Tony McManus Had you been a juror in the trial for the 1908 murder of Dover police officer Walter S. Sterling, you might have wondered why John Dame had been up and about at 4:15 in the morning walking around his house with a loaded revolver. The evidence indicated that he might not have had the weapon when the argument with his father-in-law started, but went back to his bedroom to get it and returned to the confrontation. You might wonder why, if he felt threatened, he didn't simply move more than a broom's length away and go to call the police.