A Greater World: A woman's journey

by Clare Flynn

  Harriet sat down in the witness box after taking the oath and lowered her eyes, looking fragile and wistful. She fumbled in her velvet clutch bag for a handkerchief, which, from then on, she squeezed between her hands and used very convincingly to dab at her dry eyes, punctuating these actions with the occasional little sigh.

  After giving her name, she turned to the judge and said 'Please, your honour, I would like to apologise for what happened yesterday. I didn't wish to show contempt for the court, but I was very distressed by what's been happening to my family and in particular to my dear father.'

  The judge nodded and waved his hand at the prosecutor to move on.

  'Mrs Winterbourne. Please tell the court what you know about the relationship between your brother Nathaniel and Mrs Kidd.'

  Cody was on his feet immediately.

  The judge waved him aside impatiently, and then turned to the prosecuting counsel. 'Mr Wilson, I will indulge you for a moment but unless you demonstrate quickly that this line of questioning is more than hearsay I will ask for it to be stricken from the record and I will be seeing you afterwards in my chambers. Mrs Winterbourne, you may answer.'

  'My stepmother was having sexual relations with my husband. When I found out I told my brother, Nathaniel, and he confronted her with it.'

  There were gasps in the courtroom.

  'She was the cause of the breakdown of my own marriage. My husband showed no interest in me and walked out on me soon after we were married.' She let out a strangled sob and gazed misty-eyed at the jury.

  'I didn't know what to do or whom to turn to. I was at a loss to understand why he didn't love me and I was all alone in Sydney, where he left me on our honeymoon.' Again she feigned sobbing into her silk handkerchief and the disapproval of Elizabeth from the people in the public gallery was now apparent.

  'I hadn't seen my older brother in many years. We met by chance in Sydney and we were both so happy to be reunited. He had run away to join the army when he was still a boy and we thought he was dead. He was a brave man and was decorated for his bravery at Gallipoli.' A buzz of voices went round the room and the judge hammered his gavel again. 'I was desolate after my husband left me and too embarrassed and ashamed to go back to McDonald Falls and tell my father. I told Nat that our father had married a woman I believed to be a fortune hunter and she was the reason my husband left me. I'd always suspected there was a relationship between them. I believe they knew each other before either came to McDonald Falls and they plotted to get their hands on my father's money.'

  The murmuring in the gallery reached a crescendo, forcing the judge to bang his gavel again impatiently. 'Any more noise and I'll throw the lot of you out of court. Carry on, Mrs Winterbourne.'

  'My brother was very distressed at what I told him and decided to go to McDonald Falls to investigate. The day before he was killed, he telephoned me to say he had come upon that woman and my husband together. He told me terrible things. He had seen them together...' Her voice broke.

  'Objection. Hearsay!' Cody was on his feet.

  'The evidence is admissible where the relevant witness is dead. I will allow it' said the judge. Cody sat down, his face etched with anger.

  Harriet sobbed again and started to cough. The judge signalled for the usher to bring her a glass of water.

  'Mrs Winterbourne, please don't distress yourself. We can take a break now and reconvene later.'

  'Please, Your Honour, I'd rather get this over. It's painful and I don't think I'll have the strength to do this again.'

  She squeezed the handkerchief and turned to face the judge, lip trembling. 'He saw them together at the house at Wilton's Creek. They didn't know he was there. He saw them through the window. They were naked. They were having ... sexual inter...' Again her voice broke and the judge nodded sympathetically to her.

  'Go on, my dear. What happened next?'

  'Nat told my father what they were up to but he refused to believe it.' Her voice rose. 'That woman has always had a terrible hold on Pa. He's been hoodwinked. He believed her rather than his own son.'

  The judge appeared to be as moved by Harriet's testimony as the men of the jury evidently were. He called to the usher, 'Bring the witness more water.'

  After further judicious patting of the eyes with her handkerchief and a few sips of water, Harriet continued. 'Nat was going to Wilton's Creek to try to persuade her to go away and leave our family alone. He was going to appeal to her better judgement and good nature ... he didn't realise she doesn't have any. She just wants my father's money.'

  She buried her face in her hands.

  From that point on, Elizabeth observed the proceedings in a daze. She sensed the hostility in the eyes of the jury. The people around her in the courtroom were whispering and nudging each other. Many were local townspeople, who only a few months ago had written letters of condolence at the loss of the children and now looked at her as though she were the reincarnation of Jezebel. She looked over at Jack Kidd in the dock. He was expressionless, staring ahead as though blind to all the emotion in the room.

  Cody was frowning. He approached the bench and said something to the judge, who summoned the prosecution counsel to join them. After a few moments, the judge adjourned the proceedings for the day.

  As the crowd spilled out of the room, noisily discussing what had unfolded, Cody pulled Elizabeth aside.

  'This is not good at all. Not good at all. Now, before you protest your innocence, Mrs Kidd, I don't want to know. There's no way we can prove it either way, but the inference of your alleged infidelity is enough to swing the jury against you.'

  Elizabeth did not know what to say. She felt her cheeks burning and knew she would be unable to deny the truth about her liaison with Winterbourne if asked.

  'I am about to meet the judge and Wilson in chambers. I will be arguing that the last witness's testimony should be struck from the record. Convincing that old fool is unlikely. One never knows what Justice Hargold will do. He rejoices in being unpredictable and is the personification of the expression 'a law unto himself'. Even if we succeed and he directs the jury to ignore Mrs Winterbourne's testimony, I doubt they will. Every last man of them now believes your husband has a motive for pre-meditatively killing his son.'

  'What motive? He was protecting William and me. You know what Nat Kidd was capable of!'

  'I agree with you, Mrs Kidd, but I fear the gentlemen of the jury won't. As far as they are concerned, Jack Kidd killed his own son, a war veteran and hero, in a fit of anger because he maligned your good name. As so many witnesses have already testified, there was no love lost between father and son. I have very carefully built up our testimony to demonstrate that Nat Kidd was a thoroughly bad character, who merited no familial love or concern, but that very strategy has made it all too easy for them to believe that years of pent-up anger and frustration have culminated in the son impugning the honour and reputation of the stepmother. The prosecution has sown the seeds that Jack Kidd set out for Wilton's Creek with the intent of killing his son.'

  'But that's wrong!' Elizabeth gave a plaintive wail.

  The following morning one last witness was called. Doctor Reilly made his way to the stand, shaking his head sadly as he passed Kidd in the dock.

  Cody ran through his questioning quickly. The doctor confirmed the general good character of Jack and the thoroughly bad one of Nat. He confirmed what Elizabeth had said about Kidd willingly waiting for the doctor to return with the constable. Cody thanked him and sat down.

  Elizabeth had started to hope that things might swing their way again, with this final testimony fresh in the jurors' minds, until Wilson began to question the witness. 'Doctor Reilly, when you attended the scene of the crime on September 2nd last, what was the purpose of your visit?'

  'I was asked by Jack Kidd to treat his son William Kidd for a knife wound.'

  'When you arrived at Wilton's Creek, what did you see?'

  'There was what appeared to be a body under an oil skin
outside the house but whoever it was, he was clearly beyond my care so I went inside to treat William Kidd. Mrs Kidd had done a good job cleaning the wound already, so I made sure he was comfortable, treated the wound with antiseptics and gave him something to manage his pain.'

  'What happened then?'

  'Mr Kidd showed me the body outside the house in front of the veranda steps and I confirmed that the man was dead.'

  'Did you recognise the victim?'

  'It was Nathaniel Kidd, Mr Kidd's eldest son. I hadn't seen him in several years, but I've known the family for years and I knew at once it was he.'

  'Did the defendant tell you how his son came to be lying dead there?'

  'He said he'd shot him.'

  'And you sir? What did you say to that?'

  'I expressed surprise. I examined the body and ascertained he had been shot in the back. It was obvious that Mr Kidd had mistaken his son for an intruder.'

  'Did you put that assumption to the defendant?'

  The doctor hesitated, then replied. 'I think I might have done.'

  'How did he reply?'

  The doctor hesitated again and looked around the court as though seeking deliverance from the need to answer the question.

  'I've known Jack Kidd for twenty-three years and he's a good man.'

  'Answer the question, please, Dr Reilly.'

  'He told me he knew it was his son.'

  'Did you ask why he had come to shoot his own son dead?'

  'Yes.'

  The judge looked impatient and spoke tetchily to the doctor 'Please answer the question, Doctor. And Mr Wilson, please take more trouble in crafting your questions. I don't appreciate having my time wasted.' He waved his hand at Dr Reilly.

  'He said he should have killed Nat years ago; that he was a bad person and had it coming to him.'

  There were gasps throughout the packed courtroom.

  Wilson smelt blood and moved close to the witness box, 'Let me be sure I've understood this, Dr Reilly. The defendant said to you "I should have killed him years ago"?'

  The doctor looked down then brushed his hand across his brow. 'Yes.'

  'Did the defendant appear to be distressed by what had happened?'

  The judge looked annoyed. 'Mr Wilson, you are leading the witness. This is the last time I'll ask you to choose your words more carefully.'

  The prosecution counsel tugged at his moustache and rephrased his enquiry. 'Can you tell the jury how Mr Kidd reacted to what had happened?'

  'He was distressed. Very concerned about the lad. Yes, worried for the boy.'

  'That is not what I meant, Doctor. Let me make myself clearer. How did the defendant react to the fact that he had shot dead his elder son? In the back. Did he show any signs of anguish, remorse or contrition?'

  The doctor paused before answering and looked apologetically towards Elizabeth. 'No, he did not.'

  'No further questions.'

  As each barrister made his concluding arguments, Elizabeth listened with a growing sense of alarm. Harriet's intervention had blown a hole through all Cody's carefully constructed arguments and Elizabeth's good name with the jury. The doctor's testimony had made it worse.

  Inside her coat pocket she found the little stone talisman Michael had given her and squeezed it tightly in her palm. She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the sound of Wilson's voice. The rather bored drone, with which he had started the proceedings, was replaced by a dramatic rise and fall in timbre, as he strove to deliver an oratorical display.

  He concluded with the words 'I put it to you, gentlemen of the jury, that the defendant on the afternoon of September 2nd 1924, with malice aforethought, set out for his smallholding at Wilton's Creek, knowing his elder son to be there and with the clear intent to take his life, harbouring a long felt grudge against his son and disbelieving his story, in favour of that of his young, attractive and wayward wife...'

  'I must object' Cody said. 'Mrs Kidd and her reputation are not on trial today.'

  The judge turned to the jury. 'Ignore what Counsel has just said about Mrs Kidd being wayward.'

  The corrective words served instead to reinforce the message.

  The prosecution counsel continued. 'Fearful of the scandal that his son might unleash on the reputation of his wife, he cold-bloodedly shot him in the back. Yes, I am sure the fact that Nathaniel Kidd had drawn a knife upon his brother was cause in itself for the father to seek to protect the younger, well-loved son, from the older, estranged one, but I put it to you that the defendant's prompt arrival with a shotgun at the ready is a clear indication of malice aforethought.'

  He paused in front of the jurors and leaned his arms on the front of their bench and cast his eyes around them all in turn, before pulling himself up to his not very substantial full height and puffing his narrow chest out as far as it would go. 'Gentlemen, you may feel that the defence has painted a picture of the character of the deceased as a less than attractive person. That may be true. But I remind you that it is not the deceased who is on trial here. Whether he had a tendency to walk a little too often on the wilder side of life is not the point. He was twenty-two years old, fit and healthy and with his whole life ahead of him. A man who, whatever his faults, had risked his life for King and country. Who knows, once those wild oats were all sown, he may have become a man of honour and character? Perhaps a man of the law, a man of the cloth, or maybe just an honest and humble smallholder? We will never know. I repeat, we will never know. And we will never know because his own father was blinded by anger and fear that a scandal might not only cost him his own reputation but possibly also cost him his pretty young wife.

  'My esteemed colleague will try to convince you that this was a spontaneous act to defend his younger son and his wife, but I say again, gentlemen, why then did he arrive on the scene with his gun at the ready? Why did he not call out to the deceased and ask him to back off and drop the knife? Doctor Reilly, a long-standing friend and advisor of the Kidd family, has testified that the defendant was without remorse or contrition when he realised he had shot his own son. Indeed the defendant was so unrepentant that he declared – "I should have done it years ago." Think about that, gentlemen: what clearer admission of full, unambiguous guilt can you have than his own words "I should have done it years ago".

  'Nat Kidd was outnumbered. The defendant could easily have pulled the victim away from ...that woman... instead of executing him in cold blood – shooting him down. To murder his own son, his first-born child and to do it when his back was turned. He shot him in the back, straight through the heart. Had he intended just to stop the attack he could have shot him in a leg or an arm. No, gentlemen, this was no spontaneous act of a man defending his family, it was the cruel and despicable, premeditated murder of a young man in the prime of his life.'

  With that, he sat down with a thump of his fist on the desk. Clapping started in the back of the court, but was immediately silenced by the judge.

  She knew there was no hope for Kidd now. Cody, with all his Latin legal jargon, was no match for the rhetoric of the prosecution counsel with his flagrant use of emotion. The judge looked bored and ready to send the jury away. Elizabeth felt he too had been swayed by the tide of emotion in the court. She knew the hope was forlorn of him directing the jury to focus on the facts, rather than what her untrained mind felt was circumstantial evidence. While there had never been any doubt that Kidd had pulled the trigger, she was sure that until Harriet's intervention, he would have been seen as acting in defence of his family and would have been exonerated. Now she knew that even the lesser offence of manslaughter, which the judge had asked the jury to consider alongside murder, was looking like a very long shot.

  Her fears were grounded. The foreman, a burly man with a full beard, stood to attention when the jury returned after barely an hour's deliberation, and delivered the verdict in stentorian tones. 'Guilty!'

  There was no time to take it in before the judge reached beneath his bench and pulled out the
black cap and placed it at what was almost a jaunty angle atop his wig.

  'John Vernon Kidd, having been found guilty by a jury of your peers to the crime of murder of Nathaniel John Kidd on September 2nd nineteen hundred and twenty-four, the sentence of the court is that you will be taken from this place to a lawful prison, where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead and thereafter your body buried within the precincts of the prison; and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.'

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Sacrifice

  Lying in bed that night, unable to believe the import of the judge's words, she allowed herself some self-pity. Didn't she deserve to feel sorry for herself? As she faced the prospect of Kidd going to the gallows, she realised she did care for him in a strange, unfathomable way. Yes, surely she had the right to shed some tears into her pillow and rail against the unfairness of it all.

  The night was long and sleep eluded her. As she tossed and turned in the big empty bed, she had never felt so alone. Everyone she'd ever cared for had been taken from her except for William and Verity. Was she cursed? Bringing disaster upon all those fool enough to get close to her? Her nerve endings felt exposed, painful, raw.

  She missed Kidd. His gruffness and monosyllabic responses. His rough unromantic caresses. The long periods of silence and the barked orders. She had felt wanted and, recently, needed. He had a strange way of showing it – or rather he actively tried to cover it up, but she knew he'd become reliant on her and there was no mistaking the physical need he had for her. Eventually, she reflected, it was probably inevitable that such a dependency would give rise to some reciprocal feeling. It was not love and never could be, but there was a very real fondness on her part for him.

  The icy chill she'd experienced when the judge pronounced his terrible sentence passed through her again whenever she thought about what awaited Kidd. The words "Hanged by the neck until you are dead" conjured up terrifying images. She tried to put them out of her head and to banish the thought of that thin, wiry man dangling from a rope. Would it be a fast death? She knew enough to know it depended on the calibre of the executioner and how carefully he made his calculations.