The Just And The Unjust Page 27

  'How old are you, Helen?' he said.

  'Fifteen.'

  'And you're a student at Childerstown High School?'

  'I was. My father says I can't go back.'

  Abner could see a change in Jesse Gearhart's expression. Mr. Hartshorn might be — he looked as if he would be — a member of his township sending board, the body that arranged for sending children in to the central high school. It was easy to guess that he was going to demand changes — Mr. Rawle's head; and if he felt that way, other men like him on other sending boards were bound to feel the same. Jesse was going to have bad news for the meeting.

  'Well, that's too bad,' Abner said, 'but —'

  Mr. Hartshorn stood up and said, 'You needn't be worrying your head about things too bad, Mr. Coates. We're looking into this school business; and it's going to be too bad for some people I could name in Childerstown, if that is what you mean. Yes, I —'

  'Mr. Hartshorn!' said Judge Irwin.

  'Things haven't been going right here, and —'

  Judge Irwin had no gavel, but he rapped his knuckles violently on the desk. A delicate pink flush came up his cheeks and he said, 'If you do not sit down at once and be quiet, I shall hold you in contempt! This is a court of law, Mr. Hartshorn, not a public forum.'

  Reddening, Mr. Hartshorn sat down. 'Proceed, Mr. District Attorney,' Judge Irwin said.

  Abner said, 'Well, Helen, you were a student at the high school during last May, weren't you? And you testified that on May third —'

  Sam Field had bent his head down further. The only thing Sam could have to hope for in all this was that it would soon be over, and fairly soon forgotten; and Mr. Hartshorn's contentious words perhaps reminded him that this hope was unwarranted. Four years' service had given him his place in the squabbles and schemings and jealousies and long-holding of grudges that made up so much of the life and world of the school office and the faculty room. Though no longer present, Sam Field would not be quietly released from their talk and thought. In the struggle about to be joined, the coming together in opposition about who was to blame and who would have to pay, they would expose Sam Field anew at every meeting, and retry the case every day for weeks, while his friends hated him for putting them at the disadvantage of having been his friends, and his enemies gloated quietly together, telling each other again and again that they had told each other so.

  When Abner called his name, Sam Field jumped, starting erect. This made it necessary for him to stand a moment, drawing back stiffly, while Helen Hartshorn returned to her place. She slipped past him and sat by her father; and Field came down with constrained steps to where Mr. Bosenbury held the book. When he was in the stand, Abner said to him, 'Mr. Field, you have heard the evidence that has been offered' — the truth was, Abner thought, he had probably heard little of it — 'and I will not ask you anything about it in detail, unless there are details that you feel should be corrected. You have a right to question any of the witnesses if you want to.'

  'No,' said Field.

  'Mr. Field, can you give his Honour any explanation for these actions of yours? Can you say anything about why you were led to act this way?'

  Field said, 'I don't know why.'

  'That will be all, then,' Abner said with relief. 'Unless your Honour —?'

  'No. That is all. I have no questions.' Judge Irwin cleared his throat, took a last look at the page of the open volume of the statutes under his hand. 'Samuel Pierce Field,' he said, 'come before the Court.'

  'Right here,' Mr. Bosenbury whispered, indicating the space by the rail in front of him. When Field stood there, Judge Irwin went on, 'You have pleaded guilty to charges that are very serious. However, because you have pleaded guilty, because you have co-operated with the Commonwealth, I will not pain you, or others, by dwelling on the detestable nature of what you allowed yourself to do. I think you regret your acts. You are a young man of education and intelligence and though it is necessary for me to sentence you as I am about to, the Court feels every confidence that what you have been guilty of is merely a mis-step, and that you will in the future — er — be a useful and honourable member of society.'

  Judge Irwin shifted in his chair, clearing his throat again, and went on: 'The sentence of the Court is, first — this is the first indictment, Mr. Bosenbury; number sixty-three. First, that you pay the costs of prosecution.' He paused and looked at Field. 'And that you undergo a term of imprisonment at the Blue Hills Reformatory of not less than one year, nor more than —'

  Muffling an exclamation, Beatrice Wright put a hand over her face and began to cry.

  To Abner, John Costigan murmured, 'Got a break. Didn't send him to the pen, at any rate.'

  Coming behind Abner, Warren Lyall whispered, 'Were those to run concurrently?'

  'Yes,' said Costigan. Lyall squeezed his shoulder, stepped by him, and made a gesture to Field. Maynard Longstreet, folding his copy paper, stood up, put his elbows on the front of the bench, addressing Judge Irwin, who bent forward to hear. Everitt Weitzel said to the witnesses, 'That's all. You can go now.'

  Standing up, Abner found himself facing the Reverend Mr. Field, who said agitatedly, 'I just wished to ask you whether it's proper for us to speak to him; whether we can see him a few minutes —'

  'Certainly,' Abner said. 'This courtroom won't be in use now. I think Mr. Lyall will be willing to let you talk to him here for a few minutes.' He glanced at Field, who stood white and silent under the high window through which the falling rain could be seen. Abner walked up to him, put out his hand, and said, 'Good luck, Sam.'

  Field took the hand weakly; but he did not try to say anything. Abner saw that, like most impulsive gestures, it had only served to distress them both. He nodded, took up his file folder from the table, and started toward the door.

  Jesse Gearhart was still sitting in the corner, his hands balanced on his umbrella handle; and Abner went over to him. 'Marty says he's willing for you to have this,' he said. He lifted the folder, not sure whether Jesse would take it or not.

  Jesse said, 'All right, Ab. Thanks.'

  Abner turned and went out the door and downstairs. In the hall below he caught up with Everitt Weitzel. 'Bad thing, that, Ab,' Everitt said, seeing who it was.

  Finding that he remained somewhat shaken, Abner said, 'Yes, it is.' He lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, drawing the smoke deep into his lungs. Coming to the courtroom door, he dropped the cigarette, trod it out, and let himself in quietly.

  5

  A gloom like that of dusk filled the great cavern of the main courtroom. Outside the morning had darkened and the fall of rain was so heavy and loud that the sound of it passed in drumming echoes across the varnished ceiling boards from slope to slope. Behind the stained glass wheel the thousand candle power electric bulbs were burning. Their diluted light, falling fifty feet on the well of the court, fell on Abner as he approached the Commonwealth's table.

  Bunting, a paper in his hand, stood by the rail beside Joe Jackman's desk. Kinsolving, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent, was on the stand. Big waisted, big shouldered, bull necked, he sat in the poor light like a rock. Abner saw his face, hard and reposed in profile, against the glow from Judge Vredenburgh's green-shaded reading lamp. When Kinsolving spoke, it was with the economy and precision of an expert witness. He might seem easy and negligent to the uninstructed; but a lawyer who knew the rules of evidence soon saw that Kinsolving knew them, too.

  Bunting said to him, 'How frequently did you see Stanley Howell?'

  'Oh, approximately every hour,' Kinsolving answered. By the jury's close attention Abner knew that Kinsolving was not the first witness. This was a continued story. Lieutenant Dunglison, who sat at the Commonwealth's table, must already have been examined and cross-examined. Abner took the chair beside him. Dunglison moved to give him more room, and whispered,' Morning, Mr. Coates.'

  Abner whispered back, 'Good morning, Lieutenant. How are we coming?'

  'All right.' He directed
a short hostile stare at Harry Wurts. 'Our friend there's making trouble; but it don't do him any good.'

  'Smalley been on?'

  'Yeah. Corroborative, mostly. They didn't cross. Couldn't get much out of that butt pedlar.' Dunglison looked at her with disgust.

  Taking them up from Joe Jackman's desk, Bunting said to Kinsolving, 'I show you a number of sheets of paper that are fastened together and marked Commonwealth's Exhibit number eighteen, and ask you whether you have seen those before?'

  Bunting handed them up, and Kinsolving looked at them calmly, turning the pages over, and said, 'Yes, sir, I have. I signed them as a subscribing witness at the same time stated before, in our office.'

  Bunting said, 'And you were present, Mr. Kinsolving, when Stanley Howell made a statement to a stenographer in that office?'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'And was that statement subsequently transcribed and reduced to typewriting?'

  'It was.'

  'Is that the statement which you hold in your hand; Commonwealth's Exhibit number eighteen?'

  'Yes. It is marked C.X. eighteen.'

  'Cross-examine.'

  From his seat beside Basso, George Stacey arose, fiddled a moment with the papers spread on the table, and came down before the jury. It seemed to Abner that the jurors' faces showed disappointment. Harry Wurts' performance on Lieutenant Dunglison must have been a good and exciting one, and they had been hoping for more. Abner was surprised, and looking at Marty, he saw that Marty was surprised, too, that Harry would leave so tough a witness — and, moreover, a witness whose testimony dealt entirely with Harry's client — to George.

  Slight and uneasy, looking worried but resolute, George said, 'Now, do I understand, Mr. Kinsolving, that you first saw Stanley Howell on May third?'

  That was also, Abner remembered, the date on which Sam Field had 'seen' Helen Hartshorn. The two actions, moving toward the same place, had been paralleling each other; Sam 'seeing' the girls in his office on the same spring days that Bailey and Howell and Basso and Leming plotted the kidnapping of Frederick Zollicoffer, captured him, killed him, scattered for safety, and were overtaken.

  'That is correct,' Kinsolving said kindly.

  'And between May third and the morning of May sixth, you were with him practically all the time?'

  'I was in the room, in and out, Counsellor.' Though spoken gravely, without a trace of derision, the title was wildly derisive when you looked at George pecking nervously at this bulwark of ease and experience; and suddenly Abner saw why Harry was not-doing his own cross-examining. There was little chance that Harry or anyone else could shake Kinsolving; and in a flash, Harry's acute and foxy mind must have seen how to turn Kinsolving's impregnability at least a little to the Commonwealth's disadvantage. Give him to George, who would have trouble taking candy from a baby, and let the jury feel sorry for poor George, so unfairly matched.

  George said, 'Now, did you talk to Howell about making a statement?'

  'Oh, yes. Several times.'

  'And what was his response?'

  'Why,' said Kinsolving amiably, 'he seemed undecided, Counsellor. He was considering what he ought to do, he told me.'

  'And what, if anything, was done by the men in your department to help him decide?'

  'Why, we told him what we already knew; the confession by Bailey implicating him.'

  'You didn't inflict any punishment on Howell, did you?'

  'I did not'

  'You don't remember twisting his thumbs back, do you?'

  'No, I do not.'

  Slumped in his chair, his chin on his chest, Judge Vredenburgh said, 'Did you do it, or didn't you?'

  'No, sir,' said Kinsolving, inclining his head toward him, 'I did not.'

  Bunting said to Abner, 'What did he get?'

  'One to three.'

  'Make out all right?' Abner nodded.

  George Stacey said, 'Now, while you were talking to Howell, where was he — I mean, in what position was he?'

  'He was on the table with an Oregon boot on him, a leg boot.'

  'What is that?' asked George. 'An instrument of torture?'

  'Why, no, Counsellor,' Kinsolving said, smiling. 'It's a short length of chain that prevents a man from running.'

  'He also had handcuffs on?'

  'Most of the time.'

  'And you don't think being loaded with chains helped him decide what be ought to do?'

  'It may have,' Kinsolving said equably. 'He must have seen that he had no chance to escape this time. His record showed that he had made several escapes from various authorities who neglected to take proper precautions.'

  'And where did he sleep?'

  'On the table.'

  'I suppose this wasn't an upholstered table?'

  'Just a plain wooden table. I think he had his coat; and we put some other coats under him.'

  'And that is how he had to sleep from May third to the morning of May sixth?'

  'That is correct.'

  'Isn't it a fact that he was not permitted to sleep at all?'

  'I think that is incorrect. I know it is not correct.' Abner could see the jurors asking themselves how much sleep a man would get with his hands and feet chained, lying on a wooden table, even if he wasn't otherwise disturbed. On the faces of some of them was a faint uneasiness, an imaginative discomfort;, and George, noticing it, too, showed that he thought he had an advantage to press. He said, 'Did you ever see him when he was asleep?'

  'Yes; on two different occasions.'

  'And when you caught him sleeping, you woke him up, of course?'

  'Why, no, Counsellor. I had a good deal on my hands just then. I just looked in occasionally to see that he was all right. When I saw that he was asleep, I caught up with my other work.'

  'How about the rest of the men? There were other men working on him, weren't there?'

  'I couldn't answer for other men, Counsellor. Yes, there was Special Agent Shannon, Special Agent Klapper — three or four others.' He nodded courteously.

  It was, Abner told himself, like a checker game in which George, clutching his pieces, made impulsive, immediately obvious moves, jumped at certain small chances and took them; while Kinsolving, a professional player with the pattern of the whole game in his head, good-humouredly watched George imagine that he was winning. Kinsolving kept his eye not on the jury, which knew nothing about the realities of this business, anyway; and if the jury were swayed by sympathy for Howell in chains sleeping on a table, it would as readily be swayed back when the district attorney summed up the things that Howell had done. Kinsolving watched the rules of evidence, had regard for the charge of the Court, considered the record that would go up for appeal. Abner did not doubt that Kinsolving would unhesitatingly perjure himself, a risk he was prepared to take in the line of duty, to protect all really important parts of his legal position. If George thought that anything Kinsolving had assented to so far would stand in the legal meaning as coercion, it could only be because George knew less law than Kinsolving did.

  George said, 'And these special agents, they were also trying to get a statement?'

  'To obtain information is the duty of a special agent of the department, Counsellor.'

  'And to get that information by any means at all?'

  'No; that is not the policy of our department, Counsellor.'

  'I don't care anything about the policy of your department,' George said. You could hear the echo of Harry Wurts; George was trying to copy that harsh backlash; but since he lacked Harry's confident, insolent gaze, and Harry's bold, overbearing voice, the effect was only querulous. Everyone looked at him, surprised; and, blushing, George said, 'I want to know what was done in this instance.'

  'I have related that,' Kinsolving said mildly.

  'Well, I mean what means do you take to get this information?'

  'I find kindness as good means as any, Counsellor; if by "you'', you mean me personally.'

  'May we have an example of your kindness?'


  'Getting him a glass of water,' Kinsolving said. 'Giving him cigarettes. Talking heart to heart with him.'

  'And these other agents you mentioned, were they kind to him, too — are they here in court?'

  'I can't answer for them, of course. They are experienced men, however; and I should think they would agree with me that that is the best method —no, to the extent of my knowledge, they aren't here. I have not seen them.'

  'Your Honour,' said George, 'I think those men ought to be here.' Judge Vredenburgh stirred. 'Do you mean that the Commonwealth should have called them, Mr. Stacey? In that event I'm afraid the district attorney must be allowed to judge. Do you mean that you should have called them yourself?' Though Judge Vredenburgh smiled, he sounded testy; and after a good deal of pleading before him, Abner could recognize Judge Vredenburgh in conflict with himself. Judge Vredenburgh was displeased not with George, but with Kinsolving; yet, since Kinsolving's behaviour and answers were scrupulously correct, and Judge Vredenburgh could find no fault of a cognizable sort in him, he made himself retain his displeasure until someone, by any little error or silly remark or hint of impertinence, tripped the trigger and opened an outlet. The Judge did not like Kinsolving's expertness, the cool choosing of what he would tell and what he wouldn't; so George was rapped for lack of expertness, for failing by some masterpiece of cross-examination, to bring out what Kinsolving had the presumption to withhold.

  Red with embarrassment, both because of the reproof, and because he saw now that he had impulsively put his foot in it, George none the less managed to stand his ground, and Abner silently applauded him. George said, 'Well, sir, I am not satisfied that this witness is telling all he could if he wanted to.'

  As that was probably the Judge's own opinion, he was mollified; but he said remotely, 'He will be required to answer any questions you wish to ask him, Mr. Stacey.'

  'I don't think I want any more of the kind of answers the witness gives, sir. No further questions.'

  Bunting stood up beside Abner and said, 'One moment, Mr. Kinsolving. I will ask you a question that Mr. Stacey has not asked you. Did Stanley Howell, before making this statement, complain to you of any physical abuse?'