Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-29
Los Angeles Citizens
Questioned by
Attorneys
Ruef Transferred to the
Former Home of
Schmitz
Detective Finds Secret Vault In Floor
Of Mayors Residence-Louls
Glass Arraigned In
Court


+ SAN FRANCISCO, March 2S.- +
j The first witness to go before the i
j. grand jury today was A. B. Cass, j.
i president of the Los Angeles Home +
i Telephone company, whose testi- i
j. mony on the previous day was far j.
i from satisfactory. The object of i.
i calling Cass to the witness stand !.
! again was to give him an oppor- j.
j tunity to correct certain state i.
j ments he made before the grand i.
i jury in connection with the Home i
i Telephone bribery. Cass was still i
i obdurate. When he emerged from j.
! the inquisitorial chambers he was !
i pale and worried. He rushed away +
+ absolutely refusing to make any i
i statement as to his testimony but j.
i Assistant District Attorney Heney i
j. is not through with him yet and +
i although he will be allowed to re- ],
+ turn to Los Angeles he stands in i
i danger of an indictment for per- j
! jury. !
! source of the Home Telephone j
J. bribe fund and the authority by j
+ which it was paid. Heney claims i
i that Cass' refusal to tell what he i
+ knows is due to his desire to shield i
! certain people. i
i J. 4 j j i $3.50 E*#%%%# j. j. j.
BY Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO, March 2S.-No in
dictments were returned today for
graft or bribery by the grand jury and
only six witnesses were examined, as
follows:
A. B. Cass, president of the Home
Telephone company of Los Angeles,
who was subjected to further inquiries
as to the accounts of that corporation
and the fund of 100000 said to have
been sent to San Francisco by certain
of it's officers for use in bribing the
supervisors to grant the Home company
the competitive telephone franchise in
this city, which was finally awarded,
after, as claimed by the prosecution,
approximately $4,000 in bribes had
been paid to the supervisors by the
rival company to insure their voting
against the award.
j. N. Martin of the Adams Phillips
company of Los Angeles, who. with j.
S. Torrance, brought to San Francisco
in an automobile the 100000 which was
also paid by the Home Telephone COM
city and $4,000 to the relief fund.
George Beanston of the bookkeeping
department of the Pacific States Tele-
phone company, who was further ques-
toned as to his familiarity with the
accounts of that corporation in so far
as they were affected by the bribes al
legged to have been paid.
John A. Mallon, statistician of the
Pacific States Telephone company.
j. S. Torrance of Los Angeles, one of
the brokers who handled the bonds and
securities of the Home company of that
city, and Percy c. Morgan of the Cali
fornia Wine Producers association,
who was a member of the executive
committee of the Pacific States cor =
pany at the time the supervi5orial
bribes are alleged to have been paid.
Morgan Was Absent
When questioned at the close of the
grand jury session as to the testimony
adduced, Assistant District Attorney
Heney said among other things that Of
his own knowledge Mr. Morgan was in
the east from November of 1905 until
April of 1906, an absence covering the
bribe period. And" he added, lit is
only fair to state that 1t was entirely
possible for an absent member of ne
Pacific States executive board to be
absolutely ignorant of the paying of
these bribes, for this board was not a
board of audit but rather a board
which discussed politics, while such
as bribe payments were
and made by Others"
Mr. Heney stated that subpoenas to
appear before the grand jury on Satur-
day were served today on officials Of
the Western National bank and the
United States National bank of this
city. He would not say to what they
had been expected to testify.
1--WE hope" he said, ito clean up both
the Pacific States and Home bribery
deals on Saturday and to turn to the
of other felonies next
week.
"It is impossible to even intimate at
this time how long these Investigations
will last"
He added that all five members OF
the Pacific States Telephone company's
executive board have been subpoenaed
to come before the inquisitorial body.
Los Angeles Witnesses Excused
All the witnesses from Los Angeles
were finally excused today and 1t was
said that they would at once start for
mt.