Did You Want A Fingertip With That Beer?

January 29, 1947
San Pedro

Daniel Baccarat, 50-year-old liquor store proprietor until recently serving customers at 211 W. Ninth Street is on the run after City Health Inspectors discovered that the possibly infectious leper was working with the public. An attorney who called the Health Department to inquire if a warrant had been issued for Baccarat’s arrest rang off the line when asked if he represented the man or knew where he was hiding.

Baccarat first received treatment at the National Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana in 1928, and in 1931 was discharged as an arrested case. But four years later, San Francisco physicians discovered his disease had recurred and he was forced into hospital treatment. When he volunteered to return to Carville, Baccarat was freed… and somehow turned up in San Pedro twelve years later.

If found, Baccarat will be taken to General Hospital to be examined by Leon Griest, Chief Quarantine Officer of the City Health Department, but he can only be shipped back to Louisiana if he agrees to go.

Published by

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 “Did You Want A Fingertip With That Beer?”

  1. Wanted: Thief Who
    Took 3 Snakes

    SAN GABRIEL, Jan. 28—Chief Frank L. Carpenter sent out a police broadcast tonight for capture of the boldest and most daring thief in San Gabriel’s history.

    The suspect is wanted for stealing three rattlesnakes.

    The reptiles were taken from the automobile of Joseph Gerle, snake authority of North Hollywood. Gerle was lecturing at the Town House, 900 W. Santa Anita Ave.

    The snakes were in a glass covered box, three feet square, which was missing along with the rattlers when Gerle returned to his car.

    Sally Rand Named
    in Divorce Action

    SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 28(INS)—Sally Rand, bubble and feather dancer, was named in a divorce suit filed today by Mrs. Cecile Belling, against her husband, Lloyd, owner of a nightclub.

    + + +

    Short and sweet on the Examiner’s Page 1. The Times ignored this lawsuit against Sally Rand, but covered her other legal problems in 1947. Times readers also learned that the thief ignored two other boxes of snakes. Nobody seems to have asked Gerle why he was cruising L.A. with a carload of poisonous reptiles.

    Quote of the day: “The Evening Herald and Express Grows Just Like Los Angeles.â€Â
    Masthead, Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express.

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

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