The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09
STRIPES OF
 \ FELON FOR
 4. [. WIDER Found Guilty of Felony EmbezzIement.
HUNG ON THE CONFESSION
IT WAS RE-READ AND THEN A
 VERDICT WAS REACHED.
The Prisoner Was Unmoved When His Fate Was Determined-Sen- tence Will Be Passed
 Next Saturday.
Augustus c. Widber must wear felon's

Augustus c. W1dber must wear a felon's stripes for his crime of footing the vaults of the city treasury. Yesterday morning, at Il clock, after having been out for over twenty hours, the jury selected to determine the fate of the defaulter hand ed in a verdict of guilty as charged, and the prisoner was returned to his cell in the County Jail to await the day of sem tence, next Saturday.
 There were many in the court when the
 verdict was announced, and all plalnly
 showed that their sympathies were with the convicted defaulter. Many openly eH-
 pressed the opinion that they did not De- lieve that he alone stole and carried away the entire amount of the shortage. Others, accepting the theory that he aid, Sympa-
 thized with him for the reason that the
 temptation offered was so great 1hey
 held that had Mayor Phelan desired 10
 do his honest duty and count the money,
 as the law strictly stated he should do,
 instead of seeking some pretext through
 which he could pose and play to and gain
 the plaudits of the gallery, the young man Who not many months ago, had Drll- liant future before hiT9 would not now occupy the cell of feion.
 Widber alone was unmoVed when the verdict was announced. At 10 o'clock Tn the morning he was removed rom hlS cell to the courtroom to await the return of the jury, which had passed the nlgnt pc hind bOlted doors in the st. NlcIiolStS ! Hotel. Evidently the prisoner was of the opinion that the fact of the 1ury haVtIle Ia da | been out all night meant a favorable Qe7 cision; but if any such opinion occuPleHC6 H6 | his mind 1t was an erroneous one. t1dIL an hour after the jury had returned, rom l the hotel the ringing of the peI an | nounced that it had either reached a yer l dict or wanted instructions. IL was S5eh77 | ing further instruction, and when It hdu | baSen seated in the courtroom the foreman | asked that the jury be permitted to dSaILi S
 read the confession made by the PalSG1leIt SaoIt | the day after the arrest. Ii Judge COOK | had any doubt regarding the proprleLSy L of again submitting the 6ontessioM, LII, to a.o ti-o i jury it was removed by W1dber; Wno per l berone hetter acquainted with its con- l tents On securing the confeSSlon, the 1 jury again retired for further deLperaton. "A few minutes passed, the bell aSaln rang and the foreman announced lIlat d verdict had been reached. we ma the defendant guilty Of empezzIeIhent, an7 IT. nounced the foreman, but are unapie 10 10 fix the amount of his dedication. II
 was the opinion of some that the amount
 of his dedication should De nXed at SlIo,-
 59s q7 the exact amount known to have
 been taken from the treasury, while oth-
 CTS held that he should be charged only
 with the embezzlement of S76,242 5f, the
 amount set forth in the indictment In
 reply Judge Cook informed Foreman Mil
 Ter that it was solely within the province
 of the jury to fix the amount or the de-
 falcatiOn but called attention to the fact that Widber was charged in the lndlet- ment upon which he was tried, With the ernbezzlement of S76, PAP 54. This was sufn-
 ciant and the jury retired to fix the
 amount of, the defalcation Within Within fgT fey minutes the jury again returned ana
 fonnd the defendant guilty of having em-
 beZZled the amount Set forth in the in
 dictment Widber remained as unmoved
 as the Sphinx when the verdict was an
 n0unced. After the jury had been dis
 charged he rose from his seat and accom-
 panied his guard from the courtroom and
 was immediately returned to his cell in
 the County Jail.
 Those who occupied the jury box and determined that Widber must pay the penalty for his crimes are: w. E. Love ioy. 123. Bernard street: w. ". Griffin,
 i009 Florida; R. Mehrtens, 100 Haight; John Bonner, Mary Terrace: W H.
 Miller, 1709 Baker; J. Sullivan, 905S Twen ty-fifth; F. A. Well, S06 Van Ness avenue; VI J. Thompson. TIT Eddy: l.. Lasar, 1882 Post H. Bendit, 507 Hyde; J. H. Nolan, Third and Perry streets, and w. P. Htg- ginbotham, 31 Jessie.