“Did you send a diver down to that location?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What, if anything, did he discover?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Now then,” Hastings said triumphantly to Mason, “you may cross-examine.”
Mason said, “Sheriff, as I understand it, this diver found the purse and the gun at the exact location Mrs Bancroft had told you it would be, or rather at the exact location she told you the articles should be found.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thereby corroborating her story?”
The sheriff crossed his legs and uncrossed them, smiled, and said, “Well, it depends on what you mean by corroboration. It’s like the hunter who tells you that he stood by an oak tree and shot a deer a thousand yards away with one shot and if you want corroboration he can take you to the oak tree.”
Spectators tittered in the courtroom.
Judge Hobart said coldly, “There is no cause for levity, and no reason to be facetious, Sheriff.”
“I beg the Court’s pardon. I was not trying to be facetious. I was asked if the finding of the articles didn’t corroborate the defendant’s story and I tried to answer as best I could. There was no corroboration of her story, no, sir — not to that part of her story as to what had happened aboard the yacht. The finding of the articles was equally consistent with wilful, premeditated murder.”
“Now, you say that you have a photograph taken by the pilot of the helicopter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Showing the location where the boat was discovered?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will you produce that photograph, please?”
The sheriff extended his hand and District Attorney Hastings handed him an eight-by-ten photograph.
“This is the photograph,” the sheriff said. “That is, it’s an enlargement that shows the boat and you can see where we have drawn cross-lines on the photograph, tying in with certain landmarks which are unmistakable.”
“Very well,” Mason said. “Now, have you compared that photograph and the position of the yacht with the geodetic survey chart which I had introduced in evidence?”
“I haven’t, but I can.”
“Please do so, and tell us the depth of the water at that point.”
The sheriff turned to the clerk who fumbled through papers and then produced the chart which Mason had had introduced in evidence earlier in the hearing.
After some computation and checking, the sheriff said, “As nearly as I can tell, the depth of the water at that point at mean low tide is ten feet.”
“You don’t know how much anchor chain was out on the boat when you found it?”
“Yes, sir. I do. There was approximately fifteen feet of anchor chain.”
“But when you found the boat and when this photograph was taken,” Mason said, “the boat was swinging around the anchor on an outgoing tide. A few hours earlier the boat must have been swinging around on an incoming tide, and with fifteen feet of anchor chain out the boat would have swung in quite an arc.”
“I think the diver made allowances for that.”
“You say you think he did.”
“I instructed him to cover the bottom all around there.”
Mason said, “At this time, if the Court please, I move to strike out all statements made by this witness as to what the diver did, what the diver saw and what the diver recovered, because those remarks represent hearsay and are not the best evidence.”
“Oh, if the Court please,” Hastings said, “we can connect these matters up. We have the diver here in court. I hadn’t intended to call him but I can if it becomes necessary.”
“Then you had better call him,” Mason said, “because I will state that if I have an opportunity to cross-examine this diver I will withdraw my motion. Otherwise I will ask to have all of this evidence stricken.”
“Very well,” Hastings said, “you may step down, Sheriff, and I will call Fremont L Dibble to the stand.”
Dibble took the oath, qualified himself as the diver who had been employed by the sheriff and the district attorney to search the bottom of the bay in certain definite localities.
“Directing your attention to the first location which was near a fuelling wharf immediately to the north of the yacht club, what did you find on the bottom?”
“I found a woman’s purse and a gun.”
“I show you this woman’s purse which has been introduced in evidence and ask you if that is the purse you found.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I show you a gun and ask you if that is the gun you found.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cross-examine,” Hastings snapped.
“Is this purse in the same condition as when you found it?” Mason asked.
The witness looked it over carefully. “Yes, sir.”
“The contents are the same?”
“Yes, sir.”
“There was no money in the purse when you found it?”
“Yes, sir, there was. There’s a coin purse in there containing three twenty-dollar bills, two ten-dollar bills, a five-dollar bill, three one-dollar bills and some small change.”
“That was in the purse when you found it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“No other money?”
“No other money. No, sir.”
“The gun is in the same condition as when you found it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where was the gun with reference to the purse?”
“The gun was lying about... oh, twenty or thirty feet away, I would say.”
Mason said, “Now, the district attorney didn’t ask you, but apparently you are the diver who subsequently went to the point which I am now indicating on the coast geodetic chart by a penciled circle which I will mark with the word ‘yacht’. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you searched the bottom there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And found nothing?”
“That is right.”
“Absolutely nothing?”
“Oh,” the witness said, “there was an old bait can that had been used for bait and thrown overboard. That, however, was about a hundred feet from the boat; that is, the place where the boat was found.”
“But if the boat had been swinging around with the tide it would have been nearer to the boat at high tide?”
The witness thought for a moment and said, “Yes, I believe so.”
“How did you know it was a bait can?” Mason asked.
The witness smiled and said, “In water of that depth the illumination is very good. I was able to read the label on the can. It had contained canned beans and was empty. Therefore, I called it an old bait can.”
“What kind of a label?”
“Oh, just an ordinary label, a piece of paper that had been circled around the can and pasted.”
“You described it as an old bait can?”
“Well,” the witness said, smiling, “I didn’t see anyone fishing and I judged it had been there for some time.”
“With the label still on it?” Mason asked.
The witness frowned thoughtfully and said, “Well, come to think of it, since the label was still on it I guess I’d better describe it as just a bait can rather than an old bait can. It is a question of how old is old.”
The witness smiled at the district attorney.
“Thank you,” Mason said, “that’s all.”
“Now, if the Court please,” Mason said, “in view of this evidence I would like to ask one or two more questions on cross-examination of the prosecution’s witness, Stilson L Kelsey.”
“I think you are entitled to recross-examine any witness you care to in view of the introduction of this new evidence after the prosecution had closed its case,” Judge Hobart said. “Mr Kelsey, come forward.”