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

February 6, 1910

INVASION FROM KANSAS.

Boys Rush by Collector on Viaduct

but Police Intercepted Them.

Lieutenant Kennedy of station No. 2 and his flying squad, consisting of Officers Scanlon and Hogan, repelled an invasion from Kansas City, Kas., by way of the Intercity viaduct about 9:30 o'clock last night. A report was received at the station that over 100 men had rushed past the toll collector of the Kansas end of the viaduct without stopping to pay the customary toll and the flying squad was sent to the Missouri end of the structure to intercept the invaders. Although greatly outnumbered the Kennedy forces allowed only four or five of their adversaries to negotiate a getaway into Missouri without payment of toll . The crowd was made up entirely of boys bent on a charivari.

Labels: intercity viaduct, Kansas City Kas, No 2 police station, police

January 20, 1910

TWO SERGEANTS STEP UP.

Commissions as Lieutenants for

James and Anderson.

The first promotion of any moment to be made by the present police board took place nar the close of the meeting yesterday when Sergeants Robert E. L. James and Frank H. Anderson, who have given the better parts of their lives to the service, were made lieutenants. Anderson is said to be a Republican and James is a Democrat. Neither man got much encouragement from former boards though their records are both clean.

Anderson, now assigned to desk work at No. 3 station on the Southwest boulevard, went on the force November 9, 1889. On account of his intelligence and adaptability for the work he was assigned for m any eyars to duty in the city clerk's office where he served papers in condemnation suits and did clerical work. On January 9, 1907, while H. M. Beardsley was mayor, Anderson was made a sergeant by a Democratic board. His promtion is said to have been due to former Mayor Beardsley's efforts.

Lieutenant James went on the department as a probationary officer July 22, 1889, a few months before Lieutenant Anderson. As a patrolman James has walked every beat in Kansas City. On July 22, 1902, he was promoted to sergeant.

James early showed particular efficiency in handling large crowds. While outside sergeant at No. 2 station in the West Bottoms during the destructive flood of June, 1903, James distinguished himself.

Last July, when still a sergeant, James was assigned by the police board to Convention hall as instructor in the matter of police duty. This pertained to the old men, already on the force as well as new recruits. In all 241 policemen were instructed in groups of from twenty-five to seventy and their instruction lasted from seventy-two to ninety hours per group. Lieutenant James also had charge of the initial opening of Electric park a few years ago. For two weeks he has had charge of the desk at No. 7 station in Sheffield. Lieutenant James was born at Tipton, Cooper county, Mo., October 17, 1867. His father, Dr. P. T. James, was assistant surgeon general to General Sterling Price of the Confederate army. Some time after the war the family moved to Holden, Mo.. Lieutenant James is married and has four children. He is a brother of Dr. Samuel C. James, a member of the general hospital staff of visiting surgeons and physicians.

Labels: Civil War, Convention Hall, Electric park, general hospital, Mayor Beardsley, No 2 police station, No 3 police station, police board, politics, sheffield, Southwest boulevard

November 25, 1909

OLD RIVER MAN IS DEAD.

Isaac Smith, Also Civil War Veteran,

Dies Alone.

Sitting in a chair, wrapped in a bed quilt, his head hanging over on his chest as if he had but fallen asleep, Isaac Smith, an old soldier and Missouri river navigator 76 years of age, was found dead in a room at 1820 Union avenue about 8 o'clock last night. The old man had been placed in the room about 10 a. m. by his son, William Smith, an employe of the Bemis Bag Company. the coroner said life appeared to have been extinct five or six hours . The body was sent to the Carroll-Davidson undertaking rooms, where an autopsy will be held later.

The son was taken in charge by an officer and taken to No. 2 police station where he made a statement. He said that his father's condition was such about 10 a. m. that he should not be on the street. In taking him to the room, which the old man previously occupied, he fell on the stairway, making a slight abrasion on the nose and causing the nose to bleed freely for a time.

Washing off the blood, the son said, he placed his father in the chair, covered him securely with the bed quilt and left. When he returned at 8 p. m. the old man was in the same position in which he had been left, but life had flown. The dead man had been an inmate of the National Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth, Kas. The coroner does not think an inquest will be necessary.

Labels: death, Leavenworth, Missouri river, No 2 police station, Union avenue, veterans

September 21, 1909

STEEL CELLS FOR BABES;

SOFT BEDS FOR EVILDOERS.

"Oh, Please Don't Put Us in There,"

Pleaded Mother With Infant as

Police Thrust Her Into Dungeon.

A condition never before heard of at police headquarters in all of its history, existed there last night. Four women, keepers of public rooming houses, all had comfortable quarters in the matron's room. Down in the steel cell section of the women's department of the holdover, locked behind bars, were two worn women, each with a babe at her breast.

Both of the babies were ill and crying, but there was no room in the matron's comfortable room for women with babies in arms. Those who had the beds and slept beneath the sheets are women who today will be accused of harboring young girls in disorderly resorts.

Mrs. Nellie Ripetre, with a baby of 6 months old, was sent in about 9 o'clock p. m. for investigation. It has always been the custom in the past never to lock up a woman with a baby. If there was no room in the matron's room for the mother and the babe, room had to be made by putting someone down in the holdover. This negro woman lay on the concrete floor with her crying baby folded tightly to her bosom. The floor got too hard for the mother later on and she chose an iron bunk in one of the cells. There she lay all night. The windows were open and the place cold. Mother-like, however, she huddled her baby close to her, to keep it warm. Part of the time the child lay on top of its mother, covered only by her bare arms.

About 11 p. m. Mrs. Mattie Bell, with a 5-months-old child, was sent in from No. 2 station in the West Bottoms.. Her baby was puny, sickly and crying. The matron's room, however, was still filed with healthy, well-dressed rooming house keepers, so the mother and her sick child had to listen to the harsh turn of the key in a cell door.

"Please don't put me in that place," begged the mother. "It's cold down there and my baby is very sick."

"That's the best we've got," she was informed.

Mrs. Bell was booked for the Humane Society. She had been found wandering about in the streets with her baby. After she was locked up Mrs. Bell tried the concrete floor, and, like the other mother, had to creep to the steel slabbed bed in a cell. She complained to the jailer and the Emergency hospital was notified that there was a sick baby in the holdover.

In a short time a nurse and a doctor went to the cell room and relieved the distressed mother of her sickly burden. The little one was tenderly cared for during the balance of the night but the other mother -- she's colored -- her babe clasped tightly to her breast, spent a chilly night.

The four rooming housekeepers in the matron's room rested easily.

Labels: children, emergency hospital, jail, No 2 police station, police headquarters, police matron, race, rooming house

August 21, 1909

TOO HOT FOR WARWOOPS.

Union Avenue Police Lugged Indian

Braves to Station.

Several realistic Indian warwhoops let loose by Bighead Sidesaddle and Jim Ironsides, fullblood Indians, at the Union depot yesterday morning, startled the would-be passengers congregated in the lobby of the old station. Detectives Charles Ryan and Ben Sanderson arrested the warwhoopers, along with their companions, one man, six women and a pappoose. The band of wild Indians was given a ride in the patrol wagon to No. 2 police station.

Captain Joseph Heydon ordered Ironsides and Sidesaddle locked up, as they were drunk. The remainder of the party were returned to the depot in the patrol wagon, and enjoyed the short haul muchly.

Labels: alcohol, detectives, Native Americans, No 2 police station, Union depot

July 26, 1909

NORTH END BEATS TAME NOW.

Clean Up's and Better Lighting

Fatal to Police Excitement.

So many years ago that the oldest member of the police department scarcely remembers it, No. 2 police station in the West Bottoms was a busy point and the number of arrests there for a single night ranged from five to forty-five. Now it is a back number and the happy patrolman walking beats in the No. 2 district has a snap equal to that of being a line man for the Marconi system. This is the result of a forgotten clean-up in the early '90s. Such a clean-up is now relegating No. 4 district to an unimportant one in the city.

Captain Thomas Flahive, lately removed to No. 5 station in Westport, used to book all the way from five to twenty-five "drunks" and "vag" at the Walnut street holdover, and Lieutenant C. DeWitt Stone on his advent there promised to increase the average so that no safe limit could be ascribed to it.

"But now there is a slump in crime there," Stone said last night. "We still make arrests but they are invariably tame ones and the time is about here when there will be practically none at all. Drag nets and the brilliant lighting of McGee street, formerly as wicked as any place in the North End, has wrought a change for the better, fatal to the excitement attendant on being an officer."

Labels: Captain Flahive, crime, McGee street, No 2 police station, No 4 station, No 5 police station, North end, police, Walnut street police station, West bottoms, Westport

May 20, 1909

KNOCKS ACID FROM HAND.

Girl Thwarts Young Man's Appar-

ent Attempt at Self-Destruction.

C. S. Brown raised a bottle of carbolic acid to his lips in the Union depot yesterday afternoon, but before he could swallow any of the drug Miss Hilo Pickerell, of St. Joseph, knocked the bottle from his hand. A depot patrolman took Brown to No. 2 police station, but on the intervention of Thomas McLane, a St. Joseph shoe salesman, and George Pickerell, he was not locked up. Miss Pickerell told the police that twice before she had knocked carbolic acid bottles from Brown's hand. Brown in an engraver and until one month ago lived in St. Joseph. Recently he has been staying at the Monarch hotel, Ninth and Central streets. He had gone to the depot to see the Pickerells on a train for St. Joseph.

Labels: Central street, hotels, mental health, Ninth street, No 2 police station, poison, St.Joseph, Suicide, Union depot

April 30, 1909

NO. 2 STATION MOVES.

West Bottoms Police Now Located

at 1301 West Eighth Street.

The old St. Louis avenue police station, as it was generally known, exists no longer. Yesterday the members of the force in No. 2 district moved out of the old station on St. Louis avenue into the new station house at 1301 West Eighth street.

Labels: Eighth street, No 2 police station, St Louis avenue

March 23, 1909

TOOK A STROLL; IS SHY $30.

Farmer Slept in Rear of Saloon and

Was Touched.

When Farmer Gus Peterson of Topeka, Kas., strayed from the glare of the Union depot last night and started for a little stroll along Union avenue he merrily jingled three golden eagles in his pocket. Two hours later when he awoke from a troubled sleep in the rear of a Union avenue saloon all he could find was a bunch of keys. He remembers going into the saloon to have a drink with two "nice appearin' gents."

Peterson reported his loss to the police at No. 2 station and wired home for money.

Labels: crime, farmers, No 2 police station, saloon, Topeka, Union avenue, Union depot

December 16, 1908

ASLEEP IN ALLEY WITH $611.

And a Policeman Got to C. C. Mc-

Burney Before a Thief.

Because he was found by the police before an "alley rat" got to him, C. C. McBurney is still in possession of $611 and a homeseekers' excursion ticket to Clarksville, Tex. That is, these will be restored to him when he recovers from the condition under which he was laboring when found last night.

He evidently had come in yesterday and, while waiting for his train, indulged too freely in patronage of the thirst parlors along Union avenue. As a patrolman was going down the alley behind the avenue, he stumbled upon McBurney lying there "too full for utterance." He was taken to station No. 2 for safe keeping.

Labels: alcohol, No 2 police station, Union avenue, visitors

December 10, 1908

"ADAM GOD" HAS

NOT BEEN CAUGHT.

LEADER OF MANIACAL RELIG-

IONISTS STILL AT LARGE.

DETECTIVE BOYLE AFTER HIM.

BELIEVED TO BE HEADING FOR

BONNER SPRINGS.

Man Answering His Description Seen

in Armourdale -- Clark and Mul-

lane May Recover -- Selsor

Will Die.

Information was given the police about noon yesterday that a man answering the description of James Sharp, the "Adam God" of the murderous band of maniacal religionists which shot three members of the police force Tuesday, had been seen in Armourdale by a railroad man. Police were immediately dispatched to pick up the man's trail. At last midnight Sharp was still at large.

Every lodging house in the city and all the places were searched by the police Tuesday night and yesterday morning in an effort to catch the instigator of the riot of Tuesday afternoon in which Patrolman Albert O. Dublow was killed and two policeman and a citizen were seriously wounded. Many false clues were followed, as every policeman was anxious to find the man who had preached to his followers that it was right to kill.

Though the entire department was working on the case not a trace of Sharp could be found, and the information that he had passed through Armourdale was the first clue that looked good. The railroad man who telephoned to Chief Daniel Ahern that he had seen Sharp, said that the man had trimmed his whiskers and was bleeding. It was known that Sharp had been shot in the hand. When he laid a gun on the bar in John Blanchon's saloon, 400 Main street, while the shooting was going on in the street, the bartender saw that his right hand was bleeding.

NEGRO TRIMMED HIS BEARD.

According to the story told by the railroad man, Sharp stopped him and asked the direction to Bonner Springs, and then hurried on. He told the chief that he noticed blood on the man's hand and clothes. While Sharp wore a long beard, partly gray, during the fight, when he stopped in the railroad yards in Armourdale the beard was clipped, and his hair had been trimmed. Two hours later the police at No. 2 station were told by Chester Ramsey, a negro barber for George W. Robinson, 956 Mulberry street, that he had cut a man's beard and trimmed his hair and that man might have been the leader of the Adamite fanatics.

Ramsey said that the man came from the east about 5 o'clock Tuesday evening and, when he left the shop went west. The man acted strangely while in the shop, refusing to take either of his hands out of his pockets.

"He got in a chair and ordered me to take his hat off," said the barber. "He kept his hands in his coat pockets while I cut his hair and trimmed his beard I had about half finished when he seemed to get very nervous and said, 'Hurry up. I have to meet a man.' When I got through with him he got out of the chair and had me put his hat on his head. Then he made me take the money out of his left trouser pocket. He explained that his hands had been frozen and he couldn't take them out of his pockets.

"I said, 'You must have been in a colder climate than this. He said, 'Yes, I was up north of here fishin'. That was all he said."

The police believe the man was Sharp. They say he evidently was hiding his right hand, which was shot, and kept the left hand on a revolver in his pocket. The description of the man given by Ramsey coincides with that of Sharp.

CITY HALL GUARDED.

The police took precaution to guard the city hall and police headquarters all day yesterday. They were of the opinion that Sharp might return to the scene of the crime on Tuesday, and for revenge enter the station unnoticed and shoot one or more of the officers.

The police are not sure that Sharp is alone. Two patrolmen stood on the sidewalk at the main entrance to the station and two were stationed in the areaway opening on the market. Inside the station two officers guarded the hallway leading to the chief's office and our or five patrolmen and detectives were held in reserve.

Labels: Adam God sect, Armourdale, barbers, Bonner Springs, city hall, Inspector Boyle, ministers, missing, Mulberry street, No 2 police station

December 6, 1908

WANTED TO DIE AT 19.

Despondency Induced John Bresna-

han to Jump Into Kaw River.

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

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

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

September 28, 1908

HIS LUGGAGE VANISHED.

Man From Arkansas Stepped Out to

Get Buttermilk.

"I don't for the life o' me see how anybody could a took 'em," complained a man from Evening Shade, Ark., to Lieutenant Edward F. Burke of police station No. 2.

"You see," he went on, "I put my grip down on a seat at the Union depot and my umbrell' on top of it. Then me and a friend o' mine went across Union avenue for a drink o' buttermilk. When we got back the things wasn't there -- and we hadn't been gone more'n twenty minutes."

The lieutenant thought it best not to blight the fresh unsophistication of the Arkansawyer and so kept his opinion to himself.

Labels: Arkansas, crime, No 2 police station, police, Union avenue, Union depot, visitors

September 25, 1908

AN UNFORTUNATE FAT WOMAN.

Burdened by Flesh Miss Knox Be-

comes a Ward of the City.

"Suffering from an abundance of superfluous adipose tissue."

This is the diagnosis of the emergency hospital physicians in the case of Miss Mary Knox, 44 years old, five feet five inches tall, weighing 350 pounds. Miss Knox lives alone near St. Louis avenue and the State Line.

The woman's case was brought to the attention of the police at No. 2 station late yesterday afternoon. It was said that she was helpless, penniless and really a fit subject for the county home. The patrol wagon took Miss Knox to the emergency hospital, where, after a thorough examination, the foregoing diagnosis was agreed upon.

"It is an odd case," said Dr. W. L. Gist. "Miss Knox is too fat to walk without assistance, as she would fall if she encountered the least obstruction. Then when she is down she can't arise without help. The police say neighbors have been caring for the helpless woman for some time."

Her case will be referred to the Humane Society today and an effort made to get her in the county home. Ten years ago Miss Knox is said to have been as lithe and slender as a gazelle. When she began to take on flesh, no manner of dieting made any difference; she was destined to become very corpulent, and very corpulent she did become.

"This is one thing that scientists have not solved," said Dr. Gist. "People who are destined to be fat will gain weight in spite of all one can do, and, on the other hand, the slim tribe will remain shadows on a diet of fat-producing foods."

Labels: Dr. Gist, emergency hospital, Humane Society, No 2 police station, St Louis avenue, State line, women

August 18, 1908

LOVESICK GIRL DRINKS IODINE.

Katie Thompson, 14, Wanted to Wed

a Grocer's Clerk.

Katie Thompson, 1326 St. Louis avenue, is only 14 years old, but that did not keep her from falling in love with Michael Griffin, an employe of the Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Company, Tenth and Mulberry streets. They wanted to get married.

Katie's mother and her stepfather, M. J. Chambers, objected on account of her age. Michael called at the Thompson home during the noon hour yesterday to press his suit. When he was told there would be nothing doing in the matrimonial line for at least four years, he became angry and cast a half brick at the stepfather, who promptly stopped it with his face. The brick was much harder than Chambers's face and a deep gash over the eye was the result.

It is said of Michael that he then made tracks toward the state line, while Chambers fled himself to No. 2 police station to have the brick-throwing lover arrested. All this excited little Katie to such an extent that she then and there consumed an ounce of iodine by way of showing her love for the grocery clerk. Dr. George P. Pipkin, with the ambulance from the emergency hospital, arrived after a hurry-up call and a strong emetic put Katie back on the eligible list again.

Labels: children, grocers, No 2 police station, romance, St Louis avenue, violence

July 22, 1908

DETECTIVES FIGHT

AMONGST THEMSELVES.

LIVELY ENCOUNTER IN NO. 2

POLICE STATION.

In the Midst of the Melee Two Pris-

oners Bolt for Liberty, but

the Watchful Jailer

Nabbed Them.

There was the liveliest kind of mixup between detectives in No. 2 police station last night and for a moment it looked as though blood might be shed.

At 10 o'clock last night, William Bradley, a Union depot detective, Carl Demmett, a Rock Island detective, and Charles Lewis and Frank Lyngar, city detectives, brought two prisoners, George Stryker and Fred Reed, into No. 2 police station and charged them with attempting to pass a bad check on J. A. Merritt of Savannah, Mo.

Gum opium was found in a sack of tobacco carried by Stryker and Desk Sergeant Harry Moulder told Jailer Long to look in the men's shoes to see if they had any "dope" concealed there. The prisoners were taken to the back of the room.

Then the sergeant asked Bradley who the arresting officers were. Bradley, who was standing in front of the desk replied:

"Bradley, Demmett, Lewis and Lyngar.

Lyngar was standing at Sergeant Moulder's elbow.

"Bradley had nothing whatever to do with the arrest" said Lyngar.

"You're a liar!" shouted Bradley, and started to go around the desk toward Lyngar.

Detective Lewis was standing in Bradley's way and he pushed the depot detective back. Bradley struck Lewis and the two clashed. Lewis drew his revolver and tried to hit Bradley with the butt end, but Bradley knocked the weapon out of his hand.

Sergeant Moulder tried to hold Bradley and there was a mixup of officers in the thick of which Policeman Joe Kelley was discovered with his left hand clutching Bradley by the throat and his right hand shaking a club in Bradley's face.

In the meantime the prisoners, who had been interested spectators of the fight, suddenly concluded that a police station filled with fighting officers was no place for them, and they bolted for freedom. Jailer William Love saw them going and he made a grab for them. Immediately there was a lively triangular struggle that did not end until J. P. Johnson, a Gamewell operator, hastened to Long's assistance. By this time everybody in the station house, including the prisoners, was red faced and perspiring freely. And nobody was in a good humor. The prisoners offered the excuse that they feared they might get shot if they remained int he station.

Lyngar and Bradley have always been rivals. Both work at the depot, but Bradley is employed by the depot and Lyngar is paid by the city.

The prisoner, who gave his name as George Stryker, is said to be "Whitie," a well known confidence man. It is said that he and Reed tried to borrow $20 from Merritt on a bad check for $1,350.

Merritt was on the Frisco Meteor, due to leave here at 9:30 p. m., when these men came in the car and made themselves acquainted. Reed told Merritt that he had the dead body of his brother at the depot and couldn't get the body out because he owed $20 express charges. Reed wanted to ship the beloved relative on the Meteor. Stryker was introduced as the hard hearted express agent. He said that if Reed would get $20 he would let the body go, and not before.

Reed had a check for $1,350 and finally he offered to leave this with Merritt as security for a $20 loan. Just then the detectives arrived and a Savannah, Mo., citizen was saved.

Dr. D. M. Monie of West Pittston, Pa., who was with the detectives when the arrest was made, was attempting to identify a man who had agreed to sell his ticket to Chicago. He wanted to go to St. Louis, so accepted the kind offer of a new found friend who "knew a man who would pay well for a ticket to Chicago." Dr. Monie did not find his man or the ticket.

Labels: con artist, detectives, jail, No 2 police station, railroad, Union depot, violence, visitors

May 25, 1908

BOY'S HEAD CUT OFF

BY TRAIN OF CARS.

Either Rolled Onto Tracks or Fell

While Catching Ride in the

Burlington Yards.

Mangled beyond recognition, and the head missing, the body of Martin Pretzel, aged 17 years, a son of Joseph Pretzel, and employee of the C. H. Conklin Ice Company, residing at 1657 Washington avenue, was found on the Burlington tracks, directly under the Fourth street viaduct, at 4:30 o'clock yesterday morning by Louis Hommold, a laborer. He reported the discovery to the No. 2 police station. Patrolman James McGraw was sent to make an investigation but could find nothing by which to base the identity of the body and ordered it removed to the Eylar Bros. undertaking establishment.

At noon yesterday the parents of young Pretzel became uneasy about their son's absence, and hearing of the finding of the body investigated. Harvey E. Bailey, a son-in-law residing with the Pretzels, identified the pantaloons as the ones which he had given the boy a short time ago, and the father thought the coat and vest were the same as worn by his son when he left home. Beside the body as it lay on the track, was found a hat which belonged to Lee Ganders of 413 Landis court, the dead boy's companion. The two boys, who worked at neighboring grocery stores, left home after work Saturday night, saying they might go to St. Joseph on a fishing trip.

Lee Ganders reached his home at 4 o'clock yesterday morning, and explained to his mother that he had gone to the Fourth street viaduct with young Pretzel, that from there they had intended catching a train for St. Joseph. While waiting for the train the boys stretched themselves on the ground beside the track and fell asleep.

"About 3:30 o'clock in the morning," continued young Ganders, "I was awakened by the noise made by a passing passenger train. As the cars passed by I missed Pretzel, who had substituted the hat he wore for the one worn by myself. Thinking that he had either caught the train or gone home, I started for my own home."

The inference is that while asleep young Pretzel may have rolled on to the tracks and was run over or he might have attempted to mount one of the platforms of the moving cars and fell under the wheels. No part of the $1 given the deceased by his mother was found in his clothing.

Labels: accident, death, Landis court, No 2 police station, railroad, St.Joseph, undertakers, Washington avenue

March 21, 1908

POLICE THOUGHT HIM DRUNK.

Injured Man Was Locked Up in a

Cell Without Treatment.

J. K. Mannois, 63 years old, a cigar merchant of Ottawa, Kas., went to the emergency hospital yesterday morning for treatment. His lower lip was cut through, his face badly bruised and swollen and a tooth was missing. Dr. W. L. Gist attended him.

Mannois said that he arrived in the city Thursday night when he was attacked on Union avenue and robbed of $15 and a gold watch valued at $40. He said that while dazed from his injuries he was taken in charge by the police and locked up at No. 2 station, 1316 St. Louis avenue, as a "drunk" who had fallen and come in contact with the pavement. He said he had started for Kansas City, Kas., when attacked by men who had seen him leave a Union avenue restaurant.

Labels: cigars, doctors, emergency hospital, No 2 police station, St Louis avenue, Union avenue, violence

February 13, 2008

BOARD DROPS JAILER DEHONEY.

"It Was No More Than Right," Was

His Only Comment.

Without giving him a hearing, the police board yesterday dropped Steve Dehoney, the jailer at No. 2 police station, who was arrested Monday night after complaint had been lodged against him by two young women, one of whom said he tried to take her with him to the police station, and it was only by defending herself with her fists that she was able to get away. Patrolman Charles D. Fuller narrowly escaped being shot in arresting Dehoney.

The members of the board in turn read the written reports of the case, and after a whispered conference it was decided to drop Dehoney.

"It is not necessary to give a public hearing to a probationary man," said Commissioner Gallagher. "But any time that he may feel that he wants a public hearing we will be glad to give it to him."

Dehoney, after waiting for an hour to hear what was to become of him, asked the board what was done in his case.

"You were dismissed," said Mayor Beardsley. "Is that satisfactory?"

"Yes, sir," said Dehoney. "It seems no more than right."

Labels: Mayor Beardsley, No 2 police station, police board

February 12, 1908

JAILER DEHONEY SUSPENDED.

He Must Also Answer for His Act Be-

fore Police Board.

Stephen Dehoney, the police board's new appointee as jailer at No. 2 police station, who ran amuck Monday night, was suspended by Chief Ahern yesterday. The chief filed written charges against Dehoney, charging him with intoxication and conduct unbecoming an officer. At the meeting of the bgoard today the Dehoney charges will come up for investigation.

Labels: alcohol, No 2 police station, police board, Police Chief Ahern

February 11, 1908

JAILER ON RAMPAGE

WITH BIG REVOLVER

STEPHEN DEHONEY ALMOST

TAKES BYSTANDER'S LIFE.

Police Board's Employe at No. 2 Sta-

tion Discharges Revolver, After

Hitting a Citizen on the

Head With It.

While Stephen Dehoney, jailer at No. 2 police station, was resisting arrest by a brother officer at Fifth and Walnut streets last night, Dehoney's revolver, which he held in his hand, was discharged and the bullet came near hitting someone in a crowd which had gathered. Whether Dehoney, who had been drinking, was attempting to shoot Patrolman Charles D. Fuller, who was trying to arrest him, or whether the revolver was discharged by accident is not certainly known. The bullet shattered the plateglass window of the Dougherty & Lorber Commission Company, of 514 Walnut street. Fuller took Dehoney to police headquarters, where he was locked up "for safe-keeping."

Fuller, in his report, said that while he was on duty at the Gilliss theater, a citizen came running in and told of an officer with a gun attacking him on the street. The citizen was bleeding from a wound back of his right ear and claimed that the officer had hit him with the gun. Fuller said that Dehoney had the revolver in his hand when a moment later, he accompanied the complainant outside and accosted Dehoney.

A few minutes after Dehoney was locked up Miss Jessie Wilson, an actress with the Irwin company, scheduled next week at the Majestic, who came to the station to tell of an assault by an officer, identified Dehoney as the offender.

"I was leaving the Wellington hotel about 7:30 o'clock, on my way to the Ashland," Miss Wilson told Police Lieutenant James Norris, "when I had to go pass a man scuffling with a negro. The man grabbed me roughly and said, 'Here, you're under arrest, too.' I was frightened, for he had been drinking. He showed me his star and I walked along quietly for a bit, but at Missouri avenue I jerked away from him suddenly and ran all the way to the Ashland hotel."

Lieutenant Morris said last night that he would put no charge other than "safe keeping" against Dehoney, but would keep him until he had orders from Chief Ahern to turn him loose. The matter will eventually come before the police board, it is presumed.

On one occasion Dehoney had trouble in a rooming house. Two years ago a couple of negroes ran to the station late at night and said that a man had fired two shots between them because they would not give him all the sidewalk. The police heard the shots at Fourth and Walnut and ran out. The negroes described the man who fired at them and soon pointed Dehoney out in Granfield's saloon where they said he ran after the shooting. No attempt was made to even detain him and the negroes fled. Not until a citizen complained to the police that they had not even searched Dehoney for a revolver was he held. Then the negro witnesses were gone and Dehoney was soon released.

One time after that Dehoney was taken to police headquarters. He was with two deputy sheriffs, walking out on Independence avenue. Two shots were fired. The police took all three to the station, but they were released.

Dehoney was appointed to his present position by the police board two months ago. He is said to be a personal friend of one of the commissioners.

Labels: Fifth street, Fourth street, hotels, Missouri avenue, No 2 police station, police board, police headquarters, theater, violence, Walnut Street

January 6, 1908

THIS BAD MAN LOCKED UP.

He Pushed a Coffined Corpse From a

Truck at the Depot.

Benjamin Johnson, alias Jenkins, hails from Hot Springs, Ark., where he freely asserts he has the reputation of being a "bad man." It is charged that he made himself obnoxious to the Union station porters yesterday by depositing his grips and himself in the way of the baggage and express trucks and refusing to move when requested. The climax came when a truck on which was a corpse in course of transportation bumped into one of Johnson's grips. This so incensed him that he pushed the box off the truck, bottom side up on the floor.

Johnson was then promptly arrested by Detectives Hyde and Bradley and hustled over to Number 2 police station, where he was booked on a charge of disturbing the peace.

Bystanders who saw his act were so angered by it that had he not at once been taken out of the way it is probably he would have been attacked by the crowd and roughly dealt with.

Labels: detectives, No 2 police station, Union depot, visitors

January 1, 1908

THREE CELEBRATORS SHOT.

One on West Twelfth Street and Two

in Kansas City, Kas.

The first victim of the New Year's celebration this morning was Gilbert Cons, a grocery clerk who lives at 800 West Twelfth street. Just at the stroke of 12 Cons and several of his friends went out into their front yard and began firing off pistols. Cons was standing near one of his companions watching him reload a .22-caliber revolver, when in the excitement the pistol was accidentally discharged. The bullet entered Cons's neck just above the Adam's apple. He was taken to the emergency hospital, where he was operated upon by Dr. John Hynds. The bullet missed the young man's jugular vein by only a hair's breadth, lodging in the throat about two inches under the skin. Dr. Hynds said that the would would not prove fatal.

Kansas City, Kas., celebrators ushered in the New Year with firearms loaded with leaden bullets. This fact caused two accidents, one of which may mean the amputation of the right leg of E. E. Leffel, 8 Central avenue. Leffel was standing on the street in front of his home when he was struck by a bullet which entered his thigh and passed down his leg to the ankle. The bullet was removed at No. 2 police station. It was discharged from a rifle, and was of .44-caliber.

J. W. Greer, 89 North Eighth street, was struck in the right ankle by a bullet of the same caliber and, it is thought, from the same gun which fired the bullet that wounded Leffel. Greer was standing in his doorway listening to the noise which ushered 1908 into existence. He was also treated at No. 2 police station.

Labels: Central avenue, doctors, emergency hospital, guns, holidays, Kansas City Kas, New Years, No 2 police station, Twelfth street

July 5, 1907

FALLS FROM "L" ON HEAD.

Jospeh Czski Receives Only Slight
Injuries, However.

Joseph Czski, a Croatian, 200 South Mill street, Kansas City, Kas., fell through the "L" road bridge near Reynolds avenue last night at about 9:30 o'clock. Although he struck the pavement twenty feet below on his head and shoulders, he sustained only sight injuries, the worst being a cut on the head. Report was sent in to No. 2 police station and Assistant Surgeon D. E. Smith fixed up Czski's bruises so he was able to come home unassisted. Czski says he had just returned from Chicago, where he has been employed, and that he had been down to a saloon on the State line for a few drinks.

"I was a little uncertain in my steps and put my foot down in the wrong place," he said.

Labels: accident, alcohol, Croatians, immigrants, Kansas City Kas, No 2 police station, State line

July 4, 1907

FIRST OF THE ACCIDENTS.

Little Girl Loses Sight of Eye and

May Die.

In a premature celebration of the Fourth, Katie Handvie, and 8-year-old girl, was shot in the face with a blank cartridge last night near her home on Jorth James street, Kansas City, Kas. The sight of her right eye was destroyed and the physicians at St. Margaret's hospital, where she was taken after the accident, state that the injury may prove fatal.

The little girl was participating in the celebration with a number of the neighboring children when Frank Merriam, a boy 17 years old, joined the group of youngsters, armed with a pistol and a box of blank cartridges. In her excitement and enthusiasm little Katie ran in front of the weapon.

Merriam was arrested and locked up at the No. 2 police station. Chief of Police Howden issued an order placing a ban on all dangerous explosives, especially the blank cartridge. His warning, however, seemed to have had little weight, as last night torpedoes, blank cartridges and dynamite crackers were being discharged promiscuously. Many arrests are expected to be made today.

Labels: accident, children, holidays, Kansas City Kas, No 2 police station

June 30, 1907

TO TEST HUSBAND'S LOVE.

Woman Jumps Into the River and

He Followed Her.

"I just wanted to see if Harve was game and loved me enough to risk his life to save me from drowning," said Kate Pullen yesterday afternoon after being dragged from the Kaw river, into which she had jumped from a rowboat.

She is the wife of Harvey Pullen, who lives in a tent on the river bank in Kansas City, Kas. Mrs. Pullen and her husband were out rowing. Pullen was manipulating the oars, when suddenly Mrs. Pullen, who was seated in the rear of the boat, arose to a standing position and leaped into the water. Her husband proved "game" all right, jumping in after her. They would have both bee drowned, however, had it not been for a couple of fishermen who happened to be near by in a boat.

Both were taken to No. 2 police station and locked up.

Labels: drowning, jail, Kansas City Kas, No 2 police station, romance

June 27, 1907

DRANK IT LIKE A TOAST.

Woman Who Forsook Husband for

Another Man Takes Poison.

After warning Frank Palmer, of 920 Bell street, Kansas City, that he would never again receive a dinner from her hands, Mrs. Inez Others, of St. Joseph, Mo., at noon yesterday raised a two-ounce vial of carbolic acid to her lips and drank it like a toast.

The tragedy happened directly underneath the front entrance of the Fowler packing house, and just as the laborers were filing out to receive their lunches from the hands of children and wives who were bringing them. A dozen men where standing about Mrs. Others when she took the poison, but none of them noticed anything extraordinary in her action. They said they thought she was only joking.

When Mrs. Others reached the center of the Fifth street car tracks, however, she was een to fall. A policeman who happened to be riding on a westbound car had it stopped and an ambulance was called to take her to No. 2 police station, where she died a few minutes later. Her body was then removed to Porter & Gibson's undertaking rooms.

Mrs. Others four weeks ago left a husband, Walter Others, in St. Joseph, Mo.

Palmer is now being held at No. 2 police station pending investigation. He said yesterday that he, like the other men who were standing about when Mrs. Others committed suicide, thought the act was only to deceive him, and that the contents of the bottle was water. He said they had quarreled in the morning, and that she had then declared her intention of killing herself, but that he had not paid much attention to the threat as she had once before drank what she claimed to be poison, but which had no effect on her.

Labels: Bell street, Fifth street, No 2 police station, poison, St.Joseph, streetcar, Suicide, undertakers

May 16, 1907

EX-SOLDIERS IN DEPOT FIGHT.

One That Tried to Whip Policeman
Is Now in Jail.

The refusal of Toni Misnik, an ex-soldier, to get a shave when his friends thought he needed one, cost him a fight in which he got a badly cut lip, and his assailant, Stanly Barnatt, a severe beating with the probability of a jail sentence, Misnik and Barnatt were on their way home to points in Michigan from San Francisco, where they had recently been discharged from the One Hundredth and Fifth regiment of the United States coast artillery. Shortly after their arrival in Kansas City yesterday they became separated and Barnatt proceeded to absorb the surplus liquor stock of various Union avenue saloons.

About 3 o'clock Barnatt approached his fellow traveler in the women's waiting room of the Union depot and asked him if he had gotten a shave yet. Upon his replying negatively Barnatt proceeded to "rough thing" pretty generally, and Misnik was pretty severely beaten, receiving a gash through his upper lip, presumably from Barnatt's knife.

The fighting seemed to be to Barnatt's liking, for when Policeman Hachenberg and Farrel attempted to arrest him he forthwith started to "do" the police force. The officers immediately put him hors de combat and locked him up in station No. 2.

Labels: alcohol, No 2 police station, police, Union depot, violence

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 17, 1907

'TWAS A FATAL SNEEZE.

It Brought a Handkerchief and a
Revolver From a Pocket.

It was a sneeze, a long, loud sneeze, too, that made all the trouble for Carey L. Miller, a machinist from Topeka, Kas. Miller was passing through the city yesterday on his way to Pennsylvania. He imbibed freely of Union avenue beverage. The beverage was so strong that it made Miller's eyes water and that caused him to sneeze.

When the sneeze came off Miller was making his way in a zig-zag fashion along Union avenue. The sneeze was a big one and required the use of a handkerchief to complete it. In dragging the handkerchief from his pocket, Miller also dragged out a revolver. When the "smoke wagon" struck the sidewalk Patrolman John Farrel was looking straight at Miller and at once proceeded to throw protecting arms around the stranger and to steer him into No. 2 police station.

There Miller gave the name of John Corbin. A charge of drunk and carrying concealed weapons was placed against him. If he is right good, however, and proves to be a "good fellow," the chances are that the concealed weapons charge will be wiped off the slate and only the plain drunk remain. This might be done for the reason that he is not a citizen of Kansas City.

Labels: alcohol, No 2 police station, police, Topeka, Union avenue