Changeling -- Part VI

Los Angeles Times file photo In going through the photographs from the Gordon Northcott case, I'm struck by how different Northcott looks from one image to another. Sometimes he appears  thoughtful, even bookish. In others, he looks quite demonic. In the undated picture above, probably taken at San Quentin, he seems sensitive and reflective.

Los Angeles Times file photo At Kamloops, B.C., Sgt. Fraser of the British Columbia Provincial Police, left, escorts Gordon Northcott to Vancouver after Northcott was captured in Vernon, B.C.. The Times published this photo Sept. 23, 1928.

Los Angeles Times file photos Here, he looks like a young writer. And here, he looks demonic.

Los Angeles Times file photo C.F. Rayburn, left, and Jack Brown in the drawing room of the Southern Pacific's Owl train as they escort Gordon Northcott to San Quentin, where he was hanged.

Northcott executed "Don't hang me. Don't hang me."

A. Victor Segno -- "How to Live 100 Years"

"Tight vests and suspenders worn by men are contrary to hygienic principles. These articles should be loose enough to permit free exercise of the lungs and heart. No article of clothing that fits tightly should be worn. Among this list are shoes, gloves, collars, garters, belts, corsets, etc. The most harmful of all clothing and the article that has done more to destroy the health of the race and make women slaves to internal weakness is the corset. No one can breathe normally in one of those destroyers of health and wreckers of otherwise happy homes." --A. Victor Segno, "How to Live 100 Years," Los Angeles, 1903

           

Times election endorsements, November 2, 1958

A Methodist church in Little Rock offers a facility rent-free for segregated classes after Gov. Orval Faubus refuses to open the city's integrated high schools. And an African American boycott of segregated buses in Birmingham, Ala., gets a slow start.

The Times publishes its endorsements on the cover of Part 2 and you have to wonder whether it was the kiss of death. In the governor's race, we backed Sen. William F. Knowland instead of Pat Brown, who won in a crushing defeat. We also backed losing candidates for lieutenant governor (Glenn Anderson defeated Harold Powers), secretary of state (Henry Lopez defeated Frank Jordan) and controller (Alan Cranston defeated Robert Kirkwood). We also endorsed Gov. Goodwin Knight, who lost the U.S. Senate race to Clair Engle, and Patrick Hillings, who lost the attorney general's race to a fellow named Stanley Mosk. But Times-backed supervisor candidate Ernest Debs narrowly defeated Edward R. Roybal in a campaign marked by charges that Latino voters were intimidated at the polls.  Mort Sahl: "I just go out and say whatever comes into my head."  Trojans 'click' and Bruins 'swoon.' You don't see heads like that these days.