The Washington times., 1910-03-16
The Standing Alibi Of H. Stanleigh StOrme'
-B William Hamilton OSborne-

I honor stopped with a few raps upon his
| desk
The district attorney was plainly non
plussed. and he showed IL Still he
maintained his composure.
sheriff inquired he looking that in
divldual sluarely IN the eye. how DO
you fix tho night OF Nav the 22d. or the
'norniEG-o OF the 25d2' BY the way, which
was it,
Both" replied the sheriff IaconicaIly.
DO YOU remember IL 90
The sheriff returned the district attor-
neN stare with interest The two men
were politically opposed TO each other,
and ther@ was no love lost between
III tell YOU how I fix it," said the
sherin, shaking his finger az the eX-
aminer Il could fix il anyway by other
thlh5sr but know by one thing in
particular. When 1 got there that night
there were two men ahead of ne
one or EN- Was StOrme, and the other
CASSIDY IL was "A few minutes after
ten when we started in, because they
said l was late an I said l wasn't an
] found that my watch was about ten
minutes slow.
Now We started in to play. under
stand. And when you're playing cards.
time flies like the dickens We've got
a tape mp there in the green room, and
IL runs all night as well as all day The
telegraph people here run it.
And i want 60 tell you, continued
The sheriff, that the news Of this very
robbery came IN over the ticker while
we were sitting there-StOrme and the
rest OF us-abOut half past two in the
morning And StOrme was there-sat
next to me. And I said to StOTme, when
the news came in. 'StOrme.' I said.
'Nordaunts safes been cracked, and
there's a pile Of money gone
And ] called up headquarters then
and there, and we found out all about
IT, That's how IL was. and that's how
] know. and his honor can tell you
just what ] tell you, too. That's all
there is about IT,.
And 7 want to tell YOU" concluded
the sheriff officially, and for the benefit
Of the reporters who were taking down
his testimony, ''I want 10 tell YOU,
counselor, that the county detectives
would never have made bull like this,
either, and don't YOU forget it-never in
Gods world
The sheriff stepped down. and John
r. Cassidy stepped up
His testimony was ldeItucal IN SUD
stance with that OF the lerin. 1t was
the purpose OF the prisoners counsel TO
call the prisoner. but just IS he was
bout % do 60, the prisoner plucked
him by the sleeve
After a short conference, the attor-
new for the defense announced that the
defense closed his case.
The Judges charge vas short and Tor
maI ir the extreme Al the close or
H. the ittrv. although invited to retire.
declined 10 do so, and without stepping
from the jury box, returned a verdict
of mot guilty.
And then the crowd piled up on top
or II. Stanlci-h Storme and S1oWercd
him with congratulations.
This was the only precarious cNpe-
riencc that Storne had suffered during
the whole thing. Two-thirds, perhaps,
of his friends and acquaintance were
E-yery individusl among tho number
Insisted upon shaking him 10y the hand
The crowd packed the aiSies, waiting
storme had his eye fixed wistfuIly
uuDn the exit For some reason :te was
anxious 20 get away.
He thanked mis- counsel briefly, to-
Eether with his witnesses and then hur-
ried along FINALLY he reached the open
air.
But there still chung 10 him little
bevy Of men ard women.
Suddenly he glanced down the street.
There" he explained TO his friends.
lis man l want To see-a man must
And ne hurried off. As he went he
glanced ar his watch.
There was no man, but ne simply
wanted to get away that's an.
ON the way he passed Officer O Con-
nell and Burke. the plain clothes man.
As he did so he smiled upon them in
way that was Childlike and bland
They returned mis- salutatiOn with curt
mods Of the head
well. Jim said O'Conuell 10 Burke
as StCrwp left them far IN the rear,
what dye make or il, anyway
Billy returned Burke sOiemnly. 81
don't know what 10 make Of IL. The
only solution I've arrived at is that
the devil must have been strlnEiu' us
that night. That's all I've got TO say
O'ConuelI shook his head dOubtfully.
And they uuickencd their pace and
followed StoTme
Away up the street Storme forged
ahead with rapid steps
An alibi' he mU.tered 10 himself.
els n blamed good thing"