Death in California : The Bizarre, Freakish, and Just Curious Ways People Die in the Golden State

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781884995576
• ISBN10: 1884995578
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2009-10-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

With details about grim and grisly fatalities, this history of California's arcane deaths encompasses the murders and accidents that at one time shocked the West Coast. The stories of hangings, gun accidents, suicides, crashes, and overdoses of both the famous and obscure offer a bizarre and lighthearted, if sometimes perverse, glimpse into the Golden State's strange past. Wide-rangingfrom the tragic tale of 14 tourists swept to their deaths over Vernal Fall in pastoral Yosemite National Park and the gritty details of Bob "Bear" Hite overdosing on heroin in a seedy Hollywood nightclub to the shocking chronicle of a 10-ton jet crashing into a Bay Area kitchenthis zany collection is delightfully weird and enthrallingly human.

Author Biography

David Kulczyk is a historian and author whose work has appeared in the Chico News and Review, the East Bay Express, the Sacramento News and Review, and the San Francisco Guardian. He is the author of California Justice. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
The Bowman Incident	p. 1
Monroeville, Colusa County-March 9, 1852
A Decade of War	p. 9
Butte County-1860 to 1870
The Evilest Stepmother	p. 17
Gridley, Butte County-June 26, 1911
The Wheatland Hop Riot	p. 19
Wheatland, Yuba County-August 3, 1913
President Harding Is Dead	p. 26
San Francisco-August 2, 1923
Vernal Fall 14/Humans 0	p. 32
Yosemite National Park
The Ape Boy	p. 38
Wineville/MiraLoma, Riverside County-1926 to 1928
Russ Columbo	p. 49
Los Angeles-September 2, 1934
The Colossal Liar	p. 54
Oakland-December 7, 1938
The Duchess	p. 59
San Francisco and Sacramento-April 7 and 13, 1940
The Lady Killer	p. 65
San Mateo/Palo Alto-1935 and 1942
Head and Hands	p. 71
Temple City, L.A. County-December 30, 1945
Deportee Plane Crash	p. 77
Fresno County-January 28, 1948
The Snake Woman	p. 81
Cypress, Orange County-July 20, 1948
The Little Girl in the Well	p. 86
San Marino, Los Angeles county-April 8, 1949
Jumped the Gun	p. 90
Santa Barbara-July 7, 1950
Penny for Her Thoughts?	p. 92
Daly City-February 1, 1959
Paradise Lost	p. 99
Stateline, Nevada-March 1, 1964
Suicide Via Airliner	p. 103
San Ramon, contra Costa County-May 7, 1964
Bobby Fuller	p. 108
Hollywood-July 18, 1966
Death House in Davis	p. 111
Davis, Yolo County-April 7, 1972
Death in an Ice Cream Parlor	p. 114
Sacramento-September 24, 1972
there Goes the Neighborhood
Alameda-February 7, 1973
Yuba City Loses a Generation	p. 121
Martinez-May 21, 1976
Anissa Jones	p. 125
Oceanside, San Diego County-August 28, 1976
Bob "The Bear" Hite	p. 128
Los Angeles-April 5, 1981
The Keddie Murders	p. 131
Keddie, Plumas County-April 11, 1981
The Caldecott Tunnel Explosion	p. 137
Orinda/Oakland-April 7, 1982
Bill Graham	p. 141
Vallejo, Sonoma County-October 25, 1991
Talkin' 'bout My Generation	p. 148
Laguna Beach-April 22, 2007
Map	p. 153
Bibliography	p. 155
Index	p. 161
About the Author	p. 169
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