Singing of the Dead

by Dana Stabenow

  A. It was by her right foot.

  Q. Did you see a washbasin there?

  A. Yes, sir, near the washstand, close to the body, about a foot from the body.

  Q. What did it contain?

  A. Bloody water, it seemed to me.

  Q. Was there a towel?

  A. Yes, sir, on the washstand. It was damp.

  Q. Was it blood-stained?

  A. Not that I could see.

  Q. Other than the glove and the rock, did you find any other weapon of any kind in the house?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. Did you discover a knife that had the appearance of having been used by any one to inflict the wound upon the person of Mrs. Beecham?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. You made a thorough search of the house and didn’t find any money?

  A. No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. No money other than the box of change, and the jewelry. Mostly just a lot of little trinkets.

  Q. Of any value?

  A. Not of any great value.

  Q. Evidently the person who rifled the drawers and grips was not looking for jewelry?

  A. Didn’t seem to be. If he did, he overlooked a lot of it.

  Q. Did you know Mrs. Angel Beecham in her lifetime?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. You knew her to be known as the Dawson Darling?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Also that she resided at Number 3 Front Street in Niniltna?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did you know her personally or professionally?

  A. I—I’m a married man, judge.

  Q. Answer the question, please, chief.

  A. I knew Mrs. Beecham to say hello to on the street.

  Q. I see. Thank you, chief, you may step down.

  J. R. STEWARD, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:

  Q. What is your name?

  A. J. R. Steward.

  Q. What official position do you hold?

  A. Chief deputy marshal.

  Q. Did you hold that position on the eighth day of April 1915?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did you know Mrs. Angel Beecham during her lifetime?

  A. I did. I knew her when I saw her.

  Q. To say hello to on the street?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did you see her body on the evening of the seventh of April?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Where?

  A. In her house on Main Street, in the town of Niniltna, Alaska.

  Q. What officials were there when you arrived?

  A. Uh, yourself, Judge Brittain, and Chief Fortson, and myself. Oh, and District Attorney Turner.

  Q. Anyone else?

  A. Oh, Doctor Davidson was also there. When I arrived, he was examining the wound in the neck.

  Q. Where was the body at that time?

  A. In the room called the kitchen.

  Q. What was the position of the body?

  A. Lying on her back in a pool of blood, with her feet, one under the washstand and the other right near the middle door.

  Q. Was the body clothed?

  A. Partially. Both legs from just above the knee downwards were clad in red silk stockings with reinforced tops and feet. These were held up by a pair of garters with the tops of the stockings rolled over the garters. The right stocking was torn. Both feet wore high-heeled shoes with rhinestone heels.

  These garments as enumerated are admitted as evidence, marked Exhibit 2.

  Q. Did you assist in making a thorough search of the house?

  A. I did, yes, sir.

  Q. How many times have you searched it?

  A. Two times thoroughly, and two or three times I have been over there since to verify certain things.

  Q. Chief Fortson testified that you found two valises, both cut open.

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Describe the cuts.

  A. They were similar cuts, rectangular in shape. It looked as if a knife had been driven in at one end and pulled lengthwise across the grip, down and back again.

  Q. What would be the purpose of such cuts, Marshal?

  A. To see if anything of value had been hidden in the lining.

  Q. What, if anything, was found that might be construed to be a weapon?

  A. Well, nothing in my search. I was there when the glove and the stone were picked up, but there was nothing besides that found that I have ever seen that would be used as a weapon.

  Q. No knife, or ax or anything of that kind at all?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. In your searches of that house did you find any money?

  A. The only money we found was some miscellaneous change in a little tin box.

  Q. Besides the knife, money was the next thing you were looking for?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did you make a thorough search?

  A. We looked everywhere, into receptacles of all kinds, and even in the water in the basin, and the ashes in the stove, and everywhere. We made a very thorough search.

  WILLIAM WOOD, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:

  Q. Mr. Wood, where do you reside?

  A. Here in Niniltna, Judge.

  Q. What is your occupation?

  A. Messenger.

  Q. Were you acquainted with Mrs. Angel Beecham?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. When did you last see her alive?

  A. Right in her own house, between twelve and twelve-thirty at night.

  Q. What night?

  A. The night before they found her dead.

  Q. So Wednesday after midnight, as she was found dead Thursday night. Where did you see her?

  A. She was standing under an electric light, reading a paper or looking at something. She had on a pair of glasses.

  Q. Do you know what kind of glasses?

  A. No.

  Q. Were they colored glasses or just clear white glasses?

  A. Clear glasses.

  Q. Was she alone when you saw her?

  A. Yes, so far as I could see.

  Q. Did you hear any sound in the house at all?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. Everything seemed to be quiet there then?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did you take a good look at her then?

  A. Why, I looked in through the glass as I passed. I was on my way home from work, sir. My wife was waiting up for me.

  Q. But you saw Mrs. Beecham in passing?

  A. I looked in through the glass as I passed. There’s a little square door with a thin screen curtain on the door, and the blind was up, and I saw her through the thin curtain.

  Q. Did she appear to be excited or nervous or anything of that kind?

  A. No.

  Q. Had you been there before that night?

  A. Oh no, sir. That is, only in passing.

  Q. Did you see any person in that house that night before that time?

  A. No.

  Q. Do you know of any person having been there that night?

  A. No.

  Q. Do you know from her whether or not she had been having any trouble with anyone?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. Do you know whether or not she was expecting any trouble?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. She never told you anything of the sort?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. Did you as messenger carry her anything to eat?

  A. The night before I took her over a dozen oranges.

  Q. What night would that be?

  A. Tuesday evening.

  Q. Did she order the oranges?

  A. Well, she was surprised to get them, so I would have to say no.

  Q. Someone else ordered them for her?

  A. Yes, sir.

  Q. Did she say who that someone was?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. How did you know to pick up the oranges?

  A. It was included with other deliveries I picked up at the grocer’s. She didn’t order them, but they were sent to her direction, and the grocer had me bring them along.

  Q.
Which grocer is that?

  A. Riverview Mercantile.

  Q. Did you see anybody in the vicinity of the house at the time you saw Mrs. Beecham through the window between twelve and twelve-thirty?

  A. I didn’t see anyone near her house. I passed two or three fellows up around the Moose Hall, but it was too dark to tell who they were.

  Q. Did you see any person there acting suspiciously at all?

  A. No, sir.

  Q. No unusual actions?

  A. No, sir. Just like you see every night, fellows walking up and down by there.

  DR. DAVIDSON, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:

  Q. What is your name?

  A. Henry Louis Davidson.

  Q. What is your profession?

  A. Physician and surgeon in the employ of the Kanuyaq Copper Mine.

  Q. Were you called to the house of Mrs. Angel Beecham on the evening of the eighth of April of this year?

  A. My wife was called, and she found me at the Red Cross Drug Store and sent me down.

  Q. Did you recognize the body?

  A. Yes, it was that of Mrs. Angel Beecham.

  Q. Did you make an examination of the body?

  A. I did.

  Q. What did you find as a result of that examination?

  A. I found that the body was cold. Rigor mortis had set in. There was a large gash in the front of the neck, and there was blood on the floor around the head of the victim. It had congealed by that time, of course.

  Q. Was there any evidence of a struggle on the part of the woman just before the gash was made in the neck?

  A. None that I could see.

  Q. Was there any blood spatter over the body?

  A. None except around the neighborhood of the wound on the front of the neck.

  Q. Would the facial expression of the victim show an awareness of imminent danger?

  A. Not necessarily. It did not in this case. The pupils of the eyes were not more than normally dilated.

  Q. Now, Doctor, I will ask you to state just what you found as a result of the autopsy?

  A. On the neck was a large wound, beginning at the posterior border of the right sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle, that is the muscle that is attached here to the edge of the sternum and runs up back of the arm. This muscle on the right side was cut practically through, and the wound extended across the neck to the anterior part of the left sternocleido-mastoid muscle, which muscle on the left side was cut into but not severed on the right side. The length of the wound was five and three-quarter inches.

  Q. Was there any way of ascertaining whether the wound was made from left to right or right to left?

  A. I think if you will allow me to describe the wound more fully it will answer that question. The sterno-cleidomastoid muscle, the vagus nerve, common carotid artery, internal jugular vein, external jugular vein, and the small muscles of the anterior part of the neck, in fact all of the structures in front of the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle are cut, and the spinal cord is partly severed. On the left side of the center line the carotid artery, vagus nerve, internal jugular vein, are cut, the incision extending into the border of the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle, which is not cut entirely through on this side. The trachea and esophagus are severed, the cartilage of the lower end of the third cervical vertebrae had a piece cut off it. It was cut clear and clean as though it had been cut with a very sharp instrument. The muscular tissue lying in front of the fourth cervical vertebrae is cut one-half inch below the cut between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. Passing to the right this cut diverges downward.

  Q. Diverges downward from what?

  A. From the first cut. Mrs. Beecham’s throat was cut twice. The blow or blows must have been struck from the right side of the body. The instrument of death must have entered on the right side. The deeper injuries are on that side, and the knife passed through, and when it hit the vertebrae, it gradually edged out from it. The left edge of the wound is not as deep as the right, but tapers off. The second blow starts with the nick in the upper border of the wound.

  Q. So you are saying the killer is left-handed?

  A. That inference may be drawn, yes, sir.

  Q. What else did the autopsy discover?

  A. On removing the scalp, a contusion is found in the fascia over the left parietal bone. There was no fracture of the skull that we could see, either of the base of the skull or of the skull cap. In removing the top of skull, the surface of the brain just back of the frontal portion shows a congealed condition of the blood vessels.

  Q. What inference may be drawn from this finding, Dr. Davidson?

  A. That there had been some blow on the top of the head sufficient to cause insensibility, the blow on the head indicating that it must have been with a blunt instrument, such a wound as could have been inflicted with this stone in the glove.

  Q. From your examination of the body what would you say caused her death?

  A. The cutting of her throat.

  Q. What is your best opinion as to whether the wound in the throat was inflicted after or before she had been struck with the rock in the glove?

  A. I should say after.

  Q. Why?

  A. Because there was still circulation at the time the blow on the skull was struck, to cause the contusions on the fascia and the hemorrhagic spots in the brain matter.

  Q. In your opinion, what was the position of the body when the blow was struck that cut the throat?

  A. I think the body was lying on the floor.

  Q. Why?

  A. There is no staining of the body in front, and no splashing of blood apparent; it evidently just flowed out on the floor. If the body had been elevated, it would have run down, and there would have been stains on the front of the body.

  Q. You found no evidence of a struggle?

  A. No. The blow on the head must have been struck from behind.

  Q. Thank you, Dr. Davidson.

  A. I should judge Mrs. Beecham to have been struck down over twelve hours prior to the discovery of her body. Rigor mortis—

  Q. Thank you, Dr. Davidson.

  A. Rigor mortis was well established. The house was cold and the blood had congealed around the head. Of course a body will cool a little more rapidly when there is no clothing or covering.

  Q. Thank you, Dr. Davidson.

  [Here the manuscript ends. Nothing further to be found in the Beauchamp inquest file.] Seal of the Archives of the State of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska.

  15

  The gym was packed when they got there. Nothing draws out a crowd in Bush Alaska like a basketball game. Attention was focused on the floor, where the Kanuyaq Kings were battling out the first half with the Cordova Wolverines. When the buzzer rang, both teams hit the locker rooms bloody but unbowed, a bare five points’ difference in the lead. Everyone else got in line for popcorn at the Pep Club booth. Not much had changed since Kate had gone to school here, although her school had been brand-new and this one was more than a little scuffed around the edges.

  Somebody got on a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is my very great privilege to announce that we have both candidates running for the Park senate seat in the house this evening. Pete Heiman, take a bow!” Pete grinned and waved from where he was already working the crowd, shaking hands with elders, winking at every pretty girl, admiring if not actually kissing every baby. There was a wave of polite applause, Kate thought more indicative of the mood Niniltna’s five-point lead had given the crowd than of any general approval of the incumbent. “And his challenger, the lovely and talented Miss Anne Gordaoff!”

  Anne rose to her feet from the third row of bleachers on the Kanuyaq side, her tight smile indicating she had not missed this relegation to the ranks of beauty-pageant contestant. The applause for her was a little louder but not much. Park rats by definition were cynical when it came to politicians. They would be polite to both candidates and no more. Kate wondered how many of them were registered to vote. She guessed maybe fifty per
cent, and knew she was being generous.

  Jim Chopin was there, standing next to Dandy Mike. For someone who drank most of his meals, Dandy Mike was one good-looking man, muscular, graceful, thick dark hair falling over smiling brown eyes, and a grin with two adorable dimples. He was grinning at her. Her eyes passed over him to Jim, who gave her a cool nod and answered a question asked by Cheryl Jeppsen, one of six or eight women loitering with intent near the two men.

  “They’ll be here through the half,” the voice boomed, which Kate thought was Billy Mike’s, “ready to answer any questions you might have. Don’t be shy, that’s what they’re here for.” Whoever it was got off the mike, and there were modest surges toward both candidates. Anne made her way down the bleachers and stepped onto the floor. Something further up the bleachers caught Kate’s eye, a thin, older man with a Chevron cap tugged low over his eyes. She stared, trying to figure out what seemed odd about him, and then realized he still had his jacket on, a down jacket that should have been far too hot for sitting through an entire basketball game. She started moving toward the bleachers without knowing it.

  “Kate?” Dinah said, close behind her. She heard the squeak of tires.

  “Stay here, guys,” she said, not taking her eyes off the man. She’d seen him before. Where the hell had it been, Ahtna, Cordova? The NRA dinner in Valdez?

  She cast a quick look at Jim, who looked up from Cheryl to catch her eye. She jerked her head toward the bleachers and kept going. The gun show in Nabesna?

  She came up to the crowd surrounding Anne. “Excuse me,” she muttered, twisting between two bodies.

  “Well, excuse the hell out of me, too, girl,” Old Sam Dementieff drawled, bright eyes curious in his wizened-up face. His nasty grin faded when he took in the expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, probably, but get back, Uncle, okay?” For maybe the millionth time in her life she cursed her height. All she had ever wanted to be was six feet tall, so she could wear three-inch heels and tower over everyone and intimidate the hell out of them. And see over the top of a crowd. She might have made a mistake wading into this one.

  The crowd parted for a moment, and she caught sight of the man, descending the bleachers, almost to the floor, his hand pulling out of his pocket. “Gun!” she shouted, and rammed her way forward into the center of the circle, catching a very surprised Anne Gordaoff around the waist and bringing her down to the floor.