Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-07
WAS IT MURDER i?
A MAN FOUND DYING in AN
ALLEY.
Have Been Arrested
on Suspicion.


About half-past o'clock last night the
attention of j. T. Barron was called to
man lying in the alley between L and NJ,
Second and Third streets, in dying condi-
ton. Officers Franks and Ash were sum-
moned and the man was conveyed imme-
diately to the station house, where every
effort was made by Jailer Leavy to revive
him. Dr. Baldwin was called, and at once
announced that the man had taken opium
or morphine. Emetics were administered,
but the unfortunate stranger died at $50
without having shown any signs of life,
except occasional deep aspirations, accom-
panied by gurgling sound in the throat.
The man was about five feet eight or nine
inches in hight, of sandy complexion,
reddish hair, chin whiskers and mustache,
thickly mixed with gray, and apparently
over 60 years of age. He was dressed in
decent suit of clothes, wore nickle watch
and gold or plated chain, with compass
for 2 charm, and had in his pocket small
purse, 81 in money, and baggage check
$50. Pac Co, 37,116n-and a leaf torn
from small memorandum book, on which
Co, Col"
Neither Captain Karcher, who was at the
station house when the man was brought
in, nor any of the officers could identify the
man, and the case seemed shrouded in
mystery. The man had been found only
short distance from the notorious house
known as the " Mobile" ON the corner of
Second street and the alley, between L
and NJ streets, which was kept until lately
I. II. T.,
six months in the County Jail for larceny.
The house and its inmates have had bad
reputation for many years, and Captain
Karcher at once dispatched officers Franks
and Ash to the house with orders to see
who was there and what, if anything, was
known of the man. They soon returned
with Mrs. Kate Cooper, arriving a few
moments after the victim breathed his last
Mrs. Cooper said that she knew the man
well and that his name was Damon.
She could not tell what his first
name was. She said that she
had known him for long time at Clipper
Gap and that he had been with her at the
Mobile in the evening, but left about
o'clock, saying that he was going out to
nave run with the boys. He had been
with her about an hour and a half He
was intoxicated when he came there and
went out and bought bottle of whisky
and drank several times while at the house
When he went out he had $40 piece and
when he returned he had SIG in gold and
silver, which she asked him to give her to
put in her purse, for luck. He gave it to
her, but before he went away he asked her
to return it to him as he might want to use
it, and she gave it back to him. When
asked why she asked him to give her the
money to put in her purse for luck, she re-
piled: Because we are old friends and
we are always cutting up that way to-
gether" She said she did not know where
he was stopping in the city, but he said he
had just arrived and she supposed he came
from Clipper Gap.
Mrs. Cooper further stated that she was
stopping at the house to take care of Mollie
Jones' three children while she was serving
her term in the County Jail. The only
other inmate of the house beside herself
and the children was a young man by the
name of Manuel-she could not tell what
his full name was. He was in the house
when Damon was there, for she saw him
looking through the door into the parlor
where they were. Manuel was at the
house when she left with the officers.
She said she was % years of age, and mar
ried, but did not live with her husband
She thought Damon was about 80 years of
age. A short time before the man was
citedly in the alley to some one. She was
in the house, but she heard the woman say
that she met couple of men in the alley
and told them there was a man there in
distress, and they told her to go along and
mind her business. She did not know who
the woman was, as she did not see her
She heard the man in the alley, but sup
posed it was some one who was drunk and
snoring. She went out as far as the corner
to see, but did not go near him, as she was
| timid.
Mrs. Cooper's story was told with appa-
rent frankness and without hesitation, but
it did not agree with the man when found.
There was not a sign about him that he
had been drinking, and not the slightest
trace of whisky on his breath Captain
Karcher next sent the officers out to
bring in the young man Mrs. Cooper called
Manuel. He was found at the Mobile, and
was soon in the Chief private Office under
going rigid examination by the Captain.
He proved to be A Manuel Strauss,
young man who was the friend of Mollie
| Jones during her late stay at the City
Prison, and who was arrested on Saturday
last for disturbing the peace at the polls in
the Fourth Ward, in company with Dick
| Reed and Jack Harris. His statements in
regard to his whereabouts during the even
| ing were very unsatisfactory. He could
not tell just where he had been at any par
ticular time. He rem embered being up
at Seventh and l after dark. and seeing
officer Ash there That officer, who was
present, said he had not been on l street,
near Seventh, during the day or evening.
| Strauss said he had been at the Mobile
| during the evening, but could not say Just
when. He did not see any man there, but
| he thought there was one there, as he
heard someone talking in the parlor.
He said he was friend of Mollie
Jones and was putting up for their
board, while Mrs. Cooper took care of
them and her own child. During his
examination Strauss was impudent and
maintained an air of bravado which did
not strengthen his statement.
Strauss and Mrs. Cooper were both locked
up to await further inquiry into the case.
The body of the strange man was taken
in charge by the Coroner and conveyed to
the morgue.
There is certainly a mystery surrounding
the mans death, and a searching investiga-
| ton will be made by the police.