The San Francisco call., 1899-07-27

~ IN members OF q gang or local
~ sharpers, long suspected by the
n police, appear to be close to
G-D overhauling for their part in
as unique a conspiracy as ever
Matched from the criminal brain SeV-
eral others. men who have always held
their heads high in the city, have had
such close and peculiar relations with
the gang that they are now believed
TO he members Of il and may be in
cIuded in the wholesale arrests planned
for to-day.
The first murmur Of the conspiracy
was heard last week, when the nOtori-
Gus Brick Mcpherson sWore to war
rant charging Thomas L. Davis with
the embezzlement from him of 100000.
The character of Mcpherson was so
well known that it was at once sus-
pected he was using the Police Court to
further his own private plans, which
have always had to DO with blackmail.
y little investigation save rise 10 the
suspicion that Thomas r. Davis was
a myth and revealed the fact that the
notorious Brick" had merely procured
the warrant to delude people he had
victimiZed into the belief that the act Of
Davis had so cleaned him out Of funds
that he would be unable for time at
least TO pay his obligations.
4 little further investigation revealed
the additional facts that Harvey Brown,
an attorney long in the employ Of the
Southern Pacific Company, and Isaac
y. Thorne, another respected member Of
the san Francisco bar. had connections
with Brick Mcpherson they did not
care to reveal.
II transpired also Tuesday that
Thomas r. Davis. far from being a
myth. was none other than Thomas j.
CIsham, an X-poliCeman, brother-in-
law Of Fat Jack O'COnnOr. He was
arrested on that day at Portland. or.
on a telegram from Chief Of Police
Lees. and viii arrive at the San Fran
cisco City Prison this morning in Gus
tody of a Portland detective.
1t is expected that later to-day Clis-
ham viii be joined in the tanks by
Brick Mcpherson and +. \. SmOOt,
a saIoonkeeper at the southwest corner
of McAluster and Larkin streets, who
has long enjoyed an unenViable nOtO-
rlety as q professional bail giver and
Police Court tiNer. ". +. Berry, alias
". =. E,lmert, who has Victimized many
business men in this city. Sausalito and
Fresno, viii also be arrested if the pO-
lice can locate his Whereabouts All
Shue and All Kee, Chinese petty
thieves, complete the half dozen known
couspiratOTs.
Lawyers Harvey Brown and Isaac n.
ThoTne. if not as aCCOmpliCes, Will be
important witnesses against them. The
names OF several other men, one q
Well-known politician and another a
lawyer of high standing. are mentioned
as prominent figures in this gang,
which had for its object the fleeing of
the public through one of the most
specious sWindles ever perpetrated.
The police took hold in earnest yes
terday TO unraVel the threads of the
conspiracy, when the wife Of William
". Carroll, Well-knOWn mining man,
residing at the southwest corner of
Eighteenth and Carolina streets, sWOre
to a complaint before Police Judge
TreadWeu charging William L. Berry
alias Elmert, with the embeZZling from
her of $40 stating at the same time
that her husband and herself had been
swindled out of $500 through the false
representations of Mcpherson, SmOOt,
EImert or Berry, and the Chinese, All
Kee and All Shue, who represented that
II was to be paid back as soon as they
had cOnsummated a mythical deal in
Chinatown. A large part of this money,
she said, had passed through the hands
of Isaac ThOrne. the attorney, who ap-
peared to be acting for Mcpherson.
Mrs. Carroll said yesterday that she
has known ThOrne for thirty years, but
that she never had any dealings with
him until about a year ago, when he
came to her and said he had a GUS
toner for her property at the corner Of
De HarO and Eighteenth streets.
Il wanted to sell the property and
move into the city" she said, "and 1
told Mr.. Thorne that if he made the
sale I would pay him for his trouble.
He protested that he did not want any
commission. but I told him 1 did not