four
o'clock
It is the champion of the people come to their aid ! Breathless from the three miles he has traversed at a run , Trueman sinks exhausted on the stone steps in front of Purdy 's house . The excited leaders cluster about him and tell him of the events that have transpired during the afternoon and early evening . `` It was four o'clock when we first heard that Metz had shot and killed Purdy . The news spread to all the mills and furnaces , '' explains Chester , one of the yard hands of the local depot . `` Some one started the story that the police had been instructed to bury Metz secretly for fear there would be trouble if he was given a public funeral . You know there was a note found on him which said he had killed Purdy for the good of the workingmen . ''