A Greater Love
Minerva Mason
John 15:13- “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.
Minerva had to stand tiptoe on her cot holding onto the bars to see out her window. But the constant banging and hammering noise was getting the better of her. She had never seen a scaffold built for a hanging before. She had seen a man hung on a tree once for stealing a horse, but this was entirely different. This was much bigger and more elaborate than she thought it would be.
But then there weren’t many women hung in these parts, so she guessed they were putting a little extra into this one because it was special. Even though the hanging wasn’t until tomorrow people were already coming into town for the occasion. There was a festive, almost carnival air invading the streets. Children were shouting, dogs were barking and she though someone might be selling things to eat.
It was a hot Texas morning and sweat glistened on Minerva’s neck and stuck her hair to her forehead. She fretted over her looks since so many people were coming into town just to see her. Not that they would have come for any other reason but to see her hang. But for once she would be the absolute center of attention.
Minerva wasn’t what you could call pretty, but she once had been, and she had never forgotten it. The years had not been kind and a record of her life could be easily read on her continence. Her skin was sallow, and her chestnut colored hair was dull, she was thinner than she should have been, and sad lines had begun to form around her large green eyes. You see Minerva was a “soiled dove,” a “shady lady,” or as the newspaper had said, a prostitute. She was considered to be a generally useless person by most decent folks. Someone the town ladies wouldn’t talk to if they met her on the street. This, and the fact that Minerva was a known thief hadn’t made it easy for her to make friends.
Minerva worked for Miss Daisy, the proprietor of the “Blue Buttercup,” a drinking, gambling, and other kinds “entertainment” establishment on the edge of town. The Law mostly looked the other way at the goings on at the “Buttercup”. But last Thursday night on of Minerva’s regular “Costumers,” a well-to-do cattle buyer from around El Paso had been found lying naked across the foot of her bed, shot dead. Minerva as well as the man’s bankroll were missing. This had brought a world of trouble down upon her head.
Now it would be easy to make Minerva out to be a victim of society or maybe blame some man. We could call her a victim and to spin a tale about how she wasn’t really guilty, because of how society had treated her, but that would be wrong. Minerva had a heart as black as the oil they would pump out from the ground she stood on in another hundred years, The sight of that fat old man’s bankroll was more than she could resist and when he objected she ended up putting a bullet into his heart with the derringer she always kept beneath her pillow.
She made a “run” for it, but she didn’t get far, the tired old Sheriff found her before sun-up, and had given her the right to a speedy trial. Miss Daisy was no help, she just wanted to distance herself as far from the incident as possible. Some of the folks in town were upset and talking about shutting her business down.
The trial didn’t last long, there were plenty of people willing to testify that she was a thief and that dead man was one of her regulars. Minerva sat in silence as a seeming endless parade of her faults and failures were brought out for all the world to review. Even Miss Daisy pointed her long boney finger and told how awful she was. That night Minerva lay awake in the darkness and cried bitter tears; but she wouldn’t let them see her cry, she had made her choices and knew she must live with them.
You could say Minerva was an orphan, if you wanted to drum up sympathy. But she wasn’t, her Maw and Paw loved her dearly and did everything they could to raise her right. But she was wild as the wind on the Texas Prairie and left home the minute she could figure out how to get away.
You could say Minerva had never known the love of a good man, but that wasn’t true either, her Paw was the well-paid foreman for the “White Ranch”. At the time it was quite literally the biggest, most prosperous ranch in all of Texas. Mr. J.W. White had a handsome young son named Joshua who had once declared for Minerva’s hand in Marriage. He fell in love with her when they were still just children and stood in faithful adoration of her charms till the day she ran away. He cried and held tightly to her hand and begged her not to go, he talked of children and a fine home. But she had spent her whole life on the ranch and now she wanted to see the world. She wanted fun, she wanted excitement, she enjoyed the attentions of many men. Josh White was much to tame for her, even though he was rich. But now it was time for her to harvest the seed she had sown.
Judge Markle D. Crone had presided over her trial, he was not an honest man, but he did have a sort of twisted since of chivalry and hated to sentence a woman to hang. But the community wanted justice, and someone had to pay for the crime that had been committed, he saw no other recourse. You see he could on occasion be bought off. But in this case the woman had neither friends nor assets to assist her in cutting him a deal. He was also an occasional costumer at the “Blue Buttercup” and he preferred the voters not look to closely at the situation.
Minerva heard a loud bumping sound and then a cheer rose from outside her window. When she pulled herself up at the window, she saw that they had tested the apparatus with a bag of sand and found it to be in working order. She supposed that everything was ready now and she felt lonelier than she ever had before. Tomorrow morning see would see her last sunrise. A strange mixture of fear and regret fell over her like a heavy curtain. She thought of who she was and who she could been. There was no one to speak for her, no one to care that she was lost.
At that moment two strangers rushed into the front office and accosted the deputy. “Please!” begged the younger, “don’t tell me we are to late! We are here to see Minerva Mason.”
Someone here to see her? Minerva couldn’t imagine who it could be, maybe the Parson had changed his mind and decided to talk to her after all. Heartsick, she lay down and hid her face in her pillow.
She heard footsteps and when she looked up, she saw two Cowboys coming towards her. “Sorry boys”, she said with a bit of both sarcasm and pathos, “I don’t think I am going to be open for business anymore.”
“Minerva?” With that she looked up into the handsome face of the only man who had ever loved her.
“No, no, Joshua, go away!” The tears flowed freely now, and the shame was almost more than she could bear. But be reached through the bars and grabbed her hand and brought it gently up to his lips. “Please, I cannot bear for you to see me like this.” The Deputy opened the door and Joshua held her in his arms once again. But after a moment in shame she pushed him away and told the Deputy to make them go away. “You must not know what I am Joshua! I am guilty!”
“Ah yes, I know what you really are Minerva, and I have always loved you, I never married another, I hoped someday to see you again. I waited for you Darling.”
She screamed and covered her face. “Get out! Get out! You don’t know me! To late Joshua White! To late.”
Mr. J.W. was quiet, but after a moment he turned and walked toward the door, Minerva’s deceased father had been his best friend, like a brother to him. J.W. was a smart businessman who had made many deals through the years, maybe he could make one more, he would go to see the Judge.
Judge Crone was more than happy to receive the large sum of money that was offered him. But there was just one problem, the town had worked itself into a fevered pitch and the people were determined that there would be a hanging the next morning, even if it was judge Crone who they hung. He feared the crowd that was already forming, they were hungry for Blood. “I will take your money Sir”, he said, “But a major crime was committed, someone will have to pay.”
J.W. White was troubled, but he trusted his son and when he told him what the Judge said he was quiet and thoughtful, and before long he had an answer to their problem. Mr. White was grieved by the answer, but he knew the love his son had for Minerva and he knew that when it comes to business not everybody wins.
Before dawn the next morning Minerva was spirited away quickly from her cell. ‘What? No Breakfast? No Parson? No Prayer?” Everything was happening more quickly than she anticipated and horse and the black silk bag pulled over her head did nothing to allay her fears.
At sunrise the people were surprised and a bit disappointed to see not a woman, but a man led up the stairs to the scaffold and the rope placed on his neck. But the Sherriff and the Judge both stepped forward and assured them that there had been a change in the case. Something not heretofore known had come to light and this cowboy would be taking responsibility for the crime. Since everything had already been planned, they would dispense with a new trial and go ahead and execute this man. It was he who would pay with his life for the death of the cattleman.
They were mostly out of town when Minerva pulled her horse to a stop and J.W. allowed her to turn and look back down the street at the crowd and the scaffold and the lone cowboy hanging there from a rope. Her heart broke at that moment when she understood the price her beloved had paid for her. Hot tears ran down her face but her life was never the same after she turned and saw him hanging there in her place. He died that she might go free. “The only man who ever loved her.”
John 3: 16- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:7- For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved
1 John 1:9- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
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