Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-29

little railing before the coroner's desk
was there breathing space, and we sank
into our seats at the table there with
sigh Of relief.
One never realizes how many news
papers there are In New York until
one attends an important criminal case
that brings their people out in droves
and swarms The reporters took up
most of the space In this small room,
Paper and pencils were everywhere IN
evidence, and in one corner there was
man with camera stationed, de-
termined. suppose, to get photo
graph Of our client should she be called
to the stand since none could be OBJ.
tanned in any other way.
l saw Singleton, the district attor-
ney. come in and sit down near the
coroner, and then the jury fled in from
their room and took their seats.
examined them, man by man. with
some little anxiety. but they all seemed
intelligent and fairly well to do. Mr..
Royce was looking over ;~.ir names,
and he checked them off carefully as
the clerk called the roll. Then he hand
ed the list up to the coroner with q
little nod.
go ahead" he said. They're oil
right | guess-they look all right"
Its good jury" replied the cor
oner as he took the paper. Better
than usual. Are you ready, Mr.. Sin
gleton?"
yes" said the district attorney
"Oh, wait minute" he added, and he
got up and came down to our table.
you're going to put Miss Holiday
on the stand, suppose
"And expose her to all this" And
our junior looked around the room.
mot if l can help it!'
II don't see how you can help it. An
alibi's the only thing that can save her
from being bound over"
well cross that bridge when we
come to it, retorted Mr.. Royce. II
think the case against her will soon die
of hamilton"
ooh, very WELL" And Singleton
abruptly went back to his desk, biting
bis mustache thoughtfully. He had
made something Of reputation, since
his election year before, as solver
of abstruse criminal problems and
had secured conviction In two or
three capital cases which had threat
ened for a tine to battle the police. He
evidently scented something Of the
same kind here or he would have in
trusted the case to one Of his as
sistants. 1t might be added that, while
his successes had made him immensely
popular with the multitude, there had
been about one or two of them hint
Of unprofessional conduct, which had
made his brethren Of the bar look
rather askance at him.
He nodded to the coroner after a
moment, the room was called to order
and the first witness summoned.
1t was Rogers, the confidential clerk.
knew Rogers, of course; had talked
with aim often in a business way and
had the highest respect for him. He
had been with Mr.. Holiday much Ion
ger than l had been with Graham Il
Royce and had, as Mr.. Graham had
pointed out, an unimpeachable reputa-
ton.
There were the usual preliminaries-
name, age, residence, and so on, Coro-
ner Goldberg asking the questions. He
was really good cross examiner and
soon came to the core Of the matter.
what is the position Of your desk
in Mr.. Holidays Officer" he asked.
There is an outer Office for the
clerks; opening from that smaller
room, where my desk is placed. Open
ing from my room was Mr.. Holidays
private Office"
"Had Mr.. Holidays Office any other
door?"
mo, sir"
"Could entrance be had by the win
dows?"
1.-THE windows open on the street
side of the building. We occupy q
part Of the eighth foor.'
1.-THE fire escapes
care at the back of the building
there are none on the street side
nothing but sheer wall"
$50 that any one entering or leaving
the private Office must necessarily pass
by your desk?"
Necessarily; yes, sir"
"Could any one pass without your
seeing him?"
mo, sir; that would be quite impos-
sible"
Tho coroner leaned hack in his chair
There was one point settled.
''Now, MI Rogers" he said, will
you kindly tell us, in your own way
and with as much detail as possible,
exactly what happened at your Office
shorty before o'clock yesterday aft
ernoon:"
1 could see that Rogers was deeply
moved His face was very white, he
moistened his lips nervously from time
to time, and his hands grasped con-
vulsively the arms of his chair. Plain
" the task before him was far from
an agreeable one.
"Well, SIR he began, 1--WE had a
very busy day yesterday and were at
the Office considerably later than usual,
but BY 5 o'clock we had closed up
work for the day, and all the other
clerks, with the exception Of the Office
boy had gone home. l had made some
notes from Mr. Holidays dictation
and had returned to my desk to ar
range them when the outer door open
ed, and Mr.. Holladay's daughter came