Some union construction men are now getting Saturday afternoons off

But carpenters are shafted and thrown out of work

Armed man threatens the little community of Watts

Streetcars are running later at night than they ever have before

Another trolley mishap: Hollywood dairy wagon is hit and the horse badly injured

Two locomotives smack each other head-on — just for fun (and money for Morley)

Aptly named Dr. Burner uses radium and milk to cure just about everything — Adv.

Bank tellers spend Saturday nights accepting deposits from men in work boots — Adv.

A Saturday half-holiday was enjoyed yesterday by union bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, building laborers and carpenters.

Promptly at 12 o’clock the workmen of these crafts laid aside their tools, not to report for duty again until 8 o’clock tomorrow [Monday] morning.

Contractors have consented to granting the Saturday half-holiday to each of the above-named mechanics, except carpenters, this refusal resulting in not more than 300 carpenters being thrown out of employment.

Of this number, probably 200 have gone to San Francisco, where carpenters are receiving $5 a day and the Saturday half-holiday.

With only 100 union carpenters out of work and more than 2,000 steadily employed 5-1/2 days a week at 50 cents an hour — and plumbers, plasterers, bricklayers and building laborers employed on the five days and half-day holiday basis, it is safe to say the Saturday half-holiday is firmly established in the building industry of Los Angeles.

John Connors, president of Carpenters Union No. 158, which has a membership of more than 2,000 and is rated as the largest carpenter union in the world, left last night for Niagara Falls, N.Y., to attend the biennial convention of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

Before leaving, Mr. Connors was quite emphatic in the declaration that there is no carpenters’ strike in this city.

. . . Mr. Connors was confident that matters would adjust themselves and that the Saturday half-holiday had come to stay.

Men prominent in labor circles stated yesterday that every union which has secured a 5-1/2-day week also has inaugurated the “closed shop,” statements of contractors to the contrary notwithstanding.

It is believed that before the close of the present year the Saturday half-holiday will be enjoyed by every building craft in Los Angeles.

POSSE SCOURS WATTS, FAILS TO GET COOK

Neighborhood In Terror of Wife-Slayer Believed to Be in Vicinity

The little community of Watts, on the Long Beach line, has been through a veritable reign of terror during the last three days.

Fred D. Cook, the fugitive wife-slayer, is believed to be at large in the neighborhood, armed and desperate.

. . . the general feeling of alarm is such that when men leave their houses they placed loaded weapons ready for their wives to use in case of need, and women who are left alone at home run into the house and lock the door on the approach of a stranger.

Cook was first seen in Watts when he entered the grocery store of W.M. Kellogg and purchased a loaf of bread and a bottle of soda water. . . .

John Hannah, who lives in a cottage on the Santa Ana line about half a mile from Watts Station, told of his house having been entered. . . . The burglar took a revolver, a box of cartridges, a watch and a ring.

. . . the man believed to be Cook struck into the fields and walked across country. He was seen about sundown in the

A posse of eight deputy sheriffs went to Watts on Friday and scoured the country. . . .

In a large copse of blue gums near the electric railroad tracks, they found signs that somebody had camped there recently. . . .

The deputies were in two buggies, four in each. Frank Cochran, in charge of the posse, . . . felt sure that the man had left the vicinity. . . .

To read a 1905 ad extolling the virtues of Watts as a place to buy property, click here.

Jim Morley’s personally conducted railroad wreck was a great artistic success, but the manager of the Morley amusement enterprises says that from the financial standpoint the show was more or less of a lemon.

The master of the rinks expected to depopulate the City of the Angels, and he did draw several thousand curious citizens [to Agricultural Park, the present Exposition Park] yesterday afternoon. . . .

At 3 o’clock Walter Hempel climbed the fence, . . . armed with a large pistol which was to give the preliminary signal.

The photographers selected points of vantage, the moving picture man gave his box a preliminary whirl, and the band played something soothing. . . .

But the performance lagged. The engines were all ready, and from time to time they gave short hoots and warmed up down the straightaway.

Walter Hempel was waiting for Jim Morley to signal the arrival of the last dollar.

Professor Megaphone Cook made his appearance on a white horse which wore a coquettish blue ribbon in its tail. . . .

“I have been requested by the management . . . to announce that you are to not to enter the enclosure until 10 minutes after the collision. A subsequent accident might happen.”

This drew great cheers from the crowd. The accident idea seemed to please everybody but a nervous lady who sat in an automobile. She dismounted and hid behind the fence. . . .

Then Mr. Hempel sat down on the ground and fixed his eye on Jeems Morley. Jeems had a seat in the patrol wagon on the home stretch. From this point he could see every dollar within half a mile of either gate. . . .

At last Mr. Morley arose and took a look at the grandstand, the people on top of the clubhouse, the long line which festooned the fence.

Then he raised his hat, with all the dignity of a real commencer of events.

Walter Hempel unfurled a white flag and waved it violently. It was the signal.

Engine 23 was first under way; [Engine] 13 lingered an instant and then lurched forward, whistle wide open.

The nervous ones sought shelter from flying bolts; the photographers jumped behind their cameras. . . .

A man in overalls swung himself down the steps and Engine 13 was riderless. A few seconds later the engineer deserted 23, which was picking up speed with every revolution of the wheels.

Nearer and nearer they came. . . . Then both engines reared and the crownshears came together with a dull crash, a few black specks flew into the air, and the whole scene was blotted out in a cloud of steam.

Neither engine left the track, but sturdy old 13 plowed her way half through No. 23, and when the steam thinned, the engines were seen to be total wrecks, welded together by the force of their meeting.

The crowd forgot all about Megaphone Cook and the 10-minute limit. Some man with small regard for mounted officers started the rush, and in 10 seconds the human wave was over the inner fence and on the way to the scene of the collision.

It was a good show, but Jim Morley says that if it had been postponed half an hour there might have been more money in the box office.

Hempel and Cook are otherwise not identified. Click here for more on Morley.

Dairy Wagon Wrecked

by Speeding Trolley

Without a sound of warning, according to witnesses, an Edendale car crashed into a Hollywood dairy wagon, driven by G.S. Giliam and Guy Cassell, at Lake Shore Drive [now Glendale Blvd.] and Palo Alto Street.

The men escaped injury by leaping from their rig . . ., but

The car and milk wagon were traveling in the same direction.

The men in the rig apparently did not hear the approaching car, and all witnesses declare that no warning signal was given. . . .

The “Owl” car service began last night.

Cars on the principal lines left First and Spring streets at 1 and 2 o’clock. They were well patronized.

The lines included are Boyle Heights, Grand Avenue, Vernon Avenue, University, Main Street and Pico Heights.