“That’s correct.”
“He told you that he was taken ill about seven o’clock in the morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what were his symptoms when you first treated him?”
“He was suffering from extreme weakness, a condition bordering on collapse.”
“Were any symptoms of arsenic poisoning present?”
“Not at that time. He told me that he had lost everything he had eaten, that he had been purging and vomiting, that he was feeling cold all over and that there were abdominal cramps.”
“Those were not the symptoms of arsenic poisoning?”
“I will say, Mr. Mason, that if the man had ingested arsenic poisoning at say a little before seven o’clock in the morning, that if the condition of his body had been such that a large dose of poison induced almost instantaneous nausea, it is quite possible that the regurgitation of the poison which had been ingested could have been sufficiently complete so that the symptoms would have been those as I found them.”
“Then at that time Davenport told you that he suspected his wife of trying to poison him?”
“Very definitely.”
“That he had eaten a piece of candy from a box that had been placed in his bag by his wife and that he was satisfied he had been poisoned from that piece of candy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did he tell yon how it happened that he ate a piece of candy at around seven o’clock in the morning?”
“Yes, sir. He told me that he was sometimes a heavy drinker, that quite frequently when he had this overwhelming urge for alcohol that sometimes he could control it by eating large quantities of sweets.”
“So,” Mason said, “as soon as he became ill he suspected the candy?”
“Well, he didn’t say that in so many words but I gathered that was the general situation. Yes, sir.”
“And he was in a condition of shock, of extreme depression when you saw him?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And he showed no improvement?”
“No, sir.”
“You thought it was possible the end would come?”
“Yes, sir.”
“From this debilitation and shock rather than from arsenic poisoning?”
“Yes, sir, in view of his general physical condition.”
“So you called his wife?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you familiar with the symptoms of poisoning from cyanide of potassium?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now then,” Mason said, “how does it happen, Doctor, or, rather, how do you account for the fact that if this man suspected at nine o’clock in the morning that the first piece of candy was poisoned that he would have taken another piece of candy at three o’clock in the afternoon?”
“Oh, just a moment,” Vandling said. “That question is argumentative.”
“I’m trying to test the doctor’s opinion,” Mason said.
Judge Siler, who seemed to adopt a rather passive position, hoping that counsel would get matters straightened out, looked from one to the other.
“He didn’t,” Dr. Renault snapped.
“Didn’t what?” Mason asked.
“Didn’t take another piece of candy.”
Vandling made a little gesture with his hands, sat down and smiled, said, “Well, go ahead. The doctor seems to be doing, very well.”
“You have heard the testimony of Dr. Hoxie that the man died of poisoning by cyanide of potassium?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you have any quarrel with that statement?”
“It is not my province to quarrel with any condition found by the pathologist in making a post-mortem.”
“Well,” Mason said, “did the man die of cyanide poisoning? You saw him die. You know the symptoms. Did he exhibit symptoms of poisoning by cyanide?”
“No, sir, he did not.”
“He did not?” Mason asked.
Dr. Renault set his jaw firmly. “He did not,” he said.
“Then you don’t think poison caused his death?”
“Now, just a moment, Mr. Mason. That’s another matter. I do think poison caused his death.”
“But you don’t think it was cyanide of potassium?”
“No, sir, I do not. I think his death resulted from extreme shock following the ingestion of arsenic poisoning which had been largely eliminated from the system.”
“Now wait a minute,” Mason said. “You were the attending physician. You saw the man die.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you don’t think his death was caused by cyanide of potassium?”
“No, sir. I do not.”
“Now just a moment, Your Honor,” Vandling said. “This is developing into a situation which I hadn’t anticipated. I am afraid I have to admit that I hadn’t interrogated Dr. Renault as to the cause of death because I felt certain that the presence of poison which had been found at the time of the autopsy would completely answer the question as to the cause of death.”
“You’ll have your opportunity on redirect examination,” Mason said. “I’m asking the doctor specific questions now on cross-examination and I’m getting specific answers. I want to have those answers in the record.”
“Well, they’re in the record,” Vandling said.
“Are you trying to object to my cross-examination?” Mason asked.
Vandling sat down and said, “No, go right ahead. Let’s get the facts, whatever they are.”
Mason said, “Now, let’s get this matter straight, Doctor. You saw the man die?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You are familiar with the symptoms of cyanide of potassium poisoning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you don’t think that he died from such poison?”
“I am quite certain he did not. There were none of the typical symptoms. His death was due to weakness, to shock and to an inability to recuperate from the ingestion of poison.”
“You don’t know that he took poison.”
“I know what he told me and I know what his symptoms were.”
“But most of the symptoms were those that he described to you, were they not?”
“Well, he described his symptoms, naturally. A doctor asks a patient those things.”
“You don’t know that he took any poison?”
“I know that his condition was such that it was compatible with the symptoms he had described.”
“He told you that his wife was trying to poison him. He told you that he had taken a piece of candy from a box, that shortly after taking it—”
“Immediately after taking it,” the doctor said.
“All right, immediately after taking it that he was seized with symptoms, with pains, cramps and vomiting.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And it was, Davenport’s opinion this was due to arsenic poisoning?”
“To poisoning. I don’t think he mentioned arsenic. Yes, perhaps he did, too.”
“You’re the one who mentioned arsenic?”
“I may have.”
“The deceased had been in Paradise for some time?”
“So he said.”
“He was on his way to his home in Los Angeles?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And he told you he had eaten a piece of candy and then become ill?”
“I’ve said that many times. Yes, sir. I think I’ve answered that question in one form or another repeatedly.”
“But you don’t know he took a piece of candy?”
“Only by what he told me.”
“You don’t know of your own knowledge that he took a piece of candy?”
“No, sir.”
“But you do know of your own knowledge that he did not die of poisoning by cyanide of potassium?”