Such were the methods of the Society of Freemen, and suchwere the deeds of the Scowrers by which they spread their rule offear over the great and rich district which was for so long a periodhaunted by their terrible presence. Why should these pages bestained by further crimes? Have I not said enough to show themen and their methods?
These deeds are written in history, and there are recordswherein one may read the details of them. There one may learnof the shooting of Policemen Hunt and Evans because they hadventured to arrest two members of the society—a double outrageplanned at the Vermissa lodge and carried out in cold blood upontwo helpless and disarmed men. There also one may read of theshooting of Mrs. Larbey when she was nursing her husband, whohad been beaten almost to death by orders of Boss McGinty.
The killing of the elder Jenkins, shortly followed by that of hisbrother, the mutilation of James Murdoch, the blowing up of theStaphouse family, and the murder of the Stendals all followed hardupon one another in the same terrible winter.
Darkly the shadow lay upon the Valley of Fear. The spring hadcome with running brooks and blossoming trees. There was hopefor all Nature bound so long in an iron grip; but nowhere wasthere any hope for the men and women who lived under the yokeof the terror. Never had the cloud above them been so dark andhopeless as in the early summer of the year 1875.
Danger
It was the height of the reign of terror. McMurdo, who hadalready been appointed Inner Deacon, with every prospectof some day succeeding McGinty as Bodymaster, was now sonecessary to the councils of his comrades that nothing wasdone without his help and advice. The more popular he became,however, with the Freemen, the blacker were the scowls whichgreeted him as he passed along the streets of Vermissa. In spiteof their terror the citizens were taking heart to band themselvestogether against their oppressors. Rumours had reached the lodgeof secret gatherings in the Herald office and of distribution offirearms among the law-abiding people. But McGinty and his menwere undisturbed by such reports. They were numerous, resolute,and well armed. Their opponents were scattered and powerless.
It would all end, as it had done in the past, in aimless talk andpossibly in impotent arrests. So said McGinty, McMurdo, and allthe bolder spirits.
It was a Saturday evening in May. Saturday was always the lodgenight, and McMurdo was leaving his house to attend it whenMorris, the weaker brother of the order, came to see him. Hisbrow was creased with care, and his kindly face was drawn andhaggard.
“Can I speak with you freely, Mr. McMurdo?”
“Sure.”
“I can’t forget that I spoke my heart to you once, and that youkept it to yourself, even though the Boss himself came to ask youabout it.”
“What else could I do if you trusted me? It wasn’t that I agreedwith what you said.”
“I know that well. But you are the one that I can speak to andbe safe. I’ve a secret here,” he put his hand to his breast, “and it isjust burning the life out of me. I wish it had come to any one ofyou but me. If I tell it, it will mean murder, for sure. If I don’t, itmay bring the end of us all. God help me, but I am near out of mywits over it!”
McMurdo looked at the man earnestly. He was trembling inevery limb. He poured some whisky into a glass and handed it tohim. “That’s the physic for the likes of you,” said he. “Now let mehear of it.”
Morris drank, and his white face took a tinge of colour. “I cantell it to you all in one sentence,” said he. “There’s a detective onour trail.”
McMurdo stared at him in astonishment. “Why, man, you’recrazy,” he said. “Isn’t the place full of police and detectives andwhat harm did they ever do us?”
“No, no, it’s no man of the district. As you say, we know them,and it is little that they can do. But you’ve heard of Pinkerton’s?”
“I’ve read of some folk of that name.”
“Well, you can take it from me you’ve no show when they are onyour trail. It’s not a take-it-or-miss-it government concern. It’s adead earnest business proposition that’s out for results and keepsout till by hook or crook it gets them. If a Pinkerton man is deepin this business, we are all destroyed.”
“We must kill him.”
“Ah, it’s the first thought that came to you! So it will be up atthe lodge. Didn’t I say to you that it would end in murder?”
“Sure, what is murder? Isn’t it common enough in these parts?”
“It is, indeed; but it’s not for me to point out the man that is tobe murdered. I’d never rest easy again. And yet it’s our own necksthat may be at stake. In God’s name what shall I do?” He rockedto and fro in his agony of indecision.
But his words had moved McMurdo deeply. It was easy to seethat he shared the other’s opinion as to the danger, and the needfor meeting it. He gripped Morris’s shoulder and shook him in hisearnestness.
“See here, man,” he cried, and he almost screeched the words inhis excitement, “you won’t gain anything by sitting keening like anold wife at a wake. Let’s have the facts. Who is the fellow? Whereis he? How did you hear of him? Why did you come to me?”
“I came to you; for you are the one man that would advise me.
I told you that I had a store in the East before I came here. Ileft good friends behind me, and one of them is in the telegraphservice. Here’s a letter that I had from him yesterday. It’s this partfrom the top of the page. You can read it yourself.”
This was what McMurdo read:
How are the Scowrers getting on in your parts? We read plenty ofthem in the papers. Between you and me I expect to hear newsfrom you before long. Five big corporations and the two railroadshave taken the thing up in dead earnest. They mean it, and you canbet they’ll get there! They are right deep down into it. Pinkertonhas taken hold under their orders, and his best man, Birdy Edwards,is operating. The thing has got to be stopped right now.
“Now read the postscript.”
Of course, what I give you is what I learned in business; so it goesno further. It’s a queer cipher that you handle by the yard every dayand can get no meaning from.
