Valley man killed with hammer, November 20, 1958

The crash of a Marine plane near El Toro derails the Santa Fe's San Diegan, but no serious injuries are reported. Ernest E. Hargis, who had been a city ambulance driver for 20 years, is found beaten to death with a hammer and shoved under an abandoned car at 13037 Osborne St., Pacoima. Hargis was building a home at the site, The Times said. Further investigation found that Hargis had been hiring former jail trustees and itinerant laborers to help him on his house. James Edgar Holmes, a former psychiatric patient, was accused of the killing. Holmes admitted killing Hargis but said it was in defense during an argument over a star drill he was using to bore holes in concrete.

       

Comments

[Jim]

I believe that the San Diegan was a train operated by the Santa Fe Reailrod rather than the Southern Pacific.