Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-02
Hazel leighton Gets a Bullet
in Her Heart.
ADemi-Mondaine's Song Ended
by Death.
The Tragedy Yesterday Enacted in a
House of Ill Fame.
A Reautiful Girls Life of Shame Ended
Inv Her Lover-A Murder and
Suicide = Particulars
Of the Crime.


must be engrossed on the catalogue OF
tragedies for which Los Angeles is un-
fortunately achieving an unenviable
reputation. The life Of shame OF an
abandoned woman was cut short in a
brothel by the lover whom che had de-
serted, and the murderer then meted
out to himself the same death to which
he had condemned his victim.
About three weeks ago handsome
young woman became an inmate of the
house of ill-fame kept by Ethel Wilson
at the corner of New High and Marches
sault streets. The new arrival said she
came from San Francisco, where she
had also led life of shame, and gave
her name as Hazel Leighton. Her true
name is said to have been Norma Leigh
ton. Hazel was beautiful of face, volup-
tuous of form and of charming tempera-
ment, SO that, during the short period
of her stay here, she became extremely
popular among the sporting element.
She received letters occasionally from
San Francisco, but otherwise even her
unfortunate companions knew nothing
OF her.
Yesterday afternoon, at about 3
o'clock, a dark-skinned, lack-haired,
wild-eyed young fellow wandered about
Upper Main street near Marchessault,
and with a marked foreign accent in
quired his way to the corner of New
High and Marchessault. He was direct
ed to the place by people on the street.
and rang the Wilson bell. When the
door was opened he at once asked for
Hazel, and when the girl made her APP
pearance they greeted each other very
familiarly. She called him Henry,
while he addressed her as Annie. Hazel
showed little surprise when she first
saw her caller, Dut the girl who wit
messed the meeting only saw the couple
a moment, because they at once went
to Hazel's room and locked the door be-
hind them.
Shortly afterward DR.. Choate called
at the house to make his regular health
examination of the inmates. All the
women were seen by him except Hazel,
who declared, when she was called, that
there was man with her who would
not let her out of her room. The ply
sician was about to depart when the
girl made her appearance and said, with
q laugh, that che had managed to get
away after all. She was examined and
the doctor left, and Hazel returned to
her room. The other inmates paid
no fufther attention to the couple, but
little before o'clock they heard the
girl singing. Her song was suddenly
interrupted by pistol shot. A scream
and the sounds of scuffie were next
heard. Then two more shots, the OPEN
ing of window and three more reports.
On Marchessault street, while the occu-
pants of the house were paralyzed with
fear, horrible scene was being enacted.
Passers-by and neighbors heard the
shots and screams and stopped to look
at the window whence the sounds
emanated. They saw struggle between
q man and woman. The man disap-
peared, the window was opened and
woman threw herself out on the sloping
roof of the wooden awning. She
clutched the window sill for an instant,
then lost her hold, staggered three or
four steps toward New High street,
while blood was gushing from terrible
wound in her chest, and then, with a
sickening crash SHE fell headforemost to
the stone pavement below. There she
lay, bleeding inanimate mass. She
had been shot through the heart.
Officers and physicians were sum-
moned, and while the doctors examined
the body of the girl, the policemen
went upstairs to capture the murderer.
The door was locked. Within all was
still. A policeman burst the lock, the
door flew open and before all lay the
body of stranger in pool OF blood.
He had fred bullet through his brain.
kA~ lA
the walls were full of bullet holes.
The body of the girl was taken from
the street into vacant store on the first
floor and the coroner was notified of the
tragedy. When he arrived and the
body of the dead man was moved, two
3S-calibre revolvers were found on the
floor, one near each OF his hands. Five
shots had been fred from one of the
weapons and one from the other.
In the pockets of the dead man were
culars and timetables, a portrait of the
murdered girl, and the following letter,
written with pencil on single sheet of
note paper:
Los ANGELES, CAL, March 1. 1922
2:55 Pm.
Please let my perants know it and
oblige, yours, HENRY AvAK.
MY perants address is: Aghaz Ava
khan, Britis Turkey, Asia.
My brothers. address is: A. A.
Avakian, Morpantchilor Bornathan
Han, Constantinople. Turkey.
Telegraph to San Francisco, 769
Market street.
On another slip of paper was written
in red crayon: 1.-THE keys in my pocket
belong to my boss"
It was ascertained that Avak' had
never before been seen or heard of by
the girls in Ethel Wilson's. He arrived
here only yesterday morning from San
Francisco, and after walking about the
streets for several hours found his way
to the house where he performed his
awful deed. 1t seems, therefore, that
he had deliberately made up his mind
to kill the girl and himself, and had
come here for the express purpose OF
doing 80.
Avak bore a striking resemblance to
a young gambler who. has been seen
among the visiting sports here Tor
several weeks, and several startling
theories were based on this case OF mis-
taken identity. The theories springing
from the fertile imaginations of the peo-
pie who viewed the remains were many
and ingenious. Some had it that Hazel
was Avak's sister, and others that she
was his wife.
Tho most nla ausihlo etorx, ;s that vol