Erle Gardner - The Case of the Phantom Fortune

"Now, just a minute,"Judge Saxton interrupted. "This is a serious charge. Are you intimatingthat Mr Mason was framing an attempted murder case on the decedent?"

"That is what I said, YourHonour."

"And that he tampered with thetestimony of witnesses?"

"That is my charge and I expectto prove it by way of motivation."

"That is a most seriouscharge," Judge Saxton said.

"The proof will substantiatethe charge," Hamilton Burger asserted.

Judge Saxton's mouth set in a grimline. "Very well," he said. "Proceed with your statement."

"We will prove," HamiltonBurger went on, "that the decedent, Collister Gideon, was killed by athirty-eight calibre revolver which was found in the possession of thedefendant, that the defendant was found hiding at the scene of the murder. Onthe strength of that evidence we will ask for an order binding the defendantover to the Superior Court for trial."

"Very well," Judge Saxtonsaid. "Does the defence wish to make an opening statement?"

Perry Mason gpt to his feet."The defence wishes to make this statement The defendant is presumedinnocent until he is proven guilty. I am presumed innocent until I have beenproven guilty.

"The defence would like to havethe Court keep in mind that any suggestion made to a witness is not necessarilyan unlawful attempt to get a witness to falsify his testimony."

"I don't think you need toworry abut this Court understanding the fundamentals of criminal law, Mr.Mason. The People will proceed."

Hamilton Burger said, "If theCourt please, under the unusual circumstances of this case, I am going to callMr Drew Kearny as my first witness because I want to lay the foundation forshowing the motivation in this case."

"Do I understand Mr Kearny's testimonygoes to motivation?"

"Yes, Your Honour."

"In what way?"

"We propose to show that thedefendant, through his attorney, Perry Mason, was trying to frame an attemptedmurder charge on Collister Gideon, the decedent in this case."

"The Court is very muchinterested in that evidence," Judge Saxton said. "Mr Drew Kearny willcome forward and be sworn."

Kearny came forward, held up his right hand, wassworn, gave his name, address, his occupation.

"You have a store in thiscity?"

"A small store, yes sir. I havea store and shop combined. I do electrical repair work and sell some electricalgoods."

"Now, do you have occasion toremember the third of this month?"

"I do, yes, sir."

"Where were you on thatdate?"

"Well, actually it was just afew minutes past midnight so I suppose technically it was on the morning of thefourth," Kearny said. "I had been to a late movie and was walkinghome."

"Are you familiar with thelocation of the Pacific Northern Supermarket at 1026 Haliston Avenue?"

"I am, yes, sir."

"Did your route take you pastthat supermarket?"

"It did. Yes, sir."

"While you were there didanything unusual happen?"

"Yes, sir."

"What?"

"The front door of the marketopened, a man came running out and almost collided with me."

"Then what happened?"

"This man held a revolver inhis hand. He put the revolver in front of me and told me to put up myhands."

"What did you do?"

"I put up my hands."

"Did the man make any otherstatements?"

"I had assumed it was a hold-upand -"

"Never mind what you hadassumed. The question is Did the man make any other statements?"

"Yes, sir."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'Keep them up.'"

"Then what did he do?"

"He started backing away fromme, moving rather rapidly backwards until he was nearly two-thirds of the wayacross the street. Then he suddenly turned and ran as fast as he could down thealley."

"What did you do?"

"I tried the door of the store.It was locked. There was a spring lock on the inside, but I sensed somethingwas wrong and I started for a telephone. I wanted to get there as fast as Icould and notify the police."

"You were familiar with theneighbourhood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you know where the nearesttelephone was located?"

"Well now, I'm not certain thatit was the nearest telephone but I knew there was a telephone booth at aservice station about three blocks down the street, so I started running."

"How fast were yourunning?"

The witness grinned. "As fastas I could at the start, but I slowed down pretty quick. I used to do somesprinting but I found out I was pretty badly out of shape. I slowed down to ajog-trot after a couple of blocks and then I heard the siren and saw the redlight of this police car coming, so I ran out in the middle of the street,waved my hands and flagged it down."

"All right, we'll pass up whathappened after that for the moment," Burger said, "and go on to whathappened later on."

"Well, you mean about thesketch?"

"Yes."

"Well, a man whose name wasParley Fulton came to call on me. He had a sketch, a pencil sketch, and heshowed it to me and asked me if that was the man I had seen … Well now, waita minute. There was some conversation before that. First he asked me generallyto describe the man I'd seen. He told me he was a private detective and showedme his credentials, and then he showed me this sketch and asked me if thatwasn't a picture of the man I had seen and if the physical description wasn't amatch."

"What did you tell him?"

"I looked at the sketch andtold him no, that wasn't the man."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, he became ratherinsistent. He told me that there was no question about it, that was the manthat the night watchman had said it was a perfect likeness."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, I told him I didn'tthink so, but I got worrying about it, thinking about it. Frankly it botheredme a lot. I'd been held up before and I didn't want -"

"Now, never mind that. Nevermind your thoughts or your background," Hamilton Burger interrupted."Just what did you do?"

"Well, I went to the office ofPaul Drake, the detective who employed Parley Fulton, and I asked him if Icould see that sketch again. Well, he put .through a telephone call to Mr Masonand asked him -"

"Now, just a minute,"Hamilton Burger interrupted, "when you say Mr Mason, you mean Mr PerryMason, the attorney representing the defence in this case?"

"That's the one. Yes,sir."

"And what happened?"

"Well, he called Mr Mason, andMason had us come down to his office and when we got down there Mason talkedwith me himself."

"And what was the tenor ofMason's conversation?"

"Objected to as calling for aconclusion of the witness," Mason said.

"Sustained," Judge Saxtonsnapped.

"Well, what did Mason say toyou?"

"Well, I can't remember allthat he said, but I remember he showed me the picture and I told him that theman I had seen was older and heavier and taller, and he told me that experienceshowed that under such circumstances witnesses almost invariably described theman as being older and heavier and taller and more powerfully built than theactual criminal."

"In other words, he was tryingto get you to identify this sketch?"

"Just a moment, YourHonour," Mason said. "I object to the question as leading andsuggestive, and calling for a conclusion of the witness."

"Sustained," Judge Saxtonsaid. "Mr District Attorney, in a matter of this importance kindly refrainfrom asking leading questions."

"Well, I think it was obviouswhat was happening," Hamilton Burger said. "I was simply trying tosummarize the situation."

"Just let the evidence come inby question and answer," Judge Saxton said, "and there will be noneed to summarize the situation."

"At any time did Mr Mason askyou to identify this sketch?"

"Well, I can't remember exactlythat he said those exact words. I know what he was trying to get me to do, but -"

"Move to strike out the answeras not being responsive to the question," Mason interposed.