The San Francisco call., 1908-03-15

at the expense Of the almshouse- And
that Rogers told Ruef Of an instance
where six curry combs had been pur-
chased by the almshouse for their use
and that FIVE of them had been appro-
priated by DrEcoll and Schmit1 and
only one was left for the use of the
almshouse; and that when Mr.. Rogers
the commissary. discovered what was
going on he demonstrated with Frank
Schmitz and repeated the matter TO bis
son. John W. Rogers. and called with
his son on Ruef and explained the sit
lation TO Ruef, who then directed them
TO call on the mayor and lay the mat
ter before him. but rot TO tell the
mayor that they had been TO Ruef or
that be tRuef) had sent them to the
mayor. Continuing. Ruef said that
Rogers and his son called on the mayor
and laid the matter before him and
that the mayer stated that he was
very much surprised and would look
into II. fhatNin the meantime nothing
had ever been done.
@GO AFTER SCHMITZ-
Ruef then strongly urged that we
Ike this matter before the grand jury
at once And he furnished me the
name OF Arthur Currie. who he said
could now be found at San Mateo. He
also advised me TO call on John ".
Rogers. the curator at the museum,
and said that Mr. Rogers was a thor
oughly honest man and would not
hesitate 10 give all the information he
had.
Ruef urged me very strongly to take
the allnshouse matter before the grand
jury at once. stating at the same time,
that II would create a tremendous sen
saion. as II was one OF the meaaest
steals he had ever heard of. 1 reDorteti
TINS matter to Mr. Heney at the time
and We came TO the conclusion that
RueTs purpose was to push Schmitz
into the. limelight and thus hide him
SELF
subsequently called on Mr.. Rogers
who introduced me 10 his father. and
the father made the following state
ment.
Statement made by ]. H. Rogers
June -, 1907:
l was appointed commissary at the
aimshouse in May, 1906. but merely
acted as store keeper. as ell the sup
plies were ordered from the Office Of
superintendent Frank Schnsitz
I succeeded man by the name of
X p Julian. who for some reason re-
signed. but continued TO reside at the
almsnouse and kept horse and buggy
there was also instructed by Su-
perintendent Frank Schmitz TO consider
Julian the same as superintendent and
10 take orders from him and TO place
implicit confidence in him And to IL
lustrate the affection he had for Julian.
Schmitz explained that DIR. D'Ancona
had. while chairman of the committee
Of the board of health having charge
OF the almshouse. discovered that
Julian had o KID bills for goods that
had never been delivered. and when
. IL was discovered Julian offered 10 take
the blame and go TO Mexico.
VILE MEAT DELIVERED
Julian. while living at the aims
house. was representing James a.
Snook & Co, from whom all the sup
plies for the almshouse were purchased.
except meats. while the contracts for
meats was awarded 10 Schrader & Co.
Frank Schmitz took advantage of the
conditions that existed after the fire
and bought from Convey & Sons, and
II was so bad the first month I-was
commissary. it had TO be put in pickle
barrels | refused 10 receive il until
ordered to do so by Frank Schmitz who
stated Convey & Sons were very good
friends of the administration and also
of his brother. the mayor. and for this
reason told me TO be as lenient as pos
sible with them On one particular
occasion a load was delivered and-was
so vile it was wrapped in burlap /
positively refused to accept il and re-
ported the matter TO Schuitz. The lat
kter stated --e passed 1t on the way out
and noticed its condition and told the
driver he didn't think Ii would be ac-
cepted. but the driver would not take
lit back But it was returned to Con-
vey & Sons the next morning by the
almshouse wagon Convey on its arri-
val at his place of business. which was
near the ferry, told the driver TO throw
ii in the bay.
"One day Schrader came to me and
complained about the treatment he
was receiving. He did not feel that
he was getting square deal, as he