The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 29, 1898, Page 1

¥ The - W Lo VOLUME LXXKIV.— SAN FRANCISCO, MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1898 BELIEVES HE SAW THE A STRANGE MEETING AT THE FERRY| ~E-H-8 §-8-E-A-E-T-8 J. E. Fennessee Is a New Witness in the Dunning Case. Detective McVey Outlines| the Objsct of His Trip | to This City. The mévements of Mrs. Cordelia Bot- kin, accused of the horrifylng murder of Mrs. J. P. Dunning and Mrs. J. D. Dedne, are being traced In this city as were those of Theodore Durrant. An- other witness, and one of vital moment in-the case, has come forward and Is ready to stand the best of identifica- tion. This witness is J. E. Fennessee, who believes that on August 4 he saw Mrs. Cordelia Botkin mail a box that in size and general appearance resem- bled a box of candy. Fennessee Is pos itive in his assertions. He recites in- cidents that explain his ir‘orest in the matter, and in a plausible way explains why he took particular interest in the actions of a woman who was unknown to lim. He details an incident that n be of the utmost value in the struggle that Mrs. Botkin must make for her life, as he carries the chain of incriminating evidence from Stockton If Fennessee is not ~rossly In error he saw Mrs. Botkin deposit at the ferry postal station in this city a box such as was opened by the unfortunate women at Dover. Fennessee is a slightly built, | clean shaven, dark complexioned young man employed at the Philadelphia shoe store. He is nervous of manner, quick of speech and evidently weighted with a sense of the responsibility of appear- ing as the accuser of one so seriously | conditioned as Botkin. The young | man lives at 6 xth street, Oakland | and returns daily to his- home at 6| 9'clock in the evening. He nas seldom | dccasion to go into the postal station in the ferry depot, and that is why he re- members so -clearly the- incident of | August 4. About fifteen minutes before 6 o’clock | on that day, he eays, he went to the | postal station on some business con- | nected with the Manila mails. As he hastened into the station he met and almost jostled a woman who was on the point of depositing a package in the receptacle for parcels. Fennessee step- ped to one side and would have paid Do turther attention to the incident had | the woman not showed evident signs | of uneasiness and annoyance. She seemed to be disturbed that any one should have so interrupted her. Her actions at once attracted Fennes- see and excited his curiosity. He noted the woman and her dress and noticed | the box that had been dropped into the he declares, an- mail. The woman, swers the published descriptions of Mrs. Botkin. The box, he says, looked as If it might be a box of candy such as .dealers sell for 50 cents. ‘When the murders at Dover were so extensively exploited and Mrs. Botkin was placed under arrest Fennessee re- called the incident at the ferry postal station. He recognized in the picture of Mrs. Botkin that of the mysterious woman be had seen at the ferry. He compared dates and recalled the fact that he had seen the woman on the very day and at the very hour that the poisoned box of candy was mailed from the ferry postal station in this city. The postmark on the box completed the series of coincidences and Fennessee decided to'give his information and his opinions to the authorities. He called last night at police headquarters and made a detailed statement of what he knew. He offered to test the ac- curacy of what be believed to be true by trying to identify Mrs. Botkin. He was not permitted to do this, however, as the local police do not care to ‘attempt a verification of any evi- dence they possess until the Dover de- tective arrives and supplies the evi- dence which is 80 necessary to the pros- ecution of Mrs. Botkin. No one has been permitted yet to see Mrs. Botkin epr———— DEATH PACKAGE POSTED THE END | | | | [ ] . [ ] | F | T = | I—IIll’lllllllIIIIIIII—I——III~II-—IIII—.-.II~HI—‘IH*—I—; ANOTHER PROBABLE LINK FORGED IN THE CHAIN. J. E. Fennessee Relates How He Saw a Mysterious Woman Mail a Box at the Ferry on the Afternoon of August 4. Another important incident in the Dunning case, if Mrs. Botkin is identified as the principal, has come to light. John E. Fennessee, a young man well known in this city and Oakland, dictates the following details of a remarkable occurrence which may have an important SEIRENNESSEE cusness and the fact that she retraced her steps when I stepped in front of her seems rather strange. I have not seen Mrs. Botkin since she was arrested. Captain Bohen intimated to me that I would be called upon to see if I could identiry the woman under arrest, and informed me that he would send for me when he wanted me. I have thought over the incident of that day, and I am positive of the hour and the minute. In my statement to Captain Bohen I use the expression ‘“side-stepped the lady.” I mean by that that X stepped in front of her, thereby imped- ing her movements to the parcel drop. bearing on the fate of the woman now under arrest. My business hours are from 8 a. m. to 9 p. m. Every Thursday even- ing is my evening off. On that day I leave the store at about 5:35 p. m. On the first Thursday in August, which was August 4, I left the store at the usual time. I boarded a car at Third and Market at 5:35 and ar- rived at the ferry about eighteen minutes to 6. While looking for a friend who lives in Sausalito, I neared the Tiburon ferry entrance. On my return to the Oakland en- trance I stopped to inquire at the Ferry postoffice what date the next steamer sailed for Manila. I had friends in the First Cali- LASTING PEACE SOUGHT BY RUSSIA’S CZAR Nicholas Appeals to All European Powers to Join in a Con- ference. Believes the Time Is Ripe for a Reduction of the Armaments Now Crushing the Nations. ST. PETERSBURG, Aug. 28.—By order of Emperor Nich- olas, Count Muravieff, the Foreign Minister, on the 24th instant handed to the foreign diplomats at St. Petersburg a note declar- ing that the maintenance of peace and the reduction of the exces- sive armaments now crushing all nations is the ideal for which all Governments pught to strive. The Czar considers the present moment favorable for the inauguration of a movement looking to this end, and invites the powers to take part in an international conference as a means of thus insuring real and lasting peace and terminating the progres- sive increase of armament. LONDON, Aug. 28.—The Czar’s prop- tion as the armaments of each power fornia Regiment in Manila, and I wished to write to them. As I approached the letter drop I side-stepped a lady who was walk- ing towarl the parcel drop. She im- mediately turned and walked about a dozen steps to her left. On finish- ing my inquiry and resuming my course toward the Oakland ferry this lady quickly retraced her steps and deposited in the parcel drop a pack- age about the size of a four-bit box osition for an international conference | increase the less and less they fulfill for the purpose of securing real and| the object the governments have set lasting peace among the powers, and | before themselves. the termination of the progressive In-| “The economic crisis, due in great crease in armaments, as conveyed in a | part to the system of armaments I'out- note from Count Muraiff, the Russian | rance, and the continual danger which Foreign Minister, to the foreign diplo- | lies in this massing of war material, mats at St. Petersburg, is likely to vro- | are transforming the armed peace of duce a sensation throughout Europe, |our days into a crushing burden which and, coming from such a quarter and | the peoples have more and more dif- with such evident sincerity of purpose, | ficutly. in bearing. it is likely to have important effects. “It appears evident that if this state There is no doubt that with Russia | of things were to be prolonged it would taking the lead in such a step, Ger- | inevitably lead to the very cataclysm I have never been acquainted with her. of candy. I remember she was a well-formea woman of medium height. I also noticed that she was very mnervous in her actions. When I first saw the lady she nad the package under her left arm, and her right hand was on the package she was about to mail. She had on a wrap which came nearly to her elbow and partially hid the box. The wrapper on the package, as nearly as I can remember, was of me- dium light color. I saw her deposit that parcel at exactly fifteen min- utes to 6. I am positive of my assertion because Thursday is the only night of the week I have off, and is the only night I am down at the ferry at that hour. I cannot write out a positive description of the lady, but I am confident that I would recognize her if I saw her again. Through reading in the papers the details of the Dunning poisoning case, the incident was recalled to my mind, and then when I saw the date of August 4 as the d#y o- mailing the package from San Francisco I re- membered the nervousness of the woman and the recollection became forceful. Now that I recall the occurrence, the woman’s apparent nerv- -E--8-B50-0-EE-0-0EEEE-0H-E0E-N-8Eeuu-uNE-E-E-NE-E-E-u-E-E-E-E E-g-u-EN-PE-E-0-8 many, will be ready to follow. The text of the note follows: “The maintenance of general peace and the possible reduction of the ex- France and the other nations |it is desired to avert and the horrors whereof ' make every thinking being shudder in advance. “To put an énd to these incessant armaments and to' seek the means of B-RB-8-8 B-E-85-0-E-E-E-0-E-R-E-E-0-u-P-E-a and support their suspicions and beliefs | of expense will be shifted to the shoul-‘ wish the trial to take place at Dover. | by identification of the woman. Until this is done the authorities here will not express an opinion on the value of any of the testimony that has been offered. Fennessee's offering remains therefore in the condition that all oth- ers are: they must be verified before they are accepted as the truth. All of the testimony thus far sub- mitted is based upon the generally un- satisfactory element of the identifica- tion of the woman by people who do not claim to know her and have no very strong reason to recall incidents | that are vital to the case. If the de- tectives succeed in tracing the box of poisoned candy to the Stockton store the identification of the various wit- nesses will then become of grave im- portance. As the proof now stands Mrs. Botkin is supposed to have been seen at the Stockton store. The box of candy was mailed in this city and -an- other witness claims to have seen the accused woman at the ferry postoffice in this city. The attorneys for Mrs. Botkin will employ every legal artifice to prevent her being taken to Delaware. The lawyers do not relish a trial at Dover for many reasons. The Eastern au- thorities have displayed so vigorous an interest in the case that the accused Wwoman may expect nothing more than the severest justice. The evidence against her is gradually Increasing, and a trial at Dover will mean tremen- dous expense. The woman’'s attorneys have practically given up all hope of escaping some sort of a trial either in this State or in Delaware. If the prosecution can be forced to hold the trial in this State the burden ® @® land at Wadsworth at 1:20 to-night tion of Mrs. Cordelia Botkin, snugly mus. dence he had in his possession. of his trip across the continent. He the evidence I have would probably “I have what I believe to be very know nothing about the legal points ings. McVey expeécts to meet Detective shaped and will depend largely upon PONEOEOOEHINOEPOOVO A PP O VO OO OO O ® oJcYoYoRoY¥oYoXoXoXoFoXoJoXoFOXO O OROoROROROXOROROROJOROROYOJORO] McVEY TALKS OF HIS MISSION. The Delaware Detective Hopes to Strengthen the Case Against Mrs. Botkin. RENO, Aug. 28.—A Call correspondent boarded the westbound over- Delaware, who Is en route to San Francisco with papers for the extradi- It was late and Mr. McVey had retired for the night. Upon being routed out he flatly refused to exhibit the papers or evi- He had been warned by San Francisco offi- cers to beware of Teporters, and was cautious about talking of the object the objects of my coming to the Pacific Coast. My only hope 18 to stregthen the case against Mrs. Botkin by ad- ding, combining and comparing what evidence I have to and with what the San Franclsco officials have gathered.” to-morrow morning: His ®lans beyond that have not been definitely and found McVey. the detective from ensconced in the Pullman car Or- sald: ‘““The result of taiking about interfere with, If not defeat, one of important evidence In the case. I involved in the extradition procead- Gibson of San Francisco at Colfax Gibson’s advice. POPEOROEPPEPOEOOEOOE PPPPP PP OO OO O OO O oRoRooJOR RO OROR R COJOf O Of oY o JOXOJOF SR OF CROJ RO JOROXOXOJ OO 00000@0@@@@900‘9900@@@9@@@@@@0@@‘}O@ | ' | | PP OPPPPPPIVPV9009000806060 0 ders of the prosecution. It will cost a | If it is found that there'is no law un- great deal of money to bring witnesses | der which the woman may be extra- | across the continent and to maintain | dited the trial will be held ‘here. It here the machinery of prosecution that. the extradition law is construed liter- | may perhaps be better utilized in Dela- | ally it seems that Mrs. Botkin cannot ware. | be extradited. She has not fled from For these reasons extradition will be | Delaware and the law specifically de- bitterly contested. Most of the impor- | clares that she must have fled from the | tant evidence against the accused |State in order to be returned there for woman is at Dover. The defense rec-' trial. @ @ PPOOPOOOOPVO00 000090 PPPOPOOOPOS0® 9 O @90 secure an Indictment which will take T =TI | v i, B0 B8O —o-8-H-m-s-8 State, they sav she has outraged the Justice of the State and in that sense hes fled from it. There is little hope, however, that such 1 construction will be accepted. The question is not, how- ever, one of immediate moment, as Mrs. Botkin will be arrested every time she is released. This process must have an end and it can only be by trying the woman here. The Police Court proceedings will then be commenced or the State will the matter into the Superior Court at once. Mrs. Botkin is still reticent in §| & finds it necessary to resort to the fre- ® quent use of a stimulant, as the strain @ upon her nerves is evidently severe. @ She declines to speak of the merits of @ her case and is confining her thoughts @ at present to the technical phases of @ her defense. PREPARING THE JAIL fl e SR CZAR NICHOLAS of Russia, Who Now Favors Universal Peace. = ESN e E——— Ce—— The Dover Officials Getting Ready cessivearmaments which weigh upon all nations present themselves In existing conditions to the whole world as an ideal toward which the endeavors of all good governments should be di- FOR MRS. BOTKIN for the Trial of the Al- == = L leged Poisoner. WILMINGTON, Del., Aug. 28.—It is pro- posed to hold a speclal session of the Kent County Court in November to try the case against Mrs. Botkin if she can be brought here before that time. Officlals deny that she will be kept at a hotel. Preparation has been made for her at the Dover jail. Attorney General White will to-morrow send new requisition pa- ® pers made out in the name of ‘‘Cordelia’ POPPOPPPIPLPOPOCOOPOPOS TR rected. nanimous ideas of his Majesty, the Em- peror, my august master, won over to these views in the convic- tion that this lofty aim is in conformity with the most essentlal interests and legitimate views of all the powers; and the imperial Government thinks present moment would be very favor- The humanitarian and mag- have been the X e O @ @ ® WREEER KL= R IS 2 THE VICTIMS OF THE POISONER'S PLOT. 00600900000 PISPPPPP9PP00PO000000000600¢ ognizes this fact and will aet accor- dingly. The local authorities, under these conditions, have outlined their policy and will permit no delay to act as an interference. In the first place the District * Attorney and the police culty @ Instead of “Adelaide C. Botkin.” # also send affidavits containing the evi- dence of important Delaware witnesses. able to seeking the means. “International discussion is the most effectual means of insuring—to all peo- ple’s benefit—a real, durable peace, He will In an effort to overcome this diffi-o the District Attorney and theeo police will seek to construe the statuteo liberally and to carry the meaning that®. 3 the woman has fled from the Justice of¢ $ ¢ 666606609666 000 6 Delaware, While she was pever in the' above all putting an end to the progres- sive development of the present arma- ments. “In the course of the last twenty years the longing for general appease- ment has grown especially pronounced in the consciences of civilized nations; and the preservation of peace has been put forward as an object of interna- tional policy. It is in its name that great states have concluded among themselves powerful alliances. “It is better to guarantee peace that they have developed in proportions hitherto unprecedented their military forces and still continue to increase them, without shrinking from any sac- rifice. % “Nevertheless, all these efforts have not yet been able to bring about the beneficent result desired—pacification. “The financial charges following the upward march strike at the very root of public prosperity. The intellectual and physical strength of the nation’s labor and capital are mostly diverted from their natural application and are unproductively consumed. Hundreds of millions are devoted to acquiring terrible engines of destruction, which, though to-day regarded as the last work of science, are destined to-mor- row to lose all their value in conse- quence of some fresh discovery in the same field. National culture, econ- omic progress and the production of wealth are either paralyzed or checked Ain development. ;lorwm 66006000006 06006000004 MRS.J.D-DEANE. POV O0PVOVPPV00 00V VIV POOVOCOVPOOOSS warding off the calamities which are threatening the whole world—such is the supreme duty to-day imposed upon all states. “Filled with this idea, his Majesty has been pleased to command me to propose to all the governments whose representatives are accredited to the imperial court, the assembling of a conference which shall occupy itself with this grave problem. “This conference will be, by the help of God, the happy presage for the cen- tury which is about to open. It would converge into one powerful focus the efforts of all states sincerely seeking to make the great conception of uni- versal peace triumph over the elements of trouble and discord, and it would at the same’time cement their agreement by a corporate concentration of the principles whereon rest the security of states and the welfare of peoples.” SUPPORT OF GERMANY MAY HAVE BEEN PLEDGED Czar’s Proposal Believed to Have Been Submitted to the Kaiser in Advance. LONDON, Aug. 28.—The Times’ cor- respondent in St. Petersburg says: “The proposal for a conference, which was made by the Czar on Wednesday through the medium of foreign Embas- sadors at St. Petersburg, has been kept profoundly secret until to-day at the express wish: of Count Muravieff, the Foreign Minister, so that it might be first promulgated on the day of the unveiling of the monument in the Kremlin to Alexander IL “There is reason to believe that it formed the ' object of communication between the courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin some time previously. and in all probability the support of Ger- many, at least, was secured in ad- vance. “Russia, with her chronic famines and her large enterprises in the far Bast to provide for out of a budget ‘which is being drawn upon more and » in propor~ | more each year for materials of war in