Changeling Page #9

Tell the truth! Tell the truth!

We are all here because we want to

know the real facts in this case.

And everybody is going to be heard

if we have to sit here for a week.

Mr. Thorpe, I don't see any

members of the police commission.

Are there any members of

the police department in the room?

Is Chief Davis here?

Is Captain Jones here?

Is there anybody here

representing the police?

Mrs. Collins, could you come across

the street with me for just a moment?

There's something

I think you should see.

Well, I hate to call a

recess before we've even started,

but I think a few

phone calls are in order.

The police decided it'd be best

to keep this off the main docket

in order to avoid exactly the sort

of chaos we have across the street.

Mrs. Collins.

I'm Leanne Clay.

This is my husband, John.

- Hi.

I just wanted to pass

along my sympathies.

What we went through

waiting to hear anything

about our son David

was bad enough, now this.

But what the police did to

you, there was no call for that.

No call at all.

All rise.

Please, be seated.

- Bailiff.

Oh, hey.

I saw you in the papers.

You got a lot of moxie, standing

up to the police like that.

The defendant

will please rise.

Gordon Stewart Northcott,

you've been charged with three

counts of murder in the first degree,

with an additional 17 counts under

review by the district attorney's office.

How do you plea?

Oh, not guilty, Your Honor.

You may sit, Mr. Northcott.

In light of the defendant's penchant for

international travel, no bail will be set.

This court will hear preliminary

motions by tomorrow morning.

The boy, Walter Collins,

was reported as missing,

March 10, 1928.

We then instituted

a nationwide search.

On August 18th, we received

a cable indicating that a boy

matching his description was

found in DeKalb, Illinois.

Upon questioning, he admitted

to being Walter Collins.

We then made arrangements for him

to be transported back to California.

Where Mrs. Collins told you

the boy was not her son.

Yes. She denied

his identity

in spite of all of the evidence

pointing to the contrary.

But, as subsequent

events have demonstrated,

she was correct.

So, what prompted

you to send her

for psychological

evaluation?

Whether or not this was

in fact the correct boy

was not relevant

to my decision.

Throughout this period,

she acted strangely.

She was often cool

and aloof and unemotional,

especially when confronted

with the boy we found in DeKalb

and in our

subsequent conversation.

It was because of her

disturbing behavior that I

submitted her for observation

to the psychopathic ward of Los

Angeles County General Hospital.

Just like that.

You snap your fingers

and an innocent woman

is thrown

into the psycho ward!

She wasn't thrown. Every family

in this state is in grave danger

when a police captain can

take a woman into his office

and five minutes later

have her thrown into the psychopathic

ward on his own authority!

She wasn't thrown.

She wasn't thrown!

She wasn't thrown!

What was that, Captain?

She wasn't thrown.

She was escorted.

Escorted, thrown, the verb

doesn't matter, Captain.

What does matter is that her incarceration

was ordered without a warrant.

I am holding a carbon copy

of the affidavit of insanity

that was issued in the case

of the State of California

v. Christine Collins.

Who signed the affidavit?

I did.

Well, now, let me see

if I have this correct,

a woman was thrown into the

psychopathic ward without a warrant,

because no warrant existed.

And when it was finally

written several days later,

there was no need to sign it

or to go to a judge

because she was already

in the asylum!

Is this correct, Captain?

Technically, yes.

Extraordinary steps were necessary

because we were dealing...

We were dealing with

an extraordinary situation.

Now, is it our fault

that we were being deceived

by a boy who claimed to

be Walter Collins? No.

In light of his claims

and her disturbing behavior,

who wouldn't begin to think that there

was something the matter with her?

Because she questioned you?

No, because

she wouldn't listen!

Because she insisted

on being obstinate!

Because she tried to take

matters into her own hand,

best left to

qualified officers!

Because once

civil disobedience starts...

Because she was fighting

for the life of her son!

A boy who may have

still been alive

while you were wasting valuable time

denying you had done anything wrong!

And in the end

that's what

happened, isn't it?

At some point, while

all this was going on,

Walter Collins

was brutally murdered,

along with as many

as 19 other boys

at the Northcott Ranch

in Wineville.

Is that correct, Captain?

Yes, it is.

It's a travesty.

No further questions.

Train number 14,

now boarding on track...

So, after much effort, we

were able to identify this boy,

who's been responsible

for so much trouble lately,

as Arthur Hutchins

of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Between this, and the arrest of

the man suspected of murdering

the real Walter Collins,

we've cleared up two of the biggest

mysteries in the history of Los Angeles.

I hope you gentlemen

of the press will give

as much space to the

good things we do

as the mistakes that are

made on rare occasions.

Gentlemen, allow me

to introduce you

to the boy's real mother,

Mrs. Janet Hutchins.

Arthur.

I hope he wasn't too

much trouble for you.

Oh, no, not at all.

How about

a photograph, fellas?

One more.

Mrs. Hutchins,

Mrs. Collins, the woman he was

staying with, wanted him to have these.

They're the clothes

she let him wear.

Well, thank you.

Isn't that nice, Arthur?

Tell the nice officer,

"Thank you."

I don't want them.

Give them to somebody else.

Precocious

little fellow, isn't he?

It's not my fault.

It's the police.

They said I was Walter Collins,

not me! It wasn't my idea!

Not my idea!

- Get...

Yeah. Go blame the police

for your own mistakes.

We've seen a lot of

that lately, haven't we?

Take care now, Arthur!

Safe travels.

All right, fellas,

that's it for today.

Sir, sir! What

did the boy mean by that?

It was March 10th, and

I came home from work,

and my nine-year-old

son, Walter, was gone.

Captain Jones was acting on

information he believed to be correct.

Walter Collins had a diastema,

also known as a diastema.

That child was never

in my classroom.

I can certainly

attest to that.

We rely on our good

friends in the police department

to point to us those

people who exhibit behavior

which is socially

unacceptable.

About four inches

shorter than the last mark of Walter.

Well, some of

these pictures show

what Sanford Clark

told me,

that he did in fact help in

the murder of these children.

Thank you, Detective.

Gentlemen of the jury,

I ask you to take a good

look at these images.

They establish beyond

any reasonable doubt

the circumstances and the

nature of these heinous crimes.

I'm in here,

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