Didnt little bill take the law into his own hands when he started being judge and jury and handing out donkey-as-a-compensation sentences? Even Sherrifs dont have that sort of authority , like Judge Dread , do they?
Yes, but the law *was* in his hands to take. Remember, this was Wyoming 1881 when Wyoming was a territory, not a state. There was no Constitutional protection for anyone in Wyoming at that time. Law and order was not all that organized or even-handed necessarily.
And let's not forget that Little Bill was the law and was within his power to settle "disputes" and hand out sentences in his best judgement. There might have been a federal judge assigned to Wyoming by the U.S. government, but it's likely the federal judge would have backed up Little Bill anyway.
Say the guy had killed the whore , would Little Bill have the authority to say "Hey just give Skinny a donkey and we'll call it even"
But Quick Mike didn't kill the whore, he just disfigured her. Would Little Bill have the authority though to settle with just a donkey if QM did kill Delilah? I don't know, but even if he did just disfigure her, Delilah might have had the option of contacting the federal judge assigned to the territory (assuming there was one) and asking for justice. The fact the whores raised hit man money leads me to believe that even a federal judge assigned to the Wyoming territory wouldn't have backed them, but backed Sheriff Little Bill.
But, I don't think Little Bill would have settled for just a fine for Quick Mike if he killed Delilah - Little Bill might have hanged Quick Mike for that for all we know. If Little Bill's justice was outside of the town folk's mores, then they would replace him with someone else. It seemed thought that the townsfolk (other than the whores over this particular incident) and deputies were happy with Little Bill being sheriff.
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