The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-03-28
DEFENSE
SHOWN Up
STARTLING REVELATIONS OF
CONDITIONS EXISTING IN
SAN FRANCISCO.
STOLEEvIDEhCE FROM BURNS

liam ]. Burns, Confesses to Have
Entered Safe and Delivered Doeu-
.ments to Grafters
SAM FRANCISCO, March 27.-FOllow
| ing the arrest of five men accused of
j conspiring to secure confidential pap.
| ers relating to the graft cases from
| the priva,e Office of Distlct Attorney
| Langdon, the office of Patrick Calhoun,
president of the United Railroads as
we'll as the adjoining rooms occupied
| by his legal staff, and the general ofn-
ces of the railroad company Were Tor
chilly entered and searched tonight by
! detectives sent by The district attor-
| ney's office. Luther Brown, head OF
| the railroad detectives and James,
Kandlon, claim agent of the company
were arres. ed on warrants charging
/ them with larceny and a warrant is
sued for the arrest of William NJ Alb
| bott. assistant general counsel for the
company, on a chareg of receiving
stolen goods.
Five Others Taken.
| Five men were arrested this after
noon and locked in separate cells IN
the city prison, accused of consplrlng
| to secure confidential recsrds and
| transcripts of evidence of value to the
defense in the graft cases from the
|! private office of the district attorney
| They are:
Rex N Hamlin, confidential employe
| of District Attorney Langdon and for
two yGrs private secretary 20 Detec-
tive William J. Burns; A. Mckinley.
| William Corbin, E. A Platt and Jerry
Van Wormer.
After his arrest Hamlin broke down
and made a confession of his part IN
the affair. He was the only man IN
the district attorneys office who pos
| sessed a key o Burns desk and also
the combination to the safe. 1t is al
legged that Hamlin. for a consideration
of $40 month has been in the prac-
tice of transcrfbing records and docu-
ments he tl.t ught would import
ance to the graft defense and turned
them over to Mckinley, who is declar-
ed to have acted as go-betWeen.
i About two months ago Burns be-
4 came suspicious of Hamiin and since
then he has been allowed 10 handle
nothing of Importance Platt is al
legged to have sold reports of 1nvestl-
gtaions of members of the grand jury
panels in the graft cases and the 9TH
ers are said TO be implicated as inter-
mediators in the matter.
Officers Make Raid.
The raid on the legal offices in the
Balboa building was conducted Dy
Police Detective Thomas Murphy and
Assistant District Attorney Harrison
Accompanied by dozen plain clo. hes
men of the staff employed by William
Burns. special agent connected with
, the graft prosecution. they appeared
before the door Earl Rogers. of Cal
houn's counsel in the bribary trial an
swered their knock. He refused to
, admit them claiming that the search
warrant they presented was not entire
| L 31:a fo, he a.
tectives broke through The glass panel
in the door and entered the room
where they searched every desk ano
| box and found. Meanwhile they hao
summoned aid from police headquart-
ers and 30 or more bluecoats jostlec
elbows with couple of dozen detec-
, tives and special agents in the halls
I while the ransacking of the rooms pro-
ceeded.
After the glass door had been shat
. tered Rogers and Stanley MOOrs, also
of Ca'houn's counsel, who with severa
other attorneys were in the Offices
made no further objection.
1 Thorough Search Made.
The policemen, detectives, news
paper men and sightseers who hat
made their way into the building
thrOnged the rooms, trampl1ng tn
broken glass under foot The search
e some member of the railroad legal stat
always on watch beside them and no
a drawer or safe was missed in th'
eyes of the detectives.
The first desk opened was that o.
Abbott and according to the state
v ments made by Detective Burns lat
tonight papers were found there which
o had been taken from his office. Thes,
e were the papers called for by the
f searh warrants.
ei At abot the same time Raymond
t Burns son of the detective, led par
t ty to the office of Luther Brown il
e the Pacific building and a search un
t der warrant issued by Police Judg
e Deasy, is stated to have brought t.
e light other of the papers alleged t.
e have been taken from the office o
| Burns and that of the district attor
e ney. All these papers were appro
e priated and Browns arrest fallowed
u OF the five men arrested this after
u | noon, Rex N Hamlin Burns secre
y tary. an employe of the United Rail
! roads: William Corbin, said to be al
= employe of Frank J. Murphy, and Alb
raham Ruef; Jerry an Wormer, o
il Browns office; E. A. Platt, a forme
o employe of the district attorney
= office Hamlin, Mckinney, Corbin an,
. Platt are said by Burns to have con
a fessed that they took papers from hi
d office and turned them over to tn
e United Railroads men. The detectiv
: stated that Hamlin aroused his sus
e picions some months ago and sine
e that time he has been watching an
e testing him. When arrested Hamli
e quickly gave way and admitted hi
e guilt Burns at once gathered his me-
: for a raid and secured search war
rants for the railroad offices an
Browns office. He first sent ther
to Oak street, where the general affic
n is located, but on later information
IS decided to try the Balboa building. I
IS the meantime he had heard that