The San Francisco call., 1908-11-29
WILSON T[STIF|[S
KNIGHT MET RUFF
Republican Orators Name Is
Drawn Into Trial of Former
Boss for Bribery
Boodling Supervisor Tells Of
Defendant Arranging to Pay
Tainted Money"

George A. Knight of political and
oratorical fame figured incidentally
yesterday in the new chapter of graft
"reminiscences that has been opened by
the examination of former Supervisor
and Railroad Commissioners Andrew NJ
Wilson as a witness in the Ruef trial
Knight was merely mentioned, how
ever in passing, and then Henry Ach,
who was questioning the witness,
changed the subject.
Ach had reverted to Wilson's pres
ence with Ruef and himself in a down.
town cafe on the night. the attempt
was made to oust Langdon and Heney
from Office and place the control of the
district attorneys department in the
hands of the arch boodler himself. He
asked Wilson to name those who were
present on that occasion. Wilson's
answer was emphatically given.
I'll tell you" he declared. There
was you and Ruef and Ruef's chauffeur
Then George knight came in with
Governor Gillett, who was then making
his campaign. The governor walked
on through and went UP stairs, but
knight stopped and came over and
shook hands with Ruef. Mr.. Ruef said
I'm the district attorney now That
was all that I noticed, for I went up
stairs then to talk to the governor
He was going down to San Mateo on
his campaign and I was going with
him. That was what we talked about"
Ach made an effort to cause Wilson
to testify that he and Gallagher knew
that money was coming to the board
on the trolley ordinance and that they
arranged between themselves as to how
it should be diveded, and discussed how
to quench the avarice of their fell
lows and secure the largest possible
slices for themselves. Wilson denied
that this was so and declared that. on
the contrary, Ruef told him that the
money was coming and that Gallagher
would let him know what his share
would be. He told Of receiving his
$4,000 in two installments and as
ward how much some of the other mem
bers of the board had received.
Reading voluminous excerpts from an
unofficial and faulty transcript of the
Glass trial, Henry Ach attempted to
impeach Wilson by showing minor diff
ferences in his testimony. Wilson
noted the discrepancies and leaned over
to point out the errors in the copy of
the transcript which Ach held. He
called attention to the fact that Ach's
record made him say that he had re-
ceived $4,000 in the telephone deal,
while his testimony had actually been
that he received $500. AS he went
on to explain the transcript, Ach
tried to tear the document out of his
hands. Wilson held on, and for a
minute there was a lively scramble for
possession of the record. compari-
son with correct copy showed numer-
Gus errors in the transcript which Ach
had handed to the witness.
Ach again sought for a way of i'm
parchment by comparison OF Wilson's
present testimony with that given by
him relative to the size and number of
bills received from Gallagher in the
trolley case in the first Ford trial. 1t
was the giving of that particular bit
of testimony that led to Wilson's in
dicment, but Wilson explained that at
the time he gave it he had just under
gone two operations and was still suf-
fering intensely from pain and the eff
fects of cocaine.
Il te1ephoned the district attorney at
5 o'clock that same afternoon asking
him to put me back on the stand again ?
said Wilson.
And you got three indictments in
stead, didn't you?" suggested Ach.
'Well, I'm willing to stand by that
whenever the matter is arrived at" an
swered Wilson. Whatever disposi-
ton the district attorney determines
to make of that matter will be salts
factory with me-"