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at Roberta’s door and enter, and was then positive that he
was the same young man she had seen that moonlight
night quarreling with Roberta.
And next, Whiggam, and after him Liggett, testifying as to
the dates of arrival of Clyde at the factory, as well as
Roberta, and as to the rule regarding department heads
and female help, and, in so far as they could see, the
impeccable surface conduct of both Clyde and Roberta,
neither seeming to look at the other or at any one else for
that matter. (That was Liggett testifying.)
And after them again, others. Mrs. Peyton to testify as to
the character of his room and his social activities in so far
as she was able to observe them. Mrs. Alden to testify that
at Christmas the year before Roberta had confessed to her
that her superior at the factory—Clyde Griffiths, the nephew
of the owner—was paying attention to her, but that it had to
be kept secret for the time being. Frank Harriet, Harley
Baggott, Tracy Trumbull and Eddie Sells to testify that
during December last Clyde had been invited here and
there and had attended various social gatherings in
Lycurgus. John Lambert, a druggist of Schenectady,
testifying that some time in January he had been applied to
by a youth, who he now identified as the defendant, for
some medicine which would bring about a miscarriage.
Orrin Short to testify that in late January Clyde had asked
him if he knew of a doctor who could aid a young married
woman—according to Clyde’s story, the wife of an employe
of Griffiths & Company—who was too poor to afford a child,
and whose husband, according to Clyde, had asked him for
this information. And next Dr. Glenn, testifying to Roberta’s
visit, having previously recalled her from pictures published
in the papers, but adding that professionally he had been
unwilling to do anything for her.
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And then C. B. Wilcox, a farmer neighbor of the Aldens,
testifying to having been in the washroom back of the
kitchen on or about June twenty-ninth or thirtieth, on which
occasion Roberta having been called over the long distance
telephone from Lycurgus by a man who gave his name as
Baker, he had heard her say to him: “But, Clyde, I can’t wait
that long. You know I can’t. And I won’t.” And her voice had
sounded excited and distressed. Mr. Wilcox was positive as
to the name Clyde.
And Ethel Wilcox, a daughter of this same C. B.—short and
fat and with a lisp—who swore that on three preceding
occasions, having received long distance requests for
Roberta, she had proceeded to get her. And each time the
call was from Lycurgus from a man named Baker. Also, on
one occasion, she had heard her refer to the caller as
Clyde. And once she had heard her say that “under no
circumstances would she wait that long,”‘although what she
meant by that she did not know.
And next Roger Beane, a rural free delivery letter-carrier,
who testified that between June seventh or eighth to July
fourth or fifth, he had received no less than fifteen letters
from Roberta herself or the mail box at the crossroads of
the Alden farm, and that he was positive that most of the
letters were addressed to Clyde Griffiths, care of General
Delivery, Lycurgus.
And next Amos Showalter, general delivery clerk at
Lycurgus, who swore that to the best of his recollection,
from or between June seventh or eighth and July fourth or
fifth, Clyde, whom he knew by name, had inquired for and
received not less than fifteen or sixteen letters.
And after him, R. T. Biggen, an oil station manager of
Lycurgus, who swore that on the morning of July sixth, at
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about eight o’clock, having gone to Fielding Avenue, which
was on the extreme west of the city, leading on the northern
end to a “stop” on the Lycurgus and Fonda electric line, he
had seen Clyde, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a straw
hat and carrying a brown suit-case, to one side of which
was strapped a yellow camera tripod and something else—
an umbrella it might have been. And knowing in which
direction Clyde lived, he had wondered at his walking, when
at Central Avenue, not so far from his home, he could have
boarded the Fonda-Lycurgus car. And Belknap in his cross-
examination inquiring of this witness how, being one
hundred and seventy-five feet distant, he could swear that it
was a tripod that he saw, and Biggens insisting that it was—
it was bright yellow and wood and had brass clops and
three legs.
And then after him, John W. Troescher, station master at
‘Fonda, who testified that on the morning of July sixth last
(he recalled it clearly because of certain other things which
he listed), he had sold Roberta Alden a ticket to Utica. He
recalled Miss Alden because of having noted her several
times during the preceding winter. She looked quite tired,
almost sick, and carried a brown bag, something like the
brown bag there and then exhibited to him. Also he recalled
the defendant, who also carried a bag. He did not see him
notice or talk to the girl.
And next Quincy B. Dale, conductor of the particular train
that ran from Fonda to Utica. He had noticed, and now
recalled, Clyde in one car toward the rear. He also noticed,
and from photographs later published, had recalled
Roberta. She gave him a friendly smile and he had said
that such a bag as she was carrying seemed rather heavy
for her and that he would have one of the brakemen carry it
out for her at Utica, for which she thanked him. He had
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963
seen her descend at Utica and disappear into the depot. He
had not noticed Clyde there.
And then the identification of Roberta’s trunk as having
been left in the baggage room at the station at Utica for a
number of days. And after that the guest page of the
Renfrew House, of Utica, for July sixth last, identified by
Jerry K. Kernocian, general manager of said hotel, which
showed an entry—“Clifford Golden and wife.” And the same
then and there compared by handwriting experts with two
other registration pages from the Grass Lake and Big
Bittern inns and sworn to as being identically the same
handwriting. And these compared with the card in Roberta’s
suit-case, and all received in evidence and carefully
examined by each juror in turn and by Belknap and
Jephson, who, however, had seen all but the card before.
And once more a protest on the part of Belknap as to the
unwarranted and illegal and shameful withholding of
evidence on the part of the district attorney. And a long and
bitter wrangle as to that, serving, in fact, to bring to a close
the tenth day of the trial.
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964
Chapter 22
AND then, on the eleventh day, Frank W. Schaefer, clerk of
the Renfrew House in Utica, recalling the actual arrival of
Clyde and Roberta and their actions; also Clyde’s
registration for both as Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Golden, of
Syracuse. And then Wallace Vanderhoff, one of the clerks
of the Star Haberdashery in Utica, with a story of Clyde’s
actions and general appearance at the time of his buying a
straw hat. And then the conductor of the train running
between Utica and Grass Lake. And the proprietor of the
Grass Lake House. And Blanche Pettingill, a waitress, who
swore that at dinner she overheard Clyde arguing with
Roberta as to the impossibility of getting a marriage license
there—that it would be better to wait until they reached
some other place the next day—a bit of particularly
damaging testimony, since it pre-dated by a day the
proposed confession which Clyde was supposed to have
made to Roberta, but which Jephson and Belknap
afterward agreed between themselves might easily have
had some preliminary phases. And after her the conductor
of the train that carried them to Gun Lodge. And after him
the guide and the driver of the bus, with his story of Clyde’s
queer talk about many people being over there and leaving
Roberta’s bag while he took his own, and saying they would
be back.
And then, the proprietor of the Inn at Big Bittern; the
boatkeeper; the three men in the woods—their testimony
very damaging to Clyde’s case, since they pictured his
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965
terror on encountering them. And then the story of the
finding of the boat and Roberta’s body, and the eventual
arrival of Heit and his finding of the letter in Roberta’s coat.
A score of witnesses testifying as to all this. And next the
boat captain, the farm girl, the Cranston chauffeur, the
arrival of Clyde at the Cranstons’, and at last (every step