by Piu Eatwell
28 by one of the detectives: Based on photographs of Manley’s arrest at the Los Angeles Public Library.
28 “I know why you’re here”: Fowler, Will, From a Reporter’s Notebook, Huntington Library, Los Angeles Times Records/Crime, Los Angeles, box 642.
28 “as if you’ve been on a drunk”: Dialogue is reported from Underwood, Agness, Newspaperwoman, pp. 8–9.
28 Harry S. Fremont: Starr, Kevin, Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace 194 –50, Oxford University Press, Kindle edition, 2002.
29 many times he was to tell it: Notes of the original police interviews with Robert Manley in January 1947 have not been disclosed by the LAPD. The account here is based on the exclusive interview with Manley by Agness Underwood in the Herald-Express, January 20, 1947; also the later interview given to the district attorney investigators during the grand jury investigation of 1949–50 (DA, Statement of Robert M. Manley, taken at his home by investigator Frank B Jemison, at 3:30 p.m., February 1, 1950).
29 “adjustment period”: See Richardson, James, For the Life of Me, pp. 306–7; also Aggie Underwood’s interview in the Herald-Express, January 20, 1947.
29 “just little things”: Ibid.
30 “cold, I would say”: Interview in Herald-Express, January 20, 1947. It was a recurrent theme of Elizabeth’s male friends that she was sexually “cold.” It was perhaps characteristic of the age that this was interpreted, by many, as a sign that she was a lesbian. There could in fact have been many reasons for such “coldness”: Elizabeth might have been afraid, not attracted to some of these men, or intercourse might have been painful as a result of her inflamed Bartholin gland, the “female trouble” identified in Dr. Newbarr’s autopsy report. The Los Angeles Examiner journalist Will Fowler contributed to much of the confusion over Elizabeth’s sexuality when he wrote in his memoir, Reporters, that Elizabeth had “infantile sex organs” and was incapable of normal sexual relations. He later retracted this statement in a letter to the author Mary Pacios: “Regarding my telling you that Elizabeth Short had ‘infantile sex organs.’ That is untrue, and a ploy I used to shock all of faint stomachs and phony would-be biographers and article writers” (letter from Fowler to Pacios dated February 25, 1988; cited in Wolfe, Donald, The Black Dahlia Files, Appendix A, p. 340). Fowler’s statements about the Dahlia investigation are consequently to be treated with extreme caution.
30 Red recalled: Herald-Express, January 20, 1947.
31 Biltmore about 6:30 p.m.: See testimony of Robert Manley at the inquest on the death of Elizabeth Short, transcribed in Childhood Shadows, Appendix C, p. 317.
31 The doorman: The doorman, Harold Studholm, was described in a police report as being the last known person to have seen Beth Short alive (DA grand jury documents, list of persons involved in the case).
32 of any kind: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 21, 1947; Herald-Express, January 21, 1947.
32 established his innocence: Herald-Express, January 20, 1947.
32 results were negative: See LAPD documents, follow-up report dated February 5, 1947, by Hansen and Brown; also Herald-Express, January 20, 1947.
32 alibi: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 21, 1947: the friends were Mr. and Mrs. Don Holmes of San Diego.
32 clear of suspicion: Herald-Express, January 21, 1947.
33 pulled off the Dahlia case: See Underwood, Agness, Newspaperwoman, pp. 9–10.
34 “die on us today!”: Fowler, Will, Reporters, p. 200.
34 “Richardson would never attain”: Ibid., p. 188.
34 “down and out”: The account is based on interviews in the Herald-Express, January 17 and 18, 1947; and the Los Angeles Examiner, January 17, 18, and 19, 1947.
35 mistake over the bride’s name: See interview with Frenches in Los Angeles Examiner, January 18, 1947. According to the Los Angeles Times and Herald-Express, the newspaper article was later found in Elizabeth’s handbag and referred to the name of the bride Matt was to bring home, with the name scratched out (Los Angeles Times, January 25, 1947; Herald-Express, January 25, 1947).
35 “great deal of money for something”: Los Angeles Examiner, January 18, 1947.
35most nights: Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947.
35 “act frightened”: Herald-Express, January 27, 1947.
35 dyed her hair with henna: Herald-Express, January 17, 1947.
36 “well mannered”: See interview in Los Angeles Examiner, January 18, 1947.
36“trunk of the car,” she said: Herald-Express, January 18, 1947.
36 American Railway Express office: Details of the tracking down of the trunk and the conversation with Jack Donahoe taken from Richardson, James, For the Life of Me, p. 305.
37 arrived at the Examiner offices: Los Angeles Examiner, January 18, 1947. Also reference to letters in trunk obtained on January 18, in Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947.
Chapter 4: Gilda
38 Medford High’s “Deanna Durbin”: Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, p. 79.
38 inference was obvious: Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1947.
38 Phoebe had insisted: As reported from the firsthand account in Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, p. 13.
39 business thrived: Ibid., pp. 12, 13–14.
39 braided rugs to dry: See photograph of apartment on Salem Street in Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, p. 302.
39 for Beth the movie star’s life was real: Ibid., p. 16.
40 “manic depressive type”: Interview with Phoebe Short in Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947; see also Herald-Express, January 18, 1947.
40 “something missing”: See interview with Joe Sabia, Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, p. 87.
40 was a ruse: See DA undated memo “Movements of Elizabeth Short prior to June 1, 1946.” The account of Elizabeth Short’s movements up to mid-1946 is taken from this and the account headed “Movements and Activities of Elizabeth Short, Victim,” DA memorandum from Frank B. Jemison to Arthur L. Veitch dated October 28, 1949.
40 Vallejo, California: Ibid.
40 merchant navy . . . handyman . . . drunk: See DA memorandum by Frank Jemison summarizing background information on persons related to the Dahlia case.
40 underage drinking: DA undated memo, “Movements of Elizabeth Short prior to June 1, 1946.” The memo refers to Elizabeth living with her father and a Mrs. Yankee at Vallejo (and possibly also in Los Angeles, although this is not confirmed) in 1942–3. Extracts from Cleo Short police interview taken from LAPD follow-up report on murder by Hansen and Brown, dated February 5, 1947.
41 she thought they were: Extracts from Beth’s unsent letters published in Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947.
41 dashed her hopes: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947; Herald-Express, January 18, 1947.
42 all of Matt’s friends: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 19, 1947.
42 Tim Mehringer: “Tim” Mehringer’s real name was Sylvester Mehringer, and he was a lieutenant naval aviator at the Jacksonville naval air base in Florida. Elizabeth’s photograph album included pictures of her with Mehringer in his naval flier’s uniform. The DA document listing the movements of Elizabeth Short places her at the Colonial Inn, Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida, from September 1945 to January 1946. Tim Mehringer advertised for postwar work as a pilot in the Situations Wanted section of the May and June 1946 issues of Flying magazine, giving his address in Jacksonville, his age as twenty-two, and his status as married. Records show that he was married to Ida Mehringer and residing at Riverside Avenue from 1946 to 1948. (See: Jax Air News, July 5 and August 23, 1951; Polk’s Jacksonville City Directory, 1947–48; obituary of Sylvester Mehringer in Mount Vernon News, March 23, 2000.) It seems most likely that Short and Mehringer met when he was married and living at Riverside Avenue in 1945–46.
42 Stephen Wolak: See FBI telegram dated October 1, 1947.
42 Joseph Gordon Fickling: See DA untitled document, detailing background information of persons involved in the case.
43 Washington Hotel . . . provided by Fickling: See DA document summarizing movements of Elizabeth Short: Fickling wrote in a letter to the LAPD that Elizabeth lived in the Washington Hotel, Long Beach, from July 22 to August 3, then in furnished rooms from August 3 to August 27.
43 “seemed jealous of the sailor”: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 18, 1947; also Herald-Express, January 18, 1947.
43 made him “crazy”: See letter from Fickling quoted in Herald-Examiner, January 20, 1947: “Darling, how many lips have joined with yours since ours last met? Sometimes I go crazy when I think of such things.”
43 “believe me”: Quoted in the Los Angeles Examiner and Herald-Express, January 21, 1947.
44 “extra burden”: Quoted in the Los Angeles Examiner, January 21, 1947; Herald-Express, January 20, 1947.
Chapter 5: Dial M for Murder
45 behind a pane of glass: Based on accounts in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Examiner, and Herald-Express, January 21, 1947. See also the LAPD dead body report dated January 15, 1947, which refers to “1 large mole on left shoulder.”
46 jumping from her seat: Dialogue from the inquest into the death of Elizabeth Short is taken from the transcript in Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, Appendix C, pp. 317–33.
47 forty-five-minute hearing: Herald-Express, January 22, 1947.
47 where the body was found: DA documents, report dated November 23, 1949: “Evidence and declarations tending to connect or disconnect Leslie Dillon to the murders of Elizabeth Short, Jeanne French, and Gladys Kern.”
47 blocked by tall weeds: Herald-Express, January 16, 1947; Los Angeles Times, January 17, 1947; Pacios, Mary, Childhood Shadows, p. 65.
48 rest of his life: The dialogue is cited from Jimmy Richardson’s memoir For the Life of Me, pp. 307–8. Descriptive details of the Examiner office interior are taken from Richardson’s serialized novel Spring Street: A Story of Los Angeles, Times-Mirror Press, 1922; also from photographs of the office interior held in the James Hugh Richardson collection at the University of California, Los Angeles.
49 lit a Lucky: Richardson was a dried-out alcoholic and notorious chain-smoker, his favored cigarette brand being Lucky Strikes. He recounts his experiences with alcohol and cigarette dependency in For the Life of Me and in his personal correspondence, presently housed in the Department of Special Collections at the University of California, Los Angeles.
49 The parcel was opened: Details of the opening of the package at the post office and its contents are taken from DA report titled “Summary of the Elizabeth (Beth) Short Murder Investigation.”
50 names and phone numbers: According to newspapers such as the Los Angeles Examiner and Los Angeles Times, the package also contained a newspaper clipping referring to Major Matt Gordon’s marriage, with the name of the bride scratched out. However, the itemized list of contents of the package in the DA files (see previous note) does not include this. The police report of the incident implies that Elizabeth’s trunk at the Railway Express and the suitcases lodged with the Greyhound bus company were tracked down as a result of the receipt and telegram found in the package. In fact, these had been located and inspected earlier, through the efforts of the Los Angeles Examiner, as newspaper articles dated January 18, 1947—i.e., prior to the receipt of the package—demonstrate.
50 previous Monday: Herald-Express, January 25, 1947.
50 must have been the killer: See DA report titled “Summary of the Elizabeth (Beth) Short Murder Investigation” in which the conclusion is that the package must have come from the killer. The fact that the package contained the receipt for Elizabeth Short’s baggage as deposited at the Greyhound bus station on January 9 is strongly supportive of the contention that it did indeed contain the contents of her handbag, which must have been removed after Elizabeth left Manley at the Biltmore, as the baggage receipt dated January 9 could not possibly have been contained either in her trunk previously deposited with the Railway Express Company, or the suitcases left at the Greyhound bus depot. The style of the message and the pains the sender took to conceal his or her identity are difficult to reconcile with a communication from a disinterested bystander unconnected with the case.
50 came back negative: A letter from the FBI to LAPD chief Clemence Horrall dated January 29, 1947, refers to a single print having been sent to the FBI for analysis and comparison with their fingerprint records on January 25, i.e., the day after the package was sent. According to the testimony of Lieutenant Harry Hansen given during 1949 grand jury proceedings, the quality of the print was poor, with “blurs and smudges.” The Los Angeles Times on January 26, 1947, gave the source of the print as the exterior of the package and commented on the subsequent lack of reliability. (The Los Angeles Times article refers to two prints being retrieved, but it is clear from the FBI report that there was just one single, latent print taken from the package.)
50 hand that was not Short’s: Taken from the testimony of Sergeant Finis Brown in the DA grand jury proceedings.
51 January 26 at 6:30 p.m.: Herald-Express, January 27, 1947.
51 “Black Dahlia Avenger”: Herald-Express, January 27, 1947; Los Angeles Examiner, January 29, 1947.
51 “real or imagined”: Herald-Express, January 27, 1947.
52 anonymous telephone call: See Los Angeles Times, January 25, 1947.
52 by the killer: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 25, 1947.
53 “gonna be dynamite!”: Examiner, January 25, 1947; Herald-Express, January 25, 1947.
53 “embarrassing” them: See Los Angeles Examiner, January 25, 1947.
Chapter 6: House of Strangers
54 fifty-five years old: Mark Hansen’s U.S. passport application dated 1921 gives his date of birth as July 25, 1891 (National Archives and Records Administration [NARA], Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906–March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1771; Volume #: Roll 1771—Certificates: 95626-95999, 04 Nov 1921-05 Nov 1921).
54 Danes called it: Danmarks Købstæder: Aalborg (in Danish). Dansk Center for Byhistorie.
54 “Treasure State”: See Spence, Clark C., Montana: A Bicentennial History, W. W. Norton, 1978, pp. 139–40; Malone, Michael P., Richard B. Roeder, and William L. Lang, Montana: A History of Two Centuries, revised edition, University of Washington Press, 1976, p. 232.
54 “whistled for the dog”: Fletcher, Robert H., Free Grass to Fences, New York: University Publishers, 1960, pp. 149–50.
54 wound up in Tinseltown: Taken from Hansen’s 1921 passport application; also DA statement of Mark Hansen dated December 16, 1949.
55 $1.50 for dinner: See Los Angeles Times, “Club Shone Brightly in Its Heyday,” October 10, 2004; Zemeckis, Leslie, Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr, Counterpoint Press, 2015.
55 post–Pearl Harbor pay: See Life magazine, January 31, 1944.
55 Scandinavian accent: The fact that Mark Hansen spoke with “a very distinctive accent, he talks like a Swede or a Norwegian,” was noted by Officer Loren K. Waggoner, formerly of the Gangster Squad, in his testimony before the DA grand jury.
55 toughest hoods in Hollywood: Tereba, Tere, Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.’s Notorious Mobster, Kindle edition, ECW Press, 2012, p. 74. Hansen admitted under questioning by the district attorney’s office that he had known Jimmy Utley for “about six months” as he “came to the Florentine Gardens” (DA statement of Mark Hansen taken December 16, 1949).
55 bingo parlors at Venice Beach: Tereba, Tere, Mickey Cohen.
55 laid out on the table: Reid, Ed, Mickey Cohen: Mobster, Pinnacle Books 1973, pp. 188–89.
>
56 abortion racket: Mark Hansen’s ex-lodger Ann Toth stated in an interview with police that Hansen claimed to perform abortions with pills: see DA statement of Ann Toth taken on December 13, 1949.
56 talking to a crooked cop: Tereba, Tere, Mickey Cohen.
56 dance floor: See DA note entitled “Information in re suspects.”
56 “dance” for the club: NTG “spotted” the future Lili St. Cyr at one such show in Saugus, Massachusetts. (See Zemeckis, Leslie, Goddess of Love.)
56 Owen “Owney” Madden: For more on NTG and his mob connections, see Hoefling, Larry J., Nils Thor Granlund, McFarland, 2010, pp. 116 et seq.
57 pitched up at Carlos Avenue: See DA document entitled “Movements and Activities of Elizabeth Short, Victim.” Short left the Brevoort Hotel, where she stayed with Gordon Fickling, on August 27, 1946. From August 28 to September 19 she lived at the Hawthorne Hotel, 1611 North Orange Drive, Los Angeles, with Marjorie Graham. Short and Graham are then stated to have lived with the musician Sid Zaid at the Figueroa Hotel from September 20 to October 1, when they moved in with Mark Hansen at his Carlos Avenue apartment.
57 “always in trouble beauty”: Herald-Express, January 18, 1947.
57 paid it: Herald-Express, January 17, 1947.
57 all the more tantalizing: See DA statement of Ann Toth dated December 13, 1949.
58 never delivered: DA closure report dated February 20, 1951, entry relating to Mark Hansen.
58 “bringing her home”: DA statement of Mark Hansen dated December 16, 1949.
58 Guardian Arms apartments: DA closure report dated February 20, 1951, entry relating to Marvin Margolis.
58 when Mark Hansen was around: DA statement of Ann Toth dated December 13, 1949.
58 no place to stay: DA statement of Ann Toth dated December 13, 1949.
58 out of his automobile: DA statement of Ann Toth dated December 13, 1949.
58 back into his home: DA statement of Mark Hansen dated December 16, 1949.
59 “from the time she came there”: DA statement of Ann Toth, dated February 28, 1950.
59 telephone bill: DA statement of Ann Toth dated December 13, 1949.