Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction; City and town life -- Fiction; Coal mines and mining -- Pennsylvania -- Fiction; Labor leaders -- Fiction
When the special counsel for the State, a man of great name in the
courts, had finished his insistent persistent cry for the blood of
the silent unemotional Brown, McGregor acted. Springing to his feet he
shouted hoarsely across the silent court room to a large woman sitting
among the witnesses. “They have tricked you Mary,” he roared. “The tale
about the pardon after the excitement dies is a lie. They're stringing
you. They're going to hang Andy Brown. Get up there and tell the naked
truth or his blood be on your hands.”
A furor arose in the crowded court room. Lawyers sprang to their feet,
objecting, protesting. Above the noise arose a hoarse accusing voice.
“Keep Polk Street Mary and every woman from her place in here,” he
shouted. “They know who killed your man. Put them back there on the
stand. They'll tell. Look at them. The truth is coming out of them.”
The clamour in the room subsided. The silent red-haired attorney, the
joke of the case, had scored. Walking in the streets at night the words
of Edith Carson had come back into his brain, and with the help
of Margaret Ormsby he had been able to follow a clue given by her
suggestion.
“Find out if your man Brown has a sweetheart.”
In a moment he saw the message the women of the underworld, patrons of
O'Toole's, had been trying to convey to him. Polk Street Mary was the
sweetheart of Andy Brown. Now in the silent court room the voice of
a woman arose broken with sobs. To the listening crowd in the packed
little room came the story of the tragedy in the darkened house before
which stood the policeman idly swinging his night stick--the story of a
girl from an Illinois village procured and sold to the broker's son--of
the desperate struggle in the little room between the eager lustful man
and the frightened brave-hearted girl--of the blow with the chair in
the hands of the girl that brought death to the man--of the women of
the house trembling on the stairs and the body hastily pitched into the
passageway.
“They told me they would get Andy off when this blew over,” wailed the
woman.
* * * * *
McGregor went out of the court room into the street. The glow of victory
was on him and he strode along with his heart beating high. His way led
over a bridge into the North Side and in his wanderings he passed the
apple warehouse where he had made his start in the city and where he had
fought with the German. When night came he walked in North Clark Street
and heard the newsboys shouting of his victory. Before him danced a new
vision, a vision of himself as a big figure in the city. Within himself
he felt the power to stand forth among men, to outwit them and outfight
them, to get for himself power and place in the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account