The San Francisco call., 1903-09-08

wy met her death throuPh acci-
dent, and 1 am innocent of
the crime that busy neigh
bors are trying to fasten on me-
K. Green, the husband of the late Mrs
Elvira J. Scales Green, the well-known
writer and relative of 'BiII Nye," raised
his hands over his head and took a SOL
emn oath that he was bIameless He
sat in the very room lighted by the gas
jet through which the deadly monoxide
poured on the evening of August q and
ended the life of the woman.
Seated next to him while he made his
statement was Mrs. Laura La Schelle
the divorced woman, who, it is alleged
was attentive to Green previous to his
wife's untimely taking of. She took part
IN the conversation and assured The Call
representative that she and Mrs. Green
were the best of friends. The reason she
came back from Pajaro she said, was to
attend the funeral and take charge of
the house. She stated this was at the
earnest request of Mrs. Green prior to
her death.
MRS La Schelle is now housekeeper to
Green. and it is her presence in the house
at lo9 Third street that is causing so
much gossip in Watsonville. The resi-
dents Of this city are still talking about
the death of Mrs. Green County officials
are still investigating the matter and ~
they can find semblance of guilt on the
part of the husband will hale him into
the Superior Court and prosecute him.
SHERIFF WILL REPORT.
Sheriff H. V. Trafton has been here for
the past week investigating the case He
LEFT tonight to report what he has learned
to District Attorney Benjamin X. Knight
of Santa Cruz So far he has no tangible
evidence against the husband He has
his theories and he expects to prove
within short time that Green can tell
more than he does about the alleged ac-
cident.
District Attorney Knight is wroth at
the county officials for not informing him
Immediately that the circumstances sur
rounding the death of Mrs Green were
mysterious He says he would have had
an opportunity of sitting the entire mat
ter and fixing the blame, If there was
any, on the proper party. Sheriff Trafton
was the one who started the investiga-
ton. He received an anonymous COM
munication a few days after the death
of Mrs Green which read as follows
Il presume that you have seen in the
papers that Mrs Elvira j. Green met her
death by the gas route. From one who
knows the inside. If you would investi-
6dtS thS ludlleI, you might ma IndL Lne
death was not as accidental as 1t seemed
to be-
Sheriff Trafton was 10th to pay atten-
ton to the communication. The anony-
nous writer, however, suggested that if
he desired to learn more he might put
an advertisement In one of the papers
that III. V. 7. would like to learn more"
and he would call upon him and give him
the desired information. The Sheriff
thereupon advertised and his unknown
correspondent called upon him and en-
lightened him considerably about the
daily life of Mr. and Mrs. Green and
said something about Mrs. La Schelle.
The Sheriff reported what he had
learned to the District Attorney and the
latter advised Trafton to investigate, The
latter came to Watsonville a few days
after the inquest and found that the
Coroner,s jury, which, was composed of
j. H. McEwen. D.. Alexander, ]. Ken
naugh, J.. J. King, N. A. Uren and 1.
Mendelson, brought IN verdict of ac-
cidental death through gas asphyxiation.
The evidence at the inquest was given
by Green, Dr. E. Z. Briggs, who was
called In after the death of the woman.
and c. p Terwalliger, the husband of
Mrs. Green's niece. Green testified SUBJ
stantially; as follows;
TESTIMONY OF GREEN.
/ retired between and 10 o'clock last night
and left my wife sitting up. reading. was
soon asleep. / was awakened by being asked
by her If I heard the train come in. She
was preparing to retire at the time (about
30 30 p M. In a drowsy way l answered
Yes something TO that effect, and must
have fallen asleep again Immediately.
know nothing that happened afterward
til at some time between 1 and o'clock 1
awoke with strange feeling of heplessness.
knew something was wrong but could not
understand what it was l knew help was
needed and began cropping for the door. At
last found it and crawled into the hall.
My nephew. Mr.. Terwiliger. and his wife,
occupied across the hall. They came
to the door and discovered that gas was es-
Gaping from the jet where 1t had been burn
ing at the time retired.
DR.. Briggs testified that he was called
in at o'clock in the morning and on
his arrival found Mrs. Green dead. He
said the woman had been dead half an
hour. He testified that he then attended
Green, who was suffering from the poison.
Terwilliger corroborated Green by say
ing that he was aroused by his calls and
opened the door and noticed the sicken-
ing odor of escaping gas. He said he
jumped over Green and opened the WIN
dows and doors and then tried to save
Mrs. Green, but he was too late.
Green was subjected to a close examina-
tiOn last Saturday night by District At