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Early Los Angeles Court Transcript Collection
SC.LACT
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Early Los Angeles Court Transcript Collection
Identifier/Call Number: SC.LACT
Extent:
17.48 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1885-1904
Abstract: The
Early Los
Angeles Court Transcript Collection
(1885-1904) consists of transcripts of court
cases in Los Angeles, California from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The
collection contains some transcripts of trials, but the majority of documents are
transcripts of the testimony for preliminary examinations. The court cases in the collection
deal with a broad range of topics including fraud, burglary, grand larceny, rape, incest,
murder, assault with a deadly weapon, embezzlement, perjury, bribery, and libel. The various
crimes and court proceedings take place throughout the Los Angeles area including Redondo,
Covina, San Dimas, Compton, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Los Angeles, and Pomona.
Language of Material: English
The
Early Los Angeles Court Transcript Collection (1885-1904)
consists of transcripts of court cases in Los Angeles, California from the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. The collection contains some transcripts of trials, but the
majority of documents are transcripts of the testimony for preliminary examinations. The
court cases in the collection deal with a broad range of topics including fraud, burglary,
grand larceny, rape, incest, murder, assault with a deadly weapon, embezzlement, perjury,
bribery, and libel. The various crimes and court proceedings take place throughout the Los
Angeles area including Redondo, Covina, San Dimas, Compton, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Los
Angeles, and Pomona.
Featuring the recorded testimonies of many former local residents, this collection offers
a glimpse into life in Los Angeles at the turn of the last century. Many of the burglary
charges are for the theft of horses, cows, and bicycles, with one man accused of assault
with a deadly weapon after a dispute over a card game in a saloon. There are also several
instances of now archaic charges including several "infamous crime[s] against nature," cases
dealing with homosexuality, and one case of a man, George Kirsch, being charged with
"furnishing liquor to Indians" in May of 1895. The collection includes testimony from a
particularly notorious case in its time: The People of the State of California vs. Hattie
Woolsteen. Woolsteen was accused of murdering her lover Charles Harlan in a barn, and
setting the barn on fire in order to conceal her crime.
Also documented in the collection is the jurisdiction of different courts within the
various townships in Los Angeles County in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. These include the Justice's Court of Compton Township, the Justice's Court of
Santa Monica Township, the Justice's Court of Los Angeles Township, and the Justice's Court
of San Jose Township which represented an area containing Pomona, Claremont, and La Verne.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
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