Hollywood Remains to Be Seen
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Officer Herbert Adolph August Klade Shortly before 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 8, 1926, a man armed with a large knife approached the rear door of the home of Katherine Reddy Mahar, at 1137 South Palos Verdes St., in San Pedro. Maher, 50, was the widow of Edward J. Mahar, who served as president of the First National Bank of San Pedro and as general manager of the Banning Company.
When Edward Mahar, a San Pedro pioneer and business leader, died less than a year earlier, in March 1925, at the age of 61, Katherine Mahar inherited her late husband's majority ownership in the bank, and she was elected to the bank's board of directors and named to succeed her late husband as bank president, making her one of the first women to serve as a bank president in the United States.
When the man approached the rear door of her home and tried to force his way in, Katherine Mahar was not at home. Neighbors later told investigators that they had seen the man near the Mahar home prior to the incident, oiling a handgun and muttering to himself, "as though demented" and threatening to "get somebody."
The man was a 58-year-old immigrant from Portugal who owned and operated a fishing boat in San Pedro called the "Costodio." He lived at 1001 South Palos Verdes St., at the Hotel Batchelor (currently the Palos Verdes Inn Hotel), less than two blocks north of the Mahar home. Newspapers referred to him as "a supposedly harmless crank" who was known as "an eccentric in the harbor district."
Mary Kelly, a friend of the Mahar family who had been staying with Mrs. Mahar, was alone in the house at the time. When the man tried to reach in and grab her, she pushed him out, slammed and locked the door, and called police.
The first police officer to arrive at the scene was 29-year-old Officer Herbert Adolph August Klade, who saw the man at the rear door of the home, trying to force his way in. Klade, who likely didn't know that the man was armed with both the knife and a handgun, confronted the man, started to search him for weapons, and a scuffle ensued. The man pulled out his knife and slashed Klade across the face, then stabbed him. Both men then drew their guns.
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Herbert Klade was born May 24, 1896, in Wausau, Wisconsin, a rapidly growing city straddling the Wisconsin River in the middle of the state. His father was John Friederich Klade, a German immigrant who worked at the Ruder Brewing Company, and his mother was Alvine Maria Marquardt, the Wisconsin-born daughter of German immigrants.
Klade was the second of three sons -- Arnold Friederich Klade was born in 1893, and Raymond William Klade was born in 1898. (Arnold Klade died in 1965 at the age of 71, and Raymond Klade died in 1974, at the age of 76. Both brothers lived, died and were buried in Wisconsin.)
After the Klade boys' mother died in 1903 at the age of 28, Klade, then 7 years old, and his two brothers went to live with an uncle, August Marquardt, a farmer in Wausau. John Klade remarried in 1907, but the three brothers never went back to live with their father and step-mother.
All three Klade boys served in World War I, with Herbert enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He served at the Navy's submarine base in San Pedro, where he worked as a machinist, and also served during the war in the North Sea.
Klade served for eight years in the Navy, and remained in San Pedro after his discharge from the service.
As part of the annexation agreement, San Pedro and Wilmington kept their own police stations, under the control of the LAPD. In 1962, the San Pedro and Wilmington police stations were consolidated as the LAPD's new Harbor Division.
At about the same time as he joined the police department, Klade married Della Phipps, the daughter of Stewart and Martha Vina Phipps, owners and operators of a farm in Riverside County. At the time of their marriage, Della was living in a rented room on California Street in Los Angeles, and working at a laundry.
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As the two men pulled their guns, Officer Klade, though suffering knife wounds, fired at his assailant with his Colt .45 revolver. His first shot missed, and when Klade tried to fire again, his gun jammed and exploded in his hand. Realizing his advantage, Klade's assailant again stabbed the officer, then placed his gun against Klade's stomach and fired, with the bullet entering his body just below his heart.
Hearing the gunfire, Mary Kelly again called police. Four officers from the San Pedro station rushed to the scene -- Det. Lt. Alonzo "Lon" Gentry, Det. Lt. Ralph Davis, Officer Edward Dunphy and Officer Roscoe Bowerman.
Before the officers arrived, a neighbor, 56-year-old Louis Dietsel, who lived next to the Mahar house, attempted to come to Klade's assistance. Though seriously wounded, Klade refused Dietsel's assistance and urged him to leave the area to stay out of danger.
When the four additional officers arrived, Klade's assailant fled the scene and attempted to hide in a chicken coop at the rear of the property. The responding officers spread out to surround him, and the stand-off lasted for more than an hour.
When the man shot at Dunphy and missed, all four officers opened fire. Dunphy fired three shots, with one hitting the man in the head. Gentry fired a shot into the man's side. The man fell, but continued to shoot at the officers.
While the stand-off was taking place in the back yard, Klade was placed in a police ambulance to be taken to San Pedro General Hospital, but he died on the way.
Klade was a well-known and popular police officer in San Pedro. His funeral service began at the Cleveland Mortuary on Pacific Avenue, and his thousands of mourners included San Pedro residents; his fellow police officers from San Pedro and Los Angeles; his former Navy crew mates, including the crew from the USS Tennessee battleship, which was stationed in San Pedro; and members of the Los Angeles Fire Department. One of the largest funeral wreaths was from the San Pedro newsboys, with whom Klade was popular because of his friendly way with the youngsters.
Klade's funeral procession traveled from the Cleveland Mortuary to Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. According to the San Pedro Daily News, "The funeral was one of the largest ever accorded to anyone in San Pedro, both because of the circumstances surrounding the death of the officer, and the high regard in which he was held by all who knew him."
Officer Klade was buried at Inglewood Memorial Park.
On the recommendation of LAPD Chief Robert Lee Heath, Klade was one of the first four LAPD officers to receive the department's Medal of Valor, the department's highest honor, at the inaugural ceremony in 1925.
In recommending the award for Klade, Chief Heath noted both the officer's actions in battling his killer, and also for Klade urging the neighbor coming to help him to leave the area to protect himself. The Medal of Valor was presented to Klade's widow, Della.
Of the four officers honored at the first Medal of Honor ceremony, two medals were presented posthumously -- to Officers Klade and to Earnest Wylie Smith, who was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend four suspected bank robbers on Aug. 23, 1925. The other honorees were Officer Oscar Bayer Sr. and Sgt. Frank Harper.
A benefit program was held at the Cabrillo Theater for Klade's widow.
After her husband's death, 27-year-old Della Klade moved to Highland, Calif., in San Bernardino County, and lived with her parents, Stewart and Martha Phipps. She died there on Aug. 9, 1935, at the age of 37, and was buried next to her husband at Inglewood Park Cemetery. Her grave is unmarked.
The house where Officer Klade was killed, which was built in 1903, is still standing, at the northwest corner of South Palos Verdes and West 12th streets in San Pedro. The hotel where Klade's killer was staying, less than two blocks north of the Mahar home, is also still standing, as the recently opened Palos Verdes Inn Hotel.
Officer Klade's memorial sign is located at the northwest corner of South Palos Verdes and West 12th streets in San Pedro, in front of the house where he was killed.
A Guide to the Movie Stars' Final Homes
(May 24, 1896 -- Feb. 8, 1926)