The San Francisco call., 1897-12-25
Negligence Apparent in
the County Clerks
Office.
Criminal Cases That Had Not
Been Placed on the
Calendar.
OFFENDERS GO SCOT FREE
Wade's Bond Is Still Missinq-The
Calls Special Correspondent
Investigating.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

Special Dispatch to The Call.
SAN JOSE, Dec. 24-Two criminal
cases which had for some mysterious
reason not been placed on the crimina
calendar of Judge Lorigan's court
were entered thereon to-day, as the
result of Investigations made by The
! Calls special correspondent. Another
matter brought to public attention in
the course of this investigation was the
fact that an appeal bond for $4,000 is
missing from the records, as was pub
lished in The Call this morning.
The facts developed in connection
with these cases show that to state il
mildly, lax methods are pursued in
both the office of the District Attorney
and of the County Clerk.
The two cases that We're placed to-
day on the criminal calendar of the Su-
perior Court are on appeal from the
court of City Justice Gass. One is
that against Charles Knapp and the
other against John Norton. The for
mer was appealed more than a year age
and the latter about thre months
ago. The case in which the appeal
bond for $4,000 is missing is that against
Steve Wade.
Charles Knapp was founr guilty or
October 20, 1896, of having obtained
money under false pretenses from the
city of San Jose by means of a fraudu-
lent claim, which had been approved
by Councilman Krieg. Mayor Koch
was the complainant. The defendant
was represented by j. E. Edison. The
people were represented by Deputy Dis
trict Attorney w. Beasly and Special
Counsel ]. r. Welch.
On October Z5 a sentence imposing a
fine of 5000 was pronounced by Justice
Gass, with the alternative of $50 days
in the county Jail. The papers on ap-
peal were forwarded to the Superior
Court on November 20, 1896, by Justice
Gass.
Under section 1852 of the Penal Code
it is provided that AL appeals in Grim
inal cases must be heard and deter
mined by the Appellate Court, unless
continued on motion or with the con-
sent of the defendant" The case of
Knapp excited wide attention at the
time of his conviction, but nothing
more was heard Of it after the appeal
was taken.
Inquiry by The Call correspondent
developed the fact that the appeal
papers had not been filed in the office
of the County Clerk, though no one
questioned that they had been duly
forwarded by Justice Gass.
A thorough search Of the County
Clerks office failed to bring them to
light When the District Attorney was
asked why the case had not received
his attention he declared it was not in
the line of his duty, but that it was the
duty of City Attorney Welch to con-
tinue the prosecution in the Superior
Court.
Section 132 of the County Government
act provides as follows:
Nfe-4,- % A se%4 4y,n H.
prosecutor, and must: % Attend the
courts, and conduct, on behalf of the
people, all prosecutions for public Of
fenses. (2) Institute proceedings before
the magistrates for the arrest of per-
sons charged with or reasonably sus-
pected of public offenses. when he has
information that any such offenses
have been committed, and for that pur-
pose when not engaged in criminal
proceedings in the Superior Court =
must attend upon the magistrate in
cases of arrest, when required by
them"
Knapp is now enjoying his freedom
on the strength of the bond filed when
the appeal was taken from Justice
Gass' court, and that bond is missing
John Norton on September IA, 1897,
pleaded guilty to the charge OF disturb
ing the peace and Justice Gass fined
him $50, with the alternative of so DAYS
in the County Jail. Notwithstanding
the fact that Norton had pleaded
guilty, he took an appeal to the Su-
perior Court, and the papers were duly
forwarded to the County Clerks office
on September 20, and there they re-
mained unnoticed and neglected until
to-day.
AS already shown, all appeals must
be determined within sixty days after
they are filed. and section 1047 of the
Penal Code provides as follows: 1.-The
clerk must keep a calendar of all GRIM
inal actions pending in the court, emu
merating them according to the date
of the filing of the indictment or in
formation, specifying opposite the til
tie of each action whether it is for fell
ony or a misdemeanor, and whether
the defendant is in custody or on
bail"
James P. Sex is the clerk of Judge
Lorigan's court. When his attention
was first called to the Norton case he
stated that he had not put it on the
calendar because he was not instructed
to do so. After the law relating to his
duty in the matter had been quoted he
stated that he had not put it on the
calendar because the papers were not
in proper shape.
In the face Of all this the Norton case
was placed on Judge Lorigan's calen-
dar IO-udy, DIS was dlSO tndI OIL charles
Knapp. Both were placed there on the
order of District Attorney B. A. Her
rington through his deputy, William
Beasly.
Mr.. Beaslv on being asked why the
Norton case had not been taken up
by the District Attorney, replied that
so far as he could recollect the Dis
trict Attorneys Office had received no
notice of the case being appealed.
Justice Gass, on being questioned in
reference to the matter, stated that
a day or two after the appeal papers
had been forwarded to the Superior
Court Mr.. Beasly called at his office.
On being informed of the interview
Justice Gass then informed him Of the
appeal having been taken.
With Justice Gass Mr.. Beasly ac-
knowledged that he had received the
notice, and admitted that the blame