AN OFFICER ARRESTED FOR MURDER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13207, 4 July 1906, Page 3

AN OFFICER ARRESTED FOR MURDER.

A Press message from San Francisco to t'ho Morning AsLorian, dat:-d M>ay 24tb', stated :— "iErnest Deaioke, son of E. A. Denicke, a wealthy San Francisco (banker and capitalist, was arrested to-day on the charge of manslaughter. On Friday afternoon of April 20th, Denicke,, wearing- the umform of a li^utesn-ant in the? United States army shot and killed &nd unknown man .on the Lombard street wharf, and he is now being 'sweated' by the police. To representatives of the press ho •admitted the shooting, but refused to talk' further until he had secured counsel, penicke is a well-'fcn'own manin-g eosrineor, who jhas t?ftesn military service in the Philippines. On the- night of tlw eathmia' r o he donned "his old uniform and volunteered his services to the colonel

of the Twenty - second Infantry. He was detailed for duty alongtho water front. "Friday ait r-'<rnoonr -'<moon a coop of chickens was liberated on the Lombard-street wharf and a number of refugees scrambled after the fowls and one of these, evidently a middle aged Italian or Mexican, was accosted by a drunken marine, who stabbed the man in the back with a'b yonet. The refugees succeeded in wresting the gun from the marine, when an army officer rushed up amd, according to stories toldthe police "by eye witnesses, deliberately shot the man three times while he pleaded for mercy. . The man did not die immediately, but it is alleged was allowed' to lie on the wharf until eleven o'clock that night. It was then discovered the. man was dead and his "body was weighted and thrown into the bay. No ' report of his death was made to the coroner, ard it is alleged none vras made to military headquarters. For a long time the identity of the officer was shrouded in mystery, and the police are now dragging the bay in hopes of recovering the body. Denicke was later released on 5000 dollar bonds."