The Valley of Fear V 4 - The Valley of Fear

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part two, Chapter four of The Valley of Fear by
Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Chapter four, The
Valley of Fear. When macmurdo awoke next morning, he had

(00:22):
good reason to remember his initiation into the lodge. His
head ached with the effect of the drink, and his arm,
where he had been branded, was hot and swollen. Having
his own peculiar source of income, he was irregular in
his attendance at his work, so he had a late
breakfast and remained at home for the morning, writing a

(00:43):
long letter to a friend. Afterwards, he read the Daily Herald.
In a special column put in at the last moment, he.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Read outrage at the Herald office editor seriously injured.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It was a short account of the facts with which
he was himself more familiar than the writer could have been.
It ended with the statement.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
The matter is now in the hands of the police,
but it can hardly be hoped that their exertions will
be attended by any better results than in the past.
Some of the men were recognized, and there is hope
that a conviction may be obtained. The source of the
outrage was it need hardly be said that infamous society

(01:25):
which has held this community in bondy for so long
a period, and against which the Herald has taken so
uncompromising a stand. Mister Stanger's many friends will rejoice to
hear that though he has been cruelly and brutally beaten,
and though he has sustained severe injuries about the head,
there is no immediate danger to his life.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Below it stated that a guard of police armed with
Winchester rifles had been requisitioned for the defense of the office.
Mac Murdo had laid down the paper and was like
his pipe with a hand which was shaky from the
excesses of the previous evening. When there was a knock
outside and his landlady brought to him a note which

(02:09):
had just been handed in by a lad. It was
unsigned and ran, thus, I.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Should wish to speak to you, but would rather not
do so in your house. You will find me beside
the flag staff upon Miller Hill, if you will come
there now. I have something which is important to you
to hear and for me to say.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Mac Murdo read the note twice with the utmost surprise,
for he could not imagine what it meant or who
was the author of it. Had it been in a
feminine hand, he might have imagined that it was the
beginning of one of those adventures which had been familiar
enough in his past life. But it was the writing
of a man, and of a well educated one too. Finally,

(02:53):
after some hesitation, he determined to see the matter through.
Miller Hill is an ill kept public park in the
very every center of the town. In summer, it is
a favorite resort of the people, but in winter it
is desolate enough. From the top of it, one has
a view not only of the whole straggling, grimy town,
but the winding valley beneath, with its scattered mines and

(03:15):
factories blackening the snow on each side of it, and
of the wooded and white cap ranges flanking it. Matt
Murdo strolled up the winding path, hedged in with evergreens,
until he reached the deserted restaurant which forms the center
of summer gaiety. Beside it was a bare flagstaff, and
underneath it a man, his hat drawn down and the

(03:37):
collar of his overcoat turned up. When he turned his face,
Matt murdo saw that it was brother Morris, he who
had incurred the anger of the body master the night
before the lodge sign was given and exchanged as they met.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I wanted to have a word with you, mister McMurdo.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Said the older man, speaking with a hesitation which shew
that he was on delicate ground.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
It was kind of you to come.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
Why did you not put your name to the note?

Speaker 3 (04:07):
One has to be cautious, mister. One never knows in
times like these how a thing may come back to one.
One never knows either who to trust or who not
to trust.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Surely one Matrish, brothers of the lodge.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, no, not, always, cried Morris with vehemence.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Whatever we say, even what we think, seems to go
back to that man mcguiny.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Look here, said Matt murdo, sternly.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
It was only last night, as you know, well, did
they swore good faith to a body master? Would you
be asking me to break meles if that.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Is the view you take, said Morris sadly.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
I can only say that I am sorry I gave
you the trouble to come and meet me. Things have
co to a bad pass when two free citizens cannot
speak their thoughts to each other.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Matt Murdo, who had been watching his companion very narrowly,
relaxed somewhat in his bearing.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Sure I spoke for myself only.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Said he.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
I am a newcomer, as you know, and I am
strange to it all. It is not for me to
open my mouth, mister Morris. If you dig well to
say anything to me, I am here to hear it and.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
To take it back to Boss mc ginty.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Said Morris bitterly.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Indeed, then you do me injustice.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
There, cried Mat Murdo.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
For myself, I am loyal to the lodge, and so
I tell you Street. But I would be a poor
creacher if I were to repeat to any other what
you might see to me. In confidence you will go
no further than me. Do I warn you that you
may get neither help nor sympathy.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
I have given up looking for either the one or.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
The other, said Morris.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
I may be putting my very life in your hands
by what I say. But bad as you are, and
it seemed to me last night that you were shaping
to be as bad as the worst, still you are
new to it, and your conscience cannot yet be as
hardened as theirs. That is why I thought to speak

(06:17):
with you.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, what have you to say?

Speaker 3 (06:21):
If you give me away? May a curse be on you?

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Sure? I said I would not.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
I would ask you then, when you joined the Freeman
Society in Chicago and swore vows of charity and fidelity,
did ever it cross your mind that you might find
it would lead you to crime?

Speaker 1 (06:42):
If you call it grime, Matt Murdo answered, call it crime,
cried Morris, his voice vibrating with passion.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
You have seen little of it. If you can call
it anything else? Was it crime? Last night? When a
man old enough to be your father was beaten till
the blood dripped from his white hairs? Was that crime?
Or what else would you call it?

Speaker 4 (07:09):
There are some would say it was war, said Matt Murdo,
A war of two classes with orlian so that each
struck is best it could.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well did you think of such a thing when you
joined the Freeman Society at Chicago.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
No, I'm bound to say I did not, Nor.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Did I when I joined at Philadelphia. It was just
a benefit club and a meeting place for one's fellows.
Then I heard of this place cursed the hour that
the name first fell upon my ears, and I came
to better myself, my God, to better myself. My wife

(07:52):
and three children came with me. I started a dry
goods store on Market Square, and I prospered well. The
word had gone round that I was a freeman, and
I was forced to join the local lodge, same as
you did last night. I've the badge of shame on
my forearm and something worse branded on my heart. I

(08:15):
found that I was under the orders of a black
villain and caught in a mesh work of crime. What
could I do? Every word I said to make things
better was taken as treason, same as it was last night.
I can't get away, for all I have in the
world is in my store. If I leave the society,

(08:37):
I know well that it means murder to me, and
God knows what to my wife and children. Oh man,
it is awful, awful.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
He put his hands to his face and his body
shook with convulsive sobs. Matt Murdo shrugged his shoulders.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
You are too suff for a job. You had a
wrong shirt for such work.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
I had a conscience and a religion, but they made
me a criminal among them. I was chosen for a job.
If I backed down, I knew, well what would come
to me. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought
of my poor little woman and the children that makes
me one. Anyhow I went, I guess it will haunt

(09:29):
me forever. It was a lonely house twenty miles from here,
over the range yonder. I was told off for the door,
same as you were last night. They could not trust
me with a job. The others went in. When they
came out, their hands were crimson to the wrists. As

(09:53):
we turned away, a child was screaming out of the
house behind us. It was a boy of five who
had seen his father murdered. I nearly fainted with the
horror of it, and yet I had to keep a
bold and smiling face for while. I knew that if

(10:15):
I did not, it would be out of my house,
that they would come next with their bloody hands, and
it would be my little Fred that would be screaming
for his father. But I was a criminal, then, part sharer,
and a murderer, lost forever in this world, and lost
also in the next. I am a good Catholic but

(10:38):
the priest would not have word with me when he
heard I was a scourer and I am excommunicated for
my faith. That's how it stands with me. And I
see you going down the same road, and I ask
you what the end is to be? Are you ready
to be a cold blooded murderer also? Or can we

(10:59):
do anything to stop it?

Speaker 4 (11:01):
What would you do, asked.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Matt Murdo abruptly.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
You would not inform God forbid.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Cried Morris.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Sure, the very.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Thought would cost me my life.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
That's well, said Matt Murdo.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
I'm thinking that you are a weak man, and that
you make too much of the matter.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Too much. Wait till you have lived here longer. Look
down the valley. See the cloud of one hundred chimneys
that overshadows it. I tell you that the cloud of
murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads
of the people. It is the valley of fear, the
valley of death. The terror is in the hearts of

(11:43):
the people, from the dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man,
and you will learn for yourself.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well, I'll let you know what I think when I've
seen more.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Said Matt Murdo carelessly, What is.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Very clear is that you're not the man for the police,
and that the sooner you sell out, if you only
get a Dame Adulla for what the business is worth,
the better it will be for you. What you have
said is safe with me. But by girl, if I
thought you were an informer.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
No, no, cried Morris piteously.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Well let it rest at that. I'll bear what you've
said in mind, and maybe some day I'll come back
to it. I expect you meant kindly by speaking to
me like this. No, I'll be getting home.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
One word before you go, said Morris. We may have
been seen together. They may want to know what we
have spoken about.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Ah, that's well thought of.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
I offer you a clerkship in my store.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
And I refuse it. That's our business. Well, so long,
brother Merris, and may you find things go better with
you in the future.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
That same afternoon, as Matt Murdo sat smoking, lost in
thought beside the stove of his sitting room, the door
swung open and its framework was filled with the huge
figure of Boss McGinty. He passed the sign and then,
seating himself opposite to the young man, he looked at
him steadily for some time, a look which was as

(13:16):
steadily returned.

Speaker 5 (13:18):
I'm that much of a visitor, brother mcimurdo, he said
at last. I guess I'm too busy over the folk
that visit me. But I thought i'd stretch point dropped
down to see you in your house.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
Very broad to see you here, a councilor.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Matt Murdo answered, heartily, bringing his whiskey bottle out of
the cupboard.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
It's an honor that I had not expected.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
How's the arm, asked the boss.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Matt Murdo made a wry face. Well, I'm not forgetting it,
he said, but.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
It's worth it.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Yes, it's worth.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
It, the other answered, to.

Speaker 5 (13:55):
Those that are loyal and go through with it and
are helped to the light. What were you speaking to
Brother Morris about on Miller Hill this morning?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
The question came so suddenly that it was well that
he had his answer prepared. He burst into a hearty laugh.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
Morst didn't know I could only living here at home.
He sha'n't know either, for he has got too much
conscience for the likes of me. But he's a good
hurted old chap. It was his idea that I was
at a loose end and that he would do me
a good turn by offering me a clerkship in a
dry goods store.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
Oh that was it, Yes, that was it, and you
refused it.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
Sure couldn't. I earn ten times as much in my
own bedroom with four hours work.

Speaker 5 (14:41):
That's so. But I wouldn't do about too much with Morris.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Why not?

Speaker 5 (14:47):
Well, I guess because I tell you not. That's enough
for most folk in these parts.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
It may be enough for most folk, but it ain't
enough for me, counselor.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Said Matt Murdo boldly.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
If you're a judge' min, you'll know that.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
The swarthy giant glared at him, and his hairy paw
closed for an instant round the glass, as though he
would hurl it at the head of his companion. Then
he laughed in his loud, boisterous, insincere fashion.

Speaker 5 (15:19):
You're a queer card, for sure, said he. Well, if
you want reasons, I'll give em. Then Morris say nothing
to you against the lodge, No, nor against me.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
No.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Well, that's because he daren't trust you. But in his
heart he is not a loyal brother. We know that well,
so we watch him and we wait for the time
to admonish him. I'm thinking that the time is drawing near.
There's no room for scabby sheep in our pen. But
if you keep company with a disloyal man, we might

(15:55):
think that you were disloyal too.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
See, there's no chance to make in company with him,
really like.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
The man, Matt Murdo answered, there's.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
To being disloyal. If it was any man but you,
he would not use the word to meet twice.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Well that's enough, said McGinty, draining off his glass.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
I came down to give you a word and season,
and you've had it.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
I'd like to know, said Matt Murdo.

Speaker 4 (16:23):
Oh you ever came to learn that I had spoken
with Maurissa Dole.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
McGinty laughed.

Speaker 5 (16:30):
It's my business to know what goes on in this township,
said he. I guess you'd best reckon on my hearing
all the passes. Well, time's up, I'll just say.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
But his leave taking was cut short in a very
unexpected fashion with a sudden crash. The door flew open,
and three frowning intent faces glared in at them from
under the peaks of police caps. Matt Murdo sprang to
his feet and half drew his revolver, but his arm
stopped midway as he became conscious that two Winchester rifles

(17:04):
were leveled at his head. A man in uniform advanced
into the room a six shooter in his hand. It
was Captain Marvin Once of Chicago and now of the
Mine Constabulary. He shook his head with a half smile
at Matt Murdo.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
I thought you'd be getting into trouble, mister crooked McMurdo
of Chicago, said he can keep out of it. Can
you take your hat and come along with us?

Speaker 5 (17:30):
I guess you'll pay for this, Captain.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Marvin, said McGinty, Who.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
Are you, I'd like to know to break into a
house in this fashion in mo less honest, law abiding men.

Speaker 6 (17:44):
You're standing out in this deal, Councior McGuinty.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Said the police captain.

Speaker 6 (17:49):
We are not out after you, but after this man McMurdo.
It is for you to help not to hinder us
in our duty.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
He is a friend of mine, and I'll answer for
his conduct.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Said the boss.

Speaker 6 (18:02):
By all accounts, mister McGinty, you may have to answer
for your own conduct some of these.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Days, the captain answered, this man.

Speaker 6 (18:09):
McMurdo was a crook before ever he came here, and
he's a crook still covering patrol man. What I disarm him?

Speaker 1 (18:16):
There's my pistol, said Matt Murdo coolly.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
Maybe Captain Mervyn, if you and I were alone and
feast to face, he would not take me so easily.

Speaker 5 (18:27):
Where's your warrant?

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Asked McGinty.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
By god, a man might as well live in Russia
as in Remessa, or folk like you are running the police.
It's a capitalist outrage and you'll hear more of it.

Speaker 6 (18:41):
I reckon you do what you think is your duty
the best way you can counselor we look after ours.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
What am I accused.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
Of, asked Matt Murdo, of being concerned in the beating
up all editor Stanger at the Herald office. It wasn't
your fault that it is in the murder charge.

Speaker 5 (19:00):
Well, if that's all you have against.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Him, cried McGinty with a laugh, you.

Speaker 5 (19:08):
Can save yourself a deal of trouble by dropping it
right now. This man was with me in my saloon
playing poker up to midnight, and I can bring a
dozen to prove it.

Speaker 6 (19:19):
That's your affair and I guess you can settle it
in court tomorrow. Meanwhile, come on macmurdolle and come quietly
if you don't want to gone across your head. You
stand wide, mister mc ginty, for I warn you either
stand no resistance when I am on duty.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
So determined was the appearance of the captain that both
Matt Murdo and his boss were forced to accept the situation.
The latter managed to have a few whispered words with
the prisoner before they parted. What about he jerked his
thumb upward to signify the coining plant. All right, whispered
Matt Murdo. Who would devised a safe hiding place under

(19:56):
the floor?

Speaker 5 (19:57):
Oh bid you goodbye.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Said the boss, shaking hands.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
I'll see Riley, the lawyer, and take the defense upon myself.
Take my word for it that they won't be able
to hold you.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
I wouldn't bet on that guard the prisoner. You two
and shoot him if he trays any games. I'd search
the house before I leave.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
He did so, but apparently found no trace of the
concealed plant. When he had descended, he and his men
escorted Matt Murdo to headquarters. Darkness had fallen, and a
keen blizzard was blowing, so that the streets were nearly deserted.
But a few loiterers followed the group, and, emboldened by invisibility,

(20:37):
shouted imprecations at the prisoner.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
Lynch the cursed scar They.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Cried, Lynchim. They laughed and jeered as he was pushed
into the police station. After a short formal examination from
the inspector in charge, he was put into the common cell.
Here he found Baldwin and three other criminals of the
night before, all arrested that afternoon and waiting their trial
next morning. But even within this inner fortress of the law,

(21:05):
the long arm of the freemen was able to extend.
Late at night, there came a jailer with a straw
bundle for their bedding, out of which he extracted two
bottles of whisky, some glasses, and a pack of cards.
They spent a hilarious night without an anxious thought as
to the ordeal of the morning, nor had they cause.

(21:26):
As the result was to show, the magistrate could not, possibly,
on the evidence, have held them for a higher court.
On the one hand, the compositors and press men were
forced to admit that the light was uncertain that they
were themselves much perturbed, and that it was difficult for
them to swear to the identity of the assailants, although
they believed that the accused were among them. Cross examined

(21:49):
by the clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty,
they were even more nebulous in their evidence. The injured
man had already deposed that he was so taken by
surprise by the suddenness of the attack that he could
state nothing beyond the fact that the first man who
struck him wore a mustache. He added that he knew

(22:10):
them to be scourers, since no one else in the
community could possibly have any enmity to him, and he
had long been threatened on account of his outspoken editorials.
On the other hand, it was clearly shown by the
united and unfaltering evidence of six citizens, including that high
municipal official Councilor mc ginty, that the men had been

(22:33):
at a card party at the Union House until an
hour very much later than the commission of the outrage.
Needless to say that they were discharged with something very
near to an apology from the bench for the inconvenience
to which they had been put together with an implied
censure of Captain Marvin and the police for their officious zeal.

(22:55):
The verdict was greeted with loud applause by a court
in which Matt Murder saw many familiar faces. Brothers of
the lodge smiled and waved, But there were others who
sat with compressed lips and brooding eyes. As the men
filed out of the dock, one of them, a little,
dark bearded, resolute fellow, put the thoughts of himself and

(23:16):
comrades into words. As the ex prisoners passed him.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
You damn murderers, he said, will fix you yet?

Speaker 1 (23:26):
End of Part two, Chapter four