half past five
It is probable he entered by the front door , which Mr. Shrimplin found open , and left by the side door , which was also open , but the crowd gathered so quickly both in the yard and in the street , that it has been useless to look for footprints in the freshly fallen snow . One point is quite clear , however , and that is the hour when the crime was committed . We can fix that almost to a certainty . The murderer did his work between half past five and six o'clock . Mr. Shrimplin has just informed us that the only person he saw on the Square , until he met Colonel Harbison , was John North , whom he encountered within a block of McBride 's store and with whom he spoke . While Mr. Shrimplin stopped to speak with Mr. North the town bell rang the hour -- six o'clock . '' The coroner paused .