A Plain Black Tie

A COMPLETE NOVELETTE ■■■ ■ ■ ii —

By Thane Miller Jones

gullijr,” Urd the accused m»n with a confident rlance at the attorney Maaorltch. who aafrom hla place at the attora table with a swift, reansurlng yon an attorney to defend asked the tired Judge, your honor. 1 am too poor J Judge turned to Mr. Nlch- ; prosecuting attorney, t do you say, Mr. Nichols?” K attorney carelessly ; then half rising: > that the Coart assign an 0 represent tho accused from ■ present in court.” i cast hi. eyes furtirelr e papers on h's desk. Then doan at the attorneys' ~ asked-. k will you kindly act?" , a bald man with an able, bowed obediently, then t of the burly attorney who smiled. —ed man turned with a rei pallid fellow-culprit ed nest to him in the dock, prisoner whispered sullen‘looked after'—but me—" u face expressed sheer terwere reasons why the boss —might let him go to the had. the day before, got a Wf-e-11. he had meant , the game—but there was • Coke— — e was speaking. '‘Yes, Mr. n give you until tomorto prepare your des is”—he glanced at the .— —this Whalen case to Bat I will first ascertain -n’s plea and as to an at—es Whalen, stand up!” prisoner rose, and a wild, swift appeal to vitcU sat hunched over the But the great underl adviser stared unrecoghlm with ius narrowed en winched. He was not “looked after.” ••Danin snarled in silent rage and tch sensed the noiseless curse ng. shrugged his heavy Whalen must go. __ l of l&wleasners has its Booty-taxes are not 1 to be evaded. Tax*** are 1 to organ!ied lawlessness 9 to society. Whalen sent 1 would ha e a salutary ef e other wolves, gulped, then pleaded a hopeguilty” to the verbose Ini represented by an attorthe tired Judge, glancing

again.

t got no money to pay e glanced furtively at Mani back at bin notes again

~ understood.

had been "suggested." coughed, listened to tho a from the prosecuting ati cast his eye seleclingly

e long rows of lawyers. One

»n would do.

'imsed conjecture on wyers. When an -signed who had i suggest-. the matter bel Joke. There was no pay in , and of course it was underthat no lavryerwith any practice be assigned ■ Seme of the r lawyers recognized in the spent an opportunity to get their before the public and many ed court for this re-son ‘ Newell P. McCollough attended, -h ho was not a young lawyer by thirty-five years. Since he ha! 'y wntchrd hit Urge practice le away from him. twelve yeai . be had wailed for UU chance Judge's eye came at last to r*st lively upon hla stooped rboultiU mild, supreme-court-Judge is lack luster eye* that held no He ncalled bow two y-ais be had selected McCullough to the woman charged with va- : bow his meager, abstracted had been beaten down by the t district attorney, ang bow— ig a conviction, though the u dcablful—he himself had in- . under the probation lawe died, too. what a giant McCol ad been at the bar before that blight had wrought his 4e was become a grotesque on N. P. McCollough. the cor-

lawyer.

edge's eyes passed ou. seekinc >ung attorney then came bark ollongu. Smiling whimsically ncing with anticipatory mirth ie rows of intent face*, he aa-

-Uon fi

young

nounccd: Ir. McCollough. will yon please assist the court by rep resec ting the prisoner ?■• A broad flicker of amusement pulee l in the faces of the lawyer*. McCullough rose, trembling and flushed. It waa a gnat moment . His meager frame stiffened at the Uxed Jaws ol the covenl: grinning bar. There had been a da.- when Inatoad of that derisive grin, resepet would have greeted his mum He vaguely admitted to himself a painful preoccupation of mind the*M twelve years back b-.ii—be would sb>w them! He bad never lain down under his misfortune. He had beer crushed down. He had forgotten mor. law than moot hem ever knew. But—unionu nately—he had forgo Ur a it. 'Er—certainly, your 1 onor. 1 have sr—not as yet had -n opportunity to consult my client” At this naive exprea Ion of the obvious and tired Jndg< repressed a smile, and responded i*lth a sllght'y exaggerated coutesy: 'TUI the morning?” "Yes." Jim Whalen Ir. tn> dock studied the face of the judge, noted t>“ leering flashes of witticism rippling down it-' rows of diverted attorneys, blanched at the blank, heavy face of Manovitch d shuddered. It was all over, but the farce of a trial. He was to go to the pen. God! There was Mamie. McCollough approached him, fussily professional His thin face waa suffused with nervous, hectic vigor. As client and attorney passedfor a con sultaUon Into one of the big empty Jury rooms, Whalen cast a swift glance over his shoulder to where Manovitch stood whispering to the prosecuting attorney. He saw them both glance at him and grin. When he tnrned again to the solicitous McCollough his face was as white as the walls of the Jury room. .' n hour later the prisoner slouch 4 back to the Jail in the custody of an attendant. A nondescript person murmured a message from Manovitch as Whalen sluk past: ' After a year —parole. You gotta go quiet—" Whalen snarled ferociously as he slouched on. He paid no heed to McCoUcugh’s reassuring smile from the doorway. Prom the little woman with the patient eyes who greeted him when he retained home much later than usual for dinner McCollough concealed hi* exultation under a professional nonchalance. Sipping his tea. he smiled quietly across the table. “Oh. bj the way. I’m defending a an namtd Whalen accused of breaking and tatering ” The little woman's fond eyes beamed with afectionato pride then suddenly filled. "Newell!” “Eh?” "I mean—yes! And do you think you can clear him?” The flctlor.—forgotten for the moent -that this was a daily occurrence was bravely maintained. He was a great lawyer and she was his prxud wife. Her love held an almost maternal quality. He must be shielded from the world—and from the effect of that awful thing that had happened to them. She assisted at the fiction of business because she knew It was good for him. She would have assisted in any delusion of his maimed life that made for a little happiness where so much of happiness wat. leserved. And she knew that his great passion now waa to make things easier for her. And she assisted him. to, in that passion. He pursed hi* Judicial Ups. "Oh—I m't know. H-m. There are. I believe strongly i-icriminaUng circumstances." fy!“ The Interest U. her sweet c was not for Whalen accused of breaking and entering—whatever that meant. •Eh?—yea. But the prisoner mtm have the h?n-flt—the fuU benefit—of every reasonable doubt!” This with the democratic ferocity of a inagna character. "Oh. of course!” she hastened. All that afternoon McCollough pored —undisturbed!—over his law books. Towards evening he carried severs’ volumes home, hugged to his lean side. His wife had brushed anew an already too welt brushed suit of rustv black. A frayed wh.te tie, freshly Ironeo, was submitted for inspection The worn p»rt was carefully mended. Newell P. McCollough kissed his wife awkwardly. A long took passed between them. It was as though the weary, undaunted soul of the whitehaired woman was sending a message "How goes Itr to her beloved. He did not smile an answer, but the muscles about hit. mou'h tightened snd he threw back his great head in the old way she ’.eved.

There were no children—at borne. The daughter of whom they seldom spoke nvwadays waa an unforgetable. crushing memory. When reminiscence interwove the lost girl Into their speech, ellptica were painfully employed. was not as though she were dead, ms not a« though they knew that waa at rest. Fierce-eyed, wayward. intolerant, impatient of all restraint, she bad at 16 flung herself, a beL from their placid, cultured life. Inexplicably degenerate, she had sullenly thrust aside every arm held out to her. McCollough, as he informed his wife. had. however, kept more or less in touch with her, and she was partially rehabilitated. He bad three years before gone to a Weetero city and looked her up. Found her, aa he recounted to his wife, doing very nicely. Had gone into Journalism. Was quit** a band to write for the papers. Smart as a steel trap! Had been a little foolish, bui—he bad great hopes that she would make them proud of their child yet. In his office as he sat thinking over what he had told the little woman he remembered her tears and her smile It repaid him for an enforced absence of four days. He had then suddenly remembered something, seised bis bat and gone down to that part of the city that he hated. There was rent to pay and—the daughter must be physically comfortable. She greeted him with noisy joviality. He had gone home end silently smoothed her mother’s gray hair as he kissed her. At any rate she did not know—that! Thus he gained from month to month a rule happiness In shielding the mother. And now an ambition to win this Whalen cue to which he had been sardonically assigned filled McC olio ugh's thoughts. Office work would follow an exhibition of foenslc acumen. And money was badly needed. Through the haze of his beclouded powers be struggled for two women, one who kept him alive and one who kept him dead. As ho bent over his law books he suddenly realized that he had meant to go down—there. She might be In sore need again. He glanced sharply at bis quiet wife. She smiled mildly and gently patted his arm. “Don't you think you had better come to bed now, Newell? Get, a good night’* sleep, for you will be occupied in court U.morrow—I think you said?” This simple subtlety soothed the old lawyer to a sad benignity. Yes' Court work was to be more and more an everyday affair. He placed a careful mark In his law hot* and went to bed. The evidence of the prosecution on the trial of James Whalen was wholly clrcuma'antial; but Whalen had a bad record—two convictions for housebreaking and one for aggravated assault. The prosecuting attorney closed the Slat -'p case with quiet confidence and turned his attention furtively to the brief in the next case . McColkmgh's opening for the defense brought his attention back with a Jerk. What? Was that old hick going to call the prisoner to testify on his own behalf? It was a dangerous practice, and doubly dangerous unless guiding counsel were skillful to forefeud the accused from a grilling cross-examination. Many a man had been corvicted out of his own mouth, after an exhausting half-day's bombardment had beaten his defense to a pulp. McCollough's style of advocacy was of a decade past. His thin voice was high-pitched, his gestures elocutionary; his sentences carefully rounded, his English chaste . Futility loomed large In his vague generalizations. Clever court lawyers do not. in these matter-of-fact days, indulge in conscious eloquence. Trial by Oratory U as dead as trial uy Ordeal They converse, they chat. They buttonhole the jury as to man, and without driving their contentions home with wordy '.edges, they subtly suggest, assist a half-formed thought, insinuate a doubt: ilauin with fai't praise, assent with civil 1M.~, and without sneering, teac . the jury to sneer. Listen to s rattlln good criminal lawyer on his next murder case. So the court smiled—a little pityingly—st McCollough’s grand period* The whole performance waa aa out of ace as s learned medical lecture in a ck room. McCollough sat down, feeling some of the vigor of the old. unbroken days n hit, twelve-year-old preoccupation had not came to harass him. A miur.ent later he rose sad called an tmloportant witness. Vlth pain ful con*c ienUousneo* he conducted the examination in chief, then as carefully

sought to clean np the wreckage resulting from the hurricane of the cross examination. Another minor witness having been examined. MoCollough importantly announced. "1 will call the prisoner. James Whalen.” The underworld’s silent sttorne* Manovitch. in’ent near the end of the attorneys' table, snarled a nolseleet menace at the sullen, pallid Whalen aa the latter raised his arm to take the oath. A defiant, desperate glare answered him. Then Whalen wss going to talk, warhe? Would he dare? Manovitch must prevent 'hat st any cost. The examination had reached the point as to the entrance effected through the east dining room window. We have the advantage of the stenographer’s report: Qoestfon: 'The witness, Bu.-ne. hr 9 stated that a lower pane of the east dining room window had been cut. Now you've explained to the court and Jury how you chanced along shortly before this Were you rear enough to Mr. Nichols objects. Leading. Objection sustained. Court suggests changing form of question. Q. "Very well, your honor: What do you know of your own knowledge as to tho cnttlng of the class?” “I know who cut the glass. I’m wise to the whole Job. And I'm goin' to snitch! I saw Le " As the witness began his answer, Manovitch stirred uneasily . The prosecuting officer glanced hastily at him,

then rose.

'I object—stop!” Then, more lels urely: "I do not. at present, your Honor, see what relevancy—on the trial of the prisoner—er ” McCollough scathingly: "Relevsn- '? Sorely if I can produce witnesses •and the prisoner is a witness—to show that he did not In point of fact break and enter, but that someone else

did— The Court: “Certainly, if ” Manovitch shot a final look ct Whalen The little rat would, then, would he? He felt that he was going safely to the pen, did he? Manovitch would show him! With sudden determination the burly attorney half rose to bis feet. Mind you, he had no ostensible connection with the case. The court stirred in mild astonishnent. Wild surmise „tcw In Whalen's dilating pupils. Manovitch spoke to the judge: "Will the court pardon me—the stenographer appears 111—” The judge glanced quickly at the Utile man whose pencil bad been racing Jerkily over his book. As be did so the stenographer, with a swift look at Manovitch. dropped his perdl —the long point snapped—and put an uncertain hand to bis head. The Court: “Are you ill, Mr. Fry?” "A trifle dizzy, your Honor. I —" The Court: "Perhaps we'd bett.-: take ten minutes' recess.” Tho machinery of the law slowed down. Attorneys strolled toward the library, reaching for pipes ana cigar

ets.

Whalen frantically beckoned to McCollough and began a tense whispering. McCollough raised a forbidding arm. ‘I am not permitted to consult with you while you are on the witness stand.” he stated. The Judge, who had paused on his way to his little room behind the judicial throne, nodded slowly and muttered: "Honorable—to a fault After all. I suppose it doe: pay—somehow—perhaps.” He sighed—a little—at the wrath ol a lost innocency. His god was expediency—and expediency being an earthly god can be approached. An approachable business man, 4'es; but approachable judge—that very phrase conveys a sinister meaning. In these modern days how can a man ith growing obligations avoid lending a furtive ear to—. The Judge sighed and went into bis room. Fortunately he represtats a very small proportion of the bench. Just

to Veep alive the clamor for the recall of Judges. Jim Whalen hungered for a word— tst one word—with Manovitch. but that burly attorney bad his broad back toward him, whispering earnestly to the prosecuting attorney.

Court resumed.

Nichol. arcs'-. "May It please your Honor, In the light of—er—developments and after consulting with my learned brother McCollough. I ha’, e— er—decided that the Stat«- discontinue this prosecution. I move that a nolle prosequi be entered. The tired Judge nodded briefly. ‘Mr. Clark, make the entry . Case withdrawn. Prisoner, stand up. You are discharged from further attendance upon this court. You are free." McCollough. who had not, as a matr of fact, been consulted, was quite dazed at this unexpected turn ot events Of conrse. he had felt all along that his method of conducting the defense was battering down the State’s case pretty effectually, but he had not lookeo for this sheer confi sion of defeat from the prosecuting torncy. It was a feather in his cap 1 He warmly grasped Manovltch’s out-

stretched hard.

Congratulations on your able defense!" grinned the burly attorney. McCollough beamed. He wished now that he had consented to his wife’s timidly expressed wish to be present Here was his old. dimly remembered efficiency coming back! Victory! Two business men padded silently down the aisle. “That McCollough Is surely coming back to his old form astray there for a while. Trouble In his family, I guess. But he's great stuff now! Some speech, eh? I must give him a Winch of business I've got plied up. Don't get satisfaction from that agency. Need a man to make a case, if necessary, right up to the supreme court.” “ 'Bout It" agreed the other. Trial by oratory still impresses—

the bystander.

McCollough reached Whalen's side The hand he reached for was llfelesrin his grasp. He peered, puzzled. Into the man's livid face. The lips were framing mumbling phrases. "I wasn't wise that Manovitch could fix it that way,” he whimpered. "Now they got me. I’m ts good as bumped I doped it out that I’d be safe over there until things—I’m a deal ‘un. And there's Mamie.” McCollpugti patted him encouragingly ou the back. "Why. man. you're free. They can't put you on trial again for this. No man can legally be placed In Jeopardy a second time. It is one ot cur glorious constitutional liberties!” The man laughed with snarling, bloodless lips. "Jeopardy, hell pant.-d. Then, bethinking himself jf the simple old soul standing there, puzzled, he added: “You done all you could. That sure was a dandy line talk—thanks . Goodby.” Late that evening Newell P. McCollough sat In slippered ease before the tiny coal grate. The soft light from the fire flickered over nu wife's silver hair. She sat silently knitting Her heart was full of great pride— and a gr at wistfulness. Her husband explained: "These criminal cases though not directly In crative tend to promote civil bus!Maillard, the nail man, sent one of his clerks around this afterioon with considerable commercial

business. Kept me busy making a start on it all the afternoon. I bad

Meant to? That's nice for a—a rainy day." Yes.” agrtefi the attorney. He un derstood the allusion. The mother-yearning in the I'.ttle woman's - eyes confused him. He blinked into the fire. "There should always be a home for one—one to—to come to ” "Yes.” he sighed. She laid her knitting on the evening paper. As she did so an item caught her eye. "Newell!" she exclaimed. "Wasn't your client's name Whalen—James

Whalen?”

“Yea, dear—what?" “Listen: 'With a bullet through Us lungs and two through his bead. James Whalen, a second-story man. sank lifeless in an alley off Gilbert, lane on the East Side today shortly after noon. No arrests have been made. He had been released from the Tombs less than an hour before A woman of the district, locally known as Mamie the Coke, evidently in a crazed condition, ahot herself fatally through the left breast upon discovering the murdered man’s body. Sh» died in the ambulance. She made no

statement

The fail little woman let the paper slip through her fingers, and sat very white and still. McCollough reached for the paper with a hand that did not tremble. He read the Item aloud with carefully correct enunciation. It was as though were tipslly struggling to ^octroi his thick tongue . He went out Into the ha'l and put on his rubbers. “Why—are you going out?” "A matter of some moment, dear. In connection with—er—arising out Of this Whalen matter. I must go-

at once.

Well, it was all over at last. Anyhow. he reflected as he sat hunched In the half-empty street car, he had shielded the little woman at Tiotae from the inceesent agony that he hud somewha^ managed to endure. She had known nothing of the drab ugliness of the night courts where he had sometimes—not always—saved h's child from sentence; nothing ot the drear promise to reform that her halfdrunken, drugged Ups had blubbered. Ard now he would see her decently laid at rest. Some far taint of blood had had Its way with her poor body Now she was at peace. the little woman had been spared all this. And some day he must fashion the lie of a peaceful death in some far city. He knew a (Continued on page 7)

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