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

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

October 23, 1909

BOY-HUSBAND OF 19

CRUSHED BY A CAR.

Clyde Bailey, Married But Two

Months, Is Instantly Killed at

Eighteenth and Indiana.

Clyde Bailey, a carpenter, and a bridegroom of two months, who lived with his father-in-law, Andrew Curtis, 2811 Bales avenue, was killed by a southbound Indiana car between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets at 6:18 o'clock last evening.

Young Bailey, who was only 19 years old, had been working all day with his father and brother on a building at Overland park, and at 5:30 in the evening left them at Thirty-ninth and State line with the words: "Well I'll see you in the morning, kid." He changed cars at that point and eventually transferred to the Indiana avenue car which would take him to his home and supper.

Charles L. Bowman, proprietor of a night lunch wagon at Eighteenth and Indiana, who was a passenger on the car with Bailey, said they got off at Eighteenth. Bailey walked south on Indiana to the center of the block, said Bowman, and seeing a northbound car coming, crossed the west track and tried to catch the car on the inside. He was thrown back on the west track in the path from the southbound car from which he had just stepped and which by that time was going very rapidly. the top of Bailey's head struck the inside rail of the west track and was crushed by the wheels, the motorman being unable to stop the car until it had entirely passed over the body.

Fifteen minutes after the accident Deputy Coroner Harry Czarlinsky had the body removed to the Carrol-Davidson undertaking rooms, where it was identified by a book of Overland Park line tickets which he had purchased yesterday morning. His father, Nathan H. Bailey, 4435 Madison street, was notified, and his son, Cal W. Bailey, a brother of Clyde, was the first to arrive at the undertaking rooms.

The streetcar conductor, Jerome Moore, 835 Ann avenue, Kansas City, Kas., and the motorman, William Erickson of 1049 Ann avenue, were arrested by Officer Fields and taken to police headquarters where Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Woodson released them on their personal recognizance for their appearance this morning.

It was at first thought Bailey was Roland Allshire, son of Roy B. Allshire, a contractor living at 2421 Indiana avenue, as Bailey had one of Allshire's cards in his pocket. A verdant young man immediately repaired to the Allshire home, where he threw the family into hysterics with the news. They telephoned to the Loose-Wiles factory, where young Allshire works nights, and he soon appeared on the scene to contradict the story.

Labels: accident, Bales avenue, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Eighteenth street, Indiana avenue, Kansas City Kas, Overland Park, streetcar, telephone, undertakers

September 14, 1909

WILD WEST IN THE RAIN.

Creditable Exhibition in Spite of J.

Pluvius's Interruption.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Pawnee Bill's Far East, combined, gave an exhibition before a large and appreciative crowd at the circus grounds, 17th and Indiana avenue, yesterday afternoon. It has been nearly a decade since Buffalo Bill has been seen in Kansas city, and the return of the most picturesque of the few remaining frontiersmen was signaled by an outpouring of those who have personal recollections of the old-time scout, and those to whom he has seemed more a figment of fancy than a reality.

It was a good show that the two Bills brought to Kansas City yesterday. The meeting of the East and the West with their varied manners, customs and contrasts, on a field of daring, afforded opportunity for speculative reflection by the studious, and was an interesting spectacle for the less serious minded. An act not catalogued was the appearance of J. Pluvius, monoplaning above the arena with his large-sized sprinkling pot spouting unpleasant reminders to a greater portion of the crowd of umbrellas left at home. From the grand review, with which the show opens, to the final salute of the assembled company, every act is well worth seeing. The rough riders of all nations, the pony express, the emigrant train, were all interesting features of the show. "A Dream of the Orient" was presented in spectacular form by Arabs, Japanese, Singhalese, Cossacks, Dahomeans, Hindues and Australian boomerang throwers.

"The Battle of Summit Springs," in which were shown scouts, soldiers, plainsmen and Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, was of a hair-curling variety. The attack of the Indians was as spectacular as could be desired. Other interesting features on the program were Devlin's Zouaves, fancy shooting by Buffalo Bill, a game of football on horseback, a great train holdup, shooting by Johnny Baker, U. S. Cavalry drill, cowboy fun and Russian Cossacks.

The worst punishment of last night's performance fell upon the acrobats. The feature of their act is that they tumble on the ground without the use of mats or rugs. As they lined up twenty strong towards the north end of the rectangle the audience did not at first realize how much more difficult their evolutions would be in a foot of mud and in drenching rain. They were dressed in red tights with blue doublets, the colors showing up brighter because of the drenching.

After the preliminary stunts were over and their uniforms were still unsullied, the crowd began to believe there would be no mishap. Then the fun began. Someone's foot slipped in an aerial flip flop. Instantly he was immersed and the crowd laughed. Other and similar accidents followed as the teams increased the complexity of their work.

"This crowd is a revelation in the circus business," said Hugh Thomas, head of the police department of the show last night. "It is a great big good natured bunch that doesn't care for the weather or anything else. That's the English as well as the American spirit, though. The idea that predominates in an Anglo-Saxon aggregation is that it does not matter so much how well you do, as how well you do under the circumstances."

Labels: Indiana avenue, Native Americans, Seventeenth street, Wild West shows

August 25, 1909

DEATH FROM BOILING STARCH.

One-Year-Old Boy Fell Into a Pan

of It Two Weeks Ago.

The one-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Trestrail of 2919 Indiana avenue, who fell into a dishpan of boiling starch two weeks ago, and was severly burned, died yesterday morning. The funeral was held from the reisdence yesterday afternoon. Burial was in Elmwood cemetery.

Labels: accident, cemetery, children, death, Funeral, Indiana avenue

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

May 4, 1909

WILD WEST BACK AGAIN.

101 Ranch Exhibit Witnessed by

Large Crowds.

After a big street parade yesterday morning, Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West show opened the season at Seventeenth street and Indiana avenue to full capacity, afternoon and night.

From the opening parade, a grand ensemble of participants in the show, to the last number, a reproduction of the massacre of Pat Hennessy and family by the Indians in 1874, each display is interesting. In reproducing the massacre of the Hennesy family the Miller brothers have secured Chief Bull Bear, said to be the identical Indian who led the others in the massacre. W. H. Malaley, the same United States marshal who led the posse and captured the Indians, has charge of the capturing party now. The reproduction is said to be true to life.

In the stage coach robbery, reproduced at this show, several horses are supposed to be shot. They drop to the ground and remain there as if dead. One, whose leg was "shot," gets up after its wound has been bound and limps away, while its cowboy rider walks, fanning his favorite steed.

The marvelous manner in which cowboys handle the "rope" attracts much attention. One lariat thrower, after catching horse and rider in every conceivable place, catches the horse by the tail while the animal is on the dead run. The lassoing of wild steers, throwing steers by the horns, riding bucking bronchos and steers and the daring riding of the Russian Cossacks are other interesting features on the programme. Following the riding of the Cossacks the cowboys go them one better by doing everything they do and then some.

With this show is the largest number of Indians ever allowed by the government to leave the reservation with one organization. They give a dance at each performance, but even the management does not know which it is to be. The weather, environment and the mood of the once savage governs the dances. They have in their weird repertoire the ghost, snake, sun, squaw, coon, antelope, wolf, buffalo and elk dances. There are seventeen separate and distinct displays on the programme and among these are an Indian maiden who does some crack shooting, races between cowboys and cowgirls, dances on horseback and trick riding by both men and women.

At the close there is the usual concert at which there is a genuine negro minstrel show, some fancy club swinging and acrobatic work. As a concert finale, a trainer enters the cage of a ferocious lion which has already killed three men.

There will be two performances of the Wild West show today, at 2 p. m. and 8 p. m.

Labels: animals, Indiana avenue, Native Americans, parades, Seventeenth street, Wild West shows

November 20, 1908

TO MOVE WALLACE'S HOUSE.

Family Will Travel Half a Mile in

Their Brick Home.

For the next thirty days Judge William H. Wallace and his family will be distinctly on the move. They still will occupy their two and one-half story dwelling, but the building is to be moved from 3200 Gladstone boulevard to the southeast corner of Norledge and Indiana avenues, a half block away. However, a number of turns must be made before the final point is reached and the distance traversed will be much more than half a block.

Grant Renne has taken the contract to move the house, furniture, folks and all for $1,000 with the understanding that not a brick is to be disturbed in the whole structure. It will be mounted on rollers, and the propelling power is to be a horse and capstan.

Labels: animals, Gladstone boulevard, Indiana avenue, Judge Wallace, Norledge avenue, real estate

September 24, 1908

FAITHFUL ANIMAL

GUARDED HIS BODY

HORSE KEEPS VIGIL WHEN MAS-

TER DIES IN ITS STALL.

WAS THE MAN'S ONLY FRIEND.

ECCENTRIC CONTRACTOR WHO

FITTED UP BARN AS A HOME.

Burt Davis Slept in the Stall With

His Favorite Horse and Death

Found Him There at

the Last.

After having been inseparable companions for several years, eating in the same stable and sleeping in the same stall, Burt Davis, a contractor, aged 55 years, was found dead in a stall with his horse in the barn occupied by both, Forty-third street and Indiana avenue, late yesterday afternoon.

Although heart disease is thought to have been the cause of death, Davis is said to have met with an accident last Tuesday in which he was thrown from his buggy, alighting on his head in the street. This accident may have been indirectly the cause of death, and is so accepted by the coroner as an autopsy developed the presence of a blood clot on the brain.

Davis was well known in Kansas City. He was a widower and noted for his eccentricities. Several years ago he gave up his home and took up his abode with his horse in his stable. For some time it had been known that Davis slept in the same stall with his horse, and, as the body was found there after death, it is altogether probably that he expired while asleep at the side of what he often characterized as his "only friend."

The body was found after Davis's absence had been noticed. It was his custom to be seen working about the barn at different hours of the day. An investigation was made. The interior of the barn was found to be fitted up with almost everything necessary in the ordinary bachelor apartment, such as cooking utensils, ice box, small table, etc., while on the floor was carpet which extended into the horse's stall.

When an effort was made to remove the body from the stall the old horse showed his displeasure by kicking and attempting to bite, and finally it was necessary to quiet the animal with a pitchfork before the body could be taken from the stable.

Other than a bank book, showing a balance of $100 in a local bank, nothing of value was found in the stable. It is not known whether Davis had relatives living.

Labels: animals, buggy, death, Forty-third street, Indiana avenue

August 26, 1908

ASKED BUTCHER TO KILL HIM.

Charles Timberlake Failed to Take

His Own Life With Three Shots.

Accompanied by his 11-year-old brother-in-law, Max Harrington, Charles Timberlake, a traveling salesman out of employment, left the home of his wife at 3501 East Thirty-first street, about six o'clock last evening. They walked to the corner of Thirty-first and Indiana, one block from home. Mr. Timberlake took a few steps around the corner, drew a revolver and fired three shots at himself. Two of the shots took effect and he dropped to the pavement. The boy ran home and told what had happened.

Henry Trott, a butcher at 3329 East Thirty-first street, was a witness to the attempt at self-destruction. He, with the aid of others, took Mr. Timberlake back to his home and the ambulance from the Walnut street station was called. One bullet pierced the left chest just above the heart, the other passed through the right shoulder.

Patrolman Isaac Hull investigated the case. It was found that Timberlake had only arrived here Friday from California. He had been stopping at the home of his mother-in-law, 3501 East Thirty-first street, where his wife had been for the last eight months. Little information could be gained at the house, but it was intimated that Mr. Timberlake and his wife had been separated and that he had come on here to effect a reconciliation. Mrs. Harrington said she believed all had been arranged yesterday. No one would ascribe a cause for the attempted suicide, and though Mr. Timberlake was conscious when removed to the general hospital, he would tell nothing of the affair to Dr. Thornton or to the attendants at the hospital.

More information was gained from the butcher, Trott, than anyone else. He said he was attracted by the sound of the shooting and ran to Mr. Timberlake as soon as he fell to the ground. "When I arrived at his side and asked him what he had done," Trott told the police, "he begged me to take his gun and finish the job, saying he wanted very much to die and had made a botch job of it."

Labels: butchers, California, children, doctors, general hospital, guns, Indiana avenue, marriage, salesmen, Suicide, Thirty-first street, Walnut street police station

July 21, 1908

CIRCUS DRAWS THE SAME

SWEATING, HAPPY CROWDS.

That It Always Does in Its Far Be-

tween Visits -- Its Wonders

Remain Ever Fresh.

Little small boys and big small boys, little girls and big girls; whole families were happy yesterday, happy with that kind of happiness that comes only once or twice a year. The little ones were happy openly, the big ones in a proper, staid sort of way, but all were happy for the same reason. It was circus day. It doesn't make the little bit of difference whether one is in the old country town or in the city, circus day is circus day the whole world over. On that day nobody cares anything about anything but the circus. What's the use in denying it? Everybody knows how everybody else feels.

"The great and only Barnum and Bailey Circus" pitched the tents of its little city out on Indiana avenue, just south of Fifteenth street. They say they were the biggest tents in the world and nobody who was there yesterday denied it.

Of course the "cutest" thing in the whole show was the baby elephant. They had him in a cage where not even a peanut could be slyly smuggled to his everready, ridiculously small trunk. Then there was a baby camel and other baby animals and giraffes, sleepy, aristocratic looking animals, and zebras and just about every kind of animal that has ever been exhibited in a menagerie.

In the "big tent" all the old acts were in evidence and many more. The aerial and equestrian acts were exceptionally high class, the clowns were just as funny as ever, the hippodrome races were wildly exciting, the automobile somersault act, which brought the performance to a close, was beyond a doubt the most daring, most hair-raising feature ever presented in a circus tent in Kansas City. Two big automobiles are drawn high up onto a steep track. In each is a young woman. At a given signal both machines are released and, with a roar and a rush, start on their downward course. The first one leaves the track and, rising high in the air, turns a complete somersault, alighting on a platform some distance away. While it is in the air the other machine jumps across the gap in is well away. Only by the most careful timing and adjustment, it is possible for the one to clear the track before the other comes crashing down. A collision would mean a tragedy that would be frightful to contemplate. but the two young women who ride in the auto don't seem to mind in the least.

The Barnum & Bailey circus has come and gone At two performances it packed its great tents to their capacity and nobody has yet been heard to register a "knock." It's a great big, smashing good show, and it's probable that if it were to be here again today just as many thousands would go as went yesterday, and probably a lot of them would be the same ones who went yesterday, too.

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

July 6, 1907

WIFE THINKS HER

HUSBAND GUILTY

WILL NOT VISIT HIM IN HIS PO-

LICE STATION CELL.

NEW GRIEF FOR MRS. HEADLEY.

HUSBAND'S ARREST FOLLOWED

BY MOTHER'S ILLNESS.

Headley Is a Stationary Fireman,

and Declares a "Job is Being

Put Up on Him" -- Vic-

tim Is Improving.

Just as Mrs. Ward Headley had finished reading of the attack upon 5-year-old Eunice Swift, with which her husband is charged, in the morning papers yesterday, her sister entered her room and told her to hurry to the bedside of their mother, Mrs. Melinda Greenstreet, who, it was thought, was dying. The bride of a week, already dumbfounded by the sudden knowledge of the crime for which her husband is under arrest, sat as one dead to the world, as if she had not heard the sad news which her sister had brought. It took much urging and explaining by the sister before Mrs. Headley collected her wits enough to understand just what was happening.

Hastily she arose from her chair and without a word walked bareheaded to her mother's home, 1706 Indiana avenue. There she found her aged mother at the point of death. Mrs. Greenstreet had not been informed of the charges against Mrs. Headley's husband, and without a word, Mrs. Headley took her place beside the bed. Later in the day when a visitor questioned her concerning her husband and his alleged crime, Mrs. Headley could scarcely speak, so great was the strain under which she labored.

THINKS HE WAS DRUNK.

"I do not know what to think of it," she said. "Ward was a particular friend of the Kelso and Swift families, and to learn that he had attacked those little children was a complete surprise to me.

"The only explanation I can offer is that he was crazy drunk. For three days steadily he has been under the influence of liquor. Friday night some of our friends came over to our house and gave us a chariavari. He was drunk when he went to bed that night and his actions were peculiar. Saturday morning when he got up he had not quite sobered, but he insisted on going to a saloon for another drink. Against my wishes he went, and he stayed two hours. When he returned he brought two bottles of beer with him.

"That afternoon he decided to go to the Kelso's, 'just for a few minutes,' he said. I understand that he had more beer there, but I have seen nothing of him since he left our home at noon.

"Am I going down to the jail to see him?" she repeated in reply to a question. "Well, I should say not. I am through with him for good. My mother is almost dead, and I wouldn't leave her for anybody. I don't think I will try to get him free, or to get him out on bond. I can't help believing the charges are true for the evidence is unmistakable."

Mrs. Kelso and Mrs. Swift, the mothers of the two girls, went to the Greenstreet home yesterday to see Mrs. Headley and to express their sympathy for the unfortunate young wife. "I feel very sorry for Mrs. Headley," said Mrs. Swift. "She is such a fine little woman, much better than Headley deserved. This and her mother's condition are a severe blow to her Mrs. Kelso and I will do all we can to help her through her trouble, but we will not let up on the prosecution of her husband."

VICTIM GROWS BETTER.

Eunice Swift, the little girl who was most seriously injured, is said to be greatly improved, but is still under a physician's care. Ethel Kelso is still suffering from nervousness and extreme fright.

Ward Headley, who is arrested and charged with the assault, is a fireman employed by the Browing King Clothing Company building. At police headquarters, where he is being held, he made the following statement:

"I am innocent of the crime they charge me with. I have known the little Kelso girl ever since she was born, and liked her very much.

"This arrest reminds me of the time I was arrested on the charge of stealing a watch, not many years ago. At that time they thought they had enough evidence to put me behind the bars, but I fooled them and proved that I was innocent. That's what I am going to do this time, too."

Headley requested that his wife be notified of his arrest, and that she come down to the jail to see him. He wanted to talk to her, and explain that thing were not as bad as they had been painted. He felt confident that he would be successful in making his wife believe that it was a put up game against him."

Labels: abuse, alcohol, illness, Indiana avenue, marriage, police headquarters, violence

March 28, 1908

MOTORMAN KILLED IN WRECK.

Rex Hawkins Loses Control of His Car,

Which Strikes Another.

Rex Hawkins, the motorman on southbound Indiana car No. 643, was killed in a collision which occurred between Thirtieth and Thirty-first street on Indiana avenue at 11:15 o'clock last night. Hawkins lost control of his car as it was descending the hill toward the end of the line and the switchback at Thirty-first street. Indiana car No. 636, which was standing on the east track at the terminus, was telescoped and completely demolished by the southbound car when it jumped the track.

Hawkins was caught in the vestibule of his car, his left leg broken and his body crushed. He was extricated from the wreck and carried into McCann & Bartell's drug store at Thirty-first and Indiana. Dr. H. A. Breyfogle attended the injured motorman, who died a few minutes after being carried into the drug store. Hawkins lived at 2424 Tracy avenue. Isaac Pate and William Lamar, the trainmen on the car that was telescoped, were bruised and shaken up but sustained no dangerous injuries. E. J. Hanson, the conductor on the runaway car, was uninjured. Hawkins's body was taken to Eylar Brothers' undertaking rooms.

Labels: accident, doctors, druggists, Indiana avenue, streetcar, Thirtieth street, Thirty-first street, Tracy avenue, undertakers

December 19, 1907

ROBBERS ATTACK A WOMAN.

Take Her Money and Leave Her Ly-

ing Unconscious in the Snow.

Alma Day, the 16-year-old daughter of W. L. Day, a barber who lives at Thirtieth street and Cleveland avenue, was assaulted and robbed last night at Thirtieth street and Askew avenue by two men who had followed her from Kansas City, Kas.

Miss Day is employed in the buttering department of Swift's packing house and receives a salary of $6.25 per week. Yesterday was her pay day and she thinks that the two men who assaulted her were aware of the fact. The men took her week's pay, less the 5 cents she had paid in car fair going home.

She says that they got on an Indiana avenue car at the same time she did when she was returning home from work. They sat across the aisle two seats behind her. They followed her from the car at Thirtieth street and Indiana avenue. She walked on down Thirtieth street to Askew, within one block of her home, when the two men grabbed her. She was strangled until she almost lost consciousness. One of the men struck her on the back of her head and in the face. She fell unconscious and lay in the roadside for almost an hour.

Her older sister, Effie, went out to the grocery store, and in doing so had to pass her sister lying in the snow. She did not know that the body was that of a person, but being somewhat frightened at it, walked to the other side of the road. She returned from the store and walked around her sister again in the same manner.

About fifteen minutes later one of the neighbor's boys made the same trip as did Effie Day. He did not notice the body until on his way back home. He immediately ran to the Day home and told Mrs. Day of her daughter's condition, and Alma was carried into her father's house, a block away.

From the tracks in the snow it was thought that the two men ran up Askew for about a quarter of a mile and then they crossed a field and went directly towards Jackson avenue.

The police were notified immediately, but were unable to trace the robbers further than Jackson avenue.

Miss Day's injuries, while not serious, are painful, and she will be unable to leave her bed for some time.

Labels: Askew avenue, barbers, crime, Indiana avenue, Jackson avenue, Kansas City Kas, streetcar, Thirtieth street, women

September 2, 1907

A CHANGE IN CAR SIGNS.

"Minnesota Avenue" Displaces "Car-

nival Park" and "Indiana Avenue."

Two familiar stret car signs ceased to exist yeaterday. They were on the "Indiana" and the "Carnival Park" lines. A consolidation of the two lines was effected yesterday into what will be called "Minnesota Avenue." The new line will be run over the same rounte as formerly but an extension of the Indiana line from Thirty-first street to Carnival park, Kansas City, Kas., will be made. Hereafter persons looking for the Carnival park and Indiana cars will reach their destination by way of the Minnesota avenue line.

Six new cars, similar in construction to those on the Rockhill line, were placed in commission on Twelfth street yesterday. In all, Twelfth street will gain twenty new cars as soon as the wiring is instaled. Today several more will be added and by Wednesday the equipment on the thoroughfare is expected to be greatly improved.

Labels: Carnival Park, Indiana avenue, Kansas City Kas, Minnesota avenue, Rockhill, streetcar, Thirty-first street, Twelfth street

August 26, 1907

BACK TO THE GIANTS.

MABEL HITE SENDS MIKE

DONLIN EAST TO REFORM.

CUT OUT OF WIFE'S SONG.

TWO VERSES MISSING FROM

"I'M MARRIED NOW."

Grease Paint and Gay Costume Hide

Aching Heart of Kansas City

Actress -- Penitent Ball

Player Is Put on

Probation.

MABEL HITE.
Pretty Kansas City Actress Who Has

Put Her Husband, Mike Donlin, of the

New York Giants, on Probation.

CHICAGO, Aug. 25 (Special). -- Grease paints and uncouth costume can hide a breaking heart from the laughing audience on the other side of the footlights, but when Mabel Hite yesterday afternoon sought the only refuge she had, a 4x5 dressing box -- it couldn't be called even by courtesy a room -- large tears stole down a woebegone, little face.

She wiped them off with the corner of a Turkish towel, taking a bit of the rouge with it and hoped Mike would get better.

For the pretty little Kansas City girl sent Mike Donlin, the ball player, who is her husband, down to New York, buying his ticket and giving him the price of a Russian bath, which boiled out the remnants of the various liquids that had developed four days' spree, with an assault on a cabdriver and a cell in the police station for trimmings.

Donlin has promised to cut out booze in the future and sign with the New York Giants and if he's good for the next six months he can come back -- otherwise a divorce.

WORRIED SO CAN'T SLEEP.

I can't stand it any longer," said the little comedienne -- she's a child in figure and manner. "Now you don't think it's such a dreadful thing for a woman's husband to get drunk and in the newspapers, do you? But it means so much when you love a man and he'd promised not to do it. And every time it happens it's so much worse and it worries me so I can't sleep and I have to go out before that audience and act like a fool and make them laugh, and sing my songs and dance, and my heart is breaking. For he's good to me, except when he forgets himself."

A little while before she'd been singing "For I'm Married Now," and the appreciate ones on the other side of the footlights who'd called her back six or seven times, didn't know how hard -- how extremely hard -- it was to carry a smiling face through the trying ordeal.

TWO FAMILIAR VERSES OUT.

But she'd cut out two verses, and old players who remembered them and had heard about Mike knew the reason.

I'd like to go with you to lunchin'
But I've got a hunchin
That I'd get a punchin'
And I just hate to wear a veil
For I'm married now.

That was one of the verses that was eliminated from her song in "A Knight for a Day" at Whitney's. The other was:

Tell Mike a lie
I'd best not try.
I may be fly --
But no fly gets by him.

And the villain -- he admitted he was all that and was most penitent -- was in the office of the playhouse. He had slunk past the policeman who has been on guard for the last three days, fearing a possible outbreak by the ball player and was waiting to send a message of extreme contrition -- a message that Mabel wouldn't receive in person.

CALLAHAN CHIEF PEACEMAKER.

There were plenty of peacemakers, but nothing but a six months' probation will answer for Mike. James Callahan, his friend and manager of the Logan Squares, who had straightened matters up with the police, told how the husband and wife had slept in his house, at Thirty-fifth street and Indiana avenue, last Thursday night, unknown to each other.

After the cab episode, and after Callahan had got the soused one out of a police cell, he took him home. Mabel, who lives a block away, went to Callahan's house in great trouble.

A little earlier Thursday night Donlin went to the theater and demanded to see his wife. His breath was thick and he talked loud. Jouhny Slavin took him down to the corner and argued him into a cab, and that was why the scrubwoman's part in the show that night -- Donlin's role -- was performed by an understudy.

Donlin met Mabel Hite a year and a half ago in New York, and they were married soon afterward. He never saw her act before the marriage. She was in vaudeville or something similar. Off the stage she's girlish and pretty. Donlin met her at a dinner party.

Labels: arts, Indiana avenue, Mabel Hite, marriage, newspapers, sports, Thirty-fifth street