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February 12, 1910

SCHOOL CHILDREN

DRINK INTOXICANTS.

Parents Supply Liquor to

Little Ones at Meals.

BEER, WHISKY AND WINE.

Doctors Say It Explains

Nervousness -- Plan to

Stop Custom.

The physicians who are empolyed in school inspection have been endeavoring of late to find out what the children ate and drank at home. This has been done with a view to finding the reason for nervousness in so many otherwise healthy children. In one school which has a large foreign attendance the information gained from but two rooms was startling. In one room of forty children it was discovered that seventeen had either beer, wine or whisky to drink with some of their meals the previous day.

In this room the teacher was making a record of what each child had to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner the previous day. The following has to do only with the beverages, or liquids, served them:

Water -- Two had it for breakfast, eighteen for lunch and five for dinner.
Milk -- Three for breakfast, two for lunch and nine for dinner.
Tea -- Four for breakfast, two for lunch and nine for dinner.
Coffee -- Twenty-three for breakfast, three for lunch and four for dinner.
Beer -- Three had it for lunch and nine drank it for dinner.
Wine -- Three drank wine for lunch and one for dinner.
Whisky -- One had it for dinner.

In another room, while no wine or whisky was given t he children, they showed up strong on the coffee and beer. The report follows:

Water -- One had it for breakfast, six for lunch and none for dinner.
Milk -- Eight for breakfast, three for lunch and nine for dinner.
Coffee -- Twenty for breakfast, two for lunch and ten for dinner.
Cocoa -- Five for breakfast and one for lunch.
Chocolate -- One for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Beer -- Five for breakfast, fourteen for lunch and fifteen for dinner.

"While people are buying $30,000 organs for churches here in this city," said the physician who inspected this school, "I think it would do more good to get a cheaperr organ and use the rest of the money in educating the parents of these children. The children of this generation will be the parents of the next and if they are reared on beer, wine and whisky, what kind of citizens will they make? This is a very serious matter and parents who see no wrong in poisoning a child's brain with alcohol and making it a nervous wreck before it is half grown must be taught better."

NURSES TO INSTRUCT.

On account of this startling discovery it is the intention now to go further than the inspection in the school and only in the home where disease exists. Mrs. Kate E. Pierson, a member of the board of pardons and paroles and connected also with the Associated Charities, has taken an interest in the matter. An effort will be made to secure nurses who speak the foreign languages necessary in this case, to go into the homes and instruct the mothers. They especially will be warned regarding giving intoxicants to their children.

"The nurses will have to do more," said Mrs. Pearson yesterday. "They will teach the mothers what is best for a child to eat, how and where to buy the proper food and how to prepare it. They also will be taught how to care for their babies and growing children."

"We find a great many nervous children in the schools, especially in certain districts," said one of the inspectors. "There is no doubt but that the giving of intoxicants is bad for them, but the constant drinking of coffee and tea by a child is also injurious.

"A growing child going to school needs the proper kind of nourishing food to hold up its end of the game. Much of the nervousness among the children in a certain district comes from alcoholic beverages, coffee and tea. Others are permitted to eat anything they choose and at any time, and consequently are badly nourished."

Labels: alcohol, Associated Charities, children, doctors, food, health, schools

February 7, 1910

EVEN THE BABIES

HEAR THE BAND.

Battery B Musicians Please

Large Audience in Con-

vention Hall.

Yesterday afternoon's concert at Convention hall by Battery B band will not be the last, according to an announcement from the stage. There was no question of the success of the event, every number being vigorously applauded, "Lohengrin" proving fully as popular as the one ragtime selection of the afternoon.

The size of the audience was a surprise to the management, nearly 1,500 people being present. It was distictly a family gathering of fathers, mothers and the children. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed and the baby were on hand and Papa Newlywed did a pedestrian "stunt" up in the balcony when the baby showed a disposition to rial the best efforts of the musicians.

Director Berry ha arranged an excellent programme, comprising seven instrumental and two vocal numbers, which was more than doubled by the insistent encores of the audience. Miss Mildred Langworthy was the soprano soloist and Ross Dale the tenor. Both pleased and were compelled to respond to encores.

The feature numbers by the band were a fantasie from Wagner's "Lohengrin," the overture from Offenbach's "Orpheus," and exquisite number beautifully rendered; a euphonium solo, "Evening Star" from "Tannhauser"' Nevin's dainty "Narcissus." The closing number was called the "Congress of Nations" and comprised the national airs of various countries. To give a spectacular touch, members of Battery B entered, one at a time, with the flag of the country as the band played the national air, closing with "The Star Spangled Banner" and Old Glory brought a storm of applause.

Yesterday's concert demonstrated that Kansas City has a large class of music lovers who do not require the stimulus of a great name to induce them to turn out. The classic selections on yesterday's programme were equally enjoyed with the lighter numbers. Director Berry had the courage to omit "ragtime" save in one single instance, and no one, apparently, felt very badly over it.

Labels: children, Convention Hall, military, music

February 4, 1910

BABY'S CRY SAVED FATHER.

"Don't Send My Papa to Jail" Caused

Judge to Reverse Himself.

The kiss of his 4-year-old daughter, Ethel, yesterday saved Clarence Chronic from serving six months in the county jail for stealing chickens, a crime of which he had been found guilty in the criminal court. Judge Ralph S. Latshaw had passed sentence upon him and was putting on his coat and hat to leave the room. The little girl left her mother's side on her own impulse and threw both arms about her father's legs.

"Don't send him away," she pleaded, leveling a pair of innocent blue eyes at the judge. "Papa is my best friend."

The judge hesitated, scowled and was promptly won over. "A man who is loved by his family," he said after announcing his parole, "has his good traits."

Labels: children, crime, criminal court, Judge Latshaw

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 31, 1910

POPULAR FIREMAN DIES.

"Bob" Hamilton of Kansas City,

Kas., Was "Children's Friend."

LIEUTENANT "BOB" HAMILTON.

" 'Bob' Hamilton is dead." This report yesterday in Kansas City, Kas., brought grief to young and old alike in hundreds of homes in that city, for big, good natured "Bob" Hamilton was the most popular member of the Kansas City, Kas., fire department. His death was due to typhoid fever. Officially he was known as Lieutenant Robert Hamilton of No. 1 hose company, but to the "boys" and to his hundreds of friends he was "Bob." Tributes to his personal bravery and efficiency as a fireman were paid yesterday by his superior officers and the men who worked with him.

Robert Hamilton was 31 years old and had been connected with the city fire department since June, 1906. His record as a fireman is unsurpassed, and his engaging manners and Irish wit won for him hundreds of friends. Little children or women calling at the fire station to inspect the apparatus invariably asked to be conducted about by "Bob" Hamilton. He will long be remembered as the children's friend.

Mr. Hamilton died yesterday at Bethany hospital in Kansas City, Kas. His father, John Hamilton, his mother and immediate relatives were present.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been completed, although it is probable that the burial will take place in Kansas City, Kas.

Labels: children, death, Fire, hospitals, Kansas City Kas, typhoid

January 30, 1910

GIVES HIS HALF TO

MAHONEY CHILDREN.

JUDGE MICHAEL ROSS, SILENT

PARTNER, DISCLAMES SHARE

WORTH $50,000.

"John Was My Friend and
He Would Have Done That

for Me," He Says.

Judge Michael Ross, John Mahoney's silent partner, yesterday startled the court of Van B. Prather, probate judge of Wyandotte county, by announcing he wished to disclaim a $50,000 share in the Mahoney estate so that it would go to his friend's orphans.

John Manoney was the Kansas City, Kas. contractor who, with his wife and foreman, Thomas F. McGuire, met death in an automobile accident on the Cliff drive Monday afternoon Judge Ross has been justice of the peace in the North End for many years.

One feature about Judge Ross's gift is that he wanted no one except the firm's lawyer to know about it. At the opening of the hearing Judge Prather said he understood that a silent partnership existed in the contracting business between Mr. Mahoney and some one else, and that if such was the case it would be necessary to take different action in the appointment of the administrators than if such a partnership did not exist.

"HE WAS MY FRIEND."

At this announcement Judge Ross arose. He said he had been a full partner of Mr. Mahoney in the contracting business, but that he desired to "wipe the slate clean" and give the children his half of the estate. Judge Prather asked Judge Ross to explain more fully.

"John Mahoney was a good friend of mine," the judge began. "He loved his four children dearly, and I am comfortably situated, and I want those little children to have my interest in the estate. And further, if any of the contracts which Mr. Mahoney left unfinished show a loss when they are fulfilled by the administrators I will give my personal check to make up for it. John was my friend and I know he would have done the same for my family."

When Judge Ross had finished speaking there were tears in the eyes of many in the court room. Judge Prather said nothing for a moment then rising, he reached over and grasped Judge Ross's hand.

"I am 60 years old," Judge Prather said. "I have read of such men, and heard of them, but you are the first of this type whose hand I ever have had the privilege to grasp."

1,000 ATTENDED FUNERAL.

The funeral of Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney was held on Friday in Kansas City, Kas. The services were held at the home, 616 North Seventh street and conducted by the Rev. Father James Keegan of St. Mary's Catholic church. It was estimated that more than 1,000 persons gathered about the house during the services. The children at Central school, where the younger Mahoney children attended, stood with bowed heads while the funeral cortege passed.

Nellie Mahoney and her sister, Lillian, age 6, were still in St. Mary's hospital and were unable to attend the services. They were, however, told for the first time of the deaths of their parents. The girls were taken from the hospital to their home in a closed carriage last night. Lillian is now able to walk about, and the attending surgeons say she is recovering rapidly. The girls are being attended at their home by a trained nurse. Mr. Mahoney's sister is in charge of the house.

Judge Prather said yesterday that he would visit the Mahoney home tomorrow morning in order that Nellie might sign a bond and qualify as an administrator.

Mr. Mahoney did not leave a will, at least none has been found.

Labels: children, churches, Cliff drive, Funeral, Judge Prather, Judges, Justice Ross, Kansas City Kas, ministers, North end, probate

January 27, 1910

FATHER'S FEARS UNFOUNDED.

Italian's Effort to See Girl Starts

Black Hand Story.

Fearing that he was about to become a victim of a Black Hand plot, Petro Marsala, a wealthy Italian living at 410 Oak street, appealed to the police for protection yesterday. Detectives immediately investigated the case and reoprted that Marsala's apprehensions were for the most part unfounded.

Petro has a 13-year-old daughter whose name is Dora. She recently had an ardent suitor, Sam Valenta, who proposed marriage to her. The father promptly interposed an objection and ordered Sam to desist his attentions. Volenta's feelings were hurt and it is said that he wrote imploring letters to Dora and finally formed the habit of frequenting the Marsala premises in an effort to see the girl.

Then Marsala seemed to take alarm. He had heard that Valenta had relatives who were said to be members of the Black Hand society. Neighbors told him they had heard rumors to the effect that Sam and some accomplices plotted to kidnap Dora. No arrests have been made.

Labels: black hand, children, detectives, immigrants, Oak street, romance

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 24, 1910

TINY TOT TELLS THE TRUTH.

Assures Court He Never Sells Papers

After Six O'clock.

Tony Grapes is the name of a diminutive Italian boy. He says he is 8 years old, but looks no more than 6. A few days ago he approached Judge E. E. Porterfield on a Brooklyn car and wanted to sell him a paper. Yesterday Tony and his father were in the juvenile court.

"Do you remember seeing me?" asked the judge.

"Yep," smile Tony, showing his white teeth. "I sell you paper."

"Do you remember when I asked you how late you quit selling papers and you said, 'Any old time?'"

"I quit all the time at 6 o'clock," said Tony, who had evidently been informed that little boys are not allowed to sell papers later than that.

Tony said he had made 15 and sometimes 25 cents a day and that he gave the money to his moth er. Tony acted as interpreter when the judge told the boy's father he must not sell papers any more until the youth is older

"You are sure you are telling your father exactly what I say to you?" asked the court.

"Sure," said Tony. "He says he no like me to sell papers. He 'fraid the cars run off my legs and arms and hands and feet. Then I wouldn't have any to sell papers when I get big."

Labels: children, immigrants, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, newspapers

January 23, 1910

PROBABLY YOUNGEST

BILLIARD PLAYER IN

THE WORLD.

Billy Ryle, Jr.,'s Father Is an

Expert With Ivories.

BILLY RYLE, SR., AND BILLY RYLE, JR.

Probably the youngest billiard player in the world is Billy Ryle, Jr., son of Billy Ryle, the local room keeper and three-cushion expert. This boy is but 5 years of age and is capable of making a run of five on a big table in the straight rail billiards, supposed to be the greatest feat ever performed by a boy this age.

Billy Ryle, Jr., learned the game of his own accord and in a peculiar way. He was at his father's hall one day and asked to be allowed to play. His father stood him on a chair beside a pool table and moved him around to make different shots. He soon pocketed the fifteen balls and was then allowed to play billiards. He showed remarkable skill for a child and was then given a private cue, small enough for him to handle. With not a great amount of practice he has learned to make a run of five and his father has ordered him a special table. It will be 3 1/2 by 7 feet, modeled after the Phister 5x19 table and will be twenty-four inches high. It will be equipped with a full set of ivory balls.

Before the table is completed this little fellow is playing on the floor at home, using a walking stick for a cue. This boy has seen the greatest experts in the country play billiards and is very enthusiastic over the game. His father believes he will be a champion by the time he is of age. Mr. Ryle will have the boy tutored by experts when he gets older.

Billy Ryle, Sr., is one of the best billiardists in the West and if he had had an opportunity when younger he would probably have been a champion at balk line. He is today one of the best three-cushion and balk line players in Missouri.

Labels: billiards, children, sports

January 21, 1910

CHILDREN WON'T EAT MEAT.

Independence Sunday School Pupils

Vote Thirty-Day Boycott.

The boys and girls of the Maywood Sunday school, near Independence, met last night and decided to eat no meat during the next thirty days. Petitions were circulated in Independence yesterday, but received few signers.

Labels: children, churches, food, Independence, Maywood

January 20, 1910

BABY ROUTS AN ARMED MAN.

But Child Could Not Save the

Family Diamonds.

John Church Ingles, 3 years old, son of Edward M. Ingles, 3830 Forest avenue, put to flight an armed burglar who invaded his nursery yesterday afternoon.

The man gained entrance by means of a skeleton key while Mrs. Ingles was visiting a neighbor. He made a search of the dining room and kitchen, taking two diamond bracelets and about $5 in cash, and was going up the stairs when John heard him.

The child called loudly for his mother. Mrs. Ingles came running from an adjoining house just in time to see the man dash out of the front door and across the lawn. He had a long bladed knife in his hand.

Labels: children, crime, Forest avenue, jewelry

January 18, 1910

WORK OF BOY, AGED

THIRTEEN.

Never Took Art Lesson.

MASTER JOHN WOOLSEY'S IDEA OF AN EASTER HAT.

John A. Woolsey, the 13-year-old son of J. T. Woolsey, 1131 State street, Kansas City, Kas., the author of these sketches, never had a drawing lesson in his life, but ever since he was old enough to write his name he has shown more or less talent and interest in sketching. He has no particular subject for his drawings, but will sketch whatever comes to his mind, one time a farm scene or landscape view, and perhaps the next will be a comic picture or series of pictures along the lines of the comics in the Sunday edition of newspapers. He also takes great interest in making cartoons. Young Woolsey attended the Lowell school until two years ago, when he went with his father to Texas, and remained until a few weeks ago, when they returned to Kansas City. He will be sent to an art school as soon as his other education is finished.

Labels: arts, children, Kansas City Kas, Texas

January 14, 1910

FUND ONE-FIFTH COMPLETED.

Mercy Hospital for Children Still

Needs $4,000 for Extension.

One-fifth of the $5,000 needed by the Mercy hospital to furnish the second floor of their hospital for children, has been received and several other donations promised. "We have to have the money to furnish this floor," said Dr. Alice Graham, superintendent of the hospital, last night. "A short time ago we had all the patients that we could care for. I consider that $5,000 will furnish this floor and leave enough funds to pay the help for the year. We have no private income. We received a check the other day from a woman in Detroit, Mich. One large room is to be fixed up for the permanently afflicted children."

Labels: charity, children, doctors, hospitals, Mercy hospital

January 13, 1910

WEE BABE PROVES MAGNET.

Tot Reunites Parents, Who Thought

They Couldn't Agree.

"It was 'Jimmy' who reunited us," said Mrs. Mary A. Judkins, of 2131 Madison street, who with her divorced husband went to the recorder's office yesterday to procure a marriage license.

It was about a year ago that the couple, newly married, decided they could not live together happily. Shortly before this a boy had been born to Mrs. Judkins. She named him "Jimmy." When the divorce was granted, Mrs. Judkins was given the custody of the babe. The father, however, was permitted to visit his child once a week. These weekly visits resulted in a reconciliation between Mr. and Mrs. Judkins and yesterday they decided to be remarried.

"We're going to try it over again," said Mrs. Judkins, and the husband smiled his approval.

No happier couple, if appearance counted, was ever granted a license to marry by the county recorder, declare the deputies in the marriage license department. Mr. and Mrs. Judkins hurried out of the court house to find a minister.

Labels: children, courthouse, Divorce, Madison street, marriage

December 11, 1910

JUDGE TAKES PART

OF RUNAWAY GIRLS.

Homes Have Been Found for

Ava Jewell and Hattie

Hayes.

"I told them 'If you never do anything worse than sit on a rock pile and crack rock for papa you will be queens on a thrown with jewels in your crowns.' "

T. W. Jewell, 920 Cambridge avenue, Sheffield, made this statement in the juvenile court yesterday afternoon after admitting that he had required his daughter, Ava Jewell, 16 years old, and his stepdaughter, Hattie Hayes, 15 years old, to crack rock in his quarry "because they were useless to their mother in the house."

About three weeks ago both girls ran away from their rock cracking work, Ava going to Kansas City, Kas., and Hattie Hayes getting employment at a cracker factory. For the past week she had been working as a domestic in a Sheffield hotel. She was taken into the juvenile court on the request of her mother and stepfather.

"Why did you put these girls, young women, I might say, to work on a rock pile?" asked Judge E. E. Porterfield earnestly.

"It was honest labor," said Jewell, "nothin' of which they should be ashamed. They might o' done far worse. You tell him how it came about, mamma," concluded Jewell, addressing his wife.

"Well, they just wouldn't do the housework right," said Mrs. Jewell. "It kept me continually following them about doing the work over again. I knowed somethin' had to be done to keep 'em busy, so I asked papa if he could use 'em in the quarry on the rear of our lot. 'Yes,' says he, 'I can use 'em breakin' up the small stones. Then he put 'em to work down there. That's all.'

"They was there about two or three weeks," said Jewell, "not over three at the outside, and all the work they done could be did in ten to twenty hours. I built 'em a nice platform on which to work. All they had to do was gather the small rock, carry it to the platform and break it. It sells for $1 a yard, judge. It's valuable."

"You know what they done, judge?" asked Jewell in apparent surprise, "they hammered holes in their skirts and kept me busy putting handles in the stone hammers. They would strike over too far and break the handles, just for meanness. Why, there mamma used to come down there just to encourage them, you know, an' she would crack more rock in an hour than they'd crack in a whole day. Mamma liked to crack rock, didn't you mamma? All the time them girls was a complainin' and talkin' o' runnin' away, an' one day both of 'em up and run away."

"I am surprised that they waited so long," said Judge Porterfield when Jewell had finished his explanation. "They should have gone the first day you put them there. A stone quarry, using a hammer and a drill, as this girl says she had to do, is no place for young women."

It was at this point that Jewell delivered himself of the tender sentiment about "jewels in your crowns."

"That sounds nice," suggested the court, "but it doesn't go with me. Any place on earth for a girl or woman but the rock pile, whether it be for papa or in jail. I do not approve of it. this girl will be made a ward of the court and a place secured for her. Working promiscuously in hotels and factories is not the best place for her, either, so long as she is not remaining in the home."

Hattie, who was 15 in October, was turned over to Mrs. Agnes O'Dell, a juvenile court officer, who will secure a place for her in a private family. Her stepsister, Ava Jewell, has a place as a domestic in Kansas City, Kas.

Labels: children, employment, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, Kansas City Kas, sheffield, women

January 10, 1910

SON OF ACTRESS IS BURNED.

Father Dead, Mother Away, Boy

Hurt Fatally Playing Indian.

While playing with some other boys in a vacant foundry at Nicholson and Prospect avenues yesterday morning at 11:30 o'clock, Eddie Campbell, aged 8 years, was so badly burned that he died four hours later at the University hospital.

The lad was attempting to make an Indian fire with some logs, and as the timber would not ignite readily he poured some kerosene on the heated portion. An explosion followed and young Campbell's clothes caught on fire. His playmates made frantic efforts to extinguish the flames, but did not succeed until after the boy had sustained fatal injuries. The body was taken to Stewart's undertaking rooms.

Eddie Campbell had been living with an uncle, Albert Campbell, at 728 North Chestnut street, for some time. His father is dead and his mother, Stella S. Campbell, who is an actress, is touring Michigan.

Labels: Chestnut street, children, death, explosion, Fire, Nicholson avenue, Prospect avenue, theater, undertakers, University hospital

January 8, 1910

SMALL CHANCE FOR BABY.

Privation Getting Better of Infant

Found in Union Depot.

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

Labels: children, general hospital, Union depot

January 1, 1910

DREAMS OF HIS MISSING SON.

Stone Mason Believes This Story

Will Bring Back Show Boy.

After six years of fruitless effort on the part of Guss Solomon, a stone mason living at 805 East Eighth street, to find his son, who disappeared from their home in St. Louis during the world's fair, visions of the lost boy have appeared to him in dreams the last four nights, and it is his belief that the boy will be returned to him through this story:

"We were living in St. Louis during the fair," said Mr. Solomon, "and my boy, then 11 years old, was employed in the picture show in the entrance of the Broken Heart saloon on Broadway. Near the close of the fair he came to me one day and asked permission to leave the next day with a show which had been playing at the fair grounds. I told him that he better stay with his mother and me and took him up to town and bought him a new suit of clothes.

Around 8 o'clock that morning he went out to play with some of the boys in the neighborhood, and I never heard of him since. The show he desired to leave with went East that same night, but I was unable to trace it. I wrote to the chief of police in all the large Eastern cities, but they were unable to find any clew. The boy, if still alive, would be about 16 years old. He was rather tall and slim for his age was light complexioned.

Labels: children, Eighth street, missing, runaway, St Louis, theater

December 28, 1909

MOTHER LECTURED BY JUDGE.

She Admits False Age of Son Was

Given Factory Inspector.

Mrs. E. L. Folsom, 707 East Eighteenth street, weeping bitterly, was lectured by Judge E. E. Porterfield in the juvenile court yesterday for making a false affidavit regarding the age of her son, Lyle H. Wilcox, in the office of W. H. Morgan, state factory inspector, recently when the boy went to work. She swore that he was born April 7, 1895, but yesterday admitted that he was born a year later. While under oath, as the court learned from private conversation with the woman's daughter, other misstatements were made.

"You ought to be punished," said Judge Porterfield, "for making the false affidavit about your son's age and for other statements made here under oath, but I cannot do it in this court. It could be done in the criminal court, however. This habit people have gotten into of making false affidavits of their children's ages before the factory inspector has got to be broken up. Somebody is going to be punished, too, if it does not cease."

The boy, Lyle, was given into the custody of his sister, Mrs. Iva Hubbard, 1405 Spruce avenue. Mrs. Folson said she had born ten children, seven of whom are living. She said she was divorced from Joseph Wilcox in Oklahoma City, Ok., and that seven years ago in January she was married to Folson.

Labels: children, custody, Eighteenth street, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, oklahoma, Spruce avenue

December 25, 1909

8,000 KIDS YELL

SANTA GREETINGS.

POLICE IN BATTLE ROYAL WHEN
GIFTS ARE ANNOUNCED AS

READY FOR CHILDREN.

Officials of Mayor's Christ-

mas Tree Well Pleased

With Its Success.

Santa Claus, the magnanimous patron saint of good will, was the hero of the hour in Convention hall yesterday afternoon when 8,000 needy, little children were happy objects of his unbounded generosity.

For the second time the mayor's annual Christmas tree was brought forth loaded with playthings and goodies for the poor youngsters, who otherwise would not know of the joys of the giving spirit of the Yuletide. Every child, irrespective of color or race, was made the recipient of a sack filled with things that gladden the juvenile heart.

By 2 o'clock the bill hall was crowded with boys and girls from every portion of the city, and for fully an hour the expectant thousands were entertained by a band organ, furnished by the Hippodrome, and a clown band which marched about the hall playing the most tuneless tunes imaginable, but doing antics that amused all.

Mayor T. T. Crittenden was slated for a speech, but in the attempt failed, owing to the impossibility of inducing the anxious auditors to desist in their yelling. However, the mayor was able to yell "A Merry Christmas" occasionally during the distribution of presents, and this laconic well-wishing accomplished all that could be asked, for every child left the hall with smiling faces which revealed the joyousness they were experiencing.

MAYOR SATISFIED.

"Isn't this going some?" smiled the mayor as he took a view of the remarkable scene. "Just so every one of these poor children get something, I will be satisfied. It is a grand sigh and a gloriouis manifestation of the great Kansas City spirit, which we all love to see.

"It's a greater success than ever," declared Steve Sedweek, a member of the executive committee. "It is one of the biggest charitable undertakings in the country to care for so many needy children, and I am sure the whole committee feels gratified in noting the remarkable demonstrations in evidence here this afternoon."

At times during the big event it was not an easy task to keep the guests properly marooned for their own safety and comfort. Every child present wanted to get his or her present first and the police, under the direction of Sergeant Charles Edwards, had their troubles, but handled the crowds well. Most of the officers present were attired in Santa Claus make-up. In fact, Saint Nick was there six times strong in the persons of Jack Darnell, S. F. Cox, James F. Campbell, A. D. Royer, Joe McCormick and Elvin Gray.

The idea of having a mayor's tree for the poor children every Christmas was conceived by Steve Sedweek, who outlined his plan at an Eagle banquet over a year ago. Mayor Crittenden forthwith promulgated the scheme, and now the affair is to be annual and of increasing success, no doubt.

Yesterday afternoon there were representatives from twelve different cities of the Middle West present to witness the distribution of gifts to the poor. These men came with the view of seeing how Kansas City made its needy ones happy on Christmas and to take the idea back home in the hopes of starting the same kind of wide-spread charity. The mayor's tree is strictly a Kansas City institution and bids fair to be in vogue in many other cities ere many years.

POLICE WERE BUSY.

It was no easy matter even for a dozen military policemen under the careful personal direction of their drill master, Sergeant Charles Edwards, to keep the 8,000 children in their places in the hall yesterday when the line was formed for the distribution of presents. Between boxes, in which the visitors sat, and the gallery seats, where those really interested in the affair were penned in, was a four-foot fence of iron. It did not look very high to the boys, but it looked even smaller to the cops. To the latter it looked infinitely long, however, for at the first call for gifts a scrambling mass of children swept over it, inundating the boxes below and surging out into the hall. For a space of a minute the line seemed actually in danger. The policemen rushed forward, brandishing their clubs and shouting. A dozen members of the reception committee joined hands and formed a wall near the threatened quarter. The mayor raised his deep bass voice in mild disapproval.

Just then, at the crucial moment, the reserves threw their ponderous weight into the fray and the regiments of insurgents broke for cover like the old guard in the rout of Waterloo. The victorious newcomers were the six big officers doing duty as Santa Claus close to the Christmas trees and their tinsel had a better moral effect than the regulation uniforms or the white committee badges. There were no youngsters in that host who wanted to endanger their good standing with St. Nicholas and his assistants. Not much!

There was just one way in which gifts were classified according to the age of the child receiving them yesterday. The presents were in flour sacks, each bearing the label, "Mayor's Christmas Tree, 1909." On the sacks containing gifts calculated for older children the letters were printed in blue, while on the others they were in red. There were eighteen persons at each "gift bench" handing out the sacks.

MOURNER'S BENCHES FOR THE LOST.

A great number of visitors at the mayor's Christmas party wondered why two long benches ere arranged alongside the trees. They were told by ushers that these were the mourners' benches. This was proved to be true later in the day when children who had somehow got lost from their parents or elders lined up from one end to the other. Two little girls, Edith Shoemaker, 2311 Euclid avenue, and Menie Marcus, who said she lived near Eighteenth and McGee streets, were prominent among the mourners.

Edith's tear-stained face and Menie's extraordinary composure seemed to attract the attention of everyone. They had never seen each other before, but they were two lost little girls whose ages were on the tender side of 10 years, and in that circumstance there was union. With arms locked about each other's neck, they sat for an hour until Mayor Crittenden personally took charge of Edith, and Jacob Billikopf of Menie, and sent them home, loaded with presents.

Two wagon loads of toys arrived at the hall after the crowd had been treated and were only partially disposed of. The sum of the donations for the tree amounted to $4,880. It was announced last night by Albert Hutchins, chairman of the finance committee, that $200 of the money has not been used. The presents remaining after yesterday will be distributed at the Grand theater Monday night.

Several instances of highway robbery, in which large boys despoiled smaller ones of their trinkets or tickets were reported to the committee of distribution during the afternoon.

Labels: charity, children, Convention Hall, holidays, Jacob Billikopf, Mayor Crittenden, police, toys

December 25, 1909

MOTHER COULDN'T MEET HIM.

Claud Bullus, 15 Years Old, Learns

She Is Dead.

One year ago Claud Bullus, now 15 years old, was sent by W. G. Leeman, probation officer of Dallas, Tex., to the boys' industrial school at Nashville, Tenn. A few days ago the officials of the school received a letter from Mr. Leeman containing a ticket and a request that Bullus be allowed to go to Kansas City to spend Christmas with his mother. When the boy arrived in Kansas City night before last he found that his mother had died of tuberculosis at the old general hospital a month ago.

Claud tells a pitiful story. Six years ago he lived in Chicago with his father and mother and two other brothers. The father and mother separated and that is the last he has heard of his father. His oldest brother, Thomas, joined the navy while the mother and other two boys went to Fort Worth, Tex., where her sister resided. They lived with her four months and then went to Dallas where the boys worked at different jobs to support the mother.

About a year ago the mother and her son, Robert, now 18 years old, went to Denver, Col. Claud remained in Dallas and was sent with twelve other boys to the industrial school in Nashville, Tenn. He received a letter once a week from his mother while she was in Denver. About four months ago she and Robert came to Kansas City, where the mother worked as a domestic until she became ill and was taken to the hospital.

Instead of spending a happy Christmas with the mother and brother, Claud will spend the day as he did yesterday, looking for his brother Robert, whom he thinks is still in Kansas City. The boy is being cared for at the old general hospital, where he will remain until he finds his brother or secures a position.

Labels: Chicago, children, general hospital, orphans, Texas

December 24, 1909

MAYOR'S CHRISTMAS

TREE IS ALL READY.

CANDY AND TOYS FOR THOU-

SANDS OF CHILDREN.

Convention Hall Doors Will Swing

Open at 1 o'clock Today to

Admit the Eager

Youngsters.

Nimble fingers, hastened and made dexterous by kind hearts, effected a transformation in Convention hall yesterday, and today the great auditorium is a Santa Claus land for the poor children of Kansas City. At 1 o'clock this afternoon the doors of the hall will swing open for the mayor's Christmas tree, and at 2:30 they will close, while Santa Claus distributes Christmas presents to at least 7,000 little boys and girls who, by force of circumstances, might otherwise have had no Christmas.

Notwithstanding unceasing efforts, the committees of the Mayor's Christmas Tree Association have been unable to locate all the poor children in the city to give them the tickets which are necessary to entitle them to gifts, and these children who have been overlooked are asked to apply at Convention hall this morning from 8 o'clock until noon. Tickets will be supplied these children any time between those hours.

The Fraternal Order of Moose caught the Christmas spirit in earnest yesterday and notified the Mayor's Christmas Tree Association that it would have twenty-five wagon loads of coal at Convention hall at noon today for distribution among poor families. Each wagon will contain two tons of coal.

WORKED ALL DAY.

Poor families who need fuel are requested to notify the mayor's office by 'phone or in person up to 11 o'clock this morning. These cases will be investigated and if the applicants be found worthy the coal will be delivered at their homes at noon. The offer from the Order of Moose was made by W. A. McGowan, secretary of the local lodge.

That the Convention hall association is heart and soul in the Christmas tree project was shown when Manager Louis W. Shouse and the directors placed the whole Convention hall force at the disposal of the Christmas Tree Association. As soon as the railroad ball was over Wednesday night, Manager Shouse put a force of men to work taking up the dance floor and before 6 o'clock yesterday morning the building was ready for the decorating committees of the Christmas tree.

Steve Sedweek was the first of the association workers to appear on the scene. He arrived at 6 o'clock and within a short time a large force was at work, setting up the Christmas trees, decorating them and packing the gifts into sacks ready for distribution. The committees worked all day and this morning they will have the hall ready for the great event.

That the people of Kansas City may inspect the work of the "best fellows" a general invitation is extended to any who care to do so to stop into the hall during the morning hours, up to noon today.

THE GIFTS IN SACKS.

Among the busy people at the hall yesterday were Captain John F. Pelletier, A. E. Hutchings, Steve Sedweek, Captain W. A. O'Leary, Hank C. Mank, the Rev. Thomas Watts, Gus Zorn and a Mr. Bennett of Wichita, who is here to gain ideas for a similar event to be inaugurated in his city next year.

Among the most valued workers were the members of the committee of twenty. Their duties consisted of the packing and arranging of the gifts in sacks. They worked from early morning till late at night and ate luncheon and dinner in the hall. Mayor T. T. Crittenden was present at the luncheon and sat at the head of the table, commending the women for their work.

The workers were assisted by seven men from No. 6 hook and ladder company, Thirty-first and Holmes, detailed for the duty by Fire Chief John C. Egner. Chief Egner had intended detailing twenty men, but the fire in the Rialto building made it impossible for him to do so.

The giant Christmas trees, which will be among the objects of chief interest to the children, were decorated in magnificent fashion by the employes of the Kansas City Electric Light Company and the Webb-Freyschlag Mercantile Company.

The presents for the children will be arranged in sacks bearing the inscription, "Mayor's Christmas Tree, 1909." The sacks for the boys will be placed on the east side of the arena and those of the girls on the west side. The sacks for children up to 8 years of age are printed in blue and those of children from 8 to 12 are printed in red.

Each child will receive two suitable toys and candy, nuts and fruit, all arranged in Christmas style.

A CLOWN BAND, TOO.

The programme for the mayor's Christmas tree will be a simple one. The doors will open at 1 o'clock, when the children can come in to feast their eyes upon the great Christmas trees and enjoy a fine musical entertainment. The doors will close at 2:30, so that it will be necessary for the tots to be in the hall by that time.

Preceding the distribution of the presents, the Eagles' clown band will give a dress concert on the arena and a large electrical organ will also furnish music. Old Santa Claus, who, it is said, resembles very much in appearance Captain John F. Pelletier, will be present and he will have six assistants with him to mingle among the children. At 2:30 o'clock Santa will introduce Mayor T. T. Crittenden, who will make a short talk, and the presents will then be distributed.

"We have plenty of funds and plenty of gifts for all the city's poor children," said A. E. Hutchings, "and if they do not come and get their share it will not be the fault of the committees, which have labored incessantly to get in touch with every child entitled to the pleasures of the tree."

Although it was announced that no more funds were needed, and that no further cash donations would be received, the financial committee of the association was forced to decline donations yesterday to the amount of several hundred dollars.

Labels: charity, children, Convention Hall, food, holidays, lodges, Mayor Crittenden, music, toys

December 24, 1909

PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOSED.

Will Not Reopen Until Monday Fol-

lowing New Year's Day.

The public schools of Kansas City closed yesterday for the Christmas vacation and will not re-open until the Monday following New Year's day. In the kindergarten schools and in some of the other grades of the various schools, Christmas exercises were held yesterday and as a rule the kindergarten pupils were given little remembrances by their teaches and each other and were presented with small sacks of candy.

Labels: children, holidays, schools

December 21, 1909

GAMBLED HIS MONEY AWAY.

Cecil Killey, 10 Years Old, Spent It

at Drug Store Raffles.

Money given him by his grandmother to buy schoolbooks Cecil Killey, age 10 years, of 4016 Central avenue, spent on drug store raffles. The boy was taken into juvenile court yesterday to explain.

"All the boys do it," explained the youngster. "Sometimes there are as many as thirty in a drug store at one time. It costs ten cents a chance. If you win you get a box of candy."

"You are too young to gamble this way," said Judge E. E. Porterfield. "The next time you are brought into this court you will be sent to the McCune Farm.

Labels: Central avenue, children, druggists, gambling, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court

December 19, 1909

HURRIES FROM GRAVE

TO LAUGH ON STAGE.

GIRL WIFE SINGS SCOTTISH DIT-

TIES, CHOKING SOBS.

As Orchestra Plays "Hearts and

Flowers" for Next Sketch the

"Two Macks" Mourn Death of

"Danny," Their First Born.

Unknown to the audience of the Gayety theater yesterday afternoon, while the orchestra playing the gladsome tunes suggestive of love and happiness, a drama was being enacted in the dressing rooms behind the scenes. In her room sat a wife of one year, her head buried in her arms and tears streaming down her face. Between sobs she could be heard to say: "My baby, my little boy."

Beside this woman sat a young man, barely out of his teens, trying in his way to console the heartbroken girl. Tears glistened in his eyes. His face was contorted with pain and anguish. He was the picture of despair.

The young man was Douglas McKenzie, 20 years old, of Dundee, Scotland. The girl was Mabel McKenzie, 18 years of age, his wife. The two are known to the stage world as the "Two Macks," and they have been playing a comic sketch in Scotch the last week at the Gayety. The two sat in the dressing room in their plaids and kilts, the same that they had appeared in a few minutes before on the stage.

The orchestra suddenly ceased its playing. The lights were turned low. The next sketch was a love scene and the orchestra in a low key softly began, "Hearts and Flowers." The young wife raised her head and listened. With her sleeve she brushed away the tears.

"I wonder if Danny is in heaven -- I know he is," she said, smiling. "I suppose the angels are now playing the same tune."

Danny was the name of their little boy, only a few weeks old, whom they had buried but two hours before. One year ago Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie were married in Scotland. They came to this country on their honeymoon trip and got a place on the vaudeville stage. They made a tour of Texas and Oklahoma. Two months ago they reached Kansas City.

A baby was born, Danny, they called him. There were doctor bills to pay and room rent. Last Thursday the little boy died. They had no money to pay for its burial. for two days the little body was kept in their rooms at the Wyandotte hotel, the undertakers refusing to take it until the burial expenses were advanced.

Yesterday morning Mr. McKenzie told Tom Hodgeman, manager of the Gayety, of his plight. Mr. Hodgeman immediately went to all the playhouses in the city. He told the young man's story to the actors. When he returned from his trip Mr. Hodgeman had $80, enough to pay the funeral expenses.

HURRY TO THEATER.

Yesterday afternoon the little body was buried. From the cemetery where they had laid to rest their first born the young pair hurried to the theater. They arrived barely in time to dress in Scotch costume for their sketch. The "Two Macks" came out on the stage. They danced the Scotch dances and sang the light and frivolous Scotch ditties. They smiled, they laughed and they joked. Little did the audience realize that behind the mask of happiness were two bleeding hearts, a man and wife who had just come from the cemetery after burying their baby boy.

The curtain was rung down and the two went to their rooms. Mrs. McKenzie broke down in tears. During the long minutes she had been on the stage playing the part of a Scotch lassie the minutes had been torture. "Danny" was dead. He was her first born.

Labels: children, death, hotels, immigrants, music, oklahoma, Texas, theater

December 17, 1909

YOUNG HANSEN TO BOONVILLE.

Master and Faithful Dog May Be

Separated Indefinitely.

"Lawrence Hansen, I am afraid, will have to go to Boonville."

Dr. E. L. Mathias, chief probation officer, made this statement yesterday when asked what would be done with the Kansas City, Kas., youngster who ran away from his home Monday night with $5 of his mother's money.

"We had him once at the McCune farm, but he ran away. The only place for him, now that he has violated his parole, is the reform school."

"Will he be given back his dog, Jack?" was asked.

The doctor laughed.

"I want to tell you I have been in hot water all day. There was a woman down here at 7:30 o'clock this morning demanding that I give the boy his dog. Several persons stopped me on the street to inquire what I intended to do."

But Dr. Mathias would not say whether he would reunite dog and master. If Lawrence is sent to the reform school by the juvenile court, it will be impossible to keep the two together. Lawrence will be kept locked up at the Detention home until Monday, when Judge E. E. Porterfield will decide his fate.

Labels: animals, children, detention home, Dr Mathias, Judge Porterfield, Kansas City Kas, McCune Home

December 15, 1909

MUST TAKE PIANO AND GO.

Wife Suing for Divorce Has No Place

for Husband's Brother.

Mrs. Pauline Bovee is to have temporary custody of her two little girls. Judge J. G. Park of the circuit court yesterday awarded the mother the temporary custody of Lorena Bovee, aged 10 years, and Med Bovee, aged 8. The children are not to be taken from the county.

Albert W. Fischer, a brother-in-law, is restrained from going to the woman's home, 2513 Woodland avenue. The court ordered that he remove his clothing and piano immediately.

Mrs. Bovee is allowed $45 a month as temporary alimony and $200 attorney fee. Permanent custody of the children will be decided when the divorce suit brought by Mrs. Bovee against Wayland Bovee is finally settled.

Labels: children, circuit court, custody, Divorce, Judge Park, Woodland avenue

December 15, 1909

BOY LEAVES HOME

TO JOIN HIS DOG.

LAWRENCE HANSEN, PAROLED,

CAN'T BEAR SEPARATION.

Leaves at Night by Bedroom Win-

dow and Is Found Next Day

Playing in Street With

"Jack."

When Lawrence Hansen, 10 year of age, was released three weeks ago from the Detention home, where he was placed after being arrested for "playing hookey" from school, agreed to give "Jack," his fox terrier, to a neighbor. To get Lawrence away from his former bad associates, of whom one was his pet dog, Mrs. Hansen removed to Kansas City, Kas.

For two weeks following his parole Lawrence was a model boy. He attended school regularly and minded his mother. Then came the relapse. The separation from "Jack" could not be borne. Last Monday night Lawrence packed a few of his belongings, lowered them from his bedroom window, stole downstairs in his stocking feet and took $5 from his mother's dresser.

The juvenile officers in Kansas City, Mo., were warned Tuesday to be on the lookout for the boy, but not until yesterday could trace of him be found, when word came that the boy was at 410 Troost avenue where he had been seen playing with "Jack." Juvenile Officer Holt arrested the boy yesterday afternoon and took him to the Detention home.

With tears in his eyes Lawrence was taken before Dr. E. L. Mathias, chief probation officer. "Jack" had been left behind.

"I want my dog," he pleaded with the juvenile officer. "I want Jack."

When told that he could not have "Jack," he cried his eyes red. And he continued to cry for an hour after being locked up in the detention room. Finally, when told that he would never get to see the dog again unless he quit crying, the boy dried his tears and became his amiable self.

"That boy is a proposition," said Dr. Mathias. "When he has his dog he is a good boy, but he will not be separated. I expect that the dog will have to be returned to him."

"Jack" has neither pedigree nor physical attraction. The boy several months ago picked him up on a downtown street and took him home. But for all his attention, three meals a day and a blanket to sleep on, the dog could never take on the polish of society and culture. He is still an unpedigreed mongrel of the gutter, but for all that, the inseparable chum.

Arrested three weeks ago for truancy, Lawrence told the juvenile officers he would not go to school because he couldn't take "Jack." The boy and his dog were locked in the same cell, where they ate the same food and shared the same bed, three days and three nights. They were companions in misery. That disregard of law and the rights of others, engendered into the dog from his own life on the streets, was bred by association into the life of his little companion.

"Who is responsible, the boy or the dog?" is the question that the juvenile officers are asking.

Lawrence will be given a hearing next Monday in the juvenile court.

Labels: animals, children, detention home, Dr Mathias, Kansas City Kas, runaway, Troost avenue

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 14, 1909

JUDGE PORTERFIELD

RECOMMENDS COW-

HIDE FOR OBSTREP-

EROUS BOYS.

His Father Had Cowhide and

Was Not Afraid to Use It.

JUDGE PORTERFIELD OF THE JUVENILE COURT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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