The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-16
MURDERER OW rs Up.
Ivan kovalev Tells Of the Kill
ing of the Webers.
A SENSATION AT SACRAMENTO.
California Punished for Turning Loose
Boatful of Russian Convicts Picked
Up OF Siberia.

Sacramento. Cal. Nov. IS The sensation
Of the day in the Ivan kevalev murder
case was the confession of the prisoner az
time when his attorneys expected 10
prove an aIsbi for him. They were practt-
calIy paralyzed when he told them that he
was present on December o. 1895, when the
murder Of Mr- and Mrs +. H L. Weber
was committed The persistency Of Olga
Gordenko had its reward in breaking down
the reserve OF the suspicious Russian
After almost an hour and a half Of urg-
ing. K0yalev consented 10 tell all he claim
ed 10 know abOu. the crime. He made a
lengthy statement in Russian. with the
nhilist woman as his amanuensis, the gist
OF which was that he and Matthisusky
Tscherbakoff visited the Weber residence
on the night Of the tragedy. going up the
back stairs. on the rear porch they found
long-handled ak. which Tscherbakoff took
in his hand. and having removed their
shoes and stockings. they silently crept
upstairs Koyaley stumbled and accident
ally made a noise. Tscherbakoff cursed
him under his breath as they heard the old
man move inside the house. and they
crOuched in a dark corner Of the porch near
the kitchen. Weber came from a back room
into the kitchen with a light in his hand.
'He is coming out" said Tscherhakofr.
Mr.. Weber opened the kitchen door and
stepped toward the closet Tscherbakof
had the AK raised waiting for him. Then
he lei 1t fall upon the skull of the unsus-
pecting victim. Weber fell against the
door, and called to his wife.
This confession was made before the trial
began today. while Attorneys Hart and
Anderson were holding a conference with
him as 10 the line of defense. Judge John
son, when told of the statement, said that
he could do nothing in the matter. except
10 have the trial proceed and keep the con-
fession away from the jury.
When the case was resumed today Yak
rewsh was called TO the stand. He re-
peated the story which, he said, Kovalev
had told him of the murder and just how
It was committed. koyalev had told him
on the evening the murder was committed
a man Grocer Jost, who testified to such
facts) had stopped and gaZed at him while
he stood in front of the Weber house.
Kovalev told Zakrewski that If the man
had remained there a few minutes longer
he would have stabbed him to the heart.
Zakrewski. while on the stand this after
noon. said that Kovalev had told him in
San Francisco that he (kovalev) had car
ried the AK. and not Tscherbakoff. 1t is
limited that at the end of the trial Yak
rewski will be arrested as an accessory.
The attorneys for the defense have been
placed In a very trying position. 1t was
rumored tonight that they would again in
troduce the insanity plea as a defense, al
though a committee of distinguished
physicians examined Kovalev and pro-
nounced him sane.
Ivan Kovalev. Matthieusky Tscherbakoff
and Zakrewski were members of a party
of escaped convcts from Siberian prison.
who put TO sea In a small boat and were
picked up by a sealing vessel, which car
ried them 10 San Francisco. There they
said they were patriots banished to Siberia
for political offenses; in truth they were
criminals of the lowest type. Russia want
ed to have the scoundrels sent back. but
the San Francisco papers championed the
cause of the alleged nihilists. and so the
Federal authorities set the convicts free.
They returned TO their old life of crime,
and every one was soon afterward in jail.
The murder of Grocer Weber and wife was
a horrible affair. even for California. where
fiendsh crimes are frequent. and shrewd
detective thought the Russians did it. The
manner OF the crime made him think SO.
Soon after the Weber murder Tscherba-
koff was shot dead in Southern California
by a merchant whom he tried to hold up
on the street. The detective learned that
KovaleV and TsCherbakoff were In Sacra-
mento on the night Of the murder, and ar
rested Kovalev. The ease against him was
strong, but not conclusive.