Murder in the First Page #9

Yes.

Tell us the name of the man...

...who was your superior,

who ordered you to do these things.

- Mr. Glenn.

- Mr. Glenn.

- You never went to Warden Humson?

- No, sir.

Thank you very much. I won't ask

where you got your bruises. I know.

Your witness.

The prosecution would like to mark

for identification...

...the employment records

of Mr. Derek Simpson.

Do you recall, Mr. Simpson,

being suspended on November 4th, 1936...

...and again on July 6th, 1937?

- Yeah.

- Speak up, Mr. Simpson.

Yes.

Is it not a fact you were fired from your job

as a guard because you are a drunk?

- Objection.

That's not true.

- Objection.

Overruled.

And that Mr. Glenn would not tolerate this

in a federal prison.

Isn't it true, Mr. Simpson,

having cost you your job...

...you would say just about anything

to get even with Mr. Glenn?

The jury will disregard...

...Mr. Simpson's testimony.

Good afternoon. Mr. Stamphill,

Mr. Stamphill, is everything all right?

You son of a b*tch.

- What happened?

You know what happened. You set me up.

- What are you talking about?

- You took Simpson's picture.

They never would have known to tear

Simpson down if you hadn't told them.

Are you gonna hit me now, James?

Go ahead.

It's about time you grew up

and were a man.

You're my brother.

- You had me beaten up.

- James, that was not supposed to happen.

Only Simpson. You walked in,

it was bad timing.

Bad timing?

I'm putting Humson on the stand.

Why, James?

Humson doesn't know anything!

Man runs three prisons. He has to know

something. Unless he's never there.

Son of a b*tch.

He was never there. Never there.

You never saw him?

No. You'd hear about

him visiting, but I never saw him.

Now, your own brother did that to you?

Your brother did that to you?

Yeah.

- Jesus, rich people are weird.

Hey, hey.

You hear DiMaggio broke Keeler's record?

Forty-five straight games.

Wouldn't it be great if he never stopped?

Dock records show when he was here.

Every trip to Alcatraz is recorded.

- had to sign in that time I went.

- Hey, Jim.

- What?

- We friends, huh?

Yeah, sure.

Is it over? mean, you know? s that all?

Nothing more you're gonna do

with the trial, I mean?

- Thought you didn't care.

- No, I don't care. I don't care.

It's just, you know, long as you got sh*t

to throw at them, we can keep talking.

But when it's over, it's over, huh?

I'm not here to keep you entertained

until the executioner comes.

- This trial isn't just a game.

- Hey, Jim.

What?

If I was on the outside... I mean, you know,

if there was, like, a good fairy...

...and she waved a wand

and I was on the outside...

...you and me, would we be friends then?

- Yes.

- No, no, no, we wouldn't.

You wouldn't have nothing to do with me.

You know it.

What I can't figure out is why, you know.

I mean, we both ain't got nobody else

and we're the same age, sort of.

And if I'd have lived in your house...

...and they'd have switched us

when we was babies...

...I could have been just like you.

If they stuck you down in the hole...

...you could be sitting here just like me...

...asking how come we couldn't be friends

on the outside. You ever steal 5 bucks?

Once, when I was a kid,

from my brother's wallet.

What happened?

He told me not to do it again.

Why'd they put me in that hole

for three years?

I could have been just like you.

I'd just like to ask them, you know.

Raise your right hand.

Do you swear to tell the whole truth and

nothing but the truth, so help you God?

So help me God.

You may be seated.

Warden Humson, in a book you wrote,

you refer to the convicts as your children.

That you liken your job to that of a parent,

providing for their physical needs...

...and molding their character.

Mm-hm. Yes, I wrote that.

I have a record of a prisoner named Johnson

who did 500 days in the lower cells.

The hole, the dungeon.

This was a 10-year period for such offenses

as not finishing all the food on his plate...

...having an extra pair of socks

in his cell, keeping an untidy cell.

Um, smuggling food from the dining room,

crumbs, in fact, to a pet lizard.

Is this what you mean

when you say "molding character"?

No, no, no. You're twisting things here.

The isolation cells were simply a tool

of a temporary nature...

...for extreme cases

within the general population.

Moreover, you make it sound like

the prisoner did 1500 days at one stretch...

...for one infraction.

That's not true.

No. Uh, prisoners were held

for 19 days at a time.

- That's all.

- That's all.

Perhaps you can tell me why Henri Young

did over 1000 days in the dungeon?

Not 19 days, but 1000 days...

...in total darkness with only 30 minutes

of daylight a year.

Yes. But he tried to escape.

You can't compare his offense with that of

a man who smuggled food to a lizard.

Now, this was the first time a

sentence of three years had been imposed?

It wasn't a sentence.

It was an administrative decision

to place him there, uh...

...for an undetermined amount of time.

Why not a time limit? Doesn't that seem

a little bit inhumane? No time limit.

Put simply, no.

While we strive to prevent crime...

...what shall we do with the man

who has committed it, hm?

We aim to make him his better self.

His better self.

Well, I'm sure that Henri Young thanks you

for his better self.

It's a fact you simply put Henri Young

in that dungeon and forgot all about him.

Washed your hands of him.

Henri wanted me to ask you why.

Why would you do that, sir? Why?

- Objection, Your Honor.

That's not true.

I withdraw the question.

I apologize to the jury...

It's not necessary that you apologize.

Actually, Your Honor, it is.

You see, I made a mistake.

Warden Humson couldn't simply

have washed his hands of Henri Young.

He couldn't have.

Because he had absolutely no idea

he was there.

Isn't that true, warden?

You are never there.

And you permit Glenn to run that prison

any way he sees fit.

I am there as much as I need to be.

I run three penal institutions.

It's impossible to know every detail

of every inmate.

I have the port authority records...

...which you signed

every time you went to Alcatraz.

You went seven times in'38,

five in'39, 10 in'40...

...and only twice so far this year. Twenty-four

day trips in three and a half years...

...while Henri Young was in that dungeon

over 1000 days.

Twenty-four out of 1000 days.

That's as much as you needed

to be there?

You knew nothing about a man

who was left to die in a dungeon...

...for three and a half years, did you?

Absolutely nothing.

In fact, you have never even met

Henri Young, have you?

Right now, in fact, is the first time

you have ever seen this man. Look at him.

That's him there. That's Henri Young.

Right there.

- He tried to escape.

- He tried to escape.

But the fact, the cold, brutal fact,

Warden Humson...

...is that this man, who had never,

never before in his entire life...

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