The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1912-02-06
TRUSTEES dope
ring IN COUNTY
JAIL BROKEN UP
Thriving Industry in Penal In
stitution Stopped by Eggers
and Gilfether
Thirteen Prisoners Sentenced
for Violating Poison Law
Denied Privileges

Sheriff Fred Eggers and Superintendent
of Jails A. j. Gilfeather is the breaking
up of the dope" ring that fiourished in
the county jail for two years.
Thirteen men serving sentences for
violation of the poison or dope" law
have been taken out of the line of trus-
ties. A thriving industry has been
broken up. For the first time since
! the law making it a felony to carry
dope" into a county jail was enacted
an offender has been held to answer
years the state board of pharmacy is
receiving the active and effective CO.
operation of the county Jail staff in its
crusade against the drug traffic.
Line of dope" Sellers
Four weeks ago, when Sheriff Eggers
turned the county jails over to Super
itnendent G;lfether4 with orders to
clean up Gilfether found solid line
of drug peddlers extending from the
front gate of branch. jail No. 2. into
virtually every department of the
prison.
That line was composed of prisoners,
every one of whom was serving a SEN
tence for violation of the state poison
or dope law. Beginning with the
men on the gate. extending across the
shop kitchens and even the oil room,
there was line of 3 TRUSTEES serv-
ing sentences of from so days to six
months for pedding dope
Black King of Ring
Just before Eggers took possession,
the retiring sheriff announced that
Jack Black had made his escape. Black,
a notorious criminal. was the inside
king of the dope" ring. He entered
4 the branch jail with hut cart of a shirt
A few days before the time he escaped
from the Jail he was known to have
$2,700 in his money belt. the profits
of the traffic he had bossed in the jail.
Prior to Eggers' incumbency drug
Jail sentences. with the alternative of
fines were source of double profit.
They saved the amount of the fines by
going to jail. and in jail found a fertile
! field for their operations.
Now, with the trade broken up in the
JAIL the wise" drug peddlers are pay
/ ing the fines imposed upon them after
conviction by the state board of phar-
macy.
PAID FINE AND LEFT
| In fact, one of them, who had settled
down at the jail in anticipation of a
prosperous three months, found it such
a dull place under the Gilfeather man.
| agement that he has paid his fine and
| sought pastures new. The other dope
peddler TRUSTEES" who remain in the
jail are in their cells. No drug vendor
| or drug user is in the line of TRUSTEES
nor out of his cell except during the
regular walking hours.
The conditions at the branch jail
were almost beyond belief. Strenuous
/ efforts have been made to distract at
tention from the disclosures that were
/ inevitable. That those efforts will be
| futile is evidenced by the fact that the
records are incontrovertible and the
4 IuJl0eT TACT thai piSpdI dLiOilS " Iiidht
an official presentation to the grand
jury are virtually complete.
TRUSTEES SOLD DRUG
Some idea of what the conditions
were at the jail may be gathered from
consideration of the makeup of the
dope, line that went out of business
when Eggers assumed the duties of
L
| sheriff.
/ According to information obtained
through the investigation. the two gate
TRUSTEES were dope peddlers. These
men alternated In the care of the front
gate. They were Edward Blume and
John Barnes. Next in the line were
three gardeners. Harry Morton. John
Sullivan and William Allen. Their
| headquarters were under the stairs to
the main entrance of the jail. They
| worked without the supervision OF
guards in the Jail yard and were able
| to communicate at will with the gate
| TRUSTEES.
From the gardeners cache under the
main stairs the dope line. 1t is de-
cIared. reached into the building to
Jesse johnson, the butcher shop trusty /;
| to William X. Holden, head waiter in
the prisoners dining room; to Harry La
Touche, cook; Frederick Reed, cooks
helper in the guards dining room !:
Wong Sing, pantry man in the super
intendent's dining room; Arthur Nc
DaieIs and Frank Slattery, walters in
the superintendent's dining room: Paul
Gallivan, in the laundry, and Lee Dun
ply, in charge OF the oilroom.
SOLD PRISONERS OIL
! Dunphy had made a comfortable start
upon a sentence of 100 days imposed as
an alternative for 5000 fine for ped
ding dope. His Importance was such
that he was not compelled to wear the
Jail uniform He was the custodian OF
the oiiroom and to him was intrusted as
side line the vending OF the county's
/ oil to the prisoners who had money to
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