That Night at the Palace (9 page)

After Mrs. Tidwell finished hugging Jewel, Ned came to her and did the same. Jewel then walked directly to Jettie, whispered in her ear and led her into the kitchen, an action that was not lost on the condescending eyes of most of the people in the house.

When they got in the kitchen, Jewel took both sisters aside, and Gemma’s mother led the other ladies out, though there was more than one ear trying to hear the conversation.

Jewel took both Jettie’s hands and looked her in the eye, “I’ve heard all about last night. Please believe me. There was nothing between Cliff and me. Daddy has it all wrong.”

“But why?” Jettie asked hesitantly.

“I’ve been getting sick in the mornings. Daddy figured it out,” She paused and swallowed, trying to hold back the tears, “I have a boyfriend up in Jacksonville. I let things get out of control one night. Daddy doesn’t know about my boyfriend. I’m afraid he won’t approve. He’s a little older. About a month ago Cliff and I went out to the railroad bridge where we used to go fishin’. We just talked, like we always do. I hadn’t seen him in months. I told him all about my boyfriend. When he drove me home, my Daddy saw him. Yesterday when he saw me sick again he thought Cliff was the father. Daddy and I had a big fight yesterday, and I left and went up to Jacksonville. He spent the day drinkin’.”

To the amazement of everyone in the living room, Jettie and Jewel hugged tenderly then and again when they all left.

#

It was late afternoon when Gemma got her mother and Jettie home. She stayed only a few minutes before going to Jesse’s. He pulled into the driveway just as she was getting out of her mother’s car. The two met halfway to the porch and sat down without saying a word. Gemma felt like there were no words to say, yet there were a million words waiting to be said. Finally, out of the silence Jesse blurted, “It wasn’t an accident. Somebody killed Cliff.”

Gemma turned her head to look at him. This was something that hadn’t entered her mind.

“But who…?”

Jesse shrugged as if to say that he had no idea, but inside Gemma knew that there was something he wasn’t telling. Jesse was troubled. It was like he had a deep dark secret eating its way out. She also knew that sooner or later he would open up completely. She just needed to be patient. But this frightened her. If he knew something, he needed to open up about it soon.

They sat for a few minutes, then Gemma leaned her head against Jesse and whispered, “I love you,” as he pulled her close to him. For the second time that day, tears began rolling down both of their cheeks.

#

MAIN STREET

ELZA, TEXAS

June 25 1936

Jesse led as he, Cliff, and Jewel strolled down Main Street, all three carrying R.C. bottles.

“Here we go again,” Jewel said as Jesse stopped and sat on the curb and the other two follow suit.

“You know she’s not in there,” Cliff said.

“Who?” Jesse asked with his eyes fixed on the front window of Anna-Ruth’s.

Jewel and Cliff giggled and looked at each other.

“You could always just walk in there and talk to her,” Jewel suggested.

“Who?” Jesse asked again, with more attempted innocence.

“Gemma, you idiot,” Jewel answered, this time with disgust.

“Oh, her. She doesn’t know who I am.”

“Oh, she knows,” Jewel replied with assurance.

“Did you guys hear what happened in Jacksonville?” Cliff asked, changing the subject. He had been down this road enough times and knew full well that Jesse was way too much of a coward to ever walk across the street and talk to Gemma Crawford.

“Some girl got killed is what I heard,” Jesse replied, relieved to get the conversation on anything but him.

“I heard it was a colored fellow that did it,” said Cliff. “Someone named Davis.”

Jewel spotted a commotion in front of the domino hall. A number of men were gathered and began to get into cars.

“Mr. Davis from over in Pleasant Grove? He works on the rigs for my pa.”

“I think it’s his son.”

“Guys, something’s going on,” Jewel said as she pointed toward the end of the street.

“What do you suppose is up?” Jesse asked as a line of cars and pickups began heading their direction.

“I’ll find out,” Cliff replied as he stood to his feet and waved down a pickup. “Hey, Toad, what’s up?”

Toad Lowery pulled to a stop as Cliff, followed by Jesse and Jewel walked up, “We’re gonna go watch a lynchin’.”

“Was it Mr. Davis?” Jesse asked.

“His son, Bucky.” Hunker Lowery answered from across the cab. “I can’t believe it, either, I know’d Bucky and he’s a nice kid.”

“Well, I don’t care if he’s a nice kid or not, if he did what they say he did, they oughta hang ‘im from the highest tree,” Toad clamored.

“I didn’t say that they shouldn’t hang ‘im. I just said that he’s a nice kid,” Hunker replied.

“Can we come?” Cliff asked.

“Fine with me,” Toad answered, as Cliff was already climbing in the back of his pickup, “but if you get in trouble with your ma and pa, don’t come crying to us.”

“Come on,” Cliff said, more aimed at Jesse than Jewel.

Jewel hopped right in but Jesse hesitated.

“You can’t come,” Cliff said to Jewel.

“Why not?”

“A girl can’t go to a lynchin’.”

“If you two can go, I can go.”

Then both kids looked at Jesse who was still hesitant.

Toad looked at him, “If you’re comin’, get in.”

Jesse shrugged and climbed into the back of the truck just as Toad pulled away.

Cliff looked at Jesse and Jewel and rolled his eyes. “My first hangin’ and I’m going with a girl and a chicken.”

As the truck pulled away, Gemma Crawford watched them leave from inside the dress shop.

#

Jacksonville was about twelve miles north of Elza, and by 1936 was considerably larger. Twenty-five years earlier the two towns had been about the same size, but the Santa Fe railroad put a depot right in the middle of Jacksonville, which brought all sorts of businesses. Jacksonville’s newspaper
The Jacksonville Statesman
eventually put all the papers in Cherokee county out of business, and by 1930, Jacksonville got Chevrolet and Ford dealerships and a Sears and Roebuck’s.

The line of cars and trucks from Elza circled through town past the jailhouse where fifty or sixty men had gathered. Jesse watched the crowd of angry men as they passed and felt a sense of fear run through him. Until that moment it had been a bit of an adventure, but suddenly there was a frightful reality to what was taking place.

A block south of Commerce Street was a big square park with parking spaces all the way around it. Jesse often thought it reminded him of a county seat without a courthouse. In the center of the park stood a monument to the soldiers of the Great War. Every Saturday farmers from all over circled the park with their pickups to sell produce. On weekdays like this only a couple of farmers took the time to come into town.

Toad parked next to the only farmer on the square. “Hey, Clovis,” Toad said to the farmer as he got out of his pickup. “We gonna have a lynchin’?”

The old man just shook his head with disgust. “It sure looks that way.”

Jesse, Cliff, and Jewel climbed out of the back of the old Ford as Hunker walked around to where Clovis and Toad stood.

“What’s the matter Clovis?” Hunker asked. “Don’t you think he deserves to get hung?”

“Nope. He ain’t killed nobody. He might ought to go to prison for a while, if he did it.”

“I thought that girl was dead,” Toad said with surprise.

“Naw. She’s laid up over at Doc Mahoney’s. She’s been hurt pretty bad, but she’s gonna make it. ”

Cliff, Jesse, and Jewel listened to the conversation as they watched the commotion across the park.

“Well, a fellow that does something like that to a girl still ought to get hung,” Hunker argued.

“Maybe, if he done it. But I don’t think he done it,” the old man said with conviction.

“Who did it if he didn’t?” Hunker asked, somewhat angrily.

“A lot of folks have seen her carrying on with a white fellow from down your way.”

Toad suddenly got angry. “Ain’t nobody from Elza did that!”

“I didn’t say he did it. I’m just sayin’ that nobody knows if that boy did it or not. I’ve known Bucky all his life, and he’s as good a young man as I’ve ever met. By god he don’t deserve to get hung just because he ain’t white.”

Toad started to open his mouth when Hunker put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and pointed toward the police station, “Somethin’s happenin’.”

“Come on,” Toad said as he and his brother began to hurriedly head over to the crowd.

Toad looked back at the kids who were following behind, “You kids stay close to us. If you get separated, head for the truck.”

“We will, Toad,” Cliff answered as they headed to the crowd, which has now swelled to well over fifty or sixty.

Crossing through the park, Jesse noticed something moving over their heads. Looking up he saw a rope tied into a hangman’s noose slung from a telephone pole and swinging in the breeze.

As they approached, Jewel grabbed Jesse’s arm. “Do you think they’re really going to kill him?”

“I don’t know,” Jesse replied.

The three stayed back from the crowd. Looking around, they saw several cars and trucks pulled into the town as more and more men from the surrounding communities arrived. The kids found a spot on the curb across the street from the jailhouse and sat down to watch. In minutes the crowd, which moments before had been no more than sixty men, was turning into a mob of over two hundred.

“What if that old man’s right?” Jewel asked the other two. “What if he didn’t do it?”

“By the looks of this crowd,” Cliff answered, “they’re going to hang him no matter what. The chief here ain’t like Jefferson. My pa says this guy is really bad. He says that when this chief finds hobos down on the tracks he don’t just run them off. He likes to beat ‘em up first.”

Suddenly Jesse recognized a man in the crowd and elbowed Cliff.

“I see him,” Cliff replied as he watched the man work his way through the crowd, yelling along with all the others.

Cliff stood, “I’m gonna get a closer look.”

“Stay here,” Jesse said to Jewel as he too stood and then followed Cliff into the crowd.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jewel replied emphatically.

The two boys worked their way through the angry mob, trying to keep the man in sight. Finally they got to where they could see him up close. He was the man from the alley, Peterson Crawford, Gemma’s father.

The boys tried to keep an eye on the man, but the mob around them kept pushing and shoving. The boys soon got separated. In moments, Jesse found himself standing almost next to the man.

Suddenly, the mob became silent. Behind them in the street a black Oldsmobile pulled to a stop. A man got out of the car and went to the back door and opened it. As he did, the mob split into two, making an open path to the front of the jailhouse. Jesse was standing to the left of Peterson Crawford with another man between them. Across the open path he saw Cliff, who also was keeping an eye on Mr. Crawford.

Then Jesse noticed that the crowd’s attention turned to the jailhouse steps. Looking up, he saw the police chief stepping out of the door. Behind him two officers came out with a young black man between them. Each officer was holding the young man’s arms, which were handcuffed behind his back. The Chief led as the four headed down the steps. The young man in handcuffs was clearly terrified and tried to resist, but the two officers made sure he came along.

At the same time, at the other end of the opening in the crowd, the man who had opened the car door helped a young blonde haired woman timidly step out. Her face was bandaged, and she couldn’t stand without help. The man insisted, and she hesitantly walked as best she could with him.

At the same time, the officers with the black man came toward the girl and stopped directly in front of Jesse. The man and girl also stopped. Jesse looked at Mr. Crawford, who was staring intently at the girl. Suddenly she noticed him and the man between Crawford and Jesse. She tried to turn and go back to the car, but the man holding her arm wouldn’t let her. Jesse watched as she glanced up a second time at Crawford and then the other man, both of whom had their eyes trained on her face. Jesse glanced at Cliff, who had noticed the same things that he did. The girl was terrified as everyone could clearly see. Most thought it to be because she was standing directly across from the black man who attacked her, but only Cliff and Jesse could see that she was afraid of Crawford.

The chief stepped to his right so that the girl was standing face to face with the young black man.

“Gladys, is this the man who raped you?” the Chief asked, but it seemed to Jesse to be more of a statement than a question.

There was complete silence as every man in the crowd strained to hear her answer. Jesse looked back at Crawford, whose angry scowl was bearing down on the girl.

She looked at the chief and started to shake her head, but then glanced back at Crawford. His left hand slightly opened his suit coat revealing a Smith and Wesson .38 Special that he had tucked into his belt. She glanced back at the chief with tears streaming down her face and just nodded.

Suddenly the crowd began shouting and pushing.

The young black man pulled back and shouted, “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”

The larger of the two officers punched him with all his might. With blood streaming down his face, the young man kept proclaiming his innocence while the screaming mob closed in around him.

The man holding the girl managed to get her back to the Oldsmobile as Jesse and Cliff began frightfully trying to work their way out of the crowd. People were pushing and shoving all around them. At one point Jesse looked back to see that the police officers had let go of the young black man and were watching the mob drag him away, beating him as they went.

Fighting his way through the mob, Jesse suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and looked up to see Peterson Crawford holding on to him. Jesse looked at the man and darted away. With the crowd all around them, he managed to easily get free and soon was across the street where Jewel and Cliff were waiting.