1910

MEET ME AT THE RIVER

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” the saying goes, but in truth, it seems to. Surely you can recall many times when you’ve been surprised to notice a tipping point has “suddenly” tipped – a trend becomes commonplace, or nearly everyone accepts a notion that isn’t very old. My favorite example is this image which was created for the Today Show, comparing St. Peter’s Square during the announcement of Pope Benedict in 2005 and the announcement of Pope Francis in 2013. In the earlier photo, only a single person can be seen with a mobile phone. In 2013, it appears everyone in the crowd is taking a snapshot with their phone or tablet. If you had asked the 2005 crowd if they expected to be at the same event eight years later taking pictures with their smartphone, they would have first asked, “What is a smartphone?” followed by, “why wouldn’t I be using a regular camera?” (As news photos tend to disappear over time, you can also find it here, here and here.)

(RIGHT: Crowds waiting for the ferry at the Monte Rio Landing, 1910. Photo courtesy Sonoma County Library)

It appears the Russian River resorts reached such a tipping point in the summer of 1910 when there was a jump in the number of visitors. “Already thousands of campers are at the different places and daily more are arriving. After the Fourth of July it is expected that a great many more pleasure and recreation seekers will journey to the famous river,” commented the Santa Rosa Republican. “The trains coming from the resorts on Sunday carried about 18 coaches and two engines, the coaches being crowded.”

The Russian River resort scene had been growing steadily for more than a decade, with a new place or two opening every year. If you wanted to get away for a few days to swim and paddle around in shallow water or even just lounge away like a sloth in a tent-cabin, it was the best spot in the Bay Area. Although many resorts were more or less the same, some filled a particular niche. Mirabel Park was popular with groups holding Sunday picnics, Camp Vacation (near Bohemian Grove) had tennis courts, and so many Santa Rosans descended upon Rio Nido that it seems much of the town was there at some point over the summer, judging by the frequent notices that appeared in town papers. That history was discussed in an earlier offering, “When we Summered in Lost Places,” and all that continued, as shown in items below.

So what made 1910 different? For starters, it was the first season after the Northwestern Pacific (NWP) line finally connected with the narrow gauge railway coming up the coast. This meant someone in San Francisco could reach the most popular resorts at the west end of the river – Camp Vacation, Monte Rio, and that year’s new hot-spot, Monte Cristo – without taking the NWP to Fulton and changing to the slooooow river local that crawled along with over a dozen stops along the way. This was also the year that electricity came to the resorts, so roughing it was no longer quite so rough.

But the special sauce drawing the crowds, I believe, was live music. For the first time (at least, that I’ve encountered in the papers) a resort was promising there would be great dancing. “The Santa Rosa band will furnish music for the dance, and this is a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the terpsichorean revelry,” blurbed the Republican newspaper about the opening of Monte Cristo. “The dancing platform is one of the best on the entire river, and has ample floor space to accommodate large numbers of dancers.”

As everyone familiar with local history knows, the Russian River scene exploded in the years around WWII as the top Big Bands in the country performed at the resorts, with jitterbug dancing and hot jazz making the area a showcase for the best in popular music. In order for that to happen, however, visitor’s attitudes needed to first shift away from viewing the resorts as less a get away place into a go to destination. “The bungalows on the river and the cottages at the seaside are the strong attractions now,” wrote the Press Democrat’s gossip columnist in 1910, striking a prophetic note. “Summer is on.”

RAILROAD IS MAKING FILL
Will Form New Depot Site at Monte Rio

Work on the big fill at Monte Rio, where the broad gauge and narrow gauge trains will meet, is progressing rapidly. A large gang of workmen are employed at the present time, and the railroad company has run a trestle out over the slough where the fill is to be made, so that it will be an easy matter to dump in earth and arrange for reclaiming a valuable spot.

The new depot site will be on this spot where the fill is being made, and the Northwestern will reach the depot with a graceful curve on the east, while the North Shore train will come in on the west side of the depot. There is considerable work to be done there before the new depot site will be ready.

Other improvements are being carried out at Monte Rio and Rio Campo and a work train is being also used. Things are lively there now, in preparation for the coming vacation season. The railroad companies expect to do a great business this summer in hauling visitors to the redwood section.

All of the resorts along the river are planning improvements, and are anticipating entertaining the largest crowds in their history during the coming months. There is no question but the redwoods section about Guerneville is the most popular places in the entire state for summer outings.

– Santa Rosa Republican, March 1, 1910
ELECTRICITY FOR RESORTS
“Rionido” Makes First Contract For Juice

The Russian River Light and Power Company has begun stringing wires on its poles recently set leading from Sebastopol to Monte Rio. This will furnish electric current for all the resorts on Russian river which require it. The wires will all be placed and ready for the turning on of the current on June 1st. The actual work it is estimated can be done in about fifteen days.

From Monte Rio the wires will be run at once to Occidental, when the work of setting the poles has been carried out. Contracts have been entered into with the Westinghouse Electrical Company for the transformers required and the secondary work is to be done by the Metropolitan Electrical and Construction Company of San Francisco.

Rionido, the pretty summer resort which was formerly known as Eaglenest, is the first of the summer resorts to have electric lights. Manager Ellis, of the Russian River Light and Power Company, states that he will have the wires into Rionido in a few days. Thomas C. Mellersh, manager of Rionido, is determined to have his resort the most up-to-date in the county, and will spare neither pains nor expense to make it so. The formal opening of Rionido occurred on Tuesday, June 10, when the dining room was thrown open to the public…

– Santa Rosa Republican, May 14, 1910

Nestling amid rosebushes and a picturesque woodland is the country home of the Frank Woolseys at Mt. Olivet. The Woolsey ranch has for years been noted for its hospitality and its welcome to visitors. It is ideally located, specially for such a delightful gathering as took place there last Sunday afternoon, when Mr. and Mrs. Frank Woolsey and their charming daughters, the Misses Louise and Helen Woolsey, entertained a large company of friends at tea and the accompanying pleasures of an outing in the country. They also entertained a few friends at luncheon prior to the larger gathering. The invited guests from this city either drove out in automobiles or went by train, the latter stopping conveniently at “Woolsey”…


“Monte Cristo,” the Frank Leppos county home on Russian river, was thrown open last Monday by Mrs. Leppo for the entertaining of the ladies composing “The Spreaders.” The club members were delightfully entertained and returning to town gently pleased with the outing.

– “Society Gossip” column, Press Democrat, May 22, 1910

OPENING BALL MONTE CRISTO
Frank Leppo Arranges For Comfort of Guests

The formal opening of Monte Cristo, Frank Leppo’s splendid new summer resort on the Russian river, will be one of the events of the season in that section. The Santa Rosa band will furnish  music for the dance, and this is a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the terpsichorean revelry.

All the arrangements for the pleasures of a large attendance have been perfected by Mr. Leppo, and he has left nothing undone which could in any manner add to the pleasure or comfort of his guests. Busses will be run from Monte Rio’s hotels to the new resort, in order that patrons may be in attendance at the dance and those who wish to go from this city to attend can find accommodations at the Monte Rio hotels.

Monte Cristo is one of the prettiest places on the river, and all who have visited it are delighted. There are many handsome cottages on the grounds, and it has leaped into popularity with rapid strides from the first.

Indications point to a large crowd being present at the dance, and that they will have a jolly time is a foregone conclusion. The dancing platform is one of the best on the entire river, and has ample floor space to accomodate large numbers of dancers. Mr. Leppo will give his personal supervision to the grand opening ball, and he knows how to conduct elaborate affairs.

– Santa Rosa Republican, June 17, 1910

Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Hall and Mr. and Mrs. Ney L. Donovan are spending the week-end at Monte Cristo, the country place of the Frank O. Leppos, and attended the ball in the evening.

Mrs. James W. Oates and her guests Miss Myrtle Hamell and Mrs. Martel and Mrs. Blitz W. Paxton were among the visitors at Monte Cristo on Saturday and spent a delightful day.

From all accounts the picnic of the Irene Club at Rionido must have been one of the most enjoyable ever. It occurred last Wednesday and the members left this city on the morning train and carried with them well-filled luncheon baskets. The lunch was made up on innumerable dainties for each member contributed to the feast. I was assured by one of the Irenes after this manner: “The Irenes can cook and don’t you forget it.” Delighted! Cooking is a very useful and necessary accomplishment. The exhilarating weather, the swimming and the hiking and the pleasures of the outdoor life were all features of this never-to-be-forgotten outing at Rionido. At noon everyone was perfectly ready for the meal, which was spread in the dining room at the bungalow of Mrs. Charles A. Wright, Mrs. Wright being a charter member of the Club. During the enjoyment of the many courses of menu there was much laughter and merriment. some of the members returned home in the evening while others remained overnight with friends and returned the following day.

– “Society Gossip” column, Press Democrat, June 19, 1910

ALONG THE RUSSIAN RIVER
Thousands of People Camped at the Resorts

The year 1910, from all present appearances, is going to be one of the most profitable that the owners of resorts along Russian river have ever had. Already thousands of campers are at the different places and daily more are arriving. After the Fourth of July it is expected that a great many more pleasure and recreation seekers will journey to the famous river.

The popularity of the river as a place of amusement is easily attested by the fact that nowhere in California may the same amount of travel be found for such a short run. The trains coming from the resorts on Sunday carried about 18 coaches and two engines, the coaches being crowded. From one end of the river to the other people come to seek places to spend the summer months. As a place of recreation it would be hard to find one that could surpass it. San Francisco go there by hundreds to enjoy the bathing. Each day sees the river crowded with bathers. Extra precautions are being taken this year to prevent casualties. Expert swimmers have been stationed along the different places and they keep a constant look out over the people.

Not only is it a place for bay cities people, but Sonoma county [garbled typesetting] parties it would be hard to surpass. Many board the train from the cities along the route and attend the dances there on Saturday evening and spend Sunday bathing and boating. Many new boats have been added to the supply by the different resorts and at times the river is crowded with the little craft. Passengers in their raillery have often said that the resorts are so close together and the trains so long that the engine is at one station before the rear coaches have passed another.

A number of resorts are making preparations for the Fourth of July. Hundreds of people will go to that section to enjoy the two days’ vacation and adequate quarters will be provided. Many of the camps will celebrate with exercises, while a majority will confine their sports to a grand ball in the evening.

– Santa Rosa Republican, June 25, 1910

Socially this week has certainly been the calm before the storm. After those memorable seven parties in nine days people have been taking a breathing spell. The bungalows on the river and the cottages at the seaside are the strong attractions now. Summer is on.

– “Society Gossip” column, Press Democrat, July 10, 1910

Read More

ARE YOU HAVING A COMET PARTY?

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Okay, we’ve got good news, bad news: Tonight you’ll see something beautiful and astonishing. Then you just might die horribly. Such was what residents of Santa Rosa and elsewhere expected as they awaited the appearance of Halley’s Comet in May, 1910.

This would be no faint astronomical drive-by; the comet would be unusually close to Earth, which meant it would be easily visible without a telescope and even take up a large swath of the sky – just before daybreak on May 16, the tail was measured at 90 degrees long. It promised to be quite a show and Santa Rosans didn’t want to miss it, although the best viewing time would be after three in the morning. So many people called the Press Democrat requesting a wakeup call if the comet was visible that the paper assigned a “Comet Editor” to collect phone numbers.

Like people in the rest of the country, locals began planning “comet parties” lasting through all or most of the night. The PD ran a tongue-in-cheek item about what to wear at a comet party: “If the party is in the nature of a private or family reunion the guests may go more or less decollete, or simply in ‘nightie…'” The gossip columnist noted some were actually having little parties with friends, starting with a midnight snack followed by a few hands of cards until it was time to wander out to the yard or porch. Those with autos drove out in the country. One man was nearly arrested for climbing the big rubble pile of bricks at the corner of 4th and D streets (which also reveals that debris still remained downtown more than four years after the great earthquake).

Halley’s big show actually gave two performances; early May, as it was approaching us from the sun and only visible in the pre-dawn hours, and then from May 20 onwards, visible between 8PM and midnight. The latter was less exciting except there happened to be a lunar total eclipse one night; time travelers, set your dials for 9PM on May 23, 1910, and bring a good camera (and please, don’t apply annoying Instagram filters to the picture). But for two nights in the middle of all this, the comet wasn’t visible at all as the Earth passed right through the comet’s tail. And that was when every living thing on the planet was killed. From the San Francisco Call:


BOSTON, Mass.. Feb. 7.— A telegram received here today from Yerkes observatory states that the spectra of Halley’s comet shows very prominent cyanogen bands. The fact that cyanogen is present in the comet has been communicated to Camille Flammarion, the distinguished French scientist, and is causing a great deal of discussion as to the probable effect on the earth should it pass through the comet’s tail. Flammarion is of the opinion that cyanogen gas would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet.

A version of that wire service story appeared in papers everywhere three months before the comet became prominent, giving the public plenty of time to figure out that cyanogen was more or less deadly cyanide, and it couldn’t be good for your cute little planet to be swimming in the stuff for seven long hours. Unfortunately, no newspaper explained (as far as I can find) that Earth would be only in the edge of the tail so it really was more like wading than swimming, and that everyone survived quite nicely a much more serious contact with a comet tail in 1861.

But the papers really failed by warning about the end of the world just on the reputation of Camille Flammarion, described in some places as “one of the greatest living scientists” and an “eminent astronomer.” True, he had been a founder of the Astronomical Society of France in the 1880s, but now he was a 68 year-old card-carrying crackpot who not only believed there were canals on Mars, but that the weather there was quite nice and supersmart Martians were hoping we’d pick up the phone and communicate with them. Oh, and he had written a novel about the world ending because of a comet.

The threat wasn’t real, but the fear of it drove a few mad. At least two people supposedly dropped dead at the sight of the comet. A man in Arizona was scared it was chasing him. A watchman at a San Bernardino mine believed it was going to hit the earth, and thought for some reason the best thing to do was nail both hands to posts; after nailing one of them he discovered he no longer could manage to hold a hammer and rescuers found him in great distress.

Mostly, however, folks seemed to dismiss the risk or acknowledged it with a nervous chuckle. The society columnist for a Washington paper offered a bit of doggerel suitable for an invitation:


On the seventeenth night of May, don’t fail
To come and dash with me
Into Halley’s comet’s streaming tail,
If we die, we’ll croak in glee.

A merry crowd will gather here
To meet the comet blazing;
In wit and bowl we’ll drown our fear
And watch for sights amazing.

(If it is a dancing party, add the lines:)

Into the gases we’ll go prancing,
If we pass, we’ll pass a-dancing.

Sadly, local humorist Tom Gregory didn’t address this possibility in his item on comet party etiquette. What does one wear for an end of the world get-together? Something more formal than a “nightie?” Something less?

PRESS DEMOCRAT RUNS A “COMET BUREAU”

“Won’t you please phone me when the comet appears?”

Many people know that the newspaper men in the Press Democrat office necessarily keep late hours, and the above show the kind of requests that have been coming into this office galore for several days past. Shortly after three o’clock this morning when the comet was visible something like a score of telephones rang in different houses in response to the request to tell when the comet appeared. If you want to be called let the Comet Editor know, and if there are not too many of you, you will be called all right.

– Press Democrat, May 12, 1910
NOT A BURGLAR; ONLY LOOKING AT COMET

In a large vacant space formerly occupied by the Athenaeum and Hahmann building, Police Officer George Matthews about 3 o’clock on Tuesday morning noticed a man acting very suspiciously. He was dodging in and out among the piles of brick. Every once in a while he climbed up on top of the brick pile. Then he assumed a crouching attitude. Then he would gaze upward into space. Matthews investigated with due precaution and discovered that the man, acting so suspiciously was none other than “Bud” Parks, who had left his bed early in the morning to take a peep at Halley’s comet and his movements among the brick-piles was for the purpose of getting as good a view as possible of the sight in the heavens.

– Press Democrat, May 13, 1910
WHAT TO WEAR AT THE COMET PARTIES

The social editor of the Press Democrat was requested to give in detail what one should wear at Comet parties. The query was passed on to Tom Gregory for answer. The answer:

“If the party is in the nature of a private or family reunion the guests may go more or less decollete, or simply in “nightie.” If the lawn has been sprinkled and the starry visitor with caudal of asteroids cannot be received from the door or window, it is well to hunt up a pair of slippers. Should the reception take place up on the next block, the decollete should be supplemented with a shawl or “hubby’s” overcoat. If the “nightie” is retained it may as well be covered with a bath-robe. Should the bath-robe be unable to be found–as may be the case–the piano cover or a rug will be a practical substitute. Whatever worn it might be well to meet the comet on blocks where the street lights burn dim. The comet will give enough illumination for his own exhibition.”

– Press Democrat, May 15, 1910

(RIGHT: Illustration from the New York Sun)

“Mr. and Mrs.——-” request the pleasure of your company. To see the Comet. From twelve-thirty to three-thirty, morning.”

There is no mistaking the fact that Mr. Halley, astronomically and socially, furnished considerable diversion to the social calendar of Santa Rosa last week as far as late at night and early morning functions are concerned, and while the invitations may not have been quite as formal as the one suggested–having been mainly to the response of the tinkling of the phone-bell — the “R. S. V. P.s have not resulted in the disappointment of host or hostesses.

The assemblies have been held principally on porches, in front yards, street corners, or any place of vantage in easy access; decorations Nature as revealed in rose blooms and moonlight. I might add that the gowns worn in some instances had a rainbowy effect, but everybody wanted to see the Comet and no time was given for the preparation of party dresses.

In several instances Santa Rosa set the social pace in informal comet parties, where friends have gathered about half-past twelve to enjoy light lunches, play a few games of euchre or five hundred, and wile the time away until the watch on the outside announced Halley’s big sight in the heavens was ready for the evening. Several ladies and gentlemen who own automobiles, have driven into the country so as to get a better view of the comet without the near-earth dash of light furnished by the electrics in town interfering.

For several mornings to come Halley’s comet will continue to promote star gazing and it is affording lots of fun, too.

– “Society Gossip,” Press Democrat, May 15, 1910

NO STING WAS IN THE COMET’S TAIL
This Journal’s Observer Notes the Unseen Transit of Halley’s Star Attraction Across Sonoma County

It cannot be said that the comet’s tail is The Light That Failed because it didn’t hit us with any perceptible results. Even the scare Professor Halley’s mysterious illumination shed around on humanity was not amiss, not a miss. Even the sinner in a general way, I mean the sinner not in any special line of sinning, when he heard that he and his frailties would be shown up in the white flame of that burning thing, did doubtless cease his unrighteous work, even if it was only while he was scurrying for his comet-tail-proof cellar. As per arrangement made a million more or less years ago–and concurred in by this journal a few days ago, the Halley contribution to astronomy began to brush its light across Sonoma county at 5 P. M. Wednesday. Accurately speaking, it was not quite as per arrangement, the agreement with the professor being that the transit would begin earlier in the day. But the starry combination when it reached the near neighborhood of the planet Venus boggled and slowed down on its orbit…

…The earth entered the tail 16,000,000 miles from the nucleus and fully as many more miles of the light-flood swept over us to be lost in the void beyond the globe. They are millionaires in the matter of miles out in the measureless interstellar territory. Distance is no object, when they mark off a star’s stunt through the solar spaces. And they are as prodigal with time as an American city official is with the public coin. While the sun, comet, earth and Santa Rosa were in conjunction–for seven hours–the illuminant particles of the tail, making a fleece of light as thin and as bodiless as vacuum, were washing us in their unknown white fire. The composition is unknown, although for several centuries every astronomer under the sun has been giving us a different chemical formula of it so simple that any drug store clerk could have a comet-tail of his own. We have been told that it largely contains cyanide of potassium, or hydrocyanic acid, or prussic acid, or oil of bitter almonds, or–or cyanogen (which is the word I am trying to get; still, the others belong to the same family). Cyanogen is the active principal of prussic acid and will kill even at long range, if not taken in exceedingly homeopathic doses with a physician and a pretty professional nurse at hand for emergencies. During the transit no person in Santa Rosa experienced any prussic acid sensations, although several living in the eastern portion of the city said they smelt bitter almonds, I imagine it was the tannery.

Regarding the disasters, cataclysms, holocausts and other unpleasant happening attendant upon comets, none has been reported to this office at this writing. There is no evidence relevant, competent and material, that the troubles of Mr. Taft are in any manner connected with Halley or his periodical phenomenon; of the Ballinger or Wickersham may be attributed to the cyanogen in the comet’s tail. Col. [Teddy] Roosevelts’s appearance in Europe simultaneously with the starry wonder is not universally accepted as one of the prognostications of peril. The proposed visit of Mr. Hearst to England during the national mourning time for the dead Edward [VII, King of England] may be significant of two sad events bumping together…It was reported from Sebastopol that the auroral display was “on” in the southwestern heavens, but investigation proved that it was only a brush fire on the Blucher Rancho. A startling rumor flashed down from Fulton that a man in that town had been struck by a meteorolite [sic]. Later advices somewhat modified the account and told that he had been kicked by a vicious mule. At least in the county there was no sting in the comet’s tail. Notwithstanding other observers and other localities are now trying to discredit the tail part of the show, we do not. If we are to believe that a pile of rocks, 100,000,000 miles in diameter has traveled on its elliptical orbit 4,000,000,000 miles, swishing its tail 32,000,000 miles long and 13,000,000 miles wide, and is halted by Venus when 14,000,000 miles distant from that charming lady star–I say, when we are handed all these millions and millions of miles to get over before we can get to even “a reasonable doubt” of our own insanity and when we are told that a flood of light composed of nothing, and more vacant than vacuum, blown here and there by the mere undulations of sunshine, will touch us, and we get that through our “cocoanuts,” why,–it DID touch us, and we will stick to the belief as tenaciously as the cat that sat down on the flypaper.
Tom Gregory, Observer.

– Press Democrat, May 20, 1910

Read More

THE BURKE CASE III: WHO HID THE KEY WITNESS?

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

After months of lying low in Japan, the key witness in the attempted murder case against Burke was brought back to Sonoma County, amid new questions of who paid for her trip and who wrote the confession letters signed by her – letters not mailed until weeks after she had left the country.

(RIGHT: Lu Etta Smith and baby Willard. This photo from the Santa Rosa Republican, below from San Francisco Call)

Our basic story so far: In February, 1910, Dr. Willard Burke was arrested for allegedly trying to kill Lu Etta Smith and her infant son by blowing them up. Investigators discovered Burke, who owned a gold mine as well as the sanitarium near Santa Rosa, had visited his mine and was shown how to use explosives, departing with six sticks of dynamite. The Grand Jury indicted Burke for attempted murder, but in a surprising twist, also brought charges against him for performing an abortion on a different woman (abortion was considered  second-degree murder at the time, but few were prosecuted). Smith testified she was Burke’s mistress and he was the father of her child. Not long after her court appearance, Lu Etta and her son disappeared. She was found to be in Japan, which was curious because she had no known income outside of gifts of money from Dr. Burke. The Sonoma County Sheriff issued an arrest warrant for perjury so she could be extradited back to the U.S. if she did not come willingly. More background is available in the previous article, and it should be noted that at this time in the chronology, the Press Democrat simply gave up in trying to summarize the backstory in each article, writing simply, “the public is already in the possession of so much detail concerning the case that repetition at this time is unnecessary.”
  Also, here’s some missing background: Was the victim named Lu Etta, Luetta, Luella, Louella, or Lou Etta? Newspapers at the time used all these variations, sometimes more than one in the same article. By the time the trial began the Press Democrat just started calling her as “Lu.” But the name on her death certificate and in the only census in which she appeared was “Lu Etta.” And while we’re on the topic of her origins, she was born in Missouri in 1870 and had only a seventh grade education.

– –


THE BURKE MURDER CASE


THE BIG DEAL OF THE CENTURY

THE DYNAMITE LINK AND LU ETTA DISAPPEARS

WHO HID THE KEY WITNESS?

DO YOU LOVE YOUR GOLD OVER YOUR CHILD?

DOCTOR OF LOVE

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

MYSTERIES ABOUND

COURTROOM BOMBSHELLS

BURKE TESTIFIES

Lu Etta Smith’s return sparked renewed media interest, and the story was again front page news. Then a few weeks later in October, a powerful explosion destroyed the Los Angeles Times building killing 21 and injuring scores more. Union activists were suspected, but it would be several months before that was proven and arrests were made. All that was known in the weeks following the bombing was lots of dynamite was used and it was suspected to have been purchased by men posing as gold miners in Placer County, meaning there were now two high-profile crimes involving dynamite from the Sierra Nevadas on the front pages.

With the intense media interest surrounding both cases, a man registered at Burke’s Sanitarium a few days later. As told in an history of the LA Times bombing, he immediately raised eyebrows among residents at Burke’s because he didn’t appear to be ill and acted suspiciously; he didn’t socialize and hid whenever an auto approached. He had a “peculiar looking eye.” A suspicious resident at the sanitarium called the Oakland police and the captain of detectives soon arrived. In tow was a phalanx of reporters, apparently eager to somehow tie Burke into the new dynamite story. Dr. Burke told them the man – who was never precise on his exact name – had stayed only a day and claimed to be a private detective investigating another patient who was a possible suspect in the Los Angeles bombing. The fellow who called the cops quipped, “He said he was a detective in search of the dynamiters. I told him he jolly well looked like one of the dynamiters himself.”

LU ETTA SMITH IS ENROUTE TO U.S.
Is Captured Through Efforts of Sheriff Jack Smith
Some Startling Revelations Are Looked For When She Arrives–Officers Have Kept Her Coming Secret–District Attorney Lea Assists Sheriff

Lu Etta Smith, missing witness in the case against Dr. Willard P. Burke, will be here long before the trial of the case is set. The woman is now en route to this coast from Hawaii, where she has been for several days.

The witness is expected to reach here in a few days, and when she comes it is anticipated there will be some startling revelations concerning her disappearance.

Miss Smith and her child have been absent for some months, and owing to her absence the trial of the case had to be postponed until November. Now that the officers have her in custody a strict watch will be maintained on her to see that no inducements are offered to have her in custody a strict watch will be maintained on her to see that no inducements are offered to have her depart again.

It was a matter of common report that agents of Dr. Burke had negotiated for the disappearance of the woman when she left the File home in Berkeley some months ago, and made the journey to the Orient. It is believed she was paid a large sum of money to leave here and take the trip, with the idea that she would be kept away until after the trial of the case.

[..]

– Santa Rosa Republican, September 20, 1910
LU ETTA SMITH SAYS SHE WAS GIVEN MONEY TO LEAVE COUNTRY
District Attorney Clarence F. Lea Is in Possession of Very Sensational and Startling Information
WITNESS IN BURKE CASE COMING BACK

The international hunt for Lu Etta Smith, the missing witness in the Burke case…ended two weeks ago last Saturday. But it was only yesterday afternoon that the news of the apprehension of Lu Etta Smith in Tokio, Japan, and the fact that she is almost within sight of the shores of the United States was confirmed…

Two weeks ago last Saturday Sheriff Smith received a cablegram from United States Consul Sammons from Tokio, stating that Lu Smith had been apprehended…the officials determined on secrecy, their plan being to get the woman landed and have a talk with her prior to letting anyone know of her return. They had reasons. But the news leaked out and confirmation was given it, as said, yesterday afternoon.

Was Furnished Money

When Lu Etta Smith, or “Mrs. I. L. Long”–she is traveling incognito, and both going and returning from the Orient she has been “Mrs. Long–steps from the steamer in San Francisco, or probably before the steamer docks, she will have further details of a startling story to tell. To the story District Attorney Lea furnished a startling introduction yesterday afternoon when he said:

“I have already learned from Lu Smith that she was furnished with money to get out of the country and avoid being a witness at the Burke trial. I will not state now who it was that gave her the money. But she has corroborated evidence I had already in my possession.”

“No. I cannot say who it was,” replied the public prosecutor when pressed by newspaper interviewers. “I will wait and see Miss Smith first,” he smiled.

Woman’s Disappearance

…From witnesses examined at another Grand Jury investigation it was learned that Mrs. Marian Derrigg, a personal friend of the Burke family, had made a number of calls upon Lu Etta Smith at the File home in Berkeley. The purport and nature of the visits have not been told, but Lu Etta Smith may throw some light upon the matter.

[..]

Not a Prisoner

Lu Etta Smith is not returning to this country as a prisoner under arrest in the legal meaning of the term. In Japan she had two courses open to her as regards her manner of return. She could either figure in extradition proceedings and come home a prisoner, or else return as a passenger, merely under the supervision of some of the steamship officials. She agreed to the latter course, extradition proceedings were unnecessary, and she is said to have exhibited a willingness to return.

District Attorney Gets Letter

District Attorney Lea received a letter from Lu Etta Smith from a port in Japan. When asked concerning the contents of the letter yesterday he declined to state, and was equally uncommunicative as to whether the letter had tarnished him with the information concerning the identity of the person who is said to have furnished Lu Etta Smith with the money for her trip.

[..]

Will be Cared for

Upon the arrival of the woman and her child they will be cared for until the trial. They will be given proper accommodations where a watch can be kept upon them and there will be no danger of any more ocean voyages.

Will Explain Letter

District Attorney Lea is particularly pleased at the return of Miss Smith as she will be able to explain her purported signature to a letter forwarded to him some three weeks after her disappearance which contained an alleged confession of here that Dr. Burke had no connection with the dynamiting. District Attorney Lea has already learned that Miss Smith has not changed from this story of the details of the occurrence related by her from the first.

[..]

– Press Democrat, September 21, 1910
MARIAN DERRIGG GAVE LU ETTA SMITH MONEY TO LEAVE
First Publication of Letter Sent to the District Attorney

Letter Lu Etta Smith Says She Did Not Write

San Francisco, Cal.
May 3, 1910

Mr. Clarence L. Lea
District Attorney,
Sonoma Co. Cal.

Dear Sir–I hereby acknowledge that I very much regret the explosion which took place in my tent at Burke on the night of February 5, 1910.

I hereby exonerate Dr. W. P. Burke from all blame in this explosion and also hereby confess that I did this myself, and therefore ask that all criminal proceedings against him be dismissed at once. I would also ask you to have this letter put in the newspapers. I have written Dr. W. P. Burke exonerating him from all blame.

Very sincerely yours,
Lu Etta Smith

Lu Etta Smith and her child arrived in Santa Rosa last night on the 5:47 o’clock train, accompanied by Sheriff Smith and District Attorney Lea. These officials met them upon their arrival in San Francisco from Japan on the steamer Chio Maru yesterday morning.

With the return of Lu Etta Smith came the confirmation by her that she was given the money to pay for the passage of herself and child to the Orient by Mrs. Marian Derrigg. Mrs. Derrigg, as has already been told, was a patient for some time at Burke’s Sanitarium, and is said to be a personal friend of the Burke family. The statement by Miss Smith that Marian Derrigg had handed her the money was again reiterated last night. Mrs. Derrigg’s whereabouts at the present time are unknown. She was last seen in San Francisco at the time of the departure of Lu etta Smith at the File residence in Berkeley where the negotiations for the payment of the money were made.

Was Cleverly Planned

It was a cleverly worked out scheme. Mrs. Derrigg went to Berkeley where she posed as a wealthy woman. She opened up negotiations with a real estate firm for the purchase of a piece of property known as Craig Mont. Craig Mont chanced to be in the vicinity of the File residence, where Lu Etta Smith was stopping. Having previously known Miss Smith at the Sanitarium, it was an easy matter to get an interview with her under the guise of the former acquaintance and solicitude for her welfare. Mrs. Derrigg is said to have told Miss Smith that it would be better for her to get away to some other clime where she could forget her disgrace. The woman listened, and when Mrs. Derrigg proffered the necessary money for the trip to Japan, Miss Smith agreed to go. While the negotiations were in progress Mrs. Derrigg was making trips to and from the Sanitarium. She is said to have given over the money in greenbacks, and to have visited the Sanitarium the night before. One of the first things Miss Smith did aboard the vessel was to tip a steward a five dollar greenback, taking the bill from a big roll.

Denies Authenticity of Letter

Lu Etta Smith also positively denies the authenticity of the letter sent to District Attorney Lea on May 3, 1910, and postmarked San Francisco, which stated that Dr. Burke had no connection with the explosion and she herself was responsible. This letter was mailed three weeks after the departure of the woman and her child for Japan. They had sailed on April 19. From the start District Attorney Lea doubted the validity of the communication, and for that reason up to last night he had refused to make ti public. The full text of the letter is given above, published for the first time.

Signed Several Papers

Miss Smith stated yesterday that she had sighed her name to several blank sheets of paper at the request of Mrs. Derrigg, being told that the signatures were wanted merely for samples of her handwriting. She knew nothing of the contents of the letter until told upon her arrival in San Francisco yesterday.

Told Missionary Story

To the home of a missionary, a minister from Chicago, at Karagswa [sic – it was Karuizawa], Lu Etta Smith went with her child. The place is some distance from Tokio. To him Miss Smith told her story. The missionary communicated the facts to American Consul Sammons at Tokio, and he cabled the authorities here, telling of the location of the woman prior to this, on the way to the Orient, Miss Smith had disclosed her identity and had told her story to some women passengers on the steamer China.

Payments Cease

Not only was the woman’s passage to Japan paid, but it was also agreed that she should receive payments from time to time. These payments were never forwarded to Japan.

Crowd at Depot

The news that Lu Etta Smith and her child were coming on the 5:47 train last night resulted in a crowd of interested people gathering at the depot. When the woman and child alighted from the train in company with the sheriff the crowd pressed around her. While she looked pale, it was evident that the woman’s physical condition has improved by her trip abroad. She and the child were escorted to a carriage and were driven to the home of Special Officer and Mrs. H. T. Ramsey, where they will make their temporary abode, prior to the making of other arrangements. Miss Smith will be watched from now up to the time of the trial of the Burke case (during] the latter part of November.

No complaint will be sworn out against the woman to detain her here as a witness. She will be subpoenaed as a witness immediately. There will be no trouble about the matter, and she will not get out of sight again. She will willingly testify at the trial in November.

No Complaints at Present

District Attorney Lea was asked last night whether there would be any complaints sworn out, in view of the confirmation of the story as to who paid the money to Lu Etta Smith to get her to leave the county and thus avoid being a witness at the trial of the case. He replied that there would be none at present. “It is unnecessary just now,” the prosecutor said. Mr. Lea did not attempt to take an official statement from Miss Smith yesterday. He went to the metropolis unaccompanied by a stenographer, and when the train arrived here last night, the woman and child were taken at once to the Ramsey residence.

Amount Not Stated

District Attorney Lea last night declined to state the amount of money paid Lu Etta Smith. It is said to have ranged as high as $500, but this is only guessing. Mr. Lea, of course, has much other valuable information in his possession which he will not make public at present. Naturally the outcome of the case is awaited with considerable interest.

The letter quoted above, and whose authenticity as far as she is concerned, is denied, was in typewriting, a considerable space being between the last line and the signature “Lu Etta Smith.”

The public is already in the possession of so much detail concerning the case that repetition at this time is unnecessary.

– Press Democrat, September 24, 1910

Read More