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Show ; FEDERAL GRAND ! JURY INDICTS f SEATTLEMAYDR Hiram C. Gill Charged With I Violation of Liquor Laws rl and Accepting Bribe I From 'Whisky Ring.' CHIEF OF POLICE ALSO INVOLVED I i Four Detectives and a Former For-mer Sheriff Named in the Bill; ex-Policeman Ac- ' cused of Intimidation. I I . ; SEATTLE, Jan. 27. Mayor lUiam C. Gill, Chief of Police Charles L. Beck-inghani Beck-inghani and iormor Sheriff Bobert T. Hodge were indicted today by the fed-cm! fed-cm! grand jury, charged with violation ! of the federal liquor laws. Government agents charge Mayor Gill j received a $-4000 bribe , in connection ' with activities of an alleged ring which has made illegal liquor shipments into Washington since the prohibition law i became effective a year ago. Indictments were also returned j against four city detectives and a for mer policeman, whn, with Mayor Gill, i Chief Bockingham and Hodge, are charged by the government with graft ' and conspiracy to violate the interstate cotnmerco and federal liquor laws. . Detectives indijtcd are Moyer M. rl'eyeer, John Pool'.nan, .lames E. Doom and Dan J. McLennan, who are charged jointly with Gill, Bockingham and Hodgo in two counts, t'. J. Mullen, fo-mor policeman, is cTfrged with attempting to intimidate Lcn imd Fred Billingsloj, government witnesses, in an effort to induce them to jump thoir bond and flee to Canada. Many Involved. OlherB indicted include Logan and Fred Billingsley, heais of the so-c.nlled Seattle liquor syndicate; W. H. Pielow, president of the Piolo.v Special Delivery Deliv-ery ami Transfer company; Kdward P. Buker, manager of the Jesse Moore Hunt crmpany, a San Francisco liquor firm, ano William Fr.izior of the Fra-7icr Fra-7icr Transfer compauy of Seattle. All of the thirteen defendants are charged jointly witn conspiracy in one indietn'-ent, with tho exception of Mul- leu, who is accused siugly. Mayer Gill, Chief Beekinghain and Hodge, with the four city detectives, former members of the water front division di-vision of the police "drv" squad, eie f ckyrged with plotting witri the Bilhujc- leys to ship quantities of whiaky into L Seattle under organized officiaJ and ' police protection. j Mayor Gill is acensjd by the govern ment with having aceer: id the .$U'C0 bribe irom Logan Billiigslev at the tlmo tho alleged conspiracy began. Bribery Alleged. Seeial instances whoro Chief Beck-I Beck-I ir.glirioi took substantial bribes from the ' Billiarsleys and in which, if is charged, i he aided them to steal liquor eousigrcd to other persons, are alleged by the ' federal authorities. ! Hodge also is charged with taking . ' moxe' from the ''whisky ring" and, together with the ma,-jr and the po.ice, Vm JJ1' providing the n-odicate with prc- f V."7Vion for its illicit operations. '. ; Ii dieted December 2 for conspiracy to violate the federal liquor laws. lh IHllingsleys early this month entered fleas of guilty in the United States dis-rict dis-rict court and became witnesses for ' 1 the government. Bench warrants for the arrest of the , defendants were issued today by Jndge Jeremiah Neterer ,of the federal court J immediately following return of the in- dictments. " The offense charged against Gill, ! Beckingham and Hodge, as well as the '' others named in the conspiracv indict ment, upon conviction, is punishable bv imprisonment of two years or a fine of 810,000, or both, on "each of the two counts. Mayor Gill said tonight that he would , not even temporarily detach himself from his office because of the indiet-, indiet-, ment and that he would be a candidate for re-election in 1918. Gill Gives Bond. As soon as they learned of the indictments indict-ments Gill, Beckingham and Detectives . Peyser. Doom and McLennan went to the federal building and gave $o.l00 tail each. Former Sheriff Hodge is said to be arranging a bond. The Billingsleys and Pielow and Fra- zier, transfer men, aro already under i bond for earlier indictments, and new security was not required from them. Mayor Gill, who "had looked for the ' indictment, issued a statement early in ' January, in which he defied his enemies. and declared he would prove his inno-; inno-; cence of any charge made against him. 4 Mnyor Gill s attack on the ofi'ice of United States District Attornev Clav Aen of Seattle led to the appointment j (j? United States District Attorney Clar- encc L. Reames of Portland as special prosecutor after Attorney General Greg- f ' (Continued on Page Pour.l HIRAM C. GILL, mayor of j Seattle, who has been in- I dieted by a federal grand jury, charged with violation of the federal liquor laws. - . FEDERAL GRAND JURY lilCTS MAYOR GILL (Continued from Pago One.) orv had said that the cases did not require re-quire such a prosecutor. Mayor Gill has had a stormy career in the past seven years. In March, 1910, after he had been jn city politics twelve years, Mr. Gill was elected mayor may-or of Seattle. Almost immediately his administration .was assailed for aflejjred toleration of vice, and in the spring of 1011 Gill was removed from office by the rocall, with women , voting for the first time. Subsequently - Charles 'V. Wappenstein, Gill's chief of police, was sentenced to the state penitentiary for accepting a bribe. Vindicated in 1914. Gill ran for mayor in 1912, asking vindication, and was defeated,' but in 101i ho was ejected mayor by. an enormous enor-mous majoritv, running as a good, government gov-ernment candidate. He was re-elected mayor in March, 1916. When the prohi-bitlon prohi-bitlon law was adopted,' Gill promised that it would be rigidly enforced, and raids upon bars resulted, in demolition of fittings valued at nearly $100,000, and seizure and demolition of vast supplies sup-plies of liquor. Only- last .week the state officers of the Women's Chris-tion Chris-tion Temperance union sent GUI a letter let-ter expressing their confidence In' him. Beckingham was appointed chief of police from private life, and is a close personal friend of Gill's. Eobort T. Hodge, -three times. sheriff of King county, waB Progressive candidate candi-date for governor in 1912, and spoke from the same platform with Theodore Roosevelt, who praised his ability as a campaign orator. . Hodge sought the Republican Re-publican .nomination- tor governor la6t fall, but was defeated in the primaries. Logan and Fred Billingsley came to Seattle, early. , last year and opened a drug store. They are said to be well known in West Virginia and Oklahoma. Their' drug Btore was demolished by the police and stores of- liquor owned by them were seized and ,- destroyed. A street fight outside of the 'Billingsley warehouse in Seattle last summer resulted, re-sulted, in two policemen and a Billingsley Billings-ley watchman Deing-shot dead. |