I conspired in the plot to burn new york city.
Please, if you testify...
I refuse to continue to be a part of this...
Now's not the time to be stupid.
I will not involve my husband in my mistakes
And you will not become free of this jail.
We've found the plantation to which your mother was sold.
I will personally go to the plantation and shepherd sara's mother to your door.
You saved my life when new york burnt.
-(gunshot) -(groaning)
Now I saved yours. We're square.
Detective maguire.
Shake the man's hand, detective.
(spits)
(celtic music playing)
(fanfare)
-(girl giggling) -go away, you devil!
Go!
Woman: Them brats looking up your skirt.
(woman scoffs)
Newspaper boy: The city celebrates inauguration day.
Paper! Get your paper here.
(door opening)
Detectives, sorry to keep you waiting. Come on in.
(fanfare in the distance)
We have a man dead
In the center street tenement.
An uptown man. Wealthy, visible,
And, wouldn't you know, good.
Alderman stephen bartlett.
He was earnest. He attended to the needs of immigrants and the poor.
He deserves no scandal.
Investigate prudently, discreetly.
All specialties of francis maguire.
Careful, now. Collaboration is the best way to erase the mark
Keating left on the sixth precinct.
You and francis maguire are like-minded opposites,
The best detective pairing.
The city will be headed to union square for inauguration festivities,
A good distraction from any scandalous findings.
Sara. Oh!
Oh!
Aw!
Oh, my darling!
(laughing)
My darling. Oh! Let me get a look at you.
Oh, beautiful. Sara freeman.
Look at you.
-You're a married lady. -Mmm.
Mama, I'd been afraid to let myself consider this moment, and now...
Praise god.
(both laughing)
You've changed our lives.
How did you convince them to free her?
There was no freeing of her to the master.
It was a purchase.
Quite a bundle of bills.
My family is forever in your debt.
Matthew, forever is a terribly limitless void.
Matthew! Matthew!
(exhales)
Sweet matthew.
Thank you for looking after my baby girl.
Oh, look, I have another son!
Yet another blessing.
How about the rest of them? Where y'all hiding your brothers?
No, I have had a change of heart.
I will not testify against kennedy.
Have you gone as mad as our defendant?
After all your effort to stop that traitor from burning new york,
You, on the very day of the trial,
Choose to cripple the government's case?
Once, I myself was termed a cripple,
Then I recognised another way to walk.
Robert cobb kennedy will go free.
Confederate fire will consume this city.
I hope you will blame yourself.
What exactly happened to my boys?
The circumstance surrounding louis and thomas' death were terrible.
When I was, uh...
The draft riots and...
-Things became... -Chaotic.
Louis and thomas were called to work extra hours on the ferry
As the irish labourers abandoned their jobs,
Abandoned normal life in its entirety and tore the city apart.
On
July 13th,
During a crossing to greenpoint,
Two ferries collided.
When the engines caught fire,
Louis and thomas loaded passengers into lifeboats
To safety.
A surviving crewman told me they acted with no regard for their own lives.
(gulps)
He called them heroes.
(sobbing)
(dog barking)
(children laughing)
(background chatter)
This it?
Aye.
Not where alderman bartlett expected to meet his end, I'll wager.
Hey. Copper.
Oh, christ! Of all the...
Jesus.
(hisses)
-Francis, you need me to stand down the kitty cat? -Ah, shut your mouth.
(hissing)
(continues hissing)
I can't stand them. They're witches.
Don't pretend your ma didn't warn you a hundred times.
-(hissing) -hey. Out.
(cat meowing)
(children shouting indistinctly in the distance)
His pocket watch survived.
Whoever lived here is long gone.
Need something to turn it back up.
A woman.
Strangled.
But not with a normal rope.
See how thin it is? Cut right into him.
His coat's still here.
Alderman bartlett, what were you really up to down here in five points?
Corky, the only reason you end up in that position is sex.
-Officer: No, no, miss. -To think theresa considered that
The best ass she could get.
Theresa who?
Theresa tremblay, of course.
And theresa was from outside the city?
Came here all by her pretty self.
From hamilton, ontario.
Who are you again?
Mab o'dwyer, longest tenant in the center street.
Congratulations.
What did you see last night?
The usual dance.
Then something different,
Another fellow come by.
And later there was commotion.
So the bloke, what did he look like?
(scoffs)
(speaking foreign language)
So you didn't actually see anything then?
The charges brought against the defendant, robert cobb kennedy,
Are as follows.
One,
As a captain in the military service of the insurgent states,
Was found acting as a spy
In the city of new york.
Two,
In violation of the law of war, undertook a regular and unlawful warfare
In the city of new york by setting fire thereto.
How does the accused plead?
Not guilty. To all charges.
Are you prepared to proceed with this trial
Under the judgement of these officers?
I am.
And I will defend myself.
(indistinct street chatter)
Good morning.
Oh, my god. You're pregnant.
You didn't know?
Should I have?
The way gossip moves in this town...
Lovely news actually, that a woman could still have a private life.
No, eva, tell me.
Should I have known?
Personally, I've never operated on shoulds.
Judge: This concludes the opening session of this tribunal hearing.
We will reconvene in one-half hour's time.
(gavel banging)
Hey.
Your neighbour, alderman bartlett, what do you know of his wife?
Corky, you always pick the best ones,
But as you can see, we're in the middle of a military tribunal...
Then give me what you have. Quickly.
The alderman's first wife died several years ago. Cholera.
Last winter he married constance, a society doyen.
Sounds like good luck after bad.
Last month, constance went out to paris, not scheduled to return until spring.
That'd be nice.
It gets better.
The alderman has a grown son by his first wife, a benjamin.
Since the wedding there's been uptown whisper
That benny's been putting the wood to his step-mother,
Who is younger than he is.
(ankle chains rattling)
I take it that benjamin is not in paris?
(chuckling)
When constance flitted off,
Benny moved down to his family estate on the bronx river...
(whistling)
Ben fancies himself a pianist.
(chuckling)
Art demands space and beauty, corky.
Thank you.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
(knocking on door)
(sighing) finally, the carriage.
Goodness, they're hiring anyone today, aren't they?
-You uppity little... -Hey.
Um, we're the police, we're from the sixth ward.
Sixth?
Unfortunate. I prefer to travel in a bit more style.
-Listen, we need to... -Excuse me.
You're smudging my chesterfield...
-(sighing) -...With downtown filth.
-We need to talk about your father. -Bad timing.
I'm playing at an inauguration party. If I...
For the love of christ, get out...
-(groaning) oh, please. Don't. -(grunting)
(struggling)
Help!
-Run. -This is kidnapping.
-This man is a lunatic. -In you get.
Downtown filth sometimes shines like copper.
(straining)
There's a good lad.
-Hup. -Lovely day.
(urging horse)
(background chatter)
Robert.
Husband.
So, you returned from the south?
I wish I had been invited to the honeymoon.
-The freeman's... -I have realised in the last two weeks that I may not like
Being in love.
(sighing)
My actions were a mistake
Born of lies, manipulation.
I am the woman you know.
Only now brimming with remorse
And fear.
If you could just...
I have refused to testify against kennedy.
(gasping)
(inhales deeply) oh, thank god.
Like five points?
Seems like a good place to do dirty work, huh?
I have no idea to what you refer.
I am however, unprofessionally,
-Uncharacteristically late for... -Benjamin,
We know your father's recent marriage must have caused a bit of stress.
I see two explanations.
You were jealous pappy got himself a ladybird.
Wanted her for yourself,
Or you had her first.
And she claimed she couldn't choose.
This is constance, right?
-Tell us about your stepmother. -Now hold the horse.
Christ.
I'd be riding her too.
You would, wouldn't you, francis?
While the alderman was seeing to the greater needs of the city,
Were you lying in his bed?
-Screwing his wife? -No!
What in the name of the law and our lord, do you think you are doing?
-This arrest is complete... -Arrest? No.
We merely invited the lad to the precinct.
Artsy types, love the decor.
-Benjamin here... -You clowns.
It's bad enough his father died a tragic death.
-Now you're trying to blame... -Father is dead?
And now you're trying to blame him with the murder?
What happened to my father? Where is he?
What do you mean, dead?
Come on.
-What are you talking about? -Enough!
You couldn't be bothered to dance a step or two with him until we'd finished?
I tried, obviously, but he's a rich asshole...
-Captain. -(clearing throat)
Donovan tells me you specifically promised him discretion.
Leave piano boy be for now.
I'll get someone else who knows how to control themselves to follow him.
Make sure he doesn't run off to paris.
In the meantime, you two,
Solve the damn case.
What I wouldn't give to tear apart that pretentious shit's house.
We should work through this first.
Go by center street, see if theresa showed up.
Captain, could I have a word?
(groaning)
Following up on the keating witnesses.
Have you had any sign of annie reilly at all?
She's the devil's brat, corcoran.
And, five points, I mean, she's half-ghost.
We'll arrest her one day. It's just the way it is.
Until then,
Don't pretend she's important.
Now go on, get outta here.
And so I am simply a citizen of the confederate states of america.
You have no evidence tying me to the so-called burning of new york.
Now, I challenge anyone involved with these proceedings
To stand and state otherwise.
You have no case. No evidence.
I'm nothing but an innocent man.
Thank you.
You may resume your station at the defence table.
-(background chatter) -(chicken clucking)
(rat squeaking)
Hey.
Piano wire.
Where'd you kids come across this?
You heard him.
-Where did you get that toy? -(groaning)
It wasn't nobody's!
I found it in the empty apartment up top there.
(fireworks bursting)
It's all right.
Up there?
Theresa's apartment.
And benny plays the piano.
Maguire: There's no sign that benny boy's been here.
You find anything?
Just this letter.
It's dated two months ago.
From theresa's mother.
"dearest daughter, your father and I worry so about you.
"he's convinced the city of new york is devoid of god, full of repulsive immigrants,
"papists and other cretins.
"it's hard here, but I've managed to put aside these $5 to help you.
"it pains us not to have word. Please write."
Protestant orange bastards.
-Don't mind if I do. -No.
Not on my case.
Our case.
(background chatter)
-(fireworks bursting) -(screams)
(both laughing)
A bit of noise and narrow streets are the least jarring parts of five points.
(chicken clucking)
Smaller sky stunned us most.
Some nights you won't be able to locate the north star.
Sara: But you don't need it any more.
Move in any direction, you're still free.
Mama, our home.
Which room?
All of them.
Roof to foundation.
You teasin'.
Sara: We earn money and we pay for the place we choose.
Same as the white man that drove us.
(horse neighing)
-Sybil! -Get out!
-There are laws... -Laws! Laws!
Well, here is my law. Find someplace else to sleep.
And don't be looking for your breakfast here.
(music playing on piano)
(background chatter)
Straight up and a room.
Not a chance.
You'll spot me, won't you?
(sighs)
This look like a bank to you, huh?
Eva.
Sounds like sybil is driving the o'brien wagon again, huh?
Christ.
Here it is. I was kicked out when I was already outside.
I got what you see and that's the sum.
Well,
You help keep order tonight and you'll get a room.
If copperheads show up to cause trouble,
You'll convince them otherwise or escort them out,
And sleep in a free bed when everyone else is in theirs, paying.
You and my wife must have been separated at birth.
You've left me with no case.
I'm about to make a closing statement,
And I have no closing statement.
Recite every detail.
Cataloguing all possible implications will reveal kennedy's guilt.
You misunderstand the mechanics of law.
Please trust me, I want nothing more than to proclaim kennedy guilty.
Before my statement disintegrates into an embarrassment,
I'm begging you to satisfy that desire.
At any moment before I conclude, we may add a witness.
Signal to the clerk.
Your testimony may be brief,
But it must happen.
As you can see, the defendant, one robert cobb kennedy,
Is a southern sympathiser,
As evidenced by his alliances and his history as a combatant.
Rail and hotel records show that
Not only was kennedy in new york city
On the day of the arson at barnum's museum and the six hotels,
He was also registered at lovejoy's,
One of the burned.
Well, there are no, uh, witnesses available.
(chuckling)
Well, uh... Well, we have... Well...
Uh, despite registering at lovejoy's,
The defendant disappeared after the fire.
There is no explanation for this abrupt departure.
Of course, uh, other individuals were involved.
However, it is clear that the, uh...
(chuckling)
(stuttering) it is clear that the, uh...
I would like to announce a new witness.
I call mr morehouse to the stand.
Mr norbert morehouse.
(indistinct murmuring)
Benny needs to explain why his dad was killed with piano wire.
Knock again.
And we can't even get the butler.
-Here, I got this. -Wait.
Something's not right.
Our benny boy is in there, I know he is.
Let's not spook him till we get him cuffed, and then...
Maguire: Oh, trying to drink your guilt away, there, benny boy?
(mixed piano keys sounding)
Ah! (exclaims in foreign language)
What's this?
A suicide note.
(piano ringing)
"when you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
"speak of me as I am, nothing extenuate,
"nor set down aught in malice: Then must you speak
"of one that loved not wisely, but too well."
What the hell does that mean?
After threatening me during our meeting at lovejoy's hotel,
I had no choice but to deliver the money.
Which in turn, delivered to the doorstep of the traitors, greek fire.
That is the extent of my involvement and of my witness.
I can however, confirm with absolute certainty,
That the arson of new york city was organised
And primarily executed by that man.
Robert cobb kennedy.
-Objection. -Quiet.
Any further questions?
Lawyer: Not at the present time.
Then we will allow for a brief recess.
(gavel bangs)
(sighs)
Welcome back to new york.
Officer: All right, get up.
-And thank you. -Officer: Come on.
Norbert: To a man of contracts, a deal is a deal.
Officer: Let's go.
Kennedy: Elizabeth...
Norbert: And you're a fool if you thought I would forego saving elizabeth
To stay in atlanta.
That city is hell with mint juleps.
Remember those words...
Because you won't be getting anything beyond our agreement.
Still, it is immensely satisfying
To hear you admit your mistake in supporting kennedy.
The only mistake I made was getting caught...
Gentlemen...
Might I suggest that we embrace this opportunity for a fresh start.
A new beginning for us all.
Absolutely.
I'd like to see the two of you behave like father and son just this once.
In memory of your mother.
(laughing)
Needs sugar.
Sugar in your corn dodger?
You have become a yankee.
If your collards are as salty as I remember,
We will be clinging to this sweet yankee corn bread for dear life.
(both laughing)
Mama...
Here in the north, I have become the woman I wanna be.
That's as clear as well water.
I'm proud to be your mother.
Mama, you were almost a grandmother.
Two months ago, I lost a child.
I know my loss is common.
But with you here, I want so badly for my womb to be able to carry.
I lost four babies before their birth.
Two before louis came out alive.
Many of us begin motherhood with miscarriage.
Pregnancy is a feat, darling.
Children are a blessing, but also a part of you that's gone forever.
The things I never dreamed would happen between my first baby and today.
There's all sorts of unexpected ahead of you.
I'm gonna see if this oven's hot.
"I took by the throat the circumcised dog. And smote him thus."
Signed, "benjamin bartlett."
Sounds more like shakespeare.
Othello's suicide speech, in fact.
A fellow named hello gives a goodbye speech,
He may finally be getting his sense of humour.
A good detective or captain educates himself in all culture,
So he may be fluent in any crime.
Edwin booth is scheduled to play the title role in oth-hello
At the winter garden next month. I'll get you a ticket.
So benjamin kills himself and admits to murdering his father.
We know that because this othello killed his?
No, the moor killed his wife, he believed her unfaithful
Although she just misplaced a handkerchief.
Benjamin seemed genuinely surprised to learn of his father's death.
Don't be naive.
Every guilty man's most rehearsed expression is disbelief.
You do cling to cases
Like a swooning debutante to her folding fan and nearly as emotional.
(all laughing)
I heard about the scene at the bartlett mansion.
In the spectrum of humanity,
Let's move toward urban man and away from pillaging viking, shall we?
But what is life if we do not have improvements
To which to aspire to.
To approaching grace.
Slainte.
(glasses clinking)
(sighing) spring certainly has inspired five points.
I carry another child?
Yes.
Kevin has left our home.
I heard such, but that doesn't mean...
-Has he taken up at the whorehouse? -Ellen.
It is not my position to sort this out.
I think you know what you need to do.
Go find him.
Find a way to talk to him.
I would very much like to commend the detectives of the sixth precinct,
For their commitment to order, especially on this,
A national day of celebration.
From tragic suicide and murder, we move forward
To a better and more ordered community.
Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with the bartlett family and friends.
Anything else, gentlemen?
Reporter: Do you have any motive why benjamin bartlett...
It's good to close a case with you again.
We solved the case with some poetry?
Makes the bosses happy.
What about the stuff you can touch, the evidence?
You know what touches me? A stiff drink.
Eva's got me roughin' copperheads for a room tonight.
Come around.
Save me from some inauguration idiots, will you?
He has a wife and a mistress unaccounted for,
A mansion with no staff of any kind,
And a murderer who supposedly destroys his most prized possession
To build his murder weapon.
This case isn't done.
I asked sullivan about annie, he didn't lie.
Kevin, some things, this city just swallows.
Come to eva's.
Toast to the beginning. Might do you some good.
(knocking on door)
Ellen: Francis?
Ellen, why you here?
"he said kennedy shall be hung by the neck until he be dead.
"at such time and place as the commanding general may direct."
Per our agreement, I did not testify against you.
As you claim to be a man of honour,
I entrust that you will keep your end of the bargain.
Knowledge of elizabeth's involvement will end with your death.
(chuckles)
Oh, robert.
Your cleverness has always lacked a certain vision.
Hasn't it?
Such leaps in logic.
How could I possibly accuse your wife
When I myself am innocent?
Do you think your choices will not haunt you?
This silence...
...Makes me mad.
This silence...
It isn't silence.
It fills me.
Christ, I've missed you.
I can't! Francis...
I can't... We can't!
(breathing heavily)
-We shouldn't make the same mistakes. -Mistakes?
And you're here because you wanna say to my face, I'm a mistake?
You thought of me because I'm a glaring, overwhelming mistake?
I need life back.
Francis, real life.
Don't treat me like a fool who invented a world.
-What we had... -I'm talking about return to real living,
Not sitting at home feeling something has crawled into my heart.
-Ellen... -I can't take a full breath!
You wonder why you feel half alive.
You spend your days pining after a man who will never forgive you.
A man who despises you to his very core.
You wanna play the role of doting wife? Go right ahead.
But don't you dare insult me by acting like what we had wasn't good.
It will be forever a part of you.
Don't disrespect our child like that.
Our child would be six months old now.
Do you count his birthdays, not just the months, but the mornings?
Do you wake up thinking of his wee hand so fiercely,
That you look down expecting to be holding the soft thing, all love and need.
Eyes, your green.
Hair, me brown.
If you would have chosen me...
I never would have left you.
Remember that.
In the middle of the night,
As you lie in bed alone.
(sobbing)
"dearest daughter, your father and I worry so about you.
"he's convinced the city of new york is devoid of god.
"things are hard here, but I've managed to put aside these $5 to help you.
"it pains us not to have word. Please write."
"your loving mother."
(fireworks)
# behold the chief who now commands
# once more to serve his country stands... #
Donovan!
-Corky, I need to talk to you. -Not now.
-Just for a moment. -I can't.
Hey, donovan, about the bartlett case...
When I was on the force I used to love cases like the bartlett's.
Wrap them up,
Get down to the pub for a wee one on the way home.
But something tells me you are not as pleased.
Solution was too easy.
Sometimes crimes are just that easy,
Turning on base human nature and nothing more.
Sometimes you have to learn to accept the animal inside of us.
Hmm. Respect their opportunity
To move on towards the more evolved.
-(fireworks) -(people singing)
I'm certain the alderman's farm girl knows
Exactly what happened in that room.
And if theresa tremblay doesn't know why it happened, I can find out.
Okay, now I understand.
I understand. You see the full story.
Clean might be comforting,
But you really think, in solving these cases,
It explains why happenstance seizes hold of our lives.
You, kevin corcoran, think the full story helps us solve ourselves.
And while I rarely share your precise incentive,
I'm always fascinated by your dedication.
Thank you, sir. Mmm.
Rarely imbibe,
But this is the rarest of days.
(people rejoicing)
To you.
Here. Safe.
To this fine home.
And to lincoln, for what he has done and what he will do.
And when the president first took office, I realised
Real pride, national belonging could rise in my chest.
I felt connected to this country as to a grand being.
Unfortunately, that grand being was more comfortable
With you as a slave.
And you still aren't allowed to elect your fair hero.
Well, lincoln is a champion of education, land for the poor,
And I believe in the end,
True emancipation. We will have the right to vote.
Well, I don't trust a white man's good intentions
Until they've gone so far, he can't undo them.
(fireworks)
(hooting)
Hattie: Are we certain that they're celebrating?
Sara: With the irish, sometimes celebration and riot
Are notes of the same song.
Morehouse: "with high hope for the future,
"no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
"on the occasion corresponding to this four years ago,
"all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war.
"insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it
"without war.
"seeking to dissolve the union.
"neither party expected for the war,
"the magnitude, or the duration,
"which it has already attained.
"each looked for an easier triumph,
"and a result less fundamental and less astounding."
And so he says,
"with charity for all, with firmness in the right..."
I need to use your telegraph machine to ontario. Police business.
Happy inauguration to you, too, corky.
This system's been overwhelmed but now the address has come through,
Everyone seems to be fete-ing our leader. Have a go.
This will be sent to the family of theresa tremblay.
Where was I?
"let us strive on to finish the work we are in,
"to bind up the nation's wounds,
"to care for him who shall have borne the battle,
"and for his widow and for his orphan...
"to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace."
To peace.
-Peace. -Peace.
Norbert: And to lincoln.
All: To lincoln.
(telegraph machine clacking)