Category Archives: Crime and Courts

August 31, 1907: The Year in Liquor — 20 Gallons of Beer for Every Man, Woman and Child in U.S.

Posted on August 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 31, 1907: Distillers produced 20 gallons of beer and 1.4 gallons of whiskey for every man, woman and child in America, the U.S. says. Continue reading →

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August 30, 1953: Barbara Graham Defense Wins Delay After Prosecution Bombshell

Posted on August 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 30, 1953: Judge Charles Fricke grants a delay to attorneys for Barbara Graham after the prosecution discloses a recorded conversation between Graham and an undercover police officer. Continue reading →

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August 29, 1947: Headless Skeleton Found in Burlap Sack in Chantry Flats

Posted on August 29, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 29, 1947: A camper finds the headless skeleton of a woman in a burlap sack in Chantry Flats at the head of Santa Anita Canyon. Examination reveals that she had been embalmed, excluding the possibility of murder. Continue reading →

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August 29, 1943: Parents Sue Doctor Who Said Baby Girl Was a Boy!

Posted on August 29, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 29, 1943: Dr. John M. Andrews is being sued for $500,000 by Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Hartwig after delivering a baby and telling the family that it was a boy, whom they named Richard Allen Hartwig — when it was actually a girl. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Medicine, Streetcars, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

August 28, 1947: Diamond Street Gang Member Takes Murder Rap ‘for the Gang’

Posted on August 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 28, 1947: Earl Bush, 19, member of the Diamond Street gang says he’s taking a killing rap for the gang. Continue reading →

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August 25, 1947: Police Investigate Death of Doctor’s Wife

Posted on August 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 25, 1947: Susanne Castillo is found dead in a bathtub and her husband, Dr. Manuel de J. Castillo, is suspected. Continue reading →

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August 25, 1907: Death at the Lummis House Over a Garden Hose

Posted on August 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 25, 1907: Death at the Lummis House in a fight that began over a garden hose. Continue reading →

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Aug. 12-13, 1907: Bucket of Blood Is a Den of Drunken Debauchery

Posted on August 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 12, 1907: The L.A. Times describes the Bismark Cafe, known to police as the Bucket of Blood, as “drunken debauchery among girls of tender ages, painted women and men.” It is an “immoral pesthole” where “young girls are enticed nightly do drink and listen to a band concert.” Continue reading →

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Aug. 7, 1907: Too Late for Wife to Repent Marriage to Abusive Husband, Judge Rules

Posted on August 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 7, 1907: Kate Conrad had known her husband since she was 13 and had been married to him for 18 years, so it was too late to decide she didn’t want to be married to him, even though he was an abusive drunk and she lived in fear of him, a judge rules. Continue reading →

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Aug. 6, 1947: Asian Americans Sue Over Deed Restrictions Forcing Them Out of White Neighborhoods

Posted on August 6, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 6, 1947: Two Asian Americans sue over a restraining order to prevent them from occupying their present homes because of deed restrictions. Continue reading →

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Aug. 5, 1947: Hitchhiking Couple Confess to ‘Kiss of Death’ Murder

Posted on August 5, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 5, 1947: Joseph Hardy and Lois Hunt were hitchhiking and killed a California man who picked them up. They pulled off in a forest in Nevada and Hardy excused himself while Lois began kissing James W. McLain. Hardy came back and shot McLain three times in the head. After burying McLain, they took his car, gambled away his money and flipped his car. Continue reading →

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Aug. 2, 1947: Los Angeles County Clerk Refuses Marriage License for Interracial Couple

Posted on August 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Her name was Andrea and she was 24. His name was Sylvester and he was 26, a World War II veteran working at Lockheed. And … Continue reading →

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July 31, 1907: After a Day at the Beach, Beer, a Fight and Gunshots

Posted on July 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 31, 1907: A day at the beach ends in a fight over beer. Evelyn Ferguson is accused of shooting newsboy Charles ‘Winnipeg’ Wilson with a policeman’s gun because Wilson was attacking her friend, who ‘was not in a condition to remember much about how it happened.’ Continue reading →

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July 28, 1907: L.A. Seeks to Clear Books of Old Laws on Bear Baiting, Quail Hunting by Streetcar Conductors

Posted on July 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 28, 1907: Los Angeles seeks to rid itself of outdated laws like hunting rabbits on Spring Street or conductors abandoning their streetcars to go quail hunting at the end of the line. Continue reading →

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July 24, 1947: Honor Student Vesta Belle Sapenter, 17, Strangled

Posted on July 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 24, 1947: Jefferson High honor student Vesta Belle is found strangled in her bedroom. Continue reading →

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November 1947: Women Charged Under 1872 Law for Same-Sex Marriage

Posted on June 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

Thelma and Marieta met in college as roommates and fell in love, living as Mr. and Mrs. David Warren — then FBI agents came calling about possible draft evasion. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: M.E. Firman, Lady Detective

Posted on March 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

In an encore post, Mary Mallory looks at the career of Marie E. “M.E.” Firman, early “lady detective” of Los Angeles Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Trim Your Roses on Jan. 15 to Remember Elizabeth Short

Posted on January 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

Today is Jan. 15, the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death. As is the custom, the Daily Mirror will be dark. Trim your roses in her memory.

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 8, 2024 by lmharnisch

The Retro Holiday Shopping Guide: Melba Levick’s “The Big Picture: Murals of Los Angeles.” Wonderful paintings, most of them lost. One of my favorite’s is Kent Twitchell’s “Old Woman of the Freeway” featuring actress Lillian Bronson. Continue reading →

Posted in 1988, Architecture, Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Downtown, From the Stacks, Hollywood, Latinos, Photography, Preservation, San Fernando Valley, Sports, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Black Dahlia: Trim Your Roses on Jan. 15 to Remember Elizabeth Short

Posted on January 15, 2024 by lmharnisch

Today is Jan. 15, the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death. As is the custom, the Daily Mirror will be dark. Trim your roses in her memory.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment