The San Francisco call., 1898-04-07
Detectives Now aiting for the Officers of the
 Morgue.
Judge COffey Dissatisfied With the Bondsmen Of the
 Administrator.
THE HUSBANDS AvARICE.
Tries to Get Hold of the Estate Before His Brides Dead Body Is
 Cold.

The Coroner waited all yesterday for some word from the Police Department to begin an investigation into the death of Mrs. Videl Cervantez, a Span ish woman, who a week ago died un- der circumstances that her friends con- sider extremely suspicious. The wo- man was possessed Of considerable property and her body was hardly cold when her husband of only a week be- gan to take possession of it all. The body of the dead woman was rushed to the grave and it was in the ground be- fore much more than twelve hours had elapsed after death. No word, how ever reached the Coroner yesterday, though three days before one of the detectives detailed to investigate the death of the woman had notified him 1t would be necessary to have the body of the woman eXhumed and an analysis of the stomach made to determine if possible the presence of poison. The Coroner, however, thought the police would take some action to-day and mo- tify him that there was reason to be- lieve a crime had been committed and ask that the body be exhumed for the purpose of an investigation.
 Chief Lees last night said 1t was clearly the province of the Coroner now to take up the inquiry. Tt is his place to act in such cases and not mine" 7" said the Chief The Call has given him reason to believe that a crime has been committed and he should investi- gate it. l have no right to order him to eXhume the body. He should do that on his own authority and if he should find anything to warrant suspicious that crime has been done, then l shall continue the investigation"
 The Probate Court took a hand in the Investigation yesterday. The last clod had hardly been turned on the newly made grave of the dead wife when the husband applied for papers for .'pecial administration of the estate of the de- ceased. Upon his appointment, his attorney, Alexander Campbell procured two bondsmen, who qualified in the sum of $2000 each. They were accepted, but when the Judge read the article in The Call of yesterday, giving the reasons of the friends of the dead woman for believing that the deceased had met death foully he instituted inquiries re- garding the bOndsmen. Both were be- fore the court yesterday. They were Thomas King and Philip Reichert The Judge had made some inquiries as to their property qualifications, and in re- ply to questions Reichert said he had
  property on Folsom worth $2000. He looked daZed when the court informed him that his property was assessed Tor only $1100 and that it was mortgaged for $1600. He admitted that it was the truth and in reply to further questions he said he was not a citizen of the United States and that he was u1 the present time out of employment
 King gaZed at the floor in a stupid manner. when the court told him that his property on which he had qualified as a bondsman was assessed at only s150, and he appeared very uneasy when the court forced an admission from him that he had been paid $5 for going on the bond.
 It was shown to the court that the dead woman had left property on 'Pinckney alley that produced revenue of S10 a night, besides she had at the time of her death $906 in coin and $500 worth of jeWelry.
 T will set aside the former bond.' said the Judge, and raise the figure to s600O. I will. however. not accept King and Reichert as bondsmen"
 Detective Anthony has been working on the case for several days, and he says the circumstances surrounding the death of the woman are at the least very suspicious He Is anxious to have the body eXhumed and an analysis of the contents of the stomach made, as in his opinion poison was the means used in producing her death.
 Chief Lees yesterday declared he knew nothing about the case and said none of his detectives were working on 1t es far as he knew. Some of the friends of the dead woman, however. state that they have held consultations with the veteran Chief of Police in re- gard to the death of the woman on sev- eral occasions, and that the Chief is well informed as to all the circum- stances surrounding the case.
 Florentino CervanteZ, the husband of the dead woman, says that three months ago he met his wife and on March 21 they were married by Judge kerrtgan. He said: T knew my wife was a sufferer from asthma. From the day of our marriage she suffered from the disease until her death. On the day before she died she asked me to get her some medicine. She said she wanted patented article-a cherry pectoral. l got the medicine for her. That was on the night before she died"
 It was not more than twelve hours after the medicine was procured that the woman was dead The bottle of pectoral had been emptied in that time The medicine is known to contain large quantities of opium and the directions that accompany the bottle caution the users to be careful about overdosing. The maximum dose is given as fifty  drops, but woman who assisted in nursing the sick woman admits of hay ing administered as much as two hun dred drops at one time. The opium ad- ministered in that way might have caused death. The husband, however claims that the woman was conscious up to the time of her death and if that is so some other reason must be looked for.
 Alexander Campbell Jr., who up to yesterday was the attorney for Ger vantes, said:
 s"Cervantes has been my client since the Fist of February. He was a part ner in the San Francisco Novelty Com pany at 21S Montgomery avenue Be- coming dissatisfied with the way the business was being conducted he came to me and I advised bringing suit io establish his rights. Within five days B satisfactory agreement was conclud- ed between his partner and himself. by
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