The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-04

naming is that one is in office and the
other hopes to be. AS to the tariff, the
| state OF facts is analogous, or even a
| trifle more. On all other issues there is
a uniformity of opinion, save that the
| disagreement is slightly stronger. l
| feel, now that the explanation is down
| in black and white, that it may be in
| adequate, but 1t is all l know of the
subject and I am grateful at knowing
so much.
| The case of Mrs. Botkin has served
| to bring into notice many unenviable
| traits of human nature. No sooner had
| the woman been accused of murder
| than uprose cloud of harpies anxious
to proclaim her guilt but laboring un-
der the disadvantage of not knowing
anything about the matter one way or
another. Their savageness had been
aroused by the chance to inf1ict pain.
1t was showing of the modified in
stinct which in ruder days impelled the
populace to turn thumbs down when
the worsted gladiator fell powerless AT
this writing Mrs. Botkin is still in jail.
So far as 1 have been able to observe
there has as yet appeared no good rea-
|
| charged on flimsy evidence which was
| dissipated the moment it came into the
| light All that now remains is the
doubtful word of Dunning that she
wrote the anonymous letters which had
annoyed his wife. The banded females
who indicated a Willingness to tell all
they knew and expedite the journey of
Mrs. Botkin toward the gallows had
| nothing to tell, being actuated appar-
| emily by a sweet and tender sympathy
| of which they may be proud for the
rest of their days. The police are MAX
| ing much ado over the fact that
handkerchief enclosed in the fatal box
of candy had been purchased at GER
tain shop in this city. l fail to grasp
the Importance of the point. Necessar-
| lily a handkerchief is purchased some
| where, and on the day this particular
| one was bought there were doubtless
several women besides Mrs. Botkin in
San Francisco. The murQer of Mrs.
Dunning and her sister, if murder it,
| was, was crime so peculiarly afro
| cious there could be no tendency to
shield the guilty wretch, and sex would
| be no protection were the assassin a
woman. 1t does not follow that the first
| woman Lees chances to incarcerate
must be convicted. There is certainly
no shadow of justice in lot of report
ers of either gender and of no gender
returning an adverse verdict based on
their own excited lack of information.
Perhaps Mrs. Botkin is guilty. 1 would
not venture to deny it. She is weak
and foolish woman, in distress, almost
friendless. Therefore let her arbit-
rarily be condemned. 1t is the way OF
this pleasant world.
To know that in every emergency
there appears the man is comforting
thing. Yet, even knowing this, it is
almost impossible to look forward to
| the time the country shall be without
its w. r. Hearst, and not feel a thrill
| of apprehension. And what shall Cali
fornia do when Andy Lawrence shall
have been called to his fathers or
somewhere? Hearst is the American
people and Andy is the State. When
Hearst hoists himself above the hori-
zon and gives voice to the sentiment of
the great nation which centers under
his hat there may be at first an i'm
pulse to accuse him of an egotism
| =
haste may term him a ribald jester or
solemn and ponderous ass. They
formed this opinion when he made his
| latest display in sending congra tula-
tons to the wife of Dreyfus. He did
! not send them as from an American
citizen. No. He sent them as from the
American people. Good. Let no cap
tious critic ask him for a sight at his
| ~, efo ,,Ia
| banner, bearing aloft the eagle, his
| noble personality attracts the eye of
| the universe, and as he capers he is at
| least good as monkey show. Those
who will not concede to him the posi-
Iation of the materialized Spirit of the
Republic must acknowledge that as a
monkey show he is all right. The quail
| ity of the Hearst nerve Is made mani
fest by recollection that a few months
| ago his papers contained a statement
purporting to be from Nine. Dreyfus,
| and which she denounced as totally
| false, as everybody supposed it to be.
| Yet he rises superior to the fact Of
| being gently branded as liar, and
| jumps at the chance to revivify the
waning memory of that circumstance.
| He will not abandon the headship of
this people for the selfish happiness of
| keeping his unhallowed personality
from view. And little Andy, too. He
demands that the Seventh California
be mustered out, labels his message as
from the citizens Of California, and the
order for mastering out comes. To be
sure the order had already been forrnu-
lated, but, not having access to news
facilities, Andy did not know this, and
| he is not of a sort to permit the ham i
| pering verities to blemish his glory.
They are great pair. Either one will
acknowledge it. Hearst Is forty-five
| times the greater, for he is all the
States, and Andy but one, and yet on
that justly celebrated monument the
| boss is trying to have the country erect
to his honor, there ought to be niche
| for the name of Andy.
| Phil Francis Of the Stockton Mail
| rails against the utility of college
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