The San Francisco call., 1895-11-15


in the afternoon, after Mr.. Ackerman had
concluded his address, no one was greatly
surprised when Judge Murphy openly de-
clared his illness and said that it was i'm
possible for him to remain in court any
longer. He suggested an adjournment
till next Monday, when it is hoped he will
have sufficiently recovered to proceed with
the trial.
The five vacancies in the iurv-box were
filled without much trouble during the
morning hours of court, and there was even
time for Mr.. Black opening statement for
the prosecution.
The five jurors needed were secured with
very little trouble. J. Dolan of 1012 Fiji
teenth street; William r. Jack, 913 Ellis
street; James Badger, 1921 Laguna street;
]. ]. Macdonald, 178H Castro street, and
Fred Meyer, 1900 Fillmore street, proved
satisfactory to both sides, and then the
case proper was opened.
The accusation against the defendant
was ordered read, and the charges OF mis-
conduct were recounted to the jury. The
specific charges were six in number, and
referred to a cesspool on Clay and Spruce
streets; an artificial stone sidewalk on Van
Ness avenue and Union street; bitumin-
Gus rock roadway on Ellwood street, off
O'Farrell, between Mason and Powell; a
stone sewer on Broderiok street, between
Ellis and O'Farrell ; a bituminous roadway
on Guerrero street, between Eighteenth
and Nineteenth, and an artificial stone
sidewalk on Chestnut and Stockton streets.
The plea, which had been entered on Oc-
tober 80 to the allegations made-a general
denial to all-was read also, and then Mr..
Black rose to make his statement.
1t would be shown, he said, that the cess
pool on Spruce street was not wide enough,
not deep enough, the traps were not far
enough down, and the outlet was defee-
tive. The people would prove, Mr.. Black
said, that Mr.. Ashworth knew of the state
of affairs regarding the cesspool, and that
he fixed 1t under protest upon demand
from the Mayors inspector.
As to the artificial stone sidewalk, it
would be shown that it was made of de-
fective material and had to be torn up and
relald. The bituminous-rock roadway on
Ellwood street was laid with bitumen 1 u
inches thick instead of 2I inches thick;
the stone sewer on Broadway had been
laid with "Y'' connections at every fifty
feet instead OF at every twenty feet, as the
specifications required, and Mr.. Ashworth
had been notified of this defect by the
clerk of the Mayor fifteen days before it
was accepted.
The bituminous roadway on Guerrero
street was laid on concrete which had
about one-half the requirement of cement,
and the bitumen was laid on the concrete
the day after it was put down, and while
it was still wet. Citizens had protested
against the work, but it had all been ac-
cepted. The work was rotten from top to
bottom, Mr.. Black said, and was, not in
any way according to specifications, but
the Superintendent of Streets, in spite of
the protest of the property-owners, had
recommended its acceptance to the Street
Committee and it had been accepted, al
though later the Board of Supervisors had
to reverse the action as the work was too
evidently fraudulent.
In the last case cited, the stone sidewalk
on Chestnut and Stockton streets, red rock
was used which would not stand the test,
and when the matter was reported to Mr..
Ashworth he said it was small Job any
way, and SO he accepted.
Mr.. Black stated that the contention of
the prosecution would be that Mr.. Ash
worth willfully and corruptly accepted the
work which he knew to be imperfect and
fraudulent. 1t was not necessary nor
would they try to prove that the Superin-
tendent of Streets ever received dollar for
his misconduct but the prosecution would
show that that these acts were injuring the
taxpayers and were benefting few con-
tractors, and that Mr.. Ashworth knew such
10 be the case. This proved, Mr.. Black
said, he thought the jury should return a
verdict for the people.
In the afternoon Attorney Ackerman
made his opening address to the jury for
the defense. "In every community there
is an impression that thief is not an hon.
est man." he began, 'and Mr.. Ashworth
is here before you, gentlemen, in his third
term as Superintendent of Public Streets
and in the seventy-third year of his honest
and spotless life to prove to you that he is
not thief.
The accusations are that Mr.. Ash
worth's deputies notified him that certain
street work was unsatisfactory and that
in spite of that notification he accepted
the work. We are here TO meet these
accusations fearlessly and fully, to prove
that in no particular are they true, and
that for Mr.. Ashworth to have been dis
honest in any way would mean that he had
reversed the order of his entire past life''
Coming down to the specific accusations
made by the District Attorney in his OPEN
ing statement, Mr.. Ackerman said first
that they were instigated by Mr.. Elder, an
inspector appointed without authority, to
whom Mr.. Ashworth had rightly denied
the privilege of prying into the books of
the Street Department. AS to the first
count in the indictment, that a certain
cesspool was within two inches of its
proper depth, Mr.. Alderman said the