Were the cops intentionally trying to push Charlie over the edge?

It sure sounds like it!

https://www.cielodrive.com/archive/no-family-exists-media-created-it-manson-testifies/

Manson testimony on 2/27/1973, during the Hawthorne surplus store robbery trial.

"During his hour-long testimony, Manson stressed that the antisocial, violent attitude of the group around him was the outgrowth of many contacts with law enforcement.  Questioned by Miss Share’s attorney, Richard Hirsch, about problems with society in general and police in particular, Manson said, “We were pushed into a corner … we didn’t have any choice.”

Speaking about what he called an escalation of police interference with their existence, he testified:
“It started with a polite knock on the door and ‘May we come in?’ I’d opened the door because my door was always open to everyone. They would, at first, politely check IDs. That’s how it started. But two years later it became a 250 storm trooper raid. They were steadily pushing, pushing and pushing until there was nothing left…it was like a yo-yo game and we were their favorite game.” "

Box 57 pg150of491  Grand Jury testimony of Mary Brunner:

Q: And when you speak about raiding, had the police been there when--when I speak of the police I am also including the Sheriff's Department as well -- had the police or Sheriff's Department been to the ranch before this particular day? (July 28th)

A: They were there almost every day.

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Squeaky:

Box 6 Vol176 Testimony in the Penalty Phase of the TLB trial  pg38of164   Lynette Fromme

Q: During the time that you were at the Spahn Ranch, did you have any contact with the police, either the Los Angeles Police Department or the Sheriff's office? ...  Did you have almost daily contact with them?
A(Fromme): Almost, yes. ..
Q: Were you also, the group of people that were at the Spahn Ranch, frequently arrested?
A: We were. I have been frequently arrested with everybody. They would keep us for three days and let us go, never take us to court.

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Sandy:

Box 6  vol3076 pg17of302   Testimony in the Penalty Phase of the TLB trial     

   Sandra Goode: The police. They came--we almost--They became a part of our daily life actually after a while. We were friendly to them, and then they became--they began coming in greater numbers, the more of us there were the more of them, the more of us--and it grew.
Q: How often would they come to the ranch to harass you?
A: It became nightly. Always with, "We'll get you yet, Charlie," this type of thing.

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Gypsy:

Box14  vol3076  pg265of302
Q: Would you tell us, please, Miss Share, the ...frequency that law enforcement came to the Spahn Ranch while you lived there with some other people?
A: At least every day. ..Sometimes more than once a day. ...I know that for months and months and months the police were always there, always there, always trying to arrest somebody for something, and taking some people to jail, and then letting them go two days later. ...I saw police often, often, for a long, long time.

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Nancy Pitman:

LADA files Box 6 Vol176 Testimony in the Penalty Phase of the TLB trial  pg150of164
Q: Did the police come to the Spahn Ranch all the time?
A: Yeah, all the time, every night.

 

Had you let him put on a defense, he could have explained to you why 

his face was planted in the dirt.

=============================================

 

 

 In a related vein: 

Even before TLB, Manson and Family were the subjects of an active investigation by, or had previous contact with, an astounding array of local, state, and federal entities.

--The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)

--City of Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD)

--The Los Angeles Sheriffs Office (LASO)

--L.A. County Fire Department (LACoFD)

--The Inyo County Sheriffs Office

--The California Highway Patrol (CHP)

--The Las Vegas Police Department (LVPD) and/or the Clark County Sheriff's Department

--The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (Justice Dept)

--The Federal Parole Officers of the Justice Dept

--Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) (Treasury Dept)

--The US Secret Service (Treasury Dept)

--National Park Service (Interior Dept)

--Ventura County Sheriff's Office

--Kern County Sheriff's Office

--Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office

--Mendocino County Social Services Dept.
(... the Welfare Department files contain extensive information about Manson and the “family.” --Louise H. Renne, Deputy Attorney General, State of California)

--The Office of the State of California Attorney General (in Sept of '68)
(Renne memo)

--The Mendocino Probation Department and the Los Angeles Probation Department.

 

--And that doesn't count the inclusion of any covert operators of the police/intelligence agencies.  People like Reeve Whitson. 

--A mention should be made of Melba Kronkright, that "executive for a government social service," as Fromme said in her book,  Melba, who showed up one day in Topanga Canyon to hand out freebies for the Mansonoids, the beginning of a two-year relationship.

Red and Blue letters and ruminations

Lynette and Sandy at the motel in Independence

 Ages ago we did a post on Millie McCormick who was the secretary for Inyo County District Attorney Frank Fowles. The final paragraph of the article that was posted says that a friend of Millie's, who worked at the motel where Lynette and Sandy were staying in Independence, found some letters left behind by the two.

One of the letters was to Sandy from her friend JoAnne about Joel Pugh. Simon Wells reproduced this letter on his webpage about the death of Joel Pugh with some interesting commentary.

That letter, a couple more letters, one from Sandy's father, and ruminations by Lynette were included in the cache found by Millie's friend. Of interest is Lynette's account of the October 10th Barker Ranch raid.

THE LETTERS

Raw Footage of the President Ford Assassination Attempt

Here's another raw footage video from KCRA TV in Sacramento, this one is much longer than the previous video.  It, too, is a hodgepodge of clips but over all it is quite interesting.  There is a portion where President Ford gives a speech and commentary after that is terribly dry but once you get past that it's all Red and Blue.

There is footage where Lynette is interviewed in the Sacramento jail.  She is behind thick glass and speaking with two reporters at once with a phone receiver held up to each ear.  If you've wondered where this rather cartoonish still picture came from, now you know.

There is a bit of discussion about The Book Of The Dead with footage scanning portions of it.  There is an unfinished embroidered vest that was taken into evidence as well as other various items.

The landlord of Lynette and Sandy's P St. apartment is interviewed.  And there are interviews about Harold Boro, the man who owned the gun that Lynette used in the attempt.

Enjoy!

Tour 2017: Sacramento

The tour our group traveled from our home base in Guerneville to Sacramento. First on the agenda was the spot in Capitol Park where Squeaky pointed an unloaded gun at President Ford on September 5, 1975. The magnolia tree that Squeaky was detained under is believed to be this one according to the description in Jess Bravin's excellent book Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme. Read more about this spot here.

"I stood up and waved a gun (at Ford) for a reason", said Fromme. "I was so relieved not to have to shoot it, but, in truth, I came to get life. Not just my life but clean air, healthy water and respect for creatures and creation." Appropriately, there was a demonstration going on in the park touting among other things, environmental issues.

Next up was a barbecue at Patty and Stoner's house hosted by friend of the blog Dayna B. There were only six of us but there was enough delicious food for a small army. We took a good deal of it back to Guerneville to snack on. Thank you Dayna for your hospitality! And thank you Stoner for cleaning the bathroom!

Once we were good and full we ventured on down to P Street, where Sandra Good and Squeaky famously lived in 1975:


Lastly, we made a quick trip from 17th and P to 10th and Broadway to visit the Old Sacramento City Cemetery to see a headstone that Squeaky and Sandy posed in front of for a German magazine back in the day. Patty was easily able to locate the stone with the help of Farflung: you can see the original post here. Stoner was kind enough to recreate the scene for us and for you, dear reader:

Thank you for your attention. The tour was, in our humble opinions, a grand success.  We look forward eagerly to 2018. We hope you will decide to join us!

Letter from Joanne to Sandy Good

One of the main tasks I set myself during the writing of "Coming Down Fast", was to determine any possible connection Joel Pugh may have had with the Manson collective prior to his death in London on December 1st 1969. Of particular interest, I wanted to get to the root of the letter that contained the ominous passage, "I would not want to happen to Joel happen to me" (sic). First reported in Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter", the extract gave the impression that Joel's death was suspicious, and in some way connected to the sensational "murder" toll attributed to members of the Family.

Ultimately, Bugliosi's brief and pat summary of Joel's death stripped him of any personality, rendering him as nothing more than an anonymous "victim". This set me a task in building a personality around Joel, something I felt was vital to assemble some sort of reality.

To be honest, I never thought that despite my well-honed research skills I would be able to find the letter that kick-started the investigation into the circumstances of Joel's death. Remarkably, following a long trail of tip-offs, emails and phone calls, I was led to a library where a file of paperwork left by a detective had been archived. Within the reams of reports and other pieces of ephemera was the letter that ultimately fell on Bugliosi's desk which in turn, went on to imprint Joel's name in the Manson phenomena.

It didn't take more than one read of the letter from Joanne to Sandy Good to see how detectives had twisted an otherwise innocuous part of the letter to turn it into a possible link to a Manson related "murder" - the echoes of which have rattled on over the years. As you will read, the letter's most contentious line was (a) rewritten and (b) taken wholly out of context, allowing spectacular conclusions to be hastily drawn. As I am at pains to point out to fellow students of the case, despite activity at the highest level of officialdom, no attempt was made to contact the Pugh family to check on Joel's mental health status at the time of his death. Indeed, the first they would read of the investigation by police was in "Helter Skelter" in 1974.

This is the full letter from Joanne to Sandy Good.