The San Francisco call., 1910-12-27
NEIMAN FREED.
AS WOMAN Died
NATURAL death
COroner's Autopsy Reveals That
an Aneurism of Heart
Caused End
Body Is Identified as That of
Mrs. Mary Frances Collier
of PIeasanton

OAKLAND. Dec. 26.-Insuficiency of
evidence caused the release this even
ing Of Louis Neiman, arrested at mid
night last night on suspicion Of being
the murderer Of an unidentified woman
VINO was taken TO a. room in the Colo
nal lodging house. Second street and
Broadway, by Neiman late Saturday
evening. and was found dead IA hours
later. The police had investigated the
affair al night and day and had today
secured as witness or possible acces-
sorry Alex Brown. a stableman, who had
been Neiman's companion for a few
hours Saturday night Brown was also
released.
The investigation. however. resulted
In little until DR.. II. B. Mehrmann per-
FORMED an autopsy on the woman S
body The autopsy showed the woman
had died Of an aneurism Of the heart,
but it failed 10 explain how she came
by the ghastly finger marks on her
throat; how she incurred the brutal
blow which gashed her lips and perhaps
made her senseless. or how she was
stretched as if in calm repose on the
cot which had been her deathbed.
SURGEON UNsATISFTED
Captain Of Detectives Petersen held
Neiman in Jail until the result of the
autopsy was made known to him. The
autopsy surgeon could not, after care
ful examination of the victim, assert
positively that the unknown had been
murdered. Neither could the surgeon
declare that the death had not been
brought about by treatment given by
Neiman. who admits that he was the
woman's last companion.
The police were baffled because no
r--r Nafr 70 Tr-h
pened in the room at the lodging house
after the landlord had left the couple
alone And Neiman maintained stol-
idly that nothing happened except that
the woman had repulsed his advances
With both Neiman and Brown set
free. the police are not able to explain
contradictions which appeared in the
case last night. The various persons
who saw the couple Saturday night
have told how the woman fell down
several stairs and was helped to her
feet by Neiman. The autopsy surgeon
could not by examination Of the corpse
tell what injuries visible on the body
resulted from that fall and what were
inflicted by an assailant, with the sole
exception OF the finger marks on the
throat And those marks have been
partly covered by discoloration Of the
skin, so that they are OF little value in
the Investigation.
PROOF LACKING
When the bed maker at the Colonial
house found the body the woman's face
was smeared with blood from cuts in
her lips Yet John McHenry, keeper Of
the house, asserts that the woman en-
tered her room with Neiman without a
mark on her face. Neiman admits hav-
ing been in the room with her after
1dcHenry left them. But the police can
not prove that Neiman struck the
woman.
Despite this lack Of proof, Doctor
ALehrmann freely asserSed that the
woman's condition showed that she had
been violently treated. Taking his
statement. and that Of McHenry, the
last man except Neiman known to have
seen the woman alive, the police find a
discrepancy they can not explain. They
probably will never be able to deter
mine il Neiman struck the woman
senseless when she repulsed him, send
ing his clenched fist to her mouth and
selling her throat. Nor viii they be
able TO establish whether the aneurism
OF the heart, was brought on by bru-
tality in the room
Regarding the finger marks on the
woman's throat Doctor Mehrmann was
asked;
could the woman have been strangled
and no deeper prints have been made on
the throat than these?"
Mehrmann replied that such could
have been the case.
VITALITY LOW
"The heart shows what was the i'm
mediate cause Of death" said Doctor
Mehrmann ''The woman was tubercu-
lar. in low vitality. and she undoubtedly
received brutal treatment. But as to
whether strangulation caused the clots
Of blood in the heart, I can only reply
that am not on the witness stand and
am not prepared to say"
When the result Of the autopsy was
made known TO Captain Petersen, he
said:
Il can do only one thing and that is
TO release Neiman. have no evidence
woman. He himself denies that he did
either, and he says she was alive when
he left her.
The autopsy disproved the police
theory that the woman fell asleep, al
lowing her upper plate Of false teeth
to fall into her throat, causing strangu-
lation.
In a statement to his attorney, Henry
J. Rogers, Neiman said he left the
woman in the room at the Colonial
house and wandered to a park, where
he sat awhile. Later he went to San
Francisco, returning to his own room
TO be arrested last night
Alex Brown was arrested today by
Detective Kyle as Neiman's companion
when the two men, the woman now
dead and another woman, We're ordered
out OF the Napoleon house, 613 Broad
way. Brown knew nothing, and was
discharged with Neiman.
An inquest viii be held next Satur-
day.
The identity Of the woman is still as
mysterious as the cause Of the wounds
which appeared on her body. Many
persons have viewed the body at the
morgue, but none was able TO identify
it.
II. w Pine, a Iaborer Of 936 Ninth
street. believes the body at the morgue
is that OF Miss Lottie Newman of Oak
dale. his identification is indefinite.
An ingenious Australian machine for
washing clothes by means Of suction
caused by steam and a vacuum at
tracted much attention at recent ex-
hibitions in Melbourne. The machine
not only leaves the articles washed
snow white. but saves rough handling