four o'clock
Instinctively they all knew that the farce was over . The assistant district attorney returned to his table but did not sit down . `` If the court please , '' he said rather wearily , `` the last witness , Miss Duryea , by her testimony , which I personally am quite ready to accept as truthful , has interjected a reasonable doubt of the defendant 's guilt into what otherwise would in my opinion be a case for the jury . If Mock Hen was at Hudson House , nearly two miles from Pell and Doyers Streets , at four o'clock on the afternoon of the homicide , manifestly he could not have been one of the assailants of Quong Lee at one minute past four . I am satisfied that no jury would convict -- '' `` Not on your life ! '' snorted the foreman airily . '' -- and I therefore , '' went on O'Brien , `` ask the court to direct an acquittal . ''