The San Francisco call., 1908-04-27
CALHOUN'S MEN
HINDERCAPTURE
OF DYNAMITERS
Secret Agents OF United Rail-
roads Interfere in Work
of Oakland Police
Offer to Aid in Investigation
Proves to Be Merely Plan
to Learn of Progress
Affidavits OF Suspected Bomb
Maker WiIhelms Secured
Long Prior to Outrage

Long Prior to Outrage
Developments yesterday IN the
work of fixing the responsibility Tor
the dynaniting of the house IN Oak
land occupied by James L. Gallagher.
chief witness for the graft prcsecu-
ton, had to do principally with the
extraordinary efforts of the United
Railroads to dominate the case and
its interference with the investigation
being made by the Oakland authori-
ties. fhe strenuous activity of the
4 Calhoun forces has been one OF the
most prominent and Significant
/ features OF the hunt for the men who
attempted to murder Gala CHER. but
this activity has been in the way OF
blocking and belittling the work OF the
police rather than OF giving assist
ance.
Immediately after the blowing up OF
the Schenck house William NJ Abbott
/ of the United Railroads counsel and
himself under indictment for bribery.
rushed over to Oakland and declared 10
the police that bis company would back
f. with any amount any reasonable effort
to run down the perpetrators of the
crime.
SECRETLY HINDERs WORK
Instead OF operating with the police.
however. It was found that the United
RAILROADS detectives were working Sc
cretly on their own accourt-and In such
a way as TO interfere seriously with the
, investigation OF the detectives OF the
Oakland authorities. II was therefore
assumed that Abbott's offer was merely
an attempt to secure. under the guise
of corporation. information relative 10
the discoveries made by the police
. In this connection it was discovered
Yesterday that the affidavit of the sus-
pect wilhelm which was published in
the Calhoun newspapers was given out
bv the United Railroads people and had
been obtained BY them shortly after
wiIhelm's release after the fake bomb
enisode. II was also learned that
similar afndavit was secured from
! Macy. who was in Wilhelr's company
/ when he was first arrested
Whenever the Oakland police discov-
I cred a clew and started TO question a
witness they found that other parties
had been there before them They were
led away by numerous false scents
: Their trails were crossed and re-
crossed. They were hooded with unre-
uahla witnesses. and 9 quiet investisa-
,,on disclosed that the trouble was due
20 Vaccinations OF the detectives OF the
United Railroads
u SEEK TO CLEAR CALHOUN
4 when F. z. wIlhelms was arrested
. hx CAPTAIN Petersen the whole pack
swooped down. digging I'D this and
that proving the other. their whole
: and only aim being that the United
Railroads had no part in 1t Their
erxt act was 70 peddle out the am
a.vits obtained from welheims and J.
!, W. Macey-
Vvbsn Wfrherms was FIRST arrested
= and found to be carrying fAks bombs
on his person tho United Railroads.
through Tom Gibson. made strenuous
a efforts 70 secure his release On this
; beiux done they obtained an andAvit
from him tending to show. that he had
been hired BY Burns 20 manufscturs
!. bombs. why this was done Is mys-
terv. This was before the Gallagher
explosion and not a single word had
Y been breathed against the United Rail
II roads in connection with the arrest
Nevertheless it Immediately went 70
d work and obtained the afndavit-
d Following the explosion. Patrick CAL
: houn. in an interview published In his
organs. hinted that wilhelms might be
n the man. He also said that the affair
Ia was an outrage. etc He did not then
make pubic the afndavit in his posses
sion. He waited until wilhelms was
arrested. and the case was looking
black against him. Then IL suddenly
appeared in the papers controlled oy
~ the grafters-
Prior to this the graft organs had
done their utmost 20 ridicule Whhelms'
arsr arrest, finding humor in tho fact
that the alleged bombs contained moth
ing more dangerous than cornmeaL Ex-
perts have since discovered that corn
- meal is an absorbent OF nitroglycerin
and Just as effective sawdust- A mo-
= ment's work could have converted the
supposed harmless tubes into deadly
- implements OF destruction Captain Pc
rs tersen declared that such methods were
employed in most dynamite outrages in
ck South Africa and affirmed that those
n carried BY Wilhelms were really the
base Of TWO bombs as destructive a.
- the 10 pounds OF dynamite cast into
lot the Gallagher home
to I believe that WilheIms played his
!. part we'll" said Captain Petersen HIS