Widespread lawlessness and violence characterized the U.S. in the 1930s: bank robberies, gangland killings, and kidnappings frequently made headlines. The most infamous kidnapping of the period was the 1932 abduction of twenty month old Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. on March 1, 1932. But the Lindbergh baby was only one of many victims of ransom kidnapping.
On February 5, 1933 Mrs. Mary Bosworth Skeele, 65 year old wife of Dr. Walter F. Skeele, Dean of USC’s College of Music, became the victim of a kidnapping. She was lured out of her home by a cruel hoax. Read the rest of the story at the
Los Angeles Times.
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| Mary Skeele reenacting her kidnapping with police investigators |
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| A police investigator examines a hole in the ground at the site where ransom money was to be dropped |
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| The kidnappers asked for ransom money to be left at this spot on Montecito Drive |
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| The house on Buckeye Street in Pasadena where Mary Skeele was held |
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| The bedroom of the Pasadena house where kidnapping victim Mary Skeele was held |
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| The ransom note |
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| Mary Skeele with two children after being released by kidnappers |
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| Kidnappers E.H. Van Dorn and Luella Pearl Hammer, seated |
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| Mary Skeele testifies in court |
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| Kidnappers Luella Pearl Hammer, center, and E.H. Van Dorn, right, at their trial |
(Photos: Los Angeles Times)
This house on Buckeye street still exists @ 623 Bucleye St in Pasadena.
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