The San Francisco call., 1908-12-22

with the jury completed after .
long delay IN the selection of the
twelfth man TO sit in the jury box the
trial Of Peter Claudianes, charged with
aynamiting the schenck home in Oak
and in an endeavor to murder James
l.. Gallagher. was begun yesterday be-
lore Superior Judge ". H Waste OF
Alameda county.
DR. Guy Brown, who was a visitor al
the Schenck home in Nineteenth ave-
nue., Oakland, the night of April %.
when the dynamiting occurred. was the
llrst witness called by the prosecution.
lie vas still under direct examination
when adjournment was taken last
night and wiz continue his testimony
this morning.
Prior 70 the actual beginning of the
case, Attorney J. ". Scott. represent
ing the defendant. asked that ali Wit
nesses be excused from the room. and
was only after considerable argu-
nent by the peoples representatives
that Captain of Detectives Petersen Of
Oakland and Special Agent Burns of
San Francisco We're allowed to remain
~ the prosecution table in the court
room
JURY is COMPLETED
Nineteen talesmen we're examined
Testerday before two were finally
chosen TO I'll the existing vacancies in
the jury box Several were passed
subject 70 peremptory challenge. but
IN each case the defense exercised q
peremptorT until the entire allotment
II 90 such challenges was exhausted. In
The meantime the special venire OF so
ordered into court last Saturday morn
i1g was depleted. and an adjournment
was taken at noon TO allow of the
drawing OF a new panel OF 10. This
panel was brought into court yesterday
afternoon and all but one Of the new
list We're excused before the last Juror
vas sworn The two jurors finally ac-
cepted yesterday were William Schae-
fer. a retired farmer of Fruitvale. and
r. G. Alborn. q retired stockman and
former justice OF the peace. who also
lives at the present time in Fruityale.
District Attorney w. II. Donahue of
Alameda county delivered the opening
statement OF the prosecution. He
sl1etched briefly the facts OF the at
tempts made to murder the star wit
ness for the prosecution in the San
francisco graft cases and outlined the
testimony by which the state expects
10 secure the conviction of Peter
CIaudianes. He told of the correspond
eRce that passed between Peter Gland
isnee and Felix Pauduveris and OF tho
latter's suggestion to the defendant
that he would undertake 70 murder
Gallagher.
PRICE WOULD BE $4,000
Donahue declared that the sugges-
tion was accompanied by a statement
that there would be $4,000 in it. Of
which Pauduveris and Peter Claud-
.ianes were each to receive half. He
then told Of the visits made by the con-
spirators TO Oakland, OF the arrange
meuts to carry out the crime Of the
original poison scheme and OF how
Peter insisted upon using dynamite.
aow he went 10 Nevada after the ex-
plosive and how the deed was then
carried out
The outline OF the case sketched by
Do1ahue viii leave no loophole for
escape IL proved as the district attor-
ney declared II would be- and the tes-
<imony OF the first witness was in it
SEX strong. DR.. Brown told OF going
10 the Schenck home on the night of
April %, in company with W. H H
schenck, shortly after o'clock At
that time there was nothing in the YES
thule and no unusual circumstances
attracted. his attention. He set the
time or the explosion by a hunting
watch which he and Miss Georgia
Scheuck hads been examining when the
explosion occurred. Later the watch
was found and the force Of the impact
had stopped II at just a few seconds
before 7:3O O'Clock.
Dr. Brown described the escape of
The various members Of the household.
told Of the almost complete manner in
which the house was demolished. and
explained the results OF his subsequent
examinations. He asserted positively
fhatc he had examined all the gas con-
nections Immediately after the explo-
s5on and found the gas meter and all
the gas pipes intact and in perfect
condition. He described, also, how the
,ifnbers in. Tire vestibule OF the house,
where the dynamite was placed, had
been broken downward and how the
roof over this part Of the house had
been blown on