, , and makes , .
I'm afraid it's not gonna close, Mr. Dalgran,
unless you put some in your pocket.
I've got a better idea.
You put some in yours.
Now, you know, I always give presents away
on my birthday.
Now, Mr. Dalgran, you know
you said the same thing last week.
Remember?
I told you the bank won't allow it.
I never heard of such a thing.
Now, look here,
you just put that away for your kids.
Mr. Dalgran, you know I'm not married.
Well, same here.
All I'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 office, huh?
Mr. Dalgran.
Dalgran Associates.
No, Mr. Dalgran isn't in yet this morning.
This is his secretary.
May I 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.
I'm afraid he signed another letter
Napoleon B. Santa Claus.
Well, don't look at me.
I'm just a partner, not a psychiatrist.
Let me know when he comes in,
will you, Mrs. Blair?
Morley and I want to see him.
Yes, sir.
- Good morning, Martha.
- Good morning, Mr. Dalgran.
Have the boys come in,
I've got something for them.
Yes, sir.
Morning, boys.
How about some Christmas cash?
In 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 offered $ ,
for that property.
All right, it cost us $ , .
And I'd be selling my dream.
Dalgran Valley.
Look, if this brine well
that we're digging comes in,
it'll be the start of an industry as big
as Toronto, as big as Green River
up in Wyoming.
Chemical recovery plants
for potash and soda.
Housing for employees.
I'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 $ ,
now to close the Barlow deal.
I know there's been a mistake.
A little mix-up in the account.
A shortage of trust funds
of other people's money.
And I'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,
I will not sell that desert acreage.
That ,
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.
It 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.
It 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.
I'll-- I'll sign the letter.
As August Dalgran,
not Napoleon B. Santa Claus, hmm?
[laughs]
There's still time to call your lawyer.
I'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?
I mean, really care?
You know, somebody who--
Please, let me call Perry Mason.
It's nothing, son, nothing.
It's no more important than--
well, than a traffic 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 I go to jail.
If it pleases you to think so, be my guest.
That's a fine thing to say to my uncle.
What should I say?
That he was right to throw $ ,
in small bills out a window
and cause a king-sized traffic 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 ,
disturbing the peace by throwing--
Yes, I know, Your Honor.
I 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, I know. I just want to say--
Mr. Dalgran, how do you plead,
guilty or not guilty?
Oh, guilty.
I 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
I 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.
I'm one of his partners, Don Morley.
He must be demented.
I'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.
I envy him.
By now I could use a sense of humor myself,
oddball or otherwise.
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 I have?
Pretty bleak if he keeps throwing away
the money you hope to inherit
in $ , 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, I haven't seen him.
Well, as his executive assistant,
it shouldn'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?
If 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, I just can't believe
Mr. Dalgran's unbalanced.
Just the other day he came out to look
at the well I'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 I can do.
He sent me definite word
that he did not want me to represent him.
Anyway, this isn't actually a sanity hearing.
It's only a hearing
to determine his competency
to handle his own business affairs.
Surely you can come up with something.
I've got some money saved up.
I can pay you.
Mr. Mason,
he helped put me through school.
He kept us going those three years
my ma was sick.
If he's out of his mind, then so am I.
In 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.
I 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?
I have not examined Mr. Dalgran,
but I have observed many cases
wherein I 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, I'd say it's possible, and likely.
How soon would you know for sure?
Oh, I'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.
I know who said that.
It was Kipling.
If it please the court, may I 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 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.
I mean, she-- she always said
that you're were the smartest,
nicest man she ever knew.
I 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.
I 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, I 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.
In 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 performance.
Per-- Performance?
Oh come off it, Gus.
You're no more mentally incompetent
than I'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 I'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,
I endorsed and turned over to him
$ , of my own stocks and bonds.
Now I want him to sell all those securities
and give you the money.
What am I 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 I could get
the cooperation of your nephew.
Oh, well, Kenneth will do anything for me.
There's a fine boy, Perry. Fine boy.
It's that wife of his-- Oh.
Well--
All right, Gus.
But now can I 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,
Is there any question
that I'm the only one who's sane?
Mason, I realize how close
you are to Uncle Gus, Mr. Mason,
and how much he's always
depended on you.
I 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, I'm afraid that'll be impossible,
Mr. Mason.
You see, as his conservator,
I felt that it was the court's intention
in no way to dissipate my Uncle Gus' estate.
I've already secured an injunction
restraining Ben Hollingsworth
from so much as touching that stock.
I'm sure that you appreciate
the necessity of the move?
Yes, I suppose I do.
You're, uh, very concerned
about your uncle, aren't you?
He's been like a father to me, Mr. Mason.
I'd do anything rather than
to cause him a moment's hurt.
Then I'm correct in assuming
that you wouldn't harm or interfere
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, I'm a little embarrassed, Mr. Mason.
I'm afraid you don't understand
the entire situation
and I can't explain it to you, but--
But what?
Well, I'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.
I tell you, I 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.
Otherwise, I can't help you.
But it's a mistake. I know it, I know it.
He wouldn't do this on his own.
No. No. No.
Mr. Mason, I think that's enough for tonight.
If he did that me,
I'll k*ll him.
The suspending of guardianships
is covered on pages , , and .
And in this other volume
of California Jurisprudence,
- the second, the um--
- [phone rings]
Just a minute. Mr. Mason's office.
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.
I 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,
I'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?
I thought he might have come here
to see Kenneth.
Why, no.
I mean not that I know of.
I just got in myself.
And Kenneth?
Well, he was here when I 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.
I tried his office, 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 I hear the drill rig going
when I passed the well?
They ordered me to shut down.
Who? Fenton and Morley?
And Kenneth.
When I went in to make
my progress report this afternoon.
Look, boy, I've never been one to beg favors,
but, uh--
Well, suppose I ask you
to do something for me.
All you got to do is ask.
I mean, even though it's a--
Perry?
Kenneth with you?
Why, no. He wasn't home, and so I--
Looks like my night for company.
From the looks of it,
it's the Sheriff's department.
- Evening, Chuck.
- Sheriff.
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, scuff marks,
other bits of evidence prove
he was sh*t 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 k*lled before I got there.
Somebody put his body
in the back of the station wagon.
Could be there was nobody home
when I arrived,
and I 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 m*rder, Perry.
Remember, I'm incompetent?
I told you before, insanity and incompetency
are not the same thing.
If you were declared incompetent
to handle your own business affairs,
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.
It'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-- $ , 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.
I suppose Gus told you that. I'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.
I know the Barlow deal.
You had the option, an outside investor
put $ , in trust with you
for a % interest.
Now, you had that money.
Why destroy Gus' dream for additional cash?
Our audits show that August Dalgran
might very well have stolen $ ,
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.
- I 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 $ ,
to the company?
[intercom buzzes]
Yes, Mrs. Blair?
[Mrs. Blair]
There's a call for Mr. Mason
from a Paul Drake.
I'll take it in the other office.
Thank you.
Yes, Paul?
Stay there, I'll be right over.
I hope Mr. Dalgran's all right.
Is there anything I can do to help him?
Would you meet me here at : tonight
and let me go over the company books?
Oh, but, I can't.
At : tonight, Mr. Mason,
there'll be no one else here.
Why did I go there to see him?
Why not, Mr. Mason?
Perhaps I 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 I would imagine the feeling was mutual.
If you want a different answer,
I suggest you ask Uncle Gus for it.
May I ask where you went after seeing him?
I went to a movie. Why not?
You know, for a woman
who just lost her husband,
you seem singularly unmoved.
I'm no angel, Mr. Mason,
also no hypocrite.
I hated Ken Dalgran in life.
I won't cry for him in death.
Mrs. Dalgran, would you mind showing us
your Walther . ?
My what?
We're talking about the g*n your uncle
bought about three weeks ago for you.
Not for me, Mr. Mason.
Perhaps not, but you do know
that he bought a g*n.
I suppose that is no secret, either.
Yes, Kenny told me Gus bought a g*n.
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 g*n.
Why don't you ask Chuck about it?
Well, here you are, Mr. Mason,
a . a*t*matic.
I had it ever since I got out of the army.
You never had a Walther . ?
I never even saw one.
Are you sure now, Chuck?
We were given to understand
that you asked Gus for a g*n.
To k*ll rattlesnakes.
Gus bought you a German p*stol.
I'm sorry, Mr. Mason, but that isn't so.
Why would I ask Mr. Dalgran
for a g*n if I already had one?
Why, indeed?
Manzanita Realty, Incorporated.
Isn'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,
I don't see how he could he k*ll him.
Did he?
[phone rings]
Yes.
Paul, Perry, a big fat zero.
Not that I expected to find much
after the police went through this stuff.
How about you? Any luck?
I'm afraid not, Paul.
I did find a piece of paper
on which a guy had written his name
about times, which makes no sense.
Makes no sense?
Why, Paul, it, uh--
All right, Della.
I'll be back to the office
in about half an hour.
Well, I see you're
working on your homework, Perry.
I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this collection
of McGuffey's Readers will have to go.
The company ledger books?
That's right.
Subpoenaed
by the District Attorney's office.
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.
It seems the night that Kenneth was m*rder*d,
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.
In 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 m*rder.
Shortly after that, you visited him.
Now, Mrs. Dalgran, what time was it
when you left the sanitarium?
About : .
Mrs. Farnham testified that
at approximately : that night,
she saw the defendant stuffing
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?
I returned home around : .
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 :
and arrived home at : .
Your home is less than ten minutes away.
Where were you for that hour
and minutes?
I-- I 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 $ ,
from the Barlow block trust funds.
In 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 different 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.
I have some redirect.
How do you know the defendant,
Mr. Dalgran,
was aware of the contents of that report?
I 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,
I move the answer be stricken out
on the ground that it is purely hearsay.
If it please the court, I 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.
I think I will sustain the objection
at this time and grant the motion to strike.
Yes, I knew about the test.
I knew there wasn't anything worthwhile
in that well we were digging.
And I 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 m*ssile base.
I told Ken about it
when he came out to the well.
And Ken told Mr. Dalgran.
And how do you know that?
Well, I got a letter that referred
to Mr. Tayback and his survey.
It said that this Air Force m*ssile base
would be a real bonanza
to the whole desert area.
It 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 offers
and counter offers by mail
with that company.
Now, Mr. Tayback, in your experience
establishing new m*llitary bases,
what happens when a m*llitary 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 $ , .
Mr. Tayback, this is vitally important.
In 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.
It's only going to hurt you.
Oh, if he'd only tell me the truth.
Stop this pretended mental deterioration.
It's almost like flying blind.
I can only guess where we are.
Where we're going.
All right, Paul, I suppose you have
some more "happy surprises" for me.
Well, the operative tailing Sandra Dalgran
reports that three days after the m*rder,
she went to a downtown theatre
to see a picture called...
Too Soon Blues.
You sound as if you expected that?
No, but I was hoping for it. Go on.
Well, love flew out the window years ago
for the Kenneth Dalgrans.
It 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 I 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 k*lled him.
Your Honor, I move that August Dalgran
be bound over for trial in Superior Court
on a charge of m*rder in the first degree.
Mr. Mason, before I rule
on the prosecution motion,
is it your intention to present
a defense at this time?
It is, Your Honor.
Defense waives opening statement and calls as
its first witness, Mr. Jay Fenton.
I 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 I obtained a court order
and had the safe opened last night.
But-- But that would mean that--
That not only $ , ,
but other valuable company assets
had been stolen from Dalgran Associates.
[Martha]
Yes. Yes, Mr. Mason.
Kenneth had stole $ ,
from the trust fund accounts.
I-- I 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 I exposed him.
I was afraid. I 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 officer of the company,
could use them?
I-- I suppose he forged the endorsements.
The-- The night of the m*rder,
I was-- I was working at the office.
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 I 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 office
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?
su1c1de note.
Ken was working in the den.
I went to hang up his jacket
and found the note in the jacket pocket.
It was sort of rambling,
disjointed farewell to life.
The note was typed
with a signature on the bottom.
Whose signature?
August Dalgran.
Uncle Gus.
I-- I didn't understand it,
why it should be in Kenny's pocket.
I-- I 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 k*ll him and make it look like a su1c1de.
Why have you lied?
Said nothing about the note?
Well, I always liked, really liked Uncle Gus.
But I could never make him believe
that Kenny was worthless, no good.
I said nothing because I thought--
Because you thought August Dalgran
had k*lled his nephew.
No. No!
Because you didn't want the police
to know of a forged su1c1de note
that gave August Dalgran
an even stronger motive for m*rder.
No, he couldn't. He wouldn't.
Why, I know how he felt about Kenny.
Why-- Why, only a couple of months ago,
Uncle Gus was telling me--
Your Honor, I hesitate to object to this,
since learned counsel
is actually digging up new evidence
to strengthen
his own client's motive for m*rder.
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,
I cannot believe he would be so foolhardy--
Excuse me, Mr. Burger.
Yes, Mr. Mason.
I would like to call as our next witness,
the defendant,
August Dalgran.
Well, the door was open so I went in.
And in the den lay my nephew, dead.
The g*n was beside the body.
And underneath the body was an envelope
containing a detective agency report
on Sandra and Don Morley.
Well, I don't know how I found the strength
to get his body out through the den door.
And then I struggled with it.
Got it in the back of the station wagon.
So I headed for the desert.
You see, I-- I intended to bury
Kenneth's body.
I couldn't manage it.
So I 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 I was so wrong about his wife.
Because I thought
that she had k*lled Kenny
on account of their divorce business--
and, well, that g*n,
that was the one I bought for her.
Let's go over the reasons as to why
your nephew wanted to k*ll you.
We know he stole the $ ,
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?
I wrote none of them.
Kenneth wrote those letters.
And forged your name.
Why, Mr. Dalgran?
Why would he have used the $ ,
to put the adjacent property in your name?
You see, Kenneth was my heir.
I guess, that's why he planned my--
my su1c1de.
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.
I 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!
I was in it with Ken and I hired
the agency to force out Morley.
But I swear to you-- I swear,
I knew nothing about k*lling Gus
and making it look like a su1c1de.
Gus, please-- Gus, believe me.
Is that what you and Ken were fighting over?
k*lling Gus?
I 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 g*n at me.
And he accused me of having stolen
that su1c1de note that he wrote
and of planning to double-cross him.
He was going to k*ll me.
So I-- I jumped at him.
And we-- we struggled.
And the g*n went off.
And he was dead.
You wouldn't have k*lled Gus,
but you would have allowed him
to go to the gas chamber?
Is that it, Mr. Fenton?
Well, it's no farm area, Gus,
and no brine plant,
but with a m*ssile 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 next
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, I'll say this much.
It's all right with me
if it's all right with my partners.
05x27 - The Case of the Counterfeit Crank
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Defense attorney Perry Mason defends dozens of falsely accused people during courtroom drama, and he manages to clear all of them, usually by drawing out the real criminal on the witness stand.
Defense attorney Perry Mason defends dozens of falsely accused people during courtroom drama, and he manages to clear all of them, usually by drawing out the real criminal on the witness stand.