On the night of Saturday, September 29, 1928, San Bernardino, California was experiencing a welcome break in the heat. The area had just experienced a month of temperatures above 100°F, however on this particular evening, it was about 85°F. Not uncommon for the area, but hot enough to be jarring to the locals and everyone was enjoying the relatively cooler temperatures and light winds.
Alvera Schlosser was the owner of Alvera’s Place, a service station out on Arrowhead Road. At 5:30 pm, her husband of about 8 years, Fred Schlosser, pulled into the service station in the new automobile that he and Alvera had bought recently.
Fred had come home drunk again and Alvera was pissed off. Fred exited the car, approached Alvera, and began arguing and calling her a myriad of horrid and contemptable names. Standing in the garden between the filling station and the house, they proceeded to argue for about 20 minutes. At this point, Alvera worried that Fred might become physically aggressive. She entered the house and retrieved a revolver. As she left the house by way of the back door, Alvera was confronted again by Fred. She turned to walked away from him and he swung to hit her.
Fred fell to the ground, fatally wounded. He died before the police or a physician arrived. San Bernardino Deputy Coroner Dennis Ralphs later examined Fred’s body and said that he died when a .38 caliber revolver bullet punctured his heart.
While being interviewed by police, Alvera had this to say about her brief conversation with Fred, while he lay mortally wounded on the ground:
So, what happened to Alvera and Fred next? What is their story?
This is a series of 4 installments, so come back and visit us next Friday to read The Ballad of Alvera Schlosser- Part II. Thank you visiting us! We are so grateful for your interest!
During our genealogical research, CMS Research & Genealogy comes across many stories that have nothing to do with our current project. We have tons of them and will be sharing them all with you on this blog. All the more reason to come back and visit us again.
Source for this post is:
Ends Threats With Killing, She Declares. (1928, September 30). San Bernardino County Sun. Newspapers.com
CMS Research & Genealogy 