Books › The Red Book 1913-04: Vol 20 Iss 6, 1913 › scan 39
Scan 39
The Red Book 1913-04: Vol 20 Iss 6, 1913
37 lines. Read by computer on 14 September 2026. Printed page 1002. See the scan on archive.org.
1Many glanced down their programs for Jimmy Riley's name. That was the star number in the show; and now it was only two turns away.
3"James Riley, the Peerless Tenor, With Favorite Old-Time Ballads." Thus it read.
5Back of the scenes Jimmy Riley was struggling into his claw hammer coat. The stiffness of his starched shirt bosom seemed to make him very awkward. He was perspiring freely. Through the wings he could see the 'cello player, who had followed the two German comedians. He listened to the 'cello player's music, then to the applause—to an encore. He finished his dressing. The contortionist was now tying himself into knots. Jimmy Riley felt a hand on his shoulder.
7"Better take a drink of water." It was the clothes-room trusty.
9"Sure," Jimmy Riley whined; "me pipes feel foggy." He swallowed the water at a gulp.
11A moment later he was standing before a mass of upturned faces which seemed to be floating on a sea of stripes. The glare of the footlights was in his eyes. He bowed.
13The audience watched him—a little figure, immaculate in evening dress, bowing as stiffly as if his body were made of wood. Now he stood erect. His bullet head went back; his hard grey eyes glanced over the whole room; they reached the rear seats; they hung there ever so briefly. In that instant the eyes glinted; the square jaw shoved forward; and the shadow of a smile—a smile that went the wrong way of the mouth—made Jimmy Riley look tougher than any man had ever seen him.
15The face changed. The eyes gazed far away. Then Jimmy Riley sang.
17Darling, I am growing old,
18Silver threads among the gold—
20Clear and sweet and high, the notes flowed liquid from his lips—line after line, trembling with a sentiment which brought tears over cheeks all seamed with the marks of crime. He sang it through; and then the room was silent. He knew the meaning of that silence now. When the applause came deafening, he bowed again stiffly. He responded to one encore, then another, and then a third.
22The con-show lasted late. The audience moved out slowly in order that its component parts might be properly marshaled. Jimmy Riley had changed back to his stripes and had gone outside with the other performers before the last line had left their seats. The actors, by special favor, were to have supper at the "officers' and guards' mess." They stood there waiting.
24The last line was passing them. A guard stood near the performers; and another stood at the summit of the stairs beside the chapel door. These kept their eyes on the file of outgoing convicts. Jonah Sheedy passed through the door; he descended the steps. Then the line broke.
26The lean, striped figure of Jonah Sheedy was leaping into the midst of the little group of convict-actors, straight upon Jimmy Riley.
28Jonah Sheedy's striped arm swept upward from his waistband; it plunged down. The glint of sixteen inches of steel streaked blue under the lofty arcs. The arm came up again; then down once more.
30The guard at the foot of the steps was upon him now. The guard by the door hurled himself down the short flight and joined his fellow officer. They pinned Jonah Sheedy to the earth; they wrested the knife from his fingers.
32Jimmy Riley lay close by. Blood was flowing over his stripes.
34The warden was outside the walls, in the captain of the guard's office, when the news came. He hurried through the main gate into the prison. The captain of the yard met him and the two proceed straight to the incorrigible ward; they talked with the trio of prison breakers there. When they came down from the solitary cells they visited the turnkey's office and there they interviewed Jonah Sheedy, who was quite candid now. By reason of this it was nearly an hour after the stabbing before the warden stood in the hospital beside Jimmy Riley's bed.
36The prison doctor was carrying something from the room. He held it up and winked at the warden. It was the sheet of tin which had been missing from the machine shop; it had been bent to fit over a man's chest. The warden did not
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.