The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-11
AN EDITOR AND A
! CLERK INDICTED,
Newspaper Man for Libel.
the Clerk for En-
bezzlement.
A sERvIAN JOURNALIST.
B. M. Gopcheivich Libeled Spiro
RaduIovich Last
April.
H. LEVI & CO.'S COLLECTOR
Accused of Embe zzling Two Thou
sand Dollars of the Firms
Money.
H. LEVI & CO.'S COLLECTOR

The Grand Jury heard some expert testi-
mony yesterday concerning the cost of
conducting the County Clerks office.
There seems to be strong impression in
the jury that the present management of
that department of the municipal govern
ment is extravagant and that the work
necessary can be done by smaller num-
her of clerks than the payroll now carries.
The experts examined were ex-County
Clerks ]. ]. Flynn and NJ. G. Haley and
Major ]. D. Ruggles and B. NJ. Gum, who
were formerly employed in the County
Clerks Office. Major Ruggles went into
the County CLERKS Office in 1866, and
served there twenty-five years. His SER
vice was continuous until Mr.. Curry was
elected, excepting the four years during
which Colonel Stuart Taylor had the place
of Naval Officer, when Mr.. Ruggles was his
chief deputy. The jury asked the wit
nesses many questions, and the result of
the inquiry will be presented in the final
report to be made this month.
The Grand Jury went into Judge Slack s
court and presented the indictments. H.
Batzner was indicted for EN- bezzlement
and B. M. Gopcheivich for libel.
According to the testimony of Jacob
Levi Jr. and Louis R. Levy, 81. Batzner
was the clerk, agent and servant of Her
man Levi. Jacob Levi Sr. and Jacob Lew
Jr of the firm of 81. Levi & Co., and did
EN- bezzie from his employers the sum of
$1,000 on March last. 1t seems that BATE
ner was a collector and held out collections
for his own use.
B. NJ. Gopcheivich, against whom the
indictment for libel is found, is the editor
and publisher of "Srbin Amerikance. :"
which translated into English is "Servian-
American"
The complaining witness, the man who
was Iibeied, is Spiro Rsdulovich, very
respectable citizen who resides at the cor
ner of Bush and Polk streets. Judging
from the indictment, to which is attached
several columns OF reading cut from the
Servian-A m erican, Mr.. Radulovich is not
the kind of aman who can be dismissed
with single paragraph. The libelous
matter appears to be in the form of a mar
rative or serial story under this heading:
IA Conspiracy Against B. g. IN Gaming
B. Gopcheiyich)-H ic Fact in San
Francisco-True Occurrence" This pub
lished article or narrative seems 10 accuse
Spiro Radulovich of joining a conspiracy
TO assassinate the editor. Moreover. il is
asserted in the article that Mr.. Radulo-
vich, while residing in Weaveryilie, Trim
ity County, lapsed from integrity and en-
bezzled money from his employers.
There was enough in this article pub
lished last April in the Servian-American
to create great commotion in the Ser
Wan colony. No one clearly understands
now why the case was not taken to the
courts, and why the subpenas were not
issued through the regular channels.
About a month ago Eugene Deuprey,
counsel for Spiro Radulovich, unexpect-
eddy entered the jury ante-room with an
army of Servian witnesses. and since then
the Grand Jury has struggled with the
case. The case will now go to the courts.
When the indictments were presented
District Attorney Barnes told the court
that no necessity existed for placing the
documents on the secret file. The usual
motion was made for the issue of bench
warrants.
Last Thursday Theodore F. Payne, Al
pheus Bull Jr. and C. L. Haskell OF the
Grand Jury, accom- panied by Director
Henderson and Inspector Kincaid of the
School Department, visited a number of
public school buildings. The houses in
spected were the Lincoln. Marshall, Rim
con, Longfellow, Starr King Columb ia,
Buena Vista and the new Dudley G. Stone
school building on Haight street.