'Within a few minutes afterwards.'
'How long afterwards?'
'Well, I called the police and told them the man was injured, and they wanted to know how I knew and I told them about having received a tip over the telephone, and the police officer suggested that I make a note of the time.'
'So you made a note of the time.'
'Yes.'
'And what time was that?'
'It was just a little after nine-thirteen.'
'Then you made a note of nine-twelve, a little after nine-thirteen?'
'Well, I thought the call had been received a minute earlier.'
Mason said, 'You received this call. You hung up the telephone and went at once to Unit 10?'
'Yes.'
'And then went back to the motel and then picked up the telephone and called the police.'
'Yes.'
'How far is it from the office to the motel unit?'
'Not over seventy-five feet.'
'Did the police tell you it was then nine-thirteen?'
'Not at the time, no.'
'How did you fix the time?'
'By the electric clock in the office.'
'And did that clock show the time as nine-thirteen?'
The witness hesitated.
'Did it?' Mason asked. 'Yes or no?'
'No. The clock showed the time as nine-seventeen.'
'Yet you now swear it was actually nine-thirteen?'
'Yes.'
'On what basis?'
'The police records show I called at nine-thirteen. Their time is accurate to the second. Later on when I checked my clock I found it was fast.'
'When did you check it?'
'The next day.'
'You did that after you found there was a discrepancy between your time and that on the police records?'
'Yes.''
'I think that's all,' Mason said. 'I have no further questions.'
'I'll call Dr. Powers to the stand,' Leland said.
Dr. Powers took the stand.
'Did you have occasion to perform an autopsy on a body on Wednesday morning?'
'I did.'
'Had you previously seen that individual?'
'I had treated him when he arrived in an ambulance at the emergency room.'
'What was his condition at that time?'
'He was dying.'
'When did he die?'
'About twenty minutes after his arrival.'
'Do you know the cause of death?'
'A fracture of the skull. He had been hit with some blunt instrument on the back of the head.'
'He was hit with a blunt instrument, Doctor?'
'As nearly as I can tell.'
'There was a fracture of the skull?'
'Yes.'
'And it resulted in death?'
'Yes.'
'Cross-examine,' Leland said.
'There was no external hemorrhage?' Perry Mason asked.
'No.'
'An internal hemorrhage?'
'Yes. Within the skull there was a massive hemorrhage.'
'Injuries of this sort could have been sustained by a fall, Doctor?'
'I don't think so. The portion of the skull in question had received a very heavy blow from some heavy object.'
'Such as a club?'
'Perhaps.'
'A hammer?'
'I would say, more in the nature of a bar of some sort.'
'Perhaps a pipe.'
'Perhaps.'
'Did you notice any other injuries?'
'Well, I noticed a contusion on the side of the man's face, a rather slight contusion but nevertheless a contusion.'
'You mean a bruise?'
'Yes.'
'Technically a traumatic ecchymosis?'
'Yes.'
'Any other injuries?'
'No.'
'No further questions,' Mason said.
'I'll call Herbert Knox,' Leland said.
Knox came forward, was sworn, identified himself as an officer, stated that he had received a radio report at nine-fifteen to go to the Restawhile Motel; that he arrived at approximately nine-eighteen, was directed to Unit to; that he there found a man who was injured, that this was the same man who had been taken to the emergency unit and turned over to Dr. Powers, the Witness who had just testified; that the man was then, in his opinion, in a dying condition and that the witness subsequently saw the body in the morgue and it was the body of the same individual he had first seen in Unit 10 at the Restawhile Motel.
'Cross-examine,' Leland said.
'Did you notice the odor of whiskey in the unit?' Mason asked.
'I certainly did. Whiskey had been spilled over the clothes of the injured man. The odor was strong.'
'You made an inventory of the things in the room?'
'Later on, yes.'
'There was a traveling bag and some clothes?'
'Yes, a two-suiter and a traveling bag.'
'Did you find any money?'
'Not in the unit, no.'
'Did you at any time search the injured man for money?'
'Not until after his arrival at the hospital. I personally searched the clothes which were removed from him.'
'Did you find any money?'
'A hundred and fifteen dollars and twenty-two cents in bills and coins,' the officer said.
'There was no more?'
