***************************************************************************** * T A Y L O R O L O G Y * * A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor * * * * Issue 16 -- April 1994 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu * * All reprinted material is in the public domain * *The commentary by W. T. Sherman is Copyright 1994 by William Thomas Sherman* * TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed * ***************************************************************************** CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: William T. Sherman, Guest Editor: Some Glimpses of The Shelby Family Caught up in The Taylor Case "The Mystery of the Movie Director" by Sidney Sutherland A Look at the Character of D.A. Thomas Lee Woolwine & His Administration ***************************************************************************** What is TAYLOROLOGY? TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond Taylor, a top Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life; (b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor murder on Hollywood and the nation. Primary emphasis will be given toward reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it for accuracy. ***************************************************************************** In this issue, William T. Sherman continues his temporary editorship of TAYLOROLOGY. Bruce Long will return as editor next issue. If anyone else has pertinent material they wish to see presented in TAYLOROLOGY, please contact bruce@asu.edu. ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** * Some Glimpses of The Shelby family caught up in The Taylor case * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 2, 1922 LOS ANGELES RECORD Mary Miles Minter Heartbroken Tears streaming down here pretty face, Mary Miles Minter, famous motion picture star, hurried to the door of the Taylor bungalow at noon today and asked brokenly: "It isn't true, is it?" "Taylor is dead," said Detective Sergeant H. J. Wallis. "Oh my God, I can't believe it," Miss Minter cried in despair. She turned in her grief to her mother, who had accompanied her to the bungalow court in her automobile. "And I saw him only yesterday," she said. "His car passed mine at Seventh and Alvarado--it was the first time I knew it was gray." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 4, 1922 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER Miss Minter Extols Taylor Mary Miles Minter talked yesterday at length on the subject uppermost in the minds of most members of Hollywood's film colony--the mysterious murder of William Desmond Taylor, noted film director. Seated in the little home in Hollywood in the presence of her mother, Mrs. Selby (sic) and her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Miles, the youthful screen star discussed intimately the details of her acquaintance with the man whose assassination shook the city Thursday morning. AND SHE DENIES, TOO, THAT SHE EVER WAS ENGAGED TO HIM OR THAT HE EVER HAD ASKED HER TO MARRY HIM. "He looked on me as a mere child," Miss Minter said. "I could speak for hours, extolling his virtues and those qualities which he had that endeared him to his many friends--and then not be able to do him justice." "Married?" She repeated the interviewer's question. "Married? I'm sure he wasn't, or he surely would have told me. We were such good friends." Miss Minter had not seen Taylor for several months, she said, except perhaps on one or two occasions when they had passed each other on the street in their motors. "After we came back from Europe, we just couldn't drag him away from his work," she continued. "He seemed to be wrapped up in it." Discussing the report that Miss Normand and Taylor had been engaged at the time of his death, Miss Minter said she knew nothing of it. "I hadn't heard of a romance between them," she said, "and I don't think the report is true. If it is true that he asked her to be his wife--well, I'm glad that he and Mabel were such good friends. She is a lovely girl. She is frank and earnest, and if she wishes to do a thing she does it. That's what I admire in her most." She showed interest in the search which is being made for Edward F. Sands, Taylor's former valet. "But it would be unfair to accuse him of the crime, without knowing," she concluded. "It is possible that some crank or demented person committed the crime. No one seems to know, except the person who did it. And whoever it was doesn't seem particularly eager to tell." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 8, 1922 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (letter written to Taylor by Mary Miles Minter) "You Wonderful Man! I Want to Go Away With You--Alone," Is Opening Here is another unsigned love letter, in cipher, found in the effects of William D. Taylor, the motion picture director. This letter would indicate the writer's deep love for Taylor. The code is known to thousands of youngsters: What shall I call you, you wonderful man. You are standing on the lot, the idol of an adoring company. You have just come over and put your coat on my chair. I want to go away with you, up in the hills or anywhere just so we'd be alone--all alone. In a beautiful little woodland lodge you'd be cook (as I can only make tea) and fetch the water and build the fire. Wouldn't it be glorious to sit in a big comfy couch by a cozy warm fire with the wind whistling outside trying to harmonize with the faint sweet strains of music coming from our victrola. And then you'd have to get up and take off the record. Of course, I don't mean that, dear. Did you really suppose I intended you to take care of me like a baby? Oh no, for this is my part. I'd sweep and dust (they make the sweetest, little dust caps, you know) and tie fresh ribbons on the snowy white curtains and feed the birds and fix the flowers, and, oh, yes, set the table and help you wash the dishes and then in my spare time I'd darn your socks. I'd go to my room and put on something soft and flowing, then I'd lie on the couch and wait for you. I might fall asleep for a fire always makes me drowsy--then I'd wake to find two strong arms around me and two dear lips pressed on mine in a long sweet kiss - (THE LAST PARAGRAPH OF THIS LETTER IS BEING WITHHELD BY THE EXAMINER FROM PUBLICATION AT THIS TIME) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * August 10, 1923 LOS ANGELES TIMES Mary To Sue Her Mother Mary Miles Minter is Irish. She admits it and she looked it yesterday afternoon. Her big blue eyes blazed with wrath, then filmed with tears as she told her side of the story of the discussion in her household which brought about the estrangement with her mother and sister to the breaking point. "They never would let me be a girl, to have girl's pleasures, to do the things that other girls would do," she said. "I was never even allowed to have for myself the little pleasures shown in roles I played in pictures. I never had a doll, excepting that I held one in the pictures. I never had one all of my own. I never had a chance to play tag, or hide and go seek, or have a kiddie car. I was always petted and pampered, tutored and touted, made to believe I was something I was not, do things I did not want to do, say things I did not mean. From morning till night I had money, money, money, talked and preached to me. I have earned lots of it fairly, hate it and have none of it." Mary's mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, is reported to be seriously ill at the Good Samaritan Hospital and to be asking for her daughter. Mary is living at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Hurn of Altadena. "Mother is sick, quite sick, but she is not critically ill and has never asked for me," said Mary. "Why, I just talked with her doctor. She's sick, of course, and I knew she was going to have an operation. I talked with her just last Saturday. She and my sister know just where I am, where I have been living, have my telephone number and could get me on a minute's notice." I have not disappeared, never ran away, and never tried to. I just left to be alone, to get away from the constant argument, from the posing, the nagging, the humiliation of being told that I myself have never done anything, would not have anything had it not been for the watchful eye of mother and Margaret, my older sister, three years older than I. "When I was a baby, just 4 years old, they took me away from my home and my daddy. We went to New York and mother accepted a theatrical engagement. Soon afterward I was given a part and ever since that time mother's work has consisted of drawing my salary. "I was always treated like a child. Told when to go to bed, when to get up, whom to meet and whom not to meet. The very people I was working with every day were not good enough for me to associate with. I must be gracious to this and that person because they stood high socially and were wealthy. "THE POWER OF MONEY WAS DRILLED INTO ME ON EVERY HAND. MOTHER SAID `BE POWERFUL EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO WALK ACROSS THE GRAVES OF OTHERS TO GET IT.' SHE HAS NO SYMPATHY FOR THE MISFORTUNES OF ANOTHER. `THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST' WAS HER WATCHWORD. "SHE IS HER OWN BEST PRESS AGENT. SHE KNOWS WHAT TO SAY TO CREATE SYMPATHY FOR HERSELF. MY SISTER MARGARET IS A `YES-GIRL.' IT'S `YES MAMMA' THIS AND `YES MAMMA' THAT." All of which are but a few of the things which Miss Minter said as she announced her intention to take legal steps to secure an accounting for more than $1,000,000 which she asserts her mother has collected on motion picture contracts of the daughter. Formal notice of intention to bring such suit has already been served said both Miss Minter and her attorney. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * June 11, 1937 James Crenshaw LOS ANGELES HERALD EXPRESS, Remains True To Director Undying Affection for Slain Man Causes Her to Decline Many Offers of Marriage Mary Miles Minter, whose meteoric flight into film fame was cut short when a mysterious bullet snuffed out the life of William Desmond Taylor on Feb. 1, 1922, today laid bare secrets of her heart, giving details of her romance with Taylor and explaining why it was her "last romance." Her exclusive story, as told to an Evening Herald Express reporter while new efforts are being made to solve the Taylor murder, follows: For 15 years, Mary Miles Minter has remained true to the man she loved--to William Desmond Taylor, "the finest, bravest, dearest, truest, most sincere man I have ever known." Even beyond death, she has remained true. Since the mysterious and unsolved murder of the film director in 1922, the glamorous star of the silent screen has rejected numerous proposals of marriage, she revealed today; always she has chosen to remain single. "I was engaged to Mr. Taylor," she said. "I loved him deeply and sincerely, and he loved me. "We did not announce our engagement--I was waiting until the completion of my contract--but I wanted nothing more than to be his wife, to make a home for him....That is why I have never married." Several times during the intervening years since 1922 there have been rumors that the former star was about to marry, but always the rumors faded away. Now she is living quietly at her home in Beverly Hills, rarely figuring in the news of the day, except as the Taylor mystery is periodically reopened for investigation. One of her few recent "public appearances," prior to the time of the current investigation, was during an accounting trial last fall before Superior Judge Emmet H. Wilson. It involved a part of her million-dollar film earnings, but today she disclosed how little the money meant to her. "I cared nothing about the money," she said. "That is why I let mother handle all of my business affairs. All I was interested in was the prospect of marrying the man of my choice, of making a home for him and doing all the things a loyal wife who loved her husband would want to do. "I was going to be married and money affairs were of no interest to me. Mr. Taylor once thought that the money I earned might interfere with our happiness, and I told him I would get rid of all my money--turn it over to the other members of my family--if it stood in the way of our marriage. "He was a great man--the finest, bravest, truest, most sincere man I have ever known--and I was reverentially glad to be his fiancee. "Mother, could never understand how I felt about Mr. Taylor. She really cannot understand yet just how much he meant to me. She thought perhaps, that it was only a childish infatuation. She wanted to protect me from my own impetuosity. Finally Mr. Taylor told me that mother was right, that in justice to me we should not be married until I had an opportunity to have more experience, to grow a little older and really be sure that I knew my own mind. He told me, after all, I was still a girl in my `teens while he was a mature man. "So we agreed that we would not see each other again until the conclusion of my contract. It was then September, 1921. We agreed that the engagement was to continue, but that we should not think of marrying until I had completed all of the pictures required by the contract." On December 23, 1921, she said she wrote the director a "good bye" note as a sort of a bluff, hoping that its climatic effect might end the heart rending weeks of waiting and at least modify the agreement to the extent that they might see each other occasionally. But though Taylor still held to the original plan, she said he told her: "I love you more than anything in the world. I love you with all my heart and soul." That was the last time she saw him alive, she said, during a brief meeting of only a few minutes after she delivered the "bluff" note. "I knew then that it could never be `good by'," she said, "that no matter how much or how long we were parted, we would be drawn together somehow, perhaps even beyond death." Even beyond death! The words strangely prophetic in retrospect, offer a clue to the reason why Mary Miles Minter has not married. Still lovely and attractive, she cannot forget her hopes and dreams of a home with a big fireplace and a family. She said she always hoped that the children would be sons and that they would grow up to be "like their father-- like the redwoods, strong and fine and substantial." That was what she wanted and, in its essence, all she wanted. The fireplace was especially important, for it symbolized her dreams. One could sit before an open fire with one's beloved and build flaming castles of white and red in the glowing embers. She wrote impulsive love notes to Taylor and told him of her dream of a house...with a fireplace. The notes were discovered at the time of his death, but like all other things which linked her name with that of William Desmond Taylor, she said they were no cause for her to be ashamed. "I was sorry they were found," she said. "But I am not sorry I wrote them. I am glad I wrote them. Through them I was speaking to my fiancee, and I WAS WRITING FROM MY HEART, JUST AS ANY OTHER GIRL IN LOVE WITH HER BETROTHED WOULD DO. "Mr. Taylor was the finest of gentleman in every sense of the word. Nothing ever happened that could have possibly made me think otherwise and much did happen to confirm my admiration--apart from my love--for him, but I did have the right--and, if you please, the honor--of expressing my love to him in my own way, whether my very personal expressions were made public or not. "It is unfortunate that in sifting the evidence in a case of this kind so much immaterial matter is dragged before the public gaze, regardless of the effect on the lives of innocent people. I feel it was an outrage that the letters were made public property, since they were written in 1919 when I was 17 years old, three years before his death, but I say again, I am glad they were written." Miss Minter made it clear that she is not leading a life of futile mourning. She realizes that there is nothing to be gained by accentuating a heartache year after year. But whether in future years any other man will appear to make her forget the past, so that he may claim her hand, no one can foretell. The fifteen years which have passed since the death of William Desmond Taylor are no criterion of what the future may hold, yet Mary Miles Minter leaves no doubt that what has not happened in those years--her refusal to marry when it was evident to all her friends that there was often the opportunity--is something more than an idle gesture. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * December 26, 1929 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (excerpt from interview with Charlotte Shelby) ...Outside Christmas crowds and laden automobiles moved back and forth. Margaret Shelby Fillmore, ALWAYS A CLOSE PAL AND COMPANION of her mother, sat near by... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * August 17, 1937 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER William Desmond Taylor's ghost hovered over the courtroom of Superior Judge Parker Wood yesterday as a trial of a $48,750 lawsuit between a mother and daughter began. That the name of Taylor, murdered 14 years ago, will figure prominently in the case, was indicated in the questioning of jurors who were asked if they would be prejudiced against Margaret Shelby Fillmore or Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, her mother. 1. It should be developed that Mrs. Fillmore had stated her mother was involved in the Taylor murder case and in return for "protection" paid $133,000. 2. Mrs. Shelby had been named in print as a possible suspect. 3. Mrs. Fillmore protected her mother, or appeared before the grand jury in the recent reopening of the case. Mrs. Fillmore charges in her suit that her mother, also the parent of Mary Miles Minter, famous in the days of silent pictures, wrongfully took $18,500 from a joint safety deposit box. Mrs. Shelby has denied the charges. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * August 18, 1937 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER `My Money' Says Mrs. Shelby "My Margaret knew it was not her money. It was to be hers after my death, but I am not dead yet." Militantly, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby thus yesterday explained her eldest daughter, Margaret Shelby Fillmore, was only a "dummy" in the many stock transactions made in her name. And so, she reasoned, it would have been impossible for her to defraud her daughter of $48,750 as Mrs. Fillmore charges in a suit on trial before Superior Judge Parker Wood. "Yes," she admitted under questioning by Mrs. Fillmore's attorney, Richard Cantillon, "I deposited large sums of money to Margaret's account and had stocks made out in her name, but she knew they were not really hers." "Neither of my daughters had the capacity for thrift. They had nothing of their own, except what I gave them. I set up a `Hetty Green' bank account as a basis for their future fortunes. But it was all my money." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * August 20, 1937 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER Taylor's Name in Fillmore Suit "Are you afraid I'll bring up the Taylor murder case?" These were the words of Margaret Shelby Fillmore to her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, in the PSYCHOPATHIC WARD of the General Hospital, where the former was being held, according to her testimony to court yesterday. The reference to the 15 year old murder of William Desmond Taylor was made at the trial of Mrs. Fillmore's $48,750 suit against her mother. "I asked her why she had me committed," Mrs. Fillmore told Judge Parker Wood. "I said, `Are you afraid I'll bring up the Taylor case?'" "Mother exclaimed `For God's sake, don't go into that.'" Mrs. Fillmore said she was incarcerated shortly after discovering that nearly $50,000 belonging to her had been removed from a joint safety deposit box she held with Mrs. Shelby. "I told her I was well and asked her what she had done with my money," Mrs. Fillmore testified. "In her gushing manner she said, `My child, don't oppose me in this; I just want you to get well.'" Mrs. Fillmore said that in 1925, when her mother went to Europe, with a bag full of bonds, some of which belonged to her that "men have been very bad for our family," and that her mother resented her marrying. "I DON'T TRUST MEN. I don't trust your husband and that is why I want to take your bonds with me," Mrs. Fillmore quoted her mother as having said. In direct contradiction to her mother's testimony, Mrs. Fillmore testified she was not dependent upon her mother and that since she had been a mere child she had been neglected in favor of Mary Miles Minter, the once noted film actress, her sister. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * September 4, 1937 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER Fillmore Drinking Told By Doctor "I don't know whether Margaret Fillmore drank so much because she was nervous or was nervous because she drank so much." So testified Dr. Victor Parkin, psychiatrist and consultant, yesterday in the trial before Superior Judge Parker Wood in which Mrs. Fillmore seeks to recover $48,750 from her mother Charlotte Shelby. Cross examined by Richard Cantilllon and John Glover, attorneys for Mrs. Fillmore, Doctor Parkin disclosed that eight weeks had elapsed from the date on which he had examined the sister of Mary Miles Minter and the date when the certificate committing her to the psychopathic ward was issued. ***************************************************************************** * The following article about the Taylor mystery was written by Sidney Sutherland who also co-authored Mabel Normand's posthumous autobiography which appeared in Liberty magazine in 1930. Although Bruce discounts this early examination of the case as "error filled," (a charge I do not wholly agree with myself), it is at least worth reprinting for giving students of the Taylor case an idea about how Shelby and Minter's alleged involvement in the case first became more generally known and accredited. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 9, 1929 Sidney Sutherland LIBERTY THE MYSTERY OF THE MOVIE DIRECTOR Did a Woman Dressed as a Man Kill William Desmond Taylor? If a scenario writer proffered to the movie magnates of Hollywood a plot embodying the incidents involved in the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the manuscript probably would be rejected on the ground that it would be an affront to the intelligence of film fans to tell them a story so grotesque, so bizarre, so fanciful, and so impossible! Yet, not only was Taylor murdered in circumstances so sensational and incredible that his assassination has never been solved, but the case involved famous actresses, lovely women, mysterious jealousies, narcotic addicts, millions of dollars, and ruined reputations -- a mystery so beguiling and engrossing and puzzling that it may well be included in this series of articles dealing with famous murders of recent years. This, then, is the reconstructed and summarized tale of Taylor's murder, a homicide surpassing the most bewildering detective story ever written. William Desmond Taylor's whole life is cloaked in mystery. When he reached Hollywood he was a mystery; he lived a mysterious life there; and when he died by violence he left behind him a mystery which never has been penetrated. The record of his early days came partly to light after his body was found carefully laid out on the floor of his bungalow. William Cunningham Deane-Tanner was born in Carlow, Ireland, in 1877. He was the son of Major Deane-Tanner, a florid, hot-tempered, imperious British army officer. The family lived on the Bellevue Estates at Cappoquin, in County Waterford, thirty miles northeast of Cork. William (he became presently the Bill Taylor of our story) was the third child in the Deane-Tanner family. Nellie and Grace preceded him, and Dennis followed. The family moved to Dublin and the children were given excellent educations. [1] A distinct break between the choleric major and William came when the latter was in his teens. The army officer wished his son to prepare for a military life and when he failed in his examinations the old man kicked him out. There is no definite record as to when Taylor came to the United States. There is a vague yarn that he and Dennis appeared in Nebraska and worked on a farm adjoining the farms of other young British remittance men. It is known definitely that on December 7, 1901, in the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City, William Cunningham Deane-Tanner married Ethel May Harrison, the daughter of a New York broker. William then was vice- president and manager of the English Antique Shop at 240 Fifth Avenue. The young couple lived in Larchmont, where William joined the Larchmont Yacht Club. He was exceedingly popular there and with his neighbors. In 1903 a daughter was born to the pair. They named her Ethel Daisy. At noon on October 23, 1908, William got his hat and told his employees at the antique shop that he was going out to luncheon. He did not return that day, and the next morning he telephoned from a hotel asking his cashier to send him $600 by messenger. The money was sent at once--and nobody ever saw William Cunningham Deane- Tanner again! With no word of farewell or explanation to his wife and daughter William disappeared as completely as if he had dived overboard from a transatlantic liner. His life's film now becomes almost a total blank for many years. After he was dead there were rumors to the effect that William Desmond Taylor (as he renamed himself) had been a mining prospector in Colorado, in the Klondike, and in Montana. There is a story that he played in a stock company in the music halls of Skagway, Fairbanks, and other Alaskan towns. But of definite data there are none. [2] Following testimony on the part of a hotel clerk in the Adrirondack Mountains, Mrs. Deane-Tanner found in 1912 that she had adequate grounds for divorce in the state of New York, where in those days only proof of adultery would win a decree. It seems William had spent a week in the mountain resort with an unnamed woman. In 1914 Mrs. Deane-Tanner married Edward L. C. Robins, treasurer of the S. M. Robins Company, which owned Delmonico's restaurant and other eating places in the downtown financial district. A few years later Ethel and her mother were watching a motion picture. Suddenly a tall, slender, rather handsome figure appeared on the screen. The older woman instantly recognized the gray eyes, the thin, chiseled features. "There's your father!" she exclaimed. The program identified the actor as William Desmond Taylor. Ethel wrote to him and presently he answered. A regular correspondence followed, and after a while Taylor came east and met his daughter. He never again saw the woman he had deserted. Before we proceed with William, a word about his younger brother, Dennis, is of interest. Dennis, too, appeared out of a mysterious past and married an American girl who bore him two children. [3] He too became associated with an antique shop on lower Fifth Avenue. And he too disappeared suddenly, deserting his family and leaving no word behind. From that day to this, Dennis has never been heard of. His wife learned of Taylor's success in the movies, so she moved to Monrovia, California, and until he died her brother-in-law sent her fifty dollars a month. When Taylor first reached Hollywood he got a job as an actor, but was soon made a director. His progress thereafter was phenomenal. He was the leading director of the Famous Players-Lasky Company, and at the time of his death was president of the Motion Picture director's Association. [4] He was highly respected, both as an artist and as a man. His health was quite frail, and he suffered from stomach trouble. He even wept to England in search of relief. Like many other men in high place in the movies, his career threw him in contact with lovely young girls whose temperament were unstable and their mentality and learning meager. There is no denial of the fact that he was no St. Anthony in his relations with these fair scatterbrains. [5] But neither is there any denial of the fact that many young girls owed their screen success to his help and counsel. Nor that he waged a bitter, single handed war on the rascals who flourished during what may be called the Dope Age of the movie industry. Sudden riches, adulation, fame, popularity-- these things turned the heads of scores of young actresses, and having exhausted all the other thrills many of them turned to narcotics. Taylor, it is said, never relaxed in his warfare against the dope peddlers, and for a time after he died the authorities hunted in those underworld circles for the motive and the assassin. The world went to war. Taylor continued to make pictures. A year after his adopted country went to the aid of the Allies, Taylor enlisted, preferring the company of his own kith. The official record: "W. D. Taylor, 1127 Orange St., Los Angeles; age 41; profession, director; born Cork, Ireland; height 5'11"; British subject; enlistment attested at Chicago, July 3, 1918, by the British Recruiting Mission in America." Taylor reached Hounslow Barracks December 2, 1918, a few weeks after the Armistice was signed. He was then sent to Windsor, Nova Scotia, in the summer of 1919, where promotion to a captaincy quickly came his way. He was discharged shortly thereafter. [6] And, to leap ahead of our story a bit, his funeral was one of the most impressive ever held in Los Angeles. His casket, hidden beneath a Union Jack and piled high with flowers was guarded at each corner by a uniformed representative of Britain's colonies--a Canadian, a Tommy, an Anzac, and a kiltie-clad Scot. Every person of prominence in the picture industry attended the services. Another enigmatic figure appears in the drama--Edward F. Sands. Supposed to have been Taylor's valet and chauffeur, his real relations with the director have thus far withstood explanation. It is known that he also was in the British army. [7] But there his name was Edward Fitz-Strathmore; and where he hailed from, and what was his exact status in the Taylor household, are questions as unfathomed as the void he disappeared into shortly before the murder. Sands seems to have been more than a valet; for when Taylor went to England late in 1921 because of his health, Sands ran amuck. He forged his master's name to innumerable checks; he pawned his jewelry; he wrecked two of his cars; he stole nearly all his clothes; and apparently he had also blackmailed him from time to time. [8] When Taylor returned Sands vanished. He has never been seen since. [9] Taylor is quoted as having said he would punish his valet for his misdeeds. With Sands gone, Taylor hired a Negro to replace him--a falsetto-voiced, crochet-work and fancy-work addict named Henry Peavey. Peavey was a queer chap and his testimony at the inquest was a weird mixture of sonorous phrases, effeminate outcries, curious concealments, and amusing disclosures about life in the Taylor home. Poor Peavey, how he flung himself on the coffin and sobbed! But he declined to reveal intimate details of his late master's callers and their affairs. Two celebrated actresses now appear in the picture, Mary Miles Minter and Mabel Normand. At the time (early 1922) Mary was probably the most popular actress on the screen. [10] She had even passed Mary Pickford in the esteem of her fans. Taylor had directed her in Anne of Green Gables and other pictures, and she was madly enamored of him. Her letters and lingerie interested the detectives who searched the Taylor premises for the clew they were never to find. [11] The murder of Taylor and the discovery of her belongings in his bungalow effectually killed Mary Miles Minter in pictures. A desperate effort was made at the time by Famous Players-Lasky to salvage their investment in her, for on their shelves were several of her films waiting for release. These were shot out to the exhibitors as quickly as possible while the movie magnates tried to divert notoriety from the star. [12] But they finally got out of their contract with her as cheaply as they could. They had paid her more than $1,000,000 in salary, and this fortune was cause of numerous quarrels between Mary and her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby. Mrs. Shelby lamented bitterly the publicity that ushered her daughter into oblivion. She had striven mightily to end Mary's infatuation with Taylor. Mabel Normand was then riding the crest of her remarkable popularity as a comedienne. [13] A deep friendship existed between her and Taylor. It was owing to his excellent literary tastes that she filled her library shelves with standard authors. They spent much time together, in theaters watching and studying the latest developments in motion pictures, and discussing scenarios and "business" which would improve his status as a director and increase her fame. Mabel might be designated correctly as the "play girl of the western world." Completely indifferent to public opinion and to such conventions as might cramp her idea of having a good time, her private life was as amusing and hectic and startling in its caprices as her clowning was excruciating in her pictures. Yet until the Taylor murder case broke upon a curious and amazed world Mabel never had made the front page of the newspapers with any of her escapades. [14] Vivacious, fascinating in her dark beauty, brilliant and wealthy, the irresponsible little film clown had danced through life, treading dangerously near trouble with her experiments in the search for thrills. Taylor was an earnest but somewhat ineffective balance wheel in their companionship. He strove to make his playmate more sensible, and was in despair at times because of her irresponsibility. The hook-up in the Taylor case, according to the authorities of Los Angeles, seems to have been this: Mary Miles Minter, the blonde beauty with long curls and cherub face, loved Taylor; Taylor was in love with Mabel; and Mabel regarded the director as a worldly-wise, polished and congenial friend and jolly companion, en tete-a-tete or at the famous film colony parties. I talked with her last year about the Taylor murder. I think that for the first time she gave a coherent, running account of the mystery. A painstaking investigation of the official archives, now yellowing with age in their steel resting place, and among the authorities, now disposed to forget the murder until the murderer turns up, seems to substantiate the comedienne's story in every important detail. "It was because of Bill Taylor's counsel in the matter of literature that I saw him his last day alive," she said. "We used to discuss the new authors with a view to the adaptation of their work to the screen. One of our favorite writers was Ethel M. Dell. We thought The Rocks of Valpre had tremendous possibilities. "On Wednesday, February 1, Sennett gave me a day off saying he would phone me what time to show up next day. I awoke about noon, and wondered how I'd spend the day and evening. I thought it would be a good time to do something I'd been putting off, as usual, since the Christmas holidays. "I had received so many beautiful gifts, and there were numerous duplicates. I decided to load my car with these things and go to the jewelers, where I could exchange some and have others engraved. I would also leave my personal jewelry I'd taken out for the holiday parties in my safe- deposit boxes at Hellman's Night and Day Bank. "So I had William Davis, the chauffeur, carry the packages out to the car, and then I scurried into my clothes. I explained to Mamie Owens, my maid, that I was going to my two jewelers, Brocks' and Feagan's, and would telephone her from some place down there. "I was almost too late. I got into Brocks' store just before closing time, six o'clock, told them what I wanted, and then hurried over to Feagan's, where they were just locking up. All this, and what followed, was carefully checked on afterward by the police. "I then ordered Davis to drive me to the Hellman bank at Sixth and Main streets. While at the bank I decided to call my house and tell Mamie, I'd dine downtown and see Harold Lloyd's new picture. "I called up my apartment. I lived at 3089 West Seventh Street, a dozen blocks or so from Taylor's bungalow apartment at 404-B South Alvarado Street. "Mamie answered the phone. `But you can't go to the picture tonight, Miss Normand," she said. `Mr. Sennett called up after you left and said for you to be ready to go on location tomorrow morning at seven o'clock with all your make-up on. And Mr. Taylor just called up and said he had two books for you, and when could you call by for them, or should he bring them over?' "I told her I would drive by his place and come on home. "As I left the vault I glanced at my wrist watch. It was nearly seven o'clock. I started to step into my car, and suddenly felt a great appetite for peanuts. I looked around. Standing across the street against the curb was a peanut man's push cart. "I told Davis to wait, skipped across, and bought two bags of peanuts and one of popcorn, handing the man a ten dollar bill, the smallest I had. He couldn't change it and I pretended to be surprised and angry. Then I laughed and went into a drug store and got the change. "I went back to my car and told Davis to take me to Bill's. As we drove through the traffic I saw a news stand and told him to stop. I bought two magazines. "Then we went on to Bill's house. It was part of an attractive arrangement. There were eight little two-story cottages built around a U, three on each side and two at the end of the U fronting on Alvarado Street. I don't know who lived in five of them; but the second on the left was occupied by Edna Purviance, the third was Taylor's and the last one on the right was rented by Douglas MacLean and his wife. [15] "I told Davis I'd be only a little while, and asked him to sweep out the peanut shells I'd scattered all over the floor of the car. I got out, left my magazines on the seat and walked up the left-hand cement walk to Bill's little house. I carried a bag of peanuts to show my gratitude for the two books he had for me!" A peculiarity the director had was that he never closed his front door during the day and seldom at night, a point Mrs. MacLean emphasized in her testimony at the inquest, as you shall see. "When I reached Bill's open door," said Mabel Normand. "I heard a voice inside: he was using the telephone. So I walked around the flower beds a few minutes until he had quit talking and hung up. Then I rang his bell. "He came to the door, smiled and held out both hands. "`Hello, Mabel darling,' he said. `I know what you've come for--two books I've just got for you." "`Righto, my bright duck,' I said going in. `And I brought you a present, too. Guess what it is.' I held the bag of peanuts behind me. "`No man's brain could possibly guess what you'd buy,' he retorted. `But I'll bet it's something fine. Come on in and have dinner. I've just finished mine, but Peavey can fix you something.' "`Thanks, Bill, but Mamie's going to feed me in bed tonight,' I said, and told him of my appointment for seven o'clock next morning. "`But you'll have a cocktail, won't you? he said. I said, `Sure,' and solemnly presented him with the peanuts. "He laughed and put the bag on top of his piano. They found it there untouched the next morning. Then he shouted to Peavey to mix a couple of cocktails, and returned to his seat in front of his writing table. The whole top of the table was covered with canceled Checks, and he called me over. I sat on the arms of his chair, and he pointed at the litter and said: "`Look, Mabel, what that damned fellow Sands did to me. Nearly every one of those checks is a forgery; and, do you know, he did such a good job that to save my life I can't tell which are my signatures and which are forgeries! I've been over them twenty times, and I'm going mad. I've no idea how my account stands at the bank, and I don't think we'll ever get it straightened out. Just look at this.' "He picked up one check he knew he had signed and beside it held one he was uncertain about. Neither of us could see any difference in the signatures. "I asked what he was going to do about it. "`What on earth can I do?' he wailed. `I'll never get it straightened out--never. As for Sands, of course he's been missing for months. If they ever find him, you can bet I'll do plenty to him.' "Peavey came in with cocktails on a little silver tray. "He put them down, where the glasses were found the next morning, and bowed low in his funny way. "How do you do, Miss Normand,' he said in his shrill voice. "I trust all is well with you.' "`All's well, Henry, thanks,' I said. Henry had been released from jail that morning, Bill having gone down to get him out of some trouble he'd got into. He asked Bill if that was all for him. [16] "`Yes, Henry,' Bill said. "Clean up out there and trot along. And don't worry; I think I can fix up everything downtown tomorrow.' "Henry fluttered about a while, and then bowed as he went out, leaving the door wide open as he always did. It was about seven o'clock. He left each evening after dinner and came the next morning at seven. "After he'd gone, Bill got the books he had for me and unwrapped them, and we glanced through them. Then we talked about my work and his, and about any number of things we were interested in. "Then he offered to call Fellows, his chauffeur, and take me home, but I told him that my car was at the curb. He said he'd telephone me at nine o'clock, and I said, all right, but that Mamie wouldn't disturb me if I'd gone to sleep by then. "He walked down toward the street with me. In the cottage next to Edna's we saw a man sitting near the window under a light reading newspapers. "How important the insignificant sometimes turns out to be! I tremble even yet, nearly six years later, to think what they might have done to me if this man had not told of seeing us leaving together and of glancing out a few minutes later to see Taylor striding back to his bungalow. "When we reached the curb, Davis was standing at the door of my car, his feet in the litter of the peanut shells. Bill laughed when he saw them and we chatted for a moment. I looked back, and we wafted kisses on our hands to each other as long as I could see him standing there on the edge of the sidewalk. "I never saw him again. And he didn't telephone me at nine o'clock, as he had promised, for he was lying on the floor of his living room shot through the back and dead within a few moments after I left him." Taylor walked back to his cottage, and presumably sat down again to look at the checks on his table. In the morning he was found lying on the floor, coat buttoned, lapels smoothed down, arms lying straight beside the body, feet close together, trousers unwrinkled. The assassin had evidently slipped into the living room and hidden behind the open door after Taylor and Mabel had left to go to her car. For an hour after his body was discovered by the terrified Peavey the next morning it was thought that he had died of heart disease, as the bullet wound between the small of the back and his left shoulder blade was not noticed until the ambulance came. [17] At the inquest everybody who knew anything testified, Mrs. Douglas MacLean said that a little before eight o'clock, just after Mabel Normand had departed, she had heard a pistol shot. She and her maid glanced at each other, and Mrs. MacLean stepped to her little upstairs veranda in time to see a short, stocky man, with a muffler around his neck and his cap pulled down, come out of Taylor's cottage, close the door carefully behind him, glance casually about, and then walk down the steps. [18] He turned to the left and disappeared between the Taylor bungalow and the house east of it into a little court where the Taylor garage opened on the alley. Douglas MacLean also heard the shot and discussed with his wife the possibility that the man she had seen leaving had fired it. But nothing was done, and Peavey found the door closed the next morning. Surprised, he rang the bell, and finally opened it--to come upon his master's body. When his excited shrieks startled the courtyard, Edna Purviance telephoned Mabel, and Mabel almost became hysterical. Then Edna called Mary Miles Minter, and Mary became wholly so. [19] She started to run to the front door and Mrs. Shelby barred her way. "You're not going over there," the mother said firmly. "But Bill Taylor's been murdered!" the little blonde screamed. They stood and argued about it a while, and Mary fell weeping into a chair before a mirror. Suddenly she noticed her reflection and was struck by the expression on her own face. "Look, mother," she cried; "look at my expression. Don't I register frozen horror perfectly?" "Hold it, dear," cried Mrs. Shelby, running around in front to see. Then Mary got out of the house and hastened to the courtyard, where now detectives, newspaper men, movie directors, and tenants were milling around in great confusion. When she arrived she promptly put on a mad scene, screaming and calling, "Bill, my darling, speak to me!" and tearing her fair curls, and dashing to and from across the flower beds--and trying to get into the house. The police prevented her entrance, for they had already found much feminine finery and dainty lingerie, some of it monogrammed with three M's, and many startling letters--letters which presently became a passport ushering Mary Miles Minter into oblivion. [20] And then the storm burst with unbelievable fury about Mabel Normand's head. "I had donned the Spanish costume I was using in the picture," she told me, going on with her story, "and was seated before my mirror finishing my make-up, when Edna Purviance telephoned. "I was incredulous, then stunned. Soon there was a wild ringing at my doorbell and a wilder clamor outside, and when the door was opened the wildest mob I ever saw tumbled into my living room--detectives and newspaper men and press photographers and curious strangers. They eddied around me and hurled a million questions that I couldn't understand, much less answer coherently. "Most of them left after I'd told them all I could remember. Some remained, clustered around me where I sat crying, and went on with their questioning. "Then it dawned on me, hours after they had raided my apartment, that it might be in the minds of some of them that I had murdered my friend! That ghastly possibility made me frantic, and I imagine that the more I talked the less sense I made out of what was, and what was soon proved to be, a perfectly innocent coincidence--that I happened to have been the last person who saw Taylor alive except his murderer. "Everybody who knew me or knew Taylor was questioned again and again by the authorities. Henry Peavey told of leaving me alone with Taylor, and of finding his body the next morning, and Mrs. Douglas MacLean told of seeing the assassin leaving Bill's front door. Pressed to describe this individual, she found it difficult, since he had a muffler around his neck and his cap pulled down over his eyes. "But she knew Sands, and said it wasn't he. Sands has never been found. "She seemed startled when some astute questioner in the district attorney's office suggested that the slayer might have been a woman dressed in man's clothing. She reflected a moment and acknowledged that the killer was built more like a man than a woman." So far as getting anywhere is concerned, that is the end of the Taylor murder mystery. I asked the district attorney's office not long ago what steps were being taken to solve the case. The answer was that until somebody showed up with the murderer's name and address the case might be regarded as closed. Mary Miles Minter and her mother went to Europe for several years. There was talk of court action because of their wrangles over Mary's fortune, but they never got that far with it. Mary put on weight and last year returned to America. At last accounts she was living quietly in Hollywood. Mabel Normand continued her career with vicissitudes, until finally she eloped with Lew Cody and was married to him. Reports from Los Angeles are that they are living in Beverly Hills, Lew working at a studio and Mabel apparently out of pictures. Edna Purviance, the famous leading woman of Charlie Chaplin in many of his great films was involved in a subsequent shooting, and she, too, stepped out of pictures for a while. Not long ago she returned from Europe with the remark that she would soon reappear on the screen. In southern California, official and popular opinion is to the effect that Taylor was killed by a woman disguised as a man. A name is mentioned, but it cannot be printed, because to date no material evidence has been found connecting the suspect with the murder of the movie director. ***************************************************************************** 8) A LOOK AT THE CHARACTER OF DIST.-ATTY. THOMAS LEE WOOLWINE AND HIS ADMINISTRATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * June 24, 1915 LOS ANGELES EXAMINER Woolwine Too Jealous; Dean Quits Office Harry Ellis Dean, chief deputy district attorney, resigned yesterday. The resignation was accepted by District Attorney Woolwine to take effect immediately, and when the chief deputy walked out of the office yesterday evening it was not to return. There is, therefore, a $4000 a year position to be filled. Mr. Dean wrote a long letter of resignation, but it is nearly all preface until the following sentence is reached: "I am not in accord with your official acts and administrative policies." The characteristics which he found objectionable were cited by Dean in a verbal statement. "Mr. Woolwine," said the retiring chief deputy as he was about to take his hat and go, "is constitutionally devious. "He has an artistic temperament. "He has a passion for public approbation. "In carrying out his formula for giving everyone a square deal he has had to run contrary to his constitutional peculiarities; but they kept cropping up; they are always cropping up; he can't keep them down. "He is not only fond of the limelight; he wants it all. Every time my name appeared in the papers `Tom' jumped on me; he couldn't stand it. "Did you and Mr. Woolwine disagree about the Sebastian trial?" "No; he took all the responsibility for instituting that case and for its conduct." Later in the day Mr. Dean gave out a second letter to Mr. Woolwine in which he said: "Supplementary to my letter of resignation to you this morning, I desire to add the following reasons among a number of which I will not make mention of, which to my mind tended to undermine the efficiency of the office. "The incompetence of your secret service department is subject of general comment. This department you were early in your administration advised would make or break you, and with the proof of your utter lack of capacity of your chief detective brought to your attention, at all times met with your prompt resentment in unmistakable terms. Successful results in the trial of cases necessitates the gathering of evidence by an efficient department of secret service, and to the prevention and detection of crime efficient results cannot be secured unless the department head is experienced in his work, with an apt mind for accurate deductions in the detection of crime reporting to the office. "For weeks the county has been infested with bunco steerers, large amounts of money have been fleeced from visitors to Southern California, without any attempt upon the part of your secret service head to detect the operators, and society remains unprotected. "Your administration has to its credit about three convictions for liquor selling in the entire county. This is a sad commentary on the efficiency of the office or indicates the policy entirely inconsistent with your pre-election pledges. While it is true you did at all times refuse to state your views upon the subject, yet you were well aware that the voters advocating liquor regulations realized the importance of placing in the office of district attorney a man who would vigorously enforce any legislation that they might enact, and efficiency enforce the laws then provided by the statute. This matter I have commented upon several times, and have stated in unequivocal terms to you, that a continuance of the dilatory methods now employed would have to be satisfactorily explained to the voters in the affected districts." District Attorney Woolwine only smiled when he was asked for a statement. He thereafter met all questions with that famous rejoinder: "I have nothing to say." Nor would he intimate who is to be Dean's successor. Asa Keyes and A. H. Van Cott, deputies in the office have been mentioned. Dean's resignation was a surprise to Woolwine. Several persons in his office knew about it before he himself found the letter ion his desk. The resignation was tendered to take effect July 6 or "at your pleasure." Woolwine accepted the letter suggestion and made it immediately. Mr. Woolwine's reply was as follows: "Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your favor of June 22, 1915, in which you tender your resignation as chief deputy district attorney to take effect July 6, 1915, or at such earlier date as may be my pleasure. In reply thereto, I desire to say that your resignation is hereby accepted to take effect immediately for the reason that I do not believe that my useful purpose may be served by delaying the matter until the sixth of July. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * August 17, 1916 LOS ANGELES RECORD Accuses Woolwine of Unfair Play S. A. Woodford, campaign manager for Harry Ellis Dean, candidate for District Attorney, charges unfair tactics on the part of Woolwine supporters at a meeting held last night at 1011 Central Avenue under the auspices of the Non-Partisan league. "Our meeting had just been called to order," declares Woodford, "when three machines, containing Frank Dominquez, Claire Woolwine, Thos. Lee Woolwine himself and others, pulled up outside and a big commotion started. They brought along a drum and fife corps and our audience stampeded to the street to see what the fuss was all about. "They tried to address our audience. The crowd grew from 200 to 500. Finally I leaped upon Dominguez's machine and made an appeal for fair play. "The crowd derided the newcomers and finally became so menacing that they put on power and fled from the scene." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * September 27, 1916 LOS ANGELES TIMES Cannot Trace Lost Ballots If Precinct is Thrown Out Woolwine Elected The disappearance of 102 primary election ballots cast in precinct 3, national Soldier's home district, remains a mystery. The grand jury and the eight judges who are conducting the recount utterly failed yesterday in their attempt to trace the ballots. While the probe will be continued today by the judges, Deputy District Attorney Doran said last night that the grand jury had followed all the leads imaginable without result and that body is not likely to resume the investigation. The election officials who presided at the precinct in question, Nelson Bowerman, inspector; Newton H. Culver, Reuben Oehier, William A. Church, Luther B. Edinborough and Harry A. Strauss, appeared before the grand jury and all testified to the parts they had taken in handling of the ballots. The officials said the missing ballots were placed in the envelope for Republican ballots, and taken together with the other ballots and placed in the treasurer's vault at the Soldier's Home, Inspector Bowerman being an orderly in the treasurer's office. He said the following morning he took the ballots to the express office and shipped them to the Registrar of Voters. Registrar McAleer and several of his deputies were called before the judges. Mr. McAleer told of the methods applied in the handling of ballots and deputies testified to have received the ballots from No. 3 precinct. Margaret Harrington's signature was attached to the envelope which should have contained the ballots. She could not, of course, remember distinctly this particular envelope. Judge Monroe instructed the man in charge of the county warehouse to search all the ballot boxes for the missing ballots and report this morning. Should the ballots be found in the boxes or any other place there is a legal question as to whether they can be counted, and the search for them is more important in the matter of fixing the blame for their disappearance. It is held by prominent attorneys that the ballots, even if accidentally lost, are invalid because of the opportunity for tampering with them. Whether the returns indicated on the tally sheets should be taken as the result of the original count is to be decided by the judges, probably today. Dist.-Atty. Woolwine and W. T. Helms, his principal opponent, were instructed last night to prepare briefs on the question. Mr. Woolwine contends the count on the tally sheets is of no consequence when the ballots are missing. He believes that when a court is conducting a recount it can recognize only the ballots that are taken from the various envelopes and if the ballots are missing the precinct must be thrown out. There is a provision of law which states that the result indicated on the tally sheets must be accepted as correct unless there is evidence to the contrary. This would compel the District Attorney to furnish the proof of fraud. Mr. Woolwine does not believe this provision should be applied in this particular case. Should the entire precinct be thrown out, Mr. Woolwine will be an easy victor in the recount. According to the figures last night, he had gained 150 votes, needing but ten more to the tally sheet. Precinct No. 3, according to the tally sheet gave Mr. Woolwine 40 and Mr. Helms 33. If they are not recounted Mr. Woolwine will gain forty-three votes on Mr. Helms, more than enough to elect. Mr. Woolwine said last night he has never charged fraud in connection with the disappearance of the ballots, but is unable to conceive of a legitimate reason for the ballots being lost. There are about 500 precincts yet to be counted. The work should be completed tomorrow night, the judges say. Morris P. Light, an election inspector in precinct No. 327 (?) charged with falsifying the tallies at the recent primary election, was arraigned before Justice Forbes, yesterday and released on his own recognizance till the preliminary hearing on October 5. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * April 28, 1918 LOS ANGELES TIMES Would Muzzle Steffens Kind Speaking before 506 members of the Texas Society at their annual picnic yesterday at Sycamore Grove, Dist.-Atty. Thomas Lee Woolwine severely criticized all anarchists, pacifists, and in particular Lincoln Steffens, the writer and lecturer who was prevented by the police from giving an address in San Diego Friday evening. "Steffens represents a type of plausible, curiously sincere, but utterly dangerous anarchist," Dist.-Atty. Woolwine said. "His kind camouflage the term anarchist by calling themselves `philosophical anarchists'--whatever that they may mean. He tells us that he does not stand for violence, nor the destruction of the government, nor of constituted authority by force, and yet that is the very thing that his utterances beyond doubt indicate and by his conduct he gives aid and comfort to those who outrage and seek to destroy all governmental authority. "While professing to believe in the Christian sentiment of `Peace on earth, good will to men,' he is the ready champion of the assassin, dynamiter and the revolutionist. For years he has taken an affectionate interest in the `boys' who put to death by assassination twenty innocent laboring men in a newspaper building in the city of Los Angeles. "Shortly after the arrest of David Caplan, and Matthew A. Schmidt, both of whom were accused at that time with the McNaramas of the murder of the men, Steffens journeyed cross the continent, saw me in my office and implored me not to try the cases, but to allow the defendants their liberty. I was amazed at his sincerity and earnestness in advocating this preposterous course. He actually broke down and wept in the excess of his emotion, pleading the cause of the `boys'--the dear dynamiters who had done nothing worse than to assist in the assassination of twenty human beings. "I answered Steffens to the effect that I looked on the defendants as cold-blooded murders, and that I would use every power at my command to convict them. Prosecutions and convictions followed, and these destroyers of human lives are now serving their respective terms in penitentiaries. "The hazard of allowing such men as Steffens to inject their subtle poisoning into the minds and hearts of the American people at a time when this nation is in a death grapple to perpetuate the principles upon which the nation is founded, is the height of unwisdom and folly. "Steffen's revolutionary and anarchistic statements in San Diego as they appear in the public press, though obscure in the deceptive paint and raiment of the harlot, are nevertheless in substance propaganda of the most insidious and dangerous character. "The exigencies of this wartime require that Lincoln Steffens and all such conscientious but misguided romancers should be quickly and effectively muzzled for the duration of the war." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * January 3, 1922 LOS ANGELES EVENING EXPRESS L.A. Police Head Wants To Be Put On Retired List "The job is not worth it." Such was the statement made by Charles A. Jones, chief of police, today after he announced he will appear later in the day before the mayor and pension board and ask to retire. This announcement follows the circulation of many rumors for last three months that the chief intended to retire. Political wrangling both inside the police department and at the City hall followed his appointment by Mayor Cryer after the latter's election. Rumors about the central station are that either Capt. R. Lee Heath or Police Commissioner De Coo will be named to succeed Jones. Chief Jones, following the announcement of his proposed retirement issued a burning statement in which he said: "No one man can run the Los Angeles police department. There are too many meddlesome so-called reformers and others who interfere with the work of the officers. "They insist that the police department devote its entire efforts to running petty gamblers out of business instead of devoting itself to the more important work of protecting the lives and property of our citizens and the visitors in our midst. "Not only that, but within the department itself, among the men and officers, there is too much bickering and conniving to `get' each other's jobs. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Note. The following clipping appeared in an early issue of TAYLOROLOGY, however, it is worth reprinting with respect to the topic under consideration. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 21, 1922 NEW YORK TELEGRAPH The Taylor Case in Los Angeles Shows Incompetency of Police. The search--if one can call it a search--being made for the slayer of Motion Picture Director Taylor in Los Angeles is getting on the nerves of everybody, and the police should either produce the killer or turn the job of hunting for him over to competent persons. It seems as if every one who knew Taylor or could in any fashion be connected with the case has been interrogated at least a half dozen times. The police and the fame-seeking District Attorney of the California metropolis apparently have questioned persons who had no more to do with Taylor's murder than the residents of the Canary Islands. One Woolwine, District Attorney, made what he called an independent investigation, with a camera-man tagging him around and reporters in his following. Woolwine posed in the Taylor house with an assistant taking the part of the picture director--this being done to "reconstruct the crime." How would that help find the criminal? In their efforts the police and the Woolwine force have sent several reputable actresses into retirement, suffering from nervous prostration, and have cast some slight suspicion on a few persons who could not possibly kill another. The time has come for these Los Angeles sleuths and Woolwine and his actors to get off the job, and devote their time to whatever business may be at hand. Skilled detectives should take over the case and follow it to the end. Motion picture makers of Hollywood have raised a fund to hunt down Taylor's slayer, and they can put it to good use by dealing with a reputable detective agency and ignoring the incompetents of the police force and the District Attorney of Los Angeles. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * May 20, 1922 LOS ANGLES TIMES Commission Weighing Case of Miss Jones The Civil Service Commission yesterday took under consideration the letter from Dist.-Atty. Woolwine giving his reasons for dismissing Miss Ida Wright Jones from his employ. The commissioners would not indicate what if any action would be taken in the matter. The commission would either have to approve or disapprove of Mr. Woolwine's action in dismissing Miss Jones, which was based on the report that she was preparing to sell an affidavit to his political enemies for $10,00 to the effect that she had been intimate with him. Miss Jones has not petitioned for a hearing looking to her reinstatement. She was not represented at the meeting of the commissioners yesterday. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * January 6, 1923 LOS ANGELES TIMES Woolwine Gets Film Job Offer Resignation of Thomas Lee Woolwine as District Attorney within the next few days to become the executive head of a motion-picture organization to be known as the Independent Producing Manager's Association, loomed as a strong possibility last night with the announcement by Herman I. Roth, Hollywood attorney, and nationally known throughout theatrical circles, that overtures made to Mr. Woolwine during the last ten days practically had been accepted. "I am not in a position to say whether I am going to resign to take the film job or not," Mr. Woolwine stated last night. "Things relative to the film position are shaping up rather well but before I will know anything definite I am going to have an other conference with the heads of the undertaking. "There is a possibility that I may take it. We have been figuring on the proposition for days and have been going into it rather thoroughly. "Whether I accept the position or not depends on the outcome of the next conference I am going to have which will be on Monday night. Then I shall know definitely. "The way I understand matters at present I will be expected to handle the legal end of the company. I am going into the matter more thoroughly at the next conference to learn what will be expected of me." Acceptance of this offer by Mr. Woolwine will mean, it is said, a salary of approximately $25,000 yearly for a period of five years. The association which was suggested voluntarily by a number of independent producers for the purpose of exploiting their own pictures, efficiency and economy to be the watchword, was fostered and brought to a head through the work of Mr. Roth. Twelve independent producers have already have pledged themselves to such an association and three more companies possibly will be allied with the original set in a few days. Ultimately every independent producer will be linked into the association, it is said. Mr. Woolwine if he accepts, will not become in any sense the Will Hays of the independent producers, but will look after the financial affairs of the proposed association in an advisory capacity, most of the legal work being left to Mr. Roth. The independents are not seeking to rival or oppose other organizations already formed in the motion picture field, but seek co-operation between independents for economy and efficiency, and to the end that their pictures get fair break with those of the larger organizations, which, through their power, have better distributing facilities. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IT IS STATED IN THE ABOVE CLIPPING THAT WOOLWINE WAS WANTED TO BRING FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY TO THE ORGANIZATION OF INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS. LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING AND JUDGE FOR ONESELF WHETHER SUCH CONFIDENCE WAS JUSTIFIED: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * from; A STUDY OF THE OFFICE AND PROBLEMS OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, by Daniel Beecher, Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney, formerly Judge of Superior Court (1931) * Operating Costs of District Attorney's Office--Los Angeles County OFFICE NUMBER OF FELONY COST PER BIENNIAL PERIOD EXPENDITURES CONVICTIONS FELONY (2 FISCAL YEARS) (2 FISCAL YEARS) CONVICTION 1920-22 (Woolwine) $401,890.08 1,665 $242.83 1922-24 (Woolwine) to June 6, 1924 (thereafter Keyes) $596,213.66 2,759 $230.78 1924-26 (Keyes) $802,343.76 2,904 $276.25 1926-28 (Keyes to Dec. 3, 1928; thereafter Burton Fitts) $1,083,070.47 4,775 $226.80 OFFICE NUMBER OF FELONY COST PER FELONY EXPENDITURES CONVICTIONS CONVICTION 1929-30 (Fitts) $555,349.61 2,766 $200.77 1930-31 (Fitts) $590,508.99 3,195 $184.82 * Felony Convictions In Los Angeles County Based Upon Population FISCAL YEAR POPULATION NO. OF FELONY NO. OF FELONY OF L.A. CTY. CONVICTIONS CONVICTIONS PER 100,000 POPULATION 1920-21 (Woolwine) 1,086,408 827 71 1921-22 (Woolwine) 1,255,353 828 71 1922-23 (Woolwine to June 6, '23 then Keyes) 1,378,685 1,289 90 1923-24 (Keyes) 1,509,318 1,290 90 (Keyes) 1,864,733 1,452 78 1925-26 (Keyes) 1,933,675 1,452 78 1926-27 (Keyes) 1,996,507 1,798 88 1927-28 (Keyes) 2,074,812 1,799 88 1928-29 (Keyes to Dec. 3, '28 then Fitts) 2,196,195 2,009 91 1929-30 (Fitts) 2,202,510 2,766 125 1930-31 (Fitts) 2,240,208 3,195 142 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * March 21, 1925 LOS ANGELES TIMES Woolwine Suit Is Thrown Out Holding the communications objected to were privileged and that evidence submitted was insufficient to constitute a cause of action, Judge York of Superior-Court yesterday granted a motion dismissing the suit for $75,000 damages brought by Ida Wright Jones against Thomas Lee Woolwine, former District Attorney, and others, for asserted defamation of character. Judge York threw the case out of court after hearing arguments Thursday afternoon on the motion for a nonsuit, which was offered by W. J. Ford, attorney for Woolwine, and Will Anderson counsel for the other defendants. Miss Jones's complaint was based on stories published relative to her dismissal from the District Attorney's office by Woolwine in May, 1922. She declared her reputation had been injured by Woolwine, who wrote a letter to the Civil Service Commission stating he had discharged Miss Jones because information had come to him that she was planning to make an affidavit stating she had been intimate with Woolwine and sell it to his political enemies for $10,000. On the witness stand Miss Jones denied she had ever planned to make such an affidavit or dispose of such information to his opponents. Woolwine, who is convalescing from a serious illness that befell him in Europe more than a year ago, was not in court during the trial, as his physicians ordered he be secluded from his attorney. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * June 6, 1923 LOS ANGELES TIMES Judge Scores Prosecutor Judge Monroe in Superior Court yesterday in dismissing a criminal action against Capt. Jose Fonseca, formerly an aviator in the Mexican army, bitterly arraigned the District Attorney's office for inefficiency and "for cluttering up the courts." The court "bolted over" when the prosecutor arose and moved that the case against Fonseca be dismissed because of insufficient evidence. In dismissing the case, Judge Monroe declared that the suspect had been in jail for three or four months because of the loose method employed by the District Attorney and his assistants. The District Attorney's office knew, he declared, that there was insufficient evidence to convict the prisoner when the latter had his preliminary hearing yet he was kept in jail and finally dragged into Superior Court, where already the docket is overcrowded. Judge Monroe declared further that the tactics of the District Attorney's office were hampering the efforts of the courts to dispense justice and were aggravating the congestion in the County Jail. Fonseca was charged with the theft of an automobile from a local concern. He contended that he had rented the automobile and told the officials of the concern from whom it was rented that he would not return it for some time. He stated further that the company told him he could use the machine as he wished if he paid the rent for it. Fonseca drove the machine to Fresno, where he was arrested and brought back here. He was given a preliminary hearing and then held to answer to the higher court. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * July 9, 1925 LOS ANGELES TIMES (from Woolwine's obituary) From the date of his acceptance of the office, Dist.-Atty. Woolwine was constantly in the limelight of publicity. If he was not being attacked, he was assailing somebody else. One of the first attacks launched against him was one by an organization known as the Law Enforcement League. The league endeavored to have Dist.-Atty. Woolwine removed from office on charges of "failure to do his duty," but he was exonerated in 1916 amidst a scene of flying fists when his attorney, W. J. Ford, struck the opposing counsel twice on the chin. ***************************************************************************** NEXT ISSUE: The Return of Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner Allegations that Henry Peavey Murdered Taylor When did Mary Miles Minter Learn of Taylor's Death? Flashes of Margaret Shelby Wallace Smith: February 11, 1922 ***************************************************************************** NOTES by Bruce Long: [1] Taylor was born in 1872 (not 1877); he was the second (not third) child; he had no sister named Grace. See chapter four of A DEED OF DEATH for some specific details on Taylor's life prior to his marriage. [2] On the contrary, there is considerable definite data for Taylor's movements and activity between 1908 (when he left his wife) and 1912 (when he obtained his first acting job in the movies). [3] Denis and Ada Deane-Tanner had three children (not two). One died in infancy. [4] Although Taylor was one of Famous Players-Lasky's most prominent directors, he certainly was not "the leading director"--that title clearly belonged to Cecil B. DeMille. [5] This is only a rumor; some deny that Taylor was a womanizer. (In fact, some deny that Taylor had any real interest in women at all. See A CAST OF KILLERS.) [6] Taylor was released from military active duty in spring (not summer) 1919. He was back in Hollywood in mid-May. (See WDT: DOSSIER, p. 92) [7] Sands (as Edward F. Strathmore) had been in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army. He was not in the British Army. [8] Although Sands was a prominent suspect in Taylor's murder, there was no indication that he had blackmailed Taylor. [9] Sands was seen several times after leaving Taylor's employment. He was positively identified in Fresno and Sacramento as having pawned some of the jewelry stolen from Taylor in a subsequent burglary. He was seen downtown Los Angeles at 1:20 p.m. the day before the murder, and was reportedly seen several other times. [10] Mary Miles Minter was certainly never "the most popular actress on the screen." In a poll in Motion Picture Magazine shortly before the murder, she was not even in the top ten. (The top three were Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford.) [11] It was never firmly established that Minter owned the "lingerie" found in Taylor's apartment. [12] None of Minter's films were "shot out to the exhibitors as quickly as possible" after the Taylor murder. "Tillie" was released on January 29--prior to the murder--and her next film, "The Heart Specialist," was released on April 9, more than two months after the murder. Her other 1922 films were released in July and October. [13] The crest of Mabel Normand's popularity had passed several years earlier. In the "comedienne" category of the popularity poll mentioned above, she was third, behind Dorothy Gish and Constance Talmadge. [14] Mabel Normand's injury resulting from her 1915 confrontation with Mack Sennett did make front page banner headlines (see LOS ANGELES HERALD, September 20, 1915), but the incident was covered up to make it appear that she had been injured during an accident at the film studio. [15] The MacLean's cottage was not the last one on the right; it was at right angles to Taylor's, facing Alvarado. [16] Some contemporary press items do state that Peavey had been bailed out that morning, but other reports indicated it was several days earlier. (See VARIETY, February 10, 1922) [17] It was thought that Taylor had died of a stomach hemorrhage, not heart disease. The bullet wound was in his left side, slightly toward the back. [18] Faith MacLean did not testify at the inquest. Elsewhere, she stated that she was looking out her front door (not the upstairs veranda) when she saw the man. She did not see him "come out" of Taylor's apartment; he was already standing outside, but Taylor's door was open. (See WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 333- 335.) [19] Edna Purviance did not telephone Mary Miles Minter and notify her of Taylor's death; Mary was notified by her mother, Charlotte Shelby. [20] Mary always denied that any of her lingerie was in Taylor's possession, or even that she had any monogrammed lingerie. There was a nightgown found among Taylor's effects, with differing reports as to whether it was or was not monogrammed. (See WDT: DOSSIER, p. 369.) Minter did admit that she gave Taylor monogrammed handkerchiefs, which were found among his effects. The "monogrammed lingerie" is only an unverified rumor. The 1922 press reports did not explicitly state that the rumored initials were "MMM"; the initials were only implied. This recap by Sutherland was one of the first to explicitly state so. Sutherland's recap became the foundation for many later recaps of the Taylor case. ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** Back issues of Taylorology are available on the Web at any of the following: http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/ http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/Taylorology/ http://www.uno.edu/~drif/arbuckle/Taylorology/ Full text searches of back issues can be done at http://www.etext.org/Zines/ For more information about Taylor, see WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991) *****************************************************************************