Ngaio Marsh - Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh
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- Название:Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh
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(Defense Counsel sits down. A pause. The Judge has taken an occasional note during this submission. He now looks up and waits for a moment)
Judge: Yes. Thank you. (He turns to Prosecution Counsel.) Well, Mr. Golding?
Golding (rising) : My lord, I shall oppose the introduction of any reference whatever to the death of Major Ecclestone. I submit that it would be grossly improper to confuse in the minds of the jury two entirely separate issues. The inquiry into Major Ecclestone’s death is in the hands of the police. And if they make an arrest there will be a trial in another court under another jury. What will transpire on what accusations may be made is utterly irrelevant to these proceedings. I submit that it will be irregular in the highest degree to anticipate them. As far as this court is concerned, my lord, may I venture to remind my learned friend that “the dog it was that died” and not its master?
Judge: And what do you say to that, Mr. O’Connor?
O’Connor (good-humoredly) : Touché , I suppose, my lord.
Judge: This is in more ways than one a most unusual case. The death in the witness box of the principal witness for the prosecution, the man who laid the accusation against the defendant, and the finding of cyanide in his body is an extraordinary circumstance. I may order the jury to dismiss all this from their minds, but gentlemen, I may do so until my wig turns black and falls off my head but they won’t be able to do so. But to return to the argument. It would be remarkable if two people had independently desired to bring about the Major’s death. Thus if the second, successful, attempt could not have been made by the accused, it seems to me to be relevant to the allegation that she made the first attempt. I therefore rule that evidence regarding the nature and characteristics of the poisoned capsule is admissable.
O’Connor: I am greatly obliged to your Lordship.
Judge: Very well. Here we go again, gentlemen. (To the Usher) The jury may come back.
(The court reassembles. The jury enters . Miss Freebody returns to the dock . Dr. Swale now sits by himself in the witnesses’ seats . Mrs. Ecclestone, in mourning, hesitates and takes a seat removed from his. A pause and then he rises and goes to her. He bends over her for a moment and then offers his hand. After hesitating, she takes it. He then takes a seat behind hers.)
Judge: Members of the jury. Your attendance in this case was interrupted by an extraordinary and most distressing event which in the interval has received a great deal of publicity and has acquired a considerable amount of notoriety. You are of course not here to try anyone for Major Ecclestone’s death. You are here to decide whether Mary Emmaline Freebody is guilty or not guilty of attempted murder and that is your sole duty. Having said this I add one important qualification. If, during the continuation of the hearing, evidence is tendered that arises out of the circumstances attending upon Major Ecclestone’s death and that evidence has a bearing upon the question of the defendant’s guilt or innocence, then I will admit it for your consideration. Very well, Mr. O’Connor.
O’Connor (rising) : You are Dr. Ernest Smithson, of 24 Central Square, Fulchester.
Dr. Smithson: Yes.
O’Connor: You, Dr. Smithson, are consultant pathologist for the Fulchester Constabulary?
Dr. Smithson: I am.
O’Connor: Did you carry out a post mortem on Major Ecclestone?
Dr. Smithson: Yes. I found he had died of cyanide poisoning.
O’Connor: May he be shown Exhibit Six? Is that the bottle taken from the Major’s body?
Dr. Smithson: Yes. I found it myself in his pocket. It was a bottle of Duogastacone which contained capsules of potassium cyanide.
O’Connor: Which suggests that cyanide had been introduced into a bottle containing capsules of Duogastacone?
Dr. Smithson: Yes.
O’Connor: Now will you please tell the court whether it would be possible to fill capsules of the sort commonly used in pharmaceutical dispensaries with cyanide-of-potassium?
Dr. Smithson: It would be possible, yes.
O’Connor: In what form would the cyanide be?
Dr. Smithson: In the form of powder.
O’Connor: And would the capsules be indistinguishable from those filled with a doctor’s prescription?
Dr. Smithson: If the prescribed powder was the same color, which it probably would be, yes. To begin with, that is.
Judge: To begin with, Dr. Smithson? Can you explain a little farther?
Dr. Smithson: After about an hour, my lord, the cyanide would begin to seep through the capsule and this would become increasingly noticeable.
O’Connor: Let me get this quite clear. To escape detection the whole operation, filling the capsules with the lethal powder and conveying them to the intended victim, would have to be executed within an hour before one of the capsules was taken?
Dr. Smithson: Before they had begun to disintegrate, I would prefer to say.
O’Connor: Dr. Smithson, are you aware that from the day before the death of Major Ecclestone, my client has been under constant supervision?
Dr. Smithson: I have been so informed, yes.
O’Connor: And therefore could not, for instance, possibly have concocted lethal capsules of the sort we have been talking about and conveyed them to some person or place outside her own premises?
Dr. Smithson: Obviously not if she was under constant supervision.
O’Connor: Thank you. (O’Connor sits . Golding rises.)
Golding: My lord.
Judge (with a slight smile and an air of knowing what’s coming) : Yes, Mr. Golding?
Golding: Well — yes, indeed, my lord. I merely beg to remind the jury of what your Lordship has already laid down. The defendant is not on trial for concocting lethal capsules and I submit that the evidence we have just heard is irrelevant. I have no questions to put to Dr. Smithson.
Judge (to Smithson): Thank you, Dr. Smithson. You may go if you wish.
Dr. Smithson: Thank you, my lord. (He leaves the witness box.)
O’Connor: My lord, in view of the development of this trial since Dr. Swale gave evidence and particularly in view of subsequent evidence, I ask for leave to re-open my cross-examination of him. I ask for him to be recalled.
Judge: What do you say to this, Mr. Golding? Do you object?
Golding: My lord, I can find no conceivable reason for this procedure, but—I do not object.
Judge (after a moment’s pause) : Very well, Mr. Defense Counsel. Go back to the witness box, please, Dr. Swale.
(Dr. Swale takes the stand.)
O’Connor: Dr. Swale, you realize that you are still on oath, do you not?
Dr. Swale: I do.
O’Connor: You heard the evidence given by the previous witness?
Dr. Swale: Yes.
O’Connor: Do you agree with it?
Dr. Swale: I am not a pathologist, but I would expect it to be correct.
O’Connor: With respect to the deterioration within an hour of a capsule containing cyanide?
Dr. Swale: I have had no experience of potassium cyanide, but yes, I would, of course, expect Dr. Smithson to be right.
O’Connor: Yes. Dr. Swale, I’m going to take you back if you please to April 4th, the evening when you were called in to the Ecclestones’ and saw the dead Alsatian. You will remember that you removed what was left of the liver that had been fed to the dog and subsequently had it analyzed and that cyanide-of-potassium was found in massive quantities.
Dr. Swale: Yes.
O’Connor: There was also, in the same safe, the material for a mixed grill which was intended for the Major’s dinner that night.
Dr. Swale: So I understand.
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