September 23, 1908 TURNED ON HIS GAS JETS.
Then Hoyt Stanley Went Out for a Match -- Biff! Ban-n-g!
Hoyt Stanley, a musician, aged 86 years, of 1219 Tracy avenue, at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon turned on several gas jets in a room of his residence and then discovered that he had no matches. Leaving the gas on, he went in quest of a light, but for some reason did not return until 7 o'clock last night. The he lighted a match. He was blown a considerable distance into the rear yard and later removed to the general hospital, where his badly burned face, hands and legs were attended.Labels: accident, emergency hospital, Seniors, Tracy avenue September 20, 1908 WITS GONE AWRY; POLICE GATHER 'EM IN.
FIVE MEN OF FREAKY IDEAS PICKED UP IN ONE DAY.
Unfortunate Who Believed Sparrows Were Nesting in His Hair -- An- other Held Up Twelfth Street Traffic.
The holdover at police headquarters yesterday resembled an insane ward in a hospital. Before the day had closed five men, some a bit more "off" than others, were incarcerated there. One of the men who gave the name of Shea was found on the street sitting in a shady place. At intervals he was seen to shake his head and then spat the back of one hand with the other. When asked what he was doing he said: "The sparrows are pulling hairs from the back of my hands and building nests in my head. Shoo. Shoo." Then he would shake his head again. "Wrestling with 'Old John B.' " was the comment of the officer who took Shea to the station.
Another man, apparently suffering from the same trouble as Shea, gave the name of Baylay. He was a little more active than his brother in distress. Seeing turkeys wearing straw hats and little yellow goslings with plug hats and red neckties on, Baylay was busy chasing them about the street. He was really interested in his chase as he said he had "never seen the like before in all my life."
An aged man by the name of Nolde was picked up by a patrolman on Twelfth street and Grand avenue. He had stopped many street cars by waving his cane and had attracted quite a crowd. The old man believed that he was a motorman and that it was his duty to stop traffic as he was doing. He was booked for Colonel J. C. Greenman, who looks after the insane for the city and county.
The next unfortunate to arrive gave the name of "Robinson Crusoe" and said he was 103 years old. With his long, unkempt hair dangling about his shoulders, he almost looked the part. He finally gave the name of Farbis Foster. The old man was picked up at 1415 Main street. He had been wandering aimlessly about the streets for days. He was also booked for the attention of Colonel Greenman.
After "Robinson Crusoe" had been stowed away the most picturesque member of the quintette of "offs" arrived in charge of Patrolman G. M. Russell of No. 7 station. He was bareheaded and barefooted, with his trousers rolled to his knees. Around his neck was a piece of heavy string, to which was attached a quart tincup, somewhat battered. In the cup was a match. In the man's mouth was a small twig, at which he puffed as if smoking a cigarette. To add to the picture, the man was gently fanning himself with a weed. When searched the police ran upon what they at first took to be a "billy," but when brought to the light it was seen to be nothing more than a red corncob -- a big one, too, probably ten inches long.
"Don't throw that away," said the man, who gave the name of L. H. Miller; "I have just had that patented at great cost."
"Is that so? What's it used for?" asked Lieutenant James Morris.
"It's the finest thing in the world to kill mosquitoes, flies and the like," he said. With that Miller took the big cob and whacked away at a fly on the desk, and, of course, missed it. "See that?" he added gleefully. "Can you beat that? Put that in the safe until I call for it, and don't let anyone see how it's made, either."
Colonel Greenman will also look after Miller and his patent combination destroyer of insects.Labels: Col. J. C. Greenman, Grand avenue, Main street, mental health, police, police headquarters, Seniors, Twelfth street August 16, 1908 BUT SHE REALLY WAS SICK.
Owner of a Hotel Said His Manager Was Shamming.
A hotel proprietor at 1205 Charlotte street appeared in police court yesterday to prosecute Mrs. Hattie Daschner, his manager, alleging that she disturbed his peace. Witnesses said that the woman was too ill to appear. the proprietor insisted that she was not, that she was hale an hearty and only shamming.
Justice Theodore Remley, sitting for Harry J. Kyle, police judge, issued a bench warrant for Mrs. Daschner and ordered the police to have her in court at 1 o'clock. In the meantime she was to be released on a $200 cash bond.
At the appointed hour the police returned empty handed. But they had made an investigation, they said. "That poor old woman is 70 years old," one said, "and she is certainly down sick in bed. We could not take her from there."
Justice Remley advised the proprietor to see if the matter could not be adjusted out of court.Labels: Charlotte street, hotels, illness, Judge Remley, police court, Seniors August 13, 1908 WON'T SPEND PENSION MONEY.
Aged Woman Prisoner Prefers Term in the Workhouse.
"I don't know who she is or what she has done, but here she is," Robert Weisman, the jailer at police headquarters, told Mrs. Lizzie Burns, the police matron, as he led an old woman into the matron's room yesterday afternoon. When the woman was asked why she was being held she said she was not sure, but supposed for disturbing the peace. She said she had been in the general hospital for seventy-six days.
Last week, she said, she threatened to strike another patient because the other woman was mistreating a patient. The prisoner is Mrs. Elizabeth Aldred, 56 years old. She said she draws a pension of $12 a month, but that she will go to the workhouse before she will give the city any of her money.Labels: general hospital, police headquarters, police matron, Seniors, workhouse July 10, 1908 HE WAS HUNGRY FOR THE COTTON FIELDS.
So Dennis Kane, 93 Years Old, Started to Walk From Chicago to Louisiana.
Dennis Kane, aged 93, who in six weeks had walked the entire distance from Chicago, arrived at the Helping Hand yesterday. Bound for Veanvior, La., where he will re-enter the Confederate Soldiers' home, he will again take the road this morning, and expects to have arrived at his destination within five weeks.
During the war Dennis Kane, then in his prime, served with a Confederate company and participated in several leading battles. While the war was in progress he became acquainted with and married one of the prominent women of New Orleans, who died within a year. At the close of the war he entered into the plantation business and for a time prospered Finally ill fortune overtook him and the business was lost.
Without funds the former plantation owner was compelled to seek employment in the capacity of an ordinary laborer of a man whom he had previously employed and trained. Finally this plantation was sold, its owner going North, Dennis Kane went to look for a job elsewhere. Years passed, and finally Kane made application and was admitted to the Confederate home at Veanvoir.
While in this home he heard from his former employe, former employer and friend. He was in Chicago and invited Dennis to come and spend the balance of his days with him. This invitation was accepted, and last February the two old friends were reunited.
Al went well until the death of the friend two months ago, and, although his family endeavored to persuade Dennis to stay with them always, he refused, saying he intended returning to the South. Without funds, therefore, he left them and started afoot across the breadth of the country for the scenes of his boyhood.
"I attribute my health to three things," said Dennis, speaking of himself yesterday. "First, I have never drunk liquor; second, I have never used tobacco, and third, because I believe in Christ and trust Him. There is nothing else to tell," said he. "I am going home and am sure to get there. I am well and strong. I can walk well and will be glad when I arrive once more where I can get a whiff of the cotton fields."Labels: Chicago, Civil War, Helping Hand, Seniors, veterans, visitors July 9, 1908 THEIR DREAM WILL END AT POOR FARM.
RUNAWAY COUPLE COULD NOT FACE A CRAFTY WORLD.
Mrs. W. T. Mead, Bride of the 66-77- Year-Old Couple, Applies to County Court for Permis- sion to Return.
A bride of a month, with wrinkles of age and care marking her face, tottered towards the bench of the county court yesterday at Independence. It was Mrs. W. T. Mead, who married W. T. Mead, librarian at the county farm, June 6. He was 66 and she 77, and, although the marriage had been forbidden by the county court, both thought they were old enough to know and both left the farm to carry out the twilight dream of their lives.
The county court does not allow inmates of the home to wed, and when the application came for a permit to marry the county court calmly refused the request, and the two old people, not to be thwarted, went to Kansas City and married. Each had saved a little money. He as librarian, and she sewing at the farm. Both had been at the farm a number of years and frequently she would go to the library to get a book and talk with William.
Yesterday the bride tottered towards the county judges and in a faltering voice made a plea for herself and husband that they be allowed to go back to the farm together. They had applied to the superintendent of the farm, but he had refused to allow them to come without the sanction of the court. Judge J. M. Patterson raised his eyes to the ceiling as the application was being made and the story told. Judge George J. Dodd assumed a thoughtful mood and Judge C. E. Moss whittled a pencil.
They would be taken back to the farm, but not as man and wife. They must be separated, not judicially, but constructively. The court could not tolerate a union of inmates at the farm, for it might become epidemic. The rule could not be broken if they married and then wanted to return to the shelter provided by the county.
Mrs. Mead told in faltering tones how she and her husband had purchased a small restaurant, as they had planned before leaving the farm. They paid all of their money over and signed the papers. When they returned to take possession the next day two wagon loads of goods had been hauled away and, in the pitiful helplessness of old age, they realized that they had been swindled.
"I won't live long, judge," she said. "I am destitute now, so is my husband. Please let us go back, won't you? Please let us finish our lives there. Both of us love the farm and we will not be a bother."
The county court was obdurate. "You may go back, but not as man and wife," said the presiding judge. "It's against the rules."
It was decided to allow them to go back, but as individuals and not as married people, and this order was placed on the book which gave Cupid a double jolt.
The order of the court changed the wrinkles on the face of Mrs. Mead to smiles, and she went away joyously to her home, 306 West Fifth street, Kansas City, to tell her husband about the order of the court, and last night they returned to the scene where they learned to love each other, these two old people, happy, but separated, to live the last chapter.Labels: county court, Independence, Judges, marriage, poor farm, Seniors July 8, 1908 FIFTY FAMILIES GET ICE.
Penny Wagon Distributed 500 Pounds on First Trip.
Although the day was not exceedingly hot, many poor people were furnished with ice by the Salvation Army upon the inauguration of this charity for the summer season yesterday morning. Some carried the crystal away from the barracks in baskets, others awaited the arrival of the wagon at their respective homes, but all who presented the regulation ticket were furnished without delay. About 500 pounds was distributed, which, at the rate of ten pounds to each customer, was sufficient to supply fifty families.
"The system recently adopted to prevent any one family receiving more than it was entitled to has proven entirely satisfactory," said an Army worker yesterday, "and we expect no repetition of the trouble experienced with dishonest persons last year."
The distribution occasioned considerable interest to persons who happened in the vicinity in which the wagon was working, and always the transaction of giving the big pieces for a 1 cent piece was watched with approved curiosity.
Old women, old men, girls and boys were given ice There was little delay and no disturbance during the transactions. When the really hot weather sets in the wagon will make two trips a day, distributing 2,000 pounds.Labels: children, ice, Salvation Army, Seniors, weather July 7, 1908 DESERVED SPANKING AT 60.
But George M. Shelley Was Amused at His Mother's Threat.
George M. Shelley, assessor and collector of water rates, returned yesterday morning from Keokuk, Ia., where he had been to spend Sunday with his mother.
"I reached home at 2 o'clock Sunday morning," said Mr. Sheley, "and lost no time in waking mother She was glad to see me, of course, 'but George,' she said in her dear, sweet way, 'I have a mind to spank you for waking me up in the dead of the night' "
Mr. Shelley will be 60 years old soon himself, so he enjoyed the prospect of a spanking at the hands of his mother. Mrs. Shelley is 84 years of age.Labels: Seniors June 7, 1908 AGED WOMAN FOUND STARVING BY POLICE.
CRACKERS AND WATER HER SOLE DIET FOR DAYS.
Feebly Resists Being Taken From Bare Room and Begs for Her Slender Larder -- Taken to General Hospital.
While investigation curious noises, which came from the rear of 722 Campbell street yesterday afternoon George Brooks and James Malloy, policemen, discovered an old woman wrapped tightly in two torn and soiled sheets, lying on the floor of the room. It was from this woman, Miss Kate Thuey, that the sounds came, which had attracted the attention of neighbors for the past week.
As the police entered the room they heard the woman repeat over and over: "Crackers and water and the power of God." Too weak to rise, the woman had placed a box of crackers and a large can of water withing her reach. Crackers and water with the power of God were all that had sustained her and kept body and soul together for the past week, according to her statement.
The police aided her to her feet, and the old sheets dropped away displaying the emaciated form. In her demented condition caused from long sickness and privation, the woman tried weakly to fight the police away from her, saying that she wanted to be alone. She was too weak and her struggles so exhausted her that she fell to the floor again.
Seeing her pitiful condition, the officers called the ambulance from the Walnut street police station and she was taken to the general hospital. When the officers had placed her on the stretcher to take her to the ambulance, the demented woman pleaded urgently for her box of crackers and can of water.
The officers tried to explain that they were going to take her to a place where she could have plenty of substantial food and drink. Nothing would satisfy her, however, until the officers had brought her musty crackers and a pail stale water to her. Guarding them closely she said nothing more, even after being taken to the hospital.
When the hospital authorities questioned her she would say nothing except to repeat over and over again her raving of "crackers and water and the power of God."
The neighbors at 722 Campbell street said last night that the old woman had always kept to herself and did not care to make friends or receive help from any of them. Every morning it had been her custom to leave her dingy little room in the rear of the flat and go out, apparently to work. In the evening she would return and nothing more was seen of her until next morning.
Last Sunday evening she was seen to come home and from that time until yesterday she was lost trace of. The neighbors tried to get in her room, fearing that she had come to some harm, but the door was locked. Yesterday they heard the noises coming from her room which sounded like groans, and so they notified police.
The hospital physicians say that Miss Thuey is in a dangerous condition due to the lack of food. Whether her demented state was caused by her privation or not, they are unable to tell. Good food and absolute rest, they say, are all that can possible effect a cure in her case.Labels: Campbell street, general hospital, mental health, Seniors, Walnut street police station, women June 2, 1908
ELOPED FROM POOR FARM TO BE MARRIED.
WILLIAM MEADS AND BRIDE DE- FIED COUNTY COURT.
He is 66 and the Bride, Formerly Mrs. Eliza Anderson, Is 76. They'll Live in a Candy Store.
Neither age nor circumstance can stand before the will of Dan Cupid. Among the twenty-one women in Kansas City who became brides yesterday, the earliest June bride of them allow as Mrs. William Thomas Meads, 76 years old, who, as Mrs. Eliza Anderson, eloped from the county poor farm with the groom in the early morning and was married at the court house at 10 o'clock by Justice Mike Ross. And among the twenty-one none is more happy or more thrilled with dreams of the future.
"The county court wouldn't let us marry at the farm," she explained last evening in the room at 727 Harrison street, which she and the groom rented for a week. "There is absolutely no sense in them not allowing us to get married, but since they wouldn't , we up and ran away. We were up at 5 o'clock, for it takes William a long time to get over the two miles to the station. The other women there bade me goodby last night.
"Now that we are here and married, we are ready to face the world again. We fled from it once. But William has saved his salary as librarian, and I have many friends in Kansas City. We are going to open a little confectionery store and live in a room in the back. We are certain that we can make a living and are never going back to the poor farm.
"They never treated William right out at the farm. He had charge of the library and had to be on his feet day and night to answer two telephones. And they only gave him $5 a month. He can make lots more than that in Kansas City."
The bride, who had been standing back of Meads's chair, here stopped her flow of talk to push her spectacles back on her forehead, stoop, put an arm around Meads's neck and kiss him on the brow. The old man petted her with his one able hand.
"She's a mighty good little woman," he put in. "Don't you dare to poke fun of her in your paper."
"No," interrupted the bride, straightening suddenly. "It is an outrage the way we have been treated. People seem to think our running away is a joke. I've just as much right to get married as I had fifty years ago. I'm an old settler in Kansas City. I have been here forty years. My husband died twenty years ago and I went to work for Bullene, Moore, Emery & Company. I was with them a long time until I got the asthma so that I couldn't work nor live in the city. So I went out to the farm where the air is pure. I know some of the finest people in Kansas City. Two members of the grand jury, who visited the home, recognized me and were astonished. I told them it is no disgrace to be on the poor farm. It's no crime to be poor, after one has worked hard for years and years, as I did. It's just inconvenient.
"William and I are going to start life all over again, aren't we, William?"
The groom gave a "yes" pat with his hand.
That is about all -- Oh, yes, there is the groom. William Meads is 66 years old and paralyzed on one side. He fought during the entire civil war under General Joseph Shelby. After the rebellion he was employed for fifteen years on a Kansas City evening newspaper During the latter part of the period he was foreman of the composing room. When he was stricken with paralysis he went to the poor farm. He has better use of his right arm and leg now than he had ten years ago, but his general health has been worn down by the passing of years. he did not attempt to rise from his chair either to greet or bid farewell to his visitor.Labels: Civil War, courthouse, Harrison street, poor farm, romance, Seniors, veterans, wedding May 15, 1908 HE WALKS WITH THE GHOSTS OF LONG AGO.
THOMAS REYNOLDS VISITS INDE- PENDENCE AFTER 55 YEARS.
Ran Away When a Boy and Comes Back to Find the Old Playfel- lows -- "They Are All Dead," Says He.
After the absence of fifty-five years Thomas Reynolds returned to Independence yesterday to refresh the memories of his youth. When 13 years of age he ran away, going West, and yesterday attempted to locate some of the old familiar spots, some of the old playgrounds.
"There was an old well here," said he, pointing to the southwest corner of the square, but some of the old inhabitants had even forgotten it. "I guess I am lost, or rather I am like the Indian when he came back to the old camping ground. 'Indian lost?' was asked of the brave. 'Indian not; wigwam lost,' was the answer of the Indian. That is my fix. Where is the Nebraska house?" No one knew until he ran up against James Peacock, a '49er, who told him that it, too, had changed and was now known as the Metropolitan hotel.
Mr. Reynolds is a son of Joseph Reynolds, long since dead and known only to a few of the older citizens of the old town. "I left Independence in 1853 and have never been back since. I just want to wander around the old town and see if it is possible after a half-century for a man to locate the old familiar places. There is no use talking, it gives me a strange feeling to come back to this place after having pictured in my mind for fifty years or more certain playgrounds. Then another thing -- nearly everybody I knew is dead, that is the worst of it. If I could come back and find them as they were there there would be some satisfaction, but they are gone.
"THERE WAS OLD MR. BEATTY."
"I suppose everybody who has been away from his old home for fifty years and goes back has the same experience. No doubt more than one man has gone up against just what I am doing today. There was old Mr. Beatty, who did business in jewelry away back there; how I remember he kicked a stovepipe hat with a brick in it and then sent for me to come and nurse him. I went over to see his son today -- the old man is dead, died many years ago, they told me. Judge Woodson, too, has passed away, and I met his son, a gray haired gentleman, today.
"I remember James Peacock. He left for the California gold fields before I, as a boy, left for Oregon. Nathaniel Landis is gone; in fact, they are all gone. Away over on that hill yonder," said Mr. Reynolds, "there used to be a house. A man named Wilson lived there; had a boy named Rufus. The old gentleman is gone, but his boy is older than I am. I remember Aubrey and his famous ride. Aubrey made two from Santa Fe. It was a great event. Then another fellow came through on a mule. Both of them went to sleep, the mule and the rider. That mule was the hardest thing to awaken I ever saw. No amount of kicking would bring him back to earth, and the man on top of him was sitting there astride and as fast asleep as the mule he rode. That was in front of the old Noland house. Place is all gone now.
"A SAD DAY FOR ME."
"I tell you, this is a sad day for me. Shatters all of the old-time pictures I have been carrying about with me in memory for fifty-five years. Sometimes I wished I had stayed away. Does not pay for an old man to do this way. I went down to the jail. Used to have a jailer in there every day or two, but the jail they have there now was built in 1859 and the old one is torn down. William Head is dead; his son is with the Metropolitan now. Very little satisfaction in coming back except to shatter youthful pleasures; it will do that all right enough."
Mr. Reynolds passed the entire day trying to place himself, and occasionally met with some of the passing generation of old men and then they would fall to chatting over things which belong to another generation several times removed. He visited the old home place of his father, Joseph Reynolds, one of the early day settlers.
Mr. Reynolds lives at Salem, Ore., where he is connected with the Wells-Fargo Express Company, having been with that company in the overland express business and later in the mail service.Labels: Independence, Native Americans, pioneers, Seniors, visitors May 2, 1908 MEEKER'S WORK NOT IN VAIN.
Receives Word That Committee Fa- vors Marking Oregon Trail.
Ezra Meeker, the pioneer, who has spent much of his time in endeavoring to get congress to make an appropriation to mark the old Oregon trail, received a telegram from Congressman Humphrey at Washington yesterday to the effect that the house committee had reported favorably on a bill appropriating $50,000 for the purpose. Mr. Meeker will write a brief history of the trail to be incorporated in the committee report.Labels: pioneers, Seniors May 1, 1908 HE'S 70 YEARS YOUNG.
Friends of Colonel Jewett Help Him Celebrate an Anniversary. 
COL. E. S. JEWETT
A number of friends of Colonel E. S. Jewett assembled last Wednesday night at the residence of A. E. Holmes, son-in-law of the colonel, to pay their respects to Colonel Jewett on his 70th aniversary. A number of speeches eulogistic of the life and action of Colonel Jewett were made. A most enjoyable evening was passed by the participants. Among those present, including the honored guest, were Rev. Dr. William H. Black of Marshall, Mo., Dr. J. D. Griffith, Dr. Samuel Ayres, E. I. Farnsworth, George H. Foote, George W. Hagenbuch, B. H. Payne, general agent Missouri Pacific Railway Company, St. Louis, Mo.; H. N. Garland, Samuel G. Warner, George W. Jones, Charles A. Young and Albert Holmes.
The house was beautiful decorated with flowers and ferns, and the table with it floral decorations was a work of art. George H. Foote acted as toastmaster, and all of the participants made speeches during the evening, which were received by the guest of honor and others with great enthusiasm, the general sentiment being expressed that all of those present might be able to be present upon the anniversary of the 100th birthday of Col. Jewett.Labels: flowers, Seniors, veterans April 11, 1908 PUT HER OUT, MOVED HOUSE.
Poverty-Stricken Woman Will Be Cared for by Charity.
When house movers appeared on the scene to move a large two-story frame building at 1818 Cherry street yesterday afternoon, they found one of the lower rooms occupied by a woman. As notice had been served some time ago on the occupants, the woman, with her scant belongings, was moved into the street and the work of moving went on.
The woman, Mrs. Ella Allair, 53 years old, was at once looked after by W. H. Gibbens of the Humane Society and removed to the matron's room at police headquarters. Her case will be looked after by the Associated Charities. Peter Allair, her husband, 71 years old, is at present an inmate of the general hospital. The woman said that she would have moved when the notice was given, but she had no money.Labels: Associated Charities, Cherry street, Humane Society, Seniors March 28, 1908 SAVED GREEN'S TOMATOES.
Even Though He Had to Call on the Police for Help.
"I want some of you fellows here to call James Green, the old man, at Twelfth and Prospect, and have him call Jimmy Green, young Jimmy, his son, at Twelfth and Montgall, and have Jimmy tell his wife to go out on the back porch and take in them tomato plants. They'll sure freeze if they stay out all night tonight."
The foregoing request was made by an aged man who strolled into police headquarters last night and announced that he was "in deep trouble and needed some help." The request was so unusual, and as it was made in a drawling tone, the police only laughed. The old man's feelings appeared to be hurt because no one would take him seriously.
"I mean just what I say," he insisted. "I have been making a garden for young Jimmy Green. A short time ago I sowed tomato seed in a box. The plants came up and today I put the box out in the sun and went away and left it. When it began to turn cold a little while ago I thought of them tomato plants and want young Jimmy's wife to take 'em in, so I do. They'll all be ruined if she don't."
When it was seen that the old gardener was serious, James Green was called over the telephone. He said he would tell "young Jimmy" and that he knew young Jimmy would tell his wife. The old man was contented at this information and kindly thanked all who had aided him in saving the tomato plants. He game the name of John Hiltbrunner, and his residence as 309 Walnut street.
"I used to own 200 acres of the best land in Iowa," he said sadly. "My children all grew up, married and left me. After that my wife died. Then I lost my homestead and have virtually been turned out upon the world to make a living at the age of 63 years. Knowing nothing but farming I have been making my way as a gardener and manage to keep the wolf away when the season is on."
When asked why he did not go to live with some of his married children the old man hung his head. "Oh , you know how children are when they marry and settle down for themselves. Sometimes they forget the old folks."Labels: food, Montgall avenue, police headquarters, Prospect avenue, Seniors, telephone, Twelfth street, Walnut Street March 26, 1907 HE KILLED JIM CROW CHILES.
Because of That Independence Is Grateful to Judge Peacock.
Police Judge Peacock of Independence has been given an increase in salary of $100 a year. He is now in his 83rd year. No one runs against him, out of consideration of service rendered the town.
In 1876, while marshal of the city, he killed Jim Crow Chiles, whose revolver handle had many notches.
Chiles was a terror and generally cleared the square when he sought to do so. Merchants and business men, especially negroes, were afraid of him, for he would shoot them down without provocation. Chiles started out to kill Peacock and the battle ensued which resulted in the wounding of Peacock and the death of Jim Crow. The body was taken to the Morgan house, but even in death the negroes were afraid of him.
While it would be impossible for a man like Chiles to terrorize a town at the present age, yet in 1876 Independence was recovering from the civil war and killings were frequent and Jim Crow kept up his share of it and often worked overtime. Grateful people watched at Peacock's bedside until he recovered, but when he got out of bed Jim Crow's .44 bullet was still in his back and is there yet. The doctors said that it would cost him his life, perhaps, to have it cut out so the venerable man walks with a cane and goes to the police court every day to temper justice with mercy.
Both parties place Peacock in nomination and it is generally conceded that he will be police judge as long as he desires to fill the place, as no one can be found to make the race against him and neither party will nominate any one to displace the old gentleman who delivered the town from its "bad man."Labels: Independence, Judge Peacock, Judges, Seniors March 18, 1908 HE PLEADS GUILTY TO ARSON.
Action of Freeman Bennett Frees Aged Wife From Charge.
In the Wyandotte county district court yesterday afternoon, Freeman Bennett, who lives at Fourteenth street and Argentine boulevard, Armourdale, pleaded guilty to burning his cottage at that place last spring in order to get $1,000 insurance. Bennett had, at his preliminary hearing before Judge Newhall in the south city court, entered a plea of not guilty and was firm in maintaining this stand until his wife, 60 years old, burst into tears while under cross-examination in court yesterday afternoon.
"I can't stand this," he exclaimed. "My wife there, is getting to be a nervous wreck and is too old to stand all this harangue. For her sake, this can't go on. If I plead guilty will you excuse her from the charge?"
County Attorney Taggart recommended to Judge McCabe Moore that under this condition the name of the wife be stricken from the complaint, and it was granted.
"Guilty," was all Bennett said as he sat down. He was taken to the county jail in default of bond. He will not be sentenced until other cases are cleared from the docket.Labels: Armourdale, arson, County Attorney Taggart, jail, Judges, marriage, Seniors February 3, 1908 FROZEN STIFF IN HIS CHAIR.
Neighbors Found the Body of George Ordway, a Suicide.
Completely frozen, the body of George Ordway was found in a chair in a sitting posture in his home, 2308 Main street, yesterday morning. Some of his neighbors had called to see him, knowing that he had been in ill health and was somewhat desopndent over the death fo his wife which occurred three weeks ago.
Upon entering the room they found the body and a bottle, which had contained laudanum, upon a table at its side. The police found a note Ordway had left for the coroner, containing several names of persons whom he desired to be notified of his death.
Ordway was 75 years old and had been employed as a laborer on a rock crusher at Twenty-fifth street and Grand avenue. He has no relatives in the city. The coroner said that he had probably been dead for twenty-four hours as it would have taken the body that long to have become completely frozen.Labels: Grand avenue, laborer, Main street, Seniors, Suicide, Twenty-fifth street January 22, 1908 TRAMPLED OLD MAN IN PANIC.
Passengers Rushed From Vine Street Car Over His Prostrate Body.
The burning out of the controller of a Vine street car at Nineteenth and Vine streets last night, at 8 o'clock, resulted in a severe trampling for A. T. Gehn, 60 years old. He was on the front platform. The passengers were stampeded by the burst of flame and sound, and knocked Geha from the car to the ground. Then all stumbled over him. His face was tramped and cut and his back severely sprained. A police ambulance was called and took him to his home, 2310 Vine street, where later in the evening he was able to sit up. It was impossible last night to determine the extent of his injuries.Labels: accident, Nineteenth street, Seniors, streetcar, Vine street December 20, 1907 HE DIES AT SERGEANT'S DESK.
Obscure Light Goes Out in Unsympa- thetic Surroundings.
An old, ragged, homeless man dropped dead before the sergeant's desk at police headquarters last night. Who he was nobody at the station knew. Neglect, exposure, alcoholism, starvation, perhaps, was the cause. The last kindly hand extended to him was that of a broken-down old negro. His deathbed was a floor, and his attendants a crowd of policemen and reporters who wondered if he were drunk.
About 8 o'clock Andy, a one-armed negro who hangs around police headquarters, saw the old man stagger and fall upon the sidewalk just west of the station. Except old Andy, none of the crowd of men on North Main street at that hour seemed to know or care about the sick man's distress.
Old Andy ran to the prostrate man and lifted up his head. Then he notified the police. Two officers carried the ragged one inside the station. He died before Lieutenant Morris could learn his name.
Not a scrap of paper was found upon the body to identify it. The coroner and an undertaker were notified.Labels: death, police headquarters, Seniors October 30, 1907 JUDGE M'CUNE IN DOUBT.
Non-Committal Opinion of a Visitor to His Court.
"Like other men, I like to hear something in the way of approval of my public work," said Circuit Judge H. L. McCune yesterday, "and occasionally I do hear it. I am doubtful, however, about what Jim Smith's father said of my juvenile court yesterday."
The Mr. Smith referred to is 93 years of age, a stately old man.
"He spent the whole day in the juvenile court watching the proceedings," Judge McCune explained, "and I supposed he must have been agreeably surprised at the summary way in which business is dispatched. He saw thirty or forty criminal cases put on trial and disposed of in a single day.
" 'What do you think about it, Mr. Smith?' I inquired, prepared for the usual complimentary remark about the system.
" 'It is the damdest court I was ever in,' the patriarch responded."
Now Judge McCune wants to know.Labels: courtroom, Judge McCune, juvenile court, Seniors October 23, 1907 BESTED BY AN OLD MAN.
North End Belligerent Whipped by Mike Crowley, Who is 80.
Mike Crowley, 80 years old, probably is the loneliest individual in the North End. He is an old soldier and deaf. He lives on a little pension and wanders about from place to place.
Yesterday afternoon Crowley was standing by a pile of wood in front of the Helping Hand Institute when Jack Coleman, under the influence of liquor and much younger in years, came along. He no sooner saw the old man than he sprang upon him, threw him back onto the wood pile and choked him until he was blue in the face. Several men standing about ran for dear life. In the fall "Old Mike," as Crowley is familiarly known, lost his cane. He regained it, however, in time to let Coleman have a couple of good blows over the head. Then Coleman ran -- for the emergency hospital.Labels: alcohol, hearing impaired, Helping Hand, North end, Seniors, veterans, violence October 2, 1907 SHE SAT ON HER GRIP.
Old Lady Waited Placidly for a Car While Police Ran.
The police ambulance made an exciting run through crowded streets to Fifth and Gillis streets last night. Three babes had narrow escapes from being run over and several grown persons were badly frightened, and all for a "water haul." Af Fifth and Gillis streets an old woman, evidently from the country, and carrying a large grip, seated herself on the grip in the middle of the street and waited for a street car.
A man saw her and thought she was ill. He telephoned for a police ambulance. When the ambulance arrived the old woman was still sitting in the street. She was very much surprised when she learned what had happened and hastened to inform the police surgeons that nothing was wrong with her.Labels: Fifth street, Gillis street, Seniors, streetcar September 30, 1907
THOUGHT POLICE ROBBED HIM.
Aged Man Taken to Central Station for Safe Keeping.
"A man put his hands right in my pockets and took my money away from me. I remember that he took four $20 gold pieces, and all the time he was robbing me, a man watched him through a window and never said a word to make him stop."
Henry Mull, 70 years old, and feeble in mind and body, was telling Humane Agent McCrary yesterday afternoon in the police holdover how he believed he had been robbed. Late Saturday night he was found in the Union depot by Detective Bradley. He could not tell his name, where he came from or where he was going. He was taken to police headquarters for safekeeping. The officers took his money to keep for him, and he believed they had robbed him. He had $98 in cash, a check for $25 and a railroad ticket, which bore his name, was from Anaheim, Cal., to Springfield, Ill.
After McCrary had talked to him his memory partially returned. He has relatives in Springfield. He was taken to the Helping Hand, where he will be cared for while his relatives are communicated with.Labels: Central station, Helping Hand, Humane Society, mental health, police headquarters, Seniors, visitors August 27, 1907 MAN NEARLY STRANGLED.
Silver Tube in Throat Became Dis- placed During a Fight.
In a fight with a street car conductor near Fifth street and Broadway yesterday afternoon, a silver tube in the throat of Antonio Habto, through which he breathed, was pushed out of place, and only through prompt surgical attention the man was saved from asphyxiation. Rabto is a barber, 67 years old, and lives at 1307 West Ninth street. He boarded a westbound Fifth street car and tendered the conductor a transfer not good on that line. An argument followed. Rabto claims that the conductor then choked him, and that the tube in his throat was pushed inward and to one side, causing it to become clogged up in such a manner as to almost entirely cut off his breathing. A police ambulance was summoned, and Dr. J. Park Neal, an ambulance surgeon, administered treatment while tha man was being removed to the emergency hospital At the hospital the tube was properly replaced.Labels: Broadway, doctors, emergency hospital, Fifth street, Ninth street, Seniors, streetcar, violence August 17, 1907 IT WAS NOT AN ELOPEMENT.
Embrey, the Bridegroom, Was 70, and the Bride Was 75.
When Isaac Embrey, 70 years old, and Frances C. Brown, aged 75 years, both of Eldorado, Kas., walked into the office of Probate Judge Van B. Prather, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday morning and asked for a marriage license the magistrate, who has so frequently figured in Cupid's romances, looked up over his eyeglasses and smilingly inquired, "This is not an elopement, I trust?"
"No, judge; I will testify that the marriage is with the consent of all concerned," spoke Mrs. J. W. Moberly, of Kansas City, Kas., who is a daughter of Mr. Embrey, adn who had accompanied her aged father to the court house to act as a witness to his second marriage.
After Judge Prather had finished fillinog out the license Mr. Embrey turned to his sweetheart of 75 years, remarking, "I gu ess we might as well have the whole job done now while we are at it." She willingly consented, and the ceremony was performed. Upon leaving the judge's office the bride, with her face smothered with blushes, said she felt more embarrasssment than she did the first time she was led to the altar.Labels: Judge Prather, Kansas City Kas, romance, Seniors August 16, 1907 HAS NO HOME OR FRIENDS.
Man of Talents and War Records Found Lying in Weeds..
Thomas Dean, an old man without a country, was found lying exhausted in the weeds yesterday afternoon near Twenty-third and Washington streets.
To Dr. G. A. Dagg, ambulance surgeon from No. 4 police station, the old man said that he long been a physician coming to the United States when a young man from Berlin, Germany, and serving through the civil war with the rank of captain in the Twenty-second New York regulars.
But now I am past the age when accomplishments count," this veteran in more than one field of effort said. "Though I talk twenty-seven languages and was long a man of affairs, I'm wandering over the country when old and infirm, without money and without friends."
Dean gave his age as 78 years and said he had spent the last winter in California and came here about four weeks ago. He has been staying at various cheap rooming houses and sleeping outside when he had no money. He was taken to the general hospital, where the record states his case as "senile infirmity and general weakness."Labels: Civil War, doctors, general hospital, military, No 4 police station, Seniors, Twenty-third street, veterans, Washington street August 6, 1907 AGED MAN RUN DOWN BY TEAM.
J. S. Daily Badly Bruised at Nine- teenth and Main Streets. J. S. Daily, a carpenter, 72 years old, was running to catch a car at Nineteenth and Main streets last night about 5:30 o'clock, when he was run over by a team and wagon. The driver was not arrested. Daily received many bruises, a deep cut on the forehead and another on the nose. Dr. R. G. Dagg, ambulance surgeon from the Walnut street police station, attended his injuries and sent him to his home at 2128 Woodland avenue. Labels: accident, doctors, Main street, Nineteenth street, Seniors, Walnut Street, Walnut street police station, Woodland avenue August 5, 1907 ONE FAMILY'S COAL SUPPLY.
And the Story Concerning It as Told by Two Truthful Patrolmen.
There is one Italian family in the North end that fluctuations in the prices of coal apparently need not worry. With the aid of a trained monkey that works all day with the hand organ, the winter's supply of coal for this family is delivered to the back yard of the little lean-to in which the family lives.
Last evening shortly after the night relief of police had gone on duty, Patrolmen Joseph Dolan and John Shiners were walking along the levee near Holmes street when they heard a noise resembling somewhat a bombardment. The officers hurried toward where the noise occurred and found a monkey perched on the top of a high pole making funny grimaces at a disappearing freight train.
The patrolmen made an investigation to try and determine what caused the noise, but they could learn nothing. However, as they were walking slowly away a freight train was seen to emerge from between buildings and pass the yard a hundred feet or more away. About midway in the train were several coal cars and on these were a half-dozen boys beating rides. As the coal cars drew almost even with the back yard the monkey perched himself high on the end of the pole and instantly there was a volley of coal from the boys on the cars. The monkey dodged these missiles, some of which came close to him, and darted up and down the pole in a manner that indicated enthusiasm in the sport.
After the train had disappeared the monkey again darted to the top of the pole, and directly an elderly woman emerged from a rear door and picked up the coal that lay in the yard and placed it in a basket.Labels: animals, children, Holmes street, North end, police, Seniors July 23, 1907 CALLED FOR "HIS" HOTEL.
Stranger Said Doggett had Willed Him Blossom House.
Patrolman Jack Farrell was called upon yesterday to take Albert B. Clanton, an aged man, from the Blossom house on Union avenue. The old man said where he had seen in the papers where Fred S. Doggett, proprietor of the hotel, had made a will making him sole beneficiary. He had come to "take charge and run the place," he said. Clanton also said that he was the owner of land at Hattiesburg, Miss.
When placed in charge of the Humane agent at the city hall, Clanton said he had a sister, Mrs. Bessie Bethea, 1759 Preston place, St. Louis, Mo. He will be held awaiting word from relatives.Labels: hotels, Seniors, St Louis, Union avenue May 16, 1907 HAD VIOLATED HIS PROMISE.
Druggist Who Sold Cocaine Fined $250 in Police Court
When the "Black Maria" was being loaded at police headquarters yesterday with its daily load of prisoners for the workhouse there was one figure among the rollicking, happy-go-lucky crowd that attracted more than usual attention. It was that of a tall and aged man, his hair as white as the snow. He used a cane to feel his way up the steps and his high power glasses signified bad eyesight. Attendants had to assist the man into the wagon.
The unusual figure was that of H. B. Sargent, 70 years old, druggist at 1901 Grand avenue. He had pleaded guilty in police court to selling cocaine to J. M. Watkins, a user of the drug, living at 2127 Terrace street, and had been fined $250. Watkins, who was fined $100 on a vagrancy charge and sent to the general hospital for treatment, testified against Sargent. Mr. Sargent has a wife living at 3021 Oak street. There are no children. He said he was not able to give a $500 appeal bond.
Not many months ago the same aged white-haired man stood in police court charged with the same offense -- selling cocaine. The case was a clear one, but the court was lenient on account of the man's age and the oath he took. Raising his right hand high above his head he said in a trembling voice:
"Judge, I swear as I hope for mercy from my God that I will sell no more cocaine so long as I may live. I will not even keep it in my store. If there is any found there on my return I will cast it in the street."
Mr. Sargent was asked of that oath yesterday before he was taken away. "I made such an oath," he said, "and it was my intention to keep it. But there are two ways of looking at this thing. Here come a man and or a woman into my store. The eyes are wild and sunken, the face wan, drawn, and dreadfully pale. The form trembles as a leaf in a storm. They are too weak almost to stand. Cocaine is the only thing that will relieve them. Death might follow if they did not get it. I never put them in that shape, I know I didn't, but what am I to do?"
On account of Sargent's age efforts will be made to secure his release from the workhouse.Labels: druggists, Grand avenue, narcotics, police court, Seniors, Terrace street, vagrancy, workhouse 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 15, 1907 SHE MAY NOT SEE HIM AGAIN.
Mother Brings Chicken to Son Who Is to Go to Pen.
"Yes, this is chicken day," said County Marshall Heslip yesterday, as an elderly woman in mourning passed into the jail with a carefully packed basket. "It is probably the last time that woman will see her son. He has been sentenced to serve a term in the penitentiary for burglary and will be taken away this week."
On Sunday from 10 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Sunday food comes in. Sometimes the mother or father brings it, other times a brother and often times a dear friend. If the mother prepares it immediately after the others have finished their meal at home, and it arrives at the jail early, it's dinner. If a brother stops at the jail with a basket on the way to night work, it's supper. Sometimes the basket or parcel contains chicken, and maybe dumplings. Others may not fare so well. A few are content with "the makin's," a sack of cheap tobacco and a package of cigarette papers sent by some friend who has been there himself and knows the value of a "smoke" when there's nothing else to do, and the monotony of "thinking it over" wears on the nerves.Labels: County Marshal Heslip, crime, jail, penitentiary, Seniors April 10, 1907 WRONG BOY FIRST
TWO ATTEMPTS IN ABDUCTION OF LITTLE CHARLES M'NEESE. GRANDMOTHER UNDER ARREST.
REFUSED TO STATE WHEN LAST SHE SAW DAUGHTER. Theory of Police That Lad Was Kid- naped Grows Stronger as Evidence of Hack Drivers Is Brought to Their Notice -- Three Persons Said to Be Involved.
Mrs. Annie L. Sadlier, grandmother of Charles H. McNeese, 2305 Brighton avenue, who disappeared on his way to the Ashland school last Friday, was arrested at her home, 1522 McGee street, by Detective W. H. Bates and Thomas Hayde yesterday afternoon. Though Mrs. Sadlier denies any part in the affair, she was positively identified yesterday afternoon by two hack drivers, one of whom said he hauled her twice while looking for the child and another one who says he drove the very carriage in which little Charles was taken away and that Mrs. Sadlier was a passenger as far as the Ashland school. Charles M. Howell, attorney for Mr. McNeese, said last night that an information would be filed against Mrs. Sadlier this morning, charging her with kidnaping.
There is still another hack driver in the case who has not been located and the police think that he will come forward and assist in identifying the woman under arrest when he learns that no charge will be placed against him. This is the man who drove the hack to the Irving school Twenty-fourth and Prospect, a week ago today, when Garrell Ash, the 6-year-old son of Mrs. Lou Ash, 2413 East Twenty-third street, was taken away protesting. Charles McNeeese used to attend that school and the kidnapers evidently made a mistake. Garrell was taken to a house at 1522 McGee street, questioned for a long time and then sent home on a car. It was this incident, given the detectives yesterday, which led to the first clue, as at that number lives the missing child's grandmother -- mother of McNees's divorced wife. Ash pointed out the house and will be given a chance to see Mrs. Sadler today.
MRS. SADLIER IDENTIFIED. "Tink" Williams, a driver from the Jackson livery barn, 1309 Walnut street, at once identified Mrs. Sadlier. He told the detectives that he had hauled Mrs. Sadlier and a younger woman with a baby on two occasions and that both times they drove out around the schools on the East side when the children were going to school. Charles Burch, a negro driver for the Eylar Bros.' livery barn, who also identified Mrs. Sadlier readily, said that it was he who drove the carriage the day young McNeese was stolen. He told of the same two women, one elderly, the other young and with her a baby. He drove them last Friday morning to the Ashland school, Twenty-fourth street and Elmwood avenue. "I was told to wait about a block form the school," said Burch, "as both women got out. Presently the younger woman and a man returned, leading and dragging a little boy, who didn't seem to want to go. This woman was still carrying her baby. I never saw the older woman until today at police headquarters." When they got in the cab again Burch was told to drive post-haste to Armourdale, where he was dismissed as the quartette boarded an electric car. They are believed to have transferred so as to reach the Leavenworth electric line in Kansas City, Kas. Mrs. Sadlier, when first arrested, told Detective Bates that she had seen her daughter, the former Mrs. McNeese, only last week. At the station she denied the statement and said she had not seen her in three years, but heard from her eight months ago in Montreal, Canada. She then said one of her nieces was at her house last week and followed that with a denial, saying that she had seen none of them for eight months. WOMAN MAKES STATEMENT. Her statement, taken later in the day, reads in part: My name is Annie L. Sadlier. My daughter's name now is Mrs. Annie Evans. She married Charles C. McNeese eleven years ago and they had one child, Charles Hiram McNeese. She and McNeese were divorced about four years ago and he given the custody of the child for one year by Judge Gibson, when it was to be given to its mother if she proved herself worthy. She married Bruce Evans afterwards and on March 1 three years ago moved away from here. Don't care to say when I last saw my daughter, if not compelled to answer now. Was home all day Friday, April 5, and not out of the house from 1 to 4 p. m. Don't remember anyone that day at all and don't remember when my brother got home. I am not going to answer the
question whether I saw my daughter Friday and will say no more until the
proper time. I positively declare that I was not in a hack last week at any time. Was not at any liver barn last week, either. I positively declare that I had noting to do with the kidnaping of Charles McNeese last week.
Labels: Armourdale, Brighton avenue, children, custody, detectives, Divorce, Elmwood avenue, Leavenworth, McGee street, police, police headquarters, Prospect avenue, Seniors, Twenty-fourth street, Twenty-third street, Walnut Street January 29, 1907 BEAT HER MOTHER.
INSANE DAUGHTER VICOUSLY ATTACKS MRS. MURLEY
INJURIES MAY CAUSE DEATH.
FOR YEARS AGED WOMAN LIVED ALONE WITH DAUGHTER Always Protested Against Sending Her to Asylum -- Miss Murley's Hallucination of Marriage ith Man Whose Name She Conceals
The muffled scrams of a woman attracted some attention in the vicinity of Forty-sixth and Bell streets late Sunday night, but, as they finally died down, little attention was paid to the incident. Early yesterday Mrs. Nancy Murley, 72 years old, both eyes blackened, her head cut and her body beaten black and blue, left her home at 4604 Bell street and made her way to a neighbor's house. Having been a cripple for many years, Mrs. Murley walked with a cane.
"I have done my best to protect my daughter for the last nineteen years," the aged woman told the neighbor, "but now she has beaten me nearly to death and threatens to kill me. She is locked in the house there and I had a hard time getting out without being seen."
Police station No. 5 in Westport was at once notified and Mrs. Murley was cared for. Sergeant Dillingham, accompanied by H. D. Greenman, a son of Humane agent Greenman, went to the house, which they found closed, all doors being tightly bolted or locked. Miss Fannie Murley, the woman hwo had so cruelly beaten her mother, was finally prevailed upon to admit them. She was sent to police headquarters and later in the day transferred to the general hospital, where she will remain until the county court passes on her case. She probably will be sent ot an asylum.
Beaten With a Board.
Miss Murley never missed going to both Sunday school and church. When she returned home Sunday night and her mother admitted her she said: "I am going to put a stop to you and Bessie (a cousin) talking about me. I am going to beat you to death, or burn your limbs off so you can't go out and then I shall go and kill her."
Mrs. Murley had seen her daughter in a tantrum often before and thought by letting her alone she would become quited. Instead, however, the woman, who is 32 years old, fiercely attacked her aged mother with her fists, beating her severly about the face and head. Then she got a piece of board or bed slat and beat her mother over the back and shoulders. Mrs. Murley is now in a dangerous condition, on account of her age, and may die from the injuries. Dr. T. H. Smith, Forty-third and Bell streets, is attending Mrs. Murley. J. W. Davis, 405 Freeman avenue, Rosedale, a motorman, is a cousin by marriage of the woman. It was his wife, Bessie, whom Miss Murley had also threatened to kill. From him it was learned that Miss Murley had had typhoid fever when 13 years old and from that time had been slightly demented. Devotion of the Mother.
"Only two weeks ago," said Davis, "the girl beat her mother so that she was compelled to leave home and come to my house for a few days. The girl has always been dangerous, but her mother, hoping against hope, lived there alone with her. We probably never willknow what the aged woman has endured in all these nineteen years. Now, however, she sees the utter futility of trying to keep her at home adn will endeavor to send her to an asylum. She was not able to leave her bed today, though, and may never be again." Davis said that Miss Murley has often disappeared from the home. She would put on a hat and leave when her mother was not watching her and, in a week or ten days, return in the same mysterious manner. She was never able, however, to tell where she had been or what she did. On one occasion when she had been gone for two weeks, and the police had searched for her all over town, she returned late one evening. She was wet and cold., for it was in the fall of the year, and her shoes were worn through to her blistered feet. When asked where she had been all she would say was, "I rode on a hand carl>" Another time Miss Murley was found wandering in the woods near here. Believeing that she would like a trip to the country she was sent to relatives on a farm, but all to no avail. The police at the Westport station have record of many times where Miss Murley disappeared, but she always returned home, when she became more reational, without their ever having had a single trace of her. Doctor Calls Her Dangerous Dr. St. Elmo Sanders, city physician, examined Miss Murley in a cell at police headquarters yesterday afternoon. She told him that she never struck her mother in her life, but suspected that neighbors were "annoying her." She said that she got up early to make a fire and her mother began to scream, "a habit she has had for a long time," she added. The woman is believed to have attacked her mother with an iron stove poker just before Mrs. Murley succeeded in making her escape from the house. Miss Murley also said that she was married two months ago to a gospel singer. "He was here two weeks ago," she said, "but had to go away again. We were married in an East side Christian Church." Further than that she refused to state. Davis, her cousin, said Miss Murley had never been married, but had often written love letters to men with whom she had been acquainted or had only seen. She took her pencil to jail with her. Thomas Bell, a farmer of Shelby county, Mo., brother of Mrs. Murley, was notified by Davis of her condition. He will probably arrive here today. Mrs. Murley wil be removed to a hospital where she can be more properly cared for. The neighbors have been caring for her since she was attacked so brutally. Since the death of Daniel Murley, an old soldier and husband of Mrs. Murley, she and her daughter have lived at 4604 Bell street. She bought a little home there five months ago. "Miss Murley, though a small woman," said Dr. Sanders, after the examination, "is one of the most dangerous patients I have seen in years. She is suffering from chronic melancholia, and would kill another perosn or herself just as soon as the notion struck her. She must be closely guarded. I am not surprised at what she had done, or that she denies it. She should have been incarcerated years ago." Labels: abuse, Bell street, Col. J. C. Greenman, general hospital, mental health, police headquarters, Rosedale, Seniors, Westport January 17, 1907
ALL TOOK A HAND.
LIVELY MIX-UP OF PASSENGERS IN A MAROONED CAR. TWO HOURS IN THE TUNNEL.
ACCIDENT TO TROLLEY TIED UP THE DEPOT LINE.
In the Darkness of the Eight Street Tunnel a
Free-for-All Fight Started When Tough Youth Pulled an Old Man's Beard.
In the dark cavern of the Eight street tunnel, without light or heat, to all purposes a thousand miles from the Union depot, fifty passengers were held prisoners last night on an Independence avenue car. Outside were explosions too numerous to count, occurring with such force as to make the noise within the car almost deafening. Outside, well, outside no one ventured to look. The very air seemed to be exploding, and none knew but what a foot placed on the icy ground might mean instant electrocution. The explosions no one was able to explain, not even the motorman.
When the car rolled into the tunnel it carried fifty persons, each one anxious to reach the Union depot to board outgoing trains. As the car reached a point perhaps 500 feet from the exit to the tunnel, the car was plunged in darkness and in a moment there were twelve distinct and powerful explosions. With the reports came a fierce electrical display.
The car was brought to a stop and all was quiet for a moment, but at intervals the explosions continued. It was finally discovered that the trolley wire had broken in front of the car and had wound itself around the trolley wheel. Every time the end of the wire came in contact with the rail or any part of the car, there was a loud detonation.
Fortunately but three of the passengers were women. Some of them were panic stricken, but the fierce explosions and electrical display from the outside kept them inside the car. The flagman from Washington street station in the tunnel came running behind the car, his lantern giving the only light obtainable. He escaped death, which it was feared he would meet by electrocution.
It was decided to send a man back through the tunnel to notify headquarters and in the meantime a bright thought came to the flagman.
The car was stranded and the tunnel passage cut off, but if a connection in the broken wire was made, other cars along the line could move and there would be light and heat. Perhaps an hour was taken up in accomplishing a joining of the broken wires.
The cars to the rear were then started and more than four cars came down to join in the last hour's vigil in the tunnel. First came a Leavenworth car, sounding the whistle which gives notice that it has the right of way over everything on the track. But for once its authority was in dispute. The broken cable defied all published or unpublished rules of the road.
Next came the Grand View car well filled. It approached a near as possible and then began a weary wait.
On this car were a large number of women, but by some prank of fate they were mostly in the extreme front or rear of the car. There was something ominous in
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