Roy Hampton

Leonard Roy Hampton (July 30, 1901 – April 16, 1953) was an attorney, ex-Marine and former journalist who was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1939 to 1943. Sheriff's deputies said he killed himself in a Malibu motel in 1953.

Biography Hampton, who moved to Los Angeles about 1904, was a graduate of the University of Southern California and of its Law School and had worked as a journalist as well as an attorney. He was a Marine during World War II and was a member of the American Legion. Other memberships included the Echo Park and Elysian Park improvement associations. He lived in the 2400 block of Echo Park Avenue and then at 2354 Kenilworth Avenue.

Hampton's body was found in a motel at 19355 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on April 16, 1953. "A revolver lay at his side and Sheriff's deputies said he had taken his own life." A note blamed ill health for the act. The chief opponent to Hampton's demand was Councilman Arthur E. Briggs who said it was a "dirty and contemptible procedure, all too common in this community." Hampton retorted that Briggs, who had moved to California from Kansas in 1923, was a "self-confessed ward-heeler of the Pendergast political machine in Kansas City," a statement that Briggs called "absolutely false."

Three years later, in 1943, Hampton made a charge in 30,000 campaign fliers circulated "on the eve of the municipal primary" that Ned R. Healy, his opponent in the 13th District race, had been at one time a registered member of the Communist Party. Ned Healy went to the city attorney's office and demanded issuance of a complaint against Hampton on a charge of criminal libel, and Hampton soon made an "unequivocal retraction" of his charge. Healy went on to win the runoff election. The record does not show if Don and Ned R. Healy were related or if Hampton had confused the two.

Subversion

Hampton was the sponsor of Charter Amendment No. 12, approved by the voters in 1941, that forbade members of "subversive organizations" from working for the city. The authority was later used to discharge several employees of the city's Department of Water and Power.

Wire-tapping

In 1941, Hampton charged that Wallace N. Jamie, an investigator for Mayor Bowron, had established a wire-tapping "listening post" in the City Hall. Bowron called Hampton a "liar", and Hampton thereupon asked Attorney-General Earl Warren for an investigation because, he said, members of the mayor's and district attorney's offices were collaborating in a scheme of wire-tapping espionage in Los Angeles.

Police

He called for the ousting of Police Chief C.B. Horrell and the entire Police Commission in 1943 after the death of Stanley H. Beebe, a mortally injured accountant who made a deathbed statement that he had been beaten and kicked by policemen in the Central Jail.