Misdirection- Part 1
I feel compelled to state that Stephanie got off pretty easily. She was of course 15, Paula was 17, and Johnny was 12. The odd thing that emerged during the trial, well, the odd lies that emerged during the trial was that as far as Baniszewski kids went, a great deal of abuse is attributed to Paula and Johnny; and they were the two kids who did not testify. They did give forced and false confessions to the police. Not by choice. It is also odd that Johnny was not much bigger than 11 year old Marie. And! Sylvia clearly won a now infamous fight with Paula. Sylvia won? Yes! She walked away with a small bruise on her jaw and, according to Jenny, a bruised ear. Paula walked away from this brawl with a broken wrist. She broke it hitting Sylvia? Unless Paula had a severe form of brittle-bone disease..well, you can’t break your wrist hitting someone on the jaw. Especially a 16 year old girl. You can break your wrist if the 16 year old girl knocks you on your keister and you reach out your hand to break your fall. Broken wrist time! So, although all faithful members of the canonical-story congregation will probably find that upsetting, I would hold up Sylvia’s hand and declare, “We have a new world’s champion!” Paula needs to go back for more training. So why Johnny? I think “why Johnny?” because he’s a boy. But he’s a small boy. He’s not some big rough-neck misogynistic thug! Johnny would never be accepted into a gang of 5! If Sylvia can defeat Paula, I bet she could hold her own against Johnny.
For whatever that’s worth, why not Stephanie? If we’re going to hurl false accusations at people…why not Stephanie? Ricky, Randy, Coy, Judy, Darlene, Anna, and even little Mike Monroe…hey! These eight people are all outsiders; i.e. non-Baniszewskis. Of course, how much abuse could our loveable nurse inflict on a girl who could defeat Paula in a fight? Marie? What little Jimmy? Why does he get off? He’s young, but so is Shirley. And! Mike Monroe was Jimmy’s friend, and he got blamed for abusing Sylvia. No accusations are made against Jimmy, but they are against his little friend. Why didn’t Jimmy testify? Shirley did. Surely Jimmy could have told the court what he saw. He lived in the house. He saw everything everyone else did. Or did he live in the house? If he didn’t, then he wasn’t really around to see all the abuse. Did he live somewhere else and only spend time at Gertrude’s house? Jimmy is such an elusive character that it is difficult at times to believe that he ever existed. Or least, lived in that house. If Shirley can hit Sylvia without getting knocked to the ground like Paula, I think Jimmy could too. Jimmy’s Forest? A mythical forest belonging to a mythical character? I think not. Well, if Jimmy is Jameson and forest really means park, then someone may be buried in Ellenberger Park.
This isn’t about Jimmy. There simply isn’t anything to say about him, since he flits in and out of the 3850 East New York Street world like a ghost in a haunted house. Of course, he isn’t scary. In fact, he is the one member of the group who isn’t. I take that back, Stephanie isn’t. She has three parts that she plays in the great Drama:
- Occasional Abuser
- Aloof Jenny-like Disregarder of the Systematic Destruction of her Friend’s Sister
- Sylvia’s Victim
- Almost Savior
And, yes, I love to count things, so I can count! What kind of abuse is she credited with inflicting on Sylvia? Jenny described this:
Q. Did you ever know whether or not Sylvia urinated in the bed?
A. One time.
Q. When was this?
A. About three or four days before she died. I can't think - Stephanie or Coy -
Q. Who do you mean by Coy, Jenny?
A. Coy Hubbard.
Q. Is he here?
A. Yes, he is.
Q. Point him out, please.
A. The boy in the suit and light shirt and tie on the end. (indicating defendant Coy Hubbard)
Q. Sitting behind Mr. Bowman?
A. Yes.
Q. Was he present at this time you are testifying about?
A. When they tied her up?
Q. Did someone tie her up?
A. Yes.
Q. Who tied her up?
A. Coy Hubbard tied her up and Sylvia wet the bed.
Q. When she was tied up who else was present, if anyone?
A. Stephanie was standing in the hall.
Q. Where did this take place?
A. Up in the bedroom.
Q. What did he use to tie her up with?
A. A rope.
Q. How did he tie her?
A. He tied her hands and tied her feet, I don't know how.
Q. Was this in the daytime?
A. Night.
Q. Then what happened?
A. They all went downstairs and Sylvia whispered to me and said "Jenny, Jenny" and asked me to get her a drink of water.
MR. ERBECKER: We object.
THE COURT: Objection sustained. It was a volunteered statement. The jury will ignore that statement.
Q. What did you do then, Jenny?
A. I got up and got her a drink of water.
Q. What happened?
A. Sylvia laid back down and turned over.
Q. Is that the night Sylvia urinated?
A. Yes.
Q. Did she stay tied up all night?
A. Yes.
There is so much that can be said about this story! It is Jennyism at its finest! I love the highly emotive little vignette in which Sylvia was tied to the mattress and asks her sister to get her a drink water. I know! Whosoever gives one of these children a drink of water…Still! Oh, give my one cracker to the puppy. I know I’m going to die, but I know you don’t want me to die. It’s good, but its also terrible. How about this hypothetical testimony? It’s hard to deny that this is how one might have expected this to have gone:
Q. Then what happened?
A. Well, I waited for Coy and that person I-wasn’t-supposed-to-name-but-did-so-by-accident went downstairs. Then Sylvia said to me, “Jenny, my sister, please untie me.”
Q. Can you tell the court what you did?
A. I said, “no!” But I’ll get you some water, even though, within my little fictional story, that will only add to your problems, seeing how you will urinate in the bed.”
Q. So, Jenny, you’re just as responsible for what happened as Coy and the person you were told not to name but did so anyway..aren’t you?
A. What do you mean?
Q. Isn’t it true that you could have untied her? Coy and what’s-her-name were gone. Why leave her tied up overnight and give her water, almost ensuring that she will urinate in the bed?
Attorney 1: Your Honor! I object! He’s badgering the witness!
The Court: Objection sustained!
Badgering? No more animals please! So much for applying even the rudiments of logic and intelligence. Objectionable indeed! Still, I might point out another rather annoying element of, and I know how objectionable it is, reality. In the little story, Sylvia is not in the basement. This happens upstairs. Think about that for a moment. A mattress upstairs. So this takes place in one of the upstairs bedrooms. I think it safe to maintain (I avoided the word ‘assume”) that this takes place in the upstairs back bedroom. So I use my imagination. Actually, I imagine myself walking up Gertrude’s stairs, going into the back bedroom, and sitting in the corner. I’m invisible, so no one can see me. And there is Sylvia, tied to the mattress. Coy and Stephanie left. Good riddance! Jenny came in and untied…wait, did not untie, her sister, but did give her a drink of water so ensuring that she urinated during the night. But now it’s bedtime. I see Shirley, Marie, and Jenny enter the bedroom. Who sleeps in the bed? Who gets stuck sleeping next to Sylvia who lies there tied up on the mattress? That person is unlucky, and that girl is going to get urine, Sylvia’s urine, all over her. Mom! I drew the short straw I must admit! But I’m not sleeping next to tied-up-Sylvia! I’ll get urine on me! Yuck! And, I wonder what Shirley and Marie think. They walk in and then…nothing. Oh, look! Sylvia’s tied to the mattress again. Good night everybody! Of course, the mattress is now wet with urine, and short-straw-girl will need a bath. Who sleeps on the mattress tomorrow night? It stinks of dried urine. So Sylvia’s abuse literally spills out onto everyone else. Force Sylvia into a bath of scalding hot water? She fights, so her tormentors get scalding hot water on themselves! Ouch. Force Sylvia’s head under scalding hot water coming from the tap in the kitchen? So her tormentor gets scalding hot water on herself. Ouch. Have to sleep on a stinking, urine soaked mattress? There seems to be a lot of self-torture in the Great Saga.
That is a crazy scene indeed! If I hadn’t been there, and all I had was a nonsense story told in court, I would never have believed it. It can not have happened. Does that mean Jenny may not have been completely truthful? The thing about mythology is that it isn’t subject to reason; it can fly in the face of rational scrutiny and everything we know about reality, and yet it is believed. It is faith! Mythological stories abound in the canonical story world. Notice something else. Something Jenny has done before. She mentions Stephanie, realizes that she wasn’t supposed to, and then gets tripped up. It was supposed to be Coy who did this. He is the devil in the little scene. She gaffed, so the attorney interrupts her and quickly shifts away from Jenny’s almost-statement that it could have been Stephanie who did this, or Stephanie was a co-conspirator, and directs Jenny back on the path that leads to Coy. Let’s continue:
Q. Did Stephanie Baniszewski ever do anything to Sylvia?
A. Yes.
Q. What?
A. Flip her and help put her in the tub of hot water. She hit her with her fist and the board.
Q. Did you ever see Stephanie cry?
A. Yes.
Of course, the witnesses have to say that Stephanie did something to Sylvia. So we get the more innocuous type of things. Did you ever see Stephanie cry? What a bizarre question to ask. Why ask this question? Did you ever see Paula cry? Johnny? An even better one! Included to show myself to be that heretical priest in a heretical congregation of one! Ask Ricky:
Q. When you went over there then at 5:30 or so, who was there?
A. As far as I remember right now, Gertrude and Stephanie was there.
Q. And how did you go into that house?
A. Through the back door.
Q. Where was Sylvia at that time?
A. She was laying on the kitchen floor on the blanket.
Q. Who was in the kitchen with her?
A. Gertrude and Stephanie.
Q. Where were they at in relation to Sylvia?
A. Gertrude was over on the east wall by the basement door and she was crying. She was scared and Stephanie was kneeling down beside Sylvia.
Q. Alright, what did you do at that time?
A. I asked what was the matter and Stephanie started crying that she was dead.
I’m sure it’s immediately obvious; you know, wherein the heresy lies! Hey Mr. Attorney, ask Jenny this: “did you ever see Gertrude cry?” What? We can’t ask that! And Gertrude cried before Stephanie did! She who cries first cries the loudest. Sorry, that was bad. Actually, it’s not really a strange thing for a not-insane-and-not-paranoid-and-not-sadistic woman to do in a situation such as this. It would be an incredible thing for an insane, paranoid, and sadistic madwoman, who has actually been plotting the murder of Sylvia for some time while producing two stupid notes, to have done. It is strange. But why ask if Jenny ever saw Stephanie cry? After all, Jenny testified that she and Marie were out raking leaves when all these things happened, so unlike Ricky, she wasn’t there when Stephanie and another person I could name but in doing so would be ruining everything for a fictional canonical world teeming with mythology, was crying by the basement door. But I could hazard a guess, and that is all that it would be. But I will do so anyway. Stephanie is a witness for the prosecution. She got a deal. None of the others would. Why? She got a separate trial. Why? I think that originally, Stephanie was going down in the same ship as everyone else. But! She had an ace up her sleeve. And that’s cheating! Still, I will tell the court that I’m the one who gave Mom the note. And I’ll name the person who gave it to me! If true, that’s a problem. If that other person suddenly found herself in the fast-sinking S.S. Gertie Wright, then the whole case against Gertrude is blown. The main witness for the prosecution is compromised. Gertrude walks out the door a free woman; and that’s a free woman, not the mad-woman Dr. Giraffes and Horses would have us believe she was. Later on, the convictions of Gertrude and Paula would be quashed. Why? In part, because they didn’t get separate trials. It was known at the time that that would happen. So it doesn’t seem too strange to me that Jenny states that Stephanie did hurt Sylvia, but she cries! She has a heart! She cries because she feels it is wrong. Crying is a sign that she is not the brutal person that inflicts such abuse without any emotional reactions. Crying shows contrition. Wow! So what does it mean when Gertrude cries? And Gertrude cried first! Does that mean that Gertrude had more contrition than the girl who has to sleep with Mom because she’s not supposed to sleep in the back bedroom? And when I was there, I didn’t see her come in.
Q. And just what did you see Stephanie Baniszewski do to your sister? And when and where?
A. She flipped her in the living room.
Q. When was that?
A. In these two weeks, the last two weeks before her death.
Q. How many times did that happen?
A. I was upstairs some of the times but I'd say five or six times.
This is great. How many times in The Two Weeks did Stephanie, our professional wrestler in training, flip Sylvia? “I’d say five or six times.” Jenny was upstairs when some of this was happening. What about when Jenny went to the store to get lunchmeat? What about when Jenny went to the park? When Jenny was home, she could tally Stephanie’s Sylvia-flips on a piece of paper in Gertrude’s tablet, possibly the same one used for the Gang of Boys note. But when Jenny wasn’t home, or she was upstairs, then Stephanie could fill her in on her latest count. At any rate, the judo-flipping nonsense, if believed, and in its actual form, is simply rough-housing and based on one, undoubtedly factual, event. But! Hot water torture is different. Let’s see what Jenny does with this one:
Q. I think you also testified that Stephanie put your sister in some hot water, or words to that effect, did you testify to that?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Just what did you see Stephanie Baniszewski do with reference to your sister and when and where, with reference to hot water?
A. She helped Gertrude and Paula shove her in the water but Gertrude took her under the arms and Paula took her legs and Stephanie just helped push a little bit.
There it is! Stephanie was involved in the hot water nonsense! But it was really Gertrude and Paula who did it. “Stephanie just helped push a little bit.” A “little bit” means only a “little bit” guilty of this abuse. She was involved, but not a “big bit.”
Q. Now, did you ever see Stephanie Baniszewski on any other occasion do anything else to your sister that you did not testify to?
A. Not that I did not testify.
Q. That you did not testify - in other words, that is only two things you saw Stephanie do to your sister?
A. No, she has done more than that.
Well said, Jenny! You’re right! You also said that Stephanie hit Sylvia with her fist and the board. But Stephanie cries! I thought I heard someone else crying, but we’ll just overlook that since it is excessively and embarrassingly inconvenient.
Q. Did you ever see Stephanie Baniszewski hit your sister?
A. Yes.
Q. Are there occasions when Stephanie Baniszewski hit your sister that you have not related in your testimony?
A. No.
Q. Are you sure?
A. You mean has she striked her that I have not said?
Q. Yes.
A. Not that I can remember.
Well, she has sayed already that Stephanie striked Sylvia! Well, she sayed that! At least the truth is being tollen! I’m sure that Stephanie and Jenny was three girls who always told the truth. And I must say that it is good to know that I’m not the only one who felt compelled to ask this question:
Q. Can you read and write English?
That question was posed to Judy Duke, and I like her answer:
A. Yes.
Great answer! I think:
Q. Did you ever see Gertrude Baniszewski throw Sylvia Likens down the basement steps?
A. I ain't sure if she threw her down or if she just walked down.
And we was getting so close! Try again:
Q. Do you remember when he would be there, when you would see him there?
A. Sometimes he was over there, I seen him.
One more chance, and this is one of my favorite quotes from the whole Saga:
Q. Have you ever been threatened by anyone for what you know about the case of Sylvia Marie Likens?
A. Yes, about ten days ago, Paula and her mother Gertrude Wright told me that they were going to get me, that they would catch me where ever I went, I heard Gertrude Wright, tell Paula, to tell me that my ass "was grass".
We can all relax now since Judy’s… wasn’t actually grass. And it didn’t become grass either! Ok, she speaks the same bizarre form of 3850 East New York Street English as everyone else, unless you’re educated and looking for horses instead of giraffes! And horses eat grass! Well, hay. Hey! I’m sure she’s a good witness. Being a good witness means you can remember things:
Q. What grade were you in last fall?
A. Fifth. I don't know.
Q. Were you in the fifth grade last fall?
A. I don't know.
Oh, my. It’s hard to remember what grade you were in last year. Well, maybe she’s the only child in the whole Saga who follows the rules:
Q. Was there sometime every night when you were supposed to be home in bed?
A. I was supposed to be in when it gets dark.
Q. You were supposed to get in when it gets dark?
A. When it starts getting dark I have to go home.
Q. Did you do that?
A. Sometimes.
Q. Sometimes you did not?
A. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't.
Q. What?
A. Sometimes I do.
So much for rules. And! It is clearly true that the sometimes you don’t must include the sometimes you do. But we’re talking about Victim Gertrude, and so is my favorite not-so-good-English-speaking, memory impaired, rebellious little minor character in the Drama:
Q. Did she say anything else?
A. She said, "You are ruining my life" or something like that.
Q. Anything else?
A. No.
Q. What happened then, if anything?
A. She went in the kitchen and I did not see her go in the kitchen but she had to go in the kitchen to get the salt and she - Stephanie, I mean - Sylvia was upstairs.
Another Stephanie gaff! Why can’t we stop referring to the one-who-is-not-to-be-named? Perhaps a hypothetical witness could offer a few words of wisdom in his hypothetical testimony:
Q. So, Mr. Fields, you’ve been called to court to testify as an expert witness, isn’t that right?
A. Ah, yes, that’s true, my little chickadee!
Q. Did you or did you not coach the witnesses?
A. I did!
Q. What did you tell them?
A. Never work with animals and children!
Alas! That’s what we have plenty of! A shrinking police dog; a ghost puppy who eats Sylvia’s last cracker; a poisonous spider that stalks Stephanie. Horses and Giraffes! We almost ended up with a badger, and now a chickadee too? And children aplenty! Even one whose mother fictionally drags him over to Gertrude’s very real house..in fictional drag! So, despite Mr. Fields’ advice, we’re stuck.
Q. Did you say that your sister - when she was down in the basement - had a bowel movement?
A. Yes.
Q. Johnny and Stephanie put soap powder and water on her?
A. I said that - it has come back in my mind - I was not down there and seen them put it on. I am not sure.
Wow! I retract that! It just striked my mind that I shouldn’t have sayed that. Why? I’m not supposed to be down there. It’s a strange thing, really.
"Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m upstairs…I’m…I think I’m in the basement.”
“Do you remember how you got here?”
“Well, I…I mean…I can’t be here.”
“Can you remember what happened?”
“When?”
“That night.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“You said you were.”
That is fictional of course. But it is easy to get confused when lies begin to blend together.
Q. What else did you see or hear?
A. Well, that is all I said to her. I went upstairs. I was getting ready to leave. John came upstairs and got two cups of hot water and took down in the basement. Gertrude got the trend dish soap and poured it all over Sylvia's body.
Gertrude, or Stephanie? Stephanie…no…Gertrude.
Q. Was anything else said?
A. Gertrude came down and Rickie.
Q. Rickie Hobbs?
A. Yes.
Q. What did you see then?
A. Someone - Sylvia was pointing at Gertie and Rickie and said, "You are Gertie and you are Ricky". Gertrude said, "Shut up, you know who I am," or something like that.
Much is owed to Jenny for providing a very important kernel of truth here. We know that Ricky was there. He walked in through the backdoor and found himself in the middle of chaos and anarchy. And his life would never be the same again. Sylvia had been brought upstairs into the kitchen. “You are Gertie and you are Ricky.” Fascinating. I’m sure that having difficulty recognizing people you know well is a symptom of…head trauma. Perhaps, head trauma that became the cause of your death. Head trauma you sustained when you got knocked down the basement stairs and into the concrete wall. So Jenny was there when the fight ended in tragedy. She’s faking! She’s faking! Who is?
Q. On the day your sister died, you said something about Stephanie pouring what kind of soap?
A. It was Trend soap.
Q. Is that for the washer?
A. It is dish soap.
Q. Trend soap?
A. Trend.
Q. And did she do something else?
MR. NEW: We object, Your Honor, it is not proper cross.
THE COURT: Sustained. It is not proper.
Sustained! Not proper! But soap is confusing. Especially when you can’t get it straight..you know, what female character is dumping it on your sister. Of course, putting soap on Sylvia wasn’t torture. It wasn’t even abuse. They were trying to clean up her after her imaginary bowel movement. It has to be worked in somehow. Paula said that Sylvia messed the bed. Why? Maybe seeing the picture of Photo 1 Girl, well, actually, the mattress she lies on, would bring this to mind. So too if a police officer said that’s why the mattress looked the way it did. And why put Sylvia in the bath as she’s dying? To clean her up? Ricky- because she felt cold. Hey, Ricky!
Q. Were you present when Gertrude put Trend soap on her because she had dirtied in her pants?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were you there when Johnny turned the hose on her?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you notice she had had a bowel movement?
A. No.
Q. Had she had a bowel movement?
A. I don't know.
Q. Is it your testimony, she had not dirtied in her pants?
A. No, sir.
Q. What is your recollection?
A. I have no recollection.
Q. You said you got down on top of her, straddled her to help her get her breath?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You still don't know if she had a bowel movement in her clothes?
A. No, sir.
When you were leaning over her in the kitchen, you know, when you did and didn’t help bring Sylvia out of the basement, when you did and didn’t get Sylvia breathing easier again…she must have smelled awful. Why? She had a bowel movement in her pants. So Johnny dumped water on her and somebody, maybe a Stephanie somebody or a Gertrude somebody, put soap on her. Did they remove her clothes? No! That would be inappropriate since a boy is there! So now she’s covered in wet, stinking excrement (sorry!). You didn’t notice that Ricky? He knows nothing about the fictional bowel movement. Sylvia’s cold, so give her a bath. But the bath story is a fiction too:
Q. Did you see her hit Sylvia on the head twice with a book? - I will ask if it is not a fact you stated to Sgt. Kaiser, "We, me and Stephanie carried her upstairs and laid her on the mattress on the bedroom floor, and she was cold, and I gave her artificial respiration, and then Stephanie took over then, and she did too," Why do you say now you did not see her on the mattress till the police came?
A. I don't recall laying her on a mattress.
Q. Are you trying to protect somebody with your testimony this morning?
A. No, sir.
So! the original version of the canonical story states that Ricky and Stephanie carried Sylvia upstairs and put her on the mattress. Johnny in the basement with an iron furnace poker or Ricky in the basement with an iron furnace poker-like steel eye-hook? No bath? She was cold. I gave her artificial respiration. No bath? No bath. She was cold..give her a warm a bath. Have Shirley bring tea. A bowel movement…put her in the bath? There was no bath; well, for Sylvia. Photo 1 Girl clearly got a bath…and two who must become one, must become one. So a bath it is. Photo 1 Girl got her bath when a gang of 5 men sought desperately to remove trace evidence that would tie them to the crime. I get it. But if Sylvia and Photo 1 Girl must become one, then Sylvia must take a bath. Why? Not to remove trace evidence. She was cold? She had a bowel movement? Is Ricky protecting someone? Not Stephanie. Not Gertrude. How about other adults who may or may not have been present that night?
Let’s get confirmation from “I’m not sure I know what it means to tell the truth, but I know A,B,C,D”..and that’s five letters! Surely Shirley can help:
Q. Did you see any one put water on Sylvia when she was in the basement that day?
A. Yes.
Q. Who was this?
A. Stephanie.
Q. Did you see any one else put anything on her?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Who?
A. My mother.
Q. What did she put on her?
A. Cold water.
Q. Any one else?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. Where did she get the water?
A. The hot water she got from the faucet. She used the hose to get the cold water.
Q. Who put hot water on her?
A. Stephanie.
Q. Who got - what was Sylvia doing?
A. Laying on the floor.
Q. Had she had a bowel movement?
A. Yes.
Interesting. What is? Hot water and cold water. I wonder why. If Sylvia really did have a bowel movement, then hot water and soap would have made sense. Sort of. Maybe quote a really cool song- “Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the…” Well, soap and hot water. Why isn’t anyone scrubbing? I mean, I know why they wouldn’t want to do the scrubbing. Sylvia is dressed, has messed her clothes, so we leave her clothes on and dump hot water and soap on her to clean her up. Really? If that were true, her clothes would have to come off. Then you could use soap and warm water, along with a sponge or washcloth to clean her off. And why hot and cold water? It’s not like we’re using the Trend to wash colors in cold and whites in hot. There are no wash cycles here, Shirley. Dump hot water on Sylvia…I get it. Dump soap on her…I get it. Now cold water? This makes no sense; unless it does. If Sylvia got knocked down the stairs into the basement during a three-way fight in the kitchen that also claimed Gertrude as a momentary and soon-to-have-a-nasty-black-eye-victim, and Sylvia smashed her head into the wall, we might dump cold water on her to revive her! And after she dies, we might wash the basement floor with soap and hot water to clean the scene:
- Cold water: dump it on Sylvia to revive her
- Hot water and soap: clean the basement floor
- Hose: wash everything down the drain in the middle of the basement floor
So maybe Shirley is right! Perhaps she incorporated three little grains of truth into her story. Of course, we need to apply a little logic to the story, starting from the perspective that most of what said during the trial was nonsense, except when it wasn’t. Maybe:
- A two-girl fight upstairs moves downstairs
- Dad’s not here! He said he would be here by now! I want to go home!
- I don’t! We’re not calling Dad!
- I will…no you won’t…always have to get your way, don’t you!
- Stephanie gets involved
- I don’t want Jenny to leave! I don’t care!
- Gertrude wakes up as a result of the brawl
- Gertrude attempts to separate the combatants
- Gertrude gets hit in the eye, or hits her head on the to-be-removed-stove
- Gertrude is unconscious
- Sylvia is knocked through the open door leading to the basement
- Sylvia falls down the stairs and hits her head on the wall
- Stephanie throws cold water on Sylvia to revive her
- Gertrude comes around
- She’s faking! She’s faking! She just wants her way!
- Step-mom arrives, bringing kids
- Go call your father!
- Dad arrives
- Take Sylvia upstairs and put her on the mattress
- Call a Mystery Cop
- Alright you two…what happened and who did what?
- I don’t know…I don’t know either
- Sylvia has died
- Wash the basement
- Gertrude, write down what happened and give that to the cop who arrives
- Gertrude, keep a copy for yourself
- Other kids have arrived
- I’m not taking the blame..help with the note, Ricky and Randy
- Take Gertrude’s notes
- Dixon arrives, Hey! I need my note to give to officer I-saw-and-heard-nothing
- Gertrude’s notes have been burned in the basement sink
- Give this one to your mom
- Here, officer Dixon..I don’t need to read it, I wrote it
- What is that expression on your face?
- This is your note? A gang of boys?
- What do you mean? I know nothing about a gang of boys!
- Hey, it’s cool…I called a cop I know. He knows about the gang of boys and you-know-who!
- You’ll protect me, right?
- Cops all over the place
- Hey! I found a letter, go give this to the other cop
- Two become one and then one becomes two?
- Destroy the letter..wait..can’t do that..the other cop saw it
- Hey officer, how much did you read?
- Here, kiddo, re-write this so two become one again
- Ok, but I’ll finally show the truth about Sylvia!
- Lies written about Sylvia; can’t spell “intercourse” correctly
- Look, Gertrude gave us a Gang of Boys note and a letter that strangely declares the victim’s sister innocent, on the same night!
- I don’t know what girl was in my patrol car
- I want a lawyer! I want a lawyer!
- The basement to be changed from the scene of Sylvia’s injury to prison/torture chamber
- Remove things from the basement, take down clothes lines
- Iron furnace poker…fooled you! Don’t start that again! The steel eye-hook lands in the sink
- I’m not going down alone! If I do, she does!
- Separate trial and turn state’s evidence, but no one else
- Protect my daughter
- Everyone, protect Stephanie
- From what? Yes, that..maybe
- Stephanie, where’s your missing enigmatic number?
Well, that’s not what happened. But it would make an interesting movie! What Jenny said Stephanie did to Sylvia as far as abuse goes is the sum extent of the accusations against her. No one else made any other accusations, unless I missed something, which is of course possible. If I did, then call me Fallitur and not Mendax.
Stephanie played another character in the Great Drama. The Jenny-like figure who is there when Sylvia is being abused, but does nothing. Canonickers unite and form a common front to absolve Jenny! What about Stephanie? She’s not one of the main abusers. But she does nothing!
Q. Say what Mrs. Baniszewski said, Jenny.
A. I know she said she was going to get rid of her.
Q. When did this conversation take place?
A. Oh, she would say that off and on.
Q. Did she say it more than once?
A. Yes.
Q. How many times?
A. Several times.
Q. Did she say this within the week before Sylvia's death?
MR. ERBECKER: We object, Your Honor, it is leading and suggestive.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. Can you tell a particular time when she said this, Jenny?
A. Oh, about two or three days before she died, something like that.
Q. Where did this conversation take place?
A. Sometimes in the kitchen, most of the time in the kitchen.
Q. Who was present?
A. Gertrude, me and Sylvia and Paula and Stephanie and John. I don't know all of them.
Q. What was said, Jenny?
A. She said she was going to get rid of her, dump her out somewhere.
So! Yes, I knew ahead of time that they were going to kill Sylvia, but so did Stephanie! And why can’t Jenny make up her mind? The not-so-enigmatic Jimmy’s Forest, or “somewhere”? Still, I find Ellenberger Park to be an enigma all it’s own.
Q. When was this?
A. I'd say a week before she died.
Q. Where was this?
A. Upstairs in the bedroom.
Q. Who was present?
A. Paula and Gertrude and me and Stephanie. Stephanie was getting ready to go to the store. Paula was putting salt in her sores.
Q. Salt?
A. In her sores.
Q. What did she do?
A. Sylvia screamed. They said they knocked Sylvia out but I did not see it.
Yes! Ricky is about to carve the slogan onto Sylvia’s abdomen, but it’s lunch time, so I left to get lunchmeat and can say I wasn’t there! Same is true of my friend Stephanie. For a girl who was confined to the basement during The Two Weeks, Sylvia seems to spend a lot of time in the upstairs bedroom. They knocked her out? Please, Jenny, stay on course and don’t ad lib, you’re not good at it. What about the slogan? Ask Shirley:
Q. Do you know Ricky Hobbs, Shirley?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. How do you know him?
A. He wears glasses, dark rimmed glasses.
Q. Is he here today?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you point him out?
A. There. (indicating defendant Richard Hobbs)
Q. And did he come to your house when you lived at 3850 East New York?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. How much would he come?
A. Once in a while.
Q. Did he live close by?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. On the Saturday before Sylvia died, did he come to your house that day?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. Who else was there that day?
A. My mother and Stephanie and I was.
Q. And what did you see then, Shirley?
A. They carved on Sylvia.
How about Marie?
Q. Who else was down there when John hit her in the basement?
A. Paula.
Q. Alright, anyone else?
A. Stephanie.
Q. Stephanie. You?
A. I was only down there to get a rake.
Q. Now, you said yesterday that you were present part of the time when there was a needle being scratched on Sylvia's stomach, did you say that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What day was that done?
A. On Tuesday, a week before she died.
Q. I am sorry, I can't hear.
A. On Tuesday a week before she died.
Q. Exactly a week before Sylvia died?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Day time or night time?
A. Day time.
Q. Who else was there?
A. Richard Hobbs, Paula, Stephanie and Johnny and Shirley and Jimmy and Mommy and I and Sylvia and Jenny.
Q. Where was Sylvia?
A. Standing up.
Q. With no clothes on?
A. With no clothes on.
Q. Where in the kitchen?
A. In the corner by the basement door.
Q. Who else was there?
A. Paula was sitting in there and Stephanie was gone.
Q. Stephanie was gone and Paula was sitting where?
A. In the kitchen.
Shirley is right, Stephanie is there, because I named everybody I could think of in a big long line of names like I thought I was supposed to do except Stephanie wasn’t supposed to be in that long line of names so she was there but she was…gone! Where’d she go? I know! She went to the store to get lunchmeat while Sylvia was mutilated. Wait! You can’t fool me! That was Jenny that did that! I know…harmonize! Jenny and Stephanie went to get lunchmeat together… That is not the beginning of a joke. Or, Jenny and Stephanie are interchangeable parts. Wait, that can’t be. Stephanie implied that someone doped her with some enigmatic mystery-drug, so she was there..and gone! And really, Marie? Sylvia was standing naked in front of Jimmy? We have to leave her clothes on when we wash her because she had a bowel movement so boys wouldn’t see her. We had to put her in the bath in her clothes so that Johnny wouldn’t see her naked. Never work with animals or children!
Q. Do you know whose idea it was to cut her hair?
A. No.
Q. Who was there when it was cut?
A. Jenny, Stephanie –
Q. Was anyone else there when Sylvia wrote the note?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who else?
A. Stephanie.
Q. Who was in the room when somebody put a cigarette out on her face?
A. Richard Hobbs, Randy Lepper, Anna Siscoe, Mike Monroe, Paula, Johnny, Jenny, Stephanie and Shirley and Jimmy. I was holding little Denny.
Oh, no! Jimmy and his friend Mike were there for this too? At any rate, what we see is that one of Stephanie’s manifestations is a mirror reflection of Jenny. And if Nero fiddled while Rome burned, then it could be said that these two girls hung around while Sylvia was systematically destroyed. Hey! It’s lunchtime! How about ham?
Perhaps the most bizarre manifestation of Stephanie is that of Sylvia’s Victim. This involves that hypothetical Code-123 call that my hypothetical cop answered; the one that sent him to Gertrude’s magical front door. Of course, Stephanie wasn’t Sylvia’s only victim. Jenny:
Q. I think you testified that shortly after you got there, about the second or third week, things began to change. Did you say that yesterday?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What offenses or acts did your sister do or commit to cause Gertrude to do these things?
A. Well, I think Stephanie came home from school and said Sylvia called her mother a whore. I guess that is what all started it.
Such language! From Judy Duke’s memorable trip to the stand:
“At this time Gertrude Wright, told Sylvia Likens that she was going to kill her, that she was fed up with her, because she was ruining her life”
Ruining her life? How? Before you answer that, remember the Big 4! Not insane, not paranoid, not sadistic. That’s a tough one, I mean, when you can’t just say that Gertie Wright was an insane, paranoid sadist caught up in a psychotic delusion. Randy:
Q. I think you testified that Sylvia had - that Gertrude told you Sylvia made her upset and she had to go to the doctor?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When did she tell you that?
A. It was a few days before Sylvia died.
Q. And on several occasions Gertrude - Mrs. Baniszewski told you that these kids or this girl is driving me crazy or words to that occasion?
A. Pardon?
Q. On several occasions Gertrude said this girl -
A. She said, "This girl is driving me crazy".
Q. Meaning Sylvia?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you ever see Sylvia do anything out of order there?
A. No.
Q. Did you ever see her do anything at all?
A. I seen her studying sometimes.
Q. What - have you any idea - did you ever see the girl do anything that would cause Mrs. Baniszewski to say "this girl is driving me crazy"?
A. No, sir.
Q. How many times did Gertrude say, "This girl is driving me crazy"?
A. Once or twice.
Q. The same day?
A. Not as I know of, sir.
Q. Did you ever hear Gertrude say. "Someone call the police, this girl is driving me crazy"?
A. Yes, sir.
Wow! I have to say that if I had a teenager living in my house that had the unmitigated gall to actually…sorry, I have to say it…study! Well, that would drive me crazy too. That’s a child that would have to go! Perhaps a woman who thinks she’s going crazy because a girl who studies is driving her crazy when any other parent would say that their child studying would actually drive them..sane, must be crazy. Sorry, forgot. And Randy, what kind of doctor? Hey Randy! Gertrude has enough Phenobarbital to put the whole block to sleep for a week. What would Dr. Lindenborg say? I’m not sure. What about hypothetical Substitute-doctor?
Q. So Dr. Substitute-doctor, did you see Gertrude Wright at that time?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And why was that?
A. She was very sick.
Q. Did you ascertain why that was?
A. Well, she said that a cop had been dispatched to her house because she phoned in a Code-123.
Q. Yes, doctor, that officer testified already.
A. Oh.
Q. What was your diagnosis at that time?
A. I diagnosed her as suffering from “grown woman being driven crazy by a teenage girl.”
Q. How is that?
A. Well, she had a house full of kids who did poorly in school, couldn’t count, spoke a bizarre form of English with a strange verbal conjugation pattern, made a lot of noise, had difficulty with the truth…and not to mention neighborhood kids who fictionally wore girl’s clothes, stayed out after dark if they felt like it, and seemed to brawl a lot with each other.
Q. That would put anyone under a lot of stress, wouldn’t it doctor?
A. No, that was all fine. There was another girl staying with her that…studied and helped around the house.
Q. What was your prescription?
A. Call the police and report a Code-123!
Come on, Ricky, help Randy out:
Q. Ricky, what did Gertrude say about Sylvia?
A. At this time?
Q. Yes.
A. She told me that she was not at the Juvenile Center, she was down in the basement.
Q. When had she told you Sylvia was at the Juvenile Center?
A. The time before I was over there, the time before that I was over there. I would not know when that was.
Q. Previous to this Saturday?
A. Yes, sir.
I bet that if you told a kid that another kid he knew was in Juvenile Lock-up, he would say, “what did she do?” After all, being naughty doesn’t get you imprisoned. Judy was free to roam the streets after dark! Shirley leads a mysterious gang known as “all the kids.” The officials at a Juvenile Detention Center will want to know what the young offender did to finally get what she deserved. So, what did this girl do? Did she rob a liquor store? Well, no. Did she shoot somebody? Not that either. Did she attack a passer-by and take his wallet? Not really. We need to write down on a clipboard what the juvenile delinquent did. Sorry, there’s no clipboard until decades later, and you don’t get pie and rainwater in lock-up. At any rate, she studied and helped around the house. Oh, a Code-123, why didn’t you say so?
Judy Duke also fell victim to Sylvia:
Q. Will you tell us in your own words if at anytime you punished or struck Sylvia Marie Likens?
A. Yes, about three weeks ago I was over at Gertrude Wright's, 3850 East New York Street, I slapped Sylvia Likens, on the arm, and kicked her on the leg, because Gertrude Wright, had told me that Sylvia Likens, had called me a (bitch).
Even Mrs. Siscoe didn’t escape:
Q. Now, at the time, did you sign a statement wherein this was written on it? "I slapped Sylvia Likens in the face and kicked her on the rear end because she was talking about my mother". Did you sign that?
A. Yes.
Q. When you said a while ago you were not sure who said it, it was not true?
A. Pardon?
Q. When you testified on direct examination hearing Sylvia Likens saying something, you were mistaken?
A. No, sir.
Q. When did you hear her talk about your mother?
A. No, sir, I did not hear Sylvia. Gertrude Wright told me Sylvia had said it.
Q. Further, did you say this on October 28, 1965, "She said my mother went out with all sorts of men and got $5.00 for going to bed with the men"?
A. Yes, sir.
$5.00? Still, we know that Stephanie too fell victim to Sylvia’s verbal onslaught:
Q. Now, did anything happen at school that caused you to have any difficulty with Sylvia?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was that?
A. Well, this boy came up to me one day in school and he asked how much I would take and I did not know what he meant. I asked him what did he mean and he said, "How much do want to go to bed with me" and so I did not know what to do. I guess I was more frightened than anything. I got kind of mad and said, "Who told you that"? He said, "Just a friend of yours". I said, "Some friend" and I asked him who it was and he said it was Sylvia.
Marie:
Q. That was one of the reasons?
A. One of the reasons Paula was so mad at her was that Sylvia - when she went to Tech with Sylvia - Sylvia would go over and tell lies on Paula and Stephanie.
Q. That day in the kitchen before Ricky got there, there was talk by your mother and Paula and the other kids about Sylvia saying Stephanie and Paula were whores, prostitutes and selling their bodies?
A. Yes, sir, but I did not talk a thing about it.
If it were me, I would have said that I did not say a thing about it. But I don’t live in 3850 East New York Street World! Thanks, counselor. “Selling their bodies”? And get it straight..she called Stephanie and Paula prostitutes, and Gertie a whore. And we know what she said about Judy and Anna’s Mom. But is this the only victimization that Stephanie suffered at the hands of Sylvia? No!
Q. Do you know of your own knowledge whether or not Gertrude did go to the doctor on account of her nerves?
A. I don't know.
Q. You were only told that, you don't know?
A. Well, Mrs. Baniszewski said that Stephanie had to go to the doctors and I was over there for a few minutes when Stephanie left with Paula to go to the doctor and Coy Hubbard was accompanying Stephanie.
So Stephanie was also being driven not insane, not paranoid and not sadistic, but nonetheless had to go to the doctor with her not insane, not paranoid and not sadistic mother! Hey, Randy! You should include this in your part of the Gang of Boys note that another child will write after Sylvia dies from an injury sustained in a fight in Gertie’s kitchen! And tell the other kid that it was a terrible twist of fate that he wrote something on someone’s stomach! Some kind of tattooing, maybe made with a pencil, maybe strange printing that was coming off in the bathtub. Bath! Yes! There was a bath. But it was on Monday night. And if you were expecting your father to arrive the next day, exactly three weeks from the day he said he would, and you thought you’d be going home, a bath is only normal. Or not. Now one can raise an interesting point. Just who was unbalanced? Gertrude? Poor Stephanie? Who should have seen the doctor?
Q. October 23, Mrs. Lepper was there?
A. Yes.
Q. What time of day or night was this?
A. This was late in the evening.
Q. About how late?
A. I don't know for sure. Paula got me up out of bed when she came to the door.
Q. Was there any conversation with her about anything special in particular?
A. No, sir, she had a little conversation with me about the condition my face was in.
Q. What was the conversation about your face?
A. I was wearing sun glasses when I was up because my eyes were swelled and matted quite a bit and my face was swelled and it was getting raw to the point where it was starting to bleed some here and there.
Q. How long did she stay?
A. I don't remember exactly. I think about a half hour because she had Randy dressed up as a girl and we did not recognize Randy at first as I can remember.
A verbal middle finger! Sylvia branded my daughters? Nonsense. I branded Sylvia? Nonsense. But watch me brand Randy! Live that one down!
So, we finally come to Stephanie in her most comical manifestation- Sylvia’s Almost Savior. Ricky will get saddled with the two most horrific things in the Great Saga. Stephanie will get saddled with the occasional punch, smack with the paddle, and several instances of Sylvia-flipping. Oh, I forgot the episode where Gertrude, Paula and Stephanie were dunking Sylvia in scalding water, and while Gertrude and Paula were responsible for the big bit, Stephanie was only responsible for the little bit. But! If Ricky gets all that, he also gets the chance, in collusion with Stephanie, to redeem himself by being a co-Sylvia’s Almost Savior. Another essay on this website discussed the ridiculous Three Stooges routine…wait, Moe, Larry, and Shemp said that this routine is too stupid to have been done by them, featuring a meandering fictional story of attempts to save Sylvia. Several declarations of Sylvia’s death, followed by her Lazarus-like return from the dead. Go call the police! Why? I don’t know. Someone call a doctor! I know CPR, so do I! Don’t let go of her tongue or she’ll die again! Smack, Smack! She’ll be fine now. A warm bath…a cup of tea..mouth-to-mouth…the dreaded death gargle! A lethal falling-back-on-the-mattress. Why is Stephanie so upset? Because she tried to be Sylvia’s savior, but despite all the comical things that happened, became her Almost Savior. Ricky seems less upset, but did give it his all. What did you do Johnny? Got the blanket, ran the bath water, declared her dead, and went with Ricky across the street to call the police. Paula was there..then was gone! Why is Gertrude so upset? Why is she crying by the basement door. She is the devil’s puppet-master in this Drama. She wants Sylvia dead because she annoys her by studying. Why isn’t she celebrating? She’s not; she does not want Sylvia to die. And it isn’t her fault that Sylvia is injured. It is her fault that no one got Sylvia help in time. How did Sylvia die? Not from a bowel-movement in the basement, and not from saying A,B,C, or even D! Ricky let go and Sylvia hit her head on the step. No I didn’t! Stephanie had a feinting spell..it’s her fault. No it’s not! It can’t be Stephanie’s fault.
Nonetheless, it is strange.