June 13, 1908 DETECTIVE HALDEMAN DEAD.
Contracted Pneumonia While Work- ing on the Clark Wix Case.
Charles F. Haldeman, 54 years old, one of the best known detectives on the police force, died at his home, 2218 Prospect avenue, yesterday morning from pneumonia. He had been working on the Wix case, and went to Cameron, Mo., where it is supposed he caught cold. He was in bed since Friday.
Mr. Haldeman was born in Bloomington, Ill., and came to Kansas City in his boyhood. He entered the police business fourteen years ago, when he was appointed a deputy United States marshal under General Shelby. He served in this position four years, and then went on the city detective force. For ten years he has been identified with the force and made a name for himself by clever work in many well known cases.
He leaves a widow and a son, William T. Haldeman, who lives at Independence. Five brothers survive --John R. Haldeman, Dr. O. C. Haldeman and E. D. Haldeman of Kansas City Martin Haldeman of Butler, Mo., and James Haldeman of Drexel, Mo. Four sisters are living, Mrs. L. A. Hartley, Mrs. Anna Young and Mrs. H. F. Hunt of Kansas City and Mrs. A. F. Cogswell of Wichita, Kas.Labels: death, detectives, Independence, Prospect avenue June 7, 1908
POLICE REFUSE TO GIVE INFORMATION.
"NOT TRYING WIX IN THE NEWSPA- PERS," THEY SAY.
As in All Cases, They Are Seeking Evidence Against the Accused, Only, and Not That Which Would Free Him.
"The police will give no more information concerning the Wix case. I think we have given out too much of our side already. We do not intend to try the case in the newspapers."
So said Captain Walter Whitsett at police headquarters last night when asked if there was anything new in the case. By "Our side" he meant the prosecution. He said further that the publication of too much of "our information gives the other fellows a chance to get busy." In other words the police department, a public institution, is run solely to prosecute men. When a man is arrested, charged with a crime, it is a well known fact that the police set to work to get all they can against the man and seldom take notice of anything in the prisoner's favor.
If Clark Wix is convicted for the murder of John Mason as he now stands charged, it appears that it will have to be solely upon circumstantial evidence as, so far, the police have no positive evidence.
The man's watch found in pawn in Wix's name at Silverman's pawnshop, 1215 Grand avenue, and later identified by Mrs. Lizzie Mason, widow of the murdered man and Maude Wilson, was yesterday proved beyond a doubt to be the property of Wix. In his statement Wix said that the watch was his and the woman's watch was his wife's.
When J. B. Schmeltz, 1231 Grand avenue, was seen he said that Detective Fred Bailey called him up about the watch. His mark in the watch was 10232107. The 102 Schmeltz places in all his watches and the 32107 when separated means 3, 21, 07, or March 21, 1907, when the watch sold. The works number is 14160503 and the case 6219763. It is a Waltham, size 16.
WIX BOUGHT A DIAMOND.
When Silverman's pawnshop was visited it was learned that the watch pawned by Wix February 10 last bears exactly the same numbers. Schmeltz also said that he recalled Wix bringing a diamond stick pin to him to be set in a ring and said that he believed he sold him a small diamond ring within the last year, possibly the one Wix gave to Maud Wilson.
The numbers on the works of the woman's watch in pawn are 10437364 and the case 67074. That watch is claimed by Mrs. Mason, who said that her husband was carrying it when he disappeared. She said that the watch was brought second hand, so it would be hard to trace the numbers in that case. Wix says the watch is his wife's and she confirms him. Her description of the watch is identical with the one in pawn. Her nurse friends used to use it when she was a nurse at the general hospital, and they all describe it as a large-sized woman's wath, engraved case, with a diamond in the back. Captain Whitsett says that the watch is being held as evidence and no one not connected with the police or the prosecution shall be allowed to see it. Harry Way, Mrs. Wix's father, said yesterday:
"That watch was given to Harriet by her uncle, Cyrus Way, fifteen years ago. It was brought from Roscoe Smulk, a jeweler at Shelbina, Mo, who is now dead. An effort will be made to get the numbers there, but I don't think they keep them."
If the watch was ever cleaned or repaired by a jeweler here, the numbers will be found here, and the defense is working along those lines now.
WHEN HE WAS ELEVEN YEARS OLD.
Some of the new information received by the police yesterday that, twelve years ago, while hunting near Ottawa, Kas., with a man named Alvin Keller, the latter was supposed to have been accidentally shot by Wix, and that the belief was that it was not accidental. Wix is now 23 years old, so, if that is true, he was only 1 years old when the informant seems to cast suspicion upon him.
It was learned yesterday that on Sunday, January 26, when Mason disappeared, he was about the barn of W. A. Marshall, 1417 Walnut, during the morning. He took John Nevins out and drove him through Penn Valley park in an effort to sell him a horse. Nevins, who is a horseshoer, did not take the horse. Then Mason called up George Coleman, a liveryman, and tried to sell him the buggy and harness. He was turning all his property into cash, as his wife had sued him for divorce.
While Coleman was looking at the buggy Mason left the barn. That was about noon. About 2 p. m. he called Marshall and said:
"I will be over pretty soon with Clark Wix, and I want you to knock that trade with me."
"I asked him what he meant," said Marshall, yesterday, "In his broken German he had used knock for boost. I don't see how he could have been talking in the presence of Wix, to whom he wanted to sell a team."
DISPLAYED HIS MONEY.
Detectives "Lum" Wilson and J. L. Ghent were assigned on the Mason case yesterday, and they took a new tack. They found out where Mason had often showed his money, that he did not choose his company well, and was often known to have shot craps with negroes. Any of that class may have known that Mason carried a large sum of money, and he might have been killed by them.
The police had several men in the office of Captain Whitsett last night, sweating them and taking their statements. Some of them are believed to have been men who worked for Wix at the time of Mason's disappearance. It is known that an old man named Barslow, a barn foreman, was told to be there at 8 p.m. One of the men who worked about there at the time and who knew Mason and his habits well is now being looked for by police with two different warrants for swindling transfer men and others for whom he worked. That is he collected C. O. D. money and decamped. That man's name is Gale Chaney, and his brother Tom also worked there. Another man now driving a newspaper wagon may be questioned by police.
Every person who ever knew Wix is now rallying to hi support in his hour of trouble. The verdict of many seen yesterday was, "He was the hardest worker I ever saw, and at the same time a man of jolly disposition. I can't conceive his committing such a crime and feel that he will come out all right."
Funeral services of John Mason, the murdered man, will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms, 3015 Main street.
Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.
Prosecutor I. B. Kimbrell and the grand jury were ready at 10:30 yesterday morning to examine Clark Wix and the evidence in the case against him, on which he is held in the county jail for the murder of John Mason, but Inspector M. E. Ryan telephoned that he did not have his evidence in shape to present. The grand jury then adjourned until Monday.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Grand avenue, Main street, pawn brokers, Penn Valley park, police headquarters, Prosecutor Kimbrell, undertakers, Walnut Street June 5, 1908 MASON'S MURDER CHARGED TO WIX.
PAWNED DEAD MAN'S WATCHES AND DIAMONDS.
MASON WAS IN WIX'S BARN.
ACCUSED MAN ALSO SUSPECTED OF FANNING MURDER.
Was Once Before the Prosecutor to Explain His Sudden Wealth Shortly After Fanning Was Slain.
At 11 o'clock last night Clark Wix was formally charged with the murder of John ("Dutch") Mason, the horse trader who disappeared from here January 26 last. Mrs. Lizzie Mason, the murdered man's widow, and Maud Wilson, with whom he had lived, both went to Camden, Mo., yesterday and identified the body.
It was after hearing statements made by the women, after they had identified property pawned by Wix, that John W. Hogan, assistant prosecutor, concluded to charge Wix with murder in the first degree. The information was drawn and sworn to by Mrs. Lizzie Mason. Then it was filed with Justice Michael Ross and a warrant issued on which Wix will be arrested this morning. His statement is to be taken at police headquarters this morning. His arraignment will be later.
The body of Mason arrived in the city yesterday afternoon and was sent to the morgue of Freeman and Marshall, 3015 Main street. There is a large hole in Mason's skull on the right side at the base, and another behind the left ear. A deep fracture connects both holes. It is the opinion of Detectives Charles Halderman and James Fox, who have developed he case, that the murder was committed with a hammer. A search will be made for the weapon.
In looking over his pawn slips Fred Bailey, secretary to the inspector, found where Clark Wix had pawned two watches and, as Mason had a watch when he disappeared, Detective Ralph Trueman was sent to Silverman's pawn shop, 1215 Grand avenue, after the property. He came back with a man's hunting case watch and a woman's watch with a diamond in the back. He also got a diamond ring and an Elk ring from the same shop.
IT WAS HER WATCH.
Both Mrs. Mason and Maud Wilson quickly identified the man's watch as having been Mason's. They were not told of the other watch, and Mrs. Mason was asked if she ever possessed a watch.
"Yes," she said, "a small watch with a diamond in the back of the case." When shown the other watch which had been in pawn in Wix's name both women identified it immediately as Mrs. Mason's, and the Wilson woman said that Mason had the watch with him when he left that fatal Sunday, January 26.
According to the pawn sheets Wix pawned Mason's watch on February 10 and not until May 6 was Mrs. Mason's watch pledged. The police think that the diamonds in the Elk ring and other ring originally were part of Mason's horseshoe pin in which were fifteen stones, three large ones at the top and six smaller ones on each side.
John Hogan spent most of the night taking statements in the Wix case. Miss Wilson in her statement said that on April 26 last, her birthday, Clark Wix made her a present of a diamond ring. At the same time he had a stone set into a stud for himself. L. L. Goldman of 1307 Grand avenue, who set the two stones for Wix, also made a statement. Both persons said that the jewels were of almost the exact size of the three large stones in Mason's horseshoe pin. Miss Wilson said that when Wix gave h er the ring he said: "Now, if my wife ever finds out that I gave you this ring you must tell her that you bought it from me."
The third stone thought to have come from Mason's pin is believed now to be in an Elk charm worn my Wix when he was arrested.
CALLED FROM WIX'S BARN.
W. A. Marshall, a liveryman, said in his statement that on the Sunday Mason disappeared he called up from Wix's transfer barn, 1406 Walnut street, and said: "I'll be over with Wix to see you in a little while about buying that horse." But, though that was about 1 p. m., Mason never came.
James Conely and John Lewis, horseshoers at Fourteenth and Walnut streets, stated that they often saw John Mason about Wix's barn, which was directly across the street from them.
It was the intention to question Wix last night, but that had to be abandoned until today. Wix has not yet been informed that he is charged with murder. When arrested he asked no explanation, though it was 1 o'clock Wednesday morning, and since he has been held in the matron's room at headquarters he has taken no apparent interest in why he was locked up and no one allowed to see him.
QUESTIONED IN FANNING MURDER.
It developed yesterday that two months ago, on information furnished Detectives "Lum" Wilson and J. L. Ghent, Wix was taken before Prosecutor Kimbrell to be questioned in regard to the murder of Thomas W. Fanning, the aged recluse who was brutally killed with a hammer in his home, 1818 Olive street, December 31, 1906.
He was known to have hauled Mrs. Fanning to the general hospital, and it was reported that he said later: "Somebody is going to have to kill that old guy, Fanning, living all alone out there with all that coin." It was shortly after the Fanning murder that Wix went into business for himself, but in his statement at that time he said that his uncle, Clark Wix, postmaster of Butler, Mo., had furnished him the money. That matter will be reopened now.
Police Judge Harry G Kyle was yesterday retained by relatives to defend Clark Wix. Kyle comes from the same county, Bates, in which the Wix family live. All sorts of influence was brought to bear yesterday to get to see and talk to the prisoner, but Captain Walter Whitsett would not permit it.
THREATENED HABEAS CORPUS.
Thomas W. Wix, a farmer from near Yates Center, Kas., arrived yesterday and it was he and Clark Wix, the uncle from Butler, who retained Judge Kyle. Rush C. Lake, assistant attorney general, went to the station and, according to Captain Whitsett, threatened to sue out a writ of habeas corpus if not allowed to see Wix. He was told that such action would mean in immediate charge of murder and there it ceased. Then other lawyers tried the same tactics and failed.
In June, 1906, Clark Wix was married to Miss Harriet Way, a nurse at the general hospital, who had served barely one of her two years.. At that time Wix was driving an ambulance for the Carroll-Davidson Undertaking Company, which handled all the city dead from the hospital, and it was his frequent trips there that brought him in contact with his wife.
Miss Way lived near Shelbina, Mo., and it was reported soon after her marriage that her family came near ostracising her for what she had done. In about a year, however, Wix had diamonds of all kinds and frequently gave his wife gems until she was the envy of her nurse friends at the hospital. Mrs. Wix was not informed last night that her husband had been charged with murder.
When Clark Wix was examined by County Prosecutor I. B. Kimrell and City Detectives Lum Wilson and J. L. Ghent, shortly after the murder of Thomas Fanning in his home at 1818 Olive street, on New Year's eve, 1906, Wix was not plainly told what charge might be placed against him. No person, outside of Chief of Police John Hayes, Wix's wife, the detectives and the prosecutor knew that Wix was under arrest. None of Wix's political friends knew of it or made any effort to secure his release. In recalling the questioning of Wix at that time Mr. Kimbrell said last evening:
"We asked Wix how he came by diamonds he was wearing and how he found the wherewithal to purchase his teams and wagons. He showed us that the original story about his owning many large diamonds was an exaggeration and that he possessed only two small ones, and he proved that he held title to only three teams and a wagon or two. He told us the size of his salary and how much he had been saving out of it each week. We corroborated his explanation by his wife and the neighbors. We never told him he was held for the Fanning murder. We discovered that we had no case against him and dropped the matter without letting his name be connected with the murder."Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, Judge Kyle, murder, Olive street, Prosecutor Kimbrell, Walnut Street June 4, 1908 DIAMONDS MAY CAUSE ARREST OF MURDERER.
POLICE CLAIM TO KNOW WHO IS WEARING MASON'S SPARKLERS.
Have Been Unable to Learn Anything Form Clark Wix and Refuse to Tell Who Else They Suspect.
Diamonds, obtained and worn under unusual circumstances have given the police, so they think, a clue which will speedily lead to the solution of the mystery of John Mason's death. On Sunday, January 26, Mason, a young horse trader, disappeared from the house at 1403 Main street, where he roomed. At the time of his disappearance he was supposed to have had on his person $585 cash, a large gold watch, a ring set in a large diamond and a horseshoe scarf pin containing 18 diamonds. The body, stripped of its wealth, was found Sunday on a sand bar near Camden, Mo.
Several weeks after his disappearance detectives, who were working on the case, learned that one of his acquaintances had tried to borrow money from him, and that Mason refused to let him have it. This man is said to be a prominent business man of Kansas City and the police refused to give out his name until something more definite is known about him. This man, according to the detectives, is wearing a ring, the setting of which corresponds identically with the ring worn by Mason on the day he was lost trace of, and the man's bank account suddenly jumped up $900. It is intimated that this man will be arrested on a formal charge today.
Besides this one ring there were other ones, all diamonds, which figured largely, it is said, in the arrest of Clark Wix, a liveryman. Wix is supposed to know something of the disappearance of Mason.
The time limit for Wix's imprisonment for investigation ends this morning when a definite charge will be placed against him today or he will be released.
That Mason, for the body found at Camden was undoubtedly that of Mason,m was murdered, seems to go beyond question. . The wound on the back of his head just behind his ear, was made by some blunt instrument, presumably a hammer. On his write wrist the flesh has become decomposed, and in that place only it is broken. This leads the detectives to believe that there was a struggle when the murder was committed and that Mason was struck severely on the wrist or the skin was bruised and torn by twisting.
Phil Kirk of the Kirk detective agency says that he does not believe that Mason's body was in the water over two or three weeks. The body was well preserved, which would be impossible if it had been in the water since January 26. It is Kirk's belief that Mason's murderers committed the deed in the center of the business district and then carried the body to the river front in a hack. It would seem, according to his idea, that the murderers, for he has no doubt that there was more than one, buried him in a shallow grave in the sand on the river front. The high water of the past two weeks has served to do away with the old water line and much of the sand bank has been washed away. It was with the rise of the river that the body came to the surface. If it had been in the river long it would have floated further down stream than Camden.
The police officers are trying to connect the murder of Mason with the murder of Thomas Fanning, a wealthy stone mason who was killed in his home at 1818 Olive street in January, 1907. Just what this connection is Police Captain Walter Whitsett has not yet divulged to the public.
Early this morning two detectives, an undertaker and Mrs. John Mason left for Camden, where they will view the body and look further into the circumstance of its being found. The body will be brought to Kansas City today for burial.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Main street, Missouri river, murder, Olive street June 3, 1908
RIVER GIVES UP MURDER MYSTERY.
JOHN MASON HAD BEEN KILLED BY BLOW ON HEAD.
ROBBED OF JEWELS AND MONEY.
POLICE CLOSE ON THE TRAIL OF HIS MURDERERS.
Ray County Coroner Had Overlooked Important Clues to Dead Man's Identity -- Body to Be Exhumed.
When A. E. Dudley of 1825 Grand avenue, went to Camden, Ray county, Missouri, yesterday to look at three bodies found in the river there Sunday and Monday, he did not find the body of his friend, Fred Noosem, his partner in business, but he brought back the description of a man who disappeared here in January. Detectives Charles Halderman and James Fox say that it is no other than John Mason, known as "Dutch." His description and apparel prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt, and a deep hole in the skull behind the left ear indicates that he had been murdered.
Mason was a horse trader who owned twelve horses, a hack, a brougham and a runabout. He lived with a woman named Maude Wilson at 1403 Main street. On January 26, last, Maud Wilson told the detectives that she and Mason counted his money.
"He had with him just then $585," she said. "He wore a horseshoe pin in which were fifteen diamonds. The pin was locked in a lavender tie with a patent fastener. He also wore a solitaire diamond ring, a gold ring and a fine gold watch and chain. After he left my house that day he was never seen again to my knowledge."
When Dudley discovered that one of the bodies had on clothing bearing Kansas City marks he took a complete description of everything. Here is the description, which tallies exactly with the missing Mason: "He was between 24 and 26 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds. He was smooth shaved and had dark brown hair. There was no jewelry on the body, but in the tie is the remains of a pin from which the setting has been nipped. The pin is locked with a patent fastener."
Halderman and Fox say that there is no doubt that this is the body of the missing horse trader. Dudley says that the coroner of Ray county buried the body without a coffin and took no cognizance of the many identification remarks. The other two bodies found there have been claimed by relatives and removed. One was a suicide from Kansas City, Kas., and the other that of Harry Tuoroff of Independence, drowned while hunting ducks near Sibley, Mo.
There is not one man in a thousand who would have taken any further notice of the body after he saw that it was not the one he sought. It happens that Dudley formerly was a detective, and that instinct led him to take notice of these things and report them to the police here, a matter which the Ray county coroner had overlooked. Fox and Halderman have been on the case about six weeks. Arrests are expected in a few days when a sensation may be looked for.
The Ray county coroner will be ordered to exhume and hold the body of Mason. The detectives on the case say that from the first they suspected that Mason had been murdered, but until Dudley came in yesterday with the fact that the body had been found, it would have been hard to prove. The first thing to establish is the corpus delicti, the presence of the murdered body. Now that that is established they expect plain sailing.Labels: detectives, drowning, Grand avenue, Main street, Missouri river, murder, Sibley, Suicide June 1, 1908 BROTHER'S BLONDE GIRL BROUGHT JOHN TROUBLE.
Had Never Seen Her, So He Ad- dressed All Taffy Tops He Met.
John Wagner of 614 1/2 East Twelfth street had to explain to a police officer last night at the union depot when apparently "braced" a young woman. The bracing act was wel known to a gray-haired matron from the country, and she promptly notified the depot master and city detectives Sanderson and Julian were put on the young man's trail immediately.
Wagner himself admitted, after the detectives caught him, that it probably did look strange but, as he had an identification all ready he was released. The young lady was his brother's sweetheart and was released with apologies.
When the girl strted West Wagner's brother wrote him to meet her in Kansas City and help her spsend the four hours' layover sightseeing. Wagne knew her name and knew she was a blonde, and the girl did not know he sweetheart's brother was to meet her That's what got them pinched.
When the young man reached the union deopt, he learned the train from Davenport, Ia., had been in several minutes andhe set about to locate his brother's "girl." Yes, of course, knowing she was a blonde he stepped up to the first likely looking blonde he found and began talking to her. As far as the conversation concerned the young woman she thought it was Dutch. Her gray haired mamma informed the young man he had made a mistake, and he "blew" on down the aisle in another waiting room until he struck another blonde.
The second blonde happened to be the right girl, and she responded when he called her name, but back up the aisle a gray-haired mother from the country was watching and she immediately set up a cry for the police.
"Why, he worked the same game on her he tried on my daughter," seh explained to the detectives as blonde No 2 disappeared into Union avenue, with Wagner obligingly carrying her grip. "He ain't taking her up town for any good purpose."
It was easy fro Wagner to square himself with the detectives, for his identification was perfect, down to the brothers letter, asking him to look out for the girl, but it was a night's job for Detectives Sandersona dn Julian to convince the other woman that all was well. She left at midnight with a poor opinion of Governor Folk's reorganied out-of-politics police depatrment.Labels: detectives, Twelfth street, Union depot, visitors May 29, 1908 DUG UP HIS NITROGLYCERIN.
Safeblower Hart Led Police to Spot Where It Was Buried.
A nitroglycerin hunt is an unusual feature to a detective's duty, but it was part of the day's programme yesterday morning when W. G. Hart, a safeblower of no small record, led the police to the runway of the Hannibal bridge where he had buried over a pint of the explosive.
Hart was captured Tuesday night by Sergeant Patrick Clark, Desk Sergeant, Holly Jarboe and Officer Joe Enright after having blown a safe in the Metzner Stove Supply and Repair House, 304 West Sixth street. At the time of the capture, Hart attempted to hurl a bottle of the explosive at the police officers, but was kept from doing so by one of the occupants of the house.
Hart had made his nitroglycerin at the foot of the Hannibal bridge and then buried it in the roadside. It was feared that a passing wagon might cause an explosion and so it was taken up yesterday. Hart emptied the bottle upon the ground.Labels: crime, detectives, Hannibal bridge, police, Sixth street May 12, 1908
MURDERED WIFE IN JEALOUS FIT.
SHE DIED IN HER AGED FATHER'S ARMS.
STABBED ON PORCH OF HOME.
E. C. FLETCHER, THE MURDERER, IS CAPTURED BY POLICE.
E. C. Fletcher, a teamster 37 years old, after being separated from his wife for one week, called at the home of her father, John Harlow, 630 West Eighth street, last night about 8:30 o'clock, ostensibly to talk over going to Oklahoma. In the house was a man named Edward Lewis, another teamster, who had gone to the house to see Harlow about putting him to work. Fletcher asked his wife to come down stairs to talk. When they reached the porch she was heard to scream for help. He had stabbed her just above the heart. She died an hour later.
Fletcher ran south to Ninth street, chased by a negro who had witnessed the act. He was seen at Ninth and Holmes streets a few minutes later, running east. The aged father ran to the porch and held his daughter in his arms until the police ambulance arrived. She sank so fast that Drs. J. P. Neal and R. A. Shiras deemed it necessary to give her a transfusion of salt solution at the emergency hospital to take the place of the blood she had lost. She did not regain consciousness and died without making a statement or even telling her name. The knife blade entered the left side just above the heart and is believed to have severed the aorta.
HE IS CAPTURED.
Detectives Keshlear and McGraw were on the scene soon after the murder and went to work on the case at once.
Patrolmen Holly Jarboe and J. P. Withrow, headquarters men, learned that Fletcher roomed at 211 West Fifth street and went there to watch for him. At 12:15 o'clock they were joined by Detectives Brice, Murphy, Boyle and Walsh. As they stood talking, Walsh exclaimed:
"Here he comes now," and ran toward a man who had just turned the corner. It was proved to be Fletcher. He surrendered without resistance.
Fletcher was taken to police headquarters and Bert Kimbrell, assistant prosecuting attorney, was sent for to take his statement. The murderer had been drinking and was not told that his wife was dead until he had finished his statement. He expressed hope that he had not hurt her.
"I don't know why I struck her. I love he so. I don't know what I was doing," was the sum of his declaration to Kimbrell.
The knife with which he killed his wife was found in his pocket. It was a common clasp knife, with a three-inch blade.
HE OFTEN BEAT HER.
Mrs. Emma Fletcher was 33 years old and a pretty woman. She had been married to Fletcher for seventeen years, but had no children. He was a drinking man, the father says, and often beat his wife and as often left her. Her mother died about the time of her marriage and she and Fletcher had always lived with Harlow.
"He left Emma the last time a week ago while we were living at Thirteenth and Summit streets," said Harlow. "We have often had to move on account of his treatment of her. Tuesday we moved to 630 West Eighth street. Ed Lewis came to see me tonight about getting me a job and we were all in the room on the second floor when Fletcher knocked at the door.
" 'What do you want?' Emma asked him.
" 'I just come to talk to you about going with me to Oklahoma,' Fletcher said. 'I've got the money to take you if you want to go.'
"Then he saw Lewis sitting there and his eyes flashed fire. He told Emma to get her shoes and come outside and talk the matter over. As she left I heard him say, 'I'd rather see you dead than with another man.' I heard them walk quietly down the stairs to the porch and then my daughter screamed. I just thought he had beaten her again as he had so often and ran to her side I could see he had been drinking."
"I WANT TO DIE, TOO."
While the father, grey and feeble, was telling his story to Captain Whitsett he did not know that his daughter was dead. HE would up his sad narrative with: "When I put her white face on my arm I thought she was dead, but I guess he's just cut her. Can any one tell me how she is?" he asked, looking from one to another.
"She is dead," Captain Whitsett informed him in a low tone.
"God be merciful," cried the old man, tottering backwards into a chair. "If she is dead, I want to die, too."
He found that her body had been taken to Freeman & Marshall's morgue and left for there, saying he wanted to be with her during the night.
OTHER TOWNS NOTIFIED.
Fletcher has been working for James Stanley, a contractor, who is building a church at 752 Sandusky avenue, Kansas City, Kas. Surrounding towns had also been telephoned to be on the lookout for him in case he should catch a train out. He was believed to be making for the Belt line tracks when last seen.
P. W. Widener, from whom Harlow rents at 630 West Eighth street, told the police that he had just entered his home about 8:30 p. m., when he heard a knock and saw Fletcher at his wife's door talking to her.
"I heard them go down stairs together," he said, "and almost immediately heard her scream. She was lying on the porch, stabbed, when I reached her. Fletcher was chased to Ninth street and lost sight of."
Widener related that when Harlow rented the rooms he said his son-in-law often raised "a little rumpus when drinking," but did not pay any attention to it. He said it had often caused him to move.
Fletcher has a brother, Arthur Fletcher, living somewhere in the city. Harlow has one more daughter, Mrs. Clara Coleman, who lives in the West bottoms in Kansas City, Kas., but he did not know where.
Coroner George B. Thompson said that an autopsy would be held today and an inquest later.Labels: Captain Whitsett, Coroner Thompson, detectives, doctors, domestic violence, Eighth street, emergency hospital, Fifth street, Holmes street, marriage, murder, Ninth street, teamster, undertakers May 5, 1908 POLICE FIND OWNERS OF CANNED JEWELS.
BOY'S DISCOVERY BRINGS GLAD- NESS TO ONE HOME.
Porch Climber Had Stolen Watches on December 26, 1906, and Buried Them in a To- mato Can.
By a thorough search of police records Fred G. Bailey, secretary to the inspector of detectives, yesterday located the owners for most of the jewelry which was found Saturday night at Nineteenth and McGee streets. The valuables were found by John E. Linings, 317 East Nineteenth street, a boy who was digging for worms. It was all safely planted in an old rusty tin can which, according to the record, had been in the ground just one year, four months and two days when found. The can, which was delivered to Lieutenant Hammil at the Walnut street station, contained four gold watches, one gold cross, one gold cuff button, two brooches, one an old came; one gold and one enamel heart, and one string of three-strand gold beads.
Bailey began at January, 1906, and it was not until he reached December 26 of that year that his efforts were rewarded. On that night porch climbers entered the home of E. H. Stimson, 3145 Broadway, while the family was in the siting room below. The thief or thieves secured two ladies' gold watches, one an open face watch, with E. A. S. on the case in big letters, and the other marked "Emmett to Olive." They also got a long gold watch chain and five gold rings.
On the same evening the home of C. M. Gilbert, then living at 3129 Washington street, was entered, probably by the same "climbers" as it was in a similar manner. There three gold watches were stolen. One, an open face watch, had "1876" engraved on it and there was a long chain to it. Another was engraved "Annie B Gilbert" and the last was undescribed. The thief also got a black seal card case and $40 in cash.
The gold engraved cross, the cuff button, two brooches and two hearts have not yet been identified. Detective Ralph Trueman was sent out to locate the robbed families and tell them of their luck. He found Mr. Stimson still living at the same number but Mr. Gilbert, he said, had left the city. Neighbors said the family had moved to Ohio. They believed it was Dayton. Secretary Bailey will endeavor to locate Mr. Gilbert and make him happy.
Mr. Stimson, who is a real estate man, was very much pleased when told of the find. "I recall the night we were robbed," he said. "It was the night after Christmas and about 8 o'clock. The thieves climbed the front porch and ransacked the two front rooms. The watch marked 'E. A. S.' is the property of my daughter, Edith Aileen Stimson. She will be more pleased than anybody as she was broken hearted over her loss."
Many conjectures have been made as to how and why the can of jewelry was buried in the ground and especially why it was left there. Many police believe that the thief, after burying his loot, fell into the hands of the law and may now be doing time in some prison. Others think the man who put the can there must be dead.
It is not an unusual thing for burglars to bury plunder, especially watches and other jewelry which is easily identified. After it has been buried long enough for the police to cease to look for the lost valuables they can easily be dug up and either sold or pawned with less chance of detection. If the thief is in prison the police believe he would have some day returned and disposed of his loot.Labels: Broadway, crime, detectives, Nineteenth street, Walnut street police station, Washington street April 20, 1908 ARRESTED FOR "GUN PLAY."
Ex-Policeman and Saloon Owner Threaten Kansas City Kas., Detective.
George Mohar, an ex-policeman, and John Miller, a former saloon man of Kansas City, Kas., were arrested yesterday by Detective McKnight in front of No. 2 fire station, after a quarrel and a gun play. Miller and Mohar engaged in unfriendly words with the detective, and when the latter attempted to place them under arrest, it is claimed, that a gun play was made. The men finally submitted to arrest, and were taken to the police station, where they gave a cash bond, and were released to appear in court this morning.Labels: detectives, Kansas City Kas, violence April 14, 1908
JEWELED BOX HELD CIGARETTES.
DINERS IN HOTEL BALTIMORE CAFE GIVEN A SHOCK.
WOMAN BREAKS HOUSE RULES.
SMOKE WREATHS THAT CHECK BUZZ OF CONVERSATION.
Waiters, in Panic, Appeal to House Detective, and He Tells Inof- fensive Citizen That Wife Mustn't Smoke There.
A faultlessly dressed couple occupied seats at a table in the main dining room of the Hotel Baltimore cafe last night. It was plain to be seen that they were English.
The dining room was well filled with men and women. The orchestra was playing a piece in waltz time. Jewels gleamed beneath the many lights.
Suddenly the buzz of conversation died away. All eyes in the dining room became centered upon the table where sat the English man and English woman.
With graceful ease the woman had extracted a cork-tipped cigarette from an exquisitely jeweled case and lifted it to her lips with dainty fingers. A moment more and a thin wreath of smoke curled above her head and -- Kansas City received its first touch of the Continent and the Orient.
What to do?
The whites of the eyes of the waiters grew larger, whispered words passed over the adjoining tables and the orchestra played on.
The waiter at the table where sat the English hurried to the side of the head waiter. Everybody except the man and the woman watched the conference of waiters. The cause of the commotion apparently saw nothing of what was transpiring about them. The head waiter hurried to the lobby. He conferred with the house detective.
"Sure," said the detective. "I'll fix that."
The head waiter returned to the dining room. He looked as though he had just received a liberal tip. The diners eagerly awaited the outcome.
They were not kept long in suspense. Soon the form of the house detective loomed large in the doorway. He really looked the imposing majesty of the law as he crossed the threshold. The head waiter moved his head to one side. The detective veered his course in that direction. Then he did the most detective like thing imaginable. He walked up to a well-known private citizen of American extraction who, with his wife, had just finished a light meal and said:
"I wish you wouldn't let your wife smoke in here. It's against the house rules."
Did the private citizen laugh? Indeed he did not. He didn't even smile over the detective's blunder. What he said was direct and to the point, and when he had finished saying it the house sleuth apologized and cast his eagle eye over the dining room for the real offender. Then he made the same request of the Englishman that he made of the professional man. There was a hearty:
"All right -- very sorry -- we didn't know it was against the rules."
And that ended it. The lights still shone brightly, diamonds glistened, the orchestra passed from adante doloroso to allegro furioso.
The Englishman was Mr. C. Murray, secretary of the colonial office, London, and the lady was his wife.
"It was embarrassing," said Mr. Murray afterwards. "We didn't intend to break any of the house rules and when the man came to me and asked my wife to desist she did so at once. I asked the man if it was against the law of your country for a lady to smoke in a dining room. He said it was not, but that it was against the house rules."
Secretary Murray said it was the custom for ladies to smoke in public dining rooms in London and nothing was thought of it. This is his first visit to America.
Secretary Murray said his wife is prominently connected in England, but declined to divulge her name before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have been traveling through Mexico.
"We have been over your city," said the secretary, "and I consider it a well laid out city, capable of great extension and a very progressive metropolis, but," he added, "you have not progressed to the point where ladies are allowed the freedom that they are in the old country."
Mr. and Mrs. Murray will depart for Chicago this evening.Labels: detectives, Hotel Baltimore, restaurants, tobacco, visitors, women March 14, 1908
SET TRIAL IN POISON CASE FOR WEDNESDAY.
STATE HAS MANY WITNESSES AGAINST SARAH MORASCH.
Less Than Month Ago Little Ruth Miller Died From Eating Bonbons Sent Her Half-Sister in the Mail.
Next Wednesday is the day set for the trial of Mrs. Sarah Morasch in the Wyandotte district court, where she will be called to answer the charge of murdering Ruth Miller by sending a box of poisoned candy through the mails to her father's household. he child, who was 4 years old, died February 12. She was the daughter of Charles and Malinda Miller of 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale.
Since her arrest in Harrisonville, Mo., on February 20, Mrs. Morasch, in default of bond, has been confined in the Wyandotte county jail. Her stories of her relations with the Miller family told at different times to Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Taggart, Chief of Police Bowden and others, have not agreed one with another, and her description of her flight from Kansas City, Kas., to Harrisonville is vague and not convincing, according to Taggart.
Among the fifty-six witnesses who have been called to testify for the state next Wednesday are: Charles Miller, father of the dead girl; Malinda Miller, the mother; Ella Van Meter, their step-daughter, to whom the poisoned box of bonbons was addressed; Coroner A. J. Davis, Professor of Chemistry Bushong of the Kansas state university, Chief Bowden and Detective Harry Anderson.
The defense is in the hands of Attorney Daniel Maher and will rest chiefly upon statements of relatives of Mrs. Morasch and boon companions, who were with her during her stay in the West Bottoms. In the event of her being proved guilty by the state, she cannot be hanged and will be admissible to bail under the revised criminal statutes of KansasLabels: Armourdale, children, County Attorney Taggart, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison, women March 13, 1908 CHARGE HIDEOUS DEEDS TO FRAKER
BOYS ACCUSE DOCTOR OF MOST REVOLTING CRIMES.
HE IS ARRESTED BY POLICE.
CASE WILL BE PLACED BEFORE GRAND JURY AT ONCE.
One Lad Escapes From a Boys' Refuge in St. Louis and Comes Here to Tell His Terrible Story.
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning three boys walked into the emergency hospital. They were runaways from the House of Refuge, an Industrial home at Osage and Virginia avenues, St. Louis. At Olivette, Mo., they were chased by a bull dog and ran through a bed of lime. Their legs were badly burned.
The boys gave the name of Albert Hopper, 14; Charles Reynolds, 17, and Cyrne Enge, 16 years old. After Dr. Julius Frischer had bound up the lads' burned limbs Hopper told a story which alarmed the doctor. The three boys were taken before Captain Whitsett, where Hopper said that he had come all the way from St. Louis to tell his story to the police. He told it again
Based on the boy's statement Dr. George W. Fraker, who formerly had offices at 1209 Grand avenue, but is now located at 703 Central avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was immediately arrested by Detective James M. Orford. He is being held for investigation. Last night John W. Hogan, an assistant prosecutor, took the statements of Hopper and other boys here who have lived with Fraker. Hogan said that this morning an information charging a nameless crime would be filed against Dr. Fraker in the criminal court if the case did not go to the grand jury direct.
Twenty-five months ago Hopper, who is an orphan, said he was in an orphans' home run by the Children's Home Finding Society at Margaretta and Newstead avenues, St. Louis. From there he was sent to Dr. Fraker at 1209 Grand avenue. He remained here with the doctor three months and one month in Excelsior Springs, Mo., the doctor's old home. Hopper's statement, which is horrible in details, tells of frequent instances when he was made to submit to most unnatural abuses. He said he was often beaten with a rubber hose when he refused to submit.
CAME TO TELL POLICE.
"I came all the way here," said Hopper, "to put Dr Fraker where he belongs. After I had been with Dr. Fraker four months, we were in Excelsior Springs. One day I threatened to tell on him. I was badly beaten and the next day sent to the House of Refuge in St. Louis. I went alone and was glad to go. I told the assistant superintendent my story, but he paid no attention to me. After being there a year and nine months, I determined to run away and come here, and tell it to the police. The other boys only came along as my friends. We escaped through a coal hole last Sunday morning."
Following the arrest of Dr. Fraker, Harry Elleman, 14 years old, was taken from Dr. Fraker's office at 703 Central avenue by Detective Mansel of Kansas City, Kas., and questioned. Mansell telephoned Detective Orford and he went and got young Elleman. This boy also made a statement to Hogan accusing Fraker. His statement was almost exactly the same as that made by Hopper.
Elleman has lived with Fraker since August, 1906, with the exception of the last five months, when he was living with his mother, Mrs. Ora Nordquist, at 1903 North Tenth street, Kansas City, Kas. Five days ago his relatives moved to the country and Harry returned to the doctor. While living on this side with the doctor, Elleman went by the name of Harry Fraker at the Humboldt school.
ONE YOUNG MAN DIED.
While living with Dr. Fraker at 1209 Grand avenue Cyril O'Neal, a young Englishman, 19 years old, died in September under suspicious circumstances. Dr. Fraker signed the death certificate as "acute Bright's disease," with typhoid fever as a contributory cause. An autopsy held by Coroner Thompson proved that O'Neal died of septic poisoning. The dead boy's brother, Claud O'Neal, is said to be still living with Fraker.
Frakers apparent philanthropy in caring for O'Neal, whom he met up with as a stranger in Put-in-Bay, O., caused much comment. He cared for him constantly all the time he was ill and paid for cablegrams to his people in England. When O'Neal went to live with the doctor Elleman was sent home.
Robert McBride, 17 years old, another boy now living with Dr. Fraker at 703 Central avenue, Kansas City, Kas., called at police headquarters last night to see the doctor Just at that time the other boys were making their statements concerning Fraker's treatment of them. McBride was not allowed to see Fraker, but was detained and caused to make a statement. Little was gained from him.
ALWAYS HAS A BOY.
There has not been a time in the last twenty years, it is said, that Dr. Fraker has not had from one to two young boys living with him. Fraker created a big sensation fourteen years ago by mysteriously disappearing. He had something less than $100,000 life insurance at the time. He, a boy who was living with him, and an old negro went fishing on the Missouri river. An embankment apparently fell and the doctor with it. There was a deep eddy at that point where the water had undermined the bank. The negro and the boy told of hearing the "big splash" and later, when they ran to the scene, seeing only Dr. Fraker's hat floating away in the stiff current.
Several months afterwards detectives located Dr. Fraker living in an isolated lumber camp in the pine forests of the Northwest. He was arrested and returned home, where attempts were made by some of the insurance companies which had paid death claims on his life, to prosecute him. As it could not be proved that Fraker had in any way benefited by the ruse or received any of the money, nothing came of it.
Hopper and Elleman were detained at police headquarters last night. Assistant Prosecutor Hogan said that they, with other witnesses, would be taken before the grand jury today.Labels: abuse, Central avenue, children, crime, detectives, doctors, emergency hospital, Excelsior Springs, Grand avenue, immigrants, Kansas City Kas, Missouri river, St Louis March 8, 1908 JUNIOR JIM THE PENMAN.
Sent to College, Clifford Webster Be- gins to Write Checks.
Clifford Webster, a 16-year-old boy who has been living with E. A. Walmsley at 2508 Peery avenue and has been attending a local business college, learned to write checks at the college and tried to pass two of his own. The first one, drawn on the New Enland National bank, for $5, he got the money on. The second on the same bank for $18.75, purporting to have been given by J. R. Tomlin, was refused and City Detectives Keshler and McGraw nabbed the boy. He is being held in the detention home. The boy's father is dead, his stepfather lives in France, and Walmsley some months ago took him into his home and put him in school.Labels: banking, children, detectives, detention home, forgery 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 21, 1908
MRS. MORASH IS UNDER ARREST
SHE MAY KNOW SOMETHING OF POISONED CANDY.
FOUND IN HARRISONVILLE.
WHERE SHE HAD WALKED WITH HER DAUGHTER.
Ella Miller Says She Wrote Her Address, as on Candy Box, for Mrs. Morash Three Months Ago.
The first arrest in the murder case of Ruth Miller, poisoned by eating candy containing strychnine at the home of her father, Charles Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, Wednesday noon, February 12, was made at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon on state warrant by Sheriff Fred J. Hamilton of Cass county at Harrisonville, Mo. It was that of Mrs. Albert Morash, sister-in-law of Charles Miller. Sheriff Hamilton acted under orders of Attorney Joseph Taggart of Wyandotte county, who telephoned him to the effect that Mrs. Morash was wanted in Kansas City, Kas., on a murder charge, Wednesday and again Thursday. One-half hour after the telephone message, Hamilton had her in the county jail of Cass county. Chief Bowden of the Kansas City, Kas., police department and Detective Harry Anderson returned with the accused woman to Kansas City, Kas., early this morning and she was lodged in the city jail. Sheriff Hamilton said last night over the telephone that the woman and her daughter, Blanche, had arrived in that city last Sunday afternoon, after having walked fifty-eight miles, all the way from Kansas City. They were jaded and their shoes worn through in many places Sunday. They stopped at the home of a farmer a mile outside the city limits that night, but Monday and Tuesday nights stayed at local hotels. Chief Bowden and Captain U. G. Snyder have expended every resource to find her, on accoun of information it was thought she might be able to give concerning the poisoning. Yesterday morning they arrested Blanche Moran, the daughter, and compelled her to tell where she and her mother had gone after quitting Kansas City. Blanche had returned on a train to the home of her sister, Mrs. May Gillin, 634 Armstrong avenue, Tuesday afternoon. County Attorney Taggart says he has discovered that the sender of the poisoned candy did not write all of the inscription on the wrapper. He says that Ella Miller, to whom the bonbons were addressed, wrote the words, "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne ave. Corner Packard and Cheyenne ave." appearing on the wrapper for Mrs. Morash, three months ago, and writing of the little girl corresonds exactly with the writing on the package. He says Ella has denied writing the rest of the inscription, "From S. S. Girls." Blanche Morash cried when questioned by Captain U. G. Snyder, captain of police, at headquarters. She said she thought her mother was wanted by police in connection with an ocurrence of a month ago when Mrs. Morash was found guilty of mistreating and neglecting an infant taken from the Hughes maternity home. Blanche furthermore said she was willing to make a statement regarding the sending of the box of bonbons, but did not say whether or not her statement would be in in the form of a denial of any knowledge concerning them. Labels: Armourdale, County Attorney Taggart, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, jail, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison February 18, 1908
TWO MEN SHOT AT HOTEL COSBY.
J. P. HAYES AND J. F. O'DONNELL MAY DIE OF WOUNDS.
WERE SHOT BY J. D. CROSBY.
PROPRIETOR MIXED IN A ROW AND USED GUN.
Wounded Men Had Gone Back to Ho- tel to Apologize for a Row Ear- lier in the Evening -- Shot From Behind.
As a result of a quarrel in the Cosby hotel, West Ninth street and Baltimore avenue, at 8 o'clock last night, James P. Hayes, agent of the Traders' Dispatch, and John F. O'Donnell, cigar manufacturer, are in a dangerous condition in St. Joseph's hospital from bullet wounds in their bodis, and J. D. Cosby, owner of the hotel, who shot the men, is in the city jail and will probably answer to a charge of murder, in case the men may die. Hayes cannot recover, according to the attending physician, but O'Donnell's chances are even.
While Cosby is making an appeal to the police that he shot O'Donnell and Hayes in self-defense, the evidence shows that both men where shot in the back as they were retreating from the hotel. Cosby was not assaulted in any way or een mixed up in the quarrel until he grabbed a revolver and began shooting. The police arrested Cosby and his brothe, Wiliam Cosby; his clerk, William Murray, and a negro porter, Moses Butcher. They will be held until police make a thorough investigation.
The shooting was the result of a quarrel between Hayes, O'Donnell and William Murray, because the former two asked to see a friend of the name of A. Drake from Salt Lake City, U., who was staying at the hotel. Hayes and O'Donnell went to the hotel about 8 o'clock and inquired for Drake and H. L. Davis, who was registered from Hutchinson, Kas. Murray informed them that their friends had left. Hayes then made a remark which led Murray, the clerk, to believe Hayes was doubting his word and Murray struck him in the face. A fist fight followed in which Hayes, O'Donnell, Murray, and Cosby, brother of the proprietor, were implicated. Hayes used a bell and a bottle to defend himself with and Murray's head was badly cut as a result.
WENT BACK TO THE HOTEL. Hayes and O'Donnell managed to get out of the hotel and went to the Senate saloon, where they talked with several men about the fight. They stated that the clerk was in the wrong and that they ol defended themselves until they could get out of the place. Hayes then proposed to O'Donnell that they go back to the hotel and apologize for the wrong they had done and try to make the matter right with the proprietor They then went to the hotel and as they reached the top of the stairs J. D. Cosby called upon Clerk Murray, his brother and others to keep Hayes and O'Donnell in the place until he could summon the police and have them arrested.
Hayes and O'Donnell tried to escape from the hotel and Murray and Williaim Cosby again attacked them. While the men were engaged in a fight J. D. Cosby, the proprietor, came from behind the counter with a revolver in his hand and shot Hayes twice through the back as he was running down the stairs. J. D. Cosby was not assaulted and had no hand in the row except to do the shooting, according to statements of Hayes and O'Donnell and others who were there at the time of the shooting.
Hayes and O'Donnell fell when they were shot and the former lay in an unconscious condition at the top of the stairs, while O'Donnell managed to crawl into a nearby saloon and ask for help. Some one at the hotel telephoned for the police and Hayes and O'Donnell were taken immediately to St. Joseph's hospital They were in a critical condition and at midnight last night it was stated that Hayes could not survive. There were two bullet holes in his back near the right shoulder blade. The bullets had not ben located. He was in a semi-conscious condition up to midnight and was unable to recogize relatives and friends who were permitted to see him. There was one bullet in O'Donnell's shoulder which passed through his body, coming out just above the heart. It was found in his clothing and it was stated by physicians at the hospital last night that O'Donnell may recover. FOUR MEN UNDER ARREST. Detectives R. E. Truman, J. W. Farrell, Joseph Halvey and James Ratery last night arrested J. D. Cosby, William Cosby, Moses Butcher, colored, and William Murray, together with a few guests at the hotel. The men whose names are mentioned will be held for investigation.
Asistant Prosecuting Attorney Riehl took a statement from J D. Cosby last night regarding the shooting, in which Cosby claimed self-defense. His story of the shooting is as follows:
"These two men, whom I do not now, came to the hotel and started a row with Murray and my brother (meaning William Cosby). They injured Murray and then went down out of the hotel. Later they came back, and I thought that they intended to start another row. I ordered the men in the hotel not to let these two men out of the place, as I wished to call the police and have them arrested. Then they started another row with Murray and my brother. I took a revolver I had in my hand and went to assist my brother. I grabbed hold of one and he struck at me. Then I shot him. I then shot the other man when he tried to strike me with something he had his hand. I did it in self-defense and to help my brother and Murray."
Cosby made another statement in which he said that he did not know that he had shot more than one man, but held to the story of self-defense.
The statements of all the other eye witnesses to the tragedy discredit that of Cosby. Willilam Cosby, his brother, said Cosby shot Hayes in the back when the latter was wrestling with Murray and then leaned over the railing of the stairway and shot O'Donnel as the later was descending the stairway. He also stated that he asked his brother not to shoot, but he would not listen. J. J. Carter of Garden City, Kas., and R. C. Rawlings of Chanute, Kas., made statements to the police which were about the same as that of William Cosby.
DYING MAN'S WIFE OVERCOME.
Mrs. Hayes, wife of the wound man who will probably die, called at the hosptial about 11 o'clock last night to see her husband. She was almost prostrated with grief when told of the affair and was overcome when she saw the condition of her husband. A sister and friends of Hayes also called to see him. Hayes has a baby daughter and lives at 2904 East Thirty-third street. He is about 30 years old. He is the agent for the Traders' Dispatch with offices in the board of trade.
O'Donnell is unmarried and lived at the Century hotel. He is proprietor of the J. F. O'Donnell Cigar Comany at 1801 Grand avenue. He is about 32 years of age.
It is claimed that this is not the first time that Crosby has been in shooting srapes of this kind. He is claimed to have had trouble with Joe Zigler, a saloon keeper near the Cosby hotel, in which he used a revolver but did not do any shooting.Labels: Baltimore avenue, cigars, detectives, Grand avenue, hospitals, hotels, murder, Ninth street, Thirty-third street February 17, 1908
HER LOVE DREAM NOT SHATTERED.
COUNTRY GIRL CAME TO WED MAN SHE MET ON TRAIN.
FIRST VISIT TO BIG TOWN.
SWEETHEART FAILED TO MEET HER; UNDER ARREST.
"I Love Him More Than I Do Myself. Please Have That Big Policeman Let Him Talk to Me," Miss Willis Said.
Ida A. Willis of Blackrock, Ark., came to Kansas City to marry James Rainwater, whom she had met on a train in Arkansas. Both Miss Willis and Rainwater were examined by Police Captain Walter Whitsett yesterday evening and are being held for investigation.
Ida, who confesses to 18 years, when she looks to be not over 15, walks flat-footed and wears neither a straight front nor a rat in her hair, is comely in spite of her dress. Her eyes have the shade of blue that appeals and when she takes your hands and asks you to help her out of trouble you feel like doing your best.
"I love him so," she said last night as she lay on the couch in the matron's office and fingered a Baptist hymnal which she had brought with her from Blackrock. "I love him more than myself. Please have that nice, big policeman who talked to me let him out of jail and send him up to see me. I want to talk to him.
"I was never in a city like this before, although I have worked in Hoxie and in Jonesburg, Ark. I never saw big buildings like you have here And I never saw a policeman half as big as the captain who talked to me so nice this afternoon and said I ought to go home to my mother. But I'm not going home until they let me talk with Rainwater, and they might as well understand that. If they lock him up I'll stay around and get to see him."
It was a case of love at first sight with Ida Willis.
"I was riding with a girl friend, Clara Lempson, on a train from Jonesburg to Blackrock last Decembr," she says. "We made a lot of racket trying to turn a seat back over, and couldn't get it to turn. Rainwater and a young man who was with him turned the seat for us, and we fell to talking. He was awfully nice, and when he asked me where I lived, I told him. He has written bushels of letters since. Saturday he telegraphed a ticket to me, and I came out here to be married.
"I didn't find him at the depot, where he said he would be, and so I went to the matron She sent me up here. There was a detective there, who said he would help find Rainwater."
Rainwater, whose first name, he says, is James, and the girl says is Joseph, has been driving a hack for the Depot Carriage and Baggage company for fifteen months. When Mrs. L. A. Shull, the depot matron, told Detective Bradley about the girl, Bradley hunted him up and sent him to police headquarters, where the girl was. Captain Whitsett met Rainwater on the stairs of the matron's rooms and questioned him. Rainwater didn't answer to suit the captain and was locked up.
Catain Whitsett telegraphed to Miss Willis's father in Blackrock last night for instructions.
Labels: Captain Whitsett, depot matron, detectives, railroad, romance, Union depot, visitors February 13, 1908 POISONED CANDY BROUGHT DEATH.
DEADLY PACKAGE IS SENT THROUGH MAIL TO A GIRL.
SISTERS ATE THE SWEETS.
RUTH MILLER, AGED 4, SOON DIED IN AGONY.
Other Children Became Ill, but Were Revived -- Package Purported to Come From "Girls of S. & S." 
RUTH MILLER.
Victim of Poisoned Bonbons Sent Her Sister Through the Mail.
"Sweets to Ella Miller, From girls of S. & S."
This was the labol on a box of cheap bonbons sent through the mail to the oldest daughter of Charles Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale, at noon yesterday. The postmarks were blurred and the stamp of the postoffice where the box had been mailed had evidently been turned around purposely, as it was brought into contact with the wrapper. The police believe the sender told the postal clerk that the candy was intended for a valentine. What it really contained was poisoned bonbons, and as a result of eating two of them Ruth Miller, the youngest daughter of Charles and Melinda Miller, died in agony less than ten minutes after the box was received at the home. All four of the Miller children were affected by the poison in the candy, which is supposed to have been strychnine, but none except the little girl suffered more than temporary distress, which an application of home remedies relieved.
NEVER HAD A SWEETHEART.
Ella, 14 years old, to whom the candy was sent, has worked in the canning department of the Schwarzchild & Sulzberger packing house up to a month ago, when she was withdrawn by her parents so that she might attend school. She said last night that as far as she knows she has no enemies among the girls at the packing house. She never has had a sweetheart and her parents seldom allow her to go far from the home unless accompanied by some relative or friend. They considered her too young to keep company with young men and also that she has never indicated any desire to receive boy or men callers.
This statement was borne out by the little girl last night.
"I never had any lover and I don't want one," she said, the tears trickling between her fingers as she held her hands to her eyes. Her little frame shook with sobs at the memory of the tragedy and she was bordering on hysteria.
"I don't see how any of the girls at the packing house could ever have had anything against me. I never did anything against them. I don't believe they had a hand in the crime. It is too horrible. The girls in the canning department where I worked were good to me, and always asked my mother who worked in my place after I left how I was getting along every morning as she came in to work. No, I am sure it was not the packing house girls. I can not imagine who could have sent them, but I know it was not my old friends there."
CHILDREN SOON BECAME ILL.
As far as the police are concerned, the tragic death of little Ruth Miller is a complete mystery, while it represents one of the most mystifying crimes in the criminal history of the city.
Immediately after the postman arrived at the Miller home at 12 o'clock noon, Ella discovered the package near the front door on the veranda. All the children are small and crowded around their oldest sister as she opened it to receive their share of the treat. They each took at least two of the bonbons. None except Ruth ate one. As soon as the candy touched the mouth, according to the surviving children, a bitter taste was noticed by them and their tongues became puckery, as though they had touched a powerful astringent. Ella, who had tasted her piece of candy first, got a cup of water and rinsed out her mouth and those of the others.
Ruth did not complain of the bitter taste but a moment afterwards began to scream, and fled from the ho use in the direction of the home of George Gause, 628 Cheyenne avenue, a neighbor. While the mother of the Miller children was away from home it had been the custom of Gause and his wife to care for the children.
Mrs. Miller was away from home at noon yesterday visiting a brother of her husband in the West bottoms near South James street. Gause had been apprised of the mother's absence and when he heard Ruth scream ran out at once from the house, thinking, he says, that she had fallen and hurt herself. When he reached the back porch of his house he saw little Ruth throw up her hands and fall to the ground.
DEAD IN FIVE MINUTES.
"What's the matter, Ruth?" he called, as he ran to her assistance. At this juncture Ella, who had followed the little girl from the house, called out that all of them had been poisoned. Gause sent for a doctor. Ruth did not live over five minutes after the doctor arrived.
Both Miller and his wife were not at home and were not apprised of the death of their little daughter until nearly an hour later, it being necessary to send a special messenger in both cases. The Miller family was prostrated with grief last night.
Miller could not name any enemies likely to take such a cruel revenge on his family. He said he lived in Toad-a-Loup, Armourdale, a year or two ago, and then moved to Greystone Heights, Kansas City, Kas., hwere he lived in perfect peace with his neighbors up to a month ago. Both Miller and his wife have a reputation for being agreeable neighbors and loving in their treatment of their neighbors. Girls working in the canning department of the S. & S. packing house said yesterday they had never known a little girl they liked better than they did Ella Miller. Mrs. Miller was also popular with them.
POLICE CHIEF PUZZLED.
Chief of Police Bowden was at a loss to account for the crime. He said it was without parallel in the city for brutality, considering the extreme youth of the intended victim. He said the matter was one for both the United States postal authorities and the local police to look into. City Detectives Quinn and McKnight were assigned by the chief to the case. Others will be assigned to the task this morning.
An analysis of the poisoned candies made by Coroner A. J. Davis of Wyandotte county after 6 o'clock yesterday evening disclosed a white powder inserted with the chocolate covering the bonbons.Labels: Armourdale, children, Death of Ruth Miller, detectives, Kansas City Kas, murder, poison, West bottoms February 13, 1908 BADGES AVAIL HIM NOTHING.
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