The morning call., 1893-11-30
n. HALLS SECOND TRIAL.
1t Has Dragged Along for Over
Two Years.
DID HE KILL IDA SHATTUCK =?
A Peculiar Condition of Affairs
Shown by the Minutes of the
Superior Court.

Twenty nine months and twelve days
ago DR.. Samuel III. Hall of this city was
arrested upon information furnished by a
reporter to Detective Rogers and charged
with the murder of Ida Snattuck, a young
girl living at Sites. Colusa County, by GRIM
inal malpractice
DR.. Hall was tried for the crime twenty
six months and fourteen days ago. but the
jury disagreed, majority Of eight voting
according to their admissions after the
trial. for conviction of murder in the first
degree. one juror for murder in the second
degree, two for manslaughter and one for
acquittal.
From the day of the disagreement. Sep
TENDER 25. 1891. on up to the present mo-
ment the case Of DR.. Hall has been before
the Superior Court of this city and county
no less than sixty different times, sup
poSedly pursuant To a second trial OF his
case. Forty-five times has il been contin-
ued by consent of Assistant Prosecuting
Attorney Hosmer. Eleven times on mo-
ton of the defendant a continuance has
been obtained. Once Halls counsel was
absent, and on three occasions there was
no Judge to try him.
The peculiar conduct of the case by
the District Attorney soffice, coupled
with the fact that the crime charged
against DR.. Hall was one of the
most brutal and cold blooded of the
many of its kind perpetr8ted in this
city, and the further fact that bis bail las
been reduced from $4,000 to $780, has
led many people who have remembered
the case TO ask why it is that DR.. Hall has
not been tried and either convicted or
acquitted? Why it is that man accused
of murder is gwen sixty continuances of
his case, with no indication at any time
that the prosecution was not ready for
trial? Why is it that the bond of a man
charged with murder has been reduced
from $4,000 to $500 when eleven of the
twelve jurors composing the only jury tn at
has ever heard the evidence against him
voted for his conviction
For more than two years DIR. Hall kept
very quiet, so far as public notice was
concerned. he only appeared in court at
stated periods when his case was con-
tinued 'by consent or on his own motion,
and, in fact. he very often avoided appear
ing in public at such times, his counsel
appearing for him. In this way be
dro pped out of sight and his case was in a
measure forgotten, except when a similar
crime, such as that of DR.. Haven-Beale or
the DR.. West case. was made public. and
then some one would ask, What has be-
come Of the DR.. Hall case?" and because
no one could answer it was again for
gotten. Had DR.. Hall continued in OBJ
livion, 30 far as the courts are concerned,
it is just possible that in time his case
might have continued out of existence or
dropped from the calendar for want of
ability to prosecute.
Witnesses die or move away without
leaving addresses. and when a case is al
lowed 10 drag along for three or four
years it is no uncommon thing for the State
to find that the evidence which in the
start was sufficient to convince eight men
out of twelve OF the prisoners guilt as
charged and eleven men out of twelve of
his guilt in some degree have disappeared
until there is o case left, and a motion to
dismiss by the District Attorney is in
order.
What has awakened public interest in
the Hall case just now is the fact that
within the past two months be has
twice come before the pubic-once by
implication, and the second time by arrest
for crimes against public decency. The
first instance was in the case of Henrietta
johnson, alias Mrs. NJ. Davis, arrested
upon an indictment by the United States
Grand Jury six weeks ago for sending OBJ
scene letters through the mail. Mrs. John
son. or Davis. boldly announced thss her
defense would be that she was merely the
amanuensis of DR.. S. III. hall, and tn at all
the letters or circulars that she had mailed
were sent by his direction. Her trial is
still pending, and therefore the truth of
Der statements remains TO be proved.
On Monday last, however, DR.. Hall was
arrested on a charge Of personally sending
defamatory literature through the mails.
the complainant being DIR. Fitch, and, in
default Of bail, was again incarcerated in
the County Jail until yesterday, when he
was released upon $1,000 cash bail being
furnished. His trial on this charge. as
well as that of murder is. in consequence,
pending.
The death of ida Shattuck, of which
Hall is accused and awaits trial, stirred up
tbs people of the whole State. The story
briefly told is as follows: One morning in
May. 1891, man entered the cars of
Sacramento train standing in the depot at
the Oakland mole and led young girl to
seat in the ladies' coach, depositing several
bundles beside her and then hurrying
away. The train left the station almost
Immediately and no notice was taken of
the young girl until passengers in adjoin-
ing seats were startled by her means and
discovered that she was unconscious.
Everything possible was done for her on
the train and when Benicia was reached,
the nearest station where a physician
could be secured, she was taken from the
cars. She died in few moments after be-
ing carried from the car and an autopsy
showed that not only had the girl been