An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

show in this trial, which explains much—and that was that

no superior officer or head of any department was

permitted to have anything to do with any girls working

under him, or for the factory, in or out of the factory. It was

not conducive to either the morals or the honor of those

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working for this great company, and they would not allow it.

And shortly after coming there, this man had been

instructed as to that rule. But did that deter him? Did the so

recent and favorable consideration of his uncle in any way

deter him? Not in the least. Secrecy! Secrecy! From the

very beginning! Seduction! Seduction! The secret and

intended and immoral and illegal and socially unwarranted

and condemned use of her body outside the regenerative

and ennobling pale of matrimony!

“That was his purpose, gentlemen! But was it generally

known by any one in Lycurgus or elsewhere that such a

relationship as this existed between him and Roberta

Alden? Not a soul! Not a soul!, as far as I have been able to

ascertain, was ever so much as partially aware of this

relationship until after this girl was dead. Not a soul! Think

of that!

“Gentlemen of the jury,” and here his voice took on an

almost reverential tone, “Roberta Alden loved this

defendant with all the strength of her soul. She loved him

with that love which is the crowning mystery of the human

brain and the human heart, that transcends in its strength

and its weakness all fear of shame or punishment from

even the immortal throne above. She was a true and

human and decent and kindly girl—a passionate and loving

girl. And she loved as only a generous and trusting and self-

sacrificing soul can love. And loving so, in the end she gave

to him all that any woman can give the man she loves.

“Friends, this thing has happened millions of times in this

world of ours, and it will happen millions and millions of

times in the days to come. It is not new and it will never be

old.

“But in January or February last, this girl, who is now dead

in her grave, was compelled to come to this defendant,

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Clyde Griffiths, and tell him that she was about to become a

mother. We shall prove to you that then and later she

begged him to go away with her and make her his wife.

“But did he? Would he? Oh, no! For by that time a change

had come over the dreams and the affections of Clyde

Griffiths. He had had time to discover that the name of

Griffiths in Lycurgus was one that would open the doors of

Lycurgus exclusive circles—that the man who was no one

in Kansas City or Chicago—was very much of a person

here, and that it would bring him in contact with girls of

education and means, girls who moved far from the sphere

to which Roberta Alden belonged. Not only that, but he had

found one girl to whom, because of her beauty, wealth,

position, he had become enormously attached and beside

her the little farm and factory girl in the pathetically shabby

and secret room to which he had assigned her, looked poor

indeed—good enough to betray but not good enough to

marry. And he would not.” Here he paused, but only for a

moment, then went on:

“But at no point have I been able to find the least

modification or cessation of any of these social activities on

his part which so entranced him. On the contrary from

January to July fifth last, and after—yes, even after she was

finally compelled to say to him that unless he could take her

away and marry her, she would have to appeal to the sense

of justice in the community in which they moved, and after

she was cold and dead under the waters of Big Bittern—

dances, lawn fetes, automobile parties, dinners, gay trips to

Twelfth Lake and Bear Lake, and without a thought,

seemingly, that her great moral and social need should

modify his conduct in any way.”

And here he paused and gazed in the direction of Belknap

and Jephson, who in turn, were not sufficiently disturbed or

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concerned to do more than smile, first at him and then at

each other, although Clyde, terrorized by the force and the

vehemence of it all, was chiefly concerned to note how

much of exaggeration and unfairness was in all this.

But even as he was thinking so, Mason was continuing

with: “But by this time, gentlemen, as I have indicated,

Roberta Alden had become insistent that Griffiths make her

his wife. And this he promised to do. Yet, as all the

evidence here will show, he never intended to do anything

of the kind. On the contrary, when her condition became

such that he could no longer endure her pleas or the

danger which her presence in Lycurgus unquestionably

spelled for him, he induced her to go home to her father’s

house, with the suggestion, apparently, that she prepare

herself by making some necessary clothes, against the day

when he would come for her and remove her to some

distant city where they would not be known, yet where as

his wife she could honorably bring their child into the world.

And according to her letters to him, as I will show, that was

to have been in three weeks from the time she departed for

her home in Biltz. But did he come for her as he had

promised? No, he never did.

“Eventually, and solely because there was no other way

out, he permitted her to come to him—on July sixth last—

exactly two days before her death. But not before—but wait!

——

In the meantime, or from June fifth to July sixth, he allowed

her to brood in that little, lonely farm house on the outskirts

of Biltz in Mimico County, with the neighbors coming in to

watch and help her make some clothes, which even then

she did not dare announce as her bridal trousseau. And she

suspected and feared that this defendant would fail her. For

daily, and sometimes twice daily, she wrote him, telling him

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of her fears and asking him to assure her by letter or word

in some form that he would come and take her away.

“But did he even do that? Never by letter! Never! Oh, no,

gentlemen, oh, no! On the contrary some telephone

messages—things that could not be so easily traced or

understood. And these so few and brief that she herself

complained bitterly of his lack of interest and consideration

for her at this time. So much so that at the end of five

weeks, growing desperate, she wrote” (and here Mason

picked from a collection of letters on the table behind him a

particular letter, and read): “‘This is to tell you that unless I

hear from you either by telephone or letter before noon

Friday, I will come to Lycurgus and the world will know how

you have treated me.’ Those are the words, gentlemen,

that this poor girl was at last compelled to write.

“But did Clyde Griffiths want the world to know how he had

treated her? Of course not! And there and then began to

form in his mind a plan by which he could escape exposure

and seal Roberta Alden’s lips forever. And, gentlemen, the

state will prove that he did so close her mouth.”

At this point Mason produced a map of the Adirondacks

which he had had made for the purpose, and on which in

red ink were traced the movements of Clyde up to and after

her death—up to the time of his arrest at Big Bear. Also, in

doing this, he paused to tell the jury of Clyde’s well-

conceived plan of hiding his identity, the various false

registrations, the two hats. Here also he explained that on

the train between Fonda and Utica, as again between Utica

and Grass Lake, he had not ridden in the same car with

Roberta. And then he announced:

“Don’t forget, gentlemen, that although he had previously

indicated to Roberta that this was to be their wedding

journey, he did not want anybody to know that he was with

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his prospective bride—no, not even after they had reached

Big Bittern. For he was seeking, not to marry but to find a

wilderness in which to snuff out the life of this girl of whom

he had tired. But did that prevent him, twenty-four and forty-

eight hours before that time, from holding her in his arms

and repeating the promises he had no intention of keeping?

Did it? I will show you the registers of the two hotels in

which they stayed, and where, because of their assumed