THE TRIAL
FRANK TAKES THE STAND
MENOMINEE—JANUARY 23, 1917
As Frank stood and marched to the stand, a buzz shot through the courtroom. Judge Flanagan gripped his gavel. The crowd quieted. I followed her every move: her stocky frame held straight and stalwart; the plump hand placed on the Bible; her usually mischievous expression tempered with solemnity. She skated through the swearing in as if it were a turkey shoot, occasionally glancing in my direction, most likely with the intent of unnerving me. This was her arena. She knew the courtroom, and she probably thought her chances of out-gaming me in it were quite good. I merely held her gaze, my expression abundant with tranquillity.
“Miss Shaver,” said Mr. Sawyer, “please tell us the story of your acquaintance with the Baroness, just so we understand the time and events. How did you meet?”
Frank squared her shoulders and looked to the jury. “We met on a train traveling from Chicago to Milwaukee back in 1901. I was in the parlor car, and the Baroness was holding court there, having quite a merry time. I was alone and couldn’t help but notice the jolly party at the next table. The Baroness caught my eye at one point and invited me to join them. That’s how it all started.”
“And what do you mean by ‘holding court’?”
Frank tossed her head back and smiled. “Entertaining her entourage—and the whole car, for that matter. May could charm the crown—and bottoms—off a king.”
Titters erupted in the courtroom. Once the judge wiped the smile off his face and glared at the onlookers, calm was restored.
“Yes, fine,” said Sawyer, “and how did the acquaintanceship get on?”
“We exchanged letters, and six months later, in spring of 1902, when May was on her way back to Menominee, we met in Chicago and spent some time gadding about the city. Her brother Gene joined us, which was the first time I met him. Later, in September of 1902, May visited me at my parents’ home in Pittsburgh, and her brother came along and spent a month there.”
“And is that when Gene proposed marriage?”
“Yes, and I accepted. Afterward, he invited me for a long visit to Menominee. He had borrowed some money when he visited me in Pittsburgh, which he repaid. But then he started borrowing money again, and it got my hackles up. I told May I was not pleased and asked her to set him straight.”
“And did she do that?”
“No. She said I should humor Gene and enjoy his company, which didn’t satisfy me. So I told Gene he obviously couldn’t support both of us, and I broke the engagement. May came crying that Gene was heartbroken and asked me to reconsider. But I refused.”
I glanced at Gene, who merely shrugged. Heartbreak never had been his métier.
Sawyer urged Frank on. “And then what happened?”
“We quarreled, and that was the end of our friendship for quite a few years.”
“And when did this quarrel occur?”
“In 1903, in Pittsburgh.”
“But the friendship recovered?”
“Yes, in 1912, after my father died. I received a letter of condolence from May, and I sent her a thank-you note. She was so anxious to renew our friendship she hotfooted it to Chicago and invited me for a fancy dinner at the Congress Hotel. She told me she’d regretted our falling out and went on and on about how we need never again part.”
“And you agreed to resume the friendship on that occasion?”
“In the blink of an eye.” Frank bobbed her chin in my direction. “My God, who wouldn’t?”
Frank’s admission brought a chorus of oohs and aahs from the ladies. My heart thumped. I had to admit I never tired of Frank’s artless candor.
“And what happened that first night of your renewed friendship?”
“During dinner, May ordered several highballs for us. I caught her sneaking a few of hers to my side of the table when she thought I wasn’t looking. She asked me to go to Menominee with her, but I had business to attend to in Chicago.”
Frank leaned to the side so that she had a clear view of me, smiled, and said, “But May could talk a cougar out of a tree, and the next thing I knew, I was on a train headed for Menominee. In November. Without a lick of luggage.”
A rustle of amusement sounded around the courtroom. I returned Frank’s smile—it had been one of the most memorable train rides I’d ever taken.
Sawyer motioned to Frank with a dip of his head, and she continued. “To head off my worries about not having a warm coat or change of clothes, May ordered the porter to bring us a bottle of Scotch, and the highballs flowed again.”
Snickers erupted. The judge cleared his throat.
Sawyer rushed to his next question. “Did you enter into any financial arrangements with the Baroness around that time?”
“While I was in Menominee, she brought up Gene and wondered if I might resume the engagement. I didn’t like the idea one bit. She insisted she wanted to somehow join our families together and asked if I’d buy into the Menominee home and take up residence there with her. I agreed and purchased a half interest in the house for six thousand dollars.”
“And did you invest any more money in the house?”
“Did I ever. May suggested we increase the value of the house with some improvements, so I plowed another nine thousand dollars into remodeling. After that I took to calling it ‘the palace,’ because I figured May needed a place fit for royalty, meaning her and her darling Frenchie.”
“Her Frenchie?”
“Her French bulldog.”
“Did the Baroness ask about the inheritance you received upon your father’s death?”
“Not in a direct way. She did go fishing, though. And I don’t mean some Sunday-afternoon outing. More like a regular expedition.”
The few men in the courtroom took their turn at chortles, causing Judge Flanagan to sit upright. After Frank and her attorney completed this round of questioning, the judge said, “Counsel, it’s time for our lunch break.”
Judge Flanagan resumed the afternoon session with new instructions: “Mr. Sawyer, I’ll ask you to pick up the pace of your questioning. And remember: This is a trial, not storytelling hour.”
“Of course, Your Honor,” Sawyer said. He turned to Frank in the witness box. “Miss Shaver, you were telling us about events of 1913, after your reconciliation with the Baroness. Was it about that time you met Miss Belle Emmett?”
“Yes, Daisy, as everyone calls her, is May’s personal assistant.”
“What sort of assistance does she provide?”
“Oh, she sees to correspondence, bills, financial matters.”
When Sawyer exhausted his inquiries about the handling of Frank’s money, he turned his attention to trips Frank and I had taken.
“Oh, yes,” said Frank. “May and I traveled all over Europe—Venice, Paris, the south of France. And there was one long stay in London, and also a trip to Algiers, in 1915. You name it—we were probably there. We gathered towels and linens from so many places that we often jested, while selecting napkins at home, ‘Where shall we dine tonight?’ ”
“I imagine this Algiers trip ran up some costs. Who paid for it?”
“I never knew exactly how much it cost—but Daisy kept asking for more money. First it was for the deposit. Then the balance. Or wine or liquor. At the end of it all, I’d spent about twenty-four hundred dollars.”
“And during the London stay, was there talk of a gift of pearls?”
“Yes, May had a collection of pearls from the Baron that she wanted to turn into a necklace. She told me Daisy planned on giving her fifteen more pearls to complete the necklace but said the gift would have more sentiment attached to it if it came from me instead. So I deposited about fourteen thousand dollars’ worth of Westinghouse shares in her London bank for the pearls.”
“And did that satisfy the Baroness?”
“No, when she found out I had more shares, she said we could use them for our living expenses and asked if I would loan them to her for that purpose. So I deposited another twenty-two thousand dollars’ worth of shares, but kept my receipt of debt for them.”
Sawyer tugged his vest into place. “Around this time, did the Baroness ask you to write a will out to her?”
“Yes, in late 1914, after France and Germany and all those other European countries started up the war, she told me she might have to travel to Europe at some point and that she was going to make a will out in my favor. She suggested I do the same, so I wrote a will bequeathing eighty thousand dollars to her. But whenever I asked about her will, she told me she hadn’t gotten around to it. Now I figure she didn’t have that kind of money. But, knowing May, she’ll claim she’s going to be the first person to live forever.”
“Objection,” said Mr. Powers. “The witness is not in a position to know how much money the Baroness had or has.”
“Sustained,” said Judge Flanagan. “And, Miss Shaver, please restrict your answers to the questions before you.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” said Frank, with the same little smirk I’d seen on those occasions when she resolved to do just as she damn well pleased.
“Gentlemen of the jury,” said Mr. Sawyer, quite possibly noticing the droopiness of their eyelids. “I just have a few more questions.
“Miss Shaver, did the Baroness ever request your help with her brother Paul’s business?”
“Yes, around 1915. She told me his business was off to a roaring start and if we invested some funds toward the purchase of more automobiles that our loan would pay off handsomely. I lent fifty-five hundred dollars to the business, but never saw any return on it, let alone the original loan.”
“Miss Shaver, you have told us of considerable sums of money that you either loaned or turned over to the Baroness after cajoling and manipulation on her part.”
“Objection, Your Honor,” said Mr. Powers. “ ‘Cajoling and manipulation’ implies motive.”
“Sustained. Mr. Sawyer, please rephrase your statement.”
“Yes. You turned over significant funds in loans or in response to requests, funds totaling a little over one hundred thousand dollars. Correct, Miss Shaver?”
“Yes.”
“And you retained receipts for those funds which were loans, shares, or investments, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And in 1916 did you show those receipts to the Baroness?”
“Yes, she requested that I turn the receipts over to her. She said she’d repay all of them.”
“And did she?”
“Not one cent.”
“What happened when you pressed for payment?”
“She said she didn’t owe me anything. So I decided the only way I’d ever see any of my money was to take her to court.”
Mr. Sawyer slowly pivoted away from the jury, summoning the gravity of an actor, and faced the judge. “Your Honor, that’s all I have today.”
That concluded day two of the trial. Disheartening, it was. In fact, the whole affair unnerved me. I hated being stuck in Menominee, facing the prospect of being cooped up in a courtroom for days on end. In the middle of winter, no less, with more snow in the forecast. If it weren’t for the war raging all over Europe, I’d never have set foot on U.S. soil, and this lawsuit might never have been filed.
My lawyer had gotten off to a good start, but I didn’t care for the impression Frank had left with the jury. Thank goodness, we still had an ace in the hole—a document Frank herself had signed.
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