The San Francisco call., 1909-09-12

III newspapers had failed to trace it and it
seemed to battle the police. Much comment
had been aloat the incompetency of the force.
When the affair cooled and the public had shelved it
away among things to be forgotten the confessions
came
Among the writers at headquarters who
had worked hard the and had not spared the
police. Some of the questions he asked about cir
cumstances leading to the confession did not yield
replies to satisfy him His newspaper displayed the
news as did all Others but in lieu of clear expana-
ton of the way the exposure had about he
said
"The police put the prisoner through the third de-
gree and wrung confession from him"
1t proved good catch phrase. Explaining nothing
it left much the imagination. The public liked it
and it made itself home in police parlance No
longer in active service it still parsded occasion
and everybody recognized it.
There has been attempt to give exact
definition of it. Its survival through the of years
may be due to the mysticism that envelops it. Were
it susceptible reduction fixed it possibly
would have lived out and then gone the
realm of the multitude of abandoned phrases that
had vogue Vagueness has been its charm, for
it enables to place his construction it and
it does not provoke examination. No cons
fesses inability to understand it.
Undue pressure intimidation, cruelty lurk in it; it
may anything in the range of espionage from
spying comradeship cultivated to win
confidence and then betray it; charges of physical
have been veiled behind it, it has always i'm
piled methods surely abnormal and usually legt-
mate.
Rumor worked the third degree with much dill
gence connection with the murder of Louis
Hanier, who kept French wine shop and saloon in
Twenty sixth street between Sixth and Seventh ave-
He resided with his family above the saloon
and shot at the top OF stairway leading from
hall the saloon floor the upper part of the house
When the police arrived they found the floor of the
saloon with the stock of wine which Hanier car
ried The spigots OF all the barrels in the saloon had
been turned open and the cash drawer was empty
Whoever shot him heard him preparing to descend
and must have gone into the hall with intention to
fire. Thieves like rats-dangerous when cornered
but preferring if they have the chance Hav-
ing been noisy enough Hanier from sleep on
the floor above and having heard him preparing to
descend the intruders evidently had wish to get
away The wanton of wine pointed to malice
and the empty cash drawer proved little for it con-
tanned only wallet used by Hanier in the daytime
for bills which he took upstairs with him at night
Surface appearances compatible with the
theory that personal enmity furnished the motive for
the murder Not fact could be found, however to
bolster that theory Hanier did small business and
led quiet life. The saloon not rowdy resort
Neither his family his neighbors could suppose
that he had enemy. The opened avenues for
sufficient conjecture keep public interest in it at
tension for fortnight. No apparent headway hav-
ing then been made toward clearing it. notices were
posted in tenderoin resorts offering $500 reward for
evidence that would lead the arrest and conviction
of the guilty
Tracing the Crime
Almost at the beginning the police dismissed the
suggestion of personal enmy. They felt certain also
that habitual thieves had opened the wine bar
fess. well ordered thief rummages place. and if
his visit is frutless he goes away quietly and hopes
for better luck somewhere else The visitors at
Hanier reckless Not finding money, they be-
came noisy and destructive. The shooting was wan
Such work could fire the pride only of hoodlums
That was the police estimate of the case and they
shaped their work accordingly.
Suspicion turned toward coterie known in the pre-
cinct as the Seventh avenue gang composed of
young yet confirmed criminals but with tend
encies in that direction Old enough to work they
engaged in no regular employment Their faces be-
familiar in saloons of shady repute in that part
of the city.
At that time the trick called "himhamning the
bar tender" excited attention The Seventh av-
enue gang won notoriety from its proficiency in
this trick. A would saloon call for
glass of beer and offer bill of large denomination in
payment When the bar tender turned to get change
the customer took stock of the till.
Later the same caller, with several companions
would again visit the saloon While the bar tender
serving their order of them would fall on the
floor as if in ft Naturally the bar tender would step
around assist in restoring the unfortunate The
confusion incident such an affair gave opportunity
for one of the party slip behind the bar and empty
the till Then the party would go away, carrying the
loose cash. The trick had been played on