Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-27
POLICE ARE BAFFLED
BY DEATH MYSTERY
OF FRANK HOFFMAN
FALLS THROUGH CLOSED WINDOW
Was Known to Have Money Before Entering Room
but When Picked Up Pockets Are Empty
and Turned Inside Out-Believed to
Be Temporarily Insane

jured his head so that he has never
been quite right since. He was az
flicted with an attack of typhoid fever
about three months ago, and since then
he has often suffered from the hallu-
cnation that someone was trying to-
choke him. / believe that his death
yesterday was either due to a sudden
fit Of insanity in which he imagined
someone was trying to choke him, and
in evading his tormentor he leaped
from the window, or else that he was
murdered for the money he had in
his possession. am certain he did
not kill himself for if he had intended
to commit suicide he certainly would
have raised the window before jump
ing. If my brother was insane when
he met death yesterday 1t was a case
of Temporary arrangement, for al
though his sickness and accident had
left him somewhat weakened mentally
he was not crazy. / received q letter
from him just before he left Bakers
field, saying he would arrive in Los
Angeles and would come to my house
to stay with me while in the city. Why
he went to the Arcade hotel | cannot
imagine"
Hoffman's head was horribly crushed
by his fall from the hotel window and
the brain protruded from great holes
in his skull and from his ears. Through
remarkable vitality he lived for nearly
an hour after the accident occurred,
although it was thought by the hotel
employees that he was dead within q
few moments after he had been picked
up in the street He was taken to the
receiving hospital after nearly an hour
had elapsed from the time he, fell, and
died shortly after being placed upon
the operating table.
Asserts Relationship
! An incident occurred at the reeeiv-
| ing hospital which further bemuddles
the brains of the police in coming to a.
solution of the mystery surrounding
Hoffman's death. ~
After the door to the hospital had
been locked, Immediately following the
placing of the body. inside, a man
rushed to the door and pounded loudly
The jailer opened and inquired what
was wanted.
Il want to get in. He's my brother"
said the agitated one.
After getting inside the man said the
injured mans name was Fred Grow
and that his own name was Pat Grow.
In the excitement of the occasion, no
attention was paid to the familiarity of
the name the man gave, and he was
permitted to go unquestioned.
Soon, however. he began a bitter
TRADE of the dying man, saying that
he had never been able to get along
with his brother and that he never
would forgive him..
At that the police surgeons and Of
ficers in the room accosted him for
speaking so in the presence of death,
but he only became the more abusive
of the dying man. and said that he had
stolen $1,000 from widow several
years ago.
This called forth general storm. and
the fellow was literally carried by the
jailer and others present to the interior
Of the jail
There he tainted the officers by say
ing that he was the representative of
the Cincinnati Enquirer and had simply
used the method of claiming to be a
brother as means of gaining access to
the hospital and observing the treat
ment given petients.
Threatens Police
He threatened to do all manner of
damage to the regulations of the Los
Angeles police department and hospital.
and then said that the name he had
given of Pat Grove" was not true.
This gave the officers the desired OPP
portunity and he was imm ediately
marched to the. sergeants desk and
booked on charge of suspicion.
When he sew the seriousness of the
situa tion he had placed himself into he
admitted that he was not brother of
the dead man, but had merely made
that statement to gain access to the
hospital. and after having said 1t he
felt compelled to keep up the delusion.
He maintained to the last, however.
that he was a newspaper man and had
been regularly employed on the. Cincin-
natl Enquirer eight years ago. He said
he is now merely doing correspondence
work at space rates.
He will be kept in jail for the full
time allowed for holding suspects, three
DAYS, if for no other purpose than to
teach him practical lesson.