Perry Mason (1957) s05e27 Episode Script
The Case of the Counterfeit Crank
Itheme.]
l'm afraid it's not gonna close, Mr.
Dalgran, unless you put some in your pocket.
l've got a better idea.
You put some in yours.
Now, you know, l always give presents away on my birthday.
Now, Mr.
Dalgran, you know you said the same thing last week.
Remember? l told you the bank won't allow it.
l never heard of such a thing.
Now, look here, you just put that away for your kids.
Mr.
Dalgran, you know l'm not married.
Well, same here.
All l've got is a nephew and his wife.
Oh, he's a fine boy.
He's going to be all right.
But as far as that wife of his is concerned-- Now, anytime you want a relative cheap, you just call me at my omice, huh? Mr.
Dalgran.
Dalgran Associates.
No, Mr.
Dalgran isn't in yet this morning.
This is his secretary.
May l take a message? Oh, he did? Yes, sir, thank you very much.
What now, Mrs.
Blair? The old man go pixie again? Oh, Mr.
Fenton.
l'm afraid he signed another letter Napoleon B.
Santa Claus.
Well, don't look at me.
l'm just a partner, not a psychiatrist.
Let me know when he comes in, will you, Mrs.
Blair? Morley and l want to see him.
Yes, sir.
- Good morning, Martha.
- Good morning, Mr.
Dalgran.
Have the boys come in, l've got something for them.
Yes, sir.
Morning, boys.
How about some Christmas cash? ln April? Oh, Morley, now don't be technical.
Mr.
Dalgran, it's time we settled this desert acreage deal once and for all.
Now, we've been omered _1 OO,OOO for that property.
All right, it cost us _200,OOO.
And l'd be selling my dream.
Dalgran Valley.
as Toronto, as big as Green River up in Wyoming.
Chemical recovery plants for potash and soda.
Housing for employees.
l'll tell you in a few years-- A few years is what one of us is likely to spend in jail if we don't get our hands on _100,OOO now to close the Barlow deal.
l know there's been a mistake.
A little mix-up in the account.
A shortage of trust funds of other people's money.
And l've personally assured you the mistakes will be corrected.
That trust fund was specifically for investment in the downtown Barlow block.
Now, our option on the property expires in one week.
All right, our partnership provides that the three of us must agree on a deal.
Well, option or no option, l will not sell that desert acreage.
That 100,OOO didn't just walk out of our accounts.
Now, sick old man or not, you'll have to face the truth.
That money is missing.
It may have been pocketed.
lt may have been stolen.
[sighs.]
All right, what do you want me to do? Until we get the matter of the missing trust funds squared away, you can put your signature on this letter to the bank.
lt approves the desert acreage sale and authorizes them to exercise the purchase option on the Barlow block.
All right, all right.
Leave it, leave it.
l'll-- l'll sign the letter.
As August Dalgran, not Napoleon B.
Santa Claus, hmm? [laughs.]
There's still time to call your lawyer.
l'm very worried.
Kenny, you're pretty concerned about your old Uncle Gus, aren't you, huh? Please, Uncle Gus, this could be very serious.
You know what it means to have somebody care for you? l mean, really care? You know, somebody who-- Please, let me call Perry Mason.
lt's nothing, son, nothing.
It's no more important than-- well, than a tramic ticket.
Besides, we're all entitled to one mistake.
Yessiree, boy, especially when you mean well with what you're doing.
The judge is calling for you.
You know, Kenny, it wouldn't surprise me if your wife was hoping that l go to jail.
lf it pleases you to think so, be my guest.
That's a fine thing to say to my uncle.
What should l say? That he was right to throw _2,OOO in small bills out a window and cause a king-sized tramic jam? Don't mind her.
She'll never understand me any more than she would understand you.
Mr.
Dalgran, you're charged with a misdemeanor violation of Section 415, disturbing the peace by throwing-- Yes, l know, Your Honor.
l didn't know it was illegal to give away your own money if you feel like it.
Now just a minute, Mr.
Dalgran.
You have to enter a plea before you can make a statement.
And before you do so, you're entitled to be represented by counsel if you so choose.
Yes, l know.
l just want to say-- Mr.
Dalgran, how do you plead, guilty or not guilty? Oh, guilty.
l thought everybody knew that.
Now you may make your statement, Mr.
Dalgran.
Statement? About what? Your Honor, what he did was just a generous impulse.
You see, he gives to l don't know how many charities, and if you'll be lenient with him-- One moment, sir.
Are you this defendant's attorney? Oh, no, no, sir.
l'm one of his partners, Don Morley.
He must be demented.
l've never seen him before in my life.
Oh come on, Sandra.
He didn't mean any harm.
You know what kind of an oddball sense of humor he has.
l envy him.
By now l could use a sense of humor myself, oddball or otheM/ise.
He's confused.
When a man gets to be his age-- Anyhow, we're gonna have to learn to live with it.
Besides, if it weren't for him, what future would l have? Pretty bleak if he keeps throwing away the money you hope to inherit in _2,OOO chunks.
And paying hundred-dollar fines for doing it.
[doorbell rings.]
- Good evening, Sandra.
- Mr.
Fenton, Mr.
Morley.
Evening.
We're looking for your uncle.
Is he here? Why no.
Did you try his apartment? We've tried everywhere, Ken.
Are you sure you don't know where he is? We-- We've got to get in touch with him.
No, l haven't seen him.
Well, as his executive assistant, it should't come as any surprise for you to know he's in trouble.
Serious trouble.
And so is that company he plans on leaving in your capable hands.
Did Uncle Gus give you that letter of authorization? Don't play games, Ken.
You know we're fighting time.
You know he didn't sign that letter.
Do you also happen to know what your uncle's up to? lf you hear from him, let us know, and in a hurry, please.
Let's go, Don.
Good night, Sandra.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Good night.
Just what is this with the company and your uncle, Ken? The way he's been acting lately.
Don't worry.
Everything's going to be all right.
The court should be looking into his sanity before very long.
Oh, no.
Someone would have to bring a-- Sanity? August Dalgran in a sanity hearing? Mr.
Mason, l just can't believe Mr.
Dalgran's unbalanced.
Just the other day he came out to look at the well l'm drilling.
He acted as rational as anyone.
Now he's back in court on this sanity hearing.
[door opens.]
Della-- Della, this is Chuck Blair.
You know his mother Mr.
Dalgran's secretary Martha.
[both.]
How do you do? Frankly, Chuck, there's nothing l can do.
He sent me definite word that he did not want me to represent him.
Anyway, this isn't actually a sanity hearing.
lt's only a hearing to determine his competency to handle his own business amairs.
Surely you can come up with something.
l've got some money saved up.
l can pay you.
Mr.
Mason, he helped put me through school.
He kept us going those three years my ma was sick.
lf he's out of his mind, then so am l.
ln the State of California, Doctor Jackman, any person, whether insane or not, who by reason of old age, disease, weakness of mind, or other cause, is unable unassisted to properly manage and take care of himself or his property, is deemed to be legally incompetent.
l now ask your expert opinion as a licensed and practicing psychiatrist.
Having heard testimony as to Mr.
Dalgran's recent behavior, would you say he exhibited indications of incompetency? l have not examined Mr.
Dalgran, but l have observed many cases wherein l found a similar syndrome in the elderly-- a malfunction of mental process caused by inadequate distribution of blood to the brain, creating the condition known as senile psychosis, certainly the basis for a determination of mental incompetence.
And would you state that this to be true of Mr.
Dalgran? Yes, l'd say it's possible, and likely.
How soon would you know for sure? Oh, l'd say after a few weeks of observation.
Thank you, Doctor, that is all.
Are there any questions of the witness, Mr.
Dalgran? Hmm? Questions? Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie.
l know who said that.
lt was Kipling.
lf it please the court, may l ask permission to approach the bench? Oh, hello, Mr.
Mason, yes.
Yes, of course you may.
Your Honor as you're well aware, in the appointment of guardians for insane or incompetent persons, Section 1461 of the California Probate Code provides that any relative, or friend, of the alleged insane or incompetent person may appear and oppose such petition.
One moment, Mr.
Mason, you obviously weren't served with the notice of this hearing.
- No, but-- - Had you been so served, you would know that the petition was filed by Kenneth Dalgran reluctantly at the express wish of August Dalgran himself.
Mr.
Mason, do you wish to oppose the petition? Not if August Dalgran, here in this open court, asks me not to, Your Honor.
Mr.
Dalgran? My-- My wife has always liked you, Perry.
l mean, she-- she always said that you're were the smartest, nicest man she ever knew.
l remember when we started, Sarah and me, she always said that some day she was gonna stand on a rooftop and throw hands full of money down into the street below.
l did it for her, you see? Well, of course we knew that our Kenny would understand.
You see, she always liked Kenny.
We, uh, we never had any children of our own.
Just the other night she was saying-- Mr.
Dalgran, Sarah's been dead for more than ten years.
Yes, l know.
Well Perry, what happens now? Proceedings are pending to have you declared legally incompetent.
On the court's orders, you're to be placed in the psychiatric institution for observation and examination.
ln the meantime, for your own protection, the court has appointed a conservative.
You mean my nephew Kenneth? He'll have all the powers of a legal guardian, authorized to act in your name and in your behalf.
Suppose the doctors don't find anything wrong with me.
On their certification, the court will probably deny the petition.
Unless, of course, you persist in continuing this ridiculous pe_ormance.
Per-- Pe_ormance? Oh come om it, Gus.
You're no more mentally incompetent than l'm the Kaliph of Baghdad.
Perry, please.
Rudyard Kipling? That wasn't bad enough, you had to bring Sarah into the act.
Gus, in all the years l've known you, you never once ran away from a thing.
You are running now.
Why? All right, you know my good friend Ben Hollingsworth? Well, about a week ago, l endorsed and turned over to him _100,OOO of my own stocks and bonds.
Now l want him to sell all those securities and give you the money.
What am l to do with the money? Take it over to Dalgran Associates as of monies return, monies borrowed.
Unfortunately, that would be violating the spirit if not the letter of the court order.
On the other hand, if l could get the cooperation of your nephew.
Oh, well, Kenneth will do anything for me.
There's a fine boy, Perry.
Fine boy.
lt's that wife of his-- Oh.
Well-- All right, Gus.
But now can l assume that this charade is over? That you've decided to return to the world of sanity? With everyone else in the world as crazy as they are, ls there any question that l'm the only one who's sane? Mason, l realize how close you are to Uncle Gus, Mr.
Mason, and how much he's always depended on you.
l certainly hope that you'll be as much help to me.
Then you will instruct Ben Hollingsworth to dispose of those securities and turn the money over to Dalgran Associates? Well, l'm afraid that'll be impossible, Mr.
Mason.
You see, as his conservator l felt that it was the court's inten!tion in no way to dissipate my Uncle Gus' estate.
l've already secured an injunction restraining Ben Hollingsworth from so much as touching that stock.
l'm sure that you appreciate the necessity of the move? Yes, l suppose l do.
You're, uh, very concerned about your uncle, aren't you? He's been like a father to me, Mr.
Mason.
l'd do anything rather than to cause him a moment's hurt.
Then l'm correct in assuming that you wouldn't harm or inte_ere with the most important thing in his life.
This dream of a Dalgran City in the desert? You won't permit that property to be touched? Well, l'm a little embarrassed, Mr.
Mason.
l'm afraid you don't understand the entire situation and l can't explain it to you, but-- But what? Well, l've already sent a letter to the bank.
As my Uncle Gus' conservator, approving in his behalf, believe me, the sale of that dessert acreage.
l tell you, l don't believe it.
He wouldn't do this to me, not Kenny.
Not Kenny.
Gus, you've got to tell me what's going on.
OtheM/ise, l can't help you.
But it's a mistake.
l know it, l know it.
He wouldn't do this on his own.
No.
No.
No.
Mr.
Mason, l think that's enough for tonight.
lf he did that me, l'll kill him.
The suspending of guardianships is covered on pages 338, 334, and 384.
And in this other volume of California Jurisprudence, - the second, the um-- - [phone rings.]
Just a minute.
Mr.
Mason's omice.
Just one minute, please.
Perry, Doctor Jackman.
Hello, Doctor Jackman.
All right, thank you.
What is it? We'll have to get a hold of Paul fast, Della.
Gus Dalgran escaped from the sanitarium.
Thanks for the lift, boy.
l was pretty well pooped when you picked me up.
Don't sweat at all, Pops.
Glad to oblige.
Good night.
[doorbell chimes.]
[doorbell chimes.]
Mrs.
Dalgran, l'm looking for Kenneth's uncle.
Can you tell me if he's here? Here? Why, he's in the sanitarium.
No, Mrs.
Dalgran, he isn't.
Come in.
When did it happen? Where did he go? l thought he might have come here to see Kenneth.
Why, no.
l mean not that l know of.
l just got in myself.
And Kenneth? Well, he was here when l went to the movie.
He isn't now, and his station wagon's gone.
- [phone rings.]
- Excuse me.
Hello? Yes, he's here, just a minute, please.
A Paul Drake for you.
Thank you.
Yes, Paul.
l tried his omice, his apartment, and the other places you mentioned.
No luck.
There's a chance he went out to the desert well young Blair's drilling for him.
He's been concerned over it.
Might be worth a try at that.
Want me to meet you? Good, right away.
- Mr.
Dalgran.
- Hiya, Chuck.
Say, why didn't l hear the drill rig going when l passed the well? They ordered me to shut down.
Who? Fenton and Morley? And Kenneth.
When l went in to make my progress report this afternoon.
Look, boy, l've never been one to beg favors, but, uh-- Well, suppose l ask you to do something for me.
All you got to do is ask.
l mean, even though it's a-- Perry? Kenneth with you? Why, no.
He wasn't home, and so l-- Looks like my night for company.
From the looks of it, it's the Sherims department.
- Evening, Chuck.
- Sherim.
August Dalgran? Yes.
Our Lancaster sub-station had a report from the L.
A.
authorities.
They said we might find you here.
Bowman.
Paul.
[Mason.]
Kenneth Dalgran.
[Drake.]
Dead.
You went to you nephew's house.
Blood stains, scum marks, other bits of evidence prove he was shot to death in his house.
You drove his station wagon out to the desert with his dead body in the back of the station wagon.
Could be he was killed before l got there.
Somebody put his body in the back of the station wagon.
Could be there was nobody home when l arrived, and l just borrowed the wagon.
Could be.
As your friend, you can expect me to believe that.
But can you expect a judge and jury to believe it? They won't try me for murder, Perry.
Remember, l'm incompetent? l told you before, insanity and incompetency are not the same thing.
lf you were declared incompetent to handle your own business amairs, that doesn't mean you would be immune from punishment for a crime you committed.
Ah.
There's a fennel for you, and columbines.
There's rue for you and here's some for me.
We may call it herb-grace O'Sundays.
You know, Gus, psychiatrists aren't completely stupid.
lt's even possible that some of them may be quite familiar with Hamlet and Ophelia's mad scene.
Why were you pressuring Gus to sell that desert acreage? You both know what it meant to him, the dreams he had for a Dalgran City? Dreams are non-negotiable assets, in the business world, Mr.
Mason.
We needed cash-- _100,OOO in cash-- fast.
You see, Mr.
Mason, we had an option to buy the downtown Barlow block property and the option was about to expire.
But the desert acreage would have been just as valuable possibly even more so with the commercial brine underground.
l suppose Gus told you that.
l'm sorry.
Mr.
Dalgran appears to have lost the ability to distinguish fiction from true.
We had that well tested and there was nothing, Mr.
Mason.
No usable water and no commercially recoverable chemicals.
Now, Gus knew that.
Kenny gave him a copy of the test report.
Kenneth, at least, as Dalgran's guardian, had the good sense to authorize the sale of that worthless property so we could get the money we needed in time.
l know the Barlow deal.
You had the option, an outside investor put _100,OOO in trust with you for a 500/o interest.
Now, you had that money.
Why destroy Gus' dream for additional cash? Our audits show that August Dalgran might very well have stolen _100,OOO out of that trust account.
He doctored the books so clumsily that even a first year accounting student could have fingered him for the theft.
- l don't believe that.
- No? Why did he give those stocks and bonds to Ben Hollingsworth? And why did he have you try to get Hollingsworth to dispose of his personal holdings and return the money _100,OOO to the company? [intercom buzzes.]
Yes, Mrs.
Blair? [Mrs.
Blair.]
There's a call for Mr.
Mason from a Paul Drake.
l'll take it in the other omice.
Thank you.
Yes, Paul? Stay there, l'll be right over.
l hope Mr.
Dalgran's all right.
ls there anything l can do to help him? Would you meet me here at 8:OO tonight and let me go over the company books? Oh, but, l can't.
At 8:OO tonight, Mr.
Mason, there'll be no one else here.
Why did l go there to see him? Why not, Mr.
Mason? Perhaps l took him some magazines and a container of homemade chicken soup.
But it's no secret that Gus wasn't exactly fond of you, and l would imagine the feeling was mutual.
lf you want a dimerent answer, l suggest you ask Uncle Gus for it.
May l ask where you went after seeing him? l went to a movie.
Why not? You know, for a woman who just lost her husband, you seem singularly unmoved.
l'm no angel, Mr.
Mason, also no hypocrite.
l hated Ken Dalgran in life.
l won't cry for him in death.
Mrs.
Dalgran, would you mind showing us your Walther .
22? My what? We're talking about the gun your uncle bought about three weeks ago for you.
Not for me, Mr.
Mason.
Perhaps not, but you do know that he bought a gun.
l suppose that is no secret, either.
Yes, Kenny told me Gus bought a gun.
Seems there are too many curious rattlesnakes out by the well.
Well? That's what Gus told Kenny.
Said that Chuck Blair had asked him to pick up a gun.
Why don't you ask Chuck about it? Well, here you are, Mr.
Mason, a .
45 automatic.
l had it ever since l got out of the army.
You never had a Walther .
22? l never even saw one.
Are you sure now, Chuck? We were given to understand that you asked Gus for a gun.
To kill rattlesnakes.
Gus bought you a German pistol.
l'm sorry, Mr.
Mason, but that isn't so.
Why would l ask Mr.
Dalgran for a gun if l already had one? Why, indeed? Manzanita Realty, Incorporated.
lsn't that the name of Gus' old company, the one-man operation he ran before he organized Dalgran Associates? Yes, that's right, Mr.
Mason.
There are a few small entries here involving Manzanita Realty.
Well, Mr.
Dalgran kept it alive as a holding company for some inexpensive city parcels that he personally owned.
Kenneth, Mr.
Dalgran's nephew, took care of Manzanita for him.
The state and federal taxes, that sort of thing.
Kenneth took care of a good deal of Gus' work, didn't he? More and more of it, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Dalgran was very proud of Kenneth.
He loved the boy so much, l don't see how he could he kill him.
Did he? [phone rings.]
Yes.
Paul, Perry, a big fat zero.
Not that l expected to find much after the police went through this stum.
How about you? Any luck? l'm afraid not, Paul.
l did find a piece of paper on which a guy had written his name about 50 times, which makes no sense.
Makes no sense? Why, Paul, it, uh-- All right, Della.
l'll be back to the omice in about half an hour.
Well, l see you're working on your homework, Perry.
l'm sorry, but l'm afraid this collection of McGumey's Readers will have to go.
The company ledger books? That's right.
Subpoenaed by the District Attorney's omice.
What does Mr.
Burger hope to learn from them? Well, perhaps as much as he learned from Mrs.
Farnham.
- Mrs.
who? - Mrs.
Farnham, Kenneth Dalgran's across-the-street neighbor.
lt seems the night that Kenneth was murdered, she saw a man pushing down something big and bulky like a body into the back of a station wagon.
A man, Tragg? A man, Perry.
To be precise your client, August Dalgran.
ln spite of the fact that the defendant in a devious manner feigned madness to achieve his purposes, there is now no question, but that he is and has been sane.
You heard Dr.
Jackman testify to this.
You also heard the doctor testify that the defendant, August Dalgran, was highly excited after Mr.
Mason's visit to him at the sanitarium of the night of the murder.
Shortly after that, you visited him.
Now, Mrs.
Dalgran, what time was it when you left the sanitarium? About 9:30.
Mrs.
Farnham testified that at approximately 1 1 :OO that night, she saw the defendant stuming what appeared to be a body into the back of decedent's station wagon.
Mrs.
Dalgran, what time was it when you arrived home, and what did you find there? l returned home around 1 1 :15.
The front door was open.
There was nobody home.
Thank you, Mrs.
Dalgran.
That'll be all.
Your witness.
You say you left the sanitarium at 9:3O and arrived home at 1 1 :15.
Your home is less than ten minutes away.
Where were you for that hour and 45 minutes? l-- l told you that the night you were looking for Mr.
Dalgran.
Oh, yes.
You said you'd been to the movies.
And what theatre, Mrs.
Dalgran and what did you see? I saw Too Soon Blues at the Tivoli Theatre.
No further questions at this time.
[Fenton.]
Well, there's no question of it.
August Dalgran stole _100,OOO from the Barlow block trust funds.
ln your search of company records were you able to discover what happened to that missing money? Yes, we were.
The stolen money was used to purchase additional desert acreage, completely surrounding the property that are company owned at that time.
Was this purchase of additional acreage made in the name of your company? No, it was purchased by a dimerent company-- Manzanita Realty, Incorporated.
Who owns Manzanita Realty, Mr.
Fenton? The one, the only, stockholder is August Dalgran.
August Dalgran had been given a copy of that test report on the well.
He knew that land contained no commercially recoverable chemicals.
Thank you, Mr.
Morley.
That'll be all.
Your witness.
Mr.
Morley, who gave August Dalgran the report on that well? His nephew, Kenneth Dalgran.
Did you see Kenneth give it to his uncle? No.
Did you ever hear August Dalgran refer to that report? No.
No further questions.
Just a moment, Mr.
Morley.
l have some redirect.
How do you know the defendant, Mr.
Dalgran, was aware of the contents of that report? l know because Ken told Fenton and me he'd given Mr.
Dalgran that report.
And that Gus-- uh, Mr.
Dalgran-- had only looked at it, and he laughed and threw it away.
Your Honor l move the answer be _tricken out on the ground that it is purely hearsay.
lf it please the court, l should like this hearsay testimony admitted for the limited purpose of showing the state of mind of the defendant.
That state of mind is of course why we can't produce the report itself.
The defendant threw it away.
There you are, Your Honor.
The District Attorney wants hearsay evidence permitted to show a state of mind in order to bring into evidence the contents of a missing report.
Where obviously the report itself is the best evidence as to the contents of the report.
l think l will sustain the objection at this time and grant the motion to strike.
Yes, l knew about the test.
l knew there wasn't anything worthwhile in that well we were digging.
And l assumed Mr.
Dalgran, the defendant, knew it, too.
Why did you assume the defendant knew it, Mr.
Blair? Because of the government man, Mr.
Joseph Tayback.
Suppose you tell us about Mr.
Tayback? Well, he surveyed that whole desert area.
Something about an Air Force missile base.
l told Ken about it when he came out to the well.
And Ken told Mr.
Dalgran.
And how do you know that? Well, l got a letter that referred to Mr.
Tayback and his survey.
lt said that this Air Force missile base would be a real bonanza to the whole desert area.
lt would be better, for a while, if nobody knew about it.
To go on drilling the well, even though the test report showed we'd find nothing.
And who signed that letter? Mr.
August Dalgran.
Well, the particular section we wanted was owned by a Manzanita Realty Company.
All of our negotiations consisted of a preliminary series of omers and counter omers by mail with that company.
Now, Mr.
Tayback, in your experience establishing new military bases, what happens when a military establishment is created in an area like this? Where bases locate, housing springs up, businesses develop, cities are born overnight.
Adjacent property is worth millions.
So the real profit, a matter of possibly millions of dollars, would disappear if Kenneth Dalgran were allowed to authorize the sale of the company's own property for a mere _100,OOO.
Mr.
Tayback, this is vitally important.
ln all your negotiations, did you ever correspond with more than one person? No, sir.
All these certified photostats will show that every letter from Manzanita Realty was signed by the same person.
And who was that one person with whom you corresponded? The one person who could not allow Kenneth Dalgran to sell that land.
The one person whose signature appears on all those letters? August Dalgran.
Please, Perry, not eating isn't going to help Gus.
lt's only going to hurt you.
Oh, if he'd only tell me the truth.
Stop this pretended mental deterioration.
lt's almost like flying blind.
l can only guess where we are.
Where we're going.
All right, Paul, l suppose you have some more ''happy surprises'' for me.
Well, the operative tailing Sandra Dalgran reports that three days after the murder, she went to a downtown theatre to see a picture called Too Soon Blues.
You sound as if you expected that? No, but l was hoping for it.
Go on.
Well, love flew out the window years ago for the Kenneth Dalgrans.
lt appears that Kenneth played the field and not always too carefully.
And if she wasn't completely pure, Sandra was circumspect.
Well, reasonably circumspect anyway.
- Who's the man? - Donald Morley.
One of the local detective agencies was hired to dig up evidence on the romance for a possible divorce action.
Well, at least part of this is beginning to fit together.
There's one other thing.
That piece of paper you found in the basement.
The one with the repeated signatures? A handwriting expert checked that paper-- the signatures of everyone involved in the case and the signatures on the security endorsements you showed him-- and you were right.
That paper l found was a practice sheet for forgery.
However, it wasn't just a single forgery.
Somebody inside Dalgran Associates was busy forging two names.
Absolutely sane at all times, the defendant cunningly assumed a form of mental aberration only to forestall the sale of acreage worth millions while his attorney replaced some stolen money.
Though his nephew vaguely knew of some government interest, neither he nor the two Dalgran Associates partners actually knew of the fabulous windfall due to befall this area.
Therefore acting in good faith.
Urged on by the partners, Kenneth Dalgran authorized the sale of that land.
Visualizing millions of dollars slipping away from him.
The now enraged defendant, desperate to stop that sale, broke out of the sanitarium, rushed to his nephew, fought with him, and killed him.
Your Honor, l move that August Dalgran be bound over for trial in Superior Court on a charge of murder in the first degree.
Mr.
Mason, before l rule on the prosecution motion, is it your intention to present a defense at this time? lt is, Your Honor.
Defense waives opening statement and calls as its first witness, Mr.
Jay Fenton.
l hold here a list copied directly from the Dalgran firm's ledgers.
We are not now talking of the missing trust funds, but of your company's own assets.
Are you aware, Mr.
Fenton, that some of those negotiable securities are missing from the company safe? What? Well, that can't be.
It's impossible.
Ordinarily, there would be no reason to either question or to examine such assets, but l obtained a court order and had the safe opened last night.
But-- But that would mean that-- That not only _100,OOO, but other valuable company assets had been stolen from Dalgran Associates.
[Martha.]
Yes.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
Kenneth had stole _100,OOO from the trust fund accounts.
l-- l confronted him.
He cried.
He begged me to help him.
He said he'd only borrowed the money to make an investment to impress his uncle.
But he lied.
He kept the money.
He threatened to name me as his accomplice if l exposed him.
l was afraid.
l didn't say anything.
Yet the accountants were sure that August Dalgran took that trust fund money.
Mr.
Gus found out Kenny had stolen that hundred thousand.
He doctored the books to make it look like he, not Kenny, had stolen the money.
Why did Kenneth authorize the sale of that desert property? That's why he wanted the money from the company assets.
With Mr.
Gus in the sanitarium, He sold that land to himself using a dummy, of course.
[Mason.]
Those company assets, they were negotiable securities, securities that could only be used when properly endorsed.
Now, can you tell me how Kenneth, not an omicer of the company, could use them? l-- l suppose he forged the endorsements.
The-- The night of the murder, l was-- l was working at the omice.
Alone, Mr.
Morley? Most of the time.
The time you weren't alone, the person with you was Kenneth Dalgran's wife Sandra? Yes.
- Are you and Sandra in love with each other? - Yes.
Yes, we are.
But we've done nothing wrong.
That's not what her husband, Kenneth Dalgran, thought, is it? No.
Ken told me a-- a detective agency had a full file on the two of us.
He threatened to twist the facts and to sue her for divorce and name me as correspondent.
Kenneth threatened to do all that unless what, Mr.
Morley? Unless l agreed to turn over my share of the Dalgran Associates partnership to him.
So Sandra Dalgran didn't leave the sanitarium to go to the movies that night, she met you alone in the omice to talk over your problems? No.
No, Sandra didn't know anything about Kenny's threats, or the divorce.
She was so desperately worried about Gus because of the-- The what, Mr.
Morley? Suicide note.
Ken was working in the den.
l went to hang up his jacket and found the note in the jacket pocket.
lt was sort of rambling, disjointed farewell to life.
The note was typed with a signature on the bottom.
Whose signature? August Dalgran.
Uncle Gus.
l-- l didn't understand it, why it should be in Kenny's pocket.
l-- l was afraid to ask Kenny about it.
So you went to the sanitarium to ask Gus himself? Yes, he was furious.
He denied having written or having signed the note.
All but screamed that Kenny planned to kill him and make it look like a suicide.
Why have you lied? Said nothing about the note? Well, l always liked, really liked Uncle Gus.
But l could never make him believe that Kenny was worthless, no good.
l said nothing because l thought-- Because you thought August Dalgran had killed his nephew.
No.
No! Because you didn't want the police to know of a forged suicide note that gave August Dalgran an even stronger motive for murder.
No, he couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Why, l know how he felt about Kenny.
Why-- Why, only a couple of months ago, Uncle Gus was telling me-- Your Honor, l hesitate to object to this, since learned counsel is actually digging up new evidence to strengthen his own client's motive for murder.
But we do object to this rambling hearsay about what Uncle Gus said or felt There's only one person who can testify to things.
That's the defendant himself.
And even though Mr.
Mason seems intent on buttressing the state's case, l cannot believe he would be so foolhardy-- Excuse me, Mr.
Burger.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
l would like to call as our ne_ witness, the defendant, August Dalgran.
Well, the door was open so l went in.
And in the den lay my nephew, dead.
The gun was beside the body.
And underneath the body was an envelope containing a detective agency report on Sandra and Don Morley.
Well, l don't know how l found the strength to get his body out through the den door.
And then l struggled with it.
Got it in the back of the station wagon.
So l headed for the desert.
You see, l-- l intended to bury Kenneth's body.
l couldn't manage it.
So l drove on to the well hoping that Chuck would help me.
After your arrest, you continued to plead insanity.
Why? Being wrong about Kenneth was bad enough, but l was so wrong about his wife.
Because l thought that she had killed Kenny on account of their divorce business-- and, well, that gun, that was the one l bought for her.
Let's go over the reasons as to why your nephew wanted to kill you.
We know he stole the _100,OOO and used it through your Manzanita Company to buy additional desert acreage.
Now, did you know of this? No.
Oh, and Kenneth never showed me the test report on the well, never.
But that letter you wrote to Chuck, all the letters you wrote to Mr.
Tayback? l wrote none of them.
Kenneth wrote those letters.
And forged your name.
Why, Mr.
Dalgran? Why would he have used the _100,OOO to put the adjacent property in your name? You see, Kenneth was my heir.
l guess, that's why he planned my-- my suicide.
So the entire desert property would have ended up in his hands alone.
No, Mr.
Dalgran, not quite.
Kenny had a partner.
Somebody had discovered his plan.
Then boldly confronted Kenneth and cut himself in on the deal.
Uh, Mr.
Dalgran, those negotiable assets, who would have had to endorse them to make them useable as securities? Morley, Fenton, and myself.
l have here a deposition from an outstanding handwriting expert who has studied those endorsed securities.
Kenneth forged your signature, but only one other, that of Donald Morley.
He didn't have to forge his partner's signature.
He didn't have to forge the name of-- Jay Fenton.
Well, that doesn't prove a thing.
Aren't you forgetting the detective agency, Mr.
Fenton? The one which you prepared that divorce material? All right, all right, yes! l was in it with Ken and l hired the agency to force out Morley.
But l swear to you-- l swear, l knew nothing about killing Gus and making it look like a suicide.
Gus, please-- Gus, believe me.
ls that what you and Ken were fighting over? Killing Gus? l went to see Ken at his house.
He was in the den.
He remembered something.
He left the room.
When he came back, he was like a madman.
He was pointing that gun at me.
And he accused me of having stolen that suicide note that he wrote and of planning to double-cross him.
He was going to kill me.
So l-- l jumped at him.
And we-- we struggled.
And the gun went om.
And he was dead.
You wouldn't have killed Gus, but you would have allowed him to go to the gas chamber? ls that it, Mr.
Fenton? Well, it's no farm area, Gus, and no brine plant, but with a missile base coming, it'll still be a city, all right.
Dalgran City.
That would be a pretty good name.
May well be since it's right ne_ to Dalgran Air Force Base.
You see, Gus wants to hand over to the government a deed for this land as a gift.
A dream come true, Uncle Gus.
You talked enough about it in the past.
You going to just stand there, crying, and not say anything? Well, l'll say this much.
lt's all right with me if it's all right with my partners.
Subtitled By J.
R.
Media Services, Inc.
Burbank, CA
l'm afraid it's not gonna close, Mr.
Dalgran, unless you put some in your pocket.
l've got a better idea.
You put some in yours.
Now, you know, l always give presents away on my birthday.
Now, Mr.
Dalgran, you know you said the same thing last week.
Remember? l told you the bank won't allow it.
l never heard of such a thing.
Now, look here, you just put that away for your kids.
Mr.
Dalgran, you know l'm not married.
Well, same here.
All l've got is a nephew and his wife.
Oh, he's a fine boy.
He's going to be all right.
But as far as that wife of his is concerned-- Now, anytime you want a relative cheap, you just call me at my omice, huh? Mr.
Dalgran.
Dalgran Associates.
No, Mr.
Dalgran isn't in yet this morning.
This is his secretary.
May l take a message? Oh, he did? Yes, sir, thank you very much.
What now, Mrs.
Blair? The old man go pixie again? Oh, Mr.
Fenton.
l'm afraid he signed another letter Napoleon B.
Santa Claus.
Well, don't look at me.
l'm just a partner, not a psychiatrist.
Let me know when he comes in, will you, Mrs.
Blair? Morley and l want to see him.
Yes, sir.
- Good morning, Martha.
- Good morning, Mr.
Dalgran.
Have the boys come in, l've got something for them.
Yes, sir.
Morning, boys.
How about some Christmas cash? ln April? Oh, Morley, now don't be technical.
Mr.
Dalgran, it's time we settled this desert acreage deal once and for all.
Now, we've been omered _1 OO,OOO for that property.
All right, it cost us _200,OOO.
And l'd be selling my dream.
Dalgran Valley.
as Toronto, as big as Green River up in Wyoming.
Chemical recovery plants for potash and soda.
Housing for employees.
l'll tell you in a few years-- A few years is what one of us is likely to spend in jail if we don't get our hands on _100,OOO now to close the Barlow deal.
l know there's been a mistake.
A little mix-up in the account.
A shortage of trust funds of other people's money.
And l've personally assured you the mistakes will be corrected.
That trust fund was specifically for investment in the downtown Barlow block.
Now, our option on the property expires in one week.
All right, our partnership provides that the three of us must agree on a deal.
Well, option or no option, l will not sell that desert acreage.
That 100,OOO didn't just walk out of our accounts.
Now, sick old man or not, you'll have to face the truth.
That money is missing.
It may have been pocketed.
lt may have been stolen.
[sighs.]
All right, what do you want me to do? Until we get the matter of the missing trust funds squared away, you can put your signature on this letter to the bank.
lt approves the desert acreage sale and authorizes them to exercise the purchase option on the Barlow block.
All right, all right.
Leave it, leave it.
l'll-- l'll sign the letter.
As August Dalgran, not Napoleon B.
Santa Claus, hmm? [laughs.]
There's still time to call your lawyer.
l'm very worried.
Kenny, you're pretty concerned about your old Uncle Gus, aren't you, huh? Please, Uncle Gus, this could be very serious.
You know what it means to have somebody care for you? l mean, really care? You know, somebody who-- Please, let me call Perry Mason.
lt's nothing, son, nothing.
It's no more important than-- well, than a tramic ticket.
Besides, we're all entitled to one mistake.
Yessiree, boy, especially when you mean well with what you're doing.
The judge is calling for you.
You know, Kenny, it wouldn't surprise me if your wife was hoping that l go to jail.
lf it pleases you to think so, be my guest.
That's a fine thing to say to my uncle.
What should l say? That he was right to throw _2,OOO in small bills out a window and cause a king-sized tramic jam? Don't mind her.
She'll never understand me any more than she would understand you.
Mr.
Dalgran, you're charged with a misdemeanor violation of Section 415, disturbing the peace by throwing-- Yes, l know, Your Honor.
l didn't know it was illegal to give away your own money if you feel like it.
Now just a minute, Mr.
Dalgran.
You have to enter a plea before you can make a statement.
And before you do so, you're entitled to be represented by counsel if you so choose.
Yes, l know.
l just want to say-- Mr.
Dalgran, how do you plead, guilty or not guilty? Oh, guilty.
l thought everybody knew that.
Now you may make your statement, Mr.
Dalgran.
Statement? About what? Your Honor, what he did was just a generous impulse.
You see, he gives to l don't know how many charities, and if you'll be lenient with him-- One moment, sir.
Are you this defendant's attorney? Oh, no, no, sir.
l'm one of his partners, Don Morley.
He must be demented.
l've never seen him before in my life.
Oh come on, Sandra.
He didn't mean any harm.
You know what kind of an oddball sense of humor he has.
l envy him.
By now l could use a sense of humor myself, oddball or otheM/ise.
He's confused.
When a man gets to be his age-- Anyhow, we're gonna have to learn to live with it.
Besides, if it weren't for him, what future would l have? Pretty bleak if he keeps throwing away the money you hope to inherit in _2,OOO chunks.
And paying hundred-dollar fines for doing it.
[doorbell rings.]
- Good evening, Sandra.
- Mr.
Fenton, Mr.
Morley.
Evening.
We're looking for your uncle.
Is he here? Why no.
Did you try his apartment? We've tried everywhere, Ken.
Are you sure you don't know where he is? We-- We've got to get in touch with him.
No, l haven't seen him.
Well, as his executive assistant, it should't come as any surprise for you to know he's in trouble.
Serious trouble.
And so is that company he plans on leaving in your capable hands.
Did Uncle Gus give you that letter of authorization? Don't play games, Ken.
You know we're fighting time.
You know he didn't sign that letter.
Do you also happen to know what your uncle's up to? lf you hear from him, let us know, and in a hurry, please.
Let's go, Don.
Good night, Sandra.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Good night.
Just what is this with the company and your uncle, Ken? The way he's been acting lately.
Don't worry.
Everything's going to be all right.
The court should be looking into his sanity before very long.
Oh, no.
Someone would have to bring a-- Sanity? August Dalgran in a sanity hearing? Mr.
Mason, l just can't believe Mr.
Dalgran's unbalanced.
Just the other day he came out to look at the well l'm drilling.
He acted as rational as anyone.
Now he's back in court on this sanity hearing.
[door opens.]
Della-- Della, this is Chuck Blair.
You know his mother Mr.
Dalgran's secretary Martha.
[both.]
How do you do? Frankly, Chuck, there's nothing l can do.
He sent me definite word that he did not want me to represent him.
Anyway, this isn't actually a sanity hearing.
lt's only a hearing to determine his competency to handle his own business amairs.
Surely you can come up with something.
l've got some money saved up.
l can pay you.
Mr.
Mason, he helped put me through school.
He kept us going those three years my ma was sick.
lf he's out of his mind, then so am l.
ln the State of California, Doctor Jackman, any person, whether insane or not, who by reason of old age, disease, weakness of mind, or other cause, is unable unassisted to properly manage and take care of himself or his property, is deemed to be legally incompetent.
l now ask your expert opinion as a licensed and practicing psychiatrist.
Having heard testimony as to Mr.
Dalgran's recent behavior, would you say he exhibited indications of incompetency? l have not examined Mr.
Dalgran, but l have observed many cases wherein l found a similar syndrome in the elderly-- a malfunction of mental process caused by inadequate distribution of blood to the brain, creating the condition known as senile psychosis, certainly the basis for a determination of mental incompetence.
And would you state that this to be true of Mr.
Dalgran? Yes, l'd say it's possible, and likely.
How soon would you know for sure? Oh, l'd say after a few weeks of observation.
Thank you, Doctor, that is all.
Are there any questions of the witness, Mr.
Dalgran? Hmm? Questions? Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie.
l know who said that.
lt was Kipling.
lf it please the court, may l ask permission to approach the bench? Oh, hello, Mr.
Mason, yes.
Yes, of course you may.
Your Honor as you're well aware, in the appointment of guardians for insane or incompetent persons, Section 1461 of the California Probate Code provides that any relative, or friend, of the alleged insane or incompetent person may appear and oppose such petition.
One moment, Mr.
Mason, you obviously weren't served with the notice of this hearing.
- No, but-- - Had you been so served, you would know that the petition was filed by Kenneth Dalgran reluctantly at the express wish of August Dalgran himself.
Mr.
Mason, do you wish to oppose the petition? Not if August Dalgran, here in this open court, asks me not to, Your Honor.
Mr.
Dalgran? My-- My wife has always liked you, Perry.
l mean, she-- she always said that you're were the smartest, nicest man she ever knew.
l remember when we started, Sarah and me, she always said that some day she was gonna stand on a rooftop and throw hands full of money down into the street below.
l did it for her, you see? Well, of course we knew that our Kenny would understand.
You see, she always liked Kenny.
We, uh, we never had any children of our own.
Just the other night she was saying-- Mr.
Dalgran, Sarah's been dead for more than ten years.
Yes, l know.
Well Perry, what happens now? Proceedings are pending to have you declared legally incompetent.
On the court's orders, you're to be placed in the psychiatric institution for observation and examination.
ln the meantime, for your own protection, the court has appointed a conservative.
You mean my nephew Kenneth? He'll have all the powers of a legal guardian, authorized to act in your name and in your behalf.
Suppose the doctors don't find anything wrong with me.
On their certification, the court will probably deny the petition.
Unless, of course, you persist in continuing this ridiculous pe_ormance.
Per-- Pe_ormance? Oh come om it, Gus.
You're no more mentally incompetent than l'm the Kaliph of Baghdad.
Perry, please.
Rudyard Kipling? That wasn't bad enough, you had to bring Sarah into the act.
Gus, in all the years l've known you, you never once ran away from a thing.
You are running now.
Why? All right, you know my good friend Ben Hollingsworth? Well, about a week ago, l endorsed and turned over to him _100,OOO of my own stocks and bonds.
Now l want him to sell all those securities and give you the money.
What am l to do with the money? Take it over to Dalgran Associates as of monies return, monies borrowed.
Unfortunately, that would be violating the spirit if not the letter of the court order.
On the other hand, if l could get the cooperation of your nephew.
Oh, well, Kenneth will do anything for me.
There's a fine boy, Perry.
Fine boy.
lt's that wife of his-- Oh.
Well-- All right, Gus.
But now can l assume that this charade is over? That you've decided to return to the world of sanity? With everyone else in the world as crazy as they are, ls there any question that l'm the only one who's sane? Mason, l realize how close you are to Uncle Gus, Mr.
Mason, and how much he's always depended on you.
l certainly hope that you'll be as much help to me.
Then you will instruct Ben Hollingsworth to dispose of those securities and turn the money over to Dalgran Associates? Well, l'm afraid that'll be impossible, Mr.
Mason.
You see, as his conservator l felt that it was the court's inten!tion in no way to dissipate my Uncle Gus' estate.
l've already secured an injunction restraining Ben Hollingsworth from so much as touching that stock.
l'm sure that you appreciate the necessity of the move? Yes, l suppose l do.
You're, uh, very concerned about your uncle, aren't you? He's been like a father to me, Mr.
Mason.
l'd do anything rather than to cause him a moment's hurt.
Then l'm correct in assuming that you wouldn't harm or inte_ere with the most important thing in his life.
This dream of a Dalgran City in the desert? You won't permit that property to be touched? Well, l'm a little embarrassed, Mr.
Mason.
l'm afraid you don't understand the entire situation and l can't explain it to you, but-- But what? Well, l've already sent a letter to the bank.
As my Uncle Gus' conservator, approving in his behalf, believe me, the sale of that dessert acreage.
l tell you, l don't believe it.
He wouldn't do this to me, not Kenny.
Not Kenny.
Gus, you've got to tell me what's going on.
OtheM/ise, l can't help you.
But it's a mistake.
l know it, l know it.
He wouldn't do this on his own.
No.
No.
No.
Mr.
Mason, l think that's enough for tonight.
lf he did that me, l'll kill him.
The suspending of guardianships is covered on pages 338, 334, and 384.
And in this other volume of California Jurisprudence, - the second, the um-- - [phone rings.]
Just a minute.
Mr.
Mason's omice.
Just one minute, please.
Perry, Doctor Jackman.
Hello, Doctor Jackman.
All right, thank you.
What is it? We'll have to get a hold of Paul fast, Della.
Gus Dalgran escaped from the sanitarium.
Thanks for the lift, boy.
l was pretty well pooped when you picked me up.
Don't sweat at all, Pops.
Glad to oblige.
Good night.
[doorbell chimes.]
[doorbell chimes.]
Mrs.
Dalgran, l'm looking for Kenneth's uncle.
Can you tell me if he's here? Here? Why, he's in the sanitarium.
No, Mrs.
Dalgran, he isn't.
Come in.
When did it happen? Where did he go? l thought he might have come here to see Kenneth.
Why, no.
l mean not that l know of.
l just got in myself.
And Kenneth? Well, he was here when l went to the movie.
He isn't now, and his station wagon's gone.
- [phone rings.]
- Excuse me.
Hello? Yes, he's here, just a minute, please.
A Paul Drake for you.
Thank you.
Yes, Paul.
l tried his omice, his apartment, and the other places you mentioned.
No luck.
There's a chance he went out to the desert well young Blair's drilling for him.
He's been concerned over it.
Might be worth a try at that.
Want me to meet you? Good, right away.
- Mr.
Dalgran.
- Hiya, Chuck.
Say, why didn't l hear the drill rig going when l passed the well? They ordered me to shut down.
Who? Fenton and Morley? And Kenneth.
When l went in to make my progress report this afternoon.
Look, boy, l've never been one to beg favors, but, uh-- Well, suppose l ask you to do something for me.
All you got to do is ask.
l mean, even though it's a-- Perry? Kenneth with you? Why, no.
He wasn't home, and so l-- Looks like my night for company.
From the looks of it, it's the Sherims department.
- Evening, Chuck.
- Sherim.
August Dalgran? Yes.
Our Lancaster sub-station had a report from the L.
A.
authorities.
They said we might find you here.
Bowman.
Paul.
[Mason.]
Kenneth Dalgran.
[Drake.]
Dead.
You went to you nephew's house.
Blood stains, scum marks, other bits of evidence prove he was shot to death in his house.
You drove his station wagon out to the desert with his dead body in the back of the station wagon.
Could be he was killed before l got there.
Somebody put his body in the back of the station wagon.
Could be there was nobody home when l arrived, and l just borrowed the wagon.
Could be.
As your friend, you can expect me to believe that.
But can you expect a judge and jury to believe it? They won't try me for murder, Perry.
Remember, l'm incompetent? l told you before, insanity and incompetency are not the same thing.
lf you were declared incompetent to handle your own business amairs, that doesn't mean you would be immune from punishment for a crime you committed.
Ah.
There's a fennel for you, and columbines.
There's rue for you and here's some for me.
We may call it herb-grace O'Sundays.
You know, Gus, psychiatrists aren't completely stupid.
lt's even possible that some of them may be quite familiar with Hamlet and Ophelia's mad scene.
Why were you pressuring Gus to sell that desert acreage? You both know what it meant to him, the dreams he had for a Dalgran City? Dreams are non-negotiable assets, in the business world, Mr.
Mason.
We needed cash-- _100,OOO in cash-- fast.
You see, Mr.
Mason, we had an option to buy the downtown Barlow block property and the option was about to expire.
But the desert acreage would have been just as valuable possibly even more so with the commercial brine underground.
l suppose Gus told you that.
l'm sorry.
Mr.
Dalgran appears to have lost the ability to distinguish fiction from true.
We had that well tested and there was nothing, Mr.
Mason.
No usable water and no commercially recoverable chemicals.
Now, Gus knew that.
Kenny gave him a copy of the test report.
Kenneth, at least, as Dalgran's guardian, had the good sense to authorize the sale of that worthless property so we could get the money we needed in time.
l know the Barlow deal.
You had the option, an outside investor put _100,OOO in trust with you for a 500/o interest.
Now, you had that money.
Why destroy Gus' dream for additional cash? Our audits show that August Dalgran might very well have stolen _100,OOO out of that trust account.
He doctored the books so clumsily that even a first year accounting student could have fingered him for the theft.
- l don't believe that.
- No? Why did he give those stocks and bonds to Ben Hollingsworth? And why did he have you try to get Hollingsworth to dispose of his personal holdings and return the money _100,OOO to the company? [intercom buzzes.]
Yes, Mrs.
Blair? [Mrs.
Blair.]
There's a call for Mr.
Mason from a Paul Drake.
l'll take it in the other omice.
Thank you.
Yes, Paul? Stay there, l'll be right over.
l hope Mr.
Dalgran's all right.
ls there anything l can do to help him? Would you meet me here at 8:OO tonight and let me go over the company books? Oh, but, l can't.
At 8:OO tonight, Mr.
Mason, there'll be no one else here.
Why did l go there to see him? Why not, Mr.
Mason? Perhaps l took him some magazines and a container of homemade chicken soup.
But it's no secret that Gus wasn't exactly fond of you, and l would imagine the feeling was mutual.
lf you want a dimerent answer, l suggest you ask Uncle Gus for it.
May l ask where you went after seeing him? l went to a movie.
Why not? You know, for a woman who just lost her husband, you seem singularly unmoved.
l'm no angel, Mr.
Mason, also no hypocrite.
l hated Ken Dalgran in life.
l won't cry for him in death.
Mrs.
Dalgran, would you mind showing us your Walther .
22? My what? We're talking about the gun your uncle bought about three weeks ago for you.
Not for me, Mr.
Mason.
Perhaps not, but you do know that he bought a gun.
l suppose that is no secret, either.
Yes, Kenny told me Gus bought a gun.
Seems there are too many curious rattlesnakes out by the well.
Well? That's what Gus told Kenny.
Said that Chuck Blair had asked him to pick up a gun.
Why don't you ask Chuck about it? Well, here you are, Mr.
Mason, a .
45 automatic.
l had it ever since l got out of the army.
You never had a Walther .
22? l never even saw one.
Are you sure now, Chuck? We were given to understand that you asked Gus for a gun.
To kill rattlesnakes.
Gus bought you a German pistol.
l'm sorry, Mr.
Mason, but that isn't so.
Why would l ask Mr.
Dalgran for a gun if l already had one? Why, indeed? Manzanita Realty, Incorporated.
lsn't that the name of Gus' old company, the one-man operation he ran before he organized Dalgran Associates? Yes, that's right, Mr.
Mason.
There are a few small entries here involving Manzanita Realty.
Well, Mr.
Dalgran kept it alive as a holding company for some inexpensive city parcels that he personally owned.
Kenneth, Mr.
Dalgran's nephew, took care of Manzanita for him.
The state and federal taxes, that sort of thing.
Kenneth took care of a good deal of Gus' work, didn't he? More and more of it, Mr.
Mason.
Mr.
Dalgran was very proud of Kenneth.
He loved the boy so much, l don't see how he could he kill him.
Did he? [phone rings.]
Yes.
Paul, Perry, a big fat zero.
Not that l expected to find much after the police went through this stum.
How about you? Any luck? l'm afraid not, Paul.
l did find a piece of paper on which a guy had written his name about 50 times, which makes no sense.
Makes no sense? Why, Paul, it, uh-- All right, Della.
l'll be back to the omice in about half an hour.
Well, l see you're working on your homework, Perry.
l'm sorry, but l'm afraid this collection of McGumey's Readers will have to go.
The company ledger books? That's right.
Subpoenaed by the District Attorney's omice.
What does Mr.
Burger hope to learn from them? Well, perhaps as much as he learned from Mrs.
Farnham.
- Mrs.
who? - Mrs.
Farnham, Kenneth Dalgran's across-the-street neighbor.
lt seems the night that Kenneth was murdered, she saw a man pushing down something big and bulky like a body into the back of a station wagon.
A man, Tragg? A man, Perry.
To be precise your client, August Dalgran.
ln spite of the fact that the defendant in a devious manner feigned madness to achieve his purposes, there is now no question, but that he is and has been sane.
You heard Dr.
Jackman testify to this.
You also heard the doctor testify that the defendant, August Dalgran, was highly excited after Mr.
Mason's visit to him at the sanitarium of the night of the murder.
Shortly after that, you visited him.
Now, Mrs.
Dalgran, what time was it when you left the sanitarium? About 9:30.
Mrs.
Farnham testified that at approximately 1 1 :OO that night, she saw the defendant stuming what appeared to be a body into the back of decedent's station wagon.
Mrs.
Dalgran, what time was it when you arrived home, and what did you find there? l returned home around 1 1 :15.
The front door was open.
There was nobody home.
Thank you, Mrs.
Dalgran.
That'll be all.
Your witness.
You say you left the sanitarium at 9:3O and arrived home at 1 1 :15.
Your home is less than ten minutes away.
Where were you for that hour and 45 minutes? l-- l told you that the night you were looking for Mr.
Dalgran.
Oh, yes.
You said you'd been to the movies.
And what theatre, Mrs.
Dalgran and what did you see? I saw Too Soon Blues at the Tivoli Theatre.
No further questions at this time.
[Fenton.]
Well, there's no question of it.
August Dalgran stole _100,OOO from the Barlow block trust funds.
ln your search of company records were you able to discover what happened to that missing money? Yes, we were.
The stolen money was used to purchase additional desert acreage, completely surrounding the property that are company owned at that time.
Was this purchase of additional acreage made in the name of your company? No, it was purchased by a dimerent company-- Manzanita Realty, Incorporated.
Who owns Manzanita Realty, Mr.
Fenton? The one, the only, stockholder is August Dalgran.
August Dalgran had been given a copy of that test report on the well.
He knew that land contained no commercially recoverable chemicals.
Thank you, Mr.
Morley.
That'll be all.
Your witness.
Mr.
Morley, who gave August Dalgran the report on that well? His nephew, Kenneth Dalgran.
Did you see Kenneth give it to his uncle? No.
Did you ever hear August Dalgran refer to that report? No.
No further questions.
Just a moment, Mr.
Morley.
l have some redirect.
How do you know the defendant, Mr.
Dalgran, was aware of the contents of that report? l know because Ken told Fenton and me he'd given Mr.
Dalgran that report.
And that Gus-- uh, Mr.
Dalgran-- had only looked at it, and he laughed and threw it away.
Your Honor l move the answer be _tricken out on the ground that it is purely hearsay.
lf it please the court, l should like this hearsay testimony admitted for the limited purpose of showing the state of mind of the defendant.
That state of mind is of course why we can't produce the report itself.
The defendant threw it away.
There you are, Your Honor.
The District Attorney wants hearsay evidence permitted to show a state of mind in order to bring into evidence the contents of a missing report.
Where obviously the report itself is the best evidence as to the contents of the report.
l think l will sustain the objection at this time and grant the motion to strike.
Yes, l knew about the test.
l knew there wasn't anything worthwhile in that well we were digging.
And l assumed Mr.
Dalgran, the defendant, knew it, too.
Why did you assume the defendant knew it, Mr.
Blair? Because of the government man, Mr.
Joseph Tayback.
Suppose you tell us about Mr.
Tayback? Well, he surveyed that whole desert area.
Something about an Air Force missile base.
l told Ken about it when he came out to the well.
And Ken told Mr.
Dalgran.
And how do you know that? Well, l got a letter that referred to Mr.
Tayback and his survey.
lt said that this Air Force missile base would be a real bonanza to the whole desert area.
lt would be better, for a while, if nobody knew about it.
To go on drilling the well, even though the test report showed we'd find nothing.
And who signed that letter? Mr.
August Dalgran.
Well, the particular section we wanted was owned by a Manzanita Realty Company.
All of our negotiations consisted of a preliminary series of omers and counter omers by mail with that company.
Now, Mr.
Tayback, in your experience establishing new military bases, what happens when a military establishment is created in an area like this? Where bases locate, housing springs up, businesses develop, cities are born overnight.
Adjacent property is worth millions.
So the real profit, a matter of possibly millions of dollars, would disappear if Kenneth Dalgran were allowed to authorize the sale of the company's own property for a mere _100,OOO.
Mr.
Tayback, this is vitally important.
ln all your negotiations, did you ever correspond with more than one person? No, sir.
All these certified photostats will show that every letter from Manzanita Realty was signed by the same person.
And who was that one person with whom you corresponded? The one person who could not allow Kenneth Dalgran to sell that land.
The one person whose signature appears on all those letters? August Dalgran.
Please, Perry, not eating isn't going to help Gus.
lt's only going to hurt you.
Oh, if he'd only tell me the truth.
Stop this pretended mental deterioration.
lt's almost like flying blind.
l can only guess where we are.
Where we're going.
All right, Paul, l suppose you have some more ''happy surprises'' for me.
Well, the operative tailing Sandra Dalgran reports that three days after the murder, she went to a downtown theatre to see a picture called Too Soon Blues.
You sound as if you expected that? No, but l was hoping for it.
Go on.
Well, love flew out the window years ago for the Kenneth Dalgrans.
lt appears that Kenneth played the field and not always too carefully.
And if she wasn't completely pure, Sandra was circumspect.
Well, reasonably circumspect anyway.
- Who's the man? - Donald Morley.
One of the local detective agencies was hired to dig up evidence on the romance for a possible divorce action.
Well, at least part of this is beginning to fit together.
There's one other thing.
That piece of paper you found in the basement.
The one with the repeated signatures? A handwriting expert checked that paper-- the signatures of everyone involved in the case and the signatures on the security endorsements you showed him-- and you were right.
That paper l found was a practice sheet for forgery.
However, it wasn't just a single forgery.
Somebody inside Dalgran Associates was busy forging two names.
Absolutely sane at all times, the defendant cunningly assumed a form of mental aberration only to forestall the sale of acreage worth millions while his attorney replaced some stolen money.
Though his nephew vaguely knew of some government interest, neither he nor the two Dalgran Associates partners actually knew of the fabulous windfall due to befall this area.
Therefore acting in good faith.
Urged on by the partners, Kenneth Dalgran authorized the sale of that land.
Visualizing millions of dollars slipping away from him.
The now enraged defendant, desperate to stop that sale, broke out of the sanitarium, rushed to his nephew, fought with him, and killed him.
Your Honor, l move that August Dalgran be bound over for trial in Superior Court on a charge of murder in the first degree.
Mr.
Mason, before l rule on the prosecution motion, is it your intention to present a defense at this time? lt is, Your Honor.
Defense waives opening statement and calls as its first witness, Mr.
Jay Fenton.
l hold here a list copied directly from the Dalgran firm's ledgers.
We are not now talking of the missing trust funds, but of your company's own assets.
Are you aware, Mr.
Fenton, that some of those negotiable securities are missing from the company safe? What? Well, that can't be.
It's impossible.
Ordinarily, there would be no reason to either question or to examine such assets, but l obtained a court order and had the safe opened last night.
But-- But that would mean that-- That not only _100,OOO, but other valuable company assets had been stolen from Dalgran Associates.
[Martha.]
Yes.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
Kenneth had stole _100,OOO from the trust fund accounts.
l-- l confronted him.
He cried.
He begged me to help him.
He said he'd only borrowed the money to make an investment to impress his uncle.
But he lied.
He kept the money.
He threatened to name me as his accomplice if l exposed him.
l was afraid.
l didn't say anything.
Yet the accountants were sure that August Dalgran took that trust fund money.
Mr.
Gus found out Kenny had stolen that hundred thousand.
He doctored the books to make it look like he, not Kenny, had stolen the money.
Why did Kenneth authorize the sale of that desert property? That's why he wanted the money from the company assets.
With Mr.
Gus in the sanitarium, He sold that land to himself using a dummy, of course.
[Mason.]
Those company assets, they were negotiable securities, securities that could only be used when properly endorsed.
Now, can you tell me how Kenneth, not an omicer of the company, could use them? l-- l suppose he forged the endorsements.
The-- The night of the murder, l was-- l was working at the omice.
Alone, Mr.
Morley? Most of the time.
The time you weren't alone, the person with you was Kenneth Dalgran's wife Sandra? Yes.
- Are you and Sandra in love with each other? - Yes.
Yes, we are.
But we've done nothing wrong.
That's not what her husband, Kenneth Dalgran, thought, is it? No.
Ken told me a-- a detective agency had a full file on the two of us.
He threatened to twist the facts and to sue her for divorce and name me as correspondent.
Kenneth threatened to do all that unless what, Mr.
Morley? Unless l agreed to turn over my share of the Dalgran Associates partnership to him.
So Sandra Dalgran didn't leave the sanitarium to go to the movies that night, she met you alone in the omice to talk over your problems? No.
No, Sandra didn't know anything about Kenny's threats, or the divorce.
She was so desperately worried about Gus because of the-- The what, Mr.
Morley? Suicide note.
Ken was working in the den.
l went to hang up his jacket and found the note in the jacket pocket.
lt was sort of rambling, disjointed farewell to life.
The note was typed with a signature on the bottom.
Whose signature? August Dalgran.
Uncle Gus.
l-- l didn't understand it, why it should be in Kenny's pocket.
l-- l was afraid to ask Kenny about it.
So you went to the sanitarium to ask Gus himself? Yes, he was furious.
He denied having written or having signed the note.
All but screamed that Kenny planned to kill him and make it look like a suicide.
Why have you lied? Said nothing about the note? Well, l always liked, really liked Uncle Gus.
But l could never make him believe that Kenny was worthless, no good.
l said nothing because l thought-- Because you thought August Dalgran had killed his nephew.
No.
No! Because you didn't want the police to know of a forged suicide note that gave August Dalgran an even stronger motive for murder.
No, he couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Why, l know how he felt about Kenny.
Why-- Why, only a couple of months ago, Uncle Gus was telling me-- Your Honor, l hesitate to object to this, since learned counsel is actually digging up new evidence to strengthen his own client's motive for murder.
But we do object to this rambling hearsay about what Uncle Gus said or felt There's only one person who can testify to things.
That's the defendant himself.
And even though Mr.
Mason seems intent on buttressing the state's case, l cannot believe he would be so foolhardy-- Excuse me, Mr.
Burger.
Yes, Mr.
Mason.
l would like to call as our ne_ witness, the defendant, August Dalgran.
Well, the door was open so l went in.
And in the den lay my nephew, dead.
The gun was beside the body.
And underneath the body was an envelope containing a detective agency report on Sandra and Don Morley.
Well, l don't know how l found the strength to get his body out through the den door.
And then l struggled with it.
Got it in the back of the station wagon.
So l headed for the desert.
You see, l-- l intended to bury Kenneth's body.
l couldn't manage it.
So l drove on to the well hoping that Chuck would help me.
After your arrest, you continued to plead insanity.
Why? Being wrong about Kenneth was bad enough, but l was so wrong about his wife.
Because l thought that she had killed Kenny on account of their divorce business-- and, well, that gun, that was the one l bought for her.
Let's go over the reasons as to why your nephew wanted to kill you.
We know he stole the _100,OOO and used it through your Manzanita Company to buy additional desert acreage.
Now, did you know of this? No.
Oh, and Kenneth never showed me the test report on the well, never.
But that letter you wrote to Chuck, all the letters you wrote to Mr.
Tayback? l wrote none of them.
Kenneth wrote those letters.
And forged your name.
Why, Mr.
Dalgran? Why would he have used the _100,OOO to put the adjacent property in your name? You see, Kenneth was my heir.
l guess, that's why he planned my-- my suicide.
So the entire desert property would have ended up in his hands alone.
No, Mr.
Dalgran, not quite.
Kenny had a partner.
Somebody had discovered his plan.
Then boldly confronted Kenneth and cut himself in on the deal.
Uh, Mr.
Dalgran, those negotiable assets, who would have had to endorse them to make them useable as securities? Morley, Fenton, and myself.
l have here a deposition from an outstanding handwriting expert who has studied those endorsed securities.
Kenneth forged your signature, but only one other, that of Donald Morley.
He didn't have to forge his partner's signature.
He didn't have to forge the name of-- Jay Fenton.
Well, that doesn't prove a thing.
Aren't you forgetting the detective agency, Mr.
Fenton? The one which you prepared that divorce material? All right, all right, yes! l was in it with Ken and l hired the agency to force out Morley.
But l swear to you-- l swear, l knew nothing about killing Gus and making it look like a suicide.
Gus, please-- Gus, believe me.
ls that what you and Ken were fighting over? Killing Gus? l went to see Ken at his house.
He was in the den.
He remembered something.
He left the room.
When he came back, he was like a madman.
He was pointing that gun at me.
And he accused me of having stolen that suicide note that he wrote and of planning to double-cross him.
He was going to kill me.
So l-- l jumped at him.
And we-- we struggled.
And the gun went om.
And he was dead.
You wouldn't have killed Gus, but you would have allowed him to go to the gas chamber? ls that it, Mr.
Fenton? Well, it's no farm area, Gus, and no brine plant, but with a missile base coming, it'll still be a city, all right.
Dalgran City.
That would be a pretty good name.
May well be since it's right ne_ to Dalgran Air Force Base.
You see, Gus wants to hand over to the government a deed for this land as a gift.
A dream come true, Uncle Gus.
You talked enough about it in the past.
You going to just stand there, crying, and not say anything? Well, l'll say this much.
lt's all right with me if it's all right with my partners.
Subtitled By J.
R.
Media Services, Inc.
Burbank, CA