An EBay Mystery

Posted on November 7, 2006 by lmharnisch

Nov. 6, 1907
Los Angeles

Here’s a real mystery, although a minor one, and like all real mysteries, it is incomplete and may have no solution.

Exhibit 1: This postcard up for auction on Ebay.

Here’s the front, Burmese fortunetellers.

And the back.

As for the postcard, we find that D.A. Ahuja of Rangoon published a series of Burmese cards. Presumably the card was sent during a voyage because it is stamped “Sea Post Office.” The stamp is from India, a 2 Annas, 6 Pies with the image of King Edward VII. (Here’s one that was used in Bahrain).

Now for the message:

“Kindly accept my sincere sympathies on the loss you have sustained. Was very sorry indeed to hear of the loss.

Kind regards from
Val Leonard 25/11/07”

It’s too bad there isn’t more to the message. Presumably the writer didn’t want to reveal too many details on a postcard. And doesn’t a photo of Burmese fortunetellers seem an odd choice for a sympathy note? Maybe it’s just me.

Note the method of indicating the date, with the day first, then the month and finally the year. The easy guess is that the writer is not an American; but again, only a guess. Who is Val Leonard? A Proquest search turns up nothing.

What’s curious is the cancellation on the stamp “_ASER STREET.” Unfortunately, it’s incomplete, but appears to say rather clearly “25 10 07.” One wonders whether the postal clerk neglected to change the month on the rubber stamp or if something else is afoot.

Also note the address: 150 S. Vendome St., Los Angeles, California, USA is written in dark ink, while the name is so light that it’s nearly unreadable: Mrs. J.F. Hue—something. Or wait. Is it Mrs. J.F. Thie—something?

I recall a Sherlock Holmes story in which the character wrote the name in one manner and the address in another, prompting Holmes to infer that the writer had to look up the address. In this case, however, it seems that the address and message were written at the same time and the name at another. The question of why is one for Mr. Holmes.

Unfortunately, the California death records for 1907 don’t reveal a Hue or a Thie, nor does Proquest, so this line of research comes to an abrupt halt.

We can find out a bit about the address, though. It was a house and was advertised for rent on March 7, 10 and 12, 1907. The question would be whether the loss occurred before March, leaving the house vacant, or after. The answer to that would involve the question of how long it took news of Mrs. J.F’s loss to travel to someone on a voyage and then how long it took the card to arrive. Presumably, it took so long that by the time the card was delivered that Mrs. J.F. had moved to Boulder, Colo. Note that it was a post office box rather than a fixed address. Holmes would have fun with that.

So then, what was the loss? The absence of a Mr. and Mrs. J.F. points toward the loss of a husband, but it could easily be some other loved one.

Now wait a minute. Maybe that’s an “S” as in the capital S of “S. Vendome.” Hmmm. Maybe it’s Mrs. J.F. Shie.

Proquest is seemingly helpful here: A mail clerk named Albert W. Shie was killed in a terrible railroad accident at Colton, Calif., on March 29, 1907, which is shortly after the house at 150 S. Vendome was up for rent. The Times says that Shie had been working on the train from El Paso to Los Angeles for five years and lived with his wife at 555 Ruth Ave. in Los Angeles.

Is this Mrs. J.F.’s loss? Presumably she might be Albert Shie’s mother, but given the information available, it may never be clear.

A fun mystery, thanks to Ebay.

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Commitment

Posted on November 5, 2006 by lmharnisch


Nov. 5, 1907
Los Angeles

John Richie led the bass section of the choir at St. Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, Scotland, while Testristina Adams was a contralto. They sang in the choir for about 10 years, and fell in love.

Two years ago, in hopes of more opportunity, John left Scotland and came to Los Angeles, but not before asking Testristina, a pretty brunette, according to The Times, to marry him. “If I had not said that I would follow him he would never have come,” she said.

Recently, she embarked on a 7,000-mile journey to join John, who works at a Los Angeles hardware company. “She arrived in New York on Monday, Oct. 28,” The Times said, “on the Caledonia after nine days of the most strenuous voyaging that boat had ever experienced. Miss Adams, filled with the thought of seeing her lover after long years of waiting, refused to succumb to the illness which overcame even the stewards and landed in New York after a thoroughly enjoyed passage.”

Testristina said that of the people in her railroad car traveling from Chicago, 80 were planning to settle in Los Angeles. “All of them had nice things to say about California,” she said.

John, 31, and Testristina, 26, were married at the home of friends at 4419 Pasadena Ave. They did not plan a honeymoon trip, The Times noted, because “Miss Adams says she had had quite enough of traveling.”

Aside from John being selected as a soccer referee in 1908, I can find nothing else about the Richies in The Times, despite Testristina’s extremely unusual name (The Times also spelled it Testrestina) but I hope they had a long, happy life together and many grandchildren.

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Location Sleuth II

Posted on November 4, 2006 by lmharnisch


Nathan Marsak says:

That’s Sixth and Olive, looking Northeast. The old 1906 Philharmonic Auditorium in the bg, left (after its 1938 Streamline remodel by Stiles Clements, now a parking lot) and next to it to the right is the Parkinson 1931 Title Guarantee Building. That’s why it’s so dark at the right side of the image — that’s Pershing Square.

So right! And on that corner is the Pacific Mutual Building

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Time to Buy a New One

Posted on November 4, 2006 by lmharnisch

Nov. 4, 1907
Los Angeles

About a year ago, Eugene Rowe’s little runabout was smashed by a trolley. After some repairs, it won a trophy, but a month later, it was wrecked in the Pasadena hill climb. And then it overturned in a ditch.

Undeterred, and practicing the route of a Thanksgiving run, Rowe and his friend Charles Fuller Gates set off for Box Springs in Riverside County, where the runabout overturned on a curve. Gates was pinned under the car, crushing his left leg. Rowe was thrown clear and although he was badly battered managed to free Gates from the wreck.

The men waited until another car came along and picked them up, and they were taken to Los Angeles on a Salt Lake train.

Doctors at California Hospital say they will be able to save Gates’ injured leg. The runabout, however, was abandoned because the wheels were flattened and it could not be moved. “The radiator was caved in, the tonneau was torn from the frame and the steering gear wrenched loose,” The Times said. “This last accident seems to have put the tough little machine out of business.”

Ps. It was a Ford.

Bonus fact: Gates, a noted racing cyclist of the 1890s, went on to referee motorcycle races and was last heard from in 1915.

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Curb Appeal

Posted on November 3, 2006 by lmharnisch


Nov. 3, 1907
Los Angeles

Mrs. E.N. Eskey is building this 10-room house in Pico Heights, on Van Ness just south of Pico.

According to The Times, the two-story house (with basement) has a first floor divided into a reception hall with an oak staircase leading upstairs. The living room features built-in bookcases and a massive brick mantel. The dining room has a built-in buffet and china closet, with a pantry and kitchen.

The floors are quarter-sawn oak on the first floor and maple flooring in the rest of the house. The Times says there are four chambers, presumably bedrooms, a sewing room and a bathroom upstairs, as well as an alcove.

In the basement, a coal bin and a Rudd heater.

The cost? $5,000 ($102,617.85 USD 2005) a bargain by today’s standards. Note that in March 2004, 1244 S. Van Ness sold for $1,037,500.

Check out Zillow.com

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Update: This house is still standing and has been painted blue. I’ll post some photos once I get the film developed (yes, I’m old-school).

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Location Sleuth

Posted on November 3, 2006 by lmharnisch



Here’s a frame grab from the opening shots of “Double Indemnity.” According to the script, the car driven by Walter Neff speeds through an intersection, narrowly avoiding a delivery truck bearing the sign: “READ THE LOS ANGELES TIMES.”

But tinkering with the photo (the original is very dark, after all we are talking about film noir) shows that the truck apparently reads “Los Angeles Examiner.” Although it’s difficult to be positive, the elaborate “E” on the second line almost surely gives it away as the Examiner. It certainly isn’t the Los Angeles Times. Either way, it’s definitely a newspaper truck as bundles of papers tumble from the back when the driver slams on the brakes.

Here’s one of my favorite passages from the script, describing the Dietrichson house:

“Spanish craperoo in style, as is the house throughout. A wrought-iron staircase curves down from the second floor. A fringed Mexican shawl hangs down over the landing. A large tapestry hangs on the wall. Downstairs, the dining room to one side, living room on the other side visible through a wide archway. All of this, architecture, furniture, decorations, etc., is genuine early Leo Carrillo period. Neff has edged his way in past maid who still holds the door open.”

As for the location, my guess is Hill and 3rd Streets, across from Grand Central Market. Any other ideas?

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Roll On, Ugly River

Posted on November 2, 2006 by lmharnisch


Nov. 2, 1907
Los Angeles

As part of a new city beautification campaign, Boyle Heights residents have suggested turning the Los Angeles River into a garden spot.

The plan calls for “a long, winding strand of posies and greenery—a narrow, picturesque parking, which will be viewed by practically every passenger who arrives or leaves Los Angeles on any of the transcontinental railroads,” The Times said.

The railroad tracks run next to river from Elysian Park to the southeastern section of the city, The Time says. Landscaping of “nasturtiums, morning glories and other hardy running and climbing vines along the riprapping of the banks, and the planting of such low-growing shrubs at the bases of these riprapped walls as would be of little interference with the rush of the waters” would create a first impression of Los Angeles that would be “the talk of people all over America.”

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Danger Point

Posted on November 1, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 31, 1907
Los Angeles

John J. Mooney, 23, a Southern Pacific machinist who recently arrived from Butte, Mont., was aboard the West 2nd Street car on his way to be initiated in the Modern Woodmen of America when the brakes failed, sending the car into the southbound Spring Street trolley, killing him and injuring seven other passengers.

The intersection is known as a danger point because of the steep hill on 2nd Street, according to The Times, which noted that another fatal accident occurred there Dec. 24, 1905. Officials say the 2nd Street car stopped at Broadway, then proceeded toward Spring when the brakes failed. The motorman of the Spring Street car accelerated to avoid the oncoming trolley but couldn’t get out of the way.

“Patrolmen were quickly on the spot and stretched ropes about the overturned car to prevent the spectators from interfering with the wrecking crew,” The Times said (now we know what they did before crime scene tape). “The body of Mooney was laid on the sidewalk at one side of the Wilcox building, where it attracted a morbid crowd, composed principally of women.”

According to one of the motormen, the Spring Street car teetered for a moment after the impact and then overturned, crushing Mooney’s head and chest as he tried to crawl out of the trolley. The Times reported that the 2nd Street car had braked to avoid a black cat running across the tracks around Westlake Park, which some passengers took to be an omen.

Curiously enough, The Times did not relate this crash to the other accidents involving rails greased by Halloween pranksters. One might wonder whether the brakes truly failed.

Note the map: The Central Trust Co. has been replaced by The Times Building and the First National Bank has been replaced by the Recycler Building, now wrapped in ads for the Jeep Wrangler. The southwest corner, where the Hollenbeck Hotel once stood, is a parking lot. The new LAPD headquarters will be built on the northeast corner, formerly occupied by the Caltrans building.

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Pi Phidelity

Posted on October 30, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 30, 1907
Los Angeles

The young men of Los Angeles High School have issued a direct challenge to the Board of Education, defying its authority by enlisting fraternity members despite a ban issued last year.

The chief offenders are the Pi Phis, who just added seven members, The Times says. “Another ‘brat frat,’ as they have been dubbed, recently held high jinks at Levy’s restaurant and made a burning declaration of independence in which the city superintendent of schools and all persons concerned in opposing them were relegated to a place where a fire company would not be a circumstance,” The Times said.

The young women of Los Angeles High are equally rebellious, The Times says. “The sororities at Los Angeles High School have made a number of pledges among the younger girls and the small sisters of sorority members are wearing pins up under the ruching of their high collars—pins of which they are very proud.” (Ruching, in case you are unfamiliar with women’s clothing, is a pleated or gathered strip of decorative fabric).

Greek institutions at Los Angeles High School include the Geks, the Pi Phis, the Phi Sigmas and the Phi Delta Kappas.

After a protracted legal battle, fraternities and sororities were banned in Los Angeles high schools, although the issue flared up intermittently. The final blow apparently came in 1916, when the National Panhellenic Congress ruled that no member of a high school sorority would be admitted to a similar group in college.

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Oh, God, That Bassoon!

Posted on October 29, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 29, 1907
Los Angeles

Given The Times’ view of unions, it’s a little difficult to determine precisely what went wrong with a production of Ambroise Thomas’ “Mignon” at the Auditorium, but it went very wrong indeed because of a labor dispute.

The traveling company included orchestral players from Italy who had, according to The Times, joined the musicians union. However local union officials, citing labor leaders in St. Louis, appeared shortly before the evening’s performance and insisted that the musicians be thrown out of the union and therefore unable to perform.

Whatever the dispute involved, conductor Agide Jacchia was forced to preside over an orchestra of local players that was almost entirely unrehearsed.

“At intervals during the score, Jacchia would shudder as if someone had stabbed him and an expression of anguish would come into his face,” The Times said. “He would let his baton fall against the music rest and give some fellow in the orchestra a look of agonized reproach.

“But the union musicians didn’t care. They fiddled and tooted on at so much an hour—secure in the knowledge that the union doesn’t care whether they can play or not. In the intervals, they picked their noses and laughed and talked; made fun of the chorus girls and signaled to persons in the audience.”

After the first act, Jacchia was almost inconsolable, The Times said. As soon as he began to calm down, he would suddenly shriek: “Oh God! That awful contrabassoon!”

“His friends would grab him and soothe him down for a while. Then the recollection of the flute or the clarinet or something would strike him. He would start back as a man mortally wounded and murmur in the accents of a man dying a hard death: ‘Oh, God, the bassoon.’ ”

Bonus fact: Jacchia’s resignation on the night of the 1926 season finale gave Arthur Fiedler his opportunity to conduct the Boston Pops. History, alas, does not record whether a bassoonist was involved.

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Gilbert and Sullivan Said It Best

Posted on October 28, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 28, 1907
Los Angeles

You know the song even if you’ve never seen “Pirates of Penzance”: A policeman’s lot is not an easy one” and that is doubly true for one anonymous former LAPD chief.

The ex-chief has nothing but complaints: “It is the most detestable job ever created.” He can’t get enough men and when he does, many of them are political appointees who have friends in high places but nothing upstairs.

“You find a policeman who has been drunk on duty and guilty of the most extravagant dereliction of duty and resolve to make an example of him. The police commissioners give you an awful look, drag you into a side room and tell you never to make any cracks like that again. The cop turns out to be a cousin of somebody’s.”

And while some detectives are good, others “couldn’t find a lighted streetcar on a dark night,” says the ex-chief.

The local politicians forbid him to arrest their friends and the newspapers attack him for not cutting down on crime. Some influential person’s wife drags the hem of her skirt through spit on the sidewalk and suddenly the department is forced to crack down on minor infractions—much to the humor of the newspapers who mock enforcement of trivial laws.

Then the newspapers run their own investigation about local prostitution and accuse you of ignoring vice. When you conduct a raid, they say you are grandstanding for political purposes, the ex-chief says.

“If you try to sweat a man, the reporters roast you for giving the third degree and if you don’t, they say you are a fool who brings cases into court without any evidence.”

The chief blamed his downfall on failing to accept a check to cover the bail of a rich man’s coachman. Although department policy was not to take checks, the rich man thought he should get preferential treatment—and when he didn’t, he vowed to exact his revenge on the chief.

Interestingly enough, while the former chief complained about political appointments, he said the Civil Service system was even worse. It is no secret that well into the 20th century, some Los Angeles law enforcement officers bought their jobs. Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz, for example, said that early in his career, under the days of political patronage, men were afraid to go to lunch when a new administration took charge for fear that they wouldn’t have a job when they returned.

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Historians’ Clearinghouse

Posted on October 28, 2006 by lmharnisch

Fast forward to the future for a moment and plan to attend what sounds like a wonderful event for researchers: A bazaar in which many local archivists will be available at the Huntington to discuss their collections and set up appointments on the spot.

As anyone who has researched local history can tell you, material on the city’s past is scattered all over the Los Angeles Basin—would you believe that the documents and photos on the early days of USC’s Medical School are at UCLA?

The Los Angeles Archives Bazaar (they’re calling it the “First Annual,” but I won’t hold that against them) will be held at the Huntington Library on Saturday Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

More than 30 archives will be represented, including:

  • Autry National Center

  • Beverly Hills Police Department

  • Beverly Hills Public Library

  • Bison Archives (that’s a new one on me)

  • Cal State Northridge

  • Center for the Study of Political Graphics

  • Delmar Watson Photo Archives—run by one of the Watson brothers, who is a walking encyclopedia of Los Angeles history.

  • Eighth and Wall Inc. (another new one on me).

  • Historical Society of Long Beach

  • L.A. as Subject Online Directory

  • Los Angeles City Archives

  • Los Angeles Public Library

  • Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

  • Marymount High School and Good Samaritan Hospital

  • Mayme Clayton Library, Museum and Cultural Center

  • Occidental College Library

  • ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives

  • Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

  • Santa Monica Public Library

  • Shelley Gazin (another new one on me).

  • Society of Southern California Archivists

  • Southern California Library

  • Special Collections of the Claremont Colleges

  • St. Vincent Medical Center Historical Conservancy

  • UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

  • UCLA Special Collections

  • USC Specialized Libraries

  • Wally G. Shidler Collection of Southern California Ephemera (yet another new one on me)

Admission is free and no registration is required. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is at Allen and Orlando in San Marino.

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On the Comics Page

Posted on October 27, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 27, 1907
Los Angeles

Along with “Little Nemo,” “Buster Brown” was a popular feature of the Sunday comics. Like other cartoons of the era, such as “The Katzenjammer Kids” and “Foxy Grandpa,” that were full of naughty children, Buster Brown was fond of pulling pranks on adults.

Unlike Hans and Fritz, who usually ended up getting a good paddling and threats of being sent to reform school, Buster Brown usually learned his lesson the hard way and in the final panel always promised to mend his ways in a long block of text titled “RESOLVED.”


One bit of Buster Brown’s wisdom has stayed with me since I read it as a kid in an anthology on the history of comics: “If the carpet were as worn in front of the bookcase as it is in front of the mirror it would be a better world.”



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The Deadly Inferno

Posted on October 26, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 26, 1907
Los Angeles

Two women in the West Adams District were badly burned and expected to die after a bowl of gasoline they were using to clean a soiled dress exploded, engulfing their apartment at 42 St. James Park in flames.

Mrs. James P. Burns (identified helpfully by The Times as the wife of James P. Burns) and maid Catherine Blake had spread a dress across a table and wrapped their hands with rags soaked in gasoline to clean it. Because the electric lights weren’t bright enough, Burns told Blake to light several candles. The candles ignited the bowl of gas, which in turn set off a nearby tank of gasoline.

With her clothes on fire, Blake ran to the rear porch of the second-story apartment and jumped to the ground while Burns fled to a hallway. The building manager ran to the second floor upon hearing the explosion and wrapped Burns in a rug to extinguish the flames.

“Nearly all of her hair had been burned off and only a few charred garments remained about her badly burned body,” The Times said of Burns. “Examination by surgeons disclosed a pitiable condition. They expressed little hope of her recovery.”

In the meantime, neighbors got a blanket and rolled Blake on the grass to put out the fire. “Miss Blake was burned about the face, breast, arms and legs,” The Times said. “In some places the flesh fell away. She fainted several times before reaching the hospital.”

Bad streets hampered the Fire Department’s response to the blaze. The Lawrence Apartments, where the blaze occurred, suffered $10,000 ($205,235.70 USD 2005) in damage while the adjoining Mayfair Apartments suffered $3,000 damage, mostly from water.

Burns died the next day, having been put under anesthetic to allay her pain. There was no further word on Blake.

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Adieu to the Boys of Summer

Posted on October 25, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 25, 1907
Los Angeles


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On the Frontiers of Medicine

Posted on October 24, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 24, 1907
Los Angeles

Upon the suicide in February of Dr. H. Russell Burner, advocate of the “radium milk” cure, his sanitarium at 2033 E. 4th St. was taken over by Dr. F. S. Kurpiers, who is now in trouble with the Health Department.


Kurpiers didn’t have a medical license, so he obtained the certificate of Dr. C.H. King, a dying physician who wept as he told authorities that the only way he could support a few relatives was to rent out his license.


Rather than a “radium milk” cure, Kurpiers suggested that patients follow their instincts in when to eat—preferably never. Rachel Golder, a nurse at the sanitarium, quit because she never got to eat and relatives charged that one patient had become a bag of skin and bones under Kurpiers’ care.

Kurpiers explained his philosophy this way: “Only instinct knows what’s best for you. A child’s antipathy to bitter medicines is the unavailing protest of nature against science. When a learnedly-foolish mother gags the baby and pours deadly stuff down, then science rubs its fleshless claws, chuckles with ghoulish glee and glides away to line the coffin with divine dispensation.

“Baby always knows.”

The Board of Health suspended the sanitarium’s license, but it’s unclear what became of Kurpiers.

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Great Moments in Police Work

Posted on October 22, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 22, 1907
Los Angeles

A trolley conductor at 4th Street and Hill complained to a patrolman that one of the passengers looked like a holdup man. The officer investigated and laughed when the man produced a deputy’s badge and claimed that he was Mayor Harper’s son, Oscar.

The skeptical police officer took the alleged deputy to the central station, where the officer, identified only as “No. 303,” discovered that the young man was indeed the mayor’s son.

No. 303 apologized, exclaiming: “But I thought real deputy sheriff’s stars had numbers on them!”

Bonus fact: Some historic Los Angeles County deputies’ badges had numbers and some didn’t.

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Toward a Better Los Angeles

Posted on October 21, 2006 by lmharnisch


Oct. 21, 1907
Los Angeles

There’s no shortage of opinions on how to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles. Most people advocate better roads—paved roads that connect the city with Pasadena and the beach. Others suggest more schools, hospitals, better jail facilities, enforcement of blue laws and closing the saloons.

And then there’s Dr. E.O. Sawyer—who wants to kill all the cats in town. Look at it this way, Sawyer says, any good cat loves to hunt rats and mice (no argument there). Of course what happens is that the cats feast on these diseased rodents and then come home to be babied by families laboring under the misguided notion that they somehow “own” the cats.

“Stray dogs in this city are caught and killed,” Sawyer says, “because of the belief that dogs sometimes have hydrophobia. But cats are let alone and they are so thick in some sections that you can see them on every vacant lot. Every one of them may have been feasting on diseased rats.”

The Board of Supervisors fired Sawyer as public health officer in 1915, and Southland felines napped just a bit easier.

Shout out to Evil, you are in safe hands!

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October 20, 1907: The Imp

Posted on October 20, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 20, 1907
Los Angeles

Winsor McCay and his cartoons never completely go out of fashion and are periodically rediscovered—as in the current Taschen anthology. He was a fabulous artist and his Sunday panels remain a marvel of fantasy and rebellion against the tyranny of pigeonhole boxes. Living as we do in the era of legacy comics (Charles Schulz has been dead since 2000); bland, humorless writing; weak drawing; and panels shrunk to the size of postage stamps, it’s easy to think that comics aficionados 100 years ago were fortunate to get strips that ran a full page.

And then there’s Imp. Continue reading →

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An American Education

Posted on October 19, 2006 by lmharnisch

Oct. 19, 1907
Los Angeles

On a visit to Japan, K. Tsuneda of California met an attractive young woman named Toku. Telling her family that he was a wealthy Stanford student, Tsuneda married Toku and they embarked for the United States so his new wife could get an American education.

Her education began the moment they arrived in San Francisco: Tsuneda revealed that he was neither wealthy, nor a Stanford student. In fact, they both had to go to work. They moved from Berkeley to Redlands, where they separated. After reuniting briefly in Los Angeles, Tsuneda vanished, Toku said in seeking a divorce.

In court, Toku told Judge Charles Monroe that her father wouldn’t let her return to Japan until she got a divorce. Monroe rejected her claim of desertion and took her claim of failure to provide under advisement.

The Times never followed up on what it called the first Japanese divorce tried in Los Angeles, so it’s unclear what became of Toku.



Judge Charles Monroe, who presided over Divorce Court for many years, and his wife, Ella, were married in 1880 in Kansas. At that time, the state did not require a marriage license.

As Quakers, they were required to stand up at a meeting one month before the intended wedding, hold hands and state their intentions to marry. “It they passed without objections being presented, then the principals themselves read their own service and the ceremony was duly sanctioned by a wedding certificate signed by all the witnesses present,” The Times said.

Monroe was appointed to the Superior Court in 1905 and retired in 1927, at that time, the longest service of any judge in the state. He died in 1937 at the age of 88.

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