SCENE OF THE CRIME

 Q. Where do you live, Mr. Osterhout?

A. Montgomery, New York.

Q. What is your business?

A. Butcher.

Q. Are you in business with someone else?

A. My brother-in-law, Gorss.

Q. What is the name of your firm?

A. Gorss & Osterhout.

Q. You are the son of the contestants here?

A. Yes, sir.

 

As much as this testimony is recorded verbatim, this is the first time I have heard (or read) my grandfather Wray Osterhout’s words since he died in 1967. It’s fascinating to see how this played out, with my grandfather, his parents, and my great aunts and uncles all having a say. Gramp was 27. His father was 55.

 

Q. Did you have a talk with your father about this situation?

A. In Crabtree’s horse barn.

Q. Is that where your father was working at the time?

A. Yes, sir.

 

The two men discussed the fact that it would be best for all parties concerned to settle this out of court, if Andrew would just pay Elsie and family $15 per week and sign over the deed to the house. Andrew was rumored to have $3,500 in the bank and to have owned three properties in Montgomery. Elsie was pennyless.

 

Q. What did he say?

A. He said he would deed the house that they lived in to my mother, and give them $15 a week to live on.

Q. Do you know whether or not he did that?

A. No, he did not.

Q. Did you at any time ever see your father and Mrs. Velie together?

A. Yes, sir. I saw them before he left home and I saw them since he left home.

Q. Where?

A. On the road, the Bullville Rd., between Mrs. Velie’s residence and Clarence Vanderoef’s stand.

Q. They were parked on the side of the road?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What kind of car?

A. Essex coupe.

 

What year was the Essex? In a case with so much minutia this info is missing. Either way, 1927 Essex coupes have windows as big as a sliding glass door. Easy to see in.

 

Q. Will you tell the court what you observed?

A. Why, we were going along up the road, trying my partner’s car (Uncle Fred Gorss’ wheels) out on the hill, and we ran on this car around the curve, parked, with no lights….as we passed, I recognized them right away and I didn’t want my youngest sister or brother-in-law – of course, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want them to recognize them.

Q. What did you see?

A. I saw my father and Mrs. Velie sitting there, and she was reclining towards him, and he had his arm up over the back of the seat around her.

 

BUSTED!

 

I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. If I had caught my old man making out with some neighbor lady in 1979 (when I was 27), and he then left home, would I have urged my mom to seek a divorce? Or had I caught my first wife fucking my best friend (before I married her), would I have ……oh wait. Let’s not go there. The Rosenwasser/Soudani case has not moved. Maybe I’ll hunt this afternoon. The pre-rut should start kicking in soon.