Chapter VI: Act III: Scene: The restaurant as in the first act

_Pete, the counter-man, is leaning on his elbows, reading a paper. The clock points to 11:30._

_It is dark outside. The murmur of a crowd is heard for a moment and dies away._

_Milkin, bent, grey, and more wizened, enters from the street and looks questioningly about._

MILKIN. Miss Rosalie here?

PETE. No.

MILKIN. Give me coffee. [_He pays for the coffee and sits gloomily
without touching it._]

PETE [_grudgingly_]. She’s seeing the governor.

MILKIN. She don’t get no sleep.

PETE. You think they’re going to bump ’em off?

MILKIN. I couldn’t say dat.

PETE. Tonight, I mean?

MILKIN. De signs is wrong. Dey might. De signs is bad.

[_Bauer enters from the left, a paper folded in his hand. He goes
directly across to the window._]

BAUER. I’ll bet money they get themselves raided over at the Zeitung.
They’ve got a sheet up to flash bulletins of the executions. They
kept it dark till the last minute.

PETE. Yeah?

BAUER. And what the hell is all the row about, anyway? Some rough guys
get caught for murder and when they start to put ’em through all the
radicals and poets in the country begin marching around the jail.
You’d think nobody ever got it before.

[_A Policeman enters._]

PETE. Yeah, that’s the truth.

BAUER. Look here, officer, you see what they’re doing over at the
Zeitung? They’re all ready to flash bulletins.

OFFICER. Yeah, I saw it. We haven’t got any orders about that. We’re
just watching the street here.

[_He lowers his voice._] Where’s the girl, do you know?

[_Ike appears in the doorway._]

BAUER. She’s seeing the governor again.

OFFICER. They’ll have to hurry if they’re going to stop it now. [_He
glances at the clock._]

BAUER. Think it’s going through this time?

OFFICER. Sure, it’s going through. They put it off once and that’s
enough. [_He goes out._]

PETE. Everybody comes in here looks at that damn clock. It makes me
feel queer.

IKE. Any news?

[_Bauer goes out left._]

PETE. No.

IKE. Then I guess there won’t be any. Not till twelve o’clock.

PETE. Maybe not.

[_Sowerby enters as in the first act, with his pile of books and the
slippers._]

IKE. Meanwhile, life goes on as usual. Where are you living now?

SOWERBY. It’s extraordinary how economic difficulties manage to catch
one at the most embarrassing moments. [_He puts down his things._]
You’ve noticed that, I suppose?

IKE. In my walk of life I couldn’t miss it. What’s the trouble?

SOWERBY. Simple enough. Lack of funds.

IKE. Milkin’ll stake you to something. Hey, Milkin, ain’t you going to
eat?

MILKIN. Naw. Dere ain’t no use eating.

IKE. I can’t get him to eat any more.

SOWERBY. What’s the matter? That? [_He points to the clock._]

IKE. Yeah, he won’t eat at all.

PETE. I don’t eat so good myself.

IKE. Yeah, but he’s got a special worry, see? You know that theory
about putting the number on them—by the cabalistic system? Well, he
put it on ’em.

SOWERBY. Yeah?

IKE. Yeah, he put the number on the judge and said, “Come down from
dere!” and the judge didn’t come down.

SOWERBY. I daresay that hit him pretty hard.

NEWSBOY. Extra! Extra—

IKE. Jeez, it busted him up. You been over in the square?

SOWERBY. No.

IKE. There’s about a million people there.

SOWERBY. Any fights?

IKE. No, sir. Nobody said a word to the police. They’ve got machine
guns trained right on them. Down by the jail you can’t even walk
past. There was a bright little girl down there making a speech.
They took her away. This ain’t a favorable time for speeches.
Personally I prefer a ham sandwich. You paying, Milkin?

MILKIN. Sure ting—if you can eat.

SOWERBY. Indeed I could eat.

MILKIN. Wid dat going on out dere?

SOWERBY. You mean the crowds?

MILKIN. I mean what dey’re doing to Mac and Capraro and de old man.

SOWERBY. They won’t do it. I have never for one moment believed they
would carry it out.

MILKIN. Oh, yes, dey will. If somebody don’t get de numbers on ’em and
do it quick. And dere ain’t much time.

SOWERBY. My friend, I am something of a historian, and I have made a
specialty of labor developments. Never within my memory has there
been a plutocracy which did not play the game with an eye to the
future. Now they feel like executing Mac and Capraro. That feeling
pervaded the trial and swayed the jury. On the other hand, it would
be a gigantic error, from a tactical point of view to kill these men
now when the whole world is watching them. They will pursue a safer
and more dastardly course of action. They will execute Suvorin and
commute the sentences of Mac and Capraro to life imprisonment. They
will do this and then they will sit back and laugh at us, having
drawn the sting from all our arguments. That was what they did in
the Mooney case. Trust any government to choose the safe and
dastardly course.

MILKIN. Not dis time.

SOWERBY. I think so.

MILKIN. How about de stars? How about de numbers? Dey don’t come out
dat way. Dey come out— [_He turns down an expressive thumb._]

SOWERBY. If the government wishes the friendship of other nations, if
it wishes the respect of its own citizens, it will take, as I said,
the safe and dastardly course.

[_Ward enters._]

WARD. Have you seen the cheap story that’s out in the _Herald_—about
the governor going to hold it up? [_He shows a paper._]

SOWERBY. And why not?

WARD. They’re all crazy fighting for papers up in the avenue. I had to
battle for this one.

SOWERBY. Is it definite?

WARD. Read it. All the news it’s safe to print.

SOWERBY [_reading_]. “Macready-Capraro Reprieve Likely.”

IKE. About as definite as the price of clothes in a one-price
second-hand store.

SOWERBY [_reading_]. “The correspondent of this paper learned from an
inside official source this evening that the governor had
practically made up his mind to issue a stay of execution pending
further investigation into the Macready-Capraro case. This will
probably mean that the executions set for midnight will be postponed
another ten days.” That means the governor will act.

WARD. Like hell it does! It means he’s stringing us along till he gets
’em good and dead and it’s too late to say anything. He knows nobody
cares but the radicals, and he’s playing them for suckers. Why
should he worry about the crowd over in the square? There’s several
million around here going to bed and going to sleep as usual. Why
shouldn’t they? There’s nothing unusual happening. This isn’t a
miscarriage of justice! It is justice! The government’s putting away
some bad boys the way governments always put away the boys that
won’t play the game! You ask any honest citizen what he thinks about
it and he’ll say, “Hell, they killed a paymaster, didn’t they?
Anyway, they’re anarchists, ain’t they? I should worry!” And he
should. They won’t bother him as long as he’s a fat-head! [_Rosalie
enters from the left. The men rise._] Oh, Rosalie! I thought you
were seeing the governor.

ROSALIE. I was. I just got back. [_To Pete._] Has anybody telephoned
for me here?

PETE. No, Miss Suvorin.

ROSALIE. Oh, but there must be a mistake! [_She takes up the phone._]
Will you get me Mr. Gluckstein’s office—right away?

WARD. What did he say, Rosalie?

ROSALIE. He said he couldn’t decide. He—he was weighing the evidence.
He had stacks of letters on both sides, and he was reading them. Oh,
God—if it were anything else it would be just—funny. To think such a
fool should decide if Mac will live or die. [_In the phone._]
Hello—yes, yes—. But he must be. Yes, I see. Yes, yes—but he must
hurry. And tell him to call me—please—no, at the Lyceum. [_She hangs
up the receiver._] I thought there might be news here. Everywhere I
go I think maybe there’s news somewhere else.

SOWERBY. There’s something in the _Herald_.

ROSALIE. I’ve quit trying to read about it.

SOWERBY. It says there’s going to be a reprieve.

ROSALIE. Oh, but why didn’t he tell me then?— [_She looks at the
paper._]

SOWERBY. It’s been very unlikely from the beginning that they’d carry
out the sentence. I don’t know that it’s much better if they commute
to life imprisonment,—still—they might be pardoned, if we ever get a
decent governor in office.

ROSALIE [_looking up_]. Yes—they might. They might. I haven’t allowed
myself to think it, since they turned down the appeals.

SOWERBY. That was only the judge, my dear. We know where the judge
stands and where the governor’s committee stands, but nobody else
has spoken. The governor doesn’t have to act as his committee
advises. And even if the governor failed to act there’s a supreme
court justice waiting with a writ of certiorari—and everything in
his record indicates that he’ll come forward if necessary.

ROSALIE. But where is he? Here it’s the last—my God—the last few
minutes, and Gluckstein hasn’t even answered!

[_Rosalie, who has been dry-eyed, looks round her at the group, then
sinks into a chair and begins to sob._]

WARD. I don’t know as I’d do that, Rosalie.

[_Two Policemen enter casually._]

FIRST OFFICER. What’s going on?

IKE. Not a thing.

FIRST OFFICER. What’s she crying about?

IKE. Her? Oh, she had a sweetheart killed over in France. And every
once in a while she gets thinking about it, see?

FIRST OFFICER. Don’t kid me, big boy.

IKE. I wouldn’t think of it.

[_The Policemen go out._]

MILKIN. Christ, when I look at dem—when I look at dem—de paid
hirelings of de unjust—I kin feel strengt’ coming back in me, de
strengt’ I lost! If I was worthy to do it I could break dem all—I
could break dem and bring dem down. It ain’t knowledge I lack. It
ain’t courage! It’s being worthy! Worthy to rise above self! [_He
snatches a paper napkin and marks it feverishly with a pencil, then
rises, stretching up his arms to full length, the napkin clutched in
the right._] On dis paper I have set down de sign of One, de great
cabalistic sign, wit’ powers over Earth and Heaven and all de Hells!
Dat is de sign which de powers has said will sway de tides and draw
aside de stars from deir paths in de infinite! It is de power over
all powers, de invisible _signum monstrum, de gloria cœlis, gloria
mundi_! And by dis sign I conjures you in dis moment out of de
endless of eternity—strike down dat judge—palsy de hands dat would
lay demselves on does two men—by all dat is cognate under dis
abstraction—strip dem of deir powers for good and evil, make dem as
little children—and dis by de sign of One—by de sign of de mystery!
[_For a moment he holds his pose, then sits again, staring gloomily
before him._] It don’t work. I ain’t worthy. Dat’s de second time.

[_Andy enters._]

ANDY. A couple of telegrams for you, Ward.

WARD. Thanks.

ANDY. Anything else happened?

[_Crowd offstage. “They’ve escaped,” etc._]

WARD. No. Just a few more helpful friends asking us why in God’s name
we don’t do something.

[_Jerusalem Slim flings open the street door and enters hastily in
great excitement. A burst of cheering is heard._]

JERUSALEM SLIM. I knew it would happen! I knew it would happen—if I
prayed for it! The women are all crying out there—and Rosalie’s
crying—but don’t cry any more—don’t cry any more! Haven’t you heard
it? Haven’t you heard it?

IKE. What?

JERUSALEM SLIM. They’ve escaped.

IKE. Who’s escaped?

JERUSALEM SLIM. The men! Mac and Cappie and Suvorin! They’re gone and
nobody knows where they are!

WARD. Escaped? Out of the death-house!

JERUSALEM SLIM. Yes! It’s in the papers.

SOWERBY. You’re crazy, Slim!

[_A newsboy passes shouting._]

JERUSALEM SLIM. Everybody says so.

[_Ward makes a dash for the door and goes out_].

IKE. What paper’s it in?

JERUSALEM SLIM. I don’t know.

[_Ward enters with a paper. He looks at it in astonishment._]

WARD. “Break from death-house reported!” They must be doing it to sell
papers.

[_Crowd dies away. Rosalie looks at the paper._]

ROSALIE. Ward—could it be true?

WARD. I—I don’t think so, Rosalie. It’s never happened. I wish it
might. But it couldn’t possibly.

[_The Salvation Lass enters from the street, looking at Rosalie
expectantly. The news is written in her face._]

SOWERBY. However, it’s extraordinary that the _Gazette_ should print
it—if there’s nothing in the story.

WARD. It says it’s reported—any kind of rumor could get about. There’s
no use hoping for anything like that. If it did happen, they’d just
take them back again.

[_An elderly priest enters from the street and goes to the counter.
The group fails to notice him._]

THE PRIEST. Give me same coffee, please.

[_At the sound of his voice, Rosalie recognizes Suvorin in the priest.
She turns toward him._]

ROSALIE. Then—it is true! Oh, God, it is true!

WARD. What is it?

ROSALIE. It’s—my father. Don’t you see? Dad—Dad!

[_Suvorin makes an almost imperceptible motion for silence. The words
freeze on Rosalie’s lips. A Policeman enters and walks to the
counter._]

THE OFFICER. Coffee, old man, and fill it up with milk. I’ve got to
drink fast. Evening, father.

[_Pete serves him. Suvorin and the Policeman sip their coffee elbow to
elbow. The Policeman goes out without a word._]

ROSALIE. But—dad—then it’s true! You got away!

SUVORIN. Yes.

ROSALIE. Why are you here?

SUVORIN. I had to come back for some money. I’ll go out the other way.
[_Goes toward door at left._]

ROSALIE. Then—where are the others?

SUVORIN. The others?

ROSALIE. Cappie—and Mac?

SUVORIN. I couldn’t help them. I’m sorry.

ROSALIE. Oh—

SUVORIN. They couldn’t hold me. I knew they couldn’t. But I couldn’t
help anybody else. I’m sorry.

ROSALIE. You mean—you left Mac—there?

SUVORIN. I couldn’t help him.

ROSALIE. No. [_Suvorin goes out left._] But—they won’t go ahead
now—now that one of them’s escaped! They won’t, will they, Ward?

WARD. I don’t know.

ROSALIE. No—no! Say they won’t! What are we doing here! Oh, don’t you
see it’s nearly time! Why do we wait for other people to do
something! It will be too late soon—and then we’ll think of what we
might have done! They’re going to kill Cappie—and—and Mac—don’t you
know it? They’re going to kill them—and we’ve had all day to
help—we’ve had days and weeks—and years! We’ve let it go on
till—till it’s almost too late. Oh, dear God, don’t they know Mac
couldn’t be guilty? They know it! They can’t kill him! [_The phone
rings. Rosalie looks at it, clenching her hands, staring wildly._]

WARD. I’ll answer it. [_He goes to the phone._] Hello. Yes. Yes, this
is Ward. Yes. I can take a message. [_He waits._] I didn’t hear
that. [_He listens, then turns toward Rosalie apprehensively.
Rosalie is looking away. The men watch him. He makes a downward sign
for silence._] Yes, we know that. Thank you. Yes, sure. [_He hangs
up, slowly. It is obvious that the news was bad._]

ROSALIE. Was it Gluckstein?

WARD. Yes. It’s not decided yet. They’re still—trying everything.

ROSALIE. Oh, are they truly, Ward—or are you lying to me? Because, you
see—he’s warm and alive now—and if they’d only wait till I could
tell them again—No, no, we’ve told them over and over—and they
listened to us—and went on killing them. Because they know they’re
innocent—and they don’t care.

[_Ike looks out the window and turns to pick up Sowerby and Ward with
a glance. They look out. Ike whispers. The crowd murmurs outside._]

IKE. Capraro goes first.

[_They watch in silence, then Ike whispers again._]

ROSALIE. Don’t!—Don’t!—Don’t whisper any more! What is it? [_She sees
the clock. The hands point to one minute of twelve._] There’s still
time! There’s still time! Oh, my dear, my dear, one minute more time
in all your world—only one minute more of time and I can do nothing!
[_The hands click to midnight! Ward returns to Rosalie._] You lied
to me, Ward, they’re killing them now. What does it say over there?
Tell me what it says. Ike, you can tell me.

IKE. It says “Capraro Murdered.”

[_Rosalie drops her hands, frozen. One of the Officers enters, looks
around casually, then looks out of the window. Sowerby speaks low to
Ike._]

ROSALIE. Don’t whisper it! Don’t whisper it! Didn’t you hear me say
not to whisper any more? That’s what they’ll want you to do—whisper
it—keep quiet about it—say it never happened—it couldn’t happen—two
innocent men killed—keep it dark—keep it quiet—No! No! Shout it!
They’re killing them! [_There is a cry from the crowd. The Policeman
looks at Rosalie. The Men at the window stir uneasily. Cry from
crowd—woman shrieks. Crowd silent._] What does it say now, Ike?
[_Ike makes no answer._] I know what it says! It says “Macready
Murdered.” Mac—Mac—my dear—they have murdered you—while we stood
here trying to think of what to do they murdered you! Just a moment
ago you had a minute left—and it was the only minute in the whole
world—and now—now this day will never end for you—there will be no
more days! [_The crowd is heard again._] Shout it! Shout it! Cry
out! Run and cry! Only—it won’t do any good—now.

CURTAIN

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

BASED ON “BEGGARS OF LIFE”

BY JIM TULLY

THE CAST

BILL
RUBIN
SKELLY
MOSE
LITTLE RED
EDNA
BALDY
HOPPER
SNAKE
OKLAHOMA
FIRST STRANGER
SECOND STRANGER
THIRD STRANGER
UKIE
SIMS
BRAKEMAN
DETECTIVE
SHERIFF
DEPUTIES

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN