1:39:01
Kindly turn to the dedication page.
1:39:05
Would you please read the dedication?
1:39:08
"To the gal with the hoe."
1:39:09
- To whom does that refer?
- To me.
1:39:11
Isn't it strange Mr. Harland
didn't dedicate his new book to his wife?
1:39:15
I don't think Ellen was interested
in the book.
1:39:17
- But you were?
- Very much.
1:39:19
- You worked with him on it?
- The final draft.
1:39:21
- Written while Ellen was in the hospital.
- Yes.
1:39:23
You were together a great deal
during Ellen's time in the hospital.
1:39:26
Well, we were...
1:39:28
- Working on the book.
- Yes.
1:39:29
Will you tell the jury where most
of the action in this book takes place?
1:39:32
Taxco, Mexico.
1:39:34
- Had you been to Mexico before?
- No.
1:39:36
During the time you lived
with the Berents...
1:39:38
...had you gone away on a trip alone?
- No.
1:39:40
- Why did you decide to go to Taxco?
- I wanted to get away.
1:39:43
- Expect to meet anybody there you knew?
- No.
1:39:46
- Expect to be joined there by anybody?
- No.
1:39:48
- Did Mr. Harland suggest to go to Taxco?
- No.
1:39:51
Get back to the dedication.
1:39:53
Why did Mr. Harland refer to you
as "the gal with the hoe"?
1:39:56
- I'm rather fond of gardening.
- You did all of the gardening?
1:39:59
- Yes.
- Did you ever use chemical sprays...
1:40:02
...or insecticides?
- Yes.
1:40:03
- Any containing arsenic, for example?
- I don't know.
1:40:07
I show you a bottle here in evidence.
Do you recognize it?
1:40:09
Yes, it was mine.
It held bath salts.
1:40:12
- You aware of what it contains now?
- Yes.
1:40:14
By what chemical process do you
suppose bath salts turned into poison?
1:40:17
- I don't know.
- I show you a leather jacket in evidence.
1:40:20
- Recognize it?
- It's mine.
1:40:21
I show you an envelope in evidence.
Recognize it?
1:40:24
- It's the envelope containing sugar.
- Which the State chemist testified...
1:40:27
...was 60 percent arsenic.
- Yes.
1:40:29
Which the sheriff testified
was in the pocket of this jacket?
1:40:32
- Yes.
- Did you wear this jacket...
1:40:34
...on the day of the picnic?
- For a while.
1:40:36
- Then I gave it to Ellen.
- Why did you do that?
1:40:38
- She complained of feeling chilly.
- So you loaned her the jacket?
1:40:42
- Yes.
- Will you tell the jury who prepared...
1:40:44
...the food in the picnic hamper?
- Ellen and I.
1:40:47
Who prepared the sugar?
1:40:49
- I don't know. It must've been Ellen.
- Why do you think it was Ellen?
1:40:52
She was the one who took sugar
with coffee.
1:40:54
- Who served coffee on the picnic day?
- I did.
1:40:57
- You gave her the sugar.
- Yes.
1:40:58
- That night she was dead.
- Yes.