“Just a moment,” Mason objected. “I have a couple of questions. You say this list is not in your handwriting, Mr. Bernal?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Whose handwriting is it, do you know?” Mason asked.
“The assistant cashier of the Ivanhoe National Bank.”
“Oh, all right,” Flasher said. “We’ll do it the hard way, if we have to. Stand down, Mr. Bernal, and I’ll call the assistant cashier.”
Harry Reedy, assistant cashier of the Ivanhoe Bank, had the mechanical assurance of an adding machine. He identified the list of numbers as being in his handwriting. He stated that he had listed the numbers of the twenty-dollar bills and put that list in an envelope which had been sealed and sent up with the money for the payroll.
“Cross-examine,” Flasher said.
Mason studied the list. “These numbers are all in your handwriting?” he asked Reedy.
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you yourself compare the numbers you wrote down with the numbers on the twenty-dollar bills?”
“No, sir. I didn’t personally do that. Two assistants did that. One checked the numbers as they were read off, one as I wrote them down.”
“The payrolls are for approximately a hundred thousand dollars, twice each month?”
“That’s right. And ever since Mr. Bernal took charge, we have taken this means to identify payrolls. No attempt is made to list the bills in numerical order. The serial numbers are simply read off and written down. Unless a robbery occurs, there is no need to do anything further. In the event of a robbery, we can reclassify the numbers and list the bills in numerical order.”
“These numbers are in your handwriting — every number?”
“Yes, sir. More than that, you will notice that at the bottom of each page I have signed my initials.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
“I now offer once more to introduce this list in evidence,” Flasher said.
“So ordered,” Judge Haswell ruled.
“My next witness is Charles J. Oswald, the sheriff,” the district attorney announced.
The sheriff, a long, lanky man with a quiet manner, took the stand. “You’re acquainted with Harvey L. Corbin, the defendant in this case?” the district attorney asked.
“I am.”
“Are you acquainted with his wife?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, on the morning of the fifteenth of this month, the morning of the robbery at the Jebson Commercial Company, did you have any conversation with Mrs. Corbin?”
“I did. Yes, sir.”
“Did you ask her about her husband’s activities the night before?”
“Just a moment,” Mason said. “I object to this on the ground that any conversation the sheriff had with Mrs. Corbin is not admissible against the defendant, Corbin; furthermore, that in this state a wife cannot testify against her husband. Therefore, any statement she might make would be an indirect violation of that rule. Furthermore, I object on the ground that the question calls for hearsay.”
Judge Haswell looked ponderously thoughtful, then said, “It seems to me Mr. Mason is correct.”
“I’ll put it this way, Mr. Sheriff,” the district attorney said. “Did you, on the morning of the fifteenth, take any money from Mrs. Corbin?”
“Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial,” Mason said.
“Your Honor,” Flasher said irritably, “that’s the very gist of our case. We propose to show that two of the stolen twenty-dollar bills were in the possession of Mrs. Corbin.”
Mason said, “Unless the prosecution can prove the bills were given Mrs. Corbin by her husband, the evidence is inadmissible.”
“That’s just the point,” Flasher said. “Those bills were given to her by the defendant.”
“How do you know?” Mason asked. “She told the sheriff so.”
“That’s hearsay,” Mason snapped.
Judge Haswell fidgeted on the bench. “It seems to me we’re getting into a peculiar situation here. You can’t call the wife as a witness, and I don’t think her statement to the sheriff is admissible.”
“Well,” Flasher said desperately, “in this state, Your Honor, we have a community-property law. Mrs. Corbin had this money. Since she is the wife of the defendant, it was community property. Therefore, it’s partially his property.”
“Well now, there,” Judge Haswell said, “I think I can agree with you. You introduce the twenty-dollar bills. I’ll overrule the objection made by the defense.”
“Produce the twenty-dollar bills, Sheriff,” Flasher said triumphantly.
The bills were produced and received in evidence.
“Cross-examine,” Flasher said curtly.
“No questions of this witness,” Mason said, “but I have a few questions to ask Mr. Bernal on cross-examination. You took him off the stand to lay the foundation for introducing the bank list, and I didn’t have an opportunity to cross-examine him.”
“I beg your pardon,” Flasher said. “Resume the stand, Mr. Bernal.”
His tone, now that he had the twenty-dollar bills safely introduced in evidence had a gloating note to it.
Mason said, “This list which has been introduced in evidence is on the stationery of the Ivanhoe National Bank?”
“That’s right. Yes, sir.”
“It consists of several pages, and at the end there is the signature of the assistant cashier?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And each page is initialed by the assistant cashier?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This was the scheme which you thought of in order to safeguard the company against a payroll robbery?”
“Not to safeguard the company against a payroll robbery, Mr. Mason, but to assist us in recovering the money in the event there was a holdup.”
“This was your plan to answer Mr. Nesbitt’s objections that the vault was an outmoded model?”
“A part of my plan, yes. I may say that Mr. Nesbitt’s objections had never been voiced until I took office. I felt he was trying to embarrass me by making my administration show less net returns than expected.” Bernal tightened his lips and added, “Mr. Nesbitt had, I believe, been expecting to be appointed manager. He was disappointed. I believe he still expects to be manager.”
In the spectators’ section of the courtroom, Ralph Nesbitt glared at Bernal.
“You had a conversation with the defendant on the night of the fourteenth?” Mason asked Bernal.
“I did. Yes, sir.”
“You told him that for reasons which you deemed sufficient you were discharging him immediately and wanted him to leave the premises at once?”
“Yes, sir. I did.”
“And you paid him his wages in cash?”
“Mr. Nesbitt paid him in my presence, with money he took from the petty-cash drawer of the vault.”
“Now, as part of the wages due him wasn’t Corbin given these two twenty-dollar bills which have been introduced in evidence?”
Bernal shook his head. “I had thought of that,” he said, “but it would have been impossible. Those bills weren’t available to us at that time. The payroll is received from the bank in a sealed package. Those two twenty-dollar bills were in that package.”
“And the list of the numbers of the twenty-dollar bills?”
“That’s in a sealed envelope. The money is placed in the vault. I lock the list of numbers in my desk.”
“Are you prepared to swear that neither you nor Mr. Nesbitt had access to these two twenty-dollar bills on the night of the fourteenth?”
“That is correct.”
“That’s all,” Mason said. “No further cross-examination.”
“I now call Ralph Nesbitt to the stand,” District Attorney Flasher said. “I want to fix the time of these events definitely, Your Honor.”
“Very well,” Judge Haswell said. “Mr. Nesbitt, come forward.”