Eugene Schmitz

Eugene Schmitz
Eugene Schmitz
26th Mayor of San Francisco
	In office; January 8, 1902 – July 8, 1907
Preceded by	James D. Phelan
Succeeded by	Charles Boxton
Personal details
Born	August 22, 1864; San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	November 20, 1928 (aged 64); San Francisco, California, U.S.
Political party	Union Labor Party
Profession	Musician, Politician

Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Life and career

Born in San Francisco, Schmitz was the son of an Irish mother and a German father. He played the violin and conducted the orchestra at the Columbia Theatre on Powell Street in San Francisco.

Members of the first Labor Party ticket in San Francisco in 1901. Back row: E. E. Schmitz

He was president of the Musicians' Union, when city boss Abe Ruef chose him to run for mayor of his hometown on the ticket of the Union Labor Party. Schmitz was elected on November 7, 1901, thereafter giving protection to criminals, including houses of prostitution for protection money, while remaining popular with the working class. Despite opposition from a reform candidate backed by a fusion party, he was reelected in 1903 and 1905, each time by wide majorities. In 1905, Schmitz won by a very large vote, receiving 40,191, whereas only 28,687 were cast for John S. Partridge.[1][2]

He was still mayor when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed a prodigious amount of the city. On the day of the earthquake, Wednesday, April 18, 1906, he invited a cross-section of the city's most prominent businessmen, politicians and civic leaders, but none of the members of the Board of Supervisors, to form the Committee of Fifty to help him manage the crisis.[3]

On June 13, 1907, Schmitz was found guilty of extortion and bribery. The bribery scandal was one of the many San Francisco graft trials, which included Schmitz, Tirey L. Ford, and attorney Abe Ruef, who were receiving bribes.[4] The office of mayor was declared vacant while he was sent to jail to await sentence. Shortly thereafter, he was sentenced to five years at San Quentin State Prison, the maximum sentence the law allowed. He immediately appealed; while awaiting the outcome, he was kept in a cell in San Francisco County Jail.

On January 9, 1908, the District Court of Appeals nullified his conviction. Two months later, the California Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals' ruling, and he was released on bail pending the resolution of the outstanding bribery indictments. In 1912, he was brought to trial once more, this time on charges of bribery; however, after Abe Ruef was brought from San Quentin to testify and refused to give evidence, and the other key witness, Chief Supervisor James L. Gallagher, fled to Canada, Schmitz was acquitted.

Schmitz ran for mayor again in 1915 and 1919, but was soundly defeated due to his past reputation. Elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1921, he remained until 1925.

He married Julia Driscoll on June 10, 1891 in Watsonville, California and had two daughters.[5]

Literature

New International Yearbook for 1907 and 1908
George Kennan, "The Fight for Reform in San Francisco," McClure's, Sept. 1907 & Nov. 1907.[1]

References

Kennan, George. "Publication". The Unz Review.
Byington, Lewis Francis; Lewis, Oscar (1931). The History of San Francisco. Chicago, San Francisco: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company.
Thomas, Gordon; Morgan Witts, Max (1989). The San Francisco Earthquake. Norwalk, Conn. : Easton Press.
Bean, Walton (1974). "The Trials of Tirey L. Ford". Boss Ruef's San Francisco: The Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution. Berkeley: University of California Press; republished Greenwood Press, 1981. pp. 240, 240–255. ISBN 9780520000940.
Evarts, Blake (1902). San Francisco; a brief biographical sketch of some of the most prominent men who will preside over her destiny for at least two year. San Francisco: Pacific Publishing Company. Retrieved September 3, 2020.

External links

Media related to Eugene Schmitz at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by James D. Phelan	Mayor of San Francisco 1902–1907	Succeeded by Charles Boxton

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[auto-1] Kennan, George. "Publication". The Unz Review.

[2] Byington, Lewis Francis; Lewis, Oscar (1931). The History of San Francisco. Chicago, San Francisco: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company.

[3] Thomas, Gordon; Morgan Witts, Max (1989). The San Francisco Earthquake. Norwalk, Conn. : Easton Press.

[4] Bean, Walton (1974). "The Trials of Tirey L. Ford". Boss Ruef's San Francisco: The Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution. Berkeley: University of California Press; republished Greenwood Press, 1981. pp. 240, 240–255. ISBN 9780520000940.

[5] Evarts, Blake (1902). San Francisco; a brief biographical sketch of some of the most prominent men who will preside over her destiny for at least two year. San Francisco: Pacific Publishing Company. Retrieved September 3, 2020.