News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

January 13, 1909

ICE FLOES WRECK

SHIPPING ON BLUE.

Pleasure Craft Smashed and

Swept Away by the

Grinding Cakes.

Great havoc among the shipping in the Blue river was wrought by a sudden break-up of ice on that stream yesterday afternoon. Several costly houseboats and launches were crushed, or their moorings snapped and carried away down the river. In all the damage amounts to several thousand dollars.

At the Kansas City Boat Club's moorings, Fifteenth street and Blue river, Harvey H. Espenship's thousand-dollar houseboat, fully furnished, was swept from its berth by the ice and carried down the river. Marion Bolinger, a boatman at Independence avenue and the Blue, saw it being carried by. It was crushed, and floating on his side. The boat contained several hundred dollars' worth of furniture, including a piano.

HOUSEBOAT AND LAUNCHES.

Mr. Espenship lost two launches, also the Iona I and the Iona II. These boats were valued at $600. both were carried down the Missouri river, one of them smashed in a jam of ice as it passed Independence avenue.

Bert Claflin of Centropolis lost a houseboat and a launch. More than twenty small boats were swept away or crushed in the ice at Fifteenth street.

Charles Demaree's houseboat and launch broke their cables. The houseboat was secured, but the launch was lost.

A lighter belonging to Harry Harris, son of Postmaster J. H. Harris, was crushed. Mr. Harris intended to build a house on the lighter next spring. A houseboat, the owner of which is not known, was crushed as it passed Independence avenue. The riven timbers were scattered among the ice cakes along the shore.

SEVEN-FOOT RISE.

The rise in the river during the afternoon was more than seven feet. At 8:30 o'clock last night the river left its banks at Fifteenth street. Boat owners, alarmed by the residents along the river, hastened to the moorings and secured their craft with chains. the landing stage at the boathouse, Fifteenth street and the Blue, was carried away.

The ice was breaking slowly, or a great deal more damage would have resulted. The ice cakes, being thick and heavy, crushed the small craft as they ground against them. The Kansas City Canoe Club lost many small boats.

Labels: Blue river, boats, Centropolis, Fifteenth street, ice, Independence avenue, organizations

January 3, 1910

POLICE WATCH POOL HALLS.

Breed "Boy Bandits." Chief's Orders

Say -- Proprietor Arrested.

As the result of the general orders issued to the police force at roll call last night by Chief Snow, a close supervision is being kept on all pool halls in Kansas City. Officer Patrick Dalton last night visited a pool hall at Fifteenth street and Indiana avenue conducted by Henry Schillerbein, and, charging that he found several boys under the age of 18 playing pool, arrested Schillerbein, who was taken to the Flora avenue police station and afterward released on bond.

Labels: billiards, Fifteenth street, Flora avenue, Indiana avenue, Police Chief Snow

December 30, 1909

FIND WOMEN IN A SALOON.

Italian Promises Police Board to

Bar Them in Future.

The board of police commissioners is having a hard time impressing upon the Italians of "Little Italy" the fact that their women must not frequent saloons. In the past some Italian women have b een as much at home in the saloon as in the home; in fact, many of them used to tend bar while their husbands were at meals.

Yesterday Mattaeo La Salla, who has a saloon at Missouri avenue and Cherry street, was before the board for permitting his wife and mother to frequent his saloon. It was some time before Judge Middlebrook could impress La Salla with the fact that there was a law in this state which prevents women from frequenting saloons. The Italian looked worried, puzzled, but he promised that his women folks would keep out of his saloon in the future.

Salino Defeo, 600 East Fifth street, and his bartender were seen twice, it is alleged , to serve a woman with a bucket of beer. Commissioner Marks was closing Defeo's saloon for two days, but, being Christmas week, Judge Middlebrook thought the board should be more lenient and a reprimand was given.

For having a man not in his employ in his saloon at 1:20 a. m. last Friday, John Honl, a saloonkeeper at 7306 East Fifteenth street, was ordered to close his place Friday and Saturday.

Labels: alcohol, Cherry street, Fifteenth street, Fifth street, immigrants, Missouri avenue, police board, saloon, women

December 9, 1909

TIME TO GET OUT SKATES.

The Parade, Fifteenth Street and

Paseo, Will Be Flooded Today.

The Parade, Fifteenth street and Paseo, will be flooded today, preparatory to the formation of ice for skating. The ice in Troost and Penn Valley lakes is not strong enough yet to hold skaters and the park board issued orders yesterday that skaters are to be kept off until the ice gets to be four inches thick.

Labels: Fifteenth street, Park board, Paseo, skating

December 7, 1909

HIDDEN POUCH FOUND

IN OLD JAMES HOUSE.

FILLED WITH OPENED LETTERS

ADDRESSED TO A. F. GEORGE.

Sack Discovered by Plumber in

Sealed Closet at 1836 East Ninth

Not Like Those Used By Gov-

ernment in Bandit's Time.

UNLIKE PRESENT DAY POUCHES.

A rendezvous of Jesse James was recalled yesterday afternoon, when E. N. Watts, who runs a plumbing shop at 1836 East Ninth street, discovered in an old house at 1836 East Ninth street a mail pouch upon which human eyes probably had not gazed for years.

Watts was doing extensive remodeling work on the interior of the house preparatory to its occupancy as a pool hall, when he accidentally broke into a little closet which evidently had been sealed for years. In that aperture he found a mail pouch, filled with mail matter. He dragged the sack to the light and after examining it concluded that it must have been a part of the spoils of the James gang.

USED AS A RECEPTACLE.

Mr. Watts notified the postal authorities and a postoffice inspector was soon on the scene. He examined the pouch and its contents, finding the sack was filled with many letters, all of which had been opened and were addressed to "A. F. George, 609 East Fifteenth street, Kansas City, Mo." The inspector's conclusion was that the sack must have been used as a receptacle for the accumulated correspondence of Mr. George, whoever he might have been.

CLOSET WHERE THE POUCH WAS FOUND.

The inspector took the sack and contents to the federal building, where officials, who had been in the service as long as twenty years, examined it closely. They said that although the pouch resembled the official style, it lacked certain necessary features that would justify its identification as ever having been owned by the United states government. The officials were at a loss to know why anyone would try to duplicate the official one used years ago.

Labels: billiards, federal building, Fifteenth street, James Gang, Ninth street, postoffice

November 29, 1909

"JOE" SHANNON IS HELD UP.

Lawyer-Politician, Robbed of $48

and Watch in Home Ward, Saves

$250 by Clever Trick.

Joseph B. Shannon, lawyer and politician, was held up about 2:30 o'clock Sunday morning on Fifteenth street between Holmes and Charlotte streets, in his home ward, by three young men who wore dark clothing and stiff hats, and had handkerchiefs tied over their faces.

Mr. Shannon was relieved of $48 in money and a gold watch and would have suffered a heavier loss had it not been for his presence of mind. When he first realized that he was about to become a victim of hold-up men he took a roll of bills containing $250 out of his pocket and dropped it on the pavement. The $48 and his watch remained in his pocket, and of course became the property of the highwaymen.

Mr. Shannon says that one of the robbers "covered" him with a gun while the other two searched him and after taking what valuables they could find they fled down an adjacent alley. Later Mr. Shannon returned to the scene of the robbery and recovered the $250 he had dropped.

He immediately reported the matter to the police, who are trying to locate the perpetrators.

Labels: crime, Fifteenth street, highway robbery, politics

September 20, 1909

THUGS BEAT AND KICK BOY.

Four Attack Harry Jenkins After

Spitting on Sister's Dress.

Harry Jenkins, 17 years old, living at Sixteenth and College streets, was walking west on Fifteenth street near Prospect avenue last night with his two sisters, Minnie and Mamie, both younger than himself, when they passed a group of three or four ruffians, one of whom spat on the Sunday dress worn by one of the sisters.

"Do you take my sister for a spittoon?" asked the brother resentfully.

At this the toughs attacked young Jenkins, knocked him down and all of them kicked him viciously before the screams of his sisters attracted Officer Jesse Kemp, instructor in pistol practice on the police force, in front of whose house the attack was made.

The ruffians took to their heels when the policeman ran out. None of them was caught.

Labels: children, College avenue, Fifteenth street, police, Sixteenth street, violence

September 19, 1909

ANONYMOUS LETTER CAUSES

CHAUFFEUR'S FATAL INJURY.

L. L. Moore, Found Unconscious on
Pavement Friday Night, Dies

at General Hospital.

An anonymous letter was the cause of the fight which resulted in the death of L. L. Moore yesterday afternoon at the General hospital where he had been taken unconscious on the day previous. Moore was a chauffeur and had fought with Benjamin Lamon, another chauffeur at Fifteenth street and Troost avenue. It developed that his injuries were due to his fall on the pavement.

Lamon is employed by Charles S. Keith of the Central Coal and Coke company. He became angry when Mr. Kieth showed him a letter written by an unknown person which accused Lamon of "joy riding" in Keith's motor car. Suspicion pointed to Moore who was desirous of obtaining a position with Mr. Keith and had written an application for position as chauffeur. The handwriting in both cases were similar.

When Lamon accused Moore as the author of the letter at the Missouri Valley Automobile Company, 1112-14 East Fifteenth street, Friday night, Moore refused to make any explanation or denial. A fight followed, and when Moore fell to the sidewalk he struck his head on the curbing, resulting in concussion of the brain, according to surgeons at the General hospital.

Lamon was arrested early morning, and yesterday afternoon was arraigned in Justice Miller's court for second degree murder. He pleaded not guilty. He was released on a $2,000 bond furnished by Mr. Keith. Lamon lives at 1525 Oak street and is married. Moore formerly lived at Maryville, Mo., and had only been in the city a few weeks. He worked for Mrs. Amy Cruise of 1209 Commerce building.

Labels: automobiles, Commerce building, death, Fifteenth street, general hospital, Judges, Oak street, Troost avenue, violence

September 8, 1909

FALLS IN LOVE WITH

ICE MAN AND ELOPES.

YOUNG GIRL CAUGHT BEFORE

KNOT CAN BE TIED.

Kitchen Romance of Ruth Risley

and Otis Pemberton Ruthlessly

Shattered by Father Send-

ing the Girl Away.

A romance that commenced in the visits of the ice man this summer to the home of G. M. Risley, a dentist at 2628 Myrtle avenue, ended yesterday when Ruth Risley, the 17-year-old daughter, eloped with Otis L. Pemberton, 23 years old. The young couple went to Kansas City, Kas., but on account of the youthful appearance of the girl, the marriage license was refused. When Dr. Risley heard the news and located his daughter, he promptly sent her to Butler, Mo., to join her mother.

"It won't do any good," the girl said firmly when she was placed aboard the train. "It won't be much more than six months until I'm 18 and then I can do as I please."

It wasn't exactly love at first sight, for the young man had tramped through the kitchen several times before the daughter of the household realized that he was good looking and that he was more cheerful than the average ice man who grumbled when he had to carry ice to the far end of the ho use. The ice man's visits were sometimes prolonged and in time the young folk began to converse in a friendly manner.

ELOPEMENT IS PLANNED.

Miss Risley discovered to her satisfaction that the young man talked in a pleasant manner, and was in no way inferior to her classmates at the Manual Training High School.

Evening calls followed and the family began to notice that the well dressed young man who was so attentive bore a striking resemblance to the ice man who came every morning. When the parental storm broke, plans for an elopement were made.

"We can get married in Kansas," was Pemberton's comforting assurance. "Just say that you are 18, and it will be all right."

It wasn't so easy when they faced the man in the recorder's office.

"Yes, I'm 18," said the girl, falteringly.

The man behind the desk grinned in a tantalizing manner and expressed his doubts. Then a lot of questions followed, and in the end Miss Risley admitted she was only near-18. There was nothing to do but return to the Missouri side, which the young couple did.

"Perhaps my mother will help us," said the young man, so they went to his home at 2717 East Fifteenth street. A strange man met them at the gate.

"I AM A DETECTIVE" -- FOILED!

"My name is L. D. Jennings, city detective," explained the stranger. "Sorry that I have to take you to the police station."

It didn't do any good to remonstrate and the would-be elopers accompanied the officer to police headquarters, where they were met by Dr. Risley, who wasn't in an altogether amiable frame of mind.

"You will join your mother at once," he said when he was told that they had not succeeded in tying the wedding knot. "No more of this foolishness."

Labels: dentists, detectives, Fifteenth street, Myrtle avenue, romance, schools

August 30, 1909

LIEUTENANT RYAN MAY DIE.

In Critical Condition as Result of

an Operation.

Lieutenant M. E. Ryan of the police, is in critical condition at St. Joseph's hospital, following an operation performed yesterday afternoon. The operation was to remove a growth inside his right ear. He was unconscious early this morning. His physicians had little hope of his recovery.

Lieutenant Ryan has been on the police force twenty years, having been appointed a patrolman while Thomas M. Speers was chief of police. He was stationed for years at No. 4 police station at Fifteenth and Walnut streets. A year ago he was removed to police headquarters.. Mr. Ryan lives at 3711 Woodland avenue. He is married and has four children.

Labels: Fifteenth street, hospitals, illness, No 4 station, police, Walnut Street, Woodland avenue

August 22, 1909

BAND CONCERTS FOR THIS WEEK.

Sunday, 2:30 p. m., Swope park.
Monday, 8 p. m., Concourse, St. John and Gladstone.
Tuesday, 8 p. m., West Terrace park, Thirteenth and Summit.
Wednesday, 8 p. m., Budd park.
Thursday, 8 p. m., Penn Valley park, Twenty-seventh and Jefferson.
Friday, 8 p. m., Troost park, Thirtieth and Paseo.
Saturday, 8 p. m., the Parade, Fifteenth and the Paseo.

Labels: Budd park, Fifteenth street, Gladstone boulevard, Jefferson street, music, Paseo, Penn Valley park, St. John avenue, Summit street, Swope park, Thirtieth street, Twenty-seventh street

August 9, 1909

LOCAL RABBI'S BOOK.

Isidore Koplowitz on "Immortality

of the Soul."

RABBI ISIDORE KOPLOWITZ.

Rabbi Isidore Koplowitz of the Keneseth Israel synagogue, Fifteenth and Troost, is the author of a learned and interesting volume just published by the Franklin Hudson Publishing company of this city, under the title: "Al-Moveth" or "Immortality of the Soul." This is the fifth volume from the pen of Dr. Koplowitz, who was formerly a lecturer at the state university of Georgia and is a scholar of wide attainments. He has been here for the past four years and has taken high rank in Jewish circles.

In his latest book, which is a modest little volume of attractive typopgraphy, Dr. Koplowitz examines exhaustively the whole problem of the soul's immortality. The book is designed as a protest against the prevailing materialism of the day and as a battle cry and slogan in the assault upon this dangerous and insidious tendency. The author's profound scholarship and extensive research are shown in the aptness and variety of the quotations used in support of his argument for immortality, which, he declares, is demonstrable by reason, logic and science. The answer to Job's question "If a man die shall he live again," is a triumphant affirmative.

Labels: books, Fifteenth street, Jews, ministers, Troost avenue

August 4, 1909

ALLEGED KIDNAPER

CAUGHT; BOY FOUND.

HARRY JACOBS WAS WITH

UNCLE, CLARENCE CRAFT.

Stepfather Locates Stolen Child,

Dressed in Girl's Clothing, on

Train -- Craft to Be

Prosecuted.

The alleged kidnaper of little 4-year-old Harry Jacobs, who was coaxed from the home of T. H. Jacobs, his "grandpa," 1508 Olive street, about 1 o'clock Monday afternoon, was so unsuccessful in covering up his tracks that the child was gone from home but seventeen hours. He was returned to his mother about 8 o'clock yesterday morning. As soon as Mrs. Jacobs heard a description of the suspected kidnaper she thought of her brother, Clarence M. Craft of St. Joseph, Mo. Little Harry had lived three years with Mrs. Frank M. Baker, mother of Mrs. Jacobs and Craft.

FOUND CHILD ON TRAIN.

After the search in this city had been in vain, Harry Jacobs, the stolen boy's step-father, decided to leave for St. Joseph Monday evening. He wired for detectives to meet him at the train there at 11 p. m., intending to go to the home of the baby's grandmother, Mrs. Baker.

Soon after the train had left Leavenworth, Kas., Jacobs, suspecting that the kidnaper might have gone to that city by the electric line, started to walk through the train. In the coach immediately ahead of the one in which he had been sitting Jacobs saw Craft, Frank M. Baker, Craft's step-father, and the baby. Little Harry was dressed as a girl.

Jacobs approached and asked what was meant by spiriting the child away. He says Craft replied that it was none of his business as he was not the boy's father. As the train slowed up at the Union depot in St. Joseph, Jacobs says Craft attempted to escape with the child by running around the baggage room. He was caught and turned over to Detectives Parrott and Gordon of the St. Joseph police force.

CRAFT IS LOCKED UP.

"I saw that Craft was placed safely behind the bars," said Jacobs yesterday afternoon. "At the packing house I learned that Baker had been at work there at 1 o'clock Monday afternoon so he was released. He had gone to Leavenworth to meet Craft."

Jacobs asked that Craft be held. Yesterday he went before the prosecutor here and swore to a complaint charging kidnaping. Justice John B. Young issued the warrant which was turned over to Chief of Police Frank Snow with instructions to send a man to St. Joseph after the alleged kidnaper. Mrs. Jacobs, who was greatly alarmed over the absence of her child, says she will prosecute her brother.

In an attempt to learn where little Harry's clothes had been changed the boy was taken out yesterday morning by his step-father. He led the way through the alley in the rear of the house at 1508 Olive street, from whence he was taken, to Fifteenth street. When they reached the fountain at Fifteenth street and the Paseo, which little Harry calls "the flopping water," he stopped. He said that he was taken into a house near there which had a broken porch. His clothes were taken off and girl's apparel substituted.

BOY'S CLOTHES THROWN AWAY.

After leaving the place, t he little boy said, his overalls, waist, etc. of which he had been divested, were wrapped in a piece of paper and thrown over a fence. The house could not be located. The child said several people were present when the shift was made. Candy and the promise of a long ride on the choo choo cars," is what lured the boy away from home.

Jacobs and the stolen boy's mother have not been married long. Mrs. Jacobs was first married in St. Joseph several years ago to Harry Burke from whom she was later divorced. For three years she left her child with her mother, who later married Frank M. Baker, a packing house carpenter. The grandmother and Baker became greatly attached to the child and did not want to give him up when the mother remarried. Jacobs is a cook.

Labels: children, Fifteenth street, kidnapping, Leavenworth, Olive street, Paseo, Police Chief Snow, railroad, St.Joseph

July 19, 1909

LURE OF THE CIRCUS

AS STRONG AS EVER.

CROWDS STREAMED THROUGH

SHOW GROUNDS YESTERDAY.

Performers Were Not in Evidence,

as It Was a Day of Rest.

Parade in Downtown

Section.

WE ARE ALL "SMALL BOYS" TODAY.

PARADE STARTS AT 9:30
The route is north from the grounds, on Indiana avenue to Fifteenth street, west of Fifteenth to Walnut street, north on Walnut to Fifth street, west on Fifth to Main street, south on Main to Fourteenth street, east on Fourteenth to Grand avenue, south on Grand to Fifteenth street, east on Fifteenth to Indiana avenue, south on Indiana to the circus grounds.

You have heard people say that the circus is no longer the magnet it once was, but if you were able to persuade yourself into this opinion, take a car out to Seventeenth street and Indiana avenue, where Ringling's circus city is encamped, and behold your mistake; for it's dollars to dill pickles that you'll suddenly be bereft of your enthusiasm.

Crowds streamed through the grounds all day yesterday just because it was a circus that held all the charm that circuses have always held in the popular heart. Big red wagons; forests of pegs and guy ropes; great hollow mountains of belying canvas; roustabouts seeking a minimum of warmth in the scant shade of the vans; squads of cooks and scullions making the next meal ready for the circus army vendors of cool drinks and hot meats, barking their wares; the merry-go-round, grinding out its burden of popular airs, all these things to be seen and heard constituted the lure that drew perspiring thousands to the show grounds, even though no performance was given Sunday.

PERFORMERS' REST DAY.

It was remarked that few of the performers could be seen on the grounds.

"That's because it is their day off," said one who has eleven years of circus experience behind him. "They're at all the parks and other places of interest. More of them are in church than you would guess, too."

No one was allowed in the menagerie yesterday and the animals had the big tent largely to themselves and their keepers. Beasts ranging in disposition from mild to fearsome, crouched, paced and slept behind the bars. A large herd of elephants was lined up on one side of the tent and the huge pachyderms stood quietly swaying their trunks, and munching the wisps of hay they would now and then tuck under their proboscises.

Jerry, the Royal Bengal tiger. lay peacefully asleep in his cage. He is the Apollo Belvedere of the feline species. Out of all tigers and near-tigers in captivity, he was chosen as a model of his kind for the two bronze guardians of the entrance of old Nassau hall, Princeton.

TIGER AS A MODEL.

Jerry was chosen as a model by A. Phimister Proctor, the sculptor, who was commissioned by the class of '79 to replace the two lions that now stand before the famous old hall.

Weather and undergraduate ebullience made their marks on the lions and the class of '79 decided to have them replaced by two bronze tigers which will not only be more durable but more emblematic. They will be presented to the university by the class next commencement week.

Two performances will be given today, the first at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and the second at 8 o'clock at night. The parade will start at 9:30 a. m. The circus will give two performances at Manhattan, Kas., Tuesday.

Labels: amusement, animals, circus, Fifteenth street, Fifth street, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, Indiana avenue, Main street, parades, Walnut Street

July 18, 1909

KIDS WAITED ALL

NIGHT FOR CIRCUS.

RINGLING'S BIG SHOW CAME

EARLY THIS MORNING.

A Big Crowd Watched Transfer of

Four Train Loads of Wonders

to Grounds at Fifteenth

and Indiana.

ONE OF THE THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS IN THE RINGLING BROTHERS' MENAGERIE.

The great circus of the world -- the one which has made the name of Ringling Brothers a household word -- is here. It rolled into Kansas City quietly before daylight this morning. A good big crowd of the circus faithful, old and young, were in waiting at the railroad yards and gave a royal greeting to the sleepy-eyed workmen and unloading caravans. Many of the kids had been up all night to be sure they would not miss anything. It took four special trains to transport here the great army of people, horses, elephants, wild animal cages, parade features and enormous mechanical effects.

It was a strange sight to see forty elephants lumbering along a quiet roadway in the gray light of early dawn. The keepers had their hands full keeping the venturesome youngsters away from the amiable beasts, and when the big animals were ranged in a circle at the grounds waiting until their place in the menagerie was ready, the trailing kids were apparently in a seventh heaven of delight.

It took about two hours to transfer the immense equipment to the grounds at Fifteenth street and Indiana avenue and about the same time is required to erect the twenty tents that constitute the circus city. The big canvas in which the performance takes place is the largest ever made, and the menagerie tent is almost as big. There are 650 horses with the show and in the dining tents are served 3,000 meals a day.

"DARWIN," THE MISSING LINK.

The Ringling tents are perfectly waterproof and the illumination is beautiful. Even the menagerie cages have each a power light, so that the wild animal rarities may be scanned with keener interest. In this valuable department is "Darwin," the missing link, a man-sized ape that feeds on oranges and grapes, shaves himself, likes music, plays cards and ball and is a stout prohibitionist. The human-like creature has caused much comment, both humorous and serious.

This is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Ringling Bros, in the circus business, and the ring acts are mostly European novelties and sensations. Two-thirds of the 400 performers in the programme are announced as making their first appearance in America. The Ringling show has always presented an exceptional and satisfactory list of acts, in which refinement and novelty have been leading characteristics. In fact, the tone and individuality of this big show have brought it to the first place in the circus world.

ALL NATIONS REPRESENTED.

There are acrobats from Persia, riders from Italy, gymnasts from England and Germany, jugglers from Japan, dancers and equilibrists from France, and specialists from twenty-two countries of the world. Acrobats that do tricks on the back of a running horse, which have heretofore been considered difficult on the firm foundation of ground; a man who walks on the top of his head like other people do on their feet; gymnasts who turn triple somersaults in midair before they alight upon swings or recover hands; horses that jump through beer casks, drink out of mugs and unharness themselves and go to bed like a man; pigs that climb ladders and shoot the chutes; elephants that can act out humorous skits with amazing intelligence; horses, dogs and ponies that are educated beyond human belief, and a lot of other things that are out of the common and entertaining, if not astounding, are in the varied circus bill of 100 numbers.

As a thrilling climax a ponderous automobile is driven down a sheer incline, and, shooting into space about twenty feet from the ground, turns two complete somersaults before landing upon a distant runway and wheels with terrific momentum into the racing track. A daring young French woman is seated in the car and steers it in its dreadful plunge and revolving flight. This is the most nervy and puzzling sensation every brought forward by circus ingenuity.

Two performances will be given Monday at 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock.

Labels: amusement, animals, automobiles, children, circus, daredevils, Fifteenth street, Indiana avenue, visitors

July 16, 1909

HACKMEN FIGHT AT FUNERAL.

Harry Vaughan Sustains Fracture of

Skull and Recovery Doubtful.

Harry Vaughan, 17 years old, a hack driver living at 818 East Fourteenth street, Kansas City, Mo., and employed by the Wood Bryant and E. Landis Livery Company, Fifteenth and Campbell streets, was probably fatally injured yesterday during a quarrel with Tom Harper, a driver employed by the J. W. Snoddy Livery Company. Vaughan was struck on the head with a rock and his skull fractured at the base of the brain. He was removed to the South Side hospital where the attending physicians said his recovery was doubtful. Harper escaped after striking Vaughan and at a late hour last night had not been captured.

The two men with their carriages had been engaged to attend the funeral of Mrs. W. I. Davis in Rosedale. While services were being held at Kansas City and Rosedale avenues and the carriages were in line ready to take up the funeral procession, the two men had an altercation. Harper, it is alleged, threw a brick, striking Vaughan in the head and while the latter was still staggering Harper lifted a large rock with both hands and struck his victim again. He then ran and the last seen of him he was making his way toward Argentine. The injured boy was given emergency treatment by Dr. O. M. Longnecker and Dr. B. T. Sharp.

Labels: Campbell street, doctors, Fifteenth street, Funeral, hospitals, Rosedale, violence

July 9, 1909

ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE FOURTH.

Victor Whiteman, 8, Dies From

Burn of Firecrackers.

Another name was added to the list of Fourth of July victims yesterday, when death overtook Victor Whiteman, 8 years old, at the general hospital. He died from severe burns about the body.

Victor was burned last Monday while playing near the home of his widowed mother, Mrs. Alice Whiteman, 4315 East Fifteenth street. He was carrying a number of firecrackers in his trousers pockets, and in a manner not explained they were set off, severely burning his leg.

The boy, in a semi-conscious condition, was carried to the office of Dr. T. T. Sawyer at Fifteenth and Spruce streets, and later transferred to the general hospital. No funeral arrangements have been made.

Labels: accident, chidren, death, doctors, Fifteenth street, fireworks, Spruce avenue

July 3, 1909

AGED "CABBY" A SUICIDE.

Dan Marvin Kills Himself to Join

Wife Who Divorced Him.

Love for his wife from whom he had been divorced for four years, and who died a week ago, caused Dan Marvin, 68 years of age, to commit suicide at his home, 405 1/2 East Fifteenth street, early this morning. Marvin used a revolver and shot himself through the heart, death resulting instantly For the past week Marvin has been disconsolate and bemoaned the death of his wife to many of his friends.

"She was the best pal I ever had," he was wont to say, "and I am ashamed of the way she has been treated. She is dead now, dead."

Dating form the death of his wife, who had remarried and was deserted by her second husband, Marvin had not been in a cheery frame of mind. He made continual threats to join her and to repair the wrong which he had done her.

After his body had been removed to an undertaker's the following note was found:

"Friend Will: Please pay Egan $50 to put me away decent and oblige, D. A. Marvin."

The Will referred to is Will Mayberry, at whose liver stable Marvin stabled his horses. Marvin has been a cab driver for many years and for the past eight years he has stood out in front of McClintock's restaurant, on Walnut street.

Labels: Divorce, Fifteenth street, guns, restaurants, Suicide, Walnut Street

June 10, 1909

BLOWN UP BY PRESCRIPTION.

Druggist High Loses Part of a

Thumb Through Explosion of

Chemicals, Which Starts Fire.

While preparing a prescription in his drug store at Fifteenth street and Troost avenue yesterday evening, Harley High was badly injured by an explosion of the chemicals which he was using in an evaporating dish. His right hand was badly hurt, and powdered chemicals were blown into his face.

The injured man was treated at the residence of Dr. W. T. Singleton, Jr., directly across the street. It was found necessary to amputate the right thumb at the first joint. The great mass of powder which had been blown into Mr. High's face was picked out. He was taken to his home, 3214 Chestnut street.

Fire which resulted from the explosion entailed a loss of $900 on the building and its contents.

Mr. High was suffering so greatly that he could not tell how the explosion occurred. No one else was near.

Labels: accident, Chestnut street, doctors, druggists, explosion, Fifteenth street, Troost avenue

June 9, 1909

BRADY SAYS HE SHOT

IN DEFENSE OF HOME.

CLAIMS FLANAGAN TOOK AD-

VANTAGE OF WIFE.

Board of Education Draughtsman

Tells of Circumstances Which Led

to Killing -- Woman in the

Case Testifies.

Leon H. Brady, charged in the criminal court with murder for the second degree killing of Joseph E. Flanagan, went on the stand yesterday as a witness in his own behalf. The case will go to the jury today. Brady testified that he was 31 years old, had come to Kansas City at the age of 5, graduated from the public schools here and had taken a mining course in Columbia university, New York city; that afterwards he had worked for a copper mining company in Butte, Mont., had been engaged as engineer in a geological survey of Northern Montana and later had gone to Mexico to work in the Guggenheim smelters at Acientos and other places. He returned to Kansas City in April of last year and has since been a draughtsman for the board of education.

"When was the first time you heard of Flanagan pressing his attentions upon your wife?" he was asked.

"It was a couple of weeks before Flanagan was shot. My wife told me she could not go out of her room but that Flanagan was dodging around. I said to her:

" 'He hasn't said anything out of the way, has he? If he has, let me know. I can't call him down for standing around in the halls. That's only bad manners.' "

"When was the next time your wife complained?"

WARNED BY TELEPHONE.

"The Sunday preceding the shooting I was called from dinner to the telephone. A voice, which said it was Flanagan's, asked me if I wanted to take a walk that afternoon. I said I was going to my father's. After I had been at his home a time with my baby, a woman called me by telephone and said: 'You'd better come home and see what's doing.' "

Brady said that as soon as he returned to the Angelus boarding house at 1014 East Fifteenth street, where he lived at that time, he found Flanagan had appeared there almost as soon as he had departed. This was three days before the killing, which occurred Wednesday, March 24.

On Monday, said Brady, he asked his wife to explain a statement that Flanagan had threatened her on Sunday, and she began to cry.

"I've been in torments for two months," she told him.

She then told the husband, according to his story, that Flanagan had mistreated her twice, and had threatened her if she did not keep still. She said she had been afraid to tell before that time.

The next evening Brady met Flanagan at Twelfth street and Troost avenue. They walked down town and back to the Paseo before separating at Fifteenth street and Troost avenue. Brady was armed. Mrs. Brady was not mentioned.

"Why didn't you ask Flanagan to explain?" he was asked.

"I wanted to. My idea was to get at the thing somehow. I did not want to shoot him down in the street, but I did not know how to bring up the subject."

Tuesday evening the men went walking together again. They talked about revolvers, but not of Mrs. Brady.

"I thought I might see some way out of it all without a scandal or a tragedy," said the witness.

Telling of the events leading up to the shooting and of the happening itself, Brady said:

"When I came home Wednesday noon for lunch, Flanagan, who had moved away from the Angelus for a month, was back again. We talked. Mrs. Brady was ill and I took her lunch upstairs to her. I told my wife Flanagan was back. Then I went on to my work, two blocks away.

"But I could not work. As I had passed out of the house I had seen Flanagan sitting in the parlor, grinning at me sarcastically, as I believed. I went back to the house and up the rear stairs to our room. I asked Mrs. Brady whether she had been bothered, referring to Flanagan, and she said no. For fifteen minutes I remained, playing with the baby. I had put the revolver I carried on the dresser.

WENT WILD WITH RAGE.

"Presently Mrs. Brady said she was going downstairs. Almost immediately after the door had closed behind her I heard her cough. The thought flashed through my mind that Flanagan must be there. I jumped up and grabbed the revolver as I heard my wife say, 'No! No! No!'

"When I jerked the door open I saw my wife with her back to the door. Flanagan had hold of her shoulders and she had her hands up as if to push him away. I went wild with rage and turned loose on him with the gun at once. I suppose before he could have let go of her.

"At the first shot Flanagan fell. He started to get up, and I fired three times more. Then he ran to his room. He was running, and I thought he might get a gun, so I reloaded the revolver.

"Did you say to Mrs. Brady, 'If I didn't kill him I'm going to?' "

"I don't remember saying that."

Mrs. Belle L. Bowman, owner of the boarding house, had previously testified that she heard Brady use such words.

On cross-examination Brady said his wife did not call for him, but only said, "No, no, no."

Mrs. Mary Rosanna Brady, whose story to her husband caused the killing, preceded her husband on the stand. During the morning session of court she had been excluded from the room on account of being a witness. As soon as she had testified, she went to the prosecutor's office and remained there until the evening adjourment was taken.

TOLD OF BRADY INDIGNITIES.

Only once while she was on the witness stand did Mrs. Brady cry. That was when she told of the killing.

"I was born in Fort Madison, Ia.," said Mrs. Brady, "and in 1903 went to Mexico with my parents. July 4, 1905, I met Mr. Brady, and September 29 of the next year we were married. We have a boy 22 months old.

"I first met Flanagan in October, 1908, when I came to Kansas City. We grew to have a speaking acquaintance in the latter part of December. It was not until the Monday before the tragedy that I told Mr. Brady of the indignities Flanagan had heaped upon me. I have suffered from asthma since I was 3 years old. If it an unusually severe attack, morphine has to be administered. This leaves me in a helpless condition.

"About two weeks before the shooting I told Mr. Brady that Flanagan was spying on me. On the Monday afternoon I mentioned I told him that, on January 11, Flanagan had come to my room and taken advantage of me while I was helpless from drugs. He came into the room and took the baby while the doctor was there. As soon as the doctor had gone he took me into his room. I resisted and he said I would be foolish to tell Mr. Brady, as it would only make trouble. On February 27, he did the same thing."

The witness said that on the Sunday preceding the killing, while Brady was visiting his father, Flanagan had come to her room and had asked if everybody was gone and if she was expecting anybody. She said she had closed the door in his face. He told her, she said, that he "would do her dirt" and that he put his hand to his pocket.

CALLED HER A "BLUFFER."

"On Tuesday he came to the room again and said, 'Did you tell Brady anything?'

"I said 'yes,' and he said: 'You are a great bluffer. I was out walking with Brady last night and your name was not mentioned.' "

Relating the details of the shooting, Mrs. Brady said:

"It happened in front of my door. About 1:20 o'clock that afternoon Mr. Brady returned home. I told him I was going to the bathroom, and went out. I still had hold of the doorknob when I met Flanagan. He bade me the time of day and said: 'Won't you invite me in?'

"I said: 'Of course not. We are no longer friends.'

"He said: 'I want your friendship even if you no longer want mine.'

"I asked him why, and he said, taking hold of me in spite of my efforts to tear away: 'Because I love you. I'm jealous of you. I want you all to myself.'

"Then," said the witness, "Mr. Brady opened the door." She wept violently for a moment.

"As the door was opened," resumed Mrs. Brady, "he let go and I fell back against a trunk that was standing in the hall. Mr. Brady shot as soon as the door was open. I think he shot four times. Then I went downstairs with him and the baby, and telephoned for his sister. Then they took him away."

On cross-examination the attention of Mrs. Brady was called to discrepancies between her testimony on the stand and the statements she made to the prosecuting attorney soon after the shooting. She said was excited when she made the statement. On the witness stand she said that her friendship for Flanagan ceased after he had mistreated her. In her statement she had said they continued on friendly terms. She said also that she was in possession of her faculties at the time of the attack January 11, and that she could scream. Flanagan did not carry her into his room, she said. She remembered being there fifteen minutes and that the door was locked.

NOT A WOMAN IN COURT ROOM.

Also, she said she and her husband had discussed Flanagan before the shooting on the same afternoon, but later modified her statement.

W. S. Gabriel, assistant prosecuting attorney, who with Ruby D. Garrett, is conducting the prosecution, produced a note signed "Mary," and asked the witness if she had written it to Flanagan. She said the note was not written by her.

Mrs. Brady told her story with her face to the jury. She seemed hardly conscious of the presence of her husband, for she glanced in his direction but seldom. There was not a woman in the courtroom to hear her story and and hardly two rows were filled by spectators. She told her story without emotion. Mrs. Brady wore a white waist, a gray walking skirt and a small black hat trimmed in red. Her heavy veil was lifted when she testified.

Among other witnesses for the defense called during the afternoon was Dr. William T. Singleton, who treated Mrs. Brady January 11 and February 27 for asthma by giving her a hypodermic injection of morphine and atrophine. He said the drugs were sedatives, but would not necessarily effect the use of the vocal organs.

Joseph L. Norman, secretary of the board of education, and J. M. Greenwood, superintendent of schools, both old friends of the Brady family testified to the defendant's good character.

SAYS HE WAS LURED INTO TRAP.

The state rested its case at noon. According to the opening statement by Mr. Gabriel, it had proposed to show that Flanagan had been lured into a trap.

Among the state's witnesses were: Dr. Ralph E. Shiras, surgeon of the emergency hospital staff; Dr. James Moran and Dr. J. Park Neal of the general hospital, and G. E. Marsh and W. T. Latcham, patrolmen. Dr. Moran was present when Mr. Garret took Flanagan's dying statement, in which he declared himself innocent of wrongdoing. Only that part of the statement in which Flanagan said Brady shot him without saying a word was permitted to go to the jury. The wounded man died at the general hospital a few hours after the shooting. Every bullet took effect.

The state's chief witness was Mrs. Bowman, who conducts the boarding house. She said Flanagan and Mrs. Brady were frequently alone on the third floor of the house, where both had rooms, but that Flanagan did not seem to be there more when Brady was gone then at other times.

It was Mrs. Bowman who said that Flanagan tried to descend the stairs after he was shot. The witness said she heard Brady say: "Let him come. If I haven't killed him I will."

SHOT IN DEFENSE OF HOME.

The witness said that Mrs. Brady, when under the influence of opiates, was at times almost unconscious.

Gen. Milton Moore opened the afternoon session by briefly outlining the defense. His main argument was that Brady shot in defense of his home.

Statements by both state and prosecution led to the belief that the arguments summing up the testimony will be brief and will consume less than two hours. This will not be because of limitation by the court, for Judge Ralph S. Latshaw, before whom the case is being tried, seldom limits murder trial arguments.

The jury with which Brady's fate will rest is made up of the following: James A. Wood, 4315 Main street; C. C. Wagoner, 3202 Gillham road; J. J. Ronham, 2852 East Seventh street; William H. Hand, 1229 Cherry street; Michael Bresnahan, 1831 Oak street; E. E. Esslinger, 3902 Belleview avenue; Charles J. Lewis, Mt. Washington; F. O. Hartung, 3006 Garfield avenue; J. B. Ralph, 3513 St. John avenue; Alfred Simpson, Independence avenue; Jesse Robertson, 6216 Peery avenue; D. J. Biser, 1933 Montgall avenue.

Labels: courtroom, doctors, Fifteenth street, guns, Judge Latshaw, marriage, Mexico, murder, Superintendent Greenwood

June 8, 1909

BRADY MURDER TRIAL TODAY.

No Relatives of Flanagan Will At-

tend the Hearing.

None of the relatives of Joseph E. Flanagan will be in the criminal court today when testimony begins in the case charging Leon H. Brady with Flanagan's death. A telegram was received yesterday by the prosecutor from Martin J. Flanagan, brother of the dead man, to the effect that Mrs. Joseph Flanagan was too ill to undertake the trip to Kansas City. The family home is in Cleveland, O.

Brady is charged with murder in the second degree. He is 31 years old, a son of Joseph H. Brady, chief engineer for the board of education, in whose offices he is employed. He shot and killed Flanagan March 24 in the Angelus boarding house, 1014 East Fifteenth street, where both lived. The killing came after Mrs. Brady, who is 23 years old, had told her husband that Flanagan had mistreated her while she was under the influence of drugs. Flanagan lived only a few hours.

The thirty-four men composing the venire from which the jury will be selected were chosen in the criminal court yesterday. It might not take more than a day to hear the testimony, in the opinion of W. S. Gabriel and Ruby D. Garrett, assistant prosecuting attorneys, who are conducting the case for the state.

General Milton Moore, Horace Kimbrell and S. A. Handy, for the defense, will urge a husband's desire to protect his wife as justification for the killing. Mrs. Brady will take the stand in her husband's behalf. Self-defense may also be a plea.

In his dying statement, Flanagan denied having paid anything but respectful attention to Mrs. Brady.

Labels: attorney, Fifteenth street, murder

June 5, 1909

MADE A ROBBED MAN RUN.

"Stick-Ups" got a Conductor's $11,

Then Urged Him to "Beat It."

As D. D. Porter, a Fifteenth street car conductor, got off a car at Fifteenth street and Quincy avenue about 11 o'clock Thursday night, after the day's work was over, he was followed by three men. A block north on Quincy avenue they caught up with Porter and held him up. Two of the men were armed with revolvers.

After taking the contents of his pocketbook which amounted to about $11, they told Porter to run. To accelerate his progress, several shots were fired in the air.

Labels: crime, Fifteenth street, guns, streetcar

June 5, 1909

YOEMEN TO MINNEAPOLIS.

Two Hundred Members Will Parade

Tonight to Special Train.

A parade of 200 members of the Brotherhood of American Yoemen will take place at 8:30 tonight, preliminary to t heir departure for Minneapolis, Minn., to attend the national conclave. The parade will take the route from the hall, 1013 Holmes street, to Fifteenth street to Grand avenue, then to Twelfth street and over to Main street, where it will turn north to Ninth. Cars for the depot will be boarded at the junction.

In the party going North will be the young women's military drill team, young men's military drill team and the degree staff. They have chartered a special train for the trip.

Labels: Fifteenth street, Grand avenue, Holmes street, Main street, military, Ninth street, organizations, parades, the Junction, Twelfth street

May 15, 1909

STORM STOPS STREET CARS.

Traffic on Many Lines Delayed by

Water, Broken Poles and Ob-

structed Tracks.

The service of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company suffered severely from yesterday's storm. Mud and stones on the track at many places on all lines held up cars for 20 minutes at a time. Although all help available was hurried to such places to clear away the impending debris, most of the cars on the long lines, like the Quindaro boulevard line, were from half an hour to a full hour late in arriving at their terminals.

It was said at the general office at Fifteenth street and Grand avenue at 8 o'clock that three-quarters of a mile of trolley wires was down near Fairmount park, and that twelve poles had been broken off at this point. Also it was said service was temporarily suspended on the West Side line in Kansas City, Kas., because of debris across the tracks in the vicinity of Riverview.

Labels: fairmount park, Fifteenth street, Grand avenue, Kansas City Kas, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, streetcar, weather

May 14, 1909

DEATH BY CARBOLIC ACID.

Unidentified Man Commits Suicide

Near Centropolis.

The body of an unidentified man was found in a lot between Drury and Hardesty avenues on Fifteenth street yesterday morning by Mrs. Della Morris, who lives in the vicinity. Harry Czarlinsky, deputy coroner, said death was due to carbolic acid poising.

The name Henry Patterson was found on a piece of paper in the man's pocket. The underclothing bore the letters J. E. C. and the initials J. C. were upon a signet ring which he wore. H e was about 50 years old, five feet five inches in height, weighed 140 pounds and wore a dark suit, patent leather shoes and a soft hat. His eyes were gray and his hair brown.

ENDED LIFE WITH SHOTGUN.

Morgan Jones, a farmer who lives near Dallas, Mo., killed himself with a shotgun early yesterday morning. He had been ill for a number of years and it is thought by his friends that it caused despondency. He was 30 years old and unmarried. He had been formerly employed as a bookkeeper in Kansas City.

TRIED TO DIE, BUT FAILED.

In a saloon at 1025 East Nineteenth street F. D. Miskelly of Excelsior Springs attempted to kill himself by drinking chloroform. He was taken to the general hospital. He is in precarious condition.

Labels: Centropolis, Dr Czarlinsky, Drury avenue, Excelsior Springs, farmers, Fifteenth street, Hardesty avenue, Nineteenth street, saloon, Suicide

May 6, 1909

FOUND DEAD IN BATHTUB.

Charles Butler's Body Submerged,

and Hot Water Running.

Charles Butler, 35 years old, was found dead in a bathtub at his rooming house, 1520 Cherry street, last night about 6:30 o'clock. Butler was employed in a pool hall at Fifteenth and Cherry streets, but had formerly been a boilermaker, a prize fighter and a trapeze performer.

J. D. Locke, also a roomer, found the body. He was attracted to the bathroom by the smell of burning wood, burst in the door and found the body of Butler covered with water and in the tub, curled up as though asleep. Hot water from the gas heater was still running and had almost filled the tub. The smell of burning wood came from the wall at the side of the heater, which had become scorched.

Butler was troubled with an affliction of the heart. Death may have been due to this cause.

A letter dated September 25, 1907, was found in his pockets. It was addressed to "My Husband" and signed Myrtle Butler, his wife, to whom he had been married three years previously. Six months ago they separated. Last month she married a man named Harry Thompson and moved away from the city. Butler was seen frequently in the company of a young woman, and two days ago told his landlady that he was about to be married.

Dr. Harry Czarlinsky vivewed the body, but will make a further examination. A brother lives in this city.

Labels: billiards, Cherry street, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Fifteenth street, rooming house

April 1, 1909

HAMMIL WEARIED OF

SITTING ON A BOMB.

GREW NERVOUS THINKING OF

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN.

Police Lieutenant Resigns to

Become Private Detective for Hotel

Baltimore -- Succeeds Ed Hickman

at the Hostelry.

FORMER POLICE LIEUTENANT HAMMIL.

Police Lieutenant H. W. Hammil yesterday resigned to become a private detective at the Hotel Baltimore. Hammil succeeds Edward Hickman, who leaves the hotel to go into business with his brother.

Lieutenant Hammil has been a member of the police department for nineteen years. Seven years ago he was promoted to a seargency and two years ago was made lieutenant. While his advancement may not have been as rapid as many who went on the force after he did, there were reasons for it. He was always averse to turning "crooks" loose because some petty or big policeman requested it and he always did his full duty in spit of who it hurt or what political interests were disturbed. That one thing, more than anything else, mitigated against rapid promotion.

REMOVED FROM HEADQUARTERS.

Hammil was made a lieutenant during the Governor Folk "rigid police investigation," while it was in its incipency, in fact. One day an officer who had made charges against John Hayes, then chief of police, was cursing the chief and Frank F. Rozzelle, then a commissioner, down in Central station. Hammil ordered the man to stop such talk or something "would be doing." As soon as Governor Folk had peremptorily removed Commissioner Rozzelle by wire and the new board had been organized and John Hayes dropped from the department, Hammil was ordered removed from headquarters, where he had served the better part of his life, to No. 4 station at Fifteenth and Walnut streets.

The records will show that while other districts, notably headquarters, have had a full quota of men and more, too, No. 4 has been handicapped with barely half enough men to do proper police duty. Hammil's watch, especially, never had a full complement of men the whole time he was there. It is said that if an officer got sick, crippled or otherwise "defunct," he was detailed to Hammil's watch. Handicapped as he was, however, he always went along with out complaint and kept up his end of the string.

As soon as Hickman resigned from the detective position at the Hotel Baltimore, D. J. Dean sent for Hammil and offered him the place. It is better pay and far more pleasant work -- no more knockers, no politics.

GLAD TO GET AWAY.

"I am sorry to leave some of my old friends on the department," Hammil said yesterday, "but I am glad to get away from a place where you felt all along like you were sitting on a dynamite bomb. If one 'crook' was arrested here would come a kick from his political friend, and when another fell into our hands here would come another 'gang' of political kickers. I always let 'em kick, though they always threatened to get my job."

The board took no action on Hammil's successor yesterday, Commissioner Elliott H. Jones being away hunting ducks. It may be left for the new board to fill.

Labels: Commissioner Rozzelle, Fifteenth street, Governor Folk, Lieutenant H. W. Hammil, No 4 police station, Police Chief Hayes, Walnut Street

March 28, 1909

FOIL MARITAL PLANS OF

AN AGED COUPLE.

RELATIVES RUTHLESSLY BREAK

UP WEDDING FEAST.

Now Jacob Rieger, Aged 75, Is

Speeding Away From His

Intended Bride of

60 Years.

Jacob Rieger, 75 years old, who lives with his son, Alexander Rieger, a wholesale liquor dealer at 4121 Warwick boulevard, believes that at that age he is eligible to the order of benedicts. But others of Mr. Rieger's household had different opinions and as a result a pretty wedding supper was interrupted last Thursday evening at the home of the prospective bride, Mrs. Rosa Peck, 60 years old, a milliner at Sixth and Main streets. Also there is an attachment on $1,100 which Mr. Rieger had in the National Bank of Commerce and a fast train is now hurrying him to New York, where he is to remain until he has outgrown his love for the woman.

Since his wife died a year ago, Mr. Rieger, the elder, has complained of lonesomeness, but could find no one among his near relatives who would even offer a suggestion of a cure.

"It is a pity," he is said to have often remarked, "that an old man like me must stay a widower."

No one, however, paid much attention to the yearnings of the old man. He took his evening walks the same as usual and made no allusion to any woman in particular as a fit subject for his affections, and as he has for several years been a partial invalid no developments were expected.

LOVED HIM AND LIKED HIM.

Up to last Wednesday things went as usual with the old man except it was noticed he had gradually been lengthening his outdoor walks, sometimes absenting himself for hours at a time. Then the word was brought to Alexander Rieger that his father and Mrs. Peck had been to Kansas City, Kas., and obtained a marriage license.

Alexander Rieger immediately went to the telephone and called up his lawyer, Samuel Eppstein of the law firm of Eppstein, Ulmann & Miller, with offices in the Kansas City Life building.

Mr. Eppstein went to see Mrs. Peck that same afternoon in hopes of talking her out of the notion of marrying the elder Mr. Rieger. He told her that her prospective groom, through his retirement from the liquor business, was not exactly in independent circumstances, and that in addition he was suffering from chronic stomach trouble.

Mr. Eppstein is eloquent and talked long and earnestly but by all his entreaties he received a decided "no."

"I love him and I like him," was the double-barreled manner in which Mrs. Peck, in broken German accents, expressed her regard for Mr. Rieger.

"You can't take him from me," she said. "You don't know the love we have for each other, and I wouldnt give him up for $25,000," and there the argument ended.

ATTACHED HIS MONEY.

The day following was stormy, but in spite of this fact the elder Mr. Rieger took a car for downtown early in the day. No one saw him go. It was hours before his absence was noticed and the alert lawyer again notified.

Mr. Eppstein at once hurried to the Sixth and Main street millinery store. He found Mrs. Peck had closed shop and was also missing.

Before starting out to forestall the wedding Mr. Eppstein arranged for a bill of attachment on all money Mr. Rieger had on deposit at the bank. Then he took a fast automobile ride to the home of Rabbi Max Lieberman at 1423 Tracy avenue, where he suspected the marriage ceremony would be performed.

As he expected, Mr. Rieger was there arranging for the nuptuals to be solmnized at 5:30 o'clock. After a good deal of argument Mr. Rieger consented to ride in the automobile back to the home of his son.

This was at 4 o'clock. About 5 o'clock he was again missing. This looked like buisness to Mr. Eppstein and the automobile was again brought into play and headed for the millinery store.

When the door of the living apartments at the rear of the store burst opeon to admit the excited lawyer it found a large table spread with a wedding feast and several guests, relatives of the propective bride assembled.

"This wedding can't go on!" shouted Mr. Eppstein. "I have arranged with the rabbi and he will not come."

LED THE BRIDEGROOM AWAY.

"Oh, yes it will," said the bride calmly. "We'll arange for another minister, won't we, Jacob?"

"No, there is nothing doing in the marriage line," replied the lawyer. "It's all off. You see, it isn't legal because you got the license in Kansas City, Kas. That's the law, you know."

Mr. Eppstein did not wait to hear any more, but took the bridegroom by the arm and led him away.

At midnight he was placed aboard a fast train for New York. Mrs. Alexander Rieger went along for company.

Alexander Rieger has maintained a mail order trade under the name of his father, Jacob Rieger, at Fifteenth and Genesse streets for many years, the father now having no interest in the business. Mrs. Peck has been a milliner in the North End over twenty years and is said to have laid by a snug sum of money. Her husband died many years ago, leaving the business exclusively to her.

Labels: attorney, Fifteenth street, Genessee street, Kansas City Kas, Main street, ministers, New York, North end, Rabbi Lieberman, Seniors, Sixth street, Tracy avenue, wedding

March 25, 1909

KILLS HIS FRIEND

IN JEALOUS RAGE.

JOSEPH FLANAGAN TOO ATTEN-

TIVE TO MRS. LEON BRADY.

Husband, Returning From Office,

Finds Attentions Being Forced

on His Wife -- Fires

Three Shots.

Opening the door of his room to find his wife struggling to free herself from the grasp of another man, Leon Brady of 1014 East Fifteenth street, a mechanical draftsman in the employ of the board of education, shot and fatally wounded Josehp Flanagan, a land promoter of El Hito, N. M. The shooting occurred at 1:45 o'clock yesterday afternoon in the hallway of the boarding house at 1014 East Fifteenth streeet, where both Flanagan and the Brady family lived.

Upon arriving at his office at 1526 Campbell street shortly after lunch yesterday afternoon, Brady "felt that something was wrong at home." He went immediately to the East Fifteenth street boarding house and found the door of his room locked and his wife inside. His wife responded to his knock.

"After I had been in the room a few moments, my wife went out and down to the second floor. I shut the door and waited for her to return. In about five minutes I heard her cough. I listened and she coughed again. Then I went to the door and waited. I could not hear anything at first, but in a moment I heard someone whispering and it seemed excited. Then I heard my wife say: 'No! No! No!' in a half frightened, half sobbing tone.

RELOADED HIS REVOLVER.

"I cannot explain my action and I cannot tell how I feel about it now. I saw my wife struggle and I knew the man. I was white with rage and I could not control myself. It was that kind of a situation about which little is remembered and nothing is clear."

Brady rushed to the bureau and grabbed his revolver. Throwing the door open he saw Flanagan and his wife. Then he fired.

Flanagan fell at the first shot. Mrs. Brady uttered a cry and her husband fired twice again at his victim. Flanagan then arose and groped his way to his own room, while Brady went back and put two more cartridges in his revolver. Mrs. Brady, at her husband's request, went to the telephone and notified the police.

Flanagan was taken to the general hospital, where he died two hours later. In his statement to Assistant Prosecutor Garrett, he said he realized he was about to die and had given up all hope. He declared that his relations with Mrs. Brady had never been otherwise than friendly.

At the Walnut street police station where Brady surrendered he stated that Flanagan had persistently attempted to force his attention upon Mrs. Brady. "Flanagan was under the influence of liquor a week ago and he came to our room in that condition. He called my wife by her first name, Rose, and this impression of intimacy with my wife angered me," he said.

"Last Sunday I went out to my father's house at 3115 Benton boulevard, and took Billy, my year-old son, with me. While there someone called me on the telephone, and a woman's voice said, 'You had better come home and see what is doing.' I immediately returned to the boarding house.

BRADY CAN'T EXPLAIN.

"My wife told me when I arrived at the house that Flanagan had come to her room after I left and said to her, 'You are expecting someone.' She told me she was offended by his talk and manner, and asked him why he had taken advantage of my absence to come and see her. He told her that I need not know about it, and my wife told him that she would tell me. Flanagan was angry at that, and said to her, 'I'll fix you if you do. I'll do you dirt.' "

According to the statements of both men, they were out walking together the two evenings before the shooting took place. Both say that on no occasion had Mrs. Brady ever been mentioned by them.

Yesterday at noon when Brady came to lunch he found Flanagan already at the table and sat down with him. They talked during the meal and afterward Brady carried a lunch up to his wife, who is ill and confined to her room.

In an ante-mortem statement Flanagan said Mrs. Brady came out of the room in to the passageway, and following her, Brady appeared and shot him without saying a word. "I fell after the first shot," said he, "and then he fired twice more. I said, 'Oh Brady, Brady, Brady! Why have you done this?' His wife said nothing; simply stood there.

"We had always been good friends and he had never spoken to me about her. She told me to look out for him two days ago. I did not know anything was wrong or that he had anything against me until his wife told me. I ate lunch with him today and and boarded at the same house with them. I have known both of them about four months."

THE BRADY ROMANCE.

Brady is a graduate of the engineering department of Columbia university in New York and is the son of J. H. Brady, chief engineer of the board of education of Kansas City. He was yesterday elected president of the National Association of Heating and Sanitary Engineers in New York. Young Brady is said by his classmates to have been exceptionally bright and stood high with his teachers and others.

Leaving school he went to Mexico as a mining engineer. While riding on the cowcatcher of one of the small locomotives employed about the mines, the engine struck a burro standing in the tracks. The animal fell on Brady and the force of the impact broke his leg in two places. The injured man was taken to the house of the mine superintendent and nursed back to health by the daughter of the household. During the days when he lay helpless on his bed, he and the girl formed a friendship that gradually ripened into love and they were married three years ago. Since that time a son has been born. The son is a little more than a year old and at the boarding house on East Fifteenth street was the universal favorite.

Labels: Campbell street, Fifteenth street, general hospital, guns, marriage, Mexico, murder, New York, telephone

March 21, 1909

ACCIDENT STOPS FUNERAL.

Street Car Struck Coal Wagon and

the Wagon Jammed a Hearse.

An east-bound Twelfth street car collided with a coal wagon, which was waiting for a funeral procession to pass, forcing it into the hearse and nearly overturning the latter at Twelfth and Holmes streets yesterday morning. Jesse Roylston, a negro driver, was thrown from the coal wagon. His hip was bruised. He was taken to the general hospital.

The accident happened so quickly that no one could account for it afterward, but it is said to have been partly due to the abruptness with which the coal wagon driver halted his team in front of the car.

The funeral was that of Robert Burns of 1305 East Thirteenth street, and the procession, under the direction of the Woodmen of hte World, was on its way to St. Patrick's church. The hearse belonged to the J. C. Duffy Undertaking Company of Fifteenth street and Grand avenue and was driven by John Muser. It was only slightly damaged.

Labels: accident, churches, Fifteenth street, Funeral, Grand avenue, Holmes street, streetcar, Thirteenth street, Twelfth street, undertakers

February 15, 1909

TURNVEREIN 51 YEARS OLD.

Anniversary Marked by Celebration

in Turner Hall.

The fifty-first anniversary of the Kansas City Social Turnverin was celebrated last night at Turner hall, 1325 East Fifteenth street. A programme of gymnastic events was given under the direction of the instructor, Emil Schwegler. The boys' class did work on the horizontal bars and also were seen in dumb-bell exercises; the girls' class performed some pretty evolutions with Japanese lanterns. H. Matthaei, president of the turnverin, made an address. A flower drill by the ladies' class was a pretty feature. Dancing was the final feature of the programme.

The turnverin began with eight members. Now it has more than 700.

Labels: dancing, Fifteenth street, organizations, sports

January 26, 1909

MONUMENT IN THE PASEO?

Location of Memorial to Policemen

and Firemen Decided Tomorrow.

The police and park boards and Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., will meet at Fifteenth and Paseo tomorrow morning for the purpose of considering a suggestion, made yesterday by Fred S. Doggett of the park board, that the proposed policemen and firemen's monument be erected in the Paseo, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets.

The mayor waited on the park board yesterday, formally informing them of a resolution adopted by the council favoring the monument to the memory of firemen and policemen who die in the discharge of duty. The board added its approval to the movement, and volunteered its co-operation.

Labels: Eighteenth street, Fifteenth street, Fire, Mayor Crittenden, Park board, Paseo, police, police board, Seventeenth street

January 7, 1909

CARS STOP AT BUSY TIME.

Accident to Converter Holds Crowd

Downtown in Cold.

An accident to one of the rotary converters in the reducing station of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company at Fifteenth and Walnut streets, tied up every street car in the down town district at 5 o'clock last night, when the homeward bound crowd was heaviest. In eight minutes one division started to move off gingerly, but it was half an hour before all divisions were back in service again.

The hour and the bitter cold did not contribute to put the disappointed throngs in a good humor. The Metropolitan had most of the crowd off the sidewalks by 6:30, however.

It will take two or three days to repair the damage, and in the meantime the stret car service will be impaired slightly.

Labels: Fifteenth street, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, streetcar, Walnut Street

November 22, 1908

ARE HELD AS SUSPECTS.

Police Believe They Have Two of

Gang of Telephone Thieves.

John Barrett and Joseph Keller, well dressed young men who loaf about the saloon of "Kid" Rose at Fifteenth street and Grand avenue, were arrested yesterday by Detectives W. P. Walsh and James Fox, suspected of being implicated in the recent theft of pay telephones.

Charles W. Pool, druggist at 726 East Fifteenth street, whose telephone was stolen Thursday night, went to the Walnut street police station and positively identified the two men under arrest. There is still a third one suspected. The detectives say they will get him soon. He is known to frequent the "Kid" Rose saloon, with others of the same well dressed, never work character.

L. W. Clare, druggist, at 422 East Fifteenth street, whose telephone was stolen in the same night by two men, have not yet had a look at the prisoners.

There is an organized gang of telephone thieves in the city who work an entirely new trick. Two or three men enter a drug store. While one is buying 15 cents worth of goods one of them is apparently looking up a number in the telephone book. Presently he is gone. So are the others. So is the phone.

Labels: crime, detectives, druggists, Fifteenth street, Grand avenue, telephone

November 21, 1908

BOLD TELEPHONE THIEVES.

Latest Plan Is to Walk in and Carry

Out the Pay Box.

Telephone thieves are growing bolder. It used to be the custom to enter a store after it had closed and steal the pay telephone. Now they walk in, and while one engages the attention of the clerk, cut the telphone off and walk out.

The latter game was worked by three men on Charles W. Pool, a druggist at Fifteenth and Charlotte streets, Thursday night, and later by two men on L. W. Clare, druggist, 422 East Fifteenth street. From the descriptions given by the druggists, it appears the same men figured in both robberies. The police believe that the telephone thieves loaf around a saloon at Fifteenth street and Grand avenue.

Labels: Charlotte street, crime, druggists, Fifteenth street, Grand avenue, saloon, telephone

November 8, 1908

BOTH DESERTED THE WOMAN.

Anna Smith Was Left Behind After

Buggy Collided With Automobile.

An automobile ran into a buggy containing a man and woman at Fifteenth street and Paseo last night about 7 o'clock. The motorists hastened away and the man in the buggy did likewise, leaving the woman, Anna Smith, 11 East Fourteenth street, sitting on a bench in a dazed condition. W. M. Pye, 3104 Paseo, who was passing in his automobile, saw the woman and took her to the Walnut street police station, where she was revived. The police are looking for the machine which ran into the buggy.

Labels: accident, automobiles, buggy, Fifteenth street, Paseo