The struggle and excitement of a great murder trial! Belknap and
Jephson, after consulting with Brookhart and Catchuman, learning that
they considered Jephson's plan "perhaps the only way," but with as
little reference to the Griffiths as possible.
And then at once, Messrs. Belknap and Jephson issuing preliminary
statements framed in such a manner as to show their faith in Clyde,
presenting him as being, in reality, a much maligned and entirely
misunderstood youth, whose intentions and actions toward Miss Alden
were as different from those set forth by Mason as white from black.
And intimating that the undue haste of the district attorney in seeking
a special term of the Supreme Court might possibly have a political
rather than a purely legal meaning. Else why the hurry, especially in
the face of an approaching county election? Could there be any plan
to use the results of such a trial as this to further any particular
person's, or group of persons', political ambitions? Messrs. Belknap
and Jephson begged to hope not.
But regardless of such plans or the prejudices or the political
aspirations of any particular person or group, the defense in this
instance did not propose to permit a boy as innocent as Clyde, trapped
by circumstances--as counsel for the defense would be prepared to
show--to be railroaded to the electric chair merely to achieve a
victory for the Republican party in November Furthermore, to combat
these strange and yet false circumstances, the defense would require a
considerable period of time to prepare its case. Therefore, it would
be necessary for them to file a formal protest at Albany against the
district attorney's request to the governor for a special term of the
Supreme Court. There was no need for the same, since the regular term
for the trial of such cases would fall in January, and the preparation
of their case would require that much time.
But while this strong, if rather belated, reply was listened to with
proper gravity by the representatives of the various newspapers, Mason
vigorously pooh-poohed this "windy" assertion of political plotting,
as well as the talk of Clyde's innocence. "What reason have I, a
representative of all the people of this county, to railroad this man
anywhere or make one single charge against him unless the charges
make themselves? Doesn't the evidence itself show that he did kill
this girl? And has he ever said or done one thing to clear up any of
the suspicious circumstances? No! Silence or lies. And until these
circumstances are disproved by these very able gentlemen, I am going
right ahead. I have all the evidence necessary to convict this young
criminal now. And to delay it until January, when I shall be out of
office, as they know, and when a new man will have to go over all this
evidence with which I have familiarized myself, is to entail great
expense to the county. For all the witnesses I have gotten together
are right here now, easy to bring into Bridgeburg without any great
expense to the county. But where will they be next January or February,
especially after the defense has done its best to scatter them? No,
sir! I will not agree to it. But, if within ten days or two weeks from
now even, they can bring me something that will so much as make it
look as though even some of the charges I have made are not true, I'll
be perfectly willing to go before the presiding judge with them, and
if they can show him any evidence they have or hope to have, or that
there are any distant known witnesses to be secured who can help prove
this fellow's innocence, why, then, well and good. I'll be willing to
ask the judge to grant them as much time as he may see fit, even if it
throws the trial over until I am out of office. But if the trial comes
up while I'm here, as I honestly hope it will, I'll prosecute it to
the best of my ability, not because I'm looking for an office of any
kind but because I am now the district attorney and it is my duty to do
so. And as for my being in politics, well, Mr. Belknap is in politics,
isn't he? He ran against me the last time, and I hear he desires to run
again."
Accordingly he proceeded to Albany further to impress upon the Governor
the very great need of an immediate special term of the Court so
that Clyde might be indicted. And the Governor, hearing the personal
arguments of both Mason and Belknap, decided in favor of Mason, on the
ground that the granting of a special term did not militate against
any necessary delay of the trial of the case, since nothing which
the defense as yet had to offer seemed to indicate that the calling
of a special term was likely in any way to prevent it from obtaining
as much time wherein to try the case as needed. Besides, it would
be the business of the Supreme Court justice appointed to consider
such arguments--not himself. And accordingly, a special term of the
Supreme Court was ordered, with one Justice Frederick Oberwaltzer of
the eleventh judicial district designated to preside. And when Mason
appeared before him with the request that he fix the date of the
Special Grand Jury by which Clyde might be indicted, this was set for
August fifth.
And then that body sitting, it was no least trouble for Mason to have
Clyde indicted.
And thereafter the best that Belknap and Jephson could do was to appear
before Oberwaltzer, a Democrat, who owed his appointment to a previous
governor, to argue for a change of venue, on the ground that by no
possible stretch of the imagination could any twelve men residing
in Cataraqui County be found who, owing to the public and private
statements of Mason, were not already vitally opposed to Clyde and so
convinced of his guilt that before ever such a jury could be addressed
by a defense, he would be convicted.
"But where are you going then?" injuired Justice Oberwaltzer, who was
impartial enough. "This same material has been published everywhere."
"But, your Honor, this crime which the district attorney here has been
so busy in magnifying----" (a long and heated objection on the part of
Mason).
"But we contend just the same," continued Belknap, "that the public has
been unduly stirred and deluded. You can't get twelve men now who will
try this man fairly."
"What nonsense!" exclaimed Mason, angrily. "Mere twaddle! Why, the
newspapers themselves have gathered and published more evidence than I
have. It's the publicly discovered facts in this case that have aroused
prejudice, if any has been aroused. But no more than would be aroused
anywhere, I maintain. Besides, if this case is to be transferred to a
distant county when the majority of the witnesses are right here, this
county is going to be saddled with an enormous expense, which it cannot
afford and which the facts do not warrant."
Justice Oberwaltzer, who was of a sober and moral turn, a slow and
meticulous man inclined to favor conservative procedure in all things,
was inclined to agree. And after five days, in which he did no more
than muse idly upon the matter, he decided to deny the motion. If he
were wrong, there was the Appellate Division to which the defense could
resort. As for stays, having fixed the date of the trial for October
fifteenth (ample time, as he judged, for the defense to prepare its
case), he adjourned for the remainder of the summer to his cottage on
Blue Mountain Lake, where both the prosecution and the defense, should
any knotty or locally insoluble legal complication arise, would be able
to find him and have his personal attention.
But with the entry of the Messrs. Belknap and Jephson into the case,
Mason found it advisable to redouble his efforts to make positive,
in so far as it was possible, the conviction of Clyde. He feared the
young Jephson as much as he did Belknap. And for that reason, taking
with him Burton Burleigh and Earl Newcomb, he now revisited Lycurgus,
where among other things he was able to discover (1) where Clyde had
purchased the camera; (2) that three days before his departure for Big
Bittern he had said to Mrs. Peyton that he was thinking of taking his
camera with him and that he must get some films for it; (3) that there
was a haberdasher by the name of Orrin Short who had known Clyde well
and that but four months before Clyde had applied to him for advice
in connection with a factory hand's pregnant wife--also (and this in
great confidence to Burton Burleigh, who had unearthed him) that he
had recommended to Clyde a certain Dr. Glenn, near Gloversville; (4)
Dr. Glenn himself being sought and pictures of Clyde and Roberta being
submitted, he was able to identify Roberta, although not Clyde, and to
describe the state of mind in which she had approached him, as well as
the story she had told--a story which in no way incriminated Clyde or
herself, and which, therefore, Mason decided might best be ignored, for
the present, anyhow.
And (5), via these same enthusiastic efforts, there rose to the surface
the particular hat salesman in Utica who had sold Clyde the hat. For
Burton Burleigh being interviewed while in Utica, and his picture
published along with one of Clyde, this salesman chanced to see it
and recalling him at once made haste to communicate with Mason, with
the result that his testimony, properly typewritten and sworn to, was
carried away by Mason.
And, in addition, the country girl who had been on the steamer "Cygnus"
and who had noticed Clyde, wrote Mason that she remembered him wearing
a straw hat, also his leaving the boat at Sharon, a bit of evidence
which most fully confirmed that of the captain of the boat and caused
Mason to feel that Providence or Fate was working with him. And last,
but most important of all to him, there came a communication from a
woman residing in Bedford, Pennsylvania, who announced that during the
week of July third to tenth, she and her husband had been camping on
the east shore of Big Bittern, near the southern end of the lake. And
while rowing on the lake on the afternoon of July eighth, at about six
o'clock, she had heard a cry which sounded like that of a woman or
girl in distress--a plaintive, mournful cry. It was very faint and had
seemed to come from beyond the island which was to the south and west
of the bay in which they were fishing.
Mason now proposed to remain absolutely silent regarding this
information, and that about the camera and films and the data regarding
Clyde's offense in Kansas City, until nearer the day of trial, or
during the trial itself, when it would be impossible for the defense to
attempt either to refute or ameliorate it in any way.
As for Belknap and Jephson, apart from drilling Clyde in the matter of
his general denial based on his change of heart once he had arrived at
Grass Lake, and the explanation of the two hats and the bag, they could
not see that there was much to do. True, there was the suit thrown in
Fourth Lake near the Cranstons, but after much trolling on the part of
a seemingly casual fisherman, that was brought up, cleaned and pressed,
and now hung in a locked closet in the Belknap and Jephson office.
Also, there was the camera at Big Bittern, dived for but never found
by them--a circumstance which led Jephson to conclude that Mason must
have it, and so caused him to decide that he would refer to it at the
earliest possible opportunity at the trial. But as for Clyde striking
her with it, even accidentally, well, it was decided at that time at
least, to contend that he had not--although after exhuming Roberta's
body at Biltz it had been found that the marks on her face, even at
this date, did correspond in some degree to the size and shape of the
camera.
For, in the first place, they were exceedingly dubious of Clyde as a
witness. Would he or would he not, in telling of how it all happened,
be sufficiently direct or forceful and sincere to convince any jury
that he had so struck her without intending to strike her? For on that,
marks or no marks, would depend whether the jury was going to believe
him. And if it did not believe that he struck her accidentally, then a
verdict of guilty, of course.
And so they prepared to await the coming of the trial, only working
betimes and in so far as they dared, to obtain testimony or evidence
as to Clyde's previous good character, but being blocked to a degree
by the fact that in Lycurgus, while pretending to be a model youth
outwardly, he had privately been conducting himself otherwise, and that
in Kansas City his first commercial efforts had resulted in such a
scandal.
However, one of the most difficult matters in connection with Clyde
and his incarceration here, as Belknap and Jephson as well as the
prosecution saw it, was the fact that thus far not one single member of
his own or his uncle's family had come forward to champion him. And to
no one save Belknap and Jephson had he admitted where his parents were.
Yet would it not be necessary, as both Belknap and Jephson argued from
time to time, if any case at all were to be made out for him, to have
his mother or father, or at least a sister or a brother, come forward
to say a good word for him? Otherwise, Clyde might appear to be a
pariah, one who had been from the first a drifter and a waster and was
now purposely being avoided by all who knew him.
For this reason, at their conference with Darrah Brookhart they had
inquired after Clyde's parents and had learned that in so far as the
Griffiths of Lycurgus were concerned, there lay a deep objection to
bringing on any member of this western branch of the family. There
was, as he explained, a great social gap between them, which it would
not please the Lycurgus Griffiths to have exploited here. Besides, who
could say but that once Clyde's parents were notified or discovered
by the yellow press, they might not lend themselves to exploitation.
Both Samuel and Gilbert Griffiths, as Brookhart now informed Belknap,
had suggested that it was best, if Clyde did not object, to keeping
his immediate relatives in the background. In fact, on this, in some
measure at least, was likely to depend the extent of their financial
aid to Clyde.
Clyde was in accord with this wish of the Griffiths, although no one
who talked with him sufficiently or heard him express how sorry he
was on his mother's account that all this had happened, could doubt
the quality of the blood and emotional tie that held him and his
mother together. The complete truth was that his present attitude
toward her was a mixture of fear and shame because of the manner in
which she was likely to view his predicament--his moral if not his
social failure. Would she be willing to believe the story prepared by
Belknap and Jephson as to his change of heart? But even apart from
that, to have her come here now and look at him through these bars
when he was so disgraced--to be compelled to face her and talk to
her day after day! Her clear, inquiring, tortured eyes! Her doubt as
to his innocence, since he could feel that even Belknap and Jephson,
in spite of all their plans for him, were still a little dubious as
to that unintentional blow of his. They did not really believe it,
and they might tell her that. And would his religious, God-fearing,
crime-abhorring mother be more credulous than they?
Being asked again what he thought ought to be done about his parents,
he replied that he did not believe he could face his mother yet--it
would do no good and would only torture both.
And fortunately, as he saw it, apparently no word of all that had
befallen him had yet reached his parents in Denver. Because of their
peculiar religious and moral beliefs, all copies of worldly and
degenerate daily papers were consistently excluded from their home and
Mission. And the Lycurgus Griffiths had had no desire to inform them.
Yet one night, at about the time that Belknap and Jephson were most
seriously debating the absence of his parents and what, if anything,
should be done about it, Esta, who some time after Clyde had arrived in
Lycurgus had married and was living in the southeast portion of Denver,
chanced to read in _The Rocky Mountain News_--and this just subsequent
to Clyde's indictment by the Grand Jury at Bridgeburg:
"BOY SLAYER OF WORKING GIRL INDICTED
"Bridgeburg, N. Y., Aug. 6: A special Grand Jury appointed by
Governor Stouderback, of this state, to sit in the case of Clyde
Griffiths, the nephew of the wealthy collar manufacturer of the
same name, of Lycurgus, New York, recently charged with the killing
of Miss Roberta Alden, of Biltz, New York, at Big Bittern Lake in
the Adirondacks on July 8th last, to-day returned an indictment
charging murder in the first degree.
"Subsequent to the indictment, Griffiths, who in spite of almost
overwhelming evidence, has persisted in asserting that the alleged
crime was an accident, and who, accompanied by his counsel, Alvin
Belknap, and Reuben Jephson, of this city, was arraigned before
Supreme Court Justice Oberwaltzer, pleaded not guilty. He was
remanded for trial, which was set for October 15th.
"Young Griffiths, who is only twenty-two years of age, and up to
the day of his arrest a respected member of Lycurgus smart society,
is alleged to have stunned and then drowned his working-girl
sweetheart, whom he had wronged and then planned to desert in favor
of a richer girl. The lawyers in this case, have been retained by
his wealthy uncle of Lycurgus, who has hitherto remained aloof.
But apart from this, it is locally asserted, no relative has come
forward to aid in his defense."
Esta forthwith made a hurried departure for her mother's home. Despite
the directness and clarity of this she was not willing to believe
it was Clyde. Still there was the damning force of geography and
names--the rich Lycurgus Griffiths, the absence of his own relatives.
As quickly as the local street car would carry her, she now presented
herself at the combined lodging house and mission known as the "Star of
Hope," in Bidwell Street, which was scarcely better than that formerly
maintained in Kansas City. For while it provided a number of rooms
for wayfarers at twenty-five cents a night, and was supposed to be
self-supporting, it entailed much work with hardly any more profit.
Besides, by now, both Frank and Julia, who long before this had become
irked by the drab world in which they found themselves, had earnestly
sought to free themselves of it, leaving the burden of the mission
work on their father and mother. Julia, now nineteen, was cashiering
for a local downtown restaurant, and Frank, nearing seventeen, had
but recently found work in a fruit and vegetable commission house. In
fact, the only child about the place by day was little Russell, the
illegitimate son of Esta--now between three and four years of age, and
most reservedly fictionalized by his grandparents as an orphan whom
they had adopted in Kansas City. He was a dark-haired child, in some
ways resembling Clyde, who, even at this early age, as Clyde had been
before him, was being instructed in those fundamental verities which
had irritated Clyde in his own childhood.
At the time that Esta, now a decidedly subdued and reserved wife,
entered, Mrs. Griffiths was busy sweeping and dusting and making up
beds. But on sight of her daughter at this unusual hour approaching,
and with blanched cheeks signalling her to come inside the door of a
vacant room, Mrs. Griffiths, who, because of years of difficulties of
various kinds, was more or less accustomed to scenes such as this, now
paused in wonder, the swiftly beclouding mist of apprehension shining
in her eyes. What new misery or ill was this? For decidedly Esta's weak
gray eyes and manner indicated distress. And in her hand was folded a
paper, which she opened and after giving her mother a most solicitous
look, pointed to the item, toward which Mrs. Griffiths now directed her
look. But what was this?
"BOY SLAYER OF WORKING-GIRL SWEETHEART INDICTED."
"CHARGED WITH THE KILLING OF MISS ROBERTA ALDEN AT BIG BITTERN LAKE IN
THE ADIRONDACKS ON JULY 8 LAST."
"RETURNED INDICTMENT CHARGING MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE."
"IN SPITE OF ALMOST OVERWHELMING CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE."
"PLEADED NOT GUILTY."
"REMANDED FOR TRIAL."
"SET FOR OCTOBER 15."
"STUNNED AND DROWNED HIS WORKING-GIRL SWEETHEART."
"NO RELATIVE HAS COME FORWARD."
It was thus that her eye and her mind automatically selected the most
essential lines. And then as swiftly going over them again.
"CLYDE GRIFFITHS, NEPHEW OF THE WEALTHY COLLAR MANUFACTURER OF
LYCURGUS, NEW YORK."
Clyde--her son! And only recently--but no, over a month ago--(and they
had been worrying a little as to that, she and Asa, because he had
not--) July 8th! And it was now August 11th! Then--yes! But not her
son! Impossible! Clyde the murderer of a girl who was his sweetheart!
But he was not like that! He had written to her how he was getting
along--the head of a large department, with a future. But of no girl.
But now! And yet that other little girl there in Kansas City. Merciful
God! And the Griffiths, of Lycurgus, her husband's brother, knowing of
this and not writing! Ashamed, disgusted, no doubt. Indifferent. But
no, he had hired two lawyers. Yet the horror! Asa! Her other children!
What the papers would say! This mission! They would have to give it up
and go somewhere else again. Yet was he guilty or not guilty? She must
know that before judging or thinking. This paper said he had pleaded
not guilty. Oh, that wretched, worldly, showy hotel in Kansas City!
Those other bad boys! Those two years in which he had wandered here and
there, not writing, passing as Harry Tenet. Doing what? Learning what?
She paused, full of that intense misery and terror which no faith in
the revealed and comforting verities of God and mercy and salvation
which she was always proclaiming, could for the moment fend against.
Her boy! Her Clyde! In jail, accused of murder! She must wire! She
must write! She must go, maybe. But how to get the money! What to do
when she got there. How to get the courage--the faith--to endure it.
Yet again, neither Asa nor Frank nor Julia must know. Asa, with his
protesting and yet somehow careworn faith, his weak eyes and weakening
body. And must Frank and Julia, now just starting out in life, be
saddled with this? Marked thus?
Merciful God! Would her troubles never end?
She turned, her big, work-worn hands trembling slightly, shaking the
paper she held, while Esta, who sympathized greatly with her mother
these days because of all she had been compelled to endure, stood
by. She looked so tired at times, and now to be racked by this!
Yet, as she knew, her mother was the strongest in the family--so
erect, so square-shouldered, defiant--a veritable soul pilot in her
cross-grained, uniformed way.
"Mamma, I just can't believe it can be Clyde," was all Esta could say
now. "It just can't be, can it?"
But Mrs. Griffiths merely continued to stare at that ominous headline,
then swiftly ran her gray-blue eyes over the room. Her broad face was
blanched and dignified by an enormous strain and an enormous pain. Her
erring, misguided, no doubt unfortunate, son, with all his wild dreams
of getting on and up, was in danger of death, of being electrocuted for
a crime--for murder! He had killed some one--a poor working-girl, the
paper said.
"Ssh!" she whispered, putting one finger to her own lips as a sign.
"He" (indicating Asa) "must not know yet, anyhow. We must wire first,
or write. You can have the answers come to you, maybe. I will give you
the money. But I must sit down somewhere now for a minute. I feel a
little weak. I'll sit here. Let me have the Bible."
On the small dresser was a Gideon Bible, which, sitting on the edge of
the commonplace iron bed, she now opened instinctively at Psalms 3 and
4.
"Lord, how are they increased that trouble."
"Hear me, when I call, O God of my righteousness."
And then reading on silently, even placidly apparently, through 6, 8,
10, 13, 23, 91, while Esta stood by in silent amazement and misery.
"Oh, mamma, I just can't believe it. Oh, this is too terrible!" But
Mrs. Griffiths read on. It was as if, and in spite of all this, she had
been able to retreat into some still, silent place, where, for the time
being at least, no evil human ill could reach her. Then at last, quite
calmly closing the book, and rising, she went on:
"Now, we must think out what to say and who to send that telegram to--I
mean to Clyde, of course--at that place, wherever it is--Bridgeburg,"
she added, looking at the paper, and then interpolating from the
Bible--"By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O
God!" "Or, maybe, those two lawyers--their names are there. I'm afraid
to wire Asa's brother for fear he'll wire back to him." (Then: 'Thou
art my bulwark and my strength. In Thee will I trust.') "But I suppose
they would give it to him if we sent it care of that judge or those
lawyers, don't you think? But it would be better if we could send it to
him direct, I suppose. ('He leadeth me by the still waters.') Just say
that I have read about him and still have faith in and love for him,
but he is to tell me the truth and what to do. If he needs money we
will have to see what we can do, I suppose. ('He restoreth my soul.')"
And then, despite her sudden peace of the moment, she once more began
wringing her large, rough hands. "Oh, it can't be true. Oh, dear, no!
After all, he is my son. We all love him and have faith. We must say
that. God will deliver him. Watch and pray. Have faith. Under his wings
shalt thou trust."
She was so beside herself that she scarcely knew what she was saying.
And Esta, at her side, was saying: "Yes, mamma! Oh, of course! Yes,
I will! I know he'll get it all right." But she, too, was saying to
herself: "My God! My God! What could be worse than this--to be accused
of murder! But, of course, it can't be true. It can't be true. If he
should hear!" (She was thinking of her husband.) "And after Russell,
too. And Clyde's trouble there in Kansas City. Poor mamma. She has so
much trouble."
Together, after a time, and avoiding Asa who was in an adjoining room
helping with the cleaning, the two made their way to the general
mission room below, where was silence and many placards which
proclaimed the charity, the wisdom, and the sustaining righteousness of
God.