|
January 21, 1910 BOY SUSPECTS GIVEN FREEDOM.
NO EVIDENCE FOUND AGAINST LOUIS DYE, RALPH CLYNE AND HARRY SHAY.
Those Filing Charges and Making Identifications Fail to Appear. Three boys, Louis Dye, Ralph Clyne and Harry M. Shay, accused of highway robbery, were dismissed from the charge by Justice James B. Shoemaker yesterday afternoon, completely vindicated. His action, Justice Shoemaker said afterwards, was warranted by the fact that they had not been sufficiently identified as the robbers, that their good character was obvious and that there was a want of prosecution, none of the the complaining witnesses nor any of the numerous persons alleged to have been robbed being present in the court room when the case was called.
A chance resemblance alleged to exist between the innocent youths and the boy bandits who committed innumerable depredations, including a murder, a month and a half ago, has followed the former since their apprehension in the Peck dry goods store December 7. Interrogated by police and county prosecutors, and an attempt made to personally assault one of them in the office of Captain Walter Whitsett at Central station by Thomas Spangler, whose father was killed by robbers in his saloon at Twentieth street and Grand avenue, the boys have had an unenviable six weeks.
Although Clyne, Dye and Shay worked in the same store in the capacity of elevator operators, they were scarcely acquainted before their arrest. They met often in the course of a day's work but it was only as other employes of a large commercial institution that hires hundreds of people meet. Now they are friends. Adversity and a common cause have brought them together.
The boys were arrested at the Peck store, at the insistence of Miss Stella Sweet, 529 Brooklyn avenue, and Mrs. L. F. Flaugh, 629 Brooklyn avenue, at 5:30 o'clock, December 7. Captain Walter Whitsett and Patrolmen E. M. Smith and E. L. Masson were the arresting officers.
While getting on the elevator to shop on the third floor the women, both of whom had been held up and robbed a week before, said they thought Clyne and Shay were trying to conceal their faces from them.
In the office of Captain Whitsett, the next day, the several persons previously robbed by the boy bandits were allowed to examine the boys in the presence of Captain Whitsett, Thomas R. Marks and Thomas Higgs, deputy county prosecutor. They were: Joseph Shannon, Miss Sweet, Mrs. Flaugh, W. S. McCain, Edward Smith, Albert Ackerman, Thomas Spangler and Edward McCreary.
When the case was called for trial before Justice Shoemaker yesterday afternoon Smith was out of town. He had left an assurance that he positively would not swear that the boys were guilty of robbing him. McCreary was not at the trial when his name was called, and it had reached the ears of the court likewise that he would not, under oath, associate the boys with the crime he had formerly charged against them.
Assistant Prosecutor Higgs asked for a continuance of the case until he could procure further evidence, but this was overruled. the boys were dismissed for want of prosecution.
"The police and the county had no case against them," said Justice Shoemaker. "This is another instance of someone acting prematurely. From all evidence to the contrary, these young men are as guiltless as anyone here in the courtroom."Labels: Brooklyn avenue, Captain Whitsett, courtroom, criminal court, jail, Justice Shoemaker, Spangler murder
December 8, 1909 BOYS IDENTIFIED AS SPANGLER'S SLAYERS.
ROBBERS' VICTIMS RECOGNIZE TRIO, ONE A BRIDEGROOM.
Elevator Operators, Ages 17, 19 and 21, in Downtown Dry Goods Store, Are Arrested -- Youngest Weeps, Others Indifferent.  LOUIS M. DYE, RALPH A. CLYNE AND HARRY SHAY, Three Suspects Held by Police for Spangler Murder and Recent Holdups. (Sketched at Police Headquarters Last Night.) Working on the "boy bandit" theory, the police yesterday evening arrested three youths, two of whom were identified as having shot and killed M. A. Spangler and wounded Sam Spangler, his son, in their saloon at Twentieth street and Grand avenue on the morning of November 23. Their names are Louis Dye, 21 years old; Ralph Clyne, 19, and Harry Shay, 17. All are employed as elevator operators in a down town dry goods store. Dye is a bridegroom.
The arrest was made at 5:30 o'clock by Captain Walter Whitsett and Plain Clothes Officers E. M. Smith and E. L. Maston.
VICTIMS VISIT STORE. The officers visited the store in company with several recent victims of holdups and rode in the elevators with the boys as they were at work. They were arrested and taken to police headquarters. Albert Ackerman, 502 1/2 Wyandotte street, the man who was in the Spangler saloon at the time of the shooting, was summoned and in Captain Whitsett's office identified Dye and Clyne as the two who shot up the saloon.
"That's the fellow that had the gun," Ackerman stated, pointing at Dye. "The other fellow was with him. Of course they are dressed differently now, but there is no mistaking their faces."
Four others who have been robbed recently visited police headquarters in the evening and in every case identified the boys.
DRUGGIST IDENTIFIES. W. S. McCann, a druggist, living at 1405 East Tenth street, identified Dye and Clyne as the two men who attempted to rob his store at Twenty-seventh street and Agnes avenue on the night of November 25. He said they went in the store, and that Clyne pointed a revolver at his head while Dye attempted to rob the cash register. When he showed fight they fired four shots at him and ran. He thinks that Harry Shay is the man that was left outside as a look out.
Miss Stella Sweet, 529 Brooklyn avenue, and Mrs. C. L. Flaugh, 629 Brooklyn avenue, who were held up Thanksgiving night on the steps of the Admiral Boulevard Congregational church, identified all three of the boys as the robbers.
Edward C. Smith of the Smith-McCord-Townsend Dry Goods Company declared that the three boys had robbed him on Thirty-sixth street, between Locust and Cherry streets, on the night of December 3. They took a pocket book containing a Country Club bond for $100. At that time they had handkerchiefs tied over their faces, but Smith was sure that he recognized them.
SPANGLER TO SEE TRIO. Captain Whitsett made no attempt to cross-examine the boys last night, but ordered them locked up until this morning when they will be confronted by further witnesses, the chief of whom will be Sam Spangler, who was discharged from the general hospital yesterday. The prosecutor's office was notified and representatives will be on hand today to take their statements.
"I am sure that we have got the right men this time," stated Captain Whitsett. "They answer the description of the gang that have been doing all the robbing lately, and I am sure that it was they that held up Joseph B. Shannon last week."
None of the boys would make any statement except that they were strangers in town, only having been working for a week. During the identification process both Dye and Clyne showed indifference, while the younger boy, Shay, broke down and cried.
Dye lives at 1921 Oakland, Shay at 1242 Broadway and Clyne at 1710 East Thirteenth street. Dye was married three weeks ago, shortly before the Spangler murder.Labels: Broadway, Brooklyn avenue, Captain Whitsett, crime, druggists, elevators, Grand avenue, murder, police headquarters, retailers, saloon, Spangler murder, Twentieth street, Wyandotte street
November 16, 1909 NOISE SAVES SILVERWARE.
Burglar One Who Had Been Wait- ing on Porch With Headache. The noise of a bureau drawer being opened awakened Dr. Frances Henry about 3 o'clock yesterday morning in her home, 2203 Brooklyn avenue. She hurried down stairs just in time to see a man running down the hall and escape through the open door.
An examination of the bureau showed that nothing had been taken, although $100 worth of silver plate would have been gone had not Dr. Henry been awakened.
She had noticed the man earlier in the evening on the front porch when she returned from the University hospital, where she had attended a patient.
"I want to see a doctor," the man apologized. "My head hurts me."Labels: Brooklyn avenue, crime, doctors, University hospital
April 17, 1909 FIRST TWO WHEELERS ARE HERE.
Promoters Have Troubles Intro- ducing the Hansom Cab. An epoch in the history of Kansas City was made yesterday with the appearance of a real hansom cab, one of two just imported of those two-wheeled, lofty vehicles in which the driver rides way up in back and holds the reins over the roof and the two passengers sit behind locked doors.
The denouement was made yesterday afternoon when a prominent society woman who lives on West Armour boulevard engaged the vehicle to drive home from a reception given by another prominent society woman on Brooklyn avenue.
At the outset the carriage washer at the livery barn, the enterprise of whose manager brought the equipages to this city, refused to have anythingthing to do with them.
"Have I got to wash them things all summer?" he asked when he first saw the cab yesterday. "Not me. Gimme my money and I'm gone." And he went.
The question of livery for the driver was still to be solved. Twelve pairs of moleskin breeches were brought out. Harry Lasco, the "Cabby," tried on several pairs and then lost his nerve.
"Please let me wear regular trousers," he said. "I know I'll feel queer enough up there on the seat of that thing, as it is. The hat and coat are all right. I don't mind them so much, but the pants."
Lasco's troubles began when he reached Main street. Small boys followed and howled at him. Obliged to wait to allow a car to pass, a crowd gathered quickly and it was some minutes before he could proceed. On the way back from the reception after driving several parties up and down the boulevard, he found the most unfrequented streets and returned to the barn without a mishap. The promoters of the hansom cab have purchased twelve heavy coach horses.Labels: animals, Brooklyn avenue, clothing, Main street
March 10, 1909 LITTLE WHITE MARE IS DEAD.
Arabian Funeral Horse Died on Way to Cemetery. There was a little tragedy in a funeral procession on its way to Union cemetery at the corner of Forty-second street and Brooklyn avenue, yesterday afternoon. It was when Ella, a pure white Arabian mare, belonging to the J. W. Wagner undertaking firm, toppled over in her harness and fell dead almost beneath the wheels of the vehicle in which at the closest estimate she has hauled 2,800 bodies to the grave.
Scarcely anyone but the driver, George Wagner, paid more than a passing glance to the dead animal. It was hastily cut loose from its trappings and a team of black horses took the place of the white ones on the hearse.
Ella was imported from Cuba by the undertaking firm, twenty years ago. Her mate, John, cost $700 exclusive of transportation charges. She was a pedigreed Arabian with glistening white hair, through which could be seen her pink skin. Her mate died two years ago. Since then she had been harnessed with a white horse of mongrel stock, but years younger than herself.
Members of the firm say that Ella has the undertaker's horse of Kipling's poem beaten in many ways as a tractable animal, and that her professional experience exceeds anything of the kind on record.Labels: animals, Brooklyn avenue, death, Forty-second street, undertakers
February 4, 1909
CAUSE OF BOY'S DEATH TO BE INVESTIGATED.
PARENTS CHARGE NEGLIGENCE AND WILL FIX BLAME.
Father Says Consent for the Vaccin- ation of Floyd Tinsley Was Never Given to School Authorities.  FLOYD M. TINSLEY.
"Thorough investigation of all the facts surrounding the death of Floyd M. Tinsley, the 12-year-old son of W. G. Tinsley, 2323 Prospect avenue, which resulted from an infected vaccination wound, will be made by the boy's parents as soon as possible, and every effort will be made to place the blame for any negligence that may have caused the child's death. "Somebody has got to answer for the boy's death," said Mr. Tinsley last night. "Somebody is responsible for it, and I'm going to find out who it is."
The vaccination, which took place in the Irving school three weeks ago Tuesday was, it is said, performed contrary to the wishes of the parents. Mr. Tinsley wished to deny the statement of an afternoon paper, which said that he had written to the school's authorities asking that the child be vaccinated.
"It's a lie," said he; "no note was ever written by me to the school about the vaccination. I would not have had it done. I have always been opposed to vaccination, and when Floyd was vaccinated it was without my knowledge."
MOTHER DRESSED THE WOUND. "Three weeks ago three of the five Tinsley children were vaccinated at the Irving school by Dr. Hasbrouck De Lamater, whose office is at Thirty-fifth street and Brooklyn avenue. A few days after the vaccination Floyd's arm began to trouble him. A pasteboard guard had been placed over the vaccination wound and the boy given instructions not to remove it. Over a week ago the wound became so foul and so much refuse matter collected around it that the boy's mother thought it best to take off the cap and dress the wound with antiseptic. This she did, using powdered burnt alum as a healing medicine, and bandaging the wound with medicated cotton and clean, white cloth three times each day.
Sunday afternoon Floyd was so much worse that he was kept in bed. Late Sunday afternoon the family physician, B. F. Watson, who lives at Howard and Prospect avenues, was called in. He examined they boy and, according to his own statement and that of the boy's parents, administered calomel and salts. The mother told him of the condition of the boy's arm and, according to Mrs. Tinsley, Dr. Watson washed it out with hot water and boric acid. Dr. Watson denies the washing of the wound.
"It was late, and the light in the room was insufficient," stated," stated the doctor last night. "I really didn't know what was the matter with the boy, but no thought of possible infection occurred to me. It was not until I returned to the house Monday morning that I saw the boy had lockjaw, and then I arranged to have him taken to the hospital. It was with my recommendation that the parents allowed Floyd to be taken to the general hospital.
DOCTOR WAS MISQUOTED. "I was misquoted in the afternoon paper Wednesday. It credits me with saying that infection set up in the wound after it had been dressed by the boy's parents. I did not say that, nor do I pretend to know when infection set in. If the wound became infected before it was dressed by the parents, before the pasteboard guard was removed, then the boy's death was not due to negligence of the parents."
Floyd was taken to the general hospital Monday night, over twelve hours after lockjaw had set in. There he was operated on by Dr. J. Park Neal, who was unable to save his life. Dr. Neal stated last night that everything known to medical science had been tried to save the boy, but that the infection was of too long standing.
Mr. and Mrs. Tinsley have four surviving children: Myrtle, aged 13; William, aged 9; Hazel, aged 7, and Lester, aged 4. Hazel and Myrtle were vaccinated at the same time Floyd was, and Myrtle's arm is now causing much trouble. A physician has been called to treat her in hopes that she may be saved from her brother's fate. Mr. Tinsley and his wife said last night that neither of them knew their children were to be vaccinated. They were emphatic in their stand that none of the rest should be submitted to a similar operation. Floyd Tinsley was in the fourth grade at school and under the supervision of Miss Edna Miller, his teacher, and Miss Gertrude Green, the principal of the Irving school.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, death, Dr J Park Neal, general hospital, Prospect avenue, schools, Thirty-fifth street
January 28, 1909 LETTERS TELL OF LOVE AND LUCRE
WOMEN LIKE NORD, BUT WANT THEIR MONEY BACK. 2,000 FOUND BY POLICE
KANSAS CITY APPARENT WEST- ERN LIMIT OF OPERATIONS.
Trusting Females Assure Nord of Their Faith in Him and Men- tion Cash in Loans or in Mining Schemes. Nearly 2,000 love letters written to Charles E. Nord, arrested in Omaha January 13 and charged with passing a bogus check on C. H. Reardon, 2602 Brooklyn avenue, found among his effects yesterday by Detectives Robert Phelen and Scott Godley, show that he preyed upon the affections of women in all parts of the country. Nord is now in the county jail, awaiting trial.
Some of the writers of the letters offer up their lives if necessary for his love, and others asked the return of money received from them. Nord apparently had the faculty of inspiring love in all women with whom he came in contact.
Jane Ida Bell, Halleybury, Ont., met Nord and fell in love with him. She had a little money in her own name, and purchased a half interest in a mining claim. Her brokers were informed of her little flyer, and Nord decamped.
LEFT HER HOME FOR HIM. One writer, who signed her name as Jane, lived at 1223 Irwin street, Pittsburgh, Pa. She wrote to Nord in the most endearing terms. She pleaded with the man to sell his office furniture in Buffalo and come to her and marry her. She promised to work and assist in paying the household expenses. Her family objected, and she left home and went to work as a bookkeeeper for $12 a week.
On account of her confidence in him, Nord, from the letter, seems to have succeeded in getting the girl to loan him $25. Again he asked for $25, but she did not have it and informed Nord that she had sold her furniture to give him the money the first time he asked for hit. Then, losing her position, she wrote Nord, telling him sh e was starving.
THIS ONE WOULD PAY HIM. An annuity of $100 a month was offered to Nord by Ida M. Stern, 5519 Madison street, Chicago, Ill., if he would only marry her and allow her to love him the rest of her life. She said she had that much guaranteed and they could live on it until his mines panned out.
Then Mary L. Berry got into the game, and Nord loved her $1,000 worth, or at least she says she signed his note for that amount. Mrs. Anna Heerhold, Irving Park, Ill., says she gave him a check for $500 and failed to ever hear from him again.
It remained for a Kansas City girl named Ida M., who formerly lived at 305 Wabash avenue, to represent the extreme western line that Nord's emotional and financial operations extended to. She loved him well enough to trust him for a loan, and then says she burned out the telephone wires in a futile effort to make him repay her.
In all of the letters the women write him they express the utmost faith in his love and fidelity, but wonder why he fails to keep his word. The police recovered nearly 2,000 letters written to Nord, and all of them speak of money obtained, either as loans or on mining schemes.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, Chicago, con artist, detectives, forgery, Omaha, romance, Wabash avenue
January 21, 1909 CHILD STRANGLED TO DEATH.
Food Lodged in Windpipe of Little Arthur Campbell. Arthur Campbell, the 2-years-and-5-months-old son of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Campbell, 2400 Brooklyn avenue, was strangled to death yesterday afternoon while eating meat and potatoes. Some of the food became lodged in his windpipe, causing a violent fit of coughing, which led to a spasm of the lungs.
Dr. Frances J. Henry, who lives near, was hastily summoned to attend the child, but it died before she reached the house. Mr. Campbell, father of the child, is in the employ of the Central Coal and Coke Company.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, death, doctors
December 8, 1908 J. S. CHICK, PIONEER MERCHANT, IS DEAD.
HE FOUNDED THE FIRST BANK IN KANSAS CITY.
Widely Known for His Integrity and Honor in Business Affairs. Funeral Will Be Held Tomorrow. Joseph Smith Chick, founder of the first bank in this city and for fifty years a citizen here, died at his home, 1039 Brooklyn avenue, at 4:30 yesterday morning. He had been ill several months, although he went to his offices until last week.
Mr. Chick was born in Howard county, Mo., August 3, 1828. His parents were from Virginia and the family lived on a farm. In 1830 the family moved to the town of Westport. Mr. Chick's father, Colonel William M. Chick, was one of the early purchasers of the original site on which Kansas City was built. At the time the family moved to Westport there were not a half a dozen families in Kansas City, called then Westport Landing. Joseph Chick went to the Westport schools, but at the age of 18 years put away his books and went into business. He became a clerk in the general store of H. M. Northrup, the largest shop of its kind in the town of Westport Landing. He worked hard and faithfully and in 1852 was admitted to a partnership in the firm.
Soon afterwards he and his partner conceived the idea of operating a bank in Kansas City and established one under the name of H. M. Northrup & Co. The company also took some interest in the trade across the plains to Santa Fe and in the year 1861 Mr. Chick and Mr. Northrup, with their wives, made the trip over the Santa Fe trail to trade with the Indians.
BANKING IN NEW YORK. The next year, on account of the unsettled conditions prevailing, the company gave up its business in Kansas City and removed to New York, where they established a bank under the name of Northrup & Chick, on Wall street. For eleven years they continued in that city but in 1874 Mr. Chick sold out his interest and removed to this city, where he associated himself with some of the wealthy business men of the city and organized the Bank of Kansas City. In 1888 this institution was merged with the National Bank of Kansas City and Mr. Chick was chosen president, a position he held until the dissolution of the firm in 1895. Since then he had been in the real estate business with his son.
Mr. Chick was also connected with the St. Louis and Missouri River Telegraph Company, built to Kansas City in 1851; the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the macadamized road from Westport to the city, the first telephone company, the Kansas City Electric Light Company and the National Loan & Trust Company. He was once president of the board of trade.
For many years Mr. Chick had lived in the house where he died. Immediately after his return from New York he bought a large plot of ground in that neighborhood, ten acres facing on the street that is now Brooklyn avenue. Mr. Chick gave the street its present name after the city that he made his home when a banker in New York.
Since his early youth Mr. Chick was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and a faithful attendant at church services. For the last twenty-five years he had been the president of the board of stewards of the Central Methodist Episcopal church.
MRS. CHICK IS ILL. Mr. Chick was married to Miss Julia Sexton of Howard county in 1855. Mrs. Chick is 76 years old. She is dangerously ill and may not survive her husband for long.
Two children survive, Joseph S. Chick, Jr., and Mrs. E. E. Porterfield, wife of Judge Porterfield, and three grandchildren, Mrs. Robert G. Caldwell, who lives in Indianapolis, Ind., E. E. Porterfield, Jr., and Miss Julia C. Porterfield.
The funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home. Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery. The active pallbearers will be selected from Mr. Chick's nephews.
In both his public and his private life Mr. Chick bore the reputation for exemplary character. His business integrity was above reproach, and when the bank with which he was connected failed in 1895 on account of hard times, Mr. Chick assumed the task of paying off the debt. Five years ago the last dollar was paid, together with 8 per cent interest on the money. He was always benevolent in disposition and had given an efficient business training to many young men now scattered in many states. His bearing was erect and his address cheerful. He was beloved by many, and liked by all who knew him.Labels: banking, Brooklyn avenue, cemetery, churches, death, history, Judge Porterfield, Mt. Washington, New York, pioneers, railroad, real estate, retailers, Santa Fe Trail, telephone, Utilities, Westport
September 2, 1908 SPIRITUALISTS MEETING HERE.
They Want to Convince Public It's a Religion, Not a Science. Many prominent spiritualists from various sections of the country will speak during the present mass meeting being held in the Psychical Research church, Twelfth street and Brooklyn avenue, making the event one of the most important of the kind ever held by the church in this city.
The meeting, which opened Tuesday, will continue until Thursday, September 10. Last night was devoted to an address by Rev. Mrs. G. C. Stephens, pastor of the church. Every afternoon a bazaar is held, and thus far the attendance has been large.
George B. Warne of Washington, D. C., president of the National Spiritualists Association, will lecture next Tuesday evening, and it is expected that spiritualists from all over Missouri and Kansas will attend on this occasion. Other speakers will be A. Scott Bledsoe, ex-president of the Kansas association, and Thomas Grimshaw of St. Joseph, one of the state officials.
The meetings are being held for the purpose of endeavoring to convince the public that spiritualism is a religion rather than a science.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, churches, organizations, St.Joseph, Twelfth street, visitors
August 22, 1908 ELECTRIC HAS AN AIRSHIP.
Man Named Mars, but From Omaha, Is Inventor and Navigator. For the last three days patrons of Electric park wondered what was in a large tent that was pitched near the monkey cage. Even the park employes couldn't guess what was in it. Yesterday afternoon, without any announcement, Charles Baysdorfer and George E. Yager opened up the front of the tent and helpers carried out a lemon-shaped gas bag to which was hung a light frame, carrying a small gasoline engine.
Baysdorfer climbed on the frame, started the engine and sailed away.
Then M. G. Heim and his able corps of press agents heaved a sigh of relief. The thing really flew.
It gyrated around over the park, then started for nowhere in particular, landing at Thirty-seventh street and Brooklyn avenue when a battery went wrong. A new batter was procured and the airship sailed back to the park and to its tent. A flight lasting half an hour was staged yesterday evening. J. C. Mars -- fine name for an airshipper -- sailed the thing on this flight.
The airship is called the Baysdorfer-Yager "Comet." The men whose name it bears made it in Omaha, their home.
They will attempt to sail twice a day, but the park management promises nothing. Baysdorfer will attempt to come down town with the ship this noon.Labels: airships, Brooklyn avenue, Electric park, Omaha, Thirty-seventh street, visitors
June 17, 1908 THOMAS MINOGUE IS DEAD.
Prominent in Local Sports for the Past Twenty Years. Thomas Minogue, for the last twenty years one of the prominent figures in Kansas City's sportdom, died about 6 o'clock yesterday morning at his boarding house, 1325 Brooklyn avenue. Minogue was 45 years old and Wednesday night was apparently healthy and in prime condition. A hemorrhage of the lungs was the cause of his death. He was unmarried, but leaves a mother and sister in Leavenworth, Kas. At the time of his death, Minogue was assistant superintendent of the streets. He had formerly held the same job under Mayor James A. Reed, when T. J. Pendergast was head of the department. At one time he was a bartender in the Pendergast saloon. When the new administration came in Minogue was given back his job as assistant street commissioner.
Minogue's figure was as well known around the racing stables at New Orleans and in the East as in Kansas City. No wrestling contest or prize fight was complete without him. He sometimes officiated as referee and sometimes as announcer. At various times he became a promoter of prize fighters, but never with striking success.
Among sporting men Minogue was considered a "good Indian." He never "laid down" and never left a friend in the lurch. He was a friend of "Doc." Shively and Dave Porteous, and was looked upon as an authority on boxing. He was a member of the order of Eagles. The funeral arrangements have not been made.Labels: boarding house, Brooklyn avenue, death, James A. Reed, Leavenworth, lodges, Mayor Crittenden, New Orleans, saloon, sports, Thomas J. Pendergast
May 22, 1908 TOOK MORE THAN A TOOTHFUL.
Schoolboy Disregarded Mother's Di- rections in Use of Carbolic Acid. Lloyd Thomas, 11 years old, 2035 East Thirty-fifth street, was told by his mother to put some carbolic acid in the cavity of an aching tooth. That was about 8:30 a. m Tuesday. Lloyd had never used that drug before and knew nothing of its potency.
Lloyd, instead of trying to put a drop into the cavity, turned up the bottle and filled his mouth with the acid. It burned so that he swallowed it. Presently he became unconscious and the family became alarmed. Dr. W. A. Shelton, who lives lose by at 3435 Brooklyn avenue, was summoned and gave the boy a powerful antidote, not before his throat and esophagus had been badly burned by the acid, however. Yesterday the boy was better, but is not yet out of danger. He is the son of Robert Thomas, a real estate man. Lloyd is a school boy.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, doctors, poison, real estate, Thirty-fifth street
May 19, 1908 READ SONGS OF SOLOMON TO ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE.
B. C. Boyles Alleges That S. D. Bur- nett Thus Won the Love of Mrs. Boyles. Reading passages from the Songs of Solomon and Old Testament romances to Mrs. B. C. Boyles was one means employed by S. D. Burnett to win the woman's affections, Boyles, the husband, yesterday declared on the stand in Judge J. H. Slover's division of the circuit court, where his suit against Burnett for $20,000 for the alienation of his wife's affections is on trial. Just what particular songs and stories Burnett read Boyles was unable to specify.
It was only a short while ago, Boyles said, that he discovered Burnett had been reading form the Scriptures to Mrs. Boyles. He might have seen them reading, he said but he gave no thought to it, because Burnett is a leader in the Presbyterian church at Independence, and Mrs. Boyles is a church woman. It was when he overheard, as he claims, Mrs. Boyles recalling to Burnett things he had once read to her, that he grew suspicious.
This will be denied today, probably, by Burnett, when his attorneys have their inning in which to present the defense. The plaintiff has beeen showing his side of the case to the jury for two days and it will take as long to give the defense.
Boyles is a brother of Mrs. Burnett The two families were intimate until last autumn when Boyles filed suit against his brother-in-law. Burnett owns a section or so of land north of Independence. Boyles operates a dairy farm at Seventy-third street and Brooklyn avenue. Boyles secured a divorce last June on the ground that his wife's love for him had waned. He did not mention Burnett in that suit.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, circuit court, Divorce, Judge Slover, Lawsuit, Seventy-third street
April 3, 1908 UNKNOWN WOMAN KILLED BY TRAIN.
RUN DOWN ON BELT LINE NEAR PARK AVENUE. DIES IN GENERAL HOSPITAL.
REFUSES TO GIVE ANY INFORMA- TION ABOUT HERSELF.
Carried Sunday School Tract With Little Girl's Name on It, but the Owner Does Not Know Her. A young woman who was crushed by the wheels of a Belt Line engine last night at 7:30 o'clock, died tow and a half hours later at the city hospital, without being identified. The scene of the accident was where the Belt tracks are fifteen feet below street level, half way between Brooklyn and Park avenues. It is near Nineteenth street.
The woman was walking eastward and must have entered the cut three blocks west, at the street level.
To avoid the Santa Fe local No. 59, westbound, she stepped upon the other main track, and a Milwaukee engine, eastbound, struck her. Pilot Al Williams was riding to work on the engine but neither he nor the engineer, James Spencer, saw her, nor did the fireman But the flagman on the freight train did.
She lay by the track, her left arm almost severed at the shoulder, and with a contusion, possibly a fracture, on each side of her head. A broad leather cushion from the car was brought and she was carried to Eighteenth street and Brooklyn avenue to the office of Dr. I. E. Ruhl, who saw that she was dying. The police ambulance from No. 4 police station, in charge of Patrolman Smith Cook and Dr. C. V. Bates, arrived and she was taken to the general hospital.
She seemed conscious, but could not be induced to talk. The only article she carried was a Sunday school quarterly bearing the name of Loretta Kurster, 1509 East Eighteenth street.
Drs. R. C. Henderson and T. B. Clayton, who operated on the woman at the hospital. said she seemed bright and could use her vocal organs, but evidently was suffering from a skull fracture so such an extent that she did not really understand what was said to her.
Asked if she knew how she had been hurt, she replied, wonderingly, "Hurt? Why, I didn't know anything was the matter." But questions as to her identity she did not attempt to answer, and there was nothing about her person to disclose this, besides the booklet.
In the meantime it had been discovered that Loretta Kursler is a 12-year-old girl who was uninjured and busy in her mother's bakery at the address given in the book. She thought it might be a Sunday school teacher she had met at Central Baptist church, Miss Blanche Wade, but Miss Wade was found safe at her home. She at once, however, went to the hospital to see if she could identify the woman. The quarterly was found to be one pushed by the Christian denomination.
The Kursler child having recently become a pupil at the Forest Avenue Christian church, Miss Wade called Rev. J. L. Thompson of the Forest Avenue church for aid in identifying the woman. Loretta Kursler said her Christian Sunday school teacher was called Grace, but she did not know her last name. The minister accounted for every Sunday school worker by the name of Grace and everyone who teaches girls of that size. Then the chance of discovering before morning who the woman was seemed very slight.
Apparently the woman was 32 to 35 years of age. She was slightly above medium height, was fairly well fleshed, was brunette with abundance of dark hair, had delicate hands, blue-set earrings worn tight to the ear, and wore a tan jacket and a fur neck piece. No hat was taken with her to the hospital. Around her waist was fastened a package containing $8.70.
Dr. Ruhl, who first saw her, thinks it possible that the woman may have been demented, or if an employed woman may have been making a short cut home from work. In the latter case he would believe her hearing defective.
The Kursler family is at a loss to know how a Sunday school book bearing the little girl's name would come to be found in the possession of anyone not her teacher.Labels: accident, bakers, Belt line, Brooklyn avenue, children, churches, death, doctors, Eighteenth street, Forest avenue, general hospital, ministers, No 4 police station, Park avenue, railroad, women
February 5, 1908 HUMILIATES THE MOTORMAN.
To Hit an Automobile and Not Even Scratch the Paint. A new way for the motor car driver to confound and humiliate the helpless street car motorman came out last night at 11 o'clock when Holmes street car 443 on Walnut at Fourteenth street stuck its nose into the touring car of W. C. Goffe, only to lay itself out without so much as scarring teh automobile or spilling any of the five occupants.
Mr. Goffe, family and negro chauffeur were spinning homeward on Fourteenth street when the street car loomed up hard aport and took its medicine.
"Was running slow, and always run slow, crossing the car lines, so I can stop," explained Mr. Goffe to the crowd that gathered.
"Yes, and that's what was the matter. You did stop," put in the street car motorman, L. Hayter, not concealing his animosity for automobiles. "I didn't hit you till you'd stopped. That's the way you chauffeurs have got to doing -- running onto our tracks and stopping, and we go back to the barn with our fenders on the platform."
A close examination of Mr. Goffe's car failed to reveal any damage done. The family was driven to the home, 2125 Brooklyn avenue, without dismounting.Labels: accident, automobiles, Brooklyn avenue, Fourteenth street, streetcar
December 22, 1907 TIED PLAYMATE TO A POST.
Willie Bear Is Also Charged With Shooting at Him. Willie Bear, 15 years old, of Twenty-fifth street and Brooklyn avenue, is in a cell at the detention home awaiting trial Monday in the children's court on the charge of tying John Wiess of 3409 Garfield avenue, a playmate, to a post and shooting at him with a target rifle.
Willie admits tying John up, but says he didn't try to shoot him. They boys were playing "Teddy, or How Can a Bob Cat Escape?"Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, detention home, Garfield avenue, juvenile court, Twenty-fifth street
April 24, 1907 VIADUCT FRACTURES SKULL.
Boy Who Rode on a Freight Train Probably Will Die. John Sullivan, 13 years old, a son of Henry Sullivan, a plumber living at 2416 Mercier street, while stealing a ride yesterday on top of a Milwaukee freight train, was struck by the Brooklyn avenue viaduct, receiving injuries which will probably prove fatal. The boy, warned by a shout from a companion, wheeled just in time to meet a terrific blow on the forehead, crushing his skull. John Harvey, a companion, of the same age, who was with the Sullivan boy, held the latter on top of the train until the train crew arrived. The injured boy was treated at the Sheffield hospital.Labels: accident, Brooklyn avenue, children, railroad, sheffield
April 5, 1907
DEED WAS PLANNED
DEATH OF DANIEL SPILLANE IN HIS OWN HOME.
LEAVES NOTE TO FAMILY
DICTATED TO ATTORNEY, SIGNED WITH RUBBER STAMP.
Wife Knew of the Note, but for a Time No One Suspected That Morphine Had Been Taken -- Saloonkeeper Here Thirty Two Years. NOTE LEFT BY DANIEL SPILLANE.
Kansas City Mo, March 29, 1907. I was born August 15, 1851 and came to America in 1870. I owe $500, $300 to one man and $200 to another. Goodby to my sister. Goodby to my nephews and nieces. I belong to four societies and want two pallbearers from each society. I want to be buried north of the monument and I want to lie in the vault for three months. If not admitted to the church, I want my funeral held at 2 o'clock from my home. Goodby my son. Be good to your mother. I do not wish any postmortem. I dictate this at my own free will. It is written by ex-Police Judge McAuley, March 29. I want my name inscribed on the monument. If admitted to the church I desire high mass. Goodby to all my friends. I desire the $500 I owe to be paid out of my insurance. Signed by rubber-stamp. DANIEL SPILLANE.
Daniel Spillane, for thirty-four years a resident of Kansas City, thirty-two years of which time he was in the saloon business, called on T. B. McAuley, a former police judge, on March 29, and dictated the foregoing note. Mr. Spillane could not write. In business he used a rubber stamp. Yesterday afternoon while left at home alone for a time he took the greater part of one-eighth ounce bottle of sulphate of morphine. He must have taken it between noon and 1 p. m. He died at 3:30 at his residence, 2639 Brooklyn avenue. Mrs. B. Spillane, his wife, returned home from a shopping tour about 1 o'clock and found her husband very ill but rational. As the family knew of the note which had been dictated last Friday, she asked if he had taken anything. "I am just tired out," he told the wife, "completely prostrated, but nothing more." Mrs. Spillane at once called her son, Timothy Spillane, from his home at 1214 Cherry street, telling him that his father was very ill and asking him to come out at once. Young Spillane left, but, not realizing what had occurred, took no physician with him. Even when he got there the father was still conscious and apparently rational. The son called Dr. Henry L. Martin, 601 East Twelfth street, who has an office over the saloon owned by Timothy Spillane. "When the doctor came into the room," said the son, "father recognized him and said, 'Doctor, try to save me, will you?' He died fifteen minutes later, however, though everything was done for him." When Mr. Spillane went to Judge McAuley to get him to write the note which was left yesterday he asked, "Do you know who I am?" When told that he was known, Judge McAuley was requested to write as was dictated to him. When he had finished Mr. Spillane drew forth a rubber stamp and signed his name with it. Judge McAuley at once looked up the son, Timothy, and told him what had occurred and advised him that the father be watched. Members of the family said that Mr. Spillane had been ill and had taken an overdose of morphine by mistake. "Father appeared to have been feeling badly lately," the son said, "and for that reason I tried to keep him with me as much as possible. He tended bar at my place, Twelfth and Cherry streets, for two hours in the morning, going home about noon. He did not seem to be any more melancholy than usual when he left my place." Daniel Spillane was born in Ireland. He came to America in 1870 and to Kansas City three years later, remaining her ever since. At first he was in the bridge contracting business, but later entered the saloon business, continuing in that for thirty-two years. His first saloon was at Ninth street and State line in the early days and he had a garden and vaudeville in connection with it. His next location was at 9 West Ninth street. From there he moved to Tenth and Main streets. The firm there was Spllane & O'Sullivan. When they dissolved partnership, Mr. Spillane opened at 1111 Grand avenue, which place he sold some months ago and opened at 1127 Grand avenue. At one time he was located on the corner of Twelfth street and Grand avenue. Mr. Spillane sold his saloon at 1127 Grand avenue two weeks ago and retired from active business. He leaves his widow, Mrs. B. Spillane; a son, Timothy A. Spillane; a sister, Mrs. Ellen Dwyer, and one brother, Timothy Spillane, who live s at Sixth and Holmes streets. Labels: Brooklyn avenue, doctors, Grand avenue, Main street, Ninth street, saloon, societies, State line, Suicide, Tenth street, Twelfth street
April 1, 1907 BOYS ROVERS AT 12 AND 15.
Police Took Them In and Gave Each a Meal. Just after alighting from an incoming freight train from Chicago early yesterday morning three boys, aged about 12, 15 and 18, strolled up onto Main street. They had been on the train all night and were wet, dirty and hungry. Patrolman J. S. Eads corralled them and steered them into police headquarters where they were given a chance to wash before Lieutenant Kennedy gave them tickets for a "big meal" just across the street.
The 18-year old one was a born tramp, didn't know where he was from, didn't know where he was going and didn't seem to care much. He was sent on his way. The 15-year-old boy gave the name of Harry Payne and said he had a brother at 2937 Brooklyn avenue. Patrolman A. O. Dalbow took him there and disposed of him. He had been out over the country "seeing the elephant," he said.
The "baby" of the trio was Fred Shindle, 12 years old. Fred lives in Blue Island, Ill., a little suburb just out of Chicago, and has a widowed mother. Fred said that they did not all come from Blue Island, but that they were "just from everywhere." He said he had never been "so hungry before," and was anxious to leave for home on every train. He was held and his mother wired regarding transportation. When placed in the matron's room Fred went to sleep and slept soundly all day long. His long night ride had tired him out.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, police, police headquarters, railroad
|
|
|
|

|
Get the Book

Vintage Kansas City Stories
Early Kansas City, Missouri

The Trial of Jesse James,
Jr.
>>More
KC Books<<
As an Amazon Associate this site may earn commissions from qualifying
purchases. | |
ARCHIVES |
February, 1910
January, 1910
December, 1909
November, 1909
October, 1909
September, 1909
August, 1909
July, 1909
June, 1909
May, 1909
April, 1909
March, 1909
February, 1909
January, 1909
December, 1908
November, 1908
October, 1908
September, 1908
August, 1908
July, 1908
June, 1908
May, 1908
April, 1908
March, 1908
February, 1908
January, 1908
December, 1907
November, 1907
October, 1907
September, 1907
August, 1907
July, 1907
June, 1907
May, 1907
April, 1907
March, 1907
February, 1907
January, 1907 |
|
|
|
|

Vintage Kansas
City Bookstore
|
|
|
|
|
|