The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-08-31

material progress has been mace, al
though the local authorities are forti-
fed with the scraps of evidence sup
piled by Detective McVey from Della
ware. The Chief of Police is summon
ing every one who has thus far hg-
ured in the case with promise OF FUR
nishing a clew or adding fact that
may have a bearing upon the solution
of the mystery. No definite testimony
involving the guilt of Mrs. Botktn has
been obtained and the inspection or
the poisoned candy and the bonbon box
has tended to weaken rather than
strengthen the case Of the prosecution.
There were in the tragic story yester-
day three important developments.
The first resulted from the interview
with Mrs. Botkin which was published
exclusively yesterday in The Call. This
interview was the first free expression
made by the accused woman since her
arrest, and it cleared away for the first
time the obscurity of her position and
her plan of defense. The police and
the public knew this morning that Mrs.
Botkin will base her fight for life upon
an aHbi. The second important de-
velopment of the day was the dramatic
appearance of Mrs. A. Raouf, the
woman In whose home Mrs. Botkin
spent many hours on a bed of danger
Gus illness while the plot against Mrs.
Dunning and Mrs. Deane was being
Matched. A day of varied incident and
some exciting scenes closed with an
abortive attempt of the authorities to
indict Mrs. Botkin before the local
Grand Jury.
Shortly after her arrest Mrs. Botktn
made a detailed statement of her move
ments to the Chief of Police. In this
statement the accused woman confined
her recital to the days during which
her actions may have been OF moment
The material part of her story began
with July q, when she left this city
for Stockton TO visit her husband and
son. She remained at Stockton until
the evening of July 80, when she re-
turned to her apartments at the We
toria in this city. Illness confined her
to her rooms until the afternoon of Au-
gust 8, when she paid a visit to a friend
during which she accounts for her
movements. On the afternoon or Au-
Just 4, at $3.50 o'clock, she took the
Tiburon ferry steamer on her way to
st. Helena.
Mrs. Botkin explained every move
ment that could suggest itself as ma
teriaI. She denied enphatically that
she had ever at any time purchased
the smallest amount Of candy at
Stockton. This statement is in the
possession of the Chief of Police and
has not yet been shaken in the slight
est particular. Every fact in 1t has
been verified and no one has appeared
to say positively that during the period
covered the accused woman did any
thing that she has not freely admitted.
The exclusive publication in The Call
of her assertion of innocence and her
plan OF defense has seriously disturbed
the other morning newspapers of this
city.
A representative of one Of them
sought and obtained yesterday an in
terview with Mrs. Botkin, who inform
ed the reporter that her interview rub
1ished in The Call was in every partic-
ular absolutely correct. In the course
of a general conversation not bearing
directly upon the case, Mrs. Botkin
digressed to discuss the episode sup
piled by ]. E. Tennessee. The accused
woman remarked that every one agreed
that she could not have been the
woman who acted so strangely at
the ferry postal station. That being
the case, Mrs. Botkin suggested that 1t
might be a wise endeavor on the part
of the detectives to try and discover
who the mysterious woman really was.
They might be rewarded for their sue
cess, she said, by discovering the cruel
assassin who had taken the lives of
Mrs. Dunning and Mrs. Deane Fur
TO talk, except to say that she was we'll
and hopeful of the outcome
Early yesterday morning Mrs A.
Rauof arrived at police headquarters
accompanied by Detective Wren. Mrs
Rauof came all the way from Heads
burg to tell the police what she knows
of the affairs of Mrs. Botkin. The
visitor was closeted for hours with the
Chief of Police, but after her long talk
was over she had added no material
oct 10 hn ovid I'D No. i
no information that has not already
been published. She verified Mrs
Botkin's assertion that she had been
i'll at Stockton from the morning of
July % to the evening of July 30
Mrs. Botkin was occasionally hysterical
and Mrs. Rauof thought unusually
suspicious on incidental matters
AS Mrs. Rauof very frankly confesses
that she is not friendly with Mrs. Bot
kin, her construction Of the latter's ac-
tions will probably be taken for what
it is worth. Mrs. Rauof also told the
Chief of Police that Mrs. Botkin once
sought from her $500 with which to as
sist John p. Dunning in his necessi-
ties. This naturally led to a discus
sion Of the relations existing between
Dunning and Mrs. Botkin, but Mrs
Rauof could tell nothing more than
was already generally known. Dun
ming and the accused woman were very
friendly. Whatever else there may
have been between them Mrs. Rauof
did not know.
In her interview with the Chief of
Police yesterday Mrs. Rauof carried
the authorities no nearer to a solution
of the mystery than other witnesses
have done. She knew nothing t4at
shed light as actual evidence upon the
murder. She knew, as many others
know, and Dunning admits, that he and
Mrs. BotlSin were very friendly But
Dunning was friendly with several
other women, who have not yet been
found by the police. Dunning was
frequent visitor to the race tracks, to
Ingleside and Emeryville. He had
passes to both tracks and used them
very often. He sought and obtained
many passes for his women friends
Horsemen, gamblers, jockeys and track
followers will tell the police, II inquiry
be made, that Dunning went often to
the tracks, but not often In the COM
pany of the same women.
He admits himself that he was on
terms of intimacy with at least three.
and the frequenters Of the racecourses