The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 18, 1898, Page 1

Call OLUME FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1898. PRICE FIVE CENTS. IAYOR PHELAN STANDS CONDEMNED BY HIS WN DENUNCIATION OF ELECTION FRAUDS He Induced Change His Residence for Political Purposes. pposed the Pardon of Stern- berg, Who Was Convicted of the Same Act. Eugene P. notwithstanding the fact demned Governor Budd home and changed his Guerrero street to 536 power of pardon. 5B SN B8 5 F-E-E-N-5EE8-E-E-0-0-E-u-a-E0p Mayor James D. Phelan: colonized Eugene P. Murphy in the Ninth Ward for election purposes, tence of Louis Sternberg, the Forty-second District. solicitation, hired lodgings away from his palatial lan says that any one committing this act should be sentenced to imprisonment for life without that he so strongly con- for commuting the sen- convicted of colonizing Murphy, at Phelan’s registration from 1304 ® Third street. Yet, Phe- T o552 -0 2-8-u-a-a Mayor on divers and various tick- ets, poses as a stickler for high morality, socially and politically. Publicly he is most vigorous in his denunciations of all transgressors against the right of suffrage. He has no sympathy with the poor hirelings of political bosses who are caught doing the dirty work which lends aid to cor- c J-8-2-4-8-0 0 -u-u-Ee-0-uEaw ruptionists. Phelan finds no words too strong nor condemnation too bitter against the man who has In the least violated the laws. Phelan has taken issue with no less a person than the Governor of the State on this question when the executive ex- ercised his prerogative and commuted the election of a man wh Wi sentence cted of 1 lonization scheme whereby citizens had their resi- dences changed for political purpo: When Governor Budd commuted ng a ¢ the sentence of Louis Sternberg, who was | sent to the penitentiary for color the Forty-second Assembly D the interests of Senator M 1894 James D. Phelan not only wired the Governor an urgent appeal against the commutation, but after the man was released from prison he wrote a letter to the editor of The Call which was published in this paper in the issue of November 4, 1897, in which he defended his action and in which appeared the following paragraph: Zing trict in This Government rests on the pur- ity of the ballot box. If a man’s vote | cannot be fairly cast and honestly counted the government is a fraud, and the ballot box, instead of being a refuge from official corruptionists, becomes a trap. I cannot believe that any sane and patriotic citizen would countenance election frauds. There can be no higher crime against the State. It is treason, and from the be- | ginning every Government has pun- ished treason with death. Instead of a sentence of three years an offender should be punished with life impris- onment without power cf pardon. A pardon restores a criminal to his civil rights; it puts him back into the citadel he treasonably sought to de- stroy. What was the crime for which Stern- berg was convicted and sentenced? Governor Budd, in his proclamation commuting the sentence of Sternberg, says The crime for which he was con- victed was the procuring of resident: of the city who were legal voters thereof to register in a Senatorial district other than that of their resi- dence, it not being charged that they woted more than once. This, then, is the head and front of the offending which brought such bit- ter words of denunciation from the pen of the man who to-day blatantly cries out for purity In politics: He induced residents to register in districts other than those of their residence. On the first day of the present month, AMES D. PHELAN, candidate for | October, In print and on platform | o had been | 1898, Eugene P. Murphy, a | resident of San Francisco, living at 1304 Guerrero street, rented a room at a lodging-house at 536 Third street, went there with his satchel containing a | night shirt and necessary toilet arti- | and then went to the office of | the Registrar of Voters and changed | his _registration from 1304 Guerrero street to 536 Third street. He left a | palatial residence with all the sur- | roundings of a luxurious home: left a voted wife and loving children: left friends and neighbors bound to him by the ties of almost a lifetime of asso- ciation and began to live a lie in the interests of “purity in politics.” 3ut Eugene P. Murphy had been an honest man too long to begin late in | life as an alder and abettor of election | fraud even when his close friend James | D. Phelan, political reformer, asked | him to and tried to convince him that it was not only right but proper. Mur- phy’s conscience was a better guide | than the urgent requests of his old | friend, and his whole being revolted against committing the crime. When Phelan manipulated his fa- mous convention and rushed his slate through by the grace of the Committee | of One Hundred he selected his old friend Eugene P. Murphy as one of the men whom he wanted on the Board of Supervisors, and he was nominated. | But Murphy lived in the Eleventh | Ward, and it was necessary to have | him represent the Ninth Ward. With | Mephistophelian art the man who poses as the exemplar of purity of the ballot box went to his old friend, who In the [ honesty of his unsophistication believed in all men, and told him that he was | needed in the interests of purity of pol- | itics to represent the Ninth Ward in the Board of Supervisors. “But,” said Murphy, “how can I rep- resent the Ninth Ward when I live in the Eleventh?” | *Oh,” said Mephistopheles Phelan, “it | is merely a matter of form. You can rent a room in the Ninth Ward and register from there. It is perfectly iegal. And then, you know, we need you to help purify the politics of this | éity.” Eugene P. Murphy is a man of stain- | less character. His sense of right and | wrong is acute, and while he has faith | in the purity and integrity of his fellow | man the approval of his own conscience his gulde. When the proposition was | B "hed to him Py James D. Phelan that it was right and in the interests of | pure government to change his regis- | tration and qualify as a voter in a ward in which he did not live he reflected. | | When told that the service of reform demanded the sacrifice of his personal comfort he reluctantly consented and | qualified as a resident of the Ninth | Ward. Mr. Murphy made but a short stay in the Ninth Ward. Mrs. Cluness, keeper of the lodging house at 536 Third v ot, aid last night: “Mr. Eugene P. Murphy hired one of | my rooms on October 1. He had his election cards out and retained the | room just one week. I heard nothing more from him until Sunday. E. P. E. Troy calle€ on me then and sald that as Mr. Murphy had decided to retire from the election contest he would not require the room. and I could dispose of it as I saw fit.” But there is a pathetic side to the story. He packed his satchel as if go- ing on a journey; left his beautiful home and loving family and engaged lodgings in a house on the.corner of home, having fully. determined to re- sign from the ticket. The next day his resolution was put into effect. In his case resignation was truly a Christian virtue and in the peace and honor of his own domicile life has all its former brightness. A weaker man, a less honest man would have fallen beneath the wiles of Phelan, but Eugene P. Murphy had the cour- age to withstand the alluring tempta- tion. But what of the man who tried to in- duce a resident to register from a ward other than that in which he lived? Out of his own mouth is he c on- demned. Read what James D. Phelan said about Sternberg, the man who was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for the same offense: An offender should be punished with life imprisonment without power of pardon. Mr. Murphy was seen by a Call rep- resentative regarding the matter and answered freely and fully the questions as to his temporary change of resi- Murphy to furnishings, and when the man whose name is a synonym for honesty among his neighbors and associates sat in the | flickering light of the dim candle he felt that all was not right. He sat on the edge of the uncomfortable bed and looked out into the moonlit streets on strange surroundings. The warmth| the cheer and the refined influences of | dénce. He said that he had been con- his own home were missing. Then he | vinced that it was right legally, but In began to commune with his conscience. | his conscience did not think it was right He had been convinced that from a | morally. He could not stand the idea legal point of view he was acting|of being elected to represent a ward in honest man to treasonable purposes, and has attempted to perpetrate an election fraud for ®which other men have been sent to the State prison. 1t is for the Grand Jury to say whether there is a difference between the crime of a poor tool of election bosses and the crime of a wealthy and influential political boss who holds the highest office at the gift of the people of the city. Sternberg had his sentence commuted by the Governor at the request of hun- dreds of good and honest citizens who belleved that the punishment had been sufficient, but this man with his “holier than thou” expression and his sanctimonious cry of “purity in poli- tics” condemned that act of charity in public and commits the same deed in secret. And by that deed he hoped to add to his own power and to bend to his personal aggrandizement the honor and probity of a reputable citizen. DECISION IN McCORD'S CASE. The Arbitrator in Canada Mails a Re- port to Washington, WASHINGTON, Oct. 17.—The decision of the arbitrator in the McCord case has been rendered. The arbitrator was Sir Henry Young, Chief Justice of Canada. ot s nne —utenf 448, Aot | [P by Coe w5 gk 4 1) Buttf oy Yootk J36- 37 LT a5 per ¢ peedrd Fac-Similes of Pages of tho Register S8howing Eugenc P. Murphy’s Change of Registration. 1 T which he did not live. Murphy Is an honest and truthful man, and when he was asked direct questions he answered like & man if he could do so with truth. When a question was asked him that But his conscience told him that he | he did not wish to admit, and yet his wag living a lle. He was representing | conscience would not permit him to himself as living in the Ninth Ward |deny, he was blunt. when his home was elsewhere. To his friends he said that Mayor Deeper reflection came as the mnight | Phelan induced him to do what he had wore on and he went out into the open | done, and had told him that it was air to gool his fevered brow. He| legally right. ~ - passed through lonely streets and “1 want to help purify poliiies, and studied the unfamiliar surroundings.|I think I have the right to an ambition strictly in accordance with the law. Had not his friend, the Mayor of the city, the man who was foremost in ad- vancing reform and purity in politics, told him that it was legal? Again he went to his narrow, gloomy | to serve the city as a Supervisor, but I He telegraphed the State Department that he had rendered his decision Satur- day, and would supply detailed informa- tion by mall. McCord was an American clvil engineer, living in Peru, whose per- son and property were seized during a revolutionary movement in that country. Various Secretaries of States have made efforts to secure compensation for Mc- Cord, but it remained for Secretary Olney to secure an undertaking on the part of Peru to submit the case for arbitration. McCord’s claim originally was for $200,000, and Secretary Olney offcrel ¢ accept 50,000 as settiement in full, but :.nce that offer was made expenses have accrued, so it may be that the final award will be for a larger amount. e HOME ON GUERRERO_ST. cannot countenance an election coloni- zation scheme. If I were nominated from my own ward I would accept and hope to be elected, but I do not think it is right to represent a ward in which I do not live.” So much for Mr. Murphy. But what about James D. Phelan, wha engineered the colonization scheme which was to make of an honest man a criminal? The Grand Jury is in session now. Would it not be well for that body to make an investigation into these charges and see if James D. Phelan, candidate for Mayor of various tickets, is not amenable to the law? In his public utterances Phelan says that an offender against election laws commits treason and should be pun- ished by imprisonment for life without room and thought of the “sweetest things that ever grew beside a human door.” Reflection convinced him that there and then was the time to correct his mistake. Sitting by his bed his so- lilequy was: “This i{s not my home. I have no moral right to represent it as such to my fellow men. I live in an- other part of the city and dwell there with my wife and children. The cause of purity in politics does not de- mand that I should live a lie. It is wrong.” The strong sense of right; the cour- age to do right, regardless of personal friendship and Individual advance- ment, came to his rescue as it comes to every other man who values honor | above all other considerations, and | Third and Bryant streets. He was lighted to a meager room Wwith scant the power of pardon. Yet James D. Eugene P. Murphy went from the place Phelan has attempted to subvert an of false residence and returned to his PREACHER ARRESTED ON A FORGERY CHARGE Positively Identified as a Man Who Cashed Bogus Checks in an Illinois Town. MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa, Oct. 17.—Rev. George R. Parrish, pastor of the Congre- gational Church of this city, was arrested this afternoon by officers from Sandwich, Ill, charged with forging a check for Y three years ago, under the name of Rev. Mark Thompson. The check was drawn on the Illinois Home Mission Society. He is also_charged with issuing checks for $500 on Watertown and Elkhorn, Wis., banks, pu onlnfi to have been drawn on the American of Missions, but which were not cashed. Parrish was posi- tively identified as Thompson and was taken to Sandwich to-night. Parrish came here three weeks ago from Constantine, Mich., where he was pastor of a Cangre- gational church. He is a married man and a brilliant preacher. cision was handed down: SUSTAINS THE OLD BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Supreme Court Decides the San Francisco Water Rate Case. Rules That the Officials Can Be Ousted Only by Criminal Procedure. The long legal fight that has hung around the status of the Board of Su- pervisors of San Francisco has at last been cleared away. The old board, the one that was thrown from. the board room by the city police and that crept back to office under a decision of the Supreme Court in a case in- volving the tax levy, has been reseated. Not that the old board has been out of office, but the Phelan board had a ghost of a show so long as the de- cision of the Supreme Court was not forthcoming; now it has come and even the shadow of office has been taken from the men whose course in reform was so early nipped in the bud. TUnder a statute of March 17, 1881, passed by the Legislature, it was made imperative that water rates in San Francisco should be fixed In the month of February of each year and not later. The February of 1897 came and went and still the Supervisors were haggling over what the rate should be. It was round impossible to fix the rate in the legal month and so the matter dragged on until June had been reached. On the 2d of June the rate was made and on the 1st of July it went into effect. The rate had been in force fifteen days when George K. Fitch came forward with a complaint, stating that he had been grievously injured by the delay in the fixing of the rate and he wanted the law regulating such a state of affairs enforced. The law declared that any board that failed to fix the rate ig the month of February should be ousted from of- fice, had any citizen interested courage enough to proceed against it, and this was just what Fitch wanted. He asked that the whole board be let go and a new one appointed. The case came to trial and in incredibly short space of lace decided that the board should become a vacancy. Mayor Phelan and Governor Budd got together and before had a brand new board, which was sworn into office before in Judge Wallace's court had entered up the court’s ruling. ‘An appeal was taken and it was contended that the appeal stayed all proceedings and effectually barred the new board from taking office until the case had been decided by the Supreme Court. Judge Wallace refused to look at it in this way and for a few bl sful weeks the new appointees made motions and passed ordinances and prepared for an ad- ministration the like of which had never been seen before. They tried to pass a tax levy, however, and that wasthe cause of their downtall. The old board, while barred from its former chambers, continued to meet in halls and doorways and in back rooms, and when the new board sent in its tax levy to the Auditor the old board also submitted one. But the Auditor was pulling no chestnuts from the fire, and he refused to accept either of the levies until the courts had pointed out to him which was the Zenuine one. Supervisor Morton of the old board solved the problem by Suing out a writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court compelling the Audi- tor to accept the levy of the old board. This was decided in hls favor, the ruling of the court being that the appeal acted as a stay, and the old board should have been allowed to retain its place. Under this decision the new board silently withdrew and the old board came back to its own. But the appeal on the original case—one from an order denying a new trial—has been hanging fire until now, and this is what the Supreme Court has just decided. The court holds that the proper course for such an action is not by eivil but by criminal procedure; that it can be brought only in the name of and by the people of the State; that the plaintiff in the case, Mr. Fitch, was in no way an interested person, as the rate had been fixed some time before he had begun his suit. It holds, too, that a rate fixed subsequent to the month of February is valid. TEXT OF THE DECISION. time Judge Wal- That same night morning they the clerk city and county of San Francisco, de- fendants and appellants. The constitution, article XIV, sec- tion 1, after providing that the rates to be collected by any person, com- LOS ANGELES, Oct. 17.—In the Su- preme Court to-day the following de- THE OPINION. In banc. pany or corporation for the use of Fitch, petitioner and respondent. S. water supplied to any municipality or F. No. 1222. its Inhabitants shall be fixed annually The Board of Supervisors of the by the governing body of such munici- — pality, provides: “Such ordinances or resolutions shall be passed in the month of Febru- ary of each year and take effect on the first day of July thereafter. Any board or body failing to pass the necessary ordinances or resolutions fixing water rates, where necessary, within such time, shall be subject to peremptory process to compel action at the suit of any party interested, and shall be liable to such further pro- cesses and penalties as the Legisla- ture may prescribe. Any person, com- pany or corporation collecting water rates in any city or county or city or town in this State otherwise than as g0 established shall forfeit the fran- chise and water works of such person, company or corporation to the city and county or city or town where the same are collected for the public use.” Two courses of action are thus au- thorized to be pursued against the Board of Supervisors or other govern- ing body of the municipality in case of its failure to pass such ordinances or resolutions as will enable any person or corporation to collect rates or com- pensation for the water supplied by it to the municipality or its inhabitants therein, viz., a peremptory process to compel the board to pass the ordi- nances or resolutions and a punish- ment for its failure to pass them. The first is given by the constitution itself, and may be invoked by any ‘‘party interested”” without the necessity of any legislation therefor. The ‘“‘party interested”” who is thus authorized to invoke peremptory process to compel the board to pass an ordinance fixing the water rates is a party who has an interest in having the rates fixed and who would be injuriously affected if they were not fixed. The provision that ‘‘the rates or compensation to be collected shall be fixed annually,” and “shall continue in force for one year and no longer,” read in connection with the concluding sentence of the section by which a company which shall collect water rates ‘‘otherwise than as so established” shall forfeit its franchises and water works for the public use, makes it evident that the furnisher of water would be ir jurious- ly affected if the rates are not fixed, and is, therefore, a “party interested,” who is entitled to such peremptory process. The provision that the ordinance fix- ing the rates shall not take effect until July, although it is to be passed In February, is manifestly for the pur- pose of affording to the person or company supplying water ample time to adjust the individual rates for its consumers in accordance with the terms of the schedule fixed by the or- dinance, and also to provide an op- portunity, if necessary, in case the or- dinance shall not be passed in Feb- ruary, to invoke process for compell- ing the board to pass an ordinance prior to July. The failure of the board to pass an ordinance in the month of February is, by the terms of the sec- tion, made a condition precedent to the right to ask for process to compel actlon by it, since it cannot be deter- GW/HERE PHELAN COLONIZED H(m - .