The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-07-15
LEES CASTS
MANY LARGE
BOUQUETS
All Directed His Way,
However.
TELLS OF WEBER'S MURDER
HE, HE SAYS. NO ONE ELSE, DE-
SERVES ALL CREDIT.
"Worked Up One Of the Most Re
markable Gases That Ever
Occurred in This
State"
TELLS OF WEBER'S MURDER
HE, HE SAYS. NO ONE ELSE, DE-
SERVES ALL CREDIT.

''Mr. Kovalev was never brought In for
the murder Of the Webers; he was brought
in for the San Jose highway robbery bust
ness, and he was only charged with the
murder Of Mr. Weber after I had worked
up very strong and one of the most re-
markaEle cases that ever occurred in this
State"
The above Is a mild sample Of many
brilliant bouquets Chief Of Police Lees
hurled at himself yesterday, when on the
witness stand in behalf of the State in the
action instituted by John j. OMalley, as
assignee of Wladislaw Zakrewskei, to re-
cover $1,000, the amount of the reward of .
fered by Governor Markham for the de-
lection and conviction of the murderer of
H. L. Weber and his wife, Lizzie M. We
Der.
If the Chief fails to knit together and
patch up the ragged ends of his fame and
incidentally prevent Zakrewskei, the aged
carpenter, from collecting the reward that
In justice belongs to him no one can seri-
ously hold him to account. He is at pres
ent manifesting more life and Axpending
more ill-directed energy in an effort to
accomplish that purpose that the motive
seems to justify, but Lees hasn't much
time left to him and he must make hay
while the sun shines-patch up his fame,
or go down in history as a scintillating ex-
emplification of the false alarm"
His effort on the stand yesterday bore
all the ear marks of studied recitation,
badly gotten up in the first place and
poorly learned. The Chief had quite a
struggle finding space, time and glowing
terms sufficient to portray the majestic
opinion he holds of himself. but he did
fairly well for one OF his decaying mental
faculties
Lees was anxious to get on the stand
and he had no sooner reached the witness
chair than he began to tell his story,
coupled with several verbal bouquets and
as a fms a tale Of woe.
i made. the arrests in these cases my
self" he began
had looked for, but surprise is always
refreshing, SO none commented Later
however when the Chief probably forgot
that he had made the statement that he
had arrested the criminal himselfrhe vol
unteered the information that he was the
man who served the warrant on Kovalev
for the Weber murders several days after
kovalev had been arrested. Later he dis
covered his mistake and said that Kovalev
! had been originally Jailed on suspicion of
| having participated in the highway rob-
berry of William Doteman of San Jose
| Lees, Of course, accorriing to his testi-
| mony, was the man whJ ferreted the pris
oner out and laid the hand OF the Law
upon him.
The forgetful witness then told how he
had worked up the case" against
Kovalev, and how he had ordered two OF
MS IdIneQ SdtelllteS TO go forth and brine
| in four men, among them Kovalev ano
| Zakrewskei, the claimant for the reward
| all being suspected of connection with
| ''the San Jose business"
When the Chief referred to the re.
ward there was a melancholy discord ir
his voice. He told an acquaintance thai
the reward matter did not interest him al
| all. ~ was anxious to unearth this mat.
ter In Sacramento" he said, land the
matter of the reward, after the expenses
We're paid out Of it. did not interest me
| at ALL"
This confession is interesting to all who
are in possession of the facts and remem
Der with smiles the last scramble the
| head of the department made to collect
| the reward he did not earn. Lees mex,
referred to his great generosity in the in.
terest of justice-how he had personally
paid the expenses of his detectives as
they prowled about the country in search
Of clews and from this city to Sacramen
to several times during the trial. This
memory seemed to pain the Chief ant
on that strain he continued. 1.-THE
Board Of Examiners awarded me the
money. 1 sued for 1t in the Superior
Court. / was awarded the money. TIL,
case went to the Supreme Court, ant
upon questions of law l was beaten
Such is his story Of how the aware
slipped through his fingers, and now h,
has joined the forces against the old car
penter to defeat If possible the man who
tried to-help him build a reputation.