‪[Bass] ‪You suppose I did something to make
‪the Almighty angry?
‪He's just teaching you that ‪it's hard and takes patience.
‪Patience ain't gonna ‪put money in our pocket.
‪How many mouths you got to feed ‪with no harvest?
‪What's your offer?
‪Sign you up as a posse man.
‪Welcome to the Dead Line.
‪Out here, there ain't no laws, ‪only outlaws.
‪[grunts]
‪Watch the legs now. She a precious thing.
‪What's your name?
‪Arthur Mayberry, ma'am.
‪Come on out with your hands up.
‪[screams]
‪What the hell did you do?
‪-[screaming] ‪-[gunshot]
‪-I hit another white man. ‪-Not that deputy?
‪I took some of your earnestness ‪to Judge Parker.
‪And he wants to make you ‪a goddamn Deputy U.S. Marshal.
‪[slow, wistful music]
‪Mmm.
‪Don't you go meeting everybody ‪without me now.
‪Make us proud, you hear?
‪[chains jingling]
‪[distant, indistinct chatter]
‪You help me?
‪I was just hungry.
‪Mr. Yeager came after me.
‪[crying] I tried to push him ‪away, but then he…
‪[slow, somber music]
‪There was so much blood.
‪[door opens]
‪[Parker] Bass.
‪Sit, please.
‪I suppose today is momentous.
‪You'll have to forgive me if I move faster
‪than the dignity of the occasion requires,
‪but I have a full docket,
‪and I try to save ‪what dignity I still possess
‪for the courtroom.
‪[laughs softly]
‪I was encouraged to hire you
‪for the color of your skin.
‪Because the Indians would listen ‪to someone like you.
‪May be true,
‪but that's not why I called you in.
‪I need a man with a good gun ‪and a straight spine.
‪You up for the task?
‪I wouldn't be sitting here ‪in my Sunday best if I wasn't.
‪It's hard work,
‪it exacts a toll.
‪Few men survive long enough ‪to be good at it.
‪And those that do ‪end up like Sherrill Lynn.
‪I ain't ever gonna be Sherrill Lynn.
‪Well, let's make it official. May I?
‪[chuckles] Oh.
‪Your Good Book's ‪got some stories of its own.
‪-That it does. ‪-Well, you'll have
‪to enlighten me one of these days.
‪Repeat after me.
‪I, Bass Reeves,
‪do solemnly swear…
‪I, Bass Reeves, do solemnly swear…
‪…that I will faithfully execute…
‪…all lawful precepts
‪directed to the Marshal ‪of the United States…
‪…all lawful precepts
‪directed to the Marshal ‪of the United States…
‪…for the Western District of Arkansas…
‪…for the Western District
‪of Arkansas…
‪…without malice or partiality…
‪…and without malice or partiality…
‪…perform the duties of Deputy Marshal…
‪…and take only my lawful fees…
‪…take only my lawful fees…
‪…so help me God.
‪[slow, plaintive music]
‪You've got miles to ride.
‪Godspeed the horses.
‪Thank you.
‪Judge Parker, if I may.
‪The boy waiting outside.
‪He need help.
‪That boy needs a lawyer.
‪Yes, sir.
‪[Parker] Winston,
‪bring the boy in.
‪[chains jingling]
‪[dramatic music]
‪[grunting]
‪[slow, tense music]
‪[groans softly]
‪[with German accent] You needing help?
‪Don't you know it.
‪If I had another set of hands…
‪Sir, we ought to--
‪Andreas Wagner. I'm helping you.
‪Thank you very much, Mr. Fogner.
‪-Billy Crow, in your debt. ‪-You're welcome.
‪[with Irish accent] ‪Good afternoon, gentlemen.
‪[Huff whistles]
‪Hands up.
‪Mouths shut.
‪Nein. Bitte.
‪Nein, nein, nein.
‪-[Marta] No! No! ‪-[grunts]
‪-[Marta gasps] ‪-[Andreas grunts]
‪This one just came in.
‪That ought to be a good one ‪for your first outing.
‪Any tips for a first-timer?
‪[chuckles] Oh, hon.
‪All you need to know ‪is that I run this circus.
‪Listen to Florence, ‪and you'll do just fine.
‪Ma'am.
‪[distant, overlapping chatter]
‪You mind?
‪I might.
‪Depends who's asking.
‪Garrett Montgomery.
‪Never heard of him.
‪Oh, I'm all right.
‪You just ask Florence in there.
‪"Billy Crow.
‪Wanted in connection ‪with a stagecoach robbery."
‪I can help you with that, Deputy Reeves.
‪You got a posse man yet?
‪Suppose you a posse man?
‪Rode with Heck Thomas,
‪Bud Ledbetter.
‪Put in my fair share of miles
‪and know this country ‪like the back of my hand.
‪Three dollars there, three dollars back.
‪Be the best six dollars you'd ever spend.
‪Gonna hold you to that.
‪Yes, sir.
‪[wistful music]
‪I ain't one to talk a donkey's ‪hind leg off or anything,
‪but a little conversation goes ‪a long way, especially out here.
‪Got any children, Garrett?
‪Oh, yes, sir. Boy and a girl, ‪another on the way.
‪You?
‪Got four of my own
‪and number five due any day.
‪Planning on doing this for a spell.
‪All goes well, you got a job with me.
‪You'll be saving my hide with ‪this ongoing employment, Deputy.
‪Like I say,
‪all goes well.
‪[slow, gentle music]
‪Fold those nice and even.
‪All right.
‪Real soon, I'm gonna need you
‪to shoulder a lot more responsibility.
‪Once the little ones are fed
‪in the afternoon and napping,
‪you'll need to start in on supper.
‪And after they eat, ‪you'll need to tidy up.
‪And I don't want no dirty pots
‪-and pans in my kitchen. ‪-All right.
‪Time for you to start teaching ‪Harriet now, too. [chuckles]
‪She'll be a good little helper.
‪Ooh!
‪Oh.
‪-Mama. ‪-Hmm?
‪[Jennie] Oh. [laughing]
‪[Sally] Oh.
‪Stop!
‪[slow, plaintive music]
‪Pay no mind.
‪Wouldn't be doing our job right
‪if we didn't rub a few ‪malefactors the wrong way.
‪Ask me, hundred to one,
‪the Underwood Gang's ‪behind that stagecoach robbery.
‪You know something I don't?
‪Female outlaw
‪the hoopleheads described ‪in their complaint?
‪I've come across before.
‪Woman's pure venom.
‪Runs with Huff Underwood.
‪Two hundred to one,
‪somebody in the hotel know where ‪they're conducting business.
‪You know more than you let on.
‪That ought to scare you.
‪"H-O…
‪-T--" ‪-I know what it say.
‪This a-way.
‪Don't you step another foot ‪toward them tables, Garrett.
‪Easy, amigo.
‪I'm just introducing my friend ‪here to your fine establishment.
‪Unless your friend wants ‪to pony up the tin
‪that you owe this establishment, ‪then I want you out.
‪You have a debt here?
‪Man's got a debt everywhere.
‪I love them cards like I love women.
‪Just the difference is ‪cards don't love back.
‪Better off tending horses than hustling.
‪-Barkeep. ‪-[door opens]
‪Sherrill Lynn come by yesterday.
‪-[door closes] ‪-Drank up all my whiskey.
‪Broke three of my chairs.
‪Tell me you didn't come for my gin.
‪How 'bout you quench my thirst ‪another way?
‪Looking for a Billy Crow.
‪Ain't nested here,
‪far as I know.
‪How about the Underwood Gang?
‪[man] Well, goddamn.
‪If that don't beat the Dutch.
‪That's two pair. You can take that one.
‪Seat taken?
‪Ain't never seen you around here.
‪More than happy to take a lawman's salary.
‪[chair slides out]
‪[tense music]
‪You are crooked as a hare's hind leg.
‪[poker chip clatters]
‪[whistles]
‪Knew you were holding back on me.
‪I'll call you.
‪[dealing cards]
‪I ain't falling for your fooling no more.
‪I'm all in.
‪Call.
‪Two pair.
‪You Black son of a bitch!
‪Didn't come to take your money.
‪How about I return that pot
‪in exchange for information.
‪How about we just kill you instead?
‪[Bass] Could try.
‪But you'd be going ‪after a Deputy U.S. Marshal,
‪and there's a half a dozen more outside.
‪[Roland] Hell.
‪He's bluffing again, Big Al.
‪Want to wager on that?
‪[indistinct crowd chatter]
‪In that rig past the corral.
‪[slow, dramatic music]
‪Go around the other side.
‪You Billy Crow?
‪Well, uh, sorry to disappoint you, sir.
‪I was told I'd find ‪a Billy Crow around here.
‪Beautiful coach you got here.
‪Are you under obligation ‪to keep banking hours
‪with a rig like this?
‪Sure as hell got no obligation ‪to answer to the likes of you.
‪Minute your boy sings,
‪we'll have a writ for you.
‪Your pal Huff, too.
‪Why don't you bring that old Judge Parker
‪around here next time?
‪I could introduce him ‪and that noose of his
‪to the underside of my carriage.
‪Come to think of it, uh, name's familiar.
‪Is a bit of a looker, ‪this Billy Crow, ain't he?
‪I think I saw him packing up ‪a wagon this morning.
‪Wouldn't be surprised if he was ‪halfway to Muskogee by now.
‪Got to admit,
‪certain likeness, wouldn't you agree?
‪[Billy chuckles]
‪[Billy groans]
‪[women gasp]
‪Mind my hat. Shoot.
‪[dramatic music]
‪Shoot.
‪[gentle, wistful music]
‪[Arthur] Sally.
‪Piano I delivered,
‪that was for your mother?
‪Mm-hmm.
‪She fell in love with music ‪when it was all she had.
‪Looks like y'all got ‪a nice big family now.
‪[chuckles] I'd like it better if
‪I didn't have to be chasing ‪Alice and Newland
‪all over creation.
‪And now, with a new one on the way,
‪I'm really in for it.
‪What would you rather be doing? ‪Besides walking with me.
‪[gentle music]
‪Mrs. Green got me this new book of poems.
‪Barely had a chance to crack the spine.
‪I bet your parents ‪don't bother you with chores
‪'cause you a working man already.
‪I'm an orphan.
‪It's all right.
‪You didn't have any way to know.
‪I'm sorry.
‪Mama passed when…
‪I was five, and…
‪my daddy died in the war.
‪You're blessed with a lot ‪of love in your life.
‪Keep hold of it.
‪[Bass] Just tell Parker what you know.
‪He a fair man.
‪[scoffs] Fair man?
‪He hung 12 men on his first day in court.
‪Just ain't no winning.
‪I name names to Parker, they'll kill me.
‪If I keep my trap shut, ‪I'll rot in Hell on the Border.
‪That's if they don't kill me
‪before y'all get me to Fort Smith.
‪Oh, I'm getting you to Fort Smith.
‪I'm a dead man.
‪Y'all looking at a ghost.
‪You don't come at Huff Underwood ‪with nothing.
‪You don't rat him out.
‪And you don't force his one-time,
‪reluctant, low-ranking employee ‪to rat him out, either.
‪[animal howling]
‪Hey.
‪How about I get a quick fire going?
‪And give up our location?
‪Hadn't thought of that.
‪[blows air]
‪[Garrett] Three dollars here ‪and three dollars back
‪to freeze my nuts.
‪Rather be losing my shirt at a card table.
‪Least I'd be able ‪to feel my hands and feet.
‪Ain't that cold.
‪[Garrett] Hell, once, ‪I had this pot-bellied stove,
‪forged in Massachusetts ‪for them northern winters.
‪Sat right in the heart ‪of my beautiful home,
‪just outside Fort Smith.
‪You get that thing going during ‪the middle of a cold snap,
‪practically warmed ‪the neighbor's house, too.
‪What happened to it?
‪Had to sell it.
‪Along with lots of other things.
‪You got enough luck ‪to survive all this, kid,
‪you stay away from the cards.
‪I know where they hid the money ‪they took from that stagecoach.
‪I hear you clucking, but there ‪ain't no nest, Billy Crow.
‪No, there-there's jewelry there, too.
‪Huff didn't want to pawn it off too quick.
‪Avoid suspicion and all.
‪I'm telling the God's honest truth here.
‪Not really in a position to lie.
‪You been sitting on that all night?
‪We might investigate this, Bass.
‪No.
‪Could split the money ‪and whatever else there is.
‪Nobody would ever know.
‪We say Billy Crow flew away.
‪Oh, oh, oh, ‪you'll never hear from me again.
‪I'll bound a rail to California.
‪You both talk too much.
‪[Garrett] You don't understand, Bass.
‪I got a wife and kids
‪sleeping in a bed more suitable for pigs.
‪Our job is to take this boy ‪alive to Fort Smith.
‪That's what we're gonna do. Took an oath.
‪I didn't.
‪I ain't asking.
‪I'm telling.
‪[tense, dramatic music]
‪Whoa.
‪Whoa, fellas.
‪You think another white posse man's
‪gonna ride out with you?
‪Help you like I have?
‪And now you gonna shoot me?
‪No.
‪But they will.
‪[gunshot]
‪-[gunfire] ‪-[groaning]
‪[cries out]
‪[Billy whimpering]
‪Hope your feet as fast as your mouth.
‪[gunfire continues]
‪[Huff] Billy Crow.
‪Where you at?
‪We ain't gonna hurt you.
‪Give us sign of that lawman ‪so we can end this.
‪Mother of God.
‪-I told you I was gonna die. ‪-Not today.
‪Stay here.
‪[energetic, dramatic music]
‪[cries out]
‪[slow, tense music]
‪[birds cawing]
‪[flies buzzing]
‪Keep your current path,
‪this your fate, Billy Crow.
‪Empty boots
‪strung up on a lawman's saddle.
‪Thank you, Deputy.
‪[bleating]
‪Oh, oh. Oh…
‪Oh…
‪Sally!
‪[door opens]
‪I'll go fetch Miss Bennett.
‪This one coming faster ‪than lightning in a storm.
‪Help me to the kitchen.
‪[labored breathing]
‪[sighs]
‪Go fetch some water for ‪the stove and get the linen.
‪-We'll make do. ‪-Yes, Mama.
‪[exhales]
‪[slow, gentle music]
‪How the hell did you learn ‪to shoot like that?
‪You mean for a Black man?
‪No, I mean,
‪how the hell did you learn ‪to shoot like that?
‪How about you do us both a favor
‪and never speak on this ever again.
‪[door closes]
‪[tense music]
‪[whimpering softly]
‪Billy Crow. Prisoner.
‪Your prisoner. Your manacles.
‪Now, keep your head down ‪and your mouth shut.
‪Hey,
‪I make it out of here, ‪how do I get to do what you do?
‪[chuckles]
‪Was you telling the truth about the money?
‪Eagle Pass.
‪There's a pair of sister oaks, ‪roots entwined.
‪-It's buried at the base. ‪-[chair scrapes floor]
‪[keys jingling]
‪[Parker] ‪Isham Saunders,
‪after a fair trial and an able defense,
‪this jury of your countrymen
‪has found you guilty
‪of a most foul and aggravated murder.
‪You are hereby sentenced ‪to be hanged by the neck
‪until you are dead.
‪[gallery murmuring]
‪[slow, somber music]
‪Myson Davis.
‪I have heard your tale of misfortune.
‪I understand what hunger and deprivation
‪can drive a person to do,
‪but it's no different
‪from the plight of all the other men
‪who stand before me on any given day.
‪In this chamber,
‪I must serve
‪as an instrument of the law.
‪You have taken a human life.
‪You have sent a human soul
‪unprepared to its maker
‪and made agony for his family,
‪whom you have rendered husbandless
‪and fatherless.
‪For the crime of murder,
‪this court finds you guilty.
‪[crying]
‪[Parker] You are hereby sentenced
‪to be hanged by the neck
‪until you are dead.
‪[gavel bangs]
‪[door opens]
‪Okay, Deputy, go on in.
‪Sit down, please.
‪You had a bit of a time out there?
‪Well, sir, um…
‪Posse man Montgomery
‪died heroically in the line of duty.
‪They ambushed us to free my prisoner.
‪About that Billy Crow…
‪He not a bad soul, just confused.
‪Confusion isn't much of a defense.
‪No, sir,
‪but he told me
‪where the German man's money buried.
‪Noted.
‪[gentle music]
‪[sighs]
‪You all right?
‪Are you?
‪I am now.
‪[baby fussing]
‪Ole Mister Sundown.
‪Now he was a slave catcher.
‪Some say
‪he roam the dark even now.
‪Finding fresh slaves.
‪When you see ole Mister Sundown,
‪you never see the sun come up again.
‪[Ramsey] ‪You ain't no law here.
‪This here's Hell.
‪Until God say otherwise,
‪I'm the only law there is.