The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-11
DUNN'S SAVAGE NEMESIS,
His Mysterious Prosecutor
RelentS and Makes a
Confession.
REVENGE HER SOLE MOTIVE.
She Wrote the "Nettie Chase" Let
tiers to Alternate His Wife's
Affections.

To the mystery of the identity of the
woman who committed suicide on the
night of April 10 last. by jumping over
board from one of the Oakland ferry-boats,
is now added another.
1t will be remembered that the morning
after the woman's fatal leap the Coroner
received letter signed "Nettie Chase"
purporting to have been written by the
suicide. With the letter to the Coroner
was one inclosed for delivery to G. W.
Dunn.
The epistle to the Coroner laid the blame
for the woman's desperate act to the
wrong she stated had been done her by
Dunn.
In the letter to Dunn, which was with
out separate cover, the writer babe him
adieu and left the unmistakable inference
that he had been responsible for life hav-
ing become uncomfortable to her.
The full text of these letters and others
that had been sent to Vallejo paper
so1Ge time previous, but refused publica-
ton there, were printed two days after the
suicide in this City. The Vallejo letters
gave the intelligence that the writer had
day before these letters were written to the
Vallejo paper Dunn, who was then resid
ing in that city, had, according to his
statement, accidentally shot himself.
From reading these published letters
the general public was led to believe that
Dunn had acted the part of a deceiver and
that he knew more than he was disposed
to tell, notwithstanding his denial of any
knowledge of "Nettie Chase" his failure
| to identity the handwriting in the letters
to the Coroner and himself, and the post
masters statement that the letter must
have been mailed the morning after the
mysterious woman had ended her mortal
career.
Dunn, who is, and was at that time, a
married man, was most vehement in his
declaration that he was in no way I'M pill
Gated or connected with the suicide, but
public sentiment was against him. He
claimed that some enemy had written all
these letters simply for the purpose of in
juring him, but his averments were re-
ceived only with knowing and incredulous
smiles.
Yesterday Dunn appeared at the Coro-
ner's office and asked permission to see the
letters that "Nette Chase" had written to
that official and himself, the latter having
never been delivered to Dunn. He was
given the letters and, with representative
of THE CALL, made comparison of the
handwriting in them with that in letter
he had just received, and which is of
most sensational character. The hand
writing in all the letters was exactly the
same and they were all written with lead
pencil. The one last received by Dunn is
as follows:
SAN FRANCISCO, July s, 1895.
Mr.. c. ". Dunn: When you informed the
coroner that you did not know the woman who
took her life by leaptng from the Oakland boat
on the night of April 10th, 1895, and that you
did not know any one named Nettie Chase,
was the only person besides yourself who knew
you spoke the Gods truth. am the woman
I wrote those letters to the Vallejo paper say
| ing l shot you. wrote those letters to the
coroner last April and signed Nettie Chase. 1
will not tell you who l am now tor fear you
would kill me or have me arrested for the in
jury have done you. l thought would get
revenge, for you arrested my husband three
years ago in Utah for a crime for which he was
innocent, but on circumstantial evidence you
caused him to sent to prison, where he now is
You simply wanted to raise yourself in the es-
timation of the Government, so as to hold your
position a U. S. detective. I swore to get
even with you, and came to California. Ever
since made the public believe that you caused
"Nettie Chase" to commit suicide l have been
q miserable woman. could not sleep good
Ny conscience troubled me so, that concluded
to confess all to you. How YOU must
have suffered when being accused of
of you when friend from Vallejo
told me. you were there. l went to
Vallejo few days after you were accidentally
shot. That was good chance for to get re-
venge. / wrote O letter to the paper saying
I shot you because you had deceived me. said
you had caused two other girls to kill them
selves In the last two years. These were all
lies, but wanted to make people believe them
so your wife would leave you. They did not
publish the letters so wrote TWO more. Then
they did not publish them so l came to San
Francisco. On the morning of April 18th I
was up early and seeing about girl leaping off
the Oakland boat the night before, knew
could get revenge, so wrote the letter to the
Coroner at A. NJ. and took it to the post office.
That is why the post master said it was mailed
between and IL A. M or or hours after the
woman jumped overheard. I had a friend
write another letter next day to the coroner
and sign L. B. she said you had went to DR.
Schmidth on Market st to see about taking
Nettie Chase there. These were all lies but the
papers published them and every one thought
them so. All the revenge I wanted was to make
your wife leave you, but could not as l see
YOU both on July 4th and stood within six feet
of you. I can see you have suffered by your
weary look and sad face, so will not prosecute
you any more. know you have worked hard
to find out who wrote these letters signed Net
tie Chase for you have been close onto my trail
do not know who the woman was who jumped
into the bay, or any one named Nettie Chase,
but it was the first name that entered nv
mind. will write to the coroner of San Fran
cisco soon and explain all when he will publish
the letters and you will be cleared. l would
not do it but / cannot rest. Something seems
to say have done wrong. / feel for you, but
what must your wife have suffered. I cannot
sign my name but the names l signed to the
other letters which were
Dunn, when questioned, said he bad no
idea who the woman is. He had made
quite number of arrests while in the en-
ploy of the Federal Government in Utah,
but could not recall any case in which the
wife of an offender had made any threat
against him. He stated that man named
Gritfiths, whose conviction he had secured,
was now serving a sentence in that Terri
tory, but to his knowledge Griffiths had no
wife.
Continuing, he said the object of the
letter-writer had entirely failed, so far as
causing any trouble between him and his
wife, as the latter was entirely convinced
of his innocence, so far as the "Nettie
Chase" suicide is concerned. On the night,
and at the time when the suicidal Jump
was made by the mysterious unknown,
and when Dunn was reported to have been
in her company, he and his wife were in
certain restaurant on Market street in this
City.
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