G Grand parents are;
Jacob Franklin Justus & Mary Ann Easterly
------------
Grand parents are;
Roton Franklin Justus & Elizabeth Ophelia Bledsoe
Stephen Carroll Birdwell & Demarius Francis McMitchael
------------
Son of Walter Henry Justus Sr and Ruth Susan Birdwell
Step mother is Mamie Jones
Murle/Merle's siblings are:
Harley LeRoy
Ray Walter
Leona Elizabeth
Byron Oliver
Glen Weldon
Eugene Kenneth
Clarence Gordon
and half brother Walter Henry Jr
--------------
*Note: Below article states he escaped from prison in 1929, but the 1930 US Census still has him as an inmate at the Canon City Prison, Fremont Co., Colorado. Census also stated he is married.
Article is Published in the Lodi News - Sentinel, Sept. 17, 1935.
SLAIN AUTO BANDIT IDENTIFIED
Victim Shoots at Thugs, Body Found Four Hours Later on Live Oak Road
Dead Man Identified as Merle Justin [Justus], Escape from Prison in Colorado in 1929
The body of Merle Justine, 26, alias Jack Murphy alias Murle Jackson was found lying beside Live Oak Road about 6 o’clock yesterday morning. He is believed to have been one of the two men who held up E. L. Littlefield Plymouth and a girl companion on the Waterloo road Sunday evening, being fatally wounded by Littlefield. He has been identified as having escaped from the Colorado state prison in 1929. The body was brought to the Lodi Funeral Home by Deputy Coroner Sam Salas, who has notified relatives in the east and is awaiting instruction for funeral and burial.
Littlefield told the authorities he and a girl friend were in his car on the road north of Stockton when they were confronted with two bandits with drawn guns. The bandits took $17 and the ignition key to Littlefield’s car. They were returning to their own machine when Littlefield opened fire with the high-powered 22 caliber rifle the bandits had overlooked.
One is Wounded
He said while the two men entered their car and drove rapidly away he is confident he wounded one of them.
About four hours after the hold up the body of Merle Justine was found lying beside Live Oak Road. Apparently the body had been thrown from a rapidly moving automobile.
A bullet had entered the man’s back and emerged at the front. A napkin was stuffed into the opening, apparently in a futile effort to stop the flow of blood.
Thrown From Car
The officers believed that after the man was shot by Littlefield his companion used the napkins to close the wound but when his partner died, disposed of the body by shoving it from the car.
The body was found face down about 15 feet from the road by Jon Markle and A. Termer, employees on the nearby ranch of Charles Angler.
The bandits, Littlefield said, rifled his pockets and took his ignition key, promising to leave it “somewhere along the road.” They fail to find the rifle which he carried in the rear of his car. As the men ran for their own car parked about 100 feet away, Littlefield opened fire. He saw one of the men stagger and is confident that he wounded him. The body was found about four hours later.
Search for Companion
An intensive search was being conducted by offers yesterday for the second man,. The two men are believed to have been the “petting party: bandits who have been operating in and around Stockton for some time.
A victim of a “petting party” hold up viewed the body yesterday.
--------------
*Note about "Petting party bandits:
EDITOR, "THE NEWS"
In the Pulse of the Public column of July 25 there appeared a letter from J. Smithner complaining against the police practice of looking into parked automobiles, Mr. Smithner feeling this is "snooping" and useless prying into something that is not the concern of the officers.
Because I realize that so many others feel the same as Mr. Smithner and believe that police inspection of the occupants of parked automobiles is prompted by idle curiosity, I cannot let his letter go unanswered. In defense of our officers, I explain a little-known crime prevention measure. For years we have had to deal with a type of holdup man who specializes in holding up occupants of automobiles parked at night in dark and isolated sections of the city. More often he robs them; sometimes he violates the women. In any event, he is a dangerous criminal for he is armed and cunning.
He knows that in nine cases out of ten, his crime will not be reported to the police, because the victims wish to avoid any embarrassment or because — and this is usually the case — one or both of them dare not risk revealing identity, thereby exposing a clandestine romance. Consequently, when a "petting party bandit," as we call him, is arrested, we usually recover a great deal of loot which had never been reported stolen and he usually confesses to more holdups than were known to us.
The only way we can discourage the operations of such bandits is to constantly patrol the sections where cars might park and to investigate the occupants of the cars. The reason for looking into the cars is to be sure that the holdup man is not hiding inside while police are in the vicinity. There are definite orders issued to patrolling officers in that regard and our men are doing their duty. We sympathize with the people upon whom we must intrude, but sitting in parked cars at night in out of the way places is a dangerous practice. We are not concerned with the personal affairs of the occupants, but we are concerned with their safety from holdup men, and as long as people persist in such parking, the police will persist in their patrol and inspection of the cars and their occupants.
I trust that this explanation will soothe Mr. Smithner and those who share his resentment and that in future such police inspections will be received in tolerance, and appreciation that the San Francisco police are ever vigilant in their protection of the citizens against crime. — William J. Quinn, Chief of Police, San Francisco.
--------------
Colorado State Reformatory Prisoner Records: 1887-1939
Name, inmate number, prison record volume number
Justus, Murle, 5945, 13
--------------
California Death Certificate # 39-54320
Murle Justus
---------------
Jacob Franklin Justus & Mary Ann Easterly
------------
Grand parents are;
Roton Franklin Justus & Elizabeth Ophelia Bledsoe
Stephen Carroll Birdwell & Demarius Francis McMitchael
------------
Son of Walter Henry Justus Sr and Ruth Susan Birdwell
Step mother is Mamie Jones
Murle/Merle's siblings are:
Harley LeRoy
Ray Walter
Leona Elizabeth
Byron Oliver
Glen Weldon
Eugene Kenneth
Clarence Gordon
and half brother Walter Henry Jr
--------------
*Note: Below article states he escaped from prison in 1929, but the 1930 US Census still has him as an inmate at the Canon City Prison, Fremont Co., Colorado. Census also stated he is married.
Article is Published in the Lodi News - Sentinel, Sept. 17, 1935.
SLAIN AUTO BANDIT IDENTIFIED
Victim Shoots at Thugs, Body Found Four Hours Later on Live Oak Road
Dead Man Identified as Merle Justin [Justus], Escape from Prison in Colorado in 1929
The body of Merle Justine, 26, alias Jack Murphy alias Murle Jackson was found lying beside Live Oak Road about 6 o’clock yesterday morning. He is believed to have been one of the two men who held up E. L. Littlefield Plymouth and a girl companion on the Waterloo road Sunday evening, being fatally wounded by Littlefield. He has been identified as having escaped from the Colorado state prison in 1929. The body was brought to the Lodi Funeral Home by Deputy Coroner Sam Salas, who has notified relatives in the east and is awaiting instruction for funeral and burial.
Littlefield told the authorities he and a girl friend were in his car on the road north of Stockton when they were confronted with two bandits with drawn guns. The bandits took $17 and the ignition key to Littlefield’s car. They were returning to their own machine when Littlefield opened fire with the high-powered 22 caliber rifle the bandits had overlooked.
One is Wounded
He said while the two men entered their car and drove rapidly away he is confident he wounded one of them.
About four hours after the hold up the body of Merle Justine was found lying beside Live Oak Road. Apparently the body had been thrown from a rapidly moving automobile.
A bullet had entered the man’s back and emerged at the front. A napkin was stuffed into the opening, apparently in a futile effort to stop the flow of blood.
Thrown From Car
The officers believed that after the man was shot by Littlefield his companion used the napkins to close the wound but when his partner died, disposed of the body by shoving it from the car.
The body was found face down about 15 feet from the road by Jon Markle and A. Termer, employees on the nearby ranch of Charles Angler.
The bandits, Littlefield said, rifled his pockets and took his ignition key, promising to leave it “somewhere along the road.” They fail to find the rifle which he carried in the rear of his car. As the men ran for their own car parked about 100 feet away, Littlefield opened fire. He saw one of the men stagger and is confident that he wounded him. The body was found about four hours later.
Search for Companion
An intensive search was being conducted by offers yesterday for the second man,. The two men are believed to have been the “petting party: bandits who have been operating in and around Stockton for some time.
A victim of a “petting party” hold up viewed the body yesterday.
--------------
*Note about "Petting party bandits:
EDITOR, "THE NEWS"
In the Pulse of the Public column of July 25 there appeared a letter from J. Smithner complaining against the police practice of looking into parked automobiles, Mr. Smithner feeling this is "snooping" and useless prying into something that is not the concern of the officers.
Because I realize that so many others feel the same as Mr. Smithner and believe that police inspection of the occupants of parked automobiles is prompted by idle curiosity, I cannot let his letter go unanswered. In defense of our officers, I explain a little-known crime prevention measure. For years we have had to deal with a type of holdup man who specializes in holding up occupants of automobiles parked at night in dark and isolated sections of the city. More often he robs them; sometimes he violates the women. In any event, he is a dangerous criminal for he is armed and cunning.
He knows that in nine cases out of ten, his crime will not be reported to the police, because the victims wish to avoid any embarrassment or because — and this is usually the case — one or both of them dare not risk revealing identity, thereby exposing a clandestine romance. Consequently, when a "petting party bandit," as we call him, is arrested, we usually recover a great deal of loot which had never been reported stolen and he usually confesses to more holdups than were known to us.
The only way we can discourage the operations of such bandits is to constantly patrol the sections where cars might park and to investigate the occupants of the cars. The reason for looking into the cars is to be sure that the holdup man is not hiding inside while police are in the vicinity. There are definite orders issued to patrolling officers in that regard and our men are doing their duty. We sympathize with the people upon whom we must intrude, but sitting in parked cars at night in out of the way places is a dangerous practice. We are not concerned with the personal affairs of the occupants, but we are concerned with their safety from holdup men, and as long as people persist in such parking, the police will persist in their patrol and inspection of the cars and their occupants.
I trust that this explanation will soothe Mr. Smithner and those who share his resentment and that in future such police inspections will be received in tolerance, and appreciation that the San Francisco police are ever vigilant in their protection of the citizens against crime. — William J. Quinn, Chief of Police, San Francisco.
--------------
Colorado State Reformatory Prisoner Records: 1887-1939
Name, inmate number, prison record volume number
Justus, Murle, 5945, 13
--------------
California Death Certificate # 39-54320
Murle Justus
---------------
G Grand parents are;
Jacob Franklin Justus & Mary Ann Easterly
------------
Grand parents are;
Roton Franklin Justus & Elizabeth Ophelia Bledsoe
Stephen Carroll Birdwell & Demarius Francis McMitchael
------------
Son of Walter Henry Justus Sr and Ruth Susan Birdwell
Step mother is Mamie Jones
Murle/Merle's siblings are:
Harley LeRoy
Ray Walter
Leona Elizabeth
Byron Oliver
Glen Weldon
Eugene Kenneth
Clarence Gordon
and half brother Walter Henry Jr
--------------
*Note: Below article states he escaped from prison in 1929, but the 1930 US Census still has him as an inmate at the Canon City Prison, Fremont Co., Colorado. Census also stated he is married.
Article is Published in the Lodi News - Sentinel, Sept. 17, 1935.
SLAIN AUTO BANDIT IDENTIFIED
Victim Shoots at Thugs, Body Found Four Hours Later on Live Oak Road
Dead Man Identified as Merle Justin [Justus], Escape from Prison in Colorado in 1929
The body of Merle Justine, 26, alias Jack Murphy alias Murle Jackson was found lying beside Live Oak Road about 6 o’clock yesterday morning. He is believed to have been one of the two men who held up E. L. Littlefield Plymouth and a girl companion on the Waterloo road Sunday evening, being fatally wounded by Littlefield. He has been identified as having escaped from the Colorado state prison in 1929. The body was brought to the Lodi Funeral Home by Deputy Coroner Sam Salas, who has notified relatives in the east and is awaiting instruction for funeral and burial.
Littlefield told the authorities he and a girl friend were in his car on the road north of Stockton when they were confronted with two bandits with drawn guns. The bandits took $17 and the ignition key to Littlefield’s car. They were returning to their own machine when Littlefield opened fire with the high-powered 22 caliber rifle the bandits had overlooked.
One is Wounded
He said while the two men entered their car and drove rapidly away he is confident he wounded one of them.
About four hours after the hold up the body of Merle Justine was found lying beside Live Oak Road. Apparently the body had been thrown from a rapidly moving automobile.
A bullet had entered the man’s back and emerged at the front. A napkin was stuffed into the opening, apparently in a futile effort to stop the flow of blood.
Thrown From Car
The officers believed that after the man was shot by Littlefield his companion used the napkins to close the wound but when his partner died, disposed of the body by shoving it from the car.
The body was found face down about 15 feet from the road by Jon Markle and A. Termer, employees on the nearby ranch of Charles Angler.
The bandits, Littlefield said, rifled his pockets and took his ignition key, promising to leave it “somewhere along the road.” They fail to find the rifle which he carried in the rear of his car. As the men ran for their own car parked about 100 feet away, Littlefield opened fire. He saw one of the men stagger and is confident that he wounded him. The body was found about four hours later.
Search for Companion
An intensive search was being conducted by offers yesterday for the second man,. The two men are believed to have been the “petting party: bandits who have been operating in and around Stockton for some time.
A victim of a “petting party” hold up viewed the body yesterday.
--------------
*Note about "Petting party bandits:
EDITOR, "THE NEWS"
In the Pulse of the Public column of July 25 there appeared a letter from J. Smithner complaining against the police practice of looking into parked automobiles, Mr. Smithner feeling this is "snooping" and useless prying into something that is not the concern of the officers.
Because I realize that so many others feel the same as Mr. Smithner and believe that police inspection of the occupants of parked automobiles is prompted by idle curiosity, I cannot let his letter go unanswered. In defense of our officers, I explain a little-known crime prevention measure. For years we have had to deal with a type of holdup man who specializes in holding up occupants of automobiles parked at night in dark and isolated sections of the city. More often he robs them; sometimes he violates the women. In any event, he is a dangerous criminal for he is armed and cunning.
He knows that in nine cases out of ten, his crime will not be reported to the police, because the victims wish to avoid any embarrassment or because — and this is usually the case — one or both of them dare not risk revealing identity, thereby exposing a clandestine romance. Consequently, when a "petting party bandit," as we call him, is arrested, we usually recover a great deal of loot which had never been reported stolen and he usually confesses to more holdups than were known to us.
The only way we can discourage the operations of such bandits is to constantly patrol the sections where cars might park and to investigate the occupants of the cars. The reason for looking into the cars is to be sure that the holdup man is not hiding inside while police are in the vicinity. There are definite orders issued to patrolling officers in that regard and our men are doing their duty. We sympathize with the people upon whom we must intrude, but sitting in parked cars at night in out of the way places is a dangerous practice. We are not concerned with the personal affairs of the occupants, but we are concerned with their safety from holdup men, and as long as people persist in such parking, the police will persist in their patrol and inspection of the cars and their occupants.
I trust that this explanation will soothe Mr. Smithner and those who share his resentment and that in future such police inspections will be received in tolerance, and appreciation that the San Francisco police are ever vigilant in their protection of the citizens against crime. — William J. Quinn, Chief of Police, San Francisco.
--------------
Colorado State Reformatory Prisoner Records: 1887-1939
Name, inmate number, prison record volume number
Justus, Murle, 5945, 13
--------------
California Death Certificate # 39-54320
Murle Justus
---------------
Jacob Franklin Justus & Mary Ann Easterly
------------
Grand parents are;
Roton Franklin Justus & Elizabeth Ophelia Bledsoe
Stephen Carroll Birdwell & Demarius Francis McMitchael
------------
Son of Walter Henry Justus Sr and Ruth Susan Birdwell
Step mother is Mamie Jones
Murle/Merle's siblings are:
Harley LeRoy
Ray Walter
Leona Elizabeth
Byron Oliver
Glen Weldon
Eugene Kenneth
Clarence Gordon
and half brother Walter Henry Jr
--------------
*Note: Below article states he escaped from prison in 1929, but the 1930 US Census still has him as an inmate at the Canon City Prison, Fremont Co., Colorado. Census also stated he is married.
Article is Published in the Lodi News - Sentinel, Sept. 17, 1935.
SLAIN AUTO BANDIT IDENTIFIED
Victim Shoots at Thugs, Body Found Four Hours Later on Live Oak Road
Dead Man Identified as Merle Justin [Justus], Escape from Prison in Colorado in 1929
The body of Merle Justine, 26, alias Jack Murphy alias Murle Jackson was found lying beside Live Oak Road about 6 o’clock yesterday morning. He is believed to have been one of the two men who held up E. L. Littlefield Plymouth and a girl companion on the Waterloo road Sunday evening, being fatally wounded by Littlefield. He has been identified as having escaped from the Colorado state prison in 1929. The body was brought to the Lodi Funeral Home by Deputy Coroner Sam Salas, who has notified relatives in the east and is awaiting instruction for funeral and burial.
Littlefield told the authorities he and a girl friend were in his car on the road north of Stockton when they were confronted with two bandits with drawn guns. The bandits took $17 and the ignition key to Littlefield’s car. They were returning to their own machine when Littlefield opened fire with the high-powered 22 caliber rifle the bandits had overlooked.
One is Wounded
He said while the two men entered their car and drove rapidly away he is confident he wounded one of them.
About four hours after the hold up the body of Merle Justine was found lying beside Live Oak Road. Apparently the body had been thrown from a rapidly moving automobile.
A bullet had entered the man’s back and emerged at the front. A napkin was stuffed into the opening, apparently in a futile effort to stop the flow of blood.
Thrown From Car
The officers believed that after the man was shot by Littlefield his companion used the napkins to close the wound but when his partner died, disposed of the body by shoving it from the car.
The body was found face down about 15 feet from the road by Jon Markle and A. Termer, employees on the nearby ranch of Charles Angler.
The bandits, Littlefield said, rifled his pockets and took his ignition key, promising to leave it “somewhere along the road.” They fail to find the rifle which he carried in the rear of his car. As the men ran for their own car parked about 100 feet away, Littlefield opened fire. He saw one of the men stagger and is confident that he wounded him. The body was found about four hours later.
Search for Companion
An intensive search was being conducted by offers yesterday for the second man,. The two men are believed to have been the “petting party: bandits who have been operating in and around Stockton for some time.
A victim of a “petting party” hold up viewed the body yesterday.
--------------
*Note about "Petting party bandits:
EDITOR, "THE NEWS"
In the Pulse of the Public column of July 25 there appeared a letter from J. Smithner complaining against the police practice of looking into parked automobiles, Mr. Smithner feeling this is "snooping" and useless prying into something that is not the concern of the officers.
Because I realize that so many others feel the same as Mr. Smithner and believe that police inspection of the occupants of parked automobiles is prompted by idle curiosity, I cannot let his letter go unanswered. In defense of our officers, I explain a little-known crime prevention measure. For years we have had to deal with a type of holdup man who specializes in holding up occupants of automobiles parked at night in dark and isolated sections of the city. More often he robs them; sometimes he violates the women. In any event, he is a dangerous criminal for he is armed and cunning.
He knows that in nine cases out of ten, his crime will not be reported to the police, because the victims wish to avoid any embarrassment or because — and this is usually the case — one or both of them dare not risk revealing identity, thereby exposing a clandestine romance. Consequently, when a "petting party bandit," as we call him, is arrested, we usually recover a great deal of loot which had never been reported stolen and he usually confesses to more holdups than were known to us.
The only way we can discourage the operations of such bandits is to constantly patrol the sections where cars might park and to investigate the occupants of the cars. The reason for looking into the cars is to be sure that the holdup man is not hiding inside while police are in the vicinity. There are definite orders issued to patrolling officers in that regard and our men are doing their duty. We sympathize with the people upon whom we must intrude, but sitting in parked cars at night in out of the way places is a dangerous practice. We are not concerned with the personal affairs of the occupants, but we are concerned with their safety from holdup men, and as long as people persist in such parking, the police will persist in their patrol and inspection of the cars and their occupants.
I trust that this explanation will soothe Mr. Smithner and those who share his resentment and that in future such police inspections will be received in tolerance, and appreciation that the San Francisco police are ever vigilant in their protection of the citizens against crime. — William J. Quinn, Chief of Police, San Francisco.
--------------
Colorado State Reformatory Prisoner Records: 1887-1939
Name, inmate number, prison record volume number
Justus, Murle, 5945, 13
--------------
California Death Certificate # 39-54320
Murle Justus
---------------
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