The Case of the Singing Skirt

George laughed sardonically. 'You're damned right he can't. Even if the game was crooked, he can't. He was engaging in an illegal activity and-'

'Careful,' Jebley Alton interposed. 'Let us put it this way, George. There are certain contracts that are against public policy as far as the law is concerned. It's against the policy of the law to raise those activities to the dignity of legitimate business enterprises. Therefore, the courts are not open to persons who have participated in those activities.'

'Never mind all that double talk,' George said. 'Let's give it to her straight from the shoulder. Tell her she can't get a dime back.'

'That's right, Mrs. Ellis,' Alton said with his toothy smile. 'You can readily understand how things are in that regard. A man can't sit in on a game at night, trying to win money, and then come back the next day and say that the activity was illegal and that he wants the money back that he's lost. If he could do that, he'd keep all of his winnings and then whenever he'd lost he'd recoup his losses. Now, George is in a legitimate business and-'

'And they've rigged up a deal on my husband,' she said. 'They had already got him for something over four thousand dollars. I was willing to let that ride. He promised me that he wouldn't do any more gambling, but they started in easy last night and lured him into the game. Then they started to take him. He thought his luck was bound to turn and stayed with it and-'

'And there you are,' Alton said, shrugging his shoulders. 'He was trying to win. If he had won, he'd have pocketed his winnings and both of you would have been very satisfied this morning. But he didn't win, so-'

'So I want my money back,' she said. 'The game was crooked.'

'You can prove that?' George asked ominously.

'I don't need to prove it,' she said. 'You know it was crooked. Everybody here knows it was crooked. You aren't running this place on the square. Don't be silly.'

'Those are words that would lay you wide open to a claim for damages,' George said. 'I suggest you be more careful, Mrs. Ellis.'

'All right,' she said, raising her voice. 'All I know is that my husband has lost something like ten thousand dollars here within the last few weeks and I'm not going to stand by and see him robbed. Now, are you going to give him his money back or-'

'Definitely, absolutely, positively not!' George Anclitas interrupted firmly. 'Your husband doesn't get back a nickel, and in view of what you've just said and the scene you've created here, he doesn't even get back inside this place. I'm leaving orders with the doorman not to admit him. If you'd come to me like a lady and told me that you didn't want your husband gambling here, he couldn't have got in last night. But you never said a word about it. He came and went just like any other man and he gambled. He's a good poker player. He knows what he's doing but he just happened to have a run of bad luck last night. That's all there was to it.

'However, now you've said you don't want him gambling here, that's good enough for me. We won't ever let him sit in another game.'

Jepley Alton said, 'I think that's fair enough, Mrs. Ellis. If you didn't want your husband gambling, I'm quite certain that George wouldn't have wanted him sitting in on the games. I don't think you ever said a word to George about not wanting Helly to gamble. After all, he's been trying his best to win. You don't have any legal recourse and-'

She whirled to Perry Mason. 'Will you take my case against this crooked outfit?'

Mason smiled and shook his head. 'That's not in my line,' he said, 'and I'm pretty well tied up with cases right at the moment. However, I suggest you do get an attorney.'

'What are you trying to tell her?' Jebley Alton asked scornfully. 'You know that an attorney wouldn't do her any good. A man can't recover money he's lost in gambling. That's one of the most elemental features of the law.'

'That's right, Jeb,' George said. 'Make this guy put up or shut up. It's easy for him to say a lawyer can get the money back, but he don't dare to back up his words. Now, go ahead and pin him down if he thinks he's so damned smart. Personally, I'd like to hear how some smart lawyer can get gambling losses refunded.'

'Do you have a pen and notebook handy?' Mason asked Mrs. Ellis.

She looked puzzled for a moment, then said, 'Yes, there's one in my purse.'

'Take this down,' Mason said. 'You can tell your attorney about it, and you, Mr. Alton, might like to look up some law on the subject.'

'I've looked it up,' Alton said. 'What kind of a run-around are you trying to give us? Ellis can't sit in a game trying to win and then come back and recover the money he lost.'

Mason said, 'Mrs. Ellis, if you'll just take down this citation to give to your attorney when you call on him, it may make a little difference.

'You see, Mrs. Ellis, there's a peculiar situation in the law of California. Ordinarily, gambling debts cannot be recovered, and since the gambling activity is against public policy, the courts leave the parties in the same status where they find them.

'However, as your attorney will tell you, in California where we have community property-that is, property which is acquired after marriage as the result of the joint efforts of the husband and wife-the husband has the care and management of the community property. In business transactions it is presumed that his judgment is binding upon the wife. But he does not have authority to give away the property of the community or to squander it without a consideration.

'So in a case where your husband lost community property gambling, you may well be able to recover it.'

'What are you telling her?' Alton asked angrily.

'I'm telling her,' Mason said, 'to make a note of a most interesting case, the case of Novo versus Hotel Del Rio, decided May 4, 1956, and reported in 141 C.A. 2nd at page 304. It's in 295 Pac. 2nd 576. In that case it was held that a husband has no right to gamble with the community property. His action is not binding on the wife. She can follow the community funds and recover them from the gambler who won them.'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Jebley Alton said. 'A decision like that… why, that would put gambling out of business.'

'I suggest you look up the decision,' Mason said. 'It's an interesting law point. It may well put certain types of gambling out of business.'

'What were those figures again?' Mrs. Ellis asked.

' 141 C.A. 2nd 304,' Mason said, '295 Pac. 2nd 576. Ask your lawyer to look up the decision.'

Mason turned to George Anclitas. 'I'll be in touch with your attorney about Miss Robb's claim for damages on defamation of character and on being discharged without cause, on being thrown out with only the sheerest of garments to cover her body.

'And as far as you're concerned, Mrs. Ellis, I would suggest that you get an attorney, preferably someone who is not living in Rowena and dependent on the local political machine for any favors.'

Mrs. Ellis said with feeling, 'If that's the law, if wives can get back what their husbands lose in these joints, there's going to be a cleanup in Rowena. I know a dozen women who are fighting mad over the way this thing's been run and the way their bank accounts melt away only to reappear in the hands of these men who run dives of this sort.'

'It's a thought,' Mason said. 'The situation has very great possibilities, and that decision of the court may have far-reaching repercussions. Perhaps your attorney would like to appear before one of the local women's clubs and give a talk on California law and the management of community property.'

Mrs. Ellis said, 'I'm tremendously indebted to you, Mr. Mason.'

'Not at all,' Mason said.

'This guy's nuts,' George Anclitas said to Mrs. Ellis. 'I don't know what his idea is in filling you up with this stuff but I know what the law is. I've been in the gambling business for a long time and… '

His voice trailed away into silence as he got a look at Jebley Alton's face.

'What the hell, Jeb!' he said. 'You don't think there's anything to that cock-and-bull theory, do you? I know what the law is in regard to gambling.'

Jebley Alton said thoughtfully, 'Apparently this case was decided in regard to community property. It may be there's a quirk in the law that-I'll go up to the office and look up the decision.'

'You do that,' Mason said, smiling. 'It is a very interesting case.'

George turned to Mrs. Ellis. 'Now, you look here, Mrs. Ellis,' he said, 'you and I aren't going to get at loggerheads with each other. My attorney's going to look up that decision. There's no need for you to go getting a lawyer and you don't need to bring anyone in to make any talk before any women's club. That stuff is for the birds.'

Mrs. Ellis laughed throatily. 'What a wonderful coincidence,' she said. 'It happens that I'm in charge of the entertainment program for the next three months at the Rowena Women's Club. We have a regular monthly meeting about ten days from now, and I was wracking my brains, trying to think of some really entertaining program that would be of universal interest.

'This is a program that will bring everyone out. There must be dozens of women here who will want to learn about the law of community property as it relates to gambling.'

'And now,' Mason said, bowing to George Anclitas and his openmouthed attorney, 'I think we'll go out to the car, Della, and let our client finish dressing. She can pack her things and leave here at her convenience.'

Mason turned to Ellen Robb. 'I'm quite satisfied you won't have any more trouble, Miss Robb.'

'What about this money?' she asked, pointing to the money in the suitcase.

'Remember the amount,' Mason said. 'Give George credit for that as payment on account. Go to a hotel, get a room, and let me know where you are.'

'They'll arrest me the minute you leave here,' she said.

'I don't think so,' Mason replied, smiling. 'I think they'll treat you with every consideration.'

Mason turned so that the others could not see him and gently closed his right eye. 'As it happens, Miss Robb, I am primarily interested in the better administration of justice and don't care particularly about fees. I hate to see people pushed around just because they don't have political influence. In case you want to make some settlement with George Anclitas on your own, it's quite all right with me. Just make any kind of a deal you think is fair and don't worry about my fee. There will be no charges.

'If, on the other hand, the slightest indignity is offered you or any threats are made, don't fail to call me at my office.'

Jebley Alton said, 'I don't know what you mean by a settlement. As far as Ellen Robb is concerned, she's getting out pretty easy if she keeps that money and-'

'You get the hell back up to your office,' George Anclitas interrupted, 'and look up that damned decision. If that thing says what Mason says it says, there are certain things we've got to do- fast.'

'It is,' Mason said, 'a decision which presents an interesting problem to you people who are making a living out of gambling.'

Mason extended his arm to Della Street and together they left The Big Barn.

Mason held the car door open for Della, then walked around and got in behind the wheel.

The lawyer was chuckling as they drove out of Rowena.

'Chief,' Della Street said in an awed tone, 'does that case of Novo versus Hotel Del Rio lay down the law that you said it did?'

Mason smiled. 'Look it up when you get back to the office, Della. The doctrine laid down may be limited in future cases, but in that case the court said very plainly that transfer by a husband of community funds in payment of a gambling debt was within the meaning of the law a transfer without the consent of the wife and without the receipt of any valuable consideration by the husband. It's quite a decision.

'I can imagine that when some attorney delivers a talk on the law of community property to the housewives of Rowena and reads this decision, the meeting will be very, very well attended.'

'And you deliberately walked off and left Ellen Robb there so that George could make a settlement with her?'

'I thought perhaps under the circumstances he might have a change of heart. You know, Della, I wouldn't be too surprised if he didn't also reach some sort of an understanding with Mrs. Ellis.

'I think on the whole it's been a rather unprofitable morning for George Anclitas.'

'Well,' Della Street sighed, 'you can't say he's the only one. We've lost half a day from the office, given some attorney a whole lot of fees on a silver platter, making him the fair-haired boy child for the women of Rowena. We've thrown any fee in the Robb case out of the window, in addition to gasoline and mileage on the car.'