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May 28, 1908

HAS NITROGLYCERIN

BURIED IN A ROAD.

SAFEBLOWER WILL LEAD

THE POLICE TO IT.

That Is, if Some Wagon Wheel

Don't Set It Off Before This

Morning -- One Sends Money

to His Mother.

Safe blowing is not a lucrative business, according to G. W. Hart and William Riley, the two yeggmen who were arrested Tuesday night after having blown a safe in the Metzner Stove Supply and Repair house, 304 West Sixth street. The two burglars made a complete confession before Captain Walter Whitsett and other police officers last night, telling somewhat of their past and present record, also giving an interesting account of how they pulled off their jobs.

The two men met each other on the streets several days ago and their acquaintance grew steadily. Both lived in a low rooming house at 507 Grand avenue and it was there that they perfected their plans for the safe robbery which they perpetrated Tuesday night.

For several days past Hart has made a hiding place of the Hannibal bridge. In that locality he kept his tools and prepared the nitroglycerin which he used to blow the safes. He said that had he been successful in his robberies here he intended taking his loot to that place and burying it at the roadside, where he has now over a pint of nitroglycerin stored away.

The only other safe blowing job which Hart has tried in Kansas City was Sunday night when he attempted to blow open the safe in the Ernst Coal and Feed barns at Twentieth and Grand avenue. At that time, however, he was interrupted by police officers and barely escaped arrest. He was not successful in this attempt. Two or there days previous to this Hart entered and robbed a wholesale house located near Fifth and Delaware streets. He got only a few dollars in currency.

WHERE HE HAS WORKED.

In tell of his work at the safe-blowing, Hart said: "I have been at this business for the past year or two, and in that time I have robbed safes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri. The biggest haul I ever made was from a bank in some town in Oklahoma. I had to get through four large front doors which were loaded with concrete, but was successful, and sent the money I made in that deal to my mother. I often sent her the biggest part of my makings. She thought I got it honestly. No, I won't tell you her name or where she lives," he replied to a question from the police captain.

"Sometimes I would bank the money I got from the safes," he continued, "but it never got me anything. I am worse broke now than I was when I was living honestly. The job we pulled off last night was to get me money to pay my board.

"When I got the safe all soaped and ready to blow," he said in reply to a question of where he went when the explosion took place, "I usually stand just on top of the safe. There is no danger of any hurt up there, for the explosion always blows out, not up. If it has made too much noise, I most always have time to jump down and pull out the money boxes before anyone gets there, and then make my getaway."

Hart is a man of thirty or more names. He refused to tell his right name to police officers, saying that G. W. Hart was just as good as any. Among the names given were Maycliffe, Miller, Pope, Brown and Simpson. Hart has served a term of years in the Ohio state penitentiary, having been sent there on the charge of assault with intent to kill. He shot a brakeman who tried to eject him from a freight train on which he was stealing a ride. The brakeman was not seriously injured. With this exception he has had no other prison record, being only 26 years of age.

HE'S GREEN AT IT.

William Riley, the other yeggman, was more reticent about his part in the affair of Tuesday night. He claimed that it was his first attempt at safe blowing and admitted that he was rather amateurish about the business. Though he has not done much along the yegging line, he has a much longer prison record than his partner. Most of his matured life has been spent behind prison bars. He is now 47 years old. He was first convicted of highway robbery in Jackson county and sentenced to five years in the state prison. He had not been released from that term many months before he received a sentence at Springfield, Mo., for a term of two years, charged with grand larceny. Besides this he served four years more in the Missouri penitentiary for grand larceny, having been convicted at Sedalia.

When the two men were arrested Tuesday night the woman who keeps the rooming house in which they lived, and Ernest Vega, a Mexican roomer, were also arrested. Hart and Riley have both testified that these two were entirely innocent of the affair, and have asked for their release. It is probable t hat they will be released this morning, as the time limit for investigation of prisoners is over.

Hart will accompany a squad of police officers to his hiding ground at the runway of the Hannibal bridge this morning, when the nitroglycerin, which he has buried there, will be removed. It is lying on the roadside, just under the surface, and it is feared that the wheels of some farm wagon might accidental cause an explosion if it is not removed at once.

Labels: Captain Whitsett, crime, Delaware street, Fifth street, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, highway robbery, immigrants, penitentiary, railroad, Sedalia, Sixth street, Twentieth street

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

April 9, 1908

HADLEY WILL NOT

BE A CANDIDATE.

Attorney General's Health

Won't Stand Campaign.

JEFFERSON CITY, April 8. --(Special.) Herbert S. Hadley will not be a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. This announcement was made by the attorney general today, just before he left the capital for Kansas City with his family. He does not think he should, in his weakened condition, assume the risk to his health involved in a state political campaign.

Mr. Hadley's declination to become a candidate has stimulated speculation as to who will take his place at the head of the ticket. Among the names mentioned are those of Liutenant Governor John C. McKinley, James T. Neville of Springfield, Secretary of State Swanger, former State Senator John M. Williams of California, Congressman Richard Bartholdt, Judge R. S. Ryers of Osage County, John Kennish, General Hadley's assistant; John H. Bothwell of Sedalia and Charles Nagle of St. Louis.

UNDER DOCTOR'S ORDERS.

The statement given out by Mr. Hadley follows:

"I have been urged by a large number of party leaders to withhold for the present a definite decision with refernce to becoming a candidate for governor, with the plea that in the course of two or three weeks, I might view the matter differently than I do now.

"While personally I have no objection to complying with these requests, I feel that in view of the many published statements with reference to the condition of my health, and my intentions as to becoming a candidate for governor, that the party should at once be definitely advised as to the facts, in order that it may take such action as it may deem advisable.

"I have been advised by my physicians that the labors necessarily incident to a campaign for governor would, in their opinion, seriously impair my health. And as it is necessary under our primary election law for candidates to file a declaration of thier candidacy by June 5, I feel that the party should at once begin the consideratioin o fthe many qualified candidates to be found in the ranks."

"I have also been urged by many to be a candidate with the understanding that I would not be expected to make an extensive or laborious campaign. I cannot bring myself to believe that such a course would be satisfactory either to the party or to myself. I sincerely appreceiate the confidence and approval that are expressed in these requests, and it is only because I feel constrained by my duty to our family that I have been unable to accept the position of honor and responsibility that has been so generously offered to me."

Labels: Herbert Hadley, Jefferson City, politics, Sedalia

December 22, 1907

HE JUST KEPT ON MOVING.

So Fast and So Often That His Wife

Couldn't Keep Up.

Mariam E. Toliver sues for divorce from Chester W. Toliver because he has moved so often, she alleges, since their marriage that she cannot keep up with him. They were wed November 7, 1906, she claims, and during the ten months following he lived in these towns: Leeds, Mo., Sedalia, Mo., Wichita, Kas., Abilene, Kas., Kansas City, Mo., Horton, Kas., and Kansas City again. The last time he came to Kansas City, September 7, 1907, she stayed here, while he, she swears, kept on moving and is now somewhere in Iowa.

Labels: Divorce, Sedalia

September 19, 1907

GONE WITH ANOTHER WOMAN.

W. T. Blackburn Tells a Strange

Story to the Police.

W. T. Blackburn, of Sedalia, Mo., with four children ranging in age from 2 to 10 years, walked into police headquarters yesterday to ask assistance in finding his wife who, he said, had gone away two seeks ago, taking $312 of his money. He said he had saved some money which he had at his home in Sedalia. While he was away at work his wife, he alleged, took what money there was and then called in a second-hand dealer to sell the furniture. Neighbors told Blackburn that his wife left with another woman.

Blackburn came here with $30 which, he said, his wife had overlooked. He said she had written his 10-year-old daughter telling her a letter addressed "general delivery" would reach her mother.

Labels: marriage, police headquarters, Sedalia

April 30, 1907

NEGRO CENTENARIAN DIES.

"Aunt Ellen" Phillips, 101, Was a

Slave of Cassius M. Clay.

SEDALIA, MO., April 29. -- (Special.) Mrs. Ellen Phillips, a negress aged 101 years, died today at her home in Georgetown. She was a native of Kentucky, and before the war was a slave in the family of Colonel Cassius M. Clay. "Aunt Ellen" lived in this county for more than fifty years.

Labels: death, Sedalia, Seniors

April 19, 1907

FROM ROSEDALE, NOT SEDALIA.

Police Cast Doubt Upon Mrs.

Henderson's Story of Hardships

The police and the authorities at the Helping Hand institute have grave doubts of the story told by Mrs. Mable Henderson, who, with her blind baby, insists that she walked all the way from Sedalia, Mo., to this city, a distance of ninety miles, in three days. She says that she left there at sunup Monday morning , and arrived here at about 5:30 o'clock Wednesday evening, having had only 25 cents for expenses.

Mrs. Henderson was found by the police in the bottoms late Wednesday night, and sent to headquarters and then to the Helping Hand. She said she was not tired when she came in, refused food, saying she was not hungry, and neither her dress nor shoes were at all worn as they would have been from such a long tramp.

Early yesterday morning a man called Captain Weber at police headquarters and said: "I know the Mrs. Henderson with the blind baby mentioned in the papers this morning. She has lived with several others in a tent on the outskirts of Rosedale all winter. The men named in the paper as brothers-in-law, for whom she is now looking, lived there also. They all left recently and I don't know where they went."

The man refused to give his name. An official from the Helping Hand went to Rosedale and found the report to be true. He was also informed that Mrs. Henderson has two other children somewhere else. This she denied later. The investigation will be carried on further today.
"We have had at least twenty-five calls today offering to take both the woman and her baby," said Superintendent E. T. Bringham. "Several called in person and offered to assist in any manner desired. She was being cared for, however, and a specialist was secured for the baby, so all was being done what was necessary. The eye specialist, after a close examination, said that there was no hope for the baby ever regaining its sight, it having been blind from birth."

Mrs. Henderson said that she could get no place to work on account of her blind baby, the mother herself being blind in one eye. On this account it was said yesterday that an effort would be made to take the blind baby from its mother and place it in a blind institute, where it could be educated with others similarly afflicted. Left as it is, it would have little chance to make a living. The mother, when placing the child even in the nursery was mentioned, objected strenuously, and said that wherever the baby went she would go also.

"The woman is known to the Associated Charities," said Colonel Greenman, Humane agent, "and has been for some time. Agents from there are investigation the case now. Mrs. Henderson weighs only ninety pounds and her baby seventeen pounds. To reach here in three days she would have to walk at least thirty miles a day. That seems an impossible task for one so frail as she appears to be."

Labels: Associated Charities, charity, children, Col. J. C. Greenman, con artist, Helping Hand, police headquarters, Rosedale, Sedalia

April 18, 1907

AND THE BABY BLIND.

From Sedalia a Deserted Mother

Walks Here With It.

A tired and worn little woman carrying a baby was picked up by the police in the bottoms about 9:30 o'clock last night. She was wandering about aimlessly. When she was taken to police headquarters later she gave the name of Mrs. Mabel Henderson and stated that she had walked all the way from Sedalia, Mo., and had carried the baby, 15-months old. At the station it clutched at its mother's dress and held tightly to her baby with its little hands.

"My baby is blind," the mother said in explanation, "and he is afraid to be away from me. The noise is new to him and he is frightened.

"My husband, John Henderson, left me three months ago," went on the worn little mother who is herself blind in one eye. "Then I had a hard time, as no one would take me in with baby, and I had no place to leave him. I took in washing, though, and got along. Then I thought I could do better in Sedalia, and I saved money and went there. That was a month and a half ago, but it's just the same. Nobody wants a woman with a blind baby and me half blind, too. It's pretty hard, I'll tell you.

"Last Monday at sunup I left there. A man gave me a quarter as I was leaving the town. I saved that to buy something for Robert Earl. That's my boy's name. I have walked all the way and carried him, too.

"The 25 cents was all the money I had to live on. I bought crackers and cakes for baby with that. I walked as early in the morning as I could to as late as I could stand it. Yes, I'm pretty tired now, but not much hungry."

Mrs. Henderson reached here about 9 o'clock last night, having covered eighty-five miles, the distance from Kansas City to Sedalia. When she reached headquarters she was given a ticket and sent to the Helping Hand Institute for the night. She says that she has two brothers-in-law, Claarence and "Cal" Graves, in the city somewhere. The police will try and find them for her.

Labels: children, Helping Hand, police, police headquarters, Sedalia, West bottoms