March 4th, 2008

I’ve never enjoyed writing about a subject as much as the posse story I’ve been working on. The heart of tale is about the pursuit of justice and atonement for a horrible wrong. Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and Charlie Bassett would sooner yield to frontier style justice and shoot the man who killed Dora Hand on the spot, but Bill Tilghman insisted that the law must be upheld and the murderer brought be brought to trial. Dora Hand’s killer is devastated when he learns the bullet he intended for the Mayor of Dodge City found its way to Dora. At one point in his arrest he pleads for forgiveness. Bat responds with a comment I’ve been pondering for days. “How do you forgive the devil?” He asks rhetorically. The enemy disguises itself in many ways. He can be an outlaw, a lawyer, a neighbor, even someone you used to call family. How do you forgive the devil? I don’t think men like Bat and Wyatt ever learned how. Maybe that’s because their brothers had been taken from them. Bill did not have the same point of reference that the other lawmen had. He was the cooler head that prevailed. He was the voice of reason that held the others back when the devil changed his tune and insisted he was justified. We all need a voice like that when the enemy cries out that hes the victim. Until next time…I’m off with the posse.