Beware the Curves

testimony, you’d be released from jail and not be prosecuted on a charge of dope peddling?”
    “No, sir, not in those words.”
    Quinn looked scornfully at the witness.
    “How long have you had those shoes?” Quinn asked, pointing disdainfully at the shoes.
    “I got ’em yesterday.”
    “Where did you get them?”
    “In a shoe store.”
    “You’re supposed to be in jail. How did you get out of jail?”
    “The sheriff let me out.”
    “Where did you get those pants?”
    “In a clothing store.”
    “When?”
    “Yesterday.”
    “Where did you get that coat?“
    “In a clothing store.”
    “When?”
    “Yesterday.”
    “Who paid for the suit?”
    “The sheriff.”
    “Who paid for the shoes?”
    “The sheriff.”
    “When was your hair cut last?”
    “Yesterday.”
    “Who paid for the haircut?”
    “The sheriff.”
    “Where was your hair cut?”
    “At a barber shop uptown.”
    “Don’t you know they have barbers in the jail?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “How long have you been there?”
    “Four and a half months.”
    “You’ve had your hair cut in that time, haven’t you?“
    “Yes, sir.”
    “By whom?”
    “By a barber in the jail.”
    “But yesterday, after you had run to the officers with this story, after you had played stool pigeon for them, a jail haircut wasn’t good enough for you. In order to impress this jury, the officers took you up to a high- class barber shop and gave you the works, didn’t they?“
    “Well, they took me uptown.”
    “That’s a new necktie you have on, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who paid for it?”
    “The sheriff.”
    Barney Quinn turned from the man in disgust.
    “That’s all,” he said.
    “No further questions,” Irvine said.
    The witness left the stand.
    “Now then, Your Honor,” Quinn said, “I renew my motion to strike out the entire testimony of the witness Helen Manning because it becomes apparent that anything she told Mrs. Endicott could not possibly have been communicated to the defendant prior to the death of the decedent. I renew my motion that the district attorney be admonished for misconduct, and that the jury be instructed to disregard everything that the district attorney said and everything that the witness Helen Manning said on the stand.”
    Judge Lawton leaned forward on the bench, weighed his words carefully. “The motion to strike the testimony of Helen Manning will be granted. The jury is instructed to pay no attention whatever to the testimony of this witness. The effect will be as though this witness had never been called to the stand.
    “The Court recognizes the assignment of misconduct on the part of the district attorney to this extent. The jurors are instructed to pay no attention to any remarks made by the district attorney or to any statements made by counsel on either side except insofar as those statements are substantiated by evidence that is permitted to go before the jury. The Court instructs the jurors to completely disregard all statements made by the district attorney in connection with the testimony of the witness Manning to the effect that he would connect up the testimony.
    “Now then, Mr. Prosecutor, proceed with your next witness.”
    “My next witness, if the Court please,” Irvine said, “is one who will still further connect up the testimony that—”
    “That testimony has been stricken,” Judge Lawton rebuked. “You may move to have it reinstated if at any time you can connect it up. The Court feels that the proof was put on out of order. The Court feels that the prosecutor should have put on any evidence he might have had seeking to connect up the testimony of the witness Manning before putting the witness Manning on the stand.
    “The Court feels that any further reference on the part of the prosecution to testimony which has been stricken from the record may well constitute prejudicial misconduct. Now, proceed.”
    “Very well,” Irvine said, with poor grace, “call Steven Beardsley.”
    Beardsley, a tall, gangling individual, came to the stand and was sworn.
    “What’s your occupation, Mr. Beardsley?”
    “I’m deputy sheriff in this county.”
    “Is there any particular field in which you have specialized, any field in the nature of law enforcement?“
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What is that field?”
    “Ballistics.Firearms identification.”
    “Will you tell us what training you have had along those lines?”
    “I have studied under several of the leading men in the