Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician, musical director, and politician. He served as the 26th

mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...

from 1902 to 1907, in office during the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

Early life

Schmitz was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

on August 22, 1864, the son of an Irish mother and a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

father.

Career

He played the violin and conducted the orchestra at the Columbia Theatre on Powell Street in San Francisco. Labor Party San Francisco 1901

He was president of the Musicians' Union, when city boss

Abe Ruef Abraham Ruef (September 2, 1864 – February 29, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician. He gained notoriety as the corrupt political boss behind the administration of Mayor Eugene Schmitz of San Francisco during the period before and after ...

chose him to run for mayor of his hometown on the ticket of the

Union Labor Party The Union Labor Party or United Labor Party (ULP) was a labor party created in 1884 by labor activists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was moderately successful, and key organizers within the party helped create the People's Party, into which the ULP ...

. Schmitz was elected on November 5, 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 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 10 – The Aceh Sultanate was fully annexed by the Dutch forces, deposing the last sultan, marking the end of the Aceh War that have lasted for al ...

and

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

, 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. In

, Schmitz received the votes of the state legislature's Union Labor minority in the Senate election.

1906 earthquake

He was still mayor when the

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. Mayor Schmitz said "The federal troops, which are now policing a portion of the city, as well as the regular and special members of the police force, have been authorized by me to kill any persons whomsoever, found engaged in looting the effects of any citizen or otherwise engaged in the commission of crime."

Bribery scandal

On June 13, 1907, Schmitz was found guilty of

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

and

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

. The bribery scandal was one of the many

San Francisco graft trials 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 (politics), graft and other political corruption. Only one person was convicted and went ...

, which included Schmitz,

Tirey L. Ford Tirey Lafayette Ford (December 29, 1857 – June 26, 1928) was an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician who served as a California State Senator and the 18th Attorney-General of California. He acted as Genera ...

, and attorney

, who were receiving bribes. 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 San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...

, 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 The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

upheld the Court of Appeals' ruling, and he was released on

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

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

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 1917, he remained until 1926.

Personal life

He married Julia Driscoll on June 10, 1891 in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...

and had two daughters. he died in 1928 age 64

Literature

* ''New International Yearbook'' for 1907 and 1908 *

George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

, "The Fight for Reform in San Francisco," ''McClure's,'' Sept. 1907 & Nov. 1907.

References

External links

Schmitz' "Shoot to kill" order
at the

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco Virtual may refer to: * Virtual image, an apparent image of an object (as opposed to a real object), in the study of optics * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual ...

1907 editorial cartoon from the San Francisco ExaminerPhotographs related to the San Francisco graft trial, 1907–1908

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Eugene 1864 births 1928 deaths 1906 San Francisco earthquake 20th-century mayors of places in California American people of Irish descent American people of German descent American violinists American Roman Catholics American male violinists Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) History of San Francisco Mayors of San Francisco American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Prisoners and detainees of California