The San Francisco call., 1908-09-25

An examination of records In the
oface of County Clerk Harry /. Null
crevy yesterday nipped in the bud an
embryo sensation which developed dur
ing the morning session Of the Ruef
trial IN Judge Lawlors court. An or
der for veniremen which exhausted the
last of the original 2.4O0 names in the
great jury box led to the discovery
that, according TO the notation on the
box itself 5S names which should have
been in the box were missing. Judge
LawIor ordered that the discrepancy
be called to the attention OF County
Clerk Mulcrevy. and the latter made
an immediate investigation which dis
closed the error.
According TO County Clerk Mulcrevy's s
own record the number Of names re-
naming in the great jury box was
correct. The error came about through
the failure TO list on the memorandum
on the box a number of names returned
by one of the departments of the court
after they had been drawn but not
used. AIulcrevy's record shows that $50
names which had been withdrawn We're
returned and that q total of 2,7sS were
taken out of the box. OF this number
80 names were not recorded. Mulcrevy
declared that the mistake was a purely
technical one and could be explained
TO the court without trouble. His
statement effectually put at rest the
suspicion that the jury box might have
been tampered with
WILL Use CHALLENGES
Twelve men. temporarily passed. sat
IN the Ruef jury box last night at the
adjournment of court. These men rep
resented more than four weeks of grill
ing examination and the wedding out
OF more than 500 veniremen. This
morning each side will exercise per-
emptory challenges, and it is possible
that the box may be emptied. The de-
fense has 10 challenges TO use and the
prosecution five. Whether the full limit
viii be resorted TO or II both sides will
rest satisfied with most of the jurors
now in the box is entirely problem
aticaL
The two new jurors secured yester-
day 10 complete the panel were Thomas
N. Holt, retired. Of 2146 Twenty second
street, and Henry Smith, grocer of
$500 Nineteenth street Each of the
newly accepted talesmen gave answers
which appeared to satisfy both sides.
The jury box. as now constituted. ap-
pears to contain a fairly representative
body OF men. Several, however, who
have expressed preference for the pros
ecution. although denying that this
might influence their verdict. are almost
certain to be challenged by the defense.
Out Of the 10 challenges allowed the
defense it is quite certain that more
than half Of them will be exercised
today.
ACH As BOSS
Attorney Henry Ach as an associate
political boss with Abe Ruef was the
new role in which the versatile counsel
for the accused CRATER appeared yes
terday. Juror Matthias d. Meyer, a
grocer of 22l1 Geary street told of a
deal in which Ach figured whereby the
son Of the juror was given what Heney
termed the single cross" by Ach.
Meyer was being questioned as to any
possible bias or prejudice he might
have become subject to during the trial
when he revealed the incident The
juror told of visit of Abe Ruef Henry
Ach and Jesse Marx to his place of
business a number of years ago. They
asked for his son, Fred, but he was out
and the father asked the three politt-
clans what they wanted of him. They
then told him that they wanted young
Fred TO run for the board of super
visors on the republican ticket.
Shortly after that Fred was nomi-
mated by the union labor party. al
though ii was before the republican
nominations took place." continued the
juror And because my son had done
this Henry Ach prevented my son from
being nominated on the republican
ticket and ran against him himself
The juror declared that this incident
would not prejudice him against the
defense. however. and he was not chal-
lenged.
ATTORNEYS ARE CENsURED
Judge Lawlor took occasion yester-
day to deliver instructions from the
Bench TO the attorneys that their con-
tinual wrangling must stop. After Ach
had been particularly active in hingine
accusations at Heney, Judge Lawlor
said in tones of extreme earnestness:
Il can't believe that all these al
iusions here are the result of spon-
taneo0s outbursts, and if they are con-
tinued the court will take occasion to
act and to act in such a way that the
practice will be discouraged"
Just before the court adjourned yes
terday Assistant District Attorney
Heney punctured some Of the legal
phantasies which had been aroused by
Ach in his questions to jurors. This
stirred the Ruef lawyer to a white heat
of rage. but his frantic objections and
protests failed TO check Heney, who