The Red Mouse: A Mystery Romance

by William Hamilton Osborne

  XIV

  It is, of course, not given us to know what dreams of fame were inMurgatroyd's heart when he determined to throw down the gage at the feetof Cradlebaugh's; but, at all events, it took the best kind of courageand mettle; and certainly from the hour that he had sent for Pemmicanand placed him on the rack in a vain attempt to get evidence, not tospeak of the time when Mrs. Challoner exposed him in the court-room, hehad never ceased his investigations of the secrets of the biggambling-house. But no sooner had he come to the conclusion that he hadpenetrated the mystery than he found himself in the centre of a vastmaelstrom of his own creation: Cradlebaugh's was but a patch in awilderness of riot and corruption, an incident in a series of bigevents; and Murgatroyd discovered that he was battling not only with asingle institution, but with a huge political principle--he was at warwith a big city.

  Another man might have been discouraged, for millionaires, largeproperty owners, reputable tax-payers, statesmen of the highest order,and even his best friends came to him and begged him to call off hiscrusade; but he only shook his head. As he proceeded, he made thediscovery that a political organisation is not an organisation--it is aman; that crime is personified; and that corruption is concrete. And asthe battle waged, he found himself constantly seeking his oldstamping-ground--Cradlebaugh's. That, somehow, seemed to be the keystoneof the edifice that he assaulted.

  Then, one day, agitated, breathless but triumphant, Mixley and McGrathburst into the prosecutor's office.

  "Chief," spoke out Mixley joyously, "we followed your instructions tothe letter." And beckoning to his partner, "McGrath and me has got thegoods!" McGrath pulled from his pocket a bulky document made up ofdepositions, and said:--

  "This here is the report, sir."

  While Murgatroyd read the document, his subordinates stood watching himwith anxious eyes. Long before he had concluded they saw in his face theexpression that they had waited for.

  "By George, you don't mean it!" exclaimed Murgatroyd, suddenly rising tohis feet and smiting his desk with terrific force.

  "You can bet your bottom dollar that we do!" returned Mixley.

  Murgatroyd clenched his teeth with inward satisfaction. Presently hesaid:--

  "I've waited for this for many months."

  After re-reading the report he ordered his men to go to Broderick andThorne with the request that they come to him immediately.

  An hour later Graham Thorne made his appearance, Broderick waddling inafter him. Murgatroyd passed over a box of cigars.

  Broderick lighted, and after puffing contentedly for a time,commented:--

  "Good cigars, these. Strikes me that they're your first contribution tothe campaign fund, eh?" And helping himself to three more out of thebox, he tucked them away in his pocket with a wink at Murgatroyd, andasked:--

  "Any Challoner money in these?"

  Murgatroyd smiled grimly.

  "You seem ready enough to burn it, anyhow," he answered. And puffingalso on his cigar he said, "I wanted to have a little confidential talkwith you gentlemen."

  Broderick nudged Thorne and remarked:--

  "Perhaps the prosecutor's goin' to divvy with us, Thorne!"

  Murgatroyd smiled and laughed; but somehow the smile and laugh did notinclude Thorne.

  "I'm not going to divvy up, as you call it, just yet--not _just_ yet,"he replied, pointedly.

  Broderick shut his eyes and digested the glance and the reply. Bothseemed to satisfy him, for he nodded genially.

  Rising now, and sitting lazily across one corner of his desk, Murgatroydturned his attention to Thorne.

  "I wanted to have a talk," he said casually, "with the man who ownsCradlebaugh's."

  Thorne looked about the room, then he inquired innocently:--

  "He doesn't seem to have arrived as yet--where is he?"

  Murgatroyd blew a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling, and answered:--

  "Oh, yes he has--his name is Graham Thorne." Murgatroyd could see thepallor of Thorne's face turn to a deeper white; he could feel that theruddiness upon the countenance of Broderick had deepened into scarlet.

  There was a pause. After a moment, Thorne rose and said indignantly:--

  "Say that again!"

  "With pleasure," returned Murgatroyd, "I say that you are the hithertounknown owner of the most notorious gambling-house within the State."

  There was another pause in which Thorne looked at Broderick andBroderick looked at Thorne.

  "This is preposterous!" exclaimed Thorne.

  Murgatroyd made no answer. Then he proceeded with assertions.

  "And with the earnings of that gambling-house," he said evenly, "youhave stopped the mouths, closed the eyes and ears, and paralysed thehands of the authorities. With the earnings of that gambling-house, youhave bought the influence of Chairman Peter Broderick, who lives uponthose earnings--grows fat upon them."

  Broderick's eyes bulged; he, too, rose and started toward theprosecutor.

  "Say," he yelled, "I'll open up my anatomy to you! Pick out any ounce o'fat and tell me Cradlebaugh's put it there! Come on--my fat is my own--Iearned it by the sweat of my brow!"

  With perfect coolness, Murgatroyd continued:--

  "Thorne, ever since you sprang into prominence here, you have posed inthis community as a self-made man--boasted of carving your success byindustry, integrity and brains. And yet--" pointing a finger ofaccusation toward him--"you have bought every item of your reputation,every iota of your respectability!" He stopped for an instant, and then:"Every inch of your political progress, you've bought with this taintedmoney, and with the same kind of money you'd buy the United StatesSenatorship--if you could."

  "Lies--all deliberate lies!" Thorne ejaculated.

  "Worse than slanderin' my fat!" added Peter Broderick.

  Before Murgatroyd could speak again, Thorne took another tack.

  "What evidence have you, I should like to know?" he said; "you can'tprove these things, Murgatroyd."

  "That," returned Murgatroyd, "is for me to worry about--not you. I'mgoing on, and when I'm through, you can stake your last dollar that I'llknow all about this rotten system that you call your organisation--fromthe most insignificant ward politician up to Peter Broderick!"

  The accusing forefinger shifted from Thorne to the County Chairman;under it the avoirdupois of that gentleman seemed to shrivel and growless. In all his career no man had ever honoured Broderick with thiskind of talk, and he wasn't used to it. All at once, he felt that hiscourage was slipping from him.

  "I've got to see a man--" he began, looking nervously at his watch; thenhunching his shoulders, he stole softly and almost on tiptoe to thedoor.

  "_Broderick!_" sung out the prosecutor sharply.

  Broderick stopped, but did not look back.

  "Broderick!" thundered Murgatroyd, "I want you in this office to-morrowafternoon at four o'clock--I want to have a talk with you--alone. If youdon't come, I'll--send for you. Do you understand?"

  Broderick did not answer; he opened the door, and slipping through it,disappeared.

  Murgatroyd laughed, and turning to Thorne, he went on:--

  "Thorne, I sent for you to tell you to close up Cradlebaugh's--to closeit up at once. If you don't----"

  But Thorne's self-possession had come back, and he demandedfearlessly:--

  "And what about you, Murgatroyd? Are your hands clean?"

  The tiger leaped into Murgatroyd's face; his eyes flashed fire; theaccuser became the fighter.

  "I can take care of myself!" he answered quickly. "I'm talking aboutyou, now. You are sworn as a counsellor to uphold the law; you havelined your pockets and built up your career with the coin of suicides,profligates, drunkards, like Challoner, for instance.

  "Yes," he went on, "and there is something more between you and me thanthis, Thorne." His voice now dropped almost to a whisper: "You have theeffrontery to pay attentions to----"

  Thorne interrupted him, his tone, his glance, his manner leaping at onceinto insolence.


  "So that's how the land lies, is it? Well, let me tell you somethingthat possibly you already know. All my life I have had the things Iwanted--all my desires have been fulfilled. I wanted money--I got it. Iwanted power, social and political--I got it. I have never stopped; Ihave always progressed. You have already said that I would be Senator ofthe United States--if I could. I tell you that I shall! Again, you havehinted at a woman who is worth while.... Well, I'm going on and on andon, in spite of you----"

  "You are going on to your finish," returned Murgatroyd. "I have onlyjust begun with you. Before I go further, it may be just as well for youto relinquish the last two of your desires. I don't demand it--I adviseit."

  Thorne glanced uncertainly at the prosecutor, who had spoken withcomplete assurance. Thorne recognised the danger. Murgatroyd had beengetting indictments lately, and for every indictment, a conviction.Thorne did not know what proof Murgatroyd had in his possession, and heknew of no way that he could find out. Besides, the people likedMurgatroyd. Thorne believed in compromise, therefore he extended hishand.

  "Look here, Murgatroyd," he said, "you know neither of us can afford tohave things like these talked about. Don't let us sling mud--let's fightin the open. A fair fight and no favour--let's be decent."

  "Why don't you get your ammunition in the open, then?" asked theprosecutor.

  Thorne flared up.

  "Why didn't you?"

  Murgatroyd smiled and said:--

  "You'll find my ammunition in the open, Thorne, the next time thelegislature meets to choose a Senator!"

  Thorne's insolence had returned as he demanded:--

  "Do you mean to tell me that your name will be presented in the caucus?"

  "That's precisely what I mean."

  "Of course you'll try to buy votes with the Challoner money you have."

  "I'll get the votes--never fear."

  "Try it, then--I'll match you dollar for dollar."

  "Not with dollars coined from Cradlebaugh's, nor from corruptions,"declared Murgatroyd.

  Thorne's eyes narrowed.

  "Murgatroyd," said he, "you reckon without your host--no matter who ownsCradlebaugh's--or runs it. The organisation has its finger on everyGrand Jury, every petit jury, every judge. You can't accomplish theimpossible until you've beaten Peter Broderick and the organisation, anduntil you do this you can't beat me--you can't prove yourassertions--your hands are tied. The organisation backs me up."

  "If your name," retorted Murgatroyd deliberately, "is presented forSenator, it will be withdrawn; and mine will be presented in its place."

  "Who'll present it?" sneered Thorne.

  "That," smiled Murgatroyd, mysteriously, "is my business and not yours.But inasmuch as you told me your story, Thorne," he went on, "let metell you mine now. All my life I've struggled like the devil to get thethings I wanted; and I failed. But a big change is about to takeplace--here and now. You stop right here; and where you stop, I begin.It's my turn! The things you want--I want. Your surest and your bestdesires are my desires. If you've got them in your hand, as you thinkyou have, why then--" he clenched his hands--"I'll take them away fromyou. The time has come, Thorne, when you are going to get the thingsthat you don't want,--and you are going to get them hard. I'm going toget the things you want, yes, and by George, I'll get you too! That'sall I've----"

  Murgatroyd did not finish; Thorne had departed.

  The next day at four o'clock there was a resounding rap on theprosecutor's private office door.

  "Come in!" said Murgatroyd.

  The door opened, and Peter Broderick came puffing into the room withperfect nonchalance. He had had a day to think things over, and he hadmade up his mind that the outburst of the prosecutor had been allbluster. Seizing a chair, he drew it up to the desk and sat down,saying:--

  "I never refuse an invitation to see a man alone; and now that we arealone, I don't mind telling you that I'm ready for another one of themgood cigars."

  The prosecutor passed a box, from which Broderick helped himself to acigar, lit it, and after sending a few clouds of smoke in the air, wenton:--

  "Do you know, Murgatroyd, that I haven't had a good chance to talk toyou since the Challoner case--you've been so blamed offish all the time.But now, here I am sittin' here with you,--you, the only mugwump in thetown that I ever used to be afraid of,--and you know I can say anyblamed thing I please to you, and you got to take it and say nothin'. Doyou know that I'm one of the few that believe the truth about thatbribe?"

  Murgatroyd smiled.

  "In other words, you think we're both in the same boat--is that it?"

  "Not a bit of it!" returned Broderick. "I'm in a coal barge; you're in amotor boat. Why, Murgatroyd, there's many a man been in honest politicsall his life, like me, for instance, and who's never pulled out threequarters of a million! Not much! And out of one deal, too! Why, look atme?" he went on glibly, "I've been in a lot of deals; but that gets me!Three quarters of a million and more on just one deal! Confound it, man,do you know the most I ever made out of any one deal?"

  Murgatroyd lit a cigar, leaned back in his chair and inquired in anoffhand manner:--

  "How much?"

  Broderick shook his finger at him.

  "Foxy, foxy boy! Do you think I'd give up to you so easy? Thisparticular deal I'm tellin' you about, is away back outside the statuteof limitations. You couldn't get me on it if you would. It was theTerwilliger tract--I was chairman of the common council, financecommittee, you remember? Bought the tract for twenty-five hundred andsold it to the city for two hundred and eighty thousand. That's me!"

  "Good work!" said Murgatroyd, with genuine admiration. "I didn't knowthat you were in on that."

  "In on it?" snorted Broderick. "I was the whole show! That's where I'mcoy, my dear boy; it takes Broderick to do these things; but it takes abigger man than Broderick to find 'em out."

  Murgatroyd shook his head.

  "They found _me_ out, all right," he said.

  Broderick waved his hand, and answered:--

  "Not a bit of it! It's all blown over, and if it hasn't, it will. Allthey'll remember, after a while, is that you've got a wad of money.They'll forget how you got it, and they won't care." He puffed away andpurred contentedly.

  "You're a giant," he went on, "an intellectual giant to bag sixfigures." Then he waved his hand about the room and said: "You take thisold court-house, for instance; I was on the buildin' committee, but tosave my life--hold on a minute--" he pulled himself up with a roundturn, "that was outside the statute, of course it was. Well, to save mylife I couldn't pull more 'n a hundred and twenty-three thousand out ofit. I came near gettin' caught, too," he admitted, laughing.

  "But you weren't," commented Murgatroyd.

  "No, sir!" said Broderick. "I don't do jobs that way. You could havegone through the thing with a microscope, and you wouldn't have foundhair nor hide of Broderick."

  Murgatroyd lazily closed his eyes, and murmured:--

  "Tell me about the new hospital--that little concrete job."

  Broderick leaned forward, his face growing crimson as he did so, andpeered into the face of Murgatroyd.

  "What are you gettin' at?"

  Murgatroyd opened a drawer within his desk and took out a bulky batch ofpapers.

  "Broderick," he said severely, "do you know that I've got you implicatedin more than thirty different violations of the law right here in town?"

  "Me?" Broderick looked incredulous.

  "Yes, you!" answered Murgatroyd, evenly.

  Broderick held out his hand, and asked with a show of interest:--

  "What are they, anyway?"

  "See for yourself," returned Murgatroyd; and leaning back in his chaircomfortably, he gave himself up to watching the changes in thecountenance of the other, who proceeded to scan the batch of papers withmarked interest. And, although Broderick made no comments, he did a lotof thinking. Finally eyeing Murgatroyd with suspicion, he asked:--

  "Without prejudice to a
nybody's rights, I'd like to know how you got allthis?"

  "It's easy when you know how," returned Murgatroyd, smiling; "and I'velearned how."

  Broderick's face broke into a confused, distorted smile.

  "Now, without making any damaging admissions," he conceded, "do you knowit would be blamed uncomfortable for me if I were dealing with any otherprosecutor than you?"

  The prosecutor smiled again.

  "How do you know it won't be uncomfortable for you as it is?"

  Broderick burst into a laugh.

  "You an' me is two of a kind--grafters together, tarred with the samestick. That's why."

  Murgatroyd nodded, took back the list and laid it down.

  "That's all right, Broderick," he assented, "I didn't send for you aboutthese things. I've got a little job for you to do."

  "Out with it!" said Broderick.

  Murgatroyd leaned forward and told him in a low voice:--

  "Broderick, I want to sit in the Senate of the United States."

  Broderick jumped to his feet, exclaiming:--

  "What!"

  "Yes, I want to sit in the Senate," repeated Murgatroyd.

  Broderick burst into a peal of laughter that well-nigh shook thebuilding.

  "And you want me to help you?" roared Broderick.

  "Yes, of course," persisted Murgatroyd.

  Once more Broderick laughed immoderately.

  "You'll be the death of me," he said, sinking into his chair.

  "You laugh too soon," remarked Murgatroyd.

  "Is there more comin'?" questioned Broderick, with a howl. "You know thevalvular workin's of my heart ain't over strong. You're crazy, man!" headded; "the whole organisation is against you!"

  "The whole organisation," repeated Murgatroyd, "except _you_."

  "You blamed idiot!" roared Broderick. "The organisation's against youbecause I am."

  "I've got to be the next Senator," persisted Murgatroyd; "and you've gotto put me there."

  "I can't put you there."

  Murgatroyd cast an appealing glance at the other.

  "But--you want to, don't you?"

  "Indeed I do not!" returned Broderick, indignantly.

  Murgatroyd rose to his feet, saying, as though speaking to a spoiledchild:--

  "I don't like to see that spirit; it looks as though you were opposed tome."

  "Have I ever been anythin' else?" returned Broderick. "Will I ever beanythin' else?"

  Murgatroyd continued to reprove him.

  "I prefer to see a man do with a good grace that which he has to do."

  "And who has got to do?" queried Broderick, also rising.

  "I have just told you," went on Murgatroyd, looking him full in theface, "that you've got to put me in the Senate."

  Instantly Broderick became doggedly belligerent.

  "I'll spend my last dollar to keep you out of it--I'll work against youtill I drop in my tracks!"

  Murgatroyd seized a small thick book and leafed it over.

  "You'll do both," he remarked, "and when you drop in your tracks,Broderick, it will be with hard labour. Sit down, and take that penciland piece of paper--I want you to do some figuring."

  Broderick, wondering, seated himself; Murgatroyd peered over the littlebook.

  "Seven and seven are fourteen," he mused, "and six are twenty, andeleven----"

  "What have you got there?" Broderick asked with mild interest.

  "The Penal Code," answered Murgatroyd, lightly.

  "Look under B. for Bribe," suggested Broderick, with an accusing glance.

  Murgatroyd shook his head.

  "I'm just figuring up the number of years you'd have to serve----"

  "But I'm not goin' to the Senate," protested the politician.

  "No, but I am," retorted the prosecutor. "Four times six aretwenty-four; besides the amount of fines you'll have to pay. Take thefirst on the list, Broderick. You'll get seven years on that, and seventhousand dollars fine. Put that down."

  "I'll put nothin' down--I never was a hand at figures."

  "Then I'll do it. Twenty indictments for corrupting voters--I've got thegoods on that; twenty years and twenty thousand dollars fines. Hold on aminute, we won't add up just yet. There's your interest inCradlebaugh's; there's the hospital; there's your pool-rooms;log-rolling with police-headquarters--Why, say, Broderick," he exclaimedsuddenly, gasping with surprise, "it will cost you in the neighbourhoodof one hundred thousand cash in fines!"

  "You don't say!" sarcastically returned the chairman.

  "And," continued Murgatroyd, suavely, "about one hundred and thirty-fiveyears to serve in sentences."

  "I'm booked for a ripe old age," returned Broderick, still with sarcasmin his voice.

  "So that eliminates you from the Senate," facetiously continued theprosecutor; "you'll go up for the rest of your unnatural life." Hepaused and shot at Broderick a glance that went home--one that meantbusiness.

  Broderick squirmed.

  "You don't mean to tell me, prosecutor," he exclaimed, "that you'regoing to prosecute me for these things?"

  The other shrugged his shoulders.

  "How can I help it?"

  "You don't dare prosecute me! You blamed idiot!" screamed Broderick. "Ifyou do, I'll send you up myself--you with three-quarters of a milliondirty money in your clothes."

  Murgatroyd thought over his words and weighed them. Presently, hesaid:--

  "I would get out in five years; you would be there for a hundred andthirty more."

  Broderick snorted with rage.

  "What are you driving at, anyway?"

  The prosecutor was silent for a moment, then he said:--

  "Broderick, since I've been prosecutor, I have achieved a reputation forjust three things: first, whenever I have tried to induce the Grand Juryto indict, I've succeeded; second, whenever they indicted, I havesecured a verdict of conviction; third, my verdicts of conviction arealways affirmed upon appeal." He stood over Broderick, threateningly,and finally declared:--

  "Now, you put me in the United States Senate, or I'll put you where thepenal code provides! What are you going to do about it?"

  Broderick swelled with anger.

  "I'm going to call your bluff, Murgatroyd!" he yelled. "You can't workme! And you don't dare touch me, either! Why, there ain't a man in thiswhole State who dares to lay a hand on me! By George, I call yourbluff!"

  Murgatroyd sat at his desk and pressed a button; the door opened and twomen entered.

  "Mixley, McGrath," said Murgatroyd, picking up some rectangular slips ofpaper from his desk and passing them over to them, "Chairman PeterBroderick is going to leave this room inside of thirty seconds----"

  "You bet I am!" Broderick interposed.

  "There are ten warrants for his arrest," went on the prosecutor; "takehim into custody the instant he leaves this room."

  "'Right, Chief!" the men replied in chorus, and, facing about, left theroom.

  "Now, Broderick," said Murgatroyd, "you called my bluff--you may go."

  The politician strode to the door angrily, blustering, but with his handon the knob, he paused. A new situation was confronting him--a thingimminent, concrete. To cross the threshold meant a blow; Broderick creptback to Murgatroyd.

  "Do you mean this, Murgatroyd?" he queried.

  Murgatroyd was busy at his desk and did not look up as he remarked:--

  "This interview is over."

  Rebuffed once more, Broderick crept to the door, but again he came back,and whispered uncertainly:--

  "So you want to be United States Senator, eh? The best job that we'vegot?" He hesitated for an instant before asking:--

  "Can I be of any help?"

  Murgatroyd laid down his pen and looked up, smiling.

  "Now you are talking sense, Broderick. Yes, you and Thorne can help me."

  "Thorne! Great Scott! I never thought of him! Why, he's the organisationnominee, and I'm tied up with him! Say, honest, Murgatroyd, I can't goback on him--Murgatroyd,
you can't make it--for even I can't undo allthat's been done. Thorne has been slated for that job for months."

  "You've got to sponge him off the slate, then," returned the prosecutor.

  "I'll be everlastingly confounded if I do!" returned Broderick.

  Murgatroyd pressed a button; Mixley came in on the jump.

  "Mixley," began Murgatroyd.

  "Hold on!" said Broderick, "I'll help you----"

  Murgatroyd nodded.

  "Warmly, energetically, enthusiastically----"

  "Oh, all that," interrupted Broderick.

  "Mixley," said the chief, "you can hold those warrants--until after thenext Senatorial election."

  Broderick gasped; Mixley's nod as he left the room spoke volumes.

  "Broderick," said Murgatroyd, looking him in the eye, "you meanbusiness--you're going to back me straight?"

  "Not because I want to, but because I've got to," returned thepolitician. "It seems I must...."

  He paused and returned Murgatroyd's glance significantly. After amoment, he said:--

  "Well, fork over, then...."

  Murgatroyd smiled.

  "How much?..."

  "Thorne will spend and has spent a lot of money," answered Broderick;"and you've got to----"

  "How much will it take?" asked Murgatroyd.

  "How much have you got left?" responded Broderick.