The Iron Heel Jack London (free children's ebooks online .TXT) đ
- Author: Jack London
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I found Jackson the meek and lowly man he had been described. He was making some sort of rattan-work, and he toiled on stolidly while I talked with him. But in spite of his meekness and lowliness, I fancied I caught the first note of a nascent bitterness in him when he said:
âThey might a-given me a job as watchman,25 anyway.â
I got little out of him. He struck me as stupid, and yet the deftness with which he worked with his one hand seemed to belie his stupidity. This suggested an idea to me.
âHow did you happen to get your arm caught in the machine?â I asked.
He looked at me in a slow and pondering way, and shook his head. âI donât know. It just happened.â
âCarelessness?â I prompted.
âNo,â he answered, âI ainât for callinâ it that. I was workinâ overtime, anâ I guess I was tired out some. I worked seventeen years in them mills, anâ Iâve took notice that most of the accidents happens just before whistle-blow.26 Iâm willinâ to bet that more accidents happens in the hour before whistle-blow than in all the rest of the day. A man ainât so quick after workinâ steady for hours. Iâve seen too many of âem cut up anâ gouged anâ chawed not to know.â
âMany of them?â I queried.
âHundreds anâ hundreds, anâ children, too.â
With the exception of the terrible details, Jacksonâs story of his accident was the same as that I had already heard. When I asked him if he had broken some rule of working the machinery, he shook his head.
âI chucked off the belt with my right hand,â he said, âanâ made a reach for the flint with my left. I didnât stop to see if the belt was off. I thought my right hand had done itâ âonly it didnât. I reached quick, and the belt wasnât all the way off. And then my arm was chewed off.â
âIt must have been painful,â I said sympathetically.
âThe crunchinâ of the bones wasnât nice,â was his answer.
His mind was rather hazy concerning the damage suit. Only one thing was clear to him, and that was that he had not got any damages. He had a feeling that the testimony of the foremen and the superintendent had brought about the adverse decision of the court. Their testimony, as he put it, âwasnât what it ought to have ben.â And to them I resolved to go.
One thing was plain, Jacksonâs situation was wretched. His wife was in ill health, and he was unable to earn, by his rattan-work and peddling, sufficient food for the family. He was back in his rent, and the oldest boy, a lad of eleven, had started to work in the mills.
âThey might a-given me that watchmanâs job,â were his last words as I went away.
By the time I had seen the lawyer who had handled Jacksonâs case, and the two foremen and the superintendent at the mills who had testified, I began to feel that there was something after all in Ernestâs contention.
He was a weak and inefficient-looking man, the lawyer, and at sight of him I did not wonder that Jacksonâs case had been lost. My first thought was that it had served Jackson right for getting such a lawyer. But the next moment two of Ernestâs statements came flashing into my consciousness: âThe company employs very efficient lawyersâ and âColonel Ingram is a shrewd lawyer.â I did some rapid thinking. It dawned upon me that of course the company could afford finer legal talent than could a workingman like Jackson. But this was merely a minor detail. There was some very good reason, I was sure, why Jacksonâs case had gone against him.
âWhy did you lose the case?â I asked.
The lawyer was perplexed and worried for a moment, and I found it in my heart to pity the wretched little creature. Then he began to whine. I do believe his whine was congenital. He was a man beaten at birth. He whined about the testimony. The witnesses had given only the evidence that helped the other side. Not one word could he get out of them that would have helped Jackson. They knew which side their bread was buttered on. Jackson was a fool. He had been browbeaten and confused by Colonel Ingram. Colonel Ingram was brilliant at cross-examination. He had made Jackson answer damaging questions.
âHow could his answers be damaging if he had the right on his side?â I demanded.
âWhatâs right got to do with it?â he demanded back. âYou see all those books.â He moved his hand over the array of volumes on the walls of his tiny office. âAll my reading and studying of them has taught me that law is one thing and right is another thing. Ask any lawyer. You go to Sunday-school to learn what is right. But you go to those books to learnâ ââ ⊠law.â
âDo you mean to tell me that Jackson had the right on his side and yet was beaten?â I queried tentatively. âDo you mean to tell me that there is no justice in Judge Caldwellâs court?â
The little lawyer glared at me a moment, and then the belligerence faded out of his face.
âI hadnât a fair chance,â he began whining again. âThey made a fool out of Jackson and out of me, too. What chance had I? Colonel Ingram is a great lawyer. If he wasnât great, would he have charge of the law business of the Sierra Mills, of the Erston Land Syndicate, of the Berkeley Consolidated, of the Oakland, San Leandro, and Pleasanton Electric? Heâs a corporation lawyer, and corporation lawyers are not paid for being fools.27 What do you think the Sierra
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