Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-26
Attorney Delmas Says
Grand Jury Did
Not Exist
Claims That All Actions
Against Magnates
Are Invalid
Quotes Highest Authorities to Provo
That Work of Heney, Langdon
SpreckeIs in Bribery Cases
Was Not Legal
By Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 25.-All of
the various grounds urged by the de-
fense in support of a motion to set
aside the bribery indictments against
Vice President Louis Glass of the Pa
cific Telephone and Telegraph COM
pany and other big corporation Off
cials were retired to positions of COM
parative insignificance this afternoon
by the Importance of a new contention
presented and argued by Mr.. Glass
attorneys, Dolphin M. Delmas and T.
c. Coogan.
If their contention is upheld as
sound by Judge Lawlor, who has taken
it under advisement and will hear fur
ther from counsel tomorrow, all but
a minor handful of the indictments
thus far returned by the Oliver grand
jury will be set aside as null and void,
and all of the late work of the bribery
graft prosecution will have to be done
over again.
Briefly stated, the charge brought by
Messrs. Delmas and Coogan in their
effort to have the Glass indictments.
set aside, and which by formal under
standing is for the benefit of all of the
other defendants as well-Abraham
Ruef, Mayor Schmitz, Theodore v. Hal
sey, Patrick Calhoun, Thornwell Null
lally, Tirey L. Ford, William M. Alb
bott, Abraham X. Detweiler Eugene
de Saba, John Martin, Frank G. Drum,
G. H. Umbsen and Joseph e. Green
is this:
All of the acts performed by the
present grand jury since a date early
in January of this year are invalid,
because the present grand jury ceased
lawfully to exist when the new grand
jury list for 1907 was certified by the
county judges on the date referred to.
Quote Law in Case
The constitution, the law and the
supreme court decisions as presented to
the court by Mr.. Delmas and Mr..
Coogan provide and declare that a
grand jury shall be selected at least
once a year, and that it shall serve
until the next grand jury list is made
up by the county judges and returned
to the county clerk that thereupon the
existing grand jury shall expire and it's
place shall be taken by a new body
chosen from the newly prepared list.
The undisputed facts are these:
Early in January of this year the
grand jury list for 1907 was duly cer-
titled by the twelve judges of San
Francisco county and was by them
returned to the county clerk, but the
oliver grand jury, being in the midst
of it's bribery-graft investigation, was
not thereupon discharged. Instead it
was continued in existence, under the
belief of Messrs. Langdon and Heney
that having been selected in the fall
of 1906 it could legally exist for twelve
months, or until the fall of 1907. The
grand jury list for 1907 was allowed
to lie dormant and the Oliver grand
jury proceeded to return scores of in
dictments against the men named in
the months of April and May just past.
Judge Lawlor, in commenting upon
said:
"The question for the court to de-
termine is one of jurisdiction, whether
the returning of the grand jury list for
1907 operated as a legal termination
of the life of the grand jury which
found these indictments, or whether
the mere act of the filing of these i'm
dictments with the court gave the
court jurisdiction to proceed in the
course laid down by the Legislature to
try these defendants. OF course If this
grand Jury has no existence in law its
acts have no validity and the indict-
ments mLct be set aside. The court
will welcome any further light that
counsel may be able to afford. The
hearing is continued until IL o'clock
tomorrow