In , Sheriff
Heck Tate testifies in court during Tom Robinson's trial; he answers to both the Ewells' lawyer
and , and there is a good deal of back-and-forth and clarifying and repeating of questions, but
the main points of his testimony are:
- He was called to the
Ewells' home on the night of September 21; once there, Bob Ewell said his daughter had been
raped. - Mayella was "lying on the floor in the middle of the front
room...pretty well beat up." - He asked her who had done this to her,
and she said it was Tom Robinson. - He didn't call a doctor, because
"Something sho' happened, it was pretty obvious," and there was therefore no need to
verify that she was hurt. - It had happened thirty minutes before he got
there.
The most important part of Heck's testimony is the
information he had about Mayella's bruises. He says that:
- Her
right eye was bruised - There were bruises all the way around her neck, as
though someone had tried to strangle her with their hands
This
last bit is very important, because we learn in the next chapter that Tom Robinson's left arm is
uselessit was harmed in a farming accident years ago, and he has been crippled ever since. So he
could not have been able to beat Mayella on the right side of her face, nor could he have
wrapped two hands around her neck.
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