Did Bill Lancaster shoot Haden Clarke

'Woman’s letter to judge too late to stop famous trial.’

This is the heading of a 1934 article written by Chubbie about the Miami trial of Bill Lancaster for the death of Haden Clark in 1932.[i]

The letter itself was postmarked Otorohanga, New Zealand, 24 August 1932, seven days after the jury reached its verdict in Bill’s trial. It was sent to Bill's defence lawyer, James Carson, at the Public Law Court in Miami, Florida. It said that the author was currently travelling the world and had only just learnt about the case, and asked that her personal details be kept quiet for reasons that would be obvious when they read her letter.
The letter said:
It is only fair to tell you that I was at one time [Haden Clarke’s] secret sweetheart, which was my wish, as I was engaged to another man, but Mr Clarke did not know this, and always wondered why I should not go about in public with him.
He often took drugs, what it was I have forgotten the name, but when recovering he was very unhappy. He thought nothing of the life to come, after we’re dead.
I have had letters at odd times from him but, like a silly, have always put them in the fire. The last one told me of his troubles. He said that unless his sweetheart (Mrs Miller) got some money for her notes on different tours, he could not marry … and ended up by saying: I hope this letter catches up with you and I am sure you will be sorry you did not wait and let us marry as, when you get this, I will be dead, and I hope a famous airman will be too. He did not mention who it was, but it is not long since I got the letter …
I do hope, Mr Judge, that you and your jury will understand that he was the class of man that, when getting over a fit of drugs, he would take his own life, or anyone else’s.
He must have loved Mrs Miller very much.
As I got well away he said he would kill us both if I would not marry him, so she is lucky he did not kill her too …
P.S. He never mentioned that Mrs Miller was his girl, just said ‘another of his loves’. I hope he is happier than when he was on this earth, poor man. I shall never forget him. I loved him, but it was not safe to marry him, as he went real mad at times.

Chubbie’s article said that Carson thought the letter convincing enough to have stopped the trial if it had arrived earlier.

In truth, State Attorney Hawthorne was more likely to have dismissed it as an attempt by one of Bill’s supporters to pervert the course of justice on the grounds that the letter’s author could not be interviewed.

Question
Was the letter genuine?

Evidence
The contents of the letter seem reasonable except for one sentence: ‘I hope a famous airman will be too’ – that is, that Bill would be dead as well. This is highly suspect. Why would Haden want to kill Bill? And how would he do so?

Of course, Haden might have made such a throw-away line in a fit of drug-induced rage.

We'll never know.

Conclusion
Although the dates of its arrival and eventual publication benefitted no one, the letter might not have been genuine. Moreover, it doesn’t unequivocally answer the question ‘Who killed Haden Clarke?’

[i] Chubbie’s article, which included the letter, was republished in the Sunday Times (Perth WA Australia) on 4 March 1934, p.11.

Written 21 March 2017

1 Comment

Tim wrote on 30 Jan 2019:

I can't see any reason why this letter should be a fake. The reference to Bill being killed would probably indicate that Haden wanted to implicate Bill as his murderer, hence no suicide letter from him.
Great book by the way, so well researched!

2. Gun purchase

Problem
The prosecution claimed that Bill’s purchase and loading of the gun between the time he received confirmation of Chubbie and Haden’s relationship and his arrival in Miami was evidence of a premeditated intent to kill Haden Clarke.

Evidence
1. Bill had been lent a Colt .38 by Attorney Huston before his Mexico trip. Huston said that it was precious to him and that he wanted it back after Bill’s trip.

2. Bill was forced to pawn the gun during the trip because he was broke.

3. Bill reached St Louis on 15 April on his return trip to Miami. He, Gentry Shelton, and Shelton’s father agreed that he should return to Miami to find out for himself what was happening with Chubbie and Haden. Bill was still broke at that time, having abandoned Latin American Airways because of his partners’ criminal intentions. Shelton Senior lent him $100 at some stage between 15 and 18 April to make the Miami trip.

4. Bill went out to purchase a gun on 18 April, before he returned to Miami. On 19 April, he used some of Shelton’s money to purchase a Colt .38, an identical model to the gun Huston had lent him.

5. He told the St Louis sheriff that he wanted the gun for transcontinental flights. This wasn't completely true. However, if he had said that he planned to give it away, he might not have been granted a permit.

6. He left St Louis that same day, 19 April. He loaded the gun at his night stop-over in Nashville, Tennessee. When asked at the trial why he loaded the gun at that time, he said that he had been given a loaded gun and planned to return it in the same condition. Unspoken was the fact that if he wanted to have a gun for transcontinental flights, an unloaded gun was of little use. He probably loaded it that night at Nashville because he had the time to do so, whereas he had been busy during the day flying.

7. The fact that Bill remembered to take the gun with him after he landed in Miami, but forgot his diary, was considered to be evidence of premeditation by the prosecution. In fact, it would have been extremely irresponsible of him to have left a loaded gun in his plane. His diary, however, was unimportant.

Conclusion
Bill’s explanation is completely plausible. In fact, his behaviour would have been more questionable if he had not met his ‘honour’ obligation by replacing the gun.

Written 21 March 2017

1 Comment

Mary James wrote on 11 November 2019:

Why would Bill spend the only money he had on a gun? The gun must have been very important to him for reasons other than giving it back. I don't think he would have rushed to get a gun in order to return it. He wanted to kill Haden or to have Haden kill himself.

3. Threats in diary entries

Question
Does Bill threaten Haden in his diary?

Evidence
1. The prosecution argued that Bill’s diary burst forth with threats against Haden.

2. While Bill’s diary did indeed burst forth with emotional agony, it contained no threats – direct or indirect – against Haden.

3. The only threat in the diary was against Bill himself. ‘If it’s gone from me [that is, Chubbie’s love], I will end this life. I can’t stand the strain much longer.’

4. Bill told Chubbie that he would give her $1000 as a wedding gift. She worked out that he was going to get the money from an insurance payout after he killed himself in a plane accident.

Conclusion
Bill was considering killing himself if he lost Chubbie. There is no evidence in his diary that he planned to kill Haden. The prosecution was manipulating the evidence to fit their claim that Bill killed Haden.

Written 21 March 2017

4. Verbal threat: J F Russell's claim

Question
Did Bill threaten to ‘get rid of’ Haden when speaking to J F Russell, the president of Latin American Airline?

Evidence
1. Russell told the court that, after he revealed to Bill that Chubbie and Haden were having an affair, Bill said, ‘Do you think I have been double-crossed? What do you think?’

2. Russell then said that Bill paced the floor and bit his lip and said, “I’ll get rid of him.”

3. Russell then said that Bill checked himself, as if he didn't realise that Russell was there, and said, ‘That sure is good of you, old man, to tell me this.’

4. Bill did indeed use the phrase ‘old man’ in his speech, as suggested by other sources.

5. However, the last thing Bill would have said to Russell was, ‘That sure is good of you to tell me this.’ He was initially shocked at the revelation of the affair, then was disbelieving. He knew that Russell was attempting to use this information to manipulate him into agreeing to join their smuggling operation. He is more likely to have said, ‘You are such a bastard!’

6. Bill had liked and trusted Haden and wasn’t going to instantly think the worst of him because of something said by a man like Russell, as Bill himself indicated in his diary.

7. Bill was not quick-tempered or aggressive, so he wasn’t the type of man to instantly threaten another person.

8. Russell claimed in Bill's trial that he had nothing against the man even though Bill was largely responsible for his capture and conviction on his own charges. This beggars belief.

9. Since Russell was almost certainly lying in his third claim (see point 3 above), he was probably also lying in points 1 and 2.

Conclusion:
Bill is highly unlikely to have told Russell that he would ‘get rid of’ Haden.

Written 21 March 2017

5. Verbal threat: Marc Tancrel's claim

Question
Did Bill threaten to ‘get rid of that son-of-a-bitch’ in a conversation with Latin American Airline partner Mark Tancrel?

Evidence
1. The phrase ‘son-of-a-bitch’ is not used by anyone but Americans. When Bill said that he did not use such a phrase, that the British did not use such a phrase, he was correct. And why would any British person – even one living in America – use such a clumsy phrase when they had a much pithier word for a dishonourable man: ‘bastard’.

2. As Tancrel clearly lied about the epithet, we have no reason for believing anything else he claimed Bill said.

3. At the time Bill was supposed to have made the threat against Haden, he was telling Tancrel that he was abandoning Latin American Airways and returning to Miami. While it is possible that they had a long enough conversation for Bill to ask Tancrel if Russell had shown him the letters indicating that Chubbie and Haden were having an affair, there is no independent evidence suggesting that they did have such a conversation. Bill didn’t mention it in his diary, whereas he mentioned his conversation with Russell (see post 4).

4. Tancrel also claimed that Bill told Joseph Ince, in his hearing, that ‘I don’t think Haden Clarke has double-crossed me but if he has, well, I’ve seen a lot of dead men and one more won’t make any difference.’ The date of Bill’s encounter with Joseph Ince was 19 March, only 13 days after Bill left Miami. Not only did Joseph Ince refute Tancrel’s claim that Bill said such a thing, nothing had happened between Bill and Chubbie at that time. Tancrel was clearly lying.

5. Tancrel told Deputy Marshal Moe that he would do everything he could to see Bill ‘burn’.

Conclusion
It is highly unlikely that Bill threatened to ‘get rid of that son of a bitch’ to Mark Tancrel. It is absolutely certain that he didn’t make the ‘dead men’ comment in the presence of Joseph Ince, if at all.

Written 21 March 2017

6. Verbal threat: Gentry Shelton's remark

Question
Did Bill tell Gentry Shelton that he had ‘seen hundreds die under machine gun fire and wouldn’t mind seeing another dead man’?

Evidence
1. During the trial, the prosecutor asked Bill if he had made the above comment to Gentry Shelton.

2. Although the prosecution subpoenaed Shelton, he didn't come forward to testify (for reasons of self-protection). This means that no one could verify whether or not Shelton said such a thing to the prosecutor. Defence Attorney Carson should have objected to its introduction and, if he had done so, the judge should have upheld the objection.

3. The statement bears a marked similarity to the statement Bill reportedly made in Tancrel’s presence: ‘I’ve seen a lot of dead men and one more won’t make a difference’. Tancrel was shown to be lying (see post 5).

4. Bill was never in the trenches, according to military records, so he never saw ‘hundreds die under machine gun fire’.

5. Bill had hoped that Shelton would testify because he thought he would be a favourable witness.

6. But it seems unlikely that the prosecutor would blatantly lie in such a way (or is this just naive of the author?).

Conclusion
It is impossible to determine with certainty whether Bill made such a comment or not.

Written 21 March 2017

7. Heart-to-heart talk between Bill and Haden

Question
Did Bill and Haden have a heart-to-heart talk before they went to sleep in the early hours of Thursday 21 April 1932?

Evidence
1. Bill testified to the investigators and to the court that he and Haden had a heart-to-heart talk in the early hours of 21 April, after they had retired to the sleeping porch. In that talk, Haden revealed that he had lied to Bill and Chubbie about his age, his university degree, and his venereal disease, among other things. Only Bill’s account of this conversation has survived. Nevertheless, that such a conversation almost certainly occurred is supported by independent evidence.

2. Bill testified that Haden told him during that conversation that he was only 26 or 27 whereas he had claimed to be 31 when Chubbie interviewed him. This is supported by Haden's death certificate which states that he was aged 26 years and 25 days at the time of his death, information provided by his mother who acted as the informant. Chubbie was aged 30 years and 6 months at the time of Haden's death.

3a. Haden told Chubbie that he was suffering an attack of venereal disease for the first time. This is not the type of subject that would come up in general conversation, so Chubbie would have had no way of knowing whether Haden was telling the truth.

3b. After Chubbie and Haden collected Bill from Miami airport on the evening of 20 April 1932, Bill asked if there was any alcohol in the house. Chubbie said that they weren’t drinking because Haden had a venereal disease and had been told not to drink by his doctor. This is almost certainly the first time Bill learnt about Haden’s disease. The fact that Haden did indeed have such a medical problem is supported by the embalmer who testified to the court that Haden's body was "diseased".

3c. In their heart-to-heart talk, Bill said that Haden admitted that it was a recurring disease. It seems highly unlikely that Bill could have known that fact unless Haden revealed it himself.

3d. That it was indeed a recurring disease was revealed in Richard Lavender’s testimony during Bill’s trial. Lavender told the court that during his and Haden’s long journey across the southern states, Haden told him that he had a recurring venereal disease.

4a. Haden reportedly told Bill during the heart-to-heart that he didn’t have a university degree.

4b. This is not the type of information that Haden would have revealed – or his mother – when he was trying to obtain work as a writer. Carol's research confirms that this revelation was true. Haden told them that he had a degree from Columbia. In fact, he attended Colgate University, New York in 1923/24 and Stanford University in 1924/25. He is not included in the alumni lists for either university and there is no other evidence to suggest that he completed his degree.

Conclusion
Bill and Haden almost certainly did have a heart-to-heart talk in the hours before Haden’s death or Bill wouldn’t have known the information mentioned above. Bill communicated this information to the investigators and to the court in the aftermath of Haden’s death.
  Bill told Haden that he would have to tell Chubbie about his lies in the morning, which is logical. Bill also said that he knew Chubbie wouldn't like hearing this information at all, that it would seriously undermine their relationship.
  In fact, Chubbie indicated to the court that the news did affect her feelings for Haden. It is highly likely that Bill was correct, that he knew Chubbie well enough to know that this news would have seriously weakened, if not destroyed, the bond between them.
That being the case, Bill's statement that he hadn't killed Haden, along with his intimation that even if he had been so inclined he would have no need to do so because he knew how Chubbie would react to the news of these lies, is supported by the evidence.

Written 21 March 2017

1 comment

Mary James wrote on 11 November 2019:

Chubbie knew about the VD because she had told Bill about it. The only other new information was about his age and thus lack of a college degree. I don't think those 2 things would have made Chubbie stop loving him.

Response by Carol:

If a person of integrity finds that they have been lied to about multiple important issues, it does indeed impact their feelings about that person.

Moreover, a single bout of a potentially curable venereal disease versus an ongoing and therefore incurable (or difficult-to-cure condition) is also problematic. That makes three big lies, not two.

Chubbie had only known Haden for two months at the time of his death. She disliked him intensely for the first month, seeing him (and rightly so) as lazy and undisciplined. High-achievers have little time or respect for the lazy. Her affair with Haden clearly began in a moment of alcohol-induced passion at a time when she was miserable and depressed. The fact that Haden wanted to rush their marriage suggests that he lacked certainty about the strength and endurance of Chubbie's feelings.

Thus, I stand by my claim that Bill knew Chubbie well enough to know how she would feel about these lies. Character drives behaviour. After nearly two years walking in the shoes of these two people, I got to know them very well.

8. Suicide while lying down

Question
Do people commit suicide while lying down?

Evidence
1. When Henry Jones offered a summary statement for the prosecution, he said, ‘A man doesn’t lie down to shoot himself.’

2. Criminologists I have spoken to have said a similar thing.

3. Yet Carson, Bill’s defence attorney, countered this statement by citing two recent suicide cases in the Miami district (Dade County) in which the gunshot victim had lain down before killing himself. He said that one of these incidents had occurred only the week before Bill’s trial commenced, so the state attorney should have known about it. The state attorney did not dispute Carson’s statement in his own closing argument, which followed Carson’s.

4. Clearly, while it wasn’t common for people to lie down to shoot themselves, it seems to have occasionally occurred.

5. So what was Haden likely to have been thinking after the light went out in the early hours of the morning of his death? The state claimed he was on top of the world, but the evidence suggests otherwise. He had just had a long heart-to-heart talk with Bill in which he revealed that he had lied about important facts in terms of his age, university degree and writing qualifications (see post 7). He must have suspected that Chubbie wouldn’t be impressed when she learnt the truth, that in the morning he could lose his fiancée, his home, his job, and his only chance at fame and fortune. His venereal disease was painful, preventing him from sleeping, so it is likely that he lay there stewing over his problems. A gun sat on the table next to his bed, a gun he had played with a short time earlier. The moon shone brightly into the room, allowing him to see quite well once his eyes had adjusted. Did he take the gun from the box while Bill was sleeping deeply then lie down again holding it, playing with it, thinking? Did he recollect past conversations about suicide, about the opportunity the gun provided of making a dramatic escape from an increasingly unendurable situation? Did he hold the gun to his head and fire it?

Conclusion
The circumstances at the time suggest that, if Haden did shoot himself, it was more likely to have been while he was lying down than pacing the floor with Bill asleep next to him.

Written 21 March 2017

1 comment

Mary James wrote on 11 November 2019:

It seems like, maybe, Bill had kind of coaxed Haden into thinking he should kill himself. Maybe that is why Bill left the loaded gun right there.

Response by Carol:

There is no evidence to support this suggestion, and it's a truly horrible suggestion, although we only have Bill's word for what really happened that night.

However, when an author spends a couple of years researching and writing about a real person, they develop a sense of that person's character. Bill prided himself on being honorable, as the incident with Burt Hinkler and his plane attests.

9. Haden's position at the time of death

Question
In what position was Haden lying at the time of the shooting? Could he have shot himself from that position? Could Bill have shot him?

Evidence
1. The prosecution claimed that Haden was lying on his left side at the time of his death.

2. The defence claimed that he was lying on his back.

3. The bullet was found in Haden’s pillow.

4. The bullet entered on the right side of Haden’s skull near the right ear and came out on the left side of his skull near his left ear. This suggests that his head was on its side, with his left ear towards the pillow, when he was shot.

5. When Chubbie found Haden after the shooting he was lying on his back. We have no reason to think that she was lying, nor was there any reason for her to lie about such a thing.

6. Bill also reported that Haden was lying on his back when he found him. If Bill shot Haden, he would have had no reason to afterwards push Haden from his left side onto his back.

7. The gun was tucked down by Haden’s right-hand side when Chubbie spotted it. If Haden was lying on his left-hand side when he shot himself, the gun could have fallen onto the left-hand side of the bed. If he was lying on his back, the gun would almost certainly have fallen on the right-hand side.

7. The Colt .38 has a long barrel. This has led authors like Colin Evans (A Question of Evidence: The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies from Napoleon to O.J. Simpson) to statey that it would be impossible to shoot oneself in the head with it. However, the ballistics witness, Albert Hamilton, held the gun to his head during the trial and pulled the trigger. This indicates that Evans was wrong, that it was fact possible to shoot oneself with it.

8. The defence, in its suicide argument, provided an explanation as to why Haden turned his head to the side to shoot himself while lying on his back. Carson argued that if Haden had remained on his back and fired the shot through his right temple, the shot could have crossed the room and killed Bill. Therefore Haden’s action was altruistic.

9. The most likely explanation – if it was a suicide – seems less altruistic. Haden was lying in a single bed, probably little more than three feet wide, which was pushed up against a wall. For someone lying on their back, the wall was on the right-hand side of the bed. If Haden was lying on his back and attempted to lift a long-barrelled gun and put it to his right temple, he wouldn’t have had enough elbow room. However, if he turned his head to the left, he would not only have had more elbow room, the angle would have been less of a strain on his arm and shoulder muscles.

10. Bill could also have taken the shot. Physically, yes; he was a trained soldier. Again, it wouldn’t have been the easiest of shots because of the table between the beds and because of the need to fire the shot in such a way that it mimicked a suicide shot. Bill would have needed to lift the gun from the box without disturbing a man who was having pain-induced sleeping problems and was probably only sleeping lightly. He would have had to climb out of bed, stand over Haden and line up the shot then slam the gun into Haden’s head and fire the shot before Haden had time to react and pull away. It would be a brutal act from one who – according to the available evidence – had never previously fired a gun at another person.

11. Would Bill have been likely to kill Haden? When Bill asked Haden if he would sound out Chubbie about smuggling as a solution to their financial problems, Haden deterred him by saying that Chubbie didn’t want him to do so and that it would hurt her if he did. Killing her fiancée would hurt her even more.

Conclusion:
It is likely that Haden was lying on his back when he was shot, with his head turned to the left side. Either he or Bill could have fired the shot although it would have been harder for Bill to make that particular shot with those results.

Written 21 March 2017

10. Gunshot entrance wound

Problem
The various trial testimonies suggest that, if Haden killed himself, he was shot in the ‘wrong’ place.

Evidence
1. Dr Deederer testified that the gunshot entrance wound was between Haden’s right eye and right ear, about three inches away from the hole in the ear, and slightly above the direct line. This refers to the area generally known as the right temple. On Haden's death certificate, in the box asking "What test confirmed diagnosis?", he wrote "Shaving".

On my (admittedly small) head, three inches in front of the earhole puts the tape measure at the edge of the eye socket. This is not an area that would need to be shaved in order to confirm the diagnosis.

2. Ballistics defence witness Albert Hamilton testified that the bullet’s entrance wound was on the right-hand side of Haden’s head in the area in which the skull is the thinnest, which is the temple area.

3. Haden had previously talked to others about committing suicide. He had mentioned that the best place to shoot oneself – to be sure of instant death and not serious incapacitation – was to shoot oneself above and slightly behind the right ear.

4. Bill testified that Haden had never talked to him about suicide. This is probably correct. The occasions when Haden talked about suicide were specific: when a depressed friend seemed to be contemplating suicide, and when a writer friend was attempting to kill off a character in his manuscript. Life was looking up when Haden first met Bill so there was little need for such a subject to be raised. Still, it is possible that they did talk about death and the associated subject of suicide during one of their February/March talks or on the night of Bill’s return. If they did, it would appear that Haden didn’t mention the best location for a successful suicide shot.

Conclusion
This is the most incriminating piece of evidence against Bill.

Extenuating circumstances
Is there any reason why Haden would have shot himself in the ‘wrong’ place? With a long barrel gun, the further forward the gun was held, the easier the shot (see post 8). And the temple is a comfortable place to hold a gun. Nonetheless, this remains the most incriminating piece of evidence against Bill.

Updated 15 December 2018 with new information
As more newspapers are digitised and published online, more information is becoming available. The Miami Daily News is a recent addition to the newspapers.com stable.

On 1 June 1932, it published a report under the heading "Clarke Autopsy report will be rendered soon". The article included a statement by Attorney James Lathero who worked with Attorney James Carson on Bill's case. The report says (quoting Lathero):
"As soon as it became apparent that Captain Lancaster was to be indicted for the murder of Charles Haden Clarke, I consulted with James M Carson with a view of securing his services in the case. After several days of investigation, both Mr Carson and I were convinced that the deceased had committed suicide, and that Captain Lancaster was innocent.
"After accepting employment we both agreed it would be necessary to investigate carefully the emotional and mental background, both of Clarke and Lancaster, in order to demonstrate the truth of the defense. Since funds were limited, we did not want to spend more money than was necessary and we decided to consult a competent psychiatrist in order that he might guide our investigation so that we would investigate only those parts of Clarke's life which were material to the case.
"Mr Carson had shortly before tried a personal injury suit in which Dr Percy L Dodge was a witness for the other side, and his ability and knowledge had impressed Mr Carson.
"We secured a copy of the testimony in that case and from it learned that Dr Dodge had been a practicing physician, specializing in nervous and mental diseases since 1908.
"Being satisfied as to his qualifications, we decided that Mr Carson should consult Dr Dodge for the purpose stated. When he did so consult him, he learned that Dr Dodge on account of the very nature of his specialty had seen very many cases of suicide.
"We also learned that in cases of suicide by shooting with a pistol there are usually very definite physical indications. If the muzzle of the pistol is held directly and tightly against the scalp, naturally there can be no powder burns on the outside of scalp but the gases generated by the explosion have to have some place to escape. The result usually is that the scalp is torn loose from the skull and balloons, and that the powder stains are found between the scalp and the skull instead of on the outside of the body.
"If the pistol is held against the skull by any other person except the one shot, there will be enough flinching even in sleep so that a small place for the escape of gas and powder on the outside of the skin will be left. If the ballooning is found and the powder burns are found between the scalp and the skull, the indications of suicide are practically conclusive, for the reason that no other person except the one shooting can or will hold the muzzle tightly enough against the scalp to produce these results.
"After learning this from Dr Dodge, we were not satisfied with the report of the county physician as to the physical indications on the body of Haden Clarke [CB: The State Attorney did not call the county physician to testify at the trial!], nor were we satisfied with the newspaper statements of Dr Deederer, who is the physician for Ida Clyde Clarke [CB: He was called by the State Attorney to testify.]
"We then put the proposition directly up to Captain Lancaster, telling him that an autopsy would show whether or not the death of Clarke was the result of suicide. The captain insisted that we apply for an autopsy, which we did.
"When the motion was called up, Vernon Hawthorne, state attorney, did not oppose it and it was promptly granted. Judge Atkinson appointed on the commission Dr Dodge, who was the nominee of the defendant [Lancaster], and two other Miami physicians, Dr Donald F Gowe, who was the nominee of the state attorney, and Dr M H Tallman, who was the appointee of the court.
"The disinterment has been accomplished; the autopsy has been performed; and we eagerly await the report of the medical commission to the court which appointed it."
Elsewhere the article notes: "Members of the commission stated they found the fatal bullet had entered the right temple one inch above the right ear and emerged four inches above the left ear, fracturing the skull on both sides. Powder burns were said to have been found on the tissue and the skull at the point where the bullet entered the head."

Dr Dodge was unable to testify at Bill's trial because he was in Boston suffering heart problems and the judge wouldn't allowed the trial to be delayed any further. But clearly he on his own, or in conjunction with the other autopsy commission members, provided the above details to Carson and Lathero, or to the reporter himself, about the location of the entrance wound. These details dispute those of Dr Deederer, who was the only person called by the State Attorney to testify about the location of the entrance wound. As mentioned above, Deederer testified that the wound was between the right ear and the right eye.
The image below shows that the "temporal region" includes the area known by the lay person as the "temple". It omits the eye socket but extends from the border of the eye socket area to just behind the ear. If the "temporal region" and the "temple" are considered to be the same area by the medical professionals, this supports the statement by the autopsy doctors that the entrance wound was in the "right temple" and was "one inch above the right ear" (which otherwise would appear to be contradictory).

Conclusion

The location of the entrance wound mentioned in the June report is much closer to the area suggested by Haden as being the deadliest place to shoot oneself.

Evidence at trial

One of the problems with the trial evidence is that no trial transcript has survived. It was destroyed because Bill was found innocent.

All that has survived are the newspaper reports. While many are lengthy and detailed, they do not provide full transcripts of the evidence. Naturally, the reports from the two Miami newspapers are the most detailed but, even so, they are not complete transcripts.

Written 21 March 2017

11. Haden Clarke's time of death

Problem
The times quoted by those who were a part of the events of the morning of 21 April are in disagreement. The makers of the docu-drama The Lost Aviator have concluded that this provides evidence suggesting that Chubbie conspired with Bill to hide the evidence of murder.

Evidence
1. When researching this story, I noticed that most of the times mentioned by witnesses were half-hours: for example, 2.30 am, 3.00 am, 3.30 am. To state the obvious, these times only occur every thirty minutes. This indicates that there is only a one-in-thirty chance that the stated times were exact.

2. These times were sometimes at odds with each other. For example, Attorney Huston told the court that Chubbie phoned around 3.00 am. But the ambulance driver logged the time he received the message to go to the Coral Gables cottage at 2.30 am.

3. This suggests that everyone was rounding their times. The ambulance-driver rounded it down to 2.30 am to get extra money. Huston rounded it up to 3.00 am for purposes of convenience. And he said that he arrived at the cottage around 3.15 am. Another rounding.

4. Chubbie was an open, honest person who had poor dissimulation skills. She withstood hours of interrogation without showing any evidence she was lying. The state attorney and his investigators concluded that she knew nothing about Haden’s death. They tried to make her slip-up during Bill's trial but again failed to do so. It is evident that she was telling the truth – as she knew it.

5. When people experience dramatic situations, their sense of time and of the passage of time can be distorted. Unless they specifically look at a clock and make a point of remembering what time it is, the statement's are not necessarily reliable.

6. Humans regularly "round" numbers including their own ages. When I was editing early Australian colonial records (those for the early 1800s), I found that ages ending with a zero (e.g. 20, 30, 40 …) occurred much more frequently than any others (e.g. 21, 22, 23 …), and much more frequently than was statistically likely.

Conclusion
The "time warp" suggested by the evidence is not necessarily a sign of a complicity to hide the truth but of human nature in general.

Written 21 March 2017

12. Forged suicide notes

Problem
The suicide notes are strong evidence against Bill – that is, Haden’s lack of a note and Bill’s cold-hearted production of the notes before calling a doctor.
This raises a number of issues that will be dealt with below.

Evidence &c
1. Would a professional writer commit suicide without leaving a suicide note? Of all people, it seems likely that a professional writer would leave one – although this of course would be more likely if the suicide was planned. If Haden did kill himself, his actions were clearly opportunistic: a life that was collapsing around him, a gun on the bedside table, and previous discussions about suicide including his comment to others to ‘do it quietly or do it in a big way and make news of it’. That being the case, the fact that a professional writer did not leave a suicide note in this particular situation is less troubling than in most others.

2. The prosecution included the forged suicide notes as part of the premeditation argument. Far from supporting the premeditation argument, though, the notes suggest an unthinking spontaneity. If Bill had planned the killing in advance, he would have known from his own correspondence files that Haden often signed his letters with a typed signature. If he'd followed this pattern, it would have been harder to determine that the notes were forgeries. Thus, the fact that he signed the notes in his own hand suggests spontaneity rather than premeditation.

3. If Bill killed Haden, his reason for forging the suicide notes is obvious.

4. If Bill didn’t kill Haden, why did he forge the suicide notes? Bill claimed that he did so because he didn’t want Chubbie to think that he had shot Haden. Considering how obsessively in love with Chubbie he was, it wouldn't be surprising that his first thought was what Chubbie would think. And it wouldn't be surprising that he was less concerned about Haden’s well-being (if the was indeed stupid enough to shoot himself and put Bill into such a difficult situation) than he was about protecting himself. This would explain why he tried to get the dying Haden to sign the notes.

5. Carson agreed with this explanation. In his closing argument, he said: ‘I am going to ask you what you would do, or I would do, under such circumstances as this if we were sleeping in a room with a man and had had a fight that night and awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning to find the man shot himself but had not left a note?’ He said that we all might do something as foolish as Bill had done in the shock of the moment. He then cited examples of innocent people who had been convicted (and even executed) because of self-protective acts of a similar foolishness – the provision of a false alibi, for example. Carson said that he had an explanation for the forged notes. ‘I don’t think that Lancaster ever meant for those notes to be seen by anybody but Mrs Miller.’ This notion is substantiated by the fact that Lancaster suggested destroying the notes, not only to Chubbie but in Attorney Huston’s company. He couldn’t very well tell Chubbie why he wanted them destroyed, because that would have defeated the purpose of the forgery in the first place.

6. The blood-stained pencil suggests that Bill touched Haden after the shooting. If Bill had blood on his hands before he wrote the suicide notes, it would have been transferred to the notes. So, if he shot Haden and got blood on his hands in doing so, he probably would have wiped his hands before he typed the notes. Why then would he have touched Haden between writing the notes and picking up a pencil unless he was trying to get Haden to sign the notes? And if Haden was conscious enough to sign the notes, then it is questionable as to whether Haden would have signed such a note if Bill had in fact shot him.

Conclusion
Bill’s forgery of the suicide notes cannot be considered indisputable evidence that he shot Haden. In fact, it alludes to the opposite.

Written 21 March 2017

13. The autopsy of Haden's body

Problem
Why didn’t the state attorney order an autopsy when he was considering the possibility of murder? Why didn’t he order an autopsy after charging Bill with murder?
When the punishment is execution, the failure to order an autopsy reflects either an extraordinary incompetence on the part of the state attorney or a failure to protect a potentially innocent person against a deadly miscarriage of justice.
Meanwhile, there are a number of questions and concerns about the autopsy as discussed below.

Evidence
1. Bill was told that an autopsy might provide proof that Haden committed suicide. He was also told that it might provide proof that Haden was murdered. Ralph Barker in Verdict of a Lost Flyer suggested that Bill was effectively forced to request an autopsy after Defence Attorney Carson suggested it, otherwise he would appear guilty. However, the results of the autopsy would not only be available to the defence but to the prosecution. If there was anything in the autopsy that could suggest that Bill was guilty of shooting Haden, it would send him to the electric chair.

‘If Bill Lancaster had known he was guilty,’ Carson told the court in his closing argument, ‘don’t you suppose he would have been glad to have Charles Haden Clarke lie undisturbed in the cemetery? Give me credit if you want to, if you won’t give anybody else credit, for having intelligence enough not to file in this court a motion for the disinterment and autopsy of that body unless I knew in my soul that the boy had committed suicide. Give me credit also for fidelity to the interest of my client enough to warn him of the danger of the autopsy if he were guilty. The fact that Lancaster signed the motion ought to convince anybody with any knowledge of human nature that the man is absolutely innocent.’

2. Haden’s body was dug up, the wounds examined by the medical commission ordered to conduct the autopsy and the results communicated to the court. These autopsy doctors were subpoenaed by the defence and testified that the muzzle of the gun had been held tightly against the skull and the entire explosion of gases had taken place inside the skull. When asked if this proved suicide, some of them said that this couldn’t be proved scientifically but that it suggested so.

3. Extraordinarily, the prosecution failed to call any of these autopsy doctors to testify. In fact, the state attorney tried to stop the commission's report from being read out to the jury. It's as if he was trying to stop any potentially exculpatory evidence from being revealed to the jury.

4. Defence Attorney Carson told the jury in his closing argument that Dr Thomas, the county physician, had seen powder burns inside the entrance wound immediately after Clarke’s death and had reported his finding to both the state attorney’s office and the grand jury. Yet the prosecution failed to call the state’s own county physician to testify in the trial.

5. The state attorney in his closing argument said that his office had approved the order for an exhumation and autopsy but that the autopsy results provided little more than additional front-page publicity. ‘It provided more testimony about internal explosions, which has never been in dispute, and that the gun was held at close range, which has not been disputed, but which does not preclude the theory of murder.’

This is an astonishing revelation. At no point during the trial did State Attorney Hawthorne disclose this information to the jury. Rather than calling the county physician or any of the autopsy doctors to testify, he instead relied on the evidence of the embalmer who testified to not seeing any powder marks, thereby indicating that it wasn’t a close contact wound and that Clarke’s death couldn’t have been suicide. Yet, in Hawthorne's closing argument, he agreed that it was indeed a close contact wound, albeit with the disclaimer – also previously not mentioned in the trial – that such a wound wasn’t proof in itself that the death wasn’t a murder.

6. This exposes an extraordinary evidentiary dishonesty on the prosecution’s behalf, made worse by the fact that a man’s life was at stake.

Conclusion
The fact that Bill authorised the request for an autopsy suggests that he was innocent. The evidence also shows that the prosecution manipulated the evidence in an attempt to gain a conviction.

Written 21 March 2017

14. First degree murder indictment

Question
Should Bill have been charged with first degree murder (premeditated killing)?

Discussion
The prosecutor seems to have worked on the principle that the simplest explanation for the death of Haden Clarke was murder.
To summarise: Bill was infatuated with Chubbie. Bill was cuckolded by his friend Haden. Bill bought a gun and loaded it. The gun shot Haden while Bill was present. Bill forged the suicide notes. Ergo, Bill killed Haden and made it look like a suicide.

But what is the evidence?

1. That Bill bought a gun just before he returned to Miami and loaded it. Yet Bill had a sound explanation for the purchase: that he bought it as a replacement for the gun he had been lent and had been forced to pawn. Moreover, Bill's statement was backed up by the man who lent him the gun (see Section 2).

2. That Bill threatened Haden in his diary. There are no threats against Haden in the diary, overt or otherwise (see Section 3).

3. That Bill verbally threatened Haden in Russell’s presence. The State Attorney was naïve to think he could trust jailbird witnesses, especially as there is strong evidence that Russell was lying (see Section 4).

4. That Bill verbally threatened Haden in Tancrel’s presence. However, Tancrel was clearly lying (see Section 5).

5. That Bill forged the suicide notes. While this is true, there is a solid explanation for Bill's doing so (see Section 12).

James Carson in his opening address said, ‘In cases of circumstantial evidence, the circumstances depend almost entirely for their efficacy upon the point of view from which you look at the circumstances. If you start out with the belief or with the presumption – which the law makes it your duty to do – that Captain Lancaster is innocent, then each of the circumstances relied upon by the state falls into its place, insofar as it is true and is consistent with the theory of innocence. But if you start out in circumstantial cases from the viewpoint of the prosecution – that is, if you start out believing that a man is guilty – then every circumstance you see merely tends to confirm you in that conviction which you already have.’
The above evidence suggests that once the prosecutors knew that Bill had forged the suicide notes, their belief that he was guilty allowed them to ignore the true reason for his gun purchase, to see threats in the diary that weren’t there, and to accept the word of liars and criminals.

Conclusion
Bill should not have been charged with first degree murder. The prosecution should have known that their evidence was not solid enough to withstand the probing of a good defence lawyer. Indeed, to have charged Bill with first degree murder, particularly when the electric chair was the punishment, suggests a potential miscarriage of justice.

Written 21 March 2017

15. Verdict: Jury's opinion

Question
Did the jury think that Bill was ‘not guilty of first degree murder’ or that he was ‘innocent’?

This is an important distinction.

Discussion
In the trial’s aftermath, the Miami Daily News wrote, ‘The “not guilty” verdict automatically branded Clarke’s death as suicide, the principal defence contention.’ Legally, though, the verdict merely reflects the jury’s conclusion that Bill was not guilty of first degree murder.
The prosecution might have found it easier to convict Bill if he had been charged with second degree murder – that is, a killing that lacked premeditation or planning. However, the jurors’ post-trial remarks suggest otherwise. The reasons for their verdict included the state’s careless treatment of the evidence – the crumpled discarded telegram, the wiped gun – and the appearance of Clarke’s mother in the courtroom near the trial’s end. This led the jurors to ask themselves why she hadn’t testified on her son's behalf, which helped to introduce an element of reasonable doubt into their deliberations.
While the jury was right to acquit Bill of first degree murder, the verdict doesn’t necessarily mean that the jurors thought him innocent. A well-known problem in societies that legislate capital punishment is that some jurors are less willing to convict because they don’t wish to have a death on their consciences, particularly the death of a person who might be innocent.

However, while the jury room dynamic in Bill's trial will never be known, the jurors' post-trial behaviour suggests that they thought him innocent. Photos were published of the judge and jurors smiling at Bill and shaking his hand, an unlikely physical contact if they thought him a killer.
Although the state charged Bill with premeditated murder, State Attorney Hawthorne in his closing argument asked the jury to decide if Bill killed Haden Clarke or if Clarke committed suicide. That being the case, the verdict of ‘not guilty’ indicates in practical terms that the jurors deemed the death a suicide.

Conclusion
The jurors thought that Haden killed himself and therefore that Bill was innocent.

Written 21 March 2017

16. Verdict: Defence Attorney Carson's opinion

Question
Did Defence Attorney James Carson think Bill was guilty or innocent?

Discussion
Criminal defence attorneys would be financially destitute if they only defended innocent people. Carson’s acceptance of Bill’s brief doesn’t mean that he thought Bill was innocent. However, in the 1960s, Chubbie told Ralph Barker (author of Verdict of a Lost Flyer) that Carson didn’t want to take Bill’s case because he thought Bill was guilty (Carson rarely acted as a defence attorney in criminal trials), and that he only took the case after she told him that Bill was innocent and begged him to go and see Bill and decide for himself.
The fact that Carson took the case suggests that he thought Bill was innocent. This is supported by other evidence:

1. A report in the Miami Daily News on 1 June 1932 included the following information provided by Attorney James Lathero, who was part of Bill's defence team:
"As soon as it became apparent that Captain Lancaster was to be indicted for the murder of Charles Haden Clarke, I consulted with James M Carson with a view of securing his services in the case. After several days of investigation, both Mr Carson and I were convinced that the deceased had committed suicide, and that Captain Lancaster was innocent."

2. Carson welcomed Bill into his home in the aftermath of his trial. No defence lawyer who thought that his client had committed murder would welcome the client into his home to stay with his family.

3. He corresponded with Bill’s wife Kiki in England – whom he had never met – for a dozen years after the trial. Would he have done so if he thought Bill a killer?

Conclusion
James Carson defended Bill because he was convinced he was innocent.

Written 21 March 2017

17. Verdict: Mrs Clarke's opinion

Question
Did Haden’s mother think Bill was innocent or guilty?

Evidence
1. Mrs Clarke initially thought that Haden had committed suicide because of the suicide notes and because of his financial problems, which he had talked about when they met on the day Bill returned to Miami. She also believed Bill when he looked her in the eye and told her that he didn’t shoot Haden.

2. However, she changed her mind after Dr Deederer told her that he had found evidence suggesting that Haden had been beaten before he was shot. As this information wasn’t brought out during the trial, it is clear that the autopsy proved that the fractures in Haden’s skull were not evidence of a beating but of the gas explosions inside his head caused by the close contact gunshot. If the autopsy had not been conducted, this suggestion of a beating would have been deadly for Bill.

3. After the jury reached its verdict, Haden’s mother told the press: ‘We expected this verdict. We have no fault to find with the jury or prosecutor.’

She wasn’t happy with the defence attorney, though, because he took her to task for failing to visit the dying Haden in hospital.

4. Mrs Clarke, of all people, knew her son’s character attributes and failings, and she chose not to defend him by testifying. She must also have known that he didn’t have a university degree, which presumably provided confirmation to her of Bill’s truthfulness when he spoke of their heart-to-heart conversation that last night. Additionally, she probably knew Chubbie well enough by then to know her likely reaction to revelations of Haden’s dishonesty.

5. Although the state had charged Bill with premeditated murder, State Attorney Hawthorne in his closing argument asked the jury to decide if Bill killed Haden Clarke or if Clarke committed suicide. That being the case, the verdict of ‘not guilty’ indicated in practical terms that Haden’s mother also accepted the death as a suicide.

Conclusion
Haden’s mother, by the trial's completion, thought Bill was innocent of Haden’s death.

Written 21 March 2017

18. Who was Haden Clarke?

Discussion
Chubbie, according to her later interviews, felt an aversion to Haden when she first met him, suggesting that her response was visceral, a recognition that there was something about him that wasn’t sound. Forced into close contact with him, they bonded over a drink or three. When she attempted to get him working on her book, she found him lazy and incompetent, which infuriated her, yet days later she was engaged to him.

In her later interviews, she seemed bewildered by the relationship, as if she couldn’t understand what had possessed her. No doubt loneliness, misery and drunkenness played a significant part. However, there was another side to this coin: Haden himself.
While Haden’s correspondence reveals that he was an eloquent writer, a vast gulf exists between writing a letter or article and crafting a book. Seemingly overwhelmed by the ghost-writing task, his solution was to escape the problem rather than knuckle down. He escaped by accompanying Bill whenever he left the house. He escaped into a haze of alcohol and drugs. He had another form of escape as well: sex.
Not only was Haden a serial womaniser, his recurring venereal disease suggests that he had such a strong sexual appetite that he either paid for sex or made the most of any opportunity that arose. With his previous lover, Peggy Brown, no longer in the picture and with no money in his pocket and a sexual urge that need sating, the only woman available was Chubbie. Haden had stolen money from a friend. What was to stop him stealing a woman from a friend?
A good-looking charmer, Haden seemingly turned the full force of his charm towards the depressed Chubbie. He might genuinely have loved her, but he also saw her as his ticket to fame and fortune. Then his problems began: the venereal disease relapse that forced him to abstain from sex and alcohol; the discovery the day before Bill’s return that he wouldn’t be divorced for nine months, preventing him from speedily marrying Chubbie; and his ongoing financial difficulties, including the repossession of his car.
Dr Dodge was supposed to testify for the defence at the trial but was unable to do so (he had heart problems while away from Miami and couldn't return in time and the judge wouldn't allow another continuance). Dodge's testimony was intended to provide insights into Haden’s personality. Dodge's qualifications and the wording of Carson’s motion for a continuance suggest that Dodge was going to say that Haden was the type of person who might resort to suicide when a cascade of problems descended on him. And Haden, of course, had made a remark to that effect to others.
Without Dodge’s testimony, the only independent information about his personality survives in the report written by the forgery expert, J V Haring. He stated that ‘the line qualities of Clarke’s writing indicated a constitutional nervousness which was observable throughout all of his writing.’

Conclusion
This evidence suggests that Haden might have been the type of person who would choose suicide as a solution to his problems.

Written 21 March 2017

19. The injustices in the prosecution's case

Problem
The prosecution appears to have been determined to convict Bill by whatever means necessary, including dishonesty and manipulation of the evidence.

Evidence
1. The prosecutor intimated to the court that Bill had wiped off the gun, thereby smudging the fingerprints, which was strong evidence of his guilt. The defence showed that the person responsible for wiping off the fingerprints was the police officer who had picked up the gun, not Bill. Yet in Henry Jones’ summary statement for the prosecution, he still attempted to blame Bill for the wiped off fingerprints, saying: ‘There were no fingerprints on that gun. A very significant sign. Isn’t that answered by the fact that a man usually overdoes a thing when he is trying to hide it?’

2. The prosecutor used only the evidence of the embalmer regarding the gunshot residue. He decided not to use the evidence of the county physician, who testified at the grand jury that he had seen gunshot residue inside the wound. He also failed to call the autopsy doctors, who were called by the defence and told the court that the wound was a close contact wound and that this suggested a suicide.

3. The prosecutor tried to stop the medical commission’s autopsy report from being admitted in the trial.

4. The prosecutor claimed that Bill’s diary was filled with threats against Haden. It wasn’t (see Section 3). Fortunately, the diary entries were read out to the jury so they could judge the words for themselves.

Conclusion
The prosecutor seemed determined to win the case even though the evidence did not back up his claims and even though his win would send Bill to the electric chair.
Seemingly, it was election year.

Written 21 March 2017

20. Did Bill Lancaster shoot Haden Clarke?

Question
Did Bill kill Haden?

Evidence
1. Bill put his arm around the shoulders of Haden’s mother, looked her in the eye, and told her that he didn’t shoot Haden. She believed him.

2. Bill said the same thing regarding Haden’s death in his interrogations and in his trial. The prosecution was unable to weaken his testimony or to expose him as telling a lie. It is extremely difficult for a person who isn’t a habitual liar to maintain that level of consistency.

3. Bill stated to the investigators and to the court that he told Haden at the end of their heart-to-heart talk that, in the morning, Haden would have to tell Chubbie that he lied to her or that Bill would do so himself. Bill later said that he was exhausted from his tiring flight and soon fell asleep, knowing with absolute certainty that Chubbie and Haden’s relationship was over. He knew Chubbie well enough to know that she wouldn’t forgive Haden for his lies, as he later told the court. And she didn’t, as she herself revealed to the court.

4. If this heart-to-heart talk actually happened, as seems likely (see Section 7), Bill had no reason to shoot Haden. He had every reason to wait and see what the morning would bring. While Bill could do stupid things, like stunting and terrifying his passengers or others on the ground, he was extremely calm under pressure. It was the only reason he was still alive. He wasn’t the type of person to snap and act irrationally.

5. Bill seemed like the type of person who would sacrifice himself as a gesture of nobility. He was willing to kill himself to give Chubbie the money to start her marriage.

6. Bill had also behaved in such a way in the past. In February 1928, when he and Chubbie were stranded in Singapore after the Red Rose crashed, they heard that Bert Hinkler was racing towards them. If Hinkler reached Australia before them, he would set the record and gain all the associated money and glory, shattering Bill’s and Chubbie’s dreams.

What did Bill do?

His friends wanted to sabotage Hinkler’s plane but Bill sat beside the plane all night armed with a gun in order to protect it. The result? Hinkler is now second on the list of well-known names in early Australian aviation history, beaten only by Charles Kingsford Smith. No one has heard of Bill Lancaster.

7. When Bill chose not to destroy his aviator rival, even though he knew that the consequences of Hinkler’s success would be personally devastating, he acted nobly. If Bill acted as nobly with Haden, it would explain Haden’s alleged final words of praise and contrition: ‘Bill, you are the whitest man I know.’

Thus, in the suicide note was Bill repeating Haden's own words to him?

Conclusion
The preponderance of evidence suggests that Bill did not kill Haden. Moreover, Bill showed no evidence of being the type of person who could commit murder, even when the result would be the loss of something that mattered to him.
Yet there is still the problem of the gunshot entrance wound being in the ‘wrong place’. But that could be explained by the fact that the ‘wrong’ place was an easier shot.

15 December 2018: See the updates to Section 10 regarding the location of the entrance wound.

Written 21 March 2017

5 comments

David Batchelor wrote on 3 June 2017:

A well reasoned analysis of the evidence. It changed my opinion, which had previously been based on reading online some of the historical newspaper articles. An excellent book on Chubbie.

Response:

I always keep an open mind, when I start researching a story, until I have conducted the research for myself. However, being human, I usually come to the task sitting more on one side of the fence than the other. When I started, I thought it more likely that Bill was guilty. However, like Ralph Barker (Verdict of a Lost Flyer) and Alain Brochard (see below) and others who have explored the evidence in depth, I reached the conclusion that Bill was highly likely to have been innocent. What a sad ending to his life.

Rob Vines wrote on 23 June 2017:

I enjoyed your story. I'm not a great fan of aviation stories normally although I have a pilot friend who more than makes up for it yet he's never mentioned Mrs Miller. A story worth filming.

Response:

Watch out for The Aviatrix.

Kerry Brown wrote on 25 September 2017

If Bill Lancaster had shot Haden he would have killed him, not bungled it so he was still alive. He had military training. That's my opinion after reading your excellent book.

Alain Brochard wrote on 8 January 2018

Carol thank you for all this analysis that completely reinforces me in what I thought about the innocence of Bill.
I have been working for 10 years on the life of W N LANCASTER (see the details of the blog).
Currently I am writing a paper on the American period of Bill and Chubbie and then writing everything related to the Miami trial.
Your blog brings me a lot, but I would be happy to communicate directly with you.
Thanks in advance
All the best
Alain

Diane Yorgason-Quinn wrote on 13 April 2020

Just finished your book. Excellent. I had read a lot about the Powder Puff Derby and other air races, but had never known about this affair! Why I think Bill was innocent was his diary as he was dying. If he had done the deed, I believe he would have attempted to clear the air as he lay dying.

Response:

I totally agree. I clearly forgot to add that piece of information, so see the footnote below.

Footnote (2023): The pilot log diary

When Bill lay dying in the desert, he added diary entries to his pilot log right up until the end. In the first few days, he no doubt hoped to be rescued. By the end, he knew that the chances were negligible.

Bill had always been a diary writer, so it's not surprising that he should keep one at the end. We know from the snippets read out to the court during his trial that his diary entries were personal reflections, not merely lists of his daytime activities.

Thus, this diary would be his final opportunity to be heard, to effectively serve as his death-bed confession if he had anything to confess.

He doesn't "confess" to killing Haden, or express remorse for any such action, or apologise to Haden's mother.

However, he does apologise to the company that insured his plane for destroying it.

If he did kill Haden, perhaps he had firmly closed his mental lid on the incident, even at the risk of his "immortal soul" (as many believed at that time).

If he didn't kill Haden, perhaps this deathbed apology to the insurance company is the final sign of a truly honorable man.

Written 21 February 2023