the criminal court building in new york city is a huge square block of yellow brick with an incongruous cornice and grandiose trimmings. it is of the tammany period. among architectural aberrations, architects give it a leading place. it was run up on the site of an old pond, and was no sooner up than it threatened to fall down again. there was a great scare at the time, but that has long ago been forgotten. the monument still stands, secure in its ugliness.
it is one of the busiest places in the city. it knows no long vacations during the heated term. day in and day out the mills of justice grind feverishly without ever quite catching up with the grist that is offered. judges from quieter jurisdictions up state have continually to be imported to relieve the overworked metropolitan incumbents.
within the building there is a vast enclosed court surrounded by wide, cement-paved galleries tier above tier. every day during court hours these galleries are thronged with what is surely the most diverse collections of humanity ever brought together under a roof; witnesses principally, or friends of the accused. every walk of life is represented; every stratum of society. but among the countless types four are repeated over and over; wary-eyed initiates of the underworld, weeping women, shabby insinuating lawyers looking for business, and detectives with eyes as wary as the gunmen, but better fed men and full of a conscious rectitude. dozens of little dramas are going on simultaneously.
on a certain stifling morning in mid-summer, amongst the dozens of court-rooms the interest of the building was focused in general sessions, part one, where the case of the people versus counsell was being tried under stockman, j. a murder trial. common as they are in that building a murder trial never quite loses its zest, and this, owing to the prominence of the persons concerned, was a celebrated case. every morning a great crowd struggled to get into the courtroom, though the evidence was not of a sensational nature. there was no woman in the case. it was a foregone conclusion too; one of those cases which had been tried out in the newspapers before being brought into court, and a verdict of guilty rendered. nobody had a good word for the defendant except the morbid women who stormed the court-room doors, and who secured a majority of the seats inside, simply because they were more persistent than the men. these women always sympathize with the prisoner, particularly if, as in this case, he happens to be young and comely.
as a result of the furore in the newspapers many days had been taken up in the effort to secure an impartial jury. but once the taking of evidence began the proceedings moved swiftly enough. only two days had been required by the prosecutor to present his case. hackett, the particular star of the district-attorney's office, handled it. he had scarcely been obliged to exert himself; everything was going his way. in three days more the defendant's direct testimony was all in. counsell was his own principal witness. he had told a straightforward story on the stand, and a ruthless cross-examination had failed to shake it. unfortunately for him he had no witnesses to support his story. proof of it rested with the dead man. there had been no witnesses to the final scene between them. the trial had now reached the stage of rebuttal testimony offered by the people.
when court adjourned for the noon recess, corveth of defendant's counsel made his way out of the building with a heavy air of dejection. he was a young man, the same age as the prisoner, an old friend it was said, and he had full charge of counsell's case. he had put up a strenuous fight for his friend, but not perhaps a brilliant one. he was a first-rate lawyer, but he lacked the art of certain famous pleaders who, when they have a bad case, set out to charm and dazzle judge and jury with moving if irrelevant eloquence. corveth was in deadly earnest. he passionately believed in his client's innocence, but he had scarcely succeeded in proving it. and he had often irritated the bench by his dogged fight on points of law which took up time without apparently getting anywhere. even now it was a mistake of tactics for corveth so clearly to betray his discouragement to the inquisitive observers in the galleries.
two hours later when he returned, the man's whole bearing had changed. dejection had given place to an air of excitement so great that it was impossible to tell whether it was a pleasurable excitement or the reverse. his pale skin seemed to gleam with excitement; his clothing was a little disarranged; the man looked slightly stunned.
he was escorting a heavily veiled woman, a young woman judging from her figure and carriage, and they were followed by such an oddly-assorted group as you could only find walking together in that building. witnesses obviously. it included two other women, one a flashy, pretty little thing, with hard, assured eyes, the other a domestic servant apparently. the men ranged all the way from a highly prosperous gentleman, a banker possibly, down to a couple of taxi-drivers and a farm laborer. the word went around the galleries like wildfire that there was something up in the counsell case, and a new crowd pressed to the doors of the courtroom. it was too late to get in. corveth left his witnesses outside where they remained guarded by a couple of young men from his office against the questions of the curious.
within the court-room corveth was seen to enter into an excited, whispered discussion with the defendant. corveth was the excited one. counsell appeared to be trying to soothe him. their talk was interrupted by the entrance of the judge.
when the proceedings were opened corveth rose and in a voice that trembled oddly said: "if it please your honor since we adjourned important new evidence has been offered to me."
the judge stared and bit his lip in irritation. there were so many cases on his calendar! were they all to be dragged out past all reason by the lawyers! this of course was merely the grand stand play of a lawyer with a bad case. to do him justice, his honor controlled his irritation before he spoke.
"mr. corveth, i trust you have taken thought of what you are saying. you have had every opportunity to present your case."
"twelve new witnesses have just been brought to me, sir, whose existence i never suspected."
"twelve! how could that be? you have been studying this case for weeks. in what manner were new witnesses brought to you at this late date?"
"they were brought to me by a person interested in this case, who has been conducting an investigation unknown to me."
"and you say their evidence is important?"
"of the utmost importance, sir. it throws an entirely new light on the case."
in his irritation the overworked judge was understood to mutter: "i doubt it!"
corveth flushed crimson, but held his tongue.
observing the flush, his honor went on more mildly, but still with bitterness: "understand, mr. corveth, it is not your word that i doubt, but only your estimate of the importance of this evidence. a long experience on the bench has taught me that matters which appear of overwhelming importance to opposing counsel, have a way of shrinking sadly when they are brought out on the stand."
a titter went around the court-room. the gavel rapped viciously.
"should this evidence not be admitted sir, it may put the state to the expense of a new trial."
the assistant district attorney was on his feet. "i object. surely it is grossly improper for counsel to make such statements in the hearing of the jury."
"it is only his opinion," said the judge wearily. "it will not appear in the record." to corveth he said: "well, what do you want me to do?"
"to give me time to hear these persons' stories, sir. an adjournment until to-morrow morning."
the judge said nothing, but his face was set hard against it.
"or if mr. hackett is willing to go on with his evidence in rebuttal, i only ask for leave to re-open my case to-morrow. i can sit up all night."
mr. hackett smiled rather pityingly. "with all respect to counsel," he said, "i don't see that anything is to be gained by going on if mr. corveth is going to introduce an entirely new element."
"i agree with you," said the judge. he appeared to have made up his mind. "mr. corveth," he went on, "you realize of course that if i give you this time the district-attorney is entitled to a similar indulgence. where would we end? these gentlemen on the jury have already been detained from their homes and their businesses for many days. i owe them the greatest consideration. i must have some further assurance of the importance of your evidence before i can consent to any delay. you say this story has just been told you by somebody. is he present?"
"it is a woman, your honor. she is present."
the court-room pricked up its ears.
"then why not put her on the stand?"
"it would be useless, your honor. she could give little or no direct testimony as to what occurred. she has collected the testimony and brought me the witnesses."
"they are here, too? then put your principal witness on the stand. i will give you as much latitude as i can in questioning him. and if anything important transpires i will grant the adjournment you ask for."
"i thank your honor. unfortunately, as i understand it, none of these witnesses can tell a complete story of what happened. each one can only add a link or two to the chain. you could scarcely judge from the testimony of any one of them how important their evidence would be taken collectively."
his honor sighed for patience, and bit his lip.
"but if i might offer a suggestion, sir...?"
"well?"
"could you not request the jury to retire and hear this lady's story in your chambers? you could then decide in a few minutes whether or not it warranted an adjournment."
his honor tapped his desk reflectively with a pencil.
the assistant-district-attorney was protesting. "your honor, whatever may come of this matter, an impression is being created here highly prejudicial to the case of the people..."
corveth interrupted him: "i should be quite willing to have mr. hackett present while this lady is telling her story, so that he may have the fullest opportunity to meet the evidence she has to offer."
this more than anything corveth had said, inclined the judge to believe that he really had something up his sleeve. moreover it was a generous offer. the judicial face thawed a little on defendant's counsel. it then turned to the jury.
"gentlemen of the jury i will ask you to retire for a few minutes to give me the opportunity of deciding whether this evidence is material to the case."
the jury filed out in one direction, and his honor went the other, his silken robe billowing behind him. the court-room buzzed with an excited whispering: "what do you suppose is up?"
corveth brought the veiled woman to the judge's room through another door. "chambers" was simply a smallish room with a ceiling so lofty that it gave the effect of a room stood up on the wrong end. a wide flat-topped desk filled a great part of the floor space. his honor, brought down from the eminence of his dais was revealed as a smallish man with a wise, humane face, much harassed as the result of over-work. in the little room he looked much more human.
he waved the lady to a chair at his right hand. hackett, with a cynical expression, lounged in a chair by the window. corveth was too nervous to sit. as the lady seated herself she threw back her veil.
"miss broome!" exclaimed the judge in surprise. "you have already testified in this case!" he looked reproachfully at corveth. corveth signed to him to wait.
"did you not tell all you know?" judge stockman demanded.
pen slowly shook her head.
"how do you reconcile that with your conscience?"
"i answered all the questions," she said softly. "mr. corveth could not ask me about these other matters, because he knew nothing of them."
"but you are acting in the defendant's interest, i assume. surely his counsel had a right to know what was going on."
"it was not from any lack of confidence in him," pen said, with a warm glance at corveth. "it would have been fatal to us if the least whisper of what we were doing had got about before we had complete proof. we tried our best to obtain a postponement of the trial. when that was denied it was very difficult to know what to do. mr. counsell decided, and i agreed with him, that we must go ahead and keep everything hidden. we did not tell mr. corveth because he is too honest to play a part. if he had known what we knew, our enemies would have read it in his face in the court-room. if we have acted wrongly i hope you will remember that we had a powerful and unscrupulous enemy."
his honor did not appear much impressed, though it was not hidden that he approved of pen's exterior. "and do you think you have complete proof now?" he asked with an indulgent smile.
"i obtained it only yesterday, sir."
"well, tell me what you expect to prove."
pen looked rather helpless. "mr. corveth said i must be brief ... there is so much to tell... i scarcely know where to begin..."
corveth prompted her. "tell judge stockman what witnesses you have brought me and what you expect to prove by each one."
pen nodded. "the first witness will be a young woman named blanche paglar. she will testify that up to the day that collis dongan was shot she was friends with ... i mean lived with..." she hesitated, blushing.
corveth helped her out with the legal euphemism.
"yes, she was the common-law-wife of a young man known as spike talley. she will testify that talley told her at this time that he had undertaken a job for a rich man, whose name he never told her, and that he was to get ten thousand dollars for it."
"what!" exclaimed judge stockman. "what sort of job?"
"talley was what is called a gangster or a gunman," said pen. "when they say 'a job' they mean a killing, a murder."
"good heavens!" exclaimed the judge. "do you mean to say you have had to associate with such people?"
"they were kind to me," said pen simply.
"go on."
"she will testify that spike talley's duties in connection with his 'job' necessitated his putting on dress clothes every evening and going to a certain fashionable hotel to dine. he never told her the name of the hotel, but on one occasion he brought her a menu-card with the name torn off. that card will be identified as one from the hotel warrington."
"ha!" exclaimed his honor as the connection began to show.
"talley also told her that his 'boss' gave him a drink of whiskey every time he went to his house. he described to her how it stood on the sideboard in a handsome, square, cut-glass bottle, and how he was always invited to help himself."
"the importance of this will appear later," murmured corveth.
pen went on: "blanche will testify that spike talley left her for the last time on the afternoon of may 27th, the day of the murder. some days later she reported his disappearance to the police. they could find no trace of him, if indeed they ever looked. blanche never connected his disappearance with the death of collis dongan, because the newspapers made out from the beginning that it was certain mr. counsell had committed that crime."
his honor was now thoroughly interested in pen's story. even assistant-district-attorney hackett had lost a good deal of his scornful air. the judge said:
"but if this talley has disappeared can you prove anything?"
"you'll see, sir... the next witness is a taxi-driver who was a friend of spike talley's. he will testify that at this time talley came to his garage every evening and engaged the witness to drive him up to the hotel warrington. i could prove by waiters in the hotel that talley dined there every evening—they have identified his photograph, but mr. corveth says it will hardly be necessary, because the next witness, mr. slaughter, would carry more weight.
"mr. slaughter is a gentleman of means and position who resides at the warrington. he will tell how he became acquainted with talley through seeing him dine at the next table. talley was a young man of much charm of manner. mr. slaughter never suspected what he was. the two became quite friendly, and on a number of occasions after dinner, mr. slaughter invited talley up to his apartment which was on the same floor as mr. dongan's and mr. counsell's. mr. slaughter will further testify how on one occasion he discovered talley ... what would you say ... flirting with the hotel maid on that floor, and remonstrated with him. talley passed it off with a laugh. talley visited him for the last time on the night of the murder.
"the next witness will be the maid, mary crehan. she will tell how talley 'made up to her' as she says, and how on one occasion he took her to a moving picture theater. it appears from what she recollects of their conversation that talley was pumping her for information as to the lay-out of mr. dongan's apartment, and mr. counsell's, and information as to the habits of the two men. but he did this so adroitly that the girl never thought of connecting him later with the shooting. she will testify how one evening after having talked with talley in the corridor, she missed her keys. it never entered her head that the fashionably-dressed young gentleman had anything to do with it. she found them the next night in the cupboard on that floor where she was accustomed to leave them upon going off duty. the bunch consisted of half a dozen master keys which would admit her to any apartment on that floor.
"the next witness is a locksmith, an acquaintance of talley's, who will identify the maid's keys as the same bunch brought to him by talley to be duplicated. he did duplicate them, and handed both sets to talley, this was about ten days before the murder.
"the next witness is another taxi-driver who had no acquaintance with talley, but is prepared to identify his photograph as that of a man who engaged him outside the hotel warrington about midnight on may 27th."
"midnight?" interrupted judge stockman. "that was after the murder. can't you connect this talley directly with the deed?"
"no, sir. he was too clever ... besides that was not my principal object. i was looking for proof against his employer."
"oh, do you know him too?"
pen nodded.
"go ahead."
"this taxi-cab driver could not at first remember the address to which he had driven talley, but he gave us the locality, and when we drove with him through the streets of that neighborhood he unhesitatingly picked out the house."
"how could he do that?"
"well, it was a peculiar looking house; different from any other in the neighborhood, from any other in town probably. it is in thirty-ninth street, east of lexington."
"go on."
"he stalled his engine and had to get out of his car to start it. thus he saw talley admitted to the house, and had a glimpse of the man who admitted him. out of a number of photographs handed him he picked out one which he is ready to swear is that of the man who admitted talley."
"he could have got but the briefest of glances."
"but it is of a striking-looking man, your honor."
"what next?"
pen said slowly: "talley was never seen alive after that."
"what!" exclaimed judge stockman, "you charge a second murder! ... go on."
"for many days we could get no further," pen said. "finally one of talley's friends volunteered to break into that house to look for evidence."
"but this is burglary!"
"the witness, known as babe riordan, is prepared to waive immunity when he goes on the stand. if a charge is laid against him he will stand his trial."
"did he find anything in the house?"
"he found the square, cut-glass whiskey bottle on the sideboard. it had been emptied, but we took it to a chemist, our next witness, who is prepared to testify that it contained well defined traces of cyanide."
his honor frowned. "dubious evidence!" he said. "even suppose a jury were inclined to believe the chemist, how would they know but that the last witness, a self-confessed burglar, remember, did not put the poison in the bottle himself?"
"there is more evidence," said pen. "it appears that according to the law a druggist may not sell such poisons without a doctor's prescription. a search was conducted through the various drug-stores in the neighborhood, and several prescriptions for cyanide traced back. one was traced to the man who occupies that house on thirty-ninth street."
"the man identified by the second taxi-driver as he who admitted talley to the house?"
"yes, sir."
"ah then, you're getting closer to it. who is this man?"
pen hesitated. "mr. corveth told me that his name should not be mentioned at this trial."
his honor looked a little nonplussed. "... er ... well perhaps not ... perhaps not! have you more evidence against him?"
"we can show that three days before the murder he drew ten thousand dollars in cash from the bank."
"ah, the price named by the first witness. but what good will that do you if it is your contention that he murdered his tool instead of paying him?"
"because we can show that the day after the murder he re-deposited the amount in another bank."
"ah! anything else?"
"our next task of course was to try to prove what had become of talley's body. this took us many more days."
"you engaged detectives to help you?"
"no, sir. i hadn't money enough. but all of spike talley's friends helped me. they proved themselves as good detectives as professionals."
"but they are only making out their friend to be a murderer!"
"they seem not to mind that. according to their code he was simply doing his job. instead of getting his pay for it he was murdered. they wish to avenge him by helping to convict his murderer. i might say that if it was not for me they would probably choose a more direct way of avenging him, but i have persuaded them that it would be a much more terrible punishment to bring the murderer into court."
his honor wagged his head. "you have been keeping strange company, young lady!"
"i had no choice, sir."
"i suppose you know that these gunmen, gangsters, burglars and so on are not very credible witnesses."
"they are not my principal witnesses, sir. i rely chiefly on mr. slaughter, the different professional men, the servants, the second taxi-driver, all of whom are obviously disinterested."
"where did you get so much information about what constitutes evidence and so on."
"we had legal advice, sir. not from mr. corveth, but from another lawyer, who once defended spike talley."
"go on."
"we had the house on thirty-ninth street searched from top to bottom without discovering any clues as to what became of the body. it was not until we went to mr. ... to the rich man's country place, that we began to make progress. we learned there, that two days after the murder, that was sunday, the owner brought a barrel up from the city in the back of his automobile. he informed his servants that it contained a new poison with which he intended to spray his fruit trees—i should explain that he is an extensive raiser of fruit, and under his supervision the barrel was put in a little shed in one of the orchards where the spraying apparatus, the poisons and so on were kept."
"can't you establish a connection between the barrel and the house on thirty-ninth street?"
"to a certain extent, yes. when we learned of the barrel some of us went back to the thirty-ninth street neighborhood to investigate. we have a grocer who will testify that he sold such an empty barrel to the man in question, who was particular to see that he got a perfectly fitting head to the barrel. he told the grocer he wanted to ship some china up to his country place. he carried the barrel away in his car."
"did the grocer know the man who bought the barrel?"
"no, sir. but he can identify the man. and describe the car."
"well, assuming that the barrel contained a body when it arrived at the country place, what became of it after that?"
"we have one of the rich man's laborers to testify to that. on the following day, monday, this man was ordered to assist his master in one of the orchards. the day is fixed in the man's mind because it was decoration day and he was disappointed of getting a holiday. i should tell you that the rich man personally supervised his orchards and often worked in them himself, so that his actions on this day excited no particular remark among his servants. he ordered the laborer to gather up all the piles of twigs and branches which had been pruned in that particular orchard during the winter, and make one great pile to be burned. he pointed out a spot of waste ground at a little distance from the trees where the fire was to be made. he then went away.
"he returned to the orchard when the work was done. he then had a small can of coal oil. his laborer ventured to remonstrate with him on the danger of making so great a fire, but his master curtly replied that he knew what he was about. he sent the laborer on an errand to a distant part of the estate, saying that he would remain to watch the fire. the laborer after his rebuke, with a natural hope perhaps that the fire would get beyond his master, concealed himself behind some shrubbery at a little distance and watched.
"he saw his master go to the spraying house, bring out the barrel (he will testify that there was no other barrel of that sort in the house) and roll it down the orchard to the great heap of branches. he saw him place it in the center of the pile, pour coal oil all around, and set it afire. when the flames sprang up, the master began to look about him suspiciously, and the laborer fearing discovery, hastened away and saw no more. he told what he had seen to his mates, but it does not appear that any of them suspected that a crime had occurred. all their master's actions appeared to them so arbitrary and eccentric they never tried to explain them. as one of them said, 'you never knew what the boss was going to do next!'"
"have you anything more?" asked the judge.
"yes, sir. i will be the next witness. i will tell how the laborer took me to the spot where the fire had been, and how i searched it. several weeks had passed, and the rains had leached out the ashes, but the place had not been disturbed by a rake or cultivator."
"how do you know?"
"in the center where the heat had been greatest there was nothing but washed out ashes, but all around the edge were the unconsumed ends of twigs and branches looking as if they had been arranged in an exact circle with all the charred ends pointing to the center. i searched every square inch of the spot while the laborer watched me."
"where was the master of the place?"
"oh, i took care to inform myself beforehand that he was not going to be there at that time."
"and you found...?"
"some little burned lumps of bone, but it was impossible to say of what. a little lump of gold that might have been a finger ring—talley wore such a ring, but it had melted into a shapeless lump. a piece of scorched fabric barely recognizable as part of the brim of a man's silk hat. finally, in a slight depression where water had gathered, part of a jawbone in which six teeth were still fairly intact."
the judge shook his head frowning. "scarcely conclusive! scarcely conclusive!"
"there is one more witness, sir," said pen. "considerable dental work had been done on the teeth, and the fillings were still intact. one of the teeth it appeared was false, and it had been fastened to its fellows on either side in an ingenious fashion."
"ha!"
"talley it appeared was vain of his personal appearance, and employed a first-class dentist. the dentist is prepared to go on the stand and swear from the work on the teeth that this is a part of talley's jaw."
"from memory?"
"no, sir. he is a modern dentist. he will offer his record in evidence, which includes diagrams of the man's mouth, showing the work he did on it from time to time."
judge talley forgetting judicial calm jumped up. "ha! then you have a case!" he cried. "eh, mr. hackett?"
"if it can be proved to the satisfaction of a jury," said the assistant-district-attorney sourly.
judge stockman paced slowly up and down. "this is extraordinary .... extraordinary!" he murmured. he came to a stand in front of pen. "miss broome, has this man been in court?"
"no, sir. but his representatives are always there. i don't doubt but he receives hourly reports of the proceedings."
"i think you had better tell me the name of the man you accuse. not with any idea of injecting it into this case, but simply that precautions may be taken against his escape. the police should be notified."
pen looked at corveth, who nodded.
"it is ernest riever," she said.
the effect on the two men was electrical. hackett jumped to his feet, and supported himself with a hand on the back of his chair.
"impossible!" he cried.
judge stockman in his amazement was staring at pen almost clownishly. "riever...!" he stammered. "riever! ... have you thought of what you are saying!"
a little flame of indignation was lighted in pen's cheeks. "if he did it, does it make any difference who he is?"
"certainly not! certainly not! ... but riever! ... we must be very sure! this would cause the greatest sensation of our time!"
"best to proceed very slowly, sir!" said hackett, pale with agitation.
"i have nothing to do with it!" said judge stockman with undisguised relief. "my duty is simply to try counsell. the rest is up to the district-attorney."
"no motive has been established," said hackett.
"true! true!" the judge turned almost accusingly to pen. "what possible reason could riever have had?"
corveth answered for her. "i take it, it is not necessary to go into riever's motives in this trial. but we are prepared to show a motive just the same. do you remember the riever divorce case three years ago?"
"dimly."
"it was a counter-suit. mrs. riever won. riever's case rested principally on a letter that he produced in court. it had been written by mrs. riever to some unnamed man. we can show that it had been written to counsell, and that riever knew it had."
the judge stared. "then your contention is that riever had this inoffensive man dongan killed merely so that he could get back at counsell?"
"there is more evidence on that point besides what miss broome has brought out here. i don't need to point out to you how nearly riever succeeded in his object."
"good god!" exclaimed judge stockman,
"that would be something new in criminal jurisprudence," sneered hackett.
"but not entirely unprecedented," corrected the breathless judge. "there was the famous anstey case so often quoted when i was a young lawyer. and of more recent years the cases of the people vs. reichardt and the people vs. bowley ... but good god! ... riever...!"
the little judge seemed to have been brought to a complete stand. he stared ahead of him muttering: "ernest riever! ... good god! ... what a sensation will be caused...!"
corveth said: "that is all miss broome had to tell you, sir."
it brought the judge to himself with a start. "to be sure! to be sure!" he said, and cleared his throat. he looked his age. "i will adjourn court until to-morrow morning. mr. hackett, you will get in touch with the police i suppose. if i were you, i would not take more than one man into my confidence, say inspector durdan of the detective bureau."
hackett bowed in acquiescence.
"gentlemen, let us return to the court-room."
