Spreckels, indicating that either he had received
important information or that his clairvoyant per-
THE SHOOTING OF HENEY 203
ceptive faculties had been at work. The follow-
ing is an excerpt : "The infamous character of the
would-be assassin, no less than the infamous
character of the deed, call attention in a striking
way to the true character of the forces against
which Heney and you and your associates have
been struggling." And to the peaceful voice of
Mr. Roosevelt were added the clarion tones of
the Call, demanding to know, "Will they stop at
nothing? Are not stealing, perjury, bribery,
dynamiting, murder, enough !" In the evening,
just before the people assembled in mass-meet-
ing, the Bulletin expressed its desire for
peace and quiet in this contribution to the
literature of the passing show : "The public will
not be easily convinced that a man who would
hire a murderer to kill Gallagher would be too
scrupulous to hire or procure a murderer to kill
Heney." Likewise the Evening News : "Not
since the days the Vigilantes strangled the thugs
who held the city by the throat, in the gold min-
ing days, have the law-abiding citizens been so
horrified." And to quell more effectually the
spirit of turbulence the Bulletin, deeming it again
the psychological moment for an anonymous let-
ter, printed one said to have been found among
some unopened letters on Mr. Heney's desk.
This is the letter :
Dear Sir: Have Detective Burns look carefully
into and after A. Ruef. Be on your guard and
await more startling developments. I know where-
of I speak.
— A Friend.
204 THE REGENERATORS
Doubtless this letter was found by the argus-
eyed Burns, but on whose authority it was
opened the Bulletin did not say ; indubitably not
on Heney's, as Heney was then in the hospital
waiting to be operated upon. The detective
probably divined the contents, and therefore felt
no compunction against opening it. At any rate,
that he was sure it was something deserving of
his attention, may be inferred from the following
quoted from the Bulletin: "Burns says it has
every sign of genuineness. It is significant. It
is a clew.'' Never since has anything been
heard of that letter. The clew was abandoned
almost as soon as it was found. The explana-
tion probably is that as on the evening of the day
on which it was found Haas committed suicide in
his cell in the county jail, immediately it be-
came expedient for Burns and his associates to
propagate a new theory in order to keep alive
the flame they had been fanning. This
theory was that Haas had been killed by the
higher-ups. But it was soon observed that this
theory was not winning credence.
At the time of the tragedy in the jail there
were two policemen outside the cell door. They
had been stationed there by Chief Biggy, the
ex-elisor of the prosecution. And Biggy him-
self was in the jail when the tragedy occurred.
But a few minutes before he was in the cell talk-
ing with Haas. In the circumstances it was not
to be believed that Haas had been murdered.
THE SHOOTING OF HENEY 205
It was more likely that he comniitted suicide.
But where did he get the derringer with which
the deed was done? Ah, the conclusion was in-
evitable. The derring-er must have been smug-
gled into the jail by an agent of the higher-ups.
So Burns surmised. It would never do to pre-
sume that the prisoner had the weapon on his
person all the time of his imprisonment, for it
was by Bums himself that Haas had been
searched. Perish the thought that this renowned
policeman had failed in so important a case to
make a thorough search ! Yet nobody ever saw
Haas's shoes removed in Burns's presence. Nor
has Burns ever said that he examined Haas's
shoes.
While conjecture was rife Burns conceived a
new theory. As Mrs. Haas, the mother of the
dead man's four children, had visited him at
the jail, perhaps, suggested Burns, she supplied
her husband with the weapon that put an end to
his miserable life. This certainly was the mean-
est, most cruel of all the surmises expressed
in the excitement of the moment. Poor, forlorn
woman ! Even she in all her bitter sorrow
could not escape the imputation of being the
agent of assassins. And such was the brutality
of sentiment and feeling in those days that of
this wretched woman, whose affliction ordinarily
would have stirred the melting passions of
humanity and commiseration, not a kind, sym-
pathetic word was spoken in any newspaper.
206 THE REGENERATORS
There was pity for none but Heney, the martyr,
with a bullet lodged in the soft tissues of his
neck, suffering- from what was little more than
a superficial wound, but which was represented
to be of the most vital character. For the
man whose wound no water could cleanse save
Lethe's stream, whose body was now in the
morgue, there was nothing but contumely and
denunciation. And for the widowed mother of
his children there was naught but the suspicion
that her hand was dyed in his blood. But the
suspicion did not endure. The policemen who
entered Haas's cell immediately after the shoot-
ing, and who examined the body, had found the
bottom of one of the legs of Haas's trousers
turned up above the top of his elastic gaiter,
and when the body was stripped it was found
that the ankle was bruised. It was therefore a
plausible theory that Haas had had the derringer
concealed in his shoe, and this was demonstrated
to be quite feasible, much to the disquietude of
Detective Burns.
All that was subsequently learned regarding
Haas was what was told by Mrs. Miriam Cohn,
who had known him many years, and in whom
he confided, she having known of his charred
past. To her he went when summoned for jury
duty in the Ruef case, to be advised as to how
he might escape service, saying that he feared
exposure. Again to her he went when burning
with shame and bowed with grief. According
THE SHOOTING OF HENEY 207
to her testimony he was beliaving Hke a madman,
and he talked of killing- his family and himself.
He said that one night when his wife and
children were asleep he was on the point of kill-
ing them all, when Mrs. Haas awoke. His nerve
failed him. In such a frame of mind how com-
monplace the mad impulse that seized him, the
blind passion for revenge ! A man bereft of
reason was Haas, incapable of realizing that the
last shot fired, the fatal shot, was the one by
which he avenged himself.
X
THE BIGGY MYSTERY
Hounded by the Regenerators the Chief of Police
Conies to a Tragic End
The shooting of Heney and the suicide of
Haas were not the only stirring events that
diverted attention from the Ruef trial. Still an-
other tragic event marked the progress of the
civic drama. Chief of Police William J. Biggy
went to his death in the waters of San Francisco
Bay, and to this day the mystery of his taking
off is unsolved. The death of Biggy gave the
regenerators the most severe shock they had yet
experienced. For the first time they knew what
it was to be suspected of the kind of foul play
which they had so often imputed to their ad-
versaries. The Biggy tragedy followed on the
heels of the Haas tragedy, and may rightly be
regarded as the sequence of it, whatever may
have been the nature of the fatality.
As a result of the Haas tragedy the regen-
erators demanded that Biggy be removed from
office. Detective Burns, seeking to exculpate
himself at the expense of Biggy, threw all the
blame for Haas's death on the chief of police.
He would have the people believe that it was
through the chief's negligence that somebody
THE BIGGY MYSTERY 209
had contrived to give Haas the derringer with
which he killed himself. All the reg-enerators, of
course, were in sympathy with Burns. Such was
their natural tendency, and this tendency was
strengthened by the circumstance that Biggy had
fallen into disfavor. Made chief of police by
the regenerators, Biggy found that he was ex-
pected to act as Burns's subordinate. Burns
presumed to dictate the policy of the police de-
partment, to employ it for the political purposes
of the regenerators, and also, (according to
Biggy) for his private ends. But Biggy being a
man of some independence of character resented
the detective's obtnisiveness. The appearance
of being dominated by the detective was galling
to him.
Early in his political career Biggy served a term
in the State senate, where he made a record as
a reformer for the most scrupulous honesty. Of
that record he was extremely proud. And so,
though as an elisor, in an atmosphere of passion-
ate reform, during all the time the regenerators
were regarded as sacrosanct and the people were
clamoring for the punishment of self-confessed
grafters he was in ardent sympathy with all the
purposes of the prosecution, as chief of police
he became sensitive to the respCnsibilities of his
office and scorned to play the part of puppet.
Still in sympathy with the prosecution, ready
to aid his friends in every legitimate way, yet
he revolted at the demands of Burns, and the
210 THE REGENERATORS
two men fell out. At first there was no per-
ceptible breach. Up to the time of the shooting
of Heney Biggy remained on friendly terms
with Joseph Dwyer and other representatives of
the prosecution. But immediately after the
shooting, permitting himself to be interviewed
by reporters, he enraged the regenerators by
pooh-poohing the idea that there had been any
conspiracy to kill Heney. He regarded that idea
as preposterous. The renegerators pronounced
him a fool. Then came the suicide of Haas.
And Biggy again incensed the regenerators. He
knew that nobody had had an opportunity of
putting the derringer into Haas's hands after he
reached the jail. It was plain enough to him
that Haas had not been thoroughly searched ;
and for Captain Duke's complicity in that
blunder the chief preferred a charge of neg-
ligence against him, and the captain was censured
by the police commission. Biggy publicly as-
serted that it was clear that Haas had had th e
derringer, concealed in his shoe. This was too
much for the regenerators. They demanded
Biggy's removal. They demanded it in shrieks
and yelps. They attacked Biggy with the same
blind fury with which they had been assailing
the higher-ups. Their newspapers entered upon
a systematic course of abuse. To convey an
idea of their tone and temper it will suffice to
quote from one of many editorials that appeared
in the Call, one that was printed on November
THE BIGGY MYSTERY 211
18, 1908, four clays after Haas's suicide:
"Hourly public indignation rises against the
chief of police ; hourly the public demand
for his removal is strengthened
The public peace is not safe in his incompetent
hands. He is unfit to be chief of any public
department. Biggy is a blowhard. Biggy is
chicken hearted and chicken witted. Biggy has
no shame. Biggy has no honor either in his
public or his private relations. Nobody respects
him. Not even Biggy." This specimen of
Eatanswill Gazette journalism is amusing in the
blissful unconsciousness that it exhibits ; for be
it remembered the men that inspired the fore-
going were men who formerly had such great
faith in Biggy's courage, ability and integrity
that they had him appointed elisor and also chief
of police.
Of course public indignation was not rising
against Biggy, though not unlikely the regen-
erators believed that it was. As they seemed at
all times to be obsessed with the notion that
their own emotions were infectious, they may
have thought that their indignation had seized
upon the whole community. It certainly spread
to the League of Justice, but that was what even
the regenerators might have expected. The
League of Justice went quickly into solemn con-
clave to "resolute" against Biggy, to demand that
the mayor cast him into the outer darkness.
And the Bulletin, its indignation always on tap,
212 THE REGENERATORS
railed against Biggy in its customary fishwife
vehemence. The Bulletin charged Biggy with
having turned the police department over to the
higher-ups. Spreckels. Langdon and Burns held
meetings to denounce Biggy. Singularly enough
Mayor Taylor and the police commissioners were
not affected by all these manifestations of hos-
tility. For the first time Mayor Taylor showed
signs of dissenting from the Graft Prosecution.
The importunities of the frantic regenerators
were becoming a little too unreasonable even for
him. He had faith in Biggy. He was not to
be moved. Perhaps Biggy had told him a thing
or two that opened his eyes. The thought is
justified by subsequent events.
When the regenerators found the mayor dis-
inclined to yield to their impassioned demands
they neglected to charge him, too, with having sold
out to the higher-ups, but they became all the
more abusive of Biggy. It was as though they
had resolved to cover him all over with infamy.
From day to day he figured in lampoons and
cartoons. The Bulletin and Call discussed his
domestic troubles. They intimated that he was
haunting houses of ill repute. Somebody in-
duced his wife, from whom he was separated,
to go to his office and create a scene, which
furnished his enemies with material for offensive
discussion.
The suicide of Haas occurred on the evening
of November 14. 1908. From that time till the
THE BIGGY MYSTERY 213
night of November 30 Biggy was hounded in-
cessantly by the regenerators. That night Biggy
boarded the pohce patrol boat, and took a trip
to Belvedere on the north shore of San Francisco
Bay to visit Police Commissioner Hugo Keil.
He spent more than an hour with Keil, discuss-
ing his relations with the regenerators. He
talked of resigning, saying that he did not wish
to embarrass the Administration by remaining
in office. At first, according to Keil, he seemed
somewhat depressed, but his spirits were soon
revived. Keil dissuaded him from resigning,
told him the commissioners would stand by
him and that there was no occasion for worry
or anxiety. Thereafter he was in a cheerful
mood and communicative, telling Keil of the
motives of the men who were attacking him, of
the shameful things they wanted him to do, and
of his firmness in resisting their evil importun-
ities. By the time he was ready to leave for
home he seemed refreshed as a result of the
interview. Keil accompanied him to the launch,
which was in charge of the engineer, William
Murphy. So far as Keil knew there was no-
body else aboard the boat. The commissioner
and the chief bade each other good night. They
never met again.
When. Biggy was last seen alive, according to
Murphy's testimony, the launch was near Al-
catraz Island, which is about midway between
Belvedere and San Francisco. He was then re-
214 THE REGENERATORS
dining on a seat at the rail. He complained of
being cold, and the engineer offered him some
whisky, which was refused. That was about half
an hour before midnight. Murphy says he
never saw him again. When the launch arrived
in San Francisco Murphy was alone. His pas-
senger had disappeared. In a state of great ex-
citement Murphy rushed to police headquarters
with the news. Out into the bay went the
patrol boat again ; this time with a captain of
police aboard in quest of his missing chief. It
was a futile trip. The dead body of William J.
Biggy was lying at the bottom of the bay,
whence it rose two weeks later to float in the
sight of men.
Now what were the circumstances of Biggy's
death? Was he murdered? Did he commit
suicide? Or was he accidentally drowned? No-
body that knew him believes that he committed
suicide. He was a Catholic, a regular com-
municant of the church, and the church au-
thorities had no hesitation in burying him in
consecrated ground. He may have been drowned
accidentally. Perhaps as a result of the lurch-
ing of the boat he was thrown overboard. But
Biggy was known to be a powerful swimmer, and
certainly, if he had fallen overboard, he would
have called lustily for help. On the night of
the tragedy there was no wind, and the waters
of the bay were smooth, and so there had been
no very sudden violent lurching of the boat.
THE BIGGY MYSTERY 215
Nevertheless the theory that Biggy was ac- i
cidentally drowned is not less plausible than
the theory that he was murdered. But we '
may entertain the theory of murder with-
out going- so far as to believe the leading
regenerators capable of having had a hand
in so atrocious a crime.
San Francisco, as the reader knows, was
sorely afflicted with a plague of private detect-
ives. Among them were some very des- >C.
perate characters, and they were ready at all
times to do not only what they were ordered to
do but to act even on what might be an un-
intentional hint of what was desirable to be done.
At the time of Biggy's death, as we shall see,
nothing seemed to be more desirable to some
persons than to be rid of him. Biggy had been
threatening to divulge some important informa-
tion. On the afternoon of th6 day of his dis-
appearance he met Congressman Julius Kahn,
and told him that he had much interesting mat-
ter to disclose with respect to the persons who
were persecuting him. And he promised to un-
burden himself to Kahn in the near future. He
was big with this interesting matter when he
visited Commissioner Keil. And Commissioner
Keil, as soon as he heard of Biggy's death, sat
down and made a full report of his last conver
sation with the chief, reciting therein the charges
made by Biggy against some of the most prom-
inent of his tormentors. This report he gave to
216 THE REGENERATORS
Mayor Taylor who refused to accept it, thus pre-
venting it from becoming a pubHc record.
Whether that was Mayor Taylor's reason for re-
turning the report to the commissioner we shall
never know. At any rate the report was never
made public. Keil refused to give it to the press,
but he permitted a few^ of his friends to read
it, and I have it on their authority, men of high
standing in the community, that it was a pretty
severe indictment of a detective and certain
editors. I also have it on the authority of men
to whom Keil was communicative that he was
convinced that Biggy was in danger of assassina-
tion. Biggy told him that he was getting in-
formation from a traitor in the enemy's camp.
With such misgivings did Biggy inspire Keil that
the latter, learning that the chief was unarmed,
persuaded him to take the loan of a pistol.
As soon as Biggy 's body was found Joseph
Dwyer of the Graft Prosecution obtained special
letters of administration on the dead man's estate,
and it was reported in the newspapers the follow-
ing day that Dwyer accompanied by Heney's
partner, C. W. Cobb, went to Biggy's office and
took possession of all his private papers. Was it
important that some of those papers belonging to
the former elisor should not be seen? At a later
day, as we shall see, it seemed to be of the high-
est importance that all the records of the Graft
Prosecution should disappear forever.
A coroner's jury found that Bigg\' was ac-
THE BIGGY MYSTERY 217
cidentally drowned. But coroner's juries are not
noted for soundness of judgment. Coroners are
not given to searching investigations, nor are the
resuhs of their inquests always taken seriously.
In this instance the coroner did not elicit all the
available evidence. Police Commissioner Will-
iam Cutler while on the witness stand refused
to tell all he knew, and the coroner, an avowed
supporter of the regenerators, made no effort
to compel him to tell. Apparently he was
satisfied with Cutler's explanation, that if he told
all he knew it would cause a great scandal. But
Cutler did tell some interesting things He said
that the life of Chief Biggy had been threatened
by men whom he believed ''would stop at noth-
ing." He said that Biggy had been spied upon
for months by detectives employed by Burns.
"Did he tell you that his life had been
threatened?" the coroner asked.
"I knew it had," was the reply.
"Was he in fear?"
"No, but he knew they would go to any ex-
treme to get rid of him."
"What parties do you refer to?"
"That I decline to answer."
"In your own opinion he had sufficient cause
for this belief?"
"I have satisfactory proof."
Notwithstanding this proof Commissioner Cut-
ler said he did not believe Biggy had been mur-
dered. Asked if he believed that the chief had
218 THE REGENERATORS
committed suicide, he said he was certain he had
not. '"He was too cheerful," said the witness,
"when I last saw him, the day of his death ; be-
sides he had plans to carry out, about which he
was most enthusiastic."
Detective Burns took occasion to deny in the
])ul:lic prints that he had hounded the chief of
police. The assertion that Biggy had been under
the surveillance of detectives, who were the special
agents of the district attorney, paid by the city
to assist the prosecution, he pronounced a slander,
and promised to have the matter investigated at
once by the grand jury. But the matter was
dropped. Burns was always threatening to con-
found his critics with the aid of the grand jury
or the courts, but never did he carry out any
of his threats. He promised to sue the Post for
libel on account of charges that grew out of the
Biggy tragedy, and when dared to do so he left
town.
After the coroner's inquest nothing more was
heard of the Biggy tragedy till nearly two years
elapsed. In the month of June, 1911, William
Murphy, the engineer of the police patrol boat,
became a raving maniac. In his delirium he saw
what he believed to be the ghost of William J.
Biggy, and in his terror he shrieked, "I don't
know who did it, but T swear to God I didn't."
XI
THE CONVICTION OF RUEF
A Jury after Listening to Vague Threats from the
Prosecuting Attorney Renders a Verdict
of Guilty
Let us resume the history of the Ruef trial.
It was certainly resumed soon enough after the
shooting of Heney. Hiram Johnson, with no
little spectacular effect, had volunteered to re-
sume where Heney had been obliged to quit. And
he was in a great hurry, mindful apparently of
the maxim regarding the advisability of strik-
ing while the iron is hot. Three days after the
shooting he was in Judge Lawlor's courtroom
pressing the case to trial. Ruef's attorneys were
for delay. They wanted a change of venue.
How much reason there was in their demand
may be inferred from the newspapers of the day.
Consider for example this account from the Ex-
aminer : "With nearly a hundred armed detec-
tives, mounted police and deputy sheriffs guard-
ing Judge Lawlor's courtroom and its precincts
Ruef's essay to delay his trial furnished one of
the most intense mornings since the beginning
of the graft prosecution. To guard against the
outbreak, when Ruef appeared the mounted
squad kept the crowd from trickling into Larkin
and adjoining streets." The atmosphere of the
220 THE REGENERATORS
courtroom and its environment was, to say the
least, portentous. Since the day of the shooting
a great change had been wrought in the aspect
of affairs, and what that change foreboded Ruef
and his attorneys well knew. Ruef himself was
no longer in the position that he occupied before
the shooting. Before the shooting he was at
liberty, on bail. On the day of the shooting he
was committed to jail for his own protection, and
thereafter he was conducted to and from court
by three of the sheriff's deputies, five policemen
on foot and ten mounted. The jury which was
in charge of the sheriff night and day through-
out the trial occasionally met the Ruef procession
on the way to court. The supposition was in-
dulged that the jury had but an inkling to all
that had occurred. For the jurors were not per-
mitted to read the newspapers. But the vague-
ness of their knowledge was certainly not a cir-
cumstance that advantaged Ruef, inasmuch as it
was apparent to them that he was no longer free
and that he was under police protection. The
jury knew that Heney had been shot, for the
door leading from the jury-room into the court-
room was open at the time of the shooting.
But the jury probably did not know whether
Heney was dead or alive. The jury did know,
however, that public sentiment had been wrought
up to a high pitch. This they knew because on
the night of the mass-meeting, which overflowed
into the street, by a singular coincidence they
THE CONVICTION OF RUEF 221
were conducted by permission of Judge Lawlor
to a theatre adjoining the building in which the
people were harangued by the rabble-rousers.
What the jury thought of the shooting may only