http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8tt4t5x No online items clippings scrapbooks SFH 93 Finding aid prepared by Dee Dee Kramer San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA, 94102 (415) 557-4567 info@sfpl.org 2014 SFH 93 1
Title: clippings scrapbooks, Date (inclusive): 1918-1968 Date (bulk): 1935-1968 Collection Identifier: SFH 93 Creator: California. District Attorney (San Francisco County). Physical Description: 9 oversize flat boxes, 1 manuscript box(10.0 linear feet) Contributing Institution: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 557-4567 info@sfpl.org Abstract: Compilations of newspaper clippings related to criminal cases investigated and/or prosecuted by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and news coverage of the Office itself; together with a set of grand jury transcripts of a 1918 homosexual "vice scandal" on Baker Street. Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite. Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English. Access The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance. Publication Rights All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], clippings scrapbooks (SFH 93), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Provenance The collection is of uncertain provenance; it was received from either the City Attorney's or District Attorney's Office in 1976. Biographical/Historical note The Office prosecutes criminal cases that take place in the City and County of San Francisco. Compilations of newspaper clippings related to criminal cases investigated and/or prosecuted by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and news coverage of the Office itself; together with a set of grand jury transcripts of a 1918 homosexual "vice scandal" on Baker Street. Clippings consist of two oversize scrapbooks on the 1935-1937 graft probe and trials of the San Francisco Police Department; clipping service coverage of the District Attorney's Office from the mid-1940s through the late 1960s; and scrapbook compilations on individual criminal cases. The collection is organized in four series: Series 1: Grand Jury transcript of Baker St. "vice"investigation; Series 2: San Francisco graft trials; Series 3: Clipping service coverage of District Attorney's Office, and Series 4: Case clippings. Subjects and Indexing Terms California. District Attorney (San Francisco County). -- Archives Crime--California--San Francisco Criminal justice, Administration of--california--san Francisco Box 1 Series 1 Grand Jury transcript of Baker St. "vice" Investigation, 1918 Physical Description: 1 manuscript box(0.5 linear feet) General note Three copies of transcript, one of which is complete. SFH 93 2
Series 1Grand Jury transcript of Baker St. "vice" Investigation, 1918 Series 2 San Francisco graft trials, 1935-1944 (bulk 1935-1937) Physical Description: 2 oversize flat boxes(2.1 linear feet) Two oversize volumes of newspaper clippings covering the investigation into graft and corruption within the San Francisco Police Department. The independent investigation was led by Edwin Atherton of Atherton & Dunn, who was hired by Mayor Angelo Rossi and the Board of Supervisors. The Atherton Report was published in March 1937. Box 2 Aug. 29, 1935- June 2, 1937 Box 3 June 3 - Nov. 29, 1937 and Feb. 17 - May 11, 1944 Series 3 Clipping service coverage of District Attorney's Office, 1947-1954 Physical Description: 3 oversize flat boxes(4.1 linear feet) General note Missing Numbers 12-13 (Feb. 14, 1948-Jan. 13, 1949); Oct. 4, 1949-Nov. 9, 1950; and June 22-Oct. 1, 1951. Paperbound volumes compiled by a clipping service to track news of the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. At least some of the volumes are labeled inside with tags from Allen's Press Clipping Bureau. Most pages have clippings with "1238" marked in red pencil, with the name of the District Attorney, D.A. official, or the D.A.'s office underlined. Clippings are daily and come primarily from San Francisco and San Francisco Bay Area newspapers, including the Chronicle, News, Examiner, and People's World. Coverage includes criminal cases in which the District Attorney's Office would typically get involved, including vice, graft, juvenile delinquency, and violent crimes; together with some coverage of the presence of the District Attorney's Office at public functions and the District Attorney's positions on City issues. The San Francisco District Attorneys during this time period were Edmund Gerald (Pat) Brown, who served 1943-1950, and Thomas C. Lynch, who served 1951-1964. Arranged by date, with original volume number given when available. Box 4 Jan. 19, 1947 - Sept. 15, 1949 Box 5 Sept. 15, 1949 - March 7, 1952 Box 6 March 8, 1952 - Jan. 7, 1954 Series 4 Case clippings, 1945-1968 (bulk 1955-1966) (bulk 1955-1966) Physical Description: 4 oversize flat boxes(3.3 linear feet) Paperbound volumes of local newspaper clippings covering assorted San Francisco criminal cases and civil disobedience demonstrations. Titles of each volume reflect original labeling on front covers, where covers are intact. Dates reflect year of crime, with clippings coverage sometimes spanning before and after. Arranged by year of crime. Box 7 Mansfeldt Trial, 1945 In Oct. 1945, Mrs. Irene Mansfeldt, socialite and former Fresno Raisin Day Queen, murdered Nurse Vada Martin, whom she suspected of having an affair with her husband, physician Dr. John H. Mansfeldt. He subsequently committed suicide. She pled not guilty by reason of insanity and was convicted of manslaughter. She served twenty-five months in Tehachapi and was subsequently released on parole. SFH 93 3
Series 4Case clippings, 1945-1968 (bulk 1955-1966) (bulk 1955-1966) Box 8 Gambling probe, 1955 Covers a series of gambling raids called for by the San Francisco Grand Jury and directed by the District Attorney Thomas Lynch and Chief of Inspectors James English. The vice squad that carried out the raids had been created under Mayor Robinson. The gambling raids led to a Grand Jury probe of the San Francisco Police Department, focusing on gambling and vice payoffs, and later, on callhouse activities of Mabel Malotte. Includes insert of clippings on Mabel Malotte from 1954. Box 8 Marcus Kidnap, 1955 Betty Jean Benedicto kidnapped newborn baby Robert Marcus from Mount Zion Hospital in Stockton on Sept. 19, 1955. Her trial was suspended because she was declared insane and committed to Mendocino State Hospital. The baby was recovered and returned to his parents. Box 8 Lucas trial, 1957 Rose Lucas went on trial for the murder of her husband Joseph, a California Highway Patrol officer, whom she shot in Dec. 1956. She claimed self-defense as a result of his ongoing abuse of her. Her children testified on her behalf and a jury convicted her of voluntary manslaughter. Box 8 Rapist-sadist case, 1957 A 19-year-old nursing student was abducted at gunpoint from her date in Golden Gate Park on July 20, 1957 and raped. Suspect parolee Alvin Rexinger was accused and then cleared when Melvin Bakkerud confessed in early August. Some clippings also concern sexual assaults on other girls and/or women that are potentially-related to the case. Includes a few pages of clippings about San Quentin's Death Row, from the San Francisco News, Jan. 3-10, 1955. Box 8 G. J. [Grand Jury] Giants Stadium inquiry, 1958-1959 Reporting on the Grand Jury s probe into the financing of the construction of the new San Francisco Giants baseball stadium at Candlestick Park. Box 8 Kroeger case, 1962 Iva and Ralph Kroeger went on trial for the murder of Jay Arenson and his ex-wife Mildred Arenson, whose bodies were found buried under the basement of the Kroeger's house in the Outer Mission on Aug. 20 and 21st, 1962. Mildred had operated a hotel in Santa Rosa in which the Kroegers owned a business interest. After the murder, Iva bought out the hotel and disappeared; she was found in September and brought to trial. Both Iva and Ralph were found guilty of first degree murder on March 19, 1963, and both were sentenced to death. Iva had a sanity trial, was ruled sane, and then received a life term in a second penalty trial ordered by the Supreme Court on technical grounds. Ralph's sentence was reduced to life in prison, where he died in 1966. Box 8 Hoskins and Lucero case, 1963 Albert Benjamin Lucero hired teenager Rudy Hoskings to throw lye in the face of Harry Goldman, a delicatessen owner in the Fillmore. Lucero pled guilty and said his motive was that deli helper Esther Dumo left him and was friendly with Goldman. Goldman lost an eye as a result of the attack. SFH 93 4
Series 4Case clippings, 1945-1968 (bulk 1955-1966) (bulk 1955-1966) Box 8 "Towaway King" Livingston, 1963 Nat Livingston, aka "Towaway King," ran self-service parking lots in San Francisco. He was indicted by a County grand jury for auto theft and conspiracy for running a towaway racket from his lots. The County then passed a stop-gap ordinance restricting tows from self-service lots. Box 9 Civil rights clippings, 1964-1966 Covers local civil rights demonstrations--including sit-ins, pickets, and other forms of protest--in the 1960s at the Sheraton-Palace Hotel, Auto Row, Mel's Drive-in, and other businesses and sites, as well as the subsequent trials of demonstrators. Box 10 Cop-burglar case, 1965 Two police officers and three ex-convicts were charged with burglary of the home of ex-madam Sally Stanford in Pacific Heights, San Francisco. All but one of the accused were convicted. The case was also known as the "Sally Stanford Burglary Caper." Box 10 Tax fee scandal, 1965 San Francisco Assessor Russell L. Wolden was tried and convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1965. Wolden was disbarred by the State Supreme Court in 1970. Box 10 Slaying union boss (D. Wilson), 1966 Dow Wilson, union leader of Painters Local 4 in San Francisco, was shot dead half a block from the Labor Temple on 16th and Capp St. on Apr. 5, 1966. In a related shooting on May 7, Alameda County Painters Union official Lloyd Green was also shot dead. Ben Rasnick, East Bay Painters Union official and Secretary of Painters Union District Council 16 was convicted in the Wilson case, together with Norman Call and Max Ward, trustees of the Sacramento Painters Union welfare fund. Rasnick was also accused of ordering the assassination of Green. The shootings apparently were motivated by issues of financial corruption within the fund. SFH 93 5