The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09
WILL ARREST
 FOUR MEN FOR
 CONSPIRACY Grand Jury Is Now Fighting Mad. AFTER THE SCHOOL BOARD SAYS THE THEFT OF LUMBER IS
 PROVED. Unable to Indict Burns and Others, but Will Prosecute Them
 in the Police
 Court.
AFTER THE SCHOOL BOARD
SAYS THE THEFT OF LUMBER IS
 PROVED.

indict several persons whom 1t believes to be guilty of gross frauds, as was foreshadoWed in The Call two days ago, has stripped to the waist, so to speak, and casting aside all regard for prece- dents, will enter the arena of the Police Court in an attempt to punish the guilty parties.
 The Grand Jury Is mad all the way through, and while it is about the job proposes 10 make a clean sweep, arrest ing four culprits instead of two, was the original intention. With q grim de- termination, like that which was char acteristic of the old '4eers, when they wanted justice administered, the pres ent jury will not stop on the order of its doing, but will go and do. Although unable through legal technicality up to this time to indict the culprits connected with the ferry depot steals, it has by no means abandoned its efforts, and there Is Q strong probability that something new will develop in that direction very soon. Having found evidence sufficient to catch other culprits in the School Board swindle. it has undertaken to swiftly do them up through the Police Court, and will then turn its attention to the Board of Supervisors; concerning whose alleged misdoings the Jury has had information Of late. It will con- Sider a damaging report concerning them from q special Investigating committee
 
 mittee has the registration frauds in hand and will probably report in favor Jury closes its efforts next January number of guilty officials and contract ors are expected to be in the tolls.
 Rumors were abroad Friday that the Grand Jury would report two indictments in connection with the School Board lum- Der frauds. but these were mislead- ing. Assistant Prosecutor Dunne had made a convincing statement to the jury that while the evidence was sufficient in two Of the cases to prove guilt, II was all of a nature showing misdemeanors and not felonies under the law, and therefore only the Police Court had ju- TisdiCtiOn.
 The jury therefore proceeded Saturday morning to Presiding Judge Belchers court for further information. There a remarkable scene took place Foreman. T would like to know if it is proper to submit to this court and to make a part of its records the minutes of the last meeting of the Grand Jury?"
 No, 1t is not, replied Judge Belcher, although the jury Is really consutu- ent t1P part ar of the court" ,,
 an oral report returned the foreman. This Grand Jury has been Investigating the lumber scandal in the School Depart ment, and has found the subject a most fruitful one. Evidence so direct and de- cisiVe has been secured that the Grand Jurors are unanimous in their opinion as to the guilt or ContraCtor Swift and School Board member Burns. There is no manner of doubt about the matter Before we reached a conclusion the most exhaustive testimony was taken We found that these two men deserved to be indicted. In one case there was a clearly proven conspiracy to defraud the city and in another a felony was committed. The District Attorney, however, has pro- pounded the law to us and has shown that in order to draw proper indictments it will be necessary to name dates and places. This we could not do with the evidence in hand. To get such We will probably have to go all over the matter again. We have further been informed that a conspiracy cannot be recognized by the Grand Jury. One of the guilty men was a conspirator. We cannot recognize the guilt of the other officially because 1t was misdemeanor. Judge, we were be- tween the devil and the deep blue sea, and almost reached the conclusion that these guilty men would have to go free, so far as this jury was concerned. In view of this condition of affairs and the obvious fnadequacy Of the law, l would like to report upon the uselesSness of the present Grand Jury system. It is a howl ing farce. The evidence was so simple and straight in these cases that no court in the land could have failed to bring in a conviction in either one, yet we are suggest that the Grand Jury be abol- ished.'
 When the Judge had finally recovered the breath that had temporarily forsaken him during this onslaught. he replied: ''The Police Court only has Jurisdiction In misdemeanor cases, as the prosecutor ' spiracy. However, as you say you are sure of the guilt of the parties mentioned l would declare that 1t Is your duty, hay Ing the evidence in hand, to instruct the chairman of your School Board committee to at once swear out warrants in the Police Court and push these cases to a conclusion. If you can possibly find a felony indictment in one of the cases 1t Is your duty to continue labors to that end. l agree with you that the Grand Jury is an out-of-date institution and ought to be abolished"
 At this interesting juncture Prosecutor Dunne~ addressed the court, saying that a way had occurred to him in which one felony indictment might be brought by following out new line of evidence, and he would ask that the matter be held in abeyance until some future time. so as to give the jury an opportunity for fur ther consideration.
 The jurors were given leave to retire and did so. with much more cheerful countenances than when they filed into the court room. Once in their quarters Police Court was disposed of by instruct Ing Chairman Irving to get out the neces- sary warrants; Later in the day the prosecutor and Mir. Irving met and dis cussed the question of Issuing warrants before night Then it developed that two more men than the two already mentioned might be arrested for complicity in the conspiracy to steal lumber, provided a little time was allowed in which to ob- tain certain evidence. It was accordingly decided not to secure any of the war rants before next Tuesday.
 The prosecutor resolutely refused to give any information as to the identity of the third and fourth persons implicated In the job. In fact he would not say that other arrests were contemplat ted. Irving was also reticent but the facts leaked out nevertheless, all of the grand Jurors being cogniZant of them.
 Prosecutor Dunn. speaking of the mat ter, said: Within a few days everybody will know what we propose to do. may state, however, what has actually tran spired up to the present time in connec- ton with the lumber steal At the outset the Grand Jury took testimony on tive lines-one against Swift for felony in the collection of false and fraudulent claims: the other against Swift and Burns for conspiracy to commit a felony by ar ranging to file and collect false and frau dulent claims. suggested that so far as Swift was concerned the law was simple and that there were no difficulties in inc way. AS against the other the law was in such shape that it was possible to in- dict, but I was still in some doubt as to the jury's Jurisdiction. The IIrand Jury was anxious to have me draw up indict- ments forthwith, and on last Friday I prepared to write out one against Swift and another against Burns and Swift to- gether for conspiracy. Then discovered that the statutes would not permit of the