Native Son - Richard Wright [163]
He looked about. Yes; there were his mother and brother and sister; they were staring at him. There were many of his old school mates. There was his teacher, two of them. And there was G.H. and Jack and Gus and Doc. Bigger lowered his eyes. These were the people to whom he had once boasted, acted tough; people whom he had once defied. Now they were watching him as he sat here. They would feel that they were right and he was wrong. The old, hot choking sensation came back to his stomach and throat. Why could they not just shoot him and get it over with? They were going to kill him anyhow, so why make him go through with this? He was startled by the sound of a deep, hollow voice booming and a banging on a wooden table.
“Everybody rise, please….”
Everybody stood up. Bigger felt Max’s hand touching his arm and he rose and stood with Max. A man, draped in long black robes and with a dead-white face, came through a rear door and sat behind a high pulpit-like railing. That’s the judge, Bigger thought, easing back into his seat.
“Hear ye, hear ye….” Bigger heard the hollow voice booming again. He caught snatches of phrases: “…this Honorable Branch of the Cook County Criminal Court…. now in session…. pursuant to adjournment…. the Honorable Chief Justice Alvin C. Hanley, presiding….”
Bigger saw the judge look toward Buckley and then toward him and Max. Buckley rose and went to the foot of the railing; Max also rose and went forward. They talked a moment to the judge in low voices and then each went back to his seat. A man sitting just below the judge rose and began reading a long paper in a voice so thick and low that Bigger could only hear some of the words.
“…indictment number 666-983…. the People of the State of Illinois vs. Bigger Thomas…. The Grand Jurors chosen, selected and sworn in and for the said County of Cook, present that Bigger Thomas did rape and inflict sexual injury upon the body…. strangulation by hand…. smother to death and dispose of body by burning same in furnace…. did with knife and hatchet sever head from body…. said acts committed upon one Mary Dalton, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, against the peace and dignity of the People of the State of Illinois….”
The man pronounced Bigger’s name over and over again and Bigger felt that he was caught up in a vast but delicate machine whose wheels would whir no matter what was pitted against them. Over and over the man said that he had killed Mary and Bessie; that he had beheaded Mary; that he had battered Bessie with a brick; that he had raped both Mary and Bessie; that he had shoved Mary in the furnace; that he had thrown Bessie down the air-shaft and left her to freeze to death; and that he had stayed on in the Dalton home when Mary’s body was burning and had sent a kidnap note. When the man finished, a gasp of astonishment came from the court room and Bigger saw faces turning and looking in his direction. The judge rapped for order and asked,
“Is the defendant ready to enter a plea to this indictment?”
Max rose.
“Yes, Your Honor. The defendant, Bigger Thomas, pleads guilty.”
Immediately Bigger heard a loud commotion. He turned his head and saw several men pushing through the crowd toward the door. He knew that they were newspapermen. The judge rapped again for order. Max tried to continue speaking, but the judge stopped him.
“Just a minute, Mr. Max. We must have order!”
The room grew quiet.
“Your Honor,” Max said, “after long and honest deliberation, have determined to make a motion in this court to withdraw our plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty.
“The laws of this state allow the offering of evidence in mitigation of punishment, and I shall request, at such time as the Court deems best, that I be given the opportunity to offer evidence as to the mental and emotional attitude of this boy, to show the degree of responsibility he had in these crimes. Also, I want to offer evidence as to the youth of this boy. Further, I want to prevail upon this Court to consider this boy’s plea of guilty as evidence mitigating his punishment