nine o'clock
`` If you are innocent you can prove it . '' The mulatto kept his eye upon the sheriff . `` I did n't kill the old man , '' he replied ; `` but I shall never be able to clear myself . I was at his house at nine o'clock . I stole from it the coat that was on my back when I was taken . I would be convicted , even with a fair trial , unless the real murderer were discovered beforehand . '' The sheriff knew this only too well .