The San Francisco call., 1908-11-24
PASS 5 JURORS TO
TRY RUEF'S LAWYER
Frank ]. Murphy in Court on
Charge of Attempting to
Bribe Talesman.
Counsel for Accused Casts Slurs
on Prosecution and Tilt
With Langdon Follows

The trial of Attorney Frank j.
Murphy, charged with attempted
bribery Of j. NJ. ke1ly,sa talesman on
the Ruef panel, was begun yesleroay
before Judge Murasky FIVE Jurors
were temporarily passed by botn sides'
one was partly examined ana three
others were excused.
Attorney Bert Schlesinger's insinu-
alton against the honesty or the pros
ecution, made in an attempt to in
fiuence Peter Bernard, prospective
juror, against the testimony OF II. a. ;.
Blake the prosecutors witness, was
neatly stopped by District Attorney
Langdon at the afternoon session THIS
was the chief feature of yesterday.
Bernard, a 4rench liquor dealer, OF
1921 Harrison street, who had acKnoWl-
edged that he was sick and tlreo Oh
the prosecution and also that ne hau
frequently visited Abe Ruef in his or
flee about Is years ago" had admitted
under examination by Langdon that ne
had read Blake's confession made TO
Judge Dunno after his conviction OF
bribing the talesman, Kelly, but that
he had taken no stock in that part
of it which involved Murphy. Robert
r. Ferrall, one of the attorneys for the
defense, had argued that 1T was posslDle
for a man to believe one part OF a dls-
card another which would involve
others, and the witness had said that
he was mot altogether" prejudiced
against Blake as a witness, and would
not altogether disregard his testl-
mony against Murphy.
sCHLEsINGER VICIOUS
Schlesinger then attacked the good
faith of the confession and the honesty
of the prosecution by loudly expressed
opinions as to the purpose OF Blake
making the confession.
why did Blake make the confess
sion?" roared Schlesinger, and, with
out pausing for reply went on; FOR
some purpose not disclosed, but which
we can easily guess, the convicted man
at the eleventh hour shifts some of
the blame on some one else. Some
thing made him say"
Yes, something returned the
stentorian voice of Langdon, effectually
stopping the other. That something
was conscience, the greatest power in
the human mind, Notwithstanding the
fact that you, Schlesinger, seem to
know but little of its promptings- 1t
was the guilty man unburdening his
soul at the bar of Justice"
Further argument on this point was
prevented by Judge Murasky and the
only tilt of the day came to an end.
For the most part the proceedings
were conducted quietly and with dis
patch.
Bernard, the liquor dealer, was tenn
porarily passed and his examination
will be resumed this morning.
DEFENSE INTERESTED
1t is evident from the questions
asked the talesmen that the defense
will be that Murphy instructed Blake
to find Kelly's state of mind in legiti-
mate manner, and that a money trans
action was not entered into, as far as
| the talesman was concerned. They
will<no doubt try to prove that the
$500 which Blake received was a pay
covering the talesman's mind sin a
! legitimate, legal way, as allowed by the
courts"
j. L. Gilmartin. stationer, of 25s9
! Van Ness avenue took up a consider
able portion of the afternoon session
on account of his ignorance of court
procedure. He was finally passed under
protest from Schlesinger, who tried
to prove that Gilmartin was pretudiced
because he had an opinion gained from
the papers that could be set aside, and
a decent respect for the grand jury
Other jurors who were passed tenn
porarily are Simon Cohn clothier of
sixteenth and Mission streets: Fred
Steuerman. grocer. 2 Falkland avenue;
John II. Herbst, retired, 1928 Octavia:
George A. Brown, real estate, 751 Clay
street and Thomas Eland of the Build
ers' exchange. Talesmen excused for
bias were Henry L. Dunk, Lucian Levy,
Edward Paul Levy.
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