Authors: Gilbert Morris
“Well, this is a peck of dirt for me.” He shifted uneasily on the couch and listened as she spoke quietly. He was thinking of the hearing that would come in a few hours, and now as she spoke of trusting God, he suddenly said, “You remind me of my wife, Deborah. She had such great faith. More than I had.”
“You loved her very much, didn’t you, Lewis?”
“Yes, I did. We had a good life together.”
Lewis found himself comforted by Missouri’s presence as they sat before the fire. He glanced at her from time to time, surprised by the depth of his feelings for her. She was not the elegant woman his wife had been, but Missouri had a heart of gold. He also thought with some embarrassment of his brief engagement to the wealthy Lucy Daimen. How quick she’d been to have nothing more to do with him when his money was gone! He looked again at Missouri, realizing more than ever how much he now valued this woman’s godly character more than he judged her outer appearance. Finally he said, “We’re all pretty well resigned to Josh’s having to do some time in prison. It’s discouraging.”
“It is, but God will see you through it.”
“I think tomorrow will be especially hard for me. I was wondering if you would be willing to help me through it.”
Missouri gave him an odd look. “I’ll do anything I can, Lewis, you know that.”
“You’re a fine woman, Missouri Ann!”
She smiled at the compliment, and her whole countenance lit up. Her smile turned to full-fledged laughter as she said, “I must have scared you half to death with all my talk about God sending you here and breaking your leg so you could be my husband. It’s a wonder you didn’t get up and run off, broken leg or not!”
Lewis found himself able to laugh with her, which struck him as odd, for he had not laughed much lately. Feeling at home with her by his side, he said, “Why don’t we go out tomorrow night—get something to eat and take in a movie?”
“A movie! I’ve never been to a movie in my life.”
“Well, it’s just some foolish thing with the Marx Brothers.”
“Who are they?”
Lewis was always slightly shocked at Missouri’s lack of worldly knowledge. “Oh, they’re just these funny fellows who do crazy things.”
“I’m not sure the Lord would smile on that.”
“Well, if you don’t want to do that, we could just eat and then go for a drive maybe.”
“Are you sure you want me to go, Lewis?”
“Yes, I am sure.”
“All right. I’ll do it.”
Lewis stood up and said, “I’ll come by in the morning and pick you up for the hearing—about eight-thirty. You may have to hold me up. I know it’ll be hard on all of us.”
She took both of his hands. “These things happen, Lewis. In the Bible, Joseph had to go to jail unjustly, but he was a better man for it, and he turned out all right. I’ve been praying for your son. He’ll be all right. I just know it.” She smiled, adding, “I’m hearing God tell me to ask Him for a miracle—and I’m doing it!”
****
Judge O. C. Pender was a ponderous man. Instead of a judge’s robe, he wore a severe black suit and a string tie. With
his salt-and-pepper hair, he had a stern bulldog appearance. He was not a laughing man, and as Josh studied him, any hope that he’d had for mercy left.
Word of the hearing had gotten around, and the courtroom was packed. Josh saw his family sitting there, his father ramrod straight beside Hannah, Jenny holding her arm around Kat. His heart was grieved as he looked at them.
I’ve brought them down to the mud. It would have been better for them if I’d been shot.
The judge skipped all the usual preliminaries and plunged right in. “We’ll hear the case of the government against Joshua Winslow. Mr. Dean, are you ready?”
John Dean, the prosecutor, stood up, an average-looking man whose political ambitions were well known in Summerdale. Anxious as always for a conviction, he addressed the bench. “Your Honor, this will be a very simple procedure. Ordinarily trials have more complexity, but this one will not take long.”
“Suppose you just present your case, Mr. Dean, and let me decide how long it will be.”
Dean was accustomed to the judge’s sternness. “Of course, Your Honor. Well, here are the facts. At one-thirty on the afternoon of January 12 a man by the name of Clinton Longstreet was caught in possession of a truckload of bootleg whiskey in the woods not too far from town. He was apprehended by two government agents, both of whom have made their statements, which I will enter as Exhibits A and B. They could not appear in court, but I think the statements are clear enough.”
The judge nodded. “I have read the statements. They are clear. Please continue.”
“Several days later, the defendant, Joshua Winslow, confessed that he had actually been in possession of the truck and the alcohol and that the man in jail had been hunting for deer in the woods and had merely encountered Mr. Winslow just before the government agents appeared. While Mr.
Winslow ran for the woods, the other man—a friend of the family—took responsibility in order to protect the defendant. The innocent man has now been released. We will urge the full penalty for Joshua Winslow. The state rests, Your Honor.”
A murmur went around the courtroom. Everyone had known that it would be an open-and-shut case, but this set a record.
Judge Pender turned and put his eyes on the defendant but spoke to Potter Flemming. “Mr. Flemming, are you ready for the defense?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Flemming rose and, for the next thirty minutes, made a valiant attempt at presenting the case for his client. He called several witnesses, but all they could say in truth was that Joshua Winslow did not seem like the type of young man who would do anything terribly wrong. His drinking was no secret, however, and he had not gotten involved in the life of the community as the rest of his family had done.
Finally Flemming said, “Your Honor, this is a difficult case, despite what the prosecuting attorney says. We have a young man here with half his life before him. We all know what prison can do to a man—turn him hard. He’s made a mistake, and he has admitted it. He came forward voluntarily when he saw his friend wrongly arrested. That shows a good heart, and I would ask, Your Honor, to show consideration and mercy.”
Flemming sat down as another murmur went over the courtroom.
The judge began to speak. “This case, to me, seems fairly simple, and—”
“Judge, could I be permitted to say just a word?”
Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Judge Pender stared at the woman in the ill-fitting brown dress who had stood up. Recognizing her, he said, “Mrs. Ramey, you have not been called as a witness.”
“I don’t know much about courts and trials, Your Honor,
but I would like to say something if you would permit it.” Missouri had told the family she wanted to sit near the back of the courtroom so she could more easily be in prayer throughout the trial.
“Are you appearing in favor of the defendant?”
“I want to say something about this young man on trial, yes.”
Pender turned to Josh’s lawyer. “Will you allow this woman as a friendly witness, Mr. Flemming?”
Flemming would have allowed anyone as a friendly witness. “Yes, of course, Your Honor. I would have called her myself, but I wasn’t aware that she wanted to testify.”
“Come forward, Mrs. Ramey.” The judge waited until she had stepped to the witness stand and the bailiff had sworn her in. “What have you to say?”
“I haven’t known Joshua Winslow long, but I know he comes from a good family. I know he’s made a bad—a terrible—mistake, and I know he would probably get a lighter sentence if he agreed to identify the people who were with him in this business.”
Pender said rather roughly, “Mrs. Ramey, the goodness of the defendant’s family has nothing to do with his crime. You’re right, he would get a lighter sentence if he were to identify the people with him, but he refuses to do so.”
“Yes, sir, I know.” Missouri Ann turned and faced the judge. “I can’t say this man is innocent, but I wanted to say this, O. C. Before you sentence this man, I want to remind you of the time you stole a cow from me and my husband.”
A shocked silence ensued, and the judge’s face turned red. “That is not pertinent!”
“I think it is.”
“I was only seventeen years old, and it was just a prank.”
Missouri Ann said calmly, “But if my husband and I had pressed charges, as you certainly deserved, you would have gone to jail, wouldn’t you?”
Pender had never had such a thing happen, and as he stared
at the woman, he could do nothing but hem and haw. Finally he admitted grudgingly, “I suppose so.”
“And if you had gone to jail, you wouldn’t be a judge, I don’t think. You did a wrong thing, but you’ll remember that you had someone who cared about you and who didn’t want your life ruined. ‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.’ ”
With this final word Missouri stood up. She put her eyes on Pender, and the two remained with their gazes locked. No one had ever dared challenge O. C. Pender in his own courtroom, and most of the spectators fully expected him to find her in contempt. Pender, however, simply sat there while Missouri Ann turned and walked away.
Judge Pender sat still, his lips drawn together into a tight line. Potter Flemming leaned over and whispered, “She meant well, but she insulted the judge. He’ll make it even worse.”
“She did what she thought was right,” Josh muttered.
Everyone was leaning forward waiting while Pender deliberated with himself. He kept his eyes on Missouri Ann Ramey as his mind went back to those days of his youth. Yes, he had stolen a cow, and despite the fact it was more of a prank than a theft, he could have been jailed for it. He had known men who had gone wrong with no more than a single misdeed. He remembered how frightened he had been as a mere boy and how his heart had cried out for help. He had not asked for help verbally from Missouri Ann or her husband, and he remembered how when they had refused to press charges, it had been like a mountain lifted off of him. He also remembered he had never really thanked the couple, being a thoughtless young man, and now as he studied her face, something touched his spirit.
“It is not an easy job being a judge,” he started. “Those of us who do this work have to make decisions that often turn out to be wrong. I’ve never admitted this before publicly, but we all know that judges are subject to the same human frailties as all other men. I’ve always tried to be fair and just.
They call me a hanging judge. They say I’m a hard man—and they’re right. I have handed out stiffer sentences than other judges. I believe that people should bear the consequences of their actions.”
A silence fell over the courtroom, and Hannah leaned forward. She glanced over at Missouri, whose eyes were closed and her lips moving, and Hannah knew she was praying for God’s mercy.
The judge hesitated, then said, “This case is clear enough. We have a guilty man here. There’s no question of that. The only question is what punishment shall be handed him. Some of you will be surprised at the sentence, but I will have to admit that Mrs. Ramey’s words are true. I did commit a crime when I was a young man, and if Mrs. Ramey and her husband had brought charges, I would surely have been convicted and gone to jail. I don’t know what would have happened after that, but mercifully, I was given a second chance.”
Pender turned suddenly and said, “Will the defendant rise?” He waited until Josh stood alongside his lawyer, then pronounced his sentence. “Joshua Winslow, I find you guilty of transporting illegal alcohol, and I sentence you to two years in the penitentiary.”
A gasp went over the courtroom, for that was the lightest possible sentence, but the surprises were not yet over. Pender continued, “I’m going to give you a second chance, young man. I suspend twenty-three months of that two years. You will serve one month, and I will be watching like a hawk, Joshua Winslow, when you get out! I trust you will not fail me, nor your family, nor this community.”
Suddenly a shout went up from Missouri Ann, who had lifted her hands. “Praise God! Hallelujah!”
Lewis jumped up from his seat and headed straight to Josh. He put his arms around him and squeezed him with all his might, joined shortly by Jenny, Hannah, and Kat. It was Hannah who went first to the judge with tears in her
eyes and said, “God bless you, Judge. I’ll pray for you the rest of my life.”
“Well, that young man had better go straight.”
“He will, sir. I know he will.”
Lewis stepped back to allow others to speak to Josh, mostly members of the church, and he found Missouri Ann. Taking her by the hand, he said, “Well, Missouri, it was a miracle. Thank God you were here.”
Missouri shook her head. “It’s all God’s doing, Lewis.”
After waiting for the people to clear away, the sheriff came to stand beside Josh. Beauchamp shook his head. “If you never see another miracle, Josh, you’ve seen one today. That’s the first time I’ve ever known O. C. Pender to give out a sentence like that.”
“God is good, isn’t He?” Josh replied.
“You’ll have to come along now so I can lock you up. You’ll be taken to the state prison in a day or two, but one month—why, that’s nothing!”
Josh said, “Could I say a word to the judge first?”
“I think that would be fitting.” Beauchamp turned, and the judge, who had gotten down and was headed toward the back, stopped to put his eyes on Josh.
Josh Winslow put out his hand and said, “Judge, I can’t say what I feel, but I promise you this. You won’t be sorry. You won’t be seeing me again in a courtroom.”
Pender said gruffly, “See that I don’t.” A grin suddenly turned up the corners of his mouth. “I got quite a shock today, Winslow. I hadn’t thought of that stolen cow in a lot of years. You’d better be glad that I did steal that cow—otherwise you’d be doing a lot of time!”
****
As the crowd thinned out, Devoe Crutchfield, who had sat behind the family in the courtroom, approached Jenny, saying, “I’m so glad for you and your family, Jenny, and especially for Josh.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Isn’t Missouri great?”
“She is.” He hesitated, then said, “Would you have time to go have an ice-cream soda with me and the kids?”