Axe used by Louis R. Payne in the murders of Carrie L. and Robert Payne, circa June 4, 1934

Title: Axe used by Louis R. Payne in the murders of Carrie L. and Robert Payne, circa June 4, 1934
Date Created: [circa June 4, 1934]
Date: 1934-06-04
Publisher: Los Angeles Daily News
Language: No linguistic content
Collection: Los Angeles Daily News Negatives

Description: Detective Joe Whitehead, Captain of detectives H.J. Wallis, and fingerprint expert M.G. Gaskell examine the axe with which Louis Rude Payne used to kill his mother and brother.Louis Rude Payne, 21 years of age, used a camping axe to kill his mother, 45-year-old Carrie L. Payne, and 15-year-old brother Robert in their Westwood mansion home. Payne turned himself in for the killings of four to five days after their deaths, at a Huntington Beach police station. When he turned himself in, detectives found on his person both a letter and a telegram addressed to his father Lucius Payne, a St. Louis businessman, confessing to the crime, apologizing for his actions, and explaning that he did not know what impulse it was that drove him to the murders. Although he was questioned repeatedly, no motive for the murders was ever discovered, save for what Payne termed a force stronger than himself that compelled him to commit the crimes.Payne was convicted of the two murders, but found to be insane at the time of the crimes. He was confined to psychiatric treatment at the Mendocino State Hospital at Talmadge, in Mendocino County, CA. His father stood by him throughout his trial and conviction.
Caption: Text of original nitrate sleeve: Whitehead, Joe, Det.; Wallis, H.J. Capt., Gaskell, M.G.; Axe with which Louis R. Payne killed his mother and brother.

Genre: news photographs
cellulose nitrate film
Names: Gaskell, M. G.
Whitehead, Joe
Wallis, Bert, 1880-1959
Location: Los Angeles (Calif.)
Resource type: still image
Subjects: Parricide--California--Los Angeles
Crime
Fratricides--California--Los Angeles

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections
ARK: ark:/21198/zz00254680
Manifest url

Rights statement: copyrighted
Rights Holder: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310)825-4988
Rights Country: US
Funding Note: Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .