June 28, 1908 NEGROES FEAR 'JIM CROW' LAW.
They're Going to Prepare to Fight Any Such Proposal.
To prepare for the protection of the negroes' civil rights in Missouri the Negro Constitutional League has issued a general call to all the negroes in Kansas City to meet in the Allen chapel, Tenth and Charlotte streets, Monday evening. The call says that the activity in Kansas City of certain enemies to the negro race has been so great that the next session of the legislature will have to consider bills proposing Jim Crow laws, and the disfranchisement of the negroes.
The meeting will be for the purpose of selecting the strongest men locally to work for the defeat of such laws, and to arrange for the reception of the state league, which meets here July 9 and 10.Labels: Charlotte street, organizations, race, Tenth street June 23, 1908 ADA LANDED ON GLASSWARE.
Noisy Finale of Attempted Escape From the Workhouse.
Plumbers working in the women's ward at the workhouse yesterday cut a hole 18x24 inches in the floor. When Ada Parker, 23 years old, fat, black and dissatisfied with her environment, saw the hole on going to bed at the usual hour, she began to make plans.
At midnight she stole from her bed, taking with her the blankets and sheets. Those she tied together, securing one end to the leg of her bed, dropping the other into the hole in the floor. Ada chuckled as she contemplated the blackness below. It was of the same complexion as Twenty-third and Vine. She could already feel the night wind tugging at her skirts as she skipped, in fancy, up the dark street to liberty.
She dropped through the hole and slid down her blanket rope and landed in a little pantry packed with workhouse china, glassware, tin pans and cutlery. The noise Ada made in connection with the pans and things was sufficient to rouse even the workhouse guards. She was rescued, bleeding in many soft parts of her anatomy. Dr. George R. Dagg, workhouse surgeon, patched her up. Today the plumbers will nail up the hole in the floor.Labels: doctors, race, Twenty-third street, Vine street, women, workhouse June 16, 1908 YOUNG WOMEN IN BLACK FACE.
Minstrel Show to Raise Funds for a Delegate's Trip.
There was a large audience in the gymnasium of the Y. W. C. A. last night to witness the "De Creole Ladies," a production arranged by the You Will Come Again Club of the association for the purpose of accumulating money to send a representative to the Lake Geneva conference next August.
The entertainment opened with a minstrel show, in which thirty participated, the interlocutor character being in the keeping of Miss Georgia Thurman, who had her hands full because of the antics and questions of the four end "men," who were impersonated by Miss Ada Ackerman, Miss Hazel Gross, Miss Grace Curtis and Mrs. Elizabeth Harlow. All other participants were thoroughly drilled in their respective parts and there was not a dull moment from the upgoing of the initial curtain until the end.
Other features of the entertainment were negro songs, jigs and sayings, and a sketch, "Miss Pepper's Ghost." Because of the pronounced success of the event it is probable that within a short time there will be another, the proceeds of which will be used for some other of the many needs of the association.
Although it will now be possible for the Kansas City association to be represented at the Lake Geneva conference, it at this time is not known to whom the errand will fall.Labels: organizations, race, theater June 12, 1907 NEGRO WHO ROBBED ACTOR KOLKER CAUGHT.
J. H. ANDREWS FLED TO PARIS WITH MONEY AND JEWELS.
Stole Bag Containing $1,000 in Money and $2,500 Worth of Jewels in Sexton Hotel Cafe Last April.
After a successful flight that entailed many narrow escapes from pursuing officers, and on an itinerary through St. Louis, Chicago, New York and Liverpool, J. H. Andrews, negro, the Sexton hotel waiter who robbed Henry and Mrs. Kolker, actors, of $3,500 in money and jewels while they were taking lunch in the cafe the night of April 22, was captured in Paris yesterday. Andrews was a postcard fiend, it is said, and the fact that he constantly sent them to a negro woman in this city was the cause of his undoing.
Local police authorities give Patrolman Daniel Keenan credit for the capture of Andrews. A few hours after the negro's flight from the city, Keenan somehow discovered the woman friend and obtained from her a promise to help him discover his whereabouts.
Taking a tip from her, he went to the Union depot, where she said Andrews had taken a train for St. Louis. There Keenan discovered the negro had purchased a ticket for St. Louis , but that it had never been taken up on the train. The patrolman then believed, he says, that he was working on a blind lead and, returning, told the woman about it.
"Oh, that's all right," she assured Keenan. "He is one of those postcard fiends and if we wait awhile we will hear from him that way," and the policeman decided to wait, as there was nothing else to do.
The following day the negress called police headquarters and wanted Keenan.
"First card," she said. "I think he is going on through St. Louis, for he did not give his address."
The next card received by the woman came from Chicago, the next from Buffalo and then one from New York. There was a long interval before the one from Liverpool arrived. Even that one did not give an address, and the name signed was merely "Andrews," in a protracted scrawl.
The post card from Paris arrived Wednesday. It bore on the back a few words of greeting and the street address of the rooming house where Andrews was stopping, followed by a line asking for a letter from his woman friend. This was turned over to Patrolman Keenan, who cabled at once to the police headquarters at Paris asking Andrew's arrest on a grand larceny charge.
A cablegram telling of the negro's arrest by Parisian police came addressed to Keenan at police headquarters yesterday morning, and word has been returned to hold Andrews for extradition.
Henry Kolker was playing an engagement with the Barker Stock Company at the Shubert theater the week of April 22. It was after the play on the night of that date that he and Mrs. Kolker, accompanied by a woman friend, went into the cafe of the Sexton hotel, where they were stopping for supper.
Mrs. Kolker carried a large purse-handbag, which contained the money, 10 $100 bills and jewels. They sat at a small table, upon which there was not room for the handbag. Mrs. Kolker placed the bag on the floor beside her, and the three remained in the cafe until all the other patrons had gone. It was near closing time when they finished their supper, and in the hurry of departure Mrs. Kolker left the bag behind.
It was an hour later that she discovered her loss, which was at once reported to the hotel people and the police.
Detectives at work on the case next morning found that J. H. Andrews, a negro waiter, had suddenly left the hotel. In his rooms they found Mrs. Kolker's empty bag and letters which led them to believe the negro had gone to St. Louis.
Mr. Kolker said he carried a large sum of money because he was preparing to leave for Australia, where he had a theatrical engagement. He was to have sailed the latter part of may, but the loss of his savings made it necessary to cancel the engagement. He offered a $500 reward for the arrest of the thief and the recovery of the jewels.Labels: crime, hotels, police, race, St Louis, theater, Union depot June 9, 1908 RAT BITES CHUNK FROM NURSE'S NOSE.
WHILE SHE WAS ASLEEP IN THE GENERAL HOSPITAL.
Discovery Made by Mayor Crittenden While Making a Tour of In- spection of Institution Yesterday Afternoon.
"Think of having to sleep in a place where rats gnaw off the end of your very nose," said Mayor Thomas T. Crittendon, Jr., after having gone through the general hospital yesterday afternoon. "I wouldn't have believed that anybody had to sleep under those conditions if I hadn't seen a nurse at the hospital who was in bed and undergoing treatment for a severe rat bite in her nose. While she was sleeping soundly Saturday night a rat disfigured her face by taking a large chunk of flesh from her nose.
"Such a place as the city hospital, the old one, I mean, is a disgrace to Kansas City. The filth and mean wards should not be tolerated. Think of taking a visitor out to our general hospital. Why, I would be too ashamed to do it. There is no excuse for such conditions as exist at the hospital."
Mayor Crittenden had accepted an invitation from Dr. St. Elmo Sanders, city physician, to make the tour of the hospital and before the party had gone far on their way they met Mr. Charles Shannon and he made the third on the trip of inspection.
The mayor was particularly displeased with the quarters for the nurses at the present hospital. The third floor is set apart for them and it is infested by rats and other vermin to such an extent that a few months ago the board of public works found it necessary to make an appropriation to reimburse the nurses for the loss of shoes, hosiery and underwear which the rats had eaten.
The way in which white and black, male and female patients, are all placed in the same room met with the mayor's disapproval. He had said that conditions in the hospital might be bettered to a great extent, though the building itself was responsible for a certain amount of the disgraceful condition.
If the mayor was bitter in his condemnation of the old hospital he was more than enthusiastic over the new hospital which is almost completed. He called it a building of which the citizens of Kansas City might well be proud, and says he will push as rapidly as possible all details so that the city hospital department shall soon be ho used in a building which can cleanly and adequately take care of patients.Labels: doctors, general hospital, Mayor Crittenden, race June 5, 1908 NEGRO BANKER-PREACHER IS HERE.
W. L. Taylor Will Speak at First Baptist Church Tonight.
W. L. Taylor, negro, known as the "banker preacher," will speak at the First Baptist church, colored, at Tenth and Charlotte streets tonight. Mr. Taylor is the president of the Savings Bank of Grand Fountain at Richmond, Va., the largest and oldest negro bank in the United States. The institution has something like $18,000,000 on deposit. While in the city Mr. Taylor is the guest of Rev. S. W. Bacote, pastor of the church at which Mr. Taylor will speak tonight.Labels: banking, Charlotte street, churches, ministers, race, Tenth street May 14, 1908 WOMAN MAY GO TO PRISON.
Marie Moore, the "Silent Woman," Becomes Loquacious.
Marie Moore, the "silent woman," yesterday pleaded guilty in the United States district court to sending an objectionable letter through the mails to another woman. When she was placed on the witness stand she became so voluble the court had difficulty shutting her up. She told a story of her past life that astonished even the court officials. The letter the woman wrote was not read in open court, but was passed to the jurymen to read individually. It appeared that the woman was under some sort of influence of a half-breed negro. She is a good-looking, apparently fairly well educated woman, and seems to possess ordinary intelligence. The woman said her parents were farmers residing near West Grande, Ia. Her case has attracted considerable sympathy, that waned perceptibly when her life story was told in court yesterday.Labels: federal court, race, United States District Court, women May 4, 1908 BAPTIZED THEM IN A BATH TUB.
Five Negroes in County Jail Joined Church Yesterday.
Five negroes, confined in the county jail awaiting trail on charges of burglary of larceny or both, confessed to conversion and yesterday forenoon were baptized in running cold water inside the jail. Rev. Joseph W. Fitts, Baptist, and Rev. A. B. Ross, of the United Christian Workers, who performed the ceremony, had to figure a bit to get cold and running water in the jail to perform the rite, but finally hit upon the plan of filling a bathtub full of water, pulling out the bung and turning on the tap. The plan worked like a charm and everyone of the five chattered "Glory!" when he came up, just as if he had been immersed in the Blue river or some other real stream
Fitts, pastor of the Macedonian Baptist church of Independence, serving a year's sentence for criminal assault upon a 14-year-old girl, daughter of a member of his flock, claims the credit for the conversion of the five other prisoners, but the jailers are prone to shift a bit of the glory to the workers whom the wife of Judge W. H. Wallace has on two occasions brought to the jail to sing and pray with the prisoners. The Rev. Mr. Ross and some twelve assistants have been holding services regularly on Sundays in the jail for some months.
The prisoners, who were immersed in the tub of flowing cold water are: Frank Johnson, Oscar Jensen, Edward Dixon, Jeff Call and Boyd Brown. Johnson is the best known negro of the five and has confessed to robbing nearly a score of residence in the Northeast portion of the city.
Over twenty members of the United Worker's band, men and women, accompanied Ross to the jail and watched their leader and Fitts perform the rite.Labels: churches, Independence, jail, ministers, race May 1, 1908 NO CASE AGAINST HARPOLE.
Negro Did Not Shoot Three White Men -- Is Discharged.
Judge U. S. Guyer of the North city court, Kansas City, Kas., yesterday discharged Reuben Harpole, being tried for the shooting of Joshua Wells, Charles Johns and M. U. Martinson at Fifth street and Oakland avenue on the night of April 10. He said there was not enough evidence against the negro to convict him. The state's attorney expressed himself as satisfied with teh decision.
The three men named had been drinking according to their own statements made to the chief of police, and had quarreled with a party of negroes about a couple of small girls. A negro bystander then drew a revolver and commenced firing. Martinson, who was shot first, drew his revolver, but it would not work and he tossed it over an adjacent signboard into a vacant lot. Harpole was arrested a few days later and identified by the two girls as the man wanted for the shooting.
Joshua Wells is now in Bethany hospital, where he underwent an operation for the removal of a bullet, which is said to have lodged in the vicinity of the right lung. He will die.Labels: alcohol, hospitals, Judges, Kansas City Kas, race, violence April 22, 1908 NEGRO WILL CARRY HIS MAIL.
Postmaster Harris Plays a "Joke" on Mayor Crittenden.
Postmaster J. H. Harris has a merry wit. Reading Mayor Crittenden's announcement that the first man he would "fire from the city hall would be the negro clerk of the police court," he has assigned a negro postman to deliver the mail at the city hall for the ensuing year. A white carrier has been on that route until now.
"It just happened in the shake up," was the only explanation the postmaster would make of the affair, but he laughed heartily as he told the "joke on Tom."Labels: city hall, Mayor Crittenden, post office, race April 12, 1908 UNTHANK MAY GO TO BAHIA.
Negro Physician Said to Be Started for a $4,500 Job.
Unless there is a puncture, or something happens in the next few weeks to the car of progress of T. C. Unthank, a Kansas City negro doctor, he will play in luck that thousands of white politicians would be glad to have come their way. Unthank yesterday finished an examination for the consular service. It was supposed that the proceeding was perfunctory, and that he would stand the same show and no more, than the other ninety-nine out of every 100 who try to get into the consular service.
Unthank, so it appears,is slated to go to Bahia, in the Republic of Brazil, at a salary of $4,500 a year. The job pays $500 a year more than that of registrar of the treasury, at Washington, commonly supposed to be the cream de la cream of fat jobs for the negro leaders. Brazil is one of the very few countries to which negroes may be sent.
Unthink is supposed to have passed a very good examination. He is required to be able to speak two languages. To further his claims the negro doctor called for papers in three languages, English, French and Spanish. In addition to having to be proficient in at least one foreign tongue, consular candidates must know something of the three R's.Labels: doctors, employment, race April 9, 1908 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY JEWS.
Mrs. Ethel Feineman Writes of Early Settlers in Reform Advocate.
In the last issue of the Reform Advocate, a Jewish magazine published in Chicago, there appears an interesting article by Miss Ethel Feineman of this city, styled, "A History of the Jews of Kansas City." The article is liberally illustrated, with cuts showing buildings and views of the city, and a fine picture of Convention hall adorns the cover of the page.
Beginning with a brief history of the founding of the city, Miss Feineman goes at once into he subject with sketches of the pioneers among the Jews and shows how active this race has been in the development of this commercial center.
The Jews became identified with Kansas City as early as 1851, when Meyer Kayser and Moses Wolf settled here. M. Eisbach and W. J. Friedsam followed these two later in the same year, and the next year welcomed Herman Ganz. M. Waidsuer and Louis Rothschild. Mr. Ganz still makes this city his home.
B. A. Feineman, Miss Ethel's father, is another one of the old settlers who helped to make history For some years previous to the organization of the the Congregation B'Nai Jehudah, the Jews maintained a temple in which services were held twice a year, but in the fall of 1870, the first congregation was organized and Rabbi M. R. Cohen was called as minister. The Jewish Burial Association was also merged into this congregation. The congregation now has a magnificent house of worship at Oak and Eleventh streets, as have the Keneseth-Israel synagogue, the Tavares-Israel, and the Gomel-Chased congregations in other parts of the city. They also maintain several charitable institutions, and are in many ways interested in philanthropic work.
Among the leaders of the women are mentioned Mrs. H. H. Meyer, Mrs. Leo Lyon, Mrs. Helen Leavitt, Miss L. Hammerslough and Mrs. Ida M. Block. Excellent portraits with brief sketches are given of some thirty or forty of the leaders in society and church work.Labels: churches, Convention Hall, Eleventh street, ministers, Oak street, pioneers, race, women 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 20, 1908 FORM GOOD CITIZEN LEAGUE.
It's Purpose Is to Lessen Crime Among Kansas City Negroes.
With the object of lessening crime among the negroes a Good Citizens' League was formed last night at a meeting held at the home of Mrs. Maria W. Williams, 628 Tracy avenue. The janitors of schools and office buildings, firemen and policemen will especially be solicited to join the league. Effort will be made to prevent negro children going to saloons for liquor for their parents. Wayward boys and girls will be looked after and the juvenile court will be asked to exercise a supervisory control over youthful derelicts. A committee on rules was appointed by Mrs. Williams, who preside, as follows: W. Dawson, Dr. Dibble, O. M. Shackleford, Mrs. M. P. Williams, Professor J. D. Bowser, P. W. H. Williams and Professor Wilson. Another meeting will be held at the same address next Thursday night.Labels: crime, organizations, race, Tracy avenue February 26, 1908 DRIVEN BACK TO KANSAS.
East Atchisonians Won't Let Negroes Live in Missouri.
ATCHISON, Feb. 25. -- (Special.) Some time ago, when the saloons of Atchison were closed, a number of the proprietors moved to East Atchison, Mo., and continued the business. Wholesalers as well as retailers went across the river, taking colored help with them. The negroes drove wagons an cleaned up their places.
Yesterday a lot of Missourians got after the negroes and drove them back to Kansas They were ordered not to return. They had given no offense, but certin residents of the Missouri suburb objected to any negroes making their home there.Labels: race February 8, 1908 NEGRO FIREMEN MUST MOVE.
Famous No. 11 to Be Transferred to Vine Street Station.
The administration has turned a deaf ear to the pleadings of the negro population not to move negro fire company No. 11 from Independence avenue, and will transfer it to the old fire station on Vine street, near Eighteenth, soon to be vacated by a company of white firemen. The latter organization will be installed in a handsome new firehouse the city is erecting on Virginia, near Independence, close to the old shack that the negro firemen have had to put up with for years.
Naturally, the negro firemen are considerably put out with the change, and the claim is made that they are entitled to better quarters than they have been getting, and into which they are to be moved.Labels: Eighteenth street, Fire, race, Vine street February 3, 1908 PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO.
Defined in Address Last Night by W. T. Vernon.
In an address delivered to negroes at Allen chapel last night, W. T. Vernon of the United States treasury department said that the possibilities of the negro are encouraging to all those who desire a better era for these people. He claimed that the negro appreciates all the opportunities which may be opened to him. He declared that with the negro's freedom was made the most radical change in social order.
"The passage of the war amendments was necessary and just," said Mr. Vernon. "They prohibited peonage, defined citizenship, provided for the penalization of any state which should disenfranchise its citizens, and provided against this injustice on account of color. Then came the upward struggle of 4,000,000,000 people and as a result of such legislation and protection, the race has made achievements unparalleled in the world's history by any race similarly environed. From 1870 to 1900 the illiteracy of the face was decreased 43 per cent. At the close of the civil war the negro was without a home. In 1900, thirty-five years later, 372,414 were owners of homes of which 225,156 were free from incumbrance. He has nearly 30,000 school teachers, 500 young negroes pursuing special courses in the greatest institutions of learning in this and foreign countries, and he is paying taxes on quite $800,000,000 worth of property.
"Unbiased men will admit that such a record deserves encouragement, and gives just ground for the belief that he is daily becoming an appreciated, potent factor for good.
"The South today is struggling industrially with the rest of the world. The building up of this section can not be accomplished without the labor of the negro. These people, discriminated agaisnt, with thier schools diminishng, are not given an opportunity to do the best within them, and thus give to their country the splendid efforts which they could otherwise give. Blind indeed to right and justice -- blind to the best interests of our country is he who denies to any class of our citizens that which he asks for himself. As a race we must remember that education, sobriety, thrift and energy are the qualities which will give us success, permanent and lasting.
"While seeking industrial opportunity and progress in the business world, the spiritual side, which has to do with literature, art, science, culture and soul growth, should not be neglected. Here in the midst of a growing developing population, with less racial antagonisms and discriminations than are found elsewhere, I believe the race can rise to its highest possibilites. I would advice that we remain here and work out our destiny."
At Lincoln high school, Nineteenth and Tracy, Mr. Vernon addressed the colored Y. M. C. A. yesterday afternoon.Labels: Civil War, Nineteenth street, race, schools, Tracy avenue, YMCA January 31, 1908 HE ASSOCIATED WITH NEGROES.
Harry Hopkins Makes Out a Poor Case Against His Comrades.
The negroes charged with throwing Harry Hopkins, 18 years old, over a twenty-foot embankment after assaulting and cutting him, at 919 Oak street, Nov. 16, were discharged yesterday by Justice Shoemaker. They were Dave Foster and Cleve Penn.
Hopkins worked under his father at the postoffice in the special delivery department. Foster, the negro, had also been employed at that work, and there was evidence that they had been very intimate, even spending nights together in the basement of the Keith and Perry Building, where special delivery boys gathered to gamble and drink.
The two boys, the afternoon of Nov 16, were locked in a room at 919 Oak street with two negro women where there was drinking and card playing. The evidence upon which the judge ordered a discharge was coroborated by five witnesses. It was that Cleve Penn, regular attendant of one of the girls, came from work in the barber shop in the Long Building, rapped, told who he was and Hopkins, evidently under the influence of liquor and fright, jumped through a window, ran around two houses and at full sped plunged into Oak street, twenty feet below. Here he was found by strangers, both wrists cut, his left ankle, right leg and right arm broken. He was treated at the Emergency hospital and taken to the German Hospital, where his life was several times despaired of.
Hopkin's testimony was that he had gone to the place to collect $2 from "Cyclone Dave" Foster, who, he asserted, ruled over a number of the special delivery boys, caling himself the "Invincible King." "Bull of the Mill," a professional pugilist, making them at times pay him money. "Cyclone Dave," however, had a witness to prove that Hopkins that morning got $2 of his money on a note sent to a tailor on Twelfth street. This, he said, was spent for candy and liquor for the girls.Labels: alcohol, emergency hospital, gambling, German hospital, Judge Shoemaker, Oak street, post office, race, Twelfth street January 28, 1908 THEY'LL FIGHT CONSUMPTION.
Negroes Band Together to Battle With the White Plague.
Six hundred negroes, eager to fight the white plague, met last night at Allen chapel, Tenth and Charlotte streets, and organized a colored people's branch of the Society for the Relief and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Mayor Beardsley and Dr. R. O. Cross addressed them, explaining in part the plans of the city for a tuberculosis sanitarium.
Among the negro speakers who followed, several declared that there will be vigorous work done now to educate their own people who are living in crowded tenements as to how to fight tuberculosis. Also it was said that the negroes will contrubute their part financially to the proposed $10,000 fund to be given to the city by way of destroying the idea that it is a city charity for paupers.
The negro society's officers are Dr. J. E. Dipple, president; W. C. Houston, secretary; Professor R. W. Foster, treasurer; Rev. F. Jesse Peck, chairman of the executive committee.
Others who spoke were: Dr. E. B. Ramsey, Dr. W. L Tompkins, Dr. A. E. Walker, Dr. J. E. Perry, Nelson, Crews, and Mrs. Cora Calloway, a trained nurse.Labels: Charlotte street, churches, City Chemist Cross, health, Mayor Beardsley, organizations, race, Tenth street January 24, 1908 NEGROES DON'T WANT TO MOVE.
Firemen Object to Going to Even Eighteenth and Vine Streets.
An old row has broken out in the fire department over the color scheme, through the building of a double fire house facing the old baseball grounds on Independence avenue. No. 11, a negro company, has been in this district for many years. Now that a new station with facilities for two companies is being completed, preparations are being made to transfer this negro company to Eighteenth and Vine streets, where No. 10, a white company, now is, and send that company to Independence avenue to share the new station with some other white company.
The negroes do not want to go to the Vine street station and wire pulling has started. Property owners have got into the fight and the alderman, Lapp, is in all sorts of trouble.
"But the change will be made," said an official yesterday. "The chief runs the department and he has the right to change companies about. He knows that the district on Independence avenue has built up, and that there are flats built close to the fire station. He knows that a white and a negro company could not get along as well together in the same headquarters as two white companies, and all of us know that the negro firemen will find more of their people at Eighteenth and Vine streets than they have now in Independence avenue."Labels: Eighteenth street, Fire, Independence avenue, race, Vine street January 21, 1908 BECAUSE DEFENDANT IS NEGRO.
Two Jurymen Declare They Could Not Give Him a Fair Trial.
The state's attorneys had secured a jury of twelve in the criminal court yesterday to try Charles McKenzie for the murder of Everett Washington only after much difficulty. Ten of the panel of fifty-seven were excused because they had scruples against the infliction of the death penalty, and two because they said they were prejudiced against McKenzie because he is a negro.
"I have been reading so much about crimes of negroes recently," said one of the two, Alvis H. Gonnelly, a lumberman, "that I am much prejudiced against them. It will take a lot of evidence, I fear, to prove to me that a negro was not guilty."Labels: criminal court, murder, race December 10, 1908 FOR ITS LONDON ENGAGEMENT.
"The Clansman" Company to Begin Special Rehearsals Monday.
Rehearsals will begin on the stage of the Willis Wood theater next Monday of the version of "The Clansman" to be produced at the Lyceum theater, London, in June, and later in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. George H. Brennan wired his representative here last night that the London booking had at last been definitely arranged and that contracts had also been closed with J. C. Williamson -- the Charles Frohman of antipodean theatricals -- for the principal Australian cities.
While all the dramatic features of "The Clansman" will be retained, some changes will be made in the characters and dialogue to suit the comprehension of non-American audiences. The rehearsals for the foreign version will be supervised by a director who has staged several of the American plays most successful in London.Labels: race, theater January 8, 1907 MANY OBJECT TO PLAYGROUNDS.
Some Say They're to Be Too Near Railroad Yards.
Many property owners east of Main Street, north of Independence avenue and west of Highland are contemplating a petition to the board of park commissioners to protest against two sites said to have been chosen as playgrounds. A committee selected for the purpose reported Monday that it would recommend two sites, one bounded by Tracy and Lydia avenues, Second and Third streets, and another bounded by Gilliss, Campbell, Third and Fifth streets. The former is said to have been selected for a playground for negroes.
Many of the residents in the districts adjacent are complaining as they say both sites are too close to the railroad tracks. They claim that boys will be constantly tempted to "hop trains."
Property owners in the space bounded by and Forest avenues, Missouri avenue and Pacific street are the biggest objectors. A petition probably will be started in that neighborhood today.
"Twice this block has been selected by a committee," said a property owner in that block yesterday. "At least that was published and it gave rise to the report that our property was to be condemned for park or playground purposed. Many of us had sales consumated, even to the point of a deposit being made. No one would buy our property with the condemnation proceedings staring them in the face."Labels: Campbell street, Fifth street, Gillis street, Highland avenue, Independence avenue, Lydia avenue, Main street, Missouri avenue, Pacific street, Park board, race, Second street, Third street, Tracy avenue December 22, 1908 FARMERS WERE HIS FRIENDS.
Sid Stapleton, Negro, Owes His Lib- erty to Their Faith in Him.
When Sid Stapleton, negro, was arrested last June for the murder of John Kemp, negro, in a free for all fight at 212 Charlotte street, six farmers of Glasgow, Mo., for whom Stapleton had worked before he came to Kansas City, joined together and employed the best attorney they could find in that part of the state to defend him.
Stapleton was tried in the criminal court Friday and yesterday morning the jury returned a verdict of acquittal. His attorney convinced the jury that with a dozen negroes fighting at once, two with knives and one with a revolver, it was not by any means certain that the defendant gave Kemp his death wound.
Stapleton returned to Glasgow last night and will end his days there, he says.Labels: Charlotte street, courtroom, murder, race November 28, 1907 CONLEY SISTERS RESTRAINED.
Guardians of Indian Burial Grounds Must Give Builders an Chance.
Judge McCabe Moore yesterday in the district court of Wyandotte county granted a restraining order against the Conley sisters in behalf of the Scottish Rite Masonic lodge of Kansas City, Kas. The Conley sisters -- Lyda, Ellena and Ida -- are of Wyandotte descent and are camped in the old Indian burial ground in Huron place to prevent the desecration of their forefathers' graves by the government. An order has been made by the national congress that the department of interior shall sell the cemetery.
The Masonic lodge is building a temple to replace the one destroyed by fire a year ago at Seventh street and Ann avenue. A week ago workmen took down the fence around the burying ground, but were beaten back by the young women who promptly, under guard, rebuilt the fence. In the application made yesterday by Attorney Will Wood, the Masons stated that the women are interfering with the grading for the temple.Labels: cemetery, Kansas City Kas, lodges, Native Americans, race November 12, 1907 MIGHT LOSE JEWISH VOTES.
Democrats Uneasy Over Judge Wallace's Speech -- A Mass Meeting Called.
"At a meeting held Saturday by the Bar association, one of its members, Judge Wallace, in a speech referred in such a way to a large number of our citizens as to cause many people to believe that his purpose was the inciting of religious antagonism.
"This is the Twentieth century. Possibly the judge does not know it. You are respectfully requested to attend a meeting to be held Wednesday evening at Mechanics' hall, 1226 Grand avenue, where such action will be taken as may be deemed proper in the premises."
-- Call for a mass meeting being circulated to-day.
Judge W. H. Wallace has stirred up strife among his political associates. They are concerned for the effect upon the Democratic party of the speech made by the judge before the Bar association Saturday night in which he reflected on the Jews connected with the Theatrical trust.
If nothing should be done to offset it they feared there might be serious trouble for the party at the next election.
Accordingly a mass meeting -- non-partisan, of course, is to be held as a sort of counter irritant. There is no avowed sponsor for the meeting, but twenty men were circulating this morning what might be termed a combined petition and invitation to attend the meeting.
No programme of speakers has been arranged, but the men who are circulating the call for the meeting say the speeches will be worth while. The meeting is scheduled for to-morrow night in Mechanics' hall, 1226 Grand avenue.
A man in charge of one of the petitions denied this morning that it was to be a Democratic meeting. But he couldn't recall the name of any Republican circulating one of the documents.
"Everybody's for it, though," he said.Labels: Grand avenue, Judge Wallace, politics, race November 4, 1907 HEP, HEP, BUT NO TILLMAN.
THE BODYGUARD OF POLICE ARRIVED AT THE DEPOT TOO LATE.
So the South Carolina Senator Reached the Hotel Without Escort -- But There Was No Riot -- In Convention Hall To-night.
Was it a mob of hotel waiters they feared? Was it a delegation from the hodcarriers' union? Was it -- well, never mind.
The members of the Millinery Traveling Men's association in charge of the Tillman lecture to-night didn't confide the reason to Chief Ahern. They merely called him up yesterday afternoon and asked for a police guard for the senator from South Carolina when he should reach Kansas City to-day. The chief was agreeable.
So, hep, hep at the depot this morning.
A detachment of seven patrolmen from headquarters marched down in good order and debouched on the platform.
HEP, HEP, AGAIN.
Hep, hep, again.
Reinforcements from the St. Louis avenue station. Five more patrolmen and Sergeant O'Neil in eschelon formation wheeled into place.
Martial law for the depot. The ushers retreated in good order. Only the truck pushers were undismayed. Repeatedly they charged the line and battered it to pieces.
But Senator Tillman didn't come. Finally the guard got tired and investigated.
"Shucks," somebody said. "The senator got in an hour ago."
As there was no evidence of excitement and as no mob had been seen, the police marched away. In good order, of course. At the Coates house the senator disclaimed any knowledge of a request for police protection.
DOESN'T NEED A BODYGUARD.
"I just climbed off the train and took a carriage for the Coates house," the senator said this morning. "No, I have never been badly in need of a bodyguard and I don't want any now. I saw what I think and some people don't like it, I reckon, but I am in no danger, thank you."
Senator Tillman has had several disputes with some of his auditors in Western cities where he has lectured recently on the race question. Negroes have made threats against him, but there has been no violence.
HE ENJOYS THE TILTS.
"It isn't out of the ordinary for me to have a few tilts here and there when I speak my mind freely," the senator said. "There ain't any use in getting excited about it, either. I enjoy it too well to think about being guarded. The trouble with so many people is they want to solve the race problem without knowing anything about it. I know what I'm talking about when I talk about negroes."
Senator Tillman is a broad shouldered, stockily built man, with a full face and gray hair, which stands up straight. He will lecture on "The Race Problem" in Convention hall to-night. Tomorrow night he will lecture in Garnett, Kas.Labels: Coates house, Police Chief Ahern, race, Union depot October 12, 1907 NEGROES WANT OLD HOSPITAL.
Are Afraid No Arrangements Will Be Made for Them Now.
Kansas City negro physicians are again agitating to a slight extent the old proposition to have the present hospital building made into a separate department for negroes, with negro physicians and nurses in charge. Notwithstanding the agreement realized some months ago by a committee composed of Drs. T. C. Unthank, J. e. Perry, J. E. Dibbs, J. S. Shannon and J. N. Birch, representing the Negro Medical Society of Kansas City, and Aldermen Young, Eaton, Greene, Woolf and Mayor Beardsley, city council hospital committee, the negro doctors are somewhat dissatisfied and may ask that the council reopen the matter.
By the terms of this agreement a negro ward is to be established in the new general hospital with internes and nurses of that race. Here, it was promised, the negro physicians might take their patients and hold suitable clinics, with quarters ample for all their needs.
There is a well defined suspicion among the negro doctors that in the bustle of rearrangements this agreement will be forgotten.
"So far as we know," said Dr. Untank last night, "the promise of the council committee will be kept. But we have not observed any very marked degree of activity towards carrying it out, and many of us are inclined to believe we shall be left holding the bag when the readjustment is made. Just now if one of us has the amputation of a finger to perform, he must take his patient across the line to Kansas City, Kas. Naturally we are very much worried as to what will be done for us hereafter in this matter. We can not see even yet any real reason why we should not be given the old hospital as we asked at first.
"At least 90 per cent of the negro cases in Kansas City are handled by negro physicians. We have no clinical facilities whatever, and but few facilities for taking care of those of our race who may be in need of suitable hospital care -- at least for those of the 90 per cent we have under our charge. We shall be satisfied if we are given the quarters at the new building we were promised. I am sure, however, another attempt will be made to secure the old building for our purpose."
A number of councilmen w ho were asked about the matter evaded the question yesterday, declaring they had too many present problems to worry them to bother about this until it became necessary. It is generally believed that the new building will be ready for occupancy in January or February.Labels: doctors, health, hospitals, Kansas City council, Mayor Beardsley, race October 4, 1907 NEGRO BISHOP'S ADVICE.
Rev. Isaac Lane, Educator, Counsels Sobriety and Economy.
Rev. Isaac Lane of Jackson, Tenn., senior bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal church, preached to a gathering of negroes in their house of worship at Nineteenth street and Highland avenue last night.
The subject of the discourse was "Housekeeping," and was in a general way advice and counsel as the the relation that the husband and wife should bear to each other and to the family, for the prosperity, material and spiritual, of all concerned. The speaker deplored the fact of so many of the wives and mothers of his church being employed away from their own homes, to the detriment and neglect of their own children. he counseled economy, sobriety and education as the three things essential to the progress of the negro race, and quoted statistics to prove the race was becoming more prosperous through adherence to the three rules mentioned.
Bishop Lane is the founder and president of Lane college in his native town of Jackson. He stopped over night in Kansas City on his way to the annual conference of his church, which will be held at Topeka next week.Labels: churches, Highland avenue, ministers, Nineteenth street, race, Topeka, visitors October 3, 1907 REPUBLICAN LEAGUE QUITS.
Negro Organization, After a Stormy Session, Is Disabled.
The Negro-Republican League of Missouri went "bust" last night, so far as the Kansas City chapter is concerned. It assembled at Allen's chapel on Woodland avenue in response to a call from the president, W. C. Hueston, and the secretary, J. Silas Harris, to organize for the next political campaign and to see what could be done in the way of securing negro representatives from Missouri at the next national Republican convention. About twenty-five influential negro politicians and business men were present.
As soon as the meeting was called to order hostilities began. Many speakers refused upon the floor to admit they were in sympathy with the league, two or three denying they were met as members of that organization at all. When Chairman Heuston refused to entertain a motion to dissolve the league meeting into a general mass meeting a motion to adjourn was made and passed. A mass meeting was then declared on the boards instead of the league meeting assembly. Lewis Woods was elected chairman to succeed Heuston, who with forceful words declared Woods a political renegade and left the hall.
A committee of seven was appointed to draft plans for a general organization to succeed the league. This committee, headed by J. Silas Harris, was instructed to formulate articles of agreement for a new association and outline a plan of campaign to secure the coveted representation in the "big four," or delegates from the state to the national convention.
A number of those who were present last night were armed with resolutions indorsing different party favorites for offices at the next election. These were headed off by the disruption of the league.Labels: organizations, politics, race, Woodland avenue September 19, 1907 LEFT NAME OFF BOOKS.
Judge Kyle Friendly to Man of the Same Name.
When the name of Pete Kyle was called in police court on a charge of disturbing the peace Judge Kyle "sat up and took notice." Pete was a negro, however, and there was no one present to prosecute him.
"Where'd you get that name?" asked the judge.
"Father gave it to me, I suppose," said the prisoner, grinning.
"You may go," replied the court. As Kyle left the room, the judge slowly tore up the information. Then he added:
"What's the use? There's no one here to prosecute him and it is the first Kyle to go on these books. I'll just leave it off. No harm done."Labels: Judge Kyle, police court, race September 3, 1907 SO SHE COULD WED.
DAUGHTER HASTENED FUNERAL OF HER MOTHER.
DID NOT WAIT FOR PRIEST. MARRIED SOON AFTER LEAVING THE CEMETERY.
John Dugan, Recently Divorced, Ar- rested After His Wedding With Margaret Delougherty -- It Is Claimed Woman Is of Unsound Mind.
The priest who administered the last spiritual advices to Mrs. Catherine Delougherty, of No. 1208 Guinotte street, missed her funeral yesterday morning because Marguerite Delogherty, daughter of the dead woman, was in such a hurry to get married that she had the ceremony advanced a half hour and the sexton had thrown the sod over the coffin before the holy man arrived. Friends of Mrs. Delougherty during her lifetime were astonished when they went to the house at the appointed hour, and later drove hurriedly to St. Mary's cemetery, only to find the grave filled in and the cemetery officials in charge.
"Miss Delougherty drove to the county court house," the sexton told the belated mourners, "at least that is the address her escort gave to the driver."
CARRIAGE FOLLOWS FUNERAL.
The Delougherty funeral was set for 10 o'clock yesterday morning. Mrs. Delougherty, 71 years old, had died Saturday night, but no wake had yet been held. The dead woman owned a large amount of real estate and was reputed to have a large sum of ready money in the bank.
Marguerite Delougherty is 35. For several months John Dugan, a switchman, employed by the Missouri Pacific railway, had boarded at the Delougherty home. Three months ago his wife, who was but 25, secured a divorce.
Yesterday morning, for a reason unknown at the time, Miss Delougherty gave orders for the funeral procession to leave the house at 9:30 o'clock. She rode in a carriage with neighbors. Dugan occupied a carriage alone in the seat of the procession.
At the grave the few friends who had arrived in time to accompany the body remonstrated with the daughter to await the coming of the priest, but she declared in authoritative manner that his coming did not matter and ordered the sexton to fill up the grave. At this juncture, as the little group of friends looked on bewildered, Dugan advanced and handed Miss Delougherty into his own carriage and told the driver to take them to the court house. The little group of friends sadly departed.
PROCURED A MARRIAGE LICENSE.
A marriage license was at once procured and by the time the priest had arrived at the cemetery, Miss Delougherty was being married to Dugan by the Rev. H. S. Chruch, of No. 328 Park avenue, who had been called to the office of the license clerk while the necessary papers were being filled in and approved.
As the priest turned away from the covered grave the daughter re-entered her carriage at the court house and she and her husband drove toward the Delougherty home. The stopped at several houses and invited their friends to a bridal feast. Before the carriage reached the home a case of beer and a jug of liquor had been taken on.
The presence of negroes mingling with white persons at the marriiage festivities attracted neighborhood attention and soon the information of a carousal at the Delougherty home was telephoned to President E. R. Weeks, of the Humane Society. Here the troubles of the married pair began. For President Weeks had investigated the Delougherty girl before, and had on his desk the opinion of a medical man that she is of unsound mind. On two occasions, President Weeks said, neighbors called his attention to Miss Delougherty's condition, and he later called in Dr. J. F. Sawyer, Fifth street and Lydia avenue, who was the Delougherty family physician. He readily gave his opinion that the girl is not always mentally reasonable.
THE GROOM ARRESTED.
W. H. Gibbens, assistant Humane officer, was dispatched to the Delougherty home, and soon after Patrolman Fitzgerald arrived and placed the bridegroom under arrest. He was locked up for investigation. Today a charge may be placed against, or, at the expiration of twenty-four hours, he must be released.
President Weeks said he may act under the statute which prevents the marriage of one of unsound mind or on the grounds that the probate court should become custodian of the property of the deceased.
J. W. Hogan, an assistant county prosecutor who investigated the arrest, stated that the marriage of an imbecile is not void, but that the marriage may at once be canceled by authorities if the case is proven.
Neighbors of the Deloughertys stated last night that recently the aged woman showed bruised arms and stated to them that she had been beaten. That, they say, was three weeks ago. Immediately, the neighbors state, Mrs. Delougherty was reported ill and that she was never able to leave her bed.
The bride remained last night in her mother's death chamber alone after the arrest of the groom.Labels: cemetery, doctors, Funeral, Humane Society, ministers, Park avenue, race, romance, wedding August 17, 1907 SHE IS ON THE BLACKLIST.
Negress Who Peached on a Druggist Shunned by Her Race.
There was war among the cocaine users of the North end last night. Yesterday morning in police court Mamie Jones, a negress, admitted she uses the drug and took a policeman to a drug store conducted by G. G. Cowhick, at 547 Walnut street. Cowhick admitted selling the woman the drug on one occasion only. He was fined $500.
Last night Mamie Jones went to police headquarters crying. She told the desk sergeant that she has been blacklisted among the negroes. She can't get any more "coke," she said.
"They all blame me for getting that druggist in trouble," Mamie explained. "They have been abusing me all evening and what's worse than all I can't buy any 'coke.' Two big men just jumped on me for 'peachin' and said I can't never get any more 'coke' from nobody."
The sergeant advised Mamie to go to her room and remain there and she left the station.Labels: narcotics, North end, police court, police headquarters, race, Walnut Street August 14, 1907 BENEVOLENCE THEIR OBJECT.
Convention of United Brotherhood of Friendship in Progress.
Mayor Beardsley yesterday at the Second Baptist church, Tenth and Charlotte streets, addressed the delegates to the convention of hte United Brotherhood of Friendship, a negro oranization. An orphans' home is supported at Hannibal, Mo., at a cost per annum of only 20 cents per member. An additional modern fourteen-room building at the home is soon to be erected at a cost of $5,000. Altogether $24,000 has been spent by the order in the state for benevolent purposes in the past year. Officers will be elected tomorrow.
S. B. Howard, a resident of Independence, is said to be in line for election as grand master. Friday at noon there is to be a parade through the downtown streets, and in the afternoon an indoor picnic at Convention hall.Labels: Charlotte street, Convention Hall, Mayor Beardsley, picnics, race, Tenth street August 12, 1907 NEGRO WANTS TO MARRY WHITE GIRL.
Because Probate Judge Van B. Prather of Wyandotte county refused to grant him a license to wed a white girl named Cleva Stewart, 21 years old, Thomas Sanderson, a negro, 36 years old, says he will seek a writ of mandamus of the circuit court today requiring the judge to issue the license. Labels: Judge Prather, race, romance August 10, 1907 NEGRO POLITICIAN WAS HERE.
W. T. Vernon to Deliver Speeches in St. Joseph and Topeka.
W. T. Vernon, a negro, registrar of the United States treasury, spent an hour in Kansas City last night. He went to St. Joseph, where this afternoon he will be the speaker at the Tri-City exposition.
The Tri-City exposition at St. Joseph began Sunday and closes tonight. It was organized to show the progress of the negro in the West. The Washington politician will speak on the negro question, but said last night at the depot that he will also have a great deal to say about organized labor.
Next week Vernon will speak in Topeka at the convention of the Business League, another negro organization, which closes next Friday. He said he will remain in Kansas about two weeks before returning to Washington.
Booker T. Washington and other prominent negro educators will speak in Topeka during the week.Labels: race, St.Joseph, Topeka, Union depot August 9, 1907 PICKS ONE PLAYGROUND.
Park Board Decides on Fourteen Acres in North End.
At a special meeting of the board of park commissioner yesterday afternoon a resolution was unanimously adopted asking the council to proceed to have fourteen acres of ground condemned for a North end playground. The site runs from Troost to half a block beyond Forest and from First to Fifth streets. This tract is divided by a small bluff. The intention of the park board is really to make of the site two playgrounds, one for negro children and the other for whites. There will be two sets of apparatus, two instructors and two sets of custodians. The district from which the playground is to drraw is inhabited by whites and negroes.
The site agreed upon for the playground is to be known as Guinotte square, having on it the old Guinotte homestead. It is expected to cost about $120,000. For only eight acres of ground two blocks further south, which had previously been thought of, the estimated cost was put at $200,000.Labels: amusement, First street, Forest avenue, Park board, race, Troost avenue April 12, 1907 NEGRO AS K. U. DEBATER.
Boycott Placed on Baker Debate by Kansas Students.
As a result of the selection of a negro for the Kansas university debating team, which meets Baker today, only a score of students will accompany the team to Baldwin tomorrow. Woodie Jacobs, a fullblood negro from Rosedale, entered the competitive preliminary debates two months ago, and on account of his experience easily won a place on the team. The other men on the team -- Sanders Vigg, from Alva, O. T., and Clyde Commons, from Fort Scott -- made no protest, and after a few vain attempts to have the preliminaries tried over by some of the members of the debating council who opposed the negro, Jacobs was assured a place on the team. Nothing was heard of the matter until this week, when the debating council tried to arrange an excursion to Baldwin. In former years, 500 or 600 students attended the debates and chartered special trains, but this year only sixteen Kansas University students bought tickets.
The novelty of having a negro on the team is increased all the more by the fact that the question for the debate is the repeal of the fifteenth amendment, involving the taking away of the right of suffrage from the negro. Jacobs, for Kansas university, defends the negro side of the question.Labels: race, Rosedale, universities March 28, 1907 NEGRO KILLED IN A SALOON.
Witnesses Agree That the Shooting Was Unprovoked.
William Harris, a negro, known as "Crow," was shot and almost instantly killed last night by James McFarland, another negro, commonly called "Hot Dinner." The shooting occurred in a negro saloon at 1027 East Fifth street. Harris lived at 1023 East Fifth street. McFarland lives at 516 1/2 Gillis, where he was arrested after the shooting by Patrolmen R. B. Hall and Carl Johnson.
Six witnesses stated that the shooting was unprovoked. Harris was standing at the bar when McFarland came in, and, walking up to Harris, slapped him in the mouth. Fred Mahan, the bartender, went to the door with McFarland and tried to get him to go out, telling him he should not try to raise a disturbance in the place. Several remarks were made and McFarland walked back and, placing a revolver to Harris' back, fired. Harris staggered across the street and fell dead in front of his house. McFarland is being held by the police for investigation.Labels: Fifth street, murder, police, race, saloon March 26, 1907 BY GLANCING SHOT.
BULLET INTENDED FOR A NEGRO REBOUNDS FROM A RIB.
INNOCENT BYSTANDER MAY DIE.
SERIOUSLY WOUNDED BEFORE MISSILE HAD SPENT FORCE. Intended Victim Almost Unharmed, While Man Who Stood Near Has Only Slight Chance for Recover -- Because Dishes Were Not Washed.
A bullet fired by Andrew Johnson, a negro, last night at 814 Independence avenue, pierced the side of Edward Maymon, another negro, and struck Morris Hieth, a white man, in the abdomen. Hieth may die. The shooting took place in the general store off Jacob Louis, Hieth's brother-in-law. Hieth was taken at once to the emergency hospital, where Dr. W. A. Shelton made an examination and discovered that the bullet had penetrated the intestines. The injured man was later operated upon by Dr. St. Elmo Sanders at the General hospital. Maymon went to his home, 548 Campbell street, after being treated and said he didn't intend to lose a day's work.
Maymon runs a rooming house at 548 Campbell street. Johnson and his wife room there. Maymon has several roomers and only one kitchen, which each person is supposed to clean up after it has been used.
"When Johnson and his wife go t through using it tonight," said Maymon, "they left all the utensils dirty. I spoke to him about it and told him the place must be left clean. He got mad, one word led to another and he left, saying he would 'get' me.
"In a few minutes I went up on Independence avenue to get an officer and met Johnson. I knew from the way he acted that he had a pistol, so, when I got close enough to him, I knocked him down twice. Just then a wagon drove between us or I would have taken his weapon away. In front of Louis' store he shot at me, but the bullet went wild. I ran into the store and he started up the street, but came back, walked into the store and shot me. I felt the bullet pierce my side and heard a man behind me say, 'Gott im Himmel. I'm shot.' I left and went home."
H. M. Green, 631 Campbell street, was a witness to the street fight preceding the shooting and also the shooting. He said had the wagon not separated the men Maymon would have bested Johnson and there would have been no casualties.
Jack Spillane, a former police officer, was on Independence avenue near the scene. He saw Johnson, revolver in hand, as he ran out of Louis' store east to Campbell street and north on Campbell street. Spillane chased Johnson for two blocks and fired two shots at him, but neither is believed to have taken effect. Johnson ran through a saloon at Fifth and Campbell streets and disappeared.
Jacob Louis, owner of the store at 814 Independence avenue, is a brother-in-law of the injured man. Hieth is a laborer, works for the Santa Fe railway and has eight children. He has been here only eight months, coming from Russia. Hieth and his family live over the store in which he was shot.
"Heith was standing on the east side of the door facing south when the negro ran in after a shot had been fired," said Mr. Louis. "We thought it was all over when the other man returned. He entered the door with his revolver drawn and when within ten feet of his victim, shot at him. Hieth was standing a little behind and to one side of the negro who was shot. He dropped to the floor and said: 'Gott im Himmel. I'm shot.' and immediately became unconscious. The negro, Maymon, walked out as if nothing was the matter."
The bullet pierced Maymon's left side, striking the tenth rib and making only a superficial would. The holes where the bullet entered and came out are about three inches apart. The same bullet then glanced off and struck Hieth. Probing failed to locate the bullet.
George Martin, a negro who rooms at Maymon's house, heard the first quarrel in the yard and heard Johnson say he was going after a revolver. "He was gone about twenty minutes," said Martin. "I think he must have gone down town or some place else after the gun. When he came back he had it and said he was going to kill Maymon. He went into the house looking for him and I advised him to go to bed but he seemed bent on murder."
Johnson is a tall, brown skinned negro. He wore a black soft hat and a light overcoat when he disappeared after the shooting. Up to a late hour last night he had not been captured.Labels: Campbell street, crime, doctors, emergency hospital, Independence avenue, race, rooming house, violence January 25, 1907
THE "JIM CROW" BILL.
An Editorial
One of the mischievous measures that ought to be summarily killed is what is known as the "Jim Crow" bill, introduced in the Missouri legislature by Representative Holcomb, of Jackson county. The bill provides for seperate accomodations for negroes and whites on all railways and street cars. It is practically the same bill as the one originaly introduced by the late Colonel Crisp many years ago, and some like measure had bobbed up in every legislative session since Crisp's time.
The bill is unnecessary as applied to the railroads, inasmuch as public sentiment regulates the matter better as it is than could possible be accomplished by legislative enactment. In fact, the incorporation of the idea into a state statute may undo the existing satisfactory status and provoke judicial proceedings which might have precisely the opposite results from those which it seeks to reach. In this case the maxim particulary applies. Let well enough alone. In the matter of street railways the measure is particularly vicious and mischief breeding. Experience in such cases teaches that the plan of separating the whites and blacks on street cars is impracticable in enforcement, full of annoyances and productive of continual conflicts b |
