The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

Hershey looked at the three thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills, picked up the money, stacked the bills together in an inviting pile and made a gesture of extending them toward Mason. Mason shook his head.

Hershey opened the drawer in the table, dropped the money back into the drawer, then closed it, put his hands in front of him on the table, interlaced long fingers, and sat silent and motionless.

A moment later the heavy draperies at the far end of the room parted, and a barrel-chested man, leaning heavily on a cane, came hobbling into the room. His face was partially covered by a bandage, and his eyes were concealed behind dark glasses. Nearly all of the right side of the face, and part of the left side, was covered by the bandage. The left side had a bit of gauze held in place by adhesive tape, which failed to conceal evidence of a blue-black beard under the clean-shaven skin.

It was hard to judge the face beneath the bandage, but the jaw seemed heavy, and the low forehead was surmounted by a shock of black hair, cut short.

“Mr. Benjamin Addicks,” Hershey announced.

Addicks nodded, said, “How do you do? How do you do? Sorry that I’m indisposed.”

Followed by Nathan Fallon, he hobbled across the room and extended his hand.

“Mr. Perry Mason,” Hershey said.

“Glad to meet you, Mr. Mason. Heard a lot about you. Followed a few of your cases in the newspapers.”

“And Miss Street, Mr. Mason’s secretary,” Hershey went on.

“Good evening, Miss Street. I’m very pleased to meet you. Sorry I’m a little bit banged up. I do animal experimenting, you know, and it’s not always conducive to good health.”

The bandaged face contorted into a twisted grin.

“One of those damn gorillas,” Addicks went on to explain, speaking slowly through the bandage, “caught me a little too close to his cage, grabbed my coat, and before I could slip out of it, jerked me around so he got hold of my arm, and pulled me toward the cage. I flung back and tried to kick loose. He caught my foot and made a grab; caused some pretty deep scratches and bruises on my face. I’ll be all right, but I’m not very presentable.”

He pulled out a chair and eased himself into it in the manner of a man who is sore and stiff.

“The gorilla,” Nathan Fallon explained, “was trying to grab Mr. Addicks’ throat. If he’d ever caught it in his powerful fingers he’d have torn the throat right out.”

“Now wait a minute,” Addicks said impatiently. “You’re always jumping at conclusions from insufficient data, Nathan. You’re a damned old woman that way. I don’t think the gorilla was making a grab for my throat. I’m not too satisfied but what he was just after my necktie.”

He turned to Mason and said, “Gorillas are like that. They’re eager to get hold of some article of wearing apparel, particularly something that’s loose. If you wear a necktie around ’em they’re very apt to reach through the cage and grab you by it — and, of course, if he’s developed vicious tendencies, he’s a very dangerous animal.”

“You deliberately encourage this type of danger?” Mason asked.

“I’m conducting scientific research,” Addicks said. “I want to know how deeply the homicidal instincts have been implanted in the minds of the higher primates.”

“It would seem,” Mason said, “that you were very close to finding out.”

“I jerked back instinctively,” Addicks said. “Hang it, I thought for a minute he was trying to grab my throat, but thinking back on it I can’t exclude the possibility that he was merely grabbing for my necktie. They do that, you know, and this one was particularly tricky. They’re big animals, but they’re quick as a flash, Mason, just as quick as a flash.”

“I saw it all,” Fallon said, “and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he was grabbing for your throat, Benny.”

“Well, he certainly gave me a rough time,” Addicks admitted. “I sort of surprised him by bringing up my foot and kicking, and bracing against the bars. Then Nathan yelled at him and picked up a club.”

Mason said, “It would seem that your experiments are destined to be inconclusive until they reach a point where a gorilla has very definitely killed someone.”

Addicks regarded him with cold, watchful eyes, then shrugged his shoulders. “I think you misunderstand what I’m trying to do, Mr. Mason, and frankly, I see no reason to explain. I’m more interested in learning something about the real explanation of hypnotism than anything else. Some people don’t approve. I don’t give a damn whether they do or don’t. They’re my gorillas. I buy ’em, and they’re mine.”

“I doubt it,” Mason said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You may be able to get physical possession of the gorillas,” Mason said, “but morally I don’t think a man can really own any living thing. The animal has a right to his own development through the phenomena of life.”

“You’re a lawyer. I have a legal title. You’ll have to admit that.”

“I was discussing moral ownership, moral responsibilities.”