The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 30, 1904, Page 3

YHE. S SATURDAY JANUARY 30, 1904 3 TALK INCAMP |MISS CATHERINE FLATLEY GIVES TESTIMONY AT POLICE COURT HEARING OF DEMOCRATS Party Leaders Wonder Whether MeNab Will Come Home With v Knife or an Olive Branch DELEGATES TO ST. LO{'IS‘ James V. Coleman, Orator and: Vill Not Go Instrueted National Convention Angel, to: the . stru will agree can de- oF 5 2 LS of the dele- i y egion, because e is inscribed on N ulat- e a’'s Demo- n in the ¢ Y ¢ is presum- t ¥ sten t sterious McNAB STILL LIVES. SEERING DELEGATES = spoken Sanford B t ) visit n of Madera, zgerald Gov- late Demo- out w. w. ADVERTISEMENTS. P : Pears’ soap is dried a whole year. That’s why it lasts so, It wears as thin as a walfer. Sold all over the world. it does an honest concern no harm to watch it. Moneyback Schilling’s Best at your grocer’s. |Young Lady Says Soeder { Claimed to Be Heir to Property. | Accused Man Told Her He, Was in Germany to Procure Estate. | re- | Coroner's jury yesterday rdict in the Blaise murder | was that Joseph Blaise came | lent death at the hands of a| of parties pnknown. The inquest and the Police Court| hearing were continued yesterday morning. The police, fearing that, Coroner Leland would carry out his! threat and use his power to compel the | witnesses in the case to appear before | him them some of the police force w ng on the murder case, told | the that they would exchange ges during the day, so that both | quest and the hearing nm:\'nJ among The police not live up to their | aRteEmicnt’ Deputy Coroner Mc- | Cormick difficulty in getting his ses together witne He made repeated trips to Judge Cabar court and compelled witnesses to go to the in-| quest. He complained that the police had hidden several of the Barbary Coast witnesses. When the police had | finished with Flatley, Deputy | subpenaed her. sed, and he mick whether she McCormick Judge C asked Deputy Me( could not be allowed to go said that Coroner Leland wanted the witness at once. The Judge said he thought that when a woman had been on the stand for two hours she should be shown considera- tion. While the Jud was thus en- deavoring to distract the deputy’s at- tentic Miss Flatiey slipped from the courtroom. Her escape was noted by McCormick Id the Judge that he some other time, and t his angered op ness. Miss Flat- at being called on to ces on the same day. AGAINST SOEDER WEAK. ice have a weak case against evidence thus far has | show motive for bad character of Soeder, itself not having yet been{ CASE and the ne baniss has been lenient | s of apparently ir- | int testimony, expecting that th presecution will connect it with per Miss Flat main for the y he stated that ju > f city to go to Ger- her he expected to come of $10.000, and that he rere to collect it.. He told ted considerable other ih a short time. New Germ When Soeder n this city on immediate h 1y telegraphed to Miss Flatley, to whom he claimed he was engaged, for $100. | Miss ley sent the money, and the | pe t this sum was used by procuring passage seder and the return sther-in-law. Soeder | and explained | rmany with his b t met Soeder in March of She was introduced to him father, who had worked with | a cook and had known him | s a young man took the stand with a She is a pretty brunette, with an imposing form. She seemed | not to dread her €mbarrassing position. She related without a blush the receipt | of jewelry from Soeder, and admitted | that he had also given her a suit, but | denied that she money from him. MISS FLATLEY'S STORY. Only once was her anger aroused. Attorney Salomon asked her if she had ever received any money or had ever | had ever taken any | stopped over night with Soeder. She | became indignant and eémphatically | denied that she had | Her tes timony was as follows: other day until | me some he went to dimmor n ing, a pearl astpin_and a waich and chain, Valued at Did Soeder ever tell you had considerabie He told me he and would get Did he h often? Yes, he =poke of it all the time. He spoke ‘as soon @s he returned from Alaska in nber and even mentioned what he was you hear from him rancisco for telegrapphed first after he Germany? from New York for The telegram sent by Soeder on his arrival in New York was offered in evidence by the prosecution. Attorney Salomon objected, but Judge Cabaniss overruled the objection 4nd stated that | should the prosecution fail to show the |relevancy of all such evidence he | would strike it out. The telegram follows: | NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 1903 atherine Flatley, 251 Marshall street: - $100 teiegraph. Am too late for Lost all money. i LEON SOEDER, West Shore Hotel, New York. | Miss Flatley said she sent Soeder the | money. The prosecution then began to introduce all of the letters written to | Miss Flatley by Soeder while he was on his way to and from Germany. At- torney Salomon-objected. Prosecuting Attorney Hanley stated that it was the purpose of the prosecu- | tion to prove by the letters that Soeder was without money and that with the $100 that he got from Miss Flatley he procured passage to Germany, ‘as he needed what money he had to pay pre- miums on insurance policies. Hanley said that the jewelry that Soeder claimed to have been robbed of in Rochester was pawned here in this city at Lichtenstein’s loan office by the de- fendant Soeder. LETTERS ARE INTRODUCED. Judge Cabaniss admitted the letters. They were in a loving tone. In one. dated October 24, Soeder said he was the | | | court | will have to wait till April now to get YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS AN IM ING IN JUDGE CABANISS' C( Jrh AR SLHTLEY SOENTUFY /NG LETTER PRI T TEN BY \Ztalv SoEDER SLETLEY ay 7= W7 75-5y IPORTA JURT YESTERDAY, INSUR FOR S8 THE THE LIFE OF BLAISE. AND AN INSURANCE ———— | » 1 | [ H — —~ B | PROS, UTION AT THE SOEDER HEAR- | MAN WHO TESTIFIED THAT | | XIOoUSs TO sorry that he had been compelled to telegraph for money. He told a long and detailed story having been | | robbed in Roches >_police claim | that Soeder never had any money, but | that he wanted Miss Flatley to believe | he was about to get a large sum of | money from an estate .n Germany. | They say that he was in love with the: woman, and thought that the securing of a large sum of money would act as | an inducement for her to marry him. He ‘intended to get insurance mone {on the death of his brother-in-l Blaise, say the polic Two other lettc one written in | Avicourt, Lorraine, on November | 3, were received by Miss Flatle was written | by Soeder and told of his visit at home. | The leiter was written on the station- | ery of a steamer of a French trans Atlantic liner. It was signed ‘Leon | Soeder, Paris French.” { The other letter was written on The letter of November 3 a the same paper, and Attorne Hanley | called attention to the similarity be-| tween the stationery used in the two | letters. The letter was written, the prgsecution claims, at the sa and on the same steamer stationery as the previous one. The ship emblern was torn from the stationery d in this letter. It is alleged that Soeder sent this letter to his home in Germany and +shad his mother remail it to Miss Flatley. This he did, it is alleged, that Miss Flatley might think he was still in Germany. The letter stated that Soeder would have to wait two months longer to get the money, owing tc difficulties, and bore the post- | mark of “Hub, Konton Pflasburg, Ger- many."” IMPLOR WOMAN TO WRITE. The theoty of the prosecution as to Soeder’s purpose in writing letters on the steamer when on his way home and sending them back to ‘Germany from New York, to be remailed, is| that he wished to keep from Miss Flat- ley, the fact of his arrival in this city | until he could secure sufficient money to bear out his legacy story. In every letter Soeder imploredl the woman to write him, but she scorned him completely. The last letters writ- ten by Soeder to the woman he pro- fessed to love were penned in this city after he arrived from Germany with Blaise, Soeder was in San Francisco for two weeks before he let Miss Flatley know of the fact. On December 26 he wrote and told her he was sick and would | like to see her. He asked that she visit his room on Jackson street. I w | e |im“‘ ! i i that,” the letter read, referring to the legacy. “I have a gentleman friend with me from Germany, who has been nursing me, and he wants to return to his home. I feel ashamed of this for not getting my money right away.” The rest of the epistle was composed | of loving terms and the writer im- plored the young lady to come to his room and see him. The prosecution alleges that Soeder wanted Miss Flatley to call at his room so that he might take from her the jewelry he had given her. She never went, however, and three days later Soeder wrote again. The letter bore an angry tone and Soeder said in it that the engagement between him- self and Miss Flatley was broken. A portion of the letter reads as follows: “Let the engagement be broken and I will never see you again, but you must return all presents to you from me. I will send for them, and if you do mot return them to me I will get them by force, and then you will see a little fun, or trouble, as some folks call it.” A | to whom the trunk belonge« me t i < 4 | Coroner’s Jury Can Find No Name for Murderer of Blaise | . the jury, find that | the said Joseph Blaise, aged about 28 years, | nativity cook, re Germany, capation esidence Jackson et, in the city and county of San Francisco, came to his death on Taylor street, be- tween Green and Vallejo, in said city and county of San J cisco, on the 11th day of Janu 1904, from shock and hem- orrhag® from an incised wound | of the neck at the hands of a | | party or pariies unknown to the ! jury. oc- sl Miss Flatley denied that ever been engaged to Soeder. she had She told of Soeder’s trunk thut had been left in her cellar by She stored it there him. said he had ast October. She ss I saw a grip in the trunk. There were two knives and a butcher saw truck. The grip contained five six | bottles, ‘which were filed with a whit One of the bottles bore the label of chloroform. | I do no: know what was In the other bottl Some time between Christmas and New Year I had occas cellgr and 1 dis- | ered that e trink had ken And rom it. I perted the matter to the police and told them d they advised | and demand that he write to Soeder the trunk. TELLS OF THE POISON. Miss Flatley identified the keys and | &rip as belonging to Soeder. The police | found the keys in the po ion of Soeder at the time of his arrest. Miss Flatley wrote a letter to Soeder, as she had been directed by the police, and re quested him to remove his trunk fron her cellar. She said that she had never seen Soeder since his return to this city | and had never spoken to him since his departure for Germany. The poison | in the other bottles referred to was the hydrocyanic acid found in the grip by the police. Miss Flatley denied that she had ever | taken a gentleman’s watch from Soeder | on a trip to Mount Tamalpais. The | prosecution alleges and will attempt to | prove that Soeder pawned his jewelry | and everything of value he had to get | enough money to pay the premiums on the insurancé policles that he took out on the life of Blaise. Assistant District Attorney Hanley says that Soeder was | broke at the time of his arrival in this city and had to pawn his watch and chain. If this be true, where did Soeder | gct the wad of greenbacks that were seen in his possession by the agents of the Pacific Mutual Life Insur- ance Company at the time of their visit to his room, when the " applications for policies were written? This is a question yet'to be | solved. The prosecution alleges that on | December 16, the day that Soeder paid for the policies, he pawned his jewelry to make the payment. He certainly did not get much money on his watch—at least not enough to pay for insurance policies. Miss Flatley said she never knew that Soeder had brought suit to regain 'the jewelry that he had given her. A recess was taken, and in the after- noon at the resumption of the hearing Miss Flatley was cross-examined by Attorney Salomon. She admitted that she had accepted a tailor-made suit | | gaged | was | had jilted him. He was aware that Miss | Flatley, among all the witnesses, had | Blaise's passage and always paid for | have produced at this hearing.” | - | from Soeder, although she was not en- | to him. When asked whether | Soeder had not made her a present of | some money and a hat, Miss Flatley blushed deeply and emphatically denied that she had been the recipient of any such presents. CORONER TAKES WITNESS, Attorney Salomon questioned her in | regard to her having roomed with Soe- der all night. ‘At this suggestion the young woman rose part way from her chair, trembled with rage and vigor- ously denied the question. While Salo- | mon wa§ examining Miss Flatley, | Soeder sat next him and dictated the! questions. It was plain that Soeder bent on smircMing the character | of the young woman, who he claimed | given the police the most damaging tes- | timony against him, and seemed bent | on having revenge. 4 | Miss Flatley was dismissed and the | | Coroner's deputy promptly took her in | charge and conveved room at the Morgue. Annie Meiers, one of the 30ungl women who met Soeder and Blaise on board the shiv coming from Germany, | testified that he told her he had paid her to the inquest | | hing the two got. Attorney Sal- | ymon objected. He was overruled, | Judge Cabaniss stating that had he | been sitting as trial -Judge there was a great mass of the testi- | mony produced by the prosecution | that he would have excluded. “If the | se ever goes to a jury,” said he,| “the prosecution will have trouble in | untangling the mass of evidence they Miss Meiers’ testimony did not dif- fer materially from that already pub- | lished. She said Soeder visited her uncle’s place at 4800 Mission street twice on the day the murdered body of Blaise was discovered, once at 8:30 in the morning and again at 6:30 in the evening. On his second visit he brought two evening papers and showed her and her uncle an account of the death of Blaise. He seemed to be sorry, she said, at least he express- ed his sorrow. Moritz Meienberg gave him a letter on the second visit. He did not seem disposed to read it and Miss Meiers asked him to read it, as she thought it might contain some news of Blaise. Soeder did not want to open it and finally tore the envel- ope open after examining it before the light. In it were three sealed and stamped letters, which Soeder shoved in his pocket. He then tore the outer envelope up and threw the scraps on the sidewalk, where they were after- | ward picked up by the police and placed together. Miss Meiers identi- fled the envelope as having been the one that Soeder received on that day. Hanley asked that the letter be en tered as evidence and Attorney Salo. mon objected. Judge Cabaniss upheld the objection. WRITES LETTER TO HIMSELF. Atlorney Hanley said they intended to show that the letter had been writ- ten by Soeder to himself, in an en- deavor to proye an alibi. It was post- ed on the night of the murder, he gaid, and received at the sub-postoffice Station D at 5 o’clock on the morning that the murder was discovered. Theodore ka has identified the en- velope as having been written in the hand of Soeder. Miss Meiers said she had seen the gray suit of Soeder worn by him while he was on the ship. The de- fense gained a point on the testimony of Miss Meiers. She said that on two | eccupation cook, | woman's | AND CORONER'S JURY RENDERS VERDICT IN THE BLAISE MURDER CASE Coroner’s Jury Attributes Blaise’s Death to Un- known Hand. e Much Difficulty Is Found in Obtaining the Witnesses. The long drawn out inquest into the death of Joseph Blaise came to a Close a few minutes before 6 o'clock last night, when the Coroner’s jury brought in a verdict to the effect that deceased had met a violent death at the hands of some party or parties unkmown to the jury. Coroner Leland approved the verdict, stating that in the face of the evidence he could hardly see how any other conclusion could be reached by the jurors. The verdict was as follows We, the jury find that the said Blaise, aged about 28 years, nativity residence in the city and county of to his death Tayior str n Francisco, between Green and Vallejo, in said city an ty of San | Francisco, on the 1ith day of Jan . 1904 from sh hemorrhage from an incised wound of the neck at th. hands of a party or parties unknown to the ju The testimony was largely a re- capitulation of what has already been told in the columns of the press and brought out in the preliminary Polic Court hearing. The only new witness was L. R. Parker, agent for the Hart- ford Life Insurance Company. He told about a visit he made with Osborne of the Pacific Life to Blaise at 827 Jackson street and of the conversation regarding the insurance on Blaise's life. Blaise on that occasion informed his visitors that his wife in Germany would pay the premiums. Soeder had represented to them that Blaise was a | chef in the culinary art, and when the asked | witness, spealing in German, him about it, Blaise laughed and said he was not a chef, but just a plain, or- dinary cook. The visitors left after Blaise had signed his name to the ap- plication for the policy and made an appointment for Blaise and Soeder to call at the witness’ office on Saturday morning, this conversation having taken place on the Friday preceding the murder. On Monday morning fol- lowing the witness found a card writ- ten in blue pencil signed by Blaise, but not in his handwriting, stating that the 1 writer would call on Monday morning | at 11 o'clock or at £ in the afternoon of the same day. The application was sent East on the murder, but y was never v or note is- de- posited on it £t the morning session J. W, Fowler, the insurance agent, testified as to first writing the policies in behalf of Blaise's wife and afterward substituting the name of Leon Soeder. Sergeant Christiansen told of the finding of the body afier the murder, sen on the morning and Mrs. Christian- oid of having heard screams at the time the murder is supposed to have occurred. At the afternoon session Miss Cather- ine Flatley was first cailed. She seem- ed to enjoy being on the :tand, and re- tale of her friendship with the breaking off of their rela- tions and the robbery of Soeder’s trunk in the cellar of her house. She describ- ed him as what the girls uld call “a good thing,” as he wezs always liberal. Dr. Bacigalupi, :utopsy surgeon to the Coroner, described the wounds on Blaise’s body, and said that the fatal wound must have been caused by a sharp instrument, while the others might have been inflicted with a stone, club or other bBlunt weapon. Theresa King, Soeder’s dance hall ac- quaintance, was too ill to appear, and her testimony was taken in her room. She fixed the dates of meeting Soeder and stated that the last time she had seen him was at about 10 o'clock the night of the murder. on occasions Blaise came out to her un- | cle's place near Ingleside at night time. He was at the house for mail the night before the murder and it | was dark before he left for home. The police have claimed that Blaise never left the room which he occu- pied with Soeder alone at night. All of the testimony given by Miss Meiers had to be obtained through an interpreter. Attorney Salomon speaks German fluently and several times he upbraided the interpreter for not giv- ing an exact translation of the testimony. The two en- gaged in several lengthy disputes over the meaning of German words and bad to be silenced by the court. Moritz Meienberg, Miss Meiers’ un- cle, testified that Soeder told at the time of his visit on the day the mur- der was discovered that Soeder and Blaise had eaten supper together and that when they left the restaurant Blaise did not. want to go home, but | went for a walk. Soeder said that Blaise had $90 on his person at the | time. Meienberg stated that Blaise always came to his place after supper. TESTIMONY IS IRRELEVANT. Charles S. Vose, the gripman who thought that he saw a man resembling Soeder at the corner of Taylor*and Union streets, and to which man he said that the excited German he took afterward to be Blaise appealed for direetion, was on the stand yesterday. Vose at the Coroner's inquest did not knofv whether the German was the murdered man. Yesterday he stated that he thought the picture of Blaise that was shown to him somewhat the excited German he saw n the night of the murder on a Union street-car. Vose could not identify Soe- der. the Aetna Life Insurance Company, re- lated his transactions with Soeder when the latter attempted to take a number of policies out on the life of Blaise in that company. Gregory said: It was on December 14 that Soeder came to my and asked me if any one had been sent to his house, on Jackson street, to see ibout the issuance of some insurance policies. He asked if any one' had called at the Grand Hotel to see about insurance on the life of his brother-in-law, Joseph Blaize. I told him that we had not sent any one on such an errand, and asked him If he was staying at the Grand Hotel. He replied that he was not, as when he arrived in the city he had been sick and had gone to a private residence on Jackson street, but had informed the New York ice of the company that he intended going there on his arrival in this city. 1 bad received a letter from the New. York G. H. L. Gregory, general agent for | | Union-street | resembled | | his mind to return to Germany. NDS DELIGAT IN BIG FIRES Incendiary at Los Angeles Is Fl Causing Great Anxiety to Residents and Authorities BURNS MUCH PROPERTY SN Applies Toreh to Buildings to l-fnjoy the Sight of Them Go- ing Up in Smoke and Flames St Special Dispatch to The Call. LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29.—A firebug has been at work in Los Angeles for nearly two weel and in that tim has caused six fire The average loss at each fire will approximate $30,000. The authorities believe the fires are the work of some one who has a mania for big fires apd sld"ls them buildings burn. The first of the fires was that which destroyed a portion of the plant of the Los Angeles Brewing Company and resulted in the death of a night watch- man. Then Schirm's cement wareho was burned: next the stables of Los Angeles Lighting Company, a two days later the large warehouse ¢ the Los Angeles Furniture Company was destroyed. The last serious fire was that which destruyed the plant of the Los Angeles Box and Hive Com- pany. together with five residences that was not the last attempt made by the firebug. Late Thursday night an attempt was made to burn the shops of the Pacific Electric Railway Com- pany, Huntington’s big plant. probably the largest of its kind the Fortunately the fire was discovered i time to save the buildings. Orders have been issued to the police to arrest all suspicious characters at fires late at night and to require them to explain their presence there. — OF SCHOOLHOUSE WORK OF INCENDIARY 3 to see the 1 but on coast BURNI THE Portland Police Receive Information That Woman Left Building Just Before Fire Was Discovered. PORTLAND, Or., Jan. 29.—The ory that the destruction of the street public school midnight night was the act of an incendiary given credence by the police and fire departments. The police were told to-day that shortly bef the flames broke out a tall woman attired in black s seen descending the steps of the shoolhcuse to the street. She appeared rather nervous, and turned several times while walking away from the building, as if looking for something. Her strange acti attracted att tion. The flames did not burst forth for several minutes after the woman had disappeared, and it was then too late to pursue h —_——————— MYSTERY SURROUNE DEATH OF JAMES HOY Napa Physician Who Made Autopsy on Body Refuses to Announce Result of His Investigation. NAPA, Jan. 29.—Dr. Z. H sey has completed an body of James Hoy, who was found dead near the depot at Yountville Wednesday night. He refuses to make known the result of the autopsy. but it'is considered significant that after a consultation with Coroner R. M. Kyse he telephoned to Sheriff Dunlap and pes- wutopsy on the District Attorney Benjamin, who im- mediately drove to Yountville and con- ducted an investigatic he officials refuse to discuss the cs Th - tion gives credence to a rumer th Hoy received fatal injuries during a scuffle at the White Ho saloon. Bl R S S T A Old Damage Suit Is Dismissed 1LOS A SLE Jan —The ¥ damage suit of W. C. Furrey, a furn ture dealer, against the citizens’ ¢ nown as the Los Angeles Com mittee of Fifteen, growing ou clirges of irregularity in the fur: ing of city school supplies, and wk had been pending in .1e court 1900, was decided favor fendar.ts to-day by Judge Oster e Sent to Folsom Penitentiary. BAI SFIELD, Jan. 28.—Fred Ler beck, who robbed John Davis, an a miner, at Caliente last week, was sen- tenced to fifteen years' imprisonme at Folsom by Judge Mahon to-¢ Joseph Daley, who pleaded guilty robbing a store at Moja ). 0 nit:ee, in was sen- tenced to four years' imprisonment the same institution —_—————— reduction wciséo Gas This week 25 per c on every heater in stock. San Fra and Electric Company. 415 Post street. + office telling me for a life insurance Blaise. made there me that he desired a p do not know i On that vis! on Jackson street and h not kmow what it w like to_get it. and h a letter when he I n application by Sc ¥ on the life of J same day. the l4th e 3 ter‘came from Soeder. He also asked wheth the policies had arrived. On the 23d of I cember I received another. The letter was as follows San Francisco, Lestock Gregory man to see me last night at 7:3 the policies come? I for them myself. Pl truly, LEON SOEDE The letter shows the anxiety der to get the policies on Bl before he should return or make up Greg- ory testified that on the day of S der’s first visit to his office in Decem- ber he wore a gray checked suit. Greg- ory identified the suit of Soeder's shown him as the one that he had seen Soeder wearing on that day. On December 15 Gregory receiyed an- other letter, as follows: SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15 ddress is Leon Soeder, 827 Jackson cfty, also Joseph Blaise. If we don't at $3000 policy for my brother-in-law I Will get him to take an accident policy from you for $5000 or $10,000. Yours truly. LEON SOEDER. Mrs. de Laurecuelle, the clerk at the Native Sons’ Cleaning Works, 430 Bush street, who received the gray suit of Soeder's to be cleaned on the morning after the murder, was the last person examined. She identified the suit and described the man that brought it as a dark complexioned individual, who had the appearance of a Mexican or a Spaniard. She had previously said that he had a mustache, but yesterday she professed not to remember this point. 190¢. —Dear Sir: