The San Francisco call., 1908-04-01
FINDS ICEPICk IN
MRS. MARTINS S ROOM
Matr0n of Alameda County Jail
Believes Prisoner Secreted
Murderous Weapon
Intended Attack on Deputies
and Jail Break or Suicide
Suspected

OAKLAND, March 31.-A four pronged
icepick eight inches long and capable
of being used as a murderous weapon
which has been missing from Matron
Whites private kitchen in the county
Jail since Sunday afternoon. was re-
covered today in Mrs Isabella Martins
apartments, and it is thought she
secreted the icepick for a break for
liberty or an attempt at suicide. Mrs.
White is positive that Mrs. Martin IN
tended the weapon for offensive pur-
poses and believes the woman would
not have hesitated TO use 1T agalnst
any one.
II would not trust her for an instant
with that pick in her possession, SAID
Mrs. White and as soon as / learned
that it was missing | never stopped
hunting for it until 1t was found Mrs.
Martin has access to a little storeroom
where / keep the icepick, as she has
some canned sardines in her suit case,
which is also stored in that room Or
dinarily 1 keep that room locked, but
when / go back and forth at my work
/ only close the door and latch it.
TAKEN FROM sTOREROoM
Some time Sunday afternoon, 1
think. Mrs. Martin slipped into the
storeroom and found the icepick be-
hind some glass jars. / told her what
I was looking for and she became ex
cited about 1t. She said she would do
everything she could to find ii, as she
believed one of three negresses with
whom she is confined had such
weapon.
Mrs. Martin distrusted them and
said she feared for her life as long as
the pick in her room, though we
searched her bed thoroughly and went
through all her belongings. Early this
morning one of the negresses told me
she saw the handle of the pick protrud-
ing from a place behind the mopboard.
where the electricians had opened a
place and had neglected to close it,
THE missing pick was there. as she
said, but / remember having looked
there for it early in the search and
the place was empty. l think Mrs.
Martin hid it in another place at first
and then moved it later. Now that l
have found it I breathe easier, for H.
did not feel safe a minute around that
woman"
MRS. MARTIN INDIGNANT
After the discovery of the pick Mrs.
Martin was overheard indulging in this
high pitched monologue:
The idea that Mrs. White should
suspect me of taking that old icepiek
Who ever heard of such a thing? What
could i do with it? Amy one ought to
know who knows me at all that l
couldn't do such a thing. One of these
co1ored ladies took it, and that's the
living truth about 1t. The idea of sus-
pecting me-"
And Mrs. Martin was so indignant
that she took refuge behind cloud
of tobacco smoke from one of the big
black cigars she smokes and loves so
well.
Sheriff Barnet inclined to the view
that Mrs. Martin. If she took the pick
at all, had only suicidal Intentions.
''She knows we watch her too close
~ to give her a chance to use it against
one of the deputies Barnet says 'and
doubt that she would strike Mrs
White. But ] have ordered extra pre-
cautions to be taken with her in the
future"
Whatever purpose Mrs Martin had
In taking that pick she knows best her.
SELF said Jailer Pete White, but we
are sure of this much ourselves. she
will never get another chance to lay
by an instrument like that as long IS
she stays in this jail