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CHAPTER XXVIII - THE VERDICT.
For a moment there was tense silence in the court-room which was broken by the
defense's perfunctory "Take the witness" to the prosecuting attorney, but again
cross-examination was waived.
"Call the next witness, please," and a moment later the Lizard emerged from the
witness-room.
"I wish you would tell the jury," said the counsel for defense after the witness had
been sworn, "just what you told me in my office yesterday afternoon."
"Yes, sir," said the Lizard. "You see, it was like this: Murray there sent for me and
tells me that he's got a job for me. He wants me to go and crack a safe at the
International Machine Company's plant. He said there was a fellow on the inside
helping him, that there wouldn't be any watchman there that night and that in
the safe I was to crack was some books and papers that was to be destroyed, and
on top of it was three or four thousand dollars in pay-roll money that I was to
have as my pay for the job. Murray told me that the guy on the inside who
wanted the job done had been working some kind of a pay-roll graft and he
wanted the records destroyed, and he also wanted to get rid of the guy that was
hep to what he had been doin'. All that I had to do with it was go and crack the
safe and get the records, which I was to throw in the river, and keep the money
for myself, but the frame-up on the other guy was to send him a phony message
that would get him at the plant after I got through, and then notify the police so
they could catch him there in the room with the cracked safe.
"I didn't know who they were framin' this job on. If I had I wouldn't have had
nothin' to do with it.
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