593 Riverside Drive - 19. Chapter 19

The Douche Bag Oratorio

Mr. Lewinson: When you arrived at the Taft Hotel at New Haven, did you have with you in your bag or in your trunk or valise or whatever receptacle there was, did you have with you a douche bag, and did you have an antiseptic like Lysol to put in the water?

Ella: I didn’t have Lysol.

But you did have a douche bag, did you not?

Yes.

Have you ever used Lysol in the douche bag?

No.

Lysol has never been purchased?

It’s been in the house for cleaning purposes.

Do you mean sanitary purposes as applied to the person?

No. In the house – in the sink – for cleaning.

And you are quite confident that it has never been used in a douche bag?

Yes.

Do you positively state that at no time, it never has been?

It was never used.

What, if anything, did you use in the douche bag?

I didn’t have to use anything because Joe couldn’t do anything.

Did you never use your douche bag?

No.

Are you sure of that?

I didn’t have to use it.

I did not ask that. Did you ever use it?

No.

You positively never used the douche bag during the whole time of your married life?

No.

There is no question of your recollection. Your state that positively. Is that right?

Yes.

Your husband has never held the douche bag up at a height of gravity to allow the contents to flow down for cleansing purposes for the lower portions of your body?

No.

At no time?

No.

You carried your douche bag along with you?

Yes.

And you always have your douche bag, haven’t you?

There was a douche bag, but I didn’t have to use it.

I did not ask you that. You always carried it along with you?

No, I didn’t always carry it. You asked me if I had it with me at first.

And I asked you also whether you continue to have it, and you said, “Yes, but I never used it.” Do you remember that?

Yes.

You continued, therefore, to have it in your possession during the whole of your married life, did you not?

It was in the house.

Well, that was in your possession.

Yes.

And in the house, it was in the bathroom, was it not?

No.

Then where did it hang?

It was in the closet in our bedroom.

How near is that to the bathroom?

The bathroom’s just outside our bedroom.

Did you take the douche bag down to Asbury Park?

Only when we came back from our honeymoon – when it was packed in my luggage.

Are you sure of that?

Yes.

What was the purpose of the douche bag as you understood it?

When I first got married?

Yes.

For cleaning purposes.

For cleansing after intercourse, I assume. That is what you mean, is it not?

It is.

And you mean to say that you never took your douche bag with you to use for cleansing purposes after your honeymoon?

No.

You never did?

No.

Where did you last deposit it – the douche bag – and when?

At home.

Then after you got back from your honeymoon, you deposited the douche bag in the closet. Is that right?

Yes.

And you want to be understood as saying that from that day until the time you left your husband, you never used that douche bag or took it anywhere with you. Is that right?

Yes.

Do you want to say that positively?

Yes.

And therefore, three weeks after your marriage to your husband, you parted with that douche bag for which you say your only purpose to be for cleansing purposes after sexual intercourse. Is that right?

Yes.

When you got back from your honeymoon, where did you go? To your home?

Yes. At Asbury Park.

Did you go directly to Asbury Park?

Yes.

Did you stop at your home in New York?

No, I went to Asbury Park. But as I told Mr. Steuer, Joe went to the city.

Where was the closet in which you said that after your honeymoon you deposited this douche bag – in Asbury Park or in New York?

I put the douche bag in the closet in Asbury Park, too.

You had two douche bags?

No.

Well, what did you mean by saying, “I put the douche bag in the closet in Asbury Park, too?”

I meant I took it to New York after our Asbury Park summer rental ended.

You brought the douche bag back to New York, did you?

Yes. I brought it to our new home.

And when you arrived in New York, it was about a month after your marriage?

It was closer to two months – in early October.

Then from the day two months after your marriage, do you want the court to understand that this douche bag had been deposited untouched in the closet adjoining your bathroom in your New York apartment?

Yes.

Up to the time that you left on the 26th day of October, 1924. Is that right?

The 28th. Yes.

Now in point of fact, you went away on several occasions to various places with your husband between the time you returned from your honeymoon and the 28th of October 1924, did you not?

Yes.

You would go on what is known as anniversaries of your honeymoon, would you not?

Yes.

Covering substantially the same ground that you had covered on your first trip?

Our routes were a little different.

The routes were different?

Yes. We went to different inns that Joe wanted to see, in different towns, and on our third trip, we didn’t go to Canada.

But substantially the same routes?

Yes.

You stopped again at the Taft Hotel at New Haven on your second trip? A little sentiment in the matter?

No. We left New York earlier that day so were able to drive much further in the daylight.

You didn’t stop at New Haven?

Not overnight. No.

Where did you stop on that first night of your first anniversary honeymoon trip?

We stayed at the Old Lyme Inn in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

But it was your first anniversary trip?

It coincided with our anniversary. We were actually going to see Laurette.

And when you went on what is called your first anniversary honeymoon trip, did you take the douche bag with you?

No.

You had no douche bag with you at all?

No.

And that is because you did not expect there would be any necessity of using a douche bag for cleansing purposes after sexual intercourse. Is that right?

Yes.

And on your second anniversary trip, did you cover substantially the same ground you had on your two previous honeymoon trips?

Yes. But without Canada.

And you had no douche bag with you?

No.

And that is because you realized there would be no occasion to employ a douche bag for cleansing purposes after sexual intercourse. Is that right?

Yes.

Now, between the time that you returned home from your wedding trip and the time that you had your first anniversary trip, you took other trips with Mr. Spingarn away from home?

Yes.

You went to Atlantic City on several occasions?

Yes.

And do you recall whether or not on any of those several occasions, the month of May, 1923, was one of them?

Yes.

Now, will you look at this photograph and state whether it is a photograph of yourself and your husband taken on the boardwalk in Atlantic City in the month of May, 1923?

Yes. This is my handwriting on the back.

The date seems to be May 14th, 1923.

Yes. I’ve written May 14th, 1923.

[To the court] I offer it in evidence.

Judge Crain: Admitted.

Mr. Lewinson to Ella: Now, you had no sexual intercourse, did you, with your husband in Atlantic City?

Ella: No.

And you did not have your douche bag with you, either, did you?

No.

And as a result of not having your douche bag, did you not refuse to have intercourse with your husband?

No.

Are you sure of that?

Yes. I doubt I’ve ever refused to have intercourse with Joe.

Are you acquainted with or do you know what that covering is that is sometimes employed to form an integument or covering for the man's part?

I’m not quite sure what you mean.

Well, it has a sort of common term for it – I don't know if you’re aware of it. It's sometimes called a membrane, sometimes made of rubber, sometimes of the membrane of an animal, and it covers a man so as to prevent conception on the part of the woman by retaining the semen of the man.

I’ve seen them.

Then you are familiar with the term “condom,” are you?

Yes.

And is it not a fact that you requested Mr. Spingarn to use a condom in Atlantic City?

No. We never had need for one.

And you never requested him to use one?

No.

On no occasion?

Never,

And is it not a fact that when you were down at Atlantic City, there being at the time no douche bag with you, that for preventative purposes, you requested him to use a condom?

That isn’t true.

And is it not further the fact that he declined to use a condom?

Again, I never asked him to.

And is not further a fact that as a result of his declining to use a condom, you refused to have sexual intercourse with him during the three days you were in Atlantic City?

That’s simply not so.

Now, where else did you go besides Atlantic City between the return from your honeymoon and the beginning of your first anniversary honeymoon?

Mainly to Atlantic City.

The only place? Did you go to Asbury Park before you went off on your second honeymoon?

Yes. We spent our summer there.

And, of course, you had no douche bag with you?

As before, there was no reason.

And after you returned from your first anniversary honeymoon and up to the time that you had your second anniversary honeymoon, did you go any places like Atlantic City or Cape May?

Do you mean from our second trip to New England to our third?

Yes, the period between the first anniversary that you celebrated and the second anniversary that you celebrated,

We also went to Havana.

You had no douche bag when you went to Havana, of course?

There would have been no purpose.

You had no douche bag when you went to Atlantic City in the period between the first and second anniversaries?

No.

You had no douche bag in Havana?

No.

It was always reposing in the closet of your house in New York, as you say?

Yes.

Therefore, after you returned from Asbury Park after your marriage, you knew that there would be no occasion to use a douche bag for cleansing purposes after sexual intercourse?

Yes, there was no need.

And that was about two months after your marriage, was it not, or substantially that time?

Yes.

In all those two years and two months before the 26th of October, 1924, you have never had consummated sex with Mr. Spingarn that warranted the use of a douche bag?

No. Unfortunately, there never has been.