Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-03-09
CANNOT FIND
ABRAHAM
RUFF
INDICTED ATTORNEY
STILL FUGITIVE
Special Officer Appointed to
Capture San Francisco Man
and Bring Him Into Court at
All Hazards.
IBy Morning Journal special Leased WIRE

IBy Morning Journal Special Leased Wire. I
san Francisco, March S.-Sheriff
.O'Neil and Coroner Walsh having
confessed their inability to find. ar
rest and bring into court Abraham
Ruef, the indicted lawyer and polit-
ical boss. who has been declared by
Judge Dunno TO be a fugitive from
justice. 1t has devolved upon state
Senator w. j. Biggy, a local business
mas, to discover the Whereabouts Of
the defendant in hiding aud take him
into custody.
An order to this effect was made by
superior Judge Dunno late this after
noon and Mr.. Biggy was appointed
elisor and sworn in. The power con-
ferred upon Biggy authorizes him TO
take the body Of Abraham Ruef, de-
fendant in the case of the people
against Abe Ruef. for extortion. and
to arrest and hold in custody said
Ruef until the next session of the
court, when you are directed to bring
said Ruef into the presence of this
court, for trial as charged" I"
As elisor, Mr. Biggy has also full
authority to deputiZe as many persons
as he may require TO help him prose
cute the search for the missing law
yer, and as the charge is a felony
charge, he may use "all force neces-
sary'' to effect Ruefs arrest. Ruefs
hiding place is supposed to be in, or
within a few miles OF san Francisco.
IF | can find him" said Biggy, i'm
mediately after he had been sworn in,
Il will bring him here. That much
You may count on.
This was not the only sensational
development in today's proceedings
in the Ruef case. Samuel NJ. short
ridge, attorney Of record for Ruef, in
CURED a severe rebuke from Judge
Dunno during an examination by AS
sistant District Attorney Heney into
the incompetency of Coroner Walsh
appointed by the court as substitute
for the disqualified Sheriff O'Neil-
to locate and arrest the indicted poll
tician. Shortridge persisted in an ef-
fort to enter objection to a question
put by Heney, and would not be 81
fenced by the courA wlo finally ad-
judged hiifTr guilty vi vOntempt and
sentenced him to tWeuty-four hours
imprisonment in the county Jail.
ShOrtridge however, escaped imme-
diate Incarceration by applying to the
district court of appeals for a writ OF
=
contempt had been committed The
merits of this controversy will be ar
gued before Justices Cooper, Hall and
Kerrigan Monday morning. In the in
terim Shortridge is at liberty on his
own recoanizance
The ordering of Shortridge to Jail
created a tremendous sensation in the
city. As a lawyer he is well known
throughout the state. To the Asso.
ciated Press, Mr.. Shortridge said:
THE action of Judge Dunno is an
outrage, committed not so much upon
myself as upon the legal profession
and the citizens of California. The
law expressly provides that a de-
fendant has the right to be heard by
counsel, and the objection ought tc
be made by me, and to which Judge
Dunno took such indignant exception
was offered by me in the interest
and behalf of Abraham Ruef my
client. My conduct, instead of being
'boisterous and offensive as stig-
matized by the court, was precisely
the opposite. | was acting wholly
within my rights as attorney of record
| for Ruef."
Judge Dunno said "Mr. Short
ridge brought his punishment upon
himself. In the matter of the exam
ination of the coroner he had no more
standing in the court than the merest
spectator. The examination of the
coponer was not a part of the trial of
Abe Ruef, but was judicial inquiry
| by the court to determine whether a
public official had performed his
duty. Mr.. Shortridge was in court as
the legal representative of Ruef, not
of the coroner. BY his insistent and
gratuitous interruption of that pro-
ceeding and his refusal to observe the
silence enjoined upon him by the
court he was guilty of conduct bois-
ferrous and offensive, and L ordered
| him to Jail for contempt"