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'I don’t know any man who’d get himself killed for a hundred and fifty dollars.’ Kidd paused. ‘Especially a man with a wife and young ones . . .’

Scallen and Kidd are in Room 207, and the time is approaching for them to make their way to the train station. Scallen has just been made aware that a posse is going to try and free Kidd and he must now realize the extreme peril he is in. With this quote, Kidd implies a certain view of what is right and what is wrong. Though Scallen claims to be doing the right thing by bringing Kidd to justice, Kidd implies that it is actually the wrong thing because it risks leaving his children fatherless and his wife a widow. Yet this view of what is right is too simplistic and therefore deceptive. Scallen understands there are also risks, to his reputation and his career, of not doing his duty. Moreover, Scallen sees a bigger picture in which the law must be upheld to create a sense of trust among the people under his jurisdiction, which in effect brings about stability in society. This quote reveals that there may be a right and a wrong, but the line between them is sometimes slight and difficult to discern.

'Never mind all the talk.’ Moons kept the pistol on Kidd. ‘I would’ve found him sooner or later. This way everybody gets saved a long train ride.’

‘You pull that trigger,’ Scallen said, ‘and you’ll hang for murder.’

At this moment in the story, Bob Moons has forced Timpey to get him into Room 207 so he can avenge his brother’s death by killing Jim Kidd. Moons is absolutely convinced of the righteousness of his cause. His brother Dick has been murdered, and one of the men responsible for the heist that caused it is Jim Kidd. This quote demonstrates the way that a person’s actions can seem righteous on the one hand, but on the other will only result in further harm. Not only is Kidd probably not the person who killed Dick Moons, but Moons’ actions threaten Scallen and Timpey, both innocent, and even his own life.

Previous section The Dangers of Vigilante Justice

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