Full Molecular Orientation and Emission Characteristics of Ir Complexes and Exciplex in Organic Thin Films Chang-Ki Moon Ebook All Chapters
Full Molecular Orientation and Emission Characteristics of Ir Complexes and Exciplex in Organic Thin Films Chang-Ki Moon Ebook All Chapters
Full Molecular Orientation and Emission Characteristics of Ir Complexes and Exciplex in Organic Thin Films Chang-Ki Moon Ebook All Chapters
com
https://textbookfull.com/product/molecular-
orientation-and-emission-characteristics-of-ir-
complexes-and-exciplex-in-organic-thin-films-
chang-ki-moon/
DOWLOAD NOW
https://textbookfull.com/product/recent-advances-in-thin-films-
sushil-kumar/
https://textbookfull.com/product/optical-thin-films-and-
coatings-2e-from-materials-to-applications-flory/
https://textbookfull.com/product/optimisation-of-zno-thin-films-
implants-properties-and-device-fabrication-1st-edition-saurabh-
nagar/
https://textbookfull.com/product/nucleation-and-growth-of-metals-
from-thin-films-to-nanoparticles-1st-edition-paul-henri-
haumesser/
Pulsed Laser Ablation Advances and Applications in
Nanoparticles and Nanostructuring Thin Films 1st
Edition Ion N. Mihailescu
https://textbookfull.com/product/pulsed-laser-ablation-advances-
and-applications-in-nanoparticles-and-nanostructuring-thin-
films-1st-edition-ion-n-mihailescu/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-art-of-strategy-sun-tzu-
michael-porter-and-beyond-hwy-chang-moon/
https://textbookfull.com/product/diagnostic-molecular-biology-
chang-hui-shen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/gaseous-and-electrochemical-
hydrogen-storage-properties-of-mg-based-thin-films-1st-edition-
gongbiao-xin-auth/
https://textbookfull.com/product/formation-of-knbo3-thin-films-
for-self-powered-reram-devices-and-artificial-synapses-tae-ho-
lee/
Springer Theses
Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research
Chang-Ki Moon
Molecular Orientation
and Emission
Characteristics of
Ir Complexes and
Exciplex in Organic
Thin Films
Springer Theses
The series “Springer Theses” brings together a selection of the very best Ph.D.
theses from around the world and across the physical sciences. Nominated and
endorsed by two recognized specialists, each published volume has been selected
for its scientific excellence and the high impact of its contents for the pertinent field
of research. For greater accessibility to non-specialists, the published versions
include an extended introduction, as well as a foreword by the student’s supervisor
explaining the special relevance of the work for the field. As a whole, the series will
provide a valuable resource both for newcomers to the research fields described,
and for other scientists seeking detailed background information on special
questions. Finally, it provides an accredited documentation of the valuable
contributions made by today’s younger generation of scientists.
Molecular Orientation
and Emission Characteristics
of Ir Complexes and Exciplex
in Organic Thin Films
Doctoral Thesis accepted by
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
(Republic of)
123
Author Supervisor
Dr. Chang-Ki Moon Prof. Jang-Joo Kim
Department of Materials Science Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, The Graduate School and Engineering
Seoul National University Seoul National University
Seoul, Korea (Republic of) Seoul, Korea (Republic of)
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
Supervisor’s Foreword
v
vi Supervisor’s Foreword
Dr. Moon combined the simulation method and orientation of emitting dipoles to
understand the electronic structure of exciplex in solid. Exciplexes in solid states
exhibit extraordinary characteristics including broad emission spectra, multi-
exponential photoluminescence (PL) decay curves, and spectral redshifts as time
delays in transient PL, whose origin was not fully understood at the time. Dr. Moon
presented experimental and theoretical evidences that all of the emission charac-
teristics of solid-state exciplexes originate from differences in their dimer configu-
rations, which have different charge transfer rates, emission energies, singlet–triplet
energy gaps, kinetic rate constants, and emitting dipole orientations. This conclusion
is based on experimental observations, quantum chemical calculations, and molec-
ular dynamics simulations. These results enabled us to develop a model of the
electronic structure of an exciplex in a solid state. This comprehensive model
accommodates all of the characteristics of the exciplex and can be used to further our
understanding of solid-state charge transfer complexes playing important roles in
OPVs and OLEDs.
This thesis covers the most advanced theories and analytical methods of the
emission characteristics of doped organic films and electronic structures of inter-
molecular charge transfer complexes in solid in organic thin films. It is recom-
mended for readers who desire to understand the orientation of molecules in organic
amorphous films, its effects on optical properties of thin films as well as the elec-
tronic structure of intermolecular charge transfer complexes, which play important
roles in organic electronics, especially in OLEDs and OPVs.
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have drawn great attention in lighting and
display technologies with the advantages of high color purity, large-area process-
ability, low cost, and flexibility. Development of the materials and the device
structures is still demanded because the power efficiency of OLEDs is low to
replace other lighting sources. The key importance of emitting materials for OLEDs
is utilizing the non-radiative triplet excitons as photons and the increase of the
outcoupling efficiency. The triplet excitons can be harvested as photons by
employing phosphorescent or delayed fluorescent emitters. Control of the molecular
orientation in organic thin films is one of the methods to enhance the outcoupling
efficiency of OLEDs. Horizontal alignment of the emitting dipole moment to the
substrate largely enhances the outcoupling efficiency of light in OLEDs.
The optical model of OLEDs interprets dipole radiation in a microcavity
structure. It predicts external quantum efficiency and electroluminescence spectrum
of OLEDs very precisely. In addition, the model has been recently applied to the
method of determining the emitting dipole orientation (EDO) of an emissive layer.
The preferred molecular orientations in organic thin films lead to optical birefrin-
gence so that the development of the optical model of OLEDs with consideration
of the birefringence is required.
Ir(III) complex is one of the phosphorescent dyes for highly efficient OLEDs
with high radiative quantum efficiency and various emission color spectrum. In
general, Ir complexes have octahedral structures with three cyclometalating
bidentate ligands and only small amount of them are doped in an organic host in the
emissive layer. Therefore, their molecular orientations have been regarded as iso-
tropic for a decade. However, the preferred horizontal orientation of the emitting
dipole moment was investigated from a heteroleptic Ir complex in 2011. Optical
simulation predicts over 46% of external quantum efficiency from the OLEDs using
the Ir complexes with the perfect horizontal alignment of the emitting dipole
moment. Now, the molecular orientation of Ir complex is an important topic of
OLEDs.
vii
viii Abstract
energy and density of the molecule as functions of distance between the hetero-
dimer. As a result, a variety of properties such as singlet and triplet levels,
orientation of the transition dipole moment, and fluorescent rate, depend on the
donor–acceptor binding geometry in the solid. Superposition of the fast-decaying
high-energy exciplex and slow-decaying low-energy exciplex is attributed to a
reason of the spectral redshift as time delays of the solid-state exciplex.
1st Author
1. Chang-Ki Moon, Jin-Suk Huh, Jae-Min Kim, and Jang-Joo Kim*, “Electronic
structure and emission process of excited charge transfer states in solids”,
Chemistry of Materials, 30, 5648–5654 (2018). A most downloaded paper on
August 2018.
2. Chang-Ki Moon, Kwon-Hyeon Kim, and Jang-Joo Kim*, “Unraveling the
orientation of phosphors doped in organic semiconducting layers”, Nature
Communications, 8, 791 (2017).
3. Chang-Ki Moon, Katsuaki Suzuki, Katsuyuki Shizu, Chihaya Adachi, Hironori
Kaji*, Jang-Joo Kim*, “Combined Inter- and Intramolecular Charge-Transfer
Processes for Highly Efficient Fluorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with
Reduced Triplet Exciton Quenching”, Advanced Materials, 29, 1606448
(2017).
4. Chan Seok Oh(+), Chang-Ki Moon(+), Jeong Min Choi, Jin-Suk Huh, Jang-Joo
Kim, Jun Yeob Lee*, “Relationship between molecular structure and dipole
orientation of thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitters”, Organic
Electronics, 42, 337–342 (2017). (+: equal contribution)
5. Chang-Ki Moon, Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Jin Woo Lee, and Jang-Joo Kim*,
“Influence of host molecules on emitting dipole orientation of phosphorescent
iridium complexes”, Chemistry of Materials, 27 (8), 2767–2769 (2015).
6. Chang-Ki Moon, Sei-Yong Kim, Jeong-Hwan Lee, and Jang-Joo Kim*,
“Luminescence from oriented emitting dipoles in a birefringent medium” Optics
Express, 23, A279–A291 (2015).
7. Jeong-Hwan Lee(+), Ganguri Sarada(+), Chang-Ki Moon(+), Woosum Cho,
Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Young Geun Park, Jin Yong Lee, Sung-Ho Jin*, and Jang-Joo
Kim*, “Finely Tuned Blue Iridium Complexes with Varying Horizontal Emission
Dipole Ratios and Quantum Yields for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting
Diodes”, Advanced Optical Materials, 3, 211–220 (2014).
Other Publications
1. Jinouk Song, Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Eunhye Kim, Chang-Ki Moon, Yun-Hi Kim,
Jang-Joo Kim, and Seunghyup Yoo*, “Lensfree OLEDs with over 50%
external quantum efficiency via external scattering and horizontally oriented
emitters”, Nature Communications, In press.
2. Jin-Suk Huh, Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Chang-Ki Moon, Jang-Joo Kim*,
“Dependence of Pt(II) based phosphorescent emitter orientation on host
molecule orientation in doped organic thin films”, Organic Electronics, 45,
279–284 (2017).
xi
xii List of Publications
13. Hyun-Sub Shim, Francis Lin, Jihun Kim, Bomi Sim, Tae-Min Kim, Chang-Ki
Moon, Chun-Kai Wang, Yongsok Seo*, Ken-Tsung Wong*, and Jang-Joo
Kim*, “Efficient Vacuum-Deposited Tandem Organic Solar Cells with Fill
Factors Higher Than Single-Junction Subcells”, Advanced Energy Materials,
5 (13), 1500228 (2015).
14. Kwon-Hyeon Kim(+), Jae-Yeol Ma(+), Chang-Ki Moon, Jeong-Hwan Lee,
Jang Yeol Baek, Yun-Hi Kim*, and Jang-Joo Kim*, “Controlling Emitting
Dipole Orientation with Methyl Substituents on Main Ligand of Iridium
Complexes for Highly Efficient Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting
Diodes”, Advanced Optical Materials, 3 (9), 1191–1196 (2015).
15. Sohee Jeon, Jeong-Hwan Lee, Jun-Ho Jeong, Young Seok Song, Chang-Ki
Moon, Jang-Joo Kim, and Jae Ryoun Youn*, “Vacuum Nanohole Array
Embedded Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diodes” Scientific Reports,
5, 8685 (2015).
16. Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Chang-Ki Moon, Jin Won Sun, Bomi Sim, and Jang-Joo
Kim*, “Triplet Harvesting by a Conventional Fluorescent Emitter Using
Reverse Intersystem Crossing of Host Triplet Exciplex”, Advanced Optical
Materials, 3, 895–899 (2015).
17. Jung-Bum Kim, Jeong-Hwan Lee, Chang-Ki Moon, Kwon-Hyeon Kim, and
Jang-Joo Kim*, “Highly enhanced light extraction from organic light emitting
diodes with little image blurring and good color stability”, Organic
Electronics, 17, 115–120 (2015).
18. Dae-Ho Kim, Kyu-Sik Kim, Hyun-Sub Shim, Chang-Ki Moon, Yong Wan Jin,
and Jang-Joo Kim*, “A high performance semitransparent organic photode-
tector with green color selectivity”, Applied Physics Letters, 105, 213301
(2014).
19. Kwon-Hyeon Kim, Sunghun Lee, Chang-Ki Moon, Sei-Yong Kim, Young-Seo
Park, Jeong-Hwan Lee, Jin Woo Lee, June Huh, Youngmin You, Jang-Joo
Kim*, “Phosphorescent dye-based supramolecules for high-efficiency organic
light-emitting diodes”, Nature Communications, 5, 4769 (2014).
20. Jung-Bum Kim, Jeong-Hwan Lee, Chang-Ki Moon, Kwon-Hyeon Kim,
Jang-Joo Kim*, “Highly efficient inverted top emission organic light emitting
diodes using a horizontally oriented green phosphorescent emitter”, Organic
Electronics, 15, 2715–2718 (2014).
21. Thota Giridhar(+), Jeong-Hwan Lee(+), Woosum Cho, Hyunyoung Yoo,
Chang-Ki Moon, Jang-Joo Kim*, Sung-Ho Jin*, “Highly efficient bluish green
phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes based on heteroleptic iridium(III)
complexes with phenylpyridine main skeleton”, Organic Electronics, 15,
1687–1694 (2014).
22. Jin Won Sun(+), Jeong-Hwan Lee(+), Chang-Ki Moon, Kwon-Hyeon Kim,
Hyun Shin and Jang-Joo Kim*, “A Fluorescent Organic Light Emitting Diode
with 30% External Quantum Efficiency”, Advanced Materials, 26, 5684–5688
(2014).
xiv List of Publications
List of Presentations
List of Patents
Thanks to the people who helped me, I was able to finish my degree. It was the
most valuable experience of my life.
Professor Jang-Joo Kim was my advisor and an exemplary scientist. I greatly
appreciate his support in my graduate school life. I will always think of his passion
and conviction as a scientist.
I am grateful to my mentor, Dr. Sei-Yong Kim. His optical theory and simulation
program are the basis of all my research. I would like to acknowledge Prof. Jun Yeob
Lee in Sungkyunkwan University, Prof. Hironori Kaji in Kyoto University, and
Dr. Jin Woo Lee from Samsung Total Petrochemicals. It was a pleasure doing won-
derful collaborations and discussions with them. Dr. Andrienko kindly supported me
during my three-month visit at Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
I appreciate it, and I could start to do molecular dynamics simulations with his
help. Prof. Youn Joon Jung in Seoul National University also gave me lots of advice
on the molecular dynamics simulation. I especially thank Dr. Matthew D. Halls and
Dr. Shaun H. Kwak from Schrodinger Inc. for their kind and helpful discussions in
calculations and simulations. I could enjoy laboratory life thanks to the smart and
friendly laboratory members.
Finally, I would like to thank my family who always give me love and support.
xvii
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Molecular Orientation in Organic Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Importance of the Molecular Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.3 Estimation of Molecular Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Optical Models of OLEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Iridium Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4 Exciplex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Outline of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Modeling of the Dipole Radiation in an Anisotropic Microcavity . . . 17
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Theoretical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.1 Dipole Radiation in a Birefringent Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.2 Efficiency of OLEDs with a Birefringent Emissive
Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.3 Far-Field Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.4 Experimental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.1 Optical Birefringence and the Dipole Orientation . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.2 Emission Spectra of OLEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3.3 Efficiency of OLEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.5 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xix
xx Contents
xxi
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Splashes of
red
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.
Language: English
Millie’s teeth shut tightly over her lower lip. Curly had not looked at
her at all. He had waved his hand toward the stand—toward one
spot in the stand, the same spot he had waved to yesterday
afternoon, the spot where a brilliant toque hat made a splash of
violent red. And under the crimson splash a feminine hand waved
back.
It was a soft, pinkly manicured hand, quite different from Millie’s
not unbeautiful but hard, competent ones. Millie had not failed to
note the contrast when its owner—her name was Florrine—had been
introduced to a lot of the performers by one of the resident
managers of the show after the first afternoon’s contests. Millie had
closely observed the face, too; an oval, olive face, artistically tinted,
with languishing dark eyes. And the clothes.
Miss Florrine wore modish clothes; Millie, even at the moment
when Curly, shaking hands with the city girl, had awkwardly
murmured his delight at meeting her, had realized how they looked
in comparison with her own picturesque but simple working garb. At
the same moment she had sensed that the girl was attracted by
Curly—as who wouldn’t be?—and that Curly was tremendously
flattered and impressed.
Then, not much later, Curly and Miss Florrine had spoken together
at the edge of the group, and Curly, that evening, carefully attired in
his most striking raiment, had left the hotel immediately after dinner
and was still absent when Millie went to bed. The previous day he
had waved toward the red hat instead of at Millie. And now again on
this day.
Millie would be the second on the cowgirl program, and the first
contestant rode out to do her stuff. Millie cinched her horse, which
did not need it, and only half heard the Oklahoma Kid as he came
closer, having observed Curly’s gesture toward the stand as well as
she, and suggested:
“Let’s you and me do a show or something in town tonight. Huh?
Whatya say, Miss Wayne? Let’s.”
Nothing in the world was farther from Millie’s mind than going to a
show or anywhere else with Jack Marling, but she was angry and her
pride was hurt. She and Curly Bratton were not engaged, but
everybody expected them to be. His attention had been solely for
her in half a dozen Western rodeos and chance had again brought
them together at this, one of the first real rodeos, and not a wild-
West show, ever given on the Atlantic seaboard outside New York.
For the first day, Curly had been as attentive to her as ever—and
then he had met that handsome, sophisticated girl of the red hat.
“Huh?” urged the Oklahoma Kid.
“Whatya say, Miss Wayne? A show and some good eats,
somewheres.”
That was precisely what she had promised to do, that night, with
Curly. Promised it on the opening day of the show, before he had
seen the Florrine girl. Millie was conscious, as she straightened, that
Curly was approaching now, on his way to the dressing tents. Just as
he arrived within hearing, “Red” Peeks, the clown, came riding on
his donkey and stopped to pass Curly a .45 caliber pistol.
“Thanky kindly,” the clown said. “No more shootin’ for today and I
won’t need it tomorrow. My own’ll be fixed.”
Dressed for bulldogging and hence with no holster, Curly held the
weapon in his hand as he stopped beside Millie and the Oklahoma
Kid. Curly did not like the Kid, but, more, he did not like to see him
talking to Millie. That he himself was thinking less of her, these days,
than of the girl whose bright headdress set off her olive skin, did not
alter this feeling; man in such matters is not consistent.
He hesitated a second, looked from one to the other and said:
“We got a date tonight, Millie. Will you be ready ’bout seven?”
This casual taking it for granted that he could do what he had
done and not suffer her resentment stirred Millie into cold anger, but
she came of a stock trained not to exhibit emotion and merely
smiled as she replied:
“You must have got your nights mixed, Curly. Because tonight I’ve
got an engagement with Mr. Marling.”
Curly’s face fell almost comically. He stared from her to the
grinning Oklahoma Kid and opened his mouth as though to protest.
Then he swallowed, turned away and walked toward the chutes.
“What time tonight, little one?” Marling asked.
He was staggered by her answer and the flash of her eyes that
accompanied it.
“Not any time,” she said. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Next contestant,” bellowed Foghorn McNamara, “is Miss Millie
Wayne!”
She sprang into her saddle and was off toward the stand, while
Marling, who understood some kinds of women very well but her
kind not at all, gazed open-mouthed after her. Turning, he also
tramped toward the chutes and found Curly Bratton, his face harshly
set, standing a little apart from the other cowboys, waiting.
Curly’s voice was very low and his normal drawl was exaggerated.
“If you’ll excuse me, suh,” he said to Marling, “I’d admire to have
you not meddle wi’ that lady.”
“Well, what the——”
“I don’t want to have no quarrel with you, suh, but there ain’t no
reason why we shouldn’t understand each other. She don’t happen
to know you very well, I reckon, and of course I ain’t the one to tell
her—and I don’t go round shootin’ off any backcapping talk to ladies
or any one else—but she ain’t the kind——”
The Oklahoma Kid recovered from his astonishment.
“You got some nerve, telling me who’ll I’ll take out and who I
won’t take out. If it wasn’t for the rules o’——”
“Sh-h-h, if you please, suh. There ain’t no reason for anybody else
to know——”
Marling raised his voice even louder.
“Anybody in the wide world can know as far as I’m concerned,
hombre! I pick my own girls and my own girls pick me, Millie Wayne
or anybody else.”
The group at the chutes had fallen silent, ears pricked.
Bratton spoke through his teeth, hardly more than a whisper.
“I’d rather you didn’t mention no ladies’ names.”
“Who the blazes are you, to be telling me——”
A shadow fell upon them and Pres Campbell, ex-Texas Ranger,
quietly wheeled his horse. His voice was level but authoritative.
“If you boys got any quarreling to do, wait till after the show. You
know the rule about rowdyism. Well, I’ll enforce it against both of
you if I have to. What’s it all about? If you’re kicking about your
bulldogging time, Marling, you’re plumb wrong. I fined you five
seconds because there wa’n’t no daylight showing between you and
the steer at the dead line, but that didn’t change the result; even if
you hadn’t lost that five seconds Bratton still beat you.”
“Aw, that’s all right, judge,” Marling said.
“And you, Bratton, what you got that gun in your hand for? You
know there’s a rule against carrying a gun except where they’re
called for in the show.”
“I lent it to Red Peeks. His was busted. He just give it back to me.”
“All right. Go put it up. And don’t let me hear any more ruckuses
startin’ on this field.”
Fully master of the rodeo and its contestants, old Pres turned and
cantered back to the center of the field. The Oklahoma Kid had
disappeared into a tent and Curly, with not much time before the
calf-roping event, hastened to his own.
Millie Wayne, unable to sleep, although the cowgirl in bed with her
was piling up strength for the morrow like a child, heard the knock,
not far from midnight, on the door on the next room, heard Pres
Campbell’s quick call of “Who is it?” and the voice of one of the local
rodeo committeemen in the hotel corridor, saying:
“Sorry to wake you up, Mr. Campbell, but one of your men’s been
killed, downtown, and the police have just come and got another
one for doing it.”
“What’s that?” Millie heard Campbell’s feet hit the floor, his room
door open. “Who’s killed? How?”
“Marling. Curly Bratton did it, it seems. Shot him. The cops came
out and found the pistol in his room. Recently fired. They had a
quarrel this afternoon.”
“Come in while I get dressed. I know about that quarrel—it was
over the bulldogging win. At least I thought it was; come to think of
it, I didn’t hear a word of it. Where did they get to fighting? Which
one went after his gun first?”
“It don’t seem to have been a fight,” the local man said. “Marling
was shot in the back of the head.”
Wide-eyed, Millie swung around to sit on the edge of her bed. She
heard Pres Campbell exclaim:
“The thunder he was! I’d ’a’ swore Bratton wa’n’t that kind of a
boy. Does he admit it?”
“No. He says he hasn’t seen Marling since this afternoon’s show.
But he can’t prove where he was this evening. Says he was
downtown till ten o’clock and didn’t see anybody he knew that can
alibi him.”
“Come in,” Pres invited, and she heard the door close.
A murmur of indistinguishable words followed while the Texan
dressed. His close to sixty years had not lost him his habit of taking
command of a situation or his ability to get into his clothes quickly,
and barely five minutes had elapsed before Millie heard his decisive:
“All right, Mr. Taylor. Let’s go!”
She had thrown on a kimono and stood in her doorway as
committeeman and one-time ranger came out.
“Uncle Pres!” she cried. “I couldn’t help hearing. He didn’t do it.”
“How do you know?” the local man demanded, before Campbell
could speak.
“I know him. He’d never shoot anybody from behind.”
“Just what I said,” agreed the ex-ranger. “But what he seems to
need is an alibi. Maybe, if you and he were together any——”
“I haven’t seen him since he went out right after supper, and then
I don’t think he saw me; I just noticed him going through the lobby,”
the girl said. “But it’s nonsense to charge him——”
“He and Marling quarreled this afternoon,” put in Taylor. “Over one
of Mr. Campbell’s decisions.”
Millie knew nothing of the quarrel, of course. She could only say
again, stubbornly:
“But he didn’t do it. You’re going to try to get him out, aren’t you,
Uncle Pres?”
“Going to do everything I can,” the old man replied. “I don’t guess
we’ll be able to get him turned loose tonight, but first thing in the
mawnin’, if we have luck—— You go back to bed, Millie, and get your
sleep. I’ll let you know how things stand first thing in the mawnin’.”
He and Taylor passed down the corridor and were standing at the
elevator when Millie called him back and spoke too low for the local
man to hear.
“Curly never would bring any lady’s name into a thing where it
might get into the newspapers unless he was sure it wouldn’t hurt
her,” she said. “He went—— I don’t know it, but there’s a girl——”
“I’ve sort of suspected there might be, noticing you two the last
day or so,” Campbell remarked dryly. “Wa’n’t none of my business, of
course, but I couldn’t help noticin’. Some city lady, is it?”
“She’s sat in the same place in the grand stand every day, wearing
a red hat——”
“Me, I don’t notice ladies’ hats much,” Pres said. “Maybe, if you
could give me a better description——”
“I was introduced to her, at the same time Curly was. Miss
Florrine, her name is. She’s—she’s very pretty and well-dressed and
city-acting.”
“H’mph!” grunted the ex-ranger. “And boys don’t have sense
enough to know when they’re well off. Any more,” he conceded,
“then they did when I was one. Who is she?”
“I don’t know. Nothing except her name. But if his alibi had to
include her, and for any reason he thought she ought to be
protected, he’d never tell.”
“Florrine,” said Pres. “That isn’t a common name, or hard to
remember. When I get to see him, I’ll know what to ask about.”
In the detective room at police headquarters, while Taylor
remained discreetly silent, Pres Campbell met a character new in his
experience—the plain-clothes man promoted from pounding a beat,
who had never been outside a big city, never wanted to be, and
oozed contempt for every one and everything that was not
metropolitan.
“You bozos with big hats,” he remarked heavily, “think you can get
away with murder. Nothing to it, mister; nothing to it. This Bratton
guy did it and we’ve got him. You and your gang of cowboys can’t
come into this town and pull your rough stuff.”
They were walking slowly and now became conscious that footsteps
behind them were quickening. As they turned a corner and passed
out of sight of the police headquarters entrance, a husky voice called
cautiously:
“Go on past that street light and stop.”
Campbell, over his shoulder, recognized a thickset, elderly man as
having been one of the audience during his interview with Detective
Moore.
Taylor whispered: “Detective Graney. One of the old-timers on the
force.”
They stopped in the shadow halfway down the block and Graney
came ponderously heavy-footed to stand beside them.
“Kind of a raw deal Moore give you, back there,” he remarked. “He
don’t know nothing about folks from Texas, Moore don’t.”
“Do you, suh?” Campbell asked courteously.
“Well, a little,” replied the detective. “And here all I pounded after
you guys for was because I got kinda used to Texas fellas in the
Spanish War, and most of ’em that I run into was good sports.” He
added, ingeniously: “And because this Moore—you don’t need to go
repeating it, either of you, though it ain’t any secret to him I think so
—is a bonehead, right.”
“He didn’t seem to consult the rest of you much,” Pres remarked
tactfully.
“He never does; he knows it all himself,” said Graney. “It ain’t like
he was the chief, you know. It just happens, the chief being out of
town and the cap’n off duty tonight, that he’s sitting in at the top.”
Graney concluded bitterly:
“He’s a wise guy—I don’t think.”
The ex-ranger wasted no time seeking to learn what ancient
departmental feud between Graney and Moore might be at the
bottom of this bitterness, but asked practically:
“What can we do, friend?”
“What,” inquired the detective, “do you want to do—short of
getting your man out?”
“I want to talk with him—and I want to see the man that was
killed.”
“Fair enough,” Graney commented. “We’ll do the second thing first
—over at the morgue. After that we’ll come back and you can see
Bratton in his cell.” He explained this order of procedure by saying:
“Moore goes off duty at two o’clock. The fella that takes charge then
don’t like him much more’n I do.”
Taylor at this point intimated that morgues had never entered into
his life and he hoped they never would. Campbell was entirely willing
to excuse him from further participation in the night’s wanderings.
The ex-ranger and Detective Graney, presently, were viewing the
body of the reckless and once handsome Oklahoma Kid, awaiting the
official autopsy that would take place in the morning.
“Listen, judge,” said Curly. “From the minute she ’lowed she was
going to eat with Jack Marling, I’ve been looking at things different.
I don’t s’pose she could understand that starting right out to try to
find another lady was a sort of—a sort of getting square, as you
might say.”
“I don’t suppose she could—not right away,” Pres replied. “But
time and good fruits of repentance has given her confidence in many
a hawse that was a right bad bronc when she first forked him. So
long, son! Don’t go to frettin’ too much—about anything.”
Out on the street again, Campbell said to Graney:
“What sort of place is that Monaco Cabaret?”
“Bum!” the detective answered. “But prosperous. The gang that
hangs out there has plenty money, these days.”
“Bootleggers among ’em, maybe?”
“And hijackers and a few other things. And sports that like to
travel with ’em.”
“Just between ourselves, did you ever hear of a young lady named
Pearl Florrine?”
“‘The Red Pearl?’” Graney replied promptly. “Some stepper!”
“Red?”
“Fits her two or three ways. For one thing, she always wears it.
Another, she trains with Reds, anarchists, or communists or sump’n
—I don’t pretend to know just which kind they belong to. Her
regular married name is Ricotti, although Angelo don’t go by it.”
“Angelo?”
“Her husband. He calls his last name ‘Rich.’ ‘Quick’ Rich is how the
gang knows him. Got it—though we’ve never been able to convict
him—by his speed in pulling a gat.”
“A gunman?”
“Sure. What’s all this got——”
“Where is he?”
“He’s been out o’ town the last week or so, but I seen a report
from one of our railroad station men that he got back, unexpected,
about six o’clock tonight—last night, I mean; it’s morning now.”
“Mr. Graney,” promised Campbell with confidence, “you take me to
Angelo Ricotti, and think up a good way to get him mad and
talkative, and I’ll give you a laugh on Mr. Detective Moore that he
won’t get over till Texas is annexed back to Mexico.”
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the
terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or
expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or
a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original
“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must
include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in
paragraph 1.E.1.
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive
from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.F.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,