III
Jimmie thought he was going to jail, of course; but instead they
took him to the Post Office building, to an upstairs room. Kumme was
taken to another room, and Jimmie did not see him again; all that
Jimmie had time to know or to think about was a stern-faced young
man who sat at a desk and put him on a griddle. "It is my duty to
inform you that everything you state may be used against you," said
this young man; and then, without giving Jimmie a chance to grasp
the meaning of these words he began firing questions at him. All
through the ordeal the two detectives stood by his side, and in a
corner of the room, at another desk, a stenographer was busily
recording what he said. Jimmie knew there were such things as
stenographers--for had he not come near falling in love with one
only a short time before?
"Your name?" said the stern-faced young man; and then, "Where do you
live?" And then, "Tell me all you know about this bomb-conspiracy."
"But I don't know nothin'!" cried Jimmie.
"You are in the hands of the Federal government," replied the young
man, "and your only chance will be to make a clean breast. If you
will help us, you may get off."
"But I don't know nothin'!" cried Jimmie, again.
"You have heard talk about dynamiting the Empire Shops?"
"Y--yes, sir."
"Who?"
"A man--" Jimmie got that far, and then he recollected the promise
he had given. "I--I can't tell!" he said.
"Why not?"
"It wouldn't be right."
"Do you believe in dynamiting buildings?"
"No, sir!" Jimmie put into this reply a note of tense sincerity, and
so the other began to argue with him. Atrocious crimes had been
committed all over the country, and the government wished to put a
stop to them; surely it was the duty of a decent citizen to give
what help he could. Jimmie listened until a sweat of anxiety stood
out on his forehead; but he could not bring himself to "peach" on
fellow working men. No, not if he were sent to jail for ten or
twenty years, as the stern-faced young man told him might happen.
"You told Reilly you wouldn't have anything to do with bombs?" asked
the young man; and Jimmie answered "Sure, I did!" And his poor head
was so addled that he didn't even realize that in his reply he had
told what he had been vowing he would never tell!
The questioner seemed to know all about everything, so it was easy
for him to lead Jimmie to tell how he had heard Kumme cursing the
Empire Shops, and the country, and the President; how he had seen
Kumme whispering to Reilly, and to Germans whose names he had not
learned, and how he had seen Heinrich, Kumme's nephew, cutting up
lengths of steel tubing. Then the questioner asked about Jerry
Coleman. How much money had Jimmie got, and just what had he done
with it? Jimmie refused to name other people; but when the young man
made the insinuation that Jimmie might have kept some of the money
for himself, the little machinist exclaimed with passionate
intensity--not one dollar had he kept, nor his friend Meissner
either; they had given statements to Jerry Coleman, and this though
many a time they had been hard up for their rent. The police could
ask Comrade Gerrity and Comrade Mary Allen, and the other members of
the local.
So the questioner led Jimmie on to talk about the Germans in the
movement. Schneider, the brewer, for example--he was one of those
who cursed the Allies most vehemently, and he had been in this
bomb-conspiracy. Jimmie was indignant; Comrade Schneider was as good
a Socialist as you could find, and Socialists had nothing to do with
bombs! But young Emil Forster--he had been making explosives in his
spare hours, had he not? At which Jimmie became still more outraged.
He knew young Emil well; the boy was a carpet-designer and musician,
and if anybody had told such tales about him, they were lying, that
was all. The questioner went on for an hour or so, tormenting poor
Jimmie with such doubts and fears; until finally he dropped a little
of his sternness of manner, and told Jimmie that he had merely been
trying him out, to see what he knew about various men whose
pro-German feelings had brought them under suspicion. No, the
government had no evidence of crime against Schneider or Forster, or
any of the bona-fide Socialists. They were just plain fools, letting
themselves be used as tools of German plotters, who were spending
money like water to make trouble in munition factories all over the
country.
