“In addition to your other qualifications,” Drew asked, “have you had experience in blood classifications and serology?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I show you a suit of clothes on which there are certain spots, and ask you if you have examined those spots.”
“I have, yes, sir.”
“What are they?”
“Blood.”
“Can you tell what kind of blood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What kind?”
“Human blood.”
“Can you further classify this human blood as to type?”
“Not on all of the spots. Some of them are too minute to permit a classification. But I have been able to classify the larger spots.”
“What classification?”
“The group that is known as AB.”
“Is this the relatively common group?”
“No, sir. It is a very rare blood grouping.”
“Can you estimate the percentage of people who have this grouping?”
“I would say not to exceed twelve per cent.”
“What type was the blood of the decedent, Meridith Borden?”
“The same type as the blood which appears on this suit, type AB.”
“Cross-examine,” Drew said.
“Could you tell how old those stains were?” Mason asked.
“Not exactly.”
“They had dried and changed color?”
“That is right.”
“What is the type of the defendant’s blood?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t?”
“No. Probably it is type O. That is the most common type. Around fifty per cent of the people have that type.”
“But for all you know the defendant’s blood may be type AB?”
“That is right. Once we show his suit is spotted with human blood, it’s up to him to show that it’s his — at least that’s the way I look at it.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
He turned to Ansley and whispered, “What’s your blood type?”
“I don’t know,” Ansley said. “I only know that I was wearing that suit when I had the nosebleed.”
“No further questions on cross-examination,” Mason said as the witness remained on the witness stand.
“That’s all,” the Judge said. “Call your next witness, Mr. Prosecutor.”
“Call Beeman Nelson,” Drew said.
Nelson was sworn, gave his occupation as operator of a cleaning establishment, identified the cleaning mark on the bloodstained suit, stated that he had cleaned and pressed the suit on at least five different occasions, that the suit on each occasion had been received from and delivered to George Ansley, the defendant; that the last date he had cleaned, pressed and delivered the suit to Ansley was about ten days before the murder. At that time the suit had been in good condition and there were no blood spots on it.
“Any questions?” Drew asked Perry Mason.
“None whatever,” Mason said.
Judge Erwood indicated impatience, glancing at the clock, quite evidently prepared to make an order binding the defendant over to the higher court for trial.
Drew, noticing the signs of judicial impatience, said, “If the Court please, I have just one or two more witnesses. I feel that I can conclude this case within a short time.”
“Go ahead,” Judge Erwood said. “Call your witnesses.”
“Call Jasper Horn,” Drew said.
Jasper Horn, a tall, raw-boned, slow-moving individual, came forward, held up a big, calloused hand and was sworn.
“Your name is Jasper Horn?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s your occupation, Mr. Horn?”
“I’m a foreman.”
“Are you acquainted with the defendant, George Ansley?”
“I am, yes, sir.”
“Do you work for him, or have you worked for him?”
“That’s right. I’m foreman on a job he’s doing, building a school out in the west side.”
“I’m going to direct your attention to last Monday morning and ask you if you had any conversation with George Ansley.”
“Sure, I had lots of conversations with him. He was out on the job and we were looking around.”
“Was there anything particularly unusual or annoying — I’ll withdraw that. Let me ask you this. Had there been any complaints about the buildings not being up to specifications?”
“Lots of them.”
“Was there any particular matter which you were discussing with Mr. Ansley last Monday morning about the problems of inspection?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What was it?”
“Well, some of the steel supports in one of the walls had warped a little bit out of line. The distance between centers was not quite uniform, and one or two of them were slightly off.”
“Had you previously had some conversation with the inspector about that?”
“I had.”
“And what did the inspector tell you?”
“He told me that stuff would have to be fixed up or the wall would have to come out.”
“You argued with him?”
“I’ll say I argued with him.”
“And then, later on, you reported this conversation to Ansley?”
“Sure. I told him about it.”
“And did you make any suggestion to Ansley at that time?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What was it?”
“I told him that if he was smart, he’d go and see Meridith Borden and his troubles would be over.”
“And what did Mr. Ansley say at that time?”
“He told me that he’d take a gun and shoot Borden through the heart before he’d knuckle under to a guy like that and pay tribute. He said that if Borden was making all these troubles for him hoping he’d get a shake-down, Borden was out of luck. He said killing was too good for people like that.”
There was a slight murmur in the courtroom.
“Your witness,” Drew said.
Mason straightened in his chair. “That conversation was Monday?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Had you had previous conversations about defective construction with inspectors?”
“I’ll say I had... Nothing else but, if you ask me.”
“The inspectors had been rather critical?”
“Mr. Mason,” the witness said vehemently, “the inspectors had been tough, mighty tough. They’d crawled all over the job looking for the most microscopic details they could dig up. They’d throw those things at us, make us tear stuff out and replace it. They were crawling all over the place, getting in my hair, hampering construction, driving us all nuts.”
“Up until Monday of last week?”
“That’s right.”
“Including Monday?”
“Including Monday.”
“Now, directing your attention to Tuesday morning, did you have any conversation with the inspectors?”
“Just a minute,” Sam Drew said, “that’s incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial and not proper cross-examination. I didn’t ask the witness anything about Tuesday morning.”
“I think I’m entitled to examine the witness as to all of his conversations with the inspectors,” Mason said. “After all, he’s testifying as to conclusions. He’s testifying that the inspectors were unreasonable, that they were tough, and so I’ve got a right to show all of the experiences this man has had with inspectors, what he means by saying they were unreasonable, what he means by saying they were tough. There must be some standard of normal that he is referring to in his own mind.”