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

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

September 21, 1909

LOTTA DIDN'T WANT

POLICEMAN IN FAMILY.

CAPTAIN BRANHAM NEPHEW

OF FAMOUS COMEDIENNE.

Retirement of "Long John" Recalls

Time He Had Meat Shop on

Main Street -- Former

Town Marshal.

When "Long John" Branham leaves the police department at the end of the present month Lieutenant Michael Halligan will be the oldest man in point of continuous service on the force. Captain Branham and Halligan joined the force the same day in 1881.

Captain Branham had been town marshal before that, but had resigned to be an officer at the workhouse. After getting through at the workhouse he decided to be a policeman again, and joined during a shake-up.

T. B. Bullene was mayor. John Dunlap and H. H. Craig, now living in Corpus Christi, Tex., were the police commissioners. Governor Marmaduke was shaking things up and eighteen vacancies were created.

Captain Branham, "Mike" Halligan and T. S. Boulware were picked out. Boulware is now with the gas company, and as late as last spring was mentioned for the post of chief of police.

LOTTA IS HIS AUNT.

Halligan is still young enough for his work. He is a giant in stature, broad of shoulder. Captain Branham stood six feet, six inches tall in his day, but now that he is 63 years of age he is not so tall and he is well enough off to care little for working longer.

Besides he has an aunt of whom he always was very fond and who cannot but like him. This is Lotta, the idol of the theater-goers a generation ago.

Lotta, or Lotta Crabtree in private life, is "Uncle John's" age almost to a day, and she is easily worth $500,000. She owns the pile of rock on Admiral boulevard facing the Midland office building. That is the last of her Kansas City holdings, though she made a fortune out of other lots she bought and sold here.

"Uncle John," as she tenderly called Captain Branham, had not a little to do with getting her to invest in real estate here. Lotta is rich, lives like a princess, has a town, a country and a seaside home, so Captain John need not worry, even if he lost the little fortune he has saved.

CAPTAIN JOHN'S MEAT SHOP.

What he saved did not come out of the meat shop he ran where a Main street tailor shop is now. That was when Kump's hall was on the location now occupied by a clothing store, and when they had no doors on most of the saloons.

Branham's meat store was the one price emporium of "Kansas, the Gate City of the West," and old-timers still remember it. Captain John says he never will forget it, for it broke him. He came to Kansas City with $10,000.

As a policeman he was always liked. At 63 he does not like so much strenuosity, and he is in a position where he does not have to like it. Lotta never wanted her nephew to be a policeman, anyway.

QUIT OF HIS OWN VOLITION.

Captain Branham confirmed the report as printed in Monday morning's Journal that he had tendered his resignation to the board of police commissioners to take effect October 1. He denied, however, that his resignation was asked by the commissioners.

"I have been on the department so many years that I want to take a rest," he said. "I have no one to support, and feel that I'm entitled to a respite. I quit of my own volition."

It is likely that no one will be appointed to take Captain Branham's place. Since Captain Patrick Clark's appointment last winter there has been an extra captain on the force. Lieutenant George Sherer will command No. 3 district, where he has been stationed for the last three months.

Labels: history, No 3 police station, police, real estate, theater

September 20, 1909

CAPTAIN BRANHAM

QUITS OCTOBER 1?

VETERAN POLICE OFFICER ON

THE FORCE 35 YEARS.

Too Old to Drill, He Told Friends.

Resignation Said to Follow

Interchange with Mem-

ber of the Board.

CAPTAIN J. S. BRANHAM, 35 YEARS A POLICEMAN.

Following a recent exchange of letters between himself and Police Commissioner Thomas R. Marks relative to police matters in the No. 3 district, the resignation of Captain John S. Branham, for thirty-five years on the police force, and its oldest member in point of service, it is said, was received at police headquarters yesterday, effective on October 1. The captain before had told friends that he was too old to drill, and intended leaving the force.

Several weeks ago the police raided the Cordova hotel and arrested several men who were charged with selling beer on Sunday. The liquor was sold only to guests of the hotel. As the raid was made by special officers from headquarters the police of No. 3 district did not get credit for it. Commissioner Marks at a board meeting complained because Captain Branham had not stopped the sale months before. An official letter, dictated by Mr. Marks, was sent to the captain, calling for an explanation.

Captain Branham replied by saying that an officer in uniform could not make the arrest, as the hotel people only sold to its guests and there had never been a flagrant violation of the law.

OLDEST IN POINT OF SERVICE.

The reply was not satisfactory to Commissioner Marks, who said that Captain Branham was like many other old officers incapacitated for duty. The captain is 63. The captain chafed under the inference of the commissioner which were repeated to him. Then on Friday night Commissioner Marks informed all of the officers that they must drill.

"If you do not like the regulations laid down by this board or the instructions given by the commissioners you can quit," Commissioner Marks told the assembled officers.

Captain Branham's resignation yesterday is believed to be the outcome of the drill instructions and the Cordova matter.

In point of service Captain Branham holds the record. He was appointed to the force in May, 1874, and has been in continuous service since. He was long stationed at headquarters, but of late years he has been in command of the No. 3 station. He was born in Columbia, Boone county, Missouri, February 15, 1846. In 1871 he was deputy sheriff of Sedgwick county, Kansas, and in 1873 filled a similar position at Ellsworth, Kas.

WOULDN'T NAME THE CAPTAIN.

Some time ago Captain Branham was granted a thirty days' leave of absence by the board. At that time Commissioner Marks said, after the station was put under the command of Lieutenant George Sherer, that the captain was on vacation which might be made permanent. Mr. Marks last night refused to say that Captain Branham had resigned.

In speaking of the new uniforms and the manner the clubs were carried in the belt Mr. Marks remarked that if any patrolman was not satisfied with the new regulations he could quit. He said the officers were told the same thing, and that one had taken advantage of the advice. Asked which one he refused to give out the name, saying it would be made public later.

He said that there were no charges of any kind against the captain who had resigned, and that he had not been asked for his resignation.

Labels: alcohol, Commissioner Marks, hotels, No 3 police station, police

April 21, 1909

BEHEADED BY LOCOMOTIVE.

Switch Engine Derailed by Clothing

of Night Watchman Killed

on Belt Line Track.

L. Hougardy, night watchman for the Cypress Incubator Company, was decapitated and his body mangled by switch engine No. 2118 about 100 feet east of Penn street on the Belt Line tracks at 9:45 o'clock last night. Money in the man's pockets, together with his clothing which wadded up in front of the wheels, derailed the engine.

Engineer William White and Fireman Stoiver, by their combined efforts, could not dislodge the body, so No. 3 police station and the coroner were notified.

"I was keeping a sharp lookout on all sides because of the rain," said Engineer White. "I did not see the man, and can not yet understand how he came in front of the engine unnoticed, unless he had been murdered and laid across the rails or had been hit by another engine. The first notice I had of the accident was the jolt of the front wheels leaving the rails."

Engineer White has the reputation of being a careful engine driver of many years' experience. He lives at 2107 Belleview. Fireman Stoiver lives at 2719 Holly street.

Hougardy's identity was learned through his failure to pull the Western Union hourly call box. He lived near Broadway and Southwest boulevard.

An autopsy will be held today.

Labels: accident, Belt line, Broadway, death, Holly street, No 3 police station, Penn street, railroad, Southwest boulevard

April 4, 1909

MYSTERIOUS SHOT

WILL END HIS LIFE.

STRANGER FATALLY WOUNDED

IN WEST FIFTH STREET.

Man Supposed to Be T. J. Heffron

Victim of Unknown Assassin.

Police Seeking Clue to

the Tragedy.

Hearing a shot in the vicinity of Fifth and Wyandotte streets just after midnight this morning, Patrolmen F. J. Smitherman and W. S. Woods reached there in time to see a man stagger from behind some bill boards near the northwest corner and fall in the street. When taken to the emergency hospital it was found that he had been shot completely through the body on the right side. In a dying condition the man was taken to the general hospital. It is not thought he will live until morning.

The man, who is unknown to the police, appears to be a workman about 50 years old. His hair is gray. He wore corduroy trousers and a brown coat and vest.

In a little book in his pocket was found the following, written in a legible hand: "Sister, I am down and out. I want you to send me $5 to clean up and I will give it to you as soon as I can make it." To this is signed "T. J. Heffron." That name appears several more times in the book and the police believe he tried to say that name when asked who he was.

Further on in the book he has written a line of thanks to his sister for the loan of the money. Then follows: "Contract at Armour Junction. McVaugh, 2:30, March 25, 1909."

On a card in his pocket was written the name "William Ellington, 1614 Grand avenue." Police were at once detailed on the possible murder mystery and the officers at the Walnut street station were asked to see what was known of "T. J. Heffron" or any man answering the description of the victim at 1614 Grand avenue.

On the way to the hospital the injured man revived sufficiently to say that he had a brother-in-law on the police force. The police at No. 4 say that Patrolman W. J. Graham, 2339 Terrace street, who works out of No. 3 station, has several brothers-in-law by the name of Heffron, the name found in the book. Graham was not on duty that night.

Labels: Fifth street, Grand avenue, murder, No 3 police station, No 4 police station, police, Wyandotte street

March 20, 1909

AUTO OWNER'S GOOD START.

Runs Down Man the Day He Pur-

chases Machine.

While driving a small automobile, which he had just purchased along the Southwest boulevard near Summit street, on the way to his farm in Gardner, Kas., yesterday afternoon Morris Harrington ran into Andrew Anderson, a laborer, knocking him down and severely bruising him. An ambulance was called from No. 4 police station and the injured man was treated by Dr. H. A. Hamilton, after which he was removed to his home at 2136 Summit street.

Harrington was held for an hour at No. 3 police station until he could arrange bond. He said he was unused to operating an automobile, and that when Anderson stepped in front he could not turn the guide wheel fast enough to steer clear of him.

Labels: automobiles, doctors, No 3 police station, Southwest boulevard, Summit street

February 25, 1909

NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE HALL.

Police Compelled H. B. Wagner to

Stay at a Gypsy Smith Meeting.

H. B. Wagner, 407 Baird building, addressed a communication to the police commissioners yesterday, complaining that he was compelled to sit and listen to Gypsy Smith in Convention hall February 22 against his will. He desired to be informed by what authority the police stationed at the revival meeting refused to allow anyone to leave the building.

The writer stated that Captain John Branham, No. 3 police station, informed him that he was acting under orders of Ex-Mayor Beardsley, and he wanted to be cited to the authority giving anyone the right to take away his constitutional privileges. The board failed to take any action on the complaint.

Labels: Convention Hall, Mayor Beardsley, No 3 police station, police, police board

October 18, 1908

HEAD SEVERED BY AN AX.

Negro Fell Dead and Police Followed

Blood Stains to Crap Game.

William Williams, a negro 19 years old, fell dead in a doorway at Penn street and the Southwest boulevard at midnight. His head was nearly severed from his body. He had been seen running in Penn street just before he died.

Spectators telephoned police station No. 3 and officers were sent to the scene. The coroner was called and stated that it appeared to be the work of a strong man with an ax.

Sergeant Thomas O'Donnell followed a trail of blood in Penn street, picked up bloody dice on the way, and finally followed the stains to a spot near a box car on the Belt line tracks near Twenty-fourth and Penn streets. He said the place looked like it had been the scene of a crap game.

The body was sent to an undertaker and the police threw a patrol out through the district in an attempt to apprehend the murderer.

Labels: gambling, murder, No 3 police station, Penn street, police, Southwest boulevard, Twenty-fourth street

July 11, 1908

WHITE MAN KILLS NEGRO.

May Holliway, Negress, Was Only

Witness, and Doesn't Know Slayer.

Following a quarrel of a week ago, Phil McGill, a negro bottler at the Imperial brewery, and a driver of a beer wagon at the same brewery, met last night and renewed the quarrel, which finally ended in the shooting and killing of McGill. McGill was walking south on the Frisco railroad tracks at 9 o'clock with May Holliway when they met the driver, who is a white man. The negro is said to have told the white man that he did not want any trouble, that it was all over as far as he was concerned

The Holliway girl says the white man replied: "I know that it is over and over right now," and that he then pulled a revolver and shot at McGill. The first time the gun hung fire, and the man pulled the trigger a second time, shooting McGill through the jaw. As McGill fell to the ground the man fired two more shots into his body and then ran. May Holliway was the only witness and is held at No. 3 station. The man who did the shooting is not known to the police and the Holliway negress doe not know his name. McGill was 23 years old and lived near Thirtieth and Summit streets.

Labels: breweries, guns, murder, No 3 police station, race, Summit street, Thirtieth street

May 30, 1908

BLACK HAND IN

POLICE FORCE.

MOVES MEN LIKE PIECES IN A

GAME OF CHESS.

SHADOW OF MICKEY O'HEARN.

COMPELS TERROR AND SILENCE

WHEREVER IT FALLS.

"I Get My Orders From the Boss

Down Town," Boasts an Insub-

ordinate Sergeant --

What Happened to James.

"You'll only be here a few days."

"To hell with the captain. I get my orders from the boss down town."

Could it be that his avowed friendship for Alderman Mickey O'Hearn, and the fact that Mickey was for him when he made sergeant, inspired these remarks from Sergeant Charles Beattie? They were made some time ago in No 3 police station on the Southwest boulevard to Sergeant R. L. James, who, at that time, was in command of the station nights. There was more truth than poetry in the remarks, for James was moved at the next monthly meeting. It is said five persons heard the remarks of Sergeant Beattie.

It is a well known fact to all who understand police duty that the sergeant in charge of a station has full charge of the men in the entire district. On the night that the remarks were made it is reported that Beattie, who was serving as outside sergeant, changed a patrolman whom Sergeant James had ordered to walk the Southwest boulevard until the saloons closed. It was Saturday night and things were doing on the boulevard.

When the patrolman was told to go another beat he went to the station after his lunch, so report says. There this dialogue is said to have taken place:

"It's only 11 o'clock, officer. I thought I told you to stay on the boulevard until the saloons were closed," said James.

"Sergeant Beattie has ordered me back on my beat," was the reply.

ORDERS FROM THE BOSS.

Just at that juncture Beattie entered and an explanation was asked for. He said that he had ordered the officer back and intended that he should go there, too. He was asked if he didn't know that the sergeant in charge of the station was his superior officer and t5hat he is said to have replied: "Oh you'll only be here a few days."

James, according to the witnesses, must have felt the influence of the unseen power which has for nearly a year been guiding the affairs of the police, still he fought for his authority.

"I don't want to quarrel with my men, and won't," he is reported as saying, "but, Beattie, if you will be here tomorrow at 9 o'clock we will put this whole matter up to the captain and see who is right."

"To hell with the captain. I get my orders from the boss down town," is the reported remark of Beattie. Then the officer was ordered by Beattie to go hence and he went.

A full report of this affair was made to Captain John Branham, who has charge at No. 3 police station. The captain made his report and the correspondence was sent to Chief of Police Daniel Ahern. There the matter has apparently rested, for Beattie has never called "on the carpet" to explain his remark, and James "got his" at the first of the month. It is also said that the matter of James's removal was taken up with the commissioners later and that they knew nothing of it. Yet the board unanimously adopted a resolution in July last year, saying that only the commissioners should have to do with the shifting of men.

WHAT UNSEEN FORCE?

Who moved Sergeant James? What for? He is rated as one of the best officers on the force and there is not a black mark against him. What force was brought to bear? How did Beattie know that James would be moved? Beattie is said to be a close friend of "Mickey."

A reporter attempted to interview Sergeant James last night in regard to the affair. Here is all he got: "Yes, I was once at No. 3. I was moved from there and made relief sergeant. If there was any trouble down there, a full report was made on it, and that is all I have got to say unless called on by my superior officers or the board."

Before Beattie was made a sergeant, he walked a beat on West Twelfth street, by the Century hotel and theater. There he came daily in contact with Joseph Donegan, manager, a close friend of O'Hearn. He also saw O'Hearn many times a week for the Century was a hang out of his when not at his saloon. Many reports came to headquarters of a poker game in that neighborhood, but it was reported "impossible to get at it."

THEY'RE AFRAID TO TALK.

Good men on the police force who got "in bad" by doing their full duty are now living in deadly fear that their names will be published.

"What do you care?" one was asked yesterday. "You did your duty and got the worst of it, didn't you?"

"Yes," he replied mournfully, "and I know just why I got it and who gave it to me. But I have a family to support and I need my job. If you run my name I'm afraid the man who had me moved will have me fired."

All through the whole department that unseen power is felt. All seem to know what and who it is, but they fear to say so, unless called on to do so by the board of police commissioners.

A new man said yesterday that O'Hearn moved to the Century hotel in the Second ward just to run for Alderman there. The January Home telephone book gives his residence as 3427 Euclid avenue.

The police board seems to be resting fairly content while the force is being manipulated to suit a saloonkeeper-politician and his friends. Or is the board "wise" to what is going on -- and willing to stand for it?

Labels: Alderman O'Hearn, black hand, Euclid avenue, hotels, No 3 police station, police, politics, saloon, Southwest boulevard

October 26, 1907

BUT IT WASN'T CARRIE NATION.

Beer Ran in the Gutter, Due to a

Street Car Accident.

Beer literally ran in the gutters last night about 6:30 o'clock, when an east-bound Fifth street car ran into a beer wagon belonging to the Kansas City Breweries Company near Guinotte and Woodland avenues.

Cases of bottles were knocked from the wagon to the pavement and broken, the beer running in an amber stream into the gutters, while the crow of laboring men going home gathered about and watched it with wistful eyes.

Bill Slaughter, 45 years old, a negro, who was stealing a ride on the back of the wagon, was knocked to the tracks, and the front trucks of the car ran over his left ankle, crushing it so badly that his leg will probably have to be amputated below the knee. He was taken to the general hospital.

Homer Dantol, the driver of the wagon, was not hurt. W. B. Hanlon and B. E. Racker, patrolmen, were on the car, and arrested Dell Robinson, the conductor, and W. M. Prettyman, the motorman. They were taken to police headquarters, and released after making a statement.

Labels: accident, alcohol, breweries, Fifth street, general hospital, Guinotte avenue, No 3 police station, police headquarters, streetcar, Woodland avenue

October 3, 1907

WOMEN HURT IN RACE.

Mrs. C. B. Stevens and Mrs. R. S. Fis-

ette Drive Into Rosedale Car.

An impromptu driving race in Roanoke boulevard last night resulted in a collision with a Rosedale car at Southwest boulevard and Genesee street, and two women were severely injured. Mrs. C. B. Stevens, the owner of the horse and buggy, was taken to her home at 1180 Kansas avenue, in an undertaker's ambulance. Her companion, Mrs. R. S. Fisette, residing at 1621 Kansas avenue, was taken to the Eleanor Taylor Bell Memorial hospital in Rosedale. Both suffered severe bruises about the head, shoulders and back.

The street car crew, J. H. Drilling, motorman, and William Jordan, conductor, was arrested by Patrolman Todd, but released on bond by the commanding officer at No. 3 police station. The men will appear today before the county prosecutor.

Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Fisette, driving on Roanoke boulevard, refused to allow two young men in another buggy to pass them. The two parties raced until the men turned west as they neared the Southwest boulevard. The women kept on their way and attempted to turn east onto the boulevard when the buggy struck the fender of the car. A buggy wheel went off on the fender, left the car and the women were thrown to the pavement.

Labels: accident, buggy, Genessee street, hospitals, Kansas avenue, No 3 police station, Roanoke boulevard, Rosedale, Southwest boulevard, streetcar

September 12, 1907

KEPT TAB ON SALOON

WOMAN PORTRAIT PAINTER

TELLS WHAT SHE SAW.

With Her Field Glass Miss Jessie

Wright Observed the Doings at

Coffee's West 14th St. Resort.

Her Testimony Contradicted.

A portrait painter who is possessed of a pair of opera glasses and a stop-watch is causing a world of trouble for John Coffee, who conducts a saloon at 600 West Fourteenth street and spends his summers in Europe. The portrait painter is Miss Jessie Wright, of 518 1/2 West Fourteenth street. During Coffee's summer abroad Miss Wright observed his back door with her opera glasses and time his customers. Yesterday when Coffee made application for a renewal of his saloon license Miss Wright went before the police board with her remonstrance.
Coffee is also a proprietor of a livery barn just across the street and admitted to the police board that it does look bad to have so many hacks standing about his place day and night, but gave assurance that the hacks seen by Miss Wright and other remonstrators had not carried customers to his place. This statement was borne out by Manager Hyman, of the Blue Front livery. Many witnesses, who live on the block, testified that Coffee runs an orderly saloon. Two sergeants of police and a half dozen patrolmen said they had never had occasion to go there in discharge of duty, yet Miss Wright is positive there is something wrong with the character of the place and the police board promised her to investigate further.

MINUTES OF NIGHTLY VIGILS.

Miss Wright furnished the board with minutes of her nightly vigils which, if borne out by evidence, will cause a general change in the neighborhood about Coffee's saloon. Mayor Beardsley promised Miss Wright this. Crowds of drunken small boys, women who go boldly into a barroom and intoxicated men who intimidate women must be looked after, the mayor said. Among the minutes furnished the police board by Miss Wright were the following:

"Thursday, July 26. -- Big boy got pail filled for little girl.
"Friday night, July 27. -- Three boys filled a 'can' three times in thirty-five minutes. The boy who carries the pail has the advantage of the free sandwiches in the barroom.
"July 30, 12:30 p. m. -- Drunken chauffeur made disgraceful scene and attracted crowd. Said he would return with Con Cronin and clean the place. Con Cronin often comes with his friends.
"Tuesday, Aug. 6. -- Little boy with 'can' could not find the saloon because there is no sign. Man showed him the place.
"Sunday, Aug. 11. -- Four boys waited for saloon to open at midnight. Got pail filled four times in twenty minutes.
"Monday, Aug. 12, 10 p. m. -- Neighbors aroused by trouble at saloon. I called up police at No. 3 at 11:32 p. m. Man said 'uh huh' and did nothing.
"Friday, Aug. 17. -- Bunch of thirteen stayed in saloon forty-three minutes. Came out at 11:40 and finished up their business on the sidewalk.
"August 18. -- Four boys got seven pails in fifty-one minutes. Man across the street yelled 'hello drunks' and Burke was the only one who looked around.
"Same day, 1 a. m. -- Boys from 709 West Fourteenth street filled a 10-pound lard can five times."

GOT FACTS FROM NEIGHBORS.

Mrs. Minnie Blythe, of 1820 Penn street, was also before the board with a remonstrance against Coffee. When questioned by Coffee's attorney she admitted that she lives five blocks away from the saloon and can't see what goes on there, but she had a lot of information which she said she got from neighbors and she saw streams of women with "cans" every night go up the hill to the saloon.

"It's only two blocks in the other direction to a good saloon," said Charley Shannon, representing Coffee. "Why don't they go there?"

"Well, Coffee sells better beer," Miss Wright interjected.

"Don't you live five blocks away from this saloon?" asked Attorney Shannon.

"Yes," admitted the witness.

"How much of a family have you?"

"I have two small children."

"If you are five blocks away how do you know Coffee violates the law and runs a disorderly place?"

"Well, I took it upon myself to go and see."

"There is somebody, of course, to stay at home with those babies while you are watching Coffee?"

"It's none of your business," replied Mrs. Blythe.

Mrs Blythe told the board that two little girls of the Franklin school have been annoyed by men about Coffee's. She said the timely arrival of assistance saved a 6-year-old child from harm and that a 9-year-old girl who goes past the saloon has been given money by intoxicated men. Miss Wright was once chased into her own house by a "drunk" from Coffee's, she told the board.

DENIES MISS WRIGHT'S CHARGE.

Miss Wright had Francis Burke subpoenaed. He was one of the boys she mentioned in her "minutes." She testified that Burke had been drinking on two occasions the same week, and of his keeping company with boys in short pants. Burke took the stand and stated that he does not drink, and that he was never in Coffee's place in company with boys. Further, he stated, he is 22 years old and has carried newspapers to the office of Commissioner Jones for thirteen years. The commissioner said Burke was right about that statement.

When Miss Wright was on the stand, Attorney Shannon asked her how she is able to keep such a close watch on Coffee's back door.

"I have a mighty good pair of opera glasses," she said, "and I keep them trained in that direction."

"At all hours of the night?"

"Well, only when men and women drive up in hacks and awaken me. I saw four women and two men get out of one hack. They come in automobiles, too, and sometimes they go in and sometimes the men bring out the drinks."

"What is your business?"

"I am a portrait painter."

"Do you spend much time at your profession, or do you watch Coffee's saloon all the time?"

"It's none of your business," said the witness.

SAYS COFFEE IS ALRIGHT.

Mrs. Johnson, who resides at 1332 Penn street, was the first witness introduced in behalf of Coffee. She told the board that she has lived there, next door to the saloon and near the side entrance which is watched by Miss Wright, for eleven years. She said she has never been disturbed by noise or anything else emanating from the saloon. She has never seen hacks stop at Coffee's entrance and has never seen women "canning" beer, as charged by Miss Wright.

Sergeant Duer and Sergeant O'Brien told the board that Coffee's saloon is the most orderly place in their district and that they have never been called there to make arrests or quiet a disturbance since the place opened. Patrolmen Dougherty and Fuller, who walk beats in the vicinity, made statements similar to those of their superior officers. Patrolman Fuller said he has seen Coffee refuse to sell "can" beer to women.

McKeever, the grocer next door to the saloon, stated that women asked him to send his clerks for "can" beer, but that Coffee told him he does not desire that sort of trade and that he gave an order against his clerks extending such accommodations to customers and that he thought that put a stop to the "can" trade.

J. F. O'Donnell, an undertaker, who keeps his livery near Coffee's place, said he is a good friend of the saloon man, but that Coffee refused him a little liquor one Sunday when he wanted it for a visiting friend.

Miss Wright closed her case with a report on the fire department near the saloon. She stated that the firemen drink entirely too much for the good of the service. The board will probably give a decision in the case today.

Labels: attorney, children, Commissioner Jones, Fourteenth street, No 3 police station, Penn street, police, police board, saloon, undertakers

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

April 16, 1907

ROOMER AND $28 GONE.

Young Woman Missing When Landlady
Discovers Loss of Check.

A young woman went to the home of Mrs. Wallridge, 1322 Penn street, yesterday afternoon, and asked to look at some rooms. She was very particular and looked about for some time. Finally Mrs. Wallridge was called away and left the young woman alone. When she returned the woman was gone, and so was $25 in bills and three silver dollars. Mrs. Wallridge reported the matter to No. 3 police station.

Labels: con artist, crime, missing, No 3 police station, Penn street

April 11, 1907

SHE CAN'T LOCATE A DOG.

So Miss Ruth Grey Has Called on the

Police to Aid Her.

"Miss Ruth Grey, the mind reader now at Convention hall, who can easily read a note written at home and taken there in your pocket, and who can also tell persons where to find missing property -- telling them whether it has been lost, stolen or just misplaced -- has lost a white poodle dog wearing a few black spots as a decoration. She is very anxious that the police aid her in finding this lost poodle. Reported from No. 3 station this afternoon."

This report was read out at roll call at all of the nine police stations in Kansas city at 6:30 o'clock last night. Miss Grey is said to give some remarkable evidence of psychological phenomena, finding lost articles for other persons, reading hidden messages, etc. Naturally her request for police assistance to locate her dog created considerable comment among the officers of the force.
"Probably she knows where the dog is," said an Irish member of the force, "but the blame animal won't stay there long enough to be captured."

Labels: animals, con artist, Convention Hall, missing, No 3 police station, police

April 1, 1907

GUN TOTERS FROM TEXAS.

Police Hold Father and Son to

Explain to the Judge.

John Brown, father, and Walter Brown, his son, were arrested on Kansas avenue in Armourdale yesterday afternoon and locked up at No. 3 police station on a charge of carrying concealed weapons and disturbing the peace.

The Browns were supplied with a full equipment of cowboy clothing, from high heeled boots to high crowned and wide brimmed hats. When booked at the police station they told Sergeant Patrick Lyons that they were straight from Galveston, Tex., the country where every man protects himself from harm by carrying a gun. The sergeant told them it might be all right to protect oneself with a gun in Texas, but that they were in Kansas now, so he would let the judge settle the question.

Labels: Armourdale, guns, No 3 police station, police, Texas

February 8. 1907

STRUCK WITH A BEER GLASS.

Saloonkeeper Arrested

After Injury to a Traveling Man.

In a fight in the saloon of Charles Dittmar, Broadway and Southwest boulevard, yesterday afternoon, William E. Hines, a traveling salesman from New York, was so seriously cut that he had to be taken to the University hospital. Hines did not say what started the trouble, but said it was Dittmar who struck him. He was hit with a beer glass and received a deep cut two inches long on the left side of the face, a cut an inch long under his left eye and a number of small cuts and bruises about the head and face.

Dittmar was arrested and taken to No. 3 police station, a few blocks distant, where he was released on his personal recognizance.

Labels: Broadway, No 3 police station, salesmen, saloon, Southwest boulevard, University hospital