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.