Police Unable to Stop Rising Tide of Auto Thefts

As the country went dry, companies offered a way for people to brew their own alcohol.  Remember, beer is a health drink!

Nov. 23, 1919: “Motor car thefts are increasing and will continue to increase until some effective measure is taken to stop them. Any boy can steal an automobile these days and have nothing in particular to fear in the way of punishment if he is caught. The chances are pretty strong that he won't be caught at all.”

Seniors Make Foolish Marriages, Judge Says

“A Pathetic Scene on the Nineteenth,” by Clare Briggs

Nov. 22, 1919: A judge trying a divorce case between a 55-year-old woman and her 67-year-old husband says: "I wish you would keep your old folks down in Long Beach from making foolish marriages." "It can't be done, your honor, as long as we have parks and the Pike," the attorney replies.

China Offers Great Market for U.S., Diplomat Says

Florence Newmark marries Sylvain Kauffman at 903 Beacon Ave. View Larger Map

Nov. 22, 1909: Former Judge J.C. McNally, the U.S. consul to Nanjing, "expressed optimistic views of the commercial future of China and said that the country would be a network of railway lines within a few years" … a tong war breaks out in Sacramento … and artist Edith Garrigues displays paintings she did in Reno while establishing residency for a divorce. "The snow-capped Sierra Nevada scenes along the beautiful Truckee River, as well as picturesque spots in town, are among her subjects. Several of her finest pictures were sold," The Times says.

Wife Divorces ‘Girlish’ Army Officer

“When a Feller Needs a Friend,” by Clare Briggs

Nov. 21, 1919: Lucille Howell seeks a divorce from her husband, an Army captain who likes to wear a girdle. "You know I always wanted a form like yours. You just wait until I accomplish the development that I want to. I tell you, honey, you will have quite a girl for your hubby,” Capt. Clarence Howell wrote. Capt. Howell appealed to the head of the Daughters of the American Revolution to arrange a reconciliation, but the attempt failed.  In one letter, Mrs. Howell called her husband a “sissy.” "He replied that if he got the figure he wanted, he did not see that it called for mean things on his wife's part," The Times said.

Man Denies Daughter in Divorce Suit

“Wonder What a Decoy Thinks About” by Clare Briggs

Nov. 20, 1919: A judge refuses to declare that a young girl is Eurasian simply because a man charges in a divorce suit that the father was a Japanese cook employed by his wife’s family.

Teacher Hospitalized After Undressing in Class

Nov. 20, 1909: An unidentified woman, deranged over the death of her brother, is taken to a hospital after the school nurse finds her undressing in front of her class.

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 19, 1959

Saga of a Guy Who Flipped From Poky     "I walk alone," the voice on the phone told me, more as an apology than as a boast.  "With me, it's habit.  I guess I never learned any other way."     The voice was a man's and a drawl.  It continued:  "Funny I should be calling somebody like you for help after all these years of going it alone."     The time was about 3:45, yesterday afternoon.     "What do you need?" I asked.     "I need-" he started, and stopped.  "Is this phone tapped?"     "No."     "You won't trace it, or call anybody, until I'm through talking?"     "No."     "I'll trust you," the man said.  Then, for a long minute, he said nothing.  Finally, he began again.  "I just flipped.  That's the only way to explain it."     "Explain what?"      "Why I broke out of jail.  It was about eight o'clock, after dinner, and I was just sitting there on my bunk and I started thinking about my kid.  I just flipped."     Now the conversation was coming easy.      "He's three, and I got this weird idea that he's run out in the street and be hit by a car.  Silly things.  Things like that were going through my mind."     "How did you escape?" I asked.     "Domestic troubles," he continued, ignoring the question.  "When my wife came to visit me, I told her to get a divorce.  It would be better for the kid -- and now we've got another one, a baby girl -- if he never remembered me.     "That's what I told her.  I told her I was no good.  That's what happens to me sometimes.  I get off on a negative kick."     "What were you doing time for?" I said.     There was a sigh.  "This'll get you.  Robbery, second degree.  They gave ma  a year.  With good time, I could have been out in March.  So I ran away.     "I ran straight home and saw the kid.  I was afraid he would have forgotten me, but he didn't.  I wasn't there thirty minutes when he turned to his mother and said, 'This is Daddy.' " The caller continued to unwind.  He was 33, he said.  He'd had one felony conviction for first degree robbery.  He got five-to-life for it.  He came out in April of '55, and not too long afterwards, he married.      "I got a good job.  I worked," he said.  "I thought everything was going to be all right.  Then I goofed.     "It was my fault.  It's been my fault all along.  Like this escape.  They trusted me, made me a trusty.  So I took off."     I asked him from where.     "Montrose substation.  My kid -- he talks real good now.  When I saw him the last time, he barely talked."     "What's your name?" I asked.     He answered without a hesitation.  "Elias Smith.  Elias like the Biblical Elias.  Elias Smith Jr."     "What are you going to do?"     This time, he paused.  "I wish I knew what they're going to do with me."     "You're ready to go back?" I pressed him slightly.     "It's one-to-ten years for escape," he sighed.  "When I left my wife last Monday, I told her I'd turn myself in.  I promised.  And she said she'd wait for me.  That was all I wanted to hear.     "I started to turn myself in, but I got confused.  Now it's Wednesday and I'm still confused.  You're not tracing this call, are you?" he asked again. He Got Confused         "No," I assured him.     "All right," he said doubtfully.  He told me where he was calling from.  "Now," he added, "two favors.  You call them for me, would you?  And give me 10 minutes for  a cup of coffee."     I waited 10 minutes, then called.     Half an hour later, a sheriff's deputy called me back to report that Elias Smith Jr. was a man of his word.

Beauty Queen Seeks Divorce From Dockworker

Nov. 18, 1959: Shirlee Garner Witty seeks a divorce, saying that her husband was always making snide remarks. Witty competed for the title of Miss Universe in 1956 even though she was a wife and mother, because at that time married women weren't banned from the beauty contest.

“The Sound of Music” opens with more than $2 million in advance ticket sales.

“You Know I Can’t Get Better.”

Hey, Keith, will the Bruins smite USC in their tilt?

Three Sought in Robbery, Killing

Dance tonight at the Roma, 616 S. Hill St.

Nov. 18, 1919: The housekeeper of a downtown rooming house is sought in the robbery and murder of the proprietor, W. Frank Sheets, and police are also looking for her husband and an associate in the killing. Police say that the housekeeper, Margaret Evans, was secretly married to Philip Gargano and that witnesses identified photos of Gargano and Alfonso Bassano as the two men seen running from the Santa Anita rooming house after the killing. A pistol found near the rooming house was registered to Gargano, police say.

Witness Describes Union Violence

Nov. 18, 1909: In Chicago, Bruno Verra testifies against Vincent and Joseph Altman, brothers charged with several bombings and arson fires on behalf of the carpenters union. Verra says he was paid $5 each to hit non-union carpenters and later got a steady job "to commit lawless acts" for $25 a week.