The San Francisco call., 1904-03-25

answered that ordinarily he was not,
but in this case he said he felt entirely
justified.
William Rosello came to the stand
for a moment, but was excused. He
occupied the room vacated by Mrs.
Botkin at the Victoria Hotel in June,
1898, and is said TO have found on the
floor lump of what is claimed to be
arsenic, which was turned over to the
police. The prosecution was not ready
to introduce proof of the character of
the substance at this time and Rosel-
los testimony, will be recorded later.
NURSED MRS. BOTKIN.
Mrs Almirah Ruoff was the next and
last witness of the day. Her testimony
took up the remainder of the morning
session and all of the afternoon She
first made the intimate acquaintance
of Mrs. Botkin in 1891 when she
nursed her during three weeks ILL
ness, although she had been intimately
acquainted with the defendants sis
ter, Fanny for many years. When
Mrs. Botkin was convalescent, witness
accompanied her to the home of Rev.
Mr.. Mcclure in Oakland and remain
ed there as an inmate of the house
hold. Some days after their arrival
Mrs. BOtkin told the nurse that John
p. Dunning would call that evening
house without letting other members
of the family know of it. Dunning
called and was admitted and went to
Mrs. Botkin's roo1i1 He called subse-
quently and was admitted in the same
manner.
The next time Mrs. Ruoff saw Dun
ming and Mrs. Botkin together was at
927 Geary street. She had made ar
rangements to spend the night with
ATrc lii,
at 10 o'clock she was told by the de-
fendant that she could not enter t4ien
She waited in the hall and eventually
was called by Mrs. Botkin. In the
room she found Dunning and Mrs.
Botkin, who was dressed in a pink
wrapper. There was a bottle of whis-
ky on the table. Once again she saw
Golden Gate Park and once on the
street.
On July 2S, 1898, Mrs. Botkin came to
witness home in Stockton early in the
morning. Witness said that the de-
fendant told her she had some dia-
monds in pawn, and came to see if the
governor" meaning Botkin, would re-
deem them for her. That night Mrs.
BOtkin complained Of feeling very i'll,
and DIR. Stone was summoned to attend
her. She heard the conversations that
night and the day following between
the doctor and Mrs. Botkin regarding
arsenic and strychnia, and related them
with much more minuteness of detail
than had the doctor himself. She told
what he had said to Mrs. Botkin re-
garding the symptoms of arsenical poi
soning so thoroughly and readily that
DR.. Downs of Dover. with all his medi-
cal knowledge, was outdone.
INQUIRED ABOUT ARSENIC.
The witness also testified that the
defendant had spoken to her about
arsenic in relation to poisoning mice
and asked her if she had any of the
poison. Previously in a room at the
Victoria Hotel, then occupied by Mrs
Botkip, the witness said that the de-
fendant had asked her about bleaching
a straw hat and whether or not arsenic
was used for that purpose. Mrs Bot
kin also asked how>it could be OBJ
tanned, according to the witness. Dur
ing the stay at the Stockton home of
witness the defendant inquired about
sending package through the mails
and what it cost The witness informed
her, and told her that no package
weighing over four pounds could be
sent that way. whereupon the defend
ant said that the package would weigh
about pound. Mrs. Ruoff said that
she advised Mrs. Botkin to have the
package registered, and that the latter
then inquired if she would have to sign
her name in order to register the pack
age. Defendant told her, according to
the witness, that she wanted to send a
parcel up north.
Mrs. Ruoff was also interrogated at
length regarding Mrs. Botkin's hand
writing, with which she claimed to be