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

February 9, 1910

NEW PLAN TO OUTWIT THIEVES.

Traveler Tears Ticket to Bits and

Scatters Them Over His Person.

Joe Lamford, who claims Seattle, Wash., as his residence, spent several hours yesterday trying to pass through the Union depot gates on a tattered ticket. He explained that on his arrival here last Friday he had torn his ticket for Oklahoma City into small pieces and placed them in different pockets to prevent "lifting." Then according to his story he took in Union avenue. After a few days in the workhouse, he tried to get his ticket together. When he presented the various portions in an envelope yesterday, he was given the option of buying another ticket or counting the ties to Oklahoma City.

Labels: oklahoma, Union avenue, Union depot, visitors, workhouse

February 7, 1910

RICE SHOWER AT DEPOT.

Wedding Party Speeds Mr. and Mrs.

Crossert to New Home.

A wedding party took possession of the Union depot last night, showering the bride and groom with rice and covering them with confusion as well, much to the enjoyment of belated travelers. The bride was formerly Miss Eva Maddeford of Burlingame, Kas., and the groom Daniel Crossert of Osage City, Kas. The wedding ceremony was performed by Probate Judge Van B. Prather at his home in Kansas City, Kas. Mr. and Mrs. Crossert departed on the 10:30 Santa Fe for Osage City, where they will make their home.

Labels: Judge Prather, Union depot, visitors, wedding

February 5, 1910

BLIND WOMAN WAITED

AT DEPOT IN VAIN.

Hostess Detained by Accident -- Mrs.

Aldrich Writes Literature

for the Blind.

Mrs. Clara Aldrich, totally blind and a stranger in Kansas City, arrived at the Union depot last night from Joliet, Ill. She was expecting friends to meet her at the station, but was disappointed. She told Mrs. Ollie Everingham, matron at the depot, that Mrs. O. P. Blatchley of 220 South Ash street, in Kansas City, Kas., had promised to meet her. The matron called the Blatchley home over the telephone and found that Mrs. Blatchley had fallen on the ice near her home yesterday morning and received injuries which confined her to bed. The matron sent Mrs. Aldrich to the Young Women's Christian Association boarding house for the night.

Dr. O. P. Blatchley said last night that his wife's parents were friends of the parents of Mrs. Aldrich, and that she had arranged to locate her in Kansas City, Kas. Dr. Blatchley said that Mrs. Aldrich for many years has been engaged in writing religious literature for students in the blind schools over the country.

Mrs. Blatchley suffered a dislocated left shoulder and a ruptured artery over her left eye in her fall yesterday.

Labels: accident, depot matron, doctors, Kansas City Kas, telephone, Union depot, visitors, visual impairment, YWCA

February 4, 1910

NORWEGIANS TO TEXAS

PANHANDLE.

Party of Thirty-Five Who Will Try

Dry Farming There.

Armed with a combination of horns and cowbells, a crowd of thirty-five Norwegians passed through the Union depot last night en route to Hansford, in the Texas Panhandle. They are going to a Norwegian settlement there to farm. The settlers are all of the well-to-do class of farmers. They have purchased from 160 to 640 acres of land and are equipped with machinery and stock. churches and schools have been established and the move will be more in the nature of a transplanting operation.

Labels: farmers, immigrants, Texas, Union depot, visitors

January 11, 1910

HELD AS SUSPECTS

IN HEIRESS CASE.

KANSAS CITY POLICE THOUGHT

THEY HAD FOUND MISS-

ING COUPLE.

Arrested as They Disem-

barked From Train From

Excelsior Springs.

MARIE HORTON, ALIAS HENRIETTA VON ETTEN.
Reed's Companion and for a While Believed to Be Roberta De Janon.

While the Kansas City police were arresting a man and a woman suspected of being Ferdinand Cohen and Roberta De Janon, respectively waiter and heiress, ho eloped from Philadelphia more than one week ago, the real Cohen and De Janon were being taken into custody in Chicago.

The Kansas City suspects were arrested by plain clothes officers from Central station as they alighted from a train from Excelsior Springs at the Union depot yesterday afternoon. Information leading to the arrest was given to Captain Walter Whitsett of the Central police district by R. E. Mackey of the Pickwick apartments at Excelsior Springs by long distance telephone. Patrtolmen John Torpey and T. H. Gillespie were awaiting them at the depot.

They were taken to police headquarters and examined by Captain Walter Whitsett. The man gave his name as H. J. Reed, and address as Chicago. He said he had been for some time in the gas fixture business with offices in the Holland building in that city. On his person was found $1,200 in currency, and letters addressed to H. J. Reed and H. J. Ross. He said he was not married to the woman in whose company he was arrested. He said he had known her for eight years. He refused to make any other statement.

H. J. Reed, of Chicago or Salt Lake City.

H. J. REED.
Arrested Under Suspicion That He Might Be Ferdinand Cohen.

Men from the Pinkerton detective agency who have been working on the De Janon elopement case declare that Reed resembles the missing waiter, Ferdinand Cohen, in almost every respect, and asked that he be held until information could be secured from their Philadelphia office.

WOMAN TALKED FREELY.

Reed's companion, although visibly worried over the fact that she was detained, was willing to talk. She said she was Marie Horton of Detroit, Mick., but after cross-questioning declared taht her real name is Henriette von Etten. According to her story she was born in Vienna, Austria, and was married in that country to a man who was at one time connected with the foreign embassy at Washington, D. C. She left her husband and went to the Pacific coast eight years ago, where she met Reed, who, she stated, was at that time conducting a place in Seattle, Wash. She says Reed is suing his Seattle wife for divorce. In March, 1909, she went to Detroit, where she conducted a rooming house. She came to Kansas City two weeks ago and met Reed. They lived in a hotel on Baltimore avenue until they went to Excelsior Springs. They intended going on to Salt Lake City.

Two big trunks, a dress suit case, a valise and a handbag were brought from the baggage room at the Union depot by the police officers. The contents were emptied and examined, but no further indenifying evidence was obtained.

Pinkerton men and the police were soon convinced the woman is not Roberta De Janon. The eloping girl is only 17 years old, while the woman at present in custody appears to be 25. Marie Horton has several false teeth, while Miss De Janon has none.

SHORT STAY IN EXCELSIOR.

The man and woman had spent Thursday night at the Elms hotel. They registered as H. J. Reed and wife of Chicago, and rented rooms Friday in the Pickwick apartments, saying they would remain a month. They kept close to their room during their stay. Considerable wine was delivered to the rooms. The woman was in Kansas City Saturday.

They gave no reason for leaving here hurriedly. When asked by another guests of the apartments to show credentials as to who he was the man exhibted papers from Salt Lake City and Tacoma, Wash., but had nothing to show he was from Chicago.

Labels: Baltimore avenue, Captain Whitsett, Chicago, detectives, Excelsior Springs, romance, Union depot, visitors

January 9, 1910

GENERAL DELAY IN TRAINS.

Weather Warmer in Kansas City --

Travel Is Unusually Heavy.

Although the weather was much warmer in Kansas City yesterday, winter conditions elsewhere continued to derange the train schedules of the railroads running into Kansas City. Few trains are operated on time. The delays are general in all directions.

"For some reason, prosperity I guess, travel is unusually heavy just now," said a Union depot official yesterday. "Many people get laid out here because of late trains."

Labels: railroad, Union depot, weather

January 8, 1910

SMALL CHANCE FOR BABY.

Privation Getting Better of Infant

Found in Union Depot.

Privation is getting the better of the week-old baby found shut in a shirt waist box in the Union depot three days ago. It was lying among some litter beneath a seat in the men's waiting room for many hours, the maids believing it was a package someone had thrown away. The physicians at the general hospital where the infant was taken declare it must have been so enclosed at least ten hours and that it has small chance of recovery.

Labels: children, general hospital, Union depot

January 6, 1910

JEU BING FLEES

FROM TONG WAR.

CHINESE BOY, ESCAPING FROM

FRISCO, SPENDS HOURS IN

KANSAS CITY.

Hides in Union Depot to

Evade Prying Enemies

of His Family.

So that he, at least, might escape the tong war in San Francisco in which an uncle has met death and in which his relatives are all involved, Jeu Bing, a Chinese boy, was spirited from the California city at night and with $500 in gold in his pocket was placed aboard a train for Chicago. His ticket called for a change of trains at Kansas City, and he spent a couple of hours yesterday morning in the Union depot. The boy has letters to several Chinese merchants of Chicago and it will rest with them as to whether he continues East or remains there. A price, it is said, has been placed on Jeu's head by the tong faction said to be responsible for the death of his uncle.

Jeu is 16 years old. He was born in San Francisco's Chiatown and was left motherless when a little child. The boy attended the Presbyterian Sunday school there and acquired the English language rapidly. With his knowledge of the Chinese tongue and his familiarity with the denizens of his section of the city he was frequently called on by the authorities as an interpreter. It was while engaged in some of these cases that he gained the enmity of influential Chinamen who were his father's rivals in business.

MARKED FOR DEATH.

After the earthquake, Jeu was constantly in demand. The authorities wanted information on the mysteries of the Chinese section. They thought that they could get it from Jeu. If they did, it is a secret, for Jeu declares that he knew nothing of the underground passages and the hovels and haunts of the criminal Chinese. After the restoration of Chinatown much of the blame for the activity of the authorities was laid to the Bing family.

Then came the tong wars. How his family were interested in these, Jeu could or would not say. It was sufficient that there was bad feeling, he said, and to make matters worse his uncle was one of those who was stabbed in the back one night. His body was found the next day. There was much excitement in the Chinese quarter. There were other assaults and the other members of the Bing family remained indoors. Two weeks ago a friend notified them that Jeu was one of the Chinamen on whose head a price had been put by one of the tongs.

Friendly Chinamen were called in consultation. The authorities, who were told of the threat, suggested that Jeu secure the names of some of the Chinamen suspected and they would be arrested. He was unable to do this, and at a friendly council it was decided to send Jeu away from the city.

DONNED WOMAN'S DRESS.

This was the hardest part of the programme. It was known that the house was under surveillance, and it was with difficulty that Jeu was spirited out. He was dressed in a woman's walking suit with a heavy veil, and in this costume made his way to the railroad depot, where a detective purchased his ticket. He had a purse containing $500 in gold, the most of which he brought to Kansas City with him.

Arriving here early yesterday morning, Jeu presented a note to Station master Bell. The latter escorted him to Matron Everingham, who made the boy comfortable and kept him out of sight until the time for departure of his train to Chicago. The boy feared that if his presence in the depot became known some Chinamen, enemies of his family, might telegraph to San Francisco and that members of the tong who were sworn to kill him would follow.

Jeu was an entertaining conversationalist and also a good quizzer. He asked hundreds of questions of the "red caps" as to the size of the city, the number of Chinese in the town and also expressed wonder that there was no Chinese quarter and no Chinese servants. He took the names of several who had been kind to him and said that he would send them a little token of his regard when he returned to San Francisco, which he hoped would be soon.

Jeu said that he was a nephew of Lee Bing, the deceased Chinese philanthropist of St. Louis. Over a score of members of the Bing family, he said, came to America about a quarter of a century ago. Many of them are dead, while some live in El Paso, Chicago and New York. The rest all live in San Francisco.

Labels: California, Chicago, depot matron, railroad, Union depot, visitors

January 2, 1910

DEPOT MATRON'S GUESTS.

Mrs. Everingham Cared for 9,120

People During the Year 1909.

About twenty-five persons a day have been cared for through the office of the matron at the Union depot, according to the report tabulated yesterday by Matron Ollie Everingham, and which will be submitted today to the depot officials. A total of 9,120 persons made use of this department last year. this was done with an expenditure by her of $110.80. Of this amount she personally donated $7.54. The total cost as given is exclusive of her salary. A fund box which she tacked up for donations last July received $11.10, and the balance was contributed by travelers. Her report shows a balance on hand of $1.13.

There were but two deaths in the depot during the last year. One was in April and the other in July. This despite the fact that a total of 1,046 sick persons received the personal care of the matron. But four women required the attention of the matron because of drunkenness. The matron's report does not show any runaway girls, while eight boys are given credit for having tried to run away by way of the Union depot. Fifteen young girls were sent to their homes, but there is no record of any boys being sent that way.

The matron's report classifying the people cared for through her department included:

Blind cared for, 76; babies left, 1; children cared for, 1,010; directed to address, 1,209; directed to hotels, 670; families cared for, 67; funeral parties, 9; insane cared for, 64; lost articles restored, 52; mutes cared for, 63; old ladies cared for, 1,096; old men cared for, 241; poor helped and fed, 191.

Labels: charity, depot matron, Union depot

January 2, 1910

TRAINS CHANGE TIME.

First 1910 Union Depot Time Card

Is Issued.

The first 1910 Union depot time card was issued yesterday afternoon and took effect at 12:01 this morning. Three of the roads, the Burlington, Rock Island and Frisco, have made changes, effective at once.

Burlington No. 6 to Chillicothe and Brookfield, leaves at 5 p. m., instead of 6:03 p. m.

Rock Island No. 2, Chicago fast mail, changes to 3 a. m., instead of 8:15 a. m. No 37, the new El Paso and California special, leaves at 10:10 p. m., instead of 10 p. m. No. 25 arrives from Chicago at 7:43 p. m. No 28, the new east bound train, arrives at 6 p. m.

Frisco No. 107 to Springfield and Joplin leaves at 7 a. m., instead of 8:20 a. m. No. 109, "The Meteor," leaves at 7 p. m. instead of 7:30 p. m. No. 101 leaves at 11 a. m., instead of 12:15 p. m. No 110 arrives at 8:05 a. m., changing from 7:55 a. m. No 1316, from Springfield via Clinton, arrives at 4:35 p. m., instead of 4:30.

Labels: Frisco, railroad, Union depot

December 25, 1909

TWO WREATHS OF HOLLY.

Outward Evidence of Christmas at
Union Depot.

Two wreaths of holly -- one over Matron Ollie Everingham's desk and the other in the sick room -- was the only evidence at the dingy Union depot last night of the fact that it was Christmas eve. The crowd, good natured and unusually large, packed bundles and and parcels and exchanged Christmas greetings. The exchange of presents by employes at the depot was accomplished under difficulties, made so by the unusually heavy travel this year. There were two places where the fact that it was Christmas eve was apparent. These were the Bell and Home telephone exchanges. The pretty girl operators were fairly loaded up with boxes of candy.

Labels: depot matron, holidays, telephone, Union depot

December 17, 1909

COURTESY SHOWN OLD AGE.

Santa Fe Has Sleeper Opened for

Old Couple's Comfort.

So that J. Bottomly, 90 years old, and his wife, 85 years old, would not have to wait about the Union depot, a sleeping car on which they had berths to California, over the Santa Fe railroad, was backed into the train shed and they were assisted to it an hour before the usual time last evening.

The couple are to spend their last days in Southern California. They have lived in Minneapolis, but recently doctors told their relatives that if the old folks desired to prolong their lives they would have to remove to a balmier climate. They arrived from Minneapolis via the Burlington road about 5 p. m. They were assisted into the depot, but the noise and drafts annoyed them.

Their train was not due to depart until 9:25 p. m., but attaches of the Santa Fe railroad thought of the special sleeper which is attached to the train here and had it backed into the train shed around 8 o'clock. The old couple were transferred to it.

Labels: California, railroad, Seniors, Union depot, visitors

December 13, 1909

ANCIENT BEAVER HAT BACK.

After 35-Year Rest It Again Is Lat-

est in Style.

"I saw a number of men's beaver hats flitting around the lobby today, and they reminded me of when I was a little boy," said Vinton Bell, depot master at the Union depot, said yesterday.

"Years ago, I don't care to say how many, they were all the rage, and everybody had one. I recollect having seen cowboys with blue beavers with yellow bands riding into town in great style. Then they went out of fashion, apparently never to return. It was generally conceded that they were too effeminate for the masculine gender of this progressive country, but here they are again, sure enough."

The new men's beaver is in all colors of the rainbow, blue, purple and green predominating. Traveling salesmen and actors have been the most ready purchasers of the new fad so far, but those who have them for sale say one can never tell who will take up with them next.

The men's beaver went out of style about thirty-five years ago. In certain Western districts beaver hats were worn long after the species had become extinct and in cities.

Labels: clothing, Union depot

December 11, 1909

WISHED FOR KANSAS SNOWS.

Orphan Boy, Traveling Alone, Had

No Other Cares.

"I am Raymond Joy, an orphan, and I am on my way to Reuben Joy, Reserve, Kas. Conductors please look after me."

This inscription was printed on a card pinned to the coat of Raymond Joy, 6 years old, who is on his way to his uncle, where he is to make his home. Raymond has lived with an uncle, Jack Joy, at Houston, Tex., since his parents died five years ago. Recently his uncle in Kansas asked that he be permitted to live with him, and the arrangements for the trip were made.

"Will there be lots of snow in Kansas?" he anxiously inquired of everyone who would stop for a moment and talk with him at the Union depot last night. Half an hour before train time he bought two postal cards. He could not write, so he dictated a note to Miss Mildred Swanson at Houston.

"Dear Mildred," it read, "please write to me often at Reserve, Kas. Lovingly, Raymond."

Labels: orphans, Union depot, visitors, weather

December 8, 1909

TRAINS 1 TO 15 HOURS LATE.

General Snowstorm Indefinitely

Delays Traffic.

At the Union depot last night trains from all directions were from one to fifteen hours late because of the general snow storm.

The Missouri Pacific train from Salina, due here at 1:30 p. m., was stuck in the drifts and indefinitely delayed. The Frisco, due at 5 p. m., late 5 hours. The Santa Fe 116 from the West was delayed 2 hours, and the Santa Fe, second 6, six hours late.

The Rock Island from the South, late 15 hours. It was due at 7 a. m. and arrived at 11 o'clock last night.

Labels: Frisco, Union depot, weather

November 24, 1909

SAY THEY WERE OPPRESSED.

Russian Jews Pass Through City,

Seeking "Promised Land" Homes.

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

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

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

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

November 24, 1909

EMIGRANTS WILL MAKE WINE.

Party From France Stop in Kansas

City on Way to California.

From Bordeaux, France, to Southern California is the trip which a party of emigrants, headed by Jan D'Etinge, is making in the hope of finding a country where they will be able to use to advantage their knowledge of the culture of the grape for wine.

The party, consisting of eight adults and four children, stopped in the Union depot a short while last evening while waiting for the Santa Fe connection for California.

Labels: alcohol, California, immigrants, Union depot, visitors

November 22, 1909

WHOLE FAMILY SMOKED PIPES.

Father, Mother, Daughters, Sons,

Enjoy Weed at Union Depot.

"Smokin' tobacco never hurt us none," remarked William Bird of Southern Georgia, as he passed his tobacco pouch to his wife and she passed it to their two daughters and three sons, all of whom filled their pipes and started smoking. The party occupied a bench in the smoking wing of the Union depot yesterday afternoon. They were waiting for a train to take them to Southern Arizona, where they expected to engage in fruit growing.

Bird said that almost everyone, from the time they get old enough to walk, learns to smoke in his section of Georgia and that as a rule, the head of the household carries the tobacco pouch.

His oldest daughter is 15 years of age and his youngest boy 9, and all have smoked, he said, since they reached the age of six. They like clay pipes and these are smoked until the bit is worn off by contact with the teeth. One pipe he prizes very highly is almost black and is about 12 years old. He only smokes this pipe once a day.

Labels: tobacco, Union depot, visitors

November 11, 1909

DOG SINGS TENOR

TO PLAINSMAN'S BASS.

BEING THE STORY OF 'MY BOY'S'

FIRST VISIT IN TOWN.

"Smart?" aid Pridemore, "Why

That Dog Knows Everything

I Say to Him" -- Wouldn't

Sell for a Million.

Down at the Union depot last night a dog, half Scotch collie and half, well, the other half is just dog, perhaps, crouched at the feet of a man, a typical cattleman of the plains, who wore clumsy boots, trousers that were turned up half the length of the boots and a crumpled white hat. That there was a story of intense devotion on the part of a dog to his master and of a master to his dog in the picture presented in the waiting room not one who saw them doubted. The fidelity of the dog attracted every man and woman who observed it.

John H. Pridemore was the man and he raises cattle on a range near the Kansas and Colorado line. His home is thirty-five miles from Fowler, Kas., the nearest railroad point, and the dog with him last night is his only companion in a country where his nearest neighbor is miles away.

"That dog is the nearest thing to a human being I have out in my country," said Pridemore, "and I'd be mightily lonely without him. I raised his mother, and she was my companion before the pup was born. He's one of the most intelligent and sympathetic dogs you ever saw. The only name I ever gave him is 'My Boy.' I don't know why I called him that unless it was that he is the only companion I have and the only responsibility, too. He's a true friend and he's smart. There can't a thing go wrong on my place that his ears don't hear it or his eyes see it. And when he finds that something has gone wrong he romps to the house and tells me about it.

"Often I sing the old songs and he's gotten so that he sings with me. When I sing loud he barks as noisily as he can; when I sing low he follows suit. You know, that dog seems to understand everything I say. Often at night he puts his paws on my knees and lays his head in my lap and I tell him stories, just like you'd tell stories to a child, and he's all attention.

"This is the first time I ever brought him to Kansas City and I'll tell you how it happened. Heretofore I've left him with some of the boys, but when I started to Fowler with a bunch of cattle a week ago I took him with me to help me load, intending to leave him at a hotel there. Well, when we got the cattle on the cars and I was ready to jump into the caboose the 'boy' followed me to the platform. There were big tears in his eyes and he began to moan. This was too much for the conductor and he said to bring him along. 'He may get lost up there in Kansas City,' I said. The conductor assured me that he wouldn't so the dog was lifted into the caboose and started on his first long journey from home. I've had this rope around him ever since we've been here and now we're headed back to the ranch."

"Would you sell him?" asked a man, who had been listening to Pridemore's story.

"Not for a million dollars," said the cattleman, decisively.

Pridemore and his dog started for the Rock Island train. "My boy" had to ride in the baggage car and when he say that he was to be separated from his master there was an expression of anxiety in his eyes.

Pridemore patted him on the head. "Don't you worry a bit," he said, caressing the dog, "I'll be right back in the next car."

And the dog understood, for he lay down without a whimper.

Labels: animals, railroad, Union depot, visitors

November 8, 1909

SKYE TERRIER CAME BACK.

Red Caps Shipped Stray Dogs From

Depot Yesterday.

A small skye terrier, covered with mud, wet and bedraggled, his tongue hanging far out of his mouth and his tail between his legs, slunk into the Union depot late yesterday afternoon. He scampered across the floor to see the woman's waiting room and there close to a radiator found a warm spot where he cuddled up far out of sight.

The terrier was the only one of a score of dogs lost, strayed, stolen or deserted that have been making their home at the Union depot who returned after having been captured and surreptitiously placed on outgoing trains by members of the Red Cap brigade. It is likely that the rest will return if they can find their way back.

The Union depot is about as close to dog heaven as a stray would find in many days' wanderings. The waiting room and nooks and corners in the baggage and mail rooms are always nice and warm. Then the food is far above the average dog food. Sympathetic little girls with chicken and ham sandwiches think nothing of feeding them to the dogs and going hungry.

Once it was reported at the depot, a dog died of the gout, so well had it been fed. It takes but a couple of days for the leanest canine to take on a nice glossy coat.

It may be humane to take care of the dogs and permit them to eat the lunch leavings, but the attaches of the depot declare they are a nuisance, so during the summer the dog catcher never leaves the depot empty handed. His visits to the depot are fewer in the fall and winter and the strays who happen along come to regard the depot as their legitimate home.

Yesterday was dull day at the depot. Both incoming and outgoing trains were very light and half a dozen of the Red Caps found time hanging heavily on their hands.

"Let's give the dogs a ride today. They might enjoy a Sunday railroad excursion," was the suggestion of one.

A moment later several Red Caps were hunting up the dogs about the station. They played no favorites.

That it was not easy to get the dogs on the trains without the knowledge of the train crew was quickly discovered. Various plans were adopted. Some of the dogs were smuggled on the sleeping cars, others got into the day coaches and the rest were put on blind baggage or in the mail or baggage cars.

The little skye terrier, who found his way back will probably be allowed to remain at the depot as a mascot.

Labels: animals, railroad, Union depot

November 1, 1909

LIVE ON SPECIAL TRAIN.

Geo. M. Cohan and Company Solve

Problem of Travel Accommodation.

George M. Cohan has solved to his satisfaction as well as that of the members of his company the problem of living accommodations while making their tour of the country. It is by living in their special train which is sidetracks as soon as they reach a town. Each member of the company has a compartment.

The train consists, in addition to Cohan's private car, of two specially constructed sleeping coaches, a diner and three baggage cars. His automobile is stored in one of the baggage cars and the others are used for stage wardrobes and scenery.

The special train arrived at the Union depot yesterday afternoon from Memphis.

In Kansas City Cohan himself is stopping at the Baltimore.

Labels: Hotel Baltimore, railroad, theater, Union depot, visitors

October 30, 1909

BACK FROM WORLD TRIP.

Kansas City Boy Went Around Globe

With U. S. Fleet.

Bronzed, athletic and clear-eyed Stanley Presbury, 21 years old, returned to Kansas City last evening after an absence of three years and three months in the United States navy, a fully developed man. He was met at the Union depot by his mother, Mrs. T. E. Presbury of the Hotel Moore. He will make his home in Kansas City.

Young Presbury was one of the lucky boys who enlisted from Kansas City several years ago to make the trip around the world. He was assigned to the Connecticut July 16, 1906, and was transferred to the Panther, in July, 1908, serving the balance of his time on that ship.

"I am glad to get back to old Kansas City. I was glad to leave it, and I had a trip such as few ever get," said young Presbury at the Hotel Moore last night, "but there was no place like home especially when it is Kansas City.

"There was only one country we all liked well and that was Australia. I guess it was because that country is populated with Anglo-Saxons like ourselves."

Labels: boats, hotels, military, Union depot

October 28, 1909

AT AGE OF 104 YEARS

MAKES 200-MILE TRIP.

CENTENARIAN IS ACCOMPANIED

BY SON 76 YEARS OLD.

Fondness for Clay Pipe and Long

Green Leads Mrs. Indiana

Hagan to the Smok-

ing Car.

After a 200-mile railroad ride from Clarence, Shelby county, Mo., only slightly fatigued, Mrs. Indiana Hagan, 104 years old, with her baby boy, Levi Howard, 76 years old, left Kansas City last evening for Sparta, on the Blue River, where they will make their home with George Howard, the other surviving son. William Riley Howard, 52 years old, son of Levi Howard, accompanied them from Clarence to Liberty, Mo.

"I don't feel as pert today as I usually do," said Mrs. Hagan between puffs of long green from an old clay pipe, which she said was a score or more years old.

"My feet hurt me today and I had to take my shoes off. This was the longest railroad trip I ever made and it made me sort of tired. I guess I smoked a bit too much, too. I will be glad when we get to my son's home. I won't go away from there."

DOESN'T SHOW AGE.

Rawboned, almost toothless, yet with some eyesight, her face a mass of wrinkles, Mrs. Hagan does not look the age she says she is. Her age would not be readily believed were it not for her son who is with her and looks the age he says he is -- 76 years.

Mrs. Hagan was born in Washington county, Ind. After her marriage at the age of 18 she removed to Lawrence county. It was there that Levi Howard was born. He was one of four brothers and a sister, all of whom have died except his brother, George, at Sparta.

Two of the brothers died as the result of injuries received in the battle of Gettysburg. Levi and George were in the Fourteenth Indiana regiment of infantry and passed through the war without receiving injuries. After the war the entire family emigrated to Missouri. The mother remarried, and a daughter, now Mrs. Ella May Crewett, was born. Mrs. Hagan has been living until recently at this daughter's home at Clarence, Shelby county, Mo.

SHOWS PIPE COLLECTION.

Several months ago Mr. Howard, who has been living with a son at Annabelle, Macon county, decided to go to his brother's farm to recover from an attack of asthma. He broached the subject with his mother and she decided to make the trip with him. William Riley Howard, a son who lives at Liberty, Mo., accompanied them from Shelby county to his home.

"I have never had a sickness in my life," said Mrs. Hagan as she sat on the couch in the waiting room at the Union depot, refusing Matron Everingham's admonition to lie down and rest.

"My only bad habit is smoking long green. I don't like any other sort of pipe but a clay pipe, and I brought all my pipes with me. This one," she said, pointing to the one she was smoking yesterday, "is about twenty years old."

The pipe bore evidence of great age. It was colored a deep black and part of the bowl had been burned away.

Because of her fondness for her pipe, Mrs. Hagan occupied a seat in the smoker on the trip here.

Labels: depot matron, Seniors, Union depot, visitors

October 25, 1909

OFF FOR TAFT RIVER TRIP.

Deep Waterways Cheered as Party of

Kansas City Men Leave for Alton

and St. Louis.

More than a half hundred prominent Kansas City men, comprising the delegation that is to go down the river on the steamboat Gray Eagle in the presidential party, departed last night over the Chicago & Alton railroad on a special train consisting of five sleepers and a baggage car for Alton, Ill., where they will arrive this morning.

Decorators who were sent to Alton in advance, reported last evening to Secretary Cledening of the Commercial Club that the boat will be one of the handsomest in appearance in the big fleet.

It was a merry party which met at the Union depot last evening and as the train pulled out cheer after cheer was heard for the deep waterways convention which will be held in New Orleans Saturday of this week and Monday and Tuesday of next week.

The delegates expect that President Taft will breakfast with them on their boat Tuesday morning either at Cape Girardeau, which will be the first stop after the fleet leaves St. Louis, or between the Cape and Cairo.

The Kansas Cityans will arrive in Alton this morning in time to board the Grey Eagle and be landed at the levee in St. Louis at 9 a. m. They will go to the Coliseum, where President Taft will speak at 11 a. m. The trip down the river will begin at 5 p. m.

Labels: boats, Commercial Club, Edwin Clendening, New Orleans, President Taft, railroad, St Louis, Union depot

October 25, 1909

NO TRACE OF BABE'S MOTHER.

Infant Left With Stranger at Sta-

tion Sent to St. Anthony.

Walter Almos of Rock Island, Ill., apparently not at all wearied by his long vigil in the Union depot Saturday night taking care of a month's-old baby and waiting for the mother that never returned, went to police headquarters bright and early yesterday morning to visit the infant preparatory to leaving town.

"I have only an hour before train time," he told the police matron, "but I felt that I could not leave town without visiting the youngster."

The matron left Walter dandling the baby on his knee and when she returned an hour and a half later he was sitting with the little one asleep in his arms.

"I guess I have missed my train," he explained, "but I hated to put the kid down for fear I would wake him up."

No clue to the identity of the young woman who deserted the baby has been found. Employes of the depot lunch counter say that she was in the company of an elderly woman and that they purchased some milk for the child at the counter.

They gave the baby to Almos and then the elder woman left hurriedly and the other followed shortly after. The child was taken to St. Anthony's home yesterday afternoon.

Labels: children, orphans, police headquarters, police matron, St Anthonys Home, Union depot

October 19, 1909

MAIL HANDLERS ON STRIKE.

Places Quickly Filled by Recruits

From Helping Hand.

Twenty porters employed at handling the mail bags at the Union depot quit work yesterday morning because of a change in the system of paying the men from a monthly salary, ranging from $52 to $57, to 16 cents per hour. This gives the old men, who have worked twelve hours a day, a little more than they had previously gotten, but it also acts in a measure to shorten the pay of the newer men, who work but ten hours a day. The depot company employs 175 men as porters in the baggage and mail departments.

The places of the score of men who walked out at 9 a. m. yesterday were filled a few hours later by recruits from several places in the city, principally from the Helping Hand headquarters.

Labels: employment, Helping Hand, Union depot

October 17, 1909

MISSED MOTHER AT DEPOT.

Boy of 8 From Ohio Now in Charge

of Police Matron.

Charles Francis, 8 years old, arrived at the Union depot yesterday from Toledo, O., expecting to meet his mother, Mrs. Eva M. Francis of Kansas City, who sent for him. Mrs. Francis was not at the station and Matron Ollie Everingham sent the little fellow to the police matron, until Mrs. Francis could be found. A telegram addressed to Mrs. Frances from Toledo awaits her at the Union depot.

Labels: children, depot matron, missing, police matron, telegram, Union depot

October 15, 1909

BUT FEW LANDMARKS LEFT.

A Resident of 20 Years Ago Only

Recognizes Union Depot.

"Kansas City has made wonderful progress since I left here twenty years ago," said C. W. Rogers of Santa Monica, Cal., who with his wife and daughter arrived at the Hotel Kupper yesterday for a visit in the city. "I failed to recognize any part of the city but the old Union depot. As soon as you build your new depot there will not be many landmarks of the Kansas City of a score of years ago.

"We believe that we have one of the most wonderful little cities in the world out on the Pacific coast," continued Mr. Rogers. "We recently completed a concrete pier, the first on the Pacific coast, at a cost of $100,000. The pier is 1,600 feet long and thirty-five feet wide. The floor of the pier is twenty feet above the tide, and we have twenty-five feet of water at the end of the pier. This pier serves two purposes, one for the shipping interests and the other to carry our sewage into the ocean. This sewage, when it is emptied into the sea, is as free from germs as the purest water."

Labels: California, Kupper hotel, Union depot, visitors

October 15, 1909

MET DEPOT MATRON BEFORE.

Two Juveniles Rush From Their

Train to Greet Her.

"Here we are," cried Walter Baker, 11 years old, leading his brother, Arthur, 9 years old, by the hand and addressing Matron Ollie Everingham at the Union depot last night.

The boys were on their way home from a visit with their grandfather at Maple Hill, Mo. They live at Eldon, Mo. When they passed through Kansas City six weeks ago they were taken in charge by attaches of the depot and placed in Mrs. Everingham's charge. On their return they hurried from their train to her desk.

Labels: depot matron, Union depot, visitors

October 9, 1909

IS THIS FAINTING BERTHA?

Young Woman Robs a Sympathetic

Kansan at Depot.

A young woman who faints in a crowd, falls in the arms of one of the gallant sex, and then relieves him of his pocketbook for his pains, is operating in Kansas City. The police recall the time when "Fainting Bertha" worked the same ruse, and though it was five or six years ago when she was sent out of the city, they believe she has returned.

William Sheppard, cashier of the National Bank of Olathe, Kas., was the victim Thursday night in the Union depot. He was standing near one of the ticket windows when he noticed that a young woman standing near showed signs of illness. She began to sway and would have fallen to the floor had not the chivalrous cashier caught her in h is strong arms. He carried her to the fresh air out on Union avenue, when she revived, thanked him, and disappeared up the street.

When Sheppard went inside he found that he had lost $50 in currency, a draft for $210, and three railway tickets to Olathe. He reported the matter to police.

Labels: crime, Olathe, Union depot, women

October 5, 1909

MOTHER COLLAPSES IN DEPOT.

Carries Unconscious Form of Child

From Train.

Carrying the unconscious form of her 2-year-old son, Morris, in her arms, Mrs. Lillian McGregor of Kackley, Kas., collapsed at the Union depot last night. The little fellow became ill on the train several hours before it arrived at the Union depot. As his fever grew, the child became hysterical and then lost consciousness. Drs. Harry Morton and E. D. Twyman were called to attend the child, which rapidly developed spasms. Mrs. McGregor was on her way to Fort Madison, Ia., where she expects to visit relatives.

Labels: children, doctors, illness, Union depot, visitors

October 3, 1909

LORD BERESFORD IS A

KANSAS CITY VISITOR.

FORMER BRITISH ADMIRAL

TRANSACTS BUSINESS HERE.

Meets Manager of Texas Ranches

and Clears Up Accumulated

Business Details -- Drives

Over City Boulevards.

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD.

Lord Charles Beresford, former admiral of the British navy, in company with his solicitor, Orlando Hammond of New York city, dropped into Kansas City from Chicago yesterday morning for a conference with Robert Moss, manager of the Texas and Mexico ranches Lord Beresford owns. Incidentally Lord Beresford received a check, the proceeds of a sale of 1,000 head of cattle which had been sold on the Kansas City market during the last week. The shipment was made from his ranch at Ojitos, Chihuahua, Mexico. Lord Beresford thought when he left Chicago that he might have to make a trip to his ranches to settle some business affairs, but last evening he said he would attend to all of his business in Kansas City.

He and Mr. Hammond were met yesterday morning by Robert Moss, his manager and the trio drove to the Hotel Baltimore, where they breakfasted. They were joined there by J. MacKenzie and T. J. Eamans, who took them for a ride over the boulevards and then for luncheon at the Country Club. Another ride followed and the party returned to the Hotel Baltimore, dust covered and hungry, about 6 p. m. Lord Beresford and Mr. Hammond will remain in the city until Monday evening.

ENJOYED THE PLAYGROUNDS.

"I have been in Kansas City before, but I have never had the pleasure of a trip over your boulevards and through your parks," said Lord Beresford, "until today. Even this morning I feared that I would not have the time to thoroughly enjoy it. I want to say that the ride was a surprise to me. I have been over many drives and boulevards but I cannot recall a city I have ever been in that the boulevards excel those of Kansas City.

"Next to the boulevards, I was impressed with the playgrounds. We drove to each of the playgrounds, and I was greatly interested in watching the children as they scampered about and enjoyed themselves with the swings and apparatus. In this your country is ahead of England. You have so much more room, though, than we have. Ground is so much more expensive in England than it is here, but England has taken the cue from America, and she has begun the establishment of these playgrounds.

MOST PLEASANT TRIP.

"I saw the site of the new depot and the plans were explained to me. I am surprised that Kansas City has gotten along as long as it has with that old excuse for one. You will no doubt appreciate the new one much more, as the contrast will be so great that you will forget all about the inconveniences of the old one.

"Your residence section, especially the newer sections, impressed me greatly. They are different than the sections in the East, where the houses are all crowded on little lots. They remind one more of the English country houses with their wide stretches of lawn and tree-bordered drives and boulevards Altogether I shall remember my trip about Kansas City as one of the most pleasant I have ever taken."

Labels: business, Chicago, England, Hotel Baltimore, New York, Union depot, union station, visitors

September 30, 1909

CARRIE INVENTS AIRSHIP.

Mrs. Nation Declares She has Aero-

plane at Sterling, Kas.

An aeroplane is said to be housed in an airdome at Sterling, Kas., and will soon be given a trail flight. The inventor is Carrie Nation of hatchet fame. The temperance lecturer was at the Union depot yesterday morning and amused a large gathering in the depot with a description of the machine. The police finally had to disperse the crowd so that passengers could pass back and forth in the station.

Labels: airships, prohibition, Union depot, visitors

September 29, 1909

MIDGET RESEMBLES A DOLL.

Little May Trogdon Attracts Atten-

tion at the Union Depot.

Many of the passengers at the Union depot last night took her for a bisque doll as she lay asleep in her mother's arms and the women took particular notice of her long, yellow curls and remarked about them. When she woke up, however, and walked through the station with the stride of a child sure of herself, everyone sat up and took notice.

Inquiry developed the fact that the diminutive one was little May Trogdon, known to her parents and friends as "May the midget."

Little May is 5 years old, weighs sixteen pounds and is an even twenty-four inches high. She sits in a little rocking chair, formerly the property of a doll. It had to be cut down to little Miss May. It stands a bare four and one-half inches from the floor and the midget rocks in it with comfort. This speck of humanity is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Trogdon. She was born in Northern Idaho and is now on her way with her parents to Bois d'Arc, Mo.

"While up town today," said the mother, "we brought May a pair of shoes. You can see that they are too large but they were No. 0, the smallest baby shoe made. She wears what is known as a No. 10 doll shoe but we couldn't get any here. Her foot is just three inches long."

From the wrinkle in little May's wrist -- and she is very plump -- to the ends of her tiny fingers, is just two and a half inches and her longest finger reaches the width of a 5-cent piece.

The Trogdons have two other children. Virgil, 3 years and 6 months old, is a normal boy, weighing thirty pounds. Oda, 10 years old, is a "husky" product for that age.

Labels: Union depot, visitors

September 25, 1909

HIS MOTHER TO A HOSPITAL.

So 10-Year-Old Son Starts to Walk

to Clinton, Mo.

Ernest Wolf, 10 years old, weak from typhoid fever and just out of a hospital, started out last evening to walk from his home in the rear of Holmes and Twelfth streets, from which place his mother is to be taken to a hospital today to his father's at Clinton, Mo.

The little fellow expected to follow the railroad tracks. When he got to the Union depot he saw so many tracks that he became frightened and began asking questions.

According to Ernest's story which Mrs. Everingham verified through the authorities, his mother, Alice, has been so ill that she has not been able to work for almost a month and arrangements were made yesterday to take her to a hospital.

Mrs. Everingham arranged last evening with the Associated Charities to take care of the boy until his mother is able to support him again.

Labels: Associated Charities, children, depot matron, Holmes street, illness, Twelfth street, typhoid, Union depot

September 15, 1909

FORGOT HER DESTINATION.

Oklahoma Girl Bought Ticket for

Garnett Instead of Kansas City.

Through a mistake, for which she cannot account, Miss Emma Howe, 17 years old, bought a ticket and checked her trunk for Garnett, Kas., instead of to Kansas City, where her sister, Mrs. Hattie Fields, resides, before leaving Ola, Ok., Monday afternoon.

The trunk was put off at Garnett and Miss Howe would also have been detained there for lack of funds to proceed further, but several traveling men made up a purse to pay her fare here. When she arrived at Union depot over the Santa Fe last night it was to discover that her troubles had only just begun, for the paper on which her father had written her sister's address in Kansas City was in her trunk.

The girl was cared for overnight by Mrs. Ollie Everingham, the depot matron. The name of Mrs. Hattie Fields does not appear in the city directory.

Labels: depot matron, oklahoma, railroad, Union depot

September 10, 1909

PAPER CUPS COST 1 CENT.

That's Why an Innovation at the

Depot Wasn't Patronized.

Paper drinking cup vending machines were installed at the Union depot yesterday afternoon and attracted much attention, but did not get much play.

The patrons of the depot looked at the machines and when they discovered that it took a penny to get a paper cup, but that they could use one of the granite ware cups tied to a chain for nothing and get the same grade of ice water, they did not hesitate.

A number of paper cups were purchased as souvenirs.

Labels: ice, Union depot

September 9, 1909

ST. MARY'S BOYS MEET HERE.

Two Hundred Fifty, Back From Va-

cation, Leave on Special.

Two hundred and fifty boys, all sizes and ages, gathered at the Union depot yesterday morning, and departed on a special train over the Union Pacific railroad for St. Mary's, Kas., where they will attend school.

The boys are returning to school from their summer vacation, and the Reverend Father Dieters, the principal of the school, arranged that practically all should meet in Kansas City.

There were five coaches on the train.

Labels: children, ministers, railroad, Union depot

September 6, 1909

CRIMP IN SALVATION ARMY.

Sergeant Major's Family of Eleven

Leaves for Sioux Falls.

"Our nine children are consecrated to the Salvation Army and seven of them already have been commissioned," said Delos Clark, a junior sergeant major who departed last week with his wife and family for Sioux Falls, their old home. With them was Miss Myrtle Cole, a cadet, who is going to Ottawa, Kas. Clark expects to get work in Sioux Falls at his trade.

"Our faith in the Lord saved us from being swept away in the flood at Ottawa three months ago," said Clark at the Union depot last night. "Although it took everything we had. All we saved was the clothing we wore and a few articles we managed to pick up. It was a trial, but we praised God that we had been spared and came to Kansas City.

"I have been earning $11 a week as a driver for one of the penny ice wagons and we have been living in the Fresh Air Camp. This is closed now. My daughter, Blanche, 16 years old, was employed by General Cox. She is also secretary of the Young People's Legion. Her younger sister, Lillian, is treasurer."

The other children and their ages are: William, 12; Ruth, 10; George W., 9; Donald, 7; Ethel, 5; Robert Theo, 3 years old and David 4 months old. The Clarks were dressed in the regulation Salvation Army uniform.

Labels: ice, Salvation Army, Union depot

September 3, 1909

STILL WEARING KILTIES.

Boy of Family Just From Scotland

Amuses Travelers.

Mrs. Jessie Kaine, whose husband, Archibald, left Glasgow, Scotland, six months ago for Wamego, Kas., arrived in Kansas City last night with her family of six children and her niece, 17-year-old Jennie McBride. Archibald, the younger, wore Scotch kilties, and several times during the evening gave the attaches of the Union depot an opportunity of seeing the "Highland Fling" by a young Scotchman only two weeks removed from his home. The children range in age from 11 years to 11 months.

Labels: clothing, immigrants, Union depot

September 3, 1909

REMEMBERED DEPOT MATRON.

Children Had Fruits and Flowers

for Mrs. Ollie Everingham.

Four children cared for by Mrs. Ollie Everingham, the Union depot matron, when they passed through the Union depot at various times in the summer to spend vacations in the country, arrived at the depot yesterday morning on their way back to home and school. The children were glad to see Mrs. Everingham, and each had a bit of fruit or a bunch of flowers for her. The children were: Walter and Fred Herman of Sedalia, Mo., who had been to Lincoln, Neb.; Grace Egan of Saulsbury, Mo., who had spent her vacation in Clinton, Ok., and Raymond Stolie of Mystic, Ia., who spent his vacation in Peabody, Kas.

Labels: children, depot matron, flowers, Sedalia, Union depot, visitors

September 1, 1909

ON MOTORCYCLES 1,600 MILES.

Riders in Kansas City on Last Leg

of Their Trip.

Charles W. Neff, a jeweler of St. Joseph, Mo., and C. C. Anderson, an automobile dealer of Creston, Ia., arrived in Kansas City last evening ready for the last leg of a 1,600 mile motorcycle trip which started at St. Joseph and circled around Beaver.

It was dark when the men reached town and they lost no time in getting into barber chairs at the Blossom house. Later in the evening they visited the Union depot and met some friends whom they were expecting from Oklahoma.

"Our ride is the longest on record so far for a motorcycle in this section of the country," said Mr. Neff. "We meant to prove that it could be made and we have succeeded in demonstrating that fact. We made the trip to Beaver from St. Joseph in three days. We went by way of Topeka and Garden City and on our return hit the Santa Fe trail and followed it all the way. We had trouble but once and that was a single tire puncture which occurred to my wheel. We will leave for St. Joseph in the morning."

Labels: Blossom house, motorcycles, Santa Fe Trail, St.Joseph, Topeka, Union depot, visitors

August 29, 1909

LOSES HUSBAND AND APPETITE.

For Two Days Patient Mexican

Woman Has Been Unable to Eat.

For two days, or since she has been at the Union depot, not a particle of food has crossed the lips of pretty Senora Hobbs, the wife of John Hobbs, watchmaker and preacher of the Seventh Day Baptist faith. Standing on the balcony of the women's waiting room at the Union depot, rocking the cradle wherein lay her sick 6-months -old baby, the weakened woman kept unceasing vigil, scanning every person who entered the waiting room, hoping against hope almost that any minute would bring her word of her husband, from whom she had not heard for eight days.

Matron Everingham looked after the baby to the extent of seeing that it was supplied with fresh, pure milk, and she volunteered to see that the Mexican woman got food. "I do not feel like eating," she told the matron, when Mrs. Everingham asked her if she did not want to eat something. "I only want my husband. He must be here, and I will find him."

Yesterday Morning Mrs. Hobbs visited the postoffice where she learned that the letters which she had written her husband from La Crosse, Kas., had not been called for by him. She also visited the store where her husband had been employed. They could give her but little information. Her plea for help to locate the man she married in Mexico has roused half a dozen of the attaches at the Union depot and all possible assistance was given the little blackeyed woman from the South in locating Hobbs yesterday. So far as could be learned Hobbs had not done any preaching in the streets in Kansas City. Where he roomed has not yet been learned. At Morino's store, he said that he had lost his watchmaker's tools but the wife says that he had them when he left LaCrosse.

It developed yesterday that Hobbs had been out of communication with his wife for two weeks on a previous occasion. This was when he left Chihuahua for the states. He went to San Antonio and his wife, failing to hear from him for two weeks, got on a train and found him ill at a hotel in the Texas city. There she says she sold her camera and photographic outfit.

Labels: depot matron, Mexico, missing, Union depot

August 29, 1909

IN A RACE WITH DEATH.

Ten-Year-Old Boy Hurrying to Side

of Parent Who Is Dying.

Claude Austin, 10 years old, of Richards, Mo., departed from the Union depot last night on a race with death. He is bound for Walton, Wyo., where his father, Joseph Austin, lies in a hospital dying from a broken spine, sustained in a mine accident near there two weeks ago. Austin left Missouri eight years ago, shortly after the death of his wife. He went to Colorado and from there to Wyoming, where he has been employed as a mine worker.

Labels: children, Union depot, visitors

August 26, 1909

ORACLE WAS NOT ON DUTY.

Anyway, This Seeress Failed to

Know Her Mother Was in Town.

To carelessness is consulting her oracle yesterday morning was ascribed by a fortune teller to the fact that she was unaware he aged and almost blind mother was in town or contemplated leaving Stanley, Mo., and going to Lawrence, Kas.

"I wish you would telephone my daughter and tell her that I am at the Union depot," said the octogenarian mother of the fortune teller as she was assisted into a wheeled chair at the Union depot yesterday afternoon. She came from Stanley, Mo., an d expected to depart for Lawrence, Kas., on the evening train.

"My daughter has a reputation of being the second best fortune teller in Kansas City," said the aged woman, "and it does seem strange that she would not know know that I am passing through the city. She has been telling fortunes for fifteen years."

"I will be down at the depot after lunch," replied the fortune teller when informed over the telephone that her mother had been waiting at the depot for an hour and did not understand why she could not divine the fact that she was in the city. "I had no way of knowing that she was in the city," replied she who knoweth the past and present and revealeth the future.

The seeress arrived at the depot about 5:30 p. m. "Why didn't you write me that you were coming to the city," she asked as she greeted her mother.

"You knew that your niece would not marry the man she was going with and I thought you would know that I am in the city," replied the mother.

Labels: Union depot, visitors

August 23, 1909

"DEAD LINE" AT THE DEPOT.

Heavy Travel Necessitates a Safety

Zone at the Old Shack.

A dead line, extending four feet from the building line on the Union depot platform, was established last evening for the first time in the recollection of depot employes. The line was painted with chalk and every person who was not going to or from a train was kept behind the dead line.

Several times this summer the depot employes have had more than their share of work to take care of the people who found their way onto the platform and interfered with those who were endeavoring to catch trains.

Yesterday the usual Sunday crush was greatly augmented by the influx of delegates to the negro Pythian convention, which will be held here this week. The crowd fairly swarmed over the depot platforms and several narrow escapes from injury resulted in the crush. About 6 p. m. Depot Master Wallenstrom decided to make a "dead line" behind which he could keep everyone who was waiting for a train or for friends. The dead line was drawn back of the entrances and exits and parallel with the building. Two "Red Caps" kept the crowd within these boundaries.

Labels: conventions, railroad, Union depot

August 23, 1909

BOUQUET FROM A STRANGER.

Kansas City's Boulevards and Parks

Accorded High Praise.

"In ten year's time Kansas City will not have a peer in the world as a residence city," declared W. C. Dufour, city councilor of New Orleans, La., who with a party of delegates from that city passed through the Union depot last night on their way home from the Trans-Mississippi Commercial congress which was held at Denver. The party made the trip in A. J. Davidson's private car "Frisco No. 100." After the congress they visited the various points of interest in Colorado.

"Here in Kansas City your park and boulevards boards have taken care of the future. They have planted these long rows of trees on your boulevards, so that in some ten year's time you will have drives which will rival any tropical city for shade.

"Then, too, it is generally admitted that there is not a much finer boulevard system in the world than now exists in Kansas City. You have the hills and the flats, the straight lines and the curves and everywhere there is something that attracts and holds the eye."

In the party besides Mr. Dufour were Beverly Myles, John Phillips, George Janvier, George Lhot and Judge I. O. Moore. All of the party were enthusiastic on the subject of the big river convention which will be attended in New Orleans by President Taft.

Labels: Denver, New Orleans, President Taft, railroad, Union depot, visitors

August 21, 1909

TOO HOT FOR WARWOOPS.

Union Avenue Police Lugged Indian

Braves to Station.

Several realistic Indian warwhoops let loose by Bighead Sidesaddle and Jim Ironsides, fullblood Indians, at the Union depot yesterday morning, startled the would-be passengers congregated in the lobby of the old station. Detectives Charles Ryan and Ben Sanderson arrested the warwhoopers, along with their companions, one man, six women and a pappoose. The band of wild Indians was given a ride in the patrol wagon to No. 2 police station.

Captain Joseph Heydon ordered Ironsides and Sidesaddle locked up, as they were drunk. The remainder of the party were returned to the depot in the patrol wagon, and enjoyed the short haul muchly.

Labels: alcohol, detectives, Native Americans, No 2 police station, Union depot

August 21, 1909

PREFERS DYING AT HOME.

Ten-Year-Old Boy Wants His Play-

mates Near When End Comes.

"If I have to die and go to heaven, I want to be at home, where all my playmates are," said 10-year-old Royal Schick of Albuquerque, N. M., who, in charge of his mother, Mrs. Robert Schick, passed through the Union depot yesterday on their way home from a visit in Dubuque, Ia., where the boy had been advised to go in the hope that it would benefit his health.

Royal is suffering from a severe case of kidney trouble which has baffled the physicians of the New Mexico city. The case developed over a year ago, up to which time his mother says he was apparently in as good health as any of the boys of his town. Since then he has gradually wasted away.

A moth ago the physicians at Albuquerque recommended a change in climate. The Northern trip was suggested, as it would be cool, and then it was hoped that the lower altitude might prove beneficial. The little fellow grew worse and finally begged his mother to take him back home. Mrs. Schick missed the early train for the Southwest and had to remain at the depot all day. The little fellow was made comfortable in the hospital ward in the depot until night.

Labels: children, illness, Union depot, visitors

August 17, 1909

CANDY PULLING ON A TRAIN.

Conductor Wulff Makes Fast Friend

of Little Girl.

When Victor L. Wulff, the Missouri Pacific passenger director at the Union depot, stepped off his train from Jefferson City yesterday it was with difficulty that he bade goodby to little Miss Eunice Farwell, 5 years old, of Denver. It was Wulff's knowledge of candymaking which broke the ice and in a few hours made him a staunch friend of the little girl.

Mrs. Farwell and her daughter were in the observation car and just after the train left Jefferson City little Eunice asked for candy. There was none on the train and the next stop was Kansas City. when her mother returned with the news Eunice's lips quivered.

"We'll get some candy," Mr. Wulff assured her. A syrup drummer who had heard about the child and the candy, proffered the contents of his sample case. Mr. Wulff took several bottles of syrup and in a short while he had the ingredients of taffy boiling on the range in the diner. As soon as it was cool enough to pull it was carried to the observation car where an old-fashioned candy pulling followed.

Labels: children, Denver, food, Jefferson City, railroad, Union depot, visitors

August 16, 1909

ONE GIRL IS GRATEFUL.

"Ella" Sends Flowers and Fruit to

Woman Who Saved Her.

Dear Matron -- Here is a basket of the nicest peaches I could find. Hope you will enjoy them. ELLA.

This note accompanied a basket of fruit which reached the Depot matron, Mrs. Ollie Everingham, yesterday. It came from a Western Kansas town, and back of it lies a little story of a girl saved from the wiles of the city.

A year ago "Ella," whose other name Mrs. Everingham has forgotten, came to Kansas City from Southern Missouri. She was an unsophisticated country girl and she wore a rose on her left side. The matron learned that she was waiting for the man who had promised to marry her, but whom she had never seen.

Their acquaintance had been brought about through a matrimonial paper and their courtship was carried on through correspondence. She had a packet of his letters, in which he declared his love for her and in which he said that he had an excellent position with one of the banks. She had her little marriage dot, something like $100, tightly done up in a bit of handkerchief. The man whom she was looking for was also to wear a rose.

One of the detectives at the depot heard the girl's story and an hour later he caught sight of a man wearing a rose who was evidently looking for someone. It did not take the detective long to ascertain that it was the girl's supposed fiancee. The stranger discovered that he had been talking with a detective, excused himself and got away.

It was hard to tell "Ella," who then declared she would not go home. She said she would go out to Kansas and live there. Since then Mrs. Everingham has received at various times boxes of flowers and fruit from the grateful girl.

Labels: depot matron, detectives, romance, Union depot, visitors