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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #54074 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54074)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Eye for an Eye, by Clarence Darrow
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: An Eye for an Eye
- Big Blue Book no. B-24
-
-Author: Clarence Darrow
-
-Release Date: January 30, 2017 [EBook #54074]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN EYE FOR AN EYE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
- BIG BLUE BOOK NO. =B–24=
- Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
-
-
-
-
- An Eye for an Eye
-
-
- Clarence Darrow
-
-
- HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
- GIRARD, KANSAS
-
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1905, by
- Clarence Darrow
-
-
- Printed in the United States of America
-
-
-
-
- AN EYE FOR AN EYE
-
-
-
-
- I
-
-
-When Hank Clery left the switch-yards in the outskirts of Chicago he
-took the street car and went down town. He was going to the county jail
-on the north side of the river. Hank had never been inside the jail
-though he had been arrested a number of times and taken to the police
-court, escaping luckily with a small fine which his mother had contrived
-to pay. She was one of the best washerwomen of the whole neighborhood,
-and never without work. All the officers knew that whenever Hank got
-into trouble his mother would pay the fine and costs. Hank had often
-been arrested, but he was by no means a bad fellow. He lived with his
-old Irish mother and was very fond of her and often brought his wages
-home if none of the boys happened to be near when the pay-car came
-around. Hank was a switchman in one of the big railroad yards in
-Chicago. Of course, he and his companions drank quite a little, and then
-their sports and pastimes were not of the gentlest sort; for that matter
-neither was their work—climbing up and down running cars and turning
-switches just ahead of a great locomotive and watching to make sure
-which track was safe where the moving cars and engines were all around—
-did not tend to a quiet life. Of course, most people think that no man
-will work in a switch-yard unless he drinks. Perhaps no man would drink
-unless he worked in a switch-yard or some such place.
-
-Well, on this day Hank was going to the jail, not on account of any of
-his own misdeeds, but on an errand of mercy. The night before, the
-priest had come to Hank’s home and told him that his old friend, Jim
-Jackson, had begged for him to visit the jail. Hank at first refused,
-but the priest told him that Jim had no friends and was anxious to have
-a few minutes’ talk with him before he died; Jim had some message that
-he wanted to give Hank that he could not leave with anyone else. Hank
-knew that Jim was to be hanged on Friday, and he had thought about it a
-good deal in the last few days and wished that it was over. He had known
-Jim for a long time; they had often been out together and sometimes got
-drunk together. Jim once worked in the yards, but one night one of the
-other boys was struck by the Limited as it pulled out on the main track,
-and Jim and Hank gathered him up when the last Pullman coach had rolled
-over him; and after that Jim could never go back to the yards; so he
-managed to get an old horse and wagon and began peddling potatoes on the
-street.
-
-One evening Hank took up the paper, and there he saw a headline covering
-the whole page and a little fine print below telling how Jim had killed
-his wife with a poker. Hank did not understand how this could be true,
-but as the evidence seemed plain he made up his mind that Jim had really
-always been a demon, but that he had managed to keep it hidden from his
-friends. Hank really did not want to go to the jail to see Jim; somehow
-it seemed as if it was not the same fellow that he used to know so well,
-and then he was afraid and nervous about talking with a man who was
-going to be hanged next day. But the priest said so much that finally
-Hank’s mother told him she thought he ought to go. So he made up his
-mind that he would stand it, although he was a great deal more afraid
-and nervous than when he was turning switches in the yard. After the
-priest left the house Hank went down to the alderman and got a pass to
-go inside the jail. He always went to the alderman for everything; all
-the people thought that this was what an alderman was for and they cared
-nothing about anything else he did.
-
-When Hank got down town he went straight across the Dearborn Street
-bridge to the county jail. It was just getting dusk as he came up to the
-great building. The jail did not look a bit like a jail. It was a tall
-grand building, made of white stone, and the long rows of windows that
-cover the whole Dearborn Street side looked bright and cheerful with the
-electric lights that were turned on as Hank came up to the door. If it
-had not been for the iron-bars across the windows he might have thought
-that he was looking at a bank or a great wholesale warehouse. Hank
-stepped into the large vestibule just inside the shelter of the big
-front door. Along each side was a row of people sitting on benches
-placed against the wall. He did not wait to look closely at this crowd;
-in fact, he could not have done so had he tried, for Hank was no artist
-or philosopher and was neither subtle nor deep. He saw them just as he
-would have seen a freight car stealing down the track to catch him
-unawares. He did notice that most of these watchers were women, that
-many of them were little children, and that all looked poor and
-woe-begone. They were the same people that Hank saw every day out by the
-yards, living in the rumble of the moving trains and under the black
-clouds of smoke and stench that floated over their mean homes from the
-great chimneys and vats of the packing houses. Most of the women and
-children had baskets or bundles in their arms, and sat meek and still
-waiting for the big key to turn in the great iron lock of the second
-door.
-
-When Hank went up to this door someone inside pushed back a little
-slide, showed his face at the peep-hole, and asked him who he was and
-what he wanted. Hank shoved the alderman’s letter through the little
-window and the door opened without delay. This was not the first time
-that the gloomy gate had turned on its hinges under the magic of that
-name, both for coming in and going out.
-
-Inside the little office was the same motley, helpless crowd of people,
-the same sad-faced women and weary children standing dazed and dejected
-with their poor baskets and bundles in their arms. Some were waiting to
-be taken through this barred door, while others had just returned and
-were stopping until the turnkey should open the outside gate and let
-them go.
-
-In a few minutes a guard came to Hank and asked if he was the man who
-brought the alderman’s note. On receiving the reply, the guard told him
-that the alderman was all right and it was worth while to be his friend.
-That was the way he got his job and he always stuck by his friends. Then
-the guard unlocked another door and took Hank to the elevator where he
-was carried to the fourth story. Here he was let off on an iron floor
-directly in front of a great door made of iron bars. The turnkey quickly
-unlocked and opened this door and let Hank and the guard into what
-seemed a long hall with iron floor, ceiling and walls. Nothing but iron
-all around. Along one side of the hall were more iron bars, and a wire
-netting ran from the ceiling to the floor. Along the whole length of
-this wire netting was a row of the same kind of people Hank had seen
-below. They were packed close to the grating, and crowding and pushing
-to get up to the screening. Most of these were women, here and there one
-of them holding a little child by the hand and one with a baby in her
-arms. On the other side Hank saw a row of men pressing just as closely
-to the netting, most of these looking pale and ill. The evening was hot
-and not a breath of fresh air was anywhere about. The peculiar odor of
-the prison, more sickening that the stock yards stench which Hank
-always, breathed, was so strong that he could not tell whether he
-smelled it or tasted it.
-
-The guards were rushing noisily around among the visitors and inmates,
-passing bundles and baskets out and in, calling the names of the
-prisoners to be taken from their cells inside and brought down to the
-wire netting to get a glimpse of some relative or friend. Hank was
-bewildered by it all and for a few minutes stood almost dazed, wondering
-what it meant and what good purpose it all served.
-
-Next to him stood a woman, perhaps forty years of age; in one hand she
-held a basket, and by the other the hand of a little girl about nine
-years old. The woman was dressed in a loose, ill-fitting gown and on her
-head was a black sailor hat. Behind the wire screen was a man of about
-her own age. He wore only black trousers, suspenders, a grayish woolen
-shirt and old shoes. The man and woman stood with their fingers touching
-through the netting. Hank heard the man say that he did not know what to
-do, that the good lawyers charged so much that he couldn’t have them,
-and the ones who came to the jail did more harm than good. It was funny
-that you couldn’t do anything without a lawyer. One of the prisoners,
-who was a smart man and had been there a good many times, had told him
-that the best way was to plead guilty and ask the mercy of the court;
-that he thought the judge might let him off with a two hundred dollar
-fine—“you know the State’s Attorney gets the money.” Hank heard the
-woman answer that maybe to pay the fine was the best way after all; as
-soon as he was arrested she took Gussy out of the high school, and Gussy
-was now working in the department store and thought Aggie could get in
-as a cash girl; of course Aggie was too young, but still she was pretty
-large for her age and might get through, as Gussy knew the floorwalker
-very well—he stopped at the house to visit one evening that week and was
-real nice.
-
-“I’ve been scrubbing in the Masonic Temple nights, but it’s pretty hard
-work and I am getting so large I am afraid I can’t keep it up much
-longer. You know I’ll be sick next month. There are a few things in the
-house yet and I might get a little money on them, and then there are the
-Maloneys next door; you know we were always fighting, but after you went
-away they seemed kind of sorry and have been awfully good to us, and I
-think they might help us a little, although they haven’t got much
-themselves——”
-
-Hank couldn’t stop to hear all they said, and besides he felt as if he
-had no right to stand and listen, so he let his eye wander on down the
-line. Just beyond he saw an old bent, gray-haired woman with a long
-black veil and spotless black gown. She was crying and talking to a
-young man inside the grating. He heard her ask, “How could you have done
-it?” and heard him answer, “Mother, I don’t know, but somehow I didn’t
-seem to think about it at the time.” Just beyond were a man and a woman
-and it was so hard for them to get close to the screen that the man held
-a little baby up in his arms to look over the people in front. The child
-looked in wonder and then held out its hands and shouted with delight,
-“Mamma, there’s papa. Papa, have you been here all the time? Why don’t
-you come back home?” Young girls, too, pressed closely up to the screen,
-each with that look at the youth inside that neither the wise nor the
-foolish have ever failed to understand. The prison bars and the laws
-that placed their lovers outside the pale had no power to change their
-feeling, only to deepen and intensify their love.
-
-While Hank stood in the corridor a number of men called from the inside:
-“Pardner, have you got any tobacco?” Hank hastily gave away all he had,
-and thought that if he should ever come back he would buy as much as he
-could before his visit. But his musing was soon interrupted by the guard
-tapping him on the shoulder and telling him he was ready. Then another
-turnkey opened a barred door and let him inside the wicket. Here he
-stood in a narrow hallway with still another big locked door in front.
-Soon this was swung open, and at last Hank stood inside the bars and the
-nettings with a great throng of coatless, hatless men all talking,
-laughing, chewing and smoking, and walking by twos and threes, up and
-down the room. Hank had always supposed that these men were different
-from the ones he knew and had fancied that he would be afraid to be with
-such a crowd, but when he got inside, somehow he did not think of them
-as burglars and pickpockets; they seemed just like other men, except
-that they were a little paler and thinner and more bent. Some of these
-men spoke to Hank, asking him for tobacco or for money. He saw one man
-whom he knew very well, one of his neighbors that he supposed was out of
-town; and he quickly noticed that this man tried to keep out of his
-sight. Hank had never thought that he was bad, and could not but wonder
-how he happened to be here.
-
-Hank looked around for Jim, but was told that he was upstairs locked in
-his cell. The guard explained that the death-watch had been set on him
-and that for some time no one had left him day or night. He was to be
-hanged in the morning before sunrise. He himself had gone around that
-day and handed written invitations to the judges to be present. Some of
-them had asked him whether they could get in a few friends who wanted to
-go and see the hanging. The guard said they had over a thousand
-applications for tickets; that it was one of the most popular hangings
-they’d ever had in the jail. He supposed this was because Jackson had
-killed his wife and the newspapers had said so much about it.
-
-He could not help feeling sorry for Jackson. Of course, he supposed he
-was awfully wicked or he wouldn’t have killed his wife, but since he had
-come to know Jackson he had found him a perfect gentleman and very kind
-and obliging, and he acted like a good fellow. It really seemed kind of
-tough to hang a man. He had seen a good many men hung and was getting
-kind of tired of it. He believed he would go out in the country fishing
-somewhere tomorrow instead of staying to see it done. They never needed
-so many guards on that day because all the prisoners were kept locked up
-in their cells.
-
-As Hank went along, the guard chatted to him in the most friendly way.
-He pointed over to the courtyard where there were some long black beams
-and boards, and said that was where they were going to hang Jackson,
-that the carpenters would put up the scaffold in the night. The
-murderers’ row where Jim was kept was around on the side where he
-couldn’t see the carpenters put up the scaffold. It used to be right in
-front but it had been changed. The guard said he didn’t see much
-difference, because the men could hear it and they knew just what it
-was, and anyhow they never could sleep the last night unless they took
-something. He told Hank that after they got through he would take him
-down to the office and show him a piece of the rope that they used to
-hang the Anarchists, and the one they used on Pendergast, who killed
-Carter Harrison, and the one they had for the car-barn murderers. It was
-the very best rope they could get; some people wouldn’t know it from
-clothes-line but it was a good deal finer and more expensive.
-
-The guard said it was strange how these men acted before they were
-hanged.
-
-“You wouldn’t hardly know them from the prisoners who were in jail
-working out a fine,” he explained. “They don’t seem to mind it very much
-or talk about it a great deal. Of course, at first they generally kind
-of think that the Supreme Court is going to give them a new trial; their
-lawyers tell them so. But half the time this is so that their friends
-will get more money to pay for carrying the cases up; though I must say
-that some of the lawyers are good fellows and do all they can to help
-them. Sometimes some of the lawyers that have the worst reputations are
-really better than the others. Then after the Supreme Court decides
-against them, they have a chance to go to the governor and the Board of
-Pardons. Of course this isn’t much use, but somehow they always think it
-will be, and the case is never really decided until the last day and
-that kind of helps to keep them up. Now, there’s Jackson; I took him the
-telegram about an hour ago and he read it and it didn’t seem to make
-much difference. He just said, ‘Well, I s’pose that’s all.’ And then he
-picked it up and read it again and said, ‘Well, the lawyer says he’s
-going back to the governor at midnight. Something might happen then;
-will the office be open if any telegram comes?’ I told him that it would
-and he says, ‘Well, I presume that it’s no use; but where there’s life
-there’s hope.’ I s’pose the lawyer just said that to kind of brace him
-up and that he took the night train back to Chicago, but I didn’t tell
-Jim so. Well, anyhow, I’m going to see that he has a good breakfast. We
-always give ‘em anything they want, either tea or coffee, ham and eggs,
-bacon, steak, beans, potatoes, wheat cakes and molasses, almost anything
-you can think of. Of course most of ‘em can’t eat much, but some of ‘em
-take a pretty big breakfast. It really don’t do any good, only the taste
-of it goin’ down; they are always dead before it has a chance to digest.
-A good many of ‘em feel rather squeamish in the morning and drink a good
-deal before they start out. We always give ‘em all they want to drink;
-most of ‘em are really drunk when they are hung. But I think that’s all
-right, don’t you? There were some temperance people once that made a row
-about it, but I think that’s carrying temperance entirely too far
-myself.
-
-“Well, I didn’t mean to gossip with you so much, but I thought maybe you
-would like to know something about it and so long as the alderman sent
-you over I wanted to do all I could for you. Give my respects to the
-alderman. I guess he’ll be a candidate next spring. He says he won’t,
-but I think he will. He always knows what he’s doing. All he wants is to
-throw them reform guys off the track. They might know that they couldn’t
-beat him. Our people out there don’t care anything about municipal
-ownership and Civil Service Reform, and things like that. What they want
-is turkeys on Thanksgiving and to be helped out of the lock-up and
-pardoned out of the Bridewell and found jobs. That’s what they want, and
-there ain’t an alderman in town that tends to the business of his ward
-better than ours, and we don’t care whether the railroads and gas
-companies give him money or not. We don’t expect him to work for nothin’
-and don’t want him to; and what do we care about the streets? None of us
-has horses and the fellows that wants ‘em ought to pay for ‘em. Well,
-here’s Jackson, and I’ll tell the guard to let you stay with him all you
-want to; he’s a good fellow and will do what I want. You can say
-anything you please to Jackson and he can talk to you all he wants to;
-the guard won’t listen if he knows you’re all right, but it isn’t any
-more than fair, anyhow, for this is his last night.”
-
-Hank listened to the guard without being impatient for, in the first
-place, he felt as if he had made a new friend, and he liked him; he was
-such a good talker and told him so much that was new and he didn’t seem
-the least bit stuck up, although he had such a good job. Then all the
-time he felt nervous and uneasy about meeting Jackson; the Jackson he
-knew was not a criminal but a good fellow who used to play pool and
-drink beer and go to primaries, while this man was a murderer who was to
-be hung next day; then again he didn’t seem a real man, but a sort of
-ghost, so that Hank had a good deal the feeling he used to know as a
-child when he went past a graveyard, or that he felt in a morgue, or
-when he went to look at some dead friend.
-
-When he came up to the cell Jackson was smoking a cigar and talking with
-the guard. At the first glance the uneasy feeling passed away. It was
-the same Jim Jackson that he knew, except thinner and paler than when he
-saw him last. Before the guard had time to speak Jackson reached out his
-hand, smiled and said “Hello, Hank, I’m awful glad you came. I’ve been
-looking for you all the afternoon.” Hank took his hand without the least
-feeling that it was the hand of a murderer. It was only the old friend
-and comrade he had known.
-
-The guard unlocked the door and told Hank to go in. Then he said:
-
-“Now, you folks talk all you want to. I won’t hear a single word you
-say. I’ll sit out here and if there is anything I can do, let me know.”
-
-Hank went into the little cell. On one side was an iron shelf and on
-this a straw tick and some bed clothing. A little wash-stand and
-slop-pail stood in one corner, a chair was near the stand, and a few
-pictures taken from colored supplements were on the white walls. The
-guard handed in another chair and the two friends sat down. At first
-there was a short, painful silence. It was plain that both had been
-thinking what to say and neither knew just how to begin. Hank had
-thought that he would ask Jim how he happened to kill his wife; he
-thought he ought to talk with him and tell him how terrible it was. He
-believed that perhaps this was his duty toward a fellow-being standing
-so near the presence of his Maker. Then, too, he had the feeling that
-unless he really told Jim what he thought about his crime, it would be
-almost the same as being an accessory to the act. In fact, when Hank was
-going to the jail he had a vague idea that his only right to visit Jim
-was to preach to him in some way. He would almost have thought it a
-crime to meet him on equal terms.
-
-After they sat down Jim was again the first to speak. “My room here’s
-pretty crowded but I guess it’ll do for tonight. Make yourself just as
-comfortable as possible for I’d like to have you stay with me as long as
-you can. It’s a little lonesome you know. The guard’s a good fellow. He
-visits with me every night and is as friendly as he can be. He told me
-that he was in jail himself once for burglary, but you mustn’t say
-anything about it. His lawyer got him out, but he says he was really
-guilty. That was a good many years ago. He says he believes if he had
-gone to the penitentiary he would never have amounted to anything, but
-as soon as he got out of jail he turned over a new leaf and made up his
-mind to make something of himself, and just see where he is now. He is
-an awful kind fellow. I know he feels sorry for me. He gives me all the
-cigars I want and all the privileges he can. There’s a guard here in the
-daytime that I don’t like; he was appointed by the Citizens’
-Association. He’s strict and awful good. He’s always asking me questions
-about myself, says he’s getting statistics for the association. He seems
-to think that it must have been whisky that made me do it, and he gives
-me tracts; of course that’s all right, but still you’d think that once
-in a while he’d say something else to a fellow, or at least give him a
-cigar. Some way he don’t seem to have any feeling. I s’pose he’s a good
-deal better than the other guard but I don’t like him near so well.
-
-“But that wasn’t what I got you here for. I really wanted to talk with
-you. You see no one that I knew has been to see me since I came. I don’t
-s’pose I ought to expect they would. I used to know a good many fellers
-who went to jail but I never went to see ‘em. I always kind of thought
-they wa’n’t fit for me to associate with, and I s’pose that’s the way
-most people believe. But since I came here somehow it don’t look quite
-the same. Maybe that’s on account of what I done. I told the priest I
-thought you’d come because we was always such good friends, and he told
-me he would go and see you. He’s been awful good to me although I never
-went to church any when I was out. He talks to me as if I was just like
-other people. Of course he tells me I done wrong, and I know I did, but
-he don’t tell me as if I was the only one that ever done wrong, and as
-if he and everyone else was so much different, and as if he couldn’t see
-how I done it. He talks just as if my soul was worth as much as
-anybody’s and as if I’d have a better chance afterward than I ever had
-before. Anyhow he’s done me lots of good and I honestly believe he’s
-made me a better man, and if I only had a chance to do anything now I’d
-amount to something; but of course I can’t. But still, I wanted to tell
-you a few things that I couldn’t even tell him, for you know that, no
-matter how good he is, he somehow seems different from you; you know I
-kind of feel as if you was just like me. You’ll excuse me, I know, for
-saying this, bein’ as the time is so short.
-
-“You remember about my boy. Now of course I always was a rough fellow
-and never did quite right ever before that, but still I guess you know I
-always loved that kid. Strange thing, he’ll be four years old tomorrow
-on the very day—well, poor little fellow, I hope he don’t know nothing
-about it. You remember the time that kid had the croup and how we
-thought he couldn’t get well, and you know I went down to the yard to
-tell you about it and how bad I felt. I almost wish now he’d died, but
-maybe that’s wicked and God will take care of the kid better’n he did of
-me. Well, I haven’t heard a word about that boy since I came to the
-jail, or since I left him at the house that night, except a little bit
-in court and what that good guard says. He kind of holds out that he’s
-in some kind of an orphan asylum where he’s gettin’ plenty to eat and
-where he’ll learn what’s right and wrong, and be a good man, and that’s
-all right, but I’d like to know where the kid is. He says if I thought
-so much of him I ought to have showed it before, and I s’pose I ought;
-but I did think lots of him; just as much as them rich folks think of
-their boys. I want him to be taken care of and to be educated and grow
-up to be a good man, and maybe it’s a good deal better if he never knows
-anything about his father, but somehow I can’t help wantin’ him to know
-who I was and don’t want him to think of me just like the newspapers and
-everybody else does. I wouldn’t want him to grow up like that guard,
-even if he is real good. And you see there wa’n’t any one but you that I
-could send for and tell them just how it all happened. No one yet has
-ever known how it was, and everybody says I was to blame and that I’m a
-demon and a monster, and I thought maybe if I explained the whole thing
-to you, just as it was, you could see that I wa’n’t so much to blame;
-anyhow that there was some excuse for what I done, and then some time
-when the boy’s growed up he’d know that I wa’n’t so bad as everyone says
-I was.
-
-“Of course I know you can’t, for I know you’re poor like me, but so many
-times when I thought about the boy I thought that maybe you and your
-mother might raise him just the way I would have done; and then your
-mother was always so good to all of us. I remember how she used to raise
-the little geese down along the canal if anything happened to the old
-goose; don’t you remember about that? My, but them was fine times,
-wa’n’t they? Of course if you could do it I don’t know but the alderman
-would help you; anyhow he’d get free books and clothes off’n the county
-when he went to school. How are politics up in the ward? Is he goin’ to
-run again? I never hear anything only what I get out of the papers and
-they’re all against him, but I think he’ll show ‘em yet. Wish I was out
-so I could help. But I must go on with what I brought you to hear. I’m
-goin’ to tell you the whole story just exactly as it is, and you know
-that I wouldn’t tell you a lie tonight with what they are goin’ to do in
-the mornin’. I can’t make you understand unless I commence clear at the
-beginnin’, but I know you won’t mind, seein’ it’s my last time.”
-
-
-
-
- II
-
-
-You know I was born in Chicago and never was out of it but once until
-the night it happened. I don’t know anything about my father and mother
-except what my aunt told me. You know she raised me, and I can’t make
-any complaint about the way she done it. I was real small when I went to
-live with her. She stayed all alone down on the canal. I guess you knew
-me when I was livin’ with her. She worked hard, but, of course, ladies
-of that kind don’t get much. She used to go over to the south side to do
-washin’ and to clean houses, and things like that, and sometimes when I
-was small she took me along. They were awful nice houses where we went.
-That’s how I got to know so much about the way rich people live. When I
-got bigger, she used to send me to school. I was pretty steady in school
-and got clear up to the sixth grade. I know it must have been awful hard
-for her to send me the way she earnt her money, but she seemed to think
-as much of me as if I’d been her own boy. She could have got along
-better, but every time she got five or ten dollars laid up it seemed as
-if there was a funeral of some of the neighbors and she had to club in
-and hire a carriage, and that took her money almost as fast as she could
-earn it.
-
-“You remember how we used to play around the canal in them days. It
-smelled pretty bad but we didn’t seem to mind it much. We used to sail
-boats and go in swimmin’ and catch frogs and do ‘most everything. There
-was quite a gang of us boys that lived there. It don’t seem as if any of
-‘em ever amounted to very much. Most of ‘em are in the stock yards or
-switchin’ or doin’ somethin’ like that. The only ones that I can think
-of that growed up down there and amounted to anything is the alderman
-and Bull Carmody, who went to the legislature. They call both of ‘em
-Honor’ble, you know. I guess anybody is honor’ble who ever had an office
-or tried to get one. Us boys used to get arrested quite a good deal. Of
-course we was pretty tough, you know that. We was always in some
-devilment. All of us rushed the can and chewed tobacco; then we fought a
-good deal and used to play ‘round the cars. Some of the boys would break
-into ‘em; but I never stole anything in my life unless you count coal
-off’n the cars, and I don’t know how we could have got along in the
-winter without that. Anyhow I guess nobody thinks anything of stealin’
-coal off’n cars.
-
-“But I don’t s’pose there’s any use goin’ over my whole history. I don’t
-know as it has anything to do with it anyway, only it kind of seems to
-me that I never had a very good chance and as if mebbe things would’ve
-been different if I had.
-
-“Well, you remember when my aunt died I had got to be about fourteen.
-Then I found a job out to the stock yards. I never liked that work; I
-used to see so much killin’. At first I felt sorry for the cattle and
-the hogs, and especially for the sheep and calves—they all seemed so
-helpless and innocent—but after I’d been there awhile I got used to
-seein’ their throats cut and seein’ blood around everywhere, all over
-the buildings and in the gutters, and I didn’t think any more about it.
-You know I stayed there quite a while. Then I went to work for the
-railroad company. First I was in the freight house unloadin’ cars. This
-was pretty rough, heavy work, but I didn’t mind it much; you know I was
-always kind of stout. Then I thought I’d like to work in the yards; it
-would give me more air and not be quite so confinin’. So I got a job as
-switchman, same as you. Well, you know all about that work. It ain’t the
-nicest thing in the world to be a switchman. Of course if they’d make
-the couplers all alike then there wouldn’t be so much danger; but you
-know when one of them safety couplers comes against one of the old kind
-that the boys call ‘man killers’ it’s pretty dangerous business. Then,
-of course, when a car is run down a switch and you have to couple it
-onto another car just as it bumps in, it’s kind of dangerous too. Of
-course, the rules say you must use a stick to put the link into the
-drawhead, but nobody ever uses a stick; you know all the boys would
-laugh at a feller that used a stick. There ain’t nothin’ to do but to go
-in between the cars and take hold of the link and put it in. If anything
-happens to be wrong with the bumpers and they slip past, of course you
-get squeezed to death; or, if you miss the link, or it gets caught or
-anything, your head or arm is liable to be smashed off. Then you’ve got
-to watch all the time, for if you stub your toe or forget for a second,
-you’re gone. I kind of think that the switch-yards make a feller
-reckless and desperate, and I don’t believe that a man that works in the
-switch-yards or stock yards looks at things quite the same as other
-people. Still you know them fellers ain’t bad. You’ve seen ‘em cry when
-they went home to tell a lady how her man had been run over, or tell
-some old woman about how her boy had got hurt, and you know we always
-helped the boys out and we didn’t have much money either.
-
-“You remember we was workin’ together in the yards when the strike come
-on. I was in debt, just as I always have been. Somehow I never could
-keep out of debt; could you? The rich people say it’s because we drink
-so much, but I’d like to see them try to live on what we get. Why, you
-know we hardly ever go to the theater, and if we do we go up in the
-gallery. I never had a job of work done on my teeth in my life except
-once when I paid a quarter to get one pulled. Do you s’pose any of us
-would ever think we could get a gold fillin’ in our teeth? Now that suit
-of clothes over on the bed is the first whole suit of new clothes I ever
-had. The guard brought ‘em in a little while ago, and I’m to put ‘em on
-in the mornin’. But I guess they won’t do me much good. I’d rather they
-had taken the money and give it to the kid for a rockin’ horse or candy.
-
-“But I was tellin’ about the strike. My, the way I go on! I guess it’s
-because this is the first time I’ve had a chance to say anything to
-anyone since it happened, and of course it’ll be my last. As soon as I
-got back my lawyer told me not to talk to anyone, but I don’t see what
-difference it would have made—them detectives seemed to know everything
-and a good deal more, they knew more about me than I ever knew about
-myself.
-
-“You remember all of us went out on the strike. I guess most of the boys
-was in debt, but they all struck just the same. The papers abused us and
-said we hadn’t any right to strike; that we hadn’t any grievance, and it
-was worse for us to strike on that account. Now it seemed to me that it
-was better to strike for the Pullman people than for ourselves—it didn’t
-seem so selfish; but the papers and the judges didn’t look at it that
-way. Of course the strike was pretty hard on all of us. I got into the
-lock-up before it was over, though I never meant to do nothin’. I guess
-I did hit a scab over the head, but he was comin’ to take our job. It’s
-queer how everybody looks at things a different way. Now I never thought
-it was so awful bad to hit a scab who was takin’ another man’s job. Of
-course I know some of ‘em are poor and have families, but so have the
-strikers got families and we was strikin’ to help all the poor people.
-If you read the newspapers and hear what the judges say you would think
-hittin’ scabs was worse’n murder. I don’t s’pose it’s just right, but I
-don’t hardly see what else is to be done. You remember that scab, don’t
-you, that worked with us on the road, and you remember when he got his
-leg cut off, and how all the boys helped him, and the railroad fought
-his case and beat him, and yet they always seemed to think more of him
-than any of the rest of us. Now it seems to me there’s lots of things
-worse’n hittin’ scabs. If I was one of them packers I know I’d give a
-lot of meat to poor people instead of fixin’ every way I could to make
-‘em pay so much, but the rich people don’t seem to think there’s
-anything wrong about that, but it’s awful to hit a scab or to strike.
-
-“Well, you know after the strike was over none of us could get a job
-anywhere, but finally I changed my name and managed to get in again. I
-believe the yard master knew who I was and felt kind of sorry for me.
-Anyhow I got the job. Then you know the time Jimmy Carroll got run over
-by that limited train. I sort of lost my nerve. I wouldn’t have thought
-about it if all the cars hadn’t run over him; but when we had to pick up
-his head and his legs and his arms and his body all in different places,
-I somehow got scared and couldn’t switch any more. So I quit the yards.
-But I’ve been runnin’ along so over things that really don’t have
-anything to do with the case that I’ve almost forgot the things I wanted
-to tell you about. But just wait a minute; I hear someone comin’ down
-the corridor and I want to see who it is. No, it’s only one of the
-guards. I didn’t know but possibly my lawyer might have sent—but I guess
-it’s no use.
-
-“Let me see; I was goin’ to tell you about gettin’ married. You knew
-her, Hank. You remember when we got a job again after the strike and you
-know the little restaurant where we used to board? Well, you remember
-she was waitin’ on the table. All the boys knew her and they all liked
-her too; she was always real friendly and jolly with all of us, but she
-was all right. Of course she couldn’t have got much wages there for it
-was only a cheap place where the railroad boys et, but somehow she
-always seemed to keep herself fixed up pretty well. I never thought much
-about her, only to kind of jolly her like the rest of the boys, until
-the time she got that red waist and done her hair up with them red
-ribbons. I don’t know anything about how it was, but them seemed to
-ketch my eye and I commenced goin’ with her, and used to get off as
-early as I could from the yards, and when she got through washin’ the
-supper things we used to go out and take street-car rides, and go for
-walks in the parks, and stay out late almost every night.
-
-“Finally I made up my mind that I wanted to settle down and have a home.
-Of course I knew ‘twould be more confinin’, but then I thought ‘twould
-be better. So one night when we was out walkin’ I kind of brought it
-‘round some way and asked her to marry me. I was surprised when she said
-she would, because she was so much nicer than me or any of the rest of
-the boys; but she said she would right straight off, and then I asked
-when it had better be and she said she didn’t see any use waitin’, so
-long as it was goin’ to be done. Of course, I hadn’t thought of its
-comin’ right away, and I wa’n’t really prepared because I was
-considerable in debt and would like to’ve paid up first. I told her how
-I was fixed and she said that didn’t make any difference, that she’d
-always heard that two could live as cheap as one, and she was savin’ and
-a good manager and it wouldn’t cost us much to start, for she’d noticed
-the signs in the street cars about four rooms furnished for ninety-five
-dollars with only five dollars down, and we wouldn’t need but three
-rooms anyway. Then, after I’d asked her to marry me and had made up my
-mind to do it there wa’n’t no excuse for waitin’, so the next Sunday we
-went over to St. Joe and got married. She asked me if I didn’t think
-that was just as good as any way.
-
-“When we come back we rented three rooms down near the yards for ten
-dollars a month, and went down to the store to buy the furniture, but
-the clerk made us think that so long as we was just startin’ and I had a
-good job we ought to get better things than the ninety-five dollars, so
-we spent one hundred and fifty dollars and agreed to pay ten dollars a
-month, and the furniture was to be theirs until it was paid for.
-
-“Well, we started in to keep house and got along pretty well at first.
-She was a good housekeeper and savin’ and I kind of liked bein’ married.
-Of course, it cost us a little more’n I expected, and when I came to buy
-clothes and shoes and pay grocery bills I found that two couldn’t live
-as cheap as one, but I hadn’t any doubt but that she thought they could.
-I guess all women does. Then I got hurt and was laid off for two months
-and couldn’t pay the installments, and got behind on my rent, and got in
-debt at the store, and this made it pretty hard. When I went to work I
-paid all I had, but somehow I never could catch up.
-
-“Well, about that time the kid was born, and then we had to have the
-doctor and I had to get a hired girl for a week, for I wanted to do
-everything I could for her, and that all kept me back. Then they
-commenced threatenin’ to take the furniture away, and every week the
-collector came ‘round and I did all I could, but somehow I couldn’t make
-it come out even.
-
-“I s’pose you don’t see what all this has got to do with my killin’ her,
-and I don’t think I quite see myself, but still I want to tell it all.
-Sometimes I think if I hadn’t been so poor and in debt I never would
-have done it, and I don’t believe I would. I was so much in debt that I
-felt sorry when I knew we was goin’ to have the child. I didn’t see how
-we could bring it up and make anything out of it, and how it could ever
-have any better chance than I had. And then she’d been doin’ a little
-work to help out on the furniture, and I knew that she couldn’t do any
-more after that. But still as soon as the child was born I was always
-glad of it, and used to think more about him than anyone else, and I
-would have done anything I could for him. She liked him, too, and was
-always good to him, and no matter what I say about her I can’t say that
-she didn’t treat the boy all right.
-
-“Well, after the kid was about a year old we began to have trouble. She
-was always complainin’ that I didn’t bring home enough money. She said I
-went ‘round too much nights and that I drank too much beer and chewed
-too much tobacco and smoked too much, and she complained ‘most all the
-time, and then I got mad and we had a row. I don’t mean to blame her,
-‘specially after what happened, and since I’ve been here so long doin’
-nothin’ but countin’ the days and waitin’ for my lawyer to come, I’ve
-had time to think of ever’thing a good deal more than I ever did before.
-And I don’t say she was to blame. I s’pose it was hard for her, too. Of
-course, the rooms was small and they was awful hot in the summer and
-cold in the winter, and then the collectors was always comin’ ‘round,
-and I used to be tired when I got home, and I was so blue that I said
-things without really knowin’ that I said ‘em. Ain’t you done that when
-somebody was talkin’ to you and your mind was on somethin’ else, kind of
-answered ‘em back without knowin’ what they said or what you said? I
-presume I was cross a good many times and mebbe it was as hard for her
-as ‘twas for me. Of course, I used to wish I’d never got married and
-that I was boardin’ back there to the restaurant when I didn’t have all
-the debts; and I s’pose she’d been better off back there too, waitin’ on
-the table; anyhow she always looked better in them days than she did
-after we was married, so I guess she must have got more money at the
-restaurant than I gave her. But after the boy was born I never really
-wished we wa’n’t married, for I always thought of him and knew he never
-would have been born if we hadn’t got married; but of course, that
-didn’t keep us from fightin’. I don’t mean that we fought all the time.
-Sometimes when I got home she was as nice as she could be, and had
-supper all ready, and we’d read the newspaper and talk and have a real
-good time; but then, again somethin’ would happen to put us out and we’d
-fight. I can’t say that she always begun it. I guess I begun it a good
-many times. I found fault because the bills was too big and the way
-things was cooked, and the way she looked, and, of course, if I said
-anything she got mad and answered back. I’ve thought a lot about our
-fights and that awful one we had last, and I don’t believe one of ‘em
-would have happened if it hadn’t been for the money. Of course, I s’pose
-other people would make some other excuses for their fights and that no
-one would be to blame if you would let ‘em tell it themselves, but I’m
-‘most sure that if I’d only been gettin’ money enough to keep a hired
-girl and live in a good place, and get good clothes and dress her and
-the boy the way they ought to have been, and not get in debt, we
-wouldn’t have fought.
-
-“The debts kep’ gettin’ bigger all the time and I begun to get scared
-for fear the furniture would be took away—we hadn’t paid more’n half up
-and then there was a good deal of interest. I went one day to see a
-lawyer, but he didn’t tell me anything that done me any good and I had
-to pay him ten dollars out of my next month’s wages, so that made me all
-the worse off. Lawyers get their money awful easy, don’t they? I always
-wished I could be a lawyer and if I had my life to live over again I
-would be one if I could.
-
-“It seemed as if things kep’ gettin’ worse at home and I stayed out a
-good many nights because I didn’t want a row for I knew there’d be one
-as soon as I got home. So far most of our fightin’ had been only jawin’
-back an’ forth. Once she threw a dish at me and I slapped her in the
-face, but didn’t hurt her, and I guess she didn’t try hard to hit me
-with the dish; anyhow if she had wanted to she was near enough so she
-could.
-
-“One night though, I come home pretty late. I’d been out with the boys
-to a caucus and we had drunk quite a bit. The alderman was running again
-and had got us a keg of beer. I didn’t really know what I was doin’ when
-I came in. I was hopin’ she’d be in bed but she was waitin’ for me when
-I come in and said: ‘There comes my drunkard again. This is a pretty
-time of night to get home! You’d better go back to your drunken cronies
-and stay the rest of the night,’—and a lot of more things like that. I
-told her to shut up and go to bed, but that made her madder and then she
-called me a lot of names. I told her to stop or I’d choke her, but she
-kep’ right on talkin’, callin’ me a drunkard and all kinds of names, and
-tellin’ me how I’d treated her and the boy; I couldn’t make her keep
-still; the more I threatened her the more she talked. Finally she said,
-‘You cowardly brute, I dare you to touch me!’ and she kind of come right
-up to where I was. Of course I didn’t really half think what I was
-doin’, but I drawed off and hit her in the face with my fist. I guess I
-hit her pretty hard; anyhow she fell on the floor, and I ran up to her
-to pick her up, but she said, ‘Leave me alone, you coward,’ and then I
-was madder’n ever and I kicked her. The next day she went to the police
-court and had me arrested. The judge was awful hard on me, told me if he
-had his way ‘bout it he’d have a law made to have wife-beaters whipped
-with a cat-o’-nine tails in the public square, and he fined me one
-hundred dollars.
-
-“Of course I hadn’t any money so I went to jail, but in a day or two she
-went to the judge and cried and told him I was all right when I wasn’t
-drunk and she got me out. I never thought that judge done right to
-lecture me the way he did. I don’t think that strikin’ your wife is as
-bad as strikin’ your child, and still ‘most everybody does that. Most
-women can defend themselves but a little child can’t do anything. Still,
-of course, I don’t defend strikin’ your wife, only one word kind of
-brings on another and it sounds different in the newspaper from what it
-really is.
-
-“Well, after I got home from the jail we talked it over together and
-made up our minds we’d better part. Things had gone so bad with us that
-we thought it wa’n’t worth while to try any more and mebbe we’d both be
-better off alone. She was real sensible about it and was goin’ to keep
-the boy. I promised to give ‘em half my wages and was to see him
-whenever I wanted to.
-
-“When we got our minds made up we went to see about a lawyer. She’d been
-goin’ over to the Settlement a good deal for advice and they’d been good
-to us but they didn’t like me; they blamed me for ever’thing that
-happened, and of course them settlement ladies wa’n’t none of ‘em
-married and they couldn’t understand how a feller would drink or fight
-with his wife. They didn’t know what allowance a woman has to make for a
-man, same as a man does for a woman—only a different kind. When she told
-‘em what we were goin’ to do they all said, ‘No, you mustn’t do that.
-You must make the best of it and stay together’; they said that even if
-I promised to give her half my money I never would do it, but would go
-off and she’d never see me again. If they knew anything about what I
-thought of the boy they wouldn’t have said it. Then they said it would
-be a disgrace and that it would disgrace the child. I wish now we’d done
-it anyway. It would have been better for the child than it is now. Then
-she went to see the priest. We were both born Catholics, although we
-hadn’t paid much attention to it. That was the reason we went to St. Joe
-to get married. The priest told her that she mustn’t get a divorce, that
-divorces wa’n’t allowed except on scriptural grounds. Of course we
-couldn’t get it on them grounds. There never was nothin’ wrong with her—
-I’ll always say that—and as for me I don’t think she ever suspected
-anything of that kind. Even if I had wanted to I never had any money,
-and besides I’ve had to work too hard all my life for anything like
-that. Then when I went to the lawyer he said it would cost fifty
-dollars, but I hadn’t any fifty dollars. So we made up our minds to try
-it again. I don’t see, though, why they charge fifty dollars. If a
-divorce is right a man ought not to have it just because he’s got fifty
-dollars when a poor man can’t get it at all.
-
-“It was a little better for a while. We both had a scare and then when
-we talked of quittin’ I s’pose we thought more of each other. Anyhow
-we’d lived together so long that we’d kind of got in the habit of it.
-But still it didn’t last long; I don’t believe ‘twas right for us to
-stay together after all that had happened and the way we felt and had
-lived up to that time. If we’d only separated then—but we didn’t, and
-it’s no use talkin’ about it now.
-
-“It was just about this time that Jimmy Carroll was killed and she
-didn’t want me to work in the yards after that. She was ‘most as ‘fraid
-as I was so we made up our minds that I’d quit. It was then that I went
-to peddlin’; but wait a minute before I tell that, let’s go and speak to
-the guard.”
-
-The two men got up and went to the iron door and looked out through the
-bars at the shining electric lights in the corridors. The guard sat near
-the door talking with the prisoner in the next cell. He looked up and
-put two cigars through the grates.
-
-“Is there anything I can do for you, Jackson?”
-
-“No, I guess not. Nothin’ more has come from him, has there?”
-
-“No, but it’s early yet.”
-
-“Well, I guess it’s no use.”
-
-The men looked out a moment at the iron corridor and then lighted their
-cigars and sat down. Hank could hardly speak. Somehow this simple
-contact with his old friend had driven away all the feeling of the crime
-that he had brought with him to the jail. He no longer thought of him as
-Jackson, the wife-murderer, but as Jim, the boy he once knew and the man
-that had worked in the switch-yards and grown up by his side.
-
-Out in the street they heard a steady stream of carriages and the merry
-laugh of men and women passing by. Hank listened to the voices and asked
-who they were.
-
-“Oh, the people drivin’ past in their carriages to the theater. You know
-all the northside swells drive down Dearborn Avenue past the jail. I
-wonder if they ever think of us in here, or if they know what is goin’
-to be done tomorrow. I s’pose if they do they think it’s all right. What
-a queer world it is. Do you s’pose one of them was ever in here? Well, I
-don’t believe I’d be either if only I’d had their chance.”
-
-The two men sat stripped almost to the skin; the putrid prison air
-soaked into Hank at every pore. The sweat ran from his face and he felt
-as if the great jail were a big oven filled with the damned and kept
-boiling hot by some infernal imps. Here and there along the big
-corridors they heard the echo of a half demoniac laugh, a few couplets
-of a ribald song, and the echoing sound of the heavy boots of a guard
-walking up and down the iron floor. Silently they smoked their cigars
-almost to the end and then Jim again took up his story.
-
-
-
-
- III
-
-
-When I made up my mind to quit the railroad I looked ‘round for
-somethin’ else to do. It was kind of hard times just then and a good
-many were out of work and I couldn’t find anything that suited me. Of
-course I never had much schoolin’ and ‘twa’n’t every kind of job I could
-hold anyhow. I went back out to the stock yards, but they was layin’ off
-men and there wa’n’t anything there. One mornin’ I went over to see Sol
-Goldstein. He was a nice old man that we used to buy potatoes of. He
-told me that he was gettin’ so old and kind of sick that he thought he’d
-have to give up peddlin’ and let his boys take care of him the rest of
-his time. He said he didn’t think it would be very long anyhow, and they
-could do that much for him so long as he’d done so much for them. He
-said as I hadn’t any job why didn’t I buy his horse and express wagon
-and go to peddlin’. I could take his license, that hadn’t run out yet,
-and go right along over his route. I told him I hadn’t any money to buy
-his horse and wagon with, but he told me that didn’t make any
-difference, I could pay for ‘em when I earnt the money. So I made a
-bargain; got the horse and wagon and harness and two old blankets for
-fifty dollars. Of course they wa’n’t worth much: the horse had a
-ringbone and the heaves and kind of limped in one of its hind legs.
-Goldstein said that was on account of a spavin, but he told me there was
-another one comin’ on the other hind leg and as quick as that got a
-little bigger he’d stop limpin’ because he couldn’t favor both hind legs
-to once. Goldstein said the ringbone had been killed and the heaves
-wouldn’t bother him much. All I had to do was to wet the hay before I
-fed him. So I bought the rig. I didn’t know nothin’ about horses but I
-knew what Goldstein said was all right for we’d been friends a long
-time.
-
-“I went down to Water Street and bought a load of potatoes and went to
-work. I haven’t time to tell you all about my peddlin’: anyhow it ain’t
-got much to do with the case, not much more’n any of the rest. My lawyer
-always said any time I told him anything, ‘Well, what’s that got to do
-with your killin’ her?’ and the judge said about the same thing whenever
-we asked any questions. He couldn’t see that anything I ever done had
-anything to do with it except the bad things. He let ‘em prove all of
-them and they looked a good deal worse when they was told in court and
-in the newspapers than they seemed when I done ‘em. I guess there ain’t
-nobody who’d like to hear every bad thing they ever done told right out
-in public and printed in the newspapers. I kind of think ‘twould ruin
-anyone’s character to do that, ‘specially if you wa’n’t allowed to show
-the goods things you’d done.
-
-“I hadn’t been peddlin’ very long until an inspector asked me for my
-license and I showed it to him, and he said that it wa’n’t any good,
-that I couldn’t use Goldstein’s license; that it was just for him, and
-that I must stop peddlin’ until I went down to the City Hall and paid
-twenty-five dollars for another one. I didn’t know where to get the
-twenty-five dollars; anyhow I don’t see why anyone should have to pay a
-license for peddlin’; nobody but poor people peddles and it’s hard
-enough to get along without payin’ a license. Anybody don’t have to pay
-a license for sellin’ things in a store and I don’t think it’s fair. But
-I went and seen the alderman and told him about it, and he said he could
-get it fixed and to go right on just as if nothin’ had happened and if
-anyone bothered me again to send ‘em to him. So I went right ahead. I
-don’t know what he done but anyhow I wa’n’t bothered any more until
-Goldstein’s license had run out.
-
-“Peddlin’ is kind of hard work. You’ve got to get up before daylight and
-go down and get your potatoes and veg’t’bles and things, then you have
-to drive all over and ask everyone to buy, and most people won’t take
-anything from you ‘cause you’re a peddler and they’re ‘fraid you’ll
-cheat ‘em. Of course we do cheat a little sometimes. We get a load of
-potatoes cheap that’s been froze, and then again we get a lot of figs
-that’s full of worms and roll ‘em in flour and then sell ‘em out, but
-all figs is full of worms, and I guess ‘most everything else is, even
-water, but it’s all right if you don’t know or think anything about it.
-And of course, half of the year it’s awful hot drivin’ ‘round the
-streets and the other half it’s awful cold, and sometimes it rains and
-snows and you get all wet and cold, and it ain’t very healthy either.
-Most peddlers have the consumption, but then there’s lots of poor people
-has consumption. It’s funny, too, about where you can sell stuff; you’d
-think you ought to go where people has got money but this ain’t no use;
-they never will buy nothin’ of peddlers and they won’t even let you
-drive on their high-toned streets, even after you’ve paid a license. If
-you want to sell anything you’ve got to go among the poor people. Of
-course they can’t buy very much, but then they pay more for what they
-get. It’s queer, ain’t it, the way things are fixed; them as works
-hardest has to pay the most for what they eat, and gets the poorest
-stuff at that. Did you ever go and look at one of them meat markets on
-the south side? Do you s’pose that they’d take any of the meat that’s in
-ours? They might buy it for their dogs and cats but they wouldn’t eat it
-themselves.
-
-“Once in a while I used to take the kid along with me when I was sellin’
-things, and he always liked to go, but if it commenced to rain or turned
-cold I had to go back with him, and then he always got tired before
-night. So I didn’t take him very often. I kind of laid out to take him
-when she done the washin’, so he’d be out of her way, and he used to
-kind of like to drive, and I amused him a good deal that way.
-
-“I think mebbe I made about as much peddlin’ as I did on the railroad,
-but not any more, after I paid for my horse feed and the rent of the
-barn and gettin’ the wagon and harness fixed once in a while. Anyhow I
-didn’t get out of debt any faster, and the furniture men kept
-threatenin’ me until I went to one of them chattel-mortgage fellers and
-borrowed the money and mortgaged all I had and paid five dollars for
-makin’ out the papers and five percent a month for the money. This
-didn’t seem like so very much but it counts up pretty fast when you come
-to pay it every month. Then one day my horse up and died. I didn’t know
-what was the matter with him. He seemed all right at night and in the
-mornin’ he was dead. I didn’t know what to do at first so I went and
-seen the alderman. He gave me a letter to some men who run a
-renderin’-plant and I went out there and bought an old horse for five
-dollars. It was one they was goin’ to kill, and it seemed too bad to
-make him work any more; still I guess he’d rather work than be killed;
-that’s the way with people and I guess horses is about like people. I
-always thought that horses had about the worst time there is; they can’t
-never do anything they want to, they have to get up just when you tell
-‘em to and be tied in a stall and eat just what you give ‘em and depend
-on you to bring ‘em water. Even when they’re goin’ along the road they
-can’t turn out for a mud hole but have to go just where you want ‘em to
-and never have a chance to do anything but work.
-
-“This horse wa’n’t much good but I managed to use him in my business.
-The boys would holler at me and ask me if I was goin’ to the bone-yard
-or the renderin’-plant, and once or twice one of the humane-officers
-stopped me and came pretty near takin’ it away and killin’ it, but
-nobody ever saw me abusin’ it, and I fed it all I could afford. I
-remember one night in the winter, about the coldest night we had, I
-heard it stampin’ and I couldn’t go to sleep. I knew it was stampin’
-because it was so cold. We didn’t have any too much cover ourselves, but
-it worried me so much I got up and went out to the barn and strapped an
-old blanket on the horse and then came back and went to bed. I guess
-this was the other horse though, the one that died, for I didn’t have
-this last one over a winter. But I don’t know as it makes any difference
-which horse it was.
-
-“Well, I can’t tell you all about my peddlin’, it ain’t worth while, and
-I must go on and tell you about how it happened. It was on the 26th day
-of November. You remember the day. There’s been a lot said about it in
-the newspapers. It was just three days before Thanksgivin’. I remember I
-was thinkin’ of Thanksgivin’, for we’d been livin’ pretty poorly, not
-very much but potatoes, for it was a rather hard fall on all us poor
-folks. I always hated to take the money for the things I sold but I
-couldn’t help it. You know I couldn’t give things away as if I was
-Rockefeller or Vanderbilt. Well, I knew we was goin’ to get a turkey
-from the alderman Thanksgivin’, just two days later, and I should have
-thought that would have cheered me up, but it didn’t. That mornin’ it
-was pretty cold when I got up. It was the first snow of the season, one
-of them blindin’, freezin’ days that we get in November, and then, of
-course, I wa’n’t used to the cold weather and wa’n’t dressed for it
-either. I didn’t have much breakfast for we didn’t have much stuff in
-the house. She got up and fried some potatoes and a little pork and that
-was about all, and then I hitched up the old horse and drove away. No
-one else was on the street. There wa’n’t generally, when I started after
-my loads in the mornin’. The old horse didn’t like to go either; he kind
-of pulled back on the hitch strap when I led him out of the barn, the
-way you sometimes see horses do when they hate to go anywhere or leave
-the barn. I s’pose horses is just like us about bein’ lazy and sick, and
-havin’ their mean days, only they can’t do anything about it. Well, I
-went down and got my load. In the first place I had some trouble with
-the Dago where I got the potatoes; they were pretty good ones but had
-been nipped a little by the frost in the car, and he couldn’t have sold
-‘em to the stores, at least to any of the stores on the north side or
-the south side. They was just such potatoes as had to go to us poor
-folks and most likely to peddlers, and he wanted to charge me just about
-as much as if they was all right. I told him that I’d some trouble in
-sellin’ ‘em and I ought to make somethin’ off’n ‘em. He said I’d get
-just as much as I could for any kind, and I told him that I might
-possibly, but if I was goin’ to pay full price I wanted my customers to
-have just as good potatoes as anyone got, and besides I might lose some
-of my customers by sellin’ them that kind of potatoes. Then he dunned me
-for what I owed him and threatened not to trust me any more and by the
-time I left with my load I was worried and out of sorts, and made a poor
-start for the day.
-
-“Well, I drove over along Bunker Street, among the sheeneys, and
-commenced calling ‘po-ta-toes.’ Nobody much seemed to buy. A few people
-came out and picked ‘em all over and tried to jew me down, and mebbe
-bought half a peck. I don’t know how they thought I could make any money
-that way. Still the people was all poor; most of ‘em worked in the
-sweat-shops and hadn’t any money to waste on luxuries. I worked down
-Maxwell Street and things didn’t get much better. It seemed as if
-everybody was out there sellin’ potatoes, and it was awful cold, and I
-hadn’t any coat on, and the horse was shiverin’ every time we stopped.
-Of coarse I always put the blanket on him if we stayed long, but the
-blanket was pretty old and patched. Then I drove down south, where the
-people lives that work in the stock yards. It went some better down
-there but not very much; anyhow I didn’t get any warmer. Along toward
-noon I hitched the horse under a shed and gave him a few oats and I went
-into the saloon and bought a glass of whiskey and took four or five of
-them long red-hots that they keep on the counter. They tasted pretty
-good and I never stopped to think what they was made of; whether they
-was beef, or pork, or horse, or what, though you know everybody always
-says they work in all the old horses that don’t go to the
-renderin’-plant and some that does, but they was good enough for me and
-was hot, and when I went away I felt better and I guess the old horse
-did, too. Well, I drove on down around the streets and did the best I
-could. I remember one place where an old lady came out and said she
-hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday and there wa’n’t nothin’ in
-the house, and I up and gave her half a peck, though I couldn’t hardly
-afford to do it. You know that half a peck was more to me than it is to
-Rockefeller when he gives a million to the school, but my lawyer
-wouldn’t let me prove it when I tried; he said the judge would only
-laugh if he ever mentioned it. The newspapers never printed a word about
-it either, although I kind of thought it might lighten up the people’s
-feelin’ some and help me a bit; but they did prove all about the time I
-struck her and some other things I wa’n’t on trial for, although my
-lawyer objected all he could and said I wa’n’t on trial for ‘em, which I
-wa’n’t; but the judge said no, of course I wa’n’t, but they’d show
-malice, so they went in and was printed in the newspapers, and the jury
-looked awful at me, but I bet every one of ‘em had done most as bad.
-When I gave the old woman the half peck of potatoes she called on all
-the saints to bless me to the end of my days. I felt kind of better as I
-went away, and thought mebbe they’d do somethin’ for me, and this wa’n’t
-more than seven or eight hours before it happened.
-
-“Of course, most folks would think that anyone like me wouldn’t have
-given away a half a peck of potatoes, but they don’t really understand
-them things; you’ve got to do a thing before you can know all about it.
-If I was makin’ the laws I wouldn’t let anyone be on a jury and try a
-feller for murder unless he’d killed someone. Most fellers don’t know
-anything about how anyone kills a person and why they do it, and they
-ain’t fit to judge. Now, of course, most everybody would think that
-anyone who had killed anyone, unless it was in war or somethin’ like
-that, was bad through and through; they wouldn’t think that they could
-ever do anything good; but here I give away that half peck of potatoes
-just because I knew the lady was poor and needed ‘em—and I see things
-every day here in jail that shows it ain’t so. Just a little while ago
-one of the prisoners was took down with small-pox and everyone was
-scared, and another prisoner who was in here for burglary went to the
-ward and nursed him and took care of him, and took the disease and died.
-And most all of the fellers will do anything for each other. The other
-day there were five fellers on trial for robbin’ a safe, and the State’s
-Attorney done all he could to get one of ‘em to tell on another feller
-who hadn’t been caught or indicted, and he promised every one of ‘em
-that he wouldn’t do a thing with ‘em if they’d tell, and he couldn’t get
-a word out of any of ‘em, and they went to the penitentiary, just
-because they wouldn’t tell; and the State Attorney and the judge all of
-‘em seemed to think that if they could get one feller to tell on someone
-else that he’d be the best one of the lot and ought to be let out. If
-you’d just stay here a few days and see some of the wives and fathers
-and mothers come into the jail and see how they’d cry and go on over
-some of these people, and tell how good they was to them, it would open
-your eyes. They ain’t one of them people, unless it’s me, that don’t
-have someone that loves ‘em, and says they’ve been awful good to ‘em and
-feel sorry for ‘em and excuses ‘em, and thinks they’re just like
-everybody else. Now there was them car-barn murderers that killed so
-many people and robbed so much. Everyone wanted to tear ‘em to pieces
-and no one had a single good word for ‘em, but you’d ought to seen Van
-Dine’s mother and how she hung on to her boy and cried about him and
-loved him and told how many good thing’s he done, just like anyone else;
-and then that Niedemeyer, who tried to kill himself so he couldn’t get
-hung, you know he went to a detective and confessed a lot of crimes, so
-that the detective could get the money after he was hung, and the
-detective agreed to divide the money with his mother. If you was here a
-while you’d find these fellers doin’ just as many things to help each
-other as the people on the outside. It’s funny how human nature is, how
-anybody can be so good and so bad too. Now I s’pose most people outside
-can’t see how a murderer or a burglar can do anything good any more than
-the poor people down our way can see how Rockefeller can charge all of
-us so much for his oil and then give a million dollars to a church or a
-school.
-
-“There was feller came over here to the jail to talk to our Moral
-Improvement Club and he had some queer ideas. Most of the prisoners
-rather liked what he said and still they thought he was too radical. I
-never heard any such talk before and I don’t quite see how they let him
-do it, but I’ve thought about what he said a good deal since then and
-think mebbe there’s somethin’ in it. He was a good deal different from
-the other ones that come. Most of ‘em tell us about our souls and how we
-can all make ‘em white if we only will. They all tell us that we are a
-bad lot now; but he kind of claimed that the people inside the jail was
-just like the people outside, only not so lucky; that we done things
-because we couldn’t help it and had to do ‘em, and that it’s worse for
-the people on the outside to punish the people on the inside than to do
-the things we done. Now, I hain’t had anything to do but think about it
-and what I done, and it don’t seem as if I could help it. I never
-intended to kill anybody but somehow everything just led up to it, and I
-didn’t know I was gettin’ into it until it was done, and now here I am.
-Of course, when I was out I used to rail about these criminals and think
-they was awful bad just the same as everyone else did, but now I see how
-they got into it too, and how mebbe they ain’t so bad; even them
-car-barn murderers,—if they’d been taken somewhere out west on a ranch
-where they could have had lots of air and exercise and not put in school
-which wa’n’t the place for boys like them, I believe they’d ‘ve come out
-all right and been like most other boys and sobered down after they got
-older. I really think if they’d been taken away they’d ‘ve tried to be
-good and if they’d been given plenty of exercise, like herdin’ cattle
-and things like that, mebbe it would have been just as good as to kill
-‘em. Anyhow there was them Younger boys and Frank James who killed so
-many people and they are out now and all right. Nobody’s afraid of ‘em
-and they won’t likely never do anything of that kind any more.
-
-“But I’m gettin’ clear off’n my subject again, just as I always am. I
-was tellin’ you about that day. Well, after I gave the lady the half
-peck of potatoes I went on peddlin’, but didn’t seem to sell much. I
-ought to ‘ve got through by two or three o’clock. It was a long enough
-day for me, and the horse, too, but I had so many potatoes left that I
-couldn’t stop, so I kept on. I got down around Thirty-fifth Street and
-was pretty cold and went into a saloon where I saw one of the boys. One
-of ‘em was runnin’ for the legislature and he asked us all to take a
-drink, and of course we did; then he asked us to take another and we
-done that; and in a few minutes that feller that was runnin’ for the
-senate, he come in and he asked us all to take a drink and of course we
-done that, and he said a few words about the election and how he hoped
-we all would vote for him, and we told him we would, and that as near as
-we could find out all the boys was with him, that the other feller was a
-kind of stiff anyhow. He went out, and then, just as I was leavin’, the
-feller that was runnin’ against him, he come in and he set ‘em up a
-couple of times and said he hoped we was all with him, and of course we
-told him we was, and then he went away. Well, of course, I took whiskey
-every time because I was cold and that kind of warmed me up. Then I went
-out to the wagon again and drove on down Thirty-fifth Street to sell the
-rest of the potatoes. Finally the horse began to go lame, and seemed
-pretty tired, and I turned back toward the house, peddlin’ on the way. I
-guess I didn’t sell anything after I left Thirty-fifth Street, though I
-kept callin’ out until my voice got kind of husky and all stopped up. I
-guess it was the cold air that I wa’n’t used to yet. The snow was comin’
-down pretty fast as I drove along and the wind was blowin’ quite a bit
-in my face and it was a bad night. It commenced gettin’ dark pretty soon
-after. You know the days are short along the last of November.
-
-“Then I kep’ thinkin’ about the cold weather. I always hated winter
-anyhow, and I hadn’t expected ‘twould turn cold quite so quick and of
-course I wa’n’t ready for it. I couldn’t seem to think of anything but
-the winter. I s’pose that was the reason I done the things I did
-afterward. I got to thinkin’ about the house and how many cracks there
-was in it and how much coal it took to heat it. Then I began to think
-about the price of coal and how it’s cheaper in the summer than in the
-winter, and how the price keeps goin’ up so much a month all the time
-until winter, so, of course, all the rich people can get their coal in
-the summer when it was cheap and leave the poor people to get it in the
-winter when it got high. Then I thought how everything seemed to be
-against the poor and how you couldn’t get on no matter what you done.
-
-“I hadn’t got my potatoes more’n two-thirds sold out and I didn’t have
-any good place to keep ‘em. I couldn’t afford to take chances of ‘em
-gettin’ frost-bitten any more. You know how easy potatoes freeze. You
-have to watch out while you’re peddlin’ ‘em in the fall and winter and
-some days you don’t dare take ‘em out at all. Before I got home I
-thought I’d have another drink so I stopped at a saloon where they
-always had the pollin’ place and where a good many politicians usually
-hung out; and I found some of the boys there, and the fellow that was
-runnin’ for assessor was in the saloon. He asked us all to drink a
-couple o’ times, and then he told us how easy he was in assessin’ the
-poor people’s property, and asked us to vote for him. We all said we
-would, and then he told us how he was assessor last year and how he’d
-stuck it onto the rich people and the corporations and how they was all
-against him this year. We all liked that, and then he gave us another
-drink. I was gettin’ so I felt it just a little, but of course I wa’n’t
-drunk. I could walk all right and talk pretty straight. I don’t suppose
-I’d taken more’n ten or twelve drinks in all day, and you know that
-won’t hurt anybody. I don’t know what I would’ve done such a cold day if
-it hadn’t been for the drinks. Oh, yes, in the last place they got to
-talkin’ about the alderman and said as how he wa’n’t goin’ to give out
-any turkeys this year. I didn’t like that and some of the fellers had
-quarreled about ‘em and then some of ‘em had been givin’ ‘em to us and
-we didn’t see what right he had to quit. They said the reason he wa’n’t
-goin’ to give ‘em was because a lot of the fellers had quarreled about
-‘em and then some of ‘em had taken his turkeys and voted the other
-ticket, and some people had found fault with him because they didn’t get
-any turkey, and it looked as if he was losin’ votes instead of makin’
-‘em. Well, I’d been dependin’ on the turkey and it made me feel a little
-blue, for I didn’t know how I was goin’ to get anything for
-Thanksgivin’, and I didn’t think that you could have much of a
-Thanksgivin’ just on potatoes and mebbe a little pork. So I wa’n’t
-feelin’ none to good when I got on the wagon and drove away from the
-last place. It seemed as if everything had turned against me and I
-didn’t know what I was goin’ to do. It’s funny how much difference luck
-makes with a feller. You know somethin’ can happen in the mornin’ and
-make you feel good all day, and then again somethin’ will go wrong and
-no matter what you are doin’ it seems as if there was a sort of a weight
-pullin’ down on you. Well, I felt kind of blue as I drove home. I don’t
-think I could hardly have kept up only for the whiskey I’d drunk. I was
-kind of wonderin’ what it was all for and I didn’t see any reason for
-anything, or any chance that anything would be any better, or any real
-reason for livin’.
-
-“Before I went to the house I drove up to the barn and unhitched the
-horse and led him in, and then I run the wagon in, and took the potatoes
-out and put ‘em under a little bag of hay that I had in the corner, and
-threw the horse blanket over ‘em. Then I unharnessed the horse and
-bedded him down and gave him some hay and a little oats. I’d watered him
-at one of the last places I stopped—one of them troughs they have in
-front of saloons. Then after I got the horse tended to I went into the
-house.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-Hank got up and went to the door and spoke to the guard. He was still
-sitting on the stool and talking to the prisoner in the next cell. Once
-more he handed Hank a cigar.
-
-“Give one to Jim,” he said. “I can’t do much more for him, poor devil;
-I’m awful sorry.”
-
-Jim came up and took the cigar and looked down at the guard.
-
-“I don’t s’pose nothin’ has come for me, has there?”
-
-“No, not yet,” was the answer.
-
-“Well, I presume it’s’ no use.”
-
-Just then the noise of pounding and driving nails and low voices was
-heard over in the court yard.
-
-“What’s that?” Hank asked.
-
-“Don’t you know! That’s the fellers buildin’ the scaffold; they always
-do it the night before. Strange, ain’t it; somehow it don’t seem to me
-as if it was really me that was goin’ to be hung on it; but I s’pose it
-is. Now, isn’t it strange about the governor; just one word from him
-could save my life. I’d think he’d do it, wouldn’t you? I s’pose he
-don’t really think how it seems to me. I know I’d do it, no matter what
-anyone had done.
-
-“But it’s gettin’ late and I must go on with my story or I won’t get it
-finished before—before you have to go. It’s pretty hard to tell all
-‘bout this part, but I’m goin’ to tell it to you honest and not make
-myself any better’n I am. I’ve thought about this a good deal when I’ve
-tried to account for how I done it, and I guess I can tell everything
-that happened. When I look at it now it seems years ago, almost a
-lifetime, not as if it was last November. I guess it’s because so much
-has happened since then. It seems, too, as if it wa’n’t me that was
-doin’ it, but as if ‘twas someone else. I guess that’ll make it easier
-for me to tell; anyhow, I want you to know how it was, and then some
-time you can tell the boy, if you think it’s the right thing to do.”
-
-
-
-
- IV
-
-
-I forgot to tell you about the steak. I don’t see how I left that out,
-for, really, that’s what caused the whole trouble. It beats all what
-little things will do, don’t it? Now, lots o’ times in my life it has
-seemed as if the smallest things had the most to do with me. There was
-that red waist, for instance, that she wore that day she was waitin’ on
-the table. I ‘most know I never would have paid any attention to her if
-it hadn’t been for that red waist. And then that beefsteak—in one way
-I’m goin’ to get hung on account of that beefsteak. How many times since
-that I’ve just wished I hadn’t stopped and bought it. But you see I was
-feelin’ cold all day, and when I come ‘round Thirty-fifth Street the
-wind kind of got in my face worse’n it had done before, and it sort of
-struck me through the chest too; my legs didn’t feel it quite so much,
-because they had the blanket over ‘em. Well, just as I got up to the
-second corner there was a saloon right in front of me. This was before I
-got to the corner when I met the senators, and I thought I’d go in and
-get a drink; and then right on the other side was that meat market and
-there was a lot of chickens and steak and things hangin’ in the window,
-and they looked mighty good, for I hadn’t had much to eat all day. At
-first I thought I’d go and get a drink, and then I thought I could get
-enough steak for supper for just about what the drink would cost, and
-the steak would do the most good, and besides she and the kid could have
-some of that, and I thought it would make her feel pleasanter and liven
-her up a bit. We hadn’t been gettin’ along any too well for some time.
-
-“So I pulled up the horse a minute and went into the shop and asked the
-butcher about the steak hangin’ in the window, and he told me that it
-was sixteen cents a pound and that it was a sirloin steak. I thought
-that was most too much and asked him if he hadn’t some cheaper kind. He
-said yes, that a rump steak was just as good, and he showed me one of
-them and the whole piece came to fifteen cents—just the price of a glass
-of whiskey—and I bought it and rolled it up in a piece of brown paper
-and went away.
-
-“Now I was tellin’ about this to the good guard that likes to get
-statistics for the Citizens’ Association, and I told him it was the
-beefsteak that brought me here, and that if I had only got the whisky
-instead of the steak it wouldn’t have happened, but he argued the other
-way, and then when I stuck to my story he got kind of mad about it and
-said it was them drinks I had with the senators and the assessor that
-really done it, and if it hadn’t been for the drinks I’d have known
-better, and he said he was goin’ to put it down that way, and I’m sure
-he did. I hain’t no doubt but a good many of the figgers we see about
-penitentiaries and things is got up the same way.
-
-“Well, when I unhitched the horse and got him tended to and the potatoes
-covered up and all, I took the steak and started for the house. You know
-where I live—the barn is just back of the cottage, and there’s a kind of
-little alley behind the barn and then the switch-yards come in; the
-railroad curves up toward the house after it passes the barn so it gets
-pretty near the kitchen. Of course, the trains bother us a good deal and
-the switch engines are goin’ back and forth all the time, and the house
-is pretty old and not very big, but all them things has to be taken into
-consideration in the rent, and I got it enough cheaper to make up. I
-presume that’s the reason no poor people live out on the avenues,
-because the rents is so high, and in one way mebbe the switch tracks is
-a good thing, for if it wa’n’t for them I’d had to go out to the stock
-yards to live, and I’d rather have the engines and the smoke than the
-smell. Some of them Settlement people are tryin’ to have a park made,
-out along the tracks right close to where we lived. Of course, flowers
-and grass would be nice, but I s’pose if they got the park some fellers
-would come along and pay more rent than we could afford and then we’d
-have to go out to the stock yards. It seems as if us poor people gets
-the worst of it no matter how you fix it. But I’m takin’ an awful long
-while to get into the house; seems as if I’m tellin’ you everything I’ve
-thought of ever since I’ve been locked up here in jail. It’s mighty good
-of you to set and listen, and I’ll always remember it as long as I live,
-though I guess that ain’t sayin’ much.
-
-“When I come up to the door I heard the kid cryin’ and she was scoldin’
-him about somethin’ he’d done and tellin’ him to go in the bedroom and
-stay till supper was ready and to quit his squallin’ or she’d thrash
-him. Of course, generally, she was good to him, and I don’t mean to say
-she wa’n’t, but sometimes she got out of patience with him, same as all
-women does, I s’pose. Of course you have to make allowances for her. She
-dassent let the boy go to play back of the house, for there was the
-yards and the cars, and you know children always goes ‘round cars; then
-she couldn’t let him go in front for the electric road was there, and
-you know about that little boy bein’ run over a year ago down at the
-corner. Then there’s buildin’s on both sides of us, so she had to have
-the kid right in the house all the time less’n she went out with him,
-and of course he got kind of tired settin’ in the house all day with
-nothin’ to do but look out in front and see the switch engines. Still I
-sometimes thought she was crosser to him than she ought to have been at
-that.
-
-“When I opened the door she was just takin’ the boy into the bedroom. In
-a minute she come out and kind of slammed the door hard, and said,
-‘Well, you’ve got home, have you?’ I said yes, I’d got home. That’s
-every word I said. Then she said it was a pity that them drunken friends
-of mine couldn’t keep me out all night spendin’ the money for whisky
-that I ought to use in the house. I told her that I hadn’t spent no
-money for whisky. She said ‘Yes, your face looks it, and your breath
-smells it.’ Then I told her that I did take one drink but the assessor
-bought it for me. Then she landed into the assessor, and told me I was
-in pretty company goin’ ‘round with him; that Mrs. McGinty had told her
-all about what kind of a man he was and she didn’t want to hear any more
-about him. Then I asked her about when supper would be ready, and she
-said she hadn’t begun to get it yet, that she’d been doin’ the washin’
-and had that brat of mine to take care of all day, and she’d get the
-supper when she got ready. Of course I was hungry and cold, and that
-made me kind of mad, only I didn’t say much, but laid the beefsteak on
-the table and unrolled it so’s she could see it. I thought mebbe that
-would kind of tempt her, and I told her she’d better cook it and fry a
-few potatoes. She made some remark about the steak, and about how I’d
-better got a soup bone, or a chicken, or somethin’ cheaper, and no
-wonder I was in debt with all the money I spent for whisky, and when I
-did bring anything home to eat it had to be somethin’ that cost a good
-deal more’n I could afford. Then I said that this was a rump steak and
-only cost fifteen cents, and she said I could get a soup bone that
-weighed six or seven pounds for that, and I hadn’t any business to throw
-away my money. Then she kind of stopped for a few minutes and took the
-steak out into the kitchen. Where we’d been was in the settin’ room. I
-went in to see the kid a few minutes and kind of quieted him down, and
-so long as he laid on the bed and seemed kind of like as if he’d go to
-sleep I shut the bedroom door and come out again. Then I picked up the
-paper and read about the alderman not goin’ to run any more, and that
-was the real reason why he wa’n’t goin’ to give us any more turkeys;
-then I looked at the sportin’ page and then I read a long story about a
-feller that had killed someone and left ‘em dead in the house, and then
-run away, and how they’d found ‘em dead and had offered a thousand
-dollars reward for the feller who killed the other one. Then I read
-about a murder trial that they was just havin’ and how the jury had
-found the feller guilty and he was goin’ to be hung, and how he never
-moved a muscle, and how his mother screamed and fell over in a swoond
-when the clerk read the verdict. While I was readin’ she kept comin’ out
-and into the settin’ room, bringin’ dishes and things to set the table.
-You know we generally et in the settin’ room. Ev’ry time she come in she
-kind of glared at me, but I let on not to notice her.
-
-“Pretty soon I smelt the steak fryin’ and went out in the kitchen. When
-I got out there I found the steak fryin’ in the skillet all right and
-her just takin’ up the tea kettle to pour water on it. Now this made me
-mad, for that wa’n’t no way to fry steak. You know yourself that you
-lose all the flavor of the steak by pourin’ water on it; that makes it
-more like boiled meat than it does like beefsteak. I just saw her in
-time, and I called out, ‘What are you doin’? Put down that kettle. Don’t
-you know better’n to pour water on beefsteak?’ She said, ‘You shut up
-and go back in the settin’ room, or I’ll pour the water on you.’ I said,
-‘No, you won’t; put down that kettle. How many times have I told you
-better’n to pour water on steak? It’s hard enough for me to get the
-money for a steak without lettin’ you spoil it that way.’ I started to
-grab her hand, but before I could reach it she tipped the nozzle over
-into the skillet and poured a lot of water in, and the steam and hot
-water and grease kind of spattered up in my face. I don’t know whether I
-struck her or not; anyhow I grabbed the kettle, and when the nozzle
-turned round some of the hot water got onto me, and burned me a little.
-I put the kettle down and said, ‘Damn you, what do you mean by spoilin’
-the steak every time I get it? If you ever do a thing like that again,
-I’ll cut your throat.’
-
-“Now, of course, I hadn’t no idea of cuttin’ her throat, no matter how
-often she done it. ‘Twas just a way I had of showin’ how mad I was about
-what she’d done. You see she done it a-purpose for I’d told her plenty
-of times before, and I told her then before any of the water got into
-the skillet, and she just poured it in to spite me. Then she said, ‘You
-drunken loafer, I’d like to see you try to cut my throat. I just dare
-you to do it. You don’t need to wait until you bring home another steak;
-ain’t likely I’ll be here by the time you bring home any more steak. I
-don’t care what the Settlement people and the priest say about it, I’m
-going to quit you. I’ve stood this thing just as long as I’m goin’ to,’
-and she fairly screamed, just on purpose, so the neighbors could hear.
-
-“Now I didn’t want them to know we was fightin’, and I seen that she was
-so mad she couldn’t control herself and didn’t care who heard or what
-happened. The neighbors had come in once before, but they’d got pretty
-well used to our fights. But I thought it had gone about far enough and
-the steak couldn’t be helped, so I went back into the settin’ room and
-picked up the paper. In a few minutes she come in and says, ‘Well, come,
-your old steak’s ready, you’ve made so much fuss about it you’d better
-come and eat it and let it shut your mouth.’ And she went on into the
-bedroom and got the kid. I drew up my chair and set down to the table.
-She put the kid into the high chair and then she set down on the other
-side. I cut up the steak and give each of ‘em a piece with some fried
-potatoes, then we had some bread and butter and some tea. She poured out
-the tea and handed me a cup. There wa’n’t any milk for the tea and I
-asked her why that was. She told me she didn’t have any money to buy
-tickets, and if I wanted milk I’d better leave some money to buy tickets
-instead of spending it all for whiskey. I didn’t make much of any answer
-to this but commenced eatin’ my steak. Besides bein’ boiled it was
-cooked almost to a crisp, and you couldn’t hardly tell whether it was
-beefsteak or what it was; all the taste was out of it and gone into the
-water and the steam. I put some of the gravy on the potatoes; this was
-better’n the steak and tasted more like beef. I et up the potatoes and
-the steak and a few pieces of bread and butter, and cut up the kid’s
-steak and showed him how to hold his knife so’s to eat without cuttin’
-himself, and I didn’t say a word to her and she didn’t say a word to me.
-Of course, I could see by the way she looked that she was mad, and I
-presume she could see that I was, too; and probably both of us thought
-it was just as well not to say anything, ‘specially so long as the kid
-was there. All the time I was eatin’ I kept thinkin’ about the way she’d
-poured the water into the steak and spoilt it, and how I’d been lookin’
-forward to it ever since I bought it on Thirty-fifth Street, and the
-more I thought of it the madder I got. If it had been the first time I
-don’t think I’d have minded it near so much, but I’d told her about it
-ev’ry time I brought home a steak, and it seemed as if always we had a
-row pretty near as big as this, and every time she managed to pour the
-water into it and spoil it in spite of all that I could do. And this
-time it had been just the same thing again. Anyone would have been mad
-if they’d been in my place; don’t you think so yourself?
-
-“Well, I finished my supper without sayin’ a word to her, and she didn’t
-say a word to me, and then I got up and went back into the settin’ room
-and picked up the paper and commenced readin’ again. In a minute she
-come along through with the kid and took him into the bedroom to put him
-to bed. After she’d been in there a while she came out and shut the
-door, and stood up for a minute lookin’ over toward me. I thought she
-was waitin’ for me to speak, so I just kept my eyes on the paper like as
-if I was readin’, but I wa’n’t. I hadn’t cooled off a great deal since
-she poured the water on the steak, and could see that she hadn’t
-neither, so I thought mebbe it was as well to have it out, but I was
-goin’ to wait for her to begin. Of course, I hadn’t no idea then of
-doin’ anything like what I did. I was just mad and reckless and didn’t
-care much, and would keep thinkin’ of the steak, and you know all the
-time I was thinkin’ I could feel a kind of prickin’ up in my head, as if
-a lot of needles was runnin’ up toward my hair. I s’pose it was the
-blood runnin’ up there. That feller that I told you about that was
-talkin’ to us over here kind of made out that a man was a good deal like
-a machine, or an engine of some kind, and when the steam was turned on
-he had to go. He said that if the blood was pumped up in the head it
-made us do things; it made some people write poetry, and some make
-speeches, and some sing, and some fight, and some kill folks, and they
-couldn’t really help it if they was made that way and the blood got
-pumped up in the head. I believe there’s a good deal in it. You know
-when the blood don’t circulate down in your feet they get cold and kind
-of dead, and then if you put ‘em into a pail of hot water or even cold
-water, and then rub ‘em hard with a towel, they get prickly and red, and
-you can feel the blood comin’ back to ‘em and feel ‘em wake up again.
-
-“Well, I set perfectly still while she stood by the mantel-piece. First
-she picked up one thing and then another and kind of dusted ‘em and put
-‘em back. She done this till she had dusted ever’thing on the
-mantel-piece, and all the time she would be lookin’ over toward me, but
-I kept my eyes down on the paper and pretended to be readin’. I knew
-that she didn’t dust the things because she wanted to dust, for she
-always dusted in the mornin’ just after she swept. I knew she did it
-because she was nervous and mad, and was waitin’ for me to begin. Of
-course, sometimes when you are mad the longer you wait the more you get
-over it, and then sometimes the longer you wait the madder you get. It’s
-like a boiler not usin’ any of its steam while the fire is goin’; if it
-waits long enough somethin’s got to happen.
-
-“Finally, after she got everything dusted she looked over straight at me
-and says, ‘Are you goin’ to read that paper all night?’ I told her I was
-if I wanted to, that it was none of her business how long I read it;
-there was a part of it that I’d like to give her to read if she wanted
-to; it was the cookery department, and had a recipe for frying steak. Of
-course, there wa’n’t no such thing in the paper, and I just made it up
-and said it to be sassy, and I knew I shouldn’t have been throwin’ it up
-to her, but I was so mad I really didn’t think how ‘twould sound. Then
-she said she didn’t want any advice from me or the paper either, about
-cookin’, and she wanted me to understand that the cookin’ was none of my
-business and she’d tend to that herself in her own way, and if ever I
-interfered again she’d leave me and take the kid with her. She said she
-learned cookin’ long before she ever knew me. Then I said I thought she
-could make money by startin’ a cookin’ school; all them rich folks on
-Prairie Avenue would come over to get her to learn them how to fry
-steak. She said she guessed she knew more ‘bout fryin’ steak than I did,
-and when I boarded at the restaurant I was mighty glad to get steak
-fried that way, and I only grumbled about it now because I was so mean
-and didn’t know how to treat a woman, and a man like me never had no
-right to have a decent wife. Then I said I wished I hadn’t; I’d be a
-mighty sight better off by myself than livin’ with her and havin’ her
-spoil everything that came in the house, and I wished I was back
-boardin’ in the restaurant where she found me. She said I didn’t wish it
-half so much as she did, that she got along a good deal better when she
-was waitin’ on the table than she had since she married me; then she had
-a chance to get out once in a while and see someone and have a good
-time, but now she stayed to home from one year’s end to another lookin’
-after me and my brat. I told her I guessed the brat was just as much
-hers as it was mine, and I didn’t think that was any way to speak about
-the boy. Of course I really knew that she didn’t say it because she had
-anything against him, but just because she was mad at me. She always
-liked him, and I can’t make any complaint of the way she treated him,
-and I want him to know it when we’re both dead, and I don’t want him to
-get any idea that she wa’n’t perfectly square. I kind of want you to fix
-it, if you can, so ‘twon’t look to him as if either of us was to blame,
-but I guess that won’t be an easy thing to do.
-
-“Then I said she was mighty glad to give up the job she had at the
-restaurant to marry me. She said I asked her to get married, that she
-didn’t ask me. Then I told her that, of course, she didn’t ask me, but
-she gave me a mighty good chance, and that I believed she just got that
-red waist and fixed up her hair the way she did to ketch me, and when I
-spoke to her about marryin’ it didn’t take her very long to throw up her
-job, and take me so she could get supported without doin’ anything. Then
-she said that if she spent any money to get that red waist to ketch me
-she was throwin’ it away, and that if I thought she ever worked for
-anyone else as hard as she did for me and my brat that I was mistaken,
-and it didn’t make any difference what she done, I never gave her any
-thanks or did anything for her. If I ever had any time I spent it with
-them drunken loafers and politicians and never went anywhere with her;
-that she wa’n’t no better’n a slave, and what was she doin’ it all for;
-pretty soon she’d be old long before her time. Her looks was all gone
-now, and she hadn’t even had a new dress for over a year. I told her
-that I didn’t know what she wanted of looks, she never was a prize
-beauty and ‘twa’n’t very like anybody’d ever be fool enough to marry her
-again, if anything happened to me. And she said if she ever got rid of
-me there wouldn’t be much danger of her marryin’ anyone else, she had
-men enough to last as long as she lived; that all they ever thought of
-was what they could get to eat and drink, that I’d made more fuss over
-that miser’ble beefsteak than anyone would over their soul, and she
-didn’t see why she ever stood it from me, and she was just as good as I
-ever was and knew just as much, and worked a good deal harder, and
-didn’t run ‘round nights and get drunk and spend all the money with a
-lot of loafers, and be in debt all the time and have the collector
-runnin’ after me. I told her I had just about enough of that kind of
-talk, and wouldn’t stand no more of it from her; it was bad enough for
-her to burn up the beefsteak and spoil it without blackguardin’ me and
-callin’ me names; she was mighty glad to get the clothes and the grub I
-bought her and to live in my house and have me work hard every day in
-the cold to get money while she just stayed to home and played with the
-kid, and if she said another word to me I’d smash her face. Then she
-said, ‘Yes, you miserable wife-beater, you kicked me once, didn’t you,
-but you needn’ think you can kick me or lay hands on me again. I ain’t
-afraid of you nor any of your low-lived drunken crew!’ Then she kind of
-reached back to the mantel and took hold of a plaster Paris lady I’d
-bought of a peddler, just as if she was goin’ to throw it at me, same as
-she throwed that dish once before. I seen what she was doin’ and I
-grabbed her arm and said, ‘You damned bitch, don’t try that on me’; and
-I gave her a kind of shove over toward a chair and she missed the chair
-and fell on the floor.
-
-“Of course, you know I didn’t really mean anything when I called her a
-damned bitch; that is, I didn’t mean any such thing as anyone might
-think from them words. You know us fellers down to the yards don’t think
-very much about usin’ that word, and we never really mean anything by
-it. But I don’t think ‘twas a very nice word to use and have always been
-sorry I said it, even if I did kill her.
-
-“Well, she jumped up off’n the floor and made towards the table, like
-she’d grab a knife, and by this time I had a prickly feelin’ runnin’ all
-through my head and up into my hair, and I didn’t really think of
-anything but just about her and what she was doin’. I don’t believe I
-even thought about the kid in there on the bed. Mebbe if I had I
-wouldn’t have done it.
-
-“Well, when she made for the table that way, I just run over between her
-and the table, and said, ‘Damn you, if you move another step I’ll knock
-your damned brains out!’ Them’s the very words I said. I didn’t really
-think what I’d do, but of course I was mad and didn’t mean to give up to
-her, and wanted to show her who was boss, and that’s all I thought
-about. Then she come right up to me and sort of throwed her arms back
-behind her, and throwed her head back, and her hair hung down all kind
-of loose, and her eyes glared like electric lights, and she looked right
-at me and just yelled so I thought the people could hear her all over
-the ward. And she said, ‘Kill me! you miserable drunken contemptible
-wife-beater; kill me, I just dare you to kill me! Kill me if you want to
-and then go in there and kill the boy, too; you’d better make a good job
-of it while you’re at it! Kill me, you coward, why don’t you kill me?’
-
-“Just then I happened to look down by the stove and seen the coal pail,
-and there was the poker in the pail. The poker was long and heavy. Of
-course I hadn’t ever thought anything about the poker, but I looked down
-there and seen it, and she kept yellin’ right at me, ‘Kill me! Kill me!’
-I said: ‘Shut up your mouth, damn you, or I will kill you!’ But she just
-yelled back, ‘Why don’t you do it! Kill me! Kill me! You miserable dirty
-coward! Kill me!’ Then I looked down at the poker and I just reached and
-grabbed it, and swung back as hard as ever I could.
-
-“Her face was kind of turned up toward me. I can see it now just as
-plain—I s’pose I’ll see it when I’m standin’ up there with the black cap
-over my eyes. She just leaned back and looked up as I swung my arm and
-she said: ‘Kill me! Kill me!’ And I brought it down just as hard as ever
-I could right over her forehead,—and she fell down on the floor.”
-
-
-
-
- V
-
-
-“You might go and talk to the guard a little bit, I’ll be all right in a
-few minutes. You know this is the first time I’ve ever told it, and I
-guss I’m a bit worked up.”
-
-Hank got up, without looking at Jim’s face. His own was white as a
-corpse. He moved over to the little iron door and spoke to the guard.
-
-“Could you give me a drink of water—or could you make it whiskey? I’m
-sure that would be better for Jim.”
-
-The guard passed him a flask, and told him to just keep it. Hank took a
-drink himself and handed it to Jim.
-
-“Well, I guess ‘twould do me good. I believe if I was out of here I
-wouldn’t never take any more, but I don’t see any use stoppin’ now;
-anyhow I’ll need a lot of it in the mornin’. Just ask the guard if any
-word has come for me. I s’pose he’d told me, though, if it had.” Jim
-held the bottle to his mouth long enough to drink nearly half of what
-was left.
-
-Hank looked out at the silent corridors. Over in the court he could
-still hear the hammer and the voices of the workmen; from the upper
-tiers, the wild shriek of an insane man called on someone to save him
-from an imaginary foe. A solitary carriage rolled along the pavement and
-the voices of two or three men singing came up from the street below. A
-faint breath from the lake just stirred the heavy prison smell that
-seemed dense enough to be felt. The guard asked him how he was managing
-to pass the night. Hank answered that it was going much faster than he
-had thought.
-
-“Poor fellow,” said the guard, “I’ll be kind of lonesome when he’s gone.
-He’s been a good prisoner.” This was the highest character that a guard
-could give.
-
-“Well, Hank, if you are ready now, I’ll go on with my story. That
-whiskey kind of braced me up, and I s’pose you needed it too, after
-listenin’ so long. I must hurry, for I ain’t near through with what I
-wanted to say. I’ve thought lots about how I hit her, and I s’pose I
-ought to think it was awful, and it looks so to me now, and still it
-didn’t seem so then. I can’t help thinkin’ of what that feller said to
-us in his speech. He claimed that punishin’ people didn’t do no good;
-that other people was just as likely to kill someone if you hung
-anybody, as they would be if you let ‘em go, and he went on to say that
-they used to hang people for stealin’ sheep and still just as many sheep
-got stole and probably more’n there was after they done away with it. I
-don’t s’pose I ever should have thought anything about it if I hadn’t
-killed her, but, of course, that made me think a lot. I’m sure that I
-wouldn’t do such a thing again; I wouldn’t be near so likely to do it as
-I was before, because now I know how them things commence, and I’m
-awful, awful sorry for her too. There wa’n’t no reason why she should
-die, and why I should have killed her, and if there was anything I could
-do to change it, of course I would.
-
-“But I can’t really see how hangin’ me is goin’ to do any good. If it
-was I might feel different, but it ain’t. Now, all my life I always read
-about all the murders in the newspapers and I read about all the trials
-and hangin’s, and I always kind of wished I could go and see one. But I
-never thought I’d go this way. Why, I was readin’ about a murder and how
-a feller was found guilty and sentenced to be hung just before I killed
-her. And do you s’pose I thought anything about it? If there’d been
-forty scaffolds right before my eyes I’d have brought down that poker
-just the same. I don’t believe anyone thinks of gettin’ hung when they
-do it; even if they did think of it they’d plan some way to get ‘round
-it when they made up their mind to do the killin’. But they don’t think
-much about it. I believe sometimes that the hangin’ makes more killin’.
-Now look at them car-barn fellers; they just went out and killed people
-regardless, same as some men go out to shoot game. I don’t believe
-they’d ‘ve done it if it hadn’t been so dangerous. And then you know
-when they hung the whole three of ‘em at once, and one feller cut his
-own throat so as to cheat ‘em, and they took him right up and hung him,
-too, though he was so weak they had to carry him onto the scaffold, and
-the doctors done ever’thing they could do to keep him from dyin’ just
-so’s they could hang him. Well, you know they hadn’t any more’n finished
-them until another gang of young fellers commenced doin’ just the same
-kind of thing, and they are in jail now for murder, and you know one of
-‘em came in here one day and looked at the other ones before he done the
-killin’. I half believe that all the fuss they made ‘bout them fellers
-and hangin’ ‘em and printin’ it all in the newspapers did more to make
-the other ones do it than anything else. But I s’pose there ain’t no use
-hangin’ ‘em unless you put it all in the newspapers, for it won’t scare
-anyone from doin’ it unless people know they are hung.
-
-“But, of course what I think about it don’t make any difference, so I’d
-better hurry on. Well, after she fell over I stood still for a few
-minutes waitin’ for her to get up. Of course I thought she’d get right
-up again, and mebbe come back at me. But she didn’t move. Then I thought
-she was scarin’ me, and I just sat down for a few minutes to show her
-that I wa’n’t goin’ to be fooled in no such way. Still she didn’t stir.
-Then I commenced to be half scart and half mad. I didn’t think it was
-right to try to make me believe I had done anything like that. So I
-said, ‘When you’ve laid there long enough you’d better get up.’ Then I
-said, ‘What’s the use of playin’ theater, you can’t fool me. I’m goin’
-to bed and when you get ready you can come along.’ But I didn’t go to
-bed; I just sat still a little longer, and then I stepped over by her
-head and looked down at it, and I thought it didn’t look right, and then
-I was scart in earnest. Just then I heard the kid cry, and I didn’t want
-him to come out, so I locked the outside door and took a good look to
-see that all the curtains was clear down, and went in to see the kid. I
-lit a candle in the bedroom and talked with him a little; told him
-ever’thing was all right and to go to sleep, and I’d come in again in a
-minute or two. Then I went back to the settin’ room to see her.
-
-“Before I looked at her face I looked down to her feet to see if maybe
-they hadn’t moved, for I didn’t want to look at her face if I could help
-it. And I thought mebbe this would be the best way. But the feet was
-just where they was before; then I looked at her hands and they hadn’t
-moved, so I knew I just had to look at her face. I hadn’t examined her
-very close before, I was so scart, and I never could look at blood or
-dead folks, but of course this was different; so I got down on the floor
-close up to her face, and I seen the great welt along her forehead and
-top of her head and across the temple, and ‘twas all covered with blood
-and a lot of it had got on the floor. Her eyes was wide open. I knew
-they didn’t see anything. They looked just as if they’d been turned to
-glass, before she’d had time to shut ‘em. I felt of her wrist to see if
-her pulse was goin’. At first I thought it wa’n’t, and then I thought I
-felt it go a little, and I never felt so good in all my life. I pushed
-my finger down harder, but I couldn’t get it again. Then I felt of her
-heart and it was just the same way. I leaned over to her ear, and asked
-her to please wake up, that I was awful sorry, and I didn’t know what I
-was doin’, and if she’d just speak I’d be good to her all my life and do
-ever’thing I could for her, and then I asked her to do it on account of
-the boy, but still she didn’t move. Of course I was almost scart to
-death by this time; first I thought I’d call the neighbors and send for
-a doctor and then I thought that was no use. If she wa’n’t dead I didn’t
-need him, and if she was I must try to do somethin’ so no one would find
-it out. Then I began to think what could be done to bring her to. I
-never had much experience with people that got hurt, except the ones I’d
-seen at the railroad, and I wa’n’t just sure what to do with anyone in
-this fix. But I’d read somethin’ about it somewhere, and so I went into
-the back room and drew some water into a pail and took an old cloth and
-got down on the floor and commenced washin’ her head. But I couldn’t see
-the first sign of life. Then I looked around for some whiskey and found
-a little in a bottle in the closet and poured some in her mouth, but it
-all run right out, and she didn’t move.
-
-“Of course I never went to school very much but no matter how good an
-education I had I don’t s’pose I could tell you how I felt so you’d know
-it yourself. I never s’posed I’d do anything to get into any trouble,
-and I always thought I was different from criminals. But here I was in
-the house with her dead, and I’d killed her, and what would happen to
-me? I just pictured the headlines in the newspapers and the boys callin’
-‘all about the Jackson murder,’ and me tried for murder and hung, and
-the kid goin’ ‘round the rest of his life knowin’ that his father had
-killed his mother and then got hung.
-
-“At first I just set paralyzed and sort of held my head in my hands and
-moaned, and wondered if mebbe it wa’n’t a dream and if I couldn’t wake
-up, and then I thought I’d go and give myself up to the police and be
-done with it, and then I thought I might just as well kill myself, so I
-went and got an old razor, that I used to shave with sometimes, and
-tried to get up my nerve to cut my throat. But somehow I couldn’t put
-the edge over my wind-pipe. I wish though now that I had. Did you ever
-try to kill yourself? Them people that say it’s only cowards that kill
-themselves don’t know what they’re talkin’ about. I’d like to see them
-try it once. I’d have killed myself only I didn’t have the nerve. It
-wa’n’t because I cared anything about livin’; but I just couldn’t cut my
-own throat. Then I thought mebbe she wa’n’t dead, and I’d look again. So
-I done just the way I had before,—commenced at her feet to see if they’d
-moved, then when I got up to her hands I thought one of ‘em had moved,
-and my heart just gave a great big jump. Then I remembered that I’d
-picked it up, when I’d felt for her pulse and had put it down in a
-different place. Then I looked up to her face and it was just the same.
-It was white as a sheet, all except the long red and black welt and the
-blood, and her eyes wide open, and lookin’ right straight up to the
-ceilin’ starin’ just like a ghost. Then I felt of her hands and feet,
-and they was cold as ice and she was stiff, and I knew it was all off
-and she was dead.
-
-“If you don’t mind I’ll just take a little more of that whiskey before I
-go on; the whole thing’s been a little wearin’ on me and I think it’ll
-brace me up a bit. You’d better have some, too. That guard is a good
-feller, considerin’ the place he’s in. I believe if you hadn’t come I’d
-told my story to him. I didn’t feel as if I could go without tellin’
-someone how it really was. You see no one ever made the least bit of
-allowance for me in the trial, and I got tired of talkin’ to my lawyer
-all the time. He always said that what I told him didn’t amount to
-anything, and he was so well educated that he couldn’t understand me
-anyhow.
-
-“When I was sure that she was dead, I just throwed myself over on the
-floor, and laid my face flat down on my arm and give up. I’m sure I
-cried and I thought they could hear me next door, but I guess they
-didn’t. Anyhow I cried without payin’ any attention to ‘em. I must have
-laid this way for ten or fifteen minutes without once lookin’ up, and
-she was right close to me, and I could just reach out my hand and touch
-her. And I hadn’t begun to think what I’d do. Then after I’d laid a
-while, I just thought mebbe I’d ought to pray. It had been a long while
-since I’d prayed. Of course, I hadn’t paid much attention to such things
-when I was all right; I guess there ain’t many people that does, except
-women and children, but I always really believed in it, just the same as
-I do now. I kind of thought that God knew that I wasn’t wicked enough to
-kill her, and have all this trouble, and bring all that misery on the
-kid; so I thought I’d try him. I didn’t know much about prayers except
-only the ones I’d learnt long ago, and they didn’t any of ‘em seem to
-fit this case. But I didn’t need to know any prayers; I just got down on
-my knees and prayed myself. I begged God to have her come back; I told
-him how good she was, and how the boy needed her and what a hard time
-I’d always had, same as I told you, only not near so long, and I
-apologized the best I could for not goin’ to church more reg’lar and not
-ever prayin’ to him, and I asked him to forgive me for the time I kicked
-her, and the other things I’d done, and I promised if he only would let
-her come back I’d always be good and take care of her and the boy, and
-never do anything wrong and always go to church and confessional, and
-love God and Jesus and the Virgin and all the saints, and quit politics
-and drinkin’, and do right. I prayed and prayed, and I meant it all,
-too. And I don’t believe it was all for myself, ‘though I s’pose most of
-it was, but I really felt awful sorry for her, as I have ever since, and
-I felt awful sorry for the boy, who never had anything at all to do
-about it all.
-
-“Then after I quit prayin’ I got up slow, thinkin’ that it might have
-done some good, and that mebbe she’d be all right, so I started in, just
-as I had before, with her feet to see if they’d moved. I s’pose the
-reason I done this way was that if I saw her head first and knew she was
-dead ‘twould be all off the first thing; and when I commenced with her
-feet I always had some hope till I got clear up to her head. Well, her
-feet hadn’t moved a bit. Then I went to her hands, and they was just in
-the same place, and I began to feel it wa’n’t any use to look at her
-head; but I did. And there it was just as white as that plaster-Paris
-lady, and her eyes lookin’ straight up.
-
-“Then I felt sure ‘twas all off. I’d done everything I could think of,
-and I’d prayed just as hard as I knew how, and I was sure no one ever
-meant it more’n I did or wanted it any more, and I knew, of course, God
-had seen the whole thing and could do it if he wanted to and that he
-didn’t want to, and that she was clear dead. I kind of half set and half
-laid down on the floor a little while longer, tryin’ to think about it
-and what I was goin’ to do. But I couldn’t make any plans; I kep’
-thinkin’ about how it had all happened, and it begun to seem as if it
-wa’n’t really me that hit her with the poker, but as if both of us was
-somebody else and I was sort of dreamin’ about it all. Ain’t you ever
-had them kind of feelin’s when somethin’ awful has happened? But, of
-course, nothin’ like that ever happened to you. I thought most about
-that beefsteak, and how I stopped and bought it, and didn’t go in and
-get a drink, and all the time it seemed to me just as if that was where
-I made my big mistake. And then I thought how awful near I come to goin’
-into the saloon instead of the butcher-shop, and then some of the time
-I’d kind of feel as if mebbe I was goin’ into the saloon after all, and
-it wa’n’t goin’ to happen. Don’t you know how it is when anybody’s died
-or anything happened? You think about everything that’s done, so as to
-see if mebbe you can’t make it come out some other way after all? Well,
-that’s the way I done about every little thing, and every word we both
-spoke till I hit her with the poker. Another thing where I almost missed
-killin’ her was that poker; that coal pail didn’t belong in the settin’
-room at all, but ought to have been in the kitchen, and I don’t know how
-it ever got in there. Mebbe the boy lugged it in for a drum. You know he
-didn’t have many playthings, or mebbe she started a little fire in the
-settin’ room, for ‘twas the first cold day. I don’t see how it could
-have been that either, for she was washin’ that day and wouldn’t have
-any time to set in there. But I don’t know as it makes any difference;
-the coal pail was in the settin’ room and the poker was in the pail, and
-they was right before my eyes at the time. If they hadn’t been I never
-would’ve used the poker. When she stood up and told me to kill her, I’d
-most likely struck her with my fists and that would only knocked her
-down. But anyhow it didn’t do any good to go over it, for I couldn’t go
-into the saloon instead of the butcher-shop, and I couldn’t get that
-coal pail out of the settin’ room, and it had all been done—and she was
-dead! And I’d killed her! After I’d went over this a long time I made
-myself stop so I could do somethin’ that would be some use, for I knew
-there was lots to be done before mornin’, and I hadn’t a minute to lose.
-I knew I must get up off’n the floor and try to act like a man, and not
-give up, no matter how bad it was. But before I got up I thought I’d
-just take one more look to make sure that there wa’n’t no use. So I went
-over her again, just as I’d done before, and it came out the same way
-anyhow. I didn’t much think it was any use then and would’ve just about
-as soon begun at the head and got through with it right away.
-
-“After I had looked her over again I got up and set down in a chair to
-make up my mind what to do. I hadn’t been there very long when I knew I
-couldn’t figure it out; ‘twas too much for me the way I was, and so I
-thought I’d just quit tryin’ and do a few things first. And then I
-wondered what time ‘twas. I hadn’t thought anything about the time
-before, but I s’posed it must be almost mornin’ for just then I heard an
-express wagon drive along the street, and anyhow it seemed an awful long
-while since I got home. The clock was right up on the mantel-piece and
-tickin’ loud, but I hadn’t thought of lookin’ at it before and didn’t
-even know it was in the room. I looked up and seen it was goin’ and that
-‘twas only a quarter to twelve. I was surprised that it wa’n’t no later,
-and wondered how it could be, and just then it struck and I kind of kep’
-count because I was sort of thinkin’ of the clock and it stopped
-strikin’ at nine. Then I thought somethin’ must be wrong with the clock
-too, and I looked back again and seen that I’d made a mistake in the
-hands and ‘twas only nine o’clock. I couldn’t believe this was so, but
-the clock was goin’ all right. Then I kind braced up a little and
-thought what was to be done. First, I looked ‘round the room. I told
-you, didn’t I, that we et in the settin’ room? It was a settin’ room and
-a dinin’ room both. Sometimes we et in the kitchen, but that was pretty
-small. The table stood there with the dirty dishes just as we’d got
-through eatin’. There was the plates and knives and forks, and the
-teacups and the big platter with some of that steak left, and the gravy
-gettin’ kind of hard like lard all ‘round it. The coal pail was there
-and standin’ ‘round the table where we’d set to eat, except the rockin’
-chair which was over by the stove. I looked at all them things, and then
-I looked down at the floor, and there she lay with her head over toward
-the closet door and her feet up almost under the table. It was an awful
-sight to look at her on the floor, but there wa’n’t nothin’ else to do,
-so I looked her all over as careful as I had before, then I got kind of
-scart; I hadn’t never been in a room alone with anyone that was dead,
-except at the morgue; but, of course, this was worse than anything of
-that kind. I’d always heard more or less about ghosts and haunted houses
-and things like that, and didn’t believe anything of the kind, but they
-seemed to come back now when I looked over where she was layin’. I was
-afraid of ever’thing, not of people but of ghosts and things I couldn’t
-tell nothin’ about. I knew she was dead and must have gone somewhere,
-and most likely she was right ‘round here either in the bedroom lookin’
-at the boy or out here seein’ how I felt and what I was goin’ to do with
-her. Just then I heard somethin’ move over by the closet and it scart me
-almost to death. I knew it must be her and couldn’t bear to see her
-unless she could come to life on the floor. Finally I looked around to
-where I heard the noise and then I seen it was the curtain; the window
-was down a little at the top. I went and put up the window, and then
-hated to turn ‘round and look back where she lay. Then I went to the
-bedroom door and opened it about half way just so the light wouldn’t
-fall on the bed and wake him up, but so I could hear him breathe and it
-wouldn’t be quite so lonesome. Ever’thing was awful still and like a
-ghost except the clock, after I got to thinkin’ of it. Then it ticked so
-loud I was almost ‘fraid they’d hear it in the next house. When I got
-the bedroom door open I thought I must do somethin’ about her and the
-room before I made up my mind what plan to take about myself.
-
-“First I went and hunted up the cat. I’d always heard about that, so I
-went into the kitchen and there she was sleepin’ under the stove. I
-couldn’t help wishin’ I was the cat, although I had never thought of any
-such thing before. Then I took her in my hand and went to the outside
-door and threw her out in the yard and shut the door tight. Then I came
-back in the settin’ room and thought about what had to be done. I looked
-over again at her and then I saw her eyes still lookin’ right up at the
-ceilin’, and round and shinin’ like glass marbles. I thought that wa’n’t
-the way they ought to be and that all the dead folks I’d ever seen had
-their eyes shut. So I went over and got down by her head and kind of
-pushed the lids over her eyes, same as I’d always heard they did, and
-put some nickels on ‘em to keep ‘em down. I don’t know how I done it,
-but I felt as if it had to be done, and, of course, they wa’n’t no one
-else to do it, and nobody knows what they can do until they have to. And
-then I saw that there was a good deal of blood on her face, and I wanted
-her to look decent though I didn’t know then what would be done with
-her, and I went into the kitchen to the sink and got a pan of water and
-some soap and an old towel, and washed all the blood off that I could
-find, and wiped her face careful to make her look as well as I could.
-Once or twice while I was doin’ it I kind of felt down to her heart, but
-I knew it wa’n’t no use. Still I thought it couldn’t do any hurt, and
-that God might’ve thought I wa’n’t scart enough so he waited; but I
-didn’t feel nothin’ there. Then I kind of smoothed back her hair like
-I’d seen her do sometimes. ‘Twas all scattered round on the floor and
-pretty full of blood. I couldn’t very well get the blood out, but I
-fixed the hair all back together the best I could. Then I noticed that
-her jaw kind of hung down and I pushed it up and tied a towel around it
-to keep it there, and then she looked pretty well, except that great
-long gash over her face and head where the poker went.
-
-“Then I thought I’d have to fix up the room and the floor a little bit.
-I sort of pushed back the chairs and the table so I could get a little
-more room, and then moved her a little way and straightened her out
-some. First before I moved her I got that paper I’d been readin’ and
-laid it on the floor and then I took up her shoulders and lifted ‘em
-over to one side and laid her head on the paper. Then I moved the rest
-of her over to match her head and shoulders. There was a lot of blood on
-the floor where she’d been, and I knew I had to do somethin’ about that.
-
-“There was a nice Japanese rug on the floor, and her head had struck
-just on the edge of it over by the door. I’d bought her the rug for a
-Christmas present last year, and she liked it better’n anything she had
-in the house, but it was beginnin’ to wear out some. A part of the blood
-was on the floor and a part on the rug. So I went and got another pan of
-water and the soap and towel and washed the floor; then I washed the rug
-the best I could, and lifted it up and washed in under it, and then
-threw away the water and got some more and washed it all over again.
-When I seen that the last water was a little bloody I thought mebbe I’d
-better go over it again, so I got some more water and went over it the
-third time, then I threw the water out and washed the towel as good as I
-could, and went back in and looked ‘round the room to see if there was
-anything else to do. Just then I noticed the poker that I hadn’t thought
-of before. I took it to the kitchen and washed it all over and then
-dried it and then put it in the stove and covered it with ashes, and
-then laid it down on the hearth; then I went back in and seen that
-ever’thing was finished and that she was all right, and there wa’n’t
-nothin’ to do except to make my plans. But before I go on and tell you
-what I done with her, let me speak to the guard a minute.”
-
-Hank and Jim got up once more and looked out through the bars. The guard
-was still sitting on the stool and asked what he could do.
-
-“What time is it?” said Jim.
-
-“Oh, it’s early yet, only a little after twelve,” he replied. “Wouldn’t
-you like a little more whiskey? I’ve got another bottle here, and I can
-get all I want down to the office. If I was you I’d drink it. I don’t
-think whiskey does any hurt. I’m always arguing with that other guard
-about it. He’s bug-house on whiskey.”
-
-Jim took the whiskey and then turning to the guard, with an anxious
-face, said, “You’re sure nothin’ has come for me?”
-
-“No, there’s nothin’ come.” But after a few minutes he added, “I’ll go
-over to the telephone pretty soon and call up the telegraph office and
-make sure.”
-
-Jim’s face brightened a little at this. “I’m much obliged. It might be
-sent to me, and it might be sent to the jailer or the sheriff. You’d
-better ask for all of us.”
-
-
-
-
- VI
-
-
-“That whiskey makes me feel better. I’ve been takin’ a good deal tonight
-and I s’pose I’ll take more in the mornin’. That’s one reason why I’m
-drinkin’ so much now. First I thought I wouldn’t take any tomorrow—or—I
-guess it’s today, ain’t it? It don’t seem possible; but I s’pose it is.
-I thought I’d show the newspapers and people that’s been tellin’ what a
-coward I was to kill a woman! but now I think I’ll take all I possibly
-can. I guess that’s the best way. It don’t make no difference—if I take
-it they’ll say I’m a coward and if I don’t, it’s only bravado. Most
-people takes so much that they almost have to be carried up, and they
-don’t hardly know. I guess that’s the best way. Some people take
-somethin’ to have a tooth pulled, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t for
-a thing like this. Mebbe the whiskey makes me talk more’n I meant to,
-and tell you a lot of things that hain’t nothin’ to do with the case,
-but it’s pretty hard for me to tell what has and what hain’t.
-
-“After I got her laid out and the floor cleaned, I set down a minute to
-think what I’d do next. First I thought I’d go in and get the kid and
-take him away, and leave her there, and I guess now that would have been
-the best way, and they wouldn’t found it out so quick. But then I
-thought the people next door, or the postman, or milkman, or somebody,
-would come along in the mornin’ and find her there, and I couldn’t get
-far with the kid. Besides I only had about ten dollars and I knew that
-wouldn’t last long. Then I thought I’d just go out and jump onto one of
-the freight trains they was makin’ up in the yards, and leave her and
-the kid both; then I couldn’t bear to think of him wakin’ up and comin’
-out into the settin’ room and findin’ her there. He wouldn’t know what
-it meant and would be scart to death and ‘twouldn’t be right. Then so
-long as I couldn’t do either one, I had to get her out, but I didn’t
-know how to do it, and what was I goin’ to do with her when I got her
-out. First I thought I’d try to put her in the sewer, and then I knew
-someone would find her there for that had been tried before; then I
-studied to see what else I could think of.
-
-“Finally I happened to remember a place she and I went once picnickin’,
-just after we was married. I don’t know how I happened to remember it,
-‘cept that I couldn’t think of anything to do, and then I was kind of
-goin’ over our life, and it seemed as if that was the nicest day we ever
-had. One of the boys had been tellin’ me about the new street car lines
-that run way off down through Pullman and South Chicago, and out into
-the country, and how nice it was out there away from all the houses. So
-one Sunday we went over to the street cars and started out. I don’t know
-whether we found the right place or not, but I remember just when we was
-goin’ to turn somewhere to go to Pullman or South Chicago we saw some
-trees off in a field, and thought that would be a nice place to go and
-set in the shade and eat the lunch we’d brought along. So we went over
-under the trees, and then I saw some rock further over, and then she and
-I went over where they was and there was a great deep pond with big
-stones all ‘round the edge. I heard that it was an old stone quarry that
-had got filled up with water. But it was awful deep and big, and we set
-down under a little tree on top of one of them big rocks and let our
-feet hang over the sides, and the water was way down below, and I said
-to her just in fun, ‘Now, if I wanted to get rid of you, I could just
-push you over here and no one would ever know anything about it.’ She
-kind of laughed at the idea and said if I ever wanted to get rid of her
-I wouldn’t have to push her off any rock, that she’d go and jump in
-somewhere herself, and I told her if I ever wanted her to I’d let her
-know, and for her to just wait till I did. And we went all ‘round the
-pond, and I threw stones in it and tried to see how near across I could
-throw, and we stayed ‘round until it was time to take the car and go
-home. And I don’t believe I ever had a better time. Now and then when we
-was friendly or had got over a fight, we used to talk about goin’ back
-there again, but we never did.
-
-“Well, after thinkin’ of ever’thing I could, I made up my mind that the
-best thing was for me to put her on the express wagon and take her out
-there, if I could find the place. I didn’t believe anybody would ever
-know anything about it, and if they did ‘twould be a long time and they
-wouldn’t know who she was.
-
-“Then I thought it might be dangerous gettin’ her out of the house and
-gettin’ the wagon out on the street that time of night. If anyone seen
-us they’d be suspicious and want to know what I was doin’, and then I
-was afraid the policeman would be watchin’ for suspicious people and
-things along the street. But I didn’t see anything else to do, and I
-knew I had to take chances anyway and would most likely get caught in
-the end. I looked at the clock and found ‘twas only ten, and I felt as
-if that was too early to start out. The people next door wouldn’t be
-abed and if they ever saw me carryin’ her out they couldn’t help
-noticin’ it. So I set down and waited. You hain’t no idea how slow the
-time goes in such a case. I just set and heard that clock tick, and the
-boy breathin’ in the other room; it seemed as if every tick was just
-fetchin’ me that much nearer to the end—and I s’pose mebbe that’s so,
-whether we’ve killed anyone or not, but you don’t never think of it
-unless it’s some place where you’re waitin’ for someone to die, or
-somethin’ like that. Then of course I kept thinkin’ of ever’thing in my
-whole life, and I went over again how I’d done it, but I couldn’t make
-it come out any different no matter how hard I tried.
-
-“Then I wondered what I was goin’ to do next, and how long ‘twould be
-before they’d ketch me, and if I’d stand any show to get out, if I got
-ketched. Of course, I thought I’d have to run away. I never seemed to
-think of anything but that. I guess ever’body runs away when they do any
-such thing; ‘tain’t so much bein’ safer, but they want to get away. It
-don’t seem as if they’d ever be any chance anymore where it’s done. But
-I couldn’t just figger out where to go. Of course, I knew I’d take the
-cars. There ain’t any other way to travel if you want to go quick. Then
-I thought I’d have a long enough time to figger it out while I was
-takin’ that drive down across the prairie. Anyhow I’d need somethin’ to
-think about while I was goin’.
-
-“That feller that talked to us in the jail said the real reason why they
-hung people and locked ‘em up was to get even with ‘em, to make ‘em
-suffer because they’d done somethin’. He said all the smart men who’d
-studied books claimed that hangin’ and punishin’ didn’t keep other
-people from doin’ things. But if it’s done to make anyone suffer they
-ain’t any use in doin’ it at all. I never suffered so much since as I
-did when I was settin’ there and thinkin’ all about it, and what I was
-goin’ to do, and what would become of the kid, and how she was dead, and
-ever’thing else. You know it takes quite a while to get used to a thing
-like that, and while I was settin’ there beginnin’ to realize what it
-all meant, it was awful! If I’d only had the nerve I’d just cut my
-throat and fell right over alongside of her. A good many people does
-that and I wish I could’ve. But every time I thought of it I kind of
-hung back. I don’t ever want any more such nights; I’d rather they’d
-hang me and be done with it. I didn’t suffer so much when I was runnin’
-away or gettin’ caught, or bein’ tried; even when I was waitin’ for the
-verdict to come in; nor I didn’t suffer so much waitin’ for the Supreme
-Court or the Governor, or even since they give up hope and I can hear
-‘em puttin’ that thing up over there in the courtyard.
-
-“I don’t s’pose hangin’ will hurt so very much after all. The main thing
-is, I want ‘em to hurry after they start out. Of course, I’ll be pretty
-drunk, and won’t know much about what they’re doin’, and I don’t s’pose
-they’ll take long after I put on them clothes until it’s all over. Goin’
-from here to the place won’t hurt, though I s’pose it’ll be pretty hard
-work walkin’ up the ladder and seein’ that rope hangin’ over the beam,
-and knowin’ what it’s for. But I s’pose they’ll help me up. And then
-strappin’ my hands and feet’ll take some time. But they don’t need to do
-that with me for I shan’t do a thing;—still mebbe if they didn’t I’d
-kind of grab at the rope when they knocked the door out from under my
-feet. I might do that without knowin’ it. So I s’pose it’s just as well.
-It must be kind of sickish when they tie the rope ‘round your neck, and
-when they pull that cap over your head, and you know you ain’t never
-goin’ to see anything again. I don’t s’pose they’ll wait long after
-that; they oughtn’t to. You won’t feel anything when you’re fallin’ down
-through, but it must hurt when you’re pulled up short by the neck. But
-that can’t last long, can it? They do say the fellers kicks a good deal
-after they’re hung, but the doctors say they don’t really feel it, and I
-s’pose they know, but I don’t see how they can all be so smart about
-ever’thing; they hain’t never been hung.
-
-“I s’pose the priest will be here; he’s a trump, and I think more of him
-than I ever did before. He’s been a great help to me, and I don’t know
-what I’d done without him. Of course, he talks religion to me, but he’s
-kind of cheerful and ain’t always making out that I’m so much worse than
-anyone else ever was. I ain’t much afraid ‘bout God; somehow I kind of
-feel as if He knows that I’ve always had a pretty tough time, and that
-He’ll make allowances on account of a lot of them things that the judge
-ruled out, and He knows how I’ve suffered about it all and how sorry I
-be for her and the kid, and He’ll give me a fair show. Still sometimes I
-can’t help wonderin’ if mebbe there ain’t nothin’ in all of it, and if I
-hain’t got through when my wind’s shut off. Well, ‘scuse me, I didn’t
-want to make you feel bad, but I’ve thought about it so much and gone
-over it so many times that it don’t seem as if it was me, but that
-someone else was goin’ to get hung; but I hain’t no right to tell it to
-anybody else, and I didn’t mean to.
-
-“Well, I set there and waited and waited, until about eleven o’clock,
-and then I thought mebbe ‘twould be safe enough to start, just then the
-boy woke up, and I heard him say ‘Mamma,’ and it kind of gave me a
-start, and I hurried in and asked him what he wanted and he said he
-wanted a drink of water, and I came out to the kitchen sink and got it
-and took it back and gave it to him. Then he asked me what time it was,
-and I told him about eleven o’clock, and he asked me why I had my
-clothes on and where mamma was, and I told him we hadn’t gone to bed
-yet, and for him to turn over and go to sleep, and he said a few more
-words and then dropped off.
-
-“Then I went out to the barn to hitch up the rig. The horse was layin’
-down asleep, and I felt kind of mean to wake him, for I knew he was
-about played out anyhow; but it couldn’t be helped, so I got him up and
-put on the harness. I s’pose he didn’t know much about the time, and
-thought he was goin’ down to Water Street after a load of potatoes. I
-didn’t bring any lantern; I knew the barn so well I could hitch up in
-the dark. Then I took the hay off’n the potatoes and put it in the
-bottom of the wagon to lay her on, and then run the wagon out and turned
-it ‘round and backed it in again. I ‘most always hitched up outside the
-barn for there was more room outdoors, but I didn’t want to be out there
-any more’n I could help, so I thought I’d get all ready in the barn so I
-could just drive away.
-
-“Well, I got the horse all harnessed and the bits in his mouth, and
-ever’thing ready to hitch up, and then went back in the house. I’d been
-thinkin’ that I’d better take one more look, not that ‘twould do any
-good but just because it might. You know when you’ve lost a knife, or a
-quarter, or anything, and you look through all your pockets and find it
-‘tain’t there, and then go back and look through all of ‘em again and
-don’t find it; then you ain’t satisfied with that and mebbe you keep a
-lookin’ through ‘em all day, even when you know ‘tain’t there. Well,
-that’s the way I felt about her, only I s’pose a good deal worse, so
-when I got in I looked her over again just the same way’s I had before.
-I felt for her pulse and her heart but ‘twa’n’t no use. Then I got my
-old overcoat and my hat and got ready to start, but before I left I
-thought I’d just look out once to see if the folks in the next house was
-abed, and I found they wa’n’t, for there was a light in the kitchen
-right next to mine, and I knew ‘twould never do to carry that kind of a
-bundle out the back door while they was up. So I waited a little while
-until the light went out and ever’thing was still, and then put on my
-coat and hat and picked her up in my arms. It was an awful hard thing to
-do, but there wa’n’t nothin’ else for it, so I just kind of took my mind
-off’n it and picked her up. When I got her kind of in my arms one of her
-arms sort of fell over, and her legs kind of hung down like they was
-wood, and then I see I had to fasten ‘em some way or I couldn’t never
-carry her. It wa’n’t like a live person that can stay right where they
-want to; it was more like carryin’ an arm full of wood that would
-scatter all around unless you get it held tight.
-
-“Then I laid her down and found some string and tied her arms tight
-around her body, and then fastened her ankles together. Then I went into
-the bedroom and got a quilt off’n our bed and rolled her up in that. You
-know at my trial they made out that ‘twas bad for me to tie her that
-way, and if I hadn’t been awful wicked I wouldn’t have done it. But I
-can’t see anything in that; there wa’n’t no other way to do it. Then
-they said it was awful bad the way I took her off and the place I dumped
-her, and the newspapers made that out one of the worst things about it
-all; but I tried to think up something else to do and I couldn’t, and
-there she was dead, and I had to do the best I could. I washed her and
-fixed her all up before I went away, and if there’d been anything else I
-could have done I know I would.
-
-“When I got her fixed up, I went to the door and looked out, and I saw
-some drunken fellers goin’ along in the alley, so I waited a minute for
-them; and then I got her in my arms and opened the door and then turned
-off the light and went out and shut the door as soft as I could. It
-wa’n’t but a few steps to the barn, but I hurried as fast as I could,
-and just as I was takin’ the first step I heard the most unearthly
-screech that scart me so I ‘most dropped her; but in a minute I knew it
-was only a train pullin’ into the yards and I hurried to get to the barn
-before the engine come up.
-
-“Well, I guess nobody saw me, and I got her in the wagon and laid her on
-the hay. I fixed her head to the end and her feet reachin’ up under the
-seat. I didn’t want her head so near me in that long drive down over the
-prairie. Then I covered her up the best I could with one of the old
-horse blankets, so it wouldn’t look suspicious if anyone seen me.
-
-“I tell you it was awful pokerish out there in the barn, worse than in
-the house, for I had a light there. I didn’t want to stay in the barn a
-minute longer than I could help, so I hurried and hitched the old horse
-onto the wagon, then went out to the alley and looked up and down to see
-if anyone was there. Then I got on the seat and put a blanket around me
-and drove off. I was afraid the neighbors would notice me drive out of
-the barn, but they didn’t. The moon hadn’t quite got up and there
-couldn’t anyone see unless they was right close. When I got about a
-block away I seen a policeman walkin’ ‘long the street and goin’ up to
-pull a box. Of course I was scart; he looked at me kind of suspicious
-like, and looked at the wagon to see what was in there, but it was
-rather dark and I braced up the best I could and drove right ‘long and
-he didn’t say nothin’. Then I found a lot of fellers that was comin’
-down the street makin’ a lot of noise. They was a gang of politicians
-that had been goin’ round to the saloons and was pretty full. I was
-afraid some of ‘em might know me, but they didn’t pay any attention and
-I went along up to the corner of Halsted and turned south. I knew
-Halsted was a pretty public street, but the roads was better and I had a
-long way to go, so I thought I might just as well chance that.
-
-“I got along down about Twenty-ninth Street and met a gang of fellers
-that was makin’ a lot of noise singin’ and talkin’, and braggin’ and
-tellin’ what they could do. I was a little ‘fraid of ‘em, not because I
-thought they’d hurt me, but I didn’t know but what they’d see what was
-in the wagon. When I come up to ‘em they told me to stop, that they was
-the ‘Bridgeport threshers’ and no one had any right there but them, and
-they wanted to know what reason I had to be out at that time o’ night. I
-told ‘em I was just gettin’ home, that I’d been kep’ late up town. Then
-one of ‘em said, ‘What you got in the wagon?’ and I said, ‘Potatoes.’
-Then one feller said, ‘Let’s see ‘em,’ and started for the wagon. But
-another one spoke up and said, ‘Oh, Bill, leave him alone, he’s all
-right.’ And then they all started up another road and went away. That
-was a pretty narrow escape and I was ‘most scart to death for fear
-they’d look under the blanket. I met a good many teams but nothin’ more
-happened till I got down to Fifty-fifth Street Boulevard, where I turned
-east to go over to the Vincennes road.
-
-“By this time the moon had come up and it was about as light as day. It
-had stopped snowin’ and the wind had gone down but it was awful cold. I
-never saw a nicer night. You could see everything almost as well as
-daylight. I hurried the old horse as much as I could, but he couldn’t go
-fast. He hadn’t got much rested from the day before. Every once in a
-while I looked back at the load. I kind of hated to look, but I couldn’t
-help it. The blanket commenced to kind of take her shape so it looked to
-me as if anyone would know that someone was under there. So I got out
-and moved the blanket and fixed it up more on one side. But I didn’t
-look at her. Then I drove on across to Vincennes road and turned south.
-Every once in a while I’d meet someone, and I was afraid all the time
-that something would happen, but it didn’t and I drove on. The moon got
-clear up high and I could see everything on the road and around the
-wagon, and see where her feet came through under the seat and almost
-touched mine, and could see all the horse blanket that covered her up. I
-hadn’t got far down the Vincennes road until I thought the blanket had
-changed its shape and was lookin’ just like her again so I got out and
-fixed it up and went back and drove on.
-
-“While I was goin’ ‘long I kep’ thinkin’ what I was goin’ to do and I
-s’pose it was the cold that made me think I’d better go south. I always
-did hate cold weather, and this winter I thought I’d have to stay out
-and run ‘round from one place to another, if I didn’t get caught the
-first thing.
-
-“Then I thought I must take the horse and wagon back home, and I wanted
-to see that the boy was all right; so I thought it might bother me to go
-clear out to that quarry and get away from Chicago before daylight. But
-anyhow I could go until one o’clock and then get back by three, and
-probably ketch a train before mornin’.
-
-“After a while I begun to have a queer idea about her. I thought I could
-feel her lookin’ right at me,—kind of feel her eyes. I drove on, and
-said it was all bosh and she couldn’t do it, and I looked down at her
-feet and I seen they was in the same place, but still I couldn’t get
-over that feelin’. I thought she was lookin’ at me all the time, and I
-kind of ‘magined I could hear her say, ‘Where ‘re you takin’ me? Where
-are you takin’ me? Where are you takin’ me?’ just about the same as when
-she said, ‘Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!’ and no matter what I done, or how
-hard I tried, I could feel her lookin’ and hear them words in my ears.
-
-“By this time I was gettin’ ‘way down the Vincennes road. You know it
-gets wide ‘way down south, and it ain’t much built up nor very well
-paved. There’s a lot of road-houses along the street; most of ‘em was
-open and a good many fellers was ‘round ‘em, just as they always is
-‘round saloons. I’d like to have had a drink, for I was awful cold and
-scart, but I didn’t dare go in, though I did stop at a waterin’-trough
-in front of one of the places and watered the horse. He was pretty well
-blowed and was hot. I had urged him pretty hard and the road was heavy.
-Wherever there was mud it was frozen so stiff that it could almost hold
-up, and still let you break through, the very worse kind of roads for a
-horse to go on.
-
-“After I got him watered I went on and kep’ meetin’ lots of wagons. I
-never had no idea how many people traveled nights before. I s’posed I
-wouldn’t see anyone, but I met a wagon ever’ little ways and I was
-always afraid when I passed ‘em. A great many of ‘em hollered out,
-‘Hello, pardner,’ or ‘What you got to sell,’ or anything, to be
-sociable, and I would holler back the best I could, generally stickin’
-to ‘Potatoes,’ when they asked me about my load. I thought I knew
-potatoes better’n anything else, and would be more at home with ‘em if
-anything was said.
-
-“I hadn’t got far after I watered the horse before her eyes began to
-bother me again. Then I kept hearin’ them words plainer than I had
-before. Then I got to thinkin’ about all the things I had heard and read
-about people who were dead, and about murders, and that seemed to make
-it worse’n ever. Then I began to think of the things I’d read about
-people that were put away for dead, when they wa’n’t dead at all, and
-about mesmerism, and hypnotism, and Christian Science, but I knew none
-of them things was done the way she’d been killed. Then I remembered
-about trances, and how people was give up for dead sometimes for days,
-and even buried and then come to life, and about how people had dug up
-old graveyards and found out where lots of people had moved around after
-they’s dead. And then I thought I heard her say, ‘You thought you’d
-killed me! You thought you’d killed me! You thought you’d killed me!’
-And the further I went the plainer it sounded. Finally I began to think
-‘twas so and of course I hoped it was, and I kep’ thinkin’ it more’n
-more and couldn’t get it out of my head. Of course, I looked around at
-the houses and the trees and fences and at the moon. It had clouded up a
-little with them kind of lightish heavy clouds you’ve seen that run so
-fast; they was just flyin’ along over the sky and across the moon, and I
-was wishin’ I could go ‘long with ‘em and get away from it all, and then
-the voice would come back, ‘Where are you takin’ me? Where are you
-takin’ me? Where are you takin’ me? You thought you’d killed me! You
-thought you’d killed me! You thought you’d killed me!’ And I felt so
-sure she wa’n’t dead that I couldn’t stand it any more, and I looked at
-her feet, but they hadn’t moved, and then I stopped the horse and got
-off’n the wagon and went back to the hind end and lifted up the blanket
-kind of slow. For I felt as if I’d stand more chance that way than if I
-did it all at once, and I got the blanket up, and then I got hold of the
-quilt just by the edge and kind of pulled it back so as to uncover her
-face, and just then the moon came out from behind a cloud and shone
-right down in her face, almost like day, and she looked just as white as
-a ghost, and the bandage had come off her jaw and it hung clear down,
-and her mouth was open, and I knew she was dead.
-
-“Then I threw the things back and jumped onto the wagon, half crazy, and
-hurried on.
-
-“It was gettin’ now where there wa’n’t no more houses, and I hardly ever
-met any teams, and I was gettin’ clear out on the prairies, and I looked
-at my old silver watch and saw it was close to one o’clock, and I
-thought mebbe I might just as well get through with it now as to wait
-any longer. So I looked along at the fields to find a good place, and
-after a while I saw where there was a great big field full of hummocks.
-It looked as if they’d been diggin’ for gravel or somethin’ of that
-kind, and I thought that was as good a place as any. So I looked up and
-down the road, and saw no one comin’, and I drove the old horse up in
-the fence corner and got off the wagon, and then I fixed a good place to
-get over, and fastened the quilt a little better, and took her in my
-arms and started as fast as ever I could. I went past the fence and run
-over to the first hummock, but the hole didn’t look very deep, and there
-was some more further over. So I went to them, but they wa’n’t deep
-enough either. Then I looked ‘round and saw one bigger’n the rest and
-went there. I laid her down and looked over. The moon was shinin’ all
-right, and I could see that the hole was pretty big and deep. I laid her
-down lengthwise ‘long the bank, and then took one more feel of her heart
-and ‘twas just the same. Then I fastened the quilt a little tighter,
-lifted her clear over to the edge, and held her head and feet in a
-straight line so she’d roll down the hill all right, and then I give her
-a shove and turned and run away.”
-
-
-
-
- VII
-
-
-“Well, I hadn’t any more’n started to run till I heard a splash I knew
-she’d got to the water all right and there wa’n’t nothin’ for me to do
-but hurry home.
-
-“I went right back to the wagon and climbed upon the seat and turned
-‘round. The old horse was pretty tired but he seemed some encouraged,
-bein’ as he’d turned home. Horses always does, no matter how poor a
-place they has to stay. I urged him ‘long just as fast as I could;
-didn’t stop for nothin’ except to give him some water at a trough down
-on Halstead Street, and went right home. Then I put him in the stable
-and took care of him, and throwed some hay in the manger. So long as I
-hadn’t any oats I emptied about a bushel of potatoes in with the hay. I
-thought they wouldn’t be any use to me any more, and they’d keep him
-quiet a while and mebbe do him some good.
-
-“Then I went in the house, and struck a match and lit the lamp. I didn’t
-‘low to stay long for I’d got my plans all thought out comin’ home, but
-I just wanted to look into the room and see the kid. I glanced ‘round
-and ever’thing seemed all right, except I thought I’d better take the
-coal pail out in the kitchen. Then I looked at the floor and the rug and
-I couldn’t see no blood; and the water had pretty near dried up. Then I
-opened the bedroom door and looked at the kid. He was sleepin’ all
-right, just as if he hadn’t been awake once all night. He was layin’ on
-one side with his face lookin’ out toward me, and was kind of smilin’
-pleasant-like and his hair was all sweaty and curly. You’ve seen the
-kid. You know he’s got white curly hair just as fine as silk. That’s one
-thing he got from her.
-
-“Well, I couldn’t hardly bear to go away and leave him, but there wa’n’t
-nothin’ else to do. I guess I would have kissed him if I hadn’t been
-‘fraid he’d wake up, but I never was much for kissin’; kissin’ depen’s a
-good deal on how you’re raised. I guess rich people kiss a good deal
-more’n poor people, as a general rule, but I don’t know as they think
-any more of their children. Well, I just looked at him a minute and shut
-the door and went out. Then I noticed the whiskey bottle on the table
-that I brought out to try to wake her; I hadn’t thought of it before;
-and I picked it up and drank what was left, and turned and blew out the
-lamp and went away. That’s the last I ever seen of the kid, or the
-house.
-
-“I went right over to the yards to see about trains. There wa’n’t
-nothin’ standin’ ‘round there and I didn’t like to ask any questions, so
-I went down to the other end and see ‘em switchin’ some cars as if they
-was makin’ up a train, and I walked out in the shadow of a fence until
-they’d got it all made up and I felt pretty sure ‘twas goin’ south. I
-knew them cars and engines pretty well. Then I jumped in a box car that
-was about in the middle of the train. There was a great big machine of
-some kind in the car, so there was plenty of room left for me, and I
-snuggled down in one corner and dozed off. I don’t think I’d been
-sleepin’ long till a brakeman come past with a lantern and asked me who
-I was and where I was goin’. I told him I was goin’ south to get a job,
-and wanted to get down as far as Georgia if I could, for my lungs wa’n’t
-strong and the doctors had advised a change of climate. I had read about
-the doctors advisin’ rich people to have a change of climate, but of
-course I hadn’t ever heard of their tellin’ the poor to do any such
-thing. I s’pose because it wouldn’t do no good and they couldn’t afford
-to leave their jobs and go. But I didn’t see why that wasn’t a good
-excuse. He asked me if I had any whiskey or tobacco, and I said no, and
-he told me that I oughtn’t to get on a train without whiskey or tobacco,
-and I promised not to again, and then he let me go.
-
-“It was just gettin’ streaks of light in the east, and I thought I might
-as well go ahead and prob’ly I’d better ride till noon anyhow, as
-nothin’ much could happen before that time. Then I went off to sleep
-again. The sun was pretty high before I woke up. I looked at my watch to
-see what time it was but found I’d forgot to wind it the night before
-and it had run down. Well, I concluded it was just as safe to stay on
-the car so long as it was goin’ south and so I didn’t get off all day,
-except to run over to a grocery when the train stopped once and get some
-crackers and a few cigars. I thought I’d have ‘em when the brakeman come
-‘round, and then I fixed myself for the night. I was pretty well beat
-out and didn’t have much trouble goin’ to sleep, though of course I
-couldn’t get it out of my head any of the time, and would wake up once
-in a while and wonder if it wa’n’t all a dream till I found myself again
-and knew it was all true.
-
-“I’d found out that the car I was in was goin’ to Mississippi and made
-out that it was for some saw mill down there. It was switched ‘round
-once or twice in the day, and I think once in the night, and was put on
-other trains, and the new brakeman had come ‘round at different times.
-After I got the cigars I gave ‘em one whenever they come ‘round and this
-kep’ ‘em pretty good natured. And so long as the car had switched off
-and I made up my mind they wouldn’t find her the first day, I thought
-mebbe I’d better stay right in it and go to Mississippi. I didn’t know
-nothin’ ‘bout Mississippi, except that it was south and a long ways off
-and settled with niggers, and that they made lumber down there. I used
-to see a good many cars from Mississippi when I was switchin’ in the
-yards. The car was switched off quite a bit, and didn’t go very fast,
-and it was four days before they landed it in Mississippi.
-
-“They stopped right in the middle of the woods, and I made up my mind
-that this was about as good a place to stay as anywhere, if I could get
-a job, and I thought it wouldn’t be a bad plan to try where they was
-sendin’ the machine. It had been so easy for me to get down to
-Mississippi that I began to think that mebbe my luck had changed, and
-that the Lord had punished me all he was goin’ to. So I went up to the
-mill and asked for a job. The foreman told me he’d give me one if I
-didn’t mind workin’ with niggers. I told him I didn’t care anything
-‘bout that, I guessed they was as good as I was. So I started in. My
-whiskers was beginnin’ to grow out some. You know I always kep’ ‘em
-shaved off, and now they was comin’ out all over my face, and I made up
-my mind to let ‘em grow. I went to work loadin’ saw logs onto a little
-car that took ‘em down into the mill. A great big stout nigger worked
-with me, and we took long poles and rolled the logs over onto the cars,
-and then it was rolled down into the mill and another one come up in its
-place. I found the only chance to board was in the big buildin’ where
-all the hands lived. I thought this wa’n’t a bad place. Most of the
-people boardin’ there was niggers, but there was a few white fellers,
-and I naturally got acquainted with ‘em.
-
-“I’d been there a week or two when someone brought a Chicago paper into
-the house. It was covered with great big headlines and had my picture on
-the front page. It told all ‘bout some boys findin’ her and about the
-neighbors hearin’ me call her a damned bitch, and about the kid wakin’
-up in the mornin’ and goin’ out in the street to hunt its ma. Then it
-offered a thousand dollars reward in great big letters.
-
-“My whiskers had grown out a good deal and I didn’t look so very much
-like the picture. Anyhow I don’t think newspaper pictures look much like
-anybody. Still, of course, I was awful scart at that. My best chum read
-the piece all over out loud to me after we got through work, and he said
-it beat all what a place Chicago was; that such things as that was
-always happenin’ in Chicago; and that Jackson must have been an awful
-bad man—wouldn’t I hate to meet him out in the woods some place! A man
-like that would rather kill anybody than eat. I didn’t say much about
-it, but of course I didn’t contradict him. But I simply couldn’t talk
-very much myself. He said he wished he could get the one thousand
-dollars, but no such luck would ever come to him.
-
-“When I’d come there I said my name was Jones, because ‘twas the easiest
-one I could think of; there was a butcher right near us that was named
-Jones, and it popped into my head at the time. Some of ‘em asked me
-where I was from, and I told ‘em Cincinnati. I didn’t know much about
-Cincinnati, except that we used to get cars from there, and so I knew
-something ‘bout the roads that went to it. I managed to get hold of the
-paper and burn it up without anyone seein’ me. But after it came I
-didn’t feel so easy as I did before. I stayed there about a month
-workin’ at the mill and pickin’ up what I could about the country, and
-then I began to think my chum was gettin’ suspicious of me. He kep’
-askin’ me a good many questions about what I’d worked at and where’bouts
-I had worked, and how I got there from Cincinnati and a lot of questions
-about the town, and I thought he was altogether too inquisitive, and of
-course I would have told him so if I had dared. Finally I thought the
-other fellers was gettin’ suspicious, too, and I thought they kind of
-watched me and asked a good many questions. So one time right after I
-got my pay I made up my mind to leave. I didn’t wait to say nothin’ to
-anyone, but jumped onto a freight train, and went on about fifty miles
-or so south to a railroad crossin’ and then I jumped off, and took
-another train east. Along next day I saw a little town where there was
-another saw mill, so I stopped off and asked for a job. I didn’t have no
-trouble goin’ to work, so long as I was willin’ to work with the
-niggers, and I stayed there two or three weeks, same as the other place,
-and then I thought the boss began to notice me. He asked me a lot of
-questions about where I come from, and ‘most everything else he could
-think of. I told him I come from St. Louis, but I didn’t know much more
-‘bout that place than I did ‘bout Cincinnati, and I guess he didn’t
-neither. But as soon as pay-day come I made up my mind I’d better start,
-so I took the few duds I’d got together and jumped on another train
-goin’ further yet, and went away. Finally I stopped at a little town
-that looked rather nice and started out to get a job.
-
-“Ever since I got off the first train I always looked pretty sharp at
-everyone to make out whether they was watchin’ me or not. Then I always
-got hold of all the newspapers I could find to see if there was anything
-more about me. I found another Chicago paper in the depot, and it still
-had my picture and the offer of a thousand dollars reward, and said I
-must have took one of the freight trains that left the yards, and would
-most likely be in the south or in the west. I didn’t like to stay there
-any longer after seein’ that paper, but I managed to fold it up the best
-I could, and just as quick as I got a chance I tore it to pieces and
-threw it away. Then I thought mebbe I’d better get back away from the
-railroad. So I seen an old darkey that looked kind of friendly and I
-asked him about the country. He told me a good deal about it and I
-started out to walk to where he said there was some charcoal pits. I
-found the place and managed to get a chance to work burnin’ wood and
-tendin’ fires. It was awful black sooty work, but I didn’t care nothin’
-about that. The main thing with me was bein’ safe. I had a pardner who
-worked with me keepin’ up the fires and lookin’ after the pits at night,
-and it looked kind of nice with the red fires of the pits lightin’ up
-the woods and ever’thing all ‘round lookin’ just like a picture. When we
-got through in the mornin’ you couldn’t tell us from darkies, we was so
-covered with smoke and burnt wood. We boarded in a little shanty with an
-old nigger lady that fed us on hominy and fried chicken, and we didn’t
-have much of any place to sleep that was very good.
-
-“After I’d been there two or three days I got pretty well acquainted
-with my pardner. One day he asked me where I was from. I never said
-nothin’ to anybody ‘bout where I came from, or where I was goin’, or
-asked them any questions about themselves. I just worked steady at my
-job, and all I thought of was keepin’ still in hopes it would wear off
-in time, and I could start over new. I used to dream a good deal about
-her and the boy, and sometimes I’d think we was back there in Chicago
-all livin’ together and ever’thing goin’ all right. Then I would dream
-that I was out with the boys to a caucus, or goin’ ‘round the saloons
-campaignin’ with the alderman. Then I’d dream about fightin’ her and
-hittin’ her on the head with the poker, and it seemed as if I throwed
-her in Lake Michigan. Then I’d dream about the boy and my learnin’ him
-his letters, and his bein’ with me in the wagon when we was peddlin’
-potatoes, and about the horse, the old one that died, and the last one I
-got at the renderin’-place. Then I’d kind of get down to the peddlin’,
-and go over the whole route in my sleep, hollerin’ out ‘po-ta-toes!’ all
-along the streets on the west side where I used to go, and the old
-Italian women and the Bohemian ladies and all the rest would be out
-tryin’ to get ‘em cheaper and tellin’ me how I’d charged too much. Then
-I seen the old lady that I give the half peck to, and could hear her ask
-all the saints to bless me. Then I stopped into the butcher-shop and got
-the steak, and ever’thing I ever done kep’ comin’ back to me, only not
-quite the same as it is in real life. You know how ‘tis in a dream; you
-want to go somewhere and somethin’ kind of holds your leg and you can’t
-go. Or you want to do somethin’ and no matter how hard you try somethin’
-is always gettin’ in front of you and hinderin’ you and keepin’ you
-back. Well, that’s the way ‘twas with all my dreams; nothin’ turned out
-right and I always come back to where I killed her and throwed her in
-the lake, till I was almost ‘fraid to go to sleep, and then I was ‘fraid
-I’d holler or talk in my sleep. And my chum slep’ in the same room with
-me and I was ‘fraid mebbe he’d find it out, so I never dared to go to
-sleep until after he did, and then I was always ‘fraid I’d holler and
-say somethin’ and wake him up and that he’d find out ‘bout me and what
-I’d done.
-
-“Well, as I was sayin’, after I’d been there three or four days we was
-down to the pits one night tendin’ to the fires, and we got to talkin’
-and tellin’ stories to pass the time away, and at last he asked me where
-I was from, and I said St. Louis. He said he was from the north too; I
-didn’t ask him where he’d come from, but he told me Chicago. I was
-almost scart to death when he mentioned the place. I didn’t ask no
-questions nor say a word, but he kep’ on talkin’ so I kind of moved’
-round a little and leaned up against a pine tree so’s the light couldn’t
-shine right in my face, for I didn’t know what he might say. He told me
-that he come down here every winter for his health; that Chicago was so
-cold and changeable in the winter; that he worked in the stock-yards
-when he was there and he always went back just as soon as he dared, that
-there wa’n’t no place in the world like Chicago, and he was always awful
-lonesome when he was away, and he wouldn’t ever leave it if he could
-only stand the climate. He said there was always somethin’ goin’ on in
-Chicago; a feller could get a run for his money no matter what kind of a
-game he played; that if he wanted to have a little sport, there was the
-pool-rooms and plenty of other places; that if he didn’t have much money
-he could get a little game in the back end of a cigar store, or he could
-shoot craps; if he wanted a bigger game there was Powers’ & O’Brien’s
-and O’Leary’s, and if that wa’n’t enough, then there was the Board of
-Trade. There was always lots of excitement in Chicago, too. There was
-races and elections and always strikes, and ever’thing goin’ on. Then
-there was more murders and hangin’s in Chicago than in any other city.
-Take that car-barn case; it couldn’t never have happened anywhere except
-in Chicago. And the Luetgert case, where the feller boiled his wife up
-in the sausage-vat so that there wa’n’t nothin’ left but one or two
-toe-nails, but one doctor identified her by them, and swore they was
-toe-nails and belonged to a woman about her size; one of ‘em had seen
-her over at a picnic and remembered her, and he was pretty sure that the
-toe-nails was hers. Then that Jackson case was the latest; that happened
-just a little while before he left, and the papers was full of that one.
-Jackson was a peddler and he went ‘round all day and drunk at all the
-saloons just so he could get up nerve enough to kill her. He thought she
-had some property and he’d get it if she was out of the way, so he
-killed her and took her off and put her in a hole where he thought no
-one could find her; but they did, and now one of the papers had offered
-a thousand dollars reward for him, and they were lookin’ for him all
-over the United States. He said as how he took a Chicago paper and kep’
-posted on everything and read it every day and wouldn’t be without it
-for a minute. And then he asked me if I hadn’t never been to Chicago,
-and why I didn’t go. I told him mebbe I would some time, but I’d always
-been kind of ‘fraid to go. I didn’t say much but got the subject changed
-as soon as possible, and managed to put in the rest of the night the
-best I could, and then went home, and after he’d gone to sleep I packed
-my valise and paid the nigger lady and told her I had enough of that job
-and started off afoot without waitin’ for my pay.
-
-“I went straight down the road for two or three miles till I come to
-where another road crossed, then I turned off to the left. I didn’t have
-any reason for turnin’, except it seemed as if that would take me more
-out of the way. I didn’t see anyone along the road except now and then
-some old nigger. I walked several miles, and there didn’t ‘pear to be no
-one livin’ on the road except niggers with little shanties same as the
-one I left in Chicago. I stopped once and asked an old darkey lady for
-somethin’ to eat and she give me some fried chicken and a piece of corn
-bread and I sat and et it, and a whole lot of woolly-headed little
-pickaninnies sat and looked at me every mouthful. One of ‘em was about
-the size of my kid, and made me think of him a good deal; but he didn’t
-look nothin’ like him. I guess ‘twas just because he was a boy and about
-the age of mine. After I et the chicken and the bread I started on and
-traveled all day without seein’ anyone, except niggers, or stoppin’
-anywhere except to get a drink in a little stream. When it begun to be
-dark I commenced to think what I’d do for the night, and watched out for
-a place to stay. So after while I saw an old shack ‘side of the road and
-went in. There was some straw and I was so tired that I laid down and
-went right to sleep.
-
-“All night I dreamed about bein’ follered. First I thought I was out in
-a woods and some hounds was chasin’ me, and I heard ‘em bayin’ way back
-on my trail and knew they’s comin’ for me. I run to a little stream and
-follered it up same as I used to read in Indian stories, and then
-started on again, and after a while I didn’t hear ‘em any more. Then
-first thing I knew they commenced bayin’ again and I could tell that
-they’d struck my trail, so I run just as fast as ever I could and the
-bayin’ kep’ gettin’ louder’n’ louder, and I run through bushes and brush
-and ever’thing, and they kep’ gainin’ on me till they was so close that
-I got to a little tree where I could almost reach the branches and I got
-hold of ‘em and pulled myself up and got ahead of the hounds, but they
-come up and set down around the tree and howled and howled so they’d be
-heard all through the woods, and I knew it was all up with me; and then
-I woke up and found that I was in the barn and no one ‘round except a
-cow or a horse that was eatin’ over in a corner. So I tried to go to
-sleep again. Then I dreamed that the policemen and detectives was after
-me, and first it seemed as if I was runnin’ down a street and the police
-was right behind, and then I turned down an alley and they hollered to
-me to stop or they’d shoot, but I didn’t stop, and they shot at me and
-hit me in the leg, and I fell down and they come up and got me, and then
-it seemed as if I was on the cars and detectives was follerin’ me
-ever’where, and whenever I stopped them detectives somehow knew where I
-was, and they’d come to the place, and I got away and went somewhere
-else, and then they’d turn up there, all ready to arrest me, and I
-couldn’t go anywhere except they’d follow me. And I kind of saw her
-face, and she seemed to be follerin’ me too, only she didn’t seem to
-have any legs or much of anything, except just her face and a kind of
-long white train and she just come wherever I was, without walkin’ or
-ridin’, but just come, and she always seemed to know just the right
-place no matter how careful I hid, and when they got all ready to nab me
-I woke up. By that time it was daylight and there was a darkey there in
-the barn feedin’ a mule, and he said, ‘Hello, boss!’ just as friendly,
-and asked me where I was goin’. I told him I was lookin’ for a job, and
-he told me he thought that over about four miles to the town I could get
-a job. So I told him all right, and asked him if he could give me
-somethin’ to eat. He took me into the house and gave me some chicken and
-some corn-cakes and told me if I would wait a while he’d hitch up the
-mule and take me into town, that he was goin’ anyway. I thanked him and
-told him I was in a hurry to get to work, and guessed I wouldn’t wait.
-I’d got so I was ‘fraid to talk with anybody. I thought they’d ask me
-where I was from, and tell me somethin’ ‘bout Chicago, and mebbe show me
-a newspaper with my picture in it.
-
-“Then I went on down the road till I come to a nice town in the middle
-of big pine trees. It was full of fine white houses and a few brick
-stores, and two or three great big hotels. I asked a nigger what the
-place was and he told me it was Thompson, and was a winter resort for
-Yankees who come there for their lungs; that they spent lots of money
-and that was what made the place so big.
-
-“I always liked to talk with the niggers; they never asked me any
-questions, and I never was ‘fraid that they’d been in Chicago, and I
-didn’t really think they took any of the papers, for they didn’t know
-how to read. Well, I just took one look at Thompson and then went as far
-from the hotels as I could, and kep’ away from the stores, for I was
-sure the place was full of people from Chicago, and that all the
-newspapers would be there, too. I didn’t stop a minute over where all
-the nice houses was. I seen lots of people out on the porches and
-settin’ in hammocks and loafin’ ‘round, and I knew they was from
-Chicago. Then I went along across a little stream and come to a lot of
-poor tumbled-down houses and tents, and I knew they was the niggers’
-quarters, so I went into a little store kep’ by an old fat nigger lady
-and bought a bag of crackers and asked her about the roads.
-
-“Before this I made up my mind to go to Cuba. I remembered readin’ all
-about it at the time of the war, when a lot of them stock-yards boys
-went to fight, and I thought that I’d be so far away that I might be
-safe, so I knew that I had to go to the Gulf of Mexico, and I kep’ on
-that way. I didn’t dare to take the railroads any more, but just thought
-I’d walk, so I kep’ straight on down the road all day until I got a long
-ways from Thompson. I didn’t dare to stop for work, for I’d got it into
-my head that everyone was after me, and if I waited any more I’d get
-caught. My shoes was gettin’ pretty near wore out and I knew they
-wouldn’t last much longer, and I hadn’t got more’n four dollars left,
-and I knew if I didn’t come to the Gulf pretty soon I’d just have to go
-to work.
-
-“That night I stopped at another old shack, and had about the same kind
-of dream I did the night before, only I was runnin’, and every time I
-pretty near got away a cramp would come in my leg and pull me back and
-give ‘em a chance to ketch me, and they seemed to come just the same
-without runnin’ or flyin’, or anything, and always she’d come just where
-I was. Still I got through the night and a nigger lady gave me somethin’
-to eat, and I went on.
-
-“I began to look awful ragged and shabby. My coat was torn and awful old
-and black where I’d been workin’ in the charcoal pit. I’d changed my
-shirt, and washed the one I had on in a little stream, but the buttons
-was gettin’ off and I was tyin’ em up with strings. My pants was all
-wore out ‘long the bottom, and my shoes pretty near all knocked to
-pieces. As for my stockin’s—you couldn’t call ‘em stockin’s at all, and
-I’d made up my mind to get a new pair the next store I come to, but I
-didn’t like to stop in town.
-
-“Along about noon I got to a little place and, of course, I was lookin’
-pretty bad. Some o’ the dogs commenced barkin’ at me as soon as ever I
-got into town. I stopped at a house to get somethin’ to eat, and a white
-lady come to the door and told me to go ‘way, that I was a tramp, and
-that she’d set the dog on me, and I ran as fast as I could. I went down
-the street and a good many boys follered me, and I began to get scart;
-so I went through the town as fast as I could, but I see some people was
-follerin’ after me, and one that rode on a horse. So I took to the
-fields and made for a clump of trees that I saw off to the right. I run
-just as fast as ever I could and when I looked back I saw some people
-was follerin’ me through the field. I went straight to the woods and ran
-through ‘em, and got pretty badly scratched up, and my clothes tore
-worse’n they was before. Then I run into a swamp just beyond and two or
-three men ran ‘round on the other side of the swamp and I knew it was
-all up, and I might just as well surrender and go back.
-
-“I was so scart I didn’t care much what they done, so when the one in
-front asked me to surrender or he’d shoot, I come out to where he was,
-and he put his hand on me kind of rough and said I was under arrest for
-bein’ a tramp, and to come with him.
-
-“Then he took me back to town with all the men follerin’ and when we got
-up into the edge of the place ‘most all the boys, black and white,
-turned in and follered too. They took me to a little buildin’ over on
-the side of the town, and went down stairs into the cellar and opened an
-iron door and put me in. There wa’n’t no light except one window which
-was covered with iron bars, and they locked the door and went away and
-left me there alone.”
-
-
-
-
- VIII
-
-
-“I was locked up in the cellar for a long time before anyone came to
-talk with me. I looked ‘round to see if there was any chance to get out,
-but I seen it couldn’t be done. I thought it wa’n’t hardly worth while
-to try. Honestly it seemed a kind of relief to be ketched and know I
-didn’t have to run any more. I didn’t know why they arrested me, but I
-s’posed they just thought I’d done something and they’d try to find out
-what it was, so I thought about what I’d do, and made up my mind I
-hadn’t better say much.
-
-“After a while some fellers come down to see me and took me up in the
-office. One of ‘em was the marshal and another was a lawyer or
-police-judge or somethin’ of that kind. They said they wanted to fill
-out some sort of a paper about who I was and where I come from and what
-my business was and who my father and mother was, and what my religion
-was, and whether I ever drank, or smoked cigarettes, and the color of my
-hair and eyes, and how much I weighed, and a lot of things like that. So
-I told ‘em I was from St. Louis, and guessed at the rest of the answers
-the best I could. Only I told ‘em I never knew who my father and mother
-was. They wa’n’t satisfied with my answers and fired a lot more
-questions at me. And then they told me they thought I lied, and they’d
-put me in the lock-up until mornin’, so they put me back there and give
-me a plate o’ scraps for supper, and a straw bed to sleep on, and then
-went away.
-
-“Somehow I slept better that night than I had since I’d run away. I
-rather thought it was all up and only a question of time when I’d get
-back here, but I knew where I stood and wa’n’t so scart. I’ve slep’ fine
-ever since I was here, only the time when the jury was out and when I
-was waitin’ for the Supreme Court, and some special times like that. As
-near as I can find out most of ‘em does when they know it’s all off,
-just like people with a cancer or consumption, or when they’re awful
-old. They get used to it and sleep just the same unless they have a
-pain, or somethin’. They don’t lay awake thinkin’ they’re goin’ to die.
-And after all, I guess if people done that there wouldn’t any of ‘em
-sleep much. For ‘tain’t very long with anybody, and bein’ sentenced to
-death ain’t much differ’nt from dyin’ without a sentence. Of course, I
-s’pose it’s a little shorter and still that ain’t always the case.
-There’s two fellers that I knew died since I come here; one of ‘em had
-pneumonia, and the other was a switchman that thought the engine was on
-the other side-track. John Murphy was his name. Still—I guess my time’s
-pretty near come now.
-
-“Well, in the mornin’ the marshal came in and brought me some breakfast.
-Then he took me up to the office again. He waited a few minutes till the
-judge come, and then they commenced firin’ questions at me. They asked
-me how I got from St. Louis to where I was, That kind of puzzled me, for
-I didn’t exactly know where I was. I answered it the best I could; but I
-know I didn’t get it right. They told me I hadn’t got over lyin’ and I’d
-have to be shut up some more. Then they asked me what public buildin’s
-there was in St. Louis. I made a guess and told ‘em the court-house and
-state-house. They laughed at this, and said St. Louis wa’n’t the capital
-of Missouri. And of course I didn’t argue with ‘em about that. Then they
-wanted to know how I come there and I said I walked. And they wanted to
-know what places I come through and I couldn’t tell ‘em. Then they asked
-me where I had walked, and I couldn’t tell ‘em that; and they asked me
-how far I’d walked, and I told ‘em not very far, and they laughed at my
-clothes and shoes and said they was ‘most wore out, and they didn’t
-believe it, and told me again that they thought I was lyin’ and I’d have
-to stay there till I learnt how to tell the truth. Then I got mad and
-said I hadn’t done nothin’ and they hadn’t any right to keep me, and I
-wouldn’t answer any more questions; that they didn’t believe anything I
-said anyhow and it wa’n’t any use, and to go ahead and do what they
-pleased with me.
-
-“Then the marshal went to his desk and got a lot of photographs and
-hand-bills tellin’ about murderers and robbers and burglars and
-pickpockets and ever’thing else, that was sent to him from all over the
-country, and he took ‘em and looked ‘em all over and then looked at me.
-Then he sorted out a dozen or so and stared at me more particular than
-before. I seen what he had in his hand; I seen one of ‘em was my
-picture; only I was smooth-faced and now my whiskers had got long. He
-made me take off my clothes and looked me over careful, and found where
-I had broke my leg the time that I caught my foot between the rails when
-I thought I was goin’ to be run over. You remember the time? I wish now
-I had. Then he let me put on my clothes, and he went over all the
-descriptions just as careful as he could, and he found that the
-hand-bill told about a broken leg; then he looked at my face again, and
-then he asked me when I’d shaved last, and I told him I never shaved.
-Then he wanted to know how tall I was, and I told him I didn’t know, so
-he measured me by standin’ me up ‘gainst the wall and markin’ the place.
-I tried to scrooch down as much as I could without him noticin’ it; but
-he said it was just ‘bout what the hand-bill had it. Then he asked me
-how much I weighed, and I told him I hadn’t been weighed for years. So
-he called someone to help him, and they put some han’cuffs on one arm
-and fastened the other to the marshal and took me over to a store, and
-made me stand on the scales till I got weighed. He said I weighed just a
-little bit less than the hand-bill made it, and that if I’d walked from
-Chicago that would account for the difference. Then he looked over my
-clothes, but he couldn’t find any marks on ‘em.
-
-“Then he sent down for the barber and told him to shave me. I objected
-to that and told him he hadn’t any right to do it; that I wasn’t charged
-with any crime, and he said it didn’t make no difference, he was goin’
-to do it anyway. So I knew it wa’n’t no use, and I set down and let the
-barber shave me. Of course I knew it would all be up as soon as I got
-shaved. But I didn’t care so very much if it was; it wa’n’t any worse
-than runnin’ all the time and bein’ ‘fraid of ever’-one you met and
-knowin’ you’d be ketched at last.
-
-“Well, after the barber got through shavin’ me, the marshal took the
-picture and held it up ‘side of my face, and anyone could see ‘twas me.
-He was so glad he almost shouted. And he told the police judge that he’d
-got one of the most dangerous criminals in the whole United States, and
-he was entitled to one thousand dollars reward. I never see a boy feel
-so good over anythin’ as he did over ketchin’ me. He said that now he
-could pay off the mortgage on his house and get his girl piano lessons,
-and run for sheriff next fall. When he told me I was Jackson, I denied
-it and said I never knew anything about Chicago, and was never there in
-my life. He didn’t pay any attention to this, but wired to Chicago,
-givin’ a full description of me. Of course, it wa’n’t long before he got
-back word that I was Jackson, and to hold me till they sent someone
-down.
-
-“After the marshal found out who I was he treated me a good deal
-better’n before. He got me nice fried chicken ‘most every meal, and
-always coffee or tea and corn-cakes, and I couldn’t complain of the
-board. Then he got my clothes washed and give me some new pants and
-shoes and fixed me up quite nice. He come in and visited with me a good
-deal and seemed real social and happy. He give me cigars to smoke and
-sometimes a drink o’ whiskey, and treated me as if he really liked me. I
-expect he couldn’t help feelin’ friendly to me, because he thought of
-that one thousand dollars, and that he wouldn’t’ve got it if I hadn’t
-killed her, and in one way a good deal as if I done it on his account.
-Of course he wa’n’t really glad I done it, but so long as I done it, he
-was glad I come his way. I s’pose he hadn’t anything against me any
-more’n a cat has against a mouse that it ketches and plays with till it
-gets ready to eat it up. His business was ketchin’ people just like the
-cat’s is ketchin’ rats. Seems to me, though, I’d hate to be in his
-business, even if it is a bad lot you’ve got to ketch. Still he watched
-me closer’n ever, even if he was good to me. He didn’t mean to let that
-thousand dollars get away. He kep’ someone ‘round the jail all the time,
-and he got some extra bars on the windows, and when he come to see me or
-talk with me he always brought someone with him so I couldn’t do
-anything to him. He needn’t worried so much, for I was clean tired out
-and discouraged, and I felt better in there than I had any time since I
-killed her. Bein’ out of jail ain’t necessar’ly liberty. If you’re
-‘fraid all the time and have got to dodge and keep hid and can’t go
-where you want to and are runnin’ away all the time, you might just as
-well be shut up, for you ain’t free.
-
-“Soon as the marshal found out who I was, it didn’t take the news long
-to travel ‘round the town, and it seemed as if ever’one there come to
-the lock-up to see me. The boys used to come up ‘round the windows and
-kind of stay back, as if they thought I might reach out and ketch ‘em,
-but I always kep’ as far away as I could. Then the people would come
-down with the marshal to the cell when he brought my supper and look at
-me to see me eat, and try to get me to come up and talk to ‘em and watch
-me same as you’ve seen ‘em look at bears when they was feedin’ up at
-Lincoln Park, and they’d point to me and say, ‘That’s him; just see his
-for’head. Wouldn’t I hate to get caught out alone with him? Anyone could
-see what he is by lookin’ at him. I bet they make short work of him when
-they get him to Chicago!’ I always kep’ back as far as I could for I
-didn’t want to be seen. No one had ever looked at me or paid any
-attention to me before, or said anything about me, and I hadn’t ever
-expected to have my name or picture in the paper, or to have people come
-and see me, and anyhow not this way.
-
-“Of course, I knew well enough that it wouldn’t last long, and that
-they’d be here for me in two or three days. I can’t tell you just how I
-felt. I knew I was caught, and that there wa’n’t much chance for me. I
-knew all the evidence would be circumstantial, still I knew I done it,
-and luck never had come my way anyhow, so I didn’t have much hopes that
-‘twould now. Then I began to feel as if it might as well be over. If I
-was goin’ to be hung, I might just as well be hung and done with it.
-There wa’n’t any kind of a show for me any more, and it wa’n’t any use
-to fight. Then I began to figger on how long ‘twould take. I knew there
-was cases where it took years, but I always thought them cases must have
-been where they had lots of money and could hire high-priced lawyers.
-And I hadn’t got any money, and the newspapers had said so much about my
-case that I was sure that they wouldn’t give me much chance or any more
-than the law allowed.
-
-“Well, inside of two days some fellers come down from the sheriff’s
-office in Chicago. I didn’t know either one of ‘em, but they had all
-kinds of pictures and descriptions and said there wa’n’t any doubt about
-who I was, and said I might as well own up and be done with it. But I
-didn’t see any use of ownin’ up to anything, so I wouldn’t answer any
-questions or say much one way or another. Then they explained to me that
-they hadn’t any right to take me out of the state without a requisition
-from the gov’nor, and it would take a week or so to get that, and I
-might just as well go back with them without puttin’ ‘em to this bother;
-that it always looked better when anyone went back themselves, and
-anyhow I’d be kep’ here in jail till they got a requisition. So I told
-‘em all right, I’d just as soon go back to Chicago as anywhere, and I
-hadn’t done nothin’ that I had to be ‘fraid of, and was ready to go as
-soon as they was. So they stayed till the next mornin’ and then
-han’-cuffed me and put me between ‘em and led me down to the depot.
-Before I left the lock-up the marshal give me a good breakfast and some
-cigars and shook hands with me, and said he hoped I’d have a pleasant
-journey.
-
-“When I went down to the depot it seemed as if the whole town, black and
-white, had turned out to see me, and ever’one was pointin’ to me and
-sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s him.’ ‘He looks it, don’t he?’ And pretty
-soon the train come up and the officers and conductor kep’ the crowd
-back while they took me into the smokin’-car. It seemed as if ever’one
-in the car and on the whole train knew who I was and just what I’d done,
-and they all come up to the smokin’-car to get a look at me, and pass
-remarks about me, and ever’one seemed glad to think I was caught and was
-goin’ to be hung.
-
-“It ain’t no use to tell you all about the trip home. It didn’t take me
-as long to come back as it did to go ‘way. At pretty near ever’ station
-there was a crowd out to see the train, and all of ‘em tried to get a
-look at me. The conductor and brakemen all pointed me out and the people
-come to the doors and stood up before the window and did ever’thing they
-could think of to see me. The detectives treated me all right. They gave
-me all I could eat and talked with me a good deal. They didn’t ask many
-questions, and told me I needn’t say any more’n I had a mind to, but
-they told me a good deal about politics and how that the alderman was
-runnin’ again, and all that was goin’ on in Chicago, and where all
-they’d been huntin’ for me since I run away. I had to sit up at night.
-One of ‘em kep’ han’-cuffed to me all night and another han’cuff was
-fastened to the seat. I don’t s’pose they could’ve made it any more
-comfortable and see that I didn’t run away. But still I don’t ever want
-to take that kind of a ride again and I s’pose I never will.
-
-“I felt queer when we began to get back into Chicago. In some ways I
-always liked the city; I guess ever’one does, no matter how rough it is.
-And I couldn’t help feelin’ kind of good to see the streets and
-fac’tries and shops again; and still I felt bad, too. I knew that
-ever’one in the town was turned against me, and I didn’t have a friend
-anywhere. We’d got the Chicago papers as we’d come along and they was
-full of all kinds of stories and pictures about me, and some things that
-I’d said, ‘though I’d never talked a word to anyone.
-
-“The papers said that they hoped there’d be none of the usual long
-delays in tryin’ my case, that I was a brutal murderer, and there wa’n’t
-no use of spendin’ much time over me. Of course, I ought to have a fair
-and impartial trial, but I ought to be hung without delay, and no
-sentimental notoriety-huntin’ people ought to be allowed to see me. They
-wished that a judge could be found who had the courage to do his duty,
-and do it right off quick. I had already been indicted, and there wa’n’t
-nothin’ to do but place me on trial next day, and the verdict would be
-reached in a few days more. It was unfortunate that the law allowed one
-hundred days before a murderer could be hung after trial; that the next
-legislature must change it to ten days; that would be plenty of time for
-anyone to show that a mistake had been made in their trial, even if he
-was locked up all the time. The papers said how that the Anti-Crimes
-Committee was to be congratulated on havin’ found a good lawyer to
-assist the state in the prosecution, and that the lawyer was a good
-public spirited man and ought to be well paid for his disagreeable work.
-
-“The papers told all about the arrest down in Georgia, and how the
-marshal and a force of citizens followed me into the swamp and what a
-desperate fight I made, and how many people I’d knocked down and ‘most
-killed, until I was finally overpowered and taken in irons to the county
-jail.
-
-“I can’t make you understand how I felt when they was bringin’ me into
-town. We come along down the old canal where we used to stone the frogs
-and the geese and all along the places where us boys used to play. Then
-we come down through the yards where I used to work, and right past the
-house where I left that night with the kid sleepin’ in the bedroom. That
-was the hardest part of all the trip, and I tried to turn away when we
-come down along back of the barn by the alley; but it seemed as if
-something kind of drew my eyes around that way, and I couldn’t keep ‘em
-off’n the spot. And I thought about ever’thing I done there just in a
-flash, and even wondered how long the old horse was tied in the barn
-before they found him, and whether he got all the potatoes et up before
-he was took away. But I looked away as quick as I could and watched all
-the streets as we passed, to see if I could see anyone I knew. I felt
-pretty sure that I wouldn’t leave Chicago again, and I guess I never
-will.
-
-“Pretty soon they pulled into the big depot, and the train stopped and
-we got off. I wa’n’t expectin’ nothin’ in the station, but when we
-landed the whole place was filled back of the gate, and I could see that
-they was looking for me. The crowd was about like one that I was in down
-there once when McKinley come to Chicago. A squad of policemen come down
-to meet us, and they got us in the middle of the bunch and hurried us
-into a patrol wagon. I could hear the crowd sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s
-the murderer; let’s lynch him!’—‘He don’t deserve a trial! Let’s hang
-him first and then try him’—‘The miserable brute!’ ‘The contemptible
-coward!’—I guess if it hadn’t been for all the policemen I’d have been
-lynched, and mebbe ‘twould have been just as well. ‘Twouldn’t have taken
-so long, nor cost so much money. Anyhow, I wish now they’d done it and
-then it would be all over; and now—well, ‘twon’t be long.
-
-“There was a lot of people in the street and every one of ‘em seemed to
-know who was in the patrol-wagon, and they walked all the way over, and
-lots of little boys follered the wagon clear to the jail; then the
-newsboys on the street kep’ yellin’, ‘All ‘bout the capture of Jim
-Jackson! Extra paper!’ and it seemed as if the whole town was tryin’ to
-kill me. Somehow I hadn’t realized how ‘twas as I come ‘long, and, in
-fact, ever since I went away. Of course, I knew how bad the killin’ was,
-and how ever’one must feel, and how I wished I hadn’t done it, and how
-I’d have done anything on earth to make it different, but all the time
-I’d been away from the people that knew all about it, and I didn’t
-somehow realize what they’d do. But when I come back and seen it all I
-felt just as if there was a big storm out on the lake and I was standin’
-on the shore and all the waves was comin’ right over me and carryin’ me
-away.
-
-“Well, they didn’t lose any time but drove as fast as they could down
-Dearborn Street over the bridge to the county jail. Then they hustled me
-right out and took me straight through the crowd up to the door; the
-Dearborn Street door (that’s the one you came in, I s’pose), and they
-didn’t wait hardly a minit to book me, but hurried me up stairs and
-locked me in a cell, and I haven’t seen the outside of the jail since,
-and I don’t s’pose I ever will.”
-
-Jim stopped as if the remembrance of it all had overpowered him. Hank
-didn’t know what to say, so he got up and walked a few turns back and
-forth along the cell, trying to get it all through his clouded mind.
-Such a night as this he had never dreamed of, and he could not yet
-realize what it meant. The long story and the intense suffering seemed
-to have taken all the strength that Jim had left.
-
-Hank turned to him with an effort to give him some consolation. “Say,
-Jim, don’t take it too hard. You know there ain’t much in it for any of
-us, and most people has more trouble than anything else. Lay down a
-little while; you can tell me the rest pretty soon.”
-
-“No,” Jim answered, “I ain’t got through; I can’t waste any time. It
-must be gettin’ along toward mornin’, and you see I don’t know just when
-it’ll be. They seem to think it’s treatin’ us better if they don’t tell
-us when, only just the day. Then you know, they can come in any time
-after midnight. They could break in now if they wanted to, but I s’pose
-they’ll give me my breakfast first, though they won’t wait long after
-that. Well, I ain’t got any right to complain, and I don’t mean to, but
-I s’pose I feel like anyone else would.”
-
-Just then a strange dull sound echoed through the silent corridors. Hank
-started with a nervous jerk. It sounded like a rope or strap suddenly
-pulled up short and tight.
-
-“What’s that?” Hank asked. Jim’s face was pale for a moment, and his
-breath was short and heavy.
-
-“Don’t you know? That’s the bag of sand.”
-
-“What bag of sand?” Hank asked.
-
-“Why, they always try the rope that way, to see if it’s all right. If
-they don’t, it’s liable to break, and they’d have to hang ‘em over
-again. They take a bag of sand that weighs just about the same as a man
-and tie the rope to the sand, and then knock the door out and the sand
-falls. I guess the rope’s all right; I hope so. I don’t want ‘em to make
-any mistake. It’ll be bad enough to be hung once. I wonder how I’ll
-stand it. I hope I don’t make a scene. But I don’t really think anyone
-ought to be blamed no matter what they do when they’re gettin’ hung, do
-you?
-
-“It seems to me, though, that they might be a better way to kill anyone.
-I think shootin’ would be better’n this way. That’s the way they kill
-steers down to the stock-yards and I don’t believe the Humane Society
-would let ‘em hang ‘em up by the neck. I should think ‘twould be better
-to take some cell that’s air-tight and put ‘em to bed in there and then
-turn on the gas. But I s’pose any way would seem bad enough. Did you
-ever stop to think how you’d like to die? I guess nobody could pick any
-way that they wanted to go, and mebbe we’d all rather take chances; but
-I don’t believe anybody’d pick hangin’. It seems to me the very worst
-way anybody could die. I wonder how they commenced it in the first
-place. Well, I can’t help it by thinkin’ it over. I’ve done that often
-enough already, goodness knows. I believe I’ll ask the guard for another
-drink before I tell any more.”
-
-The guard came at the first call.
-
-“Sure, you can have all the whiskey you want. I was just down to the
-office a little while ago. Take this bottle. I think it’s pretty smooth,
-but it’s a little weak. Guess the clerk poured some water in, thinkin’
-it was goin’ to the ladies’ ward. You’d better take a pretty big drink
-to do you any good.”
-
-Jim thanked him as he took the bottle, and then inquired:
-
-“Did you go down to the telephone again to see whether there had
-anything come over to the telegraph office?”
-
-“No—I didn’t,” the guard answered, “but I’ll go back pretty soon. They
-keep open all night. It’s early yet, anyhow.”
-
-Jim offered the bottle to his friend. Hank took a good drink, which he
-needed after the excitement of the night. Then he passed the bottle back
-to Jim.
-
-“If I was you I’d drink all that’s left; it’s good, but it’s pretty
-weak, all right. I’m sure you’d feel better to take it all.”
-
-Jim raised it to his lips, tipped his head back and held the bottle
-almost straight until the last drop had run slowly down his throat.
-
-
-
-
- IX
-
-
-Jim laid the bottle on the bed and then sat down on his chair.
-
-“My head begins to swim some but I guess I can finish the story all
-right. I know I’m pretty longwinded. Still I guess I can’t talk very
-much more if I wanted to. I’m glad the whiskey’s beginnin’ to get in its
-work; I don’t believe I’ll have much trouble gettin’ so drunk that I
-won’t know whether I’m goin’ to a hangin’ or a primary.
-
-“Let me see; oh, yes, they hustled me into a cell and locked me up. I
-guess they thought best not to waste much time, for a good many people
-had got together on the outside.
-
-“I think ‘twas on Friday they put me in. There wa’n’t nothin’ done on
-Saturday; but on Sunday they let us all go to church up in the chapel.
-They kep’ me pretty well guarded as if I might do somethin’ in the
-church, but there wa’n’t no way to get out if I wanted to. The preacher
-told us about the prodigal son, and how he repented of all his
-wanderin’s and sins and come back home, and how glad his father was to
-see him, and how he treated him better’n any of the rest that hadn’t
-never done wrong. He said that’s the way our Heavenly Father would feel
-about us, if we repented, and that it didn’t matter what we’d done—after
-we repented we was white as snow. One of the prisoners told me he was
-gettin’ kind of tired of the prodigal son; that ‘most every preacher
-that come told about the prodigal son just as if that story had been
-meant specially for them.
-
-“Some of the prisoners seemed to like to go to church; some acted as if
-they understood all about it, and wanted to do better, and some of ‘em
-seemed to go so as to get out of their cells. Anyhow I s’pose the people
-that run the jail thought ‘twas a good thing and believed it was all so.
-But I know one feller that killed a man—he was kind of half-witted—and
-was tried the same as the rest of us when they had that crusade against
-crime. Of course they sentenced him to death. He got religion and used
-to pray all the time, and used to talk religion to all the rest of the
-fellers, and ever’one said that he was really sorry and was fully
-converted and was as pure as a little child. But they took him out and
-hung him anyway. It don’t quite seem as if they believed what the
-preacher said themselves, or they wouldn’t hang a feller when he’s
-turned right, and when God was goin’ to treat him like all the rest
-after he gets to heaven.
-
-“When I went back to my cell, I begun thinkin’ about what I’d do. Of
-course I knew you can’t get any show without a lawyer, and I knew that I
-might just as well not have any as to have one that wa’n’t smart. I
-didn’t know any lawyer except the one that charged me ten dollars for
-nothin’, and of course I wouldn’t have him. But one of the guards was
-kind of nice and friendly to me and I thought I’d ask him. He told me
-that gettin’ a lawyer was a pretty hard matter. Of course, my case was a
-celebrated one, and would advertise a lawyer, but the best ones didn’t
-need no advertisin’ and the others wa’n’t no good. He told me that
-Groves was the best fighter, but it wa’n’t no use to try to get him for
-he’d got more’n he could do, and most of his time was took up
-prosecutin’ people for stealin’ coal from the railroads, except once in
-a while when some rich banker or politician got into trouble. Then he
-took a good slice of what he’d got saved up. I asked him ‘bout some
-others and he told me the same story of all the rest that amounted to
-anything. I told him I hadn’t got no money, and I thought the horse and
-wagon and furniture was took on the chattel-mortgage before this, and he
-said he s’posed the court would have to appoint someone and I might just
-about as well defend myself.
-
-“Monday mornin’ they come to the jail and told me I had to go before the
-judge. I didn’t s’pose ‘twould come so soon, for I knew somethin’ about
-how slow the courts was. You remember when Jimmy Carroll was killed by
-the railroad? Well, that’s more’n three years ago, and the case ha’n’t
-been tried yet. I was su’prised and didn’t know what to do, but there
-wa’n’t much to do. They come after me and I had to go; so I put on my
-coat and vest and they han’-cuffed me to a couple of guards, and took me
-through some alleys and passages and over some bridges inside the
-buildin’, and first thing I knew they opened a door and I came into a
-room packed full of people, and the judge settin’ up on a big high seat
-with a desk in front of him, and lookin’ awful solemn and kind of
-scareful. As soon as I stepped in there was a buzz all over the room,
-and ever’body reached out their necks, and kind of got up on their
-chairs and looked at me. The guards took off my han’-cuffs and set me
-down in a chair ‘side of a big table. And then one of ‘em set back of me
-and another one right to my side.
-
-“They waited a few minutes till ever’one got still, and then some feller
-got up and spoke to the judge and said ‘People against Jackson.’ The
-judge looked at me and said, just as solemn and hard as he could,
-‘Jackson, stand up.’ Of course I done what he said, and then he looked
-the same way and said, ‘Are you guilty or not guilty?’ Of course I was
-kind of scared before all of them people; I’d never been called up in a
-crowd before, except a few times when I said a few words in the union
-where I knew all the boys. But these people were all against me, and
-anyhow it was an awful hard place to put a feller, so I stood still a
-minit tryin’ to think what I ought to say, and whether someone was there
-that I could talk to. Finally the judge spoke up and says, ‘The prisoner
-pleads not guilty.’ ‘Jackson, have you a lawyer?’ and then I said: ‘I
-hain’t got no lawyer.’ Then he asked if I wanted him to appoint one, and
-I told him I wished he would. He asked me who I’d have. Of course I
-thought I could choose anyone I wanted, so I said Groves. Then he
-laughed and ever’one else laughed, and he said he guessed Groves had too
-much to do to bother with me. So I chose one or two more names I’d heard
-of, and he said none of ‘em would do it neither. Then he said he’d give
-me till tomorrow to make up my mind who I wanted, and he told the
-bailiff to take me back to jail. So they put the han’-cuffs on and we
-went back through the alleys and over the bridges to the jail. When I
-got to my cell I asked the guard what he thought I ought to do about a
-lawyer, and he said that lots of lawyers had give him their cards and
-asked him to hand them to the prisoners and told him they would divide
-the fee, if they got any. They mostly wa’n’t much good for the business.
-He said there was one young feller who seemed pretty smart, but he
-hadn’t never had a case, but he’d probably work hard to get his name up.
-I told him that it didn’t seem as if a lawyer ought to commence on a
-case like mine, and he said that wouldn’t make any difference, most of
-the murder cases was defended by lawyers that was just startin’. There
-wa’n’t hardly anyone who was tried but was too poor to have a good
-lawyer. Then I told him to send me the young lawyer, and he did.
-
-“The lawyer wa’n’t a bad feller, and he seemed interested in the case,
-and was the first person I’d seen since I done it who wanted to help me.
-Of course I could see he was new at the business, like one of them
-green-horns that comes in the yards the first time and brings a stick to
-couple cars with; but I liked his face and seen he was honest. It didn’t
-seem quite fair, though, that I should have a lawyer that hadn’t never
-had a case. I didn’t believe they’d take a young feller who was just out
-of a medicine-college and set him to cut off a leg all by himself, the
-first thing, or even take a country-jake and let him kill steers at the
-stock-yards, but I didn’t see no way to help it, and I thought mebbe if
-I didn’t take him I’d do worse instead of better. He asked me all about
-the case and seemed disappointed when I told him how it was; he said he
-was afraid there wa’n’t much show, unless he claimed insanity. I told
-him I didn’t see how he could make out that I was crazy; that I thought
-self-defense or somethin’ like that would be better. He said he’d think
-it over till tomorrow, and talk with some of the professors at the
-college, and be in court in the mornin’. The next day they come for me
-right after breakfast, and put on the han’-cuffs and took me to court
-again. The same kind of a crowd was there as the day before, and I was
-pretty badly scart; but my lawyer was at the table with me, and he spoke
-to me real friendly, and that made me feel a little better. Then the
-judge called the case, and asked if I had a lawyer, and my lawyer spoke
-up and said he was goin’ to defend me; so the judge said all right, and
-asked if the other side was ready. They said they was, and that they
-wanted the case tried right off. Then the judge asked my lawyer if he
-was ready and he said ‘no,’ that he’d just come into the case and hadn’t
-had no chance to get it ready. Then the lawyer on the other side said
-that I was notified yesterday that I must be ready today and I didn’t
-have anything to do but get ready; that they wanted to try it now; that
-next week he wanted to go to a picnic, and the week after to a
-convention, and it must be done now; then, there had been so many
-murders that no one was safe in Chicago, and the whole public was
-anxious to see the case tried at once. Besides there wa’n’t any defense.
-I had killed her and run away, and wa’n’t entitled to any consideration.
-
-“My lawyer said it wouldn’t be right to put me on trial without a chance
-to defend myself, that I couldn’t get away yesterday to look up
-witnesses, and I had a right to a reasonable time; that he wanted at
-least four weeks to prepare the case. This seemed to make the judge mad.
-He said there wa’n’t no excuse for any delay, but as this was such a
-clear case he wanted to give me every chance he could, so he would
-continue till next Monday. Then I was took back to the jail, and my
-lawyer met me over there and I told him ever’ place I went the day I
-done it, and ever’one I saw, and all about her, and what she’d done to
-make me mad, and he said he’d go out himself and look it up, and do what
-he could, but he was ‘fraid there wa’n’t no chance. The papers had said
-so much and the citizens had got up a Crime Committee, and ever’one who
-was tried either went to the penitentiary or got hung.
-
-“Ever’day the lawyer would come and ask me something ‘bout the case, and
-tell me what he’d found out. He said he couldn’t get any witnesses to
-say anything; that the man where I got the beefsteak was ‘fraid to come
-and testify; that someone had been there from the State’s Attorney’s
-office and most scart him to death, and he was ‘fraid of gettin’ into
-trouble and gettin’ mixed up with it himself, and anyway he didn’t see
-as he’d do the case any good if he came. He said he couldn’t find
-anything that helped him a bit. He’d been to the house, but the poker
-and everything that would do any good had been taken by the state, and
-he didn’t know which way to turn. He kep’ comin’ back to my insanity,
-and asked me if any of my parents or grand-parents, or uncles or aunts
-or cousins, or anyone else was crazy. I told him I didn’t know anything
-‘bout them but I didn’t think it was any use to try that. I knew what I
-was doin’, all right. Then he told me if I had a hundred dollars he
-could get a good doctor to swear I was crazy; but I hadn’t any hundred
-dollars of course, and besides I never thought ‘twould do much good. So
-I told him that he wa’n’t to blame for it, and to just do the best he
-could, and I’d be satisfied whichever way it went. I didn’t expect much
-myself anyhow. He said he’d have me plead guilty and the judge would
-most likely give me a life-sentence, only since this crusade against
-crime the judges dassent do that; there was so much said about it in the
-newspapers, and they was all ‘fraid of what the papers said. He told me
-that he didn’t believe it was anything more than second-degree murder
-anyhow, but there wa’n’t any chance now, the way public opinion was.
-
-“I begun to get pretty well acquainted with the prisoners in the jail
-and some of ‘em was real nice and kind and wanted to do all they could
-to help ever’one that was in trouble. Of course some of ‘em was pretty
-desp’rate, and didn’t seem to care much for anything. Then there was
-some that had been in jail ten and fifteen times, and been in the
-penitentiary, and ever’where, and just as soon as they got out they got
-right back in again; they didn’t seem to learn anything by goin’ to
-prison, and it didn’t seem to do them any hurt. They said they’d just as
-soon be there as anywhere else.
-
-“But one thing I noticed a good deal that I never thought anything about
-until that feller come and spoke, that was how that the outsiders was
-really the ones that got punished the worst. It was sickenin’ to see how
-some of them poor women would cry and take on because their man was in
-jail, and how they’d work and scrub night and day and nearly kill
-themselves to earn money to get him out; and then the little children
-that come to see their fathers, how they’d stay out of school and work
-in the packin’-houses and laundries and do anything for a little money
-to help them out. Hones’ly I believe if anyone stays ‘round here for a
-week he’ll see that the people that ain’t done nothin’ is punished a
-good deal more’n the others. Why, there was one awful pretty-lookin’
-girl used to come here to see her father, and the fellers told me that
-she was studyin’ music or somethin’ like that, and her father was put in
-jail on a fine, and she came here to see him every day, and done all she
-could to earn the money to get him out, but she couldn’t do it, and
-finally she went into one of them sportin’ houses down on Clark Street,
-and lived there long enough to get the money. I don’t know, of course,
-whether it’s so, but I don’t see why not. Lots of the girls go to the
-department stores and laundries and stock-yards and they ain’t much
-harder places on a girl’s health. Anybody’ll do everything they can to
-earn money to save anyone they care for.
-
-“Well, the week went away pretty fast. I didn’t s’pose ‘twas so hard to
-get a case continued. You know that Carroll case? You remember we quit
-our work four or five times and lost our pay, and the judge continued it
-just because the lawyer had somethin’ else to do. But I knew ‘twouldn’t
-be no use for me to try to get mine continued any more. And I didn’t
-care much. I was gettin’ so I’d just about as soon be done with it as
-not, and still I was pretty sure I’d be hung.
-
-“The next Monday mornin’ I was taken into court the same way, and the
-han’-cuffs was unlocked, and I was set down to the table by my lawyer.
-One guard set just back of me and the other at the side. Someone started
-a story that a gang of Bridgeport toughs was comin’ to rescue me, but of
-course there wa’n’t nothin’ in it. I didn’t have a friend that even come
-to see me—but the newspapers all printed the story, and, of course, that
-was against me too.
-
-“When the judge called the case, he asked if we was ready, and my lawyer
-said he needed more time; that he’d done all he could to get ready, but
-he hadn’t had time. But the judge wouldn’t pay a bit of attention to
-him, and said he must go to trial at once, and told the bailiff to call
-a jury. So the bailiff called the names of twelve men and they took
-their seats in two rows of chairs along one side of the room. Ever’ one
-of ‘em looked at me as if he didn’t like to be in the same room where I
-was. Then the lawyers commenced askin’ ‘m questions—where they lived,
-and how long they had lived there, and where they lived before, and how
-much rent they paid, and what they worked at, and how long they’d worked
-there, and what they’d done before, and what their fathers done, and
-where they come from, and was they dead, and if they was married, and
-how many times, and if they had children, and how many, and how old, and
-if they was boys or girls, and if the children went to school, and what
-they studied, and if they belonged to the church, and what one, and if
-they belonged to any societies or lodges or labor unions, or knew
-anyone, or read the papers, or didn’t believe in hangin’ people, and if
-they believed in ‘circumstantial evidence,’ and if they’d hang on
-circumstantial evidence, and if they believed in the law—and a lot of
-other things that I can’t remember. If anyone didn’t believe in hangin’
-he was let go right away; and if they didn’t believe in circumstantial
-evidence they didn’t keep ‘em either.
-
-“The other lawyer asked questions first and it didn’t take him very long
-to get the ones that he wanted. Ever’one said he believed in hangin’,
-and they all said they’d hang anybody on circumstantial evidence. After
-he got through my lawyer questioned ‘em. They all said that they’d read
-all about the case, and had formed an opinion about it—and they all
-looked at me as if they had. Then my lawyer objected to ‘em, and the
-judge said to each one, ‘Well, even if you have formed an opinion, don’t
-you think you could lay that aside and not pay any attention to it, and
-try the case on the evidence and give the prisoner the benefit of the
-doubt? Don’t you think that in spite of the opinion you could presume
-him innocent when you begin?’ Most of ‘em said they could; one of ‘em
-said he couldn’t. Then the judge lectured him for not bein’ able to give
-anyone a fair trial, no matter who he was, and said we’d have to take
-the others, and told us to go ahead and get another one. So my lawyer
-tried another one and found him just like the rest. But the judge made
-us take him anyway. He said they was perfectly fair jurors, and we
-couldn’t expect to get men that sympathized with crime.
-
-“It ain’t any use to tell you all about gettin’ the jury, and then I
-hain’t got time. Both sides had a right to strike off twenty without any
-reason at all, only that they didn’t like ‘em. We took a long time to
-get a jury. We didn’t get much of any until after we had struck off
-‘most all of our twenty. All the jurors seemed to have made up their
-minds, but pretty nearly all of ‘em said it didn’t make any difference;
-they could give me a fair trial even if their minds was made up.
-
-“I noticed that they struck off workin’-men and Catholics, and people
-that didn’t have any religion, and foreigners, and I noticed my lawyer
-struck off Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Swedes, and G. A. R.’s. It
-took three or four days to get the jury, and then we hadn’t any more
-challenges left, and so we had to take ‘em. Pretty near ever’one of ‘em
-said they’d read all about the case in all the papers and had their
-minds made up. I knew, of course, that meant they was against me. But
-still they all said that didn’t make no difference if they had got their
-minds made up, they could forget their opinions and go at the case as if
-they believed I was innocent. But ever’one of ‘em said he believed in
-hangin’, and all of ‘em said that circumstantial evidence was good
-enough for him. I set there ‘side of the table with my lawyer and looked
-‘em over, and tried to make up my mind what they was thinkin’ of, but
-they wa’n’t one of ‘em would look at me when they knew I was lookin’,
-and I could see from the way they did that they was sure all the time
-that I done it, and ought to swing. Of course, I know it’s the law that
-when a feller’s placed on trial they’re s’posed to be innocent, but I
-knew that the judge and all them twelve men felt sure I was guilty or I
-wouldn’t have been there. Of course I done it. I don’t know anything
-that would’ve done any good, but all the same it’s pretty tough to be
-tried by a jury when they think you ought to be hung before they
-commence.
-
-“After they got the jury the other lawyer told ‘em about the case, and
-he made it awful black. I don’t know how he ever found out all the
-things he said. Of course a good many of ‘em was true and a good many
-wa’n’t true, but he made out that I was the worst man that ever lived.
-The judge listened to ever’ word he said and looked over to me ever’
-once in a while, as if he wondered how I ever could’ve done it, and was
-glad that I was where I belonged at last. The jury watched ever’ word
-the lawyer said, and looked at me ever’ once in a while to see how I
-stood it. Of course it was mighty hard, but I done the best I could.
-When he got through the judge asked my lawyer what he had to say, and he
-said he wouldn’t tell his side now. Then they commenced puttin’ in the
-evidence.
-
-“I s’pose you read all about it at the time, but the papers always gave
-me the worst of it, and the evidence wa’n’t near so bad as it looked in
-the papers. Of course they proved about the boy goin’ out the next
-mornin’ to the neighbors, and cryin’ for his pa and ma, and about
-ever’one lookin’ all over for us without findin’ us nor any trace of
-either one, and about the horse and wagon both lookin’ as if it had been
-out all night. And then the folks as lived next door told about hearin’
-me say ‘you damned bitch,’ and hearin’ someone fall, though they didn’t
-think much of it then as they’d heard so many rows before. And then they
-told about findin’ a piece of brown paper covered with blood, and then
-they brought in a doctor, or someone who said he’d examined it with a
-magnifyin’ glass and it was human blood. He wa’n’t quite sure whether it
-was a gentleman or a lady; but he knew ‘twas one or the other. Then they
-brought in the paper and handed it to the jury, and passed it down along
-both rows, and ever’one took it in his hand and felt it, and looked at
-it just as if they never had seen any paper like that before, and wanted
-to make sure ‘twas paper and not cloth. Of course the minute I seen it I
-knew it was the paper that had the beefsteak in it, and I told my lawyer
-what it was. An’ I got right up to say something and the judge looked at
-me just as cross and says ‘Set down and keep still; you’ve got a lawyer
-to talk for you, and if you say anything more, I’ll send you to jail.’
-Of course I was scart to hear him speak to me that way before the jury
-and the whole room full of people, and I knew that it would show
-ever’one that the judge was against me. Some of the papers next day made
-out that I jumped up and was goin’ to run away when I seen the bloody
-paper.
-
-“My lawyer had another doctor examine a piece of the paper that night,
-and he said it was a cow or an ox, but he wouldn’t come and testify to
-it unless I’d give him a hundred dollars, but of course I didn’t have
-that. The court room was awful still when they passed around that paper;
-you could hear the jurors breathe and they held their heads down as if
-they felt sorry about somethin’. And after they’d looked it all over the
-lawyer took it, and the judge says: ‘Let me see that paper,’ and he put
-on his spectacles and looked it all over, first on one side and then on
-the other. He had a little bit of a magnifyin’ glass in one hand, and he
-put it over the paper and looked at it through the glass, and then he
-looked at me just as solemn as if it was a funeral, and I seen it was
-all up with me. Of course, I told my lawyer just where I got it and what
-it was, and he went down to the butcher shop and seen the man, but the
-man was ‘fraid to come, and said he didn’t remember ‘bout the steak nor
-about me; he guessed he’d seen me—I used to come down that way to
-peddle—but he couldn’t tell whether I was in the shop that night or not.
-
-“Then they brought the boys who had found her in a pool of water out on
-the prairie two or three days after, and they brought some of the
-clothes she had on. They was all covered with mud, and they passed ‘em
-all around to the jury and the judge, just the same as they did the
-paper. Of course, these did look pretty bad, and they made me feel kind
-of faint, for I’d thought about her a good deal the last few days, and
-dreamed about her almost every night, and sometimes I’d dream that
-ever’thing was all right, and then wake up and remember just how ‘twas.
-I don’t know which is worse: to dream that the thing was done and see it
-all before you, just as if you were doin’ it all over again, and then
-wake up and know it was a dream, and then know it was so, or to dream
-that you’re livin’ together all right and are happy, and then wake up
-and find that’s a dream, and you’re in jail for murder and can’t never
-get out alive.
-
-“Then they proved about how the poker just fit into the place in her
-head, and how it was took back into the kitchen and put into the ashes
-again, so ‘twouldn’t show, and how far I drove that day, and ever’
-saloon I stopped into on the way, and just how much I drank, and
-ever’thing I done, except the beefsteak I bought and that half peck of
-potatoes that I gave away to the old lady. Then they proved all about my
-runnin’ away, and where I’d been, and what I’d done, and my changin’ my
-name, and the way I was caught.
-
-“A good many times my lawyer objected to something that they tried to
-prove, or to something that the other feller was sayin’, but ever’ time
-the judge decided ‘gainst my lawyer, and he ‘most always seemed kind of
-mad when my lawyer said anything. The other one was a good deal the
-smartest; ever’one said he wanted to be a judge, and he took all the
-murder cases he could get, and they called him the ‘hangin’ lawyer,’
-because ever’one he had anything to do with got hung.
-
-“There was always a big crowd in the court room ever’ day, and a lot of
-people waitin’ outside to get in, and there was always some awfully nice
-dressed ladies settin’ up there with the judge ever’ day, and they had a
-sort of glass in their hands, and they’d hold it up in front of their
-eyes and look at me through the glass just like the judge looked at the
-paper.
-
-“It took about two days for their side to call all the witnesses they
-had, and finally their lawyer got up just as solemn and said that was
-their case.
-
-“Then the judge give them a few minutes recess for ever’body to walk
-around a little, and ever’one looked at me, just as they’d done all the
-time. When they come to order the judge told us to go on with our side.
-My lawyer turned to me and said he didn’t see what use it was to prove
-anything, and we might just as well let the case go the way it was. I
-said I ought to go on the stand and tell about that paper, and how it
-was nothin’ but the one that come around the beef, and he said they
-wouldn’t believe me if I said it. And anyhow it wouldn’t make any
-difference. If I once got on the stand they’d get me all mixed up and
-the first thing I knew I’d tell ‘em all about ever’thing, and so far as
-witnesses went he couldn’t find anyone to do me any good.
-
-“I thought ‘twould look pretty bad not to give any evidence at all, and
-he said he knew that but ‘twould look a mighty sight worse if we put any
-in. So my lawyer got up and ever’one watched to see what he was goin’ to
-do, and then he just said ‘May it please the court, we have concluded
-not to put in any evidence.’ And ever’one commenced to whisper, and to
-look at me, and to look ‘round, and the judge looked queer and kind of
-satisfied, and said then if there was no evidence on our side they would
-take a recess till mornin’ when they could argue the case. Of course,
-after I went back to the cell and got to thinkin’ it over I could see
-that it was all off more’n ever, but I didn’t see that the lawyer could
-have done any different.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-Here Jim got up and went to the grating and called to the guard.
-
-“I’m gettin’ a little tired and fagged out and it ain’t worth while to
-go to bed. Won’t you just give me some more whiskey?”
-
-The guard came up to the door. “Of course, you can have all the whiskey
-you want,” he said. “Here’s a bottle I’ve just fetched up from the
-office. You’d better drink that up and then I’ll get you some more.”
-
-Jim took a long drink at the bottle, and then passed it to his friend.
-Hank was glad to have something to help him through the ordeal, which
-had been hard for him to bear.
-
-Presently the guard came back to the grating and asked Jim what he
-wanted for breakfast.
-
-“It ain’t breakfast time yet, is it?” Jim gasped.
-
-“No, but I’m going to the office after a while and I want to give the
-order when I go. You’d better tell me now. You can have ‘most anything
-you want. You can have ham and eggs, or bacon or steak, and tea or
-coffee, and bread and butter and cakes; or all of ‘em—or anything else
-you want.”
-
-“Well, I guess you’d better bring me ham and eggs. I don’t seem to care
-for steak, and I don’t think I want any coffee. I’d rather have a
-cocktail. You’d better bring me plenty more whiskey too when you come.
-You know I hain’t slept any and I’m kind of nervous. I guess it’ll be
-better if I don’t know much about it; don’t you?”
-
-“Sure thing,” the guard answered back. “We’ve got some Scotch whiskey
-over there that’s all right. I’ll bring you some of that. All the boys
-takes that. I don’t think you’ll be troubled much after a good drink of
-that Scotch. I guess you’d better hurry up a little bit with what you
-want to say. I don’t like to hurry you any, but I’m afraid they’ll be
-along with the breakfast after while, and they don’t allow any visitors
-after that.”
-
-The guard turned to leave, but before he had gone far, Jim called out,
-“You’d better telephone over to the telegraph office, hadn’t you?
-Somethin’ might have come maybe.”
-
-“All right, I’ll do that,” the guard answered back, “and Jim, I guess
-you might as well put on them new clothes before breakfast; they’ll look
-better’n the old ones—to eat in.”
-
-
-
-
- X
-
-
-Jim drank the remnant of whiskey in the bottle he was holding, draining
-it to the last drop. As he sat in his chair he leaned against the side
-of the cell.
-
-“My—how many bottles of this stuff I’ve drunk tonight. It’s a wonder I
-ain’t dead already. I don’t believe I could keep up only I’ve got to
-finish my story. But this cell begins to swim ‘round pretty lively; I
-guess it ain’t goin’ to take much to finish me. Think a little of that
-Scotch will just about do the job. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m
-goin’ to get just as drunk as I can. I sha’n’t live to see what they say
-in the newspapers and it won’t make any difference when I’m dead. I
-don’t know as I ought to eat anything; it might kind of keep it from
-actin’, but still I might as well. I guess the Scotch’ll do it all right
-anyway.
-
-“Well, there ain’t very much more to tell, and I guess you’re glad. It’s
-been a tough night on you, poor feller. I hope no one’ll ever have to do
-it for you. But, say—you’ve done me lots of good! I don’t know how I’d
-put in the night, if you hadn’t come!
-
-“Well—the last mornin’ they took me over to court, the room was jammed
-more’n ever before, and a big crowd was waitin’ outside. I heard the
-other lawyer say that the judge’s platform looked like a reception;
-anyhow it was full of ladies with perfectly grand clothes, and most of
-‘em would hold their glasses up to look at me. The other lawyer didn’t
-say much in his first speech, only to tell how it was all done, and how
-they had proved that everything happened in Cook County, and what a high
-office the jury had.
-
-“Then my lawyer talked for me. I didn’t really see how he could have
-done any better and the papers all said he done fine. Of course there
-wa’n’t much to say. I done it, and what more was there to it? And yet I
-s’pose a lawyer is educated so he can talk all right on either side.
-Well, my lawyer went on to make out that no one had seen it done, that
-the evidence was all circumstantial, and no one ever ought to be hung on
-circumstantial evidence. He went on to show how many mistakes had been
-made on circumstantial evidence, and he told about a lot of cases. He
-told the jury about one that I think happened in Vermont where two
-farmers was seen goin’ out in the field. They hadn’t been very good
-friends for a long time. Someone heard loud voices and knew they was
-fightin’. Finally one of ‘em never come back and afterwards some bones
-or somethin’ was found, that the doctors said was a farmer’s bones.
-Well, they tried that farmer and found him guilty, and hung him. And
-then years afterwards the other man come back. And he’d just wandered
-off in a crazy fit. And after a while another doctor found out that them
-bones was only sheep bones, and they’d hung an innocent man. He told a
-lot of stories of that kind, and some of the jury seemed to cry when he
-told ‘em, but I guess they was cryin’ for the Vermont man and not for
-me.
-
-“After my lawyer got through the other lawyer had one more chance, and
-he was awful hard on me. He made out that I was the worst man that ever
-lived. He claimed that I had made up my mind to kill her long ago, just
-to get rid of her, and that I went ‘round to all the saloons that day
-and drank just to get up my nerve. Then he claimed that I took a bottle
-of whiskey home and drank it up and left the empty bottle on the table,
-and I took that just to nerve me up. He made more out of the brown paper
-than he did of anything else, and told how I burned all the rest of the
-evidence but had forgot to burn this, and how I’d gone into the kitchen
-and got the poker out of the stove and come back into the settin’-room
-and killed her, and then took it back; and how cold-blooded I was to
-take her, after I’d killed her, and go and dump her into that hole away
-out on the prairie, and how I’d run away, and how that proved I’d killed
-her, and then he compared me with all the murderers who ever lived since
-Cain, ‘most, and showed how all of ‘em was better’n I was, and told the
-jury that nobody in Chicago would be safe unless I was hung; and if they
-done their duty and hung me there wouldn’t be any more killin’ in
-Chicago after this. I can’t begin to tell you what all he said; but it
-was awful! Once in a while when it was too bad, my lawyer would
-interrupt, but the judge always decided against me and then the other
-lawyer went on worse’n before. The papers next day told how fast I
-changed color while he was talkin’, and what a great speech he made, and
-they all said he ought to be a judge because he was so fearless.
-
-“It took the crowd some time to quiet down after he got through and then
-the judge asked the jury to stand up, and they stood up, and he read a
-lot of stuff to ‘em, tellin’ ‘em about the case. ‘Most all that he read
-was ‘gainst me. Sometimes I thought he was readin’ one on my side, and
-he told ‘em how sure they must be before they could convict, and then
-he’d wind up by sayin’ they must be sure it was done in Cook County. Of
-course there never was any doubt but what it all happened in Cook
-County. When the judge got through ‘twas most night, and he told the
-bailiff to take charge of the jury, so he took ‘em and the clothes and
-the brown paper with the blood out in the jury room, and they
-han’-cuffed me and took me back to my cell.
-
-“I don’t believe I ever put in any night that was quite so hard on me—
-exceptin’ mebbe the night I done it—as that one when the jury was out. I
-guess ever’one thought they wouldn’t stay long. I couldn’t see that any
-of ‘em ever looked at me once as if they cared whether I lived or died.
-I don’t believe that they really thought I was a man like them; anyhow
-ever’-one thought they would sentence me to hang in just a few minutes.
-I s’posed myself that they’d be in before supper. My lawyer come over to
-the jail with me, because he knew how I felt. And anyhow he was ‘most as
-nervous as I was. After a while they brought me in my supper, and the
-lawyer went out to get his. Then the guard told me the jury had gone to
-supper, and he guessed there was some hitch about it, though ever’one
-thought the jury wouldn’t be out long. After a while the lawyer came
-back, and he stayed and talked to me until nine or ten o’clock, and the
-jury didn’t come in, so he went to see what was the matter, and come
-back and said he couldn’t find out anything, only that they hadn’t
-agreed.
-
-“Well, he stayed till twelve o’clock, and then the judge went home, and
-we knew they wa’n’t goin’ to come in till mornin’. I couldn’t sleep that
-night, but walked back and forth in the cell a good bit of the time. You
-see it wa’n’t this cell. The one I had then was a little bigger. I’d lay
-down once in a while, and sometimes I’d smoke a cigar that the guard
-gave me. Anyhow I couldn’t really sleep, and was mighty glad when
-daylight come. In the mornin’, kind of early, I heard that jury had
-agreed and I knew that ‘twas bad for me. The best that could happen
-would be a disagreement. I hadn’t allowed myself to have much hope any
-of the time, but I knew that now it was all off.
-
-“Still I waited and didn’t quite give up till they took me back to the
-courtroom. Then when ever’one had got their places the jury come in,
-lookin’ awful solemn, and the judge looked sober and fierce-like, and he
-said, ‘Gentlemen of the Jury, have you agreed on your verdict?’ And the
-foreman got up and said, ‘We have.’ Then the judge told the foreman to
-give the verdict to the clerk. He walked over to the row of chairs and
-the man at the end of the bottom row reached out his hand and gave the
-paper to him. The people in the room was still as death. Then the clerk
-read, ‘We, the jury, find the defendant guilty, and sentence him to
-death.’ I set with my head down, lookin’ at the paper; I expected it,
-and made up my mind not to move. Ever’one in the courtroom sort of give
-a sigh. I never looked up, and I don’t believe I moved. The papers next
-day said I was brazen and had no feelin’, even when the jury sentenced
-me to death.
-
-“The judge was the first one to speak. He turned to the jury and thanked
-‘em for their patriotism and devotion, and the great courage they’d
-shown by their verdict. He said they’d done their duty well and could
-now go back to their homes contented and happy. And he says: ‘Mr.
-Sheriff, remove the prisoner from the room.’ Of course, I hadn’t
-expected nothin’, and still I wa’n’t quite sure—the same as now, when I
-think mebbe the governor’ll change his mind. But when the verdict was
-read and they said it was death, somehow I felt kind of dazed. I don’t
-really remember their puttin’ the han’-cuffs on me, and takin’ me back
-to jail. I don’t remember the crowd in the courtroom, or much of
-anything until I was locked up again, and then my lawyer come and said
-he would make a motion for a new trial, and not to give up hope. My
-lawyer told me that the reason they was out so long was one man stuck
-out for sendin’ me to the penitentiary for life instead of hangin’ me.
-We found out that he used to be a switchman. I s’pose he knew what a
-hard life I had and wanted to make some allowances. The State’s Attorney
-said he’d been bribed, and the newspapers had lots to say about
-investigatin’ the case, but there wa’n’t nothin’ done about it. But I
-s’pose mebbe it had some effect on the next case.
-
-“There wa’n’t nothin’ more done for two or three days. I just stayed in
-my cell and didn’t feel much like talkin’ with anyone. Then my lawyer
-come over and said the motion for a new trial would be heard next day.
-In the mornin’ they han’cuffed me and took me back as usual. There was a
-lot of people in the courtroom, though not so many as before. My lawyer
-had a lot of books, and he talked a long while about the case, and told
-the judge he ought to give me a new trial on account of all the mistakes
-that was made before. And after he got done the judge said he’d thought
-of this case a great deal both by day and by night, and he’d tried to
-find a way not to sentence me to death, but he couldn’t do it, and the
-motion would be overruled. Then he said, ‘Jackson, stand up.’ Of course
-I got up, because he told me to. Then he looked at me awful savage and
-solemn and said, ‘Have you got anything to say why sentence should not
-be passed on you?’ and I said ‘No!’ Then he talked for a long time about
-how awful bad I was, and what a warnin’ I ought to be to ever’body else;
-and then he sentenced me to be removed to the county-jail and on Friday,
-the thirteenth day of this month—that’s today—to be hanged by the neck
-till dead, and then he said, ‘May God have mercy on your soul!’ After
-that he said, ‘Mr. Sheriff, remove the prisoner. Mr. Clerk, call the
-next case.’ And they han’-cuffed me and brought me back.
-
-“I don’t know why the judge said, ‘May God have mercy on your soul!’ I
-guess it was only a kind of form that they have to go through, and I
-don’t think he meant it, or even thought anything about it. If he had, I
-don’t see how he really could ask God to have mercy on me unless he
-could have mercy himself. The judge didn’t have to hang me unless he
-wanted to.
-
-“Well, the lawyer come in and told me he ought to appeal the case to the
-Supreme Court, but it would cost one hundred dollars for a record, and
-he didn’t know where to get the money. I told him I didn’t know either.
-Of course I hadn’t any and told him he might just as well let it go;
-that I didn’t s’pose it would do any good anyhow. But he said he’d see
-if he could find the money somehow and the next day he come in and said
-he was goin’ to give half out of his own pocket, and he’d seen another
-feller that didn’t want his name mentioned and that thought a man
-oughtn’t to be hung without a chance; he was goin’ to give the other
-half. Of course I felt better then, but still I thought there wa’n’t
-much chance, for ever’body was against me, but my lawyer told me there
-was a lot of mistakes and errors in the trial and I ought to win.
-
-“Well, he worked on the record and finally got it finished, a great big
-kind of book that told all about the case. It was only finished a week
-ago, and I s’posed anyone could take his case to the Supreme Court if he
-had the money; but my lawyer said no, he couldn’t, or rather he said
-yes, anyone could take his case to the Supreme Court, but in a case like
-mine, where I was to be hung I’d be dead before the Supreme Court ever
-decided it, or even before it was tried. Then he said the only way would
-be if some of the judges looked at the record and made an order that I
-shouldn’t be hung until after they’d tried the case, but he told me it
-didn’t make any difference how many mistakes the judge had made, or how
-many errors there was, they wouldn’t make any order unless they believed
-I hadn’t done it. He said that if it had been a dispute about a horse or
-a cow, or a hundred dollars, I’d have a right to go to the Supreme
-Court, and if the judges found any mistakes in the trial I’d have
-another chance. But it wa’n’t so when I was tried for my life.
-
-“Well, when he’d explained this I felt sure ‘twas all off, and I told
-him so, but he said he was goin’ to make the best fight he could and not
-give up till the end. He said he had a lot at stake himself, though not
-so much as I had. So he took the record and went to the judges of the
-Supreme Court and they looked it over, and said mebbe the judge that
-tried me did make some mistakes, and mebbe I didn’t have a fair trial,
-but it looked as if I was guilty and they wouldn’t make any order. So my
-case never got into the Supreme Court after all and the hundred dollars
-was wasted.
-
-“Well, when my lawyer told me, of course I felt blue. I’d built some on
-this, and it begun to look pretty bad. It seemed as if things was comin’
-along mighty fast, and it looked as if the bobbin was ‘most wound up.
-When you know you’re going to die in a week the time don’t seem long. Of
-course if a feller’s real sick, and gets run down and discouraged, and
-hasn’t got much grip on things, he may not feel so very bad about dyin’,
-for he’s ‘most dead anyway, but when a feller’s strong, and in good
-health, and he knows he’s got to die in a week, it’s a different thing.
-
-“Then my lawyer said there was only one thing left, and that was to go
-to the gov’nor. He said he knew the gov’nor pretty well and he was goin’
-to try. He thought mebbe he’d change the sentence to imprisonment for
-life. When I first come to jail I said I’d rather be hung than to be
-sent up for life, and I stuck to it even when the jury brought in their
-verdict, but when it was only a week away I begun to feel different, and
-I didn’t want to die, leastwise I didn’t want to get hung. So I told him
-all the people I knew, though I didn’t think they’d help me, for the
-world seemed to be against me, and the papers kept tellin’ what a good
-thing it was to hang me, and how the State’s Attorney and the jury and
-the judge had been awful brave to do it so quick. But I couldn’t see
-where there was any bravery in it. I didn’t have no friends. It might
-have been right, but I can’t see where the brave part come in.
-
-“But every day the lawyer said he thought the gov’nor would do
-somethin’, and finally he got all the names he could to the petition,
-and I guess it wa’n’t very many, only the people that sign all the
-petitions because they don’t believe in hangin’; and day before
-yesterday, he went down to Springfield to see the gov’nor.
-
-“Well, I waited all day yesterday. I didn’t go out of the cell for
-exercise because I couldn’t do anything and I didn’t want ‘em to see how
-nervous I was. But I tell you it’s ticklish business waitin’ all day
-when you’re goin’ to be hung in the mornin’ unless somethin’ happens. I
-kep’ askin’ the guard what time ‘twas, and when I heard anyone comin’ up
-this way I looked to see if it wa’n’t a despatch, and I couldn’t set
-down or lay down, or do anything ‘cept drink whiskey. I hain’t really
-been sober and clear-headed since yesterday noon, in fact, I guess if I
-had been, I wouldn’t kep’ you here all night like this. I didn’t hardly
-eat a thing, either, all day, and I asked the guard about it a good many
-times, and he felt kind of sorry for me but didn’t give me much
-encouragement. You see they’ve had a guard right here in front of the
-door all the time, day and night, for two weeks. That’s called the death
-watch, and they set here to see that I don’t kill myself, though I can’t
-see why that would make any great difference so long as I’ve got to die
-anyhow.
-
-“Well, ‘long toward night the guard came and brought me that new suit of
-clothes over on the bed, and I guess I’ve got to put ‘em on pretty
-quick. Of course, the guard’s been as nice as he could be. He didn’t
-tell me what they’s for, but I knew all the same. I know they don’t hang
-nobody in their old clothes. I s’pose there’ll be a good many people
-there, judges and doctors and ministers and lawyers, and the newspapers,
-and the friends of the sheriff, and politicians, and all, and of course
-it wouldn’t look right to have me hung up there before ‘em all in my old
-clothes,—it would be about like wearin’ old duds to a party or to
-church—so I’ve got to put on them new ones. They’re pretty good, and
-they look as if they’re all wool, don’t you think?
-
-“Well, a little while after they brought me the clothes, I seen the
-guard come up with a telegram in his hand. I could see in his face it
-wa’n’t no use, so of course I wa’n’t quite so nervous when I read it.
-But I opened it to make sure. The lawyer said that the gov’nor wouldn’t
-do nothin’. Then, of course, ‘twas all off. Still he said he’d go back
-about midnight. I don’t know whether he meant it, or said it to brace me
-up a little and kind of let me down easier.
-
-“Of course, the gov’nor could wake up in the night and do it, if he
-wanted to, and I s’pose such things has been done. I’ve read ‘bout ‘em
-stoppin’ it after a man got up on the scaffold. You remember about the
-gov’nor of Ohio, don’t you? He come here to Chicago to some convention,
-and a man was to be hung in Columbus that day, and the gov’nor forgot it
-till just about the time, and then he tried for almost an hour to get
-the penitentiary on the long distance telephone, and he finally got ‘em
-just as the man was goin’ up on the scaffold. Such things has happened,
-but of course, I don’t s’pose they’ll happen to me. I never had much
-luck in anything, and I guess I’ll be hung all right.
-
-“It seems queer, don’t it, how I’m talkin’ to you here, and the guard
-out there, and ever’body good to me, and in just a little while they’re
-goin’ to take me out there and hang me! I don’t believe I could do it,
-even if I was a sheriff and got ten thousand dollars a year for it, but
-I s’pose it has to be done.
-
-“Well, now I guess I’ve told you all about how ever’thing happened and
-you und’stand how it was. I s’pose you think I’m bad, and I don’t want
-to excuse myself too much, or make out I’m any saint. I know I never
-was, but you see how a feller gets into them things when he ain’t much
-different from ever’body else. I know I don’t like crime, and I don’t
-believe the other does. I just got into a sort of a mill and here I am
-right close up to that noose.
-
-“There ain’t anyone ‘specially that I’ve got to worry about, ‘cept the
-boy. Of course it’s awful hard for a poor feller to start, anyhow,
-unless he’s real smart, and I don’t know how ‘twill be with the boy. We
-always thought he was awful cunnin’; but I s’pose most parents does. But
-I don’t see how he’d ever be very smart, ‘cause I wa’n’t and neither was
-his mother. As I was sayin’, ‘twould be awful hard for him anyhow, but
-now when he’s growed up, and anyone tells him about how his mother was
-murdered by his father, and how his father got hung for it, and they
-show him the pictures in the paper and all that, I don’t see how he’ll
-ever have any show. It seems as if the state had ought to do somethin’
-for a child when the state kills its father that way, but it don’t
-unless they sends him to a poor house, or something like that.
-
-“Now, I haven’t told you a single lie—and you can see how it all was,
-and that I wa’n’t so awful bad, and that I’m sorry, and would be willin’
-to die if it would bring her back. And if you can, I wish you’d just
-kind of keep your eye on the boy. I guess it’ll be a good deal better to
-change his name and not let him nor anyone else know anything about
-either of us. A good many poor people grow up that way. I don’t really
-know nothin’ ‘bout my folks. They might’ve been hung too, for all I
-know. But you kind of watch the boy and keep track of him, and if he
-comes up all right and seems to be a smart feller and looks at things
-right, and he gets to wonderin’ about me, and you think ‘twill do any
-good you can tell him just what you feel a mind to, but don’t tell him
-‘less’n you think it will do him good. Of course, I can’t never pay you
-in any way for what you’ve done for me, but mebbe you’ll think it’s
-worth while for a feller that hain’t a friend in the world, and who’s
-got to be hung so quick.”
-
-Hank struggled as hard as he could to keep back the tears. He was not
-much used to crying, but in spite of all his efforts they rolled down
-his face.
-
-“Well, Jim, old feller,” he said. “I didn’t know how it was—when I come
-I felt as if you’d been awful bad, and of course I know it wa’n’t right,
-but somehow I know it might have happened to me, or ‘most anybody,
-almost, and that you ain’t so bad. I can’t tell you anything about how I
-feel, but I’m glad I come. It’s done me good. I don’t think I’ll ever
-feel the same about the fellers that go to jail and get hung. I don’t
-know’s they could help it any more’n any of us can help the things we
-do. Anyhow, I sha’n’t never let the boy out of my mind a single minit,
-and I’ll do as much for him as if he was mine. I’ll look him up the
-first thing I do. I don’t know about changin’ his name, I’ll see.
-Anyhow, if he ever gets to hear a bit of it, I’ll see he knows how it
-was.”
-
-Jim wrung Hank’s hand for a minute in silence, and then said: “And just
-one word more, Hank; tell him not to be poor; don’t let him get married
-till he’s got money, and can afford it, and don’t let him go in debt.
-You know I don’t believe I ever would have done it if I hadn’t been so
-poor.”
-
-Hank drew back his hand and stepped to the grated door and looked out
-along the gloomy iron corridors and down toward the courtyard below.
-Then he looked up at the tiers of cells filled with the hapless outcasts
-of the world. On the skylight he could see the faint yellowish glow that
-told him that the day was about to dawn. The guard got up from his stool
-and passed him another flask of whiskey.
-
-“Here, you’d better get Jim to drink all he can,” he whispered, “for his
-time is almost up.”
-
-Hank took a little sip himself, and then motioned Jim to drink. Jim took
-the bottle, raised it to his mouth and gulped it down, scarcely stopping
-to catch his breath. Then he threw the bottle on the bed and sat down on
-his chair. With the story off his mind it was plain that the whiskey was
-fast numbing all his nerves. He was not himself when he looked up again.
-
-“I guess mebbe I’d better change my clothes, while I have a chance,” he
-said. “I don’t want anyone else to have to do it for me, and I want to
-look all right when the thing comes off.”
-
-A new guard came up to the door, unlocked it and came in. He nodded to
-Hank and told him he must go.
-
-“His breakfast is just comin’ up and it’s against the rules to have
-anyone here at the time. The priest will come to see him after he gets
-through eatin’.”
-
-Over in the corridor where Hank had seen the beams and lumber he could
-hear the murmur of muffled voices, evidently talking about the work.
-Along the corridor two waiters in white coats were bringing great trays
-filled with steaming food.
-
-Slowly Hank turned to Jim and took his hand.
-
-“Well, old fellow,” he said, “I’ve got to go. I see you’re all right,
-but take that Scotch whiskey when it comes; it won’t do you any hurt.
-I’ll look after everything just as I said. Good-bye.”
-
-Jim seemed hardly to hear Hank’s farewell words.
-
-“Well, good-bye.”
-
-Hank went outside the door and the guard closed and locked it as he
-turned away.
-
-Then Jim got up from his chair and stumbled to the door.
-
-“Hank! Hank! S’pose—you—stop at the—telegraph—office—the Western Union—
-and the—Postal—all of ‘em—mebbe—might—be somethin’——”
-
-“All right,” Hank called back, “I will! I will!—I’ll go to both to make
-sure if there’s anything there; and I’ll telephone you by the time
-you’ve got through eatin’.”
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
- BIG BLUE BOOKS
-
-
- =30c= EACH POSTPAID
- TO ANY ADDRESS
-
-These Big Blue Books are a companion series to the Little Blue Books.
-They are much larger-–5½×8½ inches in size, bound in attractive stiff
-card covers and contain from 30,000 to 75,000 words of text, ranging
-from 64 to 128 pages each. The type is large, clear and easy to read.
-The books are printed on good book paper and are thoroughly substantial,
-accurate, and worth while in every way. Make your selection now—one book
-or more, up to any quantity you wish, for 30c per book postpaid to any
-address in the world.
-
-
- Always Order by Number-–30c Each
-
-
- LOVE AND SEX
-
- =B–46= The Sexual Life of Man, Woman and Child. Dr. Isaac
- Goldberg. (Chapters include “Sex,” “From Morality to Taste,” “Lust
- and Love,” etc.)
-
- =B–41= Love’s Coming of Age: A Series of Papers on the Relations
- of the Sexes. Edward Carpenter. (Chapters include “Sex-Passion,”
- “Man the Ungrown,” “Woman the Serf,” “Intermediate Sex,” “Note on
- Preventive Checks to Population,” etc.)
-
- =B–32= The History of a Woman’s Heart (Une Vie). Guy de
- Maupassant. (Complete novel by the famous French master of
- fiction.)
-
- =B–3= The Love Sorrows of Young Werther. Goethe. (Famous love
- story).
-
-
- FICTION
-
- =B–6= Zadig, or Destiny; Micromegas and The Princess of Babylon.
- Voltaire. (Famous satirical fiction.)
-
- =B–30= Candide: A Satire on the Notion That This Is the Best of
- All Possible Worlds. Voltaire.
-
- =B–12= Grimm’s Famous Fairy Tales.
-
- =B–24= An Eye for an Eye. Clarence Darrow. (Complete Novel.)
-
- =B–33= A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. Laurence
- Sterne. (Intimate notes on travel experiences—one of the most
- famous books in English literature.)
-
- =B–31= The Sign of the Four (Sherlock Holmes Story). Conan Doyle.
-
- =B–35= A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes Story). Conan Doyle.
-
-
- FAMOUS PLAYS
-
- =B–2= The Maid of Orleans: A Romantic Tragedy. Friedrich von
- Schiller. Adapted from the German by George Sylvester Viereck.
-
- =B–9= Faust (Part I). Goethe. Translated by Anna Swanwick. Edited,
- with Introduction and Notes, by Margaret Munsterberg.
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-
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- Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Lloyd E. Smith.
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- =B–26= Nathan the Wise (Famous Liberal Play). Gotthold Ephraim
- Lessing. Translated and Edited by Leo Markun.
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- AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHY
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- =B–19= Persons and Personalities. Paragraphs and Essays. E.
- Haldeman-Julius.
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- Haldeman-Julius.
-
- =B–45= Confessions of a Young Man. George Moore.
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- =B–4= The Wisdom of Life. Being the first of Arthur Schopenhauer’s
- Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit. Translated with a Preface by T.
- Bailey Saunders.
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- =B–5= Counsels and Maxims. Being the second part of Arthur
- Schopenhauer’s Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit. Translated by T.
- Bailey Saunders.
-
- =B–1= On Liberty. John Stuart Mill. (Chapters include “Liberty of
- Thought and Discussion,” “Individuality,” “Limits to Authority of
- Society Over the Individual,” etc.)
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- Haldeman-Julius.
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- Campbell Lockley and Percy Hazen Houston.
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- Crawford, Charles Angoff, etc.
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- Dr. Isaac Goldberg.
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- =B–39= Snapshots of Modern Life. E. Haldeman-Julius.
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- Barrett.
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- RATIONALISM AND DEBUNKING
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- SANE SEX SERIES
-
-
- Authentic │ 50 Volumes │ All for =$2.98=
- Information │ A Leather Cover │
-
- Are you ignorant of the facts of Life? Do you want authentic
- information about sex and love and their proper place in human
- affairs? Then these 50 volumes are what you have been waiting for.
- These books are helping thousands of people to understand themselves
- and others. Here are the facts, written by authorities—by
- psychologists, sociologists, physicians, and scientists. These books
- can be depended upon. There is nothing in these books to harm
- anyone, nothing to create any wrong ideas about life. The whole
- viewpoint is modern, sane, and healthful. These books foster a
- wholesome outlook on life, and at the same time give the facts
- everyone should know in a way which everyone can understand.
-
- Some of the eminent authorities who have prepared the text for these
- books are Havelock Ellis, the famous English expert on sexual
- psychology; James Oppenheim, a N.Y. practicing psycho-analyst;
- William J. Fielding, well-known for his recent book, “Sex and the
- Love-Life”; Dr. Morris Fishbein of the American Medical Association;
- Dr. Joseph H. Greer; Dr. Wilfrid Lay; Dr. Charles Reed; Professor C.
- L. Fenton, etc. Do not hesitate to rely upon these books; they are
- thoroughly up to date, containing the latest facts available.
-
-
- 50 Volumes-–750,000 Words
-
- Each of these books contains about 15,000 words of text,
- making 750,000 words in all. The books are of a convenient
- size (3½ × 5 inches) to fit the pocket, average 64 pages each,
- have easily readable type, and are bound in substantial stiff
- card covers. If these books were issued in ordinary library
- form they would cost from $25 to $30 for the set. But in this
- neat pocket-sized edition, due to mass production, they are
- offered for only $2.98, full and final payment for the entire
- 50 volumes and a leather cover.
-
-
- A Real Leather Cover
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- Included with each set of 50 volumes, at no extra cost, is a
- genuine leather slip cover, made from high grade black levant
- leather. This cover holds one book at a time, protecting it
- while in use; a book may be slipped in or out in a few
- seconds. This cover has the added advantage that it can be
- slipped on a book to carry in the pocket, thus concealing the
- cover and title if anyone prefers to avoid possible
- embarrassment. Not only this, but you can enjoy the luxurious
- “feel” of real leather while reading these books. And
- remember—$2.98 is =positively all you pay= for 50 books and
- this leather cover.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
- 50 BOOKS
-
- Sane Sex Facts for Everyone
-
- _Facts for Girls_
- _Facts for Boys_
- _Facts for Young Men_
- _Facts for Young Women_
- _For Married Men_
- _For Married Women_
- _Manhood Facts_
- _Womanhood Facts_
- _For Women Past 40_
- _For Expectant Mothers_
- _Woman’s Sex-Life_
- _Man’s Sex-Life_
- _The Child’s Sex-Life_
- _Homosexual Life_
- _Evolution of Sex_
- _Physiology of Sex_
- _Sex Common Sense_
- _Determination of Sex_
- _Sex Symbolism_
- _Sex in Psychoanalysis_
- _Sleep and Sex Dreams_
- _Chats with Wives_
- _Chats with Husbands_
- _Talks with the Married_
- _How to Love_
- _Art of Kissing_
- _How to Win a Mate_
- _Beginning Marriage Right_
- _Happiness in Marriage_
- _Sex Ethics_
- _Modern Sex Morality_
- _Love Letters_
- _Psychology of Affections_
- _Birth Control Immoral?_
- _Birth Control Today_
- _Women’s Love Rights_
- _Sex Today_ (.it _Ellis_)
- _Ellis and Sex Sanity_
- _Eugenics Explained_
- _Genetics Made Plain_
- _Heredity Made Plain_
- _Venereal Diseases_
- _Syphilis Facts_
- _Sex and Crime_
- _America’s Sex Impulse_
- _Sex in Religion_
- _What Is Love?_
- _Story of Marriage_
- _Sex Rejuvenation_
- _Companionate Marriage_
-
-
- SEND NO MONEY
-
- For this Sane Sex Series of 50 volumes and a leather cover you
- need not remit in advance unless you wish. You can pay the
- postman only $2.98 on delivery. This set is shipped =in plain
- wrapper=. Use the blank at the right, or just ask for “Sane
- Sex Series.” No C. O. D. orders can be sent to Canada or
- foreign countries; these must remit in advance by
- international postal money order or draft on any U. S. bank.
-
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- │Girard, Kansas
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- │postman $2.98 on arrival. It is understood that $2.98 is all I pay
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-
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- THE MODERN LIBRARY
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
- 88 CENTS PER COPY PREPAID
-
-
- Your Choice
-
-
- OSCAR WILDE
-
- =Salome=, Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan.
-
- =Ideal Husband= and A Woman of No Importance.
-
- =De Profundis= (Out of the Depths).
-
- =Dorian Gray= (Novel).
-
- =Poems= (Harlot’s House, Sphinx, Reading Gaol, etc.)
-
- =Fairy Tales= and Poems in Prose.
-
- =Pen, Pencil and Poison.=
-
-
- ANATOLE FRANCE
-
- =Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard.=
-
- =Queen Pedauque.=
-
- =Red Lily.=
-
- =Thais.=
-
-
- GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO
-
- =Flame of Life.=
-
- =Child of Pleasure.=
-
- =Maidens of the Rocks.=
-
- =Triumph of Death.=
-
-
- THOMAS HARDY
-
- =Jude the Obscure.=
-
- =Major of Casterbridge.=
-
- =Return of the Native.=
-
-
- FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
-
- =Thus Spake Zarathustra.=
-
- =Beyond Good and Evil.=
-
- =Genealogy of Morals.=
-
- =Ecce Homo and The Birth of Tragedy.=
-
-
- HENRIK IBSEN
-
- =Doll’s House=, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People.
-
- =Hedda Gabler=, Pillars of Society and The Master Builder.
-
- =Wild Duck=, Rosmersholm and The League of Youth.
-
-
- GUY DE MAUPASSANT
-
- =Love and Other Stories= (For Sale, Clochette, His Wedding
- Night, Moonlight, etc.)
-
- =Mademoiselle Fifi and Other Tales= (Piece of String, Tallow
- Ball, Useless Beauty, The Horla, A Farm Girl, etc.).
-
- =Une Vie= (Story of a Woman’s Heart).
-
-
- SHERWOOD ANDERSON
-
- =Poor White= (A Novel).
-
- =Winesburg, Ohio= (Short Stories).
-
-
- SAMUEL BUTLER
-
- =Erewhon=, or Over the Range.
-
- =Way of All Flesh.=
-
-
- JAMES BRANCH CABELL
-
- =Beyond Life.=
-
- =Cream of the Jest.=
-
-
- NORMAN DOUGLAS
-
- =South Wind= (A Novel).
-
- =Old Calabria.=
-
-
- LORD DUNSANY
-
- =Dreamer’s Tales.=
-
- =Book of Wonder.=
-
-
- GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
-
- =Madame Bovary.=
-
- =Temptation of St. Anthony.=
-
-
- W. S. GILBERT
-
- =Mikado=, Iolanthe, Pirates of Penzance, and The Gondoliers.
-
- =H. M. S. Pinafore=, Patience, Yeomen of the Guard and
- Ruddigore.
-
-
- GEORGE GISSING
-
- =New Grub Street.=
-
- =Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft.=
-
-
- REMY DE GOURMONT
-
- =Night in the Luxembourg.=
-
- =Virgin Heart= (Translated by Aldous Huxley).
-
-
- W. H. HUDSON
-
- =Green Mansions.=
-
- =Purple Land.=
-
-
- D. H. LAWRENCE
-
- =Rainbow.=
-
- =Sons and Lovers.=
-
-
- GEORGE MEREDITH
-
- =Diana of the Crossways.=
-
- =Ordeal of Richard Feverel.=
-
-
- WALTER PATER
-
- =Renaissance.=
-
- =Marius the Epicurean.=
-
-
- ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
-
- =Anatol=, Green Cockatoo, and Living Hours.
-
- =Bertha Garlan.=
-
-
- AUGUST STRINDBERG
-
- =Married.=
-
- =Miss Julie=, The Creditor, The Stronger Woman, Motherly Love,
- Paria and Simoon.
-
-
- LEO TOLSTOY
-
- =Redemption=, Power of Darkness and Fruits of Culture.
-
- =Death of Ivan Ilyitch=, Polikushka, Two Hussars, Snowstorm, and
- Three Deaths.
-
-
- IVAN TURGENEV
-
- =Fathers and Sons.=
-
- =Smoke.=
-
-
- MISCELLANEOUS
-
- =Modern American Poetry.= Ed. Conrad Aiken.
-
- =Seven That Were Hanged= and the Red Laugh. Leonid Andreyev.
-
- =Short Stories= by Honore de Balzac (Don Juan, Christ in
- Flanders, Time of the Terror, Passion in the Desert, Accursed
- House, Atheist’s Mass, etc.).
-
- =Prose and Poetry.= Baudelaire.
-
- =Art of Aubrey Beardsley= (64 Reproductions).
-
- =Art of Rodin= (64 Reproductions).
-
- =Jungle Peace.= William Beebe.
-
- =Zuleika Dobson.= Max Beerbohm.
-
- =In the Midst of Life= (Stories). Ambrose Bierce.
-
- =Poems of William Blake.=
-
- =Wuthering Heights.= Emily Bronte.
-
- =House With the Green Shutters.= George Douglas Brown.
-
- =Love’s Coming of Age.= Edward Carpenter.
-
- =Alice in Wonderland=, Through the Looking-Glass and Hunting of
- the Snark. Lewis Carroll.
-
- =Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini.=
-
- =Rothschild’s Fiddle.= Anton Chekhov.
-
- =Man Who Was Thursday.= G. K. Chesterton.
-
- =Men, Women and Boats.= Stephen Crane.
-
- =Sapho.= Alphonse Daudet. Also contains =Manon Lescaut= (When a
- Man Loves) by Antoine Prevost.
-
- =Moll Flanders.= Daniel Defoe.
-
- =Poor People.= Feodor Dostoyevsky.
-
- =Poems and Prose.= Ernest Dowson.
-
- =Free and Other Stories.= Theodore Dreiser.
-
- =Camille.= Alexandre Dumas.
-
- =New Spirit, The.= Havelock Ellis.
-
- =Life of the Caterpillar.= Jean Henri Fabre.
-
- =Jorn Uhl.= Gustav Frenssen.
-
- =Mlle. de Maupin.= Theophile Gautier.
-
- =Bed of Roses.= W. L. George.
-
- =Renee Mauperin.= E. and J. de Goncourt.
-
- =Creatures That Once Were Men= and Other Stories. Maxim Gorki.
-
- =Scarlet Letter.= Nathaniel Hawthorne.
-
- =Some Chinese Ghosts.= Lafcadio Hearn.
-
- =Erik Dorn.= Ben Hecht.
-
- =Daisy Miller= and An International Episode. Henry James.
-
- =Philosophy of William James.=
-
- =Dubliners.= James Joyce.
-
- =Soldiers Three.= Rudyard Kipling.
-
- =Men in War.= Andreas Latzko.
-
- =Upstream.= Ludwig Lewisohn.
-
- =Mme. Chrysantheme.= Pierre Loti.
-
- =Spirit of American Literature.= John Macy.
-
- =Miracle of St. Anthony=, Pelleas and Melisande, and Four Other
- Plays. Maurice Maeterlinck.
-
- =Moby Dick=, or The Whale. Herman Melville.
-
- =Romance of Leonardo da Vinci.= Dmitri Merejkowski.
-
- =Plays by Moliere= (Highbrow Ladies, School for Wives, Tartuffe,
- Misanthrope, etc.)
-
- =Confessions of a Young Man.= George Moore.
-
- =Tales of Mean Streets.= Arthur Morrison.
-
- =Moon of the Caribbees= and Other Plays (Bound East for Cardiff,
- In the Zone, Ile, etc.). Eugene O’Neill.
-
- =Writings of Thomas Paine.=
-
- =Pepys’ Diary.=
-
- =Best Tales of Poe.=
-
- =Life of Jesus.= Ernest Renan.
-
- =Selected Papers of Bertrand Russell.=
-
- =Imperial Orgy.= Edgar Saltus.
-
- =Studies in Pessimism.= Arthur Schopenhauer.
-
- =Story of an African Farm.= Olive Schreiner.
-
- =Unsocial Socialist.= George Bernard Shaw.
-
- =Philosophy of Spinoza.=
-
- =Treasure Island.= Robert Louis Stevenson.
-
- =Ego and His Own.= Max Stirner.
-
- =Dame Care.= Hermann Sudermann.
-
- =Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne.=
-
- =Complete Poems of Francis Thompson.=
-
- =Ancient Man.= Hendrik Willem van Loon.
-
- =Poems of Francois Villon.=
-
- =Candide.= Voltaire.
-
- =Ann Veronica.= H. G. Wells.
-
- =Poems of Walt Whitman.=
-
- =Selected Addresses and Papers of Woodrow Wilson.=
-
- =Irish Fairy and Folk Tales.= William Butler Yeats.
-
- =Nana.= Emile Zola.
-
-
- COLLECTIONS—SYMPOSIUMS
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- =A Modern Book of Criticisms=: Edited by Ludwig Lewisohn, with
- contributions by G. B. Shaw, Anatole France, Remy de Gourmont,
- Geo. Moore, etc.
-
- =The Woman Question=: Westermarck’s Subjection of Wives, Ellen
- Key’s Right of Motherhood, Carpenter’s Woman in Freedom,
- Maeterlinck’s On Women, Havelock Ellis’ Changing Status of
- Women, etc.
-
- =Evolution in Modern Thought=: Complete survey of modern views
- of the evolution of man.
-
- =Best Russian Stories=: Pushkin, Gogol, Turgeney, Dostoyevski,
- Tolstoy, Garshin, Chekhov, Gorky, Andreyev, Artzybashev, etc.
-
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- Woman’s Ghost Story, Matthews’ Rival Ghosts, Bierce’s Damned
- Thing, etc.
-
- =Best American Humorous Stories=: Hale’s My Double, Holmes’
- Visit to the Asylum, O. Henry’s Duplicity of Hargraves, etc.
-
- =Contemporary Science=, a series of scientific articles by
- leading authorities, on physics, engineering, enzymes,
- bacteriology, Einstein, etc.
-
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- Freud, S. Ferenczi, Dr. Stekel, Dr. Jung, etc.
-
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-
- _The Author of “Sanity in Sex,” “Rational Sex Series,” “The
- Caveman Within Us,” and other works relating to sex and
- personality, sets forth in this single volume a well-rounded,
- practical exposition of sexual problems._
-
-
-
-
- SEX
-
- _and the_
-
- LOVE-LIFE
-
-
- _By_
-
- WILLIAM J. FIELDING
-
- There is not a man or woman but will find in this book a clarifying
- light shed on many perplexing questions relating to sex and the
- love-life. Even the specialized student will find the work replete
- with illuminating facts and useful information, soundly interpreted.
- It lays special emphasis on realizing the potentialities of the
- love-life in marriage and its delicate treatment of these intimate
- problems is a distinctive feature of the book. The contents of the
- book as outlined in the following pages indicates the scope and
- comprehensiveness of the work.
-
-
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS-–322 PAGES
-
-
- =I. Sex and Life=—Meeting Life’s Vital Problems—Best
- Preparation for Life—Countless Manifestations of Sex—Sexual
- Phenomena—Evils Traced to Ignorance—Primitive Methods of
- Reproduction—Asexual Reproduction—Sex Makes the Whole World
- Akin—Sexual Reproduction—Secondary Sexual Characters—Sex More
- Specialized in Higher Orders—The Two Paramount Urges—Hunger
- and the Sex Impulse—Savages’ Attitude Toward Sex—Ancient
- Sexual Practices—Sex Symbolism—Phallicism—Nature Worship—Venus
- Cults—Sacred Prostitution—Lingam and Yoni Symbols—Sexual
- Coldness—Congenital Frigidity—False Frigidity—Effecting a
- Cure—Sidetracked Sex Energy—Results of Faulty Education—
- Puritanical Principles—Celibacy—Ecclesiastical Law—Theological
- Influence—-“Sins of the Flesh”—Early Ascetic Ideals—Error of
- Sex Denial—Celibacy Not a Normal Life—Effects of Sexual
- Suppression.
-
- =II. Development of the Love-Life=—Stages of Sexual
- Development—Friendship and Love—Esthetic Significance of Sex—
- Love the Refinement of Sexual Impulse—Altruism and
- Self-Sacrifice—Sex Life of the Child—Sexual Instincts
- Manifested from Birth—Stages of Progress—The Detumescence
- Instinct—The Autoerotic Stage—Sucking, an Erotic Pleasure—
- Erogenous (Love-producing) Zones—Narcissism—The Legend of
- Narcissus—Self-love—Prepubescence—Love in Childhood—
- Childhood’s Sex Interests Repressed—Sublimation—Erotic
- Compensation—Cultural Accomplishments—Adolescence—The Boy and
- Girl—Physical and Psychic Manifestations—What Impels to Love—
- The Parent Image—Copying Psychological Patterns—Ego and Sex
- Ideals—The Love-Object—Fixations—Peculiarities of the
- Love-Life—Psychic Impotence—Frigid Wives—Fetichism—Sexual
- Significance of Fetiches—Exhibitionism—Normal and Abnormal
- Traits—Sexual Curiosity—Sadism and Masochism—Homosexuality—
- Psychological Problems—Environmental Factors—Homosexual
- Feelings Repressed.
-
- =III. Man’s Sexual Nature=—Comparison of the Male and Female—
- Represent Different Types of Eroticism—Anatomy and Physiology
- of Male Sex Organs—The Penis—The Glands—The Prepuce—
- Circumcision—The Testes—The Vas Deferens—The Epididymis—The
- Seminal Vesicles—Cowper’s Glands—Prostate Gland—Urethra—The
- Seminal Fluid—Semen—Spermatozoa—Internal Chemistry—Ductless
- Glands—The Hormones—Interstitial Glands—Chemical Aspects of
- Sex—The Endocrine System—Thyroid—Parathyroid—Pituitary—
- Adrenals—Thymus—Pineal—Pancreas—Insulin—Activity of Male Sex
- Organs—Nocturnal (night) Emissions—A Normal Episode—Diurnal
- (day) Emissions—Man’s “Change of Life”—A Preparation for
- Senescence—Period of Sexual Decline—The Don Juan—A
- Constructive Period Ahead.
-
- =IV. Woman’s Sexual Nature=—Sexual Instinct in Woman—Woman’s
- Sexual Organization More Complex Than Man’s—Feminine Eroticism
- More Highly Ramified—Woman’s Emotional Nature—Strength of
- Sexual Impulse—Woman Sexually Conservative—Variations in
- Sexual Impulse—Sexual Desire Outlasts the Reproductive Life—
- Anatomy and Physiology of Female Organs—The Ovaries—Graafian
- Follicles—Process of Ovulation—Fallopian Tubes—Salpingitis—The
- Uterus (Womb)—The Vagina—The Hymen—The Vulva—Bartholin Glands—
- The Pelvis—The Mammary Glands—The Internal Secretions—Normal
- Effects at Puberty—Effects of Deficiency of Secretions—
- Menstruation—Symptoms of Initial Appearance—Hygiene of
- Menstruation—Disorders Due to Constipation—Re-establishing
- Premature Cessation of Flow—The Menopause.
-
- =V. Preparation for Marriage=—Looking Forward to Marriage—
- Importance of Preparation—Confusion of Ideals—Innocence and
- Modesty—Prudery—Marriage: Past and Future—Dual Moral Code—
- Status of Monogamy—Polygamy and Promiscuity—Fictitious
- Chivalry—True Love Must Be Free—Woman’s Intellectual
- Liberation—Its Beneficial Effects—The Realities of Marriage—
- Courtship As a Preparation—Not an Educational Substitute—
- Period of Intimate Association—Tactless Lovers in Courtship—
- The Vehement Wooer and Defensive Partner—Courtship a Continual
- Preparation—The Pairing Hunger—Length of Engagements—Long
- Engagements Often Injurious—Proper Age to Marry—Economic
- Hindrance at Most Favorable Period—Consanguineous Marriage, or
- Marriage of Blood Relatives—Between First and Second Cousins—
- Not Harmful in Itself—Unless Family History Is Bad—Hereditary
- Traits Accentuated in Offspring of Blood Relatives—Either Good
- or Bad Latent Traits May Be Marked in Children.
-
- =VI. Sex Hygiene in Marriage=—The Conjugal Relations—
- Expressing Love Deepens the Love Feeling—Love Cannot Be
- Separated from Sexuality—Courtship and Married Lovers—Wooing
- As an Essential Preparation—The Consummation of Love—Woman
- Must Be Wooed Before Every Act of Coitus—Characteristics of
- Feminine Nature—Woman’s Role In the Sex Relations—The Sex Act
- Means More to the Female—Woman’s Subconscious Maternal
- Solicitude—Benefits of Sexual Expression—Key to Happiness in
- Marriage—Greater Longevity of Married Women—The Sexual
- Initiation of the Bride—Coitus the Fulfilment of a Natural
- Law—One of the Most Beautiful and Sacred Phenomena of Life—
- Gives Marriage Its Wonderful Potentialities—Overcoming Sexual
- Coldness—Keeping Romance in Marriage—Jealousy the Destroyer—
- Frequency of Sex Relations—Intercourse During Menstruation—
- Intercourse During Pregnancy.
-
- =VII. Woman’s Love-rights=—Right of Female to Enjoyment of
- Sexual Function—Recognized Among Savages—Erotic Impact of
- “Marriage by Capture”—The Erogenous (Love-producing) Zones and
- Their Significance in Woman’s Love-Life—Sensual Feeling of the
- Skin—Woman the Affectionate Sex—Effects of Unsatisfactory
- Marital Life—Woman Craves Love and Affection—“Love Has to Go
- to School”—The Bridal Night—Its Difficulties and Their
- Solution—Hygiene of the Honeymoon—Reciprocity in the Sex
- Relations—Mutual Rights of the Husband and Wife.
-
- =VIII. Birth Control in Relation to the Love-Life=—What Birth
- Control Really Means—Ignorant Confusion with Abortion—Legal
- Proscription of Contraception—Ban on Contraceptive Information
- Fosters Abortion—Religious Prejudice Against Contraception—
- Individual Clergymen Advocate Birth Control—Morality of Birth
- Control—Immorality of Excessive Child-bearing. Fallacy of
- Intercourse for Reproduction Only—Sexual Union Has a Value
- Aside from Procreation—Not Purely a Physical or Animal
- Function—Continuous Child-bearing a Primitive Practice—
- Trusting to “Instinct” and “Nature”—Fear of Pregnancy, and
- Marital —Coercion for a Morbid Ideal by Opponents of Birth
- Control.
-
- =IX. The Hygiene of Pregnancy=—The Phenomenon of Conception—
- The Beginning of Pregnancy—How to Calculate Date of
- Confinement—Ely’s Table and Other Methods—Most Favorable Time
- of Conception—Changes in the Pregnant Woman—Signs and Symptoms
- of Pregnancy—Probable and Direct Signs—Embryology—
- Month-by-Month Development of the Fetus—Labor Pains and
- Parturition—Maternal Impressions—Their Superstitions—Prenatal
- Care—Rest and Exercise—Diet—Care of Teeth—Care of the Nipples—
- How Sex Is Determined—Superstitions About Influencing Sex of
- the Child—Sex Development in the Embryo—The Chromosome
- Hypothesis of Sex Determination—Sex Determined by the Male
- Fertilizing Element—Sex Determination and Twins.
-
- =X. The Menopause—Beginning a New Epoch of Life=—The End of
- the Reproductive Period—Not the End of the Sexual Life—Age at
- Which Menopause Occurs—Various Manifestations of Approach—
- Premature Menopause, and Its Treatment—Retarded Menopause—
- Characteristic Symptoms of Climacteric—Sudden Cessation of
- Menstruation—Other Common Symptoms—Menstrual Irregularity—
- Obesity—Cardiac or Heart Troubles—Digestive Disturbances—
- Disorders of the Skin—Pruritus—Cancer and Other Growths—
- Nervous and Mental Disorders—Climacteric Psychosis—Remarks on
- “The Dangerous Age”—Casting Out Fear—A Constructive Period
- Ahead—Woman’s Greater Vitality and Longevity—Hygiene of the
- Menopause—Bathing—Exercise—Diet—Other. Precautions for Health—
- Sexual Life After the Climacteric—Increased Sexual Desire in
- Post-Menopause Period.
-
- =XI. Sexual Disorders of Women=—Sexual Basis of Nervous
- Disorders—Neurasthenia—Anxiety Neurosis—Hysteria—Results of
- Unsatisfactory Marital Relations—Factors in Marriage That
- Influence Sexual Life—Sterility, or Barrenness—One-Child
- Sterility—Frigidity, or Sexual Coldness—Disorders Due to
- Abstinence—=Coitus Interruptus=—Common Disturbances of Women—
- Leucorrhea—Menstrual Disorders—Dysmenorrhea—Menorrhagia—
- Amenorrhea—Abortion: Spontaneous, Induced (Illegal or
- Criminal), and Therapeutic—Displacements of the Womb—
- Nymphomania—Masturbation—Exaggerated Statement of Its Evils—
- Why It Is a Bad Habit in Growing Boys and Girls.
-
- =XII.—Sexual Disorders of Men=—Nervous Disturbances—Fatigue
- from Mental Effort Alone a Rare Phenomenon—Sexual Factors in
- Neuroses—Nervous Breakdown from Suppressing Sexual Life—Sexual
- Determinants of Anxiety Neurosis—Sexual Neurasthenia;
- Hereditary and Acquired—Neurasthenia Not So Much Actual
- Nervous Debility As Lack of Control—=Coitus Interruptus= a
- Factor in Male Neurasthenia—Sexual Impotence and Sterility—
- Impotence Resulting from Continence-Absolute and Irremediable
- Sterility—Relative and Transient Sterility—Prostatitis—
- Azoospermia—Aspermatism—Satyriasis—Masturbation—Confusion with
- “Onanism”—Prevalence Among Animals—Opinions of Some Famous
- Medical Scientists.
-
- =XIII. Venereal Diseases=—Universality of Venereal Diseases—
- Gonorrhea—The Most Prevalent of Adult Infectious Diseases—
- Discovery of the Germ, and Its Description—Symptoms of the
- Disease—Infection of Innocent Wives—Effects of Gonorrhea on
- Women—“Honeymoon Appendicitis”—Gonorrhea Vulvo-vaginitis—
- Racial Effects of Gonorrhea—Gonorrhea As a Factor in Male
- Sterility—Ophthalmia Neonatorum—Syphilis—Description of Its
- Germ—Symptoms of the Different Stages—Becomes a Constitutional
- Disease—Ravages of the Tertiary Stage—Locomotor Ataxia and
- Paresis Among Late Effects—Hereditary Syphilis—May Be Cured If
- Properly Treated in Time—Chancroid or “Soft Sore”—Gangrenus
- Balanitis—Prostitution—Prostitutes Largely subnormal—
- Clandestine Prostitution.
-
- =XIV. The Parent and the Child=—Education Begins at Birth—
- Child Normally Looks First to Parents for Information—Sex
- Education Should Be Part of Child’s General Education—Never
- Unduly Emphasized—Answering the Question: “Where do Babies
- Come From?”—The Meaning of Education in Its Broad Sense—
- Tyranny of Excessive Affection—Personality of Child Should Be
- Developed, Not Stifled—Psychic Re-education—Curiosity of the
- Small Child—Special Problems of the Boy—Puberty—Secondary
- Sexual Characteristics—Physical Changes Mental Changes—Sexual
- Development of Puberty—Night Emissions—Masturbation—
- Preparation for Manhood—Special Problems of the Girl—The Need
- for Self-Knowledge—Adolescence—Physical Changes—Mental
- Changes—Other Problems of the Sexual Life.
-
-
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Eye for an Eye, by Clarence Darrow
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: An Eye for an Eye
- Big Blue Book no. B-24
-
-Author: Clarence Darrow
-
-Release Date: January 30, 2017 [EBook #54074]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN EYE FOR AN EYE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
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-</pre>
-
-
-<div class='tnotes covernote'>
-
-<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber's Note:</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<table class='table0' summary='BIG BLUE BOOK NO.'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='91%' />
-<col width='8%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='c001'><span class='large'>BIG BLUE BOOK NO.</span><br />Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius</td>
- <td class='c002'><strong><span class='xlarge'>B–24</span></strong></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div>
- <h1 class='c003'>An Eye for an Eye</h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='large'>Clarence Darrow</span></div>
- <div class='c004'><span class='large'>HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY</span></div>
- <div><span class='large'>GIRARD, KANSAS</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>Copyright, 1905, by</div>
- <div>Clarence Darrow</div>
- <div class='c004'>Printed in the United States of America</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='ph1'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>AN EYE FOR AN EYE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>I</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_003.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-When Hank Clery left the switch-yards in the outskirts of
-Chicago he took the street car and went down town. He was
-going to the county jail on the north side of the river. Hank
-had never been inside the jail though he had been arrested a
-number of times and taken to the police court, escaping luckily with a
-small fine which his mother had contrived to pay. She was one of
-the best washerwomen of the whole neighborhood, and never without
-work. All the officers knew that whenever Hank got into trouble his
-mother would pay the fine and costs. Hank had often been arrested,
-but he was by no means a bad fellow. He lived with his old Irish
-mother and was very fond of her and often brought his wages home
-if none of the boys happened to be near when the pay-car came around.
-Hank was a switchman in one of the big railroad yards in Chicago.
-Of course, he and his companions drank quite a little, and then their
-sports and pastimes were not of the gentlest sort; for that matter
-neither was their work—climbing up and down running cars and turning
-switches just ahead of a great locomotive and watching to make
-sure which track was safe where the moving cars and engines were
-all around—did not tend to a quiet life. Of course, most people think
-that no man will work in a switch-yard unless he drinks. Perhaps no
-man would drink unless he worked in a switch-yard or some such place.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Well, on this day Hank was going to the jail, not on account of
-any of his own misdeeds, but on an errand of mercy. The night before,
-the priest had come to Hank’s home and told him that his old friend,
-Jim Jackson, had begged for him to visit the jail. Hank at first refused,
-but the priest told him that Jim had no friends and was anxious to
-have a few minutes’ talk with him before he died; Jim had some message
-that he wanted to give Hank that he could not leave with anyone
-else. Hank knew that Jim was to be hanged on Friday, and he had
-thought about it a good deal in the last few days and wished that it
-was over. He had known Jim for a long time; they had often been
-out together and sometimes got drunk together. Jim once worked in
-the yards, but one night one of the other boys was struck by the
-Limited as it pulled out on the main track, and Jim and Hank gathered
-him up when the last Pullman coach had rolled over him; and after that
-Jim could never go back to the yards; so he managed to get an old
-horse and wagon and began peddling potatoes on the street.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>One evening Hank took up the paper, and there he saw a headline
-covering the whole page and a little fine print below telling how
-Jim had killed his wife with a poker. Hank did not understand how
-this could be true, but as the evidence seemed plain he made up his mind
-that Jim had really always been a demon, but that he had managed to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>keep it hidden from his friends. Hank really did not want to go to the
-jail to see Jim; somehow it seemed as if it was not the same fellow
-that he used to know so well, and then he was afraid and nervous
-about talking with a man who was going to be hanged next day. But
-the priest said so much that finally Hank’s mother told him she thought
-he ought to go. So he made up his mind that he would stand it,
-although he was a great deal more afraid and nervous than when he
-was turning switches in the yard. After the priest left the house Hank
-went down to the alderman and got a pass to go inside the jail. He
-always went to the alderman for everything; all the people thought that
-this was what an alderman was for and they cared nothing about anything
-else he did.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>When Hank got down town he went straight across the Dearborn
-Street bridge to the county jail. It was just getting dusk as he came up
-to the great building. The jail did not look a bit like a jail. It was
-a tall grand building, made of white stone, and the long rows of windows
-that cover the whole Dearborn Street side looked bright and
-cheerful with the electric lights that were turned on as Hank came up
-to the door. If it had not been for the iron-bars across the windows
-he might have thought that he was looking at a bank or a great wholesale
-warehouse. Hank stepped into the large vestibule just inside the
-shelter of the big front door. Along each side was a row of people
-sitting on benches placed against the wall. He did not wait to look
-closely at this crowd; in fact, he could not have done so had he tried,
-for Hank was no artist or philosopher and was neither subtle nor deep.
-He saw them just as he would have seen a freight car stealing down
-the track to catch him unawares. He did notice that most of these
-watchers were women, that many of them were little children, and that
-all looked poor and woe-begone. They were the same people that Hank
-saw every day out by the yards, living in the rumble of the moving
-trains and under the black clouds of smoke and stench that floated over
-their mean homes from the great chimneys and vats of the packing
-houses. Most of the women and children had baskets or bundles in
-their arms, and sat meek and still waiting for the big key to turn in
-the great iron lock of the second door.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>When Hank went up to this door someone inside pushed back
-a little slide, showed his face at the peep-hole, and asked him who he
-was and what he wanted. Hank shoved the alderman’s letter through
-the little window and the door opened without delay. This was not
-the first time that the gloomy gate had turned on its hinges under the
-magic of that name, both for coming in and going out.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Inside the little office was the same motley, helpless crowd of
-people, the same sad-faced women and weary children standing dazed
-and dejected with their poor baskets and bundles in their arms. Some
-were waiting to be taken through this barred door, while others had
-just returned and were stopping until the turnkey should open the
-outside gate and let them go.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>In a few minutes a guard came to Hank and asked if he was
-the man who brought the alderman’s note. On receiving the reply, the
-guard told him that the alderman was all right and it was worth while
-to be his friend. That was the way he got his job and he always stuck
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>by his friends. Then the guard unlocked another door and took Hank
-to the elevator where he was carried to the fourth story. Here he was
-let off on an iron floor directly in front of a great door made of iron
-bars. The turnkey quickly unlocked and opened this door and let Hank
-and the guard into what seemed a long hall with iron floor, ceiling and
-walls. Nothing but iron all around. Along one side of the hall were
-more iron bars, and a wire netting ran from the ceiling to the floor.
-Along the whole length of this wire netting was a row of the same
-kind of people Hank had seen below. They were packed close to the
-grating, and crowding and pushing to get up to the screening. Most
-of these were women, here and there one of them holding a little child
-by the hand and one with a baby in her arms. On the other side Hank
-saw a row of men pressing just as closely to the netting, most of these
-looking pale and ill. The evening was hot and not a breath of fresh
-air was anywhere about. The peculiar odor of the prison, more sickening
-that the stock yards stench which Hank always, breathed, was so
-strong that he could not tell whether he smelled it or tasted it.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guards were rushing noisily around among the visitors and
-inmates, passing bundles and baskets out and in, calling the names of
-the prisoners to be taken from their cells inside and brought down to
-the wire netting to get a glimpse of some relative or friend. Hank
-was bewildered by it all and for a few minutes stood almost dazed,
-wondering what it meant and what good purpose it all served.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Next to him stood a woman, perhaps forty years of age; in one
-hand she held a basket, and by the other the hand of a little girl about
-nine years old. The woman was dressed in a loose, ill-fitting gown
-and on her head was a black sailor hat. Behind the wire screen was
-a man of about her own age. He wore only black trousers, suspenders,
-a grayish woolen shirt and old shoes. The man and woman stood with
-their fingers touching through the netting. Hank heard the man say
-that he did not know what to do, that the good lawyers charged so
-much that he couldn’t have them, and the ones who came to the jail
-did more harm than good. It was funny that you couldn’t do anything
-without a lawyer. One of the prisoners, who was a smart man
-and had been there a good many times, had told him that the best way
-was to plead guilty and ask the mercy of the court; that he thought the
-judge might let him off with a two hundred dollar fine—“you know
-the State’s Attorney gets the money.” Hank heard the woman answer
-that maybe to pay the fine was the best way after all; as soon as he
-was arrested she took Gussy out of the high school, and Gussy was
-now working in the department store and thought Aggie could get in as
-a cash girl; of course Aggie was too young, but still she was pretty
-large for her age and might get through, as Gussy knew the floorwalker
-very well—he stopped at the house to visit one evening that
-week and was real nice.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I’ve been scrubbing in the Masonic Temple nights, but it’s pretty
-hard work and I am getting so large I am afraid I can’t keep it up
-much longer. You know I’ll be sick next month. There are a few
-things in the house yet and I might get a little money on them, and
-then there are the Maloneys next door; you know we were always
-fighting, but after you went away they seemed kind of sorry and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>have been awfully good to us, and I think they might help us a little,
-although they haven’t got much themselves——”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank couldn’t stop to hear all they said, and besides he felt as if
-he had no right to stand and listen, so he let his eye wander on down
-the line. Just beyond he saw an old bent, gray-haired woman with a
-long black veil and spotless black gown. She was crying and talking to
-a young man inside the grating. He heard her ask, “How could you
-have done it?” and heard him answer, “Mother, I don’t know, but
-somehow I didn’t seem to think about it at the time.” Just beyond
-were a man and a woman and it was so hard for them to get close to
-the screen that the man held a little baby up in his arms to look over the
-people in front. The child looked in wonder and then held out its hands
-and shouted with delight, “Mamma, there’s papa. Papa, have you been
-here all the time? Why don’t you come back home?” Young girls,
-too, pressed closely up to the screen, each with that look at the youth
-inside that neither the wise nor the foolish have ever failed to understand.
-The prison bars and the laws that placed their lovers outside
-the pale had no power to change their feeling, only to deepen and
-intensify their love.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>While Hank stood in the corridor a number of men called from
-the inside: “Pardner, have you got any tobacco?” Hank hastily gave
-away all he had, and thought that if he should ever come back he
-would buy as much as he could before his visit. But his musing was
-soon interrupted by the guard tapping him on the shoulder and telling
-him he was ready. Then another turnkey opened a barred door and
-let him inside the wicket. Here he stood in a narrow hallway with
-still another big locked door in front. Soon this was swung open, and
-at last Hank stood inside the bars and the nettings with a great throng
-of coatless, hatless men all talking, laughing, chewing and smoking,
-and walking by twos and threes, up and down the room. Hank had
-always supposed that these men were different from the ones he knew
-and had fancied that he would be afraid to be with such a crowd, but
-when he got inside, somehow he did not think of them as burglars and
-pickpockets; they seemed just like other men, except that they were
-a little paler and thinner and more bent. Some of these men spoke to
-Hank, asking him for tobacco or for money. He saw one man whom
-he knew very well, one of his neighbors that he supposed was out of
-town; and he quickly noticed that this man tried to keep out of his
-sight. Hank had never thought that he was bad, and could not but
-wonder how he happened to be here.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank looked around for Jim, but was told that he was upstairs
-locked in his cell. The guard explained that the death-watch had been
-set on him and that for some time no one had left him day or night.
-He was to be hanged in the morning before sunrise. He himself had
-gone around that day and handed written invitations to the judges to
-be present. Some of them had asked him whether they could get in
-a few friends who wanted to go and see the hanging. The guard said
-they had over a thousand applications for tickets; that it was one of
-the most popular hangings they’d ever had in the jail. He supposed
-this was because Jackson had killed his wife and the newspapers had
-said so much about it.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>He could not help feeling sorry for Jackson. Of course, he supposed
-he was awfully wicked or he wouldn’t have killed his wife, but
-since he had come to know Jackson he had found him a perfect gentleman
-and very kind and obliging, and he acted like a good fellow. It
-really seemed kind of tough to hang a man. He had seen a good many
-men hung and was getting kind of tired of it. He believed he would
-go out in the country fishing somewhere tomorrow instead of staying
-to see it done. They never needed so many guards on that day because
-all the prisoners were kept locked up in their cells.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>As Hank went along, the guard chatted to him in the most friendly
-way. He pointed over to the courtyard where there were some long
-black beams and boards, and said that was where they were going to
-hang Jackson, that the carpenters would put up the scaffold in the
-night. The murderers’ row where Jim was kept was around on the
-side where he couldn’t see the carpenters put up the scaffold. It used
-to be right in front but it had been changed. The guard said he didn’t
-see much difference, because the men could hear it and they knew just
-what it was, and anyhow they never could sleep the last night unless
-they took something. He told Hank that after they got through he
-would take him down to the office and show him a piece of the rope
-that they used to hang the Anarchists, and the one they used on Pendergast,
-who killed Carter Harrison, and the one they had for the
-car-barn murderers. It was the very best rope they could get; some
-people wouldn’t know it from clothes-line but it was a good deal finer
-and more expensive.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guard said it was strange how these men acted before they
-were hanged.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“You wouldn’t hardly know them from the prisoners who were
-in jail working out a fine,” he explained. “They don’t seem to mind
-it very much or talk about it a great deal. Of course, at first they
-generally kind of think that the Supreme Court is going to give them
-a new trial; their lawyers tell them so. But half the time this is so
-that their friends will get more money to pay for carrying the cases
-up; though I must say that some of the lawyers are good fellows and
-do all they can to help them. Sometimes some of the lawyers that
-have the worst reputations are really better than the others. Then
-after the Supreme Court decides against them, they have a chance to
-go to the governor and the Board of Pardons. Of course this isn’t
-much use, but somehow they always think it will be, and the case is
-never really decided until the last day and that kind of helps to keep
-them up. Now, there’s Jackson; I took him the telegram about an hour
-ago and he read it and it didn’t seem to make much difference. He
-just said, ‘Well, I s’pose that’s all.’ And then he picked it up and read
-it again and said, ‘Well, the lawyer says he’s going back to the governor
-at midnight. Something might happen then; will the office be open if
-any telegram comes?’ I told him that it would and he says, ‘Well, I
-presume that it’s no use; but where there’s life there’s hope.’ I s’pose
-the lawyer just said that to kind of brace him up and that he took the
-night train back to Chicago, but I didn’t tell Jim so. Well, anyhow,
-I’m going to see that he has a good breakfast. We always give ‘em
-anything they want, either tea or coffee, ham and eggs, bacon, steak,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>beans, potatoes, wheat cakes and molasses, almost anything you can
-think of. Of course most of ‘em can’t eat much, but some of ‘em take
-a pretty big breakfast. It really don’t do any good, only the taste of
-it goin’ down; they are always dead before it has a chance to digest.
-A good many of ‘em feel rather squeamish in the morning and drink a
-good deal before they start out. We always give ‘em all they want to
-drink; most of ‘em are really drunk when they are hung. But I think
-that’s all right, don’t you? There were some temperance people once
-that made a row about it, but I think that’s carrying temperance entirely
-too far myself.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I didn’t mean to gossip with you so much, but I thought
-maybe you would like to know something about it and so long as the
-alderman sent you over I wanted to do all I could for you. Give my
-respects to the alderman. I guess he’ll be a candidate next spring. He
-says he won’t, but I think he will. He always knows what he’s doing.
-All he wants is to throw them reform guys off the track. They might
-know that they couldn’t beat him. Our people out there don’t care anything
-about municipal ownership and Civil Service Reform, and things
-like that. What they want is turkeys on Thanksgiving and to be helped
-out of the lock-up and pardoned out of the Bridewell and found jobs.
-That’s what they want, and there ain’t an alderman in town that tends
-to the business of his ward better than ours, and we don’t care whether
-the railroads and gas companies give him money or not. We don’t
-expect him to work for nothin’ and don’t want him to; and what do
-we care about the streets? None of us has horses and the fellows that
-wants ‘em ought to pay for ‘em. Well, here’s Jackson, and I’ll tell the
-guard to let you stay with him all you want to; he’s a good fellow and
-will do what I want. You can say anything you please to Jackson and
-he can talk to you all he wants to; the guard won’t listen if he knows
-you’re all right, but it isn’t any more than fair, anyhow, for this is his
-last night.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank listened to the guard without being impatient for, in the
-first place, he felt as if he had made a new friend, and he liked him;
-he was such a good talker and told him so much that was new and he
-didn’t seem the least bit stuck up, although he had such a good job.
-Then all the time he felt nervous and uneasy about meeting Jackson;
-the Jackson he knew was not a criminal but a good fellow who used
-to play pool and drink beer and go to primaries, while this man was a
-murderer who was to be hung next day; then again he didn’t seem a
-real man, but a sort of ghost, so that Hank had a good deal the feeling
-he used to know as a child when he went past a graveyard, or that
-he felt in a morgue, or when he went to look at some dead friend.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>When he came up to the cell Jackson was smoking a cigar and
-talking with the guard. At the first glance the uneasy feeling passed
-away. It was the same Jim Jackson that he knew, except thinner and
-paler than when he saw him last. Before the guard had time to speak
-Jackson reached out his hand, smiled and said “Hello, Hank, I’m
-awful glad you came. I’ve been looking for you all the afternoon.”
-Hank took his hand without the least feeling that it was the hand of a
-murderer. It was only the old friend and comrade he had known.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>The guard unlocked the door and told Hank to go in. Then he
-said:</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Now, you folks talk all you want to. I won’t hear a single word
-you say. I’ll sit out here and if there is anything I can do, let me
-know.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank went into the little cell. On one side was an iron shelf and
-on this a straw tick and some bed clothing. A little wash-stand and
-slop-pail stood in one corner, a chair was near the stand, and a few
-pictures taken from colored supplements were on the white walls. The
-guard handed in another chair and the two friends sat down. At first
-there was a short, painful silence. It was plain that both had been
-thinking what to say and neither knew just how to begin. Hank had
-thought that he would ask Jim how he happened to kill his wife; he
-thought he ought to talk with him and tell him how terrible it was. He
-believed that perhaps this was his duty toward a fellow-being standing
-so near the presence of his Maker. Then, too, he had the feeling that
-unless he really told Jim what he thought about his crime, it would be
-almost the same as being an accessory to the act. In fact, when Hank
-was going to the jail he had a vague idea that his only right to visit
-Jim was to preach to him in some way. He would almost have thought
-it a crime to meet him on equal terms.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>After they sat down Jim was again the first to speak. “My room
-here’s pretty crowded but I guess it’ll do for tonight. Make yourself
-just as comfortable as possible for I’d like to have you stay with me
-as long as you can. It’s a little lonesome you know. The guard’s a
-good fellow. He visits with me every night and is as friendly as he
-can be. He told me that he was in jail himself once for burglary, but
-you mustn’t say anything about it. His lawyer got him out, but he
-says he was really guilty. That was a good many years ago. He says
-he believes if he had gone to the penitentiary he would never have
-amounted to anything, but as soon as he got out of jail he turned over
-a new leaf and made up his mind to make something of himself, and
-just see where he is now. He is an awful kind fellow. I know he
-feels sorry for me. He gives me all the cigars I want and all the
-privileges he can. There’s a guard here in the daytime that I don’t
-like; he was appointed by the Citizens’ Association. He’s strict and
-awful good. He’s always asking me questions about myself, says he’s
-getting statistics for the association. He seems to think that it must
-have been whisky that made me do it, and he gives me tracts; of course
-that’s all right, but still you’d think that once in a while he’d say something
-else to a fellow, or at least give him a cigar. Some way he
-don’t seem to have any feeling. I s’pose he’s a good deal better than
-the other guard but I don’t like him near so well.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But that wasn’t what I got you here for. I really wanted to talk
-with you. You see no one that I knew has been to see me since I
-came. I don’t s’pose I ought to expect they would. I used to know a
-good many fellers who went to jail but I never went to see ‘em. I
-always kind of thought they wa’n’t fit for me to associate with, and
-I s’pose that’s the way most people believe. But since I came here somehow
-it don’t look quite the same. Maybe that’s on account of what I
-done. I told the priest I thought you’d come because we was always
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>such good friends, and he told me he would go and see you. He’s
-been awful good to me although I never went to church any when I
-was out. He talks to me as if I was just like other people. Of course
-he tells me I done wrong, and I know I did, but he don’t tell me as if
-I was the only one that ever done wrong, and as if he and everyone
-else was so much different, and as if he couldn’t see how I done it.
-He talks just as if my soul was worth as much as anybody’s and as
-if I’d have a better chance afterward than I ever had before. Anyhow
-he’s done me lots of good and I honestly believe he’s made me a better
-man, and if I only had a chance to do anything now I’d amount to
-something; but of course I can’t. But still, I wanted to tell you a few
-things that I couldn’t even tell him, for you know that, no matter how
-good he is, he somehow seems different from you; you know I kind
-of feel as if you was just like me. You’ll excuse me, I know, for saying
-this, bein’ as the time is so short.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“You remember about my boy. Now of course I always was a
-rough fellow and never did quite right ever before that, but still I
-guess you know I always loved that kid. Strange thing, he’ll be four
-years old tomorrow on the very day—well, poor little fellow, I hope
-he don’t know nothing about it. You remember the time that kid
-had the croup and how we thought he couldn’t get well, and you know
-I went down to the yard to tell you about it and how bad I felt. I
-almost wish now he’d died, but maybe that’s wicked and God will take
-care of the kid better’n he did of me. Well, I haven’t heard a word
-about that boy since I came to the jail, or since I left him at the house
-that night, except a little bit in court and what that good guard says.
-He kind of holds out that he’s in some kind of an orphan asylum where
-he’s gettin’ plenty to eat and where he’ll learn what’s right and wrong,
-and be a good man, and that’s all right, but I’d like to know where the
-kid is. He says if I thought so much of him I ought to have showed
-it before, and I s’pose I ought; but I did think lots of him; just as
-much as them rich folks think of their boys. I want him to be taken
-care of and to be educated and grow up to be a good man, and maybe
-it’s a good deal better if he never knows anything about his father, but
-somehow I can’t help wantin’ him to know who I was and don’t want
-him to think of me just like the newspapers and everybody else does.
-I wouldn’t want him to grow up like that guard, even if he is real
-good. And you see there wa’n’t any one but you that I could send for
-and tell them just how it all happened. No one yet has ever known
-how it was, and everybody says I was to blame and that I’m a demon
-and a monster, and I thought maybe if I explained the whole thing to
-you, just as it was, you could see that I wa’n’t so much to blame;
-anyhow that there was some excuse for what I done, and then some
-time when the boy’s growed up he’d know that I wa’n’t so bad as everyone
-says I was.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course I know you can’t, for I know you’re poor like me,
-but so many times when I thought about the boy I thought that
-maybe you and your mother might raise him just the way I would
-have done; and then your mother was always so good to all of us.
-I remember how she used to raise the little geese down along the
-canal if anything happened to the old goose; don’t you remember
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>about that? My, but them was fine times, wa’n’t they? Of course
-if you could do it I don’t know but the alderman would help you;
-anyhow he’d get free books and clothes off’n the county when he
-went to school. How are politics up in the ward? Is he goin’ to
-run again? I never hear anything only what I get out of the papers
-and they’re all against him, but I think he’ll show ‘em yet. Wish I
-was out so I could help. But I must go on with what I brought
-you to hear. I’m goin’ to tell you the whole story just exactly as it
-is, and you know that I wouldn’t tell you a lie tonight with what
-they are goin’ to do in the mornin’. I can’t make you understand
-unless I commence clear at the beginnin’, but I know you won’t
-mind, seein’ it’s my last time.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>II</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_012.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-You know I was born in Chicago and never was out of it but
-once until the night it happened. I don’t know anything about
-my father and mother except what my aunt told me. You know
-she raised me, and I can’t make any complaint about the way
-she done it. I was real small when I went to live with her. She stayed
-all alone down on the canal. I guess you knew me when I was livin’
-with her. She worked hard, but, of course, ladies of that kind don’t get
-much. She used to go over to the south side to do washin’ and to clean
-houses, and things like that, and sometimes when I was small she took me
-along. They were awful nice houses where we went. That’s how I got to
-know so much about the way rich people live. When I got bigger, she
-used to send me to school. I was pretty steady in school and got
-clear up to the sixth grade. I know it must have been awful hard
-for her to send me the way she earnt her money, but she seemed to
-think as much of me as if I’d been her own boy. She could have
-got along better, but every time she got five or ten dollars laid up it
-seemed as if there was a funeral of some of the neighbors and she
-had to club in and hire a carriage, and that took her money almost
-as fast as she could earn it.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“You remember how we used to play around the canal in them
-days. It smelled pretty bad but we didn’t seem to mind it much.
-We used to sail boats and go in swimmin’ and catch frogs and do
-‘most everything. There was quite a gang of us boys that lived there.
-It don’t seem as if any of ‘em ever amounted to very much. Most
-of ‘em are in the stock yards or switchin’ or doin’ somethin’ like
-that. The only ones that I can think of that growed up down there
-and amounted to anything is the alderman and Bull Carmody, who
-went to the legislature. They call both of ‘em Honor’ble, you know.
-I guess anybody is honor’ble who ever had an office or tried to get
-one. Us boys used to get arrested quite a good deal. Of course we
-was pretty tough, you know that. We was always in some devilment.
-All of us rushed the can and chewed tobacco; then we fought
-a good deal and used to play ‘round the cars. Some of the boys
-would break into ‘em; but I never stole anything in my life unless
-you count coal off’n the cars, and I don’t know how we could have
-got along in the winter without that. Anyhow I guess nobody thinks
-anything of stealin’ coal off’n cars.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But I don’t s’pose there’s any use goin’ over my whole history.
-I don’t know as it has anything to do with it anyway, only it kind of
-seems to me that I never had a very good chance and as if mebbe
-things would’ve been different if I had.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, you remember when my aunt died I had got to be about
-fourteen. Then I found a job out to the stock yards. I never liked
-that work; I used to see so much killin’. At first I felt sorry for
-the cattle and the hogs, and especially for the sheep and calves—they
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>all seemed so helpless and innocent—but after I’d been there awhile
-I got used to seein’ their throats cut and seein’ blood around everywhere,
-all over the buildings and in the gutters, and I didn’t think
-any more about it. You know I stayed there quite a while. Then I
-went to work for the railroad company. First I was in the freight
-house unloadin’ cars. This was pretty rough, heavy work, but I
-didn’t mind it much; you know I was always kind of stout. Then I
-thought I’d like to work in the yards; it would give me more air and
-not be quite so confinin’. So I got a job as switchman, same as you.
-Well, you know all about that work. It ain’t the nicest thing in the
-world to be a switchman. Of course if they’d make the couplers all
-alike then there wouldn’t be so much danger; but you know when
-one of them safety couplers comes against one of the old kind that
-the boys call ‘man killers’ it’s pretty dangerous business. Then, of
-course, when a car is run down a switch and you have to couple it
-onto another car just as it bumps in, it’s kind of dangerous too. Of
-course, the rules say you must use a stick to put the link into the
-drawhead, but nobody ever uses a stick; you know all the boys would
-laugh at a feller that used a stick. There ain’t nothin’ to do but to
-go in between the cars and take hold of the link and put it in. If
-anything happens to be wrong with the bumpers and they slip past,
-of course you get squeezed to death; or, if you miss the link, or it
-gets caught or anything, your head or arm is liable to be smashed
-off. Then you’ve got to watch all the time, for if you stub your toe
-or forget for a second, you’re gone. I kind of think that the switch-yards
-make a feller reckless and desperate, and I don’t believe that a
-man that works in the switch-yards or stock yards looks at things
-quite the same as other people. Still you know them fellers ain’t
-bad. You’ve seen ‘em cry when they went home to tell a lady how
-her man had been run over, or tell some old woman about how her
-boy had got hurt, and you know we always helped the boys out and
-we didn’t have much money either.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“You remember we was workin’ together in the yards when the
-strike come on. I was in debt, just as I always have been. Somehow
-I never could keep out of debt; could you? The rich people
-say it’s because we drink so much, but I’d like to see them try to
-live on what we get. Why, you know we hardly ever go to the
-theater, and if we do we go up in the gallery. I never had a job of
-work done on my teeth in my life except once when I paid a quarter
-to get one pulled. Do you s’pose any of us would ever think we
-could get a gold fillin’ in our teeth? Now that suit of clothes over
-on the bed is the first whole suit of new clothes I ever had. The
-guard brought ‘em in a little while ago, and I’m to put ‘em on in the
-mornin’. But I guess they won’t do me much good. I’d rather they
-had taken the money and give it to the kid for a rockin’ horse or
-candy.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But I was tellin’ about the strike. My, the way I go on! I
-guess it’s because this is the first time I’ve had a chance to say anything
-to anyone since it happened, and of course it’ll be my last. As
-soon as I got back my lawyer told me not to talk to anyone, but I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>don’t see what difference it would have made—them detectives
-seemed to know everything and a good deal more, they knew more
-about me than I ever knew about myself.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“You remember all of us went out on the strike. I guess most
-of the boys was in debt, but they all struck just the same. The papers
-abused us and said we hadn’t any right to strike; that we hadn’t
-any grievance, and it was worse for us to strike on that account.
-Now it seemed to me that it was better to strike for the Pullman
-people than for ourselves—it didn’t seem so selfish; but the papers
-and the judges didn’t look at it that way. Of course the strike was
-pretty hard on all of us. I got into the lock-up before it was over,
-though I never meant to do nothin’. I guess I did hit a scab over
-the head, but he was comin’ to take our job. It’s queer how everybody
-looks at things a different way. Now I never thought it was
-so awful bad to hit a scab who was takin’ another man’s job. Of
-course I know some of ‘em are poor and have families, but so have
-the strikers got families and we was strikin’ to help all the poor
-people. If you read the newspapers and hear what the judges say
-you would think hittin’ scabs was worse’n murder. I don’t s’pose
-it’s just right, but I don’t hardly see what else is to be done. You
-remember that scab, don’t you, that worked with us on the road, and
-you remember when he got his leg cut off, and how all the boys
-helped him, and the railroad fought his case and beat him, and yet
-they always seemed to think more of him than any of the rest of us.
-Now it seems to me there’s lots of things worse’n hittin’ scabs. If I
-was one of them packers I know I’d give a lot of meat to poor people
-instead of fixin’ every way I could to make ‘em pay so much,
-but the rich people don’t seem to think there’s anything wrong
-about that, but it’s awful to hit a scab or to strike.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, you know after the strike was over none of us could get
-a job anywhere, but finally I changed my name and managed to get
-in again. I believe the yard master knew who I was and felt kind
-of sorry for me. Anyhow I got the job. Then you know the time
-Jimmy Carroll got run over by that limited train. I sort of lost my
-nerve. I wouldn’t have thought about it if all the cars hadn’t run
-over him; but when we had to pick up his head and his legs and his
-arms and his body all in different places, I somehow got scared and
-couldn’t switch any more. So I quit the yards. But I’ve been runnin’
-along so over things that really don’t have anything to do with
-the case that I’ve almost forgot the things I wanted to tell you about.
-But just wait a minute; I hear someone comin’ down the corridor
-and I want to see who it is. No, it’s only one of the guards. I
-didn’t know but possibly my lawyer might have sent—but I guess
-it’s no use.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Let me see; I was goin’ to tell you about gettin’ married. You
-knew her, Hank. You remember when we got a job again after the
-strike and you know the little restaurant where we used to board?
-Well, you remember she was waitin’ on the table. All the boys
-knew her and they all liked her too; she was always real friendly and
-jolly with all of us, but she was all right. Of course she couldn’t
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>have got much wages there for it was only a cheap place where the
-railroad boys et, but somehow she always seemed to keep herself
-fixed up pretty well. I never thought much about her, only to kind
-of jolly her like the rest of the boys, until the time she got that red
-waist and done her hair up with them red ribbons. I don’t know
-anything about how it was, but them seemed to ketch my eye and I
-commenced goin’ with her, and used to get off as early as I could
-from the yards, and when she got through washin’ the supper things
-we used to go out and take street-car rides, and go for walks in the
-parks, and stay out late almost every night.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Finally I made up my mind that I wanted to settle down and
-have a home. Of course I knew ‘twould be more confinin’, but then
-I thought ‘twould be better. So one night when we was out walkin’
-I kind of brought it ‘round some way and asked her to marry me.
-I was surprised when she said she would, because she was so much
-nicer than me or any of the rest of the boys; but she said she would
-right straight off, and then I asked when it had better be and she
-said she didn’t see any use waitin’, so long as it was goin’ to be
-done. Of course, I hadn’t thought of its comin’ right away, and I
-wa’n’t really prepared because I was considerable in debt and would
-like to’ve paid up first. I told her how I was fixed and she said that
-didn’t make any difference, that she’d always heard that two could
-live as cheap as one, and she was savin’ and a good manager and
-it wouldn’t cost us much to start, for she’d noticed the signs in the
-street cars about four rooms furnished for ninety-five dollars with
-only five dollars down, and we wouldn’t need but three rooms anyway.
-Then, after I’d asked her to marry me and had made up my
-mind to do it there wa’n’t no excuse for waitin’, so the next Sunday
-we went over to St. Joe and got married. She asked me if I didn’t
-think that was just as good as any way.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When we come back we rented three rooms down near the
-yards for ten dollars a month, and went down to the store to buy
-the furniture, but the clerk made us think that so long as we was
-just startin’ and I had a good job we ought to get better things than
-the ninety-five dollars, so we spent one hundred and fifty dollars and
-agreed to pay ten dollars a month, and the furniture was to be theirs
-until it was paid for.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, we started in to keep house and got along pretty well at
-first. She was a good housekeeper and savin’ and I kind of liked
-bein’ married. Of course, it cost us a little more’n I expected, and
-when I came to buy clothes and shoes and pay grocery bills I found
-that two couldn’t live as cheap as one, but I hadn’t any doubt but
-that she thought they could. I guess all women does. Then I got
-hurt and was laid off for two months and couldn’t pay the installments,
-and got behind on my rent, and got in debt at the store, and
-this made it pretty hard. When I went to work I paid all I had, but
-somehow I never could catch up.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, about that time the kid was born, and then we had to
-have the doctor and I had to get a hired girl for a week, for I wanted
-to do everything I could for her, and that all kept me back. Then
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>they commenced threatenin’ to take the furniture away, and every week
-the collector came ‘round and I did all I could, but somehow I
-couldn’t make it come out even.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I s’pose you don’t see what all this has got to do with my killin’
-her, and I don’t think I quite see myself, but still I want to tell it
-all. Sometimes I think if I hadn’t been so poor and in debt I never
-would have done it, and I don’t believe I would. I was so much in
-debt that I felt sorry when I knew we was goin’ to have the child.
-I didn’t see how we could bring it up and make anything out of it,
-and how it could ever have any better chance than I had. And then
-she’d been doin’ a little work to help out on the furniture, and I knew
-that she couldn’t do any more after that. But still as soon as the
-child was born I was always glad of it, and used to think more about
-him than anyone else, and I would have done anything I could for
-him. She liked him, too, and was always good to him, and no matter
-what I say about her I can’t say that she didn’t treat the boy all right.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, after the kid was about a year old we began to have
-trouble. She was always complainin’ that I didn’t bring home
-enough money. She said I went ‘round too much nights and that I
-drank too much beer and chewed too much tobacco and smoked too
-much, and she complained ‘most all the time, and then I got mad and
-we had a row. I don’t mean to blame her, ‘specially after what happened,
-and since I’ve been here so long doin’ nothin’ but countin’ the
-days and waitin’ for my lawyer to come, I’ve had time to think of
-ever’thing a good deal more than I ever did before. And I don’t say
-she was to blame. I s’pose it was hard for her, too. Of course, the
-rooms was small and they was awful hot in the summer and cold in
-the winter, and then the collectors was always comin’ ‘round, and I
-used to be tired when I got home, and I was so blue that I said
-things without really knowin’ that I said ‘em. Ain’t you done that
-when somebody was talkin’ to you and your mind was on somethin’
-else, kind of answered ‘em back without knowin’ what they said or
-what you said? I presume I was cross a good many times and
-mebbe it was as hard for her as ‘twas for me. Of course, I used to
-wish I’d never got married and that I was boardin’ back there to the
-restaurant when I didn’t have all the debts; and I s’pose she’d been
-better off back there too, waitin’ on the table; anyhow she always
-looked better in them days than she did after we was married, so I
-guess she must have got more money at the restaurant than I gave
-her. But after the boy was born I never really wished we wa’n’t
-married, for I always thought of him and knew he never would have
-been born if we hadn’t got married; but of course, that didn’t keep
-us from fightin’. I don’t mean that we fought all the time. Sometimes
-when I got home she was as nice as she could be, and had
-supper all ready, and we’d read the newspaper and talk and have a
-real good time; but then, again somethin’ would happen to put us
-out and we’d fight. I can’t say that she always begun it. I guess
-I begun it a good many times. I found fault because the bills was
-too big and the way things was cooked, and the way she looked, and,
-of course, if I said anything she got mad and answered back. I’ve
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>thought a lot about our fights and that awful one we had last, and
-I don’t believe one of ‘em would have happened if it hadn’t been for
-the money. Of course, I s’pose other people would make some other
-excuses for their fights and that no one would be to blame if you
-would let ‘em tell it themselves, but I’m ‘most sure that if I’d only
-been gettin’ money enough to keep a hired girl and live in a good
-place, and get good clothes and dress her and the boy the way they
-ought to have been, and not get in debt, we wouldn’t have fought.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The debts kep’ gettin’ bigger all the time and I begun to get
-scared for fear the furniture would be took away—we hadn’t paid
-more’n half up and then there was a good deal of interest. I went
-one day to see a lawyer, but he didn’t tell me anything that done me
-any good and I had to pay him ten dollars out of my next month’s
-wages, so that made me all the worse off. Lawyers get their money
-awful easy, don’t they? I always wished I could be a lawyer and if
-I had my life to live over again I would be one if I could.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It seemed as if things kep’ gettin’ worse at home and I stayed
-out a good many nights because I didn’t want a row for I knew
-there’d be one as soon as I got home. So far most of our fightin’
-had been only jawin’ back an’ forth. Once she threw a dish at me
-and I slapped her in the face, but didn’t hurt her, and I guess she
-didn’t try hard to hit me with the dish; anyhow if she had wanted
-to she was near enough so she could.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“One night though, I come home pretty late. I’d been out with
-the boys to a caucus and we had drunk quite a bit. The alderman
-was running again and had got us a keg of beer. I didn’t really
-know what I was doin’ when I came in. I was hopin’ she’d be in bed
-but she was waitin’ for me when I come in and said: ‘There comes
-my drunkard again. This is a pretty time of night to get home!
-You’d better go back to your drunken cronies and stay the rest of
-the night,’—and a lot of more things like that. I told her to shut
-up and go to bed, but that made her madder and then she called me
-a lot of names. I told her to stop or I’d choke her, but she kep’ right
-on talkin’, callin’ me a drunkard and all kinds of names, and tellin’
-me how I’d treated her and the boy; I couldn’t make her keep still;
-the more I threatened her the more she talked. Finally she said,
-‘You cowardly brute, I dare you to touch me!’ and she kind of come
-right up to where I was. Of course I didn’t really half think what
-I was doin’, but I drawed off and hit her in the face with my fist. I
-guess I hit her pretty hard; anyhow she fell on the floor, and I ran
-up to her to pick her up, but she said, ‘Leave me alone, you coward,’
-and then I was madder’n ever and I kicked her. The next day she
-went to the police court and had me arrested. The judge was awful
-hard on me, told me if he had his way ‘bout it he’d have a law made
-to have wife-beaters whipped with a cat-o’-nine tails in the public
-square, and he fined me one hundred dollars.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course I hadn’t any money so I went to jail, but in a day
-or two she went to the judge and cried and told him I was all right
-when I wasn’t drunk and she got me out. I never thought that
-judge done right to lecture me the way he did. I don’t think that strikin’
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>your wife is as bad as strikin’ your child, and still ‘most everybody
-does that. Most women can defend themselves but a little child
-can’t do anything. Still, of course, I don’t defend strikin’ your wife,
-only one word kind of brings on another and it sounds different in
-the newspaper from what it really is.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, after I got home from the jail we talked it over together
-and made up our minds we’d better part. Things had gone so bad
-with us that we thought it wa’n’t worth while to try any more and
-mebbe we’d both be better off alone. She was real sensible about it
-and was goin’ to keep the boy. I promised to give ‘em half my
-wages and was to see him whenever I wanted to.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When we got our minds made up we went to see about a
-lawyer. She’d been goin’ over to the Settlement a good deal for advice
-and they’d been good to us but they didn’t like me; they blamed
-me for ever’thing that happened, and of course them settlement
-ladies wa’n’t none of ‘em married and they couldn’t understand how
-a feller would drink or fight with his wife. They didn’t know what
-allowance a woman has to make for a man, same as a man does for
-a woman—only a different kind. When she told ‘em what we were
-goin’ to do they all said, ‘No, you mustn’t do that. You must make
-the best of it and stay together’; they said that even if I promised
-to give her half my money I never would do it, but would go off and
-she’d never see me again. If they knew anything about what I
-thought of the boy they wouldn’t have said it. Then they said it
-would be a disgrace and that it would disgrace the child. I wish
-now we’d done it anyway. It would have been better for the child
-than it is now. Then she went to see the priest. We were
-both born Catholics, although we hadn’t paid much attention to
-it. That was the reason we went to St. Joe to get married. The
-priest told her that she mustn’t get a divorce, that divorces wa’n’t
-allowed except on scriptural grounds. Of course we couldn’t get
-it on them grounds. There never was nothin’ wrong with her—I’ll
-always say that—and as for me I don’t think she ever suspected
-anything of that kind. Even if I had wanted to I never had any
-money, and besides I’ve had to work too hard all my life for anything
-like that. Then when I went to the lawyer he said it would
-cost fifty dollars, but I hadn’t any fifty dollars. So we made up our
-minds to try it again. I don’t see, though, why they charge fifty
-dollars. If a divorce is right a man ought not to have it just because
-he’s got fifty dollars when a poor man can’t get it at all.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It was a little better for a while. We both had a scare and
-then when we talked of quittin’ I s’pose we thought more of each
-other. Anyhow we’d lived together so long that we’d kind of got in
-the habit of it. But still it didn’t last long; I don’t believe ‘twas
-right for us to stay together after all that had happened and the way
-we felt and had lived up to that time. If we’d only separated then—but
-we didn’t, and it’s no use talkin’ about it now.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It was just about this time that Jimmy Carroll was killed and
-she didn’t want me to work in the yards after that. She was ‘most
-as ‘fraid as I was so we made up our minds that I’d quit. It was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>then that I went to peddlin’; but wait a minute before I tell that,
-let’s go and speak to the guard.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The two men got up and went to the iron door and looked out
-through the bars at the shining electric lights in the corridors. The
-guard sat near the door talking with the prisoner in the next cell.
-He looked up and put two cigars through the grates.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Is there anything I can do for you, Jackson?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No, I guess not. Nothin’ more has come from him, has
-there?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No, but it’s early yet.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I guess it’s no use.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The men looked out a moment at the iron corridor and then
-lighted their cigars and sat down. Hank could hardly speak. Somehow
-this simple contact with his old friend had driven away all the
-feeling of the crime that he had brought with him to the jail. He
-no longer thought of him as Jackson, the wife-murderer, but as Jim,
-the boy he once knew and the man that had worked in the switch-yards
-and grown up by his side.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Out in the street they heard a steady stream of carriages and
-the merry laugh of men and women passing by. Hank listened to
-the voices and asked who they were.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Oh, the people drivin’ past in their carriages to the theater.
-You know all the northside swells drive down Dearborn Avenue
-past the jail. I wonder if they ever think of us in here, or if they
-know what is goin’ to be done tomorrow. I s’pose if they do they
-think it’s all right. What a queer world it is. Do you s’pose one of
-them was ever in here? Well, I don’t believe I’d be either if only
-I’d had their chance.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The two men sat stripped almost to the skin; the putrid prison
-air soaked into Hank at every pore. The sweat ran from his face
-and he felt as if the great jail were a big oven filled with the damned
-and kept boiling hot by some infernal imps. Here and there along
-the big corridors they heard the echo of a half demoniac laugh, a few
-couplets of a ribald song, and the echoing sound of the heavy boots
-of a guard walking up and down the iron floor. Silently they smoked
-their cigars almost to the end and then Jim again took up his story.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>III</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_020.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-When I made up my mind to quit the railroad I looked ‘round
-for somethin’ else to do. It was kind of hard times just then
-and a good many were out of work and I couldn’t find anything
-that suited me. Of course I never had much schoolin’ and
-‘twa’n’t every kind of job I could hold anyhow. I went back out to the
-stock yards, but they was layin’ off men and there wa’n’t anything there.
-One mornin’ I went over to see Sol Goldstein. He was a nice old man
-that we used to buy potatoes of. He told me that he was gettin’ so old
-and kind of sick that he thought he’d have to give up peddlin’ and let
-his boys take care of him the rest of his time. He said he didn’t think it
-would be very long anyhow, and they could do that much for him so long
-as he’d done so much for them. He said as I hadn’t any job why didn’t I
-buy his horse and express wagon and go to peddlin’. I could take his
-license, that hadn’t run out yet, and go right along over his route. I told
-him I hadn’t any money to buy his horse and wagon with, but he told
-me that didn’t make any difference, I could pay for ‘em when I earnt
-the money. So I made a bargain; got the horse and wagon and
-harness and two old blankets for fifty dollars. Of course they wa’n’t
-worth much: the horse had a ringbone and the heaves and kind of
-limped in one of its hind legs. Goldstein said that was on account
-of a spavin, but he told me there was another one comin’ on the
-other hind leg and as quick as that got a little bigger he’d stop
-limpin’ because he couldn’t favor both hind legs to once. Goldstein
-said the ringbone had been killed and the heaves wouldn’t bother
-him much. All I had to do was to wet the hay before I fed him. So
-I bought the rig. I didn’t know nothin’ about horses but I knew
-what Goldstein said was all right for we’d been friends a long time.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I went down to Water Street and bought a load of potatoes
-and went to work. I haven’t time to tell you all about my peddlin’:
-anyhow it ain’t got much to do with the case, not much more’n any
-of the rest. My lawyer always said any time I told him anything,
-‘Well, what’s that got to do with your killin’ her?’ and the judge said
-about the same thing whenever we asked any questions. He
-couldn’t see that anything I ever done had anything to do with it
-except the bad things. He let ‘em prove all of them and they looked
-a good deal worse when they was told in court and in the newspapers
-than they seemed when I done ‘em. I guess there ain’t nobody
-who’d like to hear every bad thing they ever done told right
-out in public and printed in the newspapers. I kind of think ‘twould
-ruin anyone’s character to do that, ‘specially if you wa’n’t allowed to
-show the goods things you’d done.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I hadn’t been peddlin’ very long until an inspector asked me
-for my license and I showed it to him, and he said that it wa’n’t any
-good, that I couldn’t use Goldstein’s license; that it was just for him,
-and that I must stop peddlin’ until I went down to the City Hall
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>and paid twenty-five dollars for another one. I didn’t know where
-to get the twenty-five dollars; anyhow I don’t see why anyone
-should have to pay a license for peddlin’; nobody but poor people
-peddles and it’s hard enough to get along without payin’ a license.
-Anybody don’t have to pay a license for sellin’ things in a store and
-I don’t think it’s fair. But I went and seen the alderman and told
-him about it, and he said he could get it fixed and to go right on just
-as if nothin’ had happened and if anyone bothered me again to send
-‘em to him. So I went right ahead. I don’t know what he done but
-anyhow I wa’n’t bothered any more until Goldstein’s license had
-run out.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Peddlin’ is kind of hard work. You’ve got to get up before
-daylight and go down and get your potatoes and veg’t’bles and things,
-then you have to drive all over and ask everyone to buy, and
-most people won’t take anything from you ‘cause you’re a peddler
-and they’re ‘fraid you’ll cheat ‘em. Of course we do cheat a little
-sometimes. We get a load of potatoes cheap that’s been froze, and
-then again we get a lot of figs that’s full of worms and roll ‘em in
-flour and then sell ‘em out, but all figs is full of worms, and I guess
-‘most everything else is, even water, but it’s all right if you don’t
-know or think anything about it. And of course, half of the year
-it’s awful hot drivin’ ‘round the streets and the other half it’s awful
-cold, and sometimes it rains and snows and you get all wet and cold,
-and it ain’t very healthy either. Most peddlers have the consumption,
-but then there’s lots of poor people has consumption. It’s
-funny, too, about where you can sell stuff; you’d think you ought to
-go where people has got money but this ain’t no use; they never will
-buy nothin’ of peddlers and they won’t even let you drive on their
-high-toned streets, even after you’ve paid a license. If you want to
-sell anything you’ve got to go among the poor people. Of course
-they can’t buy very much, but then they pay more for what they
-get. It’s queer, ain’t it, the way things are fixed; them as works hardest
-has to pay the most for what they eat, and gets the poorest stuff at
-that. Did you ever go and look at one of them meat markets on the south
-side? Do you s’pose that they’d take any of the meat that’s in ours?
-They might buy it for their dogs and cats but they wouldn’t eat it
-themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Once in a while I used to take the kid along with me when I
-was sellin’ things, and he always liked to go, but if it commenced
-to rain or turned cold I had to go back with him, and then he always
-got tired before night. So I didn’t take him very often. I kind of
-laid out to take him when she done the washin’, so he’d be out of
-her way, and he used to kind of like to drive, and I amused him a
-good deal that way.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I think mebbe I made about as much peddlin’ as I did on the
-railroad, but not any more, after I paid for my horse feed and the
-rent of the barn and gettin’ the wagon and harness fixed once in a
-while. Anyhow I didn’t get out of debt any faster, and the furniture
-men kept threatenin’ me until I went to one of them chattel-mortgage
-fellers and borrowed the money and mortgaged all I had and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>paid five dollars for makin’ out the papers and five percent a month
-for the money. This didn’t seem like so very much but it counts up
-pretty fast when you come to pay it every month. Then one day
-my horse up and died. I didn’t know what was the matter with
-him. He seemed all right at night and in the mornin’ he was dead.
-I didn’t know what to do at first so I went and seen the alderman.
-He gave me a letter to some men who run a renderin’-plant and I
-went out there and bought an old horse for five dollars. It was one
-they was goin’ to kill, and it seemed too bad to make him work any
-more; still I guess he’d rather work than be killed; that’s the way
-with people and I guess horses is about like people. I always thought
-that horses had about the worst time there is; they can’t never do
-anything they want to, they have to get up just when you tell ‘em to
-and be tied in a stall and eat just what you give ‘em and depend on
-you to bring ‘em water. Even when they’re goin’ along the road
-they can’t turn out for a mud hole but have to go just where you
-want ‘em to and never have a chance to do anything but work.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“This horse wa’n’t much good but I managed to use him in my
-business. The boys would holler at me and ask me if I was goin’ to
-the bone-yard or the renderin’-plant, and once or twice one of the
-humane-officers stopped me and came pretty near takin’ it away
-and killin’ it, but nobody ever saw me abusin’ it, and I fed it all I
-could afford. I remember one night in the winter, about the coldest
-night we had, I heard it stampin’ and I couldn’t go to sleep. I knew
-it was stampin’ because it was so cold. We didn’t have any too
-much cover ourselves, but it worried me so much I got up and
-went out to the barn and strapped an old blanket on the horse and
-then came back and went to bed. I guess this was the other horse
-though, the one that died, for I didn’t have this last one over a
-winter. But I don’t know as it makes any difference which horse
-it was.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I can’t tell you all about my peddlin’, it ain’t worth while,
-and I must go on and tell you about how it happened. It was on the
-26th day of November. You remember the day. There’s been a lot
-said about it in the newspapers. It was just three days before
-Thanksgivin’. I remember I was thinkin’ of Thanksgivin’, for we’d
-been livin’ pretty poorly, not very much but potatoes, for it was a
-rather hard fall on all us poor folks. I always hated to take the
-money for the things I sold but I couldn’t help it. You know I
-couldn’t give things away as if I was Rockefeller or Vanderbilt.
-Well, I knew we was goin’ to get a turkey from the alderman
-Thanksgivin’, just two days later, and I should have thought that
-would have cheered me up, but it didn’t. That mornin’ it was pretty
-cold when I got up. It was the first snow of the season, one of them
-blindin’, freezin’ days that we get in November, and then, of course,
-I wa’n’t used to the cold weather and wa’n’t dressed for it either.
-I didn’t have much breakfast for we didn’t have much stuff in the
-house. She got up and fried some potatoes and a little pork and
-that was about all, and then I hitched up the old horse and drove
-away. No one else was on the street. There wa’n’t generally, when
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>I started after my loads in the mornin’. The old horse didn’t like
-to go either; he kind of pulled back on the hitch strap when I led him
-out of the barn, the way you sometimes see horses do when they
-hate to go anywhere or leave the barn. I s’pose horses is just like
-us about bein’ lazy and sick, and havin’ their mean days, only they
-can’t do anything about it. Well, I went down and got my load. In
-the first place I had some trouble with the Dago where I got the
-potatoes; they were pretty good ones but had been nipped a little
-by the frost in the car, and he couldn’t have sold ‘em to the stores,
-at least to any of the stores on the north side or the south side. They
-was just such potatoes as had to go to us poor folks and most likely
-to peddlers, and he wanted to charge me just about as much as if
-they was all right. I told him that I’d some trouble in sellin’ ‘em and
-I ought to make somethin’ off’n ‘em. He said I’d get just as much
-as I could for any kind, and I told him that I might possibly, but if I
-was goin’ to pay full price I wanted my customers to have just as
-good potatoes as anyone got, and besides I might lose some of my
-customers by sellin’ them that kind of potatoes. Then he dunned
-me for what I owed him and threatened not to trust me any more
-and by the time I left with my load I was worried and out of sorts,
-and made a poor start for the day.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I drove over along Bunker Street, among the sheeneys,
-and commenced calling ‘po-ta-toes.’ Nobody much seemed to buy.
-A few people came out and picked ‘em all over and tried to jew me
-down, and mebbe bought half a peck. I don’t know how they
-thought I could make any money that way. Still the people was all
-poor; most of ‘em worked in the sweat-shops and hadn’t any money
-to waste on luxuries. I worked down Maxwell Street and things
-didn’t get much better. It seemed as if everybody was out there
-sellin’ potatoes, and it was awful cold, and I hadn’t any coat on, and
-the horse was shiverin’ every time we stopped. Of coarse I always
-put the blanket on him if we stayed long, but the blanket was pretty
-old and patched. Then I drove down south, where the people lives
-that work in the stock yards. It went some better down there but
-not very much; anyhow I didn’t get any warmer. Along toward
-noon I hitched the horse under a shed and gave him a few oats and
-I went into the saloon and bought a glass of whiskey and took four
-or five of them long red-hots that they keep on the counter. They
-tasted pretty good and I never stopped to think what they was made
-of; whether they was beef, or pork, or horse, or what, though you
-know everybody always says they work in all the old horses that
-don’t go to the renderin’-plant and some that does, but they was
-good enough for me and was hot, and when I went away I felt better
-and I guess the old horse did, too. Well, I drove on down around
-the streets and did the best I could. I remember one place where
-an old lady came out and said she hadn’t had anything to eat since
-yesterday and there wa’n’t nothin’ in the house, and I up and gave
-her half a peck, though I couldn’t hardly afford to do it. You know
-that half a peck was more to me than it is to Rockefeller when he
-gives a million to the school, but my lawyer wouldn’t let me prove
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>it when I tried; he said the judge would only laugh if he ever mentioned
-it. The newspapers never printed a word about it either, although
-I kind of thought it might lighten up the people’s feelin’
-some and help me a bit; but they did prove all about the time I struck
-her and some other things I wa’n’t on trial for, although my lawyer
-objected all he could and said I wa’n’t on trial for ‘em, which I
-wa’n’t; but the judge said no, of course I wa’n’t, but they’d show
-malice, so they went in and was printed in the newspapers, and the
-jury looked awful at me, but I bet every one of ‘em had done most
-as bad. When I gave the old woman the half peck of potatoes she
-called on all the saints to bless me to the end of my days. I felt kind
-of better as I went away, and thought mebbe they’d do somethin’
-for me, and this wa’n’t more than seven or eight hours before it happened.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course, most folks would think that anyone like me
-wouldn’t have given away a half a peck of potatoes, but they don’t
-really understand them things; you’ve got to do a thing before you
-can know all about it. If I was makin’ the laws I wouldn’t let anyone
-be on a jury and try a feller for murder unless he’d killed someone.
-Most fellers don’t know anything about how anyone kills a
-person and why they do it, and they ain’t fit to judge. Now, of
-course, most everybody would think that anyone who had killed
-anyone, unless it was in war or somethin’ like that, was bad through
-and through; they wouldn’t think that they could ever do anything
-good; but here I give away that half peck of potatoes just because
-I knew the lady was poor and needed ‘em—and I see things every
-day here in jail that shows it ain’t so. Just a little while ago one of
-the prisoners was took down with small-pox and everyone was
-scared, and another prisoner who was in here for burglary went to
-the ward and nursed him and took care of him, and took the disease
-and died. And most all of the fellers will do anything for each other.
-The other day there were five fellers on trial for robbin’ a safe, and
-the State’s Attorney done all he could to get one of ‘em to tell on
-another feller who hadn’t been caught or indicted, and he promised
-every one of ‘em that he wouldn’t do a thing with ‘em if they’d tell,
-and he couldn’t get a word out of any of ‘em, and they went to the
-penitentiary, just because they wouldn’t tell; and the State Attorney
-and the judge all of ‘em seemed to think that if they could get
-one feller to tell on someone else that he’d be the best one of the lot
-and ought to be let out. If you’d just stay here a few days and
-see some of the wives and fathers and mothers come into the jail
-and see how they’d cry and go on over some of these people, and
-tell how good they was to them, it would open your eyes. They
-ain’t one of them people, unless it’s me, that don’t have someone
-that loves ‘em, and says they’ve been awful good to ‘em and feel
-sorry for ‘em and excuses ‘em, and thinks they’re just like everybody
-else. Now there was them car-barn murderers that killed so
-many people and robbed so much. Everyone wanted to tear ‘em to
-pieces and no one had a single good word for ‘em, but you’d ought
-to seen Van Dine’s mother and how she hung on to her boy and cried
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>about him and loved him and told how many good thing’s he done,
-just like anyone else; and then that Niedemeyer, who tried to kill
-himself so he couldn’t get hung, you know he went to a detective
-and confessed a lot of crimes, so that the detective could get the
-money after he was hung, and the detective agreed to divide the
-money with his mother. If you was here a while you’d find these
-fellers doin’ just as many things to help each other as the people
-on the outside. It’s funny how human nature is, how anybody can
-be so good and so bad too. Now I s’pose most people outside can’t
-see how a murderer or a burglar can do anything good any more
-than the poor people down our way can see how Rockefeller can
-charge all of us so much for his oil and then give a million dollars
-to a church or a school.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“There was feller came over here to the jail to talk to our
-Moral Improvement Club and he had some queer ideas. Most of
-the prisoners rather liked what he said and still they thought he
-was too radical. I never heard any such talk before and I don’t quite
-see how they let him do it, but I’ve thought about what he said a
-good deal since then and think mebbe there’s somethin’ in it. He
-was a good deal different from the other ones that come. Most of
-‘em tell us about our souls and how we can all make ‘em white if
-we only will. They all tell us that we are a bad lot now; but he kind
-of claimed that the people inside the jail was just like the people
-outside, only not so lucky; that we done things because we couldn’t
-help it and had to do ‘em, and that it’s worse for the people on the
-outside to punish the people on the inside than to do the things we
-done. Now, I hain’t had anything to do but think about it and what
-I done, and it don’t seem as if I could help it. I never intended to
-kill anybody but somehow everything just led up to it, and I didn’t
-know I was gettin’ into it until it was done, and now here I am. Of
-course, when I was out I used to rail about these criminals and think
-they was awful bad just the same as everyone else did, but now I
-see how they got into it too, and how mebbe they ain’t so bad; even
-them car-barn murderers,—if they’d been taken somewhere out west
-on a ranch where they could have had lots of air and exercise and
-not put in school which wa’n’t the place for boys like them, I believe
-they’d ‘ve come out all right and been like most other boys and sobered
-down after they got older. I really think if they’d been taken
-away they’d ‘ve tried to be good and if they’d been given plenty of
-exercise, like herdin’ cattle and things like that, mebbe it would have
-been just as good as to kill ‘em. Anyhow there was them Younger
-boys and Frank James who killed so many people and they are out
-now and all right. Nobody’s afraid of ‘em and they won’t likely
-never do anything of that kind any more.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But I’m gettin’ clear off’n my subject again, just as I always
-am. I was tellin’ you about that day. Well, after I gave the lady
-the half peck of potatoes I went on peddlin’, but didn’t seem to sell
-much. I ought to ‘ve got through by two or three o’clock. It was
-a long enough day for me, and the horse, too, but I had so many
-potatoes left that I couldn’t stop, so I kept on. I got down around
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Thirty-fifth Street and was pretty cold and went into a saloon
-where I saw one of the boys. One of ‘em was runnin’ for the legislature
-and he asked us all to take a drink, and of course we did;
-then he asked us to take another and we done that; and in a few
-minutes that feller that was runnin’ for the senate, he come in and
-he asked us all to take a drink and of course we done that, and he
-said a few words about the election and how he hoped we all would
-vote for him, and we told him we would, and that as near as we
-could find out all the boys was with him, that the other feller was
-a kind of stiff anyhow. He went out, and then, just as I was leavin’,
-the feller that was runnin’ against him, he come in and he set ‘em up
-a couple of times and said he hoped we was all with him, and of
-course we told him we was, and then he went away. Well, of
-course, I took whiskey every time because I was cold and that kind
-of warmed me up. Then I went out to the wagon again and drove
-on down Thirty-fifth Street to sell the rest of the potatoes. Finally
-the horse began to go lame, and seemed pretty tired, and I turned
-back toward the house, peddlin’ on the way. I guess I didn’t sell
-anything after I left Thirty-fifth Street, though I kept callin’ out
-until my voice got kind of husky and all stopped up. I guess it was
-the cold air that I wa’n’t used to yet. The snow was comin’ down
-pretty fast as I drove along and the wind was blowin’ quite a bit in
-my face and it was a bad night. It commenced gettin’ dark pretty
-soon after. You know the days are short along the last of November.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I kep’ thinkin’ about the cold weather. I always hated
-winter anyhow, and I hadn’t expected ‘twould turn cold quite so
-quick and of course I wa’n’t ready for it. I couldn’t seem to think
-of anything but the winter. I s’pose that was the reason I done the
-things I did afterward. I got to thinkin’ about the house and how
-many cracks there was in it and how much coal it took to heat it.
-Then I began to think about the price of coal and how it’s cheaper
-in the summer than in the winter, and how the price keeps goin’ up
-so much a month all the time until winter, so, of course, all the rich
-people can get their coal in the summer when it was cheap and leave
-the poor people to get it in the winter when it got high. Then I
-thought how everything seemed to be against the poor and how you
-couldn’t get on no matter what you done.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I hadn’t got my potatoes more’n two-thirds sold out and I
-didn’t have any good place to keep ‘em. I couldn’t afford to take
-chances of ‘em gettin’ frost-bitten any more. You know how easy
-potatoes freeze. You have to watch out while you’re peddlin’ ‘em
-in the fall and winter and some days you don’t dare take ‘em out
-at all. Before I got home I thought I’d have another drink so I
-stopped at a saloon where they always had the pollin’ place and
-where a good many politicians usually hung out; and I found some
-of the boys there, and the fellow that was runnin’ for assessor was
-in the saloon. He asked us all to drink a couple o’ times, and then
-he told us how easy he was in assessin’ the poor people’s property,
-and asked us to vote for him. We all said we would, and then
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>he told us how he was assessor last year and how he’d stuck it onto
-the rich people and the corporations and how they was all against
-him this year. We all liked that, and then he gave us another drink.
-I was gettin’ so I felt it just a little, but of course I wa’n’t drunk. I
-could walk all right and talk pretty straight. I don’t suppose I’d
-taken more’n ten or twelve drinks in all day, and you know that
-won’t hurt anybody. I don’t know what I would’ve done such a
-cold day if it hadn’t been for the drinks. Oh, yes, in the last place
-they got to talkin’ about the alderman and said as how he wa’n’t
-goin’ to give out any turkeys this year. I didn’t like that and some
-of the fellers had quarreled about ‘em and then some of ‘em had
-been givin’ ‘em to us and we didn’t see what right he had to quit.
-They said the reason he wa’n’t goin’ to give ‘em was because a lot
-of the fellers had quarreled about ‘em and then some of ‘em had
-taken his turkeys and voted the other ticket, and some people had
-found fault with him because they didn’t get any turkey, and it
-looked as if he was losin’ votes instead of makin’ ‘em. Well, I’d
-been dependin’ on the turkey and it made me feel a little blue, for
-I didn’t know how I was goin’ to get anything for Thanksgivin’, and
-I didn’t think that you could have much of a Thanksgivin’ just on
-potatoes and mebbe a little pork. So I wa’n’t feelin’ none to good
-when I got on the wagon and drove away from the last place. It
-seemed as if everything had turned against me and I didn’t know
-what I was goin’ to do. It’s funny how much difference luck makes
-with a feller. You know somethin’ can happen in the mornin’ and
-make you feel good all day, and then again somethin’ will go wrong
-and no matter what you are doin’ it seems as if there was a sort of
-a weight pullin’ down on you. Well, I felt kind of blue as I drove
-home. I don’t think I could hardly have kept up only for the whiskey
-I’d drunk. I was kind of wonderin’ what it was all for and I didn’t
-see any reason for anything, or any chance that anything would be
-any better, or any real reason for livin’.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Before I went to the house I drove up to the barn and unhitched
-the horse and led him in, and then I run the wagon in, and
-took the potatoes out and put ‘em under a little bag of hay that I
-had in the corner, and threw the horse blanket over ‘em. Then I
-unharnessed the horse and bedded him down and gave him some hay
-and a little oats. I’d watered him at one of the last places I stopped—one
-of them troughs they have in front of saloons. Then after I
-got the horse tended to I went into the house.”</p>
-
-<hr class='c008' />
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank got up and went to the door and spoke to the guard. He
-was still sitting on the stool and talking to the prisoner in the next
-cell. Once more he handed Hank a cigar.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Give one to Jim,” he said. “I can’t do much more for him,
-poor devil; I’m awful sorry.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim came up and took the cigar and looked down at the guard.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I don’t s’pose nothin’ has come for me, has there?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No, not yet,” was the answer.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I presume it’s’ no use.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Just then the noise of pounding and driving nails and low voices
-was heard over in the court yard.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“What’s that?” Hank asked.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Don’t you know! That’s the fellers buildin’ the scaffold; they
-always do it the night before. Strange, ain’t it; somehow it don’t seem
-to me as if it was really me that was goin’ to be hung on it; but I
-s’pose it is. Now, isn’t it strange about the governor; just one word
-from him could save my life. I’d think he’d do it, wouldn’t you?
-I s’pose he don’t really think how it seems to me. I know I’d do it, no
-matter what anyone had done.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But it’s gettin’ late and I must go on with my story or I won’t
-get it finished before—before you have to go. It’s pretty hard to tell
-all ‘bout this part, but I’m goin’ to tell it to you honest and not make
-myself any better’n I am. I’ve thought about this a good deal when
-I’ve tried to account for how I done it, and I guess I can tell everything
-that happened. When I look at it now it seems years ago, almost
-a lifetime, not as if it was last November. I guess it’s because so much
-has happened since then. It seems, too, as if it wa’n’t me that was
-doin’ it, but as if ‘twas someone else. I guess that’ll make it easier
-for me to tell; anyhow, I want you to know how it was, and then some
-time you can tell the boy, if you think it’s the right thing to do.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>IV</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_029.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-I forgot to tell you about the steak. I don’t see how I left
-that out, for, really, that’s what caused the whole trouble. It
-beats all what little things will do, don’t it? Now, lots o’ times
-in my life it has seemed as if the smallest things had the most
-to do with me. There was that red waist, for instance, that she wore that
-day she was waitin’ on the table. I ‘most know I never would have paid
-any attention to her if it hadn’t been for that red waist. And then that
-beefsteak—in one way I’m goin’ to get hung on account of that beefsteak.
-How many times since that I’ve just wished I hadn’t stopped and bought
-it. But you see I was feelin’ cold all day, and when I come ‘round
-Thirty-fifth Street the wind kind of got in my face worse’n it had done
-before, and it sort of struck me through the chest too; my legs didn’t feel
-it quite so much, because they had the blanket over ‘em. Well, just as I
-got up to the second corner there was a saloon right in front of me. This
-was before I got to the corner when I met the senators, and I thought I’d
-go in and get a drink; and then right on the other side was that meat
-market and there was a lot of chickens and steak and things hangin’ in
-the window, and they looked mighty good, for I hadn’t had much to eat
-all day. At first I thought I’d go and get a drink, and then I thought I
-could get enough steak for supper for just about what the drink would
-cost, and the steak would do the most good, and besides she and the kid
-could have some of that, and I thought it would make her feel pleasanter
-and liven her up a bit. We hadn’t been gettin’ along any too well for
-some time.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“So I pulled up the horse a minute and went into the shop and
-asked the butcher about the steak hangin’ in the window, and he told
-me that it was sixteen cents a pound and that it was a sirloin steak. I
-thought that was most too much and asked him if he hadn’t some
-cheaper kind. He said yes, that a rump steak was just as good, and
-he showed me one of them and the whole piece came to fifteen cents—just
-the price of a glass of whiskey—and I bought it and rolled it up
-in a piece of brown paper and went away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Now I was tellin’ about this to the good guard that likes to get
-statistics for the Citizens’ Association, and I told him it was the beefsteak
-that brought me here, and that if I had only got the whisky instead
-of the steak it wouldn’t have happened, but he argued the other way,
-and then when I stuck to my story he got kind of mad about it and
-said it was them drinks I had with the senators and the assessor that
-really done it, and if it hadn’t been for the drinks I’d have known better,
-and he said he was goin’ to put it down that way, and I’m sure he
-did. I hain’t no doubt but a good many of the figgers we see about
-penitentiaries and things is got up the same way.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, when I unhitched the horse and got him tended to and the
-potatoes covered up and all, I took the steak and started for the house.
-You know where I live—the barn is just back of the cottage, and there’s
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>a kind of little alley behind the barn and then the switch-yards come in;
-the railroad curves up toward the house after it passes the barn so
-it gets pretty near the kitchen. Of course, the trains bother us a good
-deal and the switch engines are goin’ back and forth all the time, and
-the house is pretty old and not very big, but all them things has to be
-taken into consideration in the rent, and I got it enough cheaper to
-make up. I presume that’s the reason no poor people live out on the
-avenues, because the rents is so high, and in one way mebbe the switch
-tracks is a good thing, for if it wa’n’t for them I’d had to go out to
-the stock yards to live, and I’d rather have the engines and the smoke
-than the smell. Some of them Settlement people are tryin’ to have a
-park made, out along the tracks right close to where we lived. Of
-course, flowers and grass would be nice, but I s’pose if they got the
-park some fellers would come along and pay more rent than we could
-afford and then we’d have to go out to the stock yards. It seems as
-if us poor people gets the worst of it no matter how you fix it. But
-I’m takin’ an awful long while to get into the house; seems as if I’m
-tellin’ you everything I’ve thought of ever since I’ve been locked up
-here in jail. It’s mighty good of you to set and listen, and I’ll always
-remember it as long as I live, though I guess that ain’t sayin’ much.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I come up to the door I heard the kid cryin’ and she was
-scoldin’ him about somethin’ he’d done and tellin’ him to go in the
-bedroom and stay till supper was ready and to quit his squallin’ or
-she’d thrash him. Of course, generally, she was good to him, and I
-don’t mean to say she wa’n’t, but sometimes she got out of patience
-with him, same as all women does, I s’pose. Of course you have to
-make allowances for her. She dassent let the boy go to play back
-of the house, for there was the yards and the cars, and you know children
-always goes ‘round cars; then she couldn’t let him go in front for
-the electric road was there, and you know about that little boy bein’
-run over a year ago down at the corner. Then there’s buildin’s on
-both sides of us, so she had to have the kid right in the house all the
-time less’n she went out with him, and of course he got kind of tired
-settin’ in the house all day with nothin’ to do but look out in front and
-see the switch engines. Still I sometimes thought she was crosser to
-him than she ought to have been at that.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I opened the door she was just takin’ the boy into the bedroom.
-In a minute she come out and kind of slammed the door hard,
-and said, ‘Well, you’ve got home, have you?’ I said yes, I’d got home.
-That’s every word I said. Then she said it was a pity that them
-drunken friends of mine couldn’t keep me out all night spendin’ the
-money for whisky that I ought to use in the house. I told her that I
-hadn’t spent no money for whisky. She said ‘Yes, your face looks it,
-and your breath smells it.’ Then I told her that I did take one drink
-but the assessor bought it for me. Then she landed into the assessor,
-and told me I was in pretty company goin’ ‘round with him; that Mrs.
-McGinty had told her all about what kind of a man he was and she
-didn’t want to hear any more about him. Then I asked her about when
-supper would be ready, and she said she hadn’t begun to get it yet,
-that she’d been doin’ the washin’ and had that brat of mine to take care
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>of all day, and she’d get the supper when she got ready. Of course
-I was hungry and cold, and that made me kind of mad, only I didn’t
-say much, but laid the beefsteak on the table and unrolled it so’s she
-could see it. I thought mebbe that would kind of tempt her, and I
-told her she’d better cook it and fry a few potatoes. She made some
-remark about the steak, and about how I’d better got a soup bone, or
-a chicken, or somethin’ cheaper, and no wonder I was in debt with all
-the money I spent for whisky, and when I did bring anything home to
-eat it had to be somethin’ that cost a good deal more’n I could afford.
-Then I said that this was a rump steak and only cost fifteen cents, and
-she said I could get a soup bone that weighed six or seven pounds for
-that, and I hadn’t any business to throw away my money. Then she
-kind of stopped for a few minutes and took the steak out into the
-kitchen. Where we’d been was in the settin’ room. I went in to see the
-kid a few minutes and kind of quieted him down, and so long as he laid
-on the bed and seemed kind of like as if he’d go to sleep I shut the bedroom
-door and come out again. Then I picked up the paper and read
-about the alderman not goin’ to run any more, and that was the real reason
-why he wa’n’t goin’ to give us any more turkeys; then I looked at
-the sportin’ page and then I read a long story about a feller that had
-killed someone and left ‘em dead in the house, and then run away, and
-how they’d found ‘em dead and had offered a thousand dollars reward
-for the feller who killed the other one. Then I read about a murder trial
-that they was just havin’ and how the jury had found the feller guilty
-and he was goin’ to be hung, and how he never moved a muscle, and
-how his mother screamed and fell over in a swoond when the clerk read
-the verdict. While I was readin’ she kept comin’ out and into the settin’
-room, bringin’ dishes and things to set the table. You know we generally
-et in the settin’ room. Ev’ry time she come in she kind of glared
-at me, but I let on not to notice her.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Pretty soon I smelt the steak fryin’ and went out in the kitchen.
-When I got out there I found the steak fryin’ in the skillet all right and
-her just takin’ up the tea kettle to pour water on it. Now this made me
-mad, for that wa’n’t no way to fry steak. You know yourself that you
-lose all the flavor of the steak by pourin’ water on it; that makes it
-more like boiled meat than it does like beefsteak. I just saw her in time,
-and I called out, ‘What are you doin’? Put down that kettle. Don’t you
-know better’n to pour water on beefsteak?’ She said, ‘You shut up and
-go back in the settin’ room, or I’ll pour the water on you.’ I said, ‘No,
-you won’t; put down that kettle. How many times have I told you
-better’n to pour water on steak? It’s hard enough for me to get the
-money for a steak without lettin’ you spoil it that way.’ I started to
-grab her hand, but before I could reach it she tipped the nozzle over into
-the skillet and poured a lot of water in, and the steam and hot water and
-grease kind of spattered up in my face. I don’t know whether I struck
-her or not; anyhow I grabbed the kettle, and when the nozzle turned
-round some of the hot water got onto me, and burned me a little. I put
-the kettle down and said, ‘Damn you, what do you mean by spoilin’ the
-steak every time I get it? If you ever do a thing like that again, I’ll cut
-your throat.’</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>“Now, of course, I hadn’t no idea of cuttin’ her throat, no matter
-how often she done it. ‘Twas just a way I had of showin’ how mad I was
-about what she’d done. You see she done it a-purpose for I’d told her
-plenty of times before, and I told her then before any of the water got
-into the skillet, and she just poured it in to spite me. Then she said, ‘You
-drunken loafer, I’d like to see you try to cut my throat. I just dare you
-to do it. You don’t need to wait until you bring home another steak;
-ain’t likely I’ll be here by the time you bring home any more steak. I
-don’t care what the Settlement people and the priest say about it, I’m
-going to quit you. I’ve stood this thing just as long as I’m goin’ to,’ and
-she fairly screamed, just on purpose, so the neighbors could hear.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Now I didn’t want them to know we was fightin’, and I seen that
-she was so mad she couldn’t control herself and didn’t care who heard
-or what happened. The neighbors had come in once before, but they’d
-got pretty well used to our fights. But I thought it had gone about far
-enough and the steak couldn’t be helped, so I went back into the settin’
-room and picked up the paper. In a few minutes she come in and says,
-‘Well, come, your old steak’s ready, you’ve made so much fuss about it
-you’d better come and eat it and let it shut your mouth.’ And she went
-on into the bedroom and got the kid. I drew up my chair and set down
-to the table. She put the kid into the high chair and then she set down
-on the other side. I cut up the steak and give each of ‘em a piece with
-some fried potatoes, then we had some bread and butter and some tea.
-She poured out the tea and handed me a cup. There wa’n’t any milk for
-the tea and I asked her why that was. She told me she didn’t have any
-money to buy tickets, and if I wanted milk I’d better leave some money
-to buy tickets instead of spending it all for whiskey. I didn’t make much
-of any answer to this but commenced eatin’ my steak. Besides bein’
-boiled it was cooked almost to a crisp, and you couldn’t hardly tell
-whether it was beefsteak or what it was; all the taste was out of it and
-gone into the water and the steam. I put some of the gravy on the potatoes;
-this was better’n the steak and tasted more like beef. I et up the
-potatoes and the steak and a few pieces of bread and butter, and cut up the
-kid’s steak and showed him how to hold his knife so’s to eat without
-cuttin’ himself, and I didn’t say a word to her and she didn’t say a word
-to me. Of course, I could see by the way she looked that she was mad,
-and I presume she could see that I was, too; and probably both of us
-thought it was just as well not to say anything, ‘specially so long as the
-kid was there. All the time I was eatin’ I kept thinkin’ about the way
-she’d poured the water into the steak and spoilt it, and how I’d been
-lookin’ forward to it ever since I bought it on Thirty-fifth Street, and
-the more I thought of it the madder I got. If it had been the first time
-I don’t think I’d have minded it near so much, but I’d told her about it
-ev’ry time I brought home a steak, and it seemed as if always we had
-a row pretty near as big as this, and every time she managed to pour the
-water into it and spoil it in spite of all that I could do. And this time it
-had been just the same thing again. Anyone would have been mad if
-they’d been in my place; don’t you think so yourself?</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I finished my supper without sayin’ a word to her, and she
-didn’t say a word to me, and then I got up and went back into the settin’
-room and picked up the paper and commenced readin’ again. In a minute
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>she come along through with the kid and took him into the bedroom
-to put him to bed. After she’d been in there a while she came out and
-shut the door, and stood up for a minute lookin’ over toward me. I
-thought she was waitin’ for me to speak, so I just kept my eyes on the
-paper like as if I was readin’, but I wa’n’t. I hadn’t cooled off a great
-deal since she poured the water on the steak, and could see that she
-hadn’t neither, so I thought mebbe it was as well to have it out, but I
-was goin’ to wait for her to begin. Of course, I hadn’t no idea then of
-doin’ anything like what I did. I was just mad and reckless and didn’t
-care much, and would keep thinkin’ of the steak, and you know all the
-time I was thinkin’ I could feel a kind of prickin’ up in my head, as if a
-lot of needles was runnin’ up toward my hair. I s’pose it was the blood
-runnin’ up there. That feller that I told you about that was talkin’ to
-us over here kind of made out that a man was a good deal like a machine,
-or an engine of some kind, and when the steam was turned on
-he had to go. He said that if the blood was pumped up in the head it
-made us do things; it made some people write poetry, and some make
-speeches, and some sing, and some fight, and some kill folks, and they
-couldn’t really help it if they was made that way and the blood got
-pumped up in the head. I believe there’s a good deal in it. You know
-when the blood don’t circulate down in your feet they get cold and kind
-of dead, and then if you put ‘em into a pail of hot water or even cold
-water, and then rub ‘em hard with a towel, they get prickly and red,
-and you can feel the blood comin’ back to ‘em and feel ‘em wake up
-again.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I set perfectly still while she stood by the mantel-piece.
-First she picked up one thing and then another and kind of dusted ‘em
-and put ‘em back. She done this till she had dusted ever’thing on the
-mantel-piece, and all the time she would be lookin’ over toward me,
-but I kept my eyes down on the paper and pretended to be readin’. I
-knew that she didn’t dust the things because she wanted to dust, for she
-always dusted in the mornin’ just after she swept. I knew she did it
-because she was nervous and mad, and was waitin’ for me to begin. Of
-course, sometimes when you are mad the longer you wait the more you
-get over it, and then sometimes the longer you wait the madder you get.
-It’s like a boiler not usin’ any of its steam while the fire is goin’; if it
-waits long enough somethin’s got to happen.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Finally, after she got everything dusted she looked over straight
-at me and says, ‘Are you goin’ to read that paper all night?’ I told her
-I was if I wanted to, that it was none of her business how long I read
-it; there was a part of it that I’d like to give her to read if she wanted
-to; it was the cookery department, and had a recipe for frying steak.
-Of course, there wa’n’t no such thing in the paper, and I just made it up
-and said it to be sassy, and I knew I shouldn’t have been throwin’ it up
-to her, but I was so mad I really didn’t think how ‘twould sound. Then
-she said she didn’t want any advice from me or the paper either, about
-cookin’, and she wanted me to understand that the cookin’ was none of
-my business and she’d tend to that herself in her own way, and if ever I
-interfered again she’d leave me and take the kid with her. She said she
-learned cookin’ long before she ever knew me. Then I said I thought
-she could make money by startin’ a cookin’ school; all them rich folks
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>on Prairie Avenue would come over to get her to learn them how to fry
-steak. She said she guessed she knew more ‘bout fryin’ steak than I
-did, and when I boarded at the restaurant I was mighty glad to get steak
-fried that way, and I only grumbled about it now because I was so mean
-and didn’t know how to treat a woman, and a man like me never had
-no right to have a decent wife. Then I said I wished I hadn’t; I’d be a
-mighty sight better off by myself than livin’ with her and havin’ her
-spoil everything that came in the house, and I wished I was back boardin’
-in the restaurant where she found me. She said I didn’t wish it half so
-much as she did, that she got along a good deal better when she was
-waitin’ on the table than she had since she married me; then she had a
-chance to get out once in a while and see someone and have a good
-time, but now she stayed to home from one year’s end to another lookin’
-after me and my brat. I told her I guessed the brat was just as much
-hers as it was mine, and I didn’t think that was any way to speak about
-the boy. Of course I really knew that she didn’t say it because she had
-anything against him, but just because she was mad at me. She always
-liked him, and I can’t make any complaint of the way she treated him,
-and I want him to know it when we’re both dead, and I don’t want him
-to get any idea that she wa’n’t perfectly square. I kind of want you to
-fix it, if you can, so ‘twon’t look to him as if either of us was to blame,
-but I guess that won’t be an easy thing to do.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I said she was mighty glad to give up the job she had at the
-restaurant to marry me. She said I asked her to get married, that she
-didn’t ask me. Then I told her that, of course, she didn’t ask me, but
-she gave me a mighty good chance, and that I believed she just got that
-red waist and fixed up her hair the way she did to ketch me, and when I
-spoke to her about marryin’ it didn’t take her very long to throw up her
-job, and take me so she could get supported without doin’ anything.
-Then she said that if she spent any money to get that red waist to ketch
-me she was throwin’ it away, and that if I thought she ever worked for
-anyone else as hard as she did for me and my brat that I was mistaken,
-and it didn’t make any difference what she done, I never gave her any
-thanks or did anything for her. If I ever had any time I spent it with
-them drunken loafers and politicians and never went anywhere with her;
-that she wa’n’t no better’n a slave, and what was she doin’ it all for;
-pretty soon she’d be old long before her time. Her looks was all gone
-now, and she hadn’t even had a new dress for over a year. I told her
-that I didn’t know what she wanted of looks, she never was a prize
-beauty and ‘twa’n’t very like anybody’d ever be fool enough to marry her
-again, if anything happened to me. And she said if she ever got rid of
-me there wouldn’t be much danger of her marryin’ anyone else, she
-had men enough to last as long as she lived; that all they ever thought
-of was what they could get to eat and drink, that I’d made more fuss
-over that miser’ble beefsteak than anyone would over their soul, and
-she didn’t see why she ever stood it from me, and she was just as good
-as I ever was and knew just as much, and worked a good deal harder,
-and didn’t run ‘round nights and get drunk and spend all the money with
-a lot of loafers, and be in debt all the time and have the collector runnin’
-after me. I told her I had just about enough of that kind of talk, and
-wouldn’t stand no more of it from her; it was bad enough for her to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>burn up the beefsteak and spoil it without blackguardin’ me and callin’
-me names; she was mighty glad to get the clothes and the grub I bought
-her and to live in my house and have me work hard every day in the
-cold to get money while she just stayed to home and played with the kid,
-and if she said another word to me I’d smash her face. Then she said,
-‘Yes, you miserable wife-beater, you kicked me once, didn’t you, but you
-needn’ think you can kick me or lay hands on me again. I ain’t afraid of
-you nor any of your low-lived drunken crew!’ Then she kind of reached
-back to the mantel and took hold of a plaster Paris lady I’d bought of a
-peddler, just as if she was goin’ to throw it at me, same as she throwed
-that dish once before. I seen what she was doin’ and I grabbed her arm
-and said, ‘You damned bitch, don’t try that on me’; and I gave her a
-kind of shove over toward a chair and she missed the chair and fell on
-the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course, you know I didn’t really mean anything when I called
-her a damned bitch; that is, I didn’t mean any such thing as anyone
-might think from them words. You know us fellers down to the yards
-don’t think very much about usin’ that word, and we never really mean
-anything by it. But I don’t think ‘twas a very nice word to use and have
-always been sorry I said it, even if I did kill her.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, she jumped up off’n the floor and made towards the table,
-like she’d grab a knife, and by this time I had a prickly feelin’ runnin’
-all through my head and up into my hair, and I didn’t really think of
-anything but just about her and what she was doin’. I don’t believe I
-even thought about the kid in there on the bed. Mebbe if I had I
-wouldn’t have done it.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, when she made for the table that way, I just run over between
-her and the table, and said, ‘Damn you, if you move another step
-I’ll knock your damned brains out!’ Them’s the very words I said. I
-didn’t really think what I’d do, but of course I was mad and didn’t
-mean to give up to her, and wanted to show her who was boss, and that’s
-all I thought about. Then she come right up to me and sort of throwed
-her arms back behind her, and throwed her head back, and her hair
-hung down all kind of loose, and her eyes glared like electric lights,
-and she looked right at me and just yelled so I thought the people could
-hear her all over the ward. And she said, ‘Kill me! you miserable
-drunken contemptible wife-beater; kill me, I just dare you to kill me!
-Kill me if you want to and then go in there and kill the boy, too; you’d
-better make a good job of it while you’re at it! Kill me, you coward,
-why don’t you kill me?’</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Just then I happened to look down by the stove and seen the coal
-pail, and there was the poker in the pail. The poker was long and
-heavy. Of course I hadn’t ever thought anything about the poker, but
-I looked down there and seen it, and she kept yellin’ right at me, ‘Kill
-me! Kill me!’ I said: ‘Shut up your mouth, damn you, or I will kill
-you!’ But she just yelled back, ‘Why don’t you do it! Kill me! Kill
-me! You miserable dirty coward! Kill me!’ Then I looked down at
-the poker and I just reached and grabbed it, and swung back as hard
-as ever I could.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>“Her face was kind of turned up toward me. I can see it now
-just as plain—I s’pose I’ll see it when I’m standin’ up there with the
-black cap over my eyes. She just leaned back and looked up as I swung
-my arm and she said: ‘Kill me! Kill me!’ And I brought it down just
-as hard as ever I could right over her forehead,—and she fell down
-on the floor.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>V</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_037.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-“You might go and talk to the guard a little bit, I’ll be all right
-in a few minutes. You know this is the first time I’ve ever
-told it, and I guss I’m a bit worked up.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank got up, without looking at Jim’s face. His own was
-white as a corpse. He moved over to the little iron door and spoke to
-the guard.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Could you give me a drink of water—or could you make it whiskey?
-I’m sure that would be better for Jim.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guard passed him a flask, and told him to just keep it. Hank
-took a drink himself and handed it to Jim.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I guess ‘twould do me good. I believe if I was out of here
-I wouldn’t never take any more, but I don’t see any use stoppin’ now;
-anyhow I’ll need a lot of it in the mornin’. Just ask the guard if any
-word has come for me. I s’pose he’d told me, though, if it had.” Jim
-held the bottle to his mouth long enough to drink nearly half of what
-was left.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank looked out at the silent corridors. Over in the court he could
-still hear the hammer and the voices of the workmen; from the upper
-tiers, the wild shriek of an insane man called on someone to save him
-from an imaginary foe. A solitary carriage rolled along the pavement
-and the voices of two or three men singing came up from the street
-below. A faint breath from the lake just stirred the heavy prison smell
-that seemed dense enough to be felt. The guard asked him how he was
-managing to pass the night. Hank answered that it was going much
-faster than he had thought.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Poor fellow,” said the guard, “I’ll be kind of lonesome when he’s
-gone. He’s been a good prisoner.” This was the highest character that
-a guard could give.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, Hank, if you are ready now, I’ll go on with my story. That
-whiskey kind of braced me up, and I s’pose you needed it too, after
-listenin’ so long. I must hurry, for I ain’t near through with what I
-wanted to say. I’ve thought lots about how I hit her, and I s’pose I
-ought to think it was awful, and it looks so to me now, and still it
-didn’t seem so then. I can’t help thinkin’ of what that feller said to us
-in his speech. He claimed that punishin’ people didn’t do no good; that
-other people was just as likely to kill someone if you hung anybody,
-as they would be if you let ‘em go, and he went on to say that they used
-to hang people for stealin’ sheep and still just as many sheep got stole
-and probably more’n there was after they done away with it. I don’t
-s’pose I ever should have thought anything about it if I hadn’t killed
-her, but, of course, that made me think a lot. I’m sure that I wouldn’t
-do such a thing again; I wouldn’t be near so likely to do it as I was
-before, because now I know how them things commence, and I’m awful,
-awful sorry for her too. There wa’n’t no reason why she should die,
-and why I should have killed her, and if there was anything I could do
-to change it, of course I would.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>“But I can’t really see how hangin’ me is goin’ to do any good. If it
-was I might feel different, but it ain’t. Now, all my life I always read
-about all the murders in the newspapers and I read about all the trials
-and hangin’s, and I always kind of wished I could go and see one. But
-I never thought I’d go this way. Why, I was readin’ about a murder
-and how a feller was found guilty and sentenced to be hung just before
-I killed her. And do you s’pose I thought anything about it? If there’d
-been forty scaffolds right before my eyes I’d have brought down that
-poker just the same. I don’t believe anyone thinks of gettin’ hung when
-they do it; even if they did think of it they’d plan some way to get
-‘round it when they made up their mind to do the killin’. But they
-don’t think much about it. I believe sometimes that the hangin’ makes
-more killin’. Now look at them car-barn fellers; they just went out and
-killed people regardless, same as some men go out to shoot game. I don’t
-believe they’d ‘ve done it if it hadn’t been so dangerous. And then you
-know when they hung the whole three of ‘em at once, and one feller cut
-his own throat so as to cheat ‘em, and they took him right up and hung
-him, too, though he was so weak they had to carry him onto the scaffold,
-and the doctors done ever’thing they could do to keep him from
-dyin’ just so’s they could hang him. Well, you know they hadn’t any
-more’n finished them until another gang of young fellers commenced
-doin’ just the same kind of thing, and they are in jail now for murder,
-and you know one of ‘em came in here one day and looked at the other
-ones before he done the killin’. I half believe that all the fuss they
-made ‘bout them fellers and hangin’ ‘em and printin’ it all in the newspapers
-did more to make the other ones do it than anything else. But I
-s’pose there ain’t no use hangin’ ‘em unless you put it all in the newspapers,
-for it won’t scare anyone from doin’ it unless people know they
-are hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But, of course what I think about it don’t make any difference, so
-I’d better hurry on. Well, after she fell over I stood still for a few
-minutes waitin’ for her to get up. Of course I thought she’d get right
-up again, and mebbe come back at me. But she didn’t move. Then I
-thought she was scarin’ me, and I just sat down for a few minutes to
-show her that I wa’n’t goin’ to be fooled in no such way. Still she
-didn’t stir. Then I commenced to be half scart and half mad. I didn’t
-think it was right to try to make me believe I had done anything like
-that. So I said, ‘When you’ve laid there long enough you’d better get
-up.’ Then I said, ‘What’s the use of playin’ theater, you can’t fool me.
-I’m goin’ to bed and when you get ready you can come along.’ But I
-didn’t go to bed; I just sat still a little longer, and then I stepped over
-by her head and looked down at it, and I thought it didn’t look right,
-and then I was scart in earnest. Just then I heard the kid cry, and I
-didn’t want him to come out, so I locked the outside door and took a
-good look to see that all the curtains was clear down, and went in to
-see the kid. I lit a candle in the bedroom and talked with him a little;
-told him ever’thing was all right and to go to sleep, and I’d come in
-again in a minute or two. Then I went back to the settin’ room to
-see her.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Before I looked at her face I looked down to her feet to see if
-maybe they hadn’t moved, for I didn’t want to look at her face if I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>could help it. And I thought mebbe this would be the best way. But
-the feet was just where they was before; then I looked at her hands
-and they hadn’t moved, so I knew I just had to look at her face. I hadn’t
-examined her very close before, I was so scart, and I never could look
-at blood or dead folks, but of course this was different; so I got down
-on the floor close up to her face, and I seen the great welt along her
-forehead and top of her head and across the temple, and ‘twas all covered
-with blood and a lot of it had got on the floor. Her eyes was wide
-open. I knew they didn’t see anything. They looked just as if they’d
-been turned to glass, before she’d had time to shut ‘em. I felt of her
-wrist to see if her pulse was goin’. At first I thought it wa’n’t, and
-then I thought I felt it go a little, and I never felt so good in all my life.
-I pushed my finger down harder, but I couldn’t get it again. Then I
-felt of her heart and it was just the same way. I leaned over to her
-ear, and asked her to please wake up, that I was awful sorry, and I didn’t
-know what I was doin’, and if she’d just speak I’d be good to her all
-my life and do ever’thing I could for her, and then I asked her to do it
-on account of the boy, but still she didn’t move. Of course I was almost
-scart to death by this time; first I thought I’d call the neighbors and
-send for a doctor and then I thought that was no use. If she wa’n’t
-dead I didn’t need him, and if she was I must try to do somethin’ so
-no one would find it out. Then I began to think what could be done to
-bring her to. I never had much experience with people that got hurt,
-except the ones I’d seen at the railroad, and I wa’n’t just sure what to
-do with anyone in this fix. But I’d read somethin’ about it somewhere,
-and so I went into the back room and drew some water into a pail and
-took an old cloth and got down on the floor and commenced washin’
-her head. But I couldn’t see the first sign of life. Then I looked
-around for some whiskey and found a little in a bottle in the closet and
-poured some in her mouth, but it all run right out, and she didn’t move.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course I never went to school very much but no matter how
-good an education I had I don’t s’pose I could tell you how I felt so
-you’d know it yourself. I never s’posed I’d do anything to get into any
-trouble, and I always thought I was different from criminals. But here
-I was in the house with her dead, and I’d killed her, and what would
-happen to me? I just pictured the headlines in the newspapers and the
-boys callin’ ‘all about the Jackson murder,’ and me tried for murder and
-hung, and the kid goin’ ‘round the rest of his life knowin’ that his father
-had killed his mother and then got hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“At first I just set paralyzed and sort of held my head in my hands
-and moaned, and wondered if mebbe it wa’n’t a dream and if I couldn’t
-wake up, and then I thought I’d go and give myself up to the police
-and be done with it, and then I thought I might just as well kill myself,
-so I went and got an old razor, that I used to shave with sometimes,
-and tried to get up my nerve to cut my throat. But somehow I couldn’t
-put the edge over my wind-pipe. I wish though now that I had. Did
-you ever try to kill yourself? Them people that say it’s only cowards
-that kill themselves don’t know what they’re talkin’ about. I’d like to
-see them try it once. I’d have killed myself only I didn’t have the nerve.
-It wa’n’t because I cared anything about livin’; but I just couldn’t cut
-my own throat. Then I thought mebbe she wa’n’t dead, and I’d look
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>again. So I done just the way I had before,—commenced at her feet
-to see if they’d moved, then when I got up to her hands I thought one of
-‘em had moved, and my heart just gave a great big jump. Then I remembered
-that I’d picked it up, when I’d felt for her pulse and had put
-it down in a different place. Then I looked up to her face and it was
-just the same. It was white as a sheet, all except the long red and black
-welt and the blood, and her eyes wide open, and lookin’ right straight
-up to the ceilin’ starin’ just like a ghost. Then I felt of her hands and
-feet, and they was cold as ice and she was stiff, and I knew it was all
-off and she was dead.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“If you don’t mind I’ll just take a little more of that whiskey before
-I go on; the whole thing’s been a little wearin’ on me and I think
-it’ll brace me up a bit. You’d better have some, too. That guard is a
-good feller, considerin’ the place he’s in. I believe if you hadn’t come
-I’d told my story to him. I didn’t feel as if I could go without tellin’
-someone how it really was. You see no one ever made the least bit of
-allowance for me in the trial, and I got tired of talkin’ to my lawyer all
-the time. He always said that what I told him didn’t amount to anything,
-and he was so well educated that he couldn’t understand me
-anyhow.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I was sure that she was dead, I just throwed myself over
-on the floor, and laid my face flat down on my arm and give up. I’m
-sure I cried and I thought they could hear me next door, but I guess
-they didn’t. Anyhow I cried without payin’ any attention to ‘em. I
-must have laid this way for ten or fifteen minutes without once lookin’
-up, and she was right close to me, and I could just reach out my hand
-and touch her. And I hadn’t begun to think what I’d do. Then after
-I’d laid a while, I just thought mebbe I’d ought to pray. It had been a
-long while since I’d prayed. Of course, I hadn’t paid much attention to
-such things when I was all right; I guess there ain’t many people that
-does, except women and children, but I always really believed in it, just
-the same as I do now. I kind of thought that God knew that I wasn’t
-wicked enough to kill her, and have all this trouble, and bring all that
-misery on the kid; so I thought I’d try him. I didn’t know much about
-prayers except only the ones I’d learnt long ago, and they didn’t any of
-‘em seem to fit this case. But I didn’t need to know any prayers; I
-just got down on my knees and prayed myself. I begged God to have
-her come back; I told him how good she was, and how the boy needed
-her and what a hard time I’d always had, same as I told you, only not
-near so long, and I apologized the best I could for not goin’ to church
-more reg’lar and not ever prayin’ to him, and I asked him to forgive me
-for the time I kicked her, and the other things I’d done, and I promised
-if he only would let her come back I’d always be good and take care
-of her and the boy, and never do anything wrong and always go to church
-and confessional, and love God and Jesus and the Virgin and all the
-saints, and quit politics and drinkin’, and do right. I prayed and prayed,
-and I meant it all, too. And I don’t believe it was all for myself, ‘though
-I s’pose most of it was, but I really felt awful sorry for her, as I have
-ever since, and I felt awful sorry for the boy, who never had anything
-at all to do about it all.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then after I quit prayin’ I got up slow, thinkin’ that it might have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>done some good, and that mebbe she’d be all right, so I started in, just
-as I had before, with her feet to see if they’d moved. I s’pose the reason
-I done this way was that if I saw her head first and knew she was
-dead ‘twould be all off the first thing; and when I commenced with her
-feet I always had some hope till I got clear up to her head. Well, her
-feet hadn’t moved a bit. Then I went to her hands, and they was just
-in the same place, and I began to feel it wa’n’t any use to look at her
-head; but I did. And there it was just as white as that plaster-Paris
-lady, and her eyes lookin’ straight up.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I felt sure ‘twas all off. I’d done everything I could think
-of, and I’d prayed just as hard as I knew how, and I was sure no one
-ever meant it more’n I did or wanted it any more, and I knew, of
-course, God had seen the whole thing and could do it if he wanted to
-and that he didn’t want to, and that she was clear dead. I kind of half
-set and half laid down on the floor a little while longer, tryin’ to think
-about it and what I was goin’ to do. But I couldn’t make any plans;
-I kep’ thinkin’ about how it had all happened, and it begun to seem as
-if it wa’n’t really me that hit her with the poker, but as if both of us
-was somebody else and I was sort of dreamin’ about it all. Ain’t you
-ever had them kind of feelin’s when somethin’ awful has happened? But,
-of course, nothin’ like that ever happened to you. I thought most about
-that beefsteak, and how I stopped and bought it, and didn’t go in and
-get a drink, and all the time it seemed to me just as if that was where
-I made my big mistake. And then I thought how awful near I come to
-goin’ into the saloon instead of the butcher-shop, and then some of the
-time I’d kind of feel as if mebbe I was goin’ into the saloon after all,
-and it wa’n’t goin’ to happen. Don’t you know how it is when anybody’s
-died or anything happened? You think about everything that’s done,
-so as to see if mebbe you can’t make it come out some other way after
-all? Well, that’s the way I done about every little thing, and every word
-we both spoke till I hit her with the poker. Another thing where I
-almost missed killin’ her was that poker; that coal pail didn’t belong in
-the settin’ room at all, but ought to have been in the kitchen, and I don’t
-know how it ever got in there. Mebbe the boy lugged it in for a drum.
-You know he didn’t have many playthings, or mebbe she started a little
-fire in the settin’ room, for ‘twas the first cold day. I don’t see how it
-could have been that either, for she was washin’ that day and wouldn’t
-have any time to set in there. But I don’t know as it makes any difference;
-the coal pail was in the settin’ room and the poker was in the pail,
-and they was right before my eyes at the time. If they hadn’t been I
-never would’ve used the poker. When she stood up and told me to kill
-her, I’d most likely struck her with my fists and that would only knocked
-her down. But anyhow it didn’t do any good to go over it, for I couldn’t
-go into the saloon instead of the butcher-shop, and I couldn’t get that
-coal pail out of the settin’ room, and it had all been done—and she was
-dead! And I’d killed her! After I’d went over this a long time I made
-myself stop so I could do somethin’ that would be some use, for I knew
-there was lots to be done before mornin’, and I hadn’t a minute to lose.
-I knew I must get up off’n the floor and try to act like a man, and not
-give up, no matter how bad it was. But before I got up I thought I’d
-just take one more look to make sure that there wa’n’t no use. So I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>went over her again, just as I’d done before, and it came out the same
-way anyhow. I didn’t much think it was any use then and would’ve
-just about as soon begun at the head and got through with it right away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After I had looked her over again I got up and set down in a chair
-to make up my mind what to do. I hadn’t been there very long when I
-knew I couldn’t figure it out; ‘twas too much for me the way I was,
-and so I thought I’d just quit tryin’ and do a few things first. And then
-I wondered what time ‘twas. I hadn’t thought anything about the time
-before, but I s’posed it must be almost mornin’ for just then I heard an
-express wagon drive along the street, and anyhow it seemed an awful
-long while since I got home. The clock was right up on the mantel-piece
-and tickin’ loud, but I hadn’t thought of lookin’ at it before and
-didn’t even know it was in the room. I looked up and seen it was goin’
-and that ‘twas only a quarter to twelve. I was surprised that it wa’n’t
-no later, and wondered how it could be, and just then it struck and I
-kind of kep’ count because I was sort of thinkin’ of the clock and it
-stopped strikin’ at nine. Then I thought somethin’ must be wrong with
-the clock too, and I looked back again and seen that I’d made a mistake
-in the hands and ‘twas only nine o’clock. I couldn’t believe this was so,
-but the clock was goin’ all right. Then I kind braced up a little and
-thought what was to be done. First, I looked ‘round the room. I told
-you, didn’t I, that we et in the settin’ room? It was a settin’ room and
-a dinin’ room both. Sometimes we et in the kitchen, but that was pretty
-small. The table stood there with the dirty dishes just as we’d got
-through eatin’. There was the plates and knives and forks, and the teacups
-and the big platter with some of that steak left, and the gravy
-gettin’ kind of hard like lard all ‘round it. The coal pail was there and
-standin’ ‘round the table where we’d set to eat, except the rockin’ chair
-which was over by the stove. I looked at all them things, and then I
-looked down at the floor, and there she lay with her head over toward
-the closet door and her feet up almost under the table. It was an awful
-sight to look at her on the floor, but there wa’n’t nothin’ else to do, so I
-looked her all over as careful as I had before, then I got kind of scart;
-I hadn’t never been in a room alone with anyone that was dead, except
-at the morgue; but, of course, this was worse than anything of that kind.
-I’d always heard more or less about ghosts and haunted houses and
-things like that, and didn’t believe anything of the kind, but they seemed
-to come back now when I looked over where she was layin’. I was
-afraid of ever’thing, not of people but of ghosts and things I couldn’t
-tell nothin’ about. I knew she was dead and must have gone somewhere,
-and most likely she was right ‘round here either in the bedroom lookin’
-at the boy or out here seein’ how I felt and what I was goin’ to do with
-her. Just then I heard somethin’ move over by the closet and it scart
-me almost to death. I knew it must be her and couldn’t bear to see her
-unless she could come to life on the floor. Finally I looked around to
-where I heard the noise and then I seen it was the curtain; the window
-was down a little at the top. I went and put up the window, and then
-hated to turn ‘round and look back where she lay. Then I went to the
-bedroom door and opened it about half way just so the light wouldn’t
-fall on the bed and wake him up, but so I could hear him breathe and it
-wouldn’t be quite so lonesome. Ever’thing was awful still and like a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>ghost except the clock, after I got to thinkin’ of it. Then it ticked so
-loud I was almost ‘fraid they’d hear it in the next house. When I got
-the bedroom door open I thought I must do somethin’ about her and
-the room before I made up my mind what plan to take about myself.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“First I went and hunted up the cat. I’d always heard about that,
-so I went into the kitchen and there she was sleepin’ under the stove. I
-couldn’t help wishin’ I was the cat, although I had never thought of any
-such thing before. Then I took her in my hand and went to the outside
-door and threw her out in the yard and shut the door tight. Then I
-came back in the settin’ room and thought about what had to be done.
-I looked over again at her and then I saw her eyes still lookin’ right up
-at the ceilin’, and round and shinin’ like glass marbles. I thought that
-wa’n’t the way they ought to be and that all the dead folks I’d ever
-seen had their eyes shut. So I went over and got down by her head and
-kind of pushed the lids over her eyes, same as I’d always heard they did,
-and put some nickels on ‘em to keep ‘em down. I don’t know how I
-done it, but I felt as if it had to be done, and, of course, they wa’n’t
-no one else to do it, and nobody knows what they can do until they
-have to. And then I saw that there was a good deal of blood on her
-face, and I wanted her to look decent though I didn’t know then what
-would be done with her, and I went into the kitchen to the sink and
-got a pan of water and some soap and an old towel, and washed all the
-blood off that I could find, and wiped her face careful to make her look
-as well as I could. Once or twice while I was doin’ it I kind of felt
-down to her heart, but I knew it wa’n’t no use. Still I thought it couldn’t
-do any hurt, and that God might’ve thought I wa’n’t scart enough so he
-waited; but I didn’t feel nothin’ there. Then I kind of smoothed back
-her hair like I’d seen her do sometimes. ‘Twas all scattered round on
-the floor and pretty full of blood. I couldn’t very well get the blood out,
-but I fixed the hair all back together the best I could. Then I noticed
-that her jaw kind of hung down and I pushed it up and tied a towel
-around it to keep it there, and then she looked pretty well, except that
-great long gash over her face and head where the poker went.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I thought I’d have to fix up the room and the floor a little
-bit. I sort of pushed back the chairs and the table so I could get a little
-more room, and then moved her a little way and straightened her out
-some. First before I moved her I got that paper I’d been readin’ and
-laid it on the floor and then I took up her shoulders and lifted ‘em over to
-one side and laid her head on the paper. Then I moved the rest of her
-over to match her head and shoulders. There was a lot of blood on the
-floor where she’d been, and I knew I had to do somethin’ about that.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“There was a nice Japanese rug on the floor, and her head had
-struck just on the edge of it over by the door. I’d bought her the rug
-for a Christmas present last year, and she liked it better’n anything she
-had in the house, but it was beginnin’ to wear out some. A part of the
-blood was on the floor and a part on the rug. So I went and got another
-pan of water and the soap and towel and washed the floor; then I
-washed the rug the best I could, and lifted it up and washed in under it,
-and then threw away the water and got some more and washed it all
-over again. When I seen that the last water was a little bloody I thought
-mebbe I’d better go over it again, so I got some more water and went over
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>it the third time, then I threw the water out and washed the towel as
-good as I could, and went back in and looked ‘round the room to see if
-there was anything else to do. Just then I noticed the poker that I
-hadn’t thought of before. I took it to the kitchen and washed it all
-over and then dried it and then put it in the stove and covered it with
-ashes, and then laid it down on the hearth; then I went back in and seen
-that ever’thing was finished and that she was all right, and there wa’n’t
-nothin’ to do except to make my plans. But before I go on and tell you
-what I done with her, let me speak to the guard a minute.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank and Jim got up once more and looked out through the bars.
-The guard was still sitting on the stool and asked what he could do.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“What time is it?” said Jim.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Oh, it’s early yet, only a little after twelve,” he replied. “Wouldn’t
-you like a little more whiskey? I’ve got another bottle here, and I can
-get all I want down to the office. If I was you I’d drink it. I don’t
-think whiskey does any hurt. I’m always arguing with that other guard
-about it. He’s bug-house on whiskey.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim took the whiskey and then turning to the guard, with an anxious
-face, said, “You’re sure nothin’ has come for me?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No, there’s nothin’ come.” But after a few minutes he added, “I’ll
-go over to the telephone pretty soon and call up the telegraph office
-and make sure.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim’s face brightened a little at this. “I’m much obliged. It might
-be sent to me, and it might be sent to the jailer or the sheriff. You’d
-better ask for all of us.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>VI</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_045.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-“That whiskey makes me feel better. I’ve been takin’ a good
-deal tonight and I s’pose I’ll take more in the mornin’. That’s
-one reason why I’m drinkin’ so much now. First I thought I
-wouldn’t take any tomorrow—or—I guess it’s today, ain’t it?
-It don’t seem possible; but I s’pose it is. I thought I’d show the newspapers
-and people that’s been tellin’ what a coward I was to kill a woman!
-but now I think I’ll take all I possibly can. I guess that’s the best way.
-It don’t make no difference—if I take it they’ll say I’m a coward
-and if I don’t, it’s only bravado. Most people takes so much that
-they almost have to be carried up, and they don’t hardly know. I
-guess that’s the best way. Some people take somethin’ to have a
-tooth pulled, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t for a thing like
-this. Mebbe the whiskey makes me talk more’n I meant to, and
-tell you a lot of things that hain’t nothin’ to do with the case, but
-it’s pretty hard for me to tell what has and what hain’t.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After I got her laid out and the floor cleaned, I set down a
-minute to think what I’d do next. First I thought I’d go in and
-get the kid and take him away, and leave her there, and I guess
-now that would have been the best way, and they wouldn’t found
-it out so quick. But then I thought the people next door, or the
-postman, or milkman, or somebody, would come along in the
-mornin’ and find her there, and I couldn’t get far with the kid.
-Besides I only had about ten dollars and I knew that wouldn’t last
-long. Then I thought I’d just go out and jump onto one of the freight
-trains they was makin’ up in the yards, and leave her and the kid
-both; then I couldn’t bear to think of him wakin’ up and comin’ out
-into the settin’ room and findin’ her there. He wouldn’t know what
-it meant and would be scart to death and ‘twouldn’t be right. Then
-so long as I couldn’t do either one, I had to get her out, but I didn’t
-know how to do it, and what was I goin’ to do with her when I got
-her out. First I thought I’d try to put her in the sewer, and then I
-knew someone would find her there for that had been tried before;
-then I studied to see what else I could think of.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Finally I happened to remember a place she and I went once
-picnickin’, just after we was married. I don’t know how I happened
-to remember it, ‘cept that I couldn’t think of anything to do, and
-then I was kind of goin’ over our life, and it seemed as if that was
-the nicest day we ever had. One of the boys had been tellin’ me
-about the new street car lines that run way off down through Pullman
-and South Chicago, and out into the country, and how nice it
-was out there away from all the houses. So one Sunday we went
-over to the street cars and started out. I don’t know whether we
-found the right place or not, but I remember just when we was
-goin’ to turn somewhere to go to Pullman or South Chicago we saw
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>some trees off in a field, and thought that would be a nice place to
-go and set in the shade and eat the lunch we’d brought along. So
-we went over under the trees, and then I saw some rock further
-over, and then she and I went over where they was and there was
-a great deep pond with big stones all ‘round the edge. I heard that
-it was an old stone quarry that had got filled up with water. But it
-was awful deep and big, and we set down under a little tree on top
-of one of them big rocks and let our feet hang over the sides, and
-the water was way down below, and I said to her just in fun, ‘Now,
-if I wanted to get rid of you, I could just push you over here and
-no one would ever know anything about it.’ She kind of laughed at
-the idea and said if I ever wanted to get rid of her I wouldn’t have
-to push her off any rock, that she’d go and jump in somewhere herself,
-and I told her if I ever wanted her to I’d let her know, and for
-her to just wait till I did. And we went all ‘round the pond, and I
-threw stones in it and tried to see how near across I could throw,
-and we stayed ‘round until it was time to take the car and go home.
-And I don’t believe I ever had a better time. Now and then when we
-was friendly or had got over a fight, we used to talk about goin’
-back there again, but we never did.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, after thinkin’ of ever’thing I could, I made up my mind
-that the best thing was for me to put her on the express wagon and
-take her out there, if I could find the place. I didn’t believe anybody
-would ever know anything about it, and if they did ‘twould be a long
-time and they wouldn’t know who she was.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I thought it might be dangerous gettin’ her out of the
-house and gettin’ the wagon out on the street that time of night.
-If anyone seen us they’d be suspicious and want to know what I was
-doin’, and then I was afraid the policeman would be watchin’ for
-suspicious people and things along the street. But I didn’t see anything
-else to do, and I knew I had to take chances anyway and would
-most likely get caught in the end. I looked at the clock and found
-‘twas only ten, and I felt as if that was too early to start out. The
-people next door wouldn’t be abed and if they ever saw me carryin’
-her out they couldn’t help noticin’ it. So I set down and waited.
-You hain’t no idea how slow the time goes in such a case. I just
-set and heard that clock tick, and the boy breathin’ in the other
-room; it seemed as if every tick was just fetchin’ me that much
-nearer to the end—and I s’pose mebbe that’s so, whether we’ve
-killed anyone or not, but you don’t never think of it unless it’s some
-place where you’re waitin’ for someone to die, or somethin’ like that.
-Then of course I kept thinkin’ of ever’thing in my whole life, and
-I went over again how I’d done it, but I couldn’t make it come out
-any different no matter how hard I tried.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I wondered what I was goin’ to do next, and how long
-‘twould be before they’d ketch me, and if I’d stand any show to get
-out, if I got ketched. Of course, I thought I’d have to run away.
-I never seemed to think of anything but that. I guess ever’body
-runs away when they do any such thing; ‘tain’t so much bein’ safer,
-but they want to get away. It don’t seem as if they’d ever be any
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>chance anymore where it’s done. But I couldn’t just figger out
-where to go. Of course, I knew I’d take the cars. There ain’t any
-other way to travel if you want to go quick. Then I thought I’d
-have a long enough time to figger it out while I was takin’ that
-drive down across the prairie. Anyhow I’d need somethin’ to think
-about while I was goin’.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“That feller that talked to us in the jail said the real reason why
-they hung people and locked ‘em up was to get even with ‘em, to
-make ‘em suffer because they’d done somethin’. He said all the
-smart men who’d studied books claimed that hangin’ and punishin’
-didn’t keep other people from doin’ things. But if it’s done to make
-anyone suffer they ain’t any use in doin’ it at all. I never suffered
-so much since as I did when I was settin’ there and thinkin’ all
-about it, and what I was goin’ to do, and what would become of the
-kid, and how she was dead, and ever’thing else. You know it takes
-quite a while to get used to a thing like that, and while I was
-settin’ there beginnin’ to realize what it all meant, it was awful!
-If I’d only had the nerve I’d just cut my throat and fell right over
-alongside of her. A good many people does that and I wish I could’ve.
-But every time I thought of it I kind of hung back. I don’t ever
-want any more such nights; I’d rather they’d hang me and be done
-with it. I didn’t suffer so much when I was runnin’ away or gettin’
-caught, or bein’ tried; even when I was waitin’ for the verdict to
-come in; nor I didn’t suffer so much waitin’ for the Supreme Court
-or the Governor, or even since they give up hope and I can hear ‘em
-puttin’ that thing up over there in the courtyard.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I don’t s’pose hangin’ will hurt so very much after all. The
-main thing is, I want ‘em to hurry after they start out. Of course,
-I’ll be pretty drunk, and won’t know much about what they’re
-doin’, and I don’t s’pose they’ll take long after I put on them clothes
-until it’s all over. Goin’ from here to the place won’t hurt, though
-I s’pose it’ll be pretty hard work walkin’ up the ladder and seein’
-that rope hangin’ over the beam, and knowin’ what it’s for. But I
-s’pose they’ll help me up. And then strappin’ my hands and feet’ll
-take some time. But they don’t need to do that with me for I shan’t
-do a thing;—still mebbe if they didn’t I’d kind of grab at the rope
-when they knocked the door out from under my feet. I might do that
-without knowin’ it. So I s’pose it’s just as well. It must be kind of
-sickish when they tie the rope ‘round your neck, and when they
-pull that cap over your head, and you know you ain’t never goin’
-to see anything again. I don’t s’pose they’ll wait long after that;
-they oughtn’t to. You won’t feel anything when you’re fallin’ down
-through, but it must hurt when you’re pulled up short by the neck.
-But that can’t last long, can it? They do say the fellers kicks a good
-deal after they’re hung, but the doctors say they don’t really feel it,
-and I s’pose they know, but I don’t see how they can all be so smart
-about ever’thing; they hain’t never been hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I s’pose the priest will be here; he’s a trump, and I think more
-of him than I ever did before. He’s been a great help to me, and I
-don’t know what I’d done without him. Of course, he talks religion
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>to me, but he’s kind of cheerful and ain’t always making out that
-I’m so much worse than anyone else ever was. I ain’t much afraid
-‘bout God; somehow I kind of feel as if He knows that I’ve always
-had a pretty tough time, and that He’ll make allowances on account
-of a lot of them things that the judge ruled out, and He knows how
-I’ve suffered about it all and how sorry I be for her and the kid,
-and He’ll give me a fair show. Still sometimes I can’t help wonderin’
-if mebbe there ain’t nothin’ in all of it, and if I hain’t got through
-when my wind’s shut off. Well, ‘scuse me, I didn’t want to make
-you feel bad, but I’ve thought about it so much and gone over it so
-many times that it don’t seem as if it was me, but that someone
-else was goin’ to get hung; but I hain’t no right to tell it to anybody
-else, and I didn’t mean to.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I set there and waited and waited, until about eleven
-o’clock, and then I thought mebbe ‘twould be safe enough to start,
-just then the boy woke up, and I heard him say ‘Mamma,’ and it
-kind of gave me a start, and I hurried in and asked him what he
-wanted and he said he wanted a drink of water, and I came out to
-the kitchen sink and got it and took it back and gave it to him.
-Then he asked me what time it was, and I told him about eleven
-o’clock, and he asked me why I had my clothes on and where mamma
-was, and I told him we hadn’t gone to bed yet, and for him to turn
-over and go to sleep, and he said a few more words and then dropped
-off.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I went out to the barn to hitch up the rig. The horse was
-layin’ down asleep, and I felt kind of mean to wake him, for I knew
-he was about played out anyhow; but it couldn’t be helped, so I got
-him up and put on the harness. I s’pose he didn’t know much about
-the time, and thought he was goin’ down to Water Street after a
-load of potatoes. I didn’t bring any lantern; I knew the barn so well
-I could hitch up in the dark. Then I took the hay off’n the potatoes
-and put it in the bottom of the wagon to lay her on, and then run
-the wagon out and turned it ‘round and backed it in again. I ‘most
-always hitched up outside the barn for there was more room outdoors,
-but I didn’t want to be out there any more’n I could help, so
-I thought I’d get all ready in the barn so I could just drive away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I got the horse all harnessed and the bits in his mouth,
-and ever’thing ready to hitch up, and then went back in the house.
-I’d been thinkin’ that I’d better take one more look, not that ‘twould
-do any good but just because it might. You know when you’ve lost
-a knife, or a quarter, or anything, and you look through all your
-pockets and find it ‘tain’t there, and then go back and look through
-all of ‘em again and don’t find it; then you ain’t satisfied with that
-and mebbe you keep a lookin’ through ‘em all day, even when you
-know ‘tain’t there. Well, that’s the way I felt about her, only I
-s’pose a good deal worse, so when I got in I looked her over again
-just the same way’s I had before. I felt for her pulse and her heart
-but ‘twa’n’t no use. Then I got my old overcoat and my hat and got
-ready to start, but before I left I thought I’d just look out once to
-see if the folks in the next house was abed, and I found they wa’n’t,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>for there was a light in the kitchen right next to mine, and I knew
-‘twould never do to carry that kind of a bundle out the back door
-while they was up. So I waited a little while until the light went
-out and ever’thing was still, and then put on my coat and hat and
-picked her up in my arms. It was an awful hard thing to do, but
-there wa’n’t nothin’ else for it, so I just kind of took my mind off’n
-it and picked her up. When I got her kind of in my arms one of
-her arms sort of fell over, and her legs kind of hung down like they
-was wood, and then I see I had to fasten ‘em some way or I couldn’t
-never carry her. It wa’n’t like a live person that can stay right
-where they want to; it was more like carryin’ an arm full of wood
-that would scatter all around unless you get it held tight.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I laid her down and found some string and tied her arms
-tight around her body, and then fastened her ankles together. Then
-I went into the bedroom and got a quilt off’n our bed and rolled her
-up in that. You know at my trial they made out that ‘twas bad for
-me to tie her that way, and if I hadn’t been awful wicked I wouldn’t
-have done it. But I can’t see anything in that; there wa’n’t no other
-way to do it. Then they said it was awful bad the way I took her
-off and the place I dumped her, and the newspapers made that out
-one of the worst things about it all; but I tried to think up something
-else to do and I couldn’t, and there she was dead, and I had
-to do the best I could. I washed her and fixed her all up before I
-went away, and if there’d been anything else I could have done I
-know I would.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I got her fixed up, I went to the door and looked out,
-and I saw some drunken fellers goin’ along in the alley, so I waited
-a minute for them; and then I got her in my arms and opened the
-door and then turned off the light and went out and shut the door
-as soft as I could. It wa’n’t but a few steps to the barn, but I hurried
-as fast as I could, and just as I was takin’ the first step I heard the
-most unearthly screech that scart me so I ‘most dropped her; but in
-a minute I knew it was only a train pullin’ into the yards and I hurried
-to get to the barn before the engine come up.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I guess nobody saw me, and I got her in the wagon and
-laid her on the hay. I fixed her head to the end and her feet reachin’
-up under the seat. I didn’t want her head so near me in that long
-drive down over the prairie. Then I covered her up the best I could
-with one of the old horse blankets, so it wouldn’t look suspicious if
-anyone seen me.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I tell you it was awful pokerish out there in the barn, worse
-than in the house, for I had a light there. I didn’t want to stay in
-the barn a minute longer than I could help, so I hurried and hitched
-the old horse onto the wagon, then went out to the alley and looked
-up and down to see if anyone was there. Then I got on the seat and
-put a blanket around me and drove off. I was afraid the neighbors
-would notice me drive out of the barn, but they didn’t. The moon
-hadn’t quite got up and there couldn’t anyone see unless they was
-right close. When I got about a block away I seen a policeman
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>walkin’ ‘long the street and goin’ up to pull a box. Of course I was
-scart; he looked at me kind of suspicious like, and looked at the
-wagon to see what was in there, but it was rather dark and I braced
-up the best I could and drove right ‘long and he didn’t say nothin’.
-Then I found a lot of fellers that was comin’ down the street makin’
-a lot of noise. They was a gang of politicians that had been goin’
-round to the saloons and was pretty full. I was afraid some of ‘em
-might know me, but they didn’t pay any attention and I went along
-up to the corner of Halsted and turned south. I knew Halsted was
-a pretty public street, but the roads was better and I had a long way
-to go, so I thought I might just as well chance that.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I got along down about Twenty-ninth Street and met a gang
-of fellers that was makin’ a lot of noise singin’ and talkin’, and braggin’
-and tellin’ what they could do. I was a little ‘fraid of ‘em, not
-because I thought they’d hurt me, but I didn’t know but what they’d
-see what was in the wagon. When I come up to ‘em they told me to
-stop, that they was the ‘Bridgeport threshers’ and no one had any
-right there but them, and they wanted to know what reason I had
-to be out at that time o’ night. I told ‘em I was just gettin’ home,
-that I’d been kep’ late up town. Then one of ‘em said, ‘What you
-got in the wagon?’ and I said, ‘Potatoes.’ Then one feller said, ‘Let’s
-see ‘em,’ and started for the wagon. But another one spoke up and
-said, ‘Oh, Bill, leave him alone, he’s all right.’ And then they all
-started up another road and went away. That was a pretty narrow
-escape and I was ‘most scart to death for fear they’d look under the
-blanket. I met a good many teams but nothin’ more happened till I
-got down to Fifty-fifth Street Boulevard, where I turned east to go
-over to the Vincennes road.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“By this time the moon had come up and it was about as light
-as day. It had stopped snowin’ and the wind had gone down but it
-was awful cold. I never saw a nicer night. You could see everything
-almost as well as daylight. I hurried the old horse as much as I
-could, but he couldn’t go fast. He hadn’t got much rested from the
-day before. Every once in a while I looked back at the load. I kind
-of hated to look, but I couldn’t help it. The blanket commenced to
-kind of take her shape so it looked to me as if anyone would know
-that someone was under there. So I got out and moved the blanket
-and fixed it up more on one side. But I didn’t look at her. Then I
-drove on across to Vincennes road and turned south. Every once
-in a while I’d meet someone, and I was afraid all the time that
-something would happen, but it didn’t and I drove on. The moon
-got clear up high and I could see everything on the road and around
-the wagon, and see where her feet came through under the seat and
-almost touched mine, and could see all the horse blanket that covered
-her up. I hadn’t got far down the Vincennes road until I
-thought the blanket had changed its shape and was lookin’ just like
-her again so I got out and fixed it up and went back and drove on.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“While I was goin’ ‘long I kep’ thinkin’ what I was goin’ to do
-and I s’pose it was the cold that made me think I’d better go south.
-I always did hate cold weather, and this winter I thought I’d have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>to stay out and run ‘round from one place to another, if I didn’t get
-caught the first thing.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I thought I must take the horse and wagon back home,
-and I wanted to see that the boy was all right; so I thought it might
-bother me to go clear out to that quarry and get away from Chicago
-before daylight. But anyhow I could go until one o’clock and then
-get back by three, and probably ketch a train before mornin’.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After a while I begun to have a queer idea about her. I thought
-I could feel her lookin’ right at me,—kind of feel her eyes. I drove
-on, and said it was all bosh and she couldn’t do it, and I looked
-down at her feet and I seen they was in the same place, but still I
-couldn’t get over that feelin’. I thought she was lookin’ at me all
-the time, and I kind of ‘magined I could hear her say, ‘Where ‘re you
-takin’ me? Where are you takin’ me? Where are you takin’ me?’
-just about the same as when she said, ‘Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!’
-and no matter what I done, or how hard I tried, I could feel her
-lookin’ and hear them words in my ears.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“By this time I was gettin’ ‘way down the Vincennes road. You
-know it gets wide ‘way down south, and it ain’t much built up nor
-very well paved. There’s a lot of road-houses along the street; most
-of ‘em was open and a good many fellers was ‘round ‘em, just as
-they always is ‘round saloons. I’d like to have had a drink, for I
-was awful cold and scart, but I didn’t dare go in, though I did stop
-at a waterin’-trough in front of one of the places and watered the
-horse. He was pretty well blowed and was hot. I had urged him
-pretty hard and the road was heavy. Wherever there was mud it
-was frozen so stiff that it could almost hold up, and still let you
-break through, the very worse kind of roads for a horse to go on.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After I got him watered I went on and kep’ meetin’ lots of
-wagons. I never had no idea how many people traveled nights before.
-I s’posed I wouldn’t see anyone, but I met a wagon ever’ little ways
-and I was always afraid when I passed ‘em. A great many of ‘em
-hollered out, ‘Hello, pardner,’ or ‘What you got to sell,’ or anything,
-to be sociable, and I would holler back the best I could, generally
-stickin’ to ‘Potatoes,’ when they asked me about my load. I thought
-I knew potatoes better’n anything else, and would be more at home
-with ‘em if anything was said.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I hadn’t got far after I watered the horse before her eyes
-began to bother me again. Then I kept hearin’ them words plainer
-than I had before. Then I got to thinkin’ about all the things I had
-heard and read about people who were dead, and about murders,
-and that seemed to make it worse’n ever. Then I began to think of
-the things I’d read about people that were put away for dead, when
-they wa’n’t dead at all, and about mesmerism, and hypnotism, and
-Christian Science, but I knew none of them things was done the way
-she’d been killed. Then I remembered about trances, and how
-people was give up for dead sometimes for days, and even buried
-and then come to life, and about how people had dug up old graveyards
-and found out where lots of people had moved around after
-they’s dead. And then I thought I heard her say, ‘You thought
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>you’d killed me! You thought you’d killed me! You thought you’d
-killed me!’ And the further I went the plainer it sounded. Finally
-I began to think ‘twas so and of course I hoped it was, and I kep’
-thinkin’ it more’n more and couldn’t get it out of my head. Of course,
-I looked around at the houses and the trees and fences and at
-the moon. It had clouded up a little with them kind of lightish heavy
-clouds you’ve seen that run so fast; they was just flyin’ along over
-the sky and across the moon, and I was wishin’ I could go ‘long with
-‘em and get away from it all, and then the voice would come back,
-‘Where are you takin’ me? Where are you takin’ me? Where are you
-takin’ me? You thought you’d killed me! You thought you’d killed
-me! You thought you’d killed me!’ And I felt so sure she wa’n’t
-dead that I couldn’t stand it any more, and I looked at her feet, but
-they hadn’t moved, and then I stopped the horse and got off’n the
-wagon and went back to the hind end and lifted up the blanket kind
-of slow. For I felt as if I’d stand more chance that way than if I
-did it all at once, and I got the blanket up, and then I got hold of the
-quilt just by the edge and kind of pulled it back so as to uncover her
-face, and just then the moon came out from behind a cloud and
-shone right down in her face, almost like day, and she looked just as
-white as a ghost, and the bandage had come off her jaw and it hung
-clear down, and her mouth was open, and I knew she was dead.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I threw the things back and jumped onto the wagon, half
-crazy, and hurried on.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It was gettin’ now where there wa’n’t no more houses, and I
-hardly ever met any teams, and I was gettin’ clear out on the prairies,
-and I looked at my old silver watch and saw it was close to one
-o’clock, and I thought mebbe I might just as well get through with
-it now as to wait any longer. So I looked along at the fields to find a
-good place, and after a while I saw where there was a great big
-field full of hummocks. It looked as if they’d been diggin’ for gravel
-or somethin’ of that kind, and I thought that was as good a place as
-any. So I looked up and down the road, and saw no one comin’, and
-I drove the old horse up in the fence corner and got off the wagon,
-and then I fixed a good place to get over, and fastened the quilt a
-little better, and took her in my arms and started as fast as ever
-I could. I went past the fence and run over to the first hummock,
-but the hole didn’t look very deep, and there was some more further
-over. So I went to them, but they wa’n’t deep enough either. Then
-I looked ‘round and saw one bigger’n the rest and went there. I
-laid her down and looked over. The moon was shinin’ all right, and
-I could see that the hole was pretty big and deep. I laid her down
-lengthwise ‘long the bank, and then took one more feel of her heart
-and ‘twas just the same. Then I fastened the quilt a little tighter,
-lifted her clear over to the edge, and held her head and feet in a straight
-line so she’d roll down the hill all right, and then I give her a shove
-and turned and run away.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>VII</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_053.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-“Well, I hadn’t any more’n started to run till I heard a splash
-I knew she’d got to the water all right and there wa’n’t
-nothin’ for me to do but hurry home.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I went right back to the wagon and climbed upon the seat
-and turned ‘round. The old horse was pretty tired but he seemed
-some encouraged, bein’ as he’d turned home. Horses always does,
-no matter how poor a place they has to stay. I urged him ‘long
-just as fast as I could; didn’t stop for nothin’ except to give him
-some water at a trough down on Halstead Street, and went right
-home. Then I put him in the stable and took care of him, and
-throwed some hay in the manger. So long as I hadn’t any oats I
-emptied about a bushel of potatoes in with the hay. I thought they
-wouldn’t be any use to me any more, and they’d keep him quiet a
-while and mebbe do him some good.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I went in the house, and struck a match and lit the lamp.
-I didn’t ‘low to stay long for I’d got my plans all thought out comin’
-home, but I just wanted to look into the room and see the kid. I
-glanced ‘round and ever’thing seemed all right, except I thought I’d
-better take the coal pail out in the kitchen. Then I looked at the
-floor and the rug and I couldn’t see no blood; and the water had
-pretty near dried up. Then I opened the bedroom door and looked
-at the kid. He was sleepin’ all right, just as if he hadn’t been awake
-once all night. He was layin’ on one side with his face lookin’ out
-toward me, and was kind of smilin’ pleasant-like and his hair was all
-sweaty and curly. You’ve seen the kid. You know he’s got white
-curly hair just as fine as silk. That’s one thing he got from her.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I couldn’t hardly bear to go away and leave him, but
-there wa’n’t nothin’ else to do. I guess I would have kissed him if I
-hadn’t been ‘fraid he’d wake up, but I never was much for kissin’;
-kissin’ depen’s a good deal on how you’re raised. I guess rich people
-kiss a good deal more’n poor people, as a general rule, but I don’t
-know as they think any more of their children. Well, I just looked
-at him a minute and shut the door and went out. Then I noticed
-the whiskey bottle on the table that I brought out to try to wake her;
-I hadn’t thought of it before; and I picked it up and drank what was
-left, and turned and blew out the lamp and went away. That’s the
-last I ever seen of the kid, or the house.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I went right over to the yards to see about trains. There wa’n’t
-nothin’ standin’ ‘round there and I didn’t like to ask any questions,
-so I went down to the other end and see ‘em switchin’ some cars as
-if they was makin’ up a train, and I walked out in the shadow of a
-fence until they’d got it all made up and I felt pretty sure ‘twas goin’
-south. I knew them cars and engines pretty well. Then I jumped
-in a box car that was about in the middle of the train. There was a
-great big machine of some kind in the car, so there was plenty of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>room left for me, and I snuggled down in one corner and dozed off.
-I don’t think I’d been sleepin’ long till a brakeman come past with
-a lantern and asked me who I was and where I was goin’. I told
-him I was goin’ south to get a job, and wanted to get down as far as
-Georgia if I could, for my lungs wa’n’t strong and the doctors had
-advised a change of climate. I had read about the doctors advisin’
-rich people to have a change of climate, but of course I hadn’t ever
-heard of their tellin’ the poor to do any such thing. I s’pose because
-it wouldn’t do no good and they couldn’t afford to leave their jobs
-and go. But I didn’t see why that wasn’t a good excuse. He asked
-me if I had any whiskey or tobacco, and I said no, and he told me
-that I oughtn’t to get on a train without whiskey or tobacco, and I
-promised not to again, and then he let me go.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It was just gettin’ streaks of light in the east, and I thought I
-might as well go ahead and prob’ly I’d better ride till noon anyhow,
-as nothin’ much could happen before that time. Then I went off to
-sleep again. The sun was pretty high before I woke up. I looked at
-my watch to see what time it was but found I’d forgot to wind it the
-night before and it had run down. Well, I concluded it was just as
-safe to stay on the car so long as it was goin’ south and so I didn’t
-get off all day, except to run over to a grocery when the train
-stopped once and get some crackers and a few cigars. I thought I’d
-have ‘em when the brakeman come ‘round, and then I fixed myself
-for the night. I was pretty well beat out and didn’t have much trouble
-goin’ to sleep, though of course I couldn’t get it out of my head any
-of the time, and would wake up once in a while and wonder if it
-wa’n’t all a dream till I found myself again and knew it was all true.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I’d found out that the car I was in was goin’ to Mississippi and
-made out that it was for some saw mill down there. It was switched
-‘round once or twice in the day, and I think once in the night, and
-was put on other trains, and the new brakeman had come ‘round at
-different times. After I got the cigars I gave ‘em one whenever
-they come ‘round and this kep’ ‘em pretty good natured. And so
-long as the car had switched off and I made up my mind they
-wouldn’t find her the first day, I thought mebbe I’d better stay right
-in it and go to Mississippi. I didn’t know nothin’ ‘bout Mississippi,
-except that it was south and a long ways off and settled with niggers,
-and that they made lumber down there. I used to see a good many
-cars from Mississippi when I was switchin’ in the yards. The car
-was switched off quite a bit, and didn’t go very fast, and it was four
-days before they landed it in Mississippi.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“They stopped right in the middle of the woods, and I made up
-my mind that this was about as good a place to stay as anywhere, if
-I could get a job, and I thought it wouldn’t be a bad plan to try
-where they was sendin’ the machine. It had been so easy for me to
-get down to Mississippi that I began to think that mebbe my luck
-had changed, and that the Lord had punished me all he was goin’ to.
-So I went up to the mill and asked for a job. The foreman told me
-he’d give me one if I didn’t mind workin’ with niggers. I told him I
-didn’t care anything ‘bout that, I guessed they was as good as I was.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>So I started in. My whiskers was beginnin’ to grow out some. You
-know I always kep’ ‘em shaved off, and now they was comin’ out all
-over my face, and I made up my mind to let ‘em grow. I went to
-work loadin’ saw logs onto a little car that took ‘em down into the
-mill. A great big stout nigger worked with me, and we took long
-poles and rolled the logs over onto the cars, and then it was rolled
-down into the mill and another one come up in its place. I found
-the only chance to board was in the big buildin’ where all the hands
-lived. I thought this wa’n’t a bad place. Most of the people boardin’
-there was niggers, but there was a few white fellers, and I naturally
-got acquainted with ‘em.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I’d been there a week or two when someone brought a Chicago
-paper into the house. It was covered with great big headlines and
-had my picture on the front page. It told all ‘bout some boys findin’
-her and about the neighbors hearin’ me call her a damned bitch, and
-about the kid wakin’ up in the mornin’ and goin’ out in the street
-to hunt its ma. Then it offered a thousand dollars reward in great
-big letters.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“My whiskers had grown out a good deal and I didn’t look so
-very much like the picture. Anyhow I don’t think newspaper pictures
-look much like anybody. Still, of course, I was awful scart at
-that. My best chum read the piece all over out loud to me after we
-got through work, and he said it beat all what a place Chicago was;
-that such things as that was always happenin’ in Chicago; and that
-Jackson must have been an awful bad man—wouldn’t I hate to meet
-him out in the woods some place! A man like that would rather kill
-anybody than eat. I didn’t say much about it, but of course I didn’t
-contradict him. But I simply couldn’t talk very much myself. He
-said he wished he could get the one thousand dollars, but no such
-luck would ever come to him.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I’d come there I said my name was Jones, because ‘twas
-the easiest one I could think of; there was a butcher right near us
-that was named Jones, and it popped into my head at the time.
-Some of ‘em asked me where I was from, and I told ‘em Cincinnati.
-I didn’t know much about Cincinnati, except that we used to get cars
-from there, and so I knew something ‘bout the roads that went to it. I
-managed to get hold of the paper and burn it up without anyone
-seein’ me. But after it came I didn’t feel so easy as I did before. I
-stayed there about a month workin’ at the mill and pickin’ up what
-I could about the country, and then I began to think my chum was
-gettin’ suspicious of me. He kep’ askin’ me a good many questions
-about what I’d worked at and where’bouts I had worked, and how I
-got there from Cincinnati and a lot of questions about the town, and
-I thought he was altogether too inquisitive, and of course I would
-have told him so if I had dared. Finally I thought the other fellers
-was gettin’ suspicious, too, and I thought they kind of watched me
-and asked a good many questions. So one time right after I got my
-pay I made up my mind to leave. I didn’t wait to say nothin’ to
-anyone, but jumped onto a freight train, and went on about fifty
-miles or so south to a railroad crossin’ and then I jumped off, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>took another train east. Along next day I saw a little town where
-there was another saw mill, so I stopped off and asked for a job.
-I didn’t have no trouble goin’ to work, so long as I was willin’ to
-work with the niggers, and I stayed there two or three weeks, same
-as the other place, and then I thought the boss began to notice me.
-He asked me a lot of questions about where I come from, and ‘most
-everything else he could think of. I told him I come from St. Louis,
-but I didn’t know much more ‘bout that place than I did ‘bout Cincinnati,
-and I guess he didn’t neither. But as soon as pay-day come
-I made up my mind I’d better start, so I took the few duds I’d got
-together and jumped on another train goin’ further yet, and went
-away. Finally I stopped at a little town that looked rather nice and
-started out to get a job.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Ever since I got off the first train I always looked pretty
-sharp at everyone to make out whether they was watchin’ me or not.
-Then I always got hold of all the newspapers I could find to see
-if there was anything more about me. I found another Chicago
-paper in the depot, and it still had my picture and the offer of a
-thousand dollars reward, and said I must have took one of the freight
-trains that left the yards, and would most likely be in the south or
-in the west. I didn’t like to stay there any longer after seein’ that
-paper, but I managed to fold it up the best I could, and just as quick
-as I got a chance I tore it to pieces and threw it away. Then I
-thought mebbe I’d better get back away from the railroad. So I seen
-an old darkey that looked kind of friendly and I asked him about the
-country. He told me a good deal about it and I started out to walk
-to where he said there was some charcoal pits. I found the place and
-managed to get a chance to work burnin’ wood and tendin’ fires. It
-was awful black sooty work, but I didn’t care nothin’ about that.
-The main thing with me was bein’ safe. I had a pardner who worked
-with me keepin’ up the fires and lookin’ after the pits at night, and
-it looked kind of nice with the red fires of the pits lightin’ up the
-woods and ever’thing all ‘round lookin’ just like a picture. When we
-got through in the mornin’ you couldn’t tell us from darkies, we was
-so covered with smoke and burnt wood. We boarded in a little
-shanty with an old nigger lady that fed us on hominy and fried
-chicken, and we didn’t have much of any place to sleep that was
-very good.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After I’d been there two or three days I got pretty well
-acquainted with my pardner. One day he asked me where I was
-from. I never said nothin’ to anybody ‘bout where I came from,
-or where I was goin’, or asked them any questions about themselves.
-I just worked steady at my job, and all I thought of was
-keepin’ still in hopes it would wear off in time, and I could start
-over new. I used to dream a good deal about her and the boy, and
-sometimes I’d think we was back there in Chicago all livin’ together
-and ever’thing goin’ all right. Then I would dream that I was out
-with the boys to a caucus, or goin’ ‘round the saloons campaignin’
-with the alderman. Then I’d dream about fightin’ her and hittin’
-her on the head with the poker, and it seemed as if I throwed her
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>in Lake Michigan. Then I’d dream about the boy and my learnin’
-him his letters, and his bein’ with me in the wagon when we was
-peddlin’ potatoes, and about the horse, the old one that died, and
-the last one I got at the renderin’-place. Then I’d kind of get down
-to the peddlin’, and go over the whole route in my sleep, hollerin’
-out ‘po-ta-toes!’ all along the streets on the west side where I used
-to go, and the old Italian women and the Bohemian ladies and all
-the rest would be out tryin’ to get ‘em cheaper and tellin’ me how
-I’d charged too much. Then I seen the old lady that I give the half
-peck to, and could hear her ask all the saints to bless me. Then I
-stopped into the butcher-shop and got the steak, and ever’thing I
-ever done kep’ comin’ back to me, only not quite the same as it is in
-real life. You know how ‘tis in a dream; you want to go somewhere
-and somethin’ kind of holds your leg and you can’t go. Or you want
-to do somethin’ and no matter how hard you try somethin’ is always
-gettin’ in front of you and hinderin’ you and keepin’ you back. Well,
-that’s the way ‘twas with all my dreams; nothin’ turned out right and
-I always come back to where I killed her and throwed her in the lake,
-till I was almost ‘fraid to go to sleep, and then I was ‘fraid I’d
-holler or talk in my sleep. And my chum slep’ in the same room
-with me and I was ‘fraid mebbe he’d find it out, so I never dared to
-go to sleep until after he did, and then I was always ‘fraid I’d holler
-and say somethin’ and wake him up and that he’d find out ‘bout me
-and what I’d done.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, as I was sayin’, after I’d been there three or four days we
-was down to the pits one night tendin’ to the fires, and we got to
-talkin’ and tellin’ stories to pass the time away, and at last he asked
-me where I was from, and I said St. Louis. He said he was from the
-north too; I didn’t ask him where he’d come from, but he told me
-Chicago. I was almost scart to death when he mentioned the place.
-I didn’t ask no questions nor say a word, but he kep’ on talkin’ so
-I kind of moved’ round a little and leaned up against a pine tree
-so’s the light couldn’t shine right in my face, for I didn’t know what
-he might say. He told me that he come down here every winter for
-his health; that Chicago was so cold and changeable in the winter;
-that he worked in the stock-yards when he was there and he always
-went back just as soon as he dared, that there wa’n’t no place in the
-world like Chicago, and he was always awful lonesome when he was
-away, and he wouldn’t ever leave it if he could only stand the
-climate. He said there was always somethin’ goin’ on in Chicago; a
-feller could get a run for his money no matter what kind of a game
-he played; that if he wanted to have a little sport, there was the pool-rooms
-and plenty of other places; that if he didn’t have much
-money he could get a little game in the back end of a cigar store, or
-he could shoot craps; if he wanted a bigger game there was Powers’
-&amp; O’Brien’s and O’Leary’s, and if that wa’n’t enough, then there
-was the Board of Trade. There was always lots of excitement in
-Chicago, too. There was races and elections and always strikes, and
-ever’thing goin’ on. Then there was more murders and hangin’s in
-Chicago than in any other city. Take that car-barn case; it couldn’t
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>never have happened anywhere except in Chicago. And the Luetgert
-case, where the feller boiled his wife up in the sausage-vat so
-that there wa’n’t nothin’ left but one or two toe-nails, but one doctor
-identified her by them, and swore they was toe-nails and belonged
-to a woman about her size; one of ‘em had seen her over at a picnic
-and remembered her, and he was pretty sure that the toe-nails was
-hers. Then that Jackson case was the latest; that happened just a
-little while before he left, and the papers was full of that one.
-Jackson was a peddler and he went ‘round all day and drunk at all
-the saloons just so he could get up nerve enough to kill her. He
-thought she had some property and he’d get it if she was out of the
-way, so he killed her and took her off and put her in a hole where
-he thought no one could find her; but they did, and now one of the
-papers had offered a thousand dollars reward for him, and they were
-lookin’ for him all over the United States. He said as how he took a
-Chicago paper and kep’ posted on everything and read it every day
-and wouldn’t be without it for a minute. And then he asked me if I
-hadn’t never been to Chicago, and why I didn’t go. I told him
-mebbe I would some time, but I’d always been kind of ‘fraid to go.
-I didn’t say much but got the subject changed as soon as possible,
-and managed to put in the rest of the night the best I could, and
-then went home, and after he’d gone to sleep I packed my valise
-and paid the nigger lady and told her I had enough of that job and
-started off afoot without waitin’ for my pay.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I went straight down the road for two or three miles till I
-come to where another road crossed, then I turned off to the left.
-I didn’t have any reason for turnin’, except it seemed as if that
-would take me more out of the way. I didn’t see anyone along the
-road except now and then some old nigger. I walked several miles,
-and there didn’t ‘pear to be no one livin’ on the road except niggers
-with little shanties same as the one I left in Chicago. I stopped once
-and asked an old darkey lady for somethin’ to eat and she give me
-some fried chicken and a piece of corn bread and I sat and et it, and
-a whole lot of woolly-headed little pickaninnies sat and looked at me
-every mouthful. One of ‘em was about the size of my kid, and made
-me think of him a good deal; but he didn’t look nothin’ like him. I
-guess ‘twas just because he was a boy and about the age of mine.
-After I et the chicken and the bread I started on and traveled all day
-without seein’ anyone, except niggers, or stoppin’ anywhere except
-to get a drink in a little stream. When it begun to be dark I commenced
-to think what I’d do for the night, and watched out for a
-place to stay. So after while I saw an old shack ‘side of the road and
-went in. There was some straw and I was so tired that I laid down
-and went right to sleep.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“All night I dreamed about bein’ follered. First I thought I was
-out in a woods and some hounds was chasin’ me, and I heard ‘em
-bayin’ way back on my trail and knew they’s comin’ for me. I run
-to a little stream and follered it up same as I used to read in Indian
-stories, and then started on again, and after a while I didn’t hear ‘em
-any more. Then first thing I knew they commenced bayin’ again and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>I could tell that they’d struck my trail, so I run just as fast as ever I
-could and the bayin’ kep’ gettin’ louder’n’ louder, and I run through
-bushes and brush and ever’thing, and they kep’ gainin’ on me till
-they was so close that I got to a little tree where I could almost
-reach the branches and I got hold of ‘em and pulled myself up and
-got ahead of the hounds, but they come up and set down around the
-tree and howled and howled so they’d be heard all through the
-woods, and I knew it was all up with me; and then I woke up and
-found that I was in the barn and no one ‘round except a cow or a
-horse that was eatin’ over in a corner. So I tried to go to sleep again.
-Then I dreamed that the policemen and detectives was after me, and
-first it seemed as if I was runnin’ down a street and the police was
-right behind, and then I turned down an alley and they hollered to me
-to stop or they’d shoot, but I didn’t stop, and they shot at me and
-hit me in the leg, and I fell down and they come up and got me, and
-then it seemed as if I was on the cars and detectives was follerin’ me
-ever’where, and whenever I stopped them detectives somehow knew
-where I was, and they’d come to the place, and I got away and went
-somewhere else, and then they’d turn up there, all ready to arrest
-me, and I couldn’t go anywhere except they’d follow me. And I kind
-of saw her face, and she seemed to be follerin’ me too, only she
-didn’t seem to have any legs or much of anything, except just her
-face and a kind of long white train and she just come wherever I
-was, without walkin’ or ridin’, but just come, and she always seemed
-to know just the right place no matter how careful I hid, and when
-they got all ready to nab me I woke up. By that time it was daylight
-and there was a darkey there in the barn feedin’ a mule, and he
-said, ‘Hello, boss!’ just as friendly, and asked me where I was goin’.
-I told him I was lookin’ for a job, and he told me he thought that
-over about four miles to the town I could get a job. So I told him
-all right, and asked him if he could give me somethin’ to eat. He
-took me into the house and gave me some chicken and some corn-cakes
-and told me if I would wait a while he’d hitch up the mule and
-take me into town, that he was goin’ anyway. I thanked him and
-told him I was in a hurry to get to work, and guessed I wouldn’t
-wait. I’d got so I was ‘fraid to talk with anybody. I thought they’d
-ask me where I was from, and tell me somethin’ ‘bout Chicago, and
-mebbe show me a newspaper with my picture in it.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then I went on down the road till I come to a nice town in the
-middle of big pine trees. It was full of fine white houses and a few
-brick stores, and two or three great big hotels. I asked a nigger what
-the place was and he told me it was Thompson, and was a winter
-resort for Yankees who come there for their lungs; that they spent
-lots of money and that was what made the place so big.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I always liked to talk with the niggers; they never asked me
-any questions, and I never was ‘fraid that they’d been in Chicago,
-and I didn’t really think they took any of the papers, for they didn’t
-know how to read. Well, I just took one look at Thompson and
-then went as far from the hotels as I could, and kep’ away from
-the stores, for I was sure the place was full of people from Chicago,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>and that all the newspapers would be there, too. I didn’t stop a
-minute over where all the nice houses was. I seen lots of people out
-on the porches and settin’ in hammocks and loafin’ ‘round, and I
-knew they was from Chicago. Then I went along across a little
-stream and come to a lot of poor tumbled-down houses and tents, and I
-knew they was the niggers’ quarters, so I went into a little store kep’
-by an old fat nigger lady and bought a bag of crackers and asked her
-about the roads.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Before this I made up my mind to go to Cuba. I remembered
-readin’ all about it at the time of the war, when a lot of them stock-yards
-boys went to fight, and I thought that I’d be so far away that
-I might be safe, so I knew that I had to go to the Gulf of Mexico,
-and I kep’ on that way. I didn’t dare to take the railroads any more,
-but just thought I’d walk, so I kep’ straight on down the road all day
-until I got a long ways from Thompson. I didn’t dare to stop for
-work, for I’d got it into my head that everyone was after me, and if
-I waited any more I’d get caught. My shoes was gettin’ pretty near
-wore out and I knew they wouldn’t last much longer, and I hadn’t
-got more’n four dollars left, and I knew if I didn’t come to the Gulf
-pretty soon I’d just have to go to work.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“That night I stopped at another old shack, and had about the
-same kind of dream I did the night before, only I was runnin’, and
-every time I pretty near got away a cramp would come in my leg
-and pull me back and give ‘em a chance to ketch me, and they seemed
-to come just the same without runnin’ or flyin’, or anything, and
-always she’d come just where I was. Still I got through the night
-and a nigger lady gave me somethin’ to eat, and I went on.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I began to look awful ragged and shabby. My coat was torn
-and awful old and black where I’d been workin’ in the charcoal pit.
-I’d changed my shirt, and washed the one I had on in a little stream,
-but the buttons was gettin’ off and I was tyin’ em up with strings.
-My pants was all wore out ‘long the bottom, and my shoes pretty
-near all knocked to pieces. As for my stockin’s—you couldn’t call ‘em
-stockin’s at all, and I’d made up my mind to get a new pair the next
-store I come to, but I didn’t like to stop in town.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Along about noon I got to a little place and, of course, I was
-lookin’ pretty bad. Some o’ the dogs commenced barkin’ at me as
-soon as ever I got into town. I stopped at a house to get somethin’
-to eat, and a white lady come to the door and told me to go ‘way,
-that I was a tramp, and that she’d set the dog on me, and I ran as
-fast as I could. I went down the street and a good many boys follered
-me, and I began to get scart; so I went through the town as fast as
-I could, but I see some people was follerin’ after me, and one that
-rode on a horse. So I took to the fields and made for a clump of
-trees that I saw off to the right. I run just as fast as ever I could
-and when I looked back I saw some people was follerin’ me through
-the field. I went straight to the woods and ran through ‘em, and
-got pretty badly scratched up, and my clothes tore worse’n they
-was before. Then I run into a swamp just beyond and two or three
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>men ran ‘round on the other side of the swamp and I knew it was
-all up, and I might just as well surrender and go back.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I was so scart I didn’t care much what they done, so when
-the one in front asked me to surrender or he’d shoot, I come out to
-where he was, and he put his hand on me kind of rough and said I
-was under arrest for bein’ a tramp, and to come with him.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then he took me back to town with all the men follerin’ and
-when we got up into the edge of the place ‘most all the boys, black
-and white, turned in and follered too. They took me to a little
-buildin’ over on the side of the town, and went down stairs into the
-cellar and opened an iron door and put me in. There wa’n’t no light
-except one window which was covered with iron bars, and they locked
-the door and went away and left me there alone.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>VIII</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_062.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-“I was locked up in the cellar for a long time before anyone
-came to talk with me. I looked ‘round to see if there was any
-chance to get out, but I seen it couldn’t be done. I thought it
-wa’n’t hardly worth while to try. Honestly it seemed a kind of
-relief to be ketched and know I didn’t have to run any more. I didn’t
-know why they arrested me, but I s’posed they just thought I’d done
-something and they’d try to find out what it was, so I thought about
-what I’d do, and made up my mind I hadn’t better say much.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After a while some fellers come down to see me and took me
-up in the office. One of ‘em was the marshal and another was a
-lawyer or police-judge or somethin’ of that kind. They said they
-wanted to fill out some sort of a paper about who I was and where
-I come from and what my business was and who my father and
-mother was, and what my religion was, and whether I ever drank,
-or smoked cigarettes, and the color of my hair and eyes, and how
-much I weighed, and a lot of things like that. So I told ‘em I was
-from St. Louis, and guessed at the rest of the answers the best I
-could. Only I told ‘em I never knew who my father and mother was.
-They wa’n’t satisfied with my answers and fired a lot more questions
-at me. And then they told me they thought I lied, and they’d
-put me in the lock-up until mornin’, so they put me back there and
-give me a plate o’ scraps for supper, and a straw bed to sleep on,
-and then went away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Somehow I slept better that night than I had since I’d run
-away. I rather thought it was all up and only a question of time
-when I’d get back here, but I knew where I stood and wa’n’t so
-scart. I’ve slep’ fine ever since I was here, only the time when the
-jury was out and when I was waitin’ for the Supreme Court, and
-some special times like that. As near as I can find out most of ‘em
-does when they know it’s all off, just like people with a cancer or
-consumption, or when they’re awful old. They get used to it and
-sleep just the same unless they have a pain, or somethin’. They
-don’t lay awake thinkin’ they’re goin’ to die. And after all, I guess
-if people done that there wouldn’t any of ‘em sleep much. For ‘tain’t
-very long with anybody, and bein’ sentenced to death ain’t much
-differ’nt from dyin’ without a sentence. Of course, I s’pose it’s a
-little shorter and still that ain’t always the case. There’s two fellers
-that I knew died since I come here; one of ‘em had pneumonia, and
-the other was a switchman that thought the engine was on the
-other side-track. John Murphy was his name. Still—I guess my
-time’s pretty near come now.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, in the mornin’ the marshal came in and brought me some
-breakfast. Then he took me up to the office again. He waited a few
-minutes till the judge come, and then they commenced firin’ questions
-at me. They asked me how I got from St. Louis to where I was,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>That kind of puzzled me, for I didn’t exactly know where I was.
-I answered it the best I could; but I know I didn’t get it right. They
-told me I hadn’t got over lyin’ and I’d have to be shut up some more.
-Then they asked me what public buildin’s there was in St. Louis. I
-made a guess and told ‘em the court-house and state-house. They
-laughed at this, and said St. Louis wa’n’t the capital of Missouri.
-And of course I didn’t argue with ‘em about that. Then they wanted
-to know how I come there and I said I walked. And they wanted to
-know what places I come through and I couldn’t tell ‘em. Then
-they asked me where I had walked, and I couldn’t tell ‘em that; and
-they asked me how far I’d walked, and I told ‘em not very far,
-and they laughed at my clothes and shoes and said they was ‘most
-wore out, and they didn’t believe it, and told me again that they
-thought I was lyin’ and I’d have to stay there till I learnt how to
-tell the truth. Then I got mad and said I hadn’t done nothin’ and
-they hadn’t any right to keep me, and I wouldn’t answer any more
-questions; that they didn’t believe anything I said anyhow and it
-wa’n’t any use, and to go ahead and do what they pleased with me.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then the marshal went to his desk and got a lot of photographs
-and hand-bills tellin’ about murderers and robbers and burglars and
-pickpockets and ever’thing else, that was sent to him from all over
-the country, and he took ‘em and looked ‘em all over and then looked
-at me. Then he sorted out a dozen or so and stared at me more particular
-than before. I seen what he had in his hand; I seen one of
-‘em was my picture; only I was smooth-faced and now my whiskers
-had got long. He made me take off my clothes and looked me over
-careful, and found where I had broke my leg the time that I caught
-my foot between the rails when I thought I was goin’ to be run over.
-You remember the time? I wish now I had. Then he let me put on
-my clothes, and he went over all the descriptions just as careful as
-he could, and he found that the hand-bill told about a broken leg;
-then he looked at my face again, and then he asked me when I’d
-shaved last, and I told him I never shaved. Then he wanted to know
-how tall I was, and I told him I didn’t know, so he measured me by
-standin’ me up ‘gainst the wall and markin’ the place. I tried to
-scrooch down as much as I could without him noticin’ it; but he
-said it was just ‘bout what the hand-bill had it. Then he asked me
-how much I weighed, and I told him I hadn’t been weighed for
-years. So he called someone to help him, and they put some han’cuffs
-on one arm and fastened the other to the marshal and took me
-over to a store, and made me stand on the scales till I got weighed.
-He said I weighed just a little bit less than the hand-bill made it,
-and that if I’d walked from Chicago that would account for the difference.
-Then he looked over my clothes, but he couldn’t find any
-marks on ‘em.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then he sent down for the barber and told him to shave me.
-I objected to that and told him he hadn’t any right to do it; that I
-wasn’t charged with any crime, and he said it didn’t make no difference,
-he was goin’ to do it anyway. So I knew it wa’n’t no use,
-and I set down and let the barber shave me. Of course I knew it
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>would all be up as soon as I got shaved. But I didn’t care so very
-much if it was; it wa’n’t any worse than runnin’ all the time and
-bein’ ‘fraid of ever’-one you met and knowin’ you’d be ketched at
-last.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, after the barber got through shavin’ me, the marshal
-took the picture and held it up ‘side of my face, and anyone could see
-‘twas me. He was so glad he almost shouted. And he told the police
-judge that he’d got one of the most dangerous criminals in the whole
-United States, and he was entitled to one thousand dollars reward.
-I never see a boy feel so good over anythin’ as he did over ketchin’
-me. He said that now he could pay off the mortgage on his house
-and get his girl piano lessons, and run for sheriff next fall. When
-he told me I was Jackson, I denied it and said I never knew anything
-about Chicago, and was never there in my life. He didn’t pay
-any attention to this, but wired to Chicago, givin’ a full description
-of me. Of course, it wa’n’t long before he got back word that I was
-Jackson, and to hold me till they sent someone down.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After the marshal found out who I was he treated me a good
-deal better’n before. He got me nice fried chicken ‘most every meal,
-and always coffee or tea and corn-cakes, and I couldn’t complain of
-the board. Then he got my clothes washed and give me some new
-pants and shoes and fixed me up quite nice. He come in and visited
-with me a good deal and seemed real social and happy. He give me
-cigars to smoke and sometimes a drink o’ whiskey, and treated me
-as if he really liked me. I expect he couldn’t help feelin’ friendly to
-me, because he thought of that one thousand dollars, and that he
-wouldn’t’ve got it if I hadn’t killed her, and in one way a good deal
-as if I done it on his account. Of course he wa’n’t really glad I done
-it, but so long as I done it, he was glad I come his way. I s’pose he
-hadn’t anything against me any more’n a cat has against a mouse
-that it ketches and plays with till it gets ready to eat it up. His
-business was ketchin’ people just like the cat’s is ketchin’ rats.
-Seems to me, though, I’d hate to be in his business, even if it is a bad
-lot you’ve got to ketch. Still he watched me closer’n ever, even if
-he was good to me. He didn’t mean to let that thousand dollars get
-away. He kep’ someone ‘round the jail all the time, and he got some
-extra bars on the windows, and when he come to see me or talk with
-me he always brought someone with him so I couldn’t do anything
-to him. He needn’t worried so much, for I was clean tired out and
-discouraged, and I felt better in there than I had any time since I
-killed her. Bein’ out of jail ain’t necessar’ly liberty. If you’re ‘fraid
-all the time and have got to dodge and keep hid and can’t go where
-you want to and are runnin’ away all the time, you might just as
-well be shut up, for you ain’t free.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Soon as the marshal found out who I was, it didn’t take the
-news long to travel ‘round the town, and it seemed as if ever’one
-there come to the lock-up to see me. The boys used to come up
-‘round the windows and kind of stay back, as if they thought I might
-reach out and ketch ‘em, but I always kep’ as far away as I could.
-Then the people would come down with the marshal to the cell
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>when he brought my supper and look at me to see me eat, and try to
-get me to come up and talk to ‘em and watch me same as you’ve
-seen ‘em look at bears when they was feedin’ up at Lincoln Park,
-and they’d point to me and say, ‘That’s him; just see his for’head.
-Wouldn’t I hate to get caught out alone with him? Anyone could
-see what he is by lookin’ at him. I bet they make short work of him
-when they get him to Chicago!’ I always kep’ back as far as I could
-for I didn’t want to be seen. No one had ever looked at me or paid
-any attention to me before, or said anything about me, and I hadn’t
-ever expected to have my name or picture in the paper, or to have
-people come and see me, and anyhow not this way.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course, I knew well enough that it wouldn’t last long, and
-that they’d be here for me in two or three days. I can’t tell you just
-how I felt. I knew I was caught, and that there wa’n’t much chance
-for me. I knew all the evidence would be circumstantial, still I knew
-I done it, and luck never had come my way anyhow, so I didn’t have
-much hopes that ‘twould now. Then I began to feel as if it might as
-well be over. If I was goin’ to be hung, I might just as well be hung
-and done with it. There wa’n’t any kind of a show for me any more,
-and it wa’n’t any use to fight. Then I began to figger on how long
-‘twould take. I knew there was cases where it took years, but I
-always thought them cases must have been where they had lots of
-money and could hire high-priced lawyers. And I hadn’t got any
-money, and the newspapers had said so much about my case that I
-was sure that they wouldn’t give me much chance or any more than
-the law allowed.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, inside of two days some fellers come down from the
-sheriff’s office in Chicago. I didn’t know either one of ‘em, but they
-had all kinds of pictures and descriptions and said there wa’n’t any
-doubt about who I was, and said I might as well own up and be done
-with it. But I didn’t see any use of ownin’ up to anything, so I
-wouldn’t answer any questions or say much one way or another.
-Then they explained to me that they hadn’t any right to take me
-out of the state without a requisition from the gov’nor, and it would
-take a week or so to get that, and I might just as well go back with
-them without puttin’ ‘em to this bother; that it always looked better
-when anyone went back themselves, and anyhow I’d be kep’ here
-in jail till they got a requisition. So I told ‘em all right, I’d just as
-soon go back to Chicago as anywhere, and I hadn’t done nothin’
-that I had to be ‘fraid of, and was ready to go as soon as they was.
-So they stayed till the next mornin’ and then han’-cuffed me and
-put me between ‘em and led me down to the depot. Before I left the
-lock-up the marshal give me a good breakfast and some cigars and
-shook hands with me, and said he hoped I’d have a pleasant journey.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I went down to the depot it seemed as if the whole
-town, black and white, had turned out to see me, and ever’one was
-pointin’ to me and sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s him.’ ‘He looks it,
-don’t he?’ And pretty soon the train come up and the officers and
-conductor kep’ the crowd back while they took me into the smokin’-car.
-It seemed as if ever’one in the car and on the whole train knew
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>who I was and just what I’d done, and they all come up to the
-smokin’-car to get a look at me, and pass remarks about me, and
-ever’one seemed glad to think I was caught and was goin’ to be
-hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It ain’t no use to tell you all about the trip home. It didn’t
-take me as long to come back as it did to go ‘way. At pretty near ever’
-station there was a crowd out to see the train, and all of ‘em tried to
-get a look at me. The conductor and brakemen all pointed me out
-and the people come to the doors and stood up before the window
-and did ever’thing they could think of to see me. The detectives
-treated me all right. They gave me all I could eat and talked with
-me a good deal. They didn’t ask many questions, and told me I
-needn’t say any more’n I had a mind to, but they told me a good
-deal about politics and how that the alderman was runnin’ again, and
-all that was goin’ on in Chicago, and where all they’d been huntin’
-for me since I run away. I had to sit up at night. One of ‘em kep’
-han’-cuffed to me all night and another han’cuff was fastened to the
-seat. I don’t s’pose they could’ve made it any more comfortable and
-see that I didn’t run away. But still I don’t ever want to take that
-kind of a ride again and I s’pose I never will.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I felt queer when we began to get back into Chicago. In some
-ways I always liked the city; I guess ever’one does, no matter how
-rough it is. And I couldn’t help feelin’ kind of good to see the
-streets and fac’tries and shops again; and still I felt bad, too. I knew
-that ever’one in the town was turned against me, and I didn’t have a
-friend anywhere. We’d got the Chicago papers as we’d come along
-and they was full of all kinds of stories and pictures about me, and
-some things that I’d said, ‘though I’d never talked a word to anyone.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The papers said that they hoped there’d be none of the usual
-long delays in tryin’ my case, that I was a brutal murderer, and
-there wa’n’t no use of spendin’ much time over me. Of course, I
-ought to have a fair and impartial trial, but I ought to be hung
-without delay, and no sentimental notoriety-huntin’ people ought to
-be allowed to see me. They wished that a judge could be found who
-had the courage to do his duty, and do it right off quick. I had
-already been indicted, and there wa’n’t nothin’ to do but place me
-on trial next day, and the verdict would be reached in a few days
-more. It was unfortunate that the law allowed one hundred days
-before a murderer could be hung after trial; that the next legislature
-must change it to ten days; that would be plenty of time for anyone
-to show that a mistake had been made in their trial, even if he was
-locked up all the time. The papers said how that the Anti-Crimes
-Committee was to be congratulated on havin’ found a good lawyer
-to assist the state in the prosecution, and that the lawyer was a
-good public spirited man and ought to be well paid for his disagreeable
-work.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The papers told all about the arrest down in Georgia, and how
-the marshal and a force of citizens followed me into the swamp and
-what a desperate fight I made, and how many people I’d knocked
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>down and ‘most killed, until I was finally overpowered and taken in
-irons to the county jail.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I can’t make you understand how I felt when they was bringin’
-me into town. We come along down the old canal where we used to
-stone the frogs and the geese and all along the places where us boys
-used to play. Then we come down through the yards where I used
-to work, and right past the house where I left that night with the
-kid sleepin’ in the bedroom. That was the hardest part of all the
-trip, and I tried to turn away when we come down along back of the
-barn by the alley; but it seemed as if something kind of drew my
-eyes around that way, and I couldn’t keep ‘em off’n the spot. And I
-thought about ever’thing I done there just in a flash, and even wondered
-how long the old horse was tied in the barn before they found
-him, and whether he got all the potatoes et up before he was took
-away. But I looked away as quick as I could and watched all the
-streets as we passed, to see if I could see anyone I knew. I felt
-pretty sure that I wouldn’t leave Chicago again, and I guess I never
-will.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Pretty soon they pulled into the big depot, and the train
-stopped and we got off. I wa’n’t expectin’ nothin’ in the station,
-but when we landed the whole place was filled back of the gate,
-and I could see that they was looking for me. The crowd was about
-like one that I was in down there once when McKinley come to
-Chicago. A squad of policemen come down to meet us, and they got
-us in the middle of the bunch and hurried us into a patrol wagon.
-I could hear the crowd sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s the murderer; let’s
-lynch him!’—‘He don’t deserve a trial! Let’s hang him first and
-then try him’—‘The miserable brute!’ ‘The contemptible coward!’—I
-guess if it hadn’t been for all the policemen I’d have been lynched,
-and mebbe ‘twould have been just as well. ‘Twouldn’t have taken so
-long, nor cost so much money. Anyhow, I wish now they’d done it
-and then it would be all over; and now—well, ‘twon’t be long.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“There was a lot of people in the street and every one of ‘em
-seemed to know who was in the patrol-wagon, and they walked all
-the way over, and lots of little boys follered the wagon clear to the
-jail; then the newsboys on the street kep’ yellin’, ‘All ‘bout the capture
-of Jim Jackson! Extra paper!’ and it seemed as if the whole
-town was tryin’ to kill me. Somehow I hadn’t realized how ‘twas as
-I come ‘long, and, in fact, ever since I went away. Of course, I knew
-how bad the killin’ was, and how ever’one must feel, and how I
-wished I hadn’t done it, and how I’d have done anything on earth
-to make it different, but all the time I’d been away from the people
-that knew all about it, and I didn’t somehow realize what they’d do.
-But when I come back and seen it all I felt just as if there was a big
-storm out on the lake and I was standin’ on the shore and all the waves
-was comin’ right over me and carryin’ me away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, they didn’t lose any time but drove as fast as they could
-down Dearborn Street over the bridge to the county jail. Then
-they hustled me right out and took me straight through the crowd
-up to the door; the Dearborn Street door (that’s the one you came
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>in, I s’pose), and they didn’t wait hardly a minit to book me, but
-hurried me up stairs and locked me in a cell, and I haven’t seen the
-outside of the jail since, and I don’t s’pose I ever will.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim stopped as if the remembrance of it all had overpowered
-him. Hank didn’t know what to say, so he got up and walked a few
-turns back and forth along the cell, trying to get it all through his
-clouded mind. Such a night as this he had never dreamed of, and he
-could not yet realize what it meant. The long story and the intense
-suffering seemed to have taken all the strength that Jim had left.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank turned to him with an effort to give him some consolation.
-“Say, Jim, don’t take it too hard. You know there ain’t much
-in it for any of us, and most people has more trouble than anything
-else. Lay down a little while; you can tell me the rest pretty soon.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No,” Jim answered, “I ain’t got through; I can’t waste any
-time. It must be gettin’ along toward mornin’, and you see I don’t
-know just when it’ll be. They seem to think it’s treatin’ us better
-if they don’t tell us when, only just the day. Then you know, they
-can come in any time after midnight. They could break in now if
-they wanted to, but I s’pose they’ll give me my breakfast first,
-though they won’t wait long after that. Well, I ain’t got any right to
-complain, and I don’t mean to, but I s’pose I feel like anyone else
-would.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Just then a strange dull sound echoed through the silent corridors.
-Hank started with a nervous jerk. It sounded like a rope or
-strap suddenly pulled up short and tight.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“What’s that?” Hank asked. Jim’s face was pale for a moment,
-and his breath was short and heavy.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Don’t you know? That’s the bag of sand.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“What bag of sand?” Hank asked.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Why, they always try the rope that way, to see if it’s all right.
-If they don’t, it’s liable to break, and they’d have to hang ‘em over
-again. They take a bag of sand that weighs just about the same as
-a man and tie the rope to the sand, and then knock the door out and
-the sand falls. I guess the rope’s all right; I hope so. I don’t want
-‘em to make any mistake. It’ll be bad enough to be hung once. I
-wonder how I’ll stand it. I hope I don’t make a scene. But I don’t
-really think anyone ought to be blamed no matter what they do
-when they’re gettin’ hung, do you?</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It seems to me, though, that they might be a better way to
-kill anyone. I think shootin’ would be better’n this way. That’s the
-way they kill steers down to the stock-yards and I don’t believe the
-Humane Society would let ‘em hang ‘em up by the neck. I should
-think ‘twould be better to take some cell that’s air-tight and put ‘em
-to bed in there and then turn on the gas. But I s’pose any way would
-seem bad enough. Did you ever stop to think how you’d like to die?
-I guess nobody could pick any way that they wanted to go, and
-mebbe we’d all rather take chances; but I don’t believe anybody’d
-pick hangin’. It seems to me the very worst way anybody could
-die. I wonder how they commenced it in the first place. Well, I
-can’t help it by thinkin’ it over. I’ve done that often enough already,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>goodness knows. I believe I’ll ask the guard for another drink before
-I tell any more.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guard came at the first call.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Sure, you can have all the whiskey you want. I was just down
-to the office a little while ago. Take this bottle. I think it’s pretty
-smooth, but it’s a little weak. Guess the clerk poured some water in,
-thinkin’ it was goin’ to the ladies’ ward. You’d better take a pretty
-big drink to do you any good.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim thanked him as he took the bottle, and then inquired:</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Did you go down to the telephone again to see whether there
-had anything come over to the telegraph office?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No—I didn’t,” the guard answered, “but I’ll go back pretty
-soon. They keep open all night. It’s early yet, anyhow.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim offered the bottle to his friend. Hank took a good drink,
-which he needed after the excitement of the night. Then he passed
-the bottle back to Jim.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“If I was you I’d drink all that’s left; it’s good, but it’s pretty
-weak, all right. I’m sure you’d feel better to take it all.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim raised it to his lips, tipped his head back and held the bottle
-almost straight until the last drop had run slowly down his throat.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>IX</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_070.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-Jim laid the bottle on the bed and then sat down on his chair.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“My head begins to swim some but I guess I can finish
-the story all right. I know I’m pretty longwinded. Still I guess
-I can’t talk very much more if I wanted to. I’m glad the whiskey’s
-beginnin’ to get in its work; I don’t believe I’ll have much trouble
-gettin’ so drunk that I won’t know whether I’m goin’ to a hangin’ or a
-primary.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Let me see; oh, yes, they hustled me into a cell and locked me up.
-I guess they thought best not to waste much time, for a good many
-people had got together on the outside.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I think ‘twas on Friday they put me in. There wa’n’t nothin’
-done on Saturday; but on Sunday they let us all go to church up
-in the chapel. They kep’ me pretty well guarded as if I might do
-somethin’ in the church, but there wa’n’t no way to get out if I
-wanted to. The preacher told us about the prodigal son, and how
-he repented of all his wanderin’s and sins and come back home, and
-how glad his father was to see him, and how he treated him better’n
-any of the rest that hadn’t never done wrong. He said that’s the way
-our Heavenly Father would feel about us, if we repented, and that it
-didn’t matter what we’d done—after we repented we was white as
-snow. One of the prisoners told me he was gettin’ kind of tired of the
-prodigal son; that ‘most every preacher that come told about the
-prodigal son just as if that story had been meant specially for them.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Some of the prisoners seemed to like to go to church; some
-acted as if they understood all about it, and wanted to do better,
-and some of ‘em seemed to go so as to get out of their cells. Anyhow
-I s’pose the people that run the jail thought ‘twas a good thing
-and believed it was all so. But I know one feller that killed a man—he
-was kind of half-witted—and was tried the same as the rest of
-us when they had that crusade against crime. Of course they sentenced
-him to death. He got religion and used to pray all the time,
-and used to talk religion to all the rest of the fellers, and ever’one
-said that he was really sorry and was fully converted and was as
-pure as a little child. But they took him out and hung him anyway.
-It don’t quite seem as if they believed what the preacher said themselves,
-or they wouldn’t hang a feller when he’s turned right, and
-when God was goin’ to treat him like all the rest after he gets to
-heaven.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When I went back to my cell, I begun thinkin’ about what I’d do.
-Of course I knew you can’t get any show without a lawyer, and I knew
-that I might just as well not have any as to have one that wa’n’t smart.
-I didn’t know any lawyer except the one that charged me ten dollars for
-nothin’, and of course I wouldn’t have him. But one of the guards was
-kind of nice and friendly to me and I thought I’d ask him. He told me
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>that gettin’ a lawyer was a pretty hard matter. Of course, my case
-was a celebrated one, and would advertise a lawyer, but the best ones
-didn’t need no advertisin’ and the others wa’n’t no good. He told me
-that Groves was the best fighter, but it wa’n’t no use to try to get him
-for he’d got more’n he could do, and most of his time was took up prosecutin’
-people for stealin’ coal from the railroads, except once in a while
-when some rich banker or politician got into trouble. Then he took a
-good slice of what he’d got saved up. I asked him ‘bout some others
-and he told me the same story of all the rest that amounted to anything.
-I told him I hadn’t got no money, and I thought the horse and wagon
-and furniture was took on the chattel-mortgage before this, and he said
-he s’posed the court would have to appoint someone and I might just
-about as well defend myself.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Monday mornin’ they come to the jail and told me I had to go
-before the judge. I didn’t s’pose ‘twould come so soon, for I knew
-somethin’ about how slow the courts was. You remember when Jimmy
-Carroll was killed by the railroad? Well, that’s more’n three years ago,
-and the case ha’n’t been tried yet. I was su’prised and didn’t know what
-to do, but there wa’n’t much to do. They come after me and I had to
-go; so I put on my coat and vest and they han’-cuffed me to a couple
-of guards, and took me through some alleys and passages and over some
-bridges inside the buildin’, and first thing I knew they opened a door
-and I came into a room packed full of people, and the judge settin’ up
-on a big high seat with a desk in front of him, and lookin’ awful solemn
-and kind of scareful. As soon as I stepped in there was a buzz all over
-the room, and ever’body reached out their necks, and kind of got up on
-their chairs and looked at me. The guards took off my han’-cuffs and
-set me down in a chair ‘side of a big table. And then one of ‘em set
-back of me and another one right to my side.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“They waited a few minutes till ever’one got still, and then some
-feller got up and spoke to the judge and said ‘People against Jackson.’
-The judge looked at me and said, just as solemn and hard as he could,
-‘Jackson, stand up.’ Of course I done what he said, and then he looked
-the same way and said, ‘Are you guilty or not guilty?’ Of course I
-was kind of scared before all of them people; I’d never been called up
-in a crowd before, except a few times when I said a few words in the
-union where I knew all the boys. But these people were all against me,
-and anyhow it was an awful hard place to put a feller, so I stood still a
-minit tryin’ to think what I ought to say, and whether someone was
-there that I could talk to. Finally the judge spoke up and says, ‘The
-prisoner pleads not guilty.’ ‘Jackson, have you a lawyer?’ and then I
-said: ‘I hain’t got no lawyer.’ Then he asked if I wanted him to appoint
-one, and I told him I wished he would. He asked me who I’d
-have. Of course I thought I could choose anyone I wanted, so I said
-Groves. Then he laughed and ever’one else laughed, and he said he
-guessed Groves had too much to do to bother with me. So I chose one
-or two more names I’d heard of, and he said none of ‘em would do it
-neither. Then he said he’d give me till tomorrow to make up my mind
-who I wanted, and he told the bailiff to take me back to jail. So they
-put the han’-cuffs on and we went back through the alleys and over the
-bridges to the jail. When I got to my cell I asked the guard what he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>thought I ought to do about a lawyer, and he said that lots of lawyers
-had give him their cards and asked him to hand them to the prisoners
-and told him they would divide the fee, if they got any. They mostly
-wa’n’t much good for the business. He said there was one young feller
-who seemed pretty smart, but he hadn’t never had a case, but he’d
-probably work hard to get his name up. I told him that it didn’t seem
-as if a lawyer ought to commence on a case like mine, and he said that
-wouldn’t make any difference, most of the murder cases was defended
-by lawyers that was just startin’. There wa’n’t hardly anyone who was
-tried but was too poor to have a good lawyer. Then I told him to send
-me the young lawyer, and he did.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The lawyer wa’n’t a bad feller, and he seemed interested in the
-case, and was the first person I’d seen since I done it who wanted to
-help me. Of course I could see he was new at the business, like one of
-them green-horns that comes in the yards the first time and brings a
-stick to couple cars with; but I liked his face and seen he was honest.
-It didn’t seem quite fair, though, that I should have a lawyer that hadn’t
-never had a case. I didn’t believe they’d take a young feller who was
-just out of a medicine-college and set him to cut off a leg all by himself,
-the first thing, or even take a country-jake and let him kill steers at
-the stock-yards, but I didn’t see no way to help it, and I thought mebbe
-if I didn’t take him I’d do worse instead of better. He asked me all
-about the case and seemed disappointed when I told him how it was;
-he said he was afraid there wa’n’t much show, unless he claimed insanity.
-I told him I didn’t see how he could make out that I was crazy; that I
-thought self-defense or somethin’ like that would be better. He said he’d
-think it over till tomorrow, and talk with some of the professors at the
-college, and be in court in the mornin’. The next day they come for
-me right after breakfast, and put on the han’-cuffs and took me to court
-again. The same kind of a crowd was there as the day before, and I
-was pretty badly scart; but my lawyer was at the table with me, and
-he spoke to me real friendly, and that made me feel a little better. Then
-the judge called the case, and asked if I had a lawyer, and my lawyer
-spoke up and said he was goin’ to defend me; so the judge said all right,
-and asked if the other side was ready. They said they was, and that
-they wanted the case tried right off. Then the judge asked my lawyer
-if he was ready and he said ‘no,’ that he’d just come into the case and
-hadn’t had no chance to get it ready. Then the lawyer on the other
-side said that I was notified yesterday that I must be ready today and
-I didn’t have anything to do but get ready; that they wanted to try it
-now; that next week he wanted to go to a picnic, and the week after to a
-convention, and it must be done now; then, there had been so many
-murders that no one was safe in Chicago, and the whole public was
-anxious to see the case tried at once. Besides there wa’n’t any defense.
-I had killed her and run away, and wa’n’t entitled to any consideration.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“My lawyer said it wouldn’t be right to put me on trial without a
-chance to defend myself, that I couldn’t get away yesterday to look up
-witnesses, and I had a right to a reasonable time; that he wanted at
-least four weeks to prepare the case. This seemed to make the judge
-mad. He said there wa’n’t no excuse for any delay, but as this was
-such a clear case he wanted to give me every chance he could, so he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>would continue till next Monday. Then I was took back to the jail,
-and my lawyer met me over there and I told him ever’ place I went the
-day I done it, and ever’one I saw, and all about her, and what she’d
-done to make me mad, and he said he’d go out himself and look it up,
-and do what he could, but he was ‘fraid there wa’n’t no chance. The
-papers had said so much and the citizens had got up a Crime Committee,
-and ever’one who was tried either went to the penitentiary or got hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Ever’day the lawyer would come and ask me something ‘bout the
-case, and tell me what he’d found out. He said he couldn’t get any
-witnesses to say anything; that the man where I got the beefsteak was
-‘fraid to come and testify; that someone had been there from the State’s
-Attorney’s office and most scart him to death, and he was ‘fraid of
-gettin’ into trouble and gettin’ mixed up with it himself, and anyway he
-didn’t see as he’d do the case any good if he came. He said he couldn’t
-find anything that helped him a bit. He’d been to the house, but the
-poker and everything that would do any good had been taken by the
-state, and he didn’t know which way to turn. He kep’ comin’ back to
-my insanity, and asked me if any of my parents or grand-parents, or
-uncles or aunts or cousins, or anyone else was crazy. I told him I didn’t
-know anything ‘bout them but I didn’t think it was any use to try that.
-I knew what I was doin’, all right. Then he told me if I had a hundred
-dollars he could get a good doctor to swear I was crazy; but I hadn’t
-any hundred dollars of course, and besides I never thought ‘twould do
-much good. So I told him that he wa’n’t to blame for it, and to just
-do the best he could, and I’d be satisfied whichever way it went. I didn’t
-expect much myself anyhow. He said he’d have me plead guilty and the
-judge would most likely give me a life-sentence, only since this crusade
-against crime the judges dassent do that; there was so much said about
-it in the newspapers, and they was all ‘fraid of what the papers said.
-He told me that he didn’t believe it was anything more than second-degree
-murder anyhow, but there wa’n’t any chance now, the way public
-opinion was.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I begun to get pretty well acquainted with the prisoners in the jail
-and some of ‘em was real nice and kind and wanted to do all they could
-to help ever’one that was in trouble. Of course some of ‘em was pretty
-desp’rate, and didn’t seem to care much for anything. Then there was
-some that had been in jail ten and fifteen times, and been in the penitentiary,
-and ever’where, and just as soon as they got out they got right
-back in again; they didn’t seem to learn anything by goin’ to prison,
-and it didn’t seem to do them any hurt. They said they’d just as soon
-be there as anywhere else.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But one thing I noticed a good deal that I never thought anything
-about until that feller come and spoke, that was how that the outsiders
-was really the ones that got punished the worst. It was sickenin’ to
-see how some of them poor women would cry and take on because their
-man was in jail, and how they’d work and scrub night and day and
-nearly kill themselves to earn money to get him out; and then the little
-children that come to see their fathers, how they’d stay out of school
-and work in the packin’-houses and laundries and do anything for a
-little money to help them out. Hones’ly I believe if anyone stays ‘round
-here for a week he’ll see that the people that ain’t done nothin’ is punished
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>a good deal more’n the others. Why, there was one awful pretty-lookin’
-girl used to come here to see her father, and the fellers told me
-that she was studyin’ music or somethin’ like that, and her father was
-put in jail on a fine, and she came here to see him every day, and done
-all she could to earn the money to get him out, but she couldn’t do it,
-and finally she went into one of them sportin’ houses down on Clark
-Street, and lived there long enough to get the money. I don’t know,
-of course, whether it’s so, but I don’t see why not. Lots of the girls
-go to the department stores and laundries and stock-yards and they ain’t
-much harder places on a girl’s health. Anybody’ll do everything they
-can to earn money to save anyone they care for.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, the week went away pretty fast. I didn’t s’pose ‘twas so
-hard to get a case continued. You know that Carroll case? You
-remember we quit our work four or five times and lost our pay, and
-the judge continued it just because the lawyer had somethin’ else to do.
-But I knew ‘twouldn’t be no use for me to try to get mine continued any
-more. And I didn’t care much. I was gettin’ so I’d just about as soon
-be done with it as not, and still I was pretty sure I’d be hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The next Monday mornin’ I was taken into court the same way,
-and the han’-cuffs was unlocked, and I was set down to the table by
-my lawyer. One guard set just back of me and the other at the side.
-Someone started a story that a gang of Bridgeport toughs was comin’
-to rescue me, but of course there wa’n’t nothin’ in it. I didn’t have a
-friend that even come to see me—but the newspapers all printed the story,
-and, of course, that was against me too.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“When the judge called the case, he asked if we was ready, and
-my lawyer said he needed more time; that he’d done all he could to get
-ready, but he hadn’t had time. But the judge wouldn’t pay a bit of attention
-to him, and said he must go to trial at once, and told the bailiff to
-call a jury. So the bailiff called the names of twelve men and they
-took their seats in two rows of chairs along one side of the room. Ever’
-one of ‘em looked at me as if he didn’t like to be in the same room where
-I was. Then the lawyers commenced askin’ ‘m questions—where they
-lived, and how long they had lived there, and where they lived before,
-and how much rent they paid, and what they worked at, and how long
-they’d worked there, and what they’d done before, and what their fathers
-done, and where they come from, and was they dead, and if they was
-married, and how many times, and if they had children, and how many,
-and how old, and if they was boys or girls, and if the children went to
-school, and what they studied, and if they belonged to the church, and
-what one, and if they belonged to any societies or lodges or labor unions,
-or knew anyone, or read the papers, or didn’t believe in hangin’ people,
-and if they believed in ‘circumstantial evidence,’ and if they’d hang on
-circumstantial evidence, and if they believed in the law—and a lot of
-other things that I can’t remember. If anyone didn’t believe in hangin’
-he was let go right away; and if they didn’t believe in circumstantial
-evidence they didn’t keep ‘em either.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The other lawyer asked questions first and it didn’t take him
-very long to get the ones that he wanted. Ever’one said he believed in
-hangin’, and they all said they’d hang anybody on circumstantial evidence.
-After he got through my lawyer questioned ‘em. They all said
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>that they’d read all about the case, and had formed an opinion about it—and
-they all looked at me as if they had. Then my lawyer objected
-to ‘em, and the judge said to each one, ‘Well, even if you have formed
-an opinion, don’t you think you could lay that aside and not pay any
-attention to it, and try the case on the evidence and give the prisoner
-the benefit of the doubt? Don’t you think that in spite of the opinion
-you could presume him innocent when you begin?’ Most of ‘em said
-they could; one of ‘em said he couldn’t. Then the judge lectured him
-for not bein’ able to give anyone a fair trial, no matter who he was,
-and said we’d have to take the others, and told us to go ahead and get
-another one. So my lawyer tried another one and found him just like
-the rest. But the judge made us take him anyway. He said they was
-perfectly fair jurors, and we couldn’t expect to get men that sympathized
-with crime.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It ain’t any use to tell you all about gettin’ the jury, and then I
-hain’t got time. Both sides had a right to strike off twenty without any
-reason at all, only that they didn’t like ‘em. We took a long time to
-get a jury. We didn’t get much of any until after we had struck off
-‘most all of our twenty. All the jurors seemed to have made up their
-minds, but pretty nearly all of ‘em said it didn’t make any difference;
-they could give me a fair trial even if their minds was made up.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I noticed that they struck off workin’-men and Catholics, and
-people that didn’t have any religion, and foreigners, and I noticed my
-lawyer struck off Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Swedes, and G. A.
-R.’s. It took three or four days to get the jury, and then we hadn’t
-any more challenges left, and so we had to take ‘em. Pretty near
-ever’one of ‘em said they’d read all about the case in all the papers and
-had their minds made up. I knew, of course, that meant they was
-against me. But still they all said that didn’t make no difference if they
-had got their minds made up, they could forget their opinions and go
-at the case as if they believed I was innocent. But ever’one of ‘em said
-he believed in hangin’, and all of ‘em said that circumstantial evidence
-was good enough for him. I set there ‘side of the table with my lawyer
-and looked ‘em over, and tried to make up my mind what they was
-thinkin’ of, but they wa’n’t one of ‘em would look at me when they
-knew I was lookin’, and I could see from the way they did that they
-was sure all the time that I done it, and ought to swing. Of course, I
-know it’s the law that when a feller’s placed on trial they’re s’posed to
-be innocent, but I knew that the judge and all them twelve men felt
-sure I was guilty or I wouldn’t have been there. Of course I done it.
-I don’t know anything that would’ve done any good, but all the same
-it’s pretty tough to be tried by a jury when they think you ought to be
-hung before they commence.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“After they got the jury the other lawyer told ‘em about the case,
-and he made it awful black. I don’t know how he ever found out all
-the things he said. Of course a good many of ‘em was true and a good
-many wa’n’t true, but he made out that I was the worst man that ever
-lived. The judge listened to ever’ word he said and looked over to me
-ever’ once in a while, as if he wondered how I ever could’ve done it, and
-was glad that I was where I belonged at last. The jury watched ever’
-word the lawyer said, and looked at me ever’ once in a while to see how
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>I stood it. Of course it was mighty hard, but I done the best I could.
-When he got through the judge asked my lawyer what he had to say,
-and he said he wouldn’t tell his side now. Then they commenced puttin’
-in the evidence.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I s’pose you read all about it at the time, but the papers always
-gave me the worst of it, and the evidence wa’n’t near so bad as it
-looked in the papers. Of course they proved about the boy goin’ out
-the next mornin’ to the neighbors, and cryin’ for his pa and ma, and
-about ever’one lookin’ all over for us without findin’ us nor any trace
-of either one, and about the horse and wagon both lookin’ as if it
-had been out all night. And then the folks as lived next door told
-about hearin’ me say ‘you damned bitch,’ and hearin’ someone fall,
-though they didn’t think much of it then as they’d heard so many
-rows before. And then they told about findin’ a piece of brown paper
-covered with blood, and then they brought in a doctor, or someone
-who said he’d examined it with a magnifyin’ glass and it was
-human blood. He wa’n’t quite sure whether it was a gentleman
-or a lady; but he knew ‘twas one or the other. Then they brought
-in the paper and handed it to the jury, and passed it down along
-both rows, and ever’one took it in his hand and felt it, and looked
-at it just as if they never had seen any paper like that before, and
-wanted to make sure ‘twas paper and not cloth. Of course the
-minute I seen it I knew it was the paper that had the beefsteak in
-it, and I told my lawyer what it was. An’ I got right up to say
-something and the judge looked at me just as cross and says ‘Set
-down and keep still; you’ve got a lawyer to talk for you, and if you
-say anything more, I’ll send you to jail.’ Of course I was scart to
-hear him speak to me that way before the jury and the whole room
-full of people, and I knew that it would show ever’one that the judge
-was against me. Some of the papers next day made out that I
-jumped up and was goin’ to run away when I seen the bloody paper.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“My lawyer had another doctor examine a piece of the paper
-that night, and he said it was a cow or an ox, but he wouldn’t come
-and testify to it unless I’d give him a hundred dollars, but of course
-I didn’t have that. The court room was awful still when they passed
-around that paper; you could hear the jurors breathe and they held
-their heads down as if they felt sorry about somethin’. And after
-they’d looked it all over the lawyer took it, and the judge says:
-‘Let me see that paper,’ and he put on his spectacles and looked it
-all over, first on one side and then on the other. He had a little bit
-of a magnifyin’ glass in one hand, and he put it over the paper and
-looked at it through the glass, and then he looked at me just as
-solemn as if it was a funeral, and I seen it was all up with me. Of
-course, I told my lawyer just where I got it and what it was, and
-he went down to the butcher shop and seen the man, but the man
-was ‘fraid to come, and said he didn’t remember ‘bout the steak nor
-about me; he guessed he’d seen me—I used to come down that way
-to peddle—but he couldn’t tell whether I was in the shop that night
-or not.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then they brought the boys who had found her in a pool of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>water out on the prairie two or three days after, and they brought
-some of the clothes she had on. They was all covered with mud,
-and they passed ‘em all around to the jury and the judge, just the
-same as they did the paper. Of course, these did look pretty bad,
-and they made me feel kind of faint, for I’d thought about her a good
-deal the last few days, and dreamed about her almost every night,
-and sometimes I’d dream that ever’thing was all right, and then wake
-up and remember just how ‘twas. I don’t know which is worse: to
-dream that the thing was done and see it all before you, just as if
-you were doin’ it all over again, and then wake up and know it was
-a dream, and then know it was so, or to dream that you’re livin’ together
-all right and are happy, and then wake up and find that’s a
-dream, and you’re in jail for murder and can’t never get out alive.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then they proved about how the poker just fit into the place
-in her head, and how it was took back into the kitchen and put into
-the ashes again, so ‘twouldn’t show, and how far I drove that day,
-and ever’ saloon I stopped into on the way, and just how much I
-drank, and ever’thing I done, except the beefsteak I bought and
-that half peck of potatoes that I gave away to the old lady. Then
-they proved all about my runnin’ away, and where I’d been, and
-what I’d done, and my changin’ my name, and the way I was caught.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“A good many times my lawyer objected to something that they
-tried to prove, or to something that the other feller was sayin’, but
-ever’ time the judge decided ‘gainst my lawyer, and he ‘most always
-seemed kind of mad when my lawyer said anything. The other one
-was a good deal the smartest; ever’one said he wanted to be a judge,
-and he took all the murder cases he could get, and they called him
-the ‘hangin’ lawyer,’ because ever’one he had anything to do with
-got hung.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“There was always a big crowd in the court room ever’ day,
-and a lot of people waitin’ outside to get in, and there was always
-some awfully nice dressed ladies settin’ up there with the judge ever’
-day, and they had a sort of glass in their hands, and they’d hold it
-up in front of their eyes and look at me through the glass just like
-the judge looked at the paper.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It took about two days for their side to call all the witnesses
-they had, and finally their lawyer got up just as solemn and said
-that was their case.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then the judge give them a few minutes recess for ever’body
-to walk around a little, and ever’one looked at me, just as they’d done
-all the time. When they come to order the judge told us to go on
-with our side. My lawyer turned to me and said he didn’t see what
-use it was to prove anything, and we might just as well let the case
-go the way it was. I said I ought to go on the stand and tell about
-that paper, and how it was nothin’ but the one that come around the
-beef, and he said they wouldn’t believe me if I said it. And anyhow
-it wouldn’t make any difference. If I once got on the stand they’d
-get me all mixed up and the first thing I knew I’d tell ‘em all about
-ever’thing, and so far as witnesses went he couldn’t find anyone to do
-me any good.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>“I thought ‘twould look pretty bad not to give any evidence at
-all, and he said he knew that but ‘twould look a mighty sight worse
-if we put any in. So my lawyer got up and ever’one watched to see
-what he was goin’ to do, and then he just said ‘May it please the
-court, we have concluded not to put in any evidence.’ And ever’one
-commenced to whisper, and to look at me, and to look ‘round, and
-the judge looked queer and kind of satisfied, and said then if there
-was no evidence on our side they would take a recess till mornin’
-when they could argue the case. Of course, after I went back to the
-cell and got to thinkin’ it over I could see that it was all off more’n
-ever, but I didn’t see that the lawyer could have done any different.”</p>
-
-<hr class='c008' />
-
-<p class='c000'>Here Jim got up and went to the grating and called to the guard.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I’m gettin’ a little tired and fagged out and it ain’t worth while
-to go to bed. Won’t you just give me some more whiskey?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guard came up to the door. “Of course, you can have all
-the whiskey you want,” he said. “Here’s a bottle I’ve just fetched
-up from the office. You’d better drink that up and then I’ll get
-you some more.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim took a long drink at the bottle, and then passed it to his
-friend. Hank was glad to have something to help him through the
-ordeal, which had been hard for him to bear.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Presently the guard came back to the grating and asked Jim
-what he wanted for breakfast.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It ain’t breakfast time yet, is it?” Jim gasped.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“No, but I’m going to the office after a while and I want to
-give the order when I go. You’d better tell me now. You can have
-‘most anything you want. You can have ham and eggs, or bacon or
-steak, and tea or coffee, and bread and butter and cakes; or all of ‘em—or
-anything else you want.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I guess you’d better bring me ham and eggs. I don’t
-seem to care for steak, and I don’t think I want any coffee. I’d
-rather have a cocktail. You’d better bring me plenty more whiskey
-too when you come. You know I hain’t slept any and I’m kind of
-nervous. I guess it’ll be better if I don’t know much about it; don’t
-you?”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Sure thing,” the guard answered back. “We’ve got some
-Scotch whiskey over there that’s all right. I’ll bring you some of
-that. All the boys takes that. I don’t think you’ll be troubled
-much after a good drink of that Scotch. I guess you’d better hurry
-up a little bit with what you want to say. I don’t like to hurry you
-any, but I’m afraid they’ll be along with the breakfast after while,
-and they don’t allow any visitors after that.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The guard turned to leave, but before he had gone far, Jim
-called out, “You’d better telephone over to the telegraph office,
-hadn’t you? Somethin’ might have come maybe.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“All right, I’ll do that,” the guard answered back, “and Jim, I
-guess you might as well put on them new clothes before breakfast;
-they’ll look better’n the old ones—to eat in.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>
- <h2 class='c006'>X</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class='c007'>
- <img class='drop-capi' src='images/i_079.jpg' width='100' alt='' />
-</div><p class='drop-capi_8'>
-Jim drank the remnant of whiskey in the bottle he was holding,
-draining it to the last drop. As he sat in his chair he leaned
-against the side of the cell.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“My—how many bottles of this stuff I’ve drunk tonight.
-It’s a wonder I ain’t dead already. I don’t believe I could keep up
-only I’ve got to finish my story. But this cell begins to swim
-‘round pretty lively; I guess it ain’t goin’ to take much to finish me.
-Think a little of that Scotch will just about do the job. I don’t care
-what anyone says, I’m goin’ to get just as drunk as I can. I sha’n’t
-live to see what they say in the newspapers and it won’t make any
-difference when I’m dead. I don’t know as I ought to eat anything;
-it might kind of keep it from actin’, but still I might as well. I
-guess the Scotch’ll do it all right anyway.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, there ain’t very much more to tell, and I guess you’re
-glad. It’s been a tough night on you, poor feller. I hope no one’ll
-ever have to do it for you. But, say—you’ve done me lots of good!
-I don’t know how I’d put in the night, if you hadn’t come!</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well—the last mornin’ they took me over to court, the room
-was jammed more’n ever before, and a big crowd was waitin’ outside.
-I heard the other lawyer say that the judge’s platform looked
-like a reception; anyhow it was full of ladies with perfectly grand
-clothes, and most of ‘em would hold their glasses up to look at me.
-The other lawyer didn’t say much in his first speech, only to tell
-how it was all done, and how they had proved that everything happened
-in Cook County, and what a high office the jury had.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then my lawyer talked for me. I didn’t really see how he
-could have done any better and the papers all said he done fine. Of
-course there wa’n’t much to say. I done it, and what more was
-there to it? And yet I s’pose a lawyer is educated so he can talk all
-right on either side. Well, my lawyer went on to make out that no
-one had seen it done, that the evidence was all circumstantial, and
-no one ever ought to be hung on circumstantial evidence. He went
-on to show how many mistakes had been made on circumstantial
-evidence, and he told about a lot of cases. He told the jury about
-one that I think happened in Vermont where two farmers was seen
-goin’ out in the field. They hadn’t been very good friends for a long
-time. Someone heard loud voices and knew they was fightin’.
-Finally one of ‘em never come back and afterwards some bones or
-somethin’ was found, that the doctors said was a farmer’s bones.
-Well, they tried that farmer and found him guilty, and hung him.
-And then years afterwards the other man come back. And he’d just
-wandered off in a crazy fit. And after a while another doctor found
-out that them bones was only sheep bones, and they’d hung an innocent
-man. He told a lot of stories of that kind, and some of the
-jury seemed to cry when he told ‘em, but I guess they was cryin’
-for the Vermont man and not for me.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>“After my lawyer got through the other lawyer had one more
-chance, and he was awful hard on me. He made out that I was the
-worst man that ever lived. He claimed that I had made up my mind
-to kill her long ago, just to get rid of her, and that I went ‘round to
-all the saloons that day and drank just to get up my nerve. Then
-he claimed that I took a bottle of whiskey home and drank it up and
-left the empty bottle on the table, and I took that just to nerve me
-up. He made more out of the brown paper than he did of anything
-else, and told how I burned all the rest of the evidence but had forgot
-to burn this, and how I’d gone into the kitchen and got the
-poker out of the stove and come back into the settin’-room and killed
-her, and then took it back; and how cold-blooded I was to take her,
-after I’d killed her, and go and dump her into that hole away out on
-the prairie, and how I’d run away, and how that proved I’d killed
-her, and then he compared me with all the murderers who ever lived
-since Cain, ‘most, and showed how all of ‘em was better’n I was,
-and told the jury that nobody in Chicago would be safe unless I was
-hung; and if they done their duty and hung me there wouldn’t be
-any more killin’ in Chicago after this. I can’t begin to tell you what
-all he said; but it was awful! Once in a while when it was too bad,
-my lawyer would interrupt, but the judge always decided against
-me and then the other lawyer went on worse’n before. The papers
-next day told how fast I changed color while he was talkin’, and
-what a great speech he made, and they all said he ought to be a
-judge because he was so fearless.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It took the crowd some time to quiet down after he got through
-and then the judge asked the jury to stand up, and they stood up,
-and he read a lot of stuff to ‘em, tellin’ ‘em about the case. ‘Most
-all that he read was ‘gainst me. Sometimes I thought he was readin’
-one on my side, and he told ‘em how sure they must be before they
-could convict, and then he’d wind up by sayin’ they must be sure it
-was done in Cook County. Of course there never was any doubt
-but what it all happened in Cook County. When the judge got
-through ‘twas most night, and he told the bailiff to take charge of
-the jury, so he took ‘em and the clothes and the brown paper with
-the blood out in the jury room, and they han’-cuffed me and took
-me back to my cell.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I don’t believe I ever put in any night that was quite so hard
-on me—exceptin’ mebbe the night I done it—as that one when the
-jury was out. I guess ever’one thought they wouldn’t stay long. I
-couldn’t see that any of ‘em ever looked at me once as if they cared
-whether I lived or died. I don’t believe that they really thought I
-was a man like them; anyhow ever’-one thought they would sentence
-me to hang in just a few minutes. I s’posed myself that they’d
-be in before supper. My lawyer come over to the jail with me, because
-he knew how I felt. And anyhow he was ‘most as nervous
-as I was. After a while they brought me in my supper, and the
-lawyer went out to get his. Then the guard told me the jury had
-gone to supper, and he guessed there was some hitch about it,
-though ever’one thought the jury wouldn’t be out long. After a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>while the lawyer came back, and he stayed and talked to me until
-nine or ten o’clock, and the jury didn’t come in, so he went to see
-what was the matter, and come back and said he couldn’t find out
-anything, only that they hadn’t agreed.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, he stayed till twelve o’clock, and then the judge went
-home, and we knew they wa’n’t goin’ to come in till mornin’. I
-couldn’t sleep that night, but walked back and forth in the cell a
-good bit of the time. You see it wa’n’t this cell. The one I had
-then was a little bigger. I’d lay down once in a while, and sometimes
-I’d smoke a cigar that the guard gave me. Anyhow I couldn’t
-really sleep, and was mighty glad when daylight come. In the
-mornin’, kind of early, I heard that jury had agreed and I knew that
-‘twas bad for me. The best that could happen would be a disagreement.
-I hadn’t allowed myself to have much hope any of the time,
-but I knew that now it was all off.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Still I waited and didn’t quite give up till they took me back
-to the courtroom. Then when ever’one had got their places the
-jury come in, lookin’ awful solemn, and the judge looked sober and
-fierce-like, and he said, ‘Gentlemen of the Jury, have you agreed on
-your verdict?’ And the foreman got up and said, ‘We have.’ Then
-the judge told the foreman to give the verdict to the clerk. He
-walked over to the row of chairs and the man at the end of the bottom
-row reached out his hand and gave the paper to him. The people
-in the room was still as death. Then the clerk read, ‘We, the
-jury, find the defendant guilty, and sentence him to death.’ I set
-with my head down, lookin’ at the paper; I expected it, and made up
-my mind not to move. Ever’one in the courtroom sort of give a
-sigh. I never looked up, and I don’t believe I moved. The papers
-next day said I was brazen and had no feelin’, even when the jury
-sentenced me to death.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“The judge was the first one to speak. He turned to the jury
-and thanked ‘em for their patriotism and devotion, and the great
-courage they’d shown by their verdict. He said they’d done their
-duty well and could now go back to their homes contented and
-happy. And he says: ‘Mr. Sheriff, remove the prisoner from the
-room.’ Of course, I hadn’t expected nothin’, and still I wa’n’t quite
-sure—the same as now, when I think mebbe the governor’ll change
-his mind. But when the verdict was read and they said it was death,
-somehow I felt kind of dazed. I don’t really remember their puttin’
-the han’-cuffs on me, and takin’ me back to jail. I don’t remember
-the crowd in the courtroom, or much of anything until I was locked
-up again, and then my lawyer come and said he would make a motion
-for a new trial, and not to give up hope. My lawyer told me
-that the reason they was out so long was one man stuck out for
-sendin’ me to the penitentiary for life instead of hangin’ me. We
-found out that he used to be a switchman. I s’pose he knew what
-a hard life I had and wanted to make some allowances. The State’s
-Attorney said he’d been bribed, and the newspapers had lots to say
-about investigatin’ the case, but there wa’n’t nothin’ done about it.
-But I s’pose mebbe it had some effect on the next case.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>“There wa’n’t nothin’ more done for two or three days. I just
-stayed in my cell and didn’t feel much like talkin’ with anyone.
-Then my lawyer come over and said the motion for a new trial
-would be heard next day. In the mornin’ they han’cuffed me and
-took me back as usual. There was a lot of people in the courtroom,
-though not so many as before. My lawyer had a lot of books, and
-he talked a long while about the case, and told the judge he ought to
-give me a new trial on account of all the mistakes that was made
-before. And after he got done the judge said he’d thought of this
-case a great deal both by day and by night, and he’d tried to find a
-way not to sentence me to death, but he couldn’t do it, and the motion
-would be overruled. Then he said, ‘Jackson, stand up.’ Of
-course I got up, because he told me to. Then he looked at me
-awful savage and solemn and said, ‘Have you got anything to say
-why sentence should not be passed on you?’ and I said ‘No!’ Then
-he talked for a long time about how awful bad I was, and what a
-warnin’ I ought to be to ever’body else; and then he sentenced me
-to be removed to the county-jail and on Friday, the thirteenth day
-of this month—that’s today—to be hanged by the neck till dead, and
-then he said, ‘May God have mercy on your soul!’ After that he
-said, ‘Mr. Sheriff, remove the prisoner. Mr. Clerk, call the next case.’
-And they han’-cuffed me and brought me back.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I don’t know why the judge said, ‘May God have mercy on
-your soul!’ I guess it was only a kind of form that they have to go
-through, and I don’t think he meant it, or even thought anything
-about it. If he had, I don’t see how he really could ask God to have
-mercy on me unless he could have mercy himself. The judge didn’t
-have to hang me unless he wanted to.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, the lawyer come in and told me he ought to appeal the
-case to the Supreme Court, but it would cost one hundred dollars
-for a record, and he didn’t know where to get the money. I told him
-I didn’t know either. Of course I hadn’t any and told him he might
-just as well let it go; that I didn’t s’pose it would do any good
-anyhow. But he said he’d see if he could find the money somehow
-and the next day he come in and said he was goin’ to give half out
-of his own pocket, and he’d seen another feller that didn’t want his
-name mentioned and that thought a man oughtn’t to be hung without
-a chance; he was goin’ to give the other half. Of course I felt
-better then, but still I thought there wa’n’t much chance, for ever’body
-was against me, but my lawyer told me there was a lot of
-mistakes and errors in the trial and I ought to win.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, he worked on the record and finally got it finished, a
-great big kind of book that told all about the case. It was only finished
-a week ago, and I s’posed anyone could take his case to the
-Supreme Court if he had the money; but my lawyer said no, he
-couldn’t, or rather he said yes, anyone could take his case to the
-Supreme Court, but in a case like mine, where I was to be hung I’d
-be dead before the Supreme Court ever decided it, or even before it
-was tried. Then he said the only way would be if some of the judges
-looked at the record and made an order that I shouldn’t be hung
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>until after they’d tried the case, but he told me it didn’t make any
-difference how many mistakes the judge had made, or how many
-errors there was, they wouldn’t make any order unless they believed
-I hadn’t done it. He said that if it had been a dispute about a horse
-or a cow, or a hundred dollars, I’d have a right to go to the Supreme
-Court, and if the judges found any mistakes in the trial I’d have
-another chance. But it wa’n’t so when I was tried for my life.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, when he’d explained this I felt sure ‘twas all off, and I
-told him so, but he said he was goin’ to make the best fight he could
-and not give up till the end. He said he had a lot at stake himself,
-though not so much as I had. So he took the record and went to the
-judges of the Supreme Court and they looked it over, and said mebbe
-the judge that tried me did make some mistakes, and mebbe I didn’t
-have a fair trial, but it looked as if I was guilty and they wouldn’t
-make any order. So my case never got into the Supreme Court after
-all and the hundred dollars was wasted.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, when my lawyer told me, of course I felt blue. I’d built
-some on this, and it begun to look pretty bad. It seemed as if
-things was comin’ along mighty fast, and it looked as if the bobbin
-was ‘most wound up. When you know you’re going to die in a week
-the time don’t seem long. Of course if a feller’s real sick, and gets
-run down and discouraged, and hasn’t got much grip on things, he
-may not feel so very bad about dyin’, for he’s ‘most dead anyway,
-but when a feller’s strong, and in good health, and he knows he’s
-got to die in a week, it’s a different thing.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Then my lawyer said there was only one thing left, and that
-was to go to the gov’nor. He said he knew the gov’nor pretty well
-and he was goin’ to try. He thought mebbe he’d change the sentence
-to imprisonment for life. When I first come to jail I said I’d rather
-be hung than to be sent up for life, and I stuck to it even when the
-jury brought in their verdict, but when it was only a week away I
-begun to feel different, and I didn’t want to die, leastwise I didn’t
-want to get hung. So I told him all the people I knew, though I
-didn’t think they’d help me, for the world seemed to be against me,
-and the papers kept tellin’ what a good thing it was to hang me, and
-how the State’s Attorney and the jury and the judge had been awful
-brave to do it so quick. But I couldn’t see where there was any
-bravery in it. I didn’t have no friends. It might have been right,
-but I can’t see where the brave part come in.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“But every day the lawyer said he thought the gov’nor would
-do somethin’, and finally he got all the names he could to the petition,
-and I guess it wa’n’t very many, only the people that sign all
-the petitions because they don’t believe in hangin’; and day before
-yesterday, he went down to Springfield to see the gov’nor.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, I waited all day yesterday. I didn’t go out of the cell
-for exercise because I couldn’t do anything and I didn’t want ‘em
-to see how nervous I was. But I tell you it’s ticklish business waitin’
-all day when you’re goin’ to be hung in the mornin’ unless somethin’
-happens. I kep’ askin’ the guard what time ‘twas, and when I heard
-anyone comin’ up this way I looked to see if it wa’n’t a despatch,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>and I couldn’t set down or lay down, or do anything ‘cept drink
-whiskey. I hain’t really been sober and clear-headed since yesterday
-noon, in fact, I guess if I had been, I wouldn’t kep’ you here all night
-like this. I didn’t hardly eat a thing, either, all day, and I asked the
-guard about it a good many times, and he felt kind of sorry for me but
-didn’t give me much encouragement. You see they’ve had a guard right
-here in front of the door all the time, day and night, for two weeks.
-That’s called the death watch, and they set here to see that I don’t kill
-myself, though I can’t see why that would make any great difference so
-long as I’ve got to die anyhow.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, ‘long toward night the guard came and brought me that new
-suit of clothes over on the bed, and I guess I’ve got to put ‘em on pretty
-quick. Of course, the guard’s been as nice as he could be. He didn’t
-tell me what they’s for, but I knew all the same. I know they don’t
-hang nobody in their old clothes. I s’pose there’ll be a good many people
-there, judges and doctors and ministers and lawyers, and the newspapers,
-and the friends of the sheriff, and politicians, and all, and of course it
-wouldn’t look right to have me hung up there before ‘em all in my old
-clothes,—it would be about like wearin’ old duds to a party or to church—so
-I’ve got to put on them new ones. They’re pretty good, and they
-look as if they’re all wool, don’t you think?</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, a little while after they brought me the clothes, I seen the
-guard come up with a telegram in his hand. I could see in his face it
-wa’n’t no use, so of course I wa’n’t quite so nervous when I read it.
-But I opened it to make sure. The lawyer said that the gov’nor wouldn’t
-do nothin’. Then, of course, ‘twas all off. Still he said he’d go back
-about midnight. I don’t know whether he meant it, or said it to brace
-me up a little and kind of let me down easier.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Of course, the gov’nor could wake up in the night and do it, if he
-wanted to, and I s’pose such things has been done. I’ve read ‘bout ‘em
-stoppin’ it after a man got up on the scaffold. You remember about
-the gov’nor of Ohio, don’t you? He come here to Chicago to some
-convention, and a man was to be hung in Columbus that day, and the
-gov’nor forgot it till just about the time, and then he tried for almost
-an hour to get the penitentiary on the long distance telephone, and he
-finally got ‘em just as the man was goin’ up on the scaffold. Such
-things has happened, but of course, I don’t s’pose they’ll happen to me.
-I never had much luck in anything, and I guess I’ll be hung all right.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“It seems queer, don’t it, how I’m talkin’ to you here, and the guard
-out there, and ever’body good to me, and in just a little while they’re
-goin’ to take me out there and hang me! I don’t believe I could do it,
-even if I was a sheriff and got ten thousand dollars a year for it, but I
-s’pose it has to be done.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, now I guess I’ve told you all about how ever’thing happened
-and you und’stand how it was. I s’pose you think I’m bad, and I don’t
-want to excuse myself too much, or make out I’m any saint. I know I
-never was, but you see how a feller gets into them things when he ain’t
-much different from ever’body else. I know I don’t like crime, and I
-don’t believe the other does. I just got into a sort of a mill and here I
-am right close up to that noose.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“There ain’t anyone ‘specially that I’ve got to worry about, ‘cept
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>the boy. Of course it’s awful hard for a poor feller to start, anyhow,
-unless he’s real smart, and I don’t know how ‘twill be with the boy. We
-always thought he was awful cunnin’; but I s’pose most parents does.
-But I don’t see how he’d ever be very smart, ‘cause I wa’n’t and neither
-was his mother. As I was sayin’, ‘twould be awful hard for him anyhow,
-but now when he’s growed up, and anyone tells him about how
-his mother was murdered by his father, and how his father got hung
-for it, and they show him the pictures in the paper and all that, I don’t
-see how he’ll ever have any show. It seems as if the state had ought
-to do somethin’ for a child when the state kills its father that way, but
-it don’t unless they sends him to a poor house, or something like that.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Now, I haven’t told you a single lie—and you can see how it all
-was, and that I wa’n’t so awful bad, and that I’m sorry, and would be
-willin’ to die if it would bring her back. And if you can, I wish you’d
-just kind of keep your eye on the boy. I guess it’ll be a good deal
-better to change his name and not let him nor anyone else know anything
-about either of us. A good many poor people grow up that way.
-I don’t really know nothin’ ‘bout my folks. They might’ve been hung
-too, for all I know. But you kind of watch the boy and keep track of
-him, and if he comes up all right and seems to be a smart feller and
-looks at things right, and he gets to wonderin’ about me, and you think
-‘twill do any good you can tell him just what you feel a mind to, but
-don’t tell him ‘less’n you think it will do him good. Of course, I can’t
-never pay you in any way for what you’ve done for me, but mebbe you’ll
-think it’s worth while for a feller that hain’t a friend in the world, and
-who’s got to be hung so quick.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank struggled as hard as he could to keep back the tears. He was
-not much used to crying, but in spite of all his efforts they rolled down
-his face.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, Jim, old feller,” he said. “I didn’t know how it was—when
-I come I felt as if you’d been awful bad, and of course I know it wa’n’t
-right, but somehow I know it might have happened to me, or ‘most anybody,
-almost, and that you ain’t so bad. I can’t tell you anything about
-how I feel, but I’m glad I come. It’s done me good. I don’t think I’ll
-ever feel the same about the fellers that go to jail and get hung. I don’t
-know’s they could help it any more’n any of us can help the things we
-do. Anyhow, I sha’n’t never let the boy out of my mind a single minit,
-and I’ll do as much for him as if he was mine. I’ll look him up the first
-thing I do. I don’t know about changin’ his name, I’ll see. Anyhow, if
-he ever gets to hear a bit of it, I’ll see he knows how it was.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim wrung Hank’s hand for a minute in silence, and then said:
-“And just one word more, Hank; tell him not to be poor; don’t let him
-get married till he’s got money, and can afford it, and don’t let him go
-in debt. You know I don’t believe I ever would have done it if I hadn’t
-been so poor.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank drew back his hand and stepped to the grated door and looked
-out along the gloomy iron corridors and down toward the courtyard
-below. Then he looked up at the tiers of cells filled with the hapless
-outcasts of the world. On the skylight he could see the faint yellowish
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>glow that told him that the day was about to dawn. The guard got up
-from his stool and passed him another flask of whiskey.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Here, you’d better get Jim to drink all he can,” he whispered,
-“for his time is almost up.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank took a little sip himself, and then motioned Jim to drink.
-Jim took the bottle, raised it to his mouth and gulped it down, scarcely
-stopping to catch his breath. Then he threw the bottle on the bed and
-sat down on his chair. With the story off his mind it was plain that
-the whiskey was fast numbing all his nerves. He was not himself when
-he looked up again.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“I guess mebbe I’d better change my clothes, while I have a chance,”
-he said. “I don’t want anyone else to have to do it for me, and I want
-to look all right when the thing comes off.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>A new guard came up to the door, unlocked it and came in. He
-nodded to Hank and told him he must go.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“His breakfast is just comin’ up and it’s against the rules to have
-anyone here at the time. The priest will come to see him after he gets
-through eatin’.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Over in the corridor where Hank had seen the beams and lumber
-he could hear the murmur of muffled voices, evidently talking about
-the work. Along the corridor two waiters in white coats were bringing
-great trays filled with steaming food.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Slowly Hank turned to Jim and took his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, old fellow,” he said, “I’ve got to go. I see you’re all right,
-but take that Scotch whiskey when it comes; it won’t do you any hurt.
-I’ll look after everything just as I said. Good-bye.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Jim seemed hardly to hear Hank’s farewell words.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Well, good-bye.”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Hank went outside the door and the guard closed and locked it as
-he turned away.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Then Jim got up from his chair and stumbled to the door.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“Hank! Hank! S’pose—you—stop at the—telegraph—office—the
-Western Union—and the—Postal—all of ‘em—mebbe—might—be somethin’——”</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>“All right,” Hank called back, “I will! I will!—I’ll go to both to
-make sure if there’s anything there; and I’ll telephone you by the time
-you’ve got through eatin’.”</p>
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>BIG BLUE BOOKS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<table class='table1' summary='BIG BLUE BOOKS'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='9%' />
-<col width='90%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'><strong>30c</strong></td>
- <td class='c011'>EACH POSTPAID<br /> TO ANY ADDRESS</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c000'>These Big Blue Books are a companion series to the Little Blue Books.
-They are much larger-–5½×8½ inches in size, bound in attractive stiff card
-covers and contain from 30,000 to 75,000 words of text, ranging from 64 to
-128 pages each. The type is large, clear and easy to read. The books are
-printed on good book paper and are thoroughly substantial, accurate, and
-worth while in every way. Make your selection now—one book or more, up
-to any quantity you wish, for 30c per book postpaid to any address in the
-world.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>Always Order by Number-–30c Each</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>LOVE AND SEX</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–46</strong> The Sexual Life of Man, Woman and
-Child. Dr. Isaac Goldberg. (Chapters include
-“Sex,” “From Morality to Taste,” “Lust and
-Love,” etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–41</strong> Love’s Coming of Age: A Series of
-Papers on the Relations of the Sexes. Edward
-Carpenter. (Chapters include “Sex-Passion,”
-“Man the Ungrown,” “Woman the
-Serf,” “Intermediate Sex,” “Note on Preventive
-Checks to Population,” etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–32</strong> The History of a Woman’s Heart
-(Une Vie). Guy de Maupassant. (Complete
-novel by the famous French master of fiction.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–3</strong> The Love Sorrows of Young Werther.
-Goethe. (Famous love story).</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>FICTION</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–6</strong> Zadig, or Destiny; Micromegas and
-The Princess of Babylon. Voltaire. (Famous
-satirical fiction.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–30</strong> Candide: A Satire on the Notion That
-This Is the Best of All Possible Worlds.
-Voltaire.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–12</strong> Grimm’s Famous Fairy Tales.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–24</strong> An Eye for an Eye. Clarence Darrow.
-(Complete Novel.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–33</strong> A Sentimental Journey Through
-France and Italy. Laurence Sterne. (Intimate
-notes on travel experiences—one of the
-most famous books in English literature.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–31</strong> The Sign of the Four (Sherlock Holmes
-Story). Conan Doyle.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–35</strong> A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes
-Story). Conan Doyle.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>FAMOUS PLAYS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–2</strong> The Maid of Orleans: A Romantic
-Tragedy. Friedrich von Schiller. Adapted
-from the German by George Sylvester Viereck.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–9</strong> Faust (Part I). Goethe. Translated by
-Anna Swanwick. Edited, with Introduction
-and Notes, by Margaret Munsterberg.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–10</strong> Faust (Part II). Goethe. Translated
-by Anna Swanwick, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–17</strong> William Congreve’s Way of the World
-(A Comedy). With an essay by Macaulay,
-extracts from Lamb, Swift and Hazlitt, etc.
-Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by
-Lloyd E. Smith.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–26</strong> Nathan the Wise (Famous Liberal
-Play). Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Translated
-and Edited by Leo Markun.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–19</strong> Persons and Personalities. Paragraphs
-and Essays. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–8</strong> The Fun I Get Out of Life. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–13</strong> John Brown: The Facts of His Life
-and Martyrdom. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–45</strong> Confessions of a Young Man. George
-Moore.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–28</strong> The Truth About Aimee Semple Mcherson.
-A Symposium. Louis Adamic, and
-Others.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_087.jpg' alt='THIS IS THE TYPE USED IN THESE BOOKS' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>HALDEMAN-JULIUS PUBLICATIONS</div>
- <div class='line in6'>GIRARD, KANSAS</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–4</strong> The Wisdom of Life. Being the first
-of Arthur Schopenhauer’s Aphorismen zur
-Lebensweisheit. Translated with a Preface
-by T. Bailey Saunders.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–5</strong> Counsels and Maxims. Being the second
-part of Arthur Schopenhauer’s Aphorismen
-zur Lebensweisheit. Translated by T.
-Bailey Saunders.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–1</strong> On Liberty. John Stuart Mill. (Chapters
-include “Liberty of Thought and Discussion,”
-“Individuality,” “Limits to Authority
-of Society Over the Individual,” etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–14</strong> Evolution and Christianity. William
-M. Goldsmith.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–18</strong> Resist Not Evil. Clarence Darrow.
-(Chapters include “Nature of the State,”
-“Armies and Navies,” “Crime and Punishment,”
-“Cause of Crime,” “Law and Conduct,”
-“Penal Codes and Their Victims,” etc.)</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>FAMOUS TRIALS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–29</strong> Clarence Darrow’s Two Great Trials
-(Reports of the Scopes Anti-Evolution Case
-and the Dr. Sweet Negro Trial). Marcet
-Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–20</strong> Clarence Darrow’s Plea in Defense of
-Loeb and Leopold (August 22, 23, 25, 1924).</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–47</strong> Trial of Rev. J. Frank Norris. Marcet
-Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>CULTURE AND EDUCATION</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–15</strong> Culture and Its Modern Aspects. A
-Series of Essays. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–22</strong> A Road-Map to Literature: Good
-Books to Read. Lawrence Campbell Lockley
-and Percy Hazen Houston.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–36</strong> What is Wrong with Our Schools?
-A Symposium. Nelson Antrim Crawford,
-Charles Angoff, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–34</strong> Panorama: A Book of Critical, Sexual,
-and Esthetic Views. Dr. Isaac Goldberg.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–39</strong> Snapshots of Modern Life. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–42</strong> Sane and Sensible Views of Life. E.
-Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–43</strong> Clippings from an Editor’s Scrapbook.
-E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–16</strong> Iconoclastic Literary Reactions. E.
-Haldeman-Julius</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–11</strong> The Compleat Angler: Famous Book
-on a Beloved Sport. Izaak Walton (Patron
-Saint of Fishermen).</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–44</strong> Algebra Self Taught: With Problems
-and Answers. Lawrence A. Barrett.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>RATIONALISM AND DEBUNKING</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–7</strong> Studies In Rationalism. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–21</strong> Confessions of a Debunker. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–23</strong> The Bunk Box: A Collection of the
-Bits of Bunk That Infest American Life.
-E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–25</strong> An Agnostic Looks at Life: Challenges
-of a Militant Pen. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–37</strong> Free Speech and Free Thought In
-America. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–38</strong> Myths and Myth-Makers. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–40</strong> This Tyranny of Bunk. E. Haldeman-Julius.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>JOSEPH McCABE’S SHAM-SMASHING BOOKS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–27</strong> The Truth About the Catholic Church
-(Chapters include “The Papacy,” “Myth of
-Catholic Scholarship,” “Confessional,” “Catholic
-Services,” “Behind the Scenes with the
-Catholic Clergy,” etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>B–48</strong> Debunking the Lourdes “Miracles.”
-Also Includes “The Church In Mexico,” “The
-Cowardice of American Scientists,” “England’s
-Religious Census,” etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><strong>COMPLETE SET OF 48 VOLUMES FOR ONLY $12.78</strong>: Get a good
-supply of excellent reading—invest in a complete set of 48 Big Blue Books,
-all now ready and in stock for immediate delivery. You can get all 48
-volumes for only $12.78 prepaid. Use the blank below to order this set, or
-for your choice of any books at 30c each postpaid.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_088.jpg' alt='Clip and use this handy order form!' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><span class='c013'>Haldeman-Julius Publications, Girard, Kansas</span></p>
-
-<p class='c012'>I enclose herewith $ ..... for ..... Big Blue Books at 30c each postpaid.
-I am putting a circle around the numbers of the books I want, below, corresponding to the
-numbers for the items in your list.</p>
-
-<table class='table0' summary='Clip and use this handy order form!'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-<col width='10%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'>B–1</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–2</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–3</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–4</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–5</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–6</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–7</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–8</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–9</td>
- <td class='c002'>B–10</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'>B–11</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–12</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–13</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–14</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–15</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–16</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–17</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–18</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–19</td>
- <td class='c002'>B–20</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'>B–21</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–22</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–23</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–24</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–25</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–26</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–27</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–28</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–29</td>
- <td class='c002'>B–30</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'>B–31</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–32</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–33</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–34</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–35</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–36</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–37</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–38</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–39</td>
- <td class='c002'>B–40</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c010'>B–41</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–42</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–43</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–44</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–45</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–46</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–47</td>
- <td class='c010'>B–48</td>
- <td class='c010'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c002'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class='c014'>If you want a Complete Set of 48 Volumes, remit $12.78 and check here .....</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r c015'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>Name .....................................................</div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>Address ..................................................</div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>City .................................... State ..........</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>SANE SEX SERIES</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<table class='table2' summary='SANE SEX SERIES'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='33%' />
-<col width='33%' />
-<col width='33%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c016'>Authentic<br />Information</td>
- <td class='brt c016'>50 Volumes<br />A Leather Cover</td>
- <td class='c016'>All for <strong><span class='large'>$2.98</span></strong></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c000'>Are you ignorant of the facts of Life? Do you
-want authentic information about sex and love
-and their proper place in human affairs? Then
-these 50 volumes are what you have been waiting
-for. These books are helping thousands of people to
-understand themselves and others. Here are the
-facts, written by authorities—by psychologists, sociologists,
-physicians, and scientists. These books can
-be depended upon. There is nothing in these books to
-harm anyone, nothing to create any wrong ideas
-about life. The whole viewpoint is modern, sane, and
-healthful. These books foster a wholesome outlook
-on life, and at the same time give the facts everyone
-should know in a way which everyone can understand.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'>Some of the eminent authorities who have prepared
-the text for these books are Havelock Ellis,
-the famous English expert on sexual psychology;
-James Oppenheim, a N.Y. practicing psycho-analyst;
-William J. Fielding, well-known for his recent book,
-“Sex and the Love-Life”; Dr. Morris Fishbein of the
-American Medical Association; Dr. Joseph H. Greer;
-Dr. Wilfrid Lay; Dr. Charles Reed; Professor C. L.
-Fenton, etc. Do not hesitate to rely upon these
-books; they are thoroughly up to date, containing
-the latest facts available.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>50 Volumes-–750,000 Words</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'>Each of these books contains about 15,000 words of text,
-making 750,000 words in all. The books are of a convenient
-size (3½ × 5 inches) to fit the pocket, average 64 pages each,
-have easily readable type, and are bound in substantial stiff
-card covers. If these books were issued in ordinary library
-form they would cost from $25 to $30 for the set. But in this
-neat pocket-sized edition, due to mass production, they are
-offered for only $2.98, full and final payment for the entire
-50 volumes and a leather cover.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>A Real Leather Cover</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'>Included with each set of 50 volumes, at no extra cost, is
-a genuine leather slip cover, made from high grade black
-levant leather. This cover holds one book at a time, protecting
-it while in use; a book may be slipped in or out in a few
-seconds. This cover has the added advantage that it can be
-slipped on a book to carry in the pocket, thus concealing the
-cover and title if anyone prefers to avoid possible embarrassment.
-Not only this, but you can enjoy the luxurious “feel”
-of real leather while reading these books. And remember—$2.98
-is <strong>positively all you pay</strong> for 50 books and this leather
-cover.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_089.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>50 BOOKS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>Sane Sex Facts for Everyone</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
- <ul class='ul_1'>
- <li><cite>Facts for Girls</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Facts for Boys</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Facts for Young Men</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Facts for Young Women</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>For Married Men</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>For Married Women</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Manhood Facts</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Womanhood Facts</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>For Women Past 40</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>For Expectant Mothers</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Woman’s Sex-Life</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Man’s Sex-Life</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>The Child’s Sex-Life</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Homosexual Life</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Evolution of Sex</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Physiology of Sex</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex Common Sense</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Determination of Sex</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex Symbolism</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex in Psychoanalysis</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sleep and Sex Dreams</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Chats with Wives</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Chats with Husbands</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Talks with the Married</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>How to Love</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Art of Kissing</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>How to Win a Mate</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Beginning Marriage Right</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Happiness in Marriage</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex Ethics</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Modern Sex Morality</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Love Letters</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Psychology of Affections</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Birth Control Immoral?</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Birth Control Today</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Women’s Love Rights</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex Today</cite> (.it <cite>Ellis</cite>)
- </li>
- <li><cite>Ellis and Sex Sanity</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Eugenics Explained</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Genetics Made Plain</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Heredity Made Plain</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Venereal Diseases</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Syphilis Facts</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex and Crime</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>America’s Sex Impulse</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex in Religion</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>What Is Love?</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Story of Marriage</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Sex Rejuvenation</cite>
- </li>
- <li><cite>Companionate Marriage</cite>
- </li>
- </ul>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>SEND NO MONEY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'>For this Sane Sex Series of 50
-volumes and a leather cover you
-need not remit in advance unless
-you wish. You can pay the
-postman only $2.98 on delivery.
-This set is shipped <strong>in plain
-wrapper</strong>. Use the blank at the
-right, or just ask for “Sane Sex
-Series.” No C. O. D. orders can
-be sent to Canada or foreign
-countries; these must remit in
-advance by international postal
-money order or draft on any
-U. S. bank.</p>
-
-<table class='table3' summary='SIGN AND MAIL THIS BLANK'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='98%' />
-<col width='1%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <th class='btt blt c016' colspan='2'>SIGN AND MAIL THIS BLANK</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>Haldeman-Julius Publications,</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>Girard, Kansas</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>Send me the 50–volume SANE SEX SERIES and 1 Leather Cover, in plain wrapper. Unless my check is enclosed herewith, I will pay the postman $2.98 on arrival. It is understood that $2.98 is all I pay and that I am under no further obligation whatever.</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>Name ................................................</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>Address .............................................</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='bbt blt c017'>City ............................. State ............</td>
- <td class='bbt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>THE MODERN LIBRARY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='figcenter id002'>
-<img src='images/i_090.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>88 CENTS PER COPY PREPAID</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>Your Choice</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>OSCAR WILDE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Salome</strong>, Importance of Being
-Earnest, Lady Windermere’s
-Fan.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ideal Husband</strong> and A Woman
-of No Importance.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>De Profundis</strong> (Out of the
-Depths).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Dorian Gray</strong> (Novel).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems</strong> (Harlot’s House,
-Sphinx, Reading Gaol, etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Fairy Tales</strong> and Poems in
-Prose.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Pen, Pencil and Poison.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>ANATOLE FRANCE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Queen Pedauque.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Red Lily.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Thais.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Flame of Life.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Child of Pleasure.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Maidens of the Rocks.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Triumph of Death.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>THOMAS HARDY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Jude the Obscure.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Major of Casterbridge.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Return of the Native.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Thus Spake Zarathustra.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Beyond Good and Evil.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Genealogy of Morals.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ecce Homo and The Birth of Tragedy.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>HENRIK IBSEN</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Doll’s House</strong>, Ghosts, and An
-Enemy of the People.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Hedda Gabler</strong>, Pillars of Society
-and The Master
-Builder.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Wild Duck</strong>, Rosmersholm
-and The League of Youth.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>GUY DE MAUPASSANT</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Love and Other Stories</strong> (For
-Sale, Clochette, His Wedding
-Night, Moonlight, etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Mademoiselle Fifi and Other
-Tales</strong> (Piece of String, Tallow
-Ball, Useless Beauty,
-The Horla, A Farm Girl,
-etc.).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Une Vie</strong> (Story of a Woman’s
-Heart).</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>SHERWOOD ANDERSON</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poor White</strong> (A Novel).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Winesburg, Ohio</strong> (Short
-Stories).</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>SAMUEL BUTLER</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Erewhon</strong>, or Over the Range.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Way of All Flesh.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>JAMES BRANCH CABELL</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Beyond Life.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Cream of the Jest.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>NORMAN DOUGLAS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>South Wind</strong> (A Novel).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Old Calabria.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>LORD DUNSANY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Dreamer’s Tales.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Book of Wonder.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>GUSTAVE FLAUBERT</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Madame Bovary.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Temptation of St. Anthony.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>W. S. GILBERT</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Mikado</strong>, Iolanthe, Pirates of
-Penzance, and The Gondoliers.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>H. M. S. Pinafore</strong>, Patience,
-Yeomen of the Guard and
-Ruddigore.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>GEORGE GISSING</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>New Grub Street.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>REMY DE GOURMONT</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Night in the Luxembourg.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Virgin Heart</strong> (Translated by
-Aldous Huxley).</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>W. H. HUDSON</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Green Mansions.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Purple Land.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>D. H. LAWRENCE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Rainbow.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Sons and Lovers.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>GEORGE MEREDITH</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Diana of the Crossways.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ordeal of Richard Feverel.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>WALTER PATER</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Renaissance.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Marius the Epicurean.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>ARTHUR SCHNITZLER</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Anatol</strong>, Green Cockatoo, and
-Living Hours.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Bertha Garlan.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>AUGUST STRINDBERG</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Married.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Miss Julie</strong>, The Creditor, The
-Stronger Woman, Motherly
-Love, Paria and Simoon.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>LEO TOLSTOY</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Redemption</strong>, Power of Darkness
-and Fruits of Culture.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Death of Ivan Ilyitch</strong>, Polikushka,
-Two Hussars,
-Snowstorm, and Three
-Deaths.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>IVAN TURGENEV</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Fathers and Sons.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Smoke.</strong></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>MISCELLANEOUS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Modern American Poetry.</strong> Ed.
-Conrad Aiken.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Seven That Were Hanged</strong>
-and the Red Laugh. Leonid
-Andreyev.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Short Stories</strong> by Honore de
-Balzac (Don Juan, Christ
-in Flanders, Time of the
-Terror, Passion in the Desert,
-Accursed House, Atheist’s
-Mass, etc.).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Prose and Poetry.</strong> Baudelaire.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Art of Aubrey Beardsley</strong> (64
-Reproductions).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Art of Rodin</strong> (64 Reproductions).</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Jungle Peace.</strong> William Beebe.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Zuleika Dobson.</strong> Max Beerbohm.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>In the Midst of Life</strong> (Stories).
-Ambrose Bierce.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems of William Blake.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Wuthering Heights.</strong> Emily
-Bronte.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>House With the Green Shutters.</strong>
-George Douglas Brown.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Love’s Coming of Age.</strong> Edward
-Carpenter.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Alice in Wonderland</strong>, Through
-the Looking-Glass and
-Hunting of the Snark.
-Lewis Carroll.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Autobiography of Benvenuto
-Cellini.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Rothschild’s Fiddle.</strong> Anton
-Chekhov.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Man Who Was Thursday.</strong>
-G. K. Chesterton.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Men, Women and Boats.</strong>
-Stephen Crane.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Sapho.</strong> Alphonse Daudet.
-Also contains <strong>Manon Lescaut</strong>
-(When a Man Loves)
-by Antoine Prevost.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Moll Flanders.</strong> Daniel Defoe.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poor People.</strong> Feodor Dostoyevsky.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems and Prose.</strong> Ernest
-Dowson.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Free and Other Stories.</strong>
-Theodore Dreiser.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Camille.</strong> Alexandre Dumas.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>New Spirit, The.</strong> Havelock
-Ellis.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Life of the Caterpillar.</strong> Jean
-Henri Fabre.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Jorn Uhl.</strong> Gustav Frenssen.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Mlle. de Maupin.</strong> Theophile
-Gautier.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Bed of Roses.</strong> W. L. George.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Renee Mauperin.</strong> E. and J.
-de Goncourt.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Creatures That Once Were
-Men</strong> and Other Stories.
-Maxim Gorki.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Scarlet Letter.</strong> Nathaniel
-Hawthorne.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Some Chinese Ghosts.</strong> Lafcadio
-Hearn.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Erik Dorn.</strong> Ben Hecht.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Daisy Miller</strong> and An International
-Episode. Henry
-James.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Philosophy of William James.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Dubliners.</strong> James Joyce.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Soldiers Three.</strong> Rudyard Kipling.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Men in War.</strong> Andreas Latzko.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Upstream.</strong> Ludwig Lewisohn.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Mme. Chrysantheme.</strong> Pierre
-Loti.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Spirit of American Literature.</strong>
-John Macy.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Miracle of St. Anthony</strong>, Pelleas
-and Melisande, and
-Four Other Plays. Maurice
-Maeterlinck.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Moby Dick</strong>, or The Whale.
-Herman Melville.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Romance of Leonardo da
-Vinci.</strong> Dmitri Merejkowski.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Plays by Moliere</strong> (Highbrow
-Ladies, School for Wives,
-Tartuffe, Misanthrope, etc.)</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Confessions of a Young Man.</strong>
-George Moore.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Tales of Mean Streets.</strong> Arthur
-Morrison.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Moon of the Caribbees</strong> and
-Other Plays (Bound East
-for Cardiff, In the Zone,
-Ile, etc.). Eugene O’Neill.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Writings of Thomas Paine.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Pepys’ Diary.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Best Tales of Poe.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Life of Jesus.</strong> Ernest Renan.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Selected Papers of Bertrand
-Russell.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Imperial Orgy.</strong> Edgar Saltus.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Studies in Pessimism.</strong> Arthur
-Schopenhauer.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Story of an African Farm.</strong>
-Olive Schreiner.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Unsocial Socialist.</strong> George
-Bernard Shaw.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Philosophy of Spinoza.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Treasure Island.</strong> Robert
-Louis Stevenson.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ego and His Own.</strong> Max
-Stirner.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Dame Care.</strong> Hermann Sudermann.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems of Algernon Charles
-Swinburne.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Complete Poems of Francis
-Thompson.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ancient Man.</strong> Hendrik Willem
-van Loon.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems of Francois Villon.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Candide.</strong> Voltaire.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Ann Veronica.</strong> H. G. Wells.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Poems of Walt Whitman.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Selected Addresses and Papers
-of Woodrow Wilson.</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Irish Fairy and Folk Tales.</strong>
-William Butler Yeats.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Nana.</strong> Emile Zola.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>COLLECTIONS—SYMPOSIUMS</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>A Modern Book of Criticisms</strong>:
-Edited by Ludwig Lewisohn,
-with contributions
-by G. B. Shaw, Anatole
-France, Remy de Gourmont,
-Geo. Moore, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>The Woman Question</strong>: Westermarck’s
-Subjection of
-Wives, Ellen Key’s Right
-of Motherhood, Carpenter’s
-Woman in Freedom, Maeterlinck’s
-On Women, Havelock
-Ellis’ Changing Status
-of Women, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Evolution in Modern Thought</strong>:
-Complete survey of modern
-views of the evolution of
-man.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Best Russian Stories</strong>: Pushkin,
-Gogol, Turgeney, Dostoyevski,
-Tolstoy, Garshin,
-Chekhov, Gorky, Andreyev,
-Artzybashev, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Best Ghost Stories</strong>: Kipling’s
-Phantom Rickshaw, Blackwood’s
-Woman’s Ghost
-Story, Matthews’ Rival
-Ghosts, Bierce’s Damned
-Thing, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Best American Humorous
-Stories</strong>: Hale’s My Double,
-Holmes’ Visit to the
-Asylum, O. Henry’s Duplicity
-of Hargraves, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>Contemporary Science</strong>, a series
-of scientific articles by
-leading authorities, on
-physics, engineering, enzymes,
-bacteriology, Einstein,
-etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c019'><strong>An Outline of Psycho-Analysis</strong>,
-with contributions
-by Sigmund Freud, S. Ferenczi,
-Dr. Stekel, Dr. Jung,
-etc.</p>
-<hr class='c008' />
-<table class='table0' summary=''>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='98%' />
-<col width='1%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <th class='c020' colspan='2'>USE THIS CONVENIENT ORDER FORM</th>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c011' colspan='2'>Haldeman-Julius Publications, Girard, Kansas.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c011' colspan='2'>Please send me one copy each of the Modern Library volumes I have checked on this list, all new, bound in limp covers, at 88c each prepaid.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
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- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
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- <tr>
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- </tr>
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- </tr>
-</table>
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-
-<p class='c021'>NOW——<br />
-a genuine leather
-cover-–9×11½ inches—to
-slip over a copy of
-“The Key to Culture”
-while being read or carried</p>
-
- <dl class='dl_1 c004'>
- <dt>1.</dt>
- <dd>Fits “The Key to Culture”
- </dd>
- <dt>2.</dt>
- <dd>Fits “Big Blue Books”
- </dd>
- <dt>3.</dt>
- <dd>Fits “Haldeman-Julius Monthly”
- </dd>
- </dl>
-
-<div class='figcenter id002'>
-<img src='images/i_092.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-<div class='ic003'>
-<p>How the Cover<br />Looks in Use<br /><br />Size 9×11½ inches<br />GENUINE<br />SHEEPSKIN<br />LEATHER</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c000'>In response to many requests we have designed and manufactured a cover
-or slip holder for “The Key to Culture,” “Haldeman-Julius Monthly,” or
-a “Big Blue Book.” This cover, 9×11½ inches in size, fits all three of these
-popular Haldeman-Julius Publications. These covers are made from genuine
-sheepskin leather, stitched with flap-pockets into which the covers of the
-book may be slipped while carrying in the pocket or for protection while
-reading. By using one of these genuine leather covers you not only protect
-your book, but you can also have the luxurious “feel” of leather as you hold
-the book. The cover is in every way a handsome piece of work and costs
-only $1 prepaid. One cover is sufficient for all your books of this size—it
-holds only one book at a time, but any book may be readily slipped in or
-out in a few seconds. Order one of these covers now, using the special order
-form below.</p>
-
-<p class='c000'><strong>LEATHER COVERS FOR LITTLE BLUE BOOKS</strong>: Leather covers are
-still available for Little Blue Books, made from genuine sheepskin leather,
-at 50c each prepaid. These are 5½×8 inches in size, thoroughly durable,
-hold one Little Blue Book at a time. Order one at the same time you order
-one of the new large covers.</p>
-
-<table class='table3' summary='USE THIS ORDER FORM FOR LEATHER COVERS'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='98%' />
-<col width='1%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <th class='btt blt brt c016' colspan='2'>USE THIS ORDER FORM FOR LEATHER COVERS</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Haldeman-Julius Publications, Girard, Kansas.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>I enclose $................. for <strong>Leather Covers</strong> as checked below:</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>.............................. <strong>Large</strong> Leather Cover (9×11½) at $1.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>.............................. <strong>Small</strong> Leather Cover (5½×8) at 50c.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Name ..............................................................</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Address ...........................................................</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='bbt blt brt c017' colspan='2'>City .................................... State ...................</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-
-<p class='c012'><em>The Author of “Sanity in Sex,” “Rational Sex Series,” “The
-Caveman Within Us,” and other works relating to sex and
-personality, sets forth in this single volume a well-rounded,
-practical exposition of sexual problems.</em></p>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>SEX</div>
- <div class='c009'><em>and the</em></div>
- <div class='c009'>LOVE-LIFE</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><em>By</em></div>
- <div class='c009'>WILLIAM J. FIELDING</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c000'>There is not a man or woman but will find in this book
-a clarifying light shed on many perplexing questions relating
-to sex and the love-life. Even the specialized student will
-find the work replete with illuminating facts and useful information,
-soundly interpreted. It lays special emphasis on
-realizing the potentialities of the love-life in marriage and
-its delicate treatment of these intimate problems is a distinctive
-feature of the book. The contents of the book as outlined
-in the following pages indicates the scope and comprehensiveness
-of the work.</p>
-
-<div class='ph2'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c005'>
- <div>TABLE OF CONTENTS-–322 PAGES</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c022'><strong>I. Sex and Life</strong>—Meeting Life’s Vital
-Problems—Best Preparation for Life—Countless
-Manifestations of Sex—Sexual Phenomena—Evils
-Traced to Ignorance—Primitive
-Methods of Reproduction—Asexual Reproduction—Sex
-Makes the Whole World Akin—Sexual
-Reproduction—Secondary Sexual
-Characters—Sex More Specialized in Higher
-Orders—The Two Paramount Urges—Hunger
-and the Sex Impulse—Savages’ Attitude
-Toward Sex—Ancient Sexual Practices—Sex
-Symbolism—Phallicism—Nature Worship—Venus
-Cults—Sacred Prostitution—Lingam
-and Yoni Symbols—Sexual Coldness—Congenital
-Frigidity—False Frigidity—Effecting
-a Cure—Sidetracked Sex Energy—Results of
-Faulty Education—Puritanical Principles—Celibacy—Ecclesiastical
-Law—Theological
-Influence—-“Sins of the Flesh”—Early Ascetic
-Ideals—Error of Sex Denial—Celibacy
-Not a Normal Life—Effects of Sexual Suppression.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>II. Development of the Love-Life</strong>—Stages
-of Sexual Development—Friendship and Love—Esthetic
-Significance of Sex—Love the
-Refinement of Sexual Impulse—Altruism
-and Self-Sacrifice—Sex Life of the Child—Sexual
-Instincts Manifested from Birth—Stages
-of Progress—The Detumescence Instinct—The
-Autoerotic Stage—Sucking, an
-Erotic Pleasure—Erogenous (Love-producing)
-Zones—Narcissism—The Legend of
-Narcissus—Self-love—Prepubescence—Love
-in Childhood—Childhood’s Sex Interests Repressed—Sublimation—Erotic
-Compensation—Cultural
-Accomplishments—Adolescence—The
-Boy and Girl—Physical and Psychic
-Manifestations—What Impels to Love—The
-Parent Image—Copying Psychological Patterns—Ego
-and Sex Ideals—The Love-Object—Fixations—Peculiarities
-of the Love-Life—Psychic
-Impotence—Frigid Wives—Fetichism—Sexual
-Significance of Fetiches—Exhibitionism—Normal
-and Abnormal Traits—Sexual
-Curiosity—Sadism and Masochism—Homosexuality—Psychological
-Problems—Environmental
-Factors—Homosexual Feelings
-Repressed.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>III. Man’s Sexual Nature</strong>—Comparison of
-the Male and Female—Represent Different
-Types of Eroticism—Anatomy and Physiology
-of Male Sex Organs—The Penis—The
-Glands—The Prepuce—Circumcision—The
-Testes—The Vas Deferens—The Epididymis—The
-Seminal Vesicles—Cowper’s Glands—Prostate
-Gland—Urethra—The Seminal
-Fluid—Semen—Spermatozoa—Internal Chemistry—Ductless
-Glands—The Hormones—Interstitial
-Glands—Chemical Aspects of Sex—The
-Endocrine System—Thyroid—Parathyroid—Pituitary—Adrenals—Thymus—Pineal—Pancreas—Insulin—Activity
-of
-Male Sex Organs—Nocturnal (night) Emissions—A
-Normal Episode—Diurnal (day)
-Emissions—Man’s “Change of Life”—A
-Preparation for Senescence—Period of Sexual
-Decline—The Don Juan—A Constructive
-Period Ahead.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>IV. Woman’s Sexual Nature</strong>—Sexual Instinct
-in Woman—Woman’s Sexual Organization
-More Complex Than Man’s—Feminine
-Eroticism More Highly Ramified—Woman’s
-Emotional Nature—Strength of
-Sexual Impulse—Woman Sexually Conservative—Variations
-in Sexual Impulse—Sexual
-Desire Outlasts the Reproductive Life—Anatomy
-and Physiology of Female Organs—The
-Ovaries—Graafian Follicles—Process
-of Ovulation—Fallopian Tubes—Salpingitis—The
-Uterus (Womb)—The Vagina—The Hymen—The
-Vulva—Bartholin Glands—The
-Pelvis—The Mammary Glands—The Internal
-Secretions—Normal Effects at Puberty—Effects
-of Deficiency of Secretions—Menstruation—Symptoms
-of Initial Appearance—Hygiene
-of Menstruation—Disorders Due to
-Constipation—Re-establishing Premature
-Cessation of Flow—The Menopause.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>V. Preparation for Marriage</strong>—Looking
-Forward to Marriage—Importance of Preparation—Confusion
-of Ideals—Innocence and
-Modesty—Prudery—Marriage: Past and Future—Dual
-Moral Code—Status of Monogamy—Polygamy
-and Promiscuity—Fictitious
-Chivalry—True Love Must Be Free—Woman’s
-Intellectual Liberation—Its Beneficial
-Effects—The Realities of Marriage—Courtship
-As a Preparation—Not an Educational
-Substitute—Period of Intimate Association—Tactless
-Lovers in Courtship—The
-Vehement Wooer and Defensive Partner—Courtship
-a Continual Preparation—The
-Pairing Hunger—Length of Engagements—Long
-Engagements Often Injurious—Proper
-Age to Marry—Economic Hindrance
-at Most Favorable Period—Consanguineous
-Marriage, or Marriage of Blood
-Relatives—Between First and Second Cousins—Not
-Harmful in Itself—Unless Family
-History Is Bad—Hereditary Traits Accentuated
-in Offspring of Blood Relatives—Either
-Good or Bad Latent Traits May Be
-Marked in Children.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>VI. Sex Hygiene in Marriage</strong>—The Conjugal
-Relations—Expressing Love Deepens
-the Love Feeling—Love Cannot Be Separated
-from Sexuality—Courtship and Married
-Lovers—Wooing As an Essential Preparation—The
-Consummation of Love—Woman
-Must Be Wooed Before Every Act
-of Coitus—Characteristics of Feminine Nature—Woman’s
-Role In the Sex Relations—The
-Sex Act Means More to the Female—Woman’s
-Subconscious Maternal Solicitude—Benefits
-of Sexual Expression—Key to
-Happiness in Marriage—Greater Longevity
-of Married Women—The Sexual Initiation
-of the Bride—Coitus the Fulfilment of a
-Natural Law—One of the Most Beautiful
-and Sacred Phenomena of Life—Gives Marriage
-Its Wonderful Potentialities—Overcoming
-Sexual Coldness—Keeping Romance
-in Marriage—Jealousy the Destroyer—Frequency
-of Sex Relations—Intercourse During
-Menstruation—Intercourse During Pregnancy.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>VII. Woman’s Love-rights</strong>—Right
-of Female to Enjoyment of Sexual Function—Recognized
-Among Savages—Erotic Impact
-of “Marriage by Capture”—The Erogenous
-(Love-producing) Zones and Their
-Significance in Woman’s Love-Life—Sensual
-Feeling of the Skin—Woman the Affectionate
-Sex—Effects of Unsatisfactory Marital
-Life—Woman Craves Love and Affection—“Love
- Has to Go to School”—The Bridal
-Night—Its Difficulties and Their Solution—Hygiene
-of the Honeymoon—Reciprocity in
-the Sex Relations—Mutual Rights of the
-Husband and Wife.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>VIII. Birth Control in Relation to the
-Love-Life</strong>—What Birth Control Really Means—Ignorant
- Confusion with Abortion—Legal
-Proscription of Contraception—Ban on Contraceptive
-Information Fosters Abortion—Religious
-Prejudice Against Contraception—Individual
-Clergymen Advocate Birth Control—Morality
- of Birth Control—Immorality
-of Excessive Child-bearing. Fallacy of Intercourse
-for Reproduction Only—Sexual
-Union Has a Value Aside from Procreation—Not
- Purely a Physical or Animal
-Function—Continuous Child-bearing a Primitive
-Practice—Trusting to “Instinct” and
-“Nature”—Fear of Pregnancy, and Marital
-—Coercion for a Morbid Ideal
-by Opponents of Birth Control.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>IX. The Hygiene of Pregnancy</strong>—The
-Phenomenon of Conception—The Beginning
-of Pregnancy—How to Calculate Date of
-Confinement—Ely’s Table and Other Methods—Most
-Favorable Time of Conception—Changes
-in the Pregnant Woman—Signs and
-Symptoms of Pregnancy—Probable and Direct
-Signs—Embryology—Month-by-Month
-Development of the Fetus—Labor Pains and
-Parturition—Maternal Impressions—Their
-Superstitions—Prenatal Care—Rest and Exercise—Diet—Care
-of Teeth—Care of the
-Nipples—How Sex Is Determined—Superstitions
-About Influencing Sex of the Child—Sex
-Development in the Embryo—The
-Chromosome Hypothesis of Sex Determination—Sex
-Determined by the Male Fertilizing
-Element—Sex Determination and Twins.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>X. The Menopause—Beginning a New
-Epoch of Life</strong>—The End of the Reproductive
-Period—Not the End of the Sexual Life—Age
-at Which Menopause Occurs—Various
-Manifestations of Approach—Premature Menopause,
-and Its Treatment—Retarded Menopause—Characteristic
-Symptoms of Climacteric—Sudden
-Cessation of Menstruation—Other
-Common Symptoms—Menstrual Irregularity—Obesity—Cardiac
-or Heart Troubles—Digestive
-Disturbances—Disorders of
-the Skin—Pruritus—Cancer and Other
-Growths—Nervous and Mental Disorders—Climacteric
-Psychosis—Remarks on “The
-Dangerous Age”—Casting Out Fear—A Constructive
-Period Ahead—Woman’s Greater
-Vitality and Longevity—Hygiene of the
-Menopause—Bathing—Exercise—Diet—Other.
-Precautions for Health—Sexual Life After
-the Climacteric—Increased Sexual Desire in
-Post-Menopause Period.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>XI. Sexual Disorders of Women</strong>—Sexual
-Basis of Nervous Disorders—Neurasthenia—Anxiety
-Neurosis—Hysteria—Results of Unsatisfactory
-Marital Relations—Factors in
-Marriage That Influence Sexual Life—Sterility,
-or Barrenness—One-Child Sterility—Frigidity,
-or Sexual Coldness—Disorders Due
-to Abstinence—<strong>Coitus Interruptus</strong>—Common
-Disturbances of Women—Leucorrhea—Menstrual
-Disorders—Dysmenorrhea—Menorrhagia—Amenorrhea—Abortion: Spontaneous,
-Induced (Illegal or Criminal), and Therapeutic—Displacements
-of the Womb—Nymphomania—Masturbation—Exaggerated
-Statement of Its Evils—Why It Is a Bad
-Habit in Growing Boys and Girls.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>XII.—Sexual Disorders of Men</strong>—Nervous
-Disturbances—Fatigue from Mental Effort
-Alone a Rare Phenomenon—Sexual Factors
-in Neuroses—Nervous Breakdown from Suppressing
-Sexual Life—Sexual Determinants
-of Anxiety Neurosis—Sexual Neurasthenia;
-Hereditary and Acquired—Neurasthenia Not
-So Much Actual Nervous Debility As Lack
-of Control—<strong>Coitus Interruptus</strong> a Factor in
-Male Neurasthenia—Sexual Impotence and
-Sterility—Impotence Resulting from Continence-Absolute
-and Irremediable Sterility—Relative
-and Transient Sterility—Prostatitis—Azoospermia—Aspermatism—Satyriasis—Masturbation—Confusion
-with “Onanism”—Prevalence Among Animals—Opinions
-of Some Famous Medical Scientists.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>XIII. Venereal Diseases</strong>—Universality of
-Venereal Diseases—Gonorrhea—The Most
-Prevalent of Adult Infectious Diseases—Discovery
-of the Germ, and Its Description—Symptoms
-of the Disease—Infection of Innocent
-Wives—Effects of Gonorrhea on
-Women—“Honeymoon Appendicitis”—Gonorrhea
-Vulvo-vaginitis—Racial Effects of
-Gonorrhea—Gonorrhea As a Factor in Male
-Sterility—Ophthalmia Neonatorum—Syphilis—Description
-of Its Germ—Symptoms of
-the Different Stages—Becomes a Constitutional
-Disease—Ravages of the Tertiary
-Stage—Locomotor Ataxia and Paresis
-Among Late Effects—Hereditary Syphilis—May
-Be Cured If Properly Treated in Time—Chancroid
-or “Soft Sore”—Gangrenus
-Balanitis—Prostitution—Prostitutes Largely
-subnormal—Clandestine Prostitution.</p>
-
-<p class='c012'><strong>XIV. The Parent and the Child</strong>—Education
-Begins at Birth—Child Normally Looks
-First to Parents for Information—Sex Education
-Should Be Part of Child’s General
-Education—Never Unduly Emphasized—Answering
-the Question: “Where do Babies
-Come From?”—The Meaning of Education
-in Its Broad Sense—Tyranny of Excessive
-Affection—Personality of Child Should Be
-Developed, Not Stifled—Psychic Re-education—Curiosity
-of the Small Child—Special
-Problems of the Boy—Puberty—Secondary
-Sexual Characteristics—Physical Changes
-Mental Changes—Sexual Development of
-Puberty—Night Emissions—Masturbation—Preparation
-for Manhood—Special Problems
-of the Girl—The Need for Self-Knowledge—Adolescence—Physical
-Changes—Mental
-Changes—Other Problems of the Sexual
-Life.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>USE THIS CONVENIENT ORDER FORM</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c000'>The author, whose works on subjects relating to sex and personality
-have been circulated to the extent of well over a million copies, has endeavored
-in this book to meet the demand for a thoroughly well-rounded
-practical exposition of the sexual problems, concisely set forth in a single
-volume. The result, as indicated in the table of contents quoted above, is a
-complete, frank discussion of every relevant question concerning sex in
-general, with special attention devoted to those intimate problems of the
-love-life in marriage that too long have been considered taboo.</p>
-
-<table class='table3' summary='USE THIS CONVENIENT ORDER FORM'>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='98%' />
-<col width='1%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='btt blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Haldeman-Julius Publications,</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Girard, Kansas.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Send me at once, in plain wrapper, one copy of William J. Fielding’s new book of authentic information, entitled</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c016' colspan='2'>SEX AND THE LOVE-LIFE</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c016' colspan='2'>At $2.65 Prepaid. Remittance is Enclosed Herewith</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c016' colspan='2'>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>William J. Fielding’s other books are available as below. Check off those you want and add the proper amount to your remittance.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>......... THE CAVEMAN WITHIN US, price $3.15 prepaid.</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>......... SANITY IN SEX, price $1.95 prepaid.</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c023' colspan='2'>......... HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY, Through Conscious Auto-Suggestion, price $1.95 prepaid.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Name ..............................................................</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt brt c017' colspan='2'>Address ...........................................................</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='blt c017'>&nbsp;</td>
- <td class='brt c018'>&nbsp;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='bbt blt brt c017' colspan='2'>City .............................. State .........................</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c009' />
-</div>
-<div class='tnotes'>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c006'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</h2>
-</div>
- <ol class='ol_1 c004'>
- <li>Silently corrected typographical errors.
-
- </li>
- <li>Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
- </li>
- </ol>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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