Jurgis got himself a place in a boardinghouse with some congenial friends. He had already inquired of Aniele, and learned that Elzbieta and her family had gone downtown, and so he gave no further thought to them. He went with a new set, now, young unmarried fellows who were "sporty." Jurgis had long ago cast off his fertilizer clothing, and since going into politics he had donned a linen4 collar and a greasy5 red necktie. He had some reason for thinking of his dress, for he was making about eleven dollars a week, and two-thirds of it he might spend upon his pleasures without ever touching6 his savings7.
Sometimes he would ride down-town with a party of friends to the cheap theaters and the music halls and other haunts with which they were familiar. Many of the saloons in Packingtown had pool tables, and some of them bowling8 alleys9, by means of which he could spend his evenings in petty gambling10. Also, there were cards and dice11. One time Jurgis got into a game on a Saturday night and won prodigiously12, and because he was a man of spirit he stayed in with the rest and the game continued until late Sunday afternoon, and by that time he was "out" over twenty dollars. On Saturday nights, also, a number of balls were generally given in Packingtown; each man would bring his "girl" with him, paying half a dollar for a ticket, and several dollars additional for drinks in the course of the festivities, which continued until three or four o'clock in the morning, unless broken up by fighting. During all this time the same man and woman would dance together, half-stupefied with sensuality and drink.
Before long Jurgis discovered what Scully had meant by something "turning up." In May the agreement between the packers and the unions expired, and a new agreement had to be signed. Negotiations13 were going on, and the yards were full of talk of a strike. The old scale had dealt with the wages of the skilled men only; and of the members of the Meat Workers' union about two-thirds were unskilled men. In Chicago these latter were receiving, for the most part, eighteen and a half cents an hour, and the unions wished to make this the general wage for the next year. It was not nearly so large a wage as it seemed—in the course of the negotiations the union officers examined time checks to the amount of ten thousand dollars, and they found that the highest wages paid had been fourteen dollars a week, and the lowest two dollars and five cents, and the average of the whole, six dollars and sixty-five cents. And six dollars and sixty-five cents was hardly too much for a man to keep a family on, considering the fact that the price of dressed meat had increased nearly fifty per cent in the last five years, while the price of "beef on the hoof14" had decreased as much, it would have seemed that the packers ought to be able to pay it; but the packers were unwilling15 to pay it—they rejected the union demand, and to show what their purpose was, a week or two after the agreement expired they put down the wages of about a thousand men to sixteen and a half cents, and it was said that old man Jones had vowed16 he would put them to fifteen before he got through. There were a million and a half of men in the country looking for work, a hundred thousand of them right in Chicago; and were the packers to let the union stewards17 march into their places and bind18 them to a contract that would lose them several thousand dollars a day for a year? Not much!
All this was in June; and before long the question was submitted to a referendum in the unions, and the decision was for a strike. It was the same in all the packing house cities; and suddenly the newspapers and public woke up to face the gruesome spectacle of a meat famine. All sorts of pleas for a reconsideration were made, but the packers were obdurate19; and all the while they were reducing wages, and heading off shipments of cattle, and rushing in wagon-loads of mattresses21 and cots. So the men boiled over, and one night telegrams went out from the union headquarters to all the big packing centers—to St. Paul, South Omaha, Sioux City, St. Joseph, Kansas City, East St. Louis, and New York—and the next day at noon between fifty and sixty thousand men drew off their working clothes and marched out of the factories, and the great "Beef Strike" was on.
Jurgis went to his dinner, and afterward22 he walked over to see Mike Scully, who lived in a fine house, upon a street which had been decently paved and lighted for his especial benefit. Scully had gone into semi-retirement, and looked nervous and worried. "What do you want?" he demanded, when he saw Jurgis.
"I came to see if maybe you could get me a place during the strike," the other replied.
And Scully knit his brows and eyed him narrowly. In that morning's papers Jurgis had read a fierce denunciation of the packers by Scully, who had declared that if they did not treat their people better the city authorities would end the matter by tearing down their plants. Now, therefore, Jurgis was not a little taken aback when the other demanded suddenly, "See here, Rudkus, why don't you stick by your job?"
Jurgis started. "Work as a scab?" he cried.
"Why not?" demanded Scully. "What's that to you?"
"But—but—" stammered23 Jurgis. He had somehow taken it for granted that he should go out with his union. "The packers need good men, and need them bad," continued the other, "and they'll treat a man right that stands by them. Why don't you take your chance and fix yourself?"
"But," said Jurgis, "how could I ever be of any use to you—in politics?"
"You couldn't be it anyhow," said Scully, abruptly24.
"Why not?" asked Jurgis.
"Hell, man!" cried the other. "Don't you know you're a Republican? And do you think I'm always going to elect Republicans? My brewer25 has found out already how we served him, and there is the deuce to pay."
Jurgis looked dumfounded. He had never thought of that aspect of it before. "I could be a Democrat," he said.
"Yes," responded the other, "but not right away; a man can't change his politics every day. And besides, I don't need you—there'd be nothing for you to do. And it's a long time to election day, anyhow; and what are you going to do meantime?"
"I thought I could count on you," began Jurgis.
"Yes," responded Scully, "so you could—I never yet went back on a friend. But is it fair to leave the job I got you and come to me for another? I have had a hundred fellows after me today, and what can I do? I've put seventeen men on the city payroll26 to clean streets this one week, and do you think I can keep that up forever? It wouldn't do for me to tell other men what I tell you, but you've been on the inside, and you ought to have sense enough to see for yourself. What have you to gain by a strike?"
"I hadn't thought," said Jurgis.
"Exactly," said Scully, "but you'd better. Take my word for it, the strike will be over in a few days, and the men will be beaten; and meantime what you can get out of it will belong to you. Do you see?"
And Jurgis saw. He went back to the yards, and into the workroom. The men had left a long line of hogs28 in various stages of preparation, and the foreman was directing the feeble efforts of a score or two of clerks and stenographers and office boys to finish up the job and get them into the chilling rooms. Jurgis went straight up to him and announced, "I have come back to work, Mr. Murphy."
The boss's face lighted up. "Good man!" he cried. "Come ahead!"
"Just a moment," said Jurgis, checking his enthusiasm. "I think I ought to get a little more wages."
"Yes," replied the other, "of course. What do you want?"
Jurgis had debated on the way. His nerve almost failed him now, but he clenched29 his hands. "I think I ought to have' three dollars a day," he said.
"All right," said the other, promptly30; and before the day was out our friend discovered that the clerks and stenographers and office boys were getting five dollars a day, and then he could have kicked himself!
So Jurgis became one of the new "American heroes," a man whose virtues31 merited comparison with those of the martyrs32 of Lexington and Valley Forge. The resemblance was not complete, of course, for Jurgis was generously paid and comfortably clad, and was provided with a spring cot and a mattress20 and three substantial meals a day; also he was perfectly33 at ease, and safe from all peril34 of life and limb, save only in the case that a desire for beer should lead him to venture outside of the stockyards gates. And even in the exercise of this privilege he was not left unprotected; a good part of the inadequate35 police force of Chicago was suddenly diverted from its work of hunting criminals, and rushed out to serve him. The police, and the strikers also, were determined36 that there should be no violence; but there was another party interested which was minded to the contrary—and that was the press. On the first day of his life as a strikebreaker Jurgis quit work early, and in a spirit of bravado37 he challenged three men of his acquaintance to go outside and get a drink. They accepted, and went through the big Halsted Street gate, where several policemen were watching, and also some union pickets38, scanning sharply those who passed in and out. Jurgis and his companions went south on Halsted Street; past the hotel, and then suddenly half a dozen men started across the street toward them and proceeded to argue with them concerning the error of their ways. As the arguments were not taken in the proper spirit, they went on to threats; and suddenly one of them jerked off the hat of one of the four and flung it over the fence. The man started after it, and then, as a cry of "Scab!" was raised and a dozen people came running out of saloons and doorways39, a second man's heart failed him and he followed. Jurgis and the fourth stayed long enough to give themselves the satisfaction of a quick exchange of blows, and then they, too, took to their heels and fled back of the hotel and into the yards again. Meantime, of course, policemen were coming on a run, and as a crowd gathered other police got excited and sent in a riot call. Jurgis knew nothing of this, but went back to "Packers' Avenue," and in front of the "Central Time Station" he saw one of his companions, breathless and wild with excitement, narrating40 to an ever growing throng41 how the four had been attacked and surrounded by a howling mob, and had been nearly torn to pieces. While he stood listening, smiling cynically42, several dapper young men stood by with notebooks in their hands, and it was not more than two hours later that Jurgis saw newsboys running about with armfuls of newspapers, printed in red and black letters six inches high:
VIOLENCE IN THE YARDS! STRIKEBREAKERS SURROUNDED BY FRENZIED43 MOB!
If he had been able to buy all of the newspapers of the United States the next morning, he might have discovered that his beer-hunting exploit was being perused44 by some two score millions of people, and had served as a text for editorials in half the staid and solemn business-men's newspapers in the land.
Jurgis was to see more of this as time passed. For the present, his work being over, he was free to ride into the city, by a railroad direct from the yards, or else to spend the night in a room where cots had been laid in rows. He chose the latter, but to his regret, for all night long gangs of strikebreakers kept arriving. As very few of the better class of workingmen could be got for such work, these specimens45 of the new American hero contained an assortment46 of the criminals and thugs of the city, besides Negroes and the lowest foreigners—Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks. They had been attracted more by the prospect47 of disorder48 than by the big wages; and they made the night hideous49 with singing and carousing50, and only went to sleep when the time came for them to get up to work.
In the morning before Jurgis had finished his breakfast, "Pat" Murphy ordered him to one of the superintendents51, who questioned him as to his experience in the work of the killing53 room. His heart began to thump54 with excitement, for he divined instantly that his hour had come—that he was to be a boss!
Some of the foremen were union members, and many who were not had gone out with the men. It was in the killing department that the packers had been left most in the lurch55, and precisely56 here that they could least afford it; the smoking and canning and salting of meat might wait, and all the by-products might be wasted—but fresh meats must be had, or the restaurants and hotels and brownstone houses would feel the pinch, and then "public opinion" would take a startling turn.
An opportunity such as this would not come twice to a man; and Jurgis seized it. Yes, he knew the work, the whole of it, and he could teach it to others. But if he took the job and gave satisfaction he would expect to keep it—they would not turn him off at the end of the strike? To which the superintendent52 replied that he might safely trust Durham's for that—they proposed to teach these unions a lesson, and most of all those foremen who had gone back on them. Jurgis would receive five dollars a day during the strike, and twenty-five a week after it was settled.
So our friend got a pair of "slaughter57 pen" boots and "jeans," and flung himself at his task. It was a weird58 sight, there on the killing beds—a throng of stupid black Negroes, and foreigners who could not understand a word that was said to them, mixed with pale-faced, hollow-chested bookkeepers and clerks, half-fainting for the tropical heat and the sickening stench of fresh blood—and all struggling to dress a dozen or two cattle in the same place where, twenty-four hours ago, the old killing gang had been speeding, with their marvelous precision, turning out four hundred carcasses every hour!
The Negroes and the "toughs" from the Levee did not want to work, and every few minutes some of them would feel obliged to retire and recuperate59. In a couple of days Durham and Company had electric fans up to cool off the rooms for them, and even couches for them to rest on; and meantime they could go out and find a shady corner and take a "snooze," and as there was no place for any one in particular, and no system, it might be hours before their boss discovered them. As for the poor office employees, they did their best, moved to it by terror; thirty of them had been "fired" in a bunch that first morning for refusing to serve, besides a number of women clerks and typewriters who had declined to act as waitresses.
It was such a force as this that Jurgis had to organize. He did his best, flying here and there, placing them in rows and showing them the tricks; he had never given an order in his life before, but he had taken enough of them to know, and he soon fell into the spirit of it, and roared and stormed like any old stager. He had not the most tractable60 pupils, however. "See hyar, boss," a big black "buck61" would begin, "ef you doan' like de way Ah does dis job, you kin1 get somebody else to do it." Then a crowd would gather and listen, muttering threats. After the first meal nearly all the steel knives had been missing, and now every Negro had one, ground to a fine point, hidden in his boots.
There was no bringing order out of such a chaos62, Jurgis soon discovered; and he fell in with the spirit of the thing—there was no reason why he should wear himself out with shouting. If hides and guts63 were slashed64 and rendered useless there was no way of tracing it to any one; and if a man lay off and forgot to come back there was nothing to be gained by seeking him, for all the rest would quit in the meantime. Everything went, during the strike, and the packers paid. Before long Jurgis found that the custom of resting had suggested to some alert minds the possibility of registering at more than one place and earning more than one five dollars a day. When he caught a man at this he "fired" him, but it chanced to be in a quiet corner, and the man tendered him a ten-dollar bill and a wink65, and he took them. Of course, before long this custom spread, and Jurgis was soon making quite a good income from it.
In the face of handicaps such as these the packers counted themselves lucky if they could kill off the cattle that had been crippled in transit66 and the hogs that had developed disease. Frequently, in the course of a two or three days' trip, in hot weather and without water, some hog27 would develop cholera67, and die; and the rest would attack him before he had ceased kicking, and when the car was opened there would be nothing of him left but the bones. If all the hogs in this carload were not killed at once, they would soon be down with the dread68 disease, and there would be nothing to do but make them into lard. It was the same with cattle that were gored69 and dying, or were limping with broken bones stuck through their flesh—they must be killed, even if brokers70 and buyers and superintendents had to take off their coats and help drive and cut and skin them. And meantime, agents of the packers were gathering71 gangs of Negroes in the country districts of the far South, promising72 them five dollars a day and board, and being careful not to mention there was a strike; already carloads of them were on the way, with special rates from the railroads, and all traffic ordered out of the way. Many towns and cities were taking advantage of the chance to clear out their jails and workhouses—in Detroit the magistrates73 would release every man who agreed to leave town within twenty-four hours, and agents of the packers were in the courtrooms to ship them right. And meantime trainloads of supplies were coming in for their accommodation, including beer and whisky, so that they might not be tempted75 to go outside. They hired thirty young girls in Cincinnati to "pack fruit," and when they arrived put them at work canning corned beef, and put cots for them to sleep in a public hallway, through which the men passed. As the gangs came in day and night, under the escort of squads76 of police, they stowed away in unused workrooms and storerooms, and in the car sheds, crowded so closely together that the cots touched. In some places they would use the same room for eating and sleeping, and at night the men would put their cots upon the tables, to keep away from the swarms77 of rats.
But with all their best efforts, the packers were demoralized. Ninety per cent of the men had walked out; and they faced the task of completely remaking their labor79 force—and with the price of meat up thirty per cent, and the public clamoring for a settlement. They made an offer to submit the whole question at issue to arbitration80; and at the end of ten days the unions accepted it, and the strike was called off. It was agreed that all the men were to be re-employed within forty-five days, and that there was to be "no discrimination against union men."
This was an anxious time for Jurgis. If the men were taken back "without discrimination," he would lose his present place. He sought out the superintendent, who smiled grimly and bade him "wait and see." Durham's strikebreakers were few of them leaving.
Whether or not the "settlement" was simply a trick of the packers to gain time, or whether they really expected to break the strike and cripple the unions by the plan, cannot be said; but that night there went out from the office of Durham and Company a telegram to all the big packing centers, "Employ no union leaders." And in the morning, when the twenty thousand men thronged81 into the yards, with their dinner pails and working clothes, Jurgis stood near the door of the hog-trimming room, where he had worked before the strike, and saw a throng of eager men, with a score or two of policemen watching them; and he saw a superintendent come out and walk down the line, and pick out man after man that pleased him; and one after another came, and there were some men up near the head of the line who were never picked—they being the union stewards and delegates, and the men Jurgis had heard making speeches at the meetings. Each time, of course, there were louder murmurings and angrier looks. Over where the cattle butchers were waiting, Jurgis heard shouts and saw a crowd, and he hurried there. One big butcher, who was president of the Packing Trades Council, had been passed over five times, and the men were wild with rage; they had appointed a committee of three to go in and see the superintendent, and the committee had made three attempts, and each time the police had clubbed them back from the door. Then there were yells and hoots82, continuing until at last the superintendent came to the door. "We all go back or none of us do!" cried a hundred voices. And the other shook his fist at them, and shouted, "You went out of here like cattle, and like cattle you'll come back!"
Then suddenly the big butcher president leaped upon a pile of stones and yelled: "It's off, boys. We'll all of us quit again!" And so the cattle butchers declared a new strike on the spot; and gathering their members from the other plants, where the same trick had been played, they marched down Packers' Avenue, which was thronged with a dense83 mass of workers, cheering wildly. Men who had already got to work on the killing beds dropped their tools and joined them; some galloped84 here and there on horseback, shouting the tidings, and within half an hour the whole of Packingtown was on strike again, and beside itself with fury.
There was quite a different tone in Packingtown after this—the place was a seething86 caldron of passion, and the "scab" who ventured into it fared badly. There were one or two of these incidents each day, the newspapers detailing them, and always blaming them upon the unions. Yet ten years before, when there were no unions in Packingtown, there was a strike, and national troops had to be called, and there were pitched battles fought at night, by the light of blazing freight trains. Packingtown was always a center of violence; in "Whisky Point," where there were a hundred saloons and one glue factory, there was always fighting, and always more of it in hot weather. Any one who had taken the trouble to consult the station house blotter would have found that there was less violence that summer than ever before—and this while twenty thousand men were out of work, and with nothing to do all day but brood upon bitter wrongs. There was no one to picture the battle the union leaders were fighting—to hold this huge army in rank, to keep it from straggling and pillaging87, to cheer and encourage and guide a hundred thousand people, of a dozen different tongues, through six long weeks of hunger and disappointment and despair.
Meantime the packers had set themselves definitely to the task of making a new labor force. A thousand or two of strikebreakers were brought in every night, and distributed among the various plants. Some of them were experienced workers,—butchers, salesmen, and managers from the packers' branch stores, and a few union men who had deserted88 from other cities; but the vast majority were "green" Negroes from the cotton districts of the far South, and they were herded89 into the packing plants like sheep. There was a law forbidding the use of buildings as lodginghouses unless they were licensed90 for the purpose, and provided with proper windows, stairways, and fire escapes; but here, in a "paint room," reached only by an enclosed "chute," a room without a single window and only one door, a hundred men were crowded upon mattresses on the floor. Up on the third story of the "hog house" of Jones's was a storeroom, without a window, into which they crowded seven hundred men, sleeping upon the bare springs of cots, and with a second shift to use them by day. And when the clamor of the public led to an investigation91 into these conditions, and the mayor of the city was forced to order the enforcement of the law, the packers got a judge to issue an injunction forbidding him to do it!
Just at this time the mayor was boasting that he had put an end to gambling and prize fighting in the city; but here a swarm78 of professional gamblers had leagued themselves with the police to fleece the strikebreakers; and any night, in the big open space in front of Brown's, one might see brawny92 Negroes stripped to the waist and pounding each other for money, while a howling throng of three or four thousand surged about, men and women, young white girls from the country rubbing elbows with big buck Negroes with daggers93 in their boots, while rows of woolly heads peered down from every window of the surrounding factories. The ancestors of these black people had been savages94 in Africa; and since then they had been chattel95 slaves, or had been held down by a community ruled by the traditions of slavery. Now for the first time they were free—free to gratify every passion, free to wreck96 themselves. They were wanted to break a strike, and when it was broken they would be shipped away, and their present masters would never see them again; and so whisky and women were brought in by the carload and sold to them, and hell was let loose in the yards. Every night there were stabbings and shootings; it was said that the packers had blank permits, which enabled them to ship dead bodies from the city without troubling the authorities. They lodged97 men and women on the same floor; and with the night there began a saturnalia of debauchery—scenes such as never before had been witnessed in America. And as the women were the dregs from the brothels of Chicago, and the men were for the most part ignorant country Negroes, the nameless diseases of vice98 were soon rife99; and this where food was being handled which was sent out to every corner of the civilized100 world.
The "union Stockyards" were never a pleasant place; but now they were not only a collection of slaughterhouses, but also the camping place of an army of fifteen or twenty thousand human beasts. All day long the blazing midsummer sun beat down upon that square mile of abominations: upon tens of thousands of cattle crowded into pens whose wooden floors stank101 and steamed contagion102; upon bare, blistering103, cinder-strewn railroad tracks, and huge blocks of dingy104 meat factories, whose labyrinthine105 passages defied a breath of fresh air to penetrate106 them; and there were not merely rivers of hot blood, and car-loads of moist flesh, and rendering107 vats108 and soap caldrons, glue factories and fertilizer tanks, that smelt109 like the craters110 of hell—there were also tons of garbage festering in the sun, and the greasy laundry of the workers hung out to dry, and dining rooms littered with food and black with flies, and toilet rooms that were open sewers111.
And then at night, when this throng poured out into the streets to play—fighting, gambling, drinking and carousing, cursing and screaming, laughing and singing, playing banjoes and dancing! They were worked in the yards all the seven days of the week, and they had their prize fights and crap games on Sunday nights as well; but then around the corner one might see a bonfire blazing, and an old, gray-headed Negress, lean and witchlike, her hair flying wild and her eyes blazing, yelling and chanting of the fires of perdition and the blood of the "Lamb," while men and women lay down upon the ground and moaned and screamed in convulsions of terror and remorse112.
Such were the stockyards during the strike; while the unions watched in sullen113 despair, and the country clamored like a greedy child for its food, and the packers went grimly on their way. Each day they added new workers, and could be more stern with the old ones—could put them on piecework, and dismiss them if they did not keep up the pace. Jurgis was now one of their agents in this process; and he could feel the change day by day, like the slow starting up of a huge machine. He had gotten used to being a master of men; and because of the stifling114 heat and the stench, and the fact that he was a "scab" and knew it and despised himself. He was drinking, and developing a villainous temper, and he stormed and cursed and raged at his men, and drove them until they were ready to drop with exhaustion115.
Then one day late in August, a superintendent ran into the place and shouted to Jurgis and his gang to drop their work and come. They followed him outside, to where, in the midst of a dense throng, they saw several two-horse trucks waiting, and three patrol-wagon loads of police. Jurgis and his men sprang upon one of the trucks, and the driver yelled to the crowd, and they went thundering away at a gallop85. Some steers117 had just escaped from the yards, and the strikers had got hold of them, and there would be the chance of a scrap118!
They went out at the Ashland Avenue gate, and over in the direction of the "dump." There was a yell as soon as they were sighted, men and women rushing out of houses and saloons as they galloped by. There were eight or ten policemen on the truck, however, and there was no disturbance119 until they came to a place where the street was blocked with a dense throng. Those on the flying truck yelled a warning and the crowd scattered120 pell-mell, disclosing one of the steers lying in its blood. There were a good many cattle butchers about just then, with nothing much to do, and hungry children at home; and so some one had knocked out the steer116—and as a first-class man can kill and dress one in a couple of minutes, there were a good many steaks and roasts already missing. This called for punishment, of course; and the police proceeded to administer it by leaping from the truck and cracking at every head they saw. There were yells of rage and pain, and the terrified people fled into houses and stores, or scattered helter-skelter down the street. Jurgis and his gang joined in the sport, every man singling out his victim, and striving to bring him to bay and punch him. If he fled into a house his pursuer would smash in the flimsy door and follow him up the stairs, hitting every one who came within reach, and finally dragging his squealing121 quarry122 from under a bed or a pile of old clothes in a closet.
Jurgis and two policemen chased some men into a bar-room. One of them took shelter behind the bar, where a policeman cornered him and proceeded to whack123 him over the back and shoulders, until he lay down and gave a chance at his head. The others leaped a fence in the rear, balking124 the second policeman, who was fat; and as he came back, furious and cursing, a big Polish woman, the owner of the saloon, rushed in screaming, and received a poke125 in the stomach that doubled her up on the floor. Meantime Jurgis, who was of a practical temper, was helping126 himself at the bar; and the first policeman, who had laid out his man, joined him, handing out several more bottles, and filling his pockets besides, and then, as he started to leave, cleaning off all the balance with a sweep of his club. The din3 of the glass crashing to the floor brought the fat Polish woman to her feet again, but another policeman came up behind her and put his knee into her back and his hands over her eyes—and then called to his companion, who went back and broke open the cash drawer and filled his pockets with the contents. Then the three went outside, and the man who was holding the woman gave her a shove and dashed out himself. The gang having already got the carcass on to the truck, the party set out at a trot127, followed by screams and curses, and a shower of bricks and stones from unseen enemies. These bricks and stones would figure in the accounts of the "riot" which would be sent out to a few thousand newspapers within an hour or two; but the episode of the cash drawer would never be mentioned again, save only in the heartbreaking legends of Packingtown.
It was late in the afternoon when they got back, and they dressed out the remainder of the steer, and a couple of others that had been killed, and then knocked off for the day. Jurgis went downtown to supper, with three friends who had been on the other trucks, and they exchanged reminiscences on the way. Afterward they drifted into a roulette parlor128, and Jurgis, who was never lucky at gambling, dropped about fifteen dollars. To console himself he had to drink a good deal, and he went back to Packingtown about two o'clock in the morning, very much the worse for his excursion, and, it must be confessed, entirely129 deserving the calamity130 that was in store for him.
As he was going to the place where he slept, he met a painted-cheeked woman in a greasy "kimono," and she put her arm about his waist to steady him; they turned into a dark room they were passing—but scarcely had they taken two steps before suddenly a door swung open, and a man entered, carrying a lantern. "Who's there?" he called sharply. And Jurgis started to mutter some reply; but at the same instant the man raised his light, which flashed in his face, so that it was possible to recognize him. Jurgis stood stricken dumb, and his heart gave a leap like a mad thing. The man was Connor!
Connor, the boss of the loading gang! The man who had seduced131 his wife—who had sent him to prison, and wrecked132 his home, ruined his life! He stood there, staring, with the light shining full upon him.
Jurgis had often thought of Connor since coming back to Packingtown, but it had been as of something far off, that no longer concerned him. Now, however, when he saw him, alive and in the flesh, the same thing happened to him that had happened before—a flood of rage boiled up in him, a blind frenzy133 seized him. And he flung himself at the man, and smote134 him between the eyes—and then, as he fell, seized him by the throat and began to pound his head upon the stones.
The woman began screaming, and people came rushing in. The lantern had been upset and extinguished, and it was so dark they could not see a thing; but they could hear Jurgis panting, and hear the thumping135 of his victim's skull136, and they rushed there and tried to pull him off. Precisely as before, Jurgis came away with a piece of his enemy's flesh between his teeth; and, as before, he went on fighting with those who had interfered137 with him, until a policeman had come and beaten him into insensibility.
And so Jurgis spent the balance of the night in the stockyards station house. This time, however, he had money in his pocket, and when he came to his senses he could get something to drink, and also a messenger to take word of his plight138 to "Bush" Harper. Harper did not appear, however, until after the prisoner, feeling very weak and ill, had been hailed into court and remanded at five hundred dollars' bail139 to await the result of his victim's injuries. Jurgis was wild about this, because a different magistrate74 had chanced to be on the bench, and he had stated that he had never been arrested before, and also that he had been attacked first—and if only someone had been there to speak a good word for him, he could have been let off at once.
But Harper explained that he had been downtown, and had not got the message. "What's happened to you?" he asked.
"I've been doing a fellow up," said Jurgis, "and I've got to get five hundred dollars' bail."
"I can arrange that all right," said the other—"though it may cost you a few dollars, of course. But what was the trouble?"
"It was a man that did me a mean trick once," answered Jurgis.
"Who is he?"
"He's a foreman in Brown's or used to be. His name's Connor."
And the other gave a start. "Connor!" he cried. "Not Phil Connor!"
"Yes," said Jurgis, "that's the fellow. Why?"
"Good God!" exclaimed the other, "then you're in for it, old man! I can't help you!"
"Not help me! Why not?"
"Why, he's one of Scully's biggest men—he's a member of the War-Whoop League, and they talked of sending him to the legislature! Phil Connor! Great heavens!"
Jurgis sat dumb with dismay.
"Why, he can send you to Joliet, if he wants to!" declared the other.
"Can't I have Scully get me off before he finds out about it?" asked Jurgis, at length.
"But Scully's out of town," the other answered. "I don't even know where he is—he's run away to dodge140 the strike."
That was a pretty mess, indeed. Poor Jurgis sat half-dazed. His pull had run up against a bigger pull, and he was down and out! "But what am I going to do?" he asked, weakly.
"How should I know?" said the other. "I shouldn't even dare to get bail for you—why, I might ruin myself for life!"
Again there was silence. "Can't you do it for me," Jurgis asked, "and pretend that you didn't know who I'd hit?"
"But what good would that do you when you came to stand trial?" asked Harper. Then he sat buried in thought for a minute or two. "There's nothing—unless it's this," he said. "I could have your bail reduced; and then if you had the money you could pay it and skip."
"How much will it be?" Jurgis asked, after he had had this explained more in detail.
"I don't know," said the other. "How much do you own?"
"I've got about three hundred dollars," was the answer.
"Well," was Harper's reply, "I'm not sure, but I'll try and get you off for that. I'll take the risk for friendship's sake—for I'd hate to see you sent to state's prison for a year or two."
And so finally Jurgis ripped out his bankbook—which was sewed up in his trousers—and signed an order, which "Bush" Harper wrote, for all the money to be paid out. Then the latter went and got it, and hurried to the court, and explained to the magistrate that Jurgis was a decent fellow and a friend of Scully's, who had been attacked by a strike-breaker. So the bail was reduced to three hundred dollars, and Harper went on it himself; he did not tell this to Jurgis, however—nor did he tell him that when the time for trial came it would be an easy matter for him to avoid the forfeiting141 of the bail, and pocket the three hundred dollars as his reward for the risk of offending Mike Scully! All that he told Jurgis was that he was now free, and that the best thing he could do was to clear out as quickly as possible; and so Jurgis overwhelmed with gratitude142 and relief, took the dollar and fourteen cents that was left him out of all his bank account, and put it with the two dollars and quarter that was left from his last night's celebration, and boarded a streetcar and got off at the other end of Chicago.
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1
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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2
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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5
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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6
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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7
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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10
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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12
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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14
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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18
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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19
obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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20
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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mattresses
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| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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22
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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23
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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25
brewer
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| n. 啤酒制造者 | |
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26
payroll
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| n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额 | |
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27
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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28
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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29
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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31
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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32
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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33
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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34
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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35
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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36
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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37
bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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38
pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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39
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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40
narrating
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| v.故事( narrate的现在分词 ) | |
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41
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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42
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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43
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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44
perused
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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45
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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46
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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47
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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48
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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49
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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50
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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51
superintendents
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| 警长( superintendent的名词复数 )； （大楼的）管理人； 监管人； （美国）警察局长 | |
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52
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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53
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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54
thump
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| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
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55
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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56
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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57
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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58
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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59
recuperate
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| v.恢复 | |
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60
tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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61
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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62
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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63
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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64
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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65
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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66
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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67
cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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68
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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69
gored
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| v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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71
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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72
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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73
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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74
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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75
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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76
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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77
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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78
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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79
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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80
arbitration
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| n.调停，仲裁 | |
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81
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
hoots
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| 咄，啐 | |
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83
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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84
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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85
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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86
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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87
pillaging
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的现在分词 ) | |
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88
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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89
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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90
licensed
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| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
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91
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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92
brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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93
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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94
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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95
chattel
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| n.动产；奴隶 | |
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96
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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97
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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98
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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99
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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100
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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101
stank
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| n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式 | |
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102
contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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103
blistering
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| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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104
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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105
labyrinthine
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| adj.如迷宫的；复杂的 | |
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106
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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107
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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108
vats
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| varieties 变化，多样性，种类 | |
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109
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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110
craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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111
sewers
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| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
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112
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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113
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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114
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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115
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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116
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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117
steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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118
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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119
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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120
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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121
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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122
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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123
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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124
balking
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| n.慢行，阻行v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的现在分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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125
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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126
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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127
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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128
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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129
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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130
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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131
seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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132
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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133
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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134
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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135
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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136
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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137
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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138
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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139
bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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140
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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141
forfeiting
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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142
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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