Don Gutteridge - Minor Corruption

Joe Mullins was next. With his short,slicked-down red hair and shilling-sized freckles, he lookedconsiderably younger than his twenty-four years. Cambridge’s firstquestion was whether Mullins had seen Betsy turn towards thebarn.

“No, sir. I couldn’t see outside the windowfrom where I was sittin’.”

Having established that Mullins was not alikely suspect (with a quick nod in Marc’s direction), Cambridgewent on to his main point: the fact that Mullins had seen SeamusBaldwin in the ravine at twelve-thirty-five when he went there fora smoke.

“What was the defendant doing, Mr.Mullins?”

“Well, I’d often seen him anglin’ fer troutdown there – there’s a trout pool nearby – so I was surprised tosee he wasn’t carryin’ a pole with him.”

“He was at a fishing-hole without a fishingrod?” Cambridge said, nicely feigning surprise.

“That’s right.”

“What was he doing there, then?”

“He was just walkin’ up and down and lookin’up at the mill.”

“Did he see you?”

“No, I was above and off to one side a bit,in a little grove I like to have a pipe in. If he’d’ve seen mehe’d’ve waved.”

“And did you observe him for long?”

“Oh, no. I went into my grove, sat down inthe grass, and smoked my pipe.”

“So the defendant could have left the areaimmediately?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is there a path that would take you from theravine to the barn?”

“There is. It runs along the creek and comesout behind the barn.”

“Would anyone up by the mill be able to seeanyone using this path?”

“No, sir. He’d be completely hidden.”

“Thank you. That is all.”

Cambridge sat down and looked straight ahead.This was devastating testimony. It placed Uncle Seamus on the millproperty with enough time and a secure route to the barn. Moreover,he did not seem to be there for any other purpose than to commit aheinous crime.

Marc stood up. “Mr Mullins, you told the jurythat you went to have your smoke alone, say about twelve-forty orso?”

“Yes, sir.” Mullins did not look concerned,certainly not frightened as Sol Clift had been.

“Before that, you observed Mr. Seamus Baldwinin the ravine below?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Without his fishing pole?”

“That’s right. He was just kinda wanderin’ upand down.”

“As if he might be expecting someone to comeand meet him?”

Mullins looked puzzled, but said amiably,“Could be. He was glancin’ up and around.”

“Could his fishing pole have been lying inthe grass?”

“Well now, you could be right. I didn’t doanythin’ more than take a peek at Mr. Baldwin and then leave him tohis privacy.”

“So the gentleman could have been there toangle for trout?”

“I didn’t see no basket or net, though.”

“Behind a bush perhaps?”

“Could be.” Mullins was almost cheerful inhis response, and certainly agreeable. Cambridge was not lookingpleased. He would have to repair the damage.

Marc suddenly dropped his own friendlydemeanour. “Do you, sir, have anyone who could say they saw yousmoking in that favourite little grove?”

Mullins was taken aback, but notapprehensive. “I was alone. I wanted to be.”

“At twelve-forty, eh? Could you, sir, havegone back up to the mill, circled it on the south side and reachedthe barn without being observed?”

“But why would I do that?” Mullins, stillinnocent-eyed, was genuinely puzzled.

“Why indeed, sir. What happened in that barnafter twelve-forty-five is what we’re here to determine, isn’tit?”

“Milord, Mr. Mullins is not on trial! Is Mr.Edwards going to accuse every Crown witness of thecrime?”

“I agree, Mr. Cambridge. Mr Edwards, you willforgo this line of questioning. You’ve already made yourpoint.”

For the first time Mullins looked shaken. Hishands were trembling as he lifted them from the railing in from ofhim and turned towards Neville Cambridge.

“Your witness, counsellor,” Marc said, andsat down. He felt like trembling himself.

As skilfully as he could, with Marc’slingering accusation hanging over the witness, Cambridge went backto have Mullins repeat his earlier testimony. Whether the jury wasactually listening was a moot point.

Seth Whittle was up next. His testimony wasbrief. He left the mill office at twelve-thirty in the company ofBurton Thurgood, and the two men went directly to the weir, severalhundred yards above the mill itself. He saw or heard nothingunusual. He saw no-one about him except his employee, and neitherman left the weir until four o’clock that afternoon. He knewnothing of any incident in the barn until Jake Bloom went to thepolice two months later.

Marc declined to cross-examine thewitness.

Burton Thurgood got up and told much the samestory, except that he had slipped into the bushes to “do hisbusiness” about two o’clock. Cambridge’s purpose in calling thesemen was apparently to have the jury place them well away from thebarn at the time of the crime and to stress the fact that nostranger had been seen lurking about the grounds.

Marc looked into the familiar bulldog face ofBetsy’s father, and said, “Mr. Thurgood, to your knowledge, did themill-hands in that office last August the third know about Betsy’slove of horses?”

“They must have because she talked about itall summer, before and after she went to work at Spadina. But Iwarned her never to go to that barn – ever.” He looked imploringlyat the jury.

“Were any of the men there attracted to yourdaughter?”

Thurgood’s lip curled. “’Course not! She wasa child. She only got her monthlies last spring!”

“So you were not aware that anyone might wishto court your daughter or that she was possibly in love withsomeone herself?”

“I wasn’t.” It was a grunt and littleelse.

“Were you planning to buy a pony, sir?”

“What if I was?”

“Did Betsy know of this plan?”

“I told yer, yeah. It was gonna be fer her. Iwas gonna have a dollar a month taken outta my pay.”

The jurors nodded their approval.

“Did she offer to have a friend,knowledgeable in horse-trading, examine the pony?”

Thurgood looked surprised, and wary. “No, shedidn’t.”

“I am asking, sir, because in one of thepolice reports Mr. Baldwin says he came to the mill to – ”

“Milord! This is outrageous! Counsel isalluding to a document not in evidence. And the statement he wasabout to read into the record was a self-serving deception by theaccused. That is precisely why we do not allow the accused totestify.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cambridge, for explaining thelaw to me,” the judge said acidly. “But you are quite right. Mr.Edwards, this is your last warning on this score. Understood?”

Marc looked suitably chastened. “Myapologies, Milord. It won’t happen again.” And it looked more andmore as if Marc would have to call Cobb as a witness for thedefense.

Justice Powell banged his gavel on the bench.“Court is in recess until two o’clock.”

***

While Marc could still taste part of his breakfastat the back of his throat, as a defense attorney he could not helpbeing pleased with the morning’s effort. Neville Cambridge hadattempted to lay a damning context for this afternoon’s starwitness, Jake Broom. But Marc had demonstrated the critical factthat Joe Mullins and Sol Clift each had the opportunity (time toget to the deserted barn where they might expect to find Betsy),the motive (the seduction or rape of a young woman they had gown tofancy from her visits to the mill-office), and the means (theirsuperior physical strength as mill-hands). Since Broom’sdescription of the culprit was the keystone of the prosecution’scase, it didn’t hurt the jury to have at least two viablealternatives to think about. Finally Marc had one or two ideasabout how to impeach Broom’s apparently unassailable testimony.