The Trapping of Birdy Edwards

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part two, Chapter seven of the Valley of Fear by
Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a libervox recording. All libervox
recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
to volunteer, please visit libervox dot org. Chapter seven the
trapping of Birdie Edwards. As mac murdo had said, the

(00:21):
house in which he lived was a lonely one and
very well suited for such a crime as they had planned.
It was on the extreme fringe of the town and
stood well back from the road. In any other case,
the conspirators would have simply called out their man, as
they had many a time before, and emptied their pistols
into his body. But in this instance it was very

(00:41):
necessary to find out how much he knew, how he
knew it, and what had been passed on to his employers.
It was possible that they were already too late and
that the work had been done. If that was indeed so,
they could at least have their revenge upon the man
who had done it. But they were hopeful that nothing
of great importance had yet come to the detective's knowledge,

(01:03):
as otherwise, they argued, he would not have troubled to
write down and forward such trivial information as Matt Murdo
claimed to have given him. However, all this they would
learn from his own lips. Once in their power, they
would find a way to make him speak. It was
not the first time that they had handled an unwilling witness.

(01:24):
Matt Murdo went to Hobson's patch as agreed. The police
seemed to take particular interest in him that morning, and
Captain Marvel, he who would claimed the old acquaintance with
him at Chicago, actually addressed him as he waited at
the station. Matt Murdo turned away and refused to speak
with him. He was back from his mission in the
afternoon and saw McGinty at the Union House. He is grooming,

(01:48):
he said, Good, said McGinty. The giant was in his
shirt sleeves with chains and seals, gleaming athwart his ample waistcoat,
and a diamond twinkling through the fringe of his bristle beard.
Drink and politics had made the Boss a very rich
as well as powerful man. The more terrible therefore seemed

(02:08):
that glimpse of the prison or the gallows, which had
risen before him the night before.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Do you reckon?

Speaker 1 (02:14):
He knows much, he asked anxiously. Matt Murdo shook his
head gloomily.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
He's been here some time, six weeks at the least.
I guess he didn't come into the past to look
at the prospect. He's been working among us all that time,
with the railroad money at his back. I should expect
that he has got results, and that he has passed
them on.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
There's not a weak man in the.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Lodge, cried McGinty.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
True as steel, every man of them. And yet by
the Lord, there is that skunk Morris. What about him?
If any man gives us away, it would be he.
I have a mind to send a couple of the
boys around before evening to give him a beating up
and see what they can get from him.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well be no harm in that, Mat Murdo answered.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
I won't deny. Did I have a liking for Morris.
I will be sorry to see him come to harm.
You've spoken to you once or twice over to lodge matters,
and do we may not see them the same as
you or I. He never seemed to sort that squeals.
But still it is not for me to stand between
him and you.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'll fix the.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Old devil, said mc ginty, with an oath.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
I've had my eye on him this past year.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Well you know best.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
About that, Mat Murdow answered, But.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Whatever you do must be to morrow, for we must
lie low till a picket and a fair is settled up.
We can't afford to set the police buzzing to day
of all days.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
True for you, said mc ginty, And we'll learn from
Bertie Edwards himself where he got his news if we
have to cut his heart out first. Did he seem
to scant a trap?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Mat Murdow laughed, Oh, yes, I took him Money's week point,
he said, if he could get a good trial of
the scour is he's ready to follow it into hell.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
I took his money, Matt Murdo grinn does. He produced
a wad of dollar notes.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
And there's much more when he has seen all my papers.
What papers, Well, there are no papers. But I threwed
him up about constitutions and books of rules and firms
of membership. He's fixed to get right down to the
end of everything before he leaves faith.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
He's right there, said McGinty grimly.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Did he ask you why you didn't bring him the
papers if I.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Would carry such things, and me is suspected man and
Captain Mervin, after speaking to me this very day at
the dippot Ay, I heard.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Of that, said McGinty.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I guess the heavy end of this business is coming
on to you. We could put him down an old
shaft when we've done with him. But however we work it,
we can't get past the man living at Hobson's Patch
and you being there today.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Matt Murdo shrugged his shoulders.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
If we handle it right, they can never prove the killing,
said he. No one can see him come to the
house after dark, and I'll lay to it that no
one will see him. Go. Now, see here, counselor I'll
show you my plan and I'll ask you to fit
the others into it. You will all come in good time,
very well. He comes at ten, he's to tap three

(05:21):
times and me to open the door for him to
not get behind him and shut it.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
He's our man, then that's all easy and plain.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yes, But the next step, once considering he's a hard proposition.
He's heavily armed, he filled him proper, and yet he
is likely to be on his guard. Suppose I show
him right into a room with seven men in it
where he expected to find me alone. There is going
to be shootin' and somebody is going to be hurt.
That's so, and the noise is going to bring every

(05:54):
damned copper in the township on top of it.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
I guess you are right.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
This is how I should work it. You'll all be
in the big room, same as you saw when you
had a chat with me. I'll open the door for him,
show him into the parlor beside the door, and leave
him there while I get the papers that will give
me the chance of telling you how things are sheeping.
Then I we'll go back to him with some fake papers.
When he is reading them, I will jump for him

(06:19):
and get my grip on his pistol arm and hear
me call, and in you will rush. The quicker the better,
for he is as stronger man as I, and I
may have more than I can manage, but I'll allow
that I can hold him till you come.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
It's a good plan, said mc ginty.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
The large will owe you a debt for this. I
guess when I move out of the chair, I can
put a name to the man that's coming after me.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Sure counselor a little more than a.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Recruit, said Matt Murdo, But his face showed what he
thought of the great man's compliment. When he had returned home,
he made his own preparations for the grim evening in
front of him. First he cleaned oil, unloaded his Smith
and Wesson revolver. Then he surveyed the room in which
the detective was to be trapped. It was a large apartment,

(07:09):
with a long deal table in the center and the
big stove at one side. At each of the other
sides were windows. There were no shutters on these, only
like curtains which drew across. Matt Murdo examined these attentively.
No doubt it must have struck him that the apartment
was very exposed for so secret a meeting, yet its

(07:29):
distance from the road made it of less consequence. Finally,
he discussed the matter with his fellow lodger. Scanlon, though
a scourer, was an inoffensive little man who was too
weak to stand against the opinion of his comrades, but
was secretly horrified by the deeds of blood at which
he had sometimes been forced to assist. Matt Murdo told

(07:51):
him shortly what was intended, And if I.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Were you make Scanlan, I would take an aid off
and be clear of it. There will be bloody working
year before morning.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Well indeed, then.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Mac scanlon answered.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
It's not the will but the nerve that is wanton
in me. When I saw Manager Dunn go down at
the Collier Yonder, it was just more than I could stand.
I'm not made for it, same as you were McGuinty.
If the lodge will make none the worse of me,
I'll just do as you advise and leave you to

(08:26):
yourselves for the evening.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
The men came in good time, as arranged. They were
outwardly respectable citizens, well clad and cleanly, but a judge
of faces would have read little hope for Birdie Edwards
in those hard mouths and remorseless eyes. There was not
a man in the room whose hands had not been
reddened a dozen times before. They were as hardened to

(08:49):
human murder as a butcher to sheep. Foremost of course,
both in appearance and in guilt, was the formidable Boss
har Away. The secretary was a lean, bitter man with
a long, scraggy neck, a nervous, jerky limbs, a man
of incorruptible fidelity where the finances of the order were concerned,

(09:10):
and with no notion of justice or honesty to any
one beyond the treasurer. Carter was a middle aged man
with an impassive, rather sulky expression and a yellow parchment skin.
He was a capable organizer, and the actual details of
nearly every outrage had sprung from his plotting brain. The

(09:31):
two Willoughbies were men of action, tall lithe young fellows
with determined faces, while their companion, Tiger Kormac, a heavy,
dark youth, was feared even by his own comrades for
the ferocity of his disposition. These were the men who
assembled that night under the roof of Matt Murdo for

(09:51):
the killing of the Pinkerton detective. Their host had placed
whiskey upon the table, and they had hastened to prime
themselves for the work before them. Baldwin and Cormac were
already half drunk, and the liquor had brought out all
their ferocity. Cormac placed his hands on the stove for
an instant it had been lighted, for the nights were

(10:11):
still cold. That'll do, said he, with an oath. Aye,
said Baldwin, catching his meaning.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
If he's trapped to that, we will have the truth
out of him. We'll have the truth out of him.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Never fear, said mat Murdo. He had nerves of steel
this man, for though the whole weight of the affair
was on him, his manner was as cool and unconcerned
as ever. The others marked it and applauded.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
You are the one to handle him.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Said the boss approvingly.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Not a warning will he get till your hand is
on his throat. It's a pity there are no shutters
to your windows.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Mat Murdo went from one to the other and drew
the curtains tighter.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Sure no one can spy upon us. No, it's close
upon the hour. Maybe he won't come.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Maybe he'll get a sniff of.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Danger, said the secretary.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Your gum.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Never fear, Matt Murdo answered.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
He is as ear to gum as you can be
to see him.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Harfter that, they all sat like wax figures, some with
their glasses arrested halfway to their lips. Three loud knocks
had sounded at the door. Hush, matt Murdo raised his
hand in caution. An exulting glance went round the circle
and hands were laid upon their weapons.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Not at hone for your lives.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Mat Murdo whispered as he went from the room, closing
the door carefully behind him. With strained ears, the murderers waited.
They counted the steps of their comrade down the passage.
Then they heard him open the outer door. There were
a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware
of a strange step inside, and of an unfamiliar voice.

(11:53):
An instant later came the slam of the door and
the turning of the key in the lock. Their prey
was safe within. The Tiger Kormac laughed horribly, and Boss
McGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Be quiet, you fool, he whispered, you'll be the undoing
of us.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yet there was a mutter of conversation from the next room.
It seemed interminable. Then the door opened and Matt Murdo appeared,
his finger upon his lip. He came over to the
end of the table and looked round at them. A
subtle change had come over him. His manner was as
of one who had great work to do. His face

(12:32):
had set into granite firmness, his eyes shone with a
fierce excitement behind his spectacles. He had become a visible
leader of men. They stared at him with eager interest,
but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze,
he looked from man to man, well, cried Boss McGinty,
at last.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Is he here? Is Bertie Edward's here?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yes, Matt Murdo answered slowly.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Bertie Hewards, that's here. I am burdy headwards.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
There were ten seconds after that brief speech, during which
the room might have been empty, so profound was the silence.
The hissing of a kettle upon the stove rose sharp
and strident to the ear. Seven white faces, all turned
upward to this man, who dominated them, was set motionless
with utter terror. Then, with a sudden shivering of glass,

(13:26):
a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window,
while the curtains were torn from their hangings. At the site,
Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and
plunged for the half open door. A leveled revolver met
him there, with the stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin
of the Mine Police gleaming behind the sights. The Boss

(13:48):
recoiled and fell back into his chair.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
You're safer there, counselor.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Said the man whom they had known as Matt Murdo.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
And you a bald one. If you don't take a pistol,
you'll cheat the angmer. Yet pull it out, and by
the Lord that made me there, that'll do. There are
forty our men around this house, and you can figure
out for yourself what chance you have take their pistols.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Marvin, there was no possible resistance under the menace of
those rifles. The men were disarmed, sulky, sheepish, and amazed.
They still sat round the table.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
I'd like to say a word to you before we.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Separate, said the man who would trap them.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
I guess we may not meet again until you see me, understand,
in the courthouse. I'll give you something to think over
between now and then. You know me. Now for what
I am at last, I can put my carrots on
the table. I am Bertie Edwards, the Pingerdon's I was
chosen to break up your gang. I had a hard
and dangerous game to play. Not a soul, not one soul.

(14:56):
Not my nearest and dearest knew that I was playing it.
Only Captain Marvin here and my employers knew that. But
it's over tonight, thank god, and I am the winner.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him. There
was unappeasable hatred in their eyes. He read the relentless threat.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
Maybe you think that the game is not over yet.
Well I take my chance of that. Anyhow, some of
you will take no further hand, and are sixty more
beside yourselves that will see a jail this night. I'll
tell you this that when I was put upon this job,
I never believe there is such a society as yours.
I thought it was all paper talk, and that I

(15:39):
would prove it. So they told me it was to
do with the freemen. So I went to Chicago and
was made one. Then I was surer than ever that
it was just paper talk, for I found no harm
in society, but a deal of good. Still, I had
to carry out my job, and I came to the
coal valleys. When I reached this place, I learned that

(16:01):
I was wrong, and that it wasn't a dime novel
after all. So I stayed to look after it. I
never killed a man in Chicago. I never admitted a
dollar in my life. Those I gave you were as
good as any others, But I never spent money better.
But I knew the way into your good wishes, and
so I pretended to you that the law was after me.

(16:22):
It all worked just as I thought. So I joined
your infernal lodge, and I took my share in your councils.
Maybe there will say I was as bad as you.
They can say what I like, so long as I
get you. But what is the truth. The night I
joined you beat up old Man's stay. I could not
warn him, for there was no time. But I held

(16:43):
your hand, Baldwin, when you would have killed him. If
ever I've suggested things, it was to keep my place
among you. They were things which I knew I could prevent.
I could not save Don and Menzies, for I did
not know enough. But I will see that their murderers
are hanged. I gave Chester Wilcox's warning so that when
I blew his house in, he and his folk were

(17:04):
in hiding. There's many a crime that I could not stop.
But if you look back and think how often your
man came home the other road, or was down in
town when you went for him, or stayed indoors when
you thought he would come out. You'll see my work.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
You blessed a traitor, hissed mc ginty through his closed teeth.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Aye, John mc guiney, you may call me that, but
eases you're smart, You're and your alike. I mean the
enemy of God and man in these parts. He took
a man to get between you and the poor devils
of men and women that you held under your grip.
There was just one way of doing it, and I
did it. You call me a trader. I guess there's
many a thousand will call me a deliverer that went

(17:47):
down into hell to save them. I had three months
of it. I wouldn't have three such months again if
they let me loosen the treasury at Washington for it.
I had to stay till I had it all, every
man and every secret right here in this hand. I'd
have waited a little longer if it hadn't come to
my knowledge that my secret was coming out. A letter
had come into the town that would have set you

(18:09):
wise to it all. Then I had to act, and
act quickly. I have nothing more to say to you
except that when my time comes, I'll die the easier
when I think of the work I have done in
this valley. Now, Maren, I'll keep you no more. Take
them in and get it over.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
There is little more to tell. Scanland had been given
a sealed note to be left at the address of
miss Etty Shafter, a mission which he had accepted with
a wink and a knowing smile. In the early hours
of the morning, a beautiful woman and a much muffled
man boarded a special train which had been sent by
the railroad company, and made a swift, unbroken journey out

(18:50):
of the land of Danger. It was the last time
that ever either Etty or her lover set foot in
the Valley of Fear. Ten days later they were married
in Chicago, with Old Jacob Shafter as witness of the wedding.
The trial of the scourers was held far from the
place where their adherents might have terrified the guardians of

(19:11):
the law. In vain. They struggled in vain. The money
of the lodge, money squeezed by blackmail out of the
whole countryside, was spent like water in the attempt to
save them. That cold, clear, unimpassioned statement from one who
knew every detail of their lives, their organization, and their
crimes was unshaken by all the wiles of their defenders.

(19:35):
At last, after so many years, they were broken and scattered.
The cloud was lifted forever from the valley. McGinty met
his fate upon the scaffold, cringing and whining. When the
last hour came, eight of his chief followers shared his fate.
Fifty odd had various degrees of imprisonment. The work of

(19:55):
Birdie Edwards was complete, and yet, as he had guessed
the the game was not over. Yet. There was another
hand to be played, and yet another and another Ted Baldwin,
for one had escaped the scaffold, so had the Willoughbies,
so had several others of the fiercest spirits of the gang.
For ten years they were out of the world. And

(20:18):
then came a day when they were free once more,
a day which Edwards, who knew his men, was very
sure would be an end of his life of peace.
They had sworn an oath on all that they thought
wholly to have his blood as a vengeance for their comrades,
and well they strove to keep their vow. From Chicago.
He was chased after two attempts, so near success that

(20:41):
it was sure that the third would get him from Chicago.
He went under a change named to California, and it
was there that the light went for a time out
of his life. When Etty Edwards died once again, he
was nearly killed, and once again under the name of Douglas,
he worked in a lonely canyon, where with an English
partner named Barker, he amassed a fortune. At last there

(21:05):
came a warning to him that the bloodhounds were on
his track once more, and he cleared only just in
time for England. And thence came the John Douglas, who
for a second time married a worthy mate and lived
for five years as a Sussex County gentleman, a life
which ended with the strange happenings of which we have heard.

(21:27):
End of Part two, Chapter seven,