Former Nixon Aide Kills Family, Self

Lifeguard Duffie Fryling pries his arm out of a shark's jaws while swimming near Paradise Cove. Fryling, who was treated for cuts on his wrist, says he eluded several other sharks in rushing to the beach. “The Lovers” is opening at the Beverly Canon. Jeane Hoffman takes a look at Rocky Marciano’s future.

Nov. 12, 1959: Charles Richard Gardner, 38, is found dead at his Pebble Peach home next to the bodies of his wife and two children in an apparent triple murder and suicide. Unfortunately, we don’t have the rest of the story, so there’s no explanation of Gardner’s connection to Richard Nixon.

Woman Driven Mad by Divorce Attempts Suicide

Nov. 9, 1909: Emma Rogers divorced her husband, then began having hallucinations when she failed to reconcile with him and he remarried. She tried to kill herself in a restroom at the Chamber of Commerce, but her aim was bad and she only wounded herself.

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.

Landmark Nightclub Modernized

Virginia Arness attempts suicide in Hawaii. The Biltmore Bowl is heavily modernized so that is virtually unrecognizable.

New and Old Chinatown, divided by Broadway. "I don't belong to the tong. I am an American. I belong to the Kiwanis Club."

Five copies a minute, only 2 1/2 cents each.

The Lions beat the Rams, 17-7.

Jealousy Leads to Murder and Suicide

“Somebody Is Always Taking the Joy Out of Life” by Clare Briggs. Oct. 22, 1919: Mrs. Zola Schmidt was  killed as she slept … while holding a letter from another man. View Larger Map 916 W. 9th, the scene of the crime.

“I am anxious to be married with as little delay as possible…” George S. Crosman, a one-armed man wearing nothing but a Japanese kimono, kills Mrs. Zola Schmidt, who has been estranged from her husband for about a year. Numerous love letters and rose petals are strewn around the apartment, where a canary sang joyously in its cage.  On the Victrola, “Mammy O’ Mine.”

Man Convicted of Shooting Wife Fights a Team of Officers

Sept. 12, 1909: Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland." McCay's drawings are a mixed blessing. He was a wonderful artist with a fabulous imagination -- and he drew this appalling character, Imp. A police automobile speeding on a call crashes into a buggy, injuring the driver, George W. Slaton, "an aged Negro" who was deaf and didn't hear the officers' warnings.

Edward G. Martin, sentenced to two years in prison for a shooting that left his wife paralyzed, puts up an incredible fight against the officers of the court before being choked into submission. He yelled: "I'll not serve two years; I'll not serve one year; I'll not serve an hour; you can shoot as quick as you like." Martin shot his wife three times and tried to commit suicide, but failed. The defense contended that the shooting was "justified in a measure because of the fact that Martin's wife had been untrue to him and that he was subject to spells that at times, for a series of years, made him mentally incompetent."

A Fallen Woman's Death Ride

Aug. 23, 1889: I always enjoy looking at old maps of Los Angeles. This one shows a proposed sewer system. Much of the lettering is upside-down, but flipping the map 180 degrees makes it  even more confusing. Many of the street names are different than what we know now. Note, for example Michel Torrance St., which I suspect became Rampart, although ProQuest doesn't shed light on the question.

The name of the woman in the above story is a little hard to make out. I believe it's Kitty Harris. I can't find anything further about her in ProQuest, so I don't know what became of her and her sister.

Death of a Stagecoach Driver

Aug. 4, 1889: Racked with pain from rheumatism, former stagecoach driver Sam Washburn takes an overdose of morphine.

Man Addicted to Books Kills Himself

Aug. 1, 1899: A man kills himself after taking elaborate precautions to prevent being identified. He writes: "I read books every day. They act on me as a narcotic. I dope myself with them. They make me forget for a moment, for there is a continual struggle going on -- to be or not to be.... I have tried to get opium but failed."

Doctor as Crazy as a March Hare

Aug. 1, 1889: "The doctor's mania is of a rather peculiar character in that he imagines he is surrounded by beautiful women and is discovering them in all sorts of places."