June 29, 1908 NOT SO EASY TO BECOME CITIZENS.
NATURALIZATION SYSTEM HAS MATERIALLY CHANGED.
Largest Class Since New Law Went Into Effect Will Be Examined by Judge John F. Philips This Morning.
Twelve foreigners will line up in the United States court this morning to be examined by Judge John F. Philips as to their fitness to be admitted to citizenship. It will be the biggest class held in the federal court since the enactment of the new law. Classes this size formerly were put through the circuit or county courts in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Now it is all different, and getting naturalized is about as tough a proposition as a man has to go through. Getting married is nothing at all; getting divorced is, of course, little more, and going dead is no trouble whatever.
Getting naturalized used to be done by going with a ward heeler a few weeks before election day to a judge, and signing a paper there. That facility made the business big. Hanging in the office of United States District Clerk A. Utter are three sheets of paper with forty names on them. These represent every application for citizenship that has been filed here since February 13, not 1 per cent of the old colony days, when ward heelers got so much per head for "citizens" to vote the next month.
The forty men who are bulletined had all been in the country five years before they got their second papers, and they have all had their second papers two years, or nearly two years. Twelve of them will be ripe today, and so they will be marched up before a federal judge and quizzed. There will be no ward heeler doing the talking, and assuring the judge that "he's all right, judge; I've got his slip here," the slip being the man's name written in English, himself, most likely, unable to utter it, and the prospective citizen absolutely ignorant of the government of the United States.
That type of foreigner is out of the running entirely now. He never will get to vote. In the federal court there is no night sitting, no colonizing, no running them through in blocks, and above all else no slips. Each man will have to toe the mark and tell something about the constitution, the rights of the franchise, the form of government, the course of a document, from the draft to the signed law, and most likely may have to compare the government of the United Stats with that of the land he is forsaking.
The new law does not limit immigration. The same lot of undesirables can still get into the country, but they may not vote till they know English, have established a reputation, and are up on the bill of rights and other fundamental principles of the government.Labels: immigrants, United States District Court June 29, 1908 WELL KNOWN ARCHITECT DIES.
Bertram August Von Unworth De- signed Many Kansas City Homes.
Bertram August Unworth, 69 years old, died at his home, 2903 Gillham road. Born in Germany Mr. Von Unworth graduated from the gynmasium at Glogau and afterwards studied architecture at the University of Berlin. He was an officer for many years on the staff of General Count Von Moltke and served in the campaign of 1859, the Polish campagn of 1864 and the war of 1866. After leaving the army he married Fraulein Moldzio, who is still living, and came to America in 1870. In 1877 he located in Kansas City, and has lived here ever since. He practiced his profession of architect and many of the beautiful homes in Kansas City are the product of his brain.
Besides the widow, six children survive, Hans, Hermann, Frida, Gertrude, Erdmuthe and Margarethe. The funeral will be held tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock at the home. Burial will be in Elmwood.Labels: architects, death, Gillham road, immigrants, veterans June 25, 1908
FORMER MAYOR HUNT DIES IN LEAVENWORTH.
HE WAS QUARTERMASTER OF NATIONAL SOLDIERS' HOME.
In 1879 He Served This City as Mayor and Began Many Improvements. His Experiences Here in the Early Days.
After two weeks' illness from uraemic poisoning, Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Hunt, a former mayor of Kansas City, died at the Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth yesterday morning. Colonel Hunt was 68 years old, and up until his last illness he had been a man of marked vitality.
About one year ago Colonel Hunt was appointed from private life to the post of Quartermaster at the Soldiers' Home, and he was serving in that capacity when he died. Colonel Hunt was a widower and is survived by two nieces. They are Mrs. John Stearns of Kansas City and Miss Mamie Hunt of St. Louis.
Funeral services will be held Friday morning in the chapel at the Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth. The burial in the national cemetery will be attended with regular military honors.
Special cars will be run to the Soldiers' Home tomorrow morning to carry friends to the funeral. The cars will start from Tenth and Main streets at 8 o'clock.
Robert H. Hunt was born in Shannon, Kerry County, Ireland, in 1839, and came to America at the age of 10 with his father. Kansas City was reached even in very early days, and the spirit of individuality which all his long life afterwards made him conspicuous, asserted itself in the father and son, for they left Kansas City for Western Kansas to get where they could not see slaves. The father soon went on about his business, leaving the boy to make a living for himself.
This he first did by carrying the water pail on a section for the construction of the railroad. Twenty years later, he was working 2,000 men himself, one of the big railroad contractors of the West. Between the time of his carrying the dipper and building part of the Rock Island, the Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific, young Hunt went to a college. He worked his passage through it, and got out in time to go into the war to serve with Rosecranz, Thomas and Grant; to join Ewing and to become chief of staff under General Samuel R. Curtis.
IN LOCAL BATTLES.
Most of his service with the colors was on the border between Missouri and Kansas. Hereabouts, with General Curtis, he directed the artillery movements of the fights of the Little Blue, Big Blue, Westport, Osage, Newtonia and Mine Creek. It was at this last battle that General "Pap" Price was crushed and General Marmaduke was captured.
Colonel Hunt enlisted in a Kansas regiment, but left it during the war and became a staff officer. Afterwards he got back into a Kansas regiment, the Fifteenth cavalry, of which he was Major. The regiment had two colonels, C. R. Jennison and afterwards Colonel Cloud, while George W. Hoyt, afterwards a brigadier, was the lieutenant colonel. Robert H. Hunt was the senior major of the command.
There is a book published on "The Battle of Westport" by Rev. Paul B. Jenkins, formerly of this city, in which no mention whatever, in the slightest word, is made of Colonel Hunt.
"But he was there," said Colonel Van Horn yesterday, "and directed the artillery. I was related by marriage to General Curtis, commanding the Union forces here. He appointed me to his staff and directed me to prepare fortifications for the city. In that way I located and had the rifles ready and the encroachments dug. I saw a handsome young officer riding in and about, coming frequently to general headquarters for orders or with supports, and, struck by his magnificent bearing, asked his name. I was told it was the chief of staff, Colonel Hunt. What began as an acquaintance has lasted until now. As there is no battle in which the artillery is not the objective point, and as Colonel Hunt was commanding the artillery at the Battle of Westport, as I know from my own observations then, I know that he was in the fight; yet Mr. Jenkins made no mention whatever of him in what he declared to be a record of the battle."
The obscuring of Colonel Hunt by the Jenkins book is not unique. Other leaders in the engagement were similarly treated by the local historian.
A PRIEST HIS TUTOR.
The end of the war saw Colonel Hunt located in Kansas City, to engage in contracting. When first young Hunt landed in this country the priest of the parish they settled in took him up and began training him for service on the alter.
The good priest in this way taught him Latin. To the last days of his life Colonel Hunt kept his Latin fresh and, by means of a dictionary he would read Latin books. He regarded it as an accomplishment and was proud of it. But he never boasted of it. Reading Latin, born a Catholic and Republican in politics though an Irishman. Colonel Hunt made the acquaintance of the Rev. William J. Dalton, native of St. Louis, child of Irish parents, a Latin scholar and a clergyman of the church of Rome. The two remained friends to the last.
Father Dalton is a Republican in politics. Father Dalton came to Kansas City just as Colonel Hunt was closing his term as mayor, "but I was here early enough," said Father Dalton yesterday, "to hear the whole town commending him for his tremendous strides. Energy had marked every week of his administration, and today we have substantial evidence of it. With but little to do anything at all with, Mayor Hunt did much. He was at the very forefront of everything, calculating on the future warranting all his energy."
HE STOPPED A HANGING.
"At the very forefront of everything," says Father Dalton, and so it would appear. There walks about town today a little old man with a scar on the back of his neck. He built the retaining wall which keeps Bluff street from sliding into the Missouri river. There was trouble one Saturday afternoon about the pay, and the men undertook to lynch the contractor. They actually got a rope around his neck and started with him to throw him over his own retaining wall.
The city hall then was where it is now, only in a one-story brick that might have been a country feed store. Mayor Hunt got word of the crisis, picked up a pamphlet he had in his scant library, jumped into a saddle that was not his own and soon was in the ob. He literally rode into it and from the back of his horse read the riot act. That constitutional performance made him a summary marshal and there was no lynching. If there had been there would have been a wholesale killing by the force of twelve marshals Kansas City then had, old "Tom" Speer their chief.
During Colonel Hunt's administration Kansas City was the head of the Fenian movement. "No. 1," a mysterious Irish patriot, and Captain "Tom" Phelan, well remembered here and today alive in a home somewhere, were to fight a duel with broadswords over the troubles of Ireland. Colonel John Moore and Colonel John Edwards, both newspapermen, were to act as seconds. The principals went into training in rooms in a store on West Twelfth street. The morning the duel was to have been fought Colonel Hunt personally smashed in the doors of the training rooms and arrested the belligerents. There was an encounter, but he mayor, being a peace officer and a fighter himself, won. There was no duel.
HIS RIOT ACT AGAIN.
The forum of Kansas City in those days was Turner hall, afterwards Kumpf's hall, standing as late as 1886 where Boley's clothing store now stands. A political row there sent Mayor Hunt to that place with his copy of the riot act. He would tolerate no mob law while he was mayor. He always asserted his authority to the utmost.
When the figures are all totaled up it will not be found that Colonel Hunt left much of an estate. He married a Miss Hoyne of Chicago. In the '70s Colonel Hunt was worth so much money that he was able to borrow $50,000 from the late Thomas Corrigan for a period of ten months. He was able to pay it back within two weeks. He might have been worth $200,000 or $500,000. Estimates made yesterday ran from one to the other of these figures. He built a mansion at Independence and Highland. The house is there now, a pastel in dull red of what it once was. The plot has been nibbled down to next to nothing.
BRILLIANCE OF HIS HOME.
Colonel Hunt's father had been a small farmer in Ireland. All of his days in this country had been spent in railroad camps or in the field with troops. When Colonel Hunt opened his mansion on Independence avenue he did so with the brilliance of an hereditary aristocrat. Handsome in person, he had handsome ways. There was a wine cellar where it ought to be, and the drawing room, and from one to the other of the Hunt mansion was complete. Kansas City has never seen brighter scenes than those witnessed while Colonel and Mrs. Hunt kept open house on Independence avenue.
Nobody knows where Colonel Hunt's fortune went. It went like the summer wind that sinks with the sun. There was no speculation, no wheat end to the story, no boom collapse, no expensive household bills. The fortune simply disappeared, though Colonel Hunt always, to his intimates, lately insisted that he held valuable securities which would in a few years put him on his feet. But he did not get on his feet.
Times did not prosper fast enough Colonel Hunt stood in need of a billet and Senator Warner gave it to him. He had him appointed quartermaster at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, near Leavenworth, a position he held for about a year. Within a year of three score and ten, Colonel Hunt walked like a youth. Almost six feet in height, no man in his forties and of similar physique walked straighter, faster nor further. His hair and long beard were merely turning gray. He could pass for a man of 55. He lived as he moved, energetically. He liked young people; old people with old stories troubled him. The young people would not take him up because they did not know about the things he knew most of, and the old ones -- his own years -- were too old to take anybody up. So Colonel Hunt was neither here nor there. That was why he had to ask an asylum at the hands of his old military, political, professional and personal friend, Senator Warner.
TOO SLOW FOR HIM.
"It killed him," said Father Dalton. "The life was too dull for him. He wanted to beat sixty times to the minute and he found himself in a clock which had a pendulum going twenty to the minute.
"Where he was accustomed to moving cannon, they set him buying buttons, and able to move troops all up and down the border with the celerity of Forest, they put him to watching veterans crawl across their parade ground. Mops and counting cases of blouses to the tune of a droning beat made Colonel Hunt settle back in a chair that most men look for at sixty, and conserve themselves till riper in years, and so he collapsed. I saw him on Monday, and then he showed he was going away.
"He entered the army at Leavenworth in his young life, left the Fort and the army in his middle age, and went back to Leavenworth and the army to die in his old age. May his soul rest in peace."
And so he is to be buried in Leavenworth, in the military grounds there. Only members of the home may be buried in the military cemetery, excepting by express permission, and that permission is granted sometimes in the instance of officers. Yesterday application was made to Senator Warner, one of the board of managers and it was promptly given. Internment is to be made on Friday, at ten o'clock. Those desiring to attend the funeral will have to leave Kansas City by the 8 o'clock trolley car. President C. F. Holmes has arranged to run a special car at 8:01 Friday for the accommodation of Senator Warner, Surveyor C. W. Clarke, General H. F. Devol, Brevet Brigadier General L. H. Waters and a number of other high officers of the civil war.Labels: Bluff street, Civil War, death, Highland avenue, immigrants, Independence avenue, Leavenworth, Main street, ministers, railroad, Senator Warner, streetcar, Tenth street, Twelfth street, veterans June 22, 1908 HER LOVER WAS NOT THERE.
Keen Disappointment of a Young Woman Who Came From Italy.
After Peter Angello, a young Italian, had accumulated sufficient money to defray the expense of his transportation to the home of his youth, where a sweetheart awaited him, he bought a tickeet to New York and started Saturday evening. He expected to take the steamer to Italy, Wednesday. In the meantime, friends and relatives of the young man sent money to the girl in Italy to bring her here, they thinking it would be an agreeable surprise to Angello. When the young woman arrived at the Union depot yesterday she learned that Peter had started East.
"Where is he? Where is he?" she demanded after scanning the faces of the delegation sent to meet her, and when informed of the true facts she broke down and wept bittterly in spite of efforts of her friends to pacify her.
After the young woman had sobbed out her grief for several minutes she was taken to the home of friends in the Italian section where she wil stay pending the return of her lover, who, it is thought, will be intercepted before his arrival at New York.Labels: immigrants, romance, Union depot June 22, 1908 MINISTERS CALL ON BROWN.
Says He Expects to Go to Prison for His Misdeeds.
Since his arrest last Friday night on a charge of issuing worthless checks the Rev. C. S. L. Brown has made his peace with his Diety and is now calmly awaiting the outcome of his trial. Last night Mr. Brown said he expected to receive a penitentiary sentence. He was arraigned Saturday afternoon before Justice Michael Ross and held under a bond of $750. He has made no attempt to secure his release, and said that he did not care to ask his friends for help. If it is possible Brown intends to keep his mother in ignorance of his trouble until he is a free man. He said last night that he did not want his child to see him until he was out of jail.
In the same cell with the minister is Antonio W. Martin, the young Italian adventurer, who has gained some notoriety by his recent escapades. The two men had figured out the amount owed by the minister on account of the worthless checks he had passed.
That the unfrocked pastor still has friends who are willing to stick by him was shown yesterday by the number of persons who called at the county jail to see him. Among the visitors were four Christian ministers. Mr. Brown said last night that since he had resigned from his charge at Lee's Summit six weeks ago he had spent his time in drinking and gambling, but that he had now mastered these passions and believed when he got out of jail he would go forth a stronger man. He wants a place where he can be busy and not have time to think about the allurements of gambling.Labels: gambling, immigrants, jail, Lee's Summit, ministers June 21, 1908 CAVIARE MAN LEFT FORTUNE.
N. N. PUSHKAREFF LIVED IN A HOUSEBOAT ON RIVER.
NO ONE SUSPECTED WEALTH.
FAMILY COMING TO AMERICA, IGNORANT OF HIS WEALTH.
Sudden Demise Reveals Fact That
He Had Saved $15,000 -- His Boat's Cabin Finished in Mahogany.
Although N. N. Pushkareff, a Russian, up until his death a few weeks ago is in the vicinity of his little houseboat near Harlem, was always considered among his associates a man of little means, it has developed that the man had a balance of $15,000 to his credit in a local bank and possessed considerable property in various sections of the city.
After his death his body was encased in a casket priced by the undertaker at $700 and placed in a vault pending the arrival of his family at present en route from their home to this country, none of the members of which is aware of the husband and father's death.
Pushkareff, when a comparatively young man, left his home in Russia to seek his fortune in this country, declaring at the time that he would not return nor send for his family until he had accumulated $25,000.
Arriving in America, accompanied by his eldest son, whom he had brought with him, the two launched in the caviare business in the East. Later they came to this section and several years ago located permanently in this city. Since then Pushkareff prospered and saved the money beyond the knowledge of his son.
Several weeks ago, although he had not realized his ambition in accumulating $25,000, he determined to send to the old country where his wife and children patiently waited him and ask them to come. The family immediately began preparations for the journey. Since then the husband and father died from heart failure, his body being found in his characteristic garb, rags, with a short distance of the little houseboat on the north side of the river.
Upon the coroner's investigation into the man's death considerable money was found on his clothing and in the little houseboat, the interior of which was furnished wholly in mahogany and ebony furniture, and at the bidding of friends the body was placed in one of the most expensive caskets in the city, and later stored in a vault to await the arrival of the wife with instructions as to its disposition. It is probable the body will be shipped to Russia.
Pushkareff, although few knew it, was a member of several of the more important fraternities in the city. He is said to have been an ardent Elk and spent much of his time at the Elks' Club, although there were none who knew him there as Pushkareff the Caviare man. At times he is said to have spent much money.
After his death the little houseboat, which was anchored to the river bottoms, narrowly escaped becoming swamped when the flood came, and had it not been for Dr. Elliott Smith of this city, it undoubtedly would have gone to the bottom. Dr. Smith rescued the craft and took it to the Blue river, where it is now moored.
The boat, although small, is said to be a marvel of beauty within and represents a lavish expenditure of money. Finished in mahogany and ebony, the interior is otherwise decorated in a costly yet peculiar manner. During the owner's life no one was known to have entered the boat save himself. The doors were always locked, and the man would not permit anybody approaching, much less examining it. Nothing within the little craft has been molested and neither will it be until after the arrival of the family of the deceased.
Pushkareff's son did not live on the houseboat with him, but boarded in the city, where he attended school.Labels: boats, death, Harlem, immigrants, lodges, probate June 17, 1908 CONVENTION HALL IS A CAMP.
Several Families Make It Their Abid- ing Place During Flood.
Cots, blankets and even the bare cement floor are the beds of refugees from the flood who are using Convention hall as a temporary home. Monday night 240 persons, thirty of them women, slept in the hall, and as many were there last night. But little space in the hall was taken up for storage of goods. Most of the persons there have few goods to store, and they either carry their belongings in a bundle on their backs or store them in the second story of their homes.
Most of the women there Monday night were from the East Bottoms. Yesterday they found that the water was not in their homes and returned. Fifty Greeks who were out of work on account of the high water left Convention hall yesterday afternoon for Chicago.Labels: Convention Hall, East bottoms, flood, immigrants June 12, 1908 POLICE WILL PATROL RIVER IN LAUNCHES.
Mounted Men Guard Flooded Whole- sale District -- Peril of the East Bottoms.
Chief of Police Daniel Ahern and Captain Walter Whitsett yesterday afternoon drove through the flooded East and West bottoms. Complaint had been made that sightseers and others had been breaking into unprotected houses and stealing.
Last night mounted men were stationed all over the West bottoms with orders to patrol the flooded district carefully. If the water goes any higher police will be placed in launches to patrol. Now an officer on horseback can reach the most important part of the wholesale district.
It was also reported to the police that in the trees near Harlem many dead cattle, horses and hogs have become lodged. The citizens in that vicinity fear the result if the animals are left there after the flood goes down. Today police in motor boats will be sent over the river to dislodge any dead stock and see that it gets into the current.
Near the Kelly mills in the East bottoms twenty-five or thirty men are at work night and day watching to see that the water does not break through the dike formed by the embankment of the Kansas City Southern railway.
"That is really the key to the East bottoms," Captain Whitsett said. "If the water once gets through there it means lots more trouble, especially for truck gardens, Currents would be quickly formed and all of that loose rich soil would go down the river as it did in 1903."
Wednesday night and last night fifteen or twenty families, by special permission, slept on the hillsides below North Terrace park. In the day the people go down and watch their property.
William Mensing, 10 East Fourth street, called at police headquarters last night and offered five or six furnished rooms for the benefit of the flood sufferers. In 1903 Mensing had a rooming house at Fourth and Main streets. While his rooms could have been rented at good prices, Mensing gave up a dozen or more to poor families and even took two families into his home.
"These rooms I have are not for men who can hustle for themselves," he said last night. "As before, I prefer to let women and children occupy them."
Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., chairman of the police board, informed the department yesterday that tents could be secured at the Third regiment. They are to be used for poor and needy families if the worst comes.
Today two gasoline launches will be placed in commission for use of the police. They will be expected to patrol the river below the Hannibal bridge and render aid to people on both sides of the river if the emergency calls for it.
The crowd on the Intercity viaduct last night -- most of the people were sightseers -- was so great that Captain Whitsett stationed four men under Sergeant Robert Greely at the entrance. Their business was to be on the lookout for crooks and to keep the people moving. Three patrolmen were placed at the Mulberry street pay station to keep order and see that no one used the "center rush" method to get through the crowd without paying.
Last night several police were patrolling the river bank from the foot of Grand avenue east. It had been reported that thieves had been breaking into wholesale houses through windows, loading their boats and landing further down the river
The police were asked last night to be on the lookout for Antonio Travesse, 6 years old, an Italian boy living at 410 Holmes street. His father, Carlos, greatly excited, reported the missing boy. He said that when last seen his baby was going toward the river.
Harlem could not be reached by telephone last night. In the afternoon it was said that the water there had flooded the only remaining stores. Last night's report from there was that the river was getting lower, and that most of the wise citizens over there, who had passed through the terrible 1903 flood, will save all of their household goods and stocks of merchandise. Some were moved to this city and some of the stocks are still there, very high up with the counters and shelves nailed down.Labels: boats, Captain Whitsett, children, East bottoms, flood, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, Harlem, Holmes street, immigrants, Mayor Crittenden, military, Mulberry street, Police Chief Ahern, West bottoms June 12, 1908 MURDER THE END OF A SPREE.
Joseph Orlowich Shoots and Kills John Lucas -- Both Austrians.
During a quarrel following a day's drinking spree Joseph Orlowich, an Austrian, shot and killed John Lucas, one of his fellow countrymen, last night near the latter's home in the "Patch," Kansas City, Kas. The two men left the "Patch" in the morning the best of friends.
They put in most of the day drinking together and when they returned in the evening a controversy arose resulting in the exchange of blows. Orlowich, it is claimed, drew a revolver and fired pointblank at his antagonist.
Only one shot was fired, the bullet passing through Lucas's body causing almost instant death. Orlowich was locked up in the county jail.Labels: alcohol, immigrants, jail, Kansas City Kas, murder June 9, 1908 NO ALARM IN THE "PATCH."
But Squatters May Yet Have to Be Rescued.
The Missouri river is over its banks east of the Armour packing house and many homes of Croatian laborers at the plat were half under water at midnight. Despite the sinister tidings of "more water from Manhattan," which was occasionally heralded about in the babel of nine different languages employed by the people of the "Patch," there seemed to be no serious intention among the squatters there to move last night, at least, and they viewed the water about their doorsteps apparently without alarm. In the flood of 1903 the "Patch" was entirely washed away with considerable loss of life. Since then it has built up to about 250 houses, many of which contain more than thirty peopl. Castle Garden, a brick flat nearby, rooms 400 Croatians. It is seventy-five feet long and fifty feet wide.
If the Kaw and Missouri rivers continue to rise this morning some of the squatters near the river banks may have to be rescued by boat.Labels: flood, immigrants, Kaw river, Missouri river June 6, 1908 BRIDE WAS ELOPING WITH THE BEST MAN.
Italian Romance Is Shattered by Hus- band and Four Lusty Detectives.
A romance of Little Italy was spoiled last night by the inerference of the police, and Nick Salardino and Joe Bolarchine and their co-wife, Carrie, retired with heavy hearts. The eloping couple was caught at Union depot by detectives.
Two days ago Nick Salardino married Miss Carrie Bisbee, who lived at Fifth and Cherry streets. Their marriage was solemnized with the usual Italian ceremony and the best man was Joe Bolarchino. Then the honeymoon began.
It lasted -- well, until Joe, the best man, happened to gain private conversation with the bride Then the elopement was planned and two tickets were purchased for Van Buren, Ark.
At the Union depot last night just before 10 o'clock, Nick, the bridegroom, who was wise to the fact that his wife was eloping with the best man, appeared and demanded their arrest. Detectives Sanderson, Julian, Lyngar and Harvey were on hand and the whole big four swooped down upon the eloping couple. They found Joe and Carrie in a Missouri Pacific train and placed them under arrest. Detective Sanderson asked the bride for her ticket and she produced a Missouri Pacific ticket for Van Buren, and told the officers taht she was going away with Joe because, she said, he was the only man she ever loved and she didn't care much for her husband, Nick.
Joe and Carrie, the eloping couple, were locked up at the West Bottoms police station. A charge will be filed agasint them today. The bride, the only one implicated who can talk English, declined last night to discuss he affair other tahn to say she loves the man she tried to elope with to Arkansas.Labels: immigrants, railroad, romance, Union depot, wedding May 28, 1908
HAS NITROGLYCERIN BURIED IN A ROAD.
SAFEBLOWER WILL LEAD THE POLICE TO IT.
That Is, if Some Wagon Wheel
Don't Set It Off Before This Morning -- One Sends Money to His Mother.
Safe blowing is not a lucrative business, according to G. W. Hart and William Riley, the two yeggmen who were arrested Tuesday night after having blown a safe in the Metzner Stove Supply and Repair house, 304 West Sixth street. The two burglars made a complete confession before Captain Walter Whitsett and other police officers last night, telling somewhat of their past and present record, also giving an interesting account of how they pulled off their jobs.
The two men met each other on the streets several days ago and their acquaintance grew steadily. Both lived in a low rooming house at 507 Grand avenue and it was there that they perfected their plans for the safe robbery which they perpetrated Tuesday night.
For several days past Hart has made a hiding place of the Hannibal bridge. In that locality he kept his tools and prepared the nitroglycerin which he used to blow the safes. He said that had he been successful in his robberies here he intended taking his loot to that place and burying it at the roadside, where he has now over a pint of nitroglycerin stored away.
The only other safe blowing job which Hart has tried in Kansas City was Sunday night when he attempted to blow open the safe in the Ernst Coal and Feed barns at Twentieth and Grand avenue. At that time, however, he was interrupted by police officers and barely escaped arrest. He was not successful in this attempt. Two or there days previous to this Hart entered and robbed a wholesale house located near Fifth and Delaware streets. He got only a few dollars in currency.
WHERE HE HAS WORKED.
In tell of his work at the safe-blowing, Hart said: "I have been at this business for the past year or two, and in that time I have robbed safes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri. The biggest haul I ever made was from a bank in some town in Oklahoma. I had to get through four large front doors which were loaded with concrete, but was successful, and sent the money I made in that deal to my mother. I often sent her the biggest part of my makings. She thought I got it honestly. No, I won't tell you her name or where she lives," he replied to a question from the police captain.
"Sometimes I would bank the money I got from the safes," he continued, "but it never got me anything. I am worse broke now than I was when I was living honestly. The job we pulled off last night was to get me money to pay my board.
"When I got the safe all soaped and ready to blow," he said in reply to a question of where he went when the explosion took place, "I usually stand just on top of the safe. There is no danger of any hurt up there, for the explosion always blows out, not up. If it has made too much noise, I most always have time to jump down and pull out the money boxes before anyone gets there, and then make my getaway."
Hart is a man of thirty or more names. He refused to tell his right name to police officers, saying that G. W. Hart was just as good as any. Among the names given were Maycliffe, Miller, Pope, Brown and Simpson. Hart has served a term of years in the Ohio state penitentiary, having been sent there on the charge of assault with intent to kill. He shot a brakeman who tried to eject him from a freight train on which he was stealing a ride. The brakeman was not seriously injured. With this exception he has had no other prison record, being only 26 years of age.
HE'S GREEN AT IT.
William Riley, the other yeggman, was more reticent about his part in the affair of Tuesday night. He claimed that it was his first attempt at safe blowing and admitted that he was rather amateurish about the business. Though he has not done much along the yegging line, he has a much longer prison record than his partner. Most of his matured life has been spent behind prison bars. He is now 47 years old. He was first convicted of highway robbery in Jackson county and sentenced to five years in the state prison. He had not been released from that term many months before he received a sentence at Springfield, Mo., for a term of two years, charged with grand larceny. Besides this he served four years more in the Missouri penitentiary for grand larceny, having been convicted at Sedalia.
When the two men were arrested Tuesday night the woman who keeps the rooming house in which they lived, and Ernest Vega, a Mexican roomer, were also arrested. Hart and Riley have both testified that these two were entirely innocent of the affair, and have asked for their release. It is probable t hat they will be released this morning, as the time limit for investigation of prisoners is over.
Hart will accompany a squad of police officers to his hiding ground at the runway of the Hannibal bridge this morning, when the nitroglycerin, which he has buried there, will be removed. It is lying on the roadside, just under the surface, and it is feared that the wheels of some farm wagon might accidental cause an explosion if it is not removed at once.Labels: Captain Whitsett, crime, Delaware street, Fifth street, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, highway robbery, immigrants, penitentiary, railroad, Sedalia, Sixth street, Twentieth street May 17, 1908 HIS CHILDREN SAW HIM DROWN.
Hector Bonne, a Belgian Gardner, Lost His Life in the Blue.
In the presence of his family of four children, Hector Bonne, a Rosedale gardener, was drowned while fishing in the Blue just south of Dodson last evening about 7 o'clock. He had taken his children for a day's visit at an uncle's, Charles Cula, near the Harrisonville bridge, not far from where the accident occurred.
Several men were fishing there and some were intoxicated. Bonne waded into the water banteringly with his clothes on, and all seemed to think when he dropped out of sight that he was making fun for the children. But he had stepped off a ledge and was drowned without coming up. In a few minutes the dead body was recovered by R. H. Hopkins, a farmer, who was there fishing. Bonne was a Belgian. Deputy Coroner O. H. Parker sent R. V. Lindsay, a Westport undertaker, for the body. With his wife and children, Bonne lived just beyond the end of the Rosedale car line.Labels: Blue river, children, Deputy Coroner Parker, Dodson, drowning, fishing, immigrants, Rosedale, undertakers May 13, 1908 HAD LIVED HERE 58 YEARS.
Francis Phillips, a Jackson County Pioneer, Is Dead.
A citizen of Jackson county since 1850, Francis Phillips, father of Captain Thomas Phillips, license inspector, died yesterday at the home of the latter, aged 90 years.
Mr. Phillips was a native of Monahan county, Ireland, and came direct from there to Independence. On a farm one mile north of that city he lived for forty-five years and eighteen years ago came to Kansas City to reside with his son. Three other children survive him: Mrs. E. J. Cannon and Mrs. George Brangin of this city, and Frank Phillips, living near Olathe, Kas., who was formerly a member of the Missouri legislature.
The burial is to be in Independence cemetery tomorrow forenoon, after services at the home, 3540 Central street, at 8:30 o'clock, and at St. Aloysius church, Eleventh street and Prospect avenue, at 9:30 o'clock.Labels: cemetery, Central street, churches, death, Eleventh street, immigrants, Independence, Olathe, pioneers, Prospect avenue May 11, 1908 TWO OF AHERN'S LAMBS.
Took Sunday Drink in Peter Leary's Saloon, Then Arrested Him.
"What d'ye want?" shouted Peter Leary through the door of his saloon to Police Sergeant John Ravenscamp, who was thumping with his stick on the outside early Sunday morning.
"Sure, and I'm askin' that you let those policemen out. You've locked two good fellows inside.:
"G'wan and sleep," replied Peter, "There's no bulls in here."
"There are two of Ahern's choicest lambs," said John and he leaned against the front door.
Now John Ravenscamp is large and, when the door creaked, Leary waved him back and turned the bolt. As the sergeant entered, Plain Clothes Officers D. R. Lee and Pat O'Connor, who say they had been drinking at the bar with five citizens, stepped out and showed their stars to Leary.
Leary and John Shannon, the bartender, were booked at headquarters for selling liquor on Sunday and a full report was made out to be given to the police commissioners at their next meeting.Labels: alcohol, immigrants, police, police headquarters, saloon April 29, 1908 CLERK STOLE MONEY FOR SICK BROTHER.
IN CONSEQUENCE JUDGE POL- LOCK IS LENIENT.
Editor of Art Book Fined Nominal Sum and Escapes Payment. Other Federal Offend- ers Sentenced.
It was sentencing day in the United States district court yesterday. Judge Pollock of Kansas was on the bench. Alfred Friend, formerly a clerk in the New England National bank had stolen out-of-town remittances by means of juggling accounts in the bank. The government prosecuted him for getting only $5, but he was supposed to have got about $2,000. After everything in the case was told Judge Pollock undertook to examine the prisoner on his own account.
"What made you do it?" he inquired.
"This made me do it, sir," Friend replied, displaying a small packet of letters and holding them out towards the bench. "Would your honor read them, please?"
FOR HIS SICK BROTHER.
Judge Pollock scanned some of them, interrupting his perusal to ask:
"And did you send the money to this sick brother of yours?"
"I have the money order receipt for it," Friend then said, at the same time producing another paper and handing it to Judge Pollock.
After reflecting a minute the court announced that as Friend had been confined to jail for six months, had lost his employment and had not profited by his thievery, he would be let off with a fine of $500, which means only thirty days in jail. The United States government never holds a prisoner longer than thirty days in liquidation of a fine, no matter how bit it may be.
JULIUS WAS SURPRISED.
Julius Planca, a Frenchman, who was surprised to know that it is contrary to the laws of this country to sell liquor without a license, was fined $10 and costs for bootlegging in a railroad camp east of the city. Arthur Anderson, a 14-year-old boy from the southeast part of the county, was given the same punishment for stealing stamps and coppers from rural free delivery boxes.
A week ago William Soper robbed the little postoffice at Mount Washington, just outside Kansas City's eastern limits, and got $2.50. Yesterday he got a year and a half in the government prison at Fort Leavenworth. He pleaded guilty, saying to Judge Pollock that he would not have broken into the store where the postoffice was had he known it was a postoffice.
"You would rather have broken the state than the federal laws, would you?" the court remarked, adding, dryly, "Either is wrong."
THAT'S WHEN HE GETS IT.
James A. Pope, editor of the Art Book, who was arrested a month ago on a complaint of a rival in business in St. Louis, got off handsomely. Pope had sent out printed post cards saying that he still owned the copyright to his journal, and that the issues being turned out by his rivals were false. He classified somebody as a "hunchback," and for that got into trouble. He would have gone to jail for the intervening nine weeks, having no bondsmen here, only for friends his tough-luck story made for him. As it turned out, District Attorney Van Valkenburgh took his personal recognizance and let him go. Yesterday the art editor, who is about 20 years of age, turned up "to take my medicine, as I said I would," he said. Judge Pollock heard his story and at the conclusion said:
"Have you $1 and the costs of this case?"
"I have not, sir," replied the editor, showing how dull business in the art journal business is just at present.
"Then if I fine you $1 you will have to go to jail, will you?" the court asked next.
"Yes, sir," the editor-prisoner replied.
"Then it will not do to try to collect it. The punishment will be a fine of $1 and costs, collectible upon execution," and slam went the judge's docket and another case was taken up. Pope did not know what was up, so he took his seat near one of the deputy marshals, supposing it was jail again in view of the fact that he had not the dollar and costs. While in the middle of the next case Judge Pollock caught sight of the little art editor's long curly hair and had to order him to freedom.
"You can get out, Pope," the court said. "That fine against you is collectible upon execution."
It took two lawyers and a deputy to explain this to Pope, who could scarcely believe all his good luck was real.Labels: alcohol, banking, courtroom, crime, federal court, immigrants, Judge Pollock, Judges, Leavenworth, Mt. Washington, post office, United States District Court 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 23, 1908 ONLY FLOWERS CAN SPEAK TO STRANGER.
MAN THOUGHT TO BE BUL- GARIAN LIES IN HOSPITAL.
No One Has Been Found Who Can Talk With Him and Learn His Home -- Bouquet Brings Tears.
If any one in Kansas City can talk the Bulgarian language, he will do an act of charity if he will call upon F. H. Ream, religious director of the Helping Hand institute, and assist him in learning the identity of a Bulgarian now at the general hospital.
The unfortunate man has been tried with Polish, Slav, Russian, German and many other European tongues, but to all he is dumb. He has indicated that he can speak Bulgarian. On April 12 the man was found at the Union depot, suffering from a badly injured left hand. He was taken to the general hospital, where it was discovered that a circular saw had ploughed its way into his left hand between the second and ring fingers. It became necessary to amputate both the index and second fingers. The saw tore through almost to the man's wrist.
All day long the poor fellow sits in his ward, unable to say a thing but "Arkansas," "sawmill" and "me much sick," when spoken to.
While in the flower store of Miss J. E. Murray yesterday, Ream told the story of the melancholy Bulgarian with the injured hand.
"So far from home," he said, "badly injured, and can't speak a word of English, but the few he says all the time."
"I wonder if flowers could talk to him," Miss Murray said.
"They speak to all nations alike," said Ream, "especially to the unfortunate."
Miss Murray fixed up a bouquet f roses, bright red American Beauties, carnations of all shades and interspersed them with violets. She told Ream to take them to the injured man. He did, returning to the hospital to do so.
"It was the most pathetic scene I ever witnessed," said Ream last night. "When I went in I walked up and laid the bouquet in the man's good hand. Without looking up he said, 'Me much sick,' but when he felt the damp flowers he grasped the stems and looked up as if to say some mistake has been made. I indicated that the flower were for him and said so in Polish. His face flushed, bowed among the flowers. 'Me? Me?' he asked, excitedly, still clinging to the blossoms. I had to indicate again that they were all for him.
"Once more the poor fellow buried his face among the flowers," concluded Ream, "but when he lifted his head, big tears were streaming down his cheeks. The flowers had spoken to him."
The unfortunate is between 39 and 45 years old. From signs made by him, the nurse, who has been attending him, believes that he has two daughters somewhere. He will point to her, hold up two fingers and then pat his own breast.
It is believed that the man was injured at a sawmill somewhere in Arkansas and was sent into Kansas City to be cared for by the city.
"If I can find someone who can talk to him," said Ream, "I think we will learn where his people are."Labels: accident, flowers, general hospital, Helping Hand, immigrants, retailers, Union depot April 16, 1908 WANTED TO WHIP SON-IN-LAW.
Alfred Smith Asked Court to Grant Him Permission.
"If the court will let me, I will take him out now and clean him up, right now. I am sorry for the day the ship landed that Dutchman in America," delcared Alfred Smith, father-in-law of Alfonso Weis, on the witness stand in Judge McCune's division of the circuit court yesterday, in the trial of Weis for divorce from Emma Weis. This was the second day of the trial, and it will continue today.
Smith is about 60 years of age, has gray hair and clearly shows his age. As he sat on the witness stand he related the trouble between his daughter and Weis, and showed positive hatred for his son-in-law. Mrs. Smith also testified on the stand, the principal part of her testimony being that Weis told her not to spend money for beer because that beverage would make her become fat. Although she looked as though she weighed about ninety-five pounds, she stated that she preferred to remain slim.
Many witnesses were called for both sides of the case, and when court closed, Judge McCune had apparently made little progress in deciding in his mind whether the divorce should be granted. Most of the testimony was about the character of Mrs. Weis, and all of the witnesses disputed each other. Mrs. Weis stated that when she was away from home she was at a spiritualist meeting, which was corroborated by other witnesses.Labels: circuit court, Divorce, immigrants, Judge McCune April 15, 1908
CARTOONIST'S FUN WITH JOE STEIBEL
SAYS HE COULDN'T MAKE HIM "LOOK PLEASANT."
"Apollo" Bergfield, the Big Copper, Also Suffers at the Hands of the Visiting Artist. 
CARTOONIST LEVI'S LIBEL OF "JOE" STEIBEL, THE POPULAR PRESS AGENT OF THE ORPHEUM THEATER, WHOSE SMILE IS PERENNIAL.
"Behold the man who never smiles, or to whom it is at least painful to smile," said Bert Levy, as he pointed out one of his drawings of Joe Steibel, the affable pres agent of the Orpheum. "I tried every way in my power to make him even look pleasant, and at last he turned on me, serious as he could be, and said, 'Levy, I can't smile; I'm a sick man.' But I know the reason why he is so doleful -- it's because he has been working too hard this season.
"Why, just look what he has been up against all year, another vaudeville house in town, a bank suspension and lastly, Judge Wallace. It's enough to take the humor out of anybody."
"In this man you see the one who has made and unade vaudeville stars and Kansas City. He doesn't care whether the actor was headliner in the last city or whether he was put in the most inconspicuous place on the bill; if his act has merit, Joe will pick him out and begin work on him at once. Honest, he is the busiest man about the Orpheum theater -- no wonder he can't smile. He hasn't had time to practice.
The other picture here with the cop as centerpiece is true to life," continued the artist. "I made a sketch of this picture while standing out in the foyer of the theater, and this is just what I saw. People look upon this genial officer of the law, Joseph Bergfeld, I believe is his name, with real fear in their faces. What there is for them to be afraid of is more than I can see, for during the three years that Joseph has watched the box office window to see that the ticket seller does not take in any bad quarters, not an arrest has been made. At least that is what Joseph himself tells me.
 THIS IS JOSEPH BERGFIELD, THE WEST NINTH STREET APOLLO, CAUGHT IN HIS FAVORITE POSE BY CARTOONIST BERT LEVY, WHO LABELED THE DRAWING "INTIMIDATION."
"It may be that the reason for this is that the benign cop is put together in such wonderful and fantastic proportion that the 'con' men prefer to risk arrest in some other quarters. Just what would be your feelings when you march up to the box office window and have to pass between it and a ferocious looking cop, slowly balancing himself first on his heels and then on his toes, his heavy club swinging behind his back in time to the musical movements of his body?"
Mr. Levy is cartoonist on the New York Morning Telegraph. In speaking of his life work he said:
"My career as an artist began when I was but 13 years old, in the rear of a dingy little pawnshop in Melbourne, Australia. It was a pawnshop which belonged to my brother-in-law. I was put in to mark the tickets which we used in the show window, an I would delight in cutting them out in heart-shaped and different designs. The letters I would form as artistically as possible. This gave me a start, and as days went on I began to sudy the faces of the men as they peered in through the show window looking at the articles for sale. Then I began to copy them, and I am afraid let my pawnshop business pass iwth little attention. Soon my brother in law caught me at the drawing and I was forthwith discharged. I was them put into school, and after much pleading with my father I was allowed to take a course in art.
"Two and a half years ago I left Australia and came to America. When I arrived in New York I was penniless. I had nothing save my portfolio of drawings and a courage which was born of centuries of persecution. Immeidately upon my arrival in that great whirlpool of hope and despair I went to the editors of the New York papers and tried to find a market for my work, but because I was poorly dressed, and I was, for my shoes were almost off my feet and my coat was in rags, and because I was a Jew, I was given no hope, no chance to show that I could draw.
"For five days I wandered about the Ghetto, hungry and in dire want. My meals were picked up at the free lunch counters, and my sleep, what little there was of it, I got any place htat I could find. Then after many efforts, I succeded in getting a trial on the New York Telegraph, and, well, I am still on their staff, and do work for many other large publications. I won out after a terrible struggle, but I think of the thousands of talented artists, geniuses, who are almost starving in New York simply because fate wills it."Labels: arts, immigrants, Judge Wallace, Ninth street, theater, visitors April 13, 1908 HE'S A BOLD SON OF NIPPON.
Bright-Eyed Japanese Baby That Was Born in Kansas City, Kas.
JAPANESE BABY BORN IN KANSAS CITY, KAS.
Kimja Majina is the name of one of the newest citizens of Kansas City, Kas., a baby, 13 months old, who was born in the Metropolitan hotel, Sixth street and Ann avenue, where his father and mother work in the capacity of cooks. Kimja is a great pet among the boarders at the hotel and said to be exceptionally bright for his age.
He can speak a few words of baby talk in Japanese and English, with equal aptness, and his parents say for him that he has never been known to cry. He is the only Japanese baby ever born in Kansas City, Kas., as far as known, and his parents say they will send him to school there to be educated like any other American as soon as he is 4 years old.
"In Japan we sent them to school at 3 years," said his father, Harry Majina, after telling this to a visitor last night.Labels: children, hotels, immigrants, Kansas City Kas March 28, 1908 WAS THE OPERATOR'S FRIEND.
Mrs. Mary Jane Lambert, Honorary Member of Union, Dies.
Mrs. Mary Jane Lambert, 63 years of age, died at her home, 818 East Fourteenth street, last night, after several months' illness. Mrs. Lambert was the widow of Benjamin Lambert, who, with Charles Dickens, invented linen paper. Shortly before their marriage, Mr. Lambert was the manager of the Ottoman bank of Constantinople, Turkey.
Mrs. Lambert was born in Liverpool, England, in 1845. At the age of 28 years she married Mr. Lambert, and, on account of the failure of the Overmann & Gurney bank in Liverpool, the couple immediately came to America. For twenty-three years Mrs. Lambert had been a resident of Kansas City.
Two of her sons, G. W. and H. Y. Lambert, were telegraph operators and held positions of influence in the Telegraphers' union. On this account Mrs. Lambert became greatly interested in the work of the union and because of her interest she was made an honorary member. At the time of the strike last summer, Mrs. Lambert went among the strikers, cheering them and offering encouragement to those who needed it. When the strike had reached the stage that many of the strikers were out of money and food, they always found a welcome in Mrs. Lambert's house.
Mrs. Lambert was the mother of twelve children, four of whom are still living. They are her two sons, Mrs. R. F. Ferguson and Mrs. A. C. Preston. The funeral services will be held from the home at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon. Burial is to be in Elmwood Cemetery.Labels: cemetery, death, Fourteenth street, immigrants, telegraph March 17, 1908 STABBED WHEN HE DIDN'T BUY.
Mamet Rahji, an Assyrian, May Die From Wound in Lung.
An Assyrian who said his English name was George Karney and his real name Mamet Rahji, was taken to the emergency hospital late yesterday afternoon suffering from a stab wound in the left lung which barely missed the heart. He was attended by Dr. R. A. Shiras and put to bed. Karney, or Rahji, has been working as a porter at 419 West Tenth street. He has been in this country four years and in the city one month.
He said that he was sent down town to make some purchases about 5 p. m. On Central street near fire headquarters he met up with several men sitting on the curbstone. One of them, a man with a white mustache, was exhibiting a pair of shoes.
"He wanted me to buy them, but I refused, as they were too large," said the Assyrian. "I started to walk away and the man, who was angry, followed after me. About half a block away he walked up and stuck a knife in my left side. Then he ran."
Dr. Shiras said that the man's wound is a dangerous one and may cause death from pneumonia. The police are searching for the shoe salesman.Labels: Central street, doctors, emergency hospital, immigrants, Tenth street, violence March 16, 1908 FOOD FOR QUONG SUE'S SPIRIT.
It Is Deposited in His Grave, That He
May Feast in Paradise.
In keeping with the funeral rites of his native land, Quong Sue, a Chinese laundryman who died at his home, 309 West Fifth street, March 8, was buried in Union cemetery yesterday afternoon. All of the dead man's belongings, including his Bible, were burned at the head of the grave and the coffin was lowered during the burning of incense. It is a peculiar belief of the Chinese that the departed spirit must spend an indefinite period trying to find its way through paradise They believe that the spirit must have food and drink, the things necessary for material existence. Consequently choice foods and wines are deposited in the grave with the coffin Quong Sue's spirit will feast upon smothered chicken, roast beef, rice tea, ham , chop suey and two kinds of wine. Labels: cemetery, Fifth street, food, Funeral, immigrants March 13, 1908 IT MAY BE CLEMENS'S BODY.
Exhumed Body Shows Scar Over Right Eye.
New evidence that it was Francis Patrick Cemens who died here February 19 as Herbert Donnekin was received yesterday by British Vice Consul McCurdy from Charles Clive Bayley, British consul in New York. Through this channel the missing man's brother, Lord Leitrim, sent a description similar to that received yesterday by British Vice Consul McCurdy from Charles Clive Bayley British consul in New York. Through this channel the missing man's brother, Lord Leitrim, sent a description similar to that received by the Salvation Army, with the added feature that there should be a scar over the right eye. This was found to show on the body now exhumed and lying at the Carroll-Davidson morgue.
A cablegram from the British family, too, sent through the Salvation Army yesterday, asked how long the body could be kept for identification. The answer sent that it could be kept indefinitely, it is believed, will probably bring a representative of the family.Labels: death, immigrants, Salvation Army, undertakers 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 13, 1908 IT FELT JUST LIKE SPRING.
One Boy Was Barefoot, Many Played Marbles Yesterday.
With a temperature of 74 at 8 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the day took its place as the first burst of spring in Kansas City. The court house reporter was assigned to write a weather story and his observation included one boy walking barefoot on the court house lawn, many street urchins abandoning shinny clubs for marbles, quite few Italian grannies sitting in south doorsteps and the first game of horseshoes in Shelly park this year.
The forecast is for colder weather tomorrow.Labels: children, courthouse, immigrants, weather March 10, 1908 CHINAMAN DIED SUDDENLY.
Funeral Services Will Be Held an Entire Week -- Burial Sunday.
Quong Sue, a Chinese laundryman, 31 years old, was found dead in his bed at 309 West Fifth street Sunday. Coroner Thompson held a post mortem yesterday at Carroll-Davidson's morgue, and found that death was due to a ruptured vessel. The Chinese colony will take a week to prepare for a fitting funeral. The ceremonies will end next Sunday at Union cemetery.Labels: cemetery, Coroner Thompson, death, Fifth street, immigrants, undertakers March 9, 1908 POLICE WANT A. OMAYARA.
Japanese Cook Stole Money From Camp.
While the Japanese in the steel gang on the Missouri Pacific railway at Cominsky, Kas., were sleeping Saturday night, A. Omayara, the camp cook, forced open the money chest of the camp and rifled its contents. He secured $320 in money and two gold watchs. The money and watches belonged to K. Sakaweads. It is thought that Omayara left for Kansas City, and N. Tsuda, who is the agent for the labor gang here, has been notified. The police are looking for Omayara. Labels: crime, immigrants, railroad March 6, 1908 FEW FOREIGNERS WANT PAPERS.
It's Harder to Become a Voter Now Than It Used to Be.
For the first time since Kansas City has been a political center, the approach of an election is not causing a riffle in the naturalization offices. Ordinarily at this time there would be from one to a score of foreigners naturalized every day, and so many of them sometimes that the naturalizing officer would have to hold court at night, but on the wall of the clerk of the United States district court there is a little slip of paper pasted, on it being the names of only seven persons. These are of two Germans, two Russians, an Italian, Irishman, and Roumanian, being all that are now taking out their final papers. The list of applicants for first papers has only twelve names on it, though it covers the work of a month.
"And they do not take kindly to it," said the clerk of the district court. "So many of them are disgusted when they find they cannot vote at the next election, nor even at the next presidential election."
There is no national law relating to the qualifications for voting. The laws of the various states are accepted by the United States. In Missouri first papers must be a year old before they are votable. Kansas is kinder to the foreigner and he can vote there sooner.
The new naturalization law bristles with bayonets for the foreigner who takes out papers for anything but the highest possible motives, and while it would be possible for him to take them out in Kansas City now and, by moving across to Kansas City, Kas., vote there for the next president, if the naturalization officer suspected a trick in this there would be trouble right off for the foreigner. He would be sure to have his papers cancelled and himself barred from taking the out again, and he might land in a federal prison."Labels: federal court, immigrants, politics, United States District Court March 5, 1908 AS THE BARKEEP TOLD IT.
Did Not Clearly Impress the Court With His Innocence.
C. H. Foley, bartender, and D. O. Elmers, porter at |
