american tragedy

Chapter 140 (1)
Chapter 325 (1)
During the face-to-face interrogation, Mason's mood was always like an impatient hound, trying to bite the prey's heel, but he was only one step away.He was animated by an urgent and heightened desire to refute the entire argument, to prove that it was a lie from beginning to end, or at least in part.As soon as Jefferson stopped talking, he jumped up and faced Clyde. Clyde felt that Mason was so aggressive that he almost wanted to use force.

"Griffiths, were you holding the camera when she came towards you on the boat?"

"Yes, sir."

"She tripped and fell, did you accidentally hit her with the camera?"

"Yes."

"Honestly, do you remember telling me in the woods on the shore of Great Patton that you had no camera at all?"

"Yes, sir, I fully remember."

"Of course it's a lie?"

"Yes, sir."

"And as swearing as you are now lying again?"

"I am telling the truth. I have explained what I said earlier."

"You already explained why you said that! Did you lie there and expect people to believe you here?"

Belknap got up to protest, but Jefferson stopped him.

"Well, anyway, that's the truth."

"Nothing can make you lie anymore, not even the urge to save yourself from the electric chair?"

Clyde turned pale and trembled slightly, his red and swollen eyelids blinked again and again: "I may have lied, but I swore I would never do it again. I don't think so."

"You don't think so! Oh, I see, you can lie wherever you are, and whenever and wherever, except when you're on trial for murder!"

"No, sir. That's not true. I really didn't lie just now."

"Did you swear by the Bible that you changed your mind?"

"Yes, sir."

"And it was Miss Alden's grief that made you change your mind?"

"Yes, sir, it is true."

"Well, then, Griffiths, did she write you these letters while she was waiting for you in the country?"

"Yes, sir."

"You get one every two days on average?"

"Yes, sir."

"And, you know, she's lonely and unfortunate out there?"

"Yes, sir, but I just explained..."

"Ah! You explained it! You mean, your lawyer explained it for you! They made you practice your defense every day in your cell?"

"No, sir, no!" he answered boldly, looking at Jefferson.

"Well, then when I asked you how this girl died in Bear Lake, why didn't you tell me then, wouldn't that save all these suspicions and investigations? You have been planning all this for five months with the help of two lawyers Now, but doesn't it seem to you that the public would have been more willing to listen to you then than it is now?"

"It's not me and any lawyer who made it up, though," insisted Clyde, still looking at Jefferson.Jefferson was supporting him with all his energy. "Why did I say that in the first place, I have already explained it!"

"You've explained it! You've explained it!" Mason yelled.He knew that when Clyde was pressed, this fabricated explanation would serve as a shield or a fortification, and he hid behind his back, so that he would be more angry! The little rascal! Therefore, suppressing his anger as he continued his interrogation, He trembled.

"When she wrote you these letters, before you got over there, you thought the letters were sentimental?"

"Well, I see, now it's just some of it. I thought you just said you found the letters sad."

"Well, that's what I said."

"Well, that's what it said."

"Yes, sir, that's what it says," but Clyde began to look uncomfortably at Jefferson.Jefferson stared at him like a ray of light.

"Remember her letters to you?" Mason took out one of them, opened it and read: "Clyde, if you don't come, I will die, dear, I'm so lonely. I almost Going crazy, I wish I could just walk away and never come back, or bother you again. But since you won't write, if only you could give me a call, even every other day. I'm so I need you, I need a word of encouragement from you so much!" Mason's voice was touching, and his tone was sad.As he read in this way, one could perceive a wave of compassion, like sound and light, passing not only through his body, but through the entire body of every listener in this tall and narrow courtroom. "Do you find those words sad, too?"

"Yes, sir, very sad."

"Did you feel sad then?"

"Yes, sir, I felt sad at the time."

"You know it's genuine affection!" growled Mason.

"Yes, sir, I know."

"A kind of pity, you say, moved you so deeply in the heart of Great Bedton. Why didn't even a little pity at Lycurgus move you so far as to get a prize at Mrs. Pace's?" Pick up the phone and say you are here, so as to comfort this lonely girl? Is it because your compassion for her at that time was not as good as her threatening letter? Or is it because you have a conspiracy and are afraid of calling her too much? Maybe it will attract attention? How can you suddenly feel compassion in Great Berton, but not in Lycus? It's like a water tap that you can turn on and off when you want?"

"I never said I had no mercy," replied Clyde boldly, who had just seen Jefferson's eye wink.

"Well, you leave her and wait until she, out of fear and misfortune, drives you."

"I have admitted that my attitude towards her should not be."

"Ha! Ha! You shouldn't! You shouldn't! Just because you admit it, and with all the evidence we have here, including your own, do you hope to get away with being innocent?"

Belknap could not restrain himself, he protested, and he said to the judge angrily: "It is despicable, Your Honor, can the District Attorney be allowed to make a speech once he asks a question?"

"The protest is invalid," the judge retorted. "The District Attorney is asked to ask questions appropriately."

Mason didn't care about the accusation, and turned his head to Clyde again: "You have testified that you were holding the camera that you denied when you were on the boat in the center of Great Benton Lake?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is she in the stern?"

"Yes, sir."

"Please bring that boat in, Burton." At this point, he shouted to Burton, and immediately four police officers from the District Attorney's Office walked out from the west door behind the case. In a moment, bring in the boat in which Clyde and Roberta had been, and place it before the jury.Clyde shuddered and stared as they moved.It's the boat! He blinked and trembled.At this moment, the audience stirred and his eyes widened as he heard a hum of curiosity and attention sweep across the courtroom.Then Mason shook the camera up and down and called, "Okay, here you are, Griffiths! And this camera you've never used. Come down, go to the boat, get the camera, let The jury will see where you sit, and where Miss Alden sits, and try to be as precise as possible, how and where you hit Miss Alden, where and how she fell."

"Protest!" Belknap declared.

A long, tedious legal debate ensued, and finally the judge allowed the testimonies to continue for a while.At the end of the argument, Clyde said, "I didn't hit her on purpose, though." Mason replied, "Well, we've heard you testify that way." Then, Clyde came down, was fiddled with, and finally Walk up to the center of the boat and sit down while the other three hold onto the boat.

"Come here, Newcombe, sit where Alden sat, and do as he says."

"All right, sir," said Newcomb, coming over and sitting down.Clyde tried to search Jefferson's face, but his body was a little turned away from him.

"Now, Griffiths," continued Mason, "show Mr. Newcomb, Miss Alden, stand up, come over to you, and perform."

Clyde felt very helpless, knowing that this was a fake and that people hated him, he stood up again with a flustered expression, this absurd situation made him indescribably embarrassed.Trying to show Newcombe how Roberta got up, scrambled, then stumbled and fell.Then, he holds the camera in his hand.Still trying to rely on his memory, he acted out how he accidentally hit Roberta with an outstretched arm.He didn't know exactly where it was aimed, maybe the chin, the cheek, he couldn't tell, but of course it wasn't intentional, and he didn't think it was strong enough to really hurt her at the time.However, since Clyde said that he could not remember clearly, is this testimony sufficient?Belknap and Mason argued on this point for some time, but at last Judge Oberworth allowed such testimony.The reason is that this can relatively explain that no matter who is "unsteady" or "unable to stand", to push her down, whether it needs a light push or a hard push, a light blow or a heavy blow.

"But, my God, how can this farce, with Mr. Newcomb's build, and this farce played on him, explain what Miss Alden can do?" insisted Belknap.

"Okay, then get a girl of Miss Alden's size and weight," he said quickly to Zelah Sanders, who took Newcombe's place.Still, Belknap went on:

"What's the use? It's not the same. The boat isn't on the water. No two people react exactly alike to an accidental blow."

"So you object to this kind of performance?" (This is Mason, he asks sarcastically over his shoulder.)

"Ah, you can do what you like, but it doesn't mean anything, everyone knows that." Belknap insisted as if reminding him.In this way, Clyde pushed Zela under Mason's guidance, just like he had no intention of pushing Roberta back then. (He thought so.) She took a step back, not much, but she was able to hold onto the side of the boat with both hands to steady herself.The jury got the impression that Clyde's criminal fear of death might have concocted the plot, and that the truth must be more sinister than that.Although Belknap thought that the arguments he had put forward were enough to dispel the jury's impression.For hadn't several coroners testified about how powerful such a blow and another over the head might have been? Didn't Burton Burley testify about the discovery of a hair in the camera? And what about the scream that the woman heard? How could that be explained?

However, after the end of the game, the court announced its withdrawal and the trial will continue tomorrow.

The next morning, with the sound of the gavel, Mason came again, still so energetic, so tenacious, and so aggressive.Clyde passed a restless night in his cell, much encouraged by Jefferson and Belknap, determined to appear cold, firm, and innocent, but in fact lacking the courage to do so.He knew that the local public opinion was unanimously against him, and they all believed that he had killed someone.Mason began with a poignant statement:

"Are you still insisting that you've changed your mind, Griffiths?"

"Yes, sir, I have changed my mind."

"Have you ever heard of a person who woke up after being drowned?"

"I don't quite understand."

"Of course you know that some people thought they were drowned: the last time they sank they couldn't get up, but they were pulled up and revived, and they were revived by first aid, played with their arms, and put them on a log. Or roll on a beer barrel, have you ever heard of that?"

"Yes, sir, I think I've heard. I've heard of such things but don't know how to save them."

"Haven't you heard of it?"

"No, sir."

"I have never heard of how long you can stay in the water and you can be saved?"

"No, sir, I never heard of it."

"For example, if a person is submerged in water for a quarter of an hour, he may be able to survive. Have you never heard of that?"

"No, sir."

"So it never occurred to you when you swam ashore that you could call for help even then, and possibly save her, did you?"

"Yes, sir, I didn't think so. I thought she was dead."

"I see. But what about when she's still alive in the water? Don't you swim pretty well?"

"Yes, sir, I swim well."

"Like saving yourself by swimming five hundred feet in your clothes and shoes, didn't you?"

"Well, I swam that far then."

"Well, you sure swam that far, and I should say pretty good for a guy who can't swim 35 feet to catch that boat," Mason concluded.

At this time Belknap wanted to protest, but was persuaded by Jefferson.

Then, Clyde was constantly questioned about his experience in rowing and swimming, forcing him to admit that he had gone to the lake many times in a dangerous boat like a canoe, but never had an accident.

"The first time you took Roberta to play on Crane Lake, was it in a canoe?"

"Correct."

"But nothing happened that time?"

"No."

"You loved her very much then, didn't you?"

"Correct."

"But you didn't love her that day when she was drowned in this stout dolphin at Great Berton?"

"Well, I've already said what I felt at the time."

"Of course, there's nothing to do with it. You loved her on Crane Lake, but in Great Bildon..."

(End of this chapter)