San Francisco graft trials
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The San Francisco graft trials were a series of attempts from 1905 to 1908 to prosecute public officials in the city of San Francisco, California, for graft and other political corruption. Only one pe
The "Big Four" graft prosecutors (left to right): Francis J. Heney, William J. Burns, Fremont Older, and Rudolph Spreckels.
Workers on the San Francisco waterfront in 1901.
A strikebreaking teamster is escorted by a San Francisco policeman during the strike of 1901. On the side of the wagon is the name of the company, McNab & Smith.
Lawyer Abe Ruef was the political boss behind the graft at the center of the prosecution.
Pacific Bell
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The Pacific Bell Telephone Company doing business as AT&T California is a telephone company that provides telephone service in California. The company is owned by AT&T through AT&T Teleholdings, and,
San Francisco graft trials
…office, he was the power behind the mayor's chair. The first company to seek his advice was the Theodore Halsey, a confidential political agent for the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company. He paid Ruef a retainer of $1,250 (about $48,000 in 2025) a month for "advice" on municipal issues. After the graft prosecutions, E.F. Pillsbury…
Pacific Telephone logo used from 1908 to 1921
Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. service crew, Feb. 1921
Pacific Telephone "Call Before You Dig" notice (pre-1984 version)
PacBell Building, San Francisco