The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-26
X.--One Night at Tiernan's

He'd keep on until he'd hauled me
down. He'd keep on until he got rne.
in the end. He'd never give up"
But why should he want to do 4
thing like this?"
when they sent him up T. the Big
House. for life. he sent back word he
had influence and a swell mouthpiece
at work pullin' the strings. I meant
to wait. I wanted TO wait: did wait.
But his Tammany friends didn't come
across wit any spring. Hes only got
his parole from that pardon-board to
day. And a woman can't always do
what she wants to. There was another
guy got hangin' round and handin' out
the soft stun. And Ii forgot about
Dock. He was pretty good to me,
that guy. when was down on my
luck. He kind o. SHE'D in bfore
woke up to what was happenin'. Not
that I wasn't wise to what men are.
But he was a within spender. and he'd
the way o. handin' out the soft talk
that made yuh forget he was a gum
ney. And when he had me wayerin',
and wonderin'' II Dock hadn't forgot
| ten I was still on earth, he started
loadin' me down wit jew'lry until
was lit UP like a switchboard at eleven
p. m"
Il anu NOu say lAleN IIldI was a BulAl-
ney. a Dago7 What was his name ?"
! His names muffin to outsiders, /"
was her guarded response. And I
knew that little was to be gained by
pressing the point.
But sure" went on by way Of a
diversion, surely you knew there'drbe
n comeback from a man like Duke
| Callahan"
StH again the girl moved her head
up and down.
"Oh. knew #. all right, all right.
But I weakened and let that quincy
talk me into believin' something diff
Trent. He told me Dook'd never. get
out o. clink in century He elaine
the bulls had it on him fr an old guy
he croaked up the Avenoo. He kne "
Dock had done that job. but there was
a twist to it he wouldn't talk about"
And what was the Job up the Ave-
nue?" casually inquired
"a nutty old millionaire caught Dock
in his museum one night. And Dock
put his light out by accident"
TN his museum? ?" I echoed.
He'd q collection o. mine-Ju junk in
glass cases. and Dock was beatin' a
certain party up. there fr haul. But
when old Grosset walked in on him III,
only chanct-"
"Grosset?" I said with a gasp.
think caught hold of the table, for my
whole world seemed trying to turn 5
somerssult
Say. what's wrong wit yuh?" askc5
the white faced girl confronting me.
} I couldn't answer her, for the very
machinery Of thought came to a stop
like a watch hit by a sledge. I sa
staring blankly through the smoke
stained air Of Tiernan's dump. I saw
a door open, and a man step into the
: room. glance about, and step out again
/, 1 don't think I could have moved Of
spoken, If that man had been Angelo
: Pareto himself. I sat there staring a
the blank door until the girl repeated
her question.
There was a bull standing In tina
door," heard my own voice trying t
explain. II thought he was coming
in after me-"
The girl turned slowly toward tn
, door and said something. but he
words fell on deaf ears. was a thou
sand miles away. remembered tn
mysterious note that had fallen at m,
, feet on the night of Eleakin Grosset'
murder. I recalled the scene in tn
gem-room, and the gray-faced man oil
the bed. and the talk in the Inspector
ONCE. thought OF the treadmill o
: underworld activities to which tn
events of that night had chained me-
And wave after wave of overwhelmin
bitterness swept through my soul, tn
= infinite bitterness of betrayal.
$ The one man who had proclaime
a himself my friend had in reality prove
: my darkest enemy. The mar who ha
tmouthed so eternally about helping m
/" up in the world had actually bee
holding me down. Eleakim Crosse
had been killed by a gunman name
Duke Callahan. And had been FIRE
without knowing it. All the while tina
a / 1 had chafed at my sc-called captivit
I could have been mistress OF my ow
movements, of my own life, II I'd onl
had the sense to know it.
" But now I knew the difference. NOV
j nothing much mattered. Now tn
smoke-wreathed habitues Of that slur
Z" rookery seemed denizens of anothe
world, Of world infinitely far away
q It was Duke Callahan who had kille
o Eleakim Grosset! What cases the Al
lance lost or won suddenly became a
n I phantasmal as something that Nigh
] have happened in the Pliocene Ag,
4 What good fortune or I'll awaited tn
/ feline Pareto merged into something a
= remote as an episode on the plane
Mars. was out OF it all. And 1 wa
not only out of 1t, but was above 1
: The death OF Eleakim Grosset coul
n not be laid at my door. The law wa
no longer a Moloch. demanding sac
e riice.
q Say. kid I said. with an effort s
s. sub-cellar camaraderie, Il want t
5. straighten this thing, out. Does this
4 Dsgo friend OF yours know your
here?'
n Her hesitancy didn't escape me.
II He knows more than most feet
imagine" she equivocated
: Then il he knows what's on tonlgh
d why isn't he sticking around? 30
He had to beat II up across the LIN
a few days back. and some Mana mu
d tipped him of I'd been ridin' in Jumh
C Feeney's hre-wagonl"
IS A Dago stone-getter that week ha
gone up across the Line. This NEAR
: that he had gone I'D into Canada An