At center, A. B. Murchison sits on the witness stand during the preliminary trial regarding Aimee Semple McPherson's disappearance. He sits facing towards the right and looks at a map unfolded in front of him. Two lawyers stand to the left of the witness box. Behind and to the right of Murchison, Judge Blake sits up at the bench and looks down towards the witness. In the foreground at right, a few lawyers sit at the counsel's table.
Attorney S.S. Hahn seated at table with his client, Lorraine Wiseman. Hahn is looking at a stack of papers. Wiseman is looking at him. This photograph was possibly taken in Hahn's office on September 13, 1926, where Wiseman spoke to the press after being arraigned for issuing checks without funds. Wiseman was a co-defendant in the Aimee Semple McPherson conspiracy trial, having admitted that she had falsely claimed to be Miss X, the woman believed to in fact be McPherson who had been with Kenneth G. Ormiston at a Carmel rental cottage.
Photograph of H.C. Benedict's Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage that Kenneth G. Ormiston rented in May 1926 under the assumed name "George E. McIntyre." Ormiston was accompanied by a "Mrs. McIntyre," who some witnesses identified as evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson during the July 1926 investigation of her disappearance from May through June 1926.
At left, attorney Forrest Murray stands beside the witness box during the kidnapping case of Aimee Semple McPherson. He stands facing slightly right and holds up the dress worn by McPherson when found in the desert. To the right of him, Alonzo B. Murchison, a native of Douglas, Arizona, sits on the witness stand.
Photograph of a hand-drawn diagram that depicts Aimee Semple McPherson's account of her escape from her kidnappers in Sonora, Mexico. A dotted line, representing the U.S./Mexico border, extends across the upper third of the image. Below, the Sonoran town of Agua Prieta and its surroundings are depicted. Above the dotted line, Douglas, Arizona is represented. Notations and scale markers are also included in the diagram. A compass rose sits in the upper right corner. Signatures of witnesses Jackson Bergh and Mayor (of Agua Prieta) Ernesto Boubion are in the lower left corner.
Lorraine Wiseman with her son Clarence Wiseman. Clarence has his arm around his mother's shoulder. Out of focus in the background is a male figure. This photograph was probably taken during the Aimee Semple McPherson conspiracy trial between October and November, 1926 when Clarence testified against his mother. Lorraine Wiseman was a co-defendant in the trial, having admitted that she had falsely claimed to be Miss X, the woman believed to in fact be McPherson who had been with Kenneth G. Ormiston at a Carmel rental cottage.
Related to numerous stories reported by the Los Angeles Times on Aimee Semple McPherson's alleged kidnapping in 1926. McPherson, evangelist for the Angelus Temple, disappeared for some time, and when she reappeared, saying she was kidnapped, she and her mother, Mildred Kennedy, were charged with criminal conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction of justice.
In 1926 evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach in California for 5 weeks. Thought to have drowned, she emerged in Mexico, claiming to have been kidnapped. A grand jury investigation indicated that she had actually been staying with a former employee, Kenneth Ormiston. The case against McPherson was finally dismissed.
The camera peers through an open door and into the courtroom during Aimee Semple McPherson's preliminary hearing. Spectators sit in a row against a window-lined wall. At right, another photographer looks to camera while standing beside his camera.
At center, an unknown woman in an apron stands and looks to camera. To the left of her, she holds up 2 cloths, the smaller one in front of the larger one. The smaller one is square and white. The larger one appears to be rectangular and is printed.
![Cottage where some witnesses identified evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, Carmel-by-the-Sea, [1926?]](https://iiif.library.ucla.edu/iiif/2/ark%3A%2F21198%2Fzz002cwkvf/full/!200,200/0/default.jpg)
![Notes written by Aimee Semple McPherson, [1926]](https://iiif.library.ucla.edu/iiif/2/ark%3A%2F21198%2Fzz002cwjg8/full/!200,200/0/default.jpg)
