“Well... that wasn’t what you asked me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You asked me if Mr. Marshall had said that.”
“Oh, it was someone else that told you that?”
“Well, someone else told me to put some feeling in my voice when I said it, to make it dramatic, was the way he expressed it.”
“And who was that?”
“Mr. Hamilton Burger, the district attorney.”
“And when was that?”
“Just before I went on the witness stand.”
“And did you repeat the words after Mr. Burger, ‘That’s the woman, sitting right there?’”
“Well, I... he told me that’s what I was to say, and I said it.”
“And he told you to put more feeling in it, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“So then you tried it again, with more feeling.”
“Yes.”
“Once or twice?”
“Two or three times. I... well, it’s hard to be dramatic when you’re not accustomed to acting. I guess you’re inclined to say things in just an ordinary tone of voice, but Mr. Burger told me this was the dramatic high light of the trial and that I had to be dramatic about it.”
Mason smiled. “That,” he said, “is all.”
“No questions,” Hamilton Burger said, his face flushed an angry red.
The witness left the stand.
“I will now call Barton Jennings to the stand,” Hamilton Burger said.
Barton Jennings, still using his cane, came forward, took the oath, and settled back in the witness chair, his stiff leg out in front of him. His hands clasped the head of the cane.
Hamilton Burger examined the witness and brought out the story from the time he had met Norda Allison at the airport to the time they had gone home. He got the witness to tell about Norda Allison and Perry Mason coming to the house, of Norda Allison’s claim that she had seen the printing press in the storeroom. He had Barton Jennings identify the gun, and the witness testified that it was usually kept in the drawer of a dresser in the guest bedroom which was occupied that night by Norda Allison.
“Cross-examine,” Hamilton Burger said to Mason.
Mason arose to stand in front of the witness. “I’m going to ask a few questions, Mr. Jennings,” he said. “The answers to some of these questions may prove to be embarrassing, but I want to clear up certain matters. Now, your wife had been married before?”
“That is right.”
“She had been married to Mervin Selkirk, the decedent?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And there was a child, the issue of said marriage, Robert Selkirk?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Robert lived with you and your wife from time to time?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You are attached to him? That is, I mean, you are both attached to him?”
“Yes, sir. He is a very fine boy.”
“And do you know where he is now?”
“Objected to,” Hamilton Burger said. “Not proper examination and incompetent and irrelevant and immaterial. The whereabouts of this young man have no bearing on the present case. I see no reason for turning loose a lot of newspaper reporters to embarrass this young man.”
Judge Kent thought for a moment, then said, “At the present time I am going to sustain the objection.”
“Robert Selkirk was staying with you the night of the seventeenth and the morning of the eighteenth?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You drove him away early on the morning of the eighteenth?”
“I took him away. Yes, sir.”
“Why?”
“He was going to a gathering of young people.”
“But he didn’t go?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“The dramatic events of the day made it inadvisable for him to go.”
“But you didn’t know that Mervin Selkirk was dead until quite a bit later than that, did you?”
“Later than what?”
“Later than when you took Robert away from your house.”
“No, sir, I didn’t.”
“The young people were to rendezvous at about eleven o’clock?”
“I thought they were supposed to be there at seven o’clock. I now understand they didn’t leave until eleven. I misunderstood the time over the telephone. I asked the man who was arranging the party what time the boys were to leave and I understood him to say that they would leave at seven o’clock, but to be there an hour before that. Later on I realized he had said eleven o’clock but I had misunderstood him.”
“What time was it when you took Robert away?”
“It was... quite early. I don’t know. I didn’t look at my watch.”
“And where did you take him?”
“There again,” Hamilton Burger said, “I object. I have carefully refrained from asking this witness questions about Robert Selkirk, and counsel has no right to cross-examine him on that subject. The question is not proper cross-examination. It is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
“I think I will permit this question,” Judge Kent said. “You may answer. Where did you take Robert?”
“To a friend.”
“A friend of his or a friend of yours?” Mason asked.
“Both.”
“Now why did you take him away that early in the morning?” Mason asked.
“Because I didn’t want him to be disturbed.”
“Why?”
“Because... well, frankly, Mr. Mason, an action was to be brought and the object of that action was to get the sole custody of Robert; that is, my wife wanted to have his sole custody. Miss Allison, the defendant in this case, was going to testify as a witness; at least we hoped she would. I didn’t want Robert to know anything about what was being planned until after the plans had been made. I didn’t want him to hear the discussion.”
“So you got up early in the morning and took him away?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that’s your best explanation?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you know when you took Robert away that he claimed he had discharged a gun during the night?”
“Objected to,” Hamilton Burger said, “as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, as calling for hearsay testimony, and as not proper cross-examination.”
“In the present form of the question I will sustain the objection,” Judge Kent said.
“Did you take him away,” Mason said, “because he had claimed during the night that he had fired a shot?”
“Same objection,” Hamilton Burger said.
Judge Kent shook his head. “The question in its present form is permissible.”
“All right,” Barton Jennings said defiantly. “That may have entered into it.”
“When did you first know that he claimed he had fired a shot during the night?”
“Objected to, not proper cross-examination, incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial,” Burger said.
Judge Kent stroked the angle of his jaw, ran his hand around the back of his neck, rubbed the palm back and forth a few times and looked at Mason. “Aside from the technical rules of evidence, Mr. Mason,” he said, “you must realize that the Court and counsel have certain responsibilities. Your questions and the answers of the witness will doubtless be given some prominence in the press, and the Court feels that the examination of the witness along these lines should be restricted to the legal issues, regardless of the technical rules of evidence.”
Mason, on his feet, waited deferentially for Judge Kent to finish speaking. Then he said, “I am fully aware of that, if the Court please. But I am representing a client who is charged with murder. I am going to protect her interests. I can assure the Court that I am not merely asking questions for the purpose of clouding the issues. I have a very definite objective which the Court will see within a short time.”
“Very well,” Judge Kent said. “I am going to overrule the objection. The witness may answer the question.”