Heck Tate and Bob Ewell — To Kill a Mockingbird

Sheriff Heck Tate is the first witness. Bob Ewell called him to the house behind the dump and said his daughter had been attacked. Heck found Mayella beaten: the right side of her face damaged, marks that suggested someone had held her throat. No doctor was called. Nobody in that household thought a medical exam worth the money. Mayella named Tom Robinson, and Heck arrested him. Under Atticus the gaps become the point. There is no physician's report, only what the Ewells said and what Heck saw. A beating that heavy on the right side of a face is most naturally done by a left-handed attacker standing in front of her. Heck, not hostile to the defence, has to admit the physical story is thinner than the town's appetite for it.

Then Bob Ewell takes the stand, filthy, arrogant, and eager to perform. He lives behind the dump, on the edge of the refuse heap and the Black settlement, and speaks as if he were the county's injured gentleman. He says he looked through a window and saw Tom attacking Mayella. He uses the charge as a weapon and a joke. He fetched the sheriff, not a doctor, and in his own mind a verdict. Atticus treats him with a courtesy that makes the swagger more visible.

Atticus asks whether Bob can write, then has him sign his name. Bob writes with his left hand. If Mayella was beaten on her right side by someone facing her, a left-handed man is the obvious fit. Jem, following the logic like a school puzzle, believes the case is won. Scout understands the left hand and still wants Tom to stand up. Nobody has asked him to write his name. The white spectators enjoy Bob even as they wrinkle their noses at him. He is trash by Alexandra's ranking and still a useful narrator if he accuses the right man. Atticus has made the jury look at a left hand and a missing doctor. Scout knows facts do not travel in a straight line once race is in the room.