The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-21
ROBERT D. HAGERTY FINDS HIM
SELF IN A PECULIAR
PREDICAMENT.
THE POLICE ARE DISCUSSED.
HARRY MEYERS MAY HAVE BEEN
IMPLICATED IN THE Stage
MURDER.

CHI House, is in a peculiar predicament.
he is morally certain that Harry, alias
Hank" Meyers, a sure-thing gambler, was
the masked man who robbed him and shot
him in his saloon on the night of Septem-
Der 70, but at the same time he does not
possess the moral courage to swear to
complaint against him for the crimes.
1t was stated in yesterdays CALL that
Meyers had been arrested and positively
identified by Hagerty. He is still just as
positive, but last night he refused abso-
Iutely to swear to complaint.
captain Lees was unable to be at his
Office last night through illness, so he re-
requested Hagerty and George Fitzgerald,
his stable-boy, who was in the saloon when
he was robbed and shot, to call at his
house to definitely determine what he
should do. Detective Cody and Policeman
ODea acco mpanied them.
"Now, Hagerty," said the captain, "the
position of ma tiers is this. You have since
you were shot t old the police and others
that you knew the men who shot you. One
was Gus Frey, the smaller of the two men,
who went to school with you and is now
serving a six months sentence in the
House OF Correction for vagrancy.
9Th other, or taller of the two men, you
did not know by name, but you saw him at
Harbor View about three weeks after you
were shot, and by his actions then you
were confirmed in your belief that he was
the man. so sure W ere you that you said
if you had had gun you would have shot
him.
-Four weeks ago you rushed up to Po-
hceman O'Dea on Market street, pointed
out the same man and wanted O'Dea to
arrest him, but o. Dea had prisoner at the
time and couldn't leave him. You got De-
tectlve Gibson to go with you to Jesse
Marks saloon on Market street, where you
saw the man enter, but when you got there
the man was gone.
''After Stages murder you insisted upon
the man being arrested, and Detective
Cody and Policeman O'Dea arrested Mey-
prison and positively identified him, and
in my office, in presence of Cody, O'Dea
and Robert Pinkerton, you said you were
ready to make an affidavit that Movers
was the man. Now, will you swear to
complaint charging him with robbery and
assault to murder?'
Hagerty, after admitting the correctness
of the captains statement, said he would
not swear to complaint, although he was
morally convinced that Meyers robbed and
shot him. Meyers had visited his saloon
before the robbery and was familiar with
how things were done. His height and
build were the same, and the fact was he
had superstitious belief that Meyers
robbed and shot him. He as firmly believed
that Frey was his accomplish. If he had
seen an officer at Harbor View when he
saw Meyers he would have procured his
arrest. He saw him twice after that in his
saloon, but at neither time was an officer
at hand. Until Monday last he did not
know Meyers name.
Fitzgerald was asked if the taller of the
two men who committed the robberies in
the saloon on September % and on Feb
ruary q, was the same. He said he thought
so, and that Meyers looked like the man.
Nothing more could be done, so Hagerty
and Fitzgerald took their leave. The po-
lice are chagrined at Hagertys refusal to
swear to complaint. They think that
pressure has been brought to bear on Hag-
erty by Meyers friends. In fact, Hagerty
admitted that seventeen of them had been
at him on Tuesday night.
On February q, the time of the second
hold-up IN Hagerty's saloon, Detective
| Cody ascertained that Meyers pawned a
pair or diamond earrings, which showed
| that he was hard up.
Cody says be was told by man named
Chapelli, since Monday, that Hagerty told
him shortly after the robbery that the men
who shot and robbed him had paid him
back the SIPS they took from him and he
thought he would let the matter drop.
The police strongly suspect Meyers of
being implicated in the murder of Stagg,
as he answers the description of the taller
OF the two men, and he will be held pend
ing developments.
Meyers was seen in the City Prison, and
expressed surprise that Hagerty should
charge him with the crime, as they had
always been the best of friends He could
not recollect where he was on the
night OF September 25 Regarding Stages
murder he said he was in the Oberon
saloon on Saturday night with Billy Nc
Donald and Johnnie Ellis, sure-thing
gamblers, and was with them till O'Clock
next morning.
Meyers is a TALL athIetic-looking man,
with determined face and shifty. gray
eyes. He acknowledged that he is a sure
thing gambler and used to frequent the
ocean beach and prey upon strangers. He
admitted knowing Frey, but said he had
not been In his company for ten months.
Frey and Aleck Henderson, alias "Scotch
Aleck, were strongly suspected of being
the murderers of Cash, the gambler, in a
hotel at Willows last summer.
Since the murder of Cornelius Stage the
residents at the Ingleside and surrounding
pads, and corresponding alert for any sign
of them.
Superintendent Hyland of the Spring
Valley Water Works has fine residence
near Lake MERGED. Special Officer John
Dalton lives in a cottage close to the Hy-
land residence.
About o'clock last night DaIton's at
tention was attracted by the furious bark
ing of dogs. He has small arsenal in his
cottage, and scenting danger he grabbed
for rifle but in his hurry got hold of
shotgun.
On looking outside he saw tall man in
Hyland's yard. He called upon him to
stop, but the man ran and Dalton fired at
him.. He pulled the trigger of the second
barrel, but to his disgust found it was
empty. He ran to the house and got
handful of cartridges. He quickly loaded
both barrels, and when he got outside
again he saw the man running slowly and
painfully, as if he had been shot.
Dalton again called upon him to stop,
but his command was UNDECIDED, and ne
fired both barrels at him. Before he could
load again the man had disappeared in the
brush.
Dalton sent telephone message to the
Seventeenth street and Southern police
stations. Sergeants Burke and Hanna and
Policemen Mooney and Shanahan drove to
the place. They searched the brush as
| carefully as the darkness would permit, but