Thomas Rhodes

Flossie Cabanis

Flossie Cabanis was Thomas Rhodes' mistress, their affair marked by secrecy and social hypocrisy.

Judge Somers

Judge Somers and Thomas Rhodes were corrupt political allies who manipulated the town's legal and financial systems.

Kinsey Keene

Kinsey Keene was a business associate of Thomas Rhodes, involved in shady land deals.

Jack McGuire

Jack McGuire was a working-class antagonist who resented Thomas Rhodes' wealth and power.

John Allen

John Allen opposed Thomas Rhodes' political corruption, leading to bitter enmity.

Minerva Jones

Minerva Jones was a poor, abused woman whom Thomas Rhodes ignored or exploited as part of the town's elite.

Jack McGuire

Jack McGuire was a working-class antagonist who resented Thomas Rhodes' wealth and power.

Kinsey Keene

Kinsey Keene was a business associate of Thomas Rhodes, involved in shady land deals.

Spoon River Anthology

A prominent figure whose epitaph reveals his manipulative control over the town's institutions and his hypocritical public piety.

Kinsey Keene

President of the bank; directly called out by Kinsey Keene.

“Butch” Weldy

Referred to as 'Old Rhodes'; his son is the employer who avoids paying damages due to the fellow-servant rule.

Jack McGuire

Bank wrecker; the legal case against him was traded for McGuire's lighter sentence.

Nicholas Bindle

Deacon Rhodes, who broke and all but ruined Nicholas Bindle, yet was celebrated in church after his acquittal.

Sexsmith the Dentist

Implied as the beneficiary of closing down the poker room and bar, gaining increased sales of shoes, blankets, and other goods.

Barry Holden

The farm is mortgaged to Thomas Rhodes, adding to Barry Holden's financial desperation.

Mrs. George Reece

President of the bank whose actions caused its fall, leading to Mrs. Reece's husband's imprisonment.

Thomas Ross, Jr.

The narrator of this chapter, who reflects on his own downfall after overcoming his lower nature.

Judge Selah Lively

Selah Lively became his attorney, collecting notes and mortgages and representing widows in Probate Court.

Thomas Rhodes

Speaker of the chapter; contrasts his own self-contained, gold-hoarding nature with the intellectual chaos of others.

Ida Chicken

Mentioned as being on the train to Peoria; the Federal Judge's ruling exempts him from paying taxes for the Spoon River water works.

Elsa Wertman

Thomas Greene is the employer who sexually assaults Elsa Wertman and later gives his wife a farm to keep silent about the affair.

Adam Weirauch

Mentioned as 'Editor Whedon' of the Spoon River Argus, who denounced Altgeld and was appointed Canal Commissioner instead of Weirauch.

Eugene Carman

Eugene Carman's employer and the dominant figure in Spoon River, who runs the store, church, and bank, enforcing a life of servitude.

Clarence Fawcett

Old Rhodes accuses Clarence Fawcett of stealing blankets, extracts a confession under false promises of mercy, and then ensures the story is published to make an example of him.

Ralph Rhodes

Ralph's father, the banker, who was complicit in the wheat scheme but couldn't margin the deal in his own name due to his church relationship.

Thomas Trebelyan

Mentioned as a resident of Spoon River, though not directly referenced in this chapter.

Felix Schmidt

Implied as the attorney for Thomas Rhodes, though not directly named; the legal system he represents enables Dallman's victory.

E. C. Culbertson

Mentioned as one of the faces on the bronze tablet in the New Court House, receiving credit for the building.

Hildrup Tubbs

Referenced as the owner of the bankrupt bank whose carcass Tubbs attaches himself to.

Henry Phipps

The real power behind the wagon works and canning factory, for whom Phipps acted as dummy president.

Plymouth Rock Joe

Addressed as the 'cock of the walk,' representing local political dominance.

The Spooniad

Ruler of the church and bank, disapproves of Flossie Cabanis and leads the conservative opposition.