Defending Alice: a Novel of Love and Race in the Roaring Twenties by Richard Stratton

Author:Richard Stratton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Blackface

When court reconvened after the lunch recess, before the jury was brought in, Mr. Mills stood to address Judge Morschauser and to ask if the defense’s cross-examination of the plaintiff might be halted temporarily to allow him to call “a special witness, Your Honor, a well-known entertainer who needs to leave for an afternoon public engagement and whose busy schedule will allow only this opportunity to appear.”

“Your Honor,” I protested, “this is most irregular. A special witness? This is the first I am hearing of a special witness. Counsel for the defense is quite far along in cross-examination of the plaintiff. Surely Mr. Mills can delay calling his mystery witness until after the defense has finished with Mr. Rhinelander.”

Mills replied, “Al Johnson . . . or Jolson, I believe he is.” Which response provoked a ripple of laughter from the spectators; Mills wasn’t even sure of his famous witness’s name. “And, due to his professional commitments, this afternoon is the only opportunity he has to appear.”

It was clear what Mills was attempting to accomplish by asking leave to introduce a new witness in the middle of my heated cross-examination. He wanted some more time with Kip to settle the boy’s frayed nerves and to counsel him on how to resist my vicious onslaughts. Furthermore, he wished to distract the jury and give them an opportunity to forget how poorly Rhinelander had been withstanding my questioning. Finally, he no doubt hoped this interruption might throw me off my rhythm and upset my attack while giving the jury some unexpected amusement.

“But what relevant evidence of any value could this witness possibly provide?” I wanted to know.

Mills replied, “Well, Your Honor and Mr. Davis and the jury will no doubt recall that the defendant, Alice Jones, had mentioned in one of her letters to Leonard Rhinelander that the singer, actor, and minstrel entertainer Al Jolson had been appearing at Paul Smith’s White Pine Camp, a well-known resort in the Adirondack Mountains, where the defendant was apparently employed as a chambermaid. The defendant intimated that Mr. Jolson flirted with her while he was staying there during an appearance at the resort. Mr. Jolson categorically denies this event ever took place; he told us that these allegations have caused him considerable embarrassment and some unwanted tension in his marriage due to the fact that his wife was made aware of Miss Jones’s comments while reading news reports on this trial.

“Mr. Rhinelander believes, and we wish to show the jury, how dishonest and duplicitous Miss Jones was in her desperation to hold on to the promise of a life of riches and luxury should she be successful in keeping Leonard Rhinelander enthralled and dupe him into marrying her, and that she brought up the false accusations against Mr. Jolson in her letter as part of a deceitful attempt to provoke the Rhinelander boy’s jealousy. Therefore we believe Mr. Jolson’s testimony is relevant to impugn the defendant’s credibility to prove the plaintiff’s claim of fraud.”

Judge Morschauser

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