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September 26, 1908

MOTOR CAR USED

IN A KIDNAPING.

MRS. THOMAS SPIRITED HER SON

OUT OF LEAVENWORTH.

BROUGHT CHILD TO

THIS CITY.

ATTORNEY JOHN HAYES, JR., AR-

RESTED BY KANSAS OFFICERS.

Was Mistaken for a Detective Who

Had Gone With Mrs. Thomas

When She Kidnaped

Her Child.

MRS. AGNES BOSS THOMAS.
Kansas City Woman Who Kidnaped Her Child in Leavenworth Yesterday,

Guarded by a Detective in an Automobile.

Agnes Boss Thomas, who was a witness in the Humes-Richards alienation of affection suit, yesterday, under guard of a private detective patrol, went to Leavenworth in an automobile and carried off her baby, Theodore C. Thomas, Jr., while the 5-year-old child's school teacher looked on, powerless to do anything. Mrs. Thomas brought the baby to her home, 119 East Thirty-fourth street, where Theodore, Jr., is still resting and awaiting a probable habeas corpus proceeding. The little fellow's attorneys, Kelly, Brewster & Buchholz, are in waiting, too, and John Hayes, Jr., who was mistaken for a detective by the Leavenworth police force, is out on bond.

Mrs. Thomas was divorced from her husband in July, 1906. Mr. Thomas received the divorce while his wife was abroad, both being represented by attorneys. In the settlement by the court at Pawnee, Ok., it was stipulated that Mr. Thomas was to have the custody of the child except one month in each year and that if the mother wished the child during this month she should go after and return him at the proper time.

THEODORE C. THOMAS.
The Kidnaped Child

Recently when Mr. Thomas wished to go to Mexico he left Theodore, Jr., with the child's grandmother in Leavenworth. When the time rolled around for Mrs. Thomas to have the child for her one month of the year, the baby's grandmother decided she should not have him. On account of her connection with the Humes-Richards case, the grandmother said Mrs. Thomas could not have the baby for the one month provided for by Judge Baynard T. Hainer in the Oklahoma courts.

Yesterday Mrs. Thomas decided to get her baby, and employed an automobile and a bodyguard and went after him. Living strictly up to the letter of the decree, which said she could get the baby by going after him, Mrs. Thomas employed F. H. Tillotson of the Hayes-Tillotson Detective Agency, to see that no force was used against her. The two went to Leavenworth and called at the school house where the baby, Theodore, Jr., is receiving his first lessons. Mrs. Thomas stepped to the door, asked the child's teacher to see him, and then simply carried him home, as she claims the court said she has a right to do.

In the meantime, John Hayes, Jr., an attorney of Kansas City and son of former Kansas City Police Chief John Hayes, was in Leavenworth on legal business. The police force of Leavenworth, recalling that the big man in the automobile was of the Hayes-Tillotson agency, just arrested young Hayes and held him for ransom. He proved his innocence and was finally let go on bond.

Mrs. Theodore Thomas, the mother of the child, was formerly Agnes Boss, the daughter of a prominent Congregational minister here, and was reputed to be the most beautiful and most accomplished girl in the city. After being educated in the high school here she went to Vassar. She was a splendid musician, an artist of some ability, and was a leader of society here.

She was married to Theodore Thomas, son of a wealthy and very prominent Leavenworth physician, about eight years ago. Six years ago the son was born to them. At that time Mr. Thomas was conducting an ice plant in Atchison, Kas. Later they moved to Oklahoma, and at Pawnee, Ok., a divorce suit was instituted by the husband.

The decree was granted Mr. Thomas, giving him also the custody of the child.

After the divorce, Mr. Thomas brought his boy to Leavenworth and placed him in the care of his mother, Mrs. M. S. Thomas. She has become very much attached to the child and was prostrated with grief this afternoon. The little boy was just 6 years old a few weeks ago and started going to school last Monday. The mother has come here on several occasions with different attorneys and attempted to get the grandmother to give up the child.

Several months ago Mrs. Theodore Thomas came into prominence by starting to lecture on theosophy. She is well educated and speaks well, and it is said she made quite a hit. Mrs. Thomas is still a very beautiful woman.

Labels: attorney, automobiles, children, custody, detectives, Divorce, ice, kidnapping, Leavenworth, oklahoma, Police Chief Hayes, women

March 10, 1908

BABY HAS NOT BEEN FOUND.

Mrs. Pansy Gaulter Says Husband's

Mother Made the Trouble.

Mrs. Pansy Gaulter, whose baby was snatched from her arms by her husband, Loren Gaulter, at Sixth and Central streets Saturday afternoon, said last night that no trace had yet been found of either Gaulter or the child. The last she saw of him was when he ran down Central street to Fifth street and through a building at 306 West Fifth. He is said to have met a woman at Fourth and Broadway and to have later taken a Leavenworth electric car The kidnaping was reported to the Humane Society, and W. H. Gibbbens has a warrant for Gaulter.

It was a mistake to say that my mother caused any trouble between us," said Mrs. Gaulter. My mother-in-law caused all the trouble and she had made trouble before. Finally I told y husband I would not live with his people any more, and he then wanted me to live with his uncle. When I refused that also caused trouble. It was his people, not mine, that caused our separation."

Labels: Broadway, Central street, Fifth street, Fourth street, Humane Society, kidnapping, marriage, Sixth street, streetcar

March 8, 1908

HE STOLE BABY FROM

ITS MOTHER'S ARMS.

FATHER ESCAPED, ALTHOUGH

PURSUSED BY A MOB.

Mysterious Case, in Which the Prin-

cipals, After Causing a Grand

Furor, All Dropped

Out of Sight.

To kidnap a baby from the arms of its mother on a public street at high noon, run several blocks pursued by 250 people and the frantic mother and to finally make good his escape through a basement on West Fifth street, was the record made by a father yesterday.

A woman was walking on Sixth street near Central at noon yesterday, carrying her baby. As she neared the corner a man appeared, grabbed the child from its mother's arms and ran north on Central street -- the baby under his coat. At Fifth street he turned west as far as the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 302 West Fifth street. In the door he darted, slamming it after him. The kidnaping caused great excitement and the man with the baby was pursued by a mob which jammed about the door.

The woman from whom the baby had been snatched was a blonde, tall and wore a brown cloak and a small hat with a white veil. As she ran she cried to the pursuers, "Stop him! He's my husband and has got my child and will kill it. I know he sill. Stop him!"

An elderly woman dressed in black appeared on the scene, from where no one seemed to know, and overtook the fleeing mother. Several times she tried to detain her, but when frantic efforts failed, the woman in black grabbed a small hand satchel from the other woman and gave up the chase.

Charles E. McVey, desk sergeant at police headquarters, was passing and saw the crowd. The woman in brown appealed to him to get her baby which was being stolen, saying again that it would be killed. McVey ran into the bottling works and took a freight elevator to the top floor, having been told that the man with the baby had gone that way. When he descended, however, he was informed that the man had left by the basement door in the rear.

J. B. Jewell, manager of the bottling works, said: "The man who went through here with the baby in his arms was Loren Gaulter, who formerly worked here. The woman who pursued him was his wife. They have been married about two years and the baby is probably 6 months old. They last lived in Independence, Mo., but I never knew of their having had any family troubles."

Until five days ago, Gaulter was employed in the mail department at the Union depot as a truck handler. At that time he quit suddenly and what became of him no one there knew.

The man with the baby ran through an open lot in the rear of the bottling works and made his way to Fourth and Broadway, where, witnesses said, he was met by another woman The two were later seen to board a Leavenworth car, it was said. McVey had trouble in dispersing the crowd, and when quiet was restored all the principals in the affair had disappeared.

The distracted mother made her way around the block and through the alley by which the man and baby had escaped. To a man loading a car in the rear of the Richards & Conover Hardware Company's store she appealed to help her. That man, who said he knew the woman, gave the name of Young. He said she was Mrs. Gaulter, but he did not know where she lived. Harry Williams, a negro porter in a barber shop at 316 West Fifth street, saw the man with the baby under his coat leave the bottling works by the rear basement door. When he called out, "That man's stolen that baby," he said the man ran faster than ever.

Jewel said that after all the excitement was over a young woman, known to him as Gaulter's sister, called on him. She asked where "the folks" had gone, Jewel said, and intimated, that she would have gone with them. The wife was heard to remark that if her husband got out of town, she new he would take the baby to Iowa.

The kidnaping was not reported to the police or to the Humane Society, consequently neither worked on the case.

Mrs. Belle Slaughter, who formerly lived at 1639 Washington street, is the mother of Mrs. Gaulter. Until two days ago the Gaulter's lived at 612 East Ninth street, and appeared to be happy, neighbors say, until Mrs. Slaughter appeared. It is thought that Mrs. Slaughter is the woman who appeared and took Mrs. Gaulter's handbag during the chase after the husband and child.

Labels: Broadway, Central street, Fifth street, Fourth street, kidnapping, Ninth street, Sergeant McVey, Sixth street, Washington street

September 12, 1907

SAYS SHE WAS KIDNAPED.

Chicago Woman Appeals to Police to

Locate Her Father.

Ida Mahoney, 6949 May street, Chicago, has written to Daniel Ahern, chief of police, asking for assistance in finding her father, from whom she says she was kidnaped twenty-four years ago by her uncle, a Frenchman. Her father was Irish, and that was the cause of the kidnaping. The letter reads:

Chief of Police -- Dear Sir: Would you please help me to find Samuel Mahoney, a painter by trade, who was last seen in Kansas City about fifteen years ago . I was kidnaped from him in Chicago by my uncle and put out to a farmer. I heard he cou ld not find me and left Chicago in despair. I have not seen my father in twenty-four years. I was 10 years old when I last saw him.

Please do all you can for a poor, broken-hearted daughter. In Chicago he was a painter and contractor. My mother died in Indianapolis before we came to Chicago.

My father was Irish, and my uncle was a Frenchman and did not like him. My name is Ida Mahoney, 6249 May street, Chicago, Ill.

Labels: kidnapping, Police Chief Ahern

September 3, 1907

DIDN'T HAVE $1,000 WITH HIM.

Detective McAnany Held on Charge

of Attempted Kidnapping.

SEDAN, KAS. (SPECIAL.) -- Mrs. James C. Barclay, foster mother of the "incubator baby" of Lawrence fame, and Detective Thomas S. McAnany, of Kansas City, were arraigned before Justice Speed this afternoon on a charge of attempting to kidnap the child of Mrs. Charlotte Bleakley at Elgin last Saturday.

The defendants waived a preliminary hearing and were bound over to the district court, which convenes here tomorrow morning. Bail was fixed at $1,000 each. McAnany was unable to give it and is tonight in the county jail. It is understood tonight that Mrs. Barclay regrets the steps she has taken and is willing to compromise with Mrs. Bleakley to stop the prosecution. It is also said that the latter is firm in her determination to push the case. County Attorney Mertz is securing all the evidence he can get to use when the case comes to trial.

Labels: detectives, kidnapping, Lawrence

April 8, 1907

NO TRACE OF MISSING BOY.

Police Unable to Locate Charles

McNeese Who Disappeared Friday.

As yet the police have been unable to locate Charles H. McNeese, the 6-year-old son of C. C. McNeese, 2305 Brighton avenue. The lad has not been heard from since he left home Friday morning to go to the Ashland school at Twenty-fourth street and Elmwood avenue. The suspicion that the boy was kidnaped by two women who appeared near the school house in a closed carriage both Thursday and Friday mornings, was substantiated by a man who saw them talking to the boy just before they drove away Friday morning. That was the last seen of him in the neighborhood of his home or the school.

A description of one of the women in the carriage tallies with that of the boy's mother, from whom his father secured a divorce about three years ago. The police are searching for the missing boy, and descriptions of him have been sent out to police departments of other cities.

Labels: Brighton avenue, children, custody, Divorce, Elmwood avenue, kidnapping, missing

February 26, 1907

BY A LAWYER'S AID.

ATTORNEY HELPED MRS. ROBINSON

KIDNAP HER CHILD.

AN OLD MYSTERY CLEARED UP.

CHILD WAS TAKEN FROM CHACE

SCHOOL LAST JUNE.

Mother and Father Had Separated and Courts Had Awarded HimCustody of Gertrude, 7 Years Old--Humane Officer Suspected.

When little Gertrude Robinson, 7 years old, was kidnaped from the basement of the Chace school by her mother on June 1 last year many persons, especially Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Weaver, 1404 Troost avenue, who were keeping the child, believed that Colonel J. C. Greenman, Humane agent, had aided Mrs. Robinson. A woman, well known as a local temperance worker, appeared at Colonel Greenman's office yesterday afternoon, however, and admitted that she and a lawyer had planned the whole thing. Mrs. Robinson, she said, came on here from Chicago and stopped at her home. The lawyer was called in and the three planned the kidnaping, which was successful.

Just after little Gertrude entered the basement steps at the school the morning of Friday, June 1, 1906, a woman was standing in the shadow. "Hello, Gertrude," she said. "Why, hello, mamma," replied the child. The mother threw a black cloak over her child and ran to where a carriage was standing on the Paseo. With mother and child the carriage was driven rapidly south to Fifteenth street and west. Then it was seen no more.

It was believed that Mrs. Robinson had stolen her own child, but this could not be proved. Woman-like, however, she had to tell it. Two days later a Frisco conductor came in from his run and reported that a woman with a little girl, described as the missing one, had boarded his train in Rosedale. He paid no attention to her, but she had told the train butcher her story. She said that after getting possession of Gertrude the hack had driven to the Southwest Boulevard and Wyandotte street. All that had been planned out beforehand. There she left the vehicle and boarded a Rosedale car, getting out there just in time to meet the ongoing Frisco passenger for Springfield, Mo. She left Springfield for St. Louis and went from there to Chicago, getting home the next day.

The child was not missed by the Weavers until noon. Then they instituted a search on their own accord, and the kidnaping was not reported to the police until 2 p.m., five hours after it occurred. All of the outgoing trains were watched by detectives, but the shrewd little mother with her babe was many, many miles from Kansas City railway stations. She knew they would be watched, that is, she, her woman friend and the lawyer.

Little Gertrude was the daughter of Harry G. Robinson. He secured a divorce from his wife by default, the notice of the suit having been printed in an Independence paper, which the wife never saw in her Chicago home. When she heard of it she came here and tried to get the decree set aside, but failed. The court had given the custody of the child to Robinson. Colonel Greenman had advised the woman in both suits and that was how he came to be suspected of advising the kidnaping.

The mother came here once," said the colonel yesterday, "and visited with her child at the Weaver's for a week. I suspected something wrong at the time and went so far as to make Mrs. Robinson leave her return ticket and all her money, but a small amount, with me, and saw her to the train when she left. She had visited at my house then and I knew if she got away with her baby I would have to bear the blame. When she did come here and succeed in kidnaping it I had no idea she was out of Chicago -- but I got the blame nevertheless of advising her to take it in the manner in which she did. I wouldn't use my office for breaking the law and am glad that Mrs. Blank has set me right."

The woman who helped to plan the kidnaping said she was going to tell the Weavers how it was all done -- some day, when she got a chance.

Labels: butchers, Col. J. C. Greenman, crime, custody, Divorce, kidnapping, Paseo, Rosedale, schools, St Louis, Troost avenue