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Taylorology Issue 17
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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
* *
* Issue 17 -- May 1994 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
* All reprinted material is in the public domain *
* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
The Return of Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner
Allegations that Henry Peavey Murdered Taylor
When did Mary Miles Minter Learn of Taylor's Death?
Flashes of Margaret Shelby
Wallace Smith: February 11, 1922
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
Taylor, a top film Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
murder on Hollywood and the nation. Primary emphasis will be given toward
reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it for
accuracy.
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The Return of Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner
Old recaps of the Taylor murder case written by two famous mystery writers
have recently been reprinted in "true crime" anthologies. Erle Stanley Gardner
(creator of Perry Mason) wrote "The Case of the Movie Murder" in 1946, and it
has been reprinted in MURDER PLUS: TRUE CRIME STORIES FROM THE MASTERS OF
DETECTIVE FICTION, edited by Marc Gerald, and again in STILL UNSOLVED: GREAT
TRUE MURDER CASES, edited by Richard Glyn Jones. Jones also edited THE
MAMMOTH BOOK OF MURDER, reprinting the 1952 article "Hollywood's Most Baffling
Murder" by Ellery Queen (originally published under the title "The Taylor
Case: The Murder Hollywood Can't Forget"). Of the two recaps, the one by Erle
Stanley Gardner is much better--his main source material appears to have been
the newspaper morgue file of the LOS ANGELES EXAMINER, whereas Ellery Queen
seems to have relied primarily on Sutherland's 1929 LIBERTY article.
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Allegations that Henry Peavey Murdered Taylor
Many people within Taylor's range of contact came under suspicion in the
Taylor murder. The following clippings contain allegations which were made
against Taylor's servant, Henry Peavey.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 29, 1923
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Albert Fields, a young negro held in the County Jail on a charge of
stealing automobiles, says Henry Peavey, Taylor's colored valet, admitted that
he (Peavey) shot the director...
Albert Fields said yesterday that he had known Peavey for several years
and renewed his acquaintance last May when Peavey returned to San Francisco
and took his old job of cleaning out a pool hall. Shorn of his grandeur as the
body servant of the great director, Peavey made the most of the notoriety
which had enmeshed him. Fields says when he asked Peavey who killed Taylor the
former valet let his eyelids droop and changed the conversation.
So Fields set out on a campaign to clear up the mystery. One fell day,
says Fields, Peavey admitted that he had slain the director, and had slain him
for a price. This is the way Fields says Peavey says he did it:
After serving a drink to Mr. Taylor and Miss Mabel Normand, who was the
last person besides the murderer to see Mr. Taylor alive, Peavey made much of
departing leaving the back door unlocked. He talked to Miss Normand's
chauffeur, then hid in the dark. When the director and Miss Normand walked to
the car Peavey slipped into the house and shot Taylor as he entered. Then he
crept from the house.
In a few days he collected what was owing to him in blood money, stayed
around town to satisfy the suspicions of the detectives and then went to San
Francisco and nailed the pool hall job.
Last July, through some breach of the King's peace, Fields found himself
in the City Jail at San Francisco. He got the ear of Captain of Detectives
Matheson and played his trump card. The police went down to Peavey's pool hall
and dragged him before Fields, where accusations were hurled back and forth.
Both of them were kept in jail for a few days and then put out.
In December Detective Lieuts. Raymond Hickok and Erven went to Tiajuana
and arrested Fields. They said he had stolen many motor cars and run them
across the international line. When Fields found himself in jail he brushed
off his soiled ace and played it again. Deputy Dist.-Atty. Fricke heard him
out. So did Detective Lieut. King. Mr. King had worked on the Taylor case
last year, and decided that Peavey was having a bit of fun at Field's expense.
[sic] That ended the Peavey investigation until the sudden rain of confessions
yesterday revived it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 16, 1925
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Indications that the reopened investigation into the murder of William
Desmond Taylor, more than three years ago, had centered upon Henry Peavey, the
motion picture director's negro valet, were given yesterday when District
Attorney Asa W. Keyes of Los Angeles conferred here with a San Francisco
detective.
Detective Jack Cannon of the police automobile detail went to the Hotel
St. Francis yesterday at Keyes' summons and was requested by the Los Angeles
official to "stand ready to help out."
It was learned for the first time yesterday that Cannon a year ago made a
special trip to Los Angeles to furnish the authorities there with a purported
confession from Peavey that he had murdered Taylor.
This confession was said to have been made to another negro, Miles
Proctor, with whom he lived in a San Francisco rooming house. Proctor was
taken into custody on a different charge and bared to Cannon what he said was
a complete story of the Taylor murder told to him by Peavey.
According to Proctor, Peavey said he was retained by an Eastern
capitalist to do away with Taylor and successfully negotiated the crime after
worming his way into the motion picture director's employ. He said the
capitalist was still sending him periodic payments. [1]
Cannon rushed to Los Angeles with this information and at the behest of
the southern investigators a watch was maintained at the San Francisco post
office on Peavey's mail for nearly two weeks, but no letters were received
here, it became known yesterday.
Meanwhile Peavey went to Missouri, where he is now believed to be living.
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When did Mary Miles Minter learn of Taylor's Death?
(An Analysis of Statements Attributed to Margaret Shelby Fillmore
Regarding February 1, 1922)
Unfortunately we have no verbatim transcripts yet available of Margaret
Shelby's statements concerning the events which occurred on the day of the
Taylor murder. However, we do have three reported versions of her statements,
with interesting variations:
1. Leroy Sanderson's official letter, dated June 13, 1941, includes a summary
of the detailed transcribed statement made by Margaret to the Los Angeles
authorities on May 5, 1937 (the day prior to her appearance before the
Grand Jury). According to Sanderson's written summary: "She stated in
substance, that on the night of February 1, 1922, Mary had been locked in
her room by her mother, because Mrs. Shelby feared that Mary was going to
run away with Taylor. That Mary left the house early in the evening, exact
time unknown, and returned about 8:30 p.m. That she was nervous and upset
and was crying. That later on that evening, although Mary and she were
very bad friends, Mary came to her room and asked to remain there, stating
that she was lonesome and didn't wish to be alone." [2]
2. A few months later, Margaret took the witness stand in the lawsuit Fillmore
vs. Shelby, and the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported she gave the following
testimony on August 23, 1937:
Questioned concerning the whereabouts of Mrs. Shelby and Mary Miles
Minter on the night of the Taylor murder, Mrs. Fillmore said:
"Mary came in about 9 p.m. in a very hysterical manner. She picked up
a book and began reading about the South Sea Islands.
"The book seemed to amuse her, but I picked it up later and found it
dry and uninteresting.
"Mrs. Shelby was not at home that day. I knew she was out all day and
night hunting certain men to locate Mary." [3]
3. In A CAST OF KILLERS, Kirkpatrick said that Vidor said that Sanderson said
that Margaret said: Mrs. Shelby locked Mary in her room, but grandmother
Julia let Mary out and Mary departed; Shelby went to the basement and got a
muffler, long coat and gun, then Shelby left; an hour later Mary returned
hysterical, got into bed with Margaret and told her the following had
happened: Mary was upstairs in Taylor's apartment during Mabel Normand's
final visit; while Taylor was escorting Mabel back to her car, Mary came
down the stairs and found Shelby there; when Taylor walked back into the
apartment, Shelby shot and killed him in Mary's presence. [4]
It is reasonable to assume that the Sanderson letter and the reported
testimony on the witness stand are essentially accurate representations of
what Margaret stated. But it is very difficult to believe what Kirkpatrick
writes, and that Margaret actually related these events purportedly told to
her by Mary on the night of the murder--difficult to believe that Mary was
upstairs during Mabel's visit, difficult to believe that Mary witnessed
Taylor's murder and then told Margaret about it. As to whether Mary was
upstairs during Mabel's visit with Taylor, strong arguments against that
position have been presented elsewhere. [5]
As to whether Mary witnessed Taylor's murder, Margaret testified on the
witness stand that Mary, after returning home that evening, was reading a book
and was visibly amused by it. (The book, identified in Minter's official 1922
statement as THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA, was a very funny book--Margaret's opinion
to the contrary notwithstanding.) If Mary had indeed just witnessed Taylor's
murder it is hard to believe that she would be amused shortly afterwards, then
burst into extreme hysterics when "notified" of Taylor's death the following
morning. Her affection for Taylor was clearly genuine and endured through the
years; her anguish the following morning was also clearly genuine. If she was
amused an hour or so after Taylor's death, then she knew absolutely nothing
about the murder at that time.
As to whether the tale told by Kirkpatrick was actually related by
Margaret to the investigators, the strongest evidence to the contrary is
Sanderson's 1941 letter. If Margaret had actually made a statement indicating
Mary witnessed Taylor's shooting by Shelby, why was it not mentioned in
Sanderson's letter? That statement would have been very compelling evidence
for the case Sanderson was trying to present against Shelby. (Margaret died
in 1939, so she did not make another statement after Sanderson wrote his
letter.) This silence of omission is very strong indication against the
veracity of Kirkpatrick's account. In addition, Sanderson suggests that
perhaps Stockdale or Kirkwood committed the murder (on Shelby's behalf)--why
would he make this suggestion if indeed he had been told that Mary personally
witnessed Shelby shooting Taylor? It makes no sense. Given the large number
of errors in A CAST OF KILLERS [6] this entire tale appears to be just
another inaccuracy, constructed to support the main premise of Kirkpatrick's
book.
However, if we only accept the Sanderson letter and Margaret's reported
testimony in Fillmore vs. Shelby, we still have a major contradiction. In
Sanderson's letter, Margaret stated that Mary was locked in her room by Shelby
all day, only escaping in early evening; in Margaret's lawsuit testimony,
"Mrs. Shelby was not at home that day. I knew she was out all day and night
hunting certain men to locate Mary." This contradiction suggests that Margaret
was not telling the complete truth (both statements could not be true), and
increases the possibility that other portions of her statements may also be
untrue, motivated by revenge against Shelby for having betrayed her (for
having had her committed to the mental hospital, for having taken her money
and property, etc.).
Finally, there are the contradictions about Mary's mental state.
Margaret's testimony on the witness stand indicated that Mary entered "in a
very hysterical manner" but she soon was amused by a book she was reading.
Margaret's statement summarized by Sanderson indicated that Mary "was nervous
and upset and was crying" when she entered. If indeed she was crying, her
tears evidently didn't last long and her so-called "hysteria" of that evening
was very small compared to her genuine hysteria the following day when
notified of Taylor's death.
Conclusion: In her public statements, Mary always insisted that she knew
nothing of Taylor's death until she was notified by Charlotte Shelby on the
morning of February 2. Pending more substantial evidence to the contrary (and
considering Mary's later reconciliation with Shelby), it is reasonable to
conclude that Mary was telling the truth--she was not present when Taylor was
killed and knew nothing about his death until the following morning.
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Flashes of Margaret Shelby
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 7, 1921
Mary Miles Minter
MOVIE WEEKLY
...In our house on Cadiz Street, Dallas, Texas, where we had been living
it had been the custom for a long time for my sister Margaret and me to play
out little parts with mother coaching us. In that way we learned,
unconsciously, the fine points of stage technique, which kept us from
appearing awkward in the unfamiliar atmosphere behind the front curtain.
...Before I forget it--let me tell how it was that [as a small child] I
got my part in "Cameo Kirby." It's really funny and mother and I have laughed
over the incident many times. We had come up from Dallas to New York, and one
day a friend told mother that a little girl was to be engaged for "Cameo
Kirby," so down to the theatre we went.
Margaret, my sister, had been successful in other child roles, and it was
she who was to be the applicant for the part. I was just taken along as there
was no one to leave me with.
Margaret, however, did not prove to be just the type and Mr. Arnold Daly
went slowly down the row of sixty-five children--while I stood over in one
corner.
They told me to be quiet--but all of a sudden I cried out, "Oh, mamma,
see what a funny face that man has!"
Mr. Daly whirled--and instead of annihilating me with a glance walked
right over to my corner and said, "This is the little girl I want." Then
mother told him I had never acted. But I was given the part.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 1912
THE THEATRE
(from an interview with Juliet Shelby [Mary Miles Minter])...Oh, yes, I
like being an actress. My sister Margaret is an actress. She's blacker, I mean
she's a brunette. She has black eyes and dark hair, and she's two years older
than me. I wish they would take Margaret into the company, and let her play
'The Littlest Rebel' one night, or one week, and me play it the next. Then
sister and I could always be together, and play as much as we like--play keep
house, I mean.
...My days are just like any other little girl's. I go from here with
mamma--that's what I call my grandma. My mother is with my sister--they've
been playing in an awful failure...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 19, 1916
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
(from an interview with Mary Miles Minter)..."I can manage my sister
Margaret quite easily, and she's sixteen, but there's never any reason for
demonstrating that fact. We are very different, but I don't believe we've ever
had a serious quarrel, only sometimes at night, when I want the light left on
to read by, and she wants it off so that she can sleep, we keep popping it on
and off for hours.
"...It is hard to find a play that suits the sort of acting I can do
best, and want to do...Margaret is cut out for comedy, but I prefer drama, but
not of the gush and sentimental kind."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 1916
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
...Margaret, this older sister, is also very ambitious, and has just
closed a busy season with Nazimova's wonderful vaudeville sketch, "War
Brides," and hopes to be installed soon in the same field as her sister.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 20, 1916
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
Margaret Shelby, sister of Mary Miles Minter, of the American Company,
has recently become a member of Oliver Morosco's Burbank Theatre Stock
Company. Her first appearance was in Grace Livingston Furniss's play, "The
Fibber."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 17, 1916
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
Margaret Shelby and Mary Miles Minter, sisters, are playing together for
the first time in Director James Kirkwood's picture, "Faith," now in the
course of production at the Santa Barbara studios.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 1917
PHOTOPLAY
Mary Miles Minter had a narrow escape from death in an automobile
accident early in December while en route in her automobile from Los Angeles
to Santa Barbara. She sustained injuries which are keeping her on the hospital
list but she got off much more lucky than her mother and sister, Margaret
Shelby. Mrs. Gertrude [sic] Shelby, the mother of the girls was driving when
the car skidded and turned over in the ditch. Mrs. Shelby sustained a broken
arm, her sister was badly cut and bruised and Miss Minter suffered severe cuts
from broken glass.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 26, 1920
LOS ANGELES HERALD
Last evening, amidst a froth of mirth and a pall of sombre tragedy, the
Amateur Players came into their own once more. The Little Theater had in its
audience about 300 of Los Angeles' exclusives, while a cast of especially
clever folk moved them to laughter, or startled them to tears. Mrs. Tyler
Henshaw and Max Pollock directed the three playlets most successfully.
...The lovely film star, Mary Miles Minter, played the lead in the clever
little comedy, "Entre Act."
The setting is back stage at an amateur performance, with beautiful Miss
Minter in the proverbial Juliet costume, clever Fred McPherson playing the
almost unfaithful Romeo, while a wicked and alluring little vamp in the person
of Margaret Shelby, sister of Miss Minter, handled with much piquancy the
tempting Carmen. The second offering this season of the Amateur Players
finished in delightful style with a dance and hot supper on the stage, the
audience meeting the actors face to face.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 28, 1920
LOS ANGELES HERALD
Many have been the stories of men and women giving up business careers
for the make-believe life of the motion picture studios, but today the
situation was reversed when Margaret Shelby discarded make-up appliances for a
life as a business woman.
Miss Shelby is the sister of Mary Miles Minter and is herself almost as
well known on the screen. She announced she is quitting for all time her
motion picture work to enter the real estate field.
The retiring picture star will conduct her business under the firm name
of Margaret Shelby Investment Co., and has made her first move as a real
estate dealer by opening up a 30-acre tract. [7]
"The business world always has interested me," Miss Shelby stated, "and I
am pinning my hopes of success on Los Angeles real estate.
"My only connection with the motion pictures will be through my younger
sister, Mary."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 1920
PHOTOPLAY
"I am proud of that little sister of mine," says Margaret Shelby, sister
of Mary Miles Minter. "I cannot tell you how proud I am, and besides that
would sound egotistical; but I can say from the bottom of my heart that being
sister to a celebrity is not exactly a bed of roses...Mary's beaux smother me
with flowers and deluge me with candies. I am showered with invitations to
lovely dinner parties 'a deaux' with the usual pink lights, soft music, etc.,
ad lib. Then 'He' gazes longingly into my melting orbs and whispers, 'How is
Mary? Tell me about her?'
"I even dream of a future as the sympathetic wife of one of Mary's
erstwhile beaux."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 1921
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
(from an interview with Mary Miles Minter)..."To hear her [Charlotte
Shelby] and Margaret talk you'd think they didn't have any souls. They love to
tease me."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 25, 1921
Billie Blenton
MOVIE WEEKLY
Her sister, Margaret Shelby, was telling me about Mary's distracting way
of making trains. At least she said it was distracting. Personally, I thought
it corking. Mary has a habit of arriving at the station two minutes before the
train pulls out and calmly wanting to know if she is late!
"The worst of it, Mary had a life-sized doll that looked like a real baby
in its dainty garments. Every time it was bent over, it piped: 'mama.' A young
man, a great friend of mine, came to see me off. We rode down in the elevator
together. What do you suppose that crazy doll did? It slipped out of my grasp,
drooped forward, and piped: 'mama.' Of course, everybody in the elevator
looked at us and smiled. The young man turned scarlet. The doll piped up
'mama' again in the lobby, and--
"Well, we finally did get to the station, doll and all. At the ninth hour
Mary turned up, just as calm and cheery as you please."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 4, 1923
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
Residential suites de luxe is the name to be given to the palatial
apartments which Mrs. Charlotte Shelby and Miss Margaret Shelby, mother and
sister of Mary Miles Minter, have evolved out of the old Duque residence at
701 South New Hampshire street.
This magnificent old colonial home with its forty rooms has been
transformed into ten suites, each furnished in some unique period furniture
scheme. The house itself has been christened Casa de la Marguerita and is to
have its own name.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 10, 1923
LOS ANGELES HERALD
Emphatic denial of the charges made by Mary Miles Minter, famous motion
picture actress, that her mother and sister had refused to account for the
salary earned by her on the silver sheet, was voiced today by Miss Margaret
Shelby, sister of the beautiful star.
"Mother never refused to render an accounting to Mary of the salary which
she earned as a motion picture actress," Miss Shelby declared today.
"I am too dumbfounded to know just what reply to make to the charges. It
is a grievous surprise to me and it's hard to say how it will affect mother.
"Mother never has refused a settlement with Mary. To begin with, money
was never discussed in our home. We had the happiest home imaginable. My
mother has done what she thought was best for Mary and myself. It is
bewildering to us why Mary has taken this stand.
"It is unfortunate that Mary should make these charges just now when
mother is so ill. Her constant plea is for Mary. We both love her dearly and
no matter what Mary says, it will not change our attitude towards her. She can
come home at any time and be received with open arms."
Concerning the condition of her mother, Miss Shelby said she was
"painfully ill and under the care of two special nurses."
When further questioned as to the doctor's statements concerning the
outcome of the operation which Mrs. Shelby underwent, Miss Shelby replied.
"The doctors have not told me that mother is near death. You know they
tell one so little We intended to bring mother home on Wednesday, but she is
suffering so terribly that she cannot be moved. My grandmother and myself
cannot bear to stay in the room more than a few minutes at the time and
witness her anguish.
"But regardless of her suffering, mother's sole thought is for Mary. She
calls for her and is willing to forget and forgive everything if Mary will
only come. Mary has been the very heart throb of mother's existence for years.
"No matter what Mary has to say, mother will be glad to see her," was the
statement issued from the mother through Margaret Shelby, Miss Minter's older
sister.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 11, 1923
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
...Her mother, Mrs. Shelby, who has been painfully ill at the Good
Samaritan Hospital, following an operation, yesterday refused to be
interviewed, but her daughter, Margaret, entered an emphatic denial to the
statements of Miss Minter.
"Mary will not always feel as she does at present," said the elder sister
of the beautiful young star. "The time will come when she will realize that
everything mother has done has been for her best interests.
"Why, mother has often begged Mary to take the money that rightfully
belonged to her. In fact, my mother has always worshipped Mary and has acted
only for her best interests.
"Personally, I am in no way involved in the matter. This financial affair
is entirely between my mother and Mary. I have never received one cent of the
money my sister has received."
But it is a different story that Mary tells regarding the handling of the
family funds.
"My sister started in the real estate business on money earned by me,"
she declared in answer to Margaret's statements. "Anything that Margaret
wanted was all right, but I cannot even sell the automobile in which I drove
away from the home which was purchased and kept up with my earnings."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 13, 1923
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, Mary Miles Minter's mother, who was brought home
from the hospital Saturday, was reported yesterday as much improved.
"She is still in a very weakened condition, and her vitality is extremely
low, but she was so glad to get home that I am sure it will make her feel
better," declared Margaret Shelby, Mary's older sister, yesterday.
"We have tried to keep mother from knowing that so much was being
published about this trouble, but it's terribly hard, as she insists on having
the papers brought to her, and it almost kills her to read the terrible things
that have been said.
"Why, I love my sister and would do anything for her, and, after all, you
know, 'blood is thicker than water.' I have saved every letter that Mary ever
wrote me--I even have one that was written when she was five years old.
"I am sure it's not so that I have been using Mary's money. What little I
have I have made myself in the real estate business.
Margaret then told how she got her start in the real estate business in
Los Angeles.
"And I have done it all myself. I bought one little piece of property
when I first came and sold it at a profit, and then I bought another piece,
and now I am interested in a wonderful tract," and she showed the reporter a
bird's eye sketch of the property.
"Are all those pretty houses in the sketch on the property now?" asked
the reporter.
"Mercy, no! Why, if I had the money to build them I could make lots of
money."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 16, 1927
Dorothy Herzog
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
...A curious thing happened during Mary's last trip West [in 1925]. Her
sister, Margaret, was engaged to be married. Mary knew she was engaged. She
had heard so from an outside source. But Margaret never breathed a word of it
to Miss Minter.
Margaret never invited her sister to the wedding, which occurred while
Mary was living under the same roof.
Then, one evening Mary, motivated by a warm impulse, took a diamond
breastpin--one of the few pieces of jewelry she had left, and which Margaret
had often admired--raced downstairs and knocked on Margaret's bedroom door.
Margaret opened it, and seeing her sister, came out into the corridor.
Whereupon Mary handed her the diamond barpin, told her they had not
always been the friends she often desired, wished her happiness and turned to
leave. Margaret had the grace to cry and Mary took her in her arms and said,
"You mustn't do that."
At this moment, Mrs. Shelby, having heard voices in the hall, opened her
door and saw the two together.
"Very touching, very pretty indeed," she commented sarcastically.
Margaret jerked away from Mary and thenceforth treated her with cold aloofness
as of yore. But she kept the diamond breastpin.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 3, 1936
LOS ANGELES TIMES
The ghost of tragedy which has stalked in the wake of Mary Miles Minter's
money beckoned at another victim yesterday.
The attractive Mrs. Margaret Fillmore, Mary's sister, is seriously ill
and is in a sanitarium under the constant care of a physician.
Coming as a complete surprise, that was the announcement made in Superior
Judge Emmet Wilson's court yesterday by Attorney Joseph Lewinson, who is
representing Mary, Mrs. Fillmore and Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, their mother, in a
civil suit to recover what they say was a large part of Mary's once fabulous
film fortune.
"Mrs. Fillmore has suffered a complete nervous breakdown and will not be
able to attend court or to be a witness here," said Lewinson, when the
question of the non-appearance was brought sharply to the front by Norman
Sterry, attorney representing Blyth & Co., investment bankers, who are
defendants in the Minter suit.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 20, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXPRESS
Emmett J. Flynn, film director, and his bride of three days, the former
Margaret Shelby Fillmore, 36-year-old sister of Mary Miles Minter, today
arranged to appear in police court at Glendale on Monday on a charge of being
drunk in an automobile. Following a dispute over payment of a $25 bill for
their taxicab elopement to Yuma, Flynn and his wife were arrested at the Grand
Central airport last night and spent several hours in jail until released on
bail. Don Rhodes, taxicab driver, who said he drove Flynn and his bride-to-be
to Yuma last Wednesday, and asserted that he failed to receive his $25 fee
after the ceremony, caused the arrests.
Flynn and his bride, leaving their hotel at 1043 West Sixth street, went
to the airport late yesterday to claim Flynn's automobile. They encountered
Rhodes, who demanded the $25. He called police when the Flynns started to
drive away in the car. The Flynns were arrested shortly afterward.
Mrs. Flynn, fondling her Pekinese pup as she talked in a cell of the
women's division of the Glendale jail, last night said:
"Mr. Flynn hired the man (Rhodes) to drive us to Yuma after we had
started out in an airplane and had to come back to the airport because of bad
weather. He paid $50 for hire of the car, and he paid the hotel bill for
Rhodes and his wife in Yuma. After our marriage, we decided to come back by
train."
Rhodes said he was promised $25 in addition to the $50 paid him.
Hollywood was puzzled by the Flynn-Fillmore marriage. An "Emmett J.
Flynn," said to be a motion picture director, was charged with desertion and
non-support last Feb. 25 in a separate maintenance suit filed by Mrs. Nita
Flynn. The suit stated they were married in Florida in December, 1933.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 3, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXPRESS
Emmett Flynn, one-time ace film director, today whistled happily as he
wielded a broom in Beverly Hills jail, where he is serving a 30-day sentence
for probation violation.
Just why he whistled, Beverly jail authorities weren't quite sure unless
of course, it signified a reconciliation with his bride of less than two
weeks, Mrs. Margaret Shelby Fillmore Flynn, who visited him twice in his cell
yesterday, despite the fact that she recently filed annulment proceedings
against him.
Mrs. Flynn, the sister of Mary Miles Minter, refused to comment. But,
according to jailers, her smiles, following each through-the-bars farewell
were happy ones.
Shortly after Flynn and his bride returned from their impromptu elopement
and wedding in Yuma, March 16, last, there appeared one Mrs. Neta Baker Flynn,
who announced in no uncertain language that she was still the wife of the
director. So Flynnn's latest bride filed a petition for annulment. But today
friends were freely predicting a reconciliation and a second marriage when
Flynn has satisfied the law and the previous Mrs. Flynn.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 26, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXPRESS
A couple of wives of Emmett J. Flynn, the rollicking film director, got
together in Superior Court today, and one of them emerged from the courtroom
sans the prefix, "Mrs. Flynn." In fact, one Mrs. Flynn helped the other Mrs.
Flynn get rid of the Flynn name.
The ex-Mrs. Flynn is Margaret Shelby Fillmore, sister of Mary Miles
Minter, former screen star. Flynn and Mrs. Fillmore eloped to Yuma last March
19 and were married.
Today in Judge Myron Westover's court, Margaret Shelby Fillmore Flynn--
now the ex-Mrs. Flynn obtained an annulment of the marriage, contending that
she married the film director without knowledge that he was still the husband
of Mrs. Neta Baker Flynn.
Mrs. Neta Baker Flynn, helping the woman who might have been her
successor, flourished the marriage license issued in Miami, Fla., when she
married Flynn in 1933.
"No other woman will ever get my husband while I live, except over my
dead body," she told Judge Westover. "I love him and am still his wife."
After obtaining the annulment Mrs. Fillmore--the ex-Mrs. Flynn--chatted
amiably with Mrs. Flynn in the corridor outside of Judge Westover's court.
They exchanged compliments.
"She's the most beautiful little woman I have ever known," said Mrs.
Flynn, placing her arm around Mrs. Fillmore's shoulders. "Any time I can do
anything for you, just call me."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 6, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXPRESS
Mary Miles Minter, lovely blonde film star of other days, her mother,
Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, and her sister Mrs. Margaret Fillmore, appeared before
the county grand jury today in a sudden reopening of the investigation into
the 15-year-old murder of William Desmond Taylor, famed screen director.
...Mrs. Fillmore, whose deposition in a civil suit against her mother set
off the spark that generated the present investigation, was caustic in her
comments as she prepared to answer grand jury questions.
"Since I left the sanitarium some time ago," she snapped, "I have resided
in Los Angeles. It has not been safe for me to go to my own home at Laguna
Beach.
"I'll tell the grand jury everything I know. I'm not here of my own free
will. I'm here under subpena. But I'm willing to give the grand jury anything
I can to help clear up this mess."
...Veiled statements allegedly made in a deposition by Mrs. Fillmore,
Miss Minter's sister, were said by District Attorney Fitts to have been the
spark which touched off the newest investigation of the Taylor case.
The deposition was given by Mrs. Fillmore on April 3 in connection with a
civil suit which she brought against her mother, Mrs. Shelby, to recover
$48,000 in cash.
So pointed did Attorney Clyde Murphy, representing Mrs. Shelby, consider
some of the daughter's references, that he called attention of District
Attorney Fitts to the deposition.
In the course of the deposition, which started the new inquiry, the
following questions were answered:
Q. (By Attorney Murphy) I notice that the bank records show that you and
your sister entered this same box about the 22nd of August of last year?
A. (By Mrs. Fillmore) I did it on purpose. I did it to give her two
diaries that were so diabolical and so pathetic that they made Mary Astor's
diaries look like a postscript; I didn't want Mrs. Shelby to publish them
against the girl.
(Much of the testimony in the deposition centers around a transaction in
1923 when Margaret claims that her mother agreed to give her all of the
profits made on the sale of a tract of ground described as the Laughlin Park
property. This was purchased for $36,000 and sold for $180,000.)
Then Mrs. Fillmore says:
A. ...but there are other obligations besides legal obligations, Mr.
Murphy.
Q. (By Murphy) For instance, the moral obligation I assume you refer
to...
A. One could call them that.
Q. Was Mrs. Shelby under any legal or moral obligation to you in the year
1923 to give you $133,000?
A. I wouldn't call it legal. The moral obligation would be a matter of
opinion, but it was more or less standing by her against the public,
protection. That could have been legal.
Q. You feel that your services in that regard were reasonably worth
$133,000?
A. Well, if I had been in that position I think I would have paid my last
cent to have shielded her.
Q. Was she under accusation at that time?
A. Some people said so.
Q. What did you give your mother in return for that agreement?
A. Do you want me to speak very frankly?
Q. Yes.
A. I protected her against the Taylor murder case.
Q. It is your contention, is that correct, that your mother killed
William Desmond Taylor?
A. I don't have to answer that.
Q. ...let us assume that you did render her a great many services after
the agreement was made. Had you done anything before that agreement was made?
A. In 1922, yes.
Q. What was that?
A. That was in February, 1922, all during the balance of that year and
the balance of '23, and so on.
Q. What was that?
A. That was shielding her from the public, that was shielding her from
detectives, that was shielding her from accusations, from dangerous people and
continuing at work in an apartment hotel, in opening an office, and having the
privilege of contacts that made other deals possible for her..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 6, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXAMINER
...Miss Minter said she believed the present re-opening of the case was
due to an "upheaval" by her sister.
"Margaret has been bitter against our mother, as you know," the actress
said. "They, as well as I, have been involved in litigation of some kind for
years.
"Margaret wanted to be an actress and yet I took the limelight.
"It's all come out in court, anyway, and as you remember in one case
mother had Margaret kept out of court by calling a doctor for her.
"I'm afraid this is just an upheaval."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 7, 1937
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"I can't live in my own home in Laguna--my mother is there."
Nervous, tears in her eyes, Margaret Fillmore made this declaration
yesterday before going before the grand jury and telling what she knows of
facts before and after the slaying of William Desmond Taylor.
..."I really have no enmity against my mother," she said later. "This is
an embarrassing position. I came here because I was subpoenaed--but I intend
to tell everything I know to the grand jury.
"Mother has hurt me deeply--first that psychopathic complaint, then
taking that $18,750 out of the bank and keeping my home--but I am not doing
this, please don't think I am, to hurt her in retribution."
Mrs. Fillmore referred to the time last August when Mrs. Shelby filed a
psychopathic complaint against her, then testified at the hearing that her
daughter was suffering from overindulgence in alcohol.
"Mother went to our safe deposit box, took out $18,750--all we had in the
world--and then did this to me because I scolded her for doing it," Mrs.
Fillmore said at that time.
Later Mrs. Fillmore filed two civil suits in Orange county--both of them
still pending--one demanding return of the $18,750 and the other seeking
possession of the Laguna Beach home.
Entering the grand jury chambers she did not look at her mother. She was
closeted there until noon--telling the story which she had promised to tell--
then a recess was taken.
In the offices of Eugene U. Blalock, deputy District Attorney in charge
of grand jury affairs, she collapsed at the desk and sobbed brokenly.
Later she came out with the attorney--and was heard to remark, "I told
nothing but the truth."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 7, 1937
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"I don't think mother ever treated Margaret unfairly."
Her blue eyes glistening, Mary Miles Minter leaned against one of the
austere marble walls outside the grand jury room yesterday waiting to be
called to testify and talked freely to reporters.
"You must know that my sister has deteriorated to such a degree
physically in recent years that she sometimes is unable to take care of
herself," the former film star said.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 18, 1937
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
Mary Miles Minter's famous diary, for years secreted in her mother's
"black bag," was spirited out of the bag back into Mary's possession--by her
sister.
That startling statement was made by Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, mother of the
once famous film actress, on the witness stand in Superior Court yesterday.
"I had kept the diary with a great many of Mary's letters in a little
black bag for many years," Mrs. Shelby told the jury in Judge Parker Wood's
court where she is fighting a charge that she wrongfully removed $48,750 from
a safety deposit box held jointly by her and her other daughter, Margaret
Shelby Fillmore.
The "lost" diary had been hinted at on numerous occasions in connection
with the investigation of the mysterious murder of William Desmond Taylor.
It's now in Mary's hands, Mrs. Shelby said.
"I didn't know Margaret knew it was in the bag," said Mrs. Shelby. "When
I closed out my safety deposit box in a Laguna Beach bank a year ago, I found
that Margaret had invaded the privacy of the box and returned the letters and
diary to her sister."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 31, 1937
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXPRESS
Margaret Fillmore, sister of Mary Miles Minter, former star of the silent
screen, often became intoxicated during 1935 and 1936, her mother, Mrs.
Charlotte Shelby, testified today in Superior Judge Parker Wood's court.
Once, Mrs. Fillmore appeared in the patio of their Laguna Beach home clad
only in a clinging silken nightgown and Mrs. Shelby testified she turned a
garden hose on her.
"Margaret seemed to just love the spray from the flying water," Mrs.
Shelby added.
Mrs. Shelby was testifying in the trial of the suit brought against her
by Margaret to recover $48,750 assertedly taken from a joint safety deposit
box.
"I was watering the shrubbery in the patio of our Laguna Beach home,"
Mrs. Shelby testified. "Margaret had been drinking, and although it was a very
hot day, she had remained in her room.
"Suddenly she appeared in the garden, wearing only a tight fitting silk
nightgown. She started abusing me and when she started toward me I was
frightened and turned the hose on her. It seemed to startle her and she stood
there and smiled, with her hair dripping down across her shoulders. When I saw
she enjoyed it I gave her a good ducking."
Mrs. Shelby also told of "chasing" mythical men out of Margaret's
bedchamber frequently.
"Margaret suffered from hallucinations and would wake up at night
screaming, 'There are men in my room. They are hiding behind the curtains and
are under my bed.'
"I would hurry to her and, although there were no men in the room I would
have to shake the curtains and crawl under the bed, crying 'Shoo--get out of
here--Margaret doesn't want you in here any more.'
"That seemed to please her, and she would throw her arms around my neck
and say 'Please, mother, I love you. Lie down here beside me and don't let
anyone hurt me. You are all that I have and I am all that you have. We must
stick together.'
"Margaret would never let me take the dogs out--even to feed them. She
would remain in her room as long as two days and two nights at a time without
eating, and the poor dogs would have to remain locked in here with her."
"She always hated Mary (Miles Minter), and any time her name was
mentioned would burst into terrible tirades.
"I couldn't get her to eat. I used to prepare the dishes she liked best
but many times she attempted to attack me as I worked about the kitchen. I
finally discovered that the only way I could keep her away from me was to hold
something in my hand while I worked. So usually, I prepared our dinners with
either a poker or a broom in my hand."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 1, 1937
LOS ANGELES TIMES
A threat of death followed by a tussle in the hall outside her bedroom
was related yesterday by Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, mother of Mary Miles Minter,
in testimony opposing the claim of her other daughter, Mrs. Margaret Fillmore,
for $48,750, in the court of Superior Judge Parker Wood.
"Margaret would follow me around the house," testified Mrs. Shelby,
"telling me that she wished I might die and that she would kill me."
Then on the night of July 19, 1936, Mrs. Shelby told the court and jury
trying the case, "Margaret grabbed me--by the neck" when she was aroused by
noises in the hall adjoining the bedroom. Mrs. Shelby testified that she had
long since locked and bolted her bedroom door at night.
A memorandum from Dr. Victor Parkin, alienist, dated July 20, 1936 was
introduced as evidence by Attorney Clyde Murphy, representing Mrs. Shelby. It
recommended that Margaret Fillmore be taken before the Lunacy Commission and
said that Dr. Parkin found her "highly nervous and her conversation rambled."
It was at this period that Mrs. Fillmore was committed to a psychopathic
ward, later being released. The present suit is based on the contention that
during this incident Mrs. Shelby removed the $48,750 from a joint safe deposit
box in a downtown Los Angeles bank.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 4, 1937
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Circumstances leading up to the incarceration of Mrs. Margaret Fillmore,
sister of Mary Miles Minter, former star of silent films, in the psychopathic
ward of General Hospital in August, 1938, yesterday drew queries by Superior
Judge Parker Wood.
Details of Mrs. Fillmore's detention were inquired into by Attorneys
Richard Cantillon and John Glover, representing Mrs. Fillmore in her suit for
recovery of $48,750 against her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby.
They closely examined Dr. Victor Parkin, alienist, on whose
recommendation the 36-year-old woman was committed.
Judge Wood took occasion also to question Dr. Parkin when it developed
that he made his original recommendation on May 11, 1936, that he last saw
Mrs. Fillmore on June 4, 1936, and that the recommendation was not used until
months later.
Mrs. Fillmore was committed on August 5 and released after a hearing.
Dr. Parkin explained that he had been on his vacation during the
interval.
Judge Knight said he would recommend that hereafter physicians making
such recommendations be examined at the time the patient is ordered committed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 20, 1937
LOS ANGELES NEWS
...Mrs. Fillmore testified in Superior Judge Parker Wood's court that her
mother neglected her in her childhood, lavishing attention only on Mary Miles
Minter, her sister and former film star. She referred to her mother throughout
the testimony as "Mrs. Shelby."
Mrs. Fillmore, a former actress, said she had lost all her "love, respect
and admiration" for Miss Minter.
Reference to the Taylor murder mystery came when Mrs. Fillmore was
relating circumstances surrounding her detention on an insanity complaint
brought by her mother.
"Mrs. Shelby came to see me at the ward where I had been placed and began
gushing over me. I asked her what she had done with my money and she said she
was taking care of it. I told her she was too extravagant, and that she was
not going to do to me what she had done to Mary (Miss Minter).
"I said, "Are your that frightened of the Taylor case? I am not going
into that.' "
"Mother replied, 'For God's sake don't go into that.' I told her then, 'I
cannot call you mother any more.' "
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 1, 1937
LOS ANGELES NEWS
...Referring to a period during 1934-35 Mrs. Shelby testified:
"My daughter, Margaret, would stay in her room day and night and drink.
During the night she would come to my room and threaten to commit suicide."
Mrs. Shelby had given virtually identical testimony at a General Hospital
hearing on her daughter's sanity, which resulted in a suggestion by
psychiatrists that Mrs. Fillmore be placed in a sanitarium for several months
on her own volition.
"I often wondered whether my daughter, Margaret, would live or die," Mrs.
Shelby continued. "She was drinking more and more. She would not eat. She
would stay all day and night in her room, where she would have a bottle.
Mornings after she would be groggy, irritable and suspicious."
Mrs. Shelby said she turned over $35,000, realized from sale of a portion
of family property in Louisiana, to Mrs. Fillmore because she feared her other
daughter, Miss Minter, would institute an accounting action against her.
Mrs. Shelby said she wished her daughter to "learn the bond business" and
added she had made "Margaret personally responsible for the $35,000."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 24, 1937
LOS ANGELES TIMES
...The Taylor case was injected into the testimony through a deposition
made by Mrs. Fillmore some time ago in which she stated she had protected her
mother during the investigation which followed Taylor's slaying.
"Did you have any damaging information which may have implicated your
mother?" Murphy asked Mrs. Fillmore.
"I protected Mrs. Shelby from reporters and others to keep her from
making those wild and sensational statements," Mrs. Fillmore replied.
At another point in the proceedings she said:
"Mrs. Shelby would say impulsive things incriminating herself. She did
not want Mary's reputation as the flower of American girlhood to suffer.
Questioned concerning the whereabouts of Mrs. Shelby and Mary Miles
Minter on the night of the Taylor murder, Mrs. Fillmore said:
"Mary came in about 9 p.m. in a very hysterical manner. She picked up a
book and began reading about the South Sea Islands.
"The book seemed to amuse her, but I picked it up later and found it dry
and uninteresting.
"Mrs. Shelby was not at home that day. I knew she was out all day and
night hunting certain men to locate Mary."
Mrs. Fillmore also cited an instance in which a former film executive
openly accused her mother of having murdered Taylor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 13, 1938
LOS ANGELES NEWS
Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, mother of Mary Miles Minter, former screen
luminary, yesterday was virtually accused by another daughter, Mrs. Margaret
Fillmore, of having killed William Desmond Taylor, film director of the silent
screen.
The bitterly made accusation came in Superior Judge Thomas C. Gould's
court during litigation involving furniture purportedly worth $50,000--
litigation which played a part in one of a long series of suits featuring
mother and daughter.
Anticlimax of the still unsolved Taylor slaying, which occurred 15 years
ago and still has some of the nation's most expert criminologists baffled.
Mrs. Fillmore, as in previous suits, again shot implications at her mother,
quoting the latter as stating Mrs. Shelby's mother had thrown the Taylor death
gun into a Louisiana bayou.
"This mad woman," Mrs. Fillmore said, staring straight before her, and
referring to her mother, "would cut your heart out for a dime..."
Mrs. Fillmore was being questioned by Clyde F. Murphy, attorney for the
mother, concerning ownership of the disputed furniture.
After Mrs. Fillmore made the statement that her mother had not owned any
furniture since Taylor was murdered, Murphy asked:
"Did she tell you she wanted to be in a position to get out of the
country in a hurry?"
"Many, many times," was the answer.
"What were her reasons?"
"She was frightened by the Taylor murder case--she still is--it is still
pending."
"What did she tell you?"
"She told me they were pinning it pretty close to her. She was awfully
worried. And she was very grateful that her mother had gone to Louisiana and
thrown the gun that had killed William Desmond Taylor into a bayou on the
plantation."
After the court session ended, Mrs. Fillmore explained that the
plantation mentioned belonged to the Miles family and was located at Bastrop,
La., near New Orleans.
She explained that Mrs. Shelby mother was Julia B. Miles, who had died in
1925.
Mrs. Fillmore testified:
"Mrs. Shelby was scared to death that if they ever pinned it on her she
couldn't get out of it. That was what she told me time and time again."
"Did she ever tell you that she killed Taylor?" Murphy asked.
"She never told me that she had murdered Taylor but what else could I
think?"
"When was the first time you came to the conclusion that your mother
killed Taylor?"
"I am not accurate. I didn't see the murder done but Shelby (her mother)
would kill anybody for $1000. Particularly Mary when she was working--this mad
woman would cut out your heart for a dime--
"She hates men. She's a man hater--money is her god--she was scared that
someone would take away Mary, the goose that laid her golden egg."
After the hearing closed yesterday, Mrs. Shelby branded as "ridiculous"
the charges and said she would ask the district attorney to reopen the Taylor
case and either put her on trial for murder or absolve her of the murder once
and for all.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 23, 1939
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Margaret Shelby Fillmore, 39, sister of Mary Miles Minter, former star of
silent films and central figure in the William Desmond Taylor murder case,
yesterday died at her Valentine St. home after a long illness.
Mrs. Fillmore, divorced since 1927 from her former husband, Hugh
Fillmore, was married in March, 1937, to Emmett J. Flynn after a Yuma
elopement and granted an annulment April 27 of the same year. On June 5, 1937,
Flynn died.
A little more than two months later she began a suit against her mother
asking $48,750, which she asserted her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, took
from a safety deposit box both shared in a Los Angeles bank.
A jury awarded Mrs. Fillmore $20,000 after hearing the suit...
Funeral services for Mrs. Fillmore will be conducted at noon Tuesday from
the Garrett Bros. chapel, 921 Venice Blvd., followed by private internment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 27, 1939
LOS ANGELES HERALD-EXAMINER
During her troubled life there had been times when Margaret Shelby
Fillmore, sister of Mary Miles Minter, the film star whose career waned with
the murder of her fiance and director, William Desmond Taylor, could number
her friends by the hundred.
Yesterday there were only 10 persons present at funeral services for Mrs.
Fillmore, who died last Friday after a long illness.
In the chapel of the Garrett Brothers Mortuary at 921 Venice boulevard
were eight friends--five women and three men--and in the mourners' room off
the chancel were her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, and her sister, Miss
Minter, who at times had been estranged from her.
Internment took place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Mrs. Fillmore in 1937 won a $20,000 judgment from her mother, charging
that Mrs. Shelby had taken money from a safe deposit box.
The lawsuit took a sensational turn when Mrs. Fillmore declared part of
the money was due her for "protecting" her mother during the Taylor case
investigation.
By an ironic coincidence, the name William D. Taylor figured in the
family pattern even in Mrs. Fillmore's death, for the embalmer who prepared
the 39-year-old woman's body for burial is a man named William D. Taylor.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Wallace Smith: February 11, 1922
The following is another of Wallace Smith's sensationalizing dispatches on the
Taylor case. It is of particular interest because it contains the first fully-
developed incarnation of the "drug gang theory", which would become one of the
major theories about the case. (See A DEED OF DEATH for a modern proponent of
this theory.) Also in this dispatch, Smith's written attacks on Mabel Normand
began to increase in intensity.
February 11, 1922
Wallace Smith
CHICAGO AMERICAN
Los Angeles---The woman who really loved William Desmond Taylor and whose
love prompted her to sacrifice all her own brilliance that he might shine more
brightly in his chosen sky, was called upon by the district attorney today in
a desperate effort to solve the mystery of the eccentric director's murder.
More than any one else this woman, famed as a clever scenario writer,
knew the secrets under the mask which Taylor turned to the world. More than
any one else she knew the brooding that went on behind the face he showed the
world as some actor might show his face in familiar "makeup."
For years she had labored by his side, uncomplaining and unselfish, even
when he was carrying on affairs with other women. She advised him and took
care of him. She helped him with the problems of his profession and soothed
away his troubled moods.
Since the tragedy this woman has not been seen in filmland.
She has withdrawn to the seclusion of her home and in the deepest
mourning has grieved over the eternal parting with her great love.
The devotion of the woman has been one of the marvels of the Hollywood
moving picture colony, where such loyalty and self-sacrifice are extremely
rare. [8]
The district attorney wished especially to question her, it was reported,
regarding the latest sensational theory presented to him to account for the
slaying of the director.
According to this story, Taylor was shot to death by blackmailing killers
hired by a gang of eastern drug smugglers as he fought to rescue from their
merciless talons a film actress of international repute, who fell victim to
the dope ring during a gay trip to New York last year.
What is more, the Taylor tragedy was predicted six months ago by a
government secret service man familiar with the activities of dope peddlers in
Hollywood and familiar with the episode of the East and its sinister epilogue
in California.
This startling information and this amazing theory were in the hands of
district attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine today after he had summoned Mabel
Normand, moving picture star, to his office despite her physician's orders and
after he had questioned her for more than three hours.
It was midnight before the prosecutor had finished questioning her about
the life and death of the eccentric director to whom she was once reported
engaged, to whom she wrote the "blessed baby" letters and in whose study she
visited but few minutes before the slaying.
She was obviously weary when she at least came from the prosecutor's
offices, surrounded by a squad of detectives. She wore a henna sport suit
with wide cuffs and collar of gray angora. On her head was crushed a mannish
brown fedora. She stood with her hands in her coat pockets and her feet
pigeon-toed in a typically Mabel Normand manner when newspapermen asked her
for an interview.
"I've told the district attorney everything I know," she said, and her
voice broke harshly as if she had spoken much.
"I'm trying to help him."
A photographer's flash light boomed. She jumped.
"Oh, my Gawd," cried the film star and hurried away to her car surrounded
by her escort.
Nor would Prosecutor Woolwine divulge what had been told him. He chose
to keep secret the sensational development of the eastern dope ring and its
machinations, even after other sources had disclosed it to The Chicago Evening
American.
It was known, however, that the tale had been revealed to him by a moving
picture actor and a director after they had been found by the district
attorney's men in Culver City. It was known, too, that their revelation was
made but an hour or two before Miss Normand was ordered to the district
attorney's office.
"The case certainly is a blind alley," declared Mr. Woolwine. "I think
Miss Normand is doing everything she can to help. Of course, I've been badly
fooled before, but believe in what she has had to say. I could say a lot of
things -- that have come into my head -- but it is better to wait."
Unofficially, however, it was announced that the investigation, based on
the latest information, had swerved abruptly to the new trail and it was
stated that the first real clew had been uncovered that may lead to a
solution of the weird mystery. [9]
It was understood that the actress involved, a very close friend of the
eccentric director, had collapsed since the murder. She had hired gunmen, it
was reported, to protect her lest the eastern gangsters, fearing that she will
tell her story, murder her, too.
Already the extortions of the dope gang, according to the secret service
informant, have made fearful inroads upon the very sizeable fortune
accumulated by the star through the screen.
Her name had been drawn into the mystery that came with Taylor's death.
Her dealings with the drug peddlers have been a matter of Hollywood gossip for
many months.
The stories of the Culver City actor and the director, both of whom were
interviewed at length by Prosecutor Woolwine's chief aid, Deputy Doran, and
three detectives, corroborated each other in every detail. Their names for
the present must be withheld.
"We became acquainted with this federal agent while we were doing some
location work in Sonora," declared the director. "He was assigned to running
down dope smugglers and worked out of Los Angeles. He had found a lot of 'hop
heads' -- that is, drug users -- in the Hollywood colony.
"We got pretty friendly with him while we were there and he showed us a
list of the actors and actresses he knew who were regular patrons of the drug
peddlers. Say, I though I knew a little about how wild things were in
Hollywood, but this list surprised me.
"B--- that was this agent's name -- then told me about Miss ---, the
actress. There was a lot of gossip about her at that time. She had been
known as a morphine user and there were a lot of wild stories about the things
she did. She had other habits, too, even more revolting.
"At that time her press agent was quietly trying to give out the
impression that she had recovered from a serious illness -- she had taken the
cure, you know -- and she was trying to pose as completely recovered and on
her good behavior.
"This made B---, the federal agent, laugh. He said she was at it worse
than ever.
"'And before she's through somebody's going to get killed on her
account,' he said. 'She may get it herself. I wouldn't be surprised to see
it happen before another year rolls around.'
"Then he told us about this eastern trip and what happened. 'Somehow or
other these dope dealers seem to know victims of drugs even from strange
places,' he said, 'and often those in one city told their pals in other cities
when a "customer" was moving.'
"Anyway Miss --- went east to New York and Atlantic City, and from what
we heard back in Hollywood she was having a gay time. We didn't think
anything of it because she always seemed to be having a gay time. She was a
leader at the most notorious of the dope parties. But we didn't know, of
course, that she was mixed up with the eastern dope ring. [10]
"According to B---, the gang was not satisfied with charging her great
sums for the dope they sold her, and without which she seemed powerless, but
its agents plotted to trap her in a compromising position. This they did.
"That and the drugs gave them their chance for blackmail. She began to
pay them. They weren't pikers, according to B---. They demanded it in large
chunks, and they got it. Her latest picture was just being shown then and
others were being taken. She could not afford, she felt, to take chances on
being exposed.
"When she returned to Los Angeles they sent at least two men here to keep
track of her and to keep on demanding money. They did. She has made a small
fortune in the films. And they reaped a small fortune through their scheme,
according to B---.
"'Some day,' B--- told us, 'she will make a stand. Of course, she should
have done it in the first place. If she does the chances are she'll get
somebody else to help her. And that's when the shooting is going to begin.
"'Usually blackmailers don't kill people,' he said, 'but this is a
different kind of a gang, and Miss --- knows too much about what they have
been doing. If she ever started to talk she could put them all in prison.
They'll kill to protect themselves.'
"B--- is in the east now. He was transferred only a short time ago. We
remembered his story when we heard of Taylor's death. We know that this
actress who was being blackmailed was a close friend of Taylor's and we put
two and two together."
So did the investigators. Armed with this information, it was simple to
build up the tragic picture of Taylor's slaying. They discovered that the
actress had visited Taylor. One report declared that she was at the Alvarado
St. home the day that Taylor was murdered.
On the same day, it will be recalled, Taylor drew $2,300 from a Los
Angeles bank. This and the theory that he had drawn the money to quiet the
demands of a blackmailer, revealed in these dispatches a week ago, have
occupied the Los Angeles police in their investigations. [11]
They remembered, too, the statement ascribed to Taylor.
"There is only one thing to do to a blackmailer," he said in a sudden
burst of passion to friends, "and that is -- kill him."
The outburst came but a few days before the slaying.
According to the present theory, the actress had appealed to Taylor for
assistance. It was impossible for her to raise the cash at once.
Blackmailers do not care for promissory notes or checks. Taylor drew the
$2,300.
That same afternoon he took the money back to the bank. Had he resolved
after a visit with the woman, to call for a show-down from the blackmailers?
Had he made up his mind to defy the eastern gangsters and remove her forever
from their clutches?
It seemed to be the most likely theory that had been presented to the
operatives attempting to run down Taylor's assassin.
Following this theory, Taylor alone faced the hired assassin of the dope
rings, when the killer, armed with the fatal revolver, entered his study. The
rest of the tragedy, based on the information of the federal agent, was easily
pictured.
The investigators were eager to question the woman named by the secret
service man. At present, according to their reports, she was so ill that it
was impossible for her to speak.
Just before Miss Normand went into the district attorney's office her
manager gave the following written statement to the press:
"No one will ever know how I regret this terrible tragedy. I have told
truthfully everything I know and am very sorry, indeed, I cannot offer any
solution whatever as to the motive which prompted the terrible deed. I have
satisfied the Los Angeles authorities, both police and district attorney's
office, that I know nothing about the murder and have offered my services or a
statement at any time I may be called to help apprehend the assassin.
"The handkerchief and gown found in Mr. Taylor's apartment have been
identified as other than mine. It has been established that I was not in love
with Taylor, that he escorted me to my car that evening and waited until I
drove away, when we waved good-by to each other.
"Please tell the public that I know nothing about this terrible happening
and that Mr. Taylor and I did not quarrel."
Even earlier than that, in a boudoir interview, she had dwelt at some
length on the happenings of her visit to Taylor's home in an interview with a
volunteer investigator. During the interview she produced two books that
Taylor had given her -- one on the Russian ballet and one on period costumes -
- and protested that she was familiar with Freud and Nietzsche before she knew
the director.
"I did not quarrel with Mr. Taylor" she declared. "Why, he put his arms
around me as we walked to the car together. They try to place a great deal of
importance upon these letters of mine, but, really, they were just personal,
joking sort of things.
"He'd write me little, funny notes, and I'd reply in the same vein.
Sometimes I'd draw in a little daffydil, you know, like Tad draws, or a
comical sketch of myself. That's all they were.
"They have said so many things. I was not engaged to marry him, and I
was not out with him New Year's Eve. I was not even in the same hotel with
him."
She repeated the story of how she had gone downtown to a jeweler's shop
and, finding it closed, had bought a sack of peanuts and a copy of the Police
Gazette before driving to Taylor's home. She pictured Taylor in the height of
spirits, amiable and joking, as she talked with him in his study.
Although obviously nervous and noticeably hoarse after the Woolwine
interview, Miss Normand seemed to have recovered splendidly since the day she
collapsed at the side of Taylor's coffin in the cathedral, where his funeral
service was spoken.
Prosecutor Woolwine, charging through until long after midnight with his
investigation, was said to have interrogated a woman witness who declares she
saw a man spying from behind a tree on Miss Normand and Taylor after the
director had taken his fair visitor to her car.
"I just happened to be passing Taylor's home," said the mystery witness.
"I saw Miss Normand's car there and I saw she and Taylor standing there,
chatting light-heartedly. I looked at them casually, and then I was startled
to see a man standing behind a tree and watching their every move.
"He was still there, I believe, when Miss Normand waved good-by and her
car drove off. I didn't see what became of him."
Prosecutor Woolwine and his aides visited the Alvarado St. home of Taylor
and with the district attorney's office playing the part of the dead man,
attempted to restore the scene of the crime as it was found by Henry Peavey,
Taylor's houseman.
Another angle of the investigation concerned the prominent moving
picture producer known to have carried on a notorious affair with an actress
friend of Taylor's. This producer had denied himself to all visitors ever
since the slaying of Taylor. [12]
As outlined in these dispatches yesterday, he was to be questioned
because of the theory that, in a jealous rage, he had killed Taylor because of
Taylor's friendship for the woman. The producer and the actress, according to
Hollywood gossip, recently had become reconciled after a series of fist fights
that were the talk of the colony.
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NEXT ISSUE: Adela Rogers St. Johns:
Eulogy, Apology, Psychology, Mythology
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NOTES:
[1] The "Eastern capitalist" would logically have been Dixon, and allows us
to hypothesize the following consipiracy: Dixon comes to L.A. to marry
Minter, as she promised, but Minter refuses to marry him (see TAYLOROLOGY
#7); so Dixon hires Peavey to kill Taylor in order to clear the path for
Dixon's wooing of Minter--and hopefully Minter will find solace and comfort
in his arms; but instead, the murder drives Minter into tearful seclusion and
Dixon, having already come under suspicion, decides to retreat back to the
East. Fanciful theory, but very unlikely as it would have required consummate
acting skill from Peavey.
[2] WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 324-325.
[3] LOS ANGELES TIMES, August 24, 1937.
[4] See A CAST OF KILLERS, pp. 266-268.
[5] See WDT: DOSSIER, p. 400.
[6] See WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 367-401.
[7] Of course, Margaret Shelby was never a "star." Her film career had been
limited to supporting roles in some of her sister's films.
[8] The preceding paragraphs referred to Julia Crawford Ivers, who was
Taylor's scenario writer on most of the films he directed.
[9] The references that follow are clearly to Mabel Normand.
[10] Mabel Normand took a trip to New York in September 1921.
[11] The rumor that Taylor had withdrawn $2,300 on the day he was killed was
later refuted. See WDT:DOSSIER, pp. 369-370.
[12] Mack Sennett.
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For more information about Taylor, see
WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991)
Back issues of Taylorology are available via Gopher or FTP at
etext.archive.umich.edu
in the directory pub/Zines/Taylorology
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