The San Francisco call., 1896-07-07


open the door of the house and found all
of the lower rooms in perfect order. The
ground floor of the house consists of a
square front hallway, parlor at the right
beside it, a library behind the hall, a
dlnlng-room beside it and in the rear
kitchen, butler 8 pantries and closets Up
stairs, across the front of the hall, is a lit
tie room extended across the roof of the
front veranda, which in all probability
afforded the murderer a means of ingress
and of concealment.
Beside it is the mothers room, large
front chamber, simply but handsomely
furnished. A long narrow entry separates
1t from the daughters room, which is at
the head of the stairs and from another
room in the rear of the front chamber,
while there are smaller chambers, bath
room, ETC., at the rear.
They met horrible and CHASTITY sight as
they reached the upper story. Across the
threshold of her chamber lay Mrs. Rich
ardson, unconscious, her head on pillow
drenched and clotted with blood. Her
night dress was stained with crimson and
her pretty gray hair and comely face
bathed in blood.
around her; the bed was stained with it,
and on the further side of the bed, near it's
head, was a blackening pool, showing
where she had evidently leaped from the
bed to escape the assassin and received a
second or third bullet
4 hasty examination showed that her
wounds were fatal, and the only hope has
been that she might recover consciousness
to speak her murderer's name. This, the
physicians declare, there is no hope for.
All day long she has been lying uncon-
scious, slowly drifting toward the eternal
shore, where husband and daughter are
waiting.
No attempt has been made to make a
thorough examination of her injuries, the
only effort being to render her few remain
ing moments of life omforta BILE; but DIR.
Winchester states that she has bruise
across her forehead, cut down to the skull,
parallel bruise two or three inches fur
ther back on the head and bullet wound
one inch below the left eye. This ranged
upward and backward. Another passed
through one hand and there are numerous
other wounds and injuries. She is diving
OF internal hemorrhage.
The bruises and cuts upon her BODY were
evidently inflicted with the stick which
was found beside little Ethers body.
This stick is about the length of an
ordinary cane. 1t is about an inch and
half in diameter at the head, tapering to
the end, which has no ferrule. cylin-
drical cavity has been made in the upper
end, and the pieces of lead with which
this was loaded were picked up on the
floor of Mrs. Richardson's room. The
cruel blows had splintered it, and it was
broken in twain as well, and stained
through and through with blood. 1t is
said that the wood of which it is made
grows only on the Santa Barbara Channel
islands.
Before the forenoon was half gone the
Richardson home was invested by sight
seers and friends. At an early hour it be-
came necessary TO close the house to all
but those admitted by the Coroner's Or
ders.
Meantime the officers of the law were
not IDLE. All roads leading out of town
were watched and every suspicious charac-
Ter IN town was under surveillance. Men
went out to search the mountain trails for
track similar to the murderer's, and
before noon the report was received that
on the old Romero trail, crossing the Santa
Ynez range above Montecito, a footprint
had been found which correspondent to the
tracks about the grounds.
a posse of officers and citizens at once
started on this trail and at a late hour
had not yet returned. So convinced were
the officers that the fiendish crime must
have been the work of personal enmity
and therefore of the poor womens only
declared foe, the absent stepson, who had
spent some time in Santa Barbara. Ieay-
ing here for the East two years ago, that
descriptions OF this man were sent broad
cast over the country.
The fact of his bitterness toward his
relatives, combined with his fathe er's re-
cent death and his disposition of his prop
erty to his wife and daughters there being
one daughter by the first marriage Ia Mrs.
Norton, living in Boston,, the deeds and
will having been only recently filed.
seemed to afford a strong chain of reason
upon which to base this hypothesis. At
one time report was received from Ven-
tura that Scott Richardson had been ap-
pretended there, but this proved to be
baseless.
At an early hour a Coroner's jury was
impaneled, consisting of the following
citizens: J. R. Vance, F. D. Meyer, Ben
Hayne,, W. H. Maris, Jerome G. Wilson.
Edward Harper, w. II. Myers, John B.
Savitz, c. A. Mabbott, E. Packard, T. F.
Leslie, II. Appor, J. NJ. Emery, Alter
viewing the body and the premises at 2
o'clock they began the taxing of testi-
mony.
Frank Cordero was the first witness
called. He testified to- the finding of
Ethel Richardson's body in the field ad-
joining the residence grounds at $50
o'clock in the morning 1t was clad IN
single undergarment- The body was lying
face downward.
J. Ayala corroborated the testimony of
Cordero, with the additional circum stances
that beneath the girl, under her arms, was
nlshtdress soaked with blood. A pc
culiar feature of his testimony was his as
sertion that in passing the place on horse
back at 6:15 o'clock he had not observed
the body, which was quite plainly in sight
from the road.
Mr.. Eckels testified that at an early
hour this morning he was called upon by
Frank Cordero and informed that girls
body was found in the field near the
Richardson place. He went with Cordero
to the place and identified the body as
that of Ethel Richardson. He corroborat-
ed the preceding testimony and added
that he went to Mrs. Wallin's and pro-
cured a sheet and covered tie body not
disturbing its position. He then went to
the cemetery and telephoned to the Coro-
ner and the Sheriff.
Antonio NJ. Ruiz, the Coroner, was the
first person to enter the house after the
discovery of the girls body. He described
the position and condition of Mrs. Rich
ardSon Mrs Thomas Taber an old fam