Nation: Inquest on Chappaquiddick

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Dinis was put down at the start by the firm Judge Boyb. The prosecutor had insisted that Kennedy be called as the last witness, presumably so that he could explore all possible inconsistencies in testimony about the tragedy before confronting the Senator. Boyle told Dinis: "I will not keep a United States Senator waiting." Called as the first witness, Kennedy arrived in a briskly confident, controlled mood that contrasted with his dispirited behavior for months after the July accident. He looked just as assured when he emerged from the Dukes County courthouse and, breaking the judge's rules, revealed that he had repeated "substantially" the same account that he had given the nation in his televised explanation. He had also made, he said, "a couple of points I thought would be useful to add to the record."

Dinis was obviously unhappy about the way his questioning of Kennedy had gone. At one point, when Judge Boyle cut off his line of inquiry, Dinis persisted. Boyle gaveled him down. Dinis threatened to quit the proceedings if he could not pursue the matter his own way. After a private conference with the judge, Dinis was given more latitude. But on the next day, he let an assistant take over the questioning, and a state trooper reported that Dinis was "folding up" and would leave the island. Dinis reconsidered, returned to court and later spent 45 minutes lunching amiably on chili and corn chowder with reporters, apparently to counteract reports that he was angry.

Two Doors. The major leaks from the courtroom concerned the testimony of Paul Markham and Joseph Gargan, both lawyers and friends of Kennedy who had attended the Chappaquiddick cookout with him. They confirmed to Judge Boyle that they had helped Teddy try to rescue Miss Kopechne shortly after the car submerged. Gargan told of diving into the water and trying to open the car doors. The car's two left doors, scratched and wrapped in burlap, were brought to the courthouse, presumably because they might bear evidence of the attempts to open them or indicate why such efforts had failed.

The two attorneys claimed that they had advised Kennedy to report the accident to police immediately after failing to reach Mary Jo. The three drove in another car to the ferry landing to cross the inlet for that purpose. Markham and Gargan testified that they were astonished when Kennedy suddenly jumped into the water and swam toward Edgartown. They watched until he safely reached the opposite shore, and assumed that he would then go directly to police headquarters. Kennedy apparently went instead to the Shire-town Inn, where he was staying, changed his clothes, complained of a noisy party to the night manager and returned to his room.

Markham and Gargan spent the night at the cottage where the twelve members of the Kennedy party had held their cookout. In the morning, Markham took the ferry, went to Kennedy's room and learned that the Senator had not yet called the police. The two returned to pick up Gargan, tried to reach Attorney Burke Marshall by telephone for advice, and then went to the police station in Edgartown. By then, the car had been found and the police were looking for Kennedy.