The morning call., 1893-07-22
TALE OF THEFT.
Superintendent Weaver
Says 1t Is Untrue.
THE ALMSHOUSE SUPPLIES.
1t Is Claimed That if Any Thefts
Have Occurred They Are of
Petty Nature.

Superintendent Weaver of the Aims.
house is not at all worried at the charges
OF stealing which have been mace by
Arthur Henderson, who was arrested
Thursday night for assaultng Daniel
Collins with knife. He simply says that
henderson is not man to be trusted, and
that his record is of such nature that his
statements are lot to be believed.
In the first place." said Mr.. Weaver
yesterday. Henderson Is a crank. He
came here about two years ago from the
City Prison, and from the first he gave us
good deal of trouble. l must say that
he is voluble sort of fellow and in
gennous enough to give his stories an air
Of truth that impresses people who do not
know him. For long time he busted
himself in delivering orations to the In
mates on the abuses to which they were
being subjected.
He made so much trouble that l was
forced at last to resort to some means TO
rid the place OF him. In order TO do this.
l got place for him in hotel kept by
Mrs. Sawyer on Devisadero street, and
under the circumstances he should have
been satisfied to remain there. AS it was.
back here with his head beaten into
jelly. He to d me pitifnl tale of how he
had been mistreated-which found after
ward to be untrue-and on hearing IT, l
took him hack to the house.
"Again Henderson adopted quiet mode
of behavior, and really thought that my
trouble with him was about at an end
Some months ago, however. anonymous
letters began to come in, charging that
meat was being stolen by Collins, the
cook, and the butcher. and at first paid
little or no attention to it. At last they
became so insolent that 1 made up my
mind to institute an investigation. and for
that purpose. and without mentioning the
fact to soul. l employed man to make
an investigation.
He worked on the case for several weeks
and at the end of that time came to me and
told me that the charges were absolutely
without foundation. In the face of all
this took the weighing of the meat in my
own hands. and now when the meat is re-
ceived l nearly always weigh it myself
After this had been done l received no
more letters, but some time ago Hender-
son came to me and said that Collins was
stealing groceries and sending them to his
house. again began to keep watch, and
Wednesday Henderson came rushing into
my ofnce to tell me that he had caught
Collins stealing and that if l would 20
with him at once he would show me the
proofs. Hurrying out we went to the
butchers wagon which was standing in
the yard, and under The seat found two
packages containing a small quantity of
tea and coffee which l think came from
our storerOom. | at ONE accused the
butcher, but ne maintained that he had
bought the articles at downtown grocery
store. Henderson grew noisy and insisted
that Collins had stolen tila groceries. In
reply to this / demanded the proofs, bur
Henderson could furnish none, and the
whols thing wound up in the row that
caused the arrest.
That there may have been some petty
stealing will not attempt 10 deny, but /
IA 3nt thsat Hin ssfs iii1edyaWay
implicated. There are, it must be remem-s
bered. some for Y or fifty men employed
about the kitchen and dining-roonl. and to
watch them all to prevent the purlo'ning
OF little articles Is almost impossible. that |
the leakage is Insignificant is easily seen,
for the house is conducted for less money
than ever before in its history.
There is An animus for the various at
tacks which have been made upon me that
grows out of the campaign of last year.
to be from the Chronicle, and asking me
to see that the inmates voted for Mr.. Eas
ton fog Mayor. | refused to comply with
his request. and l was then asked how 7
intended to vote. told them that | was
for the Non-Partisan ticket. From that
time on l have been subjected to attack
Ill tel dbtdCh, duu tuO pdpci III question sent
a woman out here for week to write up
the abuses.
''She failed to find anything on which to
base an attack and the article never ap-
peared. To sum it all up, politics is at the
bottom of it all. and, / presume. the attacks
will continue so long as remain here as
O'Connell, the cook. fatty denied that
the charges against him were true.
Henderson Is a dangerous man," said
he, land have often thought he was not
exactly right in his mind. When he was
beaten up at Mrs. Sawyer's boarding.
house the injuries were inflicted by Po!ice-
man Reynolds, who is a friend of nv
family and who comes out once in a while
to see me. He told me once that Hender-
son was dangerous character to be at
liberty and tnat he would cause trouble in
the end. He has been in Jail time after
time and is a rank disturber."
Schweilzer, the butcher who suppliess
meat to the Almshouse. was seen and de.
,lined to talk.
Said he: "All that l know is what I
have seen in the papers, and have not
it of enough Importance to take
lotice oil"