"A boy you knew in school…"
"Yes."
"… and whom you have not seen since."
"Yes."
"Did this real person ever fall under the influence of someone like Colman, as Morley does in your book?"
"No."
"Then this situation was invented?"
"Yes."
"Did this real man ever become instrumental in a murder scheme?"
"No."
"This, too, was invented?"
"Yes."
"Were you ever the target in a planned murder, Mr. Driscoll?"
"No."
"You do agree that the men in your novel actively plot the murder of Lieutenant Cooper?"
"His death."
"They plan to lead him into a trap, do they not?"
"They deliberately lead him into a concentration of Chinese troops."
"Which they know exists."
"Yes."
"This would be cold-blooded murder, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
"But your men never planned such a murder, did they?"
"No."
"Nor did they ever lead you toward a strong concentration of Chinese soldiers…"
"No."
"… as the men in the book do?"
"That's right."
"You invented this."
"Yes, I invented it."
"Did you similarly invent the 'female rifle' scene, as it has been called?"
"No, that actually happened to me."
"The men made sexual allusions to a rifle while they were disassembling it?"
"Yes, sir. I changed the emphasis in the book, though. This really happened at Fort Dix, and it was a very comi* cal thing. In the book, I've made it a malicious episode inspired by Private Colman."
"Who is named after your mother's iceman, is that correct?"
"I never said that."
"Perhaps I misunderstood you."
"I'm sure you did."
"I thought you said your mother's iceman was named Colman."
"No, I didn't."
"Well, the record will show what you said."
"Yes, shall we go back over it right this minute?" Driscoll asked.
"I'm sure there's no need for that, Mr. Driscoll."
"Just to clarify exactly what I did say."
"It was a pun, isn't that what you said?"
"Yes. But I didn't say he was named after my mother's iceman."
"Forgive me. You mentioned The Iceman Cometh, though, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did."
"You said this was some form of literary joke, isn't that right?"
"Yes."
"Are you fond of puns and jokes?"
"Yes."
"And of course you're familiar with plays? You said you've been a theatergoer since you were twelve."
"That's right."
"Did you see The Iceman Cometh?"
"I did."
"And felt it was perfectly all right to make a literary allusion to it?"
"Yes."
"Saw nothing wrong with that?"
"Is there something wrong with it?"
"I'm asking you, Mr. Driscoll."
"No, there was nothing wrong with the allusion."
"Did you see the play The Eve of Saint Mark?"
"No."
"Did you see the movie?"
"Yes."
"And you read the play, of course."
"Yes."
"Before this trial began?"
"Yes, I read it many years ago, and again recently."
"Therefore, you were familiar with Sergeant Ruby long before you began writing your book."
"That's right."
"And before you created your character Kenworthy, the one who swears a lot."
"That's right."
"By the way, was he based on any actual person? Kenworthy?"
"He was a composite."
"An invention?"
"In that he was not any one person."
"Was his similarity to Sergeant Ruby another literary joke?"
"He is not similar to Sergeant Ruby."
"They both swear a lot, don't they? By actual count, the word ruttin' is used a total of twenty-eight times in The Eve of Saint Mark, isn't that what you said?"
"That's right."
"Did you make the count recently?"
"Yes, last week."
"You didn't count all those ruttin's before you began writing your book, did you?"
"No."
"And you see no similarity between Ruby and your character?"
"They both swear a lot. That's the only similarity."
"Yet you do not feel that Private Franklin in Catchpole swears a lot?"
"He does not."
"You have heard the old adage, have you not, to the effect that if a man takes one drink on the stage, he's a social drinker; two drinks, he's an imbiber; three drinks, he's an alcoholic."
"I've heard something similar to that."
"Expressive of the shorthand used in the theater."
"Yes."
"Do you think the same shorthand might apply to a character who swears?"
"It might."
"So that if Franklin swore once, he might be considered normally agitated, whereas twice would make him somewhat salty, and seven times would indicate he was addicted to the use of obscenity."
"Absolutely not."
"You do not feel this would apply to Franklin, who swears seven times during the course of Catchpole?"
"Certainly not. Especially when much stronger swear words are used by other characters in the play. Words like 'bastard' and 'whore' and—"
"I don't think we need catalogue them, Mr. Driscoll, though you do seem very familiar with the play."
"I am."
"You read it one weekend a month or so ago, is that right?"
"That's right."
"You must have read it very carefully."
"I did."
"Did you intend Colman to be a homosexual?"
"Obviously."
"This idea did not come from Chester Danton, did it?"
"No."
"The dead major came from him, however?"
"Yes."
"But not the idea of Colman as a homosexual. You invented that all by yourself."
"Yes."
"You testified earlier that you did not believe Colonel Peterson in the play Catchpole is a homosexual."
"That's right."
"Do you know a great many homosexuals, Mr. Driscoll?"
"I know some."
"Personally."
"Yes, personally."
"Would you say that homosexuals are as different one from the other as are heterosexuals?"
"I would say so."
"Would you also agree that it is sometimes difficult to tell whether or not a man is a homosexual?"
"Sometimes."
"Do you think it would be possible to know whether or not a man were a homosexual, for example, if he did not utter a word, if he never spoke?"
"It might be difficult."
"Might it be similarly difficult to determine homosexuality in a letter written from one person to another? The words themselves, the words in the letter, might seem absolutely noncommittal, might they not?"
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"I'm asking, Mr. Driscoll, whether words in a letter written from one person to another might not seem entirely heterosexual in character when unaccompanied by either mannerisms of gesture or voice. That is what I am asking."
"A letter from a homosexual, do you mean?"
"If you will."
"I suppose."
"Do you also agree that the words in a play, the words in a mimeographed copy of a play, such as the one you perused one weekend last month, could seem equally noncommittal?"
"If a writer intended a homosexual character…"
"Let us not for the moment go into Mr. Constantine's intent. He has already testified that he did intend a homosexual. I'm asking whether—"