The San Francisco call., 1910-11-27
MAYOR TRACES
BRIBERY TALES
TO The SOURCE
Mccarthy Determined to Put a
Stop to the Whispering
Campaigns
Declares 1t Is Time to Expose
the Man Who Circulates
False RumOr

row IL VIII take up the letter of Mayor
MCCARTHY in which he asks for an in
yestigation of the reports affecting his
oneial integrity. The mayor has given
| the grand jury the names of six wit
| nesses who will be called upon to tes-
| tify. Each of these declared yesterday
that he had no knowledge of municipal
| corruption. Each expressed surprise
that his name should have been mem
! toned by the mayor.
The mayor repeated yesterday his
| declaration that he intended to have
/ the matter probed to the end in order
| to put stop to these whispering cam
paigns.
I'VE have had enough of these vile
subterranean methods in San Francis
! co. he said. 1T was not so long ago
| that rumors were spread over the
! street that this firm and that was on
the point of failure; that big retail
houses were going into the hands OF
| receivers and similar nonsense. These
reports were scattered throughout the
breadth of the state; they were even
| carried east. They had not the slight
! est scintilla of fact for a basis, but
! they did untold harm to the city. Now
| some people have set these rumors
af1oat about me. / feel it my duty, as
mayor of the city, to have them run
! to their source so that these liars in
our midst may be exposed"
WILL TRACE TALES OF BRIBES
The particular rumors that the mayor
! desires investigated are to the effect
| that he received one bribe of $4,000
and another of 100000 The mayor is
anxious to trace these tales back to
! their source. He said yesterday that
| he believed he could point to the re-
/ sponsible persons. They would be
| found he said within a few hundred
feet of Third and Market streets.
These reports assumed certain en-
! bellishments as they travelled. one
told, for instance, of a pleasant evening
| at a lakeside resort, with stakes mount
! ing high and the head of big public
service corporation the loser to the
mayor by many thousands. This and
| kindred recitals sped on their career
! from lip to lip until the mayor de-
termined upon what he regards as the
most effective refutation.
! The mayor has attributed the circu-
lation of these reports to two different
channels. In one group he names Leon
Liebes. the furrier; John Rothschild.
wholesale grocer. and Colonel George
H. Pippy. In the other he mentions
| Thornwell Mutually, William M. Abb
bott and Luther Brown, all connected
with the United Railroads.
! All these were emphatic yesterday
in their declarations that they knew
nothing of the charges which the mayor
attributed to them. Most Of them adj
mitted that they had heard the stories
ABSURD. SAYS LIEBEs
When first approached on the sub
ject, Leon Liebes said that the mayors
reference to him was absurd. Later he
declined to discuss the subject al all
John Rothschild asserted that he had
not been a party to the circulation Of
any reports about the mayor.
\ Il have no knowledge of the things
of which the mayor speaks" said he
"A few days ago he sent some one
to me to ask what 1 had heard of these
rumors. mike others, had heard them,
but that was all I have no informa
tion of any sort of the charges of
bribery of which he speaks"
George II. Pippy, like the others, had
heard the rumors, but denied that he
had aided in their circulation.
Il am no tale bearer said Pippy,
"and | have not carried nor spread any
rumors abont Mayor Mccarthy.
know him quite we'll and have met him
socially. 1t is ridiculous to think that
1 had any hand in spreading these re-
ports. The rumors which have been
abroad we have all heard 1 paid no
attention to them. however. and was in
no way responsible for their circula-
ton"
ORIGINATORS KNOWN
Mccarthy has made an inquiry on
his own account and is rather strongly
convinced that he could point without
error to the originators of the tales of
municipal corruption. The mayor
states that these persons are not far
removed from the junction of Kearny
and Market streets. Within easy
range of this geographical point a
former member of the present adminis-
tration has been long established. Out
wardly his parting bore the stains of
mutual sorrow. Time, however, has
been known to reopen old wounds, as
well to heal them
1t is known that there are not far
from this same geographical center
ears willing and even eager to hear
such tales as may be brought from the
citadel of the administration. The
story, at any rate, has been showed up
and down the street, and scandalous
tales were prepared and pigeonholed,
ready for immediate use.
From this, as the friends of the
mayor believe, the varfegated rumors
were given their impetus, gathering
volume and variety as they spread,
until they have become as fat and
robust $4,000 rumors as ever man con-
ceived