The San Francisco Gas Pipe Murders of 1906

San Francisco was in chaos.

Just a few months earlier on April 18, 1906, the city had been upended by a staggering earthquake, registering 7.9 on the Richter scale, and there had been so much wide-spread damage, not just from the quake, but even more from the ensuing fire, that law enforcement and other government buildings were in shambles.

The police force was operating at 80% capacity and the mayhem was like manna from heaven for thieves and ne’er-do-wells. Crime was rampant with a series of murders and robberies on nearly a daily basis. One case in particular garnered massive public attention, due to the victims being bludgeoned not so swiftly by an iron pipe. The case was dubbed the Gas Pipe Murders.

How the killings started

Prior robberies were a dime a dozen, but this one stood out for its sheer viciousness.  Johannes Pfitzner, a German immigrant was working at his shoe store on August 20th, when he was found by a customer with his head caved in, still alive, but not for long.  For his efforts the unknown assailant got $140 and a gold watch.

A month later, on September 14th, a couple kids wandered into a clothing store and when they couldn’t find the proprietor, headed to the back where they found William Friede, aka Victim Number Two, lying in a pool of blood, his skull smashed in. Although he was still alive, he didn’t last the night.

Victim number three met his demise three weeks later. M. Munekato was President of the Kimmon Ginko Bank on O’Farrell Street, and on October 3rd, both Munekato and his clerk were found by co-workers beaten with a length of gas pipe wrapped in brown paper. Munekato died within hours. The clerk survived. The killers absconded with $2,800, which is close to a present-day $100,000 .

To say these murders stoked widespread fear in an already jittery public is putting it mildly. The earthquake and subsequent destruction of income, homes and businesses were bad enough, but now this!  The newspapers were calling them the Gas Pipe Gang and the Governor even chipped in a $1,500 reward.

The trail ends

Things came to a head with the next robbery. On November 3rd, a fourth victim was sussed out, a jeweler named Harry Behrend, who was attacked in his Steiner Street store. Two men entered his store, one armed with a pistol, another with an iron pipe. Behrend, who was not one to give up, fought ferociously and every attempt to conk him with the pipe missed its mark, as he ducked and twisted at every turn. Finally, one of the attackers held his head steady with both hands on his ears, and unfortunately, when his buddy swung the pipe, it slammed into his finger, almost severing it.

In the bloody aftermath, the one intruder escaped, while Behrend, despite being pummeled, managed to grab hold of the pipe wielder and held him until the police arrived.

A wife trips up her husband

Luck ran out for the second guy too. His name was John Seimsen, and when he arrived home his wife immediately became distressed, seeing his mangled finger.  Indeed, it had only been a few days earlier that Siemsen had rushed into a marriage with his now wife, having convinced her that he had a vast estate in Honolulu. Trying to explain away his injury he concocted an elaborate story: he’d been robbed at knifepoint by a stranger who tried to cut his finger off to steal his diamond ring.

Horrified, she called her father across town who called the police to report the crime. By then the cops had already spoken with Behrend, who had described the finger mutilation in graphic detail, and they were instantly suspicious. Without revealing their hand, they told the father and Seimsen’s wife they had a suspect at the precinct and wanted John to come down to identify him. The police waited at the father’s house and when Seimsen arrived, they told him to accompany them to identify the suspect who tried to steal his diamond ring. Seimsen hedged and suggested he go the next day. He then reached in his pocket where he had a pistol and was immediately arrested.

Meanwhile, also at the station, the young man who had tried to hit Behrend with the pipe, Louis Dabner, refused to talk. They were at loggerheads until his father arrived from Petaluma and managed to convince his son that if he did indeed do it, he needed to come clean. Dabner acquiesced and provided a detailed account, including other robberies going back months.

In a written confession, he laid out the entire spree:

• The gas pipe attacks
• How he and Seimsen picked targets
• The murders and robberies, with minor details documented
• And how they split the $3000 loot

At first, Seimsen maintained his innocence, but confronted with Dabner’s detailed confession and eyewitness accounts— most notably, the finger injury that matched Behrend’s description —he changed his plea to guilty.

The verdict

The trial was covered widely in the press and with the Hall of Justice still in tatters from the earthquake, proceedings were held in makeshift venues, including the basement of a church and the Salvation Army Hall.

 

In the end, there was such overwhelming evidence as to their involvement the jury was quick with a decision and Dabner and Seimsen were found guilty and sentenced to death. After 20 months behind bars, on July 31,1908, they were hanged side by side at San Quentin Penitentiary.

John Seimsen was 22 years old and Louis Dabner was 18.

 

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Forensic Injury Matching

An interesting aspect to the case was the use of forensic injury matching. This involved Behrend’s description of the finger injury and its similarity to Seimsen’s injury. While primitive by today’s standards, this was one of the earliest uses of a forensic tool, and set a precedent for using physical evidence to link suspects to crimes.

John Seimsen is buried at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, and Louis Dabner is buried at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, both in San Rafael. CA.

For more on the Gas Pipe Murders, click here.