[man clears throat]
♪ Some people says the man's made out of mud ♪
♪ Man is made out of flesh and blood ♪
♪ Flesh and blood and skin and bone ♪
♪ A mind that's weak and a back that's strong ♪
♪ You load sixteen tons so now what do you get ♪
Alright, open up, son.
I can't do it by myself.
Come on, no half steppin', ladies.
Push it up.
[man coughing]
♪ I was born one morning.. ♪
Six feet, girls.
First shift burrowed under the river five feet.
That means that we go six.
That's a nice shiny new helmet there, Nate.
Couldn't get one with a little flashlight?
Wife wouldn't let me back down in the hole without a hard hat.
At least your old lady cares if you get cracked in the dome.
Oh, my sister treating you that bad these days?
What do you mean these days?
Tell you what Alice cooked up last night
but I don't want to rub it in.
You're lucky you got a woman like that.
Woman who don't give a man no quarter, you mean.
[all laughing]
[coughing]
Cave-in or blowout don't get your father-in-law
that cough will.
He ought to retire.
Let someone else carry the weight of foreman.
- That'll be you, Donny. - You think?
Like I said, my wife's counting on you to bring all of us
up out of here.
All them stories you tell..
...it'd be nice to finally meet old Alice.
Not in this here world.
Down here, every Joe's blood runs brown, same as the muck.
But not up there.
[coughing]
I'm fine. I'm fine.
Get back to work.
Hey, Nate!
[dramatic music]
♪ ...'cause I can't go ♪
Watch it there, Nate.
Eight million ways to die every day.
Not today. Not today.
[intense music]
[static]
[explosion]
[music continues]
[instrumental music]
[Valens] 'Figure on stretching that shirt out another day?'
You wanna check my shorts there too, hoss?
[train horn blaring]
Transit workers found the body expanding the subway.
Five stories under the river.
I ain't going down there.
What's the matter, don't like tunnels?
They got rats the size of badgers.
No, man, even the rats hate it down there.
Bulldozer broke through an old service tunnel. Found the bones.
[Stillman] 'Adult male. Blunt force trauma to the skull.'
Found behind a tunnel that got sealed in 1948.
Guy needs a paleontologist, not a detective.
Could be one of those mole people.
Wasn't a mole, this was a sandhog.
- Sandhog? - Urban miner.
Died with his boots on.
"Compressed Air Worker, number 505.
"If found sick or unconscious
"return to medical decompression lock
at Bertleman Construction site."
Sandhogs were required to carry those badges at all times
in case of an attack of the bends.
How's a miner get the bends?
Working deep underground in compressed air.
Tunnels, subways, sewers, you name it.
Say if it's deeper than a grave, a sandhog dug it.
Looks like this poor schmuck might have dug his own.
You see those miners trapped on the news
they move heaven and earth to get a guy out.
At least, recover a body.
This guy didn't get left behind.
He got buried on purpose.
[music continues]
[theme music]
[music continues]
[instrumental music]
Donuts.
Is that some kind of cop joke?
What, cops are the only ones allowed to eat fried dough?
- I never eat donuts. - Never?
Mmm, mmm.
Oh, you have sugar on your cheek.
- Come on and get it. - Get over here.
Got to eat a donut first.
- I don't want a stupid donut. - No, first.
Come on. Yum.
- Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. - Fine. Give me the bag.
Attagirl.
Pretty damn good.
[chuckles]
I love you.
Yeah?
Yeah, definitely.
I, um..
I don't know what to say.
Ah, you're a detective, you'll figure it out.
Look, okay, I gotta run.
- I'll call you later? - Sure, right.
[instrumental music]
I had OSHAcheck the state archives on this one.
Compressed Air 505 was registered
as a John Donovan.
- John Boomer Donovan. - What, you familiar?
Down-in-the-muck sandhog became head
of the Local 37 back in the '40s.
He was reported missing in 1948.
Donovan turned hero after he took on management
'then mysteriously disappeared.'
You know your sandhog history, boss.
Neighborhood I grew up in, Lil
you either became a cop, a fireman or a sandhog.
And I got this thing about being burned or buried alive.
So how do we know our guy wasn't just crushed in a cave-in?
Disappeared on a Sunday back in '48.
He wasn't down there working.
Theory at the time was Donovan took on
management in a labor dispute.
Thought he bought himself a pair of cement shoes
and a one-way ticket to the bottom of the river.
But couldn't prove it without a body.
Only surviving next of kin's a brother-in-law.
Robert McCallister.
An old sandhog?
Former head of the union.
If he's not at home, check down
at Mulrooney's in Devil's Pocket.
What's that, a sandhog bar?
We got Jones Tavern, they got Mulrooney's.
[instrumental music]
Keep Donovan's photo up there with the top-shelf whiskey.
[chuckles] They're still buyin' him shots.
Donovan was married to your sister?
Yeah, I introduced them.
A lot of sandhogs in your family?
Third generation.
My old man spent 30 years in the hole.
'Big Mac.'
Nice lighter.
Thanks.
A gift from Big Mac on my wedding day.
Only thing that could hold a flame in the tunnels.
We hear management had it out for your brother-in-law.
Sam Bertleman did. Everyone knew it.
The head of Bertleman Construction?
None other.
The guys were going deaf down in the hole
getting killed, maimed.
Didn't stop that greedy bastard.
But Donovan tried to.
Donny became foreman, he was the only one
that had the stones to take the boss man on.
When did he start organizing the men?
Just after his pal Nate died in the hole?
There was no stoppin' him.
♪ Tell me who's that writin' ♪
[alarm blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
♪ Tell me who's that writin' ♪
♪ John the Revelator ♪
♪ Wrote the book of the seven seal ♪
[male #1] 'Bobby?'
'Bobby!'
Bobby!
I'm here, pop.
Where's Donny?
[alarm blaring]
Donny!
Donny, you okay?
♪ ...called Adam by his name ♪
You son of a bitch!
There was no masks in there, nothing!
- You knew that! - Leave it be!
We didn't have a chance!
[Alice]
'Nate?'
You're his wife? You're Alice?
Where is he? Where is my husband?
You left him down there?
It happened so fast.
'We could barely see. The smoke was everywhere.'
Nate!
'Nate! Nate!'
No!
Nate!
No! No! No!
[crying] No! No.
'Wake up, Nathan! Wake up.'
'You promised me!'
You promised me you'd come home to me!
Alice.
♪ Tell me who's that writin' John the Revelator ♪
♪ Who's that writin'.. ♪
I'm so sorry, Alice. I really am.
You were supposed to watch over him!
You were his friend!
♪ ...and Martha they went down to see ♪
♪ Go tell my disciples to meet me in Galilee.. ♪
Couldn't blame her.
But it was misdirected.
Bertleman didn't give a rat's ass
about the safety of any of his workers.
And that's when Donovan started organizing the men?
Few months later, he disappears.
Mary said he went off to the pub, never came home.
You figure Bertleman had your brother-in-law killed?
Donovan was about to lead a walkout.
You tell me.
[instrumental music]
Sam Bertlemen?
Somewhere we can talk?
Yeah. I'm kind of busy right now.
[Miller] 'So are we.'
Just found John Donovan's body
in a tunnel under the Schuylkill.
Not to slow you down or anything.
It's got nothing to do with me.
Might have with your old man.
My father built this city, every damn tunnel.
You think that's the first body that's turned up underground?
[Rush] 'This is one of his workers.'
A union leader, too.
Look, the last thing my old man wanted
was to make John Donovan some kind of martyr.
Funny how he turned up dead then.
They blamed my pops 'cause it was easier
than looking at one of their own.
You sayin' another sandhog did it?
All that band of brothers union stuff. Bunch of BS.
'There's this one guy, Zaccardo always causing trouble.'
[Hank Williams singing "Move It On Over"]
[imitating airplane]
It ain't right what happened to Nate.
But not a damn thing's gonna change till we make it change.
Wrong tree, Donny boy. Go bark somewheres else.
Nate was one of us, Zaccardo.
One of our brothers. We owe him.
You wanna walk off the job over some dead spade? Go ahead.
- What'd you call him? - You crossed the line.
Making a fool of yourself with that bugaboo widow
in front of everyone.
Shut your mouth!
♪ So get it on over ♪ Move it on over ♪
♪ Scoot it on over♪ Move it on over ♪
- 'Enough!' - Not your concern, old man.
You don't talk about her like that!
Shut up, Donny.
- It's over. - Oh, it ain't over.
I promise you that.
♪ So ease it on over ♪ Move it on over ♪
♪ Drag it on over ♪ Move it on over ♪
♪ Move over old dog.. ♪
My first scaling bar, huh?
Bash a man's skull in with that.
Donovan had guts
but Mateo Zaccardo was a mean son of a bitch.
Didn't appreciate being humiliated.
You think he killed Donovan?
He was a sandhog
and down in that hole, anything can happen.
Any idea where Zaccardo ended up?
Last I heard, prison.
Caved some poor bastard's head in during a bar fight.
[instrumental music]
[door buzzing]
[Valens] 'Life for second degree murder.'
Killed a man with a crowbar outside a bar.
Guy had it coming.
Did John Donovan?
You had motive, opportunity, a serious beef.
He work for you?
Time to set the record straight.
Clear your conscience.
Your age, the DA might work out a deal.
Time served.
I'll talk to you.
Or you can rot in prison for all I care.
It's always something with them.
What about you and Donovan?
We had a difference of opinion.
- We worked it out. - I'll bet.
Just because I wasn't gonna strike
don't mean I killed the guy.
No? Then who did?
It was the coloreds.
They blamed him for Nate's death.
You mean the West Indian sandhogs?
West Indians, Afro-Americans.
They can call themselves whatever they want.
They had it in for Donovan in the worst way.
And how would you know?
Only place near the dig to get refills
was a coffee shop served coloreds.
So long as as you didn't touch the silverware
it was fine.
[bell ringing]
[Louis Jordan singing "Buzz Me Blues"]
Coffee, please.
♪ ...saw you this morning baby ♪
Be ready in a minute.
Hey, it's good, you found something.
Cream or sugar?
- Just black. - Like this place used to be?
♪ Can't believe that you don't love me ♪
The boys at the hog house passed the hat.
It ain't much. It's the best we can do.
Boy, Nate was right. You give a man no quarter.
♪ I'll be waiting for your call ♪
Nate told you that?
He told me a lot of things.
Did he now?
I miss him, too, Alice.
Not like I do.
What about getting her what's due?
The union is working on getting some kinda settlement.
Me and Nate, we paid our dues regular.
Bad enough we get shut out for the best jobs.
- I hear you, Bishop. - Do you?
Maybe a White man gotta die down in that hole
for the union to sit up and take notice. That it?
I'm gonna go.
Take care now.
I will.
[bell ringing]
[music continues]
You think Bishop made good on that threat?
Well, put it this way.
I wasn't the only sandhog who ever served time.
Bishop had a record?
[chuckles] And a bad attitude.
[instrumental music]
You were never paid a settlement?
Bertlemen wouldn't give a dime for a Black man's life.
Bishop was pretty upset about it.
He was all bark, no bite.
You two keep in touch?
He passed..
...twenty years ago.
And no, we didn't.
What about you, Alice?
You were pretty upset with Donovan, too.
I was upset that my husband died and I can't make the rent.
Donovan helped me in a time of need.
Donovan come by regular to give you money?
To check on me. To see how I was getting by.
- 'Mm-hmm.' - He ever talk about work?
Anybody who might've had in for him?
No.
Mostly, we...just talk about Nate.
Now, you like talking to him, hmm? Donovan?
He was the first man to make me laugh again.
Got to be I looked forward to seein' him
on his way home from a shift.
Sounds like Donovan was there quite a bit.
Well, he didn't have much to go home to.
Meaning his wife?
Couldn't get pregnant
so she crawl up inside a bottle.
He didn't talk about it much and I didn't ask.
Back then, people stuck it out..
...even if it didn't make sense.
Just the times.
He was still married and White, and I was neither.
Did that stop you?
One evenin', we were talking longer than usual..
...and finally we just run out of things to say.
♪ I wonder my little darling ♪
Listen to that.
Ah, nothing in the world quite like it.
Like what?
The blues.
Nate always said you liked your music.
It ain't just music.
No? Then what?
Makes me feel like I'm not alone listening to that.
♪ My heart is aching ♪
It's good to see you smile again.
Nate. He always used to say a smile like that
light up every tunnel in the city.
[laughing] Come on, now.
I always wondered what he meant.
Now I know.
♪ ...that I'm mistaken ♪
♪ Mm I wonder ♪
I ought to be getting home now.
Alright.
♪ I've been through lover's lane ♪
♪ But in my heart there's only pain ♪
Night.
Goodnight.
♪ You went traveling but will it last ♪
♪ Well I'm traveling nowhere fast ♪
♪ Mm sweetheart.. ♪
[bell ringing]
What'd you say this song was called again?
I never said it.
You like it?
Yeah.
Yeah, I like it.
I like everything about it.
♪ Mm baby I wonder ♪
[jazz music]
- Who is it? - Satchmo.
Hey.
Hey what?
You're not alone.
[music continues]
[Miller] 'White, married man, Black woman.'
That could get you in trouble today.
I knew it couldn't last and it didn't.
Must have been tough to let that go.
Anybody else know?
Just the brother-in-law.
Bobby McCallister?
[instrumental music]
Hey, Lil.
Wanna go for a ride?
What are you doin' here?
Oh, gee, Ray, it's nice to see you too, you know.
Hey, I'd love to go for a spin.
[chuckles]
Sorry.
Well, at least I got a smile.
Nice to see you, Ray.
You know, the way, uh..
...we left it last time, that was...nice.
Look, I, uh..
I gotta go.
Something I did wrong?
[phone ringing]
Ah, something he did right.
You didn't take the call.
And I'm not taking a ride with you either.
Come on. Just wanna talk.
So talk.
Okay.
I, uh, I got hooked into this deal
with a bunch of street bikes up in Bayonne, with my shop.
Turned out to be hot.
- What do you want meto do? - I don't know.
Call in a favor with the Jersey state police?
I'm serious, Lil.
These guys are, too.
I'm sorry.
Not this time.
Okay.
So, uh..
So..?
See you around, Ray.
[Stillman] 'Come on, Bobby.'
You knew that Donovan was steppin' out on your sister.
With the widow of a Sandhog.
- A black woman, no less. - Why open that up?
Bring shame to my family?
Dishonor my sister like that?
Oh, so this was a family matter?
That how you dealt with it, Bobby?
I know Mary had her problems
but Donovan was out of control.
[Stillman] 'Out of control, how?'
You gotta realize..
...Donny had a lot bigger problems on his plate.
Like what, Bobby?
He was going ahead with the walkout..
...but he had no idea what he was walkin' into.
Change of plans.
- Things are gettin' stepped up. - Stepped up?
We need to know who's with us now.
It can't wait.
Why all of a sudden?
I think Bertleman found out..
...about the walkout.
What is it, Bobby?
Heard Bertleman hired goons.
- Pinkertons. - Who told you that?
Guys are talkin', Donny.
Those Pinkerton thugs are good for only one thing.
Crackin' skulls.
Guys don't need to hear that now.
Means the boss is brinin' in scabs
and I got a family to feed.
What are you saying?
You're out?
Look, Bobby, things get rough. I need to know I can count on you.
Don't you see?
Bertleman knows what you're planning, he knows everything.
What? How does he know?
Aw, no.
- Oh. - I'm sorry--
Bobby?
He threatened my job.
Big Mac, too.
I got kids. A family.
So you told.
I'm sorry, Donny.
I never forgot the look in Donny's eyes.
You never mentioned it.
Couldn't have help your big union career.
You being a stooge and all.
It's something I'm not proud of, believe me.
He was like a brother to me.
You got any idea what that's like?
What, Bobby?
Wondering if I was the one that got him killed.
Hey, you.
Hey.
- Hey. - Hi.
What's going on?
I got a meeting over in Family Court
this afternoon, and so I figured I'd stop by
see if you ate lunch.
Oh, uh, yeah. I kinda ate on the run.
This case.
Yeah. No, I figured as much.
I know you called last night. I, um
just got...caught up on the job.
No, forget it. I was just seeing
if you wanted to grab dinner, that's all.
- It turned into a long night. - Don't worry about it.
Some other time. Some other time.
Great. Uh...maybe tonight?
Uh...we'll see.
Um..
Look, I better run, alright?
- Wait. - What?
Joseph, I..
...I love you, too.
Look, you don't have to say it just 'cause I did.
No, I wanna say it.
Okay. Alright.
[Vera] 'Hey, kids!'
- Hey, guys. - Nick Vera.
Joseph Shaw.
I remember.
Yeah.
- Will Jeffries. - Hey.
So you're still in town?
Yeah, I'm working with the DHS, Court and Community Services.
Oh, yeah, that's right, delinquent youth--
At-risk juveniles, yeah.
- It's good work. - Yeah.
I-I think so.
We better go.
Why can't I meet a nice girl at a halfway house?
Save it.
I didn't know the guy stuck around Philly.
Well, now you do.
Anything new on Bertleman?
McCallister's story checks out.
Turns out Bertleman was going
to squash the strike by hiring Pinkertons.
Goons for hire.
Specialize in bashing skulls.
Might explain the blunt-force trauma.
Real interesting guy, your old man.
Not the most ethical, but...interesting.
He was a businessman. Sometimes you gotta play hardball.
Yeah? the Pinkertons were pretty handy with a bat.
He ever tell you about them?
Heard about that
but he didn't need them to deal with Donovan.
That right?
Already had him over a barrel.
What do you mean?
- Donovan was for sale? - No.
Let's just say Donovan put himself
in an untenable position.
[knocking on door]
Yeah.
'That's somethin', ain't it?'
You wanted to see me?
I know what you're plannin', son.
I'm here to tell you it ain't gonna happen.
Ain't up to you, Mr. Bertleman.
Either you drop this whole strike nonsense
or your life's about to get a whole lot bumpier. Got me?
The only way you're gonna stop this strike
is across the table hearing our demands.
I don't think you're hearin' me.
We lost a good man down in the hole.
Nate Stallworth, you might recall the name?
I can't be threatened
and I ain't for sale.
No.
Kinda figured that already, son.
And if I get hurt, that's just gonna put
more of a fire in the boys' bellies.
You're right. But..
...if another poor colored woman
disappears on her way home from work..
'...well.'
Ain't nobody really miss her but you.
You son of a bitch.
It's my job to know what's goin' on.
What'd you say your friend's name was again?
'So you think about that real hard.'
You leave her alone.
Now get your shovel and get back to work.
One thing I learned from my daddy about being the boss
most times it ain't what you do
it's what people think you're capable of.
But Alice lived.
He never laid a hand on her.
Heard she left town.
That right? When?
Around the time Donovan disappeared.
[Will] 'Alice Stallworth left Philadelphia'
On April 28 of 1948.
The same day Donovan went missing.
Right. Move to Chester, PA.
What's in Chester?
I thought maybe a relative
but we couldn't locate anyone.
Found this instead.
Hospital record from November, 1948.
Alice was sick?
Not sick, pregnant.
She gave birth to a nine-pound baby boy.
'Nate had been dead 11 months.'
No way he could have been the father.
So Alice was pregnant when she left town.
Mm-hmm.
With Donovan's baby.
We know you left Philadelphia, Alice.
The same day Donovan disappeared.
Like I said before, things got complicated--
Well, they were already complicated.
Him married, you a widow.
Black, white.
I know all the reasons why it was wrong back then, thank you.
But then you found yourself pregnant.
It was foolishness from the jump.
I should've known better.
[Rush] '"Donovan."'
'You gave your son his name.'
I wanted to remember him..
...to remember his words.
"You're not alone."
Tell me what happened the night he disappeared, Alice.
I should have known it wouldn't last.
Something that special...never does.
["Armstrong" on Jukebox]
♪ Up in the mornin' ♪
♪ Out on the job ♪
♪ I work like the devil for my pay ♪
Will you relax, baby?
You're gonna wear out the floor.
♪ Has nothing to do ♪
♪ But roll around heaven all day ♪
That the one Big Mac gave you?
When I made foreman.
Oh, that means something.
He chose you to lead those men.
Sometimes you gotta make touch choices
choices you don't wanna make.
Come close.
Got something special to tell you.
What's wrong, baby?
You're here, but you ain't here.
- This has to end, you and me. - What?
You knew this was gonna happen.
What's really going on, Donny?
You know what the boys would say if they found out?
Since when do you care about that?
I'm a married man, Alice.
Do you love her?
Even if I left my wife, which I can't..
...you know it could never work.
That's not what I asked you.
Oh, come on, Alice.
Us?
Out there?
Forget it.
♪ And wash all my troubles away ♪
Do you love me?
♪ Like that lucky old sun ♪
No, I don't.
♪ He's got nothing to do ♪
♪ But roll around heaven all day ♪
Go to New York, someplace you can start over.
- I can send you money. - Get out.
'Alice..'
...I'm so sorry.
Not like I am.
♪ With a silver lining ♪
♪ Lift me to paradise ♪
♪ Oh show me that river ♪
I never listened to that song again.
[Rush] 'You ever tell your son about him?'
It was just me.
I was all he ever knew.
Donovan's lighter, the one with the cross.
Big Mac gave it to him?
Alice.
Donovan was trying to protect you.
Protect me?
'He was about to take on some guys'
'that played rough.'
'Didn't want you to get hurt.'
He broke it off so you'd leave.
Maybe he was just a man afraid of the times.
Or maybe he just loved you.
Built to last forever, those things.
You know, once they even found one inside the belly of a fish.
'They pulled it out'
and it lit right up..
...very first time.
It still works for me.
Oh, nothin' lasts forever, right?
Except the statute of limitations on murder.
This wasn't a wedding present from your father, was it, Bobby?
Big Mac gave it to Donovan when he made him foreman.
Not you.
Belongs to me.
The only way you could have that lighter is if you saw Donovan
the night he disappeared.
I was a sandhog, too, you know?
20 in the hole.
But you got passed over by your own father.
He made Donovan foreman.
[Bobby] 'I was his son.'
His blood.
The good one.
You'd think he'd respect you more.
He treated me like a mope with a muck stick.
Like I couldn't do anything more.
And Donovan could do no wrong.
Donovan the natural.
Donovan the leader.
Nothing you did was ever good enough.
Damned if I was gonna sit back
and watch him become the big hero.
[Stillman] 'Instead it was you, Bobby.'
With Donovan gone, you became president
of Local 37.
Achieved what he never got a chance to do.
I did what I had to do.
You got rid of him.
Finally.
But you know the worst part?
They went and turned him into a damned saint.
[Bobby] Wanna let you know right away, Donny.
Heard there were scabs down here.
Is that right?
Aw, look at this.
Idiots were in the dynamite.
Lucky they didn't blow a head off.
Better check the rest of the supplies.
I'll check over at the shaft.
Alright. Well, watch your step.
They probably left the misfires in the muck.
Bobby, I'm glad you're with us.
Rough as this is gonna get.
Couldn't live with myself
letting you go it alone.
You know, in the long run
it's gonna be better for all of us.
All because of you.
What is this?
- 'Donovan?' - Yeah?
You got a light?
Yeah.
Here.
Thanks.
Bobby?
Always gotta be the hero.
What are you talking about?
Bobby?
What're you doing?
Not this time.
[explosion]
[electrical crackling]
[Donovan]
'Bobby!'
'Help me!'
'Bobby.'
[coughing] 'Bobby.'
Alice..
...you're not alone.
Alice.
["I Wonder" by Louis Armstrong]
♪ I wonder ♪
♪ My little darlin' ♪
♪ Where can you be ♪
♪ This moonlit night ♪
♪ Are you holding someone tight baby ♪
♪ I wonder ♪
♪ My heart is achin' ♪
♪ But I'm a fool ♪
♪ To let it go on breakin' ♪
♪ Maybe I'll awake to find that I'm mistaken ♪
♪ Mm I wonder ♪
♪ Baby since we're through ♪
♪ I've been through lovers' lane ♪
♪ But in my heart there's only pain ♪
♪ You went travelin' but will it last ♪
♪ Well I'm traveling nowhere fast ♪
♪ Mm sweetheart mm sweetheart ♪
♪ I wonder well well well little baby ♪
♪ If this new love dies where will you be ♪
♪ Will your heart come running back to me ♪
♪ Mm baby I wonder ♪
[trumpet solo]
[solo continues]
[theme music]