June 26, 1908
TRIPLETS' FATHER IS UNDER ARREST.
NEIGHBORS CHARGE HIM WITH NEGLECTING CHILDREN.
He Has Seven, One of Them Being Boaz, Last Remaining of Trip- lets -- Mother of Chil- dren Dead. Martin Curry, father of the much advertised Curry triplets, was arrested yesterday afternoon on a warrant issued out of the juvenile court, Kansas City, Kas., charging him with neglecting his children. He was locked up in the county jail and will be arraigned in the juvenile court today The arrest of Curry was caused by numerous complaints made by neighbors. He has six children beside the one remaining triplet, Boaz, the two others having recently died. It is the older children that he is accused of neglecting. He stated last night that he had in no way neglected his family as far as he knows. He proposes to hire an attorney and fight the case. Under the juvenile court law neglect of children by their parents is punishable by a fine and jail sentence.
On Sunday afternoon December 22 last, triplets were born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Curry, 2543 Alden avenue, Kansas City, Kas. The babies, two boys and a girl, were all perfectly formed and unusually healthy. Curry is a laborer and, owning to his poor financial circumstances, the people of the two Kansas Citys became deeply interested in his family, especially the triplets, and hundreds of dollars were contributed by the public that the little ones and their mother should not need for anything in the way of care and attention.
The speedy and generous response of the public lifted a load of worry from the father and all went well until the death of Mrs. Curry, which occurred five weeks after the birth of the triplets. The little ones were doing splendidly at that time and the prospects for them to live were pronounced good by the family physician. At the time of Mrs. Curry's death an effort was made to have the triplets placed in a nursery where they might receive the best of care, but the father decided to trust the rearing of the babies to his 17-year-old daughter Bertha.
Ten days ago the babies were taken ill from having been fed sour milk. Ruth died on Wednesday, June 17, followed by the death of David last Sunday. Boaz, the last of the triplets, still lives, but is not in the best of health. Dr. T. C. Benson stated last night that the child was much better than it was a few days ago, and expressed the belief that it would live if properly cared for. It was Dr. Benson that named the triplets, christening them as they were born. Labels: charity, children, death, doctors, illness, juvenile court, Kansas City Kas June 26, 1908
BURNING SULFUR MARS A WEDDING.
BROTHER OF THE BRIDE SE- VERELY HURT.
HAND SERIOUSLY INJURED.
ANOTHER GUEST OVERCOME BY SULPHUROUS FUMES.
Home Where Ceremony Was Being Held Set on Fire Accidentally. The "Cutups" Find New Source of Torment.
Jokers made an attempt to fumigate the residence of Mrs. N. P. Maupin, 3609 Wyandotte street, Wednesday night while Mrs. Maupin's daughter was being married in the parlor to Harry Pierce, a furnishing goods dealer. As a result of the prank Robert Maupin, brother of the bride, may have an injured left hand the rest of his life, and J. J. Foster, a wedding guest, is still confined at his home, 2001 Woodland avenue, ill from inhaling deadly sulphur fumes.
The wedding ceremony was just performed and the formalities of bride-greeting were on, when Robert Maupin left the room to investigate the source of sulphur fumes, which had annoyed the guests during the last few minutes of the wedding service. He entered a rear room and was almost overcome by the fume before he discovered the tray on which the sulphur was burning. The jokers who placed the sulphur inside had closed the window again and Mr. Maupin was forced to raise the sash with one hand while he held the tray of burning sulphur in the other. The window "stuck," he jerked impatiently, and the tray was overturned. The burning mass ran over Mr. Maupin's left hand and he screamed in pain. In the meantime, J. J. Foster, who had gone in search of Maupin, heard the latter's startled cry and rushed into the room. The window curtains were ablaze and the carpet was burning. The deadly fumes prostrated Mr. Foster beore he could get out of the room, after putting out the fire and aiding Mr. Maupin with the window and the sulphur tray. Dr. Allen L. Porter was called from his residence at 3001 Central street. He revived Mr. Foster and treated Mr. Maupin's hand. Mr. Foster was then taken to his home and later another physician was called in consultation. Last night Mr. Foster was unable to leave his house. He insisted last night on going to the telephone and talking to Maupin. He had intended offering a reward for the detection of the jokers who caused his injury. Mr. Maupin, however, said he would prefer not to prosecute because he is sure the fumigating method was taken by friends, who merely tried to frighten the bride and groom. The flesh was burned from Maupin's hand, and the attending physician stated that some of the finger joints may remain stiff. Mr. Pierce and his bride, who was Miss L. Maupin, will leave tonight for a honeymoon tour of California and the Pacific coast. Their departure was postponed on account of the serious injury to the bride's brother and their guest. Labels: accident, Central street, doctors, Fire, pranks, telephone, wedding, Woodland avenue June 23, 1908 ADA LANDED ON GLASSWARE.
Noisy Finale of Attempted Escape From the Workhouse.
Plumbers working in the women's ward at the workhouse yesterday cut a hole 18x24 inches in the floor. When Ada Parker, 23 years old, fat, black and dissatisfied with her environment, saw the hole on going to bed at the usual hour, she began to make plans.
At midnight she stole from her bed, taking with her the blankets and sheets. Those she tied together, securing one end to the leg of her bed, dropping the other into the hole in the floor. Ada chuckled as she contemplated the blackness below. It was of the same complexion as Twenty-third and Vine. She could already feel the night wind tugging at her skirts as she skipped, in fancy, up the dark street to liberty.
She dropped through the hole and slid down her blanket rope and landed in a little pantry packed with workhouse china, glassware, tin pans and cutlery. The noise Ada made in connection with the pans and things was sufficient to rouse even the workhouse guards. She was rescued, bleeding in many soft parts of her anatomy. Dr. George R. Dagg, workhouse surgeon, patched her up. Today the plumbers will nail up the hole in the floor.Labels: doctors, race, Twenty-third street, Vine street, women, workhouse June 16, 1908
TWO LIVES LOST IN BLUE RIVER.
ALFRED G. BUCHANAN AND MISS NITA EWIN DROWNED.
THEIR CANOE STRUCK A SNAG.
YOUNG MAN TRIES TO RESCUE HIS COMPANION.
His Efforts Rendered Futile by the Struggles of His Companion. They Go Down to Death Together.
MISS NITA EWIN AND ALBERT BUCHANAN.
BLUE RIVER CLAIMS TWO MORE VICTIMS.
While boating on the Blue river in Sheffield yesterday afternoon, Alfred G. Buchanan and Miss Nita Ewin were drowned. The canoe in which they were rowing caught on a hidden snag and turned turtle. Both Mr. Buchanan and Miss Ewin lived in Independence. Each was about 20 years of age. Miss Ewin was the daughter of Mrs. Bertie Ewin, a widow, of 412 North Liberty street, while young Buchanan was the son of J. F. Buchanan, an abstracter and loan agent in Independence.
The young couple secured a canoe at the Blue River shortly after noon yesterday, saying that they would return in a short time. They immediately paddled off toward the mouth of the Blue. The accident occurred just above the Belt line bridge.
Witnesses say the boat struck a hidden snag or the limbs of a big tree that overhung the river. Both the occupants of the boat were thrown out by the shock and the boat itself capsized. The two young people struggled in the water for a short time and then went down. Mr. Buchanan was an expert swimmer but, according to those who witnessed the accident from a distance, he was hindered in his efforts to save himself and the young woman by the struggles of the latter.
Two Missouri Pacific firemen stationed with their engines near the scene of the accident saw the young people drown. They left their engines and immediately began to dive or the bodies. Their efforts were fruitless.
The police department was then notified and Lieutenant M. J. Kennedy of the Sheffield station led a rescue party consisting of Marion Bollinger, owner of the boat, and a fisherman. Both bodies were drawn from the water by hooks nearly an hour and a half later.
Mr. Bollinger found the body of the young man first and the fisherman found the body of the young woman. Lieutenant Kennedy had telephoned the father of the young man and he was present when the bodies were removed. Dr. A. C. Mulvaney and Dr. Connelly Anderson, who had been called by Lieutenant Kennedy, tried to resuscitate the two but failed. It was 6 o'clock before the bodies were sent to Independence in an ambulance.
Miss Ewin was the only daughter of Mrs. Bertie Ewin. Seven members of the family have died in the last five years. Alfred is the second son of J. F. Buchanan.Labels: Belt line, Blue river, boats, death, doctors, drowning, Independence, police, railroad, sheffield June 14, 1908 CAUGHT A "PEEPING TOM."
Broke Away From Police, but Was Caught After Exciting Chase.
The family of E. C. Miller, livintg at 221 East Fourteenth street, was annoyed for several days by a "peeping Tom," and Mr. Miller complained to the police. A. B. Cummins and John Rooth, plain clothes men, were detailed on the case. Last nigth they caught a man peering into a rear window of the house and arrested him. They started down Fourteenth street with the prisoner between them, but at the alley between McGee and Grand avenue the man broke away from the officers, knocking down a passing pedestrian and throwing Officer Rooth, who tried to hold him by the coat, to the ground. Officer Cummings immediately drew his revolver and shot at the man, but missed. He then took up the chase, but was losing ground when, after they had run a block, the man stumbled on a heap of old iron and fell. Even then he showed fight, and Cummins was compelled to hit h im with the butt end of his gun before he submitted.
When taken to the Walnut street police station the prisoner gave the name of Thomas Randolph, and said he was a paper carrier. His wounds were dressed by Dr. Carl V. Bates and he was locked up . A charge of disturbing the peace was placed against him.Labels: doctors, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, McGee street, police, Walnut street police station June 13, 1908 CARRIED HIM HALF A MILE.
Wounded Lad Taken to Place of Safety by Herculean Comrade.
Sheriff J. S. Steed of Johnson county, Kas., brought to this city last night for treatment O. C. Oberman, 18 years old, who had been shot at Corliss, Kas., yesterday morning. With him is Mike Stanislauski, 23 years old.
The youths left Topeka yesterday, and when they reached Corliss, Kas., it was raining. They were on foot and, as the depot there was unoccupied, they raised a window and entered.
"We had been in there but a few minutes," said Oberman, "when a young man whom I later learned was the son of a local merchant, came to the depot and ordered us out. He drew a revolver and struck me over the forehead. With the blood streaming down my face we made haste to get out. We had not gone ten feet, when he began to shoot at us, and the bullet went through my right knee."
Oberman said that Stanislauski carried him over a half mile through water up to his knees to where the ground was dry. Stanislauski was afraid to leave Oberman in the town. While Stanislauski was seeking aid a work train came along and the crew picked up the wounded boy and took him to Wilder, Kas., a station beyond where he had left Oberman.
While sitting on the station platform there debating what he would do Stanislauski said a constable came in a buggy two hours later and drove him to De Soto.
Sheriff Steed says he received word from the Santa Fe Company at Topeka to take the two men into custody. When he heard the story, however, he arrested the man who did the shooting and lodged him in jail in Olathe, Kas., the county seat. The sheriff said the man gave the name of Paul.
Oberman was taken to emergency hospital last night, where he was treated by Dr. J. Park Neal. Dr. Neal said that the wound was a serious one, as it involved the knee joint. This morning he will be removed to St. Joseph's hospital. He has an uncle in Detroit, Mich., who will be notified.Labels: doctors, emergency hospital, Olathe, railroad, Topeka, violence, visitors June 10, 1908 SMALLPOX PATIENTS REMOVED.
St. George Hospital Now Stans in Five Feet of Water.
High water invaded the grounds shrouding St. George's hospital, the city's pest house, located on the banks of the Missouri river near the bridge of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, yesterday afternoon. When the outbuildings began to float Dr. George P. Pipkin,in charge of the hospital, became concerned for the thirteen patients in his charge, and telephoned to the city for ambulances. The sufferers were loaded into these and transferred to the ward for the insane at the general hospital, Insane patients were distributed in other parts of the building.
At a late our last night St. George's hospital, which is a frame structure, was still intact in about five feet of water.Labels: doctors, flood, general hospital, mental health, railroad, smallpox June 9, 1908 RAT BITES CHUNK FROM NURSE'S NOSE.
WHILE SHE WAS ASLEEP IN THE GENERAL HOSPITAL.
Discovery Made by Mayor Crittenden While Making a Tour of In- spection of Institution Yesterday Afternoon.
"Think of having to sleep in a place where rats gnaw off the end of your very nose," said Mayor Thomas T. Crittendon, Jr., after having gone through the general hospital yesterday afternoon. "I wouldn't have believed that anybody had to sleep under those conditions if I hadn't seen a nurse at the hospital who was in bed and undergoing treatment for a severe rat bite in her nose. While she was sleeping soundly Saturday night a rat disfigured her face by taking a large chunk of flesh from her nose.
"Such a place as the city hospital, the old one, I mean, is a disgrace to Kansas City. The filth and mean wards should not be tolerated. Think of taking a visitor out to our general hospital. Why, I would be too ashamed to do it. There is no excuse for such conditions as exist at the hospital."
Mayor Crittenden had accepted an invitation from Dr. St. Elmo Sanders, city physician, to make the tour of the hospital and before the party had gone far on their way they met Mr. Charles Shannon and he made the third on the trip of inspection.
The mayor was particularly displeased with the quarters for the nurses at the present hospital. The third floor is set apart for them and it is infested by rats and other vermin to such an extent that a few months ago the board of public works found it necessary to make an appropriation to reimburse the nurses for the loss of shoes, hosiery and underwear which the rats had eaten.
The way in which white and black, male and female patients, are all placed in the same room met with the mayor's disapproval. He had said that conditions in the hospital might be bettered to a great extent, though the building itself was responsible for a certain amount of the disgraceful condition.
If the mayor was bitter in his condemnation of the old hospital he was more than enthusiastic over the new hospital which is almost completed. He called it a building of which the citizens of Kansas City might well be proud, and says he will push as rapidly as possible all details so that the city hospital department shall soon be ho used in a building which can cleanly and adequately take care of patients.Labels: doctors, general hospital, Mayor Crittenden, race June 7, 1908 JOSEPH H. RAYBURN IS DEAD.
Assistant Fire Chief Was Injured While Trying to Spare Another.
Joseph H. Rayburn, assistant fire chief, died last night at 6:30 o'clock from injuries sustained in an accident while going to a fire May 19. Mr. Rayburn was at home for lunch, when an alarm of fire from the home of Dr. B. F. Watson, 2401 Wabash avenue, was turned in. Mr. Rayburn used his buggy in going for his meals, so the alarm was telephoned to his house, and he started to the scene of the fire. Rayburn, in driving on Wabash, collided with the cart of a by delivering papers. In attempting to avert the collision, he swerved sharply, turning his buggy over and throwing him against an iron lamp post.
He was unconscious when picked up and taken to St. Joseph's hospital. The injuries were thought not to be dangerous, but peritonitis developed later.
Mr. Rayburn lived at 3031 Prospect avenue with his wife and two sons. He was 47 years of age.
Mr. Rayburn was one of the best liked men on the fire department. He was appointed to the department and assigned to No. 8 engine company, December 21, 1886. He was promoted to a captain November 4, 1895, and placed in charge of No. 18 engine company. January 7, 1907, he was appointed sixth assistant chief, and placed in command of engine company No. 14, located at Twenty-sixth and Prospect avenue.
The funeral will be held Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock at the residence, 3031 Prospect avenue. Services will be held at the New Annunciation church, corner of Linwood and Benton boulevards, at 10 o'clock. Interment will be in Mount St. Mary's cemetery.Labels: accident, cemetery, death, doctors, Fire, Funeral, hospitals, Prospect avenue, Wabash avenue May 23, 1908 MATHIAS IS GUARDIAN OF MANY SMALL DOES.
PROBATION OFFICER HAS AN- OTHER ADDED TO HIS FAMILY.
Girl Who Played Piano for a Ghost Show Is Also in the Juvenile Court Because She's So Nervous.
It would take Dr. E. L Mathias several hours to figure how many miniature John Does and Mary Roes he is the guardian of. And he won't figure the total, but merely tells reports to "cut it out."
Every time a woman brings a foundling into the children's court Judge H. L. McCune, after making some disposition of the child, either leaving it with the foster mother or sending it to the county nursery, appoints Dr Mathias guardian. He got another one yesterday.
An attendant at the McKenzie nursery at 1607 East Ninth street brought the baby into court. It slept serenely, while Judge McCune looked it over and remarked judicially:
"Very pretty baby. Where did you get it?"
"She was left at the nursery along with this letter," replied the attendant, handing the judge a note.
"Andrew, eh? A miss, did you say it was? All right" -- turning to the clerk -- "change the young lady's name from Doe to Andrews. Make her a ward of the court. Dr. Mathias is appointed the guardian. The nursery may keep the -- Miss Andrews as long as the attendants are kind to her."
Then Dr. Mathias did a gallant thing. He gave the baby Christian names in honor of the women of the court: "Helen Agnes Andrews" -- Helen for Mrs. Helen Smith, and Agnes for Mrs. Agnes O'Dell.
"I wonder if that means that Mrs. O'Dell and I will have to buy the Doe baby its clothes," Mrs. Smith whispered.
Mrs. O'Dell followed the nurse and child to the door and gave the baby a farewell pat.
"What color are its eyes?" she asked. "I ought to know, now that she's named after me."
"They're blue yet," replied the nurse.
SHE PLAYED PIANO IN THE GHOST SHOW.
It looked like a story when a girl's mother said she ran away from home rather than take music lessons, and once had climbed on the roof of the house to hide from the music teacher. The reporters had the name and address written down, when "Mother" O'Dell, probation officer, sent this note:
"Ina is a good girl. You must not print her name or address."
There is a touch of sadness in the girl's story, too. Her father left home recently, and as there were five littler ones for her mother to support, Ina remembered her music lessons and went to work as a piano player at the ghost show at Fairmount park. She didn't come home one night, and her mother had her brought into court. She is 16 years old.
"She's a good girl, only she gets nervous," said the mother.
"I'd get nervous myself if I played a piano in a ghost show. Stay away from the park, my girl, and we'll get you a better place to work."Labels: children, courtroom, custody, doctors, fairmount park, Judge McCune, mental health, Ninth street May 23, 1908 FELL PARALYZED ON THE STREET.
Miss Nellie Burns Had No Warning of Coming Affliction.
When a young woman fell on Tracy avenue between Eight and Ninth streets about 2:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon, it was at first believed that she had fainted. The ambulance from police headquarters was called, and Dr. W. L. Gist examined her. She had been suddenly paralyzed on her left side. She gave the name of Nellie Burns, 21 years old, and said she lived at 21 South Mill street, Kansas City, Kas. She has been employed at the Swan laundry, 556 Walnut street. She said she felt weak and fell. That was her first intimation of trouble. Miss Burns refused to go to the emergency hospital, and was taken home by a man who had stopped in an automobile.
"It is a most unusual case," said Dr. Gist. "It is not unusual that persons should become suddenly paralyzed, but it is extremely unuual that a young woman 21 years old should be so afflicted.Labels: doctors, health, Kansas City Kas, Walnut Street May 22, 1908 SARAH MORASCH IS GUILTY OF MURDER.
CONVICTED OF POISONING A 4-YEAR-OLD GIRL.
Sent Poisoned Candy by Mail to Ella Miller, Who Did Not Eat It Be- cause It Was Bitter -- Her Sister Was Killed.
Mrs. Sarah Morasch must spend the remainder of her life in the Kansas penitentiary for the murder of her 4-year-old niece, Ruth Miller. The jury which heard the evidence in Mrs. Morasch's second trial reached a verdict of guilty at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The case had been on trial since May 4. There was no verdict in the first trial.
When the verdict was read Mrs. Morasch held her usual composure, and merely laughed.
The case went to the jury at 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, and from the first ballot to the one which settled the fate of Mrs. Morasch the jurors stood eleven to one for conviction. At noon yesterday George E. Horn, foreman of the jury, asked for the testimony of Charles Miller, father of the dead girl. A few minutes later a knock was heard on the door of the jury room. "We have agreed," said Foreman Horn, and the twelve jurors filed in the court room and took their seats.
On the afternoon of February 13, the Miller children were in their home, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale. A knock was heard on the door and the postman, Henry T. Keener, handed Ella Van Meter, better known as Ella Miller, a package weighing about a pound. It was wrapped in white paper and bore the inscription: "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, Armourdale. A knock was heard on the door and the postman, Henry T. Keener, handed Ella Van Meter, better known as Ella Miller, a package weighing about a pound. It was wrapped in white paper and bore the inscription: "Ella Miller, 634 Cheyenne avenue, corner of Cheyenne & Packard avenues. From the S. & S. girls."
The box was opened, and found to contain a pound of chocolate candy, which she says tasted bitter, and gave some to the other children who gathered around her.
A few minutes later Ruth, who had eaten more of the candy than the rest, was seized with cramps while playing in the back yard, and was taken into the house. She died before the nearest physician, Dr. Zacharia Nason, who lived a block distant, could be summoned. He pronounced the death as due to strychnine poisoning.
The fact that Mrs. Sarah Morasch bore a grudge against Ella Miller, who had once laughed at he, and that immediately after the little girl's death, she had gone to Harrisonville, Mo., caused suspicion to be directed to her. She was arrested at the Missouri town.
The testimony of handwriting experts was a strong factor in the conviction.Labels: Armourdale, children, courtroom, Death of Ruth Miller, doctors, murder, poison May 22, 1908 TOOK MORE THAN A TOOTHFUL.
Schoolboy Disregarded Mother's Di- rections in Use of Carbolic Acid.
Lloyd Thomas, 11 years old, 2035 East Thirty-fifth street, was told by his mother to put some carbolic acid in the cavity of an aching tooth. That was about 8:30 a. m Tuesday. Lloyd had never used that drug before and knew nothing of its potency.
Lloyd, instead of trying to put a drop into the cavity, turned up the bottle and filled his mouth with the acid. It burned so that he swallowed it. Presently he became unconscious and the family became alarmed. Dr. W. A. Shelton, who lives lose by at 3435 Brooklyn avenue, was summoned and gave the boy a powerful antidote, not before his throat and esophagus had been badly burned by the acid, however. Yesterday the boy was better, but is not yet out of danger. He is the son of Robert Thomas, a real estate man. Lloyd is a school boy.Labels: Brooklyn avenue, children, doctors, poison, real estate, Thirty-fifth street May 21, 1908 NO CASE AGAINST DR. JOHNSON.
Specialist Wins Against State Medical Board.
Trial of the first of many cases brought in the circuit court by the state medical board against Kansas City physicians, who advertise as specialists, resulted in Judge H. L. McCune's court Tuesday in a victory of Dr. O. A. Johnson. Although Dr. Johnson has been established in the city for years as a specialist, the state board brought action to have him enjoined from practicing. Their contention was that he was not a registered physician. They introduced many witnesses.
Dr. Johnson's defense was composed of two score or more, men and women from Kansas City, and from Kansas and Missouri towns, who testified that he had cured them Judge McCune decided that the state board had failed to make a case against him.
There are similar suits pending in other divisions of the court against other specialists.Labels: circuit court, courtroom, doctors, Judge McCune May 14, 1908 A JOKE AND A HERRING BONE.
Policeman McCarthy Laughed at Former and Choked on Latter.
Michael McCarthy, one of the biggest policemen on the force, made a resolution last night. It ran thus: "Never, no, never so long as I may be permitted to live, will I eat herring, dried, fried, boiled, baked or stewed."
The policeman was invited out to dinner last evening. His friends had herring. McCarthy said he didn't remember how it was cooked. It was "just herring." At the table the host sprung a joke and McCarthy laughed. In doing so he swallowed a long bone from the herring. It stuck tightly in his throat and McCarthy had to rush himself to the emergency hospital. Dr. J. P. Neal got the bone and McCarthy said he would have it mounted to wear as a scarf pin.Labels: doctors, emergency hospital, food, police 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 10, 1908 SAYS HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE.
James Rowland Revises His Story Now That He Is Well.
James Rowland, 14 years old, 1516 Harrison street, was discharged from the general hospital yesterday afternoon as out of danger. He was taken to his home by his father.
Young Rowland is the boy who, late last month, was knocked from the north approach of the Hannibal bridge and fell thirty feet. A step on the baggage car of the Rock Island train which struck him fractured his skull on the left side and the fall broke and dislocated his right arm. Drs. J. P. Neal and H. R. Conway trephined the lad's skull at the emergency hospital an hour after the accident, and to that quick work the boy owes his life. They removed several pieces of bone which were pressing on the brain.
On the night the boy was injured, he was walking across the bridge from Harlem when James Knowlden, a farmer, called to him and said, "Look out! There's a train coming across the bridge."
Not seeing the train himself, and, being of a joking turn of mind,, Rowland called back: "Oh, I don't care. I want to die anyway." On that account it was believed that the boy had tried to commit suicide. He says now that he made the remark just in fun and did not see the train until it was upon him.
Rowland said that on that day he played "hookey" from school and was induced by a boy called "Rusty" to go to Harlem. After reaching there, Rowland changed his mind and concluded to go home. He had only 5 cents left and intended to go home by way of the toll bridge. He walked onto the trestle approach instead of the wagon road below.Labels: children, doctors, general hospital, Hannibal bridge, Harlem, Harrison street, railroad, Suicide May 9, 1908 RUNAWAY GIRLS ARE CAUGHT.
Returned to Smallpox Hospital After a Jaunt About Town.
The two girls, Edna Sickler, 12, and Grace Kaufman, 13 years old, were returned to quarantine at St. George hospital near the Milwaukee bridge late last night. Edna Sickler was the first to arrive at 9 p. m., in company with her father, Edward Sickler. At 11:15 o'clock Grace Kaufman was taken back by the guard, Morris S. Sharp. Both girls escaped from quarantine where smallpox patients are confined and were gone thirty-four and thirty-six hours, respectively.
While the police were supposed to be looking for them a citizen who had seen their descriptions in Friday's Journal called up the smallpox hospital and told Dr. George P. Pipkin, in charge there, that he believed both girls were with the Kaufman girl's father at Twenty-ninth and Spruce streets.
The girls reported that they walked from the smallpox hospital to the end of the Fifth street line -- both had previously begged a nickel from their mothers -- and transferred until they had reached the vicinity of Twenty-ninth and Prospect. There, as if by prearrangement, they met Frank Kaufman, Grace's father. He took the girls with him to cut grass on Prospect avenue between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth and took them home with him in the evening.
Dr. Pipkin said that Kaufman would be prosecuted for harboring a person with a contagious disease without reporting the fact. Kaufman told Sharp that the girls said they had been discharged.Labels: children, doctors, hospitals, Prospect avenue, smallpox, streetcar, The Journal, Twenty-eighth street, Twenty-ninth street May 9, 1908 TWO WOMEN DOCTORS.
Homeopaths Hold Graduation Exer- cises at Shubert.
Friends of Hannemann Medical college and of the graduating class filled the Shubert theater yesterday afternoon and witnessed the confering of M. Ds. upon thirteen young men and two women.
Dr. Frank Elliott, dean of the college, presided. Rev. Samuel Garvin delivered the address. The invocation was spoken by Rev. D. S. Stephens. Hiner's Third Regiment band played several selections. The fifteen who received diplomas from the hand of Dr. Charles, Ott, president of the college, are:
W. P. Abell, O. P. Bourbon, C. Brashear, L. R. Chapman, H. B. Clark, Mrs. M. H. Farnsworth, O. R. Gregg, C. B. Magee, E. A. Montague, J. R. Newton, P. A. Petitt, John L. Reid, S. H. Snow, E. H. Zellinger and Leo J. O'Shaughnessy.Labels: doctors, ministers, theater, women 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 6, 1907 WANTED TO FEED HER RATS.
Woman Counterfeiter Begged Police to Take Her to Them.
The cases of George Elliott and Tillie Bullene, the confessed counterfeiters, who were arrested Saturday night in their room at 511 Locust street, were taken up yesterday by the United States grand jury. Sergeant Peter McCosgrove and Patrolman Joseph Enright, the arresting officers, gave their testimony and produced one of the most complete counterfeiter's outfits ever captured here.
Miss Bullene said that poverty drove her and Elliott to counterfeiting. Elliott made the money and she passed it. The woman cliamed that a sore hand needed constant attention and medicine had to be bought for it.
As she sat in the matron's room at police headquarters last night she had but two concerns -- her hand, which was giving her much pain, and the fact that her thirty-nine pet white rats, left behind at 511 Locust street, were suffering for food.
"I will promise not to make the least effort towards getting away," she told Captain Whitsett, "if you will only send some one along with me so I can feed my white rats. No one else wil care for them and it's downright cruel to let even a rat starve -- especially a white rat."
Miss Bullene cried bitterly as she said her hand pained her so. Dr. J. P. Neal fromm the emergency hospital, who examined the hand, said that iss Bullene was suffering from cancer. He also said that her hand may have to be amputated to save her life.Labels: animals, crime, doctors, Locust street, police headquarters, police matron, women May 6, 1908 BITTEN BY BIG TARANTULA.
Independence Boy Was Cutting Ba- nana When It Jumped on Him.
George Foster, Jr., 17 years old, was bitten by a large tarantula yesterday afternoon while he was attempting to cut a banana from a bunch which was hanging in his father's confectionery store at Independence. Young Foster had just pulled one banana from the bunch when the tarantula jumped from its nest near the stem and bit him between the thumb and first finger on the right hand.
While the wound was not large the pain was intense, and soon the poison from the bite began to take effect, and the arm began to swell and turn blue. Dr. N. P. Woods was called, and young Foster was resting easily last night with every prospect of recovery. The tarantula is said to have measured six inches from tip to tip. In the nest were found several hundred eggs. The tarantula was killed.Labels: doctors, food, Independence, retailers May 4, 1908 RISKS LIFE TO RECOVER CAP.
Small Boy Pulls Red Wagon in Front of Street Car.
A toy wagon, a 10-year-old boy and a blown-away cap looming up before a Grand avenue street car just before dark last night, made things look suddenly black for the motorman.
"You didn't stop for me," the boy said, indignantly, after he had been shunted off the track, his back sprained and his left thigh lacerated.
"I thought you'd stop when you saw me, for I had to get my cap," he went on. The boy was David Marcus, son of Aaron Marcus of 42 McClure Flats. His play had taken him to Twentieth street and Grand avenue. On a street car he was taken to a physicians office Four hours later he was still suffering, and Dr. Carl V. Bates from No. 4 police station was called. He says the boys injuries are only superficial.Labels: children, doctors, Grand avenue, No 4 police station, streetcar, Twentieth street May 3, 1908 ENGINEER HAD BEEN DRUGGED.
Matt Gaffney Fell Into Bad Company on Bluff Street.
Matt Gaffney, a Missouri Pacific engineer, whose home is at 739 Parallel avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was taken to police headquarters last night in an unconscious condition by Richard Miller, a hack driver for the Quinby Livery Company. Dr. George Dagg, who examined Gaffney, said that the man had evidently been "doped." Miller, the hack driver, said that he got a call at Twelfth and Main streets at 10:40 o'clock to go to a rooming house at 507 Bluff street. When he got there a woman gave him $4 and told him to take a man whom she brought out of the house to Seventh street and Parallel avenue, Kansas City, Kas.
Miller told the police that when he got to the address the man was unconscious and was unable to give him further directions. He then drove back to the police station. It was first thought that Gaffney was drunk, but the physician's diagnosis led the police to believe that he had been drugged. The woman who put Gaffney into the hack will be arrested if she can be found.
William Bedell, a traveling engineer friend of Gaffney's, called at police headquarters at an early hour this morning. He said that Gaffney has two daughters, Teresa and Julia. Teresa lives with Bedell, and Julia is a student at a convent in Paola, Kas.
Letters in Gaffney's pockets indicate that he had cashed recently a draft for $500. A later diagnosis by the emergency hospital physicians developed morphine poisoning.
The house at 507 Bluff street was closed early this morning when the police went to arrest the woman who placed Gaffney in the hack.Labels: Bluff street, doctors, Kansas City Kas, Main street, narcotics, police headquarters, Twelfth street April 30, 1908 DR. M'COY DIES OF TETANUS.
Independence Physician Had Been Ill Several Months.
Dr. Charles D. McCoy, a well known physician of Independence, died yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock after a short illness from tetanus. Dr. McCoy had been in ill health several months but his condition was not considered serious until last Tuesday when he began to fail rapidly. He is survived by a widow and several children, as well as three brothers, L. F. McCoy, clerk of the court of appeals of Kansas City, and John and William McCoy of Independence.
The funeral will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the first Presbyterian church, Independence.Labels: churches, death, doctors, Independence April 28, 1908 WANT GOLF LINKS MOVED.
Players Are Interfered With by Sightseers at Swope.
A request was made to the board of park commissioners yesterday, and taken under consideration, that the location of Swope park golf links be moved from the concourse to the hill in the vicinity of the athletic field. It was represented that the present site is unfavorable to the golfers, and that it is impossible for them to pursue the game with any pleasure when the course is crowded with sightseers and visitors. Dr. Byron C. Darling urged the change, saying that with the links on the hill it would be possible to build a shelter house and fit it out with shower baths and other appliances of comfort.Labels: doctors, sports, Swope park April 24, 1908 VISITED BY HIS COUNTRYMEN.
Ekim Milcheff of Razgad, Villaye Dikilitash, Finds Friends.
Ekim Milcheff, Razgad, Villaye Dikilitash, Bulgaria. That is the full name and home address of the unfortunate Bulgarian who has been in the general hospital since April 12, unable to tell anything of himself. His English vocabulary consisted of "Arkansas, sawmill" and "me much sick." His left hand had been badly injured, evidently in a sawmill, and the index and second fingers had to be amputated.
F. H. Ream, spiritual director of the Helping Hand, interested himself in the man and endeavored to talk to him. Mr. Ream speaks several languages, but was unable to make himself understood with any of them. Yesterday morning the unfortunate man's story was published, and Mr. Ream requested that some Bulgarian go and see him. Several called upon the injured man at the general hospital yesterday, and the delight of the lonely man at being able to talk with a countryman was unbounded.
They learned that Milcheff has a wife Nidela Milcheff, at home in the little Bulgarian village. His next best friend in this country -- he has no relatives here -- is Netko Ruseff of Leslie, Ark. It was learned that Milcheff had been working at a sawmill forty-six miles from Leslie, Ark., called Camp No. 7. He did not know the name of the firm. The hospital authorities will correspond with Ruseff and his Bulgarian friends said they would notify his wife. His unfortunate condition may also be taken up with the nearest Bulgarian consul.
Milcheff, after his injury, was subjected to some rude surgery. He must have been shipped here, for he was found at Union depot. The circular saw had torn its way through his left hand, between the second and third fingers, almost into the wrist. The surgeon had tied the blood vessels with silk. He must have run out of that, as part of the man's hand had been sewed together with ordinary twine string. The hand had become badly infected and Dr. J. P. Neal, who treated him here, said that his suffering could not have been told in mere words.Labels: accident, doctors, general hospital, Helping Hand, immigrants, Union depot April 21, 1908 INTERESTED THE WOMEN.
An Inspection Trip to the Handsome Rooms of the Eastman Sanitarium.
A large number of men and women inspected in detail all the various rooms and departments of the new Eastman sanitarium for women, which was opened yesterday at 1316 Harrison street.
On the first floor is the reception room, furnished in mission style, and adjoining it, the consultation rooms of Dr. B. L. Eastman, with the modern equipment of a specialist in this line Beyond this is the dining room, and in the rear the kitchen and pantry, fitted with special appliances for sanitary hospital cookery.
On the second floor are the patients' rooms, and here the visitors, especially the women, were surprised and delighted. The furnishings of these rooms are an innovation in hospital regime. Prettily decorated walls, elegant brass beds, polished oak floors and meal service of silver and Haviland china at the bedside, give the luxury of the finest home, rather than the plainness usual in hospitals.
The operating room is all in white, and with its polished nickel, plate glass and porcelain equipment, shows the most scientific developments in surgical appliances and instruments.
The third floor, used for nurses' rooms, is comfortable, airy, and pleasant.
On the whole, the impression given by the new institution was very favorable. While it is not large, the new Eastman Sanitarium for Women is complete, modern to the minute, and affords comforts and luxuries for its women patients not to be had elsewhere in the West.
Limiting its patients to women, and excluding all contagious, infections and maternity cases, this sanitarium is in a class by itself, and is well worthy a visit from every woman in Kansas City.Labels: doctors, Harrison street, hospitals, women April 17, 1908 BABY WARD OF THE COURT WAS DEAD.
WHEN DOCTOR SENT BY THE JUDGE ARRIVED.
Other Infants in the Hughes Ma- ternity Home in a Weakly Condition -- Laws to Regu- late Such Places.
Measures which might have been employed by the board of health, the county attorney or the probate judge to force a more satisfactory regulation of the U. S. G. Hughes maternity home at 336 Washington avenue, Kansas City, Kas., may be delayed because of the fact that Hughes has sold his institution and is now in doubt as to whether or not he will again attempt to operate another in the city.
Yesterday Juvenile Court Judge Van B. Prather sent a physician to investigate the conditions prevailing at the Hughes institute and to look after the needs of a baby in custody of his court. Dr. Faust, the physician appointed, says he found the conditions at the institution not up to his standard, and, what was of more importance to the juvenile court, the baby had been dead for twenty-four hours. Other children in the maternity home were weakly.
Yesterday afternoon Dr. A. J. Fulton of the board of health asked Dr. J. L. Eager, city physician, to examine the Hughes maternity home and report on the conditions existing there at once to his office. Dr. Eager investigated the home, but made no report last night.
The programme proposed by the county attorney involves taking the matter of regulating and controlling such homes and hospitals before the city council at an early date. This may be done at the next regular meeting of the council next Tuesday night.
Note: The Hughes Maternity Home also figures into the murder trial of Sarah Morash.Labels: children, death, doctors, Judge Prather, Kansas City Kas April 12, 1908 UNTHANK MAY GO TO BAHIA.
Negro Physician Said to Be Started for a $4,500 Job.
Unless there is a puncture, or something happens in the next few weeks to the car of progress of T. C. Unthank, a Kansas City negro doctor, he will play in luck that thousands of white politicians would be glad to have come their way. Unthank yesterday finished an examination for the consular service. It was supposed that the proceeding was perfunctory, and that he would stand the same show and no more, than the other ninety-nine out of every 100 who try to get into the consular service.
Unthank, so it appears,is slated to go to Bahia, in the Republic of Brazil, at a salary of $4,500 a year. The job pays $500 a year more than that of registrar of the treasury, at Washington, commonly supposed to be the cream de la cream of fat jobs for the negro leaders. Brazil is one of the very few countries to which negroes may be sent.
Unthink is supposed to have passed a very good examination. He is required to be able to speak two languages. To further his claims the negro doctor called for papers in three languages, English, French and Spanish. In addition to having to be proficient in at least one foreign tongue, consular candidates must know something of the three R's.Labels: doctors, employment, race April 11, 1908 BEDS FOR LONG SICK MEN.
Dr. Sanders Orders Seven Footers for the General Hospital.
Four beds seven feet long are to be among the furnishings of the new general hospital.
"Very often we have patients at the hospital who are too long for the ordinary sized beds," explained City Physician Sanders to the board of public works yesterday while bids for furnishing the hospital were being considered. "A bed too small for a sick man is a handicap to his comfort and early recovery."Labels: doctors, general hospital, public works April 4, 1908
SHE TRIES SUICIDE AFTER THREE WEEKS.
MARRIED LIFE IS BITTER TO 16-YEAR-OLD BRIDE.
Mrs. Rowena Townsend Drinks Bi- Chloride of Mercury at Her Father's Bedside -- She May Die.
Three weeks of married life, one week of separation and an attempt to commit suicide last night, ended a chapter in the life of Mrs. Rowena Townsend, 1101 Michigan avenue. Mrs. Townsend is 16 years of age and was married to Edward Townsend, who is but four years her senior, at the home of her mother on the night of March 4. Townsend is a shipping clerk in the Kansas City Elevator Company.
After the young couple were married they made their home with the bride's parents and, to outward appearances, were perfectly contented. The mother, Mrs. James Smith, said that she had never seen a happier couple and that she began to regret having made objections to the marriage. After three weeks of this apparent bliss, Townsend failed to return to his home after working hours. Mrs. Smith then asked her daughter if there had been any trouble between them and Rowena replied that she did not care to discuss the matter; that it was an affair strictly between themselves and that she would never tell anyone what the trouble was.
After Townsend's disappearance Rowena did not seem to be in particular low spirits and went about the house laughing and singing; she never mentioned her husband's name. Yesterday afternoon she went down town after having told her mother that she was going shopping, and purchased two ounces of bi-chloride of mercury. She did not return home for supper, but her mother was not disturbed, believing that the girl had gone out to dine with one of her girl friends.
Shortly after 8 o'clock Rowena returned and walked into the room where her aged father was lying, dangerously ill; looking long at him, she turned her back and drank the contents of the phial which she had purchased. Immediately she began to choke and strangle. Mr. Smith called his wife, who was in another room. She hastened to answer her husband's summons and found her daughter lying on the floor by the bed.
Mrs. Smith thought that her daughter was in a fit, and dragged her out into the hall to the front door. There she removed the girl's wraps and hat and loosened her collar. The neighbors, hearing the sound of excited voices, hurried to the assistance of Mrs. Smith, with whom Rowena was struggling violently, declaring over and again that she must die.
Dr. B. W. Green, Twelfth street and Highland avenue, was called in and took charge of the girl. In her unconscious state she grew delirious and told how she had been deceived by her husband, whose affections for her had cooled so soon after the wedding. Dr. Green was unable to pronounce his patient entirely out of danger up to a late hour this morning.Labels: doctors, Highland avenue, marriage, Michigan avenue, Suicide, Twelfth street April 4, 1908 "PAPA, PLEASE PUT ME OUT."
Cried Little Ethel Phipps, Whose Clothing Was Aflame.
"Papa, please put me out," little Ethel Phipps, 4324 Forest avenue, yesterday morning at 9 o'clock called to her father, E. C. Phipps. Hearing the cry, but not understanding it, Mr. Phipps hastily went from the dining room to the kitchen of his home, there to see his 4-year-old child enveloped in flames. She had been to the basement to burn some papers, and had undertaken to light the gas in the furnace. The "flare back" had caught her clothing, and the child hurried upstairs for help. When she reached the kitchen flames were from the hem of her little dress to her neck. A coat was thrown around her and the little girl drenched with water from the kitchen faucets.
Although almost all the child's clothing was burned, the only bodily injuries incurred were burns on the back of her head and neck. Her father's hands were severely burned during the fight to extinguish the flames which threatened the life of the little girl. After Dr. W. C. West had examined the little patient, he said that there would be no permanent marks left on the child's body.
"It is almost incredible," said Dr. West, "that the child could have gone with burning clothes form the cellar to the kitchen, wait for help, and be alive."Labels: children, doctors, Fire, Forest avenue April 3, 1908 UNKNOWN WOMAN KILLED BY TRAIN.
RUN DOWN ON BELT LINE NEAR PARK AVENUE.
DIES IN GENERAL HOSPITAL.
REFUSES TO GIVE ANY INFORMA- TION ABOUT HERSELF.
Carried Sunday School Tract With Little Girl's Name on It, but the Owner Does Not Know Her.
A young woman who was crushed by the wheels of a Belt Line engine last night at 7:30 o'clock, died tow and a half hours later at the city hospital, without being identified. The scene of the accident was where the Belt tracks are fifteen feet below street level, half way between Brooklyn and Park avenues. It is near Nineteenth street.
The woman was walking eastward and must have entered the cut three blocks west, at the street level.
To avoid the Santa Fe local No. 59, westbound, she stepped upon the other main track, and a Milwaukee engine, eastbound, struck her. Pilot Al Williams was riding to work on the engine but neither he nor the engineer, James Spencer, saw her, nor did the fireman But the flagman on the freight train did.
She lay by the track, her left arm almost severed at the shoulder, and with a contusion, possibly a fracture, on each side of her head. A broad leather cushion from the car was brought and she was carried to Eighteenth street and Brooklyn avenue to the office of Dr. I. E. Ruhl, who saw that she was dying. The police ambulance from No. 4 police station, in charge of Patrolman Smith Cook and Dr. C. V. Bates, arrived and she was taken to the general hospital.
She seemed conscious, but could not be induced to talk. The only article she carried was a Sunday school quarterly bearing the name of Loretta Kurster, 1509 East Eighteenth street.
Drs. R. C. Henderson and T. B. Clayton, who operated on the woman at the hospital. said she seemed bright and could use her vocal organs, but evidently was suffering from a skull fracture so such an extent that she did not really understand what was said to her.
Asked if she knew how she had been hurt, she replied, wonderingly, "Hurt? Why, I didn't know anything was the matter." But questions as to her identity she did not attempt to answer, and there was nothing about her person to disclose this, besides the booklet.
In the meantime it had been discovered that Loretta Kursler is a 12-year-old girl who was uninjured and busy in her mother's bakery at the address given in the book. She thought it might be a Sunday school teacher she had met at Central Baptist church, Miss Blanche Wade, but Miss Wade was found safe at her home. She at once, however, went to the hospital to see if she could identify the woman. The quarterly was found to be one pushed by the Christian denomination.
The Kursler child having recently become a pupil at the Forest Avenue Christian church, Miss Wade called Rev. J. L. Thompson of the Forest Avenue church for aid in identifying the woman. Loretta Kursler said her Christian Sunday school teacher was called Grace, but she did not know her last name. The minister accounted for every Sunday school worker by the name of Grace and everyone who teaches girls of that size. Then the chance of discovering before morning who the woman was seemed very slight.
Apparently the woman was 32 to 35 years of age. She was slightly above medium height, was fairly well fleshed, was brunette with abundance of dark hair, had delicate hands, blue-set earrings worn tight to the ear, and wore a tan jacket and a fur neck piece. No hat was taken with her to the hospital. Around her waist was fastened a package containing $8.70.
Dr. Ruhl, who first saw her, thinks it possible that the woman may have been demented, or if an employed woman may have been making a short cut home from work. In the latter case he would believe her hearing defective.
The Kursler family is at a loss to know how a Sunday school book bearing the little girl's name would come to be found in the possession of anyone not her teacher.Labels: accident, Belt line, Brooklyn avenue, children, churches, death, doctors, Eighteenth street, Forest avenue, general hospital, ministers, No 4 police station, Park avenue, railroad, women |
