Customer Reviews

A cool million: The dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin

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Lemuel, or Lem is the hero of the story but he had bad luck all the way. First, he learned that their house will be foreclosed if they didn't have money to pay the mortgage. Then, he went to New York to make a fortune with a loan from Mr. Whipple by signing away his cow as collateral. But all his money was stolen by slimy Mape who pretended to be rich. Mape left behind a diamond ring that Glazer (pawnbroker & mobster) bought for around $30. However, the cops thought Lem was the thief & put him in jail. His "sweetheart", Betty was an orphan and though she was raped by Bill Baxter, she couldn't remember a thing. However, Tom Baxter also took advantage of her while she was unconscious. Then, she was captured by white slavers & sold to Wu Fong, owner of a brothel. It almost made me cry. In jail, they pulled out all of Lem's teeth & gave him a false set that didn't fit & always fell off. The cops finally caught the real culprit, Mr. Mape, but Lem was in a sorry state when he was freed. His home had been foreclosed and his mom had disappeared. He lost his right eye rescuing an old man & his daughter but the man thought he was responsible for the run-away horses & scolded him. He was given a glass eye & offered a job for $30 a week by Mr. Hainey who told him to go to a jewelry store, pretend to lose his glass eye, offer a reward & leave. He did that at several stores. He was captured by Wu Fong's henchmen & stuck in the brothel. He almost became a male prostitute, but his false teeth & eye fell out. The client became disgusted & left. Wu Fong had him beaten & thrown out of the street. He found out that there was a girl at the brother, not knowing that it was Betty. He told the cop about Wu Fong but the bad cop not only didn't help but threw Lem in jail. Poor Lem met Betty again when she solicited him in the streets. Both of them were hungry & neither had any money. They met Mr. Whipple again & started for Califormia to dig gold with Raven, an American Indian. In the last scene, Lem got recruited by Mr. Whipple's Revolutionary party to give a speech but was shot dead before he could do so. Lem became a "matyr" of the cause. He was just "a boy out to make a fortune" but "jail was his first reward, poverty his second, violence his third & death his last reward". I pity Lem & wonder if anyone can learn something from what happened to him.