Damned To Eternity – Adam Pitluk

His mother asked in passing where he’d been since he’d punched out. Jimmy said he’d grabbed a bite to eat with a coworker and that he was going over to Dan’s. No one pressed the issue. As he turned to leave, Mike sat watching TV. He didn’t acknowledge his brother when Jim walked into the living room, choosing instead to remain in a catatonic-like trance. Jim plopped down beside him for a minute and watched the same program.

Alfwas on, and it didn’t take much to elicit a laugh from Jimmy. He loved that ridiculous creature—always running around the Tanner house, trying to eat the family cat. Mike didn’t so much as crack a smile. “See ya later, Mikey,” Jimmy said as he rose to leave. “Bye,” Mike replied. He didn’t turn his head. Jimmy had been vague on the evening’s activities with his parents, but as soon as he got to Dan’s house and in the company of the rowdy guests, he immediately started bragging about his standoff with the Quincy Police Department.

The fuzz, he said, questioned him about some fires. Logically, some of the people asked if he was the culprit. “I might know a thing or two about em,” Jimmy replied. And out came the grin. He had their undivided attention, which made him feel omnipotent. They marveled at his bravery and attitude, and how he had managed to stave off a monster like Neal Baker. All night long, people came up to hear from the braggart what they’d just heard from friends, and each and every time, Jimmy indulged them with a tale of pyrotechnics like out of a Paramount movie set.

“Aren’t you scared about getting caught?” one partygoer asked him with childlike inquisitiveness. “I mean, if they get you, you’ll go to prison!” “Yeah, I suppose I will,” the brazen teenager replied. “The thing is, they tried to pop me once and I got away with it. I can outsmart cops.” By mid-March, Detective Neal Baker had his warrant.

The courts moved quickly on his request because the town was putting pressure on the author- ities to get an arrest. There hadn’t been a fire since Q Car Care Center but Quincy residents didn’t want to wait around for another fire before jailing the perpetrator. Neal brought his brother on for the arrest.

DURING THE SUMMER OF 1993, rain fell day after day across the Midwest. Levees up and down the Mississippi River from Minnesota to Missouri gave way, flooding farmlands and towns. But one small town—West Quincy, Missouri—seemed about to escape nature’s wrath: The levee that protected the town still held. For several days in July, James Scott, a troubled twenty-four-year-old native of Quincy, Illinois, right across the river from West Quincy’s massive relief effort, hefted sandbag after sandbag alongside other volunteers to shore up the levee—and perhaps in the process gain back some measure of redemption from his fellow resi- dents.

But on the afternoon of July 16, while walking along a section of the dam, Scott noticed water pooling. Later, after attempting to enlist aid, Scott inspected the section again, saw that the water was still pooling, threw a few sandbags on the puddle, and left. At around 8 o’clock that night, the levee gave way. Over 14,000 acres of farmland flooded, and the bridge that connected Illinois and Missouri was almost entirely submerged.

Some thought it a miracle that no one was injured, let alone killed. The story should have ended there, but it didn’t. The state of Missouri charged Scott with the levee break, contending that he had intentionally “caused a catastrophe.” Because Scott was charged under this obscure law-put on the books in 1979, yet never previously used—farmers who would otherwise not have collected a dime on their insurance now could, because the levee breach was deemed an act of sabotage.

(CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP) I- DAMNED to ETERNITY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 http://archive.org/details/damnedtoeternityOOadam DAMNED to ETERNITY The Story of the Man Who They Said Caused the Flood Adam Pitluk V4 Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters. Copyright © 2007 by Adam Pitluk All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Production Services by Lesley Rock for Outbox Creative Partners Set in 1 1 point Adobe Garamond by Outbox Creative Partners Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

First Da Capo Press edition 2007 ISBN-10 0-306-81527-3 ISBN-13 978-0-306-81527-0 Published by Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group www.dacapopress.com Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corpo- rations, institutions, and other organizations.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• Title: –
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• ISBN: 9780306815270, 0306815273
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