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

December 6, 1909

LONG AND SHORT MEN BUSY.

Victims of Highwaymen Report to

Police the Loss of More Than

$300 on Sunday.

J. S. Hubert, a member of the United Brewery Workers of America, living at 2518 Charlotte, was felled by a blow from behind and robbed of five $20 bills, ten $10 bills and five $5 bills at Twenty-first and Locust at 9:30 o'clock last night by two men, one of whom, he says was very tall and the other extremely short. He says he saw the same men in a saloon at Nineteenth street and Grand avenue Saturday night. Hubert immediately reported the case to police and he was taken to his home by Officer Sherry. Upon examination of his head no signs of where he had been slugged could be found.

Labels: Charlotte street, Grand avenue, highway robbery, Locust street, Nineteenth street, police, saloon, Twenty-first street

November 1, 1909

WILL FURNISH POWER

FOR AIRSHIP BY HAND.

J. D. DOUGLASS MACHINE IS

SHAPED LIKE A BAT.

Craft Is Designed to Actually Fly by

Movement of Planes Like

the Wings of a

Bird.

In a sign painter's establishment at 214 West Nineteenth street suspended to the ceiling is a motley array of bamboo poles, cogwheels, chains and strips of fine steel, apparently jumbled in such a way as to have the appearance of several umbrella frames thrown together.

When strips of cloth are attached to the bamboo poles, giving the apparatus twelve planes, it will have the appearance of a multiple winged bat. It will be, according to the inventor, J. D. Douglass, his first successful model of an actual flying machine, not an aeroplane.

For nine years Douglass has worked on flying machines. One after another he has knocked to pieces after he has found fault with parts considered by him to be important. This last machine, he declares, has exemplified every previous idea and it has been built so that these ideas will be carried out and their value easily ascertained.

When the machine is given a trial, which will be in a few weeks, Douglass will furnish the motive power with his hands and feet.

"If I succeed in rising from the ground I will be satisfied," said Mr. Douglass, "for then I will be sure my ideas as to aerial navigation and flight are compact. It will be an easy matter then for me to build a larger machine and to attach an engine which will give me the motive power."

The machine which will have the general sh ape of a bat will be twenty feet wide and about fifteen feet in length. Complete it will weigh less than 150 pounds and it will have twelve planes. These planes are all employed in the duty of raising and propelling the machine.

At the top of the machine will be two propellers which will revolve in opposite directions. These will give the machine the first lifting power. Once in the air, the planes come into motion and with the movements patterned after those of birds in flight, give the craft its propelling power.

Mr. Douglass is a retired farmer. Aviation has been a lifelong study with him. He thinks a great deal of the monoplane as well as the biplane, but also believes that when he has completed his aerial craft that his experiments will mark an epoch in the airship industry.

Labels: airships, inventors, Nineteenth street

September 15, 1909

CLOSE CALL FOR WATCHMAN.

Police Pull Charles Brown From Bed

in Burning Barn.

In a fire that destroyed a sales stable conducted by John Kirby and H. A. Thompson at Nineteenth and Main street early yesterday morning, in which forty-eight horses perished, Charles Brown, a night watchman who was asleep in the building barely escaped being burned to death.

Patrolman Cummings and Duteman, whose beat is in the neighborhood of Nineteenth and Main, passed the barn at 2:30 o'clock yesterday morning. At that time they did not notice a fire. About five minutes later they passed the corner again and noticed a small blaze near the ground on the south side of the barn. They turned in an alarm and returned to awake Brown. Cummings fired three shots in the effort, but only succeeded by breaking in his door and pulling him out of bed. By that time the fire was well under way, and it was too late to save any of the horses. Several buggies were also destroyed.

The building was a one-story frame valued at $2,200. John P. Lynch of the Lynch-Watkins Lime and Cement Company, owner of the building, said it was insured for $800.

Mr. Thompson estimated his loss at $10,000, partly covered by insurance. The barn will be rebuilt.

Labels: animals, Fire, Main street, Nineteenth street, police

August 24, 1909

WITH 5,000 NEGRO DELEGATES.

SUPREME LODGE WILL OPEN

THIS MORNING.

Every State in Union Wil Be Rep-

resented on Roll Call -- Recep-

tion at Second Bap-

tist Church.

With a delegation of 5,000 negro men and women from every state in the Union, the supreme lodge of negro Knights of Pythias opens this morning in Ivanhoe hall, Nineteenth street and Tracy avenue, and continues until Friday night. It is the largest gathering of its kind ever held in Kansas City. Among the delegates are doctors, lawyers, bankers, merchants, clerks, porters, barbers, teachers, editors, farmers and every other profession, trade and business followed by negroes.

A reception was held last night at the Second Baptist church, Tenth and Charlotte streets. Grand Chancellor A. W. Lloyd of St. Louis presided and music was furnished by the choir of the Second Baptist church.

Nelson C. Crews, chairman of the local committee, made an address of welcome.

A solo by Miss Ennis Collins followed.

Welcome to the state was extended by Professor W. W. Yates, who represented Governor Hadley. His address was short and cordial. A selection by the Calanthian choir then followed.

S. W. Green of New Orleans, supreme chancellor, responded to this address.

S. C. Woodson represented Mayor Crittenden in an address of welcome.

There was a solo by Wiliam J. Tompkins and a selection by the choir, "The Heavens Are Telling." Other addresses were made by Prof. J. R. Jefferson of West Virginia; Dr. J. E. Perry, E. D. Green, of Chicago; Dr. W. P. Curtiss, St. Louis; Dr. J. A. Ward, Indianapolis; Mrs. Janie C. Combs and A. J. Hazelwood.

The Supreme Court of Calanthe will be presided over by John W. Strauther of Greenville, Miss. The session will be held at the Hodcarrier's hall. In this meeting every phase of the negro's home life will be discussed. Strauther is one of the most noted men of his race in the country.

At 2 o'clock this afternoon a band concert will be given at Cap Carrouthers by the Bixton, Ia., band, and dress parade at 5:30 p. m. by the entire uniform ranks.

Rev. B. Hillman of Terra Haute, Ind., made the opening prayer last night.

Labels: Charlotte street, churches, conventions, Herbert Hadley, lodges, Mayor Crittenden, ministers, music, New Orleans, Nineteenth street, parades, race, St Louis, Tenth street, Tracy avenue, visitors

August 4, 1909

GIFT OF $50,000 TO

FRANKLIN INSTITUTE.

Thomas H. Swope Offers $25,000

in Cash and Ground on Camp-

bell Near Sixteenth Street

for New Building.

Thomas H. Swope, already Kansas City's manifold benefactor, has given $50,000 to Franklin institute, half in land, half in cash. Unless the donor should extend the time limit the gift will be forfeited November 1 if an additional $50,000 is not raised by that date.

A noon meeting of the directorate of the institute was held yesterday and the members decided to supplement the donation by $5,000 or $10,000 to be raised among their own number. No city-wide campaign for funds will be made, but a quiet effort will be put forth to obtain the money from friends of the social settlement.

Little apprehension that the required amount cannot be raised is entertained.

Henry f. Holt of the architectural firm of Howe & Holt, is one of the directors of the institute. He will set about at once planning the building which the Swope gift makes possible. The site donated lies on the west side of Campbell street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth. Its dimensions are 105 x 142 feet.

Established six years ago, Franklin institute has grown amid adverse conditions. It is now located at Nineteenth and McGee streets, in a two-story frame house which is rented from month to month. In spite of the obstacles which had to be overcome, the work of the settlement has attracted the substantial attention of many Kansas Cityans interested and informed on matters of charity.

For some time Mr. Swope has entertained a strong interest in the results of institutional work, and after acquainting himself with the philanthropic activity of Franklin institute made known his intention to help it to the extent of $50,000. His gift was made with absolutely no solicitation on part of friends of the institute.

Ralph P. Swofford is president of the institute, and J. T. Chafin is head resident. The other officers are Henry D. Faxon, vice president; Fletcher Cowherd, treasurer, and Herbert V. Jones, secretary.

The directorate is made up of William Cheek, Henry F. Holt., R. H. McCord, Rabbi Harry H. Mayer, Howard F. Lee, Benjamin B. Lee, H. J. Diffenbaugh, W. J. Berkowitz, George T. Vance, I. D. Hook, D. L. James and E. L. McClure.

Labels: Campbell street, charity, Franklin institute, Jews, McGee street, Nineteenth street, real estate, Thomas Swope

July 3, 1909

HELPING HAND PLANS

BATH FOR NORTH END.

Public Showers From Fire Plug Will

Be Suspended Over Gutter -- Is

Superintendent Brig-

ham's Idea.

The "Brigham Bath" for North End Youngsters.

Large numbers of children living in the North End have been without necessary baths for many moons. With the approach of hot weather the demand for some place where the youngsters of Little Italy and adjoining districts can get enough water to clean and cool their skins has become an imperative, and the Helping Hand institute proposes to come to the rescue with a novel device for free public baths on the street corners.

"The old swimmin' hole is a thing of the past," said E. T. Brigham, superintendent of the institute, last night. "The river is too swift for swimming and free public baths for the North End exist only in the minds of theoretical social workers, as yet, so that some substitute must be found. I have conceived the idea of putting up a half dozen public shower baths where the little ones can get their skins soaked nightly and have a great deal of pleasure besides."

Mr. Brigham has in mind a contrivance which he hopes will answer all the purposes of a miniature Atlantic city for Little Italy. An inch iron pipe will conduct the water from a city fire plug to a point seven feet over the gutter, where a "T" will be formed, the branches containing five horseshoe-shaped showers.

One of the portable baths has already been constructed and will be tried out tonight at Fourth and Locust streets.

Bathers will be expected to wear their ordinary dress, that is, a single garment, which is the mode for children in the North End. Thus the shower will serve the double purpose of a recreation and a laundry.

For years something in the line of this free, open-air public bath has been in operation at Nineteenth and McGee streets in the vicinity of the McClure flats. Nightly during the summer the children collect when the fire plug is to be turned on to flush the gutters, and stand in the stream. The stream is too strong for them to brave it for more than a second at a time, but many of them manage to get a bath which they probably would not get any other way.

"Children are naturally cleanly," said Mr. Brigham. "Although they like to get dirt upon themselves, they also like to get it off. I think the shower bath on the street corner should prove one of the most popular institutions in the North End."

Labels: children, Fourth street, Helping Hand, Locust street, McGee street, Nineteenth street, North end

May 27, 1909

OFFERED COFFIN HANDLES.

Young Man, Who Tried to Make

Sale, Held for Investigation.

A young man entered Leo J. Stewart's undertaking rooms at 1212 McGee street yesterday afternoon and offered to sell two boxes containing a dozen cheap coffin handles. The suspicions of William Stewart, junior member of the firm, were aroused, and when the man returned with three more boxes he had him arrested by Officers Lucius Downing and J. C. W. Dyson. The prisoner gave the name of Ed McBride and his residence as 521 East Nineteenth street.

The coffin handles were identified by H. R. Miller of the Wagner undertaking firm as some that had been taken from their warehouse. In McBride's pockets were found a Chicago street car transfer dated April 9, a St. Louis transfer dated April 8 and a paper back copy of "Fetters That Sear." He was held for investigation.

Labels: crime, McGee street, Nineteenth street, police, undertakers

May 24, 1909

BATH COSTS A NICKEL NOW.

Personal Ablutions Almost Prohibi-

tive Luxury in McClure Flats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 22, 1909

ADAM GOD TO DROP

PLEA OF INSANITY?

EARLY TESTIMONY INDICATES

SELF-DEFENSE.

Sharp's Mental Condition Is Not

Seriously Considered -- Witnesses

Describe the City Hall

Riot Scenes.

That the defense of James Sharp, the religious fanatic, charged with the killing of Patrolman Michael Mullane, is to be self-defense was made evident on the first day of the trial, which opened yesterday in the criminal court.

It had been announced and it was the theory of the state that insanity would be pleaded. but during all the evidence heard yesterday there was no mention of Sharp's mental condition save alone in the statement of Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney, in which he outlined what the state expects to prove.

Perhaps it was because through Mr. Conkling's statement, reciting incident after incident of Sharp's life, from his religious doings in Oklahoma and Canada, through the city hall riot here December 8 and the subsequent flight of Sharp, ran the suggestion that Sharp was not insane, but, on the contrary, sane and exceptionally acute of mind. Out of every action on the part of Sharp the prosecutor deduced a refutation of the insanity idea.

THE MAYOR A WITNESS.

At the rate of progress made yesterday, it is likely that the trial will consume a greater part of next week. It is the practice of Judge Ralph S. Latshaw to open court early, to take one hour at noon for recess and to adjourn at 5 o'clock. Much time was spent yesterday over each witness.

It was while Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., was on the stand yesterday afternoon that the defense showed its change of front. In arguing for permission to ask the mayor certain questions, A. E. Martin of counsel for the defense said to the court:

"We propose to show that the police and the probation officer incited a riot at the city hall and followed the same persons who participated in the riot and killed one of them in a boat on the river."

The court refused to admit testimony as to what happened on the river front, as happening there were fifteen minutes later than the fight which resulted in the death of Mullane.

DEFENSE'S STATEMENT LAST.

Touching elbows with John P. Mullane, brother of the man with whose death he stands charged, Sharp heard George M. Holt, probation officer, give his testimony. The defense took advantage of its right to reserve its statement until the state shall have finished with its witnesses.

Holt gave his age as 46, his address as 3027 East Nineteenth street and his occupation as probation officer. At noon of the riot, he said, he saw Mrs. Sharp and the children of Louis Pratt singing on the street at that point. He watched them about five minutes, when they started north on Main. Mrs. Sharp, during the meeting, was inviting the public to a gathering at the Workingmen's mission that night. There was a hat on the sidewalk and coin in it. Mrs. Sharp took the hat.

"I followed the band and inquired about whose children they were," said Mr. Holt. "She went into the Workingmen's Mission and I followed about a minute later. Sharp was there talking to his wife when I came in.

"I asked him if this was his wife and children and he said yes. He told me he was Adam God, the father of Jesus Christ."

Hot told Sharp that he would have to keep the children off the streets if he meant to keep them in Kansas City.

THREATENED TO KILL.

" 'What authority have you?' Sharp asked me.

" 'I am an officer,' said I.

" 'Well, you blue coated -----,' said Sharp, 'I'll kill you or any other ----- blue coat that comes in here and interferes with my work in this city.'

"Immediately afterwards, Sharp pulled out a pistol from under his vest. Louis Pratt, who also was there, pulled out a revolver and so did Mrs. Sharp. Her husband put his pistol under my face and forced me out of the mission and as I went out hit me on the head. He called to someone to come out. Then I went to the police station to report. Before I had finished reporting, the shooting had begun."

"What part of the shooting did you see?" asked Mr. Conkling.

"All I saw was someone in the chief's office shooting at Louis Pratt, who was on his knees on the street. Pratt fell."

"How long did the shooting last?"

"Less than five minutes. About twenty-five or thirty shots were fired."

TO REVOLUTIONIZE THINGS.

The Rev. Sherman Short of Clarence, Mo., was at Fifth and Main streets when he heard the children sing and stepped up close enough to hear Mrs. Sharp say:

"The prophet will preach tonight at the Workingmen's mission."

Dr. Short testified yesterday that his curiosity was aroused.

"I went up to the mission and there was Sharp," said Dr. Short. "I asked him if he was the prophet and he said:

" 'My name is Sharp. I am supposed to be King David in the spirit. I am the Lord of the Vineyard myself and the people will soon find it out, for I expect to revolutionize things around here.' "

"Did he talk to you about force or violence?" asked Mr. Conkling.

"No."

"What happened then?"

"While we were talking the Pratt children and came in and said to Sharp: 'The humane officer is after us.' Then Holt came in and asked Sharp if these were his children. Sharp said yes and Holt told him they would have to be kept off the streets, if Sharp proposed to remain in Kansas City. I saw Sharp hit Holt and put him out of the mission. I saw him have a knife and a revolver.

"Sharp then waved his revolver and called out: 'Come on, children!' Mrs. Sharp and Louis Pratt and the two oldest Pratt girls all took out revolvers. They went on the street and formed a circle, facing the west sidewalk on Main."

"What did you do?"

"I went to the police station. I saw police coming out of headquarters. Patrolman Dalbow shook hands with Sharp and they stood there a minute. Then some other man came up. He was in citizen's clothes and he pulled out a revolver. Then there was shooting."

PRATT FIRED FIRST.

"Who fired the first shot?"

"Louis Pratt."

"And then what did you see?"

"I didn't stay long after that. I ran across the street. As I turned around I saw a man lying on the car track, shot. I learned afterwards that it was A. J. Selsor. Later I saw Mrs. Sharp and one of the Pratt girls brought into the station.

"When they formed their circle in the street Sharp, his wife, Pratt and the two oldest Pratt girls had revolvers in their hands. Sharp also had a knife."

Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., said that he was in a council chamber on the fourth floor of the city hall when the riot began. He saw Louis Pratt kneeling, steadying his aim with both arms, shooting at Mullane. There was a little girl near Pratt, holding toward him a revolver, loaded with fresh cartridges. The mayor saw Pratt fall over, as if shot. Then the mayor went downstairs to police headquarters and out on the street.

"My purpose of going towards the river was that I had heard talk of lynching and wanted such an action to be avoided," said the mayor in explanation. He was not allowed to tell what happened at the river front.

MULLANE'S WIDOW ON STAND.

Mrs. Hannah Mullane, weeping quietly on the witness stand, told how her husband had left home on the morning of December 8, 1908, at 6 o'clock, in good health. Mullane died Decemberr 10, two days after the riot.

There was some delay when court opened in the afternoon, while attachments were served on physicians who were state's witnesses, but who failed to be on hand at the proper time.

Dr. William A. Shelton, 3305 Wabash avenue, was the second witness. He is a police surgeon. On the day of the riot he was called to treat Mullane at the city hall and later attended him at St. Joseph's hospital. Mullane, he said, had a bullet wound through his left hand and one through his chest just above the heart. The latter bullet struck Mullane in the back. Dr. Shelton probed for it, but could not locate it. He finally found the bullet on the operating table. The bullet was shown to the jury over objections of Sharp's attorneys.

Dr. Eugene King, surgeon at St. Joseph's hospital, examined Mullane at police headquarters and at the hospital. He testified as to the wounds and said he found the bullet in the patorlman's underclothing on the operating table. The course of the ball, he said, was from front to back. Dr. Shelton came from in a few minutes later, said Dr. King.

THE MORNING SESSION.

The dramatic incident of the morning session yesterday occurred while Mr. Conkling, in his opening statement, was arraigning Sharp as a religious grafter. While the prosecutor was in the middle of the sentence, Sharp jumped up and said:

"Your honor, these words this man speaks he will have to get witnesses to prove."

"Sit down, Mr. Sharp," said Judge Latshaw. "If you have any objections to make, do so through your counsel."

"I want this jury to hear the truth," persisted Sharp. "I didn't take up collections at my meetings."

Then sharp started to leave the court room but was brought back by a deputy marshal.

A short time afterwards, while Mr. Conkling was telling of the death of Patrolman Albert O. Dalbow, Mrs. Dalbow fainted and was carried from the courtroom. With her were a son, 8 years old, and a baby of fourteen months. She sat near the jury, close to a son and daughter of A. J. Selsor, who was killed in the riot.

Before Conkling began his address to the jury, there were brought into the courtroom gruesome reminders of the December tragedy. A rifle used by Mrs. Pratt in her fight on the river when she, with her daughters, Lena and Lulu, tried to escape. Lulu was killed by bullets fired from the bank. Then there were five revolvers, Sharp's large knife and ammunition. Also there was a shotgun and a rifle found in the houseboat of the band. the whiskers Sharp left in the Mulberry street barber shop, neatly garnered into an envelope, also were put on the table in plain view of the jury. In the afternoon the display of weapons was removed.

SHARP MAY TESTIFY.

With a changed plea, it is not so certain now that Adam God will be put on the witness stand. It was the first intention to make him back up the plea of insanity, but with a changed method of attack, this plan may be altered. Sharp is firm in declaring that he will be a witness, and as he seems at times to be not under the control of his counsel, he may make his statement before the evidence closes.

The riot of December 8, it will be remembered, occurred on the northwest corner of the city hall. There were wounded and subsequently died the following: Albert O. Dalbow and Michael Mullane, patrolmen; A. J. Selson, a spectator; Louis Pratt, a member of the religious band. Patrick Clark, a sergeant of police, was slashed on the face by Sharp and lost his right eye.

The trial will be resumed this morning.

At yesterday's trial the bible, which is his constant companion, lay on the table before Sharp, who sat facing the east windows, and therefore with his profile to the audience. From time to time he glanced curiously about him, but if it was with an y emotion, the feeling was not depicted by expression. Most of the time he sat with hands folded, elbows close to his side. Occasionally he stroked his beard or with his fingers combed tangles from his long moustache.

COURT ROOM WAS CROWDED.

Not an any trial since Judge Ralph S. Latshaw has taken his place has there been such a throng to see a trial. Not only all the chairs in the courtroom, but also the aisles, already narrowed by extra seats, held their capacity. Conspicuous among the number were a dozen or more well dressed women, who followed every step of the proceedings with interest. Among these was Miss Selsor, daughter of A. J. Selsor, killed in the riot. As the day wore on the crowd tended to increase rather than diminish.

The orderly quiet of it all was not lost on Adam God. Accustomed for years to rough treatment from crowds and officers of the peace, he seemed to feel the different attitude of the spectators in the court room where he is on trial for his life. Defiance of the law and its officers seemed to have passed from his mind, leaving him although perhaps not resigned to his fate, yet with the feeling that he was among those who meant to treat him fairly. At noon he told the deputy marshal who took him to his cell:

"That's a fine judge. He certainly will see that I get a fair trial."

Labels: Adam God sect, children, courtroom, criminal court, guns, hospitals, Humane Society, Judge Latshaw, Main street, Mayor Crittenden, ministers, murder, Nineteenth street, North end, physicians, police, Prosecutor Conkling

May 14, 1909

DEATH BY CARBOLIC ACID.

Unidentified Man Commits Suicide

Near Centropolis.

The body of an unidentified man was found in a lot between Drury and Hardesty avenues on Fifteenth street yesterday morning by Mrs. Della Morris, who lives in the vicinity. Harry Czarlinsky, deputy coroner, said death was due to carbolic acid poising.

The name Henry Patterson was found on a piece of paper in the man's pocket. The underclothing bore the letters J. E. C. and the initials J. C. were upon a signet ring which he wore. H e was about 50 years old, five feet five inches in height, weighed 140 pounds and wore a dark suit, patent leather shoes and a soft hat. His eyes were gray and his hair brown.

ENDED LIFE WITH SHOTGUN.

Morgan Jones, a farmer who lives near Dallas, Mo., killed himself with a shotgun early yesterday morning. He had been ill for a number of years and it is thought by his friends that it caused despondency. He was 30 years old and unmarried. He had been formerly employed as a bookkeeper in Kansas City.

TRIED TO DIE, BUT FAILED.

In a saloon at 1025 East Nineteenth street F. D. Miskelly of Excelsior Springs attempted to kill himself by drinking chloroform. He was taken to the general hospital. He is in precarious condition.

Labels: Centropolis, Dr Czarlinsky, Drury avenue, Excelsior Springs, farmers, Fifteenth street, Hardesty avenue, Nineteenth street, saloon, Suicide

May 8, 1909

ATTEMPTED HOLD UP

MAY END IN MURDER.

VICTIM DOES NOT OBEY ORDERS

AND ROBBER SHOOTS.

Charles Zondler, Saloonkeeper, Seri-

ously Injured by Outlaw, Who

Is Captured by Police-

man After Chase.

"I want your money. Hold up your hands."

Charles Zondler, alone in his saloon at Eighteenth and Cherry streets last night at 10 o'clock, looked up into the muzzle of a 38-calibre revolver. He reached for his own gun beneath the bar and the stick-up man shot him twice in the face. The assassin fled from the saloon and darted south through an alley. Zondler fired twice, but missed.

Jerry O'Connell, patrolman on the beat, heard the shots when he was at Nineteenth and Charlotte streets, and caught a glimpse of the flying figure. He cut across lots and headed the man off in the alley. Putting his left hand over the robber's revolver he jammed his own gun close to the fellow's car and brought him to a stop. Then, with the assistance of Patrolman George Brooks, O'Connell marched his prisoner to the Walnut street station.

Zondler, who is an elderly man and has owned the saloon but a few months, was taken to the general hospital in the ambulance from the station. Examination showed that one of the bullets had entered his mouth and passed out through the right cheek. The other bullet entered the left side of the neck and passed out through the right side. He is in a precarious condition.

Lieutenant Michael Halligan put the prisoner through a searching examination at the station. He gave the name of Henry Horton, but a card case had the name of H. S. Seward upon it, and he acknowledged that he sometimes went by that name. Horton admitted to Lieutenant Halligan that he had been arrested in this city before for petty crimes, but said that this was his first attempt at the stick-up game. He had only recently arrived in town, he said, and needed money. A dime and a stamped postcard were in his pockets. Horton asked permission to send the postcard to his mother. He addressed it, "Mrs. W. H. Strain, 3001 Cisna avenue, Kansas City, Kas." On the card he wrote:

"I guess I am gone for good. Come over and see me, Scott."

Horton said that his mother's name was different from his own because she had married twice. He said that he lived at the Kansas City, Kas., address when at home, but had only recently come from Omaha. He made no attempt to deny the act.

Jerry O'Connell, who made the arrest in sensational fashion, is known as the best sprinter in the precinct, if not on the force. He was complimented by Lieutenant Halligan on his capture.

Zondler lives with his family at 3220 East Twenty-third street.

Labels: Charlotte street, Cherry street, crime, domestic violence, Eighteenth street, guns, Kansas City Kas, Nineteenth street, police, saloon, Twenty-third street

January 6, 1909

WRONG MAN WAS SERVED.

Lawyer's Blunder Causes Needless

Annoyance for James H. Armstrong.

Through the mistake of a lawyer James H. Armstrong, present of the Enterprise Foundry Co., 114 West Nineteenth street, has been considerably annoyed by deputy sheriffs who insisted that he was James Armstrong, vice president of the American Recording Company. He has been well and favorably known in Kansas City for twenty years. When he called attention to the fact that he is not the Armstrong connected with the American Recording Company the attorneys hurried to the courthouse and had the summons issued for James Armstrong, explaining their mistake. This was done yesterday and Mr. Armstrong was relieved of further annoyance because of a similarity in names.

Labels: lawyer, Nineteenth street

January 3, 1909

FIGHTS FOR PRICE OF DRINK.

Man Attacks Frank Irons and Sever-

ly Injures Him.

While walking in an alley from Grand avenue to McGee between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets last night about 8 o'clock, Frank Irons, who lives at 215 East Tenth street, was accosted by a man who asked for the price of a drink. Irons refused and the man struck him and clinched with him.

In the course of the struggle Irons received several cuts on the back of the head. The assailant ran, and the wounded wan was taken to the general hospital, where his cuts were dressed. He was very weak from loss of blood last night, but has a good chance for recovery.

Labels: Eighteenth street, general hospital, Nineteenth street, Tenth street, violence

December 31, 1908

NEGRO EDUCATORS WOULD

TEACH AGRICULTURE.

Want Money For Such a Department

at the Lincoln State Nor-

mal School.

The twenty-fourth annual session of the negro branch, Missouri State Teachers' Association, opened at the Lincoln high school, Nineteenth street and Tracy avenue, Tuesday morning. Several important papers were read and discussed that day.

Supplementary to the regular programme of yesterday was a lecture on the prevention of tuberculosis by Dr. W. J. Thompkins of this city. There were three meetings of the association yesterday and there will be only two today, morning and afternoon. This evening there will be a reception tendered the visiting teacakes by the local committee. That will close the session.

The most important work was done at the meeting yesterday afternoon. The matter under discussion was the establishment of an agricultural department in the Lincoln state normal school at Jefferson City. A committee was appointed to draft a petition to the incoming legislature, asking for an appropriation to that end.

"There are about 600 pupils in attendance at the state normal," said R. L. Logan of Columbia, Mo. "About forty to fifty of them are graduated each year, most all of them as teacakes. The field for negro teachers is small, and many of them regard it as a sacrifice, after spending four years at school, to go out into the rural districts and take schools which only pay from $25 to $45 per month.

"You would be surprised to know the number of men in this city, St. Louis and St. Joseph, all graduates of the state normal, who have gone to waiting tables in the best hotels. Why? Because they can earn more money at that. We feel that with an agricultural department at our state normal many a negro boy who comes there from the farm will be willing to go back there better equipped, as he will have learned practical farming. As it is, if they can't get schools, they drift to the cities and have to take what is offered to them. There are so few chances offered to the negro that we feel that the state ought to do this much to aid those who can and will profit by it. We know that the branch of the work, agriculture, will be taken up by many as soon as it is opened to them."

Labels: Nineteenth street, organizations, race, schools, Tracy avenue, universities

December 19, 1908

GENERAL HOSPITAL IS

ALMOST INACCESSIBLE.

Roadway Is Muddy, Narrow and

Dangerous, Almost Impossible to

Traverse at Night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 26, 1908

THIEVES MUST KEEP WARM.

Perhaps That's Why So Many Clothes

Were Stolen Last Week.

Overcoats and winter clothes were the most important articles stolen during the last week. The cold rains made it necessary for the thieves to dress warmer and they proceeded to get the clothes. The heaviest loser was the Paris store, 312 East Twelfth street, which was entered Saturday night. The goods reported stolen included two hats worth $70, and nineteen large plumes, total value, $226. A reward of $25 is offered for the recovery of the plumes.

Glazers' tools were stolen from the Baltimore hotel Saturday afternoon. An Eskimo dog was reported stolen Saturday from Mrs. A. B. Hunt, 3235 East Seventh street. Arthur Dunlap reported to the police yesterday that a friend took a horn belonging to him and failed to return it. Six pairs of pants were stolen from the store of H. Segelbohm & Co., 1307 Main street. An overcoat and umbrella was stolen by a sneak thief from C. T. Gable, while he was at t he Meridith apartments. A set of double harness was stolen from the barn of A. B. Shumway, 1007 East Twelfth street. Lead pipe thieves made their appearance Saturday after a brief period of rest. They cut the pipe out of a new building at 1525 Cherry street. W. A. Robertson, Leavenworth, Kas., reported that a serge suit was stolen from his room, 1100 East Nineteenth street. Five dollars in one of the pockets went along with the pants.

Labels: Cherry street, clothing, crime, Hotel Baltimore, hotels, Leavenworth, Main street, Nineteenth street, retailers, Seventh street, Twelfth street

September 27, 1908

SAW A BOY BUY COCAINE.

Then Bert Stregel, Druggist, Was

Arrested and Arraigned in Court.

Bert Stregel, a druggist at Fifth and Central streets, and his clerk, E. C. Ellis, were arraigned in police court yesterday charged with selling cocaine to Willie Smith, a 15-year-old messenger boy who was tried before the juvenile court Friday. Both asked for continuances, and they were granted until Tuesday.

The boy testified that he has been addicted to the cocaine habit for the last four months. He named three places where he bought the drug, Charles Gidinski's, Nineteenth and Grand, Dudley & Hunter's, 1303 Grand, and Bert Stregel's, Fifth and Central. Edgar Warden, a probation officer, went with him to Stregel's and watched the boy buy a box of cocaine.

Labels: Central street, children, druggists, Fifth street, Grand avenue, juvenile court, narcotics, Nineteenth street

June 4, 1908

PRIEST ENTITLED TO LEGACY.

Will of Katie McGinty is Held Valid

by a Jury.

At the second trial of the suit of the brothers of Katie McGinty to break her will, by which she gave all of her property to Father Andrew G. Clohessy of St. Joseph's church, the jury last evening found that the will was valid and that the priest is entitled to the money. The verdict in the first trial, three months ago, was in favor of the brothers. The second trial was in Judge E. E. Porterfield's division of the circuit court.

Katie McGinty was employed for fourteen years prior to her death in St. Margaret's hospital in January, 1907, as a domestic in the parish house at 1007 East Nineteenth street. She began service at $2 a week, was advanced to $6, and out of her wages saved $1,161. The day before her death she summoned to her bedside Father Clohessy, for whom she had worked the many years, and asked him to accept her earnings. He refused. Later, while he was absent, she drew up a will, giving it all to him.

The priest had spent all but $200 of the $1,161 before the suit was brought by Jim McGinty and Patrick McGinty and the children of George and Bernard McGinty, Katie's brothers. He devoted $400 to a funeral, $75 for a lot in St. Mary's cemetery, $260 for the gravestone and $200 gave to other priests for the saying of mass for the repose of her soul.

Labels: cemetery, churches, hospitals, Judge Porterfield, ministers, Nineteenth street, probate, women

May 5, 1908

POLICE FIND OWNERS

OF CANNED JEWELS.

BOY'S DISCOVERY BRINGS GLAD-

NESS TO ONE HOME.

Porch Climber Had Stolen Watches

on December 26, 1906, and

Buried Them in a To-

mato Can.

By a thorough search of police records Fred G. Bailey, secretary to the inspector of detectives, yesterday located the owners for most of the jewelry which was found Saturday night at Nineteenth and McGee streets. The valuables were found by John E. Linings, 317 East Nineteenth street, a boy who was digging for worms. It was all safely planted in an old rusty tin can which, according to the record, had been in the ground just one year, four months and two days when found. The can, which was delivered to Lieutenant Hammil at the Walnut street station, contained four gold watches, one gold cross, one gold cuff button, two brooches, one an old came; one gold and one enamel heart, and one string of three-strand gold beads.

Bailey began at January, 1906, and it was not until he reached December 26 of that year that his efforts were rewarded. On that night porch climbers entered the home of E. H. Stimson, 3145 Broadway, while the family was in the siting room below. The thief or thieves secured two ladies' gold watches, one an open face watch, with E. A. S. on the case in big letters, and the other marked "Emmett to Olive." They also got a long gold watch chain and five gold rings.

On the same evening the home of C. M. Gilbert, then living at 3129 Washington street, was entered, probably by the same "climbers" as it was in a similar manner. There three gold watches were stolen. One, an open face watch, had "1876" engraved on it and there was a long chain to it. Another was engraved "Annie B Gilbert" and the last was undescribed. The thief also got a black seal card case and $40 in cash.

The gold engraved cross, the cuff button, two brooches and two hearts have not yet been identified. Detective Ralph Trueman was sent out to locate the robbed families and tell them of their luck. He found Mr. Stimson still living at the same number but Mr. Gilbert, he said, had left the city. Neighbors said the family had moved to Ohio. They believed it was Dayton. Secretary Bailey will endeavor to locate Mr. Gilbert and make him happy.

Mr. Stimson, who is a real estate man, was very much pleased when told of the find. "I recall the night we were robbed," he said. "It was the night after Christmas and about 8 o'clock. The thieves climbed the front porch and ransacked the two front rooms. The watch marked 'E. A. S.' is the property of my daughter, Edith Aileen Stimson. She will be more pleased than anybody as she was broken hearted over her loss."

Many conjectures have been made as to how and why the can of jewelry was buried in the ground and especially why it was left there. Many police believe that the thief, after burying his loot, fell into the hands of the law and may now be doing time in some prison. Others think the man who put the can there must be dead.

It is not an unusual thing for burglars to bury plunder, especially watches and other jewelry which is easily identified. After it has been buried long enough for the police to cease to look for the lost valuables they can easily be dug up and either sold or pawned with less chance of detection. If the thief is in prison the police believe he would have some day returned and disposed of his loot.

Labels: Broadway, crime, detectives, jewelry, Lieutenant H. W. Hammil, Nineteenth street, Walnut street police station, Washington street

May 3, 1908

HE FOUND A CAN OF JEWELRY.

And This Honest Boy Turned It Over

to the Police.

The treasure of some modern Captain Kidd in a Weary Willie vase was shoved under Lieutenant Heydon's nose by a 10-year-old boy last night at No. 4 police station.

"Here's something I 'spect you want," the boy said, relieving himself of a rusty, earth-covered tin can.

"Are you kiddin' kid?" the lieutenant wanted to know, as he cocked his eye to get a view of the contents. Something looked like gold, and the officer drew the can to him. Emptied on the desk the can's contents proved to be four ladies' gold watches, three gold breastpins, one gold cross, one gold necklace, one silver cuff link.

The lad, who was John E. Linings, a stepson of Charles Bassott, 317 East Nineteenth street, found the jewelry about 7:30 o'clock in the evening while digging for fishing worms in a vacant lot at the northeast corner of Nineteenth and McGee streets. No part of the jewelry was identified last night. It evidently was not new jewelry and had been in the ground for some time.

Labels: children, Nineteenth street, No 4 police station

March 7, 1908

PRIEST LOSES THE BEQUEST.

Katie McGinty Was Very Ill When

She Made Her Will.

It was decided by a jury in Judge H. Slover's division of the circuit court yesterday that Katie McGinty was too ill to know what she was doing when she made her will bequeathing all of her property to the Rev. A. G. Clohessy, pastor of St. Joseph's church, Nineteenth and Harrison streets, and that the will should be set aside and the property given to her blood relations.

Miss McGinty served as housekeeper for Father Clohessy for fourteen consecutive years prior to the illness, which, on January 26, 1907, caused her death. She was paid $2.50 a week, and out of this she saved, in the fourteen years,, $1,128. The money was kept in the Fidelity Trust Company. A few days before her death in St. Margaret's hospital, she called Father Cloheesy in and asked him to accept the money. He refused to accept it. Then she made a will, in his presence, leaving everything to him, after he should expend $25 for her funeral and gravestone and $200 for masses to be said for her soul. The funeral was held, the headstone erected and the masses were said. Then when Father Clohessy probated the will, James McGinty, a brother of the dead woman, brought the action in the circuit court.

Miss McGinty left no property other than the $1,128, excepting her clothing and personal effects. The residue of the estate will be divided among James, Patrick and Dennis McGinty, three brothers in Kansas City, and seven nephews and nieces in St. Louis.

Labels: circuit court, Harrison street, hospitals, ministers, Nineteenth street, probate

March 5, 1908

STRYCHNINE IN HIS LIQUOR.

Someone Poisoned Edward Whalen,

Bricklayer, in a Saloon.

"Send for a priest I am dying," cried Edward Whalen as he fell to the floor in front of the bar in a saloon at Nineteenth street and Troost avenue last night. As Whalen fell, he was seized with violent convulsions and the bartender, with several men who were standing around the bar, hurried to his assistance. Someone telephoned for the police ambulance, and Police Surgeon Carl V. Bates was hastened to the saloon. At the hospital it was found that Whalen had been poisoned by strychnine His body was badly bruised, bearing out the statement which Whalen made later that he had been kicked in the side and stomach.

The man told the doctors at the hospital that he had been drinking with several men in a saloon -- not at Nineteenth and Troost -- and that they got into a fight during which he was severely pummeled. Whalen said that their difficulties were soon adjusted, however, and that they went back into the saloon to have another drink.

Soon he left there and went the saloon at Nineteenth street and Troost avenue, where he ordered a drink of whisky. It was at this juncture, and before the order had been filled, that Whalen was taken violently ill and the doctor summoned.

The doctors at the city hospital think that Whalen was poisoned by the men with whom he had been drinking, but are unable to find any cause for their desire to kill him, unless it was that they harbored the hared feeling caused by the fight. Whalen was unable to give the names of any of his companions at the saloons.

Whalen is a white man, about 40 years old, and said that his home was at Twenty-Third street and Wabash avenue. He is a bricklayer.

Labels: Nineteenth street, poison, saloon, Troost avenue, Twenty-third street, violence, Wabash avenue

February 18, 1907

AN APPEAL FOR MORE POLICE.

Speaker Spalding Says South Side

Residents Are Unprotected.

D. R. Spalding, alderman from the Eleventh ward and speaker of the lower house, called at police headquarters last night to ask for better police protection in his district. Mr. Spalding lives at 2305 Tracy avenue an is much perturbed over two big burglaries which occured near him Sunday night and over several attempts which have been made in the neighborhood. He said neither he nor his neighbors had seen a policeman in the neighborhood in the last four or five months.

The matter will be taken up with the chief. Mr. Spalding spoke of taking the matter up with the council. When the complaint was referred to Lieutenant W. J. Carroll last night, he said: "There has been a man on that beat most of the time, especially of nights, for months. Tonight there are six or seven men out there in plain lothes. We are short of police out here, as they are all over the city, and often policemen have to be taken form the residence beat to be used in more congested districts along Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets. We are doing the best we can with the men we have on duty."

Labels: crime, Eighteenth street, Kansas City council, Nineteenth street, police, police headquarters, Tracy avenue

February 3, 1908

PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO.

Defined in Address Last Night by

W. T. Vernon.

In an address delivered to negroes at Allen chapel last night, W. T. Vernon of the United States treasury department said that the possibilities of the negro are encouraging to all those who desire a better era for these people. He claimed that the negro appreciates all the opportunities which may be opened to him. He declared that with the negro's freedom was made the most radical change in social order.

"The passage of the war amendments was necessary and just," said Mr. Vernon. "They prohibited peonage, defined citizenship, provided for the penalization of any state which should disenfranchise its citizens, and provided against this injustice on account of color. Then came the upward struggle of 4,000,000,000 people and as a result of such legislation and protection, the race has made achievements unparalleled in the world's history by any race similarly environed. From 1870 to 1900 the illiteracy of the face was decreased 43 per cent. At the close of the civil war the negro was without a home. In 1900, thirty-five years later, 372,414 were owners of homes of which 225,156 were free from incumbrance. He has nearly 30,000 school teachers, 500 young negroes pursuing special courses in the greatest institutions of learning in this and foreign countries, and he is paying taxes on quite $800,000,000 worth of property.

"Unbiased men will admit that such a record deserves encouragement, and gives just ground for the belief that he is daily becoming an appreciated, potent factor for good.

"The South today is struggling industrially with the rest of the world. The building up of this section can not be accomplished without the labor of the negro. These people, discriminated agaisnt, with thier schools diminishng, are not given an opportunity to do the best within them, and thus give to their country the splendid efforts which they could otherwise give. Blind indeed to right and justice -- blind to the best interests of our country is he who denies to any class of our citizens that which he asks for himself. As a race we must remember that education, sobriety, thrift and energy are the qualities which will give us success, permanent and lasting.

"While seeking industrial opportunity and progress in the business world, the spiritual side, which has to do with literature, art, science, culture and soul growth, should not be neglected. Here in the midst of a growing developing population, with less racial antagonisms and discriminations than are found elsewhere, I believe the race can rise to its highest possibilites. I would advice that we remain here and work out our destiny."

At Lincoln high school, Nineteenth and Tracy, Mr. Vernon addressed the colored Y. M. C. A. yesterday afternoon.

Labels: Civil War, Nineteenth street, race, schools, Tracy avenue, YMCA

January 22, 1908

TRAMPLED OLD MAN IN PANIC.

Passengers Rushed From Vine Street

Car Over His Prostrate Body.

The burning out of the controller of a Vine street car at Nineteenth and Vine streets last night, at 8 o'clock, resulted in a severe trampling for A. T. Gehn, 60 years old. He was on the front platform. The passengers were stampeded by the burst of flame and sound, and knocked Geha from the car to the ground. Then all stumbled over him. His face was tramped and cut and his back severely sprained. A police ambulance was called and took him to his home, 2310 Vine street, where later in the evening he was able to sit up. It was impossible last night to determine the extent of his injuries.

Labels: accident, Nineteenth street, Seniors, streetcar, Vine street

January 6, 1908

CHARIVARI STOPS CARS.

Riot Call Follows Wedding at the

Progressive Club.

When Mrs. Lena Gladstone and Julius Varshavsky set last night as the date for their marriage, they thought that none of their friends knew anything about it. But somewhere and somehow the secret had leaked out and friends of both people were waiting for the time to come so that they might have a charivari party and, perchance, some refreshments. Mrs. Gladstone lived at 221 East Nineteenth street and most of the party of rice throwers thought that the wedding would surely take place at the home of the bride. Consequently at 7 o'clock last night Nineteenth street was crowded with more than 500 noise-making individuals. The cars on Nineteenth street were lined up for more than a block away because the mob in front of the McClure flats refused to get out of the streets.

The car crews sent in a riot call to the police in order that the crowd might be dispersed.

After the cars had passed the mob began to surge back into the street and to show signs of violence. They insisted that they get a treat of some sort. Charles Gidinsky, a druggist at Nineteenth street and Grand avenue, scattered twenty pounds of candy in their midst.

Meanwhile 150 friends of the couple had found out that the wedding was taking place in the Young Men's Progressive Club rooms at Seventeenth and Locust streets, and rushed to that building. The groom walked out upon the porch to make a speech. He was greeted by a storm of rice and old shoes and his voice was drowned by the noise of horns. He hastily ran back indoors and telephoned the police. This time the police were in earnest and soon broke up the charivary party.

Labels: druggists, Grand avenue, Locust street, Nineteenth street, police, Seventeenth street, streetcar, wedding

December 26, 1907

WAS SHOT BY DETECTIVE.

But Frank Elliott, Probably Fatally

Wounded, Made His Escape.

In an attempt to arrest Claud Moore and Frank Elliott, said to be two fo the worst crooks Kansas City officers have to contend with, Detective C. J. Lewis shot and possibly fatally injured Elliott in front of a saloon at 1735 Grand avenue about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Despite his injuries, Elliott made his escape. Moore was arrested.

These men were wanted on a charge of robbing the home of William Laird, who lives in the McClure flats, Nineteenth and Oak streets, of $1,500 in cash about a month ago.

Detectives Lewis, John Ferrell, Frank Lyngar and Scott Gogley were detailed to pick up these men and for three weeks have been watching for them. They learend they were in the saloon at 1735 Grand avenue last night. Ferrell went to the rear door of the saloon and Lewis to the front, expecting to make the arrest inside the saloon.

As Lweis approached the place Moore and Elliott came out together. Lewis grabbed Moore and Elliot started running down Grand avenue. Lewis shot several times and the last time Elliott fell to the sidewalk. Moore was also trying to get away, and before Ferrell could reach the scene of action Elliott managed to get into a ho use and make his escape.

Labels: crime, detectives, Grand avenue, Nineteenth street, Oak street, saloon

December 21, 1907

POLICEMAN EXPERT WITNESS.

The Court Decided That Wooden Leg

Didn't Damage Bed Clothes.

It was a very fine point which arose in a police court trial yesterday, and it was finally decided against the prisoner, Howard Mills, a negro. Mrs. Catherine Porter, an aged negress with whom he boarded at 1915 East Nineteenth street, alleged that Mills, because he had been locked out of his room for non-payment of rent, got back into the room with a knife and "did then and there cut, carve, rip, split, strip, etc., etc., one blanket, one 'log cabin' quilt and one white spread."

Mills strenuously denied the allegation, and pleaded that the damage had all been done with a splinter in his wooden leg while he was in the throes of a nightmare.

"The cuts were straight and clear across the covers," said Patrolman Thomas McNally, expert witness, "and couldn't have been made with a wooden leg."

"That is corroborative evidence," said Judge Kyle. "Ten dollars."

Labels: Judge Kyle, Nineteenth street, police court

December 15, 1907

HILL FELL FROM A CAR.

Mystery in Spaniard's Case Cleared.

Goes to Daughter's Home.

Emanual Hill, the Spaniard who was identified at the general hospital Friday night by a negro woman as being her father, was taken to the home of Claude Lane, the husband of the woman, at 1807 Howard avenue, yesterday afternoon. Hill did not want to go, but as the negro had sufficient proof that he was in reality her father, the hospital authorities told her t hat she might take him home if she desired. After considerable urging he finally consented to leave.

It is now known that Hill received the fracture of the skull, with which he is afflicted, while attempting to get off a Jackson avenue car at Nineteenth street and Flora avenue on December 5. He had come to Kansas City to visit his daughter, who had lived in Flora avenue near Twenty-first street. He did not know that she had moved to the house in Howard avenue.

Labels: accident, Flora avenue, general hospital, Jackson avenue, Nineteenth street, Twenty-first street, visitors

October 15, 1907

LEADER OF GANG IS FINED.

South Side Grocer Was Set Upon by

Rowdies.

As C. T. Baker, a grocer at 1321 West Twenty-fourth street, left a car at Nineteenth street and Grand avenue Saturday evening he was struck by a stone. Seeing a crowd of young men near at hand he approached and asked, "Do any of you know who threw that stone?"

"With that," Baker said in police court yesterday, "I was immediately set upon by half a dozen of them and had I not taken refuge in a grocery store I believe I would have been beaten to death."

Baker identified W. P. Peppinger as the one who led the rowdies. Peppinger said he "had some trouble" but that he "didn't start anything."

"Your fine is $15," said Judge Kyle. "I only wish I had the rest of that gang in here. You'd better tell the others to steer clear of that kind of business or there will be something doing in the $500 fine line."

Labels: Grand avenue, grocers, Judge Kyle, Nineteenth street, police court, Twenty-fourth street, violence

October 4, 1907

NEGRO BISHOP'S ADVICE.

Rev. Isaac Lane, Educator, Counsels

Sobriety and Economy.

Rev. Isaac Lane of Jackson, Tenn., senior bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal church, preached to a gathering of negroes in their house of worship at Nineteenth street and Highland avenue last night.

The subject of the discourse was "Housekeeping," and was in a general way advice and counsel as the the relation that the husband and wife should bear to each other and to the family, for the prosperity, material and spiritual, of all concerned. The speaker deplored the fact of so many of the wives and mothers of his church being employed away from their own homes, to the detriment and neglect of their own children. he counseled economy, sobriety and education as the three things essential to the progress of the negro race, and quoted statistics to prove the race was becoming more prosperous through adherence to the three rules mentioned.

Bishop Lane is the founder and president of Lane college in his native town of Jackson. He stopped over night in Kansas City on his way to the annual conference of his church, which will be held at Topeka next week.

Labels: churches, Highland avenue, ministers, Nineteenth street, race, Topeka, visitors

September 15, 1907

IT'S A MORGUE MYSTERY

WOMAN ASKS TO SEE BODY OF

JOHN W. GUMLEY.

Hurried Away, Promising to Report

Later on -- By Telephone Informs

the Undertaker That Gumley

Is a Lost Brother.

The murder of John W. Gumley by his wife at their home, 1319 Liberty street, Friday night, developed a mystery yesterday which the police expect to clear up today at Stine's undertaking rooms, where the body awaits burial. Gumley, 44 years old, and a teamster, may prove to be the long lost brother of a well-to-do family living in the vicinity of Nineteenth street and Troost avenue.

Late yesterday a young woman, heavily veiled, called at the undertaking rooms and asked to see the body of Gumley. The caller declined to identify herself when questioned by an attendant, but stated that her residence is near Nineteenth street and Troost avenue. The unknown woman was escorted to the undertaker's private morgue, and the body was drawn out for her inspection. Immediately she showed great agitation and asked to be taken out of the room.

MYSTERIOUS CALLER DISAPPEARS.

"I would almost swear it," she was saying to herself as the attendant led her back to the private office of the undertaker.

Then the mysterious caller, who had declined to tell her name and exact address, told those about her that she is confident Gumley was her brother, who had been lost to her family for many years.

"When I read his description in The Journal," she said, "I at once thought of the brother we have so long awaited. And there was something familiar about the name, too. He might have assumed that or it might be his own -- I would rather not say any more at present."

The mysterious caller left the undertaking establishment, saying she intended calling on friends who would know the body for sure and that she would return with them for an identification.

REPORTED BY TELEPHONE.

But the young woman -- that's the way the undertaker described her, although he said she might be of "middle age" -- did not return. Instead she telephoned Mr. Stine last night that the identification had been verified and that she will call today to take charge of Gumley's body. She stated that Gumley's mother is in town, and that the aged woman will accompany her to the undertaker's morgue today -- but still the woman who is sure she is Gumley's sister declined to state her name. The police and the undertaker are confident the mystery will be cleared up this morning.

GUMLEY WAS SHOT BY WIFE.

Gumley was shot by his wife, Mrs. Rebecca Gumley, at 8:13 o'clock Friday night in his own home. The wife told the police her husband deserted her a week ago, and that he returned during the afternoon. In the evening, according to Mrs. Gumley and various witnesses to the tragedy, a quarrel growing out of Gumley's uncomplimentary remarks about a boarder led to a fight. As the husband started toward his wife with an upraised chair, the witnesses say, Mrs. Gumley fired two sots. The second lodged in Gumley's head and he died later at the emergency hospital.

After her arrest Mrs. Gumley did not deny the shooting but said: "I did it in self-defense."

Labels: domestic violence, Liberty street, murder, Nineteenth street, The Journal, Troost avenue, undertakers

September 10, 1907

ATE HIS CAKE IN COURT.

Sammy Hopkins Visits the Juvenile

Court and Likes It.

Sammy Hopkins, 4 years old, was visiting the juvenile court yesterday. He was accompanied by an aunt, but she couldn't keep track of him.

"May I eat a piece of sweet cake after the judge gets here?" Sammy asked Dr. E. L. Mathias, probation officer, just before the afternoon session took up. "Yes, if the judge doesn't catch you at it," the doctor said.

So, while Judge E. E. Porterfield sat at the table and heard case after case, Sammy slipped up to the judge's bench, hid behind it and ate a piece of ginger bread. Then with the crumbs on his face, he crawled up into the chair and looked at the judge's back. He was a cute little tyke, and he wore a cap on his head that attracted considerable attention.

Judge Porterfield turned around to look at the boy, and he slid off the chair and crawled back under the bench.

There he went exploring and finally found a piece of gum sticking on the underside of the bench. Manipulating this with outh and fingers, he came running to his aunt to show what he had found.

"Take it back," she whispered, "it belongs to the judge."

So Sammy took the gum back and stuck it where he had found it under the bench.

"I'm going to be in court regular some day," Sammy said, after his aunt had prevailed upon him to talk for publication. "I hopped a street car once and had a policeman chase me half a block.

"Mamma calls me Sammy, but my real name is S. R. I live at 2808 Bell. I go to Sunday school on Nineteenth street near the school house."

Sammy stayed until the court was adjourned at 5 o'clock. Before he left he hunted up Dr. Mathias:

"The judge didn't catch me, did he?" were Sammy's parting words.

Labels: Bell street, children, doctors, Dr Mathias, Judges, juvenile court, Nineteenth street

August 29, 1907

DAUGHTER HAD PRESENTIMENT.

Feared for Father's Safety and Found

Him in Street Injured.

A premonition that some harm had befallen her father, who did not return to his home at his accustomed hour led Miss Pamfret, daughter of W. C. Pamfret, of 2025 East Nineteenth street, to go upon a search for him that ended when she found him lying unconscious at the intersection of Eighth and Walnut streets last night at 11 o'clock. A fall from a street car a few minutes befroe had gathered about him a crowd of curiosity seekers. The daughter pressed her way through the crowd and tenderly cared for her father until the emergency ambulance arrived.

Pamfret, who is the president of a medicine company with offices down town, was in the habit of going home to dinner about 6 o'clock. Business detained him until a late hour, and the daughter decided to go to his office, fearing that something might have happened to him.

The young woman accompanied her father to the emergency hospital, where his wounds, painful but not serious, were dressed.

Labels: accident, Eighth street, emergency hospital, Nineteenth street, Walnut Street

August 6, 1907

BROTHERS BARR IN A FIGHT.

Ejected From a Car, They Attacked

the Conductor and the Motorman.

James Barr, a building contractor, and his brother, Amos Barr, both living at 4309 Michigan avenue, engaged in two lively fights with street car men yesterday afternoon, winding up by being taken to No. 6 police station, with their opponents, a conductor and motorman.

As the story goes the Barrs boarded a Vine street car to ride down town. On the way trouble between them and the conductor arose, and at Eighteenth and Walnut streets, they were ejected from the car. A fight followed in which the crews of other cars took part. No one was seriously injured, however, and the Barrs retreated and boarded another car. They went directly to Nineteenth and Vine streets.

About 3 o'clock in the afternoon someone telephoned to Lieutenant Wofford at No. 6 station that two men were waiting at Nineteenth and Vine streets to beat up a street car crew. An officer was sent to the place, but could not find the men referred to. He walked on after looking about to pull up a call box.

Directly the car on which were John Swinehart, motorman, and N. W. Nelson, conductor, approached. As the car was being switched at the corner of Vine street the Barrs rushed out, one of them seizing the conductor, while the other grabbed hold of the motorman. A fight ensued, and H. N. Printz, another street car man, rushed in to take a hand, when Sergeant Al Ryan appeared and placed the entire five under arrest.

At the police station the personal bonds of each was taken and they were released to appear in police court this morning to answer charges of disturbing the peace.

Labels: Eighteenth street, Michigan avenue, Nineteenth street, No 6 police station, police, streetcar, Vine street, violence, Walnut Street

August 6, 1907

AGED MAN RUN DOWN BY TEAM.

J. S. Daily Badly Bruised at Nine-
teenth and Main Streets.

J. S. Daily, a carpenter, 72 years old, was running to catch a car at Nineteenth and Main streets last night about 5:30 o'clock, when he was run over by a team and wagon. The driver was not arrested. Daily received many bruises, a deep cut on the forehead and another on the nose.

Dr. R. G. Dagg, ambulance surgeon from the Walnut street police station, attended his injuries and sent him to his home at 2128 Woodland avenue.

Labels: accident, doctors, Main street, Nineteenth street, Seniors, Walnut Street, Walnut street police station, Woodland avenue

August 3, 1907

JOKE WAS ON THE JOKER.

Pretended Suicide Called for Police

to Send an Ambulance.

Walter Radcliffe, while in a saloon at Nineteenth street and Grand avenue last night, was struck with a desire to see the police ambulance "make a run." He called up No. 4 station and said he had taken carbolic acid. As the ambulance rattled up he dashed out of a side door and into the arms of Officer Shelly. The officer loaded him into the ambulance and delivered him to Dr. G. R. Dagg, at the station. The doctor refused to accept Radcliffe's explanation of "the joke" and he was plied with violent emetics. It was Radcliffe's turn then, but he failed to see "the joke."

Labels: doctors, Grand avenue, Nineteenth street, No 4 police station, police, pranks, Suicide

July 16, 1907

BROTHER "PEACHES" ON HIM.

Abraham Lieberman Said to Have

Jumped Eastern Bond.

In a spirit of reveng, engendered by a quarrel, David Lieberman of Nineteenth and Wyandotte streets, gave information to the police that led up to the arrest of his brother, Abraham Lieberman, a junk dealer at 2811 Southwest boulevard, who, he claimed, is wanted by the police at Rochester, N. Y. The brothers quarreled last week, and, according to the arrested man, his brother tried to borrow money from him and on being refused gave the police information against him.

Teh informant appeared at No. 3 police station Saturday night and said that his brother had "shipped out" of Rochester while under $500 bond awaiting trial there on a charge of selling stolen property. Sergeant William Carroll and Patrolman Ralph Truman arrested Lieberman yesterday and he is being held here for further instructions from the authorities in Rochester.

The police say that both men are living in Kansas City under assumed names, and that their real name is Franks.

Labels: jail, Nineteenth street, No 3 police station, police, Southwest boulevard, Wyandotte street

July 8, 1907

CAME HOME IN A GUNNYSACK.

Supposed Drowned Boy's Clothing

Taken From the River Bank.

A drowning scare occurred at the Blue river, in Sheffield, yesterday afternoon, when the clothes and a crutch of William Hess, a 12-year old, one-legged boy, who lives near Independence and Ewing avenues, in Sheffield, were found on the bank. The finding of the clothes was reported at the Sheffield police station, and a prompt search for the body was instituted.

For three hours boats plied up and down the river from Nineteenth street to the mouth of the river, and for some distance about where the clothing was found the river was dragged. The search was abandoned about 7:30 o'clock, and the clothing turned over to the boy's mother by a policeman, who broke the news to her.

A half hour later a dejected looking figure, clad in an improvised bathing suit made from an old gunnysack, appeared in the doorway of the Hess home. It was the supposedly drowned boy, who had returned from a row with two other boys up the river, and finding his clothes gone he had hobbled to his home by way of alleys and side streets.

Labels: Blue river, children, drowning, Nineteenth street, sheffield