The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 21, 1896, Page 10

10 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1S96. THE WILY METHOD OF AN ACCOMPLISHED ~MURDERER, How Blanther Thought Out His Crime and Planned MADE USE OF FRIENDS| TO ASSIST HIM. Did Not Speak of the Existence of Mrs. Langfeldt to Any of Them, BUT PLAYED UPON HIS FRIEND- SHIP FOR MRS. MARKS, | The Identity of the Murderer Is Absolutely Fixed by Daniel Eisner, Who Knew Him in Austria. The statement of George Dodge made public by THE CALL of yesterday morning, that on the morning of the murder J. E. Blanther brought to him some diamonds and that he himself pledged them and turned over to Blanther the money, created | a profound sensation. It not only re- moved all doubtas to the guilt of Blanther, but it presented a picture in detail of the working of the murderer’s mind for days | before he struck the blow. There was the man driven to extreme- | ties by poverty. He had known Mrs. | | | Langfeldt for some six weeks; had called upon her with a letter of introduction at that time. She had received him well, | but he was not impressed. He had not | run’ out of the funds he had brought with | | him from the East. He disappeared sud- denly, giving no notice to his friends. He went to Portland and returned two weeks ago—a gentleman without money. He sent a note to Mrs. Langfeldt asking | if he might call. She replied with an in- vitation. He called, and called again, and called again. His circumstances grew | worse daily. He wrote, but could not sell the product. He pawned his clothes and spent the money. His landlady was press- ing him for the rent. | Night after night as he played cards with her and drank her beer old Mrs. Langfeldt was flashing her diamonds in the eyes of thedisappointed and desperate man—unwittingly inviting her doom. | The idea of murder and suicide haa | grown familiar to his mind. It was a| oommon theme with him. He had wearied his intimates with talk of suicide. He was even then writing a tale of mur- der—“Why [ Murdered My Wife”"—that he hoped to publish. The thought of kill- | ing this old woman and relieving his own distress with those diamonds laid hold upon him. He became fascinated with it as lack of money made him hungry and threatened to make him homeless. He | could not keep away from the house. He called npon the woman every even- ing and often through the day. He made up his mind to do the thing. That de- termined, he straightway began to formu- | late plans for realizing on the diamonds and for escape before it might be dis- covered. { His friend Dodge believea in him and | had served him in many ways. He would | employ him in this. Volubte to a degree, he had yet never | spoken of his intimacy with this old | woman. He was not proud of it. It was| not a conguest that a young nobleman and professional lady’s man might | boast of. In this silence lies the evidence that | from the very first there must have been dark thoughts in the young man’s mind | with regard to this pliable old woman, with her fingers full of diamonds. And with this evidence comes the sug- | gestion that a man who could so easily | turn to thoughts of murder, who could | plan with such elaboration of detail, ex- ecute with such dexterity and with the bloody thing done face his friends and go through the routine of the aftermath in such matter-of-fact fashion, surely mur-| der to him could not be a thing of such | moment as it is to those others of us who | have not yet killed their man. The thought | arises easily that the author of this dex- terous crime must have done some such | thing before. He had boasted by the hour, however, of the beautiful Mrs. Genevieve Marks. | Mrs. Marks is a young woman of 25 or | thereabouts; a brunette, petite and at- tractive. He had been much in her com- | pany and had talked of her continually | to his intimates. He would now turn all | this to account—he would employ her name with Dodge under which to pledge the diamonds. Dodge falls into this plan easily. He | will transact the business upon.a warrant from the lady herself. That was easily done. Blanther writes the warrant in her | name. Dodge says 1t is sufficient, and all | isready. For four days then the young | man looks his crime in the eyes, with- | Lolding his stroke. i Night after night he visits the old woman, probably with his weapon in his | pocket, plays cards with her, jests and | laughs and drinks her beer and estimates the value of her rings. Every morning he tells Dodge that “to-morrow I will bring those diamonds.” On Friday evening he did it. He had taken a French dinner with Dodge, and when be left him, perhaps nerved with his bottle of claret, he had said again: *I will | see you at 9 o’clock in the morning; I am | going to San Jose with Mrs. Marks; I will bring you those diamonds.” With that he went straight to Mrs, Langfeldt’s room. At 10 o'clock he heard Dr. Kleineberg in the hall and knew that he bad turned out the gas and retired. He waited half an hour longer. The cards | had been put away; it was about his hour to leave. The time had come. He stepped behind the feeble old woman, placed his left hand upon her mouth, drew back ber head and with his right band drew his razor-blade across her throat. She sprang up, took a step forward and he could not prevent the heavy fall of her body that caused the man in the room overhead to look up from his book with a quick heartbeat. The murderer had placed fhis left hand too low and had cut it, and when he turned to throw the boltson both doors he left the marks of his bloody fingers there. He did not touch the body again except to strip the rings from the fingers. He washed his hands in the basin, wiped them on the towel, but could not stop the | bleeding fingers. He had engaged to meet Dodge at 9 o'clock in the morning and have the i cast in a foreign land. | he wished to make himself known to the | Captain Lees’ men are watching every ! one who did not earn it by some deed of | rence well. | called the “War Medal.” diamonds with him. He must prevent Escape. the murder being discovered until after that hour that he might transact his busi- ness with him and get away. He would leave the bolts on the doors as they were; he would climb out of the | bay window and into the next window, a thing easy to do, and into the hall by that way. He met Dodge, told him he had the dia- monds, Dodge fulfilled his contract, took him 1o notebroker Lacy and secured a check for §97, leaving two of the stones as collateral. They went to the bank and got the check | cashed, and while the newspapers were | already putting in type the story of thee | crime, they went carelessly down to mei ferry smoking their cigars. Yesterday Captain Lees gave out the | formal statement of George Dodge, the | essential points of which were published vesterday in TE CALL. In an interview yesterday, Dodge told a CavL reporter that the statements made to the effect that Blanther did not shave himself and did not have a razor were not true. It was his habit to shave himself every morning. He had a white-handled razor. Daniel Eisner, who knew Blanther in Austria and was present at the time he | was decorated with the Iron Crown, has set | at rest all speculation as to the identity of the man. Eisner did not know that Blanther was in the City, but, looking au his portrait, he says: “Thisis Blanther; this is the man I served with in the Aus- trian But Eisner left the army years before Blanther did and is unable to explain why aman of such promise should be an out- ‘‘He bad been sin- | gled out for distinction. I thought he was a major in the army by this time.” | “There must be some reason for his be- ing here in destitate circumstances,” he said. “A man with those decorations, had proper people, would have been placed in a way of doing well anywhere in the world.” But Blanther is still at large. That is the important circumstance that remains. Sheriff Cunningham is still chasing the them, but on a couple of occasions they adorned her fingers and ears when Blan- ther was her guest. These gems represented far more value than did those Mrs. Langfelat wore, and the temptation must have been greater for Blanther to resist. Mrs. Marks, however, is quite a youni woman in comparison with the murdere lady, and she did not fall an easy prey under the blandishments of the ex-army officer. She received him at her rooms at 427 O’Farrel street on three or four occasions only, and latterly she forbade him calling again. - In explanation of this she told Captain Lees yesterday: “I met Mr. Blanther at the races some five weeks ago. I went there at times and always became interested in the horses running. “‘As one would imagine who knows any- | thing about the excitement of & finish I appealed to my neighbor on the grand | stand to tell me which horse was the win- ner. It was Mr. Blanther who answered me. We conversed some more and by easy stages we became acquainted. ““He appeared to be a thorough and polished gentleman. He was interesting editors of the three daily papers, and that I could take his work up 4 them and try to get them to take it. None of his stories were pub- lished. Two that had been sent to the Argo- naut and Chronicie were sent back as una- vailable. 1knew that his work was not the right kind of work for the San Francisco papers. Ibegan to be discouraged about him and say he could not earn anything by news- Knper work, and I was in no position to help im because I had no money. He had brought to the office one day a set of art works in editions which he claimed cost him $40, but I knew them to be worth about $1 a number and there were nineteen numbers. 1 went to artists on THE CALL and Examiner and tried tosell them, and told Tebbs that it was & case of & starving man and if he could buy them 10 do so, but none of them had any money. Ishowed them to Bugbee, my collabo- rater in the office, and he told me he would give Blenther £5 for them, and that he would give them back to him at the same price, as he did not wish to take advantage of him. The money he obtained from the sale of these things he paid for his room rentat the house 838 Geary street. With the rest of the %5 he bought his meals and tobacco. He insisted upon my taking some of the money, which I retused to do. He afterward became broke again and brought down a standard dictionaryin two volumes that were entirely new, and he sold | them fo a Mr. Lacey for $5. He would not come into the place to sell it to Mr. Lacey and asked mé to doit. I insisted afterward about his coming up, as Mr. Lacey wanted to deal with him about them and about the necessity for naving the money. Lacey told him he would give him $5 and Blanther could have them back any time within three months for the price of $750. With_that money he paid another week’s board and more meals, After | | | | that he brought down another dictionary, | which he asked me to sell for anything he | ¢ could get, as he was hungry and needed his | and went to San Mateo. I took the 9:20 train would borrow money on her diamonds if I could arrange to get it for her, and told me at the time of the importance of not having her name mentioned in the transaction of borrow- ing the money. S0y Being anxious to help him in any wa and supposing the proposition was a legitic mate one coming from her and suggested by her I told him that I could possibly raise the money for him through Mr. Lacey, the gentle- man I had dealings with, and he told me he would bring the diamonds down the next day, which was about last Tuesday. He told me he called on her every evening, and he would come to me in the morning and tell me of the great difficnlty of his getting the diamonds. I did not care myself, as I did not care to enter into any such transactions, but I had con- sented to see this party and see what I could do for him. Yesterday morning he came to the office with two diamonds, which I took to Mr. Lacey and showed him, and was told by Lacey that he would e $100 for them. Blanther was waiting outsiae, and he told to take anything—if possible to get ®175 for them, if not to take $100. I took $100 in & check, which at 10 o’clock we cashed at the Bank of British North America. I did so, and handed the money to Blanther. He insisted on giving me §5, in_part payment for money loaned him and spent for him. From there we immediately walked to the ferry and took the 10:30 boat, broad gauge, for Oakland. I wasgoing to Alameda. I left Blanther at Broadway, Oakland. He got off at Seventh and Broadway, telling me he was to meet Mrs. Marks and go with her to San Jose, where she was going to make arrangements to have her son brought, who was in poor health, and that she wanted Blanther to go with her. That was the last I saw of him. & I went to see City Attorney E. K. Tayior at Alameda, where we had lunch, and then went to the Encinal Yacht Club on the Emerald, “CONFESSION OF A MURDERER™ BY BLANTHER AND DODGE. [Tt has been remarked that inexperienced writers of fiction invariably and unconsciously describe themselves and their experience. Viewed in this light, the subjoined short “romance’” by Blanther, the suspected murderer of Mrs. Langfeldt, written in collaboration with his friend Dodge, will have pecullar interest at this time. blooded murder of an unsuspecting Woman The theme—the cold- flippant treatment aud minute personal introspection, show the morbid rend of the author’s mind. The main idea is not original, recalling Poe’s ‘‘The Beating Heart,”” and aping the grewsome horror of that production.] ‘What—what have I done? ife—I have murdered my wife! Oh, the horror of this awful deed! Murder? Ah, yes, murder! My I must write this awful confession, while the beads of perspiration stand out in deathly dampness on my brow; while my brain seethes with madness. Write! The impulse to shriek out the awful agony of my soul is nearly too great to be controlled. e Oh, how I'loved her! Ah! See where she lies, with her beautiful face upturned, horribly distorted ; | her tongue hangs out from between swollen, foam-flecked lips; her eyes stare—glassy, protruding, fear- ful! See that white throat—ah, those purple marks! Cruel, fiendish, frenzied hands have clutched that beautiful neck and choked her sweet life out ! There was no murder in my heart when but a short half hour ago I smoothed her dark, curling tresse: only five short blissful months—why, why did I do that awful thing! My soul, filled with the poetry of lifec and love, sought expression in the tangible form which my pen seems ever willing to portray. I bade my darling sleep. I drew my chair and table near to the sofa upon kissed her sweet lips, now 'so swollen, so repulsive. Dearer to me than my soul, my wife—mine ' which sne reclined, and with the warm perfume of her sweet kiss of pure and holy love upon my lips I man on the wheel down by Stockton and | turned to my pleasant task to fill the sheet before me with the ardent fancies of my poet’s soul. avenue about the bay. But this man, with manner, bearing and general appear- ance that would mark him anywhere in & crowd, remains at large with the whole country looking for him. The conclusion is that he succeeded in getting far away before the guards were well placed. g A BRAVE SOLDIER. How Blanther Saved a Battalion of | Soldiers During the War. | There is such a pretty story that is so | little in keeping with the horrible light in | which Blanther has been placed through the murder of old Mrs. Phiippina Lang- | feldt. It is the story of how he earned the | decoration of the iron crown. | The Order of the Iron Cross, created by | Frederick William 1IT during the French | war of 1812-13, was again established as the Order of the Iron Crown by William I, son of Frederick William III, out of | respect to his father, during the Franco- | Prussian war in 1870-71. There is no man to-day, no matter in what position he may be placed, who can- not point to that cross of the Iron Crown with justifiable pride, if he is entitled to | wear it, for 1t has never been accorded any valor, Daniel Eisenberg, a cadet in the Aus- trian army, who is a resident of this City, and who knew Blanther well, years ago, | tells the story. *‘Blanther,”” he stated toa CALL reporter, “was studying at one military college while I was studying at another.” We en- tered the army, but_after years he went to the front much faster than I did. Owing to some family affairs I was obliged to quit the service in five years as a private. | “In the course of affairs in 1877, during the war in Herzegovina, in the Balkans, Blanther earned the decoration of the | Iron Crown. I was a soldier fighting in one of the battallions and remember the occur- | “We had taken a fort from the ene- my, and while the victory was still | warm and we were not looking for further | hostilities the enemy suddenly and un- | expectedly returned. | **We were unprepared and were about to | be overpowered, as we did.not have our guns. | ~Blanther, although only a lieutenant, | was the only officer in charge of the fort, | and he knew of some Turkish-Moorish guns in the citadel. He was a well-poated man, learned in the use of weapons, and with but a few men under his command, but he handled them with such general- ship that he protected our entire battalion | and we were able to re-enter the fort with- | out great loss of life. “There were eighteen hours of hard | fighting with the mountain guns, that | never could have been carried on success- | fully had not Blanther and kis men | helped us out. | “That is how Joseph Blanther earned his decoration of the Iron Crown. | ‘‘He was decorated in Vienna upon the | recommendation of Lieutenant - Colonel | Ferdinand Bachner von Egendori. “Royal Archduke Albreciit in person conveyed the decoration to Blanther in the name of the Emperor and King, Fran- cis Josef, in 1878.” Another medal which Blanther held is It was awarded ;: every soldier who fought in the war of 70-71. Mr. Eisenberg, who gave these details, | was but a private in the Herzegovina war, but he, too, was decorated for acts of bravery on the field of battle. He was in | one of the battalions protected by Lienten- ant Blanther, and for parkicufi’:r acts of bravery he was decorated notonly with the “War Medal,” but another silver one as well. Blanther was educated as a cadet at the Wiener Neustadt near Vienna. He first entered the Thirty-second Infantry Regi- | ment at Zara, Dalmatia. A WOMAN’S FEAR. Mrs. Marks Belleves That She, In- stead of Mrs. Langfeldt, Might Have Been Murdered. Mrs. Marks, who, through the represen- tations and forgery of Joseph Blanther, has been placed in an unenviable and un- called for position, is a very ill woman. She was prostrated yesterday, but she found strength enough to call at the office of Captain Lees to tell her story as to her relations with the suspected murderer, Blanther. Mrs. Marks’ condition is not altogether due to sorrow for the notoriety she has at- tained, but is more the reaction brought about by the thought that she, instead of Mrs. Philippina Langfeldt, might have been the victim of Blanther’s or another's murderous hand. She, 100, had diamonds, them. and many of True enough, she seldom wore | the reincarnation of the departed Oh love! My dearest one, my own! FE’en though thou'rt ever near me, yet 1 am not satisfied. I know thou lovest me, and me alone. Within my heart there cannot dwell regret, Nor grief abide; Yet still I yearn— Just then my wife snored ; my pen faltered. Again she snored. Like swallows startled by a hawk my beautiful fancies scattered and were gone. I strove to close my ears to the exasperating sound of the snores which now increased in frequency, in volume and in diabolical variation ; I struggled to regain the divine inspiration that had so utterly de- serted me; my impatience merged into despair. Desperately I endeavored to write the completion of my interrupted verse. No! Listen to them. Mocking, fiendish snores! I groaned aloud. Hell had opened to madden my brain with the awful reverberations of the damned! It was a saturnalia of sound. Horrible, ghoulish That was not my wife. reason! Hal ha! ha! | forms of laughter seemed to people the room! No! Back, back, thou cursed, damned fiend of hell that would destroy my So you would drive me mad! Would you? * * * * * * * Mad! Ha! ha! hal!-a-a-h! Gosh! It was my wi\fe. My wife; and I have murdered her! But how could I write poetry while she snored ? | as a conversationalist and I did not object to his calling u[;on me at my home. ‘‘He always behaved in a wmost proper manner and he allowed me to gain the impression that he was a man of means. ‘‘After awhile his talk on theoso&hy and gan to frighten me. He spoke of suicide as if it were nothing but a sudden change from this sphere to meet friends in Jupiter. ‘1 did not like this and I sugeested in a mild but firm way that he aesist calling. That is all I know of Mr. Blanther. His last regular visit to me was on May 1. I have not seen him since.” AT AT BLANTHER’S COMRADE. He Makes an Officlal Statement of His Connection With the Case. George Dodge, the associate of Joseph Blanther and the man who, it has been claimed, knew most about the Langfeldt murder aside from the murderer himself, on Tuesday told of his connection with the affair, and his story was published in yesterday’s issue of this paper. The young man was, as an innooent, dragged into the case ihrough his kind feeling for a man he believed to be honor- able and well meaning but penniless. He told how he assisted Blanther finan- cially, and how, at the last moment, he acted as business agent in the disposing of diamonds which it subsequently developed had been stolen from the cold corpse of | Mrs. Philippina Langfeldt. Since the full publication of Dodge’s statement, Captain Lees has decided to present to the public the official one ob- tained by him from Dodge, which tells the same story told in THE CALL, but with more detail. It is as follows: Imet Mr. Blanthcr at the residence of Mr. Hogan, 222 Haight street, where he was room- ing and bomrding at the time, about three months ago. My scquaintance with him con- sisted of meeting and taiking with him at the house and meeting him downtown. He would invite me to lunch with him and always seemed to have lots of money and was very generous and insisted upon psying for every- thing; nothing further though than lunches and oceasionally cigars. I became interested in him when I learned that he wasa news- paper and magazine writer, as [ had some as- pirations in that line, and he suggested several times to take a room with him downtown, or somewhere where it would be convenient, and we could work together in our literary work and that he would assist me all he could. One day, about three weeks after I had met him, I went to Hogan’s house and learned that he had disappeared. Iafterward learned that he had given two checks to Miss Hogan and a Mrs. Gilbert for $975, both of the checks being bogus. His reason for borrowing the money was that he said he wanted to get to San Jose, and that he expected money from'the East, and that he a150 had several trunks with velu- able property in <hem, which were to be deliv- ered as soon as he could pay the expressage. 1did not pay much more attention to him, ex- cept to inquire occasionally from the ?eople who claimed to have been taken in by him. My memory &s to the time 1 first met him and after he bad dlufineued is not very cer- tal; I met him on Montgomery street one day, and I was surprised to see him. He said he had been to Portland. He told me he had had some financial trouble; that he had bor- rowed some money from the Hogans; that he did not like to go out to the house until he had the money to pay them. He told me he had just come out of Tebbs’ office, the artist on the Examiner, and he sald he was broke and had no money at all, so 1 invited him to my offico and afterward took him out to lunch, and left him, and he said he would call at the office again 1o see me, and he has been calling ever since up to last Saturday morning. I learned from Tebbs that he had takena camera from him and that Tebbs had employed one of the Morse detectives to get it back for him. He did not get the camera back, Blan- ther stating that he always left it at different laces. Ilooked out for Blanther to see that Ee got his dinner and tried to encourage him as much as I could. He told me he was then | living in Oakland in & room and that he needed some money to get his things over here and get another room in the City, sayin; he would do a great deal of work. I lhfizelm that he should come over and I would do all I could to find him work; that I knew the dinner. T took the dictionary and kept it, as T found that 1o one wonld give him more than 25 cents for it. I gave him $1 50 and told him 1 haa disposed of it. He had given up writing for the papers, as he said it was no use—that they did not appreciate his work here. When he found that he could not get any of his work in the newspapers he said he would do something that would get himself in the newspapers, and said he would shoot himself or shootsomebody else, and he said_he would give me & chance to write it up in the papers. He saia, “You wait & little and something will happen,” and his conversation would con- tinually drift to that subject. My object in £0ing to his room o often was that I was afraid he would do something desperate, as Tebbs had warned me he had attempted to 8hoot himself with & pistol and that Tebbs had taken the pistol away from him. Blanther said he had been everywhere: had been South and in India, and told me that he hadseen | service; told me he fought in the Austrian- Turkish war; that he was either a lieutenant or captain; his picture was taken as licutenant ofhussars. Stated he had been in Denver and A Charcoal Sketch of C. C. Tebbs Drawn by His Chum and Roommate, Henry Raschen. for the ‘“‘Overland Monthly.”” Joseph Blanther, the Accused Murderer of Mrs. Langfeldt. Borrowed Tebbs’ $125 Camera and Pawned It for $21 a Short Time Ago. The Police Have Been in Daily Attendance on Mr. Tebbs’ Domicile and Have Not Yet Been Able to Find Him. came from Denver here. He receives letters from a friend in Denver; that friend was now in Chicago. Said his family were fine people and that his father was dead, Ho said he was on the engineering corps and got to writing for some European papers, writing reports of the operations of the civil engineer; that they published his writings, and that led him to writing for papers and magazines. He told me he would write to & friend in the New York Central Railroad and have & pass | sent out here for himself, and that he would get back to New York and take & position in the New York Central, where he had been em- ployed as a civil engineer for eight or nine years. He said there was & position there at any time for him. He wanted me to go with him, and told me he could get & pass for me if I wanted to go, and to humor him I said I :x’)]izbl %0, although I knew he would never get e pass. When 1 first met him Blanther would often talk of a lady that he had met &t the racetrack, where he had gone just to pass the time. He said she was a widow and was a very fine-look- ing woman; that he had met her there and she had become attracted to him, and that the at- traction was mutual. He spoke of this lady as . Marks, and said he visited her nearly every evening, and he seemed very anxious to keep from her the fact of his straitened cir- cumstances. At last, when he found that his resources had failed him, about a week ago, he spoke of the possibility of getting her to Taise money enough for him to go out to the track and play the races, ciaiming he was in the way of getting sure tips, that would make his winning a certainty. gl’e stated to me that in case she could not raise the money she Dad & great numberof diamonds—that she was Very anxious to win money on the races, and | agreed to home from Alameda, and went to my home in San Francisco, How Lacy Lent the Money. The statement of Lacy,the money-lender, corroborates Dodge. It is is as follows: ; AN FraNcIsco, May 20, 1896, Captain Lees, City: To the best of my recollec- tion the particulars of my transaction with Mr. Dodge (whom I have known several years; are as follows: On the 14th of May Dodge cnlle& on me and ked me whether I would lend <ome money to & lady on her diamonds, and T replied that Iobjected tosuch loansas being out of my line of business. On the 15th he called again, and after much persuasion I e a loan provided that he would bring me a letter from the person owning the Pproperty anthorizing him to make the loan. On the 16th he came, bringing a letter signed by a Mrs. Marks of I think 515 Geary street; I made the loan, and the property is DOW 11 your possession. Yours truly, H. Lacy. A Suspect Near Stockton. STOCKTON, Can., May 20.— Charles Thompkins, who cooks for H. P. Eldred’s hired men at his barns just east of the city, reported to Sheriff Cunningham that shortly after 10 o’clock this morning,while on the road, he was hailed by a man riding a wheel who looked exactly like the pub- lished pictures of Blanther. The man asked Thompkins the way to Milton, but did not stop to catch the cook’s answer as herode by. At that time he was making for the Linden road instead of toward Milton. He wore a suit of blue overalls over a biack suit, which confirms the story told yesterday by J. Rotschild. Sheriff Cun- ningham at once telephoned to Milton and then ordered his team, driving out along the road the man was said b, Thompkins to have taken. The Sheri thought that if the man was not an ex- pert rider he would be forced to stop along the road and he could thus overtake him before he got far. The man stopped at the Occidental Hotel in this city last night. The officers are still looking for him. REAL ESTATE TRANSAOTIONS. M. and Catherine A. McCann to Edward A. Mitchell, lot on ¥ line of Thirty-seventh avenue, 2 of D street, N 100 by E 120; $10. Willlam and C. T. Nicol to Edward E.and Ed- ward Mitchell, same: $10. E. A. Mitchell to jennie Richardson, lot on E line of Thirty-seventh avenue, 200 N of D street, N 50 by E 120; $300. Same to James McHafle. 1ot on E line of Thirty- seventh avenue, 260 N of D street, N 60 by E 120 200, Catherine Mulloy to Mary French, undivided Yg of lots 639 and 691, Gift Map 2: undivided 35 of lots 348 and 349, Holiday Map A: $10. Jacob and Auna E. A. Tepler to Mary A. Bar- ber, Jot on NW lineof Sears street, 200 NE of Sickles avenue, NE 76 by NW 100, block 9, West Ena 2; $10. Mary A. Barber to Susan Logue, lot on NW_line of Sears street, 200 NE of Sickles avenue, NE 50 by NW 100, block 9, wWest End 2: $10. Jacob ana Lina Heyman to William H. Emery, lot ou NW line of Laidley street, 113 NE o Roanoke, NE 50 by NW 200; $10. James M. Morau to Adolohine M. Moran, lot on SE corner of South Broderick and Fourteenth streets, E 73:9, 5 120, W 73:103, N 116:1, block D, Park Hill Homestead. ALAMEDA COUNTY. H. C. and Josephine E. Capwell to J. A. Clover, 1ot on S line of Deiger or Twentieth street, 316:514 W of Telegraph avenue, W 31 :8 by S 86, being tha E 3180t N8 teet of lot 26, Hogan fract, Onk- land; $10. 3 d C. F. Sliveria to Laura L. Williams, 1ot on E line of Lewis street, 125 S of Rallroad av. enue, S 45 by E 120, being 1ot 29, biock 496, Oa iand: $1050. Richard and Mary Langtry to Annie K. Baro- teau, 1ot on E line of Linden street, 194 N of Third, N 50 by E 125, being lots 15 and 16, block 480, Adeline and Marke: sireets Homestead, subject to & mortgage, Oakland; $10. Builders' Contraots. Charles D. Cushing with H. H. Larsen, excava- tion, grading, brick work and concrete work for a brick laundry building on N line of Washington street, 252:5 N of Leavenworth: J. H. Little- field. architect; $1474. Charles 8. Noyes with Marcus & Rummell to erect a five-room cottage on N line of Eighteenth strey '1‘7;)1; of Castro; Marcus & Remmel, archi- THE IMPROVEMENT CLUBS IN LEAGUE A Permanent Organization Perfected Last Night. CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. Officers Elected and Standing Committees Estab- lished. EXTENSIVE WORK OUTLINED. A Stirring Resolution Adopted Rela- tive to Schools and Their Facilities. A federation of the several district im- provement clubs of the City was formed at B'nai B'rith Hall last night. Twenty-one of the thirty odd clubs in existence were represented. George R. Fletcher presided and F. Johnson filled the office of secretary. The reading and discussion of the con- stitution and by-laws took up an hour, and the earnestness of the debate empha- sized the interest taken in the new move- ment. The purpose of the federation, as set forth in the constitution, is first, the development of the outside districts, and second, the harmonious working of all or- ganizations looking to the general ad- vancement of the City’s residential interests. Standing comnmittees, to be filled at the next meeting, were vrovided for as fol- lows: Streets, parks and sewers, street railways, law, legisiation and public ac- tion, public worhs and buildings, ete. All improvement clubs must have fif- teen members to be eligible to member- ship in the federation. The quarterly dues are $1 50 from each club, and the dues must be paid promptiy to insure recognition of delegates from the auxiliary clubs. The name is the San Francisco Associa- tion of Improvement Clubs. The meeting night is the first Wednes- day of each month. Permanent officers were elected as fol- lows: James D. Phelan, president; George R. Fletcher, first vice-president; A. B. Ma- euire, second vice-president; I. Schwartz, recording secretary; J. Maloney, corre- sponding secretary; K. W. M. Lange, treasurer; P. Cahill, sergeant-at-arms. Dr. Rottanzi, A. P. Van Duzer and F. W. McEwen were appointed a finance committee. The final action of the new federation before adjourning was the adoption of the following resolutions of J. WHEREAS, The necessity and advantage of the higher education must be manifest 1o all, and the facilities for the same should be within,the reach of the humblest in our midst; that o high school course for his children should be the ambition of every parent, and goes to make up the good citizen are encour- »ged and fostered by education in the higher branches is an undeniable truth. ‘Whereas, that section of this City embracing the Eleventh Ward, comprising in area about two-thirds of this municipality, and_paying taxes upon an assessed valuation of nearly $100,000,000, and furnishing fully 35 per cent of the enrolled pupils of the publie schools, is prectically denied the privileges of a higher | education, by reason of the location of the varjous high schools of this City, the nearest and most convenient for girls being located on Geary and Scott streets, fully three miles distant from the corner of Twenty-sixth and Vglenciu street, the central point of the dis- trict. The time consumed in travel, the consequent fatigue, to say nothing of the expense in car- | fare, would seem to appeal to every fair. minded citizen of the absolute necessity of a high school for this section of the City. Unless our children are afforded a reasonable opportunity to continue their education in the higher departments many of them, by reason of the existing hard times, must be debarred the privileges extended to pupiis residing in more favored locations. Whereas, The Mission High School Club and the Mission Improvement Union are uniting | in an appeal to the Honorable Board of Super- visors for an_appropriation sufficiently large to build and fully equip a high school for the Mission; therefore, be it Resolved, That we, the San Francisco Asso- ciated Improvement Clubs, pledge them our undivided support, and with them join in ask- ing that their request be granted. ALAMEDA CITY A WIRNER, Judge Frick Dissolves the In- junction Suit This After- noon. The Woman's Death Still Shrouded In Mystery and Unidenti- fied. ALAMEDA, CaL., May 20.—This morn- ing the last official act of Judge Frick bachelor was to dissolve the notorious in- junction suit against the city, 8o allowing it to complete its electric-light works. A carload of machinery, includine the dy- namo, exciter and other electrical appa- ratus, arrived last night from Pittsfield, Mass. It will be unloaded at once and set in position by the contractors, John Mar- tin & Co. of San Francisco. The City Morgue's Dead. ALAMEDA, Carn., May 20.—The mys- tery deepens surrounding the unfortunate woman who met her death some time near midnight last Sunday and whose body was discovered on the beach on Monday water-sogged. J. W, Johns, on, the skipper of the Ann Eliza, accompanied by his wife and step- daughter, a bricht voung lady of eighteen summers, viewed the body this evening. It was unknown to any of them. No action has yet been taken to subpena any of the Columbus’ crew for the ingquest to-morrow and the question arises was there a scow in ahead of the Ann Eliza aud Columbus that left before the Ann Eliza got in. The body of the man Iying at the morgue was identified late iast night by his sister- in-law as Patrick Cahill. Mrs. Edward Oahill lives at 3216 San Pablo avenue, Oak- land. She says he was eccentric and subject to apoplectic seizures. He had formerly dabbled in stocks and lost his all. Of late years he had acted as a hotel waiter and porter. An inquest will be held to-mor- TOW. Education Board. ALAMEDA, CarL., May 20.—Only three members were in attendance at the Edu- cation Board’s meeting last night. The su- perintendent reported that the net pro- ceeds from the late entertainment in Ar- mory Hall given by the High School were $209°25. Dr. Scott, the vrincipal, was au- thorized to expend the same in the pur- chase of suitable books for the school library. Attention wasalso drawn to the fact that Castoria. w . Grady by | unanimons vote: | that love of country, patriotism and all that | er cent of the children of school age do rgg)tnntend the public schools. Suveri%tnn. dent Sullivan said that the education act of 1874, page 351, made attendance atschool berween the ages of 8 and 14 compulsory for two-thirds of each school year, and entailed fines for non-compliance. At the request of the Women's Relief Society it was decided to grant a half holi- day on the afternoon of Friday, May 2. County Superintendent Garlick reporteq he had set aside §6601 80 for the Alamecdq school department. The Democrats Bestir Themselves, LAMEDA, CAL., May 20.—The Demo. cuAts have announced that the roll will he open from to-day till June 1 at 1319 P street, and that a_primary will be held at Tucker’s Hall on Friday, June 5. —————————— CRUSHED BY THE CARS. A Chila of Misfortune Killed by o Freight Train. OAKLAND, CAL., May 20.—Frank Coak- 15 years of age, was run over by ;e{;e?g{:ltticar “this afternoon and died to- night at the Receiving Hospital. The boy was crossing the foot o{ Chest- nut street and had waited for the San Joso local to pass. After it had gone b.\f Coak- ley ran around the rear of the train and was struck By a single car that had t‘;eb-n shunted off by a yard engine. Coakley did not see it till too late to stop, and was caught by the wheels and dragged a long distance. He was fearfully crushed and ained consciousness. ne(f«f;lflecz\ is a child of misfortune. When he was 11 years of age he was cruelly treated, and was cared for by Agent Theo- bald of the Humane Society. Prosecution followed, and since ther the boy has had good treatmen NEW TO-DAY. WILL YOU BE STRONG WHEN YOU ARE OLD? As you would protect your house against the wearing of the storm so that it will be pre- {served and suitable. to shelter {you when you grow old, so you ought to guard your physical {body against the inroads of disease, so that it will be healthy and well preserved when you are an old man. When you are young and the forces of nature active you can often smother these light pains and weaknesses that trouble you, but in doing so you have to call up your reserve vitality. That is a nail in your coffin, for it wastes your reserve force, which should be saved till you grow old. It is this reserve force which keeps up the health in old men—when they are | healthy. Every man wastes this force more or less. Sometimes he wastes all of it, and instead of finding his weakness when he is old it comes on him while he is still a young man. His life from that time is miserable—devoid of the power of manhood, ruined nerve power, and finally lost memory and mental imbecility—he be- comes a wreck. This is a pitiable state of human waste. Thousands of young men have sown the seeds for it by excesses and other causes, but it can all be cured if good judgment is used in time. As the power lost is of the nerves—nerve force—it can be replaced by Electricity, the life of the nerves. “I could dance with joy when I consider that I have been saved from the necessity of liv- ing the rest of my life in that miserable state,” says J. A.J. Morse, Los Gatos, Cal., after using Dr. Sanden’s Electric Belt one month. Have you not noticed how many people speak well of Dr. Sanden’s Electric Belt? «I have heard a great many people recommend your Belt,” says a recent letter. It is the modern cure. It is the only cure for weak men, for medicine has long ago .proven its worthlessness. Dr. Sanden’s Belt gives new life, drugs sim- ply benumb the crying nerves. If you want life get Dr. San- den’s Belt at once. Tt will not fail you. The little book, “Three Classes of Men,” is worth $100 to any weak man. Tt will be sent free by mail, sealed closely, upon application. SANDEN ELECTRIC CO., 630 Market Street, San Francisco, Opposite Palace Hotel. “Office hours; 8 A & t0 8:50 P. M.: Sundays, 10 to 1. OFFICES AT: LOS ANGELES, CAL.I PORTLAND, OR., 204 South Broadway. | 253 Washington stroet.