The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-20

A NAfSk' EN- L EftS HALL raises Its
III pressed brick facade on the
- western outskirts of the great fire
limits, the ashes OF the conhagration
stilI lying about it. A symbol, is it
not?-just as the trial OF Patrick Cal
houn is a symbol-of that stressful
interregnum Of disorder that linked
the old San Francisco with the new.
Even a stranger might have guessed
that something portentovs was i'm
pending. The gold starred captain of
police. the gray haired sergeants. the
mounted patrolmen. the policemen
afoot, hardly arrived before the crowd
surged into Fulton street from Van
Ness and Polk. eager for admission 10
the courtroom The fortunate few
passed the blueooats at the door the
rest formed a queue OF patient walters
that extended well down the street
and only diminished one by one as
those within departed
The automobiles that brought the
! defendant. his array Of oounsslors and
the prosecuting attorneys had hardly
backed away from the entrance when
the jury arrived BY that time, just
O'Clock. the hall was filled with spec
tstnrs, the neTspapermsn were at their
desks. the Judge had assembled the
bench-the scene was set for the last
act OF tremendous drama
Carpenters hall was not unworthy
OF the approaching event It's simple,
unpretendous architectural lines thrust
forward nothing 90 offend the eye; it's
associations were already historical
There was w2gsd the fierce. legal bat
tie that ended IN the conviction of Abe
Ruef; there was the desk. the boards
OF the floor that had been incarnadined
with the blood OF the public prose
cutor.
The audience left nothing to be de-
sired. Perhaps men predoninated. but
not largely. It was a motley throng,
as all representative public gatherings
must be: the idle vicious and the idle
wealthy, mechanic, clerk. merchant.
professional man. 1 noted the pastor
OF fashionable flock, an eye and ear
specialist who is young but already
distinguished, an actor studying the
drama OF real life, a collector pilfering
few minutes from his employer. a
banker forgetful for the nonce of divi-
dends. lawyers innumerable, coma to
study the methods OF their masters.
Most of the ladies wore the button
of the League OF Justice: theirs were the
seats of privilege. Some of them were
beautlful-an editors wife studying
the scene with' unwearying lorgnette,
a society woman who will be off to
her beloved Paris when the verdict is
/ rendered, a writer OF books lookin g
through shrewdly observant glasses.
/ Some were far from beautiful, If truth
must be said. but the faces of all held
an earnestness that is rarer than
/ beauty
In the retirement OF corner sat the
wife and the two daughters OF the
prisoner at the bar. Unused to such
an atmosphere, suffering surely the
keenest pang that womankind can
know. they showed a front of comedy
fortitude that would challenge the ad-
miration of the sternest In the mys-
terious ordinations OF providence,
women must suffer for the sins OF their
men; thank God that their cheerful
bravery is ever an example to what is
called the stronger sex" 1t was not
in human nature that the looks leveled
at these three women--or rather, at
women of the League OF Justice should
always carry charity and sympathy.
But the ladies Of the Calhoun family