The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-15

stand. The first question brought out
objections, and these served to- show
which way the trial was to be directed.
Mead, charged with Vagrancy, must be
shown to be a disreputable character
himself and to have been habitually con-
sorting with disreputable characters-and
the prosecution proceeded to demon
strate that the first and worst of these
was Nettie Mead, his wife. 1t was prac-
tically a retrial of the woman.
The court ruled that the prosecution
could show the character of the asso-
ciates of the defendant regardless of who
they were, and the witness was allowed
to proceed. The woman herself was not
in court. Mr.. Gallagher, counsel for the
defense, by Directing to officers saying
she was the one they saw walking the
streets, nearly had her ordered TO APP
pear and be identified, but the court did
the courtroom crowd, and said SO, and
MIR. Gallagher ceased his objections.
Joys testimony was the same as given
in the trial of the woman-hoW she spoke
to him on the street and invited him
home; how he knew her because he had
seen her few nights before in the
Thalia, an underground resort on Turk
street, where she was seated at table
talking to her husband and two other
women, in whose footsteps she was fast
following. He said Need stood on the
corner and watched while the woman
piled her trade.
Policeman Sylvester, whose beat is on
O'Farrell street, told how he had watched
the woman and had seen her speaking to
men on the street while the defendant
lowered near, but on the other sidewalk
and whistled whenever he saw the officer
in black" He had had his attention
called to her by business man. and his
idea was to watch her until e could es-
For five nights he saw the woman and
the man and then she disappeared from
his beat. He had kept a record of her
comings and goings on a little card, but
when she ceased to roam the streets of
his beat he tore the record to pieces and
thought no more of her until he saw her
under arrest. Policeman G1llen testified
to seeing her aimlessly wandering around
McAllister Jones and Leavenworth
streets and Golden Gate avenue, the de-
PENDANT still keeping his distance on the
other side of the street. but never far
away.
Phillip J; Haskins, then came to tell
clerk. Mrs. Nettie Neao had been CON
victed Of vagrancy, and also of plying the
trade of a fallen woman.
who keeps a lodging house on O'Farrell
street. It was to her that Mrs. Mead had
come to rent room, saying 1t was for
herself and her husband. but 1t was not
the husband, she said, who was the most
frequent visitor there. She spoke to the
woman and asked if her husband knew
lagher,'s objections, the, witness told how
Mrs. Mead had declared that her husband
knew the whole truth. From Mrs Frost's
house Mrs. Mead went to a house kept
by a Mrs. Eta Ralph. and there she met
Tessie Smith and Hattie Roberts, with
whom she and her husband, We're talking
Joy in the Thalia. Mrs. Ralph was called
to tell how she introduced Mrs. Mead to
Tessie Smith and of the manner of life
led by, the two women while they lived
under her roof
A Davis, jeweler, then took the stand
to tell of an encounter he had had with
loo Z
asked him to go home with her and when
he asked her where she lived she pointed
out cigar-store across the street where
the defendant used to do business. He
asked who was the man who stayed in the
cigar-store, and she told him 1t was her
husband; but he need not mind, her hus-
Davis said, too, that one evening she
came into his store to buy locket and
chain, and that when 1t came to the pa
ment for the jewelry she showed herself
to be a woman without shame or virtue.
And then the crowd in the courtroom guf-
fawed and the loungers nudged each other
his chair and said nothing. while the bail
If had to hammer on the desk before the
case could proceed again.
The story was too good to keep, Davis
said, and he had told 1t to a few friends,
and again the bailiff had to hammer on
the desk to keep in check the humorous
disposition of the crowd.
Tessie Smith was the last witness of the
afternoon. She had an interesting story
to tell of how Mead had come to, her, in
the Thalia and had been introduced to her
by his wife. She said he wanted her to
tell him how his wife could escape the
best way in which she could make money
at the Thalia. She gave what advice her
experience had shown her was good. And
Iagher for cross examination. She had to
tell of the life she was leading, and her
efforts to shield herself brought new
for the loungers. who laughed
and joked even after the adjournment and
while they trooped out of the courtroom
and out into the corridor.
The case will go on again Monday.