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

January 8, 1910

MAKING WIFE OBEY

IS "BUTTING IN."

Parole Board Rules She Is

"Lord and Master" in

Kitchen Affairs.

In an effort to make his wife obey, as she had promised to do when he married her nine months ago, J. M. Hall, stock clerk for the Great Western Manufacturing Company, 1221 Union avenue, landed him self into the workhouse on a $300 fine three days after Christmas -- during the most joyous week of last year. The "you must obey your master" stunt took place at the Hall home at St. Clair station, near Mount Washington.

A. B. Coulton, manager of the Great Western Manufacturing Company, appeared before the board of pardons and paroles at the workhouse yesterday and asked for Hall's parole. William Volker, president of the board, then looked over the testimony which was given in the municipal court when Hall was convicted and given the highest fine in the power of the court. It ran something like this:

WOULD NOT OBEY.

Charged with disturbing the peace. Wife appeared to prosecute him. She said that ever since their marriage last March he has been dictatorial and domineering and insisted that she obey him as she promised. The day of his arrest he went into the kitchen and, seeing the stove door open, told her to close it. She did not want the door closed and told him so. Then he demanded that she stoop and close the door and she flatly refused.

"Then I'll teach you to obey as you promised," he said. With that Mrs. Hall testified, he grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to her knees demanding that she obey him. Still she refused. Then she was thrown back so as to strike a couch with her back. She did not shut the stove door. Couple have been married since March, 1909. She said she started to leave him several times, but was induced to return.

STICKS TO HIS RIGHTS.

Hall still thought he "had a right" in his own house to make his wife obey. He was obdurate until he found out that his parole hinged upon his apparent change of heart. Then he asked the board for terms. As Mrs. Hall soon will have to go to a s hospital the board provided that Hall pay over to L. H. Halbert, secretary to the board, $7.50 every Saturday night. That will be given to Mrs. Hall.

"Besides paying the $7.50 weekly," said Mr. Volker, "you absolutely must keep away from your wife. You also must report to the secretary once each week."

Hall, still defiant on the question of "obey," agreed meekly to the terms of parole. His employer, Mr. Coulton, said that a separate check would be made out to Secretary Halbert each week and Hall would be sent to deliver it. Hall will be released today.

"Before we parole anyone," explained President Volker to Hall, "we generally find out if he has any regrets for his actions; if he is sorry for doing the thing that caused his arrest. Are you?"

"I think I did as any husband should," said Hall calmly. "She refused to obey and I tried to make her. That's all."

"I see you have no regrets," said Mr. Volker, much in earnest. "I want you to know that I do not think there is provocation great enough for any man to strike a woman."

DEMANDED APOLOGY.

"But I did not strike her," insisted Hall. "I just tried to make her apologize and obey as any good wife should. What are you going to do when a woman absolutely refuses to obey?"

"If she refused to shut the stove door and I wanted it shut," said the board president, who is a single man, "I think I would quietly shut it. But if she wanted it left open I would leave it open. A woman knows more about a kitchen in a minute than a man does in a year. That is her domain; she reigns there as an absolute monarchy and a man has got no business going into the kitchen and telling the wife what to do. It's bound to cause trouble. Let her run the whole house. That's her place. You may run the rest of the earth if you choose, but think how puny, how little, how mean it is to force your wife to her knees by twisting her wrist simply because she would not 'obey her lord and master' and shut the stove door in a place where she, and she alone, has full command. I am not a believer in slang but I am forced to say that what you did might well be called 'butting in.' "

Labels: domestic violence, marriage, Mt. Washington, parole board, Union avenue, workhouse

December 9, 1909

FUNERAL OF CHRISMAN SWOPE.

Services Yesterday at Presbyterian

Church in Independence.

The funeral of Chrisman Swope, eldest son of Mrs. Logan O. Swope, took place yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the First Presbyterian church, Independence. Rev. C. C. McGinley, pastor of the church, conducted the service. Mis McGilveray of Kansas City rendered a solo, "Ye Shall Know." Burial was in Mount Washington cemetery.

Miss Lucy Lee Swope, who was in Paris, started home upon receipt of the news of the death of her brother and of the illness of other members of the family.

Labels: churches, Funeral, Independence, ministers, Mt. Washington, music, Swope Mystery, Thomas Swope

November 22, 1909

FUNERAL IN CEMETERY HOME.

Services for L. B. Root, Who Died on

Wedding Anniversary, Wednes-

day, Two Years After Daughter

Was Buried.

Louis B. Root, superintendent of Mt. Washington cemetery, died yesterday morning at St. Mary's hospital folowing an operation performed last Wednesday for intestinal trouble. The funeral will be Wednesday from the home of Mr. Root in the cemetery.

Mr. Root was the first superintendent of parks in Kansas City. He had lived here twenty-two years. He was graduated from Cornell college in 1875. He taught school for several years and was for four years county surveyor of Elkhart county, Indiana.

In 1893, he began contracting work, planned by George E. Kessler, landscape architect for the park board. In 1898 he made a survey of Swope park and a year later was made superintendent of the park. He has been superintendent of Mt. Washington cemetery since 1901 and his work did much to make it the finest burial place in the West.

Mr. Root died on his thirty-fourth wedding anniversary, and will be buried two years to the day from the time his only daughter, Mrs. D. C. Wray, was buried. The widow and one son, Louis P. Root, survive him. The son is engaged in mining in Salvador, Central America.

Labels: cemetery, death, Funeral, George Kessler, hospital, Mt. Washington, Park board, Swope park

October 21, 1909

TRIPLE TRAGEDY IN

WYANDOTTE COUNTY.

POSSE WITH BLOODHOUNDS SEARCH-

ING FOR THE UNKNOWN SLAYER OF

ALONZO VAN ROYEN, HIS WIFE

AND HER SISTER.

MANY BULLET WOUNDS

IN THE WOMEN'S BODIES.

MYSTERIOUS VISITOR SOUGHT

BY OFFICERS.

Coroner's Office Delays Sheriff

Several Hours by Failing

to Promptly Report

Crime.

MRS. MARGARET VAN ROYEN AND MISS ROSE M'MAHON.
Two of the Victims of a Triple Tragedy That is Mystifying the Kansas City, Kas., Officials.

A triple murder in which Alonzo Van Royen, a farmer; his wife, Margaret Van Royen, and Mrs. Van Royen's sister, Rose McMahon, were the victims was enacted Tuesday night or Wednesday morning on the Reidy road in Wyandotte county, about five miles west of Kansas City, Kas.

A posse with bloodhounds is now searching for the assassin whose identity is not known.

The body of Van Royen was not discovered until ten hours after the bodies of the murdered women had been found, and during the interim the theory of the officials was that Van Royen had murdered his wife and sister-in-law and had fled.

The bodies of the women were discovered by their brother, James McMahon, who went to their ho me and found them lying on the floor of their one room about 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Shortly before midnight Sheriff Al Becker and a party discovered the body of Van Royen lying near a ravine about fifty feet from the house.

MANY BULLETS FOR WOMEN.

Six bullet wounds, made by a 38-caliber revolver, were in the body of Mrs. Van Royen, and three bullets were found in the body of her sister. Both women were pierced through the heart and every bullet was fired into their breasts.

When the news of the murder spread through the country, fifty farmers, carrying lanterns in their hands, organized a posse to search for Van Royen. At 11 o'clock his body, buried under leaves, was found by Geo. Stimpson, a 19-year-old farmer boy living a short distance west of the Van Royen farm on the Reidy road.

The body was found to have two bullet wounds in the back. One of them passed through the heart. His face had three bruises on it. At 1 o'clock this morning the body was taken to Daniel Bros. undertaking rooms in Armourdale.

The police who brought the bloodhounds to the scene were forced to give up the hunt. The trail of the murderer was found to be "cold." A good description has been secured. Telegrams were sent this morning to the police departments in this part of the country to be on the lookout for the man.

There was a visitor at the Van Royen home Tuesday morning and it is for this man that the officials are vigorously searching. James McMahon saw the stranger talking to Van Royen, but did not learn his name. He thought the man was buying potatoes. The diaimond ring which Mrs. Van Royen wore is gone from her finger, also other jewelry and money, possibly as much as $700, which was known to be in the house.

The Van Royens lived on a twelve-acre farm about a half mile distant from the farm of Mrs. Van Royen's mother, who is the widow of Timothy McMahon, one of the first settlers in Wyandotte county. On the mother's farm live three sons, James, Timothy and Patrick McMahon. Rose McMahon lived with her mother, but was a daily visitor at the home of her sister.

James McMahon made this statement to The Journal:

"Van Royen came over to our place Tuesday morning and said he was going to Kansas City, Mo., to sell some potatoes, and asked that Rose go over to his house and stay with Margaret. Rose left here Tuesday afternoon. I went to town Wednesday morning and when I returned my mother told me that Rose had not come home Tuesday night. This was an unusual thing. I also expected to see Van Royen at the market, but I learned that he had not been there.

"I went over to their home and then went to the back door and knocked. I got no response, so I tried the door. It was not locked. As I entered I saw the dead bodies of my sisters. Margaret was lying near the south door, a part of her body resting under the dining table. Rose, wearing her outer cloak, was lying near the west door. Thee bed clothes were rumpled and the dishes were not washed, but the room did not indicate that there had been a struggle. I looked for my brother-in-law, but found him nowhere in sight. I was stunned, of course, that there was no reasoning of the problem. I ran to a neighbor's and notified the coroner.

MAY HAVE SEEN SLAYER.

"I am confident that the man I saw my brother-in-law with the day before had something to do with the killing. I was not introduced to him, but Mr. Van Royen appeared to know him pretty well. We have been selling a good many potatoes and I supposed that it was some fellow after potatoes or possibly a load of wood.

"The man wore overalls and a gray coat. He was of dark complexion, having black hair and a black moustache, and of medium build."

James A. Downs, the uncle of Mrs. Van Royen, said last night that Van Royen, in company with a stranger, whose description answers that of the man seen by McMahon, came to his Union avenue saloon about a week ago. Downs was not there, but his bartender told him that Van Royen had called for him.

"About a week ago," said Mr. Downs, "Mrs. Van Royen visited me and said that she and her husband had decided to sell their farm and move to Colorado. They wanted to farm out there on a larger scale.

"I advised them not to leave. She said that her husband was anxious to move and was insistent upon it. I had not seen her since and don't know whether the sale was consummated. My theory is that Van Royen had talked about the prospective sale and that someone just laid for the money. Even if the sale was not consummated there probably was $600 or $700 in the house."

The great number of shots fired into the women by the assassin mystifies the authorities. According to the coroner, nearly every one of the bullet wounds would have caused the death. The coroner searched the premises and found in a trunk a 38-caliber revolver, unloaded. It did not smell of powder and he doesn't believe it was the weapon used in the tragedy. Three loaded cartridges were found in the trunk.

HER UNTIMELY ARRIVAL.

In the coroner's opinion the victims had been dead at least eight or ten hours before their bodies were discovered. The killing of Rose McMahon, it is conjectured, resulted from her arriving at the house at an unexpected moment, just as the assassin had begun his plan of slaying the husband and the wife and that he killed her to put the only witness out of the way. The fact that the girl's cloak was about her body indicates that she had either just arrived or was just departing.

MET AT CHURCH FAIR.

Alonzo Van Royen was 32 years old and his wife was the same age. They met at a Catholic church fair in Chelsea place, Kansas City, Kas., three years ago and were married soon after, Father Stephen Kelly, the pastor of the Chelsea Place church performing the ceremony. Van Royen was then a driver for a baker, an occupation he had followed for several years. He continued with the bakery until about a year after his marriage when he started a small grocery store in Mount Washington. He ran the grocery store a few months and then he and his wife went to live with Mrs. Van Royen's mother.

Mrs. Van Royen owned twelve acres, which originally was a part of her father's farm. A short time ago her husband erected on this land a one-room frame house and they went there to live. The married life of the Van Royens was said to be ideal and both were extremely popular. Their plan to sell the property and move to Colorado was not approved of by any of their relatives, who did not want to see them leave Kansas City.

Their threatened departure was especially opposed by Rose McMahon, the slain sister, who was always her sister's companion. Rose was 24 years old and an attractive girl of the brunette type. Every day she went over to her sister's house.

Another sister, Nellie, is the wife of Edward E. Blue of 4909 Michigan avenue. A third sister is Cyrilla, wife of Richard O'Brien of St. Joseph, Mo., and a fourth, Catherine, is a nun in a Catholic convent at Butte, Mont. Mrs. John Ellis, an aunt, lives at Seventh street and Oakland avenue, Kansas City, Kas., and it was at her home last night that Mr. and Mrs. Blue, Mr. Downs and a few intimate friends of the family gathered. At this time the body of Van Royen had not been discovered and the theory that he had murdered his wife and sister-in-law was suggested. No member present would be convinced that such was the condition.

MURDERER HAS GOOD START.

The bodies of the murdered women were taken to the undertaking rooms of Daniel Bros., Packard and Kansas avenues, and the body of Van Royen will be taken there as soon as Coroner Davis examines it.

In the meantime, the sheriff and his deputies are searching the surrounding country in the hope of apprehending the murderer. The sheriff believes that the murderer has a start of at least twenty-four hours and he has probably gotten a safe distance away.

The ho use of the tragedy stands amid lonely surroundings. Practically the nearest neighbor is the McMahones, a half mile away. A small stream rns near the house and it was beside this that the body of Van Royen was found. There was a team of horses standing tweenty feet away and a short distance from the horses was a wagon. Van Royen had another team, but this was gone and the slayer probably used the horses in his escape.

An inquest will be held today but the funeral arrangements for the three victims have not been determined.

CORONER DELAYED SHERIFF.

Owing to the fact that Coroner Davis did not notify the sheriff until 7 o'clock last night, the Wyandotte county authorities had little opportunity to run down any tangible clue. Mr. McMahon notified Coroner Davis of the tragedy at 1:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Instead of informing the sheriff of the crime the coroner had brought the bodies of the women to an undertaker's establishment, and then he called up the sheriff's office. According to Sheriff Becker, the coroner gave such an indefinite description of the locality last night that he went eight miles out of the way before arriving at the Van Royen home at 10 o'clock. If the bloodhounds could have been brought to the scene yesterday afternoon, the sheriff thinks the animals might have found the trail.

According to the sheriff, other instances of negligence on the part of the coroner have been noticed during the year.

Labels: Armourdale, churches, farmers, Kansas City Kas, ministers, Mt. Washington, murder, Reidy road, saloon, Sheriff Becker, Van Royen Murders

October 12, 1909

NIGHT SCHOOL OPENS.

FIRST EVENING 119 PUPILS ARE

IN ATTENDANCE.

Commercial Arithmetic Class So

Crowded It Is Divided Into

Two Sections -- Prim-

ers Distributed.

The opening of the night high school at the high school building in Kansas City, Kas., last night, was marked by the attendance of 119 pupils, whose ages ranged from 17 to 45 years. Principal E. L. Miller and the assisting teachers divided the pupils into 12 classes. The recitation periods were made from 7:30 to 8:20, and from 8:20 to 9:10 p. m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights.

The pupils were given the choice of two of the following twelve subjects: Chemistry, English, Latin, German, geometry and algebra, commercial arithmetic, grammar and spelling, penmanship, book keeping, stenography, woodwork and mechanical drawings.

The commercial arithmetic class was so crowded Mr. Miller had to make two sections of it. Book keeping, penmanship and chemistry were the next three most popular classes. A large number of graduates of the high school en rolled in the language classes to complete work they had failed to finish while in school.

NINE LEARNING TO READ.

The most interesting class of all was that of nine Polish young men, who are attending the school to learn to read and write the English language. The young men live in the neighborhood of St. Margaret's hospital, and work in the packing houses during the day. They became interested in the school through the efforts of Charles W. Szajkowski, a cabinet maker, who has lived in America nineteen years, and who received a training in English in the night schools of New York city.

A teacher had not been designated for this class and M. E. Pearson, superintendent of the schools, volunteered to start the class in their studies. He began by attempting to call the roll, but was forced to call Mr. Szajkowski to his aid.

The following were the pupils enrolled in this class: Andrzoj Kominick, Cypryan Lauter, John Pasik, Alex Mimeszkowski, Anton Catrowski, Stamstan Butklewicz, Joseph Wiskiewski, Michael Kryska, and John Balamat.

After the roll call Mr. Pearson distributed primers and prepared for foreign students, and after reading over simple sentences, had the class repeat them. Notwithstanding the fact that none of the class knew anything of English, within half a half hour they were reading such sentences as "Five cents make a nickel," and "Ten dimes make a dollar."

WRITE SIMPLE WORDS.

The class was next sent to the blackboard, and after Mr. Pearson had written simple words on the board, the class was told to copy them. It was surprising how well they wrote the words.

Mr. Pearson and Mr. Miller were gratified with the results of the first session of the school.

"I am certain the school will be a success," Mr. Miller said. "The pupils all appear earnest and I believe will improve their opportunity. At least fifteen pupils told me that they would bring another pupil with them at the next session."

Mr. Pearson was very much interested in the class of foreigners. "I am very glad, indeed, that we are enabled to take up this work," he said. "I studied night school for foreigners in the East two years ago and from what I learned there I know they pay."

BOYS ARE EARNEST.

"Our own American pupils will have to look out or the Polish boys will beat them when it comes to earnestness and ability to stick with their studies. Mr. Szajkowski told me after class tonight that he expects to have at least seventy-five Polish young men enrolled within two weeks."

All of the students attending the school pay a monthly tuition of $2. This fee will be used to pay the teachers, except Mr. Miller, who gives his services to the school. The pupils come from all over the city. One pupil enrolled from Mount Washington, a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. Several more enrolled from Kansas City, Mo., and one from Rosedale.

Labels: immigrants, Kansas City Kas, Mt. Washington, Rosedale, schools

October 9, 1909

FREDERICK GEHRING DIES.

Editor of Staats Zeitung Passes

Away at 68 Years.

Frederick Gehring, editor of the Missouri Staats Zeitung, the offices of which are located at 304 West Tenth street, died at 7 o'clock yesterday morning at the German hospital. Mr. Gehring was 68 years old, having been born in Griessen, Germany, March 4, 1841. One relative, a son, Carl, employed by the Moore Transfer Company, survives.

The funeral services will be conducted from the home, 3152 Oak street, at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon. Burial in Mount Washington cemetery.

Mr. Gehring was secretary of the German-American Citizens' Association and a member of the Turner society. In both of these organizations his long residence in the city, his position as editor of the only German weekly paper in the country and his evident honest and ability as a worker for the good of the community gave him prestige.

Coming from Germany when he was 12 years old, Mr. Gehring's parents took him to Lafayette, Ind., where he grew to manhood. When the civil war broke out he enlisted in the Fifteenth Indiana Volunteer infantry June 14, 1861. He was mustered out of the service in June, 1864, carrying a scar from a minie ball wound with him into private life.

After marrying Miss Catherine May of Indanapolis, immediately after the close of the war, Mr. Gehring moved to Springfield, Ill., where he started the German Free Press. He was twice elected to the city council in Springfield, and from 1876 to 1877 was a member of the legislature.

Mr. Gehring came to Kansas City twenty-five years ago and established the Staats Zeitung, or State News, in 1894. His wife died last December.

A special meeting of the Turner Society will be called at 8 o'clock this evening to arrange for the funeral.

Labels: Civil War, death, German hospital, immigrants, Mt. Washington, newspapers, Oak street, organizations, Tenth street

October 3, 1909

HUNTON FUNERAL TOMORROW.

Services at Home of Mrs. L. O. Swope

in Independence.

The funeral of James Moss Hunton will take place Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home of Mrs. L. O. Swope, South Pleasant street, Independence. The service will be conducted by the Rev. C. C. McGinley of the First Presbyterian church.

The active pallbearers will be T. C. Sawyer, W. S. Flournoy, S. W. Sawyer, A. J. Bundschu and A. M. Ott. Honorary pallbearers, E. P. Gates, I. N. Rogers, Henry Harper, J. G. Paxton, O. P. Bryant, O. H. Gentry, Jr., J. N. Southern, S. H. Woodson and Hugh L. McElroy of Kansas City.

Internment will be in Mt. Washington cemetery.

Labels: churches, funerals, Independence, ministers, Mt. Washington, Thomas Swope

September 2, 1909

TO WED BROTHER'S WIDOW.

License Issued to J. M. Vanderveer

and Mrs. W. P. Vanderveer.

John McMath Van Derveer of Clanton, Ala., yesterday secured a license at the county clerk's office in Kansas City, Mo., to marry the widow of his brother, William P. Van Derveer, who died April 26, 1907, in Kansas City. Mrs. Van Derveer, who lives with her father, Joseph McGrath, a policeman, at 810 Colorado avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was not at home yesterday. Her sister, Miss Anna McGrath, stated that she knew Mrs. Van Derveer intended to marry her dead husband's brother but did not know where they were to be married.

"My sister, Leona, married William P. Van Derveer April 14, 1906," Miss McGrath said. "He was a soap salesman for the Swift Packing company. They lived at 1000 Glenwood avenue in Mt. Washington. He died a year and twelve days after their marriage, of typhoid fever. His wife took the body to Clanton, Ala., where his father owns a large plantation. At the funeral of her husband, she met John McMath Van Deveer, his brother. She remained a few months with her husband's parents, and then came back home to live. Later Mr. Van Deveer came up here to visit, and the engagement followed. They will live in Alabama."

Labels: Kansas City Kas, Mt. Washington, romance, typhoid, wedding

May 16, 1909

JUST LIKE THE ROAR OF

APPROACHING TRAIN.

MT. WASHINGTON RESIDENTS

DESCRIBE THE CYCLONE.

Freak Results of the "Twister"

Viewed by the Hundreds Who

Visited Storm-Wrecked

Suburb.

1. Wreck of Christian church blown across Overton avenue. Newton Bird's residence in the background, turned around on foundation. G. B. De Bernardi's home stood in the foreground; completely demolished.
2. Giant elm uprooted by storm. Tree was three feet in diameter.
3. J. J. Peek's home at Independence and Overton avenues, turned over on side.
4. G. F. Baker's new home, blown from foundation.
5. Where H. D. Jett's home, back of Christian church stood. Mrs. Jett and three children were in building but were uninjured.

Hundreds of sightseers yesterday afternoon inspected the devastation wrought by the cyclone on Friday night at Mount Washington. When the visitors looked at the ruined homes, the twisted trolley poles and the debris that once represented suburban dwellings, surprise was expressed that no one was killed outright. It was almost miraculous, when slivers were found firmly embedded in trees, scantlings driven two feet into the ground and nails driven into the sides of walls that were still standing.

When morning came the work of cleaning up the debris commenced. It was found to be a hard task. The members of the Christian church, which was completely destroyed, were on hand early and picked up chairs, carpets, Bibles and song books.

The owners of the destroyed homes looked upon the matter in a philosophical way. Aside from picking up little things which had escaped destruction, they spent most of the time in explaining to the ever-present crowd how it actually happened. Just a roar, like an approaching train, and it was all over. Not even time to get to the cellar was afforded most of the victims. With mist that was impenetrable, the cyclone swept on, but high in the air fragments of trees, timbers and scantlings could be seen. Every one was of the opinion that the storm traversed Mount Washington in less than five minutes.

STORM'S PATH NOT WIDE.

The path of the storm was not over thirty yards wide. In many instances buildings twenty feet from wrecked ones, were not damaged in the least. Gigantic trees that had stood for more than 100 years were broken off at the base, while others in softer ground were torn up by the roots. A sugar maple in one instance was transplanted into a neighboring garden.

According to the physicians who attended the twenty or more injured, there will likely be no fatalities. The Greer boys who were caught under their home when they attempted to reach the cellar were taken to the Sheffield hospital and both will recover. They remained wedged between the floor and the foundation before they were released by the neighbors. Seth Greer, 17 years old, was injured the least of the two. Lee, the 5-year-old boy, is still in critical condition, although the physicians are hopeful of his ultimate recovery.

Mrs. J. W. Robinson, who lives in Fairmount addition, and whose house was blown to pieces, is dangerously injured. Her head was cut, her left side bruised and she probably has received internal injuries. Mrs. Josie De Bernardi, 61 years old, who received a broken right arm, will recover.

IT WAS A KANSAS CYCLONE.

All who witnessed the storm were of the opinion that it was one of the old-fashioned Kansas cyclones. G. F. Baker, whose new home at the corner of Overton and Independence avenues, was completely wrecked, stood a block away and watched the "twister." The house was not occupied.

The insurance men did a thriving business yesterday among the residents of Mount Washington who escaped storm injury. Agents from Kansas City firms arrived with the first street cars, and it is likely that before last night, the suburb was fairly well covered. No one seemed to be anxious to take further risk.

Dr. Charles Nixon and Dr. William L. Gilmore, the resident physicians of Mount Washington, say little rest Friday night. The two men practically covered the entire district devastated by the cyclone. Both were besieged by persons who desired them to come to the aid of injured friends. Physicians from Independence arrived in a motor car and attended many.

Mrs. John Reed, who was living in a tent in the Fairmount addition, saved herself from serious injury by her presence of mind. She looked out of the tent when she heard the roar of the storm. She knew that it would be impossible to reach safety. Alongside of the tent was a barbwire fence. She grasped one of the posts and waited until the storm struck. her lacerated arms showed that her experience had been a trying one. She didn't give up, though.

"I locked my arms," she said, "and closed my eyes. It was all over in a minute. It was simply awful. I was lifted from the ground, but I wouldn't let go."

Labels: churches, doctors, Independence avenue, Mt. Washington, sheffield, weather

May 15, 1909

SCORES INJURED IN A

STORMSWEPT SUBURB.

TORNADO STRIKES MOUNT

WASHINGTON.

Many Homes Wrecked or Demol-

ished -- Trees and Poles Razed,

Air Line Train in the

Twister's Path.

Sweeping across the country just east of Kansas City, a tornado tore down many buildings and injured more than twenty persons about 6 o'clock last night. The greatest damage was done in the neighborhood of Mount Washington and Fairmount park. The storm originated near the intersection of the Blue Ridge road and Fifteenth street, and crossed the country to the northeast.

Little damage was done by the tornado until it reached the street car line at Mount Washington, and from there until it reached the Missouri river it left only wreckage in its path. It moved some houses from the foundations, demolished others, and razed trees and telegraph poles. Many persons were injured by flying timbers. Several of the injured are not expected to live, and quite a number not bruised suffered from nervous shock.

ROOFS 200 FEET IN AIR.

Wreckage was blown high in the air, and witnesses say that roofs were seen at an altitude of 200 feet. Timbers carried onto the street car and railroad tracks delayed transportation, and made it dangerous for traveling. Flying timbers threatened injury to all those who braved the storm to go the the assistance of the unfortunates whose homes were demolished. Immediately after the force of the tornado had passed, men and women gathered to the aid of those needing it and surgeons were sent for from Independence.

Many miraculous escapes were recorded and the storm played havoc with everything in its path. Trees several feet in diameter were uprooted and then broken off, while telephone and telegraph wires and poles were blown down which tended to make the work of rescue the harder. As fast as the injured persons were found friends and neighbors carried them to their homes and summoned medical aid.

TRAIN IN TRACK OF STORM.

The Air Line train, which is due to leave Independence at 5:45, was directly in the path of the tornado, and at Mount Washington narrowly escaped being wrecked. A roof whirling in the air 200 feet high passed over the rear coach, and the end of the roof tore a hole in the top of the car. A timber was driven into the roof of the coach, and was sticking there when the train pulled out.

The concrete and steel bridge of the Chicago & Alton crossing the electric line leading to Fairmount park was moved four inches from its foundation. Residences on the hill were blown down and the wreckage strewn along the Chicago & Alton and Missouri Pacific tracks.

The storm struck the ground at various places, and where it did any damage its path was estimated to be about 150 feet wide. Many persons saw its approach and attempted to avoid it by running across the country or retiring to the cellars of their homes. One woman who ran into a barn was left unconscious on the ground, while the barn was whipped off the ground and carried away. What became of it was not known last night.

LIKE A LURID DUST CLOUD.

Those who noticed the storm as it approached their neighborhood, said that it seemed to gather velocity and destructiveness as it neared Mount Washington. The cloud, looking like a reddish dust cloud, twisted and whirled with rapidity. It would travel high in the air and then swoop down to earth, smashing and damaging everything it struck.

Throughout and preceding the tornado there was a heavy rainfall. Shortly after the crest of the storm had passed the wind swept territory, the work of rescue was well under way. Later the rain continued, and delayed the recovery of property which had been blown away.

CAUGHT UNDER WRECKAGE.

The low hanging cloud, as it swept around Mount Washington cemetery, took on a funnel like shape when it neared the Metropolitan tracks. The home of George Ogan at 915 Greenwood avenue was the first in the path of the storm. Mr. and Mrs. Ogan, with their daughter, Mrs. J. Jenkins, were in the house, which was lifted from its foundation. After it passed the Ogan home the storm redoubled its fury.

John Archer, a Metropolitan motorman, who was working on a new house near the street car tracks, was struck by a flying timber. Dr. Gilmore, who treated him, found that he was suffering from a severe scalp wound.

At the barn of A. J. Ream not enough timbers were left to show that it ever existed. Mr. Ream's large house, fifty feet to the east, was not damaged. Across the street car spur to Fairmount park, Orli Can's home was blown to pieces. No one was at home.

Next to the Cain home was a new building being erected by C. L. Green, an insurance man, who is in Cleveland, O., at the present time. In the rear was a small cottage in which the family lived. When the storm struck Mrs. Greer and the two sons attempted to reach the cellar. The mother was not injured, but the boys were caught by the house as it ripped from the foundation. A. J. Ream rescued the boys from under the wreckage.

CHRISTIAN CHURCH DESTROYED.

Adjoining the Greer home was the residence of Will McCay, a decorator for Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company. Mrs. McKay and her 8 year old daughter, Grace, were in the dining room. The roof was carried fifty feet away. Both were hurt.

Next in its path the storm destroyed two large residences belonging to H. D. Jett, a commission man. Mrs. Jett and three children were in the smaller of the two houses. The building was completely destroyed. None of the four were injured.

At the southwest corner of Independence and Overton avenues the storm did its worst. The Christian church, a building erected four years ago, was wrecked beyond recognition. Not a wall was left standing. Had the windstorm struck two hours later, the building would have been occupied, as revival services are held every night.

J. S. DeBernardi's home, directly south of the church, was shifted from its foundation, and Forest, his 10-year-old son, was slightly injured. Charles F. Miller's residence, fifty feet to the west, was shifted from the foundation, but no one was injured, though the family were at home.

Mr. and Mrs. J. S. DeBernardi, the parents of J. S. DeBernardi, lived directly across Overton avenue from the Christian church. The five room cottage was literally blown away, and Mrs. DeBernardi was dangerously injured. Her left arm was broken and she was later taken to Independence for treatment. A new house belonging to J. S. DeBernardi, fifty feet away, was also blown away.

HOUSE TOPSY TURVY.

In its course, the storm next struck the home of W. B. Rich. The house was shifted form its foundation. Steele Byrd's new residence was also shifted from its foundation. The Kefferly home, adjoining the Rich's, had its roof blown away.

Fortunately no one was at home when the storm struck the home of J. Peak, the proprietor of the Fairmount Lumber Company. The house was turned completely over and deposited upside down in the cellar. A new residence belonging to G. R. Baker was next, and was totally destroyed. No one was living in the building.

The storm then jumped the deep ravine between Mount Washington and Fairmount addition. John Robinson's cottage was the first struck and was completely demolished. Mrs. Robinson and her 1-year-old daughter were dangerously injured. J. W. Ferguson's cottage was next destroyed. Mrs. Ferguson was injured, but the two children were not touched.

HELD TO FENCE POST.

Fred McGrath's home, directly north, was also destroyed, and Mrs. McGrath was dangerously injured. Directly north of the McGrath home Mr. and Mrs. John Reed were living in a tent. Mr. Reed was not at home, and when Mrs. Reed saw the cloud she started to run. Finding that it would be impossible to get away, she seized a piece of fence post and managed to cling to it until the wind was over. Her arms were badly lacerated.

A block north the two-story residence of Alexander Harness was demolished. Mrs. Harness received several scratches. A new dwelling across the street in the course of construction was demolished. The one-room home of James Patterson, a laborer, was blown away. Patterson escaped with slight injuries.

From Patterson's home the tornado lifted and no further damage was reported. Sugar Creek, directly in line with the tornado, only experienced a strong wind.

Labels: Blue Ridge road, fairmount park, Independence avenue, Mt. Washington, railroad, real estate, streetcar, Sugar Creek, telegraph, weather

April 29, 1909

BABY IS FATALLY BURNED.

Little One Played With Fire While

Mother Was Out.

Otto F. Muehle, the 22-months-old son of Oscar M. Muehle, was fatally burned yesterday afternoon at the family home, 1511 Carrington avenue.

The mother was alone in the house with the child and left him sitting by the stove for a moment while she went out into the yard. The little one began playing with the fire, using a stick and soon had his clothes ablaze. His screams attracted the mother and she smothered the flames but not before the child had been so badly burned that he died five hours later.

Funeral services will be held from the home this afternoon at 2 o'clock. Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.

Labels: children, death, Fire, Mt. Washington

April 10, 1909

CHARLES C. YOST DIES

AFTER BRIEF ILLNESS.

FUNERAL SERVICES WILL BE

HELD SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

Was Prominent Politician and Busi-

ness Man and Member of Many

Orders -- Had Lived in Kansas

City Thirty-Seven Years.

CHARLES C. YOST.

Charles C. Yost, prominent Republican politician and partner in the Smith-Yost Pie Company, died last night at his home, 3032 Park avenue, after an illness of a week. His trouble was inflammation of the brain.

Mr. Yost was born 47 years ago in Rochester, Ind. Charles was only 10 years old when his parents brought him to Kansas City. He received a common school education and graduated from the Kansas City High school at the age of 16 years. He was only 19 years old when he became a clerk in a grocery store, a position which he held for two years and a half. At the end of that time he had accumulated enough money to go into the grocery business with L. M. Berkeley as a partner. Unfortunately, during the boom years of 1885-6-7 the firm invested heavily in real estate and went down with a large number of other business houses when the boom burst. The partnership made an assignment.

It wasn't long, however, before Mr. Yost was on his feet again. He organized the Yost Grocery Company and operated it for four years, selling out in 1894. After that he became the owner of a novel concern called Yost's Market. A short time later he went into the business of manufacturing pies, and rapidly built up his business. In 1902 he consolidated his interests with those of Howard Smith.

Mr. Yost was an ardent Republican all his life. He was appointed city assessor by Mayor Webster Davis in 1895, and reappointed for two terms by Mayor Jones. He was chairman of the Republican county committee for several years and a member of many republican clubs.

He was married to Miss Hattie M. Beedle of Johnson county, Kas., in 1883. Six children survive. They are Leroy, Charles, Joseph, Mrs. Pearl Yost Dietrich, Miss Nina and Miss Jeannette. All of them live in this city.

Mr. Yost was a mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Order of American Mechanics and several other societies.

Funeral services will b e held from the home Sunday at 3:30 p. m. The Rev. E. C. Smith, pastor of the Linwood Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Mount Washington.

Labels: business, churches, death, food, Funeral, grocers, Johnson county, lodges, ministers, Mt. Washington, Park avenue, politics, real estate

January 12, 1909

DIED FULL OF HONORS.

Wearing the Blue Ribbon, This

White Wyandotte Passed Away.

An unusual incident attended the judging of chickens in the annual show of the Kansas City Fanciers' Association in Convention hall yesterday afternoon in the death of a White Wyandotte cock owned by the P. B. Wyandotte farm at Mount Washington three minutes after it had received the first prize in its class. According to the judges, the cock would have been given the special award to be presented to the best bird in the show of any of the classes entered.

"The bird marked the perfection of breeding in the White Wyandotte class," said W. C. Pierce of Indianapolis, one of the judges. "I never saw its equal. The other judges say that it was a type apart from any bird exhibited, in any of the shows they have attended. It was easily worth $500."

Owners of the Wyandotte farm said that they still have two birds of the same breeding that show promise of equaling the bird that died. A post mortem will be held this morning to determine the cause of the fowl's death.

Labels: animals, Convention Hall, farmers, Mt. Washington, organizations

January 1, 1909

USED HUMAN SKULLS

FOR RIFLE TARGETS.

Mt. Washington's Bad Boy

Dug Them From Cemetery.

Claude Statzer was the original bad boy of the Mount Washington neighborhood if half of what the neighbors said about him is true. What they said was plenty twice over to send him to Boonville, where the state of Missouri has a reformatory. Judge H. L. McCune made the order in the juvenile court yesterday.

Many of the neighbors said that Claude was 19 and that he had been accepted for enlistment in the army, subject to a physical examination. But the young man said he was 15, and so it was the reform school.

The neighbors began to go into Claude's past. There was the story of many "dime novels," only the matter-of-fact courts refer to them as "5-cent novels," for that's what they cost in these days. There was another tale of how the lad had picked out a box car for his very own, making a home and a fortress out of it. And there was a narrative about how the boy was often seen with a gun.

"Why," said A. P. Fonda, justice of the peace in Sugar Creek, "this boy dug skeletons from an old burying ground near Mount Washington. He took the rings off the fingers. The skulls he set up for targets for his rifle. Sometimes he put a cigar or cigarette in a hole in a skull and then tried to shoot away the tobacco. I have had him in court on complaint of the neighbors."

A storekeeper of the neighborhood related how he was going home one night when the boy halted him at the muzzle of a rifle. As soon as he saw the merchant plainly enough to recognize him, he apologized for a case of mistaken identity.

In sentencing Claude, Judge H. L. Mccune again showed his enmity to the "gun toting" practice. Said the judge:

"It ought to be a crime to point a gun at any one. I'm going to put a stop to this carrying of guns by boys."

"Amen," said somebody in the court room, and the word did not seem to come from the bevy of Scarritt Bible and Training school girls in the jury box, but rather from Mrs. Parks, whose son, John Parks, was shot and killed by Statzer in a presumed accident.

"It does seem," continued the judge, "that there is no well equipped home without a revolver and on a shelf where the children can get it. Of course, it is not believed to be loaded until somebody is killed. I've been here eighteen years and have never found it necessary to carry a weapon."

Labels: cemetery, children, courtroom, guns, Judge McCune, Mt. Washington, reform school

December 8, 1908

J. S. CHICK, PIONEER

MERCHANT, IS DEAD.

HE FOUNDED THE FIRST BANK

IN KANSAS CITY.

Widely Known for His Integrity and

Honor in Business Affairs.

Funeral Will Be Held

Tomorrow.

Joseph Smith Chick, founder of the first bank in this city and for fifty years a citizen here, died at his home, 1039 Brooklyn avenue, at 4:30 yesterday morning. He had been ill several months, although he went to his offices until last week.

Mr. Chick was born in Howard county, Mo., August 3, 1828. His parents were from Virginia and the family lived on a farm. In 1830 the family moved to the town of Westport. Mr. Chick's father, Colonel William M. Chick, was one of the early purchasers of the original site on which Kansas City was built. At the time the family moved to Westport there were not a half a dozen families in Kansas City, called then Westport Landing. Joseph Chick went to the Westport schools, but at the age of 18 years put away his books and went into business. He became a clerk in the general store of H. M. Northrup, the largest shop of its kind in the town of Westport Landing. He worked hard and faithfully and in 1852 was admitted to a partnership in the firm.

Soon afterwards he and his partner conceived the idea of operating a bank in Kansas City and established one under the name of H. M. Northrup & Co. The company also took some interest in the trade across the plains to Santa Fe and in the year 1861 Mr. Chick and Mr. Northrup, with their wives, made the trip over the Santa Fe trail to trade with the Indians.

BANKING IN NEW YORK.

The next year, on account of the unsettled conditions prevailing, the company gave up its business in Kansas City and removed to New York, where they established a bank under the name of Northrup & Chick, on Wall street. For eleven years they continued in that city but in 1874 Mr. Chick sold out his interest and removed to this city, where he associated himself with some of the wealthy business men of the city and organized the Bank of Kansas City. In 1888 this institution was merged with the National Bank of Kansas City and Mr. Chick was chosen president, a position he held until the dissolution of the firm in 1895. Since then he had been in the real estate business with his son.

Mr. Chick was also connected with the St. Louis and Missouri River Telegraph Company, built to Kansas City in 1851; the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the macadamized road from Westport to the city, the first telephone company, the Kansas City Electric Light Company and the National Loan & Trust Company. He was once president of the board of trade.

For many years Mr. Chick had lived in the house where he died. Immediately after his return from New York he bought a large plot of ground in that neighborhood, ten acres facing on the street that is now Brooklyn avenue. Mr. Chick gave the street its present name after the city that he made his home when a banker in New York.

Since his early youth Mr. Chick was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and a faithful attendant at church services. For the last twenty-five years he had been the president of the board of stewards of the Central Methodist Episcopal church.

MRS. CHICK IS ILL.

Mr. Chick was married to Miss Julia Sexton of Howard county in 1855. Mrs. Chick is 76 years old. She is dangerously ill and may not survive her husband for long.

Two children survive, Joseph S. Chick, Jr., and Mrs. E. E. Porterfield, wife of Judge Porterfield, and three grandchildren, Mrs. Robert G. Caldwell, who lives in Indianapolis, Ind., E. E. Porterfield, Jr., and Miss Julia C. Porterfield.

The funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home. Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery. The active pallbearers will be selected from Mr. Chick's nephews.

In both his public and his private life Mr. Chick bore the reputation for exemplary character. His business integrity was above reproach, and when the bank with which he was connected failed in 1895 on account of hard times, Mr. Chick assumed the task of paying off the debt. Five years ago the last dollar was paid, together with 8 per cent interest on the money. He was always benevolent in disposition and had given an efficient business training to many young men now scattered in many states. His bearing was erect and his address cheerful. He was beloved by many, and liked by all who knew him.

Labels: banking, Brooklyn avenue, cemetery, churches, death, history, Judge Porterfield, Mt. Washington, New York, pioneers, railroad, real estate, retailers, Santa Fe Trail, telephone, Utilities, Westport

November 8, 1908

SOLDIER WHO SHOUTED

"REMEMBER CUSTER"

IS DEAD.

Heart Disease Claims As a Victim

David H. Pingree at the

Age of 56.

You remember the story in the history books about the massacre of General Custer in the Bad Lands of South Dakota, do you not? Especially you remember the stirring incident of the time when the troops who had been sent to revenge the death of the gallant leader and capture the redskin chief, Sitting Bull, wavered and were about to retreat before the withering fire poured out upon them from ambush, a soldier rose in his saddle and cried aloud:

"Remember Custer."

Only two words, but they made history. The soldiers rallied, taking those words for their battlecry and charged, inflicting the most decisive defeat upon the Indian warriors ever suffered in the history of the race.

The man who spoke those words is dead. David H. Pingree, 56 years old, formerly member of the Seventh United States cavalry, dropped dead of heart trouble last Friday morning. He had been honorably discharged from the army with the mark of "excellent" in 1891, after a service of six years. He came to Kansas City, where he remained a short time, but soon went to Iola, Kas., where he went into the hotel business, but for the past two years has been living in this city. A wife, who lives in Rich Hill, Mo., survives.

Besides turning the tide of the battle by giving his comrades a slogan to fight for at the psychological moment Pingree contributed largely to the victory in another way. A party of Indians were hidden behind a tent close to the regiment and they were picking off a cavalryman at every opportunity. Pingree and another soldier loosened up a Hotchkiss gun and trained it on the tent. In a few moments there was no tent left and the Indians were forced to seek another cover.

Pingree was an Elk. The lodge will have charge of the funeral services at 2:30 this afternoon from Eylar Bros. chapel, Fourteenth and Main streets. Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.

Labels: Custer, death, Fourteenth street, history, Main street, military, Mt. Washington, Native Americans, undertakers, veterans

September 11, 1908

DR. SOLOMON S. LANDON DIES.

Was a Well Known Young Surgeon

and Owner of Hospital.

Dr. Solomon S. Landon, owner of the Sheffield hospital, died yesterday morning at Burnett's sanitarium. Dr. Landon was one of the most promising young surgeons in the city and popular with a large circle of acquaintances. He was brought up at London Mills, Ill., and graduated with the bachelor's degree from Knox college in 1892. He came to this city and attended the University Medical school, where he graduated in 1896. For the next two years he was assistant police surgeon at police headquarters and afterwards became surgeon for the Burlington railway. Two years ago he founded the Sheffield hospital. He worked hard there and was very successful, but the strain of overwork caused a mental breakdown which forced him to go to Bunett's sanitarium six months ago.

Dr. Landon was 36 years old and married Miss Dora Schaeffer several years ago. Two young daughters, Margaret and Amy, survive. Dr. Landon was a thirty-second degree Mason, an Elk and a Shriner.

The funeral will be conducted by Temple lodge of Masons from the Schaeffer home at 3922 Pennsylvania avenue at 2 o'clock this afternoon. Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.

Labels: death, doctors, hospitals, lodges, Mt. Washington, sheffield

August 23, 1908

LOST BOY'S BODY

IN PAUPER'S GRAVE.

GEORGE PICKLE HAS BEEN DEAD

SINCE JUNE.

Body Was Found in the River a Few

Days After His Disappearance.

Earl Hamilton Viewed It and

Made False Report.

On Saturday, June 20, George Pickle, 16 years old, went from his home, 1429 Summit street, in company with a friend, Earl Hamilton, 30 years old. They said that they were going to view the high water.

The day passed and the boy did not return. The next day Alexander Pickle, father of the lad, asked Hamilton what had become of his son. The latter replied that he had left him at 10 o'clock the morning before and that the boy had probably gone to the harvest fields, as he heard him asking for a ticket for Poe, Kas., at the Union depot ticket window. As George had promised his sister, Mrs. Alma E. Crowder, when she was in the city a few days before, that he would go out to her husband's farm at that place in a few days, this story seemed very probable. However, a few days later a body was discovered in the Missouri river near the mouth of the Blue and taken to the undertaking rooms of Blackburn & Carson in Sheffield for identification. The mother of the lost boy asked Earl Hamilton to go to Sheffield to view the body. He came back and reported that the body was that of a negro in an advanced stage of decomposition. The family did not pursue that clew any farther until last Friday.

Alonzo Ghent and Lum Wilson, city detectives, were assigned to the case. They discovered that Hamilton, a few days after the disappearance of the boy, deposited $120 in $20 bills in a bank, although the same week he had told his landlady that he had not enough money to pay her. George Pickle had a like sum when he disappeared. Hamilton had continued his friendly relations with the pickle family and frequently stopped to talk with the mother and to inquire if the boy had been found. On one of these visits he mentioned to Mrs. Pickle that he had served six months in the army once. She repeated this remark to the detectives, who investigated and found that Hamilton was a deserter from the army, having served a full term of three years and six months of another. They arrested him and sent word to Fort Leavenworth, and in the meanwhile they tried to connect him with the disappearance of the boy.

No charge, save investigation, was ever placed against Hamilton. He was turned over to the county marshal and held as his "guest" in the county jail a few days, then surrendered to the government authorities. A month later he escaped from the federal prison.

But it was not the trained minds of the detectives that determined the fate of the lad. Rather it was the mother's love which prompted her to go over the case again and again and to work up every clew. Her husband, who is a night watchman for the Jones Dry Goods Company, told her that no doubt the boy was safe, but she refused to believe it. Inquiries showed that he had not gone to Poe, Kas., nor was any word ever heard from him.

Last Friday, Mrs. Pickle, in thinking over the mystery, remembered that it was Hamilton that had reported the body at the undertaker's was a negro's. She determined to see if they had not been deceived, so she sent a friend, a Mr. Kinsey, to see the body. He found that the body was very probably that of the boy, and identified several articles as belonging to him. Yesterday the body was exhumed form the pauper's grave, where it had been buried, and positively identified by the father. A gash on the head told how he had come to his death. The police are looking for Hamilton now.

The body of George Pickle will be buried in Mount Washington cemetery today. Earl Hamilton is a cousin of Joseph Hamilton, 1511 Pennsylvania avenue, brother-in-law of the dead boy.

Labels: Blue river, detectives, Jones Dry Goods, Leavenworth, Missouri river, Mt. Washington, murder, Pennsylvania avenue, Summit street, undertakers

August 10, 1908

DEATH OF AN AUTHOR'S WIFE.

Mrs. Alta Trueblood Woodward Died

Yesterday at Family Home.

Alta Trueblood Woodward died yeserday morning at her home, 3215 Vine street Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery at 3 o'clock this afternoon.

Mrs. Woodward was a very attractive woman, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Trueblood of Argentine, Kas., and married Robert Pritchard Woodward on July 17 last. The homeymoon was a trip to Europe. Yesterday, three weeks after the birth of their first child, the young wife died, leaving her soldier, author, journalist, globe-trotter and financier husband to face the world alone and broken hearted, without the prize which his impassioned verses, "A prayer to Alta," swore was the one object of his existence.

Mr. Woodward is a man with an adventurous career. The son of Judge B. W. Woodward of Brooklyn, N. Y., he was brought up in that city and went to West Point, being a member of the class of 1887. He did not enter the army, however, that prospect being too uninteresting in a time of peace. He was six years on the staff of the Brooklyn Eagle but abandoned newspaper work to become an author. To get material for a book he walked from New York to San Francisco, a burro for his only companion.

Labels: Argentine, cemetery, death, Mt. Washington, New York, Vine street

August 1, 1908

THEY'LL EAT IN A GRAVEYARD.

One of the Pleasures Reserved for

Visiting Cemetery Superintendents.

The twenty-second annual convention of the Association of American Cemetery Superintendents will be held in Kansas City August 11, 12 and 13. Members of this association from every state in the Union will be present. Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr. will deliver the address of welcome and other city officials will contribute to the programme. William H. Dunn, superintendent of parks will deliver an address on "Oiled Roads," and George E. Kessler, landscape architect, will talk on "The Cemetery." Among other things scheduled on the program is a luncheon at Mount Washington cemetery at 1 o'clock, August 12.

Labels: cemetery, conventions, George Kessler, Mayor Crittenden, Mt. Washington

May 29, 1908

WILL DEDICATE LONG CHAPEL.

Erected by John Long for $40,000.

Tomorrow afternoon the Mrs. John Long Memorial Chapel in Mount Washington cemetery will be dedicated. The late John Long, a retired wholesale grocer, erected the $40,000 chapel as a tribute to the memory of his wife, Mrs. Emma Stuttle Long, who died October 1, 1906. Mr. Long died in February this year and his own funeral was the first to be held in the chapel he built.

The dedication will be at 2:30 in the afternoon. Edward L. Scarritt, president of the cemetery association, will preside. There will be addresses by the Rev. J. A. Schaad, the Rev. S. M. Neel and the Rev. William J. Dalton. Mrs. Gilure and Mrs. McDonald will sing solo selections and a quartette will furnish the balance of the programme.

Mrs. Long was known for her charities among the poor and the chapel her husband built to her memory is for the poor, the rich, the religious and those of all the world who have not professed faith. Al, who are eligible to be buried in the cemetery, are to have the free use of the chapel.

Labels: cemetery, Father Dalton, Funeral, ministers, Mt. Washington

April 29, 1908

CLERK STOLE MONEY

FOR SICK BROTHER.

IN CONSEQUENCE JUDGE POL-

LOCK IS LENIENT.

Editor of Art Book Fined Nominal

Sum and Escapes Payment.

Other Federal Offend-

ers Sentenced.

It was sentencing day in the United States district court yesterday. Judge Pollock of Kansas was on the bench. Alfred Friend, formerly a clerk in the New England National bank had stolen out-of-town remittances by means of juggling accounts in the bank. The government prosecuted him for getting only $5, but he was supposed to have got about $2,000. After everything in the case was told Judge Pollock undertook to examine the prisoner on his own account.

"What made you do it?" he inquired.

"This made me do it, sir," Friend replied, displaying a small packet of letters and holding them out towards the bench. "Would your honor read them, please?"

FOR HIS SICK BROTHER.

Judge Pollock scanned some of them, interrupting his perusal to ask:

"And did you send the money to this sick brother of yours?"

"I have the money order receipt for it," Friend then said, at the same time producing another paper and handing it to Judge Pollock.

After reflecting a minute the court announced that as Friend had been confined to jail for six months, had lost his employment and had not profited by his thievery, he would be let off with a fine of $500, which means only thirty days in jail. The United States government never holds a prisoner longer than thirty days in liquidation of a fine, no matter how bit it may be.

JULIUS WAS SURPRISED.

Julius Planca, a Frenchman, who was surprised to know that it is contrary to the laws of this country to sell liquor without a license, was fined $10 and costs for bootlegging in a railroad camp east of the city. Arthur Anderson, a 14-year-old boy from the southeast part of the county, was given the same punishment for stealing stamps and coppers from rural free delivery boxes.

A week ago William Soper robbed the little postoffice at Mount Washington, just outside Kansas City's eastern limits, and got $2.50. Yesterday he got a year and a half in the government prison at Fort Leavenworth. He pleaded guilty, saying to Judge Pollock that he would not have broken into the store where the postoffice was had he known it was a postoffice.

"You would rather have broken the state than the federal laws, would you?" the court remarked, adding, dryly, "Either is wrong."

THAT'S WHEN HE GETS IT.

James A. Pope, editor of the Art Book, who was arrested a month ago on a complaint of a rival in business in St. Louis, got off handsomely. Pope had sent out printed post cards saying that he still owned the copyright to his journal, and that the issues being turned out by his rivals were false. He classified somebody as a "hunchback," and for that got into trouble. He would have gone to jail for the intervening nine weeks, having no bondsmen here, only for friends his tough-luck story made for him. As it turned out, District Attorney Van Valkenburgh took his personal recognizance and let him go. Yesterday the art editor, who is about 20 years of age, turned up "to take my medicine, as I said I would," he said. Judge Pollock heard his story and at the conclusion said:

"Have you $1 and the costs of this case?"

"I have not, sir," replied the editor, showing how dull business in the art journal business is just at present.

"Then if I fine you $1 you will have to go to jail, will you?" the court asked next.

"Yes, sir," the editor-prisoner replied.

"Then it will not do to try to collect it. The punishment will be a fine of $1 and costs, collectible upon execution," and slam went the judge's docket and another case was taken up. Pope did not know what was up, so he took his seat near one of the deputy marshals, supposing it was jail again in view of the fact that he had not the dollar and costs. While in the middle of the next case Judge Pollock caught sight of the little art editor's long curly hair and had to order him to freedom.

"You can get out, Pope," the court said. "That fine against you is collectible upon execution."

It took two lawyers and a deputy to explain this to Pope, who could scarcely believe all his good luck was real.

Labels: alcohol, banking, courtroom, crime, federal court, immigrants, Judge Pollock, Judges, Leavenworth, Mt. Washington, post office, United States District Court

April 24, 1908

CAUGHT POSTOFFICE ROBBER.

Mount Washington Men Chased Him

With Guns Through the Fields.

After discovering a burglar in the postoffice at Mount Washington at 1 o'clock this morning, Orin Shaw, who runs a poolhall next door, armed himself with a Winchester rifle, and with W. H. Chitwood, a grocer, scared the man from the building and chased him across fields for nearly half a mile, finally making a capture just as the fugitive ran into a barb wire fence.

"I saw some one in the postoffice striking a match," Shaw told Sergeant James of the Sheffield station, who later took charge of the marauder. "I armed myself, and then went to Chitwood's house to get assistance. Together we went to the postoffice, but the man evidently heard us coming, for just as we got to the front door he broke from the house and ran past us. We called upon him several times to stop, but he ran on north across the fields.

"After we had chased him for about half a mile I fired at him, but missed. We had been gaining steadily, and just at that time he became tangled in a barb wire fence and we got him."

At the Sheffield station the man gave the name of William Soper. He said he was traveling from Oklahoma to his home in Illinois. A search showed that he had $2.75 in silver, and 45 cents in pennies. This money he confessed having taken from the postoffice.

Labels: billiards, crime, guns, Mt. Washington, post office, sheffield

February 13, 1908

BOULEVARD TO KANSAS CITY.

Desire of the Independence Commer-

cial Club and Others.

Definite steps have been taken by the Commercial Club of Independence and the Maywood Improvement Club to secure a boulevard from Independence to Kansas City. A committee composed of members of both clubs was appointed to confer with the county court concerning the project. It is desired to have a boulevard starting west from Walnut street in Independence, through Maywood, which will come into this city on Fifteenth street just south of Mount Washington cemetery. This will necessitate the opening of a road three miles long between Maywood and Independence.

Labels: cemetery, Fifteenth street, Independence, Maywood, Mt. Washington, organizations, public works

December 7, 1908

KILLS DUCKS IN CEMETERY.

Sheffield Hunter Commits Act of Van-

dalism at Mount Washington.

Several monthsw ago one of two swans, which made their homes at Mt. Washington cemetery, was killed by a boy. A second act of vandalism was the slaughter of three ducks yesterday by a man believed to be from Sheffield. As the ducks were almost tame he had no difficulty in creeping close to them and killing three with one load of shot. The man had not time to fire again as the report of the gun aroused Louis B. Root, superintendent of the cemetery, whose arrival frightened the man away.

Labels: animals, cemetery, guns, Mt. Washington, sheffield

August 3, 1907

WAS FIRST IN COUNCIL

DEATH OF FRANK MUELSCHUS-

TER, HERE SINCE 1860.

Prominent in Lodge and German

Circles -- Enthusiastic Baseball

Fan and Friend of the Late

Churchill White.

FRANK MUEHLSCHUSTER.

Frank Muehlschuster, one of Kansas City's oldest residents, died yesterday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock, after being ill for seven months, at his home, 2338 Main street, from paralysis. He had lived in Kansas City for forty-six years.

During his long residence here he took an active interest in the welfare of the city. He was a member of the upper house of the first city council orgainzed in Kansas City, and was elected five times to a seat in that body. He was prominent in Masonic circles asn was a Knight Templar, a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Ararat temple.

Mr. Muehlschuster was born in Bavaria, July 25, 1846. He was brought to Milwaukee by his parents when he was 4 years old, and received his education there. In 1860 he came West to seek his fortune, and decided to make his home at the mouth of the Kaw river.

When the war broke out he enlisted in the home guard and served as a private during the struggle.

He was a member of the firm of Muehlschuster & Jaiser, fire insurance agents. Mr. Muelschuster was considered by fire insurance men to be the dean of the local profession, and was widely known in insurance circles.

Mr. Muehlschuster was one of the founders of the German hospital, and always was to be numbered among the leaders in the enterprises of the local Germans. He was an enthusiastic baseball "fan," and for years he could be seen day after in the grandstand at the ball park, "rooting" for the local team. The late Churchill White and he were usually to be found sitting together in the grandstand when the home team was in the city.

The funeral will be held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home. The services will be under Masonic direction, and burial will be at Mount Washington Cemetery.

He leaves a widow and three children -- Frank, Jr., Augusta and Arthur C. Muehlschuster.

Labels: cemetery, death, German hospital, history, lodges, Main street, Mt. Washington

July 20, 1907

FAT IS ROLLING OFF.

ONE OF FASTING MEN LOSES 24

POUNDS AND THE OTHER 14.

Voices Are Getting Weak, but P. H.
Harlan and Cliff Hogan Are
Sticking to Abstinence ---

Cigarettes, Too.

"I've lost twenty-four pounds in just four days," announced P. H. Harlan, the fasting undertaker, as he stepped from the scales last night, and Cliff Hogan, who had a day and a half the start of me, has lost only fourteen pounds."

"It was a mistake to say I wasn't hungry up to yesterday, for I was, but that was my third day and with it my hunger really left me, as it did with Hogan and with Dr. I. J. Eales, the Bellville, Ill., physician, whose fourty day fast inspired us to start."

Dozens of telephone messages, picture postcards and letters are pouring in on the two fasting neighbors at Fifteenth and McGee streets. Tempting invitations to dine on spring chicken and inch-and-a-half sirloins tumble out of the mail along with serious inquiries from other fat men who are anxious to see the experiment kept up and who will themselves try it if found practical.

Clifford Hogan, who manages the Crescent Automobile Company, was not at his place of business until evening, for he had worked all day at moving his household goods from Mount Washington to Twelfth street and Wabash avenue. He found the unusually hard work on a very empty stomach did not exhaust him. But his voice was weak, and so was Harlan's, though the latter says his wind is better than it has been for years.

Harlan, whose hands and one leg have daily become puffed up, says that since the second day of his fast they have not swollen. He did a great deal of walking yesterday and is so delighted with the results that he may not stop short of the month limit set by Dr. Eales.

Harlan, too, has the title of doctor, having been a practicing dentist in Chicago and Wichita until the size of his belt became so great that he could not get near enough to his dental chair to reach the patients. Then he returned to the undertaking employment, where the patients are not so nervous, anyway.

When Harlan banteringly discusses with Hogan the length of their fast, the automobile man recounts that a week's fast was all he promised himself for sure, and after the first two days he really planned that all the money he saved on meals for the week he would spend for Sunday dinner in breaking the fast.

But he thinks he will probably stay with Harlan on a two or three weeks' fast. He is remembering now that while he was soldiering in the Philippines and ill he lived for five weeks on malted milk alone, and possibly he has visions of tapering off from actual fasting on such a diet, but his running mate stands firm for absolutely no nutriment.

"My second and third days," said Hogan, last night, "every time I passed a restaurant or smelled food, I had a sensation in my jaws as of having mumps. But that left when my hunger disappeared.

"I'm using the fast to break the cigarette habit, too, which was fastened on me. I have switched to cigars, which I could not enjoy before. I always inhaled cigarettes, and I know that if I did now it would make me sick. I suppose that proves that I'm getting down from abnormal to normal, and from depravity to healthfulness.

"Having been reared on a farm, I know that fat in a hog's body is merely the storage of nutriment for use in case a period comes in which no food is available. Then a hog can live off of his fat without injury or inconvenience. And so I see no reason why Harlan and I should not live to advantage for a time off our surplus supply."

Labels: cigars, health, Mt. Washington, Twelfth street, Wabash avenue, Wichita

April 1, 1907

PERRY BROCK ONCE AGAIN.

After Escape From Detention Home

Takes Team to Aid in Flight.

A sentence of four years in the reform school did not seem to affect the criminal ardor of Perry Brock, for after escaping from the detention home Saturday, where he was waiting to be sent to Boonville, he stole a team of horses and wagon belonging to S. G. Davis, a farmer west of Quindaro, about noon yesterday and three hours later was arrested in the West bottoms. He admitted the theft to Captain Ennis at No. 2 police station. The farmer says he will prosecute.

Brock was sentenced to the reform school last Friday by Judge McCune, of the juvenile court, for stealing chickens in Englewood and Mount Washington. When but 10 years old, he kidnaped a 3-year-old child in the south part of the city and locked him in a closet of a vacant house where he was found three days later by prospective tenants of the place.

Labels: crime, criminal court, detention home, Englewood, Judge McCune, juvenile court, Mt. Washington, No 2 police station, police, reform school, West bottoms

March 18, 1907

CUT OFF HER FOOT.

LITTLE FRANCES SHAW RUN

DOWN BY ALTON TRAIN

GOT CAUGHT IN CATTLE GUARD.

"WHAT WILL MAMMA SAY!"
MOANED THE SUFFERER.
Accident Happened to the Girl While She Was
Walking Along the Track --Brother
Was Killed Years Ago by the

Metropolitan Cars.

"Oh what will mamma say? What will mamma say? I know this will kill her?"
This unselfish remark was the first to pass from the lips of Frances Shaw, 14-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Shaw, 2043 North Valley street, Kansas City, Kas., last evening after an incoming Chicago & Alton passenger train had passed over and completely severed her left foot above the ankle. The accident happened about 6 o'clock on a curve in the tracks at Mount Washington, just east of the city. Frances had been out there visiting her cousin, Minnie Eaton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Eaton. Both are about the same age. While on the way to the station to take a car for home the little girls were walking along the C. & A. tracks. In crossing over a cattle guard Frances' left foot became tightly wedged in between a rail and the guard. The children worked away casually to remove the imprisoned foot, not realizing the danger.

When a train was heard approaching, however, they were seized with fright and both girls pulled with all their mights to loosen the involved foot. All the while the puffing and steaming of the oncoming iron monster could be heard. The children could not see the train for the embankment. When all hope of freedom had fled Minnie jumped back from the tracks and Frances drew her right limb under her and laid down flat away from the track. Her presence of mind saved her life but the whole train passed over the left foot just at the shoe top and severed it as if with a cleaver.

The train was going at a rapid rate, so many witnesses said, and did not stop until several hundred yards beyond where the injured girl lay. Then it backed up and the conductor and train crew tried to do all they could for the child. Not a tear came from Frances Shaw during this terrible ordeal and her first words were of her mother -- not of herself. "What will mamma say?" she said. "What will mamma say? I know this will kill her."

It was a pretty day and many persons were out near Mount Washington. Probably a dozen persons heard the screams of the children and ran to the top of the cut in time to see the train pass over the girl's foot. Until she was reached it was thought she had been killed. Tenderly she was carried to the home of Dr. W. L. Gist, an assistant city physician, who lives nearby. There emergency treatment was given by Dr. Gist and Dr. W. L. Gillmor and when the shock of the accident was over she was removed to St. Luke's hospital, 2011 East Eleventh street. Dr. Gillmor and Dr. C. E. Nixon, whose wives are related to the injured girl, later completed the amputation, assisted by Dr. Pierce, house physician at the hospital.

This is the second serious accident to occur in the Shaw family. Fifteen years ago Newton Shaw, the 4-year-old son, was killed by a Chelsea park car at the "L" road crossing and Fifteenth street in Kansas City, Kas. It was said last night that Mrs. Shaw had never quite recovered from the shock of her little boy's death and that the accident to Frances would prostrate her. There are four children in the family, two brothers and one sister being older than Frances. The father, William Shaw, has for a long time been crippled with rheumatism and can do no manual labor. He is employed as a watchman for the Metropolitan Street Railway Company.

People living in Mount Washington have long called the place where the accident occurred as "Death Curve." The road makes a sharp curve at that point, which is right in the settlement of Mount Washington.

"It is a wonder to me," said Dr. C. E. Nixon last night, "that more accidents have not occurred there. It is almost necessary to use that portion of the tracks going to and from many of the homes across the tracks. One can see only a few yards on account of the embankment and if the train doesn't whistle as a warning it is right on you before you know it. Only a short while ago I came near getting caught there myself. It was night and I was returning from the city with my wife. Before I realized it a train had whisked around that curve and was right on me. My wife was off the track but I had to leap to save myself."

Many persons, it is said, who live out there, have similar stories of narrow escapes to tell. Few witnesses yesterday heard any whistle.

After the train had passed over Frances Shaw's limb the foot was left so tightly wedged in the cattle guard that it took a man's strength to extract it. Frances and her cousin, Minnie, said that they thougth of taking off the shoe to release the foot only when it was too late -- the train being nearly at the entrance to the cut. Those who witnessed the accident said that they never saw such presence of mind displayed by a child. Had she not laid down perfectly flat as she did she probably would have been killed by being struck by the steps of the coaches.

After the operation at St. Luke's last night the little girl was reported as doing well. The accident is not regarded as serious enough to result fatally. The girl's mother was at the hospital waiting long before the ambulance arrived. She remained all night by her daughter's bedside.

Labels: accident, children, doctors, Dr. Gist, Eleventh street, emergency hospital, Kansas City Kas, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, Mt. Washington, railroad, St. Luke's hospital