Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-23
CALHOUN'S STATEMENT

m HE statement issued by Mr.. Cal
houn after the failure of the jury
Il to convict him, and published in
full in all the pro-Calhoun journals or
the state, furnishes about as striking
an example as we have lately seen of
the incapacity of the average grating,
bribing captain of industry to appre-
ciate the average intelligence of the
public.
These men seem to think that all that
is necessary to impose upon the public
is to make almost any kind of specious
claims of merit for themselves, or de-
merit for the men who are opposing
their dishonest or oppressive schemes.
For illustration take this excerpt from
Mr. Calhouns statement:
"There lie in the courtroom forty
checks made by Rudolph Spreckels to
Francis J. Heney since his alleged ap-
pointment as assistant district attor-
ney. Those checks were deposited in
the American National bank to his prl-
vate account. They aggregate $23 900.
The first Of them amounts to $4,000. They
are the price of his infamy. He can
not escape the fact that he is cor
rupt public official by the contention
that he has been engaged in a holy
crusade. He cannot defend the accept
ance of money from a private citizen
for the express purpose of enabling him
to devote himself exclusively to the So
called graft prosecution without COM
mitting the crime of accepting a bribc.
here make the formal and specific
charge that Francis J. Heney stands
side by side with James L. Gallagher as
corrupt public official"
The foregoing is about the veriest
rot that was ever penned by a man
with the intention of deceiving or mis-
leading the public. Nothing is more
common than for individuals interest
ed, either personally or as citizens, in
the enforcement of the criminal laws,
to employ a special prosecutor and
pay him to assist the law officers of the
state in bringing to book some crimi-
nal whose actions have been such as to
make his conviction especially desira-
BILE In many instances it has been for
ttunate for the administration of justice
and the execution of the laws that
these privately paid prosecutors have
been employed. Such special prosecu-
tors have many times been employed
and paid by private persons in our own
county to the advantage of law en-
| forcement.
Had Mr.. Spreckels or any other pub
| lie spirited citizen of San Francisco
paid Mr.. Heney a good round sum per
month for the services which he has
rendered in endeavoring to destroy the
graft and corruption which were sap
ping the very life OF that very unfor=
tunate city they would merely have
been doing the part of good citizens.
That these men only paid the expenses
of conducting Mr.. Heney's office, whose
force was beyond any question largely
used in the graft prosecutions, only
goes to show that Mr.. Heney has re-
ceived for his services as special prose-
cutor in San Francisco graft cases less
than he should have received.
That Mr.. Heney was made a deputy
district attorney by appointment from
the district attorney of San Francisco
was merely to give official sanction to
his acts in the cause Of justice and law
enforcement.
For Mr.. Calhoun to say that because
the firm of which Mr.. Heney was a
member accepted a sum sufficient to
pay the running expenses of it's office
from Mr.. spreckels and other public
spirited citizens of San Francisco Mr..
Heney was guilty Of the crime of ac-
cepting a bribe, only goes to show the
desperate lengths to which Mr.. Calhoun
and his fellow criminals are reduced in
their efforts to attract attention from
their own delinquencies by alleging
wrongdoing in some one else.
One would have supposed that Mr..
Calhouns experience in bribery matters
would have given him a more correct
idea of what the crime Of bribery con-
sists. Or, to be excessively charitable,
we might suppose that a man who ap-