Category Archives: Crime and Courts

Black Dahlia: A Note to Fans of Piu Eatwell’s ‘Black Dahlia, Red Rose’

Posted on May 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dear fans of Piu Eatwell’s “Black Dahlia, Red Rose” (I know there’s at least a few of you because you write to me): Leslie Dillon was absolutely, positively in San Francisco when Elizabeth Short was killed. Nothing else matters. Not … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, Leslie Dillon, Piu Eatwell | 3 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: Sheriff’s Deputy Reprimanded for Striking Sentinel Staffer With Gun

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Florence Avenue and Hooper Avenue, via Google Street View. May 15, 1947: About 3 a.m. on April 17, 1947, Louis V. Cole of the Sentinel advertising department was delivering tear sheets of that week’s ads when his car stalled. Cole … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged #Sheriff's Department, 1947, African Americans, Eugene Biscailuz, Louis V. Cole, police brutality | 1 Comment

May 18, 1907: Black Worker on Search for Lost Lumber Gets in Fatal Fight

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 18, 1907 Los Angeles William Mullen, a black strikebreaker for the Pioneer Truck Company, was delivering a shipment of lumber when he realized that he had lost some of his load … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1908, African Americans, Animals, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Photography, Streetcars | Tagged 1907, Animals, crime and courts, labor, strikes, William Mullen | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: ‘We Got Our Asses Handed to Us’

Posted on May 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Here’s a follow-up on Episode 5 of “It Was Him.” Wayne Wolfe Jr. sums up my interview on John Cameron’s theory about Ed Edwards and the Black Dahlia case.

Posted in 1947, 2018, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Television | Tagged 1947, 2018, black dahlia, cold cases, Edward Wayne Edwards, It Was Him, Television | 2 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: World War II Veteran Kills Wife, Commits Suicide

Posted on May 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1947: Robert B. Hudson, 30, was “ambitious, quiet and conservative in his activities,” the Sentinel said. He was discharged from the service with the rank of staff sergeant after 27 months in the South Pacific. He and his … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Suicide | Tagged 1947, African Americans, crime and courts, domestic violence, lapd, Los Angeles Sentinel, murder-suicide | Comments Off

May 15, 1907: Police Raid Ladies-Only Gambling Parlor

Posted on May 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles May 15, 1907 Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Curious neighbors noticed recently that a large number of well-dressed women have been taking the streetcar to the end of the line at 54th Street and South … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Streetcars | Tagged #Gambling, #women's history, 1907, horseracing, lapd, sports | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: ‘It Was Him’ and Edward Wayne Edwards — No Way

Posted on May 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Before you watch Episode 5 of “It Was Him,” (airing Monday at 9 p.m. on Paramount Net), which attempts to link Edward Wayne Edwards to the Black Dahlia case… Keep in mind: Edward Wayne Edwards was born June 14, 1933. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, 2018, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Coming Attractions, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Television | Tagged 1947, 2018, Black Dahia, cold cases, crime and courts, Edward Wayne Edwards, homicide, It Was Him, John Cameron, Wayne Wolfe | 1 Comment

Black L.A., 1947: Racial Tensions at Fremont High Boost Homeowners’ Efforts to Keep Neighborhood White

Posted on May 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

March 1947: Students who walked out of classes at Fremont High School to protest the presence of six African American students stand next to a figure labeled “No Negroes” hung from a lamp post at 77th and San Pedro streets. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, Education | Tagged 1947, African Americans, education, Los Angeles Sentinel, segregation | 1 Comment

May 8, 1947: Mixed Marriage Was Illegal, Louisiana Court Rules, Ordering Woman to Vacate Home for New Owner

Posted on May 7, 2018 by lmharnisch

Daisy Lee Wade, 14, shows off a bike she won in a contest to name a bicycle. Her winning entry: A Master Chaser. May 8, 1947: Tony Rice and Azelia Barthelmy (sometimes Berthlemy) were married by the Catholic Church of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, Real Estate | Tagged 1947, crime and courts, Louisiana | Comments Off

May 4, 1907: Author’s Hardest Sentence — 4 Months in Jail Over ‘Research’

Posted on May 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. In grappling with a novel about life in prison, writer Ernest Filer of Chicago decided that he should experience imprisonment for himself , thus he hatched the idea of breaking a window … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts | Tagged Books and Authors, Chicago, crime and courts | 2 Comments

From 1937: A Rape Victim’s ‘Night of Horror’

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

And here’s where we go down the research rabbit hole from the L.A. Sentinel, 1947: The California Venereal Disease Control Act of 1937. Which brings us to “California and Western Medicine,” July to December 1937.

Posted in 1932, 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged #Kidnapping, 1932, 1947, crime and courts, health, Newspapers, Night of Horror, rape | 1 Comment

May 3, 1907: Fleenor, Accused ‘Barefoot Bandit,’ Says LAPD Got Him Drunk to Gain Confession

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. On the witness stand, accused “Barefoot Bandit” James G. Fleenor complains that police got him drunk to gain a confession. Fleenor, who was black, had been part of an attempted jailbreak … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged African Americans, Barefoot Bandit, crime and courts, Fleenor, lapd | Comments Off

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘Letty Lynton’

Posted on April 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

Image: May 18, 1932, “Letty Lynton” is opening in Los Angeles. Credit: Los Angeles Times Note: This is an encore post from 2011. In the novel “Letty Lynton” and the play “Dishonored Lady,” the heroine gets away with murder, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged #Joan Crawford, #Letty Lynton, #Mary Mallory, #Nils Asther, Hollywood Heights | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 89 — The Two-Minute Executive Summary

Posted on April 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. From Feb. 3, 2006, to April 28, 2006, I devoted a daily blog to Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, 2006, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, Books and Authors, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, homicide, lapd | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 88 — Request Line XXII

Posted on April 28, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged 1947, black dahlia, Books and Authors, cold cases, crime and cops, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 87 — Request Line XXI

Posted on April 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged #LAPD, black dahlia, cold cases, crime and courts, donald wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 86 — Request Line XX

Posted on April 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 85 — Request Line XIX

Posted on April 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 84 — Request Line XVIII

Posted on April 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged 1947, Abortion, black dahlia, Books and Authors, cold cases, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 83 — Notes on L.A. Abortions in the 1940s

Posted on April 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Let’s have some fun, shall we? Since we’re talking about abortion and abortion rings, protection, etc., here are all the news stories involving arrests or patients’ deaths in Los Angeles between 1940 … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Abortion, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged 1947, abortions, black dahlia, Books and Authors, crime and courts, Donald H. Wolfe, lapd, medicine | Comments Off