"The System," As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft ProsecutionHichborn, Franklin
History
"The System," As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution
Hichborn, Franklin
Political corruption -- California -- San Francisco; San Francisco (Calif.) -- Politics and government
[215] This case was numbered from the indictment, 305. Schmitz was
indicted jointly with Ruef in this indictment, and later was
convicted under it and sentenced to five years in the
penitentiary. See Chapter XVI. The testimony at the Schmitz
trial showed that Ruef had taken the extortion money from the
French-Restaurant keepers, after Schmitz had acted with him to
imperil the French-Restaurant keepers' liquor licenses, and
had given part of the proceeds of the enterprise to Schmitz.
[216] In his affidavit, Heney quotes Rabbi Nieto as saying In
substance: "I do not care to get publicly mixed up in the Ruef
case, because among other things, I am not a particular friend
of Ruef's, and am not interested in the matter as an
individual but only in the welfare of this community. I think
that Ruef has grievously sinned against this community and
that he can do a great deal to undo the wrongs which he has
committed and to clear up the situation, and I have told him
that it is his duty to himself and to his family and to the
city of his birth to do so. I want you to understand, Mr.
Heney, that I have not come here to ask you to let Ruef go
free and without punishment. I think he ought to be punished,
and I think he ought to give a large part of the money which
he obtained from these corporations to the city to improve its
streets. He ought to give $300,000 for that purpose, but Ruef
thinks more of money than he does of his family, or even of
his liberty, and I think he would rather go to the
penitentiary than give up any very large amount of it."
[217] Heney, in his affidavit, makes the following statement of his
impression of Kaplan: "Dr. Kaplan appeared to be far more
interested in finding out just what would be done to Ruef,
provided he plead guilty in the French Restaurant case than he
was in the moral issue which was involved in the discussion,
or in the beneficial effect which the testimony of Ruef might
have upon the deplorable situation then existing in San
Francisco on account of its municipal corruption.
"This was evidenced more from his manner and form of
questioning than by anything which he said. I immediately
became convinced that he was influenced by no motive or
purpose other than that of getting Ruef off without any
punishment if possible; but I also formed the opinion that he
was honest and unsophisticated."
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