She knows she and Ramón are targets, and that she will not live long. She feels the weight of the world on her heart, a world that is exploding around her. Josefa asks her lover Ramón to stay with her. Scene 4: The Stabbing Ned barely escapes the fury of the mob, leaving a distraught Dame Shirley to lament the loss of her only true friend, whose beautiful voice will never be heard again in these mountains. There was no resistance.” They burnt the houses and the bodies. They describe a massacre they’ve already participated in: “a half dozen bucks, some squaws, some children. They are recruiting men to go out and “chastise” some local Indians in response to the murder of one of their miner buddies. Joe, Clarence and a band of violent miners suddenly interrupt the dinner. He serves her and sings a quiet, intimate statement of his beliefs. Ned has prepared a lavish dinner for her, his “Queen” of Rich Bar. Joe and she confess their love for each other. When she was a little girl, she was sold for a mere $10. A blessed thing in anybody is bone, backbone!”ĭame Shirley, alone in her cabin while her husband is away caring for a badly injured miner, receives a visit from Ned who reveals that he was a fugitive slave.Īh Sing appears in a new dress in a new apartment.
Joe and Clarence are feeling bullish, singing a song to help restore their virile pride: “Give me a man that’s all a man, who stands up straight and strong. Josefa and Ramón remember an afternoon far outside the city when their love was dangerous, fresh, and unobserved. Joe is a particularly drunk, aggressive customer and his crude advances towards Josefa trigger an ugly incident. He deals, she is there to attract the crowd: “Without a girl, there can be no hotel, without a beautiful one, there can be no business.” The miners are addicted to gambling, making fortunes, and hopelessly ruining themselves, night after night. Panicking in the face of her expectations, Joe runs out into the night. She sizes him up and decides he is the perfect man to help her realize her future ambitions. Joe romances Ah Sing with a corny old song. Josefa, a young Mexican who works the bar, and Ah Sing, a vivacious young Chinese prostitute, voice a more sober view of life.
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