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December 14, 1909

JUDGE PORTERFIELD

RECOMMENDS COW-

HIDE FOR OBSTREP-

EROUS BOYS.

His Father Had Cowhide and

Was Not Afraid to Use It.

JUDGE PORTERFIELD OF THE JUVENILE COURT.

Judicial notice was taken yesterday for the first time of the cowhide, as an instrument of regeneration for obstreperous boys, when Judge E. E. Porterfiled of the juvenile court paid it the following tribute:

"If I ever amounted to anything, it's because my father kept a cowhide, and he was not afraid to use it."

This remark was occasioned by a mother's statement that she did not like to whip her children. John Morrisy of 815 East Eighth street, had been summoned into court on the complaint of the mother. She said that she could not control him.

"The only fault I have to find with him is that he does not get up in the morning," she said. "And when he drinks beer he swears at me and his grandmother so loud that he attracts the neighbors."

"Why don't you get the cowhide?" asked the judge.

"Oh, I never did believe in whipping my children."

"You make a mistake, madam. If there was ever a boy in this court who needed a cowhiding, it is your son. My suggestion to you is to get a long whip. If John doesn't get up in the morning, don't wait until he gets his clothes on. Pull him out of bed and thrash him on his bare skin. Like lots of other mothers, you have spoiled your boy by being too lenient."

John Morrisy was arrested the first time in December, 1908, and sentenced to the reform school. He was charged with cursing his mother. John agreed to sign the following pledge, on condition that the sentence would be suspended:

"I am going to get a job and I am going to keep it, give mother my money; am going to church, come in early at night; I am not going to drink whisky or beer; I will not swear any."

John broke that pledge last Thursday. He bought some beer in a livery barn. When he came home he abused his mother and cursed her. The boy was charged also with smoking cigarettes. This he admitted.

"Where did you get the papers?" asked the court.

"It's this way," explained the boy. "The merchants ain't allowed to sell or give them away. I went out to a drug store. I bought two packages of Dukes. When I told the man that the tobacco was no good without papers, he said it was against the law to give them to minors. Then he walked back of the prescription case.

"He looked at me, then at a box behind the counter, where he kept the papers. Of course, I got wise right away. I reached my hand in the box and got three packages."

"You won't smoke any more cigarettes," said Judge Porterfield, "if I don't send you to Booneville?"

"If I can't get the papers, I won't."

The question had to be repeated two or three times before the boy understood. He promised not to use tobacco in any form. If he does, Judge Porterfield ordered that he be taken immediately to reform school. John was taken to the boys' hotel. A job will be found for him, and if he lives up to his pledge, will not be ordered to the reform school.

Labels: abuse, alcohol, boys hotel, children, Eighth street, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, tobacco

September 21, 1909

CRUELTY A DIVORCE CHARGE.

Army Surgeon's Wife Says She Was

Prisoner in Dark Room.

Mrs. Rubey B. Rutherford filed suit for divorce in the circuit court yesterday against Henry H. Rutherford, a surgeon in the United States army, now stationed in the Philippines. They were married in 1900 in Columbia, Mo., and separated last February. She charges that Rutherford used harsh language and on several occasions locked her in her room, taking away the incandescent lights so she would be in the darkness. When she returned to the Philippines in 1908 after having visited her parents in the United States, she says he told her he was sorry she had returned. Later he told her to go home and stay, she says, and she did so. There is a child, now nine years of age.

Labels: abuse, circuit court, Divorce, military

July 23, 1909

O'HEARN'S MEMORY

PROVES TREACHEROUS.

SUPERINTENDENT CAN'T RE-

MEMBER SPECIFIC ACT.

Fails to Recall Alleged Whipping of

Negro Girl for Insulting Wife.

Investigating Treatment

of Prisoners.

That men and women prisoners have been kept in the dungeon at the workhouse for periods ranging from eleven to forty-three hours at a stretch is a part of the prison records being investigated by the board of pardons and paroles.

The investigation which Mayor Crittenden requested should be made into affairs at the workhouse was begun yesterday morning in the lower house council chamber. Superintendent Patrick O'Hearn was on the stand both morning and afternoon.

When the afternoon session opened, Frank P. Walsh, attorney for the board, who is conducting the inquiry, asked O'Hearn how many prisoners had been given sentences in the dungeon for stealing food from the dining room table.

"I don't know of any," said O'Hearn, "that was most always used as a threat. When a prisoner was sent to the dungeon it was generally for something else."

"I will read from your own records," said Mr. Walsh. "Do you remember Ed Cox, who was placed in the dungeon on September 2, 1908, for stealing bread from the table and carrying it away in his trousers leg?"

"I remember him," replied O'Hearn. "He fought the guards. I saw that myself."

Walsh -- "Do you recall Paul Tillman, Alice Stark, Sadie Shepherd, Hattie Newton, who served thirteen hours each in there, and Charles Meredith, who served an hour and a half? The records show that each was confined for stealing bread."

O'Hearn -- "I don't recall them in particular; there were so many of them put in there."

Dropping the subject for a moment, Mr. Walsh asked O'Hearn if he had ever sent prisoners out to drive city sprinkling wagons at night, if he had had his own wagons repaired at the expense of the city or if he had shod horses belonging to Mr. Cartright, former guard at Leeds, at the city's expense.

NO CHARGES FILED.

Frank M. Lowe, attorney for O'Hearn, objected. He demanded that he be given a copy of the charges against O'Hearn. He was told that there was none.

"Mr. O'Hearn is not on trial here," explained Mr. Walsh. "Things may crop out which may reflect on Kipple, head guard, some of the other guards or Mr. O'Hearn himself. There have been no specific charges filed. This board is simply making a most searching investigation with a view to bettering conditions at the workhouse. Information has been secured from prisoners, former guards and others. Even rumors are being looked into. What Mr. Lowe asks for we cannot give as we haven't it."

Mr. Lowe was told he would be furnished with copies of the evidence from day to day for his information.

"Do you keep a record of the number of days each prisoner works?" asked Mr. Walsh, resuming the inquiry.

"No," replied O'Hearn, "only the names of the guards were kept. We worked some prisoners one day and another lot the next."

O'HEARN SAYS HE IS BUSY.

Walsh -- Do you make a report to the city comptroller showing the number of days each man works?"

O'Hearn -- "No, I'm not required to. Every day excepting Sundays and holidays is credited as a working day whether the prisoner works or not.

Mr. Walsh tried to get from O'Hearn what his duties were about the institution, but they seemed so varied and even vague that he asked him to describe a typical day's work for himself.

O'Hearn -- Well, I get up early to begin with. On my way to the workhouse I may stop at the quarry for a time. Then I look after the food and general cleaning. I make trips about the yards, the stable, laundry, quarry and spend the rest of the time in my office. I may have to make trips down town after requisitions and see after men working at places on the outside. I always put in a busy day."

Walsh -- Do prisoners gamble in the cell room?

O'Hearn -- I don't think so. That is, I have never seen them.

O'Hearn explained that Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are visiting days at the workhouse. Fifteen minutes is the time limit set on visitors but they often remain longer when overlooked, he said.

DOESN'T REMEMBER WHIPPING.

During the morning session Mr. Walsh asked of Superintendent O'Hearn: Did you ever whip a negro girl for insulting your wife?"

"I don't remember," replied O'Hearn.

Walsh -- "Did Mr. Burger make a hose for you to do the whipping with?"

O'Hearn -- "I can't remember."

Walsh -- "Well, if you ever did a thing like that you surely ought to recall it. Did you or did you not whip the negro girl as I asked?"

O'Hearn -- "I just can't remember whether I did or not."

SENT WOMAN TO DUNGEON.

Edward L. Kipple, head guard at the workhouse, was questioned about prisoners being sent to the dungeon.

Walsh -- "Ever know of prisoners being sent to the dungeon?"

Kipple -- "Y-e-s, sometimes, when they got unruly they were sent there for ten or twelve hours."

Walsh -- "Ever sent a woman there?"

Kipple -- "Believe I sent one. In all I guess I've sent four or five to the dungeon."

Walsh -- "Who has the authority to send a prisoner there?"

Kipple -- "Only Mr. O'Hearn or myself."

Walsh -- "What do you consider a sufficient length of time in the dungeon?"

Kipple -- "That depends on what they do."

Mr. Walsh then read a list of names from the workhouse record of men and women prisoners who had been kept in the dungeon eleven, thirteen, fifteen, eighteen and twenty-four hours. Three had been kept there for thirty-eight hours, one for forty-one and another for forty-three hours. While in the dungeon, which has only one small opening over the door for ventilation, prisoners are shackled with their hands to the wall, making it necessary for them to stand. The dungeon is said to be in a very unsanitary condition.

Kipple testified that he had never seen nor heard of a prisoner being struck with a club while in the dining room, that blankets were never used twice without washing and that he knew nothing of vermin in the cell rooms. He also swore that he had never known of liquor and drugs being secured by the prisoners or of gambling among prisoners.

Claude Marshaw, known as "Goldie," who served a term for peddling cocaine and was himself then addicted to the habit, said that the drug was often spirited into the workhouse. He said that Mike Green and "Red" Crawford, both now escaped, had gum opium and whisky most of the time.

"Who brought the stuff in?" asked Mr. Walsh.

"I don't know, only that they had it. Green would take up a collection every afternoon to get a bottle and he always got the whisky about 7 p. m."

Walsh -- "How about the food out there?"

Marshaw -- "Bad, very bad. In the morning they always had pan gravy in a rusty pan, coffee in a rusty cup, half a loaf of hard, moldy bread and a small piece of meat.

SAW PRISONERS ATTACKED.

Walsh -- "Ever see a prisoner assaulted in the dining room?"

Marshaw -- "Yes. I saw Dan Mahoney beat a man in the dining room and I saw Mahoney, Foley, Gent and an Italian called Mike beat up another one."

Walsh -- "Was 'Riley, the Rat' there while you were there?"

Marshaw -- "Yes, two or three days, but he never even put on prison clothes. He wore 'cits' all the time, Riley did. He and Green and others gambled, playing 'coon-can' and 'craps.'"

Jesse Cooper, a negress who has had short sojourns at the workhouse, said there was vermin in the negro women's quarter, that blankets were not often washed and that the bread was hard and moldy. She also said she that two negro women had each spent two days and nights in the dungeon while she was there.

John Mulloy, a parole prisoner, told of an assault which he had witnessed on a negro boy in the dining room. It started, he said, because the boy did not step fast enough for Dan Mahoney who jabbed him with a club. The boy grabbed at the stick and was beaten over the head until he bled. Mulloy also condemned the meals.

The hearing will be resumed at 9 o'clock this morning. There are many witnesses to bet examined. By the ordinance, passed Wednesday noon, the board of pardons and paroles now has charge of the workhouse.

Labels: abuse, alcohol, attorney, food, Mayor Crittenden, narcotics, parole board, Riley the Rat, workhouse

March 12, 1909

HOSPITAL PATIENTS

TELL THEIR STORIES.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE BEGINS ITS

INVESTIGATION.

Statement Is Made That One Munici-

pal Doctor Was Brusque -- Patients

Feared Being Operated

On Needlessly.

The people making charges of alleged cruelty at the general hospital had an inning with the council investigation committees yesterday, and will have another at 2:30 o'clock next Wednesday afternoon in the chambers of the lower house of the council. Later the defense, which is represented by Attorneys Frank Lowe and T. A. J. Mastin, will be heard. W. O. Cardwell, an attorney, appears for some of the complainants and Attorney J. J. McLain is on hand in the interests of the homeopathic medical fraternity which, too, has a grievance against the hospital administration. The complaint of the homeopathists is that they are not on an equality with other medical schools at the hospital.

The proceedings opened with the reading of a letter by Mr. Cardwell from Miss Carrie M. Carroll of Independence, in which she reviewed the treatment received at the hospital by Miss Josie Pomfret of that city. Miss Pomfret was sent there as a ward of the county court, and was to have a private room. Instead of that, the girl, Miss Carroll claims, "was taken to a public ward, was treated in a brusque manner, and was addressed in loud and threatening language by the doctors because she would not remove her jewelry."

CALLS IT A BUTCHER SHOP.

"You are no better than a pauper and will get treatment as such," Miss Carroll alleges was said to Miss Pomfret, who became excited because she feared that an operation would be performed. She declared that Dr. J. Park Neal, the acting superintendent, had been very discourteous. The next day Miss Carroll called at the hospital to get Miss Pomfret.

"Do you consider you have authority to operate upon patients without notifying friends and relatives of the patients?" Miss Carroll says she asked Dr. Neal.

"Yes, I am in full authority here, and if I consider it necessary I can operate on a patient without asking anybody," Miss Carroll says was Dr. Neal's reply.

Miss Carroll claims that she was treated with much inattention when she called to take her friend from the hospital back to Independence, and concluded the letter by making this allegation: "The general hospital is a butcher shop with a madman at its head."

Miss Carroll explained that she was sending the letter as she could not attend the hearing, having been called to New York. Her affidavit, as well as that of Miss Pomfret, will be demanded by the committee.

Dr. Charles E. Allen, family physician to F. A. Wolf, a patient, who was to be operated on for hernia against his protest, testified that he did not consider an operation necessary and he had Wolf removed to Wesley hospital to prevent the threatened operation. Wolf had been sent to the hospital to be treated for a nervous breakdown.

SHE FELT HUMILIATED.

Mrs. F. A. Wolf testified that her husband was sent to the hospital by direction of Dr. R. J. Wolf, who did not tell her what was the matter with him. She said that he was very much excited, a nervous wreck. Three different times she visited the hospital, and was allowed to remain with him five minutes each time. On the third visit her husband was very much excited because he was to be operated on for hernia. She told Dr. Neal she did not want the operation performed. She called up Camp 2002, Modern Woodmen, of which her husband is a member, and they moved him to another hospital.

Mrs. Wolf said she felt humiliated because her husband had been put in a ward with dope fiends, and had been strapped to the bed. She thought the strapping to the bed was unnecessary, although she had not seen him on the occasion he was strapped to the bed.

Asked by Alderman J. G. Lapp: "Did you see him strapped to the bed?"

Mrs Wolf -- "No, sir; I did not. My husband told me about it."

F. A. Wolf, the patient, said that he had been working night and day seven days a week at his trade of hat cleaner, and last fall became a nervous wreck. He was surprised when Dr. Wolf called and ordered him to the hospital. He rode to the hospital on the seat of the ambulance. At the hospital they made him take a bath, and put him in the insane ward. One of the patients in the ward chained him to the bed by one of his legs.

"I was not violent," continued Wolf. "Next morning an attendant came along and told me that if I would fix up an old hat for him, he would take the chains off my legs. I agreed to fix his hat, and the chains were taken off. Then they made me do work that was objectionable. That night they moved me to another ward, and put me in with a noisy fellow. The doctor gave the noisemaker an injection which kept him sick all night. In the morning I told an attendant that the noisy fellow had a sick night, and the doctor replied, 'That's nothing; they get used to that after they are here a while."

PROTESTED AGAINST OPERATION.

"I saw welts on the legs of an other patient who had been whipped because he had asked for something to eat between meal hours. The Saturday following my arrival at the hospital three doctors told me I would have to be operated on for hernia.

"I protested against an operation. They told me that all of my troubles would be over after the operation. Sunday they removed me to another ward, the surgical ward, it is called, and at supper time the nurse informed me that I didn't want much to eat as I was to have an operation performed. Later that day my wife took me to Wesley hospital in an ambulance. I was weak and exhausted. No operation was performed at Wesley.

Wolf claims that his friends were denied admittance to him while he was at the general hospital, and he thought it wrong for the attendants to chain him to the bed. The night before he was sent to the hospital he acknowledged he had been picked up at the depot, and he could not tell how he got there. He didn't want to go to the hospital. The strap with which the patient was flogged, Wolf said, was about three feet long and two inches wide. The patient was chained during the flogging process, according to Wolf.

W. O. Cardwell, an attorney, swore that on December 14, 1908, he went to the hospital to get the record and affidavit of death of a young man who had died there, as he wanted to get a claim in before the Modern Woodmen. Dr. Neal said he could make the affidavit.

THE AFFIDAVIT RULE.

" 'You know our rule out here,' said Dr. Neal.

" 'What is that rule?' I asked

" 'That a fee of $2 accompany the application for the affidavit,' " Cardwell said Neal said to him.

" 'I never had to do that before,' I told Neal, but on advice of the secretary of the Woodman camp I paid the $2."

"Is the rule of the hospital to charge for furnishing affidavits of death?" Alderman J. D. Havens asked Dr. Neal.

"It is not. I always exact it, as I consider it a professional personal service.," replied the doctor.

In answer to Attorney Frank Lowe, Cardwell would not say for certain whether Dr. Neal "had said it is a rule of the hospital or our rule," but he was quite positive that former administrations at the hospitals had not exacted a fee for supplying affidavits of death.

Labels: abuse, attorney, Dr J Park Neal, general hospital, Independence, Kansas City council, lodges, mental health

February 17, 1909

GENERAL HOSPITAL IS

TO BE INVESTIGATED.

EX-PATIENTS MAKE CHARGES

AGAINST MANAGEMENT.

Cruel Treatment Alleged in Affida-

vits Read Before Council -- Com-

mittee Is Appointed to

Sift Complaints.

The lower house on the council last night named Alderman W. P. Woolf, C. J. Gilman and J. G. Lapp to a committee to investigate charges of inhumane treatment towards patients at the new general hospital.

The investigation was made upon the request of Alderman Darious Brown, who read a number of affidavits said to have been signed by patients.

Alderman Miles Bulger openly asserted that the move was a political one to embarrass the administration.

"I do not believe that Alderman Brown is any more sincere in this than he has been with his moves for a gas pressure regulation," declared Bulger.

Alderman brown denied with emphasis the charge of insincerity in wanting the alleged cruelties investigated. He added that it was impossible for him to believe that the prominent men comprising the health and hospital board would want such aspersions cast upon their management of the institution without having to falsity or correctness of them established.

FOUGHT AGAINST OPERATION.

Affidavits outlining complaints of patients who claimed to have been abused were read by Mr. Brown.

F. A. Wolf, 4237 Tracy, was taken to the hospital December 1, he affirmed, suffering from a nervous complaint, but declares the house physicians said he had a hernia and should be operated on. He says he fought being taken to the operating room and succeeded in escaping an operation until his wife could be communicated with. She called Dr. Charles E. Allen, the family physician, and Wolf was removed to Wesley hospital.

Wolf charges cruelty to other patients, declaring he had seen a patient whipped with a leather strap for asking for something to eat after regular meal hours, and had seen a man suffering from pneumonia die after being forced into a tub filled with cold water.

MODERN WOODMEN INTERESTED.

Wolf claims to be a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and a local lodge of the order is supporting him in his charges.

Frank E. Jefferson made affidavit that on October 22 he underwent an operation at the hospital, and the incision was not dressed until the 25th. Later he was moved to Hahneman Medical college.

Arthur Slim, a brick layer, declared that while he was in the hospital with an ulcerated leg and suffering much pain, a doctor ordered him to the kitchen to work. He replied "that if he had to work, he might as well be laying brick."

SLIM ACCUSES PHYSICIAN.

Then the doctor repeated his order that Slim must either work in the kitchen or leave. Slim says he left, and limped to the emergency hospital and asked they physicians there to dress his sore leg. They refused, he avers, because he had left the general hospital.

Then Slim went to the University hospital, where his leg was dressed, and he was ordered back to the general hospital.

"December 23 I went back to the hospital," claims Slim, "and when the doctor saw me, he told others he would 'fix' me. He poured a quart bottle of acid over my sore leg."

EAGLES TOOK HIM AWAY.

Signor Friscoe was a trapeze performer. He swears that on January 16, 1909, he fell from a trapeze at the Hippodrome, breaking five ribs and paralyzing his lower limbs. He complains that he was roughly handled both in the ambulance and at the hospital, and that when he asked to be allowed to communicate with the Benevolent Order of Eagles, of which he is a member, his request was denied. Finally, he got into communication with officials of the Kansas City aerie, and was removed to another hospital.

W. O. Cardwell asserts that Walter Gessley died at the hospital, and that a doctor refused to state the cause of death or furnish a death certificate until he was paid $2.

An attack on the hospital management came up in a different form in the upper house of the council. The board asked for authority to spend $5,000 for surgical instruments, an X-ray machine and fitting up a laboratory.

DR. NEAL WILL NOT DENY.

Dr. J. Park Neal, house surgeon at the general hospital, said last night:

"Neither I nor any member of the hospital staff care to deny the charges made against the hospital. We simply ignore them. They are too absurd to make a denial necessary."

Labels: abuse, Alderman Bulger, Dr J Park Neal, general hospital, hippodrome, hospitals, Kansas City council, lodges, Tracy avenue

October 27, 1908

SAYS GIRLS ARE MISTREATED.

J. W. Freeman Complains of the State

Industrial School.

J. W. Freeman of 66 South Thirteenth street, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday appeared before the board of county commissioners and offered a protest against the manner in which the girls are treated at the state industrial school for girls in Beloit, Kas. His complaint was based upon the incarceration in the institute of Pearl Hunt, 16 years old, sent from the juvenile court of this city.

He declared that inmates of that institution were subjected to inhuman treatment, and between sobs informed the members of the board that he was willing to make affidavit of his charges. After being told that the local board of county commissioners had nothing to do with the state institution, he said he would sell some of his property situated in the county to force an investigation. He stated that he had called upon the state board of control, but received no encouragement. Some of his charges were against the management of the institution were of such a character that the commissioners refused to consider them. He was told to prefer these charges to the state board of control.

Labels: abuse, children, Kansas City Kas

July 6, 1907

WIFE THINKS HER

HUSBAND GUILTY

WILL NOT VISIT HIM IN HIS PO-

LICE STATION CELL.

NEW GRIEF FOR MRS. HEADLEY.

HUSBAND'S ARREST FOLLOWED

BY MOTHER'S ILLNESS.

Headley Is a Stationary Fireman,

and Declares a "Job is Being

Put Up on Him" -- Vic-

tim Is Improving.

Just as Mrs. Ward Headley had finished reading of the attack upon 5-year-old Eunice Swift, with which her husband is charged, in the morning papers yesterday, her sister entered her room and told her to hurry to the bedside of their mother, Mrs. Melinda Greenstreet, who, it was thought, was dying. The bride of a week, already dumbfounded by the sudden knowledge of the crime for which her husband is under arrest, sat as one dead to the world, as if she had not heard the sad news which her sister had brought. It took much urging and explaining by the sister before Mrs. Headley collected her wits enough to understand just what was happening.

Hastily she arose from her chair and without a word walked bareheaded to her mother's home, 1706 Indiana avenue. There she found her aged mother at the point of death. Mrs. Greenstreet had not been informed of the charges against Mrs. Headley's husband, and without a word, Mrs. Headley took her place beside the bed. Later in the day when a visitor questioned her concerning her husband and his alleged crime, Mrs. Headley could scarcely speak, so great was the strain under which she labored.

THINKS HE WAS DRUNK.

"I do not know what to think of it," she said. "Ward was a particular friend of the Kelso and Swift families, and to learn that he had attacked those little children was a complete surprise to me.

"The only explanation I can offer is that he was crazy drunk. For three days steadily he has been under the influence of liquor. Friday night some of our friends came over to our house and gave us a chariavari. He was drunk when he went to bed that night and his actions were peculiar. Saturday morning when he got up he had not quite sobered, but he insisted on going to a saloon for another drink. Against my wishes he went, and he stayed two hours. When he returned he brought two bottles of beer with him.

"That afternoon he decided to go to the Kelso's, 'just for a few minutes,' he said. I understand that he had more beer there, but I have seen nothing of him since he left our home at noon.

"Am I going down to the jail to see him?" she repeated in reply to a question. "Well, I should say not. I am through with him for good. My mother is almost dead, and I wouldn't leave her for anybody. I don't think I will try to get him free, or to get him out on bond. I can't help believing the charges are true for the evidence is unmistakable."

Mrs. Kelso and Mrs. Swift, the mothers of the two girls, went to the Greenstreet home yesterday to see Mrs. Headley and to express their sympathy for the unfortunate young wife. "I feel very sorry for Mrs. Headley," said Mrs. Swift. "She is such a fine little woman, much better than Headley deserved. This and her mother's condition are a severe blow to her Mrs. Kelso and I will do all we can to help her through her trouble, but we will not let up on the prosecution of her husband."

VICTIM GROWS BETTER.

Eunice Swift, the little girl who was most seriously injured, is said to be greatly improved, but is still under a physician's care. Ethel Kelso is still suffering from nervousness and extreme fright.

Ward Headley, who is arrested and charged with the assault, is a fireman employed by the Browing King Clothing Company building. At police headquarters, where he is being held, he made the following statement:

"I am innocent of the crime they charge me with. I have known the little Kelso girl ever since she was born, and liked her very much.

"This arrest reminds me of the time I was arrested on the charge of stealing a watch, not many years ago. At that time they thought they had enough evidence to put me behind the bars, but I fooled them and proved that I was innocent. That's what I am going to do this time, too."

Headley requested that his wife be notified of his arrest, and that she come down to the jail to see him. He wanted to talk to her, and explain that thing were not as bad as they had been painted. He felt confident that he would be successful in making his wife believe that it was a put up game against him."

Labels: abuse, alcohol, illness, Indiana avenue, marriage, police headquarters, violence

July 5, 1908

YOUNG MARRIED MAN

IN SERIOUS TROUBLE.

WARD HEADLEY HELD BY PO-

LICE ON GRAVE CHARGE.

Accused of Attacking Little Daugh-

ters of Friends Whom He Was

Visiting -- One Child Un-

der Doctor's Care.

Ward Headley, 30 years old, a clerk employed in the Browning King clothing store, was locked in a cell at No. 6 police station last night. A charge of criminal assault probably will be made against him tomorrow. Headley lives at 2921 East Sixteenth street and was married two weeks ago to Mrs. Alice Caton. His wife was not informed last night of the serious nature of the charge against him.

The alleged attack occurred in the home of O. J. Swift, a motorman on the Jackson avenue street car line, 1815 Kansas avenue. In the same house lives Robert Kelso and his family. Headley and the Swifts and Kelsos have been friends for ten years. Headley spent the afternoon with the families yesterday and remained for 5 o'clock dinner.

After dinner, according to Mrs. Kelso, she and her husband went upstairs with Headley. Mr. Kelso fell asleep in the room, and after a few minutes conversation with Headley Mrs. Kelso excused herself and went into the kitchen on the first floor.

About five minutes later she heard her 7-year-old daughter, Ethel, calling to her, but thinking that nothing serious was the matter, waited some time before replying. Within ten minutes, Eunice Swift, 5 years old, came running downstairs to her mother, who was also in the kitchen. She was crying. She said Headley had attacked her.

WOMAN DRAGGED HIM OUT.

The two women ran to the room where Headley was sitting and ordered him from the house. He refused to go, saying he had done nothing to warrant their displeasure. The two women caught him by the arms an d head and dragged him out of the room to the head of the steps and pushed him down the stairs.

Mrs. Kelso followed him down the stairs, catching him at the foot of the steps. Mrs. Swift remained in the house to give attention to her child.

When Headley reached the sidewalk Mrs. Kelso caught up with him and began to beat and scratch him. Headley started to run, but he could not get away from the woman. Seeing that he could no shake from her grasp, Headley turned and grappled with her.

Meanwhile several men started on the run to the rescue of the mother. ieutenant William Carroll and Patrolman William Hanlon were passing and seeing the crowd and the commotion, the officers ran to the man and woman. They arrested Headley and hurried him to the corner. By this time the men, fifty or more, were muttering threats of vengeance against Headley. It was some time before the patrol wagon from No. 6 police station, Twenty-first and Flora avenue arrived, and the officers had their hands full. Mrs. Kelso accompanied the officers and their prisoner to the station in the patrol wagon, saying that she "would not leave that man until he was dead or behind bars."

"I WANTED TO KILL HIM."

In discussing the affair at their home last night, Mrs. Kelso said: "I prayed God to give me the strength of a man. If ever I had the desire to kill a man it was when I was following Headley down the street, beating and scratching him. It was not a desire for vengeance on my part just at that time. It was just a great mental longing to be able to do something that would pain him, something that a man could have done. I am glad now that I did not have the strength to kill him, for it will be best to let the law take its course.

"I have known Headley for several year, and never before knew him to do an immoral or brutal act. What led him to do it is more than I can explain, unless it was the influence of liquor. But he did not appear to be drunk, and at dinner he talked in a very rational manner."

Mrs. Swift did not have much to say other than a desire to see Headley severely punished. She constantly kept her eye on the child, which was lying asleep on the bed by her side.

Headley refused to discuss the affair with the officers at the police station to any extent. He told Lieutenant Carrol that he held both children on his lap and was merely teasing them.

Labels: abuse, children, crime, Kansas avenue, No 6 police station, police, Sisteenth street, violence

March 14, 1908

INDICTS FRAKER FIVE TIMES.

Grand Jury Holds Him for Abuse of

Two Boys.

Upon the statements of Halbert Hopper and Harry Elleman, boys, Dr. George W. Fraker was indicted on five counts by the criminal court grand jury yesterday afternoon. Dr. Fraker was arrested Thursday afternoon by Detective J. M. Orford upon complaint of the boys, who told of his unusual abuse. The minimum penalty for conviction upon one count of this offense is ten years in the penitentiary.

Dr. Fraker remained in the county jail last night in default of bond. To inquiries by a reporter for The Journal, he said:

"The Hopper boy has a grudge against me. He is a very bad boy -- both he and his brother Bert -- and I can show where both have criminal records. Halbert is an incorrigible and was very hard to manage. He was sent to me from the Children's Home Finding Society of St. Louis over two years ago.

"I have in my possession now a statement signed by Hopper in which he accuses a doctor at the institution from which he came, with the very same crimes. Oh, he is a very bad boy When I could not manage him I sent him back to Dr. Stahman, who had sent him to me, and Dr. Stahman put him in the House of Refuge, from which he and his two companions recently escaped. He always believed that I had him placed in the latter place and for that reason felt very bitter towards me."

"Then how do you explain that Harry Elleman, who has lived with you almost two years, makes similar charges?" the doctor was asked. "Has he got a grudge against you?"

"Not in the least," was his prompt reply. "Harry is a good boy and was scared by the police into what he said. There is a whole lot back of this thing that has not yet come out."

Labels: abuse, children, criminal court, doctors, St Louis, The Journal

March 13, 1908

CHARGE HIDEOUS

DEEDS TO FRAKER

BOYS ACCUSE DOCTOR OF MOST

REVOLTING CRIMES.

HE IS ARRESTED BY POLICE.

CASE WILL BE PLACED BEFORE

GRAND JURY AT ONCE.

One Lad Escapes From a Boys' Refuge

in St. Louis and Comes Here

to Tell His Terrible

Story.

At 10 o'clock yesterday morning three boys walked into the emergency hospital. They were runaways from the House of Refuge, an Industrial home at Osage and Virginia avenues, St. Louis. At Olivette, Mo., they were chased by a bull dog and ran through a bed of lime. Their legs were badly burned.

The boys gave the name of Albert Hopper, 14; Charles Reynolds, 17, and Cyrne Enge, 16 years old. After Dr. Julius Frischer had bound up the lads' burned limbs Hopper told a story which alarmed the doctor. The three boys were taken before Captain Whitsett, where Hopper said that he had come all the way from St. Louis to tell his story to the police. He told it again

Based on the boy's statement Dr. George W. Fraker, who formerly had offices at 1209 Grand avenue, but is now located at 703 Central avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was immediately arrested by Detective James M. Orford. He is being held for investigation. Last night John W. Hogan, an assistant prosecutor, took the statements of Hopper and other boys here who have lived with Fraker. Hogan said that this morning an information charging a nameless crime would be filed against Dr. Fraker in the criminal court if the case did not go to the grand jury direct.

Twenty-five months ago Hopper, who is an orphan, said he was in an orphans' home run by the Children's Home Finding Society at Margaretta and Newstead avenues, St. Louis. From there he was sent to Dr. Fraker at 1209 Grand avenue. He remained here with the doctor three months and one month in Excelsior Springs, Mo., the doctor's old home. Hopper's statement, which is horrible in details, tells of frequent instances when he was made to submit to most unnatural abuses. He said he was often beaten with a rubber hose when he refused to submit.

CAME TO TELL POLICE.

"I came all the way here," said Hopper, "to put Dr Fraker where he belongs. After I had been with Dr. Fraker four months, we were in Excelsior Springs. One day I threatened to tell on him. I was badly beaten and the next day sent to the House of Refuge in St. Louis. I went alone and was glad to go. I told the assistant superintendent my story, but he paid no attention to me. After being there a year and nine months, I determined to run away and come here, and tell it to the police. The other boys only came along as my friends. We escaped through a coal hole last Sunday morning."

Following the arrest of Dr. Fraker, Harry Elleman, 14 years old, was taken from Dr. Fraker's office at 703 Central avenue by Detective Mansel of Kansas City, Kas., and questioned. Mansell telephoned Detective Orford and he went and got young Elleman. This boy also made a statement to Hogan accusing Fraker. His statement was almost exactly the same as that made by Hopper.

Elleman has lived with Fraker since August, 1906, with the exception of the last five months, when he was living with his mother, Mrs. Ora Nordquist, at 1903 North Tenth street, Kansas City, Kas. Five days ago his relatives moved to the country and Harry returned to the doctor. While living on this side with the doctor, Elleman went by the name of Harry Fraker at the Humboldt school.

ONE YOUNG MAN DIED.

While living with Dr. Fraker at 1209 Grand avenue Cyril O'Neal, a young Englishman, 19 years old, died in September under suspicious circumstances. Dr. Fraker signed the death certificate as "acute Bright's disease," with typhoid fever as a contributory cause. An autopsy held by Coroner Thompson proved that O'Neal died of septic poisoning. The dead boy's brother, Claud O'Neal, is said to be still living with Fraker.

Frakers apparent philanthropy in caring for O'Neal, whom he met up with as a stranger in Put-in-Bay, O., caused much comment. He cared for him constantly all the time he was ill and paid for cablegrams to his people in England. When O'Neal went to live with the doctor Elleman was sent home.

Robert McBride, 17 years old, another boy now living with Dr. Fraker at 703 Central avenue, Kansas City, Kas., called at police headquarters last night to see the doctor Just at that time the other boys were making their statements concerning Fraker's treatment of them. McBride was not allowed to see Fraker, but was detained and caused to make a statement. Little was gained from him.

ALWAYS HAS A BOY.

There has not been a time in the last twenty years, it is said, that Dr. Fraker has not had from one to two young boys living with him. Fraker created a big sensation fourteen years ago by mysteriously disappearing. He had something less than $100,000 life insurance at the time. He, a boy who was living with him, and an old negro went fishing on the Missouri river. An embankment apparently fell and the doctor with it. There was a deep eddy at that point where the water had undermined the bank. The negro and the boy told of hearing the "big splash" and later, when they ran to the scene, seeing only Dr. Fraker's hat floating away in the stiff current.

Several months afterwards detectives located Dr. Fraker living in an isolated lumber camp in the pine forests of the Northwest. He was arrested and returned home, where attempts were made by some of the insurance companies which had paid death claims on his life, to prosecute him. As it could not be proved that Fraker had in any way benefited by the ruse or received any of the money, nothing came of it.

Hopper and Elleman were detained at police headquarters last night. Assistant Prosecutor Hogan said that they, with other witnesses, would be taken before the grand jury today.

Labels: abuse, Central avenue, children, crime, detectives, doctors, emergency hospital, Excelsior Springs, Grand avenue, immigrants, Kansas City Kas, Missouri river, orphans, St Louis

May 1, 1907

TORTURED A KITTEN.

Humane Officer Will Prosecute Offender

if He Can Be Found.

W. H. Gibbons, Humane officer, is looking for the person who placed a rubber around a kitten's foot at the cigar store of W. E. Jenkins, Eighth and Walnut streets, and caused the little thing so much suffering that it finally had to be chloroformed. The case was reported to him yesterday.

"There were two kittens there, a maltese and a black," said Mr. Gibbens. "Recently the clerks discovered that the maltese was holding up one of its front feet as if in pain. The kitten grew ill and could not eat and its leg was swollen to an enormous size. When it was chloroformed and a closer examination made it was discovered that a rubber had been placed around its foot just above the paw so tightly that the circulation had been entirely cut off. The man who placed it there probably did it in 'fun' to see the kittne shake its leg, but leaving it there was the inhuman part of it. I will bring the man before Judge Kyle in police court if he can be found."

The little maltese kitten and the black one were great playmates. When the maltese was chloroformed the little black one saw it after it was dead. It left the store within a few minutes and has never returned. Previous to that time, it had never been out of the store door. The clerks are wondering if it went off somewhere and died of grief.

Labels: abuse, animals, cigars, Eighth street, Humane Society, Judge Kyle, Walnut Street

March 4, 1907

AND OGLE'S IN THE LOCKUP.

"What! Pay His Fine of $100!"

Gasped Mrs. Ogle. "Never!"

"Well," said Mrs. Elmer Ogle, in answer to a question yesterday afternoon, "the reason I didn't horsewhip my husband in police court as the judge told me to was this: I knew that if I whipped him there, and he was let go, it would be me next. If I whipped him there, when he got home he would have beaten me again, and maybe done a better job of it than he did the first time. So, I thought, if I don't whip him, and let him be sent to the workhouse, I may have time to get away from him before he does me any further harm."

Mrs. Ogle is a small woman. She married Ogle three years ago. She was a widow and he was a widower. They own a grocery store at 3403 East Thrity-first street, and live in the four rooms above it. Mrs. Ogle confesses to being 43 years of age. Ogle says he is 30. They have had no children since their marriage.

Ogle, who was fined $100 in police court Saturday morning for beating his wife, is now in the workhouse. Mrs. Ogle visited him there yesterday. He had sent for her.

"I told him," said Mrs. Ogle, "that I would not live with him again. He had sent for me to get me to pay his fine and let him out. I refused to do it. He told the judge yesterday morning that he would let me have everything else if I would let him have the horse and wagon to go away with. I have since agreed to that, and I get the grocery store. I shall sell it. After that I don't know what I shall do."

"Will you pay his fine out of the proceeds and get your husband out of the workhouse?"

"I don't know what I shall do about that," replied Mrs. Ogle. "He has a brother who is going to try tomorrow to get him out. I may decide to pay the fine, but -- that $100 looks mighty good to me."

"At least," she went on, "I won't live with him again. I won't live with any man who beats me. It never happened to me before, and I don't propose to let it happen again if I can help it."

Labels: abuse, courtroom, domestic violence, grocers, police court, Thirty-first street, workhouse

February 2, 1907

HITS SCHOOL GIRL.

NOW THERE IS A WARRANT FOR THE PRINCIPAL.

SHE MADE A FACE AT HIM

AND HE SLAPPED.

Dora Owens, 13, Says a Tooth Was Loosened and Her Nose Made to Bleed by Albert Evans, and Mother Tells Police.

Because Dora Owens, 13 years old, a pupil in his school, made a face at him, Albert Evans, principal of the Bancroft school in Kansas City, Kas., struck her in the mouth with such a force as to loosen one of her teeth, lacerate her lips, and make her nose bleed. This is the story told by Mrs. Tenny Wilburn, of 508 Elizabeth avenue, the child's mother. She swore out a warrant for Principal Evans' arrest yesterday.

"My little girl came home Wednesday," said Mrs. Wilburn last night, "with blood streaming from her mouth and nose, and her dress was red with it. She told me that the principal had struck her in the mouth with his hand, and I believe it, because one of her teeth was knocked loose.

"The only reason I know for him to have punished her was because she asked to be excused. She is a sickly little girl and unable to attend school all of the time."

Mrs. Wilburn says this is not the first time that she has heard of Principal Evans striking his pupils, and she declares her intention of prosecuting him as far as the law allows. She is the wife of W. M. Wilburn, an employee of Armour & Co. Dora Owens is her own child from a former marriage.

Principal Evans tells a more complete story. He admits to striking the little girl, but he says he only slapped across the moth with the back of his hand. She had made a face at him while he was talking to her about her continual breaches of discipline, he says.

Dora is a pupil in the Fifth grade, taught by Miss Florence Knox. Miss Knox frequently complained to me of the little girl's conduct, saying she was practically uncontrollable. Wednesday the teacher came to me and told me that Dora refused to obey her, and that unless she became better in her conduct, she couldn't be kept in her room any longer.

"I had no sooner begun than she puckered up her features, and made a face at me. Then I slapped her with the back of my hand. Her nose began to bleed, and with her hands she smeared the blood over her face and dress and went home."

Superintendent of Schools M. E. Pearson said last night that the matter had been called to his attention, and that he is investing it. The warrant for Principal Evans' arrest was in the hands of the police.

Labels: abuse, children, Kansas City Kas, schools

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, typhoid, Westport

January 8, 1907

CRUEL TEAMSTER FINED $10.

Grant Stainbrook Beat a Mule With a Wagon Spoke

Grant Stainbrook, a teamster, was fined $10 in police court yesterday for beating a mule over the head with a wagon spoke. Patrolman Robert Coffey saw the man abusing the animal at Twelfth and Walnut streets and took him directly to police court.

Labels: abuse, animals, police, police court, teamster, Twelfth street, Walnut Street