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January 30, 1910

GIVES HIS HALF TO

MAHONEY CHILDREN.

JUDGE MICHAEL ROSS, SILENT

PARTNER, DISCLAMES SHARE

WORTH $50,000.

"John Was My Friend and
He Would Have Done That

for Me," He Says.

Judge Michael Ross, John Mahoney's silent partner, yesterday startled the court of Van B. Prather, probate judge of Wyandotte county, by announcing he wished to disclaim a $50,000 share in the Mahoney estate so that it would go to his friend's orphans.

John Manoney was the Kansas City, Kas. contractor who, with his wife and foreman, Thomas F. McGuire, met death in an automobile accident on the Cliff drive Monday afternoon Judge Ross has been justice of the peace in the North End for many years.

One feature about Judge Ross's gift is that he wanted no one except the firm's lawyer to know about it. At the opening of the hearing Judge Prather said he understood that a silent partnership existed in the contracting business between Mr. Mahoney and some one else, and that if such was the case it would be necessary to take different action in the appointment of the administrators than if such a partnership did not exist.

"HE WAS MY FRIEND."

At this announcement Judge Ross arose. He said he had been a full partner of Mr. Mahoney in the contracting business, but that he desired to "wipe the slate clean" and give the children his half of the estate. Judge Prather asked Judge Ross to explain more fully.

"John Mahoney was a good friend of mine," the judge began. "He loved his four children dearly, and I am comfortably situated, and I want those little children to have my interest in the estate. And further, if any of the contracts which Mr. Mahoney left unfinished show a loss when they are fulfilled by the administrators I will give my personal check to make up for it. John was my friend and I know he would have done the same for my family."

When Judge Ross had finished speaking there were tears in the eyes of many in the court room. Judge Prather said nothing for a moment then rising, he reached over and grasped Judge Ross's hand.

"I am 60 years old," Judge Prather said. "I have read of such men, and heard of them, but you are the first of this type whose hand I ever have had the privilege to grasp."

1,000 ATTENDED FUNERAL.

The funeral of Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney was held on Friday in Kansas City, Kas. The services were held at the home, 616 North Seventh street and conducted by the Rev. Father James Keegan of St. Mary's Catholic church. It was estimated that more than 1,000 persons gathered about the house during the services. The children at Central school, where the younger Mahoney children attended, stood with bowed heads while the funeral cortege passed.

Nellie Mahoney and her sister, Lillian, age 6, were still in St. Mary's hospital and were unable to attend the services. They were, however, told for the first time of the deaths of their parents. The girls were taken from the hospital to their home in a closed carriage last night. Lillian is now able to walk about, and the attending surgeons say she is recovering rapidly. The girls are being attended at their home by a trained nurse. Mr. Mahoney's sister is in charge of the house.

Judge Prather said yesterday that he would visit the Mahoney home tomorrow morning in order that Nellie might sign a bond and qualify as an administrator.

Mr. Mahoney did not leave a will, at least none has been found.

Labels: children, churches, Cliff drive, Funeral, Judge Prather, Judges, Justice Ross, Kansas City Kas, ministers, North end, probate

January 25, 1910

3 KILLED, 3 HURT

WHEN AUTO SKIDS

OVER CLIFF DRIVE.

MACHINE DROPS EIGHTY FEET

AND IS DEMOLISHED

ON ROCKS.

John Mahoney and Wife and

Thomas McGuire the

Victims.

WRECKED AUTO WHICH PLUNGED OVER EMBANKMENT ON CLIFF DRIVE, KILLING THREE.

Three persons were killed and three, who by a miraculous streak of providence escaped death, were injured yesterday afternoon when a large automobile plunged over an eighty-foot embankment on the Cliff drive, at Scarritt's Point. The dead:

John Mahoney, aged 51, grading contractor, 616 North Seventh street, Kansas City, Kas.
Mrs. John Mahoney, aged 46 years.
Thomas McGuire, 50, a foreman for Mr. Mahoney; resided at 53 South Forest avenue, Kansas City, Kas. Father of six children.

THE INJURED.

John O'Connor, 42 years old, of Fifty-first street and Swope parkway.
Miss Nellie Mahoney, 19 years old, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney.
Lillian, 6-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney.

The O'Connors also have two other children, John, age 8, and Anna, age 13, who were in school at the time of the fatal crash which claimed their parents.

The accident is ascribed to a slippery condition of the driveway, water which trickled from the cliff having frozen. The machine, in rounding the curve at Scarritt's point, evidently skidded on the ice toward the precipice at the outer edge of the drive. Mahoney, who was the contractor that had charge of the grading work on this scenic drive, was driving the car. He evidently tried to steer it toward the cliff, with the result that t he heavy rear end of the car was thrown completely around, the rear wheels crashing through a fence and over the abyss.

FORTY-FOOT DROP.

At the point where the machine went over the cliff there is a sheer descent of probably forty feet, with probably forty feet more of steep hillside ending in an accumulation of boulders. Tracks in the roadway showed where the rear wheels of the car had backed over the precipice and the entire car was precipitated upon the rocks below, alighting on its side and crushing two of the victims. The others either landed on the rocks or were caught in the wreckage.

The scene of the accident is just above and a little to the southeast of the Heim brewery and the men who witnessed the tragedy, or who were attracted by the piteous cries of the victims, rushed to the place and gave first aid to the injured. Police from No. 8 station, who were notified, carried the injured down the cliff, which owing to the slippery condition of the ground, is almost impassable even for pedestrians, placed them in the police ambulance and hurried them to hospitals. The dead were removed later to undertaking establishments, the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney being taken to the Leo J. Stewart parlors and that of Mr. McGuire to Carroll-Davidson's.

BODIES UNDER CAR.

The scene following the tragedy was a sickening and pitiable one. the first persons to arrive found pinioned under the wreckage of the big motor car the mangled bodies of Mr. Mahoney, Mr. McGuire, Mr. O'Connor and the two girls. Mrs. Mahoney lay on the rocks at the rear of the machine unconscious, but still alive. She expired within ten minutes. Mr. Mahoney and Mr. McGuire were killed outright evidently.

The younger daughter of the Mahoneys still grasped a doll which she had carried in her arms in the machine and, gazing upon the forms of her parents as they lay still puon the frozen ground she cried piteously:

"I want my papa, I want my mamma."

It was with difficulty that she was induced to leave the spot and her childish grief brought tears to the eyes of every bystander. Miss Mahoney was dazed badly. She talked little, though seeming to partially realize what had happened, and just before she was placed in the police ambulance she was prostrated. Mr. O'Connor also was dazed, though he walked about and declared he was not hurt.

TWO SEE ACCIDENT.

Daniel Ferhnback, 19 years old, of 28 Bigelow street, just below Scarritt's Point, with Thomas Nelligan, 10 years old, were eye-witnesses to the accident. Ferhnback was chopping wood in his yard and the Nelligan boy was with him when they glanced up and saw the machine go over the brink of the hill.

"It was terrible," said Ferhnback. "The rear end went over first and the whole thing fell down into the hollow. It was done so quickly I hardly knew what had happened, but it seemed to me that the machine partly turned over. The noise sounded like a bunch of sewer pipe falling and hitting something."

For a moment, Ferhnback said, he scarcely knew what to do. Then he heard a cry, "O, God! O, God! " It was Mr. O'Connor pinioned under the car.

Ferhnback and his boy companion at once started up the hill but Nelligan, being more nimble, arrived at the top first. The boy took one look at the mass of twisted iron and wood and at the blood covered bodies under and about the machine and he ran back the winding path to where Ferhnback was hurrying up.

"It's awful," said the boy, covering his face with his hands as if to shut out the sight.

CRASH IS HEARD.

About the time that Ferhnback and Nelligan were horrified to see the machine plunge over the cliff, M. G. Givson, of 2026 Charlotte street, was walking along the Chicago & Alton tracks, far below the Cliff drive. He hears a crash but paid no attention to it and was startled by the screams of a woman, evidently one of the Mahoney sisters. He also rushed up the hill, arriving about the time that Ferhnback reached the top.

Mr. Gibson picked up the little Mahoney child and bandaged her head with handkerchiefs. Mrs. Mahoney lay free of the car, and Mr. Gibson said that she still breathed when he arrived. He took one of the cushions which had been hurled from the automobile and placed it under the woman's head, but within ten minutes she was dead.

Miss Nellie Mahoney was carried to one side by the two men, who made her as comfortable as possible. Mr. O'Connor lay with one leg pinioned under a rear wheel of the car, a short distance from the body of Mrs. Mahoney. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Ferhnback managed to lift the rear portion of the car enough to extricate the man and Mr. O'Connor immediately got up and walked about, declaring that he had no pain and that he was all right.

POLICE NOTIFIED.

The accident happened at 3:15 o'clock. It was not so very many minutes later that Mr. Gibson, having done everything he could to help the injured, ran to No. 8 police station, 3001 Guinotte street. Sergeant Edward McNamara, Patrolman Gus Metzinger and Motorcycleman George A. Lyon responded at once. They were joined later by Park Policeman W. F. Beabout and the police carried the two Mahoney girls and assisted Mr. O'Connor down the cliff to the ambulance.

Coroner B. H. Zwart went in peerson to view the bodies, and he summoned undertakers. It was 5 o'clock before the bodies finally were removed, the conditions in the vicinity of the scene of the horror making it difficult to carry the bodies out.

Even the coroner, accustomed as he is to such things, was moved at the horror of the scene. Mr. Mahoney lay crushed under the car and a piece of the spokes of the machine was found to have penetrated his adbomen.

The Point, which is the highest on the Cliff drive, lies under the shadow of the north side of the cliff. the sun does not strike there, save during a small portion of the day, and water which runs down the hill is frozen, as it trickles across the roadway, into a mass of treacherous ice, making it difficult for motor cars without ice clutches to round the curve at that point without skidding.

Mr. Mahoney, who was driving the machine, sat in the front seat with Mr. McGuire, and the others sat in the rear seat. The car was a seven-passenger Pierce-Arrow. The tracks in the driveway show that the machine came round the curve well within the middle of the roadway and away from the precipice. It is probable that Mahoney had noticed the slippery condition of the pavement and purposely kept away from the brink.

When the fatal stretch of ice was reached, however, the auto was shown to have skidded greatly toward the chasm and the theory is that Mahoney, in order to avoid the very thing which happened, headed his car toward the inside of the road. If he did, he miscalculated terribly, for this swung the heavy rear of the car around over the edge of the cliff and the ill-fated occupants were hurled down up the rocks. The wooden fence, through wh ich the auto smashed, was erected as a warning to daring motorists. It went out as if made of egg shell.

That the machine did not take fire and add to the horror is believed to have been due to a final effort of Mr. Mahoney. the engine was found to have been shut down entirely, and it is believed that Mr. Mahoney automatically pulled his lever as the machine shot backward over the precipice.

At the emergency hospital, whither the two Mahoney girls and Mr. O'Connor were removed, it was stated last evening that Mr. O'Connor's case is the least serious of any of the injured. He sustained a wound on the back of his head and some bruises. He probably will recover.

After being removed to the hospital, little Lillian Mahoney lapsed into a coma and Miss Nellie Mahoney became hysterical. It was stated that neither of the girls knew that their parents are dead. It was feared neither could stand the shock.

The condition of both the girls is regarded as serious. Miss Nellie sustained a dislocation of one of the shoulders, a fracture of the right arm and bruises about the body.

The younger girl received a bad cut about the back of the head and bruises about the body. Both girls are suffering terribly from nervous shock, and this is what makes their cases so grave.

It was said at St. Margaret's hospital at midnight that Lillian Mahoney is probably fatally injured. The child is under the effects of opiates. It is belived her skull is fractured.

BUILT THE DRIVEWAY.

Mr. Mahoney executed the grading work on the very driveway where he, with his wife, met death. It is said that he was familiar with every foot of the ground along the roadway and that because of the pride which he took in the work he particularly liked taking a spin in his machine along the course.

JOHN MAHONEY.

The ill-fated machine was purchased by Mr. Mahoney from the estate of Mrs. Mary S. Dickerson, who died. It is said that Mr. Mahoney paid $3,500 for the car.

FRIENDS SHOW SYMPATHY.

A telegram telling of the death of Mr. Mahoney was dispatched late last night to his old schoolmate and business partner, Justice Michael Ross, who is now visiting in Jacksonville, Fla. Mrs. Ross went to the residence of the dead contractor last night and arranged to take charge of the children.

"My husband and Mr. mahoney were lifelong friends. I know if Michael were here he would want me to take care of the children and and give them a temporary or even a permanent home," Mrs. Ross said.

Annie and Johnny Mahoney heard about the catastrophe at 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon. They were overwhelmed with grief.

CHILD PREDICTED ACCIDENT.

"Oh, I told papa not to buy that auto. I told him all along it would lead to some accident," sobbed the girl.

The boy, four years younger, soon quieted himself and began to assure his sister. The children were taken last night to the Ross home, where they may stay permanently.

Labels: accident, automobiles, children, Cliff drive, Coroner Zwart, death, Guinotte avenue, Justice Ross, police

December 19, 1909

COP'S SPEED LIMIT IS WALK.

Threatens to Arrest Autoists, They

Say, If Machine Goes Faster.

Formal protest was made last evening by Mrs. Victor Bell and her son, Dr. Charles Bell, to A. J. Dean, president of the park board, alleging that park policeman No. 14 on Cliff drive was unduly harsh yesterday afternoon in threatening them with arrest if their automobile was driven faster than he could walk on the Cliff drive. Mr. Dean will take up the matter at the next meeting of the park board.

Mrs. Bell and her sons, Dr. Charles Bell and Harold Bell, were halted in their big 60-horse landaulet in about the middle of Cliff drive. They were taking their usual afternoon ride when park policeman No. 14 shouted to them to halt. The chauffeur stopped.

"We were traveling very slowly," said Dr. Bell, who lives at the Hotel Baltimore, last evening, "when the policeman stopped us. At first we were threatened with arrest. Then we were told we might proceed, but that if the policeman ever caught us driving faster than he could walk that he would arrest us without further notice. We objected to this threat because a man's walk is certainly too slow a pace for an automobile. Our driver is familiar with the speed laws. Yesterday the driver took extra precautions because of the ice and snow. This in itself is sufficient for any driver to remain well within the speed limit. I know that we were not running faster than we do in Petticoat Lane.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive, doctors, Hotel Baltimore, Park board, police, weather

November 7, 1909

PARISH BENEFIT BAZAAR.

Receipts Will Be Added to Assump-

tion Building Fund.

A bazaar for the benefit of the New Assumption parish, recently created by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hogan, will be held this week beginning tomorrow night in the hall at the southwest corner of Independence boulevard and Prospect avenue. A special music programme will be a feature each evening. There also will be many events in the way of voting contests.

The New Assumption parish was formerly a part of the St. Aloysius parish and embraces the territory east of Prospect avenue to Norton avenue. The southern limit is Independence avenue and the territory extends as far north as Cliff drive. Father William J. Connolly is the pastor and services are being held temporarily at 3327 Garner avenue. the profits from this week's bazaar will be added to the fund for a new church.

Labels: churches, Cliff drive, Independence avenue, ministers, Prospect avenue

September 15, 1909

AUTOMOBILIST STOPS HORSE.

Grabs Reins From Cab and Prevents

Injury to Woman.

Grabbing the reins of a frightened horse while seated in an automobile, Joe Marks,a traveling salesman, stopped the animal yesterday afternoon at risk of serious injury to himself and saved from injury a young woman who drove. Marks was dragged from the tomeau of the machine and when he returned to the Coates house last evening his clothes were bespattered with mud and his trousers were torn.

After luncheon yesterday Marks and Ervan Wilson traversed Cliff drive in an automobile and then drove out towards Swope park. Marks noticed that a horse hitched to a runabout and driven by a young woman had become frightened. He told the chauffeur to hurry and he would try to grab the reins. The chauffeur turned the machine loose. The frightened horse dashed down the road.

Marks held on to the hand rail with one hand and reached out with the other. Wilson grabbed Marks's coat. The chauffeur swung the machine alongside the horse. Marks grabbed the lines and the driver set the brakes. The road was muddy, the machine skidded, the horse fought desperately to get away and Marks was suspended between the horse and the automobile.

"Let loose of me, I've got him," cried Marks to Wilson, and he jumped from the machine. The horse by this time had been brought to a standstill.

Neither the young woman nor the horse was hurt and after the animal was calmed she insisted on taking the reins and driving him home. Marks gave his name, but forgot to get that of the girl.

Labels: animals, automobiles, Cliff drive, Coates house, salesmen, visitors

June 20, 1909

CITY'S PRIZE BEAUTY SPOT.

Wilbur Morgan Says Park on Bluffs

Offers Prettiest View.

Searching for beauty spots is the fad of Wilbur Morgan of the Interstate Motor Car Company. Last week, after exploring the pretty places of the city for several months in his car, Mr. Morgan found what he considers the most perfect viewpoint in the town.

It is the little park about 100 feet square on top of the bluff and just west of the entrance to the Cliff drive, close to Garfield avenue. There is a drive, and an arbor of climbing roses, beneath which one may sit. The view embraces the East Bottoms, most of Kansas City, Kas., the river and the intercity viaduct.

By night, when the city is lit up, the view is particularly beautiful and the small park is the rendezvous for any people in the neighborhood. It has no official title on the map, being merely a part of North Terrace park, an ambiguous term applied to the whole bluff. Mr. Morgan says that the view to be obtained from that point is the most beautiful around Kansas City, and he doesn't own any real estate in that neighborhood, either.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive, Garfield avenue

September 18, 1908

JAMES O'NEILL SEES THE CITY.

For the First Time, Although He's

Been Coming Here 25 Years.

James O'Neill, the veteran actor, who is appearing at the Willis Wood theater this week, has been coming to Kansas City for something like twenty-five years. He even recalls that his first appearance here was during the boom days, when he invested in several pieces of property for speculative purposes. That he was successful in his speculations is not particularly pertinent, but during the twenty-five years he had never had a more extensive view of the city than that which was necessitated through his daily trips from his hotel to the theater.

Yesterday, accompanied by George R. Collins, an old friend, Mr. O'Neill rode over the boulevards and through the parks of the city. It was a revelation to him.

"I was absolutely astonished," he said last night immediately after the last act of the "Abbe Bonaparte." "The cliff drive, particularly, is a thing of remarkable beauty. It reminds me very much of the Palisades in New York. There is something about the boulevards and parks, and again I say particularly the cliff drive, that relieves one of that feeling of the 'made' drive. By that I mean the boulevards and parks that are literally constructed."

Labels: Cliff drive, New York, theater, visitors

July 13, 1908

NO ARRESTS BY MOTOR SQUAD.

New Patrolmen Haven't Been Able

to Find Any Speed Outlaws.

Automobilists and drivers have been warned the last four days about keeping within the speed limit, and the motorcycle squad has been getting in practice trailing autos and horses that were going too fast. The squad has patrolled the boulevards and Cliff drive, learning the favorite streets and byways taken by the speedy drivers who are willing to risk being arrested for hitting up a fast pace.

Sunday was the day the squad as to get busy and prove the efficiency of the new motorcycles in overhauling the gasoline wagons, but up until 10 o'clock last night no arrests had been made. It was expected that the cycle men would have two or three arrests each to their credit last night. The officers will be given orders today to be strict in enforcing the speed law from now on.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive, motorcycles, police

August 20, 1907

TO LIGHT CLIFF DRIVE.

Park Board Issues Order to Lay

Gas Mains.

A contract was let yesterday by the park board fro laying gas mains on North Cliff drive, and a resolution adopted asking the city to prepare to take care of the 159 gas lamps that are to be installed on that thoroughfare.

There are stretches of the boulevards that either are unlighted or that are illumined at night by means of obsolete gasoline lamps. The park board is having gas installed. In the interest of economy at the time the park board made the boulevards it did not incur the expense of putting down gas mains. Accordingly laying mains now means the additional expense of repairig the boulevard lawns and crossings.

Labels: Cliff drive, public works

July 6, 1907

EIGHT MILES AN HOUR LIMIT.

Speed Fixed for Automobiles on the

Cliff Drive.

Alderman Launder, Hartman and Halpin were driven over the parks and boulevards and Cliff drive in automobiles at speeds varying from six to forty miles an hour, yesterday. The aldermen decided that six miles an hour is too slow, and forty miles an hour too fast. Therefore, they decided that eight miles an hour is a proper and safe limit for automobiles that traverse Cliff drive and they will recommend that speed when the ordinance is reported out Monday night for passage giving automobiles use of Cliff drive half days on Tuesdays and Saturdays and all Thursdays.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive

April 9, 1907

AUTOS MUST GO SLOWER.

Speed Limit of Eight Miles an Hour

on Cliff Drive.

The board of park commissioners yesterday adopted a rule that automobiles using Cliff drive must enter from the east side, and depart by the west side. Speed limit was confined to eight miles an hour, this regulation, it was stated, being necessary because some of the automobilists have been taking speed liberties both dangerous to themselves and others and the wheels of machines have been tearing up the macadam of the roadways.

"I was going to suggest giving automobiles additional days on the drive," spoke up Mr. Hudson.

"Don't do it, for I would not be in favor of giving them any more days," objected Mr. Fuller.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive, Park board

March 26, 1907

AUTOS AND THE CLIFF DRIVE.

All Day Thursday and Tuesday and
Saturday Afternoons Set Aside.

Automobile owners may hereafter use Cliff Drive every Thursday, all day, and Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. The new order was made yesterday by the park board.

The drive in the past has been given over to automobilists on Wednesday, but this has not been satisfactory to owners of machines engaged in business pursuits and yesterday the club members asked that Sunday and two week days be accorded them on the drive. The board objected to automobiles on the drive on Sunday as that day is used more than any other day for carriage travel, and finally compromised by making Thursday a full day and half days of Tuesday and Saturday for automobiles.

Labels: automobiles, Cliff drive, Park board

March 19, 1907

ASK FOR ONE MORE DAY.

Automobile Owners Want to Use

Cliff Drive on Sundays.

The Kansas City Automobile Club, which, by virtue of permission of the board of park commissioners, has unlimited possession of Cliff drive each Wednesday of every week for the use of autos, yesterday petitioned the board to have Sunday added to its privileges. The communication accompanying the request set forth that busy business men owning automobiles cannot avail themselves of Wednesday to use the drive, and if they are to enjoy it they must have Sundays when they are not occupied with commercial responsibilities. The request was laid aside until all the members of the board can be consulted.

Labels: amusement, automobiles, Cliff drive, Park board