The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 8, 1896, Page 16

16 } ; : THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1896. : _—_—__,_—_—_—_—_________ MRS, WILLMORE AS A FEMALE FAGIN. To Be Arrested for Com- plicity in the Oakland Burglaries. THE BOYS IN COURT. An Endeavor Will Be Made to Keep Them Out of the State Prison. ABE MAJORS WAS IN LOVE, He Says That He Wanted to Get Money So as to Marry His Confeder- ate’s Sister. Two boys who have committed forty burglaries in three weeks, wrecking safes with dynamite to get at the cov- eted booty—and the mother of one of the boys charged with complicity in the -by the strange features of the crimes, and | tured at their home. Allare dismayed at the exlibition, and had it not been for the incontrovertible evidence that the youths were the actnal burglars the facts in the case would not be believed. The affair has created more sensation than anything that has transpired in this city since a gatling gun was put at the en- trance to the City Hall two years ago to repel an expected attack by the Industrial | Army. Ministers have given notice of their intention to preach from the lessons taught many have already expressed their opin- | ions in print. It is a circumstance worthy of note that not a single burglary or robbery was re- ported to the police to-day as having taken place last night. ¥ The Police Department, according to an | official statercent to-night, is now satisfied that Mrs. Willmore was an accessory to the crimes of the boys who lived at her house. Four months ago Archie Majors went to the Chief of Police and told him of | things that were going on in the Willmore | household, and he advised Mrs. Sanford to | get the girl Ina away and he offered to help her. Archie went away, and as he was the only witness who would. testify against Mrs. Willmore the matter could not be pressed. Archie asked the Chief to protect his younger brother, Abe, and the matter was depth -of my sorrow, and my first trouble | ing with triends in another part of the cfty. is nothing compared to this, the work of that woman Mrs. Willmore, who has dragged my whole family down to poverty ana disgrace. = ‘‘She has been respected as a lady, living upon the money that should have been mine. When I have pleaded for her to tell me where my - youngest boy could be found she has mocked and taunted me. The beginning of this affair dates back two years. Then my trust was God and those who professed Christianity. Several evenings a week I took my ckildren and went to Marshall’s Mission, on Eighth street, where we were a happy family. There 1 met Mrs.Willmore and her daugh- ter, Ina. s *'I was attracted to her by the Christian spirit she showed, and in a short while was led to believe that she was my truest iriend. I dependea on her as I should have depended on my sister. *I even went so far as to confide in her that my children and I were the rightful heirs to a large estate in New York, and I foolishly showed her my legal papers and correspondence with the Eastern lawyers. At this time my son Abe was employed by the news agent at the Alameda mole, earn- ing $7 a week, and I was keeping a few boarders to help out. % ‘‘Abe was a member of the Young Men’s Christian Association and a model boy in every way. He was the mainstay of my home, and every one spoke of his tender love for his little stepbrothers. My close intimacy threw Abe and Mrs. Willmore's daughter Ina together. I thought noth- ing of it until my attention was called to the fact that Mrs. Willmore was gradually enticing my boy front home. At last she Wi 7 e /s 4 The House Where the Willmores Live, at 1264 Webster Street, Oakland. A /) i/ A 24// 18 AWM 7 ’Il/l{ 17 1l 7 ] e lf Wit ‘l’l/’,?lll”ll,”[’ The Barn in the Rear Is Where the Boys Cached Their Plunder. [Sketched by a “ Call ” staff artist.] operations: No record like that has been on the police books of any city in this country before, it is believed, and the moralists are trying to study out the causes that led up to these crimes, with the conditions that made them possible. Several persons have already | interested themselves in an endeavor tokeep the boys out of the State prison, asserting that the Reform School is the proper place for them. In whatever way it may be regarded, the case is conceded to be both startling and remarkable. OAxKLAND OFFICE SAN Fraxcisco CaLL,) 908 Broad , Feb. 7. The boy burglars were in the Police | Court this morning. When they entered | a hush fell over the packed lobby. | Instead of two desperate hoodlums, the | crowd saw two neatly-dressed boys walk | in aheaa of Officer Curtiss. They satdown beside their attorney, and there was a | feeling of curiosity expressed on both their | faces. They had not seen each other since | they were arrested, and neither knew what the other had said. There was no indica- tion of nervousness, and as their attorney, Ned Ayer, pleaded for them, they had not a word to say. Two charges have been sworn to. One charges the boys with the Girard affair, and the other with the Miller & Butler job, from which they were returning when arrested. The examination into the first charge was set for Monday next; the second one was made out in the name of Ford, Majors’ alias, and a new com- plaint will have to be filed. The proceed- ings occupied about ten minutes, and the boys were Jed back to their cells. The point of greatest interest in the case is that concerning Mrs. Willmore, the 1 mother of the younger boy. She protests | her innocence, but she has told some con- tradictory stories, and the Chief of Police believes that she must have known what the boys were doing. The lads had been making nigktly predatory raids for over three weeks, and have stored the proceeds in many parts of the house; and yet Mrs. ‘Willmore says she never knew that the boys were not in bed all night and never | noticed them with more money than | Major bad told her he received from a | relative in the Kast. Mrs.- Majors-Wagner, the mother of Abe Majors, blames Mrs. Willmore for ail the troubles that have: befallen her. Mrs. ‘Willmore denies it, and the stories of the two women as printed below, whiie they may not carry conviction in either case, still they show a state of affairs-that must have added very materially to the de- woralization of the youthful burglars. Thousands of people have visited the police station since the lads were arrested to look at the outfit of guns and tools cap- Ei S ———— NEW TO-DAY. INSTANT RELIEF for all afflicted with TORTURING - SKIN DISEASES in a Single Application of (Uticura ! ComicuRA WORKS WONDERS, and its cures of torturing humum-imply‘ ‘marvellous. €0l thyoughout the world, Britah depot: E; New: oo sxo- Gk Con., Sove Fropi Bosons U. 8.4 thoroughly investigated, but without Archie nothing could be proved. Since that time the boys have heen leading a life of crime, and many things point to the fact that Burt Willmore's mother knew all about it. Her immediate arrest is consid- ered certain. et RUINED HER LIFE. Mrs. Majors-Wagner Attributes All the Trouble to Mrs. Will- more. Mrs. Wagner, mother of Abe Majors, was with difficulty found by a CarL re- porter this afterncon in a lodging- house on Sixth and Harrison ‘streets, whereé the kind-hearted landlady hud given her temvorary shelter for- her- self and children until she can find work, if she ever rallies, to support the 0 succeeded until he was a slave to her will even to forget those he once loved better than his own life. When I sought him he disappeared. I pleaded on my knees with the wrecker of my home to tell me his whereabouts. She refused. “The story of Mrs. Sanford’s bringing | bim back fo Oakland from Fresno has | been published. As he was past fourteen | he could not be held by the Humane So- | ciety. - After that he came and went as he pleased. Learning of his return to Oak- | land a year ago I was desperate over the | situation. I went to some ladies, mem- | bers of Dr. Hobart's church, where Mrs. | Willmore belonged, and related to them | the facts of tne case. They heard Mrs. | Willmore’s story, but still wanted to make peace. “Mrs. Willmore anda I were both invited toa cottage prayer-meeting, where they MRS. WILLMORE AND HER TWO CHILDREN, BURT AND INA. NS W W '\\\ R b= [From photographs taken in 1898.) young Wagner boys, whose father is in hiding in disobedience of Judge Wood’s order to pay $15 monthly for the mainte- nance of his children—Ralph, aged 6, and Charlie, 12 years of age. Mrs. Wagner was this morning ejected from her home by an agent representing the rich ‘Widow Sather, who is now in Europe. The ejectment was for non- payment of rent of two roomsof an old house at 1511 New Broadway. The circumstances were so touching in this case that Constable Weidler of Judge Clift’s court gave $250 to pay for the moving of /Mrs. Wagner’s furniture. The despairing woman. is a physical wreck in appearance and retold the sad story that Mrs. Willmore,until now, has succeeded in making ladies in charitable and religious work of Oakland believe were delusions. The arrest of the two young burglars will heip to prove the story only too true. Mrs. Wagner said: “No human’ being can measure the pleaded my cause, and Mrs. Willmore promised’ never again to allow my sons, Abe or Archie, to cross her threshold. I felt relieved and - thought the matter settled, but it made no change, only giving her a chance to be more secret in her doings. “Things went from bad to ‘worse and ever since she has had fuil control and power over both my boys. “‘This 1ast chapter is her work. I'have prayed to God to give me justice in Oak- | land, where I have been belied even by my own son Archie through the influence of Mrs. Willmore. I would gladly’ welcome death in the waters of the bay.””" . P KR THE OTHER MOTHER. Mrs. Willmore Says That She Never Suspected What the Boys § Were Doing. Mrs. Willmere, the mother of Burt Will- more, has left her residence on Webster street and with her daughter Ina is stay- “I am not in hiding,” said Mrs. Will- more to-night, “as my sttorney has told Chief Lloyd that he will bring me to him whenever he desires. I have merely come out here to avoid the bother that I should be put to if I stayed at home. I do nqt know anything whatever of all this trouble, and feel very much thie disgrace that has been cast upon me. i3 “I did not know what the boys had in the shed and I never looked. The tool- chest was in among. the coal and wood that we kept there, and I never had occa- sion to look in it. I do not suppose I should have known that the tools were burglars’ tools, anyhow. If I had seen the guns I should have known that there was something wrong and should have in- vestigated, but I never saw anything. I never saw the boys with much money. In fact, I' never saw Burt with any. Abe Majors had some occasionally, but never very much. He iold me he was getting it irom a relative in the East, and I believed him. Tnere was never anything in my boy’s room to lead me to believe that any- thing was wrong. I never saw weapons or tools or any stolen article in there, and I was in it every day. i ‘“The boys used to go to bed at a decent time every night, and I do mot recollect that they were ever out very late. They sometimes went to parties and have come home about midnight, but never later. I suppose that after I was asleep they must have got up and gone out and have re- turned before I got up in the morning. Sometimes I may have been deceived, for I have learned that they used to fix up the bed so that if T looked in at the window I should think they were asleep. Probably I have often thought the boys were in bed when as a matter of fact they were out. When the officers came yesterday morn- ing for that chest in the coalshed I thought the boys were in bed, and 1 went in to tell them what was going on. I saw then how they had fixed their pillows, and it was then that I feared I must have been de- ceived in the past. I do not think it reasonable to suppose that I knew what they were doing. If I had known that the lads were out commit- ting burglaries it would not have been necessary for them to have deceived me by making dummies. I have been out work- ing for $1 a day for several months past, and have been able to pay my way with care. The rentof this house is only $8 a month, and Abe sometimes paid me some money for his board. “Mrs.Wagner’s stories about my enticing the boy, Abe, from home are fakes. The boy came here and said it was impossible for him to live at homeaund that he wanted to be with Burt, and I let them share the same room.” . ARCHIE MAJORS. Mrs. Willmore Said to Have In- fluerced Him, Too, Against His Mother. Archie Majors, the brother of Abe, re- turned from Texasand New Mexico, where he had been a cowboy for over a year. Seven months ago he came to his mother asa penitent prodigal son in rags, and wearing rubbers to cover his feet. Mrs. ‘Wagner took all the money she possessed and fitted him out comfortably in clothing, and while he sought work she took in washing from a lodging-house, work far befond her strength, to support her family. Archie was then kind to his mother and worked in harmony with her and those who were trying to locate his brother. After two months’ search for work he got a situation with Fox & Andrews’ creamery to drive a milk wagon at wagesof $30 a month, he said, giving Mrs. Wagner $20 a monthifor board and roorn. With this ar- rangement his mother was well satisfied. All at once Archie became irritable and abusive to the Wagner children, and upon Mrs. Wagner's return, one evening two months agn, she found Archie gone and the house robbed of several articles of value. Archie had even stripped the blankets from his mother’s bed. Investigation proved that he had left home again, that the position he held at the creamery had been secured by Mrs. Wilimore for some one else, and that Archie had been receiv- ing $40 instead of $30. Mrs. Willmore, the day he left home, had collected part of his wages, on what she claimed to be a board bill. Mrs. Wag- | ner went to his employers, but they re- fused to believe her and accepted Archie’s version of affairs. Mrs. Wagner then proceeded, through the aid of an attorney, to serve a notice on | the firm not to pay the young feliow’s wages to any one but her. This angered { Archie, and he gave up his position, and his former emplayers refuse to divulge where he went, saying they believe him wronged by his mother. The last seen of him he was in company with Mrs. Willmore in Jadge Seawell’s court -in San Francisco, as witnesses against Mrs. Wagner to help the latter's husband get the custody of the little Wagner. =T T THE ROBBERS’ CAVE. It Was .a Dilapidated Shed at the Back of the Willmore 3 House. The Willmore home is a cozy little building in the rear of 1264 Webster street. It has the appearance of having eriginally been a small house of worship. It has eyidently been moved into the rear of the lot to make room for the more pretentious building that now stands in front of it. The Willmore house cannot be seen from the sidewalk. At the back of the lot is the rough shed in which the boys stored their tools and some of the plunder. It isaramshackle place and is falling to pieces. It contains alotof old rubbish and in oné corner was a small rifle. The first thing to greet the eye is a book of children’s hymns, the covers of which have disappeared. There is a pile of old books, but the most sensa- tional was one of Ouida’s productions. There was no dime-novel literature in sight and neither was the wall ornamented with cigarette photographs. The chest that is now in the City Prison was at the extreme back of the shed facing the right-hand door hole. 1t was hastily covered with wood and rub- bish, and would not have attracted atten- tion, as it is old and scarred and seemed particularly well ‘suited to the other con- tents of the room. The window of the boys’ bedroom is in the back of the house, and through the window can stiil be seen the dummy pil- lows with which the lads deceived Mrs. Willmore. The house was locked, and the lady who lives in the front house said that Mrs. Willmore had not. been home since yesterday afternoon. She stated that she had never heard the boys go into the house at night and had never seen any- thing to lead to the belief that there was anything wrong with Mrs. Willmore or the boys. “Mrs. Wilimore used to go out working nearly every day,” said her neighbor, *‘and I do not think there was a barder-working woman in Oakiand.” Mrs. Reynolds, wife of the attorney of that name, called at the house and said that Mrs. Willmore had frequently worked for her, and that'if she'could find her she would help her, as she considered she was a very deserving woman, Mrs. Wagner had not been near-her hoy since he was arrested. and to-day she said that she was acting on the advice of her attorney. Tl PR TRICKED OFFICERS. How the.Younxg Burglars Succeeded In Throwing Off Sus- picion. Now that the lads are in jail, severzl of- ficers have recognized them - as.having been on tkeir beats at early hours of the morning. About a week ago Officer Peterman was on duty about two blocks from.the boys’ home. He sawthem walking along Four- teenth street, and just as the boys ap- proached him Majors said to Wilimore: “Wasn’t that a jolly dance?’ Willmore replied: “Ishould say. Did you see how that lady tackled that icecream 7'’ ‘With conversations of this nature they diverted any suspicion that the officer might have. The lads wore large white buttonhole bouquets and succeeded beauti- fully in convincing the officers that they had just left a late dance. D The lads talk with great freedom of all their doings. It is very evident that they are daring youngsters, but they are not desperadoes and they look upon their ad- ventures in much the same light as a schoolboy would look upon a Hallowe'en were committed, where it was thrown after an examination disclosed that there was nothing in it that could at once be turned into cash by the burglars, R e ABE LOVED INA. Young Maljors Says Mrs. Willmore Knew All About His Coming Marriage. Mrs. Willmore’s story is nof entirely borne out by what she has previonsly said | and by the statements of Abe Majors. She | said yesterday that she had known young | Majors only about three weeksana that | she knew nothing of his antecedents, and | that she knew him by the name of Ford. About six months ago there appeared in THE CALL a story about the Wagner fam- ily, and at the time Mrs. Willmore was | interviewed and asked why she was add- ing to the troubles of the Majors boys. She gave indifferent replies, but the mat- ter was referred to the Humane Society | and police, and although nothing was | done, it is believed by the police that Mrs, ‘Willmore knew who her son’s companion was and whence he came. ‘When asked. to-day why he had claimed that his name was Ford, young Majors said: “I did not want my mother to know that I was back. here again. I left my | mother because she made life unb2arable for me at home. She took every cent I | earned. 1 went to live at Willmore’s after | this, but Mrs. Willmore did not entice me | away, 8s claimed by my mother. Finaily | I was compelled to leave town because my mother bothered me so. While away I| rried. Mrs. Willmore knew of our sz;:;:mcnx and she also k_new that I h_nd given Ina an engagement ring. Mrs. Will- more knew well enough who I wasand she knew who my mother was and how my father died. I was trying to raise money so that I could get'married, bgt 1 did tell Mrs. Willmore that L was getting money from the East. I do not think she knew what we have been doing lately, but some months ago when THe CALL pub- lished some stories about our family we used to talk about them and Mrs. Will- more need not pretend she hasforgotten them.” Chief of Police Lioyd is still of the opin- jon that Mrs. Willmore knew what the boys ‘were doing, and in support of this belief Detective Holland says that when the house was searched the mother knew the location of everything in the posses- sion of the young cracksmen and that she always had more money than the boys could earn. —_— - HEREDITY THEORY. Majors Denles That His Father’s Fate Caused His Bad Career. The fact that one of the boys proved to be the son of Lioyd Majors, who ‘was hanged here 1n 1884, gives an opportunity fos theories oi heredity and about the young fellow being forced into' a career of crime on account of the ignominy of his father’s name. Young Majors was asked to-day if the report concerning the latter was true, and .)1,4 Burt Willmore and Abe Majors in Consultation With Their Attorney in the Oakland City Prison Yesterday. [Sketched from life by a “Call” artist.] expedition in which the pulling off of a gate would be a great offense. bt i THE ALAMEDA WORK. Policemen Passed the Windows While the Boys Wers In Stores. ALAMEDA, CaL., feb. 7.—The frank accounts given by the two Oakland boy burglars of how they did the Alameda job, which was the star performance of their meteoric career, is interesting to the residents of this city, who have been rest- ingin security through a belief that they were protected by guardians of the peace while they slept. The burglars’ confes- sion isalso confusing io the police. One of the patrolmen said he went down took the name of Ford, and when I came back here I went by the name of Ford so that my mother could not find me out. I have not seen her since I came back, about 4 month ago.”’ Regarding this matter, Mrs. Prescott , secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, stated that the at- | tention of the Humane Society had been called to the case of Mrs. Wagner, the boy’s mother, after her son had left her home. They found that Mrs. Wagner was | & deserving woman, and it seemed to them that she should receive a portion of the earnings of her son at least. It had been reported {o them that he was spending his money on Ina Willmore, the 13-year-old daughter of Mrs. Willmore. Some time after this the boy went to Fresno, and ag ABE MAJORS AND HIiS OLDER BROTHER. ‘ARCHIB. |From a photograph taken two years ago.| the alley whence all the burglaries were committed at 11 o’clock and again at 1 :30, but the burglars say they came to Ala. meda on the 10:30 train and after break- ing into nine stores, taking their time and making a thorough search for money, they knocked off at 5 o’clock in the morning and walked home with their plunder by way of Twenty-third avenue. L. 8. Silverberg, whose store ‘was one of those broken into, iad an interview with the burglars. They told him while at work in his store they saw patrolmen pass the windows twice. Mr. Silverberg 1denti- fied some- of the plunder that was taken from his store. The jewelry they de- stroyed after tinding that it was not gen- uine. They declare that they secured less than $50 in money on the Alameda raid. ‘The leathern book containing promissory notes that was taken from Hauch’s store has been found by Marshal Rogers. It was in the rear of some dwellings on Oak street, in the same block in which the burglaries the request of Mrs. Wagner was brought back by the society, but afterward was al- lowed to go back. Mrs. Prescott said further that she had been watching for Majors’ return to this city again, and was not aware that he was here until she learned of his arrest. Be- fore the fact was learned that young Ford was Majors yesterday, Mrs. Prescott called on Mrs. Willmore and requested her to tell where Majors was. "Mrs. Prescott said that Mre.Willmore replied to ber questions evasiyely, and she did not learn from her that the boy arrested with her own son was the one she was in search of. X This afternoon young Majors told an in- teresting story of his connection with the Willmore family and 1t increases the opin- -ion of Chief Lloyd that Mrs. Willmore knows more than she has yet told. “I was engaged to be married to Ina Willmore,” said Abe, “‘and was only wait- he said that there was nothing in it. He had not been taken with remorse on account of the manner of his father's death, and this had nothing at all to do with his starting out to burglarize. The crime for which Lioyd Majors wa) hanged was that of vlanning the murd ofan old Frenchman near Los Gatos. - At the time Majors kept a saloon at Los Gatos with a man of the name of Jewell. The latter, and one Showers, were the actual murderers, although Majors fin- ished the job by setting fire to the French« man’s cabin, burning up the remains. Their object in'murdering the man was to obtain his money, and they tortured him in an effort to make him tell where it was. Majors was first tried in Santa Clara, but when a new trial was ordered he ob- tained a change of venue to this county, where he was also convicted. While awaiting the death penalty he broke out of jail once by overpowering his jailers, but was recaptured by the firemen at the Sixth-street engine-house. The police have found two more pistols which Majors and Wilimore had secreted under the mattress in their bed. These pistols are good-sized ones, but not so large as those found on the boys when ar- rested. Majors declared to the officers who ar- rested them that he would have used his big pistol on them 1f they had not got the drop by drawing their own pistols. —_— The Shipment of Sugar. The bag has displaced both the hogs- head and the barrel in the shipment of re- fined and raw sugars. There was a time, not so very long ago, when such a thing as shipping sugar in anything but a stave- made vessel was unheard of, but now it is just the other way. The bag has become popular because it is cheaper, and .con- tinues to grow cheaper, while the wooden receptacles advance in price at about the same ratio. Even molasses has gone back on the stave, and that stieky: commodi is being carried in bulk.—Philadelphis Record. ————— Acknowledged by All GREAT AMERICAN IMPORTING TEA CO.'S Teas, Coffees and Spices Best and Cheapest. Try Them. Pretty presents given away free. 52 Market st., S. F. Headquarters. BRANCH STORES EVERY WHERE. T S ——— Belfast is eoing to raise memory of 8ir Edward Ha tue to the d NEW TO-DAY, - When Paderewski Gomes HE WILL PLAY THE STEINWAY PIAND SHERMAN, CLAY & 0, ing until my eighteenth birthday and until 1 got more money, so that we could Cor. Kearny and Sutter §ts, Pacific Coast Representatives, | i [