Harrigan gets cussed out by preacher POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The plans of 3 opposing groups result in disaster at the beginning of the movie.Pike Bishop's Wild Bunch are disguised as soldiers to rob a bordertown bank. Railroad official Harrigan has set up an ambush with the reluctant help of Pike's former best friend Deke Thornton. The Temperance Society people are going to march down the main street promoting their cause, with no knowledge of the deadly events about to unfold.

The bounty hunting posse led by Harrigan opens fire on the Bunch fleeing with the loot, and many Temperance marchers are wounded and killed in the ensuing chaos. Shortly before the massacre, Thornton angrily tells Harrigan that he " should have told them", to which Harrigan responds that any warning he might give to the unsuspecting citizens would soon have been no secret at all in the small town.

After the horrendous gun battle, the preacher himself shouts furiously at Harrigan about his being responsible for this slaughter and that Harrigan " should have told/warned me/us" about the impending gun battle.

Exactly what is said in the noise and confusion of the battle and its aftermath is a little vague, but it seems that both Thornton and the preacher feel that the Temperance people specifically, and the townspeople in general should have been warned, and Harrigan is to blame for the catastrophe. The preacher seems far more outraged at the actions of the so called forces of law and order than the defensive firing of the bank robbers.

One might wonder if Harrigan will be in big trouble with his superiors for allowing the Bunch to get away, and killing a lot of innocent people in the process. Or would the railroad officials shrug it off as the cost of doing business when trying to capture/kill armed bank robbers.

I'd be curious as to what other viewers think about this.