Who Burned Down The La Cañada Schoolhouse?

– Part 1

It was a cool spring evening in La Cañada Valley – March 16, 1893. Theodor Pickens, the man for whom Pickens Canyon is named, was playing the card game of whist with some friends. Pickens, now in his 40s, had given up his life as a rough homesteader years before, and become a successful farmer in La Cañada. He had married a couple of years before for the first time, and his new wife, a widow, had bought them a fine house and acreage higher in the La Cañada valley above the schoolhouse.

About 8 p.m., Pickens’ dogs began to bark furiously. Pickens could tell by the tone of their cries that they were barking at someone walking by the house on the road to the schoolhouse. The dogs quieted, but began barking the same way 15 minutes later. In just a few minutes, the card players heard the fire bell ringing, and stepped outside to witness the nearby La Cañada schoolhouse engulfed in flames.

The wooden schoolhouse burned to the ground, and investigators felt it was arson. The insurance company offered $500 for the conviction of the arsonist, and the school district another $100.

A few days later, in downtown LA, 19-year-old transient O.H. Clements was flat broke. He happened to pick up a newspaper, and read about the fire and the $600 reward. In Clements’ mind, he fashioned himself a detective. He felt he could solve the case and pocket the reward. Young Clements headed up the Verdugo Canyon intending to work as a ranch hand while investigating the crime. He made up an alias, Tony Port, then found work on Dr. Lanterman’s ranch.

Clements, now called Tony, began to make friends with the many teenagers in the valley. He made particular friends with 15-year-old Lemuel Veilex, the son of a successful La Cañada rancher. Lem was enamored with the dime novels of the era, that glamorized Indian fighters and bank robbers. Lem wanted to be a tough outlaw like the characters in the books he devoured.

Tony seized on this and began filling Lem’s head with made-up stories of his own life of crime. Tony told Lem that he was part of a gang called “The Dirty Dozen.” He poured tales of his daring robberies into young Lem’s head, and Lem believed every word. Lem desperately want to be as bad as his new hero Tony, and Tony knew it. Tony put out some bait in the form of a daring robbery his gang had committed. He told Lem the robbery had netted $1,800, which the gang, now on the run from the law had buried. But Tony told Lem he had made a map of the location of the hidden cash.

He told Lem that they could go and dig up the money and split it between the two of them, but only if Lem could prove himself “the right sort,” brave and bad enough. Lem needed to prove himself worthy of the stolen loot. Lem, wanting to impress Tony, told him that it was he who had burned down the schoolhouse. He told Tony that he was sick of school, that he had stolen coal oil from the school during recess, then had returned that night, pouring the oil over the back steps and lighting it off. He even showed Tony the schoolhouse key he had stolen.

Tony had baited his quarry, and was now about to set the hook. He went to Dr. Lanterman with the news that that young Lemuel Veilex had confessed to the arson of the schoolhouse, and that he could get him to confess again in front of witnesses. A plan was cooked up where two other local ranchers would hide close enough to the boys to hear the confession. Dan Green and Jesse Knight crouched behind a hedge while Tony engaged Lem in conversation on the other side. Tony got Lem to boast again of his arson of the schoolhouse. The sheriff was notified of the confession in front of witnesses, and Lemuel Veilex was arrested.

Next week, the trial.