Deadly Hero: The High Society Murder that Created Hysteria in the Heartland by Morrow Jason Lucky

Author:Morrow, Jason Lucky [Morrow, Jason Lucky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jason Lucky Morrow
Published: 2015-05-19T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

HARMON PHILLIPS KNEW SOMETHING BIG was about to happen. The lunch recess had ended, and by 1:15, the reporters, attorneys, and court personnel were settling back down in the courtroom. Most of the spectators brought sack lunches with them and hadn’t even left—not wanting to lose their seats to others waiting outside to get in. When the trial resumed, Anderson’s “mystery witness” would take the stand. Earlier that morning, the Tribune reporter caught up with forty-two-year-old Edna Harman and carefully prodded her with questions. Although matronly and plump, it was obvious that she was once a very attractive woman, with a strong jawline that supported a wide face, high cheekbones, and a small nose. Her blue eyes matched the blue dress she wore beneath a fashionable black coat with a fur-trimmed collar that came with a perky little hat. When she sat down to talk to Phillips, she looked nervously around the small lobby of the Pawnee Hotel and confided to the newspaper reporter her big secret—that ever since she’d told Anderson what she knew, her life had been threatened.

A lot.

“They’ve told me that it would happen within thirty days after the trial,” she told him in an overly affected voice. “I know the men who came to see me, and if I am asked, I shall tell their names from the witness stand.”

But as a noble mother, she of course was not concerned for her own safety, but that of her children. She had the way it would happen all figured out. “The threats have mostly been toward my eighteen-year-old son who carries the mail,” she whispered. “It would be awfully easy some dark night for there to be an accident on the road from Tulsa to Ponca City.”[36]

When Phillips queried her for concrete details, she dodged his question with a vague answer. “Some of the threats have been of kidnapping and others of death.” They were, she added, meant to keep her off the stand.

The apartment-building manager had informed the prosecution about the threats, and at her insistence, they assigned county investigator Jack Bonham to be her bodyguard. He was sitting just a few feet away, reading a newspaper, oblivious to all the assassins targeting this poor woman.

Phillips immediately sensed something was off with Mrs. Harman and raised a question about some interesting facts leaked by the defense team. “Are you the same Mrs. Harman that appeared as a witness in the Birl Shepherd murder trial five years ago?”

Mrs. Harman’s face dropped when Phillips mentioned Shepherd’s name, but she recovered and manufactured a coy little smile. “What’s your next question please?”

“Are you not the same Mrs. Harman who offered evidence in another trial in Tulsa some years before that case?”

Again, she smiled, and repeated, “What are your next questions?”

“What other trials have you appeared in?”

“I would rather not answer those questions until I reach the witness stand.”

“The defense attorneys will ask you then,” Phillips pointed out.

“Well, I’m not so sure I will take the stand,” she replied haughtily.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.