Merrick shuffled into the courthouse, the chains on his bare ankles clanking over the marble floor and chafing the rat bites on his feet with each step he took. Ahead of him, another prisoner staggered, shoved forward by one of the two soldiers who had escorted them from the dungeons of Fort Charles.

The small but ominous hall of justice, situated just east of the governor's mansion, was thronged with spectators, inside and out. The room's tall stone pillars and white tile ...