The San Francisco call., 1908-11-07
ABE RUEPS GUNMEN
APPEAR IN COURT
Same Gang of ROwdies Show
Themselves When Trial
Is Begun

With the Ruef trolley bribery trial at
half devoted to the impeachment of
a jury, the hired gunmen and rowdies
whose unsavory presence has been a
feature Of every graft trial have come
trooping again into the open. The
wholesome effect of the. arrests made
when these same men attempted to
follow and interfere with the work of
Special Agent Burns and agents of the
district attorneys office during the in
vestigation of the Gallagher dynamit-
ing cases has kept them away from
the courtroom during the preliminary
stages, but with the actual beginning
of the trial yesterday they were again
in evidence in Judge Lawlor's court
room.
Butch" Bell, who was arrested dur
ing the last Ruef trial for carrying a
loaded revolver in the courtroom and
who has carefully avoided the vicinity
of the criminal courts building since
that time, was one of the first Of the
unwelcome hoodlums to crowd his way
into the courtroom yesterday morning.
"Bunco" Kelly. another undesirable
who openly reports to Ruefs office boy,
Charley Haggerty, during recesses of
the court, was also present. Among
the others VINO appeared 1Or the nrSl
time in several weeks were Zobeler,
Hayes and Kid Nelson, the trio who
We're arrested for interfering with
Burns and are now on bail pending
trial charges for obstructing justice.
1t was a typical graft courtroom yes
terday-reminiscent in every way of
the former trials that have been
marked by disgraceful tactics on the
part of the higher up graft defendants
jurors and threaten court officials,
jurors and spectators. The familiar
faces Of the bullies formed the setting
and the atmosphere reeked with rowdy-
ism held in check. That the present
trial is to be marked by attempts to
pervert justice through the maneuvers
of this band of hirelings seems prac-
tically certain. There were no out
breaks yesterday, however, and no
outward signs of an impending dis
turbance
Assistant District Attorney Heney
made his opening address to the jury
yesterday morning, outlining the case
at some length and giving detailed
resume of the facts which the prosecu-
ton expects To provt. This was not all,
for he went back to the time of Schmitz'
first Inauguration as mayor and traced
the disintegration of the city govern
ment under the Ruef-Schmitz regime
step by step down to the time that the
looting board Of supervisors was
trapped and caught.
Heney paid attention in his address
to the more important details of the
gas fight trust, telephone and Parkside
bribery deals, as all of these will fig
ure in the testimony of the ex-super-
visors concerning the bribes received
by them through Ruef and Gallagher
from the Golfers of the public service
corporations. Turning his attention to
the charge in question, which is based
on the payment of a $4,000 bribe by
Ruef to former Supervisor John ].
United Railroads overhead trolley steal,
Heney sketched the particulars of the
transaction from beginning to end.
The history Of the case, as given by
Heney, followed the lines of the testf-
mony given at the trials of TREY L.
Ford and told time and again by the
eN-supervisors in the trials in which
they have figured as witnesses. He
told how 1915 900 was telegraphed from
New York to San Francisco by President
Patrick Calhoun OF the United Railroads
shortly after the fire, how it was with
dawn from the mint by TREY l. Ford
and William N. Abbott and how finally
the arrangements were completed for
the payment Of the bribe and the divi-
sion Of the money.
Following Heneys recital, Attorney
Henry Ach of the defense made a last
effort to delay progress and a last bid
for an opportunity to befuddle the pre-
liminary record by objecting to the en-
forcement of rule 20 of the superior
court regulations, which provides that
lists Of instructions requested of the
court for the jury must be prepared
and presented to the Judge before any
testimony is taken. Judge Lawlor de-
MED Ach's motion and the defense