If Thine Eye Causes Thee To Stumble...

by Linda Paris

Police described the family as typical of the hundreds of itinerants who had come to California from the dust bowl sections of Oklahoma and Texas.

In 1930, there was no place better to farm than in the southern plains of the United States. Men and women had turned the untamed prairie into the most prosperous farmland in the world. During the war, the demand for wheat was outstanding and farmers were paid record prices at a time when the rest of the country was suffering from a depression.

But by 1931 a drought had begun in the Southern Plains, which became progressively worse and worse.

In 1932, the national weather bureau reported 14 dust storms and by 1933 that number went up to 38.

The dust was so thick that it was stuck in the screens and people were scooping up buckets of it from their homes.

1934 brought with it a massive drought that affected 75% of the country and 27 states severely.

In the spring of 1935 the winds blew 27 nights and days without stopping. People began to die of suffocation and dust pneumonia.

It was during this time that hundreds and thousands of farmers decided to cut their losses, pack their families and belongings into their jalopies and head to California.

That is where Ola and Woodrow Harwell came from in 1938 with their 2 sons in tow.

Harwell wore faded denim overalls and his wife wore a patched, gingham dress most of the time. The children were described as “thin and hollow-eyed.”

The Harwells settled in Merced, California, south of Modesto. Ola had 2 sons from a previous marriage and was 26 years old. Her husband, Woodrow, was 20 and worked as a cotton picker.

On the night of August 24, 1938, the Harwells had been living in Merced for four months. As the story was later told by Woodrow, the family had dinner and then gathered together in a circle in the center of their one room cabin for their nightly reading of the bible. Woodrow stated that Ola read and he and the boys would shout out frequent amens throughout.

Then Ola came to the book of Matthew (chapter18, verses 8 and 9)…

“…and if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off…and if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out…”

According to Woodrow, Ola slowly looked up from her Bible and quietly announced to her family that her right eye and her left hand had “sinned.”

Saying nothing else, she slowly rose, picked up a pair of scissors and left the room.

Woodrow then explained to the police that Ola went out to the woodshed, where she stabbed herself in the eye repeatedly with the scissors. It was after this that she placed her hand against a slab of concrete and began swinging a large ax several times with her right arm until her left hand fell to the ground.

When she returned to the house, Woodrow said her clothing was soaked with blood and she simply lay down on the bed.

There, incredibly, he goes on to claim that the whole family finished praying and only when they had finished praying did Woodrow send the oldest boy to the neighbors for help.

The neighbor, Bessie Wilcox, called a Pentecostal minister. The minister called Curtis Sarr, the state highway patrolman.

It was Sarr who finally took the poor woman to the hospital where doctors worked feverishly to save her life, removing fragments of her shattered eye and treating her arm.

It took two full hours from the time the injuries took place to get to the hospital where Ola finally received medical treatment.

In another version, Woodrow said the children followed their mother out to the shed and screamed in terror begging her not to cut off her hand. They then ran back into the cabin as she laid her left arm against a cement pipe and raised the ax with her right arm. She swung three separate times before cutting off her hand.

Woodrow claimed that when she came back into the cabin she was “apparently without pain.”

The physicians who worked on the woman were astounded that she seemed to suffer no “shock” and was conscious the entire time they worked on her.

It would seem that Ola Harwell was obsessed with the idea that she had sinned.

Even though the doctors had said that Ola would live, they would have to sever the hand further up because her wrist had been so badly mutilated.

In 1938 the police did not fully accept Woodrow’s version of the story to be true and he was held for questioning. They did not believe that Ola could do this to herself or if it was indeed even possible?

Could you cause such severe damage to your own eye and continue to function after that?

Could you, even with an eye that wasn’t maimed, hack at your own hand with a heavy ax three separate times?

Wouldn’t you be screaming from pain after you had already chopped it once or twice?

It’s very hard to imagine.

Then there’s the matter of the two hours that Woodrow claims they spent "praying" after Ola returned from the shed, even though she sits there “soaked in blood” and bleeding from the eye and the arm.

Did Woodrow not ask her any questions at all throughout this entire event?

Did he ever say “Let’s get you some help!” or “You must get to the hospital?”

Why does Woodrow then send the son to the neighbor’s house for help instead of contacting the police himself, immediately?

The story is not believable.

To add even more mystery to Woodrow's disturbing tale he told the police that he buried Ola’s hand near the cabin, but his 6 year old son told the police that “Daddy threw Mama’s hand into the canal.”

What really happened to Ola Harwell the night of August 23, 1938?

Did the pressures of such a hard life become too much for Ola or did the pressure become too much for Woodrow instead?

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

A Girl and Her Gun.

by Linda Paris

It is Feb 24, 1922 and the newspaper headlines are full of scandal and violence:

“FRENCH BLUEBEARD TO PAY FOR CRIMES WITH GUILLOTINE!”

“WOMAN DRINKS POISON”

Mabel Normand, a famous Hollywood actress has “collapsed” as a result of the murder of William Desmond Taylor, a Hollywood director who was mysteriously murdered in his apartment on the evening of February 1st.

Holding it’s own amongst the many sad tales that were featured in the evening newspaper on that day are the headlines slated Waco, Texas:

“MAN IS SHOT DEAD BY GIRL IN COURT”

“GIRL KILLS MAN IN WACO COURT AS TRIAL OPENS”

“GIRL MURDERS MAN IN COURT”

The girl was Marcine Matthews and she was just 17 years old.

Two years earlier J. S. Crosslin had been convicted of criminally attacking Marcine, age 15 at the time. She became pregnant as a result of the assault and needed surgery to deliver the baby. The surgery destroyed her health and the pregnancy ruined her chance of getting an education.

Crosslin had been found guilty and sentenced to 9 years for the crime however, the verdict had been recently overturned due to a technicality and he was given a second trial.

Marcine Matthews was to testify in Crosslin’s second trial and when the day arrived, she walked into the courtroom, through the doors and directly towards the witness stand.

Marcine fumbled slightly, then turned around and aimed a gun directly at the defendant J.S. Croslin.

She walked quite calmly towards him and took careful aim at Crosslin shooting him, right there in the courtroom from approximately ten feet away. Then Marcine deliberately took several more steps towards him. This placed her within feet of her target and she shot him again.

Croslin attempted to rise in his chair when the first bullet hit him in the stomach. The second shot hit him in the right arm below the elbow. As he tried to turn away…the third shot entered his back under the right shoulder blade.

W.H. Forrester, the attorney for the girl managed to stop her just after the third shot. He took the weapon from her and carried her to a room in the sheriff’s office. She was locked in the room until the scene was under control.

Croslin was a former pastor and had moved to 6 different towns in Texas before settling in Waco where he had been involved in religion since 1892.

He then became involved in the Real Estate business and apparently did quite well for himself.

He was found guilty of assaulting the girl in her own home when he came by to collect rent. Since Marcine’s mother had died when she was a small child she was there alone.

After the shooting she was sent to the “Evangelina Home” in Waco and her bond was set at $4000.00. Soon, however, the townspeople rallied around her and her bond was quickly paid.

By March the 2nd, 100% public sympathy was in Marcine’s corner.
The headlines read:

“BRAVE YOUNG GIRL SHOOTS MAN ON TRIAL IN WACO COURT”

J.S. Croslin was 55 years old and survived by a wife, 2 sons, 2 daughters, 2 sisters and a brother. He had lived in Waco for 28 years.



When you read this story you are struck by the fact that this is one of those things that would never happen now. No one would be able to walk into a court house with a gun in their pocket.

Not today.

Apparently Marcine took the 25 caliber gun from home and hid it in her suitcase.

An attendant who was with her while she was getting dressed for court that day left the room, giving Marcine the opportunity to retrieve the gun. Her little brother, however, came into the room unexpectedly and interrupted her in the process of putting the gun in her right pocket. She was forced to put the gun in her left pocket instead.

Witnesses said that she had difficulty pulling the gun from her pocket and when she finally got it out she had to transfer it to her right hand before shooting.

Marcine later told the police that she worried about it being in her left hand pocket. Mrs. Murdock from the Evangeline Home stated that Marcine had held up “wonderfully” the entire time she had been there. and that she did not shed a tear.

Mrs. Murdock also stated:

“She told me that when she entered the courtroom all she could think of was to empty the gun.”


Interestingly, Marcine’s father, J. E. Matthews, was the proprietor of a gun range and that was where Marcine had learned to shoot.

She fired 3 shots at Croslin…all taking effect.


Marcine’s words tore at everyone’s hearts in the days following the shooting:

“He disgraced me, ruined my health and deprived me of school privileges.” she stated after the killing, “but he will never ruin another girl.”

On March 20th 1922, a Grand Jury adjourned without finding an indictment and Marcine was freed from all charges.

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)

You Can’t Live on Love Alone

or "The Redhead and the Frenchman" by Linda Paris

It is a hot and lazy afternoon in July 1952. The city is Hollywood, California. The place is Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

A pretty young woman with flaming red hair walks up to the cashier, in broad daylight and says:

“Put all the money in the bag. There’s a man with a gun across the street making me do this.”

After collecting $55.91 she calmly walks around the corner from the theater and eventually gets into a taxi.

The woman was Colleen Bowman and she was 20 years old at the time.

Colleen was later arrested entering a Hollywood market, still carrying the bag with the money in it.

Meanwhile the police had followed a "suspicious looking man" from the theater. He was 20 year old Frenchman, Jack Lastrade and he had been holding Colleen’s coat for her as she robbed Grauman's Theater.

Lastrade told the police he knew nothing of the robbery and that Colleen was just a friend of his, however later when they saw each other at the police station the policemen noticed that they “embraced.”

While researching another subject I ran across this small story on page three of a Phoenix, Arizona newspaper and for some reason found myself fascinated by it.

I used to live in Hollywood, right down the street from Grauman's. Maybe that's what I found so interesting about this little snippet.

I've walked down those streets many times in the afternoon and know how dull and listless the days can become, in spite of the fact that you are in Hollywood, California.

The day to day dull-drum kicks in on Hollywood Blvd., just like it does in Topeka, Kansas.

I did a little more searching to find out what had happened to the exotic sounding couple and the female who was brazen enough to rob Grauman’s Chinese Theater by herself, in the middle of a typical afternoon.

Jack Lastrade and Colleen Bowmen met while both of them were working at a downtown department store. It must have been magic because before long they both left their job and ran off together, with not a penny between them.

Exactly 2 weeks before the robbery they walked out of their place of work believing that with their good looks and their love, that they would be able to build a life together.

Earlier in the day, Colleen had robbed 2 candy stores in the same area. She walked away from both with a whooping $6 total.

She later told police:

“I was hungry. I have been without food or a place to go. I decided I would pull the robbery to try and get some money for a place to sleep and something to eat.”

On July 30th Colleen entered a guilty plea and was put on probation but only on the conditions that she move back to Phoenix and never have anything to do with her French friend again.

She was also ordered to pay restitution to Grauman’s and the candy shops.

The candy store charges were dropped and the headline read:

“ROBBER REDHEAD MAY BE FREED”

Considering that it was not a violent crime, they didn’t point a gun at anyone and they only wanted money for food and shelter, I’m fine with the fact that Colleen Bowman was given another chance.

I do wonder what ever happened to Jack Lastrade and Colleen Bowman.

I hope they went on to have normal lives and the great Grauman’s Chinese Theater robbery of 1952, was the first and final chapter in their criminal careers.

It sounds more like an ill fated romantic adventure, both unrealistic and expensive in the end.

The redhead and the Frenchman.

It must have been an intense attraction for both of them to quit their jobs and run off together like that.

It didn’t take long for the couple to learn that life was not quite that easy.

As Colleen told the officers the day she was arrested:

“You can’t live on love alone.”

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)