Where to end the story of Maude in the final manuscript?

An earlier version of this section was adapted for a blog post. This is a more finished version. While it still might be omitted from the final revised manuscript due to length, I feel that the sideshow of Virginia Rappe’s companion at Roscoe Arbuckle’s Labor Day party lends a certain pathos to all three trials in my narrative. This version has better sources, quotes, and a rationale for why Maude Delmont was such a liminal presence throughout the three trials. I have placed this in the narrative where Gavin McNab’s opening statement devolves into an argument over Mrs. Delmont not being called as a witness. He was silenced once more when told he could have called her as a witness forthe defense at the previous two trials. He never did. Nor did the prosecutors. She could have compromised both sides with what she knew and what she thought she knew. Postscript . . . Maude’s unrealized disambiguation In early February [1922], Maude Delmont became front-page news—not as before, but back…