The San Francisco call., 1908-03-10

/ think | have no animosity toward Ruef and
i- will be fair and jnst 70 him and If you are
Immunity in this matter 2nder the statements
] have made to you as to my views in relation
! to my public duty in the matter. you can
safely advise him. as his friends. to accept the
/ proposition which / have authorized you TO make
to him: but on the other hand. If yoVlshaye
any doubt about my motives, or any doubt about
/ his ability to thus become entitled To com
plete immunity. you cannot safely advise him to
accept our proposition unless you agree with
me in the belief that he ought to receive some
punishment it might. as we'll be understood
! Ruef and that / will not enter into any agree
ment with him. with you with any one
! else which does not leave ii in the power OF
| TO the penitentiary Immediately If
cinde at any time during the progress of the
or that the information which he has given
US is not of sufhcien Importance to the people
1 of this city and state to equ'tably entitle him
1 TO go without punishment
l reiterated several times afterwards dur
] ing that conference. that they must remember
4 that l had made no promise or agreement
either to Ruef them and that | would
not make any promise or agreement. either TO
Kuef or to them. TO ever permit him Ia with
| draw his plea of guilty in case No. 30J after
II was once entered. or TO recommend even
ieniency In that and that what | had
said on that subject was in no sense promise
i to them. TO any else; that il must not
be any part of the inducement TO Ruef to ac-
eept the proposition which l lad authorized
/ them TO make him, and that In order to
be that it would not influence Ruef in the
| slightest degree IL must not be repeated 10 him
] by any one of them. notwithstanding the fsct
/ mar II was not in any sense promise OF even
| IN the nature of a promise TO either them or
him.
LANGDON Is POSITIVE
! During this conference William H. Langdon
said to all parties present. in substance: Il
want all You gentlemen to remember that L
am the man who has the last say, and | intend
! 10 exercise it, l the man who is respons ibe
|
some assurance that when this fellow does tell
his story we will be able to corrohorste it, and
| that will get worth while his
accompces, and thus get something IN return
| for any lenency which give him. We do
not propose to let Ruef get away and refrain
| from Furnishing him in all these other cases
merely in return for his telling us his story. l
do not propose or intend TO let him go, on any
while in his place by his testimony.
Aeh again replied that Ruef was lawyer.
and good one. and again appealed IN
| TO corroborate his opinion on that Question,
and stated that La1gdon need not worry HIM
self that score - the testimony of Ruef
would not only involve people who We're worth
while but would involve some big fellows in
some big transactions that knew nothing
about: that we would be fully satisfied when
we heard his evidence, and that Ruef knew
that he could corroborate himself and had told
him (Ach) that he could do so; that Ruef real
lied that he would have to make good if he
went in with the prosecution. as all the people
whom he involved would work together TO do
10.
afraid of was that. after it became known that
| he had come in with the prosecution Herrin.
who had strong pull with Governor Gillett and
Attorney General Webb. would get the attorney
general to take the ont of our hands and
prevent any immunity contract from9bcing car
ried ont by and send Ruef TO the peniten-
/ tiary for long term. and that HcTrin would
always control the governor and that Euef
would never be able to get pardoned out :
OF course cannot pretend 70 repeat all fhat
was said ct this time, but that was the sub
stance of it.
AFF'IDAVITS ARE FALSE
The foregoing statement is the only one that
was ever made by me DR.. Jacob Nieto DR..
Bernard NJ. Kaplan. Mr.. Henry Ach or any
one else. which In any way be tortured or
strained into an alleged promise agreement or
consent that Ruef would be given complete i'm
mlmity and would be permitted to withdraw his
plea Of guilty aud enter plea OF mot
guilty in case No. sos, or have case No. 30o
dismissed and the statements in the affdavits of
DIR. Nieto and DR.. Kapan that authorized them
or either of them TO offer Ruef complete I'M
munity to tell him that he would receive com
plcte immunity absolutely false and wholly
without any foundation other than the one |
have Just mentioned and each one Of the rev
| crend gentlemen must have known that the
statements false when he made them. be-
cause. as will hereinafter appear. we reviewed
the whole matter in September 1907. at my of
fee at 1103 Franklin street, in the presence of
Henry Ach William !. Burns and Charles W.
Cobb. and then and there repeated what had
stated to them as Just hereinbcfore set forth
| and Or. Neto and Or. Kaplsn each then and
correct. and the nature of that converse tion was
such win hereinafter appear, that no one Of
them honestly state he has forgotten it,
and one of them honestly make the
statement contained in their respective affdavits
upon this subject.
On the night Of Monday. April 90. 1907. DIR.
Neto aud DIR. Kaplan to my office. and
Henry Ach either came there with them or ar
rived soon afterwsrd. All three sneaked in the
back way as usual. | do not remember whether
knew they were coming not, but l GER
tain that / did not know the particular object
4 rIxn had fx-.1
Rudolph Spreckels was In my office nearly every
day and nearly every night during that period
of time. and he happened TO be there that night
He had not participated in the meeting few
nights before except listener i am sure
that lie did not say single word by way OF
comment advice or suggestion in connection
with the matter OF Ruef's turning states eyi-
dence. which we discussing.
ON the night OF April -. 1901 Charles w
also present. and William J. Burns was there.
William III. Langdon also present, hut do
whether he just happened TO be there, sor
whether he knew the other parties were comn ing,
The meeting was held in back room on the
second floor. Ach stated that Ruef was about
ready to accept the terms which ] had offered
at the preceding meeting, but that DR.. Niete
was going away the next day and that, while
Ach and Rucf were satisfied that Judges Dunno
and LawIor would doubtless conRder faTorabiy
any recommendation which was made by MI.
Langdon or myself. and were satisfied as TO
what the practice of the courts was In that re-
spect that Dr. Nieto and Dr. Kapan would like
to hear from Judges Dunno and Lawlor state
ment as to what the practice OF each of those
Judges was in that respect before they urged
Ruef any further to accept the terms which
had offered him. Both DR.. Nieto and Dr. kap
Ian thereupon assured that each of them
had absolute confidence in my integrity and mo-
tives and believed that | would act fairly and
honestly with Ruef but that they were not IA
miliar with the practice of the courts and would
like to feel sure that / In position to carry
out the intentions which / had expressed and
also 10 carry out the agreement which pro-
posed 20 enter into with Ruef, and each one
stated that he would be satisfied II could get
Judges Dunno and Lawlor. respectively. 10 tell
me in their presence what the practice Of each
of those judges generally in similar cases
They also said that they wanted 10 sec the
Judges that night. Dr. Niefo was going TO Eli
rope the next morning. | said WAS afraid 1t
would be impossible to see the Judges that
night as 1t was too late, and that We would
have TO do 1t in the morning. DIR. Nietc stated
that he would not have time to do 1t in the
morning SIS his train left in the forenoon. at
either 10 or IL O'clock. | have forgotten which.
and that lie had quite number of things TO do.
THE FAMOUS MEETING
Finally 1t was agreed that Mr. Burns wonld
endeavor to find the judges. and Mr. Cobb went
into nv private office. which was In the front
of the room on the same floor. and telephoncd
to several different places. including the Family
club and the Bohemian club. In an effort 70 To-
cate Judge Dunne aud Judge Lawlor, respect
txelv Hanrr oh sta ted that he would not go