The LA Trilogy, Part 1: Barbara Graham

In the first of a 3 part trilogy of seperate crime stories from Los Angeles we will look at the life, crimes and execution of Barbara Graham.

Many thanks to Katja Anderson for writing this story. Find more of Katja's work:

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1. O'Shea, Kathleen A., Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900 - 1998 (1999); Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 70.

2. Brennan, Elizabeth A., Clarage, Elizabeth C., Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners (1999);  Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 387.

3. American Film Institute https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/52606

4. Los Angeles Daily Mirror, 'Barbara Graham case revisited, November 28, 1958'.

5. Bernstein, Matthew, Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent (2000); pp. 336 - 337.

6. Osborne, Robert, telecast of I Want to Live! with commentary on Turner Classic Movies, 20 February 2009.

7 - 10: www.familysearch.org

11. United States federal census, 1930.

12. Davis, Bernice Freeman with Hirshberg, Al, Assignment San Quentin (1962); Peter Davies Ltd., London.

13 - 14: Bailey, Frankie Y. and Chermak, Steven, Famous American Crimes and Trials Vol. III, 1913 - 1959.

15 - 22: Cairns, Kathleen A., Proof of Guilt: Barbara Graham and the Politics of Executing Women in America (2013); University of Nebraska Press.

23. Cairns, ibid; Los Angeles Times, 8 June 1987: 'It's Sally Stanford not Sanford - and also for the record, Errol Flynn didn't need to be spelled'.

24. Cairns, ibid.

25. Keller, Robert, Murder Most Vile, Volume Twenty (2018).

26. Cairns, ibid.

27. Keller, ibid.

28 - 30: Drexler, Paul, San Francisco Examiner, 27 August 2017: '"Bloody Babs” and the robbery gone wrong'.

31 - 32: Renner, Joan, Los Angeles Magazine, 4 June 2013: 'The Mob-Style Murder of Burbank Widow Mabel Monahan'.

33. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135618443/baxter-shorter

34 - 35: Renner, ibid.

36 - 37: Cairns, ibid.

38. Gillespie, L. Kay, Dancehall Ladies: The Crimes and Executions of America's Women (1997).  University Press of America, p. 77.

39. Los Angeles Times, 28 March 1990: 'Last Steps, Last Words on the Row: California has put 501 men and women to death since the state took charge of executions.  Not all of them went quietly.'

40. Stout, Martha, The Sociopath Next Door (2006); Random House, p. 97.