The herald., 1898-11-23
DENIES The CHARGE
n. SCHMIDT WANTS BACK HIS
LICENSE
HE FILES AN AFFIDAVIT
Says He Did Not Help to Rob John
Strawbridge in His
Saloon

Saloon
An attempt was made yesterday to hold
meeting of the police commission, but ow-
ing to the lack OF a quorum it was failure.
This fact in itself is not unusual, as often
the unpaid servants OF the city have bus
mess of their own that is more important
than municipal matters. The strange part
of the affair, is, however, that few minutes
before the usual meeting time there were
four commissioners present, including the
mayor. When the meeting was called,
thirty minutes later than usual, two of the
commissioners had quietly slipped away,
leaving vacant chairs as reminders Of their
absence.
After the adjournment OF the meeting, in
which Mayor Snyder and Commissioner
Wyman participated, it was stated that H.
Schmidt, the saloon keeper whose license
was revoked at the last meeting because of
charges niade against him by the police de-
tective department, had intended to present
an affidavit in which he had entered gen
eral denial Of the charges. This rumor, in
connection with certain statements made
by Mr.. Schmidt, in which he had insinuated
that the commission would reconsider it's
action when it felt the effect of his political
influence, was accepted by several as an ex-
planation of the commission action.
Upon inquiry it was discovered that the
rumor was correct that Mr.. Schmidt had
ceased to suffer in silence and had prepared
a statement in which he averred that the
charges that he>had helped to drug and rob
"a John Strawbridge of 1905 in his
(Schmidt's) saloon on the night of Novem-
ber I'd were untrue. This statement and
affidavit had been fled with the clerk of
the board and will be acted upon next
Tuesday if the commission meets. Schmidt s
communication and the accompanying af-
fdavit are addressed to the board of police
commissioners, the chief of police and to all
whom it may concern. The communication
is as follows:
81 notice by the newspapers of this city
that your body, the police commissioners,
upon the statements of detectives Goodman
and Flammer and upon the recommends
tions of Chief of Police Glass, have revoked
the license to carry on the saloon business
by myself and partner, w. f. Schroeder,
at No. All South Spring street in this city.
81 desire to say in my own defense that
I had no notice whatever Of your intended
action, and that such action by your body
was altogether without notice to me.
ri see by the public press that your ac-
tion was based upon report by the said
detectives Goodman and Flammer to the
effect that man named 'Strawbridge' was
robbed on the night of November l, and
upon report by the said Strawbridge that
he had been given some Knockout drops
in some liquor that he had drank at my
place of business.
"That statement is altogether false and I
have been greatly wronged and injured by
the report and byyour action, and in justi-
fication to myself / make the following af-
fdavit with reference to the above facts"
State of California, County of Los Angeles,
IS. Helm Schmidt, being first duly sworn,
deposes and says: That he is the person
who has heretofore been carrying on the
saloon business at No. All South Spring
street and that w. F. Schroeder was his
partner therein; that he has seen the state
ments in the newspapers of this city to the
effect that on the night of November a
certain man named Strawbridge was given
some Knockout" drops in some liquor
which he claimed to have drunk at said
saloon, and that Strawbridge reported that
he had been drugged and robbed of 1905 in
Schmidt's saloon at No. All South Spring
street by some men with whom he was in
company.
Deponent further says that no robbery
was committed in his saloon at that or any
other time; that four or five men came into
his saloon Tuesday night of the lst and had
two drinks which they paid for, one of them
was drunk at the bar and the other in one
OF the back rooms; that the men remained
at the saloon for ten minutes or there
abouts, and then went away and Helm then
went home. That the latter knows that
none of them remained in or back of his
saloon in the yard on that night, and that
he further says that the men came to his
saloon in hack. That he does not know
Mr.. Strawbridge by name and does not
know whether such a man was in
his saloon on said night or not,
but he knows four men came to his
saloon in hack, that there was
whether he came into the saloon he does not
know, but does know that two of the men
went out of the side door and two of them
out of the front door, and afterward de-
ponent closed the saloon and went home
alone.
Deponent further says that he did not ad-
minister any drug or sleeping potion of any
kind in any liquor that was drunk on said
night by the men; that he never kept any
such drug or potions at his bar or else
where and never put any drugs in any liquor
in the saloon or elsewhere. That if Straw
bridge, if there is such man, received or
was drugged on that night, that it must
have happened somewhere else than in his
saloon; that the statement alleged to have
been made by the said Strawbridge that he
awoke in the back yard of said saloon is
untrue, because depcnent saw him go out of
the saloon to the street and knows that he
was not in the back yard or the saloon
when he closed the same, which he did in
few minutes after the men left his place
of business.
That deponent did not state as is alleged
by the detectives Goodman and Flammer
that he had political influence enough to
enable him to be reinstated in his license
or otherwise. That deponent has been as
sistinr in runninp the saloon sipce tho oCd