How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"His name is Chambers. He is now over in the Territory and we think he was in the party with Lucky Ned Pepper that robbed a hack Tuesday down on the Poteau River." (2.29)
No wonder Mattie doesn't trust the law: they don't even have Tom Chaney's name right. On the other hand, neither does Mattie. Chaney's real name is Theron Chelmsford, and lawman LaBoeuf is the only one who knows that.
Quote #2
He showed me a list of indicted outlaws that were then on the loose in Indian Territory and it looked like the delinquent tax list they run in the Arkansas Gazette in little type. (3.2)
We get the full range of criminality in True Grit, everything from train robberies to tax evasion to forgery. Petty theft? Got that too. Even Mattie's walking a thin line with her quest for vigilante justice.
Quote #3
"The lawbreakers are legion and they range over the vast country that offers many natural hiding places." (3.20)
Here, Colonel Stonehill describes Indian Territory as a haven for the lawless. It could almost sound like Robin Hood hiding out in Nottingham Forest—if it weren't that these lawbreakers are murderers and thieves rather than benevolent wealth-redistributors.