1947 Project

Myron E. Gurnea, the F.B.I.’s Washington expert on matters of juvenile delinquency, released a statement today describing it as the nation’s biggest criminal problem.

Gurnea blames the rise in delinquency during the war years, when the stabilizing influence of fathers, mothers and older siblings was lost, as the former went to war and the latter into the factories. Those bad kids are now aged 17-21, and are being arrested in droves.

Pointing a finger at neglectful families who shirk their disciplinary responsibilities and expect government agencies to control their children, Gurnea notes that very few parents accompany their brats into traffic court. The answer may be to hold more parents financially responsible for their children’s crimes, a tact that is stymied by the growing number of broken homes.

Additionally, Gurnea sniffs at fears that returning soldiers are monsters “trained for crime,” stating that it was a big army, with criminals and ordinary people, but the criminals were already so disposed.

Arriving at his home at 7143 Hollywood Blvd. tonight, James Utley, 43, tangled with Herbert Robertson, 45, who was lurking in the yard. Hearing gunfire, Utley’s wife and daughter called police. Utley’s is a name well known among crime crusaders, so Detective G.L. Smith went to the scene with patrol officers.

Utley refused to sign a complaint against Robertson, who he admitted had recently written him a letter demanding $500. Nevertheless, police arrested Robertson on suspicion of robbery. Robertson told officers that he was also a resident of 7143 Hollywood Blvd., although the address on his social security card read 1907 W. Sixth Street.

Utley claimed Robertson had pulled a revolver, which Utley deflected, causing the shot to go wild. Robertson countered that Utley had fired the shot. The gun was found in a car parked in the yard.

James Utley is best remembered for a shocking incident on August, 16, 1946, when two men followed him into popular Hollywood watering hole Lucey’s Restaurant (5444 Melrose Ave.) during the lunch rush. While one man held the other diners –among them Joel McCrea, Eddie Cantor, Stephen Crane and Joan Davis-at gunpoint, the other administered a thorough blackjacking to Utley. This was assumed by many diners to be a movie stunt. The assailants then fled through the crowd of autograph hunters outside the restaurant.

Utley, former operator of the bingo concession on Tony Cornero’s Lux gambling ship (and then under indictment for these activities), former investigator for politically ambitious Clifton’s Cafeteria owner Clifford E. Clinton, acquitted in 1939 on charges of extortion and bribery, convicted two years later of violating Federal Narcotics laws and sentenced to two years in prison, refused to identify his attackers, suggest any reason for the attack or in fact to make any statement at all.

Mrs. Thomas Wright of 2425 29th St., Santa Monica, only intended a short trip by bus, but driver F.O. Rogers, 27, was loaded and wanted company. He compelled the lady to remain on his bus as he looped erratically through downtown Santa Monica and back to her home.

“It was the wildest ride I ever had!” said Mrs. Wright, once safely in the company of Officers Robert Chapman and Kenneth Aitken. A bottle of wine was found in driver Rogers’ possession, and investigation physician Dr. R. J. O’Donnell determined that he was intoxicated.

Pleading guilty before Judge Thurlow Taft of the Santa Monica Municipal Court (bail set at $250, probationary hearing scheduled for April 30), Rogers blamed his Mr. Toad-like behavior on “war nerves,” which had bedevilled him since suffering injury in the South Pacific with the Navy.

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The men became rambunctious, and other passengers joined in the fray, some in panic, others in amusement. The fracas was ended by the intervention of off-duty Los Angeles Police Sgt. E. A. Duarte, who presented the men to local authorities when the four-engine plane landed, ten minutes late due to the commotion.

In Justice of the Peace Harvey McDonald’s court today, Barrett (of 1123 Pine St., Pasadena) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in the Las Vegas jail, the maximum possible penalty. McDonald stated that he wished he could make the sentence longer. Murphy, of Oklahoma City, denied guilt, and will stand trial tomorrow on a charge of misconduct in a public conveyance.

Everything was going swimmingly in would-be divorcee Fanny S. Greenwald’s case against jewelry-jobber husband Isador in Superior Court Judge Paul Vallee’s courtroom today. She’d just described Izzy’s insulting treatment of her before their friends and children, and their 19-year-old son was being sworn in to corraborate. That’s when the lady, seated with counsel, lit a cigarette.

“Mr. Clerk!” raged Judge Vallee, “eject this person from the courtroom. You will have to leave the courtroom, madam!”

The Judge continued the case for six weeks, explaining, “I do not want to decide it now. Her smoking so irritated me that I might do the woman an injustice.”

A pair of snazzy robbers in sports coats, shades and gloves shook down the Bel-Air Hotel’s lobby at gunpoint yesterday morning, divesting the hotel and five guests of nearly $2400 in cash.

The theft began when the two men crossed the hotel’s bridged moat and accosted bellhop Charles Berg, showing their weapons and demanding to see the manager. The pair vaulted the counter and held employees hostage as they ransacked the office. While stuffing the $1500 take from the till into a laundry sack, the shorter of the men sighed to his associate, “Well, Joe, this haul isn’t a very hot deal.”

They then turned their attention to the guests in the lobby, relieving Richard L. Casselman (of 15905 Chase Street, San Fernando) of $18, B. Charles Gould (650 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn) of $250, Paul Payette (414 St. James Place, Montreal) of $540, Davis H. Hannah ( 11024 Strathmore Street) of $40 and Charles Carroll (231 N. Oxford Street) of $20.

Bellhop Berg told police that he recognized at least one of men, and the hotel guests said they would be able to indentify their assailants.

Citizens alerted police and fire officials today to a person crawling around in the sewer beneath Bunker Hill Ave. and Sunset Blvd. After fighting rush hour traffic to reach the scene, Fireman Gordon Davis heard breathing and lowered himself through the manhole. Within was a half-naked and muddy James W. Holland, 32, of Newport, Tenn. Davis suggested Holland resurface, where he told Officers J.P. Brennan and C.G. Cunning that he had been “looking for my baby.” Holland was taken to jail for a shower and additional questioning.