April 16, 1938-Sept. 16, 1939

Note: This is an encore post from 2008.

How about that? The tracks are still here, a block south of Firestone on Myrtle. I think that’s where they found her body in the weeds.

Poor little kid. Her name was Jenny — Jenny Moreno. She was 7 when she was killed. One of the neighbors was molesting her and hit her in the head with a hammer to stop her screaming, then waited until dark and hid the body. Her relatives and the other folks who were looking for her saw him handcuffed to a deputy and nearly lynched him. The guards at San Quentin said he went to the gas chamber bellowing like a bull; it took him 7 1/2 minutes to die.

His name was Charles A. McLachlan, a “wrinkle-faced, 55-year-old, wine-soaked Irish-Mexican,” The Times said. He and his wife had come to Downey from El Paso about 15 years earlier and bought five shacks at Firestone and Myrtle. He had lived alone since his wife died three years ago and made a little money renting out the other shacks. One was leased to his son Joe and daughter-in-law Carmen. Another was leased to the Morenos: John, his wife, and their six children.  A woman identified as Mrs. Perra, the children’s grandmother, also lived there. Continue reading →