The San Francisco call., 1897-08-11
BLO0DSqAIuS
ON THE PISTOL
Seeking to Prove That Hof-
man Was Murdered
by Figel.
Mr.. Sohutte, the Last One to
See the Merchant, Tells
His Story.
Police Officers Were Careless in
Handling the Death-Dealing
Revolver.

tinued the examination OF its witnesses
yesterday, and step by step is building up
the evidence to prove the murder Of Isaac
Hoffman.
Attorney Ach said tina he would proba-
bly, not finish with his side of the case be-
fore the .er part OF the week On &C
count of this statement the witnesses Tor
the defense were excused until Monday
morning, when the defendants SIDE OF the
case will be taken up.
Officer Colen took the stand and testi-
fed to answering the call of FerIen bach
on the night OF the shooting, and the md
ing of the body. He was shown the hat
found in the office and said that it was he
who picked 1t up from the floor and not
Ferren bach, as the latter testified. II
picked the pistol off the table and broke
it, finding three empty cartridges and two
loaded ones in the chambe L put 1t In
my pocket and when Detective Crockett
came turnel it over TO him. He put 1T
in his pocket"
In questioning this witness and the
others who had ANYTHING to do with the
handling of the pistol Mr.. Ach took great
care to bring out the fact that it lad not
been wrapped up, and that no pains were
taken to preserve any stains which are
claimed to have been on 1t.
Colen continued, saying: 81 looked at
the bullet-hole in the wall of the conver-
sation- room"
You are familiar with firearms and
think the hole was bullet t-hole?' asked
Mr. Ach.
"Yes; it was a bullet-h hole"
| MIR. Louderback objected to the evidence
as being a conclusion drawn by the wit
ness. Judge Campbell overruled the OBJ
| lection. He said: ''I can't tell whether
the witness is telling the truth. He says
it was bullet-hole. his idea that the
court is omniscient is all nonsense
| In response to questions the witness To-
Gated the places where the furniture had
been and wnere bullet, bloody newspa-
| per, q bunch of keys and blood spots on
| the floor had been found. He positively
identified the keys, but he would only say
that the paper and bullet looked like the
| ones he had found.
| Mr.. Ach asked: "Was there any blood
on the partition of the telephone-room p
| Eyes; there was blood on the doorknob
| the wainscoting and the door. 1t looked
like some one with their hands full of
| blood had smeared 1T"
"Was there blood on the pistolp
Eyes between the handle and the
| cha I'm ber-twelve or thirteen spots"
The court asked: DAINTY you know that
| in putting the pistol in your pocket you
might destroy evidenceY
ST thought it was a suicide. Ferren bach
| told me it was, but aiterward l heard it
was murder"
ION June 2 swept the room and found
| several pieces of bone and a half of a DuI-
| let, which L gave to he detective"
Colen told of a woman coming 10 the
office that night and talking to man.
She was the nurse OF Mrs. Hoffman and
| came to see why Mr.. Hoffman did not
come home to dinner. Mr.. Ach objected
A Il
volunteer statements from the police
force" The court overruled the objection
and Colen was dismissed without cross
examination.
E. f. Schultz was called next. He is
the entry clerk for Hoffman, Rothchi &
Co., and has held the position for some
time. He testified that he never knew
Hoffman to carry a revolver, that there
were only three keys TO the Battery street
door, of which he had one and Figel and
Hoffman the others. "On June l l worked
at the store, as did Hoffman and Figel
At 80 | asked Figel for my salary. but
he said he had forgotten ii. He left the
store short time after that. He had
asked me to wrap up some books for him,
but had not done 1t.
cat five minutes of l left the office.
Mr.. Hoffman was still there and told me
not to close the iron doors as they were
| too hard to open. He was writing letter
at the time on the firms letter paper. 1t
was addressed to Dear Ed Before left
he asked me If I could let him have sis or
$40. told him could not"
During the month of May did Figel
owe you monev2' The defense objected
| 10 the question and it was Withdrawn.
"Did you ever see any small bottles OF
ink in the offices?"
"Nothing but three large bottles.
AFTER leaving the store on the night of
ho 1cf pf Jr,uo in 1F
| Aliens gun store, he had satchel and
package
The witness further stated that he had
| been present when the bones and bullet t had
| been found the day after the finding of the
body, and that when he left Mr.. Hoffma
| on the night he was shot, he haa been in
| a good humor and jolly.
| General Barnes conducted the cross-ex-
| animation. He went over the testimony
| given in the direct examination and tried
| to bring out the fact that the iron door
| had been locked from the outside, and
| that Schultz had loaned Figel money at
different times. Fgel and Hoffman were
| on good terms Rothchld had wanted
| FigeI discharged al one time, but Hoffman
had insisted on retaining him.
"Were not you and Flgel in a continual
| squa bble while you worked together2'
mo, sir. We may have had some little
trouble over our work, but we didn't
squabble.
Officer Burr Love told of his coming to
the store and taking the body to the Re-
ceiving Hospital.
Charles Crockett testified that he was a
detective; that he had been detailed on
| the Hoffman case the night Of the shoot
| ing. He Identified the pistol as the one
handed him bv Colen, and illustrated
how he put it in his pocket.
WAS there blood on itP' asked Mr.. Ach.
"Yes, bubbles on the left side.'
"Did you show the pistol to any one p
Yes, to Detective Whitaker"
"You took it out OF your pocket to show
it to him?"
Yes"
did you show it to Mr.. Bishop. a re-
porter of THE CALL?'
II may nave shown it to him after
Captain Lees sew II. l showed it to sew
eral. Old man Figel saw it.''
Didn't this taking it out Of your
pocket and putting it back rub the blood
off p
The blood was on it for couple of
days"