go up-stairs and come down and go out; but none of 'em would
say this. Then he'd ask 'em if they didn't hear Joe Rainey say, "Where's
my pistol?" speakin' to his wife; and if she didn't say, "You can't have
it," and take hold of him, and if he didn't pull away from her and go
up-stairs and come down; and then if they didn't hear a shot as if it
was fired from the porch followed by two shots. But he couldn't get the
witnesses to say this, though he asked a lot of questions and worried
'em and tangled 'em about different things. And once in a while my pa
would say, "I object, your honor." And the judge would say mostly
"sustained," and Major Abbott would say, "Your honor will allow me an
exception." "Let it be noted," said the judge, and so on.

All the time Mitch kept twistin' in his seat and sayin', "He's tryin' to
get 'em to lie. That's what he's doin'."

[Illustration: Mrs. Rainey in Court]

Mrs. Rainey was in the court, sittin' behind the railing. Temple Scott
sat behind Major Abbott at the trial table. My pa was on the other side,
and Sheriff Rutledge kept runnin' in and out, bringin' in witnesses.
They had Temple Scott's pistol there with two chambers empty, and the
bullets which had been taken out of Joe Rainey's body, the same size as
in Temple Scott's pistol. And they had a statement which Joe Rainey had
made just before he died in which he swore that he didn't have no
pistol, that he came just inside the door, thinkin' he would go to bed
and leave Temple Scott, and then he came right out in order to quiet him
and tell him he didn't mean anything and was his friend.

"That's the truth," says Mitch, "and I'll bet on it." This statement of
Joe Rainey said that they had been playing cards and was friendly till
they got out on the street, when he asked Scott not to come around his
house any more, that he liked him and could be friends with him, but he
didn't want him to visit any more with Mrs. Rainey. Mitch says: "I heard
pa and ma talk about this and they said Temple Scott wanted to marry
Mrs. Rainey." Well, that seemed to kind of get in the case without
anybody testifyin' to it, exactly. The court room seemed to breathe that
idea, and on the streets it was talked.

Finally Major Abbott stated his side of the case, and he put Mrs. Rainey
on the witness stand, and she said Joe Rainey had come in the house and
asked for his pistol, that she took hold of him and said, "You mustn't
get your pistol," that he tore