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

January 24, 1910

BLESSES WATERS OF KAW.

Custom of Greek Catholics Carried

Out by Priest.

Clad in the rich silken robes of his office and surrounded by a number of vested altar boys, the Rev. John Markowitch, pastor of the Servian Greek Catholic church of St. George, at First street and Lyons in Kansas City, Kas., knelt before an improvised alter near the middle of the Central avenue bridge yesterday morning and invoked a blessing on the Kaw river. One thousand parishioners attended the ceremony. After blessing the river the priest sprinkled each one of the church members present with water drawn from the river and administered the sacrament to them.

The congregation met in the church yesterday morning and marched from there to the bridge. The procession was led by six vested altar boys, who carried candles. They were followed by the priest, who was dressed in rich robes and carried a crucifix. Following the priest was a brass band which led a column of about 600 men. After the ceremony, which lasted about one hour, the participants marched back to the church.

Later the priest visited the homes of each of his parishioners and sprinkled their door posts with the blessed water. The custom of blessing rivers, while comparatively new in Kansas City, is an old one in Servia. The rivers are blessed there once a year, and the water used for baptisms taken from them.

Father Markowitch, who conducted the ceremony yesterday, is 52 years old. He came to Kansas City, Kas., two years ago, and in January, 1908, performed a ceremony similar to that performed yesterday, which was the first of the kind in Kansas City. The parish has grown from 800 to more than 2,000 communicants since he took charge.

Labels: churches, immigrants, Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, ministers, music

January 16, 1910

PHONE SERVICE VIA ROSEDALE.

New Cable Across Kaw, to Argen-

tine, Being Constructed.

The residents of Argentine, now the Seventh ward of Kansas City, Kas., whose communication over the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company's lines to the rest of the city was cut off by the breaking of the company's trunk line across the Kaw river, when a pier and one span of the old Southern bridge went into the river Friday afternoon, are now getting service through the Rosedale exchange. The service was out only a few hours. Linemen are now at work stretching a new cable over the Kaw, and until that work is finished the operation of hte Argentine lines will be through the Rosedale exchange.

Labels: Argentine, Kaw river, Rosedale, telephone, Utilities

December 31, 1909

SILVER CITY TO

BECOME A WARD.

ARGENTINE TO BE MERGED INTO

KANSAS CITY, KAS.,

TOMORROW.

Population 7,000; Its Debts Assumed

and Assets Absorbed -- Will Soon

Have Gas Supply.

At 12 o'clock, noon, tomorrow, Argentine, the Silver City, of which great things were expected in the early '80s, will merge its identity into that of Kansas City, Kas. This additional territory will be known as the Seventh ward and will be represented in the Kansas City, Kas., council by two councilmen to be appointed by Mayor U. S. Guyer. By the annexation of Argentine and the extension of its city limits Kansas City, Kas., will have graduated into the class of metropolitan cities. It is estimated that the additional territory will increase the total population of Kansas City, Kas., to something in excess of 135,000. Steps have already been taken by the city authorities to assume active charge of the former city's affairs. Two police sergeants and eight patrolmen will afford police protection for the new ward.

Argentine was organized as a city of the third class in 1881. The city covers an area of six square miles and has a population of 7,000. It is on the south of the Kaw river and just south and west of the Sixth ward of Kansas City, Kas. The majority of Argentine's residents are hard working, industrious home owners. The city has a bonded debt of about $126,000, in addition to special improvement bonds to the amount of $70,000 and school bonds for a like amount.

There is also $60,000 in outstanding warrants. The consolidated city assumes all these debts. While the new territory is in debt to no inconsiderable amount, there are many advantages to be gained by its annexation. Argentine has two miles of bitulithic pavements and also two miles of macadam paving. In addition to this there are about fifteen miles of paved sidewalks. A fire wagon and a team of good horses, also 3,000 feet of new hose, are among the assets.

HAS FINE SCHOOL EQUIPMENT.

Many commendable things can be said concerning the system of schools in the new ward. There is a high school recently completed and five ward schools averaging eight rooms each. The teachers in these schools will be continued in their respective positions by the Kansas City, Kas., board of education.

Among the industries in the newly acquired territory are the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad shops, the Kansas City Structural Steel Works, the Santa Fe Car Iceing Company and the United Zinc and Chemical Company. Of these the Santa Fe employs the larger per cent of the people of the city. Two of the largest grain elevators in the state are located at the Argentine terminals of the Santa Fe, one with a capacity of 1,000,000 bushels and the other, one-half that size.

COULD NOT GET GAS.

One of the urgent reasons for annexation from the Argentine standpoint was the inability of the people of that city to obtain natural gas. This condition of affairs will be remedied by the merger. The Wyandotte Gas Company will extend its mains to the new ward.

C. W. Green, the last mayor of Argentine, during his four terms in office had much to do with the progressing of public improvements.

As to just what the effect of the Annexation will be on the complexion of politics is problematical. Persons in a position to know declare that the Democrats and Republicans are about evenly divided.

At a special meeting last night of the Kansas City, Kas., council the Democratic members refused to confirm the appointment of C. W. Green and J. W. Leidburg as councilmen for the new ward. Mr. Green is at the present time mayor of Argentine and Mr. Leidburg is a councilman in that city.

Labels: Argentine, history, Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, politics, railroad, Utilities

September 27, 1909

BOY FLOATED SIX BLOCKS.

Miraculous Escape From Drowning

by Harry Palmer.

Harry Palmer, a nine year old Argentine boy, yesterday had almost a miraculous escape from death by drowning in the Kaw river near that city. while fishing with a number of companions near the foot of Olive street the boy dropped his pole into the water. In an effort to regain it he lost his balance and fell into the river. The current at this point is very swift and although the boy was unable to swim he was carried out into the middle of the river, while his frightened companions stood screaming on the bank. In his fall the boy had graspsed at his fishing pole and succeeded in catching the line. His struggles in the water wrapped this line again and again about his body.

The screams of the women and children who witnessed the accident, attracted the attention of Sam Taddler, a grocer's clerk, who lives at 230 Mulberry street, Argentine, and also George Brown, a laborer. These boys were standing near the river about two hundred yards below the Twelfth street bridge. As the boy was seen coming down the river, the rescuers threw off their clothes and sprang into the water. Taddler succeeded in reaching the boy, who was lying on his back and struggling with the current. He was carried to the bank and, almost unconscious, was removed to the home of his father, Dudley Palmer, an employe of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, who lives at 225 South Olive street, Argentine. A physician was summoned and at a late hour last night the boy had apparently recovered from the effects of the accident. When asked how he managed to stay above the water, he answered:

"I just shut my eyes and mouth and kicked my feet and worked my elbows."

It is estimated that the boy was carried at least six blocks down the river from where he entered it.

Labels: accident, Argentine, children, fishing, Kaw river, laborer, laborers

July 13, 1909

THINKS RIVERS ARE

AT HIGHEST STAGE.

FORECASTER CONNOR NOW

LOOKS FOR FALL.

At Topeka There Was Fall of 0.7

of Foot and at St. Joseph the

Missouri Is Stationary.

Streets Flooded.

SKETCH OF THE JUNCTION OF THE KAW AND MISSOURI RIVERS, LOOKING TOWARD KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

With a rise of over half a foot in the Missouri river yesterday, Forecaster Connor of the local weather bureau predicted a maximum stage of about 27.2 for this morning, which he believes from the information to hand will be the crest. Mr. Connor bases this prediction o n the assumption that there will be no more rains in the Kaw and Missouri river valleys.

The rise in the Missouri yesterday was rapid until 3 p. m. Since that hour it has remained stationary. This was taken by the observer to indicate that the mass of water due to recent rains had crested, and that now only the rise of the day before at Topeka and St. Joseph is to be felt here. At Topeka there was a fall of .7 of a foot during the day, while at St. Joseph the river was stationary.

The heavy rains at St. Joseph yesterday held the river up at that point, but the forecaster does not think they will influence the river there to any appreciable extent, and that by the evening it will show a good fall. The volume of water in the Missouri and Kaw rivers which must pass Kansas City, he asserts, will keep the river at a high stage for several days at least, although there is a possibility of a fall by this evening.

The West Bottoms are beginning to feel the flood now in earnest. The seepwater and sewage, together with the storm waters yesterday morning gave several sections of that district the appearance for awhile, at least, of being flooded by the river. In the "wettest block" several of the floors were under water for a couple of hours and many o f the business men and merchants in that neighborhood are ready to move if the water should go much higher.

Back water from the sewers yesterday covered sections of Mulberry, Hickory and Santa Fe street between Eighth and Ninth streets. Cellars in this district were all flooded.

The Cypress yards in the packing house district is a big lake. There are from two inches to several feet of water all over the railroad yards. Yesterday the Missouri Pacific had to run through eight inches of water at one place to get trains out from the Morris Packing Company plant. The railroad men say that they will run their trains until the water rises to such a height that the fires in the locomotives will be extinguished.

At the Exchange building at the stock yards several pumps were used to keep the basement free from water which started to come in Sunday night. Several of the cattle pens are flooded so they cannot be used and the Morris plant is almost surrounded by water. It is believed that at the present rate the water will be up to the sidewalks at the Morris plant this morning. It would take six feet more, however, to stop operations at this plant.

Labels: Eighth street, flood, Hickory street, Kaw river, Missouri river, Mulberry street, Ninth street, Santa Fe street, St.Joseph, stock yards, Topeka, weather, West bottoms

July 10, 1909

WILL CRUISE 2,000

MILES IN MOTOR BOAT.

DR. G. L. HENDERSON AND WIFE

PLAN SUMMER OUTING.

The "Wave" to Leave Kansas City

When River Is Free of Drift.

St. Louis and Chicago the

Objective Points.

A cruise on the "Wave," Kansas City's most pretentious motor boat, of almost 2,000 miles, is about to be undertaken by its owner, Dr. G. L. Henderson, who will be accompanied by his wife. The cruise has for its objective points St. Louis and Chicago, but the side trips which will be taken between these places will swell the mileage until it will probably go above the expected 2,000 miles. Dr. Henderson will depart early next week, or as soon as the river is free from the masses of drift, due to the high water. His boat, which has been wintered on the banks of the Kaw, was moved to the Missouri just below the Power Boat Club landing yesterday. The finishing touches are being given it and stores are being placed on board.

The Wave is sixty feet in length and fifteen feet beam. It is built on the steamboat, or sternwheel model, and is very light draft. Its engine, a four cylinder, slow speed model, develops about seventy-five horse power, which is transmitted through a shaft and bevel gearing to a jack shaft and by chains to the wheel. The boat is electrically lighted, a perfect system of storage batteries having been installed recently. A large high power searchlight is a part of the equipment. The main cabin is roomy and is occupied by the owner. A fully equipped bathroom opens from one end.

The galley is in the forward end of the boat, and the crew's quarters in the rear. There is no pilot house, the entire front part of the upper deck being open, but covered with a standing canopy. The gasoline tank has a capacity of 300 gallons, of which the engine consumes four gallons an hour when running. A large refrigerator is let into the bow.

The crew which will take the boat on the cruise will be made up of P. Philip, engineer, and Ray Miller, assistant. Pilot "Art" Bolen will take the boat to St. Louis and it is probable that Dr. Henderson will take the wheel from there himself as the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are well "lighted."

Labels: boats, Chicago, doctors, Kaw river, Missouri river, St Louis

July 6, 1909

REVIEWED BATTLE

OF OLD WESTPORT.

REUNION AND PICNIC ON WOR-

NALL ROAD.

Pioneers Hear of Kansas City's Pre-

carious Situation During Price

Raid -- Purchase of Shaw-

nee Mission Proposed.

The battle of Westport was lived over again by a hundred of the city's oldest inhabitants comprising what is now known as the Historical Society at the old Wornall homestead at Sixty-first street and the Wornall road yesterday.

The occasion was a basket picnic of the society and the object was no more than to celebrate the nation's birthday but so many could recall the time when the Wornall mansion was a hospital and and the cottonwoods around the premises were split and riven in battle that the names of Price, Mulligan and Curtis came easy, and many a gray headed veteran leaned eagerly forward in his seat while the speakers marshaled before them the contending armies.

"It was this way," said Judge John C. Gage, who was a participant in the battle. "General Price driven from behind by the Federal forces left Independence, Mo., and crossed the Blue. It was a serious moment for Kansas City for General Curtis left the town unprotected and crossed over to Wyandotte to his headquarters. For a whole night the city was practically at the mercy of the Confederates.

"It was a good thing the Confederates did not know of this movement of Curtis. By the next day he had returned and when the battle occurred Curtis was on hand and fought like a tiger."

Several of the old residents who were present had never heard of the incident referred to by Judge Gage. Others who were participants on one side or the other remembered it distinctly.

MISPLACED STRATEGY.

"Very little has been said of Curtis's desertion of Kansas City at this time," said the judge after his speech to some of those who had never heard. "It was an incident quickly closed by the prompt return of the federal forces from across the Kaw. You see General Curtis at first believed it might be more important to protect Fort Leavenworth than the city. When he discovered how small a force General Price had and that he was practically running away from federal pressure behind he changed his mind. He was no coward and his retrograde movement was merely misplaced strategy."

Other speakers were Judge John B. Stone, ex-Confederate soldier; Mrs. Laura Coates Reed, Hon. D. C. Allen of Liberty, Mo., Miss Elizabeth B. Gentry, Mrs. Henry N. Ess, William Z. Hickman and Dr. W. L. Campbell. Frank C. Wornall read the Declaration of Independence and Mrs. Dr. Allan Porter read a selection entitled "Two Volunteers." The meeting of the society was presided over by Dr. Campbell, who also introduced the speakers.

A proposition was made by Mrs. Laura Coates Reed to the effect that the society purchase the old Shawnee mission in Johnson county, Kas., for a historical museum to be used jointly by the D. A. R. society and the Historical Society. Mrs. Reed's remarks along this line were seconded by those of Mrs. Henry Ess.

Labels: Blue river, Civil War, history, Independence, Johnson county, Judges, Kaw river, Leavenworth, Liberty, organizations, reunions, veterans, Westport

May 26, 1909

WROTE 275 LETTERS TO WIFE.

Urging Her to Come Back, So Di-

vorce Was Denied Sheridan.

Andrew Jackson Sheridan, 65 years old, was yesterday denied a divorce from Louisa M. Sheridan, from whom he has been separated eight years. Mr. Sheridan, who lives in the house boat Mable, moored at the foot of Minnesota avenue, on the Kaw river, brought the suit before Judge E. L. Fischer of the Wyandotte county district court. The reason why he could not procure legal separation from Mrs. Sheridan was because he was found to think too much of her. Disaster came to his plans when lawyers for the defense produced in evidence 275 letters to the defendant, urging her to come back and live with him.

The plaintiff has lived in the house boat on the Kaw over three years and his face is brown from the reflection of the river. Mrs. Sheridan lives with her son in Toledo, O. Depositions from her were read in court. All of the 275 letters which Sheridan has addressed to his wife in the past year are affectionate and urge her to come live in his boat. In different places he alludes to her as being made up of parts of the pig, oyster and chicken. In one letter he promises to give her treatment to make her a "perfect human like myself."

Judge Fischer believed that a man who could give so much free advice to his wife and sign himself her loving husband did not badly want a divorce.

Labels: boats, Divorce, Judges, Kaw river, marriage, Minnesota avenue

April 19, 1909

SUICIDE IN SWOPE PARK.

Virne Willard, Despondent Through

Ill Health, Makes Good His

Threat to Die.

With a revolver in the right hand and a bullet hole in the head, the badly decomposed body of Eugene Virne Willard, 417 Lawton place, was found yesterday afternoon in a ditch about a mile east of the main entrance to Swope park, by two small boys, who notified park authorities.

Two patrolmen were sent from No 9 district, and Dr. Harry Czarlinsky, deputy coroner, notified. In the man's coat pocket they found a small memorandum book containing a sh ort note, asking anyone who found the body to notify his wife. It was signed, "Eugene Willard, 417 Lawton place."

The park employes did not remember having seen the man, and it could not be determined just when the suicide was committed, but he evidently had been dead several days.

Mrs. Susie Willard, wife of the suicide, when seen in their apartments at 417 Lawton place, last night, said that her husband had been afflicted for some time with tuberculosis and heart disease, and that he complained of his head.

"My husband was about 33 years old. We had been married five years," she said. "He was very nervous, and the fact that of late he was unable to attend to his duties at the stock yards about made him insane.

"Three weeks ago Virne came home and told us all he would kill himself. Later he told my mother, Mrs. Sarah Powell, that he went one time to the Kaw river to jump in, but that he found the water too shallow and too muddy for the plunge and changed his mind. By a statagem we succeeded in getting a hold of his revolver and hiding it under some papers on the cupboard. Last Wednesday we found the weapon missing.

"Thursday morning I asked Virne to go to the store and purchase some ribbon from a sample I gave him. By night he had not returned, so I notified the police. Since then my brother has tramped the outskirts of the city trying to find the body, confident that my husband had killed himself.

When ill health drove the husband to despondency, Mrs. Willard penned the note and placed it in his pocket, giving her address and asking that in case of accident she be notified.

Labels: Dr Czarlinsky, health, Kaw river, Lawton place, mental health, No 9 police station, stock yards, Suicide, Swope park

March 15, 1909

FISHERMAN KILLS MATE.

Contents of a Shotgun Emptied Into

George Fields by Al Bartley,

an Old Man.

A quarrel over some fish nets between two denizens of the floating houseboat village moored along the Kaw river resulted yesterday afternoon in the fatal shooting of George Fields, a young boatman, 24 years of age, by Al Bartley, a grotesque character about 50 years old, familiar to the streets of Kansas City, Kas. He is afflicted with St. Vitus' dance. A double-barreled shotgun was Bartley's weapon and he fired both loads, which took effect in Fields's neck and face.

The younger man was still alive when the ambulance arrived, but died before a surgeon could be reached.

The killing took place at 5:30 o'clock. Both men owned and lived in houseboats at the foot of Minnesota avenue.

As there were no witnesses to the shooting, Bartley's version is the only one to be had. He claims that he and Fields had quarrelled about the nets for several days and that late in the afternoon Fields walked along the bank to a place opposite Bartley's boat, where the nets were and threatened to cut them with the sharp blade of a shovel in which he carried.

Bartley then went into his cabin and got his gun, telling Fields he would shoot him if he damaged the nets. Then he walked out on a plank reaching from the deck of his boat to the shore and Fields advanced to meet him, this time threatening to use the shovel on him instead of the nets. Bartley then fired the two loads, both of which took deadly effect.

Bartley is in custody. He is married and has a large family. Fields was a single man.

Labels: boats, guns, Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, Minnesota avenue, murder

December 6, 1908

WANTED TO DIE AT 19.

Despondency Induced John Bresna-

han to Jump Into Kaw River.

In a fit of despondency, thought to have been induced by overindulgence by liquor, John Bresnahan, 19 years old, jumped into the Kaw river near the Nelson Morris packing house, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday afternoon. He was rescued by William Nash, a watchman at the plant.

Young Bresnahan was taken to No. 2 police station in the police ambulance, where he stated that he lived at 1319 Lafayette avenue. He said that he thought he had outlived his usefulness and wanted to die.

Labels: Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, No 2 police station, Suicide

October 14, 1908

DISASTROUS FIRE IN

BONNER SPRINGS.

THREE BUSINESS BLOCKS BURN,
LOSS $125,000.

Origin of Fire is Not Know -- Rest of

City Is Saved by Inhabitants

Carrying Water From

the River.

The frantic honking of an automobile driven by 17-year-old Robert Waters, accompanied by his shouts of "fire" awakened the people of Bonner Springs to an appreciation of the fact that flames were eating away the business section of that city early yesterday morning.

The blaze, due, it is thought, to spontaneous combustion in the rear of the Kelley & Pettit drug store on Oak street, was first noticed by Isaac Milstead, a laborer. Backed by a mighty northern wind that carried a rain of sparks to the roofs of neighboring buildings, it spread rapidly and soon two entire business blocks were involved.

It was at this moment that the Waters boy heard the cries of Milstead and alarmed the town. In twenty minutes perhaps a thousand men, women, and children, in the absence of any fire-fighting facilities, were carrying buckets of water from the Kaw river to Oak street.

Many of the impromptu fire fighters were only partially dressed, and the morning air was sharp. The first attempt to get outside aid was made at 4:45 o'clock, a half hour after the blaze was noticed. Then the workmen of the Bonner Portland Cement Company's plant, situated four miles from the city on the electric line, were notified to board special street cars furnished for them and come with all haste.

ASKED CITY FOR HELP.

The idea was then to blow up some of the houses ahead of the fire or tear them down so as to keep it within the section it had already claimed. An attempt to blow up the Kuhn building, near Second street, was given over, as the flames beat the workmen there, so Kansas City, Kas., was telephoned for fire apparatus and all the companies it could spare.

Meanwhile men and women had organized a system in their maneuvers. The banks of the Kaw are steep at this point. Certain men were detailed to be dippers at the margin, while others handed the laden buckets to each other until they could be grasped and carried away. It was a lively scene and the energy displayed had a decided effect.

When, after repeated delays, No. 1 fire company from Kansas City, Kas, arrived on a special train, heroic treatment had done its work and only a smouldering three blocks of business houses were left on which to play the hose.

The loss in yesterday's fire is variously estimated by the local insurance agents. The best authorities place it at between $100,000 and $125,000. The insurance amounted to a little over $61,000 in all eleven companies.

SOME OF THE BUILDINGS LOST.

The buildings lost in the fire were: B. L. Swofford's dry goods store, loss $15,000, insurance $6,500; Waters & Frisbee building, loss $7,000, insurance $4,000; Walwer & Kirby stock, loss $300; Farmers' State bank, loss $300.

Dr. E. P. Skaggs, dentist: loss, $1,500; insurance, $500.
Knights of Pythias lodge: loss $200.
L. G. Frisbie, frame building: loss $2,000.
Hall & Fletcher, meat market: loss $1,500.
Edwin Page, pool hall: loss $1,000; insurance $200.
John Klem, frame building: loss $900.
Opera House block, Brant Adams, Olathe, Kas., owner: loss on building, $6,000, on contents not known.
Baxter & Kay Grocery Company, loss $2,000; insurance $1,500.
Mrs. Lia Dunn, restaurant: loss $700.
Kelley & Pruitt, hardware and drugs: loss $7,500; insurance $3,500.

Labels: Bonner Springs, business, Fire, Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, Olathe, railroad, retailers

September 16, 1908

WOULD DIVERT KAW'S CHANNEL.

Mayor Announces That It Can Be

Done at Cost of $10,000,000.

The old plan of diverting the channel of the Kaw river, advanced several times since it was outlined in the report of the Stickney board of engineers, is to be taken up by the Kaw river flood abatement congress. Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., at a meeting of the executive committee in the Commercial Club rooms yesterday, announced that Ira G. Hedrick had for some time been working on such a plan, and that it would cost about $10,000,000, the money, proposed by the mayor, to be collected by a tax on land and by contributions from the industries protected.

Mr. Hedrick will attend the next meeting and outline the plan in detail. Mr. J. Hedrick will also be called into consultation with an expert dyke engineer, to be employed by the congress at a cost of $1,000. The employing of such an engineer was recommended by E. R. Crutcher, chairman of the committee on engineering.

Labels: Commercial Club, Kaw river, Mayor Crittenden, public works

September 7, 1908

ILL AND DESPONDENT,

SHE TRIED SUICIDE.

EDITH HARDING, 17 YEARS OLD,

SWALLOWS CARBOLIC ACID.

Did Not Take Enough to Cause

Death -- She Then Started for

the River, but Was

Overtaken.

Edith Harding, the 17-year-old daughter of Daniel Harding, of 908 South Eighteenth street, Kansas City, Kas., made two unsuccessful attempts at suicide yesterday. A few minutes after 11 o'clock in the forenoon Miss Harding entered her room, closing the door behind her. Her actions during the forenoon were not unusual, and no member of the family suspected that the girl was despondent. Before going to her room she had secured a quantity of carbolic acid, kept in the house for disinfecting purposes. She did not succeed in swallowing much of the poison, most of it being spilled. Her lips and chin were badly burned. When discovered by her mother the girl was lying on a bed suffering agony. Dr., E. D. Williams was summoned and after an examination announced that the girl had not swallowed enough of the acid to cause death. He dressed her injuries and left her in the care of the family.

After Dr. Williams had pronounced her out of danger, Miss Harding seemed greatly disappointed, declaring that she wanted to die. Later in the day she managed to escape from her room and was discovered running toward the Kaw river. Members of the family and several neighbors gave chase and capturing the girl by physical force returned her to her home. She insisted on being allowed to kill herself.

The reason for the young woman wanting to take her life is said to be due to poor health and an abandoned hope of getting well. She said this was the reason she wanted to die as she would rather be dead than suffer like she has done for the past several months. Daniel Harding, the father, is a laborer. A guard will be kept over her for the next few days and in the meantime arrangements will be made to have her taken to a hospital and treated.

Labels: doctors, Kansas City Kas, Kaw river, Suicide

July 6, 1908

SWAM 20 MILES

DOWN THE KAW.

CARL KURZ LEFT STREAM ABOVE

DESOTO, KAS.

Insisted That He Could Finish the

Long Swim From Lawrence to

Kansas City, but Was

Not Permitted.

CARL KURZ.
Who Swam Twenty Miles in the Kaw
River at Night.

After swimming in the cold water of the Kaw river for a little more than five hours, covering in that time twenty miles, Carl Kurz, the swimmer who started for Kansas City from Lawrence, Kas, Friday night, was forced to abandon his daring feat on account of a broken oar in one of the two boats that accompanied him.

Kurz entered the water at 9:30 o'clock Friday night and left at 2:35 Saturday morning, three miles above DeSoto, Kas.

The swimmer got along fine as far as Eudora, Kas. Here the boat carrying reporters from The Journal and the Lawrence World, went ashore to telegraph to their papers. The other boat, containing Roy Stratton, a riverman, went on with Kurz.

Three miles below Eudora, the boat was thrown into a snag and in attempting to get out, Stratton broke one oar clear off just below the carlock. The swimmer and the boat drifted helplessly down the stream. Kurz did not want to go ashore, but after drifting five miles and having many narrow escapes from snags, he decided it would be best to land and wait for the other boat.

That five mile drift was full of adventure. Kurtz had to stay near the boat, widely seen to have taken a sudden liking for snags and whirlpools. Once it floated up on a submerged corn field and Kurtz for a moment got his feet tangled in a barb wire fence.

Helped by the swimmer, Stratton finally landed at 2:35 a. m.

THEY HAD NO LIGHTS.

The second boat came by an hour later and tied up with the other It was agreed that the current was too treacherous and the snags too frequent to permit one boat to tow the other in the dark. All the light the party now had was a coal oil lantern A chemical bicycle lamp the press boat carried eploded a few miles below Eudora and this boat jo urneyed seen miles in the dark.

It was decided to wait until daylight and then drop down to DeSoto, get another oar, an start a new race from DeSoto to Kansas City.

A fire was built on the bank. Over his web bathing suit Kurz put on his coat and trousers and lay down on the damp sand by the fire He slept about an hour, being awakened at daylight. He was thoroughly chilled and in no condiion to re-enter the water. But he insisted that he would be ready to start from DeSoto for Kansas City as soon as the sun rose.

The sun was up when the party limped up to the bank in front of the Santa Fe depot at DeSoto. Kurz stayed in the boat, sleeping under two overcoats. He would eat nothing. It was found that oars were as scarce in DeSoto as children in a high class apartment house.

TOO WEAK TO GO ON.

Kurz was warmed up by this time and eager to start. He was weak, though, and was really a little afraid of the cold water. A council of war decided that since it was doubtful whether Kurz could cover the remaining forty miles in his present condition, and since the prospect of another oar was so bad that it seemed likely that one boat would have to be towed several miles before another oar could be procured, the affair was called off.

Kurz came into Kansas City from DeSoto by train. The boat will be shipped back to Lawrence.

The swimmer displayed great nerve and endurance throughout the twenty-mile swim. Disappointd by the withdrawal of the other entrants in the race, he started alone, just to show that he was no quitter. And he wasn't He plowed his way down the dangerous river through treacherous whirlpools and around snags for twenty miles, the last five miles of which were made in front of a drifting boat.

Twenty miles in that cold water is a swim that few men would care to undertake. Most of them would want to get out of the dampness long before the last mile was reached. But Kurz did all this for fun, and because he refused to take a dare.

HE WASN'T AFRAID.

After he swam over the dam at Lawrence, several weks ago, a Lawrence merchant asked him why he didn't try to swim to Kansas City.

"Pretty far, isn't it?" said Kurz. "And the water' cold this time of year."

"You're not afraid, are you?" the merchant said.

"No, I'm not."

"Well, why don't you try to do it?"

And Kurz tried hard to do it.

He still contends that he can make the distance, and is willing to make another attempt if he can find any one to race against him. He has no money, so can n ot make any bet wthat would ring out the swimmers who are not swimming seenty miles for fun.

Kurz has studied art at the Chicago art institute and the St. Louis art institute. He was a promising artist, but gave up his art to become a plumber. His father is an evangelical minister in Chicago. He has been all over the United States, and for several months practiced his trade in Panama. His home is now in Lawrence, but he probably will move here.

Kurz believes in fasting after a long race. After he started on the swim he did not eat a thing until yesterday morning, when he ate an orange. As soon as he arrived here he bought a chocolate ice cream soda. That was all he ate yesterday.

Labels: Chicago, Kaw river, Lawrence, sports, swimming, The Journal, visitors

June 13, 1908

WATER LEAVING STOCK YARDS.

If No Further Rise Comes They'll Be

Open Again Monday.

Flood water moved out of the stock yards all day yesterday, and the yard management and the commission men felt cheerful. The flood, as far as could be seen yesterday, did but little damage to the stock yards on the east side. While most of the pens were under water Thursday, by last night most of the water had receded and left but little sediment behind.

About three feet of water ran out of the yards during the day. There was some water in the basement offices in the Exchange building at the close of the day. If there is no further rise in the Kaw, the yards expect to be able to handle stock on the east, or main, side Monday. In the Texas division, in Armourdale, the situation is not so good, though everything there, too, it is hoped, will be straightened out inside of a week.

Labels: Armourdale, flood, Kaw river, stock yards, Texas

June 10, 1908

WOMEN WORK TO SAVE HOMES.

Side by Side With Men They Labor

at the Dikes.

A crumbling dike and the crest of the Kaw river rise only two hours distant was the condition at the Fifth street bridge, one mile west of the S. & S. Packing house, Armourdale, at 12 o'clock last night. Women as well as men joined in the unequal combat, wives holding burlap sacks while their husbands filled them with dirt for the levee. At 2 o'clock this morning the narrow bank, which was all that was between a city of 10,000 people and a repetition of the flood of 1904, was eighteen inches higher than the river level. It looked as though victory leaned toward the laborers.

Ever since the news of the unusual rise of the Kaw tributaries reached the drainage board, eight teams and about twenty men have been working without cessation on the dike at the Fifth street bridge. This is the weakest point in the river bank in Kansas City, Kas., and the place where it leaped through and inundated Armourdale and the West bottoms in 1903. The teams have done good work, according to the engineers, but the swift current burdened with timbers and debris of all descriptions, had eaten well into the new embankment yesterday, so extraordinary efforts had to be made t check it in advance of the volume of water expected to finish the rise last night.

At 8 o'clock the Kaw was washing above the flood line at the Fifth street dikes, and the drainage board especially interested in this point as the key to the situation, passed word around to the effect that the last few hours of the rise might bring in a close race with the river.

In a few minutes after the condition of the dikes became known, hundreds of people, men and women, were on their way to Fifth street, armed with shovels. At the Cudahy and Schwarzschild & Sulzberger plants they obtained a large quantity of gunny sacks and at 9 o'clock the threatened dikes swarmed with toilers.

Women stood in the moist and holding the sacks open while the men, digging rapidly, filled them and carried them to lay on the dike.

It was a busy scene. Lanterns held by boys glimmered in and out among the workers like so many fire-flies ans whips cracked as the teams of horses were trotted with the wheel scrapers.

"It's coming up! Look out for that low place near the bridge; it needs tending to right away!"

"Come on here, with another bag!"

"All right now, fill in boys, it's coming our way. We're eighteen inches ahead of high water!"

The above were some of the shouts heard as the work progressed, and showed the anxiety of the people to save their homes. So well was the dike builded that as the torrent rose until the elbow of the river bend punched into its sides, it stood the test and not a leak came through.

Among the workers at the bridge whose part was to systematize the work so as to make it effective, were members of the drainage board.

These men with coats off and sleeves rolled up, occasionally seized a shovel and worked with the rest.

Labels: Armourdale, flood, Kaw river

June 9, 1908

NO ALARM IN THE "PATCH."

But Squatters May Yet Have to Be

Rescued.

The Missouri river is over its banks east of the Armour packing house and many homes of Croatian laborers at the plat were half under water at midnight. Despite the sinister tidings of "more water from Manhattan," which was occasionally heralded about in the babel of nine different languages employed by the people of the "Patch," there seemed to be no serious intention among the squatters there to move last night, at least, and they viewed the water about their doorsteps apparently without alarm. In the flood of 1903 the "Patch" was entirely washed away with considerable loss of life. Since then it has built up to about 250 houses, many of which contain more than thirty peopl. Castle Garden, a brick flat nearby, rooms 400 Croatians. It is seventy-five feet long and fifty feet wide.

If the Kaw and Missouri rivers continue to rise this morning some of the squatters near the river banks may have to be rescued by boat.

Labels: Croatians, flood, immigrants, Kaw river, Missouri river

Agusut 12, 1907

SAW HIS CHUM DROWN.

BUT KEPT FACT FROM PARENTS

OF VICTIM.

Finding of the Body of Martin

Cathro in the Kaw Discounted

the Story Told by Adel-

bert Lacer.

While John Hittle, L. McDonald and R. Retin, railroad laborers of Argentine, were strolling along the Kaw river bank in the vicinity of the Rex mills yesterday morning about 8 o'clock, they discovered the nude body of a boy caught in an eddy a few feet from the bank. The body was afterwards identified as that of Martin Cathro, aged 10 years, of 715 Metropolitan avenue, Argentine. Cathro's father is a foreman in the hair department of the Cudahy packing house. County Coroner Davis ordered the body removed to the Daniels Bros. undertaking establishment.

The drowned boy had been missing since early Saturday afternoon. He went to the river accompanied by Adelbert Lacer, a companion. The Lacer boy had reported to Mrs. Cathro that Martin had caught a meat wagon for Kansas City, Mo., when they had tired of fishing, about 4 o'clock. Chief of Police Frank James, of Argentine, took the Lacer boy into temporary custody. Lacer at first denied any knowledge whatever of the death of Martin Cathro, but finally admitted that he saw him drown while trying to untangle a snagged line several feet from the bank.

"We had been fishing about twenty minutes," said Lacer, "when Martin's line got caught on a snag. The water was pretty shallow where we were, at the deepest being not over one's chin. Martin took off all his clothes and waded in. I looked away a monent, and when I looked again, Martin had gone under. I never saw him again.

"I was awfully scared. I hated to return home without him, and tell people I saw him drown. Then I thought of his clothes. I took them to a clump of bushes near the river and hid them."

Lacer took the officer to the place where he had concealed the garments.

Labels: Argentine, children, death, drowning, Kaw river, missing, police, railroad