Only in New England : the story of a gaslight crime (21 page)

Eleven witnesses were assembled by the defense. Prosecution mustered a total of seventeen.

If Messrs. Bibbs and Coulter for the accused had won a tactical victory in bringing the case to District Court, State's Attorney Bolivar Dodd did not undertake the prosecution empty-handed. Moreover—opposition publicity to the contrary—he entered court with a trump card up his sleeve. To wit:

Shortly after the inquest findings which had led to a murder charge against State Senator Bridewell, inspectors from the State's Attorney's office had visited the old Bridewell homestead. There another finding was found. The find was made when the detectives, accompanied by Sheriff Wen Tasker, searched Earnest's upstairs bedroom.

On a tip-off? Or by sheer chance? The finger of the secret informant, or the finger of Fate? Both are denominators common to police work. But it struck me as beyond the probable operating of mere chance that detectives should have walked upstairs in Abby's house and looked under the mattress of Earnest's bed. What per chance could they have expected to find? ... It seems they found what purported to be the murder weapon.

*
In this area [anonymous] the District Courts of the period, in dealing with a capital case, conducted what amounted to a preliminary trial or judicial hearing. The Judge could not pronounce a capital sentence but, if convinced the case warranted, would order its ultimate proceeding in a superior court. He could, however, dismiss the case.

So the stage was set, the cast summoned, the props assembled for the courtroom drama.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

The Court is now open for the trial of State Senator Bridewell, charged with the willful murder of his mother, Abby Bridewell, said matricide allegedly occurring on the eleventh day of April at Quahog Point in the County of . . . etcetera, etcetera.

CHAPTER 14

"The State intends to show," says State's Attorney Bolivar Dodd, "that the late Mrs. Abby Bridewell met her death by willful murder while alone in her home at Quahog Point on the evening of April eleventh; that this murder was committed between the hours of nine and eleven. . . ." And so on. And so on. "And that her elder son, the defendant Earnest Bridewell, thus motivated, entered his mother's house unobserved, and, finding her solitary, availed himself of the opportunity. . . ." And so on. "And we will prove that the murder weapon belonged to the defendant and, ispo facto, was used by the defendant upon the helpless person of his aged mother."

So much for the prosecution. What sayeth the defense?

"The defense will prove," says Vernon Bibbs, Esq., "that the defendant, Earnest Bridewell, is innocent of the crime with which he has been summarily charged. We will show that this charge is the confection of malicious plotters—debtors, political rivals, vipers seeking to feed a taste for intrigue by stabbing in the back this innocent fellow townsman who. . . ." And so forth. And so forth. "Wherewith, if I may paraphrase Shakespeare, these bloody

instructions, having been taught, will return to plague the inventors." And so forth. "Finally we shall prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defendant was nowhere near the scene of the alleged crime at the time of its alleged commission. Since it is physically impossible for a man to be in two different and distant places at once, it will be manifest that the defendant is not guilty of the atrocious crime in question."

Defense counsel retires.

There ensues the usual legalistic sparring that marks the opening of the average trial. Defense dominates the forenoon session with an effort to provide Earnest Bridewell with the character of a saint. Lunch is a welcome respite. Court resumes at one o'clock.

Judge Cottonwood folds meaty hands on the mahogany before him, and addresses the State's Attorney.

"You may call your first witness."

"I call Doctor Tompkins."

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" asks the clerk.

"I do," sighs Tompkins. Seated he awaits Dodd's query.

"Now, Doctor Tompkins, you were the medical examiner who performed the official autopsy on the body of Mrs. Abby Bridewell?" 1 was.

"Please describe to the court your findings and professional deductions. . . ."

The medical examiner's findings were as follows:

The deceased lying on a bed. A cut under her right eye and the bone exposed. The whole right side of her face contused and scratched. A bruise and swelling on the left temple. Swelling on the top of the head, but no skull fracture. Two wounds on the top of the head.

While moving the body from bed to table for purpose of performing autopsy, discovered that deceased's neck was broken. Further examination disclosed body bruises. One on left knee (an old bruise). One on left breast (perhaps more recent). Bruise on arm

(fairly recent). Right hand bruised, palm lacerated. Hand injury doubtless caused at time of death.

The medical examiner's deductions: Cause of death was fracture and dislocation of neck vertebrae. He had examined cellar-way where body was found. Although steps made steep flight (almost like a ladder) he could not understand how Mrs. Bridewell "got two wounds on the top of the head of the same character by falling down the stairs." *

The State's Attorney: Doctor Tompkins, I show you this small bag partly filled with lead shot. It weighs a little over a pound. Would you say that the wounds on the head could have been caused by such a weapon?"

Tompkins: Yes, I would.

Lawyer Coulter: Objection! We have no evidence that this bag of shot or anything like a bag of shot caused the wounds in question. The implication that this was the murder weapon is based wholly on the imagination of the—

Attorney Dodd: Your Honor, the State will prove that this could indeed have been the murder weapon. If the learned counsel for the defense will permit—

Judge Cottonwood: Objection overruled.

Dodd: Thank you, Your Honor. Now, Doctor, do you see bloodstains on this bag?

Tompkins: I see dark stains resembling blood.

Dodd: And from the size, weight and shape of this shot-bag, you think the wounds on the top of Mrs. Bridewell's head could have been made by such a bludgeon?

Tompkins: I think that possible.

Erasmus Coulter (cross-examining): Doctor Tompkins, could the wounds on Mrs. Bridewell's scalp have been made by something other than that particular bag of shot?

Tompkins: I suppose they could.

Coulter: By a club, say? Or by an andiron?

Tompkins: Well, I wouldn't say by a firedog, unless maybe it

*
Verbatim quote from the record.

was wrapped in something. A blunt instrument would be more like. Maybe a wooden club.

Coulter: Could they not have been made by the deceased striking her head against the sidewall of the cellarway when she fell?

Tompkins: As I said, I couldn't see how she'd get two wounds of the same character in falling down those steps.

Coulter: Yet she might have?

Tompkins: I would say the wounds were caused by something hitting her on the top of her head.

Coulter: It could just possibly have been done with a half-filled bag of shot. That is your opinion.

Tompkins: Well, I think I could make a wound on your head like that.*

Coulter: You do? With the hair I have there? *

Laughter.

Judge Cottonwood: Order in the court! ... I believe these speculations may lead us far afield, and I would adjure those at the bar to eschew as far as possible a tendency to trespass over the borders of the incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial . . . Let the hearing proceed. . . ."

"I call Doctor Lemuel Hatfield."

"Do you solemnly swear to tell truth, whole truth, nothing butta truth, s'help . . . ?"

"I do."

"Doctor Hatfield, you were the Bridewell family physician?"

"Up to the death last year of old Captain Nathan Bridewell, paralytic. Attended his case for years. Rest of the Bridewells, too."

"So you knew the Bridewells intimately. Mrs. Abby Bridewell, the defendant Earnest Bridewell, his brother Lionel?"

"Brought the boys into this best of all possible worlds. Attended Mrs. Abby Bridewell. . . . But after her husband died last year,

*
Verbatim quotes from the record.

I wasn't called to the house but once. Up until the morning of this past April twelfth."

Answering State's Attorney Dodd, Dr. Hatfield reviews his long acquaintance with the Bridewell family. He remarks internal dissension going back for several decades. The boys had long been at odds with their mother. Earnest especially. Money problems, of course. But (here was a new element) Earnest had latterly gone around saying that his mother had maltreated the old Captain when he was bedridden. Did not give him proper care. Wouldn't fetch the poor old paralytic so much as a pitcher of water. One time, about a year before the old Captain's death, Earnest had bawled out his mother in front of neighbors. Had accused her of neglecting the old man.

"Doctor Hatfield, were you attending Mrs. Bridewell's husband at that time?" I was.

"Did you notice such neglect on Mrs. Bridewell's part?"

"No."

"Was the invalid suffering from neglect?"

"I saw no signs of it. Of course, he was in this top floor bedroom. Kind of tucked away."

"But not maltreated?"

"He had plenty of drinking water. They had a servant to take care of him."

Nevertheless, Earnest continued talking against his mother. Everybody in the neighborhood knew there were stormy parlor scenes.

"Abby Bridewell spoke to me several times about it." *

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me Earnest said—"

"Objection" Coulter is bellowing on his feet. "Hearsay! The witness is reporting something allegedly said by the defendant. If it please the Court—"

"Objection sustained."

"Very well, Doctor Hatfield, will you tell us if you spoke to the defendant about his conduct toward his aged mother?"

*
Verbatim quotes from the record.

"I did for a fact. When I learned from her there was such bad feeling. I met Earnest down near Town Hall. Last election day, it was. His mother had told me he said to her—"

"Objection!"

"Sustained."

"Go on, Doctor. What did you say to the defendant on that occasion?"

"I said, 'Whatever you do, keep your hands off your mother." *

"Order in the court! Any more of these disturbances, and this courtroom will be cleared!"

Dr. Lemuel Hatfield goes on. Guided by State's Attorney Dodd, he gives a blow by blow account of what he knows about the "ill-feeling" between Senator Earnest and Old Abby. Finally he comes step by step to the cellar stairs. He goes down the steps to the body. Dead, he would guess, about nine hours, maybe ten. Which meant the deceased met her death between nine and eleven the previous evening.

"Doctor Hatfield, did you recommend an autopsy?"

"I did."

"Did the defendant seem reluctant?"

"He seemed reluctant."

"Thank you, Doctor. No more questions."

Erasmus Coulter sidles forward with a narrow-eyed look at Dr. Hatfield. Then: "If it please the Court, I would like to cross-question this witness at a later time."

"If the State does not object."

Bolivar Dodd did not object.

"The State calls Mrs. Cornelia Ord."

"Here."

"Will you please take the stand, Mrs. Ord.

*
Verbatim quote from the record.

"All right."

"You solemnly sweara tell truth, whole truth'n nothing but. . . ."

"Yes."

"Mrs. Ord, will you kindly tell us of your relationship with the late Mrs. Abby Bridewell?"

"Niece once removed."

"I mean your social relationship."

"Saw her occasionally."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I occasionally saw her."

Obviously Cornelia was answering in a manner which today would have won her the designation of "hostile witness." Bolivar Dodd was forced to work on her with forceps, so to speak. Her responses had to be drawn as though they were teeth. But defense counsel, cross-examining, had equal difficulty with these molarlike extractions. Cornelia did not like appearing in court. It had taken a subpoena-threat to get her there.

However, Dodd finally drew from her the story of her visit to her aunt's house on the evening of April 11 (as previously related in my simulated inquest testimony). He also drew from her the account of her experience in the early-morning gloaming of Wednesday, April 12.

"So you were there in your aunt's kitchen with Doctor Hatfield on emergency call?"

"Yes."

"You looked down and saw your aunt's body at the foot of the cellar steps?"

"Yes."

"What did you notice, Mrs. Ord, on the stone steps?"

"They were slick. Fruit sirup."

"Did you notice anything else on the steps?"

"Well, some broken glass."

"And?"

"Some blood."

"Anything else?"

"A rat." '

"You mean a thing of false hair? The sort of bun you ladies wear?"

"Z don't wear one."

"I can see that in your case such an item would be the height of superfluity. But was not the article you saw on the cellar steps— let me call it a female toupee—the sort of topknot a lady would fasten on her head if her hair was thin on top?"

"Yes."

Good point, and neatly extracted. One could only believe that a forceful blow on the skull had dislodged this hirsute adornment. Coulter, cross-examining, let it lie.

"Mrs. Ord, you said the steps looked slick?"

"Yes."

"Something sirupy was on them?"

"Yes."

"Would you say this sirup was pear juice?"

"How would I know? I didn't go down and taste of it."

The witness may step down.

Millicent Hatfield, Mercy Grimes, Hester Purdy. All swore, so help them God. The rumpuses they had heard from time to time when they passed the Bridewell homestead. The voices raised in angry recrimination. They had seen Earnest drinking.

Evangeline Goodbody, so help her, had heard a row the Sunday before Abby was murdered. "Their windows was open; you could hear plain as day. Earnest was hollering about money."