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Hollywood Model Dies of Botched Abortion, Nov. 19, 1941
This post has be edited. See note at bottom for explanation. Nov. 19, 1941: Angelka Rose Gogich was 18 when she died at Glendale Emergency Hospital after undergoing an abortion. She had be working as...
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California Prepares to Execute Juanita ‘The Duchess’ Spinelli, Nov. 20, 1941
Nov. 20, 1941: California prepares to execute Juanita “The Duchess” Spinelli at San Quentin. Spinelli, her boyfriend Mike Simeone, Gordon Hawkins and Albert Ives were convicted of drugging and...
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Duchess Spinelli, Doomed to Gas Chamber: ‘No Christian Will Kill!’
Nov. 21, 1941: Juanita “The Duchess” Spinelli arrives at San Quentin to be executed in the gas chamber – the first woman legally executed in California’s history. “No one who is a Christian will...
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Times on Spinelli Execution: ‘Good Riddance’
Nov. 22, 1941: Here is Times reporter Tom Cameron’s description of the execution of Juanita “the Duchess” Spinelli: Eight cyanide “eggs” under the chair dropped into a bucket of sulfuric acid and...
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Dying Man Found on Main Street
Nov. 30, 1941:President Roosevelt says the U.S. may be at war in a year – actually, it was a week later. Bartender Eddie Watton was closing up at the Theatre Cafe, 324 S. Main St., and wanted the man...
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Soldier Kills Civilian in Tragedy at Airport Checkpoint
Terrific artwork from the incredible Milton Caniff. Dec. 15, 1941: A group of soldiers was stopping motorists on Sepulveda Boulevard near the airport to strip off blue cellophane that had been...
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Molestation Suspect Questioned in Killing of Girl, 9
Jan. 25, 1942: Detectives Harry Fremont and Jack Dwight are questioning Leo M. King, accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl, in the death of Dorothy Lee Gordon. The case of Dorothy Gordon, an African...
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Mob Slaying of ‘Big Greenie’ Greenberg Retold in Bugsy Siegel Trial
Jan. 27, 1942: Ida Greenberg testifies in the trial of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (d. 1947) and Frank “Frankie” Carbo (d. 1972) in the killing of her husband, Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg, who was shot...
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William Desmond Taylor Shot!
Mary Mallory points out that this is the 90th anniversary of William Desmond Taylor’s death. I did several posts when the Daily Mirror was at The Times: William Desmond Taylor, Mystery Guest | Crime...
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Angry Butcher Cuts Wife’s Throat
Betty Rowland at the Follies! Photo: 6152 Agra St. Credit: Google Street View. Feb. 2, 1942: Lewis Buell Chase dialed the sheriff’s substation in Firestone Park and told a deputy: “I have just...
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Body of Kidnapped Girl Found in Riverbed
Feb. 4, 1942: “As Coroner R.E. Williams and his aides bore the pitiful little body, still clad in her gay blue and white striped red school dress, toward town for an autopsy to determine the cause of...
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Snake Killer Dies on Gallows
May 2, 1942: Major Raymond Lisenba, better known as Robert S. “Rattlesnake” James, becomes the 214th and last person to be executed by hanging in California. James was hanged because the murder of his...
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Accused Killer, Shot in Courtroom, Convicted as He Dies
May 22, 1942: As the prosecutor finished his closing arguments in the trial of Mazo Shepherd, accused of killing a taxi driver, the victim’s nephew walked up to Shepherd and shot him in the head....
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Doolittle Visits North American Plant, Praises Workers for Bombers Used in...
June 2, 1942: In a visit to the North American aircraft plant, Brig. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle praises workers who built the bombers used in his raid on Tokyo. Otis W. Hall is accused of killing his...
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LAPD Losing Staff to War Effort
Aug. 1, 1942: Chief C.B. Horrall announces that the LAPD has lost 22 men and two women to the armed services. By the end of the war, many more officers and staff will have gone into the military,...
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Another Good Story Ruined: The Black Dahlia
Photo: <<Le Dahlia Noir>> Once again, Elizabeth Short’s bogus middle name appears in a story about the Black Dahlia – proof that mistakes take on a life of their own. In reality, she had...
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Found on EBay: The Ma Duncan Trial
Rare (or r@re) is terribly overused on EBay, but this time it’s accurate. A LP from clandestine recordings made at the murder trial of Elizabeth “Ma” Duncan, has been listed. Bidding starts at $5. The...
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Millennial Moment: Church Officials Killed
Nov. 9, 1982: Patrick James Henneberry and George Peters, leaders of the purported Church of Naturalism, were beaten to death with a blunt instrument and shot at close range on the Laurel Canyon...
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Black Dahlia: Can’t Anybody Get This Story Right?
Writers who are unfamiliar with the Black Dahlia case have a terrible time keeping the facts straight, as shown in the latest coverage by Christine Pelisek in the Daily Beast. There are the common...
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Smallpox Epidemic – Los Angeles, Feb. 7, 1863
Read the entire Feb. 7, 1863, edition of the Los Angeles Star from the Huntington Library, scanned by USC. Feb. 7 1863: The coroner holds an inquest in the killing of Christian Hutt. George Wright,...
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