Black Man Survives Lynching

July 10, 1899: Dick "Trilby" Williams, an African American charged with killing two white men, survives being lynched because the marshal of Alma, Kan., cut him down after six minutes. Although this story says Williams wasn't expected to live, a story three days later reported that Williams' neck had not been broken and he was likely to survive. The Times never reported anything further on whether he was tried.

White Immigrants Needed to Offset Rise in Blacks, USC Grads Told

June 22, 1889: I was casually perusing this issue of The Times, assuming this story would be an entertaining bit of the late 19th century. And then when I got to this portion of the commencement speeches, I exclaimed: "They said WHAT?" "Clarence Dougherty said in substance:  "There seems to be some question in the minds of many of our prominent writers as to whether future Americans will be mostly English, German, Irish or Negroes. One thing is certain; that a large proportion of the future population will be Negroes. The only adequate offset to the natural increase of the Negroes is the immigration of white foreigners. In the white population of the future a vast majority will be of recent foreign descent. The average American cannot trace his ancestry very far back without crossing the Atlantic. The coming American will solve the great moral questions which are now coming before the American people. He will justify the greatest confidence in the human race and especially in our own part of it. The future of America is to be preserved by a body of Americans gathered from all sources and loyal to the great moral reforms. The American of the future, by reason of special natural advantages, will be able to excel all other nationalities, but unless we solve the problems that are before us, we must yield the first place to other nations." Was he actually saying that white people can't reproduce as prolifically as blacks so we better import some from Europe? I guess he was. And he doesn't even mention Asians or any immigrant that would "cross the Pacific." Wow.

Police Commissioner Quits in Battle With Police Chief!

June 18, 1959: Ethel Barrymore dies.

The only African American member of the Police Commission resigns, accusing Chief William H. Parker of leading a department that "whitewashes policemen accused of brutality, and practices discrimination in arrests." Greenwood further charges that instead of reporting to the Police Commission, Parker controls the oversight board and ignores their orders. "We don't tell him. He tells us," Greenwood says. "The policy is that if it's a case of a citizen against an officer, the officer is always believed," Greenwood says. Parker replies: "Los Angeles has the highest reputation in the country for lack of discrimination." Six years later, Watts will explode in flames -- and white Los Angeles will wonder why.

'Three Little Pigs' Has Racial Meaning, Official Says!

"Did You Hear What I Said, June?"

Southern California's aerospace industry!

When I saw this headline, I thought it was a joke. It's not. Iraq drops a polite note to the American Embassy saying no thanks to U.S. aid because it conflicts with Iraq's neutrality. Lots of comics made fun of beatniks, including "Nancy." Now it's "Judge Parker's" turn. View this page "Shake Hands With the Devil."

Above, the Post was a slick, large-format magazine of news and short fiction found in many homes. The editors certainly had a knack for picking the issues that concerned middle America. Think Norman Rockwell. Or "Hazel." State's poet laureate uses drugs! Joe Hyams talks to Capucine. Ramon Novarro in remake of "The Pagan." The Times covers a convention of women's clubs.

Smog-proof your hair! View this page The Coliseum's "Chinese Wall." View this page

Society Woman Saves Black Man From Lynch Mob

May 31, 1909: Margaret Sylvester, an Augusta socialite, saves African American Joe Bryant from a mob. She had him come into her house and said she would shoot anyone who followed him.

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Southern Dining

May 15, 1948

Matt Weinstock -- May 4, 1959

Meet Mr. Malaprop A police reporter on the Chicago American named Jim Murray is one of those rare birds, a natural malapropper, a species which must be joyously esteemed wherever it is found. He doesn't know it but a colleague, Pat Leeds of the Chicago Tribune, has been jotting down hisinadvertencies. She is visiting L.A. and told them to Leo Batt, former Chicagoan now with this paper. In giving a story to a rewrite man, Murray said, "He drove his car into a culprit." Another time: "She had welches on her arms." Another: "The coroner took a .22-caliber cartilage from the body." Referring to a building across the street: "That building is a sore eye." While working on a story: "I got a brain stroke." Of his wife's devotion: "She thinks the ground I walk on is hollow." Reading a paper. "The weatherman says we'll have snow furies." When Ibn Saud came to this country: "I don't want those sheiks and their harlems in the country." :: ONLY IN MALIBU -- A wealthy beachcomber has installed in his cottage by the sea a wind-velocity gauge connected with a registering device on the roof and, alongside, a barometer. He finds it comforting to sit at his bar and thus observe the elements at their worst. During a recent squall, as this veteran seafarer sat sipping a tot of rum, a friend asked if the barometer was falling. "Not unless that nail comes loose," he said, "and I hammered it in good and tight." :: SAME DIFFERENCE As I go out to shop these days I wonder more and more Do I pay for what I buy or The commercials I abhor? -MABEL HUTCHINSON :: DURING a discussion of people who marry out of their faith a lady Ken Tichenor knows remarked, "Worst of all, their friends sometimes osterize them." And, as everyone knows, nothing is more humiliating than being crammed into one of those blenders and being whirled around. :: DO YOU, as Betty Buras does, mentally revise the cliches as you watch TV dramas? Here is some dialogue she changed: "Darling, if I were fat and ugly and my father didn't have a cent, would you still want to marry me?" "No." "You've been threatened, beaten up and shot at -- please forget your principles and leave this town; I'll drive you to the city limits." "Okay, let's go." "Dad, he said the reason you don't wear a gun is that you're a coward, scared that someone might pick a fight with you." "That's right, son. I'm yellow as they come." "What do you mean you need a car? When I was your age I walked three miles to school, rain or shine, and thought nothing of it." "Yeah, well, I don't think much of it either!" :: IN SOME instances guide dogs are reassigned when the owners die or no longer need them. Thus a sightless lady in a nearby city was provided with a dog which at first caused her embarrassment. The pooch kept leading her into bars. She doesn't drink but she soon learned that the previous master did. Anyway, reports TV writer JimCritchfield, who knows her, she has become acquainted with almost every bartender in town. :: AROUND TOWN -- Note from California Club, of all places: "Whereas the possibilities of rhyming Morse with horse and Luce with abuse are very tempting, resolved that we will not yield to temptation and hope others will do the same" ... When JackieCardial, 5, gets excited she yells. "Woe, Bonelli !" and her father Ron can't decide if it's a distortion of "Whoa, Nellie!" or a warning to the self-exiled liquor czar ... A lady in an Olive St. bar ordered a "Headshrinker," and the bartender silently served her a Martini. Gave Don Harris the sensation he had tuned in on a new language.

Paul V. Coates -- Confidential File, May 2, 1959

CONFIDENTIAL FILE Mash Notes and Comments (Press Release) "With so many people planning June weddings, a man who has helped arrange over 15,000 weddings during his career, Robert D. Howard, Hotel Edison executive, has compiled a list of 10 tips. "They include the most common errors made by prospective brides from his experience of dealing with them: "1 - Don't attempt formal wedding ceremony without a rehearsal a few days before. "2 - Don't try to hold reception between the hours of 4 and 7. The dress problem is too complex. "3 - Don't send out RSVP invitations until six weeks before the wedding. "4 - Don't have a member of the family propose a toast to the bride and groom until the waiters have served the cocktails or wine. "5 - Don't serve hors d'oeuvres that are messy to the fingers. "6 - Don't permit cocktail hour to be longer than one hour. "7 - Don't plan a smorgasbord if you are entertaining more than 100 persons. "8 - Don't attempt to seat a large party with place cards. Have a seating list. "9 - Don't place the members of his family on one side of the room separated from your family on the opposite side. "10 - Don't remain until the conclusion of the party -- quietly steal away." (signed) Sy Preston, Public Relations, New York City. -And then what? :: "Dear Paul: "You are cordially invited to a 'Fiesta de Periodistas' (Press Party en ingles) to be held Tuesday, May 5, from 5:30 p.m. to ???? at the exotic new Caso Escobar, 13321 Moorpark in Sherman Oaks. "This new Mexican restaurant is simply fabulous! You'll think you're in a tropical Aztec cave somewhere south of Acapulco! "The gurgling water fountains, the bar, the jutting volcanic rock, the tropical Mexican raincoats, the fantastic pink and blue lights, the Bull Room with its painting of Lady Godiva (a female nude)..." (signed) Vance Graham, 13321 Moorpark St., Sherman Oaks. -Rumor monger! :: "Paul, now you've heard everything! "For the first time, there's a perfume in an entire line of new women's shoe polish called Lady Esquire. There's a different scent for each type of shoe material. They each create a different mood for the wearer. There are five different scents. "In the polish for fine suedes there is a floral composition of jasmine and lilac mindful of a sophisticated garden. "An oak-moss aroma that imparts sylvan character reminiscent of the outdoors dominates the scent in the product for cork and buck footwear. "The polish intended for the car of smooth leathers is fragrant with the scent of bergamot from Italy and bois rose from Brazil. The polish to spray patent leather smells of garden flowers and herbs. Then there's a French lavender scent for delicate shoe fabrics. "Under separate cover we are sending you a sample of Lady Esquire for your wife, and we bet this is the first time that anyone has ever sent you perfumed shoe polish for your spouse!" (signed) Carl Erbe Associates, New York. --Give her that, and the next thing you know she'll want shoes.

Los Angeles Prepares for Opening of Union Station, April 30, 1939

The city made a special effort to examine and celebrate its past during the opening of Union Station. Officials mounted a much more elaborate "parade of progress" than I suspect we would see today. Primitive semi-humans called the Lingoo in "Tarzan."

Mob justice in Florida. Above, job interview tips for women: Save the shoes that expose your toes and heels for other occasions. And if you wear sheer silk hosiery, make sure that your legs are free from unsightly hair."

Masked Mob Seizes Black Rape Suspect From Mississippi Jail, April 26, 1959

The Times takes a look at the 1910 Aviation Week at Dominguez Hills. Here's a post from last year about J.S. Zerbe.

Gunmen wearing masks and gloves raided the jail in Poplarville, Miss., and seized Mack Charles Parker, 23, who was accused of raping a white woman. "The raiders dragged Parker from the building by his heels, his head bumping from steel tread to steel tread of the stairs. Blood flicked about marked progress of the party, a bloody handprint on the doorstep giving the last trace of Parker, who screamed and struggled as the getaway cars sped away," the Associated Press said.  FBI file on Mack Charles Parker: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

The Times bought Hawley Pulp and Paper of Oregon in 1948 and renamed it Publishers' Paper Co. We sold it in 1986 to Jefferson Smurfit Corp.  At the time, analysts said the newsprint dvision was a drag on operations and held down the price of Times Mirror stock. In 1985, we reported that the newsprint and forest products, the second-largest source of revenue for The Times after newspapers, had sustained losses for the previous four years.

A visit to the ranch in Newhall that provides rodeo bulls. Lynching story, cont'd. Fifty years ago, America celebrated the birthday of Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph.

In the future, doctors will use miracle plastic cement to bond broken bones.

Mel Torme says he hates being called "the Velvet Fog." The Times' Robert Kirsch gives a scathing review to Ben Hecht's latest book. Grove Press says it will ship copies of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" to Los Angeles after all.

Cardinal pitcher Jim Brosnan is injured when he crashes into catcher John Roseboro at the plate.