The San Francisco call., 1905-04-13

shadow Merrill. for otherwise the lat
ter would probably have made his
escape and be out of reach by the time
that the trial of Maestretti came
around. He had evidently planned a
long trip, for he, went well prepared.
LAYS PLANS CAREFULLY.
That Merrill had planned to play the
Grand Jury false and that he must
have been reached by some of the op-
position faction is the theory of An
drews and Bolger. He told three-iies
to the foreman of the Grand Jury. so
the latter says, and tried to put him
off the trail in every manner possible,
SO as to ward off suspicion.
In the first place, Merrill said he
was going away alone and that his
wife and family would remain in this
city. When the detectives found out
that Merrill had sold out all his house.
hold effects and was about to take
his family with him on the trip, they.
lost confidence in the witness and felt
sure he was about to give the Grand
Jury the slip.
Then Merrill said he was going to
Fairfax. This was also untrue. for
Fairfax lies on the line of the North
Shore Railroad in Marin County and
wagon could carry him in the direction
of San Jose, ard it is likely that he
would have kept on his journey had he,
not been interrupted. :.
Merrill spoke falsely when he told
Andrews he had secured leave of alb
sence from the United Railroads. 1t
wass learned by the detectives that
Merrill had resigned his position sew
eral days ago and since then has been
making preparations to leave the city
THINK HE WAS REACHED.
That Merrill had been reached by.
some one high in power who is work
ing in the interest OF Maestretti is be-
lieved to be true by Andrews, Merrill
was man who liked to accumulate
money and was always anxious and
ambitious to secure as much of the yell
low metal as he could. For that reason,
1t is argued, he did not ask for a leave
of absence from the United Railroads,
for If he had, he would lose his de-
posit Of S25 which each empleye lis
forced to put UP as a guarantee to
work steadily till he either quits his
position or Is discharged.
Merrill, as Andrews thinks, would
never have quit his position so abb
ruptly unless he had good reasons for
so doing He was in the best of health
and sickness never compelled him to
resign. Since quitting his post, he
seemed to have been well supplied with
money.
Merrill's wife undoubtedly knew all
about the plans of her husband,
though she told the detective she was
ignorant of his movements and did not
know what his plans weres She did her.
best to throw the sleuth off the trail
and was evidently satisfied she had
accomplished her purpose when the lat
ter left the house and did not put in
an appearance there again..
Merrill and his wife visited Adolph
Steffens, the convicted stuffer, at the
County Jail on Monday night. They
had long talk with the latter and
remained at the prison with him for
long time. 1t is thought that Mer-
rill visited Steffens for the purpose of
telling him what was going on and
perhaps confiding in him his plans for
leaving town.
Foreman Andrews will not trust
Merrill again. From now on the star
witness will be watched closely and his
every movement reported TO the
Grand Jury. He has lost the con-
fldence of Andrews and his fellow
Jurors and now they are more deter
mined than ever that Merrill must tes-
tify against Maestretti.
MERRILL CLOSELY WATCHED
Merrill was taken before Foreman.
Andrews and District Attorney Bying-
ton on his arrival in this city. He re-
fused absolutely to make a statement,