Mr. Scratch Quotes in The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Mr. Scratch: You shall have your trial, Mr. Webster. But I'm sure you'll agree, this is hardly the case for an ordinary jury.

Daniel Webster: Let it be the quick or the dead, so long as it is an American judge and an American jury!

Mr. Scratch: 'The quick or the dead!' You have said it.

[he stomps on the barn floor; a door opens]

Mr. Scratch: You must pardon the leathery toughness of one or two.

Jabez Stone: [afraid] Mr. Webster!

[a line of ghosts begin entering from the trapdoor]

Mr. Scratch: Captain Kidd - he killed men for gold. Simon Girty, the renegade - he burned men for gold. Governor Dale - he broke men on the wheel. Asa, the Black Monk - he choked them to death. Floyd Ireson and Stede Bonnet, the fiendish butchers. Walter Butler, King of the Massacre. Big and Little Harp, robbers and murderers. Teach, the Cutthroat. Morton, the vicious lawyer... and General Benedict Arnold. You remember him, no doubt.

Daniel Webster: A jury of the damned...

Mr. Scratch: [laughs] Dastards, liars, traitors, knaves. Your suggestion, Mr. Webster - 'the quick or the dead.'

Daniel Webster: This is outrageous, I asked for a fair trial...

Mr. Scratch: Americans, all.

[Webster is examing the contract Mr. Scratch has with Stone]

Daniel Webster: This appears - mind you, I say appears - to be properly drawn. But you shan't have this man. A man isn't a piece of property. Mr. Stone is an American citizen... and an American citizen cannot be forced into the service of a foreign prince.

Mr. Scratch: Foreign? Who calls me a foreigner?

Daniel Webster: Well, I never heard of the de... I never heard of you claiming American citizenship.

Mr. Scratch: And who has a better right? When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on the deck. Am I not still spoken of in every church in New England? It's true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I'm neither. Tell the truth, Mr. Webster - though I don't like to boast of it - my name is older in the country than yours.

Daniel Webster: Then I stand on the Constitution. I demand a trial for my client.

Mr. Scratch: You mean a jury trial?

Daniel Webster: I do! And if I can't win this case with a jury you'll have me, too. If two New Hampshire men aren't a match for the devil, we better give the country back to the Indians.

Daniel Webster: Oh, it's you again. What do you want?

Mr. Scratch: Well, with the presidential election coming up, I thought I could be of some help, sir.

Daniel Webster: I'd rather see you on the side of the opposition.

Mr. Scratch: Oh, I'll be there, too.

Mr. Scratch: You'll never be president - I'll see to that!

Mr. Scratch: [Jabez, after noticing that one of Mr. Scratch's victims is now the size of a fly, asks him how big their souls are] Oh, I see what you mean; why, they vary... Now, in your case, I could probably keep you in my vest pocket.

[Jabez Stone is examining Mr. Scratch's contract]

Jabez Stone: What does it mean here, about my soul?

Mr. Scratch: Why should that worry you? A soul? A soul is nothing. Can you see it, smell it, touch it? No. This soul, *your* soul, are nothing against seven years of good luck. You'll have money and all that money can buy.

Jabez Stone: You promised me happiness, love, and friendship!

Mr. Scratch: Just a minute. I promised you money and all that money could buy. I don't recall any other obligations.

Mr. Scratch: [whispering to Webster while he writes his speech] Listen, Black Daniel, you're wasting your time writing speeches like that. Why worry about the people and their problems? Think of your own. You want to be president of this country, don't you? And you ought to be! Inauguration Day parade: Bands playing, horses prancing, the sun shining on the stars and stripes waving in the breeze, crowds cheering 'Daniel Webster, President of the United States of America!' Don't be a fool. Stop bothering with that speech and get busy promoting yourself...

Daniel Webster: BE STILL!

Mr. Scratch: [reading from his list] Sherwin, Slaterly, Stevens - I can cross him off the list, he's an old customer...

[something like a moth flies out of his handkerchief toward Jabez]

Miser Stevens' Voice: [faint] Help me, Jabez Stone! Help me!

Jabez Stone: That's Miser Stevens' voice!

Mr. Scratch: [catching it] Miser Stevens' soul, I'm sorry for the disturbance.

Jabez Stone: But he isn't dead, he's dancing! He's in there!

Mr. Scratch: He was.

[Jabez runs into the ballroom and sees Stevens' body stretched out]

Mr. Scratch: In the midst of life, one really hates to close these long standing accounts. But, business is business.