The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 17, 1895, Page 8

8 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17. 1895 UNVEILING THE NGRTH BEACH ABOMINATIONS. Police Exposing the Wick-/ edness That Has Shocked AlL ANOTHER ARREST MADE. Eugene Pardini, a Shoemaker on Washington Street, Accused. LEON MEYERS HELD FOR TRIAL. Two of the Little Victims Tell Shock- ing Stories in Court—A ! | | | \ | | Bribe Offered. | Gradually the veil is being lifted from the shocking crimes of Telegraph Hill, and with each new day comes the discov- ery of still more revolting details. And with each new day, too, outraged justice is rapidly reaching out after the culprits. In the Police Court yesterday two of the little giris told their stories, directly charging Leon Meyers, who was held in bonds of $20,000 to appear for trial before the Su- perior Court. | There will be a mass-meeting of women | to-day in Metropolitan Hall to take action upon the abominations. Kugene Pardini, proprietor of a shoe- store at 619 Washington street, was ar- rested yesterday afternoon by Secretary Frank Kane of the Pacific Coast Society for the Suppression of Vice and Policeman T. J. Coleman. The arrest arose out of a conversation Secretary Kane had with the little girls in Matron Gilmore's room in the City Prison on Friday. Pardini is charged with the ame offense as Lane, Meyers, Ratz and Hinshaw. | The arresting officers state that when Pardini was told what he was to be charged with, he voluntarily admitted the charge, that the little girls were to blame. en at the City Prison later, he denied all knowledge of the crime, and said he was innocent. Girls used to go to his store and annoy him, but he always drove them away. He has retained ex-Judge Ferral and Attorney Pistolesi to defend him. Pardini has been in the shoe business in this City for the past thirty years. He is about 50 years of age, and is considered a man of means. He is well known to sev- eral members of the Police Department | who were his patrons. Hinshaw still gives expression to his feelings of surprise and indignation at being charged with the crime. His attor- neys have been telling him to keep silent, | and when asked for further information, 1 beyond a general denial, he would say | nothing. 1 Mrs. Lindsey is reported on good author- | ity to have been offered $300 not to have | her little daughter appear as a witness | against the erring and ‘ancient capitalist, | Lane. | s P COURT PROCEEDINGS. Leon Meyers Pleads Not Gulity, and Is Confronted by a Little Girl Victim. After some readiustment of the time set for- the hearing in the cases of Captain Lane, Leon Meyers and Philip Ratz, the | men charged with crimse upon & number of young girls, only the case of Leon Meyers came up before Judge Campbell | vesterday ‘afternoon. ” The cases against Lane and Ratz- will be heard on Monday | afternoon at 2 o'clock. . It is possible the | Ratz hearing may be changed to a later | day. Attorney ' Firebaugh opened the pro- | ceedings in the Meyers case by a plea | for more time, because he.had .a suit to | dispose of in the United States Circuit Court. | *I must appear in the Circuit Court,” | ersisted Mr. Firebaugh, “in a case that has already been set, and I should reaily like to be in attendance at this hearing.” “I should like to oblige you, Mr. Fire- baugh, but you will have to put off your Forbes?” inquired Judge Campbell. | feloniou unison. | tion, Mr. Forbes.” Carroll Cook, | right to have the courtroom cleared of all | newspaper reporters. “What case is set for this afternoon, Mr. “The case of Leon Meyers, charged with | sault.” “Is Meyers present?”’ “Yes, replied five stalwart attorneys in “How does he plead ?” “Not guilty, your Honor."” | Call the first witness for the prosecu- | “I desire to " interposed Attorney hat while we have the “‘Suppose he should only want his friends present,” said Judge Campbell. “Well, I suppose he has that right un- der the statute,’”’ replied Attorney Cook. “I would have no objection if all the ladies who desired to be present were ad- mitted, but the terms of the law do not ullow of the exercise of discretion on mer part in the matter,” said Judge Campbell. “But if your honor please’’—began At- torney Firebaugh. “The attorneys in this case,” interrupted Judge Campbell, *'may as well understand and be informed, that the court may ex- clude everybody, even the learned attor- torneys on both sides of this case. Make up your mind, gentlemen, as to any excep- tions to the rule you insist upon.”” “‘We insist upon the exclusion of all ex- cept the reporters,” said Mr. Cook. “Bailiff,” ordered the Judge, ‘“‘clear the courtroom.”” nearl; asked. ““Thecourt,” said Attorney Sullivan, “is bound by the law governing the taking of testimony and if anything a Judge should be more cautious in” examining witnesses than attorneys.” ““That is just what I want to do.” “‘But the witness should not be coached,” persisted Mr. Sullivan. “I want to find out if that has been done,” eaid the Judge. “lf she has been coached, it can be made apparent.” “Do vou know the defendant, Leon Meyers?”’ asked the Judge of the young witness. . “Yes, that is Mr. Meyers there.” point- ing, “with the white whiskers. Isaw him on Gold street, He keeps a stoneyard on that street.” The child’s voice dropg?d at this point to almost a whisper. Meyers, standing every question Judge Campbell be present at these preliminary hearings.” ! The witness said that little Augustina “Parritt had been present when Meyers had perpetrated the outrages charged.” Meyers gave the witness 5 cents. . In the course of various questions relat- ing to dates the child was asked to relate the date to the times of her attendance at Sunday-school. “I have been,” she said, after some thought, “to Sunday-school four times since then. Iwould have gone to-morrow,” she suddenly added, “but I can’t go now.” The witness then described the office of the defendant and its contents. She said there was a man having a long beard who kept ordering them away from the place. Everybody thought the child meant Lane, but she said it wasn’t Lane. She did not know who it was. She said she had gone with Augustina Parritt to Lane's place, and also Ratz's, although she had never LILLIAN LINDSAY TELLING HER AWFUL STORY TO POLICE JUDGE CAMPBELL. [Sketched by a “Call” artist.] persons except those indicated by the statute, we will not insist upon the strict enforcement of thc rule as against the ‘While I do not chargethat the newspapers haveincorrectly | | reported what has transpired in this court | ahout twenty and before other law officials, I'do say that | much has been published that is not true, and as I know that the reporters will get | an account of the proceedings anvhow, whether they are admitted or not, I want to make an exception in their case; but as LEON MEYERS LISTENING TO THE EVIDENCE. [Sketched by a “ Call” artist.] cases in the lower courts and attend#o this | one; that is, if you consider that it is | necessary to be present in this court when | I hear this case.” This, besides raising a general laugh, l which sounded odd considering thie serious- ness of the charges to be heard, appeared | to be accepted as conclusive as to-the ques- | tion of delay, and the attorneys subsided. to the rest the defendant will insist upon his statutory rights.” ‘We will insist that there he no excep- tions to the rule,”’said prosecuting Attor- ney Forbes. ““The statute evidently intended to give the del’endqut a right to say, aside from the exceptions indicated, who should be Ina few minutes the larger portion of the spectators left the room and the de- fendant’s attorneys appeared satisfied, al- though the corps of newsvaper men was | experienced considerably augmented b; 3 i oe King and men, such as #Call the first witness, Mr, Forbes,”" said Judge Camprell. “Lillie Lindsay."” “Is this the prosecuting witness?" ““She is the child in whose behalf the prosecution has been instituted by her mother,’ said Prosecuting Atforney Forbes. . Ina moment the small mite of human- ity against whom the gross outrages are charged to bave been perpetrated slowly made her way, guided by Policeman Rourke, who arrested the defendant and gathered themselves as closely as possible to the railing near the Judge’s bench. She did not appear to be much embarrassed by the staring people. Her drawn and wasted face and expressionless eyee, her listless movements and her apparent lack of un- derstanding of the terrible situation in which she was a most important figure, silenced every tongue, even those of the five energetic attorneys for the defendant. “Come here, little lady. Don’t be alarmed,” said Judge Campbell. She "EE‘"’d within his sympathetic arms and then turned and gazed at the mall crowd with a slight brightening of her eyes. “How old are you, my child?” inquired the Judge. “Ten years.” “Do you go to school ?”” “Yes, sir. I started last week.” “Where?” “The Broadway Grammar School.” “In what grade are you?”’ ““The second grade.” “Do you like to go to school ?” “Yes, sir. Mother says I must learn to read and write and other things,” “Do you go to Sunday-school 2"’ ‘“Yes. My teachers are Sister Mary and Bister Josephs.” ““What has this to do with the charge?’’ ejaculated Attorney Firebaugh. I am simply trying to discover whether or not this child is a competent witness to be sworn to give evidence under oath,’” re- plied Judge Campbell. ‘Do you know what will happen o you if vou tell stories?” continued the Judge, addressing the child. “I will go to hell.” “Do you know what will happen to you if you should tell stories in giving your evidence in this case?”’ *‘I would be arrested for life if I did not tell the truth.”” “Gentlemen, I will admit this witness to be sworn.” ““We object,’” said Mr. Cook, *as her an- swers and her age indicate that she does not comprehend the naturs and character of an oath.” “Objection overruled” “We ask for an exception,” continued Mr. Cook. “Make a record of the exception, Mr. Stenographer.” The child then, in response to questions, said thgt she had been confined in the City Prison; that Mrs. Smiley, ‘“or what- ever you call her,” she said, had had charge of her,and that Mrs. Smiley as well as others to whom she had talked had only told her to teil all the truth. She said she lived with ber mother on Green street—she thought 336 was the number. Up to this point in the examination the present,’’ said Mr. Firebaugh. attorneys took exception to the form of Leon Meyers, through those who had | his eyes from the witness. He smiled whenever the slightest suggestion of humor arose from the conflictof the at- torneys with the court. But he appeared unable to sit down or keep from moving about. “1f you can't hear the witness come up here,” said the Judge. “We will retain our places,” replied Mr. Cook, severely. *‘Well, stay there,” said the Judge. “Isn’t the witness herself to tell the stor v?” inquired Attorney Sullivan. “1'll manage that,” saia Judge Camp- bell, dryly. “I object to your system,” urged Mr. | Sullivan. My system is all right, gentlemen. I have had considerable experience in these kind of cases.” The child then, with evident reluctance, behind his five attorneys, and moving seen either Ratz or Lane at Meyer’s office. from one to the other, scarcely ever took | Her mother never knew Meyers or Ratz. She had told her mother that Lane had given her buttons, pins and a bracelet and victure cards. Her mother did not allow her to zo out at night. “Take a drink of water,"”” suggested the Judge. *Yes, I will,” and seizing the glass she drank, her tiny hands trembling slightly. . After giving further details and endur- ing the questioning of the Judge and Mr. Cook for nearly two hours the child was permitted to go. She signed her name, *Lillie Lindsay,”” in a plain, distinct, school-girl hand, not forgetting to care- fully place a period after her name. Mrs, Lindsay testified confirming the age of the child, the main object of her testi- mony. Mrs! Lindsay said she was a widow, having five children, all living. Lillie, she said, was born near Walla Walla, in the State of Washington. was substantially identical with that o Lillie Lindsay, ‘although she had been kept in another room while the child Lindsay was examined. This witness added some incidents to the details that would hardly occur to a child of her ave unless she was telling the truth, and with a variation as to particulars of these de- tails that indicated she knew what she was talking about. Then she signed her name to a recognizance in plain writing and affixed a period with deliberate exact- ness. Officer Rourke testified that when he arrested Meyers the latter exclaimed: “Oh, God, I thought those girls would getme into trouble. I told the foreman to keep them out a number of times.” ‘“He told me he had asked officer Walsh, on the block, to keep the girls away.” 2 | The taking of testimony was then con- cluded. It was apparent the defendant’s attorneys expected that Meyers would be held for trial. They offered no testimony on the part of the defense. 4 After a few words about the testimony Judge Campbell held the defendant for trial in the Superior Court under a $20,000 bond. The defendant’s attornevs de- murred at the amount of the bond, but the Judge refused to reduce it. He also directed that the witnesses be held under $500 bail to appear and testify in the Superior Court. He stated that written consent had been given by the parents_of the two children, Lillie Lind- say and Augustina Parritt, that they be kept at the home of the Girls’ Aid Society until after the trial, at least, in the Su- perior Court. Frank Kane, secretary of the Society for the Sugpress\on of Vice, has applied to Judge Coffey for letters of guardianship over all the ‘girls involved 1n the various cases now in the courts, and General John McComb, secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, will in- tervene as an applicant, also, for the guar- dianship of the children. During the hearing Rev. C. 0. Brown and Mrs. Rose French sert in written re- quests to Judge Campbell to be permitted to be present, but on objection on part of the defense the requests were denied. Her téstimony, with some variations, ls wearing that he would kill the first — liceman that came into that house. We luffed him out and went in, arrested him for disturbing the peace and searched the house, but didn’t find the girl. . Rourke got her next day at her annt’s, down on Sixth street. When Rourke first got the girl that day, by the way, she was going with him to St. Charles place to point out a man.” . R g Juha Christenson is a little girl of 13 years,s with a_ great deal of the kind of worldly experience that may be :n-_m‘evd in that part of the City. The “herye’ she has known is at 415 Union street. The cobbled pavement of that block sloves at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and the frame cottages, old and dirty; and the big and dirty tenements from Dupont to Kearny streets hold their full share of the population. At 415 Union street a little, narrow, much-worn and ricsety stairway leads upward from close to the front door and a narrow ballway runs backward be- sideit. A little old woman with a faded straw hat and a much-worn shawl, which she gathered hastily about her to make herseif more presentable, poked her head out of a little door at the end of the hall- way and sharply demanded, “What do youwant?’ She didn’t know what sort of an officer she was talking to and was some- what guarded in the conversation which followed, while all the time the maudlin wailing and cursing of some drunken women resounded in some back room. “I don’t know anything about it, Mis- ter,” she protested, *‘and I can’t find out. My girt is 13 yearsold and she is a good enough girl and I never wanted any of her support.. I am a widow for five years, but I support myself and the girl, foo, with what my boy can give me. No, 1don’t know any of those gentlemen, 'cept I saw the pictures of three of them in the paper, and I.don’t know if my girl knows them. Idon’t know where she got them.shoes. She said she found: them. . She never brought me home any money, but she said once in a while that she'd run an errand and had 10 cents or so, and some- times she got candy and little things that way. Sometimes she wouldn’t tell me where she got.them. Yes, she was out all night last Saturday night, but I don’t The case of Lane will be heard Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock. ON THE HILL SLOPE. Glances at the Picturesque Com- munity Which Gave the New Horror. The broad, shelving western slope of Telegraph Hill is the scene: of this new horror. The devil seems to have taken it for & playground. Yesterday it basked under a soft Italian sky. From the top of this hill one might for- get what spreadsaround his feet, look across the glassy bay, see the green hills rise in soft beauty through the haze, ca tch the charm of the glittering waters outside the Golden Gate, let his eyes sweep west- ward and southward to other hills that displayed charming palaces and gardens, and then imagine this boldly obtrusive eminence changed into one of the most famous and delightful regions of the City clothed in the beauty of parks, gardens, boulevards and charming homes. Years may bring about such a transformation, but that is not the picture now. This section of the City is peculiar and picturesque, and so is society there. There is something in the social and moral con- ditions of that community, out of which this wickedness has developed. Perhaps it is money that in the last analysis largely makes Pacific avenue cleaner in all ways than Telegraph Hiil. . Poverty claims the wound from peak to base. A CarL man strolled among the cosmo- politan people and dirty populous streéts and alleys yesterday, talking with people here and there. He found both intense indignation at the crimes brought to light and stupid indifference among the people. Nowhere in the City are Lane and the others arrested with him denounced more fiercely than they are along Dupont and neighboring streets where decent business men and sturdy, honest laborers of foreign extraction discuss the affair. There is no serious talk of lynching, of course, but a thousand times a day over there around Telegraph Hill-and the neighborhood of North Beach men declare that lynching would be too good. I tell you I like to be father of one such little girl,” said a young fruit-dealer as he know where she was. “I have been sending her to a free sew- ing schiool, because I wanted her to be a dressmaker and be able to make her living, but sometimes she wouldn’t go there, and sometimes - she wouldn’t come home. all day.- I'd ask her what she did without something to eat all day, but she weuldn’t -tell me anything. Of course, I couldn’t keep her in'the house all the time, and T never whipped her. Did she say I whipped her? - No, Ipdon’t know the first blessed thing about those gentlemen. I ‘think if it is :se. it i3 scandalous. Such gentle- men as ' that oué‘?: to be ashamed of . themselves.. hy, it is ridica- lous. . When she comes home I ‘guess I'll put her out in some good family. if men didn’t act that way women would have more respect for them, Why, it is scan- dalous-the way men insult me sometimes around here."” It “‘was from that home thatlittle Julia Christenson haslong been straying at her will amid the vice and temptations of that part of the City. She_is-one of the three little girls who remained all night in the attic of Lane’s yellow mansion at Filbert and Dupont streets last Saturday night. A slouchily dressed, but decent appear- ing woman on the sidewalk, said, I am Mrs. © Guinasso,” anuy, carrying a little baby, led the way up another stairway at 413 Union street. Her daughter Eva is one of the ten little giris that are held to tell their stories in court. She led the way up two long narrow and dirty flights of stairs past various dogs and chiidren to a rear room of the top story, which appeared to be parlor, dining-room and: kitchen. Then all she was able to say was, “I no speak English,” and tried to explain that her husband worked somewhere on Green street. She had open bluish eyes anda manner that suggested that she was as respectable as far as conduct and ideas of life go as most people of that neighbor- hood. These two homes are types of those from which a large proportion of the twenty-five or thirty little victims have NEW TO-DAY, THE OWL banged the bar in a corner grocery saloon with his fist. *‘I take him in pieces, no matter where be be. No_trouble, no jury. This town need such excitement.” That man’s talk was typical of what can be heard at any hour along Dupont street, north of Broadway. Nothing seems to be Leard from any of the parents. They are all poor, it is said, and are mostly foreigners. One hears stor- ies about the parents of this and that little girl to the effect that they are drunk allthe time and don’t care anyhow. That, of course, is the case with but few of them. One hears that some of them were glad to have their little girls bring home two-bit | pieces and nice little things now and then. | __Officer Flannelly came strolling down | Dupont street, and_stopped to answer a | few questions. ‘“No, I haven’t heard a | word from any of the parents,” he said, | “nor much from anybody, because people | up here won’t talk to apolice officer. You | see we are often going after little girls and all sorts of people, and there is a general hostility and suspicion among the people so far as policemen are concerned. Did you hear about Officer Rourke's experience in | getting the little Christenson girl? Rourke | went “Eb“““e to her house on Union street, | above Dupont, ‘and the mother didn’t | make any objection to his taking the little | girt away. T understand that she is alittle | ‘nutty,’ but the girl's big brother, who is a told the shocking details. Step by step, by apt questioning, she related what had been done. Not infrequently even the Judge was at a loss for words with which to phrase his questions within_ the child’s comvrehension. At one time he evidently considered it proper to suggest words that were usemiulp but not familiar to the wit- ness. .“You have ro right to make sugges- tions,” roared Mr. Firebaugh with corru- gated brows and flashing eyes. “I think I have,’” said Judge Campbell. “You are not fair.” “You must not be impudent, Mr. Fire- baugh. Remember, it is only a master of courtesy that attorneys are permitted to JAMES HINSHAW. [Sketched by a “Call” artist.] 2 “Il:l what year was she born?'’ asked Mr. 00K, b *‘I have been so troubled that I 2 think; but I will look in the Biblec:xl:(: seud you the date. It is written in it.” Dr. Weil was briefly examined as to pro- fessional services renderea in the-case. The next witness was little Au, i Parritt. She came forward from thgul!’trl:; ecuting Attorney’s private office, appa- rently alarmed, and manifesting much em- barrassment, all of which, in a very large measure, disappeared ‘once Judge Camp- bell begaa talking with her.- The usual Pmr!ilm"l‘x“y questions were asked in re- gard to her competency asa wit; under objection, she was sworn, A E. PARDINIL regular ‘hood,’ objected, and when Rourke started down the hill with the girl he rushed up behind Rourke and jumped on his back, and when he did so, he said to his little sister, ‘——— you, T'll cut your heart out.” Idon't know what he meant, or why he-did it, or. whether he knew that his sister was going to sach places. “The girl 8ot away while Rourke was scrapping with the ‘hbod,” and when he threw the fellow off and rolled him in the gutter he didn’t stop to arrest him, but made after the girl. He couldn’t find her and came down the hill flght away and got me. 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