Tag Archives: 1907

December 31, 1907: Old Watchman, Beaten by Robbers, Revealed as Cocaine Addict

Posted on December 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 31, 1907: W.H. Reynolds laid out all night after being beaten up and thrown in the weeds by two robbers. Hospital staff found his arms and legs covered with needle marks from where he had injected himself with cocaine. Continue reading →

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December 30, 1907: Old Soldiers of the Civil War, Held as Drunks, Get Free Run of Jail

Posted on December 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 30, 1907: Six Civil War veterans are jailed on charges of being drunk and rowdy in Sawtelle, the settlement outside the gates of the veterans home. Continue reading →

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December 27, 1907: Oklahoma Lynching — A Grim Record for New State

Posted on December 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 27,1907: Oklahoma records its first lynching since statehood: James Garden. Continue reading →

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December 26, 1907: Minister Rejects New ‘Godless’ U.S. Coins

Posted on December 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 26, 1907: The Rev. W.A. Jones of Knoxville Presbyterian Church refuses the congregation’s gift of $100 because it consists of newly redesigned $20 gold pieces that do not bear the motto “In God We Trust.” Continue reading →

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December 23, 1907: Shopping Cures Insanity — An Early Test of Retail Therapy

Posted on December 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 23, 1907: Dr. Henry S. Atkins, superintendent of St. Louis’ insane asylum, has found that Christmas is a perfect time to test his theory that shopping cures insanity.
Atkins and two attendants took 60 women from the asylum “into the world of department stores and the activities which all women enjoy,” The Times said. Continue reading →

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December 22, 1907: For I Was Homeless and You Ran Me In — L.A. Prepares for ‘Hobo Season’

Posted on December 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 22, 1907: Los Angeles prepares for ‘Hobo Season’ with posters warning that the city sentenced the homeless to the chain gang. Continue reading →

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December 21, 1907: Desperate Girl, Alone and Friendless in L.A., Steals $10

Posted on December 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 21, 1907: Lillian Poelk was new to Los Angeles, with no friends and little more than a job as a waitress that didn’t quite cover the rent of her room at 831 S. Hope. “While other girls were getting pretty things and preparing for a pleasant Christmas, she was shut up in a cheerless room,” The Times said. Continue reading →

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December 20, 1907: Miracle Doctor Fer-Don Cures Man of 90-Foot Tape Worm!

Posted on December 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 20, 1907: Miracle doctor “The Great Fer-Don” comes to Los Angeles, with ads boasting of his amazing cures. Alas, his health tonic was merely colored water and a felony warrant was issued for him and his wife. Continue reading →

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December 19, 1907: No, None of It Was His Fault

Posted on December 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 19, 1907: George White isn’t to blame for robbing the Hot Rivet Saloon. He just fell in with the wrong man. And beating up the Army lieutenant, that wasn’t his fault, either. Continue reading →

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December 18, 1907: County Coroner Dead Drunk at Bordello

Posted on December 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 18, 1907: Los Angeles County Coroner Roy S. Lanterman was arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly at the Navajo, a bordello run by Ida Hastings, 309 Ord St. Hastings called police, who arrested Lanterman. Continue reading →

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December 16, 1907: A Headline for Steve Horn — L.A. Times Sports Covers a Cat Show

Posted on December 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 16, 1907: What did the Los Angeles Times sports department cover in the days before the Lakers? Or the Hollywood Stars? Why it covered a cat show! Continue reading →

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December 15, 1907: Architectural Rambling to South Pasadena

Posted on December 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 15, 1907: The Times real estate section visits South Pasadena and remarks on a new brick building (still standing in 2025), a bank and the Carnegie library. Continue reading →

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December 14, 1907: L.A. Schools Ban Mention of Christ at Christmas (Uh-Oh)

Posted on December 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

Dec. 14, 1907: Los Angeles residents are furious after the school superintendent bans the mention of Christ at Christmas. Continue reading →

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December 13, 1907: The Annual Rite of ‘Messiah’ at Cold, Drafty Shrine Auditorium

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1907: An unidentified Times critic attends a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at Shrine Auditorium. An exercise in decrypting a music review of another era. Continue reading →

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December 12, 1907: The .45-Caliber Newspaper Ombudsman

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1907: Goldfield, Nev.—J. Holtman Buck, editor of the Western Nevada Miner in Mina, Nev., shot Francis L. Burton to death during a fight over a scathing editorial in which Buck said Burton should be run out of town. Continue reading →

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December 12, 1907: Recreation Center to Be Built in Heart of Industrial District

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1907: In the gritty, industrial heart of the 8th Ward at Holly Street and St. John, officials are planning a large recreation facility “as an oasis in the wilderness,” The Times says. The building, designed by the firm of Hunt, Eager and Burns, will offer an alternative to “those who have no pleasure grounds but the streets and the saloons,” The Times says, noting: “Happy people are nearly always good people.” Continue reading →

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December 9, 1907: Black LAPD Officer Blames Firing on Racism, Rejoins Fire Department

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1907: Mayor Harper has restored E.J. Bowen to his old job in the Fire Department after the rookie police officer was fired for allegedly being a coward—a charge that Bowen, who is Black, blames on racism. Continue reading →

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December 8, 1907: Jewish Refugees, Fleeing Russian Persecution, Come to L.A.

Posted on December 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 8, 1907: Three members of the Schiffman family who are Jewish refugees from Baku, Russia: Sigmund, the father; Benjamin, 15; and Emella [or Emelia], 10. They have been brought to Los Angeles as part of the Galveston Plan, in which Jews were taken to Galveston, Texas, for dispersal throughout the West because New York was overcrowded. Continue reading →

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December 5, 1907: Man Accused of Scheme in Selling Daughter to Gypsies

Posted on December 5, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 5, 1907: A Los Angeles couple have a novel way of making money: Antonio Thompson and his wife sell their daughter Marie to the Gypsies, then go to court to get her back. According to statements taken in St. Louis, Marie has been sold off several times as a Gypsy princess. Continue reading →

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December 4, 1907: Shooting on Baldwin Ranch Raises Tensions Between Chinese, Latino Workers

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4, 1907: Shooting on Lucky Baldwin’s ranch raises tensions between Chinese and Latino workers. Continue reading →

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