Charles Fickert

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Charles M. Fickert (1873 - October 19, 1937) was San Francisco District Attorney from 1909 until 1920. He is best known as the D.A. who prosecuted Tom Mooney and Warren Billings for the Preparedness Day bombing of 1916.

Born in Kern County, California, Fickert entered Stanford University in 1894 and became well known for his skill on the football field. Admitted to the California Bar in [1895]] in Los Angeles, he arrived in San Francisco and joined the law offices of Edward Robeson Taylor, who soon replaced Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz when Schmitz was indicted during the graft trials.

Fickert's first public office was assistant United States Attorney, serving for two years. He then successfully opposed special prosecutor for the DA's office Francis J. Heney for DA in the fall of 1909. He was regularly reelected until defeat by Matthew Brady in 1920.

Fickert was in office in 1916 and drew national attention and scandal for his prosecution of Mooney and Billings. Witnesses claimed Fickert coached them to perjure themselves in subsequent hearings in order to defend the original convictions. Fickert continued his battles with his fists, first against Heney at the Olympic club and later against editor Fremont Older at the Palace Hotel.

A 1919 Grand Jury exonerated Frickert from charges made by John B. Densmore, investigator from Washington, Director General of Employment, in the framing of Mooney and Billings and for his having conspired with Pete McDonough in the freeing of wealthy defendants. President Theodore Roosevelt declared, "anyone assailing Fickert for prosecuting anarchists should be deprived of citizenship".

Fickert ran for Governor of California in 1918 but was defeated. His wife, Ethel Wallace Fickert, obtained a divorce from him in 1935 citing excessive drinking and gambling and was awarded the Fickert home at 7060 Green Street in San Francisco. Fickert died of pneumonia at 11:12 p.m. on October 19, 1937 at Franklin Hospital, surrounded by family.

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