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

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 2, 1910

BOY AFRAID OF AUTOS

KILLED BY BIG CAR.

Frank Smoot, 15, Crushed Under

Overturned Delivery Van --

Had Premonition of

Disaster.

FRANK SMOOT.

Frank Smoot, 15 years old, delivery boy for the John Taylor Dry Goods Company, was instantly killed at 7:20 o'clock last night when a new twenty-four horsepower delivery wagon in which he was riding struck a pile of bricks on Baltimore avenue between Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth streets and turned over, crushing him.

Frank Limpus, who was driving, works for the company which sold the car and was teaching a man to drive it.

They were just finished making deliveries and were returning when the accident happened. Limpus and J. J. Emmert, who had charge of the deliveries, were on the seat and young Smoot was seated on Emmert's lap.

"We were going north on Baltimore about six or seven miles an hour," said Limpus. "It was rather dark and we did not see the pile of bricks until we were almost upon them. I tried to pull away from them, but did not have time and our right front wheel hit with a crash. The bricks were piled about seven feet high and when the car, which weighs about 3,500 pounds, struck them the corner of the pile was torn away. The force of the collision did not stop us and the wheels on the right side ran up onto the pile until the car was overbalanced and turned over. The three of us were thrown out, young Smoot falling beneath the heavy car, the weight of which crushed his life out, almost instantly.

"It all happened so quickly that we did not realize he was hurt until Emmert and I had picked ourselves up. I saw that the boy was caught under the car and tried to remove him, but was not able to lift the car off him. A crowd of people came up and several men helped me lift the car and we pulled him out."

Dr. Harry Czarlinsky, deputy coroner, had the body removed to the Freeman & Marshall undertaking rooms.

The victim of the accident was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Smoot, 19 East Thirty-first street. Mrs. Smoot was at home preparing supper for her son when she was informed of his death.

"I knew something would happen," she said. "He did not want to go to work this morning. He is not used to automobiles and does not like to be around them. Just before he left for work he said to me, "Mamma, I expect John Taylor's will be getting air ships before long and deliver the packages with a long rope down the chimneys."

Mr. Taylor was notified of the accident and called at the undertaking rooms last night.

The dead boy had had been working for the dry goods company for the past year. He was born in Chicago, but was brought to Kansas City when he was six months old. The father of the boy runs a dress goods sample room at 406 East Eleventh street. Besides the parents, two little sisters, Addie and Edna, survive.

No one responsible for the bricks being piled in the street could be located last night, but several persons who live in the immediate neighborhood of the accident assert that no warning lights were placed.

Labels: accident, automobiles, Baltimore avenue, children, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Eleventh street, Thirty-first street, undertakers

January 25, 1910

3 KILLED, 3 HURT

WHEN AUTO SKIDS

OVER CLIFF DRIVE.

MACHINE DROPS EIGHTY FEET

AND IS DEMOLISHED

ON ROCKS.

John Mahoney and Wife and

Thomas McGuire the

Victims.

WRECKED AUTO WHICH PLUNGED OVER EMBANKMENT ON CLIFF DRIVE, KILLING THREE.

Three persons were killed and three, who by a miraculous streak of providence escaped death, were injured yesterday afternoon when a large automobile plunged over an eighty-foot embankment on the Cliff drive, at Scarritt's Point. The dead:

John Mahoney, aged 51, grading contractor, 616 North Seventh street, Kansas City, Kas.
Mrs. John Mahoney, aged 46 years.
Thomas McGuire, 50, a foreman for Mr. Mahoney; resided at 53 South Forest avenue, Kansas City, Kas. Father of six children.

THE INJURED.

John O'Connor, 42 years old, of Fifty-first street and Swope parkway.
Miss Nellie Mahoney, 19 years old, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney.
Lillian, 6-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney.

The O'Connors also have two other children, John, age 8, and Anna, age 13, who were in school at the time of the fatal crash which claimed their parents.

The accident is ascribed to a slippery condition of the driveway, water which trickled from the cliff having frozen. The machine, in rounding the curve at Scarritt's point, evidently skidded on the ice toward the precipice at the outer edge of the drive. Mahoney, who was the contractor that had charge of the grading work on this scenic drive, was driving the car. He evidently tried to steer it toward the cliff, with the result that t he heavy rear end of the car was thrown completely around, the rear wheels crashing through a fence and over the abyss.

FORTY-FOOT DROP.

At the point where the machine went over the cliff there is a sheer descent of probably forty feet, with probably forty feet more of steep hillside ending in an accumulation of boulders. Tracks in the roadway showed where the rear wheels of the car had backed over the precipice and the entire car was precipitated upon the rocks below, alighting on its side and crushing two of the victims. The others either landed on the rocks or were caught in the wreckage.

The scene of the accident is just above and a little to the southeast of the Heim brewery and the men who witnessed the tragedy, or who were attracted by the piteous cries of the victims, rushed to the place and gave first aid to the injured. Police from No. 8 station, who were notified, carried the injured down the cliff, which owing to the slippery condition of the ground, is almost impassable even for pedestrians, placed them in the police ambulance and hurried them to hospitals. The dead were removed later to undertaking establishments, the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney being taken to the Leo J. Stewart parlors and that of Mr. McGuire to Carroll-Davidson's.

BODIES UNDER CAR.

The scene following the tragedy was a sickening and pitiable one. the first persons to arrive found pinioned under the wreckage of the big motor car the mangled bodies of Mr. Mahoney, Mr. McGuire, Mr. O'Connor and the two girls. Mrs. Mahoney lay on the rocks at the rear of the machine unconscious, but still alive. She expired within ten minutes. Mr. Mahoney and Mr. McGuire were killed outright evidently.

The younger daughter of the Mahoneys still grasped a doll which she had carried in her arms in the machine and, gazing upon the forms of her parents as they lay still puon the frozen ground she cried piteously:

"I want my papa, I want my mamma."

It was with difficulty that she was induced to leave the spot and her childish grief brought tears to the eyes of every bystander. Miss Mahoney was dazed badly. She talked little, though seeming to partially realize what had happened, and just before she was placed in the police ambulance she was prostrated. Mr. O'Connor also was dazed, though he walked about and declared he was not hurt.

TWO SEE ACCIDENT.

Daniel Ferhnback, 19 years old, of 28 Bigelow street, just below Scarritt's Point, with Thomas Nelligan, 10 years old, were eye-witnesses to the accident. Ferhnback was chopping wood in his yard and the Nelligan boy was with him when they glanced up and saw the machine go over the brink of the hill.

"It was terrible," said Ferhnback. "The rear end went over first and the whole thing fell down into the hollow. It was done so quickly I hardly knew what had happened, but it seemed to me that the machine partly turned over. The noise sounded like a bunch of sewer pipe falling and hitting something."

For a moment, Ferhnback said, he scarcely knew what to do. Then he heard a cry, "O, God! O, God! " It was Mr. O'Connor pinioned under the car.

Ferhnback and his boy companion at once started up the hill but Nelligan, being more nimble, arrived at the top first. The boy took one look at the mass of twisted iron and wood and at the blood covered bodies under and about the machine and he ran back the winding path to where Ferhnback was hurrying up.

"It's awful," said the boy, covering his face with his hands as if to shut out the sight.

CRASH IS HEARD.

About the time that Ferhnback and Nelligan were horrified to see the machine plunge over the cliff, M. G. Givson, of 2026 Charlotte street, was walking along the Chicago & Alton tracks, far below the Cliff drive. He hears a crash but paid no attention to it and was startled by the screams of a woman, evidently one of the Mahoney sisters. He also rushed up the hill, arriving about the time that Ferhnback reached the top.

Mr. Gibson picked up the little Mahoney child and bandaged her head with handkerchiefs. Mrs. Mahoney lay free of the car, and Mr. Gibson said that she still breathed when he arrived. He took one of the cushions which had been hurled from the automobile and placed it under the woman's head, but within ten minutes she was dead.

Miss Nellie Mahoney was carried to one side by the two men, who made her as comfortable as possible. Mr. O'Connor lay with one leg pinioned under a rear wheel of the car, a short distance from the body of Mrs. Mahoney. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Ferhnback managed to lift the rear portion of the car enough to extricate the man and Mr. O'Connor immediately got up and walked about, declaring that he had no pain and that he was all right.

POLICE NOTIFIED.

The accident happened at 3:15 o'clock. It was not so very many minutes later that Mr. Gibson, having done everything he could to help the injured, ran to No. 8 police station, 3001 Guinotte street. Sergeant Edward McNamara, Patrolman Gus Metzinger and Motorcycleman George A. Lyon responded at once. They were joined later by Park Policeman W. F. Beabout and the police carried the two Mahoney girls and assisted Mr. O'Connor down the cliff to the ambulance.

Coroner B. H. Zwart went in peerson to view the bodies, and he summoned undertakers. It was 5 o'clock before the bodies finally were removed, the conditions in the vicinity of the scene of the horror making it difficult to carry the bodies out.

Even the coroner, accustomed as he is to such things, was moved at the horror of the scene. Mr. Mahoney lay crushed under the car and a piece of the spokes of the machine was found to have penetrated his adbomen.

The Point, which is the highest on the Cliff drive, lies under the shadow of the north side of the cliff. the sun does not strike there, save during a small portion of the day, and water which runs down the hill is frozen, as it trickles across the roadway, into a mass of treacherous ice, making it difficult for motor cars without ice clutches to round the curve at that point without skidding.

Mr. Mahoney, who was driving the machine, sat in the front seat with Mr. McGuire, and the others sat in the rear seat. The car was a seven-passenger Pierce-Arrow. The tracks in the driveway show that the machine came round the curve well within the middle of the roadway and away from the precipice. It is probable that Mahoney had noticed the slippery condition of the pavement and purposely kept away from the brink.

When the fatal stretch of ice was reached, however, the auto was shown to have skidded greatly toward the chasm and the theory is that Mahoney, in order to avoid the very thing which happened, headed his car toward the inside of the road. If he did, he miscalculated terribly, for this swung the heavy rear of the car around over the edge of the cliff and the ill-fated occupants were hurled down up the rocks. The wooden fence, through wh ich the auto smashed, was erected as a warning to daring motorists. It went out as if made of egg shell.

That the machine did not take fire and add to the horror is believed to have been due to a final effort of Mr. Mahoney. the engine was found to have been shut down entirely, and it is believed that Mr. Mahoney automatically pulled his lever as the machine shot backward over the precipice.

At the emergency hospital, whither the two Mahoney girls and Mr. O'Connor were removed, it was stated last evening that Mr. O'Connor's case is the least serious of any of the injured. He sustained a wound on the back of his head and some bruises. He probably will recover.

After being removed to the hospital, little Lillian Mahoney lapsed into a coma and Miss Nellie Mahoney became hysterical. It was stated that neither of the girls knew that their parents are dead. It was feared neither could stand the shock.

The condition of both the girls is regarded as serious. Miss Nellie sustained a dislocation of one of the shoulders, a fracture of the right arm and bruises about the body.

The younger girl received a bad cut about the back of the head and bruises about the body. Both girls are suffering terribly from nervous shock, and this is what makes their cases so grave.

It was said at St. Margaret's hospital at midnight that Lillian Mahoney is probably fatally injured. The child is under the effects of opiates. It is belived her skull is fractured.

BUILT THE DRIVEWAY.

Mr. Mahoney executed the grading work on the very driveway where he, with his wife, met death. It is said that he was familiar with every foot of the ground along the roadway and that because of the pride which he took in the work he particularly liked taking a spin in his machine along the course.

JOHN MAHONEY.

The ill-fated machine was purchased by Mr. Mahoney from the estate of Mrs. Mary S. Dickerson, who died. It is said that Mr. Mahoney paid $3,500 for the car.

FRIENDS SHOW SYMPATHY.

A telegram telling of the death of Mr. Mahoney was dispatched late last night to his old schoolmate and business partner, Justice Michael Ross, who is now visiting in Jacksonville, Fla. Mrs. Ross went to the residence of the dead contractor last night and arranged to take charge of the children.

"My husband and Mr. mahoney were lifelong friends. I know if Michael were here he would want me to take care of the children and and give them a temporary or even a permanent home," Mrs. Ross said.

Annie and Johnny Mahoney heard about the catastrophe at 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon. They were overwhelmed with grief.

CHILD PREDICTED ACCIDENT.

"Oh, I told papa not to buy that auto. I told him all along it would lead to some accident," sobbed the girl.

The boy, four years younger, soon quieted himself and began to assure his sister. The children were taken last night to the Ross home, where they may stay permanently.

Labels: accident, automobiles, children, Cliff drive, Coroner Zwart, death, Guinotte avenue, Justice Ross, police

January 24, 1910

BOY ACCIDENTALLY

KILLS STEPSISTER.

Carries Dying Child Into House

and Runs Mile and a Half

for a Doctor.

Sobbing with grief and carrying in his arms the unconscious form of Elizabeth Baumgarten, his little sister, who was bleeding form a bullet hole in her forehead, Willam Mudder, 16 years old, staggered into the home of his stepfather, Marten Baumgarten, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday afternoon.

Baumgarten, a carpenter, sat by the side of his wife, who is confined to her bed with a 2-weeks-old baby by her side in the bedroom of their little home. A number of old acquaintances were also in the room. It was while they were talking and laughing the boy entered with his burden.

"I didn't mean to do it papa," he shrieked. He hurriedly explained that he had shot the little girl accidentally with a .22-caliber target rifle. Bolting from the room, the boy ran a mile and a half to the office of Dr. David W. Thompson at Nineteenth street and Quindaro boulevard.

"Doctor, I shot my little sister accidentally, and I want you to come to her quick," he shouted as he entered the doctor's office.

Dr. Thompson hurried with the boy to the home. The bullet had entered the middle of the child's forehead and lodged near the base of the brain. She died about twenty minutes after the doctor arrived. Dr. Thompson notified Dr. J. A. Davis, coroner of Wyandotte county, who decided that an autopsy would be unnecessary.

The Mudder lad works during the week for his aunt, Mrs. John Smith, who runs a grocery at Twenty-seventh street and Bell avenue in Kansas City, Mo. He went home yesterday and began a romp with his four brothers and three stepsisters. He took a little target rifle belonging to the step father and, calling the children, started out in the back yard to shoot at a mark. All seven of the children walked down the back stairs from the porch. Elizabeth, 4 years old, was the last. Just as she reached the bottom step, by some unknown means which the lad himself cannot explain, the gun was discharged, the bullet entering the little girl's forehead.

Mrs. Baumgarten was prostrated over the little girl's death. The father, too, was grief-stricken. The Mudder boy was affected more than either. He could not be comforted and paced the rooms of the house back and forth. Dr. Thompson said last night that the boy was nearly crazed when he came to his office.

Martin Baumgarten, the boy's stepfather, said last night that William was absolutely blameless. "I am confident that the shooting was purely accidental," he said. "The boy loved his little stepsister just the same as if she had been his own sister. It was just one of those unfortunate, unavoidable accidents.

Funeral services for the little girl will be held tomorrow morning at the Church of the Blessed Sacramet in Chelsea place. Burial will be in St. John's cemetery.

Labels: accident, children, death, doctors, grocers, guns, Kansas City Kas

January 18, 1910

NEARLY WRECKS STORE.

Horse Smashes Through Plate Glass

Window and Damages Stock.

Frightened by a passing automobile, a blind horse attached to the market wagon of Maurice Abramovitz, a vegetable peddler, stampeded and did $300 worth of damage to J. E. Biles' shoe store at 21 East Fifth street, yesterday morning. The horse freed itself from the shafts of the wagon and broke through a $150 plate glass window into the store and badly damaged the stock.

Labels: accident, animals, automobiles, Fifth street, retailers

January 7, 1910

SHOUTS MURDER IN YIDDISH.

Smitzle's Drop Into Salt Barrel

Calls Out Police.

Charles Smitzle, who sells kosher meat to his co-religionists under the careful supervision of the rabbi in a store at 1603 East Eighteenth street, is undersized, so he stood on a salt barrel last night when he went to light the gas lamp. If he was just short there would never have been a feature to this simple act in a thousand years. However, he is also fat and just as he stood on tiptoe to apply the match to the jet the barrel collapsed.

It happened that Smitzle was alone in his store at the time of the accident, but two of his patrons were in the act of coming in and heard the crash coupled with an exclamation in Yiddish.

"Something has gone wrong with Smitzel," said one of them.

They pushed the door in and saw Smitzel arise out of the debris with a bloody nose. They took note of the wrecked condition of the store and thought they remembered that the word Smitzle had used was "murder." They then rushed out in search of a telephone.

Report that on top of several holdups and assaults that had occured earlier in the day a lone Hebrew was killed by highwaymen in his place of legitimate business produced a sensation in No. 6 police station. Sergeant Michael Halligan immediately dispatched a patrol wagon loaded with officers. When they arrived at the address on Eighteenth street Smitzel had succeeded in lighting the lamp. He had used the meat block and it had held. The blood on his nose and been washed away and the treacherous barrel converted to kindling.

Labels: accident, butchers, Eighteenth street, Jews, No 6 police station, police

December 23, 1909

THREE FIREMEN INJURED.

Early Morning Run Disastrous

Both to Men and Horse.

Three firemen were painfully hurt and one horse injured so badly that he had to be shot yesterday morning when hose wagon No. 3 was making a run to a fire at the city market. The fire started in the kitchen on the second floor of Julius J. Blake's restaurant, 25 city market.

As No. 3 hose wagon with two horses attched was making the turn at Tenth street and Baltimore avenue the wagon bounded into a five foot excavation. The great speed caused the wagon to bounce out again with such force that Captain M. E. Gaffey, Lieutenant George Monahan and W. L. Grooms, the driver, were thrown from the wagon. The horses were badly frightened, and ran east on Tenth street to Main where they collided with a trolley pole, which threw both to the ground. One horse was uninjured, but "Buffalo," who had been in the department since 1901, suffered a broken leg, and had to be killed.

Captain Gafffey was cut on the forehead and Lieutenant Monahan's right leg was sprained while Grooms, the driver, got off with a sprained shoulder. The injured men were helped back to the fire station where they were attended by Dr. C. E. Wilson. All are expected to be able to resume their duties within a few days.

It was estimated that $1,500 would cover the damage to the fixtures and loss on the building.

Labels: accident, animals, city market, Fire, restaurants

December 20, 1909

MAYOR LIMPS AFTER ROMP.

Playing With Children, Mr. Critten-

den Injures Big Toe.

While having a romp with his children at his home on Flora avenue Saturday morning, Mayor Crittenden sprained a ligament in the big toe of his right foot.

During the day the mayor went about his official duties, although he suffered a great deal of pain. Yesterday the whole foot became swollen and inflamed, and his physicians ordered him to take absolute rest for a few days. The mayor carries an accident policy.

Labels: accident, Mayor Crittenden

December 16, 1909

AGAIN HURT GOING TO FIRE.

For Second Time Assistant Chief Is

Thrown From Buggy.

In his second similar accident this month M. M. Mahoney, assistant fire chief at No. 22 station yesterday afternoon while making a run to a fire at 3427 Chestnut street collided with a grocery wagon and was thrown out of his buggy to the pavement, receiving a slight injury on the shoulder and scratches on his face. The ambulance from No. 4 police station went to the scene of the accident, but Mahoney had returned to the fire station.

On December 1 his buggy collided with a motor car while making a run and he was thrown to the ground, but was only slightly injured and went on to the fire.

Labels: accident, Chestnut street, Fire, No 4 police station

December 16, 1909

AN ORPHEUM ACTOR INJURED.

Fred Lindsay, Australian Bushman,

Suffers Cut on Right Hand.

Just as his act at the Orpheum was closing last night, Fred Lindsay, the Australian bushman, who does an interesting whip-cracking act, met with an accident which resulted in a long cut on the back of his right hand, the one he used in the act.

The accident was caused by his whip catching on some scenery and being deflected back. Lindsay's hand was immediately treated by a physician who was unable to state whether the accident would interfere with his work or not.

Labels: accident, theater, visitors

December 14, 1909

BOY COASTER IS KILLED.

Collision on Thorp Hill, Kansas City,

Kas., Fatal to Harry Wollen-

berg, 14 Years Old.

The first coasting accident of the season in Kansas City, Kas., occurred lsat night when Harry Wollenberg, the 14-year-old son of Martin E. Wollenberg of 1137 Locust street in that city, was struck and fatally injured by a loaded bob sled on the long steep Thorp street hill. Harry was coasting down Thorp street, north from Central avenue, and is supposed to have been struck by a sled coming down the same street, south from Grandview. He was picked up by some of the coasters and taken to a house nearby.

Dr. H. P. Clark of 1215 Central avenue was called and found that the boy had received severe internal injuries. Emergency treatment was given and the boy taken to Bethany hospital in a police ambulance, where Dr. Clark and Dr. C. M. Stemen performed an operation. All efforts to save the boy's life proved fruitless, however, and he died at 12:10 o'clock this morning. The body was taken to the undertaking rooms of Joseph Butler.

The accident occurred about 9:30 o'clock, but it was nearly two and one-half hours later when the ambulance reached the hospital. The delay was caused by the icy condition of the streets. Dr. Clark and Patrolman Thomas Shay, who were with the ambulance, were forced to hold the rear wheels to prevent the vehicle from skidding and turning over.

At the hospital the boy said he did not know who ran into him, and inquiry at the scene of the accident did not divulge this information. Harry Wollenberg was in the Seventh A Grade at the Prescott school. His father, Martin Wollenberg, is employed in the tank room at the Swift Packing Company's plant. He has four other children.

The street where the boy was injured was covered with coasters last night. The hill on Thorp street affords one the longest and steepest slides in the city.

Immediately after the accident to the Wollenberg boy, Sergeant P. H. Peterson ordered his men to stop all coasting on hills if the coasters would not content themselves with coasting in one direction. Last winter several young people were badly injured in the northern part of the city in a collision between two bob sleds which were going in opposite directions.

Labels: accident, Central avenue, children, death, doctors, hospitals, Kansas City Kas, weather

December 12, 1909

CITY HALL CANARY KILLED.

"Elizabeth," Pet of Water Depart-

ment, Crushed by Door.

"Elizabeth," the canary that had a record of raising a family of eighteen birds since April 15 last, and which always attracted so much attention because it was given its freedom in the city hall offices of Tom Gregory, auditor of the water department, was accidentally killed yesterday. The little warbler was perched on top of a door when a sudden gust of wind closed the door. The bird was caught in the jam of the door case, and its life crushed out. Mr. Gregory and his office force are inconsolable.

Labels: accident, animals, city hall, death, public works

December 12, 1909

HAND BITTEN BY TAME BEAR.

Frank Lewis Tried to Pet Bruno at

Hippodrome.

A young man walked into No. 4 police station at 11 o'clock last night and asked that one of his hands be given medical attention. While taking in the sights at the Hippodrome in the earlier part of the night he had tried to pet a tame bear which is kept in a cage near the entrance of the Hippodrome. The bear closed down one of his hands and left several deep impressions with its sharp teeth.

The patient gave his name as Frank Lewis, 1617 Genesee street, and said that he was a salesman for Mitchell & Rouse, a commission company at the stock yards. He was attended by Dr. F. A. Hamilton and sent home.

Labels: accident, animals, doctors, Genessee street, hippodrome, No 4 police station

December 7, 1909

BOILER KILLS FOUR,

RIPS BUILDING OPEN.

DRIVER THROWN FROM PASS-

ING WAGON, DIES.

Explosion Occurs While Steamfitters

Are at Work -- Other Men In-

jured -- Pickets Blown Off

Fence Across Alley.

EXPLOSION WHICH COST FOUR LIVES.

By the explosion of a boiler in the basement of the six-story building at 908-10 Broadway at 11 o'clock yesterday morning, Michael Frawley and James Cox were killed outright, and Andrew Meyer and Essie Williams, a negro porter, so badly burned and otherwise injured that they died before nightfall. Two others were badly hurt, and three stories of the rear portion of the building were wrecked. Considerable damage also was done to adjoining structures.

Within two minutes business men and pedestrians in the neighborhood ventured to enter the front door of the building bent on rescuing those who were hurt. The flooring on the first and second stories had been splintered and a heavy partition in the middle of the building had toppled over. Every window glass on two stories had been blown out. Heavy timbers, torn from their places, hung over overhead, and for a time a general collapse of the rear section of the interior of the structure was feared.

The cause for the explosion is not known. Steamfitters employed by Val Wagner & Co., 3918 Main street, were adjusting a steamcock on the boiler, and were preparing to clean out the pipes. They had started to work last Saturday and yesterday morning they put fire under the boiler in order to do the cleaning. There was no forewarning of anything being wrong with the apparatus, and when the explosion occurred Michael Frawley, one of the steamfitters, was on top of the boiler. The boiler had not been in use for some time, and it is supposed that this is accountable for the very bad condition it was in when the workmen began the repairing.

ONE DRIVER IS KILLED.

James Cox, a driver for the Stewart Peck Sand Company, happened to be driving through the alley and had just reached the building when the explosion occurred. He was thrown bodily from the wagon and dashed to death against the brick pavement. C. R. Misner, another driver in the employ of the same firm, sat beside Cox. He too was hurled from the seat, but escaped with a fractured shoulder. Essie Williams, a negro porter, was in the boiler room at the time of the accident, and he was scalded from head to foot by the escaping steam. H e was hurried to the General hospital and died at 3:45 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

Andrew Meyer and W. H. Straubmeyer, plumbers, were at work on the boiler. Both seemed at first to have received minor injuries but Meyer was suffering from shock so he was sent to St. Mary's hospital. He did not rally, and it later developed that he was internally injured. He died at the hospital at 5:40 o'clock.

WHO THE DEAD MEN ARE.

Michael Frawley, 2040 Madison avenue, was unmarried, an orphan, and 28 years old. He has lived in this city all his life. Two brothers, John and Emmett and two sisters, Mary and Kate Frawley, survive. His body was taken to the Wagner undertaking rooms.

Meyer, Forty-third and Hudson streets in Rosedale, was well known in Atchison, Kas., where he had worked as a steamfitter off and on for many years. He came to Kansas City recently and went to live with a brother at the Hudson street address in Rosedale. He was 45 years old and unmarried. His body was also taken to the Wagner undertaking rooms.

If James Cox, 1416 Central street, has relatives living they were not found last night, and it is almost certain they do not live in this city. He was about 35 years old. It is said he was single, but there is another rumor that he has a wife and child somewhere.

Edward Booker, business manager of the local steamfitters' union, said last night that none of the men killed or injured bore union cards. Frawley, he said, was merely a steamfitter's helper. He had once applied for a card in the union, but did not keep up with the requirements, and his membership was finally cancelled.

Essie Williams, 505 East Sixth street, the negro porter, was also a fireman. The whereabouts of his survivors have not yet been ascertained. His body was taken to the Countee undertaking rooms.

The wrecked building is the property of the Homestead Realty Company and is in the charge of David Bachrach, who as the agent, had the renting of the rooms. The block had been unoccupied recently, but the H. K. Mulford Company of Philadelphia was preparing to move its stock in on the third floor.

"It was a terrific shock which seemed to shake the foundation of our building from under us," said C. M. Lyon, president of the Lyon Millinery Company, which occupies the building adjoining on the south. "Several plate glasses crashed and I ran to the front door and out on the street fearing that possibly a second explosion might occur. the damage we suffered was comparatively small, but the fright we were given was large."

The picket fence surrounding the home of Mrs. Thomas E. Moran, 916 Bank street, just across the alley from the wrecked building, was partly demolished by the concussion and many pickets were torn from the fence and blown several feet away.

Labels: accident, Bank street, Central street, death, explosion, hospitals, Madison avenue, Main street, Rosedale, Sixth street, undertakers

December 5, 1909

STEW PAN FELL ON HIS HEAD.

Now Herman Smith Sues Former

Employer for $15,000.

A fractured skull caused by a blow on the head with a steel stew pan resulted in the filing of a $15,000 damage suit yesterday in the circuit court by Herman Smith against the Household Fair store.

Smith was employed at the Household Fair to run the elevator. On November 8, while engaged in his regular duties, a stew pan became dislodged from a shelf. It clattered down two or three stories through the elevator shaft, striking Smith on the top of the head.

Labels: accident, circuit court, elevators, Lawsuit

November 30, 1909

HORSE OF MORE IMPORTANCE.

When Told Car Hit Employe,

Grocer Asks About the Rig.

At Tenth street and Troost avenue yesterday a man got in the way of a trolley car. He was saved by the motorman lowering the fender. The man fell into the basket. Although considerably shaken up he was not hurt seriously.

Joseph Collingwood, a canvasser for the election commissioners, aided the man to a drug store. There the man requested that his employers, grocers, be told of the accident.

Collingwood called up the firm over a 'phone.

"Your delivery clerk has been hurt by a trolley car," he explained.

"How about the horse? Was it damaged?" Collingwood was asked.

The employers were told that the horse and wagon were not in the wreck. The man at the other end said, "That's good."

Labels: accident, grocers, streetcar, Tenth street, Troost avenue

November 21, 1909

BOYS RUN DOWN BY

FIRE AUTOMOBILE.

CHARLES COLE, 12 YEARS OLD,

MAY DIE OF INJURIES.

Two Kansas City, Kas., Lads, Coast-

ing, Collided With Machine

While Latter Is on

Test Run.

EARL SHEIREL.

Charles Cole and Earl Sheirel, aged 12 and 13 years, were run down yesterday by a combination hose and chemical fire automobile at Armstrong avenue and Seventeenth street in Kansas City, Kas., and received injuries which may result fatally in the case of the little Cole boy. The boys were seated on a small coasting wagon, riding north on Seventeenth street, which has a gradual slope for several blocks. The fire automobile, which has recently been undergoing tests in Kansas City, Kas., with the prospect of being purchased by the city, was going the same direction, being driven by S. O. Harpster. Stories of the collision which occurred between Ann and Armstrong avenues, differ. The Cole boy was seated on the rear of the little wagon and the heavy fire wagon passed entirely over his body, rolling along the asphalt pavement. The Sheirel boy was thrown to one side and a wheel of the wagon crushed a thumb on the right hand.

Following the accident the occupants of the motor wagon picked up the unconscious boy and removed him to the home of his father, J. B. Cole, 1604 Minnesota avenue. The Sheirel boy, who lives at 1606 Minnesota avenue, refused to ride in the wagon, and walked to his home, where he was treated by Dr. W. H. McLeod.

S. O. Harpster, a representative of the Anderson Coupling and Fire Supply Company, A. Zertman, of the Zertman-Tiller Motor Car Company, and a Mr. Lamb, of Bowling Green, Ohio, the occupants of the car stated that they were in no way to blame for the accident.

Charles Cole, Whose Injuries May Be Fatal.

CHARLIE COLE.

"We were several blocks behind the boys when we first saw them," said Mr. Harpster. "I had intended to turn east on Armstrong avenue and had the car going about five miles an hour and under perfect control. We were ringing the bell constantly. When we neared the boys I started to pass them on the right side. They turned to the right and then when I turned to the left they appeared to become confused and as we started to pass they ran into us. I stopped within a car length of where we struck the boys."

This version of the accident differs materially from that told by eye witnesses to the accident. Mrs. R. Carpenter of 1619 Armstrong avenue said yesterday that the automobile was traveling at a high rate of speed.

"I tried to warn the boys, but the rattle of their wagon drowned my voice," she said. "It seemed to me that the automobile just ran right into them. The car ran at least 100 feet beyond the place where the boys were struck before it was stopped. The little coasting wagon was broken into small pieces."

A number of laborers who were working near the scene of the accident examined the tracks of the car and the little wagon, and they stated yesterday that the coasting wagon was within eight feet of the left-hand curbing when it was struck.

Dr. W. R. Palmer, who attended the injured boy, stated last night that his condition was serious. He sustained a broken collar bone, a possible concussion of the brain and severe cuts and bruises over his head and body. One particularly painful bruise is over the spine. J. B. Cole, father of the injured boy, is bailiff of the Wyandotte county court.

Labels: accident, automobiles, children, doctors, Fire, Kansas City Kas

November 21, 1909

BOY JUMPS OFF CAR;

KILLED BY AUTO.

NOT THE HOPPING KIND, JUST

PLAYING, COMPANION SAYS.

Edgar Palin, Aged 12, Dies in Hos-

pital From Injuries Received in

Alighting in Path of Machine

Giving Children Ride.

EDGAR PALIN,
Twelve-Year-Old Boy Who Leaped from Street Car Fender and Was Mortally Injured by Automobile.

As Edgar Palin, 12 years old, 2802 East Sixth street, jumped from the back fender of an eastbound Independence avenue car yesterday afternoon at Prospect avenue, he was run over and fatally injured by a motor car driven by E. T. Curtis, 3338 Wyandotte street. He died at 7 o'clock last night at the German hospital, without recovering consciousness.

With Allen Compton, 400 Wabash avenue, the boy had been playing all afternoon. About 3 o'clock the two lads started northward on Wabash avenue, and at Independence avenue both noticed an approaching street car.

"Let's catch the fender," called Edgar, as he waited along the curbing. The car was moving at moderate speed and the boy ran behind, and caught hold of the fender. His companion, 10 years old, ran behind on the sidewalk. At Prospect avenue Edgar, without looking around, jumped from the fender directly in front of an approaching auto, barely fifteen feet behind him. Curtis attempted to dodge the boy. The left fender of the auto struck the child and he was sent tumbling on the pavement. He was picked up by Curtis. Several children were in the auto. With Curtis was Herman Smith, of 3606 Olive street, whose father owned the car. In a nearby drug store it was found the boy had been injured seriously.

GIVING CHILDREN RIDE.

"I was driving at about fifteen miles an hour," Curtis said. "The auto belonged to young Smith's father and I was running it because I had the most experience. A party of school children were with us. We were taking them for a ride around the block. I noticed the child on the fender and did not have the least idea that he was going to run in my path. I swerved to one side, but the machine skidded and the fender of the auto struck him in the back. I realized at once that he had received a fearful blow."

After the child was given emergency treatment in the drug store by two neighboring physicians, he was taken to his home in the motor car, and after being attended by Dr. Max Goldman, was removed to the German hospital. Dr. Goldman found that the boy's spine was broken and that his skull was probably fractured.

Allen Compton, his playmate, was in a condition bordering on hysterics last night. The two had been gathering old papers during the forenoon and had just been to the paper mill, where they had received a few pennies with which they intended to buy Christmas presents.

"Edgar wasn't no car hopper," Allen said last night, in defense of his friend. "He was just running behind and holding on to the fender. Edgar wasn't that kind."

With Judge J. E. Guinotte, a friend of the family, young Curtis went to police headquarters last night and made a statement to Captain Walter Whitsett. After consulting Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney, it was decided not to hold him. He promised to come to the prosecutor's office Monday and make a complete statement. He said that he had been running a car for eight years. He is the son of W. E. Curtis, a live stock commission man.

The injured boy was the son of W. M. Palin, a real estate dealer in the Commerce building. The body will be taken to Gridley, Kas., for burial.

Labels: accident, automobiles, Captain Whitsett, children, Commerce building, death, German hospital, Independence avenue, Judges, Prospect avenue, Sixth street, streetcar, Wabash avenue, Wyandotte street

November 16, 1909

BOYS PICK UP LIVE WIRE.

Evidently Charged Through Damp

Pole -- Neither Hurt Seriously.

While Charles Lumble, 14 years old, of 2610 East Eleventh street, and Leo Kelley, 11 years old, were playing yesterday afternoon opposite 2508 Tenth street both boys were shocked by a telephone wire on the ground and which both seized at the same time. The wire accidentally had been charged by an electric light wire through a damp telephone pole.

The ambulance from police headquarters was called, but neither was found to be injured dangerously. Both went home without assistance.

Labels: accident, children, Eleventh street, Tenth street

November 10, 1909

BOYS CHEERED AS

THEY RODE TO DEATH.

MISUNDERSTOOD WARNINGS OF

HORRIFIED PEDESTRIANS.

Coaster Wagon in Which Kelly and

Eugene Clemonds Were Riding

Hits Street Car -- One Boy

Dead, Other Dying.

Death ended a coasting ride which Kelly C. Clemonds, 15, and his brother, Eugene, 11, were enjoying when their little express wagon glided into the path of a streetcar yesterday evening. The boys received injuries, from which Kelly died an hour later, while but little hope is entertained for the recovery of Eugene.

Both boys resided at Grand Summit, Kas., and were here on a visit at the home of Mrs. James W. Roark, 2919 Flora avenue.

The accident occurred a few minutes before 6 o'clock at the intersection of Twenty-ninth street and Lynn avenue.

The boys had a small coaster express and had been running down the grade on Twenty-ninth street west from Woodland. They had made a number of trips and were laughing and shouting.

When they trudged up the hill when darkness was falling one of the boys suggested that they had had enough fun.

"Let's have just one more," said the other, and turning the wagon at the top of the slope they gave a run and boarding it whirled down at a rapid rate.

As they neared Lynn avenue car No. 555 of the Vine street line, in charge of Motorman Powers and Conductor Everhart, northbound, was approaching.

Pedestrians, attracted by the cheers of the boys, gave a warning cry. the boys, however, did not understand and the wagon kept ahead on its deadly course.

Not until they saw the car loom up before them did they realize their danger. They made a futile effort to swerve the wagon from its path, but were struck with terrific force.

An ambulance was summoned from No. 4 police station and hurried them to the general hospital.

Kelly died at 1:30 o'clock from internal injuries. Eugene, the younger brother, suffered a fracture of the skull, a fracture of the left arm and cuts and bruises. An operation was performed on the skull and the boy rallied, but the physicians have doubts about his recovery.

Dr. Czarlinsky will hold an inquest today.

Labels: accident, children, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Flora avenue, No 4 police station, streetcar, Twenty-ninth street

October 31, 1909

GREY EAGLE INJURED IN RACE.

Steamer Quincy Smashes Paddle

Wheel of Kansas City Boat.

NATCHEZ, MISS., Oct. 29. -- With Speaker Joe Cannon, two score congressmen and several senators leaning over the railing waving their hats and cheering like a crowd of college boys at a football game, the steamers Quincy and Grey Eagle of the Taft flotilla raced for more than a mile coming out of Vicksburg last night.

The contest ended when the Quincy crashed into the Grey Eagle, crushing the wheel. The damaged boat managed to make her way to Natchez, where carpenters made the necessary repairs.

The Grey Eagle is carrying the Kansas City, Mo., river boomers to the New Orleans convention.

When the boats crashed, passengers on both were hurled to the deck. No one was injured, however. The Quincy and Grey Eagle have been speed rivals during the entire trip.

Labels: accident, boats, President Taft

October 23, 1909

BOY-HUSBAND OF 19

CRUSHED BY A CAR.

Clyde Bailey, Married But Two

Months, Is Instantly Killed at

Eighteenth and Indiana.

Clyde Bailey, a carpenter, and a bridegroom of two months, who lived with his father-in-law, Andrew Curtis, 2811 Bales avenue, was killed by a southbound Indiana car between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets at 6:18 o'clock last evening.

Young Bailey, who was only 19 years old, had been working all day with his father and brother on a building at Overland park, and at 5:30 in the evening left them at Thirty-ninth and State line with the words: "Well I'll see you in the morning, kid." He changed cars at that point and eventually transferred to the Indiana avenue car which would take him to his home and supper.

Charles L. Bowman, proprietor of a night lunch wagon at Eighteenth and Indiana, who was a passenger on the car with Bailey, said they got off at Eighteenth. Bailey walked south on Indiana to the center of the block, said Bowman, and seeing a northbound car coming, crossed the west track and tried to catch the car on the inside. He was thrown back on the west track in the path from the southbound car from which he had just stepped and which by that time was going very rapidly. the top of Bailey's head struck the inside rail of the west track and was crushed by the wheels, the motorman being unable to stop the car until it had entirely passed over the body.

Fifteen minutes after the accident Deputy Coroner Harry Czarlinsky had the body removed to the Carrol-Davidson undertaking rooms, where it was identified by a book of Overland Park line tickets which he had purchased yesterday morning. His father, Nathan H. Bailey, 4435 Madison street, was notified, and his son, Cal W. Bailey, a brother of Clyde, was the first to arrive at the undertaking rooms.

The streetcar conductor, Jerome Moore, 835 Ann avenue, Kansas City, Kas., and the motorman, William Erickson of 1049 Ann avenue, were arrested by Officer Fields and taken to police headquarters where Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Norman Woodson released them on their personal recognizance for their appearance this morning.

It was at first thought Bailey was Roland Allshire, son of Roy B. Allshire, a contractor living at 2421 Indiana avenue, as Bailey had one of Allshire's cards in his pocket. A verdant young man immediately repaired to the Allshire home, where he threw the family into hysterics with the news. They telephoned to the Loose-Wiles factory, where young Allshire works nights, and he soon appeared on the scene to contradict the story.

Labels: accident, Bales avenue, death, Dr Czarlinsky, Eighteenth street, Indiana avenue, Kansas City Kas, Overland Park, streetcar, telephone, undertakers

October 22, 1909

BOY KILLED BY CAR;

MILK BOTTLE SAVED.

HE RUNS BEHIND TROLLEY AND

DIES BENEATH ANOTHER.

Stopped Work on Essay With "And

Then I Prepared to Take Some

Rest" to Go on Errand to

Grocery for Mother.

While "running" an errand for his mother, Sidney Crawford, 16 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Crawford, 8247 East Twenty-eighth street, met death beneath the wheels of an Indiana avenue street car, between Twenty-eighth street and Victor avenue, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Mrs. Crawford had sent Sidney with an empty bottle to a grocery store for milk.

As the boy reached a point on Twenty-eighth street where he might cross directly over to the store, a southbound car obstructed his path for a moment. When it had passed Sidney ran quickly behind it, and encountered a northbound car.

The momentum of the car carried it about thirty feet before it could be stopped and the body could be extricated from beneath the rear trucks, where it was wedged tightly.

When it was disengaged by a wrecking crew thirty minutes after the accident, the half-pint milk bottle remained unbroken.

The boy was the oldest son of the Crawford family and a junior in Manual Training high school. In the library of the home yesterday afternoon he was writing an essay when his mother sent him on the fatal trip to the store. The title of the thesis was "A Halloween Prank."

As Sidney arose to go he bent over his paper and in a thin, boyish scribble added the sentence: "And then I prepared to take some rest." In less than five minutes a neighbor came running to the Crawford doorstep with news of the accident.

Mrs. Crawford was overcome with grief too acute for tears and medical attention was necessary. Mrs. August Nuss, 3233 East Twenty-eighth street, whose husband is a partner with Mr. Crawford in a trunk store at 425-27 West Sixth street, called the latter over the telephone.

The body of the boy was examined by Deputy Coroner Harry Czarlinsky immediately after the accident. An inquest will be held this afternoon. The motorman and conductor of the Indiana avenue street car which killed him were arrested by Patrolman Joseph Morris and taken to the county prosecutor's office but later were released on their personal bonds.

Labels: accident, children, death, Dr Czarlinsky, schools, Sixth street, streetcar, Twenty-eighth street

October 16, 1909

ENGINE STRIKES WAGON,

FATALLY INJURING MAN.

Harlem Farmer Meets With Acci-

dent at Missouri Pacific Crossing.

Family Narrowly Escapes.

Despite the warning of the flagman at First and Main streets last night, A. D. Buyas, a farmer living a mile northeast of Harlem, drove across the Missouri Pacific tracks at that point and was struck by an eastbound passenger train which was coming at a high rate of speed.

Buyas, who was accompanied by Hobert, his 11-year-old son, was struck on his head on one of the rails when he was thrown from the wagon and received fatal injuries. The boy, aside from slight bruises, was not seriously injured.

Buyas came to the city yesterday morning with Mrs. Buyas, Hobert and Pearl, the 14-year-old daughter. Before starting to the ferry at the foot of Main street to get across the river, Mrs. Buyas and Pearl decided to walk.

"Somehow, I feel that something is going to happen," she told her husband. "I'm going to get out. I feel lots safer, anyway."

As the man started down the steep incline toward the river the team seemed unable to hold back the weight. It was almost dark and the flagman with his red lantern could be seen at the crossing. Suddenly he began to wave the red light frantically, but it was too late. Though Buyas in desperation tugged at the lines he was on the track, with the train only a few feet away. The horses passed to safety but the engine struck the rear part of the wagon.

Both occupants were thrown high in the air and the wagon completely shattered. The boy arose, but the father lay moaning, and was found to be unconscious. the train did not slacken its speed.

The ambulance was called from police headquarters, with Dr. F. C. LaMar hurried to the scene of the accident. The injured man and the frightened family were placed in the ambulance and taken to the Emergency hospital. It was found that Buyas had received a fractured skull, a broken left arm and right leg. The physicians had little hope that the injured man would live until morning.

Labels: accident, doctors, emergency hospital, farmers, First street, Main street, railroad

October 13, 1909

BEER FLOWS INTO SEWER.

Crowd Sees Foaming Ale Wasted.

A beer wagon, driven by Samuel Kroyousky of 1527 West Ninth street was struck by a Wabash train last night at Union avenue and Hickory street and was practically demolished. The barrels of liquor were broken open and a stream of beer poured into one of the catch basins. A big crowd gathered and watched the foaming beer escape.

The driver and team escaped injury.

Labels: accident, alcohol, Hickory street, Ninth street, railroad, Union avenue

October 13, 1909

BULL TACKLES MOTOR CAR.

Animal Takes the Count While Auto

Is Uninjured.

Leading behind his wagon a fine bull which he had purchased at the stock sale at the yards yesterday afternoon, G. W. Mercer of Independence was slowly toiling up the Allen avenue viaduct when a big motor car of the unfortunate color of red attempted to pass the cavalcade.

As soon as his bovineship caught sight of the carmine car there was a vigorous shaking of the head, a kicking of the heels. In his frantic efforts to get at the strange and wonderful thing, the bull got in the path of the car. There was immediately a mixup of auto, bull and wagon.

When the dust cleared away the bull was found to be down on his back, badly tangled up in the wheels of the wagon. The motor car was uninjured. Mr. Mercer reported to the police that he would prosecute the driver.

Labels: accident, animals, automobiles, Independence, stock yards

October 8, 1909

ONE WAY TO "DUCK" SAMPLES.

Concrete Walk Caves in and Pre-

cipitates Distributor Into Cellar.

While Mrs. Edith Sampson was sweeping the front porch at 510 Olive street yesterday morning about 9 o'clock, she saw a distributor of samples approaching. Intent on her task, she gave the broom two or three more vigorous turns, then looked up again expecting to be handed a sample. no man was in sight.

She looked further and found a hole in the front walk where the man should have been standing. Closer inspection revealed the sample man himself at the bottom of the hole, well covered with pulverized concrete.

Several of the hexagonal blocks of which the walk is made up, had given way beneath his weight and precipitated him into the cellar which projects under the walk.

The man made his exit by way of the cellar steps, not badly hurt.

Labels: accident, Olive street, salesmen

September 30, 1909

STEPS IN FRONT OF TRAIN.

Bonner Springs Man, Dodging

Freight, Killed by Passenger.

While walking along the Union Pacific double track about nine miles west of Kansas City, Kas., between Edwardsville and Bonner Springs, Roy McGee of the latter place stepped from one track to get out of the way of a passing construction train and was killed by a passenger train coming from the opposite direction. He was 22 years old.

Dr. J. A. Davis, the coroner, was notified and he instructed Dr. Heath of Edwardsville to assume charge of the body, which was taken to Bonner Springs.

Labels: accident, Bonner Springs, death, railroad

September 27, 1909

BOY FLOATED SIX BLOCKS.

Miraculous Escape From Drowning

by Harry Palmer.

Harry Palmer, a nine year old Argentine boy, yesterday had almost a miraculous escape from death by drowning in the Kaw river near that city. while fishing with a number of companions near the foot of Olive street the boy dropped his pole into the water. In an effort to regain it he lost his balance and fell into the river. The current at this point is very swift and although the boy was unable to swim he was carried out into the middle of the river, while his frightened companions stood screaming on the bank. In his fall the boy had graspsed at his fishing pole and succeeded in catching the line. His struggles in the water wrapped this line again and again about his body.

The screams of the women and children who witnessed the accident, attracted the attention of Sam Taddler, a grocer's clerk, who lives at 230 Mulberry street, Argentine, and also George Brown, a laborer. These boys were standing near the river about two hundred yards below the Twelfth street bridge. As the boy was seen coming down the river, the rescuers threw off their clothes and sprang into the water. Taddler succeeded in reaching the boy, who was lying on his back and struggling with the current. He was carried to the bank and, almost unconscious, was removed to the home of his father, Dudley Palmer, an employe of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, who lives at 225 South Olive street, Argentine. A physician was summoned and at a late hour last night the boy had apparently recovered from the effects of the accident. When asked how he managed to stay above the water, he answered:

"I just shut my eyes and mouth and kicked my feet and worked my elbows."

It is estimated that the boy was carried at least six blocks down the river from where he entered it.

Labels: accident, Argentine, children, fishing, Kaw river, laborer, laborers

September 23, 1909

ELEVATOR FALLS 8 FLOORS.

Brake Did Not Work and Calvin

Kester, Operator, Was Injured.

Calvin Kester, elevator operator in the New York Life building, was severely injured yesterday morning just before noon when the elevator he was running dropped from the eighth floor to the basement. The elevator left the tenth floor with only the operator in it. When he attempted to stop at the eighth floor the brake failed to work and the car continued its downward flight with increasing velocity.

When the car struck the bottom of the shaft Kester fell unconscious and was carried into the United States Trust Company office. An ambulance was summoned and Dr. Fred B. Kyger had the injured man removed to the emergency hospital. Upon examination Dr. Kyger found the man to be suffering from a strained back, a cut on the left leg and bruises on the body. The surgeon pronounced the injuries to be not serious.

Labels: accident, doctors, elevators, emergency hospital, New York Life bldg

September 10, 1909

HAND CAUGHT IN A ROLLER.

Mrs. A. R. Miles Dangerously Hurt

by Laundry Machinery.

While working in the Swan laundry at 560 Walnut street last night, Mrs. A. R. Miles, 18 years old, of 893 Wayne avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was dangerously injured when her right hand was caught in a hot steam roller. Dr. Fred B. Kyger and Dr. W. L. Gist, surgeons at the Emergency hospital, treated the young woman. She was sent to her home.

Labels: accident, doctors, Dr. Gist, emergency hospital, Kansas City Kas, Walnut Street

September 2, 1909

CAUGHT IN MACHINERY.

Austrian Packing House Employe

Dies of Injuries.

Vincent Kozak, 22 years old, of 32 South Park avenue, Kansas City, Kas., while working in the fertilizer room at the Cudahy packing plant yesterday morning was caught in the shafting and sustained injuries from which he died an hour later at Bethany hospital. He has a wife in Austria. Funeral services will be held this morning at Butler's undertaking rooms. Burial will be in St. John's cemetery.

Labels: accident, cemetery, hospitals, immigrants, Kansas City Kas

August 27, 1909

HORSE TAMES A HORSE TAMER.

Former Policeman Duke Lee Injured

in Wild West Show.

DUKE LEE

Duke Lee, former soldier, Kansas City policeman and rough rider, is in Kansas City again, recuperating from injuries which he received in Grand Rapids, Mich., two weeks ago while attempting to tame a broncho in a Wild West show, with which he has been traveling. Lee was thrown and trampled upon by the vicious animal. He suffered two broken ribs and a dislocated collar bone.

"I can't explain how it happened," Lee said yesterday. "The show keeps wild horses instead of trained ones and it is a real fight in the arena that the crowd is watching."

Lee resigned from the police department in the spring. He served in the regular army and was in the Boxer insurrection in China before his appointment to the force.

Labels: accident, police, veterans, Wild West shows

August 25, 1909

DEATH FROM BOILING STARCH.

One-Year-Old Boy Fell Into a Pan

of It Two Weeks Ago.

The one-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Trestrail of 2919 Indiana avenue, who fell into a dishpan of boiling starch two weeks ago, and was severly burned, died yesterday morning. The funeral was held from the reisdence yesterday afternoon. Burial was in Elmwood cemetery.

Labels: accident, cemetery, children, death, Funeral, Indiana avenue

August 5, 1909

AGED MAN FALLS FROM CAR.

James R. Collier, Seriously Injured,

Is Found Unconscious in Street.

Lying on the side of the car track on Troost avenue, near Twenty-sixth street, James R. Collier, 75 years of age, was found unconscious last night. Mr. Collier's skull was fractured. His condition, as announced by Dr. C. Lester Hall last night, is exceedingly dangerous.

Mr. Collier was on his way to prayer meeting at the Troost Avenue Methodist church, which he attended regularly. It is thought that he stepped from a car while it was moving.

The janitor of the church saw the man lying in the street and called the attention of Rev. Edgar McVoy, the pastor. The two investigated and found the injured man to be Mr. Collier, whom the minister quickly recognized. It was then that Dr. Hall's services were requested, and the injured man taken to his home at 23 East Twenty-ninth street.

Mr. Collier lives with his son, T. P. Collier, an engineer, at the Twenty-ninth street address. He has not been in good health for some time.

Labels: accident, churches, doctors, ministers, Seniors, Troost avenue, Twenty-ninth street, Twenty-sixth street

July 25, 1909

WABASH PASSENGER TRAIN SLIDES INTO THE RIVER.

FOUR KNOWN TO BE DEAD AND 30 INJURED.

Embankment Undermined by Missouri River, Near Orrick, and East Bound Train Slid Into the Water --- Trainmen Buried Under their Engine -- Passengers Reported Missing.

A washout made by the recent floods which had washed away practically all the support of the tracks, caused a part of Wabash train No. 4, out of Kansas City, to plunge into the Missouri river at Hull's Point, Mo., two miles east of Orrick about 10:15 o'clock last night. Orrick is thirty miles east of Kansas City.

Four are known to be dead and thirty-nine injured, some seriously.

The engine, baggage and express cars are in the river, almost entirely covered by water and the bodies of the engineer and fireman, a baggageman and a baby are buried in the wreckage.

The train consisting of engine and nine coaches left Kansas City for St. Louis at 9 o'clock last night in charge of Conductor W. M. Frye of St. Louis.

There were four sleepers on the train, one of them for Des Moines and according to Conductor Frye's story he carried sixty-eight passengers.

BIG CONSIGNMENT OF MONEY.
In the baggage and express car was Harry Eckhert, Pacific express messenger, who had charge of between $30,000 and $40,000 consigned to St. Louis.

Immediately after the news of the wreck reached Kansas City a relief train was sent out and all of the injured were brought to Kansas City.

The train bearing the injured and other passengers arrived at the Union depot at 2:30 o'clock this morning. Seven ambulances with surgeons were in waiting and the injured were given temporary treatment in the main waiting room before being taken to the hospitals.

An hour after the wrecked passengers reached Kansas City, a new train was secured and the uninjured passengers were sent on to their destination.

RIVER ATE BANK AWAY.
The train was running at 35 miles an hour when it reached the line of track, a quarter of a mile in extent, which had been undermined and washed away by the Missouri river. Into this space the train suddenly plunged, though passengers say that they felt the shock of the grinding brakes. At the point where the derailment occurred the track is practically straight and the river makes no perceptible curve.

The river had eaten its way fifty feet beyond the inmost rail so no vestige of track remained visible. When the engine struck the water it hurled itself forward carrying the baggage and mail car and sleeper with it. The baggage car crashed on top of the engine and the two were forced beneath the water, the engine being completely submerged and the baggage car standing on end in the water. The mail car overturned in the water and the clerks were forced to climb over the wreckage before they could get to safety. Every one of them was injured in some degree by the force of the shock.

The washout occurred after 6:30 o'clock, for at that time another Wabash passenger train, eastbound, went over the track in safety and no danger was noticed.

DIED AT POST OF DUTY.
Engineer Flowers and Fireman Bond both went into the river with their engine and were drowned. It is thought that the escaping steam would have scalded them to death even had they not been held under the water by the weight of the engine. Baggageman Harry Eckert was caught in his car which sank to the bottom of the stream and he was drowned like a rat in a trap.

The death of little Donald King, the infant who was thrown from his father's arms into the river, was particularly sad. The child was but 2 years old and both parents were with him and his two little sisters, but little older than himself. Just before the train was precipitated into the river his father took him forward to the toilet room. When Mr. King got to the front of the coach the first shock came and he lurched heavily. The child was forced from his arms in some way and, it is thought, fell into the stream through one of the open windows. When the parents were seen at the Union depot last night they were both so dazed they could hardly give a coherent account of the accident.

Ten or twelve people who were only slightly injured left the train at the scene of the accident and went back to Orrick, Mo. Their names could not be learned this morning.

BIG CROWD GATHERED.
News of the wreck was not long in reaching the depot and long before the relief train arrived the platform resembled the ward of a hospital. Along track No. 1 on which the train was scheduled to come in, was a long line of cots, while emergency surgeons in shirt sleeves strolled up and down or sat on the cots awaiting the arrival.

At about ten minutes past 2 o'clock there was a stir in the crowd of those waiting, the crowd having steadily increased as the news of the wreck filtered through the early morning air. A "flash" was received that the train had reached Randolph, just across the river, and would be at the station in ten minutes. Policemen showed up from apparently nowhere and took up their station along the track.

Ten minutes, twenty, thirty minutes passed and when shortly after the half-hour the train backed in. The crowd was so dense it was with difficulty the police made a passageway for the surgeons and stretchers.

LONG LINE OF WHITE COTS.
Conductor Frye was the first man off the train. As soon as his lantern flashed its signal to the waiting hospital attendants, a line of white cots came into view, while the police had a difficult time keeping back the morbidly curious.

"A man in the sleeper is badly hurt," said Frye.

Men carried in a cot and because of the crowd it was necessary to pass the cot holding the injured man through a car window.

Others were carried or helped out by trainmen, hospital attendants and uninjured passengers, some bleeding and dazed, with temporary bandages wrapped about heads, arms and bodies.

Those who were able were left for the time being to shift for themselves, while surgeons bent over the cots of the more seriously injured to administer temporary relief.

Meanwhile uninjured passengers besieged Frye to know when they could "go on."

"Just as soon as we can get a train crew," was the invariable reply of the patient conductor.

PASSENGERS AIDED DOCTORS.
Dr. Robert Sheetz and Dr. G. O. Moore of Orrick were the first physicians on the scene. They impressed those of the passengers who were able to assist them and gave temporary relief to most of the injured by the time the train reached Kansas City.

Miss Irene Dorton, 20, and Mrs. Sam Hackett, 40 years old, both of Orrick, were within a few miles of their home when the accident occurred. They had been visiting friends in Kansas City and were getting their luggage ready to get off the train when they were suddenly thrown out of their seats and across the aisle. Both lost consciousness and were revived by some of the passengers who were not as severely injured. They were attended by Drs. Sheet and Moore of Orrick.

"I can't tell you a thing about how the accident happened," said Miss Dorton, who was hurt the least. "I remember saying something to Mrs. Hackett about getting off the train, but that is all."

ONE OF THE WORST INJURED.
Frank Gardner, 40 years old, of Mount Vernon, was one of the worst injured. His hand was gashed and his left arm was almost crushed off. He was in the forward car and was caught beneath the wreckage.

"Our escape from death was simply miraculous," said Miss Mamie Donnelly of Mexico, Mo. "I was holding my little niece, Mary, 6 years old, in my lap, when suddenly a feeling passed through me similar to that one feels when riding a chute the chutes, then came a terrible jar and Mary was thrown clear out of my arms and her little head struck the roof of the car. I caught her dress and she fell back on me. We were both scratched a little but outside of the jar were not hurt."

BOTH OF THEM BRUISED.
Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Moore of Pueblo, Col, who were on their way to Huntsville, Mo., were both hurt. Mrs. Moore was badly bruised and cut and her back was sprained.

"We were in the chair car when the accident occurred," said Mr. Moore, "and we felt as if the earth just slipped out from beneath us. My wife was thrown against the side of the car and then into my arms. For a moment it felt as if we were to be engulfed and then all was still. Then came the cries for help. It seemed as if everyone was crying for help even though they were uninjured. Everyone was just panic stricken. I gathered my wife in my arms and we soon found ourselves outside the car. The scene was awful. The engine had bone beneath the river and was followed by several cars, we could not see how many. When I attended my wife's injuries I helped to look after the other passengers who were hurt."

BRAKEMAN SWAM ASHORE.
Z. T. Finney, the brakeman, was on the head end of the deadhead sleeper and was pitched far out into the Missouri river when the embankment gave way beneath the train. He was half buried beneath coal from the tender and was cut and bruised. The water restored him to consciousness and he swam to shore.

"I was on the head end of the deadhead sleeper," said Brakeman Finey, "when the crash came. Just before we went into the water I felt the platform sort of sway and a sickening, falling sensation came over me. The next I remember I felt myself hurled over the top of the tender and then all was blank until I found myself swimming back to the train. The engine as it sank into the soft bank came to a sudden stop, and this jammed the cars together and threw me over the tender. That's how I happened to get hurt, although I am lucky that I was not carried beneath the cars."

Finney's injuries, while severe, are not serious.

BABY LOST IN RIVER.
"I'll never forget this night as long as I live," said Miss Birdie Dugan of 2829 St. Louis avenue, St. Louis, who was on the wrecked train. "It was terrible to see the injured as they were brought into our car, and to think of the others lying in the river. A man in our car lost his baby right out of his arms, and it went into the river. The poor mother was just a little distance away. There was an awful crash as the car broke in two, and the roof came down and the sides came together and caught so many people so they could not move. Everybody worked to get them out before the other half of the car fell into the river. The accident occurred shortly after 10 o'clock. We left Kansas City at 9 o'clock, right on time."

WOMAN DOCTOR AIDED.
Dr. Mary Turner Loahbeck of 2829 St. Louis avenue, St. Louis, Mo., was on the train, and assisted in aiding the injured. "About all that was possible for me to do was to bandage the cuts," the doctor said. "I had no bandages with me, but we secured twenty or thirty sheets from the sleeping cars, and tore them into bandages. I attended about twenty people myself. The people of Orrick, Mo., were very kind. They gave us dry underclothing for the persons who were wet, and offered us all the assistance they were able to render."

Had it not been for the fact that the Wabash train No. 9, being the passenger train from Boston, was delayed at Moberly an hour, it would have met the fate of its sister train. If the train No. 9 had been on scheduled time it would have reached the washout before No. 4. Train No. 9 was due in Kansas City at 9:45, but arrived at 2:40, just after the relief train got into Kansas City. No. 9 was detoured over the Missouri Pacific after having been held for three hours by the wreck.

Labels: accident, children, death, Des Moines, drowning, flood, Missouri river, railroad, St Louis