"Police Parties"
by Pablo Capra
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| Tom Cheney, Pasqual Shampay, and George Cheney, c/o Topanga Historical Society |
Deputy Sheriff Edward M. Williams (1876-1940) is the next person known to have lived on Topanga Beach, five years after W. W. Coolbaugh’s house was burned down there… possibly by Williams himself!
The Title Insurance and Trust Company assigned Williams to guard their property, but he also helped chase down escapees in the hills during the last months of the prison camp. One escapee who eluded him was Vera Gonzales, a young man who had failed to support his wife and children. Gonzales’s escape was so flawless that no one could understand how he broke out of the cage.
Despite his policing, Williams began a trend of relaxing restrictions at Topanga Beach. Formerly a St. Louis billiard-hall owner, he was a social man and a member of the Elks. He kicked off the summer of 1916 with a barbecue that was celebrated “into the wee sma’ hours of the night” beside huge pits near the lagoon. On the guest list were…
Sheriff [John] Cline with a small army of vigilant deputies… jurists, politicians, court attaches, actors, writers….
After the closing hour of cabaret cafes in the beach cities and Los Angeles the performers [joined] the al fresco throng.
—“Free Comrades Will Gather at Barbecue” Santa Monica Bay Outlook, 1916-06-05
At the end of the summer, Williams hosted a venison barbecue. This was an annual tradition started by Columbus Cheney (1851-1937) to celebrate the opening of deer season in Topanga. George Cheney (1895-1975), his 21-year-old son, decided to move the barbecue to Williams’s place to make it more accessible to guests coming from Santa Monica and Malibu.
Along with the relaxing of restrictions came more opportunities for abuse and crime.
Just like his predecessor, Williams diverted himself by digging up Native American artifacts. Skeletons, tomahawks, and pottery were some of the discoveries he made. Another discovery was a rusty harpoon embedded in a beached swordfish that bore the words “Lee” and “1861.” The significance of the old harpoon is unclear since swordfish only live about 10 years. Symbolically, it seems more significant that the dead swordfish appeared shortly after the Chumash graves had been dug up again. The Chumash believed that all creatures in the ocean have their counterparts on land: lobsters were potato bugs, sardines were lizards, and swordfish were humans.
In February 1917, Police Officer T. J. P. Shannon reported a large smugglers’ boat using a red lantern to communicate with a car at Topanga Beach. Both the boat and car vanished before they could be investigated, but authorities were “confident that the ship landed no Chinese or opium or other smuggled goods.” Chinese immigrants were smuggled in for cheap labor during this time.
In April 1918, a robbery was committed at the Last Chance store and home of the Hall family on the coast road near the mouth of Topanga. William Hall returned to find his store broken into after dropping off his children at school in Santa Monica. Missing were two gold necklaces, two diamond rings, and a turquoise ring. The store was also looted of simpler luxuries like fruit, candy, and chewing gum, leading Hall to suspect that the culprits were children.
Whoever the robbers were, Hall himself may have been a shadier character. In 1912, a Newport Beach bartender named William Hall fired a dozen times with a shotgun to stop three bank robbers from escaping. They still got away, but a fisherman was hit and had to be saved by surgery. In 1916, a Santa Monica bartender named William Hall was working at the Gilman Saloon on 2nd Street when it was raided for gambling. Hall claimed ignorance, but police saw him run to the back to stop a craps game when they entered.
In April 1917, the US joined World War I, sparking outbursts of patriotism. During the first week, more than 100 men joined the Santa Monica Home Guard, including Deputy Sheriff Williams, who enlisted as a mounted scout and offered to bring his own horse. Williams also made his Topanga Beach home a headquarters to register for the draft.
A memorable wartime party was thrown in May 1918 by a young couple named Walter B. Dorrer and Ruth Larson. Japanese lanterns were strung along the beach, carpets were spread on the sand, and 40 guests danced to the music of a record player. Suddenly the couple changed into wedding clothes and a surprise ceremony began. The guests were shocked because the couple hadn’t even announced their engagement. The press dubbed this a “camouflage wedding.” It wasn’t a legal wedding because Dorrer had to leave for the army immediately, but the couple still wanted to exchange vows. Their pretend preacher extracted a “promise of no camouflage affairs for either young person” while they were apart.
A memorable wartime party was thrown in May 1918 by a young couple named Walter B. Dorrer and Ruth Larson. Japanese lanterns were strung along the beach, carpets were spread on the sand, and 40 guests danced to the music of a record player. Suddenly the couple changed into wedding clothes and a surprise ceremony began. The guests were shocked because the couple hadn’t even announced their engagement. The press dubbed this a “camouflage wedding.” It wasn’t a legal wedding because Dorrer had to leave for the army immediately, but the couple still wanted to exchange vows. Their pretend preacher extracted a “promise of no camouflage affairs for either young person” while they were apart.
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This is an excerpt from the book Topanga Beach: A History, 1820s-1920s. Author Pablo Capra is a former Lower Topanga resident, and continues to preserve the history of that neighborhood on his website, www.brasstackspress.com, and as a board member of the Topanga Historical Society, www.topangahistoricalsociety.org.
