At some point in the evening, a fight broke out between Tobias and Kahumoku. Mansker (and Swiney apparently) intervened to break up the fight. Tobias was ordered to leave the bar.

About 20 minutes later he returned and called Mansker and Swiney to the door. When they stepped outside, Tobias shook hands with them and apologized. Then, when the two of them turned to go back into the bar, Tobias opened fire with a .45 caliber "German-made automatic pistol" (presumably a Luger).

Clarence Ralph Mansker was shot three times in the back and fell to the sidewalk dead

Swiney was hit in the shoulder, but he was able to turn and grapple with Tobias. Another shot was fired in the scuffle, but it went wild and no one was injured. Swiney disarmed Tobias and beat him on the head with the pistol. He was able to detain him until police arrived.

On 30 June 1959, the murder trial of Bayani Tobias began with jury selection. After the six-man, six-woman jury was impaneled, Swiney was the first witness to be called. He described for the jury the events of the night of May 11 in some considerate detail. He also testified that neither he nor Mansker had ever seen the defendant before the night of the murder.

The jury swiftly found Tobias guilty of second degree murder in the slaying of Clarence Ralph Mansker, and guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in the case of Swiney.

Judge Edgar B. Hervey sentenced Tobias to imprisonment for five years to life on each charge, with the terms to run concurrently. The judge stated that he had given Tobias a "break" because Tobias, a citizen of the Philippines, was "not familiar with American customs" (!).

However, Hervey also stated that Tobias and his girlfriend "lived together illegally", and that he suspected that Tobias had stolen the pistol from a shipmate (although there was no evidence for this presented at the trial). He also said that he believed Kahumoku had perjured herself at the trial.

In addition, the judge stated, rather flippantly, that Tobias lost the first round at the bar, and then "he got a .45 and came back for the second round, which he won by a knockout... But he has lost this round."

Clarence Ralph Mansker was 36 at the time of his death. He was a bakery truck driver and he lived at the Reiss Hotel, 1332 1st Avenue, San Diego. The bar was located at 1246 1st Avenue, near Mansker's hotel.

Charles Darrell Swiney was 25, listed in the news stories as a driver's helper, and also a truck driver; he lived at 1905 Moore St., San Diego. Tobias was also 25 and lived with Aileen Kahumoku, 28, at 1556 Union Street, a few blocks away from the Log Cabin.

So who was Clarence Ralph Mansker?

Clarence Ralph Mansker was the eighth and last child of Edward Mansker and Hattie Island Pearson (see photograph; see the Descendants page). He was born 2 October 1922 in Thebes, Illinois. He was married circa 1945, but apparently his wife was not living in California with him at the time of the murder.

Special thanks to Linda Smith, for providing the text of the
clippings from Southern California newspapers that formed the basis for this story.