The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-04-27
.STARR'S FATE
REMAINS TO
Be SOLVED
No Trace of the Oak Knoll
Ranch Superintendent
Found.
sleoiaI Dispatch to The Call.

PASADENA, April 26.-Hillary S.
Starr, superintendent Of the Oak Knoll
ranch, the man supposed to have been
murdered Monday night. has not been
found, nor has anything been learned
which dispels in any degree the mys-
terry surrounding his sudden disappear
ance. Sheriff Hammil, Deputy Mamma
han, D-.y Marshal Lacey and a num-
Der Of others have been searching every
ravine and canyon within a mile Of the
ranch house, with the aid of blood
hounds, trying in vain TO get a trace of
the missing man, and it is now pro-
posed to dredge Wilson's Lake. a body
of water not very far from the ranch.
to see whether the body might have
been thrown into that hiding place.
All manner of theories are enter
tanned to account for his disaD-
pearance, but the one receiving gen
eral credence is stn that of foul play
There seems to have been nothing
whatever that would cause him to
either take his own life or run away
from home, and both these ideas are
secuted by his wife, his brother.
Charles Starr, S. R. Smith. manager.
oak Knoll ranch, all of whom are
most positive in their statements that
he was in the best of health. and that
his family and other relations were
pleasant and happy They also agree
IN the statement that he had no enc
mics. and that he was on the best of
terms with his brother and all the en-
ployes Of the ranch. Mrs. Starr. who is
e oT,;I
heartbrOken with grief at the sudden
disappearance of her husband. and is
very confident that it was through no
voluntary act Of his that he is now
missing She says she has known her
husband and his brother, Charles. since
the former was IA years of age: that
they went to school together at the lit
tie town Of Hoehne, Colo, twelve miles
from Trinidad. Since coming to Cali
fornia they lived for about four years
q Riverside, where her husband
worked in a packing house for S. r.
Smith, the same man under whom he
is now working at the Oak Knoll
ranch.
Mr.. Smith speaks very highly of
Starr, and he is confident also that his
disappearance is not due to any vol
untary act Of his own. There was $500
IN the bank to STAIRS credit as super
intendent Of the ranch, and of this
amount he drew but 5000 on last Fri
day, and had already used almost the
entire amount in paying off the hands
and other necessary expenses. Starr
was to meet Messrs. Smith and ROsen-
baum at Los Angeles on Tuesday to
talk over matters pertaining to the
management of the ranch, and it was
on Monday evening that he disap-
peared. There is only one point that
might be thought to indicate that Starr
is yet alive.
August FRANKIE, the German shoe
maker living near the ranch, says he
saw on Monday evening between and
9 o'clock a man answering the general
description of Starr running across the
ravine near the ranch and that when he
halloed at him he only ran the faster.
The footprints made in the plowed
ground at that point were measured
and found to correspond very closely
10 those Of Starr, who wore a ~ shoe.
The lake will be dragged tomorrow
and possibly the mystery may then be
cleared to some extent
Mrs. Starr says her husband was in
the habit Of going to the pumphouse
every night about 10 o'clock to see that
the gasoline engine was properly at
tended to so that it would run the
pump all night, and quite often he
would be gone till midnight when the
pump or engine would happen to be out
Of order.
Charles Starr says his brother re-
ported seeing somebody hanging about
the hedge a few nights ago and that
he armed himself with the revolver
(Which was afterward found in the
grass at the pumphouse) in order to be
ready for anything that might come.
That it was a worthless weapon was
plainly shown by the fact that when
found three cartridges were snapped,
but had not exploded.