The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-25
MURDERED
AS HE SLEPT
IN HIS BUNK
Tragedy on the Bay at
Sausalito.
DECKHAND UNDER ARREST
HIMSELF SLIGHTLY WOUNDED
IN THE LEG.
Claims That Two Robbers Committed
the Crime, but There Are Sus-
picious Defects in the Story
He Tells.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SAUSALITO, Sept. "a. - Captain
James Morse Brooks, the navigator
of Commodore Isadore Gutte's yacht,
the Chispa, was murdered while asleep
in his bunk aboard that vessel at about
1870 o'clock. this morning. Peter Nelson,
a deckhand, claims that the crime was
committed by the proverbial two
men, one tall and the other short" and
that he himself escaped death only by
le&ping over the side and swimming for
his life The circumstances are SO pc
culiar that the authorities believed
themselves warranted in arresting Nell
son on the suspicion that he was the
assassin, and he is new confined in a
cell in the San Rafael Jail.
At the hour named the town was
aroused by somebody crying Help!
murder! robbers!" the cries being pune
tuated by three revolver shots The
noise seemingly came from the direc-
ton OF the Chispa, which was anchored
about 200 yards off the San Francisco
Yacht Club house. y game OF cards in
which several citizens We're engaged
had just ended and the players We're all
on the street at the time. William Har-
rison, the poolroOm broker, was stand
ing near The waters edge. He and
Night Watchman Chester Johnson
the yacht, closely followed by Deputy
Marshal Jack Susavilla, Harriscn's
private Waterman, Marshal Harmon
and Constable Eugene Cramer.
Just as the first boat reached the
scene Nelson was picked out of the
Water by Fred Nelson, keeper of the
Yacht Ramona, toward which he had
IL hot h1d
kIi.eQ Captain Brooks and that he had
been forced TO jump and swim for his
Inc being wounded in the right leg by
me second shot fired at him..
1he Chlspa was boarded by the party
ga q terrible sight was revealed. Cap
tam Brooks lay on his right side in his
bunk, with his right hand under his
heao. lis head and face were covered
Win blood, flowing from two CHASTITY
WOUNDS. one was in the edge OF the
HAIR above the lett temple and the other
benind tn lett car. Both had been in
Hcued with some sharp instrument.
Inc bed clothing, the head CT the bed,
The floor and every article close by was
spdttered with the dead man S life fluid.
I hat robbery had been the motive tor
the deed was shown by the fact that
the pockets of all the clothing in the
roCm were turned inside out, the draw
eyS Of the lockers drawn forth and the
room in topsyt urVy condition. On
the floor was found a common ice pick,
covered with blood, silver quartz.
and a dime and a small bone-handled
penknife with the large blade open.
i had been in town with the cap
tain said Nelson, and we had been
drinking beer at Garcia & Payne'S ia
male cafe. The captain was under the
influence of liquor at the time and
when we left there we went to Dexter's
cafe. After that we came aboard and
both went to bed. This was about a:3J
o'c.ock. l slept soundly until / heard
something rafting and then heard the
captain moan Pete, help! They are
killing me- got out of bed and
started for the stateroom where he
slept. AS the door opened a short,
heavy man shouted: Put bullet N
him and stop that groaning. XIII that
-, too, meaning me. / ran back and
climbed through the hatch on deck.
BY the light of the anchor lamp l
saw another man, a tall, dark-appear-
ing fellow. l jumped just as he shot at
me and swan for my life. Two more
shots were fired and the second hit me
in the calf of the right leg. 1 called
loudly for help and was picked up by
the keeper of the Ramona.
Captain Brooks and L never had any
words and I have worked on the yacht
only two weeks. He showed only a
dollar while he was on shore and that
was when he paid for the beer at Gar
cha & Payne's."
There are four things that throw a
peculiar side light on the murder as
described by Nelson 1t was only about
five minutes after the shots were fired
that the party from shore boarded the
boat. Yet Constable Cramer and Will
liam Harrison both assert that the
body Of the dead man was already lev
cold, showing that he must have been
killed some time before the commotion.
Again, Nelson asserts that the sec
ond shot, the one that hit him in the
leg, was fired while he was in the wa
ter. In swimming, a mans body is ne
,cessafily im an oblique position, yet
Nelson claims to have been hit in the
lower part of the calf, which is the
deepest in the water. A bullet under
such circumstances generally glances.
The wound is superficial, and Sheriff
Harrison says it must have been made
from the side. while Nelson says he was
swimming directly away from the
shooter. 1t could have beenfmade with
any sharp pointed instrument, and the
ice-pick might have been used to in
hict it. A
The description given of the tall man
on deck was positive and exact in de-
tail. Nelson said he was tall, wore a
toned and smooth-faced. When asked
how he could make out so many things
in the dim light and when he had rush
ed up and jumped overheard so quickly
he hesitated and became hazy about the
smooth-faced detail, and admitted that
the hat might have been dark brown
Z The deckhand was picked up within
two minutes from the time he jumped
overheard, and yet none of those who
came from the shore saw any boat
leave the yacht. The light was dim,
but 1t appears to the authorities that
they could have noticed that fact
j Sheriff Harrison believes Nelson
guilty of murder, but Constable Cramer
thinks he is not. He says he has two
men under suspicion, and If he can Sc
cure evidence will arrest them,
Pete" as the decShand is called, is
26 yeors Of age. He says he formerly
worked on the coaster. James a. Gar
field. He had been in Captain Brook s