Lesson Eight

Text: "The Case for the Defence", G. Greene¹

Grammar: Modal Verbs (contd.) May (might)

The Case For the Defence2

It was the strangest murder trial I ever attended. They named it the Peckham murder in the headlines, though Northwood Street, where the old woman was found murdered, was not strictly speaking in Peck-ham. This was not one of those cases of circumstantial evidence in which you feel the jurymen's³ anxiety — because mistakes HAVE been made. No, this murderer was all but found with the body; no one present when the Crown counsel⁴ outlined his case believed that the man in the dock⁵ stood any chance at all.

He was a heavy stout man with bulging bloodshot eyes. All his mus­cles seemed to be in his thighs. Yes, an ugly customer⁶ one you wouldn't forget in a hurry — and that was an important point because the Crown⁴ proposed to call four witnesses⁷ who hadn't forgotten him, who had seen him hurrying away from the little red villa in Northwood Street. The clock had just struck two in the morning.

Mrs. Salmon in 15 Northwood Street had been unable to sleep; she heard a door click shut and thought it was her own gate. So she went to the window and saw Adams (that was his name) on the steps of Mrs. Parker's house. He had just come out and he was wearing gloves. He had a hammer in his hand and she saw him drop it into the laurel bushes by the front gate. But before he moved away, he had looked up—at her win­dow. The fatal instinct that tells a man when he is watched exposed him in the light of a street-lamp to her gaze — his eyes full of horrifying and brutal fear, like an animal's when you raise a whip.

I talked afterwards to Mrs. Salmon, who naturally after the aston­ishing verdict⁸ went in fear herself. As I imagine did all the witnesses — Henry MacDougall, who had been driving home from Benfleet late and nearly ran Adams down at the corner of Northwocd Street. Adams was walking in the middle of the road looking dazed. And old Mrs. Whee­ler, who lived next door to Mrs. Parker, at No 12, and was wakened by a noise — like a chair falling — through the thin-as-paper villa wall, and got up and looked out of the window, just as Mrs. Salmon had done, saw Adams' back and, as he turned, those bulging eyes. In Laurel Ave­nue he had been seen by yet another witness — his luck was badly out; he might as well have committed the crime in broad daylight.

"I understand," counsel said, "that the defence proposes to plead mistaken identity.⁹ Adams' wife will tell you that he was with her at two in the morning on February 14, but after you have heard the wit­nesses for the Crown and examined carefully the features of the prison­er, I do not think you will be prepared to admit the possibility of a mistake."

It was all over, you would have said, but the hanging.

After the formal evidence¹⁰ had been given by the policeman who had found the body and the surgeon who examined it, Mrs. Salmon was called. She was the ideal witness, with her slight Scotch accent and her expression of honesty, care and kindness.

The prosecuting counsel brought the story gently out. She spoke very firmly. There was no malice in her, and no sense of importance at stand­ing there in the Central Criminal Court¹¹ with a judge in scarlet¹² hang­ing on her words and the reporters writing them down. Yes, she said, and then she had gone downstairs and rung up the police station.

"And do you see the man here in court?"¹³

She looked straight across at the big man in the dock, who stared hard at her with his Pekingese eyes¹⁴ without emotion.

"Yes," she said, "there he is."

"You are quite certain?"

She said simply, "I couldn't be mistaken, Sir."

It was all as easy as that.

"Thank you, Mrs. Salmon."

Counsel for the defence rose to cross-examine. If you had reported as many murder trials as I have you would have known beforehand what line he would take. And I was right, up to a point.

"Now, Mrs. Salmon, you must remember that a man's life may depend on your evidence."

"I do remember it, sir."

"Is your eyesight good?"

"I have never had to wear spectacles, sir."

"You are a woman of fifty-five?"

"Fifty-six, sir."

"And the man you saw was on the other side of the road?"

"Yes, sir."

"And it was two o'clock in the morning. You must have remarkable eyes, Mrs. Salmon?"

"No, sir. There was moonlight, and when the man looked up, he had the lamplight on his face."

"And you have no doubt whatever that the man you saw is the pris­oner?"

I couldn't make out what he was at. He couldn't have expected any other answer than the one he got.

"None whatever, sir. It isn't a face one forgets."

Counsel took a look round the court for a moment. Then he said, "Do you mind, Mrs. Salmon, examining again the people in court? No, not the prisoner. Stand up, please, Mr. Adams," and there at the back of the court, with thick stout body and muscular legs and a pair of bulg­ing eyes, was the exact image of the man in the dock. He was even dressed the same — tight blue suit and striped tie.

"Now think very carefully, Mrs. Salmon. Can you still swear that the man you saw drop the hammer in Mrs. Parker's garden was the pris­oner — and not this man, who is his twin brother?"

Of course she couldn't. She looked from one to the other and didn't say a word.

There the big brute sat in the dock with his legs crossed and there he stood too at the back of the court and they both stared at Mrs. Salmon. She shook her head.

What we saw then was the end of the case. There wasn't a witness prepared to answer that it was the man charged with murder he'd seen. And the brother? He had his alibi,¹⁵ too; he was with his wife.

And so the case was dismissed; the man was acquitted for lack of evidence. But whether — if he did the murder and not his brother — he was punished or not, I don't know. That extraordinary day had an extraordinary end. I followed Mrs. Salmon out of court and we got caught in the crowd who were waiting, of course, for the twins. The police tried to drive the crowd away, but all they could do was keep the road­way clear for traffic. I learned later that they tried to get the twins to leave by a back way, but they wouldn't. One of them — no one knew which — said, "I've been acquitted, haven't I?" and they walked bang out of the front entrance. Then it happened. I don't know how; though I was only six feet away. The crowd moved and somehow one of the twins got pushed on to the road right in front of a bus.

He gave a squeal like a rabbit and that was all; he was dead, his skull smashed just as Mrs. Parker's had been. Divine vengeance?¹⁶ I wish I knew. There was the other Adams getting on his feet from beside the body and looking straight over at Mrs. Salmon. He was crying, but whether he was the guilty or the innocent man, nobody will ever be able to tell. But if you were Mrs. Salmon, could you sleep at night?

NOTES

1. Graham Greene, an English writer, born in 1904. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He wrote for The Times and The Spectator. His first novel The Man Within appeared in 1929. He established his reputation as a writer with his fourth novel Stamboul Train (1932). After a visit to Mexico in 1938 he wrote The Power and the Glory. Among his post war works are: The Heart of the Matter, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, The End of the Affair. In all he has published some thirty novels, plays and collections of stories. The greater part of his novels has been screened.

2. The Case for the Defence — дело, выигранное защитой

3. juryman—juror, a member of the jury. The jury is a body of 12 persons who decide in a court of justice whether the person accused of a crime is guilty or innocent

4. the Crown counsel: counsel (lawyer) at a criminal trial represent­ing the Crown, or, in other words, the prosecution обвинитель, проку­рор (на суде)

5. the dock: place for a criminal in a criminal court; the man in the dock—the prisoner

6. customer (соll): fellow, chap — тип, личность, субъект; an ugly (rough, slippery, etc.) customer: опасный (грубый, скользкий и т. д.) тип

7. When a witness is called to give evidence he, with his hand on the Book (the Bible), gives an oath (клятва): "I swear by All Mighty God that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

8. verdict: decision reached by a jury of "Guilty" or "Not Guilty" on a question of fact.

9. to plead mistaken identity: выдвинуть аргумент о неправиль­ном опознании личности

10. formal evidence—показания официальных лиц

11. the Central Criminal Court, or the Old Bailey (from the name of the street where it is situated) is the chief criminal court in London. The sessions are held once a month, and four courts are held at a time. The trials are open to the public.

12. a judge in scarlet: судья в красной мантии

13. court, as market, school, hospital, prison, etc, when meaning a place used for the purpose for which it was primarily intended, is not used with the definite article. Compare: 1. The matter was decided in court. Вопрос был решен на суде (в судебном порядке). 2. The court was full. Зал суда был полон. 3. It was a decision of the court. Это было решение суда (судьи, коллегии судей).

14. Pekingese eyes: выпуклые глаза, как у китайского мопса (по­рода собак)

15. alibi [‘ælibai]: the argument or proof that one was in another place (when a crime was committed).

16. Divine vengeance: провидение, божья кара