15.2 “And,why did the child cry?"

“From listening to Mrs. Dibbens’ account, the crowd arrived at about 7:00. Her husband was not at home,” he shrugged, “would be in a few minutes, but several of the men started to meet the defendant. When he

arrived home, the… crowd… kept him out of his home an hour, possibly an hour and a half. Not until he agreed to sign over his claim was he allowed to pass. It was a frigid night.”
“Was not this an unlawful assembly? By what law or authority do twenty-five men go to a man’s house and make threats, deterring him from entering his own home? I know nothing of such a law.”
He looked over his shoulder at Dad, imploring that their eyes follow his.  
“Mr. Dibbens was frightened. He feared that his own life was in jeopardy, and, not desiring to take the law into his own hands, he appealed to the laws of the country for protection. But, unfortunately, in making that appeal, HE was charged with the crime of swearing falsely, which may be punished by confinement for seven years in the state’s prison!”
The room was hushed. No one moved as the attorney continued.
“His wife tells you that they wanted to ‘string her husband up,’ that she saw one man holding a rope. And it is further in evidence that these men threatened to tear down the cabin.”
Mr. Howitt turned and extended his hand, palm up, toward ARJ. ARJ sucked in his breath and held it as every eye focused on him.
“And, why did the child cry if no threats were made to their safety?”
ARJ scooted back in his chair, trembling but not crying this time. Mr. Howitt continued.
“If the idea was to have a friendly talk, why did they not go two or three and tell him calmly of the issue?”
“No.” His voice rose and filled the room. “After nightfall, they go – forty or fifty of them! What woman would NOT be frightened under such circumstances? Or man either?”
At this point, Mr. Howitt went silent. The entire room sat in complete silence.
“Let me repeat for you, fine gentlemen of the jury, the one question you must answer to find Mr. Dibbens not guilty of the crime of perjury.”
“Was the assembling of these parties in such numbers enough to make an ordinary man fear for his own or his family’s safety?”
One final pause and Mr. Howitt walked confidently back and took his seat next to Dad.
Judge Campbell dismissed the crowd to allow the jury space for deliberation.
The crowd exited the courthouse, followed by ARJ, Uncle Albert, Dad, and his lawyers. A deputy closed the door behind them, leaving only the jury inside the courtroom.
Nearby, a reporter sat on the steps of the boardwalk, busily scratching pencil to paper. “Hey!” another man called to him. “Murdock has a new assignment for us. He needs us down at the paper.” The first reporter waved his hand and then went back to writing. “I got to keep writing before I forget Judge Howitt’s words. I’ll be there in a second.”
“Now we wait.” Mr. Howitt told Dad as they stood on the boardwalk.
Dad nodded. “Thank you for your kind words in court this morning.”
“I meant every word of it.”
Mr. Howitt glanced at the hot, midday sun and donned his black felt hat. He nodded at ARJ, Dad, and Uncle Albert, then turned toward his office.

15.1 "Was the assembling of these parties in sufficient numbers as to intimidate or make an ordinary man fear for his safety?"

From his courtroom chair later that morning, ARJ fixed his eyes on the world outside the open window. A wild rose bush peeked over the windowsill, dark pink blossoms nodding their heads in the warm breeze. Butterflies of a large variety found the roses. One floated on the breeze until it found a flower. He watched as it unwound its proboscis, dipping it into the flower's center, then flitting to the next. The scene was much nicer than the one within the hall. An attorney for the other side, Mr. Tucker, was in front of the jury, telling them lies about an event the man hadn't attended. It angered ARJ to listen as he described the mob's leaders as "men of high standing in the community." Would the men on the jury believe that?
ARJ turned to the window just in time to see a large
grasshopper land on the bush, startling the butterflies. Its wings buzzed open again, and it landed on the windowsill. ARJ thought it was larger than the one he'd seen yesterday. The insect stared at him with one black eye. Designs on its face and body reminded ARJ of a stained-glass window in some odd way.
A lull in Mr. Tucker's speech pulled ARJ back to the room.
The attorney had ended his remarks and was returning to his seat.
'Good!' ARJ thought to himself.
The judge looked over at Dad's lawyers.
"Is the defense ready for closing arguments?"
Mr. Howitt stood.
"Yes, Your Honor." He said as he tidied a stack of papers. Then, he walked quickly to stand before the jury, paused to straighten his collar, and smiled at the men.
ARJ exhaled slowly and silently. He felt some of the tension leave his body, instinctively understanding that this kind man, now speaking, believed every bit of Mum's testimony of that frightening night.
Mr. Howitt's calm voice filled the room. "It is my experience, both as an attorney and during my time as a judge, that jurors, as intelligent men…, always take in their surroundings. My desire as a counselor, in this case, is only to aid the jury in arriving at a proper conclusion, drawn from the evidence and instructions of the court." He gestured to Judge Campbell, who had given them detailed instructions earlier and read the laws pertaining to Dad's case.
Mr. Howitt continued.
"Men do not all employ the same method of reasoning, and the attorneys in summoning up the case are but aids to help the jury determine the best verdict. The court has told you that in order to find Arthur Dibbens guilty, you must find he made his complaint maliciously…" Mr. Howitt looked down the row of jurors, "and knowingly,… false. The main question for you to decide is this."
He paused, waiting for every eye.
"Was the assembling of these parties in sufficient numbers as to intimidate or make an ordinary man fear for his safety?"
He paused a second time, almost willing them to answer.
"Some twenty or thirty men meet after dark to visit a stranger, a foreigner, to scare him off his claim. He was unfamiliar with the laws and customs of the country. I propose that such a gathering would intimidate any man. It would make no difference what the intentions of the group. Twenty or thirty men visiting a home – in the dark hours of the night and ALL strangers to the defendant. I wonder if you can imagine yourself in that situation?"
Another pause. The jury sat unmoving, not taking their eyes from Mr. Howitt. 

14.2 "What if I did hurt the spiders?" He worried.

Wichita, Kansas - June 13, 1874

ARJ watched Mum snuff the candle near the bed a short time later, and a fixed beam of blue moonlight replaced the flickering yellow. ARJ turned to face the wall. He heard Mum lower herself to the chair near Dad and listened as Dad filled her in on the day's events. Their hushed conversation comforted him, making it difficult to keep his eyes open. 

Laughter rose through the open window from the street below. Down the street, a door slammed, a dog barked, and a wagon rumbled by, pulled by horses who pounded their hooves into the soft dirt of the road. Even the noise of a cow town couldn't keep him awake tonight. 

The delicate buttercup lay safely on the table, but the tiny spider drawing remained in the palm of ARJ's hand. He blinked, closed his eyes, and felt his breathing slow.

Home. The Isle of Wight. He wished he could drift across America and the ocean on a cool breeze, like a money spider ballooning a silky web to travel home.  

And then he was there…, home. ARJ walked next to his grandmother along the road near Chatham House. Finally, they came to a green meadow. Buttercups lined the way, and he stooped to pick a bloom, then turned to show it to Grandmother. "I'll see if you like butter!" she told him. "Hold the flower under your chin." Laughing, he did as instructed. "Yes, I see you do! Your chin has turned as yellow as butter!" He held it under her chin and then laughed at the result. 

"Grandmother, you also like butter!"

As he turned to pick another flower, the meadow was suddenly covered in silvery gossamer spiderwebs. They sparkled like diamonds with the morning dew. ARJ gasped in delight! "It's so beautiful!" An arm's length into the webs was a beautiful buttercup waving on a tall stalk. He stretched to reach it over the webs and noticed tiny spiders filled the silver strands. 

"Money spiders! Careful," Grandmother said, "it's bad luck to hurt a spider."

ARJ hesitated and then reached out again. From behind, a hare bounded by him, hind legs stretched and long ears flat across its back. It leaped into the gossamer, cutting through the webs across the meadow. ARJ ran after the hare, using the path it created through the field. Long strands of web clung to ARJ's legs, pulling at him, slowing him down. Finally, he freed himself and looked around for the hare but could no longer see it. Turning around to look for Grandmother, he saw her standing far off at the meadow's edge. She blew him a kiss and waved. ARJ looked forward again and saw two figures standing on the field's opposite edge. Mum? Dad? He started through the webs toward them as the money spiders wove silk thicker and thicker ahead of him. Fear filled his heart as he attempted to push his way through without hurting the tiny creatures, but Dad motioned for him to carry on. 

The webs reached silver tendrils higher and higher, trying to hold him back, but he struggled on toward his parents. After what seemed like hours, Dad was close enough to catch his arm.

"ARJ! Wake up! It's just a dream." Someone shook his arm. 'Dad?'   

ARJ cracked open his eyes. Early morning light filtered through the room, and he saw that Dad was dressed and ready for the trial. 

"Dad," he whispered, "I want you to stay with us. I don't want you to go to prison!" 

Tears flooded down his cheeks with the release of his worries. Dad sighed.

"Maybe you should stay here with Mum this morning." 

"Please let me go to the trial with Uncle Albert. I got through the spiderwebs, and I don't think I even hurt one spider. So maybe it will be alright."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Son."

ARJ told him about the dream while Dad scrutinized his story as he talked. Serious concern wrinkled his brow. He lowered himself to the bed and pulled ARJ onto his lap. ARJ opened his fist to show him the tiny spider drawing still in his palm. 

"What if I did hurt the spiders?" He worried.

Dad gently shook his head and pulled ARJ closer. "Those are just stories. Just things people invent when they're afraid…, but our trust remains in God. We must go through this day; like it or not, Son. God takes care of the spiders, the hares, and the flowers. He will also take care of us."

 

14.1 In the flickering candlelight, it seemed to be moving.

 ARJ sat at the hotel room window most of the afternoon, staring at the building across the street and wondering what was happening at the trial. Mum rested behind him, but he knew she wasn’t sleeping. He could hear the bed creak as she turned over again and again. They took dinner in their room as the sun descended lower in the west. Neither had much of an appetite or a desire to hold much conversation.
Mum returned to the bed, and ARJ moved back to the window. He could see the lamps lit through the courthouse windows, illuminating the rooms and dispersing the shadows. The noise of the town strangely reminded him of home, his real home – Ryde, where the neighbors were close, and one could hear the comings and goings all around the community. It was a big adjustment when they moved to Kansas and the farm.
Laughter erupted from below, followed by scuffling boots on the boardwalk. ARJ leaned out the window as far as he could to locate the source of the noise coming from the street. Dad had cautioned him to stay in the hotel, especially on Friday night. The unruliness of the cowboys and farmhands was ramping up as they filled the Wichita streets, pushing through the doors to the saloons.
Suddenly, the doors of the courthouse, where Dad sat, flung open, and the crowd filed out, hushed voices replacing the disorderly behavior of earlier that morning. He watched as Uncle Albert cut through the crowd and crossed to the hotel.
“Mum, they’re finished. Here comes Uncle Albert.”
Mum slowly rose from the bed, smoothing her dress and running her hands over her hair as quick steps climbed the stairs and sounded in the hall.
ARJ had the door open before Uncle Albert reached it. He immediately sensed a change in his uncle’s demeanor.
“Anna, I think you might have done it. You seem to have knocked some wind out of the prosecution!”
Mum let herself smile for an instant. “I was surprised they didn’t bombard me with questions this afternoon.”
“I think Sluss realized you’d captured the hearts of at least some of the jury with your testimony. He knew he risked pushing more  your way by questioning what you had to say.”
“Is it over for today?”
“Yes. Arthur may be late. He and his lawyers were in deep discussion when I left. I’ll head to the farm to check on everyone and see you tomorrow morning.”
An evening breeze wafted through the open window. Mum sighed and wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She took ARJ’s hand as they watched Uncle Albert walk toward the livery. She sighed, and ARJ knew she was thinking about JW and Eva Anna. She placed her hand on her belly and then looked back at the nearly empty courthouse,
“If only a person could be in two places….” Mum said quietly.
The sun was now below the horizon, and shadows
filled the room. Mum walked to the table and lit the candle. ARJ turned to watch her, keeping one eye on the doors across the street. She pulled an envelope from her pocket and sat in the flickering light.
“Is that a letter from Grandmother Jarman, Mum?”
Mum nodded. “Uncle Albert handed it to me before he left. He must have stopped by the post office.”
She opened the envelope and slipped the creased papers from it. ARJ watched as a flat yellow object fell from it and drifted silently to the floor. He left the window to retrieve it.
“Mum, it’s a pressed flower.” ARJ held his palm out for his mother to see.
“A buttercup….” Mum said, returning her eyes to the page.
ARJ examined the five yellow petals, round and encircling a powdery golden center.
Mum glanced up at him. “The buttercup is for you. Grandmother wants to know if you remember the meadow near Chatham House.”
He nodded. “Shiny yellow flowers grew along the edge of the field… and spiderwebs covered the grass!”
Mum smiled. “You and Grandmother must be thinking of the same day. Look what she drew in the corner of the letter for you.”
ARJ bent toward the page and spied a tiny spider. In the flickering candlelight, it seemed to be moving.
“A money spider!” he exclaimed, “Grandmother said I must never kill a spider. It would be bad luck!”
Mum carefully tore the corner from the letter and handed it to ARJ.
“I don’t think there is any danger that you’ll kill this one, and we could certainly use some luck right now.”
ARJ walked back to the window with his new treasures in hand. He looked down at the courthouse just as the windows went dark. A few moments later, the doors opened, and Dad came through, followed by two of his lawyers. The men shook hands, and Dad started across the street toward the hotel.

13.3 “I have no questions at this time.”

 “And, your husband, Mr. Dibbens, came home to this group of men?”
Mum nodded. “Yes, maybe half an hour later. I could see through a crack at the edge of the door. The shouting got louder as he drove into the yard, and someone in the crowd held a rope….” Mum put the handkerchief up to the corner of one eye.
“Take your time.”
Mum started again. “Someone… I believe it was our neighbor to the south…  held a rope over their head.”
“You recognized someone.”
Mum cleared her throat. “At the time, I wasn’t sure, but when I saw the man in town a week later, I knew it was Mr. Mason I saw that night.”
A rumble rippled through the room.
“He held a rope above his head?”
“Lies!” ARJ heard a man say, nearly under his breath.
She looked down at the handkerchief in her lap as she spoke. “He held it up, stretched over his head, and yelled “String him up!” several times.”
“At that point, what were you thinking?”
Mum looked over at ARJ, then leaned forward, speaking more softly. “I was afraid the men were getting angrier, and it might escalate into a horrible outcome for Arthur, with his children just inside.”
“Could you hear what was said in the farmyard?”
“I heard some of it, but the men blocked him from getting to the cabin. At that time, the wind picked up and drowned out their voices. Soon after, he walked toward the shed with the horses, followed by some men. It was an hour or more before Arthur came through the door.”
“When your husband entered the cabin, did he tell you what had happened?”
“He told me they demanded that he relinquish his claim on the land. He finally agreed because they told him it was the only way they would let him pass.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Dibbens. I have no further questions, Your Honor.”
Mr. Howitt walked toward his seat. The judge looked over at Mr. Sluss, who was scribbling something on paper.
“Does the State have questions for Mrs. Dibbens?”
Mr. Sluss stood halfway and spoke. “I have no questions at this time.”
The judge glanced at his pocket watch. “In that case, Mrs. Dibbens, you are excused, and I’ll remind the jury not to discuss the case with anyone. We’ll take a thirty-minute recess.” Judge Campbell dismissed the crowded room with his gavel.
Mum looked over at Dad, exhaustion clouding her eyes. Uncle Albert was already moving to help her from the chair. ARJ reached his arms around Dad’s neck from behind. Dad grasped both hands in one of

his for a moment without turning to look at him.
“You stay with your mum, son. She needs you.” Dad patted his hands and let go. He turned to his brother.
“Albert, please see that Anna rests the remainder of the day… and all day tomorrow, at least until the jury returns. Mr. Howitt believes there’ll be a verdict by sometime late afternoon.” Mum waved her hand in Dad’s direction to say she was fine, but Uncle Albert nodded.
Dad continued, “Rachel and the children, they’re doing alright?”
“They’ve been doing fine. They’re anxious to have all of us home again.”
Dad nodded in agreement.
Mum slowly rose from the chair, grasping Uncle Albert’s arm as she took one slow step forward. She glanced over at Dad, who gave her half a smile, holding her eyes for a long moment.
“You did FINE today, Anna.”
Uncle Albert pulled her forward as the crowd dissipated in front of them. Her chin held high, the three of them moved to the door. ARJ clutched Mum’s fan tightly in his hand. He turned to look back at Dad before he went through the door. Dad sat watching them go, looking small and far away.