The Other Teddy Roosevelts Read Online Free Page B

have to do it ourselves,” said Roosevelt.
    “What do you mean— ourselves ?” said the burly man. “You ain’t one of us! What do you care?”
    “All right-thinking men should care,” responded Roosevelt. “There’s a crazed killer out there. We have to protect society and bring him to the bar of justice.”
    “What kind of man dresses like a dandy and wants to hunt down Jack the Ripper? It just don’t make no sense.” He glared at the American. “You sure you ain’t a writer for one of them magazines—them penny dreadfuls, here to make a hero out of old Jack?”
    “I told you: I want to hunt him down.”
    “And when he jumps you, you’ll point out that it’s not fair to hit a man with spectacles!” guffawed the burly man.
    Roosevelt removed his glasses, folded them carefully, and set them down on the bar.
    “There are many things I don’t need glasses for,” he said, jutting out his chin. “You’re one of them.”
    “Are you challenging me to a fight, yank?” said the burly man, surprised.
    “Personally, I’d much rather fight the Ripper,” said Roosevelt. “But it’s up to you.”
    The man suddenly laughed and threw a huge arm around Roosevelt’s shoulders. “I like your nerve, Yank! My name’s Colin Shrank, and you and me are going to be great friends!”
    Roosevelt grinned. “That suits me just fine. Let me buy you a drink.”
    “A pint of ale!” Shrank yelled to the bartender. He turned back to Roosevelt. “You’re here too early, Yank. Old Jack, he only comes out at night.”
    “But I see a number of ladies here, and at least some of them must be prostitutes,” said Roosevelt.
    “They ain’t hardly ladies,” said Shrank with a laugh, “and they’re here because he’s got ‘em too scared to work at night, which is the proper time for their particular business.”
    “Too bloody true!” chimed in one of the women. “You ain’t gettin’ me out after dark!”
    “I don’t even feel safe in the daylight,” said another.
    “Did anyone here know Polly Nichols or Annie Chapman?” asked Roosevelt.
    “I knew Annie,” said the bartender. “Came here near every night to find a new bloke. Nice lady, she was.”
    “Why would she go off with the Ripper?” asked Roosevelt.
    “Well, she didn’t know it was the Ripper, now did she?” answered the bartender.
    Roosevelt shook his head. “Everyone in Whitechapel knows that prostitutes are at risk, so why would Annie go out with someone she didn’t know?”
    “There’s thousands of men come here every night,” answered one of the prostitutes. “Maybe tens of thousands. What’re the odds any one of them is Jack the Ripper?”
    “It ain’t our fault,” said another. “We’re just out to make a living. It’s the police and the press and all them others. They don’t care what happens here. They’d burn Whitechapel down, and us with it, if they thought they could get away with it.”
    A heavyset woman entered the tavern, walked right up to the bar, and thumped it with her fist.
    “Yeah, Irma,” said the bartender. “What’ll it be?”
    “A pint,” she said in a deep voice.
    “Hard night?”
    “Four of ‘em.” She shook her head disgustedly. “You’d think they’d learn. They never do.”
    “That’s what they’ve got you for,” said the bartender.
    She grimaced and took her beer to a table.
    “What was that all about?” asked Roosevelt.
    “Irma, she’s a midwife,” answered Shrank.
    “She delivered four babies last night?”
    Shrank seemed amused. “She cut four of ‘em out before they became a bother.”
    “A midwife performs abortions?” said Roosevelt, surprised. “Don’t you have doctors for that?”
    “Look around you, Yank. There’s ten times as many rats as people down here. A gent’s got to be as well-armed as you if he don’t want to get robbed. Women are being sliced to bits by a monster and no one does nothing about it. So you tell me: why would a doctor work here if he