The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 27, 1901, Page 1

The VOLUME LXXXIX-—NO. 178. DETECTIVES SEEK 1 SAN FRANCISCO, MONDAY, MAY 27, N VAIN FOR A CLEW TO IDENTITY 1901. PRICE FIVE CENTS. OF THE FIEND WHO MURDERED YOUNG ROBERT C. HISLOP, AND THE MO Suspect Held by Police, but No Evi- dence Is Discovered That Explains Circumstances of Dastardly Deed | MYSTERY BAFFLES DETECTIVES. i HE murder of young Hislop was one of the most fiendish { | pieces of butchery ever brought to the attention of this de- partment. The sight of the crime, eclipsed anything I have helplessness is taken into consideration. | | sassin. | require to do so terrible a deed. Still, we will not release him un- | il we are satisfied that he is absolutely guiltless. committed by some one with much has been established. Fear that was executed by a fiend. If burglary, which I think he aid, he was clumsy at his business. | But he may have come for some the mystery. the victim whose lips are forever silenced, and his slayer.”— Opinion of Captain John Seymour, Chief of Detectives. “I cannot state what are the chances of capturing the us- The suspect we now have is lacking in the nerve it would whom the lad was acquainted. That W hatever transpired that night was known only to | N dead lad, shortly after the ever scen, when his youth and The crime was of exposure prompted the deed the murderer came to commit other purpose, and therein lies 3 ()BT THE | FINGER MARKS O STAIRWAY WALL, * WHERE HAYC WA S FOUND DIAGRAM JHROWJS RODTE TAKEN BY MURDERER FROM ROBERTS ROOM. ACROJW THE EMPTY LOT OFPOJITE EY HATCFET TOUNT IN VACANT LOT OPPOVITE THE HISLCP RESIDINCE - SR\ SCENES AND FEATURES OF MYSTERIOUS CRIME AND SUSPECT WHO IS HELD IN CUSTODY. J SRR g T . murder in most atrocious - / . - form was done Saturday night ] and the best detective skill of R R R R e wen v | MURDER RECALLS SIMIUAR MYSTERIES. work constantly since the crime | - covered wi ut ob - Loa m:;’flf"‘w‘l_‘;ag::;;“:,",;.“,i’f’,:f, i HE brutal killing of young Hislop by some unknown/flend racalls the mysterious murders of 5 "w' ,1;\';,,,”,',-; identity or the motive | Eugene Ware and Miss Harrington in this city sev years ago. In both these cases the police prompted the horrible deed. | were unable to get even the faintest clew to the asfissins. Some fiend incarnate stole ‘fr”""‘:i;—""‘;" | ‘Ware was a clerk in the St. Nicholas pharmacy/on Market street. One morning _he was old Robert nmnrrhas “: '::‘: “:‘, and the found murdered, having been stabbed no less than ffventy times. All the available police talent nother's kiss fresh u s - I,m'l t } f zbo,,lpa},,m tucked in by was employed on the case, but not the slightest clew was pund which would tend to unravel the mys- her lovi nds. Blows were aimed at tery. The detectives who worked on the case were always iiflined to believe that the flendish crime er Joving han ! ‘was s head with desperate nreng!‘h.b 1and :1:: committed by a morphine fiend, vhose cravings for the dflg made Lim desperate. content merely to ”“t'”“‘ a:;::;eu 1[ s Miss Harrington was foully murdered by some fiend while she was asleep in her flat on ; h”f - .\;u;-nna; k';"f;’ g e Ellis street. After killing her the murderer set fire to tif house in the hope of destroying the evidence score of wounds had been inflictéd. This of his dastardly crime. Ex-Chief of Police Lees, who wasfhen in charge of the detective department, as the boy lay with his face away from learning that ex-Senator Buck had been a friend of the dered woman, sent a detective to bring him to his coward ssaflant. s his office. Buck lived in Oakland, and when told the misfon of the detective, he jumped into a cart So much on the !:Tffl":i ‘:" Bx':z and started to drive to the train. On the way he was thrfvn out, breaking his neck. _rf'm' r‘(’_“v:v‘,“'\“_;:“““'“‘_L"::m:deihe -t In many respects the killing of Miss Harrington rdembles the mysterious murder of young Hislop, ”t_“:’ e The was that robbed the except that the house in which the latter met his deatlfwas not set on fire. Like Hislop, the unfortu- harmiess boy of life? Who is the monster nate woman was alone when the unknown fiend enteredfthe house and murdered her. and what was his purpose? & No answer except merest theory has SRR 2t be g;r\ter to these questions. Robbery, From toe beginning of the search after boy's attack a bur; would have re- rooms, and many circumstances indicate t now seems-certain, did not prompt the deed. No valuables were taken from the house so far as can be ascertained, and gll the circumstances indicate that some other purpose spurred on the murderer to his unspeakable crime. clews it was pointed out that no burglar except the merest tyro would have killed the boy under such conditions. It would have sufficed to have choked him into in- sensibility and have left him bound and gagged, and being in no danger from the frained from murder, No outery or othuBholse was heard in the Hislop home by fie women living in the flat below until fle parents returned and discovered the cfme. : Lights were left firning in several the murderer’s famillarity with the prem- ises and knowledge taat he was tempora- rily safe from molestation. Herman Lutchard, a Norweglan butcher who formerly roomed at the Hislop home, is held at the City Prison as a suspect, THE RESIDENCE 104 % KRAIGHT T CROY'S JHOWY QCCUPIED BY ROBERT .- B — T — e lacking beyond some to connect him but evidence is pecullar circumstances with the crime. ‘Whether the deed was the work of an enemy of the parents, seeking revenge, of a burglar recognized by the boy and fearing arrest, of some insane wanderer or of a monster in human form is as much of a mystery as it was at the be- sinning of the detectives' search. WANTON BRUTALITY OF THE MURDERER Most Fiendish Deed Since the Slaying of the Two Girls, Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams. The most atrocious, crime to come to light in San Francisco since the bodiss of Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams were discovered in the belfry of a church reeks with mystery vet unsolved. Robert C. Hislop Jr., the 13-year-old son of a mer- chant, was murdered in his bed, in a man- ner brutal beyond description. His death was the work of a fiend whose passion was not satiated when his boyish victim lay insensible and gasping from the heavy blows of a hatchet, but who mercilessly wielded a knife, inflicting wounds that horribly disfigured the young face after the fatal blows had been struck. There have been crimes of this kind committed in the past, but fortunately they have been few. The police have found them in the dingy basements of Mongolian quarters where highbinders, devoid of sensibility, do dark deeds to col- lect a miserly pittance of blood money, but seldom are found heartless wretches equal to the crime of taking a human life in the flendish fashion that leads hor- rible details to the murder of Saturday night. TIVE FOR THE CRIME IS EQUALLY UNFATHOMED 7€ RoBERT C . HI/LOP THE MURDERED BO TR FHRTC. TAKEN EVE s + VEAR L = oo BY towZew, 4 That Lead to No - Captain Seymour’s Men Work on Clews Important Develop- ments and Leave Them in the Dark APTAIN SEYMOUR had Detec- tives Edward Gibson, Wren, Dinan, Reynolds and Riordan running down various clews last night, but at midnight they were as far away from a solution of the mystery of the murderer and bis motive as they were when they started. ‘It Is a hard case, remarked the head of the detective department, ““but I have hopes that we will ultimately fasten the crime on the right man. Lutchard tells a straight story, but he is so densely Ig- norant it is difficult for him to explain away the circumstances that point to him as the murderer. Thus far I have been unable to find any evidence which would establish beyond the possibility of a doubt that he committed the foul crime. He gives a good account of himself on the night of the murder, even to detailing his movements between the hours of 7 and 10 o'clock, between which the awful crime was committed. I intend to hold him until I am thoroughly satisfled that he had nothing to do with the murder.” Several of the detectives who are work- ing on the case are thoroughly convinced that Lutchard is innocent. “He seems to be a harmless fellow,” sald one of them, “and not a man who would comm#t such a foul crime. -He has accounted for his movements during the time that the murder was committed, and his statement is corroborated in many particulars by his companion, Smith.” " The suspect was closely questioned last night, but his answers did not differ ma- terfally from the ones he gave when he ‘was first examined except that he said he and Smith had visited a restaurant dur- ing the evenipg and had something to eat. When first questioned by Captain Sey- mour Lutchard clalmed that he and Smith had gone to a saloon and partaken of several drinks. “T made a mistake,” he explained when asked about the matter. I meant to say that we went to a restaurant instead of a saloon.” Captain Seymour placed little imper- tance in the contradiction and explains it by saying that Lutchard might have been confused when accused of being the slayer of the unfortunate boy. The detectives were working late last night on the theory that young Hislop may have been murdered by a Japanese who had turned burglar. It was first re- ported that the Hislops had recently en- gaged the services of a Japanese servant, but as he did not sult he was discharged. As it was reasonable to suppose that he might have committed the foul crime through revenge Captain Seymour sent one of his men to interview Mr. Hislop. The latter exploded the theory by declar- ing that he had never employed a Japan- ese as a servant or In any other capacity. Accompanied by Detective Harry Rey- nolds young Smith, who was with Lut- chard Saturday evening, traversed the route taken by them on the fatal night. He pointed out the places they had vis- ited, but was unable to fix the time with any degree of accuracy. He claims that after leaving the drug store they walked up Market street to their home. He says they reached their lodgings between 9 and 10 o’clock. Satisfled that the young man was telling the truth, Captain Seymour allowed him to go. @ ieieivivieiniviiieiivslsiiols el ek @ ‘While the prostrated parents mourn for their dead the detectives under Captain Seymour are trying to unravel the mys- tery of the crime. "Thus far only theo- ries have been advanced and new mys- terles present themselves at every turn of the investigation. A suspect has been arrested, but doutt as to his gullt Is entertained. There is a faint color of evi- dence to warrant his detentlon, but noth- ing’ tangible or strcng has been dis- covered. A motive Las yet to be found. Just why a weak.boy should have been so foully murdered has not been explained and the detectives arc in the dark. Rob- bery seemed at first the only plausible explanation, yet in the face of other cir- cumstances doubt amounting almost to certainty is cast upon that line of reason- ing Discovery of the Crime. Young Hislop resided with his parents and brother at 104% Haight street. His father, Robert C. Hislop, conducts a fur- niture store at 341 Ilayes street. The boy attended the John Swett Grammar School and his application to study placed him in the foremost rank in his class. He was popular and as far as is known hai no enemies. It was the habit of Mrs. Hislop to walk to her husband’s store each evening and accompany him home. Robert usually went with her. On Saturday night after the dinner hour she prepared herself for the trip, but the boy did not want to 8o, He first said he wanted to study and then that he was tired, having spent much of the day down town. About 8 o’clock the boy was in bed and his mother, after tucking the covers about him, kissed him good night and left the house. Befors going she turned out the lights in every room except the one occupied by the boy and told him she would return soon. ‘When Hislop closed his store he took a short walk with his wife. As the couple approached the house Mrs. Hislop noticed that there was light in the front parlor, and this alarmed hef. She expressed her fears to her husband. The latter opened ths front door hur- rledly with his latch key and in a mo- ment had gained the head of the stair- way. He glanced in the direction of the room occupled by ihe boy. The door was ajar and the light burned brightly. He Continued on Second Page ~