Chapter I: Front Matter

THE MEMOIRS

OF

AN AMERICAN CITIZEN

THE MEMOIRS
OF
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN

BY
ROBERT HERRICK

AUTHOR OF "THE WEB OF LIFE," "THE REAL WORLD,"
"THE COMMON LOT," ETC.

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1905

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1905,
BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.

COPYRIGHT, 1905,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1905.

Norwood Press
J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

TO

WILL PAYNE

"O Commander of the Faithful," said the other, "shall I tell thee
what I have seen with my eyes or what I have only heard tell?"

"If thou hast seen aught worth telling," replied the Khalif, "let us
hear it: for report is not like eye-witness."

"O Commander of the Faithful," said the other, "lend me thine ear
and thine heart."

"O Ibn Mensour," answered the Khalif, "behold I am listening to thee
with mine ears, and looking at thee with mine eyes, and attending to
thee with mine heart."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE LAKE FRONT IN CHICAGO 1

II. THE HARRISON STREET POLICE COURT 12

III. JASONVILLE, INDIANA 19

IV. THE PIERSONS 37

V. A MAN'S BUSINESS 53

VI. FIRST BLOOD 61

VII. THE BOMB 74

VIII. THE TRIAL OF THE ANARCHISTS 82

IX. ANOTHER BOOST 98

X. LOVE 104

XI. MARRIAGE 124

XII. AN HONORABLE MERCHANT 134

XIII. THE WILL OF A WOMAN 149

XIV. THE FIRST MOVE 167

XV. THE ATLAS ON THE FLOOR 175

XVI. THE STRUGGLE 185

XVII. NO GOSPEL GAME 196

XVIII. THE STRIKE 204

XIX. DENOUNCED 211

XX. TREACHERY 219

XXI. A SQUEEZE 230

XXII. JUDGMENTS 237

XXIII. HAPPINESS 252

XXIV. WAR 265

XXV. THE LAST DITCH 276

XXVI. VICTORY 288

XXVII. DOUBTS 293

XXVIII. A NEW AMBITION 304

XXIX. THE SENATORSHIP 315

XXX. THE COST 327

XXXI. FURTHER COST 336

XXXII. THE END 347

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"Feeling that I had come to the end of things in Chicago
mighty quick" 12

"I believe she would have let me kiss her had I wanted to
then" 24

"Earning mighty little but my keep" 25

"'I guess she don't want much to see you'" 30

"'I want you to take this'" 34

"'Ma Pierson's'" 38

"The Enterprise Market" 44

"'That's Strauss!'" 49

"'Do you hear?' the Irishman roared" 58

"My part was to drive a wagon for Dround at fifteen a
week" 59

"'What do you know about sausage?' he asked" 65

"'All right,' he called out, 'we'll take his deal'" 71

"His long arms twitched with horror" 78

"From another man it might have been just slobber, but
Henry I. Dround meant it, every word" 88

"'My! I tell you I'll be glad to get home to-night'" 94

"Big John was one of the first to welcome me back" 96

"The door of the inner office was pulled back and Strauss
himself walked into the room" 102

"'Why, of course, you are the Mr. Harrington who--But
you have changed!'" 106

"She was reading me like a book of large print" 116

"'I have been offering your young man some advice, Sarah'" 119

"I could see that they would come together very soon" 126

"'You aren't much troubled with scruples, Van!'" 137

"'I paid the right people ninety-five hundred dollars. Now
what are you going to do about it?'" 142

"'Young feller, do you reckon you can buck up against me
and the Strauss crowd with that one-horse rig?'" 153

"'I think you could put up the right kind of a fight,' she
remarked quietly" 160

"That comedy took place on the court-house steps according
to law" 172

"I pointed out the great currents of world trade" 181

"The black rocks starting right out of the water" 189

"'When the time comes that you want help, when you cannot
go on alone--'" 194

"He undertook to give me a lesson then and there on the
rights of the anarchist" 208

"'You have done something the taste of which will never
get out of your mouth'" 223

"'When a man comes out of the alley and puts a pistol in
your face, and asks for all the money you have on you,
you don't wait to see where you hit him, do you?'" 228

"'Only this,' I said slowly, 'I don't sell out to you'" 234

"'Couldn't you find any one else to do your dirty work but
your own brother?'" 242

"Somehow years had gone by in that evening" 249

"'No, child, you are wrong! There is no truth in your cruel
words'" 259

"To-day I should like to slip back once more to the bum that
landed in Chicago--unattached, unburdened, unbound" 271

"It was a messenger boy with a delayed telegram" 275

"'For this is the last ditch, sure enough!'" 278

"'If you grasp them in a strong hand, they will become
diamonds'" 284

"'There isn't enough money coined to bring me to him'" 292

"'And we are the crowd that's got the combination to the
safe'" 312

"Men paused to read the bulletin, and I stopped, too" 321

"'He's the man who sold scraps and offal to the Government
for canned beef--'" 322

"'So you see there is nothing, Van, that you can give me
that I should want to take'" 333

"'Do you remember how I used to wash while you wiped,
when we wanted to get out buggy-riding, May?'" 341

"'It was good sausage, Slo! At least it was when _we_
made it'" 350