1
INTERVIEW WITH MRS. SOPHIE HOCKING
CONDUCTED BY AMBROSE LOGAN, U.S. MARSHAL
CASE NUMBER 069308
Official transcript
San Francisco, CA
November 6, 1906
QUESTION:Thank you again for coming. Could you please state your full name, age, birth date, and the city where you were born, for the record, please?
ANSWER:Sophie Whalen Hocking. August 24, 1884. Donaghadee, County Down, Ireland. I’m twenty-two.
QUESTION:Whalen is your maiden name, correct?
ANSWER:It is.
QUESTION:Thank you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve a few questions for the record, since you and I have not had an opportunity to speak before now. You emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1903 and spent your first two years in this country in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Is that correct?
ANSWER:Yes. Nearly the first two years. Not quite that.
QUESTION:So you were nineteen when you emigrated?
ANSWER:Yes. So why is it you and I have not spoken before? Has the other detective moved away?
QUESTION:No, Detective Morris is still on the case. I was brought in only recently. I’m a U.S. marshal.
ANSWER:I don’t know what that is, sir.
QUESTION:United States marshals serve at the federal level of law enforcement rather than local.
ANSWER:Oh. So... so you are also a detective, then?
QUESTION:I investigate federal crimes, yes. May we continue?
ANSWER:Yes.
QUESTION:Can you confirm for me that you married one Martin Hocking on March 10, 1905, at the courthouse here in San Francisco?
ANSWER:Yes. Yes, I did. Do you have news of my husband? Is that why you’ve called me in?
QUESTION:Possibly. Again, for the record, did you report your husband, Martin Hocking, missing six weeks after the earthquake that occurred on April 18 of this year?
ANSWER:I did, yes.
QUESTION:Can you tell me why you waited six weeks to notify the police that your husband was missing?
ANSWER:He travels for his job. I didn’t know for sure he was missing at first.
QUESTION:You’ve stated previously you fled your home on Polk Street with your stepdaughter, Katharine Hocking, in the minutes following the earthquake. Is that correct?
ANSWER:Yes.
QUESTION:And the house on Polk Street was still standing when you left?
