Summary

The chapter opens on a series of newspaper clippings from May 23rd to May 26th about criminal activity in the city of New Orleans. Joseph Maggio and his wife were murdered in their sleep by an ax, and several white people were held up by a “negro highwayman” (5). One of the white men, a bakery driver, was even shot in the left breast by the highwayman. The suspect in the ax murder, the grocer’s brother, was released from custody.

In “May 26th, 1918— The Irish Channel,” Bill and Charlie are cruising the streets, looking for the highwayman who has been terrorizing the area. Bill thinks to himself that he does not have a policeman’s instincts, but he does have observation and memory. The night is silent, everyone has locked themselves in their homes. Gunshots ring out and Bill and Charlie run in...