Lessons learned from re-enactment

On Friday, July 5, the Weston County Arts Council and News Letter Journal presented a reenactment of a controversial event in the history of Newcastle. I was honored to be asked by Tom Voss to participate in this event. I’m speaking about the Hanging of Diamond Slim, which happened in 1903. While I was pleased to act in this re-creation, I also have a couple of issues about it as well. But those particular issues I have are with me, with who I am as an individual, with what I feel about what is right and wrong, and the realization, once again, that I am a flawed human being.
You see, my problem started with two epiphanies. First of all was the knowledge that the actual hanging event (even if a person feels that Slim deserved to be hanged, that he was guilty of the Church murders) was, in fact, murder in its own right. We do live in a country that is supposed to be run by the rule of law. One of those laws is that a man is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But there was no trial with this event. One of the arguments that led to the mob forcing Slim to be turned over for hanging is the fear that he would cop an insanity plea and get off. 
And I get it, I do. I hate seeing that happen in the court system today, and I realize that they had that same hatred for injustice in the past. But isn’t that also a part of what makes our system such a good method of justice? We are supposed to live with the idea that it’s better for the courts to decide the guilt of an accused, and risk that the guilty go free rather than to possibly punish the innocent. This precept was not handed down to Diamond L. Slim. Because of that, I came into this event with a sense of darkness, a feeling that this would be, or should be, kind of creepy. I did not go into it with the idea that we shouldn’t do it. Don’t get me wrong. Just because it is, in reality, a dark cloud on the history of our city does not mean I believe we should avoid recognition of the event.
I’m not even of the mindset that acting it out is wrong. I don’t think that at all. There is a visceral reaction I had seeing a man marched down the street in his bare feet, having the noose placed around his neck, and having him shoved backward to be hanged, and in this case, decapitated, that I would not have had with somebody reading a story. I also reacted to seeing my friends pull their handkerchiefs up to cover their noses and mouths, but that reaction was more amusement than creepy because I also realized that this action hid the identity of these individuals from not a single person. This is also part of the story for me. When we are doing technically wrong things, we tend to try and cover it up. But can we really hide from our wrongs? The older I get, the more I realize that trying to cover our sins actually points them out, much like covering their faces didn’t hide the identity of the people very well, but instead just made clear the idea that they knew this action was wrong. And I had a bit of trouble at first trying to not laugh about it, even as I pulled my own cloth up to cover my face.
Then there is the major issue I had with this reenactment. My real problem comes from this realization about myself and all the intricacies it speaks about my nature. I enjoyed myself! I had trouble even writing this column because I had difficulty reconciling my sense of what’s right and wrong, especially with the law, and the knowledge that during our reenactment of an event I find offensive, I had a good time. How do you even write about something like that? I have struggled with that idea for a few days. But I have had to take a road trip this week. By a bit of a road trip I mean that so far I’ve put in over 2,500 miles, to California, for a family visit. And I drove the whole way. That is a lot of time with just your mind to keep you company, and when you’re driving through the Utah Salt Flats your thoughts can really wander all over the place. And, I think I figured out why I have had trouble with this whole thing, and what to do about it.
You see, I realized this was an event that should probably have had some warnings about the way we behave. Should we have fun about a technical murder?
 I’ll let you answer that for yourself, but for me, I didn’t want to have fun. That’s my answer. I’m against murder. And yet I’m acting, something I’ve always enjoyed thoroughly, in a re-creation of a crime. And the point is this: I had a great time! What does that say about me? I got to thinking, what would it have been like for me if I had been around in 1903? Here in 2019, at least before acting in this re-creation, I would have had no problem stating that I would not have been a part of this mob. But right now I don’t drink, I wasn’t out busting cows, and live a comfortable life with the electricity on, the internet active, and all the books I want for little or no money. Would I have been that type of person over a century ago? No, I would not have been. I am sure I would have just come in from rounding up the cattle, plowing the land, or covered in sweat and coal dust. There are campfires and drinks. I’m tired, probably very sore from all the hard work, and a bit frustrated with that one cow that wouldn’t do what she was supposed to do, so I also would need to blow off steam. So, give me a beer and let me warm my hands around the fire while all the other cowboys, some of them already well gone in drink, are shooting the bull with each other.
In this scenario, the Church murders are still fresh on our minds, and we have someone in jail right now for those murders. Then the issue of an insanity plea comes up. What would that do to the way I figured justice worked? If I were a typical person of that day, I probably would have read nothing about the law, or possibly anything else for that matter. My idea of justice would be strapped to my hip or come from my drinking buddies. Whatever the case, I would not have the same sense of “innocent until proven guilty” that I hold to today. I would also be aware that the Church couple was well liked, popular even. I might have yet known them, and liked them. And the man who killed him, after all, we KNOW he did it — he sits in the jail right now. Wouldn’t this be my mindset? So what would I have done?
Now, I played the part of someone who stood up, not for Slim, but for the idea that we haven’t seen the confession, and there’s been no trial yet. So we can’t hang a man on that basis. And apparently, there was that element of this event. But they still bowed to peer pressure and went along with it. Personally, I don’t think back then I would have stood up for the law. I would have stood up for revenge. I say that because of how I reacted to this reenactment. I didn’t want to have fun. I wanted to be creeped out by the darkness of the whole thing. I wanted to be offended because of the assault on my sense of right and wrong. But I had a great time instead. I wanted this to be an event that we can learn from and take to heart the idea that we can never go down this road again. That is not a fun idea. But I still had a great time.
I do, however, think there is something to learn from this. I have often wondered how the German people could go along with the Nazi party. I have often been perplexed by the ideas of rioting after events like the Rodney King trial and verdict. The whole mob mentality has always been something I couldn’t quite figure out. Maybe I didn’t want to figure it out. Maybe I realize I could quickly become part of that mob thought, and I didn’t like it and didn’t want to face it. Now I’m facing it. I still don’t like it, but I also think I could easily have been a part of it, especially 116 years ago, when I would not have had the resources to education and news that I have today. After all, when you are expected to start earning a living at age 14 or so, when do you go to college? When your news comes second-hand around the campfire or when you’re heading cattle through town to the stockyards, how do you keep up with what’s going on in the world? The fact is I would have been more likely concerned with the health and stability of the herd. I would be worried about my kid sister surviving this latest bout with the flu. Whether or not a killer had a trial might have been a trivial matter. To me, it would have been enough, more important even, that my peers were saying, “He’s guilty” than waiting for a trial. And the mob rule would have been too easy to accept as the right rule, especially after a hard day with a bunch of stupid cows, and now I have a couple of beers in me to help soften the blow of such a hard life.
Mob rule. It’s a hard piece to get your mind around. But I still had a great time. And isn’t that part of the mob rule? I participated in this freely. I also realize I will do so next year, and the next, and the next, if I’m asked to do so. It’s not that I think we should be out there partying to a historical event that doesn’t paint everything with roses and baby chicks. But should we ignore it? I would have even more problems with that. Was it wrong to have a good time doing this? No, I don’t think so. If we didn’t make this fun, at least in part, I think the tendency for people is not to do it. Then the memory would die, and we would not even have the chance to learn something.
And that’s where I come full circle. I use to take pride in myself that my German heritage came to the United States before the rise of the Nazi party. And I used to kind of judge the people of Germany for not only allowing but embracing Adolf Hitler as they did. But what’s the real issue? 
Germany broke apart after World War I. Inflation was at an unheard-of rate where a wheelbarrow of money could buy you a day’s ration of bread. And along comes this upstart, charismatic, eloquent speaker that not only talked about how it should be, but how it was going to be better under them. Where would I have found myself if I had been there? Resisting Hitler, or embracing him? Where would I have been when presented with Slim’s case? Resisting the mob, or adopting it? I just might have been the one who pushed that scum off the bridge.