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December 10, 1909

HUNDREDS AT SCENE

OF ROSEDALE KILLING.

DEPUTY'S MURDERER HAD BEEN

DRINKING AND DANGEROUS.

Compelled Two Men at Point of Re-

volver to Imbibe, Then Carry

Suit Case of Ammunition --

No Funeral Arrangements.

Hundreds of persons yesterday afternoon in Rosedale went over the route of the running fight of Wednesday night which resulted in the murder of C. Q. Lukens, a Wyandotte county deputy sheriff, and the subsequent killing of Charles T. Galloway, the slayer. The home of M. E. Patterson, 3129 Bell street, Kansas City, Mo., where the besieged man was finally captured after a desperate battle with Missouri and Kansas officers, came in for a good share of attention.

In the investigation yesterday circumstances came to light which, had they been known at the time by Lukens, probably would have prevented the double killing. From many sources it was found that Galloway had been drinking heavily preceding the shooting, and was in a dangerous mood during the day. He had made numerous attempts to find his wife, Mrs. Anna Galloway, with the avowed intention of taking her life. At the point of a revolver he forced W. E. Tompkins and James Creason to drink with him and later to assist in carrying a suitcase full of ammunition.

ENTERED THE LAWYER'S HOME.

About 6 o'clock Wednesday morning he entered the home of Rush L. Fisette, the attorney who had brought divorce proceedings on behalf of Mrs. Galloway. the half crazed man insisted on searching every room in the house in the hopes of finding his wife. He left without causing any trouble, but with threats that he would kill his wife. It was Mr. Fisette who notified the sheriff's office in Kansas City, Kas.

Mrs. Galloway was prostrated yesterday by the events of the night before. The story of her fourteen years of married life included threats by her husband, who beat her and drove her from the house. Always following a hard drinking spell the man became half crazed and in this condition seized a gun or any weapon and attacked his wife. At other times he spoke in the most endearing terms to her. Mrs. Galloway remained yesterday at the home of her sister, Mrs. James L. Connor, 1700 Dodd street, Rosedale.

LUKENS WELL LIKED.

In Kansas City, Kas., and Argentine, where Lukens had been known for years, the man was respected and liked. At the home of his widowed mother in Argentine the aged woman refused to be comforted.

The body of Lukens had been removed to Simmons's undertaking rooms in Argentine. Funeral arrangements have not been completed. Charles Quincy Lukens was a member of the Brother hood of Railway Trainmen in Argentine and also was a member of Aerie No. 87, Fraternal Order of Eagles, in Kansas City, Kas.

POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.

A post-mortem examination of the body of Galloway, conducted by Coroner Harry Czarlinsky yesterday morning at the Carroll-Davidson undertaking rooms, showed that the bullet entered his right side and taking a downward course pierced the liver and passed out the left side. A coroner's inquest will be held at 10 o'clock Monday morning.

In a letter received by Inspector of Detectives Edward P. Boyle yesterday afternoon from Chief of Police Wiley W. Cook of Kansas City, Kas., the chief said:

"Especially do I wish to express my highest commendation of Detectives Ralph Truman and J. W. Wilkens, who at the risk of their lives led the attack that effected Galloway's capture."

WANTED HIM TO DRINK.

W. E. Tompkins, employed at the Gates undertaking establishment in Rosedale and who lives at 505 Southwest boulevard, Rosedale, said he was passing in front of Galloway's home at 428 College avenue shortly after noon on the day of the double tragedy when he was accosted by Galloway and told to hold up his hands. At the same time Galloway pointed two large revolvers in the face of Tompkins and told him to follow him into the house. Tompkins followed.

When they reached the inside of the house James Creason, an electrician who helped Galloway on electrical work, was sitting there. Galloway insisted that Tompkins take a drink from a large quart bottle of whisky.

FEARED FOR HIS LIFE.

"I finally talked him out of that," Tompkins said, "but during the two hours he kept Creason and me imprisoned in the house Galloway drank at least three-fourths of the quart of whisky. He sowed us a Winchester shotgun and a Winchester rifle and a suitcase full of ammunition. He said to us: 'Do you know what I am going to do with these,' and when we answered negatively he said he was going to 'raise hell tonight.'

"We pleaded with him to let us go, as I was afraid every minute that he would get wild and kill both of us. He finally agreed to let us go if we would carry the guns and ammunition down to Creason's home on Bell street. Creason led two bird dogs and carried the guns, and I carried a heavy coil wire belonging to Galloway, and the suit case fu ll of ammunition. My load got heavy, though, and I left all of the stuff at Young's store at College avenue and Oak street. Creason, I suppose, took his stuff on down to his place, and then Galloway came back up and got what I had left."

Labels: alcohol, Argentine, attorney, Bell street, domestic violence, Dr Czarlinsky, guns, lodges, murder, Rosedale, undertakers

December 9, 1909

TWO KILLED AND

ONE WOUNDED IN

RUNNING BATTLE.

Charles Lukens, Wyandotte County

Deputy Sheriff, Shot Through

Heart by Charles Galloway, Drink

Crazed Rosedale Electrician, He

Tried to Serve With Injunction.

SLAYER HAD THREATENED

WIFE WHO SOUGHT DIVORCE.

After Killing Lukens, Galloway

Carried on a Retreating Fight

With Other Officers Until

Brought to Bay at 3129

Bell Street.

SHOT BY DETECTIVES, DIES

IN EMERGENCY HOSPITAL.

Double Tragedy Direct Result of

Domestic Difficulties of the Gal-

loways -- Wife, Who Sued for Di-

vorce, Feared for Her Life, Which

Husband Had Threatened -- Re-

straining Order Was to Keep Him

From Further Terrorizing Her.

CHARLES T. GALLOWAY.

Two men are dead and another wounded as the result of an attempt by Charles Quincy Lukens, a deputy sheriff of Wyandotte county, Kas., to serve a restraining order upon Charles T. Galloway, a drink crazed electrician of 428 College avenue, Rosedale, Kas., late yesterday evening.

Lukens was shot above the heart and instantly killed during a running fight with Galloway.

Galloway was later brought to bay in a house at 3129 Bell street, and after a desperate resistance was mortally wounded, dying at 11:30 o'clock last night as he was being placed upon the operating table at Emergency hospital.

JUST BACK FROM OKLAHOMA.

Deputy Sheriff Lukens left the Wyandotte county court house yesterday afternoon about 4 o'clock with an order from the district court restraining Galloway from annoying or in any way interfering with his wife, Mrs. Anna Galloway. The Galloways had been having trouble for several months, and November 23 Mrs. Galloway, through her attorney, Rush L. Fizette, 1255 Kansas City avenue, Rosedale, filed a suit for divorce, alleging cruelty, drunkenness and ill-treatment.

Since the filing of the divorce petition Galloway had beaten his wife and threatened her life. She then applied for an order restraining him from bothering her. The order was granted several weeks ago, but Galloway had been in Oklahoma during that time. Yesterday word was received at the sheriff's office that he was in town, and Lukens was sent to serve papers on him.

QUARTER-MILE RUNNING FIGHT.

Mrs. Galloway has been staying for the past few days at the home of her sister, Mrs. J. L. Connor, at 1700 Dodd street, Rosedale. The deputy sheriff and Marshal Drew thought perhaps they might find Galloway hanging around there, as he had visited the Connor home earlier in the day and made demands to see his wife and children.

The officers reached Kansas City avenue and Washington street about 5:30 o'clock, and met Galloway shortly after they stepped off the car. Marshal Drew spoke to Galloway and shook hand with him. Lukens then shook hands with Galloway, and told him that he had some papers to serve.

Almost instantly Galloway drew a revolver and opened fire on the officers, who, unprepared for such an emergency, had to unbutton their overcoats before they could get at their weapons. They at last got hold of their revolvers and opened fire on Galloway. A running fight was kept up for more than a quarter of a mile.

The fleeing man turned into alleys, turning back every few steps to fire upon the pursuing officers. He finally reached Rosedale avenue, and turning south ran toward the tracks of the Frisco railroad. When the officers reached the tracks he turned and fired at Lukens, hitting him directly over the heart.

LUKENS FALLS DEAD.

Lukens staggered, and after grasping a telegraph pole with both hands fell to the ground dead. Galloway then ran south, and after a vain attempt to make his escape on a horse, abandoned the horse, and fled to the woods on the hills around Gray's park.

Officer Drew ran to Lukens's assistance, but finding him dead, started to pursue Galloway. He fired the last shell from his gun, and then finding himself without ammunition sent a boy after some. A large crowd of persons had been attracted by the firing, and a number of them assisted in taking the body of Lukens to a barber shop at Kansas City and Rosedale avenues. The coroner was notified, and he ordered the body taken to the Gates undertaking rooms in Rosedale, where he performed a post mortem. It was found that the bullet had pierced the heart and lungs, and had gone entirely through the body, coming out near the middle of the back.

GALLOWAY BROUGHT TO BAY.

The sheriff's office was notified in Kansas City, Kas., and Under Sheriff Joseph Brady, deputies William McMullen, Clyde Sartin and George Westfall jumped into an automobile, driven by George E. Porter, an undertaker at 1007 North Seventh street and rode at break neck speed to Rosedale. The Kansas City, Kas., police were also notified and Chief W. W. Cook led a large force of uniformed men and detectives to the scene of the murder. The citizens of Rosedale also turned out in large numbers and the hills around Rosedale glittered with the lights as these posses scoured the woods in an effort to find the murderer.

At 9 o'clock last night Galloway was cornered in the home of M. E. Patterson, 3129 Bell street, Kansas City, Mo., which he took possession of forcibly.

Barricading himself in a closet upstairs he held his pursuers at bay for over two hours. A posse consisting of nearly 100 men guarded the house on all sides. the air was tense with tragedy, and the bitter cold of the winter night added to the unpleasantness of the whole affair. Every man knew that a desperate fight was inevitable and that Galloway would have to be taken either dead or helplessly wounded.

MISSOURIAN LEADS CHARGE.

A delay was occasioned by the fact that the Kansas officers were outside of their jurisdiction, and did not feel that they had a right to enter the house, which is built on Missouri soil. Missouri officers were summoned and arrived at about 10 o'clock. The plans were laid and great precaution was taken in every step taken, for the officers realized that they were at a great disadvantage in forcing their way into the house, which they knew held a man who had already killed one officer and who would not hesitate to kill others should they press him too hard.

Finally the attack was planned and at 11:30 o'clock a squad of detectives consisting of Joe Downs, Billy McMullin, Harry Anderson and J. W. Wilkens, the latter a Missouri officer, leading, forced their way into the house, and after cautiously searching all the downstairs rooms without finding Galloway, rushed up the narrow stairs to the second floor.

When the officers reached the second floor a volley of shots rang out. Another volley followed. Breaking glass and a great commotion could be heard in the street below.

LAST WORD FOR HIS WIFE.

Then a husky voice was heard to shout:

"We got him."

In entering a dining room the officers were reminded of the presence of Galloway by three shots fired in rapid succession. The officers responded with a dozen shots and bullets went whizzing in every direction, embedding themselves in the walls. One bullet passed through the sleeve of Detective Wilkens's overcoat and lodged in the thumb on the left hand of Harry Anderson, a Kansas City, Kas., detective.

Within a twinkling a bullet entered the abdomen of Galloway and he fell to the floor, rolling into a dark kitchen adjoining the dining room. Writhing in his great pain, the man rolled frantically about the floor.

"Oh my dear wife, my own wife, my darling wife," he moaned time and again. Then he pleaded for ice water, clutching his parched throat madly.

An ambulance was called and Galloway was taken to emergency hospital, where he died just as they were lifting him to the operating table.

ANOTHER WOMAN'S LETTER.

Drs. Harry T. Morton and C. A. Pond, who were in attendance, pronounced death due to a wound from several buckshot that had entered the left side of the abdomen and after penetrating the intestines came out of the right side.

His pockets were searched while on the operating table. The contents consisted of a pocket-book containing $55 in cash, a gold watch and chain, a pack of business cards, several boxes of revolver cartridges, a bank book on the Fort Worth, Tex., State bank, and a letter.

The letter, which was written in lead pencil, was so blood soaked that it was barely legible. As far as it could be deciphered it ran as follows:

"Dear Friend -- I hear that you are getting a divorce from Mrs. G. ----- she is selling all your things and ---- I don't see where Mrs. G. or the boys is at. They act disgraceful, never coming home. --- Good luck, your loving Nan."

Lukens, whom Galloway shot down, was one of his best friends and so was Marshal Billy Drew, whom he fired at time and again in an effort to kill.

ASKS FOR FOOD.

The house where the shooting occurred is a two-story frame structure containing four apartments. The front apartment is occupied by Cecil Patterson and his family, and the rear apartment of four rooms by J. E. Creason, his wife and their little daughter.

"It was about 8 o'clock when Galloway came to the house," said Mr. Creason. "He was greatly excited and told me he had been in a shooting scrape and had shot a man. He said that they, meaning the officers, were after him and he did not know what to do. I told him that the best thing for him to do was surrender. He said: 'No, I'm not ready yet.'

Mr. and Mrs. Creason, Who Fed Galloway and Tried to Persuade Him to Surrender.

MR. AND MRS. J. E. CREASON,
In Whose Home Galloway Took Forcible Possession and Held Out Against a Posse Until Forced to Run for His Life When a Bullet Ended His Career

" 'Give me something to eat first and I will think about it,' he said. I have known Galloway for several years and worked for him at my trade as an electrician. He had always been a good friend and I saw no wrong in giving him something to eat and told my wife to fix him something. She fried some chops and potatoes and made some coffee for him. He tried to eat, but he was nervous and he could hardly swallow.

THE POSSE COMES.

"All this time my wife and I tried to find out just who he had shot and what the shooting was about, but he would put us off with the one answer, 'I will tell you when I am ready.' After supper he sat in a corner and seemed to be in a deep study. He paid no attention to our little girl, who seemed to annoy him by her childish prattle.

"I did not know what to do, so thought I would take a walk in the fresh air. I had hardly gotten 100 feet from the house when I met some people from Rosedale. They told me that Galloway had killed the undersheriff and that they were after him. I told them that he was in my house, but warned them not to go after him, as I feared he might use one of the weapons he had there. I told the crowd that I would endeavor to get him to surrender. I went back to the house. Galloway was still sitting in the corner, but jumped up w hen I came into the room.

" 'They know where you are,' I told him. 'Why don't you surrender?' 'I am not ready yet,' he said. I could get nothing more from him. Half an hour later some of the officers came into the ho use. I went downstairs and told them that Galloway was upstairs, but that he was armed and that it would be dangerous for them to go up there at that time. My family was up there, too, and I did not want my wife or daughter to be shot in case Galloway or the officers started shooting.

REFUSES TO SURRENDER.

This turned the posse back for a while and I made another effort to get Galloway to surrender. He still refused and I called to my wife and daughter and we went to the front of the house in Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Patterson's rooms. We left the gas burning in the dining room and the hall. The bedroom, in the closet in which Galloway took refuge, opened from the dining room by big folding doors as you see. The gas mantle on this lamp was broken and it was not lighted. We all remained in the front room until the posse called to us to come out of the house. As we went out I again told Galloway to surrender; that the house was surrounded and he could not get away, or if he did that he would have to jump to the house next door and climb down the side of the house.

" 'I am not ready yet,' were the last words he said to me. I felt as if the officers would not take Galloway alive and I feared that several might be killed. I was so nervous I did know what I was doing or saying. All I thought of was to prevent any more bloodshed.

"After we left the house we went into Griffin's home next door. We had hardly gotten inside when the shooting began. I put my fingers to my ears so that I would not hear the shots.

SURE HE WAS CRAZY.

"Galloway must have been out of his mind. He could have escaped from the house several times after he knew that the officers had him spotted and he could have held that staircase with his guns against 100 policemen. Why he refused to surrender and then retreated into the clothes closet where he was caught like a rat in a trap can only be explained by my opinion that he was crazy.

"Galloway brought the rifle and the shot gun over to the ho use this afternoon. He also brought a suitcase full of ammunition. This was before he did the shooting. He told us that he was going hunting and he wanted to leave his guns at our house. We had no objections to this as we had always been the best of friends. After we left the house he must have taken his rifle and gone into the closet. He left his shotgun in a corner in the kitchen."

THREATENED TO KILL WIFE FOR YEARS.

Mrs. Anna Galloway, wife of Charles Galloway, has been living with her brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Connor, at their home, 1700 Dodd street, Rosedale, ever since she instituted divorce proceedings against her husband. For over forty-eight hours she has been a prisoner in that home, fearing even to step out, lest Galloway be near, ready to fire at her, as he had repeatedly threatened to do.

When seen last night after the killing of Deputy Sheriff Lukens, she was nearly in a state of nervous prostration. She had witnessed the start of the tragic escapade from a window in her room . She saw the officer attempt to serve papers on her husband. She heard the ensuing shots and then fell in a swoon.

"Oh, I knew it would come to this terrible end -- I knew it, I knew it," she moaned, as she paced nervously up and down the floor. "Charlie has had murder in his heart for thirteen years and I have always realized that it would only be a matter of time until the impulse would control him. He wasn't sane; he couldn't have been.

"Five times since Priests of Pallas week he has threatened to kill me, and from one day to another I never knew if I would see daylight again. Today some stranger 'phoned from a saloon to be extremely careful, as he had heard Charlie say that this would be the last day I could live. Marshal Drew remained with me to protect me and he has been in our house here all day.

"The first time Mr. Galloway ever threatened me was thirteen years ago. I should have left him then, but I thought he would get over his insane notions and I wanted to make a success of our married life if at all possible. He did reform and was better to me for some time, but when our two children, Harvey and Walter, were old enough to run around a great deal he began abusing me terribly and many times told me he would kill me. He became a harder drinker every year and would get in such a condition that no one could manage him at all.

"Many times as he choked me, and more than once has the end seemed so near that I could not possibly escape, but God has been with me for my children's sake I guess."

VICTIM WELL KNOWN IN WYANDOTTE.

Charles Quincy Lukens was 33 years old. He lived with his widowed mother, Mrs. Sarah Lukens, 336 Harrison street, Argentine. He was unmarried. He was appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff Al Becker about one year ago. Before his appointment Lukens was constable and later marshal of Argentine for several terms. He had also served on the Argentine fire department. "Charley" Lukens was known by everyone in Argentine, both old and young, and also had a wide acquaintance thorugout the county. He was regarded as a very efficient officer, and had a reputation for fearlessness.

Besidses his mother he is survived by four sisters and four brothers. The sisters are: Mrs. Lydia Jones of Girard, Kas., Mrs. Beulah Robinson of 1108 East Twenty-fourth street, Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. C. A. Hare of Faircastle, O., Mrs. Leonard Eshnaur of Terminal Isle, Cal. The brothers are J. R. Lukens of Oklahoma City, Ok., and L. B, J. E., and F. D. Lukens of Argentine.

Labels: alcohol, Argentine, Bell street, detectives, Divorce, doctors, domestic violence, emergency hospital, guns, murder, oklahoma, police, Rosedale, Sheriff Becker, Texas

July 19, 1909

SIX MEN HELD UP

IN A SINGLE NIGHT.

IN EVERY INSTANCE ROBBERS

SECURE MONEY AND ESCAPE.

Five Highwaymen With Revolvers

Get Dollar Apiece From One Vic-

tim -- Diamonds and Watches

Among the Loot.

Six holdups occurred in Kansas City Saturday night and Sunday morning. In every case the robbers succeeded in getting money, and some of the victims gave up their watches.

Frank Serrett, 829 South Valley street, Kansas City, Kas., the first victim to complain to the police, reported that two men held him up in the alley between Main and Walnut on Ninth street. While one of the highwaymen searched his pockets, the other man kept him covered with a pistol A watch and $10 comprised the booty.

At 10 o'clock Saturday night George Mangoe, 115 1/2 Central street, Kansas City, Kas., reported that he had been robbed by two men, and his watch stolen. The robbery occurred at Ninth and Wyoming streets.

It took five men to stop and rob James Bone, 4413 Bell avenue, at about 11 p. m., at Forty-first and Bell avenue, at about 11 p. m., at Forty-first and Bell avenue. According to Bone, all of the robbers were armed with revolvers and held them in sight. He gave up $5 to the brigands.

A watch at $7 were taken from J. W. Brown, 1326 Grand avenue, at Thirteenth and Franklin streets by two men.

H. A. Lucius, 215 West Fourteenth street, reported to the police that he had been robbed or $50 near 2854 Southwest boulevard.

G. W. Shaw, Strong City, Kas., entered police headquarters early Sunday morning and informed the police that he had been robbed in front of a saloon near McGee and Third streets. He reported the loss of an Elk's tooth and two unset diamonds.

Labels: Bell street, crime, Fourteenth street, Franklin street, guns, highway robbery, jewelry, McGee street, Ninth street, Southwest boulevard, Third street, Thirteenth street, Wyoming street

June 19, 1908

IT'S THE LARGEST

GOOSEBERRY.

John Costello Puts in a Claim for the

Prize of the Season.

The largest gooseberry raised in Kansas City this year, according to gooseberry experts, was picked yesterday from a bush in John Costello's yard at No. 3522 Bell street. Mr. Costello, a Roanoke line conductor, spends his spare time with his garden and caring for his small fruit, so the vine may get more attention than those in other yards. The sample brought to town by Mr. Costello is an inch long, three-quarters of an inch in diameter and a trifle over two inches in circumference. The vines are two years old and loaded with the berries.

Labels: Bell street, food, streetcar

Date Here

FELL 11 STORIES IN

COMMERCE BUILDING.

LANDED ON SKYLIGHT AND RE-

CEIVED BROKEN BONES.

L. E. Trout and Charles Pepperdine

Plunged From High-Swinging

Scaffold -- Injuries May

Be Fatal.

L. F. Trout, 411 Chestnut street, and Charles Pepperdine, 3112 Bell street, were working in the light shaft of the Bank of Commerce building at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, when their scaffold broke, precipitating them from the thirteenth to the second floor, a distance of eleven stores. The men landed on the heavy glass skylight just above the second floor.

Trout sustained a fracture of the right thigh and a large muscle in the thigh was severed near the knee. Three bones in his right foot were broken and a gash was cut in his scalp. Both of Trout's hands were burned almost to the bone where he held to a steel cable part of the way down. That fact, however, broke his fall and may be the cause of yet saving his life.

Pepperdine was more seriously injured and the attending physicians said they had little hope for his recovery. He has a compound fracture of the left knee and right ankle. His right elbow was burned to the bone by a small rope to which he attempted to hold. He was also internally injured.

In an attempt to lower the scaffold to another floor, it is said to have swerved and then broken. As the men grabbed for a safety line, which is always on the back of a scaffold, just about the hips, they found that it was not fast. That all took very little time, for they grabbed for the line as they fell, each uttering a cry that was heard all through the big building. Both were taken to the Wesley hospital, Eleventh and Harrison streets.

Pepperdine had a narrow escape from death at the same building just about the same time of day on the afternoon of May 6. He, with Paul Jacoby, was washing the building at the seventh story on the south side. In trying to pass the ladder was pushed out from the building. Both men fell from the ladder, but managed to catch the safety rope at the back of the scaffold. Hanging to that they managed to get their toes on the sill of the window below. Then they pulled their bodies up and climbed into the window. Both had received a ducking from a bucket of water which fell from the ladder with them. They went home, got into dry clothes, and went back to work. A large crowd of people on the street witnessed the narrow escape of Pepperdine and Jacoby, but there were few who saw the fall yesterday. The two men treated the accident lightly on May 6, joking each other while dangling in midair.

Labels: accident, Bell street, Chestnut street, Commerce building, death, Eleventh street, Harrison street, hospitals

May 7, 1908

CLUNG TO ROPE

FOR DEAR LIFE.

TWO WORKMEN FALL FROM

SWINGING SCAFFOLD.

SEVEN STORIES

ABOVE STREET.

SWUNG THEMSELVES TO WIN-

DOW AND ESCAPED DEATH.

Cleaning Exterior of Commerce

Building -- A Careless Move

Caused the Accident --

They Make Light of It.

SEVEN STORIES ABOVE THE STREET THESE TWO MEN CLUNG TO A ROPE FOR DEAR LIFE.

The falling of a large bucket of water and a brush on the sidewalk on the south side of the Commerce building about 2:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon caused many passers to look up. Dangling from a rope beneath a scaffold almost seven stories above the street were two men.

In the crowd which quickly gathered were three women. The spectators all looked on with bated breath while their hands were tightly clenched. Lower and lower the two men dangled. Just as it seemed that one or both would surely lose their hold and drop to certain death, one of the men managed to get the toe of his right foot on the ledge of a window on the sixth story.

"Oh Lord!" cried one of the women. "I can't look any more. They're both going to drop!"

"Hush up," came from a little nervous man. "You make me dizzy. Don't let 'em hear you say that."

This all took place in a very few seconds. While it was going on the man who had reached the window ledge with his toe managed, by a superhuman effort, to draw himself up. Once there, he assisted his companion, whose toe had by that time touched the ledge and both were soon standing side by side in the window.

THEY WERE COOL ABOUT IT.

"Good boy! Good boy! shouted a spectator. "You are all right."

The two men did not appear to hear him. They walked about on the window ledge as if they were on a flat tin roof. One of them tried the window. It opened, the men entered, and the crowd sighed with relief.

The two men who came so near death are Charles Pepperdine of 3112 Bell street and Paul Jacoby, who rooms near Fifth and Walnut streets. They work for the Ben P. Shirley Company of Indianapolis, Ind., which has the contract for washing the big building and "pointing" the brick and terra cotta work. One washed while the other "pointed."

They were working on a scaffold made from a ladder. Ropes and pulleys are attached at both ends and securely fastened at the top of the fifteen-story building. Men who do that class of skyscraper work become careless. One of the became so yesterday, for, as the two men attempted to pass on the narrow platform, he placed a hand against the side o the building to steady himself. This caused the scaffold to shoot out from beneath their feet.

CAUGHT THE ROPE.

The two men shot off first, quickly followed by the big bucket of water and brush. At the back of the men, just about even with their hips, was a safety rope to keep them from falling outwards. Just as they fell both managed to grab that rope. It was attached to the two upright ropes, or "falls," as they are called. The weight of the men drew the two long ropes closer and closer together as the men dropped lower and lower. It was while in this position that Pepperdine managed to get his foot on the window ledge, and Jacoby was soon drawn to safety.

The men made their way back to the next floor and were soon on their ladders, ready to go to work. But as both had got a ducking from the big pail of water, they were excused to go home and get dry clothes.

"Nervous? Scared? Who, me? Not much. That wasn't any more than happens every day. Some of us slip or fall a ways, but there is not always a gaping crowd to rubber and make a hero out of the incident."

"GIGGLING ALL THE TIME."

"I was giggling all the time," said Jacoby. "Just like a woman when she is tickled at something and can't laugh out loud. Just like kids in church, you know. I was kidding 'Pep' for the way he was attempting to swim in the air."

"No I did not look upon the incident as at all unusual," said Mr. Shirley, who has charge of the work. "It may have looked odd to the people in the street, but when you take into consideration that most every man I have can climb a rope hand over hand for seven stories at least, you can see that that lessens their danger. They are just like cats, always light feet down, and if their hands touch anything that looks like a rope they are sure to grab it and skin right back to where they fell from . Both men will be at work in the morning. They didn't go home because they were nervous."

There are two other scaffolds on the same side of the building on which there are from two to three men at work. They laughed heartily at the predicament of their fellow workmen, especially because they got a ducking, and thought the whole thing was a joke.

RECALLS A SIMILAR ACCIDENT.

While the Long building as in course of erection a workman was laying terra cotta on the cornice at the very top, fourteen stories from the street. The piece he was laying fell from its place and the man with it. Near at hand was a rope with which the material was hauled to the roof. End over end the man went twice. Then his hands touched the rope and he grasped it, slid a few feet and remained still.

After getting his breath he went back to the top, hand over hand, got another piece of terra cotta to fit in the place of the one which was smashed on the pavement, slapped some mortar on to hold it in place and went to work. His hands were badly burned from "skinning" the rope in his fall of thirty feet. Otherwise he was alright.

Labels: accident, Bell street, Commerce building, Fifth street, R A Long building, Walnut Street

September 10, 1907

ATE HIS CAKE IN COURT.

Sammy Hopkins Visits the Juvenile

Court and Likes It.

Sammy Hopkins, 4 years old, was visiting the juvenile court yesterday. He was accompanied by an aunt, but she couldn't keep track of him.

"May I eat a piece of sweet cake after the judge gets here?" Sammy asked Dr. E. L. Mathias, probation officer, just before the afternoon session took up. "Yes, if the judge doesn't catch you at it," the doctor said.

So, while Judge E. E. Porterfield sat at the table and heard case after case, Sammy slipped up to the judge's bench, hid behind it and ate a piece of ginger bread. Then with the crumbs on his face, he crawled up into the chair and looked at the judge's back. He was a cute little tyke, and he wore a cap on his head that attracted considerable attention.

Judge Porterfield turned around to look at the boy, and he slid off the chair and crawled back under the bench.

There he went exploring and finally found a piece of gum sticking on the underside of the bench. Manipulating this with outh and fingers, he came running to his aunt to show what he had found.

"Take it back," she whispered, "it belongs to the judge."

So Sammy took the gum back and stuck it where he had found it under the bench.

"I'm going to be in court regular some day," Sammy said, after his aunt had prevailed upon him to talk for publication. "I hopped a street car once and had a policeman chase me half a block.

"Mamma calls me Sammy, but my real name is S. R. I live at 2808 Bell. I go to Sunday school on Nineteenth street near the school house."

Sammy stayed until the court was adjourned at 5 o'clock. Before he left he hunted up Dr. Mathias:

"The judge didn't catch me, did he?" were Sammy's parting words.

Labels: Bell street, children, doctors, Dr Mathias, Judges, juvenile court, Nineteenth street

August 4, 1907

BY AUTO TO DENVER.

"JACK" CUDAHY WILL TRY TO
ESTABLISH RECORD.

MADE THE START LAST NIGHT

HOPES TO TRAVEL 813 MILES IN
ESTABLISHED RECORD.
Crossed the Kansas State Line at 10:30
p. m. in Fifty-Horse Power Welch
Touring Car, Accompanied by
C. E. Ettwain and Two

Chauffers.

"Jack" Cudahy, manager of the Cudahy interests in Kansas City, and a motor car enthusiast, started at 10:30 o'clock last night on a trial run to Denver, a distance of 813 miles. He was accompnaied by C. E. Ettwein of the Ettwein Motor Car Company and two chauffers.

The effort o J. P. Cudahy to set a new record for the distance, following closely after the proposed speed trial to be made by J. A. Whitman, who was scheduled to start yesterday morning, will create some surprise in local automobile circles, as Mr. Cudahy's run was arranged for and the start made without the knowledge of many of his closest personal friends.

At exactly 10:30 o'clock the big fifty-horse-power Welch touring car quietly left the state line at Southwest boulevard near Bell street. The only witnesses to the start were W. W. Cowen, president of the Kansas City Automobile Club, and L. R. Moore. Mr. Cowan drove his car to the state line and started the party officially.

The car carries extra tires, fifty gallons of gasoline and provisions. Three acetylene lamps were placed in front to insure safe travel at night. Mr. Cudahy and Mr. Ettwein will eat on the car and the only stops made will be for gasoline and perhaps for repairs. Mr. Ettwein was at the wheel on the start and expected to reach Lawrence, Kas., at 12:15 this morning.

When Mr. Cudahy heard that Whitman had declared he could make the run in twenty-seven hours, he made that statement that if Whitman could do it so could he.

"I expected to go to Denver by rail tomorrow night," said Mr. Cudahy, "but after thinking over the matter I decided to try out my car on a long run. Denver looked as good to me as anywhere else and having great confidence in the speed and durability of my machine I saw no reason why I could not make the run in as good time as anyone else."

With good weather, which means fairly good roads, and no bad luck the party expects to reach Denver some time early tomorrow morning.

There is no speed record between Kansas City and Denver and if the Cudahy party succeeds in showing even creditable time it will be up to someother Western enthusiast to come forth and show something better. The best time is expected to be made in Western Kansas where the roads are level and there is little travel.

Friends of Mr. Cudahy will be informed at every opportunity as to the progress being made by the party while enroute. Mr. Cowen yesterday wired to many of the principal points along the route in search of information about the condition of the roads and the weather outlook. With the exception of probable rain storms in Western Kansas the outlook for fair weather and passable roads is especially good.

Labels: automobiles, Bell street, Denver, Lawrence, Southwest boulevard

June 27, 1907

DRANK IT LIKE A TOAST.

Woman Who Forsook Husband for

Another Man Takes Poison.

After warning Frank Palmer, of 920 Bell street, Kansas City, that he would never again receive a dinner from her hands, Mrs. Inez Others, of St. Joseph, Mo., at noon yesterday raised a two-ounce vial of carbolic acid to her lips and drank it like a toast.

The tragedy happened directly underneath the front entrance of the Fowler packing house, and just as the laborers were filing out to receive their lunches from the hands of children and wives who were bringing them. A dozen men where standing about Mrs. Others when she took the poison, but none of them noticed anything extraordinary in her action. They said they thought she was only joking.

When Mrs. Others reached the center of the Fifth street car tracks, however, she was een to fall. A policeman who happened to be riding on a westbound car had it stopped and an ambulance was called to take her to No. 2 police station, where she died a few minutes later. Her body was then removed to Porter & Gibson's undertaking rooms.

Mrs. Others four weeks ago left a husband, Walter Others, in St. Joseph, Mo.

Palmer is now being held at No. 2 police station pending investigation. He said yesterday that he, like the other men who were standing about when Mrs. Others committed suicide, thought the act was only to deceive him, and that the contents of the bottle was water. He said they had quarreled in the morning, and that she had then declared her intention of killing herself, but that he had not paid much attention to the threat as she had once before drank what she claimed to be poison, but which had no effect on her.

Labels: Bell street, Fifth street, No 2 police station, poison, St.Joseph, streetcar, Suicide, undertakers

January 29, 1907

BEAT HER MOTHER.

INSANE DAUGHTER VICOUSLY

ATTACKS MRS. MURLEY

INJURIES MAY CAUSE DEATH.

FOR YEARS AGED WOMAN LIVED
ALONE WITH DAUGHTER
Always Protested Against Sending
Her to Asylum -- Miss Murley's Hallucination
of Marriage ith Man Whose Name She Conceals

The muffled scrams of a woman attracted some attention in the vicinity of Forty-sixth and Bell streets late Sunday night, but, as they finally died down, little attention was paid to the incident. Early yesterday Mrs. Nancy Murley, 72 years old, both eyes blackened, her head cut and her body beaten black and blue, left her home at 4604 Bell street and made her way to a neighbor's house. Having been a cripple for many years, Mrs. Murley walked with a cane.

"I have done my best to protect my daughter for the last nineteen years," the aged woman told the neighbor, "but now she has beaten me nearly to death and threatens to kill me. She is locked in the house there and I had a hard time getting out without being seen."

Police station No. 5 in Westport was at once notified and Mrs. Murley was cared for. Sergeant Dillingham, accompanied by H. D. Greenman, a son of Humane agent Greenman, went to the house, which they found closed, all doors being tightly bolted or locked. Miss Fannie Murley, the woman hwo had so cruelly beaten her mother, was finally prevailed upon to admit them. She was sent to police headquarters and later in the day transferred to the general hospital, where she will remain until the county court passes on her case. She probably will be sent ot an asylum.

Beaten With a Board.

Miss Murley never missed going to both Sunday school and church. When she returned home Sunday night and her mother admitted her she said:

"I am going to put a stop to you and Bessie (a cousin) talking about me. I am going to beat you to death, or burn your limbs off so you can't go out and then I shall go and kill her."

Mrs. Murley had seen her daughter in a tantrum often before and thought by letting her alone she would become quited. Instead, however, the woman, who is 32 years old, fiercely attacked her aged mother with her fists, beating her severly about the face and head. Then she got a piece of board or bed slat and beat her mother over the back and shoulders. Mrs. Murley is now in a dangerous condition, on account of her age, and may die from the injuries. Dr. T. H. Smith, Forty-third and Bell streets, is attending Mrs. Murley.

J. W. Davis, 405 Freeman avenue, Rosedale, a motorman, is a cousin by marriage of the woman. It was his wife, Bessie, whom Miss Murley had also threatened to kill. From him it was learned that Miss Murley had had typhoid fever when 13 years old and from that time had been slightly demented.

Devotion of the Mother.

"Only two weeks ago," said Davis, "the girl beat her mother so that she was compelled to leave home and come to my house for a few days. The girl has always been dangerous, but her mother, hoping against hope, lived there alone with her. We probably never willknow what the aged woman has endured in all these nineteen years. Now, however, she sees the utter futility of trying to keep her at home adn will endeavor to send her to an asylum. She was not able to leave her bed today, though, and may never be again."

Davis said that Miss Murley has often disappeared from the home. She would put on a hat and leave when her mother was not watching her and, in a week or ten days, return in the same mysterious manner. She was never able, however, to tell where she had been or what she did. On one occasion when she had been gone for two weeks, and the police had searched for her all over town, she returned late one evening. She was wet and cold., for it was in the fall of the year, and her shoes were worn through to her blistered feet. When asked where she had been all she would say was, "I rode on a hand carl>"

Another time Miss Murley was found wandering in the woods near here. Believeing that she would like a trip to the country she was sent to relatives on a farm, but all to no avail. The police at the Westport station have record of many times where Miss Murley disappeared, but she always returned home, when she became more reational, without their ever having had a single trace of her.

Doctor Calls Her Dangerous

Dr. St. Elmo Sanders, city physician, examined Miss Murley in a cell at police headquarters yesterday afternoon. She told him that she never struck her mother in her life, but suspected that neighbors were "annoying her." She said that she got up early to make a fire and her mother began to scream, "a habit she has had for a long time," she added. The woman is believed to have attacked her mother with an iron stove poker just before Mrs. Murley succeeded in making her escape from the house.

Miss Murley also said that she was married two months ago to a gospel singer. "He was here two weeks ago," she said, "but had to go away again. We were married in an East side Christian Church." Further than that she refused to state. Davis, her cousin, said Miss Murley had never been married, but had often written love letters to men with whom she had been acquainted or had only seen. She took her pencil to jail with her.

Thomas Bell, a farmer of Shelby county, Mo., brother of Mrs. Murley, was notified by Davis of her condition. He will probably arrive here today. Mrs. Murley wil be removed to a hospital where she can be more properly cared for. The neighbors have been caring for her since she was attacked so brutally. Since the death of Daniel Murley, an old soldier and husband of Mrs. Murley, she and her daughter have lived at 4604 Bell street. She bought a little home there five months ago.

"Miss Murley, though a small woman," said Dr. Sanders, after the examination, "is one of the most dangerous patients I have seen in years. She is suffering from chronic melancholia, and would kill another perosn or herself just as soon as the notion struck her. She must be closely guarded. I am not surprised at what she had done, or that she denies it. She should have been incarcerated years ago."

Labels: abuse, Bell street, Col. J. C. Greenman, general hospital, mental health, police headquarters, Rosedale, Seniors, typhoid, Westport