SEPTEMEBER 8, 1861

He paced back and forth in the jail cell. He was glad that he had told them that his name was Tally Wagons, so as not to mar his good name. His trial was set for today. He knew he wouldn't get a fair hearing, but that's what he wanted. He stopped his pacing as he heard a noise. He went to the window and looked out. There was Samantha. What was she doing here? Before he could ask, she tossed a note inside to him and then walked off. He picked up the note from the floor and read it.

Oh no, this couldn't be happening to him. They had lost the sheriff. Well, it did say that they were working on finding him. He just hoped that it would be before the trial. If not he would end up the same place Samantha's brother was, a convict committed to working at the silver mine.

He sat down and thought about the last month or so. He had found Samantha, and him and Samantha had found Joshua. He was being forced to work at a silver mine along with a bunch of other men. Joshua's crime hadn't really been a crime after all. The sheriff had arrested him because of some trumped up charge, saying that he had stolen the
horse he was riding and the gun, too, cause no half-blooded Indian could afford a nice looking animal like that. One of the town residents had informed them of that.

Samantha had wanted to bust Justin out of there, but Jedidiah had persuaded her not too. There had to be a legal way to go about getting him out of there. One day while Jedidiah and Samantha was watching the mine, trying to figure out a way to get Justin released,
they came upon another man doing exactly the same thing. He was watching the mine trying to figure out a way to get his friend out of there, too. All three of them rode off together, and they had lunch to discuss the situation.

Joshua Smith's friend Thaddeus Jones had been wrongly accused of killing a man and thrown in to work at the silver mine. Joshua told them that a respectable citizen had seen the whole thing, but she feared for her life, so she wouldn't testify for Thaddeus. The people fear the law here, Joshua had told them. But Joshua had a plan to trap the real felon, and to get Thaddeus and Justin released, but part of the scheme had been for Jedidiah to get thrown in jail. Jedidiah hadn't liked the part about him getting put in jail, but he would do anything for Samantha.

So last night Jedidiah had involved himself in a bar fight. He didn't start it, but he did have a hand in finishing it. Sheriff Lom Trevors from Medicine Bow had seen the whole thing. The worst punishment for such a thing would be paying the bartender for the damages and a night in jail, but Joshua and Jedidiah were hoping for a sentence to
the silver mines, so that Lom Trevors would have evidence of a corrupt sheriff and a corrupt judge. Lom could then call the Wyoming territorial Marshall in to investigate the judge's books to see who else had been sentenced unfairly.

Unfortunately the trial was set for noon, and Lom Trevors was missing. Jedidiah hoped that Joshua would find the good sheriff and have him there in the courtroom when he was tried. When Lom had arrived in Horse Creek, he had come incognito, keeping his badge
hidden, so that the sheriff and the judge of Horse Creek wouldn't know who he was. Jedidiah just couldn't understand what could have happened to the sheriff. Unless someone had got wind of Lom being a sheriff, and the crooked sheriff and judge had done something to him. Jedidiah's future looked very bleak at the moment. He hoped Joshua had some kind of Ace up his sleeve in case he didn't find the sheriff in time.

Jedidiah hadn't heard from Samantha or Joshua, and now it was time. Sheriff Arden Newsom pointed his gun at Jedidiah as he walked behind him. Entering the courtroom, that was the saloon, Jedidiah searched the place, resting his eyes on Samantha. From her facial expression, he could tell that sheriff Lom Trevors hadn't been found yet.

 "Bring the prisoner forth," Judge Floyd Boland commanded.

 Sheriff Newsom pushed Jedidiah forward. Jedidiah caught his balance and continued until he was standing in front of the judge's desk.

"You are guilty of damages and disturbing the peace. How do you plead?" Judge Boland folded his arms in front of him and sternly looked upon the prisoner waiting for his reply.

"I plead not guilty, your honor." Jedidiah knew he had done some damaged to the saloon, but some of the others, even the one that had started it, had done more damaged to him, and they hadn't even been thrown in jail.

"Wrong! You're guilty." Judge Boland looked down at the papers in front of him. "You're hereby sentenced to one year imprisonment to serve your sentence by working at the Lucky Fortune Silver Mine."

"But I'm not guilty, and even if I was, isn't that sentence a little too much for the crime." Jedidiah argued. "What about a trial to prove my innocence."

"No debating with the judge." Sheriff Newsom grabbed Jedidiah by the arm. "Come along now."

Jedidiah twisted around, "But judge, I'm innocent."

"Keep arguing and I'll double your sentence." Judge Boland stated as he stood up and sternly looked at the prisoner.

As Jedidiah was leaving he gave Samantha a quick little grin to let her know that he would be all right.

Samantha waited a few seconds and then followed. She looked up and down the street but there was no sign of Joshua or Sheriff Lom Trevors. If she ever wanted her brother and Jedidiah set free, she would have to find them.  Jedidiah was in this trouble because of
her. She would have to set him free some how.

Sheriff Newsom took the prisoner out and hulled him off to the silver mine where he would be put in chains and used to help dig for more silver.