The San Francisco call., 1899-09-11

"a Dafngerfield, and one of the first
L L matters that will be brought to
it's attention will be the latest
School Board scandal. The jury will
have good material upon which to
work, and, if the duty is faithfully
done, there will be vacancies in the
educational department of the city
caused by some of the directors in
voluntarily changing their places of
residence from San Francisco to the
State prison.
According to the admissions Of DR..
II. E. Gedge, he was offered a brtbe
to permit the changing of the specifi-
cations upon which bids for school
supplies were based to give a certain
firm a cinch on the contract at figures
that meant the looting of the school
funds. The School Director made no
secret of the fact in discussing the
matter with his friends, that no bribe
was too small for him to grab on to-,
and that he was not built on the lines
of man who would allow $1,000 to slip
through his fingers while he was in the
possession Of his proper senses. Direc-
tor Gedge has made the statement
that he had to pay $500 of the bribe
money to his colleague, j. ]. Conlon,
for agreeing to the steal. He also as
serts that ConIon did not refuse the
money
Gedge and Conlon, according to the
formers admissions, took advantage OF
their positions as members of the COM
mittee on supplies to make the deal,
and fixed the whole matter up in Sc
cret sessions, of which the third mem
I = 6iT
informed or from which he was re-
quested to stay away by Phil Grim
Minis. Kemp was not in the division
Of the bribe. The reason is that he did
not know that the tWenties were fly
ing about him. If they had been golden
kissing bugs he would have escaped in
Jury. But this is no fault of his. He
says himself that he would have liked
to have been considered in the transac-
sion, and feels like being kicked for al
lowing himself to be bunkoed out of the
Doodle.
The members of the push found lit
tie to console them yesterday morn
ing after reading The Calls expose of
their crookedness. Gedge, who, ac-
cording to his own boast, appropriated
the lions share of the bribe money, hid
himself during the day. He was not
proud of the position into which his
own tongue had forced him and did
not frequent the haunts that knew him
we'll. COnlon his cOlleauge, also dis
played his modesty by keeping out of
sight.
Kemp, who was left out of the deal
and was not even given chance to take
any bad money, was in evidence early
in the day. When he began TO smell
a mouse" a couple of months ago. he
undertook the gigantic contract of
drowning his sorrow in liberal potions
i
has stayed faithfully with the Job. the
contract is by no means fulfilled. so he
resumed operations yesterday morning
as soon as he saw a copy of The Call.
His parade along cocktail row was
noble effort, but when he counter
marched and broke away from the
stereotyped order of "a little straight,
please" the mixture disagreed with
him and he retired in disorder But
his sorrow was drowned for the day
His mind was in such a condition at
the finish that he actually thought that
Gedge and Conlon had divided
Gedge's admissions at this late date
explain the peculiar methods that
were adopted by the School Board at
the time the supplies contracts were
under consideration last June, and
which created considerable comment
at the time. The opening of the bids
at the meeting of May 81 was sur
rounded by such an air of secrecy and
mystery that suspicion was at once
created that something was doing"
No one was allowed to see the figures
of the bids in the open meeting. Su-
perintendent Webster opened them, ex-
planned that the necessary certified
check accompanied each, and, under
instructions, gave out no other infor-
nation. The reporters were not al
lowed to inspect the bids.
At the suggestion of the Supplies
Committee-Conlon, Gedge and Kemp
the proposals were referred to them.
They had possession of the documents
for two weeks. 1t is not charged that
they altered any of the figures to suit
the favored ones, but they certainly
had the opportunity, and men who ac-
cept bribes and boast about it might
have no compunction about a little
thing like changing the figures in a
bid to the detriment of some honest
bidder. But this was not done, there
being no necessity for such action, for
the reason that the specifications had
already been tampered with so that
no one but the bidder who was to pay
the bribe could possibly win, and that
was all that Gedge cared about and
all that interested ConlOn.
Kemp, as has been stated, did not