Los Angeles herald., 1892-11-22
BLACK JOHN WAS IDENTIFIED
Mr.. Kiefer Of Pomona Recog-
nized the Dead Man.
He Attempted to Swindle That Gen.
tleman, but Failed.
He Presented Forged Letter of Intro
Ds duetion-- Gossip About the Affair.
Extracts from the Deceased's
Shorthand Notes.


swarmed into the morgue to view the
corpse-the great majorityfrom morbid
curiosity. An old gentleman named
Peter Kieier, who lives at Pomona, after
reading the description the HERALD
gave OF the suicide, boarded train and
came to Los Angeles. thinking that he
had seen the man. At O'Clock in the
afternoon the corps was removed to the
medical college, and Mr. Kiefer called
at the college and identified the man as
one who called upon him at Pomona on
last Wednesday with letter OF intro
duction and gave his name ae j. S. Jor-
dan. Mr.. Kiefer stated to HERALD re-
porter that the deceased came to his
house in Pomona and represented that
he had just come from Bryan, Texas, for
his mothers health, and that he had
recently been in the employ OF kiefer's
son.in-law there. He produced long
letter purporting to be from Kiefer's
son-in. law, asking that Kiefer pay Jor-
dan $500, in order that the latter might
consunmate the trade for lot
worth $4,000 in Newhall for
Kiefer's sou.in-law, and thereby
settle up an old and troublesome busi-
ness deal with one Thomas Reed of New
hall. Kiefer Gays he was going to get
the money for Jordan, but found it was
too late for banking hours. He, how.
ever, thought over the matter during the
night, and on comparing the letter from
there that he had himself received from
his son-in.law, he concluded that the
letter was forgery, and upon the sug-
gestion Of Stoddard Jess, cashier OF the
First National bank, he decided to tel.
egraph to his eon-in-law at Bryan, Tex,
before paying the money, and received
letter from his sonin-law to the effect
that Jordan was a fraud, and to have
him arrested for obtaining money under
false pretenses. Kiefer states that he
looked around town for the man, but
could not find him, and gave up the
hunt, believing that the fellows sus-
picions had been aroused, and that he
had left town. Both Mr.. Kiefer and his
daughter cay that Jordan was charm
ing conversationalist, and spent many
hours with them. He seemed to know
everyone in Bryan, Tex, and from his
conversation they concluded he had
travelled great deal, and, according to
the old gentleman, "he has been all
over the world"
Mr.. Klefer made narrow escape; had
it not been past banking hours when he
went to the bank, he would have drawn
out and paid over the $500 to the
swindler, and "Black John" would not
have solved, 30 soon, the problem of the
hereafter.
After failing in this ideal" with Mr..
Kiefer, "Black John" then came di-ect-
ly to Los Angeles and stopped at the
Albermarle, arriving on Friday morn
ing's train. 1t will be recollected that
no money was found in his pockets.
Four copper cents were found among
his effects. He had taken great care to
erase his name from his letters and
papers, as stated in the HERALD yester-
day. On the inner lining of one hat
was traced letter "M," and on another
the letters wv. S." He had several
suits of fine clothing, but his taste
seemed to run to cheap calico handker-
chiefs. There was also found we'll
worn, greasy looking "slouch" hat, evi.
IDENTIFY used for purposes OF Disgusting
himself. Numerous business cards were
found in his room, one the card of
local candidate in San Francisco, show
ing that he had recently left that city;
q folder of the Texas Pacific road per-
haps indicates that he came over that
road from Texas. Several cards of per.
sons in Los Angeles we're also found in
his room, evidence that he had
previously visited this city, as
he could not have gathered up
all of those cards on his last visit. He
had two check books. A few checks had
been iseued, but nothing was written on
the stubs showing to whom the checks
were ieeued. A Bottle of medicine was
fou6d in his trunk bearing the label of
San Berpardino druggist.
A woman who gave her name as Jen-
ME Leland called at the coroner's office,
and said the dead, man was her hus-
band. She next called at the Albemarle,
and, on being shown into the suicides
room, looked at suit of clothing hang
ing across a chair, and said: "These are
my husbands Clothes" On being ues-
toned, she said she had not seen her
husband for eight months. The land
lady suggested that as the man had sew
eral suits, he evidently would not wear
one suit during eight months. The
claimant seemed surprised, and then
stated that her husband never had that
many clothes in his life; also, that he
did not use tobacco, as the suicide evil
'dently did from the tobacco in his room.
Several other women who had lost
track of their husbands called and took
q look at the corpse, but failed to iden-
tiiy it.
Two note books were found in his
room, as stated in the HERALD yester.
day. The books are those generally
used by shorthand reporters. One
book had contained 400 pages, but the
first 200 pages had been torn out; the
remaining 200 pages were written full of
notes.-the majority of them evidently
being practice exercises. Some of the
notes we're written out. On the book
was stamped in red letters: ~. Flath-
mann"
One transcribed dictated letter reads !:
"GENrLEMEN: am compelled to say
that it is impossible to comply with
your request for settlement.
/ propose making an offer to pay IS cehts
on the dollar" !.
Across page Of notes written in lead
pencil, in style similar to that of che
deceased. 10 this:
tPaid in full. l.. CULEz."
DEAR SlR: We had an interview this
morning with Mr.. Stone. at which he
presented his letter Of introduction, re-
auesting that we should turn over to
the firm the balance of your sugar on
our hands. We we're very much sur.
prised at such demand, as you never
fntimated at any time desire to this
effect, We of course refused TO comply,
plainly stating our reasons. Mr.. Stone
seemed greatly annoyed at our refusal.
Another letter, also without date, evil
IDENTIFY addressed to an attorney, says: