Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its CureBall, Eustace Hale
General
Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its Cure
Ball, Eustace Hale
Crime -- Fiction
"He's fixed," thought Burke, and he sprang up, to run forward to the
vestibule of Shultberger's. There he found the body of Maguire
sprawled out, with the blood of the Irish kings mingling with the
rainwater on the East Side street.
One man was hiding in the doorway's shelter. Another was scuttling
down the street, to run full into the arms of an approaching roundsman.
As Burke stooped over the form of his comrade a black-jack struck his
shoulder. He sprang upward, partially numbed from the blow, but
summoning all his strength he caught the gangster by the arm and
shoulder and flung him bodily through the glass door which smashed with
a clatter.
Burke kicked at the door as he fought with the murderer, and his weight
forced it open.
A whisky bottle whizzed through the air from behind the bar.
Shultberger was in the battle. Burke's night stick ended the struggle
with his one assailant, and he ran for the long bar, which he vaulted,
as the saloon-keeper dodged backward. Another revolver shot
reverberated as the proprietor retreated. But, at this rough and
tumble fight, Burke used the greatest fighting projectile of the
policeman; he threw the loaded night stick with unerring aim, striking
Shultberger full in the face. The man screamed as he fell backward.
Half a dozen policemen had surrounded the saloon by this time, and
Burke fumbled around until he found the electric light switch near the
cash register. He threw a flood of light on the scene of destruction.
Shultberger, pulling himself up to his knees, his face and mouth gory
from the catapult's stroke, moaned with agony as he clawed blindly.
Patrolman White was tugging at the gangster who had been knocked
unconscious by Burke's club. Outside two of the uniformed men were
reverently lifting the corpse of Terence Maguire, who was on his
Eternal Fixed Post.
"Have ... have you sent ... for an ambulance?" cried Bobbie.
"Yes, Burke," said the sergeant, who had examined the dead man. "But
it's too late. Poor Mack, poor old Mack!"
A patrol wagon was clanging its gong as the driver spurred the horses
on. Captain Sawyer dismounted from the seat by the driver. The bad
news had traveled rapidly. Suddenly Burke, remembering the fleeing
Jimmie, dashed from the saloon, and forced his way through the swarming
crowd which had been drawn from the neighboring tenements by the
excitement.
"Is the boy crazy?" asked Sawyer. "Hurry, White, and notify the
Coroner, for I don't intend to allow Terence Maguire to lie in this
rotten den very long."
Burke ran along the wet street, looking vainly for the wounded
gang-leader. Jimmie was not in sight! Burke went the entire length of
the block, and then slowly retraced his steps.
He scrutinized every hallway and cellar entrance.
At last his vigilance was rewarded. Down the steps, beneath a
half-opened bulkhead door, he found his quarry.
The Monk was moaning with pain from a shattered leg-bone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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