The San Francisco call., 1897-12-25

corroborates that much of her state
ment
Upon their return home. Keefe said
he went to the barn and shed to see if
his wife was there, and not finding her,
went to bed. He denied his daughters
statement that he went to her room at
o'clock and told her that her mother
had not yet returned.
Another, and a very material point
IN the girls story that Keefe supports,
is the statement that none of Mrs.
heefe'S clothing is missing except a
hat Keefe has the womans effects
slowed in a shed in the rear of the
house he now occupies, and which he
mas moved into since his children were
taken away from him, and he is posi-
tive that not one of the woman's
dresses is missing.
If this is true, what did she wear
when she left home? Keefe does not
pretend to answer this question.
In regard to the various theories ad-
Vanced 1t is pointed out that one
woman is in position to say she saw
Mrs. keefe during the afternoon of
July 5, and for that reason the woman
could not have been murdered, for if
such a crime had been committed it
must have been after the children left
the house in the morning and before
the father joined them at the station.
In answer to this, others say the
woman may have returned home late
at night and that the tragedy took
place after the children were in bed.
The supporters of the suicide theory
base their opinion solely on the
ground that none of the woman's
clothing is missing and that she wan
dered down to the bay after nightfall
in nude state and plunged in.
There are a few who incline to the
theory advanced by the husband-that
ba ho hoy hn~
The house the Keefes occupied at
1247 College avenue at the time of the
disappearance of Mrs. Keefe is in the
outskirts of Alameda and not far
from the bay shore. It's location is in
thinly settled portion of the city, and
after nightfall the neighbOrhood is in
complete darkness except for the moon
and stars. 1t would not be a difficult
matter to drag the body of a murdered
person from the house or it's imme-
date vicinity to the waters of the bay
without being observed. If any de-
pendence is to be placed on the state
ments of the four children of the miss
ing woman and any credence is given
to the hints conveyed in them that a
murder had been committed, it is
reasonable to suppose that the body OF
Mrs. keefe was taken from the Col
lege- home sometime during
the night of July or early the next
heavily weighted was thrown into the
bay.
A gate at the rear of the lot in
which the house stands opens out
into a narrow street Two small cot
tages face that street, and after pass
ing them the way to the bay shore
leads through an open common, on
which a few vegetables had been
planted. The people who reside in the
neighborhood are in the habit of re-
tiring at an early hour, and at mid
night on until daylight a person
could go from the house the Keefes
occupied to the beach and the proba-
bilitieS are that he would not be seen
from one years end to the other.
About 200 yards to the rear of the lot
there is a frail footbridge that
crosses a slough near where the Blue
rock Gun Club has its shooting
range.
The body of a dead person could be
dropped from it and in a few hours it
would sink out of sight in the soft mud
below the shallow water and be lost
forever A little way further is the
bridge that leads TO Bay Farm island
1t is over a deep channel and where the
water flows like a millrace at both the
flow and ebb of the tide. A body with
weights attached to it could be thrown
from the bridge and it would be as far
from sight then as if it were in the
middle of the Pacific.
Those who have confidence in the
tale told by the children of Patrick
Keefe and who believe that Mrs. Keefe
has been murdered, say that the body,
| if found at all, will be recovered from
the mud near the piers of either the
| foot bridge near the shooting range
or at the big bridge that crosses the
slough to Bay Farm island.
AT the rear of the house and within
few yards Of the back door are a few
low sheds. One of the children tells
story of having heard his father de-
scend the stairs of the house shortly
after midnight of the day of the dis
| appearance Of Mrs. Keefe after put
ting them to bed and entering one of
the sheds. The boy heard the latch on
the door being opened and the hinges
creaking as the door was swung 1t
was long after that-almost daylight
when his father again came to the
house. No one knows what the errand
of the father to the barn was that
night or what was the reason for his
! absence until near the break of day.
Those who place confidence in the
! stories Of the children are of the opin-
ion that the body of the missing
woman was concealed during the day
in one of the sheds, and that after the
children had been sent to their beds on
body was taken from its place of con-
cealment and sunk in the waters and
mud of the slough.
Keefe does not deny that he went to
! the shed after putting the children to
bed, but says he went there to search
for his missing wife. He said he be-
lieved she had taken to drink and that
he might find her lying in the straw
in the shed.
Mrs. Benson, a neighbor Of the
Keefes, who claims to have seen Mrs
Keefe on the afternoon of July 5, the
day she disappeared, says she was
sure it was that day, because her hus-
band was home from work at the time.
consequently it must have been a hol-
iday. Sunday the day previous, too,
was holiday, and Mr.. Benson was
also home on that day. Mrs. Benson
could easily be mistaken in recalling
the day after six months have passed.
Mrs Benson saws that Mrs Keefa