I got constituents with a LeGiTiMaTe GrIpE

Racetrack and another newsie followed Jack. Since that newsie was known to the Spider, he went with Jack into the courtyard of the Spider, but Racetrack was standing outside at the gate. So the other newsie, who was known to the Spider, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Racetrack in. The woman said to Racetrack, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." Now the scabs and the bulls had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Racetrack also was standing with them and warming himself.

Then the Spider questioned Jack about his newsies and about his teaching. Jack answered, "I have spoken openly to the people; I have always taught in lodging-houses and in the theater, where all the Newsies come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said." When he had said this, one of the bulls standing nearby struck Jack on the face, saying, "Is that how you answer the Spider?" Jack answered, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?"

Now Racetrack was standing and warming himself. They asked him, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." One of the employees of the Spider, a relative of the man whose ear Racetrack had cut off, asked, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Again Racetrack denied it, and at that moment the bell rang.

Then they took Jack from Snyder to Roosevelt’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to Strike. So Roosevelt went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered, "If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you." Roosevelt said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." The Newsies replied, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death." (This was to fulfill what Jack had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

Then Roosevelt entered the headquarters again, summoned Jack, and asked him, "Are you the King of New York?" Jack answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" Roosevelt replied, "I am not a Newsie, am I? Your own nation and the Spider have handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jack answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Newsies. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." Roosevelt asked him, "So you are a king?" Jack answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Roosevelt asked him, "What is truth?"

After he had said this, he went out to the Newsies again and told them, "I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Strike. Do you want me to release for you the King of New York?" They shouted in reply, "Not this man, but Weisel!" Now Weisel was a bandit.

Then Roosevelt took Jack and had him flogged. And the bulls wove a crown of papes and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple cap. They kept coming up to him, saying, "Hail, King of New York!" and striking him on the face. Roosevelt went out again and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him." So Jack came out, wearing the crown of papes and the purple cap. Roosevelt said to them, "Here is the man!" When the Spider and the scabs saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Roosevelt said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him." The Newsies answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of Manhattan."

Now when Roosevelt heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jack, "Where are you from?" But Jack gave him no answer. Roosevelt therefore said to him, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" Jack answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." From then on Roosevelt tried to release him, but the Newsies cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of the Papes. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the Papes."

When Roosevelt heard these words, he brought Jack outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Newsie Square. Now it was the day of Organizing for the Strike; and it was about noon. He said to the Newsies, "Here is your King!" They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Roosevelt asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The Newsies answered, "We have no king but the Papes." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jack; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jack between them. Roosevelt also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jack of Kelly, the King of New York." Many of the Newsies read this inscription, because the place where Jack was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the Spider said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of New York,' but, 'This man said, I am King of New York.'" Roosevelt answered, "What I have written I have written." When the bulls had crucified Jack, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each bull. They also took his vest; now the vest was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says,

"They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots."

And that is what the bulls did.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jack were Medda, Sarah, and Katherine. When Jack saw Medda and Davey standing beside her, he said to Medda, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to Davey, "Here is your mother." And from that hour Davey took her into his own home.

After this, when Jack knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of seltzer was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the seltzer on a rolled up pape and held it to his mouth. When Jack had received the seltzer, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Since it was the day of Organizing, the Newsies did not want the bodies left on the cross during the strike, especially because that strike was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Roosevelt to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the bulls came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jack and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the bulls pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and curdled coffee came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."