The Iron Heel Jack London (free children's ebooks online .TXT) š
- Author: Jack London
Book online Ā«The Iron Heel Jack London (free children's ebooks online .TXT) šĀ». Author Jack London
āYouād have robbed him, most probably,ā I answered.
āOf course I would,ā he cried angrily. āIāve got to live, havenāt I?ā28
āHe has a wife and children,ā I chided.
āSo have I a wife and children,ā he retorted. āAnd thereās not a soul in this world except myself that cares whether they starve or not.ā
His face suddenly softened, and he opened his watch and showed me a small photograph of a woman and two little girls pasted inside the case.
āThere they are. Look at them. Weāve had a hard time, a hard time. I had hoped to send them away to the country if Iād won Jacksonās case. Theyāre not healthy here, but I canāt afford to send them away.ā
When I started to leave, he dropped back into his whine.
āI hadnāt the ghost of a chance. Colonel Ingram and Judge Caldwell are pretty friendly. Iām not saying that if Iād got the right kind of testimony out of their witnesses on cross-examination, that friendship would have decided the case. And yet I must say that Judge Caldwell did a whole lot to prevent my getting that very testimony. Why, Judge Caldwell and Colonel Ingram belong to the same lodge and the same club. They live in the same neighborhoodā āone I canāt afford. And their wives are always in and out of each otherās houses. Theyāre always having whist parties and such things back and forth.ā
āAnd yet you think Jackson had the right of it?ā I asked, pausing for the moment on the threshold.
āI donāt think; I know it,ā was his answer. āAnd at first I thought he had some show, too. But I didnāt tell my wife. I didnāt want to disappoint her. She had her heart set on a trip to the country hard enough as it was.ā
āWhy did you not call attention to the fact that Jackson was trying to save the machinery from being injured?ā I asked Peter Donnelly, one of the foremen who had testified at the trial.
He pondered a long time before replying. Then he cast an anxious look about him and said:
āBecause Iāve a good wife anā three of the sweetest children ye ever laid eyes on, thatās why.ā
āI do not understand,ā I said.
āIn other words, because it wouldnāt a-ben healthy,ā he answered.
āYou meanā āā I began.
But he interrupted passionately.
āI mean what I said. Itās long years Iāve worked in the mills. I began as a little lad on the spindles. I worked up ever since. Itās by hard work I got to my present exalted position. Iām a foreman, if you please. Anā I doubt me if thereās a man in the mills thatād put out a hand to drag me from drowninā. I used to belong to the union. But Iāve stayed by the company through two strikes. They called me āscab.ā Thereās not a man among āem today to take a drink with me if I asked him. Dāye see the scars on me head where I was struck with flying bricks? There aināt a child at the spindles but what would curse me name. Me only friend is the company. Itās not me duty, but me bread anā butter anā the life of me children to stand by the mills. Thatās why.ā
āWas Jackson to blame?ā I asked.
āHe should a-got the damages. He was a good worker anā never made trouble.ā
āThen you were not at liberty to tell the whole truth, as you had sworn to do?ā
He shook his head.
āThe truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?ā I said solemnly.
Again his face became impassioned, and he lifted it, not to me, but to heaven.
āIād let me soul anā body burn in everlastinā hell for them children of mine,ā was his answer.
Henry Dallas, the superintendent, was a vulpine-faced creature who regarded me insolently and refused to talk. Not a word could I get from him concerning the trial and his testimony. But with the other foreman I had better luck. James Smith was a hard-faced man, and my heart sank as I encountered him. He, too, gave me the impression that he was not a free agent, as we talked I began to see that he was mentally superior to the average of his kind. He agreed with Peter Donnelly that Jackson should have got damages, and he went farther and called the action heartless and cold-blooded that had turned the worker adrift after he had been made helpless by the accident. Also, he explained that there were many accidents in the mills, and that the companyās policy was to fight to the bitter end all consequent damage suits.
āIt means hundreds of thousands a year to the stockholders,ā he said; and as he spoke I remembered the last dividend that had been paid my father, and the pretty gown for me and the books for him that had been bought out of that dividend. I remembered Ernestās charge that my gown was stained with blood, and my flesh began to crawl underneath my garments.
āWhen you testified at the trial, you didnāt point out that Jackson received his accident through trying to save the machinery from damage?ā I said.
āNo, I did not,ā was the answer, and his mouth set bitterly. āI testified to the effect that Jackson injured himself by neglect and carelessness, and that the company was not in any way to blame or liable.ā
āWas it carelessness?ā I asked.
āCall it that, or anything you want to call it. The fact is, a man gets tired after heās been working for hours.ā
I was becoming interested in the man. He certainly was of a superior kind.
āYou are better educated than most workingmen,ā I said.
āI went through high school,ā he
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