The San Francisco call., 1901-10-14
Special Dispatch to Tie Call.

- AN JOSE, Oct. 13.-Aloha Agnew,
@ fifteen years old, will be the he
~ roine of Santa Clara County if
- she lives; for she has made a fight
at the risk of her life to save her
mother from murder at the hands
of an insane man.
Early this morning Charles Douglas, a
rancher living about seven miles south
east of San Jose, entered his wife's room
and struck her with a large bone, the
femur of an OK or a horse. Blow after
blow was struck, Mrs. Douglas struggling
to escape from the pinioning bed clothes.
In the next room, Aloha, the daughter
of Mrs. Douglas by her first husband,
heard the crash and cries and rushed to
her mothers help. She knew where a re-
volver lay, and she seized the heavy 45-
caliber weapon. At the door she pointed
the weapon at her stepfather and pulled
the trigger three times. but it failed to ex-
plode. Then she grappled with the man,
so insanely bent on murder. She is not
a big child nor strong for her age, but
she, fought like uger cub tor her
Douglas used the great bone upon her,
striking such blow that his weapon was
broken and splintered. The girl fell
6ckita to the m foor rann and the madman man.
her throat. Twice he wound it
around her neck then knotted it, drawing
the ends SO tightly that she could barely
but he forced her to the bed where his
battered wife lay. Then he left the room.
Aloha, as soon as she knew the maniac
had gone managed to get upon her feet
and somehow made her way to the near
est house, the Ridleys', an eighth of i
mile away. When she fell against their
door she could not talk and was gasplng
for breath. The rope was still tied about
her neck and had to be cut away She
motioned for pencil and paper and while
still striving for breath. wrote in short,
broken sentences an outline of the horri-
bic story. These memoranda are stained
with the blood from her wound
Mamma all~eut with bone Hurry up.
| started run and he made me get back
to bed. Mamma saw
~ am afraid mamma is dying I am
afraid he will get away before we get.
Hurry. He knows l am up and gone
81 am afraid | am going to die before
| see mamma | am afraid mamma is
dead Get over before he gets away"
Summons for Officers.
Ridley and another neighbor hastened to
the nearest telephone, three miles away.
to notify the the Sheriff As they left the
soon as you can if mamma is all right
She has not spoken since the blow was
struck. Her tongue and the side of her
face are paralyzed, the fractured bones
of the skull having been forced upon the
BRAIN
Before the Sheriff's posse arrived Mrs
Douglas staggered into the Ridleys'.
mass of blood. dragging her three-year-oId
girl, Erma Agnew a five-months baby.
the child of her second husband she had
been unable to bring, and it was still
peacefully sleeping in its cradle when the
Sheriff arrived.
At few minutes after A O'Clock the
Sheriff s office received the teIephone
message and a posse consisting of Sheriff
Langford, Deputies Bache, Starbird and
Arthur Langford went to the scene of
the crime. A hurried search was made of
the premises, but near neighbor had
seen horse and buggy answering the
description of Douglas, driving towards
San Jose, and consequently the posse was
divided. Two deputies hurried back to