. . .  is no less a work-in-progress for Spite Work. Procuring rare contemporary photographs of the various personages in the case of Virginia Rappe and Roscoe Arbuckle requires constant vigilance, especially now as we prepare a manuscript for potential publishers. That said, we still hope to find the impossible, such as illustration art for which Rappe modeled.

We also search for rarer images of Rappe’s mother, Mabel Rapp.

We know that she posed for the Chicago photographer Matthew “Commodore” Steffens during the 1890s, especially around the time of the Columbian Exposition of 1893. He used her cabinet cards, which he displayed in his studio window, as samples of his talent—and her beauty.

A few possibilities have come to light, including images from the same period taken at other studios. But the detective work has to be conclusive. We only share these because Mabel (and her daughter) could have some resemblance or fit the context.

More recent acquisitions are rare too, especially for minor and peripheral figures in the Arbuckle case. But news photos always have the identity and caption supplied on the reverse. The only doubt is whether to use them or another.

Minnie Neighbors, a witness for the defense. She claimed to have discovered Rappe in a way curiously not unlike Arbuckle did in his trial testimony. Mrs. Neighbors testified that she cared for Rappe after finding her doubled up in pain on a bathroom floor at Wheeler Hot Springs just weeks before the events of Labor Day 1921. Eventually, Neighbors found herself arrested for perjury. We provide a fairly detailed account of her sideshow in our book.

Although the San Francisco District Attorney wanted Arbuckle charged with murder for the death of Virginia Rappe, he had to be satisfied with manslaughter. The judge who decided on the lesser charge was San Francisco Police Judge Sylvain Lazarus.

The photograph below is from the mid-1920s, when Judge Lazarus was seen as a real “character” for his way of injecting comedy into his courtroom. He certainly did so in the preliminary investigation into Rappe’s death, which took place in late September 1921. The transcripts of this proceeding are the
only ones to survive. Although Lazarus had yet to install a photograph in his court room, he did so in January 1922, while the second Arbuckle trial was in session. Perhaps some of its spectators could hear from afar “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here” and other recordings that complemented the judge’s docket.

This is a relatively new image of Arbuckle’s lead counsel Gavin McNab during the three trials. This one betrays his height, dignity, and rather menacing demeanor when facing the comedian’s prosecutors, who were both a head shorter if not more.

If any of our readers have photographs to share, we are both receptive and grateful.