Hale states that he was going to town with Harry but stopped on the way to visit John Wright's house to ask about acquiring a telephone. Although Wright had previously disliked the notion, Hale was considering the unlikely chance that Wright's wife would be able to persuade him otherwise. Sometime after eight o'clock, Hale knocked on the door and, upon hearing what he thought was an invitation to enter, he opened the door to find Mrs. Wright rocking in confusion on the rocking chair and nervously pleating her apron. She did not look at Hale or ask him to sit down, and when he asked about John, she informed him that he could not see her husband because he was dead from strangulation by rope. Hale called for Harry, and they went upstairs to see the body. When they returned, Mrs. Wright told them that she had not notified anyone and that she did not know the culprit because she had been asleep.