All language subtitles for Perry Mason S05E27 The Case of the Counterfeit Crank.DVDRip.NonHI.en.CBS

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90, 95, and 5 makes 2,000.

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
$100,000 for that property.

All right, it cost us $200,000.

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
$100,000 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 100,000 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.

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?

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
$2,000 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 415,

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 $2,000 chunks.

And paying hundred-dollar
fines for doing it.

- 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 should'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.

Della... Della, this is Chuck
Blair. You know his mother,

Mr. Dalgran's secretary Martha.

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 1461 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

$100,000 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 kill him.

The suspending of guardianships is
covered on pages 338, 334, and 384.

And in this other volume
of California Jurisprudence,

the second, the um...

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.

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.

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.

Kenneth Dalgran.

Dead.

You went to you nephew's house.

Blood stains, scuff marks,
other bits of evidence prove

he was shot 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
killed 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 murder, 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...
$100,000 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 $100,000 in trust with you

for a 50% interest.

Now, you had that money.

Why destroy Gus'
dream for additional cash?

Our audits show that August Dalgran
might very well have stolen $100,000

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
$100,000 to the company?

Yes, 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 8:00 tonight

and let me go over
the company books?

Oh, but, I can't.

At 8:00 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 .22?

My what?

We're talking about the gun your uncle
bought about three weeks ago for you.

Not for me, Mr. Mason.

Perhaps not, but you do
know that he bought a gun.

I suppose that is
no secret, either.

Yes, Kenny told me
Gus bought a gun.

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 gun.

Why don't you
ask Chuck about it?

Well, here you are,
Mr. Mason, a .45 automatic.

I had it ever since I
got out of the army.

You never had a Walther .22?

I never even saw one.

Are you sure now, Chuck?

We were given to understand
that you asked Gus for a gun.

To kill rattlesnakes.

Gus bought you a German pistol.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mason,
but that isn't so.

Why would I ask Mr. Dalgran
for a gun 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 kill him.

Did he?

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 50 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
murdered, 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 murder.

Shortly after that,
you visited him.

Now, Mrs. Dalgran, what time
was it when you left the sanitarium?

About 9:30.

Mrs. Farnham testified that at
approximately 11:00 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 11:15.

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 9:30

and arrived home at 11:15.

Your home is less
than ten minutes away.

Where were you for
that hour and 45 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.

Well, there's no question of it.

August Dalgran stole $100,000
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 missile 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 missile
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 military bases,

what happens when a military 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 $100,000.

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 murder,

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 killed him.

Your Honor, I move that August Dalgran
be bound over for trial in Superior Court

on a charge of murder
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 $100,000, but
other valuable company assets

had been stolen from
Dalgran Associates.

Yes. Yes, Mr. Mason.

Kenneth had stole $100,000

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.

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 murder, 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?

Suicide 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
kill him and make it look like a suicide.

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 killed his nephew.

No. No!

Because you didn't want the police
to know of a forged suicide note

that gave August Dalgran an
even stronger motive for murder.

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 murder.

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 gun 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 killed Kenny

on account of their
divorce business...

And, well, that gun, that
was the one I bought for her.

Let's go over the reasons as to
why your nephew wanted to kill you.

We know he stole the $100,000

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 $100,000
to put the adjacent property in your name?

You see, Kenneth was my heir.

I guess, that's why he
planned my... My suicide.

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 killing Gus

and making it
look like a suicide.

Gus, please... Gus, believe me.

Is that what you and Ken
were fighting over? Killing 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 gun at me.

And he accused me of having
stolen that suicide note that he wrote

and of planning to
double-cross him.

He was going to kill me.

So I... I jumped at him.

And we... we struggled.

And the gun went off.

And he was dead.

You wouldn't have killed 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 missile 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.

Subtitled By J.R. Media
Services, Inc. Burbank, CA