Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-05-18
EDITORIAL COMMENT
THE DAY OF RECKONING.
&C has run hLs quarry b I'D:

Quentin. Heney has started to do more than Folk Of St Louis, or
Jerome Of New YORK.
When the story Of graft in San Francisco is fully told. and when
added to IT i the following Of the trail that led to discovery and con
vfedon Of the maleFactors5 there will be a story TO tell rivaling in O.
nance. sensation scandal and daring, the rise and fall OF the Infamous
Tweed ring.
Abe Ruef invited his downfall when he crossed swords with
Heney, a year and a half ago. He a then bossing the job Of elect
ing schmHz back into once. The Democrats and Republicans had
county attorneys ONCE. IS their candidate for mayor, after older and
wiser men had refused the tempting bait
Every exspape vas against Ruef and schmitz. and the Merchants
Association and kindred organizations hurled tons Of their literature
into the field. and against all the odds Ruef and schmiz won, and won
handnyr a they put i IN raee-track parianee. In Examiner on 70 pt
up a decided fight against the labor ticket, for they were all the
time a bit fearful of the result
Billy Langdon, then Ruef and Schmfzs superintendent of schools
as the administration candidate for district attorney. and he went into
once with the rest Everybody 2 n the labor ticket, so-ealed' was
elected. and this was even more than Ruef had bargained for. The
victory that was his a more than he could handle. What he has
said about warning the supervisors against graft, IS true, for it was
common talk among the politicians shortly after the memorable cleo
During the campaign Heney and Ruef locked horns. Heney is a
San Franciscan. and wa at that time engaged in prosecuting the Ore
gon land frauds. Gavin McNab and some Of the leaders Of the reform
movement succeeded in drawing Heney into the campaign, and the latter
made a strong speech against Ruet. He stated from the rostrum that
Ruef had collected tolls for graft and that he could prove it Ruef
was all powerful then and few cared to incur his enmity.
Ruef iaahed Heney from the rOstrum, and through an evening
paper whose columns he purchased He practically charged that Heney
was a murderer. He did not come out boldly in that charge, but
couched the accusation in such language that his followers could take
him that Heney a the last man in the world 10 attempt to trihe with
Heney went from his native city to Arizona and he soon became the ter
70 there Of evil doers
There was a celebrated divorce case hanging fire, for the reason
that the husband had threatened to kill. the lawyer who undertook to
handle his wifes case. The woman went to Heney, and when the
lawyer was n possession of the facts, he fearIessy announced that he
would take the cas- Next day the husband opened fire Q him on
the street. and Heney potted him.
Heney a called to Washington shortly after election, and the
evening organ of Ruef Deted him for his alleged runaway On the eve
Of his departure, Heney declared that he would return to San Fran
cisco and would never let up 0 n Ruef until he landed him.
THE people have declared by their vote" said the lawyer. that
they want a continuance of the administration of Ruef and Schmhz
There is no use Of my trying to do anything with Ruef now but
can wait for two years, and when the administration Is 0 longer
In power, then will come Ruefs turn"
The time was to come long before Ruef or Heney dreamed Of it,
The earthquake came and overturned or things than buildings
rr-v. w Ma ohanna and avafIed himsnlfo of it long before this Lang
don had deserted the ranks Of Ruef and schmiz. His first official act
was the turning down of Ruef in his appointments in his Office. He
gave the boss the naming of one deputy; the Examiner named the rest
The first time the public a given to understand that a Il was no
right between Langdon and. the boss was when the district attorne!
raided the lei Monte Carlo Of Joe Harvey and Frank Deroux, th
These people had been given permission to put up and operate
clubroom comprising roulette. craps, faro and all other kinds of games
but the first night they opened, Langdon and his force swooped dow
upon them and gathered in a couple hundred visitors. This led to
aght between the district attorney and the powers that we're and the
came the earthquake, and the upheayal of things.
The reconstruction of the city was accompanied by charges of graft
and It as publicly charged that every little jobholder was getting hi
mite. The grafters overdid it, for they aroused the whole city agains
them; they we're all out with the big nit" and very householder fe
their grind.
when the grand jury was impanened to probe into the ugl
charges that were everywhere being made, the people shrugged thd
shoulders and declared that Ruef could neve be reached. When Lanl
don a exploited as the coming Folk people laughed, for Langdon wa
a lawyer of little experience and less practice. But the announcemer
that Francis ] Heney wa to undertake the prosecution If the CRATER
fell like a thunderbot into the camp of the grafters. Then theI
we're long waits, and some Of the newspapers went 81 far a IS to max
fun of Heney and his absurd" attempts to land Ruef
But all the while Heney and William Burns, who had aided him
the oregon fraud cases, were patiently working out their " ends; ar
finally Heney boldly announced that he would send Ruef to the pen
Tertiary. Ruef has pleaded guilty to the charge of extortion in the ca
of the French restaurants; but it was in those cases that Heney hi
the least evidence.
It must have paralyzed the bunch when the knowledge of the mon
that had been passed in certain transactions came to light. And
has been a great mystery how the authorities got hold Of the inform
tion. San Francisco, in her dire distress, wanted a loan from t
Government, and in this regard agents of the treasury were sem fro
Washington to inquire into the standing. of the National banks. WI
the private banks the Government had nothing to do. The agents foul
out all they wanted to, and the presumption is that Heney and Bur
found what they wanted also. The Western National Bank "a t
bank of the administration. and this with the other National ban
was examined.
L will be remembered that a great deal Of scandal was dragged
light in connection with this bank. 1t is not altogether impossible til
Heney, whose influence with President Roosevelt is powerful for
great work that he has done, secured the cooperation of the Fede
Government. He secured the services of Burns, who is n oft the gre
est detectives in the United States, and there is no telling how far
did z in securing Federal aid.
He went far enough to assure himself that he had Ruef cornered