Arthur Train

“ Strange to be trying a man you had never seen before—of whom you knew nothing, who had merely side-stepped into your life and would soon back out of it. “Poor devil!” thought the deputy as he lit another perfecto.
Now the jury, as juries sometimes do, wanted to talk, and had a consuming desire to smoke, so they both smoked and talked, and when O'Reilly came to turn on the lights in the court-room, they were still out, and Dockbridge had fallen fast asleep. ”

“ You are a dangerous criminal—all the more dangerous for your ability. You almost outwitted the jury, and conducted your own case more ably than nine out of ten lawyers would have done. You have ruined your own life, and cast away a pearl of price. You have my pity, but I cannot allow it to affect my duty. Graham, I sentence you to state prison for five years.”
The prisoner shivered and covered his face with his hands. Then the officer clapped him on the shoulder and pushed him toward the door.
“Gentlemen, you are excused.” The judge bowed to the jury. ”

“ The young assistant, who seemed slightly nervous at the unusual prospect of conducting a trial against a lawyerless defendant (savoring as it did of a hand to hand combat in the days of trial by battle) , started to comment upon the novelty of the situation, gave it up, and to cover his retreat called his first witness.
Dockbridge was very young indeed. He was undergoing the process of being “whipped into shape” by the judge, a kind but unrelenting observer of all the technicalities of the criminal branch, and this was one of his first cases. ”

“ Dockbridge summed the case up in the stock fashion and then, for half an hour the judge addressed to the jury in a calm and dispassionate analysis of the evidence. not hesitating to compare the abilities of the prosecutor and prisoner to the disadvantage of the former, saying in this respect: “Neither must you be influenced by any feeling of admiration at the capacity shown by this defendant to conduct his own case. If he has appeared more than a match for the prosecution, it must not affect the weight which you give to the evidence against him.” ”

“ The People having “rested,” the defendant announced that he had no witnesses, and would go to the jury on the evidence, or, rather, “failure of evidence,” as he put it, of the prosecution. It was done with great adroitness, and none of the jury perceived that by refusing to accept counsel he had made it impossible to take the stand in his own behalf, and had thus escaped the necessity of subjecting himself to examination as to his past career. ”

“ Outside, an electric car could be heard at intervals; within, only the slam of iron doors, subdued by distance. echoed through the corridors.
Dockbridge had awakened and. lounging before his table, was trying to get up a case for the morrow. The judge had gone home for dinner. One by one the court attendants had strayed away, coming back to push open the heavy door and, after a furtive glance at the empty bench, as silently to depart.
Below in the stifling pen, alone behind the bars, James Graham sat staring vacantly at the stained cement floor. A savage rage surged through him. Curse them! ”

“ I had a good time—of its kind. It was better than a dog's life on the farm, anyway. By and by I got caught and then it was no use. Each time I got out I swore I'd lead an honest life. But I could n't. A convict might as well try to eat stones as to find a job. But when I got free this time, I made up my mind to starve rather than get back again. I meant it, too. I tried hard. It was no use in Boston—they're too respectable. All a convict can do there is to get a two weeks' job sawing wood. At the end of that time he's supposed to be able to take care of himself. ”

“ I didn't get over one meal a day, and my head ached all the time. I heard of a job at One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Street, carrying lumber. I got a nickle for holding a horse, and went up. It was a gang of niggers. They got a dollar a day. The boss was a nigger, too, and they didn't want cheap white trash. ”

“ I slept in a field, under a tree, without anything to eat that night, and started in at seven the next morning. The thermometer went up to ninety-six, and we worked without stopping. I had to lug one end of a big stick, with a nigger under the other end, one hundred yards—then go back and get another. I got so I didn't know what I was doing. At eleven o'clock I fainted, and then I was sick, dreadfully sick. At three the boss nigger kicked me and said I had to stop faking or I wouldn't get paid, and so I got up and lugged until six. ”