CHAPTER XXIX.
Ruef’s Last Refuge Fails.
That a jury of twelve men had found Ruef guilty of bribe-giving did not mean necessarily that the broken boss would be confined at San Quentin, the prison to which he had been sentenced to serve his fourteen-year term. Indeed, the probabilities were very much against his suffering any such indignity. Ruef had, at the test, continued “true to his class”; he had not assisted the State in bringing the bribe-givers to account. Men, powerful in financial, social and political circles were unquestionably under the greatest obligation to him. He had not “gone back on his class.” His “class” owed it to him to save him from stripes, as Ruef by his course had beyond question saved many of his “class” from stripes.
Having been convicted by a jury, the first move was for Ruef to appeal to the trial judge for a new trial. This appeal was denied him. Ruef then appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the District Court of Appeal. The three justices of the District Court of Appeal found nothing in Ruef’s contention to warrant the granting of a new trial.[476] Thus four judges found that Ruef’s trial had been fair, even technically fair. But Ruef’s possibilities were not exhausted.
The Supreme Court could, if four of the seven members were so inclined, grant him a rehearing, and to the Supreme Court Ruef applied.
The California State Constitution provides that “the Supreme Court shall have power to order any cause pending ... before a district court of appeal to be heard and determined by the Supreme Court. The order last mentioned may be made before judgment has been pronounced by a district court of appeal, or within thirty days after such judgment shall have become final therein.”
The District Court of Appeal found against Ruef on November 23, 1910; this action became final thirty days later, or on December 23, 1910. The Supreme Court had thirty days after December 23, that is to say, until January 22, 1911, to grant Ruef a rehearing, if a majority of the seven Supreme Justices so decided. If the Supreme Court failed to act before the close of January 22, Ruef, unless pardoned or paroled, would have to go to State prison.
Ruef, on December 31, 1910, petitioned the Supreme Court for a rehearing. On January 23, announcement was made that the Supreme Court, by a four to three decision, had decided to grant Ruef’s petition. The decision was received with protest from one end of the State to the other.[478] The Legislature was in session at the time. Senator George W. Cartwright of Fresno introduced a resolution[479] requesting the Assembly—where impeachment proceedings must originate—to take such steps as might be deemed necessary for investigation of the Supreme Court’s conduct.
And finally there came the rumor—at first not generally believed, but later confirmed by the Supreme Justices themselves—that one of the Justices at least had signed the order granting Ruef his rehearing before the Attorney-General had filed his brief in answer to Ruef’s petition. The Justice who had thus acted was Justice Henshaw, the same Supreme Court Justice who occupied prominent position in the picture of the banquet scene at the 1906 Santa Cruz convention, in which Ruef appears in the central position of honor.[480]