The San Francisco call., 1898-08-20
Oakland omce San Francisco Can

9JS Broadway, Aug 19
 The killing of Deputy Poundman Ma than HoIlenbeck by a Chinese for. steal ing three ears of corn has caused the sub -ject of the value of life in Alameda
 County to be very earnestly discussed to- day, The record printed above, covering
 a period of little more than year. shows
 more forcibIy than any other argument :. that the fate of a murderer in Alameda
 County is not such as to cause a desper-
 ate man much concern.
 For thirty years capital punishment. with but remarkably few exceptions ha s
 been unknown in this county But 1t has
 been reserved for the last year to breal, all records In this direction. In some in stances even the Judges, in passing sen :: tence, have declared that they could not . understand the leniency shown toward : muEderers by juries, and the cases of . Clara Palmer, Jimmy Bryan. Stacey : Rogers, James Moffett and Eulalio Con zales are the most glaring of these mis- carriages of justice. The cause of the : wonderful luck attending murderers is . sQmetimes attributed to a general disin- :: clination fin the county to hanging, nc : matter how base the crime. During the
 past few weeks it would almost appear as though the result of such leniency : were having its inevitable effect. . When Stacey Rogers was confined ir the City Prison on the evening of mur-
 Gering his late companion, Halsey, he
 calmly told the reporters that he had nothing to fear, as he could put up a
 
 Joseph Moffett when arrested was quite indifferent as to his fate, and calmly said that he did not fear the consequences, as be" believed his wife intended to attack him first.
 Jimmy Bryan. while in the County Jail awaiting trial, acted as though the affair was the joke of his life.
 .Quong Now, the Chinese gardener who ,Scommitted murder just before midnight. talked to everybody at the City Prison early this morning, as though murdering q man for stealing three ears of corn were . the most natural thing imaginable
 James MeadOrs who murdered his tent mate at Camp Barrett three days ago, calmly stated the day after the murder that the affair was nothing to him; he had killed one man and had been ac- quilted, as he said. ''by twelve honorable jurors" He coolly stated that under the same circumstances he would repeat the Camp Barrett performance.
 In all this long black list there has been : hut one variation Benjamin Hill, who murdered his wife two years ago, on the night of his arrest asked for a novel at the City Prison, and before his victim S body was cold he told a reporter not to bother him by asking about the murder as he was greatly interested in his book, . which was Mary. Queen of Scots.'' I3r. William s. Porter and pr. S. H. Buteau held an autopsy this afternoon on. the. body of Nathan Hollenbeck. who was shot and killed by Quong Now in 'the- latter's. cornfield last night At the inquest held this evening they testified that the 45-ealiber bullet had entered at about the junction of the second rib and breastbone, rupturing the aorta and in turing the spinal cord. The bullet made it's exit about three vertebrae lower than where it entered. There were no powder marks.
 The widow of the dead man, Mrs. An nie Hollenbecl, testified that she had last seen her husband about o'clock last night; that he and her father, Frank Rivers. afterward went for drive promising to return soon. She said that Frank had never brought corn home at any time.
 Captain. Frank Carson, Detective Den ny. Holland and Officer Charles Layton testified to the circumstances of the ar rest. the recovery of the revolver at the Chinese cabin. with five exploded cart ridges and one loaded. To Detective Holland Now had stated that only a few evenings ago he had. exchanged shots