In connection with the autopsy and its results there was a decided
set-back. For while the joint report of the five doctors showed: "An
injury to the mouth and nose; the tip of the nose appears to have
been slightly flattened, the lips swollen, one front tooth slightly
loosened, and an abrasion of the mucous membrane within the lips"--all
agreed that these injuries were by no means fatal. The chief injury was
to the skull (the very thing which Clyde in his first confession had
maintained), which appeared to have been severely bruised by a blow of
"some sharp instrument," unfortunately in this instance, because of
the heaviness of the blow of the boat, "signs of fracture and internal
hæmorrhage which might have produced death."
But--the lungs when placed in water, sinking--an absolute proof that
Roberta could not have been dead when thrown into the water, but
alive and drowning, as Clyde had maintained. And no other signs of
violence or struggle, although her arms and fingers appeared to be
set in such a way as to indicate that she might have been reaching or
seeking to grasp something. The wale of the boat? Could that be? Might
Clyde's story, after all, conceal a trace of truth? Certainly these
circumstances seemed to favor him a little. Yet as Mason and the others
agreed, all these circumstances most distinctly seemed to prove that
although he might not have slain her outright before throwing her into
the water, none the less he had struck her and then had thrown her,
perhaps unconscious, into the water.
But with what? If he could but make Clyde say that!
And then an inspiration! He would take Clyde and, although the law
specifically guaranteed accused persons against compulsions, compel him
to retrace the scenes of his crime. And although he might not be able
to make him commit himself in any way, still, once on the ground and
facing the exact scene of his crime, his actions might reveal something
of the whereabouts of the suit, perhaps, or possibly some instrument
with which he had struck her.
And in consequence, on the third day following Clyde's incarceration,
a second visit to Big Bittern, with Kraut, Heit, Mason, Burton,
Burleigh, Earl Newcomb and Sheriff Slack as his companions, and a slow
re-canvassing of all the ground he had first traveled on that dreadful
day. And with Kraut, following instructions from Mason, "playing up" to
him, in order to ingratiate himself into his good graces, and possibly
cause him to make a clean breast of it. For Kraut was to argue that the
evidence, so far was so convincing that you "never would get a jury to
believe that you didn't do it," but that, "if you would talk right out
to Mason, he could do more for you with the judge and the governor than
any one could--get you off, maybe, with life or twenty years, while
this way you're likely to get the chair, sure."
Yet Clyde, because of that same fear that had guided him at Bear Lake,
maintaining a profound silence. For why should he say that he had
struck her, when he had not--intentionally at least? Or with what,
since no thought of the camera had come up as yet.
At the lake, after definite measurements by the county surveyor as to
the distance from the spot where Roberta had drowned to the spot where
Clyde had landed, Earl Newcomb suddenly returning to Mason with an
important discovery. For under a log not so far from the spot at which
Clyde had stood to remove his wet clothes, the tripod he had hidden,
a little rusty and damp, but of sufficient weight, as Mason and all
these others were now ready to believe, to have delivered the blow upon
Roberta's skull which had felled her and so make it possible for him to
carry her to the boat and later drown her. Yet, confronted with this
and turning paler than before, Clyde denying that he had a camera or a
tripod with him, although Mason was instantly deciding that he would
re-question all witnesses to find out whether any recalled seeing a
tripod or camera in Clyde's possession.
And before the close of this same day learning from the guide who had
driven Clyde and Roberta over, as well as the boatman who had seen
Clyde drop his bag into the boat, and a young waitress at Grass Lake
who had seen Clyde and Roberta going out from the inn to the station on
the morning of their departure from Grass Lake, that all now recalled a
"yellow bundle of sticks," fastened to his bag which must have been the
very tripod.
And then Burton Burleigh deciding that it might not really have been
the tripod, after all with which he had struck her but possibly and
even probably the somewhat heavier body of the camera itself, since
an edge of it would explain the wound on the top of the head and the
flat Surface would well explain the general wounds on her face. And
because of this conclusion, without any knowledge on the part of
Clyde, however, Mason securing divers from among the woodsmen of the
region and setting them to diving in the immediate vicinity of the
spot where Roberta's body had been found, with the result that after
an entire day's diving on the part of six--and because of a promised
and substantial reward, one Jack Bogart arose with the very camera
which Clyde, as the boat had turned over, had let fall. Worse, after
examination it proved to contain a roll of films, which upon being
submitted to an expert chemist for development, showed finally to be
a series of pictures of Roberta, made on shore--one sitting on a log,
a second posed by the side of the boat on shore, a third reaching up
toward the branches of a tree--all very dim and water-soaked but still
decipherable. And the exact measurements of the broadest side of the
camera corresponding in a general way to the length and breadth of the
wounds upon Roberta's face, which caused it now to seem positive that
they had discovered the implement wherewith Clyde had delivered the
blows.
Yet no trace of blood upon the camera itself. And none upon the side
or bottom of the boat, which had been brought to Bridgeburg for
examination. And none upon the rug which had lain in the bottom of the
boat.
In Burton Burleigh there existed as sly a person as might have been
found in a score of such backwoods counties as this, and soon he found
himself meditating on how easy it would be, supposing irrefragable
evidence were necessary, for him or any one to cut a finger and let it
bleed on the rug or the side of the boat or the edge of the camera.
Also, how easy to take from the head of Roberta two or three hairs and
thread them between the sides of the camera, or about the row-lock to
which her veil had been attached. And after due and secret meditation,
he actually deciding to visit the Lutz Brothers morgue and secure a few
threads of Roberta's hair. For he himself was convinced that Clyde had
murdered the girl in cold blood. And for want of a bit of incriminating
proof, was such a young, silent, vain crook as this to be allowed to
escape? Not if he himself had to twine the hairs about the rowlock or
inside the lid of the camera, and then call Mason's attention to them
as something overlooked!
And in consequence, upon the same day that Heit and Mason were
personally re-measuring the wounds upon Roberta's face and head,
Burleigh slyly threading two of Roberta's hairs in between the door and
the lens of the camera, so that Mason and Heit a little while later
unexpectedly coming upon them, and wondering why they had not seen them
before--nevertheless accepting them immediately as conclusive evidence
of Clyde's guilt. Indeed, Mason thereupon announcing that in so far as
he was concerned, his case was complete. He had truly traced out every
step in this crime and if need be was prepared to go to trial on the
morrow.
Yet, because of the very completeness of the testimony, deciding for
the present, at least, not to say anything in connection with the
camera--to seal, if possible, the mouth of every one who knew. For,
assuming that Clyde persisted in denying that he had carried a camera,
or that his own lawyer should be unaware of the existence of such
evidence, then how damning in court, and out of a clear sky, to produce
this camera, these photographs of Roberta made by him, and the proof
that the very measurements of one side of the camera coincided with the
size of the wounds upon her face! How complete! How incriminating!
Also since he personally having gathered the testimony was the one best
fitted to present it, he decided to communicate with the governor of
the state for the purpose of obtaining a special term of the Supreme
Court for this district, with its accompanying special session of the
local grand jury, which would then be subject to his call at any time.
For with this granted, he would be able to impanel a grand jury and
in the event of a true bill being returned against Clyde, then within
a month or six weeks, proceed to trial. Strictly to himself, however,
he kept the fact that in view of his own approaching nomination in
the ensuing November election this should all prove most opportune,
since in the absence of any such special term the case could not
possibly be tried before the succeeding regular January term of the
Supreme Court, by which time he would be out of office and although
possibly elected to the local judgeship still not able to try the case
in person. And in view of the state of public opinion, which was most
bitterly and vigorously anti-Clyde, a quick trial would seem fair and
logical to every one in this local world. For why delay? Why permit
such a criminal to sit about and speculate on some plan of escape? And
especially when his trial by him, Mason, was certain to rebound to his
legal and political and social fame the country over.