“Q. Helping Gallagher do what? Don’t you know? A. Sit on the lid, that is what we called it.
“Q. Helping Gallagher sit on the lid? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. What does ‘sitting on the lid’ mean? That is a bit of the vernacular that I am not acquainted with.
“Mr. Dwyer: That is vernacular authorized by the President-elect of the United States, I suppose it is good English?
“Mr. Ach: Well, he is a big man; I suppose he might sit on something that might be a lid. The Court: Finish your answer.
“Mr. Ach: Q. What do you mean? A. Trying to keep the facts of the condition of the Board of Supervisors from becoming public.
“Q. What do you mean by that? A. The condition of the Board, the graft matters.”
At the trial of The People vs. Patrick Calhoun, No. 1436, Spreckels testified to his own attitude on the question of immunity. He said: “I would be willing to grant immunity to any man who would bring to bar a man of great wealth who would debauch a city government, and who would use his wealth to corrupt individuals and tempt men of no means to commit a crime in order that he might make more money.”—See transcript of testimony, page 3326.