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13 - Art of Cross-Examination by Francis Wellman · Art of Cross-Examination

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of the Art of cross Examination by Francis Wellman.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter thirteen
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Speaker 1: the cross examination of Thomas J. Minnock in the Bellevue
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Speaker 1: Hospital case. On December fifteenth, nineteen hundred, there appeared in
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Speaker 1: The New York World an article written by Thomas J. Minnock,
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Speaker 1: a newspaper reporter, in which he claimed to have been
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Speaker 1: an eye witness to the shocking brutality of certain nurses
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Speaker 1: in attendance at the insane Pavilion of Bellevue Hospital, which
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Speaker 1: resulted in the death by strangulation of one of its inmates,
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Speaker 1: a Frenchman named Hilliard. This Frenchman had arrived at the
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Speaker 1: hospital at about four o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: December eleventh. He was suffering from alcoholic mania, but was
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Speaker 1: apparently otherwise in normal physical condition. Twenty six hours later,
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Speaker 1: or on Wednesday, December twelfth, he died. An autopsy was
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Speaker 1: performed which disclosed several bruises on the forehead, arm, hand
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Speaker 1: and shoulder, three broken ribs and a broken hyoid bone
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Speaker 1: in the neck which supports the tongue, and a suffusion
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Speaker 1: of blood or hemorrhage on both sides of the windpipe.
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Speaker 1: The coroner's physician reported the cause of death, as shown
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Speaker 1: by the autopsy, to be strangulation. The newspaper reporter Minnock
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Speaker 1: claimed to have been in BELvue at the time feigning
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Speaker 1: insanity for newspaper purposes, and upon his discharge from the hospital,
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Speaker 1: he stated that he had seen the Frenchman strangled to
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Speaker 1: death by the nurses in charge of the pavilion by
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Speaker 1: the use of a sheet tightly twisted around the insane
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Speaker 1: man's neck. The language used in the newspaper articles written
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Speaker 1: by Minnock to describe the occurrences preceding the Frenchman's death
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Speaker 1: was as follows. At supper time on Wednesday evening, when
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Speaker 1: the Frenchman, mister Hilliard, refused to eat his supper, the
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Speaker 1: nurse Davis started for him. Hilliard ran around the table
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Speaker 1: and the two other nurses, Dean and Marshall, headed him
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Speaker 1: off and held him. They forced him down on a bench.
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Speaker 1: Davis called for a sheet. One of the other two
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Speaker 1: I do not remember which brought it, and Davis drew
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Speaker 1: it around Hilliard's neck like a rope. Dean was behind
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Speaker 1: the bench on which Hilliard had been pulled back. He
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Speaker 1: gathered up the loose ends of the sheet and pulled
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Speaker 1: the linen tight around Hilliard's neck. Then he began to
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Speaker 1: twist the folds in his hand. I was horrified. I
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Speaker 1: had read of the Garat, I had seen pictures of
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Speaker 1: how persons are executed in Spanish countries. I realized that
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Speaker 1: here before my eyes, a strangle was going to be performed.
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Speaker 1: Davis twisted the ends of the sheet in his hands
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Speaker 1: round and round. He placed his knee against Hilliard's back
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Speaker 1: and exercised all his force. The dying man's eyes began
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Speaker 1: to bulge from their sockets. It made me sick, but
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Speaker 1: I looked on as if fascinated. Hilliard's hands clutched frantically
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Speaker 1: at the coils around his neck. Keep his hands down,
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Speaker 1: can't you, shouted Davis in a rage. Dean and Marshall
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Speaker 1: seized the helpless man's hands, slowly, remorselessly. Davis kept on
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Speaker 1: twisting the sheet. Hilliard began to get black in the face.
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Speaker 1: His tongue was hanging out. Marshal got frightened. Let up,
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Speaker 1: he's getting black, he said to Davis. Davis led out
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Speaker 1: a couple of twists of the sheet, but did not
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Speaker 1: seem to like to do it. At last, Hilliard got
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Speaker 1: a little breath, just a little. The sheet was still
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Speaker 1: brought tight about the neck. Now will you eat, cried Davis. Oh,
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Speaker 1: gasped the insane man. Davis was furious. Well, I will
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Speaker 1: make you eat. I will choke you until you do eat,
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Speaker 1: he shouted, and he began to twist the sheet again.
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Speaker 1: Hilliard's head would have fallen upon his breast but for
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Speaker 1: the fact that Davis was holding it up. He began
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Speaker 1: to get black in the face again. A second time.
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Speaker 1: They got frightened, and Davis eased up on the string.
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Speaker 1: He untwisted the sheet, but still kept a firm grasp
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Speaker 1: on the folds. It took Hilliard some time to come too.
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Speaker 1: When he did. At last, Davis again asked him if
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Speaker 1: he would eat. Hilliard had just breath enough to whisper faintly. No.
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Speaker 1: I thought the man was dying. Then Davis twisted up
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Speaker 1: the sheet again and cried, well, I will make him eat,
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Speaker 1: or I will choke him to death. He twisted and
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Speaker 1: twisted till I thought he would break the man's neck.
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Speaker 1: Hilliard was u conscious. At last Davis jerked the man
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Speaker 1: to the floor and kneeled on him, but still had
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Speaker 1: the stranglehold with his knee. Giving him additional purchase, he
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Speaker 1: twisted the sheet till his own fingers were sore. Then
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Speaker 1: the three nurses dragged the limp body to the bathroom.
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Speaker 1: Heaved him into the top with his clothes on, and
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Speaker 1: turned the cold water on him. He was dead by
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Speaker 1: this time. I believe he was strangled to death, and
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Speaker 1: the finishing touches were put on when they had him
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Speaker 1: on the floor. No big, strong, healthy man could have
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Speaker 1: lived under that awful strangling. Hilliard was weak and feeble.
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Speaker 1: The above article appeared in the Morning Journal a few
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Speaker 1: days after the original publication in the New York World.
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Speaker 1: The other local papers immediately took up the story, and
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Speaker 1: it is easy to imagine the pitch to which the
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Speaker 1: public excitement and indignant nation were aroused. The three nurses
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Speaker 1: in charge of the pavilion at the time of Hilliard's
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Speaker 1: death were immediately indicted for manslaughter, and the head nurse,
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Speaker 1: Jesse R. Davis, was promptly put on trial in the
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Speaker 1: Court of General Sessions before mister Justice Cowing and a
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Speaker 1: special jury. The trial lasted three weeks, and after deliberating
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Speaker 1: five hours, upon their verdict, the jury acquitted the prisoner.
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Speaker 1: The intense interest taken in the case, not only by
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Speaker 1: the public but by the medical profession, was increased by
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Speaker 1: the fact that, for the first time in the criminal
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Speaker 1: courts of this country, two inmates of the Insane Pavilion,
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Speaker 1: themselves admittedly insane, were called by the prosecution and sworn
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Speaker 1: and accepted by the court as witnesses against the prisoner.
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Speaker 1: One of these witnesses was suffering from a form of
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Speaker 1: insanity known as paranoia, and the other from general persis.
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Speaker 1: With the exception of the two insane witnesses and the
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Speaker 1: medical testimony founded upon the autopsy, there was no direct
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Speaker 1: evidence on which to convict the prisoner, but the statement
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Speaker 1: of the newspaper reporter minic he was the one sane
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Speaker 1: witness called on behalf of the prosecution who was an
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Speaker 1: eye witness to the occurrence, and the issues in the
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Speaker 1: case gradually narrowed down to a question of veracity between
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Speaker 1: the newspaper reporter and the accused prisoner, the testimony of
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Speaker 1: each of these witnesses being corroborated or contradicted on one
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Speaker 1: side or the other by various other witnesses. If Minnic's
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Speaker 1: testimony was credited by the jury, the prisoner's contradiction would
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Speaker 1: naturally have no effect whatever, and the public prejudice, indignation,
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Speaker 1: and excitement ran so high that the jury were only
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Speaker 1: too ready and willing to accept the newspaper account of
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Speaker 1: the transaction. The cross examination of Minnic therefore became of
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Speaker 1: the utmost importance. It was essential that the effect of
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Speaker 1: his testimony should be broken, and Council, having his cross
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Speaker 1: examination in charge, had made the most elaborate preparations for
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Speaker 1: the task. Extracts from the cross examination are here given
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Speaker 1: as illustrations of many of the suggestions which have been
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Speaker 1: discussed in previous chapters. The district attorney in charge of
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Speaker 1: the prosecution was Franklin Pier's esquire. In his opening address
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Speaker 1: to the jury, he stated that he quote did not
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Speaker 1: believe that ever in the history of the state, or
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Speaker 1: indeed of the country, had a jury been called upon
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Speaker 1: to decide such an important case as the one on trial. Unquote,
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Speaker 1: he continued, quote there is no fiction, no hard cash
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Speaker 1: in this case. The facts here surpass anything that fiction
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Speaker 1: has ever produced. The witnesses will describe the most terrible
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Speaker 1: treatment that was ever given to an insane man. No
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Speaker 1: writer of fiction could have put them in a book.
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Speaker 1: They would appear so improbable and monstrous that his manuscript
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Speaker 1: would have been rejected as soon as offered to a publisher.
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Speaker 1: When the reporter Mink stepped to the witness stand, the
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Speaker 1: courtroom was crowded, and yet so intense was the excitement
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Speaker 1: that every word the witness uttered could be distinctly heard
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Speaker 1: by everybody present. He gave his evidence in chief, clearly
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Speaker 1: and calmly, and with no apparent motive but to narrate
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Speaker 1: correctly the details of the crime he had seen committed.
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Speaker 1: Anyone unaware of his career would have regarded him as
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Speaker 1: an unusually clever and apparently honest and courageous man, with
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Speaker 1: a keen memory, and with just the slightest touch of
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Speaker 1: gratification at the important position he was holding in the
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Speaker 1: public eye in consequence of his having on earthed the
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Speaker 1: atrocities perpetrated in our public hospitals. His direct evidence was
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Speaker 1: practically a repetition of his newspaper article already referred to,
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Speaker 1: only much more in detail. After questioning him for about
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Speaker 1: an hour, the district attorney sat down with a confident
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Speaker 1: he is your witness if you wish to cross examine him.
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Speaker 1: No one who has ever experienced it can have the
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Speaker 1: slightest appreciation of the nervous excitement attendant on being called
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Speaker 1: upon to cross examine the chief witness in a case
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Speaker 1: involving the life or liberty of a human being. If
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Speaker 1: Minnock withstood the cross examination, the nurse Davis, apparently a
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Speaker 1: most worthy and refined young man who had just graduated
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Speaker 1: from the Mills Training School for nurses and about to
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Speaker 1: be married to a most estimable young lady, would have
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Speaker 1: to spend at least the next twenty years of his
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Speaker 1: life at hard labor in state prison. The first fifteen
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Speaker 1: minutes of the cross examination were devoted to showing that
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Speaker 1: the witness was a thoroughly educated man twenty five years
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Speaker 1: of age, a graduate of Saint John's College, Fordham, New York,
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Speaker 1: the Sacred Heart Academy, the Francis Xavier, the De la
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Speaker 1: Salle Institution, and had traveled extensively in Europe and America.
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Speaker 1: The cross examination then proceeded Council amiably, mister Minnick, I
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Speaker 1: believe you have written the story of your life and
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Speaker 1: published it in the Bridgeport Sunday Herald, as recently as
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Speaker 1: last December. I hold the original article in my hand. Witness,
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Speaker 1: it was not the story of my life, Council. The
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Speaker 1: article is signed by you and purports to be a
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Speaker 1: history of your life. Witness, it is an imaginary story
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Speaker 1: dealing with hypnotism, fiction partly, but it dealt with facts, Council.
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Speaker 1: That is, you mean to say you mixed fiction and
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Speaker 1: fact in the history of your life. Witness, Yes, Sir Council.
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Speaker 1: In other words, you dressed up facts with fiction to
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Speaker 1: make them more interesting. Witness precisely, Council. When in this
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Speaker 1: article you wrote that at the age of twelve you
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Speaker 1: ran away with a circus, was that dressed up? Witness, Yes,
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Speaker 1: Sir Council. It was not true. Witness No, Sir Council.
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Speaker 1: When you said that you continued with this circus for
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Speaker 1: over a year and went with it to Belgium, there
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Speaker 1: was a particle of truth in that, because you did,
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Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, go to Belgium, but not
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Speaker 1: with the circus as a public clown. Is that the idea, Witness, Yes,
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Speaker 1: Sir Council. So there was some little truth mixed in
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Speaker 1: at this point with the other matter. Witness, Yes, Sir Council,
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Speaker 1: when you wrote that you were introduced in Belgium at
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Speaker 1: the Hospital General to charcoa the celebrated Parisian hypnotist, was
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Speaker 1: there some truth in that? Witness No, Sir Council. You
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Speaker 1: knew that Charco was one of the originators of hypnotism
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Speaker 1: in France, didn't you, Witness, I knew that he was
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Speaker 1: one of the original hypnotists. Council, How did you come
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Speaker 1: to state in the newspaper history of your life that
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Speaker 1: you were introduced to Charco at the Hospital General at Paris?
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Speaker 1: If that was not true? Witness, while there I met
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Speaker 1: a Charco Council, Oh, I see, Witness, but not the
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Speaker 1: original Charco council. Which Charco did you meet? Witness a woman?
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Speaker 1: She was a lady assuming the name of Charco, claiming
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Speaker 1: to be Madame Charcon. Council, so that when you wrote
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Speaker 1: in this article that you had met Charcoal, you intended
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Speaker 1: people to understand that it was the celebrated professor Charco,
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Speaker 1: And it was partly true because there was a woman
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Speaker 1: by the name of Charco whom you had really met.
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Speaker 1: Witness precisely, Counsel quietly that is to say, there is
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Speaker 1: some truth in it. Witness, Yes, Sir Council. When in
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Speaker 1: that article you said that Charcot taught you to stand pain?
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Speaker 1: Was there any truth in that? Witness, no, Council. Did you,
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Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, learn to stand pain? Witness no, Counsel.
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Speaker 1: When you said in this article that Charcoal began by
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Speaker 1: sticking pins and knives to you, little by little, so
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Speaker 1: as to accustom you to standing pain, was that all fiction? Witness, Yes,
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Speaker 1: sir Council. When you wrote that Charcot taught you to
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Speaker 1: reduce your respirations to to a minute so as to
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Speaker 1: make your body insensible to pain, was that fiction? Witness,
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Speaker 1: purely imagination? Court interrupting, counselor I will not allow you
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Speaker 1: to go further in this line of inquiry. The witness
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Speaker 1: himself says his article was almost entirely fiction, some of
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Speaker 1: it founded upon fact. I will allow you the greatest
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Speaker 1: latitude in a proper way, but not in this direction. Council,
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Speaker 1: Your honor does not catch the point. Court, I do
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Speaker 1: not think I do, Council. This prosecution was started by
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Speaker 1: a newspaper article written by the witness and published in
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Speaker 1: the Morning Journal. It is the claim of the defense
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Speaker 1: that the newspaper article was a mixture of fact and fiction,
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Speaker 1: mostly fiction. The witness has already admitted that the history
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Speaker 1: of his life, published but a few months ago, and
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Speaker 1: written and signed by himself, and sold as a history
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Speaker 1: of his life, was a mixture of fact and fiction,
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Speaker 1: mostly fiction. Would it not be instructive to the jury
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Speaker 1: to learn from the lips of the witness himself how
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Speaker 1: far he dressed up the pretended history of his own life,
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Speaker 1: that they may draw from it some inference as to
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Speaker 1: how far he has likewise dressed up the article which
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Speaker 1: was the origin of this prosecution. Court, I shall grant
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Speaker 1: you the greatest latitude in examination of the witness in
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Speaker 1: regard to the newspaper article which he published in regard
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Speaker 1: to this case, but I exclude all questions relating to
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Speaker 1: the witness's newspaper history of his own life. Council, did
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Speaker 1: you not have yourself photographed and published in the newspapers
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Speaker 1: in connection with the history of your life, with your
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Speaker 1: mouth and lips and ears sewed up while you were
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Speaker 1: insensible to pain? Court question excluded. Council, did you not
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Speaker 1: publish a picture of yourself in connection with the pretended
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Speaker 1: history of your life, representing yourself upon a cross spiked
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Speaker 1: hand and foot, but insensible to pain, in consequence of
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Speaker 1: the instruction you had received from Professor Charcot. Court question excluded, Council,
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Speaker 1: I offer these pictures and articles in evidence. Court roughly excluded, Council.
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Speaker 1: In the article you published in the New York Journal,
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Speaker 1: wherein you described the occurrences in the present case which
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Speaker 1: you have just now related upon the witness stand, did
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Speaker 1: you there have yourself represented as in the position of
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Speaker 1: the insane patient with a sheet twisted around your neck
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Speaker 1: and held by the hands of the hospital nurse who
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Speaker 1: was strangling you to death? Witness. I wrote the article,
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Speaker 1: but I did not pose for the picture. The picture
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Speaker 1: was posed for by someone else who looked like me, Council,
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Speaker 1: stepping up to the witness and handing him the newspaper article.
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Speaker 1: Are not these words under your picture? This is how
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Speaker 1: I saw it done, Thomas J. Minnock, A facsimile of
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Speaker 1: your handwriting, Witness, Yes, sir, it is my handwriting, Council,
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Speaker 1: referring to the history of your life. Again, how many
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Speaker 1: imaginary articles on the subject have you written for the
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Speaker 1: newspapers throughout the country, Witness one, Council, you have put
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Speaker 1: several articles in New York papers, have you not, Witness?
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Speaker 1: It was only the original story. It has since been redressed.
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Speaker 1: That's all, Counsel. Each time you signed the article and
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Speaker 1: sold it to the newspaper for money, did you not?
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Speaker 1: Court excluded Counsel with a sudden change of manner and
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Speaker 1: in a loud voice, turning to the audience. Is the
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Speaker 1: Chief of Police of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the court room,
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Speaker 1: turning to the witness, Mister Minnock. Do you know this, gentleman?
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Speaker 1: Witness I do, Counsel tell the jury when you first
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Speaker 1: made his acquaintance. Witness it was when I was arrested
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Speaker 1: in the Atlantic Hotel in Bridgeport, Connecticut with my wife. Counsel.
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Speaker 1: Was she your wife at the time? Witness Yes, Sir Counsel,
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Speaker 1: she was but sixteen years old, Witness seventeen. I guess, Council,
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Speaker 1: you were arrested on the ground that you were trying
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Speaker 1: to drug this sixteen year old girl and kidnap her
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Speaker 1: to New York. Do you deny it? Witness doggedly, I
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Speaker 1: was arrested, Counsel sharply. You know the cause of arrest
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Speaker 1: to be as I have stated, answer yes or no?
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Speaker 1: Witness hesitating, Yes, Sir, Council, you were permitted by the
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Speaker 1: prosecuting Attorney F. A. Bartlett to be discharged without trial
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Speaker 1: on your promise to leave the state. Were you not, Witness?
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Speaker 1: I don't remember anything of that. Counsel. Do you deny it? Witness?
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Speaker 1: I do, Counsel. Did you have another young man with
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Speaker 1: you upon that occasion? Witness? I did a college chum. Counsel.
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Speaker 1: Was he also married to this sixteen year old girl? Witness?
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Speaker 1: No answer, Counsel pointedly at Witness. Was he married to
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Speaker 1: this girl also? Witness? Why no, Counsel, you say you
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Speaker 1: were married to her. Give me the date of your
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Speaker 1: marrige marriage? Witness hesitating, I don't remember the date, Counsel.
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Speaker 1: How many years ago was it? Witness? I don't remember, Counsel,
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Speaker 1: how many years ago was it? Witness? I couldn't say, Counsel,
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Speaker 1: what is your best memory as to how many years
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Speaker 1: ago it was? Witness? I can't recollect, Counsel, Try to
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Speaker 1: recollect about when you were married, Witness. I was married twice,
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Speaker 1: civil marriage and church marriage. Council. I'm talking about miss
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Speaker 1: Sadie Cook when Were you married to Sadie Cook? And
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Speaker 1: where is the marriage recorded? Witness? I tell you I
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Speaker 1: don't remember. Council. Try, Witness it might be five or six,
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Speaker 1: or seven or ten years ago. Council, Then you cannot
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Speaker 1: tell within five years of the time when you were married,
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Speaker 1: and you are now only twenty five years old, Witness,
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Speaker 1: I cannot counsel. Were you married at fifteen years of age? Witness,
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Speaker 1: I don't think I was. Counsel you know, do you
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Speaker 1: not that your marriage was several years after this arrest
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Speaker 1: in Bridgeport? That I have been speaking to you about,
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Speaker 1: Witness I know nothing of the kind. Counsel resolutely, do
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Speaker 1: you deny it? Witness hesitating, well, no, I do not
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Speaker 1: deny it. Counsel. I hand you now what purports to
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Speaker 1: be the certificate of your marriage three years ago? Is
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Speaker 1: the date correct? Witness? I never saw it before, Counsel.
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Speaker 1: Does the certificate correctly state the time and place and
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Speaker 1: circumstances of your marriage? Witness? I refuse to answer the
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Speaker 1: question on the ground that it would incriminate my wife.
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Speaker 1: The theory on which the defense was being made was
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Speaker 1: that the witness Minnick had manufactured the story, which he
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Speaker 1: had printed in the paper and later swore to before
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Speaker 1: the grand jury and at the trial. The effort in
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Speaker 1: his cross examination was to show that he was the
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Speaker 1: kind of man who would manufacture such a story and
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Speaker 1: sell it to the newspapers, and afterward, when compelled to
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Speaker 1: do so, swear to it in court. Council next called
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Speaker 1: the witness's attention to many facts tending to show that
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Speaker 1: he had been an eye witness to adultery in divorce cases,
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Speaker 1: and on both sides of them, first on one side,
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Speaker 1: then on the other in the same case, and that
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Speaker 1: he had been at one time a private detective. Men
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Speaker 1: whom he had robbed and blackmailed and cheated at cards
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Speaker 1: were called from the audience one after another, and he
23:50
Speaker 1: was confronted with questions referring to these charges, all of
23:54
Speaker 1: which he denied in the presence of his accusers. The
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Speaker 1: presiding judge having stated to the council in the hearing
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Speaker 1: of the witness that although he allowed the witness to
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Speaker 1: be brought face to face with his alleged accusers, yet
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Speaker 1: he would allow no contradictions of the witness on these
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Speaker 1: collateral matters. Minnock's former defiant demeanor immediately returned The next
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Speaker 1: interrogatories put to the witness developed the fact that, feigning insanity,
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Speaker 1: he had allowed himself to be taken to Bellevue with
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Speaker 1: the hope of being transferred to Ward's Island, with the
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Speaker 1: intention of finally being discharged as cured, and then writing
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Speaker 1: sensational newspaper articles regarding what he had seen while an
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Speaker 1: inmate of the public insane asylums, that in Bellevue Hospital
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Speaker 1: he had been detected as a malingerer by one of
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Speaker 1: the attending physicians, doctor Fitch, and had been taken before
24:53
Speaker 1: a police magistrate, where he had stated an open court
24:57
Speaker 1: that he had found everything in Bellevue quote far better
25:01
Speaker 1: than he had expected to find it, and that he
25:04
Speaker 1: had quote no complaint to make and nothing to criticize.
25:10
Speaker 1: The witness's mind was then taken from the main subject
25:14
Speaker 1: by questions concerning the various conversations had with different nurses
25:19
Speaker 1: while in the asylum, all of which conversations he denied.
25:24
Speaker 1: The interrogatories were put in such a way as to
25:27
Speaker 1: admit of a yes or no answer, only gradually coming
25:32
Speaker 1: nearer to the point desired to be made. The following
25:35
Speaker 1: questions were asked. Counsel did the nurse Gordon ask you
25:40
Speaker 1: why you were willing to submit to confinement as an
25:43
Speaker 1: insane patient, and did you reply that you were a
25:46
Speaker 1: newspaperman and under contract with a Sunday paper to write
25:51
Speaker 1: up the methods of the asylum, but that the paper
25:54
Speaker 1: had repudiated the contract. Witness no counsel or words to
26:00
Speaker 1: that effect. Witness no, counsel. I am referring to a
26:05
Speaker 1: time subsequent to your discharge from the asylum, and after
26:09
Speaker 1: you had returned to take away your belongings. Did you,
26:12
Speaker 1: at that time tell the nurse Gordon that you had
26:15
Speaker 1: expected to be able to write an article for which
26:18
Speaker 1: you could get a hundred and forty dollars? Witness I
26:22
Speaker 1: did not. Counsel. Did the nurse say to you you
26:27
Speaker 1: got fooled this time, didn't you? And did you reply, yes,
26:31
Speaker 1: but I will try to write up something and see
26:33
Speaker 1: if I can't get square with them. Witness I have
26:37
Speaker 1: no memory of it. Counsel or words to that effect,
26:40
Speaker 1: Witness I did not. All that preceded has served only
26:45
Speaker 1: as a veiled introduction to the next important question. Counsel quietly,
26:52
Speaker 1: at that time, as a matter of fact, did you
26:55
Speaker 1: know anything you could write? About when you got back
26:58
Speaker 1: to the Herald office, Witness, I knew there was nothing
27:03
Speaker 1: to write, Counsel. Did you know at that time or
27:07
Speaker 1: have any idea what you would write when you got out? Witness?
27:12
Speaker 1: Did I at that time know why? I knew there
27:16
Speaker 1: was nothing to write, Counsel walking forward and pointing excitedly
27:21
Speaker 1: at the Witness. Although you had seen a man choke
27:24
Speaker 1: to death with a sheet on Wednesday night, you knew
27:27
Speaker 1: on Friday morning that there was nothing you could write about.
27:31
Speaker 1: Witness hesitating, I didn't know they had killed the man, Counsel.
27:37
Speaker 1: Although you had seen the patient fall unconscious several times
27:40
Speaker 1: to the floor after being choked with the sheet twisted
27:43
Speaker 1: around his neck, you knew there was nothing to write about, Witness.
27:49
Speaker 1: I knew it was my duty to go and see
27:51
Speaker 1: the charity commissioner and tell him about that, Counsel, But
27:55
Speaker 1: you were a newspaper reporter in the asylum for the
27:58
Speaker 1: purpose of writing up an ourt. Do you want to
28:01
Speaker 1: take back what you said a moment ago that you
28:04
Speaker 1: knew there was nothing to write about, Witness, certainly not.
28:08
Speaker 1: I did not know the man was dead, Counsel. Did
28:12
Speaker 1: you not testify that the morning after you had seen
28:15
Speaker 1: the patient choked into unconsciousness. You heard the nurse call
28:19
Speaker 1: up the morgue to inquire if the autopsy had been made.
28:23
Speaker 1: Witness sheepishly, Well, the story that I had the contract
28:28
Speaker 1: for with the Herald was canceled. Counsel, Is it not
28:33
Speaker 1: a fact that within four hours of the time you
28:35
Speaker 1: were finally discharged from the hospital on Saturday afternoon, you
28:40
Speaker 1: read the newspaper account of the autopsy and then immediately
28:44
Speaker 1: wrote your story of having seen this patient strangled to
28:48
Speaker 1: death and offered it for sale to the New York World.
28:52
Speaker 1: Witness that is right, Yes, sir, Counsel. You say you
28:56
Speaker 1: knew it was your duty to go to the charity
28:58
Speaker 1: commissioner and tell him what you had seen. Did you
29:01
Speaker 1: go to him? Witness No, not after I found out
29:06
Speaker 1: through reading the autopsy that the man was killed, Council. Instead,
29:11
Speaker 1: you went to the World and offered them the story
29:14
Speaker 1: in which you described the way Hilliard was killed. Witness Yes, Council,
29:20
Speaker 1: And you did this within three or four hours of
29:22
Speaker 1: the time you read the newspaper account of the autopsy. Witness, Yes, Council.
29:29
Speaker 1: The editors of the World refused your story unless you
29:32
Speaker 1: would put it in the form of an affidavit, did
29:35
Speaker 1: they not, Witness, Yes, Council. Did you put it in
29:39
Speaker 1: the form of an affidavit? Witness, yes, Council, And that
29:43
Speaker 1: was the very night that you were discharged from the hospital, Witness, yes, Council.
29:49
Speaker 1: Every occurrence was then fresh in your mind, was it not,
29:53
Speaker 1: Witness hesitating, What, Council, were the occurrences of the hospital
29:59
Speaker 1: for fresh in your mind at the time, Witness, Well,
30:03
Speaker 1: not any fresher then than they are now, Council, as
30:07
Speaker 1: fresh as now, Witness, Yes, Sir, Council pausing, looking among
30:12
Speaker 1: his papers, selecting one and walking up to the witness,
30:16
Speaker 1: handing it to him. Take this affidavit made that Friday
30:20
Speaker 1: night and sold to the world. Show me where there
30:24
Speaker 1: is a word in it about Davis having strangled the
30:27
Speaker 1: Frenchman with a sheet the way you have described it
30:31
Speaker 1: here today to this jury. Witness refusing paper, No, I
30:36
Speaker 1: don't think it is there. It is not necessary for
30:39
Speaker 1: me to look it over, Council shouting, don't think you
30:43
Speaker 1: know that it is not there? Do you not, Witness nervously, Yes, sir,
30:49
Speaker 1: it is not there, Counsel. Had you forgotten it when
30:53
Speaker 1: you made that affidavit. Witness, Yes, sir, Counsel loudly, you
30:59
Speaker 1: had forgotten it, although only three days before you had
31:03
Speaker 1: seen a man strangled in your presence with a sheet
31:07
Speaker 1: twisted around his throat, and had seen him fall lifeless
31:11
Speaker 1: upon the floor. You had forgotten it when you described
31:15
Speaker 1: the incident and made the affidavit about it to the
31:18
Speaker 1: world Witness, hesitating, I made two affidavits. I believe that
31:23
Speaker 1: it is in the second affidavit. Council, answer my questions,
31:28
Speaker 1: mister Minnick, is there any doubt that you had forgotten
31:32
Speaker 1: it when you made the first affidavit to the world Witness.
31:37
Speaker 1: I had forgotten it, Council abruptly, When did you recollect Witness?
31:43
Speaker 1: I recollected it when I made the second affidavit before
31:47
Speaker 1: the coroner. Council, and when did you make that, Witness?
31:52
Speaker 1: It was a few days afterward, probably the next day
31:55
Speaker 1: or two. Counsel, looking among his papers and again walking
31:59
Speaker 1: up to the witness, Please take the coroner's affidavit and
32:03
Speaker 1: point out to the jury where there is a word
32:07
Speaker 1: about a sheet having been used to strangle this man.
32:11
Speaker 1: Witness refusing paper, Well, it may not be there, Council
32:16
Speaker 1: is it there, Witness still refusing paper, I don't know.
32:22
Speaker 1: Council read it, read it carefully. Witness reading, I don't
32:28
Speaker 1: see anything about it. Council, had you forgotten it at
32:32
Speaker 1: that time as well? Witness in confusion, I certainly must have. Council.
32:38
Speaker 1: Do you want this jury to believe that, having witnessed
32:42
Speaker 1: this horrible scene which you have described, you immediately forgot it?
32:47
Speaker 1: And on two different occasions when you were narrating under
32:51
Speaker 1: oath what took place in that hospital, you forgot to
32:55
Speaker 1: mention it. Witness it escaped my memory. You have testified
33:01
Speaker 1: as a witness before in this case, have you not, Witness, yes,
33:05
Speaker 1: Sir Council, before the coroner. Witness, yes, Sir Council. But
33:11
Speaker 1: this sheet incident escaped your memory then, Witness it did not.
33:16
Speaker 1: Counsel taking in his hands the stenographer's minutes of the
33:20
Speaker 1: coroner's inquest, do you not recollect that you testified for
33:25
Speaker 1: two hours before the coroner without mentioning the sheet incident,
33:30
Speaker 1: and were then excused and were absent from the court
33:33
Speaker 1: for several days before you returned and gave the details
33:37
Speaker 1: of the sheet incident. Witness, yes, sir, that is correct. Council,
33:43
Speaker 1: Why did you not give an account of the sheet
33:45
Speaker 1: incident on the first day of your testimony? Witness Well,
33:50
Speaker 1: it escaped my memory. I forgot it. Council, do you
33:54
Speaker 1: recollect Before beginning your testimony before the coroner, you asked
33:59
Speaker 1: to look at the air affidavit that you had made
34:01
Speaker 1: for the world. Witness Yes, I had been sick and
34:05
Speaker 1: I wanted to refresh my memory. Council. Do you mean
34:10
Speaker 1: that this scene that you have described so glibly today
34:14
Speaker 1: had faded out of your mind then, and you wanted
34:17
Speaker 1: your Affid Davit to refresh your recollection. Witness No, it
34:22
Speaker 1: had not faded. I merely wanted to refresh my recollection. Council.
34:28
Speaker 1: Was it not, rather that you had made up the
34:31
Speaker 1: story in your affidavit and you wanted the Affid David
34:34
Speaker 1: to refresh your recollection as to the story you had manufactured.
34:39
Speaker 1: Witness No, sir, that is not true. The purpose of
34:44
Speaker 1: these questions and the use made of the answers upon
34:47
Speaker 1: the argument is shown by the following extract from the
34:51
Speaker 1: summing up quote. My point is this, gentlemen of the jury,
34:56
Speaker 1: and it is an unanswerable one. In my judgment, District attorney.
35:01
Speaker 1: If Minnick, fresh from the asylum, forgot this sheet incident
35:06
Speaker 1: when he went to sell his first newspaper article to
35:09
Speaker 1: the world. If he also forgot it when he went
35:12
Speaker 1: to the coroner two days afterward to make his second affidavit,
35:17
Speaker 1: If he still forgot it two weeks later, when at
35:20
Speaker 1: the inquest he testified for two hours without mentioning it,
35:24
Speaker 1: and only first recollected it when he was recalled two
35:28
Speaker 1: days afterward, then there is but one inference to be drawn,
35:33
Speaker 1: and that is that he never saw it, because he
35:37
Speaker 1: could not forget it if he had ever seen it.
35:41
Speaker 1: And the important feature is this. He was a newspaper reporter.
35:46
Speaker 1: He was there, as the district attorney says, to observe
35:50
Speaker 1: what was going on. He says that he stood by
35:54
Speaker 1: in that part of the room, pretending to take away
35:57
Speaker 1: the dishes in order to see what was going on.
36:00
Speaker 1: He was sane, the only sane man there. Now, if
36:05
Speaker 1: he did not see it, it is because it did
36:08
Speaker 1: not take place. And if it did not take place,
36:12
Speaker 1: the insane men called here as witnesses could not have
36:16
Speaker 1: seen it. Do you see the point? Can you answer it?
36:20
Speaker 1: Let me put it again. It is not in mortal
36:23
Speaker 1: mind to believe that this man could have seen such
36:27
Speaker 1: a transaction as he describes and ever have forgotten it.
36:32
Speaker 1: Forget it when he writes his article the night he
36:35
Speaker 1: leaves the asylum and sells it to the morning world.
36:39
Speaker 1: Forget it. Two days afterward, when he makes a second
36:42
Speaker 1: important affidavit, he makes still another statement and does not
36:46
Speaker 1: mention it, and even testifies at the coroner's inquest two
36:49
Speaker 1: weeks later and leaves it out. Can the human mind
36:53
Speaker 1: draw any other inference from these facts than that he
36:57
Speaker 1: never saw it, because he could not have forgotten it
37:01
Speaker 1: if he had ever seen it. If he never saw it,
37:05
Speaker 1: it did not take place. He was on the spot,
37:08
Speaker 1: sane and watching everything that went on for the very
37:12
Speaker 1: purpose of reporting it. Now, if this sheet incident did
37:17
Speaker 1: not take place, the insane men could not have seen it.
37:21
Speaker 1: This disposes not only of Minic, but of all the
37:25
Speaker 1: testimony in the people's case. In order to say, by
37:28
Speaker 1: your verdict that that sheet incident took place, you've got
37:32
Speaker 1: to find something that is contrary to all human experience.
37:37
Speaker 1: That is that this man Minic, having seen the horrible
37:41
Speaker 1: strangling with the sheet as he described, could possibly have
37:46
Speaker 1: immediately forgotten it. The contents of the two affidavits made
37:52
Speaker 1: to the world and the coroner were next taken up,
37:55
Speaker 1: and the witness was first asked what the occurrence really
37:59
Speaker 1: was as he now remembered it. After his answers, his
38:03
Speaker 1: attention was called to what he said in his affidavits,
38:07
Speaker 1: and upon the differences being made apparent, he was asked
38:10
Speaker 1: whether what he had then swore to or what he
38:14
Speaker 1: now swore to, was the actual fact, and if he
38:19
Speaker 1: was now testifying from what he remembered to have seen,
38:23
Speaker 1: or if he was trying to remember the facts as
38:26
Speaker 1: he made them up in the affidavit. Council, what was
38:31
Speaker 1: the condition of the Frenchman at supper time? Was he
38:34
Speaker 1: as gay and chipper as when you said that he
38:36
Speaker 1: had warmed up after he had been walking around a while. Witness, Yes,
38:41
Speaker 1: sir counsel. But in your affid David, you state that
38:45
Speaker 1: he seemed to be very feeble at supper Is that true? Witness? Well, yes,
38:52
Speaker 1: he did seem to be feeble, Counsel, But you said
38:55
Speaker 1: a moment ago that he warmed up and was all
38:58
Speaker 1: right at supper time. Oh, you just led me into that, Council. Well,
39:03
Speaker 1: I won't lead you into anything more. Tell us how
39:06
Speaker 1: he walked to the table. Witness well slowly, Council. Do
39:12
Speaker 1: you remember what you said in the affidavit? Witness I
39:15
Speaker 1: certainly do, Council. What did you say, Witness? I said
39:19
Speaker 1: he walked in a feeble condition. Council. Are you sure
39:24
Speaker 1: that you said anything in the affidavit about how he
39:27
Speaker 1: walked at all? Witness I am not sure, Council. The
39:33
Speaker 1: sheet incident which you have described so graphically occurred at
39:38
Speaker 1: what hour on Wednesday afternoon? Witness about six o'clock, Council.
39:44
Speaker 1: Previous to that time during the afternoon, had there been
39:48
Speaker 1: any violence shown toward him? Witness Yes, he was shoved
39:53
Speaker 1: down several times by the nurses. Council, you mean they
39:57
Speaker 1: let him fall, Witness yes. They thought it a very
40:01
Speaker 1: funny thing to have him totter backward and to fall down.
40:05
Speaker 1: They then picked him up. His knees seemed to be
40:08
Speaker 1: kind of muscle bound, and he tottered back and fell
40:11
Speaker 1: and they laughed. This was somewhere around three o'clock in
40:15
Speaker 1: the afternoon. Counsel. How many times, mister Minnock, would you
40:20
Speaker 1: swear that you saw him fall over backward? And after
40:24
Speaker 1: being picked up by the nurse, let fall again. Witness
40:29
Speaker 1: four or five times during the afternoon counsel, and he
40:33
Speaker 1: would always fall backward. Witness, Yes, Sir, he repeated the
40:38
Speaker 1: operation of tottering backward. He would totter about five feet
40:43
Speaker 1: and would lose his balance and would fall over backward.
40:46
Speaker 1: The witness was led on to describe and detail this
40:49
Speaker 1: process of holding up the patient and allowing him to
40:53
Speaker 1: fall backward and then picking him up again, in order
40:56
Speaker 1: to make the contrast more apparent with what he had
40:59
Speaker 1: done said on previous occasions and had evidently forgotten. Council,
41:05
Speaker 1: I now read to you from the stenographer's minutes what
41:09
Speaker 1: you said on this subject in your sworn testimony given
41:12
Speaker 1: at the coroner's inquest. You were asked was there any
41:17
Speaker 1: violence inflicted on Wednesday before dinner time, and you answered,
41:22
Speaker 1: I didn't see any. You were then asked if up
41:25
Speaker 1: to dinner time at six o'clock on Wednesday night there
41:28
Speaker 1: had been any violence, and you answered, quote, no, sir,
41:32
Speaker 1: no violence. Since Tuesday night there was nothing happened until
41:37
Speaker 1: Wednesday at supper time, somewhere around six o'clock. Quote, Now,
41:42
Speaker 1: what have you to say as to these different statements,
41:46
Speaker 1: both given under oath, one given at the coroner's inquest
41:50
Speaker 1: and the other given here today. Witness, Well, what I
41:54
Speaker 1: said about violence may have been omitted by the coroner's stenographernzil.
42:00
Speaker 1: But did you swear to the answers that I have
42:03
Speaker 1: just read to you before the coroner? Witness I may
42:07
Speaker 1: have and I may not have. I don't know, Council,
42:11
Speaker 1: if you swore before the coroner there was no violence
42:14
Speaker 1: and nothing happened until Wednesday after supper. Did you mean
42:19
Speaker 1: to say it? Witness, I don't remember. Council, after hearing
42:24
Speaker 1: read what you swore to at the coroner's inquest, do
42:27
Speaker 1: you still maintain the truth of what you have sworn
42:30
Speaker 1: to at this trial? As to seeing the nurse let
42:34
Speaker 1: the patient fall backward four or five times and pick
42:38
Speaker 1: him up and laugh at him, Witness, I certainly do, Council.
42:44
Speaker 1: I again read you from the Coroner's minutes, a question
42:47
Speaker 1: asked you by the coroner himself. Question by the Coroner,
42:52
Speaker 1: did you at any time while in the office or
42:55
Speaker 1: the large room of the asylum see Hilliard fall or
42:58
Speaker 1: stumble answer, No, sir, I never did. What have you
43:04
Speaker 1: to say to that witness. That is correct, Council, Then
43:09
Speaker 1: what becomes of your statement made to the jury but
43:12
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes ago that you saw him totter and fall
43:16
Speaker 1: backward several times? Witness? It was brought out later on
43:22
Speaker 1: before the coroner. Council brought out later on. Let me
43:27
Speaker 1: read to you the next question put to you before
43:29
Speaker 1: the coroner question, did you at any time see him
43:34
Speaker 1: try to walk or run away and fall? Answer? No,
43:38
Speaker 1: I never saw him fall. What have you to say
43:41
Speaker 1: to that witness? Well, I must have put in about
43:45
Speaker 1: the tottering in my affidavit and omitted it later and
43:49
Speaker 1: before the coroner. At the beginning of the cross examination,
43:53
Speaker 1: it had been necessary for the council to fight with
43:56
Speaker 1: the court over nearly every question asked. Question after question
44:01
Speaker 1: was ruled out. As the examination proceeded, however, the court
44:06
Speaker 1: began to change its attitude entirely toward the witness. The
44:10
Speaker 1: presiding judge constantly frowned on the witness, kept his eyes
44:14
Speaker 1: riveted upon him, and finally broke out at this juncture quote,
44:20
Speaker 1: Let me caution you, mister Minnock, once and for all.
44:23
Speaker 1: You are here to answer counsel's questions. If you can't
44:27
Speaker 1: answer them, say so. And if you can answer them,
44:31
Speaker 1: do so. And if you have no recollection, say so. Unquote. Witness, Well,
44:38
Speaker 1: your honor, mister Blank has been cross examining me very
44:42
Speaker 1: severely about my wife, which he has no right to do. Court.
44:47
Speaker 1: You have no right to bring that up. He has
44:50
Speaker 1: a perfect right to cross examine you. Witness losing his
44:54
Speaker 1: temper completely. That man wouldn't dare to ask me those
44:58
Speaker 1: questions outside he knows that he is under the protection
45:01
Speaker 1: of the court, or I would break his neck. Court,
45:05
Speaker 1: you are making a poor exhibit of yourself. Answer the question, Sir, Counsel.
45:12
Speaker 1: You don't seem to have any memory at all about
45:14
Speaker 1: this transaction. Are you testifying from memory as to what
45:17
Speaker 1: you saw or making up as you go along? Witness
45:22
Speaker 1: no answer, Council, which is it? Witness doggedly, I am
45:28
Speaker 1: telling what I saw. Counsel, Well, listen to this. Then
45:33
Speaker 1: you said in your affidavit quote, the blood was all
45:36
Speaker 1: over the floor. It was covered with Hilliard's blood, and
45:40
Speaker 1: the scrub woman came Tuesday and Wednesday morning and washed
45:44
Speaker 1: the blood away unquote. Is that right? Witness, Yes, Sir Council.
45:51
Speaker 1: Why I understood you to say that you didn't get
45:54
Speaker 1: up Wednesday morning until noon. How could you see the
45:57
Speaker 1: scrub woman wash the blood away, witness? They were at
46:01
Speaker 1: the farther end of the hall. They washed the whole pavilion.
46:05
Speaker 1: I didn't see them Wednesday morning. It was Tuesday morning.
46:08
Speaker 1: I saw them scrubbing. Council, you seem to have forgotten
46:12
Speaker 1: that Hilliard, the deceased did not arrive at the pavilion
46:15
Speaker 1: until Tuesday afternoon at four o'clock. What have you to
46:19
Speaker 1: say to that witness, Well, there were other people who
46:23
Speaker 1: got beatings besides him, Counsel, Then that is what you
46:27
Speaker 1: meant to refer to in your affidavit when speaking of
46:31
Speaker 1: Hilliard's blood upon the floor, You meant beatings of other people, witness, yes, sir,
46:37
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. The witness was then forced to testify to
46:41
Speaker 1: minor details which, within the knowledge of the defense, could
46:45
Speaker 1: be contradicted by a dozen disinterested witnesses, such as, for instance,
46:51
Speaker 1: as hearing the nurse Davis call up the Morgue the
46:54
Speaker 1: morning after Hilliard was killed at least a dozen times
46:57
Speaker 1: on the telephone and anxiously inquire what had been disclosed
47:02
Speaker 1: by the autopsy, whereas in fact, there was no direct
47:06
Speaker 1: telephonic communication whatever between the Morgue and the Insane Pavilion,
47:12
Speaker 1: and the Morgue attendants were prepared to swear that no
47:15
Speaker 1: one had called them up concerning the Hilliard autopsy, and
47:19
Speaker 1: that there were no inquiries from any source. The witness
47:23
Speaker 1: was next made to testify affirmatively to minor facts that
47:27
Speaker 1: could be and were afterward contradicted by doctor Wildman, by
47:32
Speaker 1: doctor Moore, by doctor Fitch, by Justice Hogman, by night
47:36
Speaker 1: Nurses Clancy and Gordon, by mister Dwyer, mister Hayes, mister Fane,
47:40
Speaker 1: by Gleason, the registrar, by Spencer the Electrician, by Jaxon,
47:45
Speaker 1: the Janitor, and by several of the state's own witnesses
47:48
Speaker 1: who were to be called later. By this time the
47:52
Speaker 1: witness had begun to flounder helplessly. He contradicted himself constantly,
47:57
Speaker 1: became red and pale by turns hesitated before each answer,
48:02
Speaker 1: at times corrected his answers, at others, was silent and
48:06
Speaker 1: made no answer at all. At the expiration of four hours,
48:10
Speaker 1: he left the witness stand a thoroughly discredited, haggard and
48:15
Speaker 1: wretched object. The court ordered him to return the following day,
48:20
Speaker 1: but he never was seen again at the trial. A
48:23
Speaker 1: week later, his foster mother, when called to the witness
48:27
Speaker 1: chair by the defense, handed to the judge a letter
48:30
Speaker 1: received that morning from her son, who was in Philadelphia,
48:34
Speaker 1: which however, was not allowed to be shown to the jury,
48:38
Speaker 1: in which he wrote that he had shaken from his
48:40
Speaker 1: feet the dust of New York forever and would never return,
48:46
Speaker 1: that he felt he had been ruined and would be
48:49
Speaker 1: arrested for perjury if he came back, and requested money
48:53
Speaker 1: that he might travel far into the West and commence
48:57
Speaker 1: life anew. It was altogether the most tragic incident in
49:02
Speaker 1: the experience of the writer. End of chapter thirteen.