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Speaker 1: Hello, and Happy Saturday. Griffith Jay Griffith was born on

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Speaker 1: January fourth, eighteen fifty, or one hundred and seventy five

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Speaker 1: years ago today. Griffith is probably best known for his

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Speaker 1: donation of the land that became Griffith Park in Los Angeles,

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Speaker 1: but during his lifetime he also became notorious after shooting

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Speaker 1: his wife Tina in nineteen oh three. Our episode on

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Speaker 1: All of This is Today's Saturday Classic, and it originally

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Speaker 1: came out on January twenty fifth, twenty twenty one. Enjoy

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly

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Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

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Speaker 2: So if you have spent time in Los Angeles, or

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Speaker 2: have you even read about the city or heard about

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Speaker 2: it in passing, you have probably heard of Griffith Park.

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Speaker 2: That is a huge space. It's forty five hundred acres,

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Speaker 2: incredibly large from municipal park in a city. For comparison,

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Speaker 2: Central Park in Manhattan is eight hundred forty two point

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Speaker 2: six acres, and more than three thousand of those acres

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Speaker 2: were donated all at once for the founding of the

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Speaker 2: park by a single man named Griffith J. Griffith. That

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Speaker 2: name in and of itself makes Mighiel a little There

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Speaker 2: you have it. There is a huge statue of Griffith

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Speaker 2: at the park's entrance, and while his name today is

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Speaker 2: associated with the park and the observatory, during his time

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Speaker 2: he was associated with some other things real estate, social climbing,

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Speaker 2: and a scandal that occupied columns and columns of newspapers

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Speaker 2: around the country. Heads Up, this episode is going to

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Speaker 2: talk quite a bit, particularly in the back half, about

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Speaker 2: a pretty horrifying instance of domestic violence and the court

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Speaker 2: cases associated with it, as well as the act itself.

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Speaker 2: So just know that that's an episode.

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Speaker 1: Griffith Jenkins. Griffith was born on January fourth, eighteen fifty

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Speaker 1: in South Wales, and we don't really know a lot

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Speaker 1: about his early years. We do know that the Griffith

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Speaker 1: family was very poor. They had a subsistence farm and

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Speaker 1: Griffith's father also took mining work to make ends meet.

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Speaker 2: When he was still just a teenager, Griffith, who was

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Speaker 2: the oldest child in the family, traveled to the United

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Speaker 2: States with his uncle in eighteen sixty five. Griffith attended

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Speaker 2: school in Pennsylvania, and after his education was complete, he

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Speaker 2: started working as a reporter.

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Speaker 1: In the eighteen seventies, Griffith traveled to the West Coast,

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Speaker 1: making his way to San Francisco, California, to report on

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Speaker 1: the mining industry there. Through his work covering mining interests,

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Speaker 1: he started to be seen as really an expert on

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Speaker 1: the subject, and this led to additional income. As he

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Speaker 1: started working as a consultant. He offered his knowledge of

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Speaker 1: the industry as a whole, as well as specific information

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Speaker 1: about various operation to heads of different companies. He also

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Speaker 1: started his own mining ventures, making decisions based on his

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Speaker 1: wealth of knowledge, which turned to actual wealth pretty quickly

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Speaker 1: as these operations were successful. Yeah, there's actually a lot

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Speaker 1: of variation in the stories of how he made his money.

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Speaker 1: Some will suggest that he made it all consulting, but

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Speaker 1: really he didn't make as much as he claimed. Others

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Speaker 1: say he had these side mining things going on. But basically,

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Speaker 1: by the time he moved to Los Angeles in eighteen

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Speaker 1: eighty two, he did have a pretty significant nest egg

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Speaker 1: with him that he had amassed, and he used that

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Speaker 1: money to establish a reputation as a powerful businessman. Because

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Speaker 1: he primarily used that money to invest in land in

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Speaker 1: the city. At the end of eighteen eighty two, Griffith

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Speaker 1: purchased Rancho los Felies. Yes we know that Angelinos say

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Speaker 1: Los Pilis. He bought this from a man named Thomas Bell.

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Speaker 1: The land had been owned by a woman named Maria

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Speaker 1: Ignacia Fili who had inherited the ranch after her husband died.

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Speaker 1: She later remarried, taking the last name for Dougo, and

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Speaker 1: at that point, Spain was still in the control of

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Speaker 1: the region, having seized the land from indigenous Gabrielino Tongva peoples.

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Speaker 1: The Felice family eventually lost control of the property and

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Speaker 1: it changed hands several times before this purchase when Griffith

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Speaker 1: acquired it, and.

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Speaker 2: By the time GJ. Griffith purchased Rancho los Felies, it

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Speaker 2: had a reputation as a cursed property, but he did

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Speaker 2: not seem to mind. The large tract of land that

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Speaker 2: he bought that made up the Rancho property included what

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Speaker 2: they now call Lost Phelis, Silver Lake and a section

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Speaker 2: of the Santa Monica Mountains. Griffith saw his property acquisition

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Speaker 2: as the beginning of an entirely new venture. He truly

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Speaker 2: intended to build a ranching business there. He imported livestock

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Speaker 2: thousands of sheep, one hundred and fifty cows, and fifty horses.

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Speaker 2: He built a railway around this huge property, and he

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Speaker 2: also started an Ostrich farm. Yeah, he had a business

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Speaker 2: partner in that Ostrich farm. But one of the reasons

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Speaker 2: that he was buying this ranch land, setting up infrastructure

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Speaker 2: and kind of developing it as as this little oasis

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Speaker 2: just outside the city was that he was making a

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Speaker 2: lot of money in the land boom, and he was

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Speaker 2: actually selling off lots as neighborhoods from the southern portion

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Speaker 2: of the land, so he could claim that he already

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Speaker 2: had like some infrastructure and some business going there, and

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Speaker 2: wouldn't you want to live here?

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Speaker 1: At the time, Griffith's ranch was outside the Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: city limits, but he definitely inserted himself right into the

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Speaker 1: middle of the city's social scene. People saw him as

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Speaker 1: a climber and an interloper, and he was referred to

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Speaker 1: by a number of unflattering nicknames and descriptions, the tamest

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Speaker 1: of which might be quote a roly poly, pompous little fellow.

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Speaker 2: But Griffith was intent on becoming a prominent citizen of

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Speaker 2: his new hometown. In one way that he saw to

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Speaker 2: do this was through civic minded acts. So, for example,

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Speaker 2: he sold the city of Los Angeles water rights along

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Speaker 2: the La River at a very discounted price, and this

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Speaker 2: was a really vital step in the city's developing infrastructure.

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Speaker 2: He probably could have set a price that gouged the

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Speaker 2: municipal budget because they really really needed access to that water,

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Speaker 2: But through some combination of genuine desire to do good

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Speaker 2: and also hopes that his generosity would be recognized and

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Speaker 2: gain him some clout, Griffith went ahead and sold it

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Speaker 2: at a financial loss.

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Speaker 1: Griffith also knew the value that a well made marriage

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Speaker 1: match could have on his reputation. Enter Lewis Mesmer and

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Speaker 1: his lovely daughters. Mesmer was quote a pioneer resident and

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Speaker 1: one of the best known citizens of Los Angeles. Mesmer,

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Speaker 1: who had been born in France, was an industrious man

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Speaker 1: who had worked as a baker and a miner, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately settled in life Los Angeles. In eighteen fifty nine,

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Speaker 1: the population was a mere three thousand, five hundred. He

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Speaker 1: started built and sold a number of businesses in the

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Speaker 1: city and laid some of the first Cement's sidewalk in

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Speaker 1: La on the edge of one of his properties. By

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Speaker 1: the time Griffith arrived in La, Mesmer was a well established,

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Speaker 1: well respected businessman who had acquired significant wealth. Additionally, Mesmer's

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Speaker 1: two daughters, Lucille and Christina, were named as inheritors of

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Speaker 1: a huge fortune from a family friend who was Andre Briswalter. Naturally,

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Speaker 1: Griffith went right for the first family of Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: at the time and started a courtship with Christina Mesmer,

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Speaker 1: whose full name was Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer, although she

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Speaker 1: went by either Christina or often Tina. The two were

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Speaker 1: married on January twenty seventh, eighteen eighty seven, and their

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Speaker 1: wedding was covered in the papers as a quote union

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Speaker 1: of two very wealthy Los Angeles families. But right out

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Speaker 1: of the gate, even before the wedding there were issues

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Speaker 1: between Griffith and the Mesmer family over money. After the

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Speaker 1: invitations had already been mailed out, Griffith insisted that Christina

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Speaker 1: sign over her rights to her inheritance to him. He

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Speaker 1: initially thought she was inheriting all of Briswalter's landholdings, and

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Speaker 1: was reportedly really angry when he found out that she

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Speaker 1: was to split that real estate inheritance with her sister Lucy.

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Speaker 1: That was when he insisted that he gained control of

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Speaker 1: the inheritance, and this put Tina in a really terrible spot.

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Speaker 1: She didn't want to call off the wedding, and while

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Speaker 1: she acquiesced to his request, her siblings in particular found

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Speaker 1: this whole thing really distasteful. They never really trusted Griffith

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Speaker 1: after that. Griffith and Tina had a son the year

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Speaker 1: after they married. They named him Vandel. That was their only.

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Speaker 2: Child, and Griffith also adopted a number of rather pretentious

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Speaker 2: characteristics during his ascension among the Los Angeles elite. So

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Speaker 2: he started walking with a cane that he did not need,

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Speaker 2: presumably because he thought it made him look distinguished. He

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Speaker 2: wore very expensive, flamboyant clothes, and he started to refer

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Speaker 2: to himself by the title of colonel, even though he

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Speaker 2: had no military career to speak of, but people accepted

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Speaker 2: it and started calling him Colonel Griffith. Historians have speculated

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Speaker 2: that this was likely Griffith kind of overcompensating for a

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Speaker 2: childhood of poverty, but for a lot of old money Angelinos,

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Speaker 2: they just saw this all as really ridiculous peacocking. So

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Speaker 2: as the nineteenth century was drawing to a close, Griffith

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Speaker 2: changed Los Angeles forever with one grand gesture. And we'll

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Speaker 2: talk about how Griffith Park was established after we pause

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Speaker 2: for a quick sponsor break. In December eighteen ninety six,

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Speaker 2: Griffith gifted the city of Los Angeles with quite a

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Speaker 2: Christmas surprise, three thy fifteen acres of land from Rancho

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Speaker 2: Los Pelies to be used exclusively as a park. That

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Speaker 2: land had not been developed in any way, and Griffith

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Speaker 2: wanted a lot of it to stay that way. This

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Speaker 2: was an extravagant gift, and Griffith's motivations in making it

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Speaker 2: have been debated over the years. For one, he continued

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Speaker 2: to want to be seen as successful and important, and

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Speaker 2: this gesture certainly went a long way in that regard. Additionally,

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Speaker 2: the donation offered Griffith away to get out of paying

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Speaker 2: taxes on the land, and the real estate boom was

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Speaker 2: in decline, so selling off the land in parcels was

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Speaker 2: not as lucrative as it once was. He did, though,

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Speaker 2: also seem to have a fairly genuine interest in civic philanthropy,

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Speaker 2: and he did want Los Angeles to have a park system.

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Speaker 2: We have spoken before on the show about how places

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Speaker 2: like Central Park and the Mall in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 2: Were inspired in part by people wanting to establish those

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Speaker 2: cities as cosmopolitan on a level that would match them

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Speaker 2: the cities of Europe and their public spaces. And Griffith,

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Speaker 2: who had traveled a bit by this point, was similarly

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Speaker 2: influenced by the grand public spaces he had visited around

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Speaker 2: the world and on the US East Coast, and that

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Speaker 2: was part of his desire to donate the park land

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Speaker 2: and griffithsone words quote, I consider it my obligation to

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Speaker 2: make Los Angeles a happier, cleaner, and finer city. I

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Speaker 2: wish to pay my debt of duty in this way

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Speaker 2: to the community in which I have prospered. And the

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Speaker 2: deed which transferred ownership to the LA City Council was

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Speaker 2: very specific about the fact that the land was for

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Speaker 2: a park and a park only. That deed is actually

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Speaker 2: part of the LA Archives. They actually have it framed

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Speaker 2: on the wall, and it includes the phrase quote to

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Speaker 2: be used as a public park for purposes of recreation,

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Speaker 2: health and pleasure, for the use and benefit of the

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Speaker 2: inhabitants of the said city of Los Angeles forever. The

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Speaker 2: city council also passed an ordnance that named the park

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Speaker 2: after Griffith shortly after all of this began, so it

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Speaker 2: is legally required to be named Griffith Park, even though

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Speaker 2: Griffith had given up the land, though he kept feeling

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Speaker 2: connected to it and retained a sense of ownership over it,

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Speaker 2: even though he legally had no claim to it, but

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Speaker 2: in his eyes he believed he did. There was a

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Speaker 2: clause in the deed that he turned over to the

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Speaker 2: city that mentioned, specifically that if the city did not

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Speaker 2: maintain the land in a manner that upheld that mission statement,

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Speaker 2: ownership of the land would revert back to the Griffith family,

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Speaker 2: and it's possible that Griffith actually believed this was going

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Speaker 2: to happen. He certainly frequently wrote letters to the city

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Speaker 2: and the Park Commission stating that he felt things were

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Speaker 2: not being done correctly regarding the acreage he had donated.

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Speaker 2: He also served on the park's committee, so he had

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Speaker 2: a little bit of say in that regard, even if

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Speaker 2: he didn't actually own the property any longer.

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Speaker 1: Griffith's vision was for the part to include both the

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Speaker 1: esthetics of the European gardening tradition with manured and cultivated spaces,

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Speaker 1: as well as the significant retention of the natural space.

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Speaker 1: And that was indeed how the city designed the park.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, if you ever visit Griffith Park, it's really sort

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Speaker 2: of marvelous because it is a lot of a lot

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Speaker 2: of space that is in its natural state. And then

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Speaker 2: they had a zoo at one point, and there's like

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Speaker 2: famous Mario go around we'll talk about in the Our

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Speaker 2: Friday episode. But yeah, he managed to set this up

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Speaker 2: and it has retained that identity that it was always

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Speaker 2: intended to have per his instructions. So Griffith had at

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Speaker 2: this point kind of accomplished what he set out to

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Speaker 2: do in his bid to become an important part of

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Speaker 2: the Los Angeles community, and at least in name. He

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Speaker 2: remains so to this day. And if he had lived

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Speaker 2: out the rest of his life peacefully after this, he

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Speaker 2: probably would have a pretty good and tame legacy in

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Speaker 2: history as a slightly eccentric but ultimately benevolent philanthropist who

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Speaker 2: made and married a lot of money and then used

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Speaker 2: it to better his sin. But the next chapter of

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Speaker 2: his life took a very dark turn. Just as Griffith

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Speaker 2: seemed to have gotten all that he wanted, he started

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Speaker 2: to drink more heavily, and this started to impact his

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Speaker 2: mental state as he developed a lot of paranoid ideas

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Speaker 2: that started to govern his behavior.

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Speaker 1: And reading through all this, and like the parts that

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Speaker 1: we're about to get into, like I have thoughts about

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Speaker 1: like the cause and effect cycle of all of this. Yes,

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Speaker 1: an event that happened in September of nineteen oh three

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Speaker 1: changed to Griffith's legacy forever. He and Tina went on

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Speaker 1: a summer vacation to Santa Monica. They stayed at the

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Speaker 1: Arcadia Hotel along with their son Van, who was fifteen

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Speaker 1: at the time.

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Speaker 2: And Griffith behaved strangely during the family stay in Santa Monica.

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Speaker 2: He had decided that someone was trying to poison him,

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Speaker 2: and he suspected that it could actually be the Pope.

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Speaker 2: This concern about the Pope seems to have been rooted

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Speaker 2: in a very anti high Catholic bias that he had,

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Speaker 2: and it was manifesting in his paranoia. He would insist

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Speaker 2: on switching the plates at the table settings during the

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Speaker 2: trip because he believed that they might have poison residue

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Speaker 2: on them. It has been estimated that Griffith, at this

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Speaker 2: point in his life was drinking roughly two quarts of

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Speaker 2: whiskey each day, that is sixty four ounces, just a

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Speaker 2: little less than two leaders, so that was also governing

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Speaker 2: some of this very strange behavior.

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Speaker 1: Griffith's paranoia led to a horrific series of events on

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Speaker 1: September three, and one version of this story, Tina was

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Speaker 1: sitting at a desk in their hotel room writing out

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Speaker 1: postcards to friends and family when Griffith entered the room,

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Speaker 1: but then later testimony indicated that she was actually packing

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Speaker 1: for their return home. Regardless though of exactly what Missus

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Speaker 1: Griffith was doing. The portion of the story that's corroborated

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Speaker 1: and consistent is that mister Griffith carried a revolver and

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Speaker 1: a prayer book which was Christina's prayer book, into the

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Speaker 1: room with him.

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Speaker 2: And Griffith was a Protestant, but in his desire to

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Speaker 2: move up in la society, he had married a Catholic.

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Speaker 2: Tina was very devout, so in his mind, Griffith started

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Speaker 2: to link his wife to his paranoid delusions about the

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Speaker 2: pope and had started to believe on some level that

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Speaker 2: she was conspiring with the head of the Catholic Church

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Speaker 2: against her husband. So Griffith handed Tina the prayer book,

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Speaker 2: told her to swear by it that she would answer

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Speaker 2: his questions truthfully, instructed her to get on her knees,

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Speaker 2: and then started interrogating her. He had written his questions

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Speaker 2: down ahead of this conversation, so he was reading them

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Speaker 2: from a card that he had prepared, kind of like

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Speaker 2: a script. The was a menu card from the hotel,

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Speaker 2: and he had written the questions on the back of it.

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Speaker 2: And while this questioning was going on, he was also

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Speaker 2: pointing his gun at her. He asked her if she

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Speaker 2: had been involved in the death of Andre Briswalter, that

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Speaker 2: was the family friend who left Christina and her sister

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Speaker 2: their fortune, saying quote, did you ever know of Briswalter

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Speaker 2: being poisoned in your house? Tina answered no. Briswalter had

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Speaker 2: died of blood poisoning, which he had gotten due to

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Speaker 2: an infected foot injury, and that was something that Christina

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Speaker 2: reminded her husband of in this moment. Next, Griffith asked

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Speaker 2: his wife if she was poisoning him by asking, quote,

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Speaker 2: have you been implicated with or do you know of

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Speaker 2: anyone having given me poison? Tina, who called Griffith Papa, replied, quote,

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Speaker 2: why Papa, you know I have never harmed a hair

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Speaker 2: on your head. His third question was whether Tina was

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Speaker 2: a faithful wife, and she stated that she had never

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Speaker 2: been untrue.

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Speaker 1: Griffith had an additional question on his card, but he

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Speaker 1: didn't ask it. He shot Tina after asking the third.

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Speaker 1: He shot her in the face. The bullet hit the

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Speaker 1: outer edge of her left eye, shattering the bone of

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Speaker 1: her eyesiph and it was reported that upon impact with

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Speaker 1: the bone, the bullet fragmented and a piece of it

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Speaker 1: pierced her eye, so her left eye was destroyed, but

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Speaker 1: the bullet didn't penetrate into the brain cavity. The rest

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Speaker 1: of the bullet fragments passed under the skin of her

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Speaker 1: temple and lodged under her scalp.

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Speaker 2: Surprisingly, Christina Griffith survived this brutal attack. She lost that

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Speaker 2: eye and had some facial disfigurement, but had been fast

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Speaker 2: enough in just kind of reflexively jerking her head to

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Speaker 2: one side that she thwarted Griffith's aim, so he did

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Speaker 2: not hit her square in the forehead, and after asking

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Speaker 2: her husband why he shot her. She next jumped out

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Speaker 2: of the window onto the extended roof of the veranda below,

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Speaker 2: and there are some versions of the story that indicate

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Speaker 2: that the owners of the hotel saw her and pulled

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Speaker 2: her into their rooms, but the version that the owners

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Speaker 2: actually gave the press was that she crawled into an

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Speaker 2: open window herself. So keep in mind that Tina at

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Speaker 2: this point had just been shot in the face. She

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Speaker 2: couldn't see, she was bleeding a great deal. She also

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Speaker 2: broke her shoulder as she jumped out the window, so

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Speaker 2: it was incredibly lucky that she was able to get

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Speaker 2: to safety at all. Meanwhile, her husband was still in

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Speaker 2: the hotel. He had called the hotel staff that there

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Speaker 2: was an accident, and as a doctor was being called,

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Speaker 2: he phoned Christina's sister to tell her that her sister

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Speaker 2: had been accidentally shot. Missus Griffith was treated at the

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Speaker 2: Arcadia Hotel by a doctor Crawford that was called by

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Speaker 2: hotel management. She stayed there the rest of the night.

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Speaker 2: She was given an opiate to help her sleep, and

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Speaker 2: then as soon as possible the following morning, she was

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Speaker 2: moved to a hospital in Los Angeles. She was still

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Speaker 2: unconscious at that point.

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Speaker 1: The headline that ran on September fifth in the La

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Speaker 1: Times that detailed this incident was quote bullet in head

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Speaker 1: of Missus G. J.

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Speaker 2: Griffith.

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Speaker 1: She declares that her husband shot her. Result may be fatal.

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Speaker 1: Christina Griffith's account was included in this article, reported as

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Speaker 1: having been told to her sister in a moment of consciousness,

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Speaker 1: who then related to the paper. According to that account,

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Speaker 1: when Griffith entered the room, he said, quote, get your

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Speaker 1: prayer book and kneel down and cover your eyes. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to shoot you, and I'm going to kill you.

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Speaker 1: This version didn't include the information that came to light

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Speaker 1: later on involving Griffith's aggressive questioning of his wife, because

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Speaker 1: Christina had not been conscious long enough to give a

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Speaker 1: more thorough account.

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Speaker 2: Once she was in the LA hospital, Christina Griffith went

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Speaker 2: into surgery so that the bullet fragments could be dislodged

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Speaker 2: from her head. Her surgeon, doctor M. L. Moore, told

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Speaker 2: the paper that while the situation was very serious, he

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00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 2: believed that the patient would recover. So this ride up

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Speaker 2: stated quote she either jumped or fell from the window

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Speaker 2: of the room and dropped onto the roof of a

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Speaker 2: porch on the level of the floor below. So at

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Speaker 2: this point Griffith was claiming that this whole thing was

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Speaker 2: an accident, and there was this whole idea that maybe

365
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,960
Speaker 2: his wife had just fallen. His account was that she

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00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 2: had been packing a trunk when a revolver that was

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00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,920
Speaker 2: either inside of it or that she had been holding

368
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 2: for some reason had accidentally discharged, and he said that

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Speaker 2: they had not been quarreling at all. In an interview

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Speaker 2: with a reporter, Griffith said that he and his wife

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Speaker 2: never quarreled. The reporter, to his credit, did ask some

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Speaker 2: very pointed questions about why missus Griffith would have had

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Speaker 2: one of mister Griffith's revolvers in her trunk, how she

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Speaker 2: would have accidentally made her way out of a window

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Speaker 2: that was actually in a gable way that was away

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Speaker 2: from the main part of the room where their belongings were,

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Speaker 2: and whether Griffith was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

378
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Speaker 2: Griffith kind of shrugged off the hard questions, I will say.

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Speaker 2: The reporter at the end of that says like, do

380
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,520
Speaker 2: you say this is wholly untrue? And he's like, oh, yeah,

381
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Speaker 2: Holy so Griffith kind of shrugs off the hard questions

382
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Speaker 2: and then claimed that in fact, he had been sober

383
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Speaker 2: for several weeks.

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Speaker 1: But the Mesber family was adamant that this was not

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Speaker 1: an accident. Tina's brother gave a quote to the press

386
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Speaker 1: that said, quote, Missus Griffith did not shoot herself. The

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Speaker 1: shooting was not an accident. In our opinion. We are

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Speaker 1: sure there was no attempt at suicide. As yet, we

389
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,359
Speaker 1: make no accusations, but we believe that the shot was

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Speaker 1: not accidental, nor was it fired with suicidal intent.

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Speaker 2: That statement was given to a reporter, but before the

392
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Speaker 2: article actually went to press, the Mesmer family contacted the

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Speaker 2: paper again and they asked to have the following statement added.

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Speaker 2: And it's kind of if you look at that newspaper,

395
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Speaker 2: it's kind of in its own call out box to

396
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Speaker 2: the side of the article, and that statement is quote

397
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Speaker 2: that it be the consensus of opinion of this meeting

398
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Speaker 2: that judgment be suspended until Missus Griffith is able to

399
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 2: make a statement, but that a full explanation be demanded

400
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Speaker 2: from mister Griffith, and that a full investigation be made.

401
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,920
Speaker 2: The family at this point believed that a conflict stemming

402
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,840
Speaker 2: from religious differences was at the heart of this whole matter,

403
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 2: as well as Griffith's drinking to excess. At this point,

404
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,160
Speaker 2: Christina was still hospitalized and unconscious, and while her doctor

405
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 2: thought that she would recover, nobody was certain whether she

406
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 2: actually would. The Arcadia's landlords the Rights, also made a

407
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 2: statement that they believed that this was an accident. And

408
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 2: while the status of the griffiths teenage son van Dell

409
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 2: during this incident had been a matter of confusion. Initially,

410
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,679
Speaker 2: people were like, where was Vandell and nobody knew, It

411
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 2: was eventually discovered that he had in fact been outside

412
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Speaker 2: when it happened. Initially, when asked if his son had

413
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 2: been in the room during the shooting, Griffith said he

414
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 2: did not know and that he was quote averse to

415
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 2: asking the boy. Griffith had agreed to be taken into custody,

416
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 2: still claiming that it was all an accident, but at

417
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 2: the last minute he slipped away and went for a drink.

418
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 2: This was actually several drinks. He moved from one bar

419
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,119
Speaker 2: to another, and a sheriff's deputy trailed him on a

420
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 2: ten mile bar crawl before he was able to catch

421
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 2: up with GJ. Griffith and make the arrest, and coming up,

422
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about how the legal ramifications of

423
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 2: this assault played out. But before we get into that,

424
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,440
Speaker 2: let's all take a break and we will hear from

425
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 2: one of the sponsors that keeps stuff you miss in

426
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 2: history going This entire incident and case was huge news,

427
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:27,879
Speaker 2: and for the next several months leading up to the trial,

428
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 2: newspapers across the country reported every development in the case.

429
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 2: This included the fact that Griffiths's legal representation had offered

430
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 2: Christina thirty five thousand dollars as a divorce settlement, which

431
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 2: she would only get if she refused to testify in

432
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,439
Speaker 2: court against her husband. This was also a move that

433
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,800
Speaker 2: was intended to get legal blocks on griffiths properties removed

434
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 2: so he could sell them if he wished. That included

435
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 2: the property that Christina had inherited in the Briswalter fortune.

436
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 2: She did not take this offer, and as an initial

437
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:04,119
Speaker 2: hearings had approached, Griffith's defense slowly shifted away from the

438
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 2: story that the shooting was an accident and instead claimed

439
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 2: alcoholic insanity.

440
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 1: There were several preliminary hearings and the actual trial took

441
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: place in February of nineteen oh four, when Christina Griffith testified,

442
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,919
Speaker 1: she wore a black veil that covered her whole face.

443
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: The newspaper report of her testimony stated that quote, the

444
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: lawyers made missus Griffith get down from the witness stand

445
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,040
Speaker 1: and show her sightless eye socket to each of the jurors,

446
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 1: in turn holding up her veil in dark glasses, while

447
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: each of the twelve looked her scars and deformities critically

448
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,159
Speaker 1: over it was not dramatic at all, but pitiful and

449
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 1: one of the most painful incidents that ever happened in

450
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 1: Judge Smith's court. Christina's time on the stand was unsurprisingly

451
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,840
Speaker 1: quite emotional. She told the court quote, he told me

452
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,160
Speaker 1: to take my prayer book and get down on my knees,

453
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 1: that he had some questions to ask me. I begged

454
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: him to please put the pistol away. Oh, I begged

455
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 1: him to put it away. I saw that I was

456
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 1: in the hands of a desperate man. So I asked

457
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 1: him if I might have time to pray. He said

458
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: I might, so I knelt and raised my eyes and prayed.

459
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: She describes the questioning and what happens next and at

460
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: the end of her account, she stated, my only thought

461
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: was to get out dead or alive.

462
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 2: That was a statement that Griffith's attorney asked to have

463
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 2: stricken from the record.

464
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: Griffith J. Griffith was charged with attempted murder. His attorney,

465
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,560
Speaker 1: Earl Rogers, tried to discredit Christina in a number of

466
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 1: ways and use her testimony that Griffith had threatened to

467
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,400
Speaker 1: kill her on several occasions, as well as the account

468
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: of fitzparanoia to bolster his clients in sanity defense. Former

469
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: California Governor Henry T. Gage was Christina's attorney, and he

470
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: and Rogers, as well as the other attorney's present, were

471
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,479
Speaker 1: so prone to arguing with one another that one reporter

472
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 1: claimed the judge quote would be on the point of

473
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: adjourning for the afternoon to let them fight it out.

474
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a very There's a lot of bickering

475
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 2: going on. Christina had given testimony in several hearings leading

476
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 2: up to the trial. At that point. They were always consistent,

477
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,159
Speaker 2: and she had said in all of them that she

478
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 2: believed the real reason that Griffith wanted to kill her

479
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 2: was because she had threatened to leave him due to

480
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,360
Speaker 2: his drinking, and that he knew that if that happened,

481
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,359
Speaker 2: all of his secrets would become public. The fact that

482
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 2: he had this drinking problem was definitely something he had

483
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 2: been hiding. She had told the proprietor of the hotel

484
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 2: when the shooting happened that Griffith must be crazy, and

485
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 2: she also spoke of how he had been paranoid about

486
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 2: poisoning for years and years, and she had kind of

487
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 2: just humored him when he did things like wanting to

488
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 2: switch plates with her. And his defense seized on all

489
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 2: of that as evidence that their defense their insanity plea

490
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,399
Speaker 2: was sound, and to some degree that approach worked.

491
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: Griffith was found guilty not of attempted murder, but of

492
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: the lesser crime of assault with a deadly weapon. He

493
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: was sentenced to two years in prison and five thousand

494
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: dollars fine and was incarcerated at San Quentin. And while

495
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 1: this was believed by a lot of people to be

496
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,199
Speaker 1: a miscarriage of justice, Missus Griffiths divorce filing had a

497
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 1: better outcome. The judge granted the request immediately and the

498
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 1: whole thing was handled allegedly within five minutes, some say

499
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 1: four and a half. So on November fifth, nineteen oh four.

500
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: He was already incarcerated at this time when they had

501
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 1: this hearing. The San Francisco Examiner ran the story of

502
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,320
Speaker 1: the proceedings around the divorce. After stating during testimony that

503
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,239
Speaker 1: she had been shot by her husband after he had

504
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: instructed her to get on her knees and was allowed

505
00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 1: to pray, the judge interrupted and asked if this was deliberate,

506
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: and she replied, quote, it was deliberate. He made me

507
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: get down on my knees, I asked to pray, and

508
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: then the judge asked, quote he then fired Christina. Griffith

509
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: answered yes, sir, and Judge Allen's next words were decree granted.

510
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 1: As part of the settlement, it was determined that Christina

511
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 1: would retain custody of their son, Vandel, and that Griffith

512
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 1: would pay for the boys education. Christina was also awarded

513
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 1: sixty five thousand dollars. After the divorce was settled, she

514
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: receded from the public eye and lived out the rest

515
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,240
Speaker 1: of her life with her sister Lucy Whipples's family until

516
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: her death in nineteen forty eight at the age of

517
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 1: eighty four. When Griffith finished his two year sentence, he

518
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: was sober, repentant and really eager to rehabilitate his image,

519
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: So after several years, he once again turned to grand

520
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 1: gestures in an effort to re establish himself as a

521
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: Los Angeles philanthropist. In nineteen twelve, Griffith offered the City

522
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles one hundred thousand dollars to be put

523
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: toward building an observatory on Griffith Peak, which is known

524
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: today as Mount Hollywood. But while the city council had

525
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: been willing to take a huge gift of land from

526
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: the man that a lot of people at the time

527
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 1: believed to be a society poser, they were not so

528
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 1: keen on taking a huge sum of money from him

529
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 1: having been convicted of this felony, even if he had

530
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: served his centen I mean, the nature of the crime also,

531
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: I think would be a turrent.

532
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And keep in mind, like these are

533
00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 2: very high level, powerful, wealthy families in the area, So

534
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 2: it's a little bit tricky because the Mesmer family, of

535
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 2: course was very very powerful and wealthy. But Griffith also

536
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 2: kind of in some ways, you know, had had the

537
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,480
Speaker 2: city a little bit over a barrel, like he had

538
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 2: those water rights that he had essentially given them. It

539
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 2: was all a little bit weird, but they so they

540
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: kind of put him off. It was like, we'll think

541
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 2: about it. And then, in a similar move the following year,

542
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 2: nineteen thirteen, Griffith offered the city fifty thousand dollars. This

543
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 2: was to be put towards building a Greek theater in

544
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 2: Griffith Park, and once again there wasn't exactly a no,

545
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 2: but there wasn't any real movement to accept the offer.

546
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 2: They kind of like went to operations, slow down with it.

547
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: Griffith was undoubtedly hurt by this refusal to accept his gifts,

548
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 1: but he still had a vision for the projects, and

549
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 1: of course today there are a Greek theater and the

550
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 1: Griffith Observatory. They were built, but that did not happen

551
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: until later. In nineteen nineteen, Griffith died after a prolonged illness,

552
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 1: which was reported as liver trouble. His image was still

553
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: tarnished in the minds of many of the city's residents.

554
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 1: Although the obituary that ran in the La Times did

555
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,959
Speaker 1: not mention the assault, or his conviction or any of that.

556
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: It instead recounted his philanthropic works and kind of left

557
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: it at that. Upon his death, it was revealed that

558
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: Griffith had set up a trust to ensure that his

559
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: observatory and the Greek Theater project did move forward, and

560
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: the city did use the funds from that trust to

561
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: carry out construction on both of them. The Greek Theater

562
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 1: was completed in nineteen thirty and the Griffith Observatory was

563
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: finished in nineteen thirty five. And now people know his name,

564
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 1: which is probably what he wanted in the first place. Yeah,

565
00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 1: dun Dundas, thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday.

566
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: If you'd like to send us a note, our email

567
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:11,560
Speaker 1: addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can

568
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

569
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.