Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-24
The Holmes Murders Equaled in
California.
W 0 STRANGE DEATHS
The Conflicting Testimony Brought
Out by Both Sides.
TWO SUSPECTS ACQUITTED
Written for The Evening Star,

a larger share of the public attention than
any other passing event. 1t Is almost COM
monplace, however, wnen compared with
case which it has served to revive in the
memory of the writer. AS in the Holmes
case, the greed for insurance money led
to the commission of the crime, but here
all resemblance ceases.
Some time in the seventies one J. Milton
Bowers arrived In the city of San Francisco
from the east and hung out his Single as
a doctor of medicine. He soon established
large and lucrative business by accepting
that class of cases which all reputable
physicians decline. and being shrewd.
calculating, well-educated man, succeeded
In keeping out of the meshes of the law
In due course of time he married Cecilia
Benhayon, young woman. The marriage
was not happy one, however, Bowers be-
ing tyrannical and often brutal. Several
years passed away, when Mrs. Bowers was
seized with lingering illness, which re-
suited fatally. A certificate of death was
made out in proper form and the body in
TERED. There was an insurance Of over
$4,000 on her life and this, together with
the unsavory character Of the doctor, led
to an investigation, which eliminated about
four weeks after her death in the issuance
of an order for the exhumation Of the
body. A commission Of sthree physicians
examined the stomach, with the result that
two of them declared they found traces of
arsencal poison sufficient to have caused
her death. The third one agreed as to the
presence Of arsenic in the stomach, but
was not willing to ascribe 1t as the cause
of death. Bowers was then arrested on a
charge Of murder.
Circumstantial Evidence.
By the time the case was ready for trial
the police had succeeded In forging a
strong chain of circumstantial evidence
around the doctor. 1t was developed that
he had been married twice before; that the
lives Of both previous wives had been in
sured. and that both wives had died in
somewhat the same manner as the last
one. Contrary to the usual custom of ply
sicfans when one of their family Is sick, he
had refused to call any one in for consul
tatlon, and had compounded all the pre-
scriptions himself. The most important
witness against him was Alexander Ben
heyon, his brother-in-law, who identified a
bottle of medicine which had been found to
contain poison as one from which potions
for his sister We're taken. During the
course of the trial Bowers proved himself
In many respects a remarkable man. He
directed the tactics of the defense, and
during his long, exhaustive examination
while on the stand talked as an ordinary
man would at the breakfast table He re-
ceived the verdict Of guilty with the same
imperturbable calmness which characterized
him through the trial. If he ever felt any
emotion his sphinx-like face did not show
The trial over, Bowers was sentenced to
be hanged. His attorneys, after exhaust
ing all legal devices in the effort to secure
a new trial, as dernier resort. appealed
10 the supreme court of the state.
A Mysterious Confession.
Over year had passed. Bowers was In
his cell in the county Jail awaiting the
verdict which would determine his fate, and
the people of California had almost for
gotten all about him, when, one day, In
formation reached police headquarters that
man had been found dead in a lodging
house on Post street between Kearney and
Grant avenue. The man was A1eck Ben
hayon BY his side was bottle partially
filled with cyanide of potassium, and in his
pocket was found what purported to be
confession. 1t consisted of several closely
written pages and declared that he and not
DR., Bowers, was the murderer of his sister:
that some weeks before her death he had
prevailed upon her to assign the insurance
policies to him and had then slowly poi
soned her to DEATH In addition to this, it
charged his sister with gross infidelity and
gave the names of several men with whom
she had been familiar. The reason as
cribed for his suicide was that two weeks
before he had lost diary in which he had
carefully noted down all the details Of his
diabolical crime, and death was preferable
to the torture from the fear of It's dis
covery. 1t said that he had never used the
assignment Of the insurance policies be-
cause he was afraid that it would direct
suspicion toward him. This sensational
discovery was coupled with the declaration
Of the landlady Of the lodging house-that
Benhayon was not the man who rented the
room from her. She said that some days
before a young man had looked at the
room and engaged it by paying the rent
week in advance. He stated that 1t was
for friend Of his and that 1t would not
be occupied for some days. He gave his
occupation as a book agent, but did not
leave his name.
The Book Agent.
In the course of a week the police found
the mysterious young man in the person
Of one DINING DINING was, as he had
stated to the landlady, a book agent. He
admitted the renting of the room and said
he did so at the request of Benhayon, to
whom he had given the key. He was one
of the last men in the world one would be
likely to suspect of such a crime; of eX-
ceptionally jovial, happy-go-easy tempera-
ment, he had enjoyed the world he
found it. Nothing criminal could be found
in his past career, nor even anything bor-
dering on criminality. Being an expert
penman, he had made living by card
writing for time, but most of his life had
been a canvasser. He seemed to take his
arrest as joke and jauntily said that his
release would only be matter of few
days. Many months passed away, how
ever, before he was again at liberty. With
in a few days it was ascertained that DIM
mig had married the former nurse of Mrs.
Bowers This link number one which
bound him to the condemned murderer;
it was also ascertained that Mrs Dim
mig had visited Mr.. Bowers on q number
of occasions in his cell, and brought him
little dainties. Beyond this the police did
not get. DINING himself had never met
the doctor but onoe. and that was shortly
after Bowers arrest. 1t must also be
stated that Mrs. DINING was not the
nurse at the time Of Mrs. Bowers death.
Held for Murder.
Sufficient evidence was secured to justify
the grand jury in returning true bill
against DINING for. murder. The theory
of sthe prosecution was that the plot was
arranged through Mrs. DINING for the
murder of Benhayon; that Dimmig wrote
the confession; that on the night of Ben
hayon's death he inveigled him into the
room in the Post street house, poisoned
bin and then placed the confession on the
body and the bottle of poison by it's side.
Against this theory the defense and those
who believed in the innocence of DINING
pointed out the lack of sufficient motive.
What, they asked could have inspired
such a man to commit such a crime? Not
money, for Bowers had spent his all in the
trial. Not friendship, for he had never
met the condemned man but once; not
ermity, for his relations with Denhayon
had always been amicable. What reward
could a man with his neck almost in the
Embarrassing under the very shadow of
grim death-have promised that could have