Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-11-15
GREAT SCANDAL
N san FRANCISCO
Claim That Mayor schmitz Is
Involved In Disappearance
Of Relief Fund
ROOSEVELT STARTS SEARCH
ROOSEVELT STARTS SEARCH
Hundred Detectives Said to be at
Work on the case-Million Dollars
Of the Relief Fund Missing, Accord
ing to Report-May be Greatest
Il Scandal Of Century.
VOLUME THtRrv.TW0

San Francisco, Nov. 15.-The report
that federal detectives have shadowe6
Mayor Schmitz thruout Europe and are
on the vessel on which he is returning
to the United States, has created a
tremendous sensation.
Mayor Schmitz is due to arrive In
New York today. The Chronicle in an
/ article printed yesterday morning says
he may be arrested when he leaves the
steamship.
The Chronicle prints a remarkable
story OF the new development of the
graft scandal showing that President
Roosevelt stimulated the work Of Sc
ere service agents here because up
wards of $1,0000O0 is missing from the
relief funds contributed to the San
francisco fire sufferers from all parts
of the country.
President Roosevelt is credited with
retaining Francis ]. Heney to prosecute
lAC VllCluCISs ClllCl VI NuUll is Sdlu 10
be Mayor Schmitz.
The charge upon which a number of
city officials and citizens will be called
to defend themselves is the diversion,
or theft. of funds sent to this city for
the relief of the sufferers from the big
calamity of April last.
So indignant was President Roose-
welt on hearing of the stealing of the
funds contributed by sympathetic Cit
teens of the union to the relief of the
unfortunate Of San Francisco that he is
said to have declared he would bring
the offenders from the utterlnost parts
OF the earth should they make their
temporary escape.
The presidents resentment was so
great that when it was suggested the
criminals might flee to Honduras for
satety, 1t is reported that he expressed
himself in favor Of retrieving them
with man Of war, such an extreme
measure be necessary to insure their
return for trial.
During the first days following the
nre many persons .thruout the country
forwarded relief moneys by postal or
ders, and by inclosing scrip in envel.
opes and other packages. These were
forwarded in care of Mayor Schmitz.
II IS said that amounts ranged from so
cents upward into hundreds of dollars
were sent thru this agency.
That only a comparatively small sum
reached the Red Cross society or the
citizens relief committee is shown by
the records Of those bodies. It is es-
timated that relief moneys were for
warded thru 10000 postoffices of the
united States, and also considerable
sums thru express companies.
Detectives at Work,
Over 100 of the most expert onera.
tives Of the secret service department.
have been at work among the most
onlces OF the union and in this citv.
tracing the money orders and receipts.
The crime Of forgery is said to be in
GUIDED IN the offenses of the raiders
of the relief contributions,
It was thru President Roosevelt's in.
fuence that William Burns one of the
most expert and successful detectives
IN the employ of the government, was
detailed to work in San francisco.
Francis j. Heney, who with Detective
Burns, was engaged In the important
land fraud cases in Oregon and Cali
fornia, was detached from that work
and assigned to the San Francisco
graft investigation.
The first case Of the failure OF a
contribution to reach the proper per-
sons came from Searchlight, New. One
week after the San Francisco disaster
the good citizens Of Saarchlight con-
trtbuted $1.0S5 for the relief of the suf-
ferers in this city. The chairman Of
the committee on relief of that place
was II. A. Perkins, the editor Of
Searchlight's leading newspaper. He
went to Los Angeles and had his con-
tributions of $1.0S5 converted into bank
notes by the Broadway Bank and Trust
Company and forwarded the package
to San Francisco by the Wells-Fargo
Express Company, in care of Mayor
Schmitz."
The relief committee, states that it
received no such sum. Mayor Schmitz
declared he had no recollection of re-
ceiving this particular package, but
said If he did receive it the money was
turned over to James D. Phelan, treas
urer of the relief committee.
The Wells-Fargo Company say tina.
not only have they the receipt OF
Mayor Schmitz for the money, bu,
they have his acknowledgment of 1t in
a letter.
The uncovering Of The relief fund
graft scandals recalls the efforts of
the mayor and his board Of supervisors
to secure control of the whole fund
These attempts to get the relief funds
under control of the Ruef-Schmitz ad-
ministration are now regarded as in
Guiding plan to cover up the fact that
large sums of money forwarded to Of
ficials to be used for relief purposes
never reached the duly authorized re-
lief agents.
The reasons assigned by the mayor
and his municipal colleagues for their
proposed raid on the relief fund was
that the military authorities were
about to retire from control Of relief