The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-08-29
A STRANGE
MEETING AT
THE FERRY
j. E. Tennessee Is a
New Witness in the
Dunning Case.
Detective McVey Outlines
the Object of His Trip
to This City.

The movements of Mrs. Cordelia Bot
kin, accused of the horrifying murder
of Mrs. ]. P. Dunning and Mrs. ]. D.
Deane. are being traced in this city as
were those of Theodore Durrant. An
other witness, and one of vital moment
. in the case, has come forward and is
. ready to stand the best of identifica-
ton. This witness is J. E. Tennessee,
who believes that on August he saw
Mrs. Cordelia Botkin mail a box that
in. size and general appearance resem-
bled box of candy. Tennessee is pos
tive in his assertions. He recites in
cidents that explain his interest in the
matter, and in plausible way explains
= why he took particular interest in the
ACTIONS of a woman who was unknown
to him. He details an incident that
may be Of the utmost value in the
struggle that Mrs. Botkin must make
for her life, as he carries the chain of
discriminating evidence from Stockton
TO this city.
If Tennessee is not ~rossly in error
he saw Mrs. Botkin deposit at the ferry
postal station in this city box such as
was opened by the unfortunate women
at Dover. Tennessee is a slightly built,
clean shaven, dark complexioned young
man employed at the Philadelphia shoe
store. He is nervous of manner. quick
OF speech and evidently weighted with
a sense of the responsibility Of appear
ing as the accuser of one so seriously
conditioned as Mrs. Botkin. The young
man lives at 666 Sixth street, Oakland
and returns daily TO his home at 8
o'clock in the evening. He mas seldom
ocgnr 70 fr7fr IHa taI cfo IN
the ferry depot, and that is why he re-
members so clearly the incident of !
August 4.
About fifteen minutes before o'clock
on that day. he says. he went to the
postal station on some business con-
nected with the Manila mails. AS he
hastened into the station he met and
almost jostled a woman who was on
the point of depositing a package in the
receptacle for parcels. Tennessee step
ped to one side and would have paid
no further attention to the incident had
the woman not showed evident signs
of uneasiness and annoyance.
She seemed to be disturbed that any
one should have so interrupted her.
Her actions at once attracted Fennes-
see and excited his curiosity. He noted
the woman and her dress and noticed
the box that had been dropped into the
mail The woman, he declares, an
swers the published descriptions of
Mrs Botkin. The box, he says, looked
as If 1t might be box Of candy such
as dealers sell for 80 cents.
When the murders at Dover were so
extensively exploited and Mrs Botkin
was placed under arrest Tennessee re-
called the incident at the ferry postal |
station. He recognized in the picture |
OF Mrs. Botkin that of the mysterious |
woman he had seen at the ferry. He |
compared dates and recalled the fact |
that he had seen the woman on the |
very day and at the very hour that the
poisoned box Of candy was mailed from |
the ferry postal station in this city. |
The postmark on the box completed the |
series Of condolences and Tennessee
decided to give his information and his
opinions to the authorities. He called |
last night at police headquarters and |
made a detailed statement Of what he
knew. He offered to test the ac-
curacy of what be believed to be true
by trying to identify Mrs. Botkin.
He was not permitted to do this, |
however, as the local police do not care
to attempt a veriication of any evil
dence they possess until the Dover de-
tective arrives and supplies the evil
dence which is so necessary to the pros
ecution of Mrs. Botkfn. No one has
been permitted yet to see Mrs. Botkin