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June 27, 1908

'WILL ANYBODY GO

TO BE A SODGER?'

HARD TIME THESE DAYS TO

KEEP THE RANKS FULL.

Recruitin Stations Everywhere and

Tight-Laced Doughboys Out

in Front to Lure on

the Rookies.

Will anybody go for a sodger? With a standing army of 60,000 to keep up and time-expired men not willing to go back to the cities, and the Philippines not big enough to keep up the strength to the peace footing.

Times are not what they used to be, and no longer is there slouching at the recruiting stations. It used to be, when the army was 30,000 strong, that to enlist a man had to go all the way to Fort Leavenworth. Now they have recruiting stations at rural free delivery towns and in cities like Kansas City they have regular barracks. Here the army recruits at Eighth and Main. It is easy to find. There will be a man standing in the doorway laced up to the last notch., with his blouse fitting like a directoire, his chevrons or re-enlistment stripes as bright as the day he got them and his cap just so. His belt is there and so are his gloves, and he is looking as comfortable and lazy and well dressed and well fed as it is possible to do on $18 a month and a captain on the next floor up threatening to send him back to the post for old guard fatigue if he as much as lets a single button go for comfort. The orders are to dress up and look smart and get the rookie. Yesterday's dispatches said that there are still other troubles ahead, and they are white belts.

UNIFORMS WILL DO.

"First thing we know," said one of the recruiting party yesterday, "we will have swagger sticks issued and ribbons on the caps. Then we will be all Tommy Atkinses an that will fix us."

"Will you like it" was asked.

"Nobody leaves the army on account of the uniform not being smart enough," was the answer.

Recruits are wanted, and the only way to get them fast enough to fill up the gaps caused by retirements is to pay as much as the treasury department can stand, now fixed at $18, and to dress the men as smartly as possible. The British methods are being adopted because Britain and this country have to depend upon volunteer enlistments. All other powers have conscripts.

The British, realizing that there is no inducement going into that army for the beggarly pay of about $8 a month in infantry and not much more in the artillery or cavalry, put their troops in the smartest uniforms that military tailors can design, and they are constantly changing them in order to give the men a change of dress. Trafalgar square, London, is the great recruiting station in London. Around the base of Nelson's monument there are to be seen recruiting sergeants from a score of regiments, all in full dress uniforms, with little streamers flying from their caps or shoulders signifying that they are recruiting officers.

REFUGE OF LOVE SICK.

They are picked for their smart appearance and are great successes at catching the love sick swain who realizes that if he had on a shell jacket, tight fitting trousers, spurs, leather gloves and a fatigue cap tipped over his right forehead he would stand a better chance than in overalls and clod hopping shoes, so he enlists. The uniform does it.

Since the march with the allied armies to Peking, American army tailors have been busy, and since the department has found it difficult to get enough men to keep the regiments up to their full strength, the recruiting officers have been ordered to get busy. So that accounts for the new orders which make the men at Eighth and Main do sentry-go at the door, dressed for guard mount, apparently standing there out of pride, but really because of the new orders to make the service look as inviting as possible from every point of view.

Labels: clothing, Eighth street, Main street, military

June 26, 1908

PATSY SAVED A GIRL'S LIFE.

In Recognition of His Bravery, the

Neighbors Give Him Clothes.

As a reward for his heroism in rescuing a little girl from drowning last Monday, Patsy Burrey, the 13-year-old son of Patrick Burkrey of 1956 Hallock avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was yesterday presented with a new suit of clothes by people living in the vicinity of Fifth street and New Jersey avenue.

While playing on the banks of Jersey creek near Fifth street, Anna Tate, an 8-year-old girl, fell into the water. Young Burkrey plunged in after her, grabbed her by one foot and pulled her out upon the bank. The rescue was witnessed by several men who were standing on the street above the creek. They look up a collection with which to reward the young hero.

Labels: children, clothing, drowning, Kansas City Kas

May 16, 1908

BURGLAR LEFT A SUITCASE.

Filled with Good Clothing on G. W.

Tipton's Porch.

Neighbors of G. W. Tipton yesterday afternoon saved his home at 2002 Jefferson street from eing ransacked by a daylight burglar and gained a suitcase full of good clothes in the bargain. The family was away and a rear window being up attracted the attention of a neighbor next door.

That open window looked suspicious and they concluded to make an investigation. When sufficient force had been marshalled, a rapid flank movement was made on the house. Just as the self-appointed officers drew near the house a man was seen to leap from the open windown and make his escape through the alley. On the back porch he left a suit case filed with men's clothing -- of a good quality, too. The window had been pried open with a burglar's "jimmy." Nothing was taken from the house.

Labels: clothing, crime, Jefferson street

May 11, 1908

THIS RUNNING HORSE WALKS.

Indian Chief Plodding From San

Francisco to New York and Back.

Across the continent on foot and back again in eight months for a purse of $2,000 is the work which has been chosen by Charles Moyer, an Indian of the Sioux nation. Moyer passed through Kanss City yesterday on his return trip to San Francisco. He left there October 29, 1907, and arrived in New York on January 23, 1908. He has until June 29 to complete his trip back to San Francisco.

Moyer's Indian name is Chief Running Horse, being a grandson of Chief Sitting Bull of Custer fame. One of Chief Running Horse's peculiar traits is that he carries no change of apparel, wearing the same suit until it becomes worn out. In case of a heavy rain, like the one in which he was caught four miles east of Independence yesterday morning, the walker keeps on plodding, never stopping to find shelter. He never takes off his garments to wring them out, after they have become water soaked, but allows them to dry on his body.

He carries no cane or weapon of any sort and had use for a weapon but once according to his own story. That was while he was walking through Kentucky and was given frequent trouble by the "night-riders" alleging that he was a spy sent out to report upon them.

Chief Running Horse carries a leather-bound notebook which bears the postmark of every town and city which he visited on his walk, and the signatures of the chiefs of police and the mayors of the towns. He expects to remain in Kansas City for two or three days and then continue his westward march. It is his belief that he will reach San Francisco two or three weeks ahead of his appointed time.

Labels: clothing, Native Americans, visitors, weather

May 8, 1908

TWO GIRLS ESCAPE

FROM PEST HOUSE.

UNFUMIGATED, THEY ARE WAN-

DERING ABOUT THE STREETS.

POLICE LOOKING FOR THEM.

ONE GIRL IS 12 YEARS OLD, THE

OTHER IS 13.

Edna Sickler and Grace Kaufman

Elude the Guards and Go Visit-

ing, No One Seems to

Know Where.

If you should meet two girls, one 12 years old, light hair, blue eyes with a squint in her right eye, wearing a red calico dress and red coat, and the other 13 years old, dark hair, eyes and skin, and wearing a gray coat and dark skirt, it might be advisable, if you are not equipped with a fumigating apparatus, for you to climb a tree or jump in a well until they have passed.

Girls of this description took French leave of St. George's hospital in the East Bottoms yesterday about noon. The city's smallpox patients are quarantined there. The 12-year-old girl is named Edna Sickler. Her home is at 6415 East Fourteenth street and her mother and two small brothers, 3 and 7 years old, are still in quarantine. Grace Kaufman is the 13-year-old. Her home is at 2307 East Eighteenth street and her mother and a sister 11 years old are still at the hospital.

"The girls have been down here nine days," said Dr. George P. Pipkin, who has charge of the hospital. "Both of their cases were very light, but they are endangering the public as they left here wearing the same clothes in which they came and were not fumigated. I have given their descriptions to all the police stations and want them returned here at once."

With five other children the two girls were playing about the hospital grounds about 11 o'clock yesterday. Telling the other children that they were going up the river bank to gather flowers they disappeared. As that is a custom, nothing was thought of the incident until the girls failed to show up for dinner at 11:45 o'clock.

Fearing that some accident had happened them the mothers went in search but got no trace of them. Then the matter was reported to Dr. Pipkin who, with Morris S. Sharp, a guard, made a search in the immediate neighborhood. That, too, was fruitless. Sharp then took the wagon and drove toward town. From a man working near the Crescent elevator in the East bottoms he learned that the girls had passed there, seemingly in a great hurry to reach the Fifth street car line, just about noon. Then the matter was reported to the police.

From the mothers Dr. Pipkin learned that both girls had been given a nickel in the morning. They wanted to buy a candy at a little store nearby, they said. The doctor also learned that the girls had taken particular pains to wash up in the morning, and one of them complained that her dress was not clean.

Sharp came to the city and went to the girls' homes, but they had not shown up there. When he went to a flat near Twenty-eighth and Wabash avenue, where the Kaufman girl's father worked as janitor he was informed that Kaufman had been gone two days. Mr. and Mrs. Kaufman are separated. When informed that her husband had gone, sh said she feared that the girl was with him. The father and three sisters at the Sickler girl's home said they would inform Dr. Pipkin if Edna came home.

Men at the smallpox hospital are watched very closely, but it has never been deemed necessary to place a guard over children. They have always been given as much freedom as possible as it was known to be good for them. These two girls are the first to ever run away from the institution. The police believe the girls are still in the city and hope to land them back at the hospital today.

Labels: children, clothing, doctors, East bottoms, Eighteenth street, health, hospitals, smallpox, Twenty-eighth street, Wabash avenue

May 7, 1908

MUST LEARN HOW TO

REMOVE GREASE SPOTS.

POLICEMEN WILL BE REQUIRED

TO HAVE CLEAN CLOTHES.

And a Recent Shine Must Go With

Them, Also -- No Hope

for the Cop That Drinks.

Clothes clean and freshly pressed, and shoes recently shined is the order which went forth from the police board yesterday to the policemen. Drill Sergeant Morrison will be instructed to see that this ruling is carried out.

Mayor Crittenden made the suggestion, and the other two commissioners heartily indorsed his recommendation.

"Nothing prejudices me so against an officer as for him to have grease s pots on his clothing, his trousers baggy at the knees and his shoes rusty looking," said the mayor. "A man who is slovenly in his personal appearance will be careless in his duty. I don't like to see it."

"There's one excuse for the officers," said Commissioner Jones. "I think they are underpaid They ought to have at least $10 a month more. Then they could better afford to pay to have their clothes cleaned and pressed, and it could be required of them."

"Yes, it's true that the patrolmen are underpaid," said Commissioner Gallagher. "But some of them are able to keep neat on their present salaries, and I don't see why the rest can't do equally as well. I see some dirty, greasy policemen that are a disgrace to the town."

"We don't expect the police to by a new suit every few days or every season," said Commissioner Jones. "We never complain of them wearing old clothes. But it should be insisted upon that they be neat."

The Third regiment armory will hereafter be used for the drills, instead of Convention hall. In the new place a course of neatness is expected to be added to the regular exercises by Sergeant Morrison, and each man will be required to learn by heart some good recipe for removing grease spots from clothing.

While on the police question Mayor Crittenden said:

"I want it generally understood that a policeman who drinks while on duty will be discharged and never taken back with my vote."

"I don't like a policeman to drink, either on or off duty," said Commissioner Jones.

"They have already made it a rule in St. Louis not to take back policemen who are found drinking on duty," said Commissioner Gallagher. "I think it is about time we were making the same rule here."

Labels: alcohol, clothing, Commissioner Gallagher, Commissioner Jones, Mayor Crittenden, police board

May 5, 1908

BURGLARS USED A LONG POLE.

Broke Window and Fished Out Suits

of Clothes.

Burglars, armed with a long pole, broke the window in the rear of J. M. Lerche's store in Independence Sunday night and pulled several suits of clothes, hats, and one umbrella out through the hole. Before the robbers had time to bring a wagon to haul away their plunder a policeman came on the scene and saw the goods in the alley. His presence there kept the thieves from returning.

Labels: clothing, crime, Independence, retailers

March 30, 1908

FAT AND LEAN MEN

CAN'T FIND WIVES.

THIRTY-ONE LONESOME WOMEN

CAREFULLY LOOK THEM OVER.

Then Go Away Unsatisfied -- Wise

Police Officer Finds a Clue to

a Joke and Advances

a Theory.

Thirty-one women called at the police matron's office yesterday afternoon between the hours of 3 and 6 o'clock to look at the "fat and lean farmers" from Kansas, who came here in search of wives. Did not any of the women want a husband? Yes, they did not. They just came to look at the two men. Every woman interviewed by the reporters laughed at the idea of wanting to get married.

"I just called to see what was going on," said one. "I am a friend of the matron's," explained another. "I just came to rubber at the foolish men," a third made reply.

Twenty-eight of the thirty-one were widows or bachelor girls, of 30 -- or say 29 -- summers. Three were young girls who "just dropped in after the ball game to see the fun." Every woman but one in the crowd wore a Merry Widow hat and clothes that suggested Easter. And the one was garbed in black, "mourning for my dear husband," she sniffled and, to tell the truth, black becomes her white face and dark eyes exceedingly well.

Did any of the thirty-one condescend to speak to the two men? Well, Mrs. John Moran and Mrs. Lizzie Burns, the police matrons, do say that ten of the women went into the inner room of the office, one at a time, with each man, and "talked it all over." Was there any result? Yes, perhaps.

The fat man smiles and smiles. The lean man admits that he didn't find a woman suitable to be the future Mrs. Day -- but that is telling too much. They are coming back to the matron's office this morning, they said on leaving yesterday evening.

According to Mrs. Burns the day was at least half a success. She says:

"The fat farmer without any hair fixed it all up with one woman. She was the third who went with him into the sanctum for a heart to heart talk. What did they say? Oh, I didn't listen to them. Anyhow, I know he took her name and address and she said as she was leaving, all blushes and smiles, that it would take her all night to pack her trunk and that she could not get ready for the wedding before tomorrow.

"She is a nice looking young woman, tall, slender, a brunette and works in the Home telephone office. Oh, I didn't mean to tell you where she worked, so don't please don't publish that. She is a widow, she says. What is her name? I promised not to tell until the skinny man gets him a wife and we have a double wedding.

"No, the skinny man with the lovely mustache and the two farms didn't get one. I don't think he will, either, because he has six children. That many children are an awful handicap for a man looking for a wife. But he is coming back tomorrow."

The thin man said that he wasn't a bit discouraged.

"I came to Kansas City for a good time," he said, "and I've had it. You certainly have a fine lot of women here. Maybe if I didn't have all those children I might have done better, but I am proud of the children and wouldn't give them up for any woman I have seen today. I'm not going to worry over it. Its been a lot of fun sitting here and watching women come with their fine clothes to talk to Evans and me.

"He talks like he had been stung, doesn't he?" whispered Mrs. Moran.

Desk Sergeant Charles McVey, who counted the women going up and down the stairs to the matron's room, tells the story from a different angle.

"I don't believe that the men are farmers or that they want wives. I have a hunch that one of them is this Mr. Piffles, who is in Kansas city advertising a certain brand of automobile and that he comes to the station to put off a joke on the police. I've had a good look at both the fellows, and if I see them again this week, I'll pinch one or both of them on general principles.

"Why, look at this thing sensibly. Here are our two matrons, both widows, both nice looking and fairly young. If those men came here in search of wives wouldn't they steal our matrons instead of conducting a circus performance and making a lot of women put on their best clothes and come trapesing down to the city hall?"

Before the fat man without any hair on top left, he slipped one of the reporters the name and address of a woman. There was pride in his eye, when he did this, and he seemed to be attempting to keep his action from the eyes of the thin man. The reporter tried to find the address, but there is no such street number. Also there is no woman by that name listed in the city directory. The reporter doesn't know whether the woman fooled the fat man or whether the fat man tried to fool the reporter. It'll all come out in the wash today.

Labels: city hall, clothing, police matron, romance, Sergeant McVey, telephone, women

March 15, 1908

SOLDIERS GET NEW UNIFORMS.

Company M Will Have Fresh Togs

for Tuesday's Parade.

STYLE OF UNIFORM FOR COMPANY M

When Company M, Third regiment, turns out for parade on Tuesday in honor of Archbishop Glennon, Kansas City will get its first opportunity to see the new service uniform of the national guard regiment M company is the first to have the new equipment issued to it The clothing proper is familiar, but the rifle and belts are of new pattern. Instead of the old style cartridge belt the guardsmen wear a bandolier, copied after that worn by the Boers in their last war, in which are clips containing five cartridges each. This bandolier is fastened to a waist belt. From the waist belt is hung the soldier's canteen, coffee cup, haversack and bayonet. The weight of this equipment, instead of being sustained by the hips as of old, is carried by straps across the shoulders, which really are uncrossed suspenders.

Labels: clothing, military

February 25, 1908

CONSTABLE SETS

PRISONERS FREE

POLICE MELODRAMA IN WHICH

CASEY IS COMEDIAN.

TWO CONFIDENCE MEN ESCAPE.

THROUGH CONSTABLE'S MED-

DLING, AFTER ONE IS SHOT.

Two confidence men, who had fleeced J. W. Burrows, and Oklahoma ranchman, out of $1,000, were captured last night after an exciting chase, in which several shots were fired, and then, after being in the safe custody of two officers, made their escape at Eighth and Delaware streets through the alleged interference of Roy Casey, a constable of Justice Remley's court.

Both confidence men were arrested by Detective Lyngar, who captured the smaller of the swindlers as he was emerging from a Leavenworth car at the Junction. The larger of the confidence men jumped through the car window and fled down Delaware street. Lyngar, dragging the smaller prisoner with him, gave chase and finally fired at the escaping prisoner. The bullet entered the right arm and the man fell exhausted near the rear of the American Bank building.

Lyngar, determined to catch his man, turned the uninjured prisoner over to Patrolman Regan, and then grabbed the second man. The officers and prisoners then started for the call box at Eighth and Delaware streets and it is here, witnessees say, that Casey interfered.

STOPS THE POLICEMAN.

Casey, in company with David S. Russell and C. E. Reckert of the city engineer's office, pushed through the crowd that had gathered and stopped Lyngar. Casey's explanation is that he did not know Lyngar was an officer and thought that he was going to shoot Patrolman Regan, who was marching in front with the injured prisoner. O. P. Rush of 3015 Olive street and L. R. Ronwell of 1902 East Thirty-first street witnessed the affair and told the police that they heard Lyngar tell Casey that he was an officer.

At any rate an arguent ensued. Patrolman Regan, who was holding his prisoner by the collar of his overcoat, turned around to ascertain what the trouble was. In an instant the inured prisoner slipped out of his overcoat and dived into the crowd. Regan pursued him, firing three shots at the criminal as he ran west on Eighth street. None of the bullets seem to have taken effect.

These shots created fresh excitement and Lyngar, furious with Casey's interruption, loosened his hold on the other man. In an instant the prisoner had jerked away from the officer and was lost in the crowd.

RAPPED CASEY'S HEAD.

The only satisfaction Regan and Lyngar got was in arresting Casey. Regan rapped him twice over the head and Lynar took the constable to the Central station, where he was released on $26 bail. Casey had been attending the Republican convention.

The inured thief not alone lost his overcoat, but in plunging through the crowd lost his hat and undercoat as well. He was traced as far as Second and Wyandotte streets, where he purchased a new hat and coat. Then he ran toward the Kansas City Southern yards.

STOLE $1,000 FROM BURROWS.

Upon the complaint of J. W. Burrows, Oklahoma ranchman, that he had been swindled out of $1,000 by the two confidence men, Detectives Lyngar and Lewis were assigned to the case. Lewis was called away, so Lyngar accompanied by Burrows, made the investigation alone. At the Junction, Burrows espied the two men inside a Leavenworth car at about 9 o'clock. Lyngar went after them. The larger of the men, finding the front entrance of the car shut off, jumped through a window. The smaller attempted to brush by Lyngar, but the detective grabbed him It was following this that the chase began, which ended in Casey's intererence and the escape of the men.

The coat lost by the injured prisoner contained a book which indicates that he lives in the vicinity of the Union stock yards in Chicago.

About 1 o'clock this morning police officers found the coat of the smaller of the two confidence men, from which he also slipped when he escaped from the officer's grasp. It was in Brannon's saloon, on Delaware street, near Eighth.

When the smaller "con" man squirmed out of the garment it fell in the crowd, which parted to allow him to pass. It is not known who took it to the saloon. It is the theory of the police that the $1,000 stolen from the ranchman was in the pocket of the little man's coat when he was captured. It wasn't there when the coat was found.

Labels: Central station, clothing, con artist, Delaware street, detectives, Eighth street, Leavenworth, Olive street, railroad, saloon, Second street, the Junction, Thirty-first street, Wyandotte street

February 16, 1908

SNUG FITTING COATS

WITHOUT COLLARS NOW.

New Style of Garment to be Seen

in Kansas City.

Coats without collars! We have come to be familiar with telgraphy without wires, we have read of wireless cook stoves, and some of us were even purueaded this season to wear hats almost without brims -- but teh time-honored prerogative of sovereign man to tur up his coat collar has never before been jeopardized.

A remarkable and very attractive window in the ain street store of the Grand Pants Company shows a new coat for men. Its snug shoulder-hugging lines curve artistically about the neck, but there is absolutely nothing which could be termed a "collar," or part of one. In effect it is very striking, but Samuel Gretzer, owner and manager of the Grand Pants stores, asserts that this style will be positively seen on the streets this coming season.

Mr. Gretzer is the originator of the Grand Pants idea, a plan of selling which has become justly famous, and has been copied all over the United States -- that of selling trousers at "$1.75 a leg, seats free!" In the ten years which he has been associated with mercantile Kansas City, he has built up one of the most remarkable businesses of its kind in the country. His success, Mr. Gretzer attributes very largely to the constant promulgation of new ideas and his untiring effort not to cheapen the output of his establishment in order to make larger profit, but to increase the value and style put into every garment. The splendid stores at 921 Main street and 12 East Twelfth street attest to the soundness of this policy, and the fact that more journeyman tailors are employed by his firm than any other in Kansas City proves that people appreciate meritorious work, however low the price.

Labels: clothing, Main street, retailers, Twelfth street

February 4, 1908

HE WANTED TO IMPERSONATE.

Female Role Was the Ambition of

Fred Coyle, Who Swiped $2.

When Fred Coyle was arrested last week, charged with stealing $2, he told the police he took the money for the sake of his starving parents. Yesterday he admitted to Judge McCune in the juvenile court that he had taken it to pay himself for a disputed bill.

"I would like to know a little more about this," said Judge McCune to Truant Officer Erskine, who had the case in charge. "Bring up Signor Salvini."

"Signor Salvini" turned out to be Pat Myers, who said he was a cook. Pat did not say it, but Fred said it for him, that onceupon a time he used to be an actor.

"The boy told me he wanted to get on the stage," said the signor.

"Wanted to be an actor, did he?" the judge submitted.

"Yes, sir-r," said Pat. "A female impersonator," he added.

"I think it was him," said the actor-looking cook. "I think it was him who stole my wife's petticoats. She lost six, and a dress. When a lady downstairs moved out, I went into a room Fred was using and found some women's clothes. We figured out he was rehearsing to go on stage."

"I do not know whether to believe the last story or not," said the judge, "but I certainly do not believe the one the boy told about stealing to keep his parents from starving. I'll hold him for a day or two to investigate further."

Labels: children, clothing, Judge McCune, juvenile court

January 24, 1908

SHE WANTED TO JOIN ARMY.

But Changed Her Mind When It Came

to Final Test.

While the sergeant at the local recruiting station yesterday was busy at his desk there came a timid rap at the office door. "Come in," called he as he turned about in his chair. The door opened and a young man dressed in stylish clothes, and who had wavy chestnut hair under a rakish had, advanced towards the sergeant, blushing profusely.

"Is this the army station?" asked he. "Well, I would like to join the army if I can be stationed at St. Louis." This sounded a little strange to the sergeant, so he inquired why he was so particular about going to St. Louis. Again the blush mounted on the applicant's cheeks, and he stammered an unintelligible reply.

"Well, yes," he said slowly. "I guess that we can take you on and send you to St. Louis, too. You look like a good man and I think that you could bear up under hard drilling which will be given you for the first three or four months. Just step into the other room there and let the corporal examine you."

Falteringly the applicant entered the ante-room where the physical examinations are held. The corporal tested eyes, hearing and length of arms. They were all satisfactory. "Just walk back there and remove your clothes, please," said he.

This was too much for the applicant and he began to cry. The astonished corporal could not understand, but the hard-hearted sergeant was standing in the doorway, laughing.

"I can't do that," sobbed the girl, "because, because I am n-not a man; I am a girl. I didn't think that I would have to go through all of this to get in the army. I wanted to go to St. Louis to see my sweetheart who enlisted a month ago. I thought that this would be the only way," and she ran from the room, crying as if her heart would break.

Labels: clothing, military, St Louis, women

January 20, 1908

RAN AROUND IN SCANT ATTIRE.

Peter Mettlach Raced the Streets in

Unseasonable Raiment.

Running races with automobiles and street cars in his underclothes was the strange pastime of Peter Mettlach of 901 East Eighteenth street last night. Mettlach was placed in a sanitarium at Thirty-first street and Euclid avenue about two weeks ago.

Last night about 7 o'clock he told a nurse that he wanted to go home. She refused to give him his clothes, telling him that he was not in condition to go home yet. Mettlach, however, took a different view of the situation and went on back into his room on the second floor of the house, opened up a window and climbed down the fire escape and to freedom. He then entered his wild gambols over the southeast part of the city.

Patrolmen from No. 9 and No. 5 police stations were detailed to pick him up. After several hours he was seen by the motorman of a Swope park car, running by the side fo the car. Seeing the man in his underclothes, bareheaded and barefooted, the motorman stopped the car and urged the man to get in the car. When the car arrived at Forty-eighth and Harrison streets two policemen took the man on up to Thirty-first and Troost avenue, where his relatives met him with some clothes and took him home.

Labels: clothing, Eighteenth street, Euclid avenue, Forty-eighth street, Harrison street, mental health, police, streetcar, Thirty-first street, Troost avenue

December 19, 1907

DIVORCEES ARE ALWAYS PLEASANT.

Judge Goodrich Gathers Fashion

Notes as He Cuts Knots.

After granting twenty-eight divorce decrees in the circuit court at Kansas City yesterday, Judge James E. Goodrich remarked:

"I have been looking forward to this day with expectancy for many weeks. Divorce day is the occasion of the great semi-annual millinery display in the court house, and I always pick out a model for a new hat for my wife from the lids worn by the crowd of dissatisfied brides and their friends.

"There have been some wonderful hats in court today. One lady, whom her husband failed to feed, wore a top piece with seven ostrich feathers and a basket of fruit. It's the most astonishing lid I've seen in court in three years.

"Did I see a hat to suit me? No, not exactly, but I got ideas of the kind not to buy."

Divorce day always brings pleasant thoughts to judges and clerks. The wives and husbands always smile so kindly and their thanks are so sincere after the knots have been cut. As Hinton H. Noland, clerk to Judge Hermann Brumback, says:

"Next to getting married, a woman finds most joy in getting a divorce. At least that's what I glean from seeing them here on divorce day matinees, wearing their glad rags and chattering like a flock of school girls. Well, the judge made a bunch of them happy today."

The new dresses, rustling petticoats, chattering tongues and gay hats, cheered everybody in the court house. Even Joseph Goodykuntz, who had to write up all the decrees on the record, was caught humming:

"I wish the girls were all transported,
Far beyond the Northern sea."

Labels: circuit court, clothing, Divorce, Judge Goodrich, Judges

September 8, 1907

SPOILS PRETTY ARMS

WOMEN PAYING PENALTY FOR

SHORT SLEEVE FAD.

Shapely Forearms That Were Once

Free From Hirsute Growth Are

Now Bewhiskered and Look

Horribly Horrid.

Kansas City young women are startled by the information going the rounds in feminine circles that the wearing of short sleeves causes fuzz to grow upon their arms. It is said that one su mmer of short sleeved waists will increase the length of the fuzz upon the arm as much as an eighth of an inch. That there is a scientific basis for this unpleasant result of a pleasing custom is vouched for by Dr. George A. King and by actual experience on the part of the numberless Kansas City society women.

Dr. King says that the reason the almost imperceptible down upon the rounded arms of the women who affect the short sleeve habit changes gradually in hair, which is long enough to be easily seen, is found by looking into the early history of the race.

"Prehistoric man, and also prehistoric woman, was covered all over with a thick growth of hair, which served as a protection to the skin against the cold in winter and the sun in summer," said Dr. King yesterday. "When the custom of wearing clothes became general, this growth of hair gradually began to become thinner and thinner, until finally only a downy growth remained. This was becasue the human race no longer needed the protection afforded by hair.

"Now you can easily see the reason that wearing elbow sleeves has a tendency to cause a growth of hair upon the forearm. Nature provides the growth in order to protect the delicate organism of the skin from the heat of the sun. The more the arms are exposed to the sun, the more likely are they to develop a growth of har. So, it can be seen that the women who have been most anxious to get a fasionable coat of tan on their arms during the summer months are those who are now suffering most from an unwelcome hirstute growth."

Dr. King says that those young women who have been unfortunate enough to receive a coat of nature's clothing upon their arms must be content with it for some time to come.

"The average life of a hair is from two to four years," said he. "I suppose there is little else to do but to wait for the hairs to live their natural life, and then they'll die."

"But I can't go to parties or dances in evening clothes with all this ugly hari on my arms," said a young woman who had come in to find out why she was suddenly troubled with a growth of hair on her arms. She confessed she had worn short sleeves for several summers, and each year had always been anxious to get "a good coat of tan."

"Consult a dermatologist," said Dr. King. "And then pray that next year the style will be long sleeves. I don't suppose even the ugly hair wil stop women from wearing short sleeves until fashion takes a hand in the matter."

Labels: clothing, doctors, women

June 24, 1907

HAT LED TO IDENTITY.

Man Who Killed Himself June 13

Was Wallace Whitman.

The suicide whose body was found June 13 in the Grove, a parkway at Fifteenth street and Agnes avenue, was Eugene Wallace Elliot Whitman, of Laramie, Wyo. The hat he wore bore the name of a Cheyenne (Wyo.) dealer, and Eylar Bros. undertakers had a picture of the man made and sent to the hat dealer. This was placed in a window with a note of explanation, asking for identification. In a few days Harry Holiday Whitman, a brother, passed the store and recognized the picture. He at once started to Kansas City, arriving here yesterday. Both brothers were railroad men, the suicide having formerly served as a police officer in Cheyenne.

Eugene Whitman was seen to baord a train for the East the night of June 9, but made no explanation of his departure. He had been at his mother's house a short time before and left some money. His brother said he had at times spoken of suicide, but was never taken seriously, and no motive for despondency was known. He was 34 years old and unmarried. The body, which was buried in potter's field, is to be removed to a grave in Union cemetery.

Labels: cemetery, clothing, Suicide

January 11, 1907

WAS UNDER SPELL.

GIRL, CHARGED WITH THEFT,

MAKES THIS EXPLANATION.

UNABLE TO CONTROL ACTIONS.

COMPLETELY IN FORTUNETELLER'S

GRASP, SHE ASSERTS.

Maggie Paul Says Clothes She is Alleged to Have Stolen Were

Given to Her -- Mrs. Moran, Medium, Tells a Different Story.

Miss Maggie Paul, the 18-year old daughter of J. J. Paul, saloonkeeper at Eighteenth and Charlotte streets, was arraigned before Justice Miller yesterday charged by Mrs. D. J. Moran, a fortune teller at 815 East Fifteenth street, with taking $91.75 worth of wearing apparel. She pleaded not guilty and her bond was fixed at $500. She was held over night in the matron's room at police headquarters and expects to give bond today.

Miss Paul said she had lived at Mrs. Moran's and played the piano during what she terms a "spirit fortune telling stunt supposed to be presided over by a defunct Indian chief, one 'White Coon.' " She also says that, had she married John Moran, the 24-year-old son of the fortune teller, she would have had none of her present troubles.

"She has been trying for a long time to get me to marry her son," said Miss Paul last night. "I went to a dance Christmas eve at 910 Campbell street with Mrs. Moran's daughter. When I got to thinking of that marrying business it was all so repulsive to me that I ran away and went to the house of a friend at 1214 East Eight street.

"When I am around where that woman is she casts a kind of spell over me and I can't but obey her every wish. It took all my courage to make up my mind to run away from it all. I got tired of playing for a lot of fake fortune telling business anyway. Often I have seen a person with money come to the seance and heard one of the Morans say: 'Trim that sucker. Don't let him get away. Make arrangements for a private seance for he's got real money.' It was all so false and shammy to one who knew and I didn't want to marry John Moran anyway."

Mrs. J. J. Paul, Maggie's mother, and George Brown, to whose house she went when she ran away from the 'White Coon' seances, went to police headquarters last night to see her daughter.

"This is all a trumped up charge which cannot be proved," said the mother. "That woman has had a hypnotic spell over my daughter for two years. We used to live in Midland court on East Sixteenth street and Mrs. Moran lived just across the street. Maggie got to going there and right then the trouble began. Maggie was made to believe that I was killing her with slow poison and she was afraid of me. Didn't I go to Mrs. Moran's house where she had Maggie locked up in the cellar and make her give her up?

"The girl fears that woman right now. You can see it. All this has been done because she ran away when engaged to John Moran. And I don't blame her for that or leaving those Indian 'White Coon' seances, either."

Miss Paul said that a sealskin cloak, valued at $50, which she is charged with taking, was stolen from the cloak room at the dance hall at 910 Campbell three weeks ago when Miss Moran was along. A skirt, valued in the complaint at $17, she was wearing yesterday. She said it cost $3.50 and was given to her by Mrs. Moran and would fit no one else in the family. In fact, she claims that all the missing clothing but the cloak was either given her previous to or at Christmas.

Miss Paul was arrested by Detective William Bates yesterday afternoon at the home of a friend at Eight street and Forest avenue. She said she had left the Brown home because she heard Mrs. Moran had found out where she was, and she was afraid she would "look at me that way again, and then I would have to go back and do anything asked -- perhaps marry John."

The girl who is afraid of the woman who gives seances controlled by the ancient Indian spirit, "White Coon," has blue eyes, blonde hair, and is petite and pretty.

Said Mrs. Moran, when asked about Miss Paul:

"On Christmas night she wore my sealskin coat to a Yoeman's ball at 910 Campbell street. She came home without the coat, and said it had been stolen. New Year's night she put on $42.25 worth of our silk clothes, jewelry and a hat and went to another Yeoman's ball with Mamie. That time she got lost from Mamie and we just found her today living at 1214 East Eighth street with the same Mrs. Brown who had her arrested the time we paid her fine. We've heard that the sealskin jacket was thrown from the window to someone and wasn't stolen. We stuck to her, even when her mother was going to have us arrested for harboring her. We thought her parents were hard on her. They have a divorce case on trial tomorrow."

"Did Miss Paul assist in your seances?"

"Oh, she sat in them," explained Mrs. Moran's husband, "but she didn't help earn any of the clothes."

Labels: Campbell street, Charlotte street, clothing, con artist, crime, detectives, Eighteenth street, Eighth street, Fifteenth street, Forest avenue, marriage, Native Americans, police, police headquarters, Sixteenth street