Yes, prison was robbing him of big money, and swell clothes, It was keeping away the frilly dames who smelled nice, and the applause, and the money that would have rolled in so sweetly, Prison was crooked—that's what it It was trying to hold him down, and it wi n't fair. After all, Edd reasoned, he was only a firs 1 Convicted of felonious assault, and so what?
Of course, he had crippled the guy. but was that so terrible? Most of the muggs around him had killed, and widows, and held up banks and done plenty of bad things. And what had he done? Nothing but lose his temper!
Naturally, the mob began tu say he had a swelled head. He wouldn't fight any more in the prison, because he was too good for the gang. They called him many names; names that do not sound too scholarly as they roll out of the sides of mouths, So Eddie determined that freedom must be gained at any cost, He had to get out. Simply had to, He turned his shrewd and chi tittle head to devices. Way means. The question was: How to get out of the institution alive? He pondered it like a college boy working an abstract problem, Andsfinally he did it, He got out of prison so neatly that they didn't miss him until they saw the empty spot in the lunch hall, By the time the sirens began to whine, Eddie could no longer hear them.
Life out of Prison He crawled, and he sw, and he all and he ran, and he ached all He went hungry, and he swung aboard freights, and he felt his stomach grow weak every time he saw a uniform, He begged hunks of bread, and he swung a pick and a shovel, and he spread the entire land between himself and the prison.
And all the while, mind you, he was sure that—if they'd let him get into the big money class before they caught him—he'd be able to talk the governor into letting him keep his freedom. He'd be honest, he would. A good citizen. On! the ring in would he ever hit anot man, He loafed from one gymnasium te another; always half-frightened, always half-hoping. And then, one big day, he saw the black ci; behind it, Charlie Bell. The o ly Bell, The all fight managers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.