Thursday, September 17 1908 — Usually when government swindles are unearthed, the rats go scurrying away. Not so with the “Solid Three”, who are holding their heads high regarding the sweetheart bond sale thus far.

The situation in a nutshell: County commissioners Patterson, Eldridge and Wilson, dubbed the “Solid
Three”, put together a bond issue for the county and sold it off,
probably to favored friends, at a high interest rate. They did this
without proper public meetings and without going through the normal
channels to determine a fair interest rate. On discovering this breach
of the public trust, Angelenos were, not too surprisingly, up in arms.