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May 15, 1908

HE SAYS POLICE BEAT

HIM WITHOUT CAUSE.

Another Charge of Brutality Against

Central Station Officers -- Case

May Be Investigated.

Geoge Horter, a laborer living at 408 Main street, was fined $500 in police court yesterday after Charles Winters, another laborer, had identified him as being one of two men who "strong armed" him at Third and Grand avenue about midnight and took $14 away from him.

Horter said he knew F. H. Ream of the Helping Hand who would testify to his good character. He also said that he could prove an alibi. Mr. Ream, who was in court, got the case continued until today when he expects to produce evidence that will clear Horter. Horter says he was knocked down by the police when arrested and was again slugged at the sergent's desk. Sensational testimony is expected to develop in the case. Horter had but $1.37 when arrested.

"I will prove that Horter was with W. F. Chappell, George Schaeffer and John Ward from 6 p. m. until seven minutes of 1 o'clock," said Mr. Ream. "Walter Corner, the day clerk at 408 Main, was with all of them from 11 p. m. until the latter time. The man who was robbed, while he positively identified Horter in court, I will prove was drunk when he had Horter arrested and and was unable to identify anybody. I will also prove that he said he was robbed by two negroes, not white men. He told the police that he lost $11, and in court said it was $14.

"I have known Horter since February 22. He is a quiet, inoffensive boy and has worked for several responsible families here, all of whom made good reports about him. Horter tells me that he was slugged twice by the police -- for what I don't know. He said he was knocked down by a patrolman when arrested. He knows that policeman's name. He also says he was knocked nearly unconscious at the sergeant's desk. He does not know the officer's name, but will point him out if he is in court. If the officer is not I intend to find out who slugged this boy and for what. That will not be an end to the matter, either."

Labels: Central station, Helping Hand, laborer, police, violence

May 13, 1908

BROKE HER HAND ON HIS FACE.

Mrs. Ridings Resented an Insult to

Her 9-Year-Old Child.

Robert Eades, a laborer for the Holmes Construction Company, was fined $50 in police court yesterday for insulting 9-year-old Ethel Ridings in front of a rooming house at 9 West Fifth street Monday night. Mrs. Clara Ridings, the little girl's mother, appeared in court with her right hand in a sling.

"When Ethel told me what he had done," she said, "I slugged him one, so hard that I broke my hand. I didn't mind that, for I certainly socked him a good one."

Eades's face showed the result of Mrs. Riding's blow. His cheek was dislocated where she landed. He was arrested soon after. Eades denied that he had said anything to the child.

Labels: children, laborer, police court, violence

April 5, 1908

THEY'RE SLOW INVESTIGATORS.

Police Show Charactaristic Speed in

the Case of Harry Ryan.

Martin Kelly, the laborer taken from an airtight refrigerator car in the Hannibal yards last Monday afternoon, was yesterday removed from the emergency to the general hospital. He had received a blow on the left side of the head which caused him to suffer from aphasia, or loss of memory. He improved somewhat at first, but yesterday seemed almost unable to talk again. He has no idea how he came in the car or how he was injured.

Harry Ryan, a young man taken from the car at the same time, is still being held by the police "for investigation." The law gives the police the right to hold a prisoner twenty hours for investigation. At 2:30 today Ryan will have been held 120 hours without a charge placed against him.

Labels: general hospital, laborer, police, railroad

April 2, 1908

SUDDEN DEATH OF TWO MEN.

One Is an Unknown Laborer, the

Other a Negro.

An unknown man, apparently about 65 years old, died yesterday afternoon shortly after 4 o'clock while cleaning a yard at Ninth street and Ann avenue, Kansas City, Kas. He had been employed to clean up the lawn and was busily engaged at his work when he suddnely staggered and fell. The police authorities were immediately notified, but before a physician could reach him he was dead. His death is attributed to heart disease. His identity is not known by the local authorities. It was ascertained alst night that he had been stopping at the Helping Hand institute in Kansas City, Mo., for some time past and had been doing odd jobs of yard cleaning for residents of this city.

Henry Smith, a negro, living at Indian Springs, just west of Kansas City, Kas., dropped dead yesterday while walking along the Reidy road. He had been suffering from tuberculosis for several years and his sudden death is attributed to hemmorrage of the lungs. When he left hsi home a few hours prior to his death he was feeling as well as usual, but was stricken suddenly and died before any of the people residing in the neighborhood could reach him.

Labels: death, Helping Hand, Kansas City Kas, laborer

March 30, 1908

OUT OF WORK, TOOK POISON.

Jacob Kohn, Sick and Discouraged,

Ends Life With Acid.

A man, believed to be Jacob Kohn, committed suicide in room fourteen at the Plaza hotel, Missouri avenue and Delaware street, Saturday night, and the body was found at 9 o'clock yesterday morning by Sara Ridgeway, the housekeeper. Coroner George B. Thompson says that during his term of office no other Jew has taken his own life in Kansas city and that the crime is almost unknown among men of Jewish belief

Kohn, in a farewell note, directed that the Jewish Society of Kansas City take charge of his remains. The society will bury the body, but it cannot be laid in a Jewish cemetery.

Kohn's farewell note, which he wrote just before drinking carbolic acid, as the pencil left on the table bears witness, reads:

"To whom it may concern -- This is my second attempt at suicide. I
think I shall succeed this time. I am in poor health, am unable to get
work and have no friends and no money. Give my body to the Jewish
Society. -- Jake Kohn."

Mrs. Ridgeway says that Kohn came to the hotel Saturday night late and registered as John Johnson. She had never seen him before. He paid for his room. Shortly before 9 o'clock yesterday morning when a maid was unable to get into the room to tidy it, Mrs. Ridgeway, who was called in, was informed from a man who had spent the night in room 15 adjoining, that he had heard the man in room 14 groaning and rolling around during the night. Upon that statement Mrs. Ridgeway called the police, who forced the door and found the body.

Coroner Thompson was notified and sent the body to Freeman and Marshall's morgue. Not a penny was found in the clothes. There was nothing to identify the man, excepting the signature on the note. In the pocket were cards from business houses and factories in many Kansas and Oklahoma towns. Kohn was evidently a laborer and had been in these towns looking for employment.

Labels: Coroner Thompson, hotels, laborer, poison, race, Suicide, undertakers

March 28, 1908

WILL THEIR PAY BE RAISED?

Question City Employes Are Asking

Mayor Beardsley.

"If a public utilities commission will raise the salaries of private utility corporations, as is being asserted by political orators, I hope the same commission will have the power to do likewise to underpaid employes of the city," said W. H. Applegate, emoployed as a laborer at the Turkey creek water pumping station, yesterday.

"I have lived in Kansas City for forty years," he continued, "and have been employed as laborer for a number of years at Turkey creek water pumping station at $1.75 a day. This was the salary paid in 1891, and has never been raised, although the cost of living has advanced 40 per cent.

"Some months ago, with a delegation of laborers from the pumping station, we appealed to the board of public works for a slight increase in pay, but were refused. George Hoffmann, president of the board, said to us: "Boys, you have got an easy job and 365 days to work."

Labels: employment, laborer, Mayor Beardsley, public works, Utilities

March 20, 1908

JURY CHOSEN IN

THE MORASH CASE.

ELLA MILLER'S TESTIMONY WILL BE

Prosecutor, in Statement to Jury,

Says the Accused Woman Had

No Cause, Other Than

Fear, to Fly.

The preliminary statements of the prosecution in the case of Mrs. Sarah Morasch, held for the murder of Ruth Miller, were made yesterday by County Attorney Joseph Taggart, beginning at once after the jury was sworn in precisely at 3 o'clock.

The process of impaneling had been tedious, covering the greater part of two days, and the spirit of battle was constantly evident in the minuteness of the examination of each prospective juror. By 2 o'clock the defense, which had six challenges left from the day before yesterday, had used these up. As the six challenges allowed the state under the laws of Kansas were exhausted Wednesday afternoon, the last challenge of the defense left the selection of jurors largely to the option of the court, and in fifteen more minutes Z. Bellamy filled the one vacant chair on the jury platform. The jury, as it stands, follows:

John Bruns, farmer, Piper.
D. C. Roberts, haberdasher, 1961 North Fifth street.
J. Murry, baker, Eleventh street and Minnesota avenue.
A. C. Hartman, laborer, 1943 North Third street.
E. H. Baker, merchant, 47 South Valley street.
Charles V. Sass, farmer, Bethel.
R. A. Alleman, grocer, 1032 North Sixteenth street.
B. H. Hoppe, engineer, R. F. D. No. 4.
J. M. Smithcarpenter, 2300 North Ninth street.
A. T. Delameter, baker, 727 Central.
Z. Bellamy, dairyman, Bethel.

All through the impaneling of the jury Mrs. Morasch sat between her counsel, Daniel Maher and Judge E. H. Wooley. She has seldom smiled. The lines about her mouth, always marked, have grown deeper with the worry of the past three weeks.

When County Attorney Taggart took the floor to deliver the usual preliminary statement on the part of the state, the prisoner smiled feebly, drew down the corners of her mouth and bent forward in her seat as if to catch every word spoken against her. From the beginning to end of the statement she did not once relax from this posture.

Prosecutor Taggart, in introducing the stand of the state in the case, began with the incident, two months ago, when the prisoner took a child from the Hughes maternity home and claimed it as her own. He reviewed facts which brought Mrs. Morasch before the juvenile court on a charge of mistreating the child, stating that the state would attempt to show she had not then sufficient cause to fly the city in fear of the law. When he represented that the prisoner had chaimed to have given birth to the Hughes child, which was 6 weeks old when she obtained it from the institution, Mrs. Morasch laughed and whispered something to counsel, who nodded reassuringly.

Labels: children, County Attorney Taggart, courtroom, Death of Ruth Miller, laborer, murder

March 1, 1908

KINDLY HOLD-UP MEN, THESE.

They Wouldn't Take Michael Doo-

dy's 15 Cents.

Michael Doody, a laborer of 904 Riverview avenue, of Kansas City, Kas., was held up by two men between Mill and Ninth streets on Riverview avenue at 12 o'clock last night. The two men stopped Doody on his way home. One of them drew a revolver and demanded his money. Doody produced, but it was only 15 cents and the generous holdup men wouldn't take that. Instead, they marched Doody to his door, and made him go inside. All of which he was more than glad to do. After he was sure that the holdup men had escaped he notified the police of his experience.

Labels: crime, Kansas City Kas, laborer

February 19, 1908

AMBULANCES RACE FOR

A "DEAD" MAN.

Floater Taken From River

Turns Out to Be Alive.

A real "live" floater caused a neck and neck race along the river front yesterday afternoon between the emergency hospital ambulance and an undertaker's "dead wagon." The race attracted a great deal of attention and caused no end of excitement in the North End. The ambulance is painted gray and the dead wagon, of course, was black. It brought to mind the famous race between the "bob-tailed horse and the gray", but this time the "gray ambulance" won by a hame string.

The cause of the race was John Reich, 45 years old, a laborer of 1011 Cherry street. Reich was taken out of the river for dead. The emergency hospital was notified. Secretary Ebert called Coroner Thompson and the coroner detailed an undertaker to get the "dead man."

In about 20 minutes the telephone at the emergency rang again, and a trembling voice said, "Say feller, that floater ain't no floater 'tall. He's come to. That is, he's turned over onct. Better send the avalance and a doctor 'stead 'o the coroner."

It was then that the ambulance was dispatched and it was too late to call off the undertaker. That was the reason both vehicles met on the way to the river. The first one noticed of the other's presence. They were neck and neck on the river's sands and were "going some" to the east.

Undertakers have been known to race before and it may have been that this one thought a rival was after the body. The driver of the police amulance took up the race in a spirit of fun.

First one would forge ahead, then the other would come up fast and pass at a gallop. The police had the better team, however as it does nothing but run, and the driver was sport enough to win only by a hame string, when he could easily have outdistanced the dead wagon.

Lying on the bank, blue and cold, was Reich. When the undertaker's man saw the "floater" squirm and kick, he said things in "dead languages," reversed his team and slowly drove back home.

Reich was taken to the emergency hospital, where he was pumped out and artificial respiration used to get his lungs into working order. He was put to bed amid a bevy of hot water bottles and bags. In a couple of hours the "dead one" was in a condition to talk.

Reich recalled taking a drink a place down near the Winner piers. After that he said that he just "passed on" He did not know where he got into the water, how he got there, how long he was in, who got him out or where he was taken out.

"All I know is that I can't swim no more than a rock, and I got the derndest coldest duckin' a man ever got -- at least that I ever got. When I get out of this I'm goin' down there to look that ground -- or water -- over."

While Reich appears to be recuperating rapidly, Dr. W. L. Gist, who resuscitated him at the emergency hospital, said that the great danger now was pneumonia.

Labels: Cherry street, Coroner Thompson, Dr. Gist, emergency hospital, laborer, Missouri river, telephone, undertakers

February 3, 1908

FROZEN STIFF IN HIS CHAIR.

Neighbors Found the Body of George

Ordway, a Suicide.

Completely frozen, the body of George Ordway was found in a chair in a sitting posture in his home, 2308 Main street, yesterday morning. Some of his neighbors had called to see him, knowing that he had been in ill health and was somewhat desopndent over the death fo his wife which occurred three weeks ago.

Upon entering the room they found the body and a bottle, which had contained laudanum, upon a table at its side. The police found a note Ordway had left for the coroner, containing several names of persons whom he desired to be notified of his death.

Ordway was 75 years old and had been employed as a laborer on a rock crusher at Twenty-fifth street and Grand avenue. He has no relatives in the city. The coroner said that he had probably been dead for twenty-four hours as it would have taken the body that long to have become completely frozen.

Labels: Grand avenue, laborer, Main street, Seniors, Suicide, Twenty-fifth street

January 28, 1908

CRUSHED BY WAGON WHEELS.

Miguel Condino, 5 Years Old, Killed

While at Play in the Street.

Miguel Condino, 5 years old, was killed in Missouri avenue near Gillis street yesterday afternoon by being run down by a candy wagon. He was knocked down by the horses, the front wheels passed over his neck and the rear wheels had to be lifted from his crushed skull. The boy, a son of Dominick Condino, a laborer, lived at 725 Missouri avenue.

The wagon which crushed the child belonged to the Brown-Gibbons Candy Company, jobbers, 547 Walnut street, and was driven by W. H. Brown, senior member of the firm. Brown, who lives at 305 Walrond avenue, wept bitterly after the accident. After the boy had been taken into his home nearby Brown drove immediately to police headquarters and surrendered. He was released on his own recognizance.

"I was driving west on Missouri avenue at an ordinary gait," Brown said in his statement to police. "As I cleared an alley between Gillis and Harrison streets, four or five small boys scampered out to the south right in front of my team. I was not driving fast. I never drive fast through that district, as there are always children in the streets. I called, 'Look out there,' to the boys and one of them -- the little fellow who was killed -- turned and ran directly into my near horse. He was knocked down. To show that I was not driving very fast, I stopped my team by the time the rear wheels caught the boy. I have a little child of my own and the accident was a great shock to me. I did all I could to prevent it."

An inquest will probably be held.

Labels: accident, children, death, Gillis street, Harrison street, laborer, Missouri avenue, Walnut Street, Walrond avenue

January 23, 1908

SWINDLER BEATS

MANY LABORERS.

COLLECTS A DOLLAR FROM EACH

AS A GUARANTEE.

Promising Work at Clay Center,

Kas., at Good Wages -- Some

of Them Gave Their

Last Dollar.

After waiting in the Union station for more than three hours last night for the appearance of a new employer, more than forty laborers and masons discovered that they had been cleverly swindled out of about $40 in cash. The matter was reported to the police.

A party of Italian laborers also waited at the station last night for a new employer to take them out on a train and he, too, failed to put in an appearance.

Advertisments were placed in several saloons in the downtown districts a few days ago for fifty laborers to go to Clay Center, Kas., to work in excavating and wall building for a new telephone exchange, and also some city work. Applicants were told to apply to the Missouri saloon, 803 Delaware street yesterday. When the purported agent appeared there were at least 200 laborers in front of the saloon looking for work. Each man was required to deposit $1 to guarantee that the laborers would appear at the Union depot at 5 o'clock last night, ready to take a Rock Island train for Clay Center. They were told they would get the $1 back when they had worked a week, and also that the agent would pay their railroad fare.

About forty men went to the Union station last night as directed. The new employer did not appear and about 7 o'clock they returned to the Missouri saloon in search of him, but he could not be found. A. P. T. Wilson, Jr., proprietor of the Missouri saloon, telephoned to the sheriff at Clay Center last night and was informed that there was no work of any kind there that would require the shipment of any laborers from Kansas City, and the work described by the agent was not in process, or contemplated. The laborers had been promised 20 cents an hour and the stonemasons 45 cents an hour. All of the men who gave him the money were out of work and many of them gave their last dollar in hope of securing employment. Many of the men have families and are in poor circumstances.

Labels: con artist, employment, laborer, saloon, Union depot

January 4, 1908

GREEK LABORER LOSES A LEG.

Anoynostopoulos to Be

Amputated.

Alexios Anoynostopoulos, a Greek laborer, fell off a Burlington work train in the Murray yards in Clay county shortly after 5 o'clock last evening, the wheels passing over his right leg. He was brought to the emergency hospital, and then was taken to the German hospital. There hs leg will be amputated at the knee. He is 29 years old, and lives at 609 Bluff street.

Labels: Bluff street, emergency hospital, German hospital, immigrants, laborer, railroad

December 21, 1907

HE WAS DETERMINED TO DIE.

Man Thought to Be Charles Corbett

Killed by Sightseeing Car.

A man believed to be Charles Corbett, a railroad laborer from Rossville Station, Ill., was run down and instantly killed by a "Seeing Kansas City" car at Eighth and Delaware streets about 3:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon. There were a dozen or more witnesses to the man's death. It is said Corbett was under the influence of liquor.

Harry Criner, 707 Washington street, and William Houser, who gave his address as the Santa Fe cutting house, were standing waiting for a car when Corbett started across the tracks. "Houser grabbed hold of the man," said Criner, "and eh jerked away from him. Just then, seeing the car approaching, I stepped forward and the man was so intent on crossing that he struck me across the nose for trying to interfere with him."

There was nothing in the dead man's pockets but what appeared to be a laborer's transfer from Rossville Junction, Ill., on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad, to some other point. The name of Charles Corbett is on that. The same name appears in several places in a small account book he had. Not a cent of money, not even a pocket knife, was found.

The dead man probably was 30 years old, five feet seven or eight inches tall, and weighed about 135 or 140 pounds. He had dark hair, blue eyes, fair complexion and smooth face. He wore a blue flannel shirt, blue overalls and black trousers.

The records at police headquarters show that twice this week a man by the name of Charles Corbett was held for safe keeping. Both times he had been drinking heavily and once went into the station himself claiming that he was being followed. From the description given them of the dead man the police are sure that it is the same one.

Fritz Braden, conductor, and Lowry Burke, motorman, of the car, were arrested by Sergeant James Hogan and Patrolman John T. Rogers. At headquarters they refused to make a statement to Captain Whitsett and were sent to the county prosecutor. They were released after their names had been taken. They promised to be on hand when wanted.

Labels: Captain Whitsett, Delaware street, Eighth street, laborer, police, railroad, streetcar, Suicide, Washington street

December 16, 1907

THEY'RE SLEEPING ON CHAIRS.

Laborers Out of Employment Pack

the Helping Hand.

"There are more people in the North End than ever before at this season," said E. T. Brigham, superintendent of the Helping Hand Institute, last night. Mr. Brigham was racking his ingenuity to find a means of crowding three men into places where there was but room for two, and that crowded. He had just converted three chairs into a temporary bed for a man fresh from the rock pile, and was pausing to explain why the place was so crowded.

"You see, it's the financial situation plus cold weather," he continued. "Most of our guests will not dare the rigors of our system, which requires a man to saw cordwood or break rocks for a bed, as long as the weather will permit sleeping outside, or there are good jobs waiting for them. The financial stringency has thrown many men out of employment. Particularly is this true of railroad laborers. And so they come to us for beds. We are so crowded we have to let many sleep upon chairs or the floor."

"Then, too, demands for men through our employment bureau have fallen off 50 per cent since last month, while demands for positions have increased 100 per cent. Singularly enough, we have men looking for jobs with checks issued by their last employers they cannot get cashed."

Labels: employment, Helping Hand, laborer, North end

August 17, 1907

UNDER SPELL OF EVIL EYE.

The Improbable Manner in Which

Wells Says He Was Hurt.

Henry Wells, a laborer, residing at Twenty-fifth and Oak streets, was taken to the emergency hospital last night by a friend suffering from a broken nose. When asked how he received his injury Wells explained:

"As I come out of a saloon a man looked at me."

As far as Wells could recall the man did not strike him and he had not engaged in a row of any kind. A strange man simply looked at him, and he rushed off for treatment at the emergency hospital. Wells went home after receiving surgical attention.

Labels: emergency hospital, laborer, Oak street, saloon, Twenty-fifth street

August 5, 1907

CARBOLIC ACID KILLS.

DRANK IN THE DARK BY

BECKETT FOR WHISKEY.

Second Man Who Took Swallow of

the Poison Will Recover -- Dead

Man Leaves a Widow and

Seven Children.

Two pint bottles of the same shape, one containing whisky and the other carbolic acid, caused the death of James F. Beckett in Sheffield early yesterday morning. The bottle of whisky was put into a wagon bed which also contained a bottle formerly used for whisky filled with carbolic acid. John Eveland, another laborer, who put the whisky into the wagon bed, also drank of the acid, but he will recover.

John Thomas gave a dancing party Saturday night at his home in Sheffield. About forty men and women were present, and at midnight the dancers decided to continue the party indefinitely until morning.

Beckett had been invited, and after he arrived he was prevailed upon to furnish the music. He sat in the parlor, and from 8 o'clock until midnight played waltzes and two-steps, and occasionally a tune for the Virginia reel, with scarcely a rest, while the tireless dancers encored him again and again.

About 11 o'clock Eveland, who lives only two blocks from Thomas' house, heard the music and the laughter of the young men and women, and decided to see what was going on. I had been drinking a little," said Eveland yesterday, "and I had a pint bottle of whisky, about half full, in my hip pocket. Thomas invited me to come in and dance. I didn't want to take the liquor with me on account of the women. So I slipped out to the shed back of the house and put the bottle in the bed of a wagon. Then I went in and danced until about midnight.

"When the decided to keep on dancing for an hour or two more, Beckett, who was one of my friends, said he was tired. I told him about the whiskey I had put in the shed, and asked him to go have a drink to brace himself up. We took John Burris, one of the other men with us, and all went out to the shed.

"When we got out there it was dark, and I reached into the wagon bed and got out what I supposed to be the bottle I had put there. It was a regular pint whisky bottle, and seemed to be about half full. I had some trouble getting the cork out. While I was trying to draw it, the women were calling for Beckett to play for another dance.

" 'Hurry up,' cried Beckett. 'I've got to get back to the house. '

" 'Give me the bottle,' said Burris. 'I'll get the cork out with my knife.'

"Burris pulled the cork, and raised the bottle to his lips to take a drink, when they called Beckett from the house again, and Beckett grabbed the bottle quickly. He took two long swallows. Then he ran back to the house, and Burris went with him, without waiting for a drink. I then drank a little, and put the bottle back into the wagon."

Eveland says it was about twenty minutes later before the acid pained him, so that he knew he had been poisoned. Beckett, who continued playing for the dancers after taking the acid, began to feel ill about the same time Eveland did.

Dr. R. Callaghan was sent for, and treated both men. Beckett died about 1:30 o'clock. The whisky which Eveland had drunk before he came to the dance saved his life. The reason Beckett did not feel the effect of the aid sooner is believed also to be due to whisky before he went to the shed. The whisky is thought to have counteracted the effects of the acid to a certain extent.

Thomas said yesterday that he always keeps acid in the shed for use as a disinfectant. He keeps horses and hogs there. The bottle was plainly labeled. Had the men struck a match they could not have made the mistake.

James F. Beckett was 39 years old. He lived at 410 Denver avenue, and leaves a widow and seven little children, the youngest being only two months old. The body was taken to Blackman's undertaking rooms in Sheffield, and a coroner's inquest will be held this morning.

Labels: alcohol, amusement, dancing, death, Denver, doctors, laborer, sheffield, undertakers

August 2, 1907

PLUNGES IN HIS SLEEP.

Laborer Walks Out of Second

Story Window of Hotel.

Walking in his sleep, O. P. Olson, a laborer, plunged out of a second story window of a hotel at 10-12 West Fifth street shortly before 2 o'clock this morning. He landed on his head and shoulder. Many bones were broken. The surgeons say there is little hope for the recovery of Olson. He is 35 years old.

Labels: accident, Fifth street, hotels, laborer

July 26, 1907

FINDS CORPSE SITTING UP.

Laborer Shoots Himself Leaning

Against Freight House.

W. C. Hopke, on his way to work at the Interstate Ice Company at 5 o'clock yesterday morning, found the body of a dead man sitting upright against the north side of the Kansas City Southern freight house at Second and Wyandotte streets. The police ambulance was summoned and Dr. Ford B. Rogers found that the man had evidently shot himself. A bullet from a 45-caliber Colt's revolver had entered the right temple, come out at the left temple and imbedded itself in a wooden timber at the dead man's side. The revover was still clutched in the right hand.

Coroner George B. Thompson sent the body to Stine's morgue, where it has remained so far unidentified.

The dead man, who has the appearance of having been a laborer above the common class, appears to be between 47 and 50 years old. He is six feet tall and weighs probably 200 pounds. His complexion is dark, his hair and mustache and eyes are brown and the head is bald. He had only four teeth remaining in the upper jaw. He wore a blue shirt and dark clothes.

Labels: Coroner Thompson, Kansas City Southern, laborer, Second street, Suicide, undertakers, Wyandotte street

May 6, 1907

FOUND DEAD IN A SHED.

Patrick Pendergast, Cousin of the

Alderman, Dies Suddenly.

The body of Patrick Pendergast, a laborer, 35 years old, was found by a neighbor in a shed in the rear of his home, 616 Southwest boulevard, yesterday forenoon. The deceased was a cousin of Alderman Pendergast. The coroner was summoned. Death was due to natural causes.

The man was unmarried and had lived in Kansas City all of his life. A sister, mrs. Margaret Holmes, of Chicago, will come to Kansas City today to take charge of the body.

Labels: death, James Pendergast, laborer, Southwest boulevard

April 12, 1907

CITY WINS "GLASS EYE" SUIT.

Laborer Washed Optic in Water

Impregnated With Dynamite.

John McCann became an employe of the city in 1902 as a member of the water works department. He had at the time only one good eye, the sight of the other having been destroyed and instead of a seeing pupil he had a glass substitute. After working hours one day he discovered, by the aid of a looking glass and the sight of his good eye, that his artificial eye was covered with dirt and he took it out of the socket and gave it a thorough washing in a bucket of water, which it was learned later had been used to wash off several sticks of dynamite. Following this act on the part of Mr. McCann, his other eye became blind and he filed suit against the city for $25,000, alleging that the dynamite washed in the bucket poisoned the water and thus caused the loss of his second eye.

After a trial lasting the entire day Judge McCune, in whose division of the circuit court the case was heard, instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the city. He held that the city was not responsible for the water in which its employes washed their glass eyes. The case has been in the courts for several years, the city in the last trial being represented by Charles Bush, assistant city counselor.

Labels: circuit court, Judge McCune, laborer, Lawsuit

April 4, 1907

WAS IT A MURDER?

Body of Unknown Man Found at

Third and Main.

George Walls, 18 years old, 506 East Fifth street, was in the saloon of Mike Lasalla, 300 Main street, at 1 o'clock this morning with Joseph Rose, the bartender. Walls stepped outside as Rose was locking up the place. When he reached the sidewalk he heard a brick strike the pavement and break. At the same time, he noticed the body of a man lying just north of the saloon on Third street. He says he saw no one else. The dead man's forehead had been crushed. A pile of bricks was nearby on the street.

The two men reported their find at police headquarters and the body was taken to the emergency hospital. It is evidently that of a laborer, perhaps a miner, for a circular describing miners tools was found in a pocket. There were no means of identification. In the man's pockets, besides this circular, were a cheap watch and a card reading "Oklahoma saloon, southwest corner of Seventeenth and Walnut."

The body is that of a man of about 30 years. He wore a suit of dark clothing that had seen service, blue overalls, blue shirt, both new, and new underwear. He was 5 feet 11 inches in height, weight about 185 pounds.

The coroner took charge of the body.

Labels: death, emergency hospital, Fifth street, hospitals, laborer, Main street, murder, police headquarters, saloon, Seventeenth street, Third street, Walnut Street