Meeting Boss McGinty

Chapter two

One evening, Mike Scanlan came to see McMurdo.

'McMurdo, why haven't you been to introduce yourself to Master McGinty?' he asked.

'I had to find a job,' replied McMurdo. 'I'm working as a bookkeeper now.' Scanlan seemed worried.

'But you have to see Boss McGinty,' he said. 'The lodge isn't the same here as it is in Chicago. Go tonight.' But someone else wanted to talk to McMurdo that evening Mr Shafter called McMurdo into his room and asked him about his feelings for Ettie, his daughter.

'It's no good, McMurdo,' said the old man. 'Someone has got there before you.' 'Yes, Ettie told me so, but she won't tell me his name. So who is it?' said McMurdo.

'It's one of the Scowrers,' said Shafter. 'His name is Teddy Baldwin.' 'Who are these Scowrers? Why are you all so afraid of them?' 'The Scowrers are the Ancient Order of Freemen,' replied the old man. 'But I belong to that order myself,' said McMurdo. 'You! I wouldn't have let you into my house if I had known that!' 'But why? The Order is for charity and friendship, the rules say so.' 'Maybe in some places but not here,' said the old man. 'Here they are a group of murderers. It's bad enough that I have one of these people coming after my Ettie and that I cannot say no to him. I won't have another one staying in my house. You must leave!' McMurdo went to see Ettie.

'If I had been first Ettie, would I have had a chance?' he asked her.

Ettie started crying. 'Things would have been very different if you'd been the first,' she cried. 'We can't be together because of a promise to someone you don't love? That's wrong, Ettie.' 'But I'm afraid of him, Jack, both for myself and my father. Can't we go away together somewhere else? We can take Father with us!' 'I can't take you away, I can't leave here yet. But I promise you, no harm will come to you or your father. But you may find that I am as bad as other men, Ettie,' said Jack. 'Oh no, Jack. I trust you,' replied the girl. The door opened suddenly and a handsome young man walked in. Ettie jumped to her feet looking alarmed.

'I'm glad to see you, Mr Baldwin. You're early. Please sit down.' Mr Baldwin did not sit down. 'Who's he?' he demanded.

Ettie explained that McMurdo was staying with them.

'Well, McMurdo, this young lady is mine. Perhaps she told you.' 'No, I didn't know there was anything between you.' 'Well, you know now,' replied Baldwin. 'Perhaps you're ready for a fight, Mr McMurdo?' McMurdo jumped up. 'I am!' he cried.

'Come on, outside!' 'Oh, Jack, Jack, be careful! He'll hurt you!' cried Ettie.

'Oh, it's "Jack" is it? I see how it is. Well, I'll sort this out without getting into a fight.' He rolled up his sleeve and showed McMurdo a strange mark on his arm. It was a triangle inside a circle. 'Do you know what that means?' 'I don't know and I don't care!' 'Well, you will know, I promise you that. Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you about it. And you, girl, you'll come back to me, do you hear?' He turned and left the house.

McMurdo decided to go straight down to the Union House and introduce himself to Boss McGinty, whose bar was crowded as usual. Boss McGinty was not an honest man and he was getting richer and richer. As a councilor, he controlled taxes, roadwork's and various accounts for the area. The citizens of Vermissa were blackmailed into silence, scared that they might be killed.

McMurdo went into the bar. He saw a tall, strong, heavy looking man with black hair and a beard who had to be McGinty. He looked friendly, but he had evil eyes. McMurdo walked up to the man, looked him in the eye and introduced himself. He made a signal so that McGinty would know he was also a Freeman.

McGinty looked surprised, but then he took McMurdo to a back room. He sat down and, without saying a word, examined McMurdo carefully. For a couple of minutes he sat in silence. Then, suddenly, he pulled out a gun.

'If this is a game of yours, it won't last long,' said McGinty dangerously. 'That is a strange welcome from one brother to another,' replied McMurdo calmly. 'That's just what you have to prove - that you really are a brother!' McGinty then asked him some details about where he was made a Freeman and the reason why he had left Chicago. McMurdo gave him a page from a newspaper. McGinty read it quickly; it was about the shooting of a man called Jonas Pinto in the Lake Bar in Chicago in January 1874.

'Did you shoot this man?' asked McGinty. 'Why?' 'I was making fake dollars. This man Pinto was helping me; then he said he wanted to go to the police. Maybe he did but I didn't wait to see. I just shot him and came down here.' 'So can you still make these fake dollars?' asked McGinty. McMurdo gave him a handful of notes. 'Well, these aren't real,' he said. At this moment, Ted Baldwin walked in.

'So, you got here first, McMurdo,' he said angrily. Boss McGinty wanted to know what the problem was. McMurdo told him about Ettie.

'She's free to choose for herself,' he finished. 'Between two brothers of the lodge, she certainly is,' agreed McGinty. 'And that's your answer?' shouted Ted Baldwin. 'You've known me for years and now you take the side of this newcomer?' McGinty jumped on him like a tiger. He grabbed his neck and threw him across the room.

'While I'm the Master of this lodge, you had better accept my rules,' he shouted. Ted Baldwin nodded.

'So we're all friends, right?' said McGinty. 'And there's an end to the matter.' Ted Baldwin was back on his feet. He nodded again but he did not look happy.