The San Francisco call., 1897-12-18


among the tools OF the man charged Will
] the murder.
II was surpri ,ed 10 be told that H off
! had committed the murder. | did not
! think he would be capable of such o crime.
| From his ad N ssions 10 me | believed him
to be d man depraved and without any
sense of manly honor. l mad EiaGe up
! my mind that he would not hesitate 10
take advantage of a woman should the
opportunity permit and use violence to
accom- plish his ends, but believed thai
! BE- wouI hesitate at murder"
Ever since Hoff was arrested the polics
have been hunting for a motive Tor the
crime. DR.. II. KugIer, 1865 Howard
street, VINO came to the assistance of the
! Coroner 10 make m iCrosc opic al eXs NINA
tlon OF the remains of the de 4d woman
/ has, so far a 8 scienc ce is possible, thrown
srme light on that feature of the case.
! The test showed that an assault other han
murder had been committed. The puy-
slclan stated that too great a time had
! ELAPSED be- weeu the time OF death and the
! time the e1 mlnation was made . ma Ike
! the test absolutely positive, but the indi-
/ cations were AT most horrible cline
! had been added to that of murder.
! I police had been inclined TO the
! opinion that Hoff had been angry al Mrs
! Clute because she had employed other
men to DO some work for her about The
! house, ana also because he had lost so
/ much time in trying TO lind her. This,
aggravated by the liquor he had taken
/ might they tho gnt, have ed 10 a quar- ell
! re>ul ting In murder, though they ID not
/ lose sight of the more proba ble intent as
/ shown by the examination of the ply
| sician.
! Police Surgeon Edwin Bunnell made a
! second ana more complete examination
OF the wound on the palm of the left land
! of the prisoner yesterday. 1t is a deep
] wnund allphtlV onrVaH and has ha
pearance of having been caused by some
blunt but rough-eGged instrument, The
rough projection OIL the end OF the
coupling pin with which the murder was
com mitted would. in the opinion of the
surgeon, cause such a wound. hoff is
l. fl handed man and DR.. Bunnell gave i
as his opinion that the injury in the
prisoners hand was caused by he rough
projection on the coupling-pin while
was being used as a bludgeon 10 be at Out
the life OF the murdered woman.
Hoff was extremely nervous while the
examination was being made, and gave
eVasive answers TO the questions OF the
physician.
Hoff statement that the wound was
caused by tack in roll of carpet in the
70, ms wnere The crime was committed, at
8O3 Guerrero street, Is not borne out by
lacts. The police yesterday made a clos
examinati ofthe carpe s, and tn were
unable to find tack sticking in any Part
OF the carpet. The carpets had just come
from the cleaners when taey Were deliv-
cred at the house. and they were free from
tacks; consequently the wound could not
have been inflicted he saws it was
These facts with the evidence that will
be gwen b. Mrs. L. A. Legg and her
| father-in-law Z. a. Leeg, who positively
| identified HoH as the man who came out
| OF the house and hurried away a few
minutes alter they heard the woman's
| screams for help and the sound of the iall
OF heavy body on the floor above them
! Will, the police say, weave a web Of cir
! cumstantial evidence about the accused
| man from which he Will find extreme
difficulty in extricating himself.
Hoff a. Utmost continuously PAGES up and
down in the narrow confines OF his CELL
His nervousness increases almost everv
hour, aud he PRISON officials keep a close
watch on him. fearing be will attem 1T
suicide. He slept only about an hour
during he first night of his confinement,
and when he appeared in the Police Court
before Judge JoachImsen yesterday morn
ing he was nollow-eyed and pale and he
could scarcely keep still. His hands
shook violently when his case was called
and during the time the charge a ainst
mir being read he fidreIe in the
dock and seemed on the verge of coll apse
He pleaded mot guilty." and on con-
/ N
| for the defense the case was ct for hear
! ing on Wednesday, by which time the
| Coroner Will have concluded the inquest
From the courtroom the prisoner was
| taken 10 the rooms OF The detectives
! of1ces ano NUMBER OF photograp phs of
him were taken.
Hoff refuses to tell anything of his past
lite. To the police he says he las no fe,
; but beyond tnat he will say nothing. He
! however, has son ana a daughter who
until recently were living in the CITY,
! The son held re- poasibls position with a
prominent drug firm, end is a young ma n
! Of mostexempldry character The daugh-
! Ter is the vi OF a re putable physician
AMI well known in social circles Hoff 1t
! IS said, was a man not TO be pected as
| father or as nus band and he became es-
| tranged from the fanny.
h. 4 CIute, the husband of he mur-
! dered woman, arr we'd in the city yester-
day morning from Nevada, where he had
been pursuing his avocation as a com mer-
| cial traveller.
The body of Mrs. Clute was removed to
the undertaking parlors OF Porter e. Co.,
| l22 EDDY street, at about noon, and soon
aflerward the husband, accompanied by
tbs mother in-law, c. Ii. Clark and f. J.
BosseIlv, his employer, saw her remains
TOR the first time.
He was nearly wild with grief, and
throwing himself on the coffin called 10
her IN endearing terms. After time he
was induced to leave the room in which
The body lay. The body will be en-
banned and to-day, after service held pv
the Order of the Eastern Star. of which
the decea ed was "a member, it will De
sent TO Watsonville for interment.
To the police Clute said that his wife's
fuii name was Mary A gusta Cute. Her
maiden name was Rnttl,. Sne w,s born
IN LONDON on May 20, 1852. Her family
na vrh
girl and there her father. Daniel H. Kui-
tie, held the position of Sheriff of one of
be counties OF one of the provinces. Tn.
family subsequently came 10 California
where Cute met Miss Ruttle, and he