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Show MBS DOCKET OF USTWFT CISE Court Dismisses Those Charged With Ruef and Schmitz of Bribery. ENDS LONG PROSECUTION Delay in Bringing Oases to Trial Assigned as Reason for Dropping Drop-ping Indictments. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 15. The district dis-trict court of appeals of the First district dis-trict Issuod a peremptory writ of mandate man-date today to compel Superior Judge William Wil-liam P. Lawlbr to dismiss Indictments pending against Patrick Calhoun. Thorn-wall Thorn-wall Mullally, Tlroy L. Ford and William Wil-liam M. Abbott, charged with bribing the Ruef-Schmltz supervisors In connection connec-tion with the United Railroads trolley franchise. The decision ends the graft prosecution financed by Rudolph Spreckels and prosecuted prose-cuted by Attorney Francis J. Honey and Detective William J. Burns, immediately after tho fire. The court held that tho defendants had a right to a specdv trial, and Inasmuch as tho case had been "indefinitely "indefi-nitely postponed by Judge Lawlor, owing to the absence of the principal witness, fprmor Supervisor James L. Gallagher, the court believed there was nothing else to do but to order the dismissal of the Indictments. The facts made by tho defense de-fense were not disputed by tho district attorney. The graft prosecutions wore started in the fall of I00G. while San Francisco was .lust beginning to clear away tho ashes of Is great catastrophe. AH of the 300 indictments, in-dictments, except those In tho French restaurant scandal, which formed the opening wedge against Mayor Schmitz and Abe Ruef. related lo alleged acts of bribery brib-ery during the confused times following tho fire. In March, 1907. Burns caught Supervisors Supervi-sors Ixmergan. Bo'xton and Walsh In tho act of accepting a decoy bribe. On their confessions, others of the Schmitz board were involved and several supervisors, on tho promise of Immunity, turned state's evidence The Indictment of the four United Railroads Rail-roads officials was the culminating act of the prosecution. There were fourteen true bills agalns each, and Ruef. turning state's evidence, said before the grand Jury that he had received ?200,000 from Ford for putting through the trolley franchise fran-chise ordinance. Of this, he said the supervisors su-pervisors received SSn.OOO. he and Schmitz dividing the rest. Later ho repudiated his confession. Gallagher, who was acting mayor tn Schmltz's absence, confessed that he distributed dis-tributed the sum among, enough supervisors supervi-sors to carry the bill, reserving a $15,000 commission for himself. Ford was tho first to go to trial and a disagreement resulted. In his next two trails the Jury voted acquittals, Ruef was tried on a trolley indictment and found guilty In December. 190S. He Is now serving a fourtocn-ycar term In San Quentln penitentiary. It was during his trial that Henoy was shot down In court by an ox-conv!ct who subsequently committed stilcldo In Jail. Hiram W. Johnson, now governor of California, succeeded suc-ceeded Hcncy as prosecutor. Calhoun was the last to face Judge Lawlor, but tho Jury was unable to agree on a verdlcL Among the sensational Incidents of tho graft trails was tho dynamiting of tho Gallagher flats and the raid on tho offices of the United Railroads, where Burns found 2000 documents that he said were copied from tho reports of his own men. Rudolph Spreckels was put on the stand during the proceedings, and testified that a fund of $23-1.000 had been raised to assist as-sist Hcney and Burns, to which he alone contributed $175,000. When Charles Flckort became district attorney In January. 1010, following Honey's Ho-ney's defeat for election. Gallagher left the state, being seen on an Atlantic liner and later traced to British Columbia. On the ground that ho had no means to convict, con-vict, Flckert made a motion to dismiss tho United Railroads indictments, which was denied by Judgo Lawlor. Ford appeared at tho next calling of his case and demanded either an Immediate trial or tho quashing of the charges. Judge Lawlor continued to postpone trial over Ford's protests. Proceedings for release In habeas corpus were then began In tho supreme court of the state, but were do-nled. do-nled. with tho suggeslon that a writ of mandate would be the proper remedy. |