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January 24, 1910

DISLIKES TO HANDLE

BONES OF QUANTRELL.

Historical Society Clerks at Topeka

Not So Enthusiastic About

Grewsome Relic.

TOPEKA, Jan. 23. -- If some person, in some manner, could slip into the relic vault of the State Historical Society and steal the old, dry bones of Quantrell, the famous guerrilla, he would confer a great favor upon the clerks of the historical society, even though he riled the temper of George W. Martin, the boss of the shop.

"Oh, how I hate to rattle those old, dry bones," said one of the clerks, as he exhibited them for the nineteenth time today to visitors. "Why, I pull them out, shake them around and tell about them so much that I actually detest the things."

Everybody who goes to the historical rooms wants to see Quantrell's bones. Secretary Martin says they are a great drawing card, and that they are one of the chief relics of his department. But he doesn't have to handle them or exhibit them. The clerks must do that.

For fear they will be stolen, Mr. Martin keeps them in the vault, and a special trip must be made to see them, the medal which Victor Hugo, the Frenchman, gave Mrs. John Brown and the Ford theater program which contains some splotches of Lincoln's blood. Officials around the state house know how the clerks detest handling the bones and always tell visitors to be sure to ask to see them.

The clerks do not handle the bones as tenderly as Secretary Martin does. They yak them around, shake them together, hoping, no doubt, they will fall to pieces.

"I guess the only way to get rid of them is to wear them out," said a clerk, "and they don't seem to wear very fast. I believe they will be here when Gabriel blows his trumpet the last time unless someone should carry them off."

When the bones were first donated to the historical society a great howl went up from some of the old free state men. They declared that it was an insult to exhibit the bones of the old guerrilla who sacked Lawrence and killed so many people. But Secretary Martin held on to them with a strong grip and finally beat down public criticism. Still he can't subdue his own clerks. They are still in rebellion.

Labels: Civil War, Lawrence, organizations, Quantrell, Topeka

December 25, 1909

MISS MARGARET MENET DEAD.

End Comes to Former Kansas City

Writer in Washington.

Miss Margaret Menet, formerly of Kansas City, died yesterday at the home of her mother in Washington, D. C. Miss Menet came to Kansas City from Lawrence, Kas., in 1900, to work for The Journal, where she remained until 1905. Miss Menet in that year went to the Washinton Post, remaining in the national capital until the time of her death. She was a pleasing writer, with a graceful literary style. During her connection with The Journal she made many friends to whom the news of her untimely death comes as a distinct shock.

The body will be sent to Lawrence, Kas., and will be buried in the family lot Sunday. Miss Menet's father, who died several years ago, wsa a pioneer resident of Lawrence, Kas. She is survived by a mother and one sister, Mrs. W. J. Frick, wife of Dr. Frick, 812 Benton boulvard, this city.

Labels: death, Lawrence, The Journal, women

December 11, 1909

SPENT $7.50 ON HER

SAYS PARDONED WOMAN.

Fined $500, Mrs. Cross Agrees to Go

With Brother to Ohio and Leave

Aged Admirer of McLouth, Kas.,

Alone.

Mrs. Ada Cross, 40 years old, who is alleged to have been in a plot to swindle an old man named Kenyon, 85 years of age, of McLouth, Kas., and who was fined $500 in the municipal court December 4 on a technical charge of vagrancy, was paroled yesterday by the board of pardons and paroles. She left last night with her younger brother, Fred A. Spray, for Kirkland, Ind., where he told the board he would make a home for her. She never had been arrested here before.

About last August, so the testimony ran in court, the aged man told a friend that he would give $1,000 for a "nice, good wife." The word reached a real estate dealer here, it was said, and Mrs. Cross went to McLouth, where she met Mr. Kenyon.

After being requested to leave the hotel there, the woman went to Lawrence, where a letter to the aged would-be Benedict soon took him. While there the two became engaged, he paying all the bills. From Lawrence the woman is alleged to have gone to Indiana, where she wrote that she had raised the money on a mortgage. After that she was heard from in three cities in Old Mexico, where she is said to have tried to get Mr. Kenyon to invest in land, later trying to get him to sign notes with her in the purchase of a $2,500 hotel in Kansas City.

All of this caused the old man to investigate through the police, and the woman was taken into custody. Mrs. Cross said that $7.50 paid for her hotel bill at Lawrence was all that the aged Lothario had spent on her. Kenyon's son arrived on the scene and assured the authorities that he would take his father home and have a guardian appointed for him.

Mrs. Cross, thoroughly repented, assured the board yesterday that she would go home with her brother, who has a wife and three children on a farm near Kirkland, Ind., and remain there.

Labels: Lawrence, municipal court, parole board, vagrancy

November 10, 1909

SUFFRAGETTES GO TOO FAR.

Scottish Woman Visitor Has No Sym-

pathy for Militant Sister.

Mrs. George Romanes, wife of the distinguished Scottish scientist, who spent yesterday in Kansas City on her way to Salt Lake City, is not a suffragette. She has come to America at the special invitation of the Episcopal church to deliver lectures in different cities.

"I am not a suffragette," said Mrs. Romanes. "Of course, I have no particular antipathy to a woman's right to vote, but our women have carried the thing to the extreme. I'm not in the least in sympathy with them."

The party took a trip over the boulevards yesterday morning in a motor car and were thoroughly delighted.

"The prettiest drives that I've seen in America," declared Mrs. Romanes.

She is accompanied by F. J. Romanes, a son, who recently graduated from Oxford and Miss Helen Watkins of London. The party left last night for Lawrence, where Mrs. Romanes lectured and the son is a guest of several friends who are attending the university of Kansas.

Young Romanes has decided to spend about two years in America and probably will teach in some Episcopal college.

Labels: Lawrence, politics, suffrage, visitors

July 31, 1909

DEATH CAME SUDDENLY

TO P. D. RIDENOUR.

HEART DISEASE CLAIMED PIO-

NEER WHOLESALE GROCER.

Had Been Ill at Home About Ten

Days, but Fatal Termination

Was Not Expected by

Physicians.

THE LATE PETER D. RIDENOUR.

Peter D. Ridenour, pioneer wholesale grocer of Kansas City, died suddenly of heart disease at 11:00 last night at his home, 1416 East Eighth street. He was 78 years old, and as the result of complications due to old age has been kept home from the store at 933 Mulberry street, in the West Bottoms, for over a week. His fatal illness is believed to have begun ten days ago when he first complained of shooting pains in the vicinity of his heart.

At his bedside when he died were his wife, Mrs. Sarah L. Ridenour and his son, Edward M. Ridenour. The family physician, Dr. Lester Hall, and Dr. R. T. Sloane, who had been called in, were in attendance, but neither believed death would result from the indisposition.

BORN ON OHIO FARM.

Besides the widow and the son, Mr. Ridenour is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Catherine Lester, Mrs. Alice Raymond and Miss Ethel Ridenour, all of this city, the last named living at home. Four brothers are living, T. M. Ridenour in Colorado, Irving W. in Richmond, Ind.; Elisha at Liberal, Mo., and Samuel Ridenour, who through the death of his brother will become president of the Ridenour Baker Grocery Company, lives at the Washington hotel.

Funeral arrangements have not been made.

Peter D. Ridenour was born May 5, 1831, on a farm of one half mile south of the village of College Corner, O. His parents were of Dutch extraction and pioneers of the state. The town received its name form its location in the northwest corner of the land donated to the Miami university. In 1837 his father bought a store in the town and in it for the next seven or eight years young Ridenour gleaned the knowledge of the grocery business so useful to him in after years.

At the age of 26, Mr. Ridenour married Miss Sarah Louise Beatty at Xenia, O., and moved to Lawrence, Kas. Part of the trip was made in boats because there was no railroad leading into Kansas City or in fact any other town in the vicinity of the Sunflower state.

BEGAN BUSINESS IN LAWRENCE.

With his brother, Samuel, who also had left the old home in Ohio to come West, Mr. Ridenour started a small grocery store at Lawrence taking as partners in the business Harlow W. Baker of that city and later his three brothers. This was in 1858.

By the death of Mr. Ridenour last night Samuel Ridenour became the sole survivor of the original Ridenour Baker Grocer Company. This firm was incorporated thirty-one years ago when having grown to dignified proportions it was moved from Lawrence to its present ho me on Mulberry street. Such has been its progress in Kansas City that it has been able to establish branch stores at several points. Both Peter and Samuel Ridenour grew wealthy. P. D. Ridenour's estate probably amounts to about $300,000.

Mr. Ridenour was known as a public spirited citizen. Three years ago he was vice president of the Commercial Club and was offered the presidency but he refused because of his advanced age. He maintained a large farm near Dallas, twelve miles from Kansas City, where he had intended to spend the remainder of his life.

Labels: bakers, Commercial Club, death, doctors, Eighth street, grocers, history, Lawrence, Mulberry street, pioneers

May 14, 1909

QUARRELED ON HONEYMOON.

Deaf Husband and Tongue-Tied

Bride Booked for Municipal Court.

When Ben Green, who is deaf, married Eliza Reamer, who is tongue-tied, last week at the home of his mother in Lawrence, Kas., everyone thought the match an excellent one, though the couple had known each other only a week.

With light hearts they boarded a train for Kansas City, where they intended to spend their honeymoon. Possibly the world at large wouldn't have known about the union if they had not been arrested at Independence avenue and Holmes street yesterday afternoon. They were quarreling.

Both were taken to police headquarters and charged with disturbing the peace. In default of bond they were kept at the station. Mrs. Green, in the matron's room, attempted to tell about her marriage.

She met Green in Wichita a week ago, she said. It was a case of love at first sight. Green persuaded her to go to Lawrence, where they were united. The husband was unable to find work, she said, and they quarreled. The case will be tried in the municipal court this morning.

Labels: hearing impaired, Independence avenue, Lawrence, marriage, municipal court, Wichita

May 7, 1909

CHEERING THRONGS

BID WESTON WELCOME.

AGED PEDESTRIAN SET HOT

PACE DURING THE DAY.

Arrived in Kansas City Fresh and

Strong With Admirers Trailing

at Heel -- Proceeds to

Kansas Today.

EDWARD PAYSON WESTON.

Cheered by thousands of people, Edward Payson Weston, the aged pedestrian, who is enroute from New York to San Francisco, swung briskly into the downtown section of Kansas City yesterday afternoon at 4:15 o'clock and reaching the Coates house at 4:45 completed the day's walk, having made twenty-nine miles from Oak Grove, his stopping place last night, to Kansas City in eight hours and thirty minutes, with ease. He was not travel worn nor weary, and walked the last few miles of the day at a terrific pace.

"It was the greatest day of the trip to date," said Weston, as he waved adieu to the crowd that followed him through the downtown streets to the doors of his hotel. "Never have I been so royally received. And never on any of my jaunts have I traveled such roads and passed through such beautiful country as I did today. I will never forget this day and the kind people of Kansas City."

IN GREAT FORM.

Greatly refreshed by ten hours sleep at Oak Grove, Weston set out from that place yesterday morning at 7:30 o'clock. In the cool, bracing morning air he reeled off the miles in great form, little like he entered Oak Grove the night before, when he was on the verge of collapse as the result of a most trying walk under a broiling sun. The trip to Independence was made without incident. With the exception of a stop for a glass of milk and another to eat some raw eggs, the veteran never broke his stride, and at 1:30 o'clock he entered the public square at Independence. Scores of people cheered him and sought to give him a more demonstrative welcome, but he dodged them and made his way to the Metropolitan hotel, a stopping place in the early days for ox teams en route from the Atlantic to the Pacific over the same route the "hiker" is following.

At the Metropolitan, Weston ate heartily a generous portion of oatmeal. Lying on a cot he talked between bites to newspaper men and Y. M. C. A. athletes who had journeyed to Independence to meet and accompany him to Kansas City. After fifty minutes of eating and resting, he arose, walked backwards down the stairs of the hotel to prevent any jar to his knees, and started rapidly for the city.

CHILDREN CHEERED HIM.

The route out of Independence was down West Maple street. On this thoroughfare is located the Central high school, and as Weston approached the school hundreds of school children were released from their studies to greet him. To the wild cheering of the boys and girls and the handclapping of the many people who lined the curbs of the street, the old man lifted his hat and bowed again and again. The short, stubby stride was broken for the first time, and the walker grasped the hand of George S. Bryant, principal of the school, a friend of years ago. A hurried greeting and adieu and Weston was again on his way. Twice between Independence and Kansas City, the old fellow was again greeted by throngs of school children, and each time he bowed his appreciation. "It does me more good than anything else to have these children greet me," he said. "It cheers me, and makes my journey easier."

The Y . M. C. A. hikers who were accompanying the old pedestrian on his entry into the city, were hustling to keep a pace when the city limits were reached at 3:12 o'clock. Weston was averaging, as he did early in the day, four miles an hour, and the pace was a little too fast for the unseasoned striders, but they struggled gamely on. At the city limits, the escort of mounted police joined the party, and it was well that this escort was provided, for along Fifteenth street and through the business section of the city the crowd that followed the pedestrian and rushed into the streets to greet him would have been uncontrollable.

Such an enthusiastic welcome as was given Weston has seldom been given an athlete in Kansas City. On every side there were cheers of "Hello, Weston," "You're all right, old boy," etc. To all of these Weston bowed his thanks. He stopped but twice, once to greet John DeWolfe, who lives near the Blue river. Weston and DeWolfe were friends thirty-nine years ago.

After reaching the Coates house Weston Hurried to his room where he changed his clothes and bathed his feet in the preparation he always uses, briny water.

LECTURES AT Y. M. C. A.

Last night Mr. Weston spoke before a large audience in the gymnasium of the Y. M. C. A. building on Wyandotte street. His remarks were confined principally to events on his present long hike, and he predicted he would arrive in San Francisco on schedule time. By 9 o'clock he was through with his lecture, and a half hour later was snugly in bed at the Coates house. He left a call for 4 o'clock this morning, and by 5 o'clock he expects to be well on his way to the West.

Weston goes from Kansas City to Lawrence, and will cover the distance over the roadbed of the Union Pacific railroad. He is due in Lawrence tonight, where he will rest until Saturday morning, when he will start out for Topeka, again taking the railroad right-of-way, by which he saves eleven miles in distance as compared with the open highway. He is scheduled to lecture in Topeka.

Weston is a most picturesque character. Clad in a white blouse that is fringed with embroidery at the neck and wrist, plaid walking trousers suspended by a broad belt and heavy shoes with gaiters, his dress does just what he wishes it to do -- attract attention. He shows his seventy years only by his wheat head and a drooping white mustache. He is of wiry build, about 5 feet 6 inches in height and weighs 140 pounds. As he walks he allows his body to weave slightly from side to side, removing to a great extent the jar of the walking. At this stage of the journey he is in excellent physical condition. Yesterday was the hardest day he has experienced on this or any other walk, according to his own statement. Barring a succession of several such days he should be able to finish his long journey on schedule time and in good condition.

Labels: California, children, Coates house, hotels, Independence, Lawrence, New York, schools, Seniors, Topeka, visitors, YMCA

April 26, 1909

PAID $150 FOR FIRST

COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

DANIEL P. LEWIS BUILT IT OF

HEWN LOGS IN 1828.

Old Building, Now Weatherboarded,

Still Stands at Independence --

Negroes Then Had Their

Own Court.

While Kansas City is considering the erection of a skyscraper court house to take the place of the old building in the North End, it might be of interest to members of the county court to know what was the cost of the first court house to be erected in Jackson county. One can scarcely realize in the present day of a temple of justice being erected at the enormous expenditure of $150, but that was the price which the taxpayers were compelled to pay in 1828.

The old town of Independence, Mo., had grown into quite a village, surrounded by a fairly well settled and wealthy farming community. Justice was dispensed in that early time probably as expeditiously as at present. The need of a building or court house wherein trials and other court procedure could be transacted was decided to be a necessity.

NEGRO HEWED THE LOGS.

The county court entered into a contract with one Daniel P. Lewis. In the fall it was agreed that he was to receive $150 for building a courthouse. In the all of that year Sam Shephard, a negro, hewed logs for the new building. They were dragged by a yoke of oxen to the ground selected as the site for the court house. The lot was No. 57 in the old town, now on the north side of Maple avenue near the square in Independence. The building was only one story and contained one large room, which was used as a courtroom and meeting place for all public discussions and lectures. Later several small rooms for use as offices were added.

The building is still standing in Independence, and the hewn logs of which it was constructed have been weather boarded and the large courtroom divided into small rooms. It is now used as a private dwelling and Christian Ott of Independence is the proprietor. It is understood the proprietor has offered to donate the building to the County Fair Association if it will move it from the lot.

In connection with the negro, Sam Shephard, who cut the logs for the court house, there is a bit of local history. In Independence and the country in the immediate neighborhood the negroes maintained a form of self-government. Each year they gathered together in convention and selected their officers. A judge and a sheriff were the principal offices upon which their government was founded.

PUNISHED BY THEIR OWN RACE.

Recalcitrant negroes and those accused of thefts or other crimes not taken notice of by the white people came under the supervision of the blacks' control. An accused would be summoned to court by the sheriff and the judge selected the jury of negroes from those present. The sessions of the negro court were held in a livery barn or blacksmith shop. If the negro on trial was found guilty after the deliberations of the jury, the sheriff carried out the penalty. As he was vested with powerful muscles as well as the authority of a sheriff, the penalty, which was usually a number of lashes on the bare back, was memorable.

The first judge was Wilas Staples and Sam Shephard was the first sheriff. The latter died in Lawrence, Kas., several months ago.

Labels: courthouse, history, Independence, Judges, Lawrence, North end, race, real estate

September 27, 1908

CELEBRATE K. U. VICTORY.

Students at Lawrence Parade After

First Football Game.

LAWRENCE, KAS., Sept. 26. -- (Special.) Headed by the K. U. band, 200 K. U. students participated in their annual shirt-tail parade in a drenching rain through Lawrence streets tonight. The students celebrate their first football victory every year with this sort of a parade.

Labels: Lawrence, sports, universities

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

July 2, 1908

GENERAL H. S. HALL IS DEAD.

He Was Awarded a Medal for Bra-

very During Civil War.

H. S. Hall, brigadier general and veteran of the civil war, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles M. Kemper, 2914 Tracy avenue, yesterday morning. He was born in New York and entered the Union army as a private in 1861. He participated in many engagements and lost his right arm while leading his regiment at the battle of Petersburg. He was awarded a medal for bravery on the field by congress and raised to the rank of general on his retirement in 1866.

When the was was over General Hall moved to Missouri and settled in Carroll county, where he lived until 1888, when he removed to Lawrence, Kas. He came to this city four years ago. A widow and four children survive. The children are Mrs. C. M. Kemper Mrs. Dana Templin, 121 Olive street; J. G Hall, a teacher in the state agricultural school of North Carolina, and C. S. Hall, who lives at Lawrence, Kas. Burial will be in Lawrence tomorrow.

Labels: Civil War, Lawrence, Olive street, Tracy avenue, veterans

May 17, 1908

AUTO CYCLES OUTRAN JONES.

Police Commissioner Had Them Join

the Race as a Test.

At the invitation of Elliott H. Jones, police commissioner, four men on motor cycles trailed the automobiles in the endurance race yesterday. All of the cycles made the trip successfully and beat Jones's machine back to Kansas City. The commissioner asked that the cycles be used on the run, because he has been appointed by the police board as a committee to investigate the feasibility of using motor cycles in the police department.

Dr. A. Moses, C. Hanson, C. O. Hahn and L. C. Shellaberger, each mounted on a two wheeled machine, left Armour boulevard and the Paseo in a bunch yesterday morning about fifteen minutes after the last automobile was officially started. The party made the run to Lawrence without mishap. The freshly dragged roads proved slow going south from Lawrence and at Baldwin the leader was misdirected and led the party to Edgerton, which is a few miles off the course. They got back on the track and passed Jones at Waldo.

They reached the city at 8:30 o'clock, with Moses a few yards in the lead. All of the cycles in the endurance test were Indians. Commissioner Jones, when he finally came steaming into the city, congratulated the four on their good run.

Labels: Armour boulevard, automobiles, Commissioner Jones, Lawrence, motorcycles, races, Waldo

February 15, 1908

STRYCHNINE CAUSED

RUTH MILLER'S DEATH.

ANALYSIS OF CANDY DEVELOPS

THIS FACT.

No Motive for the Attempt on Life

of the Elder Miller Girl

Has Yet Been Dis-

covered.

Strychnine was the bitter-tasting foreign substance noticed by the Miller children who survived sampling the box of bonbons mailed to Ella Miller, 14 years old, of 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, Wednesday. Four year old Ruth Miller, after eating one of the candies, fell dead in the throes of a paralyzing agony. The lives of the other children were saved because of the unsavory taste of the sweets.

The candy was sent to the chemical laboratory of the Kansas state university at Lawrence. Yesterday the analysis had progressed at the university to such period as to make certain the identity of the poison employed. It was strychnine. How much of the drug each piece of candy contained has not been determined, but one-twelfth grain of strychnine crystals, the form employed, is sufficient to cause death.

But who committed the deed, and why?

This question was asked and left unanswered a great number of times in the office of the Kansas City, Kas., chief of police yesterday. Detectives Quinn, McKnight, Walsh and Wilson reported finding nothing, after a diligent inquiry into the private life of the Miller family for a possible reason why the little girl, to who the package was addressed, should be out of the way. Apparently she has always been a dutiful daughter, living in peace and harmony with her step-father and well loved by he playmates and friends at the packing house where she worked.

The theory at first held by the officers that some jealous small boy, a sweetheart of the girl, perhaps, had prepared the package and mailed it to her, was explored when the only two boys with whom the little girl has gone anywhere were brought in by the drag net and proved to be the neighbor boys selected by Mrs. Miller once or twice to walk with Ella to a nickel show in the vicinity.

According to Mille last night about 500 people have called at the home to express sympathy yesterday. Many of them offered financial help in locating the poisoner. Among the visitors were a half-dozen girls who worked in the canning department of the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger plant. They were unanimous in declaring no one in their department had sent the bonbons.

"Why, we all loved little Ella," said Artilla Hack, Miami and Coy streets, Armourdale, one of the visitors. "She was just as good as she could be to all of us, and I know none of the girls had anything against her. If they had someone would have been sure to mention it, since she left there a month ago." Geanette Brymer, Seventh and Coy streets, said practically the same thing.

The other children of the Miller family affected by eating candy from the box sent the oldest daughter are out of danger. D r. Zachary Nason, who lives two blocks from the Miller home, and who atended Ruth Miller while she was dying, says they all showed strong symptoms of strychnine poisoning.

"It must have been this drug that was inserted into the bon-bons," said Dr. Nason, last night. "The theory that it might have been arsenic is, in my opinion, absurd, as arsenic is an acid while strchnine is a salt, and therefore their symptoms should be diameteically opposite. The little girl, when I saw her, was rigid in the arms and across the chest. Occasionally she completely relaxed. Lockjaw preceded death by at least two minutes. All these symptoms are those of strychnine poisoning, and not posible after a dose of arsenic."

Labels: Armourdale, children, Death of Ruth Miller, doctors, Lawrence, murder, poison, universities

September 3, 1907

DIDN'T HAVE $1,000 WITH HIM.

Detective McAnany Held on Charge

of Attempted Kidnapping.

SEDAN, KAS. (SPECIAL.) -- Mrs. James C. Barclay, foster mother of the "incubator baby" of Lawrence fame, and Detective Thomas S. McAnany, of Kansas City, were arraigned before Justice Speed this afternoon on a charge of attempting to kidnap the child of Mrs. Charlotte Bleakley at Elgin last Saturday.

The defendants waived a preliminary hearing and were bound over to the district court, which convenes here tomorrow morning. Bail was fixed at $1,000 each. McAnany was unable to give it and is tonight in the county jail. It is understood tonight that Mrs. Barclay regrets the steps she has taken and is willing to compromise with Mrs. Bleakley to stop the prosecution. It is also said that the latter is firm in her determination to push the case. County Attorney Mertz is securing all the evidence he can get to use when the case comes to trial.

Labels: detectives, kidnapping, Lawrence

August 24, 1907

IT DIDN'T BOTHER THEM.

"QUANTRELL" MEN AND WOMEN

KEEP UP THE MERRY MAKING.

Attempt of One Man to Shoot An-

other, After a Three-Cornered

Struggle, Looked Upon as

a Sort of Joke.

It was scarcely an hour after David Edwards had shot at Jim Cummings yesterday noon, and "shot to kill" to use Edwards' own words, as he lay in jail, that Miss Feta Parmer, one of the hundred women at the Quantrell raiders' reunion at Wallace grove, who saw the shooting at close range, said:

"Oh, it's nothing! I turned around to see who was fighting and then went on about my business."
"It didn't amount to anything," another woman said. "The old men just had a quarrel."

The shooting truly did not terminate fatally, because Edwards missed Cummings and the stray bullet merely grazed the feet of two other men, but it would have broken up almost any other picnic. But the veterans of the Quantrell raids, their wives and daughters, forgot all about it in fifteen minutes and resumed their merrymaking. Even Cummings, the man shot at, treated the matter as a joke. Cummings was with the James brothers during their bloody days and has seen some real fighting. The only person who seemed excited was Jack Noland, a negro, who was Quantrell's hostler. When Edwards fired, Noland got behind a tree.

"I won't prosecute Edwards," Cummings said. "I understand that he has called me a thief and all that, but I'll let it pass. I'm not afraid of him. He was standing less than three feet from me when he pointed the revolver at my head and fired, and all he did was to hit the other men on the feet. He'll never have a better chance to kill me again, and if he couldn't succeed this time he can't do it later."

MARSHALL PREVENTS BLOODSHED

Joseph Stewart, deputy marshal and bailiff of the criminal court, helped prevent bloodshed. He was standing beside Cummings, talking over old times, when Edwards caame up and got into a quarrel with Cummings. Edwards pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired a shot. Cummings stepped forward and grabbed his hand. Edwards jerked the imprisoned hand free and threw it around Cummings' neck, pointing the barrel of the pistol down Cummings' spine. Stewart grasped the pistol, sticking his thumb through the aperture back of the trigger to keep Edwards from shooting Cummings in the back, and tried to wrest the weapon from his hand. In the struggle the three men fell. Edwards still holding the weapon and pulling on the trigger, which wouldn't work with Stewart's thumb caught in it.

Kit Rose, a brother-in-law of Cole Younger, intervened. He searched Cummings to see if he, too, had a gun, and then Rose and Cummings jerked Edwards' revolver from his hand. Stewart's thumb was badly bruised in the struggle.

BULLET STRUCK BYSTANDER.

The bullet was afterwards found. It had struck the toe of W. H. Perkins' shoe, glanced hit the rung of a chair and athen stuck in the sole of Dr. Oliver C. Sheley's foot, but did not have force enough left to break the skin. Dr. Sheley lives in Independence. Mr. Perkins is from Oak Grove. Perkins has the bullet as a souvenir of the occasion.

Edwards was detained at the county jail last night, and slept in the deputy marshal's bedroom. He will be sent to the Confederate Veterans' home in Higginsville today.

There are four or five stories of how the trouble between him and Cummings arose. Edwards says Cummings had been threatening him ever since a year ago last Halloween night, when a pet raccoon was stolen from his room at the Confederate home. He accuesed Cummings of the theft and Cummings became sore.

They have had quarrels since. Both men are inmates of the Higginsville Confederate home. Edwards was with Quantrall a year, and assisted in the burning of Lawrence, Kas. He is 73 years old, while Cummings is but 56. Cummings was one of the followers of the James boys.

Labels: doctors, Higginsville, Independence, Lawrence, picnics, Quantrell, reunions, veterans, violence

August 4, 1907

BY AUTO TO DENVER.

"JACK" CUDAHY WILL TRY TO
ESTABLISH RECORD.

MADE THE START LAST NIGHT

HOPES TO TRAVEL 813 MILES IN
ESTABLISHED RECORD.
Crossed the Kansas State Line at 10:30
p. m. in Fifty-Horse Power Welch
Touring Car, Accompanied by
C. E. Ettwain and Two

Chauffers.

"Jack" Cudahy, manager of the Cudahy interests in Kansas City, and a motor car enthusiast, started at 10:30 o'clock last night on a trial run to Denver, a distance of 813 miles. He was accompnaied by C. E. Ettwein of the Ettwein Motor Car Company and two chauffers.

The effort o J. P. Cudahy to set a new record for the distance, following closely after the proposed speed trial to be made by J. A. Whitman, who was scheduled to start yesterday morning, will create some surprise in local automobile circles, as Mr. Cudahy's run was arranged for and the start made without the knowledge of many of his closest personal friends.

At exactly 10:30 o'clock the big fifty-horse-power Welch touring car quietly left the state line at Southwest boulevard near Bell street. The only witnesses to the start were W. W. Cowen, president of the Kansas City Automobile Club, and L. R. Moore. Mr. Cowan drove his car to the state line and started the party officially.

The car carries extra tires, fifty gallons of gasoline and provisions. Three acetylene lamps were placed in front to insure safe travel at night. Mr. Cudahy and Mr. Ettwein will eat on the car and the only stops made will be for gasoline and perhaps for repairs. Mr. Ettwein was at the wheel on the start and expected to reach Lawrence, Kas., at 12:15 this morning.

When Mr. Cudahy heard that Whitman had declared he could make the run in twenty-seven hours, he made that statement that if Whitman could do it so could he.

"I expected to go to Denver by rail tomorrow night," said Mr. Cudahy, "but after thinking over the matter I decided to try out my car on a long run. Denver looked as good to me as anywhere else and having great confidence in the speed and durability of my machine I saw no reason why I could not make the run in as good time as anyone else."

With good weather, which means fairly good roads, and no bad luck the party expects to reach Denver some time early tomorrow morning.

There is no speed record between Kansas City and Denver and if the Cudahy party succeeds in showing even creditable time it will be up to someother Western enthusiast to come forth and show something better. The best time is expected to be made in Western Kansas where the roads are level and there is little travel.

Friends of Mr. Cudahy will be informed at every opportunity as to the progress being made by the party while enroute. Mr. Cowen yesterday wired to many of the principal points along the route in search of information about the condition of the roads and the weather outlook. With the exception of probable rain storms in Western Kansas the outlook for fair weather and passable roads is especially good.

Labels: automobiles, Bell street, Denver, Lawrence, Southwest boulevard

May 15, 1907

J. C. HORTON DEAD

OPERATION PERFORMED LAST

SATURDAY IS FATAL.

HAS LIVED HERE SINCE 1878.

PROMINENT IN BUSINESS, SOCIAL

AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS.

Was Born in New York State and

Settled in Lawrence, Kas., in

1857 -- Would Have Been

70 Years Old

Today.

On the eve of his 70th birthday, James C. Horton, a resident of Kansas City since 1878, and actively identified with its commercial, civic, social and religious upbuilding, died last night shortly after 10 o'clock at the South Side hospital. His death was the result of an operation performed Saturday for a stomach derangement. But very few of the thousands of friends of the deceased knew of his illness and the announcement of his death came as a shock and a surprise.

At Mr. Horton's bedside were a niece, Mrs. William R. Jacques, and her husband, who live at 1432 West Prospect, the Horton homestead; Mr. and Mrs. Frank F. Faxon of 2615 Troost avenue, and others.

Until fifteen minutes before Mr. Horton's death, he was conscious. The last words he spoke were: "I'm very tired."

He spoke this with an effort, seeming suddenly to grow weaker. Immediately he fell into a stupor from which he never aroused.

No man was better or more favorably known, and no one man was more highly esteemed, beloved, trusted and appreciated than was James C. Horton. In business pursuites he was teh acme of honesty; in private life a man of the highest type of morality and noble and edifying things and thought. In church affairs he was active and sincere, and as senior warden for years of Grace Episcopal Church he contributed largely to its support and prosperity; in politics he was an unflinching Republican, and while standing for its principals he never permitted himself to be led about by venal politicians or to waver from what he considered to be right and to be to the best interests of the people; he was a fast and consistent friend, lovable in disposition and character; liberal and unselfish, he devoted the better part of his life and savings to lighten the burden of the poor, unfortunate and oppressed, and thousands there are who can lend testimony to his goodness of heart and liberality of purse.

James C. Horton died a widower, his wife having passed away in 1901, and her body laid tenderly away in the cemetery at Lawrence, Kas. Although born in the East at Ballston Spa, New York state, Mr. Horton might be properly referred to as a Western man, born and bred, for he had been a resident of the West since 1857, and was a prominent and active figure in its growth and development. Int that year he located in Lawrence, Kas., as the agent of an express company. Young, vigorous and ambitious, he took a prominent part in many of the affairs of Kansas that have now become history. He filled county offices of trust with credit to himself and the satisfaction of his constituency, and was a state senator for one or two terms.

While a resident of Lawrence he married Mrs. Robinson, a widow, and in 1878, Mr. Horton came to Kansas City and became associated with the drug firm of Woodwward, Faxon & Co. In 1897 the firm name was changed to Faxon, Horton & Gallagher. February 3, 1906, Mr. Horton retired from business pursuits to pass his declining years in rest, free from mercantile burdens. He lived with his neice, Mrs. Jacques, wife of W. R. Jacques, at the Horton homestead, 1432 West Prospect, from where the funeral will be conducted.

No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Horton. The body will be temporarily held at Stine's undertaking rooms awaiting funeral arrangements.

During his residence in Kansas City Mr. Horton was always active in Republican politics, and his last notable fight was the one he put up in advocacy of the nomination of J. J. Davenport for mayor at the last municipal election. Mr. Horton was the unrelenting foe of ballot box stuffers and crooks, and in 1894 when a number of Kansas City men were prosecuting ballot box stuffers and he was short on funds he contributed out of his own pocket $786.50. Later his admiring friends got up a popular subscription, and insisted upon him being reimbursed against his own expressed wishes that it not be done. Although continually solicited by party leaders here to accept political office, he steadfastly declined, and a year ago when an attempt was made to elect him to a seat in the upper house of the council his remonstrance was so pronounced and determined that his name was withdrawn.

Labels: birthdays, cemetery, churches, death, Frank Faxon, Lawrence, politics, Prospect avenue, Troost avenue, undertakers

March 17, 1907

CLAIMANTS APPEAR.

THREE AFTER THE ESTATE OF

ADOLPH HUNTEMANN.

ONE LIVES IN WISCONSIN.

WRITES TO CHIEF HAYES AND
ALLEGES RELATIONSHIP.
The second is Detective Huntsman, of
Kansas City, Who Says His Family
Name Was Modified --

The Third in Cincinnati.

An heir to the estate of Adolph Huntemann, who died at the General hospital here March 12, leaving an estate valued at $400,000, has turned up. Chief Hayes yesterday received a letter in which was an Associated Press clipping telling of the death of the aged German and stating he had no heirs so far as known here. The letter follows:

Allenville, Wis., March 14, 1907
Gentlemen find inclose a Duplick to refer to. My Father Conrad Eckstein Had a Sister Married to Huntemann in Germany & She was Born in 1819 in April, so if you Find the reckords of his mother berth corspond with this rite me the full dat
yourd Truly,
L. W. ECKSTEIN, Allenville, Wis.

"Mr. Eckstein is not quite clear," said Chief Hayes, "but I take his letter to mean this: Go back to Germany, and if you find that this man's father's sister, Miss Eckstein, and anybody named Huntemann were born about the same time, send the $400,000 to the man in Allenville, Wis."

Adolph Huntemann was born in Hanover, Germany. He came to America in 1843 with his parents and later emigrated to Lawrence, Kas. He and his family lived in Lawrence during the Quantrell raid. Huntemann later moved to Kansas City and bought real estate. He was a frugal man and watched his interests well. The property which he got for practically a song then has increased in value so that at the time of his death the old German was worth nearly half a million dollars. He had about $75,000 in cash in the bank.

It is possible that Huntemann has an heir in Kansas City. John Huntsman, a city detective, is now investigating the records back in Germany before he makes any formal claim. His granfather's name was Peter Huntemann and he was born in Hanover, the same town as was Adolph Huntemann.

Mr. Huntsman says that when his father came to this country he changed the name to Huntsmann and later on, within the last few years, kin fact, Mr. Huntsman himself dropped teh final letter "n" from his name. He did it, he said, because he thought the final letter superfluous and teh spelling of the name was unchanged materially by it. An attorney has the matter in charge for Mr. Huntsman.

CINCINATTI, O., March 16 -- (Special.) Herman Hunteman and his daughter are to lay claim to the estate left by Adolph Huntemann, who died in Kanas City leaving an estate valued at half a million dollars. According to the announcement of death received here Adolph Huntemann left no heirs, but it is claimed that Herman Hunteman is his cousin and that the two men came to this country together fifty years ago from Germany, Herman stopped in this city and Adolph went on west and accumulated a fortune. Herman Hunteman makes his home in Osgood, Ind., but he has a daughter who lives in Avondale, a fashionable suburb of this city. It is said to be their intention to bring action to gain a share of their relative's estate.

Labels: detectives, German hospital, Huntemann estate, Lawrence, Police Chief Hayes, probate, Quantrell, real estate