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June 14, 1908

FINE ART WORK.

Bangs Sisters Creating

Portraits of the Deceased.

The Bangs Sisters of Chicago produce portraits of departed men, women or children for friends while they wait. These wonderful artists are located in the New York apartment house, northwest corner of Twelfth street and Paseo. They have been spending a few weeks away from home on a vacation. They are making many beautiful portraits in Kansas City and do not expect to remain in Kansas City very long. Anyone wishing to see them should make arrangements to do so as soon as possible. --Adv.

Labels: arts, Chicago, Paseo, Twelfth street, visitors

May 26, 1908

FOUNTAIN MAY BE USED.

Costly Blunder May Yet Be Turned

to Some Account.

It is the intention of the board of parks commissioners to install a pumping engine in the Paseo bath house, and pump the water into the fountain at Paseo and Fifteenth streets. The excess water will be returned to the bath house, purified and aerated. At yesterday's meeing of the park board an extensively signed communication was received from the women residents of the vicinity of the fountain demanding that the water be turned into it. They said that in the present idle shape the "fountain, instead of being an ornament, is an eyesore."

The estimated cost of the pump is $1,500, and the board will decide at its next meeting if the scheme is practical.

Labels: bath house, Fifteenth street, fountains, Park board, Paseo

April 25, 1908

MEYER STATUE WILL

STAND ON PASEO.

SITE IS CHOSEN BETWEEN NINTH

AND TENTH STREETS.

BRONZE STATUE TO BE ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF A. R. MEYER ON THE PASEO, BETWEEN NINTH AND TENTH STREETS.

After spending almost the entire day yesterday going over the boulevards and through the parks of the city, the members of the Meyer statue committee, together with Daniel Chester French, the sculptor, late yesterday agreed upon a point on the Paseo between Ninth and Tenth streets, for the location of the bronze statue to be erected of the late A. R. Meyer, first president of the park board. The statue will be near the south end of the block and will face toward the south. The immediate surroundings for the statue will be decided upon by the park board.

This will be the first public statue to be erected in Kansas City, and will be in honor of the man to whom perhaps more credit is due for the splendid park and boulevard system for which Kansas City is now noted, than any other.

The model for the monument was sent ahead by Mr. French with the request that it not be opened until his arrival. It was first opened at 10 o'clock yesterday morning in the Commercial Club rooms, in the presence of Mr. French and the members of the statue committee. The model was unanimously accepted by the committee and, on recommendation of that body, was later accepted by the city art committees. A committee composed of E. M. Clendening, H. D. Ashley and Frank A. Faxon was named to frame a suitable inscription for the base of the monument.

The monument consists of a main structure of Knoxville marble fifteen feet in height, about seven feet in width and two feet in depth from front to back, resting on a base of the same material about ten by six feet.

The monument is surrounded by an ornamental cap, and the main stone, containing the portrait of Mr. Meyer, is supported by an ornamental stone, resting on the base proper. The portrait of Mr. Meyer will be in bronze, let into the main stone of the monument, and will show a figure seven and a half feet in height. It has been the endeavor of the sculptor to suggest Mr. Meyer as the originator of the park system, and he is represented as standing out of doors with his right hand resting on an open map, which lies upon a marble Pompeian table. The left hand holds a pair of field glasses, and a tree under which he is standing is introduced at the right.

Mr. French will remain in Kansas City until tonight. He expects to have the statue finished in about a year.

Labels: arts, Commercial Club, Edwin Clendening, Frank Faxon, Ninth street, Paseo, Tenth street, visitors

November 26, 1907

MADDENED BY LOVE

CRAZED SUITOR THREATENS THE

LIFE OF MISS PEARL SMITH.

FORCES HER TO LEAVE HOME

AFTER DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE

SHE MANAGES TO ESCAPE.

Clay Fulton, the Lover, Is Arrested,

and His Sanity Is to Be Investi-

gated -- He Is a Printer and

Has Had Trouble.

Through fear of immediate death from a pistol in the hands of a half-crazed suitor, Miss Pearl Smit, daughter of Dr. E. O. Smith, 212-14 Wabash avenue, and well known in local society, was compelled to leave her father's home and walk twelve blocks in the cold of last Friday night before an opportunity of escape presented itself. Even then she was forced to seek refuge in a stable and hid in a wagon for over an hour lest the defeated suitor should be in hiding outside and shoot her upon sight. Clay Fulton, the man in the case, has been placed under arrest and has admitted to police his share of the weird affair.

The young woman was for two days prostrated from the nervous shock, but recovered sufficiently yesterday to tell of the remarkable experience she had undergone. In the presence of her father, Dr. E. O. Smith, she told the story graphically too newspaper men.

Fulton and the girl had been acquainted for several years. The young man had repeatedly paid court to her. Finding his advances were not encouraged, it appears that he brooded over the matter and Friday night determined to take things into his own hands. He purchased a revolver in the afternoon, and that night went to the girl's home without warning her in advance of his intended visit.

The home of Dr. Smith is a large double house fronting upon Wabash avenue. One side of it is the family residence, while the other is used by the physician as his office. When Fulton appeared the girl was in the office, while her family were in the residence side of the house. The man rang at the office door and Miss Smith went to let the visitor in.

WANTED TO MARRY HER.

According to her story, she did not know it was Fulton until he was incide the reception hall. He was wearing a heavy overcoat, with his hat drawn down over his eyes. No sooner had he entered, she avers, than he drew his revolver and pointed it at her.

"Don't make any noise," he is said to have exclaimed, "or I will shoot. I am tired of being put off and I want you to go with me. I want you to marry me. If you make any alarm I shall kill you."

"I was too astonished and scared to scream," said Miss Smith last night. "I believed he was desperate and would do as he said. So I tried to temporize. I told him I had no wraps, and asked him to let me get a cloak. He was excited and refused to allow me out of his sight. I thought it best to go along wiht him and take my chance to escape. I believe he would have killed me if I had cried out there in the house So I went out with him."

"I was wearing only a light house dress, which had short sleeves, and a thin pair of shoes. It was pretty cold out on the stret, and I began ot suffer almost as soon as I was outside. When I wished to go into some place and get warm, the man refused me, saying he would not let me go into any place in that part of town where he was unknown for fear of outside interference. He talked wildly about my refusing to marry him, and said I would have to marry hinm right away. He warned me repeatedly not to make any outcry. We walked on Wabash avenue to Ninth street and then turned west. I kept asking him to let me go into some place and get warm, but he insisted that I wait until we should get to Twelfth and Paseo, where, he said, he was known. At Garfield, I persuaded him to go into a restaurant and telephone to his sister to bring me some wraps, telling him I would be gettin gwarm while he did the talking As son as I saw him busy with the telephone I ran out of the place and went to Newcomer's undertaking rooms.

HID IN A WAGON.

There I found David Newcomer and Mr. P. M. McDaniel, whom I knew, and I asked them to hide me. I felt sure the man would come looking for me and would shoot me if he found me. The men at Newcomer's led me into a shed adjoining the office and I climbed up into a wagon and lay there until I was sure there would be no further danger. Then I went back home in a carriage. I think I must have been in there an hour, and," smilingly, "it was the longest hour I ever passed."

Immediately the police were notified of the affair and Detectives Oldham and Boyle were detailed upon the case. Yesterday they arrested young Fulton and locked him up in a cell at police headquarters. When questioned about the matter by Captain Whitsett last night, he gave a rambling, incoherent account of troubles which led him to the action he took Fridaynight. He frankly admitted that he had threatened Miss Smith with a revolver. Asked if he would have shot her had she refused to accompany him, he answered simply: "I do not know."

Young Fulton lives with his mother and two sisters at 1438 East Fourteenth street. He has been employed as a printer in a number of shops about town. About three weeks ago he left the employ of Hallman's printing establishment in the Gumbel building at Eighth and Walnut streets. It is the theory of the police that the man has been brooding over troubles, real or imaginary, until his mind has become temporarily disordered and that his strange deed of Friday night was the result. An attempt will be made by the girl's father, Dr. Smith, to have his sanity investigated today.

Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, doctors, Eighth street, Fourteenth street, Garfield avenue, mental health, Paseo, romance, Twelfth street, undertakers, Wabash avenue, Walnut Street

November 10, 1907

TO URGE A NEW PUBLIC BATH.

ALDERMAN GREEN WOULD INSTALL

TUBS AND SHOWERS.

Great Need of Such Accommodations in

the Crowded Districts of the North

End -- To Ask Council

to Do Something.

Kansas City's deficiency in public baths is likely to be remedied -- in part at least -- if the plans of Alderman W. T. Green are carried out. The town already has a free pool, open in summer. But what is proposed now is a set of tubs and showers to be open, perhaps at a nominal charge, the year through. Such bath houses are common in other cities, but they have been neglected here, except by charitable organizations.

Alderman Green is planning to introduce a resolution in the council to-morrow night instructing the board of public works to obtain proposals for a site for a bath house.

"If the park board has ground suitable for a site it may be better," Mr. Green said, "for the park board to arrange plans and look after the construction of the building, but unless it has I think the first move should be for the board of public works to find a site and employ an architect to make plans. I have arranged to meet P. S. Brown, Jr., of the board of public works tomorrow morning and together we will draft the resolution which I expect to introduce in the council. Mr. Brown is from my ward and I want to consult him. Until we have mapped out a more definite plan I can't give very satisfactory details, only my ideas of what ought to be done.

"My idea of a bathhouse would be to have hot and cold tub baths and shower baths with hot and cold water, separate sections for men and women of course, and attendants for each. Just how many tubs will be needed and how many shower baths is a matter to be worked out by the architect and the board. A public bathhouse is practically a necessity in the crowded districts with old buildings where the poorer people live. Some of these people would not have a chance once a year to take bath with all the conveniences that the people in the newer sections with modern homes regard as an every day necessity.

"There is nothing the city can do for the health and comfort of people in the crowded districts that will do more good than to put up an inviting bathhouse where they can have a bath almost for the asking. A nominal charge for soap and towels might be made.

"As for the location, of course, I would like to have it in the west end of the Eighth ward, but I am inclined to think a site in the Sixth ward would be more available -- somewhere north of Eighth street and east of Grand avenue. Property has become so valuable in the west end of the Eighth that the site for a bathhouse might cost too much. There are places only two or three blocks north of Eighth street where property is much cheaper and a larger number of people would be benefitted. For that reason I shall not put into the resolution any reference to the location."

The only bathhouse owned by the city now is the pool on the Parade just off the Paseo. In summer it accommodates thousands of persons every week, but in the winter the water is too cold. The large Eastern cities have adopted a practice of building bathhouses suited for winter as well as for summer, or separate places that are built especially for winter use.

The cost of a bathhouse need not be great if the site is not too expensive. A boiler can furnish heat for the building in the winter and keep the water warm for the bath. Mr. Green and Mr. Brown have taken hold of the matter together and expect to interest other friends to take hold of the proposition and help make it succeed.

Labels: bath house, Kansas City council, North end, Paseo, public works

October 22, 1907

TRAGEDIES OF CHILDHOOD

DRIFT FROM BROKEN HOMES

INTO JUVENILE COURT.

"Parents Separated" the Burden of
Pathetic Stories Heard by Judge
McCune -- Many Sent to

Booneville.

"Parents separated" was the brief but sadly expressive story borne by a majority of the cases that came before Judge McCune at the regular session of the juvenile court yesterday. After it was added the pitiful detail of petty crime and wrong doing that the developments in the case showed was, in most cases, "born in the flesh and bred in the bones" of the young offenders present.

Judge McCune was quick to grasp the threads that led unmistakably back and beyond the little culprits before him, and "another chance" was the rule rather than the exception.

Ben Moore, who stood head and shoulders taller than his mother, was given a bad name by Chief Probation Officer Mathias, which is an unusual occurrence. "He is just a loafer," he told the court, "and in spite of our best efforts will not be anything else. We have found him jobs and helped him time and time again, but it is no use; he is a bad lot. His father and mother are separated and the woman can do nothing with him."

The mother, with tears streaming down her face, acknowledged the truth of the officer's assertions, and the boy was sent to the Boonville reform school for four years.

James Flaigle was accused of being a truant. He said his father wanted him to work in his store on Union avenue and the court was in possession of a letter bearing out the assertion. His father thought the experience of the store would be enough of an education, but Judge McCune could not see it in that light, and the youngster was ordered to go to school, which he smilingly promised to do.

HENRY DIDN'T CARE.

Henry Reisner ran away from his home in St. Louis because, he said, his father abused his mother. He came to Kansas City and was gathered in by the police while wandering about the streets. He didn't seem much interested in the proceedings pertaining to himself, anyway, and the court decided to send him home.

A West Prospect place woman was present to say that her son, who is on parole for past misdemeanors, was too ill to attend the court. When the court officers commented upon the mother's strong odor of whiskey, she calmly told the court that she had "inherited that breath." Judge McCune was moved to remark that he had heard of its being acquired in every other way but by inheritance. The woman finally departed, explaining things to herself after everyone else had refused to listen.

Charles Riggs, 13 years of age, 4322 East Fourteenth street, was up or the fourth or fifth time for violating his parole, playing hookey and numerous other bad things. His father and mother have separated, and the latter was in court to defend her son. Judge McCune said he must go to Boonville, and the mother said he shouldn't. When the court finally threatened to have her locked up if she did not stop her interference she allowed the child to be led away.

FRED CAME FROM WICHITA

Fred Corp of Wichita came to Kansas City with a load of cattle. He had nothing to do with cattle but just came along to see the sights and have a good time. Upon his arrival he got separated from the men he came with and the police picked him up at 3 'clock Thursday morning. He told the court of his experiences through many tears. When arrested he had $3.05 in his pockets. The necessary amount of this will be invested in a ticket for Wichita today.

Tony Lapentino, who has been behaving badly, and has claimed the attention of the court many times, was sent to Boonville for four years. Ethel Ackley, a sweet-faced girl of 9 years, whose mother is dead and whose father was charged with deserting her, will be provided for in some charitable institution.

Terrence Quirk, one of the boys who recently located and equipped with small arms a Wild West camp on the outskirts of the city, enrolled for the Boonville institution.

Ellen, Allen and Howard Collins, who were recently found in a destitute and suffering condition in the rear of the premises at 911 Paseo, will be cared for until other arrangements can be made at the North end day nursery. Their mother is in a hospital and the father incompetent to provide for his family.

Labels: children, Fourteenth street, Judge McCune, juvenile court, North end, Paseo, reform school, St Louis, Union avenue

July 19, 1907

CIGARETTES HIS CURSE.

MOTHER'S REASON FOR SON'S

SECOND SUICIDE ATTEMPT.

Young Man Who Falls on Street

From Strychnine Poisoning Talks

of a Love Affair --

Will Recover.

A young man was seen walking unsteadily along in the vicinity of Twenty-second street and Dunham avenue shortly after 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Presently he stopped, drew rigid and fell in a convulsion. People who called the ambulance from the Walnut Street station thought possibly it was heat prostration, but Dr. George Dagg, ambulance surgeon, diagnosed the case as one of strychnine poisoning. The man was taken at once to the general hospital, where followed several other convulsions indicitive of strychnine poisoning.

It was learned there that the young man's name was Benjamin Rowland, formerly a bill clerk in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway. He lives with his widowed mother at 2045 North Valley street, Kansas City, Kas. It was stated at the hospital late last night that Rowland would recover.

During a conscious period at the hospital yesterday, Rowland intimated that a love affair had caused him to attempt his life.

While calling at the home of Miss Hettie Fredericks, 18 years old, Sixteenth street and the Paseo, last spring, young Rowland attempted suicide by drinking laudanum. He had gone there in the afternoon to make a call. No one was home but Miss Connie Fredericks, an older sister. Rowland said he was going to the bathroom for a drink. After being there some time he called Miss Connie to the door of the parlor and, holding a glass of dark liquid high in the air, said, "Good-bye to all. Here goes." It was later discovered that he had taken laudanum.

She called in the janitress and the latter telephoned for a doctor. After working with Rowland for an hour or more, he was left in good condition, and was later taken home.

A stranger called at his home of the widowed mother, 2045 North Valley street, Kansas City, Kas., soon after the occurrence yesterday and told Mrs. Rowland of the son's second attempt. She went at once to the emergency hospital in the city hall, as she heard he had been taken there. When his employer was called up at the C. M. & St. P. freight office, Fourteenth and Liberty streets, Mrs. Rowland learned for the first time that her son had quit his job there a week ago. What he had been doing meantime she did not know.

"If he lives through this," she said, "I intend to take steps to have him restrained. He has smoked cigarettes until he is a complete nervous wreck. He smokes them all day and then smokes them during the night. I have begged and pleaded with him about it, but it does no good. I think cigarettes are a greater curse to the younger generation of boys than whiskey and should be placed under restrictions just as stringent. I shall place him in some sanitarium if he lives through this attempt."

Labels: doctors, Kansas City Kas, Paseo, railroad, romance, Sixteenth street, Suicide, tobacco, Twenty-second street, Walnut Street

February 26, 1907

BY A LAWYER'S AID.

ATTORNEY HELPED MRS. ROBINSON

KIDNAP HER CHILD.

AN OLD MYSTERY CLEARED UP.

CHILD WAS TAKEN FROM CHACE

SCHOOL LAST JUNE.

Mother and Father Had Separated and Courts Had Awarded HimCustody of Gertrude, 7 Years Old--Humane Officer Suspected.

When little Gertrude Robinson, 7 years old, was kidnaped from the basement of the Chace school by her mother on June 1 last year many persons, especially Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Weaver, 1404 Troost avenue, who were keeping the child, believed that Colonel J. C. Greenman, Humane agent, had aided Mrs. Robinson. A woman, well known as a local temperance worker, appeared at Colonel Greenman's office yesterday afternoon, however, and admitted that she and a lawyer had planned the whole thing. Mrs. Robinson, she said, came on here from Chicago and stopped at her home. The lawyer was called in and the three planned the kidnaping, which was successful.

Just after little Gertrude entered the basement steps at the school the morning of Friday, June 1, 1906, a woman was standing in the shadow. "Hello, Gertrude," she said. "Why, hello, mamma," replied the child. The mother threw a black cloak over her child and ran to where a carriage was standing on the Paseo. With mother and child the carriage was driven rapidly south to Fifteenth street and west. Then it was seen no more.

It was believed that Mrs. Robinson had stolen her own child, but this could not be proved. Woman-like, however, she had to tell it. Two days later a Frisco conductor came in from his run and reported that a woman with a little girl, described as the missing one, had boarded his train in Rosedale. He paid no attention to her, but she had told the train butcher her story. She said that after getting possession of Gertrude the hack had driven to the Southwest Boulevard and Wyandotte street. All that had been planned out beforehand. There she left the vehicle and boarded a Rosedale car, getting out there just in time to meet the ongoing Frisco passenger for Springfield, Mo. She left Springfield for St. Louis and went from there to Chicago, getting home the next day.

The child was not missed by the Weavers until noon. Then they instituted a search on their own accord, and the kidnaping was not reported to the police until 2 p.m., five hours after it occurred. All of the outgoing trains were watched by detectives, but the shrewd little mother with her babe was many, many miles from Kansas City railway stations. She knew they would be watched, that is, she, her woman friend and the lawyer.

Little Gertrude was the daughter of Harry G. Robinson. He secured a divorce from his wife by default, the notice of the suit having been printed in an Independence paper, which the wife never saw in her Chicago home. When she heard of it she came here and tried to get the decree set aside, but failed. The court had given the custody of the child to Robinson. Colonel Greenman had advised the woman in both suits and that was how he came to be suspected of advising the kidnaping.

The mother came here once," said the colonel yesterday, "and visited with her child at the Weaver's for a week. I suspected something wrong at the time and went so far as to make Mrs. Robinson leave her return ticket and all her money, but a small amount, with me, and saw her to the train when she left. She had visited at my house then and I knew if she got away with her baby I would have to bear the blame. When she did come here and succeed in kidnaping it I had no idea she was out of Chicago -- but I got the blame nevertheless of advising her to take it in the manner in which she did. I wouldn't use my office for breaking the law and am glad that Mrs. Blank has set me right."

The woman who helped to plan the kidnaping said she was going to tell the Weavers how it was all done -- some day, when she got a chance.

Labels: butchers, Col. J. C. Greenman, crime, custody, Divorce, kidnapping, Paseo, Rosedale, schools, St Louis, Troost avenue