Ray L. Chesebro
Ray L. Chesebro | |
---|---|
35th Los Angeles City Attorney | |
In office July 1, 1933 โ June 30, 1953 | |
Preceded by | Erwin P. Werner |
Succeeded by | Roger Arnebergh |
Personal details | |
Born | Mazeppa, Minnesota | August 28, 1880
Died | March 25, 1954 Los Angeles, California | (aged 73)
Raymond L. Chesebro (August 28, 1880 โ March 25, 1954) was a 20th-century police judge and city attorney in Los Angeles, California, who became known and commended throughout the nation.
Personal
Chesebro was born in Mazeppa, Minnesota on August 28, 1880. His parents were Sarah J. Hill and George Chesebro. He had a younger sister Lillian. When Ray was about nine years old his mother died. Soon after, his father died or abandoned his children. Ray and Lillian lived with relatives in Oronoco, Minnesota. As a young man, Ray lived and worked on a farm run by his grandfather, Levi P. Hill, until he was seventeen.[1]
Chesebro came to California in 1904.[2][3] He was married on April 9, 1909, to Ada B. Tripp in her home at 755 Maple Avenue.[4]
He was a member of the
Chesebro died at the age of 73 on March 25, 1954, in
Vocation
Following his grandfather's death in 1897, Ray went to Pine Island, Minnesota, to study telegraphy under James Finegan, of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. After eighteen months, he became a night telegraph operator for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway. From there Chesebro went to St. Paul and worked for his cousin, W. A. Tilden in the wholesale commission business. He became an auditor with the Northern Pacific Railroad. He also studied stenography and took a job in the general freight office of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad, advancing to private secretary to H. M. Pearce, the general freight agent.[1] In 1904 Chesebro came to California and worked as a
He
Of his time as city attorney, the Los Angeles Times reported that Chesebro:
completely reorganized the office with an eye toward economy and cut costs nearly a quarter in the first four years. The appointive office of City Prosecutor, formerly a political plum, was abolished and its functions taken over by the City Attorney's office. For the first time, he created a criminal division in the office.[3]
Chesebro's legal work in fields like "
Opinions and positions
Police judge
- In 1917, Chesebro defended the Police Department's use of its "Metropolitan or 'Purity' Squad" to apprehend prostitutes.[13] He said:
Today the methods employed are to take some
City attorney
- On direction of the City Council, Chesebro filed suit in 1940 against the owners of Gilmore Island, an unincorporated area in West Los Angeles, where sporting events, he said, resulted in "vehement complaints of some 30,000" city residents living next to the area. He said the activities "create unbearable noises, rowdyism and glaring lights way into the night, depriving the persons living there of normal, quiet and happy homes."[14]
- He warned a convention of the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers in 1941 against the "specter of government ownership of tide and submerged lands," which, he said, included more than $2 billion worth of oil deposits off the coast of Southern California. He warned against "oil-grab" bills that "either died a natural death or are in a state of coma to be brought to life at some future date when resistance is not so severe."[15] In 1946-47 he was a trustee of the organization.[16]
- In 1944, Chesebro ordered the closing of a building at 253 South Broadway which had been used as sleeping quarters for U.S. servicemen, warning that "there is unquestioned violation of State fire laws" and alluding to a 1942 Boston night club fire in which more than 400 persons died and city officials there were convicted of lax law enforcement.[17]
- Any public worker could be barred from holding membership in a labor union if such an affiliation is ruled "against public interests," Chesebro opined in the wake of a 1947 appellate court decision that upheld the dissolution of a police officers union. If the board in charge of the department finds "that union membership of its employees is against public interest[,] the board simply tells the workers either to get out of the union of off the public pay roll."[18]
- There would be no way to confine gangster Mickey Cohen unless he has committed a crime, Chesebro told the City Council in a 1952 written opinion after City Councilman Kenneth Hahn suggested that Cohen be taken into protective custody "where he will not be a constant hazard to the safety of innocent persons." Chesebro said: "We cannot proceed against him on the basis of his being a public nuisance when nuisance consists primarily of people who assault his home or himself, each of which instance is beyond his control. ... "[19]
Legacy
After his retirement, he was honored by the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers for "setting an example of the way a City Attorney's office should be run" with a citation that read: "In a city where tremendous increases of population created problems of vast magnitude, his solutions to new legal questions will stand forever as a monument."[3][6][20]
Burglary
During the cemetery rites for Chesebro, two Los Angeles police officers were waiting inside Chesebro's Hollywood Hills home on a
References and notes
- ^ a b [1] John Steven McGroarty, Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea: With Selected Biography of Actors and Witnesses to the Period of Growth and Achievement, Volume 3 (American Historical Society, 1921), 485-6
- ^ a b c Los Angeles Public Library reference file
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Ray Chesebro, Retired City Attorney, Dies at 73," Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1954, pages A-1 and A-3
- ^ "Marry Slyly; Merry Chase," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1909, page II-1
- ^ [2] Location of the Chesebro residence on Mapping L.A.
- ^ a b c d "Rites Conducted for Ray Chesebro," Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1954, pages A-1 and A-24
- ^ "Chesebro Gets Secretaryship," Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1907, page II-1
- ^ "R.L. Chesebro Is Made Road Board's Secretary," Los Angeles Herald, July 27, 1907
- ^ "49 Students Are Admitted to Bar," Los Angeles Herald, July 24, 1909
- ^ "Shaw - Porter, Thrasher - Williams Are Nominated," Eagle Rock Advertiser, May 4, 1933
- ^ "Reveals Purpose of 'Minute Men,' " Eagle Rock Advertiser, July 6, 1933
- ^ "Chesebro, City Attorney, Won't Ask Re-election," Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1953, page A-1
- ^ a b "Police Judge Chesebro Defends Purity Squad," Los Angeles Times, August 28, 1917, page II-2
- ^ "Gilmore Suit Defended," Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1940, page A-1
- ^ "Chesebro Fears Tideland 'Grab,' " Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1941, page 2
- ^ "Law Officers Re-Elect Chesebro as Trustee," Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1947, page A-3
- ^ "Servicemen's Hotel Closing Ordered by City Attorney," Los Angeles Times, January 15, 1944, page A-1
- ^ "Power to Bar Any Public Union Seen," Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1947, page 1
- ^ Chesebro Finds No Legal Right to Roust Cohen," Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1950, page 11
- ^ "Chesebro Gets Citation for Legal Example," Los Angeles Times, September 15, 1953, page 9
- ^ "Suspect Seized in Home During Chesebro Rites,' Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1954, pages A-1 and A-24