“You identified the body?” Hastings asked.
“Yes, sir. The body was that of Willmer Gilly.”
“Did you find where the decedent had been living prior to his death.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where was it?”
“It was in the Ajax-Delsey Apartments. That is called an apartment house, actually it is more of a rooming house with limited cooking facilities in most of the rooms.”
“Did you visit the decedent’s room or apartment in that house?”
“I did.”
“What did you find?”
“I found an iron bedstead with a rather thin, lumpy mattress, four army blankets, two pillows, two straightback chairs, one overstuffed chair, a toilet, a sink, a small shower, a few dishes, a two-burner electric plate.”
“Were there sheets on the bed?”
“There were no sheets.”
“A case on the pillow?”
“No pillowcase. A turkish towel had been placed over the pillow and it was quite soiled.”
“Was there a clothes closet?”
“No, sir. There was a small alcove across which a three foot length of pipe had been stretched and half a dozen wire coat hangers had been placed on that pipe. Three of the coat hangers had clothes on them, some slacks, a pair of overalls and a sports coat.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes, sir. In a hamper I found a skin-diving outfit complete with tanks. Acting on information contained in a label on the suit and the tanks, I found that the outfit had been rented from the Valley View Skin-Diving Outfitters. Rent had been paid for a week.”
“What else did you find?”
“I found a somewhat rickety kitchen table on which was a bottle of catsup, a plate, which had contained canned beans, a knife, fork and spoon and a coffee cup. There was a small electric ice box in which there was a quart carton of milk half full, a can of pork and beans about half empty, about half of a quarter pound of butter and about half a pound of raw hamburger.
“Above this ice box was a small cupboard which contained two cans of pork and beans, one can of chili con carne, a small bottle of Tabasco sauce, a pound container of sugar about half empty, two water tumblers, two coffee cups and saucers, four plates, two tin pie plates, a cream pitcher with a broken handle.
“In a drawer in a table there were some knives, forks and spoons, three of each. There was one frying pan, one rather battered aluminum saucepan which had apparently been used to warm up the beans. It was still on the stove, and though the beans had been scraped out of it there were traces of canned beans still adhering to the pot. There was half a loaf of sliced bread on the table.”
“Was there any tablecloth?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
“I’ve mentioned everything I can remember at the moment in the line of orthodox furnishings,” the sheriff said, “but I took a complete set of photographs showing the apartment as we found it.”
“Nothing had been disturbed when those photographs were taken?”
“No, sir. We took photographs showing everything in the apartment.”
“Those photographs were taken by you or under your supervision?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We ask that these twelve photographs be introduced in evidence and given appropriate numbers,” Hastings said.
“No objection,” Mason said.
“Now then,” Hastings said, “returning to this bullet, the so-called fatal bullet, which you have identified. What calibre was that?”
“A .38 calibre.”
“Could you tell from the direction of the groove marks what make of gun had discharged that?”
“Yes, it was fired from a gun which had the same rifling marks as a Smith and Wesson revolver.”
“Sheriff, did you ask the defendant if she knew anything about a .38-calibre Smith and Wesson revolver?”
“I did.”
“Did you receive any answer?”
“She said that she was under instructions to say nothing to anyone, that at the proper time she would tell her story and until then she had nothing to say.”
“Did you ask her husband, Harlow Bancroft, about a gun?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He made virtually the same answer.”
“Did you search the firearms registry to see if he had purchased a weapon?”
“I did.”
“What did you find?”
“That on the fifteenth day of June of last year he had purchased a Smith and Wesson .38-calibre revolver, No.133347.”
“Did you ask him to produce that gun for you?”
“I did.”
“What was his answer?”
“He said that the gun was not available.”
“Did you ask him to explain that remark?”
“I did.”
“Did he give you any explanation?”
“No, sir.”
“Now then, directing your attention to furnishings other than what you have called orthodox in the apartment of the decedent, Willmer Gilly, did you find anything under the bed?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“What was it?”
“A Monarch Ten portable typewriter.”
“Did you have occasion to use this typewriter?”
“Yes, sir, I ran off the alphabet, both upper and lower case, on a sheet of paper.”
“Now, Sheriff, I show you what purports to be a note demanding the payment of three thousand dollars, which is to be placed in a red coffee can in accordance with subsequent instructions which are to be telephoned, and ask you if you recognize that note,”
“I do, yes, sir.”
“When did you first see that note?”
“It was handed to me by a lifeguard employed at a public swimming beach at Lake Merticito. He said it had been given him by a young—”
“Never mind what he said,” Hastings interrupted hastily, “that’s hearsay. But I will ask you whether you compared the typewriting on that note with the sample of typewriting you had taken from the Monarch Ten portable typewriter you had found in the room of the decedent, Willmer Gilly?”
“I did, yes, sir.”
“With what result?”
“Studying the alignment of the letters and a chipped type face, I became convinced there was no question but that this so-called blackmail note had been written on the typewriter which we found in Willmer Gilly’s room.”
“Returning now to the fatal bullet,” Hastings said, “did you make any attempt to match that bullet with any other bullet?”
“I did, yes, sir.”
“With what other bullets?”
“Harlow Bancroft owns a mountain cottage some thirty miles out of San Bernardino in the high mountains. I went to that lodge, or house, and looked around. The house is situated on property which comprises a little over two acres. In back of the house I found a target made of four thicknesses of Celotex, backed with a two-inch board. This target in turn had been placed upright against an embankment.”
“What else did you find?”
“I pried the Celotex loose from the board and found quite a number of bullets imbedded in the board. Most of these bullets were of .22 calibre, but three of them were .38 calibre bullets. I carefully excavated around the target and sifted the soil and found a large number of bullets, mostly of .22 calibre, but again I found half a dozen .38 calibre bullets.”