Bloody Lessons (31 page)

Chapter Forty-one

Saturday afternoon, February 14, 1880

"ADELPHI THEATER––"Uninterrupted success of the Great Local Drama:
Female Detective,
Miss Mollie Williams in Five Different Characters." ––
San Francisco Chronicle
, 1880

At slightly after two in the afternoon, the winter sun had already begun its downward slide toward the Pacific, casting dark shadows along the southern side of Bush Street. Yet the day had been warm enough that Annie decided to wear just her light shawl over her brown wool polonaise. She assumed that one of the gentlemen would escort her home in a cab, so even if the fog rolled in she should be fine. Maybe she would get to ride home again in Blaine’s comfortable carriage as she had on Wednesday.

She desperately hoped everything would be resolved satisfactorily today. There were too many people who could be hurt if all this didn’t go well. Barbara had been wonderful about not asking any questions, but she must be worried about what would happen if her qualifications to teach came under question. And none of this could be pleasant for Mr. Hoffmann. Even if he were blameless, would the parents of his students, or his wife for that matter, believe him if the rumors about him became public? She wasn’t as worried about Mrs. Anderson, who she suspected would be shielded by Mr. Emory from any negative financial consequences. Yet if scandal did erupt, the flirtatious widow might find it more difficult to find male sponsors in the future.
And Kitty Blaine? Annie would do almost anything to try to protect that lovely young woman, and she hated to think what it would do to Laura if her newest friend had to leave town because her reputation was ruined.

Going up the steps to the school, Annie saw Hoffmann waiting for her in the open doorway. He ushered her in, saying, “I am going to keep the doors locked until two-thirty when Blaine and Emory are to arrive. We don’t want some student or teacher wandering in by mistake.”

“Quite right,” Annie replied. As they walked up the stairs to the third floor, she said, “Are you as nervous as I am?”

Hoffmann paused and said, “I don’t know whether I am more nervous that no one will show up and this whole thing will drag on or that some tough of Buckley’s will turn up to say that his boss has taken all the accusations to the papers.”

“Oh, don’t even think that,” Annie said. “I do believe that our best chance of success lies in my appearing confident that we have proof that this is a coordinated smear campaign and that all the targeted people are cooperating. That’s why I asked Mr. Blaine to give me a copy of the letter he received about his daughter. That, along with the copies of the letters we already had from Mr. Emory and a couple of other notes that have come into my possession, should make our letter writer think twice about acting once they see the evidence we have.”

“Well, I must say you are a brave young woman, and I am very grateful to you for doing this.” Hoffmann continued to lead the way up the stairs.

When they got to the second floor landing, Annie stopped and said, “Do you mind if we take a look at Della Thorndike’s room, see if there is anything in her desk that might implicate her? And does Mr. Russell have any sort of file cabinet or anything at Girls’ High that he uses for his classes?”

“Russell just brings his materials with him in his satchel. But I happen to know he has been using Della’s classroom for his language classes and his Greek study group since she is teaching in the Normal classroom most of the time.”

Annie knew that the most likely candidate was Ferguson, working alongside his sister to curry favor with the Democrats. This is certainly what Blaine and Emory expected. But she just couldn’t get rid of the thought that Della was involved in some fashion, even if just as the conduit of information to Ferguson through his sister or toRussell. She was getting as bad as Laura, letting a personal bias against someone cloud her judgment. Maybe there would finally be some concrete evidence in the classroom.

Hoffmann used his keys to open up Della’s classroom. Located on the south side of the building, the room had enough sunlight coming in from the tall windows that they didn’t need to turn up the gaslights. When they got to the desk at the front of the room, they found it was locked.

Hoffmann swore under his breath, revealing to Annie just how anxious he was. She wondered if he’d told his wife anything about the trouble he was in.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “These desks all work on a few common keys. Our biggest concern is keeping the students from rifling them, not other teachers. I have several extra keys in my office. I’ll get them.”

“Splendid,” Annie replied. “While you do, I’m going to look in the cabinet over there. We do have time for this, don’t we?” She looked at her pocket watch and saw it was only five after two, twenty-five minutes until Emory and Blaine were scheduled to arrive.

Hoffmann nodded and sprinted out the door. In the classroom where she’d been teaching, the cabinet was filled with graph paper, protractors, some extra math texts, and odd wooden geometrical shapes that she assumed Hoffmann used for his geometry classes. The cabinet in Della’s room held a shelf of English Literature textbooks, extra pens, a rolled up map of England, a plaster bust of Shakespeare, and some reams of composition paper. She remembered that Laura had brought home some paper she found at the City of Paris store to check against the paper used for Hattie’s notes. While they’d been disappointed to discover the lines were spaced differently, Annie had noted that the paper for Hattie’s anonymous notes all contained a dark black spot near the right hand corner, as if someone had carelessly let a ink pen rest on the paper long enough for the ink to bleed through.

Pulling the top ream of paper out into the light, she felt a spurt of triumph when she saw a similar dark spot. She opened the folder of anonymous letters she had brought with her and removed Hattie’s notes. When placed side by side, it was obvious they had come from this same ream of paper. Proof that someone who had access to this room had written the notes to Hattie.

When Hoffmann returned and Annie showed him what she found, she cautioned him, saying, “You know, Mrs. Washburn, Andrew Russell, and Della all could have taken the paper from this cabinet, so this doesn’t prove which one was the anonymous letter writer. But it does indicate we are on the right track.”

Looking for additional evidence, they turned to the desk. After several tries, Hoffmann hit upon the key that opened up the drawers. In the middle drawer, they found nothing but pens and pencils, erasers, chalk, and bookmarks that looked like gifts from students, and the side drawer held old student papers and a stack of grade books. Hoffmann showed her some heavier bond paper, which did look similar to the paper that had been used for the letter to Blaine, but it didn’t have the same water mark, so it wasn’t a match.

“Well, it really would have been too good to be true to find additional proof, and I still have difficulty believing that Miss Thorndike is directly involved,” said Hoffmann.

“Conversely, if she is the letter writer, it might mean she is clever enough not to keep any incriminating materials at work. At least we have the composition paper. For a person with a guilty conscience, that might be all it will take to get a confession.”

Hoffmann locked the desk
, and they went on up to the third floor. As he opened the door to the Chemistry lab, he noted, “It’s nearly two-thirty. Go on and check out the room, and I will go down to wait for Blaine and Emory. I hope they will be on time.”

Annie walked into the laboratory. The room was large and filled with four rows of tall tables, their centers crowded with glass beakers in stands, various metal implements she didn’t know the names of, and scales and weights. A sharp tang of chemicals tickled her nose. She saw the door to the pass-through was open, so she went and looked in. There was a little light coming from the laboratory and the adjoining classroom, but most of the narrow room was nothing but shadows and the dark shapes of cabinets. The chemical smell was even stronger here, and she hoped that Blaine, Emory, and Hoffmann wouldn’t have to stay closed up in the room too long. She also hoped they would be able to hear what was being said with the door just slightly ajar. She would test this with Hoffmann and the other men when they got here.

Walking back into the chemistry laboratory, Annie put the folder on the end of the center-most table. Her hands shook, her mouth felt dry, and the chemical smell began to make her feel slightly faint. Turning towards the windows, she worked to unlatch and open one of them a crack, and then she took several deep breaths of fresh air.

“I told you Mrs. Fuller was behind this. She’s nothing but a blackmailer. And you saw Hoffmann leave the building. He’s in it with her. I’m sure of it.”

Annie swirled around to see Della Thorndike and Andrew Russell standing at the door to the laboratory.

Chapter Forty-two

Late Saturday afternoon, February 14, 1880

"William Zimmerman, teacher of German in the Boys' High School...was arrested yesterday on the charge of libel on the complaint of George Schwartz. The libel was alleged to have been committed in sending anonymous letters to the Investigating Committee of the Board of Education."––
San Francisco Chronicle
1880

Annie repressed her sense of triumph in seeing Della Thorndike and Andrew Russell in the doorway. She’d been right in her suspicions! Now the hard work began, getting them to confess to writing the letters and agree to stop.
And where in Heaven’s name is Hoffmann, and why did Della say he left the building?
Annie needed to guide the conversation carefully, hoping Hoffmann had seen Della and Russell arrive early and was out intercepting Blaine and Emory so they wouldn’t give themselves away as they made their way upstairs.

Taking a deliberate breath to steady
herself, she said, “Please, Miss Thorndike, Mr. Russell, do come in. What can I do for you?”

Della walked determinedly into the room and announced in a stern
school-teacher voice, “Mrs. Fuller, don’t play games with us. You know very well why we are here. We are here to make it clear to you that you and Hoffmann and your other confederates will not get away with your threats.”

Della was dressed as usual in an exquisitely
tailored suit, the shades of sky-blue in her tweed wool jacket and satin underskirt highlighting the odd pale-blue color of her eyes. Her dyed kid gloves, the small, fancifully decorated hat, and her sleek blonde hair added to the general impression of competent femininity. The blotches of pink staining her cheeks were the only sign she wasn’t in complete command of herself.

Russell, on the other hand, with ink on his
shirt front, a book stretching out the pocket of his wrinkled jacket, and his badly cut hair, looked wind-blown and thoroughly confused. He muttered, “Now Della, please, I don’t understand why you keep insisting that Tom Hoffmann is involved in…whatever this is, and I am barely acquainted with this Mrs. Fuller, so why would she be threatening me?”

Annie decided to ignore him and addressed Della, saying, “Miss Thorndike, please enlighten me. In what fashion have
I
threatened either you or Mr. Russell?”

The pink on her cheeks fading, Della smiled as if Annie had handed her a present. “Don’t pretend ignorance, Mrs. Fuller.
Dorthea Anderson told me you were hired to teach at Girls’ High as a pretense to spy on us. I assume when you found nothing, you decided to send both Andrew and me letters, threatening us with libel. Did you think you would make a little money on the side? Do the people who hired you even know you and Hoffmann are doing this?”  

What a fool Mrs. Anderson is
. Annie prayed she hadn’t ruined everything, but she knew she needed to tread even more carefully since Della had been forewarned. Producing a smile of her own, she said, “Miss Thorndike, what I don’t understand is, why are
you
here? Did you receive a letter addressed to
you
?”

Della pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and walked towards Annie, waving it. “Here it is, Mrs. Fuller. Shall I read it to you? It says, ‘Please come to the Chemistry Room at Girls’ High at 3
p.m to ensure your actions do not result in being prosecuted for libel.’ Now tell me you didn’t write this and it wasn’t meant as a threat.”

Annie reached out and took the letter from Della, purposely knocking the rack of glass beakers beside her as she did, trying to cover up the slight noise she’d heard to her left. A noise she desperately hoped was the sound of Hoffmann and the other two men moving into the room next door.

“Actually, neither I nor Mr. Hoffmann wrote it,” Annie replied, while internally congratulating herself for having the foresight to ask Kathleen pen the short note for her, although why it was important not to lie to this woman, she couldn’t say. Pretending to look at the letter, she asked, “Why do you insist the letter was addressed to you? It says, ‘Dear Anonymous Letter Writer.'
Did
you write any anonymous letters?”

“No, I did not! I…”

“Then I don’t see that there is any reason for you to be here,” Annie interrupted.

Della was momentarily flustered. Leaving the note in Annie’s hand, she walked back towards Russell
, who’d been following their conversation with a puzzled look on his face.

“However, before you go,” Annie said, “I do have a question. Why did you tell me that it was Mr. Hoffmann who thought Mrs. Anderson was the best candidate for her job when it was actually you who objected to the other candidate, Frazier?”

Della whipped back around to face her. “That is not true. Mr. Hoffmann would have hired Mrs. Anderson no matter what I said because all he is interested in is currying favor with members of the school board.”

“And how would the hiring of
Dorthea Anderson curry favor? Isn’t she qualified for the position?”

“No, she is not. Everyone knows that Irving Emory is her special friend.” Della shot back.

“Really? Mr. Russell, did you know of this special relationship between Mr. Emory and the Girls’ High art teacher? Or is it possible that you heard this piece of gossip from your friend Miss Thorndike and decided to use it in a letter to the other school board members?”

Russell just shook his head and said, “Art teacher? Mrs. Anderson? I barely know her. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Annie took up the folder from the bench and pulled out the copy of the first letter to the head of the school board, saying, “I couldn’t help but notice that this letter states that Mrs. Anderson shouldn’t have the position because she didn’t have the appropriate level Certificate, which is one of the reasons Miss Thorndike gave me for why she didn’t think her qualified for the job. And you say she never told you this or urged you to write a letter to the school board?”

Della became agitated, shaking a slender finger at Annie. “Andrew Russell has nothing to do with any of this. How dare you try to implicate
him. See Andrew, I told you, this is a conspiracy on the part of Mr. Hoffmann and this…this…I don’t even know what to call her, dare I say Hoffmann’s mistress, to ruin your good name.”

Annie found it telling that Della felt the need to convince Russell that there was a conspiracy against him. It confirmed her instinct that Della was behind the letters and that Russell was, at the very most, being used by her. What Annie wasn’t sure of was Della’s motive.

She decided to use Della’s jibe about Annie being Hoffmann’s mistress to see how Russell would react to the news that she’d made similar statements about Kitty Blaine, by all reports one of Russell’s favorite students. She tucked the letter Della had so conveniently given back to her into the folder. As she took out the letter that had been sent to Kitty’s father, which had been written on a small piece of flimsy notepaper, she saw Della’s eyes widen. It looked like Dorthea Anderson hadn’t told Della that Peter Blaine was now part of the group trying to expose her.

Annie said, “Miss Thorndike, you can say whatever you want about me, but I do think it was irresponsible of you to suggest that Mr. Hoffmann has behaved improperly with a student. Don’t you agree
, Mr. Russell?”

He suddenly looked alert and said to Annie, “What are you saying about Tom Hoffmann and a student?”

“I wasn’t the person spreading this rumor; it was Miss Thorndike who said something to me,” she replied.

Della tugged at Russell’s arm, trying to turn him towards the door. “We don’t need to listen to her any more. Obviously she has no proof of her accusations. Please, let’s go.”

Russell resisted her and turned back to Annie. “Please, Mrs. Fuller. I confess I am very confused. I know I’ve met you once…at the hospital, and I know you are Miss Dawson’s friend. But I don’t understand what is going on and what your role is in all of this.”

“I have been asked by a member of the school board to discover who has been trying to create a scandal within the school district by sending anonymous letters. I’d hoped that you and Miss Thorndike, if you were not directly involved, would want to help uncover the identity of the person who is trying to ruin the reputation of teachers like Mr. Hoffmann.”

“Of course, I see." Nodding at Della, Russell continued, “I am sure Miss Thorndike would be glad to help discover who is out to ruin poor Tom’s reputation.”

“Oh Andrew, what do you mean
poor
Tom
?” Della snapped, giving his arm a little shake and looking like she would like to box his ears. “He’s not the one stuck working at Clement Grammar under that incompetent DuBois woman. Why won’t you ever speak up for yourself? Hoffmann should have never gotten the job at Girls’ High. That should have been your position. He doesn’t need it, with that wealthy German wife of his and all her father’s political connections. If you’d just made the slightest push to bring yourself forward, then I’d…”

Della stopped speaking as Russell brushed her hand off of his arm and backed away from her. Della’s words confirmed Annie’s earlier speculations. The letters about Emory, Mrs. Anderson, and probably even Barbara Hewitt, were all designed to get Hoffmann fired so Russell could take his position.
But why? Did Della think this would further her own career? That a grateful Russell, once in Hoffmann’s position, would give her the Normal class permanently? Or was his gratitude supposed to result in an entirely different kind of offer?

Russell’s air of distracted confusion was now gone, and he said, “Mrs. Fuller, please go on. Just what is Hoffmann being accused of?”

“Kitty Blaine’s father received this letter saying that Mr. Hoffmann had seduced his daughter.” Annie waved the letter, watching Della blanch. “You can imagine how upset he is. I wanted to ask Miss Thorndike about this because she had mentioned something similar to me.”

Della reached out to Russell and pleaded, “You mustn’t believe her. All I did was express my concern that I had heard rumors that Hoffmann was trying to take advantage of Kitty. Miss Blaine is one of my students, and I was looking out for her.”

“But Miss Thorndike, surely you must realize that even repeating such a rumor could damage the reputations of both the teacher and the student,” Annie replied. “And, as far as I can tell, you’re the only one who has expressed such a concern. Miss Blaine isn’t even in any of his classes this semester, nor in the science club.”

Annie looked directly at Andrew Russell and said, “You see, Mr. Russell, I thought if Miss Thorndike isn’t the person who wrote this letter, she would be willing to tell me where she got the information or to whom she might have passed it on. That might help me track down the source of these nasty rumors.”

Russell took Della’s hand and said, “Do tell her what she wants to know. I know you’ve always disliked Tom, but can’t you see how important this is? Just think of what damage a rumor of this sort could do to Miss Blaine and her future. She shows such great academic promise. I believe Miss Blaine could go on to the University, have a career in languages. She really is one of the finest linguists I have encountered in my years of teaching, and…”

Della cut him off, spitting
out, “Rubbish. Once again you have been misled by a pretty face. Don’t you see Miss Blaine is nothing but the tricked-out daughter of a common Irish barkeep, giving herself airs? Do you think that some over-paid English governess can undo what centuries of in-breeding and pig-farming have done to creatures like her?”

Annie was shocked
by the venom in Della’s voice and by the overt nativism of her sentiments. This certainly seemed to rule out the possibility she was working for Buckley or any of the Democrats. She realized that now was the time to find out if any Republican political elements were part of Della’s schemes.

Raising her voice, she said, “So is that why you picked on Kitty, because you thought that her father would use his Democratic Party connections to get Hoffmann fired? You must have been frustrated when none of your letters to the Republicans on the school board produced any action.”

“The Republicans are no better than the Democrats in this city, up for the highest bidder,” Della said, disgustedly. “
Frau
Hoffmann and her husband got to dine with President Grant when he came to visit, but we had to buy a ticket to stand among the unwashed to see him from afar. It just wasn’t right, and…”

“Della, what are you saying?” Russell said urgently, moving in front of her to block her off from Annie’s sight. “Are you saying you
did
write to these men and make accusations about Tom? Is Mrs. Fuller correct? You wrote an anonymous letter about Miss Blaine to her father. Why ever would you do that?”

“I did it for you, and it worked. I finally got their attention. Don’t you see that now they’d better do what is right and promote you
, or I will make sure everyone hears about…”

“Della, don’t say another thing. Libel is a serious offense. You know what happened last fall when Cleary made unfounded accusations against the superintendent and some board members. It ruined his career. We need to straighten this out. I am sure if you apologize and explain you were misguided…”