Erle Gardner: The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink

Captain Frances G. Lee, a seventy-year-old woman who has donated her life and her fortune to legal medicine, police work and scientific crime detection, is a character so fabulous that the most colorful creations of the mystery writer seem drab in comparison.

Several years ago she first invited me to attend one of the seminars on homicide investigation which are given under her auspices at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.

At this seminar my attention was attracted to one of the younger instructors, Dr. Russell S. Fisher, a man who had a thorough command of his subject, who had the knack of imparting information, and who, above all, had a manner of quiet sincerity. He was modest, almost to the point of self-effacement; yet the calm confidence with which he went about his work showed that he had faith in himself.

I am interested in mysteries, murders, police detection and in crime, but above all, as a writer, I am interested in people. I like to try to classify people and try to “read character.”

There are those who claim that it is impossible to “read character.” What these skeptics overlook is that as a man establishes the daily contacts of his life, lie is, to a large extent, treated according to his character and his worth. It is quite possible that the man’s character may not show in any particular stamp of features; nevertheless by his bearing, his manner, and the tone of his voice, a careful observer can tell a great deal about that individual and how he is accustomed to being treated by those who know him well.

The man whose opinions are consistently ignored will either make his remarks apologetically, or try to offset the effect he feels his words will create by clothing himself in a synthetically positive manner, which is so patently assumed it fools no one.

The man who is suspect of carrying tales or double-crossing will always be on the defensive. The man whose opinions are good but not quite good enough will keep on talking long after he has made his point, trying to bolster up his ideas in the face of the expected refusal.

I have known people who are very expert at this sort of character reading, and it is a hobby with me to study these things. So I made it a point to study Dr. Fisher, and the more I saw of him the better I liked him.

During the next eighteen months, Captain Lee invited me to attend two more seminars, and each time I noted Dr. Fisher’s development with increased pleasure.

Then came a time when Maryland decided it must put up really adequate appropriations and quit playing around with homicides and murderers, and put its ten-year-old Medical Examiner System on a solid footing. They wanted a man to head it who was thoroughly competent.

I knew generally that the five-man commission in Baltimore had decided to get the very best man available in the field. The position carried a salary which they felt would attract a man of top caliber.

Captain Lee is by way of being godmother to most of the state police organizations on the Atlantic Coast, and it was my good fortune to accompany her on a friendly tour of the state police, starting in New Hampshire (where she herself holds the title of Captain) and moving on down, state by state, until we came to Virginia.

The Maryland bigwigs in state and city police administration and crime detection went out of their way to honor Captain Lee, and I was included in the invitations. I caught a glimpse of real Southern hospitality, outstanding, it seems to me, because it is essentially founded upon sincerity and a recognition that friendships constitute the true wealth in life. Money may be desirable, but it is distinctly secondary.

It was a warm evening. There were mint juleps in frosted glasses, and a dinner served so efficiently, yet so unostentatiously, that one was inclined to take it as much for granted as the ice and the mint. Then, over the after-dinner coffee, the conversation gravitated toward the new position which was open, and I realized that these people had deferred naming the man who was to be Chief Medical Examiner until they could have a heart-to-heart talk with Captain Lee.

It came out of a clear sky so far as Captain Lee was concerned. She started thinking out loud, checking over persons who were available, and then said, “There’s a young man who I think would fit in perfectly. He’s young, he’s at Harvard, and he’s going to go places.

He’s competent, conscientious, and he has a lot of innate executive ability. His name is Dr. Russell S. Fisher.”

And then she turned to me and said, “You know him, Erie. What do you think of him?”

I agreed with her estimate in as few words as possible. It was her party. I was watching, listening and learning.

There was quite a bit of talk during the next ten minutes.

It was very apparent that the sponsors of this Maryland program felt that it was a matter of the greatest importance that everything get off to a good start. In fact, to a large extent their own reputations were at stake. They needed a man who was really outstanding.

Captain Lee gave them her ideas about Dr. Fisher. There was some thoughtful puckering of brows. Captain Lee’s recommendation went a great way, but one gathered that Dr. Fisher was going to be investigated up one side and down the other. And then they started asking questions.

During my years as a trial lawyer I have learned to appreciate what an art it is to extract definite information by short, pertinent, searching questions, and I pushed my chair back from the table so I could more thoroughly enjoy what was taking place.

There were seven or eight of the top-flight men gathered at this dinner, and they had brains. They had brains enough to work together, to co-ordinate each other’s efforts, and for ten or fifteen minutes Captain Lee was subjected to a cross-examination about Dr. Fisher that was an intellectual treat to an ex-trial lawyer who had enjoyed a wonderful dinner, who was basking happily in the glow of Southern hospitality, and who was listening to as shrewd a group of men as it had ever been his good fortune to see in action.

And then one of the men asked a highly pertinent question. “This Dr. Fisher,” he said, “he is young. We’ll concede from what you say, Captain Lee, that he has a competent grasp of the subject. Now, suppose he comes in here as Chief Medical Examiner and a murder case breaks where he goes on the stand and is subjected to cross-examination by some of the best attorneys in the country, who are, perhaps, trying to confuse him, trying to get him to shade his conclusions, or perhaps even trying to browbeat him and ridicule him. Is he the type of man who can go through an experience of that kind and maintain his dignity, who can rely on his knowledge, who can keep his temper and handle the situation simply through his competency and his knowledge?”

I was looking down at the tablecloth, waiting for Captain Lee to answer, thinking to myself that the person who asked that question had shown by the question itself that he had a keen insight into the technique of cross-examination.

There was a silence. I wondered if Captain Lee might be a little dubious. I glanced up at her, and saw that everyone was looking at me. For the first time I realized that the question had been addressed to me as an attorney.

It caught me by surprise so that I blurted out the two-word answer that told them exactly how I felt about Dr. Fisher. I said, “Hell, yes.”

They took some little time to investigate Dr. Fisher.

Their findings were favorable, and they offered him the position. Dr. Fisher accepted, and the choice has been a particularly happy one.

In the years that have ensued, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office of Maryland, located in splendidly equipped offices and laboratories provided by the city of Baltimore, has been the subject of discussion in many a gathering. No matter where you go throughout the United States, when you discuss legal medicine and the efficiency with which unexplained deaths are checked, homicides investigated, and facts placed in the hands of the prosecuting attorney, you find that Baltimore and Maryland rank right up in the top grouping of the top brackets.