A Miscarriage of Justice

2026 August Round-Up Challenge

by littlejoefan

-0-0-

I still could not believe it. I looked around the tiny cell and could feel the jail fever mounting in me. It was not as if I hadn’t been locked up before, but this time it was a massive miscarriage of justice. I almost laughed. This time? It was always a miscarriage of justice! I had never deserved it, I had never knowingly broken the law. Things looked grim for me. They said they had witnesses, although how that was possible, I have no idea.

After pacing the room over and over, I realised I was going to go mad if I did not calm down. So I lay on the bed and tried to find some tranquility. An old fella was banged up in one of the cells down the corridor and would periodically start to yell and clank his mug against the bars. I tried to close my mind against him. 

“WILL you shut up!” Roy roared. Iron clanked, and there was a sound of thuds.  I groaned and turned onto my side so I was facing the wall. 

And so there was quiet.  It was almost harder to bear than the din. All I had now were my thoughts…and my memories.

ONE WEEK EARLIER

The lady accepted my hand and carefully climbed down from the wagon.

“It was very kind of you to bring me, Little  Joe.”

“My pleasure, ma’am,” I said cheerfully,touching my hat. 

Mrs Rosa Barnes, my father’s good friend. She had inundated my ears with tales of her children and family the entire way. I would  be glad of  the peace. I smiled at her, as if to disguise my thoughts.

After showing her to the stage, I was finally at leisure. I took myself off to The Silver Dollar. It was practically empty and the saloon girls outnumbered the customers. As I was making my way back to the buckboard I became aware of a large bundle leaning against the wall. Curiosity gripped me and   I approached it. As I leaned  over and put my hand down, I realized what it  was.

“Little  Joe!”  the man gasped, grabbing at me.

It  was Old Paul, the rather pathetic town drunk who spent his time begging and getting thrown out of bars.  He was dying. His blood was by now all over my shirt and jacket. 

“Easy, old-timer, easy!” I crooned as his grip tightened on my collar.

“Help me! Help….” He gasped. “Darren…Darren White.”

His eyes fluttered, his hands loosened and I found myself looking down onto a corpse.

I found the knife by his body and as I paused, gently closing his eyes, I heard a woman scream.

“Oh! He’s killed him! He’s killed him!”

“No!” I stood up. “I just found him. I – “

The blasted woman started to scream again;  the man with her started yelling for the sheriff and ran off in the direction of the jail. Without thinking, I jumped into the buckboard and drove off.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Pa said as soon as I had explained everything to him. 

“But, Pa – “

He clicked his tongue. “Of course I know you didn’t do it, Little Joe! But don’t you know by running off only points to your guilt?”

“But, Pa! I didn’t know what to do!” I was so frustrated and angry, I felt close to tears.

“OK, OK. You’re only a young kid. But you’re going to have to go back.”

“I can’t.”

“You’ve got to,” Pa said, his face hard. “What are you going to do? Not go to town for the rest of your life?”

Of course he was right. And of course we went back. And of course I was immediately arrested. Hence the cell. Hence my current predicament. 

I heard Roy and Pa talking in the office.

“Naturally I believe you, Ben. But I have to act according to the law. I have two witnesses who say they saw the crime.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I’m afraid it is.”

“Who are the witnesses?”

“I can’t tell you that.” Sometimes I wondered whose side Roy was on. “Of course, it would have been better if he hadn’t run.”

“Roy, he’s a young kid. He’s only eighteen. He was scared.”

“I know. I’m just saying it doesn’t look good.”

“Are you going to investigate Darren White?”

“Of course I am!” Roy cried indignantly.

*

Pa, Adam and Hoss tried to keep my spirits up. They came to see me every day. Roy became concerned with a shop robbery. It was the small grocery which had opened up recently, not fifty paces from where I found poor Old Paul.

“The crimes must be connected,” Adam said to me. “They were committed on the same day, around about the same time. Maybe Old Paul saw it and White killed him.”

Pa shook his head. “I find it hard to believe. I’ve known White for years. He’s a bad’un, for sure, but I wouldn’t’ve said he was a murderer.”

“Why did Old Paul say his name, then?” Hoss asked. 

“Even if you both are right, it still doesn’t explain the witnesses. And Roy won’t tell me who they are, darn him.”

“He can’t, Pa,” said Adam. “He can’t risk intimidation of witnesses.”

Pa almost shouted. “As if I would!”

My trial was set for one week from now.

*

As it was, we did find out who the witnesses were. My brothers had gone to the bar after seeing me and before heading home. Some careless talk and suddenly it all made sense.

I had expressed interest in a small tract of land, my first foray into real estate, with Pa’s blessing. However, we had faced opposition from a neighboring family, the Stones. Esther and Dan Stone, the very two who had accused me of murder.

“At least  we  know why,” said Pa, his face  dark with anger. “All this because of a crummy bit of land!”

“Pair of opportunists!” Adam cried.

He  went to see the Stones, or rather Esther Stone. I will never know what he said to her but suddenly the charges were dropped and I was free. I was out in  time to attend  Darren White’s trial for robbery and murder.

THE END