It was loaded

 

Sept. 27, 1957
Los Angeles

Thomas Lee Anglin's first mistake was buying a gun so his wife could protect herself. His next mistake was arguing with her while she was holding the loaded .22-caliber pistol. His third mistake, which was almost his last, was trying to call her parents during the argument.

Anglin, 2584 N. Brighton St.,* Burbank, a 21-year-old electrician at Lockheed, was in fair condition at St. Joseph Hospital after being shot in the abdomen when his 20-year-old wife, Bertha, tried to hit the telephone out of his hand with the gun.

The Anglins, the parents of an 18-month-old girl, had been arguing for two days but refused to discuss the matter with police in detail. Neither of them would say why they were arguing and Thomas refused to implicate his wife in the shooting. Bertha was charged with assault with intent to commit murder.

All she would say was: "I was only trying to keep him from calling my folks" and "I didn't know it would go off."

The Times never followed up on the case.

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*This address doesn't exist. Here's the Zillow listing for 2542 N. Brighton.

Comments

[jaded]

It never ceases to amaze me how much older people looked in the 1950s. This is a 20 yr. old woman who, from this photo, looks 47.

Even the photos of teenagers make them look like they're over 35. Is it the non-youthful clothing of the era? A harder life? The direct passage from childhood to serious adulthood before the baby boomers began to prolong their teenage years? A lack of retinol?

--I've noticed the same thing. I think it's a variety of factors: The clothes, the style of photography (black and white/large format/harsh lighting from flashbulbs), hairstyles, etc. And the gritty reproduction doesn't help.

I think the other factor is that these people are fixed in our minds at an older age.