n I handed him the little book|
|and told that was why I'd searched for him, patting |
|me on the shoulder when he laughed--patting me on |
|the shoulder. |
| |
|"'It's a bad place for you here, Gene,' I said. |
|'Then it must be bad for you, too, mammy,' said he; |
|and as he walked to the end of his beat with me--it |
|was dark then--he said, 'They're lots of crooks |
|here, mother, and they know and hate me and they're |
|afraid of me'--proud, he said it--'but maybe they'll|
|get me some night.' He patted me on the back and |
|turned and walked east toward his death. Wasn't it |
|strange that Gene said that? |
| |
|"You know how he was killed, of course, and how--Now|
|let me talk about it, children, if I want to. I |
|promised you, didn't I, that I wouldn't cry any more|
|or carry on? Well, it was five o'clock this morning |
|when a boy rang the bell here at the house and I |
|looked out the window and said, 'Is Gene dead?' 'No,|
|ma'am,' answered the lad, 'but they told me to tell |
|you he was hurt in a fire and is in the hospital.' |
|Jerry, my other boy, had opened the door for the lad|
|and was talking to him while I dressed a bit. And |
|then I walked down stairs and saw Jerry standing |
|silent under the gaslight, and I said again, 'Jerry,|
|is Gene dead?' And he said 'Yes,' and he went out. |
| |
|"After a while I went down to the Oak Street Station|
|myself, because I couldn't wait for Jerry to come |
|back. The policemen all stopped talking when I came |
|in, and then one of them told me it was against the |
|rules to show me Gene at that time. But I knew the |
|policeman only thought I'd break down, but I |
|promised him I wouldn't carry on, and he took me |
|into a room to let me see Gene. It was Gene. |
| |
|"I know to-day how they killed him. The poor boy |
|that shot him was standing in Chatham Square arguing|
|with another man when Gene told him to move on. When|
|the young man wouldn't, but only answered back, Gene|
|sh