ASTUDY IN THE TYRANNY OF COLOR - Chapter One - After a little over two hours

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

A courtroom narrative opens in Chapter One with attorney John Ransom nearing the end of his summation in Paul Mendoza’s trial. Rick Bennett watches the proceedings, unsettled by how decisions seem to have formed before evidence and summations conclude. The defense attorney’s speech turns to an old Venetian parable about a baker condemned to death, framed as a warning repeated in murder trials. Underneath the rhetoric, characters discuss how prejudice and conditioned distrust shut down communication.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages212

Reading Time5 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Chapter One

Mendoza’s defense attorney begins and concludes his summation

Rick Bennett’s internal perspective during deliberations

Paul Mendoza’s description and jury attention

John Ransom’s “Remember the baker” parable

PP202 卫 DZABY CLAYTONMATTHEWS Bu HGeSHORRIBLY REALISyc... ASTUDY IN THE TYRANNY OF COLOR Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2023 with funding fromKahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/mendozafile0000clay Rick hurried after McWilliams.He caught up with himjust outside the office. "Lieutenant ...you said people were jumpy aboutCarlos.Why?Why are they jumpy?” McWilliams stared.“Aren't you from Texas,sonny?”"Yes.Of course I am." "Didn't they learn you down there about niggers andMexicans,sonny?” “What do you mean?” “Didn't they teach you they're different?See that?” The man pointed across the room to Senora Mendozawho still sat on the bench,her features hidden by theshawl.Despite himself,Rick felt a start of recognition.Inthis place,viewed from this perspective,she did appearalien.And had not that been his feeling about her from thefirst moment in thathouse in the Ravine? "You see?You feel it,"said McWilliams.“But I don't...” "You see,Bennett,people are conditioned from birth bysociety,by convention,by education,most of all by peopleof their own race and religion and color to distrust,tosuspect,people different from themselves.This distrust cutsoff all communication.I don't mean language.They cantalk the same language but without communication,without understanding.Remember the bogieman theytaught you about when you were little?”The man's thicklips twisted sardonically;his tone was mocking.“”Thebogieman'll get you if you don't watch out'.Some peoplenever outgrow their bogieman.Anyone different fromthem,is a bogieman.Something to fear and hate." Few of us in this coddled,stainless steel societyfind time anymore for gandy dancing,for instance.(He's a guy who hammers spikes in railroad ties.)It'sa terrible way to make a living,but it's fine to have inyour past if you're going to write adventure fiction asClayton Matthews does. Matthews has been around.Part of what makes aninteresting,convincing writer is his past.Someacquire such a ‘past'in the public library.But ifyou've been there in the flesh,as Matt has,you canmake it sound just a little sharper,more exciting.He'sbeen a carnival barker,wild animal trainer,surveyor,truck driver and even a hobo...and maybe a fewthings he's not mentioning Starting in Waurika,Oklahoma,an undiscoverednumber of years ago,he now lives in Los Angeles.He's married,and the father of some eighty books,innumerable articles and a constant flow of shortstories.It's certain he won't have to return to gandydancing. SM3HLIVW NOL人V70人8NOILIO3343IW3dd 773MOd V Copyright ◎1970 by Clayton MatthewsPublished by POWELL PUBLICATIONS,INC.18554 Sherman Way,Reseda,California 91334Allrights reserved.All persons and events portrayedin this book are ficticious.Any resemblance to personsliving or dead,or to actual events,is purely coincidental.Printed and bound in the U.S.A. CHAPTER ONE After a little over two hours,Mendoza's defenseattorney was nearing the end of his summation.There were no accurate means of forecasting thelength of the lawyer's speech,but there was acertain feeling in the air.Perhaps it was thecumulative effect of the long trial which hadskipped from climactic hillock to climactic hillock,each peak towering ever higher until everyonepresent expected a veritable whopper of a climax. At any rate,those of the jury still interested,still undecided as to their verdict,were attentive.The others,those who had arrived at a verdicthours,even days,ago,merely tightened the rein ontheir impatience until they could escape to the juryroom,vote their convictions and go their separateways. Rick Bennett was one of those who settled hisattention on the defense attorney,not because thelawyer's eloquence might bear on his verdict,butsimply because the man interested him. Rick,with the judge's stern admonition to keepa clear and unprejudiced mind until all theevidence was in still vivid in his brain,was wellaware that he had arrived at a verdict;had,in allprobabilit

FAQs

What happens near the beginning of Chapter One in Paul Mendoza’s trial?

John Ransom, Mendoza’s defense attorney, is nearing the end of his summation, while the jury grows increasingly attentive or impatient depending on when they arrived.

Why is Rick Bennett uncomfortable during the summations?

Rick has likely formed his verdict already and recognizes he may have decided before the trial is many days old, making him uneasy.

What parable does the defense attorney use during his summation?

Ransom tells of a baker condemned in Venice centuries ago, later found innocent, and explains how a “Remember the baker!” warning is repeated in murder trials.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen