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Python for Finance
Second Edition

Financial modeling and quantitative analysis explained

Yuxing Yan

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Python for Finance
Second Edition

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: April 2014

Second edition: June 2017

Production reference: 1270617

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78712-569-8

www.packtpub.com

[ FM-2 ]
 Credits

Author Project Coordinator

Yuxing Yan Shweta H Birwatkar

Reviewers Proofreader
Dr. Param Jeet Safis Editing
Nabih Ibrahim Bawazir, M.Sc.
Joran Beasley Indexer
Mariammal Chettiyar

Commissioning Editor
Amey Varangaonkar Graphics
Tania Dutta

Acquisition Editor
Tushar Gupta Production Coordinator
Nilesh Mohite

Content Development Editor

Amrita Noronha Cover Work
Nilesh Mohite

Technical Editor
Akash Patel

Copy Editor
Safis Editing

[ FM-3 ]
 About the Author

Yuxing Yan graduated from McGill University with a PhD in finance. Over the
years, he has been teaching various finance courses at eight universities: McGill
University and Wilfrid Laurier University (in Canada), Nanyang Technological
University (in Singapore), Loyola University of Maryland, UMUC, Hofstra
University, University at Buffalo, and Canisius College (in the US).

His research and teaching areas include: market microstructure, open-source finance
and financial data analytics. He has 22 publications including papers published in
the Journal of Accounting and Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal
of Empirical Finance, Real Estate Review, Pacific Basin Finance Journal, Applied
Financial Economics, and Annals of Operations Research.

He is good at several computer languages, such as SAS, R, Python, Matlab, and C.

His four books are related to applying two pieces of open-source software to finance:
Python for Finance (2014), Python for Finance (2nd ed., expected 2017), Python for
Finance (Chinese version, expected 2017), and Financial Modeling Using R (2016).

In addition, he is an expert on data, especially on financial databases. From 2003 to

2010, he worked at Wharton School as a consultant, helping researchers with their
programs and data issues. In 2007, he published a book titled Financial Databases
(with S.W. Zhu). This book is written in Chinese.

Currently, he is writing a new book called Financial Modeling Using Excel — in an

R-Assisted Learning Environment. The phrase "R-Assisted" distinguishes it from
other similar books related to Excel and financial modeling. New features include
using a huge amount of public data related to economics, finance, and accounting;
an efficient way to retrieve data: 3 seconds for each time series; a free financial
calculator, showing 50 financial formulas instantly, 300 websites, 100 YouTube
videos, 80 references, paperless for homework, midterms, and final exams; easy to
extend for instructors; and especially, no need to learn R.

[ FM-4 ]
I would like to thank Ben Amoako-Adu, Brian Smith (who taught
me the first two finance courses and offered unstinting support for
many years after my graduation), George Athanassakos (one of his
assignments "forced" me to learn C), and Jin-Chun Duan.

I would also like to thank Wei-Hung Mao, Jerome Detemple, Bill

Sealey, Chris Jacobs, Mo Chaudhury, Summon Mazumdar (my
former professors at McGill), and Lawrence Kryzanowski. (His
wonderful teaching inspired me to concentrate on empirical finance
and he edited my doctoral thesis word by word even though he
was not my supervisor!). There is no doubt that my experience at
Wharton has shaped my thinking and enhanced my skill sets. I
thank Chris Schull and Michael Boldin for offering me the job; Mark
Keintz, Dong Xu, Steven Crispi, and Dave Robinson, my former
colleagues, who helped me greatly during my first two years at
Wharton; and Eric Zhu, Paul Ratnaraj, Premal Vora, Shuguang
Zhang, Michelle Duan, Nicholle Mcniece, Russ Ney, Robin
Nussbaum-Gold, and Mireia Gine for all their help. In addition, I'd
like to thank Shaobo Ji, Tong Yu, Shaoming Huang, Xing Zhang.

[ FM-5 ]
 About the Reviewers

Dr. Param Jeet has a Ph.D. in mathematics from one of India's leading engineering
institutes, IIT Madras. Dr. Param Jeet has a decade of experience in the data analytics
industry. He started his career with Bank of America and since then worked with a
few companies as a data scientist. He has also worked across domains such as capital
market, education, telecommunication and healthcare. Dr. Param Jeet has expertise
in Quantitative finance, Data analytics, machine learning, R, Python, Matlab, SQL,
and big data technologies. He has also published a few research papers in reputed
international journals, published and reviewed books, and has worked on Learning
Quantitative Finance with R.

Nabih Ibrahim Bawazir, M.Sc. is a data scientist at an Indonesian financial

technology start-up backed by Digital Alpha Group, Pte Ltd., Singapore. Most
of his work is research on the development phase, from financial modeling to
data-driven underwriting. Previously, he worked as actuary in CIGNA. He holds
M.Sc in Financial Mathematics from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia.

Joran Beasley received his degree in computer science from the University
of Idaho. He works has been programming desktop applications in wxPython
professionally for monitoring large scale sensor networks for use in agriculture for
the last 7 years. He currently lives in Moscow Idaho, and works at Decagon Devices
Inc. as a software engineer.

I would like to thank my wife Nicole, for putting up with my long

hours hunched over a keyboard, and her constant support and help
in raising our two wonderful children.

[ FM-6 ]
 www.PacktPub.com

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[ FM-8 ]
 Table of Contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1: Python Basics 1
Python installation 1
Installation of Python via Anaconda 2
Launching Python via Spyder 3
Direct installation of Python 4
Variable assignment, empty space, and writing our own programs 7
Writing a Python function 9
Python loops 10
Python loops, if...else conditions 11
Data input 15
Data manipulation 19
Data output 25
Exercises 27
Summary 29
Chapter 2: Introduction to Python Modules 31
What is a Python module? 32
Introduction to NumPy 38
Introduction to SciPy 41
Introduction to matplotlib 45
How to install matplotlib 45
Several graphical presentations using matplotlib 45
Introduction to statsmodels 49
Introduction to pandas 51
Python modules related to finance 59
Introduction to the pandas_reader module 60
Two financial calculators 61
How to install a Python module 64

[i]
Table of Contents

Module dependency 67
Exercises 68
Summary 69
Chapter 3: Time Value of Money 71
Introduction to time value of money 72
Writing a financial calculator in Python 81
Definition of NPV and NPV rule 86
Definition of IRR and IRR rule 88
Definition of payback period and payback period rule 90
Writing your own financial calculator in Python 91
Two general formulae for many functions 92
Appendix A – Installation of Python, NumPy, and SciPy 96
Appendix B – visual presentation of time value of money 98
Appendix C – Derivation of present value of annuity from present value
of one future cash flow and present value of perpetuity 99
Appendix D – How to download a free financial calculator written
in Python 101
Appendix E – The graphical presentation of the relationship between
NPV and R 102
Appendix F – graphical presentation of NPV profile with two IRRs 104
Appendix G – Writing your own financial calculator in Python 105
Exercises 106
Summary 108
Chapter 4: Sources of Data 109
Diving into deeper concepts 110
Retrieving data from Yahoo!Finance 113
Retrieving data from Google Finance 125
Retrieving data from FRED 126
Retrieving data from Prof. French's data library 127
Retrieving data from the Census Bureau, Treasury, and BLS 128
Generating two dozen datasets 130
Several datasets related to CRSP and Compustat 132
Appendix A – Python program for return distribution versus a
normal distribution 137
Appendix B – Python program to a draw
candle-stick picture 138
Appendix C – Python program for price movement 140
Appendix D – Python program to show a picture of a stock's
intra-day movement 141
Appendix E –properties for a pandas DataFrame 142

[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Appendix F –how to generate a Python dataset with an extension of

.pkl or .pickle 144
Appendix G – data case #1 -generating several Python datasets 145
Exercises 145
Summary 147
Chapter 5: Bond and Stock Valuation 149
Introduction to interest rates 149
Term structure of interest rates 159
Bond evaluation 166
Stock valuation 171
A new data type – dictionary 176
Appendix A – simple interest rate versus compounding interest rate 176
Appendix B – several Python functions related to interest conversion 178
Appendix C – Python program for rateYan.py 179
Appendix D – Python program to estimate stock price based on an
n-period model 180
Appendix E – Python program to estimate the duration for a bond 181
Appendix F – data case #2 – fund raised from a new bond issue 182
Summary 184
Chapter 6: Capital Asset Pricing Model 185
Introduction to CAPM 186
Moving beta 192
Adjusted beta 193
Scholes and William adjusted beta 194
Extracting output data 197
Outputting data to text files 198
Saving our data to a .csv file 198
Saving our data to an Excel file 199
Saving our data to a pickle dataset 199
Saving our data to a binary file 200
Reading data from a binary file 200
Simple string manipulation 201
Python via Canopy 204
References 207
Exercises 209
Summary 212
Chapter 7: Multifactor Models and Performance Measures 213
Introduction to the Fama-French three-factor model 214
Fama-French three-factor model 218

[ iii ]
Table of Contents

Fama-French-Carhart four-factor model and Fama-French

five-factor model 221
Implementation of Dimson (1979) adjustment for beta 223
Performance measures 225
How to merge different datasets 228
Appendix A – list of related Python datasets 235
Appendix B – Python program to generate ffMonthly.pkl 236
Appendix C – Python program for Sharpe ratio 237
Appendix D – data case #4 – which model is the best, CAPM, FF3,
FFC4, or FF5, or others? 238
References 239
Exercises 240
Summary 242
Chapter 8: Time-Series Analysis 243
Introduction to time-series analysis 244
Merging datasets based on a date variable 246
Using pandas.date_range() to generate one dimensional time-series 246
Return estimation 250
Converting daily returns to monthly ones 252
Merging datasets by date 253
Understanding the interpolation technique 254
Merging data with different frequencies 256
Tests of normality 258
Estimating fat tails 260
T-test and F-test 262
Tests of equal variances 263
Testing the January effect 264
52-week high and low trading strategy 265
Estimating Roll's spread 266
Estimating Amihud's illiquidity 267
Estimating Pastor and Stambaugh (2003) liquidity measure 268
Fama-MacBeth regression 269
Durbin-Watson 270
Python for high-frequency data 273
Spread estimated based on high-frequency data 277
Introduction to CRSP 279
References 280
Appendix A – Python program to generate GDP dataset
usGDPquarterly2.pkl 281
Appendix B – critical values of F for the 0.05 significance level 282

[ iv ]
 Table of Contents

Appendix C – data case #4 - which political party manages the

economy better? 283
Exercises 285
Summary 288
Chapter 9: Portfolio Theory 289
Introduction to portfolio theory 290
A 2-stock portfolio 290
Optimization – minimization 294
Forming an n-stock portfolio 301
Constructing an optimal portfolio 307
Constructing an efficient frontier with n stocks 310
References 322
Appendix A – data case #5 - which industry portfolio do you prefer? 322
Appendix B – data case #6 - replicate S&P500 monthly returns 323
Exercises 325
Summary 331
Chapter 10: Options and Futures 333
Introducing futures 334
Payoff and profit/loss functions for call and put options 341
European versus American options 346
Understanding cash flows, types of options, rights and obligations 346
Black-Scholes-Merton option model on non-dividend paying stocks 347
Generating our own module p4f 348
European options with known dividends 349
Various trading strategies 350
Covered-call – long a stock and short a call 351
Straddle – buy a call and a put with the same exercise prices 352
Butterfly with calls 353
The relationship between input values and option values 355
Greeks 356
Put-call parity and its graphic presentation 359
The put-call ratio for a short period with a trend 363
Binomial tree and its graphic presentation 364
Binomial tree (CRR) method for European options 371
Binomial tree (CRR) method for American options 372
Hedging strategies 373
Implied volatility 374
Binary-search 377
Retrieving option data from Yahoo! Finance 378
Volatility smile and skewness 379

[v]
Table of Contents

References 381
Appendix A – data case 6: portfolio insurance 382
Exercises 384
Summary 387
Chapter 11: Value at Risk 389
Introduction to VaR 390
Normality tests 400
Skewness and kurtosis 402
Modified VaR 403
VaR based on sorted historical returns 405
Simulation and VaR 408
VaR for portfolios 409
Backtesting and stress testing 411
Expected shortfall 413
Appendix A – data case 7 – VaR estimation for individual stocks
and a portfolio 415
References 418
Exercises 418
Summary 420
Chapter 12: Monte Carlo Simulation 421
Importance of Monte Carlo Simulation 422
Generating random numbers from a standard normal distribution 422
Drawing random samples from a normal distribution 423
Generating random numbers with a seed 424
Random numbers from a normal distribution 425
Histogram for a normal distribution 425
Graphical presentation of a lognormal distribution 426
Generating random numbers from a uniform distribution 428
Using simulation to estimate the pi value 429
Generating random numbers from a Poisson distribution 431
Selecting m stocks randomly from n given stocks 432
With/without replacements 433
Distribution of annual returns 435
Simulation of stock price movements 437
Graphical presentation of stock prices at options' maturity dates 439
Replicating a Black-Scholes-Merton call using simulation 441
Exotic option #1 – using the Monte Carlo Simulation to price average 442
Exotic option #2 – pricing barrier options using the Monte Carlo
Simulation 443
Liking two methods for VaR using simulation 445

[ vi ]
 Table of Contents

Capital budgeting with Monte Carlo Simulation 446

Python SimPy module 449
Comparison between two social policies – basic income and basic job 450
Finding an efficient frontier based on two stocks by using simulation 454
Constructing an efficient frontier with n stocks 457
Long-term return forecasting 460
Efficiency, Quasi-Monte Carlo, and Sobol sequences 462
Appendix A – data case #8 - Monte Carlo Simulation and blackjack 463
References 464
Exercises 464
Summary 466
Chapter 13: Credit Risk Analysis 467
Introduction to credit risk analysis 468
Credit rating 468
Credit spread 475
YIELD of AAA-rated bond, Altman Z-score 477
Using the KMV model to estimate the market value of total assets
and its volatility 479
Term structure of interest rate 482
Distance to default 485
Credit default swap 486
Appendix A – data case #8 - predicting bankruptcy by using Z-score 487
References 488
Exercises 488
Summary 490
Chapter 14: Exotic Options 491
European, American, and Bermuda options 492
Chooser options 494
Shout options 496
Binary options 497
Rainbow options 498
Pricing average options 505
Pricing barrier options 507
Barrier in-and-out parity 509
Graph of up-and-out and up-and-in parity 510
Pricing lookback options with floating strikes 512
Appendix A – data case 7 – hedging crude oil 514
References 516
Exercises 516
Summary 519

[ vii ]
Table of Contents

Chapter 15: Volatility, Implied Volatility, ARCH, and GARCH 521

Conventional volatility measure – standard deviation 522
Tests of normality 522
Estimating fat tails 524
Lower partial standard deviation and Sortino ratio 526
Test of equivalency of volatility over two periods 528
Test of heteroskedasticity, Breusch, and Pagan 529
Volatility smile and skewness 532
Graphical presentation of volatility clustering 534
The ARCH model 535
Simulating an ARCH (1) process 536
The GARCH model 537
Simulating a GARCH process 538
Simulating a GARCH (p,q) process using modified garchSim() 539
GJR_GARCH by Glosten, Jagannanthan, and Runkle 542
References 545
Appendix A – data case 8 - portfolio hedging using VIX calls 545
References 546
Appendix B – data case 8 - volatility smile and its implications 546
Exercises 548
Summary 549
Index 551

[ viii ]
 Preface
It is our firm belief that an ambitious student major in finance should learn at least
one computer language. The basic reason is that we have entered a so-called big data
era. In finance, we have a huge amount of data, and most of it is publically available
free of charge. To use such rich sources of data efficiently, we need a tool. Among
many potential candidates, Python is one of the best choices.

A few words for the second edition

For the second edition, we have reorganized the structure of the book by adding
more chapters related to finance. This is recognition and response to the feedbacks
from numerous readers. For the second edition, the first two chapters are exclusively
devoted to Python. After that, all remaining chapters are associated with finance.
Again, Python in this book is used as a tool to help readers learn and understand
financial theories better. To meet the demand of using all types of data by various
quantitative programs, business analytics programs and financial engineering
programs, we add Chapter 4, Sources of Data. Because of this restructuring, this edition
is more suitable for a one-semester course such as Quantitative Finance, Financial
Analysis using Python and Business Analytics. Two finance professors, Premal P.
Vora, at Penn State University, Sheng Xiao, at Westminister College, have adopted
the first edition as their textbook. Hopefully, more finance, accounting professors
would find the second edition is more suitable for their students, especially for
those students from a financial engineering program, business analytics and other
quantitative areas.

[ ix ]
Preface

Why Python?
There are various reasons that Python should be used. Firstly, Python is free in terms
of license. Python is available for all major operating systems, such as Windows,
Linux/Unix, OS/2, Mac, and Amiga, among others. Being free has many benefits.
When students graduate, they could apply what they have learned wherever they
go. This is true for the financial community as well. In contrast, this is not true for
SAS and MATLAB. Secondly, Python is powerful, flexible, and easy to learn. It is
capable of solving almost all our financial and economic estimations. Thirdly, we
could apply Python to big data. Dasgupta (2013) argues that R and Python are two of
the most popular open source programming languages for data analysis. Fourthly,
there are many useful modules in Python. Each model is developed for a special
purpose. In this book, we focus on NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, Statsmodels, and
Pandas modules.

A programming book written by a finance

professor
There is no doubt that the majority of programming books are written by professors
from computer science. It seems odd that a finance professor writes a programming
book. It is understandable that the focus would be quite different. If an instructor
from computer science were writing this book, naturally the focus would be
Python, whereas the true focus should be finance. This should be obvious from the
title of the book Python for Finance. This book intends to change the fact that many
programming books serving the finance community have too much for the language
itself and too little for finance. Another unique feature of the book is that it uses a
huge amount public data related to economics, finance and accounting, see Chapter 4,
Sources of Data for more details.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Python Basics, offers a short introduction, and explains how to install
Python, how to launch and quit Python, variable assignment, vector, matrix and
Tuple, calling embedded functions, write your own functions, input data from an
input file, simple data manipulations, output our data and results, and generate a
Python dataset with an extension of pickle.

[x]
 Preface

Chapter 2, Introduction to Python Modules, discusses the meaning of a module, how

to import a module, show all functions contained in an imported module, adopt a
short name for an imported module, compare between import math and from math
import, delete an imported module, import just a few functions from a module,
introduction to NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib, statsmodels, pandas and Pandas_reader,
find out all built-in modules and all available (preinstalled) modules, how to find a
specific uninstalled module.

Chapter 3, Time Value of Money, introduces and discusses various basic concepts
and formulae associated with finance, such as present value of one future cash
flow, present value of (growing) perpetuity, present and future value of annuity,
perpetuity vs. perpetuity due, annuity vs. annuity due, relevant functions contained
in SciPy and numpy.lib.financial submodule, a free financial calculator, written in
Python, definition of NPV (Net Present Value) and its related rule, definition of IRR
(Internal Rate of Return) and its related rule, Python graphical presentation of time
value of money, and NPV profile.

Chapter 4, Sources of Data, discusses how to retrieve data from various public sources,
such as Yahoo!Finance, Google finance, FRED (Federal Reserve Bank's Economics
Data Library), Prof. French's Data Library, BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and
Census Bureau. In addition, it would discuss various methods to input data, such as
files with formats of csv, txt, pkl, Matlab, SAS or Excel.

Chapter 5, Bond and Stock Valuation, introduces interest rate and its related concepts,
such as APR (Annual Percentage Rate), EAR (Effective Annual Rate), compounding
frequency, how to convert one effective rate to another one, the term structure of
interest rate, how to estimate the selling price of a regular bond, how to use the so-
called discount dividend model to estimate the price of a stock and so on.

Chapter 6, Capital Asset Pricing Model, shows how to download data from
Yahoo!Finance in order to run a linear regression for CAPM, rolling beta, several
Python programs to estimate beta for multiple stocks, adjusted beta and portfolio
beat estimation, two beta adjustment methods by Scholes and Williams (1977)
Dimson (1979).

Chapter 7, Multifactor Models and Performance Measures, shows how to extend the
single-factor model, described in Chapter 6, Capital Asset Pricing Model, to multifactor
and complex models such as the Fama-French three-factor model, the Fama-French-
Carhart four-factor model, and the Fama-French five-factor model, and performance
measures such as the Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratios, Sortino ratio, and Jensen's alpha.

[ xi ]
Other documents randomly have
different content
“Well, I couldn’t hardly bear to go away and leave him, but there
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nothin’ much could happen before that time. Then I went off to
sleep again. The sun was pretty high before I woke up. I looked at
my watch to see what time it was but found I’d forgot to wind it the
night before and it had run down. Well, I concluded it was just as
safe to stay on the car so long as it was goin’ south and so I didn’t
get off all day, except to run over to a grocery when the train
stopped once and get some crackers and a few cigars. I thought I’d
have ‘em when the brakeman come ‘round, and then I fixed myself
for the night. I was pretty well beat out and didn’t have much
trouble goin’ to sleep, though of course I couldn’t get it out of my
head any of the time, and would wake up once in a while and
wonder if it wa’n’t all a dream till I found myself again and knew it
was all true.
“I’d found out that the car I was in was goin’ to Mississippi and
made out that it was for some saw mill down there. It was switched
‘round once or twice in the day, and I think once in the night, and
was put on other trains, and the new brakeman had come ‘round at
different times. After I got the cigars I gave ‘em one whenever they
come ‘round and this kep’ ‘em pretty good natured. And so long as
the car had switched off and I made up my mind they wouldn’t find
her the first day, I thought mebbe I’d better stay right in it and go to
Mississippi. I didn’t know nothin’ ‘bout Mississippi, except that it was
south and a long ways off and settled with niggers, and that they
made lumber down there. I used to see a good many cars from
Mississippi when I was switchin’ in the yards. The car was switched
off quite a bit, and didn’t go very fast, and it was four days before
they landed it in Mississippi.
“They stopped right in the middle of the woods, and I made up my
mind that this was about as good a place to stay as anywhere, if I
could get a job, and I thought it wouldn’t be a bad plan to try where
they was sendin’ the machine. It had been so easy for me to get
down to Mississippi that I began to think that mebbe my luck had
changed, and that the Lord had punished me all he was goin’ to. So
I went up to the mill and asked for a job. The foreman told me he’d
give me one if I didn’t mind workin’ with niggers. I told him I didn’t
care anything ‘bout that, I guessed they was as good as I was. So I
started in. My whiskers was beginnin’ to grow out some. You know I
always kep’ ‘em shaved off, and now they was comin’ out all over my
face, and I made up my mind to let ‘em grow. I went to work loadin’
saw logs onto a little car that took ‘em down into the mill. A great
big stout nigger worked with me, and we took long poles and rolled
the logs over onto the cars, and then it was rolled down into the mill
and another one come up in its place. I found the only chance to
board was in the big buildin’ where all the hands lived. I thought this
wa’n’t a bad place. Most of the people boardin’ there was niggers,
but there was a few white fellers, and I naturally got acquainted
with ‘em.
“I’d been there a week or two when someone brought a Chicago
paper into the house. It was covered with great big headlines and
had my picture on the front page. It told all ‘bout some boys findin’
her and about the neighbors hearin’ me call her a damned bitch, and
about the kid wakin’ up in the mornin’ and goin’ out in the street to
hunt its ma. Then it offered a thousand dollars reward in great big
letters.
“My whiskers had grown out a good deal and I didn’t look so very
much like the picture. Anyhow I don’t think newspaper pictures look
much like anybody. Still, of course, I was awful scart at that. My best
chum read the piece all over out loud to me after we got through
work, and he said it beat all what a place Chicago was; that such
things as that was always happenin’ in Chicago; and that Jackson
must have been an awful bad man—wouldn’t I hate to meet him out
in the woods some place! A man like that would rather kill anybody
than eat. I didn’t say much about it, but of course I didn’t contradict
him. But I simply couldn’t talk very much myself. He said he wished
he could get the one thousand dollars, but no such luck would ever
come to him.
“When I’d come there I said my name was Jones, because ‘twas the
easiest one I could think of; there was a butcher right near us that
was named Jones, and it popped into my head at the time. Some of
‘em asked me where I was from, and I told ‘em Cincinnati. I didn’t
know much about Cincinnati, except that we used to get cars from
there, and so I knew something ‘bout the roads that went to it. I
managed to get hold of the paper and burn it up without anyone
seein’ me. But after it came I didn’t feel so easy as I did before. I
stayed there about a month workin’ at the mill and pickin’ up what I
could about the country, and then I began to think my chum was
gettin’ suspicious of me. He kep’ askin’ me a good many questions
about what I’d worked at and where’bouts I had worked, and how I
got there from Cincinnati and a lot of questions about the town, and
I thought he was altogether too inquisitive, and of course I would
have told him so if I had dared. Finally I thought the other fellers
was gettin’ suspicious, too, and I thought they kind of watched me
and asked a good many questions. So one time right after I got my
pay I made up my mind to leave. I didn’t wait to say nothin’ to
anyone, but jumped onto a freight train, and went on about fifty
miles or so south to a railroad crossin’ and then I jumped off, and
took another train east. Along next day I saw a little town where
there was another saw mill, so I stopped off and asked for a job. I
didn’t have no trouble goin’ to work, so long as I was willin’ to work
with the niggers, and I stayed there two or three weeks, same as
the other place, and then I thought the boss began to notice me. He
asked me a lot of questions about where I come from, and ‘most
everything else he could think of. I told him I come from St. Louis,
but I didn’t know much more ‘bout that place than I did ‘bout
Cincinnati, and I guess he didn’t neither. But as soon as pay-day
come I made up my mind I’d better start, so I took the few duds I’d
got together and jumped on another train goin’ further yet, and
went away. Finally I stopped at a little town that looked rather nice
and started out to get a job.
“Ever since I got off the first train I always looked pretty sharp at
everyone to make out whether they was watchin’ me or not. Then I
always got hold of all the newspapers I could find to see if there was
anything more about me. I found another Chicago paper in the
depot, and it still had my picture and the offer of a thousand dollars
reward, and said I must have took one of the freight trains that left
the yards, and would most likely be in the south or in the west. I
didn’t like to stay there any longer after seein’ that paper, but I
managed to fold it up the best I could, and just as quick as I got a
chance I tore it to pieces and threw it away. Then I thought mebbe
I’d better get back away from the railroad. So I seen an old darkey
that looked kind of friendly and I asked him about the country. He
told me a good deal about it and I started out to walk to where he
said there was some charcoal pits. I found the place and managed
to get a chance to work burnin’ wood and tendin’ fires. It was awful
black sooty work, but I didn’t care nothin’ about that. The main
thing with me was bein’ safe. I had a pardner who worked with me
keepin’ up the fires and lookin’ after the pits at night, and it looked
kind of nice with the red fires of the pits lightin’ up the woods and
ever’thing all ‘round lookin’ just like a picture. When we got through
in the mornin’ you couldn’t tell us from darkies, we was so covered
with smoke and burnt wood. We boarded in a little shanty with an
old nigger lady that fed us on hominy and fried chicken, and we
didn’t have much of any place to sleep that was very good.
“After I’d been there two or three days I got pretty well acquainted
with my pardner. One day he asked me where I was from. I never
said nothin’ to anybody ‘bout where I came from, or where I was
goin’, or asked them any questions about themselves. I just worked
steady at my job, and all I thought of was keepin’ still in hopes it
would wear off in time, and I could start over new. I used to dream
a good deal about her and the boy, and sometimes I’d think we was
back there in Chicago all livin’ together and ever’thing goin’ all right.
Then I would dream that I was out with the boys to a caucus, or
goin’ ‘round the saloons campaignin’ with the alderman. Then I’d
dream about fightin’ her and hittin’ her on the head with the poker,
and it seemed as if I throwed her in Lake Michigan. Then I’d dream
about the boy and my learnin’ him his letters, and his bein’ with me
in the wagon when we was peddlin’ potatoes, and about the horse,
the old one that died, and the last one I got at the renderin’-place.
Then I’d kind of get down to the peddlin’, and go over the whole
route in my sleep, hollerin’ out ‘po-ta-toes!’ all along the streets on
the west side where I used to go, and the old Italian women and the
Bohemian ladies and all the rest would be out tryin’ to get ‘em
cheaper and tellin’ me how I’d charged too much. Then I seen the
old lady that I give the half peck to, and could hear her ask all the
saints to bless me. Then I stopped into the butcher-shop and got the
steak, and ever’thing I ever done kep’ comin’ back to me, only not
quite the same as it is in real life. You know how ‘tis in a dream; you
want to go somewhere and somethin’ kind of holds your leg and you
can’t go. Or you want to do somethin’ and no matter how hard you
try somethin’ is always gettin’ in front of you and hinderin’ you and
keepin’ you back. Well, that’s the way ‘twas with all my dreams;
nothin’ turned out right and I always come back to where I killed her
and throwed her in the lake, till I was almost ‘fraid to go to sleep,
and then I was ‘fraid I’d holler or talk in my sleep. And my chum
slep’ in the same room with me and I was ‘fraid mebbe he’d find it
out, so I never dared to go to sleep until after he did, and then I
was always ‘fraid I’d holler and say somethin’ and wake him up and
that he’d find out ‘bout me and what I’d done.
“Well, as I was sayin’, after I’d been there three or four days we was
down to the pits one night tendin’ to the fires, and we got to talkin’
and tellin’ stories to pass the time away, and at last he asked me
where I was from, and I said St. Louis. He said he was from the
north too; I didn’t ask him where he’d come from, but he told me
Chicago. I was almost scart to death when he mentioned the place. I
didn’t ask no questions nor say a word, but he kep’ on talkin’ so I
kind of moved’ round a little and leaned up against a pine tree so’s
the light couldn’t shine right in my face, for I didn’t know what he
might say. He told me that he come down here every winter for his
health; that Chicago was so cold and changeable in the winter; that
he worked in the stock-yards when he was there and he always went
back just as soon as he dared, that there wa’n’t no place in the
world like Chicago, and he was always awful lonesome when he was
away, and he wouldn’t ever leave it if he could only stand the
climate. He said there was always somethin’ goin’ on in Chicago; a
feller could get a run for his money no matter what kind of a game
he played; that if he wanted to have a little sport, there was the
pool-rooms and plenty of other places; that if he didn’t have much
money he could get a little game in the back end of a cigar store, or
he could shoot craps; if he wanted a bigger game there was Powers’
& O’Brien’s and O’Leary’s, and if that wa’n’t enough, then there was
the Board of Trade. There was always lots of excitement in Chicago,
too. There was races and elections and always strikes, and
ever’thing goin’ on. Then there was more murders and hangin’s in
Chicago than in any other city. Take that car-barn case; it couldn’t
never have happened anywhere except in Chicago. And the Luetgert
case, where the feller boiled his wife up in the sausage-vat so that
there wa’n’t nothin’ left but one or two toe-nails, but one doctor
identified her by them, and swore they was toe-nails and belonged
to a woman about her size; one of ‘em had seen her over at a picnic
and remembered her, and he was pretty sure that the toe-nails was
hers. Then that Jackson case was the latest; that happened just a
little while before he left, and the papers was full of that one.
Jackson was a peddler and he went ‘round all day and drunk at all
the saloons just so he could get up nerve enough to kill her. He
thought she had some property and he’d get it if she was out of the
way, so he killed her and took her off and put her in a hole where he
thought no one could find her; but they did, and now one of the
papers had offered a thousand dollars reward for him, and they
were lookin’ for him all over the United States. He said as how he
took a Chicago paper and kep’ posted on everything and read it
every day and wouldn’t be without it for a minute. And then he
asked me if I hadn’t never been to Chicago, and why I didn’t go. I
told him mebbe I would some time, but I’d always been kind of ‘fraid
to go. I didn’t say much but got the subject changed as soon as
possible, and managed to put in the rest of the night the best I
could, and then went home, and after he’d gone to sleep I packed
my valise and paid the nigger lady and told her I had enough of that
job and started off afoot without waitin’ for my pay.
“I went straight down the road for two or three miles till I come to
where another road crossed, then I turned off to the left. I didn’t
have any reason for turnin’, except it seemed as if that would take
me more out of the way. I didn’t see anyone along the road except
now and then some old nigger. I walked several miles, and there
didn’t ‘pear to be no one livin’ on the road except niggers with little
shanties same as the one I left in Chicago. I stopped once and asked
an old darkey lady for somethin’ to eat and she give me some fried
chicken and a piece of corn bread and I sat and et it, and a whole
lot of woolly-headed little pickaninnies sat and looked at me every
mouthful. One of ‘em was about the size of my kid, and made me
think of him a good deal; but he didn’t look nothin’ like him. I guess
‘twas just because he was a boy and about the age of mine. After I
et the chicken and the bread I started on and traveled all day
without seein’ anyone, except niggers, or stoppin’ anywhere except
to get a drink in a little stream. When it begun to be dark I
commenced to think what I’d do for the night, and watched out for a
place to stay. So after while I saw an old shack ‘side of the road and
went in. There was some straw and I was so tired that I laid down
and went right to sleep.
“All night I dreamed about bein’ follered. First I thought I was out in
a woods and some hounds was chasin’ me, and I heard ‘em bayin’
way back on my trail and knew they’s comin’ for me. I run to a little
stream and follered it up same as I used to read in Indian stories,
and then started on again, and after a while I didn’t hear ‘em any
more. Then first thing I knew they commenced bayin’ again and I
could tell that they’d struck my trail, so I run just as fast as ever I
could and the bayin’ kep’ gettin’ louder’n’ louder, and I run through
bushes and brush and ever’thing, and they kep’ gainin’ on me till
they was so close that I got to a little tree where I could almost
reach the branches and I got hold of ‘em and pulled myself up and
got ahead of the hounds, but they come up and set down around
the tree and howled and howled so they’d be heard all through the
woods, and I knew it was all up with me; and then I woke up and
found that I was in the barn and no one ‘round except a cow or a
horse that was eatin’ over in a corner. So I tried to go to sleep again.
Then I dreamed that the policemen and detectives was after me,
and first it seemed as if I was runnin’ down a street and the police
was right behind, and then I turned down an alley and they hollered
to me to stop or they’d shoot, but I didn’t stop, and they shot at me
and hit me in the leg, and I fell down and they come up and got me,
and then it seemed as if I was on the cars and detectives was
follerin’ me ever’where, and whenever I stopped them detectives
somehow knew where I was, and they’d come to the place, and I
got away and went somewhere else, and then they’d turn up there,
all ready to arrest me, and I couldn’t go anywhere except they’d
follow me. And I kind of saw her face, and she seemed to be follerin’
me too, only she didn’t seem to have any legs or much of anything,
except just her face and a kind of long white train and she just come
wherever I was, without walkin’ or ridin’, but just come, and she
always seemed to know just the right place no matter how careful I
hid, and when they got all ready to nab me I woke up. By that time
it was daylight and there was a darkey there in the barn feedin’ a
mule, and he said, ‘Hello, boss!’ just as friendly, and asked me where
I was goin’. I told him I was lookin’ for a job, and he told me he
thought that over about four miles to the town I could get a job. So
I told him all right, and asked him if he could give me somethin’ to
eat. He took me into the house and gave me some chicken and
some corn-cakes and told me if I would wait a while he’d hitch up
the mule and take me into town, that he was goin’ anyway. I
thanked him and told him I was in a hurry to get to work, and
guessed I wouldn’t wait. I’d got so I was ‘fraid to talk with anybody.
I thought they’d ask me where I was from, and tell me somethin’
‘bout Chicago, and mebbe show me a newspaper with my picture in
it.
“Then I went on down the road till I come to a nice town in the
middle of big pine trees. It was full of fine white houses and a few
brick stores, and two or three great big hotels. I asked a nigger what
the place was and he told me it was Thompson, and was a winter
resort for Yankees who come there for their lungs; that they spent
lots of money and that was what made the place so big.
“I always liked to talk with the niggers; they never asked me any
questions, and I never was ‘fraid that they’d been in Chicago, and I
didn’t really think they took any of the papers, for they didn’t know
how to read. Well, I just took one look at Thompson and then went
as far from the hotels as I could, and kep’ away from the stores, for
I was sure the place was full of people from Chicago, and that all the
newspapers would be there, too. I didn’t stop a minute over where
all the nice houses was. I seen lots of people out on the porches and
settin’ in hammocks and loafin’ ‘round, and I knew they was from
Chicago. Then I went along across a little stream and come to a lot
of poor tumbled-down houses and tents, and I knew they was the
niggers’ quarters, so I went into a little store kep’ by an old fat
nigger lady and bought a bag of crackers and asked her about the
roads.
“Before this I made up my mind to go to Cuba. I remembered
readin’ all about it at the time of the war, when a lot of them stock-
yards boys went to fight, and I thought that I’d be so far away that I
might be safe, so I knew that I had to go to the Gulf of Mexico, and
I kep’ on that way. I didn’t dare to take the railroads any more, but
just thought I’d walk, so I kep’ straight on down the road all day
until I got a long ways from Thompson. I didn’t dare to stop for
work, for I’d got it into my head that everyone was after me, and if I
waited any more I’d get caught. My shoes was gettin’ pretty near
wore out and I knew they wouldn’t last much longer, and I hadn’t
got more’n four dollars left, and I knew if I didn’t come to the Gulf
pretty soon I’d just have to go to work.
“That night I stopped at another old shack, and had about the same
kind of dream I did the night before, only I was runnin’, and every
time I pretty near got away a cramp would come in my leg and pull
me back and give ‘em a chance to ketch me, and they seemed to
come just the same without runnin’ or flyin’, or anything, and always
she’d come just where I was. Still I got through the night and a
nigger lady gave me somethin’ to eat, and I went on.
“I began to look awful ragged and shabby. My coat was torn and
awful old and black where I’d been workin’ in the charcoal pit. I’d
changed my shirt, and washed the one I had on in a little stream,
but the buttons was gettin’ off and I was tyin’ em up with strings.
My pants was all wore out ‘long the bottom, and my shoes pretty
near all knocked to pieces. As for my stockin’s—you couldn’t call ‘em
stockin’s at all, and I’d made up my mind to get a new pair the next
store I come to, but I didn’t like to stop in town.
“Along about noon I got to a little place and, of course, I was lookin’
pretty bad. Some o’ the dogs commenced barkin’ at me as soon as
ever I got into town. I stopped at a house to get somethin’ to eat,
and a white lady come to the door and told me to go ‘way, that I
was a tramp, and that she’d set the dog on me, and I ran as fast as
I could. I went down the street and a good many boys follered me,
and I began to get scart; so I went through the town as fast as I
could, but I see some people was follerin’ after me, and one that
rode on a horse. So I took to the fields and made for a clump of
trees that I saw off to the right. I run just as fast as ever I could and
when I looked back I saw some people was follerin’ me through the
field. I went straight to the woods and ran through ‘em, and got
pretty badly scratched up, and my clothes tore worse’n they was
before. Then I run into a swamp just beyond and two or three men
ran ‘round on the other side of the swamp and I knew it was all up,
and I might just as well surrender and go back.
“I was so scart I didn’t care much what they done, so when the one
in front asked me to surrender or he’d shoot, I come out to where
he was, and he put his hand on me kind of rough and said I was
under arrest for bein’ a tramp, and to come with him.
“Then he took me back to town with all the men follerin’ and when
we got up into the edge of the place ‘most all the boys, black and
white, turned in and follered too. They took me to a little buildin’
over on the side of the town, and went down stairs into the cellar
and opened an iron door and put me in. There wa’n’t no light except
one window which was covered with iron bars, and they locked the
door and went away and left me there alone.”
 VIII

was locked up in the cellar for a long time before

anyone came to talk with me. I looked ‘round to see if
there was any chance to get out, but I seen it couldn’t
be done. I thought it wa’n’t hardly worth while to try.
Honestly it seemed a kind of relief to be ketched and
know I didn’t have to run any more. I didn’t know why they arrested
me, but I s’posed they just thought I’d done something and they’d
try to find out what it was, so I thought about what I’d do, and
made up my mind I hadn’t better say much.
“After a while some fellers come down to see me and took me up in
the office. One of ‘em was the marshal and another was a lawyer or
police-judge or somethin’ of that kind. They said they wanted to fill
out some sort of a paper about who I was and where I come from
and what my business was and who my father and mother was, and
what my religion was, and whether I ever drank, or smoked
cigarettes, and the color of my hair and eyes, and how much I
weighed, and a lot of things like that. So I told ‘em I was from St.
Louis, and guessed at the rest of the answers the best I could. Only
I told ‘em I never knew who my father and mother was. They wa’n’t
satisfied with my answers and fired a lot more questions at me. And
then they told me they thought I lied, and they’d put me in the lock-
up until mornin’, so they put me back there and give me a plate o’
scraps for supper, and a straw bed to sleep on, and then went away.
“Somehow I slept better that night than I had since I’d run away. I
rather thought it was all up and only a question of time when I’d get
back here, but I knew where I stood and wa’n’t so scart. I’ve slep’
fine ever since I was here, only the time when the jury was out and
when I was waitin’ for the Supreme Court, and some special times
like that. As near as I can find out most of ‘em does when they know
it’s all off, just like people with a cancer or consumption, or when
they’re awful old. They get used to it and sleep just the same unless
they have a pain, or somethin’. They don’t lay awake thinkin’ they’re
goin’ to die. And after all, I guess if people done that there wouldn’t
any of ‘em sleep much. For ‘tain’t very long with anybody, and bein’
sentenced to death ain’t much differ’nt from dyin’ without a
sentence. Of course, I s’pose it’s a little shorter and still that ain’t
always the case. There’s two fellers that I knew died since I come
here; one of ‘em had pneumonia, and the other was a switchman
that thought the engine was on the other side-track. John Murphy
was his name. Still—I guess my time’s pretty near come now.
“Well, in the mornin’ the marshal came in and brought me some
breakfast. Then he took me up to the office again. He waited a few
minutes till the judge come, and then they commenced firin’
questions at me. They asked me how I got from St. Louis to where I
was, That kind of puzzled me, for I didn’t exactly know where I was.
I answered it the best I could; but I know I didn’t get it right. They
told me I hadn’t got over lyin’ and I’d have to be shut up some
more. Then they asked me what public buildin’s there was in St.
Louis. I made a guess and told ‘em the court-house and state-house.
They laughed at this, and said St. Louis wa’n’t the capital of
Missouri. And of course I didn’t argue with ‘em about that. Then
they wanted to know how I come there and I said I walked. And
they wanted to know what places I come through and I couldn’t tell
‘em. Then they asked me where I had walked, and I couldn’t tell ‘em
that; and they asked me how far I’d walked, and I told ‘em not very
far, and they laughed at my clothes and shoes and said they was
‘most wore out, and they didn’t believe it, and told me again that
they thought I was lyin’ and I’d have to stay there till I learnt how to
tell the truth. Then I got mad and said I hadn’t done nothin’ and
they hadn’t any right to keep me, and I wouldn’t answer any more
questions; that they didn’t believe anything I said anyhow and it
wa’n’t any use, and to go ahead and do what they pleased with me.
“Then the marshal went to his desk and got a lot of photographs
and hand-bills tellin’ about murderers and robbers and burglars and
pickpockets and ever’thing else, that was sent to him from all over
the country, and he took ‘em and looked ‘em all over and then
looked at me. Then he sorted out a dozen or so and stared at me
more particular than before. I seen what he had in his hand; I seen
one of ‘em was my picture; only I was smooth-faced and now my
whiskers had got long. He made me take off my clothes and looked
me over careful, and found where I had broke my leg the time that I
caught my foot between the rails when I thought I was goin’ to be
run over. You remember the time? I wish now I had. Then he let me
put on my clothes, and he went over all the descriptions just as
careful as he could, and he found that the hand-bill told about a
broken leg; then he looked at my face again, and then he asked me
when I’d shaved last, and I told him I never shaved. Then he
wanted to know how tall I was, and I told him I didn’t know, so he
measured me by standin’ me up ‘gainst the wall and markin’ the
place. I tried to scrooch down as much as I could without him
noticin’ it; but he said it was just ‘bout what the hand-bill had it.
Then he asked me how much I weighed, and I told him I hadn’t
been weighed for years. So he called someone to help him, and they
put some han’cuffs on one arm and fastened the other to the
marshal and took me over to a store, and made me stand on the
scales till I got weighed. He said I weighed just a little bit less than
the hand-bill made it, and that if I’d walked from Chicago that would
account for the difference. Then he looked over my clothes, but he
couldn’t find any marks on ‘em.
“Then he sent down for the barber and told him to shave me. I
objected to that and told him he hadn’t any right to do it; that I
wasn’t charged with any crime, and he said it didn’t make no
difference, he was goin’ to do it anyway. So I knew it wa’n’t no use,
and I set down and let the barber shave me. Of course I knew it
would all be up as soon as I got shaved. But I didn’t care so very
much if it was; it wa’n’t any worse than runnin’ all the time and bein’
‘fraid of ever’-one you met and knowin’ you’d be ketched at last.
“Well, after the barber got through shavin’ me, the marshal took the
picture and held it up ‘side of my face, and anyone could see ‘twas
me. He was so glad he almost shouted. And he told the police judge
that he’d got one of the most dangerous criminals in the whole
United States, and he was entitled to one thousand dollars reward. I
never see a boy feel so good over anythin’ as he did over ketchin’
me. He said that now he could pay off the mortgage on his house
and get his girl piano lessons, and run for sheriff next fall. When he
told me I was Jackson, I denied it and said I never knew anything
about Chicago, and was never there in my life. He didn’t pay any
attention to this, but wired to Chicago, givin’ a full description of me.
Of course, it wa’n’t long before he got back word that I was Jackson,
and to hold me till they sent someone down.
“After the marshal found out who I was he treated me a good deal
better’n before. He got me nice fried chicken ‘most every meal, and
always coffee or tea and corn-cakes, and I couldn’t complain of the
board. Then he got my clothes washed and give me some new pants
and shoes and fixed me up quite nice. He come in and visited with
me a good deal and seemed real social and happy. He give me
cigars to smoke and sometimes a drink o’ whiskey, and treated me
as if he really liked me. I expect he couldn’t help feelin’ friendly to
me, because he thought of that one thousand dollars, and that he
wouldn’t’ve got it if I hadn’t killed her, and in one way a good deal
as if I done it on his account. Of course he wa’n’t really glad I done
it, but so long as I done it, he was glad I come his way. I s’pose he
hadn’t anything against me any more’n a cat has against a mouse
that it ketches and plays with till it gets ready to eat it up. His
business was ketchin’ people just like the cat’s is ketchin’ rats.
Seems to me, though, I’d hate to be in his business, even if it is a
bad lot you’ve got to ketch. Still he watched me closer’n ever, even if
he was good to me. He didn’t mean to let that thousand dollars get
away. He kep’ someone ‘round the jail all the time, and he got some
extra bars on the windows, and when he come to see me or talk
with me he always brought someone with him so I couldn’t do
anything to him. He needn’t worried so much, for I was clean tired
out and discouraged, and I felt better in there than I had any time
since I killed her. Bein’ out of jail ain’t necessar’ly liberty. If you’re
‘fraid all the time and have got to dodge and keep hid and can’t go
where you want to and are runnin’ away all the time, you might just
as well be shut up, for you ain’t free.
“Soon as the marshal found out who I was, it didn’t take the news
long to travel ‘round the town, and it seemed as if ever’one there
come to the lock-up to see me. The boys used to come up ‘round
the windows and kind of stay back, as if they thought I might reach
out and ketch ‘em, but I always kep’ as far away as I could. Then
the people would come down with the marshal to the cell when he
brought my supper and look at me to see me eat, and try to get me
to come up and talk to ‘em and watch me same as you’ve seen ‘em
look at bears when they was feedin’ up at Lincoln Park, and they’d
point to me and say, ‘That’s him; just see his for’head. Wouldn’t I
hate to get caught out alone with him? Anyone could see what he is
by lookin’ at him. I bet they make short work of him when they get
him to Chicago!’ I always kep’ back as far as I could for I didn’t want
to be seen. No one had ever looked at me or paid any attention to
me before, or said anything about me, and I hadn’t ever expected to
have my name or picture in the paper, or to have people come and
see me, and anyhow not this way.
“Of course, I knew well enough that it wouldn’t last long, and that
they’d be here for me in two or three days. I can’t tell you just how I
felt. I knew I was caught, and that there wa’n’t much chance for me.
I knew all the evidence would be circumstantial, still I knew I done
it, and luck never had come my way anyhow, so I didn’t have much
hopes that ‘twould now. Then I began to feel as if it might as well be
over. If I was goin’ to be hung, I might just as well be hung and
done with it. There wa’n’t any kind of a show for me any more, and
it wa’n’t any use to fight. Then I began to figger on how long ‘twould
take. I knew there was cases where it took years, but I always
thought them cases must have been where they had lots of money
and could hire high-priced lawyers. And I hadn’t got any money, and
the newspapers had said so much about my case that I was sure
that they wouldn’t give me much chance or any more than the law
allowed.
“Well, inside of two days some fellers come down from the sheriff’s
office in Chicago. I didn’t know either one of ‘em, but they had all
kinds of pictures and descriptions and said there wa’n’t any doubt
about who I was, and said I might as well own up and be done with
it. But I didn’t see any use of ownin’ up to anything, so I wouldn’t
answer any questions or say much one way or another. Then they
explained to me that they hadn’t any right to take me out of the
state without a requisition from the gov’nor, and it would take a
week or so to get that, and I might just as well go back with them
without puttin’ ‘em to this bother; that it always looked better when
anyone went back themselves, and anyhow I’d be kep’ here in jail till
they got a requisition. So I told ‘em all right, I’d just as soon go back
to Chicago as anywhere, and I hadn’t done nothin’ that I had to be
‘fraid of, and was ready to go as soon as they was. So they stayed
till the next mornin’ and then han’-cuffed me and put me between
‘em and led me down to the depot. Before I left the lock-up the
marshal give me a good breakfast and some cigars and shook hands
with me, and said he hoped I’d have a pleasant journey.
“When I went down to the depot it seemed as if the whole town,
black and white, had turned out to see me, and ever’one was
pointin’ to me and sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s him.’ ‘He looks it, don’t
he?’ And pretty soon the train come up and the officers and
conductor kep’ the crowd back while they took me into the smokin’-
car. It seemed as if ever’one in the car and on the whole train knew
who I was and just what I’d done, and they all come up to the
smokin’-car to get a look at me, and pass remarks about me, and
ever’one seemed glad to think I was caught and was goin’ to be
hung.
“It ain’t no use to tell you all about the trip home. It didn’t take me
as long to come back as it did to go ‘way. At pretty near ever’ station
there was a crowd out to see the train, and all of ‘em tried to get a
look at me. The conductor and brakemen all pointed me out and the
people come to the doors and stood up before the window and did
ever’thing they could think of to see me. The detectives treated me
all right. They gave me all I could eat and talked with me a good
deal. They didn’t ask many questions, and told me I needn’t say any
more’n I had a mind to, but they told me a good deal about politics
and how that the alderman was runnin’ again, and all that was goin’
on in Chicago, and where all they’d been huntin’ for me since I run
away. I had to sit up at night. One of ‘em kep’ han’-cuffed to me all
night and another han’cuff was fastened to the seat. I don’t s’pose
they could’ve made it any more comfortable and see that I didn’t run
away. But still I don’t ever want to take that kind of a ride again and
I s’pose I never will.
“I felt queer when we began to get back into Chicago. In some ways
I always liked the city; I guess ever’one does, no matter how rough
it is. And I couldn’t help feelin’ kind of good to see the streets and
fac’tries and shops again; and still I felt bad, too. I knew that
ever’one in the town was turned against me, and I didn’t have a
friend anywhere. We’d got the Chicago papers as we’d come along
and they was full of all kinds of stories and pictures about me, and
some things that I’d said, ‘though I’d never talked a word to anyone.
“The papers said that they hoped there’d be none of the usual long
delays in tryin’ my case, that I was a brutal murderer, and there
wa’n’t no use of spendin’ much time over me. Of course, I ought to
have a fair and impartial trial, but I ought to be hung without delay,
and no sentimental notoriety-huntin’ people ought to be allowed to
see me. They wished that a judge could be found who had the
courage to do his duty, and do it right off quick. I had already been
indicted, and there wa’n’t nothin’ to do but place me on trial next
day, and the verdict would be reached in a few days more. It was
unfortunate that the law allowed one hundred days before a
murderer could be hung after trial; that the next legislature must
change it to ten days; that would be plenty of time for anyone to
show that a mistake had been made in their trial, even if he was
locked up all the time. The papers said how that the Anti-Crimes
Committee was to be congratulated on havin’ found a good lawyer
to assist the state in the prosecution, and that the lawyer was a
good public spirited man and ought to be well paid for his
disagreeable work.
“The papers told all about the arrest down in Georgia, and how the
marshal and a force of citizens followed me into the swamp and
what a desperate fight I made, and how many people I’d knocked
down and ‘most killed, until I was finally overpowered and taken in
irons to the county jail.
“I can’t make you understand how I felt when they was bringin’ me
into town. We come along down the old canal where we used to
stone the frogs and the geese and all along the places where us
boys used to play. Then we come down through the yards where I
used to work, and right past the house where I left that night with
the kid sleepin’ in the bedroom. That was the hardest part of all the
trip, and I tried to turn away when we come down along back of the
barn by the alley; but it seemed as if something kind of drew my
eyes around that way, and I couldn’t keep ‘em off’n the spot. And I
thought about ever’thing I done there just in a flash, and even
wondered how long the old horse was tied in the barn before they
found him, and whether he got all the potatoes et up before he was
took away. But I looked away as quick as I could and watched all the
streets as we passed, to see if I could see anyone I knew. I felt
pretty sure that I wouldn’t leave Chicago again, and I guess I never
will.
“Pretty soon they pulled into the big depot, and the train stopped
and we got off. I wa’n’t expectin’ nothin’ in the station, but when we
landed the whole place was filled back of the gate, and I could see
that they was looking for me. The crowd was about like one that I
was in down there once when McKinley come to Chicago. A squad of
policemen come down to meet us, and they got us in the middle of
the bunch and hurried us into a patrol wagon. I could hear the
crowd sayin’, ‘That’s him; that’s the murderer; let’s lynch him!’—‘He
don’t deserve a trial! Let’s hang him first and then try him’—‘The
miserable brute!’ ‘The contemptible coward!’—I guess if it hadn’t
been for all the policemen I’d have been lynched, and mebbe
‘twould have been just as well. ‘Twouldn’t have taken so long, nor
cost so much money. Anyhow, I wish now they’d done it and then it
would be all over; and now—well, ‘twon’t be long.
“There was a lot of people in the street and every one of ‘em
seemed to know who was in the patrol-wagon, and they walked all
the way over, and lots of little boys follered the wagon clear to the
jail; then the newsboys on the street kep’ yellin’, ‘All ‘bout the
capture of Jim Jackson! Extra paper!’ and it seemed as if the whole
town was tryin’ to kill me. Somehow I hadn’t realized how ‘twas as I
come ‘long, and, in fact, ever since I went away. Of course, I knew
how bad the killin’ was, and how ever’one must feel, and how I
wished I hadn’t done it, and how I’d have done anything on earth to
make it different, but all the time I’d been away from the people that
knew all about it, and I didn’t somehow realize what they’d do. But
when I come back and seen it all I felt just as if there was a big
storm out on the lake and I was standin’ on the shore and all the
waves was comin’ right over me and carryin’ me away.
“Well, they didn’t lose any time but drove as fast as they could down
Dearborn Street over the bridge to the county jail. Then they hustled
me right out and took me straight through the crowd up to the door;
the Dearborn Street door (that’s the one you came in, I s’pose), and
they didn’t wait hardly a minit to book me, but hurried me up stairs
and locked me in a cell, and I haven’t seen the outside of the jail
since, and I don’t s’pose I ever will.”
Jim stopped as if the remembrance of it all had overpowered him.
Hank didn’t know what to say, so he got up and walked a few turns
back and forth along the cell, trying to get it all through his clouded
mind. Such a night as this he had never dreamed of, and he could
not yet realize what it meant. The long story and the intense
suffering seemed to have taken all the strength that Jim had left.
Hank turned to him with an effort to give him some consolation.
“Say, Jim, don’t take it too hard. You know there ain’t much in it for
any of us, and most people has more trouble than anything else. Lay
down a little while; you can tell me the rest pretty soon.”
“No,” Jim answered, “I ain’t got through; I can’t waste any time. It
must be gettin’ along toward mornin’, and you see I don’t know just
when it’ll be. They seem to think it’s treatin’ us better if they don’t
tell us when, only just the day. Then you know, they can come in
any time after midnight. They could break in now if they wanted to,
but I s’pose they’ll give me my breakfast first, though they won’t
wait long after that. Well, I ain’t got any right to complain, and I
don’t mean to, but I s’pose I feel like anyone else would.”
Just then a strange dull sound echoed through the silent corridors.
Hank started with a nervous jerk. It sounded like a rope or strap
suddenly pulled up short and tight.
“What’s that?” Hank asked. Jim’s face was pale for a moment, and
his breath was short and heavy.
“Don’t you know? That’s the bag of sand.”
“What bag of sand?” Hank asked.
“Why, they always try the rope that way, to see if it’s all right. If they
don’t, it’s liable to break, and they’d have to hang ‘em over again.
They take a bag of sand that weighs just about the same as a man
and tie the rope to the sand, and then knock the door out and the
sand falls. I guess the rope’s all right; I hope so. I don’t want ‘em to
make any mistake. It’ll be bad enough to be hung once. I wonder
how I’ll stand it. I hope I don’t make a scene. But I don’t really think
anyone ought to be blamed no matter what they do when they’re
gettin’ hung, do you?
“It seems to me, though, that they might be a better way to kill
anyone. I think shootin’ would be better’n this way. That’s the way
they kill steers down to the stock-yards and I don’t believe the
Humane Society would let ‘em hang ‘em up by the neck. I should
think ‘twould be better to take some cell that’s air-tight and put ‘em
to bed in there and then turn on the gas. But I s’pose any way
would seem bad enough. Did you ever stop to think how you’d like
to die? I guess nobody could pick any way that they wanted to go,
and mebbe we’d all rather take chances; but I don’t believe
anybody’d pick hangin’. It seems to me the very worst way anybody
could die. I wonder how they commenced it in the first place. Well, I
can’t help it by thinkin’ it over. I’ve done that often enough already,
goodness knows. I believe I’ll ask the guard for another drink before
I tell any more.”
The guard came at the first call.
“Sure, you can have all the whiskey you want. I was just down to
the office a little while ago. Take this bottle. I think it’s pretty
smooth, but it’s a little weak. Guess the clerk poured some water in,
thinkin’ it was goin’ to the ladies’ ward. You’d better take a pretty big
drink to do you any good.”
Jim thanked him as he took the bottle, and then inquired:
“Did you go down to the telephone again to see whether there had
anything come over to the telegraph office?”
“No—I didn’t,” the guard answered, “but I’ll go back pretty soon.
They keep open all night. It’s early yet, anyhow.”
Jim offered the bottle to his friend. Hank took a good drink, which
he needed after the excitement of the night. Then he passed the
bottle back to Jim.
“If I was you I’d drink all that’s left; it’s good, but it’s pretty weak, all
right. I’m sure you’d feel better to take it all.”
Jim raised it to his lips, tipped his head back and held the bottle
almost straight until the last drop had run slowly down his throat.
 IX

im laid the bottle on the bed and then sat down on his
chair.
“My head begins to swim some but I guess I can finish
the story all right. I know I’m pretty longwinded. Still I
guess I can’t talk very much more if I wanted to. I’m glad the
whiskey’s beginnin’ to get in its work; I don’t believe I’ll have much
trouble gettin’ so drunk that I won’t know whether I’m goin’ to a
hangin’ or a primary.
“Let me see; oh, yes, they hustled me into a cell and locked me up.
I guess they thought best not to waste much time, for a good many
people had got together on the outside.
“I think ‘twas on Friday they put me in. There wa’n’t nothin’ done on
Saturday; but on Sunday they let us all go to church up in the
chapel. They kep’ me pretty well guarded as if I might do somethin’
in the church, but there wa’n’t no way to get out if I wanted to. The
preacher told us about the prodigal son, and how he repented of all
his wanderin’s and sins and come back home, and how glad his
father was to see him, and how he treated him better’n any of the
rest that hadn’t never done wrong. He said that’s the way our
Heavenly Father would feel about us, if we repented, and that it
didn’t matter what we’d done—after we repented we was white as
snow. One of the prisoners told me he was gettin’ kind of tired of
the prodigal son; that ‘most every preacher that come told about the
prodigal son just as if that story had been meant specially for them.
“Some of the prisoners seemed to like to go to church; some acted
as if they understood all about it, and wanted to do better, and some
of ‘em seemed to go so as to get out of their cells. Anyhow I s’pose
the people that run the jail thought ‘twas a good thing and believed
it was all so. But I know one feller that killed a man—he was kind of
half-witted—and was tried the same as the rest of us when they had
that crusade against crime. Of course they sentenced him to death.
He got religion and used to pray all the time, and used to talk
religion to all the rest of the fellers, and ever’one said that he was
really sorry and was fully converted and was as pure as a little child.
But they took him out and hung him anyway. It don’t quite seem as
if they believed what the preacher said themselves, or they wouldn’t
hang a feller when he’s turned right, and when God was goin’ to
treat him like all the rest after he gets to heaven.
“When I went back to my cell, I begun thinkin’ about what I’d do. Of
course I knew you can’t get any show without a lawyer, and I knew
that I might just as well not have any as to have one that wa’n’t
smart. I didn’t know any lawyer except the one that charged me ten
dollars for nothin’, and of course I wouldn’t have him. But one of the
guards was kind of nice and friendly to me and I thought I’d ask
him. He told me that gettin’ a lawyer was a pretty hard matter. Of
course, my case was a celebrated one, and would advertise a lawyer,
but the best ones didn’t need no advertisin’ and the others wa’n’t no
good. He told me that Groves was the best fighter, but it wa’n’t no
use to try to get him for he’d got more’n he could do, and most of
his time was took up prosecutin’ people for stealin’ coal from the
railroads, except once in a while when some rich banker or politician
got into trouble. Then he took a good slice of what he’d got saved
up. I asked him ‘bout some others and he told me the same story of
all the rest that amounted to anything. I told him I hadn’t got no
money, and I thought the horse and wagon and furniture was took
on the chattel-mortgage before this, and he said he s’posed the
court would have to appoint someone and I might just about as well
defend myself.
“Monday mornin’ they come to the jail and told me I had to go
before the judge. I didn’t s’pose ‘twould come so soon, for I knew
somethin’ about how slow the courts was. You remember when
Jimmy Carroll was killed by the railroad? Well, that’s more’n three
years ago, and the case ha’n’t been tried yet. I was su’prised and
didn’t know what to do, but there wa’n’t much to do. They come
after me and I had to go; so I put on my coat and vest and they
han’-cuffed me to a couple of guards, and took me through some
alleys and passages and over some bridges inside the buildin’, and
first thing I knew they opened a door and I came into a room
packed full of people, and the judge settin’ up on a big high seat
with a desk in front of him, and lookin’ awful solemn and kind of
scareful. As soon as I stepped in there was a buzz all over the room,
and ever’body reached out their necks, and kind of got up on their
chairs and looked at me. The guards took off my han’-cuffs and set
me down in a chair ‘side of a big table. And then one of ‘em set back
of me and another one right to my side.
“They waited a few minutes till ever’one got still, and then some
feller got up and spoke to the judge and said ‘People against
Jackson.’ The judge looked at me and said, just as solemn and hard
as he could, ‘Jackson, stand up.’ Of course I done what he said, and
then he looked the same way and said, ‘Are you guilty or not guilty?’
Of course I was kind of scared before all of them people; I’d never
been called up in a crowd before, except a few times when I said a
few words in the union where I knew all the boys. But these people
were all against me, and anyhow it was an awful hard place to put a
feller, so I stood still a minit tryin’ to think what I ought to say, and
whether someone was there that I could talk to. Finally the judge
spoke up and says, ‘The prisoner pleads not guilty.’ ‘Jackson, have
you a lawyer?’ and then I said: ‘I hain’t got no lawyer.’ Then he
asked if I wanted him to appoint one, and I told him I wished he
would. He asked me who I’d have. Of course I thought I could
choose anyone I wanted, so I said Groves. Then he laughed and
ever’one else laughed, and he said he guessed Groves had too much
to do to bother with me. So I chose one or two more names I’d
heard of, and he said none of ‘em would do it neither. Then he said
he’d give me till tomorrow to make up my mind who I wanted, and
he told the bailiff to take me back to jail. So they put the han’-cuffs
on and we went back through the alleys and over the bridges to the
jail. When I got to my cell I asked the guard what he thought I
ought to do about a lawyer, and he said that lots of lawyers had give
him their cards and asked him to hand them to the prisoners and
told him they would divide the fee, if they got any. They mostly
wa’n’t much good for the business. He said there was one young
feller who seemed pretty smart, but he hadn’t never had a case, but
he’d probably work hard to get his name up. I told him that it didn’t
seem as if a lawyer ought to commence on a case like mine, and he
said that wouldn’t make any difference, most of the murder cases
was defended by lawyers that was just startin’. There wa’n’t hardly
anyone who was tried but was too poor to have a good lawyer. Then
I told him to send me the young lawyer, and he did.
“The lawyer wa’n’t a bad feller, and he seemed interested in the
case, and was the first person I’d seen since I done it who wanted
to help me. Of course I could see he was new at the business, like
one of them green-horns that comes in the yards the first time and
brings a stick to couple cars with; but I liked his face and seen he
was honest. It didn’t seem quite fair, though, that I should have a
lawyer that hadn’t never had a case. I didn’t believe they’d take a
young feller who was just out of a medicine-college and set him to
cut off a leg all by himself, the first thing, or even take a country-
jake and let him kill steers at the stock-yards, but I didn’t see no way
to help it, and I thought mebbe if I didn’t take him I’d do worse
instead of better. He asked me all about the case and seemed
disappointed when I told him how it was; he said he was afraid
there wa’n’t much show, unless he claimed insanity. I told him I
didn’t see how he could make out that I was crazy; that I thought
self-defense or somethin’ like that would be better. He said he’d
think it over till tomorrow, and talk with some of the professors at
the college, and be in court in the mornin’. The next day they come
for me right after breakfast, and put on the han’-cuffs and took me
to court again. The same kind of a crowd was there as the day
before, and I was pretty badly scart; but my lawyer was at the table
with me, and he spoke to me real friendly, and that made me feel a
little better. Then the judge called the case, and asked if I had a
lawyer, and my lawyer spoke up and said he was goin’ to defend me;
so the judge said all right, and asked if the other side was ready.
They said they was, and that they wanted the case tried right off.
Then the judge asked my lawyer if he was ready and he said ‘no,’
that he’d just come into the case and hadn’t had no chance to get it
ready. Then the lawyer on the other side said that I was notified
yesterday that I must be ready today and I didn’t have anything to
do but get ready; that they wanted to try it now; that next week he
wanted to go to a picnic, and the week after to a convention, and it
must be done now; then, there had been so many murders that no
one was safe in Chicago, and the whole public was anxious to see
the case tried at once. Besides there wa’n’t any defense. I had killed
her and run away, and wa’n’t entitled to any consideration.
“My lawyer said it wouldn’t be right to put me on trial without a
chance to defend myself, that I couldn’t get away yesterday to look
up witnesses, and I had a right to a reasonable time; that he wanted
at least four weeks to prepare the case. This seemed to make the
judge mad. He said there wa’n’t no excuse for any delay, but as this
was such a clear case he wanted to give me every chance he could,
so he would continue till next Monday. Then I was took back to the
jail, and my lawyer met me over there and I told him ever’ place I
went the day I done it, and ever’one I saw, and all about her, and
what she’d done to make me mad, and he said he’d go out himself
and look it up, and do what he could, but he was ‘fraid there wa’n’t
no chance. The papers had said so much and the citizens had got up
a Crime Committee, and ever’one who was tried either went to the
penitentiary or got hung.
“Ever’day the lawyer would come and ask me something ‘bout the
case, and tell me what he’d found out. He said he couldn’t get any
witnesses to say anything; that the man where I got the beefsteak
was ‘fraid to come and testify; that someone had been there from
the State’s Attorney’s office and most scart him to death, and he was
‘fraid of gettin’ into trouble and gettin’ mixed up with it himself, and
anyway he didn’t see as he’d do the case any good if he came. He
said he couldn’t find anything that helped him a bit. He’d been to the
house, but the poker and everything that would do any good had
been taken by the state, and he didn’t know which way to turn. He
kep’ comin’ back to my insanity, and asked me if any of my parents
or grand-parents, or uncles or aunts or cousins, or anyone else was
crazy. I told him I didn’t know anything ‘bout them but I didn’t think
it was any use to try that. I knew what I was doin’, all right. Then he
told me if I had a hundred dollars he could get a good doctor to
swear I was crazy; but I hadn’t any hundred dollars of course, and
besides I never thought ‘twould do much good. So I told him that he
wa’n’t to blame for it, and to just do the best he could, and I’d be
satisfied whichever way it went. I didn’t expect much myself
anyhow. He said he’d have me plead guilty and the judge would
most likely give me a life-sentence, only since this crusade against
crime the judges dassent do that; there was so much said about it in
the newspapers, and they was all ‘fraid of what the papers said. He
told me that he didn’t believe it was anything more than second-
degree murder anyhow, but there wa’n’t any chance now, the way
public opinion was.
“I begun to get pretty well acquainted with the prisoners in the jail
and some of ‘em was real nice and kind and wanted to do all they
could to help ever’one that was in trouble. Of course some of ‘em
was pretty desp’rate, and didn’t seem to care much for anything.
Then there was some that had been in jail ten and fifteen times, and
been in the penitentiary, and ever’where, and just as soon as they
got out they got right back in again; they didn’t seem to learn
anything by goin’ to prison, and it didn’t seem to do them any hurt.
They said they’d just as soon be there as anywhere else.
“But one thing I noticed a good deal that I never thought anything
about until that feller come and spoke, that was how that the
outsiders was really the ones that got punished the worst. It was
sickenin’ to see how some of them poor women would cry and take
on because their man was in jail, and how they’d work and scrub
night and day and nearly kill themselves to earn money to get him
out; and then the little children that come to see their fathers, how
they’d stay out of school and work in the packin’-houses and
laundries and do anything for a little money to help them out.
Hones’ly I believe if anyone stays ‘round here for a week he’ll see
that the people that ain’t done nothin’ is punished a good deal
more’n the others. Why, there was one awful pretty-lookin’ girl used
to come here to see her father, and the fellers told me that she was
studyin’ music or somethin’ like that, and her father was put in jail
on a fine, and she came here to see him every day, and done all she
could to earn the money to get him out, but she couldn’t do it, and
finally she went into one of them sportin’ houses down on Clark
Street, and lived there long enough to get the money. I don’t know,
of course, whether it’s so, but I don’t see why not. Lots of the girls
go to the department stores and laundries and stock-yards and they
ain’t much harder places on a girl’s health. Anybody’ll do everything
they can to earn money to save anyone they care for.
“Well, the week went away pretty fast. I didn’t s’pose ‘twas so hard
to get a case continued. You know that Carroll case? You remember
we quit our work four or five times and lost our pay, and the judge
continued it just because the lawyer had somethin’ else to do. But I
knew ‘twouldn’t be no use for me to try to get mine continued any
more. And I didn’t care much. I was gettin’ so I’d just about as soon
be done with it as not, and still I was pretty sure I’d be hung.
“The next Monday mornin’ I was taken into court the same way, and
the han’-cuffs was unlocked, and I was set down to the table by my
lawyer. One guard set just back of me and the other at the side.
Someone started a story that a gang of Bridgeport toughs was
comin’ to rescue me, but of course there wa’n’t nothin’ in it. I didn’t
have a friend that even come to see me—but the newspapers all
printed the story, and, of course, that was against me too.
“When the judge called the case, he asked if we was ready, and my
lawyer said he needed more time; that he’d done all he could to get
ready, but he hadn’t had time. But the judge wouldn’t pay a bit of
attention to him, and said he must go to trial at once, and told the
bailiff to call a jury. So the bailiff called the names of twelve men
and they took their seats in two rows of chairs along one side of the
room. Ever’ one of ‘em looked at me as if he didn’t like to be in the
same room where I was. Then the lawyers commenced askin’ ‘m
questions—where they lived, and how long they had lived there, and
where they lived before, and how much rent they paid, and what
they worked at, and how long they’d worked there, and what they’d
done before, and what their fathers done, and where they come
from, and was they dead, and if they was married, and how many
times, and if they had children, and how many, and how old, and if
they was boys or girls, and if the children went to school, and what
they studied, and if they belonged to the church, and what one, and
if they belonged to any societies or lodges or labor unions, or knew
anyone, or read the papers, or didn’t believe in hangin’ people, and
if they believed in ‘circumstantial evidence,’ and if they’d hang on
circumstantial evidence, and if they believed in the law—and a lot of
other things that I can’t remember. If anyone didn’t believe in
hangin’ he was let go right away; and if they didn’t believe in
circumstantial evidence they didn’t keep ‘em either.
“The other lawyer asked questions first and it didn’t take him very
long to get the ones that he wanted. Ever’one said he believed in
hangin’, and they all said they’d hang anybody on circumstantial
evidence. After he got through my lawyer questioned ‘em. They all
said that they’d read all about the case, and had formed an opinion
about it—and they all looked at me as if they had. Then my lawyer
objected to ‘em, and the judge said to each one, ‘Well, even if you
have formed an opinion, don’t you think you could lay that aside and
not pay any attention to it, and try the case on the evidence and
give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt? Don’t you think that in
spite of the opinion you could presume him innocent when you
begin?’ Most of ‘em said they could; one of ‘em said he couldn’t.
Then the judge lectured him for not bein’ able to give anyone a fair
trial, no matter who he was, and said we’d have to take the others,
and told us to go ahead and get another one. So my lawyer tried
another one and found him just like the rest. But the judge made us
take him anyway. He said they was perfectly fair jurors, and we
couldn’t expect to get men that sympathized with crime.
“It ain’t any use to tell you all about gettin’ the jury, and then I
hain’t got time. Both sides had a right to strike off twenty without
any reason at all, only that they didn’t like ‘em. We took a long time
to get a jury. We didn’t get much of any until after we had struck off
‘most all of our twenty. All the jurors seemed to have made up their
minds, but pretty nearly all of ‘em said it didn’t make any difference;
they could give me a fair trial even if their minds was made up.
“I noticed that they struck off workin’-men and Catholics, and people
that didn’t have any religion, and foreigners, and I noticed my
lawyer struck off Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Swedes, and G. A.
R.’s. It took three or four days to get the jury, and then we hadn’t
any more challenges left, and so we had to take ‘em. Pretty near
ever’one of ‘em said they’d read all about the case in all the papers
and had their minds made up. I knew, of course, that meant they
was against me. But still they all said that didn’t make no difference
if they had got their minds made up, they could forget their opinions
and go at the case as if they believed I was innocent. But ever’one
of ‘em said he believed in hangin’, and all of ‘em said that
circumstantial evidence was good enough for him. I set there ‘side
of the table with my lawyer and looked ‘em over, and tried to make
up my mind what they was thinkin’ of, but they wa’n’t one of ‘em
would look at me when they knew I was lookin’, and I could see
from the way they did that they was sure all the time that I done it,
and ought to swing. Of course, I know it’s the law that when a
feller’s placed on trial they’re s’posed to be innocent, but I knew that
the judge and all them twelve men felt sure I was guilty or I
wouldn’t have been there. Of course I done it. I don’t know anything
that would’ve done any good, but all the same it’s pretty tough to be
tried by a jury when they think you ought to be hung before they
commence.
“After they got the jury the other lawyer told ‘em about the case,
and he made it awful black. I don’t know how he ever found out all
the things he said. Of course a good many of ‘em was true and a
good many wa’n’t true, but he made out that I was the worst man
that ever lived. The judge listened to ever’ word he said and looked
over to me ever’ once in a while, as if he wondered how I ever
could’ve done it, and was glad that I was where I belonged at last.
The jury watched ever’ word the lawyer said, and looked at me ever’
once in a while to see how I stood it. Of course it was mighty hard,
but I done the best I could. When he got through the judge asked
my lawyer what he had to say, and he said he wouldn’t tell his side
now. Then they commenced puttin’ in the evidence.
“I s’pose you read all about it at the time, but the papers always
gave me the worst of it, and the evidence wa’n’t near so bad as it
looked in the papers. Of course they proved about the boy goin’ out
the next mornin’ to the neighbors, and cryin’ for his pa and ma, and
about ever’one lookin’ all over for us without findin’ us nor any trace
of either one, and about the horse and wagon both lookin’ as if it
had been out all night. And then the folks as lived next door told
about hearin’ me say ‘you damned bitch,’ and hearin’ someone fall,
though they didn’t think much of it then as they’d heard so many
rows before. And then they told about findin’ a piece of brown paper
covered with blood, and then they brought in a doctor, or someone
who said he’d examined it with a magnifyin’ glass and it was human
blood. He wa’n’t quite sure whether it was a gentleman or a lady;
but he knew ‘twas one or the other. Then they brought in the paper
and handed it to the jury, and passed it down along both rows, and
ever’one took it in his hand and felt it, and looked at it just as if they
never had seen any paper like that before, and wanted to make sure
‘twas paper and not cloth. Of course the minute I seen it I knew it
was the paper that had the beefsteak in it, and I told my lawyer
what it was. An’ I got right up to say something and the judge
looked at me just as cross and says ‘Set down and keep still; you’ve
got a lawyer to talk for you, and if you say anything more, I’ll send
you to jail.’ Of course I was scart to hear him speak to me that way
before the jury and the whole room full of people, and I knew that it
would show ever’one that the judge was against me. Some of the
papers next day made out that I jumped up and was goin’ to run
away when I seen the bloody paper.
“My lawyer had another doctor examine a piece of the paper that
night, and he said it was a cow or an ox, but he wouldn’t come and
testify to it unless I’d give him a hundred dollars, but of course I
didn’t have that. The court room was awful still when they passed
around that paper; you could hear the jurors breathe and they held
their heads down as if they felt sorry about somethin’. And after
they’d looked it all over the lawyer took it, and the judge says: ‘Let
me see that paper,’ and he put on his spectacles and looked it all
over, first on one side and then on the other. He had a little bit of a
magnifyin’ glass in one hand, and he put it over the paper and
looked at it through the glass, and then he looked at me just as
solemn as if it was a funeral, and I seen it was all up with me. Of
course, I told my lawyer just where I got it and what it was, and he
went down to the butcher shop and seen the man, but the man was
‘fraid to come, and said he didn’t remember ‘bout the steak nor
about me; he guessed he’d seen me—I used to come down that way
to peddle—but he couldn’t tell whether I was in the shop that night
or not.
“Then they brought the boys who had found her in a pool of water
out on the prairie two or three days after, and they brought some of
the clothes she had on. They was all covered with mud, and they
passed ‘em all around to the jury and the judge, just the same as
they did the paper. Of course, these did look pretty bad, and they
made me feel kind of faint, for I’d thought about her a good deal the
last few days, and dreamed about her almost every night, and
sometimes I’d dream that ever’thing was all right, and then wake up
and remember just how ‘twas. I don’t know which is worse: to
dream that the thing was done and see it all before you, just as if
you were doin’ it all over again, and then wake up and know it was a
dream, and then know it was so, or to dream that you’re livin’
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