100%: the Story of a Patriot

by Upton Sinclair

  "Which?" said Peter.

  And she answered: "That fellow that looks like a bruiser, and thatone next to him, with the face of a rat." Peter looked, and saw thatit was McGivney; and McGivney looked at Peter, but gave no sign.

  The meeting lasted until nearly midnight. It subscribed severalthousand dollars to the Goober defense fund, and adopted ferociousresolutions which it ordered printed and sent to every local ofevery labor union in the country. Peter got out before it was over,because he could no longer stand the strain of his own fears andanxieties. He pushed his way thru the crowd, and in the lobby he raninto Pat McCormick, the I. W. W. leader.

  There was more excitement in this boy's grim face than Peter hadever seen there before. Peter thought it was the meeting, but theother rushed up to him, exclaiming: "Have you heard the news?"

  "What news?"

  "Little Jennie Todd has killed herself!"

  "My God!" gasped Peter, starting back.

  "Ada Ruth just told me. Sadie found a note when she got home. Jenniehad left--she was going to drown herself."

  "But what--why?" cried Peter, in horror.

  "She was suffering so, her health was so wretched, she begs Sadienot to look for her body, not to make a fuss--they'll never findher."

  And horrified and stunned as Peter was, there was something insidehim that drew a deep breath of relief. Little Jennie had kept herpromise! Peter was, safe!

  Section 27

  Yes, Peter was safe, but it had been a close call, and he still hadpainful scenes to play his part in. He had to go back to the Toddhome and meet the frantic Sadie, and weep and be horrified with therest of them. It would have been suspicious if he had not done this;the "comrades" would never have forgiven him. Then to his dismay, hefound that Sadie had somehow come to a positive conviction as toJennie's trouble. She penned Peter up in a corner and accused him ofbeing responsible; and there was poor Peter, protesting vehementlythat he was innocent, and wishing that the floor would open up andswallow him.

  In the midst of his protestations a clever scheme occurred to him.He lowered his voice in shame. There was a man, a young man, whoused to come to see Jennie off and on. "Jennie asked me not totell." Peter hesitated a moment, and added his master-stroke."Jennie explained to me that she was a free-lover; she told me allabout free love. I told her I didn't believe in it, but you know,Sadie, when Jennie believed in anything, she would stand by it andact on it. So I felt certain it wouldn't do any good for me to buttin."

  Sadie almost went out of her mind at this. She glared at Peter."Slanderer! Devil!" she cried. "Who was this man?"

  Peter answered, "He went by the name of Ned. That's what Jenniecalled him. It wasn't my business to pin her down about him."

  "It wasn't your business to look out for an innocent child?"

  "Jennie herself said she wasn't an innocent child, she knew exactlywhat she was doing--all Socialists did it." And to this parting shothe added that he hadn't thought it was decent, when he was a guestin a home, to spy on the morals of the people in it. When Sadiepersisted in doubting him, and even in calling him names, he tookthe easiest way out of the difficulty--fell into a rage and stormedout of the house.

  Peter felt pretty certain that Sadie would not spread the story veryfar; it was too disgraceful to her sister and to herself; and maybewhen she had thought it over she might come to believe Peter'sstory; maybe she herself was a "free lover." McGivney had certainlysaid that all Socialists were, and he had been studying them a lot.Anyhow, Sadie would have to think first of the Goober case, just aslittle Jennie had done. Peter had them there all right, and realizedthat he could afford to be forgiving, so he went to the telephoneand called up Sadie and said: "I want you to know that I'm not goingto say anything about this story; it won't become known except thruyou."

  There were half a dozen people whom Sadie must have told. MissNebbins was icy-cold to Peter the next time he came in to see Mr.Andrews; also Miriam Yankovich lost her former cordiality, andseveral other women treated him with studied reserve. But the onlyperson who spoke about the matter was Pat McCormick, the I. W. W.boy who had given Peter the news of little Jennie's suicide. PerhapsPeter hadn't been able to act satisfactorily on that occasion; orperhaps the young fellow had observed something for himself, somelove-glances between Peter and Jennie. Peter had never feltcomfortable in the presence of this silent Irish boy, whose darkeyes would roam from one person to another in the room, and seemedto be probing your most secret thoughts.

  Now Peter's worst fears were justified. "Mac" got him off in acorner, and put his fist under his nose, and told him that he was "adirty hound," and if it hadn't been for the Goober case, he, "Mac,"would kill him without a moment's concern.

  And Peter did not dare open his mouth; the look on the Irishman'sface was so fierce that he was really afraid for his life. God, whata hateful lot these Reds were! And now here was Peter with the worstone of all against him! From now on his life would be in danger fromthis maniac Irishman! Peter hated him--so heartily and genuinelythat it served to divert his thoughts from little Jennie, and tomake him regard himself as a victim.

  Yes, in the midnight hours when Jennie's gentle little face hauntedhim and his conscience attacked him, Peter looked back upon thetangled web of events, and saw quite clearly how inevitable thistragedy had been, how naturally it had grown out of circumstancesbeyond his control. The fearful labor struggle in American City wassurely not Peter's fault; nor was it his fault that he had beendrawn into it, and forced to act first as an unwilling witness, andthen as a secret agent. Peter read the American City "Times" everymorning, and knew that the cause of Goober was the cause of anarchyand riot, while the cause of the district attorney and of Guffey'ssecret service was the cause of law and order. Peter was doing hisbest in this great cause, he was following the instructions of thoseabove him, and how could he be blamed because one poor weakling of agirl had got in the way of the great chariot of the law?

  Peter knew that it wasn't his fault; and yet grief and terror gnawedat him. For one thing, he missed little Jennie, he missed her by dayand he missed her by night. He missed her gentle voice, her fluffysoft hair, her body in his empty arms. She was his first love, andshe was gone, and it is human weakness to appreciate things mostwhen they have been lost.

  Peter aspired to be a strong man, a "he-man," according to the slangthat was coming into fashion; he now tried to live up to that role.He didn't want to go mooning about over this accident; yet Jennie'sface stayed with him--sometimes wild, as he had seen it at theirlast meeting, sometimes gentle and reproachful. Peter would rememberhow good she had been, how tender, how never-failing in instantresponse to an advance of love on his part. Where would he ever findanother girl like that?

  Another thing troubled him especially--a strange, inexplicablething, for which Peter had no words, and about which he foundhimself frequently thinking. This weak, frail slip of a girl haddeliberately given her life for her convictions; she had died, inorder that he might be saved as a witness for the Goobers! Of coursePeter had known all along that little Jennie was doomed, that shewas throwing herself away, that nothing could save her. But somehow,it does frighten the strongest heart when people are so fanatical asto throw away their very lives for a cause. Peter found himselfregarding the ideas of these Reds from a new angle; before this theyhad been just a bunch of "nuts," but now they seemed to himcreatures of monstrous deformity, products of the devil, or of a Godgone insane.

  Section 28

  There was only one person whom Peter could take into his confidence,and that was McGivney. Peter could not conceal from McGivney thefact that he was troubled over his bereavement; and so McGivney tookhim in hand and gave him a "jacking up." It was dangerous work, thisof holding down the Reds; dangerous, because their doctrines were soinsidious, they were so devilishly cunning in their working uponpeople's minds. McGivney had seen more than one fellow start foolingwith their ideas and turn into one himself. Peter must guard againstthat danger.

  "
It ain't that," Peter explained. "It ain't their ideas. It's justthat I was soft on that kid."

  "Well, it comes to the same thing," said McGivney. "You get sorryfor them, and the first thing you know, you're listening to theirarguments. Now, Peter, you're one of the best men I've got on thiscase--and that's saying a good deal, because I've got charge ofseventeen." The rat-faced man was watching Peter, and saw Peterflush with pleasure. Yes, he continued, Peter had a future beforehim, he would make all kinds of money, he would be givenresponsibility, a permanent position. But he might throw it all awayif he got to fooling with these Red doctrines. And also, he ought tounderstand, he could never fool McGivney; because McGivney had spieson him!

  So Peter clenched his hands and braced himself up. Peter was a real"he-man," and wasn't going to waste himself. "It's just that I can'thelp missing the girl!" he explained; to which the other answered:"Well, that's only natural. What you want to do is to get yourselfanother one."

  Peter went on with his work in the office of the Goober DefenseCommittee. The time for the trial had come, and the struggle betweenthe two giants had reached its climax. The district attorney, whowas prosecuting the case, and who was expecting to become governorof the state on the strength of it, had the backing of half a dozenof the shrewdest lawyers in the city, their expenses being paid bythe big business men. A small army of detectives were at work, andthe court where the trial took place was swarming with spies andagents. Every one of the hundreds of prospective jurors had beeninvestigated and card-cataloged, his every weakness and everyprejudice recorded; not merely had his psychology been studied, buthis financial status, and that of his relatives and friends. Peterhad met half a dozen other agents beside McGivney, men who had cometo question him about this or that detail; and from the conversationof these men he got glimpses of the endless ramifications of thecase. It seemed to him that the whole of American City had beenhired to help send Jim Goober to the gallows.

  Peter was now getting fifty dollars a week and expenses, in additionto special tips for valuable bits of news. Hardly a day passed thathe didn't get wind of some important development, and every night hewould have to communicate with McGivney. The prosecution had asecret office, where there was a telephone operator on duty, andcouriers traveling to the district attorney's office and to Guffey'soffice--all this to forestall telephone tapping. Peter would gofrom the headquarters of the Goober Defense Committee to atelephone-booth in some hotel, and there he would give the secretnumber, and then his own number, which was six forty-two. Everybodyconcerned was known by numbers, the principal people, both of theprosecution and of the defense; the name "Goober" was never spokenover the phone.

  After the trial had got started it was hard to get anybody to workin the office of the Defense Committee--everybody wanted to be incourt! Someone would come in every few minutes, with the latestreports of sensational developments. The prosecution had succeededin making away with the police court records, proving the convictionof its star witness of having kept a brothel for negroes. Theprosecution had introduced various articles alleged to have beenfound on the street by the police after the explosion; one was aspring, supposed to have been part of a bomb--but it turned out tobe a part of a telephone! Also they had introduced parts of aclock--but it appeared that in their super-zeal they had introducedthe parts of _two_ clocks! There was some excitement like this everyday.

  Section 29

  The time came when the prosecution closed its case, and Peter wassummoned to the office of Andrews, to be coached in his part as awitness. He would be wanted in two or three days, the lawyers toldhim.

  Now Peter had never intended to appear as a witness; he had beenfooling the defense all this time--"stringing them along," as hephrased it, so as to keep in favor with them to the end. Meantime hehad been figuring out how to justify his final refusal. Peter waseating his lunch when this plan occurred to him, and he was so muchexcited that he swallowed a piece of pie the wrong way, and had tojump up and run out of the lunch-room. It was his first stroke ofgenius; hitherto it was McGivney who had thought these things out,but now Peter was on the way to becoming his own boss! Why should hego on taking orders, when he had such brains of his own? He took theplan to McGivney, and McGivney called it a "peach," and Peter was soproud he asked for a raise, and got it.

  This plan had the double advantage that not merely would it savePeter's prestige and reputation, among the Reds, it would ruinMcCormick, who was one of the hardest workers for the defense, andone of the most dangerous Reds in American City, as well as being apersonal enemy of Peter's. McGivney pulled some of his secret wires,and the American City "Times," in the course of its accounts of thecase, mentioned a rumor that the defense proposed to put on thestand a man who claimed to have been tortured in the city jail, inan effort to make him give false testimony against Goober; theprosecution had investigated this man's record and discovered thatonly recently he had seduced a young girl, and she had killedherself because of his refusal to marry her. Peter took this copy ofthe American City "Times" to the office of David Andrews, andinsisted upon seeing the lawyer before he went to court; he laid theitem on the desk, and declared that there was his finish as awitness in the Goober case. "It's a cowardly, dirty lie!" hedeclared. "And the man responsible for circulating it is PatMcCormick."

  Such are the burdens that fall upon the shoulders of lawyers inhard-fought criminal trials! Poor Andrews did his best to patchthings up; he pleaded with Peter--if the story was false, Peterought to be glad of a chance to answer his slanderers. The defensewould put witnesses on the stand to deny it. They would produceSadie Todd to deny it.

  "But Sadie told me she suspected me!"

  "Yes," said Andrews, "but she told me recently she wasn't sure."

  "Much good that'll do me!" retorted Peter. "They'll ask me ifanybody ever accused me, and who, and I'll have to say McCormick,and if they put him on the stand, will he deny that he accused me?"

  Peter flew into a rage against McCormick; a fine sort of radical hewas, pretending to be devoted to the cause, and having no bettersense than to repeat a cruel slander against a comrade! Here Peterhad been working on this case for nearly six months, working forbarely enough to keep body and soul together, and now they expectedhim to go on the and have a story like that brought out in thepapers, and have the prosecution hiring witnesses to prove him avillain. "No, sir!" said Peter. "I'm thru with this case right now.You put McCormick on the witness stand and let him save Goober'slife. You can't use me, I'm out!" And shutting his ears to thelawyer's pleading, he stormed out of the office, and over to theoffice of the Goober Defense Committee, where he repeated the samescene.

  Section 30

  Thus Peter was done with the Goober case, and mighty glad of it hewas. He was tired of the strain, he needed a rest and a littlepleasure. He had his pockets stuffed with money, and a good fat bankaccount, and proposed to take things easy for the first time in hishard and lonely life.

  The opportunity was at hand: for he had taken McGivney's advise andgot himself another girl. It was a little romance, very worldly anddelightful. To understand it, you must know that in the judicialprocedure of American City they used both men and women jurors; andbecause busy men of affairs did not want to waste their time in thejury-box, nor to have the time of their clerks and workingmenwasted, there had gradually grown up a class of men and women whomade their living by working as jurors. They hung around thecourthouse and were summoned on panel after panel, being paid sixdollars a day, with numerous opportunities to make money on the sideif they were clever.

  Among this group of professional jurors, there was the keenestcompetition to get into the jury-box of the Goober case. It was tobe a long and hard-fought case, there would be a good deal ofprestige attached to it, and also there were numerous sums of moneyfloating round. Anybody who got in, and who voted right, might besure of an income for life, to say nothing of a life-job as a jurorif he wanted it.

  Peter happened to be in court while the talesmen were bein
gquestioned. A very charming and petite brunette--what Peterdescribed as a "swell dresser"--was on the stand, and was cleverlytrying to satisfy both sides. She knew nothing about the case, shehad never read anything about it, she knew nothing and cared nothingabout social problems; so she was accepted by the prosecution. Butthen the defense took her in hand, and it appeared that once upon atime she had been so indiscreet as to declare to somebody herconviction that all labor leaders ought to be stood up against thewall and filled with lead; so she was challenged by the defense, andvery much chagrined she came down from the stand, and took a seat inthe courtroom next to Peter. He saw a trace of tears in her eyes,and realizing her disappointment, ventured a word of sympathy. Theacquaintance grew, and they went out to lunch together.

  Mrs. James was her name, and she was a widow, a grass widow as shearchly mentioned. She was quick and lively, with brilliant whiteteeth, and cheeks with the glow of health in them; this glow cameout of a little bottle, but Peter never guessed it. Peter had gothimself a good suit of clothes now, and made bold to spend somemoney on the lunch. As it happened, both he and Mrs. James were thruwith the Goober case; both were tired and wanted a change, andPeter, blushing shyly, suggested that a sojourn at the beach mightbe fun. Mrs. James agreed immediately, and the matter was arranged.

  Peter had seen enough of the detective business by this time to knowwhat you can safely do, and what you had better not do. He didn'ttravel with his grass widow, he didn't pay her car-fare, nor doanything else to constitute her a "white slave." He simply went tothe beach and engaged himself a comfortable apartment; and next day,strolling on the board walk, he happened to meet the widow.