Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-16
How Craft Beat Graft in San Francisco
From the Kansas CIty SCAR.

From the Kan
CAN FRANCISCO, June 1O.-Much
has been written of the municipal
- corruption in San Francisco and
the successful prosecution of grating
officials by Francis J. Heney Of oregon
land fraud fame and william ]. Burns
of the United States secret service.
The story of results has reached every
hamlet in America, but the story of
methods employed to trap the boodlers
in their bribe-talking has heretofore
been kept from the public.
Ordinarily this story of detective work
would carry a thrill, but now with mil
| lionaires scampering to cover, with fif-
teen supervisors self-branded as felons.
with the political boss of the Pacific
metropolis a confessed CRATER, and the
an intense interest for all who have
followed the tremendous struggle In the
city by the Golden Gate.
Ordinary methods did not accomplish
the downfall of Eugene e. Schmitz and
Abraham Ruef. The usual tricks to
which detectives of either fact or fic-
ton resort were not called into play.
Secret Service Agent Burns realized at
the inception Of the prosecution that he
had arrayed against him a vast and
minutely organized political machine
and all the great financial interests
of the public service corporations that
required any sort of official sanction.
He understood that fortunes would be
spent to block his schemes and that
scores of private detectives would be
employed to watch his every move. SO
he brought all his remarkable ingenuity
to bear when he mapped out his course
and proceeded to break up system of
civic debauchery unsurpassed in any
city of the nation.
1t was last October that Heney and
Burns began their attack upon the
grafters intrenched behind machine
in full control Of the city government
and dispensing at lelast $4,000,000 each
year in patronage and favors. Then
the lawyer and his detective partner
had no tangible evidence. All they had
was the guarantee of a 100000 fund
by Rudolph Spreckels, president of the
First National bank. Heney had been
appointed an assistant district attorney
and dependable grand jury had been
drawn, but there was no evidence on
which to proceed. Ruef was an abso-
lutte dictator. The mere suggestion that
any man with interests amenable to
police or supervisorial regulation could
be found willing to testify against him
was the occasion for sneer. The pub
lie laughed at Heney and regarded the
prosecution only half seriously as a
legitimate pursuit of the municipal
grafters. Plainly it was up to Burns.
Burns accepted the responsibility with
10 lot t.
a confession from the lips of every Of
f1cial who had betrayed the city.
Found One Weak Spot
Just one weak spot the astute detec-
tive found in the arch of corruption.
A petty political jealousy had slightly
estranged Ruef and Frank Maestrettl.
one of his most trusted lieutenants |
Maestretti had served as president of |
the board of public works and was no.
toriously implicated in the city admin |
istration's grating.
He had been politically intimate |
with the mayor and the boss and had |
been placed by them at the head of |
the department where privileges were
on sale and official permits had their
cash value. For four years Maestretti
had served in such a capacity. Natur-
ally he had gained knowledge that
held unbounded possibilities for Burns. |
Promptly the detective comprehended |
the situation and wisely he began his |
work by leading toward the enlistment |
of the disgruntled district lieutenant !
as an ally Of the prosecution.
Two years before Maestretti had |
barely escaped conviction for partici- |
patton in election frauds. The jury in |
his case voted for acquittal upon a |
technicality, but two, confederates, |
Charles Wyman and Adolph Steffens, |
were convicted and sent to prison for |
the same offense.
A possible resentment on the part of |
these two convicts toward Maestretti |
was Burns first opening. His agents |
reached them In their cells and learned |
that they would tell all If given their
liberty. Immediately the governor
was convinced that the men had ex-
plated their crime. So Wyman and
Steffens walked out of prison to relate
the story of Maestrettfs part in the