The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-03
FORGING THE CHAINS,
Strong Evidence Against
the SIayerS of the
Webbers.
KOVALEV IN THE DOCK.
Confronted by His AccuSerS
in a Sacramento Court
room.
IDENTIFIED BY WITNESSES.
Clothing Of the Murdered Merchant
Worn by the Exile for
Months.

| has there been an examination in any
| criminal matter in this city that has Gre
| ated the same amount of interest and eX-
| element as did that of Alvan Kovalev,
| held before Justice Henry this morning.
| The little courtroom was mass of swelter-
ing humanity, struggling and pushing in
! an attempt to catch glimpse of the man
| who is supposed to have ended the life of
| two of the most estimabe citizens of Sac
| ramento.
| Long before the hour set for the examin-
! alton the street was crowded with swarms
of citizens. while the porches of nelghbor-
| ing buildings and the high steps of the
courthouse were crowded to suffocation.
Nor was there any lack of the gentler
sex, even in the crowded court
room. They pushed and scrambled
| to obtain look at the prisoner. Elderly
women attired in the height of fashion,
middle-aged matrons and fair young soci-
| ETY. buds in summer costume forgot the
crushing of their balloon sleeves in the
rush to get look at the escaped Siberian
| exiles.
When the hour set for the examination
arrived Ivan Kovalev, in charge of Sheriff
| Johnson, Deputy Charles Schwilk and De-
| tective Gibson of San Francisco, was es-
corted across the street to the courtroom.
| On issuing from the County Jail and wit
Messing the assembled crowds the prisoner
| turned CHASTITY white and seemed to be on
the point of fainting, while his trembling
| limbs would scarcely support his weight,
despite the fact that there was no
| sym ptom of a hostile demonstration
Even after being seated in the courtroom.
surrounded by officers, his face was pale
and his limbs trembled.
| Luther T. Webber, the son of the muir
dered couple, was the first witness sworn.
| He stated that after feeding the horses on
| the morning following the murder he en-
| tered the store and was Mortified upon dis
covering pool OF blood on the floor. He
| left the store and ran rapidly up the back
stairs leading to the residence portion of
| the building. Opening the kitchen door
he found the body OF his father lying upon
| its back, with the face gashed and
mutilated so as to be almost unrecognlz-
| able. He passed into the hall leading to
| the front room, where he found the body
of his mother. The witness gave a
! graphic account of his search for his
| fathers partner, and his sister, who fol-
! lowed him on the stand, told of the yari-
| Gus evidences of the crime that had been
committed, identifying the different arti-
cles which had been discovered on the
| premises-the CORY ak, the blood-stained
| clothing, boots and Ratchet.
While these articles were being displayed
and numbered, K6valev sat with impas-
| sive. countenance and, save for an occa-
sional lifting of the eyelids and fur tive
| glance toward the various articles as they
were handled by the officers, his face
might have been taken for that of a dead
| man.
District Attorney Ryan then handed a
black vest to young Weber and asked if
he recognized the garment.
Perfectly" he answered. at is vest
OF my fathers which was found lying on
| the floor near the kitchen table on the
morning of the day the murder was dis
covered. 1t is a part of suit which
father wore in the evenings. The trousers
belonging to the suit were missing and the
next time / saw them was in the office of
the Chief of Police in San Fran CISCO"
care these the articles2" asked the Dis
trict Attorney, as he held up the garments
formed of the same kind of cloth as the
vest.
"They are. positively recognize them
as portion of the suit worn by my father
the evening previous to the murder, " was
Webber's positive declaration.
at the conclusion of the testimony the
prisoner was asked through the aid of the
court interpreter if he desired to ask any
question of the witness.
t.UT l. r IL J,<
response. II cannot understand him.
No; have no questions to ask"
w. r. Hamilton stated that he examined
the premises. The first article he found
was lady's stocking wet with blood and
covered with sawdust. Following up his
investigation he discovered in an old sugar
barrel in a shed in the rear of the store a
quantity of clothing, ragged, dirty and
crusted with blood.
After identifying tie exhibits, he stated
that the coat was one that had been manu-
featured by Martin Siegel of San Francisco.
AFTER finding the clothing l went up
stairs with young Mr.. Weber," said he,
''and we found what clothes of tn emur-
dered man were missing. l made q
memorandum at the time of the results of
our investigation. They we Iaas follows, ;
referring to small pocket book: "a coat
and vest belongingto pepper and salt
suit; pants belonging to a brown suit;
dark gray coat and pants; black sack
suit and pair of boots. do not know of
my own knowledge that these things were
missing, but the memorandum STAYS ex-
actly what young Mr.. Weber toid me at
that time was missing from his fathers
wardrobe"
George E. Pickering, a member of the
San Jose police force, was the next wit
ness to take the stand and said:
II am detailed on special dutya great
deal of the time and dress in citizen
clothing. On the morning of the 9th of
March | saw two men entering a pawn
shop in San Jose. They had quantity
OF carpenter tools which they were at
tempting to pawn. | saw the same men
on the street the next day and the morn
ing following the attempted holdup, in
which Watllin Tscherbakou lost his life;
recognized the corpse of the dead foot
pad as that of one of the men who had en-
tered the pawnshop."
do you see his mpanion in the court
room?"
"No, do not. 1t was not that man,
pointing TO the prisoner who, with pale
face was listening TO whatever vas said