The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-05-22

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rlarized? It's not logical"
"If murderers were logical" said
Cropsy with a tolerant smile,
"they probably wouldn't be muir,
derers. They do funny things.
you know; that's why so many OF
them are caught"
CHAPTER TX
Janice Had Lied
The next day Janice Fowler was
indicted for first degree murder by
the grand jury and Stanley Evans
indicated what his defense would
be by inviting the newspapermen
to hear his clients revised story.
Miss Fowler" Evans began in
his brisk and convincing way,
admits that she departed some
what from the truth in the story
she told police concerning her
activities on the night OF the
murder.
1T might say" he went on with
q wry smile toward his client, who
met his look in the manner OF a
child being scolded, that she used
something less than good judg-
ment in not telling the strict truth
from the beginning and in hest
tating so long in permitting friends
to offer their help. But she Of
fers in extenuation of that error
the fact that the truth would have
sounded so absurd. so ridiculous,
so utterly damning to the police
investigators who were question
ing her-'grilling' in this case
might be a better word-that she
would never have been believed.
In her crisis she could not fore
see that the one falsehood she
seized upon in panic would prove
to be the most discriminating bit
Of evidence that could be produced
against her."
Nov, gentlemen" he resumed
abruptly, Il didn't invite you here
to crate at you as if you were a
jury, but I believe the public is
entitled to know what our defense
will be, and certainly we all owe
1t to Miss Fowler to accept her
apology and let her present her
story as it would have been pre-
scented had she not been stampeded
nearly out of her senses by most
overwhelming accusation.
Miss Fowler, you see, is not
merely a client. She is a trusted
employe Of our law firm and has
been for some time. You will smile
with me, / know, when I tell you
her reason for not wishing to en-
gage an attorney. She has told
me that she would not think Of
going to any one else outside of
our own office, and yet, intimately
associated as she is with all of us,
she hesitated to call upon her
friends for assistance, because she
felt it would involve us unpleas.
antly.
Nov, we can smile at that sort
Of thing if we wish, but I respect
it nevertheless as an indication of
a very high sense of honor, some.
thing that we do not encounter, I
might add, in criminals"
Whats Miss Fowler's story, Mr..
EvanS?" Bunny Jackson inquired
hluntly. Give got deadline wait.
ing"
Preface Necessary
Regardless of Time
Evans laughed. of course, but
I had to get in my preface, never
thelesS. Miss Fowler was telling
the truth when she said she spent
the evening downtown. But when
she returned, shortly after mid.
night, she did not go Immediately
to her room, as she related pre-.
viously. She went upstairs in the
elevator, and when she got to the
fourth floor and started toward
her own apartment her attention
was attracted by something which
lay Just outside Margie Shannon's
door. 1t was a dagger-a miseri
corde I understand it is called
She recognized it as Miss Shan
mons property. Very well. She
picked it up and knocked at The
door. There was no answer, sc
she tried the knob. The door was
locked, evidently, for it did moi
open. Whereupon Miss Fowler
proceeded to her own room, car
Fying the weapon with her.
"And now you will ask, no doubt
why did Janice Fowler secrete the
weapon in the bottom Of a
drawer?' A very human motive
prompted her. It seems that
Margie Shannon had been in the