Alex Cross's Trial
Alex Cross's Trial
By James Patterson, Richard DiLallo
My Rating: 4/5
Genre: Thriller, Historical Fiction
Finished on: 6th Feb 2022
As I write this review (again, after an yeaar) I still remember how emotional this read was for me. I was too into it, the injustice, the trial. Traumatized by the horror of it all. It was not less of a horror story for me. Except there weren't any ghosts. There were beasts, in the form of people.
In the form of humans.
The book started with a preface, and I remember how the last lines of the preface caught my attention
"My suspicion is that what happened at Mississippi was too personal and painful for Corbett to turn into a book. But I have come to believe that there has never been a better time for this story to be told."
There are five parts to this story, beginning with...
Part One: A Good Man Is Hard To Find:
Initially the characters are introduced. Abraham Cross, one of the main protagonist. Regina Cross (Nana Mama), Abraham's grandmother. And Moody and Hiram Cross, his grandkids. This is a 20th century time based story, when Theodore Roosevelt was President, and racism was prevalent.
And then comes our other main protagonist, Benjamin (Ben) E Corbett, who is a lawyer, but will be a witness in one of the most important trials in this book.
And talking of trials, this book started with one. And this trial gave us a good understanding of how things are in the present time.
Gracie, a black woman, is being charged for murder of a white woman. The entire court, full of white people, find her guilty and want her head. Whether the evidence may or may not be sufficient, but they believe she's guilty, and they WANT her dead.
So, what's the verdict? The jury finds Gracie guilty. They lose the case.
But, just as the verdict is announced, Ben learns from Gracie herself that she ACTUALLY committed the crime. In the form of self defence. And she says she would do it again.
We learn two things from this.
The whites, they are the ones who are thirsty for the blood of blacks, even when they might have done no harm to them.
And blacks, who are just too tired of the racism and atrocities they face from whites, and when it comes to it, they WILL kill them, in the name of self defence.
These two points are the foundation of this entire story. Of Alex Cross's Trial.
And since racism is so prevalent in the states, then why is Ben so different? Why is he helping out Gracie? Why is he siding with blacks?
The answer is soon given to us with a flashback he has. In Mississippi itself where he was born and raised. He and his mother were at a store when she passes out, with a stroke. Not one white person stepped forward to help. Maybe they thought she's drunk? But that's no excuse for them to not step up to help.
And that's exactly what the two boys thought who did come to help, and they were black boys.
He and his mother decided to never forget that day. The day when his mother was saved by black people.
So now it's the start of the main story. The president, Theodore Roosevelt, invites Ben to meet him. He tells him about the "possible" lynchings happening in his hometown Eudora, Mississippi. He wants Ben to go undercover and secretly find out if it's true. The key word being "secret", it's no-brainer that this is a secret mission, and he must tell no soul about it, lest the racism and lynchings go out of hand.
There are three questions to be answered with his observation over there:
1) Are lynchings common?
2) Is the Ku Klux Klan, rumoured to be the one responsible for so many lynchings, alive?
3) And lastly, what's the truth?
The president asks him, if he has seen any lynchings in his life. He tells the president that he didn't.
But he lied.
He has.
He was 12, back then in Mississippi. He and his white friend Jacob Gill observed how Leon Reynolds lynched a black person, named George Pearson. His crime? Backbiting facts about the whites.
Now this is the first case in the book which describes the lynching. How they were onto him, the chase, the capture, the beatings, the torture. And finally, the execution.
Writing briefly here is enough for me to remember how it all went. And Ben remembers how his friend Jacob ran to get help, but never returned. Leaving Ben to fail in his attempt to negotiate for the poor guy's life, and leading him to witness the entire execution while he wet his pants.
Now that Ben has a secret mission, he needs to leave. And he has to tell his family about it.
His wife, Meg. And his daughters, Amelia and Alice. Of course he didn't tell them why he is going, but the place he had to go.
Amelia said, "Don't go, Papa". She said in a voice so sweet it nearly broke my heart. "If you go, we'll never see you again."
The moment Amelia said it, I had the terrible thought that my little girl just might be right.
I braced myself 💔
Part Two: Homecoming
He travels to Mississippi, and during his journey he reads an article in which the lynchings in the town are described. And the way they are described is not unlike the description of an entertainment show. People "enjoy" the lynchings, almost like a sport describing which player did the best.
Enough for us to be disgusted and be haunted to even think of what all goes on in here.
When he reaches, he meets Elizabeth Begley, his childhood friend. And his father, Everett J Corbett, who was a former judge in the same town and who also didn't have a good relationship with his son.
You can guess why, he disliked his son's love for colored people.
He also meets Jacob Gill, his other childhood friend, and ironically meets at the circumstance of a bullying about to happen. Thankfully, this doesn't get worse, but we find out how Jacob is faring. He has somehow mentally survived in a town full of white racists. He has a wife, a family too.
He doesn't reveals to anyone what or why he is really here for. He keeps it to himself. And to get started on this mission, he finally meets our another main protagonist.
Abraham Cross.
He meets him, his grand kids. Goes on a walk with him.
Abraham shows him the lynching tree, where the lynching happens. Their unofficial execution place. A reminder for the blacks to remind them of their doom, if they decide to step out of their line which they are supposed to be under.
He looks at the lynching tree, and hears the lynching stories.
After his meet with Abraham, he returns to the hotel he'll be temporarily staying at. And there he surprisingly finds a letter for himself.
A threatening letter:
THIS IS THE WAY WE COOK COONS DOWN HERE,
THIS IS THE WAY WE WILL COOK YOU,
WE KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE,
GO HOME, NIGGER-LOVER.
Who was it? And how do they know?
So his mission has not started quite as smoothly as he wished, he needs to be wary now.
This section/part of the story, 'Homecoming' ends with another sad lynching case.
A father and son duo. The daughter of Father, also the sister of the son, was raped. I need not even write the rest of what happened. Or why it (the lynching) happened.
The wife/mother of the duo, Annie, sat beside their bodies. Too broken to even do anything.
Even Ben helplessly just watched, this was his first lynching case after his visit.
And while he watched we come to know, someone is watching him too.
Part Three: Southern Funeral Favourites
Honestly, the story just gets darker here.
But before, let us talk a bit about Ben. While we know Ben supports the colored people, have we wondered about his family?
His two little daughters are too young to understand what is right and what isn't, but his wife, Meg, also disapproves of him siding with the colored people.
All the charity cases he takes to support them, do him no good, earn him no money. He has to take care of his family after all.
And although his wife has no clue what is he really in Mississippi for, but she can make a good guess.
And since he is here, he gets an invitation from Elizabeth (his childhood friend) to have lunch with her family.
Talking about Elizabeth, after his first meet with her he recalls how his friendship with Elizabeth back then was. We can almost tell he had a crush on her.
And since he described her as breathtakingly beautiful, we can assume maybe he STILL has crush on her?
Anyway, as he blushing at the idea of getting invited to his crush's house, the feeling is soon crushed when he gets a letter from his wife.
Letter stating her wish to separate from him.
Maybe being away from him had her sit and ponder if she really wants to continue with a man who doesn't think much for his family, since his career with all charity cases are doing him no good.
Ben is torn, he recalls how his relationship with Meg started. He's broken.
And he can do nothing about it, he has a mission to complete here, a mission which can result in saving lives. Or maybe costing his life too.
Coming to mission, Ben meets Abraham again.
And this time, Abraham takes him to another place and shows him the amphitheatre. Can you even guess what this could be for?
Which sort of entertainment?
You bet.
And in these "entertainment" occasions, Abraham tells him how they even sell refreshments here. As if there's no soul getting sucked out of a human shell which they are merrily watching.
Abraham says..
"I guess I'm just gettin' too used to seein' it. It's a bad thing to get used to."
They have simply accepted their fate. 💔
After seeing what he saw, after hearing what he heard.
Ben is finally ready to write his report to the president.
He writes a long report; stating names, location, times etc.
Abraham said he would have written it like this "Dear Mr President, it's worse than you heard. Send the Army. Stop."
But Ben knew better, their stories need to be told in a way a person should feel it's all happening right in front of them.
So he sends the Telegram, and after that we have an event. He and Elizabeth go to a talk show of Mark Twain (or I hope I remember correctly).
And there is one interesting thing he said. The audience of his enjoyed most of his talk, but when he started talking about this particular thing, the audience were entirely quiet.
He talked about lynchings.
Not exactly that, he told them "why" people GO to see it. Them with their families.
Do they enjoy it? Maybe? Maybe not? But the spectator who DOES not enjoy it simply goes fearing the disapproval of his neighbour who does.
By not going, he is attracting attention from the people as a person who dislikes lynchings. An unwanted attention.
And even though such number who dislike maybe large, but if all of them have this fear, they will mark their presence to avoid the unwanted attention.
The message is: Man is always afraid to disappoint his own neighbour.
How true. This can easily applied in today's times too.
When will we ever learn?
So since the telegram is sent, he waits for the response. He waits, and waits, the response doesn't come.
And it just gets bad here.
Another lynching happens.
Remember Moody and Hiram? Abraham's grandkids?
Well this time, it was Moody's brother.
Hiram.
So far we saw the lynching news on papers, then we saw a lynching of woman's husband and son. Saw her sitting heartbroken beside their bodies.
But this time. The loss is our own.
Ben doesn't just get to witness from afar, but he is part of the mourning family.
He attends the procession, he mourns for them.
And even THIS wasn't the worst which happened.
Soon it was the moment which even I didn't think would be happening in this book. It totally caught me off guard.
The lynching of Ben Corbett.
Yes, right. He's the protagonist, and yet he gets lynched.. and barely survives.
It was the whites he made a mistake of messing with, out in broad daylight in the street. And they are here to take revenge.
Just after he leaves Abraham's house, bidding them goodbye, the people he messed with (including Scooter the cameraman) were onto him.
I need not write the lynching details, just that he gets tortured badly, they leave no body part unharmed.
And at the end, they hang him.
He almost dies. Even Ben thinks he's dead when he wakes up alive.
But he survived only because his hand was in between his neck and the rope which made him not get choked completely.
He survived.
But this inevitable happened, and we are only though 3/5 of this book.
What will happen next? 😔
Part 4: My Name is Henry
You must be wondering now.. Who is Henry? Why is an entire title of the part named after him?
Well, it's her.
Henrietta, she prefers being called Henry. the healer among the colored. ALSO responsible for saving Ben's life, as without her healing remedies, he was really as good as dead.
Ben is healed, thanks to Henry. But he needs to lay low after what happened, and he needs time to recover. So he stays with them until he has completely healed.
So naturally he spends some more time with them, since nobody was really coming to check up on him anyway to see if he's alive.
Neither Jacob, nor Elizabeth, and even his own Father. Nobody came.
And in this time we find out Moody Cross has developed some feelings for Ben. And vice versa is also the case.
(Well yeah, the entire haunting story aside, this guy has a wife and keeps a crush on Elizabeth and has feelings for Moody 🤷 )
So once he is completely healed, he goes back to Eudora, and.. nobody there accepts him. No surprise.
He is kicked out of his hotel, and even the shopkeepers want him to avoid being anywhere near them.
So when all the doors are shut, he finds himself taking refuge in Jacob's place.
And.. he takes him.
Fishy, right?
The person who ran away to get help and didn't return when they were 12, fearing it'll lead HIM into trouble.. is somehow providing shelter to the most wanted white person amidst them? Why?
We soon find out.
Jacob soon takes him to a place, and that place is none other than a Ku Klux Klan's meeting. The gang responsible for all these lynches.
So Jacob IS part of it, that is how he was so comfortable living amidst the murderers in the town.
At first it was a "normal" meeting, then they soon switched and showed their hatred and fear for black men.
And they all wanted to teach him a lesson.
They take him to a place where a white man (Eli Weinberg) is being hanged, basically for some money laundering case? They wanted him to know they teach a lesson to anyone who needs it.. even if the person is a white man. Sick.
It was a clear cut warning to tell what his fate would be if he doesn't learn his lesson.
And even Jacob shows no mercy. He tells his "friend" to realise his mistake and join them, else he'll not regret what inevitably happens to him.
Where are their souls? Are they even humans?!
He leaves and is not really sure where he can go this time to take shelter. He really can trust no one.
So he goes to that one place he hopes nobody would try finding him. In his father's.. guest quarters.
He took shelter in that place as a child, and has to now hide there to save his life.
But that is not so much a secret too. He is soon discovered, but by Elizabeth and LJ Stringer (one of his ally on his side). They warn him that the entire Klan is in search of him, and that they might be his "only" friends.
Can even they be trusted?
We are not really sure.
But soon after they left, Moody comes. Telling the next one to be possibly lynched is one of her cousins Ricky, and Abraham has sent for him.
Now this is the time they decide to finally get in action.
One person cannot defend himself, but an army can. And in this case Army is all the black people standing unitedly to defend their own.
This was like war, proper war, where they are planning their fronts and defenses to attack their enemy when they come..
"This was war, just like I remembered it from Cuba, except the enemy was from my own."
They come, when the whites realise that it is not going to be easy, they even get backup.
A miniature battle ensued, but soon they (the blacks) manage to outnumber them, and have them under their control.
This was not possible before, but it did now. And the next step would be to have them arrested under good grounds.
When they go to the police station, the policeman initially wasn't buckling, but eventually did.
Because LJ Stringer was also supporting this cause. Also after when Ben reveals the name of another important person supporting this cause.
Theodore Roosevelt.
So he revealed it?? What happens now?? Will the president admit or deny?
Me, sitting at the edge of my chair, anxious to find out is an understatement.
This was getting personal. This is me, sitting anxiously, awaiting for justice to finally happen on a town oppressed for ages.
What now?!
Part Five: The Trial at Eudora
The final part :(
The ultimate trial is here.
In which a white man is held.
On the other side, the President gets another letter, a second letter, which tells about everything again, until the point of arrest.
And this is the moment when the president reveals how it was a wise decision to not have responded to the first letter. He responds to the second one telling, he is super happy and this is a great ending to the "project".
Really, project?!
When so many lives are at stake here?!
The book started with a preface, and I remember how the last lines of the preface caught my attention
"My suspicion is that what happened at Mississippi was too personal and painful for Corbett to turn into a book. But I have come to believe that there has never been a better time for this story to be told."
There are five parts to this story, beginning with...
Part One: A Good Man Is Hard To Find:
Initially the characters are introduced. Abraham Cross, one of the main protagonist. Regina Cross (Nana Mama), Abraham's grandmother. And Moody and Hiram Cross, his grandkids. This is a 20th century time based story, when Theodore Roosevelt was President, and racism was prevalent.
And then comes our other main protagonist, Benjamin (Ben) E Corbett, who is a lawyer, but will be a witness in one of the most important trials in this book.
And talking of trials, this book started with one. And this trial gave us a good understanding of how things are in the present time.
Gracie, a black woman, is being charged for murder of a white woman. The entire court, full of white people, find her guilty and want her head. Whether the evidence may or may not be sufficient, but they believe she's guilty, and they WANT her dead.
So, what's the verdict? The jury finds Gracie guilty. They lose the case.
But, just as the verdict is announced, Ben learns from Gracie herself that she ACTUALLY committed the crime. In the form of self defence. And she says she would do it again.
We learn two things from this.
The whites, they are the ones who are thirsty for the blood of blacks, even when they might have done no harm to them.
And blacks, who are just too tired of the racism and atrocities they face from whites, and when it comes to it, they WILL kill them, in the name of self defence.
These two points are the foundation of this entire story. Of Alex Cross's Trial.
And since racism is so prevalent in the states, then why is Ben so different? Why is he helping out Gracie? Why is he siding with blacks?
The answer is soon given to us with a flashback he has. In Mississippi itself where he was born and raised. He and his mother were at a store when she passes out, with a stroke. Not one white person stepped forward to help. Maybe they thought she's drunk? But that's no excuse for them to not step up to help.
And that's exactly what the two boys thought who did come to help, and they were black boys.
He and his mother decided to never forget that day. The day when his mother was saved by black people.
So now it's the start of the main story. The president, Theodore Roosevelt, invites Ben to meet him. He tells him about the "possible" lynchings happening in his hometown Eudora, Mississippi. He wants Ben to go undercover and secretly find out if it's true. The key word being "secret", it's no-brainer that this is a secret mission, and he must tell no soul about it, lest the racism and lynchings go out of hand.
There are three questions to be answered with his observation over there:
1) Are lynchings common?
2) Is the Ku Klux Klan, rumoured to be the one responsible for so many lynchings, alive?
3) And lastly, what's the truth?
The president asks him, if he has seen any lynchings in his life. He tells the president that he didn't.
But he lied.
He has.
He was 12, back then in Mississippi. He and his white friend Jacob Gill observed how Leon Reynolds lynched a black person, named George Pearson. His crime? Backbiting facts about the whites.
Now this is the first case in the book which describes the lynching. How they were onto him, the chase, the capture, the beatings, the torture. And finally, the execution.
Writing briefly here is enough for me to remember how it all went. And Ben remembers how his friend Jacob ran to get help, but never returned. Leaving Ben to fail in his attempt to negotiate for the poor guy's life, and leading him to witness the entire execution while he wet his pants.
Now that Ben has a secret mission, he needs to leave. And he has to tell his family about it.
His wife, Meg. And his daughters, Amelia and Alice. Of course he didn't tell them why he is going, but the place he had to go.
Amelia said, "Don't go, Papa". She said in a voice so sweet it nearly broke my heart. "If you go, we'll never see you again."
The moment Amelia said it, I had the terrible thought that my little girl just might be right.
I braced myself 💔
Part Two: Homecoming
He travels to Mississippi, and during his journey he reads an article in which the lynchings in the town are described. And the way they are described is not unlike the description of an entertainment show. People "enjoy" the lynchings, almost like a sport describing which player did the best.
Enough for us to be disgusted and be haunted to even think of what all goes on in here.
When he reaches, he meets Elizabeth Begley, his childhood friend. And his father, Everett J Corbett, who was a former judge in the same town and who also didn't have a good relationship with his son.
You can guess why, he disliked his son's love for colored people.
He also meets Jacob Gill, his other childhood friend, and ironically meets at the circumstance of a bullying about to happen. Thankfully, this doesn't get worse, but we find out how Jacob is faring. He has somehow mentally survived in a town full of white racists. He has a wife, a family too.
He doesn't reveals to anyone what or why he is really here for. He keeps it to himself. And to get started on this mission, he finally meets our another main protagonist.
Abraham Cross.
He meets him, his grand kids. Goes on a walk with him.
Abraham shows him the lynching tree, where the lynching happens. Their unofficial execution place. A reminder for the blacks to remind them of their doom, if they decide to step out of their line which they are supposed to be under.
He looks at the lynching tree, and hears the lynching stories.
After his meet with Abraham, he returns to the hotel he'll be temporarily staying at. And there he surprisingly finds a letter for himself.
A threatening letter:
THIS IS THE WAY WE COOK COONS DOWN HERE,
THIS IS THE WAY WE WILL COOK YOU,
WE KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE,
GO HOME, NIGGER-LOVER.
Who was it? And how do they know?
So his mission has not started quite as smoothly as he wished, he needs to be wary now.
This section/part of the story, 'Homecoming' ends with another sad lynching case.
A father and son duo. The daughter of Father, also the sister of the son, was raped. I need not even write the rest of what happened. Or why it (the lynching) happened.
The wife/mother of the duo, Annie, sat beside their bodies. Too broken to even do anything.
Even Ben helplessly just watched, this was his first lynching case after his visit.
And while he watched we come to know, someone is watching him too.
Part Three: Southern Funeral Favourites
Honestly, the story just gets darker here.
But before, let us talk a bit about Ben. While we know Ben supports the colored people, have we wondered about his family?
His two little daughters are too young to understand what is right and what isn't, but his wife, Meg, also disapproves of him siding with the colored people.
All the charity cases he takes to support them, do him no good, earn him no money. He has to take care of his family after all.
And although his wife has no clue what is he really in Mississippi for, but she can make a good guess.
And since he is here, he gets an invitation from Elizabeth (his childhood friend) to have lunch with her family.
Talking about Elizabeth, after his first meet with her he recalls how his friendship with Elizabeth back then was. We can almost tell he had a crush on her.
And since he described her as breathtakingly beautiful, we can assume maybe he STILL has crush on her?
Anyway, as he blushing at the idea of getting invited to his crush's house, the feeling is soon crushed when he gets a letter from his wife.
Letter stating her wish to separate from him.
Maybe being away from him had her sit and ponder if she really wants to continue with a man who doesn't think much for his family, since his career with all charity cases are doing him no good.
Ben is torn, he recalls how his relationship with Meg started. He's broken.
And he can do nothing about it, he has a mission to complete here, a mission which can result in saving lives. Or maybe costing his life too.
Coming to mission, Ben meets Abraham again.
And this time, Abraham takes him to another place and shows him the amphitheatre. Can you even guess what this could be for?
Which sort of entertainment?
You bet.
And in these "entertainment" occasions, Abraham tells him how they even sell refreshments here. As if there's no soul getting sucked out of a human shell which they are merrily watching.
Abraham says..
"I guess I'm just gettin' too used to seein' it. It's a bad thing to get used to."
They have simply accepted their fate. 💔
After seeing what he saw, after hearing what he heard.
Ben is finally ready to write his report to the president.
He writes a long report; stating names, location, times etc.
Abraham said he would have written it like this "Dear Mr President, it's worse than you heard. Send the Army. Stop."
But Ben knew better, their stories need to be told in a way a person should feel it's all happening right in front of them.
So he sends the Telegram, and after that we have an event. He and Elizabeth go to a talk show of Mark Twain (or I hope I remember correctly).
And there is one interesting thing he said. The audience of his enjoyed most of his talk, but when he started talking about this particular thing, the audience were entirely quiet.
He talked about lynchings.
Not exactly that, he told them "why" people GO to see it. Them with their families.
Do they enjoy it? Maybe? Maybe not? But the spectator who DOES not enjoy it simply goes fearing the disapproval of his neighbour who does.
By not going, he is attracting attention from the people as a person who dislikes lynchings. An unwanted attention.
And even though such number who dislike maybe large, but if all of them have this fear, they will mark their presence to avoid the unwanted attention.
The message is: Man is always afraid to disappoint his own neighbour.
How true. This can easily applied in today's times too.
When will we ever learn?
So since the telegram is sent, he waits for the response. He waits, and waits, the response doesn't come.
And it just gets bad here.
Another lynching happens.
Remember Moody and Hiram? Abraham's grandkids?
Well this time, it was Moody's brother.
Hiram.
So far we saw the lynching news on papers, then we saw a lynching of woman's husband and son. Saw her sitting heartbroken beside their bodies.
But this time. The loss is our own.
Ben doesn't just get to witness from afar, but he is part of the mourning family.
He attends the procession, he mourns for them.
And even THIS wasn't the worst which happened.
Soon it was the moment which even I didn't think would be happening in this book. It totally caught me off guard.
The lynching of Ben Corbett.
Yes, right. He's the protagonist, and yet he gets lynched.. and barely survives.
It was the whites he made a mistake of messing with, out in broad daylight in the street. And they are here to take revenge.
Just after he leaves Abraham's house, bidding them goodbye, the people he messed with (including Scooter the cameraman) were onto him.
I need not write the lynching details, just that he gets tortured badly, they leave no body part unharmed.
And at the end, they hang him.
He almost dies. Even Ben thinks he's dead when he wakes up alive.
But he survived only because his hand was in between his neck and the rope which made him not get choked completely.
He survived.
But this inevitable happened, and we are only though 3/5 of this book.
What will happen next? 😔
Part 4: My Name is Henry
You must be wondering now.. Who is Henry? Why is an entire title of the part named after him?
Well, it's her.
Henrietta, she prefers being called Henry. the healer among the colored. ALSO responsible for saving Ben's life, as without her healing remedies, he was really as good as dead.
Ben is healed, thanks to Henry. But he needs to lay low after what happened, and he needs time to recover. So he stays with them until he has completely healed.
So naturally he spends some more time with them, since nobody was really coming to check up on him anyway to see if he's alive.
Neither Jacob, nor Elizabeth, and even his own Father. Nobody came.
And in this time we find out Moody Cross has developed some feelings for Ben. And vice versa is also the case.
(Well yeah, the entire haunting story aside, this guy has a wife and keeps a crush on Elizabeth and has feelings for Moody 🤷 )
So once he is completely healed, he goes back to Eudora, and.. nobody there accepts him. No surprise.
He is kicked out of his hotel, and even the shopkeepers want him to avoid being anywhere near them.
So when all the doors are shut, he finds himself taking refuge in Jacob's place.
And.. he takes him.
Fishy, right?
The person who ran away to get help and didn't return when they were 12, fearing it'll lead HIM into trouble.. is somehow providing shelter to the most wanted white person amidst them? Why?
We soon find out.
Jacob soon takes him to a place, and that place is none other than a Ku Klux Klan's meeting. The gang responsible for all these lynches.
So Jacob IS part of it, that is how he was so comfortable living amidst the murderers in the town.
At first it was a "normal" meeting, then they soon switched and showed their hatred and fear for black men.
And they all wanted to teach him a lesson.
They take him to a place where a white man (Eli Weinberg) is being hanged, basically for some money laundering case? They wanted him to know they teach a lesson to anyone who needs it.. even if the person is a white man. Sick.
It was a clear cut warning to tell what his fate would be if he doesn't learn his lesson.
And even Jacob shows no mercy. He tells his "friend" to realise his mistake and join them, else he'll not regret what inevitably happens to him.
Where are their souls? Are they even humans?!
He leaves and is not really sure where he can go this time to take shelter. He really can trust no one.
So he goes to that one place he hopes nobody would try finding him. In his father's.. guest quarters.
He took shelter in that place as a child, and has to now hide there to save his life.
But that is not so much a secret too. He is soon discovered, but by Elizabeth and LJ Stringer (one of his ally on his side). They warn him that the entire Klan is in search of him, and that they might be his "only" friends.
Can even they be trusted?
We are not really sure.
But soon after they left, Moody comes. Telling the next one to be possibly lynched is one of her cousins Ricky, and Abraham has sent for him.
Now this is the time they decide to finally get in action.
One person cannot defend himself, but an army can. And in this case Army is all the black people standing unitedly to defend their own.
This was like war, proper war, where they are planning their fronts and defenses to attack their enemy when they come..
"This was war, just like I remembered it from Cuba, except the enemy was from my own."
They come, when the whites realise that it is not going to be easy, they even get backup.
A miniature battle ensued, but soon they (the blacks) manage to outnumber them, and have them under their control.
This was not possible before, but it did now. And the next step would be to have them arrested under good grounds.
When they go to the police station, the policeman initially wasn't buckling, but eventually did.
Because LJ Stringer was also supporting this cause. Also after when Ben reveals the name of another important person supporting this cause.
Theodore Roosevelt.
So he revealed it?? What happens now?? Will the president admit or deny?
Me, sitting at the edge of my chair, anxious to find out is an understatement.
This was getting personal. This is me, sitting anxiously, awaiting for justice to finally happen on a town oppressed for ages.
What now?!
Part Five: The Trial at Eudora
The final part :(
The ultimate trial is here.
In which a white man is held.
On the other side, the President gets another letter, a second letter, which tells about everything again, until the point of arrest.
And this is the moment when the president reveals how it was a wise decision to not have responded to the first letter. He responds to the second one telling, he is super happy and this is a great ending to the "project".
Really, project?!
When so many lives are at stake here?!
The editor of Eudora town is working tirelessly. It is the The Trial Of The Century
And can you guess who the judge of the trial would be?
It's Everett J. Corbett. Ben's father.
And he is definitely not here to take Ben's side.
Maxwell Hayes Lewis is defending the whites. And their prosecutor, the plaintiff's lawyer, is a black man.
They are discussing the possibilities of what might happen during the trial which may lead to the case being dismissed or them being at a disadvantage.
Then.. they start hearing the chants. Lots and lots of black people marching, which is a rare sight to be seen.
And most surprising to look at is the people leading the march, and it is Ida Wells-Barnett and Mr W. E. B. Du Bois. And they are white!
History is being made.
The trial finally begins. And with no surprise, the judge is not on their side. He simply screams in the opening statements then takes a break.
During the break Ben receives response from the president (finally). Says he is watching Ben with "four" eyes.
Four eyes, what does that even mean? Is he spying on him?
Before he could even comprehend what that could mean, he is summoned.. by a black man. Marcus. And surprisingly he turns out to be the black an who had helped his mother back then (saves his mother). And ironically; the other white boy who helped (but also blamed his mother for drinking), Henry North; is one of the guys on trial.
The trial resumes.
Jonah gives his opening statement. You could just imagine how the trial would really turn out. Would they even listen to him at all?
Lewis contradicts every word he says, and fabricates a different version of the story of what really happened.
Trial is adjourned, and then resumed again.
Enough to make the people, who are seeking justice (including me), very impatient.
Abraham Cross is brought as a witness, was asked about the search warrant, which Lewis claims the defendants had when they invaded their house.
Court is adjourned, AGAIN.
The mob (white ones) is throwing stone at LJ's house, to scare and threaten him, and to remind him that he is on the "wrong" side of the party.
The trial continues, other witnesses come.
And then, it was Moody's turn.
She does something surprising, she tells the court that yes indeed, there was a search warrant.
She surprised everyone at the court. She practically woke every person on the court who dozed listening to same statement from witnesses over and over again.
"This was every lawyers nightmare: a rogue witness, off on her own.
Moody agrees there was a search warrant, tells them that she thought it was perfectly fine for them to come inside if they have it, BUT, folks came up in horses and started shooting at her home.
"Before she took the stand, Moody and her grandfather had been uncooperative liars, uppity Negroes, troublemakers. Agitators defying a legal search warrant. Now they were innocent citizens who had agreed to a search of their premises and then, without warning, were unfairly and
savagely attacked. For no reason at all."
She had turned the tables.
And this was finally getting exciting!
But not for long.
Of course the biased judge can't let the plaintiffs win this, so the trial is adjourned (YET AGAIN) till Monday.
The anxiety was killing me.
Will the justice be ever served?!
But up until Moody's turn, it didn't look like they would be winning this. That is, up until Moody's turn.
Moody has shaken them a bit, now they have a chance. A hope.
Since they have time till Monday, they get an idea.
Photographs.
Remember the cameraman, Scooter? Who took pictures of almost every lynching ever happened? Well that is the best evidence they can ever get, and they are determined to take it.
They hatch a plan and go to the place where Scooter keeps his photography stuff.
You can say this last part of the story only kept giving me hope at every single point, until I come crashing down with disappointment.
Even this collecting photographs was not a successful plan. Why? Elizabeth ditched them. Even SHE couldn't be trusted (T_T)
Those Klan folks turned up and took back the evidence. That's it, no beating, no lynching. They simply took the evidence back with an indirect message of "All the best now xD".
So what now. Really, WHAT now?!
Now Jonah suggests a last plan to them, he asks Ben to be the one to give the summation of this trial to Jury..
I tried the case. I fought the case. I pled the case. But all along, even before I got here, it was always your case, Ben.
So it happens. Ben gives the summation speech.
He talks of justice and truth. About the rights and the wrongs. About self consciousness and your soul, how it feels when justice is served or when a criminal is let go to walk freely on the streets.
With his speech, he almost might have even moved his father too. Almost.
No it was Lewis's turn. Lewis one on the other hand talks about not facing intolerance from the colored and letting them take away the justice they already have. And his speech might have annoyed Ben's father. Might.
You see what's happening to me now? I'm getting hopeful!
Ben's father seems to have some change in his opinion. Does he see reason? Does he finally realize?
Will justice be served?!
I hate to break it to you, but I came crashing down with disappointment yet again, as the verdict was.. NOT GUILTY.
💔
It hurt me, it really did.
I was not there, I was not oppressed, but I felt the oppression they have been facing, a human doesn't deserve that.
I wanted justice too.
But waking myself up from my trance of reading, when I looked again from a reader's perspective.. I realised. This is no fairy tale story.
This verdict just proved how much of a reality this really is. Out there. When the trial tries to open the eyes of jurors, but verdict is not always on the plaintiff's side. I should not at all be surprised.
But what happens now (I know I have been repeating this quite a lot of times but really..)
What happens now? Wasn't this book Alex's Cross's Trial? And the trial just ended, what is the rest of the story to be about?
Another bullying? Lynching? Death?
Well, one of them did happen. Death. Of Abraham Cross.
Not by lynching, thankfully, but he had not been keeping well. He died peacefully in his sleep.
Moody was expecting this. They all were expecting it.
But he passed away at a fortunate night, when the blacks almost overcame the whites.
The whites were angry at Ben. And his little show of affection with Moody, a bold one for that matter since it was out in the broad daylight, didn't help make the whites feel any better. So just like the previous fight, they decide to attack the Eudora Quarters again that night.
But this time, there was a change. This time, the entire Eudora quarters were waiting for them.
They all stood their ground, they all fought back. Enough for them to need more enforcement.
They clashed and fought, eventually the black overpowered them. Enough to scare and make them run away.
They won.
It maybe just one night, they might return again tomorrow, but they won.
That's something. That's history. That's hope.
Maybe something good came after this trial after all.
And this is the night Abraham passed.
Ben didn't attend the funeral. He knew Abraham's family would understand how much he respected his family.
He bid goodbye to Eudora and left to return Washington.
His meet with president was another disappointment for me, but I'll have to remind myself how close to reality that is.
This "mission" for the president was merely an electoral chess game for him in which Ben was a powerful pawn. He's happy with this trial and verdict, as now he is bound to get votes from BOTH blacks and whites. Because he stayed neutral, sided with none and gave no party the impression that he is being on the other side.
Pathetic.
Ben found it the same way too. And declined his offer of joining with the president to address the press on this trial case.
Ben is done with it. So done with it.
He walks home with a heavy heart, fearing to find his house empty devoid of his wife and daughters voices. With losing the trial, finding out the President's true intentions for this mission, the last thing he wants now is to return to an empty home.
In his walk he remembers one of the last thing Abraham said before he passed.
"You did fine, Ben. You did just fine."
He tried. That was enough.
Feeling hopeful from this recollection he steps inside his house, to hear the sound of his wife and his daughters.
They were waiting for him. He's home.
He promises not to leave them again.. and true to his promise, he never did.
------------------------------------------
Writing this review after an year, many parts are hazy. But the feeling of hurt and longing I felt is something I remember till this date.
The wait and patience for justice.
The anguish when it is not served.
The realization that what matters the most is that you try.
And then the hope. Hope is always there for the future.
I've shed a few tears after reading this book. Spent a couple nights staring at the roof, pondering over the story.
Would have rated this 5, but my 5 rating is for those books I can pick again to re-read at any given day.
And this book, definitely does not come under that category. I cannot bring myself to re-read this anytime.
But I hope to carry with me what this book has taught me.
And that is hope.
Quote from the book:
It's amazing how much pain you can feel and still not be dead.
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