by Susan Couso
1926 was a busy year in Susanville. There were two huge wildfires which terrorized the surroundings and even crept into the town limits during June and July, scaring ‘the dickens’ out of everyone.
Then, in August, the California State American Legion Convention was held in town, bringing thousands of visitors to the area, and most of these Legionnaires and their guests were ready to have a good time while they were here.
Susanville was hopping with activity. The lumber mills were in full production, the town was surging in growth, new housing was being erected, new businesses were being established, and new people were arriving in town every day.
The local law enforcement officers had a difficult time keeping up with everything, and this was not aided by the fact that Prohibition was in ‘full swing’.
The little county seat had criminal elements lurking, ready to take advantage of any opportunity, but outside of the city limits it was even worse. Pool Halls, clubs, ‘soft drink’ parlors and roadhouses sprang up in numerous places and there was stiff competition to provide entertainment and refreshments to those wishing to escape the ‘humdrum’ of daily life. These were the ‘good old days’ when you were never too sure just what your drink might contain.
Jack Stanley and Charles DeRocher operated the Litchfield Pool Hall, and closer to Susanville places like the Palace Pool Hall, S. P. Club and the Pioneer thrived.
But our story begins at the Rio Vista Pool Hall on a rainy Tuesday night; November 9, 1926.
Thomas Massey, Constable of the Honey Lake Judicial District, was on a case.
County Supervisor J. H. Godman was the victim of a theft. His suitcase was stolen, and he turned to Massey for help. Massy had received a clue that the suitcase was in the Rio Vista, so he, Godman, and fellow County Supervisor Peter Gerig were planning to quietly visit the establishment and look around.
As they entered the noisy hall at 11:00 P.M., Massey immediately spied two men, Frank ‘Tiny’ Haberhauer and John Bondanza, attacking another man. Massey stepped in to help but as he approached the melee, a young woman, Lulu Bondanza, pointed her pistol at him.
Massey immediately retreated to his car, retrieved his own service weapon, and then reentered the darkened building.
Massey managed to arrest the 200-pound Tiny Haberhauer, but the others in the gang escaped. Haberhauer was secured in Massey’s car, and they began transport to jail. Unfortunately for Massey, Haberhauer had a hidden knife, and he took this opportunity to use it.
Haberhauer drew the knife and inflicted several deep wounds on Massey’s arm and shoulder before the supervisors and other onlookers, including taxi driver Reuben Millsaps, subdued him. Haberhauer was then safeguarded in the jail.
Massey went to Dr. Daniel Coll’s office to have his wounds bandaged, and as the doctor was just about finished, the Constable saw the three other bandits speed by in a car. Massey commandeered a vehicle which sat nearby and accompanied by Dr. Coll and Millsaps, sped off to contain the three remnants of the criminal quartet.
The speeding vehicles headed south on the Susanville/Reno Highway, and about two miles from town, Massey began shooting through the darkness towards the escaping gang. He managed to shatter the windshield, and suddenly the villain’s vehicle began to sway. At a rate of about 65 miles per hour the car could not make the curve, skidded sideways, rolled, and overturned in the ditch.
By this time, it was nearing 3:00 A.M., and as Massey approached the scene he could see little movement. The car rested on its crushed top, and the former occupants were underneath.
With help from the growing crowd, the bandit victims were removed from their predicament. Helen Edwards was the least injured. Twenty-two-year-old John Bondanza suffered serious injuries, and 30-year-old Lulu Bondanza was dead, her skull and pelvis crushed under the vehicle. Dr. Coll did what he could to aid the gang, and they were transported to the Riverside hospital.
John Bondanza, with serious injuries making it nearly impossible to move, managed to escape from the hospital while no one was looking.
He was later found unconscious at the Star Hotel and was returned to the hospital where he was, this time, carefully contained.
The Bondanzas had been married in Sacramento in June, and their five months of married life was entirely a run from the law. Lulu Barnes Bondanza had been released from the Yolo County jail just eight months before their marriage.
Her father, Oscar Barnes was a pool hall owner in Toppenish, Washington who had himself suffered ‘run-ins’ with the law on several occasions. On November 12th, after a coroner’s inquest, Lulu was returned home to her mother Effie Barnes in Toppenish.
John Bondanza was from the Verdi, Nevada area, and he and his brother, Pete, were well acquainted with the legal system there.
The ‘bandit gang’ including the Bondanzas, Edwards and Haberhauer had been on a crime spree throughout Northern California and Washington and were accused of rum-running, robbery, bootlegging and vice.
They were also suspected of “trafficking women for immoral purposes,” and had spent the previous three weeks ‘working’ the Susanville area, but seldom being seen in the daylight hours. The gang was also wanted in several other Northern California counties.
A sensational pattern of complete disregard for law, order and civilized behavior was over. District Attorney James S. Nutting charged Frank Haberhaur with ‘assault with a deadly weapon’ and other charges, Bondanza was charged with ‘manslaughter’, and Edwards was charged with ‘disturbing the peace.’
Bondanza seems to have escaped incarceration, but Frank ‘Tiny’ Haberhauer was sentenced to ten years in Folsom Prison.
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