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Morse's alibi was not as solid as it seemed.

He said he returned from the visit to his niece on the 11:20 streetcar.

The woman in the house where the niece was staying backed up his story and said she left when he did to shop for her dinner.

Fall River is not a fashionable town.

The dinner hour there was twelve noon.

If this woman had delayed until after 11:20 to start her shopping, she would have had little time in which to prepare the substantial meal that was eaten at dinner in those days.

It is possible that Morse told the woman it was 11:20, but it could have been earlier, since she did serve dinner on time.

Police did make an attempt to check on Morse's alibi.

They interviewed the conductor of the streetcar Morse said he had taken, but the man did not remember Morse as a passenger.

Questioned further, Morse said that there had been four or five priests riding on the same car with him.

The conductor did recall having priests as passengers and this satisfied police, although the conductor also pointed out that in heavily Catholic Fall River there were priests riding on almost every trip the streetcar made, so Morse's statement really proved nothing.