reached the hotel I found him walking up and down in the corridor, and we went into my room, where he told me what had occurred.

"Now," he said, "I've got this thing all figured out. Tomorrow a man will come up to your office with a package. You have $1650 ready in greenbacks, before he comes, and you mark them yourself. When this man comes with the package, you take it from him, step into the next room and take his money out of the package. Put your marked bills inside, give him the package. Then put your money back into the bank and leave the rest to me. I'll see that each of those committee members gets his money, and I'll have them watched so we can prove that they received it."

I said: "But-but Grange thinks he's bribing them, doesn't he?"

And McNab gave a step or two of the "Highland Fling," crying: "Yes! That's the beauty of it. He does think so. Isn't it great?"

The next day, as agreed, I procured the money and marked it, taking photographs of the marked bills. The man arrived, I took the package from him, changed the money, returned the package to him, and he went out. Then I set to work to prepare the story.

I made a four page layout of it, with pictures of the marked money, pictures of the four Senators, flaring headlines, and every detail of the story. I was obliged to trust thirty men in the Bulletin office with the story, and not one of them let out a word of it to the other papers. We worked all one Sunday, printing 20,000 copies of this extra, and I hired a special train on the Southern Pacific Railroad, placed the papers in the car, and held it for orders.

Meantime McNab had the money paid, covering every move in the transaction by witnesses. He employed Frank Nicol, a prominent attorney of Stockton, to prepare a statement disclosing the bribery, and arranged that he should rise to a question of privilege in the Senate and read this document on the floor. The four Senators who had received the money would be at their desks, and this would be their first knowledge that they had been caught.

Everything was arranged when I left for Sacramento. Franklin K. Lane happened to be here, and Arthur McEwen, a well known writer. I told them about it and they went with me, to see the fun.

O

TRAPPING FOUR SENATORS

N MONDAY, when the Senate opened, McEwen, Lane and myself were sitting in the Senate chamber, well up in front, so that we could watch the expressions of the four Senators when the story of the bribery was read. I had a reporter at my side, and as soon as the Senate convened he opened a telephone line to the Bulletin office in San Francisco, and kept it open.

The Senate opened with the usual solemnity and prayer. As soon as possible Nichol rose to a question of privilege, spread open his document, and began to read. I whispered to the reporter to telephone to San Francisco, and the special train started, bringing the Bulletin extras.

The four Senators went white when they realized the meaning of Nichol's statement. Lane, McEwen and I watched their changing expressions. When Nichol had finished each one of them rose and stammered a feeble and blundering reply, pale and trembling. Then uproar broke loose in the Senate.

Stormy speeches were made. An investigation was demanded, a committee was appointed. By the time the Senate adjourned newsboys were swarming into the lobby with the Bulletins, carrying the story.

Joe Jordan was there. He rushed to the telephone and called up Grange in his office in the Mills Building, where he had been sitting all day unconscious that he had not committed a felony.

"Have you seen the Bulletin?" Jordan demanded, wildly excited.

Grange said: "No. Why?"

"Go out and get one!"

Grange did so, and discovered that he was a hero, a social reformer, a public spirited citizen.

He was subpenaed to appear before the investigating committee of the Senate, and at the hearing he said that he felt that the corruption of the senatorial body of California was an outrage; that it was an offense to every honest citizen; that he had felt it his duty to his state to devise this method of disclosing the corruptibility of the elected representatives of the people.

Of course, I knew the truth. I knew that he had intended to bribe those Senators, that he had been surprised

and confounded by the discovery that he had not done so. But it was not my play to disclose that knowledge at that time, nor have I ever done so until now.

All four of the Senators were indicted. Bunkers went to San Quentin for a term of years. Emmons also became a convict. Wright fled to Mexico, and French was acquitted and ran again for the Senate, getting 3000 votes in his district.

My knowledge of the truth of this matter was of great value to me later, resulting, indeed, in the nomination of a candidate for Mayor against Schmitz in the approaching election.

Herrin had become fearful of Ruef's growing power in San Francisco. He saw in Ruef a rival who was becoming dangerously strong, so he agreed with us, the reformers, that the Schmitz machine must be defeated in the coming primaries.

At about this time Fairfax Wheelan, a prominent merchant here, became imbued with the idea that he should take a hand in reforming San Francisco, and the first move that he made was to organize the San Francisco Republican League. The purpose of this organization was to bring about a coalition of the Democrats and Republicans in the mayoralty election, so that there would not occur again a three cornered fight, during which Schmitz could slip into office.

Wheelan appointed on this league a number of well known men. He gave me one man, Ed Bowes; he appointed one for De Young of the Chronicle, one for Herrin, and the rest of the league was made up of well known politicians.

This group agreed to give me the power of bringing together the two groups, the McNab group and the Fairfax Wheelan group. They also agreed that if Herrin would play fair and join them in the fight to beat Ruef in the primaries they would work harmoniously with the railroad organization. I was friendly to all the factions and undertook the task of unifying them in the approaching fight.

The railroad people, Jerry Burke, Arthur Fisk and George Hatton, representing Herrin, told me that I should have the negative power on the candidate for mayor; that is, that they would not insist on any candidate whom I opposed.

The three groups agreed that the Republicans should have the mayor and the Democrats should have the other offices.

The first name that Burke and Hatton presented to me was that of Judge Sloss. I told them that I did not think he could be elected. He was a good man, but he was not a good mixer, not a good campaigner, not the kind of man who could

beat Schmitz. While I thought that he would make a good mayor, I did not believe that we could win with him.

I then suggested Colonel Kirkpatrick, manager of the Palace Hotel. I knew that he was a Herrin man, but I also knew that he was financially incorruptible. He was a good mixer, fond of horses, a good story teller, a man about town, who drank a little, had a lot of magnetism, possessed all the qualities that I thought a candidate must have in order to be elected. Burke and Hatton were glad to accept him.

Before presenting the name of Kirkpatrick to McNab, I went down to his office with Thomas Hickey and said: "Mr. McNab, very soon I am going to bring you a name from the Republicans for you to indorse in your Democratic caucus, and I want you to accept it."

"You mean on sight, and unseen?"

I said, "Yes."

"You mean that you will put the name in an envelope, seal the envelope and give it to me, and that whatever name I find I'll accept it?" I said: "Yes, if you want to put it that way."

He said: "All right. I'll do it."

The next day I brought him the name of Kirkpatrick He flew into a violent rage and said that Kirkpatrick was a Herrin man. I admitted that he was, but pointed out my reasons for urging him as a candidate. "I want you to accept him. I want you to do it," I said.

I left, with no definite assurance from him, and I was suspicious from that moment that McNab had some candidate of his own that he was planning to nominate in conjunction with Fairfax Wheelan of the Republican League. In fact, I had heard rumors to that effect, and the man had been mentioned-Harry Baer, who was at that time the Republican auditor of San Francisco.

However, the good faith of McNab and Wheelan was pledged to the agreement with the railroad people, and I made one more effort.

PARTRIDGE IS NOMINATED

FELT that our hope of preventing Schmitz from again becoming mayor lay in combining all the Republican and Democratic forces behind one man, to be the opposition candidate.

It seemed to me that success had been almost in my hand. Wheelan of the Republican League, McNab, controlling the Democratic strength, and Herrin, dictator of the Southern Pacific machine, had all agreed to back the man I chose. When I saw that McNab and Wheelan were conspiring to defeat that agreement, I was in a cold, fighting rage.

I went to the railroad people and suggested, since McNab objected to Kirkpatrick, that we substitute John Lackman. He had been supervisor and sheriff, and, justly or unjustly, he had been given the title of "Honest" John Lackman. I knew that he was a railroad man, but I thought that he was as good as anything we could get for mayor.

When I suggested "Honest" John to Jerry Burke and Hatton they said, "Surely. He is all right. We will stand for him."

I telephoned to San Anselmo, where he was staying, and asked him to come over at once, without a moment's delay. He hastened to Hatton's office in the Crocker building, and I explained the situation to him, saying that we would run him for mayor, with both the Democratic and Republican nominations.

He agreed to run, and Jerry Burke said to him, “All we ask of you, John, speaking for the Republican party, is that when you are elected you give us an even break."

Lackman replied, "Why, certainly. I will do that. It's a fair request.'

I hurried from Hatton's office to McNab and told him that I had hit upon John Lackman for the coalition candidate. He considered the suggestion for a moment, and said, "I think maybe something can be done with Lackman. We'll all meet you in your office tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock and talk it over."

The next morning at 10 o'clock Wheelan, McNab and one or two others came to my office. Wheelan began the conversation by laying on my desk a typewritten sheet, containing the names of every office in the mayor's power to fill, with the name of a man for each. He asked me whether