They were dusty and depressing.
Practically every one of them was a memento of some poor devil gone to prison or to the chair.

Where were they now--and why did they kill--yes, why DID they?
I glanced along the red-labeled backs.
"People versus Candido." Now why did HE kill?
I remembered the Italian perfectly.

He killed his friend because the latter had been too attentive to his wife.

"People versus Higgins." Why did he?
That was a drunken row on a New Year's Eve within the sound of Trinity chimes.
"People versus Sterling Greene." Yes, he was a colored man--I recalled the evidence--drink and a "yellow gal." "People versus Mock Duck"-a Chinese feud between the On Leong Tong and the Hip Sing Tong--a vendetta, first one Chink shot and then another, turn and turn about, running back through Mott Street, New York, Boston, San Francisco, until the origin of the quarrel was lost in the dim Celestial mists across the sea.

Out of the first four cases the following motives: Jealousy--1.
Drink--1.