L.A. firefighter buys job for $600, October 21, 1938

A 2,000-acre brush fire burns from Stone Canyon Dam to Beverly Glen and north to Mulholland Drive.

A political bombshell explodes in the Los Angeles City Fire Department: The sale of jobs for $600 ($8,745.89 USD 2007). Fire Chief Ralph J. Scott tells investigators that Fire Commission Secretary John R. Spring and Joe Shaw, brother of ex-Mayor Frank Shaw, conspired to sell civic positions. "Many of these men wept as they told their stories," one fire official said. "Originally they were just citizens out of a job. They wanted a job on the Fire Department and were told point-blank that the only way they could get it was to pay for it and after investigating they were brought to that inescapable conclusion."  Ex-Mayor Shaw denies misconduct.   Boxer dies in ring.