Image / William Kearns, one of the people who survived being poisoned by Alsa …

William Kearns, one of the people who survived being poisoned by Alsa Thompson, Los Angeles, 1925

View source image on contributor's website.

Get Citation

Have a question about this item?

Contact Owner

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title: William Kearns, one of the people who survived being poisoned by Alsa Thompson, Los Angeles, 1925
Date Created and/or Issued: February 1925
1925-02
Publication Information: Los Angeles Times
Contributing Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives
Rights Information: US
UCLA Library Special Collections, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988
Description: Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds.
Kearns stands in front of a brick wall looking off into the distance as he holds in his hands a piece of paper.
Photograph appears with the article, "Child-Poisoner Unites Parents," Los Angeles Times, 04 Feb 1925: A1.
Fireman William Kearns, one of the poison victims of 7-year-old Alsa Thompson, told the Hollywood police of a time when he installed a radio set at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Platts and Alsa expressed intense interest in the fluid put into the cell, sulphuric acid, that she would later use to poison her family.
Handwritten on negative: Kerns
Text from negative sleeve: THOMPSON, ASA, CCASE Alsa 1925
Text from newspaper caption: [Photos by George R. Watson, Times Staff Photographer] Home Where Poison Meals Were Served Alsa Thompson, 7-year-old confessed poisoner, is shown in the top center photograph. At the upper left is Maxine Thompson, slightly poisoned last Sunday and whose life Alsa is declared to have sought by slashing her with a razor blade. Upper right picture is of Lorraine Platts, another intended victim of a poisoned meal. In the center of the group are Mrs. Jess Platts and Alsa's little sister Maxine. The lower pictures show the Platts home where Alsa was living and Williams Kearns, one of the victims of food poisoned by Alsa.
Type: image
Format: b&w nitrate negative
Identifier: uclamss_1429_3773
ark:/21198/zz002cpfg4
Language: No linguistic content
Subject: Victims of crimes--California--Los Angeles
Kearns, William
Source: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.