Posts Tagged ‘Stingaree’

5th November
2013
written by Richard

It was a crime that incensed San Diegans: the “murder” of a young sailor from a US. warship by a deputized marshal. For one summer and fall, San Diegans would eagerly follow the case of a “posse” gone wild and accused of brutalizing American sailors.

The story of a riot in the Stingaree and The People versus Breedlove.

The crew of the USS Charleston.

The crew of the USS Charleston.

11th January
2012
written by Richard

San Diego Union, Jan. 18, 1904

There are men and women, boys and girls, steadily, but surely, patrolling the path that leads to eternal ruin. It is for us to rescue them. –Mrs. R. A. Rood, vice-president, Purity League of San Diego

On Friday afternoon, August 7, 1903, forty gravely concerned San Diego women went to church. Meeting at the First Methodist Episcopal Church on the corner of D (Broadway) and Fourth Street, the ladies discussed the growing moral peril found in city’s notorious Stingaree District home to “houses houses of impurity” and unfortunate women “caught in the toils.”

The story of San Diego’s first attempt to close the “Stingaree.” The Purity League.

13th October
2011
written by Richard

Between two and four o’clock yesterday morning a woman named Maggie McCutcheon, whose sporting title is Maggie Bangs, was killed by pistol shot under circumstances that leave it somewhat of a mystery . . . –San Diego Union, June 19, 1881.

British “Bulldog” revolver

The story of death in San Diego’s notorious “Stingaree” district: Maggie Bangs.

13th April
2011
written by Richard

What has become of the police force? The archives of the city show that there is such an organization here, yet . . . the criminal element has been holding high carnival during the last few days, “the guardians of the peace” have done nothing to indicate they are on duty. –San Diego Union, August 6, 1887.

Fighting crime in 1887 San Diego: Policing the City.

 

29th July
2010
written by Richard

The notorious “Russian Mike”

In San Diego’s notorious Stingaree district of the 1890s, liquor and violence flowed freely in dozens of saloons south of H Street (Market). One of the more disreputable dives was the Pacific Squadron Saloon on the corner of 4th and J streets, where a homicide involving alcohol, a cheap gun, and a character named Russian Mike, drew rapt attention from San Diegans in the spring of 1899. Read the story of Russian Mike.

27th May
2010
written by Richard

San Diego’s downtown of the late 1800s was filled with bars.  Perhaps the best known “saloonist” was the colorful Tillman A.  Burnes, who kept a well-stocked menagerie of exotic animals to accompany his liquor selections.   Read more about Till Burnes.

Till Burns (left) at his Acme Saloon

23rd April
2010
written by Richard

The closing of the Stingaree.

Strolling down Fifth Street any evening, the ear is rasped by the notes from asthmatic pianos, discordant banjos and fiddles, and half-drunken voices that sing boisterous and ribald songs. The eye is pained to see one, two, or perhaps three men on each corner, so intoxicated that they can barely stand . . . the lower Fifth Street in San Diego is fully as bad, if not worse than the notorious Barbary Coast district of San Francisco . . .

Read about the Stingaree.