Before we start out, just a reminder for you truly efficient and capable people riding with us today: There are just 377 shopping days until Christmas 2026.
Phew. Glad we got that obligatory warning out of the way.
C’mon, dear saddlepals. Stop hyperventilating and take your eyes off your 12-pound Things To Do Lists. We’ve some leisurely moseying ahead.
There’s bank robbers to visit and a most bizarre hunting tale where Bambi wins one for the fauna.
We’ve got con men, kidnappers, gridiron heroics and an entire passel of gee whiz historical trivia ahead. It promises to be one of our more interesting trail rides.
Hang on to your Stetsons and bend forward a smidge in the saddle as you enter the Santa Clarita Valley time vortex …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
THE GENTLEMAN/COWBOY BANK ROBBER — Jenks Harris was an extra and stuntman in the movie business. He was also into human trafficking, robbery and bootlegging. Jenks was working on location in neighboring Piru on a flick when he got the idea to rob the Piru branch of the Fillmore State Bank. Harris and three desperados, on Dec. 11, 1922, kidnapped C.S. Spencer and his 4-year-old daughter, Mary Ella.
The gang of four emptied the vault of about $5,000 in cash, $900 in silver coin and $100 in postage stamps, which, back then, was a heck of a lot of postage stamps. Then Jenks asked Spencer where they would like to be dropped off in Los Angeles. Spencer gave them the address of his sister-in-law. The six had a leisurely and somewhat merry 90-minute drive into L.A. The bandits put away their revolvers as Mary Ella would cry when she saw them. Spencer confessed that the half-dozen laughed much of the way into the city and the gang was polite and kind.
Within nine days, Jenks and all his gang were arrested separately. Jenks was captured the next day at a Castaic general store. Seems Jenks and his compatriots were on all sorts of law enforcement radar for a variety of crimes, including smuggling Chinese workers into the country. The name of the movie Jenks was working on was a bank caper film called, “Confidence.” Jenks confessed he robbed the bank to pay off a $700 mortgage on his father’s home in Oklahoma. He was sentenced to life in prison up in Folsom.
AND ALL NEW HOUSES HAD TO LOOK LIKE CABOOSES? — No big news that a company called Western Development was formed to develop Newhall into a community back in 1876. But here’s some bonus history trivia. WD was a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
NO RELATION TO THE TV DINNER GUY — Old-timer Clarence Swanson recalled being a boy, growing up in Castaic. He used to help his dad run hogs from here to Santa Paula. It took about three days along the bends of the Santa Clara River. Swanson recalled the river used to run year-round, and, at its lowest, it was knee deep on a full-grown man. In those tougher times, Swanson started construction work at 14, digging petroleum lines through the valley. He also helped build the Ridge Route and recalled that much of the work was done with mules.
DECEMBER 13, 1925
AS HOMER SIMPSON OFT SAYS, ‘DOH!!!!’ — From the Bizarro Backward Universe Department, on this date, a Mr. Arries of Los Angeles and vacationer to Bouquet Canyon, recreational quail hunter, was attacked and seriously injured when he surprised a doe hiding in a thicket. The deer hit Arries square in the chest, bowling him over and leaving permanent reminders of the encounter.
NOT EXACTLY A WONDERFUL DAY IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS — Adding insult to injury, while Mr. Arries was out getting stomped by Bambi, hooligans broke into his Saugus cabin. Forget the phrase “they don’t build them like they used to.” Seems instead of breaking a window or door, the thieves just kicked down a wimpy plaster of Paris sidewall and strolled in.
PLEASE DO NOT ADD, ‘LONG’ BEFORE MY FIRST NAME — Life was primitive still in many parts of the valley. Today, we think little of just turning up the thermostat when the mercury dips in the 20s, teens or lower. But, an entire century back, the great majority of SCV homes bravely faced winter by throwing another log on the fireplace or stove. Another way to keep warm was the union suit, i.e., long johns. The fur-lined models were on sale at the Newhall Dry Goods Store for $1.48 a set. Fire engine red, too. Oh. BTW? It’s not like we COULDN’T turn up the thermostat. Warren Johnson invented the first individual room one in 1883.
DECEMBER 13, 1935
OUR INFAMOUS KKK LEASE HOUND — Unwittingly, The Mighty Signal used to run progress reports on how the Yant Petroleum Co. and its worldwide holdings were doing. Owner Milfred Yant allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar petroleum corporation — with a big operation in Placerita Canyon. It turned out that Yant was a con man who kept defrauding primarily senior citizens with nefarious black gold deals. The wells were mostly for show and didn’t really go very deep. Yant would serve time in San Quentin, not knowing that the hundreds of acres he owned locally WERE ACTUALLY SITTING on an ocean of gooey Texas T. After being in and out of prison and flirting with homelessness, Yant accidentally hit a big gusher and became a multimillionaire in the late 1940s. Adding another note to the infamous oilman’s resume? He was a mucky muck in the Ku Klux Klan. Rumor was Yant was the behind-the-scenes money from 1946-1956 in trying to wrest the William S. Hart estate from the county and turn it into an oil field.
AXMAN, SPARE THAT OAK! — I wonder how those old-timers would have felt today? On this date, three massive oaks were removed from downtown Newhall to make way for street paving and improvements.
THE COLORFUL, VISITING CARAVAN — A band of around 100 gypsies set up camp in Canyon Country 90 years back. Sheriff’s reports noted calls from neighboring ranches that there was one wedding, one divorce and two murders (all four not confirmed). The gaily painted wagon train set camp for several days and nights. Ranchers also reported around two dozen turkeys and chickens had been liberated from their pens. The accepted term today is “Romani” and locals noted there seemed to be two factions. Regular communities were on a figure-8 migration pattern where they passed through the SCV to pick crops. They were decent, hard-working folk who even enrolled their kids in local schools.
DECEMBER 13, 1945
YET ANOTHER WEIRD GUNSHOT WOUND — The darn thing is, if 15-year-old John Sittle had taken the same shot maybe 12,006 times, he couldn’t have repeated it. Back 80 years ago, Sittle was walking about 50 yards behind some friends who were slowly driving down a local back road, looking for game. One of the pals, a 16-year-old, was riding on the bumper. Sittle tripped, his gun went off and he hit his pal in the foot. Went clean through the heel and out the top. Yee and ow.
AS SIMON & GARFUNKLE ONCE SADLY SANG, ‘AND STILL THE FIGHTER REMAINS …’ — There are so many sad clichés and truisms you can stick on this one. Tommy McFarland died on this date and in his passing, there lives the specter of Tommy in all of us. He was at first listed as the John Doe who stepped out in front of a speeding car on Highway 99. The motorist swerved to avoid him and the aging man in the tattered clothes just stepped back in to be hit head on. The final blow was a death one. Tommy McFarland had once boxed for the lightweight championship of the world and ran a camp for boxers in Castaic. He was more than down on his luck. He had not a cent on him when he died and was emaciated from winter and hunger.
DECEMBER 13, 1955
THEM BLANKETY-BLANK CROOKED L.A. COUNTY BUREAUCRATS — The flawed suit for $50 million continued. The A.M. Dunn family, which had once owned the 1,400 beautiful acres where Pitchess Detention Center now sits today in Castaic, had been forced by the county in an eminent domain case to sell their pristine cattle ranch and dairy farm. The county told the Dunns they couldn’t keep the mineral rights. Right after they took over, L.A. started drilling for oil. Since 1937, the property yielded about $16 million in oil profits — big money in 1930-50s money. Eventually, the Dunns lost. An angry judge berated Los Angeles for its immoral behavior, but pointed out his hands were tied as the statute of limitations ran out.
A CHRISTMAS NOT SO MERRY — Yet another soul departed this parenthesis via the garden hose hooked to the tail pipe. The suicide victim left a note, along with a “Merry Christmas.” Interestingly, the valley was a favored spot for dozens to take their lives in this fashion. Oddly enough, the advent of unleaded gasoline stopped the practice.
DECEMBER 13, 1965
SO HOW WE DOIN’? — Here’s a landmark date for you Signalophiles. On Sunday, Dec. 5, 1965, the very first Sunday Signal appeared. We had been a weekly, appearing on Thursdays since 1919. Promised then-owner Scott Newhall on the front page of that very first Sunday issue: “We promise that, although we may at times infuriate you, bedevil you, or bewilder you, we shall never bore you.”
AIR STRAUSS — Few realize that a world record holder walks among us. Laurie Strauss, who shares the current record for lowest vertical leap (0 inches) started the 1965-66 season as Hart’s varsity basketball coach. Strauss would later be demoted to principal.
NAKED CAME THE SASQUATCH? — I was just telling some friends the other night about how sometimes I was scared to take the trash out at night down the winding dirt driveway that ran a quarter-mile to the road. Why? The Signal ran a front-page police artist sketch of a 10-foot-tall hairy wildman, aka, the Bigfoot, that may be lurking the back canyons of the SCV. The feature mainly focused on Pacific Northwest sightings and did note that local sheriff’s deputies hadn’t had any reports. Well. Yet. In the 1970s, we had dozens of local sightings of the North American Abominable Snowman right here in our backyards …
DECEMBER 13, 1975
HOW WE SPENT OUR WINTER VACATION — In one of the oddest kidnappings in history, three Bowman High girls captured a 4-year-old Tijuana girl, in Mexico, and drove her across the border all the way to the SCV. One of the coeds said she wanted to adopt a baby. The trio found that all the adoption agencies in Tijuana were closed on Sunday, so just nabbed little Anna Alaya while she was playing in her front yard. The poor little tyke was wide-eyed and silent the entire trip and on her flight back to Mexico with a local deputy, who noted the most harrowing part of the ordeal was fighting through the mob of media that surrounded her. The girls? Arrested.
THE MIGHTY COUGAR GRIDIRON SQUAD — COC’s daunted gridiron squad played in the Southern California championship game 50 years back. They battled in the first-ever Mission Bowl, facing America’s fifth-best team: Citrus Junior College. Odd game. It ended in a 14-14 tie.
DECEMBER 13, 1985
HIGH SCHOOL GRIDIRON HEROICS — It was a big weekend for local football four decades back. Canyon High flew into its third straight CIF Final, murdering Lompoc 30-6. Hart likewise outclassed West Torrance, 22-3 to advance to the title game. Don’t sit so far forward in your saddle. I’ll let you know how they did next weekend’s trail ride.
AWWW. I CAN’T BE THAT CRUEL — Canyon beat Antelope Valley in a baseball score, 9-7. Muir ended Hart’s season, 28-14.
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Thanks for the good company once again, dear saddlepals. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend with another exciting Time Ranger/SCV History adventure, and, until then? Vayan con Dios, amigos, y Feliz Navidad!
Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston has launched his new eclectic bookstore — johnboston-books.com. The long-awaited sequel to the national bestseller, “Naked Came the Sasquatch” — “Naked Came the Novelist” — is available for sale now. Ditto with his two-volume “MONSTERS” series about the supernatural in the SCV. Makes a great Christmas gift …
