Produced by Charles AldarondoCAST ADRIFTBy T S ArthurAuthor Of Three Years In A ManTrap Orange Blossoms Etc Etc     Philadelphia     Cincinnati     New York     Boston     Chicago Ills     New Castle Pa     San Francisco Cal1873TO THE READERIN this romance of real life in which the truth is stranger than thefiction I have lifted only in part the veil that hides the victims ofintemperance and other terrible vicesafter they have fallen to thelower deeps of degradation to be found in our large cities where thevile and degraded herd together more like wild beasts than men andwomenand told the story of sorrow suffering crime and debasementas they really exist in Christian America with all the earnestness andpower that in me liesStrange and sad and terrible as are some of the scenes from which I haredrawn this veil I have not told the half of what exists My book apartfrom the thread of fiction that runs through its pages is but a seriesof photographs from real life and is less a work of the imaginationthan a record of factsIf it stirs the hearts of American readers profoundly and so awakensthe people to a sense of their duty if it helps to inaugurate moreearnest and radical modes of reform for a state of society of which adistinguished author has said There is not a country throughout theearth on which it would not bring a curse there is no religion upon theearth that it would not deny there is no people upon the earth it wouldnot put to shamethen will not my work be in vainSitting in our comfortable homes with wellfed wellclothed andhappyhearted children about uschildren who have our tenderest carewhose cry of pain from a pinprick or a fall on the carpeted floor hurtsus like a blowhow few of us know or care anything about the homesin which some other children dwell or of the hard and cruel battle forlife they are doomed to fight from the very beginningTo get out from these comfortable homes and from the midst of tenderlycaredfor little ones and stand face to face with squalor and hungerwith suffering debasement and crime to look upon the starved facesof children and hear their helpless cries is what scarcely one in athousand will do It is too much for our sensibilities And so we standaloof and the sorrow and suffering the debasement the wrong andthe crime go on and because we heed it not we vainly imagine that noresponsibility lies at our door and yet there is no man or woman who isnot according to the measure of his or her influence responsible forthe human debasement and suffering I have portrayedThe task I set for myself has not been a pleasant one It has hurt mysensibilities and sickened my heart many times as I stood face to facewith the sad and awful degradation that exists in certain regions ofour larger cities and now that my work is done I take a deep breathof relief The result is in your hands good citizen Christian readerearnest philanthropist If it stirs your heart in the reading as itstirred mine in the writing it will not die fruitlessTHE AUTHORCONTENTSCHAPTER I The unwelcome babeThe defrauded young motherThe strugglebetween life and deathYour baby is in heavenA brief retrospectAmarriage for social positionAn ambitious wife and a disappointedhusbandThe young daughterThe matrimonial marketThe Circassianslaves of modern societyThe highest bidderDisappearanceThe old sadstorySecret marriageThe lettersDisappointed ambitionInterviewbetween the parentsThe mothers purposeBaffled but notdefeatedThe fathers surpriseThe returned daughterForgivenI amnot going away again father dearInsecurity and distrustCHAPTER II The hatred of a bad womanMrs Dinnefords plans for thedestruction of GrangerStarting in businessPlots of Mrs Dinnefordand FreelingThe discounted notesThe trapGrangers suspicionsarousedForgeryMrs Dinneford relentlessThe arrestFresh evidenceof crime upon Grangers personThe shock to EdithThat night her babywas bornCHAPTER III It is a splendid boyA convenient noninterferingfamily doctorCast adriftInto the world in a basket unnamedand disownedEdiths second struggle back to lifeHer mind ablankGranger convicted of forgerySeeks to gain knowledge of hischildThe doctors evasion and ignoranceAn insane asylum instead ofStates prisonEdiths slow return to intelligenceTheres somethingI cant understand motherWhere is my babyWhat of GeorgeNolonger a child but a broken hearted womanThe divorceCHAPTER IV Sympathy between father and daughterInterest in publiccharitiesA dreadful sightA sick babe in the arms of a halfdrunkenwomanIs there no law to meet such casesThe poor baby has novoteEdith seeks for the grave of her child but cannot finditShe questions her mother who baffles her curiosityMrs BraysvisitInterview between Mrs Dinneford and Mrs BrayThe babyisnt livingYes I saw it day before yesterday in the arms of abeggarwomanEdiths suspicions arousedDetermined to discover thefate of her childVisits the doctorYour baby is in heavenWouldto God it were so for I saw a baby in hell not long agoCHAPTER V Mrs Dinneford visits Mrs BrayThe woman to whom yougave that baby was here yesterdayThe woman must be put out of thewayExit Mrs Dinneford enter Pinky SwettYou know your fateNewOrleans and the yellow feverAll I want of you is to keep track ofthe babyDivision of the spoilsLucky dreamsConsultation of thedreambook for lucky figuresSam McFaddon and his backer who drivesin the Park and wears a two thousand dollar diamond pinThe fate of ababy begged withThe baby must not dieThe lotterypoliciesCHAPTER VI Rottenness at the heart of a great cityPinky Swettsattempted rescue of a child from cruel beatingThe fightPinkysarrestAppearance of the queenPinkys release at her commandThequeens homeThe screams of children being beatenThe rescue ofFlanagans NellDeath the great rescuerThey dont look afterthings in here as they do outsideEverybodys got the screws on andthings must break sometimes but it isnt called murderThe coronerunderstands it allCHAPTER VII Pinky Swett at the mercy of the crowd in the streetTakento the nearest stationhouseMrs Dinneford visits Mrs BrayagainFresh alarmsShes got you in her powerMoney is of noaccountThe knock at the doorMrs Dinneford in hidingThe visitorgoneMrs Bray reports the woman insatiable in her demandsMust havetwo hundred dollars by sundownNo way of escape except through policeinterferencePeople who deal with the