The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-30
ID SHOOT RUFF F RESCUE |S TRIED Guard Chect. :VeraI Attempts
 of :,'''t: 5ss Friends PROF ''xlION GOES ARMED Gun Play Likely Says officer-Ru. doIph spreckles, Who Backs San
 Francisco Investigation,
 Makes Statement.


 spreckels, who by backing the prosecu- fortune, made the present investigation possible, gave the Associated Press a statement in which he says: "Contributions from citizens to the fund of $lo0,00O guaranteed by me before the commencement of the bribery graft inves- tigation, are coming in steadily, though slowly. They are in amounts ranging from SEQ to 5000, and more.
 If it costs more than $100OO0 to com plete this prosecution, that will make no difference. Those engaged in it will never be hampered by lack of funds no mat ter what the bill may be.
 Expose All Rottenness.
 "The work of Investigating will not he suspended until every bit of rattenness has been fully exposed. We fully expect to land in the penitentiary every giver ot bribes and the higher up the offender, the more vigorous will be his pursuit.
 We do not, however, expect to send every bribe-taker to prison. Some of the miserable men who sold themselves to the corporation must be granted immunity in exchange for their testimony, which is worth great deal more to us as evidence Of the guilt of high corporation officials than their own incarceration would be-
 Every department of the city and county government will be thoroughly examined, the police department along with the others. No set of officials will be overlooked"
 Rumors Rife.
 Sirce the arrest of Abraham Ruef a h l,,r attempt would be made to rescue him by force from Elisor Biggy and his guards either during session of court or while Ruef was being taken to or from court
 An officer prominent in the bribery graft investigation was asked today if 1t IS not true that every person identified with the prosecution is going armed and was questioned about the significance of this He said:
 Though think the matter should not be exploited, it is a fact that every man openly identified with the prosecution of the bribery charges and grafters, is heeled,' and that some of the more prom lnent of them are employing body guards. Though it may sound sensational to those not familiar with the local situation, it is fact that for month we have been keeping a special lookout for an at tempted rescue of Ruef, and we shall be i happily surprised if these investigations and impending prosecutions end without gun play
 Movements Toward Prisoner.
 Several times when Ruef has been in Judge Dunnes court sudden movement toward the prisoner of men, some of whom we know to be reckless of personal consequences, has been checked quickly and quietly by the interposition of of. ficers and deputies.
 We know that should Ruef be res- cued-a seemingly impossible feature-it would not be difficult thing to hide him so securely right here in San Francisco that to find him again would be practical ly an impossibilty. The prosecution and i the elisor know 1t, and neither is taking any chances
 "1t is stating a literal fact to say that each one of Bggy's seven guards is n- structed in the event of a serious attempt at rescue, either in court or elsewhere to shoot Ruef and turn their attention to his would-be liberators afterward. Ruef has been acquainted with these orders As he is not the type of a man to consent to any plan employing force 1t is only his rough and reckless friends on the outside who would attempt to devise such a coup. Ruef might try to regain his lib- erty by strategy, but not otherwise"