1One more chapter after this... Just one more... Ready to say good-bye
Chapter 70:
Innocent Girl Hung
By Bryan Denton
Many believe the death penalty is good because it is getting our murders out of this world and they will never murder again. But what if a girl is hung because she is not a first class citizen and yes she killed but she killed in self-defense, does she deserve to hang?
On Thursday, June 3 a girl about the age of fifteen was hung for murder of four men. One of those men being her father, Shane Conlon. I know you are saying to yourself right now, good she's dead. But your mind will change. Cleary Conlon was, as I said before, a fifteen year old girl, but she was also a mother, a wife, sister, and a great friend. I had the pleasure of meeting Cleary. She was a tough girl for she grew up on the streets fending for herself and making sure her best friend Baby Doll stayed alive. Cleary was know by everyone that loved her as Fire Ice, or Fire for short.
From as far back as Spot, Fire's brother could remember, their father had beaten Fire. When Spot was eleven and Fire was eight, Spot said he had enough of it and over herd his mother talking to her friend that their mother was going to send Fire off to boarding school so Spot found this the chance to run. But there was a problem in his escape, he meant everything to Fire. Spot tried to leave her and thought he did a pretty good job but Fire had made a run for it refusing to go back and get beaten. She knew she was on her own now. That night she ran away she didn't know what to do but she knew she needed to find a place to sleep for it was dark out,.
The next morning when she woke up she saw a ten year old girl staring down at her. That's were Baby Doll came into play. For the next six years Dolly and Fire were on the run from anyone and everyone. They built a lot of enemies and friends along the way. In this six year span two of Fire's murder's were committed. One to save herself and one to save Dolly. "She would never kill just for the sake of killing. And for her to kill someone that would have to mean there was no way out. If it wasn't for one of her kills or even all four I would probably be lying dead," Dolly told us.
When Fire was twelve she met Slick, which would one day be another murder for her. He convinced her that she loved him and he loved her. But practically every night Slick was out with another girl. Slick had no respect for Fire. At the age of twelve Fire became a mother. She loved her son so much that her and Dolly made a run from the only shelter they had. Fire knew that Slick couldn't be trusted with is violent temper. Slick would beat Fire when she caught him with another girl. Fire and Dolly's first stop was a orphanage that Fire walked in holding her son close to her and told the lady she would be back. "I remember it perfectly. I was sitting there at my desk and I saw this young girl walk in holding a baby. I thought to myself, she can't be any older then twelve. She walked right over to me and still holding her baby she told me she would be back and that he meant the world to her. She told me she would be stopping by every chance she got to check on him. She made me promise her on my own life that I would take care of him. She told me there might be a man who comes looking for him and not to hand him over. He was an abusive man. There was so much love her eyes when she looked at her son. After she left I looked out my window it had to be about three hours later and she was standing on the other side of the fence just looking," we were told by Sister Galway.
Finally at the age of fourteen Fire was reunited with her older brother Spot. She refuse to forgive Spot for leaving her. She refused to forgive any of the newsies. She had become a "bad girl" as some would say. So the Newsies didn't take to her all that well either, except for one. Fire and the Newsies had their problems. They even kicked her out of the Lodging House one night which led her to go back to Slick. At first everything was fine. But as the days went on and Slick thought he had trapped her again, when she brought back Jimmy. The beatings began. "I walked into the room and I saw my little sister laying there on the floor, so lifeless. I couldn't see her breathing at all. No one else would have served that attack. She was cover in blood. I wouldn't have even survived that attack. So I did leave her for I couldn't look anymore," Spot explain for us. But ad Spot had hinted Fire had survived and when Slick returned to his room, he stood no chance for Fire had found his gun and there is her third murder.
Fire made her way back to the Brooklyn Lodging House where she was reunited with her son who she had dropped off earlier once the beating stopped and her Newsies family. Mush, her husband, wasn't her husband at the time but a old time friend who had been hiding his feeling for her forever. And once again Fire experienced pregnancy. Though at this point Fire and mush had turned into enemies both trying to forget what had happen and hide their love. But Fire couldn't hide her pregnancy and Spot forced the two to marry. So now Fire and Mush were trapped in a "loveless" marriage as they thought. There little girl didn't make it. Why you ask? A run in with Fire's Daddy would the reason. When Fire was pregnant Mr. Conlon beat her, not even knowing it was his daughter. All he knew is this girl was a poor third class girl. After some time He realized who she was and forced her back home. He didn't love her he just wanted someone at home to beat and let his friends rape all over gain for power. Fire fought as hard as she could to stay strong reliving the pain of her childhood, remembering all the beatings and rape.
One night it all got out of control when Spot stopped by for a word with his father. But that night fire was beaten in front of Spot and Fire told Spot to leave for she couldn't stand and she stood no chance and she was ready to go. Spot left reluctantly but on his way out he heard a gunshot and went back to the Lodging House and told everyone that Fire was dead. Mush and Fire had just become a loving couple and Dolly wasn't ready to loose her best friend.
"I had it with all the crap she had to go threw and I was gonna try to even the score," Dolly admitted. Dolly headed to the Conlon's house that night with the intent to kill off Mr. Conlon. When Dolly got there she was met by Spot trying to get her to leave. But Spot got distracted by his older brother and when Mr. Conlon came out of his bedroom to see what was going Dolly raised her gun. Dolly was tackled from behind. Then the gun went off. Fire was the one that tackled Dolly. Who shot the gun off, the police were never sure but they assumed it was Fire. Mr. Conlon laid there dead and Fire didn't run she was more concerned with trying to get Dolly to safety, but Fire was feeling relief. Fire was cuffed and dragged to jail on assumption, but mostly because she was now a third class citizen.
Cleary "Fire Ice" Conlon, only fifteen. She was young girl filled with a lot of personality. Her nick name described her temper. Fire because her temper would flare up in heart beat and Ice because she gave this look and her eyes would turn as cold as ice. She was her own person and didn't care what people thought of her. She wad loved by so many. "She was an angle in disguise sent by God to show us to always have hope and believe. What ever you want to do you can do. She made us all realize what was important in life. She gave us all strength to always go on, even after she's gone," Mush said.
On the next page right next to the article was a page dedicated to Fire in pictures.
"That was a good article Denton," Spot told Denton. "Denton where you taking us all?"
"The cemetery. Your gonna love it." Denton smiled at them. "Look." They all turned and look. There in front of Fire's grave were hundred of red roses and even more people laying more roses down. "They are laying red down for Fire. That's what I was told." The group walked over the site where they were greeted with hugs, kisses and apologizes.