CHAPTER XVIII.

THE REAL FIGHT BEGINS.

Nine months after Heney assumed his duties as Assistant District Attorney, Mayor Taylor named the successors of the Ruef-Schmitz Board of Supervisors.

In those nine months much had been accomplished. Ruef had plead guilty to extortion and had made partial confession of his relations with the public-service corporations. The Schmitz-Ruef Supervisors had made full and free confession, and had been removed from office. Mayor Schmitz had been convicted of extortion, ousted from office, and pending his appeal to the upper courts was confined in the county jail. The back of the Schmitz-Ruef political organization was broken, and its forces scattered.

Had the Prosecution stopped here, the men whose devotion and self-sacrifice had made the undoing of the corrupt administration possible, would have retired with nothing more serious confronting them than the condemnation of the impotent puppets of large interests whom they had brought to grief. But those behind the Prosecution were not content to leave their work at a point where the regeneration of San Francisco had scarcely begun. They proposed to go to the bottom of the graft scandal. It was not sufficient, they held, to punish poor men who were without friends or influence, while their rich and powerful associates went unpunished. The bribe-taking Supervisors might be put in the penitentiary, but other bribe-taking Supervisors would eventually take their places. Ruef, punished by imprisonment, would serve as an example for political bosses that would cause them to hesitate for long before embarking in corrupt enterprises such as had brought the discredited boss to grief. This would make it hard for bribe-giving corporations to secure agents for bribe-passing, and make bribe-giving correspondingly difficult. But the conviction of high corporation officials, responsible for the bribe-giving of public-service corporations, was regarded as more important than all, for this would demonstrate bribe-giving to be unsafe, and check the practice at its very fountain-head. Such conviction, the Prosecution held, would have greater deterrent effect against bribery of public officials than the confinement of 500 bribe-taking Supervisors in the penitentiary.[261]

"I would be willing," Rudolph Spreckels testified at the Calhoun trial, "to grant immunity to any man who would bring to bar a man of great wealth who would debauch a city government, and who would use his wealth to corrupt individuals and tempt men of no means to commit crime in order that he might make more money."

Such was the stand taken by District Attorney Langdon and his associates. The announced policy of the Prosecution, therefore, included the prosecution of the bribe-giver to the end. In pursuing this policy, Mr. Langdon and his associates aroused the astonishingly effective opposition of interests representing hundreds of millions of capital. Every indictment of capitalist charged with bribe-giving was signal for a new group of financial leaders, their satellites, beneficiaries and dependents, to array themselves on the side of the graft defense.[262]

With every indictment came a new group of attorneys to raise technical objections to the proceedings, all of which the attorneys for the Prosecution were obliged to meet.

The first attack was upon the validity of the Grand Jury. The attorneys for Ruef and Schmitz had apparently exhausted every point that could be raised for the disqualification of the Grand Jurors, but this did not prevent the heads of corporations who found themselves under indictment making similar attacks. And between them, in this new move to quash the indictments, the defendants enlisted the ablest members of the California bar.[263]

In this new opposition an astonishing number of technical points were raised by one or the other of the groups of defending lawyers. Nothing was overlooked.

Just before the principal indictments were brought, for example, the San Francisco merchants had given a banquet to celebrate the progress which San Francisco had made during the first year following the fire.[264] Langdon and Heney were given places of honor. They were the heroes of the occasion. Every reference to their work was signal for tremendous demonstration. There was no suggestion then that the pursuit of criminals would "hurt business."

"A severe earthquake," observed Frank J. Symmes, president of the Merchants' Association, "is a serious misfortune, and a great conflagration a great trial, and each awake the sympathy of the Nation, but a corrupt government is at once a crime and a disgrace and brings no sympathy."

"We foresee," said Bishop William Ford Nichols, another of the speakers of the evening, "the greater San Francisco. We mean to make it fairer to the eye. But how about making it better? Size and sin may go together. Rehabilitated buildings may house debilitated character."

A month later, after indictments had been brought against some of the most prominent business men of the city, word went out that steps would be taken to disqualify every member of the Grand Jury who had attended that merchants' banquet.

The Grand Jurors were again called to the witness stand and put through a grilling to determine whether or not they were biased. Rudolph Spreckels was under examination for hours in efforts to show that his motives in backing the Prosecution were bad.[265]

Every step of the proceedings at the organization of the Grand Jury was scrutinized. The question of the method of employing the stenographer to the Grand Jury was made subject of hours of argument. If she were irregularly employed, it was held, she was an unauthorized person in the Grand Jury room and her unwarranted presence sufficient to invalidate the indictments. Garret McEnerney, representing Eugene de Sabla, Jr., Frank Drum and John Martin, whose indictments grew out of the bribery of the Supervisors to fix the gas rate at 85 cents per 1000 cubic feet instead of 75 cents, was the first to raise this question. But attorneys for other defendants took it up and seriously considered it as valid objection to the sufficiency of the indictments. A further point was raised by several of the defendants that the stenographer had not been properly sworn. The question was seriously debated, whether she had looked at Prosecutor Heney or Foreman Oliver at the moment she was sworn to secrecy.[266]

Another point was brought up by the defendants in the United Railroads bribery case, that inasmuch as the defendants Calhoun, Mullally and Ford, had been called to the Grand Jury room and compelled to fall back upon their constitutional rights to avoid testifying, that they had been placed in a prejudicial position before the Grand Jury, which constituted reversible error.[267] Another objection was that the Grand Jury box had been destroyed in the great fire of 1906, and that no order had come from any department of the Superior Court ordering its restoration. Again, it was asserted, that Grand Juror James E. Gordan was a member of the Grand Jury panel of 1906, while the other Grand Jurors were chosen from the 1907 list. Indictments brought by a Grand Jury thus constituted were claimed to be without effect.

Had any one of these and many other similar objections been sustained, all indictments against the graft defendants would have been invalidated. Every objection had to be met. Days and weeks were spent by the District Attorney's office in meeting, or preparing to meet objections which to the layman appear trifling and ridiculous.

In the midst of this technical fight to have the indictments against them set aside, the graft defendants received aid from an unlooked-for source. Sympathizers with the United Railroads conductors and motormen, then on strike, whose union Patrick Calhoun was at the time endeavoring to crush--and finally did crush--started an independent attack upon the Grand Jury.

Four union sympathizers had been indicted in connection with street riots. Their attorneys, before Superior Judge Cook, raised the point that as the Oliver Grand Jury had continued in service after a new panel had been drawn in the office of the clerk and put on file, the term of the Grand Jury's service had expired. It was, therefore, no longer part of the machinery of the Court and had no power as an inquisitorial body. Under this interpretation, not only would the indictments against the strikers be invalidated, but those against the alleged bribe-givers also.[268] Thus four of Mr. Calhoun's striking carmen, in their efforts to evade trial on charges growing out of opposition to the United Railroads, were making stronger fight to release Mr. Calhoun from indictment than Mr. Calhoun, although enjoying the ablest legal counsel that money could secure, had been able to make for himself.

Eventually, these technical objections were decided adversely to the defense; the validity of the Oliver Grand Jury was never successfully attacked. But the technical objections raised caused delays which the defense was able to put to good account. While the prosecution was battling to force the graft cases to trial on their merits, the graft defense was conducting a publicity campaign to misrepresent and undermine the prosecution. The astonishing success of these efforts were to appear later. By 1909, for example, in the city which when the graft prosecution opened, the practically universal sentiment was for the crushing out of corruption, there was strong opinion that the prosecution of influential offenders had gone too far, had been injudiciously conducted, was "hurting business," and that for the good of the community the graft cases should be dropped.[269]

The evident policy of the defense was to undermine the prosecution and create public opinion against it, until both prosecution and community should be worn out, and made to quit.

The principal attack was through the newspapers. The prosecution had not been long at work before the weekly papers, with few exceptions, were devoting the bulk of their space to ridiculing and vilifying all who were in any way responsible for the graft exposures and impuning their motives.

What these publications received for their work is indicated by the subsidies paid one of the least of San Francisco weekly papers--a publication since suspended--the Mission Times.

In January, 1907, a man by the name of Williams purchased the Times for seventy-five dollars, giving his unsecured note for that amount. In less than a month the new proprietor had received $500 from an agent of the United Railroads. Later on, he received a regular subsidy of $250 a week, something more than $1,000 a month, which continued for thirteen weeks. The subsidy was later reduced to fifty dollars a week. But during the interim between the weekly subsidy contracts, lump sums were paid. It is estimated that in little over a year, Williams received from agents of the United Railroads upwards of $7,000. The Times at first covertly, and later openly, opposed the prosecution. If the unimportant Mission Times, which at the opening of the year 1907 had changed hands for seventy-five dollars, received upwards of $7,000 from agents of the defense, the not unreasonable question may be asked, what did more important weekly papers, whose graft prosecution policy was practically the same as that of the Times, receive? In this connection it is pertinent to say that the majority of these publications gave evidence during 1907, of a prosperity that was quite as mysterious, if not as suggestive, as had been the prosperity of the Schmitz-Ruef Supervisors during 1906.

As has been seen, the entire daily press of San Francisco was, in the beginning, heartily in accord with the prosecution. Gradually, however, The Examiner and The Chronicle[270] shifted their policy. Even while The Chronicle was backing the prosecution in its editorial columns, its reports of the proceedings at the various hearings were colored in a way well-calculated to undermine Langdon and his associates.[271] Gradually the covert opposition of its news columns became the open editorial policy of the paper.

But the most effective opposition came from The Examiner. The Examiner supported the prosecution until the conviction of Schmitz and the change in the municipal administration. Failure to dictate the selection of Mayor and Supervisors may have had more or less influence in the change of policy. At any rate, the invention of The Examiner's writers and artists was tortured to make the prosecution appear to disadvantage.

The most tawdrily clever of The Examiner's efforts were the so-called "Mutt cartoons." The cartoons appeared from day to day, a continuous burlesque of the work of the prosecutors, and of the graft trials.

Heney was pictured as "Beaney;" Detective Burns, as Detective "Tobasco;" James D. Phelan as "J. Tired Feeling;" Rudolph Spreckels, as "Pickles;" Superior Judges Dunne and Lawlor, before whom the graft cases were heard, as Judge "Finished" and Judge "Crawler," respectively. In these "Mutt cartoons" every phase of the prosecution was ridiculed. For example, when the excitement over the graft trials was at its height, there were rumors that the assassination of Heney or Langdon would be attempted. In ridiculing this, The Examiner pictured "Beaney" with a cross on his neck where the bullet was to strike. A few weeks later, during the progress of one of the graft trials, Heney was shot down in open court, the bullet taking practically the same course which in the "Mutt" cartoon The Examiner had pictured. After the shooting of Heney, The Examiner discontinued the anti-prosecution "Mutt cartoons."

Mr. William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner did effective service in discrediting the graft prosecution. But Mr. Hearst, with curious inconsistency, outside California, gave the prosecution his personal endorsement.

In his Labor Day address at the Jamestown Exposition, September 3, 1907, for example, Mr. Hearst among other pleasing observations on the work of the San Francisco Graft Prosecution, said: "You hear much today of how a Mayor of San Francisco has fallen, but you hear little of how powerful public service corporations tempted a wretched human being with great wealth and brought a once respected man to ruin and disgrace. You hear much of how a Mayor elected on a Union Labor ticket is in jail, but little of the fact that it was an honest District Attorney, elected on the same Union Labor ticket, who put him there, an honest District Attorney, who is doing his best to put beside the Mayor the men really responsible for all this debauchery and dishonor. While it is the fashion to criticise San Francisco just now, I venture to assert that the only difference between San Francisco and some other cities is that San Francisco is punishing her corruptionists. There is many an official elsewhere who has stolen office or dealt in public properties who would fare like Schmitz if there were more honest and fearless District Attorneys like Union Labor Langdon."

Later on, after Ruef had been sent to the penitentiary, an article on the San Francisco Graft Prosecution appeared in one of Mr. Hearst's magazines.[272] The article was printed under the signature of Mr. Edward H. Hamilton, one of the ablest of Mr. Hearst's employees. Mr. Hamilton gave the credit for the work of the graft prosecution to Mr. Hearst and The Examiner. The men whose steadfastness of purposes and high integrity had made even approach to the prosecution of influential offenders possible, upon whom Mr. Hearst's Examiner had poured ridicule and abuse, were more or less favorably mentioned in the article, but Mr. Hearst was given the bulk of the credit for what the prosecution had accomplished. In California, where The Examiner's treatment of the prosecution was well known, Mr. Hamilton's article was received with some amusement and not a little resentment.[273]

Although, with few exceptions, the policy of the San Francisco press was adverse to the prosecution, the principal interior papers gave Langdon and his associates loyal support. But eventually a chain of papers covering the greater part of the interior of northern and central California was enlisted on the side of the defense. The papers were started or purchased by a newspaper publishing company known as the Calkins Syndicate.

The Calkins people had for several years been identified with a number of unimportant papers, printed in the interior. Suddenly, from publishing obscure weeklies and dailies, the Calkins Syndicate became one of the most important, if not the most important, publishing concern in California. A modern printing plant, one of the finest on the Pacific Coast, was installed at San Francisco. The establishment took over much of the printing of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, including the printing of the railroad corporation's monthly, The Sunset Magazine. The Sacramento Union, the most important California morning newspaper printed north of San Francisco, and the Fresno Herald, an afternoon daily, were purchased outright. A bid was made for the San Francisco Post,[274] but terms could not be made. The Calkins people accordingly started the San Francisco Globe, an afternoon daily newspaper. Less important papers were established at various points. In an incredibly short period, the Calkins Syndicate had a chain of newspapers covering the greater part of northern and central California.

The distinctive feature of these publications was their opposition to the San Francisco graft prosecution. But the abuse of the Calkins newspapers was not so cleverly presented as in the Examiner, nor so adroitly handled as in the Chronicle. So violent were the Calkins papers' attacks, in fact, that they injured rather than assisted the defendants' cause. This was generally recognized. The Calkins Syndicate, after losing whatever effectiveness it may have had, eventually went into bankruptcy.[275]

Almost as effective as the newspaper publicity against the prosecution, was the opposition of fashionable social circles and of the clubs. The graft defendants became much in evidence at the best clubs in the city. To be sure, their persistent appearance all but disrupted some of the clubs, members in sympathy with the enforcement of the law openly objecting to their presence.[276] But in the end, the defendants prevailed and were loudly apparent at the principal clubs of the city even while under the inconvenience of indictment.

San Francisco's so-called fashionable society was, during the graft trials, practically organized as an adjunct of the defense. Those in accord with the prosecution were cut off visiting lists. Some of the non-resident indicted ones brought their families to San Francisco. Their wives and daughters at once became prominent in social matters. It was the refinement of the custom of bringing in "the wife and innocent children" of the defendant at a criminal trial.

This character of defense was most effective. The charming entertainment of those wives and daughters of indicted magnates who engaged in the social publicity campaign in the interests of their troubled male relations, went far toward building up public opinion against their prosecutors. The supporters of the prosecutors were treated with scant ceremony. To be a supporter of the prosecution was not regarded as "good form." All in all, the social side was one of the cleverest and most effective features of the publicity campaign carried on by the graft defense.[277]

The boycott of those in sympathy with the prosecution extended to the larger business world as well as to exclusive social circles. When, for example, the American battleship fleet visited San Francisco on its tour around the world in 1908, the committee appointed by the Mayor to arrange fitting reception and entertainment of its visitors, organized by making James D. Phelan, prominently associated with Mr. Spreckels in the Graft Prosecution, chairman.

That Mr. Phelan should be made head of the committee, or even identified with it, gave serious offense to the large business and financial interests that did not approve the prosecution.[278] The large interests thus offended refused to contribute to the reception fund. William C. Ralston, United States Sub-Treasurer at San Francisco, and treasurer of the Fleet Reception Committee, reported to the committee that several large banks and public service corporations would not contribute to the reception of the fleet unless Mr. Phelan left the reception committee.[279]

The committee, refusing to submit to this arrogant dictation, accordingly proceeded to the entertainment of the fleet without assistance from the anti-prosecution financiers and institutions. The smaller merchants, assisted by those banks and enterprises which had not been offended by the proceedings against the corrupters of the municipal government, contributed upwards of $75,000. The reception to the fleet was thus carried to successful conclusion without the assistance of the graft defense element.

In the work of undermining the prosecution, the humbler circles of municipal life were not neglected. The claquer in labor union, and wherever groups of laboring men and women met, was quite as active as his prototype at club and exclusive function. In labor circles the prosecution was described as a movement to discredit labor and to disrupt the unions. Here, Rudolph Spreckels was described as the unrelenting foe of labor organizations. At club and function, on the other hand, the prosecution was condemned as agent of "labor organization and anarchy," and Mr. Spreckels denounced as a man who had "gone back on his class." In all quarters stories were circulated, questioning Spreckels' motives. The most persistent charge against him was that he had started a street-car system of his own, and had instituted the graft prosecution to drive the United Railroads out of business. This story was told and retold, although the purposes for which Mr. Spreckels had contemplated engaging in the street-car business were well known.[280] It was quite as well known, too, that the briberies alleged against officials of the United Railroads were committed long after the graft prosecution had been inaugurated.

Heney[281] was also made target for criticisms. His whole life was gone over in the search for flaws. It was discovered that in self-defense he had, years before, shot a man in Arizona.[282] This was made basis of a charge that Heney had committed murder. The new version of the Arizona incident was fairly shouted from San Francisco housetops.

Heney was denounced as a "special prosecutor, a human bloodhound, engaged in hounding of men to the penitentiary." It was charged against him that he had received excessive fees from corporations; that he had accepted fees from the Federal government while acting as deputy to the San Francisco District Attorney, and that therefore his San Francisco employment was illegal;[283] that he had been a drunkard.

A most effective attack consisted in charging connection of the graft prosecution with the California Safe Deposit and Trust Company.

This institution closed its doors during the 1907 panic. It had carried an enormous volume of deposits. Thousands of homes were affected. The California Safe Deposit and Trust Company was, as a result, very unpopular. Stories were circulated that the company had backed the prosecution, and had contributed funds for its work. J. Dalzell Brown, one of the leading spirits of the company, was also described as one of the prosecution's backers. It was shown at the Calhoun[284] trial that neither Brown nor his company had contributed a dollar toward the prosecution fund. Nevertheless, persistent reports that the prosecution had had this support, unquestionably had its effect upon the losing depositors. Hiram W. Johnson had acted as Brown's attorney. Johnson had appeared as assistant to the District Attorney at a number of the graft trials. Johnson was condemned for taking the case of a criminal guilty of the offenses charged against Brown. Mr. Johnson's critics did not, however, condemn the attorneys who had taken the cases of the alleged bribe-givers.

Another charge was that the prosecution was hurting business; that the material prosperity of California demanded that the proceedings be stopped; that capital would not seek investment in California until the disturbance caused by the prosecution had subsided.

Every move of the prosecution was made subject of criticism. Announcement, for example, that immunity had been given the Supervisors was received by the anti-prosecution press with a storm of protest, and used by the pro-defense claque most effectively.

The treatment accorded Ruef was subject of constant objection and criticism. During the period of Ruef's apparent co-operation with the prosecution, when he was in custody of the elisor, the pro-defense press harped on the uselessness of the expense of keeping Ruef in the luxury of a private jail.[285] The Chronicle even went so far as to say it would be well if Ruef forfeited his bail, provided the bail were set high enough. Ruef was, at the time, thought to be a willing witness for the prosecution. That the case of The People would be weakened were he to leave the State did not seem to appeal to the Chronicle. Later on, when it became evident that Ruef was not assisting the prosecution, there were outcries against the alleged cruel treatment that had been imposed upon him during his confinement in the custody of the elisor.

But this potent and far-reaching opposition did not cause a moment's hesitation on the part of the prosecution. The work of bringing influential offenders before trial juries went steadily on. As soon as the Schmitz extortion case had been disposed of, Louis Glass of the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company, the first of the indicted capitalists to face a jury, was brought to trial.

FOOTNOTES:

[261] Heney's attitude toward the bribe-givers is expressed in an affidavit filed in the case of The People vs. Calhoun et als., No. 823. Heney in setting forth a statement made to Rabbi Nieto says:

"I consider that the greatest benefit which we will have done this city and this country by these prosecutions will be the insight which we will have given them into the causes of corruption in all large cities, and into the methods by which this corruption is maintained. The testimony of the members of the Board of Supervisors throws great light on this question, and Ruef could aid considerably in making it an object lesson to the world, if he would do so. The only way we can stop this kind of corruption is by enlightening the people as to its causes and by thereafter endeavoring to remove the temptation which causes evil by proper remedial legislation, and in order to impress this object lesson on the people strongly enough to accomplish much good we must punish the principal men who have been involved in it. Do not imagine this is a pleasant task to me. It is far from being so. It involves men like Frank Drum, whom I liked and respected as a friend for years, and who has quite recently paid me a good attorney's fee for services performed for a company represented by him. I have met Patrick Calhoun socially, and greatly admire his ability and found him to be a man of very agreeable, attractive manners. I wish there was some other way to secure a proper deterrent effect without causing these men and their innocent families to suffer, but unless the laws are enforced, Doctor, our republican form of government cannot continue very long. It is not sufficient to punish the poor man who has no friends or influence. The people will lose respect for the courts and for the law unless the rich and powerful can be made to obey the laws. It has a greater deterrent effect, in my opinion, to put one rich and influential man in prison than to put a thousand poor ones there. It would do no good to send a few miserable, ignorant Supervisors to the penitentiary. Others of the same kind would soon take their places, and the carnival of crime would continue as before. If we can put Ruef in the penitentiary it will have a wholesome effect upon other political bosses for the next decade at least. And if we can put a few captains of industry there with him, and particularly a few of the head officials of public service corporations, it will have a greater deterrent effect against bribery of public officials than putting five hundred of such officials in the penitentiary."

[262] "I subscribed to the Graft Prosecution fund," said one capitalist whose own skirts were clean of the graft scandal, "but before the investigation was over I had to exert myself to prevent my own attorney going to jail."

The manner in which every indictment increased the circle of opposition to the prosecution is well illustrated by the following selection from the San Francisco Chronicle of March 25, 1907:

"The indictment of Louis Glass, former vice-president of the Pacific States Telephone Company, for bribery, on testimony given to the Grand Jury by E. J. Zimmer, who was the auditor of the company under Glass, and is now vice-president of the reorganized corporation, has caused consternation in certain fashionable circles, in which Glass was one of the most popular men.

"At the clubs of which the indicted telephone magnate was a member, much sympathy is expressed for him. He was extremely popular because of his affability and good-fellowship, and he has a host of friends, who are loth to believe that he has committed a crime which may put him behind the bars of San Quentin for fourteen years.

"Attorney George Knight, who, it is expected, will be retained as counsel for Glass, voiced the sentiment of many of his friends, yesterday, when he said:

"'Louis Glass is one of the best fellows in a social way that ever lived. He is proud, high-spirited and in all his personal relations with others he has always been most particular. I cannot imagine what has led him into doing what he is said to have done in the telephone bribery, and I am sure that in spite of the indictment, when the truth is known, he will not appear in such a discreditable light.'"

[263] Among those who challenged the validity of the Grand Jury were: Patrick Calhoun, Thornwell Mullally, Tirey L. Ford and William Abbott of the United Railroads, represented by A. A. Moore and Stanley Moore; Louis Glass of the Pacific States Telephone Company, represented by Delmas and Coogan; John Martin, Eugene de Sabla and Frank Drum of the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company, represented by Garret McEnerney; T. V. Halsey, represented by Bert Schlesinger, William P. Humphries and D. M. Delmas. The several attorneys represented the best legal ability obtainable in San Francisco. No less than fifty-two attorneys, all working to the same end, were employed by the several graft defendants.

[264] The Merchants' Association banquet, April 18, 1907, the first anniversary of the great earthquake and fire.

[265] At one of the examinations of Spreckels, Attorney A. A. Moore, representing the United Railroads, is reported as demanding:

"Can it be that we have got to a point where a private prosecution, hiring a lawyer, hiring an attorney, hiring a detective--and then when indictments are found that you cannot set them aside? That is the line of testimony I intend to pursue."

"In addition," said Attorney Stanley Moore, A. A. Moore's associate in the defense, "we expect to show that Mr. Spreckels is the head and shoulders of a large street railroad company, organized by himself for the purpose of putting the United Railroads out of business.'

"I will say this again," went on Moore, "we will prove the statement that we have made, to wit: that Mr. Heney was an unauthorized person before the Grand Jury by reason of the fact that he was during all that time privately employed by Rudolph Spreckels, who was entertaining a plan to destroy the property of the United Railroads, and to carry out that plan they gave immunity to the Board of Supervisors to carry out their bidding."

[266] The Chronicle, in its issue of June 7, 1907, in discussing the delaying tactics of the defendants, said:

"It cannot be too often repeated that in connection with the boodle cases there are but two questions which are of importance, and those are, first: Did the accused commit bribery within the meaning of the statute? and secondly, If not, did they commit bribery in such a way that the law cannot reach them? Both these questions will be settled by the evidence in the trials. If the verdict is that the accused committed bribery within the meaning of the statute, they will go to State's prison. If the evidence shows that they committed bribery so skilfully that it cannot be legally proved, they will not go to the penitentiary, but they will stand disgraced men and unconvicted felons. In either case all that an honest man prizes most highly is at stake, and as all claim to be as innocent as unborn babes, one would expect the band to be tumbling over each other in their eagerness to be first to face a jury and rehabilitate their damaged reputations by a public demonstration of their untarnished character.

"Quite the contrary. So far from their taking this obvious course to secure justification the aid of a shining and costly array of legal talent is invoked to prevent, if it may be possible, any show-down whatever of the evidence in any court. They object to even coming into court and pleading whether they are guilty or not. It is declared that it will be alleged that the purported Grand Jury, which went through the form of indicting them, is an illegal body, with no standing whatever in court, and that, therefore, there is no indictment at all. It will not, apparently, be claimed that the members of the alleged Grand Jury were not discreet citizens, legally competent to serve as Grand Jurors; that they were not regularly appointed as such according to law; that they were not duly sworn into office, or that, having listened to sworn evidence delivered under the forms of law, these reputable citizens, upon that evidence, accuse them of felony. None of these things, it is supposed, will be alleged. What is to be alleged, it is said, is that the number of names from which the Grand Jury was drawn was 113, instead of 125, which, by the way, is promptly denied. What earthly bearing could that have, if it were true, on the guilt or innocence of the men accused of felony? Can it be conceived as possible, even if that were proved, that our laws are drawn so completely in the interest of criminals as to enable men accused of felony to escape trial?

"The personal character and qualifications of the Grand Jurors were fully brought out in the Ruef case. For weeks they were subjected to a grilling which it was a disgrace to our laws to permit. That was not repeated in the Schmitz case. In that the counsel of the accused have seemed to be relying for overturning a conviction on the alleged over-zealousness of the prosecuting officer. Again, what has that to do with the guilt or innocence of the accused, even if it has occurred? A District Attorney is in possession of all the evidence, and if that is such as to arouse his indignation, shall the people thereby be deprived of all remedy? Obvious misconduct of an attorney is more likely to injure the people than the accused. It could hardly have any other influence on the verdict of a jury. If no crimes are to be punished in which there is energetic prosecution, which may occasionally involve expressions which the law discountenances, we may about as well shut up our criminal courts. Almost any attorney may be baited into making uncourteous remarks. Happily the Supreme Court has recently decided that no matter what the District Attorney does, a felon duly convicted upon sufficient evidence shall not thereby be turned loose. And that is as it should be."

[267] Heney in court made caustic answer to this argument: "After the Supervisors had confessed," he began, "and sixteen of them had testified that they had been paid $4,000 apiece to vote for the trolley franchise, these defendants thought in their own minds that they were so connected with the crime that Patrick Calhoun, Thornwell Mullally and Tirey L. Ford each made a public explanation in the press, denying that they had bribed a city official. A crime had been committed, and the first question to be asked was, Who had the motive? The Supervisors had testified that they received the money from Gallagher, and Gallagher had testified that he received it from Ruef. Did Abraham Ruef own the trolley lines? The question arose as to who had the motive. Ford and Mullally came to me personally and told me they had not bribed a city official. Wasn't that an explanation? Will it not be an explanation when these defendants are put on trial that they will say it was an attorney's fee? If, under these circumstances, the Grand Jury cannot call the officers of the company to learn who authorized the giving of the bribe money, what would an investigation be worth? If we had not called them, then you would have heard the other cry, that this was a conspiracy to destroy the good name of Patrick Calhoun.

"If it had been a poor, ignorant man, or a helpless woman--if the Grand Jury had dragged her from the jail and compelled her to testify against herself, and she had not known what her constitutional right was, it would have been a different picture. But these four gentlemen are learned in the law. One of them had been Attorney-General of this State, another had been his assistant in that office for four years. Mullally is an attorney and Patrick Calhoun is an attorney whose mind is equal to that of any man's in California.

"Advised of their rights! Why, they came in there on a subpoena which General Ford has declared in his own affidavit was faulty and ineffective. They came on a defective process, which they knew to be defective. They refused to be sworn, and they were not sworn, and they left the Grand Jury room without having answered a question, for the purpose of coming solemnly here to get these indictments set aside on the grounds that their constitutional rights have been invaded. That's trifling with the law. Laws weren't made to juggle with. Laws were made for the protection of the innocent.

"They knew they didn't have to go, but they went, and they refused to testify; and now they want the indictments set aside because their great constitutional rights have been tampered with.

"They say he could have waived the point and testified, but because he refused and walked out he has been deprived of his constitutional right."

[268] In commenting upon the point raised by the indicted carmen, the Chronicle, in its issue of July 30, 1907, said:

"In attacking the legality of the Grand Jury the attorneys of the carmen indicted for making assaults with deadly weapons and throwing bricks at street cars may have played into the hands of their arch enemy, the president of the United Railroads. If the Supreme Court should hold that the Oliver Grand Jury passed out of legal existence when the 144 new names were selected by the twelve Superior Judges, the indictments against those connected with the telephone, gas, trolley and Parkside briberies would be set aside and all the work of the prosecution would have to be done over. It would be a curious outcome to the efforts of an attorney to free men charged with crimes which the unions condemn, but it would not be the first instance of a miscarriage of the purposes of organized labor."

[269] Some went so far when examined for jury service at the later graft trials as to say they would not vote to convict.

[270] The graft investigation uncovered something of the curious ethics governing this sort of publicity. For example, Mark L. Gerstle of the law firm of Thomas, Gerstle and Frick, who acted as attorneys for the Home Telephone Company, testified before the Grand Jury that the company paid the San Francisco Chronicle $10,000 to educate the people to the idea of a competing telephone system. The testimony was as follows:

"Q. During that time in 1905, were any newspapers paid to help the good cause? A. Yes.

"Q. What papers? A. Only one.

"Q. What paper was that? A. Chronicle.

"Q. How much was paid to it? A. $10,000.

"Q. What were the terms of that employment? A. The object of paying that money was to educate the people to the idea of a competitive telephone system. There seemed to be a prejudice among everybody, or a great many people, as to the value or necessity of another telephone system, and we could not obtain the assistance of any newspaper in that work without paying for it. Some required it in the shape of advertising which we did not need--don't do any good--others wouldn't take it in that way; the Chronicle wouldn't take it that way and we were forced in order to have some newspaper assist us in that work, to pay the price which was $10,000.

"Q. Did they give editorial work for that? A. No. They were supposed when the matters came up before the Board of Supervisors to write it up favorably, that is to say, talk about the advantage of a competitive telephone system in the way of keeping out a monopoly, and doing away with the poor system of the Pacific States."

[271] The Chronicle's reports of the work of the Graft Prosecution are models of the journalism which strikes in the dark. When, for example, the defense called Rudolph Spreckels to the stand in its efforts to disqualify the Grand Jury, The Chronicle, while in its editorial columns condemning such proceedings, reported the incident in its news columns as follows:

"Spreckels, who had been keeping in the background, came forward, glancing furtively at Heney, whose lips were moving nervously." In the column from which this quotation is taken, Heney is represented as replying "nervously" to charges made by attorneys for the defense, and Spreckels, when a question was put to him as looking "appealingly" to the attorney representing the prosecution. But observers of the proceedings recall no perceptible nervousness on Heney's part, nor "furtive" nor "appealing" glances from Spreckels.

[272] The Cosmopolitan, issue of July, 1911.

[273] The Sacramento Bee, in an editorial article, "Laureling the Brow of a Harlequin 'Reformer'," said of Mr. Hamilton's claims for Hearst:

"The San Francisco Examiner is advertising an article by Edward H. Hamilton in the July Cosmopolitan--an article which is a tissue of the most shameless misrepresentations from beginning to end--an article which falsely and most mendaciously credits the conviction and imprisonment of Abraham Ruef to William Randolph Hearst.

"The Cosmopolitan is a Hearst magazine; Hamilton, a Hearst writer. Undoubtedly in New York many will believe Hamilton has written the truth. Every man in California knows otherwise.

"It is strange that a writer with the ability and the reputation of Edward H. Hamilton would for any consideration write an article so brazenly false that one marvels at the audacity alike of the eulogist and the laureled.

"For Hearst had no more to do with the fate of Ruef than Ruef's own lawyers. He labored on the same side--to make the graft prosecution so unpopular that no conviction of the guilty could result. Day in and day out the Examiner reeked with slanders aimed at the men who were endeavoring to place Ruef behind the bars.

"Day in and day out, the most malicious cartoons were published against Spreckels, Heney, Phelan, Burns and all who were battling for the punishment of public and semi-public scoundrels. Day in and day out in the Examiner Judge Wm. P. Lawlor was referred to as 'Crawler.'

"Day in and day out the reports of the trials were so colored, so exaggerated in favor of the defense and so emasculated when the prosecution scored a point, that the Examiner was ranked with the gutter weeklies as a friend, champion and defender of the indicted, and a most venomous traitor to good government and to public honor.

"The Examiner knew the feeling against it in San Francisco. For, when Heney was shot and there was danger of mob violence, the editorial rooms of the Examiner were barricaded and the Examiner men were supplied with rifles.

"And their fears were to a certain extent justified. One of the vilest cartoons against Heney pictured 'Beany' in danger of his life from imaginary assassins. On 'Beany's' neck was a mark to show where the bullet was to strike. By an extraordinary coincidence, the bullet that struck Heney down at the Ruef trial found almost the identical spot that a few days before had been marked on 'Beany's' neck in Hearst's humorous cartoon.

"On the night of the day that Heney was shot, indignant San Francisco in an immense mass meeting thundered its denunciation of Hearst and the Examiner. And graft-prosecution leaders found it necessary to plead with an inflamed populace to attempt no violence.

"No more 'Beany' cartoons made their appearance. The Examiner wrote of all connected with the graft prosecution in terms of respect. But this repentance born of fear did not prevent Californians by the thousands stopping the Examiner.

"The Cosmopolitan eulogy of Hearst in the graft-prosecution matter is a long line of known misstatements from beginning to end.

"It is humiliating to have to record that a man of Ned Hamilton's talents could so debase them as to present in the light of a militant Paul of the graft prosecution one who was its most contemptible Judas Iscariot.

"Regrettable indeed is it that

"Poor Ned 'must torture his invention To flatter rogues or lose his pension.'"

[274] After the failure of the Calkins syndicate its successors to the ownership of "The Globe," purchased the Post and combined the two in one publication under the name of Post-Globe. The policy of the paper was not changed.

[275] The astonishing business conditions under which the Calkins Syndicate was conducted were brought out during the proceedings in bankruptcy. For example: The Union Trust Company, closely connected financially with the Southern Pacific Company, and the United Railroads, advanced the syndicate $175,000.

To secure this loan, the Syndicate gave the Union Trust Company as collateral 1251 shares of the 2500 shares of the capital stock of the Sacramento Publishing Company, 150,100 shares of the 300,000 shares of the capital stock of the Calkins Publishing House, the majority of the capital stock of the Fresno Publishing Company, which published the Fresno "Herald" and bonds of the company publishing the San Francisco "Globe," valued at $30,000.

This loan remained unpaid at the time of the Syndicate's failure. The stock of the Fresno Publishing Company sold under the hammer for $4,850. The 1251 shares of the Sacramento Publishing Company were estimated to be worth $51,000. The stock of the Calkins Publishing House was of doubtful value. The Union Trust Company, before the failure, released the Globe bonds without payment of the note or consideration of other security. This left the stock of the Sacramento Publishing Company, valued at perhaps $51,000, as sure security for the $175,000 loan.

But this stock was curiously involved. The entire stock of the company consisted of 2500 shares of a par value of $100 a share. The corporation's property consisted of the Sacramento Union newspaper and the real property where the paper was published.

Soon after purchasing the Sacramento stock, the Calkins Syndicate organized a second Sacramento Publishing Company. The first company--that of the 2500 shares--was organized as The Sacramento Publishing Company. The Calkins people in organizing the second company dropped the "The," calling it "Sacramento Publishing Company." The second company was organized with a capital stock of 300,000 shares,--175,000 shares common stock and 125,000 shares preferred.

The Syndicate took 100,000 shares of this preferred stock to the London, Paris and American Bank, and used it with certain stock of the Nevada County Publishing Company, another Calkins concern, as collateral to secure a loan of $30,000. Of the 25,000 (preferred) shares remaining, the Calkins people sold 10,000 shares for money. The 15,000 shares remaining, Mr. Willard P. Calkins, head of the Calkins Syndicate, took to compensate him for his peculiar labors in the transaction. This disposed of the 125,000 shares of preferred stock in the second company.

The 175,000 shares of common stock still remained to be disposed of. Mr. Calkins, as president of the Calkins Syndicate, wanting more money, took the 175,000 shares to the London, Paris and American Bank, and pledged them as part collateral for a second loan. He did more--he pledged the "Union's" Associated Press franchise as further security for this second loan.

Eventually, the second loan was paid off, but the London, Paris and American Bank continued to hold the 175,000 shares of common stock and the Associated Press franchise, under an alleged collateral agreement, as further security for the first loan of $30,000. The first loan was eventually reduced to $16,085.02. When the crash came, two Sacramento Publishing Companies, one with a "The" and one without a "The," claimed ownership of the Sacramento "Union." A majority of the stock of the first company was pledged to the Union Trust Company as part collateral for a loan of $175,000; 175,000 shares of the common stock of the second company and 100,000 shares of its preferred stock, together with the paper's Associated Press franchise, were in the hands of the successor of the London, Paris and American Bank, the Anglo & London, Paris National Bank, to secure a balance of $16,085.02 due on an original loan of $30,000.

But there were further complications. The first Sacramento Publishing Company, the directors and officers of which were the directors and officers of the second company, transferred the corporation's office building to the second corporation. The second corporation thereupon mortgaged this real estate to the People's Bank of Sacramento to secure a second loan of $20,000.

When Mr. I. W. Hellman, Jr., manager of the Union Trust Company--also one of the prominent managers of the Hellman movement in local politics--was on the witness stand, at the time of the Calkins investigation, he was asked to whom he looked for the payment of the $175,000.

"To the Calkins Syndicate," replied Mr. Hellman.

[276] The presence of President Calhoun at an Olympic Club dinner in July, 1907, met with strong objection. Calhoun was not a member of the club. He had, it was charged, been brought there by one of the employees of the Southern Pacific Company, who was a member. His appearance led to open protest. It was finally arranged that objection should not be made to him, on condition that he would not attempt to make an address. But the defense claque had evidently planned otherwise. A demonstration was started for Calhoun. He began a speech which brought members to their feet in protest.

"I object," said Dr. Charles A. Clinton, one of the oldest members of the club, "to the presence here of Mr. Calhoun and I protest against his making a speech on the ground that the gentleman has been indicted by the Grand Jury for a most heinous offense; that he has been charged with bribing and debauching public officials, and should not be a guest of the club until he can come with clean hands. I do not pass upon this man's innocence or guilt, but feel that until his hands are clean he should not come to the club."

The outcome was that, by action of the Board of Directors, Dr. Clinton was expelled from the club. The course was generally denounced. "The Olympic Club of San Francisco," said the Sacramento Bee, "has shamed itself in the eyes of every decent, honest, manly, self-respecting citizen in this State by its recent act, through its Board of Directors, in expelling Dr. Charles A. Clinton from membership. The offense of Dr. Clinton was merely that he protested, as every other honorable member of the Olympic Club should have protested, not so much against the plotted appearance in that club at a banquet, of Patrick Calhoun, indicted for high crimes, as against the subsequent effort on the part of some members of the Olympic Club to force Calhoun to make a speech and become the hero of the affair."

When the American battleship fleet visited San Francisco in 1908, much opposition developed over the efforts of upholders of the defense to have Calhoun invited to the banquet given in honor of the visitors. Calhoun's representatives finally overcame the resistance, and Calhoun was invited.

Calhoun's social and other activities during this period resulted in much newspaper discussion. "The action of Patrick Calhoun," said the Examiner, "in appointing himself, Thornwell Mullally and William Abbott, all under indictment on bribery charges, as delegates to the Industrial Peace Conference caused such indignation and protest on the part of the other delegates that a committee on arrangements last evening demanded that Calhoun withdraw the names of himself and his two subordinates and substitute others." Mrs. Eleanor Martin gave a dinner in honor of Congressman and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth on the occasion of the visit of President Roosevelt's daughter to San Francisco. Mrs. Martin ranked as highest of San Francisco's so-called social leaders. The alleged fact that neither Calhoun nor Mullally was present on that important occasion was made subject of much curious newspaper comment. The "social side" of the graft defense not infrequently furnished saving comedy for an overstrained situation. It was, however, most effective in breaking down the prosecution. "Socially" the defense had decidedly the better of the situation. Calhoun, for example, became a member of the Olympic Club. There was a deal of newspaper protest at the club's action in admitting him, and defense of the club and other comedy. But Calhoun wore the "winged O" emblem of the Olympic Club on his automobile, nevertheless.

[277] One of the most amusing experiences which the writer had during this period was in listening to a woman, prominent in Episcopalian Church affairs, as she voiced her indignation because of a slight put upon her at an important social event of her church, at which daughters of one of the graft defendants had place in the receiving line.

[278] Some of the letters of refusal to contribute are of curious interest. For example, Timothy Hopkins, a capitalist of large affairs, wrote curtly: "Yours of the 4th in reference to contributions for the entertainment of the United States Fleet has been received. I am not contributing. Yours truly, TIMOTHY HOPKINS."

E. E. Calvin, for the Southern Pacific, wrote "that under present conditions we cannot afford to contribute money to any purpose other than charity or a pressing public necessity."

A. H. Payson, for the Santa Fe, wrote that under his instructions he "was not able to make a subscription for this purpose in behalf of the Atchison Company."

[279] Mr. Ralston, in an interview printed in the San Francisco Examiner, September 26, 1908, said of this incident:

"The true facts of the case are that when P. N. Lilienthal and myself called on many of the banks and all of the public utility corporations they came out boldly and stated that they would not give one dollar while Phelan was Chairman of the Executive Committee, or connected with the reception of the fleet.

"Some of the banks that refused are the Crocker National Bank and the Wells-Fargo National. Some of the other banks only gave $100 when they would have given much larger amounts. They disliked Phelan. Among the corporations were the Telephone Company, the Spring Valley Water Company, and the Gas and Electric Light Company. The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe refused to subscribe and it is presumed their reasons were the same as the other corporations.

"When I learned the true situation," Mr. Ralston went on, as he widened the mouth of the bag for the certain escape of the cat, "I went before the Executive Committee, at a meeting at which Mr. Phelan was present, and guaranteed the sum of $25,000 more if Mr. Phelan resign or step out. I even went further and said that besides guaranteeing $25,000, I felt assured that the sum of $50,000 could be easily collected if Mr. Phelan would drop out. This Mr. Phelan refused to do. These matters all came up in executive meetings."

In this connection it is interesting to note that at the 1914 election in California, Mr. Phelan was elected to represent the State in the United States Senate, while Mr. Ralston was defeated at the Republican primaries for nomination for Governor.

[280] See Chapter III.

[281] President Calhoun's denunciation of Heney was scarcely consistent with the high regard in which Heney was at the opening of the prosecution, held by the United Railroads' executives. So well did they think of Heney that they selected him to sit on the Board of Arbitration which met late in 1906 to adjust differences between the United Railroads and its employees. This fact was given by Acting Mayor Gallagher as one of the reasons for removing Langdon from office, in October, 1906, when the Graft Prosecution opened. Specification 7 of Gallagher's order removing Langdon because of the appointment of Heney reads: "Specification 7, That said Francis J. Heney at and prior to the time of his appointment as assistant district attorney was the representative of the corporation controlling the street-car system of said city and county (The United Railroads), in a certain dispute between said corporation and its employees. That the appointment of said Heney to said office will, in regard to the enforcement of law against said corporation, be prejudicial and detrimental to the interests of said city and county."

Heney resigned his position as arbitrator in the United Railroads controversy soon after the prosecution opened.

[282] The graft defendants sent men to Arizona to have Heney indicted, charging murder of a Dr. Handy. Years before, Heney had taken the case of Handy's wife in divorce proceedings, after other attorneys had declined it because of fear of Handy. Handy had boasted that he would kill the man who took his wife's case. After Heney had agreed to represent Mrs. Handy, Handy announced that he would kill Heney with Heney's own gun. He actually attempted this, and Heney, in self-defense, shot him. Heney was exonerated at the time. When the graft trials opened, first representatives of Ruef, and then representatives of the United Railroads went to Arizona for the purpose of working up this case against Heney, and if possible secure his indictment for murder. Ruef's representatives even went so far as to attempt to secure the services of Handy's son to get Heney indicted. Young Handy went to Heney, told him what was going on, and offered to go to Arizona to protect Heney. But Heney declined to permit this sacrifice. Young Handy expressed gratitude for what Heney had done for his mother. Heney's brother, Ben Heney, with full knowledge of what was going on, watched the efforts of those who were endeavoring to make this case, long since disposed of, a matter of embarrassment to the prosecutor. As the graft defense investigators found nothing upon which to base a charge this move against the graft prosecution failed.

[283] Dean John H. Wigmore of the Northwestern School of Law at Chicago, author of Wigmore on Evidence, made sharp reply to this contention. In a letter to President Calhoun, dated August 10, 1909, Dean Wigmore said:

"Chicago, 87 Lake Street, 10 August, 1909.

"Mr. Patrick Calhoun, San Francisco.

"Sir:--Recently there arrived in my hands by mail, with no sender's address, a pamphlet of ninety pages, entitled 'Some Facts Regarding Francis J. Heney.' On page 12 your name appears as a printed signature. I am assuming that you caused the contents to be prepared and mailed.

"The pamphlet contains assertions reflecting on the conduct of Francis J. Heney and the Federal Department of Justice, in taking part in the prosecution of a criminal charge of bribery in the State Court of California against yourself. The pamphlet contains no defense of yourself; it does not even mention your name, except as its signer and in the title of exhibits; much less does it allege or attempt to show your innocence. It merely asks an answer to 'three important constitutional and moral questions' affecting Mr. Heney and the Department of Justice.

"Before answering those questions, let me say that this does not appear to be the method of an innocent man. The public press has made notorious the charge against you and its prosecution by Mr. Heney. Thoughtful citizens everywhere have discussed it. Many (not including myself) had assumed that you were guilty. You now appear to have spent a large sum to print and circulate widely a pamphlet concerning the case. Anyone would expect to find the pamphlet devoted to showing your innocence; and thus to removing unfavorable opinions based on casual press dispatches. An honest man, desiring to stand well with honest fellow-citizens, and possessing means to print, would naturally take that course. You do not. Your pamphlet merely attacks the technical authority of one of the attorneys for the prosecution, incidentally abusing two judges. This is not the course of an innocent man. It is the course of a guilty man who desires to divert the attention of the tribunal of public opinion. The tradition is here fulfilled of the attorney's instructions to the barrister acting for his guilty client, 'No case; abuse the opposing counsel.' I am compelled now to assume that you have no case, because all that your expensive pamphlet does is to abuse one of the counsel for the prosecution. Until now I have supposed it proper to suspend judgment. I do so no longer.

"And what are your three 'constitutional and moral' questions,--since you have sent me a pamphlet asking an answer to them? I will answer them frankly.

"1. Was Mr. Heney's payment by the Department of Justice covertly for the California prosecution but nominally for other and Federal services?

"Answer: I do not know. But I and other honest citizens will presume in favor of the honesty, in this act, of a President, an Attorney-General, and an Assistant Attorney-General who proved in all other public acts that they were honest and courageous beyond example, especially as against a man like yourself who publishes a pamphlet based throughout on anonymous assertions.

"2. Can a Federal Assistant Attorney-General, under Federal salary, lawfully act at the same time as State Assistant District Attorney?

"Answer: As to this 'constitutional' question, I leave this to the courts, as you should. As to this 'moral' question, I say that it is moral for any Federal officer to help any State officer in the pursuit of crime, and that only guilty lawbreakers could be imagined to desire the contrary.

"3. Can a private citizen contribute money to help the State's prosecuting officers in the investigation and trial of a criminal charge?

"Answer: He can; and it is stupid even to put the question. Under the original English jury-system (of which you received the benefit) and until the last century, the private citizen was usually obliged to pay the prosecuting expenses; for the State did not, and crime went unpunished otherwise. If nowadays, in any community, crime is again likely to go unpunished without the help of private citizens, there is no reason why we should not revert to the old system. As for Mr. Spreckels (the private citizen here named by you), his name should be held in honor, and will ever be, as against anything your pamphlet can say. As for Mr. Heney and his receipt of $47,500 officially and 'large sums of money additionally' from Mr. Spreckels, it may be presumed that he spent most of it on trial expenses, and did not keep it as a personal reward. But even if he did so keep it, let me register the view that he is welcome to all this--and to more--if anybody will give it; that no money compensation is too high for such rare courage; that the moral courage displayed by him is as much entitled to high money compensation as the unprincipled commercial skill displayed by yourself--and this solely by the economic test of money value,--viz., demand and supply.

"Apart from this, the high sums said to have been paid by you to Abraham Ruef solely for his legal skill estop you from questioning the propriety of lesser sums said to have been paid to Francis J. Heney for his legal skill.

"Just twenty-five years ago I sat in an upper room on Kearny street, with five other young men, and helped to organize a Municipal Reform League. Two or three others, still living, will recall the occasion. Abraham Ruef was one of them.

"Fate separated all of us within a short time. Ruef went his own way,--the way we all know. It is the memory of those earlier days, in contrast with the recent course of events in my old home, that has interested me to give you these answers to the questions asked in the pamphlet you purport to have sent me. "JOHN H. WIGMORE."

[284] See Rudolph Spreckels' testimony in The People, etc., vs. Patrick Calhoun.

[285] As early as April 20, 1907, the Chronicle began its objection to Ruef's confinement. The Chronicle on that date said, in an editorial article:

"It appears that it is costing the city about $70 a day to keep Ruef in jail. That expense should be shut off and shut off now. There is no reason why Ruef should be treated differently from any other criminal who jumped his bail. Incidentally the public is getting impatient to hear that the $50,000 bail already forfeited has been collected. If that were in the treasury we should be more willing to incur this large expense. The public will very sharply criticise authorities who incur such expense for the care of Ruef without promptly collecting the forfeited bail or beginning suit for it. Perhaps it has already been collected and the public has not heard of it.

"The city has provided a jail and a jailer. Let him have Ruef. Of course, he will 'connubiate' with him, but what of it? The Sheriff will be under the direction of the Court and if, when otherwise ordered, he grants Ruef privileges not proper, he can himself be put in jail, we suppose. We trust the trial judges will not be discouraged in their efforts to enforce respect to their courts. They will find the people behind them who are already sitting in critical judgment on the legal refinements of the higher courts.

"We suppose that a criminal who has once jumped his bail may be kept in jail when caught. But we see no use of it. By once running away he has warranted the Court in fixing new bail at such a rate that the public would gladly have it forfeited. We could afford to pay something handsome to clear Ruef entirely out of the country and into Honduras, and if we could extort from him a few hundred thousand dollars for the privilege it would be the best trade we ever made. But we do not believe he would run away if the bail were made right. But if he is not to be bailed, let him go to jail, where the total cost of his keep will not exceed 25 or 30 cents a day or whatever it is. And if the Sheriff is not trustworthy--as, of course, he is not--let Elisor Biggy have a key to a separate lock on his dungeon. But there is no sense in spending $70 a day for the keep of only one of our municipal reprobates."