The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 20, 1902, Page 1

VOLUME XCII-NO, 81. SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1902 PRICE FIVE CENTS. POLICE HURRY HEAVILY IRONED MAN SUSPECTED OF CHICAGO MURDERS TO PRISON AND PLACE HIM BEYOND COMMUNICATION P CONFESSION BY HENDERSON MATERIALLY STRENGTHENS CASE AGAINST FRANK WOODS Prosecution Introduces Most Damaging Evidence in the Trial of the Man Who Is Accused of Shooting Police- man Eugene C. Robinson. — CRIMINAL WHO CONFESSED BE- i ING PRESENT AT KILLING OF POLICEMAN AND THUG ON TRIAL. HE chain of incriminating evi- dence which the District At- torney is endeavoring to weave around Frank Woods, alias St. Louls Frank, now on trial for fhe murder of Police Officer Eu- gene C. Robinson was materially ‘Btrengthened yesterday. Willlam Hender- #pon, known at the time of his arrest as Jack Wade, who is charged with being an ®ccessory to the crime, voluntarily took the witness stand in the afternoon to make his confession. When the court adjourned he had not reached the killing of the Brave officer, but he had told of the agree- ment which had been made between him- self, the defendant, Frank Woods, William Kauffman, alias “St. Louls Fat,” James Courtney, alias “Leadville Jimmy,” Wil- liam B. Kennedy, allas “Yellow” and “Kid” Goucher to rob the safe in the of- fice of the Cypress Lawn Cemetery, the story of which was published exclust in The Call soon after Robinson’s mu Ger. He will take the stand again this morning and complete his story. The confession, although by far the strongest evidence offered by the prosecu- tion, was not the only point seored by it. Police Officer Charles H. Taylor, who captured Henderson after the shooting of Robinson, positively identified Woods as one of the three men he had pursyed on that fatal morning. The prosecution also offered weighty evidence proving that the overcoat found in the vacant lot on Guer- rero street was the property of Woods. The witnesses for the people were all pos- itive in their statements, and the cross- examination| by the defense only tended to bring to light facts that made their testimony the stronger. At the close of the day, to use Woods' own expression, he % Wwas in a “bad box and the situation was “fierce.” HENDERSON . BEGINS MAKING CONFESSION Gets as Far as Return From Cemetery g Safe-Robbing Trip When Court Adjourns. In the afternoon, when Henderson was called to the stand, Judge Cook’s court- room was crowded. When the codefend- ant’s name was called by the prosecution every head In the room was turned to- ward the door in expectancy. Henderson's path to the witness chair lay directly past the seat occupied by Woodls, who sat | nervously biting his finger nalils and look- ing fixedly at the witness whose confes- slon, it is expected, will go a long way toward tightening the noose around Woods' neck or giving him a long term of imprisonment. - Henderson did not look at his former companion. While in the y | witness chair he told a complete story. He spoke in a low voice, but all his an- swers were definite. Assistant District Attorney Alford conducted the examina- tion. He was assisted by Porter Ashe. The District Attorney was present, but took no part in the questioning. Attorney Wheelan, who appears for Woods, tried to prevent the introduction of Henderson's . confession. - He argued that the prosecution should first prove that it was being made voluntarily, and not for a bribe or because of fear or co- ercion. Judge Cook overruled the objec- tion. Henderson first testified to his having lived with Woods and the other codefend- ants in a house at 203 and 206 Turk street. He sald that he was arrested by Officer Taylor on the morning of January 21 near the corner of Fourteenth street and Jullan = o avenue. The rest of his story was brought out by Alford’s questions: 24 “When did you first go to this house on Turk street?” asked Alford. ““About a month before I was arrested,” was the reply. “Who was living there at that time?" “William Kauffman, Allen Goucher and 2 man named O'Brien and myself. I had a room downstairs.” ““When did you meet the defendant in this case?" “I met him three weeks prior to my ar- rest, In a saloon on Mason street. There were other men there at the time, but I @id not know who they were.” “Are you acquainted with John Court- ney and Willlam B. Kennedy, a colored man?" ““Yes, I know them both. Kennedy has negro blood in his veins. I met them both in the rooms at 203 and 206 Turk street.” “Now I ask you, was there any agree- ment made between yourself and the other defendants to commit a crime on the night of January 207" “Yes. On the Saturday before that date we agreed fo go out to the Cypress Lawn Cemetery and rob the safe in the office.” ““Who besldes yourself entered into the agreement?” “There were Woods, Kennedy, cher, Kauffman and Courtney.” “How_were you to get the contents of the safe? Did you take along implements for the purpose of breaking into it?" ““We took along a brace and bit, caps, & fuse, dynamite and candles.” “Did you send any one out beforehand to inspect the premises?” * “Yes, sir. Woods and Courtney went out.” TAYLOR NARRATES THE STORY OF HIS BATTLE Pursues Robbers, Who Exchange Shots With Him, and Captures One of Them. “Will you please state what you did on the night of the 20th of January of this year?” “Three of us,” replied Woods, “Court- Gou- Continued on Page 5, Column — Prisoner Is Placed in Tanks. Barthelon Is Probably in Jail. He Is Slayer of Minnie Mitchell. Detectives Reynolds and Freel last night arrested a man who gave his name as Thomas Kelly, whom they are holding urder suspicion that he is Willlam Bar- tholin, the much-wanted Chicago mur- derer who killed his mother and a girl named Minnie Mitchell. The arrest caused a torrent of excite- ment in the detectives’ office, and all last night a flood of telegrams poured in from the East. The secrecy about the arrest gave rise to the suspicion that the pris- oner is the much-wanted man. He was brought in by the detectives in chains, and evidently is regarded as an impor- tant criminal. To them he admitted that he must have been wanted for beating a woman to death, but he said he knew nothing of the case. He admitted being from Chi- cago, but said he had left there some months ago. He claims he has been working on a sailing vessel since. He told the officers that he was ordered to take the captain's trunk ashore, and did so, and on landing was arrested. Captain Martin refused to say anything about the arrest last night. UNRAVELING OF THE CRIME. The Bartholin murder mystery, which has kept the police of many cities on the alert for the past ten days, has been'a most diffieult one to unravel. On Thursday evening; August 7, the po- lice of Chicago discovared i, of a woman lying in a vacant lot in one of the busiest portions of the city. The corpse was entirely destitite of clothing and no clew to its identity could at first be found. Later developments proved tiat the body was that of Miss Minnie Mitchell. In searching for the murderer the police ascertained that a young man named Willlam Bartholin was missng frcm his home and on the following Sat- urday evening they discovered-another dead body, which proved to be that of Bartholin’s mother, Mrs. Annie Bartholin. The second body was found buried be- neath the cellar floor of the house In WEich she had lived and in the left tem- ple was a jagged wound. The neck and head showed that the woman had been strangled or smothered. As soon as Mrs. Bartholin’s body was found the search for the son was re- doubled, as the police were in possession of evidence that he had slept in the house where the body was found three weeks after his mother had been murdered and six days after he was supposed to have killed the Mitchell girl. ' BARTHOLIN WAS IN DEBT. There seems to have beén no apparent motive for the killing of either of the women, except it be that Bartholin wag in debt and by getting his mother out of the way he would come into possession of considerable property. As for the mur- der of Miss Mitchell, it is thought that Bartholin suspected that she knew of his first crime and murdered her to prevent her informing on him. The search of the police of Chicago has been unremitting and subsequent devel- bpments substantiate their theory that Bartholin committed the crimes for gain. A few hours before Mrs. Bartholin was murdered she received $40, ang possibly more, as she was about to sell her house. Before her body was found the police discovered several articles of clothing which were saturated with blood \ and which must have belonged to some per- son other than Mrs. Bartholin. Other ev- idence pointed to the fact that Miss Mitchel was murdered in the same house and her body carried to the place where it was found. SEEN ENTERING THE HOUSE. Bartholin was seen to enter the house where he lived on the evening before the body of Miss Mitchell was found and it was learned that he and Miss Mitchell were together that night. Several wit- nesses were found that testified to hav- ing seen a laundry wagon drive up to the house of Bartholin on the evening of the finding of the body of Miss Mitchell, but none of them could identify the occupants of the vehicle. A number of suspects have been ar- rested in Chicago and two of them have been held by a magistrate pending further developments. Bartholin is known to have a violent temper and those best acqualnted with the family say that he and his mother often quarreled and for weeks would live in the same house without speaking. —_—— SARAVOFF IS ACCUSED OF THE KIDNAPING Notorious Ex-President of the Mace- donian Committee Alleged to Be Chief Agent. VIENNA, Aug. 19.—The correspondent of the Neueste Wiener Tageblatt, at Sofia, Bulgaria, describes in a dispatch the vio- lent wnfl!q{ which' ocourred’ during the L3 POSSES ARE CLOSING IN UPON McKINNEY Porterville Outlaw Is Seen Near Randsburg and Officers of Take Up the Trail. IR, Three Counties % AKERSFIELD, Aug. 19.— “Jim” McKinney, the Porter- ville outlaw, is hiding near Randsburg, and. his capture is regarded as only a question of time. Officers from Fres- 5o, Tulare and Kern counties are gather- ing near his supposed hiding place and it 1s belleved that McKinney will be driven from cover within forty-eight hours. News of the outlaw’s whereabouts was brought to Bakersfield to-day by a Randsburg man. He said McKinney was at Radamacher, a mining settlement twelve miles north of Randsburg. A brother of the murderer lives in that lo- cality. The country is ill adapted for concealment, for on one side is Mojave desert and on the other open, roling ranges of the foothills of the Sierra. There is no timber in the vicinity. How McKinney expects to escape capture there s beyond comprehension. He was seen and recognized at Radamacher last Saturday, and is in hiding somewhere near the camp. To-night posses from three counties are gathered in Randsburg and the country around Radamacher will be thoroughly searched to-morrow. ‘When McKinney escaped from Porter- ville in the latter part of July he took to the mountains and was seen in the vicinity of his crimes off and on for a couple of weeks. Then he dropped out L i e 2 S R SURRRNOAN o recent congress there of the Macedonlan woman.” Dr. Springer stated positively committee. Saravoff, the notorlous ex-president of the committee, was accused of misappro- priating $50,000 and of = being the ch‘ef agent in the kidnaping last year of Ellen M. Stone, the American missionary. He was also accused, according to the corre- spondent, of paying $10,00 to a friend named Deltscheff, who planned the kid- naping. DOUBT ABOUT THE BODY. Physician Believes the Dead Woman Was Not Minnie Mitchell. CHICAGO, Aug. 19.—Interest in the Bartholin-Mitchell murder mystery to-day centered about the inquest which may de- termine the cause of the death of Min- nie Mitchell. Three men already stand accused as principals or accessories of the crime—Oscar Thompson, former roomer of Mrs. Bartholn; John Clafty, stableman, who took care of the horse Thompson drove, and Edward Counselman, intimate friend of Willlam J. Bartholin, the sup- posed matricide. Two new witnesses ap- peared to-day with stories that Bartholin was seen in Chicago as late as August 15. Both men declared to the police that a man whom they believe to be Bartholin was waiting In a saloon that night for some one who was to bring him some money. Inspector Hunt belleves it was the missing man walting for Counselman. Four members of the Mitchell family testified at the inquest that they could not make a positive identification of the body found lying in the weeds on the prairie at Seventy-fourth street and be- lieved to be that of Minnie Mitchell Those four persons, the father, brother, sister and sister-in-law of the missing girl, declared that the only identification they could make was that part of the clothing found near the body belonging to Miss Mitchell. Following this, Coroner’s Physician Springer made a statement to the jury, in which he termed the body as that of -an ‘“unknown or unidentified | | ~+ 3 MURDEROUS DESPERADO WHO MAY SOON BE TAKEN BY POSSES. L 5 = of sight. The first authentic information of his whereabouts, was received last Friday, when word came from Glenville, a little settlement in ‘the northeastern part of this county and about forty miles from this city. A man named Dunlap kept the fugitive at his place over night; at least McKinney went to sleep there, but in the morning when Dunlap went to call him he had gone. Nothing fur- ther was heard of his wanderings untfl the news reached here to-day from Randsburg. that he did not believe the body to be that of Miss Mitchell because of the ad- vanced state of decomposition. When the body was found Miss Mitchell had been missing but eight days and Dr. Springer declared that it would be imposible for her body to have decomposed as much as the one discovered on the prairfe. Inspector Hunt produced a witness who positively identified Oscar Thompson, who is under arrest for complicity in the crime, as one of two men on a strest- car near the place where the body was found, and a photograph of Willlam Bar- tholin as that of the second of the pair. Thompson, Clafty and Counselman, all of whom have been held to the Grand Jury, were present at the inquest, but their at- torneys refused to allow them to testify. The inquest was adjourned until to-mor- row morning. MILLS NEAR PITTSBURG FEAR A FUEL FAMINE Scarcity of Engines to Move Cars May Render Thousands of Men Idle. A PITTSBURG, Aug. 19.—The Post to- morrow will publish a story te the ef- fect that a fuel famine is threalened for the mills in this district and that 50,000 men may be thrown into enforced idleness through the lack of coal and coke. The trouble comes from a scarcity of engines to move loaded cars. It s reported that on the sidings of the Baltimore & Ohio, leading Into Pittsburg from the coal and coke regions, there are nearly 5000 loaded cars. Many of these are sald to have been ready for shipment for a week or more. e Fire Destroys the Town. LONDON, Aug. 19.—From Singapore, Straits Settlement, a correspofident of the Daily Express cables that the town of Pentinanak, neak the west coast of Dutch |In joint action, — POWERS OPPOSE CASTRO Germany, France and England Object to Blockade. Rebels of Venezuela Capture Seaport of Cumana. Federal Troops Give Up Without Fir=- ing a Shot. Special Dispatch to The Call. WILLEMSTAD, Island of Aug. 19.—Advices that Germany, C Curacao, ave been received here at Britain and France, protested this morning agalnst the blockade of Venezuelan ports. The Venezuelan Government will make reply to-morrow. News has just reached here that the seaport of Cumana, in the state of Ber- mudez, Venezuela, was occupied at noom to-day by the Venezuelan revolutionists without the firing of a single shot. The Government forces, commanded by General Velutini, and the local authori- ties of Cumana evacuated that town last night. They withdrew to the island of Margarita, about forty miles north of Cumana, on board the steamer Ossun. VISIT OF WARSHIPS. A report {s current here that a number of British warshivs under the command of an admiral will t La Guaira, Vene- zuela, in a few days. No reasons for the presence of the warships in question at La Guaira can be obtained and the report is causing considerable speculation. Cumana, which is about 200 miles east of La Guaira, was occupied for a short time by the Venezuelan revalutionists last May. Upon this occasion also the Gov- ernment forces left the town without of- fering resistance. Cumana is about fifty miles east of Barcelona, which was cap- tuzed by the revolutionists in the early part of tais month, The revolutionists now hold the custom ports of Cludad Boli~ var, La Guaira, Cano Colorado, Lavela de Coro, Carupano, Barcelona and Cumana. ABLE TO ENFORCE PROTEST. WASHINGTON, Aug. 19.—If joint action in protesting against the Venezuelan blockade has been taken by Great Britain, France and Germany, there are enough warships representing these powers in Venezuelan waters to enforce any de- mand. Germany has had two cruisers, the Falke and Gazelle in Venezuelan wa- ters for, two months. The Tage and Suchet, flying the French flag, are within a day’s run of La Gualra. The British gunboat Psyche is at the Bay Islands and there are other British warships in the British West Indies. No advices have been received by the State Department bearing on the reported action of Germany, France and Great Britain. Commander McLean of the United States cruiser Cincinnati has re- ported that the blockade was Ineffective. For this reason it has been ignored by this Government. It is supposed that President Castro hoped the de facto block- ade would be recognized and the revolu- tionists be prevented from getting any supplies intended for the Venezuelan Gove ernment. DIRECTS HIS CHARGES AT ALASKA GOVERNOR Seattle Man Accuses Brady at Trans- Mississippi Congress in St. Paul. 8T. PAUL, Aug. 19.—Serfous charges against Governor Brady of Alaska were made .in the Trans-Missigsippi Congress to-night by Donald Fletcher of Seattle, who asserted that the Governor was the exponent of a policy of oppression and repression and the active agent of the great commercial companies In delaying self-government while they “gobbled up the best of a magnificent country.” He took issue with Governor Brady's recommendations in his last report to Congress for the full extension of the land laws to Alaska, asserting that the recommendation had an ulterior purpose and was in the interest of the powerful element dominating the progress of the Territory. The application, he charged, would be interminably delayed by quib- bling and filibustering in Congress. “Then would follow years of waiting and waiting,” continued the speaker, “while his bosses would go on gobbling up the best of that magnificent country, worth many times the éntire national debt. And that is part of the game.” He also asserted that Governor Brady had been consistently an enemy of the Territorial Government for selfish aims. As soon as Fletcher’s address was com- pleted F. B. Thurber of New York pre- sented resolutions demanding an Investi- gation of the charges. He took exception to Fletcher's strictures upon Governor Brady, declaring that he knew the lat- ter well, and that he did not believe for a moment that his actions were dominat~ ed or dictated by any selfish motives. GALLOP INTO A RIVER ENDS LIVES OF TROOPERS LONDON, Aug. 19.—In a dispatch from St. Petersburg, the correspondent of the Dally Express says: “During the maneuvers near here a squadron of cavalry was ordered sudden- Iy to charge. It galloped into a river and fifty men are reported to have been Borneo, has/been almost completely de- | drowned. -Details of the affair are dif- stroyed by fire. Many lives were lost. ficult to obtain.”