Character Analysis
Sam's Co-Conspirator
Bill is, to put it nicely, a doormat. He's eager to help, happy to do as he's told and he trusts Sam to do what's best for the plan, Bill has stood by Sam's side through "earthquakes, fire and flood—in poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train robberies and cyclones" (48). That means he cheerfully pays for all of Sam's "great" ideas in various horrible ways. Still, he always comes back for more, stubbornly believing in Sam's plans and willing to eat the consequences, come what may.
Unfortunately, that means he gets to suffer all the slings and arrows that result when things go wrong. He endures everything in the story with a quiet frenzied terror before finally begging Sam to take the deal at the end and bring his suffering to a close.
'What's two hundred and fifty dollars, after all? We've got the money. One more night of this kid will send me to a bed in Bedlam.' (91)
As a character, Bill's a fairly standard trope for comedy: the put upon dupe who suffers for everyone else's sins. And that too is something we've all been through. We all have that friend who talks us into a really bad idea, then leaves us alone to pay the price. Bill's the guy who likes making everyone happy, sometimes at his own expense. We connect with Bill in that way, which makes the comedy work all the better.