The San Francisco call., 1899-08-29
COR0NER'S JURY
CHARGES TANNER
WITH MURDER
Had Threatened to
Kill His Victims.
ARMED HIMSELF AND WAITED
CALLED MRS. BARNES AND
BROWN VILE NAMES.
CHALLENGED Brown to Combat, and on
the Challenge Being Accepted
Shot Him and the Woman
Dead.
ARMED HIMSELF AND WAITED
CALLED MRS. BARNES AND
BROWN VILE NAMES.

The Coroner's jury that heard the testi-
| nony at the inquest yesterday morning
upon the bodies of Deputy Sheriff James
| B. Brown and Mrs. Fannie Barnes re-
| turned a verdict charging George TANNER
| with murder in the first degree. Coroner
| Hill disapproved of the verdict, ana upon
| his instructing the jury that verdict OF
murder was all that was necessary under
| Growers Quest" law, the verdict was
| changed to that of murder.
Tanner was present at the inquest
| guarded by Detective Dillon. lie de-
| clined to make any statement. He is
short, thickset man and looks every 1nch
| the sailor with his grizzled beard and
brown skin
The first witness was Louis Mill, pro-
prtetor of the St. Malo lodging house. in
which the shooting was done. He swore
! that Tanner drinking heavily last
| Saturday and that he had had an alter
| cation with Brown downtown, and that
Brown had slapped his face. When Tan
ner saw Mrs. Barnes in the hallway he
| called her vile name and she struck
him across the face with towel that
Tanner demanded of the witness the re-
volver which he had given TO him two
months before for safe keeping. Upon
! Tanner producing permit TO carry
! Tanner came back about half past 4
! o'clock in the afternoon and went to MS
!
then walked up and down the hallway in
| his shirt sleeves in front of the rooms
| occupied by his victims, cursing them
! Shortly after o'clock Brown and Mrs
| Barnes came in. and the witness called
! Brown into his office and told him that
! Tanner had a pistol in his pocket and
was going to kill Brown and Mrs. Barnes.
Brown asked what for. and then said that
/ il was all right. Brown and the woman
went to their room and Tanner began
/ calling them names. Tanner said that II
J uOIld ont into the back VAT0
/ he would show him what the matter was
| Both came out of their rooms, ana Brown
! asked Tanner whether he wanted to fight
| him. to which Tanner replied: 20 no;
! | don't want to fight you. Then Ian,
/ ner showed Brown and Brown caught hold
of Tanner, and a scuffle followed Tan
ner was thrown to the floor, and the
witness seized Tanners hand to pre-
vent him drawing his revolver Brown
drew his pistol. held it by the handle and
threatened to strike Tanner if he did not
desist Then Brown handed a bunch of
keys TO Mill and requested him to open
the police box and summon the ponce, co,,
| il. and when he was returning he heard
! shots and his wife came to the head OF
the stairs and informed him that Brown
was dead. He saw Brown and the woman
| lying on their backs in the hallway,
| dead. ~ -,
that Tanner was "a murderer and had
killed two persons in his house TanneT
was sitting on the side of his bed and
/ arked: 'Oh. tnat : nOlNiHS.
Mrs Marie Mill wife of the preceding
witness. corroborated her husbands tes-
timony. She saw Tanner shoot at Brown
twice, and when Brown feli 70, 70 the a n34l 9jd
what she could for him, because she
liked Mr. Brown and the rest of her
john Lambert, driver of wagon for
Hobbs & Wall. saw Tanner knock at
browns door and heard him call Brown
and ri do you up" When Tanner and
Brown came together Brown drew a re-
volver caught 1t, by the barrel lin in the the
| manner of a club and said: IL XIII
you Brown had one arm around Tan M
ner's neck After Brown got Tanner down
on the floor Brown gave the witness a
bunch of keys and requested him to go
to the partol box and summon the police.
When the witness returned Brown was
dead. NJ -, .
revolver from his waistband and shoot
Brown Mrs. Barnes came running
through the hall screaming, ing, Tan Tanner = eT
tpppea tSpf t 1n@ BTown sh09 ateT he ana had fallen
William Phillips, the next witness, was
not witness to the shooting. but after ate
| Tanners arrest the witness asked Tan
ner ari'1yf why he had killed Brown and Mrs,
Barnes, and Tanner replied: 1 had 10
| do It,"
ness had a talk with Tanner at about
half past o'clock in the afternoon, and
took took s'just one drink with Tanner out of
| q quart bottle or WHISKY tldl tlieI Ldu
He was under the influence of liquor and
told her that he had been to the jail to
see Brown and to inform him OF Mrs.
| Barnes conduct, he having heard that
the woman had been in back room OF
the Hoffman saloon with some man or
men He and Brown went to the Hon.
man that night to watch for her in case
she should go there again.
When Brown and the woman came
home a short time before the tragedy
Brown spoke of having struck Tanner In
the face when they had met downtown
She had had that: morning with Tanner
when she slapped his face.
At the time of the shooting Mrs. Phil
lips was in her room and did not see the
shots fired.
when he arrested Tanner mmediate!
said that he did the killing larz in self-de, de-
was not so drunk that he didn't know
what he was doing. nj,
The prisoner was taken before, Police
Judge Conlan and was instructed as tc
his rights. His preliminary examination
was set for September /.