The herald., 1898-01-16
FRED PARRlSH'S DEATH
AN OPEN GAS JET SENDS HIM
INTO ETERNITY
Some Suspicious Circumstances Dis
covered, but the Coroner's Jury
Says It Was Asphyxiation

| IOunQ QeaQ In his DeQ at TOoIH - ol III
Vermont lodging house on North Sprin
street. A strong smell of gas whicl
permeated the adjoining rooms led t
the discovery.
Parrish was a horse jockey who ha'
sustained fall during the summe
races of last year at San Francisco, hi
right ankle being broken and h
was permanently disabled as rider
He was treated for his injuries at th'
Fabiola hospital in Oakland. When h
recovered he published. under the name
of A. A. Arnold, pamphlet which ne
called the Arnold Handicapped, anc
placed it upon the San Francisco marke'
at so cents per copy. His circulars
promised to the talent gain of S15 pei
week if they would follow his system
and he offered to place money for his
patrons.
The venture did not pan out a success
and Parrish came to Los Angeles badly
fixed pecuniarily. A week ago the
young man engaged lodgings at the
Vermont and paid in advance. His
health appeared to be delicate and hn
vas rather reticent in speaking of him
self to the inmates of the house, al
though he admitted to Richard Brown,
one of the roomers, that he had been
married twice and had at present a
wife and child whom he expected to ar
rive here tomorrow.
]. A. Radcliff, clerk, who occupies
room 26, was awakened at 4:40 yester-
day morning by strong smell of gas in
his room. He got up and investigated.
Finding that it did not come from his
own gas jet. he called up the people of
the house. John A. White, cook. came
TO the conclusion that the smell ema-
mated from room 81, and attempted to
pry open the lock with an ice pick, but
failed to do so because there was some
substance in the hole. He then went
'nto Radcliffs room and forced open the
door connecting &c and p.
Parrish was in bed. his face covered
with the coverlet and his arms folded
upon his breast. Round his neck tight
ly bound was part of bath towel, which
had been cut into three strips. The
body was lifeless but still warm, and
from the mouth little blood had oozed
IN the sheet. The trunk in which de-
'eased kept his clothes was open and its
'ontents strewed rather promiscuously
round the room. The lock of the
runk was broken and part of it lay on
he floor. There was no key in the door
communicating with the hall, yet it was
ocked. Gas was escaping from the jet
he cock being turned on full, and the
ip of the burner was gone. Under the
bed near the wall We're the deceased's s
shoes in one of which was concealed his
punch of keys and the shoes were so far
back from the front side of the bed that
Parrish must have gone down on his
knees to place them where they were
found. The strangest part of the
Whole affair, however. was the discov-
ary of the hail door key together with a
'ombination pen and pencil holder be-
onging to deceased in the bottom of
oath tub, two rooms away from No. 27.
The theory of Mrs. Mary McGlynn,
)roprietress of the house, and some of
her dodgers is that Parrish got out of
he hall room window after locking his
door, placed the key in the tub and re-
entered the room and locked the win
low. But that is not quite Detective
Ioodman's idea, who has an impression
that foul play from someone whose
Identity is not yet revealed is not un-
reasonable. The fact that Harry
Cooper, another roomer in the house,
found a broken knife blade and the
screw eyes of the door lock escutcheon
IN the floor in the room this morning, is
also extraordinary and hard to explain
9ither way. Room IS was unoccupie1
IN Friday night and the door remained
1nlO Go nd ;,
anything in the detectives theory it was
through this room then that access was
gained into q, although nothing went to
prove that the door between the rooms
had been opened for long time.
Coroner Campbell held an inquest up
IN the body at Orr & Hines last night,
and the testimony was in accordance
with the facts above stated. Other wit
nesses testified that Parrish had played
cards in the parlor until nearly 10 o'clock
1T night on Friday when he retired, and
that he did not seem to be brooding or
preoccupied. DR.. Harry Smith made a
post-mortem examination of the body,
finding finger nail marks upon the alb
domen, pointing upward, as il the nails
had been dug in the skin during a
spasm. The jury was divided as to the
cause of death, some leaning toward
suicide, while the others were disposed
to ascribe 1t to other causes, but they
compromised upon an open verdict OF
by gas.
Parrish had a trunk full Of good
clothes, consisting of a dress suit, Jock
eys' riding boots, tights and jackets, as
we'll as other wearing apparel, but his
purse only contained six cents, and that
was all the money that was discovered
in his room. There were some receipts
showing that he had been connected
with the K. of p. in st. Louis, but it is
believed that he had been suspended.
Among his papers was an agreement by
which he and Cora Cochrane, who had
been living together as husband and
wife, agreed in st. Louis, on July 2, 1891,
to sever their connection and be strang-
ers thereafter to each other.
That he had contemplated suicide last
year was gathered from a letter written
to him, in response to one he had sent
to his mother when confined in the
Fabiola hospital in June of last year. in
which she wrote him thus: IT am sor-
ry to hear you talk as you do about
death. 1t will come soon enough before
you are ready. If you should get killed
where would you spend eternity?"
Parrish was only "a years of age and
claimed to be a native of Boston, bur
his mother, Mrs. Mary Parrish, has re-
sided In Stewartsville, Mo-, for many
years, and the body will be shipped in
q few days to that place for interment
at her request.