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Johnson, Owen, 1878-1952

"Murder in Any Degree"

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"'It wasn't charity I came to you for, and I can pay for what I get, Mr.
Gilday,' I said. 'Will you give me your regular bill?' I said.
"And he said at last: 'I will.'
"In the middle of the week Paul Bargee's mother came to me and went down
on her knees and begged for her son, and I said to her: 'Why should
there be one law for him and one law for the likes of me. He's taken my
wife; but he sha'n't put her to shame, ma'am, and he sha'n't cast a
cloud on the life of my child!'
"Then she stopped arguing, and caught my hands and cried: 'But you
won't kill him, you won't kill my son, if he don't?'
"'As sure as Saturday comes, ma'am, and he hasn't made Fanny Montrose a
good woman,' I said, 'I'm going to kill Paul Bargee wherever he stands.'
"And Friday morning Mr. Gilday called me down to his office and told me
that Paul Bargee had done as I said he should do. And I pressed his hand
and said nothing, and he let me sit awhile in his office.
"And after awhile I rose up and said: 'Then I must take the child to
her, as I promised, to-night.


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