Burr LanFond Harris was born about 1896 in Petrolia, Pennsylvania, USA. His mother was Clara and his Uncle who was married to Clara's sister (Name Unknown) was Lafayette Taylor, they were both listed as widows.
Burr Harris was received at Folsom Prison as inmate #8951, on 29 Nov 1913 for murder of the 1st Degree. He had killed at least two women and attempted to kill others in a hotel fire and by poisoning candy that was delivered to some children. As you read the newspaper articles you will see all the crimes that were known. Sad part his poor momma was beside herself with grief and left all alone.
Folsom Prison record for Burr Harris Inmate #8951
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-report-burr-l-harris/183242464/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-burr-l-harr/183241697/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-burr-l-harris/183235462/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-burr-l-harris-at/183240469/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-burr-l-harris-at/183240364/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-santa-barbara-daily-news-and-the-ind/183242564/
He confessed to killing Mrs. Rebecca P. Gay who was a Christian Science Practitioner, was beaten to death in her office with a gas pipe. He then confessed to a murder from 1912 of Mrs. Melvina Haskins. He also confessed to having sent a bomb through the mail to Mrs. Helen Mathewson. In 1904 he said he planted a gasoline bomb in the Coronado Hotel in Los Angeles. He also said he poisoned candy and sent it to the children W. J. Pierce. I have these newspaper articles below. He sure was busy disrupting lives, to say it mildly.
1907
https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-herald-burr-harris/183263541/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-burr-harris/183263766/
Page 2 from the article above
https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-herald-burr-harris/183263700/
Here are some the photos from these articles.
Los Angeles Evening Post-Record
Los Angeles, California
Mon, Oct 28, 1907 · Page 1
Los Angeles Herald
Los Angeles, California
Sat, Oct 12, 1907 · Page 1
1911
Oakland Enquirer
Oakland, California
Sat, Sep 9, 1911 · Page 8
The Evening Index
Fri, Sep 08, 1911 ·Page 1
Here's two article from 1906 about Mrs. Mathewson before she her attempted murder, she was a pistol.
Pasadena Star-News
Pasadena, California •
Tue, Aug 19, 1913
Page 2
I saw in one of the articles, that they said he had psychic epilepsy and a phycologist was on his way to examine him but didn't get to the jail before they left to take him to Los Angeles to his mom's cabin to find some evidence he said he had. I look up the definition of this and I am not so sure this is what he had.
"Psychic epilepsy" is a term used to describe epilepsy where seizures manifest as psychic phenomena rather than the more typical motor symptoms. Instead of convulsions, individuals may experience intense emotional feelings, hallucinations, auras like déjà vu, or altered states of consciousness. These complex seizures are often associated with temporal or frontal lobe epilepsy.
So he killed two people and attempted to kill several others, this would be classified as mass murder which is a capitol offense. He was hung for his crime for the two murders on 8th of Oct 1915, it took him 15 minutes to die, so he did suffer. He is buried in the Folsom Prison Cemetery. Below is the link for his Find A Grave Memorial.
I would love to find his mother so she can be connected to him on Find A Grave, any help would be appreciated. Please feel free to click the follow button and leave comments. Thank you ever so much for stopping by.
While Burr was in prison in 1915, Folsom Prison was a functioning, medium-to-maximum security state penitentiary, notable for being California's second-oldest prison and the first in the United States to have electricity.
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