Los Angeles Daily Times, January 15, 1904
SENSATION AT UNIVERSITY.
Capt. Caley Paid for Services on Football Team.
Manager Spends Thousand Dollars During Season; Seymour’s Tears Win
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The student body of the University of Southern California held what was perhaps the most sensational meeting in the history of the institution in the college chapel yesterday at noon.
The climax was reached when J.F. Seymour Jr., manager of the football team, produced a check for $25, drawn in favor of D.M. Caley, captain of the ’varsity eleven, for his services as a member of that team.
. . . the announcement that a member of the college team, and especially its captain, had received money for playing created consternation among the students. . . .
. . . the Board of Control of Athletics . . . refused to thus sanction professionalism in the institution and returned the check to Seymour . . . .
Last night Seymour said [of Caley]: “. . . in order to get him to play at all I was compelled to promise to pay him for his services.”
There is a rumor that the $25 check Seymour brought out yesterday from the skeleton closet of the U.S.C. football team is but a small part of the amount that Capt. Caley really received. . . .
Faculty and students are all wrought up because Seymour took the reins in his own hands and cast the stigma of professionalism upon the school. Members of the faculty . . . declared they were powerless to punish the men who so flagrantly transgressed one of the most sacred customs which govern athletic contests in colleges . . . .
. . . all afternoon the halls swarmed with students. The class rooms were practically deserted, and the whole student body seemed demoralized.
The meeting opened bright enough, with the singing of the school song, beginning “We’re a jolly band of college boys.” But the scene changed quickly, and one of the most hotly contested word battles in the history of the school was on.
. . . Seymour succeeded in spending nearly $1,000, an unprecedented amount. . . .
[After a stormy meeting —] Up to this time Seymour had been full of bravado and fight. He even called [football player Charles] Broderson, his chief opponent, a prevaricator and insinuated worse things.
Now he began to weep. Copious tears streamed down his cheeks and pattered softly on the floor. He was all meekness now.
“Everything looks honest on its face,” he said. “No one can prove a single dishonest transaction. This is the first time I have been charged with dishonesty anywhere, let alone an institution where honesty and fair play are supposed to prevail.
“I ask to be vindicated of this suspicion at your hands. Don’t you think this is right; don’t you think this is fair?”
Seymour’s speech and Seymour’s tears won the day. . . .
Los Angeles Daily Times,
January 15, 1904
NEW CONVENT SITE
. . . Bishop [Thomas J.] Conaty . . . has purchased for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart a tract of 14 acres fronting on Western Avenue in the eastern part of Hollywood. [It is now the site of Immaculate Heart High School.]
The price is given as $10,000, and this land is to be the site of the new academy and novitiate of this sisterhood. . . .
Another important change is announced in the formation of a separate parish. The bishop has appointed Rev. D.W.J. Murphy as rector. . . .
Los Angeles Herald,
January 31, 1904
NO SALOONS FOR HOLLYWOOD
The electors of Hollywood have decided, by a vote of 113 to 96, to banish the demon rum from among them, except it be sold upon a prescription signed by a regularly qualified physician. . . .
Neither hotels nor restaurants in the new municipality will be in a position to serve guests anything like an “appetizer” or wines and liquors before or after meals. . . .
Victors last night were celebrating, and the vanquished were nowhere in evidence. Los Angeles breweries and wholesale liquor dealers are said to have expended considerable money and energy in an effort to swing the election their way.
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Baby Dies From Burns
Georgie, the 3-year-old son of Lieut. and Mrs. G.W. Bright, died shortly after midnight yesterday of the burns received at the home of his parents, 425 [?] Loma Ave., Friday morning.
. . . the child got up and toddled to the fireplace in a nightgown, and the draft drew the light garment into the blaze, and before the fire could be extinguished, he had been badly burned about the body.
Physicians did not consider the burns fatal, and as there were no signs that the child had inhaled any of the flame, it was thought he would recover. The little boy‘s condition took a sudden change for the worse during the evening, and he passed away at the hour named.
Los Angeles Herald,
January 24, 1904
AMONG COLORED CITIZENS
The concert given by Mrs. J.B. Roan on New Year’s night for the benefit of the pipe organ fund of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church proved so successful that it has been decided to give it again tomorrow evening at Elks Hall.
. . . through the kindliness of Clarence Drown, manager of the Orpheum, the famous Ernest Hogan [shown] and company will assist in the entertainment. The company includes Ernest Hogan, “the unbleached American”; Mrs. Ernest Hogan, prima donna; Miss Rose Clemens, queen of popular ballads, and Henry Strange, a dramatic reader. . . .
The following program will be rendered next Wednesday evening at the Payne Lyceum: current topics (censor and journalist), anecdotes (members of the Lyceum), original story (Foster R. Jacobs) [and] spelling match (Lyceum members). . . .
On Sunday, Feb. 7, the First A.M.E. Church will be dedicated. An interesting rally will be held and a special effort made to raise $3,000 toward the  new church fund. Bishop B.F. Lee [shown] of Wilberforce, Ohio, who presides over the Second Episcopal District, will be present. . . .
Miss Kate E. Bradley will give a “colonial concert” at Wesley Chapel on the evening of Washington’s birthday.
The Carnation Circle of the Second Baptist Church will entertain with a “leap year” reception on Friday evening, Feb. 5, at the residence of Mrs. C. Harris of 748 Gladys Ave.
Among the new arrivals in this city are Mrs. Williams and Miss Ella Williams of Chicago. They are domiciled at the residence of Mrs. H.M. Spiller of East Ninth St. . . .
The United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten held a joint installation at Scott’s Hall on Thursday evening. . . .
Keyword: Negro
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Los Angeles Herald, January 14, 1904
NEGROES WANT THE BEST SEATS
Bring Test Case Against Theater
GRAND OPERA REFUSED ADMISSION
The colored people of Los Angeles are going to “get in on the ground floor” of the theaters or know the legal reason why not.
Yesterday suits were filed in Justice Young’s court by Attorney F.W. Allender, representing Frederick D. Grant, Viola Baptista and Abbot Baptista against the Grand Opera House . . . for having discriminated against them in refusing to sell them tickets to certain portions of the theater on Sunday evening, Jan. 10, the first performance of “The Minister’s Son” . . . .
Damages of $50 each are asked for, and as this is the minimum damages for discrimination under the statutes, the cases are apparently brought simply to test the legality of the theater regulations.
The complaints first state the citizenship of the parties and then allege that . . . the Grand Opera House exercised a “distinction, discrimination and restriction against the plaintiff, not being based upon a good cause applicable alike to all persons of every color and race.”
Grant’s statement is that he offered to buy a ticket at the box office and offered his fifty cents, but was refused. The other parties claim that they had tickets and were turned away by the man at the door.
Winfield Hogaboom, business manager of the theater, said that the rules of the Grand Opera House had been the same as those of every other theater in the city, so far as he knew. They did not refuse negroes admission, but refused to sell them seats on the ground floor, restricting them to the balcony.
He presumed that the parties who had presented the tickets at the door had bought them through some white person, as the orders at the box office were against selling ground-floor tickets to negroes. They were given their money back when they were turned away. . . .
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Los Angeles Herald, January 31, 1904
PERMANENT ORGANIZATION FOR EL CAMINO REAL IS ASSURED
Preliminary steps have at last been taken for the restoration of El Camino Real, the great highway established by the mission fathers between San Diego and San Francisco.
In many places, county roads occupy the line followed by El Camino Real — in other places the road will have to be surveyed and built.
State aid is to be invoked to restore this historic landmark and to create a model roadway from the south to the north.
CULVER’S VERSION OF WHAT THE DELEGATES SAID AND DID
 Top left: “El Camino Real is a sentimental, historical and commercial matter,” said [writer and preservationist] C.F. Lummis.
Top right: Temporary chairman [C.D.] Willard [of the Los Angeles Municipal League] took pride in opening a meeting “with such a worthy purpose.”
Center: Chairman [A.P.] Fleming [president of the Automobile Club of Southern California] was certain that every automobilist in California favored building the road. [Note the toy car.]
Bottom left: “The state cannot help us as the laws stand now,” explained [county] Supervisor [O.W.] Longdon.
Bottom center: “As sons and daughters of the pioneers, we are ready to help you,” said Mr. [H.R.] McNoble of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Bottom right: “Said [Methodist] Bishop [J.H.] Johnson: “This is the day I long have sought and mourned because I found it not.” [He made a rhyme that time!]
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Los Angeles Examiner, January 2, 1904
QUEER COLONY HIDES IN HEART OF CITY
Army of Night Lunch Wagons Camps Days in Alleys Back of Fashionable Cafe and Emerges Nights to Feed Men
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In the very center of the busiest part of Los Angeles, but well hidden from sight by surrounding buildings, lives a curious little colony . . . . [It] is composed of the tamale and lunch wagon men who spend the day cleaning their wagons and cooking their provisions right under the walls of a very fashionable cafe.
Every evening, just before dark, twenty-five or more portable restaurants, or lunch counters, which are drawn up during the day in a corral off Mott Alley, quietly file out . . . .
The wagons of this camp are only a part of the many which thrive in the city. The ordinance recently drawn up by the [City] Council bars them from Spring, Main and Broadway between Temple and Fifth streets, and consequently the blocks adjacent to those streets are more thickly lined than ever with them. . . .
The stock of the portable restaurant includes at all times staples in quantity, coffee, tea, milk, sugar and flavorings, boiled meats, which are procured ready to serve from the butchers, eggs, tamales, oysters, vegetables in season and bakery goods. . . .
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The goods are fresh and are served to the taste of the individual. There have been skeptical ones who . . . were somewhat fearsome [fearful], and studied thoughtfully both sides of the few 10-cent pieces that were left in their pockets while they muttered:
Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean.
Porky, porky, porky, without a streak of lean.
Coffee, coffee, coffee, without a bit of cream.
But it is said that few who have sampled the viands fail to report them excellent. . . .
The lunch counters are most frequently stationed in front of the saloons, where the last quarter can easily be divided between a couple of steins and a handout of bacon and onions. A lucrative business is also carried on around the theaters and other places of amusement. . . .
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NOT IN FAVOR OF ELECTRIC SHOWS
City Tax Collector Johnson and City Attorney Mathews presented to the Council yesterday an amendment to the city ordinance regarding theaters. . . .
The amendment . . . referred especially the theaters which produce only electric attractions, such as the Lyric, where the show is confined to motion pictures and talking machines.
. . . it was found that the gramophone and kinetoscope parlors were in bad favor with the Councilmen.
“Those places are a disgrace to the city,” said Councilman Davenport . . . . “Those pictures may not be indecent, but they are suggestive, which is worse, and they should not be allowed to run in the city. . . . ”
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GERMANS WILL HOLD THEIR MONTHLY SHOOT TODAY
Once more the inoffensive target is to be battered to small bits and once more a large amount of firing with a small amount of result is on the program.
Today the festive Schuetzen member takes his little Schuetzen and his small bot of Wurzburger out back of the hills east of town — and goes up in smoke a large amount of powder, ain’t it?
The monthly bang of the German Schuetzen Verein comes off today . . .
This team is to go north and east for honors this coming summer, and so it is important that it be well groomed and that it can handle a gun and a stein with all the grace of an old rifleman.
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Los Angeles history |
