show in this trial, which explains much—and that was that
no superior officer or head of any department was
permitted to have anything to do with any girls working
under him, or for the factory, in or out of the factory. It was
not conducive to either the morals or the honor of those
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working for this great company, and they would not allow it.
And shortly after coming there, this man had been
instructed as to that rule. But did that deter him? Did the so
recent and favorable consideration of his uncle in any way
deter him? Not in the least. Secrecy! Secrecy! From the
very beginning! Seduction! Seduction! The secret and
intended and immoral and illegal and socially unwarranted
and condemned use of her body outside the regenerative
and ennobling pale of matrimony!
“That was his purpose, gentlemen! But was it generally
known by any one in Lycurgus or elsewhere that such a
relationship as this existed between him and Roberta
Alden? Not a soul! Not a soul!, as far as I have been able to
ascertain, was ever so much as partially aware of this
relationship until after this girl was dead. Not a soul! Think
of that!
“Gentlemen of the jury,” and here his voice took on an
almost reverential tone, “Roberta Alden loved this
defendant with all the strength of her soul. She loved him
with that love which is the crowning mystery of the human
brain and the human heart, that transcends in its strength
and its weakness all fear of shame or punishment from
even the immortal throne above. She was a true and
human and decent and kindly girl—a passionate and loving
girl. And she loved as only a generous and trusting and self-
sacrificing soul can love. And loving so, in the end she gave
to him all that any woman can give the man she loves.
“Friends, this thing has happened millions of times in this
world of ours, and it will happen millions and millions of
times in the days to come. It is not new and it will never be
old.
“But in January or February last, this girl, who is now dead
in her grave, was compelled to come to this defendant,
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Clyde Griffiths, and tell him that she was about to become a
mother. We shall prove to you that then and later she
begged him to go away with her and make her his wife.
“But did he? Would he? Oh, no! For by that time a change
had come over the dreams and the affections of Clyde
Griffiths. He had had time to discover that the name of
Griffiths in Lycurgus was one that would open the doors of
Lycurgus exclusive circles—that the man who was no one
in Kansas City or Chicago—was very much of a person
here, and that it would bring him in contact with girls of
education and means, girls who moved far from the sphere
to which Roberta Alden belonged. Not only that, but he had
found one girl to whom, because of her beauty, wealth,
position, he had become enormously attached and beside
her the little farm and factory girl in the pathetically shabby
and secret room to which he had assigned her, looked poor
indeed—good enough to betray but not good enough to
marry. And he would not.” Here he paused, but only for a
moment, then went on:
“But at no point have I been able to find the least
modification or cessation of any of these social activities on
his part which so entranced him. On the contrary from
January to July fifth last, and after—yes, even after she was
finally compelled to say to him that unless he could take her
away and marry her, she would have to appeal to the sense
of justice in the community in which they moved, and after
she was cold and dead under the waters of Big Bittern—
dances, lawn fetes, automobile parties, dinners, gay trips to
Twelfth Lake and Bear Lake, and without a thought,
seemingly, that her great moral and social need should
modify his conduct in any way.”
And here he paused and gazed in the direction of Belknap
and Jephson, who in turn, were not sufficiently disturbed or
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concerned to do more than smile, first at him and then at
each other, although Clyde, terrorized by the force and the
vehemence of it all, was chiefly concerned to note how
much of exaggeration and unfairness was in all this.
But even as he was thinking so, Mason was continuing
with: “But by this time, gentlemen, as I have indicated,
Roberta Alden had become insistent that Griffiths make her
his wife. And this he promised to do. Yet, as all the
evidence here will show, he never intended to do anything
of the kind. On the contrary, when her condition became
such that he could no longer endure her pleas or the
danger which her presence in Lycurgus unquestionably
spelled for him, he induced her to go home to her father’s
house, with the suggestion, apparently, that she prepare
herself by making some necessary clothes, against the day
when he would come for her and remove her to some
distant city where they would not be known, yet where as
his wife she could honorably bring their child into the world.
And according to her letters to him, as I will show, that was
to have been in three weeks from the time she departed for
her home in Biltz. But did he come for her as he had
promised? No, he never did.
“Eventually, and solely because there was no other way
out, he permitted her to come to him—on July sixth last—
exactly two days before her death. But not before—but wait!
——
In the meantime, or from June fifth to July sixth, he allowed
her to brood in that little, lonely farm house on the outskirts
of Biltz in Mimico County, with the neighbors coming in to
watch and help her make some clothes, which even then
she did not dare announce as her bridal trousseau. And she
suspected and feared that this defendant would fail her. For
daily, and sometimes twice daily, she wrote him, telling him
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of her fears and asking him to assure her by letter or word
in some form that he would come and take her away.
“But did he even do that? Never by letter! Never! Oh, no,
gentlemen, oh, no! On the contrary some telephone
messages—things that could not be so easily traced or
understood. And these so few and brief that she herself
complained bitterly of his lack of interest and consideration
for her at this time. So much so that at the end of five
weeks, growing desperate, she wrote” (and here Mason
picked from a collection of letters on the table behind him a
particular letter, and read): “‘This is to tell you that unless I
hear from you either by telephone or letter before noon
Friday, I will come to Lycurgus and the world will know how
you have treated me.’ Those are the words, gentlemen,
that this poor girl was at last compelled to write.
“But did Clyde Griffiths want the world to know how he had
treated her? Of course not! And there and then began to
form in his mind a plan by which he could escape exposure
and seal Roberta Alden’s lips forever. And, gentlemen, the
state will prove that he did so close her mouth.”
At this point Mason produced a map of the Adirondacks
which he had had made for the purpose, and on which in
red ink were traced the movements of Clyde up to and after
her death—up to the time of his arrest at Big Bear. Also, in
doing this, he paused to tell the jury of Clyde’s well-
conceived plan of hiding his identity, the various false
registrations, the two hats. Here also he explained that on
the train between Fonda and Utica, as again between Utica
and Grass Lake, he had not ridden in the same car with
Roberta. And then he announced:
“Don’t forget, gentlemen, that although he had previously
indicated to Roberta that this was to be their wedding
journey, he did not want anybody to know that he was with
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his prospective bride—no, not even after they had reached
Big Bittern. For he was seeking, not to marry but to find a
wilderness in which to snuff out the life of this girl of whom
he had tired. But did that prevent him, twenty-four and forty-
eight hours before that time, from holding her in his arms
and repeating the promises he had no intention of keeping?
Did it? I will show you the registers of the two hotels in
which they stayed, and where, because of their assumed