Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-14
Bloody CIinax Reached in Graft Trial

Doodle board of supervisors, Ruef
caused them to remove Langdon as
district attorney and appoint him
(Ruef) in his place. This move was
blocked by the court, and Langdon and
Heney, assisted by William ]. Burns.
formerly of the United States secret
service, went ahead with their work.
Secured Confessions
Detective Burns and his men had
been making secret Investigations and
had secured confessions of bribery from
all exeeput two Of the board of super
visors.
These confessions implicated not only
Schmitz and Ruef, but also the head
officials of the United Railroads COM
panv. the Gas and Electric company
and other corporations seeking public
franchises.
A special grand jury was called and
indictments were found against RueI
and Schmitz and many men prominent
in San Francisco financial and social
circles.
Ruef, who was released on hail after
his indictment, was at first defiant, put
at last became alarmed and attempted
to flee After several days he was To-
Gated in a road house a short distance
from San Francisco and was again
taken into custody.
He was placed on trial on a charge
of extortion in having demanded and
received a large sum of money from
French restaurant proprietors VINO
wanted to retain their liquor licenses.
Heney entered upon the trial with
great energy, and finally Ruef broke
down in court and pleaded guilty to
the charge of extortion.
Indicted, Gets Immunity
He had been indicted on 11S counts,
but was promised immunity on all the
charges except the one TO which ne
pleaded guilty.
Schmitz, also charged with extortion,
and Ruef testified that he had divided
the money obtained from the restau-
rant keepers with Schmitz. Schmitz
was convicted and sentenced to flVe
years in prison.
He appealed to a higher court and
the appellate court reversed Judge
Dunnes decision on the GROUND the
Indictment was defective in that II
had neglected to state that Sehmitz
was mayor of San Francisco. The SUI
preme court reaffirmed this decision,
and Schmitz is now out on bail await
ing trial on other charges.
Ruef, who, after pleading guilty,
was very submissive, and had prom
ised, it is said, to testify against the
men who paid the brides to the board
of Supervisors, became defiant and re-
fused to testify. Thereupon the i'm
munity contract which he had OBJ
tanned from the prosecution was de-
clared void and he was tried on another
charge. At this trial the jury dis
agreed, and it was during the retrial
of this case that Heney was shot.
Arrest of Blake
During the second trial of Ruef a
man named Blake was arrested for
attempting to bride one Of the jury
men, He was convicted and then
stated in court that his attorneys had
told him Ruef would pay him $4,000
if he would serve his term in the PEN
itentiary and not confess.
Heney, through his aggressive man
ner in court and his relentless prose-
cution of those charged with corruption,
has made many enemies. He realized
that he might be attacked at any tlme'
and went about the city under guard.
So acute was the feeling in San
Francisco over the graft cases that at
the last election the selection of presi-
dent caused comparatively little inter-
est here. Four superior judges were to
be elected, and the interest was CEN
tered on the contest between Frank II.
Dunno, in whose court Ruef ana
Schmitz had been tried, and Judge
Carroll Cook, who, it was alleged by
the supporters OF the prosecution, was
favorable to the defense. Dunno was
elected, receiving the third highest
vote, and Cook was defeated.
Gallagher Home Dynamited
During the third trial last spring of
TREY L. Ford, general counsel of the
United Railroads company, on one of
the fourteen indictments returned
against him, charging bribery, the
home of James L. Gallagher, the prose-
cution's star witness In all the graft
cases, was dynamited in Oakland.
The house was badly wrecked and Gal
lagher and his family and some friends
who were there at the time had mar
row escape.
A few weeks later two other houses
part owner were also blown up. Two
Greeks, John and Peter Claudianes,
were arrested and are now awaiting
trial in Oakland. One Of them made
statement to District Attorney Lang
don and Special Agent Burns that he
had been paid to do the deed
Mr.. Heney stated at the time he be-
lieved Gallagher's life was in danger,
and the former supervisor and leader
Of the boodling board moved from
Oakland to San Francisco and took up
his headquarters at the st. Francis
hotel. Since that time he has seldom
appeared without a body guard.
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