“This guy got his money stolen and there weren’t any lights there. It was an old joint, see, with only an electric bulb hanging out in the hall. He saw the guy go out of his room but only saw the back of his head. The cops came and asked for a description. He said, How the hell can I describe him, it was dark, I only saw the back of his head.
“Well, you know how a lineup works, it’s always the guy in the middle that’s guilty.
“So the cops got hold of some guy, threw him in the lineup, and told the guy that’d been robbed to make a positive on him.
“He said, How can I do that?
“They said, Just do it, we know it’s him.
“So he went downtown and sat in there and the cops said, Just take our word for it.
“Well, you know how it is, all those lights shining on the suspects, you can see them but they can’t see you. I was younger then and everyone older looked old to me, and this guy they had up there was about maybe forty, but just some poor old guy to me, he didn’t look like much.
“Well? the cops said, and the guy who was to finger him says, No, I can’t be sure, I don’t know.
“That’s him. Do it.
“No, he still wasn’t going along with it, but they kept working on him and finally he says, Well, maybe it is.
“Do it, one of the cops says.
“When? the guy says.
“Now, this cop says.
“The man in the middle, the guy says.
“Louder, the cop says.
“So he says it again.
“And this poor old guy up there, he says, Mister you’ve got it wrong, I never robbed you, you’re making a mistake.
“So the guy turns to the cops and says, I told you, what do I say now?
“Just repeat it.
“Well, he did, and the guy was made and sent to court and the judge gave him up to five and sent him to Quentin.
“Now it didn’t seem right to me, but he was some guy they wanted to get so they got him. You know how it is, if they want you, they’ll get you.
“Anyway, now it was my luck to be the one that had to drive him out to Quentin, me, and a cop named O’Brian. Now O’Brian was a square cop, he was on the straight, see, and I put it to him, I told him about it, that it didn’t seem right to me.
“O’Brian listened to me and said, Well, the judge said he was guilty, didn’t he?
“O’Brian wouldn’t commit himself, see, but I still didn’t think it was right and I said so.
“O’Brian didn’t say anything, and we just took him out there, Knudson, I think his name was, and delivered him.
“Well, we’re handing him over and while we’re doing it O’Brian says to the guard, How’s Hamilton doing? How’s he been?
“Fine, the guard says.
“Can I talk to him? O’Brian says.
“Sure, Bill, the guard says. Whatever you want.
“That was his name, see, Bill, Bill O’Brian.
“So they called upstairs and had this Hamilton guy come down and O’Brian starts in talking with him, how’s this, how’s that, and so on. Well, this guy is in for rape, he’s already done ten of it, and, Yes, everything’s still the same, I’m still innocent, but it doesn’t look like it’s gonna do me any good. He’s very polite about it, very gentlemanly, seems like a hell of a nice guy, and when we leave I tell O’Brian that, and O’Brian says, I know. Then he says, Listen, do you want to go downtown?
“Do I want to go downtown?
“I say, I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, Bill, but that guy doesn’t seem very guilty to me.
“I know, O’Brian says, and I’m going to get him out.
“So we go downtown and O’Brian pulls this guy’s files and reads them over. I read along with him and when we’re done I say, Bill, he sure seems all right to me.
“He does, O’Brian says, and he gets up and goes and calls a judge.
“Now this judge listens and says, What the hell, O’Brian, you’re always sticking out for some guy who’s not guilty.
“Well, read his record, O’Brian says, and tell me then.
“And that’s what happened, he ordered the records over, read them, and freed the guy.”