The San Francisco call., 1908-05-02
FORD CASE READY
FOR JURORS TODAY
Judge Lawlor Rules That Each
Charge Is a Separate
0ffense

hc SdSc VI the people against I1f6y
l. Ford will go to the jury this morn
ing. Yesterday was devoted to oratory
and from II o'clock in the morning
until far into the night the speaking
continued Judge Lawlor will call the
jury into court at 10 o'clock this morn
ing and. Will read his Instructions The
fate of the defendant will then rest
with the 2 men who have been listen
ing to the evidence for the last two
weeks.
Two clashes marked the course of
yesterdays proceedings The prosecu-
tion sought to impress upon the jury
the significance of Patrick Calhoun's
refusal to testify, but was checked by
an adverse ruling from the court. The
defense endeavored to present in the
forefront Of its argument the fact that
Ford had once been acquitted. This
was permitted within certain limita-
tions over the objections of the prose-
cution.
Judge Lawlor opened court by de-
livering an extended oral opinion in
which he denied the plea of the defense
that he exclude all evidence bearing
upon the conspiracy between Ford and
Ruef. The plea had been presented by
Ford's attorneys on the theory that
this question had already been decided
In favor of the defendant by the ver-
dict of acquittal In the previous trial
The judge also ruled that the record
and verdict of the previous trial was
not admissible as evidence. He took
the position that the payment of money
to each supervisor was a separate Of
fense and that the evidence bearing
upon the relations between Ford and
Ruef was essential in each case At
torney Stanley Moore made an unsuc-
cessful effort to have the issue referred
IN the il1rU for OF ,i,,o To Iii
UP the request of the defense for in
structions to acquit, Judge Lawlor ex-
pressed doubt as to his power to. do so,
but took the matter under advisement.
Attorney A. A. Moore then offered to
submit the case without argument, but
the prosecution objected. 1t was ar
ranged that each side should have
four hours. Assistant District Attorney
O'Gara opened for the prosecution.
After reviewing the case he laid par
ticular stress upon the coincidence oS
dates and the similarity of the denomf-
nations of bills drawn by Ford from
the mint and those paid to the super
visors. He emphasized the new evil
dence, particularly that showing that
Ruef secured a safe deposit box at the
Western national bank the day he re-
ceived the first payment. Continuing,
O'Gara said in part:
money from the mint to his office,
where he had no safe, and, on the very
same day, August 23. abraham Ruef
called upon Ford. For what did Ruef
call? The subsequent payments tell
the story.
We have reached out in every direc-
tion and what have we met with? Re
fusals to testify. We saw Patrick
Calhoun sit silent on the witness stand
when. if it had been an innocent trans
action, he could have explained every
thing. Can 1T be said that we failed
to produce a single available witness?
Did we not call Abraham Ruef and did
not he. too. refuse to testify?"
1t was at this point that Attor-
ney Stanley Moore objected to the ref
erence to Calhouns refusal to testify.
Lewis F. Byington opened for the
defense, travelling much the same
ground as in the previous trial. At
the very start his reference to the ac-
quittal of Ford by a former jury raised
a storm of protest from O'Gara, who
held that the present case should be
decided on it's own merits without ref
erence to the previous trial. Judge
Lawlor held that Byington might refer
to the former verdict but that the jury
was not to take the other verdict into
account in reaching its decision
A further reference to the matter by
Byington ELECTED a heated response
from O'Gara, whereupon Byington
cried out against Heney and the entire
prosecution, calling upon the jury to
restore American Justice and fairness
in San Francisco" The speaker at
tackled the testimony of Robert Perry,
the detective who traced Ruef to
Ford's Office He praised Patrick Cal
houn and denounced Rudolph Spreckels.
A. A. Moore began his argument by
tracing the history of the days follow
ing the fire. He then passed to the
theme that there was but one law for
the rich and the poor, Whether 1t be
Phelan plotting the fleet UP the Pacific
or the poor man watching its arrival
from the hills
why should the United Railroads,
hard hit as 1t was, its system prac-
tically destroyed, dig up 100000 for
that which the city was eager to grant
without cost?' asked Moore Where
is the motive?"
Moore contended that only three
meager incidents connected Ford with
the case-his visit to the mint to Sc
cure the money; his call at Ruefs
office, and the memorandum which was
turned over to Gallagher telling Ruef
that the grand jury was making little
headway in it's investigation into the
trolley matter Discussing Ford's re-
lations with Ruef at this time, Moore
offered the apology that the reputa-
tions of Ruef and Gallagher were pass
ing fair at that time" He handled
Ruef rather gingerly. He didn't know
what he had or had not done,' but he
was sure that he was very prominent"
and that his reputation was passing
fair when Ford had dealings with him.
Attorney A A. Moore for the de-
fense continued his argument to the
fury at 1880 o'clock in the evening and
this consisted chiefly of scornful ar
raignment of Rudolph Spreckels and
the methods OF the graft prosecution
In general. Attorney Moore also dweIt
at length upon the character of the
.>~-->>~~.~~~~~~~S>~~~~
arose and hurled his bombshell into the
enemy's canG-
Then, your honor he announced,
"the people desire to move the court
at this time that each and all and
every one of the IA indictments and
any other indictments or charges
against this witness, Green, be dis
missed
For a moment there was silence In
the courtroom. Ach and Murphy, taken
aback. seemed stunned Then Ach
jumped into the breach with a torrent
of objections to the dismissal of tbo