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God Goes to Murderer's Row · God Goes to Murderer's Row

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  Forward my vindication. The impossible has happened. I have become what I always
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  despised, in glory in the actuality, I who have always detested ghost writing,
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  and writing for a ghost in the strict sense of that word in this
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  relation to literature. For the man of whom I now write, drew his
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  last breath at eddybo, Kentucky, on the morning of February twenty sixth,
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  nineteen forty three, at exactly one twenty two a m. He was sitting
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  in the electric chair of Kentucky's State Prison. That day, most of the
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  papers in the nation and all the papers in the state, carried a gross
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  misstatement. They told how Tom Penny, the convicted murderer of Marian Miley and
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  her middle aged mother, had paid with his life for the crime committed September
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  twenty eighth, nineteen forty one. But that was far from the truth.
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  For the man in the electric chair that bleak February morning was not Tom Penny,
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  the murderer. I do not mean to startle I simply intend to state
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  facts. Tom Penny the murderer had died fourteen months earlier, on a Sunday
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  afternoon, December twenty first, nineteen forty one in Fayette County Jail at Lexington,
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  Kentucky, and there have been buried. That is why I say the
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  body through which the electrocutioner sent four fierce shocks on February twenty sixth, nineteen
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  forty three, belonged to a man far different from the scar faced Tom Penny,
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  who, with Bob Anderson, had entered the Luxington Country Club early that
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  Sunday morning in late September nineteen forty one, to come forth with guns almost
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  empty, a paltry one hundred and thirty dollars in their hands, while behind
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  them one woman laid dead, and another dying to tell who it was from
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  whom the state exacted the supreme penalty that February morning. Is only one of
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  the purposes I now write for a ghost, But that revelation alone could be
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  justification enough for the bounding joy I feel in my change of attitude, and
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  vindication enough for my rupture of Trappist's silence. For Tom Penny, the murderer
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  had once confessed that to him God was only a three letter word, and
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  as far as any practical bearing on his life was concerned, those three letters
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  might just as well have been x y Z. Whereas the man who entered
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  Eddiesville Death House in the company a big Jess Cannon, the prison's warden,
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  had but recently written, my only peace is in God, and with God.
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  Until I am with Him, his Mother and all his saints, I
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  am miserable. The man stepped into the electric chair this February morning has said
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  again and again I know that death is the only way to God, and
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  I am very impatient to be on my way on behalf of this one who
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  was so impatient for death. But it is the miracle story of his rebirth
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  that I tell, and I tell much of it in his own words,
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  those words I had before me in two hundred and twenty one letters, two
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  poems, two thirds of a thumbnail autobiography in the Last Will and Testament.
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  The letters, all but fifteen of them, were written in those fourteen months
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  that stretched between the time Tom Penny, the murderer died and the dark February
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  morning, when four severe shocks sent life out of the body of a man
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  who sat in Eddiesville's electric chair. Though each bears the signature of Tom Penny,
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  I ask you to decide whether or not, so much as a single
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  line was written by Tom Penny, the criminal. But there is a deeper
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  purpose to this ghosting of mine. I write not to tell you merely of
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  the value of the soul of him who died in the electric chair, but
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  to tell you that your own soul, and the soul of every human being,
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  is of infinite worth. And the book world of our day has made
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  my writing necessary. For although our book shelves literally bend under the weight of
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  testimonies to God's grace, most of them are by or about the literati.
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  We have biographies and autobiographies, magazine articles in clever symposia telling brilliantly of the
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  conversion of the learned it. They run the full gamut, from the Confessions
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  of Saint Augustine and the Apologia of Cardinal Newman down to Now I See by
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  Arnold Lunn and the Seventh Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. Marvelous though these testimonies
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  be, they may lead some to forget that every soul is so infinitely precious
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  to a mighty God, that he will spare no pains to save the least
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  and the worst of us, stalking us even to the death house to save
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  us from hell. But if his stalking is to be successful, we must
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  see as did this man at Eddieville. This book, then, is written
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  only for those who want the revelation of truce that are sold deep and of
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  souls that are deep in truth. All others can turn back to their Sunday
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  supplements, comic strips and tabloids. Since this is to be a revelation of
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  God for God's glory, let me do as did my father, Saint Bernard,
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  who pointed out that on the Friday afternoon we now call good, one
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  was saved on Cavalry's top, and only one one, he says, so
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  that none of us may ever despair, only one, lest any of us
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  ever presume, And that aspect of cavalry was re enacted at Eddieville on the
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  night of which I speak for, Three men died, but only one.
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  Let Miriam Krauss speak for me. She says, three men share death upon
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  a hill, but only one man died, the other two a thief,
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  and God himself made rendezvous. Three crosses still are born up Cavalry's hill,
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  where Sin still sits them high upon the one segbroken men who cursing die.
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  Another holds the praying thief, or those who penitent as he still find the
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  Christ beside them on the tree. Three men share death at Eddyville, the
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  only one. Well, let me begin the story of the soul's salvation,
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  or the story of every soul's salvation, even that of the very Mother of
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  God, began at Gassemone. It is America's, not Palestine's casemone of which
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  I speak, but those who are so closely knit in time and for eternity,
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  that he who stood hesitant in the doorway this afternoon in late October nineteen
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  forty one could just as well have been the Apostle John as one of his
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  twentieth century successors, Father George Donnelly. He was trying to decide which way
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  he would go back to Covington. On what gave every appearance of being a
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  whim, he decided to go home through Lexington. It was that decision which
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  wrought death Tom Penny the Murderer, and sent a far different man to the
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  electric chairt at Yville. For what Father George took to be a whim was
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  actually the will of God. And while it is true that it was Father
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  George's hand on the wheel and his foot on the accelerator. It is even
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  truer that Jesus Christ did the driving that day. As the priest sped through
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  the October afternoon, he was conscious of a great sense of peace. His
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  short retreat at the gray walled city of God called Gesimone had brought him closer
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  to the source of the beauty he now found all around him. His cigar
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  was drawling perfectly, his machine purred as it ate up the miles. Small
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  wondered that he himself was to glow with the realization that life is good.
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  With the woods around him full of color, the world above and below washed
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  clean by yesterday's rain, and the rich tang of autumn in the air.
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  He drove on, never dreaming he was heading for the leading role in a
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  drama that would end not in the dark room of death of Kentucky's State PRIs,
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  but in the blinding white light of Heaven's high halls. That sounds mysterious,
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  but we are dealing with mysteries deep ones. And as Father George sped
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  through the brilliant autumn countryside towards Lexington, Austin Price, chief of the Luxington
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  Police Department, and Guy Moppin, whose superintendent of identification. Were facing another
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  deep mystery, that of Tom Penny, the murderer, and a forward Chief
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  Price is uneasy guy. Moppin trotted down the steps of the Fete County Jail
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  and swung jauntily along Short Street. A few dozen strides brought into the city's
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  police headquarters, where he pushed through the door, stopped along the corridor,
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  and quite airily entered the office of the Chief of Police. He found Austin
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  Price with the morning heralds spread out before him, any bouquets for the detective
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  department today. Chief Price's large head came up. His nod was both greeting
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  and an invitation to be seated. Newspaper men know only one language. Guy.
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  They are not complimenting us this morning or any other morning. Well after
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  the roasting they gave us for about ten days, I thought they might be
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  decent enough to decent. Austin Price was almost sneering. He sat back.
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  What I'd like to know is why they picked on the city police for a
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  job that belonged to the county patrol, and why they've singled me out as
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  a target and overlooked the sheriff. We cracked the case, guy, but
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  it really didn't belong to us. Of course it didn't. The Lexington Country
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  Club is fully three miles from the city. But I'm not sorry we did
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  the job. Neither am I rejoined the Chief. But why do the papers
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  write us so wish? I knew Moppin pushed his hat far back on his
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  head. What stops me completely is their silence on the speed with which we
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  clean up the mess. Think of it. We were pulled from our beds
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  on Sunday morning, September twenty eighth to find Marian Miley, nationally known golf
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  star, spraught out in her pajamas on the floor of her apartment at the
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  country club, with a bolt in her back and another through her brain.
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  Down the road, her mother, Elsie Ego, has just crumpled with three
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  slugs in her stomach. By Wednesday, she's dead. And what have we
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  to go on besides the two bodies, a messed up bedroom, three slugs
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  from a thirty two automatic and a mattress, and two buttons from a man's
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  coat. That was about all, wasn't it, said the Chief. The
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  smart newspaper boys tell the world it was an inside job. You were smarter,
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  You told us it was local and set me thumbing the files in two
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  days. We knew exactly whom we want it. Before the week was out,
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  we had teletyped his description to every state in a union. If the
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  busy bodies in the paper and on the phones had left us alone, we
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  might have had him sooner. They gave us the tip on the car,
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  objected Price quietly, Tip snorted Moppin. We are told a newsboy had seen
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  a two tim Buick s a Edan parked at the club Sunday morning. Big
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  help, that was. It set us on the wrong track completely. It
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  hit us watching for green Buick Sedan, two ex consents stolen. I pairt
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  Georgia, No, Chief. The fact is you had nothing to go on
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  but your own good gray matter. You have. The paper squawked, as
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  if the murderers had handed us their calling cards and we were refusing them an
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  interview. The local boys got sore because I established press conferences, said Price
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  quietly. I was only trying to play square. Yeah, And they played
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  square with you after that, didn't They headlines local police still in the dark
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  and FBI may be called in. Then silence for two full days, A
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  slow smile still across the chief's face that hurt in the headline sky it was
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  the old army game of killing a man by ignoring him. Well, we
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  soon made them recognize us, didn't we. God gave us a break.
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  I suppose he did, But if so, it is only another proof that
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  God helps those who help themselves. Look at the facts. September twenty eighth.
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  A crime is committed October first, you have nothing but two corpses on
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  your hands. Yet by October ninth you have the criminal and his confession.
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  Oh not so fast, guy, not so fast. We got the call
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  from Fort Worth, Texas October ninth saying they picked up a man. Answering
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  the description we sent out, come on, chief, It said more than
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  that. It said they picked up two men in a nineteen forty one two
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  tien buicks a Dan bearing Kentucky license plates. It said one of them was
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  from Lexington, the man we wanted, Tom Penny, It said, the
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  other, Leo gadis another ex Khan who worked in Louisville recently. It set
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  a shell from the thirty two automatic and a pair of women's sports shoes had
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  been found in the rear of the car. Why that call gave us everything
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  but the confession. You'd never think so if you've gone to fort Worth with
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  me, said the Chief, as that same slow smile crossed his features.
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  You never did tell me how you got the confession. Chief, Was it
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  hard to make Penny talk? Pryce shook his head. It's never hard to
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  make Tom Penny talk, but to make him tell the truth is another story.
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  He had been talking to and laughing at the police and newspaper men at
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  fort Worth for two days and two nights when I arrived there Saturday, October
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  eleventh, but he had told him nothing. They had picked him up with
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  Leo Gaddis and some woman on the ninth. The girl and Gaddis were soon
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  discharged. Penny was held for me. He had denied all knowledge of the
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  country Colbe affair, and given a reasonable account of his actions since leaving Louisville
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  October first, But it was what he had been doing just prior to the
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  first that interested me. Price rocked on his swivel before going on. I
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  slept Saturday night. After early Mass. Sunday, I arranged to sea Penny
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  alone. They shut us in the room at nine o'clock. It was not
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  quite one when I came out for me. The prow of the Miley murderers
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  was over, but a greater mystery had begun. Yeah, Yes, remember
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  I had set you and the boys checking on Bob Anderson the minute we learned
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  his was the car Penny had been driving. When picked up. You found
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  him at the Cat in the Fiddle, his night club in Louisville. He
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  swore he hadn't left the place in weeks, but we knew he had been
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  charged with vagrancy at Newport, our next door neighbor, just over a month
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  ago, because he'd been driving that buck of his around with an ex Khan
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  and some shady characters his companions before I left for the South. I ordered
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  you to watch him Sunday afternoon. I told you to arrest him. Hoskins
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  did the job, Chief, and found Anderson as cool as a cucumber.
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  He's one boy. We'll never break. We don't have to. Penny squealed,
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  so did Baxter. Yes, I suppose you can call it squealing,
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  But it was only after Anderson had dealt as mina double cross as I've ever
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  seen. He told Penny to take his car to make his get away.
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  Then report of the car is stolen? What a rat. Very appropriate.
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  He'll fight this case to the last ditch, giving us plenty of trouble with
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  what we've got. The whole thing sewed up. Penny confessed to you in
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  Texas, naming Anderson as the murderer. He confessed to us here in Lexington
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  after you brought him back, telling how Skeeter Baxter, the greenskeeper at the
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  club, had hatched the whole plot. We picked up Baxter that very day,
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  last Friday. It was in less than four hours we had his confession.
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  Itally perfectly with Pennies. Saturday, Penny took us to where the guns
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  were buried. We unearthed to automatics A thirty two and a thirty eight.
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  Yesterday I got word from the FBI though the markings on the slugs we sent
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  and the slugs taken at the club are the same. So we've got the
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  guns and the gunmen. But chances Anderson got Penny's been quite helpful, hasn't
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  he. The question had been asked casually, but Mobin knew his chief Pryce
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  has noted for being a good listener. He seldom broke in on any one.
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  The identification head caught all that had been unset in the query and wondered.
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  He reached for his pipe, and, while filling it slowly said,
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  I was with Joe Harrigan from eight o'clock last Thursday night until seven o'clock Friday
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  morning, for almost eleven hours. We questioned Tom Penny. Thank god the
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  boy finally decided to tell the full truth, Otherwise we'd still be there asking
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  him questions and getting anything from a laugh to some of the cleverest and most
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  cutting sarcasm I ever heard. That boy has a brain, a tongue,
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  and very little love for officers of the law. Is it true, guy,
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  that the slug you took from the floor of the country club was from
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  the thirty eight? Uh huh? And Penny claims he had the thirty eight
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  uh huh? Then it looks to me that he will build his case on
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  the fact that the only bullet he fired struck neither of the women. He
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  showed me a letter he had written to his mother last Monday morning. In
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  it, he says something like this, don't believe everything that is printed in
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  the papers. As usual, they tried to convict a person before he is
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  tried. I can tell you one thing, mother, that may make you
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  feel better. I am not guilty of murder. I have definite proof of
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  that. Now, what do you mean, Robin removed the pipe from his
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  mouth? What you've just told me? He fired his gun, he admits,
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  But you've proved that its bullet went into the floor of the country club.
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  Thou wilt keep him from the chair, said the detective, as he
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  crossed his legs and smiled somewhat pityingly. The law takes care of that.
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  Tom Penny may not have killed either of the Mileis, but he'll be found
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  guilty of complicity. And that's enough. Why Chief I could prosecute this case
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  myself and get the same verdict and same sentence for all three. They're going
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  to ask for separate trials. You know, when the Chief merely took off
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  his glasses and polished them. Mappin went on, that will be a help
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  to impark in the prosecution. And whoever helps him, I suppose it will
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  be Harry Miller. They'll be able to use Penny and Baxter against Anderson,
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  and Penny against Baxter if necessary. Price cleared his throat a bit noisily.
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  I wonder if those too will promise Tom al life's sentence for his testimony.
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  They had better not. This town is hot over the case, hot enough
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  for a lunching. Mary Miley was not only pretty, she was popular.
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  The Chief's eyes narrowed. Moppin's guttural chuckle was pleasant to hear. No tempably
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  made. Chief Penny's in Fayette County jail. But Fayett County jail's in the
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  city of Lexington. And we're fairly civilized here. But tell me what's on
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  your mind. You're not yourself. It's not the wife, is it.
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  She's all right, replied Pryce, cold and calm by the query. The
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  operation was only a minor one, and she's in the best hands possible.
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  Sister Mary Laurencia, you know, is her blood sister. The detective stood
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  up so that none up at Saint Joseph's Hospital is your sister in law.
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  Eh. I met her and a few others when I went down there about
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  missus Miley. She impressed me deeply. She does every one guy. I'm
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  going up early this afternoon to see the missus. Sister called me an hour
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  ago to say everything was fine. What's on your mind, then, Tom
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  Penny, he's as good as That's precisely why I can't forget him, but
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  look at the record he's had. That's exactly what makes me worry. Mobin
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  pushed his hat further back on his head, took the pipe from his mouth,
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  and spread his two hands on the edge of the chief's desk. Leaning
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  toward Price, he said, I've never known you to go soft on any
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  criminal, Chief, Why should this boy bother you. He's a bad actor.
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  We've had him on our hands at least ten times, and five of
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  them have been after his term at Frankfort. He is a confirmed criminal.
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  The city, state, and society will be benefited by his removal. Price's
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  large head shook slowly in the cup of his two hands as his elbow startled
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  the paper on his desk. I wonder what it is, he mused.
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  It can't be heredity. That boy's father was a professor of English. His
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  mother has something fine about her. She's run a rooming house ever since Tom's
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  father died. It can't be environment. Not everyone in the same neighborhood,
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  or even in the same gang goes wrong. As for education, the only
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  place youth gets educated into crime, it seems, is in our reform schools.
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  It was there Tom at Anderson. Yes, Chief objected Moppin, But
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  that was not Penny's first time up. He had been sentenced to three years
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  in nineteen twenty six for grand larceny. He certainly two of them. When
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  he met Anderson in nineteen thirty four. He was supposed to be doing a
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  twenty year stretch for robbery and assault. In nineteen thirty he shot and wounded
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  to men in that grocery store hold up. Anderson was doing only a five
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  year stretch for storehouse breaking. Mopbin's pipe was out. He poffed vigorously before
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  reaching for a match. As he lit up again, he squeezed his question
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  at Price, was the story, Chief, You had met the boys bad?
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  You know he's going to die. You know he deserves it, Yet
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  you're sad. Chief Price arose from silver chair and began to pay office guy.
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  What's the most important moment of life? Huh? Price stopped pacing and
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  faced his friend. The most important moment in life is the last The cheese
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  knuckles struck his desk. I've just gone over Tom Penny's record in the files.
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  He was found guilty of grand larceny when he was fifteen years old.
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  That was in June nineteen twenty four. From then till this day, the
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  only years not marked with some criminal act are those he spent in prison.
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  He was in our hands in twenty four, twenty five and twenty six.
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  We sent him to the reform school that year. He stayed until nineteen twenty
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  eight or twenty nine. But as you say, in nineteen thirty we had
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  to send him up for twenty years. They let him out in thirty seven,
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  and we've had Tom Penny in here five times in the past five years.
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  No, it's all too obvious. Tom Penny has not lived right.
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  But I'm going to do all my power to see that he dies right.
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  What are you going to do? Asked Moppin in wonderment. The Chief slumped
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  into his large swivel chair. That's my mystery. I don't know what to
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  do. Andersen will take care of himself. Baxter's a hophead, can't do
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  much for them. A Penny, I've known him CINTHI was a child.
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  How can I touch Tom Penny's heart? Garry Moppin knew when he was beyond
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  his depth. This had been one of the strangest conversations he had ever had
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  with Chief Price, obviously, his superior was deeply concerned about a man who
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  held little more interest for the police department. What should he say to ease
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  himself out of a talk that was beginning to bewilder him? He decided to
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  be blunt. Ah, forget him, Chief, Lovers don't change their spots.
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  Wants a criminal, always a criminal. Austin Price's head turned swiftly.
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  His eyes were sparkling behind his horned rimmed glasses. Did you ever hear of
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  Dismus? Have we got his prince? I doubt it? Though he was
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  a criminal with a pretty bad record. Well what about him? He ended
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  the way I want Tom Penny to end? How was that? Chief Price
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  faced his words deliberately. Dismus was convicted and sentenced to death. He died,
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  But it is where I want Tom Penny to die, at the sight
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  of Jesus Christ. How can I get him there? End of Chapter one?
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  God gathers his instruments. It was almost mid afternoon before Austin Price reached
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  the hospital. He hurried along the corridor, but checked his pace as he
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  neared his wife's room, for the half opened door allowed him to hear a
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  merry chuckle. Sist to marry. Laurentia was visiting Missus Price, her sister
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  A taunt was on his lips as greeting, but died there when you pushed
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  the door farther open and discovered sister robert Anne standing at the foot of the
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  bed. Oh, come in, mister Price, she called. We were
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  just telling Bertie she must hurry home and take care of you. Discharged,
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  queried the chief as he bent to kiss his wife. Yes, but I
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  don't think I'll go home until tomorrow. She likes it here, put in
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  sister Mary Lauryncia from the other side of the bed. It's like old times
• 25:33
  when we fight every day, isn't it, siss Missus Price smiled at her
• 25:37
  sister and asked her husband. How's little Jackie. Austin Pryce's eyes opened wider
• 25:45
  as he whistled. Glad you asked, honey. I promised the kid I'd
• 25:48
  take him for a ride this very afternoon. He and his mother must be
• 25:52
  waiting downstairs right now. He turned to sister robert Anne. That's the youngster
• 25:57
  who came all the way from Seattle to see your doc Rankin. You know
• 26:00
  he and his mother are staying at our house. But how is he broke
• 26:06
  in? Missus Price insistently don't know. Han, Doctor Rankin had not finished
• 26:11
  all his tests the last time I saw him. Well, I knock on
• 26:17
  the door, interrupted Missus Price, and sister marrying Nina, Superior of the
• 26:21
  hospital entered. What have we here? A family meeting? How are you,
• 26:26
  mister Price? I'm very glad to see you and you, Missus Price.
• 26:30
  They tell me you're going to leave us not until tomorrow's sister, Oh,
• 26:36
  that's fine, get some good rest before going back to slave for this
• 26:38
  big husband of yours. It's a man's world, isn't it, Chief,
• 26:45
  Not this little corner of it, laughed Pryce as he swept the four faces
• 26:48
  with a glance. Did you come downstairs? Or up? Sister? Up?
• 26:53
  Did you happen to see Jackie Reagan and his mother doctor Rankin's patient?
• 26:59
  Yes, he's sitting in the lobby. Then they ought to be on my
• 27:02
  way. Wait, cut in, Missus Price, sister Mary beg Nina.
• 27:07
  Wouldn't it be grand to have sisters Robert Anne and Mary Laurencia go out for
• 27:11
  a nice drive with the Chief and the little fellow. I've been after them
• 27:15
  every day to get out for fresh air. But they pays little attention to
• 27:18
  me, asked us the chief, when he's on a hot case. I'm
• 27:23
  obeyed no better, missus Price, said the superioress, as her hands played
• 27:27
  with her beads. I tell every sister in the hospital to get as much
• 27:32
  fresh air as possible. But the air in the hospital is much more safe.
• 27:37
  Think of all the disinfectant, the antiseptics. The other's terrillity cut in,
• 27:41
  Sister Mary Lauryncia. Go on with you, replied the superiors. You
• 27:48
  and sister robert Anne chaperone the chief as he takes a little boy and his
• 27:51
  mother for a ride. I want to talk to missus Price alone. Go
• 27:55
  on now, she turned to the chief. You have Missus Price the rest
• 27:59
  of your life. I'll have her on leave. These few hours not much
• 28:03
  of a visit, han said Price to his wife as he swept his hat
• 28:07
  from the bed. But I'll be back in no time. How soon will
• 28:11
  you be ready? Sisters? Oh, there'll be at the door before you,
• 28:15
  replied sister Begninia. I know that, pear, and she waved the
• 28:21
  two nuns out of the room. Ten minutes later, as the chief swung
• 28:25
  his car out the main drive, Jackie sitting beside him on the front seat,
• 28:30
  pointing to the car radio. Can we get police calls on this,
• 28:33
  mister Price? How do you send those calls out? Anyhow? Will you
• 28:37
  show me before I go back to Seattle? No, Jackie, you won't
• 28:41
  get any police calls on that radio. This is missus Price's car, and
• 28:45
  she hears enough police reports and police calls without any special equipment. But if
• 28:49
  you really want to see how we've send them, I'll take you down to
• 28:52
  the station after we stop with a jail. Sister robert Anne lifted an inquiring
• 28:59
  eyebrow to her hanging in the back seat. That means the county jail.
• 29:03
  Her voice was filled with real consternation. I hope you're right. I've always
• 29:08
  wanted to see that place, was the only comfort she got from the older
• 29:12
  nun. But ten minutes later, Sister Mary Laurencia experienced to calm herself when
• 29:18
  she saw the chief actually drawing up before the Fayette County Jail. But quickly
• 29:22
  she decided to be as big a child as Jackie and see what she could
• 29:26
  see in this curious place. She felt a pronounced tremor as sister Robert's arm
• 29:30
  as she helped her from the car, And what was this tingling in her
• 29:34
  own veins? Sisters of Charity had been in jails before, she told herself,
• 29:41
  But then just as quickly told herself they had not been Sister of Charity
• 29:45
  of Nazareth, nor had the jails been the Fayette County Jail. Then she
• 29:49
  saw the challenging light in her brother in law's eye. If he thought he
• 29:53
  was frightening nuns, she'd show him. Now, let us see all of
• 29:59
  it, Chief, she demanded, as he locked his car from bottom to
• 30:03
  top. Price laughed as he started for the steps. After the main office
• 30:08
  had been thoroughly examined, the Chief showed the sisters the store rooms in the
• 30:12
  huge kitchen, the order in cleanliness, and pressed the nuns coe see some
• 30:18
  cells and prisoners, asked Jackie, who had as much interest in steam cookers
• 30:22
  and heating tables as the sisters would have in roller skates and hockey sticks.
• 30:27
  Up we go, said the Chief, and led the way to the cell
• 30:32
  box on the second floor. Out of the corner of his eyes, he
• 30:36
  studied the nuns. Sister Robert Ann did look a little frightened, but Sister
• 30:40
  Mary Laurentia was walking along with all the calm and assurance she displayed on the
• 30:45
  floors of the hospital. Austin Price suddenly wondered if there was any way he
• 30:49
  could shock the sister in all of his Before any ideas suggested itself to the
• 30:55
  chief, she shocked him with a quiet question, is Tom Penny here?
• 31:02
  Uh? Huh? Would you like to speak to him? First? What
• 31:06
  second? Austin Price thought he had found his answer, for the slightest shadow
• 31:11
  of alarm seemed to start and Sister Mary Larencia's eyes, but she quietly replied
• 31:17
  love to Tom. Called the chief and stirred toward a central cell. From
• 31:23
  the far end, a tall blonde sauntered forward. As soon as his eyes
• 31:29
  saw the religious habits, they fell and his head lowered. The Chief thrust
• 31:33
  his hand through the bars and shook the prisoner's hand. This is my sister
• 31:37
  in law, Tom, sister Mary Laurencia, and this is her companion,
• 31:41
  sister Robert Anne. Penny flashed to look at each nun and bowed his head
• 31:47
  in greeting. There from Saint Joseph's Hospital, I know, came the quiet
• 31:55
  reply, I have seen the sisters from Saint Joseph's before I worked there,
• 32:01
  so says Sister robert Anne, stepping nearer the bars. Well, I want
• 32:07
  you to know the sisters at Saint Joseph's are praying for you, mister Penny.
• 32:12
  Thank you, was a somewhat embarrassed response. Do you know they are?
• 32:16
  Father, Tom, asked sister Mary Laurentcia. I'm afraid I've forgotten it,
• 32:22
  sister, Well then just say often my Jesus mercy. Yes, mister
• 32:30
  Penny, put in Sister robert Anne. Nosin is too great for him to
• 32:35
  forgive, you know, and he loves you. Austin Price was studying the
• 32:39
  prisoner as the sisters talked. Never had he seen Tom Penny so intent on
• 32:45
  anyone's words. It was a concentration totally different from the alertness which characterized him
• 32:51
  while on his guard under questioning. Now he appeared anxious to catch the full
• 32:55
  import of the little speeches. Thank you, sister, and I'm very grateful
• 33:00
  to you for coming, and for you, mister Price, for having brought
• 33:04
  them. I have a young man here, Tom, who wants to see
• 33:07
  you. This is Jackie Reagan from Seattle, and this is his mother.
• 33:14
  Hello, said Jackie, and held at his hand. Hello yourself, said
• 33:20
  Penny, taking the hand. A trace of a smile lighted his scarred face.
• 33:24
  Then the party moved on. Tom Penny turned back to his bunk,
• 33:30
  Squatting on the edge of it. He put his head in his hands.
• 33:35
  My Jesus mercy, he mumbled, then frowned. I wonder how our father
• 33:40
  goes Anyhow, Before any answer came, Tom Penny was smiling twistedly cynically.
• 33:49
  He lit a cigarette and easy snapped the match into the far corner. Wondered
• 33:52
  what Bob Anderson and the rest of the boys would think of him going religious.
• 33:57
  He blew a scornful puff of smoke towards the ceiling and stretched full length
• 34:00
  on the bunk. Staring at the juncture of the bars in the ceiling,
• 34:04
  he went over the events of the past few weeks. Soon he twisted in
• 34:08
  disgust and muttered what rotten brakes he was thinking of The last Saturday in September,
• 34:15
  He and Anderson had no intention of shooting. When they entered the club.
• 34:20
  Baxter had told him there was just one old lady there, and that
• 34:22
  it would be like taking candy from a kid. To gather in ten grand
• 34:27
  ten grand. He hadn't got a hundred dollars out of the whole stinking mess.
• 34:32
  He sat on the edge of the bed and shook his head in anger,
• 34:36
  telling himself he should have known better. Everyone knew Baxter was a hophead.
• 34:40
  Still, his story had made sense. For a free spending crowd frequent
• 34:45
  to the Lexington Country Club, and with a Saturday night dance as an extra,
• 34:49
  it seemed plausible that there would be between five and ten thousand dollars in
• 34:52
  the place. The prisoner arose and began to pace his cell. He was
• 34:58
  trying to dispel the memory of what had actually happened inside the club that fateful
• 35:01
  night. Why had he ever taken that gun from Andersen? They had been
• 35:07
  at once utterly unarmed. The lights of a passing car had halted them.
• 35:12
  They had come out to see if the car had passed on. It was
• 35:15
  then they took the guns. But why had they done it? They had
• 35:20
  pulled a switch of the main control, cut the telephone wires, and were
• 35:22
  sure no man was around the place. Why had he ever taken that gun
• 35:27
  from Andersen? Hell? He growled and tamped a fresh cigarette. I don't
• 35:32
  suppose it make much difference now, anyhow, since I was with Bob when
• 35:37
  he turned loose with his gat over on the bunk again, he stretched out,
• 35:42
  blowing clouds of smoke ceilingward and marveling at the courage and strength of Mary
• 35:45
  and Miley. He could not recall ever having seen the girl in his life,
• 35:51
  but from what the paper said, he was sure it was she who
• 35:53
  had come from her room and not only grappled him along six feet of bone
• 35:58
  and muscle, that actually knocked him down. It was then that his gun
• 36:02
  went off. Henny was breathing hard as he reviewed this event, But now
• 36:08
  he drew in a long inhale, and while letting it out, said within
• 36:13
  himself, thank god. They found one bullet on the floor. Soon he
• 36:19
  was sitting up, thinking, why can't my lawyer make a case of that?
• 36:22
  Let him grant that I was there, that I went there to rob,
• 36:27
  that I was armed with a thirty eight. That's all true, but
• 36:30
  there's the unquestionable evidence that I committed no murder. The bullet, the only
• 36:35
  bullet from my gun, the only thirty eight in the place, was found
• 36:38
  in the floor, not neither of the bodies. With his elbows on his
• 36:44
  knees and his head in his hands. He wondered how Bob Andersen felt about
• 36:47
  it. All the FBI bullet experts had proved the slugs in the bodies and
• 36:52
  Missus Miley's bed were all from Bob's thirty two, and still Anderson maintained his
• 36:59
  innocence, gnawing all connection with the crime. That guy's an iceberg or crazy,
• 37:06
  whispered Penny somewhat fiercely, and flicked gray Ash to the floor. I
• 37:10
  involved him, Baxter involved him, the guns involve him, and now the
• 37:15
  slugs. But the guy goes on denying it all. Who how did he
• 37:22
  expect to get away with it? Of course he's got money and mouthpieces.
• 37:25
  But even so, Flinging himself back on the bunk, he asked himself if
• 37:30
  he had really rated on his pal He gritted his teeth as he thought of
• 37:35
  how he had been taken a traffic light, a lifeless signal would now most
• 37:40
  likely mean three lives. It was at Fort Worth, Texas. He had
• 37:45
  been driving all over the South for ten days and nothing had happened. He
• 37:50
  had been to Florida, came back through Georgia and Alabama, had crossed Mississippi,
• 37:53
  in Arkansas without the slightest trouble, had even telegraphed Anderson for more money
• 37:59
  and received it with an a few hours. But then down deep in Texas,
• 38:04
  a traffic light turned against him, and that light might yet mean the
• 38:07
  electric chair. With a chuckle that was like a growl, he swung his
• 38:12
  long legs down on the floor and sat on the edge of his bunk with
• 38:15
  his huge hands spread wide on each side of him. Again he gave that
• 38:20
  hard, harsh chuckle. That's what I get for obeying the wall. But
• 38:25
  suddenly he was sitting bolt upright, his gray blue eyes narrowed, and a
• 38:30
  glint as cold as steel leaped from them. Rat, he thought, Rat,
• 38:37
  Why was Anderson who ratted on me reporting his cars stolen after giving it
• 38:40
  to me for getaway? If it wasn't for that those Dickson fort Worth would
• 38:45
  never have given me a second glance. Wait until I see that guy again.
• 38:51
  Then the three days and two nights of constant questioning a fort Worth came
• 38:53
  back to him. The corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer as he
• 38:59
  thought of how they'd badured him, bullied him, and all but beaten him
• 39:02
  in a fruitless effort to warm a confession out of him. Had he to
• 39:06
  deal only with such dis he'd be a free man today, or at most
• 39:10
  a suspect auto thief. What Chief Price had come down from Kentucky? Tom
• 39:16
  Penny rocked a bit on his bunk as he faced a real puzzle. He
• 39:21
  knew he should be hating Austin Price with all the hate of his being,
• 39:24
  and yet far from hating him, he found himself almost liking the fellow.
• 39:30
  He had been decent, He had talked to him like a human being,
• 39:32
  had treated him like a man for four hours they had been together that Sunday,
• 39:37
  yet never once so the Chief raised his voice quietly, almost considerately.
• 39:44
  He put question after question, and even more quietly knited down Tom's replies as
• 39:50
  he rocked back and forth. Now Penny could hear the calm voice of the
• 39:52
  Austin Price, Tom, you're contradicting yourself. Even more clearly, could hear
• 39:59
  his own voice, a voice that was not near so calm, A voice
• 40:02
  that was harsh with the false bravado, and resonant with a confidence that was
• 40:07
  assumed. It was a resonance that spoke to the trained ear of guilt.
• 40:13
  Puff do you think I'm going to confess to a double murder with a start,
• 40:19
  Tom Penny sat up. That's where I made my mistake, he told
• 40:22
  himself, if I kept on answering instead of asking. But then he shrugged
• 40:28
  his shoulders and comforted himself with the thought that they would have pulled it out
• 40:31
  of him finally. Anyhow, no man could face the grilling Chief Price administered
• 40:37
  without tripping up Somewhere. He ground the stub of the cigarette under his foot
• 40:42
  as he concluded he had not rat it, but had been trapped into an
• 40:45
  omission. But the fact that he had been captured at all was Andersen's fault.
• 40:51
  So blame there be for the mess they were in. Let that double
• 40:53
  cross, or take it if he hadn't reported his cars stolen. Tom Penny
• 41:00
  stood up and stretched. This kind of thinking would do no good, he
• 41:05
  told himself. It was crying over spilt milk, Let the cat lap such
• 41:08
  stuff. Up. Late that evening, just as he was thinking of retiring,
• 41:14
  Penny heard his name called. Looking up, he found De tectives hair
• 41:17
  again and gravit at the door Vissel. No more questions, he growled,
• 41:24
  I've told you bulls all I know I've told you all I intend to tell
• 41:28
  you not so fast, Penny says, A friendly visit, this time friendly.
• 41:36
  Penny sneered offic her hair again, speaking how kind of you friendly?
• 41:40
  That's the way you bulls always begin. No, no, Tom, put
• 41:45
  in Gravit. You've got us wrong, this time wrong. I've had you
• 41:51
  guys right from the time I was a kid. If you won't take our
• 41:54
  words, at least take your cigarettes. The prisoner looked at the oblong package
• 42:00
  the detective held out to him, then flashed a suspicious eye at the two
• 42:04
  men. They're yours, Tom, Detective Gravit assured him. Joe and I
• 42:09
  saw them lying on the desk as we came by, and thought we'd bring
• 42:13
  them up to you. What kind of a day did you have? Penny
• 42:16
  took the carteon from Harrigan's hand, read the return address on the upper left
• 42:20
  hand corner, smiled, and tossed the package on the bunk. Then he
• 42:24
  answered, Gravit, not bad at all. Ate well, slept well,
• 42:29
  saw the morning and evening papers, even had some visitors. I'll call at
• 42:32
  the end of a perfect day if you two won't fire questions at me all
• 42:36
  night. Joe harrigan, relate a cigar. Questions ended. Chief gave orders
• 42:43
  to leave you alone. Seems to like you, Penny. Glad you had
• 42:46
  a good day. Have you have a nice night. See you later.
• 42:52
  Tom smiled as the two men swung down the cell block. He took the
• 42:55
  cartet and reread the return address. He fished a pencil miss pocket, reached
• 43:00
  for a piece of paper, and sat down to acknowledge the gift to his
• 43:04
  cousins. Five minutes later, he sealed the envelope, placed it on the
• 43:07
  thin ledge between the bars, took another piece of paper and wrote, Luxington,
• 43:13
  Kentucky, October twenty second, nineteen forty one. Dear Chief, you
• 43:19
  will never know just how much I appreciate at your visit this afternoon. I
• 43:22
  never knew that an officer of the law could be so human before. Isn't
• 43:25
  it strange how one learned such things too late and the price one has to
• 43:30
  pay for them. It is not of myself. I think my suffering is
• 43:35
  nothing compared to mothers, my brothers and sisters, and all my friends.
• 43:38
  What hurts so bad as to think what I could have been had I chosen
• 43:43
  the right road instead of the wrong. If I could only tell the world
• 43:45
  the story of my life, it would be sure to help someone chief.
• 43:51
  Honestly, I have told you all I know, and it is the truth.
• 43:53
  I told them the other night that I wanted you present. They said
• 43:57
  you were sick and wanted me to tell them. They were all very kind
• 44:00
  and considerate, and mister Price, if there is nothing that you can do
• 44:05
  for me, I at least know you are sincere on my behalf, and
• 44:08
  I want you to know that I hold no malice against any one on earth,
• 44:12
  that I have the deepest respect for you in the force. I also
• 44:15
  think mister Moppin, Harrigan and Gravit deserve a lot of credit in this case.
• 44:20
  They certainly stuck with it to the end without rest. I am not
• 44:23
  throwing a case for sympathy. I really mean this from my heart. I
• 44:28
  just want to say something to show my appreciation of their in your kindness.
• 44:32
  For all the hard things I have said and thought in regard to officers of
• 44:36
  the law, I am sorry, very sorry. I see them differently now.
• 44:42
  If you feel oh, I don't know how to express myself. But
• 44:46
  if you feel bad about having to crack this case, please don't I know
• 44:51
  it is your duty, mister Price. I would like very much to know
• 44:55
  the names of the sisters who were with you to day. God bless them.
• 45:00
  They are always the same, so kind and sympathetic. I always felt
• 45:04
  a sort of security to be in their presence. Well, Chief, I
• 45:08
  won't take any more of your time. Try not to think too badly of
• 45:12
  me, and remember I honestly am sincere and all I've said to you and
• 45:16
  yours best of health and good luck, respectfully. Tom Penny, the prisoner
• 45:22
  read his letter over for a moment. He was tempted to tear it up.
• 45:27
  It sounded crawling. He did want to thank Pryce, but somehow these
• 45:31
  lines did not ring with the gratitude he wanted them to have. He has
• 45:35
  said some pretty nasty things about cops, both at Fort Worth and here in
• 45:38
  Lexington, but now he felt differently toward them. Price is okay, So
• 45:45
  we're moppin here again, and gravit. He owed each an apology, and
• 45:49
  he owed the Chief some real thanks both. This letter sounded. Then his
• 45:53
  eyes fell on the paragraph about the nuns. Were those few sentences there were
• 45:59
  reason for this long letter? What was it? They had said? They
• 46:02
  were praying for him? For what could they be praying? He had been
• 46:07
  caught, He had confessed his days of crime were over. If he didn't
• 46:10
  get the chair, he'd surely get life. So for what could they be
• 46:15
  praying for? What? The question finally had him folding his letter and addressing
• 46:21
  it to the chief. If nothing else came from it, he might give
• 46:23
  the names of those nuns and write to them to find out what they were
• 46:28
  praying for. Surely not for my life, said Penny, as he prepared
• 46:32
  for bed. And I know they wouldn't be praying for my death. But
• 46:37
  a few moments later, as he pulled the blankets up under his chin,
• 46:40
  he admitted that they might be praying just for that he hadn't lived, right,
• 46:45
  The sisters at Saint Joseph's hospital might very well be praying that he'd die,
• 46:50
  right. The thought disturbed him. Did he know anything about dying?
• 46:55
  He remembered well the impulse that seized him when the cops had recognized him at
• 47:00
  Fort Worth by means of his long facial scar. He was tempted to force
• 47:04
  them to pull their guns and kill him there at the wheel. He could
• 47:07
  not now tell himself just why he had denied that impulse. It would have
• 47:12
  saved him so much trouble, the questionings, the publicity, the long ride
• 47:16
  back, and the shameful returned to his home city, then the weeks that
• 47:21
  lay ahead with the trial. Why hadn't he done it? Was it because
• 47:24
  of the others in the car at the time, Leo Gadis and that woman
• 47:29
  they picked up? Stupid How chivalrous he was towards all women, no matter
• 47:34
  how little worthy of chivalry they might be. As he turned on his side,
• 47:38
  he told himself that was the very reason he had not forced the cop
• 47:42
  stop and fire a skinny, hard faced prostitute. But then his eye caught
• 47:47
  a solitary star in the heavens, and he wondered if there was not something
• 47:52
  more to it than his own false chivalry. Suddenly he realized that every letter
• 47:57
  he had written from Fayette County jail had had a God bless you in it.
• 48:02
  Even this latest to price had a God bless them in it for the
• 48:07
  nuns. Yet at Fort Worth he had laughed into the teeth of one of
• 48:10
  his questioners, who had asked, doesn't God mean anything to you? God?
• 48:16
  He had laughed, to me, that is only a three letter word,
• 48:21
  and for all practical purposes, those three letters might just as well be
• 48:24
  x y Z. Then why was he writing of God to his mother,
• 48:30
  his cousins, and even to the Chief. The stars slowly marched across the
• 48:36
  sky above Lexington that night, silvering even some of the bars in the Fayette
• 48:39
  County Jail. They were majestically calm and peaceful. But Tom Penny slipped a
• 48:45
  light in troubled sleep beneath them, never dreaming that he who has that those
• 48:50
  stars in their courses, had been gathering instruments to bring him back to the
• 48:53
  orbit traced out for man at Fort Worth. The questioner, with his question
• 49:00
  out, God had been one small instrument, the curiosity of Jackie Reagan about
• 49:05
  jail, said, been another. But it was only as Penny fell asleep
• 49:08
  that God had gathered his four main instruments. Two nuns up at Saint Joseph's
• 49:13
  Hospital and down at the Price home, two men who were discussing the man
• 49:17
  they knew would be convicted as a murderer. I know he's going to die
• 49:22
  for this crime. I want you to go and see him, said Price
• 49:27
  doggedly. Okay, Chief, I'll go. You pray that I say the
• 49:31
  right thing when I do. And Father George Donnelly smiled as he saw relief
• 49:37
  in Price's eyes. The object of all this heavenly and earthly concern stirred in
• 49:43
  his sleep as he dreamed of his mother and of chapter two. Most likely
• 49:51
  I'll burn missus. Penny waited until the postman had gone down the front steps
• 49:57
  before she moved him behind the protecting over drapes. It was not like her
• 50:00
  to hide, or that the postman passed without a greeting, But she did
• 50:05
  not feel up to meeting any one just yet, perhaps to morrow or the
• 50:08
  next day. She opened the door hastily and grabbed a little pile of letters.
• 50:15
  Quickly she closed the door and stood breathing heavily in the hall. But
• 50:19
  there was something more than the fear of neighbors that set her heart pounding.
• 50:22
  Now there on the very top of the pile was the bold, graceful sweep
• 50:25
  of a handwriting she loved to see, and a handwriting she now dreaded to
• 50:30
  read. Staring at the clear caligraphy of her own name, she suddenly found
• 50:36
  the character shimmering in herself. Sobbing the bills, advertisements and boarder's mail,
• 50:42
  she placed upon the table in the hall, the one that is said her
• 50:45
  sobbing was taken to the kitchen. She felt more at home in the kitchen.
• 50:50
  Quickly she drew her rocker to the window, wiped her eyes and polished
• 50:53
  her glasses. Then opened the envelope, which was postmarked Laxington, November ninth,
• 51:00
  nineteen forty one. My darling mother, hope this finds you much better.
• 51:06
  I am okay, just forish supper, fried chicken, cranberry sauce,
• 51:09
  tomatoes, celery and devil's food cake. I still have fruit and candy to
• 51:14
  go, so you see I am not suffering from lack of food. Of
• 51:17
  course, that came from outside. But the jail food is good and plenty
• 51:22
  of it. Father Donllilly was here this afternoon, said, he came to
• 51:24
  see you Wednesday and was coming again. How do you like him? How
• 51:30
  did she like this tall man with the very white skin and the silky white
• 51:34
  hair here that was so thin he seemed bald? How does she like this
• 51:38
  man whose kindly blue eyes were filled with so much genuine sympathy and real understanding.
• 51:45
  Yes see you come on Wednesday. She had not known how to greet
• 51:47
  him, but he'd been so gentle and I talk so friendly about Tom that
• 51:52
  she had loved him immediately. Yes, she could tell Tom that she loved
• 51:57
  this priest who was being so good to him and to her. The whitehead
• 52:01
  bent over the letter again. So the boy was thinking of becoming a Catholic,
• 52:07
  she frowned. After all, it is God we are interested in,
• 52:12
  isn't it. Regardless of how I've lived, I assure you I'll die right
• 52:17
  missus. Penny looked up to the ceiling. Why was the boy writing so
• 52:22
  definitely of death? Had he given up all hope? Would not the lawyers
• 52:25
  prove that he did no murder? She rose, went into her bedroom and
• 52:30
  from their place with security, took a card in two letters, then returned
• 52:35
  to her kitchen with its better light and its rocker. The letters were unfolded
• 52:39
  when she arrived there. It was in the very first letter he had written
• 52:44
  from jail, almost three weeks before. She knew it's every syllable by heart,
• 52:49
  Yet she must read it again. Dear mother, I don't know what
• 52:53
  to write to inspire you. I know you are heartbroken. However, Mother,
• 52:59
  don't it is not as bad as it seems. Don't believe everything that
• 53:04
  is printed in the papers as usual. You know they tried to convict a
• 53:07
  person before trial. I can tell you one thing that will make you feel
• 53:12
  better. I am not guilty of murder. I have definite proof of that.
• 53:16
  Leanna Penny's eyes went to the window, but they saw not the bleakness
• 53:22
  of November. They saw nothing. For the mother was feeling again the surge
• 53:27
  of relief that had risen from the very depth of her being the night her
• 53:30
  son Charles had told her the whim bullet from Tom's gun had been found in
• 53:34
  such a position that it was evident he had killed neither of the Miley women.
• 53:38
  Then why was he thinking so much of death? She returned to the
• 53:42
  first letter, second page, and read again this earliest sense of death.
• 53:46
  Please don't let it worry you, mother, he'd written, for I am
• 53:51
  ready for whatever comes. She picked up the picture postcard which rested atop a
• 53:55
  second letter. She glanced at its tighly colored face and read the legend rock
• 54:01
  garden in Cyprus, Gardens and sunny Florida. Then at its few words,
• 54:07
  Mother, we'll write later, am o kay no address as yet? Loss
• 54:12
  of love? How much more those words told her now? Than when she
• 54:16
  had first read them. The cart had arrived on October ninth. It held
• 54:21
  the first words she had had from Tom since the Saturday morning of September twenty
• 54:24
  seventh, when he told her he was going to Louisville to look for work.
• 54:29
  He had gone to Louisville, but that night he was back in Lexington
• 54:32
  with Baxter and Bob Anderson. That night they had robbed the country Club.
• 54:39
  She read the cart again and remembered now how disappointed and puzzled she had been
• 54:44
  when she first looked on the Florida scene and thought her boy that far south.
• 54:49
  She now stared as her eyes fell on the pistmark for the first time
• 54:52
  and read del High Louisiana. He had been on the run then, was
• 54:58
  dodging police, worried sick note doubt by newspaper accounts. Yet he had thought
• 55:04
  of her, had managed to allay suspicions and banish fears. He had reasoned
• 55:08
  to close with lots of love. The mother looked at the card and knew
• 55:14
  that no volume could tell the complete story held in this little two cent postcard.
• 55:19
  But how soon the comforted brought had vanished. That very evening, the
• 55:22
  papers had told of Tom's capture at Fort Worth. Quickly, she unfolded the
• 55:28
  second letter that lay on her lap. It was dated October twenty fourth.
• 55:32
  Father Donnelly came to see me Friday night, sent me some books. Everyone
• 55:37
  has been so nice. Loraine and Edith sent me a carton of cigarettes.
• 55:42
  Jean sent me four packs. Everyone wants to know if there's anything they can
• 55:45
  do for me, but no one can do what I want done. Stop
• 55:50
  you from worrying. As she wept quietly, she forgot what he had said
• 55:54
  about becoming a Catholic and the remembrance of his feilial love. But there was
• 55:59
  one who could not forget, and he was on his way to Lexington from
• 56:02
  Covington that very moment. Father George Donnelly was driving rapidly and thinking faster than
• 56:08
  he was driving. He was living over again the events of the day he
• 56:13
  had first met Tom Penny Friday, up Taber twenty third. He had offered
• 56:19
  mass at Saint Joseph's Hospital on that morning, listened to Sister Mary Laurencia's account
• 56:22
  of her meeting with Tom as she led him to missus Price's room. Sister's
• 56:28
  reaction to the man had impressed him. They had hardly greeted missus Price when
• 56:31
  her phone rang. It was the Chief who wanted to tell of a letter
• 56:36
  he had just received from the prisoner. I never saw Austin like this before.
• 56:40
  His wife had said, he has Tom Penny on the brain. He
• 56:44
  couldn't worry any more if the man were his own son. I didn't understand
• 56:49
  it. Neither did the priest. He had visited the Chief the night before
• 56:53
  and found him glum. It was only by solemnly promising to visit the prisoner
• 56:58
  that Father George had been able to bring anything like peace the Price's mind and
• 57:02
  a semblance of cheer to his countenance. That afternoon, despite the elation evident
• 57:07
  in the call of the morning, the priest found the Chief more disturbed than
• 57:12
  ever, for he had sent to the local pastors to visit Penny and nothing
• 57:15
  had come of the interviews. Then why should I trouble the poor fellow?
• 57:21
  Father George had asked, if these two good fathers could do nothing with him,
• 57:24
  what chance have I? I have nothing more to offer. The Chief
• 57:30
  had thumped his desk and said, if you are my friend, go,
• 57:34
  You're different from those two. Maybe he'll open up to you. Father George
• 57:39
  went, but after forty five minutes with Tom Penny, he was quite convinced
• 57:44
  that the man would never open up to any one, not once said the
• 57:47
  cold, gray blue eyes been off him. There was suspicion in their steady
• 57:52
  stare, and Father George thought he detected antagonism also, But he did not
• 57:57
  know just what Tom Penny was thinking. When summoned, the prisoner cursed under
• 58:02
  his breath, thinking it was some curiosity seeker, But as he ambled along
• 58:07
  the corridor he felt a vague hope arise it might possibly be some friend.
• 58:13
  When he saw it was a priest, he knew a little anger. This
• 58:16
  was the third sky Pilot today. He hadn't cared for either of the others.
• 58:21
  They did not have what he wanted. This one would hardly be different.
• 58:25
  But from the first quiet word and the warm handshake, Tom Penny knew
• 58:30
  he was different. This man was genuinely friendly, no near just man to
• 58:36
  man. Penny had repeated his name Donnelly h and said good of price when
• 58:44
  the priest told him the chief had sent him. When invited to sit,
• 58:47
  the prisoner had refused, then sitting all day After that, he had said
• 58:52
  little more than yeah, uh huh, and is that a fact? If
• 59:00
  the priest talked on everything that could interest a man except the one thing Tom
• 59:02
  Penny expected from him, he brought up the late World Series between the Dodgers
• 59:07
  and the Yanks. At any other time and at any other place, Tom
• 59:12
  Penny would have made a lively conversation out of what was now little more than
• 59:15
  a monolog, especially when the priest expressed sympathy with the Dodgers for losing a
• 59:20
  game which they already had won when the catcher dropped the third strike on the
• 59:23
  third out in the ninth inning. Talk all right, was all the Penny
• 59:29
  offered. Now, so the priest had gone on to the war, Tom
• 59:34
  wondered whether this father Donnelly was a diplomat, an expert psychologist, a clever
• 59:38
  salesman, or something of that sort, as he spoke of the Nazi drive
• 59:43
  on Moscow and predicted their repulse by Russia's winter rather than by Russia's army,
• 59:47
  then recounted Napoleon's defeat on the same terrain by the same unconquerable force. Such
• 59:54
  little things can cause such great disasters, said the priest. Think of it
• 1:00:00
  just tiny snowflakes. Falling from a Russian sky defeated the greatest military strategist history
• 1:00:06
  has ever known. Then, as if mesmerized by the paradox, the priest
• 1:00:10
  went on to tell how tiny raindrops were the ultimate cause of a catastrophe Tom
• 1:00:15
  had heard about when a very small boy, the sinking of the Titanic.
• 1:00:21
  As the priest went on with other examples of little things causing great disaster,
• 1:00:25
  Tom was expecting him to end with, and a tiny traffic light was your
• 1:00:30
  great undoing? Or the tiny pressure of a finger on a trigger can bring
• 1:00:34
  terrible trouble. But to his surprise and relief, the priest has said,
• 1:00:39
  but tiny things can cause great triumphs too, Tom, Saint Peter was converted
• 1:00:45
  by a look Saint Augustine by the voice of a little girl. The Battle
• 1:00:49
  of Marengoe turned on a drummer's boy not knowing how to beat retreat. You
• 1:00:54
  remember the story of the English king who watched the spider try try again,
• 1:01:00
  don't you? Uh huh, was the only comment Penny supplied. It was
• 1:01:07
  not very heartening, but Father George was determined to keep his promise to price
• 1:01:10
  and do his utmost. He talked of the little thing that had turned the
• 1:01:15
  tide in the Duke Colgate football game a few days previously of the Kentucky Wildcats
• 1:01:20
  at twenty one sixth victory over Xavier. Discussed teams in the Southern Conference and
• 1:01:24
  ended by saying that Center's praying Colonels needed another bout McMillan. Tom agreed,
• 1:01:30
  but that was all he offered to the attempt at conversation. So Father George
• 1:01:35
  came closer home. Are they feeding you well? Tom? Okay? Have
• 1:01:42
  you plenty of cigarettes? Uh? Huh? Do the guards value papers?
• 1:01:46
  Oh? Yeah? Father George arose. His watch told him he had been
• 1:01:52
  three quarters of an hour with this man. His head told him he had
• 1:01:55
  accomplished nothing. His heart told him he must break through this steel of reserve
• 1:02:00
  behind which the man hid himself if he were ever to do Tom Penny any
• 1:02:05
  good. But how to do that he did not know. Well, Tom,
• 1:02:10
  I'd love to be able to help you. Is there anything I can
• 1:02:14
  do, anything that I can send in? Nah? Nothing, I've got
• 1:02:19
  to be going, Tom. Just remember I'll always be praying for you.
• 1:02:22
  And if there is anything. The priest held out his hand, Tom Penny
• 1:02:28
  did not take it. He was still staring at the priest with eyes that
• 1:02:31
  roared like blue flame. The priest did not know exactly what to do or
• 1:02:36
  what to expect. What happened was the last thing he could have expected after
• 1:02:40
  the experience of the past forty five minutes. Will you sit down if you
• 1:02:45
  are minutes, father, The priest sat. I'm in a tight spot.
• 1:02:51
  I want to talk to you about religion. Most likely i'll burn for these
• 1:02:54
  murders. I haven't lived right. I want to die right. I want
• 1:03:00
  to die. A Catholic. Tom Penny sat on the edge of a chair
• 1:03:05
  and bent toward a priest whose heart was doing very odd things. I don't
• 1:03:08
  know much about your religion. I ran around with a gang of kids who
• 1:03:12
  were Catholics when I was young. I used to sit in the back of
• 1:03:15
  the church while they went to confessions. On Saturday afternoon, when I was
• 1:03:20
  at Frankfort, we had to attend chapel. I chose the Catholic service,
• 1:03:23
  but I didn't know what it was all about. The prisoner paused. The
• 1:03:29
  priest found his eyes not exactly friendly, but the piercing gleam had left them.
• 1:03:34
  He bent forward and smiled, Okay, Tom, I think I can
• 1:03:38
  fix it. So that you can receive instructions. What do you mean with
• 1:03:43
  Chief Price. I wasn't thinking of him, Tom, I don't imagine there'll
• 1:03:47
  be any difficulty there. I was thinking of one of the local priests,
• 1:03:52
  Father Sullivan, perhaps, Oh, said Penny in a rose. There was
• 1:03:59
  finality and disappoint in his tone. If you can't do it, forget it.
• 1:04:04
  But Tom, I'm stationed in Covington. That's eighty miles away. Oh.
• 1:04:11
  I didn't know. That's okay, we'll forget it. Oh. No,
• 1:04:15
  Tom, I'll get Father solvent or. If you can't do it,
• 1:04:20
  Father, I don't want anyone to do it. Father George put out his
• 1:04:26
  hand. Penny took it. If that's the way you feel, Tom,
• 1:04:30
  I'll do it. I'll fix it with the pastor here in my own boss,
• 1:04:33
  I'll be happy to do it. The priest felt the crushing grip of
• 1:04:38
  the prisoner's hand and tried to return the pressure as well as he could.
• 1:04:44
  I was talking with sisters Mary, Laurentia and Robert Ann this morning. They
• 1:04:47
  told me about their visit. They're praying for you, Tom. I wonder,
• 1:04:54
  father, said the prisoner slowly. I wonder if they would ever come
• 1:04:58
  back. Oh, I think so, Tom, I'll speak to them,
• 1:05:04
  will you? What did you say? Their names were Sister Mary Laurentia is
• 1:05:10
  the older nun, Sister Robert Ann the other one, Mary Laurentia, and
• 1:05:15
  Robert Anne repeated the prisoner. Well, Tom, I'll be running along now.
• 1:05:20
  I may send you a book or two as soon as I get home.
• 1:05:24
  You can look for me early next week they parted. The priest's heart
• 1:05:29
  was singing, How strange, O God are thy ways? Henny went back
• 1:05:33
  to his cell, feeling happier than he had felt since September twenty seventh.
• 1:05:40
  The very next day, a special delivery package arrived at the jail. Tom
• 1:05:45
  opened it with mounting curiosity. There is no return address, but as soon
• 1:05:48
  as he glimpsed the title, he knew the source of the present. Father
• 1:05:53
  Smith instructs. Jackson was on the outside, while the fly leaf held the
• 1:05:58
  message you d Jackson, I'll be Father Smith, best of luck in God's
• 1:06:03
  special blessings, Father George. While now taking a turn on the road,
• 1:06:11
  Father Donnelly recalled rapidly the five visits he had managed to East Short Street those
• 1:06:15
  first two weeks, and admitted he had received almost as many revelations as he
• 1:06:19
  had given to Tom Penny on the very first visit. Father George saw that
• 1:06:24
  he would not instruct Tom Penny half as much as Tom Penny would instruct him.
• 1:06:29
  The prisoner had read the first part of Father Smith instruct Jackson not only
• 1:06:33
  with a mind that was open, but with one that closed. As Chestertown
• 1:06:38
  says, every open mind should close like an open mouth over something solid and
• 1:06:43
  substantial. Tom had many questions to ask, but they were questions that showed
• 1:06:47
  he read and reflected, had assimilated much, and was now looking for amplification
• 1:06:51
  with an elucidation. All but so perfectly, he had said the day they
• 1:06:58
  talked of creation, the purpose God had in mind when he made man,
• 1:07:01
  when he made Tom Penny. When the matter of the natural law came up,
• 1:07:05
  the prisoner said, anyone who denies the voice of conscience has not ears
• 1:07:11
  like mine. Father. I always knew when I did wrong. I believe
• 1:07:15
  everybody does. But you see, we defend ourselves, we excuse ourselves,
• 1:07:21
  we blame society. Then, with a frown, he added, and we
• 1:07:26
  have some truth in our claim. A man with a record is outside the
• 1:07:30
  pale. Look at me. Just before this final trouble. I tried to
• 1:07:33
  get a taxi license. I was denied it because the police hid my fingerprints.
• 1:07:39
  If if I gotten that license, you would not be sitting here today.
• 1:07:44
  Then, with a quick laugh, he had concluded, maybe that wouldn't
• 1:07:46
  have been so good for me at that. Father, Now I think I
• 1:07:50
  have a chance to save my soul. I believe, Father George, I
• 1:07:55
  believe this Catholic explanation is so simple, yet so all inclusive of it satisfies.
• 1:08:01
  It leaves out nothing, not even my tendency to sin. As Father
• 1:08:06
  George, now throw it through Lexington traffic. He was asking himself the question
• 1:08:12
  he had asked after every contact with Tom Penny. What had this man done
• 1:08:15
  to win such graces? Or who was winning them for him? It might
• 1:08:20
  possibly be his mother's prayers. He would have attributed them to the nuns,
• 1:08:26
  but he considered the nuns and their apostolic interest in the man, as one
• 1:08:30
  of his greatest graces. He smiled now as he thought of Sister robert Anne's
• 1:08:34
  discussion of her first visit, Oh Father. She had said, when I
• 1:08:40
  heard the click of the key that first day, my heart jumped a nun
• 1:08:44
  alone with a murderer alone. Wasn't Sister Mary la Rencia with you? Yes,
• 1:08:51
  But there were only three chairs. She took the one nearest the door,
• 1:08:55
  and Tom sat facing me, so it was almost the same as if
• 1:08:59
  he and I were alone in the cell. So oh, I know they
• 1:09:03
  call it the visitor's room, but it has an iron greeting on the door,
• 1:09:06
  and they lock you in, So it's a cell to me. But
• 1:09:11
  as soon as Tom starts talking, I forget where we are. He has
• 1:09:15
  the heart of a child father. As he stopped for a traffic light,
• 1:09:18
  Father George's thought and irritation of the man who a few days ago had more
• 1:09:24
  than hinted he would be using much better judgment if he stayed away from Fayette
• 1:09:27
  County Jail and the Miley murderers. The priest frowned now as he had then.
• 1:09:32
  Why would people so misunderstand, he wondered, Why would they forget the
• 1:09:38
  Christ to come for sinners? When would they remember that he ate with them,
• 1:09:43
  drank with them, and die with too as company on a hill.
• 1:09:47
  The more he thought of it, the more his puzzlement and indignation grew.
• 1:09:51
  When would these self complacent ones realize the truth Abraham Lincoln expressed, when a
• 1:09:57
  better than thou congressman looked his condemnation to staggering inebriate, there before the grace
• 1:10:02
  of God goes Abraham Lincoln, the President had said. But Father George felt
• 1:10:09
  sure that the congressman missed the wisdom in the remark, just as so many
• 1:10:13
  millions have missed the wisdom and truth in Saint Augustine's query. If these men
• 1:10:16
  and women can reach such heights as sanctity, why not I win would these
• 1:10:23
  moderns. But then Father George caught himself. He was really growing hot under
• 1:10:28
  the collar, and a man who wears the room and collar must never do
• 1:10:31
  that. He shook his head, though, as you remember the man who
• 1:10:34
  had told him he might be jeopardizing the fair name of the Catholic Church by
• 1:10:39
  his visits to Tom Penny Gosh, exclaimed the priest, as he swung his
• 1:10:45
  car into the hospital drive. I wish these people would read the hand of
• 1:10:47
  Heaven and realize that God will follow us down the nights and down the days
• 1:10:51
  until he catches up with us, even if it takes him to a prison
• 1:10:56
  cell. He smiled as he locked his car and quietly reminded himself that people
• 1:11:01
  who talk to themselves this way end up in hospitals different from Saint Joseph's.
• 1:11:06
  The grapevine had gone to work before he climbed out of his car, so
• 1:11:11
  it was not to be wondered at. The sisters Mary Laurentia and robert Anne
• 1:11:14
  were in his room almost before he hung up his coat. Why is Tom
• 1:11:18
  so sure he'll die? Father? Came a somewhat petulant query from sister Robert
• 1:11:24
  Anne. Tell her father she won't face facts. But what does lawyers say?
• 1:11:31
  Father George shook his head. I haven't spoken with them, sister,
• 1:11:35
  but from what Tom tells me, they do not seem very hopeful. But
• 1:11:41
  the only bullet from Tom's gum was found on the floor. I know it,
• 1:11:45
  sister. He is very happy that he is not a murderer, and
• 1:11:47
  doubly happy to be able to tell his mother. So, by the way,
• 1:11:51
  have you two visited her yet? Oh? Indeed, says sister Mary
• 1:11:57
  Laurencia, for her sake, I wish those laws could do something. Sentiment
• 1:12:02
  is too high, sister, said the priest. Sadly, the papers have
• 1:12:06
  played this thing up in such a way that I don't see how it will
• 1:12:10
  be possible to get an unprejudiced jury. Of course, it was a brutal
• 1:12:15
  thing. We can't deny that. I'm afraid Tom has very little chance.
• 1:12:20
  I wonder if there isn't something we could do. I'm thinking, sisters,
• 1:12:26
  said Father George carefully. But I'm not worrying. God's Hannah's been so palpable
• 1:12:31
  in this entire affair that I am positive everything is going to work out for
• 1:12:34
  the best. Just look how each of us came into the case. I
• 1:12:40
  had no right to come back from Guessimone through Lexington. You, sister Mary,
• 1:12:44
  Laurancia and away had no right to be in Saint Joseph Hospital the time
• 1:12:47
  your sister was ill. You were a schoolteacher originally, You, sister Robert
• 1:12:53
  Anne, are an instructor of nurses, not a nursing nun. Yet you
• 1:12:58
  two are missus Price's room when Austin arrived. Then think of gobbing Jackie Reagan
• 1:13:02
  all the way from Seattle. All these are parts of the puzzle. Each
• 1:13:06
  fits in to complete the picture. We have been like pawns on God's chess
• 1:13:11
  board, or even like puppets who moved to the jerk of the string in
• 1:13:15
  his hand. It's marvelous. That's why I don't worry, even though I
• 1:13:19
  do think carefully. Why even the questions Tom asks and the answers that pop
• 1:13:25
  into my head seemed to me to be heaven sent. That man is farther
• 1:13:29
  along after half a dozen instructions than most people are after half a year.
• 1:13:33
  It is that fact which makes me believe his time on earth is short.
• 1:13:39
  But look, Father, put in Sister Mary Lauryncia. Slowly, Tom has
• 1:13:45
  turned state's evidence. Isn't there a possibility that he may get life instead of
• 1:13:48
  the chair? Father George's eyes narrowed. Have you ever mentioned that to that
• 1:13:55
  brother in law of yours? The nun shook her head. Austin is the
• 1:14:00
  one man who could answer it, Sister, I must confess I had thought
• 1:14:04
  of it. In fact, I mentioned it to Tom and tried to get
• 1:14:09
  him to use it in order to cheer up his mother. His answer was,
• 1:14:14
  I am not going to kid myself father, neither will I kid my
• 1:14:16
  mother. If we expect the worst and get something better, our joy will
• 1:14:20
  be all the greater. The Chief told me down in Texas that he could
• 1:14:25
  offer nothing. Moppin Harrigan and the other one, Gravit said the same thing
• 1:14:30
  here. So I don't expect anything from the state, but I'm going to
• 1:14:34
  go through one hundred percent. Why broke his sister Mary Lauryncia the very question
• 1:14:43
  I asked him, Sister, can you guessed the answer? I can,
• 1:14:47
  says Sister robert Ann. Sister Robert Ann said, happily, he knows now
• 1:14:53
  what it means to please God. Close enough, Sister. He said he
• 1:14:59
  was never going to fend God again, that he had enough on his conscience
• 1:15:02
  already without adding so much as a little white lie. Isn't it wonderful to
• 1:15:08
  watch a man's soul grow and humiliating? Sister, Tom Penny is still only
• 1:15:14
  a Catechumen. He is not a Catholic as yet. But how many Catholics,
• 1:15:18
  how many priests, how many religious are striving for perfection as he is?
• 1:15:24
  Sister Mary Laurentcia laughed lightly, just like you to talk of striving for
• 1:15:29
  perfection. But will you talk to the chief about that state's evidence angle?
• 1:15:34
  I had planned to, sister, what is a delicate subject? This town
• 1:15:39
  is in an angry mood against Anderson, Baxter and Penny, so angry that
• 1:15:44
  I feel sure we shall see a perfect exemplification of summum juice summa Injuria.
• 1:15:50
  What in the world does that mean, asked Sister robert Ian. It means,
• 1:15:56
  sister, that the law will be applied in all its rigor. Baxter,
• 1:16:00
  you know, wasn't even in the club. Tom's gun went off,
• 1:16:02
  but as bullet killed nobody. Yet all three men will probably die, one
• 1:16:08
  for the actual murders, the other two his accomplices. It's the lall,
• 1:16:14
  But doesn't state's evidence always get a reward, usually, Sister. But as
• 1:16:19
  I said, feeling is too high. Tom knows that he keeps saying most
• 1:16:26
  likely I'll burn. Well, I'm going to pay that he won't, king
• 1:16:31
  the determined and somewhat defiant reply from Sister robert Anne. We'll be with you,
• 1:16:36
  sister, said Father George softly. In the meantime you speak to the
• 1:16:42
  chief. I shall, sister, But you know, my immediate concern is
• 1:16:47
  bringing Tom Penny to birth by baptism rather than to death by the chair or
• 1:16:51
  to life imprisonment. But tell me, isn't it time for the trays?
• 1:16:58
  The two nuns laughed. Don't worry about trays. Your place is all set
• 1:17:01
  in the priest's dining room. You were spotted before you got out of your
• 1:17:05
  car. You nuns ought to teach the detective your technique. Nothing escapes your
• 1:17:11
  eyes. End of chapter three. Sentenced to birth. Dinner over and a
• 1:17:19
  few calls on the sick maid followed. Donnadly hurried to his car, turned
• 1:17:24
  it down the drive, and headed for Fayette County jail signed the preparation for
• 1:17:29
  Armistice Day along the main streets, set the priest, thinking it was something
• 1:17:32
  of a crime to celebrate such a day when most of the world was at
• 1:17:35
  war. But soon he shrugged his shoulders and summoned some of that buoyancy which
• 1:17:41
  keeps mankind facing life, even though death be crowding in from all sides.
• 1:17:45
  He was himself. By the time he locked his car, he turned and
• 1:17:49
  trotted at the dozen stone steps of the old building. The jailer was in
• 1:17:54
  his office and greeted the priest warmly. I suppose it's penny you want er
• 1:18:00
  father, well, step into the visitor's room. I'll have him down in
• 1:18:02
  a minute. Sorry to be such a bother, mister Ville. Of course
• 1:18:08
  I could talk to Tom up in his cell, but no bother at all.
• 1:18:13
  Father, you're instructing Tom, aren't you. Well, the visitor's room
• 1:18:16
  is the place to do it. Too. Many eyes, ears and tongues
• 1:18:19
  up above. Baxter and Anderson are up there now, you know so,
• 1:18:25
  I've heard Tom promised to introduce me some day. Soon. The prisoner appeared,
• 1:18:30
  accompanied by a guard. He nodded to the jailer. Thank you,
• 1:18:34
  mister Ville. Then thank you, Roger, he said to the guard,
• 1:18:39
  who locked them in in a flash. He turned to the priest, grasped
• 1:18:44
  his hand and said, Father, George, I've got a hundred and one
• 1:18:47
  questions to ask you. I know all the prayers you gave me, the
• 1:18:51
  Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Apostles Creed, I know all the
• 1:18:55
  acts of faith, hope, love, and contrition, and I've made up
• 1:18:59
  my own act of thanks. I say them a hundred times a day.
• 1:19:02
  But let's get down to the other business. Huh, you're in a rush
• 1:19:06
  to day, Tom. What's on your mind? That next article in the
• 1:19:12
  Creed, Father, the one you told me to study from this he shall
• 1:19:15
  come to judge a living in the dead. Well, what about it.
• 1:19:20
  We're still talking about Jesus, aren't we. When we say he that's right,
• 1:19:28
  then it's true that he'll be our judge. Uh huh. Now,
• 1:19:32
  let me see if I've got this straight. The god who is going to
• 1:19:35
  judge me is the same Jesus Christ who pardon, dismissed the good thief and
• 1:19:40
  promised in paradise the very same day. That's your judge, Tom and every
• 1:19:45
  man's penny got up from his chair, and as he paced the room,
• 1:19:49
  he murmured, it seems too good to be true. What do you mean,
• 1:19:56
  Tom, asked the priest, quietly and kindly. Tom turned threw up
• 1:20:00
  both hands in a gesture of triumph and exclaimed, white father is a cinch.
• 1:20:06
  Jesus Christ, the one you told me brought the kid back to life
• 1:20:10
  and gave him to the widowed mother. The Jesus who wouldn't allow the Jews
• 1:20:14
  to stone the woman taken in adult tree. The Jesus who took care of
• 1:20:16
  that street walker. What's her name, Mary Magdalen, that's the one.
• 1:20:24
  The Jesus who protected and defended her against that gang at the banquet. Remember,
• 1:20:29
  uh huh, he's going to be my judge. Why, Father,
• 1:20:33
  I'm ready to die now. Look, I'm going to trial soon. I'll
• 1:20:38
  stand before a man who doesn't know me from a hole in the wall.
• 1:20:41
  There'll be lawyers there, smart guys. They'll trip me up with clever questions,
• 1:20:45
  then turn intoists my answers until black seems white and white seems black.
• 1:20:50
  They'll be twelve good men and true there. Huh. And those twelve mugs
• 1:20:55
  who don't know me from Adam will listen to a lot of tripes some mouthpiece
• 1:20:59
  will spout, and to the oratory of prosecuting attorney who has his eye on
• 1:21:02
  a political position and his finger on the pulse of the mob. These mugs,
• 1:21:08
  I say, will pass judgment on me. They'll send me to the
• 1:21:12
  chair of Father. They'll take my life for what for a crime I did
• 1:21:16
  not commit. But tom Oh, I know, I know the lawsys I'm
• 1:21:24
  guilty morally. I've talked it over with my lawyers. I know how the
• 1:21:29
  charge will read and how the trial will go. I even know the verdict
• 1:21:31
  and the sentence. But Father, don't you see why I'm happy to have
• 1:21:36
  Jesus Christ as my final judge. He knows everything you told me. He
• 1:21:42
  is God. I believe you, I believe him, and I'm happy to
• 1:21:46
  know he'll be my judge. Father Donnelly's lips parted in a slow smile,
• 1:21:54
  but his heart was pounding. He seemed to feel God's grace pulsing in this
• 1:21:58
  room, with its two sides military chairs and its iron grated door, for
• 1:22:03
  the hundredth times since he met Tom Penny. He said, within himself,
• 1:22:09
  Oh God, how wonderful are thy ways. But to the bright eyed prisoner,
• 1:22:14
  whose enthusiasm and joy had transformed his hard, raw burned face into something
• 1:22:18
  of beauty, he said, you've got it, Tom, You've got the
• 1:22:24
  truth from the right angle. But I wonder if you've seen it from every
• 1:22:28
  angle that Jesus, who is to judge you, does know all are every
• 1:22:32
  thought word. Indeed, from the moment we began to be, from the
• 1:22:35
  day we began to think and do, from the hour we first went off
• 1:22:40
  the beam down to the latest sin. You'd make a good lawyer at Father,
• 1:22:45
  George, Yes, I've thought of all that, But it is that
• 1:22:48
  very angle that gives me confidence. See, Father, it's just as if
• 1:22:54
  Jesus was looking into my mind the night we were at the country club.
• 1:22:58
  He knows how much and how little he knows. Absolutely no murder was in
• 1:23:01
  that mind. But Tom, weren't there days when you head close to murder
• 1:23:08
  in your heart? And after all, you did intend to rob the club
• 1:23:12
  and you actually carried out that intention. Sure I did. Listen, father,
• 1:23:18
  don't get me wrong, and don't let me get you wrong. Didn't
• 1:23:23
  you tell me this dismalsguy, this thief who died next to Christ, was
• 1:23:27
  a pretty bad egg. While we know Tom, he must have been.
• 1:23:30
  The Romans were putting him to death, and on the cross he admitted the
• 1:23:34
  sentence was just. Then he was really guilty of a capital crime. I
• 1:23:40
  take it. So then, don't you see why I feel so free?
• 1:23:45
  What did Jesus say to him? What do you mean this day? Thou
• 1:23:50
  shalt be with me in paradise? Ah? Father, If all you've told
• 1:23:55
  me about Jesus is true, if all I've read is fact, I'm soul.
• 1:24:00
  I may be dumb, but I'm not so dumb as not to see
• 1:24:02
  that God is merciful. That was the first prayer the sisters taught me,
• 1:24:08
  my Jesus. Mercy. Isn't that something like what this dismiss said to Christ
• 1:24:14
  on the cross? Yes? It is. But Tom, most people fear
• 1:24:18
  the judgment, then they don't know God or else I'm crazy. See if
• 1:24:26
  I have it straight, Father, God became a baby for me. Huh,
• 1:24:30
  that's what we mean by born of the Virgin Mary. Exactly. It's
• 1:24:35
  God, though the baby in the cave, in the crib at Bethlehem,
• 1:24:41
  it's God. He grows, He does wonderful things, cures the deaf,
• 1:24:45
  the blind, the lame, cleans his lepers, the poor guy at the
• 1:24:48
  pool, you know, uh huh. And that old man they let down
• 1:24:54
  through the roof. He raised the dead, the little kid of the widowed
• 1:24:58
  mother, the twelve year old daughter of the ruler and Lazarus. What a
• 1:25:02
  job that was. This same man took care of those women I spoke about,
• 1:25:08
  you know, the one taken an adultery in that street walker. He
• 1:25:12
  died on a cross, after promising dismiss a bum like me paradise and after
• 1:25:17
  praying for the very brutes who murdered him. He used to be my judge.
• 1:25:21
  Eh, And you tell me people fear him plenty. There's something wrong
• 1:25:28
  somewhere, Father, Either I've missed something or people are a lot worse than
• 1:25:32
  I think they are. Why do they fear the priest? Hesitated to throw
• 1:25:38
  cold water on this heated enthusiasm. Yet he wanted his people to know the
• 1:25:43
  full truth and see the entire picture, so he reminded him of Hell.
• 1:25:47
  He told him that this same Christ from whose hands and lips mercy had dripped
• 1:25:53
  was also the one who had hurled thunderbolts of woes against scribes and Pharisees.
• 1:25:59
  The Jesus who went to a Jerusalem was the same God who allowed it to
• 1:26:01
  be destroyed. The Jesus who prayed for the Jews as he hung on the
• 1:26:06
  cross was the same God who permitted the overthrow of that nation and set them
• 1:26:12
  wandering over the face of the globe. He was a merciful Jesus, but
• 1:26:16
  he was also a just God. A deep frown cut into the forehead of
• 1:26:21
  the prisoner as he followed every word of the priest with burning intentness. Father
• 1:26:27
  George spoke at length on God's justice, and in his exposition, with there
• 1:26:32
  is a hell, tom and some souls go there, for God must be
• 1:26:36
  just, if he will be God. The prisoner's frown did not lift,
• 1:26:44
  nor did the light of puzzlement faate from his eyes, but his voice was
• 1:26:47
  quiet and held overtones of firm conviction. As he said. That doesn't scare
• 1:26:54
  me, Father, It gives me hope and actually gives me joy. It
• 1:26:58
  was justice, justice that you talk about that gave me so much confidence.
• 1:27:02
  I want to be tried by a just judge, by one who knows everything.
• 1:27:09
  But Tom, you know you've done some very wrong things, more than
• 1:27:14
  I can count, Father, more than I want to count. But think
• 1:27:17
  of that dismissed guy. What did he do but plead for mercy and get
• 1:27:23
  it. I can do the same, so can everyone else with any brains.
• 1:27:27
  And if all you and the sisters have told me is true, then
• 1:27:30
  God's very justice will force him to be merciful. If I throw myself in
• 1:27:34
  the mercy of the court here in Nexington, what will I get the chair?
• 1:27:41
  But with God? Ah? No, Father, you can't fool me.
• 1:27:45
  Maybe it's heresy, as you say, or blasphemy, but I still
• 1:27:50
  feel that His justice will make him merciful. How about it? Father?
• 1:27:56
  Donnelly's mind was groping in his memory where he heard or read something just like
• 1:28:00
  that before? Was it from Fulton Sheen? No, it was further back
• 1:28:06
  and more authoritative. Saint Augustin maybe sounded like him? Was it in the
• 1:28:15
  bravery. Somewhere someone had said something just like this prisoner has said, God's
• 1:28:20
  justice will make him merciful. He looked closely at Tom Penny. Tom,
• 1:28:29
  he said slowly, and tapped the prisoner's knee. I won't call it either
• 1:28:32
  heresy or blasphemy. I'll call it the true statement of truth i've ever heard.
• 1:28:39
  Where did you get it? It stands to reason, Father, or
• 1:28:43
  maybe it was something I picked up from the sisters in their short visits.
• 1:28:46
  They teach me much more than they ever realized. Sister Robert Ann told me
• 1:28:50
  of the practical son. He made a comeback, or rather, he had
• 1:28:56
  guts enough to walk back. And his father was all father, wasn't he.
• 1:29:00
  He forgave the little tramp everything, whined him, dined him, turned
• 1:29:03
  on the music. Sister told me God is just like that. He is
• 1:29:09
  our father. Isn't that the way we begin the Lord's prayer? Our father?
• 1:29:15
  Sister mar La Rencia told me of the good Shepherd and the good Samaritan.
• 1:29:18
  I hope I'm not all wet, but this article of the creed,
• 1:29:21
  which you say scares people, is the one that has given me most joy.
• 1:29:28
  Father George had come prepared to cover this one article and expect at a
• 1:29:31
  rather difficult time. He had conjured up a situation where he would have to
• 1:29:35
  distress the mercy of God without slighting his justice in order to reassure the prisoner.
• 1:29:43
  Now he found the tables turned and was forced to stress the justice without
• 1:29:46
  slighting the mercy. He did so, but Tom surprised him begin with the
• 1:29:51
  statement that God's justice would force him to be merciful. The priest looked at
• 1:29:58
  his watch. It was nearly f five o'clock. How speedily this hour and
• 1:30:02
  a half had flown. He sat back with his slums in his best pocket.
• 1:30:08
  Okay, Tom, study the next article. I'll be her Thursday Friday.
• 1:30:13
  Now, how about introducing me to Bob and Baxter. Tom Penny's face
• 1:30:18
  changed. The light that had danced in his eyes as he talked of Christ
• 1:30:23
  and judgment faded. Even his voice changed. Bob's not ready yet, father,
• 1:30:30
  I'll bring him to you when he set trust me. Two weeks later,
• 1:30:34
  when the last article in the Creed had been covered, Tom said,
• 1:30:39
  I'm sending Bob down this afternoon. Father. Let me warn you, Bob's
• 1:30:44
  a cold customer. But I've been praying and the sister said they'd pray.
• 1:30:48
  When the priest asked how much he has seen of Anderson, Tom replied,
• 1:30:55
  perhaps too much. Then Father George learned of all they did transpire upstairs,
• 1:31:00
  since the three men had been housed under the one roof. There was a
• 1:31:03
  trace of bitterness in Penny's tone as he told of the lawyers Anderson had been
• 1:31:08
  able to hire. He and Baxter had to take with the court offered.
• 1:31:12
  But Bob had the service of W. Clark Odie and Sked Rush Nicholson of
• 1:31:16
  Louisville. From notes Anderson has sent him, it was evident to Tom what
• 1:31:21
  line of defense these attorneys for preparing to follow? He tom Penny was the
• 1:31:28
  key to the whole situation, and plenty of pressure was being brought to bear
• 1:31:31
  directly and indirectly. You have him turn in their direction. He looked a
• 1:31:38
  bit worried as he said, we'll be tried in about two weeks, and
• 1:31:43
  I'm to be the main witness. The papers say you'll have separate trials.
• 1:31:47
  Tom, that's right, and I'm sure Park, the prosecuting attorney, will
• 1:31:54
  use me against Bob and against Baxter, finally against myself. It's not a
• 1:32:00
  pleasant spot to be, and Father, I hate rats as much as anyone.
• 1:32:03
  Both Anderson and Baxter will think I'm letting them down, that I'm squealing,
• 1:32:08
  that I'm a rat. Don't worry, Father, the only one I'll
• 1:32:12
  really let down is myself. The priest looked puzzled, so Tom quickly added,
• 1:32:18
  I won't let God down. And that's all that matters, isn't it.
• 1:32:24
  That's all Tom? Well, pray Father that I'll have a clear head
• 1:32:29
  on that stand. I'm in for a beating from all the lawyers, both
• 1:32:32
  Bobs and the States, so pray I'll send Bob down now. One of
• 1:32:39
  the books you gave me says we write our own final sentence, and God
• 1:32:43
  merely pronounces what we have written. I'm afraid Bob's not writing the right way,
• 1:32:47
  Father, So do all you can, okay, Roger. He called
• 1:32:54
  to the guard outside the door, and the key was turned. Five minutes
• 1:32:58
  later, they're entered a smooth, rather well groomed, chunky man. He
• 1:33:02
  said, suavely, this must be Father George. I'm Bob Anderson. Tom's
• 1:33:08
  been telling me all you've done for him, and thinks that can be helped
• 1:33:11
  too. A few questions showed the priest. He was talking with a fairly
• 1:33:15
  intelligent man, though the suavity in the soft voice and the ingratiating smile and
• 1:33:20
  gestures spoke both of superficiality and artificiality. He would do all he could for
• 1:33:27
  this man's soul. But from the outset he saw that the headlong cooperation with
• 1:33:30
  God's grace, the full surrender of self to the truth that in Mark Penny's
• 1:33:34
  capitulation were not in Bob Anderson. Father George tried the same technique, told
• 1:33:42
  Bob to pray and read the books he had given to Tom, but felt
• 1:33:45
  a careful reserve and the core of the man, even as the outreally acquiesced,
• 1:33:49
  not only graciously but even with a show of gratitude and enthusiasm. It
• 1:33:55
  was already late when Bob came in, so Father George had to excuse himself,
• 1:34:00
  but promised to be back before the end of the week. Then he
• 1:34:02
  wished Anderson all the luck in the world. Looks as if all needed it
• 1:34:08
  was Bob's only referenced to his plight. Two weeks later, on December eighth,
• 1:34:14
  the trial of Bob Andersen began. The day was consumed in challenges,
• 1:34:18
  but as night fell, A jury was unpaneled, and at seven forty five
• 1:34:23
  p m. Tom Penny mounted the witness stand. It was ten twenty when
• 1:34:28
  he came down, very tired, but conscious of an inner feeling of triumph.
• 1:34:32
  He had not let God down. He had kept his promise to Father
• 1:34:36
  George. In a clear, clicked voice, he had told the hatching of
• 1:34:41
  the plot to Rob, then the execution of that plot with its unplanned,
• 1:34:45
  unexpected, unwanted denoument. W cluck Ode, the defense attorney, questioned him
• 1:34:51
  for an hour and a half, and though he had used every trick and
• 1:34:55
  tactic known to the skillful lawyer, he had been unable to shake Tom.
• 1:34:59
  In his tes testimony, slyly he attacked Tom's character in order to destroy his
• 1:35:03
  value as a witness. Why did you change the story you had told at
• 1:35:08
  fort Worth when you returned to Lexington? Why did you implicate Baxter only when
• 1:35:13
  you got back here. On reading the question, Father George just saw all
• 1:35:18
  that it implied and feared for Tom's reply. But then his eyes fell on
• 1:35:25
  the answer his neophyte had given. This crime is bad enough, No use
• 1:35:30
  having a lie on your soul too, And the priest thrilled The next attack
• 1:35:35
  was on Tom's motive. Insinuation was not enough here, so Odie came out
• 1:35:41
  boldly with have you any hope for a life sentence? The entire force of
• 1:35:45
  detectives believed that Penny had confessed with that in the back of his head.
• 1:35:50
  Most people in Lexington thought the same. But Chief Price had told the boy
• 1:35:55
  down in fort Worth that he would promise him nothing. He marveled now at
• 1:36:00
  Penny's resignation, in full acceptance of his situation, as he answered, no,
• 1:36:05
  I have no hope. The brevity and finality in the reply shocked the
• 1:36:11
  courtroom to closer attention was surprised. All was that there was no hopelessness in
• 1:36:15
  the voice. Price caught the paradox and knew its explanation. Silently, he
• 1:36:21
  blessed God and Father George Donnallee. But Odie took the attention of all as
• 1:36:28
  the introduced notes, which Penny admitted to be his one read. Bob Anderson
• 1:36:33
  was not in Lexington September twenty seventh. Another told how he Tom Penny has
• 1:36:39
  stolen Anderson's two Tom Buick sedan if the judge, jury and audience were surprised
• 1:36:45
  at the nature of the evidence. They were more surprised at Tom Penny's reaction.
• 1:36:49
  He was laughing, not derisively, not sarcastically, just amusedly. That's
• 1:36:57
  my writing, he said. Those are my notes, but that is not
• 1:37:01
  my composition. They are but copies of the notes of instruction thrown to me
• 1:37:05
  by the defendant. While we were here in jail together for another hour,
• 1:37:11
  Erdie went on with questions whose purpose was not to clear his client, but
• 1:37:15
  to discredit this witness. It was not a pleasant hour and a half for
• 1:37:18
  Tom Penny. Henry Miller took him for re examination. Another hour went by
• 1:37:25
  under a barrage of questions whose answers would condemn not only Bob Anderson, but
• 1:37:30
  the very man who was making them. Tom Penny knew it. He became
• 1:37:35
  monosyllabic, but he kept on telling the truth. It was after midnight when
• 1:37:41
  the prisoners were returned to their cells. Tom was thinking of a line he
• 1:37:45
  had written to his mother just two weeks before. Life is beautiful even in
• 1:37:49
  jail. He didn't feel that way about it right now. Bob had spoken
• 1:37:56
  but one word as he was led past to his cell. But it held
• 1:38:00
  volumes. It held Tom felt the verdict of the entire world. The word
• 1:38:05
  was rat Tired as he was, Penny could not sleep. The faces of
• 1:38:12
  Odie, Nicholson, Parker and Miller swam before him. Their questions and his
• 1:38:16
  answers echoed and re echoed. But it was the face of Bob Andersen that
• 1:38:20
  puzzled him most. Bob had sat through it all, chewing gum and smiling
• 1:38:26
  confidently. What could his lawyers have concocted after the testimony of the night.
• 1:38:31
  It would have to be something most unusual to impress the jury. The restless
• 1:38:38
  night passed. The morning wrought the paper and Tom was relieved to find that
• 1:38:42
  the sneak attack of the Japs on Pearl Harbor had all becrowded him and the
• 1:38:45
  child off the front page. As soon as he had eaten and shaved,
• 1:38:49
  he took pencil and paper and wrote, dear mother, just a line to
• 1:38:55
  let you know I am okay, hoping you are too well. I guess
• 1:39:00
  you've seen the papers. That was the hardest thing I ever did, but
• 1:39:03
  there was no alternative. I had to tell the truth and I am not
• 1:39:09
  sorry. Just try to bear it whatever the outcome. I won't be tried
• 1:39:14
  until next Monday, and mother if you only knew how this thing has changed
• 1:39:18
  me, you would not worry half so much. I know you are going
• 1:39:23
  to worry. That is natural to any mother, and anything I say seems
• 1:39:28
  so small. I just can't express my regret. Mother. All I can
• 1:39:32
  say is if I do go, I'll go to a better world. So
• 1:39:36
  try to look at it that way. Charley came by Saturday and brought me
• 1:39:41
  some cigarettes. I know how hard it is for anyone to come here.
• 1:39:45
  Sister Mary, Laurentia and Robert Anne from the hospital were here Saturday afternoon.
• 1:39:50
  They certainly have been good. They want to go to see you again.
• 1:39:55
  Guess they will too. Tell everyone hullo and keep your chin up. He
• 1:40:00
  was not tried on Monday, for Anderson's case consumed a week. On Tuesday,
• 1:40:05
  the jury learned that only one bullet came from the thirty eight the gun
• 1:40:10
  Penny used, Yet both victims have been shot more than once. Tom saw
• 1:40:15
  that they were pointing the case toward Bob, but also saw that his lawyers
• 1:40:18
  could use all this matter to point the case away from him. He hoped
• 1:40:23
  they were only alert. On Wednesday, the guns were traced to Anderson with
• 1:40:28
  unimpeachable evidence. Thursday, the case was closed, and when Park, the
• 1:40:32
  prosecutor climaxed his case with Tom's testimony enclosed with Penny has been promised nothing.
• 1:40:39
  This crime is so terrible that everybody connected with it should pay with their lives.
• 1:40:45
  Tom knew what he could expect when he came to be tried. The
• 1:40:48
  jury was out almost twenty four hours. One of their number was holding out
• 1:40:53
  for a life sentence instead of death in the electric chair, but finally at
• 1:40:58
  nine thirty p m. On Friday twelfth, the verdict was given. Bob
• 1:41:01
  Anderson was found guilty of the Miley murders and his sentence was death in the
• 1:41:06
  electric chair. On Monday, the state prosecutedt Ringmond Baxter again. Tom Penny
• 1:41:14
  was a star witness. He told how Baxter had hatched the plot, saying
• 1:41:17
  there would be between three and ten thousand dollars at the club, promising to
• 1:41:21
  cut the wires, open the doors and see to it that no one was
• 1:41:25
  around but one old lady Delmore. Howard Cross examined Tom for an hour and
• 1:41:30
  a half but accomplished no more than w Clarke Odie had the previous week.
• 1:41:35
  Penny was telling the truth and no one could shake him. When Harry Miller
• 1:41:41
  took him for the prosecution, Tom furnished when the few laughs of the trial,
• 1:41:45
  among the routine opening questions the attorney asked was the one where do you
• 1:41:49
  live? Tom smiled and asked now the courtroom rippled with appreciation. Miller colored
• 1:41:59
  and corrected him himself. Ah, er, before you were confined. The
• 1:42:03
  case carried over until Tuesday, when Park summing up admitted that Baxter was not
• 1:42:10
  guilty of murder physically, but was guilty of it morally. Tom knew what
• 1:42:14
  his own trial would be like. The jury was out only two hours.
• 1:42:18
  Its verdict was guilty, and the sentenced death in the electric chair. Tom's
• 1:42:27
  trial began the next day. The courtroom was crowded, as never before in
• 1:42:31
  the entire case. Tom scanned the crowd anxiously, then breathed with relief.
• 1:42:36
  He had despised his sister and knew that the family was loyal, but he
• 1:42:41
  saw that his mother was not there. She had heeded his plea not to
• 1:42:45
  come. A jury was unpaneled, and soon Penny found himself again on the
• 1:42:48
  stand. There was no need for long questioning. Tom I confessed at Fort
• 1:42:55
  Worth again at Lexington and returned there and lately in each of the two trials,
• 1:43:01
  Park asked why he had testified against Anderson and Baxter, to satisfy my
• 1:43:06
  own conscience more than anything else. When in your conscience first bother you when
• 1:43:13
  it happened at the country club, that was too favorable bit of testimony.
• 1:43:18
  Tom Penny was appearing at his best, so Park shifted his ground. They
• 1:43:24
  would never do to allow the jury to grow sympathetic or entertain favorable opinions of
• 1:43:29
  the defendant. Park would inform the jury indirectly of the sentence they were to
• 1:43:33
  pass. So he asked, Penny, do you think the death penalty justified
• 1:43:38
  in the cases of Baxter and Andersen? But Tom was not to be caught
• 1:43:43
  so easily. I don't believe in the death penalty, he replied, I
• 1:43:47
  never have. Once again, Park felt himself checkmate it. But he knew
• 1:43:54
  the sentiment of the town and felt reasonably sure that the jury shared it.
• 1:43:58
  So he quickly concluded his case and turned to defend it back to his attorneys.
• 1:44:03
  Martin summed up his case in exactly twenty six minutes. In those circumstances,
• 1:44:08
  he did about the only thing possible he showed Tom's worth as a witness.
• 1:44:13
  For this purpose, he had called Chief Price and Guy moppinto the stand.
• 1:44:17
  From their testimony, it was patent that Tom Penny had broken the case,
• 1:44:20
  not only for the police but for the state. Next to jurors from
• 1:44:26
  each of the preceding trials were summoned and made to tell the court how Tom
• 1:44:30
  Penny's evidence had enabled each jury to reach a decision. Even Harry Miller was
• 1:44:34
  put on the stand and made to admit that, practically speaking, Tom Penny
• 1:44:39
  had prosecuted the entire case, beginning to end. For the state of Kentucky.
• 1:44:45
  It was a good case, as good as possible in the face of
• 1:44:47
  the opening confessions Tom had made. Martin insisted that the penalty for robbery was
• 1:44:53
  not death, but the jury knew Tom Penny was not being tried for mere
• 1:44:57
  robbery. His was not only the shortest of the three trials, but his
• 1:45:00
  jury was quickest in arriving at a verdict. It was out just fifty one
• 1:45:04
  minutes at eleven eighteen that morning, A filed back to the court room,
• 1:45:11
  and Tom Penny's fate was sealed. Death in the electric chair that afternoon was
• 1:45:17
  still young when he was writing, I am sorry, mother that I brought
• 1:45:23
  all the sorrow, heartache and suffering to you. I guess you know how
• 1:45:28
  I feel about it. I'm glad you didn't come to the trial for your
• 1:45:30
  own sake. Just rest easy now, mother, and please don't worry.
• 1:45:36
  The lawyers did everything possible, but it just wasn't enough. But have no
• 1:45:42
  fears, mother, I'll never die for a crime I did not commit.
• 1:45:47
  As the mother read the letter, she wondered how much of it the boy
• 1:45:49
  believed. She thrilled to his line about not dying for a crime he had
• 1:45:55
  not committed. From all she had read and all she had heard, she
• 1:45:59
  knew was unquestionedably true that while Tom was a robber, he was not a
• 1:46:02
  murderer. So even if he did go to death for the murders of Marian
• 1:46:05
  and Missus Miley, she could hold in her heart the truth that the child
• 1:46:10
  to whom she had given life has sent neither of these women to their death.
• 1:46:15
  Three days later, she received a letter that has a spirit of Christmas
• 1:46:18
  in it, a spirit of exultant life, peace and joy. It was
• 1:46:24
  dated December twenty first, and read, Dear mother, I am about to
• 1:46:29
  tell you something that she pleased you very much. Father Donaldy just baptized me.
• 1:46:33
  So I've got a clean slate. Mother, I feel so much better,
• 1:46:38
  and I know that from now on life will be very different. Missus
• 1:46:43
  Penny's gray head came up, tears sparkled in her eyes. Oh God,
• 1:46:48
  she prayed. How good to have Tom talking of life when he has just
• 1:46:53
  been sentenced to death. A mile away, three people were talking about the
• 1:46:59
  same man and used almost the identical words. Father George Donaldy had just said
• 1:47:03
  to sisters Mary Laurentia and Robert Anne. I waited purposely until he had been
• 1:47:09
  sentenced to death, so that I could reverse the judge's sentence and sentence him
• 1:47:13
  to birth and a far different life. We saw him yesterday, exclaimed Sister
• 1:47:19
  Robert Ann, and never have we seen a happier man. He told us
• 1:47:24
  how Father Sullivan had given him his first Holy communion, and at a Sister
• 1:47:30
  Mary Laurentia more calmly, he showed us the scapular medal Father Syllivan had given
• 1:47:34
  him, and no soldier could be prouder of his decoration. Sister Robert Anne
• 1:47:40
  clasped her hands. Think of it, Father, he said to me,
• 1:47:45
  sister, I have been condemned to death, but never was I so happy
• 1:47:48
  in my life. Last night I slept for the first time in a month.
• 1:47:55
  I met his sister this morning, said sister Mary, Laurentia, and
• 1:47:59
  an all serious. She told me she feared that Tom was losing his mind.
• 1:48:02
  When I asked her why, she said, because he laughs and jokes
• 1:48:06
  and appears as happy as a schoolboy. Sisters, said Father George in a
• 1:48:13
  judge like tone, I think Tom Penny has lost his mind. I'm sure
• 1:48:17
  he has. In fact, we can say in all truth that Tom Penny
• 1:48:23
  died last Sunday afternoon. That is Tom Penny the criminal, and a new
• 1:48:28
  Tom Penny was born. I've converted other people, sisters, that is,
• 1:48:33
  God used me as his instrument. In other cases I baptized adults, but
• 1:48:39
  I'd never come across anything like this Penny affair. In all my life.
• 1:48:43
  Grace has been palpable that visitors Roman Fete Canty Jail will always be the ante
• 1:48:47
  chamber to Heaven. To me. After my hours there with Tom Penny,
• 1:48:53
  Father George looked away for a moment, then resumed with Ever since I left
• 1:48:58
  the jail Sunday afternoon, I have meditating. I think you can call it
• 1:49:02
  that meditating on the words of Saint Paul, he writes grippingly of death and
• 1:49:08
  life when he writes of baptism. That is why I can say I have
• 1:49:12
  already executed the sentence of the court. I have put Tom Penny, the
• 1:49:15
  man a judge guilty of murder, to death. I have even buried him.
• 1:49:20
  But since both death and burial were in Christ Jesus, Tom Penny has
• 1:49:26
  risen to a newness of life. The priest paused, then continued slowly.
• 1:49:32
  Never, never did I understand that passage so clearly. If we have died
• 1:49:36
  with Christ, says Saint Paul, we believe that we shall also live together
• 1:49:42
  with Christ. There, sisters, is our prayer from now on for Tom
• 1:49:45
  Penny, that he lived to God in Christ Jesus. End of Chapter four
• 1:49:56
  Solitary Confinement. Christmas. It brought mixed emotions to missus Leona Penny. Christian
• 1:50:02
  that she was the birthday of Christ gave her a peace of joy and hope
• 1:50:08
  no other day can give. But Mother that she was the day brought an
• 1:50:12
  indescribable ache to her heart because a child of her own had been sentenced to
• 1:50:16
  death. It was true that he wrote brave letters, and that his lawyers
• 1:50:20
  had appealed his case. But the mother's intuition is sharper than the cleverest legal
• 1:50:26
  mind. So her head told her what her heart did not want to believe.
• 1:50:30
  Tom's days were numbered. Shortly after the Holy Day and holiday, she
• 1:50:35
  began making plans for a visit to her son, for a long letter enumerting
• 1:50:40
  the many gifts and visitors he had received. Told her that public sentiment had
• 1:50:44
  shifted now that the trials were over and the sentences past. People seemed to
• 1:50:49
  remember that the prisoners were human beings. Missus Penny was happy about the sympathy
• 1:50:55
  shown her son, but she divined what it connoted. Tom was sure to
• 1:51:00
  die. To his letter, he had depended a PostScript, which sirved to
• 1:51:04
  lift her heavy heart. Father Donnelly came to me when no one else was
• 1:51:09
  interested. He was concerned about my soul. He brought me books, took
• 1:51:14
  great care and interest in teaching me truth, so that now I believe all
• 1:51:17
  that the Catholic Church teaches. That is one reason why I was baptized into
• 1:51:23
  the Catholic Church. It is not so unlike your church, mother, and
• 1:51:28
  we both know that if we live right, we can get to heaven.
• 1:51:30
  So don't ever worry about my hereafter, mother, I'll never go wrong again.
• 1:51:36
  As she laid the letter on her lap, missus Penny knew the greatest
• 1:51:40
  gift her boy had received this holiday season was from God. It was faith.
• 1:51:45
  The new year was hardly out of the loomb when missus Penny was climbing
• 1:51:48
  the dozen stone steps which led to Fake County Jail to see her son for
• 1:51:54
  the first time since his trouble. Roger mc girk, the guard who had
• 1:51:59
  become tomskoy father, led her to the visitor's room, closed the door,
• 1:52:02
  quickly turned the key, and resolutely walked away. Not the word was spoken,
• 1:52:09
  while the lifetime of love, a full and complete pardon, and a
• 1:52:12
  veritable world of sympathy were in the mother's embrace. Then came a sob that
• 1:52:17
  sounded the deeper abyss. A second sob made Tom draw back. Then,
• 1:52:24
  with a steady hand, he lifted his mother's head and smiled, come mother,
• 1:52:29
  keep that chin up. An hour went by, then another. They
• 1:52:33
  chatted almost feverishly, but that night neither could tell what the other had said,
• 1:52:40
  lips had spoken, but only hearts had listened. Missus Penny knew that
• 1:52:44
  some new and strange strength had come to Tom. She found him utterly unafraid.
• 1:52:49
  There was no blind hope to which he clung. The serenity he radiated
• 1:52:54
  gave the mother a strange joy and sent her home with a new strength.
• 1:52:59
  That visit changed life for missus leon A Penny. Unconsciously, she now went
• 1:53:03
  around with her chin up. Not ten days past before, she was climbing
• 1:53:08
  those stone steps again, and this time there were words which each heard and
• 1:53:12
  understood. There was also a pie she had baked. February came, and
• 1:53:17
  Tom wrote that things were even better at the jail. For now they were
• 1:53:21
  not locked in their cells until eight o'clock at night, and lice didn't go
• 1:53:25
  out until nine. On the eleventh of the month, the ever more reconciled
• 1:53:29
  mother visited him again and had a long chat about the appeal his lawyers were
• 1:53:32
  making. When Tom spoke of a new trial, a slender streak of light
• 1:53:36
  broke on the horizon that had been black, and Missus Penny hugged hope to
• 1:53:41
  her heart. Two days later, however, she received a letter in a
• 1:53:45
  familiar hand, but with a most unfamiliar postmark, Eddyville, Kentucky. It
• 1:53:50
  was dated February twelfth, nineteen forty two. She opened it nervously and felt
• 1:53:56
  her heart leap at the cold blue heading Kentucky Penitentiary stared at her from the
• 1:54:01
  lord's sheet. She read anxiously. I certainly am glad I saw you yesterday,
• 1:54:08
  for I had to leave this morning at five thirty. I knew nothing
• 1:54:11
  about it myself until I was on my way. It is much different here
• 1:54:15
  from up there. I am in a cell on myself, no one to
• 1:54:19
  talk to or play cards with. But honey, I'll bear it if you
• 1:54:24
  promise not to worry. I can't receive anything to eat or read, no
• 1:54:28
  cigarettes or tobacco of any kind. The anything I can receive or stamps some
• 1:54:32
  money. It certainly was a shock to me this morning when they called me
• 1:54:36
  and told me to get ready. I did not get to say goodbye to
• 1:54:41
  any one, much as I would have loved to. Please don't worry and
• 1:54:45
  keep your chin up, missus. Penny had not dried the tears caused by
• 1:54:49
  this shock. When father Donna Lee was opening a letter from the same inmate
• 1:54:54
  of death Row, Dear father, Well, the thing I dreaded most is
• 1:55:00
  finally come to pass. I was transferred this morning from Lexington to Eddyville State
• 1:55:03
  Prison. It all came as a surprise, just as I knew that it
• 1:55:08
  would. But I did get to see mother Wednesday afternoon, thank God for
• 1:55:13
  that. I haven't been here long enough to know much about the place,
• 1:55:16
  but from what I've seen, I don't like it. Although the officials are
• 1:55:19
  splendid, I'm going to miss the nuns, yourself and Father Sullivan. I
• 1:55:26
  understand a priest comes here from Paducah twice a month. I am the only
• 1:55:30
  Catholic in Death Row at present, for Anderson is still as stubborn as ever.
• 1:55:34
  I know the trouble with him now. I know it's too far for
• 1:55:39
  you to come here, father, but you must write to me. You
• 1:55:43
  have no idea how it helps. My mailing list is very limited, but
• 1:55:46
  I hope to write to Sister Mary Laurencia and Sister Robert Anne. The priest
• 1:55:51
  pushed a litter of papers, letters, a magazine in an open theology book
• 1:55:56
  to one side of his ever untidy desk, lay tom single sheet before him
• 1:56:00
  and studied it. Paragraph a paragraph He got down to the one telling of
• 1:56:05
  the Catholic priest coming but twice a month. When he read the first sentence
• 1:56:10
  of the next paragraph, his fist struck the dusk. Oh, no,
• 1:56:15
  Tom, it's not too far from me. It's too late to day.
• 1:56:18
  I have confessions tomorrow, then come Sunday. But Monday is another day.
• 1:56:26
  It was a long jury drive in desolate mid February weather. The approach to
• 1:56:30
  the penitentiary seemed leak and forbidding. The Great Stone edifice itself appeared angrily scowling.
• 1:56:36
  The formalities of winning entrance to visit one in the death house were depressing
• 1:56:41
  and irritated somewhat the tired priest. But finally he was led across a yard
• 1:56:45
  into a building that was clearly an annex. The guard took him along a
• 1:56:49
  row of cells the like of which he had never seen before, and stopped
• 1:56:54
  before a door that was not only heavily barred, but thickly screened. The
• 1:56:58
  priest could not see in, but when the guard cried Penny, Father,
• 1:57:02
  George recognized the answering voice. He moved closer to the screen. Tom,
• 1:57:10
  I'm here, but this is worse than visiting a caramelite I've got to see
• 1:57:13
  you boy. Just a second, I'll be back. I'm going to tell
• 1:57:16
  the warden I simply must violate your cloister, Father George, was all Tom
• 1:57:24
  could say to the retreating footsteps. The giantess Buchanan new Man in recognized character
• 1:57:30
  when he saw it. He smiled on. Father George told him he was
• 1:57:33
  asking a lot. What ordered the guard to let him in. Back to
• 1:57:38
  death row they went. The long long bolt that locks every cell at once
• 1:57:42
  was shot, and Father George's hands were on Tom Penny's shoulders. A second
• 1:57:47
  later, Tom had pulled down the bunk, which folded back against the wall,
• 1:57:51
  being hung there from two chains. Will it hold the two of us,
• 1:57:56
  asked Father George with a laugh, when Tom invited him to sit.
• 1:58:00
  If it doesn't, it will never be broken in a more worthy cause.
• 1:58:03
  Oh father, how did you ever make it? Will you stay over night?
• 1:58:09
  I'm only a little assistant, curate, Tom, I must be back
• 1:58:13
  in Covington long before midnight. But that's impossible. We must be three hundred
• 1:58:17
  miles from there. Not bad reckoning, Tom, I drove two hundred eighty
• 1:58:23
  nine miles coming down, But I'll make it. Never fear now, tell
• 1:58:27
  me all about yourself. As they talked, Father George took in every detail
• 1:58:32
  of the tiny cell. It was narrow, windowless, solid concrete. The
• 1:58:39
  wall bunk was the biggest thing in it, almost the only thing in it.
• 1:58:43
  A commode in the corner completed the furnishings. No table, no chair,
• 1:58:47
  no stole. The priest smiled at the ingenious arrangement the prisoner had made
• 1:58:53
  for his books and letters, and laughed aloud when Tom caught him measuring the
• 1:58:57
  length of the cell with his eye. Don't tell the guard, father,
• 1:59:01
  he whispered, But when I want to change my mind, I turn a
• 1:59:04
  somersault. The priest marveled at the high spirits of the man, for he
• 1:59:10
  saw that such a soul was an ideal contrivance to drive wildly insane any one
• 1:59:14
  with the semblance of a claustrophobia. Tom had many questions to ask about religion,
• 1:59:19
  his duties to God in such circumstances, his prayers and private devotions,
• 1:59:25
  his trials and temptations, his difficulties with some of the books he had read.
• 1:59:30
  Before they knew it, an hour and a half had slipped by.
• 1:59:32
  Oh, Tom, I must say hello to Bob and Baxter go to it.
• 1:59:38
  Father, I think we ought to leave Baxter in what you called invincible
• 1:59:41
  ignorance. That will be his only way to heaven. Budge, you must
• 1:59:45
  work on Bob. He is still stubborn, and if he will yield to
• 1:59:48
  any man, you're the man. Now, how about holy communion for me?
• 1:59:55
  I'll tell the warden you desire to receive, and the father lives should
• 1:59:59
  be informed. I don't think there'll be any difficulty. They parted with that
• 2:00:03
  father, George blessed him and promised to see him soon. The next day,
• 2:00:09
  Tom wrote his mother, Father Donalley came yesterday. He sure has stuck
• 2:00:13
  with me. Mother, I almost worshiped that man. He always knows just
• 2:00:16
  what to say and how to say it. I feel at home with him,
• 2:00:20
  perfectly at ease. And don't you go having any doubts about me being
• 2:00:25
  ready. Mother, Here is one thing I want you to remember always,
• 2:00:29
  regardless of my past, I am clean at last, and now death holds
• 2:00:32
  no terror for me. A coward dies a thousand times, a brave man
• 2:00:38
  dies. But once. A week later, when father Donaldley called on her,
• 2:00:43
  she showed him the latest letter from Eddieville. In it, Tom told
• 2:00:46
  her. This stay that had been granted, and the appeals that had been
• 2:00:48
  filed. That was cheering news. But she asked the priest about a PostScript
• 2:00:55
  which puzzled her mother. If you should see anything in the papers you do
• 2:00:59
  not understand, please don't worry about it. You will understand in time.
• 2:01:03
  It will have its purpose, promise me. Father George read it twice and
• 2:01:11
  shook his head. It's beyond me, but let's both trust Tom from South
• 2:01:17
  Spring Street. The priest went to Saint Joseph's Hospital. That warden must be
• 2:01:23
  a nice person, says to Mary Laurncia. He let Tom have the three
• 2:01:27
  pound box of candy I sent. Then did Tom tell me I must send
• 2:01:30
  no more? Tom hasn't much liberty, now has he. The priest shook
• 2:01:35
  his head, then described the cell in which he had found the boy.
• 2:01:40
  What can we do for him? Father? Sister robert Anne cried, pray,
• 2:01:45
  write, send plenty of good reading matter. Father George garnered no information
• 2:01:49
  from the nuns on the one thing that bothered him, that PostScript to his
• 2:01:54
  mother's letter. He knew that almost anything can be conceived by a man of
• 2:01:58
  solitary confinement. A vague fear was growing in him, but he was not
• 2:02:01
  telling the sisters about it. He quickly resolved to be on the road to
• 2:02:05
  Eddyville soon again. That resolution was reduced to action a few days later when
• 2:02:12
  a letter came saying that Father lives a been to the prison on Wednesday,
• 2:02:15
  but a talk with Tom only the door of his cell, saying that he
• 2:02:18
  would not be able to bring Holy communion until, as Tom put it,
• 2:02:23
  the worst comes to the worst. The visit to Eddyville was short for Father
• 2:02:28
  George was anxious to talk to Father Tom Libbs and the Rectory of Paducah.
• 2:02:32
  It was a pleasant chat until the subject of communicating the prisoner was approached them
• 2:02:38
  was revealed to Father George Donnelly another of those bewilderingly strange ways of God,
• 2:02:44
  that drawing of a soul inter closer union by first seeming to abandon it,
• 2:02:47
  that building of love's fires, by first seeming to withdraw all Love's glowing embers,
• 2:02:53
  that peculiar process whereby the Divinity seems to work on the human adage that
• 2:02:58
  absence makes the heart grow fonder. Before leaving Paduca, Father George feared that
• 2:03:03
  Tom Penny would be without holy communion for many a day. Father Libbs was
• 2:03:08
  a very busy curate, and Eddieville was visited only once a month. Furthermore,
• 2:03:14
  Father Tom Libbs was not convinced of Tom Penny's sincerity. He had cited
• 2:03:17
  cases of fraud and told Father George of the skepticism. A prison chaplain develops.
• 2:03:24
  As he drove home the long, lonely two hundred and eighty miles,
• 2:03:28
  Father Donnelly realized he had failed with Father Tom Libbs, and failed even with
• 2:03:31
  Tom Penny. For while he had not persuaded the priest to communicate the prisoner,
• 2:03:36
  he had also forgotten to ask Tom Penny about that puzzling PostScript in the
• 2:03:41
  last letter he'dred than his mother. But then a more harassing problem occupied his
• 2:03:45
  mind as he covered the bleak miles at a perilous speed. How was he
• 2:03:49
  to direct this lone man in a solitary cell without sacrament or sacrifice? He
• 2:03:56
  got his answer before the month was out. Sister robert Ian, without any
• 2:04:00
  knowledge that Tom was without sacramental commedion, had the happy inspiration of instructing him
• 2:04:04
  how to make a spiritual communion. Sister Mary Laurentia, conscious of the linon
• 2:04:10
  season, Sentima set a small stations with suggestions for their use. On his
• 2:04:15
  next visit to Lexington, the priest was presented with letters that not only filled
• 2:04:19
  him with happiness, but with the determination to collect all Tom's letters and to
• 2:04:24
  study God's ways with the yeman soul. Sister robert Anne wanted a line in
• 2:04:29
  her letter, explained Tom had written, thanks for the calender, Sister.
• 2:04:33
  I had tried all over to get one and failed, But now I can
• 2:04:38
  settle all arguments. I have a calendar, a dictionary, and by far
• 2:04:42
  the best pair of lungs. The others haven't a chance. Father George told
• 2:04:47
  her how prisoners in solitary confinement carry on conversation. They yelled through the walls.
• 2:04:54
  When the nun asked what kind of arguments they had, the priest smiled
• 2:04:58
  and said, you'll soon find out. But with Sister Mary Larentia, the
• 2:05:03
  process was reversed. She had to explain to Father George a line in her
• 2:05:08
  letter. Tom was thanking her for a three pound box of candy. I
• 2:05:13
  thought he told you not to send any more. He did, Father,
• 2:05:15
  But a good nurse never obeys patience, and Tom is my patient. My
• 2:05:20
  first duty is to see that he is comfortable ward, and Buchanan knows that
• 2:05:25
  nuns will never send him anything that is not good for him. I send
• 2:05:29
  him cigars along with the candy he got both. Father George laughed and then
• 2:05:34
  read aloud the letter to Sister Mary Laurentia. It was dated Easter Sunday,
• 2:05:39
  April fifth, nineteen forty two. Dear Sister, this certainly has been a
• 2:05:45
  beautiful day. Although I could only glimpse a wee bit of sunshine through a
• 2:05:48
  barred window, I rejoiced in the knowledge that others more fortunate than I were
• 2:05:53
  enjoying it. I spent the day very quietly, reading and thinking, and
• 2:05:58
  there seems to be silver many things I never thought of before. Sister.
• 2:06:02
  I find the station's a great comfort. I have them in a position that
• 2:06:06
  gives me constant view. My pains and sufferings are small in comparison, in
• 2:06:12
  fact, so small I can't even think of my own. I comply with
• 2:06:16
  your request on Good Friday. Many times, Sister, I imagine I join
• 2:06:20
  you in your prayers and the weet hours of the morning. I have no
• 2:06:24
  way of knowing the hour at any time, but that is my intention.
• 2:06:28
  Sometimes I am retiring about the time you are rising. The days you see
• 2:06:32
  are noisy, so I sleep most of the day. We have the radio
• 2:06:36
  from five to nine thirty p m. Then all is quiet. I may
• 2:06:41
  turn my light on and off as I please. I imagine Father Donnelly will
• 2:06:45
  visit me soon. I haven't heard from him in two weeks. I have
• 2:06:48
  missed him terribly. He is so busy. I hate to see him drive
• 2:06:53
  so far, but I know he will come anyhow. Father lives will be
• 2:06:57
  heard. The eighth Wednesday, Missus Lewis sent me two prayer books and the
• 2:07:01
  faith of our fathers. Whereas are so futile, my feeble efforts can never
• 2:07:05
  reveal to you my spiritual attitude. So let me just say my future lies
• 2:07:12
  with God. In him I place my love and faith. May his will
• 2:07:15
  be done. I pray continuously for better understanding and a deeper devotion to him.
• 2:07:23
  Father George handed the letter back, saying, now I want you to
• 2:07:27
  know the kind of letters I receive. He drew a sheet from an inside
• 2:07:31
  pocket, unfolded it and read I have a pet roach, a large one
• 2:07:36
  too. He eats with me, and I've caught him on my bed several
• 2:07:40
  times. I just can't keep him out of my candy. But Father,
• 2:07:45
  he won't learn anything at all. He won't even run the right way.
• 2:07:48
  He's as dumb as I am. How does he keep his cheerful spirits?
• 2:07:55
  Exclaimed sister robert Anne. The priest put out his hands, sisters uncollecting letters.
• 2:08:03
  I want to see how cheerful Tom has been? How about it?
• 2:08:09
  Late one night in May, Father George packed his mere shum, swept aside
• 2:08:11
  the usual litter on his desk, and began with the first letter he to
• 2:08:15
  receive from Tom Penny. He completed his little pile, then turned to the
• 2:08:18
  larger stet addressed to the nuns. The tone was distinctly different, though the
• 2:08:24
  matter treated was frequently the same. The priest smiled. Was there chivalry in
• 2:08:28
  this man who had been condemned as a murderer. It was nearing midnight when
• 2:08:33
  he laid the last letter down. His pipe needed repacking. As he tamped
• 2:08:37
  in the tobacco, he marveled at the way Tom Penny's soul had grown,
• 2:08:41
  and wondered if he had not detected a definite plan to the process. He
• 2:08:45
  lit up, took pencil and began jotting contrition and gratitude to me March twenty
• 2:08:52
  second. It is a great consolation to have the opportunity to see, recognize,
• 2:08:58
  and admit my mistakes. I cannot erase them before the eyes of men,
• 2:09:01
  but there is not a day or a night that I do not ask
• 2:09:03
  forgiveness from God. To Sister robert Anne, February twenty second. I have
• 2:09:09
  buried my past and think only of the future. Sister. There is nothing
• 2:09:13
  on earth that can shake my faith. Now I close with my very best
• 2:09:18
  wishes and sincere gratitude, desire to do God's will and compassion for Christ.
• 2:09:24
  To Sister m Laurentia, February twenty second, This moving business was a great
• 2:09:28
  surprise to every one, but it was God's will, as I firmly believe,
• 2:09:33
  and since that is my greatest desire, I have no complaint. March
• 2:09:39
  fifth. I receive the metal, Sister, and I pray God, if
• 2:09:41
  it is his holy will, that I may wear it as long as you
• 2:09:45
  have, and do equally as many good deeds, loving and serving Him with
• 2:09:48
  my whole heart and soul, every day, every hour, and every moment
• 2:09:52
  until my last heart beat. To Sister robert Anne, April fifth, Sister,
• 2:10:00
  I find the stations to great comfort. I have them in a position
• 2:10:03
  that gives me constant view. My pains and sufferings are small in comparison,
• 2:10:07
  in fact, so small I can't even think of my own. To Assistant
• 2:10:13
  M. Laurentia, April fifth, I can ply with your request on Good
• 2:10:16
  Friday many times, Sister, in Him, I place my love and trust.
• 2:10:22
  May his will be done. I prey continuously for a better understanding and
• 2:10:26
  deeper devotion to him. Father George was sure there was a plan to it
• 2:10:30
  all when he began the Letters of May, for he saw that if Lant
• 2:10:33
  had been used by God to make Tom Penny conscious of Christ's passion, the
• 2:10:37
  month of May was used almost exclusively to arouse devotion to Christ's mother. So
• 2:10:43
  he dotted on another sheet, May devotion to our Lady. Prayer to me
• 2:10:48
  May sixth, Father, I am devoting most of my time this month to
• 2:10:52
  our Blessed Mother, the Rosary three times daily, the Litany of Our Lady,
• 2:10:58
  the thirty Day Prayer, and many along with much meditation. If I
• 2:11:03
  fail in any way, surely it is my own fault. For the sisters
• 2:11:07
  have provided me with material enough to educate a nit wit. To Sister Emilarentia
• 2:11:11
  May first, I will start the month by writing to you. It is
• 2:11:16
  now somewhere near two a m. Friday, and I have said my Rosary
• 2:11:18
  once, the evening prayer to the Blessed Virgin, the Litany to our Lady.
• 2:11:22
  I do that every day. Now you'll laugh at the evening prayer at
• 2:11:26
  two a m. But I haven't slept yet, so this is evening to
• 2:11:31
  me. When I awake, I say all the prayers I know by heart.
• 2:11:35
  You see, I have nothing else to do but pray and read,
• 2:11:37
  write and draw. To Sister Robert Anne May fourteenth, Sister, devotion to
• 2:11:46
  our Blessed Mother came quite natural to me from the first. I don't find
• 2:11:50
  it difficult to meditate on the mysteries while saying the Rosary. I can even
• 2:11:54
  close my eyes and see them. I usually complete the fifteen Mysteries, Sister,
• 2:11:58
  unlessen to upt it. My beads are my favorites, Sister, I
• 2:12:03
  go to sleep with them. They have rupped my mind for many unpleasant things.
• 2:12:07
  The picture of our Lady that I drew I placed on the wall at
• 2:12:11
  the head of my bed, so that she may watch over me while I
• 2:12:13
  sleep. I use no model it is nine by twelve, but only half
• 2:12:18
  few. I certainly will draw one for each of you, two sisters,
• 2:12:22
  But nine by twelve would be too large for your prayer books, wouldn't it?
• 2:12:26
  To Sister and Laurentia, May twenty seventh, I shall be very happy
• 2:12:31
  to see you, sister. I don't know how you conceive the idea that
• 2:12:33
  I might not be too anxious to see you, But you are not altogether
• 2:12:37
  wrong. It was not of myself. I was thinking. It is the
• 2:12:41
  visiting regulations to prevent me from encouraging anyone to come and see me. We
• 2:12:46
  will pray our blessed Mother to obtain a special privilege for us on this occasion.
• 2:12:50
  Shall we many requests she has granted me, sister, and I do
• 2:12:54
  not fail to return thanks. I am sending two drawings. Someone asked why
• 2:13:00
  I did not draw her smiling. I could not picture her smiling, Sister,
• 2:13:03
  she smiles in her heart. And to prove to you I am not
• 2:13:07
  an artist, let me tell you the poor fellow did not know who it
• 2:13:11
  was I was trying to portray. So praise me only for my good intentions.
• 2:13:18
  Father George shook his head knowingly. Indeed there was definite plan. Here
• 2:13:24
  he saw now why Tom Penny had been hurried off to Eddyville. Solitude was
• 2:13:28
  unknown in Fayette County jail. If Tom Penny was to find himself in God,
• 2:13:33
  in that intimacy which alone means sanctity, he had to be taken from
• 2:13:37
  the environment of Lexington and placed where he could think not only with his mind,
• 2:13:41
  but with his heart. He needed solitude. The priest sat back and
• 2:13:46
  pictured to himself a little cement hole in the wall, which was now Tom
• 2:13:50
  Penny's world, and sawed as the one place in all creation God had chosen
• 2:13:54
  to hold rendezvous with the man the world called a murderer. Again, that
• 2:13:58
  silken white head nod it knowingly to his priestly discernment. These letters revealed the
• 2:14:03
  fact that Tom Penny was soon to die. They told him that God was
• 2:14:07
  preparing the man. It's only a loving God can But now a frown garret
• 2:14:13
  above Father George's staring blue eyes. Somewhat uneasily, he bent forward and took
• 2:14:18
  up with letters again to study Tom's attitude toward death and a little addressed to
• 2:14:22
  himself. On April twenty ninth, he read bobbing back to her very strong
• 2:14:26
  hopes of getting out. They talk as if they wouldn't need God. Then
• 2:14:31
  all I can say is that if it breaks a man's spirit to believe in
• 2:14:33
  God, then I do not believe. For my spirit certainly is not broken.
• 2:14:39
  But I have changed my point of view completely. I simply could not
• 2:14:43
  care for the things I once did. If the next to impossible should happen
• 2:14:46
  and I am permitted to live, I know with absolute surety I could never
• 2:14:50
  go back to the old life. Some people seem to think that I want
• 2:14:54
  to die. They are sadly mistaken. But if I must die, then
• 2:14:58
  it is God's holy will, and I will try very hard to walk to
• 2:15:03
  my death, with my chin up and my step unfaltering. What more can
• 2:15:07
  I do? After reading that, Father George felt more relieved. Among the
• 2:15:13
  letters to the nuns, he found a few passages that increased this relief.
• 2:15:16
  He continued making notes to Sister Robert Anne May twenty second. Have had some
• 2:15:22
  people say to me, mister Penny, how can you laugh and joke the
• 2:15:26
  way you do, knowing that this terrible thing is almost on you. I
• 2:15:31
  did not tell them that the only people who feared death are those didn't understand
• 2:15:33
  the love of God, because they were supposed to be religious people, and
• 2:15:37
  I would not offend them. But that is the answer, sister, to
• 2:15:43
  system in Malarentia, May twenty seventh. My most earnest desire is to die
• 2:15:46
  an honorable death. If that could not be accomplished, then His holy will
• 2:15:52
  be done. I do not fear death, sister. It is only the
• 2:15:56
  unworthy cause for which I die that I detest. As the priest was rearranging
• 2:16:01
  the letters in a neat pile, his eye was caught by a passage in
• 2:16:05
  whe addressed to himself on May twenty seventh, Why did I so willingly,
• 2:16:09
  so determinedly accept the true faith? Ah, Father, It is easy for
• 2:16:15
  me to answer. From the very beginning, I knew you were interested in
• 2:16:18
  my soul, not curious about a criminal. You explained to me the love
• 2:16:22
  of God and the joys of heaven, and not the fear of the devil
• 2:16:26
  in the torments of hell. You gave me all the warm marks of friendship
• 2:16:30
  until my knowledge of you deepened and developed and finally glowed into a high admiration.
• 2:16:35
  But you were always working to give me one thing, a deep and
• 2:16:39
  ever increasing love for God and our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Not so bad,
• 2:16:45
  thought Father George, but ruffled through the pages until he found a letter
• 2:16:48
  of April sixteenth, addressed to both none simultaneously, and read it is now
• 2:16:54
  two a m. Soon you will begin a new day. You know,
• 2:16:58
  sister, I once thought that nuns were the saddest people on earth. How
• 2:17:03
  could I ever dream they were the happiest. But now I know, and
• 2:17:07
  what a wonderful revelation has been. I think I told you once that mister
• 2:17:11
  Price was responsible for my conversion. He did start me thinking seriously. But
• 2:17:18
  the climax came after one of your visits to the jail, in which you
• 2:17:20
  told me of the circumstances under which Val the Donnelly came to see me That
• 2:17:26
  day. I said to myself, here is father Donnelly driving over a hundred
• 2:17:30
  miles to see me. He or two sisters to inconvenience themselves to come to
• 2:17:33
  this foul jail just to see me. Surely there is no earthly compensation in
• 2:17:39
  it for them, so there must be, Yes, there must be something
• 2:17:43
  about me worth saving. I am going to save it. Father George was
• 2:17:48
  smiling as he put the cold Meerschaum on the overfilled ash tray and gathered his
• 2:17:52
  notes. At one time he did harp with the notion that he had played
• 2:17:56
  an important role in the conversion of Tom Penny. Now, at two fifteen
• 2:18:01
  a m. He set the three closely written pages to one side, telling
• 2:18:05
  himself he could retire from the case without a qualm so long as the two
• 2:18:09
  nuns stayed on the job. God had a definite plan. As he slipped
• 2:18:15
  into his pajamas, he said, you've done a wonderful work. Lord.
• 2:18:20
  Just as he was falling off to sleep, the memory of the post gyfton
• 2:18:22
  Tom's letter to his mother in late February or early March came back to the
• 2:18:28
  priest. All these weeks it had remained unexplained. Now it rose like a
• 2:18:31
  cloud to move across the tranquil beauty of a night sky and mare the pale
• 2:18:37
  loveliness of the moon. What could it been in the boy's mind? Father
• 2:18:41
  George shifted on his side. Oh God, he prayed, let nothing go
• 2:18:48
  wrong. End of chapter five. Birthdays in the death House. The graduate
• 2:18:56
  nurse on the corridor wondered what could be on sister robert Anne's mind. No
• 2:19:01
  patient was desperately ill. The student nurses had done their work well, yet
• 2:19:05
  the ever efficient instructor of nurses was fidgety and nervous. What the graduate nurse
• 2:19:11
  did not know was that Mother Anne Sebastian, Superior General of the Sisters of
• 2:19:15
  Charity of Nazareth, had just arrived in Lexington for the graduation exercises at Saint
• 2:19:20
  Joseph's Hospital, and Sister Mary Laurentia had decided to ask a very special permission,
• 2:19:24
  which included Robert. Anne. The slender instructor of nurses, went into
• 2:19:30
  the linen room with no definite purpose. She came out and wandered into the
• 2:19:33
  diet kitchen just as aimlessly. Dear Lord, She was thinking, how I
• 2:19:39
  loved to be in chapel, but I must be here when doctor rankin comes.
• 2:19:43
  She came out and rearranged the things on the supervisor's desk for the fifth
• 2:19:46
  or sixth time within the hour. Why am I so anxious? She asked
• 2:19:50
  herself. If God wants us to have this permission, it will be granted.
• 2:19:54
  If not, But then she reminded herself of the Gospel line asking you
• 2:20:01
  shall receive, and quite earnestly she pleaded, Please Lord, grant it,
• 2:20:05
  Dear Lord put mother Aunt Sebastian in a most receptive mood, have Sister Mary
• 2:20:11
  Laurencia asked, in the right way, and please, dear Lord, hurry,
• 2:20:15
  I'm getting awfully nervous. It all began three weeks ago when she had
• 2:20:20
  nursed Sister Mary Laurencia's cousin. The good woman was so taken by the nun's
• 2:20:24
  gracious ways that toward the end of her convalescence, she said to her cousin,
• 2:20:28
  I'd love to do something for you and Sister robert Anne. Why couldn't
• 2:20:31
  I give you a trip of some sort. I could easily finance your way
• 2:20:35
  down to her home in Fancy Farms. Sister Mary Laurencia seemed only half attentive,
• 2:20:41
  but that evening she asked her friend, when were you to visit your
• 2:20:45
  folks last three years ago? Why it's time for another visit. My cousin
• 2:20:50
  will finance the trip if we get the permission. Oh, sister, maybe
• 2:20:56
  we could even get permission to visit Tom Penny, says. Mary Laurencia made
• 2:21:01
  no reply, but a few minutes later was telling Sister Mary Vignina, the
• 2:21:05
  superior of the hospital, all about it. The kindly Superior joined in the
• 2:21:09
  plan, promising to solicit the necessary permission from Mother General. But before she
• 2:21:13
  had managed a leather to Nazareth, it was time for commencement at Lexington.
• 2:21:18
  With characteristic honesty, she calls Sister Mary Laurentia to her and confessed the oversight.
• 2:21:24
  Urged to seek the permission herself, assuring her it would be granted.
• 2:21:28
  Sister Mary Laurentia was not so sure. She had not lived all these years
• 2:21:33
  in religion without learning that unexpected refusals are as common as unexpected concessions, if
• 2:21:39
  not more common. But since it was more for Sister robert Anne than for
• 2:21:43
  herself, she decided to ask. Sister robert Anna saw her as soon as
• 2:21:48
  she turned the corner of the corridor. She strained her sparkling blue gray eyes
• 2:21:52
  in an effort to read what was inscrutable the expression of Sister Mary Larncia's face.
• 2:21:58
  Well, she asked, as the elder nun reached her side. I
• 2:22:03
  haven't seen mother yet. Oh. There is both relief and disappointment in the
• 2:22:07
  exclamation. She was busy when I went there this morning. I'm going to
• 2:22:13
  try her right now. Come along, But I come along, But doctor
• 2:22:20
  rankin, Father, doctor rankin, Your two graduate nurses are here. Come
• 2:22:24
  along. They found the mother General all done at her desk, Sister Mary
• 2:22:30
  Laurenci. I wasted no words, Reverend Mother, Sister robert Anne has not
• 2:22:33
  been home in three years to Nazareth. Excuse me, Mother, I meant
• 2:22:39
  a fancy farmers to visit her folks, oh her old home, and Mother
• 2:22:46
  Anne Sebastian smiled. My cousin was a patient here a few weeks ago.
• 2:22:50
  Sister nursed her. She wants to finance a trip for sister to her old
• 2:22:54
  home. And you, Mother Ann Sebastian, still smiling. Such a young
• 2:23:01
  child needs a chaperone, Mother, despite my great repugnance to such a trip
• 2:23:07
  or all from my services. Mother and Sebastian smiled even more broadly. Sister
• 2:23:13
  Mary Laurentcia, you're encourageable. You may go just one other thing. Mother,
• 2:23:18
  Yes, we passed Eddyville on the way. May we stop there?
• 2:23:24
  You may thank you so much. Mother. Sisister Mary Larencia with a bow,
• 2:23:30
  then literally pushed Sister robert Anne out of the room. Sh she warned,
• 2:23:35
  until they had turned the corner of the corridor. Do you think she
• 2:23:37
  knows what Eddyville is, asked Sister robert Anne anxiously. You didn't tell you
• 2:23:43
  heard the permission, didn't you? Yes, but there were no butts about
• 2:23:50
  it. We're going to stop at Eddyville. We're going to see Tom Penny.
• 2:23:54
  June fourth, Donned and the two nuns, after seeing their large,
• 2:23:58
  carefully carton placed in the rear of the car, excitedly took their places in
• 2:24:03
  the back seat and begged Sister robert Anne's brother to cover the fifty miles that
• 2:24:07
  lay between them and Eddyeville as quickly as safety would allow. Were they bent
• 2:24:11
  on any other mission, the marvel of the countryside would have awed them.
• 2:24:16
  But now not even the blue fire of gentsians burning in a field alive with
• 2:24:20
  bowing daisies so much as caught their eye. The goldfinches dipped among the roadside
• 2:24:24
  bushes, the laughter of streams, or the stately firs swaying in the early
• 2:24:28
  morning breeze drew no comment from them. This experience was stirring them both more
• 2:24:33
  than they cared to admit. Thomas so often expressed a desire to talk things
• 2:24:39
  out with someone who understood. Evidently, the monthly visits of the Catholic chaplain
• 2:24:43
  did not satisfy this boy's needs, and father George had been so tied up
• 2:24:48
  of late that he had not made the long round trip in three weeks.
• 2:24:52
  They would have to make the most of their time with him. The rigid
• 2:24:56
  paragraph of rolls for the Guidance of Relatives to Inmates, which burst upon one
• 2:25:00
  from the top of every bit of stationery that came from Eddyville, said the
• 2:25:03
  visiting hours were from eight thirty to ten thirty a m. And from one
• 2:25:07
  to three p m. They could never reach there now on time for the
• 2:25:11
  morning hours. But then Sister Marry Laurenti I remembered the last line. Persons
• 2:25:16
  desiring to see prisoners on business would have to secure permission from the warden.
• 2:25:22
  She would tell the warden they had important business and would transact it in business
• 2:25:26
  hours. Excitement, nervousness, or fret did not shorten the miles. Yet
• 2:25:31
  the two nuns were surprised when Sister robert Anne's father said, well, there
• 2:25:35
  it is, and it's not eleven thirty yet. Before them, sat on
• 2:25:39
  a high hill, looking like some medieval stone castle with formidable battlements, stood
• 2:25:43
  Kentucky State Penitentiary, glaring in the blinding brilliance of June's sunshine. They looked
• 2:25:50
  all round, expecting they knew not what, but found only the empty countryside.
• 2:25:54
  The place seemed like a deserted village. Shall we eat now, asked
• 2:26:01
  Sister robert Anne, taking no doubt of the one to three visiting hours.
• 2:26:05
  I want to see the warden before noon, came back with somewhat stiff reply
• 2:26:09
  from the older nun, we'll eat later. They climbed half a hundred broadstone
• 2:26:15
  steps and arrived somewhat breathless before the great iron gates of the entrance. They
• 2:26:20
  rang a bell and drew back a bit startled as the massive gates swung open
• 2:26:24
  and revealed two armed guards standing within. They smiled at the nuns, and
• 2:26:28
  one said, we were expecting you to day. Sisters. We would like
• 2:26:33
  to see the warden right away, if that is at all possible, said
• 2:26:37
  Sister Mary Lurania, very conscious of the nearing noon hour. One of the
• 2:26:43
  guards beckoned to the nuns to follow him up on the second floor. He
• 2:26:46
  ushered them into the presence of W. Jes Buchanan. Sister robert Anne considered
• 2:26:52
  him just a heavy set, middle aged man with a kind face and a
• 2:26:54
  very friendly smile until he stood up. Then she saw he was a jo
• 2:27:00
  a six feet seven inches weighing over three hundred pounds. She felt positively fragile
• 2:27:05
  in the presence of such a man, but he invited them to be seated,
• 2:27:09
  assuring them he felt privileged to have none visiting the prison and felt sure.
• 2:27:13
  It was the first time to sisters of Charity of Nazareth had entered Kentucky's
• 2:27:18
  State penitentiary. Later, Sister Mary Laurynchi had confessed that while she is no
• 2:27:22
  diplomat, she felt the cause to minute the full play of all her powers
• 2:27:26
  of persuasion. We have heard so much of your kindness, mister Buchanan,
• 2:27:31
  said Sister Mary Lauryncia. We were anxious to meet you. The warden smiled
• 2:27:37
  warmly, espying a picture of happy Chandler on his desk. She went on,
• 2:27:41
  I see you have the governor's picture. He is a friend of ours,
• 2:27:46
  has been a patient at her hospital in Lexington. He appointed me,
• 2:27:50
  came the cheerful reply, A great man. Then, Sister Mary Laurarynchi had
• 2:27:56
  plunged mister Buchanan. We've come to help Tom pen spiritually. We feel sure
• 2:28:01
  his time on earth is short. Has he given any trouble? No,
• 2:28:05
  No, sisters, a model prisoner. We read the prison rules on the
• 2:28:11
  letter head. Often we did not see where edibles could not be sent.
• 2:28:15
  That's true, sisters, But you see those regulations are for the ordinary prisoners.
• 2:28:20
  To men condemned to death, edibles may not be sent. Oh now
• 2:28:26
  I understand. But look, mister b Chanan, Tom is a baptized Catholic,
• 2:28:31
  yet is not allowed to attend the chaplain's mass. That's right, sister.
• 2:28:35
  Man condemned to death are never allowed to be with the other prisoners at
• 2:28:39
  no time. Oh well, may the priest at least visit him in his
• 2:28:45
  cell. I always allow fallow Donnelly to do that. I was thinking of
• 2:28:50
  the prison chaplain, the one who comes from Paducah, Father Libbs. Oh
• 2:28:56
  sure, sister, I can grant him the same favor he can enter.
• 2:29:00
  So the more reserved sister robert Anne, who had been listening attentively, filled
• 2:29:05
  her heart leap for now she knew Tom could and would receive fully communion.
• 2:29:11
  But her companion was still speaking. Mister Buchanan, Tom's birthday is just a
• 2:29:16
  week from today, you know, and I know most likely it's his last
• 2:29:20
  on earth. Can't we send him a birthday box the food? Won't you
• 2:29:24
  allow us to bake him a birthday cake? Jesse Buchanan's big eyes blinked behind
• 2:29:28
  his horn roomed glasses. What man could resist such an appeal? Send him
• 2:29:33
  anything but cigarettes, sister, and I'll let it through. But now,
• 2:29:37
  before you'll get any more out of me, allow me to say that my
• 2:29:41
  wife and I will be highly honored if you two nuns will take lunch with
• 2:29:43
  us. And Jess Buchanan rose to escort the sisters to his apartments. Oh,
• 2:29:50
  mister Buchanan, we are honored by a very grateful for the invitation.
• 2:29:54
  But we prisoners of Christ have our rules and regulations too regard food. You
• 2:30:01
  will understand our inability to accept a very kind offer. Won't you explain to
• 2:30:05
  your wife and tell her we hope we have not caused her inconvenience? Could
• 2:30:09
  we see Tom Penny soon? You can see him right Away's sister, I'll
• 2:30:15
  have Tom Penny brought here to my office in order to visit with you.
• 2:30:18
  It will be more pleasant than the quarridor outside his cell in the walk.
• 2:30:22
  Of course, a guard must be with him. The two nuns could only
• 2:30:26
  catch their breasts and exchange knowing glances. This was the answer to the novena
• 2:30:31
  they had made with Tom to the Sorrowful Mother of Christ. Not three minutes
• 2:30:37
  later, they saw Tom following a guard across the yard. They recognized and
• 2:30:41
  understood why he had raised his unshackled hands to shield his eyes. It was
• 2:30:46
  all four months since he had really seen the sun. Freshly shaven and Nita's
• 2:30:50
  always, Tom entered the room and greeted the nuns warmly, shaking their hands
• 2:30:56
  with an intensity that made them WinCE, even as it made them most welcome.
• 2:31:01
  Then, graciously he thanked the warden you can't and wave decide the thanks
• 2:31:05
  and retired. The guard moved in and took the warden's chair, while Tom
• 2:31:09
  Penny went to the only empty one at the lift of Sister Robert Ann.
• 2:31:13
  Sister Mary Laurynchia was just about to move her chair closer to the prisoner when
• 2:31:18
  she recalled a line from one of his letters, saying, it is not
• 2:31:20
  easy to carry on a conversation when you have an audience. She turned to
• 2:31:26
  the garden engaged him in such a spirited conversation that neither of them heard a
• 2:31:30
  single word, Tom Penny said. More than an hour passed before Sister Mary
• 2:31:35
  Larncia stood up, saying, we had better not impose on you or the
• 2:31:39
  warden any longer. Tom Penny arose and turned to the guard. Do you
• 2:31:46
  think it is all possible for the sisters to see Bob Anderson? He asked,
• 2:31:50
  possible. I'll take them there myself. It is just about visiting time,
• 2:31:54
  but I'll have to take you back first, of course, so the
• 2:32:00
  prisoner and turned to the nuns. This, they suddenly realized, would most
• 2:32:05
  likely be the last time I would see one another this side of eternity.
• 2:32:09
  The same thought seemed to grip three minds at once and rendered all speechless.
• 2:32:15
  They filled the office of the tention that swept the guard into its orbit.
• 2:32:18
  He sensed what was making these people so taut, and eased the situation by
• 2:32:22
  saying, after you visit Anderson's sisters, I'll take you off to Tom's place.
• 2:32:28
  Tom smiled, bowed, then said see you later, sisters, and
• 2:32:33
  went out with his guard. The door had not fully closed before Sister Mary
• 2:32:37
  Laurentia was at the side of the younger nun. You would get the seat
• 2:32:41
  next to Tom wouldn't you. Well, you're going to tell me every single
• 2:32:46
  word, he said, Sister. Robert Ann smiled. It will be a
• 2:32:50
  rare happiness, sister, And thanks Amelia for keeping that guard's attention. Oh,
• 2:32:54
  sister, Tom talked today as simply as a child. You can imagine
• 2:33:00
  what he talked of first, and most what his mother. He's so grateful,
• 2:33:07
  you'd think we had done something wonderful in visiting the dear old soul.
• 2:33:11
  What else did he talk about? When you got so polite that you had
• 2:33:15
  to end it all? We were talking about the sacraments and about the Mass.
• 2:33:18
  Oh, sister, that boy is just burning with love and longing for
• 2:33:22
  God. Well you heard the ward and said Tom may have hold a couveunion
• 2:33:28
  in his cell, but for Mass, I'm afraid I'll have to wait and
• 2:33:31
  look down from heaven. Isn't he interested in Bob Anderson has been from the
• 2:33:37
  beginning. Remember how he worked on him at Lexington, then got Father George.
• 2:33:43
  He's been working on him here, but Bob doesn't respond. Isn't it
• 2:33:46
  strange how two men sh here comes the guard. I wonder who's in the
• 2:33:52
  stranger position? You nuns are? Myself said the guard, I never escorted
• 2:33:56
  it to such of charity to the death house before or It was a long
• 2:34:01
  walk, and a strange one for the sisters. They went down lengthy quarters
• 2:34:05
  flanked by cells, the peculiarly constructed doors, along more quarters of grace,
• 2:34:11
  he meant, and iron bars. Finally, the guards said, you are
• 2:34:15
  now entering death row. The nuns looked up sharply. They had been spoken
• 2:34:20
  to you by many of the prisoners as they came along, and both Sister
• 2:34:24
  robert Anne and her older companion were busy with deep thoughts. How young the
• 2:34:28
  vast majority of these prisoners are, was the whispered comment from Sister robert Anne.
• 2:34:33
  This boy is to die to night, said the guard, So too,
• 2:34:37
  voce. As they neared a cell in which a colored boy sat reading
• 2:34:41
  a bible. When he heard the rattle of the sister's beads, he looked
• 2:34:45
  up, Pray for me to night, won't you? Sisters. Sister Mary
• 2:34:50
  Laurentia began to feel eerie. Death was not new to her, not after
• 2:34:54
  her hospital experiences, but death for men so much alive. Death at an
• 2:35:00
  appointed hour, another colored boy lay motionless on his bunk. That man hasn't
• 2:35:07
  spoken a single word in three weeks, said the guard quietly, then in
• 2:35:11
  a louder voice, and here's mister Anderson's cell. Bob, I have a
• 2:35:16
  surprise for you, very special visitors. The resident non Catholic chaplain had now
• 2:35:22
  joined the party, just as to Marry Larncia. He appeared too anxious to
• 2:35:26
  hear what the nuns had to say to Bob Andersen. So after a warm
• 2:35:28
  handshake and a few words of greeting and encouragement to Bob, the nun walked
• 2:35:33
  a little distance from the cell, saying to the chaplain, I hear you
• 2:35:37
  have quite a library here. The man had to follow her in order to
• 2:35:41
  carry on the conversation, and thus Sister robert Anne was left at Bob's cell
• 2:35:46
  door, while out of earshot of the chaplain. Once again, Sister Mary
• 2:35:50
  Laurencia had to use your ingenuity. She manifested an interest not only in the
• 2:35:54
  prison library, but in the chaplain's work with the prisoners. She listened to
• 2:35:58
  a tent as he sketched his aims, and assured him that he was doing
• 2:36:03
  a great and noble work. Whereupon the mangrew enthusiastic and elaborated for his listener
• 2:36:07
  his whole technique. When she praised him for his formation of a choir,
• 2:36:13
  he promised her she would hear it before she left the penitentiary. Out of
• 2:36:16
  the corner of her eye, she saw Bob Andersen as Sister Robert Anne in
• 2:36:20
  animated conversation. She smiled to the chaplain and told him he was very kind
• 2:36:26
  and generous. He went off shortly afterwards to prepare the little performance. Bob
• 2:36:31
  Andersen then thanked the sisters for their visit and for their prayers. It was
• 2:36:35
  now that Sister Mary Lauryncia got a good look at the man in his cell.
• 2:36:39
  Bob was clearly visible through the open work of the door. She found
• 2:36:43
  him quite handsome and his sell comparatively comfortable. He had a table chair,
• 2:36:48
  plenty of sunlight, and every opportunity for fresh air because of his large window.
• 2:36:54
  The guard seemed to read what was going on in the nun's mind and
• 2:36:56
  explained that man condemned to die were given better quarters and the rest. It's
• 2:37:01
  the least we can do before they step across to this, he said,
• 2:37:05
  and led the sister directly across the corridor from Andersen's cell to the twenty foot
• 2:37:09
  green and tan room, which held a centerpiece, the electric chair. With
• 2:37:16
  care and exactness, the guard explained the mechanism of this instrument of death to
• 2:37:20
  the nuns. They had often looked with keen interests on machines devised to kill
• 2:37:24
  disease and thus save life, and upon the bright burnished steel, a scalpel,
• 2:37:28
  and other surgical instruments that were for the saving of life. But this
• 2:37:33
  chair of death. Were they not sure that Tom Penny would one day sit
• 2:37:37
  in it? They would have thanked the guard for his good intentions, but
• 2:37:39
  stopped his explanations. They stood an awe in the spuriantly lighted room and stared
• 2:37:46
  at the chair from which souls would go immediately to God's judgment seat. At
• 2:37:50
  last, the guard led them from death Row to the Walk, as the
• 2:37:54
  prisoners called it, where Tom's cell was situated. Natrurely, the sisters wondered
• 2:38:01
  why Tom was placed so far from Anderson. She did not know all that
• 2:38:05
  they had gone on at Lexington, conversation and the exchanging of notes, chats
• 2:38:09
  with Bob's lawyers, all of which led officials to the determination to separate them
• 2:38:15
  for a time. Finally, they halted before that barred and heavily screen door,
• 2:38:20
  which had so shocked Father George. At first, the nuns peered in
• 2:38:24
  what a difference from the room Bob Anderson occupied. The sisters cannot even see
• 2:38:28
  Tom through the thick screening on the door. He had opened the tiny slot
• 2:38:33
  through which Foo was passed. They then glimpsed the narrow interior of the cell,
• 2:38:39
  no window, no sunlight, no air, a bunk chained to the
• 2:38:45
  wall, and in the corner Tom's store religious books, stationary and drawing materials.
• 2:38:50
  But the prisoner laughed joyfully as they told the sisters the guards were kind
• 2:38:54
  enough to let him put on his light in the hour of the date or
• 2:38:56
  night. I couldn't see my hand in front of me without it, he
• 2:39:01
  said, but it's wonderful to snap it on about two in the morning when
• 2:39:05
  everything is quiet. That's when I write most of my letters. Now I
• 2:39:09
  draw at that time too. You'll take some of my efforts as mementos of
• 2:39:13
  this wonderful day. He went to his little pile and selected five pictures,
• 2:39:18
  one of the Sacred Heart, another of the Little Flower, a third of
• 2:39:22
  Saint Vincent to Paul, and the two others of our Lady of sorrows.
• 2:39:28
  He slipped them under the door to two nuns who were almost ready to weep
• 2:39:31
  for this man locked in such a tiny space of cold concrete, but his
• 2:39:35
  bubbling spirits would not allow for tears. Soon they had to say good bye.
• 2:39:41
  This was the moment of the sisters feared. But now Tom took over
• 2:39:46
  sisters. He said cheerfully. I don't know what it is, but something
• 2:39:52
  tells me this is not the last time we are to see one another on
• 2:39:54
  earth. So I'll say only aubrivor, and thank you for having given me
• 2:40:00
  one of the happiest days of my life. The sorrowful Mother of Christ has
• 2:40:03
  answered all our prayers. On the way to Fancy Farms, the sister stopped
• 2:40:09
  at Paducah, and while Sister robert Anne visited with her old pastor, Sister
• 2:40:13
  Mary Laurencia talked with the young father Tom Libs. She told him of the
• 2:40:18
  warden's permission for him to enter Tom Penny's cell, and of the latter's knowing
• 2:40:22
  hunger for the eucharst You'll find Tom not only well instructed, father, but
• 2:40:26
  most sincere. Later that evening, when Sister robert Anne had given her sister
• 2:40:31
  explicit instructions on what sort of a cake to make, when it was to
• 2:40:35
  be finished, where, how, and to whom delivered. The nuns felt
• 2:40:39
  that they had done a day's work. The following morning, June fifth,
• 2:40:45
  Tom wrote to his mother, I have had a most happy day. The
• 2:40:48
  sister's visited me, but I will not tell you about it. I believe
• 2:40:52
  that to them they will be seeing you shortly. Mother. Tommy sent me
• 2:40:58
  five dollars for my birthday, and father Donnelly also left me five dollars.
• 2:41:03
  The sisters are going to bake me a cake and send me something they obtained
• 2:41:05
  special permission for. I tell you this so that you may know that on
• 2:41:09
  next Thursday, I shall be having a birthday feast. May God bless them
• 2:41:13
  all. Another reason for telling you this, Mother, is that you may
• 2:41:18
  know that God is good to me, good to give me such friends.
• 2:41:22
  Mother. My only regret is they cannot share it with those I love.
• 2:41:26
  Tom was moved that day. Prison officials felt reasonably safe now, so they
• 2:41:31
  took him from his little cement hole in the wall to the comparative luxury of
• 2:41:35
  the cell next to Bob Anderson. These men had not seen one another in
• 2:41:39
  four months. The warmth of Bob's greeting told Tom that the sister had affect
• 2:41:43
  it much in their brief visit. At one a m. The following day,
• 2:41:48
  he was writing, this is to Mary Laurncia. I just awoke from
• 2:41:52
  a very pleasant slumber, and since my thoughts are of you, I shall
• 2:41:56
  try to give you an idea of what's going on inside me. And I
• 2:42:00
  can say that you gave me one of the happiest days of my life Thursday.
• 2:42:03
  I am now in the next cell to Bob in the death house.
• 2:42:07
  Oh it is much better here. More room, good light, good bed,
• 2:42:11
  and right now it is cool fresh air too. I have an outside
• 2:42:16
  window and there is no one to disturb me. It is much quieter here.
• 2:42:20
  God is good to me. Pray that I may be worthy of his
• 2:42:24
  Grace's sister. I will do my best always. I was too happy,
• 2:42:28
  or just maybe incapable of speech to thank the warden and mister Rankin for their
• 2:42:33
  kindness. I would have, Sister, if I could have swallowed the lump
• 2:42:35
  in my throat. I think that we all sometimes laugh just to keep from
• 2:42:41
  crying. I am eternally grateful to you, sister. If I did not
• 2:42:45
  know that saints are dead. I suspect you of being Saint Jude Andersen was
• 2:42:50
  certainly glad to see you, sister. I didn't know then, but now
• 2:42:54
  I wouldn't have had you miss seeing him for anything that made pleasant reading.
• 2:42:58
  But sister was waiting for the following week. She knew the instructions sister Robert
• 2:43:03
  Anne had given to her sister about the cake, and she was curious about
• 2:43:07
  Tom's reaction to the box she herself had sent. On June twelfth, she
• 2:43:11
  received her letter, Dear Sister Mary Laurencia. If parcel post handled freight,
• 2:43:18
  you probably would have just mailed the pharmacy itself. Everything came okay, sister,
• 2:43:24
  and I see that I am going to enjoy myself for many a day
• 2:43:26
  to come. The cake came also, Anne, sister. It was beautiful.
• 2:43:31
  They must have brought it here in person. Mister Rankin brought it to
• 2:43:35
  me so that I might see it before it was cut on. It was
• 2:43:39
  happy birthday, Tom Penny. There were roses and pink and white icing and
• 2:43:45
  tremble with little green dew hickeyes. This was Bob's birthday too, you know.
• 2:43:50
  He was thirty seven and I am thirty three. We've shared your bounty
• 2:43:54
  and will continue to do it for weeks. I believe well, Sister Father
• 2:44:00
  Lives was here yesterday. I was prepared, I was fasting, but it
• 2:44:03
  was eleven a m before he was through his mass. He didn't have time.
• 2:44:07
  I promised me next month, I shall wait patiently. Before June was
• 2:44:15
  out, Father Donnelly had heard all about the birthdays in the death house and
• 2:44:18
  the unforgettable visit. He got it from four different sources. Tom's letter was
• 2:44:22
  brief, but one line set as much as volumes. If I loved any
• 2:44:26
  of you more than I do, it would be sacrilegious. That was speaking
• 2:44:31
  gratitude, not only to his friends, but to God. Missus Penny tearfully
• 2:44:37
  but gratefully gave the priest a recount of what Tom had written and what the
• 2:44:41
  nuns had told. The nuns themselves reported, and one thing that impressed Father
• 2:44:46
  George was Tom's preoccupation with Andersen. The priest suddenly realized that with the passage
• 2:44:52
  of time, Bob becomes something of preoccupation to himself, for he was proving
• 2:44:56
  a dark puzzle. The few letters the man had sent him showed him careful
• 2:45:00
  of any commitment, cautious and even cold. On the subject of religion,
• 2:45:05
  he did say he prayed, and read and talked with Father Libs, but
• 2:45:09
  then coldly added that none of these things really gripped him. For a few
• 2:45:13
  weeks after the visit by the nuns, Father George had brighter hopes, for
• 2:45:16
  Anderson had written saying the sisters had made him see things plainer than any one
• 2:45:22
  else. And Tom had told the priest the Bob had been making more inquiries
• 2:45:24
  about religion and seemed to be making more serious efforts at prayer. But the
• 2:45:30
  last week in June brought the letter that dimmed these hopes. Father George saw
• 2:45:33
  clearly where Anderson's real interest lay. He sat back and mused, here were
• 2:45:39
  two men with the same fate upon them, visited by God, with the
• 2:45:43
  same graces through the same instruments, at the same time, and in the
• 2:45:46
  same circumstances. Their backgrounds were not so different, nor their educations and environments.
• 2:45:54
  What then, was the explanation. Bob was a little older than Tom,
• 2:45:58
  as was learned from the recent births. There they celebrated in the adjoining
• 2:46:01
  cells in the death house. But he was not showing himself nearly so wise.
• 2:46:05
  Penny was spending his time writing letters to the nuns and getting advice whares
• 2:46:09
  after life. Andersen was busy with lawyers and plans for freedom. In this
• 2:46:13
  life. Bob was sincere enough. But if one were to put it in
• 2:46:18
  technical theological language, he had only imperfect contrition. His fear was of hell.
• 2:46:24
  His sorrow was that he might go there. Tom had perfect contrition.
• 2:46:28
  He grieved for having offended his loving God, and was making amends now by
• 2:46:33
  returning love for love as far as in him lay. The Death House held
• 2:46:37
  two conflicts. In one cell, the world was triumphing over a man who
• 2:46:43
  was made for heaven, and the next cell, a man was triumphing over
• 2:46:46
  an angel who caused an all merciful God to create a hell. And Father
• 2:46:52
  George felt that he was more than umpire in each battle. He was joined
• 2:46:56
  with each protagonist so closely that their letters toward his soul as he triumphed with
• 2:47:01
  one and lost with the other. As the month closed, he was rejoicing
• 2:47:05
  over the happiness of the birthday in the death House and being racked with a
• 2:47:09
  doubt that was growing to a conviction. He feared that death. In the
• 2:47:13
  same death house would not mean birthdays for the two men. End of chapter
• 2:47:20
  six, Satan and the cell Block. Hey, Tom, Yeah, what
• 2:47:26
  you're doin writin home? No to sister Robert Anne, how the hell many
• 2:47:33
  hours a day do you spend? Right in to those nuns. Penny's laugh
• 2:47:39
  flotted out between the bars of his cell, struck the walls of the room
• 2:47:43
  holding the electric chair, and then went echoing up the walk. Why the
• 2:47:46
  horse laugh, asked Andersen. Either your mind reader, Bob, or you've
• 2:47:52
  been picking over my shoulder by some strange instrument. Haven't any hidden mirrors?
• 2:47:56
  Have you? The sentence to which I just put a period, it reads
• 2:48:01
  the privileged writing to you, sister gives me three or four hours of good
• 2:48:03
  sound thinking, which is something to be thankful for. Humph said Anderson.
• 2:48:11
  With what does he do that good sound thinking? Bob? Came a thin
• 2:48:15
  voice from further down the cell block, another country heard from, cried Tom.
• 2:48:20
  I thought you were asleep, Skeeter, fat chance. Anyone has to
• 2:48:24
  sleep with you guys, following the way you do. Somewhat reluctantly, Tom
• 2:48:28
  Penny placed his pencil on the half finished sheet and approached his cell door.
• 2:48:33
  This was almost routine business. Now, at every change of the guards,
• 2:48:37
  the prisoners would gather at the doors of their respective cells and hold converse.
• 2:48:41
  It was in this position they discussed the news of the day, as Garner
• 2:48:45
  from the Louisville Courier Journal and the Lexington Herald. The first came to Anderson
• 2:48:50
  Daily, the second to Tom Penny. Thus they spoke of the letters they
• 2:48:54
  had received and the letters they wrote, told one another of the thoughts on
• 2:48:58
  life and death, exchanged views on the possibilities for a new child, talk
• 2:49:01
  of the weather, the radio, war, and religion. As the three
• 2:49:05
  lined up this evening in late June, footsteps on the walk made them turn
• 2:49:09
  their heads and shut their mouths. Captain Ranking came along with two guards and
• 2:49:15
  a very young looking prisoner. The cell next to Pennies was opened and closed.
• 2:49:20
  The guards in Ranking went off down the quarridor who's a newcomer? Tom?
• 2:49:24
  What's your name? Kid? Elliott? What's yours? Oh, we're
• 2:49:30
  the Miley Murderers. Bob is on my left. I'm Tom Skeeters, who
• 2:49:35
  sells to the south of you. You're going to decorate the hot seat a
• 2:49:39
  week from tonight, they tell me. Whew, whistled Anderson. That's the
• 2:49:43
  night before the fourth What a way to celebrate the birth of liberty. Don't
• 2:49:48
  know about that, Bob. It may mark the kid's birth through real liberty.
• 2:49:54
  Poor God's sake, Penny, Will you shut that face of yours?
• 2:49:56
  You will drive me nuts with your talk of religion, relig religion. All
• 2:50:01
  I hear is death is life and life is death. Damn it. Lay
• 2:50:05
  off that twaddle, will you. I'm hoping to get out of this hell
• 2:50:07
  hole alive. Me too. Came from Baxter three cells down. Don't mind
• 2:50:15
  these two dreamers, kid. Bob's got a mouth piece, who's fighting like
• 2:50:18
  a fiend, spinning dough like a drunkened sailor and getting nowhere fast. Ask
• 2:50:22
  for Baxter down there. Well, Skeeter always had pipe dreams. Now even
• 2:50:28
  without his pipe he goes on dreaming. But you face facts, the youngster.
• 2:50:31
  Death is birth to real life. I know it. That's why I
• 2:50:37
  got myself baptized a while ago. Catholic, no Protestant, say, it's
• 2:50:43
  hot as hell in here. Hope you're wrong, kid, for my sake
• 2:50:48
  as well as for the sake of my two accomplices. What do you mean
• 2:50:52
  I hope this place is only as hot as purgatory. Puff. He's off
• 2:50:58
  again. I ain't going back to bed, pleasant dreams, Skeeter. How
• 2:51:01
  do you feel about death? Kid? Oh? I don't know. Kind
• 2:51:07
  of used to the idea by now. We all have to go some time
• 2:51:09
  somehow. I'm just wondering how it'll be in the chair. Where's the confounded
• 2:51:15
  thing? Anyhow? Right across the hall there, just opposite Bob so hm.
• 2:51:20
  It won't be much of a walk for him, will it over any
• 2:51:24
  of us? For that matter? I should say not cutting Anderson. It'll
• 2:51:30
  be a cinch to step across if we have to. But I'm still hoping
• 2:51:33
  I won't have to, a kid, It all depends on Penny. He
• 2:51:37
  got me in here, he can get me out of here. Powerful God,
• 2:51:41
  ain't I kid more powerful than Governor Johnston? He can only pardon a
• 2:51:46
  man. But to hear Anderson talk, I can lock him up and spring
• 2:51:50
  him to cheer up, Bob, I may yet use that mighty influence of
• 2:51:54
  mine. You'd better or I'll damn you forever and ever. Ah, Kid,
• 2:52:00
  did you hear that there's a greater guy than I. There's a man
• 2:52:03
  who plays God? Say Penny, you sound happy. Have you hopes of
• 2:52:09
  dodging the chair? Not a glimmur Our cases have been appealed, of course,
• 2:52:15
  But I know we're only prolonging the agony. Bob won't admit that Moskeeter's
• 2:52:20
  just his echo. Why the hell should I admit it, haven't I some
• 2:52:24
  of the cleverest criminal lawyers in the country working for me, working for you.
• 2:52:30
  Huh, they're only taking your dough, Bob. What good will adobe
• 2:52:35
  you to me if I have to step across this hall to that hot seat?
• 2:52:39
  But why don't you think you your wife, your mother, and your
• 2:52:41
  family? Why don't you came the piercing question. For a moment, Penny
• 2:52:48
  did not see the point. Why don't I? He queried, Yeah,
• 2:52:54
  why don't you? You cannot only save my dough for me, You can
• 2:52:56
  even save me for my wife, my mother and my penny. You're not
• 2:53:03
  only powerful, you're all powerful. What's the story? The old story of
• 2:53:09
  drowning men grasping at Stral's kid. Bob thinks we can get new trials just
• 2:53:13
  because one of the jurymen came from across the tracks just outside the county,
• 2:53:18
  and because the newspaper was found in the jury room after the jury had come
• 2:53:20
  to a decision. Mere trivialities. Triviality is nothing. Those are technicalities of
• 2:53:28
  the law, and many a man who's been safe from the chair about just
• 2:53:31
  such technicalities. But even if they were mountainous, Tom, they would be
• 2:53:35
  nothing compared to what you can do. You can set the whole trial aside,
• 2:53:39
  make the judge, jury, prosecution, and defense, news reporters and
• 2:53:43
  editors look foolish by a mere word, Penny. You can turn this whole
• 2:53:46
  state inside out and upside down. See what a miracle man, I am,
• 2:53:52
  Kid? Why don't you work the miracle? I'd rather send Bob to
• 2:53:56
  heaven. You'll be sending me to hell. Whoa Robert? WHOA purgatory is
• 2:54:03
  bad enough? What's this purgatory you talk about? Penny? The lady preacher
• 2:54:09
  who comes here told me there ain't no such place. She says, it's
• 2:54:13
  not in the Bible. So I guess that settles it, doesn't it,
• 2:54:16
  Tom. Penny's laughed with musical When I was up on the walk, kid,
• 2:54:22
  I had a dozen arguments an hour about God and religion. They all
• 2:54:26
  went the same way. Most of the boys up there take the Bible as
• 2:54:28
  the last word, But I've learned it is not even the first word.
• 2:54:33
  How old is the Bible? How should I know? Where did we get
• 2:54:37
  the Bible? King James, I guess it's got his name on it.
• 2:54:43
  Who was? He asked me? Another? Was he God? Of course
• 2:54:48
  not yet you just said the Bible is the word of God. The lady
• 2:54:54
  preacher told me it was who told her? Hey, what you're trying to
• 2:54:58
  do? Me? Just trying to steer you straight. The Catholic Church can
• 2:55:05
  tell you where we got the Bible, how old it is, What are
• 2:55:07
  God's words and what are not? What they mean and what they don't.
• 2:55:11
  It was the Catholic Church you gave us the Bible. Kid, neither Peter,
• 2:55:15
  Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John or Protestants. You know?
• 2:55:18
  So what? So I listened to the Catholic Church when she speaks about
• 2:55:22
  the Bible or about anything else. After listening to some of the boys up
• 2:55:26
  on the walk, I can only conclude that the Bible was too strong a
• 2:55:30
  book for weak minds. It shall never be allowed in the hands of the
• 2:55:33
  ignorant. It does in more harm than good. Is that why you keep
• 2:55:37
  away from a penny put in, Bob, that's unkind of you, mister
• 2:55:43
  Anderson. You know I have the Gospels right here in my cell that I
• 2:55:46
  read them in preference to the pretty preaching of say. I meant to ask
• 2:55:52
  you, what in the world did you tell that lady preacher Last Sunday she
• 2:55:54
  came to my cell looking like a torch singer whose flame had just been doused.
• 2:56:00
  She converted me. Penny Elliot said, better be nice to her.
• 2:56:05
  I was kid, Yes, you were no kidding, Tom. What did
• 2:56:09
  you do to her? The penny shuckle was good to hear in the prison's
• 2:56:13
  gray gloom. Well, she wanted me to give testimony, to make a
• 2:56:18
  profession of faith. I did, Yes, you did. Honestly, Bob,
• 2:56:24
  that's exactly what I did. I can't get up and yell like Skeeter
• 2:56:28
  does. I don't get that stuff at all. I suppose it's all right
• 2:56:31
  for them, but I'm a Catholic. Bob's laugh was short and guttural.
• 2:56:37
  This good lady preacher, continued, Tom has been after me ever since I've
• 2:56:41
  been down here. She always asked for profession of faith. Last Sunday I
• 2:56:46
  gave her the only one I know. Let's hear it. Sure if you
• 2:56:52
  promised to be quiet and make no interruptions. Okay, Well, I came
• 2:56:56
  to the door just where I am now and said, lady, here is
• 2:57:01
  my profession of faith. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator
• 2:57:05
  of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our
• 2:57:09
  Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
• 2:57:11
  suffered under Punch's pilot, was crucified, died, and was buried.
• 2:57:16
  He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead,
• 2:57:20
  ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.
• 2:57:24
  From thence he shall come to judge a living in the dead. I
• 2:57:28
  believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communi of Saints,
• 2:57:31
  forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life of her lasting
• 2:57:35
  Amen. There was a momentary pause before Bob said, So that stopped her.
• 2:57:41
  Ah, why wouldn't it, cried the newcomers. All she teaches him
• 2:57:48
  more, But say, Penny, I didn't hear you say anything but purgatory
• 2:57:52
  or the Bible in there. Purgatory, kid, is an invention of divine
• 2:57:56
  mercy for rats. Like you and me leieve me not be good enough to
• 2:58:00
  go straight to heaven. But now that we're baptized and trying to live and
• 2:58:03
  die, write we're not bad enough to go to hell. That's why I
• 2:58:07
  want Bob to join us. The only true word in that pretty speech was
• 2:58:11
  rat, say Anderson, I don't know your gripe, but perhaps a bit
• 2:58:16
  of religion would do you good. You're a soured's vinegar. Tell me more
• 2:58:22
  about the Catholic church, Penny. If you're interested, kid, i'll get
• 2:58:26
  you a catechism. The Catholic religion changed the world for me. It's made
• 2:58:31
  the days in this death house the happiest in my life. Now I'm not
• 2:58:35
  only not afraid of death, I'm even anxious to meet it, for I
• 2:58:39
  know it will leave me to God. That's the kind of talk I like
• 2:58:43
  to hear. Oh, horse feathers came Anderson's disgust, But then he caught
• 2:58:50
  himself. Well, I suppose that is the right kind of talk for you
• 2:58:54
  to hear. If you've got to go next week, kid, But you
• 2:58:56
  see I don't have to go. I heard of you for Tea Stuart,
• 2:59:01
  who's he My mouth beats? His name's Stuart, but not Viewford Tea.
• 2:59:07
  He's the guy who was with Penny and Lexington last September twenty seventh. He's
• 2:59:11
  the guy who bumped off Mary and Miley and her mother. He's the guy
• 2:59:16
  Robert H. Anderson. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole
• 2:59:20
  truth and nothing but the truth? Broken Penny in mock judicial tones. So
• 2:59:26
  help me, God, came Anderson's quick reply. Penny got sore because I
• 2:59:31
  wouldn't go through with him on a rotten whiskey deal. He nurses the grudge
• 2:59:35
  for a couple of years. Then when he's picked up in my car which
• 2:59:37
  he stolen from in front of my club, he names me as accomplice me
• 2:59:43
  Mindja, who wasn't even near Lexington. Bob, you're the coolest cucumber outside
• 2:59:48
  a deep freeze? Where's this guy? Stuart? Six feet under? He
• 2:59:56
  died February second hum Dead men tell no tales. But then Anderson, dead
• 3:00:05
  man can't take the witness stand either. How are you going to get this
• 3:00:07
  tale to the judge and jury? Easy? This dead man's bond girlfriend.
• 3:00:13
  So I'm getting to my car with Penny. The night of the murders.
• 3:00:16
  Thought of all the angles, haven't you. Oh he's clever, kid,
• 3:00:20
  But if he's thought of all the angles, he's missed some of the curves,
• 3:00:24
  and he hasn't thought of all the angles at that. No, No,
• 3:00:30
  he's forgotten the angle of truth and the angle of coincidence. What do
• 3:00:35
  you mean coincidence? Asked Anderson anxiously, Bob, didn't you ever think that
• 3:00:41
  all this will strike some people? Is strange, especially since you said nothing
• 3:00:45
  about any of it when I testified against you in Lexington. You didn't even
• 3:00:48
  take the stand. It will strike most people as quite a coincidence that Stuart's
• 3:00:52
  name never entered the case until after he was dead. Huh derit at Anderson
• 3:01:00
  mouthpiece takes care of that perfectly, and instead doing make something of a hero
• 3:01:03
  out of you, Penny. Yeah, yeah, you call it another technicality,
• 3:01:09
  I suppose, but I'll remind you again that many a man has been
• 3:01:13
  saved by just such a technicality. What's the new one. You were convinced,
• 3:01:18
  Penny, that no one could be convicted on the testimony of an accomplice,
• 3:01:22
  So you saw a small chance to get square with me over that liquor
• 3:01:26
  deal and at the same time cover up on Stewart, your real accomplice.
• 3:01:31
  Phew, whistled Penny in appreciation. That is new. Send your lawyer to
• 3:01:35
  me next time he comes down, Bob, maybe all something to say to
• 3:01:39
  him. But right now, let's talk of more important things. More important?
• 3:01:46
  Howardy Anderson? Sure this kid has only a week to live? Kid,
• 3:01:50
  you're going to face God soon. When we're not talking about Anderson's plan
• 3:01:54
  to get out of here, we do a more sensible thing. We pray
• 3:01:58
  in kind of a robin. One pray is aloud as long as he can,
• 3:02:03
  as soon as he stops. Another takes it up when he's through.
• 3:02:07
  The third goes on, and so we eat up hours of our time.
• 3:02:11
  How does that sound to you? Want to try? It sounds okay,
• 3:02:16
  But let me get a little used to this cell. Well yeah, I'll
• 3:02:18
  try the bed and fix the chair and table to my liking. But tell
• 3:02:22
  me, aren't we ever bothered by the guards here? They don't hang around
• 3:02:28
  much. Here comes one now though, see you later. Tom Penny went
• 3:02:33
  back to his table in the unfinished letter on it. He picked up his
• 3:02:35
  pencil, but instead of writing, stared ahead. After some moments, he
• 3:02:41
  stirred himself uneasily and asked himself why it was that he felt so much less
• 3:02:45
  peace down here on death Row than he had felt up on the walk.
• 3:02:48
  He had much better quarters, more light and air, more room, and
• 3:02:52
  more freedom bought him back. STERI were practically at his elbow. He really
• 3:02:56
  had company, although he was supposed to be in solitary confinement. Skeeter was
• 3:03:01
  from his home town, and he had known Andersen since reform school days.
• 3:03:05
  But something was wrong, definitely wrong. He looked at the letter before him
• 3:03:11
  and wondered if his uneasiness came from any neglect of the practices the good nuns
• 3:03:15
  had taught him. But no, As he checked each one, he saw
• 3:03:18
  that he had been scrupulously faithful to all what was wrong. He did not
• 3:03:24
  feel the same fervor in his prayer that he had felled up on the walk.
• 3:03:28
  God did not seem so near as he had seemed in that dark little
• 3:03:31
  hole in the wall where he had spent his winter in spring. But Father
• 3:03:35
  George had warned him about that. The priest had told him all life is
• 3:03:39
  undulant, that if to day we are buoyant and fine, life wonderful,
• 3:03:43
  tomorrow we may be as gloomy and as grouchy as an all true and all
• 3:03:46
  for no apparent reason. Tom knew all that was true, but he was
• 3:03:52
  surprised to learn from the priest that the same thing happened in prayer. That
• 3:03:56
  one day we felt as if we could put out our hands and touch God.
• 3:04:00
  The next he was more distant than the most distant star, and prayer
• 3:04:03
  then seemed like talking into a telephone whose wires had been cut. True,
• 3:04:07
  Tomy nedver found it as bad as that, But since coming down from the
• 3:04:11
  walk, prayer had been different. Suddenly he realized that nothing had been the
• 3:04:16
  same. He did not write his letters as easily, and found less throat
• 3:04:20
  on the ones he received. Books and magazines he read with effort. Even
• 3:04:24
  his drawing was forced. He had been happy up on the walk. Then
• 3:04:28
  it came to him. Ever since arriving in the sill next to Bob Anderson,
• 3:04:33
  the one topic of conversation that had recurred and recurred was how he Tom
• 3:04:37
  Penny could free the man his testimony had convicted. Drumming on the knuckles of
• 3:04:43
  his left hand with a pencil he held in his right, Penny went over
• 3:04:46
  the story Andersen had concocted it for him, how diabolically clever it seemed,
• 3:04:50
  and yet how stupid. Before they left Lexington, Bob ha sent him wore
• 3:04:54
  the beefert Stewart was dead, killed in Louisville on February first street fight.
• 3:05:01
  Suddenly Tom stopped drumming and stiffened a sharp attention as he remembered it was on
• 3:05:05
  February second, just ten days before they were transferred from the Fayette County jail,
• 3:05:09
  that Bob had tossed him a magazine with a note inside about Stuart's death.
• 3:05:15
  How rapidly Andersen's mind had worked. But was it Anderson's. Tom tried
• 3:05:18
  to remember whether the Louisville lawyers had been there that day. He could not
• 3:05:24
  be sure, but he was very sure that they had been most busy ever
• 3:05:28
  since, for after every one of their visits, Bob had some new detail
• 3:05:31
  to add to his story. Tom smiled sarcastically, got up and walked to
• 3:05:37
  the window. He was thinking of Bob's latest remark about Stuart's blonde girlfriend having
• 3:05:41
  seen them drive off in Bob's buick. Another plant, he thought, another
• 3:05:46
  detail to perfect the plot. And what was that other thing about no one
• 3:05:50
  being convicted on the testimony of an accomplice. These lawyers were forging a chain
• 3:05:54
  with no weak links, every item, even as motive for speaking was covered.
• 3:06:01
  They would make him Penny true to the code of the underworld, even
• 3:06:05
  as he vented his grudge on Anderson. That was what they meant by this
• 3:06:09
  thing about no one being convicted on the testimony of accomplice. But where was
• 3:06:13
  he? Tom Penny, ever, who learns the technicality of the law.
• 3:06:18
  He walked to the door of his cell and called softly, Hey, Bob,
• 3:06:24
  Yeah, came equally soft reply. He said something a while ago that
• 3:06:28
  set me thinking, is it true that a man cannot be convicted on the
• 3:06:31
  testimony of his accomplice? So I hear where? Did you hear it?
• 3:06:39
  Right here in Neddyville? But Bob, how could I have ever known that
• 3:06:43
  before you told me? Couldn't someone else have told you? Who the cops
• 3:06:48
  Atlectington before the trial? How would they know? Dick's no plenty of law?
• 3:06:56
  And some lawyers think they know quite a bit about some dicks, don't
• 3:06:58
  they? Did Nicholson tell you all this? What difference does that make?
• 3:07:05
  The only question before us is are you going to use it? What did
• 3:07:09
  he have to say about our chances for a retrial. We won't hear anything
• 3:07:13
  until the fall. Well, that gives me plenty of time to think over
• 3:07:18
  your question. Listen, Penny, Bob said, after a pause. You're
• 3:07:24
  anxious for me to become a Catholic, aren't you. Well, I'm in
• 3:07:26
  your hands. Set me free, or get me a commutation to life,
• 3:07:31
  and I'll join the Catholic church. How about it. Tom Penny walked to
• 3:07:35
  the opposite side of his cell and stared out the high open window. A
• 3:07:39
  lazy puff of cloud moved dreamily across the square sky framed by the window,
• 3:07:45
  as the faint and fading end of it dripped it beyond the frame's heavy edge.
• 3:07:48
  Tom turned back to his table, his soul and the souls of others.
• 3:07:54
  With a shake of his head. He picked up his unfinished letter and
• 3:07:56
  stared at it. Sister Robert, Anne, just receive your very interesting letter,
• 3:08:03
  Anne's usual, Sister. It inspired me. I know your stay in
• 3:08:07
  Chicago must have been interesting. I am extremely grateful for your visit to the
• 3:08:11
  shine of Saint Jude for me, and also for the novena to the Little
• 3:08:13
  Flower on my behalf. Sister, you don't know what good you have done
• 3:08:18
  and do for me. The privilege of writing to you gives me three or
• 3:08:22
  four hours of good sound thinking, which is something to be thankful for,
• 3:08:26
  yes, said Tom to himself, and much more profitable than thinking of a
• 3:08:30
  way to get out of here and how to get others out Thereupon he lifted
• 3:08:35
  his pencil and drew himself into the table. When Sister robert Anne received the
• 3:08:39
  letter, it ran on. I wrote to missus Finlwick only yesterday. I
• 3:08:43
  am afraid I told her more about the wonderful sister she has than the wonderful
• 3:08:48
  birthday cake she gave me, and my appreciation of her kindness. I've been
• 3:08:52
  reading little cannicals of love. A pamphlet it must have belonged to sister ellenor
• 3:08:58
  Jane. It has her name in it. Its contents are very beautiful.
• 3:09:01
  It seems as though God is really present and you are talking directly to him.
• 3:09:07
  Oh, sister, if I could only be as good as I want
• 3:09:09
  to be. The chaplain came down tonight and was talking to a boy,
• 3:09:13
  and the next seldom me. He is to be executed July third. He
• 3:09:18
  is a Protestant and was baptized here. I gave him a Book of Devotions.
• 3:09:24
  He likes the prayers. There is no hope for him here, sister,
• 3:09:28
  but there certainly is great hope for him hereafter. Some people might think
• 3:09:31
  we have strange conversations, but often speak of death as if we loved it.
• 3:09:37
  They can't be much wrong with the sula can face death, so calmly
• 3:09:39
  do you think so? Sister? I know this is a question for my
• 3:09:45
  confessor, but I want to ask you too. Is it a very great
• 3:09:48
  sound to tell a little lie to save the soul of another? And maybe
• 3:09:52
  the souls are several? Don't answer if you would rather not, sister.
• 3:09:58
  I started this at noon yesterday. It is now one a am Saturday.
• 3:10:03
  So if it doesn't make sense, don't blame me. We have talked,
• 3:10:05
  prayed, eaten song, et cetera, and I slept while the radio was
• 3:10:09
  on from four thirty to eight thirty. It isn't easy to write sensibly when
• 3:10:13
  your mind is distracted every few minutes. There are five of us in the
• 3:10:18
  annex. Now we are three different faiths. We have an agreement. When
• 3:10:22
  one man offers a prayer, we all do one at a time. Then
• 3:10:26
  when it makes the round, someone will feel ashamed of having said so little,
• 3:10:31
  and will begin all over again. That keeps us going for every two
• 3:10:33
  hours, sometimes of one thing. I am absolutely sure we couldn't spend the
• 3:10:39
  time in a better way. May God bless you, sister, and give
• 3:10:43
  you strength and courage to go on encouraging others as you have. You are
• 3:10:48
  unworthy but very devoted friend in Christ. Tom penny sister admitted to herself that
• 3:10:54
  it was a jumble letter will wrongly lay the blame for the jumble on the
• 3:10:58
  boy and the next Soe Elliott, who was to die that night before the
• 3:11:01
  fourth. She could not know it was Bob Anderson who had upset Penny.
• 3:11:05
  But a sister could have read between the lines where on the question about the
• 3:11:09
  gravity of a lie to save the soul of another, and maybe the souls
• 3:11:13
  of several appeared, she would immediately have sent a kind, but very forceful,
• 3:11:18
  and eloquently clear exposition of the evil of all lying. But the question
• 3:11:24
  bothered Penny very little, but entire next week for the boy in the next
• 3:11:26
  cell took all his attention. The twenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth
• 3:11:31
  of June flew by July first and second had even swifter wings. Then came
• 3:11:37
  the third. Tom was up early and watched with fascination and in ever mounting
• 3:11:41
  excitement, the proceedings customary in a death house the day a man is to
• 3:11:46
  go. He thought it was sympathy for young Elliot, who was living his
• 3:11:50
  last day on earth, that pitched him such keen interest. But the letter
• 3:11:54
  he wrote his mother late that night told him that all unconsciously he had been
• 3:11:58
  going through something like a dresser rehearsal was own. Last day. He began
• 3:12:03
  a letter at ten p m. He is to go at midnight, wrote
• 3:12:07
  Tom. I am sure God is waiting for him. Then immediately he began
• 3:12:11
  to write of himself. Of course you are praying for another chance, mother,
• 3:12:16
  But if that should be denied, I want you to know that I
• 3:12:18
  am not afraid to die. I feel sure that God will be good to
• 3:12:22
  me, for though I have felt him miserably here on earth, he understands
• 3:12:26
  my heart and forgives Penny got up, walked to the window and stared at
• 3:12:31
  the stars. He was not writing easily to night, though he felt full
• 3:12:35
  to overflowing the truce that needed to be told to his mother. He looked
• 3:12:39
  at the lonely night sky and wondered but hurried footsteps coming along the walk pulled
• 3:12:46
  him from the window to the door of his cell. He saw bikan and
• 3:12:48
  gesture to the men in the death room. Their high pitched voices and excited
• 3:12:52
  exclamations sat Tom's hands gripping the cold steel bars. Guards, electricians, newspapermen,
• 3:13:01
  preachers, and even the undertaker crowded in front of the next cell.
• 3:13:05
  All Tom could hear was a stay, a stay. Twenty minutes later he
• 3:13:09
  was back at his letter, and again it was only the first few lines
• 3:13:13
  that were about the boy next door. He does not die after all,
• 3:13:18
  at least not yet. My prayers are answered. He had eaten his last
• 3:13:22
  meal, had only two hours to go, but then came an act of
• 3:13:26
  God. Nothing less, So try not to worry about me, mother,
• 3:13:31
  God is still good and everything will come out okay. With his excitement still
• 3:13:37
  upon him, he wrote a letter to Sister Lurncia, telling her the stirring
• 3:13:39
  details. She was rather elated to be able to hance the latter to Father
• 3:13:43
  Donnelly on his next visit to the hospital. She watched him as he read
• 3:13:50
  and thought she knew the source of the light that suffused his features as his
• 3:13:54
  eyes went down the page. Exciting, wasn't it, she said, as
• 3:13:58
  the priest folded the letter. Think of it. The undertaker was staying there
• 3:14:01
  waiting for the body. Yes, said Father George quietly. But that's not
• 3:14:07
  what excites me, sister. It's the fact that Father Libbs has promised Tom
• 3:14:11
  comnion on the eighth of this month. What a relief that is. I've
• 3:14:16
  been worried lately, Sister. Tom has sent me three letters in quick succession.
• 3:14:22
  Each showed him more and more troubled about what That's what has had me
• 3:14:26
  worried. He doesn't say. He mentioned Father Libbs and comedion, but I'm
• 3:14:31
  sure there's something else. However, this letter gives me comfort. Then,
• 3:14:35
  as he handed it back, he added, pray that Tom receives the sacrament
• 3:14:39
  soon, Sister. I feel he needs very special grace and that's where he'll
• 3:14:45
  get it. To tell you the truth, if my dad was not so
• 3:14:48
  sick, I's been my vacation in Eddyeville instead of Pennsylvania. Write that boy
• 3:14:52
  every week, waned you, sister, and save Hall's replies for my return.
• 3:14:58
  What really trouble Penny was the effect Eliot's dramatic stay of execution was having
• 3:15:03
  on Bob Anderson. Louisville's Courier Journal had carried a colorful story of how Zebe
• 3:15:09
  Stuart, Eliot's attorney, had made a dramatic dash from Frankfort, where the
• 3:15:13
  Court of Appeals had denied him a rid of corn Noby's, to Louisville,
• 3:15:16
  where he was successful in obtaining from federal Judge Shackleford Miller a rid of habeas
• 3:15:22
  corpus. The excitement of the denial at the state's capital, the telegram to
• 3:15:26
  the federal court in Louisville, the arrival in town after that court had closed
• 3:15:31
  the taxis to the clerk's house, then to the judge's home, and finally
• 3:15:35
  that urgent telephone call to just Buchanan to stop the execution. Interested the chunky
• 3:15:41
  Andersen little. What fascinated him, and what had him plaguing Penny with sly
• 3:15:46
  hints and heated arguments, was the line up of reasons Stewart had presented to
• 3:15:50
  obtain the writ, chief among them being that Elliot had been convicted on perjured
• 3:15:56
  evidence. How that fitted into Bob's case That two jurors, Gusquells and Gabe
• 3:16:01
  Thomas had said before the child that if they were chosen on the jury,
• 3:16:05
  they would send Elliott to the chair. That one juror, Bob West,
• 3:16:09
  was related by marriage to Joe Tuggall, the Whitley County jail turnkey, whom
• 3:16:13
  Eliot murdered in an attempt to escape while waiting to be taken to prison on
• 3:16:18
  a twenty one year armed robbery sentence. Bob has some facts about his own
• 3:16:22
  jurors, that there was a conspiracy to convict Eliot, regardless of the law
• 3:16:26
  and the evidence. He could say the same about Lexington in his own case.
• 3:16:31
  Finally, the most important witness for the defense, Grant B. Walker,
• 3:16:35
  was unable to testify because he was now in the Army and stationed in
• 3:16:39
  Iceland. Tom whispered Anderson late one afternoon toward the end of July. We
• 3:16:46
  have a much better case than Eliot. He didn't die. We won't if
• 3:16:50
  you will only talk. If follow Donnelly could have heard these whispered conversations,
• 3:16:56
  he might have gone to Eddyville even before he went to Pennsylvania, and the
• 3:16:58
  best of his dying father. But he had not the slightest inkling. How
• 3:17:03
  Elliot's stay was affecting all in Eddyesville's House of Death. The thing that was
• 3:17:09
  on his mind was Tom's lack of the sacraments. But Father George did not
• 3:17:13
  have to wait until his return for the news he most desired. He had
• 3:17:18
  just arrived in his old home at Whitehaven, Pennsylvania, when he was handed
• 3:17:22
  an envelope carrying a penmanship he now knew quite well even before he unpacked.
• 3:17:28
  He opened that envelope and read, I received the sacraments Wednesday. Oh what
• 3:17:33
  joy, especially as I had almost given up hopes. I think I like
• 3:17:37
  Faller libs. Now, don't misunderstand me. Father, You know I always
• 3:17:41
  liked him, but I felt there was a certain amount of authority he was
• 3:17:45
  not exercising. But then I realized too that you had spoiled me, and
• 3:17:50
  perhaps I expected too much. When my soul needs attention, I am doing
• 3:17:54
  my best, Father, but that seemed so little. Mother Donnelly was founding
• 3:18:01
  over the difficulty Tom was experiencing and getting to know father lives. The prisoner
• 3:18:05
  was founding a renew difficulty from another quarter. He felt completely out of sorts.
• 3:18:11
  At first, he blamed the heat. July had been hot, but
• 3:18:13
  August made him claim they had gone from the rying pan into the fire.
• 3:18:18
  His statement could almost be taken literally, for the Great Stone House held the
• 3:18:22
  heat of the sizzling day's sun and made the Knights utterly miserable. Next,
• 3:18:28
  he blamed his own sensitiveness and selfishness. He missed father Donnelly's visits and sister
• 3:18:33
  Robert Annenfield to write him the week she shifted from summer school in Louisville back
• 3:18:37
  to the hospital in Lexington. Now his own mother seemed to be misunderstanding him
• 3:18:41
  completely. It was this that capped the climax of a series that had begun,
• 3:18:46
  and Captain Rankin refused from the watercolors Sister Mary Laurentia had sent for him
• 3:18:50
  to use on his drawings. From that moment, everything seemed to go wrong,
• 3:18:56
  and everyone irritated him, Bob and Baxter, even Trent, a newcomer
• 3:19:01
  in the next cell, got on his nerves. His outgoing mail, held
• 3:19:05
  up for censoring, failed to reach his friends at the time he desired.
• 3:19:09
  The letters that came in seemed always from the wrong parties and held the wrong
• 3:19:11
  messages. The radio angered him and he turned from the newspapers in disgust.
• 3:19:18
  But So long as he had been able to write to his mother and feel
• 3:19:20
  that she would understand all, he knew some measure of contentment. But now
• 3:19:26
  well the morning's mail held a letter which showed that even she had completely misread
• 3:19:31
  his outpouring about the nuns. She took his compliment to the sisters as a
• 3:19:35
  condemnation of herself. How could she do it? Tom looked around his cell.
• 3:19:43
  Everything in it spoke to him of the sympathy and interest of these good
• 3:19:46
  religious The tiny stations on the wall, the stacks of books, magazines and
• 3:19:50
  papers on the floor, the rosary beads lying on his pillow, the letters
• 3:19:54
  on his desk, the cardboard carton in the corner with its litter of candy
• 3:19:58
  bars. Even the drawing paper on which he had put so many images of
• 3:20:01
  the child and his mother. All was from these two sisters of charity.
• 3:20:07
  How could he fail to speak of them when he was writing out of his
• 3:20:09
  heart? They visited him at the jail in Lexington. They had traveled the
• 3:20:15
  three hundred miles and more to see him in Eddieville. Never a week past
• 3:20:18
  that one of them did not write. How could his own mother fail to
• 3:20:22
  realize all they meant to him, had they not visited her at South Spring
• 3:20:26
  Street? Did she not see for herself that they were angels? When Andersen
• 3:20:31
  broke in on his thoughts with a question, Penny snapped so sharp an answer
• 3:20:35
  that he immediately cried, excuse me, Bob. I'm not myself these days.
• 3:20:41
  Either the heat is driving me nuts, or there's a devil in this
• 3:20:45
  cell that's on their shower. In the late afternoon brought temporary relief, and
• 3:20:50
  Tom took advantage of the comparative coolness of the late night and early morning to
• 3:20:54
  write to his mother. Your letter came yesterday. I'm glad you Major chip
• 3:20:58
  Okay spiked the heat. It is certainly warm here. I was just sitting
• 3:21:03
  around waiting to smother when a shower came along and called us off a bit.
• 3:21:09
  I get the blues at times, and occasionally get terribly lonesome. If
• 3:21:11
  it wasn't for the sisters, what would I do. They keep me well
• 3:21:16
  supplied with books to read, and I read them from cover to cover.
• 3:21:20
  Mother. Please understand, it is not that they have succeeded in something at
• 3:21:24
  which you have failed. Never. It is only that they had brought out
• 3:21:26
  the good you put there, So don't feel that you have failed. You
• 3:21:31
  haven't, and I know you will always love the sisters for their kindness to
• 3:21:35
  me and the assistance they have given to my spiritual welfare. Once he had
• 3:21:39
  put that in the mail, he felt better, and for a few days
• 3:21:43
  knew some of his old peace and happiness. But just as the high favor
• 3:21:46
  of Augustburg were keen to him, that almost broke his spirit. Father George
• 3:21:52
  was off to war as a chaplain. Now what was he going to do?
• 3:21:58
  Father Libs came but once a month, and he was always in such
• 3:22:01
  a hurry that he could only stand at the door for a few moments and
• 3:22:03
  talk from there. How could any one talk out soul problems with the entire
• 3:22:07
  cell block and a couple of guards as audience. But even if he could
• 3:22:11
  disregard all these, there was something about Father Libbs that kept Tom silent.
• 3:22:16
  What was it? The man was kind enough, But suddenly Tom's eyes fell
• 3:22:22
  on one of his own drawings. It was that of the sorrowful Mother.
• 3:22:26
  Yes, he said, softly, you were here. Mother, so is
• 3:22:31
  Jesus, and I should be content. But Mother, so is the devil,
• 3:22:35
  and I am miserable to ease attention. He snatched up his pen and
• 3:22:41
  wrote, Dear father, donaldy, I suppose you think I have forgotten my
• 3:22:46
  friends entirely, but that is not true. I am terribly done in the
• 3:22:50
  dumps. And there's the whole story. Your letter came last Friday. I
• 3:22:54
  have written several answers to it in my mind, but just could not seem
• 3:22:58
  to get any of them on paper. I don't suppose you ever had anything
• 3:23:01
  like that happen to you, father, but I can tell you it gives
• 3:23:05
  one a very unhappy feeling. I don't think there is anything seriously wrong.
• 3:23:09
  I am just more disgusted than anything else. Lieutenant Nervis sent me your photos
• 3:23:13
  enlarge from the snap you gave me. I think they are very good of
• 3:23:18
  you and appreciate them extremely. I wrote to him and thanked him for his
• 3:23:22
  kindness. So you are going to be a lieutenant too well. Father.
• 3:23:26
  I know you are eager to do your bit, but war, war,
• 3:23:30
  war, It is also unnecessary. So much horror and grief, and what
• 3:23:35
  is it all about? Does any one know my only contribution to the war
• 3:23:39
  for is a prayer that it will cease? Father. I drew some sketches
• 3:23:43
  of the Blessed Mother and the sacred Head of Jesus, some of him carrying
• 3:23:46
  his cross, some of the Little Flower, Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint
• 3:23:50
  Jude, and even one of myself. All of them are for you.
• 3:23:56
  They are not so good, Father, but maybe some children will enjoy them.
• 3:24:00
  You may use my picture for most any purpose. Bugs, mice,
• 3:24:03
  moss, garden, insects, and even snakes. You told me yours would
• 3:24:07
  keep mice away. I know mine will do better than that. Next week
• 3:24:13
  is to be mission week here in the pen, so Father Libbs told me
• 3:24:16
  he and another priest will be here all week. I hope I may see
• 3:24:20
  a lot of them during that time. Father Libbs is as nice as can
• 3:24:24
  be to me, but I just can't seem to give him my confidence.
• 3:24:28
  I guess the trouble is with me. I don't feel right with my soul.
• 3:24:31
  Father. I wish I could tell you just what it is. I
• 3:24:35
  hope you'll get to see Mother before you go. Let me know when you
• 3:24:39
  are leaving, and all about what lies ahead. I hope you don't forget
• 3:24:43
  me in your prayers. When Tom broke the news to Bob that Father George
• 3:24:48
  was off to join the colors. The latter came back with so hearty a
• 3:24:50
  good luck to him. The Penny secretly wondered if Andersen was glad to have
• 3:24:56
  the priest out of the way. Guess that ends my visitors, mused Tom,
• 3:25:00
  somewhat dolefully. The sisters can't come again, and I know none of
• 3:25:03
  my family will ever make the trip. Cheer up came Bob's cry, I'll
• 3:25:09
  share all mine with you. My lawyers ought to be here to day or
• 3:25:11
  tomorrow. Tom went back to his drawings, wondering if he wanted to see
• 3:25:16
  those lawyers. When Bob's voice came a little later in evident effort to cheer
• 3:25:22
  him up and end it with an exhortation that Tom make the most of the
• 3:25:26
  companionship in the cell block, saying that birds of a feather always flocked together.
• 3:25:31
  Tom replied, now I know why there are six of us. Six.
• 3:25:37
  Then Bob heard the testes remarked, Penny made all this trying summer.
• 3:25:41
  Yes, six, he snapped for besides the five of us schedule for the
• 3:25:46
  hot seat. There's a devil here from the hottest hell and has been here
• 3:25:50
  for months. Here is hoping the fathers drive him out during mission week end
• 3:25:56
  of chapter seven, God gives compensation. Tom's conviction that he was living not
• 3:26:05
  only in the omnipresence of God, but in the very specific presence of the
• 3:26:09
  Devil showed itself in most of the letters he wrote during these weeks, but
• 3:26:13
  oddly enough, not a word of it crept into his correspondence with Sister Robert
• 3:26:16
  Anne. That is why she could not understand Father Donaldy's uneasiness about Tom.
• 3:26:22
  The day the priest came to say good bye before setting off for training,
• 3:26:26
  Father George had hardly left the hospital precincts when the slim director of nurses was
• 3:26:31
  rereading her latest mail to see if she could detect the cause of the priest's
• 3:26:35
  grave concern. The first one she picked up was of July fifth. It
• 3:26:39
  ran, Dear Sister Robert Anne, your letter came yesterday, your package the
• 3:26:45
  day before, Anne, Sister, I want to say, you could have
• 3:26:48
  given me nothing that I would appreciate more. This little manual of prayers is
• 3:26:52
  truly beautiful. I became so absorbed in it that I did not know it
• 3:26:56
  had an index until I had read clean through. I like especially the prayer
• 3:27:01
  for perseverance. I shall read it daily until I know it by heart.
• 3:27:05
  The Holy Face will melt the heart of the most wicked. I love it.
• 3:27:09
  I find it much more effective than any other illustration. To gaze on
• 3:27:13
  his Holy face and think of the agony he endured makes me realize how utterly
• 3:27:18
  unworthy I am of the least favor. My heart nearly burst, Sister.
• 3:27:22
  I forget my own little troubles and only want to give and give until I
• 3:27:28
  give all, and that seems too little. I see now why my life
• 3:27:33
  has been so empty, But it shall never be empty again. I pray
• 3:27:37
  each day for wisdom and strength to resist temptation, and an ever increasing love
• 3:27:41
  for Him. I had word, and Father libs that at last I will
• 3:27:46
  be able to receive the sacraments the eighth. Thank God with me and for
• 3:27:50
  me. Sister Bob asked me to thank you for the Rosary. In the
• 3:27:54
  book, the boy next to me also wishes me to thank you, sister.
• 3:27:58
  Poor kid he was all ready to go, had eaten his last meal
• 3:28:03
  and even talked with the Undertaker. But God extended his mercies. Well,
• 3:28:07
  Sister, it is almost five a m. I shall say good day,
• 3:28:11
  enjoying you in prayer in just a moment, or do you a rise at
• 3:28:15
  five? Down there at Louisville. I shall say my beads fifteen mysteries for
• 3:28:20
  your intentions. May God bless you and reward you eternally for your kindness to
• 3:28:26
  Tom Penny. Surely nothing was wrong with the boy. You can write like
• 3:28:30
  that, thought sister, and turned to July twelfth letter and read. All
• 3:28:35
  your letters are food for thought. That's why I cherish them. So I
• 3:28:39
  know I have advanced greatly in knowledged these past few months. I also know
• 3:28:43
  the greater our knowledge, the greater our responsibility. But isn't it also true,
• 3:28:48
  the greater our sacrifice, the greater our reward. That is why I'm
• 3:28:52
  really working. Over time. I read everything I could lay my hands on,
• 3:28:58
  Sister. I think I got more out of faith of our fathers.
• 3:29:01
  All the things you send I read from cover to cover. I do not
• 3:29:05
  recall the article by Father la Buff and the June Messenger. Bob passed the
• 3:29:09
  magazine at the moment I shall get it and read it again. Father la
• 3:29:13
  Buff has another article in the July issue, and it ends with a truly
• 3:29:18
  beautiful prayer. Whenever I come across it to prayer. I offer it together
• 3:29:22
  with all my other prayers, works and sufferings, and thanksgiving for God's glorious
• 3:29:26
  gift of faith, and in reparation for the many sins of my past life.
• 3:29:31
  I continue this until I know the prayer by heart. Then I select
• 3:29:35
  another. I received the sacrament's Wednesday, Sister, So ask the little flower
• 3:29:41
  to thank God and help me keep my resolutions. I have vowed to myself
• 3:29:45
  a penance almost beyond physical endurance if I break my resolution. So you see,
• 3:29:50
  I need help. The dignified angle at which Sister robert Anne usually carried
• 3:29:56
  her head was lost as she bent over her desk and read the note letter.
• 3:30:00
  Quickly, she was becoming more and more puzzled about fellow Donnelly's attitude with
• 3:30:03
  each succeeding paragraph. The letter of the following week, July nineteenth, had
• 3:30:09
  given her more than one chuckled the day she received it. Even now,
• 3:30:13
  the spite of preoccupation, it cost her to smile. Tom had written,
• 3:30:18
  you ask when do I sleep? The answer is easy. I don't,
• 3:30:22
  at least not much lately. It is altogether too warm. I managed to
• 3:30:28
  doze for three or four hours and the wee morning, but the smile faded
• 3:30:31
  and the frown returned. A sister, now read, suppose mass is said
• 3:30:35
  for me the eleventh or twelfth of August. You see the second Wednesday,
• 3:30:39
  the twelfth is Father Libb's day. Here am I expecting too much in one
• 3:30:45
  day? You must thanks, Sister Rose William from me. I am so
• 3:30:48
  grateful. Sister. I do not allow myself to think of liberty. But
• 3:30:52
  if the miracle should happen, I have made up my mind, or should
• 3:30:56
  I say God has made it up for me. I shall spend the remainder
• 3:31:01
  of my life doing good for him. I would feel out a place in
• 3:31:03
  the world doing anything else. Now, before the frowning director of nurses could
• 3:31:09
  finish the letter, a knock came on the door. When she saw who
• 3:31:13
  it was, she cried, You're just the person I want to see.
• 3:31:16
  Will you tell me what Father Donaldy's fussing about. Just before he left today,
• 3:31:20
  he told me Tom was having trouble and that I was to pray extra
• 3:31:24
  hard for him. You know, we never interrogate priests on such matters,
• 3:31:28
  but Father saw I wanted to, so he said I would detect the trouble
• 3:31:31
  if I study the letters Tom wrote. I'm studying them. They show me
• 3:31:37
  a man growing more and more in love with God, with a love that
• 3:31:39
  wants to express his self in love's best language, sacrifice. He seems to
• 3:31:45
  be in perfect condition. Was the date of that letter you were reading July
• 3:31:50
  twenty six, That is over a month ago, sister, have you studied
• 3:31:54
  your August mail? You sound as if you believe Father George's right in his
• 3:31:58
  worry. Let's look at them together. Here's August first. What's in it
• 3:32:05
  here? Look at the very first page. We find Tom acting as an
• 3:32:09
  apostle. He had asked me for a catechism. I sent it. He
• 3:32:13
  tells me in this letter that it was for the boy in the next cell,
• 3:32:16
  that is either Elliott or Trent. Tom tells me he has taught him
• 3:32:20
  how to say the Rosary. Meant to have Father Libs talk to him,
• 3:32:24
  but since he failed, I was to ask the Little Flower for help.
• 3:32:28
  Then a few lines about my coming retreat, and I promised to pray for
• 3:32:31
  me. Anything wrong there? Not a thing, was Sister Mary Laurentia's quiet
• 3:32:37
  comment. Let's have the next I was on retreat, so he missed the
• 3:32:43
  week, but here's the one for August thirteenth. In it he speaks of
• 3:32:46
  the mission. Sister Robert Anne read aloud. Father Libs came yesterday, but
• 3:32:52
  being in a rush as usual, I had only a word with him.
• 3:32:56
  But next month, the first week, he will be here all week with
• 3:33:00
  another priest, a passionist. How I am looking forward to that, Sister.
• 3:33:05
  There are almost fourteen hundred men here, only eighty six of them are
• 3:33:09
  Catholics. Of course, it is wonderful to have so few Catholics come here,
• 3:33:13
  but it would be even more wonderful to see a greater number than that
• 3:33:16
  leave here as Catholics. I think it is terrible if follow Lips comes here
• 3:33:22
  but once a month. I should be thankful to have him come at all,
• 3:33:24
  and I am, But I also know that a little more encouragement will
• 3:33:28
  be welcomed by all. Aha. Now we're getting to it. Put in
• 3:33:33
  the older nun, getting to what go on, Sister Robert and resumed her
• 3:33:41
  reading. You see, you outside have work to do to take your time
• 3:33:45
  and attention. In here we have nothing in idleness as the root of evil.
• 3:33:50
  Of course, God has given us a free will to resist evil.
• 3:33:54
  But Sister, that will must be encouraged, especially when it is surrounded by
• 3:33:58
  so much evil. Stop there and tell me of him. The boy is
• 3:34:01
  speaking of himself, of course, humph, you are not as keen as
• 3:34:07
  I thought, he says. So here's his next sentence. I am speaking
• 3:34:13
  of the average man myself as well as the next. He is speaking not
• 3:34:18
  so much of himself as of the next. Whom do you mean Bob Anderson?
• 3:34:24
  Oh, sister, you must be mistaken. Tom is always speaking highly
• 3:34:28
  of Bob, has asked my prayers for him. We're bound to pray for
• 3:34:33
  our enemies. Now you're being funny, look, sister. Tom's next sentence
• 3:34:39
  tells you I am right, He says, I not so much as others,
• 3:34:43
  because I have no associates to influence me. There now, Sister Mary
• 3:34:48
  Laurencia's face did not change. Will you let me see the rest of that
• 3:34:52
  letter. When the somewhat aroused director of nurses handed it over, the oldornun
• 3:34:58
  read, the devil comes around. We have some pretty stiff battles, but
• 3:35:01
  I've rustled so long with him that I'm pretty well acquainted with all his holds
• 3:35:05
  and have prepared my defenses. When I learn to control my temper. I'll
• 3:35:09
  be a happy man. Indeed, must say good night now, and God
• 3:35:13
  bless you your friend in Christ, Tom Penny, Well, she sighed,
• 3:35:20
  handing back the letter. I still say you ought to learn how to read
• 3:35:22
  between the lines, but I'm very happy to learn I'm not the only one
• 3:35:26
  to whom he gives the devil, sister, Oh, don't be so shocked.
• 3:35:33
  I have begun to think Tom had me down as an exorcist and you
• 3:35:35
  as a porter. I know he doesn't realize we women can't receive minor orders.
• 3:35:41
  What in the world are you talking about about, Tom Penny, my
• 3:35:46
  dear, His first letter to me from Eddeville began just a few lines to
• 3:35:50
  assure you that the devil hasn't taken full charge, though he has attempted to
• 3:35:54
  do that very thing on many occasions. And from that day to this he
• 3:35:58
  talks to me about the devil and to you about the pearly gates. Oh
• 3:36:03
  go on, you, I'm going, sister, read this while I'm gone,
• 3:36:09
  Sister. Robert annrad rapidly. Dear sister, we've had a little shower
• 3:36:13
  to night, and for a change, it is very pleasant here. I'll
• 3:36:18
  catch up on my sleep if it will stay as cold as this for a
• 3:36:20
  day or two. I hope your eyes are better. How I wish I
• 3:36:24
  could lend you mine. I have just finished reading the book you sent,
• 3:36:28
  the Little Secret. I could add a chapter of my own, Sister,
• 3:36:33
  Shall I tell you my little secret? My little secret? Is this my
• 3:36:37
  Jesus in my agony? I love you more and more? Gram me the
• 3:36:43
  strength to endure it. The nun slipped into her chair and continued reading.
• 3:36:48
  It may not sound like much to others, but it holds a world of
• 3:36:52
  meaning for me. To some people, it may sound crazy, and no
• 3:36:56
  countless folks would laugh to hear me say the most serious and the happiest hour
• 3:37:00
  of my life had been spent in a death cell. Sister rested her forearms
• 3:37:05
  on her desk and was again conscious of the gnawing puzzle which has set her
• 3:37:09
  rereading her own mail. Surely someone was mistaken. She thought she could find
• 3:37:15
  nothing in the lines between the lines except holiness and happiness. Sister robert Anne
• 3:37:20
  finished the last lines, which ran, it is now about three a m.
• 3:37:24
  Good Night, and may all heaven blessed you. She shook her neatly
• 3:37:30
  white capped head and said What can these people be fussing about? Just then,
• 3:37:35
  Sister Mary Laurencia returned, did you read between the lines? There is
• 3:37:39
  nothing there to be read? Goodbye, sister, I'm off, So are
• 3:37:45
  you? Pray harder for tom? Sister robert Anne's forehead heard. She knew,
• 3:37:50
  Sister Mary Laarncia. She knew that under all her wit and dry humor
• 3:37:54
  there was keen and sound judgment. With a new anxiety, she sat down
• 3:37:58
  and took her next letter, thought of August twenty sixth, and read carefully.
• 3:38:03
  To night is another of those dreadful nights. Two men go just after
• 3:38:07
  midnight. I am back up on the walk where I was when you were
• 3:38:11
  here. Just for to night. I gave myself to the men who are
• 3:38:16
  to die. It is more convenient for them and more pleasant for me.
• 3:38:20
  We have been arguing the Bible up here. They are trying to tell me
• 3:38:22
  Jesus had three brothers and one sister. I can't convince them that they are
• 3:38:26
  wrong. People should have a certain amount of intelligence before being allowed to read
• 3:38:31
  the Bible. It is too strong a book for weak minds. Anyhow,
• 3:38:35
  perhaps they rub me the wrong way, sister, But you must remember I
• 3:38:39
  am rather touchy where blessed Mother is concerned, and I am a proud and
• 3:38:43
  fiery defender with something like impatience. Sister robert Anne closed the file and slipped
• 3:38:48
  it into her low drawer. What can they be talking about? Was her
• 3:38:52
  final remark. A little light came the next morning when she found a note
• 3:38:58
  on her desk saying, the envelope bears my name but contains your letter.
• 3:39:03
  No second vision or ability to read between the lines, need it, Sister
• 3:39:07
  m l Quickly, a slender hand extracted the letter. Blue gray eyes flew
• 3:39:13
  across the page. Really, sister, I don't mean to complain. It
• 3:39:18
  is just that I am not at peace with myself. The dangers that beset
• 3:39:22
  my path are not so terrifying, but the problems are too difficult for me
• 3:39:26
  to solve. Ologne That is why I so crave advice and needs the one
• 3:39:31
  to understand. Nothing has happened to me that would not please you. I
• 3:39:35
  am promised the sacraments this week. I shall be sure to be as worthy
• 3:39:39
  as the human can be. Please do not think me ungrateful, discontented.
• 3:39:43
  It is just my ignorance and my inability to express myself clearly that may mislead
• 3:39:48
  you. Yes, I received your letters since retreat. I hope I do
• 3:39:52
  see Father Eugene this week. I did not know of your additional responsibility.
• 3:39:58
  Sister. I shall pray the harder for you. I am tangled up as
• 3:40:01
  to whom I am writing, but as usual it is for both. Always
• 3:40:07
  your friend in Christ, Tom Penny. He did not see Father Eugene that
• 3:40:13
  week, for a passion is from Chicago and not one from Louisville was assigned
• 3:40:16
  to give the mission at Eddieville. It was just about mid morning on Monday,
• 3:40:20
  Labor Day that Tom looked through the vertical bars of his cell door and
• 3:40:24
  saw a bushy haired, further stocky man come along from the walk. Are
• 3:40:30
  you, Tom Penny? I am well. I was assigned to give a
• 3:40:35
  mission at Eddieville, but judging for my late mail, the mission is all
• 3:40:39
  for you. Do you know Father Eugene of Louisville and Sister robert Anne of
• 3:40:43
  Lexington. I know the one through the other, and now I know Father
• 3:40:46
  Bryan of Chicago, don't I? And the prisoner squeezed the hand the priest
• 3:40:52
  had thrust through the bars. But tell me, father, how much time
• 3:40:56
  have you got? All the time in the world, or Old Tom,
• 3:41:01
  why get Captain Rankin to let you in here? I have a thousand and
• 3:41:05
  one questions to ask. It was done. Father Brian Mahiti CP sat in
• 3:41:11
  that cell, still near the chair of death, and talked with Tom Penny
• 3:41:15
  until nearly noon. Then Tom insisted that he leave him before dinner and go
• 3:41:18
  to Bob Anderson. Earlier that afternoon, the two personers were at their doors.
• 3:41:26
  Well what did you think of him? Bob nice fellow? But he's
• 3:41:30
  not Father George. There's only one Father George. But this man is close
• 3:41:35
  to him, don't you think guess? So fact is, Tom, I
• 3:41:39
  didn't have too much time with him, and there's more on my mind just
• 3:41:43
  now than religion. Nicholson tells me we'll hear next month. Does he expect
• 3:41:48
  good news? He says yes, But the way he says it, I
• 3:41:52
  know he means no. So it looks as if it all depends on you
• 3:41:56
  again, Tom, Oh, no, not this week, Bob, Not
• 3:42:01
  this week. No. I simply won't be bothered with that. This week
• 3:42:05
  I was to confession today. I'll receivefully convenion tomorrow, and Father Brian will
• 3:42:09
  be back up here Thursday. Or Friday. Why don't you join me,
• 3:42:13
  Bob and thinking only of God and your soul this week? Why in hell
• 3:42:18
  don't you think of me and my life? Came the angry reply, Ah,
• 3:42:22
  Bob, don't talk that way. You know I'll do all I can
• 3:42:26
  for you when the time comes. But let's not cross bridges till we reach
• 3:42:30
  them. This father, Brian is a real guy. Why don't you have
• 3:42:33
  his earnest to talk with him as you do with your lawyers. Open up,
• 3:42:37
  tell him everything, Let him know you as you really are, so
• 3:42:41
  that he can direct you. The after life is much longer and much more
• 3:42:45
  important than this life, Bob? Why not be smart honest to God?
• 3:42:50
  Penny? There are times and I think you're half priest. You've tried to
• 3:42:54
  convert everyone in this death house. You've been after Trent ever since he arrived
• 3:42:58
  next to you. You were after Elliott before that. Why don't you leave
• 3:43:01
  me alone the way you do, Skeeter, because you've got brains, Bob,
• 3:43:07
  and Skeeter is proof that ignorance is bliss. You know better, you're
• 3:43:11
  responsible. God will be just with you. He'll be merciful with Skeeter.
• 3:43:18
  Anderson's laugh was greetingly harsh Penny, if you ever get out go on stage,
• 3:43:24
  you're a riot. Hey, Skeeter. Yeah, next time you see
• 3:43:30
  Penny out exercising, look close and find out if he's got wings in a
• 3:43:33
  halo. Why haven't heard a cuss word out of him since we came from
• 3:43:39
  Lexington. He's more pious in a parson wants me to make the mission with
• 3:43:43
  him here in prison. He's getting holier than hell. That wouldn't be very
• 3:43:48
  hard, mister Anderson. Put in town with the lake chuckle. Think over
• 3:43:54
  what I said about making the mission. It will be a lot better than
• 3:43:56
  making a mistake. Bye. Now I work to do this last was most
• 3:44:03
  true. Tom Penny was busy every waking moment, reading, writing, drawling,
• 3:44:07
  praying. It was with zest. He now sat down to his table
• 3:44:11
  for the talk with Father Brian had fired him with more enthusiasm than he had
• 3:44:16
  felt in months. He must prepare himself for communion in the morning. Not
• 3:44:20
  another word was heard from him that day. Towards the end of the week,
• 3:44:24
  he was writing Sister m Laurentia and Sister robert Anne. Father Brian was
• 3:44:28
  the missionary from Chicago. I had only two talks with him, but they
• 3:44:33
  were full of understanding and I learned much from him. He is the type
• 3:44:37
  that seems to know just what is on your mind before you speak, so
• 3:44:41
  it was easy for me to talk to him. Father Eugene wrote to him
• 3:44:43
  before he came here, telling him all about me. Father Lives brought me
• 3:44:48
  communion Tuesday, and I had a chance to become better acquainted with him,
• 3:44:52
  and I like him. He is just hard to know, that's all.
• 3:44:56
  I applied Father Brian with so many questions. I know he thinks I never
• 3:45:01
  saw a priest before he preached in the chapel. Therefore I could not attend,
• 3:45:07
  but I would not have missed seeing him for the world. I feel
• 3:45:09
  more confident, more sure of myself. I have learned that the soul that
• 3:45:13
  endures always feels the weight of its burden, whereas the soul that yields hardly
• 3:45:18
  feels it at all. Happy the souls who live in the state of resignation
• 3:45:24
  and have learned to will with God wills. I know. I have often
• 3:45:26
  been tempted to say there were evil spirits and things that seem to take pleasure
• 3:45:31
  in thwarting me, and the more petulant I showed myself, the more irritating
• 3:45:35
  they became. But now I know that gentleness will cause us to look upon
• 3:45:39
  such things kindly and touch them delicately. I pray now to be strong,
• 3:45:43
  to bear, pliant, to yield, and above all kind, and I
• 3:45:46
  pray the grace to forgive all who have ever given me pain. Of course,
• 3:45:52
  sisters, I am quite sure it is impossible for you to realize just
• 3:45:54
  how much you have done for me. My heart is fulfilled with gratitude this
• 3:45:58
  moment that I could sing to high Heaven. That grand feeling generated in no
• 3:46:05
  slight degree by Father Bryan's talks, grew. A September lengthened. Now the
• 3:46:09
  days were too short and the nights not long enough for Tom to accomplish all
• 3:46:13
  he desired for Sister robert Anne had enlisted the aid of Father Eugene Kregan c
• 3:46:18
  P, then stationed in Louisville, and Father Eugene, through Father Brian hed
• 3:46:22
  got Sister FRANCESHCA and Ursuline of Owensborough to write to Tom. Then the Good
• 3:46:28
  Priests exerted, the Magdalens and the Good Shepherd convents in Louisville to adopt Thomas
• 3:46:31
  or protege, so Tom could only sing of harvest time as Captain Rankin handed
• 3:46:37
  him larger bundles of merrill. Each day. There were longer silences in Tom's
• 3:46:41
  section of the death House, and Andersen grew resentful of the repeated cry,
• 3:46:46
  I'm busy, Bob got to get this letter out to day. It became
• 3:46:50
  routine for Tom to write five or six letters in a morning. On September
• 3:46:54
  eleventh, he bent over his table and wrote to Father Eugene, I have
• 3:47:00
  been praying for a plausible excuse to write you. Not that I am adept
• 3:47:03
  in this particular line, as you will straightway see, but I've heard so
• 3:47:07
  much concerning you and your work, also of your wonderful kindness and sympathetic understanding,
• 3:47:11
  that I feel I know you personally. All this is thanks to our
• 3:47:16
  mutual friends, the Sisters and Father Brian. Sister Robert Ann forwarded the Little
• 3:47:22
  Prayer Book. It is a treasure. It has the answer to so many
• 3:47:26
  things I wanted to know. It took a terrible jolt to make me realize
• 3:47:31
  just how displeasing I had been to God Father, and it is a petty
• 3:47:33
  price to pay for the joy and consolation. He has given me. It
• 3:47:39
  is so astounding at times that frightens me. I feel so unworthy of his
• 3:47:43
  tender love and mercies. I have so little to offer in return. I
• 3:47:48
  tremble to think of having died a year ago with my soul and the condition
• 3:47:52
  it was. No death is the easy way out. Preferably, I had
• 3:47:56
  rather live than my constant. My most ardent desire now is to do His
• 3:48:01
  holy will. Doing my own will has brought me misery, heartache, suffering,
• 3:48:05
  humiliation, and disgrace to those dear to me, besides being very displeasing
• 3:48:11
  to God. Regardless of how long I may live, weeks, months,
• 3:48:16
  or years, I firmly resolved to do my very best to live and die
• 3:48:18
  in His friendship, in favor, and who I ask you, Father,
• 3:48:24
  can help me more to succeed than the most admirable and amiable Mother of God
• 3:48:28
  Father. I really enjoyed every moment of my very limited talks with Father Bryan.
• 3:48:33
  He helped me much. He visited the Magdalens and Detroit on his way
• 3:48:37
  home and got them to promise to pray for me and also to write to
• 3:48:41
  me. I think I should like that. You see, I don't have
• 3:48:45
  any Catholic correspondence, but those wonderful sisters. Father Bryan sent me some books
• 3:48:50
  from Chicago. Please accept my thanks for the Book of the Passion. It
• 3:48:54
  will do much for me. May I ask you also to remember me in
• 3:48:58
  your prayers, And then, some time we've nothing better to do, write
• 3:49:03
  to yours, very sincerely in Christ, Tom p. Then, without pausing,
• 3:49:09
  Tom began his next letter. Dear Sister Mary Laurentia, your letter in
• 3:49:13
  books came to day. The Masterful Monk came the first of the week.
• 3:49:18
  It was wonderful Jesus of Nazareth, and God's Jester came to day. Father
• 3:49:24
  Bryan also sent me four books, The King's Achievement by What Authority and Loneliness
• 3:49:30
  all by Robert you Benson, and The Long Way Home by John Moody.
• 3:49:33
  I'll tell you all about them as I read them. So you thought you'd
• 3:49:39
  catch me napping, did you? You may catch me forgetful of some of
• 3:49:41
  the other feast days, but not of our blessed Mother. I may have
• 3:49:46
  talked too fast at that. Let's see. The eighth was the Nativity of
• 3:49:50
  the Blessed Virgin, most Holy name of Mary. The twelfth, I'm sure
• 3:49:54
  of those two, the Seven Sorrows is the fifteenth and our Lady of Mercy
• 3:49:58
  the twenty fourth. How about it, Yes, Sister, I shall invoke
• 3:50:03
  her aid. I am sorry your eyes are no better, but I am
• 3:50:05
  confident this all powerful intercessor will soon put all things write again. I can
• 3:50:11
  truthfully say she has not failed me yet. I guess finish your drawings,
• 3:50:16
  and I know even she is pleased with them. They are good, even
• 3:50:18
  if I say so myself, so good that I will not worry if you
• 3:50:22
  give them away. When I say good, Sister, I only mean good
• 3:50:28
  for me. I'll mail them tomorrow in the folder with follow Donald's picture.
• 3:50:33
  You will keep this picture until I write to mother and have her stop by
• 3:50:35
  for it, won't you? As I am writing to Sister robert Anne too,
• 3:50:41
  I'll say good bye and thanks for the books. May God bless you
• 3:50:43
  and in his tender mercy restore your sight. I'll write again the middle of
• 3:50:48
  the week without taking time with the above letter in its envelope. Tom addressed
• 3:50:52
  himself to Sister robert Anne after telling her about Father Eugene in the book he
• 3:50:56
  has sent. After insisting that he would ever everything to the sisters, he
• 3:51:01
  went on, I do not know of any one on earth who has as
• 3:51:05
  much as I do to be thankful for. It just does not seem possible
• 3:51:09
  that God could be so good to me when I have done so much to
• 3:51:13
  displease him. But I dare not doubt his wonderful love. I remember reading
• 3:51:18
  this somewhere. A little child once said, mother, since nothing is ever
• 3:51:24
  lost, where do our thoughts and desires go? And to the memory of
• 3:51:28
  God? Replied the mother, they are to remain forever, forever gasped.
• 3:51:33
  The child then drew close to its mother, murmuring forever. I'm afraid if
• 3:51:41
  we think of it seriously, he will not make the same cry. Suppose,
• 3:51:45
  sister, every minute of our life represented a coin stamp with our intention,
• 3:51:48
  and only those with God's image would pass his currency and eternity. What
• 3:51:54
  millions there would be in counterfeit money. Yes, I'd be a millionaire.
• 3:51:58
  But Sister, if sorrow and submission to His holy will and an ardent desire
• 3:52:03
  to love him will open the gates of heaven, then I have high hopes
• 3:52:05
  of seeing you in heaven. Is you fras your hall, your new address?
• 3:52:11
  Or shall I keep on sending the letters to Saint Joseph's. Yes,
• 3:52:15
  I would like to see it. I was so afraid they would cut the
• 3:52:18
  tree in front, but I see they didn't. I believe I told you
• 3:52:20
  I worked on that building thirteen years ago. Saint Joseph's burned all night long.
• 3:52:26
  I carry Patience in my arms over to the nurse's home. It was
• 3:52:30
  Milworth's funeral room. Then the last one I carried die before I got there
• 3:52:35
  with him. He wasn't burned, just old and feeble. The excitement proved
• 3:52:39
  too much for him. I have no doubt of your success and your duties,
• 3:52:43
  both to God and the pupil's sister. Your prayers give me more carriage
• 3:52:48
  to pray for you always, your friend in Christ. Tom. The morning
• 3:52:54
  was now gone, but before that day was done, Tom had two other
• 3:52:56
  letters ready for the mail to his mother. He wrote, I know September
• 3:53:01
  has been my unlucky month all my life, and for that very reason,
• 3:53:05
  I know it has not afforded you much pleasure. But if he will look
• 3:53:07
  at it in the right way, Mother, it won't be so hard to
• 3:53:11
  bear this September. I tell you to realize that I could not come to
• 3:53:15
  a much worse end, not in the eyes of the world, of course,
• 3:53:18
  but in other eyes, Mother, from my own soul, I am
• 3:53:22
  not the least but worried. I am not going to give up yet.
• 3:53:26
  I will fight death as long as possible, and in every way I know,
• 3:53:30
  but it is God's will. I want Mother, and I know he
• 3:53:33
  will not give us more than we can bear. That theme and that enthusiasm
• 3:53:39
  stayed with Tom most of the month. It was miss September before he located
• 3:53:43
  Holly Donnelly at Harvard University, where the priest was attending the Chaplain School.
• 3:53:48
  Tom wrote immediately, telling of his newly acquired friends, the Passionists, and
• 3:53:52
  of their mutual long standing acquaintances Bob Anderson is Keeter, and of course much
• 3:53:58
  about their mutual frien friends, the Nazareth Nuns. As the month neared its
• 3:54:03
  end, memory brought a spell's sadness to the prisoner. On September twenty eighth,
• 3:54:07
  the anniversary of the day Mary Miley lost her life, Tom Penny riches
• 3:54:11
  Sister Robert Anne, saying that he who prefer more pleasant memories of that day,
• 3:54:16
  and mentioning a letter he had just written to Sister Mary Lauryncio, the
• 3:54:20
  director of nurses her to the pharmacy, where she demanded the latest letter from
• 3:54:24
  Eddieville. Sister Mary Laurencia did not joke her tease as she handed the slit
• 3:54:28
  envelope over. The simplicity and seriousness of that gesture almost startles Sister robert Anne.
• 3:54:35
  She hurried back to her office and eagerly read your letter. Came to
• 3:54:39
  day as usual. It made me very happy, but I am terribly afraid
• 3:54:43
  you overestimate my spiritual worth. It is certainly comforting to know that God takes
• 3:54:48
  a personal interest in our salvation. Does he not tell us in his own
• 3:54:52
  words? There shall be more joy in heaven ever once in her doing penance
• 3:54:56
  than ninety nine just I am sure God alone knows how truly sorry I am
• 3:55:01
  for my sinful past a year ago tonight. If they could only know,
• 3:55:05
  I am sure they would understand. Will you join me in praying for them,
• 3:55:09
  especially Thursday and Sunday. I'd like to think they would do the same
• 3:55:13
  for me. I need your prayers now more than ever, for both temporal
• 3:55:18
  and spiritual goods. I may know my fate are. The next time I
• 3:55:20
  write to you, I pray that His will be done whatever happens this week.
• 3:55:26
  I hope it is for the best, but I will refuse to accept
• 3:55:28
  it as man's decision. Only God's will. Please. I still have hopes
• 3:55:33
  of seeing and talking to you again. Until next week, I'll be thinking
• 3:55:37
  and wishing many good things for you. The next week came for both those
• 3:55:43
  in Eddieville and those in Lexington, but it brought no word from the Court
• 3:55:46
  of Appeals. Instead, God brought something new into Tom Penny's life as he
• 3:55:52
  sent into the death house a spirit which that locality never knew before it is
• 3:55:56
  not likely to know again. It was a spirit of childhood, with all
• 3:56:01
  its confident trust and abandonment to the love of its father, the spirit of
• 3:56:05
  simplicity and uncalculating generosity, of true holiness, unblemished by any self seeking.
• 3:56:13
  This spirit came in a bundle of flutters, and the Magdalens and the Good
• 3:56:16
  Shepherd comment in Detroit. As Tom Penny read them, he blinked. He
• 3:56:20
  could not believe that in a sordid, lust filthy, greedy world of ours
• 3:56:24
  there could be such utterly unselfish love, could such innocence, such god consciousness,
• 3:56:31
  such beautifully simple souls live in a century as sin sodden as ours.
• 3:56:37
  Before he finished that first bundle of letters, he was weeping. As he
• 3:56:41
  laid the last letter down. He was actually sobbing in sheer joy at such
• 3:56:45
  contact with the sanctity, unfeigned and utterly unconscious of itself. This was really
• 3:56:50
  the beginning of a schooling and spiritual childhood of this man, who had been
• 3:56:54
  born again of the waters in the Holy Ghost, and who now must grow.
• 3:57:00
  Sisters. Mary Laurentia and robert Anne had always appeared to Tom as angelic,
• 3:57:05
  But while accepting their teachings and carrying out their precepts to the best of
• 3:57:07
  his abilities, he always held these two sisters in such highest name that he
• 3:57:11
  would never even dream of attaining the sanctity he deemed was theirs. But the
• 3:57:16
  forty nine Magdalens of Detroit were an entirely different matter. Here were women varying
• 3:57:22
  in age from the late teens to the scriptural threescore, and ten women who
• 3:57:26
  had imprisoned themselves with and for the prisoner of love. Some of them had
• 3:57:31
  known the world in all its worldliness, and another sum had known it not
• 3:57:35
  at all. Here were women of a type and mentality Tom had never known.
• 3:57:41
  Now they wrote to him as to a long lost and dearly loved brother.
• 3:57:45
  Tom was literally bewildered by what it was actually God's compensation for the prisoner's
• 3:57:48
  loss of Father George to the army. The letter that first set Tom sobbing
• 3:57:54
  ran dear mister Penny. The other evening, as we all knelt down in
• 3:57:58
  our communityom to listen to the points for meditation, Mother began my dear sister
• 3:58:05
  Magdalen's. As we listened, we thought she must be reading us a letter
• 3:58:09
  from Father eaton a s jay. It sounded so like a recent retreat Master.
• 3:58:13
  But as the letter came to its end, what was our surprise and
• 3:58:16
  joy to hear your friend, Tom Penny. I was so touched. I
• 3:58:22
  searched the faces as we filed out to chapel and found tears in more than
• 3:58:26
  my own eyes. How good God has been to you, What wonderful graces
• 3:58:31
  he has given you. It is our dearest wish that He continued to bestow
• 3:58:35
  on you his choicest blessings. But how sad it made us to learn you
• 3:58:39
  cannot receive our Lord as often as you desire. Since the day I heard
• 3:58:43
  that I have been taking you with me in spirit to comunion. Each morning,
• 3:58:48
  as I go out to receive the Sacred Host, I tell our Jesus
• 3:58:52
  that you too desire to receive him into your heart, and that I wish
• 3:58:56
  somehow to share my privilege with you. On my way back, I say
• 3:59:00
  the Magnificat in thanksgiving for all the graces that have been bestowed on you since
• 3:59:03
  your baptism. When Penny cleared his eyes in his throat, he turned the
• 3:59:09
  page and read, Mother permitted us to write to the Apostleship of Prayer and
• 3:59:13
  send them a subscription for the Messenger of the Sacred Heart for you for one
• 3:59:16
  year. You ought to get it every month. If you don't, please
• 3:59:20
  let us know. The next paragraph set him chuckling. Here's a peep into
• 3:59:26
  our family life. Mother is very particular about our meals. So every day
• 3:59:31
  after breakfast she goes to the kitchen to see about our dinner. First,
• 3:59:35
  one sister will say, mother, please look at my soup. The second
• 3:59:39
  to wil say, mother, please look at my meat. Then comes mother,
• 3:59:45
  please look at my vegetables. The youngest, just out of novitiate,
• 3:59:48
  who was usually washing dishes and had nothing to show, began feeling very sorry
• 3:59:54
  for herself and determined to get something to show. So the next day she
• 3:59:58
  waited as patiently as she he could until all the others were through with her.
• 4:00:01
  Please Mother, Then she eagerly came up with, please Mother, look
• 4:00:07
  at all my dirty dishes. Hours went by as Tom Penny laughed and cried
• 4:00:11
  over forty nine letters, each of which began with lived Jesus and his Cross
• 4:00:18
  and ended with Blessed be God. He was at last aroused from his absorption
• 4:00:22
  by the cry of hey, Penny, it was Trent in the next cell.
• 4:00:28
  Have you finished with today's paper? Sorry, herb haven't even opened it.
• 4:00:33
  What have you been doing all morning? Sleeping? Even as quiet as
• 4:00:37
  a mouse? More quiet? I can hear those fellows. I've been reading
• 4:00:41
  some mail from my sisters all morning. Uh huh. You see, I've
• 4:00:48
  got half a hundred of them. I've just been adopted by forty nine Magdalens
• 4:00:50
  up in Detroit. What's a Magdalen, asked Andersen, who had been listening
• 4:00:58
  the sweetest woman in the world. Old Bob, cried Tom. You've never
• 4:01:01
  met anything like them. No, No, Sister Robert, Anne and Mary
• 4:01:07
  Laurencia showed you something new. In womanhood, didn't they? Gosh, exclaimed
• 4:01:13
  Anderson in evident puzzlement. Do you know I never once thought of those nuns
• 4:01:18
  as women, Tom laughed. They're flesh and blood, Bob, But they
• 4:01:22
  are something more. Yeah, cut in Anderson. That's it. They are
• 4:01:28
  something so much more. You never think of them as women. What is
• 4:01:31
  it? It's grace, Bob, It's the Holy Ghost, it's sanctity.
• 4:01:37
  Those women are right, they live with God the women we've known. But
• 4:01:43
  what's a Magdalen. I really don't know, Bob. All I can say
• 4:01:46
  now is that they are different, even from sisters Robert Ann and Mary Laurentia.
• 4:01:50
  I lost father George, but it seems to me that God is making
• 4:01:54
  up for it through Father Brian. That man got me sister Francesca and Ursuline
• 4:01:58
  and Owensboro as correspondent. I'll show you some of her letters, best little
• 4:02:03
  cheer upper I've ever met. Thenny goes to Detroit and gives me forty nine
• 4:02:07
  Magdalens and their mother. I've just finished reading the mail they sent. I've
• 4:02:13
  been out of this world. I'm in love. All I can say now
• 4:02:16
  is what they say at the end of each letter. Bless it be God,
• 4:02:22
  Penny, You're nuts end of Chapter eight. Deeper Depths and Broader Horizons
• 4:02:31
  Since mid February. In each of the letters Missus Leona Penny have been receiving
• 4:02:35
  week after week from Eddieville, Tom exhorted her not to worry. But it
• 4:02:41
  was only as God was turning Somer's greens to red, gold, russet,
• 4:02:45
  and flame that she received letters that were distinctive Because so substantially spiritual, she
• 4:02:50
  marveled at the depths her boy was touching and the broader horizons he was opening
• 4:02:56
  to her view. It was months before she realized that it was the magdale
• 4:03:00
  of Detroit and Louisville who were exerting a subtle influence on her son's mind and
• 4:03:03
  heart. As they wrote him their ordinary thoughts and told him of their daily
• 4:03:07
  experiences, they were deepening his soul and giving him broader vistas of the spiritual
• 4:03:13
  world. Tom Penny found nothing ordinary about their thoughts or their thinking, and
• 4:03:18
  the experiences they consider simple were to him utterly sublime. The more he learned
• 4:03:24
  of their life, its object to principles and practices, the more he absorbed
• 4:03:28
  to spirit about which America and the world at large in this anxious, hurried,
• 4:03:33
  and very confused twentieth century knows too little. Some will call it faith,
• 4:03:37
  and they will not be wrong. But that substantive needs an adjective.
• 4:03:43
  It needs to be called vital in vitalizing, real in realizing faith. It
• 4:03:48
  needs to be described as energetic and energizing faith. For these Magdalens believe what
• 4:03:52
  they profess to believe. They live what they have learned and preach by their
• 4:03:56
  practices. God to them is not a word, a phantom figure, convenience,
• 4:04:01
  convention, or even a conviction. He is no distant dim to personalized
• 4:04:05
  blind force. He is their ultimate, their absolute, their all. To
• 4:04:11
  them, he is as familiar as a father, more real than reality,
• 4:04:15
  the great, obvious, invisible whom they discover at every turn and turning to
• 4:04:20
  them. He is their continual creator, who holds them ever in the hollow
• 4:04:24
  of his hands. Divine providence to them is no dead theologic concept. It
• 4:04:30
  is their morning's coffee, their day's work, their physical aches and mental distresses,
• 4:04:33
  as well as their innumerable hourly joys. To them, God is God,
• 4:04:39
  and they are His children. In his prison, cloister Penny was assimilating
• 4:04:43
  these truths and with a fluency that astonishes was pouring them out as his written
• 4:04:48
  thoughts. In one letter, he had said to his mother, have courage
• 4:04:52
  and patience. Our troubles are only furrows which God makes in our hearts in
• 4:04:58
  order to sow His graces there. If injustice is are patiently born, they
• 4:05:01
  will give at the end of day a peace that is extraordinary and a joy
• 4:05:05
  that is rare. For the sea cast by God has taken root in his
• 4:05:09
  blossoming in another. God has certainly given you courage and strength. Mother.
• 4:05:16
  My suffering is nothing dear in comparison to yours, and that is precisely what
• 4:05:20
  hurts me most. If dying would relieve the pain in your heart, I
• 4:05:24
  would pray God to take me to day. But it is not so simple
• 4:05:28
  as all that we must do God's will, confident that it is for our
• 4:05:33
  best. I wish I knew something more to say that would cheer you.
• 4:05:37
  It will not help your heartache for me to tell you over and over how
• 4:05:41
  sorry I am. If it did, I would write ten times a day,
• 4:05:45
  rebuking myself for the suffering I have brought upon you. But all I
• 4:05:48
  say now is ask God for guidance and trust him, knowing well that all
• 4:05:54
  this will one day bring not only relief but reward. The mother not only
• 4:05:58
  trust to God. She thanked him for the miracle he had wrought in the
• 4:06:01
  soul of her first born. Late in the fall, she discovered the source
• 4:06:05
  of the change. It came in a letter in which he was detailing their
• 4:06:09
  possible supports with surprising force. He had written, Mother, I know the
• 4:06:15
  sisters cannot help financially. These women take a solemn vow to serve God without
• 4:06:20
  pay. Once they have given up all their earthly possessions and inheritance to charity.
• 4:06:24
  They have dedicated their lives to the spread of Christianity throughout this vain,
• 4:06:28
  cruel, treacherous, and transitory world. And to me, Mother, that
• 4:06:33
  is positive proof of the divinity of the Catholic Church. Many people have been
• 4:06:37
  misled and all very false opinions about nuns. Some think they have been disappointed
• 4:06:41
  in love. How wrong they are. Such people can not begin to realize
• 4:06:46
  the beautiful lives of sacrificial love these sisters lead, nor can they appreciate all
• 4:06:50
  the good that has been accomplished by their many organizations and charitable works, works
• 4:06:56
  which shall continue till the end of time. There is one within an order,
• 4:07:01
  Mother, that I would like to tell you about. They are the
• 4:07:03
  Sister Magdalen's and are governed by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Girls or
• 4:07:07
  women with problems good to the Good Shepherd. They have them straightened out.
• 4:07:11
  Many of them do not wish to leave, so attracted are they by the
• 4:07:16
  goodness of God, so they remain and devote their lives entirely to him.
• 4:07:20
  Many of them write to me. I'll send you one of their letters.
• 4:07:24
  I cry like a baby when I read many of them. They are so
• 4:07:28
  filled with saintly simplicity and childlike faith. The very next day, Missus Penny
• 4:07:33
  had opportunity to judge for herself, for Tom have forwarded a letter from Sister
• 4:07:37
  Magdalen of Saint Helena. It's second page. Brand. I want you to
• 4:07:43
  know, mister Penny, how much we appreciate your offer to say I Hail
• 4:07:46
  Mary for each of us every day when you say mine, Will you kindly
• 4:07:50
  remember this intention. A young girl is going wrong, she sees her sin
• 4:07:54
  but has no desire to change. Ask our lady to change her heart.
• 4:08:00
  How pleased we were to learn you admire Saint Francis de Sales. His writings
• 4:08:03
  can be depended upon, for he not only preached perfection, he practiced it.
• 4:08:09
  It came across two of his quotations to day, do not be disturbed
• 4:08:13
  about your imperfections, but always rise up bravely after each fall. Make a
• 4:08:18
  new beginning daily. There is no better means of progress in the spiritual life
• 4:08:22
  than to be continually beginning afresh. Isn't that consoling? Saint Theresa of the
• 4:08:28
  Child Jesus tells that God gets great glory from our falls, for they make
• 4:08:33
  us practice humility and contrition. Your thoughts on reparation are very beautiful, mister
• 4:08:39
  Penny. You know that is our life. Our holy rule tells us to
• 4:08:43
  make reparation not only for our own sins, but to expiate the sins of
• 4:08:48
  others. Retreat masters have told us that our role is the fourth degree of
• 4:08:52
  humility, meaning that it is pure love of God. It tells us we
• 4:08:56
  should love to live unknown and despised. That is not easy for human nature,
• 4:09:01
  but it is possible. Sine Augustine has said, if others can do
• 4:09:07
  it, so can I. You know Saint Augustine's youth was very wild,
• 4:09:11
  but once he became converted. He just flew to perfection. Such saints proved
• 4:09:16
  to us that we do not have to crush our human natures, but simply
• 4:09:20
  turn those very same human natures toward God. Look at Dorothy Day. She
• 4:09:26
  was a communist. She is now fighting for the Catholic faith, not only
• 4:09:30
  with the same ardor but the self same methods she used as a communist,
• 4:09:33
  But now she strives to save souls for God. You see, all she
• 4:09:37
  did was change your object. We can do the same. The following week,
• 4:09:43
  missus Penny was surprised to receive a letter directly from Detroit, and she
• 4:09:46
  was more surprised when she read it. Dear mother, since your Tom has
• 4:09:50
  adopted us as his sisters, He has made us your daughters. And since
• 4:09:56
  we are forty nine, you see what a large heart you must have to
• 4:09:58
  hold so many children. We want you to know, dear mother, that
• 4:10:01
  we are praying for you, begging God to give you the grace to bear
• 4:10:05
  this cross he is laid upon your shoulders. You can gain a lot of
• 4:10:09
  merit for yourself and your loved ones if you accept this trial with a submissive
• 4:10:13
  and humble heart. Think, dear Mother, of what our savior had to
• 4:10:18
  suffer for us. Think also of what this war is going to the hearts
• 4:10:20
  of millions of mothers. You at least can keep in touch with Tom,
• 4:10:26
  and you know where he is. Oh. I know it is futile to
• 4:10:28
  try to console the heart of a mother, but we want you to realize
• 4:10:33
  that we are very proud to know your son, and are most grateful to
• 4:10:35
  the priests who introduced us. We feel that your Tom is a chosen soul
• 4:10:41
  and that he received a wonderful grace from God when he gave him his faith.
• 4:10:45
  If you are able to write during this time of trial, we will
• 4:10:48
  be so glad to hear from you. We know nothing of the trouble except
• 4:10:50
  that the supreme penalty is to be paid. After all, who are we
• 4:10:56
  to condemn a fellow mortal. We are all under sentence of death and shall
• 4:11:00
  pass on sooner or later. May God keep you in His Holy heart for
• 4:11:05
  time and eternity lovingly and with the deepest sympathy. Mother and Sister Magdalens of
• 4:11:11
  Detroit, Blessed be God. After such words, Missus Penny nodded in perfect
• 4:11:16
  understanding when she read one of Tom's later letters, The Magdalens of Detroit and
• 4:11:22
  my very own sisters in every way I was. Sisters robert Anne and Mary
• 4:11:26
  Laurentia, tell you about them judging. For the next few letters Tom wrote
• 4:11:31
  to Lexington. Sisters robert Anne and Mary Laurentia did not tell missus Penny about
• 4:11:35
  the Magdalens, but all unwittingly, Tom Penny was telling the two sisters what
• 4:11:41
  a grace from God the Magdalens were to him. To sister robert Anne,
• 4:11:46
  he wrote in October second in nineteen forty two, I was overjoyed to hear
• 4:11:50
  of Mother's visit with you. When you love someone very much, don't you
• 4:11:54
  want to share their joy with them? She has shared my sorrow and disgrace.
• 4:11:58
  God knows. I give my life to know that she had received a
• 4:12:01
  joy greater than her sorrow. My own experience proves to me what the true
• 4:12:05
  faith really means, and I know she would feel the same way. Oh
• 4:12:11
  yes, I have my dark days, but don't we all? And godwins
• 4:12:15
  all arguments. It is very painful to learn that some people are ashamed of
• 4:12:20
  ever being acquainted with me. It is more painful to find out that those
• 4:12:24
  whom I have loved and favored and looked upon. His friends have talked against
• 4:12:28
  me. But the worst shock comes when I am told that those whom I
• 4:12:31
  have trusted have turned against me and violated my confidence just because others are against
• 4:12:37
  me. I often wonder if all this is but a guilty conscience speaking.
• 4:12:41
  What is our conscience, sister? But the very voice of God, when
• 4:12:45
  he is well pleased with us, does not our conscience tell us so?
• 4:12:48
  And when he is displeased? Oh, I can readily understand by so many
• 4:12:52
  saints have adopted as their own the prayer of the psalmist. Oh, my
• 4:12:58
  God, be thou not silent to me, lest if thou be silent,
• 4:13:01
  I become like them that go down into the pit. No better prayer could
• 4:13:05
  be said to remind us of the danger becoming deaf to the voice of God.
• 4:13:09
  I know I haven't said anything you don't already know much better than I.
• 4:13:13
  But I feel very much better for having said what I have. The
• 4:13:16
  slim director of nurses was feeling quite superior because of this letter, but Sister
• 4:13:22
  Mary Laurentia, with a wisdom born of experience, bited her time. Two
• 4:13:26
  days later, she walked nonchalantly into the office of the director of Nurses,
• 4:13:31
  and very dully said, here's something that might do good to your soul.
• 4:13:35
  Before Sister roberty An could open the letter, the elder nun was gone.
• 4:13:39
  Gray blue eyes danced a moment in merriment of her sister Mary Larentia's humorous ways,
• 4:13:45
  but then clouded as a nimble mine. Wondered was specific antidote for soul
• 4:13:48
  sickness? The letter held. It was dated October fourth, nineteen forty two.
• 4:13:56
  Dear Sister Mary Laurentia. I would have written you when I wrote to
• 4:13:58
  Sister Anne, but I had already written so much. I feared Captain Rankin
• 4:14:03
  would be asking me to publish it in book form if I added another page,
• 4:14:07
  so I let it go then too, I thought the court would do
• 4:14:11
  something Friday. I do hope you fully recover from your cold. I am
• 4:14:15
  enjoying the best of health, and I am almost pleased with myself. What
• 4:14:20
  I mean is that I am very pleased that God has given me the necessary
• 4:14:22
  grace to acknowledge and respond to His love for a long time, Sister,
• 4:14:28
  Yes, since time began, people who have been in search of happiness,
• 4:14:31
  some have troubled very far and risk all kinds of danger in their efforts to
• 4:14:35
  find it. But it is only necessary to open our hearts and remove the
• 4:14:39
  obstacles which prevent God's grace from coming to us, and we have a happiness
• 4:14:43
  as perfect as one can have on earth. I can hardly hope to no
• 4:14:48
  pleasure in my present position, but true piece is always within my reach.
• 4:14:52
  Sister, there are thousands of ponderous books which have been written to learn it,
• 4:14:56
  men on the means to attain happiness, But together they do not say
• 4:15:01
  as much for the peace of the soul as those for little words. And
• 4:15:03
  the our Father, Thy will be done. I had a letter from Father
• 4:15:09
  Eugene yesterday, and which he marveled at the progress I have made in grasping
• 4:15:13
  the faith so quickly and with so little aid. Lacking as I do,
• 4:15:16
  he said, the assistance of an instructor. I do not fail to remind
• 4:15:22
  him that I had two living guardian angels to guide me. Later that morning,
• 4:15:26
  my sister Mary Laurentia happened to pass the Director of Nurses in the corridor.
• 4:15:31
  She quietly said, I hope our soul is deepening as rapidly as mister
• 4:15:35
  Penny's sister Robert Anne stopped the elder nun with a question, did you send
• 4:15:41
  him to Castad's Little Book? De Cassade don't know the man or his little
• 4:15:48
  book? Oh sister, well was it Lehote's Holy Abandonment? What are you
• 4:15:54
  talking about? You and Tom Penny? He has learned the doctrine of abandonment
• 4:15:58
  to God's Little more quickly and practically than any one I ever met. I
• 4:16:03
  want to know who taught him. I was never Tom Penny's spiritual directress.
• 4:16:07
  I was only allowed to act as portress both here in Lexington and down there
• 4:16:11
  at Eddyville. But I saw a rather dignified none from Nazareth sitting beside him
• 4:16:17
  at both places. Perhaps she will you stop teasing? Will you stop fussing?
• 4:16:23
  If Tom Penny has really learned the doctrine, thank God and let it
• 4:16:27
  go at that? Is that a confession you're making of? What of having
• 4:16:33
  sent him the books? My charming child? Believe me when I tell you
• 4:16:38
  I did not even know those books were in existence. Well, some one
• 4:16:42
  must have sent him something just like that. My last letter and your letter
• 4:16:47
  here. Oh so you've read my letter? What did you think of it?
• 4:16:52
  Did the incensey threw your way, Please you, oh you. What
• 4:16:56
  pleases me as his ability to say thy will be done. What I'm puzzled
• 4:17:00
  about is who taught him to say it. As Sister Mary Laurencia tucked the
• 4:17:04
  letter in a foold of her habit, she reminded her friend that they were
• 4:17:08
  not the only ones who wrote to Tom Penny. She pointed out that Father
• 4:17:12
  George, Father Eugene, Father Bryan, or even Sister Francesca could have taught
• 4:17:17
  him. But she said, as they started down the corridor again, if
• 4:17:22
  you ask me, I'd say, most likely it was the Magdalens of Detroit.
• 4:17:26
  Cloister contemplatives are usually far ahead of us in such matters. Of course,
• 4:17:32
  there's always the possibility that Tom could have learned it himself. That boy's
• 4:17:37
  no dumb bell, you know. And even if he were, I need
• 4:17:40
  not tell you that God's grace compares the thickest of skulls. Look at me.
• 4:17:45
  For all her seeming indifference and off handedness, Sister Mary Laurencia was as
• 4:17:49
  deeply impressed as her friend, and equally as curious about the wider horizons that
• 4:17:55
  were opening out before Tom Penny. The letter of the following week dated October
• 4:18:00
  ninth, deepen the impression and sharpened the curiosity. For Tom let himself go
• 4:18:04
  on a favorite theme, the Mother of God. He wrote, Dear Sister
• 4:18:10
  Mary Laurentia, your precious letter came today. I was beginning to grow uneasy
• 4:18:15
  about you, Sister. I am glad you are so much better. I
• 4:18:18
  am still hanging on, reading, meditating, making resolutions, and trying to
• 4:18:23
  live up to them. Sometimes I think a fellow is much better off ignorant.
• 4:18:29
  Yes, ignorance can be bliss. No, sister, I am only
• 4:18:33
  kidding. I love every blessed grain of knowledge I possess, but I do
• 4:18:37
  have my dark days. I read a short time ago of some pious person
• 4:18:41
  who always kept a book on his table or desk called The Glories of Mary.
• 4:18:45
  He called it his spiritual thermometer. I thought so much of the idea.
• 4:18:49
  I adopted it myself, and it works. You see, When I
• 4:18:53
  am faithful to grace, a page or two of this little book fills my
• 4:18:57
  soul the heavenly peace and Joe. It enlightens and invigorates me. But if
• 4:19:03
  I am negligent or lukewarm, it wearies me. Do you see what has
• 4:19:07
  happened, Sister. It is not the splendor of the light which is diminished.
• 4:19:11
  It is the eye of the soul which no longer can stand its splendor.
• 4:19:15
  At such times I pray in labor to restore to the eyes of my
• 4:19:18
  soul their purity of vision and strength. And soon the thermometer rises, or
• 4:19:25
  rather my soul mounts up and soon finds itself in unison with and praises the
• 4:19:29
  Blessed Virgin. As long as we are pure, sister, I feel there
• 4:19:33
  is an intimate relation between us and the Blessed Virgin, which manifests itself in
• 4:19:37
  a thrill of joy each time or intellects are occupied with the thought of her
• 4:19:41
  or our lips murmur or prayer in her honor. The prayers I prefer are
• 4:19:45
  those addressed to Mary. Books please me more if they speak of Mary.
• 4:19:49
  The Rosary for me is a special source of real peace. It is more
• 4:19:53
  than that, it is my safeguard. I feel that so long as I
• 4:19:59
  recite its bite my weariness, distaste, or preoccupations, I would never go
• 4:20:03
  far wrong. Devotion to Mary is to me like a beacon light placed on
• 4:20:07
  the road which leads to God. Father. Eugene could have enlightened Anon on
• 4:20:12
  the source of the book Tom now claimed as as bade Makum. But the
• 4:20:17
  aging passionist had a puzzle of his own. In the letter Tom had just
• 4:20:21
  written him, there was such an other otherworldliness about it that the experienced priests
• 4:20:26
  could only marvel. The prisoner had written on October fourteenth, we are very
• 4:20:32
  happy to hear from you again. You must remember, dear father, that
• 4:20:34
  I have no specific duties other than reading, writing, eating, and sometimes
• 4:20:40
  sleeping. That is why I may be able to answer letters more promptly than
• 4:20:44
  a godly man like yourself, who is actually doing something for God. I
• 4:20:48
  find that the useful employment of time is one of the hardest virtues to acquire.
• 4:20:52
  To commence promptly, to work steadily, to continue with constancy, to
• 4:20:56
  interrupt one's work amiably, to resume it calmly, to finish it slowly is
• 4:21:02
  the mark of a strong and virtuous soul. And believe me, Father,
• 4:21:07
  I have plenty of experience trying to practice this virtue, for there is not
• 4:21:11
  an hour out of the twenty four that does not have its interruption and distraction.
• 4:21:15
  You would hardly think that under the circumstances would you. But it is
• 4:21:19
  true. Yes, Father, I have read about everything I can get my
• 4:21:23
  hands on. I am afraid my one great failure has been in patience.
• 4:21:27
  You see, when I like something, I never quite get my fill of
• 4:21:30
  it. So let's hope my former weakness will prove to be my salvation.
• 4:21:36
  I like prayer. Prayer has been a source of great consolation to meet Father.
• 4:21:41
  But let us not forget that wonderful little slister Robert Ann. You know
• 4:21:45
  she has been sister, brother, friend, and at times even my father
• 4:21:48
  confessor. Father. At this hour particularly, I feel that I am not
• 4:21:52
  alone on this earth, and whatever the future may hold for me, I
• 4:21:56
  know that I have someone to guard, protect console and love me. The
• 4:22:02
  good Priest may have wondered where Tom got his idea about the proper use of
• 4:22:04
  time and that desire to fill his day with profitable occupations. But had he
• 4:22:10
  read the letter the Condemned Man sitt to Sister Mary Laurentia on October seventeenth,
• 4:22:15
  he would have seen that it was no idle thought or passing speculation with the
• 4:22:18
  prisoner, For on that day Tom had written, you asked me to make
• 4:22:22
  an order for reading, et cetera, sister, I have a system,
• 4:22:26
  shall I call it? I wake at five a M. I say the
• 4:22:30
  usual morning prayers. If by the time I have finished them, I have
• 4:22:34
  not excited myself to the proper feeling. I make the stations, and these
• 4:22:40
  had never failed, no matter how distracted I have been, then I can
• 4:22:44
  really make my acts of faith, hope and love, max of sorrow,
• 4:22:47
  humility, desire, and perfect contrition. Next comes spiritual comedion. After that,
• 4:22:53
  if there is any time, I read the legends of the Blessed Virgin
• 4:22:56
  until breakfast time eight a m. After breakfast, I either draw or read.
• 4:23:02
  After I finish the paper. This brings us up to lunch at ten
• 4:23:06
  thirty. Then I read a novel or talk to the boys. They are
• 4:23:10
  all wake in the afternoon. At one p M. I pretend I must
• 4:23:14
  sleep and say five decades of the Rosary, sometimes more. Then I rest
• 4:23:18
  and read just whatever appeals to me. At two thirty p M. We
• 4:23:22
  eat again. Then I write whatever letters I have to write. At five
• 4:23:26
  thirty p M. I walk for an hour. Then I lie down,
• 4:23:30
  read more or write more. Whatever the occasion demands. To night, I
• 4:23:34
  shall write. For it is now five p M. And I haven't written
• 4:23:37
  Sister robert Anne yet. About eight p m. I say the thirty days
• 4:23:41
  prayer to the Blessed Virgin, then go to bed and begin with the Our
• 4:23:45
  Father, and say every prayer I can think of until I fall asleep,
• 4:23:48
  being mindful of my friends, those dear to me, the men in the
• 4:23:52
  service, their mothers, also my enemies, even the bitterest ones. Now
• 4:23:57
  that's about the way I live each day, with a few exceptions here and
• 4:24:00
  there. If you have any suggestions, I will gladly follow them. Had
• 4:24:06
  a letter from Father d. He is in turner Field, Albany, Georgia.
• 4:24:11
  He asks about both of you and says he may drop you a line.
• 4:24:15
  Believe me, that is about all he will drop. Mother Holy Name
• 4:24:18
  of the Good Shepherd in Detroit wrote me a very encouraging letter, and the
• 4:24:22
  Magdalens added about twelve pages telling me of their monastery, their habits, et
• 4:24:26
  cetera. There are forty nine of them, and they all pray for me
• 4:24:30
  and ask me to join them in their grand silent sorrow from one to two
• 4:24:34
  p m. So I offered that as holy hour to console our Lord,
• 4:24:38
  repair my own offenses and those others who displease him, I say my beads
• 4:24:44
  mentally, isn't that all right? I'll tell the rest of Sister robert Anne,
• 4:24:48
  mayor Lady protect you and God bless you always. But all he told
• 4:24:53
  Sister Roberty Anne was I have just told Sister Mary Laurencia all I know.
• 4:25:00
  So prepare yourself for a very dull letter. I have gained quite a few
• 4:25:03
  correspondents, all Catholics, and Sister it really makes a difference to correspond with
• 4:25:08
  people who think alike, and live alike, and love alike. Even as
• 4:25:12
  bad as I have been, I see now what I might have been.
• 4:25:17
  I never knew there were so many kind people in the world, But how
• 4:25:19
  could I I never went to the trouble to look for them. Oh,
• 4:25:25
  merciful God, how really ignorant I have been. I have one great consolation,
• 4:25:30
  Sister. God gave me an opportunity to save my soul. I lost
• 4:25:34
  it, but He has given me a second chance. This time. My
• 4:25:38
  job is to see that it stays in His keeping. Surely I can do
• 4:25:41
  that. Haven't heard in Father Eugene for two weeks. Father lives with here
• 4:25:47
  Wednesday, but brought me only disappointment. But I know God understands, so
• 4:25:52
  I do not worry. Did you notice the biblical contest in the register?
• 4:25:56
  I am following it. I would send him a reply if I thought it
• 4:26:00
  would do any good. I have answered all the questions so far. Generally
• 4:26:03
  there is a catch to them some place. Write any time, sister,
• 4:26:07
  and do forgive me my poor effort to night. I'll make up for it
• 4:26:11
  next time, or shall I not make up for it in prayer right now?
• 4:26:15
  For you and for your works. One week later, Tom was at
• 4:26:18
  his table answering a letter from Sister Mary Laurncia. She had told him that
• 4:26:22
  Sister robert Anne did not look so well to her. Tom replied, I
• 4:26:27
  grasp your meaning about Sister robert Anne's appearance, and I can tell you the
• 4:26:30
  cause of it. You both have the souls of spiritual giants and try to
• 4:26:34
  carry the loads of physical giants. Sometimes it works, but sometimes well,
• 4:26:41
  I suppose it is all very pleasing to God. I will remember to say
• 4:26:45
  the prayer you suggest. Many times I go through my prayers when I do
• 4:26:48
  not feel a bit like it, and always feel better for having done so.
• 4:26:52
  Unquestionably, many things, if patiently born, bring us at the end
• 4:26:56
  of day an extraordinary calm and joy. He had just put a period to
• 4:27:02
  that sentence when over the penitentiary's public address system came the cry News flashed fighting
• 4:27:07
  for Kentucky. Tom looked up. The Kentucky Court of Appeals today upheld electric
• 4:27:14
  chair death sentences mated out against a scarfaced carpenter, a cathae operator, and
• 4:27:18
  a drug addicted greenskeeper for the robbery murder of Mary and Miley Attractive Gulf Starr
• 4:27:25
  and her fifty two year old mother. Unless the three men, now in
• 4:27:27
  Eddeville Penitentiary file petition for a review of their cases within thirty days or receive
• 4:27:33
  executive clemency, they will die shortly after midnight New Year's Day nineteen forty three.
• 4:27:40
  Recently described as in good spirits, the three Tom Penny thirty three Lexington
• 4:27:45
  carpenter, Robert H. Anderson thirty seven Louisville Bar proprietor, and Raymond Skeeter
• 4:27:52
  Baxter twenty eight, Lexington Country Club greenskeeper, were convicted of murder last December
• 4:27:56
  in the Fayette Circuit Court and sentenced to die in the chair. Then they
• 4:28:00
  appealed in Kentucky's highest court, the High Tribunal, and separate opinions written by
• 4:28:06
  Court Commissioner Charles Morris agreed unanimously that the three men had been given fair and
• 4:28:11
  impartial trials and that there was nothing in the records to justify reversals. The
• 4:28:15
  commercial program on the air at the time was then resumed, and as an
• 4:28:19
  electrical transcription of bing Crosby's voice floated out over the quarter, Tom stared ahead
• 4:28:25
  blankly. Soon he heard Anderson calling, Hey, Penny, Yeah, did
• 4:28:30
  you hear that? News flash? I did? Hey, Skeeter, cried
• 4:28:37
  Bob, a little louder. When a thin, excited voice answered, Bob
• 4:28:41
  asked, did you hear that? Yeah? What must we do now?
• 4:28:45
  Appeal to the governor? Anderson's laugh was mockery itself. Governor, Hell,
• 4:28:52
  do you think any politician gives a damn about any prisoner? No, Skeeter,
• 4:28:56
  We've got to appeal to Penny. What do you say, Tom,
• 4:29:00
  cried the excited Baxter. I say, I'm greatly relieved, not a bit
• 4:29:06
  disappointed, and can't think of a better way to begin than New year than
• 4:29:10
  by dying. Right before comment was forthcoming, Tom bent over and continued his
• 4:29:15
  letter to Sister Mary Laurncia. They just announced the news flash. Our appeals
• 4:29:19
  were denied. Well, sister, surely God knows best. If that is
• 4:29:25
  his will, I have no complaint. He sat back to consult the Nunn's
• 4:29:29
  letter before going on. But before he located his next topic, Anderson was
• 4:29:33
  after him again. Penny, it's too damn bad you didn't go on the
• 4:29:37
  stage. The theater missed another Edwin booth when it missed you, but cut
• 4:29:41
  the acting for five minutes. Will you and talk Turkey? There's nothing final
• 4:29:45
  about that lousy thing you just heard. There are other courts, other judges,
• 4:29:48
  other lawyers. We all can have new childs if you'll only produce new
• 4:29:52
  evidence. Then, in a much more conciliatory and even in an ingratiating tone,
• 4:29:57
  the ex night club owner went on, Listen, Tom, I've always
• 4:30:02
  played pretty square with you. I was never tight with a guild. Now
• 4:30:06
  there's plenty of it out there waiting for you and yours. Get me out
• 4:30:08
  of here, boy, and I'll never let you down. Neither you nor
• 4:30:12
  anyone belonging to you will ever want for anything. How about telling the world
• 4:30:17
  about Buford Stewart. What does Nicholson think of that story? Let's leave him
• 4:30:22
  out of it. I can tell you absolutely A statement from you to the
• 4:30:26
  effect that Stuart was a guy who bumped off the Dames will make the news
• 4:30:29
  flash. We just heard a lot of hohoey. We'll all get new trials,
• 4:30:33
  and our mouthpieces will have to be pretty dumb not to get us new
• 4:30:34
  sentences. What do you say? When no answer was immediately forthcoming, Anderson
• 4:30:41
  added, quite nonchalantly, just remember, Tom, the cow jumped over the
• 4:30:45
  moon, meaning meaning that the cat and the fiddle can be opened up again,
• 4:30:51
  and that would mean easy street for you and your mother and all belonging
• 4:30:53
  to you. Don't be a fool, you fool, I won't, answered
• 4:31:00
  Tom, so promptly and cheerfully that Anderson did not know whether he had been
• 4:31:03
  triumphant or was being taunted. Penny went back to his letter, He continued,
• 4:31:10
  you asked me about the parable of the labors in the vineyard. I've
• 4:31:12
  always accepted it as a way of expressing God's unlimited love and mercy, a
• 4:31:17
  way of saying that each of us who responds with all he or she has,
• 4:31:21
  will share equally. It hardly seems fair, though, sister, that
• 4:31:25
  I should marry an ekal share with you the next morning, he added a
• 4:31:29
  PostScript to his letter, PS. I hardly know how I feel this morning,
• 4:31:33
  but I think rather relieved expresses it fully. I don't know what course
• 4:31:37
  I will take, if any, but if I do not take any,
• 4:31:41
  I have until New Year's Day. I hate to give up without a struggle,
• 4:31:45
  and yet I see hardly any use in struggling. If you see the
• 4:31:48
  Chief, will you ask him about my chances. He should have better than
• 4:31:52
  anyone with all your will, promise anything if he sees the possibility of a
• 4:31:56
  little money for himself, knowing all the time that nothing can be done.
• 4:32:00
  That is why I would like the opinion if someone disinterested professionally, if I'm
• 4:32:04
  asking anything contrary to your roles, disregard it. Sister. About the court's
• 4:32:10
  decision, I don't know anything to say except that I was not disappointed.
• 4:32:14
  Of course, I am sorry, not for myself, but for the few
• 4:32:17
  who will suffer and grief for me. I must keep busy now more than
• 4:32:21
  ever so as to keep my mind off of it. So if I write
• 4:32:23
  often, don't be alarmed. If only I could say some comforting word to
• 4:32:27
  my poor mother at this moment, I know she has heard it. I
• 4:32:33
  shall write to Sister Robert Anne tomorrow. You know I shall continue to pray
• 4:32:36
  for you. You shall be thought of and even mention by name in my
• 4:32:38
  last prayer, Sister, for any of my prayers will be incomplete if I
• 4:32:42
  omitted either one of you. Oh sister, how I would like to be
• 4:32:48
  all you would have me to be. I do try and try hard.
• 4:32:52
  I may not have time to complete the quiz and the register. It goes
• 4:32:56
  on for eleven weeks, but I'll keep up with it until the end.
• 4:33:00
  May God bless you always. The next week was one of mental and emotional
• 4:33:06
  confusion for the scar faced carpenter, as the papers were fond of calling him.
• 4:33:11
  He had written truth when he told Hiss to marry Laurentia, for the
• 4:33:15
  newsflash had given him relief for the long, hot summer, and the early
• 4:33:18
  fall had been an anxious, trying time because of the suspense. Every morning
• 4:33:22
  he had scanned the paper for report on the activities of the Court of Appeals.
• 4:33:27
  Now no longer need ye look. It was also true that the decision
• 4:33:32
  arrived at held no disappointment from the day he heard the flimsy grounds on which
• 4:33:37
  the petitions had been filed he had no real hopes for a reversal or a
• 4:33:41
  new trial. With this technicality of the law had afforded him little. It
• 4:33:45
  had postponed, with his deeper soul new to be inevitable, and a shallower
• 4:33:48
  soul reveled in the postponement. Now that the technicality had been brushed aside,
• 4:33:55
  he had to face the naked fact that unless some new technicality was employed,
• 4:33:59
  he begin the new year by dying. At times this prospect pleased him busy,
• 4:34:04
  as he had kept himself in confinement, it was still confinement, and
• 4:34:08
  it told on him. Secondly, he knew we almost die some day.
• 4:34:14
  Somehow he was one of the very few who knew the day the hour.
• 4:34:18
  In the manner, he considered himself fortunate in many ways, for after all,
• 4:34:23
  death in the chair would be almost painless, and most certainly would be
• 4:34:27
  swift. And he was not afraid, No, the nuns and priests had
• 4:34:32
  told him with the waters of baptism due to a soul. Yes, he
• 4:34:36
  was ready to die, even anxious. But then he would think of his
• 4:34:41
  mother. The longer he lived, the longer he spared her, the heart
• 4:34:45
  splitting experience, a final separation. True, he had disgraced her, but
• 4:34:49
  he would never forget that embrace. At Faye County Jail, she loved him
• 4:34:55
  still seemingly she loved him more now than ever. His letters were a lo
• 4:35:00
  to her. If he fought his case, he could give her that much
• 4:35:03
  more happiness as she was old. Could not God and his great mercy take
• 4:35:07
  her before he took him? Then there was Anderson. Tom knew his lawyers
• 4:35:14
  were clever. They would find some loophole in the law if there was any
• 4:35:17
  existing, and Bob needed time. He was not ready to die yet.
• 4:35:22
  His mind was not right, his heart was not right, his soul.
• 4:35:27
  Whenever Penny thought of the eternity awaiting his chunky companion, he shuddered and prayed.
• 4:35:33
  He did not have the same worries about Baxter. Somehow or other,
• 4:35:37
  he felt God would be merciful to the young hophead. There was no hope
• 4:35:41
  of converting him as far as Tom could see, but he felt the ex
• 4:35:45
  Greenskeeper was living up to a little light his thin mind perceived, and this
• 4:35:49
  gave him peace. When his mother's letter arrived five days after the court's decision,
• 4:35:55
  Tom studied the lines she had written and finally decided to utilize every time
• 4:36:00
  the couty the law provided, and ordered to prolong his life on earth to
• 4:36:03
  the utmost. Once the decision was made, he sat into his table and
• 4:36:07
  wrote to his mother, asking her to call his lawyers for advice, adding,
• 4:36:12
  when you call, will you ask them to send me the exact grounds
• 4:36:15
  on which they petitioned for a new trial. You see, dear, it
• 4:36:18
  is new evidence we will need this time. So if I knew what they
• 4:36:22
  file the last time, I may be able to think of something new.
• 4:36:26
  Try not to worry too much. It will not help. I would not
• 4:36:30
  ask you to do this little were I not sure. God expects me to
• 4:36:33
  make some effort. But dear, let me make this plane. If nothing
• 4:36:38
  can be done, please tell me this is no time for secrets. Let
• 4:36:44
  me have the plain truth. Then I can govern myself accordingly. Don't worry
• 4:36:48
  about it hurting me, mother, It can't. I've passed that stage.
• 4:36:55
  After he had voted the letter, he sat back and began to think of
• 4:36:56
  what he should say to Hallow Donnelly. Only two days before the news flash,
• 4:37:02
  he had sent his first letter to turner Field. In it, he
• 4:37:04
  had said, I am still waiting to hear my fate, Father, but
• 4:37:08
  should here soon, I have no fear whatever of the results, for with
• 4:37:12
  so many people praying for me, whatever comes must be the holy will of
• 4:37:17
  God. The prisoner now wondered if his letter to his mother was contradiction to
• 4:37:22
  or corroboration of that statement. Surely he had accepted the coarse decision as God's
• 4:37:26
  will. Now he felt that God wanted him to make every legitimate effort to
• 4:37:30
  belong his life for his mother's sake, if for no other. Suddenly,
• 4:37:36
  the realization that he had not actually killed either of the women rose to the
• 4:37:38
  surface of his consciousness. He had not thought on this fact for months.
• 4:37:44
  He took its sudden resurgence as sign that Heaven wanted him to fight. Of
• 4:37:48
  course, he should have talked the matter ever with Father Lives, but that
• 4:37:52
  good Priest was always in such a hurry. On the one day in the
• 4:37:53
  month, he appeared that Tom did not feel justified in detaining him for any
• 4:37:57
  lung conference. He had had to tell Father George, just as he had
• 4:38:03
  had to tell it to Nasareth nuns. Though though he had been fasting and
• 4:38:06
  all prepared for the Eucharist month after month, he received only disappointment however,
• 4:38:11
  he would always add in such letters, I make spiritual comediings daily, it
• 4:38:17
  must be contented. He made one now, and after a short Thanksgiving,
• 4:38:21
  drew usheta paper to him and wrote, October twenty seventh, nineteen forty two,
• 4:38:26
  Dear father George, I don't suppose you heard the news flash Friday,
• 4:38:30
  so I'll just send the clipping in lust safe space. You have been very
• 4:38:34
  close to me this past year, father, and I hope it will be
• 4:38:37
  some comfort to you to know that you and those wonderful sisters have been my
• 4:38:41
  inspiration during all these dark days. God knows the sorrow that is in my
• 4:38:45
  aching heart. My hopes are fixed on him alone. I pray that in
• 4:38:49
  his infinite goodness, he will not turn away, but let his merciful eyes
• 4:38:53
  rest on me in pity. Mother has been doing very well, father.
• 4:38:59
  I have been trying to prepare her for the worst. I don't know exactly
• 4:39:02
  how she stood the news, for I have no one to tell me but
• 4:39:04
  herself. No one else in the family has written since I have been here.
• 4:39:10
  Father, could you come if I called for you? Do not feel
• 4:39:12
  bad about telling me if you cannot come. His mother wrote as all mothers
• 4:39:18
  would write that she was spent her last cent move heaven and earth for the
• 4:39:22
  sake of her son, but as yet she had been unable to get in
• 4:39:26
  touch with the lawyers. It was not an encouraging letter. But that same
• 4:39:30
  day, November first, God did send something that cheered the prisoner to such
• 4:39:34
  an extent that he could write to Sister Robert Anne, thank you for your
• 4:39:40
  encouragement. I think I should go completely mad at times if someone like you
• 4:39:44
  did not reassure me. You know, Sister, even though we are certain
• 4:39:48
  of our destiny, so long as we can ply with our Lord's wishes and
• 4:39:51
  resign ourselves to His holy will, nevertheless, it is a great comfort to
• 4:39:56
  be reassured. But sister, let me tell I tell you, the resignation
• 4:40:00
  to His Holy will is not always as easy as just saying it. Often,
• 4:40:04
  as soon as I have said, may his Holy Will be done,
• 4:40:07
  a hurry to do something else lest my heart should cry out. Otherwise,
• 4:40:12
  Mother informs me that we will not give up until we have to. So
• 4:40:15
  maybe I won't go January first. After all, sister, it is hard
• 4:40:21
  for me to talk to Mother about death. Of course, I don't want
• 4:40:23
  to give up if there is any chance for life. I don't think God
• 4:40:26
  would want me to, but I certainly don't want them spending money if there
• 4:40:30
  is no chance for me. Believe me, sister, it is not for
• 4:40:34
  myself that I suffer. It is my mother who is carrying the load.
• 4:40:38
  You know, sister, she would appreciate seeing you almost as much as I
• 4:40:42
  would. P s It certainly must have been your own in the prayers of
• 4:40:47
  others that have helped me through this past year. Only God knows how grateful
• 4:40:51
  I am. A week went by, then came a group of letters that
• 4:40:56
  made the prisoner look again into the depths of his soul. For months now
• 4:41:00
  he had been reading letters had told of abandonment, spiritual childhood, complete trust
• 4:41:03
  in God, and pure love for God. Letters this book of reparation,
• 4:41:07
  expiation, the art of love shown in making little sacrifices. A new world
• 4:41:11
  had been opened up to him through contact with the Magdalens of Detroit. On
• 4:41:17
  this morning in early November, he had to ask himself if he could say
• 4:41:19
  in all honesty that he did believe that he did have blind trust and unbounded
• 4:41:23
  confidence, that he was a little child. After could half hours searching his
• 4:41:29
  soul to its final fathom. He took his pen and devoted the rest of
• 4:41:32
  the morning to answering his mail. His first was to the Magdalens. I
• 4:41:37
  have just finished your most beautiful letters, and honestly, Sisters, I do
• 4:41:41
  not know when, if ever, I enjoyed anything so much. May God
• 4:41:45
  bless Mother Holy name for giving you permission to write this penitent's cinner. Sister
• 4:41:51
  Magdalen of Saint Gertrude. I am not ashamed to confess that your beautiful letter
• 4:41:55
  brought a flood of tears from me. It was so very much like my
• 4:41:57
  dear old mother. I had a letter from her to day. Part of
• 4:42:02
  it runs as follows. Only God knows how it pains me to tell you
• 4:42:06
  this while the lawyers inform me there is no hope for clemency. Can you
• 4:42:11
  think of anything more heart rending for a mother to tell a son I have
• 4:42:15
  tried to prepare her for the inevitable. Oh, please, God grant her
• 4:42:18
  the necessary courage and strength to endure. May I ask you to join me
• 4:42:22
  in that prayer. Sisters, all I ever ask for myself is the privilege
• 4:42:26
  to love him. Thank you, Sister Magdalen of Saint Leo, be assured
• 4:42:30
  that I shall not retreat. My life is a small sacrifice in comparison to
• 4:42:34
  the sacrifice of our Lord, my only regret being that I have not two
• 4:42:38
  lives to give him now. Sister Magdalen of Saint Felix, you must not
• 4:42:44
  think I am such a miser with my prayers that I cannot spare more than
• 4:42:48
  one ove for each of you. I remember you many many times a day,
• 4:42:52
  and often at night when I am reading, I find myself thinking of
• 4:42:55
  you and murmur a fervand God bless them. And don't forget, sister,
• 4:43:00
  we have a date. Sister Magdalena Saint Teresa. Thank you indeed for your
• 4:43:04
  order of the day. Henceforth you are once stronger in everything you do.
• 4:43:10
  Please continue my spiritual communion. That is a wonderful thing. I will convey
• 4:43:15
  your message of thanks to Father Brian. Sister Magdalena Saint Helena. I certainly
• 4:43:21
  enjoyed your letter, and I will remember your special intention. Continue to take
• 4:43:23
  me with you to holy communion, and may Heaven bless you always. Sisters.
• 4:43:30
  I would like to write to each of you separately, but I cannot,
• 4:43:33
  so I extend to all my sisters my kindest regards, and will now
• 4:43:37
  tell you some news. A date for my execution is set for New Year's
• 4:43:41
  just after midnight. Now, sisters, pray at that moment, pray that
• 4:43:47
  he rejected me not Thank you, dear Mother, Thank you for allowing the
• 4:43:52
  Magdalens to write. Thank you also for the messenger, and may I hear
• 4:43:56
  from you soon again. Please, Mother, May the most just, most
• 4:44:00
  high, most adorable will of God being all things done, praised and magnified
• 4:44:04
  forever your most grateful adopting in Christ to the right of the crust. Thomas
• 4:44:10
  Penny p s sisters, Cannot I offer my life for the conversion of sinners?
• 4:44:15
  Or should I petition for the release of the most abandoned soul and purgatory?
• 4:44:21
  There were other letters Penny wanted to answer that day, but he was
• 4:44:23
  so plaied with interruptions that he found he could not concentrate sufficiently well, so
• 4:44:29
  he decided to wait until the morrow. Next day, Without so much as
• 4:44:33
  unfolding the morning paper, he sat at his table and wrote his mother,
• 4:44:37
  your letter came yesterday. I know it was hard for you to give me
• 4:44:41
  the news, but it is better to face facts. I don't know what
• 4:44:45
  to tell you to do. And my letter to the lawyer. I told
• 4:44:48
  him some things it could be done, but I suppose he'll tell me they
• 4:44:51
  already have been done. And how am I to know whether they have or
• 4:44:55
  not. So all I can say, dear mother, is do your best
• 4:44:59
  and leave God do the rest. I heard from the sisters today. They
• 4:45:03
  told me about the visit. I am so glad you feel you can talk
• 4:45:07
  to them, Mother. I know it helps lots, you know. Sister
• 4:45:11
  Mary Laurentia is Austin Price's sister in law. She has asked him three times
• 4:45:15
  and he said he can do nothing, and I believe him. Tommy says
• 4:45:19
  she was coming to see you. I am surprised she has not already done,
• 4:45:22
  so I told her to call the lawyers. Let her do what she
• 4:45:26
  can. Mother. She'd never feel right if you didn't. Just remember,
• 4:45:32
  Mother, though, whatever happens, I'm ready for it. Let that fact,
• 4:45:36
  dear, be a consolation to you. When he had folded that,
• 4:45:41
  he felt easier and hurried on to write to other letters, which set to
• 4:45:44
  Nazareth Nun's marveling. To Sister robert Anne, he said, the cross,
• 4:45:49
  in some form or other, is the guild edged guarantee of God's special love.
• 4:45:55
  A seeming contradiction he had absolutely true. For proof, we have only
• 4:45:59
  to the lives of our Lord, our Lady, Saint Joseph, and the
• 4:46:02
  other saints. I seldom see God's reasons for things, but my trust and
• 4:46:07
  his love must remain firm. I will not make a sour face, sister,
• 4:46:11
  for as Saint Leo says, not to thank God for everything is to
• 4:46:15
  reprove him for something. I don't want to do that. To Sister Mary
• 4:46:22
  Laurentcia, he wrote, do not worry, sister. I am resolved to
• 4:46:26
  meet just whatever God wills. If I can think of anything to help me
• 4:46:30
  within God's law, I will use it. If not, I will remain
• 4:46:33
  as a little child who has no worries, no possessions, no anxieties,
• 4:46:38
  no preoccupations about the past or future. Many times his ways in my regard
• 4:46:45
  have appeared mysterious and right now certain whose dealings seem strange and contrary, not
• 4:46:52
  only to all human prudence, but even to justice. Yet I shall never
• 4:46:56
  waver for a single instant, never doubt that His love and wisdom are directed
• 4:47:00
  all. Joseph was sold by his brethren out of envy, then falsely accused
• 4:47:04
  of a shameful crime and cast into prison unjustly. But all these were stepping
• 4:47:08
  stones to the throne of Egypt. So too, Shalihov begins to hope and
• 4:47:12
  abandoned myself to the boundless love of my heavenly Father. With the complete abandon
• 4:47:18
  of a little child who amid the fury of the greatest storm, rests fearlessly
• 4:47:22
  in the arms of his mother. Write when you feel like it, sister,
• 4:47:26
  I will continue to keep you in my prayers. Thanks for everything,
• 4:47:30
  your friend in Christ. At the right of the cross, p s.
• 4:47:34
  Father lives roughn me whole humeniane this morning, so remember to thank God for
• 4:47:38
  his goodness in granting me this divine privilege. Those lines lie at the usually
• 4:47:45
  expressionless face of Siste Mary Laurentia with a grateful smile, and made her lift
• 4:47:48
  her head heavenward. Thank you God for all you have done and are doing
• 4:47:53
  for this boy. End of chapter nine. Christmas Good. The surest sign
• 4:48:02
  that a man has found his God and knows him to be his father,
• 4:48:04
  is an honest and full confession made not only with contrition for sins, but
• 4:48:10
  with a vibrant confidence of pardon. Time and again Tom Penny has made such
• 4:48:15
  confession. But perhaps the best example of his contrition and confidence is obtained in
• 4:48:19
  the confession he addressed to one of the Magdalens of Detroit on November twelfth.
• 4:48:25
  Sister Magdalen of Saint Gertrude, in your last letter, you asked me if
• 4:48:29
  I had ever made up one of those cut up puzzles, said I to
• 4:48:33
  myself, what in the world does she want to know that? For,
• 4:48:37
  yes, Sister, I did. I had bought one of two lovely dogs,
• 4:48:41
  and I thought it would delight too little children, whom I greatly love.
• 4:48:45
  But as I was making it up, I found they were three or
• 4:48:47
  four pieces missing. Oh, sister, what a side it was. When
• 4:48:51
  I had finished, one dog's eye was gone, the other had no mouth.
• 4:48:56
  I was so disgusted I burned the thing. Now you ask me if
• 4:49:00
  I've ever looked upon life as one of those puzzles, I must confess.
• 4:49:03
  You have set me thinking. I have made a great mess of my puzzle
• 4:49:07
  from my youth up to the time I became a Catholic, and Sister,
• 4:49:11
  I am afraid that I may have lost many precious pieces even since then.
• 4:49:15
  But now, with your kind help, I am going to make it right.
• 4:49:19
  I am starting today. You tell me the only sure way to make
• 4:49:23
  the puzzle right is to let our Lord hand me the pieces one by one,
• 4:49:29
  day by day, and to take them from him bravely and trustfully.
• 4:49:33
  Thanks a million for the suggestion. If you have any more like it,
• 4:49:37
  please send them on to your grateful brother at the right of the cross.
• 4:49:41
  P s. Sister, will you kindly make this point clear to me?
• 4:49:45
  You say that now and then we see a few pieces that fit into one
• 4:49:48
  another perfectly, and marvel to see how the most unlikely pieces have worked in
• 4:49:52
  beautifully. Then you add, but as a general rule, we must be
• 4:49:56
  content to understand only in part. King for the explanation in your next letter.
• 4:50:03
  This signature at the right of the cross began to appear now in all
• 4:50:07
  his letters, and was puzzling most of the recipients. Down on Turner Field,
• 4:50:12
  Georgia. Father Donalley's white face wrinkled into a smile, and his white
• 4:50:17
  head nodded knowingly as he read, Sincerely yours at the right of Holy Cross,
• 4:50:22
  the modern disthmus, the chaplain said aloud. Then he thought of the
• 4:50:26
  Magdalens. It would be normal for those cloister contemplatives to associate Tom with a
• 4:50:32
  man who died at the right of Jesus Christ and knew not only one heaven
• 4:50:36
  by a single act of faith, but while yet alive, one canonization from
• 4:50:41
  Christ himself, as if it would be for robins to fly north as snow
• 4:50:45
  melts, or for ducks to fly south when trees grow bare. The letter
• 4:50:49
  heartened the weary chaplain. On the second page, Tom had written how a
• 4:50:53
  missionary working among the Indians in Oklahoma once asked a little Indian lad where Jesus.
• 4:51:00
  Here came the prompt reply. As the boy placed his hand over his
• 4:51:04
  heart. Puzzled for a moment, the missionary repeated his question, but without
• 4:51:10
  the slightest hesitation, the boy gave the same reply. Then the father realized
• 4:51:15
  how excellently the good Sisters had done their work. This little Indian lad had
• 4:51:19
  grasped a truth of which so many supposedly good Christian people are ignorant, one
• 4:51:25
  that is among the most consoling, fascinating, and fruitful truths of our holy
• 4:51:29
  faith. The chaplain laughed at himself when he found himself wishing that some Magdalens
• 4:51:33
  were writing to his army lads. No, that was not God's technique.
• 4:51:37
  Letters from cloister contemplatives would never take with his rowdy rookies. Father George would
• 4:51:44
  have had a heartier laugh at himself for trying to parallel his army boys with
• 4:51:47
  a man in prison if he could have seen the letter Tom had written Sister
• 4:51:51
  Mary Laurencia. The Magdalens sent me the following of Christ by Thomas a Kempess
• 4:51:56
  in his last days, he said, I have thought rest everywhere, but
• 4:52:00
  found it only in a corner of my soul with a little book. His
• 4:52:04
  little book has been a source of great piece to me. I read it
• 4:52:08
  to the others at night when all is quiet. What a picture for the
• 4:52:12
  religious skeptic of nineteen forty two. Five men seated in separate seals in Eddyeville's
• 4:52:18
  House of Death, four of them listening intently to the fifth as he read
• 4:52:22
  from Thomas Akempest. One night, A veritable pleading crept into Tom's voice.
• 4:52:27
  As he began the twenty third chapter of the first book. Penny addressed themselves
• 4:52:32
  so directly to Anderson that Baxter, Elliott and Trent felt themselves spectators at something
• 4:52:37
  in the nature of a deadly dull between two souls. What good is it
• 4:52:41
  to live a long life? Read Tom earnestly when we amend that life so
• 4:52:45
  little. Indeed, a long life does not always benefit us, but on
• 4:52:48
  the contrary adds to our guilt. He paused purposely. He felt that Tom
• 4:52:55
  needed to grasp the truth, but he dared not repeat it. That would
• 4:52:59
  be too obvious that of preaching. He skipped the next two sentences that went
• 4:53:03
  on, If it is so terrifying to die, it is nevertheless possible that
• 4:53:07
  to live longer is more dangerous. Blessed is he who keeps the moment of
• 4:53:12
  death ever before his eyes and prepares for it every day. Baxter coughed nervously.
• 4:53:18
  Pennies clear baritone went on, How happy and prudent is he who tries
• 4:53:23
  now in life to be what he wants to be found at death. If
• 4:53:26
  anyone else tried to read such stuff to Baxter, he pick up a funny
• 4:53:30
  paper or busy himself rolling a cigarette. Yet he listened to Penny and liked
• 4:53:34
  it. The same seemed true of Elliott and Trent, who listened to Penny
• 4:53:38
  as snakes listen to their charmer. But Anderson Thomas always took on a new
• 4:53:45
  vibrancy as he read who will remember you when you are dead? Who will
• 4:53:49
  pray for you? Do now what you can gather yourself the riches of immortality.
• 4:53:55
  While you have time, think of nothing but your salvation. Care only
• 4:53:59
  for the things of God to Him. Direct your daily prayers, your sighs
• 4:54:03
  and tears. That you're still be married after death, to pass into the
• 4:54:07
  happiness of the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? Bob eh? Yeah, came
• 4:54:12
  the slow but definite acquiescence. Great stuff. All right, that's enough for
• 4:54:18
  tonight, Tom, I'm now going to pray on the rosary sister already Anne
• 4:54:21
  sent me. And next time you write to her, tell her I'm making
• 4:54:23
  good use of it. Why don't you tell her I haven't your gift for
• 4:54:29
  gab which says me a lot of time. How many letters did you get
• 4:54:33
  today? Only eight? Only eight, exclaimed Trent. That's more than I
• 4:54:40
  get in a month. Where did you get the book you were just reading,
• 4:54:45
  The Magdalens of Detroit? Has someone send it from New York? Cripes?
• 4:54:49
  These none send you everything, don't they? Tom? Will stopped by
• 4:54:53
  the question. Recall the overtones of envy and indignation, heard the accusation,
• 4:54:59
  and something of a condemnation in the voice of his fellow prisoner. He finally
• 4:55:03
  managed to say, Herb, no one knows better than I how little I
• 4:55:07
  deserve their attention. But how on hell do you manage to get it?
• 4:55:12
  That's a deep question, Herb. I'm going to give it a deep answer.
• 4:55:17
  I don't manage to get it. I couldn't. As I see it.
• 4:55:19
  God took over up in Lexington and has been running the show ever since.
• 4:55:23
  Of course, I've got to play ball with him, but he furnishes
• 4:55:26
  everything from the ball, bat and glove to the grand stands, the grounds
• 4:55:30
  and the groundskeeper. Meaning what put in Elliott Bill The day I arrived in
• 4:55:37
  my hometown a confessed criminal. Two Nazareth nuns and a peach of a priest
• 4:55:41
  walked into my life all unasked. They change everything about me, even my
• 4:55:47
  way of thinking and talking. The priest goes off to war, and God
• 4:55:51
  sends another swell Sky pilot in on me. He gets about eighty different Magdalens
• 4:55:56
  to adopt me as their brother. Write me stuff you can't find in books.
• 4:56:00
  The real MC coy stuff that goes right to your guts, grips you,
• 4:56:03
  holds you, makes you new. Then they pray prayers for me that
• 4:56:07
  pierce the very clouds. But how do you rate all that from them or
• 4:56:12
  from God? Asked Eliot. I don't. It's all pure gift from God.
• 4:56:19
  I don't get it, said Trent, with a trace of a snarl.
• 4:56:25
  But I will say you're a lucky guy. You're different Penny, I
• 4:56:27
  since the second I arrived in this hell hole. And I'll go further and
• 4:56:32
  say you haven't done any of us any harm. What Trink could have added
• 4:56:36
  was that Penny had changed that hell hole and made it less of a hole
• 4:56:40
  and much less like hell for all of them. The source and the secret
• 4:56:44
  of his power Penny now put in the litter to Sister Robert Anne. I
• 4:56:48
  have understood things much more thoroughly these past few months. And what a difference
• 4:56:52
  that clear understanding makes. God will keep us ignorant, Sister, so long
• 4:56:57
  as you put him in second place, for he is a jealous lover.
• 4:57:02
  Oh. I have learned so many things this past year. It really makes
• 4:57:06
  me feel sorry for myself when I think of all the real happiness I have
• 4:57:10
  missed. I know now how people can jess while dying. Why not nothing
• 4:57:15
  else matters when we love God. It was just under a fortnight later that
• 4:57:19
  Sister Mary Laurentcia sought out the ever busy director of Nurses, and, with
• 4:57:23
  a trace of worry in her tone, asked her to check her last five
• 4:57:26
  or six letters from Eddyville to see if there is anything in them indicative of
• 4:57:32
  a crisis coming in Tom Penny's life. It was a strange request, but
• 4:57:37
  in answer to all her urgent questions, the only answer she received from the
• 4:57:41
  outer nun was look closely, I am concerned. It was quite late that
• 4:57:47
  night when Sister herward Anne got to reading her mail. The first letter she
• 4:57:51
  re read was that of Thanksgiving Day. It showed Tom in anything but a
• 4:57:55
  tense mood. He'd written of the nice dinner that had been served, told
• 4:57:59
  how I spent most of the day reading but did not fail to thank God
• 4:58:03
  for the thousand and one things for which he had to be thankful. I
• 4:58:07
  was sure a sister, he would not dine New Year's Day, as he
• 4:58:10
  had just read in the paper how his lawyer he filed a petition for a
• 4:58:12
  rehearing. No there was nothing in this letter to warrant alarm. He also
• 4:58:17
  told how one of the magdalens had sent him a guide for victim's souls,
• 4:58:21
  about which he promised to write in his next letter. He never did.
• 4:58:26
  The next two letters showed him in the light hearted, slightly excited mood.
• 4:58:30
  Because of the biblical contest he had entered, he felt that he was doing
• 4:58:33
  well in it. His only worry was about being on earth when the contest
• 4:58:37
  ended. He had spoken about holy communion in each of the letters, and
• 4:58:41
  had ended with a request that brought tears to blue gray eyes. Take me
• 4:58:45
  to holy Communion with you. He had written, that will be Christmas present
• 4:58:49
  enough for me. The last letter she had received just that morning. She
• 4:58:55
  read it again. When she finished, the little white bonneted head shook with
• 4:59:00
  her a finality crisis. She whispered very incisively and quite disdainfully. She had
• 4:59:07
  reason for disdain for Tom's latest letter. Ran I shall be awake until midnight
• 4:59:12
  Christmas Eve. Then I shall say, dear Infant Jesus, come into my
• 4:59:17
  heart, which thine own sweet mother has prepared anne made warm for THEE.
• 4:59:22
  Come, and I will love THEE forever and ever. That sounds very like
• 4:59:26
  my favorite spiritual communion. I don't think I ever told you about that.
• 4:59:30
  It goes, Dear Jesus, abandoned by so many cruel hearts, to day
• 4:59:36
  come into my heart, which them as pure virgin Mother has prepared for THEE,
• 4:59:41
  and I will love THEE. But the indignation and incisiveness vanished. The
• 4:59:45
  next morning, missus to marry the Wranchia, after listening patiently to her companion's
• 4:59:49
  report on her findings, somewhat crisply asked, does he mention Bob Andersen in
• 4:59:56
  any of your letters? No? Well he does in mine, and I'm
• 5:00:00
  worried. I didn't see anything in the papers about Andersen reappealing. He is
• 5:00:06
  sharper lawyers than poor Tom or Baxter can afford. I get curious about that
• 5:00:10
  strange silence, so I asked Tom. His answers frightened me. What are
• 5:00:15
  they read this one, said the elder nun, pointing to a few lines
• 5:00:21
  in her latest letter. Sister Robert Ant took the sheet with mounting curiosity and
• 5:00:26
  read, you ask about mister Anderson. No, sister, he did not
• 5:00:30
  reappeal. However, he would not go the first of the year, and
• 5:00:34
  maybe not at all. Ask God to give me wisdom. Sister. What
• 5:00:41
  in the world can he mean? That is something I wish I really knew?
• 5:00:45
  Answered a very serious face, Sister, Mary Laurencia. He's too positive
• 5:00:51
  to suit me. He's got something up his sleeve, something that will aid
• 5:00:53
  Andersen. But I know Tom Penny well enough by now to know that he
• 5:00:57
  is about to do something that will do himself no good. He knows it
• 5:01:03
  too. Keep your eyes open, sister. See what the papers have to
• 5:01:07
  say about Anderson. Frankly, I'm nervous. I'm afraid those lawyers might be
• 5:01:11
  too smart for Tom. What do you mean Anderson should die January first?
• 5:01:18
  If no appeal is made by his lawyer, there's no possibility of executive clemency.
• 5:01:22
  I know. I've inquired yet Tom states positively that Anderson will not die
• 5:01:29
  that day. That's bad enough, But then he asks that he may not
• 5:01:33
  die at all. Sister. That's too strong a statement to come from one
• 5:01:37
  like Tom. Believe me, something's afoot. This wise old nun may have
• 5:01:44
  been more nervous if she could have glimpsed the letters the prisoner was penning to
• 5:01:47
  Father Donnelly. It is elected that I do not die just yet. Father.
• 5:01:52
  My lawyers have filed a petition for a rehearing. I don't know whether
• 5:01:56
  to laugh or cry. I can't see no advantage in prolonging the rest assured.
• 5:02:02
  I shall make the most of the time allowed me. It may well
• 5:02:04
  be that God is not satisfied with me and wishes to put me through more
• 5:02:07
  severe tests. At any rate, give me a special intention in your mass
• 5:02:12
  and prayers. I am going to try to do something, Father. I
• 5:02:17
  don't know how successful I'll be, but nothing beats a child except the failure.
• 5:02:22
  So don't let the delay of my execution hinder your visit. I really
• 5:02:25
  need to see you. Bob has had a beautiful letter from your friend sister
• 5:02:29
  Adelaide. He is trying, Father, but has some terrible difficulties in the
• 5:02:33
  interpretation of scripture. I tell him, if reading scripture causes so much doubt,
• 5:02:38
  then stop reading it. I may be wrong, but it seems to
• 5:02:41
  me we must know God first, or at least desire to know love and
• 5:02:45
  obey his adorable will and not doubt. Then we will understand the secret text
• 5:02:51
  better. The busy chaplain never even wondered what it was that Tom was going
• 5:02:56
  to try. He himself made an unsuccessful attempt to get time on us off
• 5:03:00
  to fly to Paducah and spend a few hours with the prisoner. Had he
• 5:03:03
  any idea of what Tom was planning, hi, our officers would have heard
• 5:03:07
  more insistent, please, and even opportunity demands for leave of absence. In
• 5:03:11
  a litter dated December sixteenth, the prisoner wrote an entire page on his religious
• 5:03:15
  experiences, admitting that he had walked in dark places, had known black days
• 5:03:21
  and nights, then added, but Father, I can truthfully say I have
• 5:03:26
  one great advantage inasmuch as I have never doubted for a single moment. I
• 5:03:30
  know only too well home worthy I am. But I can say every moment
• 5:03:34
  of my Catholic life has been beautiful. I had and still have much to
• 5:03:40
  learn. I used to envy you and others like you, who have been
• 5:03:44
  nurtured from childhood and the Catholic Church. But I wondered now if such favored
• 5:03:48
  souls ever experienced the rapture that comes to a convert who suddenly awakes to the
• 5:03:52
  splendor of our father's house. I no longer envy you, Father. I
• 5:03:57
  suppose you never get the Canentucky News Bob is due to leave this world on
• 5:04:02
  January first, However, I do not believe it will happen. My date
• 5:04:07
  in Baxter's is set for January twenty second. They lost no time in acting
• 5:04:11
  on our cases the second time. There are many things I want to tell
• 5:04:15
  you. My whole soul has been transformed. Father. I have written a
• 5:04:19
  thumbnailbiography for a good friends, the sisters. They will be only too glad
• 5:04:25
  to give you a copy if I do not get to see you before I
• 5:04:27
  go. But I am hoping to see you. Bob is doing fine.
• 5:04:33
  Sister Addeley has been writing to him. God bless her. She has accomplished
• 5:04:37
  more in two letters than I with all my poor efforts. But that is
• 5:04:41
  logical enough. By for now, Father, God bless you. Had the
• 5:04:45
  young Armney Chaplain adhered to his earlier plan of exchanging the prisoner's letters with the
• 5:04:51
  nuns, wise old Sister Mary Laurentia would have seen that her fears for Tom
• 5:04:55
  Penny were exceptionally well grounded. His fertile brain was bringing to birth something that
• 5:05:00
  had known a long gestation. Could the nun appeared over Tom's shoulder as he
• 5:05:04
  read the Little Book. Sister Magdalen of Saint Elizabeth had sent him, she
• 5:05:07
  would have seen Satan in one of his subtlest works. He was appearing as
• 5:05:12
  an angel of light to this man condemned to die, and deluding him with
• 5:05:17
  a wiliness that made the cunning of Eden's original temptations seem crude. Tom Penny
• 5:05:22
  was spent over a guide for victim's souls. He was devouring the doctrine contained
• 5:05:27
  therein with the avidity of one famished with a pencil stroke that told of thrill
• 5:05:33
  and determination. He checked the sentences. A few rare souls consecrate themselves to
• 5:05:37
  God as victims for others. That is, they offered themselves to suffer for
• 5:05:41
  the guilty. He looked through the bars to where Bob Anderson lolled in his
• 5:05:45
  bunk, and his eyes narrowed as he stared in thought. With a sudden,
• 5:05:51
  almost imperceptible nod of his head, he clinched his pencil and checked sentence
• 5:05:55
  after sentence. He bent closer to reread all he had checked. They made
• 5:06:00
  rare reading for a man in Penny's position, as the host lends its exterior
• 5:06:04
  form to Jesus, so that these souls long to lend their entire souls to
• 5:06:08
  Christ, our lurk, and suffer no longer. So they offer their hearts,
• 5:06:12
  their souls, their bodies, so that Jesus may find in them those
• 5:06:15
  sufferings which he is so desirous of offering to a heavenly Father, to the
• 5:06:19
  greater glory of the Trinity and the fulfillment of the divine purposes, especially as
• 5:06:25
  salvation as sinners. Tom put an extra check beside the last clause and read
• 5:06:30
  on. Thus these special victims realize in themselves what Saint Paul says, who
• 5:06:36
  now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are
• 5:06:38
  wanting to the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for His body, which is
• 5:06:42
  the Church Colautians one twenty four. These souls could exclaim with the same apostle,
• 5:06:51
  I wish myself to be anathema from Christ for my brethren, who are
• 5:06:55
  my kinsmen, Romans nine three. Another extra check went against that final phrase.
• 5:07:03
  A smile spreads slowly over the scarred face of the prisoner as he read
• 5:07:06
  on. In a spirit of self oblation, these victim souls strive, after
• 5:07:10
  a perfect informity to a blessed redeemer who was emmolated as a victim of atonement,
• 5:07:15
  not for his own sins, before the sins of others. His fists
• 5:07:19
  clenched as he read the next lines. Very often these souls offered themselves for
• 5:07:25
  the conversion of a particular soul. The triumphant Ah escaped his lips as he
• 5:07:30
  read. The beauty and sublimity of self oblation for others is thus described by
• 5:07:36
  a noted author. A voluptuous and sensual generation beholds the ReSpectacle of saintly souls
• 5:07:41
  whose one desire and purpose in life, whose soul happiness consists in offering themselves
• 5:07:47
  for their fellow creatures. What's eating you, Penny? You're beginning to act
• 5:07:51
  as if you had aunts in your pants. Better than that, Bob,
• 5:07:55
  much better than that. What's up? Did you get a reprieve from the
• 5:07:59
  governor? No, but I got, well, I won't say exactly what
• 5:08:04
  I got, but I'll give you a hint. Maybe now know that I
• 5:08:10
  say, maybe, maybe I'll be able to play Santa Claus this year.
• 5:08:15
  Whew, whistled Anderson as he settled back in his bunk. I know you'd
• 5:08:19
  go nuts before you got out of here. How many shopping days to Christmas,
• 5:08:25
  not enough according to my calendar. Don't bother me for the next twenty
• 5:08:29
  minutes, I'm going to do some of that shopping you Jess mentioned. For
• 5:08:33
  months now, Penny's almost imperturbable cheerfulness had puzzled Andersen in some hazy manner.
• 5:08:38
  He knew that religion was its source. But since Scott had never been the
• 5:08:42
  supremeality in Bob Andersen's life, Betty now wasn't Tom Penny's. The older man
• 5:08:48
  could not understand his fellow inmate of death Row. Anderson knew the tall,
• 5:08:52
  thin Lexington man had a very warm spot in his heart for him. He
• 5:08:56
  knew that Tom had been burning with a desire all these months to communicate in
• 5:09:00
  some way the piece of soul he had received a baptism week after week in
• 5:09:04
  the beginning, and now day after day he argued, pleaded, and even
• 5:09:08
  prayed aloud that the gift of unquestioning faith might be given to Anderson. Bob
• 5:09:14
  knew the anxiety of the ex carpenter was more than that of a younger brother,
• 5:09:18
  and he could not understand what was eating Penny. Was it remorse?
• 5:09:22
  Was the fellow sorry he had squealed, Was he trying to make up for
• 5:09:26
  the condemning testimony he had given it Lexington. If it was, Anderson might
• 5:09:32
  be able to use that remorse to good advantage. He suddenly wondered if that
• 5:09:36
  could be what Tom had meant when he spoke of playing Santa Claus. Hey,
• 5:09:41
  Tom, he called loudly lyone's busy call back in twenty minutes. Ah
• 5:09:47
  go to hell never, and I am praying you won't either. With a
• 5:09:52
  muffled curse, Anderson turned on his bunk, but he was moved by the
• 5:09:56
  sparkle in Penny's voice and the warm friendliness in the earth. A secret hope
• 5:10:02
  grew in the depths of Anderson's being. Something in Penny's double talk spoke to
• 5:10:06
  Andersen's subconsciousness, and hope grew. He smiled conceitedly as he turned his face
• 5:10:11
  to the wall and closed his eyes. Had he been able to read the
• 5:10:15
  letter, Penny was so engrossed and composing, he would have found much to
• 5:10:18
  foster the growth of his hope. For Tom was telling Father Eugene how the
• 5:10:22
  Magdalenes of Detroit has sent him a guide for victim's souls, and was saying,
• 5:10:27
  I should like very much to become a victim's soul, but is one
• 5:10:30
  in my present position privileged to do so. I know I should ask my
• 5:10:34
  confessor, Father libs that, but I won't see him for two more weeks
• 5:10:38
  and won't get to talk to him even then if he brings me holy communion,
• 5:10:42
  and I pray that he does. Father, I do not wish to
• 5:10:47
  offend anyone. Father lives as a good priest and a splendid fellow, but
• 5:10:51
  he just doesn't have time to give the proper attention here. That remark sent
• 5:10:56
  Father Eugene to his files for the first letter he had received telling of Eddyville
• 5:11:00
  and its men. It was from Father Brian and read in part. I
• 5:11:04
  was in the death house yesterday morning, September first, and had a chat
• 5:11:08
  with Tom Penny. He is a very fine lad that incidentally his father lives
• 5:11:14
  opinion of him too. And let me tell you prienthetically that it would be
• 5:11:18
  difficult, if not morally impossible, for lives to get to the penitentiary much
• 5:11:22
  more often than he does. They are in charge of two perishes here in
• 5:11:26
  Paducah, where the work is real and insistent, and there are only about
• 5:11:30
  seventy Catholics of all descriptions in Eddieville with that before him, Father Eugene wrote
• 5:11:37
  Tom, explaining a chaplain's situation as clearly and completely as possible. It was
• 5:11:42
  a happy thought, but a happier one would have been to inquire into the
• 5:11:47
  prisoner's object in becoming a victim's soul, for that was the lore the devil
• 5:11:52
  was using at the moment, a lord that had Tom Penny with furrowed brow.
• 5:11:56
  A letter in mid December from Sister Magdalen of Saint Kurtchey smooth those wrinkles
• 5:12:00
  and set the ex carpenter, writing, thanks the lot for the answer to
• 5:12:04
  the ps of my last letter. I see now what you mean about life's
• 5:12:08
  puzzle. Of course, a picture would not be beautiful if only bright colors
• 5:12:12
  were used. Dark colors and shadows are a necessity. I have plenty of
• 5:12:18
  dark shades just now, Sister, but am taking them as from his loving
• 5:12:22
  hand and trying to fit them in their right place. For I want the
• 5:12:26
  picture of my life's puzzle to be perfect when the divine artist turns to look
• 5:12:30
  at it, when the last piece is been put in, which will most
• 5:12:33
  likely be Sister. Just after midnight January twenty second, So please remember my
• 5:12:40
  date and keep me in your prayers. Thank Mother for me for allowing you
• 5:12:45
  to reply so soon. Hope I will get another letter from you before I
• 5:12:48
  go. Until we meet in heaven. May God bless you for all your
• 5:12:52
  kindness and encouragement to me, your brother at the right of the Holy Cross.
• 5:12:59
  As he signed and his name, he knew his mind was made up.
• 5:13:02
  He would offer himself as a victim's soul, and he well knew for
• 5:13:06
  whom he would be offering himself. It was with a new found assurance that
• 5:13:10
  he wrote a long letter addressed to the forty nine Magdalens in Detroit and their
• 5:13:14
  mother, who had just been notified that she was to go to Louisville.
• 5:13:18
  After four pages of personal messages, the letter endswith now, my dear sister
• 5:13:23
  Magdalen of Compassion. God is here in Kentucky too, And if things do
• 5:13:27
  not go well with our dear mother Mary of the Holy Name, the echo
• 5:13:30
  of our grief will disturb the peace in the Holy Land. Let me know
• 5:13:34
  when she is to arrive. I have a very dear friend who goes to
• 5:13:37
  the Good Shepherd Convent sometimes of Father Eugene c P of the Sacred Heart Retreat,
• 5:13:44
  Newburgh Road, Louisville. I shall no doubt hear of her through him
• 5:13:48
  too. He is a very holy priest, and I love him as my
• 5:13:52
  own father. He has just obtained permission to visit me, also the permission
• 5:13:56
  to administer the sacraments. Let's hope other developments follow soon. There you are,
• 5:14:03
  cried Tom, as he hand alerted to Captain Rankin. That will make
• 5:14:07
  many people happy this coming Christmas. Good boy, Tom, the officer come
• 5:14:12
  to respect this tall, scarfaced prisoner whose one ambition seemed to be to make
• 5:14:18
  other people happy. As the officer slipped out of death row with a mail,
• 5:14:22
  Trent turned on Penny with where the hell did you get all the Christmas
• 5:14:26
  joy? Yeah, Penny, chined in Anderson. All you need are white
• 5:14:32
  whiskers in a red suit. How about the reindeer and the sleigh? Cripes,
• 5:14:37
  you don't even need the suit in the whiskers, sneered Trent. You're
• 5:14:41
  a Santa Claus even without the fat belly. Baxter, who'd been awakened by
• 5:14:47
  the chatter, began is then off key soprano to sing jingle bells, Jingle
• 5:14:52
  bells. Shut ups, Keeter, growled Andersen, who'd been deeply stirred by
• 5:14:57
  this talk of Christmas. Tap dance, play the harmonica, fill your face
• 5:15:02
  with the juice harp if you want to, but don't try to sing.
• 5:15:07
  You don't appreciate my lyric tenor No, I don't. That's why I'm telling
• 5:15:11
  you to pipe down. Let the kid alone. Bob put in Elliott.
• 5:15:17
  He's only a month to live and Christmas is only a week away. What
• 5:15:22
  does that mean to me? Pennycross to the bars which separated the two cells,
• 5:15:26
  and very softly said, it may mean more than any other Christmas in
• 5:15:32
  your whole life. Bob, what do you mean? The cunning eyes of
• 5:15:37
  the chunky Anderson narrowed. You once said you become a Catholic if I got
• 5:15:41
  you life or freedom. So what so I'm playing Santa Claus? You mean
• 5:15:52
  you know what I mean? You mean you'll I mean you won't go on
• 5:15:57
  New Year's Day, and maybe you won't go at all. As Anderson's mouth
• 5:16:03
  worked soundlessly and his tongue flashed over his dry lips, Tom added, tell
• 5:16:10
  your smart mouthpieces that Santa Claus came to Eddyeville early this year, Tom gasped
• 5:16:17
  Anderson, Tom, do you mean you're going to go through? Don't stare
• 5:16:22
  a gift for us? Out of countenance, said the taller prisoner with a
• 5:16:25
  light laugh. Tom gasped Anderson again and passed a shaking hand over a brow
• 5:16:30
  that had broken out in bes of perspiration. Can I do you? Can
• 5:16:34
  I really tell Nicholson that you yeah, so you'd better hurry for his excellency
• 5:16:41
  the Governor may be out of town for the holidays. Anderson actually staggered to
• 5:16:45
  his chair. Henry watched him a moment, then, lifting his voice in
• 5:16:51
  the little more than a whisper he had been using, said Merry Christmas,
• 5:16:56
  Bob in a very very happy New Year. Penny Penny, cried Anerson hoarsely.
• 5:17:03
  Don't fool me, for God's sake, don't fool me. Do you
• 5:17:06
  mean you'll pend it on Stewart? I said, Happy New Year? Didn't
• 5:17:11
  I use your head? I'm going to use my hand. Ward and Jess
• 5:17:15
  will soon have a statement that will set the wills of justice turning backward.
• 5:17:21
  Oh God, gasped Anderson, and let his head fall on his hands,
• 5:17:27
  before addressing himself to a task he knew would take days, Penny decided to
• 5:17:32
  finish his Christmas mail to his mother. He wrote, I will have a
• 5:17:37
  very happy Christmas if I can feel that you are happy. I have a
• 5:17:40
  big job ahead of me. I pray for wisdom that I may act wisely
• 5:17:45
  and without any personal motive. If I can distribute a little happiness amongst a
• 5:17:48
  few grief stricken hearts, I know you will understand. I offer all my
• 5:17:52
  sufferings, labors and prayers to God daily. I accept whatever it pleases Him
• 5:17:57
  to send me. When she wrote the letter, missus Penny did not know
• 5:18:02
  exactly to whom the Way was referring when he spoke of Greece's circain hearts,
• 5:18:07
  amongst whom he would distribute a little happiness. But on December twenty ninth,
• 5:18:11
  when her eyes saw on the scare headline of the morning paper, she read
• 5:18:15
  all that he had left unsad in his letter. Black bold faced print told
• 5:18:21
  that Tom Penny it completely exonerated Bob Andersen, and by a new statement,
• 5:18:26
  had won a temporary lease of life for the man who had been scheduled to
• 5:18:30
  die January first, end of chapter ten, out of the Devil's clutches.
• 5:18:38
  That headline was no surprise to Anderson's hard working attorneys asked rush Nicholson and Frank
• 5:18:44
  Cahill Junior for a few days after Penny had decided to play Santa Claus.
• 5:18:48
  The latter had visited Eddyeville. The story he had to tell on his return
• 5:18:52
  to Louisville plunged himself and his coworker into a search for something that would cover
• 5:18:56
  their case. On a plea of new evidence discovered, they had won a
• 5:19:00
  stay of execution for their client from Governor King Johnson, but they knew the
• 5:19:06
  legal minds of the Commonwealth would be far less pliable. Having already denied them
• 5:19:11
  a new trial, the Court of Appeals might well question his competency to overrule
• 5:19:15
  its own decision. In that case, they would be forced to the federal
• 5:19:18
  courts. A writ of habeas corpus would help, but to obtain such they
• 5:19:23
  would have to post a big bond, and Anderson's resources were running low as
• 5:19:29
  they searched their books for some precedent. The relief they had felt on learning
• 5:19:33
  of Penny's determination, and the elation which followed when they found his fertile mind
• 5:19:37
  considering angles even they had overlooked, turned to something tense with desperation. The
• 5:19:42
  matter of fact tone adopted by the newspapers spurred them on to greater activity.
• 5:19:48
  For where all space had been given on the front page of all Lexington and
• 5:19:51
  Louisville papers, the articles under the headlines were redolent with skepticism and mistrust.
• 5:19:57
  Cahill told Nicholson that from the cour questions Penny had asked him during his recent
• 5:20:02
  visit, he knew that Tom was going to account for everything that had happened
• 5:20:04
  since September nineteen forty one. He would exonerate Anderson completely by incriminating the deb
• 5:20:11
  bufort. Steward then explained away his testimony at the Lexington trials by admitting vengeance
• 5:20:17
  and vindictiveness that had led him to implicate Bob. The climax would come when
• 5:20:22
  he would fix the blame for his bold faced accusation of a leewiful night club
• 5:20:26
  owner on the Lexington police, who he would claim had deceived him. When
• 5:20:32
  Nicholson learned that before kay Hill had left, the prisoner had written over a
• 5:20:36
  hundred pages without using a single new name save that as Steward, he openly
• 5:20:41
  spoke his admiration for the cleverness of the criminal, but wondered what his motive
• 5:20:45
  could be for such a deposition, he said, would hurt no one except
• 5:20:49
  Tom Penny cay Hill, and trying to enlighten him only confused him the more,
• 5:20:56
  for he told the almost unbelievable truth that Tom Penny was writing not so
• 5:21:00
  much to save Bob Anderson's life as to save Bob Anderson's soul. But all
• 5:21:06
  puzzlement, both as to Penny and their own position, vanished when between them
• 5:21:11
  these two lawyers discovered that they could enter a plete for a writ. Kronobi's
• 5:21:15
  Kentucky practice offered them no precedent, but they knew they could prove that this
• 5:21:19
  writ was as old as the better known Habeas Corpus, if not older,
• 5:21:23
  and that it fitted their case perfectly. As the old year was dying,
• 5:21:29
  they knew they had fallen on something that would make Judges Adams Thomas and the
• 5:21:33
  rain Mix wrinkle their legal foreheads. It was with verve that they wished a
• 5:21:37
  one another a happy new year. Just as they made this discovery, the
• 5:21:42
  man who had set them on this search drew his pen with a flourish across
• 5:21:45
  the last page of his deposition. Penny had not blought it the signature before
• 5:21:49
  Bob Anderson broke into a chuckle and cried, congratulations, Tom, You've made
• 5:21:55
  the front page in the Curial Journal again. As Penny arose, he caught
• 5:22:00
  up a double column cut from a newspaper. Here is the only front page
• 5:22:03
  stuff that counts. Bob Andersen's hands stretched between the bars, he took the
• 5:22:10
  tiny clipping and read, never too late, Tom. Tom Penny has high
• 5:22:15
  hopes of winning a prize in this paper's biblical contest. His only fear is
• 5:22:19
  that the prizes may not be distributed soon enough. On December twenty first,
• 5:22:23
  Tom, one of the most enthusiastic competitors in the contest, will celebrate the
• 5:22:29
  first anniversary of his reception into the church by Father George T. Dowelly,
• 5:22:33
  now chaplain in the Army. I only hope I am not too late,
• 5:22:37
  as I could certainly use some money, writes Tom from his death cell in
• 5:22:41
  the Kentucky State Penitentiary, Eddieville, where he is awaiting death in the electric
• 5:22:45
  chair. Tom is not too late to win a prize. His execution,
• 5:22:49
  originally set for January first, will be postponed for at least two months because
• 5:22:55
  of an appeal filed by his attorneys. By then the big cash awards will
• 5:22:59
  all be distributed. What are you doing in a biblical contest? You who
• 5:23:03
  tell us all to lay off the Bible? What paper is this from the
• 5:23:07
  Denver Register? What are your chances? None? I finished the questions,
• 5:23:15
  but Rankin was busy he couldn't censure my mail on time. But I won
• 5:23:19
  just the same one. What friends all over the country, Catholic friends?
• 5:23:26
  Have you noticed my mail lately? Yeah? It's been piling up twenty the
• 5:23:32
  thirty letters a day, and every one of them filled with good wishes.
• 5:23:36
  Where will they get you to heaven, Bob? For their prayer filled wishes?
• 5:23:41
  These people are praying for me. They are having masses said for me.
• 5:23:45
  One kind soul gave Father Brian, remember him? Yeah? Well,
• 5:23:52
  one kind soul gave him an offering for a high mess to be sung for
• 5:23:55
  me on the twenty second another? Have me enrolled in six hundred masses?
• 5:23:59
  Why, Bob? Over two hundred masses were said for me Christmas Day?
• 5:24:03
  That's a lot better than money to me. Okay, Penny, if that's
• 5:24:07
  the way you feel about it. But have you finished my contest yet?
• 5:24:11
  You're a contest Yeah? Have you finished writing that thing that's going to save
• 5:24:15
  me? Penny's big hands grip the bars that separate the cells. Bob,
• 5:24:23
  he said, tensely and in a hoarse whisper. I've done my part.
• 5:24:27
  You've seen the papers. You've got everything to win, nothing to lose.
• 5:24:32
  I've got nothing to win. I've done it for your soul. Now what
• 5:24:36
  are you going to do for yourself? Father lives is not like Father George
• 5:24:41
  or Father Brian, but he can't baptize you. Come on, now,
• 5:24:45
  be good to yourself. Be wise, don't be a fool. Okay,
• 5:24:49
  okay, Parson, let me write my own wagon. I told you under
• 5:24:53
  what conditions, Bob. Time is running out. I'm scheduled to go twenty
• 5:25:00
  second. That's less than a month away. You won't go then, just
• 5:25:03
  because of what I've written. But for God's sake, now, Preacher,
• 5:25:08
  let mister Anderson take care of mister Anderson. If your stuff really springs him,
• 5:25:14
  he'll take exceptionally good care of him. I assure you. A long
• 5:25:18
  scar on the left side of Penny's face shone livid as his teeth set,
• 5:25:22
  his knuckles went white under his grip on the bars. How he would like
• 5:25:26
  to reach through, seize his chunky companion by the shoulders, and shake some
• 5:25:30
  of that complacency out of him. He knew his eyes were blazing as he
• 5:25:33
  stared at the sneering man, but even as his blood surged, he felt
• 5:25:37
  a wave of pity sweep over him. His grip on the bars loosened better
• 5:25:42
  to pray. Heaven alone could now move Bob Andersen. Okay, Bob,
• 5:25:49
  he said, quietly, I've done all I can. I hope and I'll
• 5:25:53
  pray that mister Anderson does take exceptionally good care of mister Anderson. For the
• 5:26:00
  next few days, Tom was extraordinarily quiet. The decision he had made troubled
• 5:26:06
  him because of the consequent newspaper publicity and the possible reaction of his friends.
• 5:26:11
  He felt he owed them an explanation, and yet did not see how he
• 5:26:15
  could give it. He had asked them to trust him and promised the ultimate
• 5:26:18
  clarification. With this determination made, he sat down and addressed this to Mary
• 5:26:25
  Laurentia. Of course you have seen the papers. Their insinuations and intimations have
• 5:26:30
  left me somewhat disturbed. Please do not think too ill of me and believe
• 5:26:34
  only half of what they publish. You may be assured that no one will
• 5:26:38
  suffer by any action taken by me other than myself. It is too complicated,
• 5:26:44
  sister, to try to explain now, So I would like you to
• 5:26:47
  trust me and ask our father in Heaven to guide me so that I shall
• 5:26:51
  do no wrong. Sister, mother wants to know what I went down with
• 5:26:55
  my body. She was not so blunt as all that, but that is
• 5:26:59
  what she meant. I cannot tell her. I do not know how badly
• 5:27:03
  a person electrocuted is burned. I would not want her to see me disfigured,
• 5:27:07
  but I would like to lie as near her as possible. Perhaps you
• 5:27:11
  could find some way to tell her. I told her to ask you,
• 5:27:15
  Oh, sister, I do not know what I would do without you.
• 5:27:19
  Yes, Sister, I am going to ask her father Donnelly. I have
• 5:27:22
  told him. So you may tell my friends, that is, the ones
• 5:27:27
  who care to know that. They are not to censure me. Yet.
• 5:27:30
  They should know enough about newspapers to realize how much truth is in one.
• 5:27:34
  Keep me in your good prayers and write soon. On January fourth, he
• 5:27:40
  wrote Sister Robert Anne, and to her, perhaps more than to any one
• 5:27:44
  else, he manifested his uneasiness. I am mighty glad to hear that the
• 5:27:48
  newspapers have not disturbed your trust in me, Sister. It is so wonderful
• 5:27:52
  to have friends who will believe there is some good in every bad boy.
• 5:27:56
  And let me assure you now and forever, nothing will disturb or my faith
• 5:28:00
  or less than my love for God. Some things may be hard to understand,
• 5:28:04
  sister, and will naturally cause publicity, but our merciful Father in Heaven
• 5:28:10
  will certainly not condemn where no evil is intended. It is only of God,
• 5:28:14
  I am thinking. After telling how much he regretted his lack of opportunity
• 5:28:18
  to receive fully commingion on Christmas Day, the letter continued, it would mean
• 5:28:23
  so much if we could have a priest here with us. I have been
• 5:28:26
  forced to make decisions in many matters too deep for my own spiritual understanding.
• 5:28:30
  But I believe it is not what I do or the way I do it
• 5:28:33
  that God regards, but why I do it. What I do will the
• 5:28:37
  whole human race, What all creation does, or how it does, it
• 5:28:41
  is nothing to God. Plainly, he could dispense with his creature aid entirely
• 5:28:47
  if he so wished for their very power of aiding comes from and is supported
• 5:28:51
  by him alone. He could do by himself perfectly what we do so imperfectly
• 5:28:56
  under his hand, But no, he wishes otherwise. He was conscious that
• 5:29:03
  he was in deep matter, but because of recent reading, felt sure of
• 5:29:07
  himself, so wrote, on the work we do in the manner of doing
• 5:29:11
  it he could supply. What he yearns for is the consecration of that work
• 5:29:15
  to him. He never forces the human will. It is always in the
• 5:29:18
  power of the creature to choose what is right or wrong. Grace helps,
• 5:29:23
  enlightens, quickens our endeavors. God is working with us in everything we do.
• 5:29:29
  He begins, accompanies, perfects every act, and yet all the while
• 5:29:33
  the act remains our own, free offering to him. Our heart always remains
• 5:29:37
  our own, and that is why he longs for it and even stoops to
• 5:29:41
  bag for it. Sint Augustine beautifully says, God crowns us in his own
• 5:29:45
  gifts. They are his own, yet ours too. In a very true
• 5:29:51
  sense. They express what we wish to do for him. When we stand
• 5:29:56
  sooner or later at his judgment seat, the question put to us will not
• 5:30:00
  be what have you done? Or how have you done it? But only
• 5:30:06
  why did you do it? Did you mean well for all your blundering,
• 5:30:10
  did you rise to your feet again after all your falls? Was it for
• 5:30:14
  me that you did it? Ah, Sister, that will be the moment.
• 5:30:18
  There is no storm so furious, no darkness so thick in human life
• 5:30:22
  that we cannot be sure pleasing God during it. If we wish for the
• 5:30:27
  sincere, wish to please Him is the pleasing itself. I write you this,
• 5:30:32
  Sister, to tell you that I have done nothing blindly, but only
• 5:30:34
  for the purpose of doing good, and without the slightest intent of doing any
• 5:30:38
  evil. If God will only judge me according to my intentions, and I
• 5:30:42
  firmly believe he will, then I have no fears. Sister robert Anne passed
• 5:30:48
  this letter, as she had passed every other letter, to Sister Mary Laurentia,
• 5:30:52
  who read it thoughtfully. When she finished, she simply said that boy
• 5:30:57
  is not at peace. More quietly and reflectively, she added, I am
• 5:31:03
  sure that he has the best of intentions in what he is doing for Andersen.
• 5:31:07
  But Sister, this letter tells me he is not at all sure of
• 5:31:10
  himself. And death is only two weeks away. Oh, Father Donnelly could
• 5:31:15
  only get to him, but sighs and exclamations were never Sister Mary Laurnci has
• 5:31:21
  forte. She hurried off a letter that, to judge from Tom's reply of
• 5:31:25
  January seventh, showed her wise in the ways of the human heart and mind.
• 5:31:30
  Tom wrote in reply, your letter came to day, and you don't
• 5:31:33
  know what a relief it was to learn what I should always have known.
• 5:31:37
  Though the papers cannot poison your mind. I am glad you received the books.
• 5:31:41
  I miss having something to read, but I'll make out. It isn't
• 5:31:45
  long now, and I am kept pretty busy. But it is just as
• 5:31:48
  you so often told me, Sister. The devil never sleeps. He is
• 5:31:52
  always on hand. But I think I shall be able to identify him in
• 5:31:56
  any form. Sister, I've receiving so many letters that it is impossible to
• 5:32:02
  answer them all. Some lady in Minnesota is sending me a crucifix, a
• 5:32:06
  pardon crucifix from Father priscell and Alabama. I shall hold it in my hands
• 5:32:11
  at the last moment, Yes, Sister, I shall offer my all to
• 5:32:15
  our blessed Savior in perfect love and in reparation from the mini sins of the
• 5:32:19
  world that are hourly committed against him, and in my last moment I shall
• 5:32:23
  give you and all my friends a very special intention. Surely God will not
• 5:32:29
  refuse my petition at such a time. As for myself, I only ask
• 5:32:33
  that He judged me according to intentions and grant me mercy. I am writing
• 5:32:37
  to Father D tomorrow. I am sure that he will come. I must
• 5:32:41
  stop now and sleep awhile until next time. Good night. I am awaiting
• 5:32:47
  the consent of Father libs being ruled as a victim's soul. Please remember my
• 5:32:51
  intention, sister. P s. Sister, I have all of your letters
• 5:32:56
  except too. Do you mind if I send them to mother? I don't
• 5:32:59
  want to destoy them. It would be like destroying the Testament. It was
• 5:33:03
  that PostScript which changed his mind about going to bed. While still in the
• 5:33:07
  high mood induced by sister's letter, he wrote his mother, I know how
• 5:33:12
  hard it is for you, and I ask God in Yunie, with many,
• 5:33:15
  many good Christian people, to give you strength. And he will.
• 5:33:18
  I know, because if he has not already helped you, you could never
• 5:33:22
  have stood it this long. Oh my friends, and they are many,
• 5:33:26
  tell me to assure you that you will not be forgotten even after I am
• 5:33:30
  gone. The prayers of these good people are priceless, I know, for
• 5:33:34
  they have already obtained things from me that were seemingly impossible. The next time
• 5:33:40
  you go to the hospital, ask sister to take you to the chapel.
• 5:33:44
  When you come to our blessed Mother's station, ask her to obtain for you
• 5:33:48
  the courage and strength to endure these days of grief. And she will,
• 5:33:52
  for no one can understand better than she what you are suffering. Then thank
• 5:33:56
  her for all this sweet and loving care she has accorded me. We are
• 5:34:00
  all her children mother, just as surely as our all loving God in heaven
• 5:34:04
  is our father. She is the mother of our crucified Savior, and likewise
• 5:34:08
  our own dear mother. She is always eager to help us love her son,
• 5:34:14
  and it pleases him to have us love his mother, Jess, as
• 5:34:17
  it pleases me to have people love you. Mother. With regard to the
• 5:34:22
  question you asked me, I cannot lie to you, so please just trust
• 5:34:26
  me, dear, and remember I have no evil intention and no thought of
• 5:34:30
  self. Though it was already very late, he felt he should not sleep
• 5:34:34
  until he had answered one particular letter out of the batch of twenty six he
• 5:34:37
  told of receiving that day. It was a letter from the Magdalens. He
• 5:34:42
  opened with a confession that turned into a very neat compliment. When I feel
• 5:34:47
  myself slipping, he wrote, I get me a handful of my sister's letters
• 5:34:52
  and start reading them. Pretty soon I have thwarted the devil and am feeling
• 5:34:56
  fine again. Yes, your letters are more helpful than some spirits reading.
• 5:35:00
  I allow myself to envy you at times, being so close to God.
• 5:35:03
  But then I can stole myself with the thought that perhaps I will see him
• 5:35:07
  soon and will be able to tell him all about you and sisters. That
• 5:35:11
  will be the twenty second of January. I am pretty sure this time.
• 5:35:18
  Without lifting his head, he went on to treat at the topic as constantly
• 5:35:22
  on the surface of his consciousness as the thought of death. I hope you
• 5:35:26
  do not see the newspapers, he wrote, for I have been getting some
• 5:35:30
  very unpleasant publicity these last few days, and know it will grow worse before
• 5:35:33
  long. But it matters not what the public thinks to me. God is
• 5:35:37
  my judge. Now That truth lifted his heart, and a happier note crept
• 5:35:44
  into his lines. I will be very busy the next few days, he
• 5:35:48
  told them, but I will write a long letter before I go. In
• 5:35:52
  the meantime, keep me in your good prayers. Tell all my sisters I
• 5:35:56
  remember each daily, and Mother, I want to thank you for permitting the
• 5:36:00
  sisters to continue writing to me. May God love you for your kindness.
• 5:36:06
  Mother Mary of the Holy Name has allowed the Magdalens of Louisville to adopt me
• 5:36:08
  too. All I'll have to do when I get to Heaven is seek out
• 5:36:11
  her big sister, Saint Mary Magdalene and bag of brown habit. I know
• 5:36:17
  the good dismiss will be in sympathy with me. He robbed heaven too.
• 5:36:22
  He closed in his usual fashion, Thank you, dear Mother, and remember
• 5:36:26
  your devoted adoptee at the right of the Holy Cross. Tom was right about
• 5:36:32
  the publicity. It did grow much worse. On January fifth, the morning
• 5:36:37
  paper told how time sheets cleared Beeford Stuart by showing he was at work at
• 5:36:41
  the hour the murders were committed. That bit of news set plenty of tongues
• 5:36:45
  wagging by the legal minds of the community, so that the law would have
• 5:36:49
  to be given its full consideration. On January eleventh, Judge Lorraine Mix gave
• 5:36:55
  a court order for a testimony perpetuation. This empowered Anderson's attorney not only to
• 5:37:00
  take the depositions from Baxter and Tom, but enabled them to initiate steps for
• 5:37:04
  a habeas corpus or a korm Noby's writ, or even to interruptly the Bob's
• 5:37:11
  conviction be set aside on the grounds of perjured evidence. Only Tom and Bob
• 5:37:15
  saw how similar all this was to the police submitted by Elliott Sawyer six months
• 5:37:19
  earlier. It had all worked for him. Perhaps not a few in Lexington
• 5:37:26
  and Louisville thought the wedge had been entered, which would ultimately split the solid
• 5:37:30
  sentence handed down by Judge Adams thirteen months earlier. They could envision a mass
• 5:37:36
  of technicalities and evasions that would effectively block the course of justice and finally set
• 5:37:41
  Bob Anderson free. What they could not envision was Tom Penny's motive in this
• 5:37:45
  latest move. On January eleventh, the depositions were taken in the Warden's office
• 5:37:51
  at Eddyville, but just Buchanan surrounded the affair with such strict secrecy that the
• 5:37:56
  morning papers were able to announce only the testimony would be given in Louisville on
• 5:38:00
  the thirteenth of the month. Many weighed with mounting curiosity for Thursday Morning's paper.
• 5:38:07
  When they got it, some were disappointed, for Tom Penny's deposition proved
• 5:38:11
  to be little more than what they had been able to piece together for themselves
• 5:38:14
  from statements Anderson had made before the trial. Things reporters had shrewdly guessed and
• 5:38:18
  a few facts given out by the police, but others he read more closely,
• 5:38:23
  so that Anderson's attorneys had a story which was so closely knit that only
• 5:38:27
  the highest skill in most persistent patients could unravel it. Tom Penny had motivated
• 5:38:33
  his every major thought word, indeed, since September twenty seventh, nineteen forty
• 5:38:37
  one, up to and including this latest deposition. The chantalizing part of it
• 5:38:42
  all was that the one man who could gainsay it was dead. If under
• 5:38:47
  cross examination Penny could sticked to this written story the way he had to his
• 5:38:52
  original story, some legal heads were in for a severe straining. The following
• 5:38:59
  days paper showed how determined Anderson's attorneys were For Herbert Monsky, who was now
• 5:39:04
  assisting Frank Cayhill, Junior asked. Rush Nicholson, having gone to the army,
• 5:39:10
  told reporters that since the lull demanded that new evidence must be submitted during
• 5:39:14
  the same court term, the Circuit Court had a technicality on which it could
• 5:39:18
  deny both a new trial and the release of Andersen, but if that was
• 5:39:22
  used, his attorneys were ready to go to the Court of Appeals or even
• 5:39:26
  to the governor for a thirty day's stay of execution so that innocence could be
• 5:39:30
  established through the regular courts. Monsky then added that the governor, following precedent
• 5:39:37
  and the policy of the state of Kentucky, would most likely deny this stay.
• 5:39:41
  Then he and ky Hill would seek federal court. Aid that these two
• 5:39:45
  men were not talking for the sake of impressing people was evident over the weekend,
• 5:39:49
  for as kay Hill had expected, Judge Chester D. Adams denied Andersen's
• 5:39:53
  stay of execution, basing his decision on the fact that it was not within
• 5:39:59
  the competency of the Circuit Court to grant such a favor. Adams also denied
• 5:40:03
  the attorneys a writ of habeas corpus when they were unable to post a bond
• 5:40:07
  of twenty five thousand dollars and entered the polea naming Anderson a pauper. Ka
• 5:40:12
  Hale let it be known immediately that he would appeal both decisions before Kentucky's Court
• 5:40:17
  of Appeals on January nineteenth. He then entered his plea for a bit quorum
• 5:40:22
  nobis. It was a new title, so Judge Adams very prudently took it
• 5:40:26
  under consideration. That closed the court session, but ka Hill hit back at
• 5:40:30
  the state by telling reporters that the new evidence was such that, regardless of
• 5:40:34
  all precedent and codified practice, any court would be required to give a new
• 5:40:38
  trial. This was a direct attack on Park, the prosecuting attorney, who
• 5:40:45
  had labeled this latest development hoax, pure and simple, and had stated that
• 5:40:49
  there is no great precedent for quorum nobis or for habeas corpus of a pauper.
• 5:40:56
  The next move Andersen's aroused attorneys was an attempt to obtain all the fingerprints
• 5:41:00
  with the Lexington Police Department had found at the country club at the time of
• 5:41:03
  the murderer. They claimed they wanted to compare them with Stuart's Prince and see
• 5:41:07
  if they could not establish incontestable proof that the dead man was in the club
• 5:41:11
  the Knight, Mary Miley and her mother were shot. Guy and Moppin quietly
• 5:41:15
  quashed this move by announcing that no princes of the Miley slayers had been discovered.
• 5:41:21
  Consequently, he had nothing to offer for comparison with Stuart's. On Monday
• 5:41:26
  morning, Judge Adams denied ka hill As plea for the writ kuorm Nobis,
• 5:41:30
  saying that the Supreme Court of the United States had one time decided that before
• 5:41:34
  Stipplee as his could be admitted, the persured evidence would have to be known
• 5:41:38
  as persured when it was used as evidence. On Tuesday morning, Kahle was
• 5:41:44
  before Kentucky's Court of Appeals arguing for a bit of air quorm Noby's, appealing
• 5:41:48
  every decision Adams had given, and insisting that Bob Anderson was now unjustly and
• 5:41:53
  unlawfully imprisoned, restraining the exercise of his liberty under cut of authority of the
• 5:42:00
  State of Kentucky for the evidence discovered at the last minute. Penny's supposition completely
• 5:42:06
  exonerated him. The bench listened carefully, the judges questioned, disgusted, then
• 5:42:11
  handed down the court's decision. Ca Hill could hardly credit his senses as he
• 5:42:15
  heard this bench overrule every one of Judge Adam's decisions, grant a stay of
• 5:42:21
  execution to Robert H. Anderson from January twenty second to February twenty sixth,
• 5:42:26
  and send the case back to Lexington for another hearing. It was not all
• 5:42:30
  the aggressive attorney desired, but it was more than he had expected. He
• 5:42:34
  was informed most clearly that the court was not reversing its former decision. It
• 5:42:40
  was not granting Robert H. Anderson a new trial. It was merely insisting
• 5:42:44
  that he be given another hearing so that they could be decided legally whether or
• 5:42:48
  not he was entitled to a new trial. The judges explained that the common
• 5:42:52
  law of England allowed a man by a writ of arab korumb nobis to take
• 5:42:57
  his case to the King's Bench, and that this common law applied in state
• 5:43:02
  which had no statue to cover similar cases. They then added that this ancient
• 5:43:07
  writ applied in such cases as that of Andersen, where a last minute claim
• 5:43:11
  was made that new evidence exonerated him. Down in Eddyville, the news sent
• 5:43:17
  joy and hope guising up in the being of Bob Andersen. He laughed,
• 5:43:21
  he cheered, in his own restrained way, and congratulated Penny on being smarter
• 5:43:26
  than all the mouthpieces in the state. But Tom was hardly interested. For
• 5:43:30
  weeks he had been torn between concern for his friends in concern for himself.
• 5:43:36
  He was looking death straight in the face. The number of days separating him
• 5:43:41
  from a full and final embrace with this creature dwindled with disturbing rapidity, as
• 5:43:45
  he endeavored to write reassuring words to all who had shown interest in him and
• 5:43:49
  confidence in his conversion. He was at his table constantly, yet was not
• 5:43:55
  accomplishing half of what he desired. When he allowed himself a few moments for
• 5:44:00
  a quiet study of what lay ahead of him, he found he was impatient
• 5:44:03
  with time's unvarying pace. It was altogether too slow to suit him. The
• 5:44:10
  paradox caused him a rare smile. It also gave him insight into the affectionate
• 5:44:15
  heart God had granted him. He was anxious to be on his way,
• 5:44:18
  yet he was loth to leave so long as any of his friends were apprehensive.
• 5:44:23
  The three who first came into his life after he knew it was almost
• 5:44:26
  ended, gave him a special concern. On January thirteenth, he wrote to
• 5:44:32
  Systermary Laurentia. I am really distressed regarding the mystery that now shrouds everything,
• 5:44:38
  all the more so since I cannot enlighten you on the subject, for anything
• 5:44:42
  I might say would increase your fears. So perhaps it is best, as
• 5:44:47
  you say, to keep silence, Sister. If you find it hard to
• 5:44:52
  trust me, just trust the infinite good, which is God, to guide
• 5:44:56
  me, keep me on the path to which you so patiently directed me.
• 5:45:00
  In time you will understand everything, and it won't be long now. And
• 5:45:04
  honestly, sister, if it were left in my choice, it would be
• 5:45:07
  to night. I am weary of a world in which there is no peace
• 5:45:11
  to be found anywhere. Father lives will be here this morning, and I
• 5:45:15
  am very glad for this past month has seemed like a year. I am
• 5:45:21
  sorry I have not had the pleasure of talking personally with Father Eugene. I
• 5:45:25
  know it is my loss, and a great one. I don't know whether
• 5:45:29
  I am going to have the dollary with me at the end or not.
• 5:45:32
  Heaven heard from him yet now, Sister, Please don't ever think for a
• 5:45:36
  moment that you have failed in helping me save my soul. I do not
• 5:45:40
  know what the papers have been saying about me, because I never read them.
• 5:45:42
  Now I cannot help what they print. I can only hope that they
• 5:45:47
  will be as eager to print the full truth when it eventually comes out,
• 5:45:51
  as it certainly will in the end. So just be patient and remember that
• 5:45:55
  I know my soul is at stake. My life doesn't matter. Just a
• 5:46:00
  few days before receiving this reassurance, the deeply concerned None had rather letter Tom
• 5:46:04
  had hurried off to Sister roperty Anne on January eleventh. It is several passages
• 5:46:10
  that told her the prisoner was striving to please God, but the lion the
• 5:46:14
  first paragraph made her think he was still unsure of himself. Tom had written,
• 5:46:19
  thank you for the assurance. At all is well? I say again,
• 5:46:22
  sister, you must trust me not to hurt my soul. That is
• 5:46:26
  one reason why I am so anxious for Father Donnelly to be with me,
• 5:46:30
  namely that you will have the assurance that I have not abused your good teachings.
• 5:46:34
  But I am doubtful now that I will have him. As you will
• 5:46:37
  see by the enclosed clipping, he was having troubles on his own such anxiety
• 5:46:44
  was incompatible with full conviction. The old nun thought sister knew that Father Donelly
• 5:46:48
  had been called to the death bed of his father. She didn't know that
• 5:46:52
  on his return to Georgia, he had eagerly slipped the first of two letters
• 5:46:56
  from Eddyville. After expressing sympathy for the priest's law, Tom wrote, now
• 5:47:02
  I must tell you that I will go also on the twenty second of January.
• 5:47:06
  Father. I had intended asking for you to be with me during my
• 5:47:08
  last few hours on earth, and I still want you, but now I
• 5:47:12
  haven't the heart to ask it. So put it this way. If it
• 5:47:17
  isn't asking too much, and if it can be arranged, will you come
• 5:47:22
  now? Father, Feel perfectly free to do as you wish, and I
• 5:47:25
  will understand. But do let me know as soon as possible. The way
• 5:47:30
  things stand at present, I see nothing to prevent my going, and I
• 5:47:33
  am glad to get it over, Father. But oh how I have longed
• 5:47:37
  for you, or the sight of any friendly face. It has been plenty
• 5:47:41
  hard lately, you know how the devil keeps knocking. I suppose I'll keep
• 5:47:45
  at it until I draw my last breath. Father lives will be here shortly,
• 5:47:51
  so until later I will say a very fervent God, bless you mayor
• 5:47:55
  suffering savior aunt his sorrowful mother, comfort you and protect you always. You
• 5:48:00
  know I do keep you in my poor prayers. Sincerely in our Lord.
• 5:48:06
  The priest looked at the calendar. He had but two days in which to
• 5:48:08
  make arrangements. While still making rapid calculations, he opened the second letter and
• 5:48:14
  note that Tom's handwriting indicated a hurried and nervous state. It was dated January
• 5:48:18
  sixteenth. Dear father, just a line. Thinking about my last letter.
• 5:48:25
  I see that I have kind to put you on the spot by leaving it
• 5:48:27
  all up to you. But I did not want to add to your grief
• 5:48:30
  this following, so close on the sorrow already yours. But Father Lives assures
• 5:48:36
  me that you would be glad to have you and will make room for you.
• 5:48:38
  And if you can come to come on Wednesday. I told him you
• 5:48:41
  might if someone fly you down, probably assuming too much, but there is
• 5:48:47
  an airport at Paducah. Now again, let me assure you, dear father,
• 5:48:51
  that if you cannot come, we do not wish to witness the ordeal
• 5:48:55
  for which I would not blame you, I will understand perfectly. I do
• 5:48:59
  know that you will be with me in spirit. If you are a thousand
• 5:49:02
  miles away, or even at the end of the earth, you could perhaps
• 5:49:06
  do more to save the soul of another if he should happen to go that
• 5:49:08
  night, than any one else. He has great confidence in you, Father,
• 5:49:14
  and that means something. Father lives as a wonderful little priest, and
• 5:49:18
  I think the world of him myself. But he has not inspired and won
• 5:49:21
  the confidence of Bob. Father. George gasped Bob and allowed his eyes to
• 5:49:26
  run down to the PostScript, do not write after Tuesday, Father, and
• 5:49:32
  if you should, wire send it to Father Libbs Saint Francis to Sales perished
• 5:49:36
  Paducah with a start. He looked up Tuesday. Tuesday, he gasped,
• 5:49:42
  Tuesday is already dead. But boy, I'll get to your side or die
• 5:49:47
  in the attempt. It was just at that moment that Sister Mary the Wrencher
• 5:49:52
  was reading what she thought would be her last letter from Tom Penny. It
• 5:49:55
  came just after the exciting news at Kentucky's Court of Appeals had overruled Judge Adam
• 5:50:00
  decisions. But it read as if that action would not affect Tom's position.
• 5:50:04
  Father lives us here. Wednesday, I went to confession and received tully communion
• 5:50:10
  that blessed privilege is to be mine again Thursday afternoon at three, I'll be
• 5:50:14
  anointed. After it is all over, Father lives and Father Thompson will be
• 5:50:18
  here. For sure. You see, Father Thompson is pastor of Saint Francis's
• 5:50:22
  Sales Church and Paducah. Father lives as his assistant. Havn't heard from Father
• 5:50:26
  Donalley as yet or from Father Eugene. Sister lifted her eyes from the letter
• 5:50:33
  to offer a swift prayer the Father Donaldy would get there. The next paragraph
• 5:50:37
  made her catch her breath and whisper, Aha, I thought, so it
• 5:50:42
  Ran, I have an idea that Anderson will be baptized Thursday. Sister,
• 5:50:48
  I am nearly gambled with my own soul to win this soul. For God
• 5:50:52
  help me by praying that all will be well. She shook her head and
• 5:50:56
  read on, I cannot begin to thank you, dear sister, for all
• 5:51:00
  your kindness and generosity. So we will let saving my soul be your merit.
• 5:51:04
  As I am sure you and Sister Robert annshare largely in this accomplishment.
• 5:51:10
  As you see, sister, I am very confident of going to heaven.
• 5:51:12
  All unworthy as I am, nothing can harm me now. The devil is
• 5:51:18
  still lurking in the shadows, but he's had all he will ever get of
• 5:51:21
  me. I will write again, sister before I go, and I will
• 5:51:26
  ask Father to write you a line too. So until later be assured of
• 5:51:30
  my prayers and every good wish imaginable. Keep me in your good prayers.
• 5:51:34
  Don't write after Tuesday. I will be in heaven before it gets here.
• 5:51:40
  A thousand miles to the west of Lexington, Father Bryan was reading from a
• 5:51:44
  letter Tom I'd written the same day as the one to Father Donaldy January seventeenth.
• 5:51:49
  One passage gave the young passionates a twinge of regret. It was Father,
• 5:51:56
  you may say that master me. On the twenty first, I am
• 5:51:59
  allowed to have three visitors with me my last night, I am sending for
• 5:52:02
  Father Donaldy the priest to instruct me, and of course Father lives will be
• 5:52:07
  here. I wish you were closer to me. Father. No one is
• 5:52:11
  given me more courage than yourself. But whoever I will have, I will
• 5:52:15
  ask to write to you and give it to you in detail. By that
• 5:52:18
  you will be able to determine just where I shall spend my eternity. I'm
• 5:52:23
  pretty sure, tom, said the priest to himself. I have not the
• 5:52:27
  slightest doubt myself, for God only knows how sorry I am for my misdeeds.
• 5:52:33
  Oh, I know I am stealing heaven the same as a good saint
• 5:52:37
  dismiss you. See, Father, I still have larceny in my heart,
• 5:52:41
  but I will use it from now on to snatch souls from hell. Surely
• 5:52:45
  God will love that, will he not? Indeed? Indeed, said the
• 5:52:51
  priest, and silently thank God for the wonder he had rotten the soul of
• 5:52:53
  this man. Almost at the same moment, his brother, passionist Father You
• 5:53:00
  Jean, was offering the same silent gratitude, for he'd read in a letter
• 5:53:03
  penned January sixteenth, I grow more weary of this world every day. I
• 5:53:08
  would like to have seen you before I go, but I would not ask
• 5:53:11
  you to come because I have an idea it would not be pleasant. Father.
• 5:53:15
  So let me thank you for your good prayers and those you have enlisted
• 5:53:18
  for me. Father Libs, Father Thompson, and Father Donnelly will be with
• 5:53:22
  me as far as I know. I will ask one of them to write
• 5:53:26
  you, father, after it is all over. Dear old Saint Jerome over
• 5:53:32
  there in a Bethlehem cave told baby Jesus when he appeared to him, I
• 5:53:36
  have nothing but my sins to give thee, And Jesus said, Jerome,
• 5:53:41
  give me thy sins. I too have only my sins and my love to
• 5:53:45
  offer. But oh, Father, how I love him and his blessed mother.
• 5:53:51
  In poor old Saint dismas outcast in hoodlum. He may be up there
• 5:53:56
  playing the outfield of eternity, making schustring catches of souls, and so seldom
• 5:54:00
  getting to bat. But when he hits, it's a home run. Father.
• 5:54:06
  Many people have told me I was robbing heaven even as do Saint Dismiss.
• 5:54:11
  So perhaps he will allow me to help him snatch a few souls from
• 5:54:12
  hell. I won't say goodbye, Father, but until we meet, continue
• 5:54:18
  to give me a thought now and then I won't forget you ever. Sincerely
• 5:54:22
  in our Lord and our lady. P s. Don't mail anything after Tuesday,
• 5:54:27
  Father, I will go Friday morning at one a m. He wrote
• 5:54:33
  his mother almost every day now, and practically the same theme is found in
• 5:54:37
  each letter, sorrow for shaking the faith of his friends, deeper sorrow for
• 5:54:41
  not being able to relieve them by full explanation, a plea to be trusted,
• 5:54:45
  and an assurance of his own salvation. On January twelfth, he had
• 5:54:49
  written, the only thing that gives me a moment's chagrin is that I shall
• 5:54:55
  never hear your sweet lips say I understand now, darling, Remember that your
• 5:55:00
  Tom has not gone crazy, and that I never have had and never will
• 5:55:03
  have the slightest intention of damning my own soul for the sake of another.
• 5:55:08
  On the eighteenth, he opened more cheerfully, your letter came to day,
• 5:55:12
  honey, and I am so glad and grateful to God for the courage and
• 5:55:15
  strength he has giving you. I myself am feeling fine. Then quite bravely
• 5:55:22
  he added, yes, mother, dear, I understand you're not coming here.
• 5:55:26
  It would only make it harder for both of us. Furthermore, I
• 5:55:30
  want you to remember me as I used to look. He closed with well,
• 5:55:36
  dear, until tomorrow, good night. But Tom did not write Tuesday
• 5:55:40
  night. He could not. Early Wednesday morning, he was telling his mother
• 5:55:44
  all about it. I guess you will see the news before I can get
• 5:55:48
  it to you, so there is no need to go into details. The
• 5:55:52
  Warden, mister Buchanan, came to my cell last night and told me to
• 5:55:56
  make no further preparation for the twenty second because the Commonwealth was asking a stay
• 5:56:00
  for me and Baxter so that we can testify. He said we would be
• 5:56:03
  in Lexington for at least one day next week, so keep your eyes on
• 5:56:07
  the paper. I don't know what day it will be, but I don't
• 5:56:11
  think it will be more than one. I have been up all night trying
• 5:56:14
  to figure out how I am going to let the people know who won't see
• 5:56:17
  the paper. Father Donnilly is flying down here from deep in Georgia. Oh
• 5:56:22
  well, a good visit will do us both good. I must cut this
• 5:56:26
  short so that I can mail it this morning. It is now five.
• 5:56:29
  I am the good sisters told me about their invitation to you. The longer
• 5:56:33
  I know them, mother, the more I love them, and the more
• 5:56:37
  convinced I become. The Angels are right here in this cruel old world.
• 5:56:41
  Honey. I am sending you a letter from one of my adopted sisters.
• 5:56:45
  Note what she says about keeping your head high. Every one of these Magdalens
• 5:56:48
  is with you in spirit, Mother, and is praying hard for both of
• 5:56:52
  us, and you know the purse. The penitence pierced the clouds. It
• 5:56:57
  was some time before missus Penny turned to the enclosure, for the thought of
• 5:57:00
  seeing her boy again has set tears running down her cheeks. Finally, she
• 5:57:06
  unfolded the tiny sheet and read, dear brother, your letter, fill with
• 5:57:10
  such deep spiritual thoughts, edified us very much and made us feel that you
• 5:57:15
  are very close to God. To hear that you have been pardoned would not
• 5:57:18
  give me near the joy that the news that you had gone home would give
• 5:57:22
  me, For I dare say you will never be so well prepared again.
• 5:57:26
  After all, we must all meet death some day. The death agony can
• 5:57:30
  be ours long, but yours, thank God, will be over quickly.
• 5:57:34
  And as your so resigned and glad to offer your life to God, I
• 5:57:38
  feel that there will be no purgatory for your soul. Your faith is truly
• 5:57:42
  wonderful. Your dear mother can hold her head high, for not many mothers
• 5:57:47
  have such sons who have thoughts of God as beautiful as your thoughts, and
• 5:57:51
  who face death as fearlessly as you, looking on it as a going home
• 5:57:55
  to the one you love. Missus. Penny dried her eyes, then slowly
• 5:58:00
  looked up and silently thank God for all the blessings he had given to her
• 5:58:03
  boy, especially for the friendship of so many nuns and priests. It was
• 5:58:10
  at that very hour a guard told her son that he had a visitor.
• 5:58:14
  Tom looked up with the trace of irritation showing on hiscarred face. He had
• 5:58:18
  many many letters to write, and he was growing weary in a trifle impatient
• 5:58:22
  with lawyers, reporters, and preachers, even with some of the prison officials.
• 5:58:26
  They had shifted him from the cell and death row back to the little
• 5:58:30
  hole in the wall he had first occupied on coming to Eddyville, saying that
• 5:58:33
  it was by special order of the State Welfare Commissioner W. A. Frost,
• 5:58:37
  who had demanded this operation of Penny and Anderson. Who is it now?
• 5:58:42
  Inquired Tom a bit testily, a friend of yours, I haven't any
• 5:58:48
  You can come all the way down here, are you sure? Asked the
• 5:58:52
  guard with a light laugh. Look down the walk. Tom was at the
• 5:58:56
  door of his cell now and could squit down along sne quarter, he saw
• 5:59:00
  a tall, khaki clad figure coming toward him. His vision was so obstructed
• 5:59:06
  by the edge of the tiny square that he could not recognize the immacurately groomed
• 5:59:10
  officer who strode towards his cell. It was not until the overseas cap came
• 5:59:15
  off and the white face had broken into its friendly smile. The Tom gasped
• 5:59:21
  Father George, a key churned, a bolt shot back. The door swung
• 5:59:26
  open and followed. Donnelly grasped Tom Penny by the shoulders, saying, well,
• 5:59:30
  boy, it looks as if I wisked my neck for nothing. A
• 5:59:33
  cadet whod just got his wings flew me into Paducah. What a flight?
• 5:59:37
  What a flight? But now they tell me you're going to Lexington instead of
• 5:59:41
  the heaven. That's the sad news the warden gave me the night before last.
• 5:59:48
  Sad certainly, Father. I was all set. My hands were out
• 5:59:52
  almost touching the stars. But now, well, might as well look at
• 5:59:57
  the bright side. I may see my mother and the good sisters after the
• 6:00:02
  child. The priest slumped into the chair and crossed his knees. Yeah,
• 6:00:07
  Tom, what's this child all about? Ah? Father, I thought you'd
• 6:00:11
  guess. Look, I might as well do some go with my useless old
• 6:00:15
  life. I'm ready to go. Father Bob's not. I thought I might
• 6:00:21
  as well save him, and perhaps save many another through him. But Tom,
• 6:00:26
  when you get on the stand, you have to swear that this story
• 6:00:29
  is true. Sure, Then the prisoner stopped swear. Eh, you use
• 6:00:34
  the word purposely, didn't you, Father? I know you and your ways.
• 6:00:38
  There'll be something wrong and swearing. Come on, Father, George,
• 6:00:42
  time short. You know the whole story. The priest pushed a cart and
• 6:00:48
  of cigarettes towards his protege and lit a cigar for himself. As he blew
• 6:00:53
  out a cloud of fragrant smoke. He said, yes, Tom, I
• 6:00:57
  believe I do. I know it to its last detail. I even know
• 6:01:02
  what's going on and what has gone on in that mind and heart of yours.
• 6:01:06
  You want to say, Bob, don't you his soul? Father his
• 6:01:11
  soul? Well that would be a very good thing, Tom, But you
• 6:01:15
  know, well, you know, two wrongs will never make one right.
• 6:01:21
  Ever since he saw the papers telling of Tom's deposition, the priest has suspected
• 6:01:26
  some quixotic motive lay behind the event, and wondered how he would approach the
• 6:01:30
  matter. Feeling sure that Penny's heart, not his head, had pumped the
• 6:01:34
  deed. The priest had planned some appeal to that heart, but here he
• 6:01:38
  was appealing directly to the head. He watched the earnest eyed prisoner and saw
• 6:01:44
  a little reflective light in those eyes. Of course, not, replied Tom,
• 6:01:48
  rather hastily. But there are so many wrongs in this whole case that
• 6:01:52
  nothing seems right. This would never do, thought Father George. He must
• 6:01:59
  get into no art he might ever technicalities. He knew. Tom held fast
• 6:02:03
  to the fact that had been proved he had killed neither woman. He had
• 6:02:07
  won his ascent to the fact of moral guilt over a year ago. But
• 6:02:11
  he knew how prone the human mind is to quibble of a physical facts.
• 6:02:15
  He shifted his grounds. God has been good to you, Tom, Oh,
• 6:02:21
  Father, good is no word for it. You wouldn't want to hurt
• 6:02:25
  him. Never. Perjury is a serious tin, Tom. But I've committed
• 6:02:32
  no perjury, Father, not yet, Tom. But when you get to
• 6:02:36
  Lexington. The prisoner jumped from the table on which he had seated himself,
• 6:02:41
  thrust back a lock of blonde hair, rubbed a long scar on the side
• 6:02:45
  of his face, and in a vibrant whisper, said, Oh, Father,
• 6:02:49
  how lucky for me that you came. I never thought I never knew.
• 6:02:53
  I see, Father, I see now now, I know why I
• 6:02:57
  felt so uneasy about the whole thing from the very beginning. He threw up
• 6:03:03
  both hands in a gesture of appeal. I thought it was only a little
• 6:03:07
  die. I thought it would be okay to save Bob that way. But
• 6:03:11
  now now. Then, straightening up, he faced the priest fully and asked,
• 6:03:17
  what shall I do? Shall I call the warden right away and tell
• 6:03:19
  him the whole truth? I intended to do that before I went. Anyhow,
• 6:03:26
  not so fast, Tom, We've got to think this thing out.
• 6:03:29
  Too many people are involved for hasty judgment. Bob is banking on you more
• 6:03:34
  than once. He said he'd be baptized if I got him life or a
• 6:03:37
  new trial. Don't you see Tom that If you call the warden now and
• 6:03:42
  stop the trial at Lexington and Bob learns I have just been here, he'll
• 6:03:47
  hate you, me and the entire Catholic Church. Let him. Father,
• 6:03:52
  I'm not going to offend God for Bob Anderson or for any one else on
• 6:03:56
  earth now you're talking, boy, But let's see if we can't save the
• 6:04:00
  situation entirely. When is this hearing scheduled in Lexington? I don't know exactly,
• 6:04:07
  Father, someday next week. Well why not wait until Monday morning or
• 6:04:14
  late Sunday night before telling the warden? That ought to be long enough to
• 6:04:18
  keep people from connecting your confession with my visit. Tell him the truth,
• 6:04:22
  Tom, tell him just why you can cock it, the whole story.
• 6:04:26
  Then let him do what he wants. I've got something better than that,
• 6:04:30
  father, cried the aroused prisoner. Listen, we can let this thing go
• 6:04:34
  through. I'll tell the warden the whole truth, but put him under oath
• 6:04:38
  not to release it until after I am dead. What's the idea, Tom?
• 6:04:44
  How is that any better? Don't you see? Father Bob can have
• 6:04:48
  the benefit of the hearing. His lawyer's mae able to get something for him
• 6:04:52
  out of the mess. If they do so, much the better for Bob.
• 6:04:56
  If they don't, well I'll have done all I could, was the
• 6:05:02
  priest's only comment as he puffed and chewed at his cigar. We're in a
• 6:05:07
  nice mess. You're going to recant the story, Tom, Absolutely, you're
• 6:05:12
  not going to perjure yourself under no circumstances. Can we do both without arousing
• 6:05:18
  Bob's suspicions and rendering human pagonistic? I think so, I'll give the ward
• 6:05:25
  in the truth and then refuse to go to Lexington, hum, said the
• 6:05:29
  priest again, as he puffed and chewed. I doubt that you could refuse
• 6:05:33
  to go, Tom. But here, boy, suppose you go and say
• 6:05:36
  nothing? What do you mean? Father? Tom? If you refuse to
• 6:05:41
  answer, you avoid telling lies? Of course, do you think you could
• 6:05:47
  do that? Do you think you could allow them to put you on the
• 6:05:49
  stand, then, no matter who questioned you or what they asked, just
• 6:05:53
  refuse to answer. How about contempt of court? Father? Don't worry about
• 6:06:00
  that, Tom, It's recognized law that no one ever has to incriminate himself.
• 6:06:04
  You'll be standing on your legal rights and on no mere technicality. Can
• 6:06:08
  you do it? You mean, just shut up? That's easy. Good.
• 6:06:15
  A few days after I get away from here, you go to Bucannon
• 6:06:18
  and tell him the true story, give him permission to release it only after
• 6:06:21
  your death. Better have rankin there and lady too. Make it really legal,
• 6:06:26
  official and impressive. Then take the trip to Lexington, but say nothing
• 6:06:32
  in that way. You'll not offend, not God, for you'll tell the
• 6:06:36
  truth, not man, for you'll be standing on your rights. Bab will
• 6:06:40
  be getting every break you can give him, and you, well, you'll
• 6:06:44
  get to see your mother and the nuns. Price will take care of that.
• 6:06:47
  Tom the prisoner came over to the priest's chair, laid a hand on
• 6:06:52
  his shoulder, and very affectionately said, Oh Father, God is so good
• 6:06:56
  to have sent you. I was actually in the devil clutches and didn't know
• 6:07:00
  it. End of chapter eleven, into the hands of God Father Donilly's plame
• 6:07:11
  was hardly off the ground. When Tom was writing to Sister Mary Laurncia,
• 6:07:15
  Jess said, a most delightful visitor other Donnally, and I have his promise
• 6:07:18
  that he will write to you and tell you all. So now I feel
• 6:07:22
  very very much better, Sister. I am really sorry about this day because
• 6:07:27
  I don't think any good can come from it. Everything was prepared. Now
• 6:07:32
  I must go through all that again. Oh well, I will not complain.
• 6:07:37
  I am thankful for everything. I can smile and thank God for suffering
• 6:07:41
  as well as joy. It is only a matter of time anyhow, just
• 6:07:45
  a month. That will give me four weeks in which to pile up more
• 6:07:48
  merit for myself and for those I love. Sister, I know that despite
• 6:07:53
  what you say, you are still just a little bit worried. I confess
• 6:07:57
  now that you had reason to be, but it was only through ignorance on
• 6:08:00
  my part. That is why I have wanted to see Father Donnelly so badly.
• 6:08:06
  He understands the case thoroughly and can advise me in two minutes. Now
• 6:08:10
  everything is put right, and I am much wiser than I was this morning,
• 6:08:14
  and I love God and you and Father Donaldy more than ever. Ah,
• 6:08:18
  Sister, there will never be another just like him. He leaves for
• 6:08:22
  foreign service soon. Jes Remember, Sister, I only slipped, I did
• 6:08:27
  not fall. He had just put his signature to this letter. When the
• 6:08:33
  giant warden of the prison came along the walk. I've got good news for
• 6:08:37
  you, Tom, he said, cheerfully. We'll be heading for your home
• 6:08:41
  town early next Monday morning. I thought I'd be heading for my permanent home
• 6:08:47
  heaven to night. I wish they had stuck to their schedule. Cheer up,
• 6:08:52
  Tom, you may get to see your mother before we take that trip.
• 6:08:56
  I must see you in private, mister Buchanan. I have something very
• 6:08:59
  important to tell you. The warden was struck by the prisoner's serious tone and
• 6:09:03
  earnest gaze. Want to come over to the office now, he asked kindly.
• 6:09:10
  No, let's make it Saturday or Sunday. You'd better have Captain rankin
• 6:09:14
  there too. Sounds important. It is very all right, Tom, I'll
• 6:09:21
  see the Captain and fix the time. Just thought you'd like to know about
• 6:09:25
  the trip to Lexington. Penny looked down the walk to be sure they were
• 6:09:30
  alone, then, in what was little more than a whisper, said,
• 6:09:33
  it'll be useless to take me to Lexington, mister Buchanan, I'll have nothing
• 6:09:37
  to say. When Tom saw surprise mount and those large eyes behind the heavy
• 6:09:41
  glasses, he added, I've said, oh I'm ever going to say on
• 6:09:45
  this case in public, but I've a lot to say to you in private.
• 6:09:49
  That's why it'll be useless to take me to Lexington. If they put
• 6:09:52
  me on the stand, it'll do them no good. Oh well, said
• 6:09:57
  the warden heartily. We'll have a nice write together anyhow, you won't object
• 6:10:02
  to that. I hope. I'll let you know later about the time for
• 6:10:04
  that meeting you desire. Now that he had made the first move in the
• 6:10:10
  plan Father George had outlined, Tom felt better. He turned to his table
• 6:10:15
  with zest and wrote many telegrams telling people he would not die that night.
• 6:10:18
  Very few human beings would understand why there were tears in the pale blue eyes
• 6:10:22
  of the prisoner, or why his white upper lip was quivering as he hurried
• 6:10:26
  those telegrams off. The letter he sent that day to Sister Robert Yank gives
• 6:10:30
  us insight. Do you think you can put up with me for another month?
• 6:10:36
  I have told Sister Mary l Rencia all about Father Donald being here,
• 6:10:40
  so I'll tell you all about the beautiful letters I received from Waterflow, New
• 6:10:44
  Mexico. Four of them wrote with your good sister Ann Rita, and all
• 6:10:48
  the sisters are making the midnight watch for me to night, Oh sister,
• 6:10:52
  I feel so wretched about it. They will all be so disappointed. I
• 6:10:56
  hate to write and tell them so. The best I can do is get
• 6:11:00
  on my knees and watch with them, isn't it? Their prayers will not
• 6:11:03
  be wasted. I know, dear old mother did not get to come,
• 6:11:07
  as you know. By now, perhaps I may get to see you all
• 6:11:11
  next week when they bring us back to Lexington. Well, it is nearing
• 6:11:15
  midnight, so I'll say good night. Hard as I try, Sister,
• 6:11:18
  I still feel a tender regret that I am not now nearing my eternal home.
• 6:11:23
  Continue to pray for me, sister, and be assured of my own
• 6:11:26
  prayers. I doubled my efforts the last two weeks, and I'll try to
• 6:11:30
  keep it up. That tender regret was still with him in the morning,
• 6:11:36
  but this is what it produced. January twenty second, nineteen forty three.
• 6:11:41
  Dear Mother, Saint Clair, and my sister's Magdalens. It seems almost impossible
• 6:11:45
  for me to get on my way, But here's hoping that I had better
• 6:11:48
  luck next time. Surely, Mother and sisters, you have been already at
• 6:11:53
  some time in your lives to go some place. Then have it turn at
• 6:11:57
  a disappointment. You know how it hurts them, just a small disappointment.
• 6:12:02
  Imagine what it must be then, when the place in question has not been
• 6:12:04
  described in the beautiful words of Saint Paul, I hath not seen nor ear
• 6:12:10
  heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of men to conceive what things
• 6:12:14
  God is verre for those who love him. Not many men have had the
• 6:12:18
  opportunity to just sit down in a chair, reach out and touch the stars.
• 6:12:22
  Dear mother and sisters. Of course some have, and they are the
• 6:12:26
  miracles of God's mercy. Whatever my past has been, God has said,
• 6:12:33
  though your sins be a scarlet, I shall make them white as snow.
• 6:12:37
  Charity covers a multitude of sins, and charity means love of God and the
• 6:12:41
  God of love. Now I know with that love in my heart, I
• 6:12:45
  have the essence of sanctity. A sneering question was once asked, can any
• 6:12:51
  good come out of Nazareth? And perhaps some or many will ask the same
• 6:12:55
  question about the room next to eternity here at Eddyville. He answered, proportionately
• 6:13:00
  is the same, Oh, Mother and sisters, I know only too well
• 6:13:04
  how unworthy I am. I have no earthly wealth of good deeds as merit.
• 6:13:10
  I have only my sins and my love to offer. But dear old
• 6:13:14
  Saint Jerome said he didn't have anything but his sins. Yet Jesus said,
• 6:13:19
  Jerome, give me thy sins. My plight is like the story of the
• 6:13:25
  rain drop that fell liquid jewel from the heavens. It fell on the gutter
• 6:13:29
  and mingled with the mud and lost its radiant sparkle. But then a sunbeam
• 6:13:33
  sought it out, kissed it, and carried it into the heavens, where
• 6:13:37
  in the cold brightness of the sky it became pure white snowflake. God's love
• 6:13:42
  has been that sunbeam to me, Mother and sisters. And if you will
• 6:13:45
  allow me to change and modernize the figure, I'll say, I know.
• 6:13:49
  I'm coming in on the beam so that my saintly Mother and sisters. Is
• 6:13:56
  why I feel quite disappointed. However, I am not discouraged. My day
• 6:14:02
  is set again for February twenty sixth. Perhaps I can perform a few little
• 6:14:06
  acts of kindness or do something pleasing to God these next few weeks. I
• 6:14:10
  hope the telegram reached you on time. Mother. Oh, there are many
• 6:14:14
  thousands whom I could not let know on time, and you will think I
• 6:14:17
  am gone. But I have spent quite some time asking our Good God to
• 6:14:21
  accept their prayers and the masses that are being set for me, and apply
• 6:14:25
  them to my earthly store, that I may be more worthy. The telegram
• 6:14:30
  of the twenty first to cusp with excitement and disappointment within the quiet Detroit Cloister,
• 6:14:33
  and the long letter of the twenty second had not as yet been read
• 6:14:37
  to the symble community. When Tom was calling to porterby Lady Deputy Warden of
• 6:14:42
  Eddyesville's Great Stone House, it was Saturday to twenty third. Did mister Buchanan
• 6:14:48
  say anything about seeing me today? Asked the prisoner, not to me.
• 6:14:53
  Tom, why I've got something important to tell him? He said, he'd
• 6:14:57
  fix the time, will she'd do it today. I'm on my way to
• 6:15:03
  his office. I'll remind him. Five minutes later, the deputy was back
• 6:15:07
  unlocking the door. The Warden's ready, Tom, Let's go. For the
• 6:15:14
  next hour and a half, three men listened to an earnest, humble prisoner
• 6:15:17
  whose honesty was evident in everything from the light in his eyes and the insistence
• 6:15:22
  in his voice for the gestures of his large hands. The warden asked a
• 6:15:26
  few questions and got replies that were unhesitating and direct. Finally, he said,
• 6:15:32
  okay, Tom, so I am not to publish any of this until
• 6:15:34
  after you are dead. That's right. When I'm in the chair, you'll
• 6:15:38
  ask the usual question about having anything to say. I don't want to say
• 6:15:44
  much. Then I want to pray, So I am telling you now.
• 6:15:48
  When you ask me that question on the final night, I'll simply say,
• 6:15:52
  publish what I told you, okay, lad, but stay where you are
• 6:15:56
  until I get this whole thing in writing. You memoacked as witnesses, Lady
• 6:16:03
  and Rankin nodded. Two days later, Penny was in Lexington. Three days
• 6:16:08
  later he was on the witness stand, which had just been vacated by Bob
• 6:16:11
  Anderson, after the latter had said, Tom Penny has told so many lies
• 6:16:17
  in this case, no one knows what to believe from him. The tall
• 6:16:22
  scarface prisoner looked nearer and much more gentle than when he had taken that same
• 6:16:26
  stand fourteen months earlier. But despite the pronounced change in the aura he carried
• 6:16:30
  about him, despite the marked gentleness and kindliness and his whole mien, it
• 6:16:34
  was evident to all that Tom Penny was both nervous and very determined. Cahle
• 6:16:40
  first questioned him. Tom readily admitted he had made inflicting statements, but when
• 6:16:45
  asked which statement was true, he electrified the corps by refusing to answer.
• 6:16:51
  Judge Adam's head turned and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. Park the prosecuting attorney
• 6:16:56
  allowed himself the shadow of a smile as he saw Frank Cahill frown and give
• 6:17:00
  a grimace of impatience and chagrin. Before they are trying to conframe his next
• 6:17:06
  question, Tom very quietly, but very convincingly, said, all I've got
• 6:17:11
  to say in connection with this case has been said. I have made that
• 6:17:14
  clear before I left Eddieville. But tell us, did you disclose the truth
• 6:17:18
  in that deposition you made before you left Eddyville? Tom shifted slightly in the
• 6:17:23
  witness box, but very quietly replied, I've got nothing to say. Khle
• 6:17:30
  paused, then turned to the judge and requested a ten minute recess. The
• 6:17:34
  request was granted, but the interval availed him nothing. Though khle peppertain with
• 6:17:40
  questions, the prisoner's only reply was the quiet I've got nothing to say.
• 6:17:45
  In exasperation and frustration, the attorney finally appealed to the judge. Judge Adams
• 6:17:52
  turned to the witness, it is your duty to answer these questions unless you
• 6:17:56
  stand on your constitutional rights. Tom did not know just what his constitutional rights
• 6:18:02
  were. He remembered Father George had said something about them, but what it
• 6:18:06
  was he could not recall he did not know the judge was referring to the
• 6:18:10
  right he had to keep silence when by speech he would be incriminating himself.
• 6:18:15
  He simply looked at his honor and said, I simply refused to answer.
• 6:18:21
  Ka Hill gave up in despair. Park took her for the state, but
• 6:18:25
  got only I won't say. As replied to the many questions he fired at
• 6:18:30
  the man in the witness box, Tom gave one affirmative answer. It was
• 6:18:34
  to the question of the court do you refuse to testify in detail concerning the
• 6:18:38
  Miley case? I do, snapped Tom, and everyone in the courtroom knew
• 6:18:45
  he meant it. The hearing lasted every week for Judge Adams, out of
• 6:18:51
  wise caution, was admitting which testimony he would ordinarily spurn. Penny was called
• 6:18:56
  to this stand three times and requested to be heard once. Yet despite his
• 6:19:00
  four appearances, no one learned which statement, the one in the first trial
• 6:19:04
  in Lexington or the deposition made recently at Eddyville, was true. But Tom
• 6:19:11
  had a deeper concern than the hearing. As soon as he had arrived in
• 6:19:15
  Lexington, he dashed off a note to his mother telling her to see Judge
• 6:19:18
  Adams and get in order to visit him in jail. When the hearing was
• 6:19:22
  over on January twenty seventh, after the first session in court, Tom found
• 6:19:26
  a reply to his note awaiting him. He sat down immediately and wrote to
• 6:19:30
  his mother. The lawyer said, mister Adams, will let him know when
• 6:19:36
  you can see me. I am pretty sure I will get to see you
• 6:19:38
  before I have to go back, for I think the warden will grant me
• 6:19:41
  that privilege, even if the judge should refuse it. Please do not let
• 6:19:45
  anything trouble you about my conflicting statements. I know exactly what I have done,
• 6:19:49
  and I am not worried. Did you call the sisters? I should
• 6:19:55
  have written to them, but there isn't much one can say just now,
• 6:19:57
  so I will wait until this thing is over. I would like to see
• 6:20:02
  Father Brian too, but I am afraid of the publicity it might involve.
• 6:20:06
  I might write the sisters a note to night at that take care of yourself
• 6:20:11
  and try. Please mother not to worry. He saw her Monday afternoon,
• 6:20:15
  February first. Sisters Mary Lurnchia and Robert Anne were in the visitor's room with
• 6:20:21
  Tom when his mother arrived in her hands was a huge pie which she had
• 6:20:25
  baked that morning. Sister Mary Lurenchi had took it from her with a smile
• 6:20:29
  and nodded towards the tall, sparkling eyed man, who was literally a tremble.
• 6:20:33
  Sister robert Anne turned away quickly and had it for her handkerchief to wipe
• 6:20:37
  the tears which welled up as she saw an embrace, and which was exemplified
• 6:20:42
  a love that is so like the love of God for his creature man.
• 6:20:47
  The sisters very gracefully withdrew it made an easy farewell for both parties. The
• 6:20:52
  night had been with the prisoner over an hour and were delighted with his looks.
• 6:20:56
  His spirit. Tom had explained his contradictory state to them, had assured
• 6:21:00
  them as partly ignorance and partly anxiety to do all the good he could before
• 6:21:04
  he died. That had prompted the deposition. He laughed as he said,
• 6:21:10
  but here is proof that God still draws good from evil. If I hadn't
• 6:21:14
  been so stupid, I never have seen you again. You prophesied you would,
• 6:21:18
  Tom the day we visited you at Eddyville. Remember called a hunch,
• 6:21:25
  Sister robert Anne, for I'm not a prophet, nor a prophet's son.
• 6:21:30
  Tom said the older sister Mary Layncia in her own direct way. Are you
• 6:21:34
  afraid to die? The head went back. The blue eyes opened wide,
• 6:21:40
  and their sparkle emphasized the truth of his words, as he said, afraid,
• 6:21:45
  why, sister, if that chair there, and he pointed to the
• 6:21:48
  one he should have been sitting on, or the electric chair, gladly would
• 6:21:52
  I sit in it this moment? And it makes me very happy to realize
• 6:21:56
  I am the same aide as our Lord was when he died, just another
• 6:22:00
  instance of his goodness to me. As you say, I am spoiled.
• 6:22:04
  I only hope he takes my life as an offering for whom Tom, for
• 6:22:11
  Bob, as much as for any one. The parting with his mother was
• 6:22:15
  not so easy. The mother might never have loosed her arms from the embrace
• 6:22:21
  had not Tom assured her he felt positive he was going directly into the hands
• 6:22:25
  of God. Early the next morning, Penny and Baxter were on the road
• 6:22:29
  to Eddyville. Andersen remained behind for the decision of the court. That night,
• 6:22:34
  Tom wrote to his mother. Arrived in Eddyville o K at two forty
• 6:22:40
  five p m. Left Lexington at seven o seven a m. Had another
• 6:22:44
  beautiful day for traveling and enjoyed a splendid ride. Just another proof of God's
• 6:22:48
  goodness, Darling. Tommy came yesterday just after you left, and stayed about
• 6:22:53
  an hour. I am so glad I got to see every one. Tommy
• 6:22:57
  brought me a carton of camels and the water, and let me bring them
• 6:23:00
  with me. I ate the candy all the way down and enjoyed your pie
• 6:23:03
  last night. It was delicious. Mother. The long drive up and back,
• 6:23:10
  the tense, nervous days on the witness land, and the emotional drainings
• 6:23:14
  caused by his meeting with and final partings from those whom he loved so deeply
• 6:23:18
  left tom almost exhausted. But one night's sleep and the urgency of time brought
• 6:23:22
  him to his table the next day and stead in writing energetically. He had
• 6:23:27
  but three weeks to live. He must reassure his friends and explain as much
• 6:23:32
  of the baffling situation as he could. Father Brian was the first to whom
• 6:23:37
  he turned. His explanation was not too clear. What the young passion as
• 6:23:41
  was happy to read, Father lives will be here next Wednesday. I can
• 6:23:47
  hardly wait, he was not to blame for my heirors. Father. I
• 6:23:49
  did not make the thing clear to him. That is why I wanted Father
• 6:23:53
  Dolly. He already knew everything. To Father Eugene, he wrote an explanation
• 6:24:00
  which in it with a promise be assured Father, the father lives will know
• 6:24:04
  about everything. I stumbled, but I did not fall. And I think
• 6:24:08
  you know Father that I am sincere when I say I had no evil intentions
• 6:24:12
  and that it was all my fault for not making it clear to my confessor.
• 6:24:17
  I love God too much to offend him intentionally. Father, and I
• 6:24:21
  am as sorry as can be for what happened, and tell him so many
• 6:24:25
  many times a day. I am also very sorry for all the publicity and
• 6:24:29
  the disturbance it caused you in others. I know you will forgive me and
• 6:24:33
  continue to pray for me. Write any time, and if it so happens
• 6:24:37
  that you can be here the twenty sixth, remember I want you. On
• 6:24:41
  February fourth, he wrote a full explanation to Father Donnelly at turner Field,
• 6:24:45
  which ran in part Dear Father came back from Lexington Tuesday, but thought I
• 6:24:52
  would wait until they had decided on Bob's case before I wrote you, Judge
• 6:24:56
  Adams denied him a new trial yesterday. I don't know. I know what
• 6:25:00
  they will do now, Father, but whatever it is, you can be
• 6:25:03
  sure I'm through with it. Please, Father, do not blame anyone but
• 6:25:07
  me. I did not explain the case thoroughly to fill O Dibbs. I
• 6:25:11
  took it for granted that he knew more about it than he did. Father.
• 6:25:15
  Libbs will be here Wednesday. I'll let you know about it all.
• 6:25:18
  Then I was permitted to see Mother, my sisters and brothers. The good
• 6:25:22
  nuns came Monday afternoon for about an hour. I am so thankful that I
• 6:25:26
  saw them. Father. They were so disturbed about the conflicting statements, as
• 6:25:32
  was only natural. I won't feel right until I see Father Libs and make
• 6:25:36
  everything right with him. I know you were hurt to think that I would
• 6:25:40
  do a deliberate deeds to contrary to all your teachings. I have suffered from
• 6:25:44
  it, to Father, but I want to suffer for it here. I
• 6:25:48
  won't complain. Nothing like it will ever happen again. You may be sure.
• 6:25:53
  Tom was tired and tempted to put his pen aside, but his eyes
• 6:25:56
  fall on an envelope with an Ownsborough postmark. He knew the handwriting and smiled.
• 6:26:02
  Sister Francesca's the little urs the line whom Father Bryan had asked to write
• 6:26:06
  to Tom he must write to her, no matter how tired and tempted.
• 6:26:11
  She had replied so promptly and with such evident trust in the man the whole
• 6:26:15
  world was calling liar that he warmed the very thought of her. From the
• 6:26:19
  very beginning, he had found it easy to write to this nun who was
• 6:26:23
  so direct, so optimistic, so full of fun. Scanning her latest,
• 6:26:29
  Tom knew he must give her something worth while. He drew a bit of
• 6:26:33
  prison stationary to him and wrote, dear Sister Mary Francesca, don't know how
• 6:26:38
  many bars you were out, but you came in on the down beat.
• 6:26:42
  I arrived yesterday afternoon and received your letter this morning. I want to tell
• 6:26:48
  you, dear sister, that more than you will ever know, I do
• 6:26:51
  appreciate your wonderful faith in me. The newspapers published by conflicting statements and thus
• 6:26:56
  disturbed you, all, my friends and even my I am sure, sister,
• 6:27:02
  that you are entitled to know that my confessor has been fully informed of
• 6:27:04
  the truth and now assures me all is well. Let me add that I
• 6:27:10
  stumbled, but I did not fall. My soul is still intact. God
• 6:27:15
  is pleased, I am happy, and the devil is furious, which makes
• 6:27:19
  everything perfect. He is not a nice playmate, the devil I mean,
• 6:27:25
  and as you say, he has many accomplices who appear in many forms and
• 6:27:29
  fashions. Oh, by the way, I had many visitors last Monday afternoon
• 6:27:33
  and evening after the sessions in court were over. Did your ears burn?
• 6:27:38
  Sisters Robert Anne and Mary Laurentchi. I came to the jail for about an
• 6:27:41
  hour and a half, then my mother, sisters, brothers, two nephews,
• 6:27:45
  and others. Sister Robert Anne knows you. Oh, why can't every
• 6:27:51
  woman be like you? Sisters? Then everyone would love everyone else. There
• 6:27:55
  wouldn't be all this war. People would not have to or would not want
• 6:27:57
  to lie, cheat, rob or kill. Until next time, I'll be
• 6:28:03
  asking our lady to assist you in all you do. So you see you
• 6:28:07
  cannot fail, for she has never failed me. Continue to remember me,
• 6:28:11
  your devoted friend and our Lord and our lady. Late Friday night, the
• 6:28:18
  prison Grapevine was at work spreading the news that Bob Anderson was back from Lexington
• 6:28:22
  after having been denied a new trial. Penny was still up on the walk,
• 6:28:26
  so he did not see Bob, but the reports that reached him set
• 6:28:30
  his hands stroking the long scar on his cheek, a gesture that always accompanied
• 6:28:34
  strong emotion or deep thought. It was said that Anderson was bitterly cursing Penny,
• 6:28:40
  priests and the whole Catholic code. Tom sought outlet for those thoughts and
• 6:28:45
  feelings by writing, Sister Roberty Anne, Bob came back to night. I
• 6:28:49
  am still separated from him. Perhaps it is best that way. I am
• 6:28:55
  doing fine up here, no one to bother me, just me and Jesus.
• 6:29:00
  And you may be sure I pause every so often to tell him how
• 6:29:03
  sorry I am for my air, Oh, sister, ask him to punish
• 6:29:07
  me here. If I had listened to you, Sister, this thing would
• 6:29:11
  never have happened. But it has taught me that his way is the only
• 6:29:15
  way. That there is no such thing as half right and half wrong.
• 6:29:18
  It is all for God or nothing. Sister. You may be want to
• 6:29:23
  crawl into a whole Monday, and I deserved it so don't feel bad about
• 6:29:27
  it. I am praying so hard that Bob will not be embittered. I
• 6:29:32
  do not care what he thinks of me. In fact, I am glad
• 6:29:36
  to bear his wrath if in the end it will save his soul. Hurry
• 6:29:40
  and write to me. I will stop now and say my beads. Oh,
• 6:29:44
  yes, sister, I will take them with me. You will see
• 6:29:48
  that mother gets a rosary when she is ready, won't you. I just
• 6:29:51
  know she will some day. Early next morning, Tom heard his name called
• 6:29:56
  by one of the inmates of the next cell. He knew Alex Dogherty two
• 6:30:00
  brothers were there in permanent lock up. He liked these burly lads, and
• 6:30:06
  when he heard that they were under instructions ever since Father Brian's mission, he
• 6:30:10
  felt he was near friends. He answered the hail as cheerfully as he could.
• 6:30:15
  Dawn cried, I just got a look at today's paper. The judge
• 6:30:18
  was to blame exactly where it belongs. Where's that, Dawn, said Tom,
• 6:30:23
  with quickening interest. Write on Anderson's shoulders. How come? He says,
• 6:30:30
  Anderson could have and should have gone on the stand in the original trial
• 6:30:33
  and flatly contradicted your testimony. He didn't, so the judge says, his
• 6:30:37
  action now is utterly unconvincing, and of course he's right. So don't let
• 6:30:42
  Anderson's growls get you down. Tom. You did all you could for the
• 6:30:45
  guy. Thanks Don, not only for the news but for the encouragement.
• 6:30:52
  It proved more encouraging than Tom realized. It put him in the mood to
• 6:30:56
  write one of his most cheerful letters since January twenty first. He addressed it
• 6:31:00
  to Mother Saint Clair and her Magdalens, telling them something of his most recent
• 6:31:04
  experiences. While I was in jail last week in Lexington, they were locked
• 6:31:10
  up with me two Chinese, five Mexicans, one Greek, one Canadian,
• 6:31:14
  and two American boys. They could not understand my cheerfulness for good humor or
• 6:31:18
  how I could sleep. They had prepared to sell for me apart, and
• 6:31:22
  these men had orders not to talk to me or give me anything such as
• 6:31:25
  knives or razor blades, et cetera. That night they brought a dope attic
• 6:31:30
  in and locked them and with me. When preparing for bed, I removed
• 6:31:33
  some articles from my pockets and laid them out. Pretty soon he said,
• 6:31:37
  what do you have in that little purse? It was one sister Mary Holy
• 6:31:41
  Name sent me for Christmas. I handed him the purse. He opened it,
• 6:31:47
  took out the bees and stared at them. Soon two big tears rode
• 6:31:51
  down his cheeks. I didn't say anything to him just then. It was
• 6:31:55
  conscious of the fact that it was the first time in my life that I
• 6:31:57
  was happy at the sight of tears. Later we had quite a talk,
• 6:32:03
  and between his grunts and grands I learned that it was nearly six years since
• 6:32:06
  he had been to church or confession. The next morning, I took him
• 6:32:10
  to the U. S. Public Health Service. As he was leaving,
• 6:32:12
  I said to him, Frank, what are you going to do when you
• 6:32:15
  get out there? He said, Tom, the first thing I do will
• 6:32:21
  be to call father and go to confession. To that, he added,
• 6:32:26
  then a very young boy who cursed something terrible was put in with me.
• 6:32:30
  Poor kid cannot even read or write. Somehow I gained his confidence and my
• 6:32:34
  dear mother and sisters. The last three days I was there, I never
• 6:32:38
  heard him utter one bad word. On the last day, after court was
• 6:32:42
  over, I was permitted to see many of my loved ones. My dear
• 6:32:47
  old mother. When I held her in my arms, and kissed her good
• 6:32:48
  bye, perhaps for the last time. Asked me if you will be able
• 6:32:55
  to see me from up there? I said, mother, dear, my
• 6:32:59
  eyes will never leave you until you join me in heaven. I left her,
• 6:33:03
  heart broken but happy. Mother. I have prattled on here with my
• 6:33:07
  personal pronoun until I have no room for personal messages. But tell my echo,
• 6:33:12
  I really got acquainted with J. B. Cannon on the trip and
• 6:33:15
  learned a secret. He fell in love with a girl once, and she
• 6:33:18
  turned none on him. I said, my, but she must have been
• 6:33:22
  intelligent, How so, said he? I replied, oh, I was
• 6:33:29
  just judging from the preference she made. He is really a swell fellow,
• 6:33:33
  this giant JB. The days were flying now, and despite the fact that
• 6:33:38
  Tom spent most of his day and much of his night at his table writing,
• 6:33:42
  he could not seem to keep abreast of his mail. But God's hand
• 6:33:47
  is evident here, perhaps more than anywhere else. For this correspondence with his
• 6:33:51
  mother, these nuns and priests kept the doomed man's mind focused on the great
• 6:33:55
  reality beyond the last horizon, and on him, whom someone had called the
• 6:34:00
  obvious invisible. It seems as if a thing that Tom had asked us to
• 6:34:04
  Robert Ann to pray for in his letter of February fifth, was being granted
• 6:34:08
  round the tenth of the month. He wrote, well, sister, the
• 6:34:12
  thing I tried so hard to prevent has happened. Bob is very bitter toward
• 6:34:17
  Father Libs and sent word for him not to come down to see him to
• 6:34:19
  day. I am sorry, it really hurts. It hurt father too.
• 6:34:26
  Perhaps you can help me with the letter, sister, but don't mention me
• 6:34:29
  or let on that you know anything. I gave Father leave to reveal anything
• 6:34:33
  I have ever told him so that he could talk to Bob plainly. It
• 6:34:38
  is my personal opinion that Bob will want to see him soon, and very
• 6:34:41
  soon. I hope, and hope and hope. But Andersen's bitterness was not
• 6:34:48
  the only source of anguish for the man in the little cement hole in the
• 6:34:52
  wall upon the walk. Letters from Lexington told him his mother was not well.
• 6:34:59
  On Lincoln's birthday, he wrote, Oh, if God would only give
• 6:35:03
  me your pains and aches, how happy I would be. Tom gave Father
• 6:35:07
  Brian an insight into his aching heart in the letter dated February sixteenth. I
• 6:35:12
  am certainly happy that you will be able to visit your good parents. Father.
• 6:35:15
  Some of us never appreciate them until we lose them or come to the
• 6:35:19
  full knowledge of just how seriously we can injure them. On February twenty first,
• 6:35:26
  Tom was writing sister Mary Laurentia, telling her how Andersen's lawyers had been
• 6:35:30
  down to Eddyville again and had had him summon in the Warden's office, where
• 6:35:34
  they told him Bob was to have a hearing in Louisville Wednesday before Judge Miller
• 6:35:38
  of the Federal Court. But I had nothing to say to them, sister,
• 6:35:42
  so I will not be called again. I thank God for sparing me
• 6:35:47
  that ordeal. I don't think Satan will bother me again, sister, but
• 6:35:51
  I'll be on my guard. Inclosing, he wrote, I must get a
• 6:35:56
  letter out to Father Donalley to day. Yes, sister, there is no
• 6:36:00
  name for what he has been to me. Tom immediately carried out his intentions.
• 6:36:04
  He closed his letter to the priest with I understand that Bob has not
• 6:36:08
  given up hope yet, but for me it is still February twenty sixth I
• 6:36:12
  do hope that you can get up, but if you can't, well,
• 6:36:17
  you're in the army now. But Tom's hopes were high. Father Georgia thought
• 6:36:22
  nothing of risking bitter criticism in Lexington when he first entered the case, thought
• 6:36:26
  nothing of driving the hundred miles between Covington and Fayette County Jail two or three
• 6:36:30
  times a week to instruct the prisoner, thought nothing of making the wearying six
• 6:36:34
  hundred mile round trip between Eddyville and his parish house week after week in order
• 6:36:40
  to sustain the newly baptized. He had thought nothing of risking his life in
• 6:36:45
  flying from Georgia with a very young cadet in order to be with Tom the
• 6:36:48
  day he was scheduled to die. The prisoner had reason to believe his faithful
• 6:36:52
  friend would be with him when he walked those last few steps from his cell
• 6:36:56
  to the room with only a single chair with eagerness. Then he tore open
• 6:37:00
  the envelope from Turner Field on Tuesday morning, February twenty third. He unfolded
• 6:37:06
  the letter with high expectations, but the very first sentence made him sit down
• 6:37:11
  and drew a grown of disappointment from him. Dear Tom, after all these
• 6:37:15
  months, I am going to have to disappoint you. I had planned on
• 6:37:19
  coming down to Eddyville, but conditions here will not permit my absence. I
• 6:37:23
  am sure you will understand. However, Tom, in my disappointment, I
• 6:37:27
  have the consolation of knowing that you are a one who I am sure is
• 6:37:32
  going to enjoy the bliss of heaven. What happiness is awaiting you, Tom,
• 6:37:37
  don't forget me when you come face to face with our Savior. Remember
• 6:37:41
  we all need help, and your influence will be great. You can obtain
• 6:37:45
  much for me, and don't forget those who have been so kind and helpful.
• 6:37:48
  You can rest assured they will not forget you. I will write to
• 6:37:53
  Bob. I wrote him last week, but have received no answer. If
• 6:37:56
  it were possible for me to talk to him, I know, I know
• 6:38:00
  he would do what is right, but at present it seems impossible. I
• 6:38:03
  feel sure God will hear our prayers. Some time, Tom, I will
• 6:38:07
  see your mother and explain to her what I know you would like her to
• 6:38:11
  know, namely that you are in the friendship of God and certainly one of
• 6:38:15
  his choice souls. May she have the grace to enjoy what you have enjoyed
• 6:38:18
  this past year. Before God calls her, I am going to say good
• 6:38:22
  Bye, Tom. Your example has meant much to me. I will never
• 6:38:26
  forget you, and even though I shall pray for you always, I know
• 6:38:30
  you will never need my prayers. You have earned heaven yourself. I have
• 6:38:34
  only supplied the opportunity. I shall be with you in spirit Thursday night.
• 6:38:40
  God love you always, Tom, until we meet in heaven. Father.
• 6:38:45
  It was the last sacrifice God was asking of Tom Penny, and perhaps the
• 6:38:49
  greatest and most beneficial. For the last time on this earth. The prisoner
• 6:38:55
  had seen his mother, his sisters and brothers, the two Nazareth nuns,
• 6:39:00
  and now he knew he had seen for the last time the man he is
• 6:39:03
  so often confessed he all but adored. He was as naked now as Christ
• 6:39:07
  had been on cavalry. For a few moments, he thought he was more
• 6:39:11
  naked and alone for Christ to look down from the cross on his mother,
• 6:39:15
  Aunt, John Magdalen, and the Holy women. But then Tom caught himself,
• 6:39:21
  No, he was not alone, for God seemed almost as tangible as
• 6:39:25
  his table, as intimate as his heart beat, more real than any reality
• 6:39:30
  on earth. He placed the letter flat on his table, struck it with
• 6:39:33
  his large right hand, and said, if that's what you want, Lord,
• 6:39:37
  I want it too. Bless Father George for all he has been to
• 6:39:41
  me. With that act of resignation, a piece of soul came to Tom
• 6:39:48
  Penny that was not to leave him while he lived. He had taken all
• 6:39:52
  the setbacks as so much purgatory, and now he suddenly saw how happy those
• 6:39:56
  suffering souls can be. His thoughts were frequent in Lexington, but when he
• 6:40:00
  read how sisters Mary, Laurentia and Robert Anne visited his mother weekly and allowed
• 6:40:06
  her to come to the hospital as often as she liked. When he read
• 6:40:10
  how Tommy, the girl he now knew he should have married, was talking
• 6:40:12
  with his mother every day, either face to face or over the phone.
• 6:40:17
  When he read how the same Tommy was consulting lawyers, writing judges, visiting
• 6:40:21
  price and planning a call on the governor. When he read how letters were
• 6:40:25
  arriving at three eight three South Spring Street from priests and nuns and kind hearted
• 6:40:29
  layfolk, Tom knew that God and his blessed mother were answering his prayers in
• 6:40:33
  a measure he never dared ask. One week before the date of execution,
• 6:40:38
  he wrote, Mother, Dear, I could ask mister Davis to bring you
• 6:40:42
  down, but I can't bear the thought of seeing any one who really cares
• 6:40:47
  about me here. Mother. I want you to know I willingly accept whatever
• 6:40:52
  God, in his infinite wisdom, has ordained for me. It is not
• 6:40:55
  easy to hold one's self in perfect resignation, but I have often wonderedly if
• 6:41:00
  it doesn't require more and courage to want to live than it does to want
• 6:41:03
  to die. God has given me grace to carry on so far, Mother,
• 6:41:08
  and I know you will continue so long as I love him, So
• 6:41:11
  whatever happens, I will not murmur against him. I only ask that his
• 6:41:17
  holy will be done. The only sad moments I have, Mother, are
• 6:41:22
  those in which I think of the ones who really love me and will hate
• 6:41:25
  to see me go. If I could only be sure that they would not
• 6:41:29
  worry or grieve, I will say that my last moment on this earth would
• 6:41:32
  be my happiest. In this last week of life, tom learned the limitations
• 6:41:37
  of human language when he tried to show his heart to the one from whose
• 6:41:41
  veins that heart had drawn its blood. But he was able to open the
• 6:41:45
  final week with how did you like the little spread? I told Tommy to
• 6:41:48
  surprise you with mother. I was going to have too made for you,
• 6:41:52
  but change my mind when I realized you could hide one easier. You see,
• 6:41:57
  I know my mother pretty well. Tommy wants to have my picture made
• 6:42:02
  in surprise you with it, but I can't get one maiden here. I
• 6:42:06
  am sorry for your sake and for hers. Mother. I need not tell
• 6:42:11
  you that that girl's interest is much more than mere sympathy, and I think
• 6:42:15
  it will lighten her heart somewhat if some day you tell her that your tom
• 6:42:18
  loved her and loved her for years. I guess this will be the last
• 6:42:22
  letter you can answer, dear, and you must have that answer in the
• 6:42:26
  mail Tuesday night or I won't get it. But do not worry yourself about
• 6:42:30
  it, mother, for I know all the things you would like to say,
• 6:42:33
  so never worry about having left anything unsad. The very next day he
• 6:42:38
  sent her a Mother's Day card, which had been sent him by Regine Unger,
• 6:42:42
  an invalid of Sock Center. He would have been corresponding with Tom since
• 6:42:47
  the appearance of the article in the Register concerning the Biblical contest. Within the
• 6:42:52
  folds of the card, missus Penny found a dollar bill, a short note
• 6:42:55
  from Regine to Tom, telling him to send the card in the bill to
• 6:42:57
  his mother as a gift. Finally, there was a clipping with Monseigneur be
• 6:43:02
  God's inspiring message for those who mourn. A messager insists on the very thing
• 6:43:07
  missus Penny had asked Tom when she held him in her arms for the last
• 6:43:11
  time. The great and sad mistake of many people with the Monseigneur is to
• 6:43:17
  imagine that those whom death has taken leave us. They don't they remain?
• 6:43:22
  Where are they in darkness? Oh? No, it is we who are
• 6:43:26
  in the dark. We do not see them, but they see us.
• 6:43:30
  Their eyes, radiant with glory, are fixed on ours, filled with tears.
• 6:43:34
  On Wednesday morning, Tom penned the last letter his mother had received while
• 6:43:38
  he yet lived well. Write now and again tomorrow night. I had a
• 6:43:44
  letter from the sisters to day, and will write them some time to night,
• 6:43:48
  for I want to have my mind as clear as possible. To morrow
• 6:43:49
  night, I'll tell you what I am going to do. Mother. It
• 6:43:53
  is too painful to write to all my brothers and sisters, so I am
• 6:43:56
  going to write one letter to you, and you can either read it to
• 6:44:00
  them or let them read it. Themselves. I am sure all will be
• 6:44:04
  together. Then, after detailing a few messages he wished to have passed on,
• 6:44:10
  he concluded bye for now, darling. Just keep your chin up and
• 6:44:14
  remember, dear, I am going to my home in Heaven to await your
• 6:44:18
  coming. He signed it just as a second Last day on Earth ended end
• 6:44:25
  of Chapter twelve. Last Day on Earth. Tom Penny was up early on
• 6:44:32
  the twenty fifth. He had much to do his last day on earth,
• 6:44:36
  but his first thought was of adoration. Down on his knees, he went
• 6:44:40
  in his cold, dark cell and looked lovingly at a little round, white
• 6:44:44
  wafer of unloving bread. It had come some days ago from Sister Magdalena sink
• 6:44:48
  Gertrude, the aged contemplative, whose office it was to bake the altar breads
• 6:44:52
  at the Detroit Monastery. At the moment, Tom recognized it for what it
• 6:44:57
  was, just a weightless waf or wheat. But he knew that before many
• 6:45:02
  hours it would hold under its appearances of bread the body and blood sullen divinity
• 6:45:07
  of Him who holds up the world. Tears were in his eyes as they
• 6:45:11
  recalled what he had written to Sister robert Ian the day it had arrived,
• 6:45:17
  Sister Magdalena, Saint Gertrude just sent me the host for my last holy communion.
• 6:45:21
  So you see, in a way, dear sister, I have his
• 6:45:25
  precious body right here in my cell with me, just waiting for the twenty
• 6:45:29
  fifth, when Father lives will make it the living God of my heart.
• 6:45:32
  Please do not divulge this to anyone, say Sister Laurentia. I am sure
• 6:45:37
  it is all right for Sister Saint Girche, adopting the permission of her confessor
• 6:45:41
  and her superiorist to do this. You know, I could not deprive her
• 6:45:44
  of the pleasure of knowing that she had made my last one. Believe me,
• 6:45:48
  I shall not waste a single moment of that precious union with God.
• 6:45:53
  Before beginning the letters he had planned, Tom took a look at the box
• 6:45:56
  he had packed for his mother. Some shoes, shirts and trousers around the
• 6:46:00
  bottom, but then came the treasures, books, pamphlets, holy cards,
• 6:46:06
  and those precious letters from nuns, priests and lay folk. He gave a
• 6:46:10
  hasty glance around the cell to satisfy himself that everything was in the box that
• 6:46:15
  should be. Then he took a huge sheet of paper measured it over the
• 6:46:18
  top of the box, toured on the edge of his table, fitted it
• 6:46:22
  again, then, in large, fat letters printed his farewell message to his
• 6:46:26
  mother. Goodbye, mother, Darling, I love you, and we'll await
• 6:46:32
  you in Heaven your own tom. He slipped it snugly, then closed the
• 6:46:37
  box and placed it to one side. The first chore of his last day
• 6:46:41
  on earth was done. Now for the others, he read the letter he
• 6:46:47
  had started to Sister Francesca the night before. In it, he had been
• 6:46:51
  telling Sister about regine hunger, his sock center friend, advising her to give
• 6:46:55
  Reggine noticed whenever she was in trouble, and the girl was soon had half
• 6:47:00
  the comments and monasteries in the country praying for you. He smiled now,
• 6:47:03
  as he added, but while I go to all that trouble, are you
• 6:47:07
  not sending me to heaven to do your praying. I will have found your
• 6:47:11
  friend even before you receive this letter, perhaps, And when I get through
• 6:47:15
  telling him about you, well you just wait and see. I am saying
• 6:47:21
  nothing of what I will have to tell our lady sister. I am glad
• 6:47:25
  you are at last understanding, Miss Bah I intended telling you about that but
• 6:47:30
  forgot. You know there is a special reward for converts, But for such
• 6:47:33
  a convert as yours, well, seriously, you'll probably inherit a private throne.
• 6:47:41
  Now let me confess that I was conceded enough to think of sending you
• 6:47:44
  a remembrance even before you ask for one. But now I am in a
• 6:47:47
  quandary just what to send. Most of my books and prayer books I've autographed
• 6:47:52
  and returned to the ones who sent them. The beautiful little metal crucifix you
• 6:47:56
  gave me will stay right where it is on my scapular chain on my neck.
• 6:48:00
  My rosy will be placed in my hand with my crucifix, so as
• 6:48:04
  by you doesn't count in this instance, I am sending you a little metal
• 6:48:07
  rose, the little flowers with the sacred Heart and our Lady of Mount Carmel
• 6:48:12
  attached to a badge that was made especially for me by Sister Saint Clair of
• 6:48:17
  the Good Shipper Convent in Detroit. Now, Sister, I won't say goodbye,
• 6:48:22
  and I know you don't like praise, so I won't take advantage of
• 6:48:25
  this perfect opportunity, knowing that you cannot answer back. But I do say,
• 6:48:30
  hold that old fighting spirit and keep that sassy grin. I wanted to
• 6:48:34
  say, sweet smile. And if I don't see you up there some day,
• 6:48:38
  I'll bet my socks and shoes it will be I who is absent.
• 6:48:42
  Thank all the dear people for their good prayers. He had just signed his
• 6:48:48
  name when he heard steps outside his door. He listened as a long bolt
• 6:48:52
  was shot back, then watched his door open. It was the warden.
• 6:48:56
  Good morning, Tom, you seem busy. I am, mister Buchanan.
• 6:49:02
  I'll never finish, oh I should today? Tom? Is there anything you
• 6:49:06
  want to say before you die? Not a thing about the case, mister
• 6:49:11
  Buchanan, But I do want to say thanks to you and all the officers
• 6:49:14
  of the prison. You've been very kind. Thanks Tom, you've been a
• 6:49:18
  good boy. I'll do my best to see that you're not bothered today.
• 6:49:22
  There are a few things that can't be avoided. You need to have a
• 6:49:26
  haircut for one thing. Then I must come around twice more to ask you
• 6:49:30
  the same question. But sit in and accomplish all you can. See you
• 6:49:33
  later, boy, Tom, sat in and write to Father Brian. Doubtless
• 6:49:40
  you are wondering why didn't answer your last letter. Well, Father, I
• 6:49:44
  knew that you would not receive it on time to write again. So I
• 6:49:48
  have taken my time. I am feeling fine, Father, and to change
• 6:49:52
  a few words, I will use a few sentences from your last letter.
• 6:49:56
  The love of God is so strongly embedded in my heart that knowledge of the
• 6:50:00
  has brought a resignation to me that makes the prospect pleasing, yes, even
• 6:50:04
  joyfully. So. My love of God still outweighs my love of life.
• 6:50:10
  I seek not the consolation of God, but the God of consolations, not
• 6:50:15
  the gift, but the giver. Bob just came back from a court turned
• 6:50:18
  down. Of course, as we all expect it. I am sorry that
• 6:50:22
  nothing can be done for him. He has finally decided, I think,
• 6:50:26
  to be baptized in the Baptist Church. However, I shall not give up
• 6:50:30
  hope. I think you know how I feel about you, and how grateful
• 6:50:33
  I am for all you've done for me. I cannot begin to thank you
• 6:50:37
  enough. So God will do it for me. I would not forget you
• 6:50:41
  and my happiness. Father, be assured of that, nor the other good
• 6:50:45
  friends you have made for me, the kind the world needs more of the
• 6:50:49
  time has come at last when I must say good bye. I've enjoyed your
• 6:50:53
  wonderful letters of encouragement and your friendship. Your efforts have not been in vain.
• 6:51:00
  I'll be there to witness your reward. When your work is completed,
• 6:51:03
  he will gently call you home. Oh the rapture of that meeting, Oh
• 6:51:07
  the joy to see you come. Until then, May God bless you,
• 6:51:11
  Father and all you hold Dear. As soon as he had finished that,
• 6:51:17
  he turned to the one he always thought of when he thought of, Father,
• 6:51:19
  Brian, and wrote, in part, Dear Father Eugene, it may
• 6:51:25
  sound unreasonable, Father, for me to say that I have hardly had time
• 6:51:27
  to breathe the past few days. Let it be some measure of comfort to
• 6:51:32
  you, Father, to know that you have helped me with your wonderful letters
• 6:51:34
  of advice and encouragement. Without then I might not have been able to say,
• 6:51:38
  with the great Apostle, I have fought the good fight, and I
• 6:51:41
  have kept the faith. If the occasion ever arises, give my kindest regards
• 6:51:47
  to the Sister Magdalen's and Mother Mary, holy name of the Eighth Saint Good
• 6:51:51
  Shepherd Convent. I will have Father send you the beautiful little prayer book.
• 6:51:56
  It has meant much to me at last, the time has come for me
• 6:51:59
  to say say goodbye, But I won't say it. I'll say instead until
• 6:52:03
  we meet in heaven. They came with breakfast, but Tom waved it a
• 6:52:08
  side, not to day boys. For one thing, I haven't the time.
• 6:52:15
  His real reason, of course, was a little white wafer a whek
• 6:52:18
  Father Lives had just taken to transubstantiate. But the next interruption he had to
• 6:52:22
  accept it was made by the prison's barber. As the nuns had advised him,
• 6:52:27
  Tom thought of what had happened to Christ on another Thursday night. They
• 6:52:32
  had not cut his hair, they had crowned it with a crown of thorns.
• 6:52:37
  The barber was surprised at the comb of the man under his tools,
• 6:52:40
  and still more surprised when that man smiled and thanked him graciously. When the
• 6:52:44
  task was completed, shortly afternoon, ord In Buchanan came along to ask the
• 6:52:48
  routine question. Tom did not even bother to answer. He just smiled at
• 6:52:53
  the big man. Then Jess said, here's a man I want you to
• 6:52:57
  talk to. Tom. He's from the kitchen. You can have anything you
• 6:53:02
  want for dinner, steak, chops, chicken. I'm not fussy, mister
• 6:53:06
  Buchanan. Let it be a steak, have a potatoes, sliced tomatoes,
• 6:53:11
  butter, hot biscuits, strong coffee and cigarettes. Sounds perfect? Did you
• 6:53:15
  get it all? Waiter? When the man smiled and nodded, Tom added,
• 6:53:19
  sorry, I can't give you a substantial tip, but I just set
• 6:53:22
  my last penny home to missus. Penny okay, Tom said the warden,
• 6:53:27
  and walked off with the grinning guard. Tom looked at his lists. He
• 6:53:33
  had checked off a good many names since early morning, but the most important
• 6:53:37
  still remained. There was home, father, Donnelly l. Detroit, Magdalen's
• 6:53:41
  sisters Mary, Laurentia and Robert Ann. He bent over his table again and
• 6:53:45
  decided to get the most difficult one of all written. He began, my
• 6:53:51
  darling mother and all. Then his pen poisoned over the paper. What should
• 6:53:56
  his last words to his mother, brothers and sisters be y? He sat
• 6:54:00
  the rejecting idea after idea until he was startled by a knock. Father,
• 6:54:06
  libs is coming, said the guard, then hurried along the walk to shoot
• 6:54:10
  the long bar that locked the entire tier of cells. Tom fell on his
• 6:54:15
  knees. The priest came in Silently, he opened a kit, arranged the
• 6:54:18
  miniature altar, lit two candles, then began to pray. Tom was still
• 6:54:23
  on his knees with head deeply bowed. God alone knows the thoughts that filled
• 6:54:29
  his mind during those sacred moments, but that he was as close to Heaven
• 6:54:32
  as it is possible for a man to be while still on earth, suggested
• 6:54:36
  by the first letter he wrote after his long colloquy with Christ sacramentally present in
• 6:54:41
  his heart. It was the letter he was about to begin before he had
• 6:54:45
  received what was to be as Viaticum. February twenty fifth, nineteen forty three,
• 6:54:52
  My darling mother and all, I have not sought the consolation of God,
• 6:54:57
  but the God of consolation. So dear mother, sisters and brothers,
• 6:55:03
  please I employ you give thanks, everlasting thanks to the good God who is
• 6:55:07
  present in my heart for giving me to grace to die a happy death.
• 6:55:11
  Keep your chins up. I'll be watching you, waiting to greet you.
• 6:55:15
  Do not let me down. I won't get mushy because I am too happy
• 6:55:21
  in my heart. Remember, dear ones, I love you all. Tom.
• 6:55:26
  May God bless you and keep you. With that final exclamation point,
• 6:55:30
  He sat back and wept quietly. It was in this position those who served
• 6:55:34
  his last meal found him. When they entered, he wiped his eyes and
• 6:55:38
  smiled sadly. Thanks boys, he said, fairly, cheerfully. I think
• 6:55:44
  I can do justice to what you have brought. It was almost four in
• 6:55:48
  the afternoon, and Tom had been up since before dawn. He had just
• 6:55:52
  lit a cigaretched o with his coffee when the warning came again. Did you
• 6:55:56
  eat well? Tom? The evidence, mister Buchanan, and he pointed to
• 6:56:02
  a plate that was almost empty. I called out, eating moderately, Tom?
• 6:56:06
  Did you enjoy it perfectly? Well? Look, there was a man
• 6:56:11
  outside. He would like a word with you. Who is he? A
• 6:56:15
  reporter? Tom's lips pressed together and his head shook and what Buchanan later called
• 6:56:21
  a touch of indignation and impatience for your sake, I'll see him, mister
• 6:56:26
  Buchanan, but I'll have nothing to say. He went to the door of
• 6:56:30
  his cell and met Bruce Temple, a staff correspondent of the Louisville Courier Journal.
• 6:56:36
  He quietly acknowledged the introduction and listened politely as Temple told his purpose in
• 6:56:40
  coming and related something of his interviews with Anderson and Baxter, who were down
• 6:56:45
  on death row. When he finished his account with and now what have you
• 6:56:48
  to tell the world Tom, and stood with pencil poise of her paper.
• 6:56:55
  Penny quietly answered, I've said all I'm going to say, mister Temple.
• 6:57:00
  Well, Tom, will you tell the waiting world which of the stories you
• 6:57:03
  told is true? Penny just stared at the reporter in stony's silence. Before
• 6:57:11
  it became too embarrassing, Buchanan nudge Temple and started away with come along,
• 6:57:15
  Bruce, Tom has some important work to do. That was true enough.
• 6:57:21
  The prisoner went back to his table and studied the document he called his last
• 6:57:25
  Will and Testament. He read a sentence very carefully. When at last he
• 6:57:30
  felt satisfied, he put three copies aside, mentally naming those for whom they
• 6:57:33
  were intended. It was six p m. When the next interruption occurred.
• 6:57:38
  It was the warden again, not to ask the question this time, but
• 6:57:42
  to read the death warrant. Tom listened quietly. When we can and end
• 6:57:48
  it, Tom said, thank you, God's will be done. I'm a
• 6:57:53
  lucky man. At seven o'clock, Father Lives came into the tiny Cuth spend
• 6:58:00
  the remaining hours of the doomed Man. They chatted for a few moments.
• 6:58:03
  Tom assured the priest he was perfectly ready to go, had nothing on his
• 6:58:07
  mind, forgave everyone from the bottom of his heart, and if he could
• 6:58:11
  finish three letters, he'd be happy. Okay, Tom, I'll pay my
• 6:58:17
  office for you while you write perfect, exclaimed Penny enthusiastically. I've simply got
• 6:58:23
  to get these three letters off. They are to my best friends on earth.
• 6:58:27
  The first was the father Donnelly. It was begun at eight p m.
• 6:58:33
  I have neglected you terribly, Father, but I so counted on your
• 6:58:36
  being here tonight and thought I could tell you my appreciation personally. But it
• 6:58:41
  seems that our Lord has ordained otherwise. So now I am out all them.
• 6:58:45
  How can I write all the things I want to say? I have
• 6:58:48
  no secrets from you, Father, unless it is that I have kept you
• 6:58:51
  in ignorance of the miracle that God has wroughten my soul. It looks like
• 6:58:55
  I am going to have to cut this short. Father. I have been
• 6:58:59
  interrupted several times already, and I see that I am not going to be
• 6:59:02
  able to concentrate. I will ask Father lives to finish for me, and
• 6:59:07
  God will have to thank you for me. Mere words may prove meaningless,
• 6:59:11
  but God will give the credit where it belongs. Father, be assured in
• 6:59:15
  this case, yours will be great. I will not forget you and my
• 6:59:18
  happiness. Keep up the good work, and we know God will make all
• 6:59:22
  right some sweet day. Say hello to Sister Adelaide. I won't be able
• 6:59:26
  to answer her beautiful letter five more hours. Dear Father, I will meet
• 6:59:32
  our Lord and our Lady with all the holy saints and angels. Bet your
• 6:59:36
  socks. You'll get talked about too until we meet. My love and fondest
• 6:59:41
  wishes, sincerely in our Lord and Lady Tom. I'm enclosing a copy of
• 6:59:48
  my last will. Father lives, will write you. Miss pat is the
• 6:59:52
  watchword quickly drew another sheep to him and wrote to Mother Clare and the Sister's
• 6:59:56
  Magdalens. Dear mother and sisters, thank you for your beautiful letters of yesterday.
• 7:00:03
  I only have time for a note, but felt that I must have
• 7:00:06
  the last word in that I am almost feminine. Eh, I cannot say
• 7:00:11
  that I shall miss you, dear mother and sisters, because where I am
• 7:00:15
  going I'll be so happy and busy, I won't have time to miss anyone.
• 7:00:18
  But you can bet your boots I won't be too happy and forget.
• 7:00:22
  You depend on me to deliver every message you have given me. I have
• 7:00:27
  felt the effects of your prayers these last months. You know, or else
• 7:00:30
  how could I sit here with courage to face this thing so calmly. I
• 7:00:34
  feel fine and have no fear. I will continue to the very end.
• 7:00:38
  I must stop now, dear sisters and mother. Father will be here any
• 7:00:42
  moment now, So until God brings you home, I'll be watching for you,
• 7:00:48
  and oh the joy to see you come. May suffering Savior and sorrowful
• 7:00:52
  Mother bless and guard you night and day. Remember, I'll be watching and
• 7:00:56
  waiting and begging the necessary graces to attain the highest perfection. I am always
• 7:01:03
  in our Lord and Lady, your loving son and brother. Thomas Penny at
• 7:01:07
  the right of the Holy Cross, God bless you. As he signed his
• 7:01:12
  name, he felt a qum of conscience. There was one old Magdalen who
• 7:01:15
  deserves something more than this general letter. Tom asked, Father lives the hour.
• 7:01:21
  When he learned it was nine thirty, he cried, I can make
• 7:01:23
  it and straightway began his last letter to Sister Magdalen. Think Gertrude, dear
• 7:01:30
  sister, I have let the time slip by on me, and I am
• 7:01:33
  not going to have time for a letter. But I could not think of
• 7:01:36
  going without leaving you a message. I am sending you my scapular and crucifix.
• 7:01:41
  I have worn it since my first holy communion, and you may know
• 7:01:44
  that it witnessed my last one, the one that your own precious hands prepared.
• 7:01:48
  Be assured our little secret will be kept. Only the loving and tender
• 7:01:52
  heart of a sister could think of those things. Until we meet in heaven.
• 7:01:56
  I'll be begging favors for you. I deliver all your messages. Be
• 7:02:00
  assured of that. May God bless you always and our Lord and Lady Thomas
• 7:02:06
  Penny. Tom had one more letter to write, but before he could get
• 7:02:11
  to it, the guards came to lead him on the journey. They gave
• 7:02:14
  the seamanc Cord its name. They took him on his last walk down to
• 7:02:18
  death Row. He went to be greeted by a curse from Andersen. Tom
• 7:02:22
  answered with a quiet God, bless and help you Bob, then went to
• 7:02:27
  the cell pointed him anything you want Tom asked one of the guards kindly,
• 7:02:34
  yes, I'd like a sheet of paper and refill from my pen. The
• 7:02:38
  guard hurried away with the almost empty fountain pen. Father Lips chatted while they
• 7:02:44
  waited and marveled inwardly at the calm of the man so soon to die.
• 7:02:48
  When the guard returned, Tom sat down and wrote, dear sisters, M.
• 7:02:52
  L and r A. It's now eleven twenty p M. Dear sisters,
• 7:02:57
  and I won't say much, but the joy in my heart is unspeakable
• 7:03:02
  as I calmly await the approaching end. Only then, dear sisters, will
• 7:03:06
  my life begin. Father Lives will write you a letter and tell you all.
• 7:03:11
  I am assured of heaven. Sisters, I won't forget you in my
• 7:03:15
  happiness, be assured of that. Thank you for all you have done.
• 7:03:19
  I will in a very short while be repaying some of those favors. So
• 7:03:23
  until we meet up there, I'll be watching and waiting. Thank missus Campbell,
• 7:03:29
  and God bless her charitable heart. I have great hopes of many accomplishments.
• 7:03:34
  May God bless and keep you under the protection of our blessed mother and
• 7:03:38
  loving gratitude. Tom p when he finished folding. Yet he looked up and
• 7:03:45
  said, well, Father, I am now ready to go into the hands
• 7:03:48
  of God. It was three minutes to twelve. Three minutes later, the
• 7:03:53
  death house came to life with an excited start, as the number of the
• 7:03:57
  guards along the corridor was increased, and the prison electricians hurried through their final
• 7:04:02
  tests. Neck Green and Tan room, whose twenty foot square held but one
• 7:04:07
  article of furniture, a chair that was awesome in its awful emptiness. Directly
• 7:04:12
  opposite this chamber four cells held, in whose hourglass of life showed very few
• 7:04:18
  grains of sand, and these were fast trickling through. By twelve thirty,
• 7:04:22
  everything was prepared, and the only sounds were those made by the shuffling feet
• 7:04:26
  of the guards. A weird rupture of the nervous silence came when Trent attempted
• 7:04:30
  a hymn on a wheezy harmonica, and Baxter sang the words in a thin,
• 7:04:36
  trembling tenor. Andersen cursed the interruption. Penny never noticed it, as
• 7:04:42
  the long hand of the clock crept inexorably along. Baxter and Anderston drew more
• 7:04:47
  fiercely on their cigarettes. Penny, who had been in prayer for almost an
• 7:04:51
  hour seemed to grow even calmer. At two minutes to one, the giant
• 7:04:56
  Buchanan led more than two dozen men, reporters, a doctor, a few
• 7:05:00
  ministers, and some extra guards into the death house. The same nervous silence
• 7:05:06
  gripped these usually talkative men as the warden, with nods of his head,
• 7:05:10
  motioned them to their various places in the green and tan room. To every
• 7:05:15
  eye, that empty chair was a magnet which pulled the irresistibly, and from
• 7:05:18
  which they were rested only by force. Despite the crowd of witnesses huddled there,
• 7:05:23
  the room seemed filled with an eerie emptiness. One o'clock rang out.
• 7:05:29
  A tingling expectancy filled the gathering. Every eye focused on the door through which
• 7:05:33
  men were to take their last few steps on earth. At one minute passed
• 7:05:37
  one, the chunky form of Andersen filled the opening. Through it, he
• 7:05:41
  swayed in obvious agitation. His jewels worked vigorously as he nervously chewsed some gum.
• 7:05:48
  A guttural curse of Tom Penny rang round the room as the prisoner swaggered
• 7:05:52
  up to the empty chair. He puffed angrily at a cigarette as he seated
• 7:05:56
  himself, then snapped it away with a flourish as she flashed a sneering smile
• 7:06:00
  on the all male assembly. It was Bravado at its nakedest. As he
• 7:06:07
  settled his arms with a strapping, the warden asked the usual question. Andersen
• 7:06:11
  blew the wad of gun from his mouth and answered, gentlemen, all I
• 7:06:15
  can say is that I'm innocent of the thing I've been charged with. The
• 7:06:19
  black masko slipped over his head. He kicked off his shoes as a Baptist
• 7:06:25
  minister began some prayer. Two shocks of electricity shot through his body, and
• 7:06:30
  Bob Andersen was dead. At one fourteen, another man walked into that drab
• 7:06:36
  room. It was tall Tom Penny. His hands were behind his back,
• 7:06:41
  his dark blonde head was bowed in recollected prayer. An aura of calm solemnity
• 7:06:45
  radiated from his person and enveloped the thirty men huddled in that eerie silence with
• 7:06:51
  surprising absence of tremor. The prisoner quietly seated himself and very deliberately placed his
• 7:06:56
  arms in position to be strapped. Tom said the giant Buchanan, there's something
• 7:07:03
  you want to tell. Yes, came the resonant baritone published in the morning.
• 7:07:08
  When I ask you to sixty eyes focused on the warden, Bucannon calmly
• 7:07:15
  went on, what you told me is the truth, and you want me
• 7:07:18
  to tell it. That's right. Before Tom could say, moour, the
• 7:07:23
  black mask fell over his head. Father Luis began the purse with the dying.
• 7:07:30
  It sounded as if Tom was answering from behind the bit of black which
• 7:07:33
  covered his features. That he was listening intently was evident from the position of
• 7:07:37
  his head. Then his body was seen to jerk four distinct times. A
• 7:07:42
  doctor stepped up to the form in the chair, applied stethoscope, turned to
• 7:07:48
  Buchanan with a nod. Tom Penny is dead, said the warden. It
• 7:07:52
  took four shocks. It was exactly one twenty two, a m end of
• 7:08:00
  chapter thirteen, The Dead Live and Work. It was a restless group of
• 7:08:07
  reporters that watched the final execution. Raymond Skeeter Baxter had never been copied,
• 7:08:14
  but never less so than now. The two principals having been removed from the
• 7:08:18
  stage, and Buchanan being in possession of some statement from the man who had
• 7:08:22
  given them so much to write about these past seventeen months, they were impatient
• 7:08:26
  with all formalities, but neither the warden nor the doctor were to be hurried.
• 7:08:32
  The self confessed drug addict was let in, asked the usual questions,
• 7:08:36
  and methodically strapped into the chair. A few of the newsmen edged towards the
• 7:08:41
  door, but Buchanan stopped them with a glance. A Protestant minister began to
• 7:08:45
  pray. The two Catholic priests, Father Lives and Father Bomike of Arlington,
• 7:08:51
  whom Father Lives had asked to come, were seen to make the sign of
• 7:08:53
  the cross in the direction of the hooded man. A signal was given,
• 7:08:57
  and the little body beneath the blockhood head shook violently twice. As the doctor
• 7:09:03
  moved toward the platform, a horse whisper from one of the reporters was heard.
• 7:09:07
  He's gone, let's go. By quarter to two, all had crossed
• 7:09:12
  the yard and crowded into the warden's office. Buchanan seemed exasperatingly deliberate, but
• 7:09:18
  once seated, he talked rapidly enough. He began by reminding them it was
• 7:09:23
  January the eleventh that Penny had made his long deposition exonerating Andersen. Nervous nods
• 7:09:30
  told him that newsman needed no reminders, well, said Buchanan. On January
• 7:09:36
  twenty second, the day he should have died, Penny begged me for another
• 7:09:40
  interview. I granted it. On the twenty third, that was a Saturday,
• 7:09:45
  before he went to Lexington for the last hearing, put in one of
• 7:09:48
  the reporters. That's right, said the warden, and went on to tell
• 7:09:52
  how Toma confessed that he had gambled with his soul by making the long deposition
• 7:09:56
  a fortnight earlier, and I wanted to rectify this to situation as far as
• 7:10:00
  possible by telling the truth. And what was that broke in an impatient reporter.
• 7:10:07
  Buchanan ited him coolly and said that Bob Anderson was with him at Lexington
• 7:10:11
  and participated in the robbery and murder. That was enough for most of the
• 7:10:18
  newsmen. These bolted from the room and headed for the nearest telephone or telegraph.
• 7:10:22
  Those remained heard the detailed confession, how Baxter had really hatched the plot,
• 7:10:27
  how Anderson had furnished the guns and fired first, how Tom had been
• 7:10:32
  knocked down in the dark and arose firing his own gun. Nothing new was
• 7:10:37
  contained in the confession, but it corroborated what had been told in the first
• 7:10:40
  Lexington trial and completely cleared the name of Efford Stewart. Penny had told the
• 7:10:45
  warden that the plot to involve the Lane Bartender was first concocted while they were
• 7:10:49
  still in Lexington early in nineteen forty two. Porterby Lady, one of Buchanan's
• 7:10:56
  assistants, broke in here to assert that Tom had said that Werson knew then
• 7:11:00
  that Stuart was already dead. As the warden finished his narrative, one of
• 7:11:06
  the reporters asked what was to be done with the bodies of the deceased.
• 7:11:10
  Buchanan made immediate answer, Andersen's goes to Louisville, Pennies and Baxters go back
• 7:11:15
  to Lexington. But the warden did not know the charity he was hiding.
• 7:11:21
  In that last sentence, Sister Mary Laurentia, Faithful to the End and beyond
• 7:11:26
  it, had suggested to Missus Penny that she allowed the state to bury Tom
• 7:11:30
  in prison ground. The wise old nun knew something of the fee demanded by
• 7:11:34
  Martitians and the condition of Missus Penny's bank account, But when the mother's eyes
• 7:11:40
  filled with tears, Sister Mary Laurencia's mind was made up. When mister Kerr,
• 7:11:45
  a Lexington undertaker, next came to Saint Joseph's hospital. He was taken
• 7:11:49
  aside by a serious faced sister Mary Laurentia, and told much about charity.
• 7:11:56
  He heard so much that he ended the interview with a smile, saying,
• 7:12:00
  don't you worry any more, sister. The body will be brought back,
• 7:12:03
  prepared properly for burial and kept at my parlors until the interment. Have you
• 7:12:07
  any idea where and when that will be? It was a nun's turn to
• 7:12:11
  smile. Can you keep a secret? She asked, I can try.
• 7:12:18
  Tom Penny is to be buried from Saint Paul's Church. He is to have
• 7:12:22
  a funeral mask and a lie in blest ground. Father McKenna, the pastor,
• 7:12:26
  has arranged everything. The plot is at Hillcrest. Mister Kurr smiled a
• 7:12:32
  wider smile. Did you say Father McKenna had arranged everything? Would you be
• 7:12:36
  willing to swear? The sister Mary Lurancia had nothing to do with any of
• 7:12:38
  the arrangements. God bless you, sister. It will be a pleasure.
• 7:12:45
  And so Tom Penny came back to Lexington. The funeral was a very quiet
• 7:12:48
  affair. Some school children formed the choir. Missus Penny and her little family
• 7:12:53
  were there, along with faithful sister Robert Anne and two companions. Sister Mary
• 7:12:59
  Lournaia, who had kept the night watch with Tom Penny as her Mary twenty
• 7:13:03
  sixth grut Into day, was too ill from emotional exhaustion to attend. Thus
• 7:13:08
  she missed the touching tribute Father mc kennis saw fit to pay to this man
• 7:13:12
  who turned so completely to God once he had been converted. She missed also
• 7:13:17
  the warm comfort offered to the mother, who smiled through her tears as she
• 7:13:21
  heard a priest of God insists that every death is a resurrection. The following
• 7:13:27
  day, Missus Penny received another word from another priest of God which produced the
• 7:13:32
  same effect. It was in a letter from Paducah dated for Very twenty seventh,
• 7:13:37
  nineteen forty three. Dear missus Penny, I am going to write something
• 7:13:41
  which I have never done before. I hardly know how to begin or what
• 7:13:45
  to say to a mother who has had to suffer as much because of her
• 7:13:48
  son. However, taking everything into consideration, I feel there is much to
• 7:13:53
  be thankful for. As your son once told me, Father, if I
• 7:13:59
  had not gotten into this trouble, I don't believe I would have gone to
• 7:14:03
  heaven. You know, our Lord can get much good out of anything,
• 7:14:07
  and I don't think I have seen a more beautiful death, nor will I,
• 7:14:11
  For as far as it was possible to determine, he died as a
• 7:14:15
  good Catholic ought to die. He spent his last hours in the spirit of
• 7:14:18
  recollection concerning the things of God and such sincere sorrow I have never seen.
• 7:14:25
  He was especially sorry for all the heartaches he caused you, and he asked
• 7:14:29
  me to write this letter to you and tell you how he died. He
• 7:14:33
  was a wonderful character and only God knows how much good his death will do
• 7:14:37
  for souls. He also told me he believed firmly that you yourself would embrace
• 7:14:41
  the Catholic faith before your time comes, and he prayed much for this,
• 7:14:47
  for he wanted his mother to have all the joys and consolations which his faith
• 7:14:51
  in the sacraments gave him. Missus Penny, I want to apologize for opening
• 7:14:56
  again the wound in your heart, but I wanted to tell you about yoursel
• 7:15:00
  for he was one of the saintliest souls I have ever met. His faith
• 7:15:04
  was as simple as a child's. And you know our Lord has said unless
• 7:15:08
  you become as one of these, you could not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
• 7:15:14
  He was ready, and as I told him, I only hope I
• 7:15:18
  myself will be as well prepared as he was. May God give you his
• 7:15:22
  choicest blessings in your trouble, and may I say, God bless you for
• 7:15:26
  such a grandson and a holy man. Sincerely, Thomas Libbs, Chaplain Eddieville
• 7:15:33
  p s. I have said Mass for Tom and I will keep him in
• 7:15:37
  yourself in my prayers, faithful to his promise. The chaplain also sent word
• 7:15:42
  to the nuns in their letter. He was briefer, but his very brevity
• 7:15:47
  was eloquence to the sisters, who could read between his very words lit alone
• 7:15:52
  between the lines. The note ran February twenty seventh, nineteen forty three.
• 7:15:59
  Sisters Marry the Wrentia and Robert Ann Dear sisters, Thomas Penny asked me to
• 7:16:04
  write to you and state that he died as a Catholic man should die,
• 7:16:08
  and that Robert Anderson died unrepentant as far as human beings could determine. However,
• 7:16:15
  he may have repented while in the electric chair, we do not know.
• 7:16:19
  Mister Penny said it would be all right to write to both of you
• 7:16:22
  in the same letter, as it would be passed around anyway. Sincerely,
• 7:16:26
  Thomas Libbs, Chaplain Eddieville. The following week, the chaplain was able to
• 7:16:33
  view the scene with greater calm, and in his review gave a completer picture.
• 7:16:38
  On March eighth, he wrote to Father Brian, I know you want
• 7:16:42
  to hear how Tom Penny took the execution. Well, here are some of
• 7:16:47
  the facts. I went up to the pen on Thursday afternoon and gave Penny
• 7:16:51
  holy co minion. This was about three thirty. After dinner, we went
• 7:16:55
  back to death Row. I took Father Boumike along because Anderson was angry at
• 7:17:00
  myself and Penny, and I thought Father might be able to do Anderson some
• 7:17:03
  good. When time came for the boys to die, Andersen was first and
• 7:17:07
  cursed Tom Penny cigarette in mouth, and as far as we could tell,
• 7:17:12
  died unrepentant. Father Beoumike worked hard with him, but no success. Tom
• 7:17:19
  Penny was next, and even the preacher remarked on the recollected way he died.
• 7:17:25
  He walked in hands behind his back and his eyes cast down while they
• 7:17:30
  strapped him in the chair. The warden asked if he had anything to say,
• 7:17:33
  and Tom replied, published in the morning, what I asked you to
• 7:17:38
  it was concerning Anderson's part in the murder. Then I began the prayers.
• 7:17:44
  After the execution, I got Father b to hold the oils while I anointed
• 7:17:48
  Tom conditionally. Baxter, the other man of the trio, went saying,
• 7:17:53
  I am going home to Jesus. The preacher prayed while Father Bet and I
• 7:17:57
  read the prayers for the dying and gave him conditional absolution. After the last
• 7:18:03
  was gone, Father b and I wasted no time in getting out of there.
• 7:18:07
  We went to Father Bee's place in Arlington, arriving about four a m.
• 7:18:11
  It was the end of the hardest day I have ever had and hoped
• 7:18:15
  never to have another like it. Knowing that one of the preachers who had
• 7:18:18
  been present has a radio program at eleven every morning, I got up on
• 7:18:22
  time to hear what he had to say. Generally he gives the priest the
• 7:18:26
  nuns hell, but he didn't this day. He even went so far as
• 7:18:30
  to say, when Penny died, I heard the angel singing and the harps
• 7:18:34
  playing. My ears unfortunately were not able to hear so keenly. But he
• 7:18:40
  Tom died a wonderfully Catholic death. A few days later, Father Brian was
• 7:18:47
  hurriedly getting off a note to Sister Francesca. He was anxious that she see
• 7:18:51
  the last letter Tom had written him. Then he bethought himself and wrote,
• 7:18:56
  I don't believe you have read the last several letters I received. If I
• 7:19:00
  can find copies, I will enclose them too. One of them, the
• 7:19:03
  one written after he returned from Lexington, might prove very interesting to you.
• 7:19:08
  He sat for a few seconds before his paper, and then set forth the
• 7:19:12
  truth. A very interesting case is closed, and I feel that some of
• 7:19:18
  us have a friend in heaven. That Tom was a rat in his early
• 7:19:22
  days cannot be doubted, but that only lends luster to the work of grace,
• 7:19:26
  and what a work that was. I have never had the feast reason
• 7:19:30
  to doubt his sincerity since first meeting him, and his gratitude to you for
• 7:19:34
  your kindness should tide you over some of the rough spots in life. At
• 7:19:40
  this point in this composition, A letter was handed to him, bearing an
• 7:19:44
  Eddyville postmark. With minding curiosity, he opened it and read, Dear father,
• 7:19:49
  we wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge your most kind and welcome letter.
• 7:19:53
  We had been expecting one all along, but did not know when it
• 7:19:56
  would arrive. Tom Penny was telling us some time ago that he had asked
• 7:20:00
  you to drop us a few lines. Tom thought the world of you,
• 7:20:04
  father, After receiving one of your cheerful letters. One day, he said,
• 7:20:10
  boys, there is a real man. Naturally, we had to agree
• 7:20:14
  with him, for even though our meeting through the mission period was short,
• 7:20:18
  you certainly made a hit with us. We sailed next door to Tom,
• 7:20:22
  and he always seemed cheerful and full of fun. The evening they took him
• 7:20:26
  down below to the death house, his face seemed to drop for the first
• 7:20:30
  time. He stopped in front of ourselves and said goodbye. Boys. I
• 7:20:36
  could hardly see him for the tears in my eyes. All I could say
• 7:20:40
  was God, bless you, Tom. We'll be praying for you tonight.
• 7:20:45
  That was my only regret in getting acquainted with him. I knew it would
• 7:20:48
  hurt deep when he had to leave us and go down to the death house.
• 7:20:52
  He sent word that same evening to get all his books and hamphlets out
• 7:20:56
  of his cell and give them to us. What to us is about all
• 7:21:00
  the Catholic literature we have? I didn't know you were sending books to the
• 7:21:03
  library. I will send up tomorrow and see what they have there. Tom
• 7:21:08
  gave each of us a prayer book with his name and the date we received
• 7:21:11
  it. On the inside. We promised him we would keep them as long
• 7:21:15
  as they lasted. Father Brian could not resist any longer. He had to
• 7:21:21
  turn the paper over to glimpse the signature. He found a double one awaiting
• 7:21:25
  him. It read down and Alex. He placed them immediately, the Doggitty
• 7:21:32
  brothers, who were in prisoned for life. They were taking instructions, at
• 7:21:36
  least they were supposed to be. The young passionist shook his head. Tom.
• 7:21:41
  He said, you were the greatest missionary at Evil ever had. But
• 7:21:48
  there was a priest further south who was even more affected by his contact with
• 7:21:52
  the man who had just died in an electric chair. Father George T.
• 7:21:56
  Donaldy sat in his chaplain quarters on Turner Field, Georgia, numb with wonder
• 7:22:00
  and gratitude as he read again and again the last thing he had received from
• 7:22:03
  Tom. With exceptional care and neatness, the prisoner had written my last's will
• 7:22:11
  in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen, I, Thomas Penny.
• 7:22:17
  While I have the full use of my powers, wish to publish and
• 7:22:19
  declare before the Most Holy Trinity and all the Court of Heaven this my last
• 7:22:25
  will. How I wish to live and die. I give thee highest and
• 7:22:30
  everlasting thanks that thou hast made me thy creature, hast regenerated me in holy
• 7:22:33
  baptism, and sanctified me with the holy sacraments of thy grace. I firmly
• 7:22:40
  believe and profess the true faith which I received in my baptism, and all
• 7:22:44
  in every one of the articles thereof, in such manner and form as the
• 7:22:48
  One Holy Catholic Church believes and professes them. O, my God, in
• 7:22:53
  my last hour, may my act be found whole and intact. I detest
• 7:22:57
  all the sins from my youth to this hour. I most humbly ask pardon
• 7:23:02
  of all and every one whom I have ever grieved or offend it by word
• 7:23:06
  or action. I do also for my heart forgive and pardon every injury,
• 7:23:11
  insult, or action whereby any person has offended me, even as my loving
• 7:23:15
  Jesus, while he hung suffering on the cross, forgave his enemies. Lastly,
• 7:23:21
  I profess that I desire to die as a true Catholic and to partake
• 7:23:25
  of the most holy sacraments. I desire to have my part and portion in
• 7:23:29
  all the masses, prayers, and sufferings which shall be offered for all the
• 7:23:33
  faithful until the day of judgment. O, my dear Jesus, I implore
• 7:23:37
  THEE to send forth for my soul one of those size which burst from thy
• 7:23:41
  loving heart while hanging on the cross, and to sprinkle my soul with one
• 7:23:47
  drop of thy precious blood the sealing. I beseech THEE, O, most
• 7:23:52
  Tender Jesus, that thou wilt deign to register this my last will publicly in
• 7:23:56
  the court of Heaven, and to witness it with the city nature of thy
• 7:24:00
  holy name, and to seal it with the impress of thy five most sacred
• 7:24:03
  wounds, O, Precious Lord, be it known to all men whose creature
• 7:24:08
  I am, body and soul. This I thy most unworthy child, now
• 7:24:15
  sign and seal with my own hand. Thomas penny o. God murmured the
• 7:24:21
  priest, how wonderful thou art, and how mysterious are thy ways? For
• 7:24:26
  Father George had heard how Andersen had ended, and how baxterred face. The
• 7:24:30
  last moments he was thinking of the poem. Three men shared death upon a
• 7:24:37
  hill, but only one man died, the other two a thief, and
• 7:24:41
  God himself made rendezvous. Three crosses still are born up Calvarry's Hill, where
• 7:24:48
  sin still lifts them high upon the one said broken men who cursing die.
• 7:24:56
  Another holds the praying thief, or those who penitend, as he still find
• 7:25:00
  the Christ beside them on the tree. The end