The San Francisco call., 1897-01-27
A LITTLE FAMILY SQUABBLE
AGITATNG THE FAIR HEIRS
The Attorneys for Mrs 0alrchs and Her Sister Ihlnk
the Prosecution of Cooney Bad
Move

! McEnerney and Knight and rumor has
it that Reuben Lloyd is not doing his
share to push the bandwagon along.
Captain. Frank E. Webb, in addition to
being the chief witness III Coonev de-
tense, is down as an i'm portant FACTOR loI
Mrs. Craven and her pencil deeds. Webt
will be called to narrate a Visit ne mace 10
Mrs Craven's home at 1913 Suffer street on
the night of May %, 1892, the date OF her
marriage contract with James g. Fair.
On the evening of May "a. 1892, the pupils
of the Mission Grammar School gave an
a2Pratic entertainment at the Grand
Opera. house. and the preceding afternoon
was devoted to dress rehearsal. 1t has
been n contention of the Fair people that
Mrs. Craven could not have supervised
the details of this rehearsal and at the
same time have performed such an lmpor-
tant function as marrying James g. Fair.
They claim to have secured evidence to
prove that she spent the entire afternoon
at the opera-house, looking after the de-
tails of the performance.
Webb is a brother of Mrs. Alma E.
Greenwel of Alameda, who at that lime
was pupil of Mrs. Craven and took a
prominent part in the operatic perform
ance.
con the afternoon of the rehearsal,
which, Dy the way, is the date OF Mrs.
Craven's marriage contract" said Webb,
II went down 10 the Grand Opera-house
to see my sister. The rehearsal was pri-
vate and woman at the stage door re-
fused my request for admission. l then
asked to see Mrs. Craven and was told she
was not there. l thought l was being
strung so TO speak. and after second
request to see my sister | left, rather out
of temper. | thought things were not
going right and made up my mind to have
my sister withdraw from the part she was
slated for IN favor of her understudy. L
was pondering on this subject all the
afternoon and by evening my mind was
fully made up to tell Mrs. Craven OF my
plans. / met her on Kearny street, IN
front of Newman & LevInson's and re-
gaed her at once with my tale OF woe.
She tried to smoothe matters over, and as
a last resort asked me to walk home with
her. AS we went up the steps OF her
house, at S23 Sutter street, the door was
opened for US by James G. Fair. He had
evidently been watching Tor us through a
window, for just as she prepared TO turn
the knob the key turned inside and the
Senator drew open the door. he stepped
aside into the parlor doorway for US to
pass down the hall. Mrs. Craven seemed
rather confused, and thinking l was not
wanted hastily bid Mrs. Craven good by
and left the house"
The Cooney people have been studying
up the subject of the evidence Handwrit-
ing Experts Ames and Carvalho will give
at the trial, and they are prepared to prove
that these experts have at times varied as
much in opinion as they agree on the
genuineness of the pencil deeds. In the
Twentieth Century for August there is a
reminiscence of former disagreement OF
these two judges OF handwriting. 1t is as
follows:
"a recent case in our New York City
courts, when merchant was almost rail-
roaded to prison on the evidence of two
experts in handwriting, was the means of
bringing before the public again the ia
NOUS Garfield Morey letter, and also
throwing new light on the historical
events of the Presidential campaign of
1880. The two experts, Messrs Ames and
Carvalho, testified in the recent case that
a certain letter of a libelous nature was
written by the merchant in question. In
opposition to them was II. A. Spencer,
who proved that several of the features in
the handwriting were common to others
not at all interested in the case. Th-r re-
fore the matter settled down to question
OF expert testimony, which developed the
fact that Mr.. Carvalno testified in 1880 that
the Morey letter was in the handwriting e
of Garfield himself, whereas Mr.. Ames
charged one Kenward Philip as the author
of the forgery. Here we have two experts
OPAhAOHo Oh ShS AAOAO LII
portant case, but agreeing on the more
recent one. During the imprisonment of
Kenward Philip, Governor Jewell, chair
man of the Republican National Commit
tee, engaged Mr.. Spencer and his brothers
to investigate the case. These three ex-
perts, authors of the Spencerian school
publications, and practically experienced
in handwriting OF all kinds, examined the
matter thoroughly and rendered their de-
cision to Governor Jewell. That decision
exon Grated Kenward Philip and vindi-
Gated General Garfield. This is the first
time that publicity was given to the inside
facts in question.
1T is alarming to contemplate that on
this unsound judgment of experts respect
ing handwrItings men may be deprived oi
their liberty who are as innocent as the
deceased Kenward Philip, and as blame
less as the world IamenJed Garfield"
The Cooney case will be resumed this
morning.
In London more fires occur on Saturday
than on any other day of the week. and