Case of the Beautiful Beggar

Chapter 16

Marvin Mosher, one of the leading trial deputies of the district attorney’s office, addressed Judge Linden Kyle, who had just taken the bench.

“May I make an opening statement, if the Court please?”

“It is not usual at a preliminary hearing,” Judge Kyle said.

“I understand, Your Honor, but the purpose of a preliminary opening statement is so that the Court may understand the purpose of the testimony which is being elicited and coordinate that testimony into the whole picture.”

“We have no objection,” Mason said.

“Go ahead,” Judge Kyle said, “but I suggest you be brief. A trial judge becomes rather adept at coordinating testimony.”

“Very well,” Mosher announced, “I will present the matter in a very brief summary.”

“The defendant, Daphne Shelby, thought until a few days ago that she was the niece of Horace Shelby, a man of some seventy-five years of age.

“She had acted as this man’s niece and, as the evidence will show, had ingratiated herself with him and was on the point of using that relationship to secure a very material financial advantage.

“It was at this point Shelby’s half brother, Borden Finchley, and his wife, Elinor, accompanied by a friend, came to call on Horace Shelby. They were shocked at what they found, the extent to which this young woman had ingratiated herself and the extent to which Horace Shelby had become dependent upon her.”

“Now, just a minute,” Judge Kyle interrupted, “you say that the defendant thought she was the niece of Horace Shelby?”

“That is correct, Your Honor. I am coming-to that, if the Court will bear with me.”

“Go right ahead. The Court is interested in this.”

“The Finchley’s suggested that the defendant take a three month vacation, that they would take care of Horace Shelby while she was gone and take charge of the household affairs. The defendant was quite rundown, and, in fairness to her, we should state that she had been very solicitous in her care of the man with whom she was living as a niece, a very devoted niece

“The defendant was given ample funds to take a trip to the Orient on shipboard. She was to be gone three months.

“While she was gone, the Finchley’s learned not only that Horace Shelby intended to make her tle sole beneficiary under his will, but that he had been giving the defendant large sums of money and was preparing to give her even larger sums of money.”

“What do you mean, large sums of money?” Judge Kyle asked.

“The last amount, the one which triggered the action on the part of the Finchleys, was a check for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“For how much?” Judge Kyle asked.

“A hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.”

“Was this woman his niece?”

“She was not Your Honor. She was a complete stranger to the blood. She was the daughter of Horace Shelby’s former housekeeper, a daughter by an affair which had taken place at the other end of the continent.

“I will state in the defendant’s favor, however, that she in good faith, thought Horace Shelby was her uncle. He had led her so to believe.”

“And the mother?” Judge Kyle asked.

“Her mother had passed away a relatively short time ago. She had been Horace Shelby’s housekeeper for some twenty years.

“The Finchley’s found that Horace Shelby had deteriorated mentally, that he had exaggerated ideas as to what he considered his duty toward the defendant, that the defendant was carrying on a course which could well strip this rather elderly man of every cent he had in the world. And when the Finchley’s found that Horace Shelby was giving this young woman a check for a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars, they went to court and asked that a conservator be appointed.”

“That is quite understandable,” Judge Kyle said, looking curiously at Daphne.

“When Daphne returned from the Orient,” Mosher went on, “and found that the fortune that she expected to inherit within a short time was being placed beyond her grasp, she became furious. Horace Shelby, at the time, had been placed in a sanitarium for treatment.

“Daphne Shelby secured employment in that institution, using an assumed name and taking a job as a domestic for just long enough to surreptitiously aid Horace Shelby in making an escape. She took him to a motel known as the Northern Lights Motel. She placed him in Unit 21.

“From that day on, if the Court please, none of the real relatives of Horace Shelby have seen him or heard from him. The police were and are unable to find him. Horace Shelby, with the connivance of this defendant, vanished into thin air after making a will leaving everything to this defendant. He may well be dead.

“Moreover, and by the use of an ingenious fraud perpetrated upon the Court, and despite the appointment of a conservator, the defendant managed to get her hands on fifty thousand dollars of Horace Shelby’s funds.

“The decedent, Bosley Cameron, alias Ralph Exeter, was a friend of the Finchleys, and as such, familiar with the facts. It appears that in some way Exeter traced Horace Shelby to the Northern Lights Motel. The evidence will indicate that the defendant lured Exeter into the room occupied by Horace Shelby at a time shortly after Horace Shelby had left the place.

“The defendant went to a nearby Chinese restaurant, secured food in containers and, using the bottom of a glass toothbrush container as a pestle, and a tumbler in the motel as a mortar, ground up sleeping pills which had been given her to take on her trip in case she became unduly nervous.

“She placed this barbiturate in the food which was given Exeter, and after Exeter became unconscious, left him in the motel after first deliberately unscrewing the gas feed pipe which went to a vented heating appliance in the unit.

“Exeter’s body was found when a neighboring tenant smelled gas. He was quite dead. Death had apparently been due to the gas, but he had first been rendered unconscious by the barbiturate.

“This young woman then went to the Hollander-Heath Hotel, and when officers traced her there, hurriedly swallowed some barbiturates of the same brand as those which had been administered to Ralph Exeter, telling the officers a concocted story about how some chocolate she had taken had been poisoned.

“The obvious purpose of this was to lead the officers to believe that some third person had administered the poison to Ralph Exeter.

“Now. I would like to state to the Court that the reason this case is being prosecuted at this time is because of recent decisions of our higher courts aimed at protecting the innocent, but which unduly complicate the duties of a prosecutor and of the police.

“This young woman has refused to co-operate with us. She has refused to answer questions without her attorney being present. Her attorney has advised her to make no statement in regard to certain key matters, and, as a result, we are left with no alternative but to marshal the evidence that we have and present our case to the Court.

“We wish to call the Court’s attention to a matter which is, of course, elemental. At this time we only need to show that a crime has been committed and to show reasonable grounds for believing that the defendant perpetrated the crime. In that event, the Court is duty bound to hold the defendant for trial in the higher court.”

Mosher sat down.

Judge Kyle said, “If the proof bears out the statement, there is certainly no doubt that the Court should bind the defendant over for trial.

“This Court has frequently announced that some of the recent decisions protecting the rights of defendants sometimes boomerang and force the authorities to take official action, whereas if the authorities had more time for a detailed investigation such formal action might have been spared.

“However,” and here Judge Kyle smiled, “this Court has no authority to overrule decisions of our higher tribunals. You may proceed with the case.”

“May I make an opening statement?” Mason asked.

“Why, yes, if you desire,” Judge Kyle said, “although this is entirely unusual.”

Mason said, “The evidence will show that the Finchley’s had for years taken no interest in Horace Shelby. When they learned, however, that Shelby had become comparatively wealthy, they came to visit him and on finding that Shelby had made a will, or intended to make a will leaving his property to the defendant, they hustled the defendant off to the Orient and in the three months that they had Horace Shelby under their control, exasperated him to such a point that the man was desperate.

“Learning of their intentions to railroad him into a sanitarium, Shelby tried to get a substantial part of his fortune in the form of cash out from under the control of the Finchley’s so that he would have some money with which to fight the case as he saw fit. He therefore asked the defendant to take charge of that money.

“She tried to do so, but was prevented by an order of the Court appointing a conservator.

“As to the fifty thousand dollars which the prosecutor would have the Court believe the defendant had secured by artifice and fraud, the money was secured legally and through my efforts. It was given to the defendant, and she, in turn, gave the bulk of that money to Horace Shelby so that he would be able to spend his own funds.

“We expect to show that Ralph Exeter was a professional gambler indebted to other gamblers that the Finchley’s were, in turn, indebted to him, and that Exeter was the driving force behind this situation, suggesting to-the Finchley’s that they use their connection and relationship to Horace Shelby to raise immediate money.

“We expect to show, at least by circumstantial evidence, that Ralph Exeter found where Horace Shelby was located that Exeter made demands upon him, offering to let Shelby keep his liberty in return for a substantial cash payment.

“We expect to show that Shelby mashed up some sleeping pills which had been given him by the defendant, put them in food which was given Exeter for the sole purpose of enabling Shelby to escape from the clutches of his over-solicitous relatives.

“It is our contention that after the defendant had left the motel after the departure of Horace Shelby, while Ralph Exeter was asleep in the room, someone disconnected the gas pipe and asphyxiated Exeter.”

“You can prove this?” Judge Kyle asked.

“We can prove it,” Mason said.

Judge Kyle was thoughtful for a few moments, then said to Mosher, “Very well, put on your proof.”

Mosher called witness after witness, building an ironclad case of circumstantial evidence.

Dr. Tillman Baxter identified Daphne told of how she had applied for a job how she had enabled Horace Shelby to escape.

He described Shelby’s condition in technical terms. He was, he explained, suffering from the first definite stage of senile dementia that the Court had appointed a doctor. Dr. Grantland Alma, to examine Horace Shelby that that examination was to have taken place on the afternoon of the day when Shelby had been spirited from his institution.

Dr. Baxter said he had been looking forward to having his diagnosis confirmed by an independent psychiatrist, but that the action of the defendant in enabling Horace Shelby to escape had foreclosed any opportunity to learn of the man’s actual condition.

Lieutenant Tragg told of finding Ralph Exeter, also known as Bosley Cameron, dead in the motel unit at the Northern Lights. He had found in the room a glass tumbler. In the glass tumbler was the glass container in which new toothbrushes are sold. This had been used as a pestle in grinding up pills which were identified as sleeping pills of a trade name known as Somniferone that these were the same pills which were subsequently taken by the defendant in the hotel at a time when her attorney visited her, apparently to warn her of the impending visit of the officers.

Lieutenant Tragg gleefully described the manner in which the malingering of the defendant had been exposed by her own attorney, who was putting her in what she thought was a tub of lukewarm water but was actually ice cold.

Tragg was temporarily withdrawn. A clerk in a drugstore near the Northern Lights Motel identified the glass toothbrush container as being similar to the container in which a toothbrush of a certain standard brand was marketed. He identified the defendant as having stopped in his store earlier that day and purchasing a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush and comb, a safety razor and shaving cream, and a small plastic bag in which they could be carried. She had explained that her uncle had lost all of his baggage and needed these articles immediately.

The waitress at the Chinese restaurant identified Daphne as being the person who had purchased Chinese food in containers to take out, explaining that she was getting the food for her uncle who was very fond of Chinese food.

The waitress described the manner in which Daphne had waited while the food was being prepared. She was, the waitress said, exceedingly nervous.

Mason listened to these witnesses with a detached air of idle curiosity, as though their testimony not only related to some matter in which he had no interest, but that the testimony itself was immaterial. He didn’t bother to cross-examine any of the witnesses until Lieutenant Tragg had returned to the stand and finished his testimony. Then Mason arose and smiled affably at the police officer.

“You say the pipe which connected the gas heater to the gas supply had been unscrewed, Lieutenant?”

“Yes.”

“And you gave it as your conclusion that this had been done after the decedent had become unconscious from the barbiturates?”

“As an investigating officer, I felt that was a reasonable interpretation,” Lieutenant Tragg said. “The autopsy bears this out with indisputable proof.

“I took into consideration that the unscrewing of such a pipe would be accompanied by considerable noise, and Exeter could hardly have been expected to sit idly by while the preparations for his death were being carried out.”

“Unless, of course, he had committed suicide,” Mason said.

Lieutenant Tragg smiled a triumphant smile. “If he committed suicide, Mr. Mason, he disposed of the weapon, and when we find a missing weapon we usually discount the theory of suicide.”

“Weapon?” Mason asked.

“A small pipe wrench,” Lieutenant Tragg said. “The gas pipe had been joined to the heater so that there would be no leak, and it took a pipe wrench to loosen a three-inch section of the connecting pipe. There was no wrench in the room.”

“Ah, yes,” Mason said, affably, “I was coming to that, Lieutenant. You’ve anticipated the point I was going to make. It took a pipe wrench to loosen the gas feed line?”

“Yes, indeed.”

“In order to prevent leaks, these lines are customarily screwed up very tight?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sometimes with a compound which furnishes a seal and prevents leakage?”

“That’s right.”

“And in order to loosen this pipeline, it took considerable force, did it not?”

Tragg avoided the trap. “Quite a bit of force,” he admitted, “but nothing that a reasonably strong young woman in good health couldn’t have done, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“That’s not what I’m getting at, Lieutenant,” Mason said. “The point is that a pipe wrench has to bite into the pipe in order to get a firm enough hold in order to unscrew the pipe.”

“That’s right.”

“Now, these pipe wrenches have jaws with sharp ridges on them so that when pressure is applied to the handle the jaws tighten and the corrugations or ridges on the jaw bite into the pipe enough to keep the pipe from slipping. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And it is because you found indentations in this pipe that you knew it had been loosened with a pipe wrench?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now then, did you photograph these marks on the pipe, Lieutenant?”

“Photograph them?”

“That’s right.”

“No, sir, why should I have photographed them?”

“Did you then disconnect the pipe so that it could be used as evidence?”

“Certainly not. Gas was escaping. We reconnected the pipe just as promptly as possible.”

“But you did notice these marks on the pipe?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Didn’t it occur to you, Lieutenant, that those marks which were on the pipe might be very significant?”

“Certainly, it did. They were significant in that they showed a pipe wrench had been used, and that’s the extent of their significance.”

“Did you,” Mason asked, “examine those marks under a microscope?”

“I did not.”

“Under a magnifying glass?”

“No, sir.”

“You knew, did you not, Lieutenant, that in the case of chisels or knives being used on wood it quite frequently happens that some blemish in the blade leaves an imprint in the wood so that the instrument used can be identified?”

“Certainly, anyone knows that.”

“But did you also realize, Lieutenant, that on some of these pipe wrenches one of the ridges on the jaws becomes damaged or nicked so that that wrench leaves an indelible identifying mark upon any pipe on which it may be used?”

Lieutenant Tragg’s face showed that he suddenly realized the point that Mason was making and its significance.

“We didn’t remove the pipe,” he admitted. “It’s still there in its original condition.”

“It has, however, been screwed back into the appliance?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And as of this date, Lieutenant, you don’t know whether there were any distinctive markings in the indentations on that pipe which would give an indication of the wrench that had been used in unscrewing it?”

Lieutenant Tragg shifted his position, then finally said, “I will admit, Mr. Mason, that you have a point there. I don’t know. I will also admit that perhaps the better practice would have been to have examined those markings carefully under a microscope. I have always tried to be fair. The investigation of a crime is frequently a scientific matter. I will admit in this case it would have been better practice to have examined those indentations with a magnifying glass, and in the event any distinctive marks had been found, to have photographed them.”

“Thank you very much for a very impartial statement, Lieutenant Tragg. I have always appreciated your integrity, and I now appreciate your fairness. I have no further questions.”

Judge Kyle said, “Well, gentlemen, it seems we have covered a lot of ground today. I assume that the case can be finished in a few hours tomorrow?”

“I would think so,” the deputy district attorney said.

“Very well,” Judge Kyle said, “it’s the hour of the evening adjournment and Court will adjourn until tomorrow morning at nine-thirty. The defendant is-remanded. Court’s adjourned.”