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Half an hour later Mrs. Bauer's body was found in a lonely lane. She had been shot twice, in the chest and neck, and subsequent examination established that the bullets had been fired from a .25 calibre Colt revolver.
半小時后，鮑爾夫人的尸體在一條偏僻的車道上被發現了。她中了兩槍，一槍打在胸部，另一槍打在頸部。隨后的檢驗證明，子彈是從一只0.25口徑的柯爾特左輪手槍中打出來的。
The crime aroused the utmost indignation and local organizations offered a reward of $8,000 for the identification and conviction of her murderer, the dark man wearing tortoiseshell spectacles who drove a Ford car and owned a 25 Colt revolver, a combination of conditions which could be fulfilled by one man only, the murderer himself.
這種罪行引起了極大的憤慨。當地機構提供了8000美元的酬金，來指認和判決殺死鮑爾夫人的兇手：一名黑皮膚、戴著一副玳瑁眼鏡、開著福特汽車、擁有一只0.25口徑的柯爾特左輪手槍的男子。可以滿足所有組合條件的只能是一個人，那就是兇手本人。
It did not take Harry Hoffman long to realize that the description of the wanted man fitted him almost exactly. He was dark-skinned; he often wore tortoiseshell spectacles; he owned a Ford Sedan and he possessed, quite legitimately, a Colt revolver. He had no alibi for the afternoon of 25 March. Hoffman panicked. He sent his gun to his brother with a letter telling him to keep it in a safe place and he set out to manufacture alibis for the fatal afternoon.
哈利·霍夫曼沒有花費多長時間就意識到，自己與該通緝犯的描述幾乎完全吻合。他皮膚黝黑，經常戴著一副玳瑁眼鏡，擁有一輛福特轎車，而且還合法擁有一只柯爾特左輪手槍。他沒有3月25日下午的不在場證明。霍夫曼驚慌失措。他把他的槍郵寄給了他兄弟，并寫了一封信告訴他把它存放在一個安全的地方。他還著手偽造了那個致命下午的不在場證明。
Nor did it take the police long to realize that Hoffman, the local man, fitted the description of Mrs. Bauer's killer. On 17 April they came to see him. Police Patrolman McCormack, he was told, had identified him as the driver of a Model T Ford he had seen at 4:25 pm, fifteen hundred yards from the scene of the crime, coming from the direction of South Avenue on the afternoon of 25 March.
沒過多長時間，警察也意識到，本地人霍夫曼與殺害鮑爾夫人的兇手的描述相吻合。4月17日，他們找到了霍夫曼。他們告訴他，巡警麥科馬克已經確認他就是自己在下午4點25分時看到的那輛福特T型轎車的司機。25日下午，麥科馬克在距離犯罪現場1500碼的地方，看見那輛車從南大街方向迎面開來。
