Devout Family Trusts Diphtheria Patient to Prayer



  July 6, 1889, Abortion


July 6, 1889: The father of a diphtheria victim tells The Times, "if the Lord could not save his child it was no use to trust in doctors."


 

Minister, Wife, Pray as Confession to Sex Crime Is Read



May 4, 1939, Joseph Jeffers
Los Angeles Times file photo

May 4, 1939: Church members rally around the Rev. Joseph Jeffers and his wife, Zella, after their arraignment.
June 27, 1939, Joseph Jeffers

June 27, 1939: The Rev. Joseph Jeffers and his wife, Zella, pray as her confession is read in court. They were accused of a sex crime that The Times considered unprintable. The defense charged that Jeffers was framed because of his controversial views against Catholics and Jews.

 

Brazil Offers to Accept German Refugees



June 25, 1939, Jewish Refugees

June 25, 1939: At the request of Pope Pius XII, Brazil offers to accept 3,000 German Catholics "of Jewish origin"
 

Minister, Wife Tried on Sex Charges



June 24, 1939, Joseph Jeffers
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times

June 24, 1939: The Rev. Joseph Jeffers and his wife, Zella, sit at the defense table during their sensational morals trial, in which prosecutors showed a film of them taken during a raid on their apartment. The Times said that if the film were shown anywhere except a courtroom, the exhibitors would be arrested.

June 24, 1939, Jeffers Case

June 24, 1939: The morals trial of the Rev. Joseph Jeffers and his wife, Zella, gets underway after they were arrested in April 1939.  Their immoral act was so horrifying that prosecutors said they were looking for a "shock-proof" jury consisting exclusively of married people. During the trial, The Times reported that spectators fled the courtroom in horror at what was described.


Criminal Complaint, Joseph and Zella Jeffers

And this is their crime, which was considered so obscene that The Times couldn't describe it.


 

Found on EBay -- First Methodist Episcopal Church



Aug. 20, 1899, First Methodist Episcopal Church

Aug. 20, 1899: The cornerstone is laid for First M.E. Church
First M.E. Church

This postcard showing First M.E. Church has been listed on EBay. The church was designed by Austin and Skilling and built on the northeast corner of  6th and Hill streets in 1899.  Bidding starts at $4.



Aug. 20, 1899, First Methodist Episcopal Church

 

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Religion



June 22, 1965, Ogamisama  

June 22, 1965: Japanese spiritual leader Ogamisama visits Los Angeles.

 

Found on EBay -- Veterans' Chapel


National Soldiers' Home Chapel

This postcard of the chapel at the National Soldiers' Home near Sawtelle has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at 99 cents.

In 1917, The Times reported that widows usually remarried within two weeks of moving to Sawtelle because of all the single veterans.
 

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept: New Pope



June 21, 1963, New Pope

June 21, 1963: Pope Paul VI becomes the successor to Pope John XXIII and Jerry G. Tees is arrested on charges of impersonating an astronaut. I can't find any further information on what became of Tees -- sounds like an interesting story. 
 

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept: Your Faith



June 20, 1960, Billy Graham

June 20, 1960: At a crusade in Washington, D.C., Billy Graham says that Americans are letting their souls "go to seed."
 

Religion and War; Dodgers' Attendance Declines



June 17, 1969, Faith and War

"You pray that you get back alive and in one piece," says Spec. 5 Michael G. Johnson of Miami.
June 17, 1969, Faith and War

The Times didn't run any photos with Harry Trimborn's nondupe from Saigon about religious faith among the military in Vietnam.  All we have are the words:

"When a man is wounded he is really receptive to religion. But I don't know that their faith is really that much stronger. I think it just gets a little bit more of a workout in times of crisis," says Protestant Chaplain Maj. Richard M. Hochstedler.

I asked a couple of retired LATers what became of Trimborn, but nobody seems to know.



June 17, 1969, Dodgers Walter O'Malley turned a lackluster game into an economics lesson.

The Dodger owner watched his team lose to the expansion Padres, 3-2, and he didn't have much company. The 11,588 was the smallest crowd at Dodger Stadium that season and O'Malley saw it as a sign of baseball's deeper problems.

"It is possible we have diluted the market to the saturation point," O'Malley told The Times' John Wiebusch.

"The fan only has a limited amount of money to spend and we're not going to fool him by giving him a product that is below the standards it was before. It is flooding the market too. Putting Oakland with San Francisco and putting San Diego and the Angels with us. It's a headache right now for all of us."

The Dodgers' attendance was down 79,040 from the previous season. Things were worse in San Diego and Anaheim, where a lousy team and low attendance made Angel officials wonder if pro sports could survive in Orange County.

--Keith Thursby


 



Our Bloggers
Larry Harnisch

Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."

Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.

The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.


Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.








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