The Hand of God

The Hand of God is a crime and Western short story by Murray Leinster, originally published in the July 25, 1930 issue of Short Stories magazine.

The story follows a small-town sheriff faced with an angry lynch mob determined to hang Sam Blake for the murder of a man named Kittinger. The evidence appears overwhelming: Blake has a motive, he is found near the scene, and a recently fired rifle seems to connect him directly to the killing.

Refusing to surrender his prisoner to mob justice, the sheriff carefully examines the evidence and discovers small inconsistencies that point to a carefully planned frame-up. His investigation gradually reveals the real murderer and shows how a seemingly insignificant mistake can expose the truth. The story contrasts reason and lawful justice with violence and hasty judgment.

"It was very hot when the sheriff sucked meditatively at his pipe in the county jail and listened abstractedly to the buzzing of the mob outside. It was dark, of course. Mobs do not often form in daylight—not mobs who propose to lynch one not especially reputable citizen for the murder of another still less reputable one."