Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Didion begins this essay, which is a true-crime analysis of the case of Lucille Marie Maxwell Miller, by describing the San Bernardino Valley. It is a curious part of California plagued by extreme weather and the hot Santa Ana winds and populated by people who aren’t cultured in the way a reader might expect from California. Rather, people there read infrequently, divorce at twice the national average, and can live and die without ever eating an artichoke. The essay narrows focus to Banyan Street, which is where Lucille Miller’s car caught fire one night and burned for over an hour with her husband Gordon “Cork” Miller inside it while Lucille looked fruitlessly for help. By the time of Gordon’s funeral, Lucille is held on a charge of first-degree murder.

Lucille grew up in Winnipeg, attended school in Washington state, and married Cork in 1949. Cork was in the Army, and though it seemed to be love at first sight, their marriage was troubled. Didion posits some clues to the source, including trouble while they were stationed in Guam, Cork’s disappointment in his dental career, and a large amount of personal debt. They settled down in the Valley and had three children before reaching what Didion calls “the familiar season of divorce” (Page 9). Many factors led up to the night of the car crash, including Elaine Hayton, who was a close friend, dying suddenly; Cork’s growing depression after a stint in the hospital; and, on the night of the accident, Cork accidentally killing a dog with his car, which gave him a horrible migraine.

After watching a movie, the couple went out for hot chocolate, which is when the accident occurred. Cork was asleep at the time, and Lucille tried to find some way to lift him out of the burning car before deciding to go for help. A nearby resident called the police. Harold Lance, the Millers’ lawyer, took Lucille home and shielded her from further police questioning. Sandy Slagle, a friend and babysitter for the Millers, looked after Lucille until the police came to arrest her.

A number of small details led to the arrest. The car was in the wrong gear, Cork stayed asleep throughout the accident, and the car’s wheels were in an unusual position. Harold Lance’s attitude toward the police was also a factor. The police view it as a botched homicide and believe that Lucile intended to have the car drive over the retaining wall while on fire. However, there was also evidence at the scene to support Lucille’s version of events, and the fact that Cork slept through the incident could be supported by his habitual use of sleep aids and headache medicine. Ultimately, Didion believes the police have a weak case based on the evidence, which is why they go looking for a good motive, and they find: Lucille Miller was having an affair with a successful attorney, Arthwell Hayton, widower of the deceased Elaine Hayton.

The affair between Arthwell and Lucille is portrayed as fairly typical until the death of Elaine, which took place while Arthwell was out of town and Lucille was alone at the house with her. Elaine’s death was attributed to a freak allergy, but the affair took a dark turn that Didion likens to the plots of movies, with Lucille and Arthwell threatening each other and Lucille making a tape with which to blackmail Arthwell. Most of this is revealed because one of Lucille’s friends, Erwin Sprangle, taped a phone call with her.

Didion documents several unrelated acts of violence and tragedy that occurred across California on January 11, 1965, the day Lucille Miller’s trial began. She then describes the scene of the trial: Crowds shatter the courtroom’s glass doors, and people camp out all night to be admitted to the courtroom. The case, which has already had one mistrial, is a news sensation, though Elaine’s death is being left out of it. Many sordid details were printed in a Sun-Telegram piece, leading Arthwell Hayton to call a press conference after the mistrial and state that Lucille’s feelings for him had never been reciprocated.

Didion reveals that Miller is three months pregnant, which makes it harder to select a jury, since the state is seeking the death penalty. The prosecution paints Miller as a woman who wished to rise above her station driven by manipulative greed. Lucille’s attorney, Edward Foley, paints her as someone who couldn’t control her heart and dwelled on the pregnancy. More details emerge, including other possible affairs, and there are experts brought in on each side to debate whether Cork’s death could have been accidental. The trial proceeds for two months. Foley’s closing argument emphasizes that Lucille is on trial for the sin of adultery instead of the crime of murder.

Lucille is convicted but escapes the death penalty. She is sent to the California Institution for Women at Frontera. Didion documents some of the other women murderers incarcerated there, many of whom were also news sensations. Lucille has her baby and gives it to the care of her teenage daughter Debbie, who has moved in with the Lance family.

Didion relates some of the fallout of the crime. The Miller house sits empty; Edward Foley is appealing the case; Sandy Slagle will only speak of Lucille as a wonderful person; Harold Lance won’t speak to anyone unless they’re willing to pay; the district attorney’s office has moved on to other murders and has dropped the Elaine Hayton matter. Arthwell Hayton, seemingly unaffected, marries his children’s governess.