Hell to Pay (1959/1961)

“With the Jews the women remain always a little better; and this is a people that also unfolds slightly on further acquaintance and also disappoints; for while we are discovering new virtue in them, we are finding that much of their assumed worth is made out of air.” — Carl Curlee, Hell to Pay

Hell To Pay is an abandoned Lafferty novel that Lafferty started at some point but didn’t record, then picked up again in 1959 and 1961. Apparently, it was to be a retelling of the Faust legend. What makes it interesting, in terms of early Lafferty, is the Jewish elements and Lafferty's use of the name Baruch M. Ball. As I’ve written about before, the President in Three Armageddons that corresponds to when the Holocaust took place is Bernard Mannes Baruch. One cannot prove that Baruch M. Ball is a variant of Baruch M. Ball, but I think it is likely. Two chapters survive. Notes show that the novel was to have Willy Wagoner as a reporter and Carl Curlee as an investigator. The primary antagonist would be Baruch M. Ball (associated with the name "Ba'al"), a millionaire described as "the devil." But here is the interesting twist. Further notes indicate that Prentice Pilkington is the "real devil" and the actual murderer, while politician Hugh Fast and Baruch Ball were to be suspects and one assumes red herrings. This looks to me to be an example of what I have called Lafferty’s early virtuous antisemitism that ran alongside his skepticism of the Holocaust before he encountered Holocaust denial materials in the 1970s. Hell to Pay was planned to be approximately 20 chapters and 60,000 words.

What survives tells us that Willy Wagoner is a reporter who relies on an anonymous "Source" that leaves him accurate tips in his pockets. He gets a note on brown paper that tells him of a secret preliminary interview at the home of Hugh Fast between Fast and Baruch M. Ball. The note suggests that Ball will make a life-changing proposition to Fast and advises Willy to plant a recording device in the "Cup Room" of the Fast estate. So, Willy begins researching Ball, and he finds that Ball is a wealthy newcomer to the state with over $86,000 in a checking account, a walk-in vault, and extensive property holdings. Yet Ball’s business background remains a mystery. Willy also investigates the Fast household and learns from a waitress named Katie Collier that Fast is an empty politician born into wealth. Willy contacts a character named Lucy Lucastro, a servant at the Fast home known as Lucy the Lark. She agrees to meet him to discuss a favor. Chapter One ends.

In Chapter Two, Willy meets Carl Curlee, and they discuss the city's social and political dynamics. Curlee says that Ball has been heavily backing Colen Callagy, Hugh Fast’s brother-in-law, for governor. They find Lucy at a movie theater, where she describes Baruch Ball as "snakeish" with hands like ice. Lucy says that Ball and Fast have scheduled a meeting for the following night, and she agrees to help Willy and Carl record the meeting, telling them how to enter the house and which room to bug. This material then concludes with Curlee back in his room, sketching portraits of the key players, Fast, his wife Margaret, Ball, Pilkington, and Lucy, to analyze their characters and potential roles in the unfolding situation. And the rest is lost.