[368]District Attorney Langdon’s statement in reply to these criticisms was as follows: “I have no answer at this time to make to the statements given out by Patrick Calhoun and made in behalf of other defendants in the graft cases with the intention of discrediting the prosecution and attempting to lead the public to believe that we have acted unfairly in the conduct of these cases. The time will come when such charges will be answered, but they will be answered only as events shalldirect.“Nothing that has occurred within the past few weeks has in any way complicated the situation as far as the prosecution is concerned or has tended to weaken our position. The original plans of the prosecution are to be carried out just as we have always intended to carry them out. The Ruef case will be tried immediately, and every other defendant under indictment will be brought to trial just as quickly as the courts are able to dispose of the cases. We shall not falter in our duty. I can promise that while the present District Attorney is in office this battle will be fought out to the end of the last case.“The fact is that at the present time we have the tactical advantage over all the defendants, who have allied their interests for mutual protection. They know we have this advantage and that is why they are shouting so loudly from the housetops. We do not answer the attacks that are made because we are trying law cases and our every energy is bent to the prosecution of those cases. We are entirely satisfied, however, with the position in which we stand at this time and are prepared to fight our battles in the courts to a finish.”[369]The following are extracts taken from Mr. Weinstock’s address:“After all, the saddest thing is to find men who are rated as decent, law-abiding, intelligent, presumably high minded and moral, condoning the sins of the bribe givers and deploring their indictment and prosecution.“Both the commercial and political bribe givers committed serious crimes, but by far the more serious was the crime of corrupting public officials, because the tendency of this crime is to undermine the very foundation of the State, thus leading to the ultimate destruction of democracy.“If the spirit of the respectables, fighting and condemning the graft prosecution, is to become the common spirit, then must we bid farewell to civic virtue, farewell to public morality, farewell to good government and in time farewell to our republican institutions and to civic liberty.”[370]A very good example of this is shown in a memorial from Sonoma. The memorial read as follows:“Sonoma, Cal., March 18, 1908. To William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, Rudolph Spreckels and others engaged in the graft prosecution in San Francisco. Gentlemen: It appearing that a portion of the press of this State is engaged in belittling the efforts of those engaged in the prosecution of the graft cases in San Francisco, and is endeavoring to impute improper and unjust motives to all who have such prosecution in charge; and we realizing that it is the duty of all honest people everywhere to uphold the hands of the prosecution, and to encourage them to proceed in all lawful ways to continue in their efforts to bring all law breakers to justice,“We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Sonoma and vicinity, mindful of the good work you are all doing, wish to show our appreciation of your efforts, and encourage you in continuing to pursue the course you have marked out, to the end that all law breakers shall be punished and the majesty of the law vindicated.”[371]Heney, in a published statement regarding these indictments, said: “We do not consider for a minute that there is a particle of merit to any of the claims made by the defendants that the former indictments were defectively drawn in any detail. It is wise, however, to be prepared for anything that might happen at any subsequent time, and so the present true bills have been found. These indictments are so drawn as to eliminate every technical objection that has been made by any of the defendants to the former indictments, and the action has been at this time so that the statute of limitations would not run against the crime charged. There is absolutely no significance to the fact that the name of Abbott and Mullally were omitted, except that we feel that the cases against the three defendants named are of far greater importance. Our sole purpose has been to throw an anchor to windward to avoid possible trouble in the future.”[372]James D. Phelan, at the mass meeting called after the attempted assassination of Heney, summed up the Parkside case tersely: “Take the Parkside case,” he said. “There were some men who wanted a franchise which we were all willing to concede, but the boss said it would be advisable to pay for it. Instead of making a demand upon the Supervisors and an appeal to the citizens on the justice of their cause and the desirability of giving them the franchise, they continued their dickering with Ruef, and for so much money, thirty thousand dollars, I believe, he said he would give it to them. Then they ‘doctored’ their books and went down to the Crocker National Bank and got the money in green-backs, handed out to them by the teller of that institution, whose managers were stockholders in the Parkside, among them a gentleman who told you the other day to vote against the Hetch-Hetchy proposition, Mr. William H. Crocker.“Now, finding that they could get so easily a privilege by paying for it, what did they do? They asked Mr. Ruef to give them the franchise, not on Twentieth avenue, an ungraded street, which they first wanted, but in Nineteenth avenue, which had been dedicated as a boulevard for the use of the people, which was substantially paved, and which was the only avenue we had to cross from the park to Ingleside. He said to them that that would take fifteen thousand dollars more, and they said ‘It’s a bargain.’ And these gentlemen who sought the least objectionable franchise, tell you now that they were victims, tell you now that they could not get their franchise any other way. They were glad because they were a part of the system, a part of the ‘other fellows’ of the affiliated interests. They were glad to pay their money, which was a paltry sum to them, in order to perpetuate the rule of Ruef; that they could go to him on any other occasion to get an extension, or a privilege or a franchise, or anything that they wanted, by simply paying for it. It would be the simplest form of government, my friends, to have somebody sitting in a place of power and pass out to you what you want. It would save you the expense of a campaign, it would save you the advertising in the newspapers, it would save you the cost of mailing a circular to every voter. It is indeed, a most economical and direct method of getting what you want from the government.”[373]The Oakland Tribune, in support of Ruef’s plea for delay, said: “Now the question arises: Is Ruef now being prosecuted in good faith for the offenses alleged against him or is he being forced to trial without adequate preparation merely to coerce him into giving testimony he has repeatedly told Heney, Langdon and Burns would be false? Is not the summary process of law being invoked to compel Ruef to tell to a trial jury a different story from the one he related under oath to the Oliver Grand Jury? In other words, is not the prosecution now trying either to punish Ruef for refusing to commit or convict himself of perjury or intimidate him into assisting, as a witness under duress, Heney and Langdon to make good the threat they reiterated on the stump last fall that they would send Patrick Calhoun to State prison?“Admitting Ruef to be guilty of all the crimes of which he stands accused, is he not now being proceeded against in a criminal spirit and with a criminal intent? Having failed to get what they want by compounding the felonies of Ruef and his followers, are not the prosecution resorting to compulsion under the forms of law to compel the commission of perjury?”[374]Judge M. T. Dooling was at the time Superior Judge of San Benito, one of the smaller of the interior counties. He had, however, already a State-wide reputation for integrity and ability. He left the San Benito County bench to accept the appointment of President Wilson as United States District Judge.[375]Some of these trailers were arrested and forced into court. On one day four men, Frank Shaw, alias Harry Nelson, Harry Smith, alias Harry Zobler, J. R. Johnson, alias J. R. Hayes, and Cliff Middlemiss were placed under arrest for following Detective Burns.[376]According to Peter Claudianes’ confession to Burns, he had been summoned from Chico to San Francisco by Felix Pauduveris early in March. Pauduveris told him he had a hard piece of work for Claudianes to do, namely, kill Gallagher, the chief witness in the graft prosecution. Pauduveris had told him there was $1000 apiece and three dollars a day for expenses in the job for them. The first proposition, according to Claudianes’ confession, was for Claudianes to shoot poisoned glass into Gallagher’s face by means of an ordinary sling-shot. But this plan was abandoned on the ground that Claudianes’ capture would be sure to follow. A plan to poison Gallagher was also abandoned. Destruction by means of dynamite was finally decided upon. Pauduveris had taken Claudianes over to Oakland and showed him where Gallagher resided. After the failure of the dynamite plot, Claudianes had arranged to secure apartments in the same building with Gallagher and put poison into Gallagher’s milk. Before this plot could be carried out, John Claudianes had confessed and Peter had become a fugitive from justice.In his confession to Burns, Peter Claudianes stated: “Pauduveris said the prosecution with Heney, Langdon, Burns and Spreckels had put about 50,000 men out of work. We must get rid of Gallagher as he is their principal witness. If he is put out of the way the Prosecution will end. There is about $2000 in it for us and about $1000 in it for your brother John. Felix Pauduveris was very angry because no one was killed in the explosion at the Schenck house. He said it was not a clean job.”In his confession, Claudianes stated further:“I thought I was working for Ruef, as I knew Felix was a very intimate friend of his. When Felix told me I had got to shadow Gallagher I knew the word came from Ruef. Felix said that Ruef would never go across the bay, as he had them all buffaloed. Ruef was too smart for those fellows, Felix said, and the gang was all behind Ruef. The prosecution had no grudge against Gallagher, but it had a grudge against Ruef.”[377]Pauduveris had been employed by the United Railroads as a “spotter.” At the time of the explosion he was still in that corporation’s employ. He was at the same time a political follower of Ruef.[378]The attempt upon Gallagher’s life led the prosecution to take steps to secure his testimony in a form in which it could be used before a trial jury in the event of Gallagher’s death. Under the California law, testimony taken at a preliminary hearing can, in the event of the death or disability of a witness, be used at the trial of the case. After the Parkside case trial, Ruef was arrested on a charge of bribery and given a preliminary examination at which Gallagher testified against him. Gallagher’s testimony was thus made secure against poison or dynamite.[379]The Examiner following the explosion printed a series of ridiculing cartoons picturing the dynamiting of a bird cage and describing at length the escape of the parrot that had occupied it.[380]The Chronicle took advantage of the dynamite outrage to voice its condemnation of Gallagher. “There is,” said that paper in its issue of April 24, “no more undesirable citizen on earth than the contemptible boodler James L. Gallagher, who is living on the profits of the shame which he brazenly flaunts in the face of mankind, but the effort to discover the miscreant who dynamited the house where he was living should be pushed as vigorously as if the intended victim was the most estimable citizen of California. Society despises such boodlers as Gallagher, but it does not seek their destruction by dynamite. The dynamiter is a coward who is even more contemptible than a boodler. He sneaks up in the dark, fires his explosive and runs, because in his craven soul he dare not stand up and meet his enemy. The punishment of the dynamiter—successful or unsuccessful—should be severe, but it should be solemnly inflicted after due process of law.“It is, of course, possible that some of the wretches with whom he was associated during his career of crime have taken that method of getting rid of his testimony, but it is not probable. Among those against whom he has not yet given the testimony which he will give are the only persons who can be conceived of as having a motive to get Gallagher out of the way, but no one that we hear of suspects any of them of having resorted to that atrocious method of defense, in which six persons besides Gallagher himself came near being murdered. In the absence of any conceivable sufficient motive the dastardly act must be assumed the work of a wicked man gone crazy.”[381]The following from the San Francisco Argonaut of May 2, 1908, is fairly expressive of the attitude of the San Francisco weekly press on the attempt on Gallagher’s life: “Mr. Heney in so far as it lay in him to do it, ‘placed’ the ‘crime’ upon the ‘minions’ of Calhoun. The other independent and all-seeing minds of the prosecution’s staff fell in with this theory of the case. So far as the so-called graft prosecutors are concerned there is no mystery about the matter—the explosion in Gallagher’s house was nothing less than an attempt to assassinate that eminent worthy for the sake of ‘getting him out of the way.’ This theory has to face several embarrassing considerations. In the first place, Gallagher’s testimony has been given again and again, and stands as an official record in a half-dozen instances. Getting Gallagher out of the way would not, therefore, do away with his testimony. Furthermore, there are other witnesses competent to testify to every vital fact in the Gallagher story. So far as the immediate case is concerned, Gallagher has already given his testimony and the effect of ‘getting him out of the way’ would be only to emphasize his statements. Furthermore, if there had been any wish to get Gallagher out of the way there has been plenty of chances to do it any time this year and a half past. If assassination has been part of the scheme of the defense, there have been ten thousand opportunities since the striking of that famous bargain between Spreckels and Gallagher inside the Presidio gate. The thing might have been done, too, without hazarding the lives of half a dozen women and children.”In view of the inability of Mr. Langdon’s successor in the District Attorney’s office to make effective prosecution of the graft cases, on the ground that Gallagher, who had left California, was absent from the State, and that his testimony was necessary to secure convictions, the Argonaut article makes interesting reading.[382]Heney’s exposure of Haas was unquestionably warranted and necessary. The incident, however, has been made subject of much misrepresentation and attacks upon Heney.[383]Heney in a speech made before Mayor and Supervisors showed how the prosecution was harassed by thugs.[384]See transcript in The People vs. Ruef (Parkside case) for dismissal of these indictments and of other indictments against Parkside officials.[385]For additional data regarding this case, see Chapter XIV, footnotes 180, 181, 198, 199, 200, 201.[386]See footnote199.[387]Months after, when men had been indicted for endeavoring to influence jurors to vote for Ruef’s acquittal in the United Railroads case, Isaac Penny, who had acted as foreman of the jury that failed to agree in the Parkside case, in a public statement denounced that jury as not honest. “Had I known then,” said Penny in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, September 30, 1908, “what I have since learned about jury tampering, I would have sprung a sensation in Judge Dooling’s court that would have resulted in the haling of numerous men before the court. * * * I have been turning this over again and again in my mind, and there is but one answer—that jury was not an honest one.”Later, Penny gave sensational testimony along this line in Judge Lawlor’s court.[388]From one end of the State to the other, Judge Dunne was warmly commended as a jurist and a man. “The name of Judge Dunne,” said the Pasadena News, “stands in California honored among honest men because of the enemies he has made. Every politician and every newspaper that has defended bribery and sought to embarrass the graft prosecution is against Judge Dunne. They stocked a political convention against him. Judge Dunne’s defeat in San Francisco would be a disgrace to that city and a reflection on the honor and intelligence of the people of California.”“The corrupt corporation organs,” said the Sacramento Bee, “and the servile journalistic tools of the predatory rich—such as the Argonaut, for instance—are barking in unison at the heels of Judge Dunne in San Francisco and declaring he is unfit to sit on the bench. Dunne’s crime in their eyes is that he did his simple, plain duty in the graft prosecution cases. If he had neglected that duty, to tip the scales of Justice over to favor the ‘higher ups,’ the same gang, with the Argonaut in the lead, would be praising him to the skies as a most just judge, a righteous judge, and would be clamoring for his re-election.”[389]Of the “fixing of juries,” The Chronicle in its issue of September 19, 1908, said: “Every move made in the Ruef trials gives moral evidence that systematic bribery of juries is being practiced which is as convincing to the public as were the signs of corruption during the entire Schmitz regime, but before the explosion. Nobody doubted then that the Mayor, the Supervisors and all officials appointed by Schmitz were thieves. Nobody doubts now that all through these graft trials there has been systematic corruption of juries. In private conversation it is treated as a matter of course. Nobody, of course, could ‘prove’ it. Nobody needs legal proof to be convinced.”Of the incident, The Call said in its issue of September 19, 1908: “For a long time there has been every reason to believe that veniremen summoned to try Ruef were being bribed or promised bribes to vote for acquittal. The dubious character of Ruef’s attorneys, or some of them, and their known affiliations were wholly consistent with this theory. Circumstances not amounting to absolute proof, but giving cause for strong suspicion, came to the surface from time to time. The jury fixers grew bolder with impunity, and, in fine, the pitcher went to the well once too often.”[390]The trial had been delayed by Ruef’s preliminary hearing. The hearing was held in order that Gallagher’s testimony might become of record in a way that would permit of its being used at Ruef’s trial, in the event of Gallagher’s assassination.Ruef’s attorneys by lengthy cross-examinations and other delaying tactics, succeeded in dragging the case along for sixty-nine days. Further delays were caused by the usual efforts made to disqualify Judge Lawlor as trial judge. In this way, the defense managed to keep the attorneys for the State engaged until late in August. Then Ruef was made to face another jury.[391]Kelly claimed to have telephoned Langdon within a few minutes after Blake had left him. In this he was borne out by his employer, Samuel M. Snyder. Snyder testified that on his return to his office on the afternoon of July 31, he met Blake leaving. Kelly had followed him into his private office. Of the interview which followed Snyder testified at the hearing of the case as follows:“I said (to Kelly) ‘Well, what is the matter now?’ And he said that Mr. Blake was just in and wanted to give him $500. I said, ‘What for?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘to do the right thing on the jury.’ He had been called on a jury case, the Ruef case. He said, ‘I had a notion to punch his head.’ That is just the remark Mr. Kelly used. I said, ‘Oh, I would not get excited like that; that is foolishness.’ He said, ‘What do you advise doing? If I go out and do anything rash I am liable to get into trouble, ain’t I?’ I said, ‘Yes, you better not do that.’ I said, ‘If I were you’—this is the language I used to Mr. Kelly, I said, ‘I would telephone to Mr. Langdon and tell him.’ He said, ‘Well, that might hurt your business.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t believe that would hurt my business any. I firmly believe that jurors should not be tampered with by anyone to try any case, no matter what it is.’ And from there he did telephone to Mr. Langdon.”The Court: “When was this, Mr. Snyder?”“A. That was on the 31st of July, pretty close to 5 o’clock in the afternoon.“Q. Did Mr. Kelly call up a telephone number from the office at that time?“A. He called up Mr. Langdon from the office at that time. I was sitting right by the side of him.”[392]Of Blake’s negotiations Kelly testified: “Mr. Blake began about this way: He said, ‘Now, John, I have got a proposition to make to you, and I don’t know how you will take it. If you like it, all right, if you don’t, just keep it quiet.’ He says, ‘There is a chance for you to make a little money.’ He said, ‘You are drawn to serve on the Ruef jury.’ I was surprised to hear that. I told him, ‘I know I am on some panel in Judge Lawlor’s Court, but didn’t know it was the Ruef jury.’ I said, ‘How did you find out?’ ‘Oh,’ he said—I think he said a friend of his told him, or something like that; but anyhow he said, ‘Now, it is this way; there is $500 in it for you if you will get on that jury and vote to acquit Mr. Ruef.’ I says, ‘Well, Mr. Blake, I have never done anything like that, and it is a pretty big chance to take. I don’t want anything like that’; and he began to urge it on me. I said, ‘Now, give me a chance to think it over.’”Kelly testified that his first impulse was to denounce Blake. But instantly he reflected that the denunciation would do no good. Besides, he reflected, it was possible that Blake might be trapped.As soon as Blake left the office, Kelly told what had occurred to his employer, Snyder, and within an hour was in consultation with District Attorney Langdon and Burns.[393]Judge Sturtevant, at the investigation which followed, showed himself not at all clear as to details. Finally Murphy asked him:“Q. Judge, do you remember that I said to you that I had information that one of the jurors was willing to sell his vote for $1,000 and someone had come to me with that?“A. I remember, Mr. Murphy, you mentioned the amount of $1,000 regarding one of his statements, but I would not go further than that; I don’t remember what this man had agreed to do for the thousand dollars. That is my general recollection that that is about the substance of the statement you made to me.”[394]Murphy’s testimony on this point was as follows: “On a day between the 20th of July and the 1st day of August, I went to the office of Mr. Newburgh. Mr. Newburgh was then engaged in defending Mr. Ruef on a preliminary examination had in one of the Parkside cases. We were discussing generally the Ruef cases and the graft prosecution, and a man came into the office who was introduced to me by Mr. Newburgh as E. A. S. Blake. This present jury panel had been drawn, and we were discussing the Ruef cases generally, and finally I made a remark that the trial of Mr. Ruef in one of these cases—referring to 1436, 1437 and 1438, would proceed as soon as the Police Court examination was finished, and I stated that a jury had been impaneled, or a jury had been drawn, I had a list of the jury in my pocket, and I pulled it out and said to both Mr. Newburgh and to Mr. Blake: ‘Perhaps you might know some of these people.’ Mr. Blake glanced at the list, and he came down to the name of Mr. Kelly, and he said, ‘I know Mr. Kelly; I have known him for a number of years; I used to work at Shreve’s jewelry store with him; and he is an intimate acquaintance of mine.’ Then I said, having in mind the decision of your Honor in the contempt case of W. J. Burns and others—”The Court: (interruption): “Did this occur after that decision?”“A. Yes—no, your Honor—I don’t know—no, no. But having in mind—I will state what I had in mind—a statement your Honor had made at some previous time, that either side had the right to find out how the jury stood; that is, if they used legitimate means. I said to Mr. Blake, I said, ‘How do you think Mr. Kelly stands on the graft prosecution?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Mr. Kelly is a very liberal-minded fellow and I think he would give Ruef a square deal.’ So I then said, ‘Well, I would like to find out whether any of Mr. Burns’ gumshoe men have interviewed him, or whether he belongs to the Good Government League or the League of Justice or any kindred organizations.’ He said he would find out the next time he met Mr. Kelly.”See printed transcript on appeal The People vs. Abraham Ruef, Part II, Vol. II, p. 878. For Newburgh’s statement see same transcript, part and volume, pages 943 and 944.[395]In this there was remarkable similarity to the legal assistance given thugs who were from time to time arrested for interfering with the work of the Prosecution.[396]Murphy had figured in the Ruef trials, somewhat sensationally, from the beginning. When, for instance, Ruef, early in March, 1907, was a fugitive from justice, Murphy was acting as one of his attorneys. He was placed on the stand in Judge Dunne’s court. The Chronicle, in its issue of March 7, 1907, contained the following account of his testimony:“Frank J. Murphy, one of Ruef’s lawyers, testified that he had last seen Ruef just outside Hebbard’s courtroom on Monday.“Have you been doing any business with him since?”“Murphy declined to answer this under his privilege as an attorney. ‘We are looking for an absconding and hostile defendant, and the witness should not be allowed to draw conclusions as to whether the business he is doing for him is privileged,’ declared Hiram Johnson.“Heney suggested that it was the request to do this business rather than the business itself, that was sought by the Prosecution.“A compromise was effected on an answer by the witness that he had not communicated directly or indirectly with Ruef during the past forty-eight hours.”[397]About the same time, Captain John J. West became involved in a charge of being connected with an alleged attempt to corruptly influence a talesman named John R. Foley to vote to acquit Ruef. But the West case was so overshadowed in importance by the Blake-Murphy-Newburgh proceedings that the public paid comparatively little attention to it.[398]“Confessing his crimes,” said The Call in its issue of October 30, 1908, “Blake, the jury briber, lays bare the ulcer that eats away the vitals of popular government. He explains why the San Francisco Graft Prosecution has not yet put anybody in the penitentiary. He makes it clear why Ruef is not in stripes. He shows why it is next to impossible to convict a rich man. He answers the familiar question, ‘What’s the matter with San Francisco?’“On his way to prison Blake pauses for a moment and gives the people of San Francisco the most convincing argument in favor of the Graft Prosecution that they have had since the boodled Supervisors told their story of shame, and Ruef, in tears, delivered his confession, since recanted. Blake’s revelation is of inestimable value to the cause of decency. Opportunely he tears away curtain and scenery and lets the people see what goes on behind the showy pretense of the graft defense. In the nick of time he exposes some of the actors in that satirical comedy which might very well be called ‘To Hell with the Law—Money is Above It.’”[399]Members of the faculty of Stanford University sent the following communication to Rudolph Spreckels, William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, William J. Burns and their associates:“We, the undersigned citizens of the State of California, realizing the far reaching significance of the sworn confession, as a jury briber, of E. A. S. Blake, extend to you our earnest and sincere congratulations on having successfully demonstrated the nature of some of the obstacles blocking the way of the conviction of powerful criminals in our commonwealth.“Believing that no stability of social relations, including normal business conditions, can be established on a less firm basis than incorruptible courts and honest juries, leading to the prompt and sure administration of justice, we wish to assure you of our continued confidence and moral support in the great work upon which you are engaged.”The letter was signed by President David Starr Jordan and practically all the members of the faculty.[400]Similar testimony was given at Murphy’s trial.[401]It developed later that the Blakes had been living together under a contract marriage. Later they went through the marriage ceremony. This phase of the case was made much of by the defense. Mrs. Blake, however, stood devotedly by her husband through all the trying events that followed his arrest and imprisonment.[402]Of these promissory notes Blake, in his statement to the court as published at the time, testified as follows:“Q. How much money were you to get? A. I was to get $10,000.“Q. For what? What were you to get that $10,000 for? A. Well, I was to say nothing about this matter, and that my wife would—“Q. In other words—. A. She was to be provided for. She was to get $100 a month. The Court. How? A. To be taken care of when I was convicted, you know.“Q. During your incarceration? A. Yes, and I was to have the $10,000.”Mr. Langdon: “Q. Who told you he would give you $10,000? A. Mr. Murphy.“Q. What did he say? Just tell us what he said about that. A. The money was to be placed in the hands of a third party, who I would select, provided the one I selected would be satisfactory to them and they felt they could always have confidence in, or something of that kind. That $10,000 was to be turned over to me immediately upon my sentence—just as soon as my sentence was passed the money was to be turned over.“Q. As soon as the court sentenced you you would receive the $10,000 that Murphy put into the hands of this third person? A. Yes.“Q. Did he tell you what kind of money it was, or what representative value it was. Did he show you any of that? Did Murphy show you anything? A. Yes, he showed me $7,500, but he did not show me the $10,000 that was put into the hands of the party that I selected. He told me that he had it.“Q. What was this $7,500 that Murphy showed you? In what form or shape? A. In notes.“Q. Promissory notes? A. Yes.“Q. Signed by who? A. Signed by Mr. Ruef.“Q. Abraham Ruef? A. Yes.“Q. Who else signed them, if any one? A. They were indorsed by his father and sister.“Q. His father?“The Court—promissory notes to you from Abraham Ruef, and indorsed? A. The promissory notes, your honor, were made out to Mr. Murphy, and he was to turn these over to the third party, indorsed, I presume, to the third party, who I might select. The notes read, ‘One year after date I promise to pay to Frank J. Murphy,’ that is the way the notes read.“Q. And signed? A. And signed by Mr. Ruef, and then they were countersigned or indorsed by his father and sister.”[403]Stevens denied this. Stevens was called before the Grand Jury and questioned. He declined to answer on the ground that the relations of attorney toward client cannot be violated. Blake exonerated Stevens from this obligation. But Stevens held that he acted for Murphy as well as Blake. The court held, however, that the communications were not privileged. Stevens in his testimony which followed, denied everything that tended to implicate himself and Murphy in any way with the attempted jury fixing, or with the alleged $10,000 fund.[404]Among those who testified to Murphy’s good character was Rev. H. H. Wyman, at that time the head of the Paulist Order at San Francisco. Another Paulist priest, Rev. Stark, showed great interest in Murphy’s welfare.After Murphy’s acquittal a story was current in San Francisco to the effect that at a dinner given soon after Murphy’s acquittal, Murphy had promised a present to the Paulist Church, St. Mary’s, and that Father Stark had announced that a plate bearing Murphy’s name and the date of his acquittal should be placed upon the gift.However unjustified the story may have been, Murphy did give St. Mary’s a present—a pulpit. On the pulpit was put a plate bearing Murphy’s name and a date. The incident so incensed priests of the Paulist order who were not in sympathy with the course of Fathers Wyman and Stark at Murphy’s trial, that they entered the church with a screw-driver, removed the plate, and threw it into San Francisco bay. Later a second plate was put upon the pulpit. So far as the writer knows, the second plate is still in its place.[405]Seventy-two days were required to impanel the jury before which Ruef was tried, fifty days being devoted to actual court work. There were summoned 1,450 talesmen, of whom 446 were examined. Six jurors were denied their freedom for forty-two days before the jury was completed. Blake, arrested for jury-fixing, was trapped, tried and convicted before the jury was completed. Two of Ruef’s attorneys were, during the impaneling of the jury, indicted for alleged connection with Blake’s attempt to influence the jury in Ruef’s favor.[406]There is, so far as the writer can find, no evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Haas to kill Heney any more than there is evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Pauduveris to murder the pivotal witness, Gallagher. But that Haas was urged to kill Heney because of the exposure of Haas’s previous record at the first Ruef trial is well established.“I was urged frequently,” said Haas in a confession made to Langdon and Burns, “to kill Heney by certain persons whose names I will not tell you, and I also talked to other people about killing Heney and was advised by them not to do it. In addition to that, certain persons approached me several times and referred to the time I was thrown off the Ruef jury, saying: ‘I’d never stand that sort of a roast,’ and ‘I’d kill a man who did that to me,’ and similar things.”Who urged Haas to do this thing, and what was their motive? Haas alone could have answered the first question. But the bullet that ended his life sealed his lips forever.Of Haas’s purpose in getting on the first Ruef jury we have some testimony. Joseph Brachman, a close associate of Ruef, who had known Haas for nearly a quarter of a century, said in an interview published in the San Francisco Call, November 15, 1908:“When Ruef was on trial in the Parkside case, on the bribery charge, I heard that Haas had been called on the jury panel. At that time I was frequently in consultation with Ruef, every day, in fact. But I was afraid to go to Ruef with what I knew of Haas, so I went to one of his lawyers—I won’t say which one—and told him of the record of Haas. I told him that Haas was a bad man and an ex-convict. I said that Ruef should challenge him.“I was in court the day that Haas qualified and passed into the jury. Again I told his attorney that Haas was a bad man, to get rid of him, but nothing was done. When Heney produced the evidence showing that Haas was an ex-convict I was in court, also. I met Haas after he had been disqualified. Haas told me the reason why he stayed on the jury and why his record was not made public by the defense of Ruef. He told me that he expected $4,000 from Ruef for his services on the Parkside case jury. He said that he was hard up, that he was in debt, that he owed money on his saloon and that if he had been permitted to stay on the jury he would have been able, with the $4,000 to be paid him by Ruef, to clear himself of debt.“He also told me, Haas did, on the day that he was disqualified, that he was going to ‘kill one of the prosecutors.’ He did not say which one, but he frequently repeated to me, that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’ I met him many times and often, frequently he told me that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’”[407]Physicians state that Heney’s escape from death was by a hair’s breadth. Had the bullet, striking as it did, taken any other course death would have been inevitable.[408]SeeChapter XXIII.[409]“Will they,” demanded The Call the morning after Heney had been shot down, “stop at nothing? Are not stealing, perjury, bribery, dynamiting, murder, enough? Must the course of justice in this community run the gamut of violence, as well as of slander and pettifogging obstruction?“Apparently it must. But there is at least no longer any reason to doubt where the responsibility lies. A bare chance, the momentary tremor of an assassin’s hand, may have saved the life of Francis J. Heney to this community. There will be no tremor in the finger of scorn that points past the miserable wretch that did the shooting to the men that inspired it. A worthless crank, of course. It always is. Dirty hands for dirty work. But softer hands and keener brains plan it. And the community will waste no wrath on the miserable tool, now cowering in jail. It was not he who has dogged the steps of Francis J. Heney these two years with hired thugs. It was not he who has filled the courtrooms with professional ruffians. It was not he who dynamited Gallagher—or hired it done. Least of all was it he who made a joke of that crime and sought to make a joke and a byword of the heroic Heney—‘poor Beany.’”[410]While Heney lay wounded at San Francisco, and Haas lay dead, another tragedy growing out of the Graft Prosecution was being enacted on the other side of the globe. John Krause, who had been T. V. Halsey’s assistant at the time of the Pacific States Telephone briberies, killed himself on the steamer Adriatic as it plied from Cherbourg, France, to Queenstown, Ireland. Krause had disappeared from San Francisco in December, 1907. It was never charged that Krause was a principal to the bribery transactions, or that he had even guilty knowledge of them. His only possible connection with the graft cases was as a witness against the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company officials.[411]“A great work,” said Hiram W. Johnson, in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, November 14, 1908, “undertaken and accomplished, though not yet wholly completed, has been retarded for a day by an assassin’s bullet. When Frank Heney fell today while in the performance of his duty, decency and the right were stricken. For two years this one man has persevered in the right, for right’s sake alone. Without compensation, sacrificing a great legal practice, giving without complaint the best years of his life, Francis J. Heney, facing all the combined forces of evil in this community and State, has stood unflinchingly at his post, making the fight that is the fight of all of us. Daily abuse and vilification have been his portion and reward. In spite of it, where a weaker man would have faltered, Heney has persevered. He has done in seeking to make equality before the law an assurance in this State, all that a strong and a brave man could do. Were he to pass away tonight he’d need no other monument than the work he has done. For generations his expose of rottenness in San Francisco, his prosecutions of the criminal rich will live and make this city and State better. He has been shot simply because he was fighting for the right. Not alone has he been wounded; but the community and the commonwealth have suffered the injury.“We who were with him in the early days of the struggle, and knew his every mood; who saw him at his work day and night, and loved the qualities that made it possible for him to accomplish what he has, can not express our horror and indignation and anger at his attempted assassination. May God speed his recovery.”
[368]District Attorney Langdon’s statement in reply to these criticisms was as follows: “I have no answer at this time to make to the statements given out by Patrick Calhoun and made in behalf of other defendants in the graft cases with the intention of discrediting the prosecution and attempting to lead the public to believe that we have acted unfairly in the conduct of these cases. The time will come when such charges will be answered, but they will be answered only as events shalldirect.“Nothing that has occurred within the past few weeks has in any way complicated the situation as far as the prosecution is concerned or has tended to weaken our position. The original plans of the prosecution are to be carried out just as we have always intended to carry them out. The Ruef case will be tried immediately, and every other defendant under indictment will be brought to trial just as quickly as the courts are able to dispose of the cases. We shall not falter in our duty. I can promise that while the present District Attorney is in office this battle will be fought out to the end of the last case.“The fact is that at the present time we have the tactical advantage over all the defendants, who have allied their interests for mutual protection. They know we have this advantage and that is why they are shouting so loudly from the housetops. We do not answer the attacks that are made because we are trying law cases and our every energy is bent to the prosecution of those cases. We are entirely satisfied, however, with the position in which we stand at this time and are prepared to fight our battles in the courts to a finish.”
District Attorney Langdon’s statement in reply to these criticisms was as follows: “I have no answer at this time to make to the statements given out by Patrick Calhoun and made in behalf of other defendants in the graft cases with the intention of discrediting the prosecution and attempting to lead the public to believe that we have acted unfairly in the conduct of these cases. The time will come when such charges will be answered, but they will be answered only as events shalldirect.
“Nothing that has occurred within the past few weeks has in any way complicated the situation as far as the prosecution is concerned or has tended to weaken our position. The original plans of the prosecution are to be carried out just as we have always intended to carry them out. The Ruef case will be tried immediately, and every other defendant under indictment will be brought to trial just as quickly as the courts are able to dispose of the cases. We shall not falter in our duty. I can promise that while the present District Attorney is in office this battle will be fought out to the end of the last case.
“The fact is that at the present time we have the tactical advantage over all the defendants, who have allied their interests for mutual protection. They know we have this advantage and that is why they are shouting so loudly from the housetops. We do not answer the attacks that are made because we are trying law cases and our every energy is bent to the prosecution of those cases. We are entirely satisfied, however, with the position in which we stand at this time and are prepared to fight our battles in the courts to a finish.”
[369]The following are extracts taken from Mr. Weinstock’s address:“After all, the saddest thing is to find men who are rated as decent, law-abiding, intelligent, presumably high minded and moral, condoning the sins of the bribe givers and deploring their indictment and prosecution.“Both the commercial and political bribe givers committed serious crimes, but by far the more serious was the crime of corrupting public officials, because the tendency of this crime is to undermine the very foundation of the State, thus leading to the ultimate destruction of democracy.“If the spirit of the respectables, fighting and condemning the graft prosecution, is to become the common spirit, then must we bid farewell to civic virtue, farewell to public morality, farewell to good government and in time farewell to our republican institutions and to civic liberty.”
The following are extracts taken from Mr. Weinstock’s address:
“After all, the saddest thing is to find men who are rated as decent, law-abiding, intelligent, presumably high minded and moral, condoning the sins of the bribe givers and deploring their indictment and prosecution.
“Both the commercial and political bribe givers committed serious crimes, but by far the more serious was the crime of corrupting public officials, because the tendency of this crime is to undermine the very foundation of the State, thus leading to the ultimate destruction of democracy.
“If the spirit of the respectables, fighting and condemning the graft prosecution, is to become the common spirit, then must we bid farewell to civic virtue, farewell to public morality, farewell to good government and in time farewell to our republican institutions and to civic liberty.”
[370]A very good example of this is shown in a memorial from Sonoma. The memorial read as follows:“Sonoma, Cal., March 18, 1908. To William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, Rudolph Spreckels and others engaged in the graft prosecution in San Francisco. Gentlemen: It appearing that a portion of the press of this State is engaged in belittling the efforts of those engaged in the prosecution of the graft cases in San Francisco, and is endeavoring to impute improper and unjust motives to all who have such prosecution in charge; and we realizing that it is the duty of all honest people everywhere to uphold the hands of the prosecution, and to encourage them to proceed in all lawful ways to continue in their efforts to bring all law breakers to justice,“We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Sonoma and vicinity, mindful of the good work you are all doing, wish to show our appreciation of your efforts, and encourage you in continuing to pursue the course you have marked out, to the end that all law breakers shall be punished and the majesty of the law vindicated.”
A very good example of this is shown in a memorial from Sonoma. The memorial read as follows:
“Sonoma, Cal., March 18, 1908. To William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, Rudolph Spreckels and others engaged in the graft prosecution in San Francisco. Gentlemen: It appearing that a portion of the press of this State is engaged in belittling the efforts of those engaged in the prosecution of the graft cases in San Francisco, and is endeavoring to impute improper and unjust motives to all who have such prosecution in charge; and we realizing that it is the duty of all honest people everywhere to uphold the hands of the prosecution, and to encourage them to proceed in all lawful ways to continue in their efforts to bring all law breakers to justice,
“We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Sonoma and vicinity, mindful of the good work you are all doing, wish to show our appreciation of your efforts, and encourage you in continuing to pursue the course you have marked out, to the end that all law breakers shall be punished and the majesty of the law vindicated.”
[371]Heney, in a published statement regarding these indictments, said: “We do not consider for a minute that there is a particle of merit to any of the claims made by the defendants that the former indictments were defectively drawn in any detail. It is wise, however, to be prepared for anything that might happen at any subsequent time, and so the present true bills have been found. These indictments are so drawn as to eliminate every technical objection that has been made by any of the defendants to the former indictments, and the action has been at this time so that the statute of limitations would not run against the crime charged. There is absolutely no significance to the fact that the name of Abbott and Mullally were omitted, except that we feel that the cases against the three defendants named are of far greater importance. Our sole purpose has been to throw an anchor to windward to avoid possible trouble in the future.”
Heney, in a published statement regarding these indictments, said: “We do not consider for a minute that there is a particle of merit to any of the claims made by the defendants that the former indictments were defectively drawn in any detail. It is wise, however, to be prepared for anything that might happen at any subsequent time, and so the present true bills have been found. These indictments are so drawn as to eliminate every technical objection that has been made by any of the defendants to the former indictments, and the action has been at this time so that the statute of limitations would not run against the crime charged. There is absolutely no significance to the fact that the name of Abbott and Mullally were omitted, except that we feel that the cases against the three defendants named are of far greater importance. Our sole purpose has been to throw an anchor to windward to avoid possible trouble in the future.”
[372]James D. Phelan, at the mass meeting called after the attempted assassination of Heney, summed up the Parkside case tersely: “Take the Parkside case,” he said. “There were some men who wanted a franchise which we were all willing to concede, but the boss said it would be advisable to pay for it. Instead of making a demand upon the Supervisors and an appeal to the citizens on the justice of their cause and the desirability of giving them the franchise, they continued their dickering with Ruef, and for so much money, thirty thousand dollars, I believe, he said he would give it to them. Then they ‘doctored’ their books and went down to the Crocker National Bank and got the money in green-backs, handed out to them by the teller of that institution, whose managers were stockholders in the Parkside, among them a gentleman who told you the other day to vote against the Hetch-Hetchy proposition, Mr. William H. Crocker.“Now, finding that they could get so easily a privilege by paying for it, what did they do? They asked Mr. Ruef to give them the franchise, not on Twentieth avenue, an ungraded street, which they first wanted, but in Nineteenth avenue, which had been dedicated as a boulevard for the use of the people, which was substantially paved, and which was the only avenue we had to cross from the park to Ingleside. He said to them that that would take fifteen thousand dollars more, and they said ‘It’s a bargain.’ And these gentlemen who sought the least objectionable franchise, tell you now that they were victims, tell you now that they could not get their franchise any other way. They were glad because they were a part of the system, a part of the ‘other fellows’ of the affiliated interests. They were glad to pay their money, which was a paltry sum to them, in order to perpetuate the rule of Ruef; that they could go to him on any other occasion to get an extension, or a privilege or a franchise, or anything that they wanted, by simply paying for it. It would be the simplest form of government, my friends, to have somebody sitting in a place of power and pass out to you what you want. It would save you the expense of a campaign, it would save you the advertising in the newspapers, it would save you the cost of mailing a circular to every voter. It is indeed, a most economical and direct method of getting what you want from the government.”
James D. Phelan, at the mass meeting called after the attempted assassination of Heney, summed up the Parkside case tersely: “Take the Parkside case,” he said. “There were some men who wanted a franchise which we were all willing to concede, but the boss said it would be advisable to pay for it. Instead of making a demand upon the Supervisors and an appeal to the citizens on the justice of their cause and the desirability of giving them the franchise, they continued their dickering with Ruef, and for so much money, thirty thousand dollars, I believe, he said he would give it to them. Then they ‘doctored’ their books and went down to the Crocker National Bank and got the money in green-backs, handed out to them by the teller of that institution, whose managers were stockholders in the Parkside, among them a gentleman who told you the other day to vote against the Hetch-Hetchy proposition, Mr. William H. Crocker.
“Now, finding that they could get so easily a privilege by paying for it, what did they do? They asked Mr. Ruef to give them the franchise, not on Twentieth avenue, an ungraded street, which they first wanted, but in Nineteenth avenue, which had been dedicated as a boulevard for the use of the people, which was substantially paved, and which was the only avenue we had to cross from the park to Ingleside. He said to them that that would take fifteen thousand dollars more, and they said ‘It’s a bargain.’ And these gentlemen who sought the least objectionable franchise, tell you now that they were victims, tell you now that they could not get their franchise any other way. They were glad because they were a part of the system, a part of the ‘other fellows’ of the affiliated interests. They were glad to pay their money, which was a paltry sum to them, in order to perpetuate the rule of Ruef; that they could go to him on any other occasion to get an extension, or a privilege or a franchise, or anything that they wanted, by simply paying for it. It would be the simplest form of government, my friends, to have somebody sitting in a place of power and pass out to you what you want. It would save you the expense of a campaign, it would save you the advertising in the newspapers, it would save you the cost of mailing a circular to every voter. It is indeed, a most economical and direct method of getting what you want from the government.”
[373]The Oakland Tribune, in support of Ruef’s plea for delay, said: “Now the question arises: Is Ruef now being prosecuted in good faith for the offenses alleged against him or is he being forced to trial without adequate preparation merely to coerce him into giving testimony he has repeatedly told Heney, Langdon and Burns would be false? Is not the summary process of law being invoked to compel Ruef to tell to a trial jury a different story from the one he related under oath to the Oliver Grand Jury? In other words, is not the prosecution now trying either to punish Ruef for refusing to commit or convict himself of perjury or intimidate him into assisting, as a witness under duress, Heney and Langdon to make good the threat they reiterated on the stump last fall that they would send Patrick Calhoun to State prison?“Admitting Ruef to be guilty of all the crimes of which he stands accused, is he not now being proceeded against in a criminal spirit and with a criminal intent? Having failed to get what they want by compounding the felonies of Ruef and his followers, are not the prosecution resorting to compulsion under the forms of law to compel the commission of perjury?”
The Oakland Tribune, in support of Ruef’s plea for delay, said: “Now the question arises: Is Ruef now being prosecuted in good faith for the offenses alleged against him or is he being forced to trial without adequate preparation merely to coerce him into giving testimony he has repeatedly told Heney, Langdon and Burns would be false? Is not the summary process of law being invoked to compel Ruef to tell to a trial jury a different story from the one he related under oath to the Oliver Grand Jury? In other words, is not the prosecution now trying either to punish Ruef for refusing to commit or convict himself of perjury or intimidate him into assisting, as a witness under duress, Heney and Langdon to make good the threat they reiterated on the stump last fall that they would send Patrick Calhoun to State prison?
“Admitting Ruef to be guilty of all the crimes of which he stands accused, is he not now being proceeded against in a criminal spirit and with a criminal intent? Having failed to get what they want by compounding the felonies of Ruef and his followers, are not the prosecution resorting to compulsion under the forms of law to compel the commission of perjury?”
[374]Judge M. T. Dooling was at the time Superior Judge of San Benito, one of the smaller of the interior counties. He had, however, already a State-wide reputation for integrity and ability. He left the San Benito County bench to accept the appointment of President Wilson as United States District Judge.
Judge M. T. Dooling was at the time Superior Judge of San Benito, one of the smaller of the interior counties. He had, however, already a State-wide reputation for integrity and ability. He left the San Benito County bench to accept the appointment of President Wilson as United States District Judge.
[375]Some of these trailers were arrested and forced into court. On one day four men, Frank Shaw, alias Harry Nelson, Harry Smith, alias Harry Zobler, J. R. Johnson, alias J. R. Hayes, and Cliff Middlemiss were placed under arrest for following Detective Burns.
Some of these trailers were arrested and forced into court. On one day four men, Frank Shaw, alias Harry Nelson, Harry Smith, alias Harry Zobler, J. R. Johnson, alias J. R. Hayes, and Cliff Middlemiss were placed under arrest for following Detective Burns.
[376]According to Peter Claudianes’ confession to Burns, he had been summoned from Chico to San Francisco by Felix Pauduveris early in March. Pauduveris told him he had a hard piece of work for Claudianes to do, namely, kill Gallagher, the chief witness in the graft prosecution. Pauduveris had told him there was $1000 apiece and three dollars a day for expenses in the job for them. The first proposition, according to Claudianes’ confession, was for Claudianes to shoot poisoned glass into Gallagher’s face by means of an ordinary sling-shot. But this plan was abandoned on the ground that Claudianes’ capture would be sure to follow. A plan to poison Gallagher was also abandoned. Destruction by means of dynamite was finally decided upon. Pauduveris had taken Claudianes over to Oakland and showed him where Gallagher resided. After the failure of the dynamite plot, Claudianes had arranged to secure apartments in the same building with Gallagher and put poison into Gallagher’s milk. Before this plot could be carried out, John Claudianes had confessed and Peter had become a fugitive from justice.In his confession to Burns, Peter Claudianes stated: “Pauduveris said the prosecution with Heney, Langdon, Burns and Spreckels had put about 50,000 men out of work. We must get rid of Gallagher as he is their principal witness. If he is put out of the way the Prosecution will end. There is about $2000 in it for us and about $1000 in it for your brother John. Felix Pauduveris was very angry because no one was killed in the explosion at the Schenck house. He said it was not a clean job.”In his confession, Claudianes stated further:“I thought I was working for Ruef, as I knew Felix was a very intimate friend of his. When Felix told me I had got to shadow Gallagher I knew the word came from Ruef. Felix said that Ruef would never go across the bay, as he had them all buffaloed. Ruef was too smart for those fellows, Felix said, and the gang was all behind Ruef. The prosecution had no grudge against Gallagher, but it had a grudge against Ruef.”
According to Peter Claudianes’ confession to Burns, he had been summoned from Chico to San Francisco by Felix Pauduveris early in March. Pauduveris told him he had a hard piece of work for Claudianes to do, namely, kill Gallagher, the chief witness in the graft prosecution. Pauduveris had told him there was $1000 apiece and three dollars a day for expenses in the job for them. The first proposition, according to Claudianes’ confession, was for Claudianes to shoot poisoned glass into Gallagher’s face by means of an ordinary sling-shot. But this plan was abandoned on the ground that Claudianes’ capture would be sure to follow. A plan to poison Gallagher was also abandoned. Destruction by means of dynamite was finally decided upon. Pauduveris had taken Claudianes over to Oakland and showed him where Gallagher resided. After the failure of the dynamite plot, Claudianes had arranged to secure apartments in the same building with Gallagher and put poison into Gallagher’s milk. Before this plot could be carried out, John Claudianes had confessed and Peter had become a fugitive from justice.
In his confession to Burns, Peter Claudianes stated: “Pauduveris said the prosecution with Heney, Langdon, Burns and Spreckels had put about 50,000 men out of work. We must get rid of Gallagher as he is their principal witness. If he is put out of the way the Prosecution will end. There is about $2000 in it for us and about $1000 in it for your brother John. Felix Pauduveris was very angry because no one was killed in the explosion at the Schenck house. He said it was not a clean job.”
In his confession, Claudianes stated further:
“I thought I was working for Ruef, as I knew Felix was a very intimate friend of his. When Felix told me I had got to shadow Gallagher I knew the word came from Ruef. Felix said that Ruef would never go across the bay, as he had them all buffaloed. Ruef was too smart for those fellows, Felix said, and the gang was all behind Ruef. The prosecution had no grudge against Gallagher, but it had a grudge against Ruef.”
[377]Pauduveris had been employed by the United Railroads as a “spotter.” At the time of the explosion he was still in that corporation’s employ. He was at the same time a political follower of Ruef.
Pauduveris had been employed by the United Railroads as a “spotter.” At the time of the explosion he was still in that corporation’s employ. He was at the same time a political follower of Ruef.
[378]The attempt upon Gallagher’s life led the prosecution to take steps to secure his testimony in a form in which it could be used before a trial jury in the event of Gallagher’s death. Under the California law, testimony taken at a preliminary hearing can, in the event of the death or disability of a witness, be used at the trial of the case. After the Parkside case trial, Ruef was arrested on a charge of bribery and given a preliminary examination at which Gallagher testified against him. Gallagher’s testimony was thus made secure against poison or dynamite.
The attempt upon Gallagher’s life led the prosecution to take steps to secure his testimony in a form in which it could be used before a trial jury in the event of Gallagher’s death. Under the California law, testimony taken at a preliminary hearing can, in the event of the death or disability of a witness, be used at the trial of the case. After the Parkside case trial, Ruef was arrested on a charge of bribery and given a preliminary examination at which Gallagher testified against him. Gallagher’s testimony was thus made secure against poison or dynamite.
[379]The Examiner following the explosion printed a series of ridiculing cartoons picturing the dynamiting of a bird cage and describing at length the escape of the parrot that had occupied it.
The Examiner following the explosion printed a series of ridiculing cartoons picturing the dynamiting of a bird cage and describing at length the escape of the parrot that had occupied it.
[380]The Chronicle took advantage of the dynamite outrage to voice its condemnation of Gallagher. “There is,” said that paper in its issue of April 24, “no more undesirable citizen on earth than the contemptible boodler James L. Gallagher, who is living on the profits of the shame which he brazenly flaunts in the face of mankind, but the effort to discover the miscreant who dynamited the house where he was living should be pushed as vigorously as if the intended victim was the most estimable citizen of California. Society despises such boodlers as Gallagher, but it does not seek their destruction by dynamite. The dynamiter is a coward who is even more contemptible than a boodler. He sneaks up in the dark, fires his explosive and runs, because in his craven soul he dare not stand up and meet his enemy. The punishment of the dynamiter—successful or unsuccessful—should be severe, but it should be solemnly inflicted after due process of law.“It is, of course, possible that some of the wretches with whom he was associated during his career of crime have taken that method of getting rid of his testimony, but it is not probable. Among those against whom he has not yet given the testimony which he will give are the only persons who can be conceived of as having a motive to get Gallagher out of the way, but no one that we hear of suspects any of them of having resorted to that atrocious method of defense, in which six persons besides Gallagher himself came near being murdered. In the absence of any conceivable sufficient motive the dastardly act must be assumed the work of a wicked man gone crazy.”
The Chronicle took advantage of the dynamite outrage to voice its condemnation of Gallagher. “There is,” said that paper in its issue of April 24, “no more undesirable citizen on earth than the contemptible boodler James L. Gallagher, who is living on the profits of the shame which he brazenly flaunts in the face of mankind, but the effort to discover the miscreant who dynamited the house where he was living should be pushed as vigorously as if the intended victim was the most estimable citizen of California. Society despises such boodlers as Gallagher, but it does not seek their destruction by dynamite. The dynamiter is a coward who is even more contemptible than a boodler. He sneaks up in the dark, fires his explosive and runs, because in his craven soul he dare not stand up and meet his enemy. The punishment of the dynamiter—successful or unsuccessful—should be severe, but it should be solemnly inflicted after due process of law.
“It is, of course, possible that some of the wretches with whom he was associated during his career of crime have taken that method of getting rid of his testimony, but it is not probable. Among those against whom he has not yet given the testimony which he will give are the only persons who can be conceived of as having a motive to get Gallagher out of the way, but no one that we hear of suspects any of them of having resorted to that atrocious method of defense, in which six persons besides Gallagher himself came near being murdered. In the absence of any conceivable sufficient motive the dastardly act must be assumed the work of a wicked man gone crazy.”
[381]The following from the San Francisco Argonaut of May 2, 1908, is fairly expressive of the attitude of the San Francisco weekly press on the attempt on Gallagher’s life: “Mr. Heney in so far as it lay in him to do it, ‘placed’ the ‘crime’ upon the ‘minions’ of Calhoun. The other independent and all-seeing minds of the prosecution’s staff fell in with this theory of the case. So far as the so-called graft prosecutors are concerned there is no mystery about the matter—the explosion in Gallagher’s house was nothing less than an attempt to assassinate that eminent worthy for the sake of ‘getting him out of the way.’ This theory has to face several embarrassing considerations. In the first place, Gallagher’s testimony has been given again and again, and stands as an official record in a half-dozen instances. Getting Gallagher out of the way would not, therefore, do away with his testimony. Furthermore, there are other witnesses competent to testify to every vital fact in the Gallagher story. So far as the immediate case is concerned, Gallagher has already given his testimony and the effect of ‘getting him out of the way’ would be only to emphasize his statements. Furthermore, if there had been any wish to get Gallagher out of the way there has been plenty of chances to do it any time this year and a half past. If assassination has been part of the scheme of the defense, there have been ten thousand opportunities since the striking of that famous bargain between Spreckels and Gallagher inside the Presidio gate. The thing might have been done, too, without hazarding the lives of half a dozen women and children.”In view of the inability of Mr. Langdon’s successor in the District Attorney’s office to make effective prosecution of the graft cases, on the ground that Gallagher, who had left California, was absent from the State, and that his testimony was necessary to secure convictions, the Argonaut article makes interesting reading.
The following from the San Francisco Argonaut of May 2, 1908, is fairly expressive of the attitude of the San Francisco weekly press on the attempt on Gallagher’s life: “Mr. Heney in so far as it lay in him to do it, ‘placed’ the ‘crime’ upon the ‘minions’ of Calhoun. The other independent and all-seeing minds of the prosecution’s staff fell in with this theory of the case. So far as the so-called graft prosecutors are concerned there is no mystery about the matter—the explosion in Gallagher’s house was nothing less than an attempt to assassinate that eminent worthy for the sake of ‘getting him out of the way.’ This theory has to face several embarrassing considerations. In the first place, Gallagher’s testimony has been given again and again, and stands as an official record in a half-dozen instances. Getting Gallagher out of the way would not, therefore, do away with his testimony. Furthermore, there are other witnesses competent to testify to every vital fact in the Gallagher story. So far as the immediate case is concerned, Gallagher has already given his testimony and the effect of ‘getting him out of the way’ would be only to emphasize his statements. Furthermore, if there had been any wish to get Gallagher out of the way there has been plenty of chances to do it any time this year and a half past. If assassination has been part of the scheme of the defense, there have been ten thousand opportunities since the striking of that famous bargain between Spreckels and Gallagher inside the Presidio gate. The thing might have been done, too, without hazarding the lives of half a dozen women and children.”
In view of the inability of Mr. Langdon’s successor in the District Attorney’s office to make effective prosecution of the graft cases, on the ground that Gallagher, who had left California, was absent from the State, and that his testimony was necessary to secure convictions, the Argonaut article makes interesting reading.
[382]Heney’s exposure of Haas was unquestionably warranted and necessary. The incident, however, has been made subject of much misrepresentation and attacks upon Heney.
Heney’s exposure of Haas was unquestionably warranted and necessary. The incident, however, has been made subject of much misrepresentation and attacks upon Heney.
[383]Heney in a speech made before Mayor and Supervisors showed how the prosecution was harassed by thugs.
Heney in a speech made before Mayor and Supervisors showed how the prosecution was harassed by thugs.
[384]See transcript in The People vs. Ruef (Parkside case) for dismissal of these indictments and of other indictments against Parkside officials.
See transcript in The People vs. Ruef (Parkside case) for dismissal of these indictments and of other indictments against Parkside officials.
[385]For additional data regarding this case, see Chapter XIV, footnotes 180, 181, 198, 199, 200, 201.
For additional data regarding this case, see Chapter XIV, footnotes 180, 181, 198, 199, 200, 201.
[386]See footnote199.
See footnote199.
[387]Months after, when men had been indicted for endeavoring to influence jurors to vote for Ruef’s acquittal in the United Railroads case, Isaac Penny, who had acted as foreman of the jury that failed to agree in the Parkside case, in a public statement denounced that jury as not honest. “Had I known then,” said Penny in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, September 30, 1908, “what I have since learned about jury tampering, I would have sprung a sensation in Judge Dooling’s court that would have resulted in the haling of numerous men before the court. * * * I have been turning this over again and again in my mind, and there is but one answer—that jury was not an honest one.”Later, Penny gave sensational testimony along this line in Judge Lawlor’s court.
Months after, when men had been indicted for endeavoring to influence jurors to vote for Ruef’s acquittal in the United Railroads case, Isaac Penny, who had acted as foreman of the jury that failed to agree in the Parkside case, in a public statement denounced that jury as not honest. “Had I known then,” said Penny in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, September 30, 1908, “what I have since learned about jury tampering, I would have sprung a sensation in Judge Dooling’s court that would have resulted in the haling of numerous men before the court. * * * I have been turning this over again and again in my mind, and there is but one answer—that jury was not an honest one.”
Later, Penny gave sensational testimony along this line in Judge Lawlor’s court.
[388]From one end of the State to the other, Judge Dunne was warmly commended as a jurist and a man. “The name of Judge Dunne,” said the Pasadena News, “stands in California honored among honest men because of the enemies he has made. Every politician and every newspaper that has defended bribery and sought to embarrass the graft prosecution is against Judge Dunne. They stocked a political convention against him. Judge Dunne’s defeat in San Francisco would be a disgrace to that city and a reflection on the honor and intelligence of the people of California.”“The corrupt corporation organs,” said the Sacramento Bee, “and the servile journalistic tools of the predatory rich—such as the Argonaut, for instance—are barking in unison at the heels of Judge Dunne in San Francisco and declaring he is unfit to sit on the bench. Dunne’s crime in their eyes is that he did his simple, plain duty in the graft prosecution cases. If he had neglected that duty, to tip the scales of Justice over to favor the ‘higher ups,’ the same gang, with the Argonaut in the lead, would be praising him to the skies as a most just judge, a righteous judge, and would be clamoring for his re-election.”
From one end of the State to the other, Judge Dunne was warmly commended as a jurist and a man. “The name of Judge Dunne,” said the Pasadena News, “stands in California honored among honest men because of the enemies he has made. Every politician and every newspaper that has defended bribery and sought to embarrass the graft prosecution is against Judge Dunne. They stocked a political convention against him. Judge Dunne’s defeat in San Francisco would be a disgrace to that city and a reflection on the honor and intelligence of the people of California.”
“The corrupt corporation organs,” said the Sacramento Bee, “and the servile journalistic tools of the predatory rich—such as the Argonaut, for instance—are barking in unison at the heels of Judge Dunne in San Francisco and declaring he is unfit to sit on the bench. Dunne’s crime in their eyes is that he did his simple, plain duty in the graft prosecution cases. If he had neglected that duty, to tip the scales of Justice over to favor the ‘higher ups,’ the same gang, with the Argonaut in the lead, would be praising him to the skies as a most just judge, a righteous judge, and would be clamoring for his re-election.”
[389]Of the “fixing of juries,” The Chronicle in its issue of September 19, 1908, said: “Every move made in the Ruef trials gives moral evidence that systematic bribery of juries is being practiced which is as convincing to the public as were the signs of corruption during the entire Schmitz regime, but before the explosion. Nobody doubted then that the Mayor, the Supervisors and all officials appointed by Schmitz were thieves. Nobody doubts now that all through these graft trials there has been systematic corruption of juries. In private conversation it is treated as a matter of course. Nobody, of course, could ‘prove’ it. Nobody needs legal proof to be convinced.”Of the incident, The Call said in its issue of September 19, 1908: “For a long time there has been every reason to believe that veniremen summoned to try Ruef were being bribed or promised bribes to vote for acquittal. The dubious character of Ruef’s attorneys, or some of them, and their known affiliations were wholly consistent with this theory. Circumstances not amounting to absolute proof, but giving cause for strong suspicion, came to the surface from time to time. The jury fixers grew bolder with impunity, and, in fine, the pitcher went to the well once too often.”
Of the “fixing of juries,” The Chronicle in its issue of September 19, 1908, said: “Every move made in the Ruef trials gives moral evidence that systematic bribery of juries is being practiced which is as convincing to the public as were the signs of corruption during the entire Schmitz regime, but before the explosion. Nobody doubted then that the Mayor, the Supervisors and all officials appointed by Schmitz were thieves. Nobody doubts now that all through these graft trials there has been systematic corruption of juries. In private conversation it is treated as a matter of course. Nobody, of course, could ‘prove’ it. Nobody needs legal proof to be convinced.”
Of the incident, The Call said in its issue of September 19, 1908: “For a long time there has been every reason to believe that veniremen summoned to try Ruef were being bribed or promised bribes to vote for acquittal. The dubious character of Ruef’s attorneys, or some of them, and their known affiliations were wholly consistent with this theory. Circumstances not amounting to absolute proof, but giving cause for strong suspicion, came to the surface from time to time. The jury fixers grew bolder with impunity, and, in fine, the pitcher went to the well once too often.”
[390]The trial had been delayed by Ruef’s preliminary hearing. The hearing was held in order that Gallagher’s testimony might become of record in a way that would permit of its being used at Ruef’s trial, in the event of Gallagher’s assassination.Ruef’s attorneys by lengthy cross-examinations and other delaying tactics, succeeded in dragging the case along for sixty-nine days. Further delays were caused by the usual efforts made to disqualify Judge Lawlor as trial judge. In this way, the defense managed to keep the attorneys for the State engaged until late in August. Then Ruef was made to face another jury.
The trial had been delayed by Ruef’s preliminary hearing. The hearing was held in order that Gallagher’s testimony might become of record in a way that would permit of its being used at Ruef’s trial, in the event of Gallagher’s assassination.
Ruef’s attorneys by lengthy cross-examinations and other delaying tactics, succeeded in dragging the case along for sixty-nine days. Further delays were caused by the usual efforts made to disqualify Judge Lawlor as trial judge. In this way, the defense managed to keep the attorneys for the State engaged until late in August. Then Ruef was made to face another jury.
[391]Kelly claimed to have telephoned Langdon within a few minutes after Blake had left him. In this he was borne out by his employer, Samuel M. Snyder. Snyder testified that on his return to his office on the afternoon of July 31, he met Blake leaving. Kelly had followed him into his private office. Of the interview which followed Snyder testified at the hearing of the case as follows:“I said (to Kelly) ‘Well, what is the matter now?’ And he said that Mr. Blake was just in and wanted to give him $500. I said, ‘What for?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘to do the right thing on the jury.’ He had been called on a jury case, the Ruef case. He said, ‘I had a notion to punch his head.’ That is just the remark Mr. Kelly used. I said, ‘Oh, I would not get excited like that; that is foolishness.’ He said, ‘What do you advise doing? If I go out and do anything rash I am liable to get into trouble, ain’t I?’ I said, ‘Yes, you better not do that.’ I said, ‘If I were you’—this is the language I used to Mr. Kelly, I said, ‘I would telephone to Mr. Langdon and tell him.’ He said, ‘Well, that might hurt your business.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t believe that would hurt my business any. I firmly believe that jurors should not be tampered with by anyone to try any case, no matter what it is.’ And from there he did telephone to Mr. Langdon.”The Court: “When was this, Mr. Snyder?”“A. That was on the 31st of July, pretty close to 5 o’clock in the afternoon.“Q. Did Mr. Kelly call up a telephone number from the office at that time?“A. He called up Mr. Langdon from the office at that time. I was sitting right by the side of him.”
Kelly claimed to have telephoned Langdon within a few minutes after Blake had left him. In this he was borne out by his employer, Samuel M. Snyder. Snyder testified that on his return to his office on the afternoon of July 31, he met Blake leaving. Kelly had followed him into his private office. Of the interview which followed Snyder testified at the hearing of the case as follows:
“I said (to Kelly) ‘Well, what is the matter now?’ And he said that Mr. Blake was just in and wanted to give him $500. I said, ‘What for?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘to do the right thing on the jury.’ He had been called on a jury case, the Ruef case. He said, ‘I had a notion to punch his head.’ That is just the remark Mr. Kelly used. I said, ‘Oh, I would not get excited like that; that is foolishness.’ He said, ‘What do you advise doing? If I go out and do anything rash I am liable to get into trouble, ain’t I?’ I said, ‘Yes, you better not do that.’ I said, ‘If I were you’—this is the language I used to Mr. Kelly, I said, ‘I would telephone to Mr. Langdon and tell him.’ He said, ‘Well, that might hurt your business.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t believe that would hurt my business any. I firmly believe that jurors should not be tampered with by anyone to try any case, no matter what it is.’ And from there he did telephone to Mr. Langdon.”
The Court: “When was this, Mr. Snyder?”
“A. That was on the 31st of July, pretty close to 5 o’clock in the afternoon.
“Q. Did Mr. Kelly call up a telephone number from the office at that time?
“A. He called up Mr. Langdon from the office at that time. I was sitting right by the side of him.”
[392]Of Blake’s negotiations Kelly testified: “Mr. Blake began about this way: He said, ‘Now, John, I have got a proposition to make to you, and I don’t know how you will take it. If you like it, all right, if you don’t, just keep it quiet.’ He says, ‘There is a chance for you to make a little money.’ He said, ‘You are drawn to serve on the Ruef jury.’ I was surprised to hear that. I told him, ‘I know I am on some panel in Judge Lawlor’s Court, but didn’t know it was the Ruef jury.’ I said, ‘How did you find out?’ ‘Oh,’ he said—I think he said a friend of his told him, or something like that; but anyhow he said, ‘Now, it is this way; there is $500 in it for you if you will get on that jury and vote to acquit Mr. Ruef.’ I says, ‘Well, Mr. Blake, I have never done anything like that, and it is a pretty big chance to take. I don’t want anything like that’; and he began to urge it on me. I said, ‘Now, give me a chance to think it over.’”Kelly testified that his first impulse was to denounce Blake. But instantly he reflected that the denunciation would do no good. Besides, he reflected, it was possible that Blake might be trapped.As soon as Blake left the office, Kelly told what had occurred to his employer, Snyder, and within an hour was in consultation with District Attorney Langdon and Burns.
Of Blake’s negotiations Kelly testified: “Mr. Blake began about this way: He said, ‘Now, John, I have got a proposition to make to you, and I don’t know how you will take it. If you like it, all right, if you don’t, just keep it quiet.’ He says, ‘There is a chance for you to make a little money.’ He said, ‘You are drawn to serve on the Ruef jury.’ I was surprised to hear that. I told him, ‘I know I am on some panel in Judge Lawlor’s Court, but didn’t know it was the Ruef jury.’ I said, ‘How did you find out?’ ‘Oh,’ he said—I think he said a friend of his told him, or something like that; but anyhow he said, ‘Now, it is this way; there is $500 in it for you if you will get on that jury and vote to acquit Mr. Ruef.’ I says, ‘Well, Mr. Blake, I have never done anything like that, and it is a pretty big chance to take. I don’t want anything like that’; and he began to urge it on me. I said, ‘Now, give me a chance to think it over.’”
Kelly testified that his first impulse was to denounce Blake. But instantly he reflected that the denunciation would do no good. Besides, he reflected, it was possible that Blake might be trapped.
As soon as Blake left the office, Kelly told what had occurred to his employer, Snyder, and within an hour was in consultation with District Attorney Langdon and Burns.
[393]Judge Sturtevant, at the investigation which followed, showed himself not at all clear as to details. Finally Murphy asked him:“Q. Judge, do you remember that I said to you that I had information that one of the jurors was willing to sell his vote for $1,000 and someone had come to me with that?“A. I remember, Mr. Murphy, you mentioned the amount of $1,000 regarding one of his statements, but I would not go further than that; I don’t remember what this man had agreed to do for the thousand dollars. That is my general recollection that that is about the substance of the statement you made to me.”
Judge Sturtevant, at the investigation which followed, showed himself not at all clear as to details. Finally Murphy asked him:
“Q. Judge, do you remember that I said to you that I had information that one of the jurors was willing to sell his vote for $1,000 and someone had come to me with that?
“A. I remember, Mr. Murphy, you mentioned the amount of $1,000 regarding one of his statements, but I would not go further than that; I don’t remember what this man had agreed to do for the thousand dollars. That is my general recollection that that is about the substance of the statement you made to me.”
[394]Murphy’s testimony on this point was as follows: “On a day between the 20th of July and the 1st day of August, I went to the office of Mr. Newburgh. Mr. Newburgh was then engaged in defending Mr. Ruef on a preliminary examination had in one of the Parkside cases. We were discussing generally the Ruef cases and the graft prosecution, and a man came into the office who was introduced to me by Mr. Newburgh as E. A. S. Blake. This present jury panel had been drawn, and we were discussing the Ruef cases generally, and finally I made a remark that the trial of Mr. Ruef in one of these cases—referring to 1436, 1437 and 1438, would proceed as soon as the Police Court examination was finished, and I stated that a jury had been impaneled, or a jury had been drawn, I had a list of the jury in my pocket, and I pulled it out and said to both Mr. Newburgh and to Mr. Blake: ‘Perhaps you might know some of these people.’ Mr. Blake glanced at the list, and he came down to the name of Mr. Kelly, and he said, ‘I know Mr. Kelly; I have known him for a number of years; I used to work at Shreve’s jewelry store with him; and he is an intimate acquaintance of mine.’ Then I said, having in mind the decision of your Honor in the contempt case of W. J. Burns and others—”The Court: (interruption): “Did this occur after that decision?”“A. Yes—no, your Honor—I don’t know—no, no. But having in mind—I will state what I had in mind—a statement your Honor had made at some previous time, that either side had the right to find out how the jury stood; that is, if they used legitimate means. I said to Mr. Blake, I said, ‘How do you think Mr. Kelly stands on the graft prosecution?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Mr. Kelly is a very liberal-minded fellow and I think he would give Ruef a square deal.’ So I then said, ‘Well, I would like to find out whether any of Mr. Burns’ gumshoe men have interviewed him, or whether he belongs to the Good Government League or the League of Justice or any kindred organizations.’ He said he would find out the next time he met Mr. Kelly.”See printed transcript on appeal The People vs. Abraham Ruef, Part II, Vol. II, p. 878. For Newburgh’s statement see same transcript, part and volume, pages 943 and 944.
Murphy’s testimony on this point was as follows: “On a day between the 20th of July and the 1st day of August, I went to the office of Mr. Newburgh. Mr. Newburgh was then engaged in defending Mr. Ruef on a preliminary examination had in one of the Parkside cases. We were discussing generally the Ruef cases and the graft prosecution, and a man came into the office who was introduced to me by Mr. Newburgh as E. A. S. Blake. This present jury panel had been drawn, and we were discussing the Ruef cases generally, and finally I made a remark that the trial of Mr. Ruef in one of these cases—referring to 1436, 1437 and 1438, would proceed as soon as the Police Court examination was finished, and I stated that a jury had been impaneled, or a jury had been drawn, I had a list of the jury in my pocket, and I pulled it out and said to both Mr. Newburgh and to Mr. Blake: ‘Perhaps you might know some of these people.’ Mr. Blake glanced at the list, and he came down to the name of Mr. Kelly, and he said, ‘I know Mr. Kelly; I have known him for a number of years; I used to work at Shreve’s jewelry store with him; and he is an intimate acquaintance of mine.’ Then I said, having in mind the decision of your Honor in the contempt case of W. J. Burns and others—”
The Court: (interruption): “Did this occur after that decision?”
“A. Yes—no, your Honor—I don’t know—no, no. But having in mind—I will state what I had in mind—a statement your Honor had made at some previous time, that either side had the right to find out how the jury stood; that is, if they used legitimate means. I said to Mr. Blake, I said, ‘How do you think Mr. Kelly stands on the graft prosecution?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Mr. Kelly is a very liberal-minded fellow and I think he would give Ruef a square deal.’ So I then said, ‘Well, I would like to find out whether any of Mr. Burns’ gumshoe men have interviewed him, or whether he belongs to the Good Government League or the League of Justice or any kindred organizations.’ He said he would find out the next time he met Mr. Kelly.”
See printed transcript on appeal The People vs. Abraham Ruef, Part II, Vol. II, p. 878. For Newburgh’s statement see same transcript, part and volume, pages 943 and 944.
[395]In this there was remarkable similarity to the legal assistance given thugs who were from time to time arrested for interfering with the work of the Prosecution.
In this there was remarkable similarity to the legal assistance given thugs who were from time to time arrested for interfering with the work of the Prosecution.
[396]Murphy had figured in the Ruef trials, somewhat sensationally, from the beginning. When, for instance, Ruef, early in March, 1907, was a fugitive from justice, Murphy was acting as one of his attorneys. He was placed on the stand in Judge Dunne’s court. The Chronicle, in its issue of March 7, 1907, contained the following account of his testimony:“Frank J. Murphy, one of Ruef’s lawyers, testified that he had last seen Ruef just outside Hebbard’s courtroom on Monday.“Have you been doing any business with him since?”“Murphy declined to answer this under his privilege as an attorney. ‘We are looking for an absconding and hostile defendant, and the witness should not be allowed to draw conclusions as to whether the business he is doing for him is privileged,’ declared Hiram Johnson.“Heney suggested that it was the request to do this business rather than the business itself, that was sought by the Prosecution.“A compromise was effected on an answer by the witness that he had not communicated directly or indirectly with Ruef during the past forty-eight hours.”
Murphy had figured in the Ruef trials, somewhat sensationally, from the beginning. When, for instance, Ruef, early in March, 1907, was a fugitive from justice, Murphy was acting as one of his attorneys. He was placed on the stand in Judge Dunne’s court. The Chronicle, in its issue of March 7, 1907, contained the following account of his testimony:
“Frank J. Murphy, one of Ruef’s lawyers, testified that he had last seen Ruef just outside Hebbard’s courtroom on Monday.
“Have you been doing any business with him since?”
“Murphy declined to answer this under his privilege as an attorney. ‘We are looking for an absconding and hostile defendant, and the witness should not be allowed to draw conclusions as to whether the business he is doing for him is privileged,’ declared Hiram Johnson.
“Heney suggested that it was the request to do this business rather than the business itself, that was sought by the Prosecution.
“A compromise was effected on an answer by the witness that he had not communicated directly or indirectly with Ruef during the past forty-eight hours.”
[397]About the same time, Captain John J. West became involved in a charge of being connected with an alleged attempt to corruptly influence a talesman named John R. Foley to vote to acquit Ruef. But the West case was so overshadowed in importance by the Blake-Murphy-Newburgh proceedings that the public paid comparatively little attention to it.
About the same time, Captain John J. West became involved in a charge of being connected with an alleged attempt to corruptly influence a talesman named John R. Foley to vote to acquit Ruef. But the West case was so overshadowed in importance by the Blake-Murphy-Newburgh proceedings that the public paid comparatively little attention to it.
[398]“Confessing his crimes,” said The Call in its issue of October 30, 1908, “Blake, the jury briber, lays bare the ulcer that eats away the vitals of popular government. He explains why the San Francisco Graft Prosecution has not yet put anybody in the penitentiary. He makes it clear why Ruef is not in stripes. He shows why it is next to impossible to convict a rich man. He answers the familiar question, ‘What’s the matter with San Francisco?’“On his way to prison Blake pauses for a moment and gives the people of San Francisco the most convincing argument in favor of the Graft Prosecution that they have had since the boodled Supervisors told their story of shame, and Ruef, in tears, delivered his confession, since recanted. Blake’s revelation is of inestimable value to the cause of decency. Opportunely he tears away curtain and scenery and lets the people see what goes on behind the showy pretense of the graft defense. In the nick of time he exposes some of the actors in that satirical comedy which might very well be called ‘To Hell with the Law—Money is Above It.’”
“Confessing his crimes,” said The Call in its issue of October 30, 1908, “Blake, the jury briber, lays bare the ulcer that eats away the vitals of popular government. He explains why the San Francisco Graft Prosecution has not yet put anybody in the penitentiary. He makes it clear why Ruef is not in stripes. He shows why it is next to impossible to convict a rich man. He answers the familiar question, ‘What’s the matter with San Francisco?’
“On his way to prison Blake pauses for a moment and gives the people of San Francisco the most convincing argument in favor of the Graft Prosecution that they have had since the boodled Supervisors told their story of shame, and Ruef, in tears, delivered his confession, since recanted. Blake’s revelation is of inestimable value to the cause of decency. Opportunely he tears away curtain and scenery and lets the people see what goes on behind the showy pretense of the graft defense. In the nick of time he exposes some of the actors in that satirical comedy which might very well be called ‘To Hell with the Law—Money is Above It.’”
[399]Members of the faculty of Stanford University sent the following communication to Rudolph Spreckels, William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, William J. Burns and their associates:“We, the undersigned citizens of the State of California, realizing the far reaching significance of the sworn confession, as a jury briber, of E. A. S. Blake, extend to you our earnest and sincere congratulations on having successfully demonstrated the nature of some of the obstacles blocking the way of the conviction of powerful criminals in our commonwealth.“Believing that no stability of social relations, including normal business conditions, can be established on a less firm basis than incorruptible courts and honest juries, leading to the prompt and sure administration of justice, we wish to assure you of our continued confidence and moral support in the great work upon which you are engaged.”The letter was signed by President David Starr Jordan and practically all the members of the faculty.
Members of the faculty of Stanford University sent the following communication to Rudolph Spreckels, William H. Langdon, Francis J. Heney, William J. Burns and their associates:
“We, the undersigned citizens of the State of California, realizing the far reaching significance of the sworn confession, as a jury briber, of E. A. S. Blake, extend to you our earnest and sincere congratulations on having successfully demonstrated the nature of some of the obstacles blocking the way of the conviction of powerful criminals in our commonwealth.
“Believing that no stability of social relations, including normal business conditions, can be established on a less firm basis than incorruptible courts and honest juries, leading to the prompt and sure administration of justice, we wish to assure you of our continued confidence and moral support in the great work upon which you are engaged.”
The letter was signed by President David Starr Jordan and practically all the members of the faculty.
[400]Similar testimony was given at Murphy’s trial.
Similar testimony was given at Murphy’s trial.
[401]It developed later that the Blakes had been living together under a contract marriage. Later they went through the marriage ceremony. This phase of the case was made much of by the defense. Mrs. Blake, however, stood devotedly by her husband through all the trying events that followed his arrest and imprisonment.
It developed later that the Blakes had been living together under a contract marriage. Later they went through the marriage ceremony. This phase of the case was made much of by the defense. Mrs. Blake, however, stood devotedly by her husband through all the trying events that followed his arrest and imprisonment.
[402]Of these promissory notes Blake, in his statement to the court as published at the time, testified as follows:“Q. How much money were you to get? A. I was to get $10,000.“Q. For what? What were you to get that $10,000 for? A. Well, I was to say nothing about this matter, and that my wife would—“Q. In other words—. A. She was to be provided for. She was to get $100 a month. The Court. How? A. To be taken care of when I was convicted, you know.“Q. During your incarceration? A. Yes, and I was to have the $10,000.”Mr. Langdon: “Q. Who told you he would give you $10,000? A. Mr. Murphy.“Q. What did he say? Just tell us what he said about that. A. The money was to be placed in the hands of a third party, who I would select, provided the one I selected would be satisfactory to them and they felt they could always have confidence in, or something of that kind. That $10,000 was to be turned over to me immediately upon my sentence—just as soon as my sentence was passed the money was to be turned over.“Q. As soon as the court sentenced you you would receive the $10,000 that Murphy put into the hands of this third person? A. Yes.“Q. Did he tell you what kind of money it was, or what representative value it was. Did he show you any of that? Did Murphy show you anything? A. Yes, he showed me $7,500, but he did not show me the $10,000 that was put into the hands of the party that I selected. He told me that he had it.“Q. What was this $7,500 that Murphy showed you? In what form or shape? A. In notes.“Q. Promissory notes? A. Yes.“Q. Signed by who? A. Signed by Mr. Ruef.“Q. Abraham Ruef? A. Yes.“Q. Who else signed them, if any one? A. They were indorsed by his father and sister.“Q. His father?“The Court—promissory notes to you from Abraham Ruef, and indorsed? A. The promissory notes, your honor, were made out to Mr. Murphy, and he was to turn these over to the third party, indorsed, I presume, to the third party, who I might select. The notes read, ‘One year after date I promise to pay to Frank J. Murphy,’ that is the way the notes read.“Q. And signed? A. And signed by Mr. Ruef, and then they were countersigned or indorsed by his father and sister.”
Of these promissory notes Blake, in his statement to the court as published at the time, testified as follows:
“Q. How much money were you to get? A. I was to get $10,000.
“Q. For what? What were you to get that $10,000 for? A. Well, I was to say nothing about this matter, and that my wife would—
“Q. In other words—. A. She was to be provided for. She was to get $100 a month. The Court. How? A. To be taken care of when I was convicted, you know.
“Q. During your incarceration? A. Yes, and I was to have the $10,000.”
Mr. Langdon: “Q. Who told you he would give you $10,000? A. Mr. Murphy.
“Q. What did he say? Just tell us what he said about that. A. The money was to be placed in the hands of a third party, who I would select, provided the one I selected would be satisfactory to them and they felt they could always have confidence in, or something of that kind. That $10,000 was to be turned over to me immediately upon my sentence—just as soon as my sentence was passed the money was to be turned over.
“Q. As soon as the court sentenced you you would receive the $10,000 that Murphy put into the hands of this third person? A. Yes.
“Q. Did he tell you what kind of money it was, or what representative value it was. Did he show you any of that? Did Murphy show you anything? A. Yes, he showed me $7,500, but he did not show me the $10,000 that was put into the hands of the party that I selected. He told me that he had it.
“Q. What was this $7,500 that Murphy showed you? In what form or shape? A. In notes.
“Q. Promissory notes? A. Yes.
“Q. Signed by who? A. Signed by Mr. Ruef.
“Q. Abraham Ruef? A. Yes.
“Q. Who else signed them, if any one? A. They were indorsed by his father and sister.
“Q. His father?
“The Court—promissory notes to you from Abraham Ruef, and indorsed? A. The promissory notes, your honor, were made out to Mr. Murphy, and he was to turn these over to the third party, indorsed, I presume, to the third party, who I might select. The notes read, ‘One year after date I promise to pay to Frank J. Murphy,’ that is the way the notes read.
“Q. And signed? A. And signed by Mr. Ruef, and then they were countersigned or indorsed by his father and sister.”
[403]Stevens denied this. Stevens was called before the Grand Jury and questioned. He declined to answer on the ground that the relations of attorney toward client cannot be violated. Blake exonerated Stevens from this obligation. But Stevens held that he acted for Murphy as well as Blake. The court held, however, that the communications were not privileged. Stevens in his testimony which followed, denied everything that tended to implicate himself and Murphy in any way with the attempted jury fixing, or with the alleged $10,000 fund.
Stevens denied this. Stevens was called before the Grand Jury and questioned. He declined to answer on the ground that the relations of attorney toward client cannot be violated. Blake exonerated Stevens from this obligation. But Stevens held that he acted for Murphy as well as Blake. The court held, however, that the communications were not privileged. Stevens in his testimony which followed, denied everything that tended to implicate himself and Murphy in any way with the attempted jury fixing, or with the alleged $10,000 fund.
[404]Among those who testified to Murphy’s good character was Rev. H. H. Wyman, at that time the head of the Paulist Order at San Francisco. Another Paulist priest, Rev. Stark, showed great interest in Murphy’s welfare.After Murphy’s acquittal a story was current in San Francisco to the effect that at a dinner given soon after Murphy’s acquittal, Murphy had promised a present to the Paulist Church, St. Mary’s, and that Father Stark had announced that a plate bearing Murphy’s name and the date of his acquittal should be placed upon the gift.However unjustified the story may have been, Murphy did give St. Mary’s a present—a pulpit. On the pulpit was put a plate bearing Murphy’s name and a date. The incident so incensed priests of the Paulist order who were not in sympathy with the course of Fathers Wyman and Stark at Murphy’s trial, that they entered the church with a screw-driver, removed the plate, and threw it into San Francisco bay. Later a second plate was put upon the pulpit. So far as the writer knows, the second plate is still in its place.
Among those who testified to Murphy’s good character was Rev. H. H. Wyman, at that time the head of the Paulist Order at San Francisco. Another Paulist priest, Rev. Stark, showed great interest in Murphy’s welfare.
After Murphy’s acquittal a story was current in San Francisco to the effect that at a dinner given soon after Murphy’s acquittal, Murphy had promised a present to the Paulist Church, St. Mary’s, and that Father Stark had announced that a plate bearing Murphy’s name and the date of his acquittal should be placed upon the gift.
However unjustified the story may have been, Murphy did give St. Mary’s a present—a pulpit. On the pulpit was put a plate bearing Murphy’s name and a date. The incident so incensed priests of the Paulist order who were not in sympathy with the course of Fathers Wyman and Stark at Murphy’s trial, that they entered the church with a screw-driver, removed the plate, and threw it into San Francisco bay. Later a second plate was put upon the pulpit. So far as the writer knows, the second plate is still in its place.
[405]Seventy-two days were required to impanel the jury before which Ruef was tried, fifty days being devoted to actual court work. There were summoned 1,450 talesmen, of whom 446 were examined. Six jurors were denied their freedom for forty-two days before the jury was completed. Blake, arrested for jury-fixing, was trapped, tried and convicted before the jury was completed. Two of Ruef’s attorneys were, during the impaneling of the jury, indicted for alleged connection with Blake’s attempt to influence the jury in Ruef’s favor.
Seventy-two days were required to impanel the jury before which Ruef was tried, fifty days being devoted to actual court work. There were summoned 1,450 talesmen, of whom 446 were examined. Six jurors were denied their freedom for forty-two days before the jury was completed. Blake, arrested for jury-fixing, was trapped, tried and convicted before the jury was completed. Two of Ruef’s attorneys were, during the impaneling of the jury, indicted for alleged connection with Blake’s attempt to influence the jury in Ruef’s favor.
[406]There is, so far as the writer can find, no evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Haas to kill Heney any more than there is evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Pauduveris to murder the pivotal witness, Gallagher. But that Haas was urged to kill Heney because of the exposure of Haas’s previous record at the first Ruef trial is well established.“I was urged frequently,” said Haas in a confession made to Langdon and Burns, “to kill Heney by certain persons whose names I will not tell you, and I also talked to other people about killing Heney and was advised by them not to do it. In addition to that, certain persons approached me several times and referred to the time I was thrown off the Ruef jury, saying: ‘I’d never stand that sort of a roast,’ and ‘I’d kill a man who did that to me,’ and similar things.”Who urged Haas to do this thing, and what was their motive? Haas alone could have answered the first question. But the bullet that ended his life sealed his lips forever.Of Haas’s purpose in getting on the first Ruef jury we have some testimony. Joseph Brachman, a close associate of Ruef, who had known Haas for nearly a quarter of a century, said in an interview published in the San Francisco Call, November 15, 1908:“When Ruef was on trial in the Parkside case, on the bribery charge, I heard that Haas had been called on the jury panel. At that time I was frequently in consultation with Ruef, every day, in fact. But I was afraid to go to Ruef with what I knew of Haas, so I went to one of his lawyers—I won’t say which one—and told him of the record of Haas. I told him that Haas was a bad man and an ex-convict. I said that Ruef should challenge him.“I was in court the day that Haas qualified and passed into the jury. Again I told his attorney that Haas was a bad man, to get rid of him, but nothing was done. When Heney produced the evidence showing that Haas was an ex-convict I was in court, also. I met Haas after he had been disqualified. Haas told me the reason why he stayed on the jury and why his record was not made public by the defense of Ruef. He told me that he expected $4,000 from Ruef for his services on the Parkside case jury. He said that he was hard up, that he was in debt, that he owed money on his saloon and that if he had been permitted to stay on the jury he would have been able, with the $4,000 to be paid him by Ruef, to clear himself of debt.“He also told me, Haas did, on the day that he was disqualified, that he was going to ‘kill one of the prosecutors.’ He did not say which one, but he frequently repeated to me, that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’ I met him many times and often, frequently he told me that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’”
There is, so far as the writer can find, no evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Haas to kill Heney any more than there is evidence that the Graft Defense or its agents employed Pauduveris to murder the pivotal witness, Gallagher. But that Haas was urged to kill Heney because of the exposure of Haas’s previous record at the first Ruef trial is well established.
“I was urged frequently,” said Haas in a confession made to Langdon and Burns, “to kill Heney by certain persons whose names I will not tell you, and I also talked to other people about killing Heney and was advised by them not to do it. In addition to that, certain persons approached me several times and referred to the time I was thrown off the Ruef jury, saying: ‘I’d never stand that sort of a roast,’ and ‘I’d kill a man who did that to me,’ and similar things.”
Who urged Haas to do this thing, and what was their motive? Haas alone could have answered the first question. But the bullet that ended his life sealed his lips forever.
Of Haas’s purpose in getting on the first Ruef jury we have some testimony. Joseph Brachman, a close associate of Ruef, who had known Haas for nearly a quarter of a century, said in an interview published in the San Francisco Call, November 15, 1908:
“When Ruef was on trial in the Parkside case, on the bribery charge, I heard that Haas had been called on the jury panel. At that time I was frequently in consultation with Ruef, every day, in fact. But I was afraid to go to Ruef with what I knew of Haas, so I went to one of his lawyers—I won’t say which one—and told him of the record of Haas. I told him that Haas was a bad man and an ex-convict. I said that Ruef should challenge him.
“I was in court the day that Haas qualified and passed into the jury. Again I told his attorney that Haas was a bad man, to get rid of him, but nothing was done. When Heney produced the evidence showing that Haas was an ex-convict I was in court, also. I met Haas after he had been disqualified. Haas told me the reason why he stayed on the jury and why his record was not made public by the defense of Ruef. He told me that he expected $4,000 from Ruef for his services on the Parkside case jury. He said that he was hard up, that he was in debt, that he owed money on his saloon and that if he had been permitted to stay on the jury he would have been able, with the $4,000 to be paid him by Ruef, to clear himself of debt.
“He also told me, Haas did, on the day that he was disqualified, that he was going to ‘kill one of the prosecutors.’ He did not say which one, but he frequently repeated to me, that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’ I met him many times and often, frequently he told me that he was ‘going to get one of the prosecutors.’”
[407]Physicians state that Heney’s escape from death was by a hair’s breadth. Had the bullet, striking as it did, taken any other course death would have been inevitable.
Physicians state that Heney’s escape from death was by a hair’s breadth. Had the bullet, striking as it did, taken any other course death would have been inevitable.
[408]SeeChapter XXIII.
SeeChapter XXIII.
[409]“Will they,” demanded The Call the morning after Heney had been shot down, “stop at nothing? Are not stealing, perjury, bribery, dynamiting, murder, enough? Must the course of justice in this community run the gamut of violence, as well as of slander and pettifogging obstruction?“Apparently it must. But there is at least no longer any reason to doubt where the responsibility lies. A bare chance, the momentary tremor of an assassin’s hand, may have saved the life of Francis J. Heney to this community. There will be no tremor in the finger of scorn that points past the miserable wretch that did the shooting to the men that inspired it. A worthless crank, of course. It always is. Dirty hands for dirty work. But softer hands and keener brains plan it. And the community will waste no wrath on the miserable tool, now cowering in jail. It was not he who has dogged the steps of Francis J. Heney these two years with hired thugs. It was not he who has filled the courtrooms with professional ruffians. It was not he who dynamited Gallagher—or hired it done. Least of all was it he who made a joke of that crime and sought to make a joke and a byword of the heroic Heney—‘poor Beany.’”
“Will they,” demanded The Call the morning after Heney had been shot down, “stop at nothing? Are not stealing, perjury, bribery, dynamiting, murder, enough? Must the course of justice in this community run the gamut of violence, as well as of slander and pettifogging obstruction?
“Apparently it must. But there is at least no longer any reason to doubt where the responsibility lies. A bare chance, the momentary tremor of an assassin’s hand, may have saved the life of Francis J. Heney to this community. There will be no tremor in the finger of scorn that points past the miserable wretch that did the shooting to the men that inspired it. A worthless crank, of course. It always is. Dirty hands for dirty work. But softer hands and keener brains plan it. And the community will waste no wrath on the miserable tool, now cowering in jail. It was not he who has dogged the steps of Francis J. Heney these two years with hired thugs. It was not he who has filled the courtrooms with professional ruffians. It was not he who dynamited Gallagher—or hired it done. Least of all was it he who made a joke of that crime and sought to make a joke and a byword of the heroic Heney—‘poor Beany.’”
[410]While Heney lay wounded at San Francisco, and Haas lay dead, another tragedy growing out of the Graft Prosecution was being enacted on the other side of the globe. John Krause, who had been T. V. Halsey’s assistant at the time of the Pacific States Telephone briberies, killed himself on the steamer Adriatic as it plied from Cherbourg, France, to Queenstown, Ireland. Krause had disappeared from San Francisco in December, 1907. It was never charged that Krause was a principal to the bribery transactions, or that he had even guilty knowledge of them. His only possible connection with the graft cases was as a witness against the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company officials.
While Heney lay wounded at San Francisco, and Haas lay dead, another tragedy growing out of the Graft Prosecution was being enacted on the other side of the globe. John Krause, who had been T. V. Halsey’s assistant at the time of the Pacific States Telephone briberies, killed himself on the steamer Adriatic as it plied from Cherbourg, France, to Queenstown, Ireland. Krause had disappeared from San Francisco in December, 1907. It was never charged that Krause was a principal to the bribery transactions, or that he had even guilty knowledge of them. His only possible connection with the graft cases was as a witness against the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company officials.
[411]“A great work,” said Hiram W. Johnson, in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, November 14, 1908, “undertaken and accomplished, though not yet wholly completed, has been retarded for a day by an assassin’s bullet. When Frank Heney fell today while in the performance of his duty, decency and the right were stricken. For two years this one man has persevered in the right, for right’s sake alone. Without compensation, sacrificing a great legal practice, giving without complaint the best years of his life, Francis J. Heney, facing all the combined forces of evil in this community and State, has stood unflinchingly at his post, making the fight that is the fight of all of us. Daily abuse and vilification have been his portion and reward. In spite of it, where a weaker man would have faltered, Heney has persevered. He has done in seeking to make equality before the law an assurance in this State, all that a strong and a brave man could do. Were he to pass away tonight he’d need no other monument than the work he has done. For generations his expose of rottenness in San Francisco, his prosecutions of the criminal rich will live and make this city and State better. He has been shot simply because he was fighting for the right. Not alone has he been wounded; but the community and the commonwealth have suffered the injury.“We who were with him in the early days of the struggle, and knew his every mood; who saw him at his work day and night, and loved the qualities that made it possible for him to accomplish what he has, can not express our horror and indignation and anger at his attempted assassination. May God speed his recovery.”
“A great work,” said Hiram W. Johnson, in an interview printed in the San Francisco Call, November 14, 1908, “undertaken and accomplished, though not yet wholly completed, has been retarded for a day by an assassin’s bullet. When Frank Heney fell today while in the performance of his duty, decency and the right were stricken. For two years this one man has persevered in the right, for right’s sake alone. Without compensation, sacrificing a great legal practice, giving without complaint the best years of his life, Francis J. Heney, facing all the combined forces of evil in this community and State, has stood unflinchingly at his post, making the fight that is the fight of all of us. Daily abuse and vilification have been his portion and reward. In spite of it, where a weaker man would have faltered, Heney has persevered. He has done in seeking to make equality before the law an assurance in this State, all that a strong and a brave man could do. Were he to pass away tonight he’d need no other monument than the work he has done. For generations his expose of rottenness in San Francisco, his prosecutions of the criminal rich will live and make this city and State better. He has been shot simply because he was fighting for the right. Not alone has he been wounded; but the community and the commonwealth have suffered the injury.
“We who were with him in the early days of the struggle, and knew his every mood; who saw him at his work day and night, and loved the qualities that made it possible for him to accomplish what he has, can not express our horror and indignation and anger at his attempted assassination. May God speed his recovery.”