Speed Kills

November 22, 1947
Los Angeles

County officials are in no hurry to play host to 18-year-old Leonard L. Chambers, 652 S. Indiana Street, who was found guilty of going 55 in a 25 mph zone and sentenced by Santa Monica Municipal Judge Lawrence Scherb to 10 days in jail (nine suspended), 30 days without a driving license, and to visit the County Morgue in the next 10 days to gaze upon the mangled body of a speeding victim. A Coroner’s office spokesman told the Times that in light of regulations, it was unlikely that this grisly date would be kept.

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

See author's posts

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

One thought on “Speed Kills”

  1. Such are the threads of research, tangled by time and coincidence:

    The gateway is a Page 1 story about extensive wiretapping at the state office building, with lines leading to Philharmonic Auditorium. Russell D. Mason, the technician who installed the wires, says he got permission from investigators for Atty. Gen. Fred Howser, but everyone in Howser’s office denies the allegations. Mason’s troubles grow worse when a fire at his home destroys expensive equipment and documents needed for his wire-tapping trial. And his ex-wife sues for back child support when she sees his picture in the paper.

    Mason is eventually cleared of everything but a minor technical infraction when it turns out that one of the investigators, James H. Mulvey, recalls that he indeed said it would be OK to run the lines but that he would have to check with his boss first.

    Mulvey, in turn, is the investigator in the 1958 bombing of the Krishna Venta compound in Box Canyon by two former cult members. The suicide bombers left rambling tape-recorded statements in their pickup before killing themselves, Venta and seven cult members, destroying a two-story building and touching off a 150-acre wildfire.

    And then there’s the small mystery of an unrelated item mysteriously appended to one of the Mason stories: A photo and caption of Deputy Public Defender Kathryn McDonald (who would later defend child killer Fred Stroble) and Robert H. Hansen.

    Hansen, a radio technician who lived and worked with Ralph and Olga Dirksen in San Francisco before joining them in Los Angeles, was caught after he killed the Dirksens, took their bodies out to the Mojave Desert and tried to burn their heads and hands in the incinerator behind their repair shop at 5619 E. Beverly Blvd. in 1948. After killing the couple, he took their 3-year-old son, “Sparky,â€Â to the beach and then left him at a boarding home that cared for children. Hansen was sentenced to life in prison.

    Bonus factoids: Douglas Aircraft drops from its wartime level of 160,000 employees to 9,000 and expects to reach 3,000. Lockheed is down from 94,000 employees to 12,000.

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

Leave a Reply