The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-03-24
Leon Duffy Arrested Here Re-
Gently, Is Slain In San Fran
cisco Home
PROSPECTIVE PURCHASER
OF DOPE COMMITS CRIME
Women In House Discover Life
less Body Lying Under
Kitchen Table

Leon Duffy, who was arrested here
by customs officers, during the last Wis
it but one Of the steamer Great North.
ern, and in whose possession were found
some empty opium tins, plates for
printing regular opium labels and a
large quantity of crooked dice, loading
powder, and red, white and black paint
was shot and killed in San Francisc on
March a. = F..--f>. % - 4
Duffy was arrested while leaving the
Great Northern and the ineriminating
articles were found in a suitcase which
he was carrying. s...
He was turned over to the police but
was allowed to go, there being no sta
tute under which he could be charged.
Quarrels With Purchaser +f
The dead body of Duffy, drug fend
and trafiicker, forty years old and the
last of his mothers fourteen children,
was found in the kitchen Of his home
Al Richmond avenue, San Francisco, at
eleven o clock in the night Of March 70,
a bullet in his breast, his head laeerated
by blows from broken beerbottIe.
A quarrel with prospective, purchas-
ers Of opium, whom he attempted to
dupe with molasses, was asserted by his
wife to be the cause of the crime. This
made the day s second tragedy Ringing
upon the drug traffic in San Francisco
The body'of a slain man was found
the same afternoon at Tenth and Ma.
tOma streets, a rendezvous for drug
users. .....y
Duffy was involved in the San Fran
cisco bail bond swindlers of last Aug
ust and was the means of bringing
about the investigation that caused
the Indictment of many. He had pre-
sented forged release order, with the
fraudulent signature of Police Judge
Crist, for the release of James vii.
liams, now serving a life term in San
Quentin. He later informed on his con-
federates. ~~
Woman In Death House
In the Duffy home at the time Of
the shooting was Mrs. william Schivo.
wife of man now awaiting trialLon
a charge Of participating inSthe shoot
ing two months ago of Patrolman Cor.
nelius Insolvency. in the mission of
San Francisco. She, as well as Duffy s
wife, is being held by the police for
Jack Stafford, former
brother of Mrs. Duffy, and one.
time enemy of Duffy, also was arrested
on suspicion.
Mrs. Duffy told Detective Fred SUIT.
man she had been downtown deposit
ing $500 in safety vault. The money
belongs to Charles Thorson, engineer
on the Persia Maru, which arrived at
SaR Francisco, March ~, from the
Orient, and is due in Honolulu today,
EN- route to the Far East. Thorson
used to room with the Duffy's and in
tended doing so again. Duff y, she said,
told her not to leave the coin in the
house as he expected some "bad actorn
visitors who were going to buy some of
his opium.
She returned at eleven clock, to
see her mother in law, Mrs. Julia Duffy,
aged seventy five, rushing up the street,
and an automobile running off at full
speed. The front door of the house
vas open
Cries Of Murder BY Wife |
As she entered the house, Mrs. Sch
Two, who had been caring for the four
minor children of the slain man, rush
ed to the hall yelling "murder The
three women went to the kitchen and
found the body under the table. The
wife fell over her husband 5 body and
was herself covered with blood, she
told the police.
Duffy was in police court the morn.
ing of the murder charged with disturb
ing the peace. He had broken all the
windows in his own house the night be.
fore, returning from drunken party.
Despite the appeal of Policeman H. g.
Mallon, who arrested him, Police Judge
Brady released Duffy on his assertion
that his wife had men visitors of whom
he disapproved. Mallon prophesiei'I
murder will be done if Duffy is re.
leased"
The whole story is an inter relation
Of yeggs, gunner, x-convicts-and
probationers.
Duffy first entry into criminal an
pals of the Coast came in September,
l9l4, when he shot Jack Stafford, his |
brother-in-law, on the latter's return
from Manitoba, where he had served
three years in a Canadian prison. Stat |
ford had previously escaped the San
Francisco police on being suspected of
. jewel robbery. He claimed Duffy had
betrayed him.
Duffy was well known in Honolulu.
He used to run regularly in the Mat
son boats and the transports