Photographs of William F. Gettle, likely used in connection to his kidnapping case, circa May 9, 1934.

Item Overview

Title

Photographs of William F. Gettle, likely used in connection to his kidnapping case, circa May 9, 1934.

Date Created

[circa May 9, 1934]

Date

1934-05-09

Publisher

Los Angeles Daily News

Language

No linguistic content

Collection

Los Angeles Daily News Negatives

Notes

Description

Photographs of businessman and millionaire William F. Gettle, likely used in relation to his kidnapping case of May 9-14, 1934. Gettle was kidnapped from the grounds of his Arcadia ranch home during a party on the eve of May 9th. The kidnapping attracted a great deal of attention in the community, with Mrs. Gettle even addressing the kidnappers through the pages of the Los Angeles Times. The kidnappers demanded a $60,000 ransom for the return of Gettle, which Mrs. Gettle agreed to pay. However, before the ransom was paid, two detectives of the LAPD, Chester Burris and H.P. Gearhardt, broke the case after installing a dictaphone in the home of a bank robbery suspect. Information from the dictaphone led them to a La Crescenta home where Gettle was held. He was returned, unharmed, to his family on the eve of May 14th.

Caption

Text from original nitrate sleeve: William F. Gettle's Children; Bobby, Betty, Jimmy and Billy.

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Medium

b&w nitrate negative

Keywords

Genre

news photographs
cellulose nitrate film

Names

Gettle, William F., 1887-1941

Resource type

still image

Subjects

People
Millionaires--California--Beverly Hills
Crime
Kidnappings--California