Erle Gardner - The Case of the Phantom Fortune

"That is right."

"And you went through yourusual procedure in connection with that body. You took photographs of theposition of the body. You marked the outline in chalk on the floor. Yousearched the place?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you found the defendant?"

"Yes, sir. Hiding behind a pileof boxes."

"You say he was hiding. Youmean that he was concealed?"

"Well, he was hiding. He wasshrinking into the shadows."

"Into the shadows,Lieutenant?"

"That's what I said."

"Then the place was not welllighted?"

"The place was definitely notwell lit. The utilities were only partially in service. The water in thestoreroom was still on, but the electricity had been disconnected."

"That is rather a long,rambling building?"

"That is an old brickbuilding."

"What about theillumination?"

"When the electricity is on,the front room, the storeroom where the body was found, can be wellilluminated. The warehouse part was not so well illuminated. However, with theelectricity off the whole place was gloomy and poorly lit. One had to waituntil one's eyes accustomed themselves to semi-darkness before being able tosee things at all clearly in the warehouse."

"And that's where the defendantwas found?"

"That's where he was hiding,yes, sir."

"Now, where was the gun?"

"The gun was in the defendant'spocket."

"It had been fired?"

"It had been recentlyfired."

"Your test determinedthat?"

"Yes."

"The gun was fullyloaded?"

"Except for the one dischargedcartridge."

"Did you go to the trouble ofhaving the electricity turned on?" Mason asked.

Tragg smiled, "No, sir, wedidn't have the electricity turned on. That would have required a deposit and acertain amount of delay."

"Yet you say that you searchedthe place?"

"We searched it."

"How well did you searchit?"

"We found what we wanted."

"Which was what?"

"The murderer and the murderweapon."

"You assumed that the defendantwas the murderer because he was hiding?"

"And because he had the murderweapon in his possession."

"Yet you have just heard thetestimony of the ballistics expert in which he assumes that the weapon was themurder weapon in part because it was in the possession of the man you havebranded as the murderer."

"That is a logicaldeduction," Lt Tragg said. "However, there were other identifyingmarks indicating the revolver, People's Exhibit B, was the murder weapon."

"Did you take any lights intothe warehouse?"

"No, sir."

"You just looked through it,found the defendant and took him into custody?"

"Yes, sir."

"For all you know someone elsecould have been hiding in that warehouse?"

"No, sir, we searched it wellenough to know no one else was hiding."

"There were numerous largecardboard cartons in there, I believe you said?"

"Yes, sir."

"Some of them were big enoughto hold a man?"

"Oh, I presume so, yes."

"You didn't move them. Youdidn't look inside them?"

"No, we didn't. We made asearch for the purpose of finding anyone who might be in there. We found themurderer. That terminated our search."

"Then," Mason said,"you haven't really searched the place. I am going to put up the money forconnecting the electric light service and I suggest that this case be continueduntil a search can be made."

"What do you expect to findnow?" Judge Saxton asked.

"I don't know," Masonsaid. "I think the place should be searched."

"Well, if you want to do it andare willing to put up the money as a deposit for electric current, the Court iscertainly going to give you that privilege. It is approaching the hour of noonadjournment. The Court will adjourn until two-thirty this afternoon, at whichtime, Mr Mason, you will be asked to appear in order to show cause why youshould not be found guilty of contempt of court."

"Very well, Your Honour,"Mason said. "I will ask the cooperation of the police department ingetting immediate service in hooking up the meter on that establishment."

"But this is allfoolishness," Hamilton Burger protested. "There is nothing there now.There never was anything there that – "

"How do you know?" JudgeSaxton interrupted.

"I know because I know what thehuman probabilities are."

"This Court is not dealing withhuman probabilities," Judge Saxton said. "This Court is dealing withthe constitutional rights of a defendant charged with crime.

"There is, of course, atendency when one is searching for something which he expects to find, todiscontinue the search when he finds what he has expected. Apparently, that wasdone in this case. I am not censuring the police. I am simply stating that ifthe defendant wants the place searched at this time, the Court is not onlywilling to cooperate in that, but the Court would like to have such a searchmade.

"The Court instructs the prosecutionto cooperate in every way with the defence attorney in getting electricityturned on there. As I understand it, there will be ample illumination if theelectricity is turned on."

Hamilton Burger glanced at Tragg.

"Oh, yes, Your Honour,"Tragg said. "There were long fluorescent light tubes in the warehouse andalso in the storeroom."

"Very well," Judge Saxtonsaid, "Court will recess until two-thirty this afternoon, and if thatisn't sufficient time for the light to have been turned on and a search to bemade, the Court will take a further adjournment until tomorrow morning. Thepresent order is that Court is recessed until two-thirty"

Mason moved over to Paul Drake.

"Paul, you're going withoutlunch."

"I guess everybody's goingwithout lunch," Drake said. "Our next meal may be in jail."

"Forget it," Mason toldhim. "I want you, during the noon recess, to cover every main bank intown, not the branch banks, but the main banks, and see if ten years ago adeposit of forty-seven thousand dollars in cash was made by mail."

"They aren't going to give thatinformation," Drake said, "even if they know. They -"

"They'll know," Masonsaid. "You don't get a forty-seven-thousand-dollar cash deposit by mailevery day in the week. They may not want to give out the information as todetails. Tell them simply we want to know whether such a deposit was received.Put enough men on it to cover the city in the shortest time possible. Get onthe telephone, tell them who you are, tell them it's in the interest ofjustice."

Drake said moodily, "I waswatching Judge Saxton's face when that stuff came out about tampering with thewitnesses. That old boy is dead against you, Perry. He's going to throw thebook at you."

Mason grinned and said, "Thatdoesn't mean I can't dodge."

"Well, you'd better do somepretty fast dodging because I think that old boy is a pretty goodpitcher."

"We aren't licked yet,"Mason said.

"Well, I don't know what you'retrying to prove. My own idea is we're so far behind the eight ball that wearen't ever going to get out."

Mason said, "Look, Paul, a mangets out of federal prison, he has government agents shadowing him, he hasrough shadows and smooth shadows. The guy buys good clothes, he buys goodcigars. Where does he get the money?"

"Where indeed?" Drakeasked. "He bought an automobile and he got that money from you."

"That's right," Masonsaid. "He did that for the moral effect, but when he got the automobile hewas all prepared to disappear. He didn't charter a taxi, he didn't have anotherautomobile staked out. The next time we find him he's in a storeroom which hasbeen vacant for some time, which is tied up in litigation, and the storeroom isprovisioned with food, a sleeping bag, a suitcase with clothes. Now, where didCollister Gideon get all those things?"

"In stores, probably, he hadmoney."

"He was keeping out ofsight," Mason said. "There's more to the Gideon case than werealized."