When Lonergan was asked to cash the draft, he said all right, but that he would have to go home and get the money. He went home and brought back gold. About this time the Chronicle published a story to the effect that several Supervisors had been trapped.
The acrostic was made by skipping two lines to the third, the first word of which began with “F,” then skipping two lines to the sixth, skipping two lines to the ninth, and finally skipping two lines to the twelfth; the first letter of the first word of each of these lines spelt the word “Fake.”
With the testimony of all the Supervisors, including Gallagher, the prosecution subsequently found great difficulty in convicting Ruef. In the Parkside case, all the Supervisors testified in regard to two promises made to them, and all the officials of the Parkside Company testified to negotiations with Ruef and to the payment of money to him. In addition thereto, William J. Dingee, who was an entirely disinterested party, testified to a conversation with Ruef, which was highly incriminating in its character, and which amounted to an admission on the part of Ruef that he was receiving money in the Parkside matter.
With all this evidence before it, the jury stood six for acquittal and six for conviction.
Wilson testified at the trial of The People vs. Ruef, No. 1437, of the anxiety of the Supervisors during this period. Although Wilson had resigned from the board to accept the office of State Railroad Commissioner to which he had been elected, he went to a conference of the Supervisors to decide what should be done. The following is from Wilson’s testimony:
“Q. You were not then a Supervisor, were you? A. No, sir.
“Q. Who told you to go there? A. I was helping Mr. Gallagher.