chin and cheek maybe, he was not sure, but not
intentionally, of course, and not with sufficient force really to
injure her, he thought at the time. But just here a long
wrangle between Belknap and Mason as to the competency
of such testimony since Clyde declared that he could not
remember clearly—but Oberwaltzer finally allowing the
testimony on the ground that it would show, relatively,
whether a light or heavy push or blow was required in order
to upset any one who might be “lightly” or “loosely” poised.
“But how in Heaven’s name are these antics as here
demonstrated on a man of Mr. Newcomb’s build to show
what would follow in the case of a girl of the size and weight
of Miss Alden?” persisted Belknap.
“Well, then we’ll put a girl of the size and weight of Miss
Alden in here.” And at once calling for Zillah Saunders and
putting her in Newcomb’s place. But Belknap none-the-less
proceeding with:
“And what of that? The conditions aren’t the same. This
boat isn’t on the water. No two people are going to be alike
An American Tragedy
1042
in their resistance or their physical responses to accidental
blows.”
“Then you refuse to allow this demonstration to be
made?” (This was from Mason, turning and cynically
inquiring.)
“Oh, make it if you choose. It doesn’t mean anything
though, as anybody can see,” persisted Belknap,
suggestively.
And so Clyde, under directions from Mason, now pushing at
Zillah, “about as hard,” (he thought) as he had accidentally
pushed at Roberta. And she falling back a little—not much—
but in so doing being able to lay a hand on each side of the
boat and so save herself. And thejury, in spite of Belknap’s
thought that his contentions would have counteracted all
this, gathering the impression that Clyde, on account of his
guilt and fear of death, was probably attempting to conjure
something that had been much more viciously executed, to
be sure. For had not the doctors sworn to the probable
force of this and another blow on the top of the head? And
had not Burton Burleigh testified to having discovered a hair
in the camera? And how about the cry that woman had
heard? How about that?
But with that particular incident the court was adjourned for
this day.
On the following morning at the sound of the gavel, there
was Mason, as fresh and vigorous and vicious as ever. And
Clyde, after a miserable night in his cell and much
bolstering by Jephson and Belknap, determined to be as
cool and insistent and innocent-appearing as he could be,
but with no real heart for the job, so convinced was he that
local sentiment in its entirety was against him—that he was
An American Tragedy
1043
believed to be guilty. And with Mason beginning most
savagely and bitterly:
“You still insist that you experienced a change of heart, do
you, Griffiths?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Ever hear of people being resuscitated after they have
apparently drowned?”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“You know, of course, that people who are supposed to be
drowned, who go down for the last time and don’t come up,
are occasionally gotten out of the water and revived,
brought back to life by first-aid methods—working their
arms and rolling them over a log or a barrel. You’ve heard
of that, haven’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I think I have. I’ve heard of people being brought
back to life after they’re supposed to be drowned, but I
don’t think I ever heard just how.”
“You never did?”
“No, sir.”
“Or how long they could stay under water and still be
revived?”
“No, sir. I never did.”
“Never heard, for instance, that a person who had been in
the water as long as fifteen minutes might still be brought
to?”
“No, sir.”
“So it never occurred to you after you swam to shore
yourself that you might still call for aid and so save her life
even then?”
An American Tragedy
1044
“No, sir, it didn’t occur to me. I thought she was dead by
then.”
“I see. But when she was still alive out there in the water—
how about that? You’re a pretty good swimmer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I swim fairly well.”
“Well enough, for instance, to save yourself by swimming
over five hundred feet with your shoes and clothes on. Isn’t
that so?”
“Well, I did swim that distance then—yes, sir.”
“Yes, you did indeed—and pretty good for a fellow who
couldn’t swim thirty-five feet to an overturned boat, I’ll say,”
concluded Mason.
Here Jephson waved aside Belknap’s suggestion that he
move to have this comment stricken out.
Clyde was now dragged over his various boating and
swimming experiences and made to tell how many times he
had gone out on lakes in craft as dangerous as canoes and
had never had an accident.
“The first time you took Roberta out on Crum Lake was in a
canoe, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you had no accident then?”
“No, sir.”
“You cared for her then very much, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But the day she was drowned in Big Bittern, in this solid,
round-bottomed row-boat, you didn’t care for her any more.”
“Well, I’ve said how I felt then.”
An American Tragedy
1045
“And of course there couldn’t be any relation between the
fact that on Crum Lake you cared for her but on Big Bittern
——”
“I said how I felt then.”
“But you wanted to get rid of her just the same, didn’t you?
The moment she was dead to run away to that other girl.
You don’t deny that, do you?”
“I’ve explained why I did that,” reiterated Clyde.
“Explained! Explained! And you expect any fair-minded,
decent, intelligent person to believe that explanation, do
you?” Mason was fairly beside himself with rage and Clyde
did not venture to comment as to that. The judge
anticipated Jephson’s objection to this and bellowed,
“Objection sustained.” But Mason went right on. “You
couldn’t have been just a little careless, could you, Griffiths,
in the handling of the boat and upset it yourself, say?” He
drew near and leered.
“No, sir, I wasn’t careless. It was an accident that I couldn’t
avoid.” Clyde was quite cool, though pale and tired.
“An accident. Like that other accident out there in Kansas
City, for instance. You’re rather familiar with accidents of
that kind, aren’t you, Griffiths?” queried Mason sneeringly
and slowly.
“I’ve explained how that happened,” replied Clyde nervously.
“You’re rather familiar with accidents that result in death to
girls, aren’t you? Do you always run away when one of
them dies?”
“Object,” yelled Belknap, leaping to his feet.
“Objection sustained,” called Oberwaltzer sharply. “There is
nothing before this court concerning any other accident.
An American Tragedy
1046
The prosecution will confine itself more closely to the case
in hand.”
“Griffiths,” went on Mason, pleased with the way he had
made a return to Jephson for his apology for the Kansas
City accident, “when that boat upset after that accidental
blow of yours and you and Miss Alden fell into the water—
how far apart were you?”
“Well, I didn’t notice just then.”
“Pretty close, weren’t you? Not much more than a foot or
two, surely—the way you stood there in the boat?”
“Well, I didn’t notice. Maybe that, yes, sir.”
“Close enough to have grabbed her and hung on to her if
you had wanted to, weren’t you? That’s what you jumped
up for, wasn’t it, when she started to fall out?”
“Yes, that’s what I jumped up for,” replied Clyde heavily.
“but I wasn’t close enough to grab her. I know I went right
under, and when I came up she was some little distance
away.”
“Well, how far exactly? As far as from here to this end of
the jury box or that end, or half way, or what?”
“Well, I say I didn’t notice, quite. About as far from here to
that end, I guess,” he lied, stretching the distance by at
least eight feet.
“Not really!” exclaimed Mason, pretending to evince
astonishment. “This boat here turns over, you both fall in
the water close together, and when you come up you and
she are nearly twenty feet apart. Don’t you think your
memory is getting a little the best of you there?”
“Well, that’s the way it looked to me when I came up.”
An American Tragedy
1047
“Well, now, after that boat turned over and you both came
up, where were you in relation to it? Here is the boat now
and where were you out there in the audience, as to
distance, I mean?”
“Well, as I say, I didn’t exactly notice when I first came up,”
returned Clyde, looking nervously and dubiously at the
space before him. Most certainly a trap was being prepared
for him. “About as far as from here to that railing beyond
your table, I guess.”
“About thirty to thirty-five feet then,” suggested Mason, slyly