The San Francisco call., 1905-06-14
Sensational Yarn Told by
Mrs. Ida May Smith APP
pears to Be Product of a
DiSordered Imagination
ALLEGED DEAD MAN
EXTREMELY LIVELY
George Green, Who Married
a Daughter of Mrs. Merrill.
Shows the Utter Falsity
Of the Impossible Story

The police are paying no serious at
tentiOn to the sensational story Mrs.
Ida May Smith told them on Monday
regarding three alleged murders in a
house Post street thirty-fye years
ago, and in the light OF evidence that
developed yesterday the grewsOme tale
is filed with improbabilities. Captain
Green, who Mrs. Smith said was
dead, is live and hustIing de-
tectfve, and he comes forward with
proof that seems conclusive to show
that Mrs. Smith has invented the
startling account of horrible murders.
Green was married to Miss Josie Mer-
rilI, daughter of the woman TO whose
hands Mrs. Smith lays the revolving
crimes. The daughter was young
lady when Mrs. Smith was living In
the Merrill home and could not have
been the playmate of Mrs. Smith, as
is alleged. who was then a child. Mrs.
Merrill was of very small stature and
physically unable to do foul murder as
is ascribed to her. The authorities
have therefore come TO the conclusion
that weight is TO be attached to
Mrs. Smiths story. and Captain Green
unhesitatingly declares that she is
either insane or is seeking to levy
hlackmail.
Yesterday the woman gave a new
motive for her long silence and her
sudden resolution to inform the police
of the terrible crimes. She now says
that one of her former husbands.
whose name she steadfastly refuses to
give, knew of the awful series of homi-
cides, and that he came to her some
time ago and told her that if she did
not disclose her knowledge to the po-
lice he would do it for her. She
asserts that she wants no money from
anybody. and that she only spoke to
relieve her mind OF it's horrible bur-
den.
Mrs. Smith maintains that the police
of the city are trying to hush up the af-
fair. She says that just before her death
Mrs. Merrill became a Catholic, and that
on her deathbed she signed a written
confession and sent it to Mrs. Coolidge,
mother of one of her vistims, who lived
in Boston. On receiving the letter Mrs
Coolidge became raving maniac, and
for this reason the confession never was
placed in the hands of the police. Mrs.
Smith also declares that there are others
besides herself who know Of the story,
and that they will corroborate her testi-
mony as soon as the investigation is
begun.
POLICE DIsCREDIT TALE.
The police of this city place little cred
ence in the tale of Mrs Smith in which
she tells of the murders committed by
her alleged foster mother. Captain Bur
nett said yesterday afternoon that he had
withdrawn Detective Ed Gibson from
further investigation. From what he has
seen he seems TO regard the story as the
mere babblings of a weak-minded woman
who has a grievance weighirSs IN her
brain. Chief Dinan has the same theory
TO offer Even If IL were true" he said,
there is nothing TO be done now. Ac-
cording to the woman's own statement
all of the people who were concerned u
the alleged murders are dead, and there
is no one for US to arrest now. Mrs.
Smith was at the Hall of Justice again
yesterday afternoon urging the authori-
ties TO make complete investigation OF
her weird story and not let the public
think that she was a liar, as she ex-
pressed it to Chief Dinan.
Captain George Green, who died
wears ago in the tale of Mrs. Smith, is
very much alive. He is a captain en-
ployed with the Morse system of patrol
For a number of years he was an en-
Move of the city and later he was a
special officer in the Emporium He
has been with the Morse agency for
the past twenty-five years.
IT was thunderstruck,' he said yes
terday afternoon, ito see that murder
GUS story of Mrs. Smith. 1t must be
caused by an inordinate desire for re-
venge on her part or else she is VIC
tim Of insanity. 1t is awful, though, to
so rnalign the dead when they have no
power to defend themselves. Were she
a man / would commit assault. but
against such a woman man is power
less to act. She may want money for
all know, but she will never get any
from our family.
CAPTAIN GREEN OFFERS PROOF.
II knew Mrs. Smith. May, we used to
call her, when she first came into the
family OF Mrs. Merrill, my mother-in-
law She was never adopted, but was a
sort of servant in the house She did
q little work and received her board in
return. But she was a bad little girl,
fond of lying and very light fingered
Finally she got so bad that Mrs. Mer-
riIl had her sent to the Magdalen Asylum
for the correction of such children
That was the last that / saw Of her for
a long time. In the meantime I had
married one of the daughters of Mrs.
Merrill and we were all living together
at the Post-street residence, where all
OF the murders are supposed TO have
occurred
,vrhere are two things that prove that
the story of Mrs. Smith Is a falsehood
from the very beginning. While II Is
true that Mrs. Merrill ran lodging
house / cannot remember that there
were any men there by the names OF
Coolidge or Goodwin and no two Nor
weeians at all. / certainly would re-
member better than Mrs. Smith, for
was a young man at the time and she
was a little girl. My wife was also a
young woman and not a little girl, as
that woman alleges, and it stands to
reason that she would not be playing
in the cellar with the other two chill
dren when the fresh graves are said
to have been discovered. In fact. II |
was brought up before Judge and
asked to swear that there was cellar
to that place couldn't do it, for 1 don't
think that there was one under the
house.
"The other proof is the size Of Mrs.
Merrill. She was a very little woman,
not weighing over ninety-fve pounds
and of very delicate health. She had
frequent fainting spells and the doc
tors treated her as an invalid Can
you imagine such a tiny woman selling
a great man by the back of the neck
and stoutly plunging long knife into
his vitals? 1t hardly seems reasonable,
does it7 At last Mrs. Merrill got 50
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