The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-16

S. ]. Smithe.
Office when the game closed without a
dollar. He lived like Turk, however,
during his term of Office. One of his asso-
ciates, a member of the City Council, had
a box reserved for his use at the leading
variety theater. He was a member of the
Police Committee and made regular con-
tributions from the policemen by way of
'loans," the police in turn levying tribute
upon gamblers, dlve-keepeTs and dive ire
quenters, in addition to the tribute ex-
acted by their superior officers.
Blackmail was rampant Jake Adler, who
committed suicide a few days ago, was adj
vertising solicitor of the Tacoma News,
and prominent member of the Tllllcum
Democratic Cuba club organized solely
for spoils. He extorted $500 from the
saloon men. But money was plenty, and
the profits of the saloons and gambling
houses were thousands of dollars night.
When the fine hand of Wheeler had dis
appeared from the board, and the warrant
swindle was becoming apparent to people
outside of the ring of bankers, gamblers
and politicians who were in control of the
city, a batch of warrants fell into the
hands of a prominent citizen not con-
hONtOO VIII ZIG gang, Shob NCiS pJO'Cu W
be forged. This came very near being a
catastrophe. 1t would never do to let the
people know that there were forged war
rants out, and young man named Nc
Cain, deputy in the City Clerk Office,
was fixed up as scapegoat to aliay sus-
piclon. By agreement with Mccain and
his family, he confessed to the charge of
forging the warrants, was sent to the State
penitentiary, and his family is being we'll
cared for during his absence. and if the
gang don't go ''broke' before his term ex-
pires, which will be early next year, he
will draw handsome salary for the time
spent in Walia Walla. Warrants had to
be forthcoming in order to keep the gang
in funds, and mere matter of hiring a
clerk to do time was only an incident IN
the play.
Money was becoming scarce. No more
warrants could be floated in the East, and
exposure and ruin were staring the gang
in the face. The money which had been
poured out like water for four years, bal
ancing the books by fictitious credits and
forged and duplicate warrants, bonds and
other imaginary assets, was gone. There
we're twenty-one banks in the city, nearly
all of them closely connected with the
powers that ruled. Dozens OF the city's
most prominent men were involved in the
deals by which the city had been robbed.
The situation had become desperate. I'm
less something could be done at once GER
tain ruin was upon them, and the purchase
of the Tacoma Light and Water Company s
property was brought forward as a way out
of the difficulty. 1t was seized at once as
the only way of salvation. Politicians,
bankers, gamblers and all mem bers of the
gang entered with a will upon the cam
paign for the purchase of the plant and
property.
This property consisted of wooden
trough running from a small creek eight
miles away TO the south of the city and q
system of pipes In some of the main streets
of the city, and map showing prelimi-
nary survey to the springs up in the noun
tains, also an engine, number OF dynamos,
some electric-light wire, poles and lamps,
and a shipload of iron water-pipe on the
way from Philadelphia. But the ship
never came to port.
This plant and property was estimated
by competent engineers to be worth about
$4,000 to $500, 600, but it was proposed to
sell it to the city for 81, $50 600, and to issue
bonds for the purchase, together with an
additional $1,750, 0O0, to be used for the
building OF pipe line out on the line sur
veyed, to bring water from the mountain
rivers. With this much money in the
treasury the present desperate straits
could be bridged, and before an exposure
could be made the members of the gang
could put their houses in order and ruin
would be averted. Thus it was that all
hands turned in and worked with might
and main for the water purchase. A
special election was called for the purpose
of voting upon the question, and at the
same time voting upon proposition to
issue another $4,000 of bonds to build a
bridge over the bluff for the benefit of the
st. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company,
which was one of the favorites OF the pow
ers, and was strong enough to make trouble
if its demands were not complied with.
Now, behold a miracle! Nelson Bennett,
the old-time enemy of the water company
and the philadelphia crowd" turns a
somersault and, like the cat that came
back, lands on his feet. He has become
the owner of the Tacoma Ledger, the
organ of the water company and the
gang in advocating the monstrous steal.
Day after day the Ledger, with G. A.
Snowden as its managing editor, brings
out arguments in favor of making the
deal.
Strong opposition was developed to the
purchase of the water plant, as proposed
by the gang. Many of the leading respect
able men and property-owners of the city
denounced the deal as an outrage. L. D.
Campbell, prominent as an attorney of the
Tacoma Land Company and Papa F"
Wright, was one of the first to declare his
opposition to the scheme, which he char
acterized as a barefaced and outrageous
swindle and fraud. But the newspapers
of the city were all owned and controlled
by the gang. There was but one cham
pion who could not be browbeaten or
silenced, and who was rustler in his line.
People admire rustler, and favorite in
the newspaper fielo at the time was Tom
Summons, the Tacoma correspondent and
local manager of the Seattle Post Intelli-
gencer. He fought the deal tooth and
nail from the start, exposing the rascality
of the plant for which bonds to the extent