Page 9 - sg_vigilanceforever1994

1919-1994 VIGILANCE FOREVER - 75 years of The Signal 9

■ The 1920s

oann aon

Newhall Signal

tested its new

wings in 1920s

By CAROL ROCK
Signal staff writer

1920s were characterized by
The
historian A.B. Perkins as a decade
when "nothing much happened"
outside of the St. Francis Dam disaster
and the "Buffalo Tom" Vernon train rob-
bery.
The Signal was still a fledgling, get-
ting used to its wings and townspeople.
Spaces between stories were often filled
with large ads reading, "Boost Newhall,"
editorials called people who didn't get
involved in their community ''flat tires"
and the tops of pages carried the slogans,
"The Newspaper With A Backbone,"
and, "For Each Other, Not Against Each
Other."
The Signal was far from perfect. It
didn't have the date on every page or Photos courtesy of SCV Historical Society
even page numbers. There were typos Was it a sign of things to come? Even in 1929, there was an occasional traffic jam in Saugus for events such
and sometimes pages ran upside down as the annual rodeo. Here, motorists crowd the street lined by Saugus Cafe and the Saugus Station (left).
- or completely blank. But the paper Below, students of 1926 pose in front of Soledad School, established in 1890 in present-day Canyon Country.
always had strong support from the com-
munity. life unto death." Obituaries always ran
They sold all kinds of things at The on the front page, never on the inside,
Signal office, such as Brunswick and cards of thanks from bereaved fami-
records, fuse plugs, note pads and school lies commonly accompanied them.
pads, cards and "No Shooting or There were three different editorial
Hunting" signs. The Signal office was regimes in the 1920s, starting with
where people came to register to vote. It Edward Brown, founder of the Signal.
was the area's printing shop and was Upon his death in 1920, his widow
pretty proud of its work, according to an Blanche Brown took the reins and
ad from September 1924: "W WAnted brought in Thornton Doelle as her assis-
Your Printing Business. If We Can't tant. Blanche's papers were full of news,
Please You DON'T COME AGAIN!" the society column ran on the front page
Humility wasn't politically correct and Thornton, whose real job was with
then. the Forest Service, wrote several
But the pages reflect a gentler time. columns and poems. In addition, they
People didn't always die in the paper; occasionally ran a column called
rather, they were "called to their "Peanut Pietro," written totally in
reward," "met their maker" or "passed Mexican slang. Readers' tolerance was
away." The Signal also shared a lot more certainly different then.
details, in melodramatic style; of just Newspaper ownership apparently did
how someone made their crossing to the not provide enough of a Ii ving for .
Great Beyond. And we mourned as a Blanche, as she sold insurance through- lessee and editor. He filled the pages to Outdoor Life,") "Boquets," and a
family. For the death of President out 1924 to supplement her income. (We with graphics, poetry and colorful short-lived scandal column entitled
Warren G. Harding in August 1923, The know from the ad that ran consistently columns, like "Soledad Snapshots," 'They Tell Me," bordered by the striking
Signal wrote, 'Then came the sad news on the back page of the paper.) ''Porcupine Quills (Extracted Painlessly Navajo pattern later known as swastikas.
of a relapse which severed the tender In January 1925, while Blanche still from Live Porcupines,") "Pine Tree He was a colorful editorial writer, tak-
cord which holds us from passing from owned the paper, Doelle took over as Needles (Pointed Paragraphs Pertaining
Please see 1920s, page 10