"I'd say so. Now Mister Flagg, we'll just have us a sit down in my office. If That's Noolan, and if there's a circular then could be we'll not hold you for murder. Fact is, I'd wager there a reward." They entered his office and Flagg was shown to a chair.
Turk took a seat, "There might be a poster on 'im. I wasn't actually lookin' for the man, it just happened."
He sat there calmly watching as the marshal went thru a collection of papers from a drawer. Turned out there was one. Noolan was on the run from a murder charge in Missoula.
Speed looked up, "So what you're telling me is you have paper on Noolan and he forced a fight? Is that it?"
"Well, if that's how you want it to play out, alright by me. But it was as I already told ya. I was coming one way, him the other. There he was, I'd know him anywhere, anytime. We used ta be neighbors back in Kansas. Before the war, he rode with some pro-slavery raiders. They hit my family farm, I wasn't there at the time but my Ma and sisters just made it out alive when they torched our farmhouse. My kid brother, Tommy, he was shot to pieces. My Ma saw it go down and she later told me Noolan was one of the riders and also one of those who shot Tommy. I never saw Noolan back then or during the whole war. I rode with the Jayhawkers and volunteer cavalry for the Union til the finish of the war."
"Suddenly today...there he was right in front a me. I called him out, he went for his piece, I for mine. You already know the result. I got no regrets. He got what he deserved for what he did to Thomas and our farm. And that's the God's truth of it. If you send a telegram to Linn County in Kansas, they'll back my story, I'm sure of it."
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
Speed smiled, "No doubt, Flagg, no doubt. But, since there are no other injuries, and Noolan was wanted, and there is a reward." He shook his head, "Of the five hundred dollars reward, dead or alive, I'm fining you one hundred dollars for discharging a firearm within the town limits."
He opened the drawer that contained the cash box that held the fine money collected and counted out four hundred dollars in both paper and coin. "I understand your motive, and I can't say I would not have done the same thing in your place. That war left a lot of scars all over this country, so I see no reason to push this matter any further." He closed the tin box and set it back in the drawer and closed it.
"You are free to go Mister Flagg. This matter is closed." Speed said. "And Mister Flagg, let's have no more shooting on the streets." Then he added, "Hopefully Mister Jolly has the body off the street."
Speed smiled, "No doubt, Flagg, no doubt. But, since there are no other injuries, and Noolan was wanted, and there is a reward." He shook his head, "Of the five hundred dollars reward, dead or alive, I'm fining you one hundred dollars for discharging a firearm within the town limits."
Turk nodded, "That sounds fair, Marshal. I'll not contest it."
The lawmen now proceeded to count out the money, minus the hundred of course. Turk sat there calmly and watched.
"I understand your motive, and I can't say I would not have done the same thing in your place. That war left a lot of scars all over this country, so I see no reason to push this matter any further."
"I appreciate it," Turk nodded. He had half expected to spend a night in jail. He also made no move to pick up the stacked four hundred in reward lying on the marshal's desktop.
"You are free to go Mister Flagg. This matter is closed." Speed said. "And Mister Flagg, let's have no more shooting on the streets."
"I get it and will do my best not to run afoul of the law again during my stay in town," Turk agreed.
Then the lawman added, "Hopefully Mister Jolly has the body off the street."
Flagg had nothing further to say anything to do with Noolan, they could throw the man in an unmarked grave without a funeral for all he cared. But he was not quite ready to leave the office...yet. He pointed to the money.
"Marshal, I'll not take blood money. I did what I did for my brother, Tommy. I have no desire to profit over it. You know this town better than me. If there is a local church or charity, I'll be obliged if you see to it the money goes to them," Turk declared then stood up, "Good day, Marshal."
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
"If that don't beat all, a bounty hunter with a heart of gold." Cook said after the gunman walked out.
"I don't see it that way," Speed began, "I don't understand a man the kills for a living and then turns down a reward on a man he kills. That could have gone so badly across the street, thankfully it did not. What I think is, it was murder to repay a murder, there just happened to be a wanted man on the other end of the bullet."
"You've got a point, Speed." McNue agreed. "And maybe to him the reward really was blood money. He meant to kill Noolan if the man was a preacher. So, what are you gonna do with the money?"
"Reckon I'll take half to Pastor Evans to spread it among his congregation, the rest, I believe it needs to go to the school, Miss Bowen up to the school, figure that fulfills Flagg's wish. That money would help both, especially the school for books and supplies." Speed said with a smile. "Bounty hunter with a heart of gold, that's rich!"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
As the Marshall sat there at his desk with a fistful of dollars, Arabella Mudd walked into the office backwards with a few dollars more.
"Hey, was that Mr Flagg?!" she asked, before she even turned "Was that feller one o' his jobs?!" she turned and saw more men than she expected standing in the office. She knew them from her days working in the saloon.
"Oh! Hello Mr McNue, hello Mr Cook. So..." she held up the money she was holding. "Mr Jolly and Raymond have taken that feller off to the funeral parlour and he sent me here with the money and valuables off of him." she marched up to the desk and put a small pile of cash, a gold watch and small silver locket on the surface, then snatched the locket up again and darted toward one of the men, opening it "Say Mr McNue, you like the ladies don't cha? Look at this pretty photograph in the feller's locket"
She showed him and then turned to the Marshall.
"Mister Jolly wants to know if the the Town's payin' for this feller's funeral or what?"
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
"Well now, I figure that's up to the Marshal here, bein's we're from Helena, and that was Mister Flagg alright." McNue stated then looked to the tin type in the locket, "Pretty young woman alright, any idea who she might be, 'course not." There was a pang, if that was his daughter, or perhaps his wife, she would never know what happened to him, nor where he was buried.
"Arabella? What is the charge for the funeral. I imagine this'll be something simple on boot hill?" Speed asked looking at the pile on his desk along with the nickle plated Colt. "Another case of slow, the man was wanted and lost his fight." Speed glossed over the facts as there was no sense elaborating on what it really was. He began idly fingering the cash, spreading the bills, and the coins. "We'll take care of the expense."
"Every town needs a newspaper."
Just as Speed started for the door with the cash for the Reverend and the School Marm, Phin stepped through that very portal. "Marshal." He greeted.
"Phin. I guess I know why your here. Come in, a bit crowded at the moment, but I believe we can discuss what happened out there today." And a heavy sigh followed his statement.
"Plain enough what happened, one man shot another, simple enough story to pen." Phin rebutted, "It's the details I'm after, the why and what for, you know. Things my readers wish to know about when something like this happens."
"Certainly, well have a seat and I'll tell you what I know." Speed agreed.
"Excellent. Oh, any word from you deputy Pike?"
"I had received a telegram from San Francisco, seems they're on their way to Virginia City in Nevada, then home. He has business there he needs to see too." Speed informed the journalist. "Now, as to today's situation, the man on the boardwalk, recently carted away was one Eethan Noolan, a man of some reputation and wanted for murder in Missoula. Now it appears, according to Mister Cabot Flagg, that Noolan recognized him and went for his gun, Flagg was a bit faster, and the results speak for themselves."
"Flagg? The bouty hunter?" Phin asked.
The same. The bounty was five hundred, I fined him a hundred for discharging a fire arm in town. He declined the rest, which he wanted to go to those in need. I will give half to Reverend Evans, and the remainder to Miss Bowen for the school."
"So you're telling me Turk Flagg donated money to the less fortunate?"
"Yes Phin, I am." Speed stated flatly. "So, there's your story."
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"Well then Marshal, you could pay for Missus Myrtle McIneery's ruined dress. Seems she wore a good deal of blood on her Sunday go ta meetin' dress, or maybe it was just a nicer one that usual, but it's ruined as a result." Phin suggested.
"You know Phin, sometimes you make a good deal of sense, and yes, I believe a portion of this reward money should go to replacing her dress. I've got to pay for the paupers funeral for Noolan, may as well toss in the cost of a new dress."
"That'll buy some harmonious feelings toward ya come election time." Cook offered.
"Not what I'm after with alla this. Just making a wrong right, and doing what Flagg wanted done, whether I believe it or not." Speed said defending the decision.
"Well now Speed, look at it this way, Chester McIneery runs a pretty big spread east across the Flathead River, holds a lotta sway with the smaller ranchers in the area. I'm not sayinbg you are buying votes with this deal, but it is the right thing to do, and it might just do you well in the long run, you never know." Pin stated. "Having friends never hurt a thing."
Speed looked apprehensive. "Again, not what I'm after."
"Don't matter none," McNue interrupted, "Not about you doin' what you believe to be right, matters how it's seen. Ain't nobody'd think you was tryin' ta buy votes."
"That's right, and I won't mention it if you'd druther I didn't." Phin offered. "That is, if I waste the ink on the shooting at all."
That caused everyone to laugh at the thought of Phin passing up a story.
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"You are the best judge of that, Phin." Speed said with a smile. "But you also know that folks will want the details of the shooting."
"For them that didn't actually see it happen, and there were plenty who did." Cook added.
"There's a point in what you've said, that's for sure. Like this Sir Galahad passing up the reward to donate the money. Not every day you get that sort of story." McNue agreed. "Folks ain't likely to believe it, but we know it's true an' I figger they'd believe us."
"You men drive a hard bargain, but it has it's merits, I grant you that. I've no love for that saloon crowd, and Mister Flagg is most certainly one of them, probably the most dangerous of the lot, but as you point out, it is a good story, and it could catch on as we have copies that go out to most of the bigger towns, Helena, Missoula and the like. It could get picked up, make Kalispell famous."
"Now you're talking Phin! Take the bull by the horns and see what happens, because you're right, a story like this could get some attention, maybe even national attention, if we're lucky. Yes sir Phin, put your paper and this town on the map, so to say." Speed agreed, and there was a general agreement that it would do some good for Kalispell, perhaps not for Cabot Flagg, but then who was to say?
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
"So you figure to run the story?" Speed asked, still with a trip to the church and then the schoolhouse to deliver the gifted money, not to mention Missus McIneery and her damaged dress.
"I do. Seems to me it really is one of those 'feelgood' stories, and we don't get too many of them around here." Phin stated. "I'll not keep you gentlemen. I have a story to write and a paper to get out, so, if you'll excuse me?" With that the editor stepped through the door thinking about how to set up this tale.
Guyer looked to the two deputies, "Be back, need to get this money to where it's going and find Missus McIneery. If Charlie comes in ask him to stick around while I handle this.
Cook and McNue merely nodded as Guyer, cash in hand, stepped through the door and headed out to the street, considering what Flagg had done, and realizing the good that would come of it, he smiled. Old Phin was about to make Turk Flagg famous.
The closest was the church, so that would be the first stop. He mounted up and headed to the white washed church not three buildings away, and the parsonage next to it.
He went to the house first, which seemed logical, and stepped down, ground hitch his horse and walked up to the door, where he knocked.