CHAPTER XI
He carried her memorandum, together with her money, when he went to the Criminal, Courts in the morning to prosecute for the State a case of arson against an American named Gos Augarian who had been proprietor of a dry-goods and novelty store which, after having been most thoroughly insured against fire, had burned to the ground during the night.
The firemen, who broke in to fight the flames, reported that they had found pillars and stair-railings wrapped with cloths which flamed so fiercely that it was evident they must have been soaked with gasoline; and when the firemen entered the basement, an explosion killed two men and injured several others.
Naturally, the affair had aroused the public, and Augarian would have been mobbed had not the police protected him on the way to jail after his arrest; but now that he had been locked up for a few months and the dead firemen were buried and the others recovered from their burns, the public had become so indifferent that Calvin could not readily obtain twelve men of character to sit on the jury to try Augarian.
Calvin worked hard all morning, and when he went downstairs to his office, at noon recess, he was in the quiet, dogged mood which always tempted Ellison to tease him.
"Tell it to me, Clarke," bid the Chicagoan cheerily. "I'm young and strong. I can bear it too."
"One would think," said Calvin, with deep indignation, "that if any public duty could appeal to a man as being more important than his own business, it would be to help the prosecution of a prisoner who not only burned
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