A Pill Bottle Is Not A Toy

December 23, 1947
Los Angeles

Trying to entertain her daughter Penelope, 18 months, while herself recovering from surgery, Mrs. Evelyn Gavrus of 10923 S. Hobart Blvd. tossed a closed bottle of laxative pills to the baby, thinking she would toy with it like a rattle. The child deftly popped the lid off and gobbled down four or five pills as Evelyn screamed for help. Neighbors came running, but by the time they got Penelope down to Park Emergency Hospital, Gardena, she was dead, her tiny frame overwhelmed by the 2/100s of a grain of poison inside each pill.

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

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Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

One thought on “A Pill Bottle Is Not A Toy”

  1. The young mother asked the waitress at the cafe in the Subway Terminal Building to hold her baby for just a moment—and then she was gone.

    Four-month-old Nancy Joyce Morris, with light blue eyes and blond hair, was wrapped in a purple quilt and a pink blanket to which her young mother had pinned a Christmas card: To Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lane, 1711 N. Alexandria, with a return address of C.H. Wagoner, 4256 Troost Ave., in North Hollywood. It was signed Bonnie.

    Authorities identified the mother as Bonnie Neva Morris, 18. Until a little more than a week before, she had been living with her mother and stepfather, C.H. Wagoner, who identified the baby at Los Angeles General Hospital. Wagoner told investigators that Bonnie had been living with them after separating from her husband, but they could no longer accommodate her and the baby because of his wife’s illness and asked the young mother to leave.

    Robert Lane, as close readers of the 1947project will remember, is the brother of Marjorie Lane Donlevy and has testified in her divorce trial against actor Brian Donlevy. Lane’s wife was Bonnie Morris’ cousin.

    Although child welfare officials received hundreds of offers to adopt young Nancy, The Times reports that the matter was to be decided by the courts.

    Unfortunately, there is apparently no further word in The Times on what became of Nancy Joyce Morris or her mother, Bonnie Neva Morris. A death records search returns nothing on Bonnie, who would be 76, or for Nancy, who would be 58.

    Quote of the day: “I understand that there is quite a Christmas celebration at the prison and the men don’t want to miss it.â€Â
    Leola Buck Kellogg, attorney for Warren Gallinger and Kenneth May, who asked the judge to sentence them immediately for car theft so they could be back at San Quentin for the holidays.

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

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