Supervisor Lonergan had been promised by Supervisor Wilson $8000 for voting to give the United Railroads a permit to operate its lines under the trolley system. At a second meeting Wilson stated the amount would be $1000 only. Of the scene on this occasion, Lonergan testified at the trial in the case of the People vs. Ford. No. 817:
“Q. What did he (Wilson) say on that occasion? A. There was only $4000 in it for me.
“Q. What did you say. A. I asked him what the hell kind of work that was and what did he mean by it. And he shook his head and said that if I didn’t like it, all right; something to that effect.”
Evidence of Ruef’s distrust of his Supervisors was brought out at many points in the graft trials. When he discovered that individual Supervisors were, without his knowledge, taking bribes from the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company, he stated to Dr. Joseph S. Poheim:
“I see they have been trying to take my Supervisors away from me, but I have fixed them; I would like to see one of them throw me down.” (See Transcript, People vs. Ruef, 1437, Part 3, Vol. 9, p. 4018.) In the midst of the troubles brought upon him by the graft prosecution, Ruef complained that “These fellows (the Supervisors) would eat the paint off a house, and in order to hold them together I had to descend to their level and take them in with me.”
Ruef was also jealous of Schmitz’s activity. When he learned that Schmitz had promised franchises independent of him, he directed Supervisor Wilson to oppose them. “Butt in on this Parkside business,” he said to Wilson. “Mr. Schmitz has promised the Ocean Shore and the Parkside; he is destroying my political influence; these people ought to be made to come and see me.”
Gallagher was by far the ablest member of the Ruef-Schmitz Board of Supervisors. He was by profession an attorney at law. In that capacity he had served first as Assistant City Attorney, and finally as City Attorney. For a time he was law partner with Hon. James G. Maguire, whose opposition, as member of Congress from California, to the Pacific railroads refunding measures, won him a national reputation. Maguire was candidate for Governor on the Democratic ticket in 1898, but was defeated. Gallagher had served as Supervisor previous to his election in 1905, and was one of the most experienced members of the Schmitz-Ruef board.
At Ruef’s trial on the charge of offering a bribe to Supervisor Furey, Gallagher testified that soon after his election in 1905, Ruef told him there would be a number of matters coming before the Board of Supervisors in which the corporations and other large concerns would be interested; that there would be a number of large deals coming before the board in which he wanted him (Gallagher) to represent him on the board. Gallagher accepted the agency.