The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

Chapter number 16

Perry Mason’s interview with the newspaper reporters brought instant response.

Sidney Hardwick, as the attorney who had represented Benjamin Addicks during his lifetime, and as attorney for the executor of the estate, promptly denounced Mason’s interview as “sheer wishful thinking, an attempt to cloud the issues, a fevered imagination desperately seeking some way of escape for a desperate client.”

District Attorney Hamilton Burger characterized it more sharply. “An attempt to squirm out from under by blackening the reputation of a dead girl who is no longer able to defend herself. A dastardly, despicable, last-minute attempt conceived in deceit, born in desperation, and ultimately destined to crucify his client.”

Mason, with the newspapers tucked under his arm, walked into court to attend the preliminary hearing in the case of People versus Josephine Kempton.

James Etna, moving up alongside, said in a low voice, “I think we won’t have any trouble getting a continuance, Mr. Mason.”

“Who wants a continuance?” Mason asked.

“Good heavens, we don’t want to go to trial the way things are now, do we?”

“We may not want to go to trial,” Mason said, “but I’m perfectly willing to hear what they have to say by way of evidence in a preliminary hearing.”

“Well, you’re the boss,” Etna told him. “I know that the district attorney really wants a continuance, but, of course, he wants the defendant to ask for it.”

Judge Mundy took his place on the bench. The court was called to order.

“People versus Kempton,” Judge Mundy called.

“The defense is ready,” Mason said.

District Attorney Burger’s face showed surprised irritation. “I had understood that the defendant wanted a continuance, and the prosecution was prepared to stipulate that a continuance would be granted.”

“I don’t know what gave you that understanding,” Mason said.

“I received that understanding from a conversation with someone who had been talking with James Etna, your associate counsel.”

“Did you indeed?” Mason told him. “Just who was this person and what did he say?”

“I prefer not to divulge the source of my information.”

Mason said, “I have made no request for a continuance and I’m quite certain Mr. Etna didn’t.”

“I didn’t say that he made a request for a continuance.”

“The defense is entitled to proceed if it wishes,” Judge Mundy ruled.

“We’re prepared to go ahead,” Hamilton Burger said sullenly.

“Very well, proceed.”

Burger called one of the radio officers who had answered the call to Stonehenge as his first witness. The officer described conditions as he had found them, told about the night watchman running around with a gun, the dogs having a gorilla up a tree, two more gorillas roaming loose in the house, about the cages, the discovery of the body in the upstairs room, the resulting trouble that ensued in trying to corral the huge gorillas.

Finally, with the aid of two experts from the zoo, some drugged fruit, and by utilizing the combined services of the police and fire departments, the apes were returned to their cages shortly before daylight.

“Cross-examine,” the district attorney said.

Mason smiled.

“No questions.”

Burger called one of the radio officers who had seen Mason and Mrs. Kempton, as he expressed it, “fleeing down Rose Street.” Later on they were joined by Della Street. He had, he stated, advised them that they would have to go to headquarters for questioning.

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

Mason said, “I believe I understood you to state that the defendant and I were fleeing down Rose Street.”

“Yes, sir, that’s what I said.”

“And you put us in an automobile?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How did you know we were fleeing?”

“I could tell it by your manner, the high speed at which you were walking, the way you were looking back.”

“I see,” Mason said. “Now then, shortly after you placed us in the automobile you fled to police headquarters, didn’t you?”

“I did what?”

“You fled to police headquarters.”

“I took you to police headquarters.”

“You left behind you the scene of pandemonium, the elements of danger. You left behind you the house with the gorillas running loose, the dogs barking, the sirens sounding.”

“I did that because I was under orders.”

“But you fled, didn’t you?”

“I did not.”

“You were leaving the scene of all this commotion?”

“I had to leave it to get you to police headquarters.”

“And yet, despite the fact that you weren’t fleeing, you did look back over your shoulder several times, didn’t you?”

“Well, I glanced in the rear view mirror two or three times and...”

“And did look back over your shoulder?”

“I believe I may have done so — very briefly.”

“Certainly,” Mason said. “It would necessarily have been quite briefly because you were driving a car, but you did look back over your shoulder several times.”

“Oh, perhaps I did. I’ll say I did.”

“You don’t remember?”

“I don’t remember definitely.”

“Yet you’ll state that, to quote your exact words, ‘I’ll say I did.’ ”

“That’s right. I’ll concede you the point.”

“You’re now ready to swear that you did? You’re testifying that you did?”

“Yes!” the witness shouted.

“Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger protested to Judge Mundy, “I think this has been asked and answered a dozen times.”

“I’m inclined to think so,” the judge said.

“I just wanted to get it straight,” Mason said. “I wanted Your Honor to understand the attitude of this witness. He has no recollection of having turned around and looked back over his shoulder, but he is willing to say that he did do so simply because he might have done so. He is now swearing positively that he did something of which he has no real recollection. It shows the attitude of the witness.”

“I told you I’d say that I did turn and look over my shoulder.”

“But you don’t have any recollection of having done so.”

“All right,” the officer said belligerently, “I now have a recollection of having done so.”

“When did that definite recollection come to you?”

“Just now.”

“Then when you testified under oath that you had no definite recollection of having looked back, you hadn’t thought of it?”

“That’s right.”

“So you answered that question without thinking?”

“Yes.”

“In other words, you talk faster than you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“And why did you look back if you weren’t fleeing?” Mason asked.

“Simply a matter of curiosity. When you hear a commotion like that and know that apes are running around, it’s only natural to turn back and see what’s happening as you leave the scene.”

“Then as I now understand your testimony,” Mason said, “there was nothing that would indicate that the defendant and I were fleeing from the place.”

“I’ve said there was.”

“What?”

“You were turning back and looking over your shoulder — now, wait a minute. You were doing it different from the way I was doing it.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, I could tell from the way you acted that something was wrong.”

“You could tell something was wrong as soon as you got close enough to hear the sirens, couldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So,” Mason said, “you want the court to understand that while it is only perfectly natural for you to look back and see what is happening when you are leaving a scene of that sort, when the defendant and I do it, it is evidence of flight.”

“There was something in your attitude.”

“What?”

“I’ve already described it.”

Mason held up his left hand, extended one forefinger. “First,” he said, “you said we were walking rapidly. Two, you said that we kept looking back over our shoulders. Now what else did we do?”

“That’s all. That’s enough.”

“All right, when you left the place,” Mason said, “you were driving rapidly, weren’t you?”

“That’s different.”

“Were you or weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And,” Mason said, “you looked back over your shoulder repeatedly, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“You know that you did?”

“Yes.”

“You now have an independent recollection of having done it?”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t have that recollection when you first testified?”

“Of course I did.”

“Then,” Mason said, “you were trying to keep from admitting it.”

“I saw the trap you were laying for me. I’m not as dumb as all that.”

“Thank you,” Mason said. “I merely wanted the court to see your attitude. That’s all.”

Hamilton Burger conferred briefly with his trial deputy, a bright young lawyer named Ginsberg, who, during the past few months, had won a series of spectacular courtroom victories, and as a result had been placed in charge of the trial deputies who handled preliminary examinations.

Hamilton Burger’s presence as consultant to his trial deputy was a tribute to Mason’s skill as a dangerous antagonist.

Following the whispered conference, Ginsberg called the matron of the jail.

The matron testified that she had received the defendant, Josephine Kempton, in the female wing of the institution, that she had taken Mrs. Kempton’s clothes from her, had given her a temporary uniform, and had delivered the clothes to Philip Groton, the police toxicologist and technician.

“Now then,” Ginsberg asked, “did you make any examination of the defendant’s body?”

“I did. Yes, sir.”

“In what way?”

“She stripped to the skin and took a shower. I inspected every inch of her body.”

“What were you looking for?”

“Scratches, cuts, any bruises or marks of violence.”

“Did you find any?”

“Mr. Ginsberg, there was absolutely no place on her body where the skin had been broken.”

“May I ask the reason for this examination?” James Etna inquired.

“You just listen and you’ll find the reason for it,” Ginsberg said belligerently.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Judge Mundy said, “let’s conform to the proprieties. Does Counsel wish to interpose an objection?”

“I was trying to save the time,” Etna said angrily, “but in view of the circumstances I will object on the ground that this is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”

“We propose to connect it up, Your Honor,” Ginsberg said, “with our next witness.”

“Very well, proceed.”

“That is all. Cross-examine.”

Mason said to Etna, “You cross-examine her, Jim.”

Etna said, “Why did you take her clothes away?”

“I was instructed to do so.”

“You knew that until she had been formally charged you could only hold her as...?”

“I followed instructions,” the matron said. “That’s what I’m there for. If you want to argue the law, argue it with the district attorney.”

“You mean you received instructions from the district attorney?”

“From his office, yes.”

“And what became of these clothes that you took away from her and which were turned over to Philip Groton?”

“If you’ll wait until our next witness is called, that question will be answered,” Ginsberg said.

“Very well,” Etna said. “That’s all.”

“Call Philip Groton,” Ginsberg said.

Philip Groton, a tall, thin, studious-looking individual, with high cheekbones, and thick-lensed glasses which seemed to reflect the light so that at times one saw only a blank face with two reflecting ovals where the eyes should be, took the stand and qualified himself as an expert toxicologist, chemist and technical investigator.

“You received certain garments from the matron who has just testified?” Hamilton Burger asked.

“I did. Yes, sir.”

“Did you make an examination of those garments?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you find anything unusual on those garments?”

“I did.”

“What did you find?”

“Human blood.”

“You have those garments with you?”

“I do. Yes, sir.”

“I ask that they be introduced in evidence.”

“No objection,” Mason said.

The garments were introduced in evidence.

“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said.

“You state this was human blood on the garments?” Mason asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“How do you know?”

“I performed a precipitin test.”

“Now when you perform that test you don’t ordinarily test the blood for the purpose of finding whether the blood comes from any particular animal, do you? As I understand it, you have a test solution which will give a reaction to human blood, and will give no reaction to animal blood. Therefore you simply test a bloodstain for the purpose of determining whether it is human blood or animal blood. If it is animal blood you ordinarily don’t bother to classify it. If you get a positive reaction you then know it is human blood. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is that test infallible?”

“That test is infallible.”

Mason said, “I should like to cross-examine Mr. Groton a little more on his qualifications as an expert witness, but I’ll confess to the Court that I am not at the moment prepared to pursue the line of questioning that I want. I intend to check on a certain bit of information before completing the cross-examination.”

“Is there any objection on the part of Counsel to having this phase of the cross-examination postponed?” Judge Mundy asked the prosecutor.

“None whatever,” Hamilton Burger said, waving his hand with a gesture of complete assurance. “We will be glad to have Mr. Perry Mason or anyone else cross-examine Mr. Groton as to his qualifications for an entire day if he so desires, and at any time he so desires.”

“Very well, Mr. Groton, you may step down, and will be recalled later for that phase of your cross-examination. Who’s your next witness?”

Burger, a sudden note of triumph in his voice, called the other officer who had been in the car that had taken Mason, the defendant, Josephine Kempton, and Della Street to police headquarters. He described how the three had been seated in the back seat, the fact that he had turned and kept his eye on them most of the time.

“After you arrived at police headquarters, what was done with the car?” Burger asked.

“It was put back into service.”

“Who occupied that car?”

“My partner and I.”

“And what time did you go off duty?”

“At four o’clock in the morning.”

“What was done then?”

“I... well, I realized that I hadn’t checked the cushions on the back seat, something that we ordinarily do when we have suspects in the car who are not handcuffed. So my partner and I raised the back seat, and as we did so we found a document underneath the cushions of the back seat.”

“Generally, what was that document?”

“It was a cashier’s check for twenty-five thousand dollars that was payable to Benjamin Addicks, and it had on the back of the check an endorsement ‘Pay to the order of Josephine Kempton,’ and beneath that was a signature purporting to be that of Benjamin Addicks.”

“Did you make some identifying mark upon that check?”

“I did. Yes, sir.”

“What did you do?”

“I put my initials in pencil on the upper left-hand corner on the back of the check.”

“Would you know that cashier’s check if you saw it again?”

“I would. Yes, sir.”

“I show you a check and ask you if this is it.”

“That is it.”

“I ask that it be introduced in evidence,” Burger said.

“No objections,” Mason said promptly, forestalling any attempt on Etna’s part to interpose a technical objection.

Burger then called a handwriting expert who stated that the signature of Benjamin Addicks on the back of the check was a palpable forgery, that an attempt had been made to follow the general characteristics of Addicks’ signature, but it was quite apparent that the signature was a forgery.

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

Mason said, “That cashier’s check was given you by the district attorney?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the district attorney also gave you certain samples of Addicks’ handwriting, certain exemplars that were concededly in his handwriting?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What else did the district attorney give you?”

“What do you mean?”

“He gave you some samples of the defendant’s handwriting, didn’t he?”

“Well, yes.”

“And he told you that he wanted you to see if you could detect characteristics in the signature, which you have pronounced a forgery, which would show that it had been made by the defendant?”

“Well, not in exactly those words, but he did give me some samples of the defendant’s handwriting.”

“And did he tell you for what purpose those were given to you?”

“I believe he did generally.”

“And what was that purpose?”

“About what you have stated, Mr. Mason.”

“Now then,” Mason said, “you had to report to the district attorney that the defendant did not make that forgery, that she was not the one who had forged the signature of Benjamin Addicks, didn’t you?”

“Well, no, sir. I told the district attorney that there wasn’t enough evidence to tell; that I could be positive that it was not a signature of Benjamin Addicks, but that I felt certain it was a tracery.”

“What do you mean by a tracery?”

“Someone had held a genuine signature of Benjamin Addicks against a source of strong light, perhaps a ground glass illuminated with a powerful electric bulb, or perhaps just a common, ordinary window, then the cashier’s check had been placed over that signature so that the signature of Benjamin Addicks came through from the other side, and the forger had traced that signature.”

“How could you tell it was a tracery?”

“It’s a very easy distinction to make, Mr. Mason. A person signing his name uses firm, fast strokes. The lines are quick, so that any small tremor is spread over quite a length of line.

“In tracing a signature the hand moves slowly. The microscope shows the spacing of the tremors. That is true in this case.”

“But you couldn’t tell who had done this tracery?”

“No, sir.”

“You had no way of connecting the forgery with the defendant?”

“I think the next witness will do that,” and the handwriting expert smiled dryly.

Hamilton Burger threw back his head and laughed. Evidently he had left this trap for Mason to walk into, and now he was in rare good humor.

“No further questions,” Mason said.

Hamilton Burger, knowing now that he was springing a surprise on the defense, exuded self-assurance.

“Mr. Howard Denny, will you take the stand, please,” he purred.

Howard Denny came forward and was sworn.

“What’s your occupation?”

“I am a fingerprint expert, and a deputy sheriff.”

“A full-time deputy sheriff?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now then, I am going to call your attention to this cashier’s check which has been introduced as a People’s exhibit, and ask you if you ever saw this particular check before.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where and when?”

“A representative of the police force called my attention to this about four-thirty in the morning.”

“What morning?”

“Last Thursday, the night that Mr. Addicks was murdered — now wait a minute, actually he was murdered on Wednesday night. This was early Thursday morning.”

“And when the police officer called your attention to this cashier’s check, did he ask you to do something in connection with it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What?”

“To test a latent fingerprint that was on the check.”

“Can you show us where that latent fingerprint is?”

“Yes, sir. It is very faintly outlined, but it is a fingerprint. I ascertained that it was the print of the middle finger of the right hand of the defendant, Josephine Kempton.”

“That is not an ordinary latent print such as you customarily develop by powders?”

“No, sir. That print is outlined on the check in a substance that I would say is blood.”

“Now then, what did you do with reference to this check?”

“After I had tested the check and identified the fingerprint, the check was put back behind the cushions of the car approximately where I understood it had been found.”

“And then what happened?”

“Then the defendant was released from custody.”

“When?”

“That was around eight o’clock, I would say, on Thursday morning.”

“And where were you?”

“With five other witnesses, I was concealed on a balcony where we could watch what happened.”

“And what did happen?”

“At the defendant’s request, she was...”

Etna said, “Oh, I object to the witness testifying about all of this hearsay.”

Mason gently tugged at Etna’s coattails as a signal for him to sit down.

“We won’t be technical, Your Honor,” Mason interposed. “I don’t think there’s any question on earth but what the defendant did request to be released at the police garage where Mr. Etna could pick her up. We certainly don’t want to do anything that’s going to interfere with getting the actual evidence before the court.”

Judge Mundy nodded approvingly.

Etna slowly sat down.

Mason whispered to him, “This is their bombshell. They thought we’d be blown up. Don’t let the prosecutors think it means a thing. If it doesn’t bother us, then they’ll begin to worry, thinking we have some countermove, and will be tempted to show all their hand. After all, that’s all we can expect to do at a preliminary hearing of this kind — get them to show everything they have so they don’t save a surprise for us when they come to trial before a jury.”

“Go right ahead,” Hamilton Burger said to the witness.

“Well, as soon as she thought she was alone, she checked over the police cars that were parked there in order to find the car in which she had been taken to the police station. Those cars all had numbers on them and... well, she was looking for car seven.”

Judge Mundy interrupted and said, “I appreciate the attitude of the defense in this case, but, after all, Mr. Denny, you’re testifying to a lot of conclusions. Just testify to what you saw.”

“Well,” Denny said, “by arrangement, two men were left where she could see them. Then those two men were called to other parts of the garage, so that as far as the defendant could see there was no one watching her.”

“Then what happened?” Burger asked.

“She walked to two of the parked cars, looking at the numbers. When she came to the third car, which happened to be number seven, the car in which she had been taken to police headquarters, she opened the door, raised the cushion and took out this cashier’s check.”

“How did you know it was this check she took out? Did you see it?”

“It was folded. I could see it was a piece of paper.”

“How did you know it was the cashier’s check?”

“I’d inspected the car ten minutes before she was released. At that time the cashier’s check was between the seat cushions and the back of the car. As soon as the defendant left the garage, in the company of five other witnesses I returned and inspected the car. The check was gone.”

“Had the car been out of your sight in the meantime?”

“No, sir. We had kept an eye on that car every minute of the time.”

“You may cross-examine,” Burger said.

Mason yawned, glanced at the clock, said, “No questions.”

“What!” Burger exclaimed in surprise.

“No questions,” Mason said.

“That’s all,” Judge Mundy said. “Do you have any more witnesses, Mr. Burger?”

Burger, apparently considerably nonplussed, glanced at Mason.

Etna leaned forward to whisper to him, but Mason warned him back with a gentle kick under the table.

Mason’s attitude showed that he apparently considered the evidence of but minor importance.

Judge Mundy looked at the unperturbed defense counsel, then at Hamilton Burger, who was now holding a frantic whispered conference with Ginsberg.

“Your next witness, Mr. District Attorney,” Judge Mundy said.

“Call Frank Cummings.”

Cummings testified that he was a deputy sheriff, and was also a brother of the matron at the jail. On Thursday morning he had accompanied the matron to the apartment of Josephine Kempton. The matron let herself in with a key that had been obtained from Mrs. Kempton, and the matron then picked out certain clothes which she was to take back to the defendant. The witness, Cummings, had thereupon bored a small hole in the transom over the door, had donned a pair of coveralls and placed a stepladder in the outer corridor. When the defendant arrived at the apartment house on being released from jail, the witness was working on the stepladder, apparently repairing some wiring in the corridor. As soon as the defendant had entered the apartment and had closed and locked the door from the inside, the witness had moved the stepladder over to the door and mounted the steps so that he could peer through the hole in the transom. He had then seen the defendant raise her skirt, take a folded piece of paper from the top of her stocking, go to a bookcase, open a book and place the open book on the table. She had then fastened the check to a page in the book by means of Scotch tape, and then had replaced the book in the bookcase.

The witness stated he immediately got back down the stepladder, moved the stepladder to the far end of the corridor, and waited until the defendant had emerged from her apartment. He had then re-entered the apartment, opened the book to the page in question and taken out the paper.

“What was that paper?” Hamilton Burger asked.

The witness grinned. “It was the cashier’s check for twenty-five thousand dollars, which has been introduced in evidence.”

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

Mason regarded the man with a tolerant smile.

“You had no authorization to enter the apartment either the first time or the second time, did you?”

“No, sir.”

“Where did you get the key with which you entered the apartment the second time?”

“I had a duplicate key made.”

“You knew you had no right to search that apartment without either a search warrant or permission from the owner?”

The witness glanced at Hamilton Burger, said, “I hadn’t thought of it at the time.”

“You can think of it now, can’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Actually you had studied the law in regard to searches before you became a deputy sheriff, hadn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you knew that what you were doing was illegal?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes.”

“I want to put it that way,” Mason said. “That’s all. I have no further questions of this witness.”

The next witness was an officer of the zoo, who stated that he had been called to Stonehenge; that he had arrived on the night of the murder and had found there gorillas at liberty; that he had previously visited the place on several occasions to check with Benjamin Addicks on his experiments with the gorillas; that he was familiar with the number of gorillas and their general characteristics; that under his supervision the gorillas had been returned to their cages; that then he had checked those gorillas for blood splatters; that he had found none.

“Cross-examine,” Burger said.

“What do you mean by blood splatters?”

“I mean that their coats were very carefully checked for the purpose of seeing whether there were any drops of blood.”

“Why was that done?”

“It was done at the request of the district attorney.”

“In order to save time,” Hamilton Burger said, “I would state to the Court and Counsel that my next witness, a pathologist, will show that the nature of the wounds which were inflicted upon Benjamin Addicks was such that there would necessarily have been a considerable spurting of blood from the first wound in the neck, which was also a fatal wound, and that whoever inflicted that wound must have been splattered with human blood.”

“Oh, I see,” Mason said. “Go right ahead.”

“I’m finished,” Burger said. “You may cross-examine.”

“There was no evidence of blood upon any of these gorillas?”

“None. Not on the coats — now just a moment, one of the gorillas had certain blood splotches, not droplets but splotches, which had come from a cut in the gorilla’s foot. Evidently he had cut his foot upon a sharp piece of glass.”

“How do you know?”

“Because there was a piece of glass, a segment, in the form of a sliver, embedded in the gorilla’s foot.”

“What became of that piece of glass?”

“Oh, it was just an ordinary piece of glass. I don’t know what was done with it.”

“Who extracted it?”

“I did.”

“You extracted it from the gorilla’s foot?”

“Yes.”

“Was it painful?”

“The gorilla was asleep at the time. In order to assist in their capture they were given fruit containing a powerful sedative. I found the gorillas in a highly excited condition. The very savage police dogs had been making quite a commotion. The gorillas were all quite excited. The sounds of the sirens, barking of the dogs, and the unusual noises incident to the change in environment, and the fact that they knew they were violating the discipline of the place...”

“How did they know that?” Mason asked.

“Because they had been liberated from their cages. A gorilla has a very high order of intelligence. He knows when he’s supposed to be in a cage, and he knows when he gets out under circumstances that make his exit a contravention of the disciplinary procedure.”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

Burger said, “We will now call Mortimer Hershey as our witness.”

Hershey took the witness stand, was sworn, and testified that for some two weeks prior to the murder, Benjamin Addicks had been planning a big business deal; that the details of this deal were locked entirely within the mind of his employer; that the witness knew some of the details but nothing whatever about the consideration; that Addicks customarily kept matters of consideration and price entirely to himself.

Late on the Tuesday evening preceding the murder, Addicks had called Nathan Fallon and Mortimer Hershey into a conference. He had told them he wanted to make a new will, that he intended to have it solemnized in proper legal form, or, as he expressed it, “with all the legal trimmings,” at a later date, but in the meantime, since he wanted to be certain that his house was in order, he had made this new will.

“Did he tell you the terms of the will?”

“No, sir. He did not, other than to state that he felt he had been guilty of misjudging Josephine Kempton, and that in view of the dramatic disclosures indicating her innocence he wanted to make some atonement to her.”

“Was there any conversation between you as to the nature of this atonement?”

“Just that he wanted to make it.”

“Aside from that did he tell you what was in the will?”

“No, sir. He did not. He simply told us that he wanted us to notice that he had executed this will; that it was all in his handwriting; that he wanted me to put it in a safe place with his other papers.

“He placed the will in an envelope, sealed it, and asked Mr. Fallon and me to write our names on the outside.”

“Which you did?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Both of you did that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then what happened?”

“Wednesday we started out on a round of... well, it was not out of the usual, it was a round of collection.”

“Just what do you mean by that?”

“Cashier’s checks had been issued to Mr. Addicks. Other checks had been issued to me, and some to Nathan Fallon. We took those checks to outlying communities where we had banking connections and had the checks reduced to cash.”

“How much money did you have when you returned Wednesday evening?”

“I didn’t return that evening. I was with friends in Santa Barbara. I was advised of Mr. Addicks’ death at about seven o’clock Thursday morning. I drove immediately to Stonehenge and got in touch with the authorities, and then with Mr. Addicks’ attorneys, Hardwick, Carson and Redding.”

“And you had collected some money on some of those checks?”

“I had something over eighty-five thousand dollars.”

“In cash?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you turned that money in to Mr. Hardwick?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I think you may cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said, and then, by way of explanation to the Court, “I am calling these witnesses, Your Honor, simply so the Court can have the complete background.”

“Very well,” Judge Mundy said.

Mason smiled at Hershey and said, “Am I to understand, Mr. Hershey, that your trip for the purpose of raising funds was not at all unusual?”

“That’s correct.”

“Mr. Addicks, during his lifetime, frequently sent you out on such trips?”

“He did. Yes, sir.”

“What became of the cash?”

“I think that in nearly every transaction Mr. Addicks had, that is, every major transaction, the consideration which was mentioned in the documents was probably incorrect.”

“In what way was it incorrect?”

“I think the consideration was larger.”

“And then what happened?”

“Well, I believe that there was a cash rebate made to Mr. Addicks, but I am not certain.”

“We’re willing to stipulate,” Hamilton Burger said, “that Mr. Addicks was carrying on a rather complicated business which, as it turned out, was highly irregular.”

“Can you explain what you mean a little more clearly?” Mason asked the witness.

“Well, if Mr. Addicks was buying some oil properties for a hundred thousand dollars, he would recite in the agreement that the consideration was fifty thousand dollars to be paid at a later date, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash, or a total price of three hundred thousand dollars.”

“But the three hundred thousand dollars wouldn’t be paid?”

“Well, now, of course, I’m talking about a purely hypothetical case.”

“I understand. Go ahead.”

“It would have been customary in such a deal to have paid perhaps fifty thousand dollars in cash, and that, with the fifty thousand dollars to be paid at a later date, would make the hundred thousand dollars.”

“But the agreement would show a three hundred thousand dollar consideration? Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What was the purpose of that?”

“I don’t know, sir, except that in making trades he was able to produce agreements showing larger considerations than had been paid.”

“But what about the income tax of the other party to the contract?”

“I think, sir, that their books only showed one hundred thousand, although the written agreements would show a different figure. However, very infrequently was there any trouble due to the discrepancy.”

“In other words, to put it in plain language, Benjamin Addicks was trying to beat the income tax?”

Hershey hesitated, then said, “I think not, Mr. Mason. I, myself, thought so at first. Later, I came to the conclusion that there was another explanation.”

“What was it?”

“I think Mr. Addicks had at one time been married. I think that wife was living and not divorced. I think that under the law of this state all of the tremendous property interests Mr. Addicks was acquiring could have been declared community property if this woman who was his wife had been so minded.

“So Mr. Addicks fixed things so his books showed only a relatively small profit. In that way he could have questioned the amount of community property as compared with his separate property.”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

“My next witness is Nathan Fallon,” Burger said.

Nathan Fallon testified similarly to the testimony given by Hershey, except that it was apparent Fallon had only a feeling of deep resentment toward his deceased employer.

“Where were you on the night of the murder?”

“Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“And what were you doing there?”

“Arranging to juggle some bank funds around so that Mr. Addicks could confuse the issues and beat the income tax.”

“Do you know of your own knowledge that he was doing that to beat the income tax?”

The witness hesitated.

“Do you?”

“No, sir.”

“What you have stated is merely a surmise then?”

“Well, when a man starts juggling cash around the way he did, there’s bound to be a reason for it.”

“Exactly,” Hamilton Burger said. “And so, since if you were doing it, it would be for the purpose of confusing the issues for income tax purposes, you have assumed that was the reason Benjamin Addicks was doing it?”

“Are you,” Mason asked, “trying to cross-examine your own witness?”

“Well,” Hamilton Burger said, “perhaps the comment was extraneous, but after all Mr. Addicks is not here to defend himself.”

“Well,” Nathan Fallon said conversationally to Hamilton Burger, “perhaps you can give me a better reason.”

The crowd in the courtroom broke into laughter and even Judge Mundy smiled.

“Mr. Addicks did not take you into his confidence?”

“Mr. Addicks didn’t like me. I didn’t like Mr. Addicks. I think that my employment would have been terminated within a short time had it not been for Mr. Addicks’ death.”

“You left Stonehenge on Wednesday, the day of the murder?”

“Yes, sir.”

“At about what time?”

“I caught a plane for Las Vegas, Nevada, at two o’clock in the afternoon.”

“You had instructions as to what you were to do in Las Vegas, Nevada?”

“Yes, sir. I was to return with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash.”

“You did that?”

“No, sir. I did not.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t care to carry that much cash with me unless I had a specific authorization. When I heard of Mr. Addicks’ death I took my cash to the bank and made another deposit to the account of Benjamin Addicks. I notified Mr. Addicks’ attorney over the telephone what I intended to do.”

“And Mr. Hershey left Stonehenge before you did?”

“No, sir. We left at the same time. Mr. Hershey drove me to the airport, and then he drove to Santa Barbara.”

“Who was at Stonehenge when you left?”

“Benjamin Addicks.”

“Who else?”

“No one else.”

“Wasn’t that rather unusual?”

“Yes, sir. That was very unusual.”

“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said to Perry Mason.

“Why was it unusual, Mr. Fallon?”

“Because usually the animals required a caretaker, and the house required a supervising housekeeper and several servants who came in by the day.”

“But the house was unoccupied save for Mr. Addicks when you left?”

“That is right. Several days earlier Mr. Addicks had become dissatisfied with the manner in which the part of the place that we referred to as the zoo was being kept up. He discharged all of the persons who had the animals in charge.”

“Who was attending to feeding, cleaning the cages, and things of that sort after the trainers were discharged?”

“We were,” Fallon said with obvious disgust. “That was one of the things that brought about friction between my employer and me. I wasn’t hired for that sort of work.”

“And was Mr. Hershey helping you?”

“Mr. Hershey and Benjamin Addicks. The three of us.”

“And what about servants for the housekeeping?”

“There were no servants. There was no housekeeping.”

“Were there any accidents because of this program?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What?”

“Mr. Addicks was attacked by one of the gorillas, who pushed an arm through the bars, grabbed Addicks by his coat, and jerked him up to the cage. I shouted and beat against the bars of the cage with a scraper which I was using to clean out the cage, and Mr. Addicks flung himself back and kicked his way loose.”

“Any injuries?”

“Yes, sir. He had a badly wrenched leg, and he had some cuts and lacerations on his face.”

“When was this?”

“Monday morning.”

“That’s all,” Mason said. “No further questions.”

Hamilton Burger called a photographer to the stand who introduced photographs of the body lying on the bed, showing the manner in which blood had spurted from the neck wound over the wall and the carpet. There were also photographs of the face of Mr. Addicks, showing the injuries which had been inflicted by the gorilla.

“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said.

“I notice that there are two different photographs of the face of the dead man,” Mason said. “One of them shows a very appreciable growth of stubble, and in the other the face is clean-shaven.”

“One of them was taken before the body was removed to the mortuary, and the other a short time after the autopsy. The undertaker shaved the face of the body in preparing the body for the funeral.”

“So you took pictures showing the features of the body, and then were sent back to take more pictures? Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why were you sent back?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you were instructed to go to the mortuary and get some photographs which would show the features?”

“—Yes.”

“Clean-shaven?”

“Yes.”

“For purposes of identification?”

“I don’t know for what purpose. I was sent to get ’em and I got ’em.”

“Thank you,” Mason said, smiling. “That’s all.”

“That’s our case, Your Honor,” Hamilton Burger said.

Mason said, “I call Your Honor’s attention to the fact that I wanted to look up one point and ask some more questions on cross-examination. I need a little more opportunity for research upon one technical point, and would like to confer with my associate. It is approaching the hour of the afternoon adjournment. Would it be possible for the Court to continue the case until tomorrow morning at ten o’clock?”

Judge Mundy shook his head. “You’ve had ample opportunity to prepare your case, Mr. Mason. The district attorney offered to stipulate to a continuance when the case was called. You didn’t want it. You wanted to go ahead with the case. The Court isn’t going to let you try it piece-meal. I’ll take a recess for fifteen minutes so you may have opportunity to confer.

“The Court will now take a fifteen-minute recess.”

Judge Mundy walked to his chambers.

Mason turned to where Mrs. Kempton was seated, the matron a few feet away.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Kempton whispered to him. “I tried to be smart and it backfired. Put me on the stand and I’ll tell the real truth and clear everything up.”

“Clear it up here and now. Were you lying to me?”

“Only about the cashier’s check, and I didn’t really lie about that. I merely held out on you.”

“All right, where did that check come from?”

“From the little table by Mr. Addicks’ bed. He was asleep, and he’d been drinking. The check was there, all made out to me. I knew at once he had been intending to give it to me...”

“Wait a minute, you say it was made out to you?”

“On the back, yes.”

“You mean you didn’t forge his signature on the endorsement?”

“Of course not. It was all signed when I first saw it, so I took it. I knew that was why he’d wanted me to go out there.”

“You don’t expect anyone to believe that?”

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“Well, we’ll not let anyone hear it until we can check certain things.”

“Mr. Mason, I want you to call me to the stand. I want to tell them exactly what happened.”

Mason shook his head. “Let us do the talking for a while.”

“You think I’m lying, don’t you?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Yes you do.”

“Well, you told us one story which didn’t prepare us for being slapped in the face with this cashier’s check.”

“I just left that out. I didn’t lie to you. There were some things I didn’t tell you, that’s all.”

Mason said, “If I put you on that witness stand now they’ll crucify you.”

He turned to Etna. “Our time’s getting short, Jim. We’ve got to do something.”

“Let’s make another try to get a continuance until tomorrow morning.”

“The judge won’t give it to us. He wants to get the case cleaned up today. He feels that it’s only a preliminary hearing, that there’s already enough evidence before the Court to bind the defendant over.”

“Well, what are we going to do? We can’t put her on the witness stand.”

Mason said, “A lawyer runs into situations like this every once in a while, Jim. We’ve got to find some way of keeping things going until the judge has to take the evening adjournment.”

“There isn’t any way,” Etna said. “They’ve tossed us the ball and we have no place to run. This business about the cashier’s check and that clumsy forgery — we can’t explain it, Mason, and if we don’t explain it we’re licked. I wish I’d never seen her — despite the fact that I needed the fee on that settlement. I...”

Mason shook his head. “You have to take them as they come, Jim. You can’t skim the cream all the time. Every once in a while Fate hands you something.”

“Josephine Kempton has had our loyal support. She has no right to make monkeys of us,” Etna said.

Mason grinned. “Are you trying to be funny?”

Etna’s smile was halfhearted. “I didn’t mean it in exactly that way, but this story about the gorilla and — then we get the absolutely crazy story about this check — and she gets caught trying to conceal it!”

“Well,” Mason said, “we’ll try to stall until we can get things clarified a little.”

“How are you going to stall?”

“I left myself an opening,” Mason said, “in the cross-examination of the technical witnesses. There’s one point that I don’t think they know about. Ever hear of Dr. Gradwohl of St. Louis?”

Etna shook his head.

“You should have,” Mason said. “He was largely instrumental in founding the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and he’s been doing some research work lately that’s going to give these boys a headache. I didn’t intend to spring the point until I’d had an opportunity to brush up on the technical facts, but — here we go!”

Mason indicated the door to the judge’s chambers which opened to let Judge Mundy re-enter the courtroom.