The Breaking Point - Page 216/275

A. "I cannot tell very much. I am confused, too. I was given a sleeping

powder last night. I can only say that I heard a shot, and thought at

first that it was fired from outside. I ran down the stairs, and back to

the billiard room. As I entered the room Mr. Donaldson came in through

a window. My husband was lying on the floor. That is all."

Q. "Where was Judson Clark?"

A. "He was leaning on the roulette table, staring at the--at my husband."

Q. "Did you see him leave the room?"

A. "No. I was on my knees beside Mr. Lucas. I think when I got up he

was gone. I didn't notice."

Q. "Did you see a revolver?"

A. "No. I didn't look for one."

Q. "Now I shall ask you one more question, and that is all. Had there

been any quarrel between Mr. Lucas and Mr. Clark that evening in your

presence?"

A. "No. But I had quarreled with them both. They were drinking too

much. I had gone to my room to pack and go home. I was packing when I

heard the shot."

Witness excused and Mr. John Donaldson called.

Q. "What is your name?"

A. "John Donaldson."

Q. "Where do you live?"

A. "At the Clark ranch."

Q. "What is your business?"

A. "You know all about me. I'm foreman of the ranch."

Q. "I want you to tell what you know, Jack, about last night. Begin

with where you were when you heard the shot."

A. "I was on the side porch. The billiard room opens on to it. I'd been

told by the corral boss earlier in the evening that he'd seen a man

skulking around the house. There'd been a report like that once or

twice before, and I set a watch. I put Ben Haggerty at the kitchen wing

with a gun, and I took up a stand on the porch. Before I did that I

told Judson, but I don't think he took it in. He'd been lit up like a

house afire all evening. I asked for his gun, but he said he didn't

know where it was, and I went back to my house and got my own. Along

about eight o'clock I thought I saw some one in the shrubbery, and I

went out as quietly as I could. But it was a woman, Hattie Thorwald, who

was working at the ranch.