Felix Signoret (1825–1878) was a member of the Common Council, the governing body of the city of Los Angeles, and also of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the 19th century. He was the leader of a vigilante gang that carried out a lynching of a reputed murderer in 1863.

Early life

Signoret was born in France on June 9, 1825, living in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

before he came to the United States.

Career

Signoret built a new hotel at Main and Turner streets, north of Arcadia Street and "opposite the Pico House," with a Mansard pitch in 1874. Signoret was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, serving from May 9, 1863, to May 5, 1864. He was also a member of the Los Angeles County

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

in 1866.

Lynching

Signoret was the leader of the

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

take took place in Los Angeles, in 1863—that of "a Frenchman named Lachenais"—who was suspected of killing a neighbor, Jacob Bell. Contemporary writer Harris Newmark recounted that:

A meeting at Stearn's Hall was largely attended; a
Vigilance Committee A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order or exercise power through violence in places where they considered governmental structures or actions inadequate. A form of vigilantism and often a more stru ...
was formed; Lachenais's record was reviewed and his death at the hands of an outraged committee was decided upon. Everything being arranged, three hundred or more armed men, under the leadership of Felix Signoret, ... assembled on the morning of December 17th, marched to the jail, overcame Sheriff Burns and his assistants, took Lachenais out, dragged him to the ... corner of Temple and New High streets ... and summarily hanged him.... The following January, County Judge Y. Sepulveda charged the
Grand Jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
to do its duty toward ferreting out the leaders of the mob, and so wipe out this reproach to the city; but the Grand Jury expressed the conviction that if the law had hitherto been faithfully executed in Los Angeles, such scenes in broad daylight would never have taken place.

An article by Steve Harvey in the San Diego edition of the ''Los Angeles Times'' on September 5, 1984, stated that Signoret "led a lynch mob that hanged five people in Los Angeles in 1869–70 in the aftermath of a murder resulting from 'offensive remarks (made) about the newly organized French Benevolent Society.

Personal life and death

Signoret was married to Catherine Pagen, also of France. Their children were P. Josephine, Rose, Anna and Caroline, and possibly Louise and Felix P. By trade he was a barber, later an apartment owner.Harris Newmark, ''Sixty Years in California , , , ,''
/ref> The Signorets bought a parcel of land at 125 Aliso Street in 1871 and built a "substantial brick house" about thirty feet wide with an area of nearly 1,800 square feet; the roof was " hipped on all four sides in mimicry of the fashionable Mansard shape. . . . By 1888 the Signorets . . . were long gone, and their genteel house was used as a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

."Mary Praetzellis, "Mangling Symbols of Gentility in the Wild West," ''American Anthropologist,''103(3):645-654 (2001), with sources cited there
/ref> Signoret died on July 28, 1878, and was buried in

Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles runs in the community of East Los Angeles. It is also called "New Calvary Cemetery" because it succeeded the original Calvary Cemetery (on north Broadway), over whic ...

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Signoret, Felix Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members 19th-century American politicians Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Lynching deaths in California 1825 births 1878 deaths Businesspeople from Marseille French emigrants to the United States 19th century in Los Angeles