The San Francisco call., 1906-11-05
Supervisors Hold Secret Caucus
Behind Doors Carefully Guarded
Refuse to Divulge
Nature of Their
Meeting.

Behind guarded doors with blinds
drawn ard every precaution taken 70
keep the public IN ignorance OF their
presence there. Ruef his acting Mayor
and ali rhe Supervisors but TWO mec
lsSt night and held E protrscted ses-
sion ii Hamilton Hall. Steiner and
Gesry streets. The men who have been
accused Of public crime by the Dis
rrict Attorney. and against whom
charges Of felony viii be made before
the new Grand Jury. are finding &
necesssrT 70 make plans in secret II
9 manner that could be expected only
q men who fo- some reason are afraid
70 act IN the open The two absent
Supervisors were Ray and San6eTsOu-
That the subject discussed in the
secrecy q Hamilton Hall last night
concerned the charges made by EeRe-
was made quite evident by the Pc
cUlisr replies given 10 questions asked
the of6clais and their dictator when
they came out on the street Acting
Mayor Gallagher. who has q reputa-
ton among the newsra per men Of
telling the truth or refusing 70 say
anything, declined 20 discuss the meet
ing IN way that would disclose what
was done. When asked i the meet
ing was for the purpose of considering
The District Attorneys Office he simply
stated that he would not answer that
question and that he must decline 10
be interviewed
Abe Ruef was not inclined 10 an
SFer questions IN the conscientious
way that his 8favor mas been fond 10
do When asked Il the graft matter
had anything 20 do with the meetfn s
he emphsrtcallT answered in the mega
tive and stated that the meering was
simply for the purpose % discussing
some routine matters. He failed 10
-TrH
for public officials % meet IN secret or
Sunday evening -o consider matters
that should be entirely open 10 the
public Several OF the SupervIsoIs
we're asked what was done in tae
lonely. guarded chamber. and replied
50 nearly IN the same words used BIZ
Ruef that il seemed as II they had
been Instructed what 10 say Il
Questioned for L was known that
newspaper men were waiting outside
Boxton- however would not commit
himself il any way. but answered 5ok-
ingly that they were simply talking
politics he declined 20 talk seriously
or the matter
KEEP MEETING PLACE SECRET.
BY some means q rumor went abroad
early IN the evening 10 the effect that
ire Supervisors would hold g secret
meeting and would plan some action ID
prevent Heney's investigation Of graft
or their part For e time il seemed
almost Impossible 10 locate the meeting
place Al the homes ot Ruef and some
of the Supervisors Z wzs stated that
they had gone out for tle evening and
had not stated whore they were going
~ last one man wes found who said
that he knew they were holding d
meeting and he supposed il was II the
same place where they had met last
Friday nighr-Hamilton Hall Investi-
cation proved that he knew what he
vas talking about but all Efforts 10
gain sdmirrsnce. or ever 70 send word
10 those inside. met with refusal on
the part o. the guards posted al the
doors. When the 5anitor OF the hall
vas Questioned ne said that the meet
ings usually continued until very late
in the night, thEs divulging the fact
that meetings IN this secret fashion
have been quite common OF late.
As result OF the secret meeting last
night several questions might be put
20 Ruef and MS gang They win
probably BE- asked BY some OF the con-
mon people. who have some right 10
know what IS being done BY public
officials. why Ruef should be allowed
al a meeting which other people are
prevented from attending. II IS not
known 70 be Z habit Of Ruefs TO at
tend meetings cf the Supervisors where
only ordinary routine matter is consid-
cred. and il probably would De hard for
him 10 explain why ne should spend so
many hours on Sunday evening al a
meeting al which he should have no
more interest than any other private
cirizen-