quarter before one
They stood in exact alignment , rigid , bayonets fixed , their eyes straight ahead . Three thousand of them were there . Hour after hour they stood , untiring , staring at the building , which gave no sign ; just as the other multitude , only a few squares away , stood hour after hour , patiently waiting in the bright sun . At quarter before one the upper windows of the headquarters building were thrown open , and small platforms , extending about three feet , were thrust from two of them . An instant later two heavy beams were shoved out from the flat roof directly over the platforms . From the ends of the beams dangled nooses of rope . A dead wait ensued .