The San Francisco call., 1896-03-17
Fresno Boys Who Were Near the
McWhirter Murder
Scene.
THE STORY TOLD BY A STUDENT
Edward Perkins Talks of What He
and Pearl Stellberg Knew
About the Murder.

Edward Perkins Of Fresno is student at
the Dental College of the California State
University, which department has its head
quarters in the Donohoe building on
Market street.
He is one of the two young men who are
said to have seen the McWhirter murder
ers running from the scene Of the tragedy,
and sensational assertions Of what they
might prove in court have been circulated
during the past few days.
1t has been said that they would swear
to the identity of the men that they saw
running, but according to statement
made for The CALL by Perkins there is no
foundation for that rumor.
Distric. Attorney Snow of Fresno has
been in this City, and according to dis
patch sent from this City to Fresno paper
he was engaged in looking up this new
evidence. 1t was stated that on the night
of the murder two boys and two girls. who
were well known in Fresno, were in an
alley near the McWhirter residence when
the crime was committed and by whom the
assassins ran so closely in their fight that
they were recognized.
This information, it was suggested, had
account of the desire to avoid publicity,
Edward Perkins, one of the young men
referred to, is studying dentistry in the To-
cal college.
ooh, amt going 10 tell about that" he
said yesterday in response to CALL repre-
sentative's inquiry. Il do not want to get
into trouble about the case"
He was asked whether it was true that
he could identify the men that he had
seen running from the place of the muir
der, and then he said:
"Ch, no! l have never said any such
thing as that. Pearl Stelling, young
man who is now living at Santa Ana, was
with me the night of the murder and we
were near the McWhirter house. We
heard the sound OF pistol and Pearl said
to me- There's been some shooting Then
somebody came running toward US ana l
thought at first it was some horses, they
made so much noise, but in few seconds
we saw two men.
There were two men and only two who
ran near to where we were, but of course
could not say that there were not others
concerned in the shooting. 1t was impos-
sible to see who the men were and we
could only tell that there were two men
there. We could not see enough of the
men to enable US TO recognize them and 1
haven the slightest idea as to how the men
looked.
Anything that we could have told
would have been of no advantage in a
murder trial, so we did not say anything
about what we saw. l mentioned it to
somebody awhile ago though and now it
has become public. All that I can tell
about the case is that there is no doubt in
my mind that McWhirter was murdered.
He did not commit suicide"
A dispatch sent out from Fresno yester-
day says:
District Attorney Snow, when interviewed in
the matter, denied most emphatically that the
object OF his visit to San Francisco had any
connection with the McWhirter case whatever
He further stated that no new evidence of an
important nature had come into his posses
sion. Mr.. Snow was at loss to know how the
rumor started, and he believes that it was a
political canard
The gentlemen alleged to have been accesso-
ries to the crime with Heath, who was tried
twice on the charge of the murder of McWhir-
ter, are quite prominent in this section of the
State. Both are lawyers, one having occupied
the Superior bench in this county few years
since. The other gentleman is practicing law
in San Francisco.
While little credit is placed in this latest re-
port concerning the crime, it is generally be.
lieved that some important developments will
arise at no distant date. The suicide theory,
which was at one time accepted by many peo-
pie, finds little or no Endorsement at the pres
ent time, the general belief now being that
McWhirters death was cold -blooded murder.
While the testimony of Perkins and
Stellberg may have no direct bearing on
the murder case it may figure in the suit
for insurance if that should be brought up
again. McWhirter's life was insured for
$4,000. and the claim was defeated on the
ground that the man had committed sui
eide.