Criminals -- Fiction; New York (State) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“It's Leoni,” explained Kenny guardedly. “Goldie give her a wallop or
two last night, an' Phil's goin' to do him for it.”
Casey strode into the Stag, his bosom a storm-center for every black
emotion. The sophisticated Auggy smelled instant trouble on him, as one
smells fire in a house. Bending over the friendly shoulder of Whitey
Dutch, Auggy spoke in a low tone of warning.
“There's Phil Casey,” he said, “an' t'ree of his bunch. It's apples to
ashes he's gunnin' for Goldie. If Chick were here, now, he'd somehow put
the smother on him.”
“Give him a call-down your own self,” was Whitey's counsel. “W'at with
Chick's license bein' revoked in Park Row, an' Joe Rocks goin' to the
hospital from here only a little over a mont' ago, the least bit
of cannonadin' 's bound to put th' joint in Dutch all the way from
headquarters to the State excise dubs in Albany.”
“I know it,” returned Auggy, in great trouble of mind. “If a gun so much
as cracks once, it'll be th' fare-you-well of the Stag.”
“Well, w'at do youse say?” demanded the loyal Whitey. “I'm wit' youse,
an' I'm wit' Chick, an' I'm wit' Goldie. Give th' woid, an' I'll pull in
a harness bull from off his beat.”
“No, none of that! Chick'd sooner burn the joint than call a cop.”
“I'll go give Casey a chin,” said Whitey, “meb-by I can hold him down.
You put Goldie wise. Tell him to keep his lamps on Casey, an' if Casey
reaches for his gatt to beat him to it.”
Casey the decisive moved swiftly, however, and the proposed peace
intervention failed for being too slow. Casey got a glimpse of Goldie
through the separating screen doors. It was all he wanted. The next
moment he had charged through.
Chairs crashed, tables were overthrown, women shrieked and men cursed.
Twenty guns were out. Casey fired six times at Goldie Louie, and six
times missed that lucky meddler with other people's pocket-books. Not
that Casey's efforts were altogether thrown away. His first bullet
lodged in the stomach of Fog-eye, while his third broke the arm of
Brother Bill.
Whitey Dutch reached Casey as the latter began his artillery practice,
and sought by word and moderate force to induce a truce. Losing
patience, however, Whitey, as Casey fired his final shot, pulled his own
gun and put a bullet through and through that berserk's head. As Casey
fell forward, a second bullet--coming from anywhere--buried itself in
his back.
“By the Lord, I've croaked Phil!” was the exclamation of Whitey,
addressed to no one in particular.
They were Whitey's last words; some one shoved the muzzle of a gun
against his temple, and he fell by the side of Casey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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