Los Angeles herald., 1905-02-05
DROPS DEAD IN LOS ANGELES
STREET LODGING HOUSE
WOMAN COMPANION ESCAPES
c. e. BentIy, a Preacher From Lin-
coin, Neb., Expires Suddenly,
Probably From Heart
Disease


o'clock last night in a lodging house
at 1875 South Los Angeles street, the
police are confronted with mystery
which promises trouble in the unravel-
ing. Bently had been stopping with
his wife at the Crocker Mansion, He
has been suffering from heor, trouble
and recently wrote his son that he
feared that when his wife returned
east, she would be alone.
Bently entered the lodging house ac-
companied by an unindentified woman.
The place is conducted by Mrs. Doug
las. No sooner had they entered the
place than the man sank to the floor
dying. Mrs. Douglas hastened for re-
storatives.
When she returned the woman had
disappeared
The deceased was about so years old,
well dressed and apparently in good
circumstances. The woman is de-
scribed as being about thirty years old.
She was heavily yelled and no one in
the lodging house saw her features.
died from an attack of heart disease,
the circumstances surrounding the
case are of such nature that the po-
lice will ask that an autopsy be held
to discover whether his death was due
to natural causes or to poison.
The mans watch was missing. A
small sum of money was found in his
pockets and there were only vague
clues by which his identity might be
established.
The police were unable to find the
woman, nor after a diligent search
could they find where Bently had been
making his home since coming to Los
Angeles.
Mrs. Douglas, from whom Bently en-
gagged the room, says he asked her If
he could get room there and she led
the way to front apartment and was
in the act of lighting the lamp when
Bently staggered against the table and
then fell to the floor. After lighting
the lamp she went out without obtain
ing his name, thinking the man was
drunk, but the unidentified woman who
accompanied the man attracted her at
tention by her efforts to revive him.
The landlady re-entered the room and
seeing the man was ill gave the woman
water with which to battle his face
while she hastened for restoratives
On her way back to the room she
met the strange woman who was rush
ing down the hall toward the stairway,
apparently crying. Before Mrs Doug
las could intercept her the woman had
escaped to the street and she was not
afterward apprehended.
Several men were called in by the
landlady, but Bently was dead before
they reached him.
The fact that Bently was man of
such apparent prosperity adds mystery
to the case. His clothes were new and
of the latest cut, his shoes were Of the
best and he wore a Stetson hat with
the mark of a Lincoln, Neb., halter in
the brim.
The only mark of Identification was a
receipt from the Pacific Electric ticket
office showing that c. e. Bently had
/
returned to the Office two combination
! tickets to the Cawston Ostrich farm
sometime yesterday. In his pockets
also were an address book and an ex-
pense book, showing that he had
bought several tickets, but the names
of no towns appeared. From the rec
ords in this book Bently was methodi-
cal and careful, as each expenditure
was entered.
The circumstances that causes the
| greatest suspicion in the minds of the
detectives is that Bently's watch was
missing, while the chain remained in
place and had been tucked into his
pocket. A pocketbook in an inside
pocket contained 81 and in the pocket
of his trousers was a five cent piece.
In the watch pocket bunch of Angels
Flight tickets was found, indicating
| that he was living in that district.
The hotels on the hill were canvassed
but Bently's room could not be found.
An inquest will be held Monday by
| Coronar Tront