Other peoples blogs

I read Jamare's, Avery's, and Branson's. I thought it was really neat learning about all these things in this new way. The blogs that I read did a really good job talking about their topic and I learned a lot. Some specific things I found extremely interesting were the use of first person, the placement of pictures, and the language used. These things really helped show exactly what the author was talking about and it made it easy to learn from.

Wineville Chicken coop Murders 1928

            Gordon Northcott, originally from Canada, moved to Los Angeles, Riverside County California. He came with his mother Sarah Louise Northcott. Gordon Northcott went back to visit his sister, Jessie Clark, and his 13 year old nephew,  Sanford Clark, in Canada. Gordon asked his sister if he could take Sanford on a trip, but his plans were not to take him on a trip, but to kidnap him and take him back to Riverside County with him. Northcott beat and abused Sanford and forced him help go through with the murder he was about to commit. 

            Gordon Northcott murdered many people, but the first known victim was in 1928, a Mexican worker who was accused of stealing from him. The Mexican was found headless in a burlap bag with a serial number on it in La Puente ditch. The next murder was Walter Collins. Gordon Northcott didn’t actually murder him, but he molested and beat him. Gordon’s mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, murdered him with an ax because she thought he was “seeing too much.” Gordon Northcott kidnapped the Winslow brothers next. He held them captive for a little over a week, while continually beating them, then he killed them.

            Jessie, Sanford’s sister, became worried about him and thought he wasn’t going to school. She made her way to Wineville. Sanford told his sister about all the things that were happening in Wineville, including the beatings and the murders. When Jessie returned to Canada, she made a complaint and said that Sanford was kidnapped, and she told the authorities about the murders that had been happening. The U.S.immigration services was sent to the farm, but Northcott had already left to go to Canada along with his mother. The authorities took Sanford into custody for further questioning.

            On September 14 1928, Sanford told the police everything. He said that Gordon Northcott had kidnapped, molested, beat and killed three boys with the help of Louise Northcott and Sanford himself. A few days after this, Northcott and his mother were found and expedited back to the United States. Cyrus Northcott (Gordon’s father) was brought in and he told the police that he moved away from the farm and his family because he was in fear of his life, and no longer wanted to live there with what was going on.  Next, Sanford told where the bodies were buried, and when examined, the spots he said were in fact where bodies had been buried. The bodies were no longer there, however, and Jessie Clark testified that the bodies had been dug up and burned in the desert by Sarah Louise Northcott and Gordon Northcott a few weeks earlier.

            The bodies of the victims were never found, but the State of California concluded that the victims were Walter Collins, the Winslow brothers (Lewis and Nelson), and the Mexican worker. Northcott was executed on October 2, 1930 for three murders at San Quentin and Sarah Louise Northcott served four and a half years at San Quentin then was moved to the Institution for Women. These murders had a heavy impact on the Wineville area because the area was being bombed for news about the murders. Many news papers printed articles about this including the New York Times, which shows how it made national attention. The Wineville residents eventually changed the name to Mira Loma. 

This picture is of Sanford Clark who was beaten, molested and forced to help commit murders until his sister Jessie called the immigration services. 

This picture shows investigators looking at the land. The entire bodies were never found, but bloody axes were found.

This picture shows the authorities who found a gun and an ax in the chicken coops.

Gordon Northcott uses a pencil to show the chicken coop where one boy was allegedly killed as the jury looks at the coop.  

This picture shows authorities looking in the desert for the bodies of the Northcott’s victims, where Jessie said they were moved to. 

This picture is of Sarah Louise Northcott, Gordon Northcott’s mother.


The Road Out of Hell is a book written by Anthony Flacco with the help of Jerry Clark, Sanford's son, about the terrible things that happened. Click here to watch a video about the book. 

Progress on research 2

I have finished my paragraphs and have found a lot of primary sources from the LA times through research. I have also found many pictures that show what everything about the murders looked like. All I have left to do is to put everything together and put it to a post on my blog.

Progress on research

I am doing my research on the Wineville murders committed by Gordon Northcott. I have found a lot of interesting and fact filled web sites. I have also found a lot of pictures that represent how creepy Northcott and his mother were. I plan to continue research and taking notes on the important facts.

Spending on Halloween

In the United States people have been spending a ton of money on Halloween even though people might not have the money to spend. In 2011, an estimated $6.9 billion will be spent on halloween 18% increase from last year.  It is also estimated that a person will spend $72.31 on Halloween this year. Many people think that Halloween is the holiday that people spend the most money on, but that isn't actually true. The National Retail Federation says that it is behind 5 other very important holidays spending wise.

Homework Question #2

Although unions existed, they did not have as much power as the major industries. There was such a vast population of people needing jobs that if a union went on strike, peoples jobs would just be taken over by someone new. This was also possible because the jobs did not require much skill. Unions were good, but overall could not overtake large corporations.

Nation of Immigrants

     A "Nation of Immigrants" is like a melting pot of many diverse people. America is a nation of immigrants because the people who live in America mostly all have ancestors that have immigrated from another country. The people who left their countries to come to America would have been extremely courageous. They would not know what they were getting into, and they only knew what they had heard about America. The people who came to America had also to be very outgoing and strong willed because when they put their mind to coming, they did even though the voyage was very long. The immigrants were also very adventurous because they were coming to a strange place to start a whole new life. These traits have come to shape America in making people think we are a very courageous and adventurous country, and we always take risks. It has also shaped America's people because we are all so different, and from so many different backgrounds, but yet we all live in the same country. America is truly unique in it's aspect of being a melting pot. 
     I do not feel very connected with my ancestors and I do not feel very aware of them. I wish I could have more connection with them because I would like to know more about them. I am very envious of the people in "Faces of America" who have had their ancestry put in front of them, and I wish I was lucky enough to have the same done for me. I think that because I have seen these episodes, and known how important immigrants were and are I will research my own heritage to see where I come from. 

Faces of America- heritage

Faces Of America is a series where a bunch of famous people learn about their ancestry. Throughout the first two episodes, the backgrounds of Eva Longoria, Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor, Dr. Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi were revealed. The host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., tells each one of them many things that they did not previously know about their heritage, and they all find it very interesting, and very beneficial to know for many reasons.
From watching these films I learned that ancestry can be important not only just so you know who you are descendant from, but also for medical reasons. Dr. Oz said that it is important to know what kind of diseases your ancestors had before the age of 65, so you can prevent them in yourself. I also learned that it is possible to trace ancestry back a very long ways. I think that one could learn many things by watching them including why to research your ancestry, interesting facts about these well known people, and also one can learn to appreciate their ancestry more from watching how other people appreciate their own ancestry.

To look at these episodes click here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/category/video/

Carnegie as a philanthropist

Carnegie was a famous business man, but in his later years he became more charitable. He made many public libraries and called them the "Carnegie libraries."  He wanted to make libraries so that people could have a place to learn, a place of public education. Carnegie also gave a lot of money to start universities and institutions. After he sold his company to J.P. Morgan, the rest of his life he decided to put toward charitable activities. Throughout his life he gave away over $350 million.  Carnegie created libraries and created trusts in order to put forth education and knowledge and also world wide peace. Carnegie wanted to leave the world a better place than it was when he found it.