The herald., 1893-02-06
BENTLEY IS VERY UNHAPPY.
His Appetite Waning Since the
Strychnine Discovery.
Yesterdays Gossip About the Cele-
brated Alleged Poisoning Case.
Attorney Shinn Has a Long Talk With
the Prisoner-Lawyer Hayford's
views-The Prisoner to APP
pear In Court Today.

Henry Bentley, charged with the
murder of Mrs. Nordholt- Bentley, spent
very uneasy day in jail yesterday. He
seems nervous since the discovery of the
bottle Of strychnine in his trunk, but
states that he did not purchase the
poison, nor place it in his trunk, but
that he knew of its existence in the
house-that Mrs. Nordholt- Bentley had
it around the premises for the destruc-
tion Of rats.
Bentley ate little or nothing yesterday,
his appetite evidently failing him DUR
ing his troubles.
Attorney Shinn called upon him yes
terday, and was with him about three
hours. Whether Mr.. Shinn has been
added to the multitude of counsel al
ready engaged for the defense is not
known.
Attorney Hayford, of counsel for the
defense, was asked yesterday by a
HERALD reporter whether his power of
attorney covered the entire estate, or
only sufficient to guarantee his fee. Mr..
Hayford replied:
''After Bentley's arrest from 25 to so
lawyers called upon him daily, or sent
word to him, asking to be engaged,
which set the poor fellow nearly crazy,
so told him that in order to prevent all
this trouble, and to protect myself in
the future, that I should require a
power OF attorney, irrevocable, which
would prevent. him from deciding away
the property during the present ser
vices"
"And now comes" the public admin
istrator, as lawyers would write it, and
enjoins by lis pendens both Hayford
and Bentley from mortgaging or other
wise disposing of the property or any
portion thereof.
The public administrator, Mr.. Kelsey
made an affidavit in Judge Clarke court,
as stated in yesterdays HERALD, citing
Hayford, also the prisoner, Bentley, to
appear in department two today for ex-
animation. as to the status of the prop
erty.
The citation issued upon this afi-
davit now on record, reads: Geo, Hay
ford and Henry Bentley. You are COM
manded to appear in court to submit
yourselves to examination upon oath as
to the property of said estate, which
you are suspected of having concealed
and conveyed away also ss to moneys,
goods and chattels of the deceased
which you are suspected OF having dis
posed of, or have in your possession"
The accused and his attorney will ap-
pear before Judge Shaw this morning.
The preliminary examination of the
prisoner is set for $3.50 O'Clock this
morning before Justice Seaman, but it
is understood that the defense will not
be ready owing to the fact that the
analysis of the kidneys has not been
made, DR.. Bridge being unavoidably
absent.
The order for the second exhumation
of the remains of the deceased was made
by Justice Seaman, as stated in the
HERALD Saturday morning. The liver
and the heart have been in the posses
sion of the prosecution for about a
week, and an analysis was also made,
but the defense requested second an
alysis of the liver and heart, also of the
kidneys.
This, it seems. is kind OF hint that
the analysis OF their own physicians
would be preferable to that made
at the request of the prosecution.
The Nordholt house, on the corner OF
Seventh and Wall streets, was an object
of curiosity yesterday to many people,
visitors stopping to look at 1t all day,
and many tramping about the grounds
and peering through the windows.
BENTLEY IN SAN FRANCISCO.
Henry Bentley, says the San Francis
co Chronicle, who has been arraigned
for the murder of his wife in Los An
geles was we'll known here, and the
majority of his acquaintances agree in
the belief that the poison which caused
the death of Mrs. Bentley was admins
tered by the hand of her husband. He
was frequently heard to remark that
there were many ways of getting rid of
a wife without going into court, re-
mark that is considered significant in
the light of recent events. While in
this city with his wife he showed a
strange reluctance about letting strang-
ers know of their relationship, and even
to friends he never spoke of the woman
as his wife, but always referred to her
as the sold grip or the ''old crow"
Bentley is described as being a man
who did not exactly come up to the
standard of mental soundness, his spe-
cial weakness being on the subject of
women. About three years ago he be-
came imbued with the idea that his lot
in life was to marry a rich woman, and
to this end he INDUCED in number of
questionable undertakings that brought
him into ridicule, and in one or two in
stances came near getting him into more
serious trouble.
One of these freaks of his fortune
limiting fancy was an attempt to make
love to Miss Anita Baldwin, now Mrs,
George Baldwin. At the time he was
employed as an hostler in the stables of
E J. Baldwin, and in the course of his
duty he often had an opportunity to
speak to his employers daughter. He
finally became 80 insolent with his at
tentions that Miss Baldwin complained
to her father who, it is said, threatened
to perforate Bentley with buckshot His
remarks on this occasion were empha-
sized with sundry kicks administered to
various parts of Bentley's body.
Bob jackson, Mr.. Baldwin's colored
coachman, was Bentley's bosom friend
and confdant, and it was to him that
the searcher for rich wife confded all
his hopes.
By the iudicious expenditure of his
salary, which was $25 month, Bentley
succeeded in attlfing himself in noisv