Category: Accidents

Hakuna Matata My Ass

standingdeadMay 20, 1927
Lincoln Heights

Cinema actor Gordon Standing, of noble acting stock, had played Horatio in the “Modern Hamlet” on the East Coast stage.  Back East he’d starred in Lasky, Vitagraph, Inspiration and D.W. Griffith film productions.   But then he got it into his head to come Out West.  Though he’d been wounded several times in the Marine Corps during the Big Scrap, nothing could have prepared him for the horrors of Hollywood.

At first, all was well at Selig Zoo Studio.  Standing’d been working alongside his old buddy Elmo “First Tarzan” Lincoln and a new buddy, one giant lion, in the cheapie serial “King of the Jungle.”  Apparently Standing had been getting along peachy-like with his new feline friend, until Standing changed his make-up, putting on a beard, and old Leo didn’t recognize him.  The maned one attacked!  It took fifteen men to pull the animal off Standing, who was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital with severe bites and slashes about the neck and shoulders.  King of the Jungle was no match for King of the Beasts.  (Interestingly, allmovie.com would have us believe Standing was trampled by a "rampaging elephant;" perhaps they were thinking of the elephants that graced the entrance to the zoo.)

elephants

The Selig Studio had a "jungle area" in which to film, but their lions weren’t of the perfoming type; the question stands, then, was the rent-a-lion that killed Standing none other than famous snarling L. B. Mayer sidekick Slats, denizen of Gay’s Lion Farm (where lions would run amok a mere sixteen months later)?

slats

RRRRAARRRRR!!!!! 

Insert Lawyer Joke Here

lawsuitsMay 19, 1927
Santa Ana

W. F. Linder is an unfortunate man.  To begin with, he crashed his car.  Into another car.  Driven by a lawyer.  

That other-car-drivin’ Los Angeles attorney, J. Irving McKenna, sued Linder for $12,000 ($142,542USD 2007) in damages.  That was Wednesday.  Today, two more damage suits were brought—seems passenger Mrs. Catherine McKenna is also a lawyer, and is counsel for her husband, who appears as her attorney; she demands $20,000 ($237,570USD 2007).  Oh, yes, and Anna C. McKenna, another member of the family, is also demanding $20,000, and aforementioned Catherine is as well asking for $300 in medical expenses and $5000 in loss of earnings.

Drive carefully, folks.  

Women of Daring

April 25, 1927
 
rodeoheroine
 
Today, women on the outskirts of town performed astounding acts of bravery, whether they were defending themselves, saving lives, or simply defying their mothers.
 
In Glendale, early this morning, Paul Courts broke into the home of Anna and Lucille Sousa at 3050 Menlo Street, and "attempted to press his attentions" on Lucille, 17.  The girl seized a revolver and pointed it at him, at which point, Courts fled the Sousa home and was arrested for disturbing the peace.
 
150 miles away, the Deer Creek Cattlemen’s Association’s annual round-up and rodeo in White River was just another day at the fair until an unpiloted car began rolling down a steep hill towards a crowd of spectators below.  Mrs. Burt Smith averted tragedy by jumping onto the car’s running board, steering it through several groups of children, and crashing it into the racetrack.  Smith suffered a few bruises, the car, only a crushed radiator.
 
burbankgirlAnd back in the fair city of Burbank, 17-year-old Mignon Jones parachuted from a height of 2000 feet clad only in a sailor suit.  Jones’s mother had discovered her daughter’s plan, and notified the police in the hopes of stopping her.  However, by the time Burbank police officers arrived at the airport, Jones had already made a perfect landing and vacated the premises.  She was later found at a local skating rink.
 
Little Mignon then faded from the pages of the Los Angeles Times, which comes as something of a surprise.

Diver Down

April 20, 1927
Los Angeles

When evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, the anointed queen of Echo Park’s Angelus Temple, went to Ocean Park Beach last May 18 and faked her own disappearance so she could run off with a boyfriend, even she could not have anticipated the hysteria that followed. For while her theological appearances were occasion for outpourings of public adoration, in vanishing, she moved into a new realm of fame.

Congregants promptly offered a $25,000 reward for the return of their favorite alive, though she was widely presumed drowned. Word of the reward passed like quicksilver among the community of professional divers, perhaps without the "alive" clause appended. One of these, Edgar Harrison, was already in town from Catalina to testify in an insanity case, and stopped off on his way home to take a dive off the end of amusement laden Lick Pier on May 25, where no sign of the missing woman was found. The water pressure exacerbated an attack of appendicitis, and Harrison died in agony. By the time Aimee stumbled out of the desert crying kidnap (a lie that was soon exposed), Edgar Harrison was in his grave.

Today, his widow Edna sat in court seeking $500 in death benefits that had been denied by the State Industrial Accident Commission, which claimed that Harrison was acting as a private citizen when he went diving for Aimee’s reward. Edna countered that her husband was operating under orders when he received his injuries, and further that she had been receiving threatening letters, ostensibly from the City of Los Angeles, suggesting that she seek payment from McPherson and Angelus Temple, and leave the city out of it.

McPherson’s mother Minnie Kennedy took the stand, and said she had known nothing of Edgar Harrison’s dive until she was invited to attend his funeral, and that she had sent flowers and $500 to the widow, the latter which was returned. Edna countered that indeed $500 had been proffered, by two "impudent" representatives of the Temple, but that when she suggested they talk with her lawyer they had snatched the money away, called her "a bitter woman" and stalked off.

Edgar Harrison was survived by two young children, Edgar Jr. and Lois.

Silk Stocking of DOOM!

April 19, 1927
Pasadena 

Yee-ouch! Mrs. Fred Anderson, Pasadena matron of 1304 North Catalina Ave., was dressing this morning when she slid one shapely foot into a stocking she’d last worn several months back on a visit to the remote  Imperial Valley.

It seems she picked up a hitchhiker on that trip, for inside the toe wriggled one very annoyed small scorpion. It struck the lady thrice, and off she hopped to Emergency Hospital, where Chief Surgeon Clement C. Troensegaard told her how lucky she was to have been foot-stung and not tongue-stung, for only on especially tender spots are scorpion wounds fatal.

Still, we bet this is one gal who will never put on a pair of hose again without checking them very, very carefully for unwanted guests…. as should we all.

When Boozing Was A-foot

July 6, 1907
Los Angeles 

Hot! damn but it’s been hot and humid, too, the steamiest early July since records have been kept. Sure there were hotter single days–like July 25, 1891 when the mercury topped 109–but no one can recall a week when the very dawn temperature broke 80 degrees, with no relief offered by the night.

Mrs. Carrie Gilbert’s solution to the grisly weather was to get drunk and sleep out-of-doors, not in a cosy sleepying porch at home at 617 1/2 East Sixth Street, but alongside the railway behind the commission house at First and Central Streets. Deep in the darkness her horrible screams were heard; a passing train had severed her left foot. Taken to Receiving Hospital, the lady slipped into a merciful stupor. Clever, clever dipsomaniac. Shock, they say, leaves one feeling icy cold…

A Kinder, Simpler Time


June 27, 1907
Los Angeles

Louise arrived in Los Angeles three months ago from Norway with her four young children. She met a man who worked in San Pedro (we only know his initials, F.G.) and before long, they were married and living in his small home at 825 Tennessee St.

One morning, she got up to make coffee, turned on the stove, took a glass of dark liquid from a shelf and poured it into the coffee pot.

But the liquid was gasoline.

News and Business


Motorcycle Hits Her

Miss Gertrude Young, who lives at No. 525 Wall St., was knocked down by a motorcycle yesterday as she stepped from a streetcar at 7th and Hope streets. The rider of the machine hastened away. Miss Young was taken to the Clara Barton Hospital.

No Milk Spilled

The horses attached to a Eureka Dairy wagon became frightened on South Main Street yesterday by an approaching streetcar and ran. A passenger on the streetcar leaped to the street, seized the bridles of the animals and stopped them. Not a drop of milk was spilled.

Paid for Collision

J. Hall of No. 655 S. Hill St., was hurled from a bicycle in a collision with an automobile driven by D. G. McMasters of 1010 W. 38th St. yesterday. The accident happened on Broadway between 3rd and 4th streets. Hall sustained slight bruises and his wheel [bicycle] was demolished. McMasters paid the lad for his wheel.

May Be Insane

Seizing James Harper by the throat and hurling him to the floor of the office of a lodging house at 127 Wilmington St., George May struck him violently several times last night, it is said. May was arrested on a charge of insanity. He is a miner who has been in an insane asylum, his friends say. He will be examined today by police surgeons.

Boy Seriously Hurt

Morrison Woodhill, 13, who lives with his mother at 410 W. 43rd St. was injured in an accident yesterday afternoon at Washington and Main streets. He was riding a bicycle and collided with a streetcar. He sustained a brain concussion and was treated at the Receiving Hospital. His mother came to Los Angeles from Montana a few months ago. Recently, she sent for her son and he arrived in the city on Monday. He was on his way to buy schoolbooks when the accident occurred.

Arrested for Spanking

John Vasey, 820 E. 17th St., was arrested last night on a battery charge because he spanked William Duncan yesterday. For some years, Vasey has been employed by Mrs. Tina Johnson of 749 E. 42nd St. as a gardener. He was unable to furnish bail and is held in the City Jail.