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Coroner's Inquest, San Francisco,
1934 The
following is an excerpt from the verbatim transcript of the Coroner’s
Inquest Upon the Body of Howard F. Sperry and Nicholas Bordoise. It is
the testimony of Brother Carl Olsen who was shot along with brother’s
Sperry and Bordoise. In the famous picture of two longshoremen lying on
the sidewalk while blood runs towards the street, Brother Olsen is the
one on the left, struggling to crawl away.
Carl
Olsen Having
been first duly sworn, testified as follows:
THE CORONER: Well, Olsen, you are lucky. I was trying to hold an
inquest on you.
A. Well I was one of the lucky ones. Q.
What
is your name in full? A.
Carl Olsen. Q. Where do you reside? A. 221 Third Street. Q. Your occupation? A. Stevedore or longshoreman. Q. How long have you been in the business? A. I worked about three years steady now. I worked
before about – Q. Well, how long have you been in San Francisco
working previous to this trouble? A. About 12 years. Q. Now, were you present on July 5th in
the vicinity of Steuart and Mission Streets? A. Yes. Q. About 1:30 or 1:35 in the afternoon? A. Yes. Q. Did you see this police automobile drive up? A. Yes, I did. Q. Where were you at that time, Mr. Olsen? A. Right on Steuart and Mission, about here
(indicating). Q. On the south side of Mission Street near the
corner of Steuart? A. Yes. Q. On the southeast corner that would be? A. Yes. Q. How long had you been there before the shots were
fired? A. Oh, about 3 or 4 minutes. Q. Did you see the police automobile drive up? A. Yes, I saw it drive up. Q. And where did it stop? A. Just about here (indicating). Q. Where the last witness stated? A. Yes. Q. Near the northerly rail of the westbound track of
the Mission Street line, and near the northwest corner of Market and
Steuart? A. Yes sir. Q. When it drove up what happened? A. Well, I don’t know much what happened. I was
standing here, and we were running then. I don’t know much what
happened. But they fired one shot and we started running here, and next
I was down on the sidewalk with Sperry. Q. You saw it drive up and then it started shooting
and you don’t know much what happened. A. (the transcript is too faded to make out the
answer) Q. And you ran in what direction? A. Toward the Embarcadero here with the bunch. Q. Toward the Embarcadero? A. We were right on the sidewalk here. Q. You were on the sidewalk on the south side of
Mission Street? A. Yes. Q. What made you run? A. Well, what made everybody run? Q. You thought there was going to be trouble? A. Yes. Q. Had any shots been fired when you started to run? A. Yes, one shot in that direction (indicating). Q. Then you started to run? A. We all started running this way toward the
Embarcadero, and we got hit about here (indicating). Q. Then you fell down? A. Yes, down against the building, and Sperry on the
outside of it. Q. What were you doing there? Were you just there out
of curiosity then or – A. No, we had been up to eat at the kitchen. Q. Up here (indicating)? A. Yes, and came along here and got up here for just
a few minutes. Q. You came up on this side, up here on the south
side of Mission? A. Yes. Q. And you had been there for a few minutes? A. Yes, talking to the fellows there. Q. In the general crowd? A. Yes. Q. But when you saw this trouble and heard the shots,
you started to run and then you got it? A. Yes, that’s it. We started to run this way
(indicating), and one fellow tried to pick me up. I don’t know who he
was. He tried to help me, but I couldn’t get up.
THE CORONER: All right. Any questions, gentlemen of the jury?
A JUROR: Did you see any bricks thrown?
THE CORONER: I did not ask him that, because, in a
way, it might be incriminating him. I didn’t want to ask him if he
threw bricks or anything of that sort, because in general the men would
not answer those questions, you see. THE JUROR: No.
THE CORONER: Whether he saw bricks or not, that is all right.
Anyhow, he got shot. All right, Mr. Olsen, that’s all. Now this other
gentleman?
MR. POTTER: B.P. Hall. Would you call him?
THE CORONER: Just a moment. I’ll call them as I desire here. JAMES
KENDALL Having
been duly sworn, testified as follows: |
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