The San Francisco call., 1903-12-30
Oakland InquisitOrial Body
Purposes Investigating His
Effort to Secure Money
From the Southern Pacific
LONG STATEMENT Is
ISSUED By ACCUSED
TAX Expert" Asserts That He
Only Sought Loan to In
crease Travel on the Com
paRy's Local Ferry Service
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
11IS Broadway. Dec. %.

gated the attempt that was made by
c. 6. Macmillan to extort $500 from the
Southern Pacific Company and another
Grand Jury now in session is going to
look further into the matter
MACMILLAN admits that he made the
call upon Jere Burke OF the Southern
Pacific Company. the details Of which
were published in The Call this morn
ing. but he denies that the request for
$500 was blackmaiI He says that he
merely sought "a loan TO be devoted TO
an effort TO increase the local travel on
its ferries between Alameda County
and San Francisco"
II now transDires that a short time
after the employment of MACMILLAN
the Supervisors were made aware OF his
comm -nications with the officials Of
the Southern Pacific Company, both
written and oral. This information
was discussed in secret session Of the
board but the discussion vas never
given out, and Macmillan was allowed
10 continue his work Of playing the
information he discovered, while being
paid by the Supervisors, against the
officials Of the corporations.
Supervisor. !. NJ Kelley is frank
enough 10 say that he was originally in
favor Of Macmillan, but that the Su-
pervisOrs made two mistakes-the first,
that Of making 2 blind contract, and
the second that of continuing MacMul-
Ian in employment after they knew
that he had been attempting to hold
up" the Southern Pacific Company.
This is what Mr.. Kelley says:
SUPERVISOR KELLEY TALKS.
We might just as well admit that
we made several mistakes and take
whatever criticism is offered. In the
hrst place every member of our board
was in favor Of the employment of
MACMILLAN. It seemed like a good
proposition 10 US and we al took it
But the mistake was that we entered
into a blind contract and did not look
where il was going TO land as. l can
only speak for myself. but l feel Ger
tain that there was not d member Of
the board that thought that MacMul-
Ian would make more than a few hun
dred dollars out Of his proposition and
we did not look into the ruture.
The second mistake was that we
continued Macmillan in the employ Of
the county after we knew that he had
been talking TO officials Of the South
ern Pacific Company upon the strength
Of that employment. I can only take
comfort from the fact that all public
officials are likely to make mistakes
and this is one Of mine.
As I understand the exact condition
Of affairs il is this: Macmillan ap-
piled 10 the Board of Supervisors for
this employment and submitted a COM
munication that gave US to understand
that there was a few thousand dollars
worth Of property that was not being
assessed, and he agreed for one-half
Of the taxes TO show US where it was.
The proposition did not strike US as
a very large one and every member Of
the board thought that it was a good
scheme.
shortly before we employed Mac
Mullan. but after he was absolutely
sure that he was going to get the ap-
pointment, he began negotiations with
the Southern Pacific Company's Off
cials.
We did not know of these negotia-
tions at the time we employed him,
but the story reached our ears later.
The second mistake was made at that
time, when we ought to have immedi-
ately dispensed with his services.
Whether we can be held or not for
these claims is a question, and the
charges Of blackmail that are floating
around make the case very much
worse than if we simply had to deal
with a demand the size Of which was
not anticipated. However, we viii have
10 face it and do the best we can under
-.-Fr,.Fssy, "a 0irorrrf1 C+ Tonc -
MITCHELL is DETERMINED.
Chairman John Mitchell Of the Board
Of Supervisors is out for n full and
complete investigation, and he is de-
termined TO know all about the Mac
NiuIlan deal, both with regard to the
county of Alameda and the effort to
sell information TO the Southern Pa
cifc Company. Mr.. Mitchell is just as
decided as he was at the outset and
he declares that so far as he is con-
cerned MacMullan viii have . sue for
every cent he gets from Alameda Coun-
~. Mr.. Mitchell said to-day:
7 co not consider that there is a
dollar owing Macmillan from the coun-
", and II he gets anything he viii have
10 sue for il, so far as my vote is con-
cerned. The whole matter turns upon
the question of whether we were en-
ploying a man TO report 10 us or a
man TO report TO the County Assessor.
We agreed TO pay this man If he fur
nished us certain information. Instead
Of that he furnished some information
TO the County Assessor. What that
information is or was we have no Off
cial knowledge and we are left to pay
the bills and take the prunt of the
whole trick. So far as am concerned
MACMILLAN shall never get a cent from
this county without a suit.
$50 far as the negotiations between
MacMullan and the Southern Pacific
Company are concerned 1 do not care
TO discuss those now. / do not think
thSt Macmillan viii deny them
c. S. Macmillan to-day issued a
statement Of his side of the case. This
statement was prepared by Macmillan