The San Francisco call., 1909-01-26

. d
salesman. 1925 Green street
Michael Mcguire, retired hay
and grain dealer, 281 Page street.
As erratic as has been the recent
state Of the weather was the manner in
which the Calhoun case entered into
the third week OF trial yesterday morn
ing Tt went forward in the getaway
win a most promising burst Of speed;
then the glowing indications fzzled.
and inside Of an hour of the opening Of
the session the pace had settled TO the
normal drag of dreary. endless, unpro-
gressive routine.
TT was through no lack of willingness
on the part Of the attorneys to pick to
pieces his expressed beliefs and find
flaws ia his mental processes that en-
abled the first talesman examined to
escape the usual fate and find his way
TO the jury box The inquiry was as
exhaustive and as searching in his case
rs in the cases Of the hundred and
some odd others who have been dis
qualified but Michael Mcguire, the
talesman in question, was invulnerable
to attack Wrinkled of visage,. appar-
emily devoid of the slightest sense of
hlrmor retired from business and i'm
prejudice or opinion Mcguire typified
the statute book ideal of all that a
juror should be. He withstoOd the bat
terry Of catechism for an hour and then
was passed as juror subject TO per-
emptory challenge.
Determined, evidently. that such an
accident Of progress should not be re-
peated 10 the upsetting OF established
precedent. the attorneys took no more
er he "A xs-11n fol
lowed were questioned and disposed of
in the most approved fashion. The
venire on hand was reduced by more
than half and when adjournment for
The day was taken by the court at the
noon hour a new panel Of Go was or
dered summonea for o'clock this aft
ernoon. Judge Lawlor did not sit yes
terday afternoon because of a meeting
OF the judges Of the superior court
which he found it necessary TO attend
Should the process of elimination
continue as successfully today as 1t
has for several days past there Will be
no regular proceedings to interfere
with the preliminary examination of
the members of the new venire when
they appear this afternoon, for by 4
o clock there viii be no talesmen left
except the FIVE now in the jury box
The questioning of the So new venire-
men as TO their statutory qualifications
TO serve as jurors viii be taken up
by Judge Lawlor at the hour set and
continued until all excuses have been
heard.
DETMILER CASE CALLED
An echo Of another graft case
sounded in the Calhoun trial yesterday
morning when the case of A. X. Det-
wiler, fugitive magnate Of the Home
telephone company, was called on the
calendar for arraignment. Assistant
District Attorney OGara stated that
lines of communication with the miss
ing defendant had not vet been estab-
lished by the district attorneys Office
and, as has been done several scores of
times before, the case was put over
for another month owing to the alb
sence of the. defendant
Stanley Moore took the lead in the
examination of talesmen in behalf of
the defense, with Michael Mcguire OF
269 Page street, a retired hay and grain
merchant, as his first subject Ma
guire had never wasted any time in
developing embarrassing acquaintance
ships and was unencumbered with
friends whose alliance with either
prosecution or defense might serve to
interest or sway him. He told Moore
that he had no opinion at all as to
whether Patrick Calhoun was guilty
or innocent Of bribery. and then was
asked if he was not pretty sure in his
own mind that the Schmitz- -Ruef ag-
gregation Of supervisors was bribed
by some one.
I've heard of solid eights' and solid
mines in the boards OF supervisors" he
admitted, but / don't know anything
about any bribery"
Don't YOU know that the supervisors
have confessed that they We're brfbed2 %
persisted Moore.
No. I don't" he answered Il don't
know whether they confessed or wheth-
er the papers just said they did"
MAGUIRE WITHOUT OPINIONS
Mcguire was positive in his state
ments that he had no prejudice against
Calhoun, any Of his lawyers or any one
connected with the prosecution, and
that he had never formed or expressed
any opinion concerning the attitude
taken by Calhoun in respect to the
car strike. In fact. he said, he had
never talked about the merits of the
car strike or the merits of the graft
prosecution. Moore looked at his
watch, discovered that the struggle
with the talesman had lasted nearly
an hour, and then. after a short pause
said. Il think that's all"
O'Gara finished the matter with four
or five questions. Mcguire added Ia
what he already had said that he fel,
no sympathy toward either side en-
gagged IN the trial, that he believed cir
cumstantial evidence was proper to con-
vict when enough of it was offered
and that he would believe the testi-
mony Of supervisors just the same as
other witnesses unless evidence con
WINGED him Of the untruth of their
sworn statements. O'Gara passed the
talesman, but Stanley Moore did not
like the answer given about belief IN
the testimony Of the supervisors. He
asked two or three additional ques-
fions. received answers which appar-
entity satisfied him. and then passed
Mcguire finally without challenge.
For a few minutes there were indica-
fions that the second talesman. Rich