Posts Tagged ‘Ed Fletcher’

Major General Leonard Wood, chief of staff of the United States army, gave the command . . . The first automobile in the desperate San Diego-Phoenix race shot forward with a bound. –San Diego Union, Oct. 27, 1912.

In the fall of 1912, San Diego challenged Los Angeles to a road race across the desert to Arizona. The story of The Great Race. 

 

Warning: Avoid the plank road. A public warning was issued yesterday by the El Centro branch of the auto club of southern California that travel to Yuma via the plank road is dangerous. . . Parties attempting to travel suffer from thirst and hunger and are sometimes in danger of death as there is little chance of succor arriving unless a call for aid reaches Holtville or Yuma. –Imperial Valley Press, April 29, 1919.

The story of San Diego’s wooden road across the sand dunes: the Plank Road.

On Monday morning, July 22, 1935, San Diegans opened their morning newspaper to see a stunning headline: “AGUA CALIENTE PADLOCKED.” The closing of the lavish resort sent shudders across the border. . .

Would illegal gaming now grow in San Diego? Police Chief George Sears assured the public that “the gambling lid was on.” But the “lid” was teetering. . .

Click here for the story of San Diego’s War on Gambling.

Grossmont . . . It is the chosen spot of many of the gifted in art, literature and science as a place where they may establish a quiet home, with delightful climate, beauty of surroundings and the peace that comes from dwelling in high places. –Overland Monthly, March 1912

One of San Diego’s most picturesque communities is named for a man poorly remembered today. William B. Gross, namesake of Grossmont, came to San Diego in about 1903 after a chance meeting with Ed Fletcher, a young produce salesman with an eye for opportunity . . .

Click here for the story of Grossmont.

“I didn’t steal it,” declared Senator Fletcher with ruffled dignity. “But there were threats of lawsuit and an injunction, so with a gang of men, a derrick and a truck, I took quick action, and possession is nine points of the law.”

The story of San Diego’s famed “Stolen” Cabrillo Statue.

San Diego is the rottenest graft ridden city of its size on the American continent. If the Mayor and the Chief of Police don’t know it they ought to be sent to a home for the feeble-minded.  If they do know it, they both should be in the penitentiary.

–Abraham Sauer, publisher, San Diego Herald.

In 1925, a San Diego City Councilman was indicted for attempting to bribe developer Ed Fletcher.  Read more about The Bribe.