The morning call., 1890-08-25
MAKING MURDERS.
How Dark Deeds Are Discovered
in the M0rgue.
A Young Doctor Whose Mania for Assassina-
lions Causes the Police Much Trouble.
Indignant Officers.
she lathered a corpse"

"He lathered corpse"
"Who did?"
Estes, who makes the autopsies over
in the Morgue. Did you never hear OF it?'
The speaker appeared surprised.
"Why," said he, ~ thought every one
around here knew about it. When Estes
made the first autopsy, the story goes. he
got the soap and worked up profuse foam
upon the dead mans chin. and then turned
around for razor. He abstractedly had
prepared the corpse for shave"
Commenting upon the singular manner of
making post mortem examinations, and the
usual treatment of suspicious cases or
deaths in the City Morgue, recalled to one
of party at police headquarters yesterday
this story of the first experience Of the
Coroner's assistant with a dead body, and
he reeounted the tale amid boisterous
laughter.
Came natural to him, you know"
ayes" added Captain Lees of the Detec-
tive Department, with show of deep dis
gust, land that is as far as they should
have let him go. A man like that is danger
Gus about public institution. and in the
present case has been defeating the ends of
justice; trying to make our city appear
lawless place, filed with murderers, and
to throw diseredit on the Police Depart
ment. But i'll attempting TO injure US he
failed"
AS the Captain continued speaking his
disgust turned to Indignation and lie got
hot over his words.
A POLITICAL SCHEME.
It is pretty well known that Boss Buck
lev has for years been yearning to get the
Police Department under the ban of his
Vaccinations, to have ii all TO himself, and
that in spite OF his efforts it Is still out of
Buckley politics. A move of character
istic astuteness on the " boss" part is to
place his henchmen in positions wherein
they can iDjure, or attem t to do so, the
Police Department, with hope OF finally
winning his fight by creating sentiment
against it, This has worked to turn IN
the Morgue
The young barber with diploma from
medical college goes into the charnel house
assists the Coroner and ''makes au-
topsles." lie has mania for murders, so
the police say, and almost every cas- e OF
violent death is given out as a dark deed OF
murder; and not untreQuently are most
positive assertions made TO the effect that,
judging from the doctors experience IN
surgery and pathology, The deceased could
not have met death unless at the hands Of
an assassin. The police and detectives are
sent of on wild-g0ose chases, as these cases
Invariably prove to be, and after indefinite
ing in favor OF the Morgne mans theory.
On the contrary, the alleged tragedies are
shown to be accidents. Still the result of
the autopsy is written on the records and
stands in evidence, although the detectives
are never given a chance 10 see the bodies
before they are butchered IN the autopsy
room.
And this is what makes Captain Lees
ard Chief Crowley indignant. The last
case has been so fragrant that they speak
without reserve on 1t and cry nat!
A CASE IN POINT.
The body Of +. r. c. Hertel of 201S
Geary street was found on the beach of
Point Lobos Thursday evening and taken
to the Norgue for Identification and buried
late the following day. For some reason
best known to the "Coroner's assistant
the unidentified remains were placed on
the 0peratng-table and post mortem eX-
animation made. No notice was taken Oh
the police meanwhile.
A rope was found-that is, DR.. Estes
said so-around the dead mans head
through which a pistol bullet had plowed
its way and caused death. All these facts
were kept secret from the police, and even
the head OF the detective department heard
nothing OF them until next morning when
the evidences of murder might have been
covered up in the post-mortem butchery.
Estes adjured DR.. Bunker, The Assistant
Police Surgeon, who was present at the au-
lOlSN. SdIu OdptdIu IJCCoI w
not word about the matter until
the next morning to newspapermen,
as he would give them the news himself.
Immediately lie gave sensational story TO
one paper, while he had not the common
manners nor courtesy to come to my Office
with the information. Now, is that de-
cent way to do business? 1t is not Tight
nor honest, nor decent; IL is not in the IN
terest of public safety, decency nor Justice
How do We know that the man was shot?
We did not see the bullet wound. If dead
mans skull be pronounced by Estes as
fractured, how are we to know where 1t
was broken? This way of doing things
must be stopped, by -. A murder might
be covered up over there by some friends,
and we would never hear OF 1t.
ESTES MURDER THEORY.
Estes had stated on Friday evening that
one of the reasons that led him to decide
that murder had been committed in the
Hertel case was the TACT that there were no
powder marks on the flesh around the
wound caused by the ball, showing that the
weapon must have been fired from a dis
tance OF several feet.
Hertel shot himself. He had told friends
of his intended suicide. There is not
shadow of DOUBT about how he died.
The "COroner's assistant" on the witness
stand and elsewhere, poses as an expert on
murders, and gunshet Wounds are his par
ticular bobby. lie was certain that the in
QICallOHS pointed To MuIu6Is lHdL llc uc-
ceased was a victim of foul play.
In HertePs shoes were found some red
dust-the penetrating, subtitle dust of the
park roadways-whieh Estes faneied came
from powdered bricks. Accordingly his
razor Imagination fashioned remarkable
theory. The then unknown dead was
captain of brick scOw, was shot While on
board his vessel, and the murderers, hoping
to remove all traces of the crime, attached
a weight to the head and cast tue remains
overheard. That the assassin was sea-
faring man was shown by the fact that the
rope was tied by sailors knot.
This last autopsy, as we'll as the position
taken by the doctor, has aroused Captain
Lees ire.
Bleaching A CRISIS.
Every suspicious case" said he, SHOULD
be reported by the CoroDeT's officials to this
office Immediately the body is received in
the Morgue, but Estes will cut up the body
and remove all evidences for us TO work on
by his autopsy.
'Afterward, If he thinks well of it, he
will inform us, or if we hear OF something
wrong we may go to the Morgue and lnyes-
tigate. Then, again, every suspicious case
with him is murder, and he states so pos
itiyely. There is nothing in 1t, after all,
but lie tries to give the police ana detec-
tive departments black eyes, while he
is doing untold harm to the city and State.
What Will Eastern people think who read
of all his imaginary murders? They VIII
say that San Francisco is overrun with cut
Threats and murderers. and will be afraid to
come near US. This is yillanous scheme
-yilIanous, Infamous, raseally work"
The captain cited various cases which
Estes claimed were murders, but the best
men of the detective force ran them down
and rested when satisfied that they were
accidental deaths. Consequently matters
between the two departments having in the
course of time become strained are now
fast reaching crisis.