The San Francisco call., 1898-11-30

| expenditure.
 The time had now come when Moses H. Sherman bad to take another great step in his scheme. A formidable foot 1 ing had been secured in Los Angeles and the cable railroad system had been paralleled by the franchises granted to the electric railroad system. A serious competition had been introduced and the war between the two roads was on. At that time, however, the laws of this State did not permit an electric railroad system to issue bonds. Sherman deter mined as part of his scheme to put forth anenormOus bond issue. This was neces- sary as a matter of course, as the Pa cif1c Rolling Mills had agreed to accept two-t thirds of it's payment in bonds. Friends of the manipulation wanted something out Of the venture and it was necessary to legalize under the laws of the State bonds of an electric railroad
 It was also imperative that the schemer should have the privilege of passing over the very tracks of his competitor. The cable railroad of Los Angeles had, as The Call had already indicated, literally cobwebbed Los An geles. Sherman wanted to use some of the streets occupied by the cable com pany and in 1891 he went to Sacra- mento to secure the adoption of a law permitting the use of certain streets held by one railroad company for the benefit of. another. This was known as 1o meant that for a space of five blocks one railroad could use the tracks of an other railroad. Sherman, as a matter of course, wished to secure the legaliza- tion of electricity as motive power in transportation.
 It should not be forgotten that some of the most prominent bankers and capitalists of this city, such as I. ". Hellman, Lowell White and Thomas Brown, were opposed to. Sherman. The cable railroad of Los Angeles. under the management of J. F. Crank, was doing everything in it's power to kill the electric railroad. It was natural to suppose, therefore, that Shermans eff forts at Sacramento would be vigor- ously opposed. There was nothing to indicate that any actual opposition was made by these people in 1891 in Sacramento, but Sherman insisted that he had met with the uncompromising antagonisrh of these people, and upon this declaration unsupported by any corroborative fact he demanded the payment of $42,000, which he asserted he had paid to secure the adoption of the electric railroad and five-block bills by the Legislature of this State. Dur ing these times, and they were very ex- citing ones in the history of the con- spiracy, Sherman very frequently came to this city and registered at the Lick House under the name of Smith. He did this to avoid unnecessary and pos sibly troublesome inquiry and to pro- tect himself from the service of any legal document that might have been sued In behalf of the cable railroad
 With his customary good fortune he secured the adoption of the laws he sought at Sacramento. and then he re- turned to this city to demand from every individual and every corporation that was interested a pro rata share of the bribe money which he claimed he had paid at Sacramento to secure the adoption of the law. There. is probably AlO CAd6 dllOIl u SdJ lildl every street railway corporation in the State, with the exception of the Market Street Railway Company, was interested favorably in the adoption of the laws that Sherman demanded. The Market Street Company, as the people of this city will readily understand, would have been opposed if it had taken any active interest in the affair to the adop- ton of such a law. I. w. Hellman, Daniel Meyer and others were con- cerned in seeing that Sherman's bills became laws. Every electrical corpora tion, such as the Edison Electrical Company, was as deeply interested in the success of Sherman's plan as these bankers. Sherman understood this thoroughly, and he went from one cor poration to another demanding that they give up what he considered to be their share of the bribe money of $42,- 000.- He went to the managers and di- rectors of the Edison Electrical Com pany and insisted that they contribute s5060. Other corporations and capital ists were approached for sums of money. They all positively declined to submit to Sherman's practical black mail, and the schemer had to seek else where.
 This, in outline, is the story of an- other of Moses H. Sherman's shameless deals in this State. The Call will con- tinue it's recital tomorrow morning, and will show what else Moses H. Sherman did in his corrupt progress to win a fortune.
 BARRETT SAYS