Welshman who helped to build LA – and tried to kill his wife
tol. He pointed it at her and said: “Get your prayer book and kneel down and cover your eyes. I’m going to shoot you and going to kill you.”
She begged him to put down the gun, saying: “Oh Griffith – don’t, don’t!”
Despite her pleas Griffith shot his wife in the head. The bullet struck her near her left eye and surgeons had to remove her eye.
The bullet shattered her eye socket and part of the bullet lodged itself under her scalp.
The LA Times reported that if the bullet had struck a “sixteenth of an inch” further to the right she would have died instantly.
Incredibly she survived the wound and ran towards him and the pair scuffled before Mrs Griffith jumped out of an open window.
She fell onto a roof, fracturing her shoulder, then ran into another room and collapsed.
Griffith denied shooting his wife on purpose and said while he was packing his suitcase the gun went off and hit her.
Mrs Griffith’s family, in a statement to the LA Times, said there was trouble between the couple over “religious differences” and that he had been “drinking to excess”.
Griffith was later charged with assault with a deadly weapon and intent to commit murder.
Griffith was convicted of the former charge and was sentenced to two years in San Quentin Prison under the orders he would have medical help with his “alcoholic insanity”.
Unsurprisingly the couple divorced while Griffith was in prison and he was ordered to pay for their son’s education.
His sentence was reduced to 20 months due to good conduct and he was freed on December 3, 1906.
He was known as “the only rich man in state’s prison” – but was forced to work in the laundry room of the jail.
After his release Griffith worked on prison reform and in 1912 Griffith offered a second Christmas present to the city of LA when he started building the Greek Theatre and Hall of Science.
Decades later the Griffith Park still has the same name and is one of the largest of its kind in the US.
The park includes deep canyons and sits on the eastern side of the Santa Monica mountain range. The area is full of unique Califor-nian trees and endangered plant species.
The LA Department of Recreation and Parks said on the occasion Griffith donated the park he declared: “It must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses – a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people.
“I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happier, cleaner, and finer city.
“I wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have prospered.”
Griffith died of liver disease in 1919 and his $1.5m estate was left to the city to help build the Greek Theatre and Griffith Observatory.