The San Francisco call., 1909-03-21
About two days ago"
Miles Is Staggered


] said by the reporter concerning the
house in Fruitvale, and Miles began
TO ask questions concerning who had
given out the information on other
matters.
Who took Mrs. Van Diern to that
house in Fruitvale where Kenney
/ lives?"
/ This staggered Miles.
Miles finally admitted that he had
engineered the arrangements
She has broken away from me. you
know. and thought it best to have her
confined She was Eighty" he said.
Did you have her committed by pro-
! cess Of law?'
No; there was no commitment"
/ What right did you have to put herin
q sanitarium or any place else without
her consent or an order of court?"
Well, thought she ought to be con-
fined"
Did you know that she had been
brutally beaten at that house?"
No. she was not beaten. She was
Just restrained"
After her return 10 Mrs Knkenny's
house at 1892 Point Lobos avenue Mrs.
Van Diern was again taken in hand by
/ Niles. He arranged for a room for
! her with Mrs. Hartman at 393 Fifth
avenue, and she was taken there. She
remained with Mrs. Hartman until he
( again took her away Friday. this time
/ to room adjoining his own on the
I third floor cf a dilapidated structure
at 1916 Point Lobos avenue, where she
now is.
After her return from Oakland Mrs.
Van Dern was cared for by Mrs. Kill
( kenny The latter said: Her body was
badly bruised and on one of her shoul-
! ders there was a large black mark
/ where she had been struck Her feet
were lacerated from the walk she had
had and she was exhausted. / would
gladly have protected her and kept
/ her with me, but we have no room.
She is suspicious of that man Miles,
! but he has some power TO convince her
on account Of being a friend of her
husband. His treatment of her has
! been most brutal Many times she
had nothing to eat when she lived two
doors from here"
While at Mrs. Hartman's house the
/ aged woman told the latter that her
! heart was breaking to talk to some
one, but that Miles insisted she should
see no one unless he was present. She
could not stand ii, however, and told
the kind landlady of her suspicious OF
the man who was supposed to be her
( friend. She stated that she was con-
vinced at times that he was conspiring 6
( against her. but that she could not
! bring herself to believe that the friend
I of her husband could be so brutal
Mrs. Van Diern lives in mortal fear
Of that man. He kept the key to the
front door when he got her a room
here and came each morning and even
ing. All that she ever had to eat was
a little tea and some buns, which he
would bring her in the morning. He
and HIS son woIIld come again at night
and sit with her for a couple of hours,
while she was here she told me that
( her trunks with all OF her clothing
and papers had been removed from
1896 Point Lobos avenue by him. and
that he constantly refused to brine
them to her, saying that they were in
storage. He told her later that he
had taken all of the things out OF
one trunk and put them in the other
so that he had access to everything she
had.
From all Of the talks I had with
her I know that she distrusts him. but
that she is afraid because she is penni-
less. While she has a great deal of
money coming to her, at the present
! time she has no ready cash He does
not want her to talk TO any one. but
the woman is on the verge of nervous
collapse, and unless the law does some
thing for her she will probably become
t1,nVaIaCcltr