Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1907 — THE CONQUEST of CANAAN [ARTICLE]

THE CONQUEST of CANAAN

By BOOTH TARKINGTON.

Author of “Cherry," "Monsieur Betucalre," Etc. 3 COPYRIGHT. 1803. BY HARPER BROTHERS

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. Chapter I—Eugene Bantry. a Canaan (Ind.,) young man, who haa been east to college, returns home and astounds the natives by the irorgeousness of his raiment. His stepbrother, Joe Loudin, Is characterized by the aged male gossips who daily assemble at the National House for argument as the good for fothlng associate of doubtful characters. ll—ogene's appearance has a pronounced effect upon Mamie Pike, whose father, Judge Pike, la the wealthiest and moat prominent citizen of Canaan. Joe worships Mamie from •far. Bugene interferes in a enow light between Joe and his hoidenlsh and very poor girl friend, Ariel Taber, who is worsted. Artel hotly resents the interference and slaps Eugene, who sends her home. Ill—Ariel, unbecomingly attired, attends Mamie Pike's ball. IV—Joe, concealed behind some plants on the Pike veranda, watches hungrily for a glimpse of Minnie. Ariel is ignored by most of the guests. Ariel discovers Joe, aut shortly afterward, learning that her uncle, Jonas Tabor, has died suddenly, leaves. The Daily Tocsin oi the next day tells of Joe's discovery on the Pike veranda and of his pursuit and escape therefrom. It also refers to wounds in the head of himself and of Norbert Flltcroft, who detected him. Joe retires to the “Beach," a low resort kept by his friend, Mike Sheehan, who dresses nls wound. VI Joe leaves Mike’s place. He visits Ariel Tabor, who, by the death of her Uncle Jonas, bas become rich. She wishes Joe to accompany her and her grandfather to Paris. Joe refuses and leaves Canaan to avoid arrest for the trouble at Judge Pike’s. Vll—Joe is beard from two years later as a ticket seller for a side show. Eugene Rantry also meets him seven years later in a low resort in New York, but wlsely refrains from advertising it. VIII--Joe returns to Canaan a full-fledged lawyer. Even his father ignores klm. and he is refused accommodations at the National bouse. IX—Joe is welcomed at the “Beach," and “Happy Fear,” one of Joe'a admirers, aeriously assualts Nashville Cory, a detractor. At the end of Happy's term In prison he visits Joe, who now baa a law office on the square, with a living room adjoining. Joe has a large practice, principally among the lower classes, and Is frequently attacked by the Tocsin. Joe begins, in bis lonliness, to yield to the seductions of the bottle. Bantry's engagment to Mamie Pike is announced. Bantry is now aaeociate editor of the Tocsin, owned by Judge Pike- X—Joe awakens after a “bad sight" with the words, “Remember, acrosstbe Main street bridge at noon," ringing in hia ears. He goes there and Is presently joined by the most beautifully dressed girl he has ever Been. Xl—She turns out to be Ariel Tabor, arrived in Canaan the night before from her long sojourn in Paris. She has seen Joe as she alighted from the train and. realizing his condition, had escorted him home after exacting from him a promise to meet her the next day (Sunday) across the Main street bridge at noon. Joe learns that Ariel is stoppings! Judge Pike's home, the judge having Intire charge of her money, etc. Xll—lugene Bantry, although engaged to Mamie, Js much smitten with Ariel's charms. Judge Pike tries his usual blustering tactics with Ariel, but subsides When she tells him that she shall ask him to turn over the care of her estate to Joe Louden. Xlll—Ariel holds a sort of Informal reception at Judge Pike'sand learns that the “tough element” Is talking of running Joe for mayor. XlV—Happy Fear and Nashville Cory have more trouble. Joe corners Happy and sends Claudlne (Mrs. Pear) to meet him. XV—Ariel visits Joe’s office to put her affairs In his hands. While there Happy Fear rushes in and announces that he has killed Nashville Cory in self defense. Joe makes Happy give himself up. XVl—Mamie Pike admits to Ariel that she, too. has begun to believe In Joe Louden. XVII—The Tocsin makes virulent attacks on Joe Louden and Happy Kear. Mike Sheehan hints that be may shortly have some Interesting secrets to divulge in connection with Judge Pike’s affairs. XVIII-The Tocsin continues its attacks. Judge Pike Informs Ariel that her supposed fortune consists of valueless securities. XlX—Aged Bskew Arp. one of the band of National House gossips and erstwhile traducers of Joe, rescues Joe's dog from a miserable death at the hands of the townspeople and then collapses. XX. Arp Is carried in Judge Pike's carriage to Ariel's house. With him are Ariel, Mamie Pike and Joe Louden. Arp compels several of his National House cronies who call to shake hands with Joe Louden. XXl—Bugene Bantry repents of hla treatment of his stepbrother. Joe Louden, resigns from the Tocsin and leaves Canaan. Korbert Flitcroft tells how Judge Pike bought Granger Gas stocks with Ariel's money, but took that stock for himself, substituting for it worthless distillery securities. Eakew Arp dies. XXll—Arp’s money is left to Joe. Joe Is selected at a political confab as a candidate for mayor. Mike Sheehan discloses that the immaculate Judge Pike owns the property known as the “Beach," a resort conducted by Mike, CHAPTER XXIII.

FROM within the glossy old walnut liar that ran from wall to wall the eyes of the lawyers and reporters wandered often to Ariel as she sat In the packed courtroom watching Louden’s fight for the life and liberty of Happy Fear. She bad always three escorts, and, though she did not miss a session and the same three never failed to attend her. no whisper of scandal arose. But not upon them did the glances of the members of the bar and the Journalists with tender frequencyUnger, nor were the younger members of these two professions all who gazed that way. Joe had fought out the selection of the Jury with the prosecutor at great length and with Infinite pains. It was not a young jury, and it stared at her. _ The “court" wore ii gray beard with which a flock of Rparrows might have villa god a grove, and yet in spite of the vital necessity for watchfulness over this fighting case, it once needed to be stirred from a trancelike gaze in Miss Tailor’s direction and aroused to

the realization thnt it was there ito ‘“sit” and not to dream. The August air was warm outside the windows, inviting to the open 'Country, to swimmin’ hole, to orchard reveries or shaded pool wherein to drop a meditative line. You would" have thought no one could willingly coop himself in this hot room for three hours twice a day while lawyers wrangled, often unintelligibly, over the life of a dingy little creature like Happy Fear, yet the struggle to swelter there was almost like a riot, and the bailiffs were busy men. It was a fighting case throughout, fought to a finish on each tiny point as it came up, dragging, in the mere matter of time, interminably, yet the people of Canaan (not only those who, aucceeded in penetrating to the court room, but the others, who hung about the corridors or outside the building, and the great mass of stay at homes, who read the story in the Tocsin) found each moment of it enthralling enough. The state’s attorney, fearful of losing so notorious a case and not underestimating his opponent, had

modestly summoned others to his aid, and the attorney for the defense single handed faced "an arrny of legal talent such ns seldom indeed had hollered at this bar," faced It good naturedly, an eyebrow crooked up and his hend on one side most of the time, yet faced It Indomitably. He had a certain careless and disarming smile when he lost a point, which carried off the defeat as of only humorous account and not at nil part of the serious business In baud, and in his treatment of witnesses he was plausible, kindly, knowing that in this case he had no intending perjurer to entrap; brought Into play the rare and delicate-art of which he was a master, employing in his questions subtle suggestions and shadings of tone and manner and avoiding words of debatable and dangerous meanings—a fine craft, often attempted by blunderers to their own undoing, but which, practiced by Joseph Louden, made Inarticulate witnesses articulate to the pre else effects which he desired. This he accomplished as much by the help of the continuous fire of objections from the other side as in spite of them. He was infinitely careful, asking never an HI advised question for the other side to use to his hurt and, though exhibiting only a pleasant easiness of manner, was electrically alert. A hundred things had shown Ariel that the feeling of the place, influenced by “public sentiment” without, was subtly and profoundly hostile to Joe and his client. She read this In the spectators, In the jury, even In the judge, but It seemed to her that day by day the Inimical spirit gradually failed inside the railing and also in those spectators who, like herself, were enabled by special favor to be present throughout the trial, nnd that now and then a kindlier sentiment began to be manifested. She was unaware how strongly she contributed to effect this herself not only through the glow of visible sympathy which radiated from her, but by a particular action. Claudiue was called by the state and told as much of her story as the law permitted her to tell, interlarding her replies with fervent protestations, too quick to be prevented, that she “never meant to bring no trouble to Mr. Fear” and that she “did hate to have gen’lemen starting things on her aeqount.” When the defense took this perturbed witness her interpolations became less frequent, and she straightforwardly how she had found the pistol on the floor near the prostrate figure of Cory aud hidden it in her own dress. The attorneys for the state listened with a somewhat cynical amusement to this portion of her testimony, believing it of no account, uncorroborated, aud that, if necessary, the state could Impeach the witness on the ground that it had been indispensable to produce her. She came down weeping from the stand, and, the next witness not being immediately called, the eyes of the jurymen naturally followed her as she passed to her seat, aud they saw Ariel Tabor bow gravely to her across the railing. Now, a thousand things not set forth by legislatures, law men and judges affect a jury, aud the slight salutation caused the members of this one to glauce at one another, for it seemed to imply that the exquisite lady in wiiite not only knew Claudiue, but knew that she had spoken the truth. It was after this that a feeling favorable to the defense now and then noticeably manifested itself In the courtroom. Still, when the evidence for the state was all in the life of Happy Fear seemed to rest In a balance precarious indeed, and the little man, swallowing pitinrtty, looked at his attorney with the eyes of a sick dog. Then Joe gave the prosecutors an illuminating and stunning surprise and, having offered in evidence the revolver found upon Claudiue, produced as his first witness a pawnbroker of Denver, who identified the weapon as one he had sold to Cory, whom he lmd known very well. The second witness, also a stranger, had been even-more Intimately acquainted with the dead man, and there began to be an uneasy comprehension of what Joe had accomplished during that prolonged absence of his which had so nearly cost the life of the little mongrel, who was at present (most blissful Respectability!) a lively convalescent In Ariel’s back yard. The second witness also identified the revolver, testifying that he had borrowed It from Cory In St. Louis to settle a question of marksmanship and that on his returning it to the owner the latter, then working his way eastward, had confided to him his intention of stopping in Canaan for the purpose of exercising its melancholy functions upon

a man who had once “done him good” In that city. By the time the witness had reached this point the prosecutor and his assistants were on their feet, excitedly shouting objections, which were promptly overruled. Taken unawares, they fought for time. Thunder was loosed—forensic bellowings. Everybody lost his temper—except Joe. And the examination** the witness proceeded. Cory, with that singular inspiration to

™ ’f confide in some one which Is the characteristic and the undoing of his kind, had outlined his plan of operations to the witness with perfect clarity. He would first attempt, so he had declared, to Incite an attack upon himself by playing upon the Jealousy of his victim, having already made a tentative effort in that direction. Falling,ln this, be would fall hack upon one of a, dozen schemes (for he was ready In such matters, he bragged), the most likely of which would be to play the peacemaker. He would talk of his good intentions toward his enemy, speaking publicly of him In friendly and gentle ways, then, getting at him secretly, destroy him in such a fashion as to leave open for himself the kind gate of self defense. In brief, here was the whole tally of what had actually occurred, with the exception of the last account In the sequence which had proved that demise for which Cory had not arranged, and It fell from the lips of a witness whom the prosecution had no means of Impeaching. When he left the stand, unshaken and undiscredited after a frantic cross examination, Joe, turning to resume his seat, let liis hand fall lightly for a second upon his client’s shoulder. That was the occasion of a demonstration which indicated a sentiment favorable to the defense (on the part of at least three of the spectators), and It was In the nature of such a hammering of canes upon the bare wooden floor as effectually stopped all other proceedings instantly. The indignant ■judge fixed the colonel, Peter Bradbury and Squire Buckalew with his glittering eye, yet the hammering continued unabated, and the offenders surely would have beeu conducted forth in ignominy had not gallantry prevailed, even in that formal place. The judge, reluctantly realizing that some latitude must be allowed to these aged enthusiasts, since they somehow seemed to belong to Miss Tabor, made his remarks general, with the time worn threat to clear the room, whereupon the loyal survivors of Eskew relapsed into unabashed silence. It was now, as Joe had said, a clear enough case. Only the case Itself, however, was clear, for, as he and his friends feared, the verdict might possibly be neither in accordance with the law, the facts, nor the convictions of the Jury. Eugene’s defection had not altered the tone of the Tocsin, All day long a crowd of men and boys hung about the corridors of the courthouse, about the square and the neighboring streets, and from these rose somber murmurs, more and more ominous. The public sentiment of a community like Canaan can make It- j self felt inside a courtroom, and it was strongly exerted against Happy Fear. The Tocsin had always been a powerful agent; Judge Pike had Increased its strength with a staff which was thoroughly efficient, alert and always able to strike center with the paper’s readers, and in town and country it had absorbed the circulation of the other local journals, which resisted feebly at times, but in the matter of the Cory murder had not dared to do anything except follow the Tocsin’s lead. The Tocsin, having lit the fire, fed it—fed it saltpeter and sulphur—for now Martin Pike was fighting hard. The farmers and people of the less urban parts of the country were accustomed to found their opinions upon the Tocsin. They regarded it as the single immutable rock of journalistic -righteousness and wisdom In the world. Consequently, stirred by the outbursts of the paper, they came into Canaan in great numbers, and, though the pressure from the town Itself was so strong that only a few of them managed to crowd Into the courtroom, the others joined their voices to those somber murmurs outdoors, which Increased in loudness as the trial went on. The Tocsin, however, wqg not having everything Its own way. The volume of outcry against Happy Fear and his lawyer had diminished, it was noticed, in “very respectable quarters.” The information imparted by Mike Sheehan to the politicians at Mr. Farbach’s had been slowly seeping through the various scxAal strata of the town, and, though ar first incredulously rejected, It began to find acceptance, Upper Main street cooling appreciably in its acceptance of the Tocsin as the law and the prophets. There were even a few who dared to wonder in their hearts if there had not been a mistake about Joe Louden, and, although Mrs. Flitcroft weakened not, the relatives of Squire Buckalew and of Peter Bradbury began to hold up their heads a little after having made home horrible for those gentlemen and reproached them with their conversion as the last word of senile shame. In addition, the colonel’s grandson andMr. Bradbury’s grandson bad both mystifyiugly lent countenance to Joe, consorting with him openly, the former for his own purposes, the latter because he had cunningly discovered that it was a way to Miss Tabor’s regard, which since her gentle rejection of him he had grown to believe, good youth, might be the pleasantest thing that coulij ever come to him. In short, the question had begun to thrive, Was it possible that Eskew Arp had not been insane after all?