Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-03
MRS. LAWN NEAR
To BREAKDOWN
Woman Held as Witness on the
Verge of Mysteries After
She Sees Friends
WATCHES FROM JAIL WINDOW
Female Friend of Suspect Gazes
at Old Cronies Passing
to Give Testimony
WATCHES FROM JAIL WINDOW
Continued from Page One,


do and will tell of his references to
Harry Orchard and other dynamiters.
The, man once told her of dream in
which the dynamiting of a building
was involved and at other times
dropped hints and innuendoes that di-
rectly connect him with the crime. Be-
sides that he made confidant of Mrs.
Ingersoll regarding his associates and
friends. Next to Mrs Lawn Mrs. In
gersol Is regarded as the most I'M
portant witness in the case.
Seated near Mrs. 1ngersoll and steal
ing glances at her in a fascinated sort
Jof way was Mrs. David Caplan, the
most pitIful figure among the wit
nesses. Mrs. Caplan is the wife of
mo. g." the small dark man among
the suspects. She is desperately &fEaid
of her vicious little husband. When
he left her he left her with a curse.
Still she has tried to shield him for
time, but finally broke down and gave
the police a grist Of information about
her husband. Her testimony tends to
the anarchist theory in the case. She
has given statements connecting him
with a group of anarchists She has
also told of his secret meetings in san
Francisco with Schmidt and Bryson,
both at her Grove street house and her
house on Fell street The plot to dy-
Mantle the Times is claimed to have
been born in her home, but from her
stories she was the confidant of neither
her husband nor any of the others In
the case.
Yesterday the deserted wife of the
suspect sat side by side with Mrs. G..
A. Pesenti, another deserted wife,
whose husband, a Corte MADEIRA hotel
keeper who was a friend of the sus-
pect, Schmidt, disappeared on October
19. following a revelation Of the names
and identity of the suspects. These
two deserted wives, with their sad
faces and their efforts to hide from
public view, furnish one of the minor
Z tragedies which litter the trail leading
from the great tragedy In which twen''
? ty-one persons lost their lives.
WOMEN BEST WITNESSES
It is a strange circumstance that
the case as it has outlined itself to the
grand jury is three-fourths based on
the evidence of women. Women's eyes
and women's ears watched and heard
the dynamiters plot when their actions
were concealed to men. All of the let
ters that figure in the case were writ
ten to women, all of the clews like
laundry marks and drawings were ex-
posed by women, the real identity OF
the men was first made known by
women. even the telephone calls that
were exchanged between the. suspects
and others were noted by women. 1t
was a woman, Mrs. A. Johannsen, who
has given the most important testi-
mony relative to Schmidts movements
at iCorte MADEIRA, where he assisted in
building the home of Johannsen, ma
tional organizer of the Building Trades
council, 1t was another woman, Miss
Caroline e. Briggs, laboratory chem
ist at the Giant powder works, who
identified the dynamite purchased by
the suspects. Two other women, Miss
Ethel Gill and Mrs. c. d. Heard, tele-
phone operators at the Argonaut hotel
in San Francisco, are here to TESTIFY
regarding telephone calls that the sus-
poets made to each other and to out
side parties. Woman was used against
woman when Mrs. IngersolPs state
ments were used to wiring a full con-
fession of her knowledge of the sus-
poets from Mrs. Lawn. 1t Is indicated
by the authorities that several other
women will be called as witnesses be-
fore the grand jury completes its ses-
sions.
Among the men witnesses who ar
rived here yesterday from San Fran
cisco probably the most notable are o.
Il. Tvietmoe, secretary and treasurer
of the State Building Trades council
and head of the Asiatic Exclusion
league; A Johnanpsen. national or
ganizer of the Building Trades council,
who had offices in the Exclusion league
Headquarters; A. e. Yoell, secretary or
the league and prominent in labor af-
fairs in California, and Mrs. L. Nc
Carty, stenographer of the league.
These witnesses are all expected to tes-
tify concerning their acquaintance with
schmidt and Bryson and messages that
were received from the two men.
Johannsen employed Schmidt in build
ing his house at Corte MADEIRA and was
frequently seen in his company in San
Francisco. Tveitmoe was also well
acquainted with Schmidt. The others
knew Schmidt and talked with him on
his visits to the Asiatic Exclusion
league headquarters. -0utwardly they
are the most carefree group among the
witnesses. 1t is not expected that their
testimony will be reached before to-
morrow.
The other witnesses who arrived
here from San Francisco yesterday
and will be called to testify are: F.
Behnke of 1909 Mission street, who is
said to have known the suspects; R.
II. Rennie, sales manager of the Giant
COMPANY at its offices In the Kohl
buildini in San Francisco; A. Nickel,
a real estate clerk who rented the
bause in which dynamite was cached
I'M San Francisco to the suspects; j.
C. O'Brien, who owned the house ON
Nineteenth avenue in San Francisco
where the dynamite was cached; John
Stanley captain of the launch PAS
Vsane. who took part in the transaction
leading to the leasing of the launch
to the suspects; H. Piper, a jockey
who -7ent on board the Pastime While
the suspects had the vessel and iden-
tilted some of the wrappings on the
dynamite boxes found in San Fran
cisco as coming from aboard the
launch; P. j. Stuparich, proprietor of
the Miramar hotel at Sausalito. where
the suspects stopped between Septem-
ber 10 and "a, during the period they
had the Pastime; John dollhouse, a
friend of Mrs. LAWN, who boarded
in the house where the suspect Schmidt
lived; e. Howard Baxter, owner of
the Pastime; George A. Dixon assist
ant manager of the Hotel Argonaut,
where Schmidt stopped between Aug
ust 10 and 27 and September 16 and
23; G. A. Sisson, a barber at the Hotel
Argonaut George Stone, a boatman
at Alameda who showed the suspects
boats at the time the Pastime was
leased; w. A. Russell, a mechanic at
Corte MADEIRA, who worked with
Schmidt in the building of the Johann
sen house; Eric B. Morton, who lived
~ Bryant Terrace where Schmidt, Bry-
son and Ct.plan met and where they
are said to have also met Johannsen;
William II. Flynn. superintendent of
the packing department of the Giant
company; w. Higgins and c. A. Tat