November 24, 1908 ROOF OF HIPPODROME FELL.
Accident Was Due to Workmen's Lack of Foresight.
Owing to the carelessness of workmen on the building a portion of the roof of the Hippodrome, Twelfth and Charlotte streets, fell at 3 o'clock yesterday morning. The accident was due to the moving of two of the supports to the main beams upholding the roof. The work was being done to make room for an aerial act which is to be put on, and the two supports were moved at practically at the same time, thus leaving the heavy beams without support. The walls of the old street car barn, where the Hippodrome is located, are of unusual thickness, and were not damaged to any extent. The floor likewise was built to stay and, although the mass of timbers crashed down on the skating rink, this portion was not damaged. No one was injured.
It was stated yesterday that the building would be repaired in two days, and would be opened for the Thanksgiving crowds. The loss is estimated at about $200 and is covered by insurance. Owing to the way the building was originally constructed, no other portion was damaged in the slightest.
The building inspector inspected the building yesterday and pronounced it absolutely safe.Labels: architects, Armourdale, Charlotte street, skating, theater, Twelfth street November 19, 1908 IT IS BAD TURKEY WEATHER.
Demand Is Light When There's No Frost on Thanksgiving.
Scores of turkeys were brought into Kansas City yesterday by the neighboring farmers, and the produce merchants are getting ready for the Thanksgiving sale of gobbler meat. But the weather is worrying them. If warm and sun-shiny days are to be the lot of Kansas City for the next week, there will not be chants. It is always the case; cold weather increases the demand and warm weather decreases it.
There is no particular reason for this strange fact, according to many commission men. It is because it is. Years past have proved it to be a fact. Some say that Thanksgiving without cold weather and snow doesn't seem like Thanksgiving and people would just as soon eat beefsteak on the last Thursday in November, if it is warm, as to taste of the the time honored gobbler meat.
At the present turkeys are being sold at from 13 to 15 cents a pound wholesale, and from 17 1/2 to 20 cents retail. These prices are a little higher than the cost of chickens, so all who can afford chickens on Thanksgiving may take their choice between the two kinds of fowl.Labels: architects, Armourdale, food, weather October 22, 1908
FEARED LYNCHING, REMOVED PRISONER.
EX-POLICE OFFICER REMOVED TO A STRONGER JAIL.
To Save Her Mother, Mary Great- house Ran Between Her and Her Father and Was Shot. She may Recover. 
MARY GREATHOUSE AND PERRY GREATHOUSE. PRINCIPALS IN THE ARMOURDALE TRAGEDY. Talk of lynching in Armourdale yesterday afternoon caused Sergeant Patrick Lyons of No. 3 police station to order the removal of Perry Greathouse, an ex-police officer who shot his daughter earlier in the day, to the county jail in Kansas City, Kas. There he will be held awaiting the death or recovery of his innocent victim.
Physicians attending Mary Greathouse at Bethany hospital say her youth is in her favor and that the bullet which entered her left side below the heart took a course least likely to produce fatal results.
The story of Greathouse's deed produced a sensation in Armourdale.
According to the statement of Mrs. Emma Greatouse, his wife, her husband had not been home in two days when the shooting occurred at 11:30 o'clock yesterday forenoon. He had been seen hanging around the state line saloons drunk, had bullied one man and officers had gone to the home of Mrs. George Coleman, 67 Central avenue, to arrest him, but were persuaded away by Mrs. Coleman, a distant relative of the Greathouses.
Monday he drew his pay as merchant policeman, but when he appeared at his home, 816 South Pyle street, he was very much intoxicated and with only a few dollars with him.
HE ABUSED HIS WIFE.
In the sitting room of the home, Mrs. Greathouse asked her husband to share the remnant of his salary with his family and upbraided him for his debauch. After fumbling in an uncertain manner through his clothes he produced $4 and laid it down on the center table. The sum did not satisfy Mrs. Greathose but she took a dollar from the pile of change and went down town to make a few purchases.
On the street corner she was met by Greathouse, who followed her home again, she says, misusing her and in the sitting room the words merged into a quarrel and Greathouse buckled on his revolver and started to mount the stairs to his room.
Well, I have stood all of your abuse I am going to, and I'm going to put you behind bars," called out Mrs. Greathouse, opening the outside door as if to go in search of an officer. Then she glanced backwards and saw the barrel of her husband's revolver leveled at her.
"Don't shoot --" she started to say, but 17-year-old Mary saw the movement, realized the danger and thrust herself in the way in a heroic attempt to save her mother. After the report of the revolver was heard she was seen by neighbors to stagger out of the door and sit down in a faint on the front steps.
TRIED TO SHOOT HIMSELF.
According to the mother's story, Greathouse, when told that he had shot and probably fatally wounded his child, calmly replaced the weapon in its holster, with the remark:
"She ain't hurt. You know it was you that did the shooting, anyway, and you needn't try to lay it all on me." He then picked the child up in his arms and carried her into the house. By this time she was bleeding.
"Well, I have shot her and here goes for me," he suddenly exclaimed, seeing the blood. He then tried to place the muzzle of the revolver to his head, but Willie, his oldest son, wrested it away from him and gave it to his mother, who ran with it, depositing it within the open window of a neighboring house.
"GLAD IT WASN'T MAMMA."
Greathouse was taken by officers to the No. 3 police station, where he was kept until 4:30 o'clock. Mary was placed in an emergency ambulance and transferred to Bethany hospital. As she was lifted into the stretcher she said:
"I am awfully glad it was me instead of mamma. She mustn't live with father again or he'll kill her, too."
In a cell at the police station Greathouse walked back and forth, babbling. Policemen kept him informed as to the condition of his daughter.
"It was all a mistake, an awful mistake," he kept saying. "Mary was my favorite. I'd kill anyone who would say a word against her. She must get well. She must get well.
Perry Greathouse was a member of the Kansas City, Kas., force nearly nine years. He has lately be employed by the merchants of Armourdale to protect stores along Osage avenue at night. He was deputy street commissioner under Mayor T. B. Gilbert's administration and was a capable officer.
Mary works for the Loose-Wiles Cracker Company in the West Bottoms. Yesterday she was excused from her duties at the factory to attend the funeral of a relative.Labels: alcohol, Armourdale, domestic violence, guns, hospitals, jail, Kansas City Kas, police, State line July 19, 1908 IN MEMORY OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Mexican Laborers Rememer Date of Peasant Liberator's Death.
Yesterday was an anniversary of the death of Benito Juarez, Mexican patriot and president, and was observed by several hundred Mexicans in Armourdale and Argentine. In the Santa Fe railway yards at 6 o'clock last evening fifty male voices recruited from the box car houses of the laborers sang the national anthem of the Southern republic and individual prayers asked peace and rest for the soul of the departed liberator.
"He was one of Mexico's greatest citizens as well as one of her most valiant soldiers," said Jose Perez, a foreman who was once a student in a military academy in Mexico, and led in the impromptu exercises in Argentine last night. "Diaz is the organizer, but Juarez made the organization possible by striking off the hand of the tyrant and freeing the people.
"They were born of full blooded Indian parents and symbolize the soil which was meant to be free, but Europe would gladly claimt them both," said Perez.Labels: Argentine, Armourdale, immigrants, laborers, railroad July 8, 1908 CHARGES ASSAULT TO KILL.
Dr. Robinson Says John Kollenborn Shot at Him in Street.
A warrant charging assault with intent to kill was issued yesterday by Justice J. B. Shoemaker for John Kollenborn, 1614 Lister street, who is charged by Dr. J. H. Robinson, 4816 East Fifteenth street, with firing three shots at him from a pistol Monday night about 10 o'clock near the corner of Sixteenth and Lister streets. Kollenborn was not arrested. An attorney said he will be produced when needed. His preliminary hearing will probably be called before Justice Shoemaker this week.
According to the physician, he received a call about 10 o'clock Monday night to go to 1608 Lister and see a family named Simpson, but on arrival at the number found the house vacant. He was told that a family named Simpson lived several doors below and went there, but found he had not been summoned. He states that he was returning to his drug store when he passed Kollenborn on the street and after the man had gone about four feet beyond him, he turned and fired. The physician ran after the first shot and was not harmed.
Before Assistant Prosecuting Attorney William Buchholtz yesterday, Dr. Robinson stated that he knew of no reason why the alleged assault should have been made other than that several months ago he had been informed that Kollenborn accused him of being too friendly with Mrs. Kollenborn. This charge, he states, is groundless.
Kollenborn works as a switchman in the Rock Island yards at Armourdale, is 32 years old and has a wife and four children. Dr. Robinson is also married and has one child. Kollenborn did not return to his home Monday night after the shooting. He employed an attorney yesterday.Labels: Armourdale, doctors, Fifteenth street, Judge Shoemaker, Lister avenue, Sixteenth street, violence June 13, 1908 WHISKY PEDDLERS ARRESTED.
Ten Men Are Caught Retailing Liquor in Flood District.
Ten men were arrested yesterday afternoon for trying to swell the height of the flood with "wet goods." About 12 o'clock in the afternoon an express wagon drove up to police headquarters and unloaded ten cases of beer, the result of a raid made by Officer Bert Walters on a place at 276 Central avenue. William Ryan, Philip O'Connor, T. McLane and Frank Hagenbach were the names the arrested men gave.
Chief of Police Bowden arrested four men that were peddling whisky in Armourdale. A jug of whisky, several bottles and a number of glasses were confiscated. Roy Kidwell, L. J. Kidwell, Frank Mercer and Nelson Benson were the men arrested. Two drivers of the Kansas City Breweries Company were arrested by the chief as they came from the Argentine bridge. He sent them to police headquarters, where they were released as soon as it was learned the cases contained empty bottles and not full ones.Labels: alcohol, Armourdale, breweries, Central avenue, Police Chief Bowden June 13, 1908 WATER LEAVING STOCK YARDS.
If No Further Rise Comes They'll Be Open Again Monday.
Flood water moved out of the stock yards all day yesterday, and the yard management and the commission men felt cheerful. The flood, as far as could be seen yesterday, did but little damage to the stock yards on the east side. While most of the pens were under water Thursday, by last night most of the water had receded and left but little sediment behind.
About three feet of water ran out of the yards during the day. There was some water in the basement offices in the Exchange building at the close of the day. If there is no further rise in the Kaw, the yards expect to be able to handle stock on the east, or main, side Monday. In the Texas division, in Armourdale, the situation is not so good, though everything there, too, it is hoped, will be straightened out inside of a week.Labels: Armourdale, flood, Kaw river, stock yards June 11, 1908 HE'S A TEMPORARY ORPHAN.
Lee Rogers, 6 Years Old, Separated From His Parents in the Flood.
Lee Rogers, 6 years old, is the first boy to lose both his parents in the present flood, and he is being cared for at the detention home until such time as his father and mother can be found. The Rogers lived in Armourdale until Monday. On that day when the flood threatened their home, Mrs. Rogers came to Kansas City, Mo., to find a new home, and the father went away to help buil dikes. The boy was left in the care of Mrs. Mary Dunbar, 567 North Fourth street, Armourdale, and she, too, had to make a hasty retreat to the Missouri side of the river as the waters began to rise. She brought the Rogers boy with her, and being unable to find his mother turned him over to the superintendent of the detention home last evening.Labels: Armourdale, children, detention home, flood June 10, 1908 WOMEN WORK TO SAVE HOMES.
Side by Side With Men They Labor at the Dikes.
A crumbling dike and the crest of the Kaw river rise only two hours distant was the condition at the Fifth street bridge, one mile west of the S. & S. Packing house, Armourdale, at 12 o'clock last night. Women as well as men joined in the unequal combat, wives holding burlap sacks while their husbands filled them with dirt for the levee. At 2 o'clock this morning the narrow bank, which was all that was between a city of 10,000 people and a repetition of the flood of 1904, was eighteen inches higher than the river level. It looked as though victory leaned toward the laborers.
Ever since the news of the unusual rise of the Kaw tributaries reached the drainage board, eight teams and about twenty men have been working without cessation on the dike at the Fifth street bridge. This is the weakest point in the river bank in Kansas City, Kas., and the place where it leaped through and inundated Armourdale and the West bottoms in 1903. The teams have done good work, according to the engineers, but the swift current burdened with timbers and debris of all descriptions, had eaten well into the new embankment yesterday, so extraordinary efforts had to be made t check it in advance of the volume of water expected to finish the rise last night.
At 8 o'clock the Kaw was washing above the flood line at the Fifth street dikes, and the drainage board especially interested in this point as the key to the situation, passed word around to the effect that the last few hours of the rise might bring in a close race with the river.
In a few minutes after the condition of the dikes became known, hundreds of people, men and women, were on their way to Fifth street, armed with shovels. At the Cudahy and Schwarzschild & Sulzberger plants they obtained a large quantity of gunny sacks and at 9 o'clock the threatened dikes swarmed with toilers.
Women stood in the moist and holding the sacks open while the men, digging rapidly, filled them and carried them to lay on the dike.
It was a busy scene. Lanterns held by boys glimmered in and out among the workers like so many fire-flies ans whips cracked as the teams of horses were trotted with the wheel scrapers.
"It's coming up! Look out for that low place near the bridge; it needs tending to right away!"
"Come on here, with another bag!"
"All right now, fill in boys, it's coming our way. We're eighteen inches ahead of high water!"
The above were some of the shouts heard as the work progressed, and showed the anxiety of the people to save their homes. So well was the dike builded that as the torrent rose until the elbow of the river bend punched into its sides, it stood the test and not a leak came through.
Among the workers at the bridge whose part was to systematize the work so as to make it effective, were members of the drainage board.
These men with coats off and sleeves rolled up, occasionally seized a shovel and worked with the rest.Labels: Armourdale, flood, Kaw river May 22, 1908 SARAH MORASCH IS GUILTY OF MURDER.
CONVICTED OF POISONING A 4-YEAR-OLD GIRL.
Sent Poisoned Candy by Mail to Ella Miller, Who Did Not Eat It Be- cause It Was Bitter -- Her Sister Was Killed.
Mrs. Sarah Morasch must spend the remainder of her life in the Kansas penitentiary for the murder of her 4-year-old niece, Ruth Miller. The jury which heard the evidence in Mrs. Morasch's second trial reached a verdict of guilty at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The case had been on trial since May 4. There was no verdict in the first trial.
When the verdict was read Mrs. Morasch held her usual composure, and merely laughed.
The case went to the jury at 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, and from the first ballot to the one which settled the fate of Mrs. Morasch the jurors stood eleven to one for conviction. At noon yesterday George E. Horn, foreman of the jury, asked for the testimony of Charles Miller, father of the dead girl. A few minutes later a knock was heard on the door of the jury room. "We have agreed," said Foreman Horn, and the twelve jurors filed in the court room and took their seats.
On the afternoon of February 13, the Miller children were in their home, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale. A knock was heard on the door and the postman, Henry T. Keener, handed Ella Van Meter, better known as Ella Miller, a package weighing about a pound. It was wrapped in white paper and bore the inscription: "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale. A knock was heard on the door and the postman, Henry T. Keener, handed Ella Van Meter, better known as Ella Miller, a package weighing about a pound. It was wrapped in white paper and bore the inscription: "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, corner of Cheyenne & Packard avenues. From the S. & S. girls."
The box was opened, and found to contain a pound of chocolate candy, which she says tasted bitter, and gave some to the other children who gathered around her.
A few minutes later Ruth, who had eaten more of the candy than the rest, was seized with cramps while playing in the back yard, and was taken into the house. She died before the nearest physician, Dr. Zacharia Nason, who lived a block distant, could be summoned. He pronounced the death as due to strychnine poisoning.
The fact that Mrs. Sarah Morasch bore a grudge against Ella Miller, who had once laughed at he, and that immediately after the little girl's death, she had gone to Harrisonville, Mo., caused suspicion to be directed to her. She was arrested at the Missouri town.
The testimony of handwriting experts was a strong factor in the conviction.Labels: Armourdale, children, courtroom, Death of Ruth Miller, doctors, murder, poison April 28, 1908 HICKS ASKS BALM FOR LOSS OF WIFE.
HE SAYS GEORGE JONES HAS APPROPRIATED HER.
Hicks, a Spry Old Man of 62, Sues His Rival for $5,000, and His Spouse for a Divorce.
Although William Hicks is 62 years old he is not at all willing that his wife of 45 summers should prefer another man to him and run away with the other man. Hicks filed suit in the circuit court of Wyandotte yesterday for $5,000 damages against George Jones, a retired farmer living in Armourdale, charging Jones with alienating the affections of Mrs. Hicks and inducing her to move to the Armourdale home.
Hicks, who is a mighty spry old man for his years, lives in Hamilton, Mo. Last February, he alleges, his wife up and left him, and he has been spending his pension ever since in traveling about the country and looking under sunbonnets, hoping always to catch a glimpse of her face.
He saw it Sunday, he claims, in Jones's home. But the face wasn't under a sunbonnet. Nay, far form a bonnet; it was the merriest of Merry Widows, with roses on the upper deck. And wifie, so Hicks avers in his petition, was content to stay under the Merry Widow, which Jones bought her, and not at all ready to go back to Hamilton and have half the pension.
Hicks has two little children back in Hamilton, loaned out to relatives, until he can recover his homemaker, he swears. But even when he showed his wife the latest photographs of the youngsters she continued to be indifferent.Labels: Armourdale, farmers, marriage, visitors April 9, 1908 PAYS PECULIAR ELECTION BET.
Youth Trundles Winner Around Ar- mourdale in Wheelbarrow.
From 8 o'clock until noon yesterday a thin young man with nose glasses and a wearied look of regret, trundled a wheelbarrow in which another young man was sitting about the streets and byways of Armourdale. Starting at the Red Cross pharmacy the pair went south to Shawnee, east to St. Paul, north to Kansas avenue and west to Packard. There the youth with the glasses tilted the barrow over on its nose, unbent his back and mopped his brow with a handkerchief.
All this time not a word had been spoken by either party and many people passing on the walks thought they were fakers and dropped in behind to see what they were selling.
In this they were disappointed, however. The lonely occupant of the wheelbarrow said he was M. A. Gillespie of the Red Cross pharmacy, and that his propeller was Frank Bryant, a salesman at the Clanville furniture store at Armourdale.
"Just an election bet I won," said Gillespie. "I've got another bet, if there's any takers. That is, that I got the worst of this transaction. I've had my knees tucked under my chin so long I can't get them straightened out."
Bryant had made a bet with Gillespie that Timothy Lyons would not be re-elected to the city council.Labels: Armourdale, druggists, gambling, politics, salesmen, wheelbarrows April 9, 1908 MRS. MORASCH'S BOND $4,000.
Her Attorney Says She May Be Able to Furnish It.
The bond of Mrs. Sarah Morasch, accused of killing Ruth Miller of Armourdale, February 12, has been fixed by Judge McCabe Moore of the Wyandotte county district court at $4,000. Mrs. Morasch is now being held in the couty jail for a second trial in the district court, set for May 4. Daniel Maher, attorney for the defense, said last night his clielnt may be able to give bond.Labels: Armourdale, attorney, Death of Ruth Miller, Judges April 4, 1908 MORASCH ARGUMENTS TODAY.
Jury Will Soon Pass on Fate of the Accused Woman.
The last evidence in the Sarah Morasch murder trial, which has been running over two weeks in the Wyandotte county district court in Kansas City, Kas., was heard by the jury at 4:50 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The argument will begin this morning at 9 o'clock. In it all phases of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the kiling of 4-year-old Ruth Miller of Armourdale will be reviewed. Yesterday afternoon the court room was packed with visitors.
Mrs. Morasch finished testifying before noon and was suceeded on the witness stand by her oldest daughter, Mrs. May Gillin. Mrs. Gillin told of her dealings with County Attorney Taggart prior to the capture of her mother in Harrisonville, Mo., with which she seems to have played the leading role.
According to her own words $20 was the renumeration which she received for her services. She said that she had been assured by the county attorney that no harm would come to her mother, and thus led to believe it was for information only Mrs. Morasch was wanted by the state.
After Mrs. Gillin, Attorney Daniel Maher for the defense called his assistant, Judge F. H. Wooley, to the witness chair to testify as being the person who wrote the note introduced by the defense to the state's handwriting experts as having been written by Ella Van Meter. He succeeded in misleading two of the experts by the note.Labels: Armourdale, attorney, County Attorney Taggart, courtroom, Death of Ruth Miller, Kansas City Kas, murder March 27, 1908 NEW KIND OF EXPERT IN MORASCH TRIAL.
IT'S A WOMAN WHO HAS HAD THIRTEEN CHILDREN.
Called to Bear Witness That Mrs. Morasch Did Not Give Birth to Child She Claimed as Her Own.
Ollie Jones, the mysterious witness for the state in the prosecution of Mrs. Morasch, accused of poisoning Ruth Miller, did not testify yesterday and, according to County Attorney Taggart, will not today. Court is adjourned until 9:30 o'clock Monday morning. The prosecutor says there is a world of minor testimony to be heard before Jones can be called to the stand. Jones was subpoenaed in Indianapolis, Ind, Monday.
Professor Beshong of the chemical department of the Kansas university finished his testimony at 11 o'clock yesterday morning and was dismissed. In cross-examination, Professor Bushong could not be certain that the symptoms of a certain kind of ptomaine do not resemble the effects of a dose of strychnine. He held, however, that ptomaine cannot exist in ordinary glucose such as used in making the white center portion of a chocolate cone.
The first witness called in the afternoon was Mrs. Laura Brooks, special witness for the state. Mrs. Brooks testified that the child Mrs. Morasch took from the Hughes maternity hospital a month or two before the poisoning, and which she claimed she had given birth to, could not have been her own.
"But, how do you know?" questioned Attorney Maher for the defense.
"The day after she said it was born I examined it and found it to be at least three weeks old."
"Three weeks old? I venture to assert t here is not a woman in the court room who could be sure on that point after a child is three days old. Are you a mother yourself?"
"Oh, yes; I have thirteen children, most of them grown," sighed the witness wearily. She was then dismissed by counsel for the defense without further cross examination.
Dr. Z. Nason of Packard and Osage avenues, Armourdale, was then called. Dr. Nason said he had been the first physician called after the poisoning and had seen Ruth die. He said she died of strychnine poisoning as far as he could judge. Her symptoms did not resemble those of ptomaine poisoning.Labels: Armourdale, attorney, County Attorney Taggart, courtroom, Death of Ruth Miller, doctors, murder, poison, women March 22, 1908
MRS. MORASCH TELLS STORY OF HER LIFE
REARED IN THE SQUALID PACK- ING HOUSE DISTRICT.
Still Wears the Wedding Ring of Bill Morasch, Her First Hus- band, Whom She Loved. Case Goes On. 
MRS. SARAH MORASCH, ACCUSED OF MURDERING 4-YEAR-OLD RUTH MILLER.
"I did not send the candy. Who thinks I sent it? Not my associates in the West Bottoms, who have known me for years Not little Ella, the poison was intended for. Ask her; look her in the eyes and see if she doesn't tell you on the square she loves me, and will come back to my house to visit as she used to, when this dreadful trial is over. I am innocent, I tell you; I am innocent."
Mrs. Sarah Miller, better known as "Mrs. Morasch," said this yesterday to a reporter for The Journal. She is the accused woman in the case of the poisoning of little Ruth Miller, the 4-year-old daughter of Charles and Ida Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale. Ruth sickened and died apparently from strychnine poisoning, ten minutes after eating bonbons from a package anonymously sent by mail to her step-sister, Ella Van Meter, 14 years old, at noon, Wednesday, February 12. The case is now being tried before Judge McCabe Moore, in the district court of Wyandotte county in Kansas City, Kas.
Mrs. Morasch spoke earnestly. At the mention of Ella Van Meter, who testified against her Friday, her deep-set gray eyes softened, and the lines about her mouth thawed visibly. All facial evidence of years of hardship, toil and companionship in the packing house district of both Kansas Cities became temporarily erased. She did not look the woman who could deliberately poison a 14-year-old girl and a family of little ones.
Mrs. Morasch is only 49 years old, but stooped shoulders and gray hair make her appear 60, at least. Two front teeth are gone, and this discrepancy makes sinister a smile which otherwise might be motherly and kind Her voice is a trifle harsh at times.
BEEN HERE ALL HER LIFE.
"Where was I born? In Dayton, O., 49 years ago. I was brought to Wyandotte county, Kas., by my father, Edward Davis, and my mother, Elizabeth Davis, when I was but 3 years old. My father was a veteran of the civil war and a farmer.
"Everyone loved dad. He was such a neighborly soul and so fond of children that he at once won the hearts of everybody who got acquainted with him. I think that if I have really gone to the bad, it cannot be justly laid at his door or my mother's. Good, kind souls, both of them.
"I remember when I was a little girl father took me on his knee and told me to grow up to be a good woman like mother. We were in the kitchen of the old farm house near Quindaro. Mother was knitting a pair of leggins for me by the fire. Father took the family Bible off of a stand near his chair and read some part of it which meant 'be a credit to the old folks that they may live long and die in peace and know in heaven you did the best you could.' "I think he cried a little then, for I remember he took a big, red handkerchief out of his pocket and after wiping his own eyes, wiped mine as though I had been crying, but I hadn't After that he lectured me on how I should behave when I had grown up. FORTY YEARS AGO.
"About forty years ago, father moved to what they call the West Bottoms now. It was known as Kansas City, Kas., then and was not a packing house district at all, but a little village of two or three thousand people. He had some money laid up and invested in a home and truck patch in the rear I was to go to school. I believe that was the object my father had in view when he moved into town Mother wanted to move in so as to be near a Presbyterian church, for she was an old Scotch woman. " 'Come to church with me,' she used to tell me of a Sunday morning, as she tidied me all up ready for the service 'You be a wee bit Scotch and Presbyterian yourself, do you know it lassie?' "Father seldom went to church or to Sunday school, himself, but believed in it. I think I must have been Sunday schooled to death in my younger days." Mrs. Morasch laughed harshly at the recollection. She seemed for the moment to have forgotten the dreadful charge hanging its threat of life penal servitude over head. "Sunday schooled to death," she repeated seriously, returning to the story of her life in the West Bottoms. MARRIED BILL MORASCH.
"When I became 20 years of age," she went on, "I married Bill Morasch. I was a little wild at that time. Fond of boys and kiting around to parties and dances at my own free will, but Bill was a steady fellow and we settled down to housekeeping. I married again after he died three years ago, but I have never taken his wedding ring off my finger and like best the name he gave me." Mrs. Morasch, as she prefers to be called, then crowded a thin, wrinkled left hand through the small opening in the door of her cell, through which her victuals are passed to her by the jail matron. On the third finger was an embossed gold band ring, which she turned reminiscently with her thumb. "Oh, I can stand this murder charge," she assured suddenly, "if it pans out all right in the end. I'll tell you what I'll do. When the trial is all over, and Ella comes back to me, I'll take her up to your office, wherever it is, and let you see for yourself. "I know what you think. You think she will not, but she will. Ella knows in her heart I did not send the candy, and when she comes back to me she will say, 'Mrs. Morasch, I thought all the time you didn't send it, and I was sorry for you all the time I was testifying against you.' " The accused woman seemed to think most of the attitude of Ella Van Meter, whose testimony more than that of any other witness, according to the prosecutor, condemns her. Several times during the interview she pronounced the name, always following it with a statement that Ella was her friend and would come back to her after the trial. Ella testified Friday that she knew no reason why Mrs. Morasch should try to poison her, but insisted she had been to the latter's home only twice and had not been more than ordinarily intimate with her. When Daniel Mahe, attorney for the defense, asked the witness why she did not refer to the defendant as "auntie," Ella had replied sharply: "She's not my aunt!" and manifested in other ways that the law relationship existing between herself and the prisoner was a matter of repulsion to her. SAYS SHE'S PREJUDICED.
Mrs. Morasch said yesterday that this attitude was affected and that Ella has been prejudiced against her by older persons. It was said by her counsel last night that both Ella and her mother, Mrs. Ida Miller, would be recalled for further cross-examination before the conclusion of the trial. Her lawyers profess to have suffered for the failure of the state in locating Ollie Jones, a 19-year-old half-brother of Charles Miller. Jones is said to have left Kansas City the night following the poisoning, and later it was learned he went from here to Indianapolis, Ind. When County Attorney Taggart tried to subpoena him there a few days ago he could not be found. What use the state intended to put Jones to and why the attorney for the defense should be disappointed because he could not be found is studiously screened from the public gaze. It was stated by counsel last night that Jones was a close friend of the Millers. County Attorney Taggart, who is bending every resource of a fertile and brilliant mind toward the conviction of the prisoner, practically admitted the same thing in the same mysterious manner less than an hour later. "We need him badly," said the prosecutor. "There is one important phase of this case he must cover with his testimony If he will not come when subpoenaed, then a bench warrant will bring him." EXPERT WOMAN WITNESS.
Taggart further said that a woman witness, mother of thirteen children, would be employed by the state as a special witness tomorrow in proving Mrs. Morasch's physical condition prior to the time the baby is represented to have been adopted out of the U. S. G. Hughes maternity home, and that the handwriting experts would probably be called in the afternoon of the same day. Attorney Maher said last night that a great deal of the defense would lie in showing up Mrs. Morasch's past. "She is a poor woman in two senses of the word," he said. "Poor from the standpoint of health and means of financing her case. She has been a wanderer in the West Bottoms, without money and almost without friends, for years. Her first husband died three years ago, killed himself with carbolic acid. Her second husband likewise died. Children she has kept and mothered, from the Hughes home, have sickened on her hands. One of them died after it had passed to the care of others in the hire of the county and the revolting suspicion that she had killed it with drugs and slow poison was expressed in her presence. She was warned by Attorney Taggart to leave town. Haggard and worn, dogged by the law and shunned by her intimates because of her misfortunes, Mrs. Morasch hurriedly gathered up her few belongings and fled to Harrisonville, Mo. But the Nemesis followed her even there, strangely coincident with her flight the poisoned bonbons arrived at the Miller home, so she was arrested on the murder charge and brought back to face trial." Labels: Armourdale, children, Civil War, County Attorney Taggart, Death of Ruth Miller, murder, poison, The Journal, women March 18, 1908 HE PLEADS GUILTY TO ARSON.
Action of Freeman Bennett Frees Aged Wife From Charge.
In the Wyandotte county district court yesterday afternoon, Freeman Bennett, who lives at Fourteenth street and Argentine boulevard, Armourdale, pleaded guilty to burning his cottage at that place last spring in order to get $1,000 insurance. Bennett had, at his preliminary hearing before Judge Newhall in the south city court, entered a plea of not guilty and was firm in maintaining this stand until his wife, 60 years old, burst into tears while under cross-examination in court yesterday afternoon.
"I can't stand this," he exclaimed. "My wife there, is getting to be a nervous wreck and is too old to stand all this harangue. For her sake, this can't go on. If I plead guilty will you excuse her from the charge?"
County Attorney Taggart recommended to Judge McCabe Moore that under this condition the name of the wife be stricken from the complaint, and it was granted.
"Guilty," was all Bennett said as he sat down. He was taken to the county jail in default of bond. He will not be sentenced until other cases are cleared from the docket.Labels: Armourdale, arson, County Attorney Taggart, jail, Judges, marriage, Seniors March 14, 1908
SET TRIAL IN POISON CASE FOR WEDNESDAY.
STATE HAS MANY WITNESSES AGAINST SARAH MORASCH.
Less Than Month Ago Little Ruth Miller Died From Eating Bonbons Sent Her Half-Sister in the Mail.
Next Wednesday is the day set for the trial of Mrs. Sarah Morasch in the Wyandotte district court, where she will be called to answer the charge of murdering Ruth Miller by sending a box of poisoned candy through the mails to her father's household. he child, who was 4 years old, died February 12. She was the daughter of Charles and Malinda Miller of 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale.
Since her arrest in Harrisonville, Mo., on February 20, Mrs. Morasch, in default of bond, has been confined in the Wyandotte county jail. Her stories of her relations with the Miller family told at different times to Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Taggart, Chief of Police Bowden and others, have not agreed one with another, and her description of her flight from Kansas City, Kas., to Harrisonville is vague and not convincing, according to Taggart.
Among the fifty-six witnesses who have been called to testify for the state next Wednesday are: Charles Miller, father of the dead girl; Malinda Miller, the mother; Ella Van Meter, their step-daughter, to whom the poisoned box of bonbons was addressed; Coroner A. J. Davis, Professor of Chemistry Bushong of the Kansas state university, Chief Bowden and Detective Harry Anderson.
The defense is in the hands of Attorney Daniel Maher and will rest chiefly upon statements of relatives of Mrs. Morasch and boon companions, who were with her during her stay in the West Bottoms. In the event of her being proved guilty by the state, she cannot be hanged and will be admissible to bail under the revised criminal statutes of KansasLabels: Armourdale, children, County Attorney Taggart, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison, women March 3, 1908 CAR WRECKS A HOSE WAGON.
No. 3 of Kansas City, Kas., Is Struck and Firemen Are Hurt.
While making a quick turn in a run to a fire at 1452 and 1454 Kansas avenue, Armourdale, at 10 o'clock last night, the hose wagon of No. 3 fire company was struck by a car at Fifth street and Kansas avenue and was completely demolished. Lieutenant Harry Powers, Edward Seers, Roy Broadhurst and Frank Hill of the company, riding on the wagon, were thrown violently to the pavement, each receiving slight injuries. The front end of the car was shattered by the wagon as the horses, running at full speed, tried to avoid a collision. The animals were not injured.
On account of the disabling of No. 3 hose company by the crash the fire in the two cottages belonging to Henry Zimmers at the numbers mentioned was allowed to burn unchecked until a company had arrived from fire headquarters. Even then it was necessary to lay 2,350 feet of hose from the nearest fire plug in order to get the stream within working distance. Both cottages were total losses. The damage is estimated at about $3,500.Labels: Armourdale, automobiles, Fire February 29, 1908
PAINTER IS KILLED BY A FALL.
Judson Walsh Strikes Floor, Fractur-ing His Skull.
While doing some interior decorating in a home at 803 Osage avenue, Armourdale, at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, Judson Walsh, a painter, fell from his stepladder, striking his head violently on the floor. Other laborers in the building heard the noise and ran to the spot to find Walsh unconscious gasping in the throes of death. The police ambulance was called. Police surgeon D. E. Smith was quick in arriving, but found the man already dead. He was taken to the Butler undertaking rooms. Death was foud to have resulted from skull fracture.
Walsh is survived by a wife and baby. He was 52 years old and lived at 326 South Boeke street, Kansas City, Kas.Labels: Armourdale, death, Kansas City Kas, undertakers February 21, 1908
MRS. MORASH IS UNDER ARREST
SHE MAY KNOW SOMETHING OF POISONED CANDY.
FOUND IN HARRISONVILLE.
WHERE SHE HAD WALKED WITH HER DAUGHTER.
Ella Miller Says She Wrote Her Address, as on Candy Box, for Mrs. Morash Three Months Ago.
The first arrest in the murder case of Ruth Miller, poisoned by eating candy containing strychnine at the home of her father, Charles Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, Wednesday noon, February 12, was made at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon on state warrant by Sheriff Fred J. Hamilton of Cass county at Harrisonville, Mo. It was that of Mrs. Albert Morash, sister-in-law of Charles Miller. Sheriff Hamilton acted under orders of Attorney Joseph Taggart of Wyandotte county, who telephoned him to the effect that Mrs. Morash was wanted in Kansas City, Kas., on a murder charge, Wednesday and again Thursday. One-half hour after the telephone message, Hamilton had her in the county jail of Cass county. Chief Bowden of the Kansas City, Kas., police department and Detective Harry Anderson returned with the accused woman to Kansas City, Kas., early this morning and she was lodged in the city jail. Sheriff Hamilton said last night over the telephone that the woman and her daughter, Blanche, had arrived in that city last Sunday afternoon, after having walked fifty-eight miles, all the way from Kansas City. They were jaded and their shoes worn through in many places Sunday. They stopped at the home of a farmer a mile outside the city limits that night, but Monday and Tuesday nights stayed at local hotels. Chief Bowden and Captain U. G. Snyder have expended every resource to find her, on accoun of information it was thought she might be able to give concerning the poisoning. Yesterday morning they arrested Blanche Moran, the daughter, and compelled her to tell where she and her mother had gone after quitting Kansas City. Blanche had returned on a train to the home of her sister, Mrs. May Gillin, 634 Armstrong avenue, Tuesday afternoon. County Attorney Taggart says he has discovered that the sender of the poisoned candy did not write all of the inscription on the wrapper. He says that Ella Miller, to whom the bonbons were addressed, wrote the words, "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne ave. Corner Packard and Cheyenne ave." appearing on the wrapper for Mrs. Morash, three months ago, and writing of the little girl corresonds exactly with the writing on the package. He says Ella has denied writing the rest of the inscription, "From S. S. Girls." Blanche Morash cried when questioned by Captain U. G. Snyder, captain of police, at headquarters. She said she thought her mother was wanted by police in connection with an ocurrence of a month ago when Mrs. Morash was found guilty of mistreating and neglecting an infant taken from the Hughes maternity home. Blanche furthermore said she was willing to make a statement regarding the sending of the box of bonbons, but did not say whether or not her statement would be in in the form of a denial of any knowledge concerning them. Labels: Armourdale, County Attorney Taggart, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, jail, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison February 15, 1908 STRYCHNINE CAUSED RUTH MILLER'S DEATH.
ANALYSIS OF CANDY DEVELOPS THIS FACT.
No Motive for the Attempt on Life of the Elder Miller Girl Has Yet Been Dis- covered.
Strychnine was the bitter-tasting foreign substance noticed by the Miller children who survived sampling the box of bonbons mailed to Ella Miller, 14 years old, of 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, Wednesday. Four year old Ruth Miller, after eating one of the candies, fell dead in the throes of a paralyzing agony. The lives of the other children were saved because of the unsavory taste of the sweets.
The candy was sent to the chemical laboratory of the Kansas state university at Lawrence. Yesterday the analysis had progressed at the university to such period as to make certain the identity of the poison employed. It was strychnine. How much of the drug each piece of candy contained has not been determined, but one-twelfth grain of strychnine crystals, the form employed, is sufficient to cause death.
But who committed the deed, and why?
This question was asked and left unanswered a great number of times in the office of the Kansas City, Kas., chief of police yesterday. Detectives Quinn, McKnight, Walsh and Wilson reported finding nothing, after a diligent inquiry into the private life of the Miller family for a possible reason why the little girl, to who the package was addressed, should be out of the way. Apparently she has always been a dutiful daughter, living in peace and harmony with her step-father and well loved by he playmates and friends at the packing house where she worked.
The theory at first held by the officers that some jealous small boy, a sweetheart of the girl, perhaps, had prepared the package and mailed it to her, was explored when the only two boys with whom the little girl has gone anywhere were brought in by the drag net and proved to be the neighbor boys selected by Mrs. Miller once or twice to walk with Ella to a nickel show in the vicinity.
According to Mille last night about 500 people have called at the home to express sympathy yesterday. Many of them offered financial help in locating the poisoner. Among the visitors were a half-dozen girls who worked in the canning department of the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger plant. They were unanimous in declaring no one in their department had sent the bonbons.
"Why, we all loved little Ella," said Artilla Hack, Miami and Coy streets, Armourdale, one of the visitors. "She was just as good as she could be to all of us, and I know none of the girls had anything against her. If they had someone would have been sure to mention it, since she left there a month ago." Geanette Brymer, Seventh and Coy streets, said practically the same thing.
The other children of the Miller family affected by eating candy from the box sent the oldest daughter are out of danger. D r. Zachary Nason, who lives two blocks from the Miller home, and who atended Ruth Miller while she was dying, says they all showed strong symptoms of strychnine poisoning.
"It must have been this drug that was inserted into the bon-bons," said Dr. Nason, last night. "The theory that it might have been arsenic is, in my opinion, absurd, as arsenic is an acid while strchnine is a salt, and therefore their symptoms should be diameteically opposite. The little girl, when I saw her, was rigid in the arms and across the chest. Occasionally she completely relaxed. Lockjaw preceded death by at least two minutes. All these symptoms are those of strychnine poisoning, and not posible after a dose of arsenic."Labels: Armourdale, children, Death of Ruth Miller, doctors, Lawrence, murder, poison, universities February 13, 1908 POISONED CANDY BROUGHT DEATH.
DEADLY PACKAGE IS SENT THROUGH MAIL TO A GIRL.
SISTERS ATE THE SWEETS.
RUTH MILLER, AGED 4, SOON DIED IN AGONY.
Other Children Became Ill, but Were Revived -- Package Purported to Come From "Girls of S. & S." 
RUTH MILLER.
Victim of Poisoned Bonbons Sent Her Sister Through the Mail.
"Sweets to Ella Miller, From girls of S. & S."
This was the labol on a box of cheap bonbons sent through the mail to the oldest daughter of Charles Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, at noon yesterday. The postmarks were blurred and the stamp of the postoffice where the box had been mailed had evidently been turned around purposely, as it was brought into contact with the wrapper. The police believe the sender told the postal clerk that the candy was intended for a valentine. What it really contained was poisoned bonbons, and as a result of eating two of them Ruth Miller, the youngest daughter of Charles and Melinda Miller, died in agony less than ten minutes after the box was received at the home. All four of the Miller children were affected by the poison in the candy, which is supposed to have been strychnine, but none except the little girl suffered more than temporary distress, which an application of home remedies relieved.
NEVER HAD A SWEETHEART.
Ella, 14 years old, to whom the candy was sent, has worked in the canning department of the Schwarzchild & Sulzberger packing house up to a month ago, when she was withdrawn by her parents so that she might attend school. She said last night that as far as she knows she has no enemies among the girls at the packing house. She never has had a sweetheart and her parents seldom allow her to go far from the home unless accompanied by some relative or friend. They considered her too young to keep company with young men and also that she has never indicated any desire to receive boy or men callers.
This statement was borne out by the little girl last night.
"I never had any lover and I don't want one," she said, the tears trickling between her fingers as she held her hands to her eyes. Her little frame shook with sobs at the memory of the tragedy and she was bordering on hysteria.
"I don't see how any of the girls at the packing house could ever have had anything against me. I never did anything against them. I don't believe they had a hand in the crime. It is too horrible. The girls in the canning department where I worked were good to me, and always asked my mother who worked in my place after I left how I was getting along every morning as she came in to work. No, I am sure it was not the packing house girls. I can not imagine who could have sent them, but I know it was not my old friends there."
CHILDREN SOON BECAME ILL.
As far as the police are concerned, the tragic death of little Ruth Miller is a complete mystery, while it represents one of the most mystifying crimes in the criminal history of the city.
Immediately after the postman arrived at the Miller home at 12 o'clock noon, Ella discovered the package near the front door on the veranda. All the children are small and crowded around their oldest sister as she opened it to receive their share of the treat. They each took at least two of the bonbons. None except Ruth ate one. As soon as the candy touched the mouth, according to the surviving children, a bitter taste was noticed by them and their tongues became puckery, as though they had touched a powerful astringent. Ella, who had tasted her piece of candy first, got a cup of water and rinsed out her mouth and those of the others.
Ruth did not complain of the bitter taste but a moment afterwards began to scream, and fled from the ho use in the direction of the home of George Gause, 628 Cheyenne avenue, a neighbor. While the mother of the Miller children was away from home it had been the custom of Gause and his wife to care for the children.
Mrs. Miller was away from home at noon yesterday visiting a brother of her husband in the West bottoms near South James street. Gause had been apprised of the mother's absence and when he heard Ruth scream ran out at once from the house, thinking, he says, that she had fallen and hurt herself. When he reached the back porch of his house he saw little Ruth throw up her hands and fall to the ground.
DEAD IN FIVE MINUTES.
"What's the matter, Ruth?" he called, as he ran to her assistance. At this juncture Ella, who had followed the little girl from the house, called out that all of them had been poisoned. Gause sent for a doctor. Ruth did not live over five minutes after the doctor arrived.
Both Miller and his wife were not at home and were not apprised of the death of their little daughter until nearly an hour later, it being necessary to send a special messenger in both cases. The Miller family was prostrated with grief last night.
Miller could not name any enemies likely to take such a cruel revenge on his family. He said he lived in Toad-a-Loup, Armourdale, a year or two ago, and then moved to Greystone Heights, Kansas City, Kas., hwere he lived in perfect peace with his neighbors up to a month ago. Both Miller and his wife have a reputation for being agreeable neighbors and loving in their treatment of their neighbors. Girls working in the canning department of the S. & S. packing house said yesterday they had never known a little girl they liked better than they did Ella Miller. Mrs. Miller was also popular with them.
POLICE CHIEF PUZZLED.
Chief of Police Bowden was at a loss to account for the crime. He said it was without parallel in the city for brutality, considering the extreme youth of the intended victim. He said the matter was one for both the United States postal authorities and the local police to look into. City Detectives Quinn and McKnight were assigned by the chief to the case. Others will be assigned to the task this morning.
An analysis of the poisoned candies made by Coroner A. J. Davis of Wyandotte county after 6 o'clock yesterday evening disclosed a white powder inserted with the chocolate covering the bonbons.Labels: Armourdale, children, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison, West bottoms January 20, 1908
LOSS OF LOVE CAUSES SUICIDE.
EARL LEMMON SHOOTS HIM- SELF IN THE HEAD.
GIRL BREAKS ENGAGEMENT.
"Do Not Trifle With a Man as If He Were a Dog," the Last Words by Lem- mon. 
EARL LEMMON.
Because Nellie Hickey, 2521 Myrtle avenue, had broken her engagement to marry him, Earl Lemmon, 24 years old, killed himself in his room at Twenty-sixth and Mersington streets yesterday afternoon. Less than two hours after he had bed Miss Hickey a cheerful adieu, his body was found lying across a bed in his room, a 38 caliber pistol lying beside it and a wound in the head revealing the course of the bullet. Upon a table near by the coroner found the following letter:
To All of My Friends. Please forgive me for what I am about to do. I have suffered as no one knows in the last four or five months, but cannot stand it any longer. You will find my plicey at Mrs. Hanifin's. One deed to a lot at Thirty-third and Brighton, a deed to two lots on Leeds road in that box also. If hell is any worse than what I have went through with, I am willing to welcome it.Mr. Cook, you will find a few bills unpaid. If my brothers care for me, they owe me enough to pay all my bills. Give my watch to Mr. Cook and my ring to Nellie. You don't konw what I went through with for you, and you shall never know. But be square next time. Do not trifle with a man as if he was a dog, because they bite back. I must stop now. God bless you. Love and best wishes to Nellie. (Signed) EARL.
(P. S.) God forgive me for this. Goodby all. What money I had I lost some six or seven months ago in a freind-turn-you-down-style.
TWENTY KISSES FOR NELLIE.
Beside this letter was found a souvenir postcard with the photograph of a girl upon it. Upon this card, scrawled in the dead man's handwriting, were the words: "Twenty kisses; goodby, Nellie. Be a good girl."
Young Lemmon was employed by Clayton E. Cook of the Home Produce Company at 2446 Cleveland. He roomed in the home of Clarence Stumpff, a fellow employe, in a cottage near Twenty-sixth and Mersington streets. During the eighteen months he had been in the employ of Mr. Cook he was said to have been a sober, industrious, hard working young man. He had managed to save a little money which he had invested in real estate.
Early yesterday morning he called at the home of Miss Hickey. About n oon he returned to his room and ended his life.
Miss Hickey is the daughter of Lawrence Hickey, a Missouri Pacific switchman. She was very much distressed at the news. When she was seen at her home several hours after the suicide, her eyes were swollen with weeping.
JEALOUS OF THE GIRL. 
MISS NELLIE HICKEY.
For the Loss of Whose Love Earl Lemmon Ended His Life.
"Earl and I have been sweethearts from childhood," she said. "We have been betrothed for several years. But he was insanely jealous of me, and several months ago I broke off the engagement on that account. At that time he threatened to kill himself, but I never thought he would do it. He seemed very much grieved because I had received attentions from other young men, but I didn't think ghe took it so much to heart. This morning he called upon me and we chatted pleasantly. When he started home, he called out, 'Goodby Nell,' very cheerfully. There was nothing in his manner that indicated he was thinking of killing himself.
The story was corroborated by Mr. and Mrs. Hickey. Both said there had never been any parental objections to the affair between their daughter and Lemmon, and that ever since the engagement was broken off the young man had been on terms of close friendship with the family.
Lemmon has a brother, bert Lemmon, who lives at the home of a Mrs. Hanifin at 3315 East Twenty-second street. He has four other brothers, a foster sister, who lives in Armourdale, and his father, who lives in California.
Labels: Armourdale, Cleveland avenue, Mersington street, romance, Suicide, Thirty-third street, Twenty-second street, Twenty-sixth street September 19, 1907
NERLING SHOT HIM
MACK ROGERS DEAD FROM SA- LOON MAN'S PISTOL. Mack Rogers, 50 years old, a carpenter, living at a rooming house on Osage avenue, in Armourdale, Kas., was shot and almost instantly killed about 11 o'clock last night by Bert Nerling, proprietor of a saloon at 1525 Main street. The shooting occurred in an alley back of Nerling's saloon, and was witnessed by George T. Maloy, of 3335 Charlotte, a friend of Nerling. It followed a free-for-all fight in a house at 1527 Main street. Nerling at once surrendered to the police. It seems that Rogers got into a fight at 1527 Main street in which a number of persons were involved. In the course of the disturbance beer bottles and other missiles were hurled around promiscuously, some of them striking and breaking windows in the rear of Nerling's place. Someone, presumably a woman, fired two shots with a small pistol, at which Nerling armed himself with a revolver and went out to investigate. Maloy followed him to see what the trouble was all about. FIRED AFTER BEING MOLESTED.
According to a statement made by Maloy, when Nerling stepped into the alley in the rear of his saloon he saw Rogers and others throwing bottles. He shouted to Rogers: "What the hell are you doing, trying to smash up all my property?" Rogers, it is said, immediately turned upon the saloon man and hurled a beer bottle at his head. Nerling drew his pistol and fired point blank at Rogers. Then he turned and went into the saloon. Rogers staggered some twenty or thirty feet and fell dead. A bullet from a 38-caliber pistol struck him full in the breast, almost directly over the heart. Nerling was taken at once to the Walnut street police station, where he made a statement to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Hogan and Police Captain Morley. Captain Morley ordered the arrest of all the people at 1527 Main street and those living in a rooming house over Nerling's saloon. Maloy made a statement to the prosecuting attorney which was substantially the same as that given by him to the police. ROGERS WAS 50 YEARS OLD.
Coroner Thompson was notified and ordered the body removed to Eylar's morgue. An autopsy and inquest will be held this morning at 9 o'clock. Rogers was nearly six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. The police this morning locked up a woman who goes by the name of Maud Nerling. She is said to occuply rooms over Nerlin's saloon, and the authorities believe she will prove a valuable witness. Labels: Armourdale, Charlotte street, Coroner Thompson, Main street, murder, No 4 police station, rooming house, saloon, undertakers August 8, 1907 MISS BOWDON IS INJURED.
Kansas City, Kas., Police Chief's Daughter Hit by Car.
Bertha Bowden, 15 years old, daughter of Chief of Police D. E. Bowden, of Kansas City, Kas., was thrown from an Argentine car last night and injured internally. Miss Bowden is now being cared for by Dr. Millner at her father's home, 629 Osage avenue in Armourdale.
At 10:30 o'clock last night as Miss Bowden stepped from the car at Seventeenth and Osage avenue, the car started. The car was bound toward Argentine and the passengers said it appeared that the conductor started his car before the girl was safely upon the pavement.
Miss Bowden was not sufficiently recovered last night to make a statement regarding the accident.Labels: accident, Argentine, Armourdale, Kansas City Kas, streetcar July 27, 1907
COMPLAINS OF A 'HOME'
CHILDREN MISTREATED BY AT- TENDANTS, IT IS ALLEGED.
Matron at Joseph's Home Denies Charges Made by Mrs. Ambie Russell -- Juvenile Court to Decide Next Monday.
THE JOSEPH HOME, 2610 CLEVELAND AVENUE.
Upon a complaint of Mrs. Ambie Russell, who has had four children in Joseph's home at 2610 Cleveland avenue since last Thanksgiving day, petitions were filed in the juvenile court yesterday afternoon alleging that the children were neglected.
Two of them, Irene, 10, and Katie, 7 years old were found at the home, taken to the detention home and later to the day nursery of the Institutional church by Probation Officer Edgar Warden. The other two, Earl, 13, and Eddie, 14 years old, were not found at the home. Subpoenas were issued for Mrs. Anna Baker, manager of the home; Mrs. Nellie Shaw, who is usually in charge, and for Mrs. Leslie Lewald, an employe, to appear before Judge Goodrich of the juvenile court Monday morning.
In a signed statement which Mrs. Russell made to Humane Officer Frank McCrary yesterday afternoon she charges that Mrs. Lewald and Frances Robinson, a negro woman who was until recently employed at Joseph's home, frequently punished the children by strangling them in basins of water and by beating them in the face until their little noses bled.
ARE NEGLECTED, WOMAN SAYS.
"There are about thirty children in the home and they are not properly clothed and fed," Mrs. Russell says in her statement. "I have bought clothes during the last eight weeks for my children and upon one occasion when I visited the home I saw a dress I had taken out for Katie on another child and Katie was dressed in rags.
"One one occasion during my stay Mrs. Shaw, an assistant to Mrs. Baker, struck Earl with a stick and then hit him on the nose with her hand and dragged him off to bed. I went to his room and found his pillow saturated with blood."
Mrs. Russell was deserted by her husband four years ago in Herrin, Ill. she has lived in Kansas City several months and when she became ill went with her children to the Joseph home. Several weeks ago she left the home by request because it was said that she had spoken disparagingly of the place to prospective contributors to its support. Mrs. Russell is now employed at the Hotel Kupper.
WHAT AN OFFICER FOUND.
Edgard Warden, who brought the Russell girls to the detention home yesterday, reported that he had found Mrs. Shaw to be a very pleasant woman, and that the children seem to like her. He also said that the home has solicitors working in nineteen states. There are about thirty children there.
The two little Russell girls were neatly dressed when brought to the detention home. They said they and the other children at Joseph's home attended the Greenwood school, Twenty-seventh and Cleveland streets. They looked bashful and would not answer when asked if they had had enough to eat and were well treated.
The Associated Charities, through G. F. Damon, secretary, issued a circular December 5, 1906, containing what purports to be a history of Mrs. Baker.
Mrs. Nellie Shaw, the matron in charge of Joseph's home, emphatically denies the charges made by Mrs. Russell. Mrs. Shaw was formerly assistant matron at the Institutional church.
"There is no truth in any of the charges made against this home," said Mrs. Shaw yesterday. "I came here to take the management of the children in February, and since I have been here I can answer that there has been no cruelty of any kind. I have two children of my own who live here, and I treat them just as I do the others. The only punishment which children ever receive is a spanking. It is necessary where there are so many children that discipline be kept. But no one ever punishes the little ones but myself, and I only spank them whenever it is necessary, with my open hand."
CHILDREN LIKE MRS. SHAW.
The little boys and girls in the home do not seem to be afraid of Mrs. Shaw, but play about her in what seems to be the most affectionate manner.
"I think the boys and girls love me, and I have always wanted them to," said she.
Mrs. Shaw says that Mrs. Russell, who was an inmate of the home with her four children for months without cost, became angry at her because she suggested that some of the money which Mrs. Russell earned after she finally secured a position at the Kupper hotel be spent on the children.
" 'My money is my own,' she said, and seemed angry at the suggestion. 'I'll spend it as I please.' "
Eddie, Mrs. Russell's 14-year-son, was placed by the home on a farm at Arthur, Kas., and his 13-year-old brother Earl is on another farm a few miles from there. Mrs. Shaw says that the boys were not placed in adoption, but were simply put on the farms for a summer's outing. She says that is the custom of the Institution church and other charitable institutions in Kansas City to place children with private families, sometimes for adoption, unless a part at least of their board is paid. Mrs. Russell consented that her two boys be sent to Kansas for the summer, she says.
FOUNDED FOUR YEARS AGO.
St. Joseph's home was founded four years ago by Mrs. Annie Baker, who had run a similar institution for two years in Joplin, Mo. Mrs. Shaw says the home was founded by Mrs. Baker after being left destitute with two children, in order to help mothers where were in a similar condition. It is supported by public subscription.
"The whole trouble is that we do not give an accounting of our finances to the Associated Charities," said Mrs. Shaw. "They have been trying to get us to do this for a long time, and when we consistently refused to make regular financial reports to them they became angry and have been trying to do the home harm ever since.
"We cannot see why we should give up the management of our enterprise to the Associated Charities, who had nothing to do with its beginning or its development."Labels: architects, Armourdale, Associated Charities, charity, children, Cleveland avenue, detention home, Institutional church, Judge Goodrich May 19, 1907 ESCORT JUMPS, GIRL HURT.
Pearl Brown, of Armourdale, Injured in a Runaway.
Pearl Brown, a 19-year-old Armourdale girl, was thrown from a buggy at 2022 Madison in a runaway last night at 10 o'clock. The team ran on, and at Twenty-fourth and Belleview killed another horse with the buggy pole. This hourse was the property of the Brandenmeyr Bros., grocers. The team was caught at Twenty-seventh and Belleview.
Dr. W. O. Gray, ambulance surgeon from the Walnut street police station, took Miss Brown to the general hospital. She was suffering from convulsions, but here injuries were convined to bruises on the limbs. Her home address is 918 South Twelfth street, Armourdale. At the hospital she said she ahd gone driving with Oliver Dooley of 8 West Sixteenth street and that he had been drinking and lost control of the team, then jumped and left her alone.Labels: accident, alcohol, Armourdale, doctors, general hospital, Madison street, Sixteenth street, Twelfth street, Walnut street police station |
