U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [274]
-276-to break up the head of the line. Some of the strikers were singing Solidarity Forever, others were yel ing Scabs, Scabs and making funny long jeering hoots. Daughter was con-fused and excited. Suddenly everybody around her broke and ran and left her in a stretch of empty street in front of the wire fencing of the mil s. Ten feet in front of her a young woman slipped and fel . Daughter caught the scared look in her eyes that were round and black. Daughter stepped for-ward to help her up but two policemen were ahead of her swinging their nightsticks. Daughter thought they were going to help the girl up. She stood stil for a second, frozen in her tracks when she saw one of the policemen's feet shoot out. He'd kicked the girl ful in the face. Daugh-ter never remembered what happened except that she was wanting a gun and punching into the policeman's big red face and against the buttons and the thick heavy cloth of his overcoat. Something crashed down on her head from behind; dizzy and sick she was being pushed into the po-licewagon. In front of her was the girl's face al caved in and bleeding. In the darkness inside were other men and women cursing and laughing. But Daughter and the
woman opposite looked at each other dazedly and said nothing. Then the door closed behind them and they were in the dark.
When they were committed she was charged with riot-ing, felonious assault, obstructing an officer and inciting to sedition. It wasn't so bad in the county jail. The women's section was crowded with strikers, al the cel s were ful of girls laughing and talking, singing songs and tel ing each other how they'd been arrested, how long they'd been in, how they were going to win the strike. In Daughter's cel the girls al clustered around her and wanted to know how she'd gotten there. She began to feel she was quite a hero. Towards evening her name was cal ed and she found Webb and Ada and a lawyer clustered around the policesergeant's
-277-desk. Ada was mad, "Read that, young woman, and see how that'l sound back home," she said, poking an after-noon paper under her nose. TEXAS BELLE
ASSAULTS Cop said one headline. Then
fol owed an account of her knocking down a policeman with a left on the jaw. She was released on a thousand dol-lars bail; outside the jail, Ben Compton broke away from the group of reporters around him and rushed up to her.
"Congratulations, Miss Trent," he said, "that was a darn nervy thing to do . . . made a very good impression in the press." Sylvia Dalhart was with him. She threw her arms around her and kissed her: "That was a mighty spunky thing to do. Say, we're sending a delegation to Washington to see President Wilson and present a peti-tion and we want you on it. The President wil refuse to see the delegation and you'l have a chance to picket the White House and get arrested again."
"Wel , I declare," said Ada when they were safely on the train for New York. "I think you've lost your mind."
"You'd have done the same thing, Ada darlin', if you'd seen what I saw . . . when I tel Dad and the boys about it they'l see red. It's the most outrageous thing I ever heard of." Then she burst out crying.
When they got back to Ada's apartment they found a
telegram from Dad saying Coming at once. Make no state- ment until I arrive. Late that night another telegram came; it read: Dad seriously ill come on home at once have Ada retain best lawyer obtainable. In the morning Daughter scared and trembling was on the first train south. At St. Louis she got a telegram saying Don't worry condition fair double pneumonia. Upset as she was it cer-tainly did her good to see the wide Texas country, the spring crops beginning, a few bluebonnets in bloom. Buster was there to meet her at the depot, "Wel , Daughter," he said after he had taken her bag, "you've almost kil ed Dad."
-278-Buster was sixteen and captain of the highschool bal team. Driving her up to the house in the new Stutz he told her how things were. Bud had been tearing things up at the University and was on the edge of getting fired and had gotten bal ed up with a girl in Galveston who was trying to blackmail him. Dad had been very much worried because he'd gotten in too deep in the oil game and seeing Daughter spread al over the front page for knocking down a cop had about finished him; old Emma was getting too old to run the house for them anymore and it was up to Daughter to give up her crazy ideas and stay home and keep house for them. "See this car? A dandy ain't it. . . . I bought it myself.