Ruef had, however, considered Langdon’s suspension from the day of the District Attorney’s announcement of his plans for investigating graft charges. Gallagher testified at the graft trials that Ruef had, several days before Langdon’s suspension, notified him it might be necessary to remove Langdon from office[95]. The Acting Mayor expressed himself as ready to carry out whatever Ruef might want done.
Gallagher testified that the names of several attorneys, including that of Henry Ach, Ruef’s attorney and close associate, were canvassed as eligible for appointment as Langdon’s successor. Nothing definite was decided upon, however, until the day that Langdon’s position was declared vacant. On that day, Gallagher received word from Ruef to call at his office. There, according to Gallagher’s statement, he found Thomas V. Cator, a member of the municipal Board of Election Commissioners. Henry Ach came in later.
Ruef told Gallagher that he had decided it was necessary to remove Langdon, and that he had decided to take the place himself. Gallagher assured Ruef that whatever Ruef decided in the matter he, the Acting Mayor, would stand by. The papers removing Langdon had already been prepared. Gallagher read them over, for typographical errors, he states in his testimony, and signed them.
The Board of Supervisors was to have met that day at 2:30 P. M. in regular weekly session. Gallagher, as Acting Mayor, was to preside. But it was well after 6 P. M. when Gallagher arrived, from Ruef’s office, at the council chamber.
He appeared worried and disturbed. The Supervisors, who had been waiting for him for nearly four hours, were called to order. The communication removing Langdon was read and adopted without debate or opposition.[96] Gallagher then announced that he had appointed Ruef to be Langdon’s successor.
How completely Ruef dominated the municipal departments was shown by the fact that he filed his bond, his oath of office, and his certificate of appointment at the various municipal offices without hint of what was going on reaching the public. Ruef had commanded secrecy, and secrecy was observed. After Gallagher had announced Ruef’s appointment in open meeting of the Supervisors, the filing of the papers was made public.
Although the Supervisors, in open board meeting, endorsed Gallagher’s action without apparent hesitation, nevertheless the abler among them did so with misgivings. Supervisor Wilson went straight from the meeting of the board to Ruef’s office. He told Ruef that in his judgment a mistake had been made; that the papers would call the removal of Langdon confession of guilt.[97] But Ruef laughed at his fears, and to cheer him up, took him to a popular restaurant for dinner.
But before leaving his office, Ruef performed his first act as District Attorney. He wrote a curt note to Heney, dismissing him from the position of assistant.[98] Later in the evening he appointed as Heney’s successor Marshall B. Woodworth.
The order of dismissal was delivered to Heney within ten minutes. Heney’s answer reached Ruef as he sat at dinner with Supervisor Wilson and Henry Ach, who had joined the group. Heney’s reply was quite as pointed as Ruef’s letter of dismissal. Heney stated he did not recognize Ruef as District Attorney.
The battle between the two forces was fairly on. Ruef and his associates, as they sat at dinner, discussed the advisability of taking possession of the District Attorney’s office that night, but concluded to wait until morning. In this Ruef suffered the fate of many a general who has consented to delay. When morning came, District Attorney Langdon had his office under guard, and San Francisco was aroused as it had not been in a generation.