Democratic messenger., 1910-02-26

his - plain that they had not seen him
during the night of the murder. aud y
would not have made any difference II
he had believed them They had made
statement and could not contradic,
II before a jury and expect the contra
diction to be considered evidence.
Nancy Alvord. after her terror at her
lovers position and her chagrin az
having denied that she had been With
him had Ia n measure subsidized. began
TO think OF some way 10 prove the un
truth Of her first story This led her
TO read carefully the newspaper ac-
counts OF the murder. and she saw
that Murphy's watch. which was
found In his vest pocket. had stopped
al thirty.scven minutes after 10. She
remembered hearing a clock strike II
while Oh the car returning from Il
island. This was fixed Ia her mind by
the fact that she expected n scolding
on her return home for having stayed
out so late
The civil authorities considered that
Murphy's watch marked the time Of
his death The murder occurred In an
upper room used for card playing. no
one but the murderer and the muir
dered man being present. That there
had been scufile was evident from
the shred Of uniform and buttons
picked up on the floor. The watch had
undoubtedly stopped during this scuf.
| he. AT thirty-seven minutes after 10
on that evcntful evening. with limit
OF ten minutes either way. Robert and
Nancy had been among the shows AZ
Coney Island. They had passed Muir
phys saloon AT about twenty minutes
past II. Had Nancy not been handi
| capped by her first statement she
could have told a perfectly straight
story that would have Tailed with the
facts and exonerated her lover.
The next move she made was to go
to Coney Island and visit the attend
ants upon the various shows with
view to finding some one who had
seen her there with n soldier and II
possible TO secure that soldiers identi
| fication as Robert Hammond. She
went over the ground, but found no
one who remembered her or her sol
| dier escort.
AS the day for the trial drew near
| the result looked black for the young
soldier. His mother was In agony over
the situation. which was rendered
more excruciuting by the fact that In
her effort To shield her son she had
put 1t out of her power TO save him.
The morning before the trial Nancy
was sitting by her open window over
looking the lower bay. trying to think
of her problem. 4 woman came 10 "A
window OF the house opposite and
hung parrot cage containing a par
rot beside the window. The woman
left. and the parrot began to chatter.
Nancy jumped from her seat. dashed
into an adjoining room. seized her hat.
flew downstairs out into the street
and boarded car for Coney Island
What she did there will appear at
the trial. which was called in the
criminal court the next day.
A jury had been impaneled aud the
prosecutor had stated the case for the
state and had produced his witnesses.
| They were but few and stated only
what has been thus far given. TheL
the prisoners counsel took up the case
for the accused. calling him To the
witness stand. He asked Robert a
number of Irrelevant questions not ap-
| parently bearing on the case. requiring
him TO give long explanations. Final
ly the state attorney objected To the
questioning as irrelevant. and the
Judge sustained the objection Then
the counsel called Nancy to the wit
ness stand and pursued exactly the
same course with her till another oh.
| lection was raised and sustained.
Where were YOU" asked the coun-
sci OF Nancy ION the night of the 18th
of June between 10 and II o'clock"
"At Coney Island"
"Who was with you;'
"The accused. Robert Hammond"
"'fhat will do"
Al n sign from the attorney phono-
graph WAS brought into court aud set
ON table. An operator put its ma
chincry in motion. aud a voice. plainly
Nancy's. began TO talk. What had
been spoken IN the machine was Of
no importance. detached sentences ex-
pressivc of the pleasure TO be derived
at visiting Concy Island.
Then another voice was switched on
Every one started II was the voice Of
Robert Hammond.
I'm soldier. | am Got leave till o
O'Clock. and here am nj 1890 talking
into n photograph machine. I'll be
broke tomorrow. | will. My chevrons
will come on. and Ill serve The balance
OF my enlistment as a high private In
the rear rank. Come. Nancy; let's get
along TO the next show"
"Your honor" said the counsel for
the defense. Il made the jury famil-
lar with the voices Of my two wit
nesses that they night recognize them
In this phonograph. which propose
by its operator 10 prove received the
voices at Coney Island about the time
the murder was committed"
Robert was acquitted. He had been
Sayed hV fhe SouqwkV voice az fhp