SACRAMENTO-PLACER CO. INCIDENTS

1/16/45 Mayhew near Sacramento, Sacramento Co., Calif. Fire of sus-picious origin destroyed Mayhew Sunday School building in which was stored property belonging to groups of persons of Japanese ancestry. County officials consider case closed. WRA investigators still working on it.

1/18/45 Auburn, Placer County, Calif.s Two civilian brothers and two brothers AWOL from Army held in case before Superior Court for attempted burning and dynamiting and scare shooting at Sumio Doi ranch home. Doi family has son in army unit which rescued Lost Battalion. No one injured.

1/19/45 Mayhew near Sacramento, Sacramento Co., Calif. Nisei Saiki home burned to ground at noon. Property tenanted by Caucasians, and fire attributed to faulty flue. Case closed.

1/22/45 Florin near Sacramento, Sacramento Co., Calif. Night fire destroyed Fumi Mukai Fujimori ranch house and barn. Arson suspected though evidence is lacking. Incident caused short-term leave evacuee to become undecided about returning. 'No one was injured. Local officials apathetic about fire. WRA continues to work on case. S.F. Area Office checking. 

7/13/45 Walnut Grove, Sacramento County, Calif, (30 miles from state capital) On the evening of July 13, Mrs.Wilma Insigne, alias Kitty Ferguson, 36, wife of a Filipino and occupant of a house in Walnut Grove owned by an evacuee, Sugi Koga of the Granada Relocation Center, visited the home of a recent returnee of Japanese ancestry at Walnut Grove, Harry Matsuoka. Present at his home were his son, Pvt. Toshio Matsuoka, on furlough after 10 months in a German prisoner of war camp, other members of the family, and the family of K. Sasaki, a neighbor, and also a recent returnee from the Granada Relocation Center. One son in the latter family, Sgt. George Sasaki, is serving overseas with the U.S. Army. 

     Mrs. Insigne used vile and abusive language in threatening the two families. She told Private Matsuoka, who wears the Combat Infantryman's Badge and two Bronze Stars, "You are not an American soldier. You are a Jap soldier." .She told the families that she would go get a group of Filipinos and they would return and either burn down the house or drive out the returnees.

     Telephoned by Mr. Matsuoka, Harry Knowles, assistant to the sheriff of Sacramento County had the Walnut Grove constable arrest Mrs. Insigne. When she was arrested she was in a Filipino poolroom, drunk and trying to get up a crowd of Filipinos aroused against the Matsuokas.

     The following morning, Milo Dye, Justice of the Peace at Walnut Grove, prepared a complaint which was signed by Private Matsuoka. Judge Dye set bail at $500 cash or $1,000 bond and set the hearing for the afternoon of Monday, July 16. Mrs. Insigne re-mained in jail because bail was not met.

     At the hearing in Dye's office she pleaded guilty to having willfully and unlawfully disturbed the peace and to having used vile and abusive language before women and children.

     Before passing sentence Dye spoke of the necessity for protecting the rights of the evacuees, basing his remarks on the fact that both the courts and the Army have approved their return. He told Mrs. Insigne that because she had attempted to incite riot which might have resulted in bloodshed, or death, and because of her 14-year record of many convictions, her sentence would be 90 days in jail, the last 60 to be suspended upon her agreement to leave the county for a period of one year. She is in the county jail.

     Received by telephone from Walter Mores of the Sacramento office of WRA at ll:30 a.m, July 18 by Arnold M. Serwer.

Source: “Special Field Reports of Allan Markley” to Dillon S. Meyer, Director WRA, Attn: M.M. Tozier, Chief of Reports, WRA