Flagstaff History: Southside wanted a say in city renovations

100 years ago

1926: Los Angeles Times under a display head a few days ago had a story about Martiana Wentworth Berteling, formerly of Flagstaff, in which it said, in part: Martiana Wentworth Berteling, professed countess of Spain and kin of the English nobility, found herself in a jail cell again yesterday at Riverside, this time on the charge of her chauffeur that she paid him with a $50 check he couldn’t cash. It is her second experience with a jail cell in southern California in little less than a year. Last July she was arrested by local police in her luxurious suite in a hotel here and kept in jail for some 24 hours on the strength of a bulletin sent out the Flagstaff, Arizona, authorities asserting she was wanted there on a forgery charge. The charge, however, was dropped. Authorities of Riverside County have communicated with local police and the sheriff’s office with a request that the young woman’s record here be forwarded to them. She had been living at the Mission Inn at Riverside for the past six months, it was stated, but was arrested on complaint of her chauffeur at San Diego by Sheriff Sweeters.