The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-25
ESTATES OF THE
DEAD PLUNDFRED
John S. de Lancey and A. j.
Flood of Public Admins
traitors Office Indicted
Alameda County Grand Jury Sc,
cures Evidence of System
OF Petty Grating

N--N- 7---S iO4 SefS were returned by the
grand jury against Attorney John S.
de Lanoey and Clerk A ]. Flood as the
latest development today in the scandal
in Public Administrator George Gray's
Office
De Lancey was arrested by Deputy
Sheriff Reilly and was at once released
by Superior Judge Brown on $4,000
bonds furnished by a surety company.
de Will be arraigned tomorrow morn
ING and the date Of his trial may then
be set.
Flood viii be arrested when he stems
from the steamer Friday or Saturday
returning from his vacation at Seattle
SEARCHING INVESTIGATION
The investigation of accounts in
Gray's Office win be vigorously prose-
cuted and the grand jury will devote
its sessions next week to going over
records Of every estate which he has
handled The disposition to shift re-
sponsibllity from Gray to his subor-
oinates has ceased and Gray will here
after be held TO close. accounting.
Revelations given by numerous wit
nesses before the grand jury showed,
II IS alleged, that undertakers and ply
slcians and all persons dealing with the
settling Of estates had been subjected
20 petty grating as a regular thing,
Flood collecting on an average 10 per
cent Of their charges for services.
Where this money went has not been
disclosed, but it is not thought that
Flood kept il all.
Events Of the day moved rapidly At
noon De Lancey and Gray announced
that De Lancey's resi- gnation had been
accepted. a direct contradiction of their
positive assertions TO the contrary of the
day before. De Lancey then stated that
he had 0r1z- severed his
ton with Gray's Office as legal adviser,
but had also decided TO give up the
practice of law and retire to his ranch
He was plainly worried by the course
of affairs and admitted that his plans
for the immediate future were badly
unsettled.
SI15 FOR PAUPER BURIAL
The forgery charges were based on
evidence that a fraudulent claim for
sl15 had been submitted to the court,
approved and paid from the estate of
A L. Poundstone for burial services.
POundstone was known to have died at
the county inhrmary and TO have been
buried in the potter's field The claim
bore the alleged signature of E.
James Finney, the body of the
claim being in Floods handwrit-
ing. POundstOne was found TO have
had $500 in the bank and Grand
Army veterans Of whose organization
in the question whether this money
eould not be used TO exhume the body
from the county infirmary cemetery
and to give decent burial in a regular
cemetery. Then it was disclosed that
q claim for burial services had already
been allowed against his cash accounts.
Einney and his chief assistant, Bert
Sargent. denied that they had rendered
any services for Poundstone and Fin
ney pronounced the signature to be a
forgery. Submission to Experts Carl
Eisenschimel and Theodore Rytka
brought confirmation Of this statement,
the experts declaring that the forgery
was crude and apparent at a glance.
The money was paid to Flood.
DE LANCEY INDICTMENT
De Lancey was indicted for having
presented the alleged forged claim TO
the court for approval The code Sec
ton covering the Issuance and utter
ance" Of known forgeries was invoked
for his Indictment. The testimony pre-
scented today convinced both District
Attorney Donahue and members Of the
grand jury that De Lancey could not
have been ignorant Of the fictitious ma
ture OF the so called Finney claim and
that in presenting it TO the court for
approval he had acted so with full
knowledge Of the fraud.
De Lancey repeated his former de-
malls Of any knowledge of the forgery,
declaring that it had come TO him from
Flood in the regular way and that he
knew nothing Of it, but had taken
Floods word
His indictment came as a surprise.
for heavy pressure had been brought
TO bear on District Attorney Donahue
from various sources to save De Lam
ccv. Bail was ready for Flood, but
w1eu De Lancey learned of his indict-
the bond was changed for his
.enience. He was arrested as he
,.4s about to board a car for Hayward.
During the day he was in long con-
ference with Captain Of Detectives Pc
tersen at the district attorneys Offices.
Gray was called before the grand
jury for an hours examination. and on
emerging repeated that he knew moth
ing of>the Poundstone affair, and had
relied implicitly on Flood throughout
for clerical work
TESTIMONY OF UNDERTAKINGS
Among witnesses examined today
were H c. Gallagher and A. P. Smiley,
undertsk ers at Alameda. ]. E Beaudry
OF the firm Of Beaudry & McAvoy and
Bert Sargent. From these the disclos-
ures Of grating came the witnesses
reluctantly admitting that they had
been shaken down" by Flood when
ever their services were. called upon.
Sargent also repeated his previous dec
laratiOn that Finney's signature was a
forgery and the firm had not buried
.Poundstone or made any claim against
him.
Then the investigation shifted to
members of the entertainments union
several of whom had died while en-
ployed here, and had had their affairs
closed up by Flood and De Lancey.
Frank ". Frost Of the accounting de-
partment Of the Oakland traction COM
pany, who handles the payroll, was ex-
amined regarding the payment Of sala-
ries due deceased carmen to the public
administrator. T. w. Smart president
Of the carmen's union, was also a wit
ness examined along that line.
NJ T. Silva, deputy county recorder
who keeps mortality records outside
the incorporated towns. and Frank
Marlin clerk at the county infirmary
who keeps records of patients there
were briefly examined to establish the
recording Of Poundstone's death.
HANDWRITING EXPERTS
Cray and De Lancey were afterward
called and examined at length At the
close Of the session Eisenschimel and
Kytka testified regarding the Pound
stone forgery. Eisenschimel had pre-