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I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship, in Butte.
For 40 years, old Elihu Wilson had owned Personville heart, soul, skin and guts.
He was the major stockholder of nearly every important enterprise in the town.
But, in 1921, business was rotten. Bill Quint and the mine workers wanted to make labor history.
The strike lasted 8 months. Old Elihu hired gunmen, strike breakers and National Guardsmen.
When the last skull had been cracked, the last rib kicked in
Organized labor in Personville was a used firecracker.
He won the strike, but lost his hold on the city.
To beat the miners, he had to let his hired thugs run wild.
According to Quint, the thugs helped Elihu run the city - perhaps more than he liked.
Pete the Fin, Lou Yard, and this kid, Max Thayler. They called him Whisper.
Those three with Noonan, the Chief of Police, helped Elihu run the show.
But, Old Elihu disliked their assistance to say the least.
He brought his son, Donald, home and put him in charge of the Morning Herald. Don started a reform campaign in the papers:
Clear the burg of vice and corruption.
Which meant clear it of Pete, Lou and Whisper.
The old man was using the boy to shake em loose.
I called Donald Wilson from the train station and he asked me to visit his home at 10PM.
Unfortunately, we never met. He was shot near Hurricane St. four times in the stomach, chest and back.
He was killed with a .32 less than a block from Dinah Brand`s house.
Chief Noonan called Dinah a soiled dove, a deluxe hustler, a big league gold digger.
Seemed true when I discovered Don certified a $5000 check for her right before his cold blooded ***.
She took her pick of Poisonville`s men - from what I`d been told.
Donald Wilson sent for me. I was waiting to see him while he was being killed.
You mean he knew someone meant to kill him? I don’t know… he didn`t say what he wanted.
Maybe just some help in the reform campaign.
DINAH: But do you… DETECTIVE: It`s no fun being a sleuth when someone steals all your stuff…
Does all the questioning… DINAH: I just like to find out what`s going on.
I`m that way too. For instance, I`d like to know why you had him have the check certified.
So you found out about that…
DINAH: Honest to God, I`m going to stop wearing them.
I’m going barefooted. I paid five bucks for these socks yesterday… Now look at the damn things!
Everyday: runs, runs, runs.
It`s no secret… I mean the checks… not the runs. Noonan`s got it.
DINAH: If you talked my language, I might be able to give you some help.
DETECTIVE: Maybe if I knew what it was… DINAH: Money, the more the better. I like it.
DETECTIVE: Money saved is money earned. I can save you money and grief.
DINAH: That doesn`t mean anything to me. Though it seems like it`s meant to.
The police haven`t asked you about the check… Noonan`s thinking about hanging the wrap on you and Whisper.
Don’t scare me… I`m only a child.
Noonan knows that Thayler knew about the check. He knows that Thayler was here when Wilson was here, but he didn`t get in.
He knows that Thayler was in the neighborhood when Wilson was shot.
He also knows that Thayler and a woman were seen standing over the dead man.
Those things concern Thayler, not me.
You two aren’t strangers. Wilson brought a $5000 check here and was killed leaving.
That way, Miss Brand, it might be kinda hard to cash it…
If Wilson hadn’t been thoughtful enough to certify it first.
DINAH: My God! If I`d been going to kill him I would’ve done it in here where no one could`ve seen it?
Or at least wait until he got out of sight of the house.
What kind of a dumb onion do you take me for?
I’m not sure you killed him
I’m just sure that fat chief`s trying to hang it on you.
What are you trying to do?
Learn who killed him. Not who could have, or might have… but who did.
I could give you some help. But there`d have to be something in it for me.
Safety
I mean something in a financial way. It`d be worth something to you
And you should pay up… Even if not a fortune.
Can’t be done. Forget the bankroll and go in for charity.
Pretend I`m… Bill Quint.
You think I didn’t make any profit out of Bill.
Suppose you knew far enough ahead that a company`s employees were going to strike…
And when…
And then far enough ahead to know when they were going to stop striking.
Do you think you could take the info to some capital in the stock market and do yourself some good
playing with the company stock?
You bet you could. So don`t go around thinking I didn`t make a profit out of Bill.
You’ve been spoiled.
What in the name of God`s the use of being so tight?
It’s not as if it had to come out of your own pocket.
You have an expense account, haven`t you?
Maybe you`d loosen up if you had a drink…
It`s not so much the money… it`s the principle of the thing.
If a girl`s got something that’s worth something to someone,
She’s a *** if she doesn`t collect.
I wanna go to the Devil, I wanna be evil! I wanna spit tacks. I wanna be evil, and cheat at Jacks.
I wanna be wicked, I wanna tell lies! I wanna be mean, and throw mud pies.
I want to wake up In the morning With that Dark brown taste.
I wanna see some dissipation in my face! I wanna be evil...
What are you trying to do?
I don`t know… [Laughter]