Smyrna times., 1910-09-07

his captain that they had not seen him
during the night of the murder. and 1t
would not have made any difference If
he had believed them. They had made
a statement and could not contradict |
it before jury and expect the contra
diction to be considered evidence.
Nancy Alvord. after her terror at her |
lovers position and her chagrin 81 !
having denied that she had been with
him had in measure subsided. began
to think of some way to prove the un
truth of her first story. This led her
to read carefully the newspaper ac-
counts of the murder. and she sa"
that Murphy's watch. which was
found in his vest pocket, had stopped
at thirty-sPven minutes after 10. She
remembered hearing a clock strike il
while OH the car returning from the
island This was fixed in her mind by
the fact that she expected IA scoldine
on her return home for having stayed
out so, late.
The civil authorities considered that
! Murphy'S watch marked the time or
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 Il. scutile was evident from
the shred of uniform and buttons
picked up on the floor The watch had
undoubtedly stopped during this scut-
fle. At thirty-Seven minutes after 10
on that eventful evening. with limit
of ten minutes either way, Robert and
Nancy had been among the shows at
Coney Island They had passed Mrr-
phys saloon at about twenty minutes
past IL. Had Nancy not been handt-
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 9"
to COney Island and visit the attend
ants upon the various shows with
view to finding some one who had
seen her there with soldier and If
possible TO secure that soldiers identi
fcation us 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 eXcruciating by the fact that IN
her effort to shield her son she had
put it 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 thinS
: of her problem woman came 10 a
/ window of the house opposite ano
, hung a parrot cage containing par
d. rot beside the window The woman
: left, and the parrot began to chatter
. Nancy jumped from her seat, dasheC
p into an adjoining room. seized her hat
! flew downstairs out into the stree
+ and boarded II car for Coney Island.
What she did there will appear a
. the trial. which was called in TIL
\ criminal court the next day.
o jury had been impanpled and tn
prosecutor had stated the case for tn
n state and had produced his witnesses
: They were but few and stated ont
II what has been thus far given. The
r the prisoners counsel took up the cas-
20 for the accused. calling him to tn
: witness stand. He asked Robert
N number of irrelevant questions not al
4, parently bearing on the case. requrin
\. him to give long explanations. Fina
h. ly the state attorney objected to III
If questioning as Irrelevant, and Il
pr judge sustained the objection. The
h. the counsel called Nancy to the wi
ness stand and pursued exactly Il
nj same course with her till another o
ri lection was raised and sustained.
o where were you" asked the con
ro sci Of Nancy. ION the night of the l6t
al of June between 10 and II o'clock?"
# "At Coney Island"
.r. ''Who was with your
70 THE accused. Robert Hammond"
na THAT will do"
,st At a sign from the attorney phOn
graph was brought into court and 5
IN, on n table. An operator put it's III
nj chinery in motion. and a voice. plain
on Nancys. began to talk. What h
De been spoken in the machine was
raj no Importance. detached sentences g
Ear pressive of the pleasure to be deriv
his at visiting COney Island.
re Then another voice was switched {
Every one started. 1t was the voice
nlv Robert Hammond
the I'm soldier. am. Got leave til
his o'clock, and here am at 10:30 talki
t,r into phOnograph machine III
cen broke tomorrow. will. My chevrC
Ills will come off. and I'll serve the balar
ad. Of my enlistment as high private
% the rear rank. Come. Nancy; let's
, IL along to the next show"
th, "Your honor" said the counsel
the defense. Il made the jury fan
chit lar with the voices of my two v
t.d nesses that they might recognize th
the in this phOnograph. which / prop
! in by its operator to prove received
He voices at Coney Island about the ii
Ian the murder was committed"
n.