The Press., 1890-01-16
A FALSE ALIBI.

The man who sits down to deliberately plan q crime works every point and detail to one common center-an alibi Tho law has com mon sense enough in this one particular to presume that man who is in Boston, for in- stance, when a murder is committed in Gin cinnati could not have fired the shot or struck the blow. Therefore, let one accused of crime prove to the jury that he was at some other point at certain critical hour, and he must be declared innocent. This knowledge makes the alibi favorite defense. If not clearly proved it always raises doubts and affords opportunity for argument. On the other hand, however, when an alibi Is fairly beaten by the prosecution, then circumstantial eyi- dence becomes the death trap of the accused, and he has no show. :-f
 One of the best laid alibis I ever ran up against in my career as a detective, and one of the easiest to work out after got the end of the thread in hand, was put forward in case in Iowa about twenty years ago. The situation was this: In small village in the western part of the state lived Miss Clarin- da Moore, a spinster about 45 years of age. She was worth $50, 900, and she had adopted a boy named Byron Fergus. At the date of which am writing this boy was no longer a boy, but young man of 28. He was em- ployed as clerk in 8 dry goods house, and boarded and lodged at home He was adopt ed at the age of 12, and on the day he reached his majority Miss Moore made will leaving him everything. This fact was known to alll in the village Fergus was model young man. No one could point out single bad habit. He was trusted and respected by all, and had he been accused of the slightest dis honesty no one would have believed the charge ..E:
 In smaller village six miles away Fergus had an aunt who was widow and lived alone, with the exception of having the conn pany of servant girl He was in the habit of going over there about once in two months and remaining over Sunday. On these trips he drove horse and buggy belonging to tho village cooper. The horse had peculiar habit which will be described later on. One Saturday evening of July day Fergus drove away on one of these trips. There were two or three women at the gate in company with Miss Moore when he drove away. The only thing out of the usual run was the remark that Byron looked rather pale and seemed . bit nervous, but probably this would never have been thought of but for what came to pass. -s-srf,1 ss9gg.4, :
 At II o'clock that night there was thun- der storm, and an insurance agent who was on the road between the two villages, with horse and buggy, drove into fence corner and sheltered himself as well as possible with the waterproofs In the ndidstof the storm horse and buggy came along. The driver was so enveloped by w&terproofs that the agent could not tell whether he was old or young, large or small, white.er black. At that spot the road had been lately graded upt and was very soft. The stranger was urging the horse to trot, but the beast found the mud too deep and could only proceed atawalks As the strange horse came opposite there was q long, vivid flash of lightning, and the agent saw that the animal had his head turned to the right and his tongue out This was the peculiar habit of the cooper's horse when on walk. When trotting he held up his head and kept this tongue back. The agent identi4 fed the horse to his perfect satisfaction, and called out to the driver, asking who he was, Instead of halting or replying the man struck the horse sharply with the whip and was out of sight in moment.
 ''That's old Shepperd the cooper and he's afraid I am highwayman!" laughed the agent, and, the rain now beginning to cease, he made ready to resume his journey;
 Miss Moore was an early riser, and, more- over, never missed church services As the day was fine and she was not seen at church, two or three of her friends called at the house on their way to ascertain her excuse. They found the curtains down and the doors locked. As they knew of young Fergus go ing to his aunt's the evening previous, they reasoned it out that he must have returned during the night for Miss Moore, she perhaps being wanted for an emergency. This theory satisfied them until about o'clock in the af- ternoon when one of them returned to gather bouquet of flowers She then noticed bloody finger marks on the back door, and, trying the door, found it unlocked. She dared not enter the house, but two or three men were summoned to make an investiga- tion, and in a few minutes it was discovered that murder had been committed. The dead body of Miss Moore was found in the sitting room, at the door of her bedroom. She had been struck three terrible blows with club or other blunt weapon, each one break ing the skull
 was visiting the sheriff at this time, and we were driving through the village when the first alarm was sounded was, there fore, at the house among the first, and being placed in charge by the sheriff, I kept the people out until could make an inyestiga- tion. The murderer had not obtained forci- ble entry to the house. Not a single article of value had been removed, nor had any ran sacking been done. The woman had been struck down where the body lay, but her hands were clenched as if she had grasped the weapon of death and it had been pulled away from her. The palm of one hand was torn and bleeding l did not know either the dead woman or Fergus. but wanted au- thority to arrest the latter. When this fact became known was regarded as an idiot or lunatic. A general cry went up that Fergus could no more be suspected than an angel in heaven, but while the sheriff was left to se- cure the necessary papers, drove out to in terview the young man and break tho news to him. If Fergus was guilty, his defense would be an alibi, and he had carefully ar ranged the details. He would be expecting the news, and he would be braced up to play part
 I found him making ready to hitch up to drive back. He had never seen mo before, and he did not know my profession. As entered the barn he looked startled and turned pale, but recovered himself after a minute, and asked tho nature of my business.
 "You know, of course, that Miss Moore Is deadw carelessly replied.
 "How-how should know ;AI" he exciaim- ed, turning very white.
 "WelL she is dead, poor thing"
 :'And do they charge mo with it?'
 ''With whatg'
 ''Her murdera'
 ''I hadn't said she was murdered. told you simply that she was dead. How did you know she had been murdereds' x E tf sg'
 He saw the trap he had fallen into, and he gasped and stammered and did his best to smooth it over pretended not to lay 1t up