The San Francisco call., 1906-05-26
.DEN|CKE IS NOT
YET CHARGED,
Prosecution Will Have
Trouble to Show Cor
pus Delict'
Witnesses Say Shooting
Was Cold-Blooded
Crime.

D;s+r;ct Attorney Langdon yesterday
afternoon examined four witnesses III -
case of the italian shot by Ernest Deiil' Ao
an East street. April 20. The defendanc
was not present the examination oeIns
Informal Four witnesses were queStoneo
by the District Attorney ana nls asS-v ~
ants. Louis Ward and Al McCaoe 1
examination was held with ,s.'--sd view ~
ing the degree of crime 10 pc cndI So
against Denicke. 1t is probable tnat hut
der will be the final charge me otner
witnesses in the case. eight IN numoet'
will be brought before the District Ateor
ney in his Office this afternoon a.
o'clock
The prosecution will have considerable
difficulty in proving the corpus dehcu-
So far no person has been found VINO cau
testify positively that the man wnom Zen
icke admits having shot is dead some
they are certain that he was leIL eoiu IN
death, but they can give no testhony enas
they examined the corpse NO one oh
medical knowledge has been found VINO
ascertained if death had taken place II
is stated by some of the witnesses tn1e a
man representing himself 10 De nave.
surgeon looked at the body, but ala not
examine it,
MANY of the witnesses have seen dead
bodies and are certain that the unknown
man who was shot was dead Two houIS
after the shooting. but there IS question:
whether court would admit as expert Ies-
timony the views of the several -laynien-
In the absence of the body of the dead
man the District Attorney viii nave
strong defense to work against
The corpus delict, as defined by Districe
Attorney Langdon, is the essence OF the
crime" He said yesterday that IT was a
mooted question whether the corpus de-
Iicti could be shown without the produc-
ton of the body of the deceased II VIII
be an interesting case he said. Il have
no doubt but that we will be able to prove
that the John Doe in this particular case
is dead We are at work now on the cor
pus deficit end of the case Tne meaning
of corpus deficit has been construed di1-
ferently in different cases Still, take IL
to mean the essence OF crime ana GO
not believe that it will be necessary 10
produce the body of the deceased TO prove
| that a crime was committed
i In the case of Luetgert, the Cnicago
sausage manufacturer, who was convicted
of murder the corpus delicti was shown
by bits of bone and rings of the victim
found in the great watts OF the factory
Luetgert was hanged for his crime.
/ A peculiar case confronts District Attor-
ney Langdon one that will arouse mucn
interest among the practitioners or cry,
inal law As yet practically no charrwi
| has been placed agaitsn l. en1cke. TheN
charge of manslaughter was made merely
for holding the defendant. District Attor-
who authorized the charge of manslaugh-
ter but states that any charge on which
the man could be held until trial would
suffice The ordinary method pursued to
prevent the escape of a defendant IS TO
place the same en- detinue. pending the
consideration of the charge The police
do not say why they did not pursue the
regular and safe method in booking Den
icke.
Aside from the witnesses, most OF whom
/ term the shooting as "cold-blooded muir
der" no expression Of opinion has come
from those connected with the case. off1-
/ cfally or otherwise District Attorney
| Langdon will reserve his opinion until he
has finished the examination or all or the
witnesses. Then the detectives who have
j been working on the case viii be asked
1 to swear to a complaint.
A rigorous search will be made for other
/ witnesses. The Prosecuting Attorney 10
4 anxious to ascertain the whereabouts OF
the alleged drunken sailor who precipi-
tated the killing of the unknown the al
legged naval surgeon who is said to have
attended the deceased and the army or
militia officers who placed under arrest. at
the instance of Andrew Sbarboro and p.
| c. Rossi of the Italian-SwisS Colony. the
alleged drunken sailor who Is said to have
attempted to stab the deceased Detectives
Hammil and Dow will conduct the inves-
tigation for the police
The witnesses examined yesterday were
Andrew Sbarboro. P. C.. Rossi, z. Metcalf
and j. S. Daley of 1924 Page street. niEs 4
watchman for the Pacific Mail Steamships
Company. Their stories were the same az
have already been published in The Call.