Part 23 (2/2)
”In the forecastle, with the crew, until a day or so before the murders. Then I moved into the after house, and slept in a storeroom there.”
”Why did you make the change?”
”Mrs. Johns, a guest, asked me to do so. She said she was nervous.”
”Who slept in the after house?”
”Mr. and Mrs. Turner, Miss Lee, Mrs. Johns, and Mr. Vail. The stewardess, Mrs. Sloane, and Karen Hansen, a maid, also slept there; but their room opened from the chartroom.”
A diagram of the after house was here submitted to the jury. For the benefit of the reader, I reproduce it roughly. I have made no attempt to do more than to indicate the relative positions of rooms and companionways.
_____ Forward |_____|Compartment ___________________________|_____|______________________________ bath |_____| / / ___ ___ |_____| /Turner's/ Mrs. /room_ __/ John's /____/ / room Main Cabin / / / ___ ___ / /_ _/bath Mrs. / Vail's /room Turner's ___ /________/ room / ______/linen ____ /__/store/ bath /__ room / /___/____/ __ /general / Miss /supplies/ Lee's /________/ room _____________ _____/________/butler's _maid's Chart Room / pantry room used as library / bunk--- ___ and lounge____ / ______________|____|_/ bunk (wheel)|____|
”State what happened on the night of August 11 and early morning of August 12.”
”I slept in the storeroom in the after house. As it was very hot, I always left the door open. The storeroom itself was a small room, lined with shelves, and reached by a pa.s.sageway. The door was at the end of the pa.s.sage. I wakened because of the heat, and found the door locked on the outside. I lit a match, and found I could unscrew the lock with my knife. I thought I had been locked in as a joke by the crew. While I was kneeling, some one pa.s.sed outside the door.”
”How did you know that?”
”I felt a board rise under my knee as if the other end had been trod on. Shortly after, a woman screamed, and I burst open the door.”
”How long after you felt the board rise?”
”Perhaps a minute, possibly two.”
”Go on.”
”Just after, the s.h.i.+p's bell struck six--three o'clock. The main cabin was dark. There was a light in the chart-room, from the binnacle light. I felt my way to Mr. Vail's room. I heard him breathing. His door was open. I struck a match and looked at him. He had stopped breathing.”
”What was the state of his bunk?”
”Disordered--horrible. He was almost hacked to pieces.”
”Go on.”
”I ran back and got my revolver. I thought there had been a mutiny-”
”Confine yourself to what you saw and did. The court is not interested in what you thought.”
”I am only trying to explain what I did. I ran back to the storeroom and got my revolver, and ran back through the chart-room to the after companion, which had a hood. I thought that if any one was lying in ambush, the hood would protect me until I could get to the deck. I told the helmsman what had happened, and ran forward. Mr. Singleton was on the forecastle-head. We went below together, and found the captain lying at the foot of the forward companion, also dead.”
”At this time, had you called the owner of the s.h.i.+p?”
”No. I called him then. But I could not rouse him.”
”Explain what you mean by that.”
<script>