Barber’s arrest leads to discovery of moonshine operation
Singer Povl Bjornskjold of Portland, Oregon, presented a recital on Oct. 20, 1920 at the Minor Theatre in Arcata, and gave another one on Oct. 22 at Eureka High School.
Joining Bjornskjold on stage for both concerts was local soprano Mrs. Casper Torp who, according to the Oct. 22, 1920, Humboldt Times newspaper, had a “pleasing voice.” Mrs. Charles Heasel accompanied on piano. Two of the songs performed were “That Wonderful Mother of Mine” and “Somewhere a Voice is Calling.”
Bjornskjold, a “dramatic tenor” who the Humboldt Times called “one of the rarest (voices) in this country,” was born in Denmark and later moved to the West Coast. He performed regularly until his death in April 1942.
Here are some of the other stories that appeared in the Humboldt Times during the week of Oct. 22 to 28, 1920:
• The body of Alfieri Licari, the first Humboldt County soldier to be killed in action during WorldWar I, finally arrived back in Eureka on Oct. 22, 1920. According to the Oct. 23 newspaper, funeral services were planned for Oct. 24 of that year, and were to be overseen by members of the local American Legion post. On that day, flags in Eureka were flown at halfstaff.
According to the Humboldt Times, Licari was among the first to enlist fromthe county after the declaration of war. He died along with more than 200 others in February 1918 during a torpedo attack on the transport vessel Tuscania off the Irish coast. He was initially buried in England before his body was returned home.
• The Oct. 23, 1920, Humboldt Times also reported that barber J. A. Alton was arrested for disturbing the peace and, when he was searched, police found a bill from a local grocery store for a few cases of syrup, a sack
of corn and several pounds of yeast and hops, as well as personal items that enabled Deputy Collector H. E. Reid of the Internal Revenue Department and William McKay of the district attorney’s office to locate a moonshining outfit in full operation on Washington Street in Eureka. Investigators said the distillery had been in operation for some time.
• A “girl’s cafeteria” opened on Oct. 26, 1920, at
the YWCA center at Fifth and F streets in Eureka. A woman who’d cooked for lunchrooms in San Francisco and Los Angeles was hired to make noontime meals each day. According to the Humboldt Times, “This new feature of the local YWCA will no doubt be of service to the community … for after a girl or woman has partaken of well-cooked and nourished food, she has a chance to read or rest as she desires.”
• TheOct. 27, 1920, Humboldt Times reported that the Humboldt State Normal School (a teacher’s college) was set to open
for its second term for that year with the following classes offered: practice teaching, hygiene, penmanship, science, beginning music, elementary training, pottery, drawing, sociology, reading, piano, woodworking, Americanization, pedagogy, physical education and library service.
• City Traffic Officer Hash arrested T. J. Chamberlain, driver of Eureka’s street department auto truck, on a charge of reckless driving on Oct. 28, 1920, after he “crashed into the side of a streetcar on A Street.” According to the Humboldt Times, the run
ning board of the streetcar was torn off, but the truck was not damaged.
The newspaper noted that this was the second time Chamberlain had “aroused the ire of motormen employed by the transit company.” A few months prior, he was said to have passed a streetcar while he was driving the city’s street sprinkler vehicle. He didn’t shut off the spray in time and “forced a shower bath on the motormen and several passengers.”