ti-Pinski). "He daresn't say. He's
got some of that bastard's money in his jeans now, I'll bet."

A Voice from Behind (one of Pinski's henchmen--a heavy, pugilistic
Irishman). "Don't let them frighten you, Sim. Stand your ground. They
can't hurt you. We're here."

Pinski (getting up once more). "This is an outrage, I say. Ain't I
gon' to be allowed to say what I think? There are two sides to every
question. Now, I think whatever the newspapers say that Cowperwood--"

A Journeyman Carpenter (a reader of the Inquirer). "You're bribed, you
thief! You're beating about the bush. You want to sell out."

The Bony Plumber. "Yes, you crook! You want to get away with thirty
thousand dollars, that's what you want, you boodler!"

Mr. Pinski (defiantly, egged on by voices from behind). "I want to be
fair--that's what. I want to keep my own mind. The constitution gives
everybody the right of free speech--even me. I insist that the
street-car companies have some rights; at the same time the people have
rights too."

A Voice. "What are those rights?"

Another Voice. "He don't know. He wouldn't know the people's rights
from a sawmill."

Another Voice. "Or a load of hay."

Pinski (continuing very defiantly now, since he has not yet been
slain). "I say the people have their rights. The companies ought to
be made to pay a fair tax. But this twenty-year-franchise idea is too
little, I think. The Mears bill now gives them fifty years, and I
think all told--"

The Five Hundred (in chorus). "Ho, you robber! You thief! You boodler!
Hang him! Ho! ho! ho! Get a rope!"

Pinski (retreating within a defensive circle as various citizens
approach him, their eyes blazing, their teeth showing, their fists
clenched). "My friends, wait! Ain't I goin' to be allowed to finish?"

A Voice. "We'll finish you, you stiff!"

A Citizen (advancing; a bearded Pole). "How will you vote, hey? Tell
us that! How? Hey?"

A Second Citizen (a Jew). "You're a no-good, you robber. I know you
for ten years now already. You cheated me when you were in the grocery
business."

A Third Citizen (a Swede. In a sing-song voice). "Answer me this, Mr.
Pinski. If a majority of the citizens of the Fourteenth Ward don't
want you to vote for it, will you still vote for it?"

Pinski (hesitating).

The Five Hundred. "Ho! look at the scoundrel! He's afraid to say. He
don't know whether he'll do what the people of this ward want him to
do