TONY MARSHALL.
Tony Marshall was one of the Negroes of the younger class who had left the
country district and had come to R---- as a result of the imbroglio between
Lemuel Dalton and Harry Dalton. He had come to the city with the untried
innocence of country life, sober, industrious and frugal, acceptable as a
wholesome infusion into Negro life in the city, which, so far as the masses
were concerned, stood sadly in need thereof. Without much difficulty he had
secured work as a porter in a hardware store. After a few years' sojourn in
the city, he had fallen in love and married.
Among the Negroes of R---- Mrs. Tony Marshall was variously designated as
"a good looking woman," "a fine looking woman," and among the older ones as
"a likely gal;" and she richly deserved these encomiums passed on her
personal appearance. She was not a small woman, nor yet could you call her
large. Her form, while not delicately chiseled, presented an appearance
that seemed to be a satisfactory compromise between beauty and strength,
each struggling to be noted in this one form. Her face was well featured,
her hazle colored eyes making it very attractive. As to complexion, she
was dark, quite dark, and of a hue so soft and attractive therewith that
her complexion made her an object of envy.
Tony Marshall adored his wife, and it was his one ambition to see her
happy. Everything that he did was with a view to her comfort and happiness.
On the meagre wages which he received he had not been able to provide for
her as he had desired.
Noticing that young white men who had entered the employ of the hardware
company after his coming and knew no more of the requirements of the
business than he did--noticing that these had several times been promoted,
Tony Marshall made an application for an increase in his wages. The head of
the firm looked at him in astonishment. It was an unwritten and inexorable
rule in that and in many other establishments that the wages of Negro
employes were to remain the same forever, however efficient the labor and
however long the term of service.
Failing of promotion where he was, and noting that the rate of one dollar
per day prevailed almost universally, Tony Marshall saw no relief in
changing employment, and decided to increase his own wages at his
employers' expense. He made a comparison between the salary which he was
receiving and that being received by the white employees who did work
similar in character to his. He began, therefore, to purloin the wares of
the company and dispose of them at various pawn shops. As a "sop" to his
conscience he stole only so much as sufficed to bring his wages to the
level of others who did work like his. His thefts were the more easily
committed because he had won the unlimited confidence of his employers.
Tony has just rented a more commodious house for the pleasure of his wife,
and as his rent is to be increased, he is pondering how to further increase
his income. On this particular morning when our story finds him, he is
debating this question as he walks to his work. At last he concluded to
steal that day a very fine pistol from the stock under his care, which
theft he hoped would net him such a nice sum that he could suspend
pilfering for a while. When he returned home that evening he carried the
pistol with him, and hid it under the front doorstep, it being his rule to
not allow his wife to know anything of his misdoings; for he could not bear
the thought of forfeiting her respect.
"I am going to my lodge meeting now; I may not return until very late,"
said Tony that night, as he kissed his wife good-bye. Instead of going to
the lodge meeting, however, Tony Marshall went to the section of the city
where were congregated practically all of the vicious Negroes of R----.
Entering a house, the front room of which was the abode of an aged couple,
he passed to the rear through a hall way. Giving the proper rap at a door,
he was admitted. He was now in a long room well crowded with Negro men and
many women, who sat at tables engaged in various kinds of gaming.
The occupants of the room gazed up at the newcomer, quickly, enquiringly,
but seeing that it was the well known Tony, their attention returned to the
matters before them. The flapping of cards, the rolling of dice, outbursts
of profanity, the clinking of glasses as liquor drinking progressed, were
the sounds that filled the room.
Tony found room at a dice table and was soon deeply engaged in the game. At
a late hour the accustomed rap was heard at the door and it was opened.
Great was the consternation of all when the newcomers were discovered to be
a half dozen policemen.
The inmates of the gambling house saw at once that some frequenter of the
place had proven traitor and furnished the officers with information. They
were all placed under arrest and formed into a line to be marched to the
city jail. The Negroes had submitted with such good grace that the officers
felt able to dispense with the patrol wagon, the jail being near.
Tony Marshall's thoughts were of his wife, Lula. She was of a highly
respectable family and her mortification would be boundless should she know
of his arrest in the gambling den and hear of his being in the chain gang
working out his fine on the public highways.
Tony Marshall decided to escape at the risk of his life. The gambling
fraternity had a code of signals that could give the cue to the proper
course to be pursued under any given circumstances. The leader of the gang
now gave three coughs, which meant, "Raise a row among yourselves." The
idea was to get up a fight among the prisoners and while the officers were
attempting to quell the fight, as many as could were to make their escape.
It was the rule that all who made their escape were to employ lawyers and
raise money to help out those left behind.
A group began quarreling among themselves, and a fight soon followed. The
officers interposed to quell the disturbance and prisoners broke and ran in
all directions. The officers found that they had a larger number than they
could well manage under the circumstances, and they gave their attention to
corralling a few, letting the others escape in the hope of tracing them out
and re-arresting them on the morrow.
Among those that escaped was Tony Marshall. Running by his home, he secured
the stolen pistol from beneath the doorstep, got his bicycle from the
woodhouse and was soon speeding out of the city. He chose the road that led
to the settlement whence he had come to the city. It was his intention
from that point to write to his wife, telling her that he had received a
most urgent call to see his aged mother who was represented to him to be
dying.
Throughout the night Tony rode at a rapid rate, putting many miles between
himself and the city. About daybreak, as he was speeding along on his
bicycle, he glanced up into a tree and saw therein a squirrel. "Good luck!"
said he, "there is my breakfast." Jumping from his bicycle, he got on the
side of the road opposite to the tree that held the squirrel. Elevating his
pistol, he took aim and was upon the eve of pulling the trigger when he
heard the clatter of the hoofs of a horse galloping in his direction. He
dropped the pistol to his side and peered around the bend of the road to
catch sight of the newcomer on the scene. For a few minutes only we leave
him standing thus that we may fully acquaint you with the newcomer, that
the horror of the meeting between the two may not come as too great a shock
to you.
"But how is the waiting, struggling, hoping Dorlan concerned in all of
this?" the reader asks. That, too, in due time will be apparent.