The San Francisco call., 1898-01-04
HOFFMAN
 GHOST STALKS Police and Coroner Lock Horns Over DOw'S
 Death. Significant Assertion Made by Deceased to the Dalzell
 Woman. pr. Gallagher Says Either Wound Would Have Caused Uncon- sciousness-Time Fixed.

PiOpilctOf Ol tHe SnOOlluS gallery at S15 Kearny street, committed suicide; the Coroner and his deputies, after a thorough autopsy performed on the re-. mains, swear by the Dog star that it would have been an utter impossibil- ity for the man to have shot himself even second time after he received the first wound. The antagonism be- tween the two theories is so similar that the ghost of the Hoffman case would surprise nobody by rising up and extending its hands in welcome to the disturbing elements.
 Several important things have tran spired since the murder or suicide that lend interest to both theories. The police are more confident than ever that they are on the right track-so very much so, in fact, that one of the most important witnesses, the DalZell woman, has been discharged from cus- tody as the result of her statements. Witnesses have come to the fore and definitely decided one thing at least, and that is that the time of the shoot ing was about 1:30 a. m., Saturday.
 To take the police end first, Detec- tice Crockett reported to Captain Bo- hen late last evening that he was con vinced the case is one of suicide. The Dalzell woman was brought forward to make a statement, the result of which was that she was discharged from GUS tody.
 In the first place she asserted that the dead man had been in the habit of carrying the weapon with which the deed was done around in his pock- cts for several months. The police re- gard this as very important, inas- much as it would tend to show that the man who carried the revolver would be likely to be the one that used it.
 Last Friday" she said, 'I took a notion that I would like to celebrate the New Year, and asked for a day off. Dow told me to go ahead and cele- brate, but he wanted none of it in his and said that he did not know if he would ever celebrate anything again."
 That ended the matter so far as the Captain was concerned, and the woman was honorably discharged from custody, leaving the police in a cheerful mood. But not so the Coro- 1 ner branch of the local detective ser vice. When it comes to them there is ! a distinct hitch. They bank much on ! the fact that Crockett discovered a | hitherto unknown door leading from ] the back of the gallery into the yard in the rear, and also on the result of i the autopsy to uphold their theory of murder.
 ! Dr. Gallagher performed the autopsy | on Dow's remains yesterday after noon. He found three bullet wounds | in the right side of the head. One was in the right temple and the other 1 two immediately behind and just above the region of the right ear | They all made separate perforations, and all passed half way through the brain. All the wounds showed powder stains, and all were scared and burnt.
 Any of them would have produced 1 death," asserted Dr. Gallagher, but | perhaps not instantly. One thing is certain-any one of the wounds would have produced instant unconscious ness, and no man could have shot himself the second time after receiving the first. The man must have been shot late Friday evening or early Sat urday morning, as decomposition had set in
 Three witnesses have now come for ward and fixed the time of the shoot ing definitely as about 1:30 a. m. Sat urday. They are Fred Levers, pro- prietor of the saloon at SIS Kearny street: W. P. Griffin, the barkeeper, and Dick Seymour, a constant hanger on at the saloon. Levers came over to the Morgue last night and informed l heard the shots at that hour and the others had also. O'Brien went over and interviewed the barkeeper, who agreed with Levers. Seymour ran across the way to the International Holet to see if the shooting occurred there. All describe the shots as hav- ing a much longer interval between the first one and the last two than be- tween the last two.
 J. w. Johnson, proprietor of the shooting gallery. eXplodes the state ments of Messrs. Childers and Little by the statement that the door of the Dow shooting gallery was closed and no light within at S:30 D. m. Saturday. He went there with his wife to pay a visit and discovered that fact. John son inclines to the murder theory, as he says Dow was cheerful and told him only last Wednesday that he in- tended to place knife rack in the gallery. He also says that the dead man wore a gold ring now missing.
 Coroner Hawkins impaneled a jury yesterday to hold an inquest, the date not yet being set, composed of the fol- lowing:
 George Hinkel, 53S Market street; B. Anthes, 52S Market; J. Lehman, 52t Market; O. Feudner 416 Market; James Goddard, 40 Market; c. Mont gomery, 400. Market; F. Hammer. 21: Market; J. Stroufe, POS Market; J. R Barricklo, 13S Market.
 Considerable attention has been di- rected to an anonymous letter re- ceived by the Coroner yesterday. Ii !, was evidently mispelled and otherwise made crude in appearance for a pur- pose It reads as follows:
 Coroner. Confidential. if you are smar you can find a klew. short, stout man red hair with very shady reputation and chum of the black-haired girl. wa. seen on Kearny street Saturday night hon he cha J,,ey