“What happened?” Hanley asked.
“Just like the other witnesses have said.”
“Never mind that. Just tell it in your own words, Miss Lions.”
“Well, the person driving the car tried to cut in and scraped our fender. That caused the car to swerve back across the pavement right in front of another car that was coming toward us.”
“Then what?”
“Then this other car tried to dodge, and bit a car behind us head-on.”
“And what happened to the four-passenger coupe? Could you see?”
“It kept shooting right across the road, and went down the bank. Then I think it rolled over. It sounded like it.”
“And what did you do?”
“As soon as my father stopped the car, I jumped out.”
“Did you run back toward the cars that had collided?”
“No. I was busy dodging cars for a few minutes. Then I ran over toward the bank where this four-passenger coupe had gone over.”
“What did you see?”
“It took me a little while to locate it. Then I looked down and saw the car lying on its side down at the bottom of this steep embankment.”
“Did you see anyone — any person?”
“Not then.”
“Later on, did you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who?”
“That woman sitting there,” pointing to Stephane Claire.
“Where was she, and how were you able to see her?”
“They turned a flashlight into the car. She was sitting in the driver’s seat.”
“Now, did you at any time see any other person in the four-passenger coupe?”
“No, sir.”
“And could you see who was driving it when the car went past?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who?”
“Well, it was a woman. I could see that, and she was wearing the same kind of a hat the defendant was wearing.”
“Cross-examine,” Hanley said triumphantly.
“Your father was driving your car?” Mason asked the witness.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you were sitting next to your mother?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your mother was in the middle?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you were on the extreme right-hand side of the car?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And this four-passenger coupe passed on your left?”
“Yes.”
“And then cut in?”
“Yes.”
“It was dark?”
“Naturally.”
“And headlights were coming toward you?”
“Yes.”
“Did the four-passenger coupe at any time come directly between you and the headlights of an approaching car?”
“How do you mean?”
Mason said, “The court reporter will read the question. Please listen attentively.”
The court reporter read the question.
“Do you understand it?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you answer it?”
“No,” she said. “I guess not. There were lots of headlights though. They seemed to be coming from all directions at once.”
“How fast was your father driving?”
“Forty miles an hour.”
“And how fast was this four-passenger coupe going?”
“At least eighty or ninety miles an hour.”
“And when did you first realize there was going to be an accident?”
“When this car sideswiped our fender.”
“And as soon as it did that, it immediately swerved to the left?”
“Yes.”
“And shot diagonally across the road?”
“Yes.”
“Yet with headlights coming at you from several different directions, with your father fighting to keep your car in the road, you, sitting on the extreme right side of the seat, could look across and into the interior of that speeding four-passenger coupe?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your car did skid after the collision, did it not?”
“It was jolted around, yes.”
“So that it was headed off toward the right side of the road?”
“Yes.”
“And the four-passenger coupe also skidded toward the left?”
“Yes.”
“And it was going forty or fifty miles an hour faster than you were?”
“Well... yes.”
“So in order to see the coupe, you had to look across the front seat of your own car?”
“I guess so.”
“And because it was going so much faster, you had only a brief glimpse?”
“Yes.”
“Your father and mother were both in that front seat, and were both directly in your line of vision, were they not?”
“Well, I sort of craned my neck around.”
“You mean so you could see past them?”
“Yes.”
“In which direction did you crane your neck? Were you looking forward, in front of your mother and father, or backward?”
“Well, they were moving around quite a bit. Dad was trying to get the car under control, and Mother threw up her bands and screamed, and I guess I sort of looked in between them.”
“And at about that time, another car was having a collision with this four-passenger coupe?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you don’t think it is possible that your impressions of this brief instant are confused?”
“No, sir. She was driving that car. I saw her.”
“Who was?”
“A woman that had a hat just like the one the defendant was wearing when they took her out of the car.”
“Was she alone in the car?”
“I... she was driving.”
Mason said, “Can’t you do better than that, Miss Lions? If you saw the front seat of that four-passenger coupe clearly enough to see that a woman was at the steering wheel and see the type of hat she was wearing...”
“I think there was a man in there with her.”
“Where was this man seated?”
“Right beside her.”
“On her left or right?”
“On her right, of course. If she was at the steering wheel, he couldn’t have been on the left,” the witness said triumphantly.
“And how was the man dressed?”
“He wasn’t wearing any hat.”
“And how about the window on the right-hand side of that car-the door window? Was it up or down?”
“It was down. The window was rolled down so the space was open.”
“You noticed that?”
“Yes.”
“You feel certain this man who was seated beside the defendant had no hat?”
“I don’t think he had a hat.”
“Wouldn’t you see plainly, or can’t you remember clearly?”
“Well, I can’t remember exactly.”
“Then how did it happen you remembered the style and shape of the defendant’s hat so clearly?”
“I just did, that’s all.”
“Yet there was nothing about her to make you notice her head more than the man’s head?”
“I couldn’t see his head so well.”
“Was something in the way — or was it because of the light?”
“The light.”
“He was in a shadow?”
“Yes.”
“What was casting that shadow?”
“I don’t know.”
“Now, when the deputy district attorney was asking you questions, didn’t you say there was no one in that car except the defendant?”
“Why... no.”
Mason asked, “Will the court reporter please read that question and answer about whether she saw any other person in the car? It was on direct examination,” Mason said.
The court reporter thumbed through the pages. “Here is the Question, ‘Now, did you at any time see any other person in the four-passenger coupe?’ Answer, ‘No, sir.’”