The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-14
Dramatic Scene With Candy
Girls in Courtroom and
Prison.


vel that, if the blood be on her soul or it
be free of this stain, she shrinks from
an ordeal the outcome of which could
hardly be other than conviction. Through
her counsel she will make as hard a fight
as the cunning of the law can devise
against being transferred TO a distant
and hostile commonwealth. Extradition is
sought, it will be combated, and to-mor-
row the struggle is to open.
Ever since the arrest of Mrs Botkin.
charged with double murder, the assump-
ton that she is the malign wretch who
committed the deed has been apparent in
almost every act of official procedure
Strangely enough, some of the papers of
this city have taken a similar view, and
instead of setting forth dispassionately
the facts as they have been developed. or
the surmises as the detectives chose to
give them currency, have steadily tried to
darken the outlook for the prisoner, to be-
little the possibility that she may be a
victim of circumstances, to exaggerate
every scrap of evidence tending to make
more deep the shadows about her. to
throw aside such information as pointed
TO the chance of innocence. Two women
had been murdered, a sacrifice was de-
handed, and here was a convenient VIC
tim for the altar. The animus of this
journalistic course may be left to the con-
lecture of intelligence.
There would be no warrant for the de-
claration that Mrs. Botkin had been
wrongfully accused. There are things
which must be explained away, for they
stand between her and the hope of free
dom, but It does not follow that these
cannot be explained away. Much has
been made of trifles. Anybody who has
followed the case closely will admit this
Perhaps despite the familiarity of the
pubic with published details, a brief re-
view would not be amiss.
After having partaken of some candy
Mrs. DunninG and Mrs. Deane, of Dover
Del, died with every symptom of arsenical
poisoning. Analysis of the candy showed
tity; Investigation established that the
candy had been received through the
mails. that the fatal package had been
purchased in San Francisco, that it had
been consigned to the postoffice August l.
There was inclosed In the package a note
coQched in friendly terms, but only signed
Mrs. c. Ali the aStuteneSs of the po-
lice of two States has failed to estab-
fish the identity of Mrs c." with any
approach Of certainty. There was also in
the box small handkerchief. The pur-
chase of the candy at the confectionery
establishment of Haas has been confirm
cd. II was found that the box was of
KIND used only in this city by Haas.
countless similar boxes have been sold.
The sale of box of candy in a large
store devoted to this purpose does not
create sensation. One girl thought she
x.
There were details of the transaction
which had to be called to her mind by
another girl, who had apparently taken
strange interest in a sale so common
The handkerchief was from the stock of
local store known as the City of Paris
the Importance of this, in the absence of
any recollection that Mrs. Botkin was in
the store on the day of the sale, the lay
MIND 1alls to grasp. There can be no de-
NAL that the natural place to secure
candy IS candy-store. and that one in
II "A rCh OF xr-n,1
dry goods store. No one at either con-
Germ has identified Mrs. Botkin. and there
Will be no denial Of the assertion that on
the day of sale there were other women
In the city, and doubtless a number of
them went shopping.
suspicion was directed toward Mrs
ming were known 10 have been intimate
They had been companions at the race
track and in revelry. He had made of her
coniidante. He had squandered money
IN her company, and when he was penni-
less, out of work and in distress she had
given him funds for his pressing needs
they had exchanged letters every line
breathing affection. Yet he had a wife
and child, and she a husband At the
same time Dunning made long distance
love TO her he was writing to Mrs Dun
ming, and that faithful woman never
thought that her lot had been cast with a
Diackguard, and died not knowing Dun
ming unworthy. For this episode In Mrs
Botkin's career there can be no palliation
ana hopouy would think of framing an
excuse. She is woman of mature years,
with son % years old. All her life she
seems to have been frivolous, with an in
clination toward a series Of experiences
such as society classes among improprie-
ties. 1t would seem that carousal has
been her idea of joy. She appears to lack
which make clear to ordinary perception
the niceties of life. Shallow vain and inn
prudent there has nothing been shown to
prove that she ever felt in her heart the
That he &c IT,
cell she has herself to thank. Had she
lived as wife and mother is supposed to
play of her mode of life she would not
have been singled out as a monster and
an effort been made. not to find if she is
guilty or innocent. but to make plain that
she is guilty. That this is the accepted
belief of the authorities must be acknowI-
edged. In measure, as intimated they
much of the work has fallen to women
reporters, and that they have cheerfully
essayed the task of giving a member of
their sex an impetus toward a felon's
doom is generally recognized. Mrs. Bot
KIN calls them petticoated pests" and
cannot be blamed. In their analyses of
and ever bitter.
To the public mind, aside from the nat
ural prejudice created by the exposures of
the past of Mrs. Botkin, there is a single
circumstance which weighs against her.
Ihis Is the purchase of arsenic There was
no secret about the purchase; she made a
pected to put the drug, and is understood
to claim that she can demonstrate that it
was employed in the bleaching of a hat.
No vast Importance can attach TO fhe
occasional hysteria which is credited to
Mrs. Botkin, with intent to damage One
OF the privileges of femininity is mysteries.
The value, of certain anonymous letters
will depend upon the possibility of tracing
the authorship to the prisoner In this
process the word of Dunning will cut a
figure, and the word of Dunning. the man
who has acted In a way so despica BILE as
to find not single defender, is at a dis
count. These truths are cited to show
there are two sides to the question. One
side has been overlooked.
AS to the tendency to exaggerate trifles, |
there needs only to be mentioned an arti-
Gle in the Chronicle of Monday, wherein |
was much ado about the finding of a
string and seal such as are used to dec |
crate Haas boxes of candy. These arti- |
Giles were found in a room once occupied |
by Mrs. Botkin, but in which she had not |
been for more than a month. Such a |
would a burned match or the butt of q |