The San Francisco call., 1907-02-16
MYSTERY STILL WRAPS
SUICIDE Of MRS. WESTON
Note Accusing Judge Denny
Brings Anguish to His
Mothers Heart
SHE DEFENDS HER SON
Secret of Missive Left by
the Dead Woman May
Never Be Solved
SHE DEFENDS HER SON
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

PETALUMA, Feb. 15.-The suicide of
Mrs. Hattie Hall Weston. daughter of
Mr. and Mrs William P. Hall of this
city, has brought great sorrow to faith
er, mother and relatives of the rash
young woman and to more than one
prominent family in the State.
May God be Tom Denny's Judge and
! have mercy on his soul for his cruelty"
! she wrote just before she fired the bull
let through her heart I'm the bathroom
at her home. These words have cut
/ like knife into the heart of the moth
er of Superior Judge Thomas Denny,
/ the young lawyer who has just taken
! his seat on the bench by appointment of
the Governor to succeed Judge A. e.
Burnett, who was elected an Appellate
Justice.
My son is an honorable man. and no
act of his could have prompted Mrs.
/ Weston to speak of him So" said Mrs.
william Haskell, Dennys mother, to-
night
No member of either family seems
able to explain the meaning of Mrs.
Weston's last words, but 1T is certain
that Mrs. Weston had suddenly come
/ to the conclusion that her love for
Denny was unrequited The conditions
which led UP to her conclusion were
formed recently, when Denny's rivals
for the position on the Superior bench
/
/ the place.
DENNY A POPULAR MAN
Young Denny has for several years
| been assisting his stepfather, William
B. Haskell of this city, in his law prac-
tice, but his chief prominence was in
social circles. A graduate Of the Uni
versity of California and reared among
! families we'll known on this part of
! the coast. he was In great demand at
social functions, and frequently visited
/ San Francisco, Berkeley and Sacra-
mento. For more than four years he
visited Mrs. Weston, usually calling
upon her on Sunday evenings, and din
/ ing with the Hall family.
Several weeks ago when the chance
came for some one to fill Burnett S
place on the bench. ex-District Attor-
ney c. H. Pond. ex-Assistant District
Attorney Rolfe Thompson, ex-Superior
! Judge J. K. Doherty and eX-Congress-
man Barham, all considered in admin
istration favor, went to Sacramento and
presented their claims to the Governor
They were astonished when they learn
ed that A. w. Foster, former presi-
dent of the California Northwestern
Railroad, had already asked for the
appointment of young Denny. Hith-
erto the young man had not even been
considered a possible candidate, but
when the hand of Foster was shown
/ they returned home without parley
1t was at this point that melancholis
! seemed to blight the mind of Mrs
Weston. She felt that Denny's appoint
ment and his removal to Santa Rosa
meant separation and the end of her ro-
nance Rumors came to her of his en-
gagement to another, although Denny
has written since her death to her
brother-in-law, DIR. A. L. Tibbitts, that
! tn 80
She did not. however, outwardly show
the condition of her mind relative to
i the run1ors.
Fifteen minutes before my daughter
killed herself" said w. P. Hall today
II was leaving home to visit my other
daughter. Mrs. Tibbitts, few blocks
away"
! father, dear? she called to me from
another room.
Not until my return, when I saw
her lying lifeless in her room, did the
! tone of her voice as she spoke to me
suggest anything to my mind. And then
| remembered that her voice had broken
as she called to me for the last time
Always before she had been loving and
cheerful, and what she meant by he1
reference to Tom Denny L cannot say
For four years he had been her friend
calling here frequently, but 1 did not
discuss with my daughter the question
of her engagement to him. He has
written to DR.. Tibbitts, setting at rest
| forever the stories in circulation re-
garding the affair"
GUEST OF THE FOSTERS
Denny is popular throughout the
county. He has frequently been the guest
Of Mr.. and Mrs. A w. Foster. of San Ra-
fael, whose sons and daughters have well
coined him to all their social functions
a feature of which during their fathers S
| presidency of the California Northwest
ern was series of gay excursions in
| his private car through the beautiful
| hills and valleys of Sonoma and Marin
counties. Denny was a college mate
| of the Foster boys at Berkeley and was
as attentive to the Misses Foster as he
was to many other popular girls in
i San Rafael and other bay towns. Mrs.
Weston's secret limited at in her last
outcry before the bullet ended her
misery is buried with her. The note
| left to her parents has been burned
and the only explanation attempted was
given by Mrs. Haskell tonight when
she said she feared that melancholia