Page Four
It was during the period of Hammel's administration, that the dynamiting of the Los Angeles
Times building, on October first, 1910, occurred. In this terrible tragedy twenty lives were
snuffed out and much valuable property was destroyed. This was the tragic climax of a fierce
labor conflict in Los Angeles City. There were also quite a number of other important criminal
cases handled by his office.
Sheriff Hammel's first wife passed away in 1907, leaving him and the little daughter Phyllis.
Three years later, when this daughter was old enough to attend college, he took her to San Jose
for enrollment in the State Teachers College. This trip resulted in the revival and culmination of
an early romance in his life.
While he was attending Santa Clara College years before, he had met Catherine McKiernan,
then a student at the San Jose Normal School. She was a daughter of Charles McKiernan,
known as "Mountain Charlie," because of his interest in various large mineral properties. The
young couple were mutually attracted to each other and fell in love. They were engaged to be
married. Then came a lover's misunderstanding.
Hammel left school and went away to Arizona becoming a cowboy, and then a ranger. While
there he realized that he could never be happy without Catherine. He wrote her letters of
reconciliation, which never reached her. Then he heard that his sweetheart had married. He
returned to Los Angeles County and finally married. He became an influential man and was
elected Sheriff in 1898. His home life was happy and then in 1907 his wife had died.
While at San Jose with his daughter he learned from old friends that Catherine had never
married, and was still waiting for him. He found her and they were married on Thanksgiving
Day in 1910. The union was a happy one, broken only when Wm. A. Hammel died on January
first, 1932 at the age of sixty-six years, leaving an enviable record for faithfulness in the public
service, respected by all who knew him, or were associated with him in any way.
Mrs. Catherine McKiernan Hammel survived her husband until January ninth, 1939, when she
too passed away. She was seventy years of age at the time of her death. No children were born
to this marriage of Hammel, but the daughter by his first wife, now Mrs. Gerald G. Staley of Los
Angeles survives.
Sheriff Hammel's usefulness as a citizen to Los Angeles County, had been equaled by few and
exceeded by no other man who had filled public office in the County.