"Your name?"
"Marshall Benedict Turner."
"Your residence?"
"West 106th Street, New York City."
"Your occupation?"
"Member of the firm of L. Turner's Sons, shipowners. In the coast
trade."
"Do you own the yacht Ella?"
"Yes."
"Do you recognize this chart?"
"Yes. It is the chart of the after house of the Ella."
"Will you show where your room is on the drawing?"
"Here."
"And Mr. Vail's?"
"Next, connecting through a bath-room."
"Where was Mr. Vail's bed on the chart?"
"Here, against the storeroom wall."
"With your knowledge of the ship and its partitions, do you think
that a crime could be committed, a crime of the violent nature of
this one, without making a great deal of noise and being heard in
the storeroom?"
Violent opposition developing to this question, it was changed in
form and broken up. Eventually, Turner answered that the
partitions were heavy and he thought it possible.
"Were the connecting doors between your room and Mr. Vail's
generally locked at night?"
"Yes. Not always."
"Were they locked on this particular night?"
"I don't remember."
"When did you see Mr. Vail last?"
"At midnight, or about that. I--I was not well. He went with me
to my room."
"What were your relations with Mr. Vail?"
"We were old friends."
"Did you hear any sound in Mr. Vail's cabin that night?"
"None. But, as I say, I was--ill. I might not have noticed."
"Did you leave your cabin that night of August 11 or early morning
of the 12th?"
"Not that I remember."
"The steersman has testified to seeing you, without your coat, in
the chart-room, at two o'clock. Were you there?"
"I may have been--I think not."
"Why do you say you 'may have been--I think not'?"
"I was ill. The next day I was delirious. I remember almost
nothing of that time."
"Did you know the woman Karen Hansen?"
"Only as a maid in my wife's employ."
"Did you hear the crash when Leslie broke down the door of the
storeroom?"
"No. I was in a sort of stupor."
"Did you know the prisoner before you employed him on the Ella?"
"Yes; he had been in our employ several times."
"What was his reputation--I mean, as a ship's officer?"
"Good."
"Do you recall the night of the 31st of July?"
"Quite well."
"Please tell what you know about it."
"I had asked Mr. Singleton below to have a drink with me. Captain
Richardson came below and ordered him on deck. They had words, and
he knocked Singleton down."
"Did you hear the mate threaten to 'get' the captain, then or later?"
"He may have made some such threat."
"Is there a bell in your cabin connecting with the maids' cabin off
the chart-room?"