Erle Gardner: The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

“I don’t agree that it has ‘colored my recollection’ at all! It has just made me think back a little more carefully. I’m absolutely positive now that she dropped something into that garbage can.”

“Just as positive as you were at twenty-three minutes past two on the third day of this month that she had merely looked into it?”

“That’s a rather harsh way of putting it, Mr. Mason.”

“And that’s a rather poor way of answering the question.”

“I... she dropped something into that can.”

“You’re sure she did — now?”

“Yes.”

“You weren’t sure on the third?”

“Well — no — if you’re going to split hairs!”

“That’s all,” Mason said.

“No redirect,” Gulling said.

“Your next witness, Counselor.”

“At this point I wish to recall Sam Dixon for a question,” Gulling said.

“Very well.”

The judge said to Dixon, “You have already been sworn. Go ahead and answer questions.”

“Mr. Dixon,” Gulling asked, “did you have occasion on the afternoon of the third to visit the Lorenzo Hotel and inspect a garbage can there?”

“I did.”

“What did you do?”

“I raised the cover of the garbage can, being careful not to leave any fingerprints on it. I found the can about two-thirds full of garbage. I emptied the garbage out on a piece of canvas, and in that garbage I found a Colt .32-caliber revolver, number 14581.”

“And what did you do with the revolver?”

“Taking great care not to leave any fingerprints on it, and not to smudge any fingerprints that might already be on it — in spite of the fact that it had been right in the middle of wet garbage... ”

“Never mind explaining why there were no fingerprints on the gun — just answer the question. What did you do?”

“I delivered the gun to Alfred Korbel.”

“Mr. Korbel is the expert on ballistics and fingerprinting for the Police Department?”

“He is.”

“And when did you deliver the weapon to him?”

“Both the weapon and the garbage-can lid were delivered at approximately seven forty-five on the evening of that day.”

“The third of this month?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You may inquire.”

“No questions,” Mason said.

“Court will take a recess for ten minutes,” judge Lindale ruled.

Mason caught Paul Drake’s eye.

Paul nodded.

Ten minutes later, when court was reconvened, Gulling said, “My next witness will be Alfred Korbel.”

Taking the witness stand, Alfred Korbel qualified himself as an expert in ballistics and fingerprints.

“I show you a certain revolver, being a Colt .32-caliber, number 14581, and ask if you have ever seen it before?”

“I have — yes, sir.”

“When?”

“I first saw it at about seven-forty-five in the evening of the third of this month when it was delivered to me by Sam Dixon. I made several tests with it in my laboratory, and saw it again at approximately midnight — the night when the defendant Adelle Winters identified it as being a gun that belonged to her.”

“You have made tests with this gun?”

“I have — yes, sir.”

“Did you examine it for fingerprints?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you find any?”

“No.”

“Can you explain why there were none?”

“When the gun was delivered to me, it was covered with a coating of slime. There were bits of garbage adhering to portions of the gun as well as to an empty cartridge case that was in one cylinder. There were also bits of garbage in the barrel. Considering that the gun had been packed in garbage which had subsequently been stirred up, I should hardly expect to find any legible prints on it. Now, that sounds rather complicated,” Korbel said with an apologetic smile; “but what I’m trying to say is that if the gun — as the evidence indicates and as I understand is the case — was packed for some hours in a garbage can, to which more garbage was added from time to time, I should hardly expect to find fingerprints on it.”

“What was the condition of the gun — that is, as to being loaded?”

“Five chambers were loaded, and one had been recently fired. This one contained an empty cartridge case.”

“Did you make tests with the bullet handed you by the autopsy surgeon some time on the evening of the third?”

“I did — yes, sir.”

“And without at this time asking you to tell where that bullet came from, I will ask you what your tests showed.”

“They showed that the bullet had been fired from that gun.”

“And you made tests of the handle on the lid of the garbage pail for fingerprints?”

“I did, yes.”

“What did you find?”

“May I have that brief case, please?” Korbel asked.

Gulling handed it to him.

Korbel opened it and took out a set of photographs. “This photograph, taken with the aid of a mirror,” he said, “shows the under side of the garbage can’s handle. The handle shows several latents — some of them smudged, some clearly identifiable.”

“Directing your attention to the latent enclosed in a circle,” Gulling said, “did you identify that latent print?”

“I did. That is the print of the middle finger of the left hand of the defendant, Adelle Winters.”

“You may inquire,” Gulling snapped.

“There are several latent prints on that handle?” Mason asked.

“That’s right. They’re quite plain, Mr. Mason.”

“You can make out several of them plainly enough to identify them?”

“You mean, to compare them with other prints?”

“Yes.”

“That’s right.”

“You are employed by the police? That is, you are connected with the city police?”

“As an expert, yes.”

“And you take orders from the police?”

“I don’t understand just how you mean that. If you wish to imply that the police tell me what to say, you are wrong.”

“But they tell you what to do?”

“Well... yes.”

“So that when the police are working up a case against a person, you are biased insofar as that person is concerned?”

“How do you mean?”

“Take the instant case,” Mason said. “You were and are trying to get evidence connecting Adelle Winters with the murder. You aren’t investigating the murder, but just trying to implicate Mrs. Winters.”

“I don’t see where there’s any difference. It’s all the same thing.”

“No it isn’t. Take these fingerprints for instance. The minute you identified one of these prints as that of Adelle Winters that was all you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“Naturally.”

“In other words, you were interested in the latents on the garbage pail only to the extent of trying to prove a case against her?”

“Well, I guess so, yes; but I don’t see what you’re trying to establish, Mr. Mason. Naturally, if she had handled the lid of the garbage pail, that was evidence. I was trying to establish that.”

“Exactly, and you didn’t try to find out to whom those other latents belonged?”

The witness smiled. “Oh that! Dozens of persons had access to that garbage pail. It was a public place, so to speak. Many people from the kitchen of the café had access to the garbage pail and had lifted it during the afternoon. I am willing to admit that I was concerned only with finding and identifying a print proving that the defendant Adelle Winters had at some time previous to my examination lifted the cover.”

“Exactly!” Mason said. “In other words, you wanted to find one thing in order to establish a case against this defendant. When you found it, you quit looking for anything else. Isn’t that right?”