ACT III

_Scene: The restaurant as in the first act._

_Pete, the counter-man, is leaning on his elbows, reading a paper. The clock points to 11:30._

_It is dark outside. The murmur of a crowd is heard for a moment and dies away._

_Milkin, bent, grey, and more wizened, enters from the street and looks questioningly about._

MILKIN. Miss Rosalie here?

PETE. No.

MILKIN. Give me coffee. [_He pays for the coffee and sits gloomily without touching it._]

PETE [_grudgingly_]. She’s seeing the governor.

MILKIN. She don’t get no sleep.

PETE. You think they’re going to bump ’em off?

MILKIN. I couldn’t say dat.

PETE. Tonight, I mean?

MILKIN. De signs is wrong. Dey might. De signs is bad.

[_Bauer enters from the left, a paper folded in his hand. He goes directly across to the window._]

BAUER. I’ll bet money they get themselves raided over at the Zeitung. They’ve got a sheet up to flash bulletins of the executions. They kept it dark till the last minute.

PETE. Yeah?

BAUER. And what the hell is all the row about, anyway? Some rough guys get caught for murder and when they start to put ’em through all the radicals and poets in the country begin marching around the jail. You’d think nobody ever got it before.

[_A Policeman enters._]

PETE. Yeah, that’s the truth.

BAUER. Look here, officer, you see what they’re doing over at the Zeitung? They’re all ready to flash bulletins.

OFFICER. Yeah, I saw it. We haven’t got any orders about that. We’re just watching the street here.

[_He lowers his voice._] Where’s the girl, do you know?

[_Ike appears in the doorway._]

BAUER. She’s seeing the governor again.

OFFICER. They’ll have to hurry if they’re going to stop it now. [_He glances at the clock._]

BAUER. Think it’s going through this time?

OFFICER. Sure, it’s going through. They put it off once and that’s enough. [_He goes out._]

PETE. Everybody comes in here looks at that damn clock. It makes me feel queer.

IKE. Any news?

[_Bauer goes out left._]

PETE. No.

IKE. Then I guess there won’t be any. Not till twelve o’clock.

PETE. Maybe not.

[_Sowerby enters as in the first act, with his pile of books and the slippers._]

IKE. Meanwhile, life goes on as usual. Where are you living now?

SOWERBY. It’s extraordinary how economic difficulties manage to catch one at the most embarrassing moments. [_He puts down his things._] You’ve noticed that, I suppose?

IKE. In my walk of life I couldn’t miss it. What’s the trouble?

SOWERBY. Simple enough. Lack of funds.

IKE. Milkin’ll stake you to something. Hey, Milkin, ain’t you going to eat?

MILKIN. Naw. Dere ain’t no use eating.

IKE. I can’t get him to eat any more.

SOWERBY. What’s the matter? That? [_He points to the clock._]

IKE. Yeah, he won’t eat at all.

PETE. I don’t eat so good myself.

IKE. Yeah, but he’s got a special worry, see? You know that theory about putting the number on them—by the cabalistic system? Well, he put it on ’em.

SOWERBY. Yeah?

IKE. Yeah, he put the number on the judge and said, “Come down from dere!” and the judge didn’t come down.

SOWERBY. I daresay that hit him pretty hard.

NEWSBOY. Extra! Extra—

IKE. Jeez, it busted him up. You been over in the square?

SOWERBY. No.

IKE. There’s about a million people there.

SOWERBY. Any fights?

IKE. No, sir. Nobody said a word to the police. They’ve got machine guns trained right on them. Down by the jail you can’t even walk past. There was a bright little girl down there making a speech. They took her away. This ain’t a favorable time for speeches. Personally I prefer a ham sandwich. You paying, Milkin?

MILKIN. Sure ting—if you can eat.

SOWERBY. Indeed I could eat.

MILKIN. Wid dat going on out dere?

SOWERBY. You mean the crowds?

MILKIN. I mean what dey’re doing to Mac and Capraro and de old man.

SOWERBY. They won’t do it. I have never for one moment believed they would carry it out.

MILKIN. Oh, yes, dey will. If somebody don’t get de numbers on ’em and do it quick. And dere ain’t much time.

SOWERBY. My friend, I am something of a historian, and I have made a specialty of labor developments. Never within my memory has there been a plutocracy which did not play the game with an eye to the future. Now they feel like executing Mac and Capraro. That feeling pervaded the trial and swayed the jury. On the other hand, it would be a gigantic error, from a tactical point of view to kill these men now when the whole world is watching them. They will pursue a safer and more dastardly course of action. They will execute Suvorin and commute the sentences of Mac and Capraro to life imprisonment. They will do this and then they will sit back and laugh at us, having drawn the sting from all our arguments. That was what they did in the Mooney case. Trust any government to choose the safe and dastardly course.

MILKIN. Not dis time.

SOWERBY. I think so.

MILKIN. How about de stars? How about de numbers? Dey don’t come out dat way. Dey come out— [_He turns down an expressive thumb._]

SOWERBY. If the government wishes the friendship of other nations, if it wishes the respect of its own citizens, it will take, as I said, the safe and dastardly course.

[_Ward enters._]

WARD. Have you seen the cheap story that’s out in the _Herald_—about the governor going to hold it up? [_He shows a paper._]

SOWERBY. And why not?

WARD. They’re all crazy fighting for papers up in the avenue. I had to battle for this one.

SOWERBY. Is it definite?

WARD. Read it. All the news it’s safe to print.

SOWERBY [_reading_]. “Macready-Capraro Reprieve Likely.”

IKE. About as definite as the price of clothes in a one-price second-hand store.

SOWERBY [_reading_]. “The correspondent of this paper learned from an inside official source this evening that the governor had practically made up his mind to issue a stay of execution pending further investigation into the Macready-Capraro case. This will probably mean that the executions set for midnight will be postponed another ten days.” That means the governor will act.

WARD. Like hell it does! It means he’s stringing us along till he gets ’em good and dead and it’s too late to say anything. He knows nobody cares but the radicals, and he’s playing them for suckers. Why should he worry about the crowd over in the square? There’s several million around here going to bed and going to sleep as usual. Why shouldn’t they? There’s nothing unusual happening. This isn’t a miscarriage of justice! It is justice! The government’s putting away some bad boys the way governments always put away the boys that won’t play the game! You ask any honest citizen what he thinks about it and he’ll say, “Hell, they killed a paymaster, didn’t they? Anyway, they’re anarchists, ain’t they? I should worry!” And he should. They won’t bother him as long as he’s a fat-head! [_Rosalie enters from the left. The men rise._] Oh, Rosalie! I thought you were seeing the governor.

ROSALIE. I was. I just got back. [_To Pete._] Has anybody telephoned for me here?

PETE. No, Miss Suvorin.

ROSALIE. Oh, but there must be a mistake! [_She takes up the phone._] Will you get me Mr. Gluckstein’s office—right away?

WARD. What did he say, Rosalie?

ROSALIE. He said he couldn’t decide. He—he was weighing the evidence. He had stacks of letters on both sides, and he was reading them. Oh, God—if it were anything else it would be just—funny. To think such a fool should decide if Mac will live or die. [_In the phone._] Hello—yes, yes—. But he must be. Yes, I see. Yes, yes—but he must hurry. And tell him to call me—please—no, at the Lyceum. [_She hangs up the receiver._] I thought there might be news here. Everywhere I go I think maybe there’s news somewhere else.

SOWERBY. There’s something in the _Herald_.

ROSALIE. I’ve quit trying to read about it.

SOWERBY. It says there’s going to be a reprieve.

ROSALIE. Oh, but why didn’t he tell me then?— [_She looks at the paper._]

SOWERBY. It’s been very unlikely from the beginning that they’d carry out the sentence. I don’t know that it’s much better if they commute to life imprisonment,—still—they might be pardoned, if we ever get a decent governor in office.

ROSALIE [_looking up_]. Yes—they might. They might. I haven’t allowed myself to think it, since they turned down the appeals.

SOWERBY. That was only the judge, my dear. We know where the judge stands and where the governor’s committee stands, but nobody else has spoken. The governor doesn’t have to act as his committee advises. And even if the governor failed to act there’s a supreme court justice waiting with a writ of certiorari—and everything in his record indicates that he’ll come forward if necessary.

ROSALIE. But where is he? Here it’s the last—my God—the last few minutes, and Gluckstein hasn’t even answered!

[_Rosalie, who has been dry-eyed, looks round her at the group, then sinks into a chair and begins to sob._]

WARD. I don’t know as I’d do that, Rosalie.

[_Two Policemen enter casually._]

FIRST OFFICER. What’s going on?

IKE. Not a thing.

FIRST OFFICER. What’s she crying about?

IKE. Her? Oh, she had a sweetheart killed over in France. And every once in a while she gets thinking about it, see?

FIRST OFFICER. Don’t kid me, big boy.

IKE. I wouldn’t think of it.

[_The Policemen go out._]

MILKIN. Christ, when I look at dem—when I look at dem—de paid hirelings of de unjust—I kin feel strengt’ coming back in me, de strengt’ I lost! If I was worthy to do it I could break dem all—I could break dem and bring dem down. It ain’t knowledge I lack. It ain’t courage! It’s being worthy! Worthy to rise above self! [_He snatches a paper napkin and marks it feverishly with a pencil, then rises, stretching up his arms to full length, the napkin clutched in the right._] On dis paper I have set down de sign of One, de great cabalistic sign, wit’ powers over Earth and Heaven and all de Hells! Dat is de sign which de powers has said will sway de tides and draw aside de stars from deir paths in de infinite! It is de power over all powers, de invisible _signum monstrum, de gloria cœlis, gloria mundi_! And by dis sign I conjures you in dis moment out of de endless of eternity—strike down dat judge—palsy de hands dat would lay demselves on does two men—by all dat is cognate under dis abstraction—strip dem of deir powers for good and evil, make dem as little children—and dis by de sign of One—by de sign of de mystery! [_For a moment he holds his pose, then sits again, staring gloomily before him._] It don’t work. I ain’t worthy. Dat’s de second time.

[_Andy enters._]

ANDY. A couple of telegrams for you, Ward.

WARD. Thanks.

ANDY. Anything else happened?

[_Crowd offstage. “They’ve escaped,” etc._]

WARD. No. Just a few more helpful friends asking us why in God’s name we don’t do something.

[_Jerusalem Slim flings open the street door and enters hastily in great excitement. A burst of cheering is heard._]

JERUSALEM SLIM. I knew it would happen! I knew it would happen—if I prayed for it! The women are all crying out there—and Rosalie’s crying—but don’t cry any more—don’t cry any more! Haven’t you heard it? Haven’t you heard it?

IKE. What?

JERUSALEM SLIM. They’ve escaped.

IKE. Who’s escaped?

JERUSALEM SLIM. The men! Mac and Cappie and Suvorin! They’re gone and nobody knows where they are!

WARD. Escaped? Out of the death-house!

JERUSALEM SLIM. Yes! It’s in the papers.

SOWERBY. You’re crazy, Slim!

[_A newsboy passes shouting._]

JERUSALEM SLIM. Everybody says so.

[_Ward makes a dash for the door and goes out_].

IKE. What paper’s it in?

JERUSALEM SLIM. I don’t know.

[_Ward enters with a paper. He looks at it in astonishment._]

WARD. “Break from death-house reported!” They must be doing it to sell papers.

[_Crowd dies away. Rosalie looks at the paper._]

ROSALIE. Ward—could it be true?

WARD. I—I don’t think so, Rosalie. It’s never happened. I wish it might. But it couldn’t possibly.

[_The Salvation Lass enters from the street, looking at Rosalie expectantly. The news is written in her face._]

SOWERBY. However, it’s extraordinary that the _Gazette_ should print it—if there’s nothing in the story.

WARD. It says it’s reported—any kind of rumor could get about. There’s no use hoping for anything like that. If it did happen, they’d just take them back again.

[_An elderly priest enters from the street and goes to the counter. The group fails to notice him._]

THE PRIEST. Give me same coffee, please.

[_At the sound of his voice, Rosalie recognizes Suvorin in the priest. She turns toward him._]

ROSALIE. Then—it is true! Oh, God, it is true!

WARD. What is it?

ROSALIE. It’s—my father. Don’t you see? Dad—Dad!

[_Suvorin makes an almost imperceptible motion for silence. The words freeze on Rosalie’s lips. A Policeman enters and walks to the counter._]

THE OFFICER. Coffee, old man, and fill it up with milk. I’ve got to drink fast. Evening, father.

[_Pete serves him. Suvorin and the Policeman sip their coffee elbow to elbow. The Policeman goes out without a word._]

ROSALIE. But—dad—then it’s true! You got away!

SUVORIN. Yes.

ROSALIE. Why are you here?

SUVORIN. I had to come back for some money. I’ll go out the other way. [_Goes toward door at left._]

ROSALIE. Then—where are the others?

SUVORIN. The others?

ROSALIE. Cappie—and Mac?

SUVORIN. I couldn’t help them. I’m sorry.

ROSALIE. Oh—

SUVORIN. They couldn’t hold me. I knew they couldn’t. But I couldn’t help anybody else. I’m sorry.

ROSALIE. You mean—you left Mac—there?

SUVORIN. I couldn’t help him.

ROSALIE. No. [_Suvorin goes out left._] But—they won’t go ahead now—now that one of them’s escaped! They won’t, will they, Ward?

WARD. I don’t know.

ROSALIE. No—no! Say they won’t! What are we doing here! Oh, don’t you see it’s nearly time! Why do we wait for other people to do something! It will be too late soon—and then we’ll think of what we might have done! They’re going to kill Cappie—and—and Mac—don’t you know it? They’re going to kill them—and we’ve had all day to help—we’ve had days and weeks—and years! We’ve let it go on till—till it’s almost too late. Oh, dear God, don’t they know Mac couldn’t be guilty? They know it! They can’t kill him! [_The phone rings. Rosalie looks at it, clenching her hands, staring wildly._]

WARD. I’ll answer it. [_He goes to the phone._] Hello. Yes. Yes, this is Ward. Yes. I can take a message. [_He waits._] I didn’t hear that. [_He listens, then turns toward Rosalie apprehensively. Rosalie is looking away. The men watch him. He makes a downward sign for silence._] Yes, we know that. Thank you. Yes, sure. [_He hangs up, slowly. It is obvious that the news was bad._]

ROSALIE. Was it Gluckstein?

WARD. Yes. It’s not decided yet. They’re still—trying everything.

ROSALIE. Oh, are they truly, Ward—or are you lying to me? Because, you see—he’s warm and alive now—and if they’d only wait till I could tell them again—No, no, we’ve told them over and over—and they listened to us—and went on killing them. Because they know they’re innocent—and they don’t care.

[_Ike looks out the window and turns to pick up Sowerby and Ward with a glance. They look out. Ike whispers. The crowd murmurs outside._]

IKE. Capraro goes first.

[_They watch in silence, then Ike whispers again._]

ROSALIE. Don’t!—Don’t!—Don’t whisper any more! What is it? [_She sees the clock. The hands point to one minute of twelve._] There’s still time! There’s still time! Oh, my dear, my dear, one minute more time in all your world—only one minute more of time and I can do nothing! [_The hands click to midnight! Ward returns to Rosalie._] You lied to me, Ward, they’re killing them now. What does it say over there? Tell me what it says. Ike, you can tell me.

IKE. It says “Capraro Murdered.”

[_Rosalie drops her hands, frozen. One of the Officers enters, looks around casually, then looks out of the window. Sowerby speaks low to Ike._]

ROSALIE. Don’t whisper it! Don’t whisper it! Didn’t you hear me say not to whisper any more? That’s what they’ll want you to do—whisper it—keep quiet about it—say it never happened—it couldn’t happen—two innocent men killed—keep it dark—keep it quiet—No! No! Shout it! They’re killing them! [_There is a cry from the crowd. The Policeman looks at Rosalie. The Men at the window stir uneasily. Cry from crowd—woman shrieks. Crowd silent._] What does it say now, Ike? [_Ike makes no answer._] I know what it says! It says “Macready Murdered.” Mac—Mac—my dear—they have murdered you—while we stood here trying to think of what to do they murdered you! Just a moment ago you had a minute left—and it was the only minute in the whole world—and now—now this day will never end for you—there will be no more days! [_The crowd is heard again._] Shout it! Shout it! Cry out! Run and cry! Only—it won’t do any good—now.

CURTAIN

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

BASED ON “BEGGARS OF LIFE”

BY JIM TULLY

THE CAST

BILL RUBIN SKELLY MOSE LITTLE RED EDNA BALDY HOPPER SNAKE OKLAHOMA FIRST STRANGER SECOND STRANGER THIRD STRANGER UKIE SIMS BRAKEMAN DETECTIVE SHERIFF DEPUTIES

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN