McDonald was arrested, and the Dock company also proceeded against him
civilly, as it was not certain he could be held on a criminal charge
owing to the guarded manner in which he had conducted his operation.
McDonald was put under bail of $60,000, and, being unable to supply
it, remained in jail for several months. Things were finally "fixed"
all right, though. A few days before his trial he was released from
jail, John Corcoran and Alderman Tom Foley going on his bail bond.
The trial was a farce. All the gamblers, "con" men, bunko steerers
and strong-arm men in Chicago lined up in court and told how the
defaulting clerk had begged to be permitted to play the brace game,
with tears in his eyes, and that most of his money had been spent on
wine, women and song. The jury solemnly declared McDonald innocent.
The expense of his trial on the charge of stealing the Dock company's
$30,000 had made McDonald poor, and he had to get out and do a
little "hustling." Soon after his release from the county jail John
Donaldson, a California gambler and a high roller, made a winning in
McDonald's place of $2,200 at poker. He took the money back to the
hotel with him and was robbed of it and $500 besides before he had
been in bed ten minutes.
A cracksman by the name of Travers was convicted of the crime.
Donaldson used to go to Joliet every day or two to interview Travers.
Finally he came back from Joliet and never ate nor slept until he had
run McDonald down. Tweaking his nose he shouted:
"Travers has confessed. You are a thief. You are a coward. Within
twenty minutes after I was robbed you were dividing my $2,700 with
Travers and his pal."
McDonald did not deny the charge or strike back at Donaldson, as the
latter apparently hoped he would. Donaldson was a slight man, almost
dead with consumption, but he was famous as a man killer, and while
with one hand he tweaked McDonald's nose, the other hand was jammed
down in his coat pocket, and McDonald knew that if he made a move or
said a word he was a dead man.
Donaldson's hatred for McDonald became a mania with him. He was a
doomed man, anyhow, and he wanted to kill McDonald before he went. So
for the three years before death finally claimed him he would drag
himself about the streets until he could stand in front of his enemy
and slap him in the face and curse him, and beg him to raise his hand
or say a word, or give him the slightest pretext for killing him.
It was a great relief to McDonald when grim death finally claimed
Donaldson.