San Francisco District Attorney's Office trial transcript and clippings scrapbooks
1918-1968 (1935-1968 bulk)
SFH 93
Dee Dee Kramer
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
2014
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
sfhistory@sfpl.org
Title: San Francisco District Attorney's Office trial transcript and clippings scrapbooks,
Date (inclusive): 1918-1968
Date (bulk): bulk
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 93
Creator:
California. District Attorney (San Francisco County)
Physical Description:
9 oversize flat boxes, 1 manuscript box
(10 Linear Feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Compilations of newspaper clippings related to criminal cases investigated and/or prosecuted by the San Francisco District
Attorney's Office and news coverage of the Office itself; together with a set of grand jury transcripts of a 1918 homosexual
"vice scandal" on Baker Street.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English.
Access
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], San Francisco District Attorney's Office trial transcript and clippings scrapbooks (SFH 93), San
Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Provenance
The collection is of uncertain provenance; it was received from either the City Attorney's or District Attorney's Office in
1976.
Historical
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office prosecutes criminal cases that take place in the City and County of San Francisco.
Scope and Contents
Compilations of newspaper clippings related to criminal cases investigated and/or prosecuted by the San Francisco District
Attorney's Office and news coverage of the Office itself; together with a set of grand jury transcripts of a 1918 homosexual
"vice scandal" on Baker Street and a vice trial the People of the State of California vs. Ralph Teichmann. Clippings consist
of two oversize scrapbooks on the 1935-1937 graft probe and trials of the San Francisco Police Department; clipping service
coverage of the District Attorney's Office from the mid-1940s through the late 1960s; and scrapbook compilations on individual
criminal cases from the late 1940s through the late 1960s.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in four series: Series 1: Grand Jury transcript of Baker St. "vice"investigation; Series 2: San
Francisco graft trials; Series 3: Clipping service coverage of District Attorney's Office, and Series 4: Case clippings.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Crime -- California -- San Francisco.
Criminal justice, Administration of -- California -- San Francisco.
Gays -- California -- San Francisco -- Social conditions -- 20th century
Trials (Sex crimes) -- California -- San Francisco
Trials (Sodomy) -- California -- San Francisco
California. District Attorney (San Francisco County) -- Archives
California. District Attorney (San Francisco County)
Teichmann, Ralph G. E.
Series 1
Trial Transcripts
1918
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear Feet
1 manuscript box
box 1, folder 1-3
Grand Jury transcript of Baker St. "vice" Investigation
1918
General
Three copies of transcript, one of which is complete.
box 1, folder 4
People of the State of California vs. Ralph E.G. Teichmann, Defendant Trial Transcript
1918
Scope and Contents
Carbon copy of typewritten transcript of testimony in Teichmann’s trial for sex perversions (July 11-12, 1918) following grand
jury investigation of 2525 “Baker Street vice club.” Assistant district attorney Alexander O’Grady prosecuted the case; Arnold
O. Lackenbach defended Teichmann. Witnesses testifying included: Oscar S. Franck; Charles Goff; M. J. Hughes; William R. Soady;
Bert Lyttle.
Files contain one trial transcript and one photocopy for preservation.
box 1, folder 5
People of the State of California vs. Ralph E.G. Teichmann, Defendant Trial Transcript (Preservation Copy)
1918
Series 2
San Francisco graft trials
1935-1944 (bulk 1935-1937)
Physical Description:
2.1 Linear Feet
2 oversize flat boxes
Scope and Contents
Two oversize volumes of newspaper clippings covering the investigation into graft and corruption within the San Francisco
Police Department. The independent investigation was led by Edwin Atherton of Atherton & Dunn, who was hired by Mayor Angelo
Rossie and the Board of Supervisors. The Atherton Report was published in March 1937.
box 2
Aug. 29, 1935- June 2, 1937
box 3
June 3 - Nov. 29, 1937 and Feb. 17 - May 11, 1944
Series 3
Clipping service coverage of District Attorney's Office
1947-1954
Physical Description:
4.1 Linear Feet
3 oversize flat boxes
Scope and Contents
Staple-bound oversize paper volumes compiled by a clipping service to track news of the San Francisco District Attorney's
Office. At least some of the volumes are labeled inside with tags from Allen's Press Clipping Bureau.
Most pages have clippings with "1238" marked in red pencil, with the name of the District Attorney , D.A. official, or the
D.A.'s office underlined.
Clippings are daily and come primarily from San Francisco and San Francisco Bay Area newspapers, including the
Chronicle
,
News
,
Examiner
, and
People's World
. Coverage includes criminal cases in which the District Attorney's Office would typically get involved, including vice, graft,
juvenile delinquency, and violent crimes; together with some coverage of the presence of the District Attorney's Office at
public functions and the District Attorney's positions on City issues. The San Francisco District Attorneys during this time
period were Edmund Gerald (Pat) Brown, who served 1943-1950, and Thomas C. Lynch, who served 1951-1964.
Arrangement
Arranged by date, with original volume number given when available. Missing Numbers 12-13 (Feb. 14, 1948-Jan. 13, 1949); Oct.
4, 1949-Nov. 9, 1950; and June 22-Oct. 1, 1951.
box 4
Jan. 19, 1947 - Sept. 15, 1949
box 5
Sept. 15, 1949 - March 7, 1952
box 6
March 8, 1952 - Jan. 7, 1954
Series 4
Case clippings
1945-1968 (bulk 1955-1966)
bulk
Physical Description:
3.3 Linear Feet
4 oversize flat boxes
Scope and Contents
Paperbound volumes of local newspaper clippings covering assorted San Francisco criminal cases and civil disobedience demonstrations.
Titles of each volume reflect original labeling on front covers, where covers are intact. Dates reflect year of crime, with
clippings coverage sometimes spanning before and after.
Arrangement
Arranged by year of case.
box 7
Mansfeldt Trial
1945-1949
Scope and Contents
In Oct. 1945, Mrs. Irene Mansfeldt, socialite and former Fresno Raisin Day Queen, murdered Nurse Vada Martin, whom she suspected
of having an affair with her husband, physician Dr. John H. Mansfeldt. He subsequently committed suicide. She pled not guilty
by reason of insanity and was convicted of manslaughter. She served twenty-five months in Tehachapi and was subsequently released
on parole.
box 8
Gambling probe
1955
Scope and Contents
Covers a series of gambling raids called for by the San Francisco Grand Jury and directed by the District Attorney Thomas
Lynch and Chief of Inspectors James English. The vice squad that carried out the raids had been created under Mayor Robinson.
The gambling raids led to a Grand Jury probe of the San Francisco Police Department, focusing on gambling and vice payoffs,
and later, on callhouse activities of Mabel Malotte. Includes insert of clippings on Mabel Malotte from 1954.
box 8
Marcus Kidnap
1955
Scope and Contents
Betty Jean Benedicto kidnapped newborn baby Robert Marcus from Mount Zion Hospital in Stockton on Sept. 19, 1955. Her trial
was suspended because she was declared insane and committed to Mendocino State Hospital. The baby was recovered and returned
to his parents.
box 8
Lucas trial
1957
Scope and Contents
Rose Lucas went on trial for the murder of her husband Joseph, a California Highway Patrol officer, whom she shot in Dec.
1956. She claimed self-defense as a result of his ongoing abuse of her. Her children testified on her behalf and a jury convicted
her of voluntary manslaughter.
box 8
Rapist-sadist case
1957
Scope and Contents
A 19-year-old nursing student was abducted at gunpoint from her date in Golden Gate Park on July 20, 1957 and raped. Suspect
parolee Alvin Rexinger was accused and then cleared when Melvin Bakkerud confessed in early August. Some clippings also concern
sexual assaults on other girls and/or women that are potentially-related to the case.
Includes a few pages of clippings about San Quentin's Death Row, from the San Francisco News, Jan. 3-10, 1955.
box 8
G. J. [Grand Jury] Giants Stadium inquiry
1958-1959
Scope and Contents
News clippings taken from the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco News, Call-Bulletin, and San Francisco Examiner reporting
on the grand jury’s probe into the financing of the construction of the new San Francisco Giants stadium at Candlestick Park.
North, Henry
Christopher, George
Harney, Charles
box 8
Kroeger case
1962
Scope and Contents
Iva and Ralph Kroeger went on trial for the murder of Jay Arenson and his ex-wife Mildred Arenson, whose bodies were found
buried under the basement of the Kroeger's house in the Outer Mission on Aug. 20 and 21st, 1962. Mildred had operated a hotel
in Santa Rosa in which the Kroegers owned a business interest. After the murder, Iva bought out the hotel and disappeared;
she was found in September and brought to trial. Both Iva and Ralph were found guilty of first degree murder on March 19,
1963, and both were sentenced to death. Iva had a sanity trial, was ruled sane, and then received a life term in a second
penalty trial ordered by the Supreme Court on technical grounds. Ralph's sentence was reduced to life in prison, where he
died in 1966.
box 8
Hoskins and Lucero case
1963
Scope and Contents
Albert Benjamin Lucero hired teenager Rudy Hoskings to throw lye in the face of Harry Goldman, a delicatessen owner in the
Fillmore. Lucero pled guilty and said his motive was that deli helper Esther Dumo left him and was friendly with Goldman.
Goldman lost an eye as a result of the attack.
box 8
"Towaway King" Livingston
1963
Scope and Contents
Nat Livingston, aka "Towaway King," ran self-service parking lots in San Francisco. He was indicted by a County grand jury
for auto theft and conspiracy for running a towaway racket from his lots. The County then passed a stop-gap ordinance restricting
tows from self-service lots.
box 9
Civil rights clippings
1964-1966
Scope and Contents
Covers local civil rights demonstrations--including sit-ins, pickets, and other forms of protest-- in the 1960s at the Sheraton-Palace
Hotel, Auto Row, Mel's Drive-in, and other businesses and sites, as well as the subsequent trials of demonstrators.
box 10
Cop-burglar case
1965
Scope and Contents
Two police officers and three ex-convicts were charged with burglary of the home of ex-madam Sally Stanford in Pacific Heights,
San Francisco. All but one of the accused were convicted. The case was also known as the "Sally Stanford Burglary Caper."
box 10
Tax fee scandal
1965
Scope and Contents
San Francisco Assessor Russell L. Wolden was tried and convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1965. Wolden was disbarred by
the State Supreme Court in 1970.
box 10
Slaying union boss (D. Wilson)
1966
Scope and Contents
Dow Wilson, union leader of Painters Local 4 in San Francisco, was shot dead half a block from the Labor Temple on 16th and
Capp St. on Apr. 5, 1966. In a related shooting on May 7, Alameda County Painters Union official Lloyd Green was also shot
dead. Ben Rasnick, East Bay Painters Union official and Secretary of Painters Union District Council 16 was convicted in the
Wilson case, together with Norman Call and Max Ward, trustees of the Sacramento Painters Union welfare fund. Rasnick was also
accused of ordering the assassination of Green. The shootings apparently were motivated by issues of financial corruption
within the fund.