The San Francisco call., 1909-11-05

AWAIT IANGDON TO
ACT IN GRAFT CASE
District Attorneys Staff to De-
fer Action Pending Return
of Their Chief
Conceded That Continuance of
Prosecution Would Be a
Waste of Effort

"At present / can not say what dis
position will be made of the graft
cases now pending in the courts said
Heney yesterday. II have had no op-
portunity to consult with Mr.. Langdon,
and do not know what his intentions
are. He is out of the city at present.
but 1 presume that we will confer upon
the matter when he returns and that he
will then make an announcement as to
what will be done. Personally, I have
nothing to say on the matter at this
time OF one thing j am certain, how
ever and that is that none of the cases
will be dismissed during Mr.. Langdons
tenure in Office
GRAFT CASES AT AN END
Despite Heneys refusal to discuss the
situation relative to the graft cases in
view of his own defeat in the district
attorneyship fight and the election of
Charles NJ. Fickert to succeed Langdon,
1t is reasonably certain that the graft
cases are already terminated and that
nothing more than perfunctory, formal
action pertaining TO continuances will
be taken during the remaining weeks
that the present administration is in
power.
District Attorney Langdon is out of
the city and will not return until the
first of next week. and until such time
it is improbable that any authoritative
statement will be made. Heney him
self accepts the view that his defeat is
tantamount TO a declaration by a ma
jority of the citizens of San Francisco
that they desire the graft prosecutions
to cease, and this view is taken by
practically every one connected with
the district attorneys office Under
such ditionS 1t would be worse than
useless for any cases to be set for trial
prior to January s, when the new ad-
ministration will take office.
AWAIT RETURN OF LANGDON
Assistant District Attorney John
O'Gara, who has taken part in the
prosecution of nearly all the graft
trials, declared yesterday that he did
not expect anything to be done with
any of them, although. he added the
decision in this respect would rest with
Langdon.
"The people have shown by their
votes that they do not desire a con-
tinuance of these cases, and L do not see
why 1t is incumbent upon Mr. Langdon
or Mr.. Heney to do anything further
with them said O'Gara. The Calhoun
case is set IOT lT1di november 10, DuI
Judge Lawlor is not expected to return
from the east before the last of the
month. Even if the case went on we
would be doing better than we have
done before If we secured jury by the
time Mr.. Langdon's term expires, and 1t
would certainly be foolish for us to i'm
panel a jury with which another man
would try the case-that is, if he would
try 1t at all. l presume that when the
various graft cases come up they will
simply be continued 10 some date after
January 8, though when 1 say this 1 am
merely expressing my personal opinion
WHAT WILL FICKERT Dor
That Fickert will dismiss all the
cases. or at least the bulk of them, is
the generally accepted supposition. If
he takes the view accepted by Heney
and Langdon that his election is an
evidence OF desire on the part of the
people that the prosecution should
cease, he would have reasonable ex-
planation for dismissing the cases. On
the other hand, he has put himself on
record as favoring the prosecution of
every guilty man, whether rich or poor.
The decision undoubtedly rests with
Fickert The present administration
will drop the cases at their present
status and Fickert will have the op-
portunity. Immediately on his inaugu-
ration. to put his own policy into oper-
alton without hindrance due to any
action taken between now and that
time.