[1][2] Jacobson, born March 12, 1877, in Norway, was the son of Hans and Menkalie Jakobson and was brought to the United States at the age of 3.

[6] The City Council, however, appointed Jacobson to the seat when Fitzpatrick was forced to leave after being arrested and convicted of receiving a bribe.

"The fearless Jacobson not only declined, but also informed the federal government of Marco's activities, which led officials to fine him $250,000 for tax evasion," Cecelia Rasmussen, a reporter who specialized in historical subjects, wrote for the Los Angeles Times some seven decades later.

[9] According to a history of the Los Angeles Police Department, Jacobson was "among the first of a long list of critics of the LAPD to be targeted in a new, greatly expanded definition of the enemy.

[12] Grimes, whom Jacobson knew under the alias Helen Ferguson, was in fact the sister-in-law of vice detective Frank Cox.

[10] The next week, a meeting at the Gates Street School attracted more than a thousand supporters of Jacobson, who had been charged with entering a room for immoral purposes.

Stuck in jail, Marco was unable to make his monthly payments to Grimes...[who] blew the whistle in 1929, admitting she helped frame Jacobson.

[9][14] Jacobson was one of the six council members who, in July 1931, lost a vote to appeal a judge's decision ordering an end to racial restrictions in city-operated swimming pools.