The San Francisco call., 1907-02-22
THEATERS SAID To HAVE
BIG CORRUPTION FUND
Report That Money Will
Be Used to Put New
Ordinance Through
RUFF TO BE MANAGER
Boss Will Be Paid a "Fee"
for Legislation for
Firetraps

The charge IL made that the man
ayers of the many firetrap theater
buildings have raised fund of $4,000
to assist In the passage of the Ordi-
nance now pending before the Board of
Supervisors, requiring the placing of
certain precautions against fires In the
buildings that otherwise are construct
ed against every main provision of the
fire ordinance. 1T is reported that Abe
Ruef Will handle the fund, possibly
claiming the entire amount his fee
for illegal services Considering what
1t would cost to build a half dozen new
theaters, the retainer is cheap.
Such legal services are worth their
price. 1t was a fair guess that no
other particular business interest would
have been bled for fees as large, in a
decade of Misunderstanding with the
administration, but the April fire put
a new face on the situation. All the
theaters were burned. To crafty the
public demand for amusement theaters
had to be built, and, naturally, the
quickly reared structures were fire
traps. The Mayor, the Board of Works
or Louis Levy gave permit for the
erection of the buildings now used for
theaters and they nearly all violate
the ordinances prescribed for public
safety
The Board of Works has passed the
blame to the Mayor and to it's own
clerk, Louis Levy. The Board of Su-
pervisors has passed to print an ordi-
nance calculated to legalize the fire
traps with the inexpensive require
ment that they shall put a certain
sized water pipe on the stage and fire
extinguishers in the wings and cover
the calcium light apparatus with a thin
cloak of asbestos
Such changes are less than nothing
1NrV I'D - H. IL i
ing built according to law and planned
to avoid holocaust in case fire should
surprise players and spectators in the
course of a nights entertainment.
The price is cheap. The theatrical
men are said to have raised a fund
of $4,000 to assist in the passage
of the desired ordinance.
The fate of Secretary Louis Levy of
the Board of Works has not vet been
decided. The Commissioners want to
put Levy in a basket and leave him, a
defenseless founding, on the doorstep
of the Grand Jury chambers, but As
sistant District Attorney Heney has
pierced their scheme and 1T may fail
In it's desperation the board was moth
ing 10th to accuse Mayor Schmitz of
being responsible for the dangerous
playhouses.
Mayor Schmitz and Ruef have figured
in the revelations of the theater graft
already. Special Agent Burns pre-
sented evidence to the jury in Novem-
Der that Schmitz had given his sig
nature to a permit to Loverich and
Lubelsky granting them permission to
build shack for the Novelty Theater.
This permit has been lost, declare
Lovcrich and Lubelsky.
Recently the Novelty Theater de-
clared a dividend of considerable
sum- On the books of the company
this dividend was divided pro rata
$500 was credited to cash" In the
street the two theatrical men have said
that Ruef got the $500 and they will
soon have the opportunity of giving
the details to the Grand Jury.
Tax Collector Nichols expressed him
self in strong terms yesterday against
the action of the Board of Works in
declaring that it had not issued per-
mits for fretrap theaters which have
secured licenses. Nichols declared that
he had issued licenses to theaters only
after issuance of permits signed either
by Mayor Schmitz or by "The Board of
Public Works. per Louis Levy"
1T looks to me- he said, "as if the
Board of Works is trying to pass the
buck. 1 am not supposed to know that
permits signed by Levy were not
passed regularly by the board on reso-
luton. 1 certainly cannot be expected
to close the theatars when licenses
have not expired"
The license for the Novelty Theater
will expire March 1 and the question
Of it's renewal will be made a test case
Nichols will issue no more licenses un-
less he knows that permits have been
regularly granted.