Felix Signoret (1825–1878) was a member of the Common Council, the governing body of the city of Los Angeles, and also of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the 19th century. He was the leader of a vigilante gang that carried out a lynching of a reputed murderer in 1863.
Early life Signoret was born in France on June 9, 1825, living in Marseille before he came to the United States.
Career Signoret built a new hotel at Main and Turner streets, north of Arcadia Street and "opposite the Pico House," with a Mansard pitch in 1874.Quoted in E.A. Brainstool, "Los Angeles in 1874," Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1924, page A-4"Preferred Locals," Los Angeles Times, August 3, 1882, page 4
Signoret was elected to the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, serving from May 9, 1863, to May 5, 1864.Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration." He was also a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1866.
Lynching Signoret was the leaderE.A. Brininstool, "Historic Building Is Razed," Los Angeles Times, May 15, 1927, page H-1 This later account by a witness, J.J. Mellus, related that the leader was a Bill Harper. The story is also quoted at "The Lynching of Lashenais," February 1, 2010. of the lynching take took place in Los Angeles, in 1863—that of "a Frenchman named Lachenais"—who was suspected of killing a neighbor, Jacob Bell.Photograph of the lynching Contemporary writer Harris Newmark recounted that:
An article by Steve Harvey in the San Diego edition of the Los Angeles Times on September 5, 1984, stated that Signoret "led a lynch mob that hanged five people in Los Angeles in 1869–70 in the aftermath of a murder resulting from 'offensive remarks (made) about the newly organized French Benevolent Society.
Personal life and death Signoret was married to Catherine Pagen, also of France. Their children were P. Josephine, Rose, Anna and Caroline, and possibly Louise and Felix P. By trade he was a barber, later an apartment owner."Mother of Felix McGinnis Dies Unaware of His Death," Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1945, page 9"Los Angeles, 'Far Ouest' français?" Geneablog.org, March 20, 2008 The Signorets bought a parcel of land at 125 Aliso Street Location of Aliso Street on Mapping L.A. in 1871 and built a "substantial brick house" about thirty feet wide with an area of nearly 1,800 square feet; the roof was "hipped on all four sides in mimicry of the fashionable Mansard shape. . . . By 1888 the Signorets . . . were long gone, and their genteel house was used as a brothel."Mary Praetzellis, "Mangling Symbols of Gentility in the Wild West," American Anthropologist,103(3):645-654 (2001), with sources cited there
Signoret died on July 28, 1878, and was buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.
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