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

February 10, 1910

GIRL ELOPES WITH SALESMAN.

Parents Informed of Wedding by

Telegram From Nebraska Town.

Having first removed all her clothing and personal property from the premises, Miss Carrie Ann Evans, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Evans, 2610 East Tenth street, yesterday forenoon told her mother she was going to a matinee. Instead, she eloped with Bert Snider, a traveling salesman. They were married at the court house.

The first intimation the parents had that their daughter had left their fireside for one more exclusively her own was a telegram from a small town in Nebraska. It said they were on their way to Omaha, where Mr. Snider is representative of a Cincinnati pump house.

The father of the bride is manager of Barklow Bros.' News Company. The mother said last night that the parents had no particular objection to Mr. Snider, but that he was scarcely known to them.

"Besides," Mrs. Evans continued, "my daughter is only 25 and I believe Mr. Snider is over 40, although he gives his age as 31. I do not, however, consider their runaway marriage in the light of an elopement. We did not actively object, only criticised it as rather hasty. Carrie told me as lately as day before yesterday that she was going to be married soon. I guess she thought she would just run away to do it in order to save father and I the pain of watching the ceremony be performed."

Mrs. Evans would not admit that she would readily forgive the couple, but evaded answering directly any question on the subject. "Oh, it will have to suit us now," was her invariable reply.

Labels: Omaha, salesmen, Tenth street, wedding

January 22, 1910

KANSAS CITY FIVE

SHATTERS RECORD.

The Brunswick-Balke Team

Hangs Up Score of 2,209 in

St. Louis Tourney.

ST. LOUIS, Jan 22. -- The Brunswick-Balke five from Kansas City hung up a new Middle West bowling record tonight in the tournament here, when they shot 2,909, breaking last year's record of 2,831, held by the Nichols team, also of Kansas City.

J. Yerkes and W. H. Lockwood of St. Louis made the high mark of the tournament in the two-men events this afternoon with 1,223. The 633 score of Fred Schultheis of St. Louis is in the singles, the opening day, still stands.

Today was largely given over to visiting teams from Omaha, Kansas City, Topeka, St. Joseph, Columbus, Neb., and Doe Run, Mo. These teams also will bowl tomorrow. The fight for the 1912 tournament lies between Kansas City and Omaha. It is believed the latter contingent will land it, as it has the backing of the St. Joseph bowlers.

Results of the first set of five-men teams tonight follows:

Felix & Son, Kansas City, 2,597.
Gordon & Koppel, Kansas City, 2,699.
Brunswick-Balke, Kansas City, 2,909.
Kid Nichols, Kansas City, 2,663.
Muelbach, Kansas City, 2,701.
Grayols-Grand, St. Louis, 2561.
St. Louis H. & R. Co., St. Louis, 2,458.
Keen Kutter, St. Louis, 2,352.

Labels: Omaha, sports, St Louis, St.Joseph

January 12, 1910

ADAMS IDENTIFIED AS

K. C. MURDERER.

LOCAL MAN PICKS YOUTH AT

OMAHA AS SLAYER OF M.

A. SPANGLER.

Victims of Holdups Insist on

Identity -- Lads Will Be

Brought Here.

OMAHA, NEB., -- Jan. 11. -- John Adams and Earl Brown, two youthful alleged desperadoes who were arrested by Detective Mitchell and others on December 10 for alleged connection with a series of holdups and one shooting affair, are wanted at Kansas City on murder and robbery charges.

They were identified this morning by several victims who came here from Kansas City.

This morning three victims of recent holdups in Kansas City arrived. They were S. W. Spanglerr, Al Ackerman and Joe Shannon. With them were Detective Wilson, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Woodson and Cash Welch, proprietor of a Kansas City messenger service.

Ackerman identified Adams as the youth who killed Spangler's father November 23 while attempting to hold up the latter's saloon. they said Brown resembled the companion of Adams on that occasion.

SHOT OMAHA MAN.

On December 7, E. S. Ashcroft, of 1811 Chicago street, Omaha, was held up at Seventeenth and Chicago streets by two young men, who ordered him to throw up his hands. He refused, and started to run. they fired two shots at him, one taking affect in his right arm. Two nights later Marvin Kohn, a young business man, was held up by the same two youngsters, it is alleged, at Twenty-fifth avenue and Douglas streets, and robbed of $5. Next Day Detective Mitchell located Adams and Brown in a lodging house at Fifteenth and Capitol avenue and arrested them on suspicion. Kohn positively identified them and they were held to the district court on a charge of robbery under $500 bonds. They are now in the county jail.

When arrested the two young men were in bed, although it was then noon. In the sole of one of their shoes was secreted considerable money and a revolver was found wrapped in a shirt and hidden in a dresser drawer.

The murder in Kansas City with which Adams is charged occurred shortly after midnight November 23. M. A. Spangler was killed and his son, Samuel, had both arms broken. Ackerman was present at the time.

TO BE BROUGHT HERE.

Young Spangler and Ackerman were confronted at the city hall this morning by a group of ten prisoners, among whom were Adams and Brown. Ackerman immediately picked out Adams as the man who killed the elder Spangler. They also said that Brown looked like the other holdup.

Joe Shannon, a Kansas City politician, who was held up and robbed of his watch and $48 shortly before the murder, positively identified Brown as one of the desperadoes. He says the second man looked like Adams.

George H. McCray, a Kansas City business man, identified Adams and Brown as the two robbers who held him up and robbed him of $2. He says that Brown's mask dropped from his face and that he therefore got a good look at him.

Cash Welch, the messenger service man, identified the two young men as having worked for him during the robberies.

It is thought that Adams will be sent to Kansas City to answer a murder charge. Brown will probably be also sent there on a robbery charge, since the Missouri cases are even stronger than the Omaha ones.

Labels: crime, detectives, murder, Omaha, saloon, Spangler murder

November 25, 1909

TO BE SHOWN WIFE'S DIARY.

Detective Joyce Goes After Earl

Deaton, Arrested in Omaha.

Detective Harry Joyce left yesterday morning for Omaha, with extradition papers for Earl Deaton, alias Earl Elbridge, charged with robbing Mrs. James W. Couch, 1711 1/2 Grand avenue, of $90 some weeks ago. Deaton left a diary in the Couch home that had been kept by his wife, Edna Deaton, in which it is alleged that he has been concerned in crimes all over the country. Deaton is expected to arrive in Kansas City tomorrow.

Labels: crime, detectives, Grand avenue, Omaha

November 24, 1909

SAY THEY WERE OPPRESSED.

Russian Jews Pass Through City,

Seeking "Promised Land" Homes.

A party of fifty Russian Jews passed through the city yesterday afternoon en route for Des Moines, Omaha, Lincoln and other cities in Iowa and Nebraska. Some of them came from Koavino, Russia, and others from Wilno.

None of the party could speak a word of English. They told the interpreter at the depot that they had been forced to leave Russia by the "Little Father." Practically all their property had been confiscated, and they had barely enough to pay their passage across the Atlantic. They came to America, the "Promised Land," of which their brothers, who came before, wrote about. The party came by way of Galveston, the cheapest way over.

There was only one woman in the party. The wives and children had been left behind. When they make their "stake," they told the interpreter they will send money to Russia to bring their families.

Labels: Des Moines, immigrants, Omaha, Union depot, visitors

November 20, 1909

NEGRO THEATER MANAGER

LOOKED FOR NO PROTEST.

Louis Woods Says His Company In-

vested $5,000 in Contracts for

Rebuilding Synagogue.

Louis Woods of 722 Charlotte street, owner of the Kansas City Son, a negro weekly paper, a negro who leased the Jewish Synagogue at Eleventh and Oak streets to open a theater for negroes, said last night that he was surprised at the opposition the proposed theater has received.

"For years I have been giving this matter much needed thought," he said. "I have seen white play houses in Kansas City prosper and added to every year. I noticed another thing -- that few negroes attend a white theater unless a negro troupe happened to be there. Then the first and second balconies are packed with negroes who pay nearly as much as those on the lower floor. It struck me that as all negro shows that come to Kansas City are liberally patronized by negroes, they might as do as well by a theater managed by a person of their own color.

"I talked with Sam Conkey, advance man for the Cole and Johnson show, with Bob Motts, proprietor of the Pekin, a negro theater in Chicago, and with Sir Green, supreme chancellor commander of the negro Knights of Pythias who just has completed a $100,000 negro theater in New Orleans. We combined on the project. It was our intention to have a chain of negro play houses over the country. We have been looking at a proposition in St. Louis.

"We had no idea that there would be any objection to our going by ourselves. White people usually want the negro to keep to himself, but just as soon as he attempts to do so, they object. We had no idea that we would meet the color objection with this theater.

"The theater was to be an investment. We examined the lease and found it without restrictions as to color. The building and the location were so well adapted to our needs that we put money into the business. We have let several contracts and have spent about $5,000.

"Had we known that our going there would have been offensive, it would have caused us to look for another location. So far as I am concerned I do not wish to raise any strife. I was born and reared in Missouri and expect to live and die here."

When it was known a negro theater was to be near them business men on East Eleventh street got up a petition remonstrating against the lease. It was signed by nearly every business firm near the theater.

A. P. Nichols, a real estate agent, has charge of the synagogue property for the owner who lives in Omaha. The principal objectors are D. O. Smart and the North-Mehornay Furniture Company. Mr. Smart has under erection a five-story building west of the proposed negro theater. There are many retail firms along East Eleventh street, members of all of which are opposing the lease to a negro theater.

Labels: business, Charlotte street, Chicago, Eleventh street, New Orleans, newspapers, Oak street, Omaha, race, real estate, St Louis, theater

November 12, 1909

JAPANESE COMMISSIONERS

COME TO TOWN TODAY.

COMMERCIAL CLUB ROOMS DEC-

ORATED FOR RECEPTION.

Five Women Members of Party Will

Be Guests of Honor at Country

Club Luncheon -- Omaha

the Next Stop.

Kansas City will be the host today to the Honorary Commissioners of Japan, consisting of forty-three of the leading business men and educators of the Oriental empire, who, together with five Japanese women, are touring the United States. No efforts will be spared to entertain the foreign guests during their stay here, which will be from 9 o'clock in the morning until 11 o'clock at night.

Following the arrival here the party will breakfast in their special train. At 9:30 the men of the party will be met in automobiles by the members of the Commercial Club and the next hour and a half will be spent in a reception in the club rooms. The club rooms have been decorated with palms and ferns, the stars and stripes, the Japanese national flag, the mikado's coat of arms, and the Japanese man-of-war emblem. Judge W. T. Bland, president of the club, will head the receiving line, and in it will be the forty-three Japanese commissioners, the officers off the Commercial Club and all former presidents of the club.

WILL VISIT HIGH SCHOOL.

At 11 o'clock the party will be taken to the Westport high school, where Baron Kanda, head of the school of the nobility in Tokio, will make a short speech. Baron Kanda speaks English fluently and is a graduate of Amherst college. The address will be followed by a drive through Swope park and a stop at the Evanston Golf Club for a buffet luncheon.

After the luncheon the party will be driven through the city, up and down the principal streets, over the boulevards and through the leading parks.

The first place of interest to be visited will be the Bank of Commerce. This will be followed by an inspection of the Burnham-Munger overall factory. A drive to Kansas City, Kas., is next in order, where the party will be shown through the plant of the Kingman-Moore Implement Company. These will be the only places visited during the day.

While the men are being entertained by the members of the Commercial Club the five women in the party, Baroness Shibusawa, Baroness Kanda, Madame Midzuno, Madame Horikoshi and Madame Toki will not be forgotten. A committee composed of the wives of the Commercial Club directors and Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Clendening will entertain them. A visit to the Westport high school, a noon lunch at the Country Club and a tea at the home of Mrs. W. R. Nelson will be the events of the day which have been mapped out for the women.

DINNER AT THE BALTIMORE.

At 6:30 o'clock in the evening a dinner will be served to the men in the banquet room at the Baltimore hotel. At the same time a dinner will be given for the women in the Japanese room of the hotel. At the conclusion of their dinner the women will repair to the banquet room, where the entire party will listen to the addresses by David R. Frances, Senator William Warner, Baron Shibusawa and Baron Kanda. Judge Bland will act as toastmaster.

This will conclude the events of the day. The visitors will be taken back to their train, and will leave for Omaha, from where they will work west to San Francisco, from which port they will sail for Japan, November 30.

LEADING FINANCIER.

The Japanese arrived in Seattle from Japan September 1, and when they leave will have spent eighty-eight days in America, visited fifty-two cities, and traveled more than 11,000 miles. During this time they have visited plants and institutions representing nearly every American industry. Many of Kansas City's leading industries will not be visited, as the party has been to similar ones in other cities.

Baron Elighi Shibusawa, who is the head of the commission, is one of the leading men of Japan, being both a statesman and a financier. His individual efforts have raised the status of business men in this country. In 1873, Baron Shibusawa organized the first national bank in Japan under the capital stock system, and has been connected since with all leading banking institutions in Japan.

One Pullman dynamo car, a baggage car, a Pullman dining car, four ten-compartment sleepers, one twelve-section drawing room car and a six-compartment observation car comprise the equipment of the special train that will bring the Japanese to Kansas City over the Burlington railroad. The train will be in charge of W. A. Lalor, assistant general passenger agent for the Burlington at St. Louis.

Labels: banking, business, California, Commercial Club, Edwin Clendening, Evanston Golf Club, Hotel Baltimore, Judges, Kansas City Kas, Omaha, railroad, schools, Swope park, visitors, Westport

May 2, 1909

PRAISES AMERICAN SOLDIER.

General Morton Tells of Valor at

Army Officers' Banquet.

What is said to have been the largest gathering of army officers, graduates of West Point, away from the academy itself, was held at the Hotel Baltimore last night when nearly 100 officers assembled in the ball room at the first of a series of annual banquets to be given in Kansas City. Brigadier General Charles A. Morton of Omaha, commander of the department of the Missouri, was the presiding officer.

General Morton, in response to the toast, "The Army," said that the valor of the American army on the field of battle had never been questioned and that its efficiency and strength has only been made possible by its superiority. The general spoke of the condition of the army today and declared that its increase had never been in proportion to the increase of the population of the country.

Following General Morton, Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., welcomed the officers and their guests to Kansas City. The mayor extended to them the usual courtesies and promised immunity from arrest while within the corporate limits of the city.

The following toasts were responded to: "The Navy," Lieutenant R. S. Landis, U. S. N., and "Military Education by Captain H. A. White of the military school at Fort Leavenworth. "Our Dead" was a silent toast.

Brigadier General Frederick Funston, who was to have responded to the toast "West Point," was obliged to leave the banquet room early and was not heard. General Funston was the guest of honor. Other guests were: General Rambold, Colonel Loughborough and Colonel Lechtman.

Labels: Hotel Baltimore, hotels, Leavenworth, Mayor Crittenden, military, Omaha, veterans, visitors

February 23, 1909

TRYING TO WALK TO OMAHA.

Orphan Boy Nearly Starved, Wanted

to See Aunt.

A three weeks' existence in Kansas City with no food except what he was able to beg, was the experience of Henry Weatherby, 13 years old, who started last Monday to walk to Omaha, where an aunt is living. The boy was found near Wolcott, Kas., and was brought to Kansas City yesterday afternoon by John Merrett, foreman of a construction company. He was sent to the Detention home.

"My father died three weeks ago," the little fellow said. "He was a stationary engineer, and we had been in Kansas City about six weeks, when he took sick with pneumonia. We were living at Sixth street and Forest avenue, and had come from Omaha, where my mother died eight years ago. I started to attend the Woodland school, but had to stop when my father got sick.

"After his death there wasn't any money left, and I've been trying to live without letting the boys know I was in so much trouble. I tried to get work, but couldn't and at last I decided to start for Omaha. Two or three times I went over a day without anything to eat.

"Yesterday morning I started out on my journey, and was able to get as far as Wolcott, when it got dark. I was glad when I found the construction gang's boat on the river, and they took me on board and gave me something to eat."

The boy was in tears during the recital of his troubles, and no one doubted his story. Dr. E. L. Mathias of the Detention home will communicate with the boy's aunt today.

Labels: children, detention home, Dr Mathias, Forest avenue, Omaha, orphans, Sixth street

February 5, 1909

DIVORCED TEN YEARS,

DECIDED TO REMARRY.

S. D. Hollis and Wife Couldn't Bear

To Be Apart, So the Second Wed-

ding Takes Place At Daugh-

ter's Home.

Ten years ago S. D. Hollis and his wife Mary, both of this city, quarreled and there was a legal separation. In the divorce court they had complained bitterly of each other, and when the hour of final parting came they declared with one accord that their marriage was a mistake, although they had lived together thirty years and reared ten children. It was a dry-eyed farewell. Hollis, glad of his freedom, went to Oklahoma, leaving Mrs. Hollis with her daughter, Mrs. Maude O'Flaherty, at 1606 Charlotte street.

Last night there was another chapter to the story in the Hollis household when at the house on Charlotte street a minister remarried the couple after they declared they were willing to remain together for the rest of their lives. Yesterday morning Mr. Hollis, who is now a night clerk at the Model hotel of El Reno, Ok., dropped in to the O'Flaherty home unexpectedly and asked for a reunion. And then it developed that he had come at the instigation of Mrs. Hollis, who had written him a letter from Omaha telling him she was lonely. The children as well as the parents were very happy last night.

"I admit that I was foolish and it all happened because of my ungovernable temper," said Mr. Hollis in explaining how it came about.

"We quarreled about a member of our family ten years ago. My wife took one course and I took another. We ended the argument in the divorce court.

"Three years ago I tried to take her back and she agreed, but we finally decided not to marry again. Last December I called here with the intention of bringing Mrs. Hollis back to Oklahoma as my wife. She had gone to Omaha, so after waiting six weeks I went home without her. This time I knew nothing could keep us apart, for we have both grown old and need each other's society."

Labels: Charlotte street, Divorce, oklahoma, Omaha, reunions, wedding

January 28, 1909

LETTERS TELL OF

LOVE AND LUCRE

WOMEN LIKE NORD, BUT WANT

THEIR MONEY BACK.

2,000 FOUND BY POLICE

KANSAS CITY APPARENT WEST-

ERN LIMIT OF OPERATIONS.

Trusting Females Assure Nord of

Their Faith in Him and Men-

tion Cash in Loans or in

Mining Schemes.

Nearly 2,000 love letters written to Charles E. Nord, arrested in Omaha January 13 and charged with passing a bogus check on C. H. Reardon, 2602 Brooklyn avenue, found among his effects yesterday by Detectives Robert Phelen and Scott Godley, show that he preyed upon the affections of women in all parts of the country. Nord is now in the county jail, awaiting trial.

Some of the writers of the letters offer up their lives if necessary for his love, and others asked the return of money received from them. Nord apparently had the faculty of inspiring love in all women with whom he came in contact.

Jane Ida Bell, Halleybury, Ont., met Nord and fell in love with him. She had a little money in her own name, and purchased a half interest in a mining claim. Her brokers were informed of her little flyer, and Nord decamped.

LEFT HER HOME FOR HIM.

One writer, who signed her name as Jane, lived at 1223 Irwin street, Pittsburgh, Pa. She wrote to Nord in the most endearing terms. She pleaded with the man to sell his office furniture in Buffalo and come to her and marry her. She promised to work and assist in paying the household expenses. Her family objected, and she left home and went to work as a bookkeeeper for $12 a week.

On account of her confidence in him, Nord, from the letter, seems to have succeeded in getting the girl to loan him $25. Again he asked for $25, but she did not have it and informed Nord that she had sold her furniture to give him the money the first time he asked for hit. Then, losing her position, she wrote Nord, telling him sh e was starving.

THIS ONE WOULD PAY HIM.

An annuity of $100 a month was offered to Nord by Ida M. Stern, 5519 Madison street, Chicago, Ill., if he would only marry her and allow her to love him the rest of her life. She said she had that much guaranteed and they could live on it until his mines panned out.

Then Mary L. Berry got into the game, and Nord loved her $1,000 worth, or at least she says she signed his note for that amount. Mrs. Anna Heerhold, Irving Park, Ill., says she gave him a check for $500 and failed to ever hear from him again.

It remained for a Kansas City girl named Ida M., who formerly lived at 305 Wabash avenue, to represent the extreme western line that Nord's emotional and financial operations extended to. She loved him well enough to trust him for a loan, and then says she burned out the telephone wires in a futile effort to make him repay her.

In all of the letters the women write him they express the utmost faith in his love and fidelity, but wonder why he fails to keep his word. The police recovered nearly 2,000 letters written to Nord, and all of them speak of money obtained, either as loans or on mining schemes.

Labels: Brooklyn avenue, Chicago, con artist, detectives, forgery, Omaha, romance, Wabash avenue

January 6, 1909

PIPE OF PEACE AT THE DEPOT.

Ten Omaha Indians Take Council.

Smoke From Same Bowl.

Ten grunts, twenty puffs of strangely scented smoke from one pipe, a look of satisfaction on ten faces, completed the round of good fellowship among a band of Indians, who, with their families, spent several hours at the Union depot yesterday. They were Omahas on the return trip to their reservation near Omaha, Neb., from a few weeks visit with their fellow tribesmen in Oklahoma.

The chief of the band carried a large pipe which he filled carefully. With the true Indian hospitality he lighted the pipe, took two puffs and passed it on to the next member of the party, and so on until the ten, gathered in a circle for the smoke, had each taken two puffs. Then the pipe was restored to the pocket of the chief of the band, each Indian said something and then began the stroll from one end of the depot to the other.

Labels: Native Americans, oklahoma, Omaha, Union depot, visitors

December 13, 1908

SAID WIFE HAD

DISGRACED HIM.

PIGG SHOT HER AND TURNED

WEAPON ON HIMSELF.

SHE WILL DIE,

HE WILL LIVE.

TRAGEDY OCCURS IN HOUSE AT

1108 EUCLID AVENUE.

Woman Was Shot in the Top of Head.

Pigg Tried to Fire Another

Bullet Into Body When

Police Arrived.

James Monroe Pigg, a liveryman of Deepwater, Mo., shot and fatally wounded his wife, Mrs. Allie Pigg, in the latters room on the second floor of 1108 Euclid avenue at 7 o'clock last night. The ball entered the top of her head, and lodged in the right temple. She will die. Pigg then shot himself in the left breast, but the ball struck a rib, passed around the body and lodged near the spine. Both were taken to the general hospital, where Drs. W. T. Thornton and J. Park Neal operated upon them. Piggs wound is only superficial, and the ball was removed. He is now being guarded at the hospital.

"BETRAYED ME," SAYS PIGG.

J. D. Gregg, who occupies the flat below Mrs. Pigg, heard five shots, and finding the door to the room licked, notified the police. John R. McCall and Benjamin Goode, plain clothes men, were sent to the house. When they entered the room where the shooting occurred Mrs. Pigg was lying on the floor, bleeding from the wound in her head. Pigg was sitting on the floor beside her, a revolver in his hand. As the officers entered he raised the weapon as if to shoot.

McCall covered the apparantly dazed man with his revolver, not knowing that Pigg was wounded, and said, "Drop that gun." At that Pigg turned the gun to his breast again, and would have fired another shot, but was seized by the officers.

When asked who had done the shooting, Pigg answered promptly:

"I did. She betrayed me. There's no use in holding an inquest." Then he asked that his father, William L. Pigg, of Deepwater, be notified. Still rambling he said his daughter, Mrs. Hortense Burleigh, 808 South Twenty-first street, Omaha, had been here on a visit and that Mrs. Pigg had refused to allow the baby to call her grandma.

"And she wouldn't kiss our daughter, either," he said, "turning only her cheek."

He mentioned a man whom he called "A. P." as being the cause of all his trouble.

HE WROTE TWO LETTERS.

Pigg directed the officers to his coat hanging on the hall tree, saying his "dying words" would be found there. One was addresed on the envelope to "the coroner" and the other "to the people" in a scrawling hand.

"With wife betrayed life is not worth living. No inquest is necessary. I committed the deed. Betrayed by A. P. W., me having confidence in him. P. S. -- Wife betrayed me is all and with confidence. Betrayed by a scoundrel, A. P. W. is all. Don't let any man in on your home. He will betray your confidence as this scoundrel betrayed mine. "

A short note to his daughter read: "Dear Hortense. Your mother has betrayed me." Then he speaks of a diamond ring he had bought her for Christmas.

Another note to "Dear papa and mama" reads: "Life is not worth living with my wife. I am in awful disgrace. With love to all, Monroe." On a post-script in the parents' note he scrawled: "Notify father, W. L. Pigg. My name is J. M. Pigg. Betrayed confidence in my wife. Love to Hortense and baby. They care not what I am worth as I have only my wife's love which is not affectionated love. Hortense and baby I am to die."

COUPLE LIVED APART.

Mr. and Mrs. Pigg have lived apart for about fifteen years, but he visited her regularly and there appeared to be no trouble between them. Mrs. Pigg made fancy embroidery for the Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company.

J. D. Gregg and wife, who have known Mrs. Pigg for six years, said so far as they knew, Pigg had not the least foundation for his suspicions. Mrs. Pigg is 51 years old and Pigg 53.

Mr. Gregg said that Mr. Pigg most always came up here Thursday or Friday of every other week and remained over Sunday with his wife. They went down town together yesterday afternoon and not the least sign of trouble was to be seen. Pigg, he said, was a man who "talked a great deal and said nothing, always talking in a rambling fashion."

All who know Mrs. Pigg say that she is a woman whose character is above reproach and that Piggs mind must have been affected. At the general hospital it was said that he bore symptoms of having taken some drug, probably a strong narcotic. He said while on the table that he was sorry he had not killed himself as there was little to live for now.

William Young, a brother of Mrs. Pigg, and his mother left their home at Knob-noster, Mo., last night for the city. They are said to be among the wealthiest families in that county.

How Pigg happened to shoot his wife in the top of the head is not known, unless she was lying down at the time or leaning toward him in a chair. Five bullet holes are in the room and the shells were picked up by the officers. Pigg's gun was loaded again when he was found.

Labels: domestic violence, Dr J Park Neal, Euclid avenue, general hospital, guns, Omaha, police, Suicide

November 9, 1908

DYING FATHER WAITS HIS

RUNAWAY SON'S RETURN.

Sidney Samuels Is Being Sought All

Over the Country by His Relatives.

Searching for Sidney Samuels, his brother-in-law, now a 28-year-old man who ran away from home at the age of 16, George Franklin, a traveling man, is touring the United States. Sidney Samuels's father, George Samuels, is a civil war veteran who is now 70 years old. Suffering from heart trouble and expecting to die at any moment, George Samuels is praying that his boy may be found so that he may see him again before he dies.

Sidney Samuels's mother died when he was 6 years old. He was cared for by a housekeeper. July 14, 1896, with a companion he ran away from his home in New York and has never been heard from since. His companion returned after two days, but had no idea where Sidney had gone.

For ten years Mr. Samuels followed false clues, traveling all over the Eastern part of the United States. Now he is unable to travel and he waits alone at his home, 54 St. Nicholas avenue, New York city, while his son-in-law searches.

Mr. Franklin arrived here yesterday from Chicago. He will go from here to Omaha and from there to St. Paul. His brother-in-law is covering the South.

"We have no idea where the boy is now," Mr. Franklin said yesterday, "but if he is alive we want to get him home before his father dies."

Labels: missing, New York, Omaha, visitors

October 4, 1908

THINK OUR PARK SYS-

TEM "UNEXCELLED."

Mayors and Aldermen of Other

Cities Pleased with

Treatment.

"An unqualified success."

"The finest ever."

"Best time ever had in my life."

"A great city, with great people."

Those were some of the expressions of the visiting municipal officials yesterday evening after a day which was devoted to nothing else but showing the mayors, aldermen, comptrollers, statisticians and other representatives of some of the greatest cities in the country a good time.

First there was an auto ride over seventy miles of the most beautiful boulevards and parkways in the United States. Then there was lunch at the Evanston Golf club.

After this came the visit to the fire department, the exhibition hitch and fire call.

"Why, we've had more fun, instruction and good times in your beautiful city this day than we had in Omaha all the time we were there," was the way Statistician Hugo L. . Grosser of Chicago put it.

"Never was such another city in the country," said Dr. Arthur Evans of Columbus, O. "Why, you've got the finest people, the most able officials, beautiful parks and the most perfect system of boulevards I ever saw."

"Truly, this has been more like a convention in which the delegates were royally entertained than the Omaha affair was."

"Best time I ever had in my life," said Dr. Wm. C. Heintz of Columbus, "and the only thing I regret is that Columbus cannot have the system of boulevards, parks, prosperity and hospitality that is to be found in Kansas City."

"Honest, our friends at home would think we were the greatest potentates of the earth instead of mere city officials from the 'Buckeye' state if they knew how we have been entertained."

"Believe me when I say that you have the great combination here which means municipal success, that of civic beauty and hospitality which surpasses anything I have ever met up with in my whole experience."

"Never saw anything like it in my life," was the way Alderman Rohland of Indianapolis put it. "I thought we had a great city, but we must take off our hats to you in this Western metropolis."

Nearly every delegate paid a tribute to Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., for the foresight, energy and enterprise in inviting the convention to Kansas City. It was agreed by everyone, local officials and visitors alike, that today's session was more like a real convention than the entire three days at Omaha.

Labels: Chicago, Evanston Golf Club, Mayor Crittenden, Omaha, visitors

October 2, 1908

CRITTENDEN IS ASHAMED

OF K. C. WATERWORKS

AFTER SEEING OMAHA'S.

City Executive Upon His Return

from Attending Municipal Con-

vention Will Make Every Effort

to Secure New System.

"I intend to show the visiting delegates, mayors and other city officials who will arrive in this city tomorrow the best in Kansas City, but after seeing the Omaha waterworks, I am ashamed for them to go over our system and see that we are so far behind.

"Omaha has a sewer and water system which is much better than ours, and while Kansas City is far ahead of the Nebraska city on many things, we must admit that in the matter of water system and disposal of sewage they have us beaten. I am sorry that every citizen of this city cannot see the plants and the system which Omaha has. That would be a more forceful argument for a new water system here than anything else could possibly be," said Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., on his return from Omaha yesterday morning.

The mayor, upon his return from Omaha, where he has been in attendance upon the convention of the League of American Municipalities, gave out an interview to reporters in which he declared his regret that this city has not an adequate water system to display to the officials who will arrive here this morning to look over the city.

"Omaha," said Mayor Crittenden, "has one of the most elaborate systems I ever saw, and one of the like of which Kansas City should be the possessor. So far as concerns the finish of their plants, we do not care for such fine things, perhaps, for in that city society has dances in the water plants. The machinery is enameled, it is hand painted in some cases, especially the flywheels, but the point which struck me most forcibly was the fact that they have reservoirs there which hold 1,000,000 gallons of water. They have exactly the same conditions to meet regarding their river that we have, and the company which owns the water system recently spent $500,000 to put in a revetment like the one we are trying to get the government to put in.

"Their sewer system is a fine one, and so far in advance of that of Kansas City that it made me feel bad to look it over and then think of what we will have to do here before we are even in the same class with Omaha regarding the disposal of sewage.

"I believe we must have a water plant immediately which is adequate, and it seems to me that it is a matter which should be taken up at once."

Labels: Mayor Crittenden, Omaha, public works

August 22, 1908

ELECTRIC HAS AN AIRSHIP.

Man Named Mars, but From Omaha,

Is Inventor and Navigator.

For the last three days patrons of Electric park wondered what was in a large tent that was pitched near the monkey cage. Even the park employes couldn't guess what was in it. Yesterday afternoon, without any announcement, Charles Baysdorfer and George E. Yager opened up the front of the tent and helpers carried out a lemon-shaped gas bag to which was hung a light frame, carrying a small gasoline engine.

Baysdorfer climbed on the frame, started the engine and sailed away.

Then M. G. Heim and his able corps of press agents heaved a sigh of relief. The thing really flew.

It gyrated around over the park, then started for nowhere in particular, landing at Thirty-seventh street and Brooklyn avenue when a battery went wrong. A new batter was procured and the airship sailed back to the park and to its tent. A flight lasting half an hour was staged yesterday evening. J. C. Mars -- fine name for an airshipper -- sailed the thing on this flight.

The airship is called the Baysdorfer-Yager "Comet." The men whose name it bears made it in Omaha, their home.

They will attempt to sail twice a day, but the park management promises nothing. Baysdorfer will attempt to come down town with the ship this noon.

Labels: airships, Brooklyn avenue, Electric park, Omaha, Thirty-seventh street, visitors

August 11, 1908

E-C GIRL HERE TO

GIVE AWAY DOLLARS.

Young Women Who Have Left a

Trail of Money East and West

Are Guests of Kansas City.

You Will Know Her By This Costume.

The E-C Girl, spick and span in her pretty linen suit tastily designed in the national colors, is in Kansas City. There is really a big merry group of E-C Girls here, each of them young and pretty and full of bubbling enthusiasm over her most extraordinary mission -- actually giving away crisp new dollar bills, fresh from the government's presses, to homes where she finds E-C Corn Flakes.

The E-C Girls came in from St. Louis after a month of strenuous work in the Mound City, where they gave away thousands of dollars. It is stated authoritatively that they brought an exceptionally liberal supply of their "crisp new ones" for their work in Kansas City suburbs.

"Do we really give away real dollar bills? Well, just ask the people of St. Louis," said a happy, smiling E-C girl last night. "Ask them in Philadelphia. Ask them in Chicago. Ask them in any of a hundred cities. We have strewn the country with dollar bills all the way from New Haven to Omaha, at least in nearly every city of importance except Kansas City. And the people here will soon find out we are just as advertised. Big as Kansas City is, we will get into every neighborhood. there are a lot of us. We work fast and we will stay here till we are through. We will convince Kansas City that we are real American girls, really giving away dollar bills. Can you think of anything nicer?"

The E-C girls relate many interesting incidents of their work, East and West. Since the 1st of April they have been on the go, and their dollar bills piled up would endow a college or build a string of libraries.

"But it's a lot more fun to give it away this way," protested the E-C girl, when the suggestion was made. "We meet rich and poor, distinguished and unknown, and everybody likes us."

Labels: Chicago, food, Omaha, visitors

June 17, 1908

MISSOURI RISING UPSTREAM.

Continued Rains Delay Expected Fall

in Flood Waters.

OMAHA, June 16. -- There was no fall in the Missouri river for the past twenty-four hours, but the fact that it remained almost stationary encouraged the weather bureau to believe that no higher stage would be reached It stood at 18.3 this morning, the same as Monday morning. It is again raining in the Missouri valley.

ST. JOSEPH, MO., June 16 (Special.) -- The Missouri river at this point at 10 o'clock tonight is receding at the rate of one inch an hour and promises to keep it up tomorrow. The Platte and 102 rivers have shown a more rapid decline and will soon e beyond the danger point. A slight rain is falling tonight, but it is not expected to affect the river conditions. All trains out of this city, north and eastbound, can make schedule time.

LEAVENWORTH, KAS., June 16 (Special.) -- The Missouri river continues to rise at this point. Great logs are coming down and quantities of fine drift indicating rains above. The river rose about an inch today and is now nearly six miles from bank to bank here. Great slate piles at the coal mines are exploding and resemble volcanoes, owing to the sulphur which burns.

ATCHISON, KAS., June 16 (Special.) -- The continued rising of the Missouri river at this point is just beginning to be serious. The water has reached the stage where it is spreading over the fine Missouri bottom land. The river has risen three inches here in the past 24 hours and is still rising slowly.

JEFFERSON CITY, June 16 (Special.) -- It is believed that the worst of the flood will be over in this stretch of the Missouri by this time tomorrow. While the river was stationary for a time last night it began rising again and fully six inches has been added. The rate it came up today was about half an inch per hour. This morning a big body of back water come over the bank of Turkey creek, west of North Jefferson, and inundated many hundred acres of the bottom that escaped.

Labels: flood, Jefferson City, Leavenworth, Missouri river, Omaha, St.Joseph

May 26, 1908

MIDLAND'S GUESTS

SEEK OTHER HOMES.

MANY OF THEM HAVE LIVED

THERE FOR YEARS.

Thomas R. Morrow and Alexander

Butts, Who Have Grown Gray

Under Its Roof, Among the

Homeless Now.

The A. J. Dean family moved out of the Midland yesterday, and the house isn't officially a hotel any more. Mr. Dean, one of the owners of the Baltimore Hotel Company properties, which included the Midland, took his family to the Hotel Baltimore. Mr. Dean took along another asset of the company -- Mrs. Lillian Harris, the cashier.

Miss Harris has been cashier in the front office of the hotel ever since the Deans took the property She goes to the Baltimore as cashier, after a three months' vacation. Mrs. Harris's home is Cameron. She will go there, and, later, visit in Colorado.

When the Dean family got out everybody made ready to move. The old hotel had guests who have lived there for many years and all have been forced out into the cr-o-o-l world. They are all lamenting the closing and some even have been moved to verse. Here's what Dr. J. W. McClure of Sedalia, a frequent guest for years, left with the cashier when he paid his account yesterday:

Dear old hotel, farewell, farewell;
I leave you now to bat and owl,
And the rodents' night and lonely prowl,
To festive board and gilded hall
Adieu, adieu, farewell to all.

The accompanying $10 note was graciously accepted by the cashier, who charged off the doctor's account and pasted the near-poetry in her scrapbook.

Big Jim Adams of Ardmore, Ok., pays his board and room, of course, but has been looked upon as official entertainer in the lobby of the old hostelry. Adams, who is so great physically that no man dare deny him, declared last night that he would not move until thrown out, and Chief Clerk Randolph graciously invited him to stay as long as he pleased.

But the other regular guests will be seeking homes. For instance, there is Judge Thomas R. Morrow, of the law firm of Lathrop, Morow, Fox & Moore. He has been in the hotel fourteen years. He announced yesterday that his effects would be moved today to the Lorraine.

F. R. Gregg, one of the best-known characters about the lobby of the hotel, hasn't yet found a place to cache his grip. Gregg is a Rock Island engineer, and has lived in the Midland in the same room for ten years.

H. B. Prentice, banker, goes to the Densmore to live, and the other regular guests yesterday followed his lead by seeking new homes. Alexander Butts, a newspaper writer, whose face has been familiar in the lobby, hasn't found a stopping place. Neither has Charlie Lantry nor T. H. Gilroy.

J. A. Fleming of Uncle Sam oil fame, sat dejected at his dinner last night, thinking over the list of possible apartments, and Max Hoffman, the spiritualist, looked just as dejected in another corner of the cafe. He hadn't located either.

L. B. Lamson, the man who invented dairy lunches, and Dr. P. T. Bowen and R. T. Campbell of the "Katy" will go out at daybreak this morning looking for new quarters. The transient guests got cold feet and began to pull out yesterday.

The hotel company has taken care of most of the employes. Thomas B. Bishop goes to the Densmore and T. E. Randolph to the Hotel Baltimore. Miss Barbara Stuber, who has been assistant cashier in the private office, goes to the Royal hotel at Omaha, and John Clemons, A. J. Dean's private cashier, goes to take a similar place at the Hotel Baltimore.

Labels: Hotel Baltimore, hotels, Midland, Omaha, Sedalia

May 2, 1908

HE WAS A MOTHER TO THEM.

Now Wilton's Wife Is Gone, and

He'll Have to Be a Father.

The departure of Anna Wilton, fortune teller, for Omaha, leaves Thomas W. Wilton to care for himself and five small children. Thomas visited the children's court yesterday to find out how to make two ends meet. His is not very well versed in the ways of business, as he explained to the court, for the reason that for the past few years his wife has made the living for the family while he has remained at home, cooked, swept and dressed the children for school.

"You've been a better mother to the children," Judge McCune told Thomas yesterday, "than your wife has been a father. We will help you to the best of our ability. The court will care for the children in daytime and let you go out and find work. Some day, if your wife don't return, you can get a divorce from her and, perhaps, alimony."

Labels: children, Judge McCune, juvenile court, Omaha

February 1, 1908

PREVENT SMALLPOX SPREAD.

Seventy-Five Men at Salvation Army

Quarters Vaccinated.

Marshalled by C. H. Cook, chief clerk of the board of health, Drs. Paul Lux and H. A. Lane and R. A. Shiras went on another vacccinating tour last nigth. Only one place was visited on account of the inclement weather. That was the Salvation Army Citadel, at 1300 Walnut street, and it was selected on account of the fact that a virulent case of smallpox was discovered there yesterday morning.

Seventy-five men were found in the smoking room and sleeping apartments at the Citadel, and all were vaccinated. One old man said he would leave the city before he would "stand for the scratch." When Patrolman August Metsinger and Victor Ringolsky, an inspector started with him to the Walnut street station, however, he changed his mind quickly.

The number 13 played an important part with the man who had smallpox at the Citadel. The number of the building is 1300, the man had room 13, had been in the room 13 days and he "broke out" on Friday, January 31, which is 13 reversed. He was sent to the St. George hospital for treatment.

A man dressed like a prosperous mechanic appeared at the board of health late yesterday and asked to be examined. It was soon discovered that he was suffering from smallpox. He had arrived here on a Missouri Pacific train from Omaha, and was en route to Boston. He was at once transferred to St. George, Kansas City's smallpox hospital in the East Bottoms.

Labels: board of health, Boston, doctors, East bottoms, health, hospitals, Omaha, railroad, Salvation Army, smallpox, Walnut Street

January 9, 1908

OPERATION TO SAVE

A YOUTH'S MIND

PART OF CLYDE TURNER'S SKULL

IS CUT AWAY.

Butted His Head Agasint the Wall

When a Child and Was

Becoming Viciously

Insane. May Be

Cured.

Clyde Turner, a 15-year-old lad, a ward of the children's court, a portion of whose skull was removed Tuesday afternoon with the idea that he might, by the operation, grow up to be a good and bright boy, was reported last night by the Post Graduate hospital, Independence avenue and Campbell street, where the operation was performed, as doing well.

Clyde's case is the first of the sort in the history of the Kansas City children's court, and the second or third in the court history of the United States. Some years ago a lad in Philadelphia was trephined to cure bad habits, and there was a somewhat similar, but not exactly parallel, case in Omaha recently. Six months ago the Kansas City children's court removed Dewey Marcuvitz's tonsils to mend his ways, but the operation was only partially successful.

PRESSED DOWN BRAIN.

The lad who now lies on a cot at the Post Graduate hospital with a piece of his skull the size of a teacup taken away, has had an unfortunate life. His parents died when he was a month old and he was adopted by George Pack, an employe of the Kansas City Bold and Nut Compnay of Sheffield, who lives at Hocker and Sea streets in Independence. The baby Clyde had a habit of butting his head against the wall whenever he was vexed. Efforts were made to break him of this, but he was not cured until he had flattened the crown of his head.

He grew up "simple," and when 12 years old was sent to the Missouri colony for the feeble-minded in Marshall, Mo. He seemed to improve there, and was released about a year ago. He did not get along very well with his foster parents, although they treated him as they would their own son. Two weeks ago, according to the story told by Mrs. Pack in the children's court, a week ago last Monday, Clyde made an attack on her husband's mother with a butcher knife, and as he is a big, strong boy, might have killed her, had it not been for interference. The lad was confined in the detention home from that time until Tuesday morning, when he was taken to the hospital.

Dr. E. G. Blair, assisted by Dr. John Punton, performed the operation. The portion of his skull, which was flattened, was sawed out and thrown away. The brain, which had been pressed down, rose to fill the cavity. The lad will remain in the hospital until nature grows a cartilage across the aperture.

When the boy awoke yesterday morning he seemed very happy. He was a sour-faced, frightened lad when he came to the place. His eyes wore that pathetic, timid, hunted expression of those who are not mentally normal. But when he awoke his eyes were bright. He smiled and said: "I feel awful good!"

THE BOY CONSENTED.

Judge H. L. McCune of the children's court said last evening in regard to the case:

"It was a question of the court's permitting the lad to become permanently insane, for his spells rising out of the sullenness into passionate outbreaks such as he made on his foster father's mother, were growing more and more frequent, or having him operated upon with a slight chance of death but a much larger chance of recovery and development into a bright and useful man. The doctors told me there was absolutely no chance for the boy to recover without the operation. The court received the consent of his foster parents and of the boy himself.

Labels: Campbell street, children, doctors, hospitals, Independence, Independence avenue, Judge McCune, mental health, Omaha, sheffield

December 1, 1907

LEFT HIS WIFE'S ADDRESS.

Then Louis Belderbeck Sat Down and

Took Poison.

Brooding over business difficulties, Louis Belderbeck, 35 years of age, attempted suicide at the Helping Hand institute last night. At about 12 o'clock he went to the night clerk in the institute and had him make a note of his wife's name and address in Omaha, Neb. He then went around the room telling each of the men present that he was going on a long journey and would probably never see any of them again. He then went into the chapel, sat down and swallowed morphine. Some of the people who had remained in the room after services called a doctor. He was treated and sent to the emergency hospital, where it is said that he will recover. He had been at the Helping Hand two or three weeks.

Labels: Helping Hand, Omaha, Suicide

September 13, 1907

MISTAKEN IN THEIR GRIEF.

Banqueters Misunderstand Toast-

master's Reference to Death.

When Dr. L. A. Merrillat, of Chicago, tostmaster at the banquet given at the Coates house last evening by the American Veterinary Medical Association, paid tribute to the "memory of one well known to us who has departed from our midst," and asked that the banqueters sit in bowed silence as a token of esteem to the departed, word was passed from table to table that Dr. Atvill Byrd, of Kansas City, was dead.

But Dr. Byrd is something more than a memory, despite the fact that he is lying ill at his home suffering from bruises received by the kick of a horse several days ago.

It being generally known among the delegates to the convention that Dr. Byrd had been injured, the natural conclusion was that it was he who had "departed from our midst."

"Well, I'm surprised to learn of Dr. Byrd's death, whispered one veterinarian to another after the banquet, and this was followed by "Let's ask Dr. Merillat for the particulars."

"Why, I didnt' mean Dr. Byrd," was the reply of the toastmaster, "I meant Dr. H. L. Ramacioti, of Omaha, who died today."

But many veterinarians left the banquet room believing that Dr. Byrd had died.

Dr. Byrd was reported convalescent and near complete recovery last night.

Labels: Chicago, Coates house, death, hotels, Omaha, veterinarians

June 19, 1907

KICKED WITH "PEG" LEG.

Man Shows Up at Hospital With Bro-

ken Ribs.

Otto H. Dettmier, of Kansas City, Kas., came to Emergency hospital last night at midnight with two broken ribs. He said a peg legged man had kicked him an a saloon at 307 Main street after announcing that he was "a bad actor from Omaha andwould show how they did things in that burg."

Dettmier was sitting peacefully on a chair he said when the wooden leg landed on his ribs. He was taken to the Helping Hand and will be removed to the general hospital today.

Labels: emergency hospital, general hospital, Helping Hand, Kansas City Kas, Main street, Omaha, saloon, violence

April 29, 1907

SPOILED THE BEST ACT.

How an Orpheum Audience Lost a

Head-Line Performance.

The throwing of a beer keg to the stage floor to give the audience the impression that an inebriated man was rolling down stairs cost the Orpheum its headline act for two performances yesterday. The Finneys, champion swimmers, who perform in a big glass tank filled with water, had everything ready for their number and were standing in the wings awaiting their Turn. Frank Mostyn Kelly and E. H. Calvert were presenting their playlet, "Tom and Jerry," in which one of them is supposed to fall down stairs. To get the proper bumping effect a beer keg is bounced on the stage. It bounced. And then there followed a report like that of a pistol. The stage employes rushed back and found the water spurting from three great cracks in the plate glass in the front of the tank. Buckets and rags were gotten to catch the flow and the performers dashed below to their dressing rooms to get their clothes out of the way. Manager Lehman came on the stage when the Finneys' turn came and announced to the audience that they would not be able to go on. The shattered glass was shown. This was the first time in fifteen years that he had had to announce a disappointment of an act because of an accident. He telephoned at once to Omaha, where the Finneys have an extra tank, and it will be here this morning in time for this afternoon's performance.

Labels: accident, Omaha, theater

March 4, 1907

END TO ELOPEMENT.

MR. AND MRS. HARRY HAMNER

HAVE SEPARATED.

SHE WAS MISS MARY BRENT.

Friends of the Couple Say Divorce Suit May Be Filed This Week --
Husband Declines to Say Whether
There is Chance for Reconciliation

Friends of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hamner said last night that a divorce suit would probably be filed this week by Mr. Hamner. They were married three years ago Saturday. Mr. Hamner is a member of the law firm Hamner, Hamner, & Calvin, with offices in 502 Hall bldg.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hamner was an elopement. Mary Fleming Brent was Mrs. Hamner's maiden name. She is the daughter of T. I. Brent, president of the Kansas City Transfer Company.

In February of 1902, the society columns of the Kansas City newspapers contained the announcement of her engagement to G. G. Scott, a millionaire of Milwaukee.

On the morning of March 3, about three weeks later, the Kasnas City newspapers printed the story of her elopement and marriage the evening before with Harry C. Hamner. They had procured a license, and enjoined the clerk to silence. Then they went to the home of Dr. W. A. Quayle, who was then the pastor of the Grand Avenue M. E. church, and were married. They went to Omaha on their honeymoon. Mrs. Hamner's family are Kentuckians; they date back to the Flemings and the Brents, both names well known in the Bluegrass state.

Mr. Hamner spent last night at his home, 4124 McGee street, and Mrs. Hamner passed the night with the family of H. H. Anderson in their apartments at the Hotel Densmore. Mrs. Hamner could not be seen, and Mr. Anderson, a brother-in-law by marriage, also denied himself to reporters. When Mr. Hamner was seen at his home, he admitted that he and his wife had separated, but said he did not care to discuss the case.

"When will you begin divorce proceedings?" was asked of Mr. Hamner.

"I have nothing to say tonight," he said slowly.

"Will there be a reconciliation?"

"I will not talk of that now," he said, after a pause. "There have been no plans made for the settlement of our affiars and I don't want to make any statements regarding what is contemplated. I have no statement to make regarding my side of the affair, or my wife's either, as yet. I may be willing to say something later."

Labels: Divorce, hotels, McGee street, ministers, Omaha, romance

February 16, 1907

DEATH HIS REFUGE.

JOHN R. M'KIM KILLS HIMSELF

IN THE CENTROPOLIS.

LETTER TO WIFE TELLS STORY.

BLAMES ILL HEALTH AND DEBTS FOR SUICIDE.

Milling Venture in Pittsburg, Kas., Did Not Prove Profitable, It Is Said--

Lived in Kansas City at 304 Maple Avenue With Family

Late yesterday afternoon, when a chambermaid could not get into a room on the third floor of the Centropolis hotel, she called the night clerk and the proprietor. The key was in the door on the inside and the door locked. With instruments the house electrician succeeded in pushing the key out and the door was opened with a pass key.

On the bed, face downward, lay the body of a man. He was dead and the odor in the room indicated that carbolic acid had been used. The register showed that he had registered late Thursday afternoon as "John R. McKim, South Omaha, Neb." On a dresser among a lot of paper and envelopes of the Cudahy Packing Company of South Omaha was found the following note:

To the authorities: Notify at once my brother-in-law, William Arthur
Miller, with Karnes, New & Krauthoff, Water Works building. Telegraph
my brother, James McKim, at Deloit, Crawford county, Ia., who will come and take
care of me and my affairs. Do not send word to my wife, who resides in
this city, but let Mr. Miller see to that. --Jno. R. McKim.

The hotel people said that McKim came in and went straight to his room. Dr. George B. Thompson, the coroner, was notified and sent the body to Freeman & Marshall's morgue.

On the washstand in the room was a glass which showed that it had contained carbolic acid. The mans face and lips were also badly burned and corroded with the drug. A two-ounce bottle of the acid, bought from George Eyssell, Union depot drug store, was nearly gone.

Letters to His Wife.

McKim must have poured out most all of the drug into the glass, drank it and then started for his bed. It acted so quickly that he fell on the bed. He had been dead probably twenty-four hours when found, the inference being that he killed himself early Thursday evening.

Letters were found addressed to Mrs. J. R. McKim and also to James McKim, Deloit, Ia. They were placed in large envelopes on which was printed "Cudahy Packing Co., South Omaha, Neb.," but that had been erased with a pencil. On the one addressed to "Mrs. J. R. McKim," with no town or street address, was written "Do not notify or send word to my wife. Send word to Arthur Miller of Karnes, New &Krauthoff." The letter was not stamped. The contents show that McKim, besides being in ill health, was carrying a burden of debt, which seems to have been sufficient to cause him to take his own life. It also shows that he went about the preparations coolly and deliberately. The letter follows:

Cudahy Packing Company -- South Omaha, Neb.; To My Darling Wife:
Do not allow the shock of the shock of my death, revolting as it may seem, to overcome you. It is the only way to prevent the worst catastrophe that must befall you and the dear family if I attempt to continue this fight against increasing ill health and impossible tasks before me. I am trying to do
the courageous thing of sacrificing my life, dear as it is to me, to save you from the greater disgrace and privation that must ensue when I can no longer bear up under it.
I have striven with all my power to pull out of debt that has fastened itself upon us, but today the situation is such that I know that I cannot work with the pressure that I must endure.
I have policies in the
Fraternal Aid...$3,000;
New York Life....$2,000 -- in $800;
Mutual Life of New York....$2,000 -- in $600;
Indiana State Life..5,000 -- in $500.
These will pay out your debts and leave you enough, with your judicious management, to take care of the family. I want Jim to administer my estate and he will come down to see that everything is taken care of.
Oh, my dear, and you deserve a better fate than this! but I cannot feel that it is disgrace when the circumstances that compel me to do this are considered. Those dear, loving children -- how I hoped to enjoy my late life with them and you. God knows best and I submit to His decree. I am aware of what I am doing and the great shock to you all is my greatest regret. Those who have been responsible for my downfall will be dealt with on God's own plan. Let this be a lesson to my dear boys to keep out of debt and I do pray that they will live to redeem in the eyes of the world this seeming disgrace of their devoted father. I cannot write much as my heart is too full -- may God bless you all and keep you as His own. My sweet daughters -- they are a crown of honor and will always be your solace.
I have nerved myself for this trial, knowing it must come unless some providence would avert it.
My honor is my life
Both grown in one,
Take honor from me
And my life is done.
A PRAYER
O, merciful God, spare my dear wife and children. As much as may be the disgrace and penalty of this, my sacrifice, I pray you like a publican to be merciful to my soul in all that I have sinned and to keep them with Thy great kind heart from future disaster. Amen.
Dear wife, be comforted and take care of our flock -- it is past my physical and mental endurance to longer withstand the strain. Your most loving husband, JNO. R. McKim

In still another envelope, also addressed to his wife, with no street or city address, was this short note:

Cudahy's advance money and their mileage are in another envelope for them.
I have a $25 check which you can use. My debts abstract the larger
obligations and will not press you. Jim will take care of the matter when
he comes. J. R. McK.

A check for $25, made payable to John R. McKim or order, had been slipped under the edge of the tongue of the envelope of the first long letter to his wife, it probably being intended as a second thought for this one.

John R. McKim was 48 years of age and resided with his wife and four children at 304 Maple avenue. He was formerly a traveling man for the Cudahy Packing Company and later for the K. C. Baking Powder Company, of Chicago. He was well-to-do and owned his home, which is a pretentious brick and stone structure in the center of spacious grounds.

Some time ago he purchased a 200-barrel flour mill at Pittsburg, Kas., and it was stated last night by friends of the family that this venture had not been a success and that McKim had become almost a nervous wreck over the failure of the institution to pay.

Donald G. McKim, 19 years of age, a son of the dead man, is employed by Hucke & Sexton, in the contracting department, while another son, Bruce, aged 17, is conducting the mill at Pittsburg, Kas. He also leaves two daughters, Elizabeth, 15, and Genevieve, aged 8.

Labels: Centropolis, Coroner Thompson, hotels, Maple avenue, Omaha, Suicide, telegraph

February 4, 1907

HIS STORY A FAKE.

W. DALTON, "OF NEW YORK,"

REALLY OF ARMOURDALE.

MOVED A JUDGE TO TEARS.

YOUNG ROMANCER WHO MANY

WANTED TO ADOPT.

After Court Officers Had Found Him a Good Home His Mother Tells Them They Were Taken In by a Juvenile Munchausen.

There seems to be a joke on somebody.

Walter Dalton, the "friendless orphan" boy who told Judge McCune in the juvenile court last Friday of his many and superlative vicissitudes after the death of his father and mother in New York and his abuse by a stepfather, how he slept in doorways there and finally beat his way to Kansas City on 9-cents because he wanted to come West where he could make a good man of himself, really lives in Armourdale and has never even seen New York. His mother, who lives there also, called at the Detention home yesterday to see this young Munchausen.

When he told his tear-stained story to Judge McCune Friday the judge and the spectators wiped their streaming eyes and sent out their hearts to give poor motherless Walter comfort.

"You look like a good boy," said Judge McCune out of the fullness of his heart (as he blew his nose suspiciously, as is proper under such stress), "but you haven't had much of a chance. We'll find you a good home and a good job where you won't have anything to do but work and nothing to eat but food and no place to sleep but in a feather bed."

"Thank you kindly, sir," sobbed Walter. "I will indeed be grateful. That's all I've been looking for and your generosity moves me. I shall do all in my power to show you how I appreciate it."

A court official led Walter away weeping and the court dried its judicial eyes and blowing its judicial nose again, called the next case.

Then the newspaper reporters wrote the story and splashed it liberally with salty tears and the next day twenty yearning philanthropists, looking for a husky boy who in turn was yearning to do a man's work for his board and clothes and a few kind words, besieged the office of the probation officer where Walter was wallowing in the fat of the county, and one of them took him triumphantly away in the face of the deep throated clamorings of the others.

When Dalton left the Detention building for his new home he was fitted out by loving hands with new clothing throughout, including a nice warm overcoat.

So much for the first installment.

Yesterday a frail, thinly clad dim-eyed woman accompanied by an ill-clothed boy of 7 appeared at the Detention home.

"Have you got a boy here named Water Dalton?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," replied one of the officers, "but I am sorry to say, you are too late, much as we appreciate your sympathy in favor of the friendless orphan. We have already found him a good home."

"Home," replied the woman. "Home? He already had a home and I'm his mother."

"But my dear madam," returned the astonished officer, "his mother is dead."

"I don't look very dead, do I? Well I'm his mother all right and he lives with me in Armourdale -- that is, when he isn't running away. I ought to know whether I'm his mother or not, oughtn't I?"

"Y-yes. But he said he came here from New York."

"New York, fiddlesticks. I've known him pretty well for sixteen years, which is as old as he is, and if he was ever farther East than Sheffield I never heard of it."

"But his father --"

"Father, nuthin'. Dalton skinned out years ago and left me to support this boy and that 'waif' you picked up from New York and found a good home for. But he won't be there long. As soon as he gets enough to eat and the weather gets warmer he'll be gone again. I know him.. He's no good."

"But, Judge ----" "Yes, I know what the judge said. The truth of the matter is that boy can outlie a press agent. I'm his mother and I know. New York! The only other town that boy ever lived in was Omaha, and he was in jail there three times for stealing that I know of -- and maybe more. Did he keep his eyes on the floor sort of solemn like while he was telling the judge the magazine story?"

The officer remembered that he did.

"That was Walter, all right," said the woman. "He always keeps his eyes on the floor and talks low when he's drilling for tears."

"But his stepfather beat--"

"Stepfather! He never had a stepfather. I know when I've had enough. The only person I've ever expected to help me along since Dalton left was Walter, and instead of that I've had to support him. Oh, yes, he would work occasionally, but it didn't do me much good.

"The last time I saw him was Friday morning a week ago. I put up his lunch for him and started him to work. The next I heard of him I read in the papers what a good boy he was and what a good man he was going to make and --and the rest of it. It was news to me.

"Well," she added in leaving, "I'm glad Walter is a good boy and has a good home and is going to be a good and great man. It relieves me of a good deal."

Walter Dalton is 16 years old. He was arrested by the police one night last week begging on the streets. He told a pitiful story of having been left an orphan in New York city and told it in such a plausible way that he made more friends in ten minutes than an honest boy could get together in a lifetime of uprightness. His new home is on a farm a few miles from Kansas City.

Labels: Armourdale, con artist, detention home, Judge McCune, juvenile court, Omaha, orphans, sheffield

February 2, 1907

DEATH OF LOUIS SHUKERT.

Only Son of Furrier Succumbs

to Pneumonia

Louis Shukert, the 19-year-old son of E. Shukert, died yesterday of typhoid pneumonia. He had been ill one month. Young Mr. Shukert was graduated from the Blees Military academy last June, and had since been connected with his father's fur business at 1113 Grand avenue. Louis was the only son. The parents and one sister, Mrs. Hal Brent, survive him. The deceased was a member of the Elm Ridge Club and of the Phi Lambda Epsilon fraternity.

Gustav Shukert, an uncle from Omaha, and George Brokle, of Los Angeles, and Otto Brokle, or Rock Island, Ill., brothers of Mrs. Shukert, are on their way to Kansas City to attend the funeral. Rev. E. B. Woodruff will officiate.

Labels: death, Elm Ridge, fraternal organizations, Grand avenue, illness, Omaha, typhoid