Saturday, March 31, 1934

Went up to the Dime Store with Gweyn, Al and the kids. Alfreda set our hair. Ruth Ray came down in the p.m.

John Calvin McCoy (September 28, 1811 – September 2, 1889)

Considered the "father of Kansas City," Calvin was born in Vincennes, Indiana, and
accompanied his parents to Kansas City in 1830 to perform Baptist missionary work.

In 1833, John McCoy built a two-story cabin at what is today 444 Westport Road on the
northeast corner of Pennsylvania. McCoy opened a store for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail
and Oregon Trail. He named the area Westport because it was the last location before travelers
ventured into the Territory of Kansas.

McCoy's store was three miles from the Missouri River. He established a dock at a rocky point in
the  river between Main and Grand Street that came to be called Westport Landing. He followed
a trail that was to become Broadway to reach it. The dock proved to be quite popular but the land
surrounding it belonged to a farmer. In 1850 he and other residents banded together to buy the farm.
Their company was called the Town of Kansas because the port area was the last inhabitable area
 before the flood-prone confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River.

A statue of McCoy stands today in Pioneer Park at Westport and Broadway. Also depicted in the
statue are Alexander Majors and Jim Bridger.

John Calvin McCoy is buried in Kansas City's Union Cemetery.

Friday, March 30, 1934

Didn't have to go to school today as it was Good Friday. Cleaned house. I went over to Gweyn's in the p.m.

Supreme Court of the United States

Full Case Name: Brown, et al vs. State of Mississippi

Facts of the Case:

Raymond Stuart, a white planter, was murdered on March 30, 1934. Arthur Ellington, Ed
Brown and Henry Shields, three black tenant farmers, were arrested for his murder. At the
trial, the prosecution's principal evidence was the defendants' confessions to police officers.
During the trial, however, prosecution witnesses freely admitted that the defendants confessed
 only after being subjected to brutal whippings by the officers. One defendant had also been
subjected to being strung up by his neck from a tree in addition to the whippings. The confessions
were nevertheless admitted into evidence, and were the only evidence used in the subsequent
 one-day trial. The defendants were convicted by a jury and sentenced to be hanged. The convictions
 were affirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court on appeal.

Holding by the Supreme Court of the United States:

In a unanimous decision, the Court reversed the convictions of the defendants. The opinion
was delivered by Chief Justice Hughes. It held that a defendant's confession that was extracted
by police violence cannot be entered as evidence and violates the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.

Aftermath:

Upon remand from the United States Supreme Court, the three defendants pleaded nolo contendere
 to manslaughter rather than risk a retrial. They were however sentenced to six months, two and
one-half years, and seven and one-half years in prison, respectively

Thursday, March 29, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Ruth Ray and Gweyn and I went skating, but Pauline had to go in.

Thomas Stearns Eliot AKA T. S. Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
Naturalized as a British Citizen in 1927

 Eliot was a playwright, literary critic, and an important English-language poet of the 20th century.
The poem that made his name, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock—started in 1910 and published
 in Chicago in 1915—is seen as a masterpiece of the modernist movement. It was followed by some
of the best-known poems in the English language, including Gerontion (1920), The Waste Land
(1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also
known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). Eliot was awarded the
 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

Wednesday, March 28, 1934

Went to school with Pauline. I stayed tonight in History and read the chapter that I missed yesterday.

Leo Hall, convicted and later hanged for Erland's Point murders

On March 28, 1934, six people are massacred in a beach house on Erland’s Point, six miles
northwest of Bremerton, in Kitsap County. Three days later, neighbors are alerted to the murder
 scene by barking dogs. Fueled by excessive and sensational press coverage, the murder investigation
turns into a circus. After a week, the investigation stalls and the killer’s trail grows cold. In October
1935, 18 months after the sensational crime, Leo Roderick Bernard Hall, age 33, an ex-fighter and
dry-dock worker is arrested for the mass murder. In another news-frenzied event, Leo Hall is hanged
at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla on September 11, 1936.
 
His accuser was Peggy Peterson Paulos, age 27, a local barmaid and waitress, who told police
she was Hall’s reluctant accomplice in a bungled robbery at Erland’s Point. When the killing began,
Paulos ran for her life. Both Hall and Paulos were charged with the murders in Kitsap County
and went to trial in December 1935. The jury convicted Hall of first-degree murder, sentencing
him to death; Paulos was acquitted and set free.

Tuesday, March 27, 1934

Stayed home from school today. Got me a new pair shoes, hose, hat, dress. Mother got her a permanent wave. Pauline was down.

1930s Permanent Wave Machine
Patented by German inventor Charles Nessler

Prior to the twentieth century, a woman with straight hair who desired curls had to spend hours
heating curling irons over a flame or sleep with rags and pins in her hair in order to achieve waves.
 If she could not attain the desired result this way (or tired of the short-lived effects) she may have
 used false hair pieces instead. But beginning in the 1920s, women born with flat locks saw new hope
 for attaining long-lasting curls. Through the promise of science, rather daunting contraptions like
this late 1930s permanent wave machine offered "permanent" results via a combination of chemicals
and electrically heated clamps.

To perm: Hair was wound up on spiral rods, then the machine was attached to the ends of the rods
and the hair was "steamed." Finally a blower was used to cool off the hair but the scalp was often
burned, sometimes even scalded.

Permanent waves cost $1 in 1934.

Monday, March 26, 1934

Went to school today with Pauline. Had History test today. Sure was hard. I rode the street car this p.m.

Founder's Zippo Lighter

This unique Zippo Lighter features the signature & image of George G. Blaisdell,
the founder of Zippo Lighters

Blaisdell founded Zippo Manufacturing Company in 1932, and produced the first Zippo
lighter in early 1933, being inspired by an Austrian cigarette lighter of similar design. It
got its name because Blaisdell liked the sound of the word "zipper" and "zippo" sounded
 more modern. On March 3, 1936, patent was granted for the Zippo lighter.

The original Zippos were made of brass but as this commodity was unobtainable due to
World War II, Zippo used steel. The soldiers liked them because they were "windproof" 
due to the design of the windscreen and adequate rate of fuel delivery. After World War
II, the Zippo lighter became increasingly used in advertising by companies large and small
through the 1960s.

The basic mechanism of the Zippo lighter has remained unchanged. A museum called
Zippo/Case Vsitors Center is located in Bradford, Pennsylvania at 1932 Zippo Drive. This
15,000 square foot building contains rare and custom made Zippo lighters, and also sells
the entire Zippo line. The museum also contains an enormous collection of Case knives. Since
 the Zippo company's 60th anniversary in 1992, annual editions have been produced for
worldwide Zippo collectors.

Sunday, March 25, 1934

Mother and I went to Sunday school and church. Gweyn and Pauline and I went up to the church on 27th Street this evening.

March 25, 1934

This dramatic photo expertly captured the drama as on March 25, 1934 men working
 with molten Pyrex glass were pouring what was then the biggest mirror ever made. This
casting was unsuccessful, but a second attempt to pour the 200-inch Pyrex disc was
successfully completed on December 2, 1934.

Saturday, March 24,1934

I went over to Gweyn's. Mother and Ruth Ray and Nadine and I went to the Food Show. Aunt Kate and Helen and Laten were there.

Senator Millard E. Tydings
One of the authors of the Tydings-McDuffie Act

The Tydings-McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act; Public Law 73-127),
 approved on March 24, 1934, was a United States federal law which provided for self-
government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a
period of ten years. It was authored by Maryland Senator Millard E. Tydings and Alabama
Representative John McDuffie. During this time, the U.S. government would maintain
military and naval bases in the islands, Philippine court decisions were subject to review
by the U.S. Supreme Court, and tariffs would be imposted on Philippine sugar, coconut
oil and fibers in excess of specific quotas.










Friday, March 23, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Walked home with Pauline, Nadine and Ruth Ray.

March 23, 1934 - Wichita, Kansas canning kitchen

Both male and female workers at a 1934 Wichita canning kitchen can meat that will eventually

 be distributed to relief clients suffering during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl of the

1930s. This program was supervised by the Kansas Emergency Relief Committee.

Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society

Thursday, March 22, 1934

Daddy took me to school. In the evening Gweyn and I went up to Irving to see the Open House program the kids gave.

Horton Smith - AKA "The Missouri Rover"
Won the first Masters golf championship with a score of 4-under 282

March 22, 1934: The first Masters golf championship began in Augusta, Georgia.
Georgia’s most famous golf championship was won three days later by Horton Smith.
He edged Craig Wood by one stroke, finishing at 4-under 282.

The Masters was so new in 1934 that it wasn't even called The Masters. Co-founder
Clifford Roberts wanted from the start to use that name for the event, but co-founder
Bobby Jones thought the name too presumptuous. So in 1934 the tournament was
born as the "Augusta National Invitation Tournament." In 1939 it was officially
named The Masters.

Wednesday, March 21, 1934

Tonight Daddy took Mother, Ruth Ray, Nadine, Pauline and I to the Food Show. Had a swell time. Got a lot of samples.

Kansas City Kitty and Georgia Tom
Recording Date: May 13, 1930 - Nov 1, 1934
Genre: Blues
Style: Country/Pre-War/Regional/St. Louis Blues

Kansas City Kitty was a name used by a woman or women who made records with Georgia
 Tom Dorsey during the early '30s. About 60 years later, Document released a collection of
16 Vocalions recorded in March 1931 and four sides cut for Bluebird in November 1934, on
which someone operated a kazoo so skillfully that it sounded at times like a cornet.

Tuesday, March 20, 1934

Walked home with Nadine, Pauline, Beatrice and Virginia. Saw Bernice. Sure was cold today, especially coming home.

Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956)
Named the 10th Greatest North American Athlete of the 20th Century by ESPN, 
and the 9th Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century by the Associated Press.

On March 20, 1934, Babe Didrikson pitched one inning of exhibition baseball
for the Philadelphia Athletics in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She started
the first inning and allowed just one walk and no hits. Though Didrickson was not
the first woman to play baseball with major league ballplayers, she had attained
national-hero status with an unprecedented performance at the 1932 Olympics.

Monday, March 19, 1934

Had ballroom dancing in Gym. Miss Pape played the piano. Walked home with kids.

Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (1747–1770)
Born Anna Maria Redi to a large noble family in Arezzo, Italy
Canonized (made a saint): March 19, 1934 by Pope Pius XI

After attending the boarding school of the Benedictine nuns of St. Apollonia's in Florence,
 she entered the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Florence, taking the name
Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus. A private and spiritual person, she seemed to have
a premonition of her death, which was at the young age of 23.

After death the fast decomposition of her body made the nuns fear it would decay before
 proper funeral rites were conducted. The next day decomposition reversed and three days after
 her death her body was lifelike. The nuns, the Provincial, several priests and doctors all saw
 and testified to the fact that the body was as lifelike as if she were sleeping, and there was not
the least visible evidence of corruption or decay. Her incorrupt body lies in the monastery in Florence. 

Sunday, March 18, 1934

Mother and I went to Sunday school and church. In the evening Gweyn and I took a walk. Then went to church at 27th. Mother was there.

Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1895 – October 26, 1952)

Born in Wichita, Kansas to former slaves, Hattie McDaniel was the youngest
of 13 children. She graduated from Denver East High School after her family moved
to Colorado and went to work with her brother's minstrel show. In addition to performing,
Hattie was also a songwriter and singer who appeared with Professor George Morrison's
 Melody Hounds, a touring black ensemble. She also sang on radio.

In 1931, Hattie moved to Los Angeles, where she appeared in hundreds of films as an
extra, playing maids and mammies, roles she had lampooned on the vaudeville stage.
In 1934, McDaniel joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and began appearing in major
motion pictures. With competition stiff for the part of Mammy in "Gone With the Wind,"
McDaniel auditioned in an authentic maid's costume and won the role.

For the role of Mammy, Hattie McDaniel received an Academy Award for best supporting
actress, the first African-American to win an Oscar.

Saturday, March 17, 1934

I was going to the Weiner Roast at church but as it was cold and snowed more, didn't go. Walked to Dime Store with Ruth Ray, then went to her house.

Rome Protocols - March 17, 1934

The Rome Protocols were a series of three international agreements signed in Rome
on March 17, 1934 between the governments of Austria, Hungary and Italy. They were
signed by Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Austrian Prime Minister Engelbert
Dollfuss and Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Gombos. All three protocols went into effect
on July 12, 1934, and were registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on December 12, 1934.

The protocols, even though only dealing with economic development, were part of the
process of cooperation between the three signatory governments against the revisionist
policies of Hitler, who had just come to power in Germany, as well as against the territorial
 integrity of Yugoslavia, which they wished to dismember among themselves. Cooperation
under these protocols was short-lived, as Mussolini joined hands with Hitler against Austria,
and the Hungarian government under Miklos Horthy also joined the Third Reich in 1938.

Friday, March 16, 1934

Stayed home today. Cold and snow.

Federal Duck Stamp, signed by hunter as required for legal use

The Federal Duck Stamp was created through a wetlands conservation program. President
Herbert Hoover signed the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929 to authorize the
acquisition and preservation of wetlands as waterfowl habitat.

The law, however, did not provide a permanent source of money to buy and preserve the
wetlands. On March 16, 1934, Congress passed, and President Roosevelt signed, the Migratory
Bird Hunting Stamp Act. Popularly known as the Duck Stamp Act, the bill's whole purpose
 was to generate revenue designated for only one use: acquiring wetlands for what is now
known as the National Wildlife Refuge System. 

Thursday, March 15, 1934

I waited for Pauline and Nadine. Then Pauline's father came after us kids. Bernice was with us.

"The Green Box"
Written by Walter B. Gibson writing as Maxwell Grant
Published March 15, 1934
Sanctum Books #59

What is the strange secret of "The Green Box" that is worth human life? The Shadow seeks
the deadly secret in a masterpiece of misdirection that introduced aides Hawkeye and Tapper.

Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows!

Wednesday, March 14, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Then we met Ruth Ray and us kids walked with her to school.

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra
Born May 12, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri
Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder and manager

Berra played almost his entire 19-year baseball career (1946–1965) for the
New York Yankees. He is one of only four players to be named the Most Valuable
Player of the American League three times and is one of only six managers to lead
both American and National League teams to the World Series. As a player,
coach, or manager, Berra appeared in 21 World Series. He was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and is widely regarded as one of the best catchers
to ever play the game.

Of course, no summation would be complete without a few of the pithy comments
known as "Yogiisms." Some examples:

"It ain't over till it's over" - In July 1973, when Berra's Mets trailed the
Chicago Cubs by 9½ games in the National League East; the Mets rallied
to win the division title on the final day of the season.

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it" - Giving directions to his
home to his best boyhood friend, Joe Garagiola.

"It's deja vu all over again" - After watching Mickey Mantle and Roger
Maris repeatedly hit back-to-back home runs for the Yankees in the 1960s

Tuesday, March 13, 1934

I walked to school by myself. Ruth Ray went to Girl Scouts so I walked home by myself.

In 1933, Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia Council baked cookies and sold them in the city's
 gas and electric company windows. Just 23 cents per box of 44 cookies, or six boxes for
$1.24 helped girls develop their marketing and business potential and raise funds for their
local Girl Scout council program. In 1934, Greater Philadelphia became the first council to
sell commercially baked cookies.



Monday, March 12, 1934

Daddy took Virginia, Beatrice and me to school. Nadine came to the library, but Pauline didn't.

March 12, 1934 - Lieutenants E.C. Plummer (left) and H.M. McCoy preparing 

for an airmail flight at Newark, New Jersey, airfield.

The first regularly scheduled airmail service began in the U.S. on May 15, 1918. The Post
Office Department (POD) oversaw the service, but having no reservoir of experienced
 pilots, looked to U.S. Army Air Corps pilots to fly the mail for the first three months. On
August 12, 1918, the POD took over full control of the service, using its own pilots. The
 Department transferred responsibility for airmail service over to private companies in the
late 1920s through a series of acts aimed at using postal funds to support the nation’s
fledgling aviation industry. Young aviation companies snatched up most of the postal
 pilots, who were greatly prized for their mail flying experience.

Sunday, March 11, 1934

Mother went to church, but I stayed home and got dinner. In p.m. went to Linwood with Ruth Ray and Nadine and saw "Little Women."

"Little Women" - Original Poster
Starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Jean Parker, Frances Dee
Directed by George Cukor
Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Released: November 16, 1933
Running Time: 117 minutes

Partial Plot Summary:

Set in Concord, Massachusetts during and after the American Civil War, the film is a
 is a series of vignettes focusing on the struggles and adventures of the four March
 sisters and their mother, affectionately known as Marmee (Spring Byington), as they await
the return of their father, who is fighting with the Union Army. Spirited tomboy Jo (Hepburn),
who caters to the whims of their well-to-do Aunt March (Edna May Oliver), dreams of
becoming a famous author and writes plays for her sisters to perform for the local children.
Amy (Bennett) is pretty but selfish, Meg (Dee) works as a seamstress, and sensitive Beth
 (Parker) practices on her clavichord, an aging instrument sorely in need of tuning.



Saturday, March 10,1934

Skated up to the Dime Store with Nadine, Ruth Ray and Bobby. Got rose fingernail polish. Went with Gweyn to Sears Roebuck's.

Advertisement for Modern Home No. 115

Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble
kit houses sold through mail order by American retailer Sears, Roebuck and
Company. More than 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and
 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build 
a house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and
 neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families.

As demand decreased, Sears expanded the product line to feature houses that varied
in expense to meet the budgets of various buyers. Sears began offering financing plans
 in 1916. However, the company experienced steadily rising payment defaults throughout
 the Great Depression, resulting in increasing strain for the catalog house program. More
 than 370 designs of Sears Homes were offered during the program's 32-year history. The
 mortgage portion of the program was discontinued in 1934 after Sears was forced
to liquidate $11 million in defaulted debt.

Friday, March 9, 1934

Today was Mother's birthday. Walked to school with Pauline. She got mad after school. Ruth Ray and I walked over to Central Junior's program.

St. Joseph Hospital - 1917-1977
Linwood & Prospect
Kansas City, Missouri

Founded in 1874 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Joseph
Hospital was originally housed in the old Waterman house at 7th and
Pennsylvania. In 1917 the new hospital opened at Linwood and Prospect.
It was the latest word in hospital construction as it was built in the shape 
 of an "X" so that every room was on the outside. The hospital moved to
its present location at I-435 and State Line in 1977.

Thursday, March 8, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. In the evening I got Mother a kettle. Us 4 (Ruth Ray, Pauline, Mother and I) went to show. Saw "Beer & Pretzels" and two other comedies and "The Solitaire Man." Got a green bowl at show.

"Beer & Pretzels" - 1933
Starring Ted Healy & His Stooges

Plot summary:

MGM Stooges two reeler is a great example of the act when it was Ted Healy & His Stooges.
When the foursome is thrown out of the theater, the Stooges demand Healy swears off
off "da goils." So, its up to the Stooges to keep Healy away from the female of the species.
 Desperate for work, the group gets hired as waiter/entertainers in a beer hall. The short seems
 to set the template for the Columbia shorts that followed as the inept Stooges slap each other
silly in between making their boss regret he ever hired the trio (not to mention Healy). As is
 the formula in the MGM shorts, there are great musical numbers in between the Stooges schtick.
 This includes a wild dance routine by Bonnie Bonnell and the Three Ambassadors doing
"Steins on the Table" celebrating the end of prohibition and joined in by a cigar smoking Curly
 who plays a mean set of spoons! Incredibly elaborate all out night club fight finale shows
 MGM spent money on these shorts.

Wednesday, March 7, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. Sure cold. Daddy lost his job so he came after us kids. Ruth Ray and Nadine were down.

Martha Jane Cannary (or Canary) Burke (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903)
Better known as "Calamity Jane"

Born in Princeton, Missouri, Martha Jane took over as head of the family after her parents
died on the way to Montana. She loaded up the wagon and took her five younger siblings
to Ford Bridger, Wyoming Territory. They arrived in May 1868. From there they traveled
on the Union Pacific Railroad to Piedmont, Wyoming.

In Piedmont, Martha Jane took whatever jobs she could to provide for her large family. She
worked as a dishwasher, a cook, a waitress, a dance-hall girl, a nurse, and an ox team driver.
Finally, in 1874, she found work as a scout at Fort Russell. During this time period, Jane also
began her on-and-off employment as a prostitute at the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch.

At some point during the time she was involved in several campaigns in the long-running
 military conflicts with Native American Indians, she acquired the nickname "Calamity Jane."
She claimed she was given the name by a Captain Egan, but a popular belief is that she
 acquired it as a result of her warnings to men that to offend her was to "court calamity."
It appears possible that Jane was not part of her name until the nickname was coined for her.

"Calamity Jane" met Wild Bill Hickok when she moved to Deadwood, South Dakota, and
always claimed to have been married to him and that he was the father of her child (Jean)
whom she put up for adoption. No records are known to exist in support of her claim, and
at the time of his death in 1876, Hickok was married to another woman. Eventually, Jane
bought a ranch in Montana and married a man named Clinton Burke. She had another daughter,
Jane, who was given over to foster parents when she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West
Show as a storyteller.

Depressed, and a full-blown alcoholic, Calamity Jane died while visiting in Terry, South Dakota;
she was buried next to Wild Bill  Hickok in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota. 

Tuesday, March 6, 1934

Walked to school today with Pauline. Mrs. Raifert came over. Played pinochle. Nadine was down. We drawed pictures.

Self-portrait of George Caleb Bingham (March 20, 1811 – July 7, 1879)

Born in Virginia but raised in Franklin County, Missouri, Bingham was a self-taught
artist. By age nineteen, Bingham was painting portraits for $20.00 apiece, often completing
 the works in a single day. He moved to St. Louis to ply his trade but contracted
measles, which left him weak and permanently bald. He continued to work in St. Louis,
though he kept his family and his principal residence in Arrow Rock, Missouri, where his home
has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Bingham next moved his family to Europe where he studied the Old Masters and
worked on important commissions from the Missouri State Legislature, as well as independent
 paintings. Upon his return to America, Bingham began painting more portraits, which had
always been his "bread and butter" work. Always interested in politics, he was appointed
State Treasurer of Missouri during the American Civil War.

In 1874, he was appointed president of Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, and
appointed the first chief of police there. In 1875, the governor appointed Bingham as
Adjutant-General of Missouri, and thereafter he was often referred to as General Bingham.
Toward the end of his life, although quite ill, Bingham was appointed the first Professor
of Art at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He met with only a few students
 before his death.

Bingham's most famous painting, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, is owned by
the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Monday, March 5, 1934

Walked to school by myself. In the evening Ruth Ray and Pauline came down. Played the Victrola. Danced.

Flag of the "Dominion of Westralia" as proposed in 1934

The government of West Australia sent a petition to King George V requesting
legislation which would allow Western Australia to secede from Australia. The British
 Parliament refused to consider the petition, however, without the approval of the
Australian Parliament in Canberra. Eventually this secession movement lost support
and by 1938 had ceased to exist. (It was revivied in 1974, however.)

Sunday, March 4, 1934

Went to church and Sunday school. Went over to Montgall Park and played tennis with Sunday school class. In the evening we went to 27th Street church with Pauline, Nadine and Ruth Ray. Readings.

Charles Binaggio (January 12, 1909 - April 5, 1950)

Another of the Five Iron Men of Kansas City, Binaggio rose through the ranks of the Mob to
become the boss of the Kansas City crime family. He earned his prominence in the "family" by
 making a lot of money from liquor and gambling. On July 20, 1931 Binaggio was arrested in
 Kansas City following a shootout that killed a Bureau of Prohibition agent and two others.
After questioning him, the police determined that he hadn't taken part in the shootout and
released him with a vagrancy charge.

Following his release, Binaggio was taken under the wing of John Lazia, who had established
 a political club (the North Side Democratic Club) in order to increase his mob's power. This
 led to Binaggio's involvement with the local and State political scene that would last until his death
in 1950. After Lazia was assassinated in 1934,  his underboss Charles V. "Charley the Wop"
 Carollo ascended to the crime throne. At some point it is believed that Binaggio became Carollo's
 underboss. In 1939, Carollo was caught up in a citywide clean-up campaign and he was sent to
prison for income tax evasion. This led to the rise of Binaggio to the position of the city's mob boss
 in October of 1939.


On the night of April 6, 1950, Binaggio and his underboss, Charles "Mad Dog" Gargotta (a
notorious enforcer within the Kansas City family), were called to meet some unknown persons at
the First Ward Democratic Club near downtown Kansas City. Binaggio left his driver/bodyguard,
 Nick Penna, at a tavern owned by the mob, saying that he would return in a few minutes. Binaggio
and Gargotta then borrowed a car and drove off to the Democratic Club.

Shortly after 8 P.M., residents in apartments above the Democratic Club heard several shots.
Eight hours later, a cab driver going to a nearby cafe noticed that the club door was open; he
also heard water running inside. The police were called and they found the bodies of Charles
 Binaggio and Charles Gargotta inside the club. Binaggio was seated at a desk and Gargotta
was lying inside the front door. Both men had been shot in the head four times with
separate .32 caliber revolvers. 

Saturday, March 3, 1934

Gweyn and the kids, Mother and Nadine and I walked up to the Dime Store on 31st. Went to show with Nadine. Saw "Day of Reckoning" and "Diamond Trail."

Day of Recknoning starring Richard Dix and Madge Evans
Co-starring: Conway Tearle, Una Merkel and George "Spanky" McFarland
Directed by Charles Brabin
Run time: 69 minutes
Black and white

Plot Summary:

In this brutal prison drama a hen-pecked husband is sentenced to prison after getting caught with
 his hand in the company till. He is sent to a high-rise facility in LA. It seems the fellow was only
following the instructions of his domineering, constantly nagging wife who, as soon as he is put
away, takes up with a more successful businessman. This causes her new lover's ex-lover to get
insanely jealous and kill the conniving wife. The businessman decides to take the blame for the
death and he is sent to the same jail as the dead woman's husband. One of the two meets a violent end.

Friday, March 2, 1934

Walked to school with Pauline. In the evening I walked home with Bernice, Pauline and Nadine.

John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934)
Federal Public Enemy Number One

On March 2, 1934, that notorious gangster John Dillinger walked into a jail cell in Crown Point, Indiana.
He was charged with the murder of a police officer in East Chicago. The jailer was confident that the
jail was impossible to escape from, but Dillinger proved him wrong and escaped.

Dillinger was in his jail cell when the janitor entered and Dillinger jumped him, jamming a piece of
 wood carved into the shape of a gun into his ribs. (Dillinger's lawyer at the time brought the
wooden gun to him.) Dillinger tricked half a dozen guards back into the cell block, took their
weapons and locked them up.

After making his escape, Dillinger stole the sheriff's car and drove across the Indiana/Illinois
state line to Chicago. When he crossed the state line with a stolen car he became a federal fugitive,
under the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act called the Dyer Act. Crossing the state line in the stolen
vehicle was Dillinger’s fatal mistake, because this was what made him a federal criminal.

Thursday, March 1, 1934

I went swimming today in Gym. Swam 2/3 length. Walked home with Bernice, Pauline and Nadine.

"Hooverville" in Seattle, Washington

A 'Hooverville' was the popular name for shanty towns built by homeless people during the
Great Depression. They were named after the President of the United States at the time, Herbert
 Hoover, because he allegedly let the nation slide into depression. The term was coined by Charles
 Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee.

Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and hobos and tramps were common sights
in the 1920s, but the economic downturn increased their numbers and concentrated them in urban
settlements close to soup kitchens run by charities. These settlements were often formed on empty
land and generally consisted of tents and small shacks.

Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills and
were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their
residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were
available to them. They usually had a small stove, bedding and a couple of simple cooking implements.

The New Deal enacted special relief programs aimed at the homeless under the Federal Transient
Service (FTS), which operated from 1933-35.