CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
"Mr. Winslow Whitney will be the next witness," announced Coroner
Penfield, first signifying to Miss Kiametia Grey that her presence was no
longer required in the witness chair, and the spinster, with an audible
sigh of relief, picked up her gold mesh purse and its dangling
accessories and hastily left the room.
There was an instant craning of necks and raising of lorgnettes as the
door opened to admit Winslow Whitney. Courteously acknowledging the bows
of several friends seated near the entrance, he made his way to the
witness chair with a firm tread, and his clear voice was plainly heard
as, in answer to the morgue master's questions, he stated his full name,
age, and length of residence in Washington, having first taken the oath
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Charles
Miller, watching him intently, was relieved to find that the nervous
twitching of the muscles of his face and hands, so noticeable the day
before, was missing. Though his haggard face testified to a sleepless
night, Whitney was outwardly composed.
"For how many years have you known Sinclair Spencer?" asked the coroner.
"Fully ten."
"Were you intimately acquainted?"
"No. I knew him as I know dozens of other men; he was frequently at my
house, and on several occasions he assisted me in protecting my patents
in the law courts."
"But you would not call him an intimate friend?"
"Most assuredly not."
"Was he in the habit of spending the night in your house?"
"He has sometimes stopped with me during the summer months when I was
detained in Washington and my wife and daughter were away."
"He was familiar with your house, then?"
"You mean--architecturally?"
"Yes. Could he find his way about it alone in the dark?"
"I presume he could--provided he was sober," dryly. "The arrangement of
the rooms is not complicated, and one floor is very much like another."
Coroner Penfield cleared his throat. "Was Mr. Spencer a welcome guest in
your house?"
"Certainly; otherwise I should not have invited him," replied Whitney,
with quiet dignity.
"Let me amend my question." The coroner laid down his pencil. "Was Mr.
Spencer on a friendly footing with each member of your household?"
"I have every reason to believe he was."
"Was Mr. Spencer's manner the same as usual when he called upon you
Tuesday evening?"
"No."
"In what way was it different?"
"He had been drinking."
"Was he rough, boisterous?"
"The latter, yes. So much so, that I suggested he spend the night. I did
not wish him to go downstairs and disturb my wife's guests, which he was
quite capable of doing had the whim seized him."
"Were you then upstairs, Mr. Whitney?"
"Yes, in my wife's boudoir on the first bedroom floor."
"When did you last see Mr. Spencer alive?"
"When I showed him into his bedroom and loaned him a pair of pajamas."
"Did you help him undress?"
"No, as he assured me, with drunken gravity, that he could manage
it himself."
"Did you inform your wife and daughter that Mr. Spencer was spending the
night in your house?"
"No. My wife was downstairs entertaining her guests, and my daughter was
asleep in her room. I did not see either of them until the next morning."
"Where did you go after leaving Mr. Spencer in his bedroom?"
"To my studio in the attic. I remained there all night absorbed in my
work."
"Did you hear any unusual sounds during the night?"
"No; my studio, or workshop, is sound-proof. And it is the same
throughout the house," he added. "The walls, besides being of unusual
width, were all deadened by my grandfather's direction. He had a horror
of noise."
"When did you leave your studio?"
"About seven o'clock Wednesday morning."
"Did you use the elevator then?"
"No, I seldom use it." Whitney twisted about in his chair. "I had the
elevator installed for the convenience of my wife and daughter."
Penfield made an entry in his notebook, then faced Whitney directly.
"Have you in connection with your workshop a photographic outfit and
darkroom?" he asked.
"I have."
"I am told that you are working on a sort of camera which, used in an
aeroplane, makes a map of the country over which the machine passes. Is
that correct, Mr. Whitney?"
"Yes," acknowledged Whitney. "A patent is pending."
"Had it gotten about among your servants that you were working upon an
important invention?"
"It's very possible," Whitney conceded.
"Did Julie, your wife's maid, ever evince undue curiosity in your work?"
Whitney wrinkled his brow in thought. "No," he said. "I can't say that I
am aware she did. When I go to my studio, as we usually call my workshop,
it is an understood thing that I am not to be disturbed by _anyone_. It
is a rule I enforce by dismissal if broken, and the servants have learned
by experience to obey."
"Has your household access to your studio when you are not there?"
"No, I securely lock the door whenever I leave the room."
"Are you ever joined while in your studio by your wife and daughter and
their friends?"
"Occasionally they bring Miss Grey and Senator Foster in to see my
models."
"Did you confide the particulars of your latest invention to Mr.
Spencer?"
"I did not."
"Did he ever show deep interest in it?"
"Only questioned me about it now and then," replied Whitney casually, and
Charles Miller alone noted the nervous twitching of his eyelids.
"Was the electric light turned on in Mr. Spencer's room when you left him
for the night?"
"Y-yes." Whitney reflected for a moment, then added, "I believe the bulb
by the bureau was burning, but I can't swear to it."
"Did Mr. Spencer give you any inkling Tuesday night that he intended to
be an early riser on Wednesday morning?"
"No, he never mentioned the subject."
"Was it his custom on previous visits, to walk about your house before
the servants were up?"
"Not that I am aware of," Whitney hesitated. "Possibly his intoxicated
condition made him desire the fresh air."
"That is possible," admitted the coroner. "But witnesses testify that Mr.
Spencer had on no shoes."
"Which confirms my statement of his condition," replied Whitney quietly.
"No man in his sober senses seeks the street in his stockings."
The coroner, making no comment, held up the knife with the black bone
handle. "Have you ever seen this knife before?"
Whitney turned a shade whiter. "I may have; there is nothing distinctive
about the knife."
"Is it not used for modeling in clay?"
"I believe so."
"Who made the clay models in your studio, Mr. Whitney?"
"I did."
"Unassisted?"
The question remained unanswered, and after a brief pause the
coroner pushed back his chair and rose. "That is all, thank you, Mr.
Whitney; kindly wait in the adjoining room to the left; you will
find a chair there."
With a stiff bow Whitney stepped down from the platform and made his way
through the silent crowd to the room indicated.
As the door closed behind him, Penfield called the deputy coroner to the
stand. Laying down his pen, Dr. North took his seat in the witness chair,
and after being sworn, turned to face the jurors, chart in hand.
"You made the autopsy upon Mr. Sinclair Spencer?" questioned Penfield.
"I did, Doctor, in the presence of the morgue master."
"Please state to the jury the result of that autopsy."
The deputy coroner glanced at the notes on the back of the chart, then
reversed it, holding it aloft so that all in the room could see the
anatomical drawing of a human figure.
"The knife penetrated this section of the neck, just missing the carotid
artery," he began, using his pencil to indicate the spot marked on the
chart. "While the wound bled profusely it was superficial and did not
cause death."
His words created a sensation. Men and women looked at each other, then
sat forward in their chairs, the better to view the deputy coroner and
his chart.
"Were there indications of death from extreme alcoholism, then?"
questioned the coroner, and his voice sounded unusually loud in the deep
silence which prevailed.
"No. Judging by the contents of the stomach Mr. Spencer had not taken
alcohol to excess."
"Then if the knife wound was not fatal, and there was no indication of
intoxication, what caused Mr. Spencer's death?" demanded the coroner.
"On examination," Dr. North weighed his words carefully, "I found a
powerful drug had evidently been used, producing instantaneous death by
paralyzing the respiratory center and arresting the heart action."
All in the room were giving the deputy coroner rapt attention. Many had
come there purely from love of sensation, and they were not being
disappointed. The eyes of Charles Miller and Senator Foster met for a
second, then quickly shifted back to the deputy coroner. The reporters,
their pencils flying across the sheets, were the only ones in the room
who had not glanced at the witness.
"Have you discovered the drug used?" questioned the coroner.
"By tests I found it to be cyanide of potassium, a most deadly poison,
generally instantaneous in its action."
"How large a dose was given?"
"I don't know, as there were no indications of it in the gastric
contents."
"Then how was the drug administered?"
"Through the blood."
"By means of the knife?"
The deputy coroner looked puzzled. "Possibly," he admitted. "But I could
find no trace of the poison left on the knife blade. There was no mark
on the body to show how the poison was administered."
"At what hour did death occur?"
"Between three and four in the morning, judging by the condition of
the body."
"Was there any indication, Doctor, of resistance on the part of the
deceased? Did he make an effort to defend himself."
"No, Judging from his expression and the condition of the muscles I
should say that Mr. Spencer never knew what killed him, never knew even
that his life was threatened."
"Were his hands opened or clenched?"
"His right hand was clenched," acknowledged the deputy coroner. "Not,
however, for the purpose of defense, but to retain his grasp upon this--"
and drawing an envelope from his pocket he carefully shook into his open
palm a crushed and faded flower. "It is a cornflower," he explained.
"Sometimes called bachelor's button. The stem is broken short off." And
he held the flower so that all might view it.
Senator Foster, who had followed the testimony with unflagging interest,
heard a sudden sharp intake of breath to his right, but glancing quickly
at Charles Miller he found his face expressionless.
Penfield took the cornflower and envelope from the deputy coroner and
laid them carefully on his desk, while continuing his examination. No one
paid any attention to the lengthening shadows of the late afternoon, and
the coroner's next question was awaited with breathless interest.
"Is cyanide of potassium used in photography?" he inquired.
"It is."
"That is all, Doctor, you are excused," and the deputy coroner returned
to his seat.
The next witness was the morgue master, and his testimony simply
corroborated that of the deputy coroner. He was followed by William Banks
and John P. Wilson, respectively, both well known in the financial world
of Washington, who testified to Sinclair Spencer's standing in the
community, and stated that his financial condition precluded any
suggestion of suicide; and that to their knowledge he had no enemies.
The lights were burning when the last named witness left the chair, but
there was no sign of weariness among the men and women in the room.
Although several consulted their watches, no one rose to go. Their
already deeply stirred interest was quickened into fever heat as, in
obedience to the coroner's summons, Kathleen Whitney took her place in
the witness chair.
Dressed with the strict attention to detail and taste which made her one
of the conspicuous figures in the younger set, Kathleen's appearance and
beauty made instant impression upon juror and spectator alike. But her
chic veil failed to hide the pallor of her cheeks, and the unnatural
brilliancy of her eyes. Despite every effort at control, her voice shook
as she repeated the oath word for word and stated her full name and age.
"Have you always resided in Washington?" asked the coroner.
"Yes."
"Were you educated in this city?"
"Yes, except for a winter in Germany."
"Did you take up a special study while in Germany, Miss Whitney?"
"Yes, miniature painting--"
"And modeling?" as she paused.
"Oh, no, I never studied that abroad although I occasionally help my
father by modeling in clay."
"When did you make your debut in Washington society?"
"Last winter."
"Did you then make Mr. Sinclair Spencer's acquaintance?"
"No." She moved involuntarily at the mention of Spencer's name. "I
had known him previously. He was one of father's friends, and much
older than I."
"Were you not reported engaged to him last fall?"
Kathleen flushed at the question. "I never heard of it," she said coldly.
"I do not encourage gossip."
"Miss Whitney." Coroner Penfield surreptitiously scanned a small note
handed him before the commencement of the inquest. The handwriting was
distinctly foreign. "Miss Whitney," repeated Penfield. "Did you not
refuse Mr. Spencer's offer of marriage on Tuesday morning?"
For a moment Kathleen stared at him in speechless surprise. "Where did
you get that piece of information?" she demanded, recovering herself.
"You have not answered my question, Miss Whitney," and the quiet
persistence of his manner impressed Kathleen.
"Yes, I refused him," she admitted.
"Did Mr. Spencer make any attempt to persuade you to reconsider
your refusal?"
"Yes." Kathleen shot an impatient look at the coroner. "I cannot see what
my private affairs have to do with the regrettable death of Mr.
Spencer," she protested.
Penfield ignored her remark. "Did Mr. Spencer communicate with you
Tuesday by letter or telephone?" he asked and waited, but the question
remained unanswered. To the disappointment of the reporters, he did not
repeat it, but asked instead: "Were you aware on Tuesday evening that Mr.
Spencer was spending the night at your house?"
"No."
"Did you see either your father or your mother that night before
retiring?"
"No."
"When did you last see Julie, your mother's maid?"
"Before dinner when she came to my bedroom to help me change my dress."
"Did she seem discontented with her situation?'" questioned the coroner.
"No."
"Did Julie ever evince dislike to Mr. Spencer?"
Kathleen's hand crept to her throat and she plucked nervously at her
veil. "Julie was too respectful to discuss our family friends with
me," she said.
"You have not answered my question, Miss Whitney," was Penfield's quick
retort, and Kathleen flushed under the rebuke.
"Because I am aware that you are striving to make me incriminate Julie in
Mr. Spencer's death," she began heatedly. "Instead, you and the police
should make every effort to find Julie and protect her ..."
"From what?"
"I don't know," hopelessly. "Julie has no friends in this city, no one
whom she could turn to in trouble but me. I cannot understand her
disappearance; I fear, greatly fear, foul play."
"Circumstantial evidence points to her having disappeared of her own
volition, Miss Whitney, to escape being charged with a heinous crime."
"Pardon me, her disappearance is the only scrap of evidence which leads
you to think she might possibly have murdered a man whom she knew by
sight," retorted Kathleen.
"Was it your habit to supply Julie with money?" questioned the coroner.
"Yes, which she sent to France as her mite toward the war fund," answered
Kathleen heatedly. "I am confident Julie had nothing whatever to do with
the death of Mr. Spencer."
"Can you tell us who did, Miss Whitney?" asked Penfield, and he saw the
terror which crept into her handsome eyes.
"I cannot," she answered with unsteady lips. "I never awoke that night."
"What took you downstairs at so early an hour yesterday morning?"
"I had rung the upstairs bell for Julie, and as she did not come, I
started to go down and find her," she hesitated uncertainly.
"Continue," directed Penfield. "Tell your story of finding Mr. Spencer's
body in your own way."
It was some minutes before Kathleen obeyed his request. "I went to the
elevator and pushed the button," she began slowly. "I was in a hurry, and
when I heard the click which indicated the cage was there I opened the
outer mahogany door, pushed back the inner steel grille-work door,
stepped into the elevator and without looking about me, closed the doors,
and pushed the basement button. Then I turned about"--Kathleen moistened
her dry lips--"and saw--and saw--Mr. Spencer lying there--the blood"--she
closed her eyes as if to shut out the recollection--"I think for a time
I lost my reason. I have no intelligent recollection of anything that
occurred until I found myself in bed with a trained nurse in attendance."
As her charming voice ceased, Charles Miller, who had never taken his
eyes from her face, gently moved his chair so that Foster's figure cast
him in shadow. Never once had Kathleen glanced his way; she sat for the
most part with her eyes downcast or looking directly at the coroner.
Kathleen was visibly moved by the recital of her experiences in the
elevator, and Penfield waited an instant before questioning her further.
"Could you tell from what floor the elevator came when you pushed your
floor button?" he asked.
"No," was the disappointing answer. "The elevator runs practically
noiselessly, and we have no floor indicator such as you see in stores."
"Was the electric light turned on in the elevator when you entered it?"
"No."
"Then how could you see Mr. Spencer so clearly?"
"The brick elevator shaft is lighted by a skylight," answered Kathleen.
"The electric light is only needed at night."
"Do you recognize this knife?" and Penfield held it before her as he
spoke. Kathleen's eyes did not shift their gaze, but her teeth met
sharply on her lower lip.
"I see that it resembles one that I have," she said.
"You still have yours?"
"Yes, you will find it in my desk drawer at home."
"Had you only the one knife, Miss Whitney?"
"I may have had others," indifferently. "I do not recall; I buy my
painting and modeling supplies as I need them."
The coroner replaced the knife without further comment.
"You use azurea perfume, do you not?" he asked.
"Yes."
"What was your object in trying to rub out a blood stain on the front of
Mr. Spencer's white shirt, Miss Whitney, while you were in the elevator?"
asked Penfield.
Kathleen looked at him dully. "Wh-what d-did you say?" she stuttered.
For answer Penfield took from the pile of clothing on the table a white
shirt and pointed to a discoloration on its glazed surface.
"When I first saw this shirt on Mr. Spencer it reeked of perfume," he
said sternly. "Submitted to chemical tests, I find a blood stain was
partially removed by azurea. Again I ask, what was your object in
attempting to remove the blood stain?"
But Penfield spoke to deaf ears. Kathleen had fainted. Excitement waxed
high in the room as Kathleen was carried out by Charles Miller, the first
to reach her side, and placed in the tender care of Mrs. Whitney and the
trained nurse. Waiting only to see her brought back to consciousness by
Dr. Hall, Miller slipped back into the inquest room. Detective Mitchell
was again in the witness chair.
"You made a thorough examination of Miss Whitney's room?" inquired
the coroner.
"Yes, Doctor."
"And what did you find?"
"This torn note"--and the detective held up the pieces in each hand.
"Read its contents aloud," ordered Penfield.
"The Connecticut,
"Tuesday afternoon.
"KATHLEEN, MY DARLING:
"I implore you to reconsider--before it is too late. Consult
your father's best interests before you reject _me_.
"Yours, with undying affection,
"SINCLAIR."
Mitchell paused after reading the signature, then continued. "Here is a
sample of Mr. Spencer's handwriting, attested by his cousin, Captain
Dunbar; the handwriting of the notes is identical, sir," and he placed
the papers in Penfield's hand. Reading them carefully, the coroner passed
them along to the jury for examination.
"Where did you find this note?" he asked Mitchell.
"Among Miss Whitney's painting materials in her sitting-room."
"What is that in your lap?" and the coroner pointed to a paper box. In
answer Mitchell raised the cover and displayed a bouquet of faded
cornflowers.
"I found it in Miss Whitney's sitting-room also," he stated. In tipping
the box, the better to show its contents, a small piece of white muslin
rolled to the floor. Quickly Penfield retrieved it. "I discovered that
handkerchief secreted in the folds of Miss Whitney's blue foulard gown,"
added Mitchell, as the coroner spread open the handkerchief. It was badly
mussed and its white center bore dark stains. Penfield sniffed the faint
perfume still hanging about it; then without comment handed the
handkerchief to the foreman of the jury.
"That is all, Mitchell," announced Penfield, and as the detective
departed, he turned and addressed the jury. His summing up of the case
was quick and to the point, and at the end the jurors silently filed into
another room. It was long after seven o'clock, but no one stirred in the
room, and the silence, which none cared to break, slowly grew oppressive.
The long wait was finally terminated by the reappearance of the jury.
Coroner Penfield rose and addressed them.
"Gentlemen of the jury," he said, "have you reached a verdict?"
"The jury find," answered the foreman, "that Kathleen Whitney is
responsible for the death of Sinclair Spencer by poison on the morning of
Wednesday, March 24, 1915, in her family residence in the city of
Washington."
Quickly the crowded room emptied, reporters rushing madly for motors; not
often had the district morgue housed a _cause célèbre_, and its
sensational details had to be rushed on the wire. Charles Miller,
separated from Foster by the sudden crowding of the doorways, waited to
one side for him.
"Americans are an emotional people," commented a quiet voice at his
elbow, and turning hastily Miller recognized Baron Frederic von Fincke.
"One death more or less does not create a furore elsewhere."
"That depends on who dies," retorted Miller.
"True. If it should be a member of the Imperial Family"--Von Fincke's
gesture was eloquent. "To them, all give way. We others are pawns."