Trueman is looked upon by all the miners of the region as a part and
parcel of the law, and all law is regarded by them as a thing made to
oppress the poor and aggrandize the wealthy.

A simple investigation on the eve of the present battle has placed in
the hands of the young lawyer ammunition which will rout the enemy on
the first volley.

But such an enemy! Above all things, Harvey Trueman is a magnanimous
foe. Now that he has his case won, he feels half humiliated. In the
court room, occupying a front seat while she awaits the arrival of her
lawyer, sits the widow of Marcus Braun, the Magyar miner.

The miner was killed in Shaft Fifteen of the Paradise Company, which is
three miles down the river from the wagon bridge at Wilkes-Barre.
Standing at the bottom of the shaft when an elevator cage fell, upon
which were two loaded coal cars, he was crushed to a pulp. His widow is
suing for damages for the death of her husband. In the front seat with
her, in the court room, is her five-year-old boy, whom she must support,
perhaps by taking boarders at the mines, if the mine superintendent will
permit her to go in debt for the rent of a house in case her litigation
against the company is not successful.

True, the rope by which the cage had been lifted and lowered had worn
thin, and the foreman had warned the superintendent the morning of the
accident that a new one was needed. But the poor Magyar at the bottom of
the shaft did not know it. He had in no way contributed to the
negligence which brought about his death. He knew his work was perilous.
In the law, it is a question whether or not the case can be successfully