there was graft to be collected, brought about the very conditions
which had made possible such neglect of the district leader's
body, as it had been bandied back and forth, unwittingly by many
who owed their very positions to the organization.

I could not help but think that if he had served humanity with
one-half the zeal which he had served graft, this could not have
happened.

The more I contemplated the case, the more tragic did it seem to
me. I longed for the assignment of writing the story for the Star-
-the chance I would have had in the old days to bring in a story
that would have got me a nod of approval from my superior. I
determined, as soon as possible, to get the Star on the wire and
try to express some of the thoughts that were surging through my
brain in the face of this awful and unexpected occurrence.

There he lay, alone, uncared for except by such rude hands as
those of the Morgue attendants. I could not help reflecting on the
strange vicissitudes of human life, and death, which levelled all
distinctions between men of high and low degree. Murtha had almost
literally sprung from the streets. His career had been one
possible only in the social and political conditions of his times.
And now he had only by the narrowest chance escaped a burial in a
pauper's grave at the hands of the city which he had helped Dorgan
to debauch.

Carton, too, I could see was overwhelmed. For the moment he did
not even think of how this blow to the System might affect his own
chances. It was only the pitiful wreck of a human being before us