The Mendocino Bank of Commerce, later renamed the Bank of America, at the corner of Main and Kasten Streets in Mendocino. (Gift of Francis Jackson)
November 23, 1927 – The medical office of Dr. Russell Preston, Mendocino’s beloved physician, was ransacked by burglars. The Beacon speculated that the crime was carried out “evidently by amateur cracksmen, as marks of a jimmy or screw driver are plainly discernible on the door frame where the burglar endeavored to pick the lock. The door was evidently pried open and the spring lock pushed back and entrance made in that manner. It evidently took some time to break in as the lock shows many scratches from a sharp pointed tool. Although the office shows signs of being pretty thoroughly ransacked, nothing was missing and Dr. Preston is at a loss to know what the burglars were in search of.”
The Beacon suggested that perhaps the perpetrator was an addict, searching for liquor – Alcohol Prohibition was the law of the land in 1927 – or “dope of some kind,” but Dr. Preston made clear that he “carries nothing of that sort in his office.”
Dr. Preston operated his medical practice from 1909 until 1938 on the second floor of the Mendocino Bank of Commerce building (later the Bank of America building), located on the northwest corner of Main and Kasten Streets. Since 1993, the first floor of this building has housed Out of This World.
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