The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-28
WHAT DID THE ATTORNEY MEAN
DURING THE BOoGAR
TRIAL2
A MEMORY OF "oLD BATCH
AN EAST BERKELEYAN TELLS WHY
WEST BERKELEYANs WANT
A FINE WHARF.
OAKLAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO CALL
sos Broadway. Oct. q.

OAKLAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO CALI
9OS Broadway, Oct. q.
Some San Francisco attorneys do not
have very high opinion of the judiciary
OF Alameda County and occasionally they
attempt to show it in a manner that re-
coils to their own disadvantage. The
latest instance of this occurred during the
Boogar murder trial last Thursday. Reel
B. Terry was making an argument for the
prosecution and incidentally paid his re-
spects to the Oakland newspapers. This,
OF course, angered Judge Prick and he
ordered the attorney TO contine himself to
his argument. But Mr.. Terry managed to
get in the following expression: "Give me
the press of Oakland and you can have the
bar. You can have cards and spades, too,
and you won't have a showdown" The
case went 10 the jury and seven were for
acquittal, and as this was the second trial
of Collins on the same charge it is ex-
pected that a dismiss al will be asked by
the prosecution. Now people are wonder
ing how much Mr.. Terry's remarks re-
garding the Oakland newspapers affected
the verdict.
1t Mr.. Terry meant anything he must
have meant that either the Judge or the
attorneys or the jury must be under the
influence OF the press, or his remarks were
entirely supertiuous. Judge Prick re-
sented the lEsinuation from the bench
George Knight, who is a frequent visitor
to the Alameda Superior courts, resented
IL by one OF his own copyrighted smiles,
and the jury said nothing. 1t was an Ala
media County jury, and between Alameda
ana san Francisco counties there is little
genuine jealousy that extends from ped
dlers to pleaders. The jurors, therefore,
would not be pleased at the hint from a
San francisco attorney that the press had
any effect on them.
And yet Mr.. Terry's position was not
altogether without foundation in this par
tlcular case. The Boogar cases have been
tried and retired in the Oakland papers
with much vehem ence and personality
Not one-tenth of the STORY" of the
Boogar history was told in the evidence,
nor VIII II ever be told. Knowing this
there is some excuse for Mr. Terry, but it
is always advisable in Oakland courts for
attorneys 10 snow the same respect for
their environments as they do when at
home. The Alameda Judiciary is not
LAY, its jurors are not thin-skinned, but
sometimes they are sensitive. 1t is not
very long since Judge Greene and Attorney
Goodfellow OF San Francisco entered into
newspaper war and some of the express
slons made are yet ranking.
The death of "Old Batch" recalls one of
the earliest chapters in Oakland's NUM-
cipal history. James Batchelder was the
first engineer on the Seventh-street local
road. He ran for years before there was a
bridge across the estuary to San Antonio,
now East Oakland, and from 1868 to 1888
he never lost day and never had an acct
dent. There is not another engineer with
such q record. But Old Batch was inter-
esting in another way. For just score of
years he held his hand on the throttle and
never took holiday. He was always
preaching the doctrine that if a man
worked twenty years steadily and con-
scientiously he should not work any more
in this life. Batch worked that time
steadily and conscientiously and then re-
tired rich. He never married, saved his
money, and after retiring from active life
he had holiday of an even dozen of years,
during which he made an extended trip
around the world, and then he passed
away, three years short of three score and
ten.
Mvron Dusinberry told an anecdote
this week when he heard OF Batch's death
that presents a prominent Oakland poll
tician in very different sphere from that
which he now occupies. lone day, many
years ago." said Myron, "Old Batch tried
hard to scare the life out of me- At that
-
brakeman on the local train and Batch
was the engineer. There was switch at
Brooklyn in those days, and by getting off
the cars and running ahead Eli could Just
manage to turn the lever and make the
switch without stopping the engine. I
thought it would be great fun to upset
Eli plans, so on several occasions |
tarred the lever, and Eli not only got his
hands dirty-which he never liked-but
the handle slipped through his fingers and
required old Batch to back off the siding
and make another approach to the switch.
This went on for awhile, but one day
was too late and Old Batch saw me at the
lever. He ran his train right up to the
switch and was in no hurry to get out of
the way, as l expected it to approach
slowly. [ looked round and Old Batch
bad brought up his engiue right to where
/ was. Then he opened about half a
dozen whistles and dozen steampipes
and l was surrounded by steam and
scared by the shrieks of the whistle and [
expected that the next minute should
wake up in heaven. But Batch had
judged things beautifully, and when the
steam cleared off Eli was within foot of
me. a second later his foot-but never
mind that. Els lever was never turned
again. That was thirty years ago."
Eli has got there" since and is now a
wealthy State Senator.
Oakland will be study to the rest of the
State for the next fiscal year. owing to the
fact that her tax levy has been fixed at the
excessively low rate of 81. This is nearly
one-tifth less than the Finance Committee
of the City Council said would be neces-
sary, but the Mayor stuck to the dollar
limit and gained his point. The efforts to
fix the levy proved to be campaign in
that at the last municipal election. The
result showed that neither the Mayor nor
the Council won, nor did either lose.
Davie preserved the dollar limit, but the
Council altered his apportionment. So
when there is a deficit at the end of the
year, as the Auditor expects there will be,
both factions will be in the happy position
of being able to point the finger OF triumph
at the other and say, Il told you So"