JUNE 20 1926

PAGE 1

SOLEDAD DAILY CHRONICLE

TWO DEAD, MASS MURDERER ON THE LOOSE?

When Martha was found dead, many people jumped to the conclusion that it was Lennie. They then, pulled together a search party and left the ranch with many lugar guns, people who saw them leave said that Mr. Curley Moss was determined to find “The big son-of-a-bitch and kill him himself ” as Mr. Moss said.

Therefore, the police did think that Mr. Curley Moss was responsible for the death of Lennie at first, but then we found out that Lennie Small was already dead when Curley Moss and Slim Tennant found him lying dead next to his old friend George Milton who was sitting there crying.

Mr. Matt Carlson’s lugar was made the police suspect it was suicide. This would have been the best scenario, but then we saw where the gunshot wound was straight at the back of his head.

We then found out that this spot is impossible to reach with a lugar by yourself, especially in the position he was in.

The police are now moving onto other possibilities. “We now think that whoever was responsible for the murder of Martha Moss was also responsible for the murder of Lennie Small , even though the two deaths were completely different from each other.

It is very bad that there could still be a murderer on the loose in the streets of Soledad. Police are warning everyone to be on your guard, for you don’t want to be the next Lennie Small or Martha Moss. “We are all constantly on alert for more information.” reports police chief Smith. We hope they will be able to find the murderer and lock him up.

Martha Moss, the wife of Curley Moss, who will inherit a ranch from his father, in a few years was murdered a week go. We have found some evidence that make us question whether her death was accidental, or if it was indeed intentional and well-planned.

At first everyone thought that she was killed by accident because many people saw Lennie Small enter the barn, yet some people claim that they saw Lennie exit before Martha even entered the barn. Therefore we dismissed it as an accident right away.

But then, yesterday we were told about the death of Lennie Small. “We now wonder whether their deaths were connected. If so there is another killer out there.” Comments Police Chief Smith. If this is so, then we are all in danger. We have been warned to be on our guard at all times.

“The murdering bastard is already dead, we have nothing to worry about.” says Curley Moss, successful husband of murder victim. Then we have the people defending Mr. Lennie Small. “Lennie wudn’t do nothing like that, I swear it.” defends George Milton. Slim Tennant is a bit more diplomatic. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to, the bastard is way too strong for his own good. He can’t control himself. He ain’t smart enough.” Many other people they worked with agreed with Mr. Slim Tennant.

Woman’s neck broken, and barley bucker shot in the head.

JUNE 20 1926

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AweekagoMarthaMoss, thewifeofMr.CurleyMoss(thesuccessfulrancherwhowillinheritaranch from his fatherin a fewyears)wasmurdered.Thishappenedatherveryownfather‐in‐lawsranch. Shewasbornin1901anddiedattheageof25.ShegrewupinSalinasandmovedto the ranch a couple years ago to marryCurleyMoss. Sofarnooneknowsforsurewhodidthis to such an innocent person. It isapparent that whoever did do this, didn’tplanitverywell,shewasfoundinthestableof theranch dead, aftera fewmenworkingat the ranch saw her enter it a half hourbeforeshewasfound. Someof theranchersthink that a man by the name of LennieSmallwasalsointheranchatthetimeofherdeath. Many people from the ranch thinkthatitwasLenniethatmurderedher.“Itwasthat big bastard, the one that crushed myhand. I justknow itwas,” saysCurleyMossthe husband of the deceased. Others havecome to his defense, including both hisformer friends George Milton and SlimTennant. “He didn’t mean her no harm, Iswear he didn’t” says George Milton, thefriend Lennie travelswith. “He’stoo strongfor his own good.” Says Slim Tennant, whoshared a roomwith both Lennie Small andGeorgeMilton. Martha did many things in her life.She grew up in a small town with hermother, but got in a Pight when she

suspected hermotherof stealing the lettershehadn’tgottenfromthemanwhosaidshecould have been in the pictures. That waswhen she decided to move out and marryCurley Moss. He still thinks she was veryhappyaboutthechoiceshemadeaboutthat.She was a very beautiful woman who wasmisunderstood and wasn’t paid muchattention to, but could be kind andunderstanding if people stopped to tell herwhatwaswrong. It is a pity that she was killed. Wewillallhaveachancetopayourrespectstoher in two days time at her funeral, whichwillbeheldin St. Steven'schurch. Everyoneiswelcome tocome itwill start atone. Shewasalovelywoman.WhenIgottomeether,shewassosweet,soeasytotalkto.Manyofusareverysadtoseehergone.

Work Wanted

Barley bucker needs job.

He can life at least one barrel of hay by himself.

Not very smart, just needs a little money.

Would like to work on a ranch.

Work Wanted

barley bucker needs job

Can life a barrel of hay with one other person

Would like to work with his friend

Just needs a bit of money

JUNE 20 1926

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Have you ever noticedthatwhen you walk down thestreet and see all the peopleout of work, many of thepeople are women, and evenmore are negro.This isdue tothe fact that there are limitedjobsnowadaysandwhite menhave priority with jobs. I amverythankfulandluckytohavethis job, it is one of the bestjobs I could have with thepaper, and theygave ittome.Igotthisjobthroughhardwork,andjustluckmainly.

I think it is very badthat when you go to a ranchthe owners do not hire morethantwoNegromentoworkata time. The Negro’s that doworkatrancheshavetheworstjobsavailable.Theonlypeoplewho have a worse job, aredisabled, handicapped oldermen. The Negro’s get stucksweeping up afterpeople, andhaving no friends because nooneonthe rancheswant tobefriendsorevenbefriendlytoa‘black man’. I think this iscompletely unacceptable .Eventually people will startacceptus, itmaynotbe soon,butIdobelieveitwillhappen.

WhenNegro’swork onranchestheygetpaida lotlessthan white people. Even I getpaid less than the ordinaryjournalists I work with. I amthe editor, I should get paidm o r e , i n e v e r y o t h e rnewspaperacross the countrythe editor gets paid almostd o u b l e w h a t o r d i n a r yjournalistsget. Andyet, atthispaperI getless,andthisisjustbecause of the colour of myskin. It think this is totallyunjust,andshouldbechanged.

Have you noticed thatwhenyou lookaroundthecity,you don’t see very manyNegro’sat all, there are aboutthree families in the entirearea. Ithinkthis isbecause noone wants to live aroundnegro’s. This might also bebecause inotherareasjobsgetd is tr ibuted more evenlyamongst people. It would benice to live somewhere likethatwhere Iwould getwhatIdeserved. If this was the case,mychildrencouldgotoschool,and mywife could also get ajob, and we would be a lotbetteroff.

Many people say thatwe are different in so manyways that we naturally avoideach other. If that were thecase then why would we beliving in the same country?Other people say thatwe willhavediscriminationsnomatterwhat,soracismisunavoidable.I t h i n k t h i s a b s o l u t e l youtrageous.Ifeveryoneatleasttriedtobeunderstanding thennoonewewouldallacceptoneanother. We Negro’s havealready done this, so now itwould be appreciated if someof you would at least try toreturn the gesture. Maybe ourworldwouldbe a betterplace.Youwon’tknowunlessyoutry.So please, take this intoconsideration, that isall thatIam asking, in behalf of allNegro’sslivingintheisarea.

JUNE 20 1926

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EX EA COMMODO CONSEQUAT DUIS. UT WISI ENIM AD

Dear Mr. Editor Sir,I have noticed that your newspaper has been

going into a lot of detail on the death of Martha Moss. I know it is a very big deal, but you have only been looking at it from one angle. I mean, did you ever consider that maybe he didn’t mean to kill her? I know it is inexcusable, but you really shouldn’t give George Milton a hard time about it. He didn’t actually have anything to do with it. He might have thought something like this would happen, but he really didn’t want it to.

George Milton is suffering enough without your pieces that blame him for everything, Lennie Small was his friend, they were each others family. I really think you don’t need to talk about how it was him

who killed him. He already regrets it, he doesn’t need anyone to remind him of it.

I also have noticed that have not mentioned anything about the death of Lennie Small even though he was also killed. Evidently the people that work at your newspaper don’t care about people. You don’t want to make it look like you feel sorry for the man who murdered the wife of one of the area’s richest men. That will make your paper look bad, but otherwise you as a person look bad.

I believe your newspaper is good, and I know you will make the right choice. You could at least give him one column in your daily paper in memory of him.

Sincerely, Candy

Dear Candy, I have taken your letter into consideration. I hope you’re not disappointed with our newspaper anymore. We have decided to take your advice and add in an obituary for your friend Lennie. I am sorry to say that we can’t just ignore what he has done, and it will be in the headlines for quite a while as we learn more about him and the lady he killed. Luckily, he and George just moved here, and no one really knows him. This means that people really aren’t allowed to judge him, but people will be people. I think it would be a lot worse if someone everyone new did this, at least they don’t know his friend either. I’m afraid we can’t give him a lot of space for an obituary because no one around here knows

him, and we still have to put in an obituary for Martha. And more people are worried about her. As I’m sure you could understand. No one wants the newspaper to write nice things about the man who killed someone, especially not Curly Moss. The Moss family has written an obituary for Martha, and it has taken up a lot of space, so the obituary for your friend will be short. I really hope you enjoy the newspaper from now on. We’re really happy to get someone criticizing our newspaper. It is very good for us. We appreciate the fact that you took your time to write us a letter with your opinions, it will help us improve the paper, and hopefully everyone will like it more. Jack Harkness