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« April 13, 2008 - April 19, 2008 |
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| April 27, 2008 - May 3, 2008 »
Above, a souvenir of the Great White Fleet's visit to Los Angeles, obtained from that wonderful repository of historic goodies: EBay.
And here's the 100-year-old message, written from Fullerton:
The Kansas (BB-21) was broken up for scrap in the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard in 1924.
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Below, the prosecution prepares to call bombing victim Harry Raymond in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette ... The proceedings are interrupted as bailiffs throw an old drunk man out of the courtroom after he yelled "Look out! Look out!" ... Sam Goldwyn says movies are terrible, even the "A" pictures. He blames writers, actors and directors. "They all get too much money, he said," according to The Times ... Nazi violence against Jews breaks out in Theusing, Czechoslovakia ... State liquor agents are accused of soliciting a bribe to renew a cafe owner's license..
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This anonymous writer simply couldn't resist a cheap shot about women's vanity.
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Meet an earnest young scientist named Fred Horowitz, who received a wireless message sent from across the city, a newsworthy achievement in 1908. The other young Edison is Mars Baumgardt, whom you may recall from a previous post on the 1947project as the inventor of a radio-controlled boat.*
Sadly, Fred was badly injured the next month in another experiment. While trying to launch a kite by trailing it from his bicycle, he was hit by a car near Huntington Boulevard and Alhambra Road, The Times said. He suffered a concussion and a broken leg. Unfortunately, The Times never reported further on his adventures with radio. He was the son of Moses Horowitz, a merchant. 922 W. 1st St.
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* The 1947project website seems to be broken and my friends have moved on to their Bunker Hill project, so rather than redo the post, I've published a draft version I wrote in 2006.
Miracle of miracles, this house at 1233 S. Bonnie Brae is still standing.
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Here's an image from Google's street view. Someone in the last century has tinkered with the porch and we have a non-period satellite dish, but by golly it's still there and that makes me a happy man. The Times doesn't say too much about Adrian Loeb except to note his name in half a dozen society columns. He was apparently a produce executive in early Los Angeles. I have the notion that I visited this neighborhood for an Architectural Rambling when I was working on the 1947project, but I can't find the post. The architect, who used the names Cooper Corbett, B. Cooper Corbett and Benjamin Cooper Corbett, flourished in Los Angeles from about 1900 to 1915 and designed many homes in the West Adams district.
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April 25, 1958
April 25, 1958
 Above, the L.A. Dodgers appear in a crossword puzzle, always a barometer of popular culture ... Below, Cheryl Crane is released from custody ... Secret Service agents detain a woman who burst out of a crowd and insisted on seeing President Eisenhower ... Vice President Nixon's remedy for the economy: A tax cut. The Times plays the story on the front page while noting: "Basically, there was nothing new in Nixon's advocacy of a tax cut..."  Email me
 I guess I'm just a sucker for holy men who run backward. And no, I can't find out anything else about Goliath Messiah ... Below, the United Palestine Appeal advocates a program to settle 500,000 Jewish refugees in Palestine over five years ... In Germany, the Nazis threaten a year in prison for anyone who helps disguise Jewish ownership of a business ... Austria limits Jewish enrollment at universities to 2 percent ... And the Nazis force Austrian Jews to picket their own businesses. Quote of the Day: "Louis Lipsky of New York, chairman of the administrative committee of the United Palestine Appeal, condemned the liberal forces of the world for what he said was a betrayal of the Jews." --The Associated Press
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 Above, no, I can't find any follow-up stories and it would be interesting to know what happened. Below, Los Angeles says goodbye to the Great White Fleet. Many people spend the night on the beach so they can see the ships off in the morning ... A marine sergeant from one of the ships commits suicide in the ocean at Redondo after fighting off a rescuer ... And, as should be no surprise, not all the sailors get back to their ships in time.
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April 29, 1959
I stumbled across this page yesterday while looking for details on the Les Bruneman killing at the Roost cafe. Unfortunately, the front page didn't get microfilmed, so all we have is the jump. Still, it's a nice, tidy list of all the mob killings in Los Angeles dating back to 1906, at least according to the Los Angeles Police Department. 
NOTE: You may notice a March 4, 1934, killing at 3049 S. Norton Ave. and try to infer a connection to the 1947 Black Dahlia case (Elizabeth Short's body was found on South North Avenue between 39th Street and Coliseum). The locations are a mile apart. The victim in the 1934 case, cafe owner Ralph Monterastelli, was in his garage when he was fatally wounded during a robbery. How an unsolved robbery and murder became a mob case is a question I can't answer. I suspect, unfortunately, it's because the victim was Italian American. 
 Above, Police Capt. Peter Del Gado. As I said before, keep your eye on him. Below, a night with a radio car: A nude woman roaming, a couple of drunks and a car accident that involved liquor.  Email me
OK, here's another picture of our mystery woman. Surely someone will recognize her sooner or later. Patricia Blair? (Rotter). Absolutely right. This is Patricia Blake (a.k.a. Patricia Blair). She was photographed with Marlon Brando in November 1955 at the Ambassador, where they attended a charity dance. Congratulations! That's was a tough one! 
How about now?
 OK, who are they? (Update: Hint -- she's still alive, as far as I can tell. And you can find her on imdb).
Update No. 2: Look, folks, at least try to guess who this is instead of picking random names of 1950s starlets -- there were hundreds of actresses who did an episode of "Wagon Train" or "Have Gun, Will Travel" and vanished. This woman looks nothing at all like Vera Miles or Marian Seldes, let alone Virginia Mayo! I mean please.
- Marlon Brando (Rob Case). That's right. He's the easy one.
- Barbara "Bride of the Gorilla" Payton? Alas, no.
- Grace "Mogambo" Kelly? Sorry, no.
- Anita "Brute Force" Colby? I'm afraid not.
- Ursula "Monsoon" Thiess? Interesting guess. But no.
- Peggy "The Bad and the Beautiful" King? Alas, no.
- Jean "Viva Zapata!" Peters? Sorry, no.
- Nina "Cry of the Werewolf" Foch? Interesting guess. But no.
- Mary "Wild One" Murphy? Good guess. But no.
- Rosanna "Hell Canyon Outlaws" Rory? Sorry, no.
- Sondra "Peter Pan" Lee? Interesting guess. But no.
- Hazel "Devil Girl From Mars" Court? Alas, no.
- A Gabor sister? Sorry, no.
- Ursula Andress? I'm afraid not.
- Jocelyn Brando, Frances Brando, Anna Kashfi? Sorry, no.
- Charlotte "Gorilla at Large" Austin? Unfortunately not.
- Allison "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" Hayes? A big no on that one.
- Peggy "Yellow Tomahawk" Castle? Sorry, no.
- Nancy "No Man's Woman" Gates? Alas, no.
- Karen "Man Crazy" Steele? I'm afraid not.
- Lizabeth "Stolen Face" Scott? No, sorry.
- Kim "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" Stanley? No, alas.
- Martha "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" Hyer? I'm afraid not.
- Dora "French Can Can" Doll? Mais non.
- Mara "Prehistoric Women" Lynn? Sorry, no. Remember, the mystery woman is still alive.
- Coleen "Kiss of Death" Gray? Alas, no.
- Phyllis "Ruby Gentry" Avery? I'm afraid not.
- Virginia "Best Years of Our Lives" Mayo? Sorry, no.
- Marian "M Squad" Seldes? Sorry no.
- Patrice "I'll See You in My Dreams" Wymore? No, sorry.
- Vera "For Men Only" Miles? No, alas.
- Dolores "Underworld U.S.A." Dorn? Sorry.
- Angela "Tenth Avenue Angel" Lansbury? (Does this lady look at all like Angela Lansbury to you?) Not!
- Rhonda "Odongo" Fleming? (Does this lady look remotely like Rhonda Fleming?) Not!
- June "Timber Queen" Havoc? No, alas.
- Kathryn "The Vanishing Virginian" Grayson? C'mon! Kathryn Grayson was a brunette! No.
- Mala "Rose of Cimarron" Powers? Uh, Mala Powers was a brunette. No.
 OK, here she is again. And who's he? Note the heavy retouching. Back in its day, this was considered "an art."
- George "Tonga Tika" Fenneman? Sorry, no. And who's the mystery woman?
- Dennis "Getting Gertie's Garter" O'Keefe? (Alexa Foreman). Absolutely right!
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 Above, a story that reminds me of old Master Chief Petty Officer Oneyear of the Belleau Wood LHA-3, who had fouled anchors inlaid in silver in his front teeth. Note that less than 1 percent of the sailors' tattoos were "indecent" ... Below, the sailors from the Great White Fleet visit Chutes Park in Los Angeles and do the hula ... A young lady named Elsie Smith tells some anecdotes about her encounters with the officers from several battleships ... Bluejackets' boxing matches ... And someone has stolen Ahab, the cat that is the mascot of the Minnesota! Bill, the ship's goat, is staying put, however ... All too soon, the ships will depart.
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July 26, 1971
April 23, 1958
April 23, 1958
 Now that I have safely secured my tickets for what is my favorite Los Angeles film event, I can announce that tickets have gone on sale to the public for the Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats. This is a marvelous opportunity to see vintage films in some of the great downtown movie palaces. I have never been in the Million Dollar Theatre, so I'm especially looking forward to that. Act quickly because Last Remaining Seats usually sells out fast. See you there!
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Photo: Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes," courtesy Fox Entertainment Group.
Jack Curtis Searles 1928-2008
By Michael Searles
For more than 60 years, Jack Searles, in one fashion or another, was
involved in Southern California journalism.
His newspaper jobs included everything
from copy boy to business editor. He worked for every kind of newspaper, from
the tiny Pixley Enterprise to the L.A. Times,
the Herald Examiner and the New York
Post.
He covered stories ranging from the opening of an outlet mall in Camarillo to the nomination of JFK as candidate for
president of the United
States. He taught hundreds if not thousands
of students the art of journalism at colleges and universities across Southern California. He was a splendid writer and the
kind of editor you loved to work for.
Jack always went his own way. He was willing to take chances
and go off the beaten path, whether it was buying land in Palmdale in the 1960s
on speculation that an airport would boost land values there or purchasing the
Pixley Enterprise in Tulare County in the 1970s so he
could have his own newspaper.
Education was very important to Jack and he spent many years
taking classes part-time at UCLA while working full-time before earning his
bachelor’s degree in his 20s. Later, he returned to UCLA to earn a master’s
degree.
Above, reporter Jack Searles accompanies Marilyn Monroe with reporter Bob Krauch at right. The man on the left is as yet unidentified. He inscribed the photo to his sister Cherie.
Everyone who met Jack was impressed by his intelligence, his
dry sense of humor and his skills as a writer and teacher. He wrote with a simple clarity and
intelligence that made his stories appealing and always made him attractive to
newspaper editors and colleges across Southern California.
While Jack never completely gave up newspaper writing, he
did start a second long career in education. Many of his former students speak of the inspiration he offered them.
Jack loved to play tennis and continued to play a vigorous
game almost to the end of his life. Jack also found great comfort and pleasure
in his dogs. With them, he was freest to express his feelings.
Jack’s lineage can be traced back to one of
the greatest Talmudic scholars in history, Rabbi Moises Ben Iserles of 16th
century Krakow. In his own way, Jack carried
on that proud tradition.
Jack Curtis Searles was born Aug. 12, 1928, in Welch, W. Va. Even at the moment of his birth he was living life according to his
own schedule. Jack’s parents were on a business trip with plans to be back at
their home in Chicago for his birth, but Jack
decided it was time to enter the world and so he was born in this tiny hamlet
in West Virginia,
where he spent the first week of his life, never to return.
Jack spent his childhood in Chicago. His father, Max Iserlis (who later
changed his name to Searles) immigrated from Tolochin in Belarus after a long hiatus in Japan. Max
worked at many jobs, frequently as a traveling salesman. Jack’s mother, Ada
Curtis, was the daughter of Jewish merchants in Chicago. In 1934, Max and Ada moved the family to Los Angeles, including
Jack’s older brother, Larry, and his older sister, Cherie. In later years, Max, who became fluent in
Spanish, sold family portraits to migrant farm workers in California.
Shortly after arriving in California,
the family moved to Venice
Beach, where Max
supplemented his income during the Depression by making hair tonic in the
bathtub. Cherie, who now lives in Texas,
fondly remembers walking with her little brother, then 7 years old, along
the beach front.
Later, the family moved to Hollywood, where Jack was very studious, but
would also take time to play with his best friends, Herbert and Sonny, out in
the street. Those friendships lasted a
lifetime and even in his last days, Jack was in touch with Herbert and another
lifelong friend, Manny Schulz.
At Fairfax
High School from 1942 to 1946, Jack began
to spread his wings -- he was very active in journalism, writing and editing
the school newspaper. After graduation, he stayed at home until 1953 when he
met and married Charlotte Horovitz, a beautiful 17-year-old high school senior
from Santa Monica.
As
a young man just into his 20s, Jack tried
starting a “shopper” newspaper in Panorama City. In the late 1940s,
Jack started working as copy boy on the Mirror. Eventually he became a
police reporter, general assignment reporter, columnist and political
reporter.
During these years he covered gruesome auto accidents and high-profile
murders.
He covered the Democratic National Convention in 1960 in L.A. when JFK
was nominated for president (he
was a Stevenson man). For one of his columns, he interviewed my sister
Karen,
then 3, and myself, then 5, about our presidential favorites (I believe
I
supported Kennedy at the time). For old-timers, they may remember a
couple of
his buddies from the period --- George Reasons and Art Berman.
When the Mirror folded, Jack went to work for the
L.A. Times as a general assignment reporter. Always somewhat restless, he left
The Times and spent a year working for the San Diego Union. He then returned to
The Times for several years.
In 1963, he picked up and moved to New York to accept a position as business
editor of the New York Post. Soon, he was drawn back to L.A. taking over as business editor for the
Los Angeles Herald Examiner from 1964 until sometime in the early 1980s. He
stayed with the paper during the turbulent strike years.
When he left the Herald he very briefly dipped his
toes in public relations, accepting a personal services contract with Armand Hammer,
head of L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum. Hammer and Jack quickly realized that
he was not built to be a PR man, so Hammer allowed Jack to finish off his
contract by completing a Master of Arts in Journalism at UCLA during the brief
period when UCLA offered such a degree.
By the early 1980s, Jack had retooled and entered
the field of college journalism education. He served as journalism professor
and adviser to the campus newspaper at Riverside
City Community
College and later moved to the newly opened West Los Angeles
Community College, where
he taught and served as adviser to the campus newspaper for more than a decade.
During this period, Jack bought a tiny weekly
newspaper in Tulare County, the Pixley Enterprise (yes, it was published
in Pixley, Calif.). Jack would drive up on weekends
and edit the paper. He continued that practice for several years before selling
the paper.
Still going strong in his 60s, Jack moved to Ventura
County and continued to teach part time at colleges across Southern California,
including Cal State Northridge, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Pierce College,
Valley College, Oxnard College and Ventura College.
Even into his 70s, Jack still taught journalism and
English part-time and wrote a business column for the Ventura County
edition of the L.A. Times and later for the Ventura Star.
After being laid low by a stroke at the age of 75,
Jack never gave up on the dream of returning to teaching and journalism. For more than 50 years he lived that dream. Even
during his last few months of life after a severe heart attack, he still wanted
to talk politics and current events.
Jack and Charlotte were married for 55 years until his death. For many years, Charlotte
taught elementary school children at inner-city schools. They lived in many
parts of Southern California, settling in Ventura County
about 20 years ago.
His son Michael, born in 1953, is a former journalist and teacher, and is a mental health therapist
in Washington, DC. His daughter Karen, born in 1955, is a high-level insurance executive in Los Angeles. Karen drew
even closer to Jack during his final months as she was a fierce advocate for
his well-being and comfort.
Jack will be remembered as a loving husband, father and
brother. He will be sorely missed by those who benefited from his writings, his
teaching, his sense of humor and his willingness to live life on his own terms.
We have all been enriched by his life and his example.
Note: Michael Searles, a graduate of the Cal State
Northridge journalism program, worked as a reporter and editor for local
newspapers, including the Santa Monica Outlook
and the Simi Valley Enterprise
(both now folded) before becoming an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles and northern Virginia
for 20 years. Michael now works as a mental health therapist in Washington, DC.
A copy of this book has turned up on EBay for (get this) $500! Until a few years ago, it was possible to pick up "Thieves" for a few dollars, in fact I found an autographed copy at a Salvation Army store for something like $2. Now, however, prices have hit the stratosphere. The book is utter junk and certainly not worth anything close to $500. Do NOT waste your money on this book. If you want a copy that badly, check it out of the library and take it to Kinko's. Debunking "Thieves" would be a life's work, but trust me, it is the disorganized rant of a disgruntled ex-cop, who published the book himself and was so desperate that he gave away copies and asked people who liked it to send him money. And it says nothing about the Black Dahlia case, regardless of what you may read elsewhere.
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Above, Bunker Hill as envisioned, with 5th Street and Figueroa in the upper left corner.
Below, Bunker Hill, as grabbed from Google Earth, with 5th and Figueroa in the upper left corner. Note how much the two images resemble one another. I'm sure someone more adept than I can figure out how to make the 1958 map an overlay on Google Earth. I can't quite swing it.
Along with a follow-up story on the crash of a United Air Lines DC-7 and an Air Force F-100F Super Sabre over Nevada, note that a TWA Super Constellation made an emergency landing after one of the engines caught fire. Over lunch recently with my good friend and former colleague Eric Malnic, we began talking about why there haven't been any major aviation disasters in recent years. Eric, who covered air crashes for The Times, thought it would make an interesting story and attributed the long, safe stretch to better inspections, more automation and fewer moving parts. Eric's the expert, not I, but it was an interesting thought ... And the Dodgers beat the Cubs.
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Below, the 1937 slaying of underworld figure Les Bruneman intrudes into the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing. (Pete Pianezzi, convicted of killing Bruneman at the Roost cafe, was paroled in 1953) ... Former City Atty. Erwin P. Werner and his wife are sentenced to prison on corruption charges ... On the jump, Col. Frank Knox calls for the suspension of Social Security taxes with the money going to provide jobs for the unemployed. Quote of the Day: "The current business slump is not a recession.... [It's a] Roosevelt depression caused by political, not economic conditions." --Col. Frank Knox
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You may remember yesterday that Schlitz declared beer a health drink. And I've noted elsewhere that brewers marketed beer as "liquid bread" (a mere 3 1/2 percent alcohol). But calling whiskey a health tonic is new to me. Do you think this fooled temperance workers for even a minute? Probably not.
And here's an ad for "liquid bread" from 1897, in case you thought I was exaggerating:
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Here's a couple of links Daily Mirror readers might find interesting:
- Howard Decker, a regular correspondent to the Daily Mirror, has begun his own blog, named Hollywood Gone By. Howard is posting Hollywood photos he has taken over the years, along with his recollections of the famous and infamous.
- My former colleague at the Arizona Daily Star, librarian Elaine Raines, has begun a Tucson history blog titled "Tales From the Morgue."
If you know of any other daily history blogs, email me.
April 22, 1958
April 22, 1958
Above, there are people in this world who insist that before the advent of top-40 radio in the 1950s, programming was a formless blob. Note, in fact, that programming was often tightly organized in 15-minute blocks. Below, Officer Donald M. Draper testifies that he rented the LAPD observation post at 2711 E. 7th St. on behalf of Police Capt. Earle Kynette to spy on bombing victim Harry Raymond. Draper takes the 5th Amendment on questions of whether he tapped Raymond's phone ... And look at the labor news: Violence in the strike at the Ford Motor plant ... reinstatement of strikers at Douglas Aircraft and indictments of 11 Los Angeles members of the Teamsters.
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Above, a baseball museum in Los Angeles? Really?? Well look at this:
Below, a United Air Lines DC-7 and an Air Force F-100F Super Sabre on a training flight collide over Nevada, killing everyone on both aircraft. The victims include aerospace engineers headed to a conference in Las Vegas ... A father and son living in a converted school bus are killed and another son is wounded in a bizarre, bloody incident in Dana Point. After being stopped by Orange County sheriff's deputies, Charles Seyfert got off the bus armed with a pistol. Seyfert dropped the pistol on orders of Deputy Edward Johnson. Seyfert's oldest son, Charles, 14, dashed out of the bus, picked up the pistol and fired at Johnson, killing Johnson's partner, Deputy Robert L. Shultz. Johnson fired back, wounding Charles. The youngest Seyfert boy, Tommy, 10, ran out of the bus, picked up the pistol and started firing before Johnson killed him. Seyfert picked up the pistol and Johnson shot him to death.
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Ruben Salazar, from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive
(Collection 1429), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA
Above, the news story on the death of Ruben Salazar, by Charles T. Powers and Jeff Perlman. Below, a tribute to Salazar by the late Frank del Olmo, Aug. 24, 1980. "I think he often wrote his columns explaining things like 'Who is a Chicano and what is it that Chicanos want?' as much to clarify things in his own mind as he did to clarify them for his Anglo and other readers. And one of the saddest things about his death is that Ruben died never having fully answered many of those questions for himself, or for the Chicano community.... I know he was not a Chicano saint. But I know he was not just another Mexican American, either. " --Frank del Olmo, Los Angeles Times
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April 21, 1958
April 21, 1958
 A battle of bean balls between Ramon Monzant of the Giants and Don Drysdale of the Dodgers. I really don't think I'd care to have Drysdale aiming for my noggin.
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April 16, 1938-Sept. 16, 1939
 How about that? The tracks are still here, a block south of Firestone on Myrtle. I think that's where they found her body in the weeds.
Poor little kid. Her name was Jenny -- Jenny Moreno. She was 7 when she was killed. One of the neighbors was molesting her and hit her in the head with a hammer to stop her screaming, then waited until dark and hid the body. Her relatives and the other folks who were looking for her saw him handcuffed to a deputy and nearly lynched him. The guards at San Quentin said he went to the gas chamber bellowing like a bull; it took him 7 1/2 minutes to die.
His name was Charles A. McLachlan, a "wrinkle-faced, 55-year-old, wine-soaked Irish-Mexican," The Times said. He and his wife had come to Downey from El Paso about 15 years earlier and bought five shacks at Firestone and Myrtle. He had lived alone since his wife died three years ago and made a little money renting out the other shacks. One was leased to his son Joe and daughter-in-law Carmen. Another was leased to the Morenos: John, his wife, and their six children. A woman identified as Mrs. Perra, the children's grandmother, also lived there.
On the day that Jenny disappeared, Mrs. Perra sent her on an errand to take a magazine to Carmen McLachlan. On her way back, Charles lured Jenny into his shack, The Times said.
He attacked her. "I hit her with a hammer to make her stop screaming," he said. "I reached over to the stove where the hammer was laying and got it -- then I hit her. She screamed again when I hit her the first time -- I hit her again and she quit."
Charles hid Jenny's body on what passed for a bed, washed off the hammer and hid it under the blankets.
Then he and a neighbor who had been chopping wood across the street walked down the tracks to a store and bought half a gallon of wine. They drank the wine as they walked, then went to another store and bought another half-gallon of wine.
Charles wasn't sure what time it was when he got back to his shack because he didn't have a clock. He said he told time by the sun and figured it was 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. His son Joe told him to go to bed. But he didn't.
"I was mighty drunk," he said, "but I went out and milked my goat. It was then that Jenny's grandmother Mrs. Perra came over and asked me if I had seen Jenny or knew where she was. I told her I didn't. She was in my house dead right then."
They were looking for her, so he went into his shack, sat down and had a smoke.
"I was getting desperate, so when all was still and dark I picked up the body and carried it out to the fence and threw it over to the other side. Then I walked down to a hole in the fence -- about 50 feet -- and went up the other side and picked it up again and carried it out among the weeds, about 75 feet, and dropped it," he said.
Back at his shack, he noticed that he had forgotten to get rid of her shoes, so he threw them into the outhouse. He cut the bloody fabric from the mattress with a knife, then took the pieces, along with her clothes and some of his own bloody clothing, and set them on fire in the backyard.  Back in the house, he found his overalls covered with her blood and set them on fire in his shack.
Mrs. Perra contacted the sheriff's Norwalk substation to report the blazes, and deputies had just arrested Charles when Jenny's father found her body. One of Jenny's uncles struck Charles as he was handcuffed to Deputy White. Some people called out "lynch him!" but the deputies dispersed the crowd, The Times said.
During interrogation, Charles denied knowing anything about the killing, even after being confronted with a strand of the girl's hair that was found on his bloody overalls, The Times said.
After 12 hours of questioning, he confessed to Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz, The Times said. He originally denied being able to speak English, so Biscailuz questioned him in Spanish. However, Charles eventually gave a 14-page confession in English, The Times said.
He was convicted in a non-jury trial, found sane and sentenced to die. A year later, he sought a pardon from the governor, who granted a brief stay of execution, although the grounds for the appeal aren't clear. Judge Frank M. Smith, who sentenced Charles to die, said there were no mitigating circumstances to warrant a pardon. Jenny's murder, he said, was "one of the most brutal and horrible ever perpetrated in Los Angeles County."
Charles A. McLachlan was taken into the gas chamber on the morning of Sept. 15, 1939, and pronounced dead about 10:10 a.m. "There were very few spectators at the execution," The Times said.
There's nothing in The Times about services for Jenny or where she was buried. Apparently the lives of some folks named Moreno living near the tracks in Downey weren't terribly important.
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 Below, an update in the saga of some "Hearstlings" who stole pictures of the Great White Fleet to be published in the Examiner ... Note the story about the 1906 Brownsville, Texas, incident in which African American troops of the 25th Infantry were charged with going on a deadly rampage. I haven't touched on this case (so many stories, only one Larry Harnisch), but reports on the congressional hearings crop up regularly in 1908 editions of The Times ... Also note the article about the U.S. postmaster taking action against alleged abortionists who used the mail to provide birth control information. Well into the 1950s, The Times was squeamish about using the term "abortion," preferring "illegal operation," "criminal operation" or something similar.  Email me
April 20, 2008
Someone asked me if I placed this notice in today's issues of The Times. No, I didn't. But I'm glad these people are remembered. Read my original Club Mecca post here.
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Israel prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a look toward the future. Quote of the Day: "If the international situation improves, then in the next decade there may be peace between Israel and the Arabs." --David Ben-Gurion, prime minister
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April 20, 1958
Dodger-mania spreads to the comics pages!
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April 20, 1958
Here's an interesting sales pitch: Move to Anaheim for the kids. Only 26.5 miles to downtown L.A. Note that the map says "Houston Freeway," which took its name from Houston Avenue and was renamed the Riverside Freeway.
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