The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-08-31
EAGER To AVENGE
AGED MRS. MORSE
Citizens at Point Arena
Will Act.
WILL APPEAL TO Mr.. BUDD
WANT A REWARD OFFERED BY
THE STATE.
WILL APPEAL TO Mr.. BUDD
Outspoken in the Belief That Sons of
Poisoned Woman Are Trying
to Shield Guilty Rela-
tive.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


POINT ARENA, Aug. 30.-Disgusted
with the slow progress in unravel1ng
the mystery surrounding the murder OF
Mrs. Morse the citizens of this town
have decided to petition Governor Budd
to offer reward for the apprehension
of the person or persons who caused
her death. They think that the Morse
brothers are not overanxious to have
the arrest made, knowing, 1t is claimed,
that such course would mean the i'm
prisonment of at least one OF their
relatives for murder.
1--WE are waiting patiently until the
services of the private detective are
dispensed WITH remarked one of the
leading citizens to-day, land then we
intend to act. The investigation thus
far has savored Of farce. Shortly
after the commission of the crime we
wanted to have at least two suspects
arrested, but LIE Grand Morse would
not listen to us. He, however, prom
Used us that lie would do all In his
power to land the poisoner In jail ana
asked our cooperation. After conSld-
cradle time had elapsed and the f1end
had completely covered up his tracks
he sent to San Francisco for a private
detective to work on the case. The de-
tective has been here over week and
as far : we know he has not been able
to Obtain a clew which would lead to
the APPREHENSION of the murderer.
LAS soon as the investigation is con-
Guided we intend to appeal to Governor
Budd, asking him to offer a reward of
$1,000 for the arrest and conviction OF
the murdererS After this is done we
will appoint a committee to appear be-
fore the Supervisors of this county, in
form them of the miscarriage of justice
and request them to offer an additional
reward By these means we hope to
make the guilty persons suffer for their
awful crime.
Il am morally certain that there are
several people in this town who could
shed some light upon the mystery, but
for various reasons they have refused
to speak. A reward will no doubt in
duce them to tell what they know. At
ter we obtain sufficient evidence it is
our purpose to lay the matter before
the District Attorney and ask for war
rants for the arrest of the guilty. Ii
justice then fails we will always feel
that we were not to blame"
Il have heard of the unfavorable
comments about my action in the
case" replied LIE Grand Morse, when
told of the threatened appeal to the
Governor. but I think they are very
unjust. When l recovered from the ef-
fects of the poisoned mush which l had
eaten / at once communicated with De-
tective Harry Morse of San Francisco,
asking him to send one of the best men
in his employ. As the detective whom
he was anxious to send was out of the
city he wrote me apprising me of that
fact and promising to have him here
as soon as possible. He came a few
days later and has since been indus
triously working on the case. l have
given him every opportunity to unravel
the mystery, frequently assisting him
| in his work. While he has accumulated
| some evidence against certain persons
| there is not enough to warrant me in
having them arrested. 1t is an injustice
| to me to have it said 1 have not done
| all in my power to land the guilty party
| or parties behind prison bars. l have
| already spent considerable money in
! trying to ferret out the murdererS of
my poor mother and If necessary would
| give all my earthly possessions to see
| the fiends locked in Jail.
1t Is understood that the detective
will in a few days make his final re-
| port to Morse and be dismissed. He
j will accuse nobody of the crime, but
/ will strongly intimate it was COM
mitted by relatives who are under sus-
picion.
There are many persons here who are
i inclined to believe that Mrs. Morse just
! before her death spoke the name or
/ one of the persons who poisoned her.
This Is emphatically denied by LIE
Grand Morse He says that after he
/ had partaken of few teaspoonfulS of
! the mush he felt sick and told his
mother that he thought he was pois-
oned She also complained of feeling
| ,II jvin ia
| her son to take 1t. He begged her to
drink it, saying that he would wait un-
| til she had been relieved Of the poison.
With true motherly devotion Mrs.
Morse ordered her son to take emetic
while she stood by, suffering excruciat-
| ing pain from the effects of the dead
ly mush After her son had taken the
emetic Mrs. Morse hastily prepared a
fresh emetic, and, after taking it, lay
her son how she felt, the aged victim
whispered that she was very sick and
thought she would die.
who could have done this?" she
asked of her son.
He replied that he did not know, but
would do all in his power to find out.
According to Morse, those were the
she was taken sick. After his mother
had passed away, the victim of a cruel
poisoner, Lewis Morse, suspecting that
Mrs. Spaulding had committed the
| deed, proceeded to have her arrested.
His brother, however, refused to al
low him to act, claiming there was not
sufficient evidence against her. Since
then other relatives have been placed
under the ban of suspicion, but for
some unexplained reason no attempt
has been made to connect them with
! the crime.