The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-27
The False Alibi

| ferring them to my department at
BordeauX-and we hurried them
away from the front.
Upon receipt of kirkman's report
in the surrounding country for evil
dence to substantiate Bottles d"
statement that he had sold a large
number of bottles on the 18th of June.
1t was found that he had sold but
a few, for which he received five
francs, which he al once spent for
coenac.
During the search we had suc>
ceeded in finding clue which later
on was to have important bearlne
on this remarkable case. In small
cafe about two miles from where
Jean had been killed, one of our men
found two Frenchwomen who re-
membered that an American soldier
had come into their cafe one night
about the time of the murder and
had purchased two bottles of red
wine. One of these women said 10
our detective:
His uniform was bloody and his
hand was wrapped up in white
cloth. When asked how he had hurt
himself, he replied:
I have been in fight with one
hurt my hand and it has bled on my
uniform. If | don't wash it off l
| will be courtmartialed for getting my
uniform all dirty And to our sur
prise he used the wine in an en-
deavor to wash out the stains. This
was what impressed the incident so
strongly upon our minds. This SOL
der appeared very nervous and kept
! gulping down drink after drink of
coGnac.'
Pressed for further details. these
two women were certain they could
identify the soldier. Possibly they
could; but we wanted to be sure, for
a mans life was in the balance. So
to test them we had them look over
several regiments then in the train
ing area. They assured us after a
complete inspection of these regi-
ments that the man who had come
into their cafe was not among those
they knew what they were talking
about so then arrangements were
made for them to be ready to go to
the front when we needed them.
/ made a hurried trip to the front
myself to post Kirkman as to the
present status of the case and in
structed him to center his whole
time and attention upon Bottles"
The case had so narrowed down that
tention. To give it such attention,
Sergeants Sherborne and Kelly were
transferred to the same company as
the others. Sherborne was to take
up the shadow if -.irkman were
killed and Kelley was to pick it up
if both Kirkman and Sherborne went
west With Kirkman shadowing
Bottles Sherborne watching them
both, and Kelly watching the three,
this most extraordinary case went on.
over the top, out into the hell of No
Mans Land, il shell holes. through
and kelley keeping as close
as possible without exciting suspi-
sion. yet close enough to pick up the
trail if Kirkman were shot.
We all believed that Bottles" was
the guilty party and hoped that an
enemy bullet would save us the
but no such luck. Bottles" seemed
to bear charmed life, for although
| he had several narrow escapes, he
| came through the campain unhurt.
Eventually his regiment was with
drawn from the front and sent to a
| rest area.
The case was discussed with Judge
| Advocate, who advised an arrest if
the two women could identify Bot
ties" and If Washington reported
| on the finger prints as belonging to
| the suspect. Even while discussing
| the case with the Judge Advocate, the
cablegram from Washington arrived:
Finger prints submitted belong to
| Private------ the very man
we suspected.
| Arrangements were soon made for
the two women upon whose identi-
fication of Bottles" our case de-
pended to go up to the front. 1t was
planned that Kirkman with Bottles
| should be given pass and on the
next Sunday go to the town where
we had secreted the two women and
| there mingle with other troops. In
| order to give Bottles" every chance
and so there would be no opportunity
for either Of the women to be in
fluenced by the others Identification
we placed them in separate houses
with detectives and asked each of
them to point out the man if they
saw him passing. Soldiers were con-
stantly going by. After a time,
Kirkman with the s-5pect accom-
panied by Sherborne and Kelley
passed down the street by the house
where the two women We're hiding
and without minutes hesitation
both the women pointed out Bottles
as the man who was in their cafe and
bought the two bottles of wine.
Before we could make the arres,
an order came into the town for
| every man to report back to his
company as battle was pending.
Kirkman, with the suspect returned
to their camp. unaware of the result
Of our attempt at Identification.
That night while on guard Kirk
man remarked to Bottles" You
are lucky to have new uniform sc
early in the game"
do you know" said Bottles" 81
slipped one over on the supply Of
ficer! ! told him that | had lost my
other unifo,m-thought it had beer
stolen. and he issued me another one
in its place. fooled him good
For l buried it in the barracks back
at the training camp. 1t was al
covered over with stains, and l knew