The San Francisco call., 1908-03-10
RUFF IS M[SH[D IN
OWN NET BY H[NfY
Prosecutor Turns Tables on
Lawyer Who BIunders in
Tricks for Delay
Trial OF Arch BoodIer Set for
Wednesday Despite Frantic
Effort to Fix Mistake

Attempting TO emulate the example
of his absent chieftain Henry Ach. At
torney Frank j. Murphy OF Abe Ruef' .
counsel indulged just whit too much
yesterday morning in the game of tech
nicaf objections failed to see his mis-
take until too Late. and had his bluff
quickly called by Assistant District At
torney Francis j. Heney.
Murphy lacked the finesse which has
served to protect Henry Ach from over
stepping the bounds OF safety and his
misguided zeal 10 tangle the record In
the Ruef case proved suddenly dis
astrous for his client. He objected
loudly to the continuance of the sew
eral trolley cases against Ruef which
| had not been called for trial, demand
Ing that one of them be placed on the
calendar Immediately. and he got his
wish. Heney consented 10 Murphy's re-
quest almost before the latter got the
words out of his mouth. named the in
dictment charging Ruef with the
, bribery of former Supervisor Daniel G.
Coleman as the one upon which the
prosecution would proceed, and a jury
panel has been ordered into court for
Wednesday morning TO proceed with
the trial of that case.
When Ruef was ordered to trial some
weeks ago the prosecution elected to
try him on the charge of bribing for
mer Supervisor Jennings J. Phillips,
md that case has been continued from
time to time because of Ruefs prelimi-
nary motion to set aside his arraign-
ment. 1T was agreed al the time that
this motion should not be thrashed out
again in other cases. but that all steps
taken in the Phillips case. should ap-
ply TO all of the trolley bribery cases
against Ruef.
vCrx n
At each calling of the Phillips case
the other cases have also been called
and continued on motion of the prose-
cution, and in each instance Henry Ach
has objected to the continuance on the
ground that Ruef was never arraigned
in any of the cases.
When the companion cases were
called yesterday morning Ach was not
present in the courtroom, and Murphy
made the usual formal objection. Then
he made his fatal mistake. He added.
as an additional ground of objection.
that Ruef was ready to go TO trial at
once in those cases.
@Oh. all right; If that's the case"
cried Heney. jumping to his feet, we
will go to trial | ask your honor TO
summon a jury. and we will proceed
"Wednesday morning"
After a short consultation with
Z >
1 Heney announced that the prosecution
elected to proceed on indictment No.
lsSl2. charging Ruef with the bribery of
Coleman. Judge Lawlor accepted the
announcement without comment and
ordered a jury panel for Wednesday
morning.
Taken aback by the sudden turn OF
affairs Murphy raised q storm of OBJ
! jections, which brought a simple inquiry
] from Heney as yx-f,a 9th 1cr he Of q
was trying to juggle with the court
Murphy retorted angriiy, accusing the
! prosecution OF trying to fool the pub
! lie and blind the court and charging
Heney with lying to a jury concerning
Ruef's immunity. His words won a
terse answer from Heney and a severe
| reprimand from Judge Lawlor. who in
not be tolerated.
UNABLE TO BACK 0UT
! When the calm finally occurred Muir
! ply renewed his objection to proceed
! ing with the @Coleman case until the
! Phillips case had been settled, but his
/ frantic endeavors to rectify his mistake
were fruitless. The Coleman case was
| put on the calendar for trial Wednes-
day morning and the Phillips case was
also continued until that time for the
fling of the prosecutions counter aff
/ udNtts- ilcucy Stdtcu tlidb the dIuudNllS
were complete, but not yet transcribed
into form for presentation to the court,
I and agreed that the. work would be
4 hurried during the day and copies OF
/ the documents handed to the defense
/, this morning. The usual objections to
/ the continuance of the trolley cases
/ were made in behalf of the indicted
United Railroads officials by Attorney
4 A A. Moore.
Ruefs counsel failed again yesterday
morning to secure q subject for affidavit
making. 1t was District Attorney
Langdons turn TO appear az Ach's office
in answer to the subpenas issued by
Judge Buck last week commanding
Judge Dunno. Chief OF Police Biggy
and the members of the prosecution to
/ give depositions before a notary public
but Langdon followed the course
adopted by Judge Dunno and Chief
| Biggy and failed to appear.
The promised motion of the defense
to have Judge Dunno disqualified from
taking any part in the Ruef cases
WHICH Ach announced last week would
be forthcoming yesterday, failed to
materialize.