The morning call., 1893-07-23

guessed at, but as criminal of the Wilson
type is seldom without funds it is safe to
say it was a much larger one than ne
admits.
Judge Seawell seemed very disgusted at
having been so easily taken in. Speaking
of the circumstance 10 a CALL reporter,
he said:
II admit was taken unawares. but /
can't help thinking that m ost judges would
have accepted the bond under the crcum-
stances. TO begin with. the parties were
brought to me by Alexander Campbell Jr..
whom l know to be an attorney OF con-
siderable repute. and whose introduction
l considered OF great value.
"Then again. the parties themselves were
of highly respectable appearance. Ire
member the whole circumstance well; it
occurred on Wednesday last. some time
during the recess, and l had plenty of
time to put all the questions necessary.
Il asked Sawyer what property he
possessed and how acquired, etc. He an
swered readily enough that his property.
which was under United States patent,
consisting Of auartzmlil in Calaveras
County, was of the value Of $4,000, and
that the proceeds which he derived from
his milling amounted to some $4,000 year.
Then 1 questioned Grace Neal, and she
testified to being the owner of half
section Of land in Fresno County of consid-
erable value. Sawyer moreover, said that
he kept house on Mission street, and l
found that he certainly did live there. So
| accepted them both as sureties on the
bond, which. after all, was only one of
$4,000, one $1,000 and two $500 each.
But the next morning Mr.. Campbell
came to me and expressed certain doubts
as to the stability of the snre.ies. | grew
alarmed at this, and immediately issued a
bench warrant for Wilson's arrest, but SO
far he has proved to be untraceable.
Police court bonds never accept, but
this was Superior Court bond, and under
the circumstances l thought it was all in
order. But this shall prove lesson to me.
In future l shall accep: no bond of any
description whatsoever without duly in
yestigating the suTelles, even If l have to
pay the expenses Of the investigation out
OF my own pocket
The most peculiar feature in the matter
concerns the petty larceny charge against
Wilson and upon which b0ad Of $500
was accepted.
1t appears from the records that Wilson
was not awaiting trial on this charge, but
instead was serving out six months
sentence which Judge Campbell imposed
upon MIN.
At the request of the police the charge
of petty larceny was heard first. the de-
sire being to obtain conviction in order
10 prevent an application for bonds from
being made.
When sentence was passed upon Wilson,
his attorney gave notice Of an appeal, but
as the papers were never filed. OF course
the notice was Of no consequence and.
therefore. the sentence stood. Conse-
Quently Judge Seawell had no authority to
accept bonds in the petty larceny matter.
and the police feel very much chagrined
because he did accept them.
Detective Seymour, who is investigating
the affair. is inclined to the belief that at
least gross negligence was shown by the
Superior Court officials. and one of the at
taches of the District Attorneys office, and
he does not hesitate about saying 80.
Il do not know who is to be held re-
sponsble for this great blunder" he
stated, but this much / do know. No
great effort was made by any one to learn
anything about Wilson before ordering his
release.
District Attorney Barnes claims to
know nothing of the affair. and yet know
one Of his assistants. Walter Blair. went
into Seawelps court with Campbell
when the bonds were presented. Now.
why didn't Blair do little investigating?
His office knew the hard fight we made in
the Police Court against James II. Long
to hold Wilson for petty larceny and he
should have remembered it. It's shame
that notorious criminal like this fellow
should be turned loose even without
trial"
Another thing that seems strange to the
police is that SeawelI. after releasing the
man. should have transferred his case to
Judge Wallace's court when it is known
that Judge WalIace's cae4dar is so crowd
ed that it cannO. be taken up for some
time to come. But then the entire affair
is just full of strange things, the solutions
to which can only be learned from Pear
son or the levantDg Wilson.