April 20 - Friday "The Paper Case"

Our ride across the bay bridge after our brief touchdown in San Francisco was a breeze. For lunch Deb and I had a plate of hummus, veggies, and falafels across the street from the campus travel office where we learned the ins and outs of visitor parking. It's tricky, but it can be done. On campus, crowds of youngsters were gathering on the lawn to enjoy the warm weather which we learned had just arrived. There was also a special day coming up, an open house, which had livened up the place.

The Bancroft Library sits on a hill overlooked by a bell tower and another bright white building farther up the hill. It is a stately marble-like affair with an air of orderliness. A visitor gets the same feeling from the main desks and the people in charge. It's not exactly stuffy though; the people were patient and helpful. We took our seat at a long table and in a few minutes they brought us the box containing the files on the "Lazar Case" Tissue Patents" and other related folders. It was a veritable treasure trove of legal papers, depositions, spy files (really, Pinkertons!)

We had just over three hours to go through it all, with no opportunity to return, since they are closed on weekends. Deb held the camera while I speed-read the contents to determine what we really needed. In all we took about 300 photos.

Many memorable items struck us as meaningful and kept us intrigued for much of the trip. The contents are the property of The Bancroft and are under strict copyright protection so we can't share the actual items, but here is just a snippet of one detective file to get a sense:

When we handed in the carton for the day the librarian said, "Boy you really gave that box a workout didn't you!" Since we didn't do much else on this day, I have transcribed a page of conversation between Solomon Lazar and a lawyer for the Zellerbach Paper Company, Max Cohn. It takes place in Cohn’s office where a stenographer was taking notes for at least some of the time.

call number: 88/215 carton 19:7

San Francisco, May 28th, 1915

On Thursday May 27th 1915 at about eleven o'clock Mr. Solomon Lazar called at my office. I asked him to be seated.

Lazar - Well what do you want of me?

Cohn - Mr. Aicher requested me to take up the matter of the towel machine which he has in his place.

Lazar - Well what do you want to know about it?

Cohn - Who does that machine belong to?

Lazar - Evidently it is Aicher's machine. We are going to sell machines. To make a long matter small we are going to sell machines. We are not going to make towels. Absolutely not. We are not going to make any towels. Machines we will sell. We think we are going to sell machines.

Cohn - You only think that you are going to sell machines?

Lazar - Yes we will sell - we will try anyhow.

Cohn - Now Mr. Lazar, you know what papers you signed and what you agreed to do and you know that in all fairness this machine belongs to the National Paper Products Company.

Lazar - Yes it belongs to Mr. Aicher.

Cohn - The machine belongs to the National Paper Products Co.

Lazar jumping up excitedly

Lazar - Do you think that I'm an ass?

Cohn - Why what's the trouble?

Lazar - That woman is taking down everything I say.

(Advancing and addressing the stenographer)

Give me that page

(stenographer tears out a page containing only a few words and Lazar tears it into small bits.)

This is a dirty underhanded trick.

Cohn - If you are playing fair why are you afraid to have what you say taken down? I am willing that any stenographer should take down what I have to say in this connection.

Lazar - I will not talk to you any further here. If you want to continue this conversation you will have to go somewhere else.

Lazar and I walked out into the front of the building and continued talking on the sidewalk.

Lazar - Now it is no use for you to try any of your tricks on me because I won't stand for them.

Cohn - My only concern is what you intend to do with the machine that is now at Aicher's Machine Shop. Do you refuse to turn it over to the National Paper products Co?

Lazar - I refuse absolutely. Now you know that you cannot stop us from making machines and if you succeed in stopping us here we can send blue prints anywhere else and have machines made. You cannot stop a man from earning a living and you cannot buy the product of a man's brain.

Cohn- Evidently you have been consulting an attorney.

As you can see the Lazars had become entangled in a legal battle with the Zellerbach Paper Company involving claims and inventions. It will take a while to unravel the story and figure out exactly what happened. We do know that a very large company wanted something from a very small company, and it seemed that they would do whatever they needed to get it.

In the meantime, as the sun was going down over the bay, we found ourselves happily ensconced at our wonderful host's home in Berkeley who allowed us to entertain ourselves until they got home. Their son wasn't feeling well, but was most gracious. While we waited we opened a cold bottle of white wine and had some cheese and crackers. Dan and Linda arrived in good spirits and soon figured out the connection they had with Deb. The night passed in laughter and fun as we shared some of what we found at the library and other stories from the past.

Tomorrow we head to the big city to see the building on Jackson St.where the Lazar family had their paper towel office and factory. On hearing our plans for the day, our hosts extended an invitation to stay with them another night. We are so grateful for their help. It meant that we didn't have to find lodging and could focus all of our efforts on our tour of San Francisco. What would we find in the building that survived the earthquake and fire that raged all around it in 1906? As it turned out, some wonderful people let us see for ourselves.