The Case of the Thankful Thief

Nov. 8, 1909: The yearly season of petty crimes opens in Los Angeles, according to The Times, with a burglar who ate half a loaf of bread, some peach preserves and helped himself to $3 in a savings bank. [Update: they were pear preserves, as a reader noted]. It’s hard to match “Blows Out His Brains” as a one-column headline.

Homeless Sleep in All-Night Theaters!

"Norda Noll Slain" The Lugo Adobe on Gage Avenue.

The Police Commission wanted to close all-night theaters but the council rejected the action amid debate over whether the city, county or state should care for the homeless who would be displaced. Yes, the homeless of skid row were an issue 70 years ago.   Hitler accuses France and Britain of "encirclement."  View this page USC commencement exercises at the Coliseum.

"Rattlesnake" James, the last man to be hanged in California. Jewish refugees to the Philippines? Authorities try to regulate the B-Girls on Main Street. David Villasenor teaches woodcarving to at-risk youths.

"Harlem Comes to Hollywood."  Another full-page ad for the Rex. Tony Cornero certainly took out lots of full-page ads in The Times. Evidently we didn't have a problem with offshore gambling.   When writing letters was an art.

The Rev. Bruce Brown could be making a rebuttal to the saying that ministers should preach with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.  Officer Wilmont Wilson and the Rev. Bernard F. Gurden, a pastor at Angelus Temple, die. Bess Keeney is attacked while waiting for a streetcar at Jefferson and Vermont. Duesenbergs for sale! Boxers Tony Galento, left, Max Baer and Lou Nova clown for the camera.

Literature and art by Lee Shippey. Casting for "Rebecca." The Times opposes parole for sex criminals.     Bill Henry takes a look at Hollywood Park's revenues. View this page View this page "The Sun Never Sets" with "For Love or Money" or "Code of the Streets." "Warm Blooded Men! Desperate Women!

Woman Charged With Robbing Man

Monorail Planned for Downtown Los Angeles!

"She Was Gone ... Real Gone!"

Voters reject higher taxes. View this page Beatnik robbers tell victim to "play it cool." Woof, Daddy-o. Above, another mass-transit plan that never got off the drawing board. All right, you kids, no more chopped and channeled five-window coupes, understand? And no more lowered front ends on your T-buckets! Next, we're going after your Glass Packs. Nice headline -- does that mean some women aren't upset?

Above, FBI agents give the governor of Mississippi the names of about 10 men involved in the lynching of African American truck driver Mack Charles Parker. Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike addresses a Planned Parenthood meeting and calls California's laws against birth control unconstitutional.

Pop Fligh helps Dondi get out of a jam. View this page Isn't that awfully close to "Miss Procreation?" The Dodgers lose to the Giants and Milwaukee beats Pittsburgh in the 13th inning. View this page

Telephone Bandit Goes on Rampage

May 27, 1939: The Telephone Bandit shoots up pay phones to keep victims from reporting holdups.

Mystery Boy Found in Echo Park, Famous Poet Serenades Goats, April 17, 1939

The Times noted that Charles Owens had an art exhibit on the third floor of City Hall.

A 27-year-old man says he robbed the country club where he worked to provide a few essentials for his mother. He was sentenced to the six months on the road gang and probation. Marx Brothers are at work on "A Day at the Circus." Dr. Wong, a normally "placid Oriental," becomes agitated when he sees the Man-Lion statue in "Tarzan." Joe Louis makes a surprise visit to the Main Street Gym.

Voices -- Christine Collins, September 8, 1931

Los Angeles, Calif.,   Sept. 8, 1931     Dear. Mr. Neumiller,     I am writing to you again in behalf of my husband, Walter J. Collins, No. 12824, an inmate at Represa, Calif.     I understand that his name appears on the June calendar and that he will be called before the prison board some time this month for a hearing.     I wish that you would consider a parole for him as I really need his support. I am not at all able to work and am solely dependant upon others for a livelihood. Due to worry over my health and conditions in general I spend a great part of my time in bed with nervous breakdowns. If Walter were released, I am sure that he would be able to secure a position and support me, thus enabling me to regain my health. 'When a person's health is gone this old world looks very dark and dreary.' --Christine Collins I certainly have suffered thru the loss of our only son, whom you know was kidnapped and thot to have been at the Northcott murder farm. Then the brutality of the L.A. police and my imprisonment in the psychopathic hospital because I would not accept someone else's child as my lost boy caused the loss of my position which was my only source of support, as well as the loss of my health. I am really destitute, having to rely upon strangers for help. I have a sick sister who is unable to work on account of her health as much as she is willing to help me. I am writing to you from a humane standpoint and hope that you will just give my husband another chance. I am sure that he will make good. He has been imprisoned for nearly eight years and we both have suffered terribly in that length of time. I know that should a parole be granted at this meeting I would regain my health and I would certainly be most grateful to you. When a person's health is gone this old world looks very dark and dreary. Hoping you will give this consideration and thanking you for your previous courtesy, I beg to remain, Respectfully yours, Mrs. Walter J. Collins 2614 N. Griffin Ave. Los Angeles, Calif. ps. Please do what you can for Walter. Thank you. Mrs. C.

Parolee sought in killing of studio executive, January 1959

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George Albert Scott and Curtis C. Lichtenwalter were leaving the In Between Cafe, 5414 Melrose, with $400 and a sawed-off shotgun about midnight Dec. 30, 1958, when they encountered Kenneth S. Savoy, 35, on his way into the bar. "Just a minute, mister," Scott said. "Give me your wallet." Savoy, an executive at Samuel Goldwyn Studios, said: "I'm single and have no responsibilities -- no one will miss me. If you want my wallet, you will have to shoot me first." In reply, Scott pulled the trigger. Scott and his partner ran for the car, where Jessie Mae Noah, 27, of Long Beach was waiting. "I just went along for kicks," she told homicide detectives. Lichtenwalter took the wheel as Scott jumped into the car, saying: "Take off. I had to use this. I shot a man in the stomach." The three of them went bar-hopping in Long Beach before splitting up. It was supposed to have been easy money, Lichtenwalter said. Lichtenwalter, who had no police record, told investigators he had come to Los Angeles from Chicago in 1958 and met Scott, a 36-year-old parolee, through a co-worker. When Lichtenwalter got laid off, Scott suggested they pull some robberies. "I don't know why I did such a crazy thing but after I once started, the die was cast," Lichtenwalter, 41, said.  The partners robbed six Los Angeles bars between Dec. 16 and Dec. 30, 1958, according to court records. After the killing, Lichtenwalter told Scott he was through, so Scott went by himself to rob two more bars on Jan. 7, 1959, before leaving town. Scott was identified through a police sketch. After his photo was published in newspapers, Noah surrendered to Long Beach police and investigators arrested Lichtenwalter at a Compton hotel. State police, sheriff's deputies and FBI agents cornered Scott at a tourist court in Texarkana, Ark., where he had registered with Barbara White, a former women's wrestling champion. Authorities cleared the rest of the guests, then called Scott's room and ordered him to surrender. When he hung up on police, officers fired 12 tear-gas shells into the cabin, along with 10 rounds of buckshot and "numerous bursts of machine gun fire," The Times said. Although neither Scott nor White was injured, "gunfire literally blew apart the front of the cabin," The Times said. Scott and Lichtenwalter were tried on six counts of robbery and one count of first-degree murder. Lichtenwalter was found not guilty of murder but convicted on the robbery charges and sentenced to prison. Scott was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the gas chamber. During a sanity hearing after his sentencing, Scott slashed his throat with a double-edged razor he had hidden in his mouth. It took 16 stitches to close the wounds. In the summer of 1960, he staged a hunger strike because his wife hadn't written to him, and his attorney filed an appeal with the California Supreme Court because Scott's mother had been hospitalized for drug addiction and emaciation. The state high court rejected Scott's plea, and he was executed in the California gas chamber on Sept. 7, 1960. No further record can be found of Curtis C. Lichtenwalter.  Update: Regular Daily Mirror reader Dick Morris tells me that a man named Curtis C. Lichtenwalter died July 13, 1993, in Dade County, Fla., at the age of 74.

LAPD officers accused of beating, August 24, 1938

Above, another editorial in The Times' well-worn tradition of asking: "What's all the fuss I hear about ... recalling the corrupt mayor ... a federal anti-lynching law ... opening up America to the refugees of Europe? We don't need to recall the corrupt mayor ... we don't need a federal anti-lynching law ... we don't need to take in European refugees (they would just go on welfare). Things are fine just the way they are." The key point, which is buried in the editorial, is mayoral candidate Fletcher Bowron's promise not to use the LAPD as strikebreakers. At left, business as usual with the LAPD of the 1930s. And yes, they got off.

At left, Mary Astor is thrown from a horse en route to filming scenes for an MGM movie at the Uplifters' Ranch. According to The Times, the horse was spooked by a passing car. Astor was taken to Santa Monica Hospital to be treated for back injuries. Max Reinhardt stages a production of "Faust" starring Conrad Nagel at the outdoor Pilgrimage Theater in the Hollywood Hills. The Pilgrimage Theater was renamed the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in 1976 as a tribute to the longtime county supervisor. In sports, the Hollywood Stars beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-1 in the Civil War series ... The Giants beat the Cubs 6-2 ... The Pirates and the Boston Bees  split a double-header. Boston takes the first game, 6-0, and Pittsburgh takes the second game, 4-3, after 14 innings. "Pin smashing" is becoming increasingly popular in Los Angeles, says The Times, noting that "bowling is mighty easy on the eyes when Bette Morris goes into action..." Oh, you sports guys. And Bob Ray, who has been covering the Pacific Coast League for The Times since 1924, is saluted with "Bob Ray Day" at Wrigley Field.

Dodgers win 8-6, August 4, 1958

The Dodgers split a double-header with the Reds, winning 8-6 and losing 3-1 ... the Braves win a double-header over the Giants ... and gunmen rob a Malibu restaurant. Two gunmen break into the living quarters above the Malibu Sea Lion Restaurant, 21150 Pacific Coast Highway, gag and bind the owner's wife and children and wait for him to come upstairs with the day's earnings ... Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and China's Mao Tse-tung call for a summit meeting on the Middle East crisis.

Elmer Valo's single scores Carl Furillo in the 10th ... Warren Spahn throws the 43rd shutout of his major league career ... Al Wolf profiles boxing manager Lou Viscusi.