An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

arresting face marred by a broken nose, which gave to him

a most unprepossessing, almost sinister, look. Yet he was

far from sinister. Rather, romantic and emotional. His

boyhood had been one of poverty and neglect, causing him

in his later and somewhat more successful years to look on

those with whom life had dealt more kindly as too favorably

treated. The son of a poor farmer’s widow, he had seen his

mother put to such straits to make ends meet that by the

time he reached the age of twelve he had surrendered

nearly all of the pleasures of youth in order to assist her.

And then, at fourteen, while skating, he had fallen and

broken his nose in such a way as to forever disfigure his

face. Thereafter, feeling himself handicapped in the

youthful sorting contests which gave to other boys the

female companions he most craved, he had grown

exceedingly sensitive to the fact of his facial handicap. And

this had eventually resulted in what the Freudians are

accustomed to describe as a psychic sex scar.

At the age of seventeen, however, he had succeeded in

interesting the publisher and editor of the Bridgeburg

Republican to the extent that he was eventually installed as

official local news-gatherer of the town. Later he came to be

the the Cataraqui County correspondent of such papers as

the Albany Times-Union and the Utica Star, ending

An American Tragedy

743

eventually at the age of nineteen with the privilege of

studying law in the office of one ex-Judge Davis Richofer, of

Bridgeburg. And a few years later, after having been

admitted to the bar, he had been taken up by several

county politicians and merchants who saw to it that he was

sent to the lower house of the state legislature for some six

consecutive years, where, by reason of a modest and at the

same time shrewd and ambitious willingness to do as he

was instructed, he attained favor with those at the capital

while at the same time retaining the good will of his home-

town sponsors. Later, returning to Bridgeburg and

possessing some gifts of oratory, he was given, first, the

position of assistant district attorney for four years, and

following that elected auditor, and subsequently district

attorney for two terms of four years each. Having acquired

so high a position locally, he was able to marry the

daughter of a local druggist of some means, and two

children had been born to them.

In regard to this particular case he had already heard from

Miss Saunders all she knew of the drowning, and, like the

coroner, had been immediately impressed with the fact that

the probable publicity attendant on such a case as this

appeared to be might be just what he needed to revive a

wavering political prestige and might perhaps solve the

problem of his future. At any rate he was most intensely

interested. So that now, upon sight of Heit, he showed

plainly the keen interest he felt in the case.

“Well, Colonel Heit?”

“Well, Orville, I’m just back from Big Bittern. It looks to me

as though I’ve got a case for you now that’s going to take

quite a little of your time.”

Heit’s large eyes bulged and conveyed hints of much more

than was implied by his non-committal opening remark.

An American Tragedy

744

“You mean that drowning up there?” returned the district

attorney.

“Yes, sir. Just that,” replied the coroner.

“You’ve some reason for thinking there’s something wrong

up there?”

“Well, the truth is, Orville, I think there’s hardly a doubt that

this is a case of murder.” Heit’s heavy eyes glowed

somberly. “Of course, it’s best to be on the safe side, and

I’m only telling you this in confidence, because even yet I’m

not absolutely positive that that young man’s body may not

be in the lake. But it looks mighty suspicious to me, Orville.

There’s been at least fifteen men up there in row-boats all

day yesterday and to-day, dragging the south part of that

lake. I had a number of the boys take soundings here and

there, and the water ain’t more than twenty-five feet deep at

any point. But so far they haven’t found any trace of him.

They brought her up about one o’clock yesterday, after

they’d been only dragging a few hours, and a mighty pretty

girl she is too, Orville—quite young—not more than

eighteen or twenty, I should say. But there are some very

suspicious circumstances about it all that make me think

that he ain’t in there. In fact, I never saw a case that I

thought looked more like a devilish crime than this.”

As he said this, he began to search in the right-hand pocket

of his well-worn and baggy linen suit and finally extracted

Roberta’s letter, which he handed his friend, drawing up a

chair and seating himself while the district attorney

proceeded to read.

“Well, this does look rather suspicious, don’t it?” he

announced, as he finished. “You say they haven’t found him

yet. Well, have you communicated with this woman to see

what she knows about it?”

An American Tragedy

745

“No, Orville, I haven’t,” replied Heit, slowly and meditatively.

“And I’ll tell you why. The fact is, I decided up there last

night that this was something I had better talk over with you

before I did anything at all. You know what the political

situation here is just now. And how the proper handling of a

case like this is likely to affect public opinion this fall. And

while I certainly don’t think we ought to mix politics in with

crime there certainly is no reason why we shouldn’t handle

this in such a way as to make it count in our favor. And so I

thought I had better come and see you first. Of course, if

you want me to, Orville, I’ll go over there. Only I was

thinking that perhaps it would be better for you to go, and

find out just who this fellow is and all about him. You know

what a case like this might mean from a political point of

view, if only we clean it up, and I know you’re the one to do

it, Orville.”

“Thanks, Fred, thanks,” replied Mason, solemnly, tapping

his desk with the letter and squinting at his friend. “I’m

grateful to you for your opinion and you’ve outlined the very

best way to go about it, I think. You’re sure no one outside

yourself has seen this letter?”

“Only the envelope. And no one but Mr. Hubbard, the

proprietor of the inn up there, has seen that, and he told me

that he found it in her pocket and took charge of it for fear it

might disappear or be opened before I got there. He said

he had a feeling there might be something wrong the

moment he heard of the drowning. The young man had

acted so nervous—strange-like, he said.”

“Very good, Fred. Then don’t say anything more about it to

any one for the present, will you? I’ll go right over there, of

course. But what else did you find, anything?” Mr. Mason

was quite alive now, interrogative, dynamic, and a bit

dictatorial in his manner, even to his old friend.

An American Tragedy

746

“Plenty, plenty,” replied the coroner, most sagely and

solemnly. “There were some suspicious cuts or marks

under the girl’s right eye and above the left temple, Orville,

and across the lip and nose, as though the poor little thing

mighta been hit by something—a stone or a stick or one of

those oars that they found floating up there. She’s just a

child yet, Orville, in looks and size, anyhow—a very pretty

girl—but not as good as she might have been, as I’ll show

you presently.” At this point the coroner paused to extract a

large handkerchief and blow into it a very loud blast,

brushing his beard afterward in a most orderly way. “I didn’t

have time to get a doctor up there and besides I’m going to

hold the inquest down here, Monday, if I can. I’ve ordered

the Lutz boys to go up there to-day and bring her body

down. But the most suspicious of all the evidence that has

come to light so far, Orville, is the testimony of two men and

a boy who live up at Three Mile Bay and who were walking

up to Big Bittern on Thursday night to hunt and fish. I had

Earl take down their names and subpoena ’em for the

inquest next Monday.”

And the coroner proceeded to detail their testimony about

their accidental meeting of Clyde.

“Well, well!” interjected the district attorney, thoroughly

interested.

“Then, another thing, Orville,” continued the coroner, “I had

Earl telephone the Three Mile Bay people, the owner of the

hotel there as well as the postmaster and the town marshal,

but the only person who appears to have seen the young