“In regard to the proposition to permit the electoral convention to name sixteen new Supervisors, I will say that while there is no objection to it, we do not think it is wise to incorporate it in our present plan.”
Schmitz’s resistance of the elevation of Gallagher no doubt influenced the aged Justice in his refusal. From the county jail Schmitz continued to insist that he was still the de facto Mayor of San Francisco. The Chief of Police, himself under indictment, sided with Schmitz. Gallagher during his eventful term blocked by the police, was not permitted to enter the Mayor’s office. When Boxton was made Mayor, Langdon went with him to the Mayor’s office and seized the furniture. Schmitz’s partisans boasted that the Mayor would be released on bail, march with his followers to the meeting place of the Supervisors, and, with the aid of the police, oust Gallagher by force. Schmitz’s resistance made itself felt in many ways. For example, an athletic club had arranged for a boxing match, for which a permit signed by the Mayor had to be issued. Gallagher had signed the permit. Chief of Police Dinan, however, refused to recognize it unless it were signed by Schmitz. The manager of the affair was compelled to go to the county jail for Schmitz’s signature. Schmitz notified the bondsmen of City Treasurer Charles A. Bantel that he would hold them responsible for any moneys paid out by Bantel without his (Schmitz’s) signature. The bondsmen notified Bantel that as a matter of precaution he must have the signature of Schmitz as well as that of Gallagher as authorization for paying out funds. This precautionary course was followed to its logical conclusion. On July 12, a contractor by the name of J. J. Dowling cashed a municipal warrant which bore the signatures of no less than three Mayors, Schmitz, Gallagher and Boxton.
Late in June, Schmitz sent to the auditor warrants signed by himself for June salaries for himself, his secretary, his stenographer and his usher. The auditor decided to allow these warrants for that part of the month up to the date of Schmitz’s conviction. San Francisco allows its Mayor $300 a month for contingent expenses. Both Schmitz and Gallagher claimed this $300 for July. The auditor decided to recognize neither claim. In answer to Schmitz’s demand that Gallagher be ignored as Mayor, the auditor sent the imprisoned executive a soothing or grimly humorous letter, as one may view it, in which he recognized Schmitz as the de jure Mayor, possessing “the honor and the title,” and Gallagher “simply as a de facto Mayor,” possessing the office.
When the bribe-taking Supervisors resigned, Schmitz, from the county jail, appointed their successors. Seven of these Schmitz appointees actually took the oath of office. On the night of Taylor’s election to succeed Boxton as Mayor, one of Schmitz’s appointees, Samuel T. Sawyer, appeared before the board and demanded that he be sworn in as Supervisor. Gallagher, who was presiding refused to recognize Schmitz as Mayor and refused Sawyer a seat.
Even after Taylor had been elected, Chief of Police Dinan continued to recognize Schmitz as Mayor. Dinan, for example, placed the automobile maintained by the city for the use of the Mayor, under guard of a policeman and for several days prevented Mayor Taylor securing it.
Mayor Taylor gave effective check to this harassing opposition by refusing to sign warrants upon the treasury which bore Schmitz’s signature. Gradually Schmitz’s resistance to the new order died out.
Schmitz contented himself with issuing a statement through the Associated Press that he would be a candidate for re-election. He said:
“You may announce that I will be a candidate for re-election this fall, and that I expect to win. I have already begun my campaign in a preliminary way, and shall carry it forward steadily from this time. I have no fear of the race. I am willing to make it without the aid of the Ruef organization, whose support I had in each of the three campaigns since 1901. Presumably that organization no longer exists, but its component parts, though scattered, are as much in existence as ever. It is up to me to gather them together and cement them into an organization of my own—a task I am prepared to undertake.”