Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-04
PROSECUTION
YES RUEF
HUSBANDS WITNESS, EXPECTING
MIsTRIAL
DEFENSE SUBMITS CASE WITH
OUT EVIDENCE
Little to Prove Guilt Of Accused Ex-
cept Conversations Describing
Passing Of Money-To Go
to Jury Today
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO. Octs S.-Notwith-
standing the TREY L. Ford defense today
subpoenaed Abraham Ruef as a witness,
when the time came for the introduction
of evidence in behalf of the general
counsel Of the United Railroads the at
torneys for the alleged bribegiver refused
to offer any testimony, thus blocking
any intent the prosecution may have had
to make of Ruef a rebuttal witness, and
both sides went to argument-the people
without having adduced particle of
direct evidence connecting the accused
with the commission of the crime charged
and the defense without having offered
sworn word in its own behalf.
Assistant District Attorney O'Gara
made the opening speech for the prosecu
ton, speaking from 2:30 until 4:30 p. m,
with fifteen-minute recess. Following
him Attorney A. A. Moore opened for
the defense, consuming fifty minutes of
his portion of the four hours allotted to
each side. Mr.. Moore will conclude In
the morning and will be followed by Earl
Rogers. who will close for Ford.
Assistant District Attorney Heney in
the afternoon will close for thte people,
Judge Lawlor will charge the jury, and
the case should be in the hands of the
trial twelve by $50 o'clock.
Disagreement Feared
A general belief prevails that the jury
will fail to reach a verdict and the sug-
gestion is made that the prosecutors,
being convinced Of 1t, decided to save
Ruef for the resultant second trial.
Various stories are af1oat Of the causes
Irax Et,af or fap nd Of
them authenticated. 1t is said that he
refused to implicate the indicted officials
of the United Railroads In the confessed
briberies of the supervisors, maintaining
that he merely divided his 100000 fee"
with them; that the prosecution was
afraid to subject him to the fierce and
almost endless cross examination that
could have followed positive testimony
by him accusatory of Ford; that the
prosecution took chance on the offering
Of testimony by the defense and held
Ruef back for rebuttal, only to be cheat
ed of his benefit by the tactics of Ford's
pcounsei. 'ftt'
Mr.. O'Gara today confined himself to
summarization. inspection and arrange
ment of the evidence. The prosecution.
he claimed, had established by mass
of testimony that the bribed supervisors
got their money from Chairman Galla-
CHER of their finance committee. that
| Gallagher got 1t from Ruef and that Ford
withdrew from the mint and the sub
treasury sums totaling. 100000 simulta-
neously with the alleged payments.
Claims No Case
Mr. Moore. in addressing the jury, spoke
of Ford as mo more in the eyes of the
law than the veriest wandering vagrant
without a god or a home, ragged and
hungry" He spurned the case of the
prosecution as having a broken back,
being utterly destitute Of facts He
called attention to the failure of the
people to offer word of evidence that
Ford ever made corrupt bargain, or
any bargain, with Ruef, or that he ever
gave Ruef one cent OF money; and he
cited the query to the fact that under
the law of, this state the failure of the
prosecution to call Ruef to the stand
argues the presumption that his testi-
mony would have supported the defense.
He characterized the supervisors as
scoundrelly rascals-"a pack of ravening
wolves who had no thought of being
paid for voting the trolley franchise until
after it's passage, when they surrounded
Ruef and clamored till he threw them
meat"
A large crowd was in attendance all
day. At the opening of the afternoon
session Judge Lawlor denied the motions
to strike out interposed by the defense.
Should a conviction be found against
Ford the defense will make these denials
the chief basis of an appeal.
Subpoena Ruef
The defense today sprung a surprise
on the prosecution by obtaining wit
ness subpoena for Ruef. When the
process server went to Ruef's prison
rooms at Pacific avenue and Broadway
-to 10 brc ba refused
admittance by the guards. who. under
Elisor Biggy, are keeping Ruef In close
confinement. The server returned to the
court and reported to Judge Lawlor
go back" said the judge 'and tell
them direct them to permit the service"
Your honor, they will still refuse"
replied the officer.
DO as / tell you," replied the court.
Service was eventually obtained. The
defense declines to say positively whether
they will call Ruef to the stand
Rogers, responding to the direction of
the court to the defense to begin the
presentation Of it's case, rose and said: \
1--WE had expected to open fully our
defense and call witnesses We proposed
SO to do when yesterday the prosecution
closed and we asked for time to con-
sider We have decided not to call any
witnesses. and making that announce
ment 1 may remark, borrowing an idea
expressed in a supreme court decision,
that we choose not to play poker with
those who decline to make a bet until
they have seen the other fellows hand
In view of the way In which our OPP
ponents have elected to try this case we
think we are justified in declining to
show our hand against theirs
Dual Mission
L "a district attorney should be some
thing broader and bigger and fairer than
a prosecuting officer only; he should be
a minister of Justice charged to protect
the innocent as solemnly as he is charged
to effect the punishment of the guilty"
'sIf< that was intended as lecture to
me-" replied Heney, IN just say that
it's nothing new. We are not playing a
game of poker here We are trying a
man charged with the commission Of a
felony So far as I am concerned. per-
sona,ly, I try my cases according to my
conscience and the circumstances sur
rounding and the mode of warfare adopt
ed by my opponents.
q