The San Francisco call., 1895-12-02
Their Work DragS Slowly Along
in the Alameda
Courts.
" BLOOD IN THE ESTUARY"
A Reminiscence of the Last Water.
Front War That Was Not
Made Public.
OAKLAND OFFICE SAN Francisco CALL
oOS Broadway. Dec. l.


On the last day of last year that body re-
turned four indictments against waiter
II. Siedentopf for Misrepresentation OF
public money Yesterday the last OF these
cases was dismissed by jury IN the Su-
perior Court. Siedentopf is a politician
from the First Ward and was County LII
cense Inspector, and when the hrsI case
of embezzlement was called District At
torney Shook, who is also from the FIRST
Ward, asked that it be dismissed. His
desire was granted, As the District At
terney was the legal adviser OF the Grand
Jury that brought in the indictments 1t
was supposed that there was at least
enough evidence to justify in sending the
case TO trial, but after several months OF
delay the District Attorneys office changed
its mind. As the evidence was practically
the same in all cases the other three in
dictments were sent to trial. Having dis.
missed one Indictment that fact formed
an am pie defense for the dismissal OF
the other three, and exactly eleven
months after being indicted MIR. Sieden-
topf was cleared of the last OF the four
charges.
Very different was the case of Walter
Lambert. the Police Court clerk, now in
San Quentin. Lambert appropriated pub
lie money while he was clerk OF the Police
Court OF Oakland and was indicted by the
Grand Jury April ,. There did not appear
to be host OF technicaIities in his case.
The prosecution was vigorous and able,
ard on July ! he was sentenced to San
Quentin for five years. LAMBERT political
''puiin was annihilated about a year ago.
The next indictments against public Off
ciaIs were those returned against Auditor
Myron Whldden and Deputy Tax Col
lector Mavrisch September IL. There were
nine separate indictments of forgery
against the Auditor, and thousands OF peo-
pie thought a gross injustice had been
done him. Since that date the cases
against Whidden have been called in court
thirteen times and tecnnicalitieS are still
being discussed.
From present indications, the lapse of
time between Siedentopfs Indictment and
acquittal will be duplicated.
Previous to his Indictment and while 1t
was known that the Grand Jury were dis
cussing the shortage in the Tax Collectors
office, Auditor Whidden issued lengthy
statements. showing how impossible 1t was
for him, under the system prevailing in
the Tax Collectors office, to have COM
mitted forgery in the receipts. His state
ments were generally believed, and he de-
manded a speedy trial. He called on the
District Attorney to hasten matters, and
that official, who was the adviser of the
Grand Jury throughout their proceedings,
agreed to comply with the Auditors re-
quest When the case was called numer-
Gus continuances were asked and granted,
and then came the startling application Of
Whidden to have ali the indictments dis
missed on the ground that one Of the
grand Jurors was insane when he signed
the Indictment. The ground for insanity
is based on the fact that the juror COM
mitted suicide few weeks ago.
ht, 1od q foTy
Last week the foreman of the Grand Jury
was subpenaed to appear in court to tes-
tify regarding his prejudice against Whld-
den personally, and as to whether he voted
for him. The foreman was highly indlg-
nant and denied that he was member OF
the A. P. A, or that he had any prejudice
whatever against Whidden. More secrets
of the Grand Jury room were revealed dur
ing his examination than have ever been
made known, even in an Alameda County
court, and vet the matter at issue, the
guilt or innocence of MyTon Whidden, has
not been reached. Everybody is anxious
for a speedy trial, and the apparent lack of
desire to comply with the Auditors orig
inal demand is being deprecated.
The resumption of hostiIities on the
water front by Mayor Davie recalls story
OF two years ago that has not yet been
published. When Lieutenant Bob Craig
was holding a piece of land at the foot of
Webster street Davie built a very comfort
able shanty and fitted it up with a stove
ana a telephone for the convenience of
newspaper men, who were acting as war
artists and correspondents. Things had
been dull for several days and the railroad
fighter, Woolsey, who was credited with
protecting a scow filed with armed men,
did not make any move to attempt to
storm the territory on which Craig and his
men were encamped.
The exploding of a dynamite bomb
alongside some of the monopoly's piles
and demolishing them had become monot-
onous, but Bob knew that the fight de-
pended largely on public sentiment and
that public sentiment was made largely in
the shanty where the telephone was To-
Gated. So one night Lieutenant Craig re-
ported that he was going to have an
armed force of 200 men on the water
front and that if the railroad company's
hirelings interfered the estuary would run
with blood. About 8 o'clock the march of
the Craig legions past the door OF the hut
began. The hut was well supplied with
ham sandwiches, cigars and coffee, and as
it was cold night fire was going and
the newspaper men were content to sit
inside and look through the door and the
cracks. The footsteps of the armed mob
could be heard, and as each one passed the
door 1t was seen that he was carrying a
heavy musket.
There they CO." cried Craig. 1.-TWO
hundred of them," and he counted till he
reached nearly hundred. Then -one OF
war correspondents stepped outside to see
if the enemy was in sight. He did not see
the enemy, and he did not see Craig's two
hundred. Instead, he saw six men, an
equal distance apart, parading around the
hut, ana when they had circled sixteen
times Craig had counted ninety-slx. 1t
was rather too much OF sensation even
to war correspondent in section where
powder and shell were unknown, so no
public sentiment was made that night.
The expenses of the sandwich banquet
was dead loss, and Lieutenant Craig and
John L. Davie (now Mayor have not
worked IN double harness since.
The Mayor believes in estimating any
thing sensational at it's true value, but
his lieutenant exceeded his desires that
night. Both said afterward that II the
story about the estuary flowing with blood
and the two hundred armed men had
under big scareheads he would
have been member of the police force,
but Craig could never prove this.
Much interest is manifested in Oakland