The herald., 1897-12-22
is IN A HURRY
Webb Wants His Trial
Very Soon
"DOC" CRANDALL'S DEFENSE
WHITTIER HooDLUM BURGLAR
IzEs A DRUG STORE
"DoC" CRANDALL'S DEFENSE
Mrs. Barnham's Separate Estate
The Clays Of San Pedro Are
"Busted"

Walter L. Webb, the suspended mem
ber of the board Of education from the
Ninth ward, appeared in Department
one of the superior court yesterday morn
ing to file his answer TO the accusation
presented by the grand jury on the sth
inst. accusing him of willful and cor
rupt misconduct in office.
Attorney Meserve intimated to the
court that the defendant was desirous
of availing himself of his right to an
immediate trial--that is to say, either
during this week or, at latest in the
beginning of the next. Judge Smith,
bearing in mind the crowded condition
of his calendar, suggested that the de-
fendant might be accommodated with
the speedy trial he is so anxious for by
transferring the case TO another depart
ment.
Counsel for Webb were nothing 10th,
It seems, as they had already ineffectu-
ally interviewed two other superior
Judges to that effect. Accompanied by
Deputy District McComas, another
roundup for superior judges was made
by them and they succeeded in corral
ing Judge Van Dyke of Department four.
who said that he could take up the trial
today.
This matter having been satisfactor-
ily settled, MI Webb filed his demurrer
before Judge Van Dyke, in which he al
leges that the accusation is insufficient
and does not state facts sufficient to con-
stitute a ground of removal; neither do
the facts stated constitute Willful or cor
rupt misconduct in office, and If they
were true. they would not warrant the
court in removing him from Office. The
defendant also makes n point that the
offense charged is not felony (Which
he did not when he had the Indictment
Iismissed), even if true, and he raises
the point that the grand jury was
man short at the time the accusation
was presented, by reason of the death of
Juror Irvine.
The Herald has heretofore published
the syllabus of case in point where the
supreme court had ruled that the death
or absence of one grand juror out of the
nineteen legally drawn cut no figure in
the finding of an indictment or of an ac-
cusation, so long as the bill had been re-
turned by twelve of its members not
disqualified in the premises by any of
the reasons specified in the statute. This
last point i'll the demurrer, therefore,
was not of great moment
Judge Van Dyke overruled the demur-
rer at once, and the defendant then,
through his attorneys. Meserve and Oil
yer, orally answered that the accusation
is untrue
An order for special venire of thirty
jurors was directed by the court to issue
to the sheriff, returnable this morning
at 10 o'clock, but after a number of
names had been secured, the summoning
of jurors was suddenly stopped by or
der of Judge Van Dyke, upon representa-
tions made to him by District Attorney
Donnell and Lawyer Thomas E. Gibbon
of the League for Better City Govern
ment, who informed the court that ]. F.
Adams, the eX-member of the board of
education from the Seventh ward, who
is one of the material witnesses in the
case is seriously sick in bed, and that in
all probability he would be unable to
appear for several days, or even be In
fit condition to have his deposition
taken. In such an event the trial can
not possibly proceed today.
Although the information against Ad-
ans has not yet been dismissed, that
course will be adopted within a few days
by the district attorney, as former rulings
by the supreme court in similar cases
make such an action imperative.