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February 8, 1910

GIFT WAS DEAD WIFE'S WISH.

Twenty-Five Thousand Dollar Tract

Presented to School Board.

Property valued at $25,000 at the northwest corner of Twenty-Fifth and Holmes streets has been presented by Louis George, a retired trunk manufacturer, to the board of education. The one stipulation is that the land, consisting of 175 x 130 feet, be made the site of a branch public library.

Mr. George made the gift to conform with the wishes of his wife, now dead. The deeds conveying the property to the school board have been executed. The board will meet next Tuesday to accept the gift and express its thanks to the donor. Mr. George will continue to live on the south forty-five feet of the tract.

Labels: Holmes street, libraries, real estate, Twenty-fifth street

February 6, 1910

OLD PIER STONES UTILIZED.

Taken From Old Bridge for Big

Building Foundation.

When the work of cutting down the piers of the old Winner bridge in the Missouri river to make them conform in height to the bridge the Armour Swift interests intend to build on the piers began there was some curiosity expressed as to what use was to be made of the mammoth stone slabs discarded. The question is being answered. They are to form the foundation for a big building that is to be erected at the northeast corner of Eighteenth and Holmes streets. Portions of the stone have been set already in the excavation of the building, and the remainder is being delivered. One stone is about all a team of horses can draw at one time.

The concrete approaches for the bridge are about finished, and the first delivery of steel is looked for some day this week.

Labels: Eighteenth street, Holmes street, Missouri river, real estate

January 10, 1910

SOCIETY'S AIM TO

UPLIFT PRISONERS.

National Organization to Be

Formed During Present

Convention.

To make good folks out of bad ones is the object of a convention of men and women representing eight states, which began in Kansas City yesterday and will continue until Wednesday.

The meeting is that of the Society of the Friendless, which has for its purpose the uplifting of men, women and children within prison walls and their conversion tion good citizens when they are released. The society was started ten years ago in Kansas and Missouri, but at the present convention a national organization will be perfected.

The opening meeting of the convention was held yesterday in the Institutional church, Admiral boulevard and Holmes street, and the feature was an address by Fred M. Jackson, attorney general of Kansas, who declared that in enforcing prohibition of the liquor traffic Kansas is doing more than probably any other state in the prevention of crime. Other speakers of the afternoon were Henry M. Beardsley of Kansas City and Dr. A. J. Steelman of Seattle, superintendent of the Washington branch of the society.

J. K. Codding, warden of the Kansas state prison at Lansing, was to have spoken, but was unable to attend the meeting yesterday because of injuries received several days ago. He expects to be present at the session today.

Mr. Jackson was assigned the topic of law enforcement as a preventive of crime. He said, in part:

"In Kansas it is figured that one-fifth of the men in prison are there by accident or thorugh the miscarriage of justice, another fifth is a criminal class andd the remaining 60 per cent are men who may either be saved or become criminals.

"We proceed in Kansas the best way to save this 60 per cent, and that is to enforce the law against the organized liquor traffic. The greter per cent of men in prison go there because of the liquor traffic and the state claims the right to oust any business which contributes so largely to the public expense and to public detriment.

"Some people ask why w do not have a local option law or some other measure than prohibition. When you grant licenses in one part of the state, you bot those who do not want liquor as an element of government. When we have prohibition it should be enforced. The state demands it and I do not claim the least bit of credit for my part in enforcing it. An officer who merely does his duty doens't deserve any credit.

"There result where the law ha been enforced is that society and the man have been repaid. Business men realize the poverty which liquor causes and are against it. What is a saloonkeeper? He is a man who wants to share the responsiblilty of government, who helps run the police power, whose consent is necessary to levy taxes and disburse them. By putting him out of the way, more than half hte counties of Kansas have dispensed with their poor houses and in other counties these institutions are but poorly populated.

HAS PAID KANSAS.

"We have decreased crime and criminals. Has it paid Kansas? The results speak for themselves."

Dr. Steelman, who talked on the reformatory side of the prison, told of the wonderful progress made in the treatment of prisoners and of modern methods for making them good citizens after their release. The first step in the movement, he said, was saving the services of the prisoners to the state and this was succeeded by the idea of saving the men themselves. Dr. Steelman was formerly warden of the Joliet (Ill.) penitentiary.

Mr. Beardsley devoted his talk to outlining the purposes of the society. He said the work of the society is both preventive and to help the fallen.

"Criminals," said Mr. Beardsley, "ought to be on the credit instead of the debit side of the state's accounts. A small amount invested in reclaiming these men brings big returns to the state."

Mr. Beardsley said the work of the society has been costing about $12,000 a year, but that this year $15,000 will be required.

Warden Codding of Lansing, in a telegram to the society, expressed regret at his inability to be present and conveyed his good wishes.

The Rev. E. A. Fredenhagen of Kansas City, corresponding secretary of the society, presided at the meeting yesterday.

Labels: Admiral boulevard, alcohol, conventions, Holmes street, jail, Mayor Beardsley, ministers, organizations, penitentiary, prohibition, visitors

November 26, 1909

WORKHOUSE INMATES

NOT SERVED TURKEY.

ROAST PORK THERE, WITH SIDE

DISHES PLENTY.

Various Institutions Served Thanks-

giving Dinners -- Children Had

Their Fill of Chicken -- Pris-

oners Not Forgotten.

The unfortunate who are in institutions and the unlucky who happened to be in jail yesterday were not overlooked Thanksgiving day. While a regular turkey and cranberry sauce dinner was not served at all places, on account of the high price of the bird, a good, wholesome, fattening meal was served, where turkey was absent.

In the holdover at police headquarters there were forty prisoners, all but five men. when noontime arrived the following was served to a surprised and hungry bunch: Turkey and cranberry sauce, real biscuits and hot cakes, baked potatoes, hot mince pie and coffee with real cream.

Out at the city workhouse there were 107 men and eighteen women prisoners to be served, too many for turkey at prevailing prices. They were all given their fill, however, of the following menu: Roast pork with dressing, baked Irish potatoes, bakes sweet potatoes, vegetable soup, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, coffee.

A real turkey dinner with cranberry, baked potatoes, celery, vegetables, pie, and coffee with genuine cream was served to the 109 prisoners in the county jail. After appetites had been appeased the men and women put in the rest of the day singing old-time hymns. It has been truthfully said that no old-time hymn can be started in the county jail but that enough voiced immediately join in to make it a success. And they always know the words and the chorus.

CHILDREN MADE HAPPY.

There were but seven children in the Detention home yesterday, but they were not overlooked. The matron saw that they were served with turkey, vegetables, mince pie, coffee, etc.

At the Salvation Army Industrial home, 1709 Walnut street, fifty-five men, and employes of the institution, sat down to Thanksgiving dinner.

"We had turkey, cranberries, potatoes, celery and other vegetables, bread and butter, mince pie, cake, coffee, candy, nuts and apples," said one of the men. "And we got all we wanted, too."

The Salvation Army proper served no Thanksgiving dinner to the poor yesterday, as it makes a specialty of its big Christmas dinner. Baskets are also given out at that time. Wednesday and yesterday baskets were sent out to a few homes where it was known food was needed.

Probably the happiest lot of diners in the entire city were the twenty little children at the Institutional church, Admiral boulevard and Holmes street. While they laughed and played, they partook of these good things: Chicken with dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet and Irish potatoes, celery, olives, salad, oysters, tea, apple pie a la mode, mints, stuffed dates and salted almonds.

DINING ROOM DECORATED.

The dining room was prettily decorated with flowers, and Miss Louise Mayers, a nurse, and Miss Mae Shelton, a deaconess, saw to the wants of the little ones. After the feast all of them took an afternoon nap, which is customary. When they awoke a special musical programme was rendered, and the children were allowed to romp and play games. Those who had space left -- and it is reported all had, as they are healthy children -- were given all the nuts candy and popcorn they could eat.

"I wist Tanksgivin' comed ever day for all th' time there is," said one rosy-cheeked but sleepy little boy when being prepared for bed last night.

Over 200 hungry men at the Helping Hand Institute yesterday were served with soup and tomatoes, escalloped oysters, roast beef, celery, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, cream turnips,cabbage stew, bread, butter, pumpkin pie and coffee.

Out at the General hospital, the convalescent patients were allowed to eat a genuine turkey dinner but those on diet had to stick to poached eggs, toast, milk and the like. A regular Thanksgiving dinner was served to the convalescent at all the hospitals yesterday.

Labels: Admiral boulevard, detention home, food, general hospital, Helping Hand, Holmes street, Institutional church, jail, police headquarters, Salvation Army, thanksgiving, workhouse

September 25, 1909

HIS MOTHER TO A HOSPITAL.

So 10-Year-Old Son Starts to Walk

to Clinton, Mo.

Ernest Wolf, 10 years old, weak from typhoid fever and just out of a hospital, started out last evening to walk from his home in the rear of Holmes and Twelfth streets, from which place his mother is to be taken to a hospital today to his father's at Clinton, Mo.

The little fellow expected to follow the railroad tracks. When he got to the Union depot he saw so many tracks that he became frightened and began asking questions.

According to Ernest's story which Mrs. Everingham verified through the authorities, his mother, Alice, has been so ill that she has not been able to work for almost a month and arrangements were made yesterday to take her to a hospital.

Mrs. Everingham arranged last evening with the Associated Charities to take care of the boy until his mother is able to support him again.

Labels: Associated Charities, children, depot matron, Holmes street, illness, Twelfth street, typhoid, Union depot

July 10, 1909

CUT IN TWO ON CAR TRACK.

Body of Unidentified Man Discov-

ered at Walnut and Second.

While rounding the curve in the old Holmes street cut on Second street between Walnut street and Grand avenue at midnight last night, J. A. Franklin, the motorman of a Vine street car, noticed that his car bumped slightly at one particular place. He stopped the car, got off and went back to investigate.

In the middle of the track was the body of a man which had evidently been lying there for several hours. More than a dozen cars had passed over the body before any one noticed it. Dr. Harry Czarlinsky was notified and ordered it taken to an undertaker.

From papers found in the dead man's pockets it was presumed that his name is Walter A. Rosh of Enid, Ok.

Labels: death, Dr Czarlinsky, Grand avenue, Holmes street, oklahoma, Second street, streetcar, Walnut Street

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 24, 1909

BATH COSTS A NICKEL NOW.

Personal Ablutions Almost Prohibi-

tive Luxury in McClure Flats.

They're bathing less in the McClure flats. Private bathtubs have always been an unknown luxury there. Personal ablutions formerly were performed by most of the residents at the bathhouse provided by the United Jewish Charities at 1820 Locust street. There a child could get a bath, including the use of a towel, for the sum of one penny. An adult might bathe for a nickel.

More aristocratic people went to a private bathhouse at 310 East Nineteenth street, where children paid a nickel and grown ups 15 cents. Each of the bathhouses had five tubs, but only the penny shop was ever crowded, for there are few in the neighborhood that can afford to pay a nickel to have their children washed.

Since the opening of the beautiful new Jewish charities building on Admiral boulevard, the bathhouse on Locust street has passed into private ownership. Free baths are furnished at the new charities building, but it is very far from McClure flats.

With the passing of communal ownership of the bathhouse passed the penny baths, and now the price is a nickel for every child, and 15 cents for adults.

Therefore is McClure flats abstaining from baths, and is likely to partake of them sparingly until the completion of the free public bathhouse in Holmes square.

Yesterday afternoon a member of the park board stated that it would be August 1 at t he earliest before the bathhouse at Holmes square is completed. Work has been delayed from unavoidable reasons.

"A few of the children more strongly imbued with the gospel of cleanliness than others make an occasional pilgrimage to the bathhouse on the Paseo when it is warm," said Mrs. J. T. Chafin, wife of the head resident at the Franklin institute. "But for most of them the walk is too long, and many who need the bath most are too young to march such a distance."

In the McClure flats district there are not half a dozen private bathtubs. An investigating committee last summer estimated that there were approximately 10,000 people in the city who had not the use of a bathtub.

Labels: Admiral boulevard, bath house, children, Franklin institute, Holmes street, Jews, Locust street, Nineteenth street, Paseo

March 28, 1909

BRIDE OF 16 SEEKS

TO ANNUL MARRIAGE .

Nellie Walker, Who Eloped Last

Wednesday, Says Boy Husband

Can't Support Her.

Nellie Walker, 16 years old, who went to Olathe on the Strang line last Wednesday with Frederick R. Walker, 18, and was married, brought suit in the circuit court yesterday to annul the marriage. The elopers were arrested the evening they returned from Olathe and given into the custody of their parents. Walker is the son of James Walker of 2405 Locust street, and Mrs. Michael Kellcher of 2053 Holmes street is the mother of the girl. She brings the su it for the daughter.

The wife alleges, in her petition, that she was less than lgal age when the marriage license was secured and that she had the consent of neither father nor mother. She adds that her husband is unable to support her.

The story of two weeks of married life is told in the petition of Daisy Tryon against L. Jay Tryon. She alleges that her husband pouted.

Other divorce suits filed were the following:

Laura Belle against Elija P. Sharp.
R. N against Myrtle B. Kennedy.
Christina against Henry Douser.
Mary against Luther Howard.
Nellie M. against Thomas B. Johnson.
Walter R. against Alice L. Gillaspie.
Pearl against Harry McHutt.
Gertrude against John H.Parshall

Labels: circuit court, Divorce, Holmes street, Locust street, Olathe

March 24, 1909

EPPERSON'S AUTO HITS BOY.

Chauffeur, 17 Years Old, Was

Making Trial Trip With New

Touring Car.

The trial trip of U. S. Epperson's new touring car yesterday afternoon resulted in the serious injury of Jesse Bridgeman, 13 years old, who was run over at Eleventh and Holmes streets. J. C. Collins, 17 years old, the chauffeur, was arrested. He was released at police headquarters, Mr. Epperson signing his bond.

The Bridgeman boy, who lives with his mother, Mrs. Gertrude Bridgeman, 1416 Locust street, came out of the Humbolt school, put on his roller skates and coasted down Eleventh street. A moment later, as he attempted to cross the street, he was struck by the car and hurled to the pavement. The machine passed over him, although he was untouched by the wheels.

Collins, who had thrown on the emergency brake, stopped the car and ran back. It was almost impossible for J. M. Maloney, a patrolman, to break through the hundreds of excited pupils to the spot where the child lay. Collins offered to take the boy in the motor car to the emergency hospital, but Maloney called the ambulance, which hurried to the scene. Dr. Fred B. Kryger found the child's left leg fractured in two places. He was also bruised about the head and body. He was sent to Dr. H. B. McCall's private sanitarium at 1424 Holmes street, where his condition was little improved last night.

The boy chauffeur has been in Mr. Epperson's employ about three weeks. He says the accident was unavoidable.

Mr. Epperson hurried to the emergency hospital as soon as he heard of the accident, and listened to the child's story. He said he did not believe Collins was exceeding the speed limit.

Labels: accident, automobiles, children, doctors, Eleventh street, Holmes street, Locust street, police headquarters, skating

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

March 5, 1909

CHILD OF 4 KILLED

BY NORTHEAST CAR.

MANY FRANTIC MOTHERS TRIED

TO IDENTIFY THE BOY.

Each Woman Thought Little Leo

Cassidy, Decapitated and Mangled

Beyond Immediate Recogni-

tion, Was Her Own.

Leo Cassidy, aged 4 years, was run over and instantly killed by a Northeast car yesterday afternoon while playing in the street with two other small boys. The boy lived with his aunt, Mrs. Anna Reddick, at 613 Forest avenue. Excited mothers who thought the unfortunate child might be one of their own, thronged the street, pushed and crowded each other in a mad endeavor to identify the mangled body under the trucks of the car. The accident occurred at Independence avenue and Holmes street.

Mrs. Reddick was in the habit of leaving the child with Mrs. John Davis, 557 Holmes street, during the day while she was at work in Blake's restaurant at the city market. The child slipped out of the house unnoticed. Johnny and Teddy Trent, aged 5 and 3 respectively, who live in the same house with their parents, greeted Leo with a childish welcome.

RAN IN FRONT OF CAR.

Leo ran directly across the street in front of a fast approaching car, the two Trent boys behind him. As the car struck Leo, the others turned and ran screaming to the house. Within the shortest possible time every mother in the neighborhood was on the scene of the tragedy where a crowd had gathered.

Though several persons had seen the accident, none was able to give a concise account of the tragedy. Maud Mahoney of 543 Holmes street was an eye witness. She said that she saw the three children run across the street and a moment later one was run down by the car. Mrs. Gus Berkowitz, who lives over the grocery store at 706 Independence avenue, looked out of the window in time to see the children start in their chase. She thought one of them was her own and was in the act of leaping out the window when she was caught by her husband. All the witnesses said that the car was going at a moderate rate of speed.

POLICE TO CLEAR STREET.

When Mrs. Davis reached the scene her agony knew no bounds, and her screams attracted persons for blocks. D. M. Armstrong, the motorman of the car, was leaning back in the vestibule, his face deathly pale, and Charles Perkins, the conductor, was taking down names. The trunk of the body lay under the car. The head, under the trucks, was beyond recognition.

Passengers from the blockaded cars began to alight when Sergeant John Ravenscamp arrived with a squad of policemen. It took their united efforts to clear the street. Excited mothers would rush up and try to identify the child as their own.

The scene of the accident is one of the crowded parts of the city and is within a block of the proposed North End playground. The Washington school is a block away and all motormen are supposed to run their cars slowly at that point.

Immediately after the accident, the crew of the car were placed under arrest by Detective Ben Sanderson. They were arraigned before Justice of the Peace James Richardson last night, and were released on a $500 bond, furnished by the street railway company. Neither would make a statement.

Labels: accident, children, city market, death, detectives, Forest avenue, Holmes street, Independence avenue, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, police, restaurants, streetcar

February 19, 1909

J. C. ALTMAN TAKES BRIDE.

Was Married to Mrs. Florence Ma-

hannah in St. Joseph.

J. C. Altman and Mrs. Florence Mahannah slipped quietly away from friends and family, took a morning train for St. Joseph and were married, although the banns had been announced and Easter was set as the day for the wedding. Mr. Altman is the proprietor of the Altman Shoe Company at Eleventh and Walnut streets, and his bride was formerly employed at the Klein Jewelry Company, 1119 Main street.

The couple arrived in St. Joseph about noon time and proceeded directly to the court house where they secured the license. From there they went to St. Joseph's cathedral, where the ceremony was performed by Father Malloon. Mrs. Lou Harper, a sister of the bride, was present and W. X. Donovan of St. Joseph acted as best man. Mr. and Mrs. Altman will make their home at 1231 Holmes street. They returned to Kansas City late last night.

Labels: churches, Eleventh street, Holmes street, Main street, ministers, St.Joseph, Walnut Street, wedding

December 19, 1908

GENERAL HOSPITAL IS

ALMOST INACCESSIBLE.

Roadway Is Muddy, Narrow and

Dangerous, Almost Impossible to

Traverse at Night.

The new general hospital is a great thing. The wards are large and airy, the sanitation is perfect, the nurses and doctors are first class and the facilities for treating emergency cases excellent -- in the emergency cases could reach the hospital. In other words, the matter with the new hospital is that it is almost inaccessible, especially after nightfall.

A complaint comes from the police. The ambulance from the Walnut street station takes a case or two to the hospital every night. Last night a man with a broken leg was taken there. The ambulance spent about a minute getting from Nineteenth and Main streets, the scene of the accident, to Twenty-first street and Gillham road. Then it took fifteen minutes to get the last 100 yards of the journey.

There are only two ways by which vehicles can get to the hospital. One was is by Twenty-fourth and Cherry streets, and the other is by the Gillham road entrance. The ambulance entered by the latter way, because it is closer and safer. There are no lights in the vicinity of the hospital and the whole hill is in darkness. The entrance is by a winding mud road and it is so narrow, twisting and dark that a policeman was compelled to walk in front of the horses to pick out the way and prevent the animals from falling in one of the many ditches. Meanwhile the man with the broken leg was suffering excruciating agony.

If the ambulance had gone around by the other entrance it would have been necessary to climb the Holmes street hill, which the horses are compelled to take at a walk. In either case the vehicle would be in danger of overturning several times.

"It seems strange to me," said a police officer last night, "that a couple of hundred dollars could not have been subtracted from the thousands that it took to build the hospital and used to make the place accessible. It is a strange anomaly to see a dozen doctors waiting inside the hospital in the operating room for the patient, who is meantime stuck in the mud outside and possibly dying for lack of attention.

"Within a block of the place is Gillham road, one of the finest thoroughfares to be found in the city, and half a dozen other streets that are kept in good condition. The new hospital has been built several months now and there has been plenty of time to build suitable approaches. I would like to know who to blame."

Labels: accident, general hospital, Gillham road, Holmes street, Main street, Nineteenth street, public works, Twenty-first street

November 15, 1908

MOTORMAN'S POETRY WINS

A PUNCH IN THE NECK.

He Wrote It to His Mother-in-Law

About His Domestic

Affairs.

If a man writes poetry every week to his mother-in-law is her son justified in striking him? Such was the interesting ethical point that Festus O. Miller, justice of the peace, was called upon to decide yesterday morning.

This is the way it all happened. A. S. Abercrombie is a motorman on the Holmes street line and he is married to the daughter of Mrs. C. W. Bradley, 2318 Holmes street. Every week, it was brought out in the trial, Mrs. Bradley received a letter from her son-in-law inclosing some samples of alleged poetry, of which the following will be as much as the average reader can stand:

"I see my Lily is true to me
And will be good to her, you see;
If she don't make me me climb a tree
Some day my fortune she will see.
--By A. S. Abercrombie."

Since the Lily referred to was Mrs. Bradley's daughter, she stood the trial reading these versus without complaining very much. But soon Abercrombie began sending the verses in the form of a newspaper, written in long hand and called by him "The Bradley-Abercrombie Journal." In one of these the following effusion was offered:

"You thought I had money was the reason why
You proposed for your daughter to marry me,
But that's where you got left, you see."

Mrs. Bradley showed this poem to her son, William. The young man boarded his brother-in-law's car at Eighth and Walnut streets and rode out to Howard avenue, quarreling on the way. At Howard he struck the motorman with his fist.

"That was a very serious offense," said Justice Miller. "By striking the motorman while the car was in motion, you not only committed an assault, but you endangered the lives of all the passengers on the car. However, considering the nature of your provocation, I shall make your sentence a light one. One dollar and costs is your fine."

Labels: Holmes street, Judges, marriage, poetry, streetcar, violence

October 26, 1908

WANT NO SMALLPOX THERE.

Property Owners Meet Tonight to

Protest Against Use of Old Hospital.

Property owners in the vicinity of the old general hospital will hold a mass meeting at 2326 Holmes street tonight to protest against the proposed establishment of a smallpox hospital in the old building. The meeting will convene at 7"30 o'clock.

Labels: Holmes street, hospitals, smallpox

October 1, 1908

TO USE IN CASE OF FIRE.

Call Box Donated the Little Sisters

of the Poor.

The police board agreed yesterday that for the safety of the aged inmates, in case of fire, a Gamewell box was to be placed in the home conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor at Thirty-second and Cherry streets. The Bank of Commerce donated the box and the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company will do the work of installation free of charge. Wires will be run to Thirty-first and Holmes street, where the Gamewell wires will be tapped. From there they will connect with Westport police station No. 5.

Labels: charity, Cherry street, Fire, Holmes street, No 5 police station, telephone, Thirty-first street, Thirty-second street

October 1, 1908

IT'S NEWS TO TEN EYKE.

If He Has Fallen Heir to Western

Union Telegraph Building.

Rumor has it that James M. Piper, who died suddenly Monday afternoon, had left that part of his estate which comprises the building now occupied by the Western Union Telegraph Company, Seventh and Main streets, James F. TenEyke, the engineer and janitor of the building. Mr. TenEyke has heard nothing which would lead him to believe that such is the case, and Mrs. Piper stated that, though the will of her husband had not been opened, she had been given to understand that all of his property had been left to her.

Mr. TenEyke has been the engineer at the Western Union building for twenty years. He and his employer were always close friends, TenEyke having made a lasting impression upon Mr. Piper at the time he was being employed to take charge of the machinery. A sort of brotherly affection grew up between the men, and the were together much of the time.

Last night Mr. TenEyke said that if it were true that Mr. Piper had given him the Western Union building, it would make no change in his plans for the future. He will continue in his work at the building and still live in the flat of two rooms at 608 Holmes street, alone.

In the early '70s Mr. TenEyke served as a government scout in the wild Western country. He continued in that service until three months after the Custer massacre, when he took up engineering. He was then employed by the old steamboat company whose ships piled up and down the Missouri.

Labels: death, Holmes street, Main street, probate, Seventh street

September 21, 1908

WAS AMONG FIRST OF

WESTPORT SETTLERS.

DEATH OF "JUDGE" JAMES HUN-

TER, THE PIONEER.

"Judge" James Hunter, a settler in Westport since 1826 and one of the most familiar figures of the old town, died at the Harris house in Westport, where he had lived for twenty-five years, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, at the age of 88 years old.

Born eighty-three years ago in Russellville, Ky., James Hunter, at the age of 1 year, came with his father, the Rev. James M. Hunter of the then Cumberland Presbyterian church, to where Westport now is, in 1826. There was but one house in the place, a cabin owned by Frederick Chouteau, which was hotel, general store, and, in fact, the whole settlement under one roof. Rev. Hunter started another store, where he had saddlery, general merchandise and notions, now the corner of Southwest boulevard and Penn street. At this time Kansas City was not in existence. Young Hunter later started in the saddlery business. He also became the owner of a tract of about eighty acres between Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third, Main and Holmes streets. this he afterwards disposed of very cheaply. At the age of 30 years he married Miss Eleanor Stevens of Cass county, Mo., but she lived only a year. They had no children.

About 1854 the great movement across the plains was at its highest point, and James Hunter and his younger brother, Thomas, went into the freighting business. Their long caravans of prairie schooners, drawn by oxen, toiled slowly across the dry plains from Westport to Santa Fe, hauling every sort of necessity for the settlers in the gold fields. The profit was brought back in the form of gold dust, and debts were paid with the dust in Westport, as well as in San Francisco. Both of the brothers made their headquarters in Santa Fe, but they were constantly on the move, and Westport saw them several times a year.

When the civil war broke out they had not time to mix in the quarrels of the North and South -- they were interested in the development of the Western country. They continued to run their business right through the war. Their name became known everywhere along the great trail, and they waxed wealthy.

The inception of the railway proved the ruin of their freight business. In 1871 James Hunter gave up the trade and moved from Santa Fe back to Westport, where he had lived ever since. He became a notary public and in 1886 was elected police judge of the town. Twenty-five years ago he registered at the Harris house, then the leading hotel in Westport, and retained a room there until his death.

Two brothers and a sister survive, Dr. D. W. Hunter of Dallas, Tex.; Thomas H. Hunter of 4013 Central street and Mrs. E. H. Huffaker of El Paso, Tex.

The funeral services will be at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning from the residence of Thomas H. Hunter. Burial will be in Union cemetery.

Labels: Central street, churches, death, history, Holmes street, Judges, Main street, ministers, Santa Fe Trail, Thirty-third street, Twenty-eighth street, Westport

August 11, 1908

TAUGHT IT TO DRINK BEER.

"Bottles" Was a Model Dog Until a

Vagrant Canine Came Along.

This is the story of a dog that was tempted and fell into bad ways. Henry Miller, a Kansas City saloonkeeper, owns a fox terrier named "Bottles." For two years Bottles was all that any self-respecting fox terrier should be. Then one night a dog of uncertain breed walked into a saloon and from appearances was nearly starved to death. Miller fed the dog, which stayed in the saloon from then on. She was named Rags and developed an abnormal appetite for beer, drinking all of it that was given to her. She would become so intoxicated that she could not walk. Within six month' time "Bottles" had acquired the hait of drinking beer and the two dogs would get "gloriously full" together.

Recently Miller purchased a saloon in the North End and Rags was taken to the new location, but not being acquainted with the patrons she refused to spend all of her time there. She goes out to the corner of Fourth and Main streets about noon every day and boards a Vine street car and rides to Nineteenth and Troost avenue, where she gets off and goes over to Eighteenth and Troost avenue, where she has lived for some time. "Bottles" is also an old street car rider. Each morning "Bottles" boards a Troost avenue car and rides to Twelfth street, where he transfers onto a Twelfth street car and rides down to a restaurant near Holmes street. The waiter in the restaurant gives the dog a meal, after which "Bottles" makes the return trip, including the transfer at Twelfth street and Troost avenue.

Not long ago Miller started out to attend a circus on the east side of town. He took "Bottles" with him, but the dog became separated from his master at Eighth street and Grand avenue. The owner retraced his footsteps, believing that he would find "Bottles" playing with other dogs on the street. When he reached Tenth street and Troost avenue he boarded a car to go to Eighteenth street and Troost avenue to his saloon. When the car arrived at Twelfth street he saw "Bottles" get off a Twelfth street car and run and jump on the rear end of a Troost car on his way home. "Bottles" has a son known as "Booze," but so far "Booze" has refused to partake of intoxicating liquors, nor has he learned the art of using the street cars in his travels around the city.

Labels: alcohol, animals, circus, Eighteenth street, Eighth street, Grand avenue, Holmes street, North end, restaurants, saloon, streetcar, Troost avenue, Twelfth street

August 9, 1908

WHISTLED WAY INTO COURT.

Ada Bentley, 9 Years Old, Was Ac-

cused of Warbling at Man.

"A whistling woman and a crowing hen
Will never come to a good end."

"A whistling girl and a bleating sheep
The very best property man can keep."

Take your choice. Both proverbs may occasionally come true.

Ada Bentley whistles. Neighbors who testified against her in the juvenile court yesterday said she whistled at men. But Ada, looking at Judge McCune with her clear eyes, said she was only whistling for practice, although, like every other feminine, she seemed pleased because others were jealous of he attractions.

Ada lives at 2216 Holmes street. With Albert, her brother, she was in court on complaints of neighbors. Her mother was a good lawyer, but she made a mistake when she told that her oldest daughter, 17, was a piano player in a mutoscope show. Judge McCune said he would look further into the case, especially as concerns the girl who plays. Ada, with the whistle, stands to get an early discharge. She is said to be 9 years of age, but looks older.

Labels: children, Holmes street, Judge McCune, juvenile court, mutoscope

July 28, 1908

NEGRO PLAYGROUND

IS THE WASHINGTON.

BUT WHETHER BOOKER T. OR

GEORGE IS NOT KNOWN.

Park Board Accepts the Council's

Recommendation for North End

Playground Sites -- Blacks and

Whites in Seperate Parks.

Booker T. or George -- that is the question. Yesterday afternoon the board of park commissioners reached an almost final conclusion in the matter of North End playgrounds, accepting the council's recommendation that two plots instead of one be set aside, one for the whites and the other for the negroes. One plot chosen is that bounded by Holmes, Cherry, Missouri avenue and Fifth street, and the other is in Belvedere hollow for the most part, and bounded by Troost, Forest, Pacific and Belevedere streets. No estimate of the cost of the two blocks was furnished and the commissioners thought that $100,000 might defray the cost.

"We will have to get a name for them to put in the ordinance," suggested one of the board clerks.

"Certainly, certainly," granted President Franklin Hudson, looking southeast to where Commissioner George T. Hall was sitting.

"To be sure we will have to name them," the commissioner said, proud to rise to the occasion. "'Black' and 'White' would do fine."

President Hudson dropped a bundle of papers he had in his hands and Commissioners George M. Fuller and A. J. Dean hopped as though they were on hot bricks.

"That would never do," came from the chair. "Never do to get names like that," bespake Commissioner Fuller, while Commissioner Dean was wagging his head to beat the band, set in his ways though he almost always is. Flocking by himself was Commissioner Fred Doggett.

"I have a name," said this member, whereupon at once he was given the center of the stage.

" 'Lincoln' and 'Washington' would be appropriate, I think," he went on.

"Had it on my tongue to suggest those self-same two men myself," declared President Hudson, while Commissioners Fuller and Dean, from across the table, glared like frizzling martyrs at Commissioner Hall, who had 'riz the row.

" 'Lincoln' and 'Washington' make it," proposed one member of the board and all the other members, including Commissioner Hall, seconded the motion.

Then there was a lull and a newspaper man naturally asked which was which.

"Mercy, man," replied President Hudson, horror stricken, "we dassent decide that. All we have to do is to furnish playgrounds for the whites and for the negroes. We dassent say which shall be which."

"But you named them," was the protest. "Are the names indices?"

"The park in Belvedere hollow is to be known as 'Washington,' " was vouchsafed, which was a surprise. Negro institutions are generally known as Lincoln, and it had been taken for granted that the custom would be adhered to in the instance of naming the only Jim Crow park Kansas City has contemplated so far.

"Belvedere hollow park will be 'Washington,' " the president insisted.

Trying to see a connection, the president was asked by a colleague if the park was to be named for Booker T. or George Washington.

"Don't let that, get out at the start," was the caution, and the laughter of the austere president of the park board was so uproarious that Commissioner Dean remarked that "that must be a devil of a funny thing Hudson has just got off."

So, after three years of maneuvering and the consideration of seven sites, the North End playground scheme has got as far as the enabling ordinance in the council. Owing to the mixed colors in the north end of the city, it was feared that there would be conflicts in a single playground, minors being unlikely to keep their heads in moments of intensity. The dual plan was proposed, and yesterday was adopted by the park board.

Labels: Belvedere, Cherry street, Fifth street, Forest avenue, Holmes street, Missouri avenue, Park board, race, Troost avenue

July 26, 1908

USED VINEGAR, BEER AND LARD.

Sidewalk Restoratives Applied to Fit

Sufferer in the North End.

Little Alphonso Baker, a 10-year-old negro boy from Pine Bluff, Ark., fell on the sidewalk at Fourth and Holmes streets yesterday afternoon in a fit. The Italians ran out of the stores nearby and endeavored to revive him. One man poured vinegar over the boy, while another emptied a bottle of beer in his face. An old woman greased his lips with lard. Somebody thought of the emergency hospital and had the ambulance called. Alphonso was treated by Dr. J. Park Neal at the emergency hospital.

Labels: accident, children, Dr J Park Neal, Fourth street, Holmes street, immigrants, visitors

July 4, 1908

FOURTH BEGAN MORE

NOISY THAN EVER.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT, EVEN, THE

NOISE WAS UNBEARABLE.

No "Quiet Zone" Around Hospitals or

Anything Else -- Giant Crackers

and Torpedoes on the

Car Tracks.

"The racket and noise made by the Fourth of July eve celebrations is something awful, and we are going to call up the police to see if it can't be stopped," said one of the sisters at St. Joseph's hospital at 11 o'clock last night. "There has been loud and disturbing noises all the evening and just now one fanfare was finished up that was incessant for fifteen minutes. It is awfully trying on the patients."

"The annoyance from the discharge of nerve wrecking contrivances is becoming unbearable and our patients are complaining," was the report from Agnew hospital.

"Men and boys have been putting torpedoes on the tracks of the Holmes street car line all night long, and the whole neighborhood seems to be well supplied with dynamite fire crackers," reported the general hospital.

"We have one patient who has become hysterical from the din that is being created in the vicinity of the hospital building. Men and boys are putting something on the car tracks that, when it explodes, shakes the windows," was the report from the South Side hospital.

"The noise is awful and there seems to be no end to it. We wish the police would get around here and put a stop to it," was the complaint from University hospital.

Other hospitals reported like disturbing conditions, and the quiet zones which the police promised were not within the limits of Kansas City last night. Soon after sunset the booming of big and little fire crackers, the placing of the nerve-wrecking torpedoes on street car tracks were of common occurrence and there was not a section of the city that was free from the din and disturbance of the noise creators. Down town streets which in past years were as quiet on the eve of the national holiday as a Sunday, were particularly in a state of turmoil and deafening noises, and no apparent effort was made on part of the police to put a stop to it. From the river front to the limits south, east and west, the roar of all descriptions of fireworks was continuous, and in the residence districts sleep was out of the question.

Chief of Police Daniel Ahern had made promises that there was to be a sane 3rd and Fourth of July, and he issued orders to his command to arrest all persons that discharged or set off firecrackers, torpedoes or anything of the like within the vicinity of hospitals or interfered with the peace and quiet of any neighborhood. How well Chief Ahern's subordinates paid attention to instructions can be inferred by reports from the hospitals and the experiences of citizens all over the city.

The first to make history by celebrating too soon was Joseph Randazzo, and Italian boy 17 years old. He had reached a revolver with a barrel eighteen inches long. At Fifth street and Grand avenue Randazzo was having a good time chasing barefoot boys and shooting blank cartridges at their feet. After he had terrorized a whole neighborhood William Emmett, a probation officer, took him in tow and had him locked up. That was at 9:45 p. m. When he had a taste of the city bastile he was released on his promise to be good. But he has yet to appear before Judge Harry G. Kyle in police court.

Nearly an hour after this the police of No. 6 were called upon to get busy. A negro named L. W. Fitzpatrick, who lives near Fourteenth and Highland, moved his base of operations from near home and began to bombard Fifteenth and Montgall and vicinity with cannon crackers varying in length from twelve to eighteen inches. Just as he had set off one which caused a miniature earthquake he was swooped down upon by the police and he did not get home until $10 was left as a guarantee that he would appear in court and explain himself.

Probably the greatest surprise came to Otto Smith and Edward Meyers, 14 years old. Armed with 25-cent cap pistols they were having a jolly time near Nineteenth and Vine when a rude and heartless policeman took them to No. 6 station.

They were "armed," and it was against the law to go armed. On account of the extreme youth of the lads they were lectured and let go home.

Mrs. Mary Murphy, 65 years old, who lives at 2025 Charlotte street, was standing on the corner of Twenty-first and Charlotte streets last night when a groceryman who conducts a store on the corner offered her a large cannon cracker to fire off. Thinking it was a Roman candle, the old lady lighted the cracker and held it in her hand.

She was taken to the general hospital, where it was found that her hand had been badly burned. The hand was dressed and she was taken to her home.

Labels: Charlotte street, children, Fifteenth street, fireworks, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, Highland avenue, holidays, Holmes street, hospitals, No 6 police station, Police Chief Ahern, Vine street

June 12, 1908

POLICE WILL PATROL

RIVER IN LAUNCHES.

Mounted Men Guard Flooded Whole-

sale District -- Peril of the

East Bottoms.

Chief of Police Daniel Ahern and Captain Walter Whitsett yesterday afternoon drove through the flooded East and West bottoms. Complaint had been made that sightseers and others had been breaking into unprotected houses and stealing.

Last night mounted men were stationed all over the West bottoms with orders to patrol the flooded district carefully. If the water goes any higher police will be placed in launches to patrol. Now an officer on horseback can reach the most important part of the wholesale district.

It was also reported to the police that in the trees near Harlem many dead cattle, horses and hogs have become lodged. The citizens in that vicinity fear the result if the animals are left there after the flood goes down. Today police in motor boats will be sent over the river to dislodge any dead stock and see that it gets into the current.

Near the Kelly mills in the East bottoms twenty-five or thirty men are at work night and day watching to see that the water does not break through the dike formed by the embankment of the Kansas City Southern railway.

"That is really the key to the East bottoms," Captain Whitsett said. "If the water once gets through there it means lots more trouble, especially for truck gardens, Currents would be quickly formed and all of that loose rich soil would go down the river as it did in 1903."

Wednesday night and last night fifteen or twenty families, by special permission, slept on the hillsides below North Terrace park. In the day the people go down and watch their property.

William Mensing, 10 East Fourth street, called at police headquarters last night and offered five or six furnished rooms for the benefit of the flood sufferers. In 1903 Mensing had a rooming house at Fourth and Main streets. While his rooms could have been rented at good prices, Mensing gave up a dozen or more to poor families and even took two families into his home.

"These rooms I have are not for men who can hustle for themselves," he said last night. "As before, I prefer to let women and children occupy them."

Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., chairman of the police board, informed the department yesterday that tents could be secured at the Third regiment. They are to be used for poor and needy families if the worst comes.

Today two gasoline launches will be placed in commission for use of the police. They will be expected to patrol the river below the Hannibal bridge and render aid to people on both sides of the river if the emergency calls for it.

The crowd on the Intercity viaduct last night -- most of the people were sightseers -- was so great that Captain Whitsett stationed four men under Sergeant Robert Greely at the entrance. Their business was to be on the lookout for crooks and to keep the people moving. Three patrolmen were placed at the Mulberry street pay station to keep order and see that no one used the "center rush" method to get through the crowd without paying.

Last night several police were patrolling the river bank from the foot of Grand avenue east. It had been reported that thieves had been breaking into wholesale houses through windows, loading their boats and landing further down the river

The police were asked last night to be on the lookout for Antonio Travesse, 6 years old, an Italian boy living at 410 Holmes street. His father, Carlos, greatly excited, reported the missing boy. He said that when last seen his baby was going toward the river.

Harlem could not be reached by telephone last night. In the afternoon it was said that the water there had flooded the only remaining stores. Last night's report from there was that the river was getting lower, and that most of the wise citizens over there, who had passed through the terrible 1903 flood, will save all of their household goods and stocks of merchandise. Some were moved to this city and some of the stocks are still there, very high up with the counters and shelves nailed down.

Labels: boats, Captain Whitsett, children, East bottoms, flood, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, Harlem, Holmes street, immigrants, intercity viaduct, Mayor Crittenden, military, Mulberry street, Police Chief Ahern, West bottoms

May 20, 1908

AIR LINE TRAIN STRUCK CAR.

Motorman and a Passenger Injured

at Second and Holmes.

An Independence Air line passenger train struck a Holmes street car at Second and Walnut streets at 4:40 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Charles Bradley, 2318 Holmes street, the motorman, received a cut on the back of the head, his right elbow was bruised and it is believed he was injured internally. Fred Heible, an old man who lives at Third and Kansas avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was the only passenger on the car. He was cut on the head and generally bruised about the body.

At the Walnut street crossing of the Kansas City Southern track there is no regular watchman, it being the agreement that the conductor on the street car shall precede his car across the tracks and signal when the way is clear. The car yesterday was struck at the rear vestibule just as it was clearing the tracks. The conductor, A. T. Jackson of 3030 1/2 Holmes street, witnesses say, was just alighting when the collision came and had to jump to save himself. Bradley, the injured motorman, is a new man, having been on the line only three weeks. Heible was seated in the rear of the car when the accident happened and was thrown down.

J. C. Courtney, conductor, Walter Williams, fireman and C. E. Cabeen, engineer of the accommodation train, were held for a time by Sergeant John Ravenscamp until he was informed that no one had been fatally injured. Cabeen said that the street car seemed to appear right in front of his engine. He saw no one flagging it.

Labels: Holmes street, railroad, Second street, streetcar, Walnut Street

May 12, 1908

MURDERED WIFE

IN JEALOUS FIT.

SHE DIED IN HER AGED

FATHER'S ARMS.

STABBED ON PORCH

OF HOME.

E. C. FLETCHER, THE MURDERER,

IS CAPTURED BY POLICE.

E. C. Fletcher, a teamster 37 years old, after being separated from his wife for one week, called at the home of her father, John Harlow, 630 West Eighth street, last night about 8:30 o'clock, ostensibly to talk over going to Oklahoma. In the house was a man named Edward Lewis, another teamster, who had gone to the house to see Harlow about putting him to work. Fletcher asked his wife to come down stairs to talk. When they reached the porch she was heard to scream for help. He had stabbed her just above the heart. She died an hour later.

Fletcher ran south to Ninth street, chased by a negro who had witnessed the act. He was seen at Ninth and Holmes streets a few minutes later, running east. The aged father ran to the porch and held his daughter in his arms until the police ambulance arrived. She sank so fast that Drs. J. P. Neal and R. A. Shiras deemed it necessary to give her a transfusion of salt solution at the emergency hospital to take the place of the blood she had lost. She did not regain consciousness and died without making a statement or even telling her name. The knife blade entered the left side just above the heart and is believed to have severed the aorta.

HE IS CAPTURED.

Detectives Keshlear and McGraw were on the scene soon after the murder and went to work on the case at once.

Patrolmen Holly Jarboe and J. P. Withrow, headquarters men, learned that Fletcher roomed at 211 West Fifth street and went there to watch for him. At 12:15 o'clock they were joined by Detectives Brice, Murphy, Boyle and Walsh. As they stood talking, Walsh exclaimed:

"Here he comes now," and ran toward a man who had just turned the corner. It was proved to be Fletcher. He surrendered without resistance.

Fletcher was taken to police headquarters and Bert Kimbrell, assistant prosecuting attorney, was sent for to take his statement. The murderer had been drinking and was not told that his wife was dead until he had finished his statement. He expressed hope that he had not hurt her.

"I don't know why I struck her. I love he so. I don't know what I was doing," was the sum of his declaration to Kimbrell.

The knife with which he killed his wife was found in his pocket. It was a common clasp knife, with a three-inch blade.

HE OFTEN BEAT HER.

Mrs. Emma Fletcher was 33 years old and a pretty woman. She had been married to Fletcher for seventeen years, but had no children. He was a drinking man, the father says, and often beat his wife and as often left her. Her mother died about the time of her marriage and she and Fletcher had always lived with Harlow.

"He left Emma the last time a week ago while we were living at Thirteenth and Summit streets," said Harlow. "We have often had to move on account of his treatment of her. Tuesday we moved to 630 West Eighth street. Ed Lewis came to see me tonight about getting me a job and we were all in the room on the second floor when Fletcher knocked at the door.

" 'What do you want?' Emma asked him.

" 'I just come to talk to you about going with me to Oklahoma,' Fletcher said. 'I've got the money to take you if you want to go.'

"Then he saw Lewis sitting there and his eyes flashed fire. He told Emma to get her shoes and come outside and talk the matter over. As she left I heard him say, 'I'd rather see you dead than with another man.' I heard them walk quietly down the stairs to the porch and then my daughter screamed. I just thought he had beaten her again as he had so often and ran to her side I could see he had been drinking."

"I WANT TO DIE, TOO."

While the father, grey and feeble, was telling his story to Captain Whitsett he did not know that his daughter was dead. HE would up his sad narrative with: "When I put her white face on my arm I thought she was dead, but I guess he's just cut her. Can any one tell me how she is?" he asked, looking from one to another.

"She is dead," Captain Whitsett informed him in a low tone.

"God be merciful," cried the old man, tottering backwards into a chair. "If she is dead, I want to die, too."

He found that her body had been taken to Freeman & Marshall's morgue and left for there, saying he wanted to be with her during the night.

OTHER TOWNS NOTIFIED.

Fletcher has been working for James Stanley, a contractor, who is building a church at 752 Sandusky avenue, Kansas City, Kas. Surrounding towns had also been telephoned to be on the lookout for him in case he should catch a train out. He was believed to be making for the Belt line tracks when last seen.

P. W. Widener, from whom Harlow rents at 630 West Eighth street, told the police that he had just entered his home about 8:30 p. m., when he heard a knock and saw Fletcher at his wife's door talking to her.

"I heard them go down stairs together," he said, "and almost immediately heard her scream. She was lying on the porch, stabbed, when I reached her. Fletcher was chased to Ninth street and lost sight of."

Widener related that when Harlow rented the rooms he said his son-in-law often raised "a little rumpus when drinking," but did not pay any attention to it. He said it had often caused him to move.

Fletcher has a brother, Arthur Fletcher, living somewhere in the city. Harlow has one more daughter, Mrs. Clara Coleman, who lives in the West bottoms in Kansas City, Kas., but he did not know where.

Coroner George B. Thompson said that an autopsy would be held today and an inquest later.

Labels: Captain Whitsett, Coroner Thompson, detectives, doctors, domestic violence, Eighth street, emergency hospital, Fifth street, Holly Jarboe, Holmes street, Inspector Boyle, marriage, murder, Ninth street, oklahoma, teamster, undertakers

May 10, 1908

WAS SLASHED BY A RUFFIAN.

Rufus Ramey Was Defending His

Wife From Insult.

Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Ramey of 345 Minnesota avenue, Kansas City, Kas., accompanied by another man and his wife, were returning from a call at Missouri avenue and Holmes street last night at 12:15 o'clock when two men stopped the two women, who were walking behind their husbands. One of the two men insulted Mrs. Ramey and Mr. Ramey started to resent the insult. The assailant drew a knife and slashed Ramey across the left cheek from the cheek bone down through the upper lip. Ramey walked to the emergency hospital, where Dr. Ford B. Rogers dressed the wound. The assailant escaped.

Labels: emergency hospital, Holmes street, Kansas City Kas, Minnesota avenue, Missouri avenue, violence

March 29, 1908

ONE LITTLE ENGINE BALKED.

And All the Cars in Town Stopped as

a Consequence.

Just because a small engine in the power house at Thirty-first and Holmes streets went out every car line in the city was "tied up" yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock. It was just at the time when traffic is the heaviest for the Metropolites, when business men and shoppers have begun to turn their faces homeward, and these unfortunate ones found themselves in a place where they had to wait an indefinite length of time, or walk the indefinite number of miles to their homes Many of them chose the latter course but were very careful to do a lot of their waling along the route of their "homegoing car."

When the engine at Thirty-first and Holmes streets got "lost" it affected the machinery in the large power house at Second street and Grand avenue. This power house, directly or indirectly, controls every line in the city and when its machines stopped, so did all of the cars throughout town. Emergency treatment was given to the engines at the power houses and within fifteen minutes the wheels began to turn and the cars started. Just how the engine in the Holmes street power house "went dead" will not be known until an examination is held today.

Labels: Grand avenue, Holmes street, Second street, streetcar, Thirty-first street

March 11, 1908

TOY SQUIRT GUN HIS WEAPON.

But Jones Wouldn't Be Bluffed and

Landed With Stiff Uppercut.

Roy Jones was walking slowly along Troost avenue near Fifteenth street around 2 o'clock yesterday morning. He was humming a love tune and paid little attention to a man who came up behind him, until he was jabbed in the ribs with something hard, held in the man's right hand.

"Hold up your hands! Give me your money!" the man commanded.

Jones was in for arguing the question, but the man was insistent. As the argued they passed beneath an electric arc light, and James saw the man had a toy squirt gun pistol as a weapon. With one stiff punch, Jones landed an uppercut on the man's jaw.

Just as the man ran away, Patrolman Michael Meany appeared and took a shot at him At Fifteenth and Holmes streets, almost exhausted, the bluff criminal ran into Patrolman James Mulloy and was arrested.

At the Walnut street station he gave the name of Howard A. Watson, an upholsterer. He told Captain Whitsett late in the day that he was "just kiddin'" an' wouldn't harm a fly." Captain Whitsett didn't like that sort of fun between entire strangers, and Watson was charged with highway robbery. He was arraigned before Justice Shoemaker, pleaded guilty and was bound over to the criminal court for trial.

Labels: Captain Whitsett, crime, Fifteenth street, guns, highway robbery, Holmes street, Justice Shoemaker, police, toys, Troost avenue, Walnut street police station

March 4, 1908

THOUGHT THEY HELD BOMBS.

Shopkeeper Summons Police to Take

Away Brakeman's Battered Grips.

Anarchist activities recently in Chicago inspired the household of Barbara Bapp, a confectioner at 2309 Holmes street, yesterday, to believe they were harboring bombs in two grips left there. Some unknown man asked to leave a disreputable looking suit case and satchel, and at dusk he hadn't come back. The more the Bapps thought about those prize packages the more firmly they became convinced that there were infernal machines inside. Touch them they would not, and the part of the store where they sat was deserted.

No. 4 police station was appealed to and Lieutenant Heydon sent out Patrolman Klusman to see about it. What he carried back to the station was a lot of wearing apparel belonging to a Missouri Pacific brakeman, including a cap, a large collection of slightly used decks of cards, presumably left on trains by players, and a personal supply of medicines and nostrums, none of them suggestive of any power to explode. From the letters it appears that the owner's name must be Will Nash.

Labels: anarchy, Chicago, Holmes street, No 4 police station, railroad, retailers

January 30, 1908

BABY LOST NEAR HOME.

Lela Weldon Enjoyed Her Ride to the

Police Station.

A little girl, almost a baby, pushing an empty go-cart up and down Holmes, Charlotte, and Campbell streets in the vicinity of Fifth street late yesterday afternoon attracted some attention. The little one seemed to be in search of some place, but she kept steadily on, asking no questions.

After two hours of tiresome walking the tot pulled up at a grocery store at Fifth and Holmes streets and announced that she had "lost her mamma and home." She was given a cracker box to rest upon while the police were notified. The tired little one was carried to police headquarters and place in charge of Mrs. Joan Moran, matron.

About 7 o'clock the child's mother, Mrs. J. J. Pearson, 740 Locust street, called for her. She said the baby's name is Lela Neeley Weldon.

"I sent her about a block away for the baby buggy," the mother said, "and when she came out of the house she turned the wrong way. Then she got lost and began to wander about trying to find her home."

It was said by persons who saw little Lela that she was often within a half block of her home. She has lived here but six weeks, coming here with her parents from St. Louis. Most children howl like the Indians when taken in charge by the police, but Lela said she like the ride to the station on the "treet tar."

Labels: buggy, Campbell street, Charlotte street, children, Fifth street, Holmes street, Locust street, police headquarters, police matron

January 3, 1908

SAYS HE DID NOT STRIKE HER.

Harry Schultz, Sr., Denies the Charge

Made by Mrs. Anna Crisp.

Harry Schultz, Sr., of 3424 Holmes street, who was the cause of Mrs. Anna Crisp's arrest by police at the Midland hotel Wednesday night when she was found in the company of his son, Roy Schultz, stated to The Journal yesterday that her claim that he struck her is false. He says he did not strike the woman, and the only reason he made the scene in the hotel was that she had threatened to go to his home, and also to go with the family to a theater, which he would not allow.

Mr. Schultz says the young woman waylaid his son on Tenth street, and that he had previously warned her to leave the boy alone. When the case against Mrs. Crisp was called in police court yesterday she did not appear. Mr. Schultz did not press the charge, and the $10 cash bond, deposited by a Texan, was set aside by Judge Kyle, who said the money would be returned to him.

Labels: Holmes street, Judge Kyle, police court

December 29, 1907

YOUNG WIFE TIRES OF LIFE.

Mrs. Grace Kemper, Invalid, Tries to

Kill Herself With Acid.

Despairing of ever regaining her health, Mrs. Grace Kemper tried to end her life yesterday afternoon by drinking carbolic acid. She has been in ill health for the past four years. Mrs. Kemper is the wife of T. J. Kemper, and employee of the Central Ice Company, and lives with him at 2030 Holmes street. She was married at the age of 16. They have no children.

When the attending physician caled at the Kemper home yesterday morning on a professional visit to Mrs. Kemper, he left the impression in his patient's mind that she was beyond all medical aid and that she would be more or less confined to her bed for the remainder of her life.

At 5:30 o'clock, when she thought the house was empty, Mrs. Kemper went to a medicine cabinet where she knew carbolic acid was kept and, taking a vial from the chest, drank its contents. She then staggered to her bed and began groaning loudly. Her husband had returned from his work just a few minutes before and, hearing her groans, went into the room.

His wife was in such a condition that she could not speak, and was fast growing worse. Seeing acid burns around her mouth he hastened to the general hospital, just back of his home, where he got Dr. W. C. Smith to go with him to his wife.

When the doctor got to the Kemper home, Mrs. Kemper was unconscious. He applied antidotes before the acid had been assimilated into her system and, notwithstanding the fact that mrs. Kemper was unconscious for several hours after medical treatment, she will survive.

Labels: doctors, general hospital, Holmes street, Suicide, women

September 12, 1907

GUESTS IN ALARM.

ROWDIES INVADE A GILLHAM

ROAD WEDDING PARTY.

TURNED ON GARDEN HOSE.

DRENCH THE COSTUMES OF SOME

OF THE GUESTS.

Made Deafening Noises With Bells

and Pans and Demolished Veran-

da Furniture -- Would Not De-

sist Until Frightened Off

by Approach of Police.

Two policemen and a patrol wagon were required to quell a miniature riot incidental to a charivari after a wedding at 2716 Gillham road last night. The police were summoned after a gang of hoodlums had smashed furniture and deluged with water the house in which the bridal party was holding an informal reception.

The boisterous charivari followed the wedding of Herman Hampel, of San Francisco, to Miss Edna Spengler, which had been celebrated earlier in the evening at St. John's Lutheran church by Rev. Ernst Schulz. From the church the wedding paty had gone to the home of the bride's father, Carl Spengler, Jr., 2716 Gillham road, where an informal reception was to be held. The house was thronged with guests, among them many women gowned in expensive toilets. Everything went merrily until about 9:30 o'clock.

HOODLUMS CREATE UPROAR.

Then a crowd of boys and young men who had not been invited to the wedding and reception appeared and began a charivari. It was said that the "serenaders" were composed largely of a number of young toughs known to police as the "Holmes street gang." They carried bells and tin pans, with which they created an uproar that drove many of the guests inside the house and aroused the neighbors for blocks. It is presumed their intentions were to keep up the disturbance until they were invited inside. When, after several moments, their importunities were not heeded, they adoped more boisterous tactics. They swarmed upon the front veranda, overturning and breaking a number of chairs and settes placed there for the accommodation of the guests. Then they secured some garden hose, attached it to a hydrant and played a stream of water upon the veranda and in the hallways of the house. A number of the celebrants who happened in the reach of the stream were thoroughly drenched.

CALLS SENT FOR POLICE.

When the rioters first became boisterous, the Walnut street police station was notified and Lieutenant Morley dispatched Patrolman A. N. Metzinger to the scene. Upon a second call a patrol wagon was ordered out. The charivari party learned that the police were coming, however, and dispersed before arrests could be made.

BRIDE WAS UNDISTURBED.

The bride was not at all disconcerted at the untoward incident. She received the congratulations of her friends undisturbed through the turmoil. Beyond a little annoyance while the charivari was at its height, the reception proceeded as merrily as if nothing unusual had happened.

The bride is the daughter of Carl Spengler, a local manager for the Dick & Company Brewing Association, of Quincy, Ill. her husband is an influenctial young business man in California. Their wedding was considered an important social event in German circles, and the annoyance at the reception was deeply deplored by many of their friends.

Labels: California, children, churches, Gillham road, Holmes street, marriage, ministers, police, pranks, Walnut street police station, wedding

September 7, 1907

DIDN'T KEEP BURGLAR OUT.

Despite Kimbrell's Unusual Precau-

tions Marauder Visits Him.

"If I could find the man who bribed my burglar alarm I would send him to the penitentiary for life," said Bert Kimbrell, assistant prosecuting attorney, yesterday.

"Out where I live at 2742 Holmes street burglars are plentiful and I have taken great precautions to protect myself. For a few weeks I kept a dog with a 44-caliber bark, but the landlady objected to the animal's noise and tendency to feed upon the portieres and rugs and compelled me to kill him.

"Before I got rid of the dog, though, I took his voice and bottled fifteen minutes of it, taken in the full of the moon, in a graphophone. This graphophone I kept in my sleeping room. Burglar alarms on the windows and the doors were connected by electric wires to the phonograph and there was an automatic circuit maker, so that when anyone tried to enter the room the graphophone set up a howl.

"Last night I was awakened by a masked burglar in the room, throwing a flashlight in my face. I was too badly frightened to scream, so I sat up in bed and read to the stranger the Missouri statutes on burglary and explained to him that I was in the prosecutor's office and could send him to the penitentiary for ten years. He seemed to realize his danger and backed out of the room, escaping by window as he had come in.

"Upon his departure I got up and examined my graphophone to learn why it had not barked an alarm.

"The foxy burglar had been in my room in the afternoon and put a joint of beef in the funnel. When I turned on the electric current, all I heard was the ghost of my dog growling and gnawing on the bone."

Labels: animals, crime, graphophone, Holmes street, Prosecutor Kimbrell

September 7, 1907

OVER 30-FOOT EMBANKMENT.

Negro Crap Shooter's Desperate Leap

to Escape Arrest.

"Jigger for the bull."

That was the warning in North end parlance that a negro sounded when Patrolman Eads came upon a crap game back of the Institutional church, Admiral boulevard and Holmes street, last night. It meant, "Run, a policeman is coming." Behind Eads was Patrolman Phillips.

"Oh, jigger for two bulls," was the second exclamation, and a half dozen negroes "jiggered."

Back of the church is an embankment supported by a wall thirty feet high. One negro jumped over this wall and landed on the roof of a coal house.

"From the noises made, I thought every bone in his body was broken," Eads said, "but I guess I was mistaken. I could see him from the top of the wall. I told him to consider himself under arrest. He climbed from the roof. He had scarcely touched the ground, when a bulldog seized his pants above the legs. The negro just simply ran away with that dog. He did not give him a chance to let go. The negro and the dog disappeared in the darkness. Now, I suppose there will be a stolen dog reported in the morning."

Labels: Admiral boulevard, gambling, Holmes street, Institutional church, North end, police

August 10, 1907

A BOY PREVENTED BURGLARY.

Son of Mrs. Van Lawrence Finds Man

Robbing House.

A bold attempt at burglary was thwarted by a small boy at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Van Lawrence, 926 Holmes street about 9:30 o'clock last night. Mrs. Lawrence and seven or eight guests were sitting upon the veranda in front of the house and a young woman was entertaining several guests in a room on the second floor, when the 8-year-old son of Mrs. Lawrence went inside for a drink.

He heard a noise in a bed chamber usually occupied by his mother and went to investigate. Tehre he found a man rummaging in a bureau. The lad alarmed Mrs. Lawrence, who ran inside, but the burglar managed to escape, dropping a purse he had stolen in his flight. In one of the drawers h e was pillaging was $50 in currency.

This is the third burglary within three days in that part of the city. The others were at 923 Holmes and 1016 Holmes, and in both of these the thief got away with booty.

Labels: children, crime, Holmes street