The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-01
Not Once Did She Dare to Look at
the Baneful Eye of the
Murderer.
HYPN0TIsM IN THE COURT.
Mrs. Pietzel Also Quails Before the
Peculiar Looks of the Accused
Swindler.

arraigned in court. When placed in the
dock he scanned letter and that the man
is not wholly nerveless was shown by the
way the paper shook in his hand After
court opened there was quite wait for the
District Attorney. Holmes passed the in
terval by discussing with his counsel and
chatting and laughing with the court
officers.
Sidney L. Samuels, Fort Worth (Tex.)
lawyer, was the first witness to-day. Mr..
Samuels' testimony showed that Holmes
or Pietzel never obtained any money on
the $4,000 note, but used it to extort the
$4,000 from Mrs. Pietzel. Whether it is
possible Holmes could have been plotting
PietZeps death in April or May he only
probably knows, but he certainly had
some motive for obtaining a regularly
drawn-up note. The way he retained pos
session of it was to tell Mr.. Samuels that
he had lost the original note and another
was drawn up, leaving the first in his
hands.
William E. Geary, the agent of the
Fidelity Insurance Company, who testified
yesterday, was recalled for the purpose of
proving that the prisoner has a wife in
Willamette, H., as well as the woman who
is in this city, and whom he married I'M
der the name of Howard, SO that the Dis
trict Attorney might be free to place "Mrs.
Howard on the stand. A vigorous objec-
ton was overruled, and Geary testified to
the fact of seeing and talking to a woman
in Willamette who was known as Holmes
wife, and so acknowledged to be by him.
The next witness was Miss Georgiana
Yoke, whom Holmes married under the
name of H. NJ. Howard. For the first time
since the trial Holmes gave way, and so
acute was his emotion that he wept as the
fair blonde-haired girl was led toward the
witness-stand. When Holmes saw her he
started, and his pallid face flushed and
then grew CHASTITY pale. He beckoned
eagerly to his attorneys, and with tears
running down his cheeks, talked with
great earnestness to them.
Holmes urged his lawyers to use every
means in their power to prevent the wit
ness from testifying, but their efforts were
useless as the court overruled all their ex-
ceptions, and ordered the examination to
go on. The witness kept he1 eyes cast down,
and, as with Mrs. PietZel, court officer
repeated her low answers to the Jury
Never once did she glance at the man she
once thought was her husband. He, on
the contrary, looked longingly toward her.
and occasionally he wiped tear away
Miss Yoke testified that she knew the
prisoner under the names of Holmes and
Howard. She met him in st. LOUIS, and
while he was in jail engaged Thomas B.
Harvey and Howe as lawyers to defend
him. District Attorney Graham made no
reference to any marriage between the
prisoner and Miss Yoke, but had her go
into detail over their movements from the
time she was with him in Philadelphia in
1894 to the time of their departure, when
she went to her parents home in Frank
lin Ind, and he returned to Philadelphia.
When he came back from Philadelphia
he went to st. Louis and upon his return
from that city he told her he had sold his
Fort Worth property for 5000, of which
$4,000 was in cash.
Judge Arnold gave permission for
Holmes to cross-examine the witness him
self, which he did in courteous and
gentle manner, but nothing new developed
nor was Miss Yoke's direct testimony
changed. Holmes gave notice that he
would probably call Miss Yoke as his wit
ness later. AT l o'clock the court took a
recess until 2.
Miss Yoke was one of the common
wealth's star witnesses, but her testimony
was not as damaging to Holmes as had
been predicted. Practically the only point
of any particular Importance brought out
was the fact that the man who called upon
Holmes at the house on North Eleventh
street in this city was out of the house for
good part of the day following his call.
The man alluded to is alleged to have been
Pietzel. AS to the rest of her testimony it
was unimportant as bearing directly upon
the murder.
AT the afternoon session William B.
McKillop of Burlington. VT, was the first
witness. He identified a photograph of
the house in Burlington, VT, that Holmes
had rented for Mrs. Pietzel under the name
of Judson. Mrs. Pietzel was called to the
stand again. As she was led to the stand
Holmes looked fxedly at her as he did
yesterday, and, incredible as it probably
is, it seemed as if he was trying to influence
her by the power of his mind over hers.
Mrs. Pietzel gives ground for some such
belief for this by the way she avoided
Holmes glance and the terror and shrink
Ing in her face when she does catch his
look. Mrs. Pietzel was called upon to
identify the trousers her husband had on
when he left home and then she was ex-
cused. bessie Pietzel also identified the
articles.
DR.. Henry L. Sidebotham, Coroner's phv-
stefan, identified the clothing taken from
the body when it was exhumed DIR. Mat
tern, who testified yesterday, was recalled
for the purpose of identifying the clothing
as that taken from the body of Pietzel.
Here Mr.. Graham met with another re-
buff from the court, which refused to en-
terrain his objection to the defense cross
examining the witness
The next witness was Detective Frank
E. Geyer, one of the Commonwealth lead
ing witnesses and the man who unearthed
the bodies of the Pietzel children. Geyer
said he had an interview with Holmes in
this city after the latter was brought here
from Boston. Geyer said to Holmes that
he understood that the body found at 1916
Callowhill street was substituted body.
Holmes told him that on Sunday, Sep
TENDER 2, he went to New York and got the