In Sanctuary Ruby worked in New York during the First World War; according to her, the city was "full of soldiers with money to spend" (278). The "New York Port of Embarkation" - the first officially designated embarkation point for soldiers and supplies sent to Europe - included Hoboken and Brooklyn.
These soldiers in Sanctuary - presumably cavalrymen like Lee Goodwin - are returning to San Francisco from their deployment in the Philippines when Ruby asks them about what has happened to Lee. When she lets one of them pick her up, he paws her drunkenly while telling her about Lee killing another soldier in a fight over "that nigger woman" (277). American forces were first sent to the Philippines in 1898 to fight the Spanish, but soon were fighting against Philippine nationalists. The Philippines were an American territory from 1898 to 1946.
In Sanctuary, when Popeye is jailed in the unnamed Alabama town for murder, this group of men - referred to as "they" but presumably some combination of local policemen and the jailers - talk about how he'll send for his lawyer (310). It is also "they" who take Popeye to the place of his execution, and "adjust the rope" around his neck, "breaking his hair loose" (315).
In the hours before Popeye's execution in Sanctuary, this minister prays for him several times, and repeatedly tries without success to get Popeye to pray for himself.
Before finding Popeye guilty, the faceless jury in Alabama that hears the case against him in Sanctuary deliberates for "eight minutes" (312). "Eight minutes" is exactly how long it takes the jury in Jefferson to decide that Lee Goodwin is guilty too - also for a crime he did not commit (291).
In Sanctuary only one of the three town boys - young men from Oxford instead of the university - who spend time with Gowan is named. This entry represents the one whom the narrative refers to as "the third" (30). Of the three, he seems the least affected either by all they drink or by the way Gowan boasts about his status as a "gentleman" (34).
