Escape Attempt

Escape Attempt

by Reinhold Kramer

Excerpt from an unpublished screenplay
based on the biography, Walk Towards the Gallows: The Tragedy of Hilda Blake, Hanged 1899
by Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell (2002)

This is a work of fiction: all non-historical and historical characters are used in a fictional way.

(HUNTING)

EXT. FALL. SOMEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY. KNEE-HIGH GRASS AND SCRUB-BRUSH.

Low-angle shot of three men with guns walking at a leisurely pace toward the camera. Inspector Kircaldy and two of his friends, Preston and Reed, are waiting for their dogs to scare up prairie chickens.

REED
. . .and before he could get the gun to his shoulder, the dog had the chicken by the neck, and had already given it a rather liberal shake. . . He said, 'Next time I'll just shoot the damned cur.'

Kircaldy and Preston laugh.

KIRCALDY
I don't blame the dog; I blame Cameron. He lets his dogs run wild a'nights, looking for pastry along the Assiniboine. In the morning they come home chewing on the hind leg of a deer.

PRESTON
The dog holds the leash and the master sniffs the ground.

They walk a few paces in silence.

PRESTON
New animal from the kennels?

KIRCALDY
Mmmm. Three-year-old setter. Well-disciplined.

REED
Why don't you say it, James. (Pause. Then Reed turns to Preston.) Robert Lane's old dog. The man who rose from nothing.

PRESTON (to Kircaldy)
Really?

KIRCALDY
Yes.

PRESTON
I suppose they've appointed a new treasurer for the
Gun Club by now.

REED
Clifford Sifton.

They all laugh again.

PRESTON
Not bloody likely!

REED
James? The maidservant who murdered Mary Lane, do you think Robert read the Song of Solomon to her in the closet, as everybody says?

KIRCALDY
I can see by your sense of propriety, Reed, that you're packing your bags to enlist with the Boers.

REED
She's a handsome girl. I wouldn't mind a parley-voo with her in the tool-shed myself.

KIRCALDY
Damn you!

REED
Ah, ah, look at this. He reddens. (begins to exaggerate Kircaldy's Scottish accent) A wee bit besotted wi' her yerself, air ye Jemms?

KIRCALDY (with deliberation)
She. . . is. . . a lady . . . sir.

REED
Well. . . she does wear petticoats.

Awkward silence, as the two men stare at each other.

The silence is eventually broken by the barking of Reed's dog. Preston and Reed immediately hurry over to the direction of the sound, and raise their rifles. Even Kircaldy, a half a second less quickly and less fully, is roused out of his indignation by the pleasures of the hunt. The dog comes into view, but no prairie chickens. The dog facing the hunters, gives one more bark.

PRESTON
Well-disciplined, by god! The prairie chickens are exceedingly safe with her, Thomas. She'll break no necks.

REED
(As he walks over to the dog.) Now you've disappointed me, Riel. (The dog sits as he approaches.) I'm going to have to cashier you. (Points his rifle at the dog's head from close range.) I hope you won't take this badly, old girl.

The dog just continues to look past the muzzle at Reed. Reed lowers the shotgun. Walks back toward the other two men.

PRESTON
She'll wait patiently for the shot, and thank you into the bargain.

Mid-range shot of the dog alone, still seated. Waiting.

CUT TO:

INT. CHAPEL OF THE BRANDON PROVINCIAL JAIL. NIGHT.

Emma Stripp is sleeping. Hilda Blake lies in bed but can't sleep. She wears a decisive and even hard expression. Robert Lane is, of course, not present, but she hears him and replies, whispering.

ROBERT
(voice-over)
You can't stay all night. You have to go to your own room.

HILDA
I don't want to go to my room.

ROBERT
(voice-over)
If one of the children were to come. . .

HILDA
It's a loathsome room.

DISSOLVE TO:

(A REGULAR DEVIL)

INT. THE LANE PARLOUR.

Mary is not home. Hilda glances in through the open parlour door as she is walking by.

ROBERT
Come sit down Miss Blake. (Jokingly) Your master bids you.

As she hesitates, not sure what is intended, Robert gets up with a slow grace, steps very near to her and guides her, with his hand on the small of her back, into what is clearly Mary's chair – knitting beside it.

ROBERT
Just a minute.

He exits. Hilda sits on the edge of her chair and looks slowly around the room. Robert re-enters with a lemonade.

ROBERT
(Giving her the drink.) Our new employee must be made comfortable on her first day. (He is standing and she is still seated. He puts a hand on her shoulder and looks into her eyes.) Otherwise she'll say, "Those Lanes! The children are beasts and the parents are worse. They don't know how to treat a lady."

HILDA
(She's so highly sensitized to the hand on her shoulder that she can't laugh, and is hardly conscious of what she's saying.) They're dear children, no trouble.

ROBERT
Your lie does you credit, Miss Blake! (He moves to his seat.)

HILDA
(almost distressed)
No lie, sir!

ROBERT
Perhaps not. If I think of the atrocities I committed when I wore short pants, you may be right. By comparison, I mean.

HILDA
(still very serious)
Atrocities? No.

ROBERT
I assure you I was a regular devil. There was a fat boy in my school up in the Birdtail, and if he had murdered me for the things I did, it would have been only justice. Many a good sermon the old man spent on me. He never caned me or John – that's my brother – but he'd haul us into the parlour and hold a prayer meeting. Very serious. (Imitates his father. Pretends to pray fervently) "Dear Faetherrrr in Heaven, we besaych thee, give Robert trrrrue contrition in his heart, that contrition which layds to repentance! That hay may loove his neighbour!"

Hilda manages a weak laugh.

ROBERT
Good advice do you suppose?

HILDA
Pardon?

ROBERT
Love thy neighbour. Is it good advice?

HILDA
(Uncertain of the proper response, but smiling slightly) It must be. The new Baptist minister Reverend McLaurin says so.

ROBERT
When I was young, I had a friend in the Birdtail who followed that commandment – rather too literally. He made pleasant conversation, to put it politely, with a pretty neighbour in her father's barn. Perhaps they conversed too loudly. In any case, one of the cows began to bawl, and wouldn't stop until the father came round to investigate.

HILDA
(Her laughter is a bit less forced.) Oh.

ROBERT
Oh is right!

HILDA
(Wanting to play along, even though she's not so adept at this sort of banter) But your father reformed you.

Robert doesn't answer, but looks at her with the beginnings of a smile. He waits long enough for her to colour, but not so long that she will feel acute embarrassment.

ROBERT
I'll say this much: whenever I chanced to be in a barn – I won't say whether in a reformed or an unregenerate state – the cows never bawled. . . . Tell me Miss Blake, are you in a reformed state?

HILDA
I don't know. I hope so.

ROBERT
(at the same time as Hilda says 'I hope so')
No, don't answer. A beautiful girl is in a perpetual state of grace. She's not subject to mortality. (Hilda takes pleasure in Robert's compliments and begins to relax.) Reformation is a stony and dark path. You lose the flesh off your feet. Of course, when a young miss as elegant as yourself speaks of reformation, I'm tempted to say "yes, with all my heart."

HILDA
I thought parents or, in hard cases, wives are responsible for reformation.

ROBERT
Mmmm. I suppose. Though you know that parents and wives are very quick with the rod, rather than with the kind of sympathy that leads to true contrition.

HILDA
(Laughing and sensing his permission to let go) I'd be much shocked to see Mrs. Lane applying the rod to you!

ROBERT
(laughing too)
Ah, but we're speaking of reformation. And matrons are in charge of that, wouldn't you say?

HILDA
Well, they're certainly in charge of me!

ROBERT
(Pause) Miss Blake, tell me that you have a beau and my reformation will be much easier to accomplish.

Hilda smiles and looks down with a kind of pretended shyness. Pause. Then they hear the door, and Hilda reluctantly gets up. Mary, holding the sleeping one-year-old Evelyn, enters the kitchen. Mary smiles and hands Evelyn to Hilda. Hilda sways with the child and watches Mary as Mary bustles about the kitchen.

CUT TO:

(MCLAURIN VISITS HILDA IN JAIL)

INT. PROVINCIAL JAIL IN BRANDON. SUMMER. EVENING.

Jailer Noxon leads Rev. McLaurin down the jail corridor. It's not a large jail, but there are a few cells.

NOXON
For the first few days she refused to eat. But then she started to sample Mrs. Noxon's delicacies and now her appetite is excellent.

McLaurin says nothing. Instead of going to one of the cells, Noxon stops at a door, raps on it, and turns the key. The woman who stands before the door is not Hilda, but a deferential, larger woman – Emma Stripp. Camera POV is McLaurin's, who is slightly surprised by the room.

NOXON
Visitor for Miss Blake.

We see Hilda rising from a reclining chair and Emma turns to her.

HILDA
Reverend McLaurin! How kind of you to visit me in my ... difficulty.

McLAURIN (earnest)
More than a difficulty, Hilda.

HILDA
Yes. (Pause) This is my matron Emma Stripp. Emma, Reverend McLaurin. (They shake hands.)

McLAURIN
(Looking around the room. It's large – 35 x 15. Besides Hilda's chair, the room contains a few benches, a large table, an organ, several arm chairs, and plants. A large, barred window overlooks the prison garden. On the walls are a picture of Christ being crucified and one of him healing the paralytic.) Hilda, these are not quite the circumstances in which I expected to find you.

HILDA
(Misunderstanding) Yes, I thought it dishonourable to be a domestic servant, and now look at me. Hilda Blake is in jail.

McLAURIN
No I meant the room, the chairs, the paintings. It's quite unlike the cell I expected. It's. . . .

HILDA
Chief Kircaldy asked Mr. Noxon to convert the chapel for me. It was kind of them.

EMMA
Them other cells are not really fit for a lady.

McLAURIN
(noticing that there are two beds)
The other woman in jail, the one who killed her baby. . .
HILDA
Glendenning.

McLAURIN
Agnes Glendenning. Does she live in here as well?

HILDA
Not in this room.

EMMA
(At the same time) She's a natural born criminal, Reverend, and very plain-looking. She speaks like a. . . . (doesn't quite know how to finish)

Pause. McLaurin is incredulous. Hilda smiles at him.

McLAURIN
(To Emma) I wonder if I could counsel Hilda alone.

Emma smiles, but does not move until Hilda speaks.

HILDA
Emma, would you excuse us?

Emma leaves.

McLAURIN
You bid her go and she goes?

HILDA
She's very kind to me.

McLAURIN
I can see that!

McLaurin moves his chair nearer to Hilda and begins to speak earnestly.

McLAURIN
When I first heard what had happened, I thought. . .

He is interrupted by a loud shout from one of the cells.

NEW INMATE
(off)
Laaaaaaah! Have mercy!

McLaurin is slightly alarmed, not sure whether this is a cry of the soul, a response to some unimaginable physical torture, or a new style in profanity.

HILDA
He's drunk. It's not the first time he has spent the evening with us.

McLAURIN
(Unsteadily resuming his train of speech.) I know that scolding never does any good. When I. . . I thought. . . I cannot come to see her. She has taken a life. She has. . . somehow. . . taken a life. Hilda do you understand what that means? (Hilda remains silent.) But after a couple of weeks I had a good cry and the Lord dealt with me. He said, no, she was nearly a member of your flock, she came to your Sunday School, you must ask her about the state of her soul. (Pause) Hilda, what of your soul? (He waits. Silence.) Have you repented? You must have repented.

HILDA
Yes. . . . I think so.

McLAURIN
You think. . . .? The Lord has shed his blood for us. Not one of us is righteous in his eyes. Not one. And if we sin he is faithful and just to forgive. (Pause) Do understand that, Hilda?

HILDA
Yes.

McLaurin looks at her. He is not satisfied. He feels that she is resisting, that she is too reticent.

McLAURIN
(Wanting to pierce her) I've spoken with Robert Lane. He seems like a man who has. . . misspent himself. The children! Hilda, those children have no mother! (Hilda's eyes begin to tear, though she tries very hard to control her emotions.) You are an orphan, and you know what that means. Now you've made four more children motherless. (Hilda begins crying softly.)

McLAURIN
(glad that she's crying)
Call on the Lord, Hilda.

HILDA
Lord, forgive me!

He puts his arm around her shoulder and she cries for a little while.

McLAURIN
He forgives you. But why did you do it?

When she hears that question, she begins to regain control of herself. She doesn't say anything.

McLAURIN
Why, Hilda?

HILDA
I don't know.

McLAURIN
Chief Kircaldy said that you told him it was a sudden fit of jealousy.

HILDA (tired)
I don't know what it was.

McLaurin takes his arm back. He is slightly embarrassed, not so much because of the emotional outpouring, but because despite the emotional outpouring she is still resisting him.

CUT TO:

EXT. BRANDON PROVINCIAL JAIL. EVENING.

McLaurin, hatted, unhappy, is walking away from the jail.

DISSOLVE TO:

(THE YUKON)

INT. LANE PARLOUR.

Robert fidgets. He gets up and walks to the darkened kitchen. Moves the salt-shaker.

CUT TO:

INT. CHILDREN'S BEDROOM. EVENING.

We can barely see, but evidently Hilda strokes a child's face and then gets up from the bed at the same time as Mary enters.

MARY
Thank-you, Hilda

CUT TO:

INT. LANE PARLOUR.

Robert re-enters and picks up his newspaper.

CUT TO:

INT. HILDA'S ROOM.

Hilda pulls out a small mirror and checks her hair.

CUT TO:

INT. LANE PARLOUR.

Robert puts down his newspaper and stokes the fire.

CUT TO:

INT. STAIRWAY.

Hilda descends.

CUT TO:

INT. LANE PARLOUR.

Robert is seated with his newspaper again. Hilda enters with a novel and smiles at Robert as she sits down. She opens the novel, but it's clear that she has no real intention of reading. He gets up, goes towards her and gives her shoulder a stroke. She is almost, though not fully, alarmed at the openness of such a gesture, but his smile and his hand calm her. In a second he has passed by her and is stoking the fire.

Mary enters, sits, and knits.

MARY
And did you ask the Camerons about Sunday?

ROBERT
Yes, 5 o'clock.

MARY
I suppose Ben will tell us about the Lake Erie steamers, then you'll start on the Yukon Trail. Then back to Lake Erie. Then the Yukon again.

ROBERT
For goodness sake, Mary, if you didn't want me to invite them, why tell me to? (He glances at Hilda in his exasperation, as if to ask her to side with him.)

MARY
I'm only asking you to include the ladies in the conversation for a change. Surely you men could talk about something other than yourselves for once?

ROBERT
(Annoyed) Perhaps you could draw up a list of suitable topics of conversation in the order that we should pursue them. We'll put the papers beside our plates for easy reference. (Pause) If. . .

HILDA
(At the same time) What . . . (Both Robert and Mary turn to Hilda. She continues, slightly embarrassed.) What happened in the Yukon?

ROBERT
(He laughs, pleased. Looks at Mary. She has a slight smile of amusement on her face.) We took a herd of cows up there in '96. Quite a job prodding them over the Chilcoot Pass. Then we slaughtered them on the banks of the Yukon River and ferried them to Dawson City. The river ran red with blood.

HILDA
That must have been difficult. But very exciting.

ROBERT
Getting the cows through the pass wasn't the worst of it. Part way, we came upon a team of dead dogs. Skeletons in harness, all that was left. . . . He must've tried to go through in a blizzard. (Warming to Hilda's obvious attention) Wolves cleaned the carcasses and man, that curious work of God, cleaned out the dead man's supplies. Sled gone, pack gone. Only surprise was that the harness was still there. At least they gave him a burial. Or rather, I hope they gave him a burial.

HILDA
(Shocked) Oh! Did you go through blizzards too?

ROBERT
We went in spring. But I call that prospector lucky.

HILDA
No.

ROBERT
Lucky. Do you know how many prospectors starved to death in the Yukon?

Hilda shakes her head.

ROBERT
I saw plenty of skeletons still walking. Without a working claim of some sort, or a private banker to stake you, the price of groceries alone could bankrupt you. Two dollars a rump roast, for Heaven's sake! Two! No wonder a man would rather drink whisky than eat.

HILDA
Whisky? Could they afford it?

ROBERT
(Caught in a contradiction, but enjoying his way out of it) Who could afford to stay sober in country like that? I remember one starving drunk who judged that it was the right hour to question the ways of Providence. He staggered up the street, shooting at the rooftops and yelling, "Where's the damned gold? Where's the damned gold?" He'd already spent his last cent on another drop of whisky. But if he were smart, he'd have saved a bullet for himself. Lucky the devil who got eaten by wolves before it came to that.

MARY
Are you outfitting Hilda with a supply of language for the Klondike, Robert?

ROBERT
I assure you, dear wife, that my Brandon companions, whom you hold in such great esteem, used language a great deal more ornate than "damned."

MARY
And of course you are, as you like to say, a regular devil.

Shot of Robert, glancing away.

CUT TO:

(I NEED YOU TO BRING A FILE)

INT. BRANDON JAIL.

Emma, clearly taking pleasure in her job, is combing Hilda's long brown hair. Hilda is deep in thought.

HILDA
. . . I can well believe that Frederick is a harsh man, Emma, but I call you lucky.

Emma looks at her questioningly.

HILDA
(Melodramatically) Lucky! I am a creature motherless and friendless. A harsh husband would be the least of my worries. . . .

EMMA
Oh Hilda, don't give up hope. There are many people who want to help you.

HILDA
Do you love me, Emma?

EMMA
Very much, Hilda, very much.

HILDA
Then I have to ask something of you, Emma. Something difficult and perhaps dangerous.

EMMA
(Pause) What?

HILDA
(More matter-of-factly) I need you to bring me a file from Frederick's tool box, and I need you to carry a letter for me.

EMMA
A letter yes, but not a file. They'd find out. I'd lose my job. Worse.

HILDA
Is Mr. Noxon in the habit of touching you in a familiar way?

EMMA
Hilda!

HILDA
Then how could they possibly catch you? I believe you think me solely responsible for Mrs. Lane's murder, (Emma protests, but Hilda does not pause) and I don't blame you for thinking it. I've confessed my guilt to the Chief, and just now, with Reverend McLaurin, I've repented again what I've had cause to repent many times since that terrible day.

EMMA
What did you tell them?

HILDA
That I was overcome by a sudden fit, and. . . that I shot her. (Melodramatically again) But there are many things that I've told no one. There are many things that would surprise you, Emma. Things that would make you think better of me if you knew them.

EMMA
(Passionately) Tell me, Hilda!

HILDA
I cannot speak plainly now. One day I will tell you everything and you will understand. But right now I need a file. (Matter-of-factly again. She marks a line underneath her breasts with her finger.) You hide it here with a bit of padding. No one will know.

EMMA
Was it Mr. Lane, Hilda? Everybody says so. I thought from the moment that I read of you in the Sun that it must have been a man. I told Frederick so. Tell me, Hilda. We'll bring him to justice.

HILDA
Emma, Emma, you are so kind. If I could tell anyone, I would tell you first.

EMMA
Then tell me. (Silence. The camera remains on Emma. She looks sad because they have clearly been through this before and she knows that Hilda will not tell.)

HILDA (sings)
"I guess I'll have to telegraph my baby."

CUT TO:

(AN INTERESTING LIFE)

INT. LANE PARLOUR.

Robert and Mary seated, Mary in her chair with her sewing. Hilda enters, a bit tentatively.

ROBERT
Ah, there she is!

MARY
What would you ever do, Robert, without two women to keep you company of an evening in the parlour?

ROBERT
Mary, Mary. You enjoy her company all day long. Is it terrible for me to enjoy the company of two charming ladies after a day's work?

MARY
(seeking to make amends)
Did I sound . . . ? Hilda, why don't you do your imitation of Mrs. Macdonald for Robert? Hilda is showing a bit of your talent, Robert.

HILDA
(Pretends to be aggrieved. She is pleased about the compliment to her wit and acting skills, but she's not too eager to show off a less feminine side to Robert.) Mrs. Lane, I couldn't!

Mary laughs. She quite understands Hilda's reluctance.

MARY
Mildred Worthington, that's the maid before you Hilda, worked like a cart horse. Unfortunately, she had the wit of one too. Robert and I called her "Sincerity". . . But I wish that Robert would enjoy your company just a little bit less.

ROBERT
She's such a brilliant conversationalist. I must enjoy!

MARY
Though it's your voice I hear most of the time, Robert.

HILDA
(Quite conscious that she's taking sides against Mary, and, in a small way, betraying her.) Mr. Lane has had such an interesting life – the Yukon, fighting that Riel. I like to hear him talk.

ROBERT
Ah! See there Mary! See there! Hilda, if I hadn't wed my dear Mary, I would have married you! (Slight pause. Robert recognizes that he has perhaps gone too far, and tries to bring back the bantering tone.) But of course I married Mary! (He rises, crosses over to Mary's chair, puts a hand on her back and plants a kiss on her forehead. Mary does not draw away, but neither is she mollified by the kiss.)

MARY
He never saw Riel, you know that?

HILDA
I know, but. . .

ROBERT
We fought at Batoche and assisted with the capture of Poundmaker. I have nothing to be ashamed of.

MARY
(Mimics in an over-lofty tone of voice.) I have nothing to be ashamed of. (Shifts to a normal tone) Your company arrived at Battleford some time after Poundmaker surrendered. Though you were in the general vicinity, and I guess that counts for something. Do you know, Hilda, they staged a mock battle afterwards, here in Brandon? B Company played the Indians – you should have heard their war whoops – and the Nintieth the Volunteers. I only hope the Volunteers weren't as drunk at Batoche as they were in Brandon.

ROBERT
Mary, are you then utterly disenchanted? As I recall, the first time I showed up in my uniform there was a young girl by the side of the road, breast aflutter. Do you recall that young girl?

MARY
(laughing)
Vaguely, vaguely.

ROBERT
Evenings in your parents' kitchen. You didn't mind my stories then. (Turns to Hilda) I'd ride seven miles to get an hour with Mary alone in the kitchen, then seven miles home again in the pitch black. It's a miracle I'm still alive. More dangerous than Batoche.

MARY
And no doubt gentlemen have called for you at one time or another, Hilda.

HILDA
(At a loss for words.) No.

MARY
I'm very surprised.

HILDA
(Narrows her eyes a bit) The ones who tried to be friendly all stank. Hogs. None of them would ever change their shirts for dinner like Mr. Lane does. I sincerely believe that they wore the same clothes for weeks.

MARY
I understand perfectly. . . You'd prefer Ivanhoe to come riding by!

HILDA
(More severely. She is not impressed by Mary's joke.) Gentlemen aren't so eager to meet a housemaid, ma'am.

MARY
Oh, it's difficult, I know. I didn't mean to mock you, Hilda. We'll lasso a gentleman for you yet. You just have to know where to look. Come with us to St. Matthew's Sunday morning.

ROBERT
A firm foundation for your religion!

HILDA
I suppose I ought to stay with the Baptists now that Reverend McLaurin has visited me here.

ROBERT
That follows inevitably?

HILDA
He's a kind man.

ROBERT
Mmm.

DISSOLVE TO:

("ESCAPE" ATTEMPT)

INT. BRANDON PROVINCIAL JAIL. SUMMER.

Jailer Noxon and one of his guards walk down the jail corridor to Hilda's room. McLaurin is seated with Hilda.

NOXON
Reverend, would you mind speaking with Miss Blake in the courtroom? We have a bit of cleaning to do here. Top of the stairs, to your left.

McLaurin and Hilda exit. The guard takes Noxon directly to the window and points at one of the bars.

GUARD
Bread dough and stove blacking.

NOXON
(He digs at the bar and a portion of it comes off. The bar has been partly sawed through. To cover up the work, whoever sawed it used bread dough and stove blacking.) What do you think?

GUARD
I think a file sir.

NOXON
Well, damn it, let's find it.

They search, and the guard finds the file hidden inside the organ. He gives it to Noxon. Noxon stands, holding the file and thinking.

GUARD
Mrs. Oysters-a-Specialty?

NOXON
I don't think so. Obviously not Kircaldy or McLaurin. I don't think the Baptist visitors. (Pause. Noxon thinks again.) Someone from outside. Put it back.

GUARD
Back?

NOXON
Yes.

He gives the file to the guard who, though he raises his eyebrows, does as Noxon bids. Meanwhile Noxon replaces the blackened dough to make it look as it was. Camera focuses on painting of Christ healing the paralytic.

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