October 27, 1908 CONFESS MURDER OF SHOEMAKER'S SON
EDWARD CASSIDY AND THAD DYER CAUGHT BY POLICE.
Went to Bassin's Shop to Rob Him and Killed the Young Man When He Interfered With Their Plan.
When Edward Cassidy and Thad Dyer entered the little shoe shop of Elle Bassin and his son, Nathan, 1221 West Twenty-fourth street, at 10 o'clock Saturday night, they were bent on robbery. The confession of Cassidy to Captain Walter Whitsett late yesterday afternoon settled that question. They figured no interference, but when Nathan Bassin objected and grappled with Cassidy, the latter said he drew a revolver and shot him dead.
The murder took place in the shoe shop at 10 o'clock Saturday night, and when it was discovered it was a mystery. It remained so until Sunday morning, when Patrolmen Fred Nissen and W. J. Graham got a clue which led to the arrest of Dyer and Cassidy. A grocer, William Doarn, at the southwest corner of Twenty-fourth and Mercier streets, remembered that the two men had been in his place just before the killing and had said, "If you see anything happen around here tonight you haven't seen us."
Dyer was the first to confess yesterday morning after being questioned a long while. Then he laid the crime on Cassidy and said: "We went into the the shop with the intention of trying on a pair of shoes and wearing them out without paying for them . When we started out the young man grabbed Casssidy and he shot him . Then we both ran."
PURPOSE WAS ROBBERY.
This story didn't sound, as there were no shoes for sale in the shop. Dyer stuck to his story until Cassidy confessed; then he said the latter's version was correct. Casssidy told the following story to Captain Whitsett and afterwards made a statement to I. B. Kimbrell, county prosecutor.
"We were broke and wanted some money. We met in Water's saloon on Southwest boulevard about 8:30 p. m. Then we visited different places until about 9:45 o'clock, when we decided to hold up the old shoemaker. We went to Doarn's grocery store, across from the shoeshop, and saw Will Doarn in the door. We asked him not to say anything about seeing us in the neighborhood if anything happened.
"I'M AWFULLY SORRY."
"Then we went across the street," continued Cassidy. "Dyer stood in the door of the shop as I entered and ordered 'Hands up." The young man grabbed me, and I shot him. I wanted to get away. That's all. I'm sorry, awful sorry. I never went into the thing with the intention of killing anybody."
Cassidy and Dyer both ran from the place immediately after the shooting and separated. Cassidy remained about the Southwest boulevard until late and then went home with a friend. He lives at 908 West Thirty-first street, and Dyer at 703 Southwest boulevard. Dyer said he went home.
Dyer is the son of Edward Dyer, a member of the Kansas City fire department. The father was at police headquarters insisting upon his son's innocence yesterday just after he had confessed his part in the murder.
Both men are well known to the police. Cassidy was recently arraigned in the municipal court by Sergeant Thomas O'Donnell on a charge of vagrancy. They were taken before Justice Festus O. Miller late yesterday afternoon and arraigned on a charge of murder in the first degree. They waived preliminary examination and were committed to the county jail without bond to await trial in the criminal court.Labels: Captain Whitsett, grocers, Justice Miller, Mercier street, murder, police, police headquarters, Prosecutor Kimbrell, saloon, Southwest boulevard, Thirty-first street, Twenty-fourth street October 19, 1908 IGNORED "BEARDSLEY RULES."
Nurse Is Reprimanded for Trying to Have Police Capture Ruffian.
Time after time the surgeons and nurses at the emergency hospital have been notified by the police that they were to call headquarters whenever any person who had been cut or shot appeared at the hospital for treatment. Several times the surgeons have treated persons injured by a cutting or shooting scrape that the police wanted but did not know where to find them.
Acting under the orders of the police department, which orders were given by Captain Walter Whitsett of police headquarters. Mrs. Frances Kaiser, the night nurse, called up the station Saturday night when B. F. Scott was brought in with his jugular vein cut. The officer who answered the telephone informed her that Captain Walter Whitsett and Lieutenant James Morris were not in the station. She told them that Scott would probably die but was told that there were no officers in the station who could leave.
Mrs. Kaiser, desiring to follow her instructions, then called up Chief Daniel Ahern at his home and informed him of the matter. Chief Ahern immediately summoned Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Hogan, who took up the man's statement. Last night Captain Whitsett went to the emergency hospital and attempted to reprimand the nurse for calling up the chief of police at his home. Mrs. Kaiser replied that she was only endeavoring to obey his instructions to notify the police when men were brought into the emergency hospital who had been cut or stabbed in a fight. She said when the police at the station refused to act she got hold of an officer who would. Captain Whitsett informed the nurse that the "Beardsley rules" were taken up for her guidance but the nurse said yesterday that she was under the impression that she was employed under the administration of Dr. W. S. Wheeler, the health commissioner.Labels: Captain Whitsett, emergency hospital, nurses, Police Chief Ahern, police headquarters, violence October 4, 1908
MAD MOTORISTS CAUGHT.
NORRIS AND THOMPSON CONFESS TO DRIVING FATAL CAR.
The Two Men Arrested While Hiding Near Troy, Kas. TROY, Kas., Oct. 3. -- (By telephone.). Thomas Norris and James Thompson, the "mad motorists" whose speed mania sent one person to death and seriously injured four others in Kansas City last Tuesday night, were arrested on a farm near this city early this morning.
They immediately admitted their identity and confessed that they had driven the car which killed Pearl Gochenour. They are now in charge of Kansas City detectives and are returning to Missouri without requisitions. It is probable that they will reach Kansas City this afternoon. Both men are badly frightened and despondent.
Shivering from the cool morning blasts on their cots in a tent on an isolated portion of a farm five miles south of Troy, Kas., Thomas Norris and James Thompson were arrested at daybreak yesterday morning by Sheriff M. C. Kent and Deputy Sheriff Griffin of Doniphan county. The "mad motorists" have been hidden away on the Carpenter farm for the past two days and seemingly felt secure from pursuit in their retreat. They were taken to St. Joseph, Mo., and were brought to Kansas City yesterday afternoon by Detectives Wilson and Ghent, who have been working on the case since the night of the automobile tragedy in which little Pearl Gochenour was killed and four other people seriously injured. Captain Walter Whitsett had set his net so thoroughly that the fleeing chauffeurs have never had a chance of making their escape. The captain of police got in communication last night with Sheriff Kent of Troy over the telephone and instructed him to go to the farm five miles away where he would catch the two men wanted so badly in Kansas City for criminal negligence. Norris, who was a chauffeur for the Woodward Automobile company, and Thompson, recklessly drove a car, going at a speed of forty miles an hour, into a frail spring wagon on Broadway, near Hunter avenue, last Tuesday night. Of the occupants of the wagon, 10-year-old Pearl Gochenour was instantly killed and Mrs. Jennie Bucher of Forty-seventh and Holly streets was seriously injured. Robert Gochenour was internally injured, but will recover. Miss Florence Bucher and Mrs. Alice Gochenour sustained severe bruises. Without waiting to ascertain the extent of the havoc they had wrought, the motorists sped away laughing over their shoulders at the picture of the writhing victims they had brought about. After returning the car to the Woodward garage at 1929 Grand avenue, Norris and Thompson fled to the home of Norris's mother in Kansas City, Kas., where they spent the night. At an early hour Wednesday morning they set about eluding the officers and succeeded until last night, when it was learned that they might be near Troy, Kas., where Thompson's father lived on a farm. Norris and Thompson were seen in Brenner, a small village three miles from Troy, Thursday afternoon, where they were purchasing several days' provisions for their camp on the Carpenter farm two miles from the town. They bought everything in the way of eatables from spring chicken to flour, and were continually joking about the long stay which they expected to make in their camp. Sanford Thompson, the father of one of the chauffeurs, occupies a portion of the Carpenter farm, and it was on this portion that the tent had been pitched. According to the information received over the 'phone the young men were much excited when they were informed that they were under arrest, but they gave in without attempting to escape. They will be held without bail until they can be given a hearing. Automobile men of the city are clamoring for the prosecution of the mad drivers, as well as the general public. It may fare harder with Norris than with Thompson, as it was he who drove the car and who had taken it without permission from the Woodward garage. Since their arrest both have grown despondent and refuse to talk of the tragedy which resulted in the death of Pearl Gochenour. Labels: automobiles, Broadway, Captain Whitsett, death, detectives, Forty-seventh street, Grand avenue, Holly street, jail September 14, 1908 BEER IN AN ICE CREAM STORE.
Boys Were Drinking It and Police Arrested the Proprietor.
A letter sent to the chief of police yesteday morning was responsible for the arrest of John Swartz, 209 Independence avenue, a dealer in ice cream on week days. The letter said that there was gambling and selling of liquor going on in the place every Sunday, and that it was a breeding place for vice and crime in the youths of the neighborhood.
Patrolmen E. L. Martin and W. G. Cox, in plain clothes, were dispatched to the place by Captain Walter Whitsett late yesterday afternoon. When the officers raided the place they found seven boys in the store. Some of them were engaged in playing cards and all of the young men were drinking beer. The police confiscated a case of beer and two quarts of whisky. Swartz was held and the witnesses were told to be in police court this morning.Labels: alcohol, Captain Whitsett, children, gambling, police September 11, 1908 POLICE HOLDOVER WAS EMPTY FOR ONE HOUR.
For First Time in Memory of the Captain in Charge There.
For one hour, between 4 and 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the holdover at police headquarters was empty and the doors unlocked and opened wide. Never before in the memory of Captain Walter Whitsett, in charge at the station, has such a thing happened, and the captain was both joyful and sad.
The large cell rooms had a deserted and almost dejected appearance themselves. Lying on the floor of one of the cells was a battered derby hat, brown once, but black now. Close by it lay two paper bags which contained some remnants of sandwiches, and in another cell was one old shoe pointing towards the open door.
The jailer picked up a broom and with a quick stroke, brushed all of the trash out into the corridor and the place made neat, if not clean, for the next batch of prisoners.
As the officers on day duty stepped into the station to report, they were told of the wonderful happenings, and straightway endeavored to find someone to arrest, even if it was only a plain drunk. Officer Robert Hoskins was the lucky man, for just as his watch was pointing to five minutes of 5 o'clock, he heard a woman's screams come from a house at 9 East Seventh street. Upon investigation he found a man, drunk and disturbing the peace.
Exultantly the patrolman marched his prisoner to the nearest call box and summoned the patrol wagon. When it arrived he asked the driver to make the trip to the station as quickly as possible, for there was a chance that his was the first arrest since the jail cleaning. And so it was. At 5 o'clock the arrested man had been books as "drunk and disturbing the peace" under the name of Cole McCormack. After that the officers began bringing prisoners in two at a time, until the old holdover resumed its normal appearance and the inmates, rejoicing over the neatness of the place, whistled and sang and made music on frenchharps to their hearts' content, and the dismay of the police officers.Labels: alcohol, Captain Whitsett, jail, police, police headquarters, Seventh street July 24, 1908
POLICE PROHIBIT THE POPULAR BARN DANCE.
As It's Presented in North End Halls It Shocks Moral Guardians. "Cut It Out," They Say.
Whew! The police object to the popular barn dance and have put the ban on it in Kansas City. They do not consider it up to the moral standard of what should take place in a well regulated ball room. The officers who tightened the lid on the barn dance refused to say what their private opinion of the dance was after having watched an exhibition given for their personal benefit.
Acting under orders from Captain Walter Whitsett, two plain clothes men, Ben Goode and John McCall, went to a hall in Campbell street last Wednesday evening and informed the members of a dancing party there that they would not be allowed to dance the barn dance. The merry young people strenuously objected to police interference, and the officers were the recipients of all kinds of dire threats. A party of the young people pleaded that the dance was "perfectly" proper and "lovely," and went through one turn of the hall to show the officers really what the barn dance was. The hard-hearted officers, however, remembered that stern duty called to them and refused to allow the pleading of the pretty young misses to sidetrack them from their duty. Not to be outdone by the big captain in regulating the social events and amusements of the city, Sergeant Patrick Clark, also commanding the North End social pink teas, sent Sergeant E. McNamara to the hall and had the lights turned out. The people residing in the vicinity of the hall complained to the police that they were unable to sleep whenever the hall was used for dances. The music was too loud for the sleepers and the shrill laughs and giggles of the young ladies got on the nerves of the men who were compelled to stay at home with their wives and take care of the fretful babies. Whether the hall will be opened for dancing in the future the police refused to say, but they were confident that the barn dance would not be danced there again. Labels: Campbell street, Captain Whitsett, dancing, North end July 9, 1908 MOTORCYCLE SQUAD ON DUTY.
All Motor Cars Run on Low Gear Schedule Over the Boulevards.
All that was needed yesterday to make the most speedy motorist slow down his car was the slight of the white cap. The white cap meant speed regulation on the boulevards, for under that white cap was one of the motor cycle police squad mounted on a brand new 60-mile-an-hour-motor cycle.
The three men who constitute the motor squad were ordered before Police Captain Walter Whitsett yesterday morning and the speed ordinance read to them. They were given their instructions and told to report to headquarters by telephone at the end of every hour. The hours that these cyclists serve during the day remains a profound mystery. The only way to find them is to try scorching on the boulevards every three hours. If you get caught you're it; if you don't you'll know that the cyclist is at the other end of the next boulevard.Labels: automobiles, Captain Whitsett, motorcycles, police, telephone July 9, 1908
REPORTER VICTIM OF BRUTAL ATTACK.
ALBERT H. KING ASSAULTED BY JACK GALLAGHER.
IN FRONT OF CENTRAL STATION.
THE ATTACK IS COWARDLY AND ENTIRELY UNPROVOKED.
King's Injuries Are Serious and Sa- loonkeeper's Case Will Be Pre- sented to Grand Jury -- Was Struck From Behind.
Jack Gallagher, Democratic politician, former policeman and saloonist, assaulted Albert H. King, a reporter for The Journal, while the two were in friendly conversation in the street in front of police headquarters late yesterday afternoon. Frank Frost a reporter for the Kansas City Star, who Gallagher says was scheduled for a like assault, escaped the brute strength of the big saloonkeeper by rushing into the police station to call out officers to ave King.
Gallagher was arrested, but immediately began a legal battle to gain his freedom. Milton J. Oldham, a lawyer hurried to the holdover from the police board rooms but his efforts to get the prisoner released were fruitless. Mr. King was taken to the emergency hospital, where the surgeons in attendance declined to examine him until the shock he had sustained had worn off. His injuries were later discovered to be serious, and John W. Hogan, an assistant prosecuting attorney, was called to take the injured man's statement. The assistant prosecutor at once placed a bar against the release of Gallagher by stating that he would prepare a serious charge against him, to be served immediately if political friends of the saloonist politician should succeed in getting the police department to accept a bond.
Mr. King, who is a reporter for The Journal assigned to police duty, is still at the emergency hospital. He is not an able-bodied man because of injuries received in the Spanish-American war, and the attending physicians fear his injuries may prove permanent.
BOARD EASY WITH HIM.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr. King attended a meeting of the board of police commissioners The board had before it charges against Gallagher for selling liquor on Sunday at 8 East Fourth street, directly across the street from the entrance to Central police station, and operating a crap game at his other saloon, 310 Independence avenue. The charges regarding the last named place were postponed until the next meeting, but the board closed the Fourth street place. Milton J. Oldham, attorney for Gallagher, stated last night that the board promised him they would give Gallagher a chance and let his Independence avenue saloon run, but that the Sunday selling at 8 East Fourth street has been so flagrant a violation of the board's orders that the license would have to be forfeited.
Gallagher and Mr. King have been acquaintances for some time, and, immediately after the court meeting Gallagher invited Mr. King to go across the street and take a drink before the police closed his place. Mr. King declined, stating that he was too busy at that time. On the stairs a few minutes later Gallagher again extended the invitation and again Mr. King, who was busy about his day's work, declined.
In the press room on the main floor of the city hall Mr. King and Frank Frost, a reporter for the Kansas City Star, were discussing various orders made by the police board a few minutes later when Gallagher opened the door and with a smile, asked the two across to his place.
"I guess we had better go," said Frost.
"Cheer up," said Gallagher to Mr. King, and the latter reached for his cane and the three went into the street.
Gallagher's place, the one soon to be closed by the board's order, made earlier in the afternoon, is immediately across Fourth street from the main entrance to the Central police station. It was there that Gallagher, growing reckless in his prosperity as a saloonkeeper, had openly sold liquor on Sundays until the place was raided by the police from the Walnut street station a week ago last Sunday. It was the evidence secured in this raid which the police board considered sufficient for revoking the license.
A COWARDLY ASSAULT.
As Mr. King, who, on account of former injuries, must carry a cane to steady himself, stepped from the curb into the street, Gallagher fell back a step between Mr. King and Mr. Frost. Just as they reached the center of the narrow street Gallagher took a hurried step forward and struck Mr. King in the forehead. The reporter fell to the pavement.
Mr. Frost immediately hurried back into the police station door and called to the assembled officers and men:
"Jack Gallagher is killing King."
Knowing Gallagher as a "bad" man, every police officer in the station was alert in an instant. Patrolman John J. Crane hurriedly took a pistol from the desk and Captain Walter Whitsett and Detective Inspector Charles Ryan, both shut off from the main lobby of the station, hurried to the door. Patrolman Joseph Welsh followed.
In the meantime in the street Mr. King was at the mercy of the brutal saloonkeeper. Gallagher struck him again as he tried to get up , and then kicked him in the back. Mr. King rolled over, and the big saloonkeeper brought his heel down on the right side of the reporter's face, cutting a jagged wound across the face. As he kicked Mr. King in the ribs Patrolman Patrick Boyle grappled with him. He had reached the street ahead of Captian Whitsett, Inspector Ryan and Patrolman Crane, the latter being the only armed man in the crowd.
CARRIED TO HOSPITAL.
Gallagher did not resist arrest, as the police had expected, and was led into the station door, but a few feet away, by Boyle, while Captain Whitsett, Inspector Ryan and newspaper reporters who had hurried from the press room at the head of the stairs, picked up the inured man Gallagher, was locked up, charged with investigation, and Mr.King was carried around the corner of the building to the emergency hospital.
Upstairs in the police board rooms Commissioners A. E. Gallagher and Elliot H. Jones were just leaving their chairs. They heard the commotion in the central station below and went down to investigate. When they learned the circumstances of the assault, both commissioners became agitated. Commissioner Galagher went to the commanding officer's desk and admonished those in charge to hold Jack Gallagher, the saloonkeeper, unless a heavy bond was furnished.
"I don't think he ought to be released uner any circumstances," said Commissioner Jones.
The assault was considered unusually brutal by police officers and other witnesses, and the story soon reached the office of R. L. Gregory, acting mayor, Gus Pearson, city comptroller, and John Murray, formerly a newspaper reporter, saw the assault from the corner of Fourth and Main sterets as they were boarding a street car. They went at once to the emergency hospital and soon were joined by Mr. Gregory.
HELD HIM WITHOUT BOND.
The acting mayor asked Mr. King about the assault and then went at once to police headquarters, where he gave orders that Gallagher be held without bond. Mr. Gregory was closeted with Captain Walter Whitsett for several minutes and, when he emerged from the captain's office, assured those outside that the prisoner would be held for the customary twenty-four hours, when a charge must be placed against him. Assistant Prosecutor Hogan had taken Mr. Kin's statement by that time, and stated that if Gallagher's attorney saw fit to sue out a writ of habeas corpus he would have the prisoner held for the prosecutor. Mr. Hogan said he would call the assault to the attention of the grand jury this morning.
Immediately after Attorney Oldham appeared, Jack Spillane and Patrick Larkin, the latter a Sixth ward politician, were called tot he station to furnish bond.
When told that no bond would be accepted Oldham demanded that a charge be placed against Gallagher. He boasted that he would clear the saloonkeeper of any charge which would be brought Spillane, a sidewalk inspector for the city, was very angry when he found he not furnish a bond big enough to get his slugger friend out of the holdover. Thoroughly baffled, the trio later telephoned for a dinner to be served the prisoner and left the station.
Mr. Oldham and Gallagher told him that he had intended to assault Frank Frost, the Kansas City STar reporter, who went into the street with him and Mr. King, but failed because the police got action too quickly for him.
"He told me," said Mr. Oldham, "that King had double-crossed him and was responsible for his Fourth street pace being raided."
Mr. King, who knew of the flagrant violation of the Sunday law by Gallagher, did not have anything to do with the raid. He had not written a line about the place for the paper which employs him and had told Tom Gallagher as much when the latter, a week ago, asked him why he was "sore at his brother Jack.
"Jack is my friend," was the reply Mr. King made to Tom Gallagher.
INJURED IN PHILIPPINES.
Previous to his career as a newspaper reporter Albert King had been an invalid for many months. He had received injuries in the Philippine islands while in the army and had wlaked on crutches a long time after being mustered out of the service. Mr. King was enlisted in the army here as a private in the Thirty-second United States infantry in July, 1899. He sailed for the Philippines in September the same year. In the islands he became regimental sergeant major.
On the night of August 5, 1900, while the building where he was quartered was under fire, he fell down a flight of stone steps while attempting, in pajamas and cartridge belt, to get to the first floor to consult with his superior officer. He was an invalid in a Manila hospital and later at the Presidio, San Francisco. December 28, 1900, he was mustered out of service and sent to his home, 3031 Wabash avenue, Kansas City.
Mr. Kings injuries from the assault include an injured spine and a severe shock to his legs, which were so long paralyzed. The right side of his face is cut and bruised and the attending physician, Dr. J. Park Neal, feared last night that blood poisoning might result from the jagged wound in his face. His ribs on both sides are injured, but the physician had not discovered if any were fractured because the injured man was in too great pain to permit a thorough examination.
JONES "LACKS INFORMATION."
In regard to the standing of Jack Gallagher as a saloonkeeper, Commissiner Elliott H. Jones last night said:
"It was reported to the police commissioners taht Gallagher's place on East Fourth street was open on Sunday and after closing h ours. For this reason the board refused to grant him a renewal of his license to operate that saloon."
Mr. Jones was asked if he thought Gallagher a fit man to run a saloon or if he deemed him worthy of the privelge after having made such a brutal attack upon a man as he had done upon Albert King. Mr. Jones said he could not answer that question without going into the case to greater extent than he had already done.
Commissioner Jones was then asked: "If any manmakes an attack on another while walking on the street while the victim is under the impression that there is no feeling of hostility between them; if the attack be sudden and unexpected and very brutal in its nature, should such a man be granted the privelege of owning and operating a saloon?"
The commissioner refused to answer the question.Labels: alcohol, Captain Whitsett, Commissioner Gallagher, Commissioner Jones, Fourth street, Jack Gallagher, newspapers, police board, politics, Robert Lee Gregory, saloon, The Journal, veterans, violence, Wabash avenue July 4, 1908
MAYOR COULDN'T REMOVE "SPELL."
STROUD STILL UNDER INFLU- ENCE OF THE "EVIL EYE."
SEEKS A REAL HYPNOTIST
K. U. GRADUATE STILL BEING HELD BY POLICE.
Will Not Be Given Liberty, as They Fear He May Be Seized at Any Moment by Homi- cidal Mania. 
JOHN EARL STROUD, A. B.
Kansas University graduate whose mind
is deranged and is being detained
by the police.
Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., put aside everything for a time yesterday and repaired to the police matron's room, where, with mystic signs, a few words, a wrinkled brow and a queer look in his eye, he attempted to remove a hypnotic spell which John E. Stroud of Howard, Kas., says has been upon him for now just three months and six days.
Stroud called on the mayor Thursday afternoon and insisted on having an audience with him at once. He said that he was laboring under the spell of a "snake-eyed hypnotist," which might cause him to jump in front of a street car at any moment, and that he had made a special pilgrimage here to see the mayor, believing that only he could undo the spell. The mayor called Captain Walter Whitsett to his office and Stroud was placed in limbo.
There was a brief session of the police board yesterday, and at its close Stroud's case came up for discussion. "Why don't you go in and remove the spell then?" the mayor was asked. "If the man believes you can, it might help him."
"I have never been a success at removing spells," said his honor, "but I'm game to try my hand at it."
The police board adjournd to the matron's room and Mayor Crittenden was formally introduced to Stroud, who sat with bowed head in a cell. He seemed pleased when told that the mayor had come to cast off the spell and shook hands cordially.
IT PLEASED THE VICTIM.
"All but myself and the doctors will please leave the room," said the mayor in a commanding voice. When the room was cleared the cell door was unlocked and the mayor entered with Dr. J. P. Neal. Taking Stroud by the right hand, placing the left upon the man's brow and looking as much like a real spell-removing wizard as possible, the mayor said in a slow, firm voice:
"By the authority vested in me by the great state of Missouri and this beautiful city, I here and now peremptorily command the hypnotic spell which has been upon you be permanently removed."
The mayor finished his solemn duty with a motion of the hands as if flinging something from the ends of his fingers. Stroud grinned and looked as if he felt better.
"You'll be all right now," said the mayor on leaving. "I have called the spell all off."
The unusual duty was performed at just 4:13 o'clock. Two hours later Stroud was asked if he didn't feel better and if the spell had been cast off.
"SEND ON A HYPNOTIST."
"I guess I was wrong in my surmises," he said dolefully. "It will undoubtedly take a hypnotist to undo the work of one of his kind. Send on a good one and I think he can do it."
"How do you know the spell has not been removed by the mayor?" he was asked. "He has removed hypnotic spells before and should not have failed in your case."
"Because I can hear the hypnotist talking to me," was the reply. Then he cocked his head to one side to listen. "I didn't quite catch what he said then," he said. Once more he took a listening attitude and laughed. "He says, 'You can do as you please.' Now that isn't true, for my whole life is guided by his suggestions. I see it now in everything I do. I may be looking at a person passing along the street there and want to change and look at someone else, but I can't. Again, when I feel like looking at an object a long time, the hypnotist compells me to change and look at something else."
Dr. Neal said yesterday that Stroud's condition is much worse than when he was first detained. Then he was only receiving suggestions at intervals, but now he regards every move he makes a coming from the mysterious person whom the thinks has him in his power.
DANGEROUSLY INSANE.
"That class of insanity is the most dangerous kind," said Dr. Neal. "Suppose the suggestion to kill should come to him and he believed that he had to act on it? What would be the result?"
Thursday night Captian Whitsett wired the unfortunate man's father, R. L. Stroud, the proprietor of the Stroud hotel, Howard, Kas., and the reply said, "Have written by this mail." The letter had not ben received last night Colonel Greenman notified the father again yesterday. Stroud said he had been here since June 15 and had been stopping at 314 West Fourteenth street. He will not be released except to relatives who can care for him, as he is now regarded as a dangerous man to be at large.Labels: Captain Whitsett, Col. J. C. Greenman, Fourteenth street, Mayor Crittenden, mental health, police board, police matron, streetcar, visitors July 3, 1908
MAN UNDER SPELL VISITS THE MAYOR
WANTS HIS HONOR TO REMOVE "EVIL INFLUENCE."
TRIP FROM KANSAS IN VAIN
LAYS ALL HIS TROUBLES TO A TRAVELING MAN.
J. E. Stroud of Howard, Kas., De- clares Mr. Crittenden Is the Only Person, Except a Hypnotist, Who Can Relieve Him.
"I want to see the mayor and see him at once."
"He's busy now. Won't you have a seat?"
"No I won't. I said I wanted to see the mayor right now, and I meant it. I am under the spell of a hypnotist and may jump in front of a street car at any moment. I want the mayor to break this spell. I have come all the way here to have him do it."
The foregoing dialogue took place yesterday afternoon in the office of Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr. between a tall, slender man with constantly shifting eyes and the mayor's secretary.
The mayor himself over heard the conversation and took a look at the man who was laboring under hypnotic influence. Something about him made his honor nervous. With visions of bombs, infernal machines and other anarchistic toys, the mayor closed his door and hurried to the telephone.
"Hello, police headquarters?" he asked. "Let me talk to the captain. Is that you, Captain Whitsett? Well, I wish you would send up here to my office and take a man out that is acting queer. This is the mayor."
Captain Whitsett went up himself. When he got there the mayor was leaning over the railing of his office and talking "real nice" to the man. He was taken in charge and locked up in the matron's room.
GRADUATE OF K. U.
To Dr. Paul Lux, who examined him later, the man gave the name of J. E. Stroud of Howard, Kas. He looks to be 30 years old but said that he graduated with a class of about 270 at the Kansas State university on June 10. He said he had taught school at Galva and Jamestown, Kas.
"I came all the way here June 15 to see the mayor about removing a hypnotic influence which has been over me since March 28, last."
Stroud said he did not know the name of the man who had cast the spell on him, but believed it was a New York traveling man with whom he talked at dinner in a Howard, Kas., hotel, March 28.
"Did you know that the man was a hypnotist?" asked Dr. Lux. "When did you first realize that he had hypnotized you?"
"I didn't know it at first, of course," replied Stroud, "or I would have left him. He held my conversation about fifteen minutes longer than I intended and I felt that I could not get away from him. His eyes were funny, but I suspected nothing until a few days later when I found myself acting solely by suggestions that came to me and doing things I had not done before."
Just at this point, Stroud, who was sitting on the edge of a bed, reached out with his right hand and smoothed out the top spread. Jerking his hand away quickly he said: "There, do you see that? Did you notice what I did then?"
STROUD "SEES THINGS."
The doctor had not noticed. Stroud seemed surprised that he had overlooked such an unusual thing as a man smoothing out a bedspread.
"Didn't you see me straighten out that cover? Well, that man caused me to do that. I am not in the habit of smoothing out bedspreads. I wish the mayor had taken this spell off. I believe he is the only one here to do it. In fact I came here just to have him do it."
At another time Stroud scraped a splinter from the floor with the toe of his right shoe. That, too, was caused by the same hypnotic influence. He said that when he arrived here he thought of hunting up another hypnotist and having him try his art at removing a spell cast by another of his profession. The idea always came back to him that Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., was the only man in the wide world to remove such influences. "And he actually wouldn't do it," Stroud said sadly; "what do you think of that?"
Stroud said that at times he was able to do exactly the opposite of the hypnotist's suggestions, but that it was a mental strain. Stroud is now being held and relatives at Howard, Kas., will be notified.
Stroud said that if he knew where he could find the hypnotist he would wire him to get busy and look the other way for a while.Labels: Captain Whitsett, doctors, Mayor Crittenden, mental health, police matron, telephone, universities, visitors June 12, 1908 POLICE WILL PATROL RIVER IN LAUNCHES.
Mounted Men Guard Flooded Whole- sale District -- Peril of the East Bottoms.
Chief of Police Daniel Ahern and Captain Walter Whitsett yesterday afternoon drove through the flooded East and West bottoms. Complaint had been made that sightseers and others had been breaking into unprotected houses and stealing.
Last night mounted men were stationed all over the West bottoms with orders to patrol the flooded district carefully. If the water goes any higher police will be placed in launches to patrol. Now an officer on horseback can reach the most important part of the wholesale district.
It was also reported to the police that in the trees near Harlem many dead cattle, horses and hogs have become lodged. The citizens in that vicinity fear the result if the animals are left there after the flood goes down. Today police in motor boats will be sent over the river to dislodge any dead stock and see that it gets into the current.
Near the Kelly mills in the East bottoms twenty-five or thirty men are at work night and day watching to see that the water does not break through the dike formed by the embankment of the Kansas City Southern railway.
"That is really the key to the East bottoms," Captain Whitsett said. "If the water once gets through there it means lots more trouble, especially for truck gardens, Currents would be quickly formed and all of that loose rich soil would go down the river as it did in 1903."
Wednesday night and last night fifteen or twenty families, by special permission, slept on the hillsides below North Terrace park. In the day the people go down and watch their property.
William Mensing, 10 East Fourth street, called at police headquarters last night and offered five or six furnished rooms for the benefit of the flood sufferers. In 1903 Mensing had a rooming house at Fourth and Main streets. While his rooms could have been rented at good prices, Mensing gave up a dozen or more to poor families and even took two families into his home.
"These rooms I have are not for men who can hustle for themselves," he said last night. "As before, I prefer to let women and children occupy them."
Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., chairman of the police board, informed the department yesterday that tents could be secured at the Third regiment. They are to be used for poor and needy families if the worst comes.
Today two gasoline launches will be placed in commission for use of the police. They will be expected to patrol the river below the Hannibal bridge and render aid to people on both sides of the river if the emergency calls for it.
The crowd on the Intercity viaduct last night -- most of the people were sightseers -- was so great that Captain Whitsett stationed four men under Sergeant Robert Greely at the entrance. Their business was to be on the lookout for crooks and to keep the people moving. Three patrolmen were placed at the Mulberry street pay station to keep order and see that no one used the "center rush" method to get through the crowd without paying.
Last night several police were patrolling the river bank from the foot of Grand avenue east. It had been reported that thieves had been breaking into wholesale houses through windows, loading their boats and landing further down the river
The police were asked last night to be on the lookout for Antonio Travesse, 6 years old, an Italian boy living at 410 Holmes street. His father, Carlos, greatly excited, reported the missing boy. He said that when last seen his baby was going toward the river.
Harlem could not be reached by telephone last night. In the afternoon it was said that the water there had flooded the only remaining stores. Last night's report from there was that the river was getting lower, and that most of the wise citizens over there, who had passed through the terrible 1903 flood, will save all of their household goods and stocks of merchandise. Some were moved to this city and some of the stocks are still there, very high up with the counters and shelves nailed down.Labels: boats, Captain Whitsett, children, East bottoms, flood, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, Harlem, Holmes street, immigrants, intercity viaduct, Mayor Crittenden, military, Mulberry street, Police Chief Ahern, West bottoms June 9, 1908
FIND WATCHCHARM ON MASON'S BODY.
ONE CLUE AGAINST WIX DIS- PELLED IN HIS FAVOR.
NEW LIGHT ON WATCH DEAL.
FRIEND OF DEAD MAN SAYS HE TRADED WITH HIM.
Warren W. White Positive That the Timepiece Taken From a Pawn- shop Was Once His.
The police case against Clark Wix, charged with the murder of John Mason on January 26, seems to be weakening. Yesterday it developed that the watch charm Wix had been wearing and which had been positively identified as the one worn by Mason on the day when he was last seen alive, was not Mason's an had never belonged to him. When the coroner, Dr. G. B. Thompson, was making an examination of Mason's body the watch charm which Mason had worn fell from some part of the clothing on the body to the floor. The police had based a great part of their theories upon the identification of the watch charm which Wix had been wearing and the discovery of the true charm by Dr. Thompson completely put the question of ownership of the charm beyond question.
Yesterday Warren W. White, an embalmer at Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms, went to Central police station to identify the watch which was taken from the pawn shop as having been the one which had belonged to Mason and which Wix is charged with having stolen from the dead man. Mr. White was the original owner of the watch in question and knew that he could identify it beyond all question.
Captain Walter Whitsett refused to let him see the watch. Mr. White put his request to the captain directly, but with no further result than gaining the permission of the captain to describe it. He did so, after which Captain Whitsett informed him that his description the watch did not tally with the article.
Mr. White said last night that he had traded his own watch for the one which Mason was wearing about ten days previous to the time he was supposed to have been murdered. He said it seemed to him that it would not have been probably that Mr. Mason, from whom her husband had been separated, could have seen the watch, at least closely enough to give a minute description of it.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Mason did give a complete description of the watch which is in the hands of the police and which Mr. White believes is not the watch he traded to Mason.
Mason and White had been in the habit of making trades of jewelry, seeing each other often during the week. When one of them would get a new article of jewelry it was the custom for him to display it and then to begin a dicker for trade. This accounts for the way in which he and Mason traded watches, says Mr. White.
It is on the watch and the watch charm, it is asserted, that the police base most of their charges against Wix and it would seem from the statements of Coroner Thompson and Mr. White that these two articles of evidence have been changed to a most useful weapon in the hands of Wix's attorneys. Coroner Thompson has no hesitancy in saying that he doubts greatly the guilt of Wix. He has made some study of the body and of matters which pertain to the evidence against the accused man.
Captain Whitsett still refuses to discuss the Wix case, saying only that he is positive that the accused man will be convicted of murder.
The grand jury will consider the charges against Wix today.
Wix was visited at the county jail yesterday by many of his friends, who cheered him up with their kind words and presence. Among his visitors were the prisoner's wife and father, who spent some time with him. Several floral offerings were sent to him.
The police say that they have not lost confidence in their evidence against Wix, but are positive that if the grand jury hears all of the testimony now in the possession of the police that Wix will be indicted.
Mrs. Wix said yesterday that after her husband had been arrested she had been to the pawn shop of L. L. Goldman, 1207 Grand avenue, and to Silverman's pawn shop, 1215 Grand avenue. She stated that two pawn tickets which had been on top of a writing desk in her room disappeared after her husband had been arrested.
Believing that the tickets had been stolen by someone, who would attempt to get the jewelry out of pawn, she visited the store where they were pawned to warn the proprietor against allowing anyone to have them. She said she knew the watches had been pawned at Silverman's, but she did not know where this place was. She went to Goldman's pawnshop and asked Mr. Goldman where Silverman's place was located. When she was told at Siverman's that the police had the watches she did not ask any further questions. At Goldman's and Silverman's Mrs. Wix's statement regarding her visits were corroborated. In the search for evidence Mrs. Wix said the police had not left even a strand of hay in the barn untouched. It was suggested that the pawn tickets she supposed were stolen, were in the possession of the police, although the latter will not discuss them.Labels: Captain Whitsett, flowers, Grand avenue, murder, pawn brokers, undertakers June 7, 1908 POLICE RAIDS FOLLOW JONES'S MIDNIGHT TRIP
THIRTY WOMEN ARRESTED AND RELEASED ON BOND.
Cafes That Made a Specialty of Serv- ing Drinks to Women and Their Escorts Visited by Plain Clothes Men.
The recent midnight visit of Police Commissioner Elliot H. Jones to the wine rooms in the vicinity of Eighth and Central streets resulted in wholesale raids last night, in which the police gathered in thirty women, took them to police headquarters, wrote their names on the "arrest" book, and then turned them loose on bond. Four wine rooms were raided in less than an hour after 10:30 o'clock, when the first swoop was made by policemen in plain clothes. The thirty women were secured at three of these places, commonly called cares, while at the fourth place, the Bull Dog care, at Eighth and Wyandotte streets, the raids had been tipped off, and a number of women and their escorts had disappeared.
Captain Walter Whitsett led the raid at Levy's cafe at 123 West Eighth street. It was just 11 o'clock when he and Patrolmen J. F. Murphy and J. F. Brice and D. C. Stone walked into the care and announced that the place was "pinched." The women were ordered out into a waiting patrol wagon. A second trip was made before twenty of them were safely transported to police headquarters.
Women only were arrested in these raids In some instances the escorts were allowed to go to police headquarters in the patrol wagon bu they went only to give bond for the women. Of the twenty women arrested at Levy's cafe, escorts gave bond for six of them, while Levy gave bond for the other fourteen.
IN A HOTEL CAFE.
The first raid was made at 10:30 o'clock at the Hotel Moore cafe at 206 West Ninth street. Patrolmen C. E. McVey, J. F. Brice and J. F. Murphy were the arresting officers. Three women fell into the clutches of the law in this cafe. They were sitting at the tables drinking with their escorts when the men in plain clothes walked in and arrested them. Simultaneously a raid was made on the Aldine cafe at the southwest corner of Eighth and Central streets. Patrolmen Ben Sanderson, John Julian and D. C. Stone conducted this raid. When they entered the place they found seven women and their escorts and as in the other cafes, they were drinking. The escorts of the women who were arrested in these places went to police headquarters and put up a bond for them.
Immediately after these raids the sortie was made on Levy's place. This is a favorite restaurant-wine room for the men and women who frequent such places, and there is always a crowd there. Especially is this true on Saturday night. Last night was no exception.
BLOCKED THE CARS.
The operations of the raiding squad were soon made known in the district. By the time that the squad had reached Levy's place and the patrol wagon had been backed up to the main entrance, a large crowd had gathered. East bound street car traffic was tied up while the women were being loaded into the wagon. Passengers on the cars had an excellent opportunity to see the raid and they availed themselves of that opportunity.
The raid on Levy's place was conducted with so much publicity that the news ran over the district like wildfire, and ten minutes afterward every one of these places was deserted by women. The programme had included a raid on the Bull Dog cafe over Harry Lunn's saloon at the southwest corner of Eighth and Wyandotte streets. This cafe has been growing in favor with the class of people who frequent such places, but the tip had gone out and when the raiding squad arrived they found the place practically deserted.
JONES LOCATED THEM.
All of those places raided last night were visited by Mr. Jones Wednesday night. Clad in motor car togs, he drove around over the district in his motor car, stopping at every place that gave evidence of being frequented by women. His was not a perfunctory examination of these rooms. Invariably he stepped inside and surveyed the scene. He also made not of the fact that invariably the rooms were connected with the bar room by an open doorway, a direct violation of an order of the police board.
Thursday night came and there was no cessation in the patronage. The word has gone out that the visit of the commissioner was simply a bluff or something to that effect, and Friday night sufficient confidence had been restored to enable the proprietors of such places to practically insure protection to their patrons. If there had ever been a scare there was no evidence of it last night until the raiding squad swooped down upon the unsuspecting proprietors and patrons. Contrary to precedent, the escorts of the women who frequented these places, were not arrested. The police gave no reason for this action. All the women were subsequently released on bond.Labels: alcohol, Captain Whitsett, Central street, Commissioner Jones, Eighth street, Ninth street, police, restaurants June 7, 1908
POLICE REFUSE TO GIVE INFORMATION.
"NOT TRYING WIX IN THE NEWSPA- PERS," THEY SAY.
As in All Cases, They Are Seeking Evidence Against the Accused, Only, and Not That Which Would Free Him.
"The police will give no more information concerning the Wix case. I think we have given out too much of our side already. We do not intend to try the case in the newspapers."
So said Captain Walter Whitsett at police headquarters last night when asked if there was anything new in the case. By "Our side" he meant the prosecution. He said further that the publication of too much of "our information gives the other fellows a chance to get busy." In other words the police department, a public institution, is run solely to prosecute men. When a man is arrested, charged with a crime, it is a well known fact that the police set to work to get all they can against the man and seldom take notice of anything in the prisoner's favor.
If Clark Wix is convicted for the murder of John Mason as he now stands charged, it appears that it will have to be solely upon circumstantial evidence as, so far, the police have no positive evidence.
The man's watch found in pawn in Wix's name at Silverman's pawnshop, 1215 Grand avenue, and later identified by Mrs. Lizzie Mason, widow of the murdered man and Maude Wilson, was yesterday proved beyond a doubt to be the property of Wix. In his statement Wix said that the watch was his and the woman's watch was his wife's.
When J. B. Schmeltz, 1231 Grand avenue, was seen he said that Detective Fred Bailey called him up about the watch. His mark in the watch was 10232107. The 102 Schmeltz places in all his watches and the 32107 when separated means 3, 21, 07, or March 21, 1907, when the watch sold. The works number is 14160503 and the case 6219763. It is a Waltham, size 16.
WIX BOUGHT A DIAMOND.
When Silverman's pawnshop was visited it was learned that the watch pawned by Wix February 10 last bears exactly the same numbers. Schmeltz also said that he recalled Wix bringing a diamond stick pin to him to be set in a ring and said that he believed he sold him a small diamond ring within the last year, possibly the one Wix gave to Maud Wilson.
The numbers on the works of the woman's watch in pawn are 10437364 and the case 67074. That watch is claimed by Mrs. Mason, who said that her husband was carrying it when he disappeared. She said that the watch was brought second hand, so it would be hard to trace the numbers in that case. Wix says the watch is his wife's and she confirms him. Her description of the watch is identical with the one in pawn. Her nurse friends used to use it when she was a nurse at the general hospital, and they all describe it as a large-sized woman's wath, engraved case, with a diamond in the back. Captain Whitsett says that the watch is being held as evidence and no one not connected with the police or the prosecution shall be allowed to see it. Harry Way, Mrs. Wix's father, said yesterday:
"That watch was given to Harriet by her uncle, Cyrus Way, fifteen years ago. It was brought from Roscoe Smulk, a jeweler at Shelbina, Mo, who is now dead. An effort will be made to get the numbers there, but I don't think they keep them."
If the watch was ever cleaned or repaired by a jeweler here, the numbers will be found here, and the defense is working along those lines now.
WHEN HE WAS ELEVEN YEARS OLD.
Some of the new information received by the police yesterday that, twelve years ago, while hunting near Ottawa, Kas., with a man named Alvin Keller, the latter was supposed to have been accidentally shot by Wix, and that the belief was that it was not accidental. Wix is now 23 years old, so, if that is true, he was only 1 years old when the informant seems to cast suspicion upon him.
It was learned yesterday that on Sunday, January 26, when Mason disappeared, he was about the barn of W. A. Marshall, 1417 Walnut, during the morning. He took John Nevins out and drove him through Penn Valley park in an effort to sell him a horse. Nevins, who is a horseshoer, did not take the horse. Then Mason called up George Coleman, a liveryman, and tried to sell him the buggy and harness. He was turning all his property into cash, as his wife had sued him for divorce.
While Coleman was looking at the buggy Mason left the barn. That was about noon. About 2 p. m. he called Marshall and said:
"I will be over pretty soon with Clark Wix, and I want you to knock that trade with me."
"I asked him what he meant," said Marshall, yesterday, "In his broken German he had used knock for boost. I don't see how he could have been talking in the presence of Wix, to whom he wanted to sell a team."
DISPLAYED HIS MONEY.
Detectives "Lum" Wilson and J. L. Ghent were assigned on the Mason case yesterday, and they took a new tack. They found out where Mason had often showed his money, that he did not choose his company well, and was often known to have shot craps with negroes. Any of that class may have known that Mason carried a large sum of money, and he might have been killed by them.
The police had several men in the office of Captain Whitsett last night, sweating them and taking their statements. Some of them are believed to have been men who worked for Wix at the time of Mason's disappearance. It is known that an old man named Barslow, a barn foreman, was told to be there at 8 p.m. One of the men who worked about there at the time and who knew Mason and his habits well is now being looked for by police with two different warrants for swindling transfer men and others for whom he worked. That is he collected C. O. D. money and decamped. That man's name is Gale Chaney, and his brother Tom also worked there. Another man now driving a newspaper wagon may be questioned by police.
Every person who ever knew Wix is now rallying to hi support in his hour of trouble. The verdict of many seen yesterday was, "He was the hardest worker I ever saw, and at the same time a man of jolly disposition. I can't conceive his committing such a crime and feel that he will come out all right."
Funeral services of John Mason, the murdered man, will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms, 3015 Main street.
Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.
Prosecutor I. B. Kimbrell and the grand jury were ready at 10:30 yesterday morning to examine Clark Wix and the evidence in the case against him, on which he is held in the county jail for the murder of John Mason, but Inspector M. E. Ryan telephoned that he did not have his evidence in shape to present. The grand jury then adjourned until Monday.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Grand avenue, Main street, newspapers, nurses, pawn brokers, Penn Valley park, police headquarters, Prosecutor Kimbrell, undertakers, Walnut Street June 5, 1908 MASON'S MURDER CHARGED TO WIX.
PAWNED DEAD MAN'S WATCHES AND DIAMONDS.
MASON WAS IN WIX'S BARN.
ACCUSED MAN ALSO SUSPECTED OF FANNING MURDER.
Was Once Before the Prosecutor to Explain His Sudden Wealth Shortly After Fanning Was Slain.
At 11 o'clock last night Clark Wix was formally charged with the murder of John ("Dutch") Mason, the horse trader who disappeared from here January 26 last. Mrs. Lizzie Mason, the murdered man's widow, and Maud Wilson, with whom he had lived, both went to Camden, Mo., yesterday and identified the body.
It was after hearing statements made by the women, after they had identified property pawned by Wix, that John W. Hogan, assistant prosecutor, concluded to charge Wix with murder in the first degree. The information was drawn and sworn to by Mrs. Lizzie Mason. Then it was filed with Justice Michael Ross and a warrant issued on which Wix will be arrested this morning. His statement is to be taken at police headquarters this morning. His arraignment will be later.
The body of Mason arrived in the city yesterday afternoon and was sent to the morgue of Freeman and Marshall, 3015 Main street. There is a large hole in Mason's skull on the right side at the base, and another behind the left ear. A deep fracture connects both holes. It is the opinion of Detectives Charles Halderman and James Fox, who have developed he case, that the murder was committed with a hammer. A search will be made for the weapon.
In looking over his pawn slips Fred Bailey, secretary to the inspector, found where Clark Wix had pawned two watches and, as Mason had a watch when he disappeared, Detective Ralph Trueman was sent to Silverman's pawn shop, 1215 Grand avenue, after the property. He came back with a man's hunting case watch and a woman's watch with a diamond in the back. He also got a diamond ring and an Elk ring from the same shop.
IT WAS HER WATCH.
Both Mrs. Mason and Maud Wilson quickly identified the man's watch as having been Mason's. They were not told of the other watch, and Mrs. Mason was asked if she ever possessed a watch.
"Yes," she said, "a small watch with a diamond in the back of the case." When shown the other watch which had been in pawn in Wix's name both women identified it immediately as Mrs. Mason's, and the Wilson woman said that Mason had the watch with him when he left that fatal Sunday, January 26.
According to the pawn sheets Wix pawned Mason's watch on February 10 and not until May 6 was Mrs. Mason's watch pledged. The police think that the diamonds in the Elk ring and other ring originally were part of Mason's horseshoe pin in which were fifteen stones, three large ones at the top and six smaller ones on each side.
John Hogan spent most of the night taking statements in the Wix case. Miss Wilson in her statement said that on April 26 last, her birthday, Clark Wix made her a present of a diamond ring. At the same time he had a stone set into a stud for himself. L. L. Goldman of 1307 Grand avenue, who set the two stones for Wix, also made a statement. Both persons said that the jewels were of almost the exact size of the three large stones in Mason's horseshoe pin. Miss Wilson said that when Wix gave h er the ring he said: "Now, if my wife ever finds out that I gave you this ring you must tell her that you bought it from me."
The third stone thought to have come from Mason's pin is believed now to be in an Elk charm worn my Wix when he was arrested.
CALLED FROM WIX'S BARN.
W. A. Marshall, a liveryman, said in his statement that on the Sunday Mason disappeared he called up from Wix's transfer barn, 1406 Walnut street, and said: "I'll be over with Wix to see you in a little while about buying that horse." But, though that was about 1 p. m., Mason never came.
James Conely and John Lewis, horseshoers at Fourteenth and Walnut streets, stated that they often saw John Mason about Wix's barn, which was directly across the street from them.
It was the intention to question Wix last night, but that had to be abandoned until today. Wix has not yet been informed that he is charged with murder. When arrested he asked no explanation, though it was 1 o'clock Wednesday morning, and since he has been held in the matron's room at headquarters he has taken no apparent interest in why he was locked up and no one allowed to see him.
QUESTIONED IN FANNING MURDER.
It developed yesterday that two months ago, on information furnished Detectives "Lum" Wilson and J. L. Ghent, Wix was taken before Prosecutor Kimbrell to be questioned in regard to the murder of Thomas W. Fanning, the aged recluse who was brutally killed with a hammer in his home, 1818 Olive street, December 31, 1906.
He was known to have hauled Mrs. Fanning to the general hospital, and it was reported that he said later: "Somebody is going to have to kill that old guy, Fanning, living all alone out there with all that coin." It was shortly after the Fanning murder that Wix went into business for himself, but in his statement at that time he said that his uncle, Clark Wix, postmaster of Butler, Mo., had furnished him the money. That matter will be reopened now.
Police Judge Harry G Kyle was yesterday retained by relatives to defend Clark Wix. Kyle comes from the same county, Bates, in which the Wix family live. All sorts of influence was brought to bear yesterday to get to see and talk to the prisoner, but Captain Walter Whitsett would not permit it.
THREATENED HABEAS CORPUS.
Thomas W. Wix, a farmer from near Yates Center, Kas., arrived yesterday and it was he and Clark Wix, the uncle from Butler, who retained Judge Kyle. Rush C. Lake, assistant attorney general, went to the station and, according to Captain Whitsett, threatened to sue out a writ of habeas corpus if not allowed to see Wix. He was told that such action would mean in immediate charge of murder and there it ceased. Then other lawyers tried the same tactics and failed.
In June, 1906, Clark Wix was married to Miss Harriet Way, a nurse at the general hospital, who had served barely one of her two years.. At that time Wix was driving an ambulance for the Carroll-Davidson Undertaking Company, which handled all the city dead from the hospital, and it was his frequent trips there that brought him in contact with his wife.
Miss Way lived near Shelbina, Mo., and it was reported soon after her marriage that her family came near ostracising her for what she had done. In about a year, however, Wix had diamonds of all kinds and frequently gave his wife gems until she was the envy of her nurse friends at the hospital. Mrs. Wix was not informed last night that her husband had been charged with murder.
When Clark Wix was examined by County Prosecutor I. B. Kimrell and City Detectives Lum Wilson and J. L. Ghent, shortly after the murder of Thomas Fanning in his home at 1818 Olive street, on New Year's eve, 1906, Wix was not plainly told what charge might be placed against him. No person, outside of Chief of Police John Hayes, Wix's wife, the detectives and the prosecutor knew that Wix was under arrest. None of Wix's political friends knew of it or made any effort to secure his release. In recalling the questioning of Wix at that time Mr. Kimbrell said last evening:
"We asked Wix how he came by diamonds he was wearing and how he found the wherewithal to purchase his teams and wagons. He showed us that the original story about his owning many large diamonds was an exaggeration and that he possessed only two small ones, and he proved that he held title to only three teams and a wagon or two. He told us the size of his salary and how much he had been saving out of it each week. We corroborated his explanation by his wife and the neighbors. We never told him he was held for the Fanning murder. We discovered that we had no case against him and dropped the matter without letting his name be connected with the murder."Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, jewelry, Judge Kyle, murder, nurses, Olive street, Prosecutor Kimbrell, Walnut Street June 4, 1908 DIAMONDS MAY CAUSE ARREST OF MURDERER.
POLICE CLAIM TO KNOW WHO IS WEARING MASON'S SPARKLERS.
Have Been Unable to Learn Anything Form Clark Wix and Refuse to Tell Who Else They Suspect.
Diamonds, obtained and worn under unusual circumstances have given the police, so they think, a clue which will speedily lead to the solution of the mystery of John Mason's death. On Sunday, January 26, Mason, a young horse trader, disappeared from the house at 1403 Main street, where he roomed. At the time of his disappearance he was supposed to have had on his person $585 cash, a large gold watch, a ring set in a large diamond and a horseshoe scarf pin containing 18 diamonds. The body, stripped of its wealth, was found Sunday on a sand bar near Camden, Mo.
Several weeks after his disappearance detectives, who were working on the case, learned that one of his acquaintances had tried to borrow money from him, and that Mason refused to let him have it. This man is said to be a prominent business man of Kansas City and the police refused to give out his name until something more definite is known about him. This man, according to the detectives, is wearing a ring, the setting of which corresponds identically with the ring worn by Mason on the day he was lost trace of, and the man's bank account suddenly jumped up $900. It is intimated that this man will be arrested on a formal charge today.
Besides this one ring there were other ones, all diamonds, which figured largely, it is said, in the arrest of Clark Wix, a liveryman. Wix is supposed to know something of the disappearance of Mason.
The time limit for Wix's imprisonment for investigation ends this morning when a definite charge will be placed against him today or he will be released.
That Mason, for the body found at Camden was undoubtedly that of Mason,m was murdered, seems to go beyond question. . The wound on the back of his head just behind his ear, was made by some blunt instrument, presumably a hammer. On his write wrist the flesh has become decomposed, and in that place only it is broken. This leads the detectives to believe that there was a struggle when the murder was committed and that Mason was struck severely on the wrist or the skin was bruised and torn by twisting.
Phil Kirk of the Kirk detective agency says that he does not believe that Mason's body was in the water over two or three weeks. The body was well preserved, which would be impossible if it had been in the water since January 26. It is Kirk's belief that Mason's murderers committed the deed in the center of the business district and then carried the body to the river front in a hack. It would seem, according to his idea, that the murderers, for he has no doubt that there was more than one, buried him in a shallow grave in the sand on the river front. The high water of the past two weeks has served to do away with the old water line and much of the sand bank has been washed away. It was with the rise of the river that the body came to the surface. If it had been in the river long it would have floated further down stream than Camden.
The police officers are trying to connect the murder of Mason with the murder of Thomas Fanning, a wealthy stone mason who was killed in his home at 1818 Olive street in January, 1907. Just what this connection is Police Captain Walter Whitsett has not yet divulged to the public.
Early this morning two detectives, an undertaker and Mrs. John Mason left for Camden, where they will view the body and look further into the circumstance of its being found. The body will be brought to Kansas City today for burial.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Main street, Missouri river, murder, Olive street May 28, 1908
HAS NITROGLYCERIN BURIED IN A ROAD.
SAFEBLOWER WILL LEAD THE POLICE TO IT.
That Is, if Some Wagon Wheel
Don't Set It Off Before This Morning -- One Sends Money to His Mother.
Safe blowing is not a lucrative business, according to G. W. Hart and William Riley, the two yeggmen who were arrested Tuesday night after having blown a safe in the Metzner Stove Supply and Repair house, 304 West Sixth street. The two burglars made a complete confession before Captain Walter Whitsett and other police officers last night, telling somewhat of their past and present record, also giving an interesting account of how they pulled off their jobs.
The two men met each other on the streets several days ago and their acquaintance grew steadily. Both lived in a low rooming house at 507 Grand avenue and it was there that they perfected their plans for the safe robbery which they perpetrated Tuesday night.
For several days past Hart has made a hiding place of the Hannibal bridge. In that locality he kept his tools and prepared the nitroglycerin which he used to blow the safes. He said that had he been successful in his robberies here he intended taking his loot to that place and burying it at the roadside, where he has now over a pint of nitroglycerin stored away.
The only other safe blowing job which Hart has tried in Kansas City was Sunday night when he attempted to blow open the safe in the Ernst Coal and Feed barns at Twentieth and Grand avenue. At that time, however, he was interrupted by police officers and barely escaped arrest. He was not successful in this attempt. Two or there days previous to this Hart entered and robbed a wholesale house located near Fifth and Delaware streets. He got only a few dollars in currency.
WHERE HE HAS WORKED.
In tell of his work at the safe-blowing, Hart said: "I have been at this business for the past year or two, and in that time I have robbed safes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri. The biggest haul I ever made was from a bank in some town in Oklahoma. I had to get through four large front doors which were loaded with concrete, but was successful, and sent the money I made in that deal to my mother. I often sent her the biggest part of my makings. She thought I got it honestly. No, I won't tell you her name or where she lives," he replied to a question from the police captain.
"Sometimes I would bank the money I got from the safes," he continued, "but it never got me anything. I am worse broke now than I was when I was living honestly. The job we pulled off last night was to get me money to pay my board.
"When I got the safe all soaped and ready to blow," he said in reply to a question of where he went when the explosion took place, "I usually stand just on top of the safe. There is no danger of any hurt up there, for the explosion always blows out, not up. If it has made too much noise, I most always have time to jump down and pull out the money boxes before anyone gets there, and then make my getaway."
Hart is a man of thirty or more names. He refused to tell his right name to police officers, saying that G. W. Hart was just as good as any. Among the names given were Maycliffe, Miller, Pope, Brown and Simpson. Hart has served a term of years in the Ohio state penitentiary, having been sent there on the charge of assault with intent to kill. He shot a brakeman who tried to eject him from a freight train on which he was stealing a ride. The brakeman was not seriously injured. With this exception he has had no other prison record, being only 26 years of age.
HE'S GREEN AT IT.
William Riley, the other yeggman, was more reticent about his part in the affair of Tuesday night. He claimed that it was his first attempt at safe blowing and admitted that he was rather amateurish about the business. Though he has not done much along the yegging line, he has a much longer prison record than his partner. Most of his matured life has been spent behind prison bars. He is now 47 years old. He was first convicted of highway robbery in Jackson county and sentenced to five years in the state prison. He had not been released from that term many months before he received a sentence at Springfield, Mo., for a term of two years, charged with grand larceny. Besides this he served four years more in the Missouri penitentiary for grand larceny, having been convicted at Sedalia.
When the two men were arrested Tuesday night the woman who keeps the rooming house in which they lived, and Ernest Vega, a Mexican roomer, were also arrested. Hart and Riley have both testified that these two were entirely innocent of the affair, and have asked for their release. It is probable t hat they will be released this morning, as the time limit for investigation of prisoners is over.
Hart will accompany a squad of police officers to his hiding ground at the runway of the Hannibal bridge this morning, when the nitroglycerin, which he has buried there, will be removed. It is lying on the roadside, just under the surface, and it is feared that the wheels of some farm wagon might accidental cause an explosion if it is not removed at once.Labels: Captain Whitsett, crime, Delaware street, Fifth street, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, highway robbery, immigrants, penitentiary, railroad, Sedalia, Sixth street, Twentieth street May 12, 1908
MURDERED WIFE IN JEALOUS FIT.
SHE DIED IN HER AGED FATHER'S ARMS.
STABBED ON PORCH OF HOME.
E. C. FLETCHER, THE MURDERER, IS CAPTURED BY POLICE.
E. C. Fletcher, a teamster 37 years old, after being separated from his wife for one week, called at the home of her father, John Harlow, 630 West Eighth street, last night about 8:30 o'clock, ostensibly to talk over going to Oklahoma. In the house was a man named Edward Lewis, another teamster, who had gone to the house to see Harlow about putting him to work. Fletcher asked his wife to come down stairs to talk. When they reached the porch she was heard to scream for help. He had stabbed her just above the heart. She died an hour later.
Fletcher ran south to Ninth street, chased by a negro who had witnessed the act. He was seen at Ninth and Holmes streets a few minutes later, running east. The aged father ran to the porch and held his daughter in his arms until the police ambulance arrived. She sank so fast that Drs. J. P. Neal and R. A. Shiras deemed it necessary to give her a transfusion of salt solution at the emergency hospital to take the place of the blood she had lost. She did not regain consciousness and died without making a statement or even telling her name. The knife blade entered the left side just above the heart and is believed to have severed the aorta.
HE IS CAPTURED.
Detectives Keshlear and McGraw were on the scene soon after the murder and went to work on the case at once.
Patrolmen Holly Jarboe and J. P. Withrow, headquarters men, learned that Fletcher roomed at 211 West Fifth street and went there to watch for him. At 12:15 o |
