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September 1, 1908 WILL RUSH NEW HOSPITAL.
Board of Public Works Agrees to Help Architect Root.
"I could turn the new hospital over to the city in ten days if I were not continually annoyed by orders from the city hall," declared W. C. Root, one of the architects on the building. He visited the board of public works yesterday to straighten out some bills due contractors.
"This board will assist you. Tell us what you want us to do," suggested R. L Gregory, president.
"There ought to be a key rack made and installed, the gas company should be ordered to install meters and the furniture ought to be put in place," replied Mr. Root.
"If that is all, the secretary of the board will attend to it at once. You ought to be able to have the hospital ready for the new health and hospital board by the time the new charter becomes operative, September 3. Can you do it?"
"I guess so," answered the architect.Labels: architects, hospitals, public works, Robert Lee Gregory June 29, 1908 WELL KNOWN ARCHITECT DIES.
Bertram August Von Unworth De- signed Many Kansas City Homes.
Bertram August Unworth, 69 years old, died at his home, 2903 Gillham road. Born in Germany Mr. Von Unworth graduated from the gynmasium at Glogau and afterwards studied architecture at the University of Berlin. He was an officer for many years on the staff of General Count Von Moltke and served in the campaign of 1859, the Polish campagn of 1864 and the war of 1866. After leaving the army he married Fraulein Moldzio, who is still living, and came to America in 1870. In 1877 he located in Kansas City, and has lived here ever since. He practiced his profession of architect and many of the beautiful homes in Kansas City are the product of his brain.
Besides the widow, six children survive, Hans, Hermann, Frida, Gertrude, Erdmuthe and Margarethe. The funeral will be held tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock at the home. Burial will be in Elmwood.Labels: architects, death, Gillham road, immigrants, veterans June 10, 1908 PLEASED WITH M'CUNE HOME.
County Judges Find Things in First Class Shape There.
Conditions at the McCune home for boys, located a few miles from Independence, were found to be satisfactory by two of the three judges of the county court who visited there yesterday for the purpose of making an inspection. Judges J. M. Patterson and C. E. Moss, accompanied by Frank Ray, the architect, and William Southern of Independence, county examiner for Jackson county, made the trip of inspection.
"We are much pleased with the way Thomas N. Hughes, manager of the home, has conducted its affairs," said Judge Patterson last night. "We found seventeen boys at the home and they seem to be happy and contented. The boys have a garden in which they raise many vegetables and this keeps them busy and out of mischief. Yesterday Mr. Hughes was putting some shingles o n the house and five of the boys seemed to enjoy helping him.
"We are planning to erect a temporary barn or shed in which the boys can play on rainy days and which can be sued as a sleeping room in case the home becomes crowded. We are also planning the erection of a series of cottages, but this work probably will not be taken up before net fall."Labels: architects, children, Independence, Judges May 21, 1908
TO BUILD NEW OFFICE BLOCK.
Will Be Seven Story Structure at Twelfth and Main. A real estate transaction involving the building of a new seven-story modern store and office building at the north-west corner of Twelfth and Main streets was consummated yesterday afternoon. James W. Pennock of Syuracuse, N. Y., owner of the Pennock building at Twelfth and Main streets, leased the property to James O'Reilly, president of the Owl Drug Company, for a period of ninety-nine years at a net rental of $26,000 per year. The property has a frontage of twenty-four feet ten inches on Main street and 130 feet on the north side of Twelfth street. As a part of the consideration, O'Reilly agrees to replace the four-story building now occupying the property with a modern seven-story office building. Six small stores on the first floor and in the basement will front on Main and Twelfth streets. The second will be devoted to business offices, while the four upper floors will be especially equipped for doctors and dentists. The architect is Lewis Curtis, who was architect for the Baltimore hotel. Until recently Pennock and Curtis engaged to plan the building with the idea of retaining it himself, but the negotiations for a long lease were closed late yesterday afternoon. Labels: architects, Hotel Baltimore, Main street, real estate, Twelfth street May 21, 1908 SEEKS MODEL FOR PARK ZOO.
Comptroller Pearson Will Visit Chi- cago in Search of Ideas.
City Comptroller Pearson will leave for Chicago tonight on two missions. One is to get pointers from the Lincoln park zoo for a similar attraction to be installed at Swope park. He will be accompanied by Herbert Seddon, an architect who is to prepare the plans for the zoo buildings here. The other purpose of his trip is to pilot to the waters of the Blue and Missouri rivers a new gasoline launch, in which Pearson and others have an interest. The course to Kansas City will be through the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri rivers.Labels: architects, boats, Chicago, Missouri river, Swope park April 25, 1908 NEW ST. TERESA'S ACADEMY.
It Will Be Near Fifty-Fifth and Main Streets and Will Cost $300,000.
Architects Wilder and Wight are drawing plans for a new school building which is to be erected by the Sisters of St. Joseph in charge of St. Teresa's academy, near Main street and Fifty-fifth. The Sisters recently closed a deal with E. S. Yoemans for the purchase of a twenty-acre tract in this vicinity at a cost of $40,000, and will shortly begin the erection of the school building. It is understood about $300,000 will be expended on the building. St. Teresa's academy is exclusively for girls.Labels: architects, Fifty-fifth street, Main street, nuns, schools December 5, 1908
BOMB IN FIRST NATIONAL BANK.
EXPLODES, DAMAGES BUILDING AND INJURES TEN.
BANK'S BASEMENT IS WRECKED.
WAS BOMB PLACED BY INSTITU- TION'S ENEMY?
This Is Belief of Officers Who Worked on Case -- Explosion Took Place When Janitor Closed a Closet Door.
Mystery which is baffling the entire police and detective forces of Kansas City and the local members of the Pinkerton Detective agency surrounds an explosion in the basement of the First National Bank building, Tenth street and Baltimore avenue, at noon yesterday, which wrecked the basement of the institution and endangered the lives of employes and officers of the bank, as well as pedestrians on the street outside.
INFERNAL MACHINE,
Such As Might Have Caused the Explosion.
That an infernal machine, probably a bomb made of dynamite or nitro-glycerin, caused the explosion, and was set there by an enemy of the bank or a crank, who may have lost money through the failure of financial institutions during the financial stringency, is the belief of nearly every expert or officer who worked on the case yesterday. Another belief is that it may have been a crank who had money in the First National bank and had failed to obtain as much as he wanted during the panic who used this as a means of getting revenge. The officials of the bank are unaware of any person who might be an enemy of the institution and do a thing of this kind. 
DAMAGE TO WINDOWS ACROSS THE STREET.
The explosion was so terrific that it was felt by persons in the offices of the bank building, the New York Life building and the Shubert theater building. A cloud of smoke rose through the windows and up the elevator shaft, which smelled like that of dynamite or nitro-glycerin. Glass in the skylight of the bank building, which is fully 200 feet from the place of the explosion, was shattered. Had not the building been strongly built it would have been blown into a mass of ruins, according to expert builders and architects who made an investigation. They say the structure is absolutely safe, and that the only damage was to the basement, which will not in their estimation exceed $3,000.
As it is only a portion of the basement was wrecked. Two walls, made of tiling marble and concrete, were blown down. One of these walls was 12x18 feet, and the other was 20x18 feet, both being 18 inches thick. An iron beam supporting the ceiling, which is about nine inches wide and two inches thick, was bent and the door casing, which is made of iron, was warped out of shape. A hole two feet in diameter was blown in the wall directly back of the point of explosion, and there is a hole in the concrete floor about four inches deep. 
IN WRECKED CELLAR OF BANK.
There was a row of closets made out of marble, and a wash sink of the same material, in the room, and these were broken into fine pieces. The lockers for employes' clothing, which are made of sheet steel, were bent out of shape and tipped over. There were int eh adjoining room. The iron bars on the windows of the basement were blown across Baltimore avenue and wrecked the windows of the Robert Stone Investment Company. The sewer pipes and water pipes were blown into fragments near where the explosion took place.
ONE MAY DIE.
At the time of the explosion there were about 250 people in the bank. Elbert Ward, a negro porter, was nearest the scene of the explosion. He was closing the door of the toilet room when the explosion took place and probably the door saved his life. He was rendered unconscious and lay partly covered with a pile of debris when he was found by Logan Wilson, a mail clerk in the bank, who helped Ward get to the upper floor. Ward was taken to a hospital. He was very seriously cut about the head and body, a piece of iron was found in his leg and it had severed an artery. He will probably die.
Ward, the porter, is the only one of the injured who is considered in a serious condition. Most of the others were considerable distances from the explosion and their injuries will not prove serious unless some of the pieces of broken tile or glass are embedded in their flesh. The other injured are:
R. H. Klapmeyer, bank clerk, cut on the head by flying pieces of tile or glass.
Charles Grant, a pedestrian on Baltimore avenue, bruised by flying iron.
George Evans of the Evans-Smith Drug Company, who was walking on the opposite side of Baltimore avenue from the bank, cut on the head by flying pieces of tile.
Val Jean Brightwell, clerk, cut on head and fa ce by flying pieces of tiling.
J. D. Wilson, an employe of Bell, Egolf & Co., in the United States and Mexican Trust Company building, cut on face by flying glass.
Joseph Patch, carpenter, living at 1315 Lydia avenue, cut by glass. Not serious. Patch was taken to the emergency hospital, where his wounds were dressed. He was in a dazed condition and told the police that he had been shot.
R. M. Cole, knocked senseless by concussion. On sidewalk.
Jay Donaldson, pedestrian on Baltimore avenue, cut on head.
As soon as the explosion took place the fire department and police headquarters were notified and the patrons of the bank were hurried out of the building, the police working on the theory at that time that persons in the building were responsible for the explosion, which may have been true, although no one was arrested at the time in connection with the case. The street was soon crowded with curious people, including depositors of the bank, and a score of police were employed to watch the building.
THEORIES OF EXPLOSION.
There are several theories about the origin of the explosion, all of which are that it was probably caused by an infernal machine and the explosive used was no doubt dynamite. One theory is that the bomb was taken into the basement by an outsider, which, according to President E. F. Swinney, would be an easy matter on account of the new clerks working in the bank since the increase of business caused by the failure of the National Bank of Commerce, and was placed there with the intention of blowing up the cash fault. That when the stranger got to cellar he became confused because of the winding stairway leading to it and made a mistake in the location of the vault, thinking it directly above where the machine exploded. He is supposed to have thought that an iron door in the wall directly above the spot where the explosion took place, might have a connection with the vault, which led him to believe that to be the location of the money chest of Kansas City's largest bank.
TRYING TO BLOW VAULT?
Surroundings of the scene of the explosion lead officers working on the case to believe this theory and also to point out the operation of the person supposed to have placed the bomb. It is believed the bomb was made of a piece of water pipe, about two inches in diameter and eight inches long; that it contained dynamite which was packed in gun cotton; that the bomb was sealed at each end with some kind of material, such as sealing wax, and at one end was placed a quantity of nitro-glycerin. This bomb could have been placed under the water sink in the toilet room where the explosion took place, and attached to the door in such a way that when the door was moved by some one entering or going out, the infernal machine exploded.
REMAINS OF WHAT PROBABLY
WAS A BOMB.
BELIEVE IT WAS GAS.
President E. F. Swinney of the First National bank, and Detectives Dave Oldham and Edward Boyle, who are working on the case, believe it was an explosion of natural gas or sewer gas, but experts who examined the surroundings say this is impossible.
Walter M. Cross, city chemist and an expert on explosives, was asked to examine the bank after the explosion. His statement was that gas could not have caused it because the effect of the explosion was too concentrated; that if it had been caused by gas the whole wall behind would have been pushed out, and not a small hole blown, as it was. He also said that the explosion was too violent to have been caused by gas. He says he believes the explosion was caused by dynamite or nitro-glycerine.
Fire Warden Trickett said: "I am able to arrive at no other conclusion but that the explosion in the First National bank was from dynamite. I made a close examination of premises and the room in which the explosion occurred. There is no gas connection about the building so the explosion could not have been from escaping gas."
AND THEY STICK TO GAS.
Detectives working on the case reported last night that the explosion was caused by natural or sewer gas. Detective Oldham, ho claims to have done some work with a mine drill, gave this as his theory, as did also Boyle, who was formerly a plumber, despite the statement of City Chemist Cross. John Hayes, ex-chief of police, believes it was a bomb set for the purpose of wrecking the institution.
Joseph Patch, a carpenter who was injured and was supposed to have been on the opposite side of Baltimore avenue when the explosion occurred, was arrested last night and taken to the police station, where he was questioned by Assistant Prosecution Attorney Hogan. Ward, the injured negro janitor, also made a statement to Hogan.
Patch, who it was first thought might have had some connection with the affair, because of his story about being shot, and also the fact that he is a union carpenter and the unions have had trouble with the builders of the different bank buildings, was closely questioned by Hogan. Patch has a long police record, most of which was family trouble, but he was released late last night because his testimony led the police to believe that he was not in any way connected with the explosion. His wife was also detained at the police station for a time last night, but she gave no evidence against her husband that would lead the police to believe that he was connected with the affair.
While the gas theory is believed by officers they were ordered to continue working on the case last night, and members of the Pinkerton detective agency also put on the case by the bank. No more arrests had been made at a late hour last night.Labels: architects, Baltimore avenue, banking, crime, detectives, elevators, Lydia avenue, New York Life bldg, Police Chief Hayes, Tenth street May 31, 1907
CHANCE FOR VENUS
SCHOOL BOARD WILL PASS ON QUALIFICATIONS MONDAY.
NOW KEPT IN SECLUSION
PARK BOARD MEMBER AND EN- GINEER EXPRESS VIEWS. Both Call It a Perfect Work of Art -- Mr. Buchan, the Donor, Says Cleveland Accepted a Sim- ilar Statue Without a Single Blush. THE STATUE OF VENUS GENETRIX REJECTED BY THE KANSAS CITY, KAS. SCHOOL BOARD.
The fate of the statue Venus Genetrix, now reposing in the basement of the public library in Kansas City, Kas., will in all probability be finally decreed at Monday night's meeting of the board of education. The members of the board who have been keeping this particular piece of art in seclusion ever since its presentation by Senator W. J. Buchan, will be asked to render their final decision at the next meeting. It is understood that a large number of lovers of art will attend Monday night's meeting and try to convince the board that by turning down the gift it will be depriving the library of a valuable and beautiful work of art. Leading citizens are manifesting much concern in the matter. The majority of them are in favor of giving Venus the most conspicuous location in the library building.
George Kessler, landscape architect, who has been employed to lay out a park and boulevard system in Kansas City, Kas., examined the statue at a recent meeting of the Kansas City, Kas., park board and pronounced it a most beautiful work of art.
PERFECT WORK OF ART.
J. P. Angle, a member of the park board, to whose office the statue was consigned by the park board, says that he has never gazed upon a more perfect work of art.
"While I do not put myself up as a critic in statuary," said Mr. Angle yesterday, "yet I have visited many art galleries, and from the collections of fine art I have seen I am frank to say I I do not believe I could pick a more beautiful piece of statuary than that which the school board has rejected."
Nathaniel Barnes, former postmaster, in speaking about the statue says that no one with a spark of love for the fine art could find the slightest objection to Venus. However, he suggests that if the school board is in doubt as to the propriety of accepting the gift and giving it a proper place in the library building, a commission might be appointed to determine its worth as a piece of fine art and also decide whether or not it should be exhibited in the library.
Mr. Buchan, the donor of the statue, in speaking about his gift and the subsequent action of the school board, said:
"I think the whole affair is too ridiculous to discuss. I went over to Italy, in my trip around the world, and while there did not forget my home town. I saw this beautiful statue in the original at Rome and bought the fine replica I presented to the board of education in Florence. I made a special trip to Florence to get the piece and paid $450 for it. It cost in transportation another $100.
FUNNY TO BUCHAN.
"For the life of me, I can't understand the aversion of the school board for the statue. A man who was making the trip with me got a similar one for the library at Cleveland, O., and he tells me there were no objections from growing young people there.
"The funniest thing about the deal is that the excuse of the board is that young girls and boys who see the statue may have read Ouida's book in which it is criticized. Now, I may be wrong in my judgement of immoral things, but I think a girl or boy who reads Ouida's proscribed books can not be injured much by looking on the4 excellent piece of art work she condemns."
W. E. Griffith, a member of the board, said yesterday that the statue was too nude to be placed in the rotunda of the library, if not in a collection of such pieces.
"I am not prudish," said Mr. Griffith, "but I am opposed to tempting girls and boys who have not reached the age of discretion, to make remarks and draw inferences. The statue was given to us in good faith, but it is unfit. We can not help that. We are only sorry we can not use it out of courtesy to Mr. Buchan. The statue would not be half so suggestive if there was no drapery at all."
WOMEN NOT DISPLEASED.
Attorney Edward Barker, 713 Minnesota avenue, who has taken considerable interest in the disposition of the Venus, yesterday conducted a party of women, including his wife, to the park board rooms where the statue is stored temporarily awaiting further action of the school board.
"What do you think of it?" Mr. Barker asked them.
"Oh, it is just lovely," they answered in chorus.
Afterward, all of the women said they would not be ashamed to have the Venus installed in their parlors or hallways.
"The school board is trying to out-Comstock Comstock," is the way Attorney Barker expressed his opinion of the action of that body regarding the Venus.Labels: architects, arts, George Kessler, Kansas City Kas, Minnesota avenue |
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