The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-28

the one worn by the mysterious woman
who purchased the poison
The garment has been inspected by Of
ficer John P. Herlihy. who saw the
woman tear the label from the bottle
while waiting for the car on the corner of
Devisadero and Geary streets; by George
Purlenky, who sold the woman the poi
son, and by Oliver T. Cox, the gripman
on the Geary street cable car, who identi-
fed Mrs. Adams as the woman who
boarded his car at 900 on that Sunday
night in front of the drug store. All
three say it is the same in appearance
and texture as that which was worn by
the woman They will not, however,
swear that it is the same cape, and in this
fact the defense will find its only ray of
hope.
The garment is the property of a mem
Der of the Kenney family, whose resi-
dence adjoins the Tyrrell house on Park
er avenue, where Mrs. Adams lived with
her father and brothers The TyrrelI
both she and her daughter have all along
been stanCh believers in the innocence
lieve she did not kill her child and de-
clare positively that the cape which the
police are so elated over finding never
to their knowledge adorned the shoulders
of Mrs. Adams They are certain that
Mrs. Adams did not borrow 1t on the
Sunday night she is alleged to have pur-
chased the carbolic acid at Loehr's drug
store.
Sergeant Duke says it has not been de-
cided TO offer the cape in evidence, but
in view of the Importance with which
the police appear to regard the find there
is little doubt that the jury will be given
a chance to examine the garment, hear
the evidence in connection Herewith and
then be asked to form their own opinion
as to whether 1t had any connection with
the death Of the murdered child.
1--WE may not offer the cape in evil
dence," said Sergeant Duke last night,
"as we may not be able to positively
Adams when she purchased the poison,
but we have plenty of evidence to convict
her without that, with some to. spare"
The value of the cape as evidence, could
it be positively identified, can be better
understood when it is recalled that the
only flaw in officer Herlihy's positive
woman he saw come from the drug store
and board the car, as well as in that of
Cox, was the fact that the woman wore
a cape, while it was shown that Mrs
Adams had not owned a garment of tina t
description for at least five years.
There are some discrepancies in the
points of time on which much of the case
against Minnie Adams hangs. There is
a precious seven minutes that may mean
the difference between conviction and &C
quittal and until that that space Of time Is :
spot in the case of the prosecution.
Oliver 7. Cox, gripman on the Geary
street nfle, Is the one responsible IOT the
discrepancy. He was called at the
preliminary examination yesterday after
noon to tell how, on the night or
March II. his car was boarded at Geary
and Devisadero streets by a woman
whom he afterward learned, he says, was
Minnie Adams. She was standing on
as he stopped the car to allow a passen-
ger to get off she got on the dummy and
sat on the side seat and just behind him.
Cox went on to say he noticed the wo-
man particularly, because there was
standing on the same corner a police
man who looked after her as the car
went on and she looked back at him.
Cox looked back also, he says. and then
being curious to know where the woman
lived, he watched her when she got off
at Parker avenue and saw her go down
toward where other testimony showed
Mrs. Adams lived. The Importance of
this is manifest when 1t is compared with
the statement made by the woman who
bought carbolic acid from the druggist
on Devisadero and Geary streets. The
woman who bought the acid gave her
name as Mrs. Creighton and her address
as 325 Point Lobos avenue, which was
afterward found to be a vacant lot. Po-
liceman Herlihy, who was watching her.
says she was the same woman who
boarded the westbound Geary street car,
supposed to be Cox's car, and Cox says
she got off at Parker avenue and walked
toward the Tyrrell house, where Mrs.
Adams lived.
The seven minutes came in just there,
however. Cox testified that his car on
the trip during which the woman boarded