The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 12, 1902, Page 1

- T e e e e R PRICE FIVE CENTS. '"HE work of establishing the identity of the foul fiend who strangled little Nora Fuller to death in the house at 2211 Sutter street is still baffling the police. fingers cruelly shut off the life of his girlish victim masqueraded under so many names it will be almost impossible to trace him. Attorney Hugh Gran, at his own request, vesterday to the people who had dealings with the strangler while he was plotting his hellish crime, and they all agreed without hesitation that the attorney was not the man. The strangler whose brutal l was shown WHOSE ~4 FINGERS CLOSED IN A DEATH CLUTCH ON THROAT OF NORA FULLER THE SURY 3N FRORT S¥ THE SOTTER STIECUGE Coroner Impanels Jury to Investigate Cause|Mystery Still Shrduds fh_e Defails of th.e of Elegnor Fuller's Death. | & Frank Triest, Triest & Co., I Achille Roos, Roos Bros., Louis Roesch, Roesch & Co., some street. » Edwin Schlueter, Schluete~ & Volberg, 215 Sutter street. w liam J. O’Leary, cashier treet. CORONER’S JURY IN THE FULLER MURDER CASE. | William Ring, manager Cock’s Spring Mineral Water Com- | , residence Nineteenth and Castro streets. Kearny and Post streets. | olens and trimmings, Market and Second streets. iel M, Brereton, sub-manager 0’Connor, Moffatt & Co., 121 B. Davitt, Daily & Davitt, New England Home Bakery, erdinand Reis, caghier Pacific States Loan Society, 410 Pine i ats and.caps, 116 Sansome street. printers and lithographers, 325 | Stein, Simon & Co., wholesale ge of young ) the ez the sly murdered street, ter ing. Cor- jury and official | room and murdered number of questions the girl’s throat r y Dr. Leland. The)" were then escorted to the police property | mbers of that of the the m rk d were enlighte toward holding 3 clerk’s office, where they examined the bed, mattress and clothing taken from the house of mystery. Later the jury, accom- pa by members of the press and De- tective Hamill, went to 2211 Sutter street and made a minute examination of the The first thing the jurors no- ticed as they ascended the narrow stairs was that some one had removed the number of the house. Once inside the dwelling, they moved ffom room to room in the hope of finding a tangible clew. C;figiuled on Page Three. Horrifying Crime. ACH day that passes contributes ad- ditional mystery to the movements of the fiend who strangled Nora Fuller. All sorts of theories are be- ing advanced, but nearly every prob- able explanation of the motive and the details of how the crime was com- mitted are shattered by some circum- stance which.readily disproves them. The police are practically at sea. In the history of crime in this city the de- tectives have never had to deal with a fmore perplexing murder. The famous Durrant case was a matter of easy solu- tion when compared with the mystery surrounding the strangling of Nora Ful- ler. In the Durrant case the identity of the murderer was known within a few hours after the finding of the dead bodies of his victims, and all that remained for | the police to do was to unearth the evi- dence that would fasten the crime upon him. The inquest over the body of the mur- dered girl was commenced yesterday. The identity of John Bennett, alias C. B. Hawkins, alias Scott, is still a mystery, upon which yesterday's threw no light. Grant Is Under Fire. The character and habits of Attorney Hugh Grant, who knew Nora Fuller in her lifetime and who bought her a dress shortly before her disappearance, are be- ing thoroughly threshed out by a morning paper, but the fact remains that Hugh Grant is not the man who met Nora Ful- ler'at the Popular restaurant the even- developments ing she was lured from her home, nor is | he the man who rented the Sutter street { house where the murder was committed. }nmm is not the rather good-looking, well dressed, wary individual with a cast in his eye who bought the scant articles of furniture at- Cavanaugh's and at the Standard Furniture Company, nor is he the man who was at the Sutter street house when the expressman delivered the bedding. At his own request Attorney Grant was taken around yesterday to the different tradesmen who had dealings with the supposed murderer. Captain Seymour de- tafled Detective Tom Dillon to accom- pany Grant. Do Not Recognize Him. Grant was first taken to the Popular restaurant, where he was keenly eyed by the proprietor, F. W. Krone. Krone £aid he was not the man whom he knew as John Bennett. At Cavanaugh's and the Standard Fur- niture Company’s store, where Bennett bought the bedding and the bedstead, Grant was not recognized as the man to whom the dealers sold the furniture. In | fact everybody who had any dealings with the murderer in making his prelim- | inary plans to kill the young girl stated | that Grant was not the man they did | business with, nor did he resemble him in any particular. So far as the police have progressed in the ferreting out of the identity of the Continued on Page T'wo. 'Mrs. Fuller Visits the Morgue and Fully Recognizes Remain | i DETECTIVE HAMELL SHOWING THRE JURY TRROUS % | SUTTES STREE | ! “ ZZ | { CORONER’S JURY BEGINS ITS INQUIRY INTO THE FULLER MVYSTERY. 1 ¥ ¢ — | S of Her Murdered Daughter. T is my daughter! is my little Nora!” Mrs. Fuller, the mother of the mur- dered girl, thus exclaimed when brought face to face with the remains of her daughter yesterday after- noon in the autopsy-room of the Morgue. It was dark and rainy without, and the subdued grayish light that come | through the big skylight made the sur- roundirigs as grewsome as well could be. Stretched upon the autopsy table and covered with sheets the body of the mur- dered girl lay. All that was visible was her forehead and a tangled mass of light blonde hair. The features were entirely hidden, and everything was done to spare the mother pain. The ordeal was a trying one, but she nerved herself for a sight of the face of her daughter, who left her so gayly one evening a month ago. Mrs. Fuller, accompanied by a lady friend and a neighbor, R. E. Keyes, reached the Morgue about 4 o'clock. De- tectives Harry Reynolds and Coleman ac- companied them. They were met by Dep- uty Coroner McCormack and escorted to the upper part of the Morgue, where the body was. Mrs. Fuller maintained her composure, and after a few minutes’ rest was escorted Into the autopsy-room. As ‘the door opened she faltered on the threshold for a moment, but her com- panion gently but firmly led her in. “Is there any distinguishing mark,” asked the Deputy Coroner, “by which you could distinguish your daughter?” Mother’s Identification Marks. “There is a scar on one of the feet,” re- sponded Mrs. Fuller. “She hurt her foot one day and the wound left its mark. That is it, I think,” she said, as the feet i L It is my child! It were uncovered, and she pointed out the scar, “but it seemed to me to be higher up on the foot.” Attention was next turned to the vac- cination mark below the left knee, and Mrs. Fuller soon pointed it out. But the most painful ordeal was yet to come. “Does that look like your daughter's hair, Mrs. Fuller?’ asked the deputy, as he slightly: uncovered the forehead and side of the face. “That is her ear,” said Mrs. Fuller. “There is a scar on it. See? And that is her hair, too. Oh, it was so bright and golden when the sun shone on it!"” Then the placid brow and the eyes and the nose were exposed. Mrs. Fuller could stand it no longer. “It is my daughter! It is my child! my Nora!” The pent-up grief and anxiety were re- Heved by a coplous flow of tears, as Mrs. Fuller sank exhausted in a chair which had been provided for just such emer- gency. Detectives and reporters turned their heads away, and many an eye was moistened in silent sympathy with the mother’s grief. Led Away by Friends. “Leave me alone with my child, my daughter, my dear little Nora,” she cried. But Miss Tierney, the Morgue matron, It is and Mrs. Fuller's friends kindly led her | away from the body. In a few minutes her composure was restored and she paid a visit to Captain of Detectives Seymour., It was proposed to secure a statement from her, but Mrs. Fuller was in no con- dition to make one. However, she was taken to the office of the property clerk and there examined the clothing found in the room with the | body. Each plece was carefully examined and Mrs. Fuller formally identified it as that worn by her daughter at the time she left home. This examination and identification was merely perfunctory, as Mrs. Fuller had already recognized the clothing. As soon as possible Mrs. Fuller was placed In a carriage and driven home. to her Her statement to Captain Seymour will be made at a later date. e Dot Ay ATTORNEY GRANT CONFRONTS MANY Attorney Hugh C. Grant, at his own request, was taken by Detective Dilion yesterday to several places mentioned m connection with thé murder of Eleanor Fuller for purposes of identification first place visited was the Popular R taurant, on Geary street, where Bennett made the appointment to meet the mur- dered girl. Grant was confronted by Pro- prietor Krone and the young lady cashier, They declared that Grant did not resem- ble Bennett and that they had not seen him_there before. A visit was also made to the Standard Furniture Company, at 80 Mission street, where Grant was cons fronted by the men who sold the furniture to Bennett. B. T. Schell, the salesman, and Larsy Gillen, the driver, unhesitating- ly declared that they were unable to recognize him as the man to whom Schel! had sold the furniture or the one to whom Gillen had delivered it at the house at 2211 Sutter street. Grant expressed him- self as satisfled after passing through the two ordeals that he had been cleared of all ‘suspicion.