him look even more pathetic.  The crowd extended quite far from the gallows.  People stood on wagons and sat on their horses.  

Ann and Mary were approaching Sunbury. Ann was sure they would make it before three o'clock.  They could see the town in the distance.  All of a sudden Ann's horse pulled up lame, and they had to stop; it couldn't run any further.  Ann climbed down and started to cry, “We're so close Mary.  What can we do?   Can we ride double?”  

“No.”  Mary said.  “These horses are exhausted.  You take my horse and go.  I'll follow with this horse. It's not that far.”

“I hate to leave you.”

“Just go and hurry. It's almost three o'clock.”

With a last glance at Mary, Ann mounted up and urged her horse to fly down the trail.  

The lieutenant and the prisoner had to pass Tom and Charles as they approached the gallows.  Tom asked, “Phillip, would you like my assistance getting him up the steps?”  

“No,” Phillip replied.

Poll Soll struggled up the steps.  

Poll Soll quickly looked around at the large crowd, and then put his head down and looked at the floor.  Phillip motioned for the preacher to offer a prayer.

Phillip then asked Poll Soll, “Do you want to confess and cleanse your soul?”

Poll Soll just stared, then closed his eyes and started to chant.  The noose was placed around his neck.  Many people thought his chants were funny and started to laugh and point.  The dark cloth was placed over his head.  Everything was ready.     

Ann was almost there; she could see the crowd as she headed directly toward it.  The horse had nothing left; he could hardly run, but she prodded and slapped the reins and tried to get him to go faster.  When she got within earshot she started screaming as loud as she could, “Move aside, please move aside.  I must get to the gallows.”

Many in the crowd heard her yells and turned, but wagons and horses blocked her way and she could go no further.  She yelled, “Phillip, Phillip, stop, please stop.”  She even tried to stand and wave her arms but he couldn't hear her. She was too far back.  

She could see the entire execution unfolding but could do nothing about it.  Frustrated, she thought about climbing down and pushing her way through the crowd, but she saw Phillip looking at the executioner, then his watch, and then he nodded, “yes” with his head.  The executioner pulled the lever, the trap door fell and Poll Soll was gone.  Phillip watched as he became lifeless, then he looked up and saw Ann back in the crowd.  She stared in disbelief with tears rolling down her cheeks.  She lowered her head and put her hands over her eyes and cried.  

 

 

Phillip saw Ann from the gallows and raced down the steps.  He rushed past Charles and made his way through the crowd.  “Ann,” he asked as he got closer, “What happened?  Why are you here?”  

Tears streamed down her cheeks.  “It's too late, isn't it?”

“For him?”  Phillip's voice was tinged with anger.  “I hope so!” Then he softened.  “But why ride all this way, Ann?”  He took her hand and helped her down from the horse.  Its head hung low as it blew and snorted, as if gasping for breath.

Ann clung to him, buried her face in his shoulder.  “I remembered what happened.”  Her voice was hollow, empty.

“We know what happened!”  Phillip tried to push her away from his shoulder so he could look at her face.  “He killed your friend.  He tried to…”

“No!”  Ann moved away from him.  “That's not what happened!”

“Ann!”  Phillip looked around at the crowd.  Most of them were still watching the swinging corpse, hoping for an extra kick or tremble.

He guided her away from the edges of the crowd.  “What did you remember?”  His voice had gone as ashen as his face.  He knew she'd come in haste and that scared him.

Ann straightened her shoulders.  She looked at the ghastly sight behind Phillip.  A shudder went through her body and she began wringing her hands.  Her lips trembled.  “Poll Soll was innocent.”

“No, Ann! He wasn't innocent,” Phillip protested.  “He and his brother tried…”

Ann shook her head, silencing Phillip's protest.  “He saved me and tried to save Rachel, but he was too late.   He didn't kill Rachel; he killed his brother to save us.”

“Please, Ann.  Think hard about this.  Are you sure you weren't just dreaming what you hoped instead of what really happened?”

“It's true.”

Phillip closed his eyes.  For a minute he breathed deeply.  When he opened them, his voice was barely a whisper.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm positive.  That's what happened.”  

“Oh my God, what have I done?”  Phillip asked.  He took Ann in his arms and pressed his head against hers, shutting out the world around them.

Charles, seeing Phillip's hasty departure but not knowing the reason for it, followed, pushing and fighting the mob that circled the gallows until he broke free.  He made his way to Ann and Phillip.  “Ann, what's wrong?”  He demanded. “Is something wrong with Mary?”  

“No, Father.”  Ann looked at him, drained of all energy.  “Mary and I rode all day to get here.  I'd hoped to be in time…” her words trailed off.

Charles looked at Phillip.  “What the devil is going on?”

Ann gathered her strength.  “All the details of that day came back to me last night.  But I was too late.”  Her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“Where's Mary? Why isn't she with you?”

“She's coming.”

Charles looked around.  Mary was not in sight.  He frowned. “Too late for what?”

“To save Poll Soll from hanging.”

“Good heavens, Ann!  Why on earth would you want to do that?”  Charles' face turned beet red, and it was all he could do to keep his voice down.

“Poll Soll didn't murder Rachel; instead he saved me from his brother.”

“What nonsense is this?” Charles clenched his fists.  “That scoundrel murdered Rachel and tried to do as bad to you!”

Ann shook her head.  She didn't have the strength to argue.

“Where's Mary, Ann?” Phillip asked, hoping to change the subject for a minute.

“My horse went lame just outside of Sunbury, so Mary gave me her horse and urged me to ride on ahead.”

“Mary's walking here?”  Charles' frown deepened.  “This is utter nonsense!”

Ann shuddered.

Phillip wrapped his arms around her and looked at her father as he walked away, his feet kicking up angry clouds of dust.  Suddenly Charles changed directions and strode off at a right angle.  

Phillip whispered in Ann's ear.  “I see Mary.  She's made it into town.”

Ann groaned in despair.

Lewey appeared at Phillip's side.  “Ann, what are you doing here?  And, what's Mary doing walking into town?”  He saw Phillip's face.  Blood drained from his.  “What's the matter? What happened?”

“Lewey, I'm afraid we've hung an innocent man,” Phillip said.

Lewey looked hard at Phillip's face.  What he saw there convinced him.

“Ann remembered everything?”

“Yeah.”  Phillip nodded.

Charles returned with Mary at his side.  Mary went to Ann and took her away from Phillip.  Ann collapsed in Mary's arms.  “I didn't make it in time,” she said dully.

“He's not innocent of murder, you know,” Charles protested.  “He may not have been the one to bury the knife in Rachel, but he killed just the same.”

“He killed his brother to save my life,” Ann insisted.  She was drained emotionally.

Phillip excused himself. “Charles, I need to take his body down and bury it.  Will you and Mary look after Ann please?”

Tom arrived.  He looked puzzled.  “What's going on?  Why is Ann here?”

Charles sighed.  “Ann's memory returned, and she and Mary hurried to get here before the hanging. They didn't make it.”

Tom's face showed added confusion. “Whatever for?”

“She wanted to save him.  He didn't kill Rachel.”  Charles said his voice flat.   

Tom gave them an angry look.  “This is disheartening to hear.  We went through hell capturing this man, and he is innocent?”  

Charles held up a hand.  “Tom, don't push this.  Ann feels bad enough.  She's been wrestling with this since it happened.”  

Mary put a hand on Tom's arm.  “Last night Ann had a dream, or rather a nightmare. She remembered everything about that horrible day.  It was Poll Soll who tried to save the girls by killing his own brother.  After realizing he was innocent, Ann begged me to let her ride here to see if she could testify on his behalf.  She wanted to save him, but we failed.”

Tom spun on his heel and stalked away.

The crowd around the gallows had thinned. No one had heard what Ann had to say. Charles breathed a sigh of relief.  Things would get awfully bad if people learned that they'd just put a rope on an innocent man – in fact, a man who'd tried to right his brother's wrongs. That wouldn't be looked upon very favorably in the frontier town.

Charles spoke.  “Things are as they are; we can't undo what happened, and we all share the guilt.  All of us must now try to put it behind us and move on.  Now let's all go back to the hotel so Ann and Mary can rest; they look exhausted.  We'll talk later.”   

Lewey waited a few minutes and then followed Tom to the hotel saloon which was filled with patrons discussing the execution.   Lewey realized Tom was upset with Ann.  He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and spoke quietly.  “Tom, you have to understand what Ann went through that day.  Even I forgot some of the details.   If you had someone threatening you with a knife, ripping your clothes off and then winding up with your best friend in your arms and her blood everywhere, it's possible you'd want to forget too.”

“You're telling me Rachel died for nothing?”  Tom was unconvinced.  “In the trial it came out they were both guilty.  All of a sudden Ann is sure he's innocent?  How do you expect me to feel?”  

 “I don't doubt Ann; she was there.  She just didn't remember,” Lewey said mildly.

The bartender brought two beers, and Lewey led Tom to a table and sat down with him. “I'm sorry about the mistake, but I'm glad Ann tried to do the right thing.  Rachel wouldn't have wanted Poll Soll to hang for something he didn't do.”

Tom took a drink and lowered the glass.  “I'm just mad, Lewey.  The truth is, I wanted Poll Soll dead as much as anyone.  I wanted someone to pay for Rachel's death.”

“We all did.”

Tom turned anguished eyes on Lewey.  “How do we live with this?  We killed a man who tried to save Rachel?”

“We were wrong.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Tom took another drink.  He started to put the glass down and changed his mind and took another long drink.

“You would've hung him at the cave,” Lewey said quietly.

“I would have.  Instead, we got a legal lynching.”

“As bad as you feel right now,” Lewey said with insight, “Ann must feel like she's the one who pulled the trap door on Poll Soll because she couldn't remember in time.  Let's not make this worse for her.”

“She can go to hell!” Tom exclaimed.  He finished the last of his beer and dropped the glass on the table.  It rattled around and then shivered to a stop. Tom pushed back from the table and stood up.  He stormed angrily from the building and out into the street.

Charles was able to reserve a room for the night.  As he directed his daughter and Mary upstairs, he hoped this wouldn't throw his daughter into a relapse since she appeared to have made so much progress, especially with Mary's help.  

After Phillip and his men buried the prisoner in the town cemetery, he returned to the fort to complete the necessary paperwork and report to the captain. He entered the captain's office and saluted. “I've buried the corpse, sir.”

The captain looked up and frowned.  “Lieutenant, what's wrong?  I thought you'd be pleased after the hanging.”

“I'm sorry, sir.  I received some rather unwelcome news from my fiancée a few minutes after we carried out the sentence.”

“What news?”

“Poll Soll didn't kill Rachel Miller.  His brother did.”