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ALLAH KERIM 
 
 By EDITH M. DAVIS 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF PHOEBE ALLAN 
 
 Boston 
 
 The Roxburgh Publishing Company 
 
 Inc. 
 

 Copyrighted, 1920 
 
 By EDITH M. DAVIS 
 
 Rights Reserved 
 
 m 23 mo 
 
 ©CLA566306 
 
A STORY OF A SINGLE SOUL. 
 A MORTAL WITHOUT A NAME. 
 
'Through me, ye go into the doleful city; 
 Through me, ye go into eternal pain; 
 Through me, ye go among the lost forever; 
 Where thou shalt see the miserable throngs 
 Who mourn the loss of intellectual good." 
 
 Dante. 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 "From many races, one people" 
 
 New York is America's greatest city, and 
 like all other great cities, it has some parts 
 beautiful and attractive, and other parts, 
 where the darkness of night hides from the 
 eye, sins which lengthen the black catalogue 
 of HELL. 
 
 Broadway is the scene of all wealth and 
 prosperity, but you no sooner turn the corner 
 of Worth Street out of Broadway, than you 
 seem to have entered another sphere of 
 existence. 
 
 As there was "Darkest England" so there 
 is "Darkest America, " I doubt that a spot 
 can be found that sin has not made terrible, 
 
6 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 or where death has not left some fearful 
 token of its presence. 
 
 The only other city in the world that can 
 be compared to this great citadel of sin — is 
 Paris ; its vices rise to enormous proportions ; 
 like hundred-gated Thebes, it fades away in 
 its corruption — or like Rome — or London 
 — it terrifies mankind by unheard of crime. 
 
 What was true of those cities — is now 
 true of New York and Washington. In fact 
 the whole American people are now encoun- 
 tering the same evils. 
 
 Civilization is a war — a war of light with 
 darkness — a tragedy of great conflicts — 
 where hostile passions are ever combating — 
 MAMMON and MORALITY — and in 
 which the final victory has thus far gone to — 
 MAMMON! 
 
 When the republics of the Middle Ages 
 surrounded themselves with material splen- 
 dor, their liberty decayed; and again, Spar- 
 tan history teaches, how easy it is for a nation, 
 like an individual, to misdirect its energies, 
 to subordinate the higher to the lower. 
 
 This passion is now so consuming, that it is 
 not only ruining the character of indivi- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 7 
 
 duals, it is undermining the frame of our 
 government, and disgracing a NATION! 
 Year by year, the tone of public feeling is 
 sinking lower and lower — year by year our 
 CONGRESS and SENATE become of less 
 account before all decent men — and year 
 by year — the memory of THE GREAT 
 FATHERS OF THE REVOLUTION is out- 
 raged more and more in the corrupted life of 
 their degenerated people. 
 
 This great tide of people is as dangerous to 
 itself, as to its enemies; trampling upon their 
 own people, driving every obstacle away be- 
 fore its irresistible sweep, wielding a power 
 that is weak even in its might; like the rush 
 of waters when the flood gates are swept 
 away, which roll on because they cannot stop ; 
 and what is called their force, is but drifting 
 with the current. Thus the great tide of 
 humanity moves on together, according to 
 the tendency that happens to prevail, the 
 good among them, compelled to fall in with 
 the majority, without giving the few oppor- 
 tunity to make their expostulations and in- 
 fluence tell with the many. 
 
 When Rome was largest, Rome was weakest ; 
 
8 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 and fell apart, limb from limb, and sank, 
 a mass of corruption. The worldly culture 
 of today, as once in degenerated pagan 
 Rome, the word of Tacitus holds good "To be 
 corrupt, and to be corrupted, this is called 
 the age." 
 
 In one form or another the rich rule, who 
 rob and tax the many for the benefit of the 
 few; Burke says "that ambition, though it 
 has ever the same general views, has not at 
 all times the same means nor the same partic- 
 ular objects." So far, in every race between 
 wealth and principle, the former has won. 
 
 Ah! Cities with its sunlight — and its 
 shadows. Its vices — and its virtues. Its 
 love — and its hate. Its wealth — and its 
 poverty. Its society, some in fine raiment — 
 and some in rags. Its society which shuns 
 all contact with the down-trodden and un- 
 fortunate — whom it creates itself — but 
 which it beholds with a callousness of ease 
 — treating their own flesh and blood with 
 the same hard inhumanity that Cicero 
 treated the gladiators of his friend Atticus — 
 and alas — the poor with an equal callous- 
 ness of woe! 
 
ALLAH KERIM 9 
 
 And so the great mass toil on under heavy 
 burdens, living in an abyss of which the rich 
 know nothing, condemned to toil for life in 
 the same beaten circle, withering in the mud, 
 awaiting the wheel to crush them, still 
 cheated with the semblance of progression, 
 the high intelligence of the age; but still un- 
 relieved and unthought of by the millions 
 who are protected by wealth; who have no 
 thought but for the science of gain — no 
 heart, but for gold ; no desire, but for the in- 
 crease of property; no fear, but for the loss 
 of half a dollar; who forget the humane and 
 divine view of the universe, and become as 
 soulless as the machine by which they make 
 their money; they sell their good names, and 
 their honorable consciousness for lucre, with 
 as little compunction as Esau sold his birth- 
 right for a mess of pottage. 
 
 They have become hardened in unbelief — 
 BLASPHEMERS! They have become 
 lovers of themselves — GROVELING SELF- 
 ISHNESS! They are without belief in 
 virtue — DESPISERS OF THOSE WHO 
 ARE GOOD! They are without honor — 
 and without shame! 
 
10 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 What is the present drift of marriage and 
 home life? Has the relation between the 
 sexes become more pure with its divorces 
 and all its attendant wrong to the law of 
 God and the welfare of Society? These 
 MEN and WOMEN who give their lives 
 to unhallowed pleasures, marriage-breaking, 
 illicit love, prostitution, and criminal inter- 
 course. Men who have but contsmpt and 
 disrespect for woman as wife and mother, 
 even when adroitly veiled in the compliment 
 that most flatters her when most eager for 
 her ruin. 
 
 WOMEN who defile their souls to secure 
 a position which will compel "social recogni- 
 tion, " who will lie, cheat, steal, pay court to 
 men and consort with them in unworthy 
 ways, who disgrace themselves and their 
 children — for WHAT? to wear costly and 
 superb clothes and dazzling gems — to dance 
 to ravishing music — to ride in a hand- 
 some limousine — to make a series of 
 calls upon those whom they hope are not at 
 home. 
 
 Alas! This world will not be improved 
 until the relationship between man and 
 
ALLAH KERIM 11 
 
 woman has become more pure, until they 
 decide the existence as well as the character 
 of the new generation. "We are all born — 
 we live — and we die." THEREFORE — 
 the first great fact of life — is BIRTH. 
 Plato said in his laws so many centuries ago 
 "that life begins before birth; and the mother 
 is the cradle of the unborn child." 
 
 To raise and regenerate the world morally 
 — it will be necessary that true — WOMAN- 
 HOOD MUST COME TO THE RESCUE! 
 The mother must be a sacred person, for in 
 her lies what the future generation WILL 
 BE! and her offspring must be protected by 
 all skill and care. 
 
 The mind and the heart are factors of life 
 from the beginning. Moral and intellectual 
 as well as physical traits are transmitted by 
 generation; and not only disease, but folly 
 and sin, go with the blood that flows from a 
 union of man and woman against the 
 DIVINE law and the best instincts and 
 affections of the heart; thus children tell the 
 secret, that parents never spoke to the world. 
 
 WOMEN ARE THE MAKING OF 
 CREATION! AYE — and the marring too. 
 
12 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 Therefore, it behoves that WOMAN should 
 stop and THINK! — and then— THINK 
 AGAIN — WHAT THIS MEANS TO HER! 
 MOTHER' OF THE RACE — REFORM 
 THYSELF! 
 
 Build from within — your mind is your 
 real being — every thought is force. 
 1 Thoughts are things. With thoughts you 
 can do all things." Each individual has 
 two personalities — to each of us two sides 
 are gliding on at the same time — one above 
 — the other underneath — Abel upholding 
 the good — Cain the evil. The life of our 
 minds — the life of our actions — the out- 
 ward and visible — tne inward and invisible. 
 We are what we know ourselves to be — 
 and what others think us to be. By the life 
 of our actions we are judged by the world — 
 the inward and invisible is never known — 
 but to ONE! 
 
 A good woman can make us wish and 
 strive for something more pure ; she can teach 
 us that virtue is not a hard law, a dull form- 
 alism, a harsh negation but a living inspira- 
 tion, drawing power from the eternal love, 
 and going forth in healthful freedom to its 
 
ALLAH KERIM 13 
 
 conflict of peace. As Cicero says, "Virtue is 
 sufficient to secure happiness. " 
 
 By thus elevating mankind and woman- 
 kind in thought and work, society will be 
 elevated in laws and institutions. Spencer 
 says, "that paper constitutions will not 
 work as they are intended to work and that 
 the real basis and bulwark of national 
 greatness and of progressive liberty, is 
 character/ ' 
 
 To me, the world can be sustained by four 
 things only: the world to be purified by the 
 learning of the wise, the justice of the great, 
 the prayers of the good, and last but not 
 least the PURITY OF ITS WOMEN! thus 
 by a MORAL DOCTRINE — MORALLY 
 FOUNDED — THIS GREAT REPUBLIC 
 CAN BE SOLIDLY ESTABLISHED. 
 
 No political party or society of any kind 
 can — or has established DEMOCRACY. 
 Nothing as yet — has even converged to 
 produce DEMOCRACY! 
 
 The advent of Democracy can only be 
 brought in by a CHRISTIAN SPIRIT— 
 when HUMAN RIGHTS and JUSTICE rise 
 above the present institutions and LAWS — 
 
14 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 when the GOVERNORS — as well as the 
 GOVERNED shall alike hold the sacred 
 idea of "JUSTICE TO ALL." In this way 
 we may develop the human spirit so as to 
 to arrive at its fullness and perfection — then 
 this world will be ready for DEMOCRACY. 
 
 "How is it possible to compress into one brief glance 
 The endless stair-flights, endless and dark by 
 Which an honorable man descends to desires and 
 Deeds of dishonor! the downfall of a single soul, 
 Suitably narrated would fill a volume." 
 
 Victor Hugo 
 
 "Mistakes may be the stepping-stones of the stairs 
 Of which we are climbing. Every time we recognize 
 One for what it is, and call it a step instead 
 Of a goal, we move on." 
 
 Louise Collier Willcox 
 
 'This was the entry, then, these stairs — but whither 
 after?" 
 
 Tragedy of Brennovalt 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 "He lead me down among the things of darkness: 
 There sighs, and groans, and lamentable wailings, 
 So rang throughout that region without star, 
 That on the threshold I began to weep: 
 Horrible tongues, discordant languages, 
 Words full of dolour, ascents of sharp anger, 
 Shrill and hoarse voices, sounds of smitten hands, 
 Rose in wild tumult, eddying through the gloom 
 Like sands before the whirlwind of the desert." 
 
 Dante 
 
 The twilight shadows settled over the city ; 
 between the edges of two clouds, a star 
 flashed and flickered unsteadily^ Up the 
 dark streets in the vicinity of the Bowery the 
 lights were shining feebly; the lamps were 
 few and far between. As the twilight gra- 
 dually disappeared, and the shades thick- 
 ened, an almost total darkness prevailed in 
 places. 
 
 The wind sighed and sung, as if murmur- 
 ing some weird incantation, mingling its 
 gusts with a rising mist; the lights were cast- 
 
 15 
 
16 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 ing black shadows that had no shape, and 
 belong to darkness. 
 
 Through the floating mist a dusky shape 
 is gliding — gliding stealthily — keeping 
 within the shadows — and then disappear- 
 ing in the darkness. Then came another — 
 and another — and then another. This 
 stealthiness is ominous — this furtive glid- 
 ing in and out — this silent flitting of night- 
 hawks — this incessant low shuffling of feet 
 — reminding one of the tread of fallen spirits, 
 who glide like phantoms into the Gates 
 of the Inferno, which are ever open to those 
 who choose to enter and mingle with the 
 ferocious shades wandering in its pit. 
 
 A grisly and awful sight! A terrible shadow 
 of something that smothers the spirit of 
 man — a hideous travesty of itself — and 
 which converts human beings into fiends, 
 and makes earth to its inhabitants a HELL 
 of unutterable torments; it silences the voice 
 of conscience; and quenches and debases to 
 the lowest level the holiest emotions of the 
 human soul; and souls thus deprived of great 
 principles — fall collapsed into the mire of 
 the earth; plunging down into the blackness 
 
ALLAH KERIM 17 
 
 of the abyss of death — or plunging on like 
 a river without source and without issue — 
 rolling its waves eternally through a pur- 
 poseless channel. 
 
 On — on — up and down the street — 
 the lagging tramp — tramp — tramp of thou- 
 sands night after night — come and go — 
 this bat-life of the leprous spawn of human 
 beings are constantly thrown upon the shores 
 of life, only to contaminate and curse — 
 sinking at last into a terrible gulf of darkness. 
 Tomorrow will be like today — and the day 
 after that — and on — and on — forever on 
 — will go this continual procession of shadows 
 — for the tide rolls them ever onward — 
 pushing them along the dark road from which 
 there is no return; and no rainbow lifts an 
 arch of promise against the gathering dark- 
 ness. ''Each generation slides into the cast- 
 off garments of its predecessor, too indolent 
 even to change its pattern. " 
 
 What a night! Darkness everywhere! 
 Peopled with shades! How cold. How 
 dreary. The wind is wailing still, like a pre- 
 sentiment of evil; the rain is drizzling, the 
 streets are rivers of black mud and slush, 
 
18 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 through which walk haggard women and 
 besotted men, how their teeth chatter, how 
 they press their thin hands together as they 
 shuffle along the sidewalks. What a hid- 
 eous stream of dreariness, misery, squalor 
 and crime. 
 
 The gas-lamps glimmer cold and mocking 
 as they shine in the darkness, reflecting in 
 the muddy pools beneath. If the stones 
 could speak, then, each could record some 
 dark and bloody deed committed within 
 these foul haunts, this hot-bed of American 
 crime and degradation. 
 
 A sharp peal of thunder, followed by a 
 flash of lightning, told of a coming storm; 
 then darkness was folded about a cluster of 
 rickety, rotten buildings, a sheltering pile for 
 the poor, where beings of every age, color, 
 and condition of infamy are herded and 
 driven together like cattle. 
 
 The houses almost touch each other; over- 
 hanging the streets with gloom. They close 
 about them; a net-work of streets and alleys 
 hedge them in, where they are lost from sight 
 in the great surging mass of humanity. 
 
 As the night advanced, the wind raged 
 
ALLAH KERIM 19 
 
 with unaccountable fury; peal after peal of 
 thunder; and great flashes of lightning 
 swathed the sky, shooting through a garret- 
 window it flung a light into every shadowy 
 corner, revealing in its instant illuminations 
 a garret — its old black rafters draped with 
 festoons of cobwebs — concealing an army 
 of spiders; a floor full of cracks and holes, 
 thick with layers of dirt; in the corner, a 
 broken stove filled with gray ashes. 
 
 A sudden flash revealed a woeful spectacle! 
 That of a woman stretched upon a draggled 
 bed, in the midst of her birth-throes; the 
 sounds were swallowed in the wind that 
 rushed with demoniac shrieks, and then 
 died away in frightful torment; the light- 
 ning flashed uncertain shadows upon the 
 wall, making the room look weird and 
 fantastic. 
 
 Towards dawn, the feeble cry of an infant 
 was heard — and into THIS he was born! 
 A tiny mite of mortality — a helpless, shiver- 
 ing, unwelcome guest — unbidden — re- 
 pulsed before it cometh — born of an adul- 
 terous amour — a moment's unhallowed pas- 
 sion— OUT OF SUCH CORRUPTION 
 
20 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 SPRINGS LIFE. "Who can bring a clean 
 thing out of an unclean? NOT ONE." 
 
 ALAS! The MOTHERS of the race — 
 who DESTROY the heirs of their own body 
 
 — the HOPES of their own RACE. How 
 many out of the millions upon millions of 
 MOTHERS pray for this unknown — this 
 new-born creature — this hope of the world 
 
 — this beginning of that "PIECE OF 
 WORK" called MAN — with a genuine 
 MOTHER LOVE? We know that all over 
 the world children are regarded as burdens 
 
 — and inconvenience — a hindrance of plans 
 of comfort — an upsetting of their pleasures 
 
 — which is anything but welcome. 
 
 Does such as this woman possess aught of 
 maternal tenderness? Does such as she 
 know how to mould a child's mind, rooting 
 out evil tendencies? Evil may come in spite 
 of your best endeavor, but it is certain with- 
 out it. That little child will be taintad by a 
 vile mother, and in its turn a degraded man. 
 
 What to her — is the infant at her side? 
 Was it not the living evidence to a moment's 
 selfish lust? Did not her whole being loathe 
 the creature! She hated her own son — her 
 
ALLAH KERIM 21 
 
 own flesh and blood with as bitter a hatred 
 as ever a woman felt toward a man! 
 
 The baby feebly wails; the woman raised 
 her head, and gazed upon that tiny morsel; 
 a strange dark glitter creeping into her eyes; 
 as she looked she muttered, "What for 
 should she have brats! They ought to diel 
 ALL OF THEM!" she hissed these last 
 words between her teeth — her face full of 
 intense loathing. 
 
 All at once every muscle in her body grew 
 tense with a purpose entering and filling her 
 soul; her face grew livid; her quivering 
 right arm arose; she reached out her wasted 
 hand; in her eyes there was a cruel glitter, 
 her face was now rigid as if cut out of stone ; 
 she resembled a somnolent serpent — veno- 
 mous — coiled for a spring — and sure to 
 carry death in that spring. 
 
 She was hideous to the gaze! Her eyes 
 were fixed upon the face of her baby with a 
 stare which seemed to say, "WHY NOT? 
 ONE MORE OR LESS! WHY NOT?" Her 
 whole soul rose in defiance and hate — aye — 
 and murder! "I won't have it! I won't have 
 it! I'll choke it! I'll choke it to death!" 
 
22 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 As her hand grasped and fastened upon 
 the throat of her child, she was seized with 
 a fit of giddiness, the room whirled round 
 and round furiously, something like a mist 
 hung before her and blurred the baby from 
 sight; her hand relaxed powerless; she was 
 deafened by a violent singing in her ears; 
 a faintness overcame her, and she sank back 
 unconscious. 
 
 Thus came this poor little shrunken 
 BEING into life, just as millions of others 
 come — the mother a CREATURE of shame 
 — A FATHER — who vanishes somewhere 
 into unknown space. 
 
 Already the sombre shadows of his dreary 
 life was beginning to settle down upon him; 
 a life made sorrowful by neglect and cruelty. 
 It is a pity that only the evil things in this 
 world — poverty — with all its vices — and 
 all its crimes are contagious. 
 
 As the day dawned, the wind wailed about 
 the house as if a lost soul was groaning in 
 wordless anguish; and the whirling, driving 
 rain beat upon the roof, and against the 
 window; while the baby kept up a low wail- 
 ing that was pitiful to hear. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 "Thou wouldst have me to renew 
 Horrible pangs, of which the very thought 
 So wrings my heart, I scarce find power for utterance." 
 
 Dante 
 
 This woman suckled her young as would a 
 viper, willing to throw it into the gutter to 
 grasp a glass of gin. As the infant is un- 
 conscious, it cannot be morally injured by 
 its mother, but it is not so with the child — 
 it follows its mother's example, who at last 
 drags it insensibly to her level. 
 
 A year went by — and still another ; the 
 child passes day after day in this abominable 
 garret, neglected and ill-treated, his little 
 body covered with bruises ; he was hungry — 
 always had been HUNGRY! What a pitiful 
 sight to see cold — rags — and hunger in a 
 little child. To see it tossed to and fro on 
 the tide of poverty and misery. 
 
 Day followed day — he crept about with 
 his eyes full of tears — his little heart yearn- 
 ing and pining for tenderness — he had an 
 
 23 
 
24 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 untutored instinct that demanded some- 
 thing else besides blows and curses! He 
 pines and starves for affection — he has a 
 longing for sympathy — a craving for a 
 mother's love; but the mother cannot give 
 what she has not! 
 
 For hours he sat thinking — the tears roll- 
 ing down his wasted cheeks — thinking and 
 wondering dully WHY? WHY? He won- 
 dered all sorts of things: WHY? OH! 
 WHY WAS IT? His little heart was full to 
 bursting — JUST FOR A WORD — A HU- 
 MAN WORD! 
 
 Another year slipped by — and the child 
 began drifting from the purity of childhood 
 — he was robbed of its joy — its innocence — 
 
 — aye — of the very consciousness of child- 
 hood! He was slipping into an atmosphere of 
 bitter thoughts — he became silent and moody 
 under the baleful shadow of neglect — blows 
 
 — and curses; and early, those sweet impulses 
 weak by inheritance, were being chilled. 
 Call out the good, and it WILL ANSWER 
 YOU. Rouse the evil, AND IT WILL 
 GROW! 
 
 A sound, just audible, came faintly to his 
 
ALLAH KERIM 25 
 
 ear; he listened, he heard a shuffling cf feet 
 in the hall, then the door was cautiously 
 opened, and a face peered in with a low gurg- 
 ling laugh — something that had been a 
 woman once, but was now the mere mockery 
 of one; a woman with set lips and brazen ex- 
 pression, the features coarse and revolting, 
 with crisp wiry black hair above low hung 
 brows, narrow eyes; a face to which habits of 
 gross intemperance had added an expression 
 of stupid imbecility. 
 
 At the sight of her, the child shrank in 
 fear, his eyes seemed to dilate with terror as 
 he gazed into those eyes that glared at him 
 with the glare of hate; he crept tremblingly 
 to the farthest corner, like a dog that knows 
 it will be whipped; at this she laughed, an 
 insane crackle — crackle — followed by a 
 torrent of foul language, "Out of my sight, 
 ye BRAT!" she screamed, and again came 
 that wild unearthly laughter. His eyes 
 grew larger and darker as he watched 
 every move she made. Ah! how that miser- 
 able piece of humanity was feared; how he 
 watched that eye with an intensity almost 
 unbearable; how that voice made him shiver; 
 
26 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 seeing this she broke out in a furious rage 
 "Hurry up! Hurry up! d'yre hear me, out of 
 my sight I tell yer!" saying this she came to- 
 ward him with a threatening air — her arm 
 raised — her eyes sparkling with ferocity ; 
 at this the child put out his little hands in 
 an agony of fear the tears flowing down his 
 cheeks — and upon his knees — he implored 
 her for mercy. ''Don't, oh, don't!" he begged 
 in such a piteously shrill voice; "Don't, 
 please don't!" he cried with a sob — putting 
 forth his little trembling hands — his face 
 quivering with fright. A fury took posses- 
 sion of her as he pleaded, and giving vent to 
 her rage she clutched him by the hair of his 
 head with her bony hand, she shook him until 
 he was dazed — then with all her force she 
 hit his head back and forth against the wall. 
 She rebuked him with a torrent of abuse, 
 "I'll shake ye till every bone in yer blasted 
 body falls apart!" she yelled with an oath. 
 
 "Oh! let me go! Let me go!" he screamed, 
 and in a spasm of terror he sprang away 
 from her and rushed for the door — before 
 he could reach the door she snatched a stick 
 ^nd came furiously upon him. "Yer try 
 
ALLAH KERIM 27 
 
 that again ye brat" shrieked the beldam as 
 she struck him with the stick, "Ye try that 
 again" indulging in the most blasphemous 
 language "and I'll kill yer!" 
 
 Blow on blow fell, the sharp pain of which 
 left marks upon his body. The most fright- 
 ful piercing shrieks were heard, rendered un- 
 natural from fright and horror; the hag 
 poured out in blows her whole pent-up pas- 
 sion; she whipped him until compelled to 
 cease by pure exhaustion; when, with a vio- 
 lent push, she flung the child angrily from 
 her, who fell heavily to the floor; striking his 
 head upon the edge of a bucket which stood 
 near — a sharp cry — a convulsive shudder 
 — and he lay apparently insensible — only 
 an occasional gasping sob giving evidence 
 that he was still living ; from his head — the 
 blood was trickling down over his ragged 
 clothes. 
 
 The hag watched him for a moment as he 
 lay there before her, and then burst into that 
 unnatural laugh — a laugh which struck fear 
 to the child's heart — and with that laugh — 
 she strode from the room. 
 
 When alone — his little frame quivered 
 
28 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 with emotion — moan after moan escaped 
 him — a great gulping sob shook him ; it was 
 piteous to hear him sobbing. He sat upon 
 the floor — rocking his little body from side 
 to side — he wrung his hands — sobbing as 
 if his little heart would break — his strained 
 eyes stared — into the darkness — his face 
 so white and fixed in its despair — all his 
 pent-up suffering burst into a wail — as he 
 rocked backward and forward — his tiny 
 hands locked tight together, "Oh! I wish I 
 was dead! I wish I was dead! NOBODY 
 CARES FOR ME! Nobody in all this world 
 cares for me! NOT EVEN MY MOTHER! 
 If I could only die! IF I COULD ONLY 
 DIE!" he moaned over and over as his little 
 body rocked to and fro — to and fro. 
 
 How grief shook him — what bitter — 
 bitter cries in a child — a cry that will echo 
 through life forever more! The warm effu- 
 sions of a bleeding heart is something that 
 should wring the sternest soul. 
 
 After this wild spasm of grief — he sat 
 there amid the shadows — staring at space — 
 he sat with idly folded hands — and eyes that 
 did not see — eyes that looked out across the 
 
ALLAH KERIM 29 
 
 desolate future! What soul-grief — what 
 regions of sorrow — that wrings the heart 
 with such torture — it has not the power of 
 utterance. 
 
 He was afraid — he was afraid of every- 
 thing — he was afraid of his mother — he 
 was afraid of his own shadow! There was 
 something sinister in that empty room! 
 Fear filled his heart! A bug crawled across 
 his hand. A mouse gnawing, made a noise; 
 he crawled, shivering to bed, cowering down 
 among the bed-clothes. 
 
 As he lay there alone among the shadows, 
 it seemed to him peopled with unknown 
 shapes of terror; he was frightened at a cer- 
 tain dreadful sound; not a daytime noise — 
 but one of those stealthly — indefinable — 
 long — interval noises — that comes in the 
 darkness — makes one's blood creep and 
 curdle! CREAK — CREAK — CREAK — 
 C-R-E-E-C-H-Y! C-R-A-W-C-H-Y! Softer 
 and softer — then dying away entirely ; a 
 weirdly awful sound! Goblin whispers and 
 rustlings swept through the room. The 
 wind rattled the window. The door creaked. 
 A shrinking panel cracked. Then a grating 
 
30 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 and grinding. A scampering and squealing. 
 A dash of rain pat! pat! SPLASH! A hun- 
 dred imaginary noises made his heart throb 
 
 — he raised his head and listened, he lifted 
 himself on one elbow and peered into the dis- 
 tant corners of the room, his heart was 
 throbbing wildly — he was sure there was 
 something in that room with him — a some- 
 thing that only comes in the darkness — he 
 was sure he could see something — it was 
 difficult to tell WHAT that made his heart 
 throb with violence — it seemed like some 
 vague black form — he continued to gaze in 
 a kind of hideous fascination — IT MOVES! 
 
 — IT IS CREEPING TOWARDS HIM! — 
 IT WILL HAVE HIM! His hands were icy 
 cold. IT WILL GRASP HIM BY THE 
 THROAT! As he gazed with horror — it 
 suddenly vanished — it seemed to crumble 
 away. He looked around with a shudder — 
 THERE WAS NOTHING! It WAS GONE! 
 and he breathed a sigh of relief — BUT NO 
 
 — THERE IT IS AGAIN! and so it came 
 again and again — never remaining but a 
 few minutes at a time — when it faded away. 
 
 Trembling with a nameless fear, he crawled 
 
ALLAH KERIM 31 
 
 down — down — pulling the bed-clothes over 
 his head, where at last he fell asleep, utterly 
 worn out. 
 
 In his sleep he was tormented with dreams, 
 he felt himself traveling hundreds of miles 
 away — flying across frightful gulfs that 
 yawned beneath his feet — or he was drop- 
 ping from an enormous height — and again 
 his mother pursued him with a long spear — 
 and was forever on the point of overtaking 
 him. 
 
 Thus the first five years of his life were 
 passed, no inner life was developed; it was a 
 waste — a desert! His outward life was 
 cold and empty! The love of kindred here 
 dies out of strangulation — by the neglect to 
 make the least exhibition of love — by unjust 
 punishment which darkens and embitters the 
 soul. 
 
 "Out of the heart are the issues of life/' 
 Human kindness is never lost, even if be- 
 stowed upon the unworthy. 
 
 The great black wave of ruin is sweeping 
 down upon him fast — fast! He is strug- 
 gling — his soul just hovering over the abyss 
 of darkness — the tide is strong — it is 
 
32 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 almost surging over him! A WORD — A 
 HUMAN WORD — AYE — EVEN A 
 LOOK — WILL SAVE HIM FROM 
 PLUNGING DOWN INTO THE DEPTHS 
 FROM WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 "Why do I exist 
 Why art thou wretched? Why are all things so? 
 Even HE who made us must be as the maker 
 Of all things unhappy! To produce destruction 
 Can surely never be the task of joy, 
 And yet my sire says HE'S Omnipotent. 
 Then why is evil — He being good?" 
 
 Byron 
 
 The weeks dragged wearily on; his mother 
 staggered in and out, her life given up to 
 drink, her soul so degraded — so tarnished — 
 so discolored by depravity — that a white 
 spot could not be found in her soul. 
 
 How true it is that when a woman once 
 commences a downward course, her descent 
 is more rapid — and she arrives at a depth of 
 wickedness positively not attainable by MAN 
 
 — her path may be traced by the poison and 
 slime she leaves behind her. 
 
 Shivering under old tatters — the boy not 
 yet six years of age — was driven out to beg 
 
 — he was obliged to pilfer — forced into 
 
 33 
 
34 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 crime, "Make 'em thieves — keep 'em thieves," 
 she said; what cared she that if my child 
 steals I am responsible for his sin, and unless 
 I frown upon it, I am an accomplice in it. 
 At this age, children begin to follow their 
 mother's example; bad children reflect the 
 imperfections of the parent — as bad CITI- 
 ZENS the imperfections of the government. 
 
 It is quite possible to train a child out of 
 all common sense, common usefulness and 
 earthly and heavenly beauty. The associa- 
 tion with that which is repulsive is freed 
 from even an idea that is UNPLEASANT. 
 
 His nature was changing, it came on grad- 
 ually — so gradually — as to be hardly per- 
 ceptible—but STILL IT CAME. 
 
 He lived in a reverie that had something 
 portentous and terrible about it. What re- 
 pressed emotions swarm in the dark depths 
 of his soul, breeding new unthought thoughts, 
 subtly influencing his actions, and ceaselessly 
 watching for a chance to slip into conscious- 
 ness. At times, his soul shrank from these 
 pitiless thoughts which assailed him; but in 
 vain he is chided by his conscience — IT IS 
 BUT A STILL SMALL VOICE. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 35 
 
 The MIND can create a world for itself — 
 it is its own place — and in itself — can 
 make a Heaven of Hell — a Hell of Heaven. 
 As Milton says, "The heart and mind are 
 open for all winds to blow through, airs from 
 Heaven or blasts from HELL." 
 
 Such is the depravity of human nature, 
 that although it be truly penitent today — 
 before tomorrow it will be plunged as deep 
 in the mire as ever. So peremptorily did 
 these shades beckon him that it was like a 
 grim black phantom that sat upon his shoul- 
 der, casting a shadow before his eyes. Week 
 by week — month by month he brooded upon 
 it — he dreamed of it by night! The battle 
 in his heart raged fiercer and hotter; he com- 
 menced to HATE HER — the feeling grew 
 and grew upon him — he felt as vindictively 
 towards her as if she was his bitterest enemy 
 — his mother despised HIM — and her 
 SON abhors HER! New and evil thoughts 
 swept darkly across the troubled surface of 
 his mind — and the hiss of the serpent wound 
 its first cold coil in his heart — where its 
 hissings and writhings were no less terrible 
 because unheard and unseen. 
 
36 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 The outer conduct of the boy was known 
 
 — but the internal conflict between good and 
 evil was unknown. The outer deeds and 
 their consequences do not reveal the inner 
 being nor the essence of individuality. Con- 
 tact and familiarity with vices, gradually 
 WEARS OFF THE EDGE OF ABHOR- 
 RENCE, overclouding the highest principles, 
 as well as the most refined minds. 
 
 As the slow years rolled on, his soul de- 
 veloped like a noxious reptile reared in a 
 damp, dark cellar; shrunken and distorted — 
 twisted — ghastly and unnatural. "Nature, 
 Bacon tells us, runs either to herbs or weeds/' 
 
 A morbid tendency for the horrible ran 
 through his being. He hated everything! 
 But OH! HOW HE HATED HER! He 
 cursed her in his heart; and he wished 
 "SHE'D KICK THE BUCKET!" 
 
 The most human sentiments fled from 
 his bosom; he became callous — hardened. 
 He found enjoyment in tormenting and 
 killing! 
 
 He began by inflicting torture on insects, 
 he took a keen delight in torturing to death 
 
 — a fly — a great hairy-legged spider or a 
 
ALLAH KERIM 37 
 
 huge wriggling caterpillar. He gave full 
 vent to his inherent cruelty — the greatest 
 abuse he could heap upon some animal was 
 his greatest joy — a howl of pain from some 
 dumb brute was the most grateful sound to 
 his ear. Thus it is that the ferocity of ani- 
 mals, and their malevolent propensities is 
 the result of wickedness on the part of man. 
 Cruelty to animals must be supplanted by 
 kindness towards them — when LOVE con- 
 trols their spirits — where only FEAR 
 now does — the "LEOPARD WILL LIE 
 DOWN WITH THE LAMB, AND THE 
 LION SHALL EAT STRAW LIKE THE 
 OX." 
 
 The downward path daily becomes more 
 slippery with sin, until the soul loses all 
 ability of will — all power of resistance. A 
 change began to creep over his face — there 
 w r as something jarring in his laugh — it 
 sounded crafty and cruel — theft — hatred 
 — and cruelty filled the boy's eyes with a 
 wicked glitter — and the heart with the 
 sudden incipience of crime — he decided he 
 was getting altogether too big to be hustled 
 about in this way — she had to quit laying 
 
38 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 "that air broom of hern over his head, or 
 some day I'll strike her!" 
 
 Dark — vague — suggestions began to stir 
 within him. "JUST WAIT," he muttered, 
 "MY TIME WILL COME! JUST WAIT! 
 I'LL GET EVEN SOME DAY!" 
 
 What vile imaginations will be forever 
 forming themselves within us — a whirlpool 
 of thoughts which gradually swallows up all 
 that which is good. 
 
 He sank lower and lower, and the lower he 
 went down — the more absorbed he became 
 with the monstrous idea which had taken 
 possession of him — and so he nourished this 
 serpent which wound deeper and deeper with 
 its envenomed folds until his heart strings 
 were crushed beneath its coils. 
 
 REVENGE is a secret monster which is 
 ever gnawing away at the root of human life ; 
 he heeded not the inward monitor — which 
 whispered the ancient words — that were 
 spoken in thunder and lightning, "THOU 
 SHALT NOT KILL." 
 
 Sorrow falls with very different power 
 upon different human hearts ; it is to some as 
 the devastating tempest — tearing up the soil 
 
ALLAH KERIM 39 
 
 — and beating down and destroying all that 
 which is fair and fruitful. "Ismir Allah" (It 
 is time for prayer.) 
 
 Vengeance to God alone belongs : — 
 
 But when I think of all my wrongs 
 
 My blood is liquid Flame! 
 
 One sole desire — one passion remains, 
 
 To keep life's fever within my veins — 
 
 Vengeance! DIRE VENGEANCE on the ONE 
 
 Who cast on me this ruinous BLAST. 
 
40 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 "She hath spoken, and her words still resound in his 
 ears!" 
 
 Hao-Khieou-Tchouan. 
 
 It was night. In the old stove a few 
 pieces of wood crackled and burned; from the 
 cupboard a dark stream of cockroaches 
 flowed forth ; the room was lighted by a lamp 
 — the glass smoked and broken — patched 
 with brown paper. At a rickety table 
 crouched his mother; leaning forward on her 
 elbows — her fingers hiding her grimy face 
 and cheerless eyes. 
 
 The door creaked — opened — and the boy 
 shambled into the room; at the sound, she 
 lifted her head, as her eyes met his — they 
 gleamed; "So yer here at last, ye bag of lazy 
 bones !" she said with a leer as she added, 
 "Do ye think I'll be waiting all night fer sich 
 brats as ye?" "AW! go ter Hell, ye old 
 chicken hawk!" he answered with a sneer. 
 "And what's more, I'll advise ye ter let me 
 alone, if ye know what's good fer yer!" he 
 
ALLAH KERIM 41 
 
 added in a low fierce tone. ' 'Don't ye dare 
 tell me," she replied savagely, as she shook her 
 clenched fist in his face, "What I'm ter do, 
 ye poisonous young VIPER! I'll let ye know 
 I'm BOSS in this yer house!" 
 
 Savage depths began to stir within him. 
 All the slumbering hate of his nature was 
 being roused into action — his whole soul 
 rose in defiance at his mother's leering look. 
 
 'Take away yer dirty fist — ye old RIP! 
 Do yer hear!" he hissed between his clenched 
 teeth. 
 
 At these words she sprang up with an 
 angry scowl — and said in a harsh grating 
 tone, "Why — you — you — base-born 
 BRAT — you — you — how dare ye talk ter 
 me like that! WHY DAMN YE — just let 
 me get a hold of yez wunst — and — Til — 
 
 choke ye — ye her last words 
 
 were lost in her inarticulate wrath. 
 
 While she hurled these words at him — a 
 terrible expression stole over his face — his 
 eyes were balls of fire — and all the blackness 
 of HELL seemed concentrated in his heart; 
 thoughts raced through his brain with the 
 rapidity which almost defied his efforts to 
 
42 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 catch them. How he hated her! How he 
 hated the sight of HER! WHY SHOULD'NT 
 HE HATE HER? Had she not made his 
 life one long breath of misery? Had he not 
 wept and cringed under the hardships of his 
 childhood? Hadn't his poor little soul wept 
 and flamed under the torture and insult of the 
 unjustly applied stick! Had she not ruined 
 his life — destroyed all that was good in 
 him? Did she not MAKE HIM WHAT 
 HE WAS? He made up his mind in an in- 
 stant, that she would never — no never 
 strike him again! 
 
 "Keep away!" he hisses in a menacing 
 tone, ''Don't come near me! Don't touch 
 me! If ye do, as sure as I'm standing here, 
 I'll — I'll KILL YER!" "KILL ME!" she 
 screamed, her face growing purple with rage, 
 "You — you — low down dirty cur, you 
 threaten to KILL ME?" 
 
 "Yes! if you dare lay hands upon me — I 
 WILL!" was the deliberate answer. 
 
 In the bitterness of her rage she cursed him 
 — denounced him — she extended her bony 
 arm — her long finger quivering like a ser- 
 pents tongue — and pointed it full in his face, 
 
ALLAH KERIM 43 
 
 "Why — you — you — dirty BASTARD 
 YOU — I DEFY YOU!" and she laughed in 
 his face — a mocking — taunting — jeering 
 laugh. 
 
 This taunting — jeering laugh was the last 
 drop in an already full cup — it fairly mad- 
 dened him — a wild passion took possession 
 of him — the blood in his veins flamed like 
 fire — his face flushed a deep red — then 
 turned to a ghastly pallor — while his eyes 
 flashed with a light worse than the eyes of a 
 wild beast — with a terrible expression upon 
 his face — he stepped one step forward — 
 holding her eyes with a stare of deadly ani- 
 mosity — he broke out in rapid — broken 
 sentences — words that fell like flints — hard 
 and separate — one upon another: "Look at 
 me — look at ME — I SAY. WHAT AM 
 I? WHOSE WORK IS IT? You laugh at 
 me — mock me — curse me — rob me of all 
 that my poor soul craved and hungered for. 
 LOOK INTO MY EYES — NOW— DO 
 YOU KNOW WHERE I'M GOING? YOU 
 KNOW WHERE I'M GOING — / KNOW." 
 As he hurled these words at her — he was 
 transformed into a DEVIL — his lips tightly 
 
44 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 compressed — while his face wore an air of 
 desperate resolution — his eyes seemed to 
 flash the words: "MY TIME HAS COME!" 
 
 Impelled by a ghastly fascination — she 
 cowered beneath the withering hate of his 
 glance — she stood transfixed — gazing at 
 him in terror — reading in his eyes his savage 
 purpose. In vain she tried to remove her 
 eyes from her SON — but he held her as by a 
 powerful spell — she could not move — or 
 cry out — but stood powerless — as in a 
 frightful nightmare — it seemed to her — she 
 was gazing at a hideous serpent — with head 
 erect — its venomous eyes glaring at her in 
 fiery eagerness. 
 
 And now — with all his long smothered 
 passion let loose — and his hatred bracing his 
 nerves and muscles — making him desper- 
 ately strong — with one bound he sprang 
 forward with a stifled cry — his fingers closed 
 round that shriveled throat — she uttered a 
 shuddering cry at his touch — despair nerves 
 her to wrench away the fingers which held 
 her with a grip of steel — and now the battle 
 began for the supremacy between MOTHER 
 and SON. She made convulsive efforts to 
 
ALLAH KERIM 45 
 
 breathe — her lips moved in a spasmodic 
 struggle for speech "MURDERER!" with a 
 terrible gasp the word fell from her lips. 
 BUT still he held her with that grip of steel 
 
 — her eyes protruded — her tongue was out 
 her mouth — there was a curious gurgling 
 sound — a convulsive movement of her body. 
 He burst into a laugh of awful triumph — 
 then his grip relaxed — his fingers opened — 
 and let their prey loose — his mother's form 
 fell back — back — and down upon the floor 
 
 — she was dead — stone dead — and BY 
 HIS HAND — the evil deed was done. 
 
 A strange feeling came over him as he 
 gazed down upon that white dead face — he 
 recoiled with awe before his own work — he 
 went staggering backward till he felt the wall 
 behind him — he could retreat no farther — 
 his limbs trembled beneath him — his heart 
 throbbed with apprehension — his intellect 
 failed him — only the affrightened soul within 
 him was filled with panic — almost blind with 
 fear. 
 
 Alas! he had in his passion committed him- 
 self to that from which life will never allow 
 him to be dissevered. All the sorrow in the 
 
46 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 world and everything else that is in the 
 world cannot undo it now. 
 
 He must flee from this appalling fate which 
 had hovered over him so long. His only 
 thought was to get away as fast as possible, 
 he crept forward and opened the door cau- 
 tiously — he peers out looking in every di- 
 rection — all is darkness and silence ; he 
 creeps softly along the passage — he descends 
 the garret stairs — feeling his way by the 
 wall — for all is pitch blackness, not a glim- 
 mer of light — the boards creaked omin- 
 ously beneath his tread ; silently he opens the 
 street door — looking hurriedly about him — 
 and then — unchallenged by a single voice — 
 he hurries through the dimly lighted streets 
 clinging close into the shadows of the buildings 
 — running at times when the thoroughfare 
 appeared deserted — he ran as though he 
 were running for his life — rapidly he made 
 his way towards the outskirts of the city. 
 
 A soft, gray penetrating mist enveloped 
 everything — through which the moon shone 
 dimly — forming itself into strange fantastic 
 shapes. Suddenly he became aware of the 
 sound of footsteps behind him — he glanced 
 
ALLAH KERIM 47 
 
 over his shoulder — but no one was visible 
 — he thought it might be the echo of his own 
 steps — he felt disposed to run — he did so — 
 and immediately he heard the clatter of some 
 one of equal speed, he turned in a very sudden 
 manner, glancing keenly in the rear — but no 
 living thing was visible — the street was de- 
 serted, this aggravated his nervousness, and 
 again he started to run — on and on — he went 
 until in the distance he saw the shadowy 
 lines of a bridge merged into the fog, seemily 
 hanging in the air as lightly as a cobweb, its 
 arches looking enormously lugubious — across 
 the road the moon cast ink black shadows — 
 and before him — outlined against the sky 
 stood a gigantic Cottonwood — its huge body 
 and great arms — swaying back and forth 
 against the night's blackness. 
 
 On and on he strode until he reached the 
 bridge, those phantom steps still dogging 
 him, he could not escape it; walking half-way 
 across the bridge, he stopped, he stood mo- 
 tionless as if in a trance. 
 
 Around him were the lights of the city, 
 twinkling like stars, below him, the river, its 
 current running in turbulent waves, dashing 
 
48 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 and foaming against the rocks, then rushing 
 with an angry chute under the arches dash- 
 ing against the piles as though to force them 
 out of the way, they seemed to babble tragi- 
 cally of untold atrocities. 
 
 He stood there watching this chasm in all 
 its murkiness, it seemed to woo him, he con- 
 templated a fall into that sombre void and 
 shade, YES he would dive down into those 
 depths below, he would drown in that black- 
 ness! At this moment he heard a sound that 
 shook his very soul! It was but the bells of 
 Trinity chiming the hour of three, to him 
 their sound was the most solemn and touch- 
 ing of all sounds, it was like some VAST 
 VOICE uttering a word through the night 
 LOST! LOST! LOST! Immediately one 
 clock after another took up the sound until 
 it seemed to him that VOICES, some mourn- 
 ful and beseeching, OTHERS solemn and de- 
 nouncing, were crying to him from all parts 
 of the universe! LOST! LOST! LOST! 
 
 The bells chimed and tinkled from every 
 quarter, but to his ears those awful bells 
 tolled loud and dismal, echoing and vibrating 
 through his brain until he was nearly crazed, 
 
ALLAH KERIM 49 
 
 each moment their vibrations became more 
 violent and the sounds they produced grew 
 louder and louder, till they reached a shrill 
 wild cry that rang in his ears with a shrill cry 
 of warning. Then came a pause, then a deep 
 shuddering groan, the sound of the last stroke 
 died away, only a faint echo remaining. 
 
 He stretched out his arms, and then broke 
 out in words of despair, in a passion of self- 
 reproach, "Oh! what have I done? WHAT 
 HAVE I DONE? WHAT SHALL I DO? 
 OH! WHAT SHALL I DO?" 
 
 He saw no path open to go back, yet 
 shrinking more and more every moment, 
 when all at once, obeying some inward im- 
 pulse, he turned abruptly about, and then, he 
 began to run, it seemed as though he was fly- 
 ing from himself, from the new and hideous 
 form he had taken, he was rushing madly 
 back over the course he had trod, he was 
 drawn onward by an irresistible power, that 
 no will of his could modify or overcome. 
 
 On and on he strode into the city from 
 which he had so fearfully fled, on into the 
 place, which had been his curse, on and on 
 through the gloomy streets he moved until 
 
50 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 the red glare of the light above the street 
 door told him he was outside his own hovel, 
 he opened the door, and began climbing 
 those stairs. What a long, fearful ascent! 
 He reached the door, his haggard face white 
 with fear, his eyes large and full of a strange 
 gleam, clutching his hands together with a 
 nervous motion, he pushed the door softly 
 OPEN, and crept in. 
 
 Through the window, the moonlight shone, 
 and rested full upon that lifeless heap upon 
 the floor. A shudder of repulsion passed 
 over him as he gazed upon that distorted face 
 those wide-open staring eyes! He stood 
 there staring at it like one gone mad, when 
 suddenly a superstitious dread took posses- 
 sion of him, and he fled to the farthest corner 
 of the room, he crouched down and hid his 
 face, shivering with an awful fear. 
 
 The moon, whose light had been steadily 
 growing dimmer, faded from sight, and the 
 darkness, worst of all terrors to the guilty 
 mind, enveloped all. In half -awaking re- 
 morse, he talked, but knew not what he said, 
 sometimes he cried, and again he laughed, 
 uttering shrieks of wild frantic laughter that 
 
ALLAH KERIM 51 
 
 was dreadful to hear, he never ceased, until 
 his overtasked nature gave way, and he sank 
 into a stupor, still his crime ever hovered 
 about him like the furies that followed the 
 footsteps of Orestes. 
 
 The mind is a chaos of fancies, desires and 
 temptations. A furnace of dreams, a Den of 
 shameful ideas — a pandemonium of passion's 
 battle-field! 
 
 Conscience has a terrible tenacity of life; 
 and when it seems to have been killed, it is 
 not yet dead, BUT ONLY SLEEPETH! 
 
 "Oh, what a fate is guilt! How wild, how wretched! 
 When apprehension can form naught but Fears." 
 
 Howard 
 
52 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 "Like one who dreams of harm befalling him, 
 And dreaming wishes it may be a dream, 
 Desiring that which is as though it were not." 
 
 Dante 
 
 Imagination perhaps never works so pow- 
 erfully as in the dreams which haunt the 
 guilty mind. The blood they shed is still 
 liquid before them, each drop appearing as a 
 terrible accuser, it is in darkness that ''hor- 
 rors on horror's head accumulate' ' being their 
 last waking thoughts it is reproduced in their 
 dreams, and here they repeat forever the 
 awful crime in which their last moments had 
 been spent. 
 
 In the dream which came to him, he was 
 walking along a very narrow and rocky foot- 
 path which skirted the outermost verge of a 
 cliff, its gloomy portal dropping perpendic- 
 ularly a hundred feet to a region of wonder- 
 ous waterfall and torrents that rushed amidst 
 huge rocks, sending up to him a dreadful 
 note of warning in its threatening monotone. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 53 
 
 The passage became narrow and dangerous 
 as he trudged onward and upward, huge 
 fallen rocks were heaped before him in wild 
 confusion, his only foothold these insecure 
 rocks, which the moment after dropped away, 
 rattling and clattering till lost to hearing ; he 
 found that the higher he climbed the more 
 toilsome and dangerous the ascent. 
 
 He walked along precipices that hung over 
 the valley like vast shelves, one rising above 
 the other, leaving but a narrow ledge between, 
 in which were great fissures, over these he 
 had to leap, one false step meaning instant 
 death. 
 
 At length he came upon a great rock cast- 
 ing a portentous shadow, he looked below, 
 could he ever get back? No it was im- 
 possible! THERE WAS NO TURNING 
 BACK! He looked upward, COULD HE 
 CLIMB HIGHER? Ah! whatever point we 
 may have reached, there is still a higher point 
 to gain. No matter what may happen, HE 
 MUST KEEP ON! 
 
 He traveled on until he reached a recess 
 between overhanging cliffs, he saw before him 
 a narrow crevice through the rock to a ledge 
 
54 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 beyond, along this crevice he crawled on his 
 hands and knees until he reached the outer 
 edge of the shelf, he was on the verge of a 
 fearful precipice, the awful height of which 
 made his head whirl, he had to lie down to 
 keep from tumbling from the ledge, clutch- 
 ing the rocks with a death-grip he peered 
 over into the abyss beneath, he perceived 
 that the rock on which he lay was but a pro- 
 jecting shelf a foot or so in thickness, should 
 this table-rock yield beneath his weight he 
 would be hurled through mid-air into a ter- 
 rible gulf. 
 
 Out beyond was empty air. Down below, 
 all was miniature, the wild, rock-filled gorges 
 looked but tiny gutters, the forests, shrub- 
 bery. He was so high that no sounds from 
 below could be heard. His brain reeled as he 
 gazed into this solemn solitude, he shrank 
 back from the dizzy verge appalled, YET, 
 how grand to view the wide-spread landscape 
 before him! 
 
 Blue ragged outlines of granite spurs, a 
 bewildering sea of peaks upon which seems to 
 rest the blue vault of heaven. The sunset 
 came, redly burning in the West, and as its 
 
ALLAH KERIM 55 
 
 last rays were gilding these stupendous spurs, 
 when LO! there came from the highest peak 
 a loud VOICE which said "PRAISED BE 
 THE LORD." Then another and another 
 and still another until from every mountain 
 peak the words were repeated "PRAISED 
 BE THE LORD," the echo sounded from 
 rock to rock repeating the NAME of GOD. 
 
 It filled his soul with awe, and a great fear — 
 tremblingly he crawled away from that dread- 
 ful verge, feeling along trying to find some 
 way to descend, when suddenly he felt him- 
 self sinking down, down, dow^n out of sight, 
 he was precipitated into a dark pit, he sought 
 to ascend, when he fell again and deeper, in 
 an agony of fear, he rushed hither and thither 
 only to fall a third time and still deeper, 
 everything went spinning round him, he saw 
 nothing, he heard nothing, till at last there 
 came a sound, a squeaking and chattering, a 
 grinding of teeth, it was absolutely blood- 
 freezing, then something struck against him, 
 he was frantic with horror, then he heard 
 groans and shrieks, as if souls in torture. 
 Now a wide chasm opened before him, through 
 which issued forth the figure of DEATH, 
 
56 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 holding in his unyielding clutch a struggling 
 MORTAL, on whose face the swollen veins 
 and drops of sweat told the horror and de- 
 pair of the soul, the head thrown violently 
 upward, as though attempting to avoid the 
 sight of the exultant monster that was drag- 
 ging it to death. 
 
 After this there came forth a skeleton, fol- 
 lowed by another and another, they were of 
 all forms and sizes, from that of the man of 
 gigantic stature, to that of the tiny infant, 
 falling into file these bare, blanched bones 
 marched slowly up through the crypt, there 
 was no end to the marching of the dead from 
 those regions below, they seemed to be flow- 
 ing on, forever on like a river. They shook 
 their unfleshed hands at him pointing at him 
 scornfully with their wan fingers as they 
 passed by, the void sockets of their skulls 
 were filled with glaring eyes that gazed men- 
 acingly upon him, they marched in solemn 
 procession through the cavern and then 
 ranged themselves before him, they danced 
 and jostled each other, cutting the most 
 grotesque capers, wagging their heads mock- 
 ingly at him, flinging out their legs, and wav- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 57 
 
 ing and flourishing their arm-bones to and 
 fro, as if in impatience, or anger, or in pain. 
 And thus they capered, screamed, and fought 
 and in their ferocity, they tore off each 
 others heads and arms, which at once grew 
 on again, and after they had dismembered 
 one another twenty or thirty times all round, 
 they burst into a mirthless discordant laugh, 
 a laugh growing louder and louder, that 
 echoed back and forth until it seemed that a 
 demoniacal host were enjoying the wildest 
 and most unearthly of revels, they pointed at 
 him with the air of avenging furies, and then 
 came a voice, which sounded as if speaking 
 from some great height, "LOOK UPON 
 YOUR WORK!" and again came that de- 
 mon-like laugh, and with the echo of that 
 fiendish laugh ringing in his ears he awoke, 
 cold drops of agony stood out upon his fore- 
 head, he opened his eyes slowly, the pale 
 dawn shows gray in at the window, not a 
 sound to break the awful stillness, then as 
 memory returned to him, he sprang up and 
 looked about him. "YES, IT WAS TRUE. 
 IT WAS THERE!" 
 Alas! who can undo the evil they have 
 
58 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 wrought, FATE you may resist, but you 
 cannot conquer it. 
 
 These stupendous succession of horrors so 
 unnatural and terrible, was too much for his 
 overtaxed nervous frame, and he fell back 
 with a groan, wild-eyed, as one utterly be- 
 wildered, he raved madly, with half-intelli- 
 gible utterances that froze one with horror to 
 hear. 
 
 What regions of TORTURE, we must 
 suffer, TO MAKE US WHAT WE ARE! 
 
 "March — March — March! 
 Earth groans as they tread! 
 Each carries a skull, 
 Going down to the dead! 
 Every stride, every stamp, 
 Every footfall bolder; 
 Tis a skeleton tramp! 
 With a skull on his shoulder! 
 But LO! how he steps 
 With a high-tossing head, 
 That clay-covered bone, 
 Going down to the dead!" 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 "Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 
 And rest can never dwell ; hope never comes, 
 That comes to all: But torture without end 
 Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed 
 With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed — " 
 
 Milton 
 
 Not a sound broke the stillness, not a 
 window jarred, nor a door creaked; not so 
 much as a breath from the chill wind that 
 complained without. 
 
 Presently the silence was broken by the 
 sound of footsteps, then voices, again silence, 
 then a black shadow loomed up in the door- 
 way, then another. 
 
 A neighbor not having seen them for two 
 days reported to the police, upon open- 
 ing the door they looked upon a terrible 
 spectacle! In the middle of the room lay the 
 dead woman half eaten by rats, while in the 
 corner crouched the boy, staring before him 
 vacantly. 
 
 "Why, the lad's clean daffy!" exclaimed the 
 neighbor. 
 
 59 
 
60 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 A hand was laid upon his shrinking 
 shoulder, a hand that closed down like a vice, 
 the hand of the LAW! He left that grim 
 room in the custody of the police, arrested 
 for the murder of his mother. As he issued 
 forth into the street, windows were opened, 
 and heads thrust out on all sides; it was im- 
 possible to say where the people came from, 
 but in a short time the street was blocked 
 with a crowd that gathered round the door. 
 
 He was taken to a dismal pile called the 
 "Tombs" a long, narrow, lofty building. Upon 
 entering, he gazed around as one in a dream, 
 he saw four galleries running round it, one 
 above the other, communicating by stairs. 
 Between the two sides of each gallery and in 
 its center, a bridge, on each of these bridges 
 sat a man. The whole was lighted by a sky- 
 light fast closed; from the roof there dangled 
 limp and drooping two useless wind sails. 
 
 On each side of him were rows of small iron 
 doors, in which were square apertures, 
 through these, women peeped anxiously. He 
 was taken before one of these doors, the fast- 
 enings jar and rattle, it turns slowly on its 
 hinges, he saw before him a small bare cell, in 
 
ALLAH KERIM 61 
 
 which was a bedstead, he then passed through 
 and into a gateway which leads to the State 
 Prisons. 
 
 He was kept here for months, forced into 
 close contact with offenders of all grades of 
 guilt, from the timorous young who have 
 taken their first step in wrong doing, to the 
 old and hardened offender who boasts of his 
 deeds, and who pollute with their wickedness 
 those with whom they come in contact. A 
 dreadful place to pass long days and nights, a 
 place where there is no decent provision of 
 personal cleanliness, and where the air is foul 
 with sickening stenches. 
 
 He was gazed at by the curious, and scoffed 
 at by the unfeeling, he was forced in self-de- 
 fense to hurl back words of scorn, which were 
 prompted by his evil passions of hate. 
 
 When the boy was brought to trial and the 
 Judge asked him "His name?" he answered 
 listlessly, 'They calls me THE VIPER." 
 
 "Have you no father? "continued the Judge. 
 
 "Never had any on hand as I knows of," 
 he replied stupidly. 
 
 When he was asked if he was guilty or not? 
 he made no reply, of what use were words. 
 
62 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 He sat there, day after day, white and 
 silent, for he had not spoken since. Seeing 
 before him nothing but hostile faces, no one 
 saw anything good in that poor face, and he 
 remembering all the rubs and knocks which 
 had fallen to his share, a great hatred of man- 
 kind gazed out of his eyes upon that throng 
 beneath him, a throng no less murderously 
 disposed towards him, who called him, "A 
 hard nut." 
 
 On the last day of his trial, when the Judge 
 rose to pronounce his sentence, he leaned for- 
 ward to hear his fate, "What was he saying?" 
 he was sentenced to "Hard labor for twenty 
 years." The whole stress of the charges 
 against him was laid on, Not what he had 
 done, but what he MIGHT DO! Imprison- 
 ment is intimidation from crime, not the im- 
 provement of criminals. 
 
 When he heard these words, he shuddered, 
 his face deepening in its pallor then it grew 
 dark and surly as he muttered to himself: 
 "Well, that's always the way, the poor they 
 has no chance, they has ter PAY THE 
 PRICE!" 
 
 The intricate workings of a boy's soul can- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 63 
 
 not be exhibited to judges or juries, for 
 treatment had made him surly, and poverty, 
 UGLY! 
 
 He was now a criminal, a convict reduced 
 to simple classification No. 31999. Society 
 regards prisoners as mere outcasts, as such, 
 he was treated as a brute, he was thrust inside 
 such a cage as is used for wild beasts. The 
 hideous clank of the chain jeered and mocked 
 him, it galled him to be a convict, it bred in 
 him a violent resentment, then the wolf was 
 roused within him, and he felt a wild desire to 
 become what they believed him to be. 
 
 'They treat me as though I was a devil," 
 he said in a husky whisper. "Very well, from 
 now on I'll show them what a devil can do!" 
 
 The hot fires of his nature were wholly 
 aroused, his soul was filled with a fierce de- 
 termination, evil for evil, abuse for abuse. 
 The old tiger within him rages, he made up 
 his mind, "That they could not force him to 
 do what he did not want to do! You may 
 lead a horse to water but you can't make him 
 drink." 
 
 His whole soul was now intent on executing 
 some plan to cause trouble, the more trouble 
 
64 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 the better. He began by pricking his gums, 
 swearing he was bleeding at the lungs; then 
 again he would lie for days in his cell, refus- 
 ing to rise, declaring with awful blasphemies 
 his inability to move. Next he would steal 
 soap, making pills for frothing at the mouth, 
 going into sham fits. Immediately after 
 this he invented methods of self-injury; in 
 some way he would get possession of a piece 
 of broken glass, when with the quickness of a 
 cat he would inflict a terrible gash across an 
 artery, and lie bleeding to death ; when taken 
 to the infirmary, he resorted to every device 
 that might cause trouble to his attendants, 
 sometimes he would lie and scream for help, 
 until assistance was close upon him, when he 
 would sit up and with unerring aim fling at 
 the persons head everything within reach. 
 At another time he dropped suddenly out of 
 bed and with an ell-like writhe made for the 
 bedside of the other patients, and there he 
 would smash basins, bottles, everything in 
 sight; his attendants found he was not an 
 unresisting sufferer of injuries. When taken 
 back to his cell, he would arouse the whole 
 prison with his howls, shrieks and demoniac 
 
ALLAH KERIM 65 
 
 yells that issued from his cell; he would tear 
 or break to pieces everything that he could 
 lay his hands on; he became one of the most 
 troublesome of all the prisoners, thus prov- 
 ing what one can do when they determine to 
 make themselves formidable. 
 
 How many times was he subjected to the 
 torture of the straps, how many times was he 
 knocked down by the guards, it was abuse 
 for abuse, but it did not subdue his rebellious 
 soul, it only reacted, and inflamed that which 
 it was intended to remove. "He swore," 
 with a mighty oath, "that he would not work, 
 and that no human BEING could make 
 HIM WORK!" 
 
 The warden decided to take him to the 
 ladder and see if that would not make him 
 change his mind. 
 
 "Suppose you do, WHAT THEN?" The 
 guards took him to where a ladder leaned 
 against the wall ; it was bolted at the bottom 
 to the floor, and at the top to the wall. The 
 warden ordered him "TO STRIP." He 
 looked around at the warden, in his eyes an 
 expression of defiance as he said: "If you 
 want me stripped, do it YOURSELF." 
 
66 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 The guards used brutal violence in strip- 
 ping him, they stripped off all his clothes, 
 and he stood there before them nude, they 
 dragged him to the ladder, they jerked him 
 off the floor, strapping his arms to the top of 
 the ladder, then they strapped his legs, and 
 thus he was put upon the rack. 
 
 The warden said to the guard, "Hand me 
 the whip!" and with the whip held firmly in 
 his hand he stepped up to the boy and said, 
 "I'll give you one more chance, will you go to 
 work?" The boy raised his sullen eyes and 
 looked into those eyes before him, and an- 
 swered angrily, "NO! I tell you, and I mean 
 what I say." 
 
 "Very well," replied the warden, and 
 stepping back he raised the whip, it came 
 down with a sharp sting, leaving its mark 
 upon his body. Lash on lash descended 
 upon this helpless victim, until his back and 
 shoulders were streaked with swollen and livid 
 lines. Again the warden in the act of inflict- 
 ing another blow exclaimed: "Now DAMN 
 YOU, WILL YOU GO TO WORK?" 
 
 The boy turned his head slowly, the blood 
 shot up in his forehead till the veins roughly 
 
ALLAH KERIM 67 
 
 ridged it, his eyes flashed with a fury of 
 passion, as he gave way to a perfect tempest 
 of rage. "YOU COWARD! YOU LOW 
 DOWN DIRTY COWARD! YOU TIE ME 
 UP LIKE A DOG ! YOU WHIP ME WHEN 
 I'M HELPLESS ! WELL, DAMN YOU, 
 KEEP ON WHIPPING ME! FOR I SAY, 
 NO! I'LL DIE FIRST!" 
 
 In brutal rage the warden whipped his 
 helpless victim, he beat him as though he ex- 
 pected to make a new organization of a hu- 
 man soul by torture, in fierce unbridled tem- 
 per he whipped him until the blood trickled 
 slowly from his wounds, till at last his whole 
 back was wet with blood, a tiny stream was 
 flowing down his legs, and dripping, drop by 
 drop, off his toes on to the floor, an awful 
 crimson stain that was slowly, spreading, 
 creeping, forming itself into an ominous pool 
 beneath him. 
 
 His head now hung between the rounds, 
 his bloodshot eyes spoke of repressed and 
 unutterable anguish, then all is black before 
 him, his ears are full of a roaring sound, all 
 sense of feeling reeled, and he knew no more. 
 Alas! this hour left its permanent mark upon 
 
68 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 him, the iron had indeed "entered into his 
 soul." Whatever he might have been, is 
 past! " Oppression maketh a MAN MAD" 
 and kills the soul-life. 
 
 He was ordered thrown into the dungeon 
 and there wounded, bruised and bleeding, 
 he was locked up like a beast, kept there all 
 day and night, with nothing to eat, also with 
 nothing to cover his body. He was now in 
 the hands of ONE who made him pay the 
 price. 
 
 On the following morning the warden 
 came, and again said to him: "Are you ready 
 to go to work?" 
 
 At these words, the boy looked around in a 
 dazed way, his mouth was tight set, in his 
 eyes — what depths of suffering! As he gazed 
 upon that face, there came a revulsion of 
 feeling, instant, complete, and hideous; his 
 face became livid, every drop of blood left his 
 cheeks, his breath came sharper and quicker, 
 his rage was so great that for a minute he 
 could not speak, he confronted the warden 
 like a maniac, and there the two stood glar- 
 ing upon each other, then he burst out, he 
 ejected the sentences with an energy that was 
 
ALLAH KERIM 69 
 
 fierce: "I'll tell you again, and I'll tell you 
 the same as long as I have breath to speak, 
 NO! I say, NO, NEVER! I'LL ROT IN 
 HELL BEFORE I'D GIVE IN TO SUCH 
 HOUNDS AS YOU!" 
 
 Oaths poured from the warden's lips, in his 
 rage, he struck him down, then stood over 
 him contemptuously, and kicked him. "How 
 dared that shrimp DEFY THE LAW!" 
 
 To punish him for doing so, he had him 
 chained to the dungeon floor, where he was 
 fed on bread and water. It was indeed to 
 him a 
 
 Dire dungeon — Place of doom, 
 Where compassion never enters; 
 But LAW clanks the chain. 
 He drank the cup of wormwood. 
 Why — Oh — Why was he ever born? 
 A fathomless tragedy — Who can tell. 
 
 Who is the Conqueror? Has one man the 
 right to punish another man? Has any man 
 the right to torture a human soul? NO! it is 
 a direct disobedience to God's established 
 order and command, who said: "All the 
 punishing of my family belongs to ME, as 
 MY sole prerogative/ f 
 
70 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 If this man is vile, is it not the system 
 which has made him so? The laws are re- 
 sponsible for the moral debasement of the 
 people, so far from checking crime, it nour- 
 ishes vice, and teaches the arts by which men 
 prey upon one another. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 "With pallid cheeks and haggard eyes, 
 And loud laments and heartfelt sighs, 
 Unpitied, hopeless of relief, 
 He drinks the cup of bitter grief.' ' 
 
 Anon. 
 
 At last the portals of the Satanic Gates 
 were unlocked, he was liberated, he might 
 now tread where he pleased. 
 
 As he issued forth, he staggered, his frame 
 was thin to emaciation, his face sallow to 
 cadaverousness, as he shuffled along pain- 
 fully and laboriously in the shadows, a dark 
 figure followed noiselessly, a figure that will 
 henceforth hound him till death, for was he 
 not a convict, a criminal, a man to be dis- 
 trusted, a man to be kicked out, treated less 
 than A DOG! 
 
 He stopped and looked back upon the 
 prison walls, and up to the windows, from 
 which the lights glowed with a lurid and 
 dusky gleam through the darkness like the 
 eyes of fiends glaring after him with deadly 
 
 71 
 
72 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 hatred; he staggered along hurriedly, as if 
 afraid of a hand that might again grasp him, 
 then he passed out of sight into the gloom. 
 
 He came out, as he went in, with angry 
 and hateful thoughts against his fellow men; 
 with feelings which none but an emancipated 
 captive can fully understand. 
 
 Twenty years ago, he was but a quivering 
 boy, today he was a man without reverence 
 for anything on the earth, or under it; he was 
 without any trace of conscience, nowhere any 
 sense of sin. 
 
 Can twenty years of punishment against a 
 rebellious soul inspire it with better thoughts? 
 Can hatred be overcome by hatred? NO! 
 " Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by 
 LOVE." 
 
 Everywhere he went, he was met by hostile 
 and suspicious glances, many times the door 
 was slammed in his face. In all his wretched 
 life, it had been the same, nothing but cold 
 looks of distrust and suspicion. 
 
 Unable to work, he wandered around the 
 city in an aimless way, he strolled from place 
 to place, roaming until a late hour amid the 
 lights and shadows of the populous city, he 
 
ALLAH KERIM 73 
 
 hung around old haunts, undecided what to 
 do, feeling himself shadowed, hunted, some- 
 thing of the old tiger was roused within him. 
 
 Often in bitter moments — he wandered off 
 into a fit of musing: the past, what did he see 
 in it? 
 
 Back went his thought to the first years of 
 his life, passed in terror of his mother's 
 cruelty. All the terrible dreams of his child- 
 hood were brought back to him, the curses of 
 his mother, his twenty years of paying the 
 price. Stormy thoughts swept through him 
 as he brooded upon that which was gruesome, 
 and which no lapse of years would ever blot 
 out. He had indeed shut himself up in no 
 garden of thought. 
 
 As he meditated upon that which was past, 
 he gave utterance to his thoughts in an ab- 
 stract manner: "What is done, is done. I 
 cannot re-live my life. Even if I could; per- 
 haps I would do the same. We are as we are." 
 "ALLAH AALEM" (It's in me.) 
 
 In life each must learn for themselves, and 
 the learning will be the result of our own ex- 
 perience, not that of another. 
 
 For a long time he remained in a study, as 
 
74 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 if reflecting upon some difficult question, 
 then continued in his soliloquy: 'There was 
 one thing certain, he must in some way get a 
 living, either by his own work, or somebody's 
 work." The question to him was: "What 
 had the world to offer such as he?" He 
 knew there were but few industries open to 
 convicts who wanted to work. But did he 
 want to work? Could any man by the sweat 
 of his brow make a fortune? NO! "Hard 
 work never made money." Then why should 
 he toil? 
 
 He saw that the world was a market, a 
 conflict between Capital and Labor, a barter 
 which never ceases, wherein the many were 
 the slaves to the few, enabling the few to ac- 
 cumulate great wealth, while the great masses 
 are doomed to incessant toil and want." 
 "JUSTICE TO ALL," he said in a tone of 
 contempt, his lips curling scornfully, "Where 
 is your Justice?" Was it not a thing of price 
 and purchase? and he smiled bitterly. Did 
 he not know that men got into jail not be- 
 cause they steal, but because they did not 
 STEAL ENOUGH! JUSTICE, he added 
 cornfully. You talk about YOUR JUS- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 75 
 
 TICE! Why a million injustices are com- 
 mitted every day, to which the people close 
 their eyes! and he laughed scornfully. 
 
 And your LAWS! and he smiled a sarcastic 
 smile. What is LAW? Why the very word 
 means wicked power! Trace it link by link, 
 phrase by phrase, chase its shadow until you 
 find its substance, and what, WHAT HAVE 
 YOU FOUND? That laws are like Spiders 1 
 webs, which catch the small flies, BUT LET 
 THE GREAT ONES BREAK THROUGH! 
 
 To the poor it is like a magical stream ; once 
 wet your foot in it, and you needs must walk 
 on, until you are overwhelmed in its endless 
 stormy waters. It is the opportunity of evil 
 to get the better of goodness! He smiled 
 bitterly as he thought of these things, for 
 was he not one of the many who had suffered 
 the tortures of HELL THROUGH THE 
 LAW! 
 
 He continued in his musings: "I am alone. 
 I am nothing to any one who lives. Not one 
 is anything to me. For myself, there is but 
 myself.' ' Then he paused; a sudden idea 
 made his eyes gleam. From now on I shall 
 lay hands on what money I can get. Nothing 
 
76 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 shall be allowed to stand in my way. Money 
 at the cost of everything! FOR MONEY IS 
 POWER. Let them catch me who can. 
 
 Strange thoughts and speculations crowded 
 through his mind as he strolled down the 
 street, meditating upon those who have, and 
 those who have not, at this point, his thoughts 
 were interrupted by a voice at his side, turn- 
 ing his head, he saw one whom he had known 
 in the past, drawing him aside, a long and 
 rather vehement whispering conversation was 
 carried on, after which the man turned and 
 hurried away and was shortly lost in the 
 crowd. The Viper stood chuckling and rub- 
 bing his hands ; at last he had found an oppor- 
 tunity, one which he did not hesitate to profit 
 by. He was weak of body, but his will was 
 forward, and what was wanting in health was 
 supplied by zeal, retracing his steps to a cer- 
 tain rendezvous, he there became an agent 
 selling certificates of naturalization. 
 
 He sold these papers in beer cellars for a 
 nominal sum to anyone who applied: upon 
 assurance that they should be used for the 
 Democratic Party ; he sold within a few weeks 
 5,000 of these fraudulent certificates. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 77 
 
 These papers were granted in some of the 
 Courts without investigation, signed and 
 sealed, leaving blanks for the names of the 
 applicant and his voucher. Forty thousand 
 persons were naturalized within a short time 
 preceding the election. 
 
 In his wanderings from place to place, he 
 kept his eyes and ears open, watching with 
 shrewdness that which was going on about 
 him, for he meant "to get at the bottom of 
 every thing.' ' He found himself in the midst 
 of a political conflict, no matter where he 
 went he saw candidates hanging around, on 
 every side he heard earnest argument, pas- 
 sionate appeal, jest, defiance, retort, oaths, 
 laughter, "taking a drink", all condescending 
 to low arts of bargain and barter and cor- 
 ruption, it was a case of buying, bribing and 
 cajoling votes. No kind of bribery was 
 spared, bald money if money would be taken; 
 if not, then money in other forms; sales of 
 offices under some form, as of political and 
 personal support, or of money for influence. 
 "He was all things to all men." He crawls 
 that he may rise. 
 
 He heard false issues raised and lustily 
 
78 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 cheered. He listened to the noblest appeals 
 to stand by the grand old party, and to main- 
 tain the time-honored principles, and to keep 
 the proud flag of no surrender flying: under 
 which in the back room the "SWAG" was 
 pleasantly divided. He heard men eloquent 
 for LIBERTY, but whose own temper was 
 the temper of TYRANNY! Satan, can 
 clothe himself as an angel of light, and so vice 
 assumes the guise of virtue, great words are 
 thus bandied about in political circles till 
 they are soiled by irreverent associations, 
 and then, according to that fine saying of 
 Lord Bacon: "Like a Tartar's bow they shoot 
 backward, and mightily entangle the judg- 
 ment of those who use them." 
 
 He saw that the politics of the city was 
 completely debauched. Every influential 
 thief, gambler, and ward politician rolled in 
 money, and shone in diamonds and costly 
 chains. A carnival of vice reigned in every 
 quarter of the city. 
 
 Seeing this, he calculated with shrewdness, 
 as he said: "I hold within my hand, that 
 which will make me, WHAT I CHOOSE." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 "Vice is a monster of so frightful a mien, 
 As, to be hated, needs to be seen; 
 Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 Pope 
 
 A caucus of the Democratic electors was 
 being held in the ' - Pig Pen . " 1 1 had been called 
 for the purpose of nominating state officers 
 and members of legislature. 
 
 The candidates and their friends arrived 
 at the hall at least an hour before the hour of 
 meeting. Ireland always shrewd in such 
 matters, moved that Michael McClutchen 
 take the chair, which gave to Ireland 
 the organization. Germany was conciliated 
 by the appointment of Louis Seidel as 
 secretary. 
 
 Nominations being in order, up popped 
 a wiry little Hebrew who said: "Mr. Chair- 
 man, der is nine tousand Jews in der city, 
 and dey expect to be remembered in making 
 up de dicket! De Hebrews hain't been 
 
 79 
 
80 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 treated right, and I chust vants ter tell you 
 dat dem nine tousant votes has got to be con- 
 sitert." 
 
 Next a burly Teuton: Misder Jairman, vot 
 if der pe nine tousant Choos? Vot of it? I 
 chust vants to tell dat chentleman dat der 
 ish fifteen tousant Chermans in der city, and 
 dat dey ish choing to have someting to say 
 about dese nominations! If dey ish'nt cho- 
 ing to get deir share, dey chust bust up der 
 dicket, YOU BETS." 
 
 Germany having sunk to repose, a brawny 
 son of "the old sod" took the floor, and in a 
 tone of mingled respect and menace said: 
 "Mr. Chairman, I know there's a good many 
 Jews and Germans in the city and they all 
 go the regular ticket like good Dimmicrats, 
 and have had their share of the offices. There 
 may be nine thousand Jews, and there may 
 be fifteen thousand Germans. But I can tell 
 them gents that there's thirty-five thousand 
 Irishmen in this city, and I'd jist like 'em to 
 tell me how they're going to elect a Jew, or a 
 Dutchman, or any other man without them? 
 It's all very pretty to talk, but kin ye do it? 
 We've got more of the voters than all of ye 
 
ALLAH KERiM 81 
 
 PUT TOGETHER, and we expect half the 
 ticket, AT LASTE!" 
 
 Symptoms of confusion began to arise, 
 and the caucus bid fair to break up in any- 
 thing but a celestial temper. At this junc- 
 ture, the Viper appeared in the doorway; the 
 attention of the mob was arrested by this 
 thin-looking, thin-chested piece of humanity; 
 "Fellow citizens" he called out, "Hear me," 
 he waved his right hand to command silence, 
 then proceeded: "I'd like to ask if there's any 
 chance for an AMERICAN on that ticket?" 
 
 This insolent inquiry aroused the indigna- 
 tion of those present, who instantly shouted: 
 "PUT HIM OUT! PUT HIM OUT! 
 THROW HIM DOWN STAIRS!" and they 
 yelled, and hooted and hissed. 
 
 The contemptuous manner in w r hich he was 
 received roused within him a paroxysm of 
 rage, he shook his fist at them and shouted 
 in a voice choking with concentrated passion! 
 "YOU SCUM of the earth! Damn you, the 
 day will come, when 111 make you hear me!" 
 
 The mob sprang up with oaths, he was in- 
 stantly surrounded, a struggle commenced, 
 he was overcome, and kicked down the stairs! 
 
82 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 He picked himself up furious with anger, 
 cursing everybody and everything, he limped 
 away brooding upon that which had tran- 
 spired, strange suggestions were running 
 through his mind HOW and WHAT? 
 
 He fell into an uneasy and reckless walk, 
 he wandered aimlessly through dingy alleys 
 paved with mud, where strolling old women, 
 who smell of gin and tobacco swarm in and 
 out. He strolled past underground dens, 
 where they dance and game, from which 
 issued peals of laughter, hollow and false, the 
 mocking mirth that comes from SIN, a mel- 
 ody of discordant sounds. He saw women 
 in the depth of infamy, women who were 
 profane, repulsive, slaves to drink and de- 
 bauchery, all wallowing in the SLOUGH of 
 DESPOND. 
 
 As he rambled on, the bitterness grew 
 within him, he turned down a street that 
 seemed a pandemomium, filled with a vast 
 horde, countless, ill-fed, ill-clad, uneducated 
 and miserable, who resembled nocturnal crea- 
 tures groping in the unseen worlds and astray 
 in the shady subterraneans, almost beasts, 
 part phantoms, howling, seeking and gnawing 
 
ALLAH KERIM 83 
 
 its way, making CREATION ugly and dark- 
 ening the face of HEAVEN. A TERRIBLE 
 PARADISE THIS GODDESS OF POV- 
 ERTY! Where one may see the lagging 
 tramp of millions, day after day, all trending 
 towards frightful caverns of DESPAIR; and 
 ending in the WILDERNESS OF DEATH. 
 
 He wended his way past hidden haunts of 
 darkest vice, dens of ill repute, where the 
 skulkers are fierce, petty and uncleanly, a 
 class who abandons itself to courses that 
 stifle the sentiments of humanity, disease 
 breeders, reduced to mere brutality, where 
 there is no pretence of good. Here you will 
 find diseased prostitutes with their victims 
 and associates, wretches half-idiotic through 
 debaucheries, lame, maimed and blind, a revel- 
 ling and blasphemous crowd, whose souls are 
 tossed like a tempest upon the vast waves of 
 passion. What billows of flame are ever 
 rolling through them. What despair and 
 what agony rack the mind. A tragical scene 
 of sights and sounds. 
 
 "Talk of the flames of Hell, 
 We build, ourselves I conceive 
 The fire the fiend lights — " 
 
84 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 He trudged along a villainous region of 
 old wharves, coal-yards, tenement houses and 
 low groggeries, there was an incessant swing- 
 ing of saloon doors, where all was dancing 
 and gambling as if Sodom and Gomorrah had 
 shaken off his ashes. Before him stood the 
 old brewery, towering high above this mass 
 of corruption, a tottering, filthy old building, 
 with yawning seams in its walls, and poverty 
 glaring from its ragged windows, with it is 
 associated some of the most appalling crimes 
 that were ever perpetrated ; could these walls 
 speak, what tales they might tell, the place 
 seems suggestive of heinous crimes, suddenly 
 there flashed before his mind with vividness 
 the remembrance of the woman who had 
 poisoned twenty persons, the children of four 
 families, her own mother, two husbands, and 
 a man with whom she lived. He thought 
 of the mother who deliberately shot her 
 own son, a boy thirteen years old. Mul- 
 titudinous billows of thought flashed through 
 his brain, tinged with hues of the horrible. 
 Again there came to him thoughts of all the 
 violent deaths of the past year, of the hun- 
 dreds of infants found dead in these alleys,. 
 
ALLAH KERIM, 85 
 
 and the scores of murders which are com- 
 mitted and nobody the wiser. 
 
 It is an old proverb, "Murder will out, the 
 stones will not hide, the heavens will not 
 cover it, the reeds will speak, the walls will 
 whisper it." But in later days, I might say, 
 in our boasted twentieth century, with all 
 our high civilization, so to speak, the rule 
 seems to be reversed. New York City alone 
 has furnished its quota of contradictions of 
 the old saying, for instance there is the 
 Nathan murder, the Burdell murder, the 
 Manhattan Well murder, the disappearance 
 of Chief Justice Lansing. 
 
 He stood for some time lost in deep thought, 
 his anger had now subsided, when a sudden 
 idea appeared to strike him, and turning 
 abruptly, he retraced his steps and once 
 again entered that rendezvous which he had 
 entered on a previous occasion, he had de- 
 cided to play his best card and perhaps take 
 a trick. 
 
 Selling certificates had resulted in the dis- 
 covery of the plot formed in the city to carry 
 the State in the election for the Democratic 
 Party. 
 
86 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 He knew all about the "ring" and also 
 about the "boss" who had used his popular- 
 ity as a volunteer fireman to advance him- 
 self in Tammany, an organization of politi- 
 cal notoriety, claiming to be the head of the 
 democracy of the nation, and whose theory 
 of political action was, that New York was 
 to be governed from below, not above; by 
 the weight of its ignorance and the strength 
 of its corruption; and not by the force of its 
 intelligence and virtue. How well he knew 
 its established policy, that when no other 
 way was open, to boldly BUY ITS WAY TO 
 THE SEAT OF AUTHORITY. 
 
 His observations had been keen and to the 
 point, therefore he understood clearly that 
 Tammany's power was the result of the well- 
 regulated machine which it had built up 
 throughout the city, directed by an omnipo- 
 tent "boss". Each of the assembly dis- 
 tricts into which the city was divided, sends 
 a certain number of representatives to the 
 General Committee of Tammany Hall. Each 
 district has a "boss" having one or more muni- 
 cipal offices at his disposal, and who also han- 
 dles the election money spent in the precinct. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 87 
 
 He was well informed as to when a "politi- 
 cal machine" was in perfect order, that is to 
 say when a few managers control "regular 
 action' ' so that they can nominate any can- 
 didate whom they may select. 
 
 He perceived that the rule was to look for 
 a rich candidate, some one who had made a 
 lucky speculation, one who would be flattered 
 by the nomination, and eager to draw 
 checks for thousands of dollars, he knew 
 of one instance where the candidate drew 
 checks to the amount of sixty thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 He saw that the "machine' ' made any igno- 
 rant quack who was willing to pay, a mem- 
 ber of Congress. And so it is that money 
 buys legislatures, bribes courts, and both 
 makes and interprets the laws. 
 
 Having full knowledge of the "boss" of 
 Tammany, who had the party machinery in 
 his hands, and who dictated nominations for 
 the party to suit himself, for did he not se- 
 cure the election of accomplices in the Mayor- 
 alty and the other admistrative offices, even 
 in the Common Council of the city, as well 
 as the chief executive office of the State, also 
 
88 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 in the State legislature, as well as in the 
 Judges' seats. 
 
 He was well informed in regard to all 
 these matters, for was he not one of the agents 
 who sold false naturalization papers, and was 
 it not by the issue of these papers and fraud- 
 ulent voting that the election resulted in the 
 triumph of the Democratic Party by over 
 85,000 majority, and the majority rule. But 
 only honest majority can rule justly. A man 
 who will acquire an office meanly will not fill 
 it nobly. 
 
 For nearly an hour, he was engaged in a 
 low and impassioned discourse, with a cer- 
 tain party. It is needless to detail what oc- 
 curred, all that is sufficient to say, he played 
 his best card, and took the trick. His turn 
 had come at last. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 "111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 
 
 Goldsmith 
 
 For the first time in seventeen years the 
 State government in New York was solidly 
 Democratic, and led by the "boss" who had 
 complete control of the State government, a 
 conspiracy was formed to rob the city treas- 
 ury of millions. A plan by which the "boss" 
 and his immediate friends could "feather 
 their own nests." 
 
 The construction of a new court-house 
 was arranged for, the estimated cost of which 
 was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 but the real cost of which might be made to 
 reach several millions. 
 
 The building was begun. The contractors 
 for labor, materials and supplies were re- 
 quired to increase their bills. The bills 
 were passed by the Board of Supervisors at 
 the dictation of the "boss" who was a member 
 
 89 
 
90 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 of the board. They were audited by his 
 tool. The contractors received the amount 
 due them and from fifteen to sixty-five per 
 cent of the total bills were divided amongst 
 themselves. 
 
 It was a plot of sheer stealing, and it was 
 successful. As it has been successful in 
 hundreds of other cities. 
 
 Now the "boss" who is State Senator as 
 well as Commissioner of Public Works, by 
 the free use of money, secured the passage of 
 a new city charter. The power of auditing 
 bills was taken from the Board of Supervisors 
 and placed in the hands of a Board of Audit, 
 composed of the Mayor, the Comptroller, 
 the Commissioner of Parks and the "boss" 
 who was Commissioner of Public Works. 
 
 The "ring" had reached the height of 
 power. There is nothing in this world so 
 corrupting, or so fatal as absolute power. 
 The contractors of the new court-house 
 were required to make out claims for ima- 
 ginary services, and these bills to the amount 
 of six millions, were passed at one meeting. 
 More than half the amount passed into the 
 "itching palms" of the "ring". 
 
ALLAH KERIM 91 
 
 Before the end of the year, the fraudulent 
 expenditures of the court-house had reached 
 over eight million dollars. The capitol of 
 Albany like the court-house is a permanent 
 monument of the immense and inevitable 
 jobbery of great public works. These are 
 but two of many hundreds that could be 
 mentioned. 
 
 To silence criticism the "boss" filled the 
 pay-rolls of the city government with multi- 
 tudes of men, drawing large salaries, who 
 never performed any work; and gave profit- 
 able contracts to others at enormous figures, 
 checks were given for salaries larger than the 
 Governor's. Police justices were given larger 
 compensation than the Chief Justice of the 
 United States. He gave fifty thousand dol- 
 lars worth of coal to the poor; he laid out 
 flower beds in the Park and the Battery, and 
 mended the paths in the Square. 
 
 The expenses of the city reached twenty- 
 four millions of dollars a year, as much as 
 under the entire civil list of the United 
 States Government. 
 
 Two years flew rapidly. Money came to 
 him, the flood-gates of affluence began slowly 
 
92 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 to rise — with money — society flung its doors 
 open to him, and he could come and go at 
 pleasure. 
 
 He drew aside the velvet curtain of "fash- 
 ionable society' ' and entered the Court of 
 Mammon. Here he saw bright masks and 
 blazing gems and superb toilettes, all pa- 
 rading in deceptive masquerade. A society 
 which had the varnish of an outward refine- 
 ment laid over its leprosy. A mask which 
 covers ghastly diseases and foul sores; but 
 which is tenfold more infectious and destruc- 
 tive than the shameless wickedness which 
 wears no veil to hide its loathsome front. 
 "Apples of Sodom/' Lovely fruit — but 
 within full of ashes — the poison flower that 
 sheds a fatal perfume. 
 
 "Although thou shouldest put on a tunic 
 of- foreign silk thou art naked; although thou 
 shouldest beautify thyself with gold and 
 pearls, and gems, without the beauty of 
 Christ thou art unadorned." 
 
 As he came to know the actual situation of 
 this society and reflected upon it, he realized 
 that it was nothing more or less than a huge 
 o r gy> a jargon of licentiousness, a ceaseless 
 
ALLAH KERIM 93 
 
 carnival of extravagrant dissipation, self- 
 indulgence and enjoyment. Nothing but 
 fashion and wealth and idleness which warps 
 the soul, as it contorts the body, leaving 
 nothing but a polished husk of life. Under 
 glistening robes was coiled the loathly snake. 
 Souls which were sodden with pleasure until 
 all trace of God's high image was lost in the 
 deformity of art. 
 
 What did he see about him? Greed for 
 gold! The idolatry of money! Everywhere 
 he saw men pushing and driving and clutch- 
 ing after wealth. Greed of the most rapa- 
 cious and repelling kind was written on every 
 face, the single passion that engrossed these 
 men, was the accumulation of property, they 
 measured progress by success; MAN BY 
 MONEY! 
 
 It seemed to him like a wide-spread Arena, 
 into which was cast a mass of Christians, 
 who had become corrupted by worldly ma- 
 terialism and carnal-mindedness, where life 
 was indeed a witches' Carnival, with Satan 
 swaying the hearts of those who seem no- 
 blest and purest. 
 
 When he entered these magnificient homes, 
 
94 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 and gazed upon the fine carvings, paintings 
 and statuary and tread upon the luxurious 
 carpets; and sat upon the richest of uphol- 
 stery, he said to himself: "This is a thief's 
 house and these are his spoils, stolen, YES 
 stolen; but from whom? POOR WIDOWS 
 AND STARVING ORPHANS!" After all 
 society was nothing more or less than a con- 
 spiracy of the rich against the POOR. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 "And Nemesis beholds with awe, 
 Ready to seize the poor remains 
 That vice has left of all his gains." 
 
 Bishop Hoadley 
 
 The end is not yet, but an end must come, 
 first or last to those who remain on the broad 
 way of destruction. 'Tor those who venture 
 under the Niagara must expect to be 
 drenched.' ' 
 
 A rebellion now broke out against the 
 ''boss" in which the ex-sheriff and a State 
 Senator were prominent. The people as a 
 rule are but the dupes of bold and designing 
 men, who possess a serpent-quile of pander- 
 ing to their lusts and passions, and who de- 
 ceive them for their own purposes. 
 
 It is the employment of the excellent 
 BIRD of our country to cluck all people 
 under her wing; therefore New York is a 
 foreign city; with an ever shifting and rest- 
 less population, drawn from all parts of the 
 world, the majority of whom never think for 
 
 95 
 
96 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 themselves; and who blindly accepts any 
 politician whom the daily press may support. 
 
 That newspapers are unduly controlled by 
 the counting-room, is shown by the fact that 
 during the thirty years' reign of thieves in 
 New York; the number of newspapers upon 
 the pay-roll of the "Ring" was eighty-nine, 
 of which twenty-seven so depended upon the 
 plunder for subsistence that when the "Ring" 
 was broken they gasped and died. 
 
 It is the PRESS that makes the "POLI- 
 TICIAN" as it makes the "SENSATION" 
 and the "BOOM". It is within their power 
 to decide WHAT SHALL APPEAR, as well 
 as, WHAT SHALL BE OMITTED. WHO 
 SHALL BE PROMINENT — and who ob- 
 scure. By seizing every opportunity to in- 
 sert a name, they can create renown; and so 
 by omitting a name they can keep it long in 
 obscurity. 
 
 "There is a mighty power in merely leav- 
 ing things out." 
 
 A mass meeting was held at Coopers In- 
 stitute to consider the charges of corruption 
 against the city and county officials. A 
 committee of seventy was appointed to con- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 97 
 
 duct a thorough investigation and to carry 
 out such measures as should be necessary to 
 prevent future frauds. 
 
 When the veil was lifted, and all the de- 
 tails of the "Ring" was published in all the 
 leading newspapers, the Viper read them with 
 feelings that may be easily imagined; he 
 recognized at once his own imminent danger; 
 and as he was not as yet exposed — he im- 
 mediately fled from the city. 
 
 His life was now an aimless drifting about 
 in the maze of traffic; full of uncertainty, he 
 was a vagabond among idlers; he cared not 
 what became of him; he plunged recklessly 
 into vices and excesses of all kinds ; his face was 
 full of everything hard, bitter and malicious. 
 
 He roamed hither and thither, plunging 
 madly from sin to sin, until he reached the 
 climax. 
 
 In all his wanderings from place to place, 
 he kept track of all that which transpired of 
 the "Ring;" again it was proven to him, that 
 there was no justice, by the fact, that of all 
 those who were implicated in the plot to rob 
 the city treasury of millions, only one man 
 paid the price. The "Boss" was arrested, 
 
98 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 tried, and sentenced to twelve years imprison- 
 ment on Blackwells Island. While on a visit 
 from Ludlow Prison to his home in the cus- 
 tody of officers, he escaped; made his way to 
 sea in a yacht, was recaptured at Vigo, 
 Spain, sent back to prison, where he died; 
 and thus ended the career of the "Boss" of 
 the "Ring". 
 
 The Viper wandered about, and finally 
 arrived in New Orleans, where he joined a 
 secret murder society, composed mostly of 
 escaped convicts, desperadoes who defied the 
 laws, and great criminals; he was now a 
 "bravado" he had become so demoralized by 
 his vices that any horrible crime was possible. 
 
 Any one who had a grudge to satisfy could 
 hire a "bravo" at a charge of five dollars, 
 and be assured of the removal of his enemy. 
 The latter would be mysteriously murdered and 
 it would be impossible to trace the murderer. 
 
 The members of this organization were 
 guilty of some of the most flagrant crimes; 
 the outrages committed were such as to 
 render life insecure. 
 
 The stillness of night bristled with horror; 
 cries of murder, the thud of falling blows 
 
ALLAH KERIM 99 
 
 and the shrieks of women, were familiar 
 sounds! Butchery and murder was going on 
 everywhere, they were of daily occurrence; 
 causing A REIGN OF TERROR! Mer- 
 chants and business men of means received 
 notices to pay such sums as the society saw 
 fit to impose on them, under penalty of death. 
 
 Foremost among the "Bravos" was the 
 Viper; he had now committed innumerable 
 murders, he was cruel, an inhuman fiend. 
 Paint him as black as you will, the sketch 
 will be too faint for the original. 
 
 The police were powerless, as no one dared 
 to give any information. The chief of police, 
 who had been active in his efforts to root out 
 the society was sent the regulation ' 'warn- 
 ing' ' to desist; but as he did not, he was ex- 
 ecuted in one of the most public streets 
 shortly after dark. 
 
 At this the people rose in fury; and a citi- 
 zens' committee of safety was organized 
 headed by the most responsible citizens. 
 
 Nineteen of the supposed murderers were 
 arrested, among them the Viper and placed 
 on trial. The result of which was a virtual 
 acquittal of the prisoners; proving again 
 
100 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 that corruption and perjury had apparently- 
 rendered the machinery of the LAW inopera- 
 tive! There was no power in the State trib- 
 unals to bring them to Justice; with organiza- 
 tion oaths and secrecy baffling, and defying 
 the appliance of the law; and bringing them 
 to each other's aid. 
 
 This acquittal of the prisoners so enraged 
 the people, that a meeting of the leading citi- 
 zens was convened in the streets under the 
 statue of Henry Clay. It was resolved 
 that the people should take the law into 
 their own hands. 
 
 A mob of excited citizens under the leader- 
 ship of a prominent member of society, 
 rushed upon the jail with furious yells; and 
 in excess of rage, they burst open the prison 
 doors; and began to massacre the prisoners, 
 they shot down seven and dragged forth the 
 balance; and began hanging them to the 
 lamp-posts, they were like fiends in their 
 madness! What a frightful DIN, shouts, 
 yells, screams, oaths! In the midst of this 
 hubbub, the Viper who was like an eel, slipped 
 out of the clutches of those who were holding 
 him; fleeing in terror from an appalling fate. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 101 
 
 He made for the river; the tramping of thou- 
 sands of feet close behind him; he reached 
 the bank gasping for breath ; he cannot refrain 
 from turning his head, 'THEY ARE COM- 
 ING! THEY ARE COMING! He found 
 himself suddenly beset by all the terrors 
 prepared for those who wander from the 
 "STRAIGHT AND NARROW PATH." 
 Here was NEMESIS in the shape of an aw- 
 ful, unutterable idea of ETERNITY. He 
 jumped into the river; and made a dive for 
 his life. 
 
 The mob reached the river, forming a line 
 along the bank; ready to shoot, as soon as he 
 rose to the surface of the water. In a few 
 seconds he came up to breathe ; and when he 
 saw that mob ready to shoot, a savage grim- 
 ace writhed across his mouth; distorting all 
 his features, so that whereas they had been 
 brutish they now appeared devilish; he was 
 like a demon just up from the bottomless pit. 
 The mob now blazed away; the Viper's face 
 was completely riddled with the shot from 
 their guns, the whole front of his face was 
 shot away, leaving nothing but a mask of 
 clotted blood : in a few seconds the river was 
 
102 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 stained crimson with his blood ; and then that 
 gory face, its human features so hideously 
 destroyed, sank to rise no more! 
 
 The mob recoiled in horror — for this ter- 
 minated one of the most dreadful looking 
 deaths any human being could witness! And 
 so descended the black curtain which sooner 
 or later must drop its shadowy folds upon our 
 lives; and the prophecy of the Good Book 
 receives a new and pregnant illustration. 
 
 God had put an end to his life. And as he 
 had sown so had he reaped, from the wind, 
 the whirlwind. There are certain penalties 
 that every career must pay! Sometime, 
 early or late, he falls a victim to the law of 
 human nature, which long since was written 
 in the Book: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
 by man shall his blood be shed." As a Turk 
 would phrase it — "ALLAH KERIM" (God's 
 will be done.) 
 
 "Lord, let war's tempest cease 
 Fold the whole earth in peace, 
 Make all thy Nations one 
 All hearts beneath the sun 
 Till thou shalt reign alone 
 Great King of KINGS!" 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Conclusion 
 "The little I have seen in the world, and known of 
 The history of mankind, teaches me to look upon 
 Their errors with sorrow, not in anger. When I 
 Take the history of one poor heart that has sinned 
 And suffered, and represent to myself the struggles, 
 And temptations it passed through; the brief pulsa- 
 tions 
 Of joy; the tears of regret; the feebleness of purpose; 
 The scorn of the world that has little charity; the 
 Desolation of the soul's sanctuary; the threatening 
 
 voices 
 Within; the health gone, happiness gone — I would 
 
 fain leave 
 The erring soul of my fellow- men with HIM from 
 
 whose hands 
 It CAME." 
 
 Dr. Chalmers. 
 
 Whatever may be our faith, the presence 
 of death, drives the mind to thoughts of im- 
 mortality. It is death alone that can sud- 
 denly make Man to know Himself. 
 
 It is the end of a career that gives the 
 character to it all. A story is told that King 
 
 103 
 
104 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 Croesus in his prosperous years asked the 
 Greek Sage Solon, "If he did not deem him a 
 happy man?" and Solon replied: " Count no 
 man happy until he is dead." 
 
 Solomon said: "Better is the end of a thing 
 than the beginning.' ' Lord Buddha, the 
 founder of the Buddhist religion, who was 
 born 500 years before Christ; the following 
 is one of his doctrines: "None shall spill the 
 blood of life, or take of flesh, since life is one, 
 and mercy cometh to the merciful.' ' 
 
 The Talmud abounds in lessons of virtue, 
 of gentleness, of forgiveness and of peace, 
 many of which men have yet to learn ; it en- 
 forces and defines the highest principles of 
 progress, it teaches: "Be persecuted, rather 
 than persecutors" and also that "Thou shalt 
 not kill" as well as "Thou shalt not steal." 
 
 To do evil is to bring forth destructive 
 elements. Those who live by hate, die by 
 hate, that is "those who live by the sword 
 will die by the sword." To prove this let us 
 look back over history, which introduces us 
 to the life of past generations. This record 
 of the past is undeniable. 
 
 No historical fact is of any value except so 
 
ALLAH KERIM 105 
 
 far as it helps us to understand human na- 
 ture; the lessons of the past contain many 
 truths of high importance, which should in- 
 fluence the future. We are the products of 
 the past, and the sacrifices of the past are our 
 strength and power of the future. As we 
 grow very unlike what we were, we may yet 
 become very unlike what we are at present. 
 
 Let us now consider the career of some of 
 the most conspicuous names in the records of 
 the past, which will be a means of illustra- 
 ting the proverb, "Whoso sheddeth man's 
 blood by man shall his blood be shed." 
 
 Of the seven Kings of Rome, only two 
 died natural deaths; of the twelve Caesars 
 only three, Augustus, Titus, and Vespasian, 
 died natural deaths, and of the thirty-nine 
 succeeding Emperors, twenty-nine died of 
 violence. 
 
 In the records of ancient Rome we find ac- 
 counts of the horrible wars of Sylla and 
 Marius, followed with executions yet more 
 horrible, until the Forum ran red with blood, 
 and the people wearied with internecine strife, 
 were ready to accept the comparative peace 
 and prosperity which the empire afforded. 
 
106 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 Here Caesar fell, victor of many battles, to 
 be at last the victim of assassins. 
 
 Tiberius expires, fleeing from the Senate 
 and from his conscience; in the house of Lu- 
 cullus, smothered under the pillows of his bed, 
 without knowing to whom will descend the 
 crown which was like a bridal ring with which 
 he had wedded the earth, already hearing the 
 noisy delight occasioned by the news of his 
 death in the court and in the streets. 
 
 Caligula is wounded among Asiatic come- 
 dians, and expires begging in vain for mercy 
 from his executioners. 
 
 Claudius is poisoned by his own wife. 
 Galba falls assassinated in the streets, and 
 his head separated from his trunk, rolls 
 through the mire, like a stone. Otho com- 
 mits suicide. 
 
 The glutton Vitellius flies with his butcher 
 and cook; he takes refuge in a porter's lodge; 
 he falls into the hands of his enemies, denies 
 his name and is dragged by the neck with a 
 long rope, is conducted in the midst of the 
 insults of the people, who rain stones and 
 filth upon him, to the banks of the Tiber, where 
 they trample him to death with their feet. 
 
ALLAH KERIM 107 
 
 Nero was feasting when word came to him 
 that the rebel Galba had burst into Rome 
 and seized the Imperial sceptre. Flushed 
 with wine and fierce with anger and alarm, 
 he upset the table, broke his favorite dishes, 
 called for a box of poison, and rushed into 
 the palace gardens, and there considered 
 what he should do next. After which the ex- 
 cited Monarch went to bed and fell asleep, 
 when the dawn came he found that his guards 
 had deserted, and carried away the poison as 
 well as the bedclothes. Barefooted and in 
 his nightrobe he rushed toward the Tiber to 
 drown himself, but turned at a safe distance 
 from the banks, and walked slowly back. 
 Like all cruel men, he was a coward, and was 
 afraid to apply the Roman remedy for in- 
 tolerable trouble. Nero's faithful friend 
 found him in this sad plight, threw a mantle 
 over him, placed him on a horse and fled with 
 him before the yelling rebels to a solitary 
 country house, where he was exhorted to kill 
 himself quickly. His grave was dug before 
 his eyes, and after much hesitation, he placed 
 a dagger at his throat. His cowardly hand 
 refused to press it, he begs of his companions 
 
108 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 that they shall kill some one else to show him 
 how to die; he weeps and supplicates until 
 an attendant passes a sword through his 
 throat and Nero dies in desperation and 
 shame. His body was laid upon a costly 
 funeral pile under a silken coverlet, and con- 
 sumed. The grave was only for his ashes. 
 
 The three who died natural deaths; Ves- 
 pasian died drunk; Titus, died of melancholy, 
 weeping like a woman, imagining he heard 
 the threatening of thunder in the clear heav- 
 ens, assailed by visitations of infernal terror. 
 Augustus, dies with a sardonic smile on his 
 lips, with cold skepticism in his heart, be- 
 lieving his empire a farce, his life a comedy, 
 his end the exit of an actor. 
 
 Domitian, died wounded in the stomach 
 by his domestics, struggling with a crowd of 
 freedmen, pretorians, and gladiators, who in- 
 sult him, spit in his face, strike him, torture 
 him, and kill him with howls of rage and 
 derisive laughter. 
 
 The cruel and indolent Richard the Second, 
 fled in the disguise of a monk, and wandered 
 in suffering and privation from castle to 
 castle, finally surrendered himself to the Earl 
 
ALLAH KERIM 109 
 
 of Northumberland, who promised him pro- 
 tection from personal violence. He was 
 compelled to sign his resignation, after which 
 he was sent to Pontefract Castle, where he 
 died by the sword. 
 
 Edward the Second, a cruel oppressor, who 
 shed the blood of high and low to satisfy 
 his desires, was driven from his capital and 
 held a prisoner at Kenilworth. The keepers 
 of the royal prisoner having private wrongs 
 to avenge treated him cruelly; and not long 
 afterwards he was murdered in a horrible 
 manner in Berkeley Castle. 
 
 Henry III caused the Duke of Guise to be 
 assassinated, and was himself struck down by 
 the avenging dagger of a Dominican Monk. 
 
 When King Charles the First was led to the 
 place of execution in front of the palace of 
 Whitehall, he was insulted by the soldiers 
 and the mob, who uttered all sorts of unfeel- 
 ing cries, and some even went so far as to spit 
 in his face. 
 
 Peter III is persecuted by Catherine his 
 wife, the Pasiphae of the North, the coarse 
 fury of crowned sensuality. When he was in 
 prison the very men who promised him 
 
110 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 liberty, poisoned him in secret in a night of 
 debauch, in a orgy of mingled blasphemy 
 and brutality. When Peter felt the first 
 effect of the poison he turned furiously upon 
 the assassins. They knew there was no time 
 to be lost, and assailed him like a mad bull, 
 overcame him in spite of his Herculean 
 efforts, threw him to the ground, falling all 
 about him in his death-struggle, until they 
 killed him with a thousand wounds, mashing 
 his head against the floor. The next day, the 
 afflicted Empress deposited in a magnificent 
 catafalque the body of her husband dressed 
 in the uniform of a Russian general. The 
 Russians have a custom of kissing the lips of 
 the corpses of their friends. The masses 
 kiss the corpses of the Czars. When they 
 kissed the lips of Peter III they drank the 
 poison, and so corrosive was the liquid, that 
 sudden swellings appeared on their mouths. 
 
 Paul I died in the same manner. His 
 servants, his domestics, his courtesans pulled 
 at the strings by which this savage was 
 strangled. 
 
 Charlie IX died by poison. His last hours 
 were wretched, and his remorse for the mas- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 111 
 
 sacre of St. Bartholomew filled his soul with 
 agony. He beheld spectres, and dreamed 
 horrid dreams, his imagination constantly 
 saw heaps of livid bodies, and his ears were 
 assailed with imaginary groans. 
 
 Nearly all the leaders on both sides, per- 
 ished by the sword or the dagger. The 
 Prince of Conde, the Duke of Guise, and his 
 brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, all were 
 assassinated. 
 
 Philip of Spain set a price upon the head of 
 William of Orange, that is he offered a re- 
 ward for his assassination. But when Wil- 
 liam fell under the pistol of Genard his blood 
 stained Philip's church and all the perfume 
 of Araby could not sweeten the spot, nor all 
 the holy-water of the world wash it away. 
 
 Philip II, the cruel executioner, who 
 delighted in the torments and the death 
 of his victims, the assassin of his own son, 
 died in great agony in the palace of the 
 Escorial. 
 
 Charles the XII, the Madman of the North, 
 was finally killed at Fredrikshall. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots pays on the scaffold 
 at Fotheringry the penalty of her crimes. 
 
112 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 History is little else than the record of 
 such illustrations ; the student stands amazed 
 at the exhibition of the fiendish malignity of 
 those who were noted in the annals of the past. 
 
 Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon, have 
 amazed the world with their daring exploits, 
 and by the mighty powers which they ex- 
 hibited in the service of ambition; but — 
 WHAT WAS THE END OF THEIR 
 CAREER? 
 
 Nero, Caesar Borgia, Richard III, have 
 shown to what prodigious efforts unmingled 
 sin may summon the human powers. 
 
 D'Alembert, Diderot, and Voltaire, have 
 evinced to what almost supernatural feats 
 of intellectual strength the mind may be 
 summoned, in a united effort to corrupt a 
 nation, and dethrone religion from the hearts 
 of men. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, reminds us of the Black 
 Prince and Edward III of England. Robe- 
 spierre, Saint Just, Le bas, and Hebert prove 
 how grossness can take the show of goodness, 
 and become as corrupting as it is fascinating 
 in the glow of a beautiful rhetoric. The 
 memorable saying of Robespierre in his ora- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 113 
 
 tion, 'Today for pleasure, tomorrow for jus- 
 tice/' which justice signified bloody hecatombs 
 to the guillotine, he sought to effect the Revo- 
 lution by terrifying executions of the guillo- 
 tine ; alas! it has ever been so ; the worst crimes 
 that soil the pages of history have been com- 
 mitted in the name of that which is holiest: 
 in the name of LIBERTY, or of JUSTICE, 
 or of RELIGION. 
 
 The web of history is woven from the 
 countless threads of individual life, and is 
 necessary for man's education and progress, 
 the present which despises the past, will never 
 give birth to a better future. 
 
 Sometime, early or late, man falls a victim 
 to the law of human nature, which takes upon 
 him tumultuous vengeance during his death 
 struggle, it is then, that justice begins. We 
 may laugh at these things ; in our self-conceit, 
 we may sneer with cold skepticism in our 
 hearts, but, just the same, WE cannot be so 
 easily rid of it, no matter how great we may 
 be; we cannot overcome the grand scheme of 
 destiny. "Man proposes and Fate disposes. " 
 To those who laugh in their self-conceit, let 
 them think of the death of George Orloff 
 
114 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 who died a raving madman, the victim of re- 
 morse. The bleeding shade of the murdered 
 Peter III followed him wherever he went; 
 terrified him in horrible visions at night, and 
 seemed constantly to threaten him with 
 avenging darts. 
 
 Let them think of the death of Alexander 
 who shut himself up like a hermit in the coun- 
 try, and died there, in the manner of Titus; 
 among possessions and terrors, half mad, 
 furious against himself, jealous of himself, 
 without belief in humanity, or hope in God. 
 
 Let them think of the death of Oliver 
 Cromwell; who lived in constant fear of the 
 dagger; who surrounded himself with guards, 
 wore armor beneath his outer garments, who 
 slept in a different chamber every night; and 
 died during a storm which tore roofs from 
 houses and leveled huge trees in every forest 
 amidst the most gloomy apprehensions. 
 
 Let them think of the death of Queen 
 Elizabeth, whose last days were passed in a 
 state of melancholy; her soul burdened with 
 secret grief, refusing to eat, dying of starvation. 
 
 Let them think of the death of James V, 
 who died at last broken-hearted and deserted ; 
 
ALLAH KERIM 115 
 
 paying the penalty all traitors pay in univer- 
 sal neglect and contempt. 
 
 Let them think of the death of Princess 
 Mary, who suffering in mind and body; neg- 
 lected by Philip and hated by her own people, 
 died in unspeakable agony. 
 
 Let them think of the death of Napoleon 
 Bonaparte who died an exile, on the island of 
 Saint Helena; forsaken by all, and like Oliver 
 Cromwell, during a fierce tempest. I have 
 taken but a few names from a mighty list; 
 only a few dead coals raked from the embers 
 of a tremendous conflagration. 'The evil 
 that men do lives after them." So let us all 
 remember the great king of ancient days who 
 asked the philosopher to name some of the 
 happiest of the race; and who named men 
 who had passed away; and the king asked 
 him why he did not name men who were still 
 living: "Look at all my splendour" said he, 
 "why do you not think of me?" "Ah" said 
 the wise man," who knows what your life and 
 your lot may be yet? I call no man happy 
 before he dies," and sure enough that mon- 
 arch was reduced to captivity and misery, 
 and died a miserable death. And so it is 
 
116 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 that "Better the end of a thing than the be- 
 ginning." 
 
 Let us remember the past ; so that we may 
 correct our mistakes, and strengthen our con- 
 fidence in the future. The object of our 
 daily pursuit, and our aim in everything we 
 do, should be towards the attainment of the 
 ideal. We are capable of great personal 
 development, all are familiar with the quota- 
 tion, "To him that hath shall be given" this 
 is as true of the mind as it is of the material 
 things of life. Growth to be real, must be 
 progressive, and the months and years 
 should bring development in the thing grow- 
 ing ; is it practice alone that brings the powers 
 of the mind as well as those of the soul to its 
 perfection, pure thoughts flow from pure 
 principles and aims at pure ends, that which 
 is really good, springs from a good motive, 
 flows from a good principle, is directed by a 
 good rule, and aims at a good end. Dante 
 has said "Humanity is one. God has created 
 no useless thing. Humanity exists; hence 
 there must be a single aim for all men ; a work 
 to be achieved by all, the human race must, 
 therefore, work in unity, so that all the in- 
 
ALLAH KERIM 117 
 
 tellectual forces diffused among men may ob- 
 tain the highest possible develpoment in the 
 sphere of thought and action." 
 
 There is a fact which we must keep steadily 
 in view, that the germ of all that is best in 
 our modern civilization is to be sought among 
 the institutions of antiquity; the Hebrew's 
 mission was a grand one, to teach righteous- 
 ness, of all the elements of the rich legacy 
 bequested to the modern by the ancient 
 world, by far the most important in their in- 
 fluence upon the course of events were those 
 transmitted to us by the ancient Hebrews. 
 Their mission was to teach religion, and here 
 they have been the instructors of the world, 
 their literature is a religious one, for to them 
 literature was simply a medium for religious 
 instruction and the awakening of devotional 
 feeling. 
 
 Emerson "exhorts us to read the great 
 writers thankfully and gratefully, take all 
 they can give, and not to let them go until 
 we receive their blessing," as Cicero says, "the 
 mind of man is improved by learning and re- 
 flection. To think is to live, man has been 
 born for two things, thinking and acting.' ' 
 
118 ALLAH KERIM 
 
 We all have faculties and powers capable 
 of almost anything, but it is the exercise of 
 these powers which gives to us ability and 
 leads us to perfection, the desire to accom- 
 plish is a proof of the ability to accomplish. 
 
 The education of life does not consist in the 
 number of things one knows, but is a spir- 
 itual and moral process and can only be truly 
 organized with a view to moral development, 
 our pursuit of knowledge should be as a 
 means to righteousness. Pindar insists stren- 
 uously upon virtue and self-culture; with 
 deep meaning he says, "Become that which 
 thou art," that is be that which you are made 
 to be. 
 
 THE END 
 
 "I believe that in all ages 
 Every human heart is human; 
 That in even savage bosoms 
 There are longings, yearnings, strivings, 
 For the good they comprehend not ; 
 That the feeble hands and helpless, 
 Groping blindly in the darkness, 
 Reach God's right hand in the darkness, 
 And are lifted up and strengthened." 
 
 Longfellow