June 29, 1908
BOY IS KILLED BY A BASEBALL
THROWN BY MARION GREEN, 11 YEARS OLD.
MORRIS CROWE IS THE VICTIM.
HE WAS ALSO 11 YEARS OLD. AN ACCIDENT.
Little Sufferer Dies as the Angelus Is Calling the Parish to Prayer. Thrower of the Ball Crazed by Grief.
While playing a game of ball yesterday morning, Morris Crowe, 11 years of age, was struck on the head by a pitched ball, and died a few hours later from the injury. Morris, with six of his playmates, was playing ball in the side yard of James Green's home, 1122 Prospect avenue. Marion Green, the 11-year-old son of Mr. Green, was in the act of throwing the ball to John Crowe, Morris's brother, when Morris attempted to cross the yard. In crossing he ran directly into the course of the ball, and before his little friends could warn him of the danger, the ball had struck him fairly on the left side of his head, just above the ear.
Morris staggered and cried for help. His brother and Marion Green ran to him just as he fell to the ground, unconscious. The lads carried Morris to the terrace and began to throw water in his face in an attempt to revive him. Marion ran into the house and told his mother of the accident. Mrs. Green came out and told the boys to carry Morris into the house, but Morris had regained consciousness and refused to go in, saying that he wanted to go home. Mrs. Green bathed the boy's face and his bruise, then bandaged his head and his friends took him to his home, 2711 East Eleventh street.
ABLE TO WALK HOME.
Morris seemed to have recovered from the effect of the blow on his head and was able to walk home with little difficulty. His conversation was rational and he ate dinner as usual. After dinner was over he began to grow rather stupid, and his mother decided that he should have medical attention. A physician was called, and said there would be no serious result from the injury, but that the lad would naturally be somewhat bewildered by so hard a blow on the head.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon Mrs. Crowe noticed that her son was growing worse, and immediately called in another doctor. This doctor informed Mrs. Crowe that there was no chance for her son's recovery, and she would better send for a priest at once. Two hours later the child was dead.
When Marion Green heard of Morris's death he became frantic and his talk was irrational. He dept repeating: "I killed him; I killed him." Neither Mr. Green nor his wife is able to do anything to quiet him, and he mourns over the death of his little schoolmate and playfellow bitterly. Mrs. Crowe said that she realized the little Green boy was entirely blameless, and that he felt the death of Morris as keenly as did she.
DIED AS BELL TOLLED.
At the time of the accident Mr. Green, who is connected with the T. Green Grocery Company, was away from home. He did not arrive until after dinner, and at that time it was not thought that Morris's injuries would result fatally. It was not until 7 o'clock that the Green family heard of the lad's death.
Just as the angelus was ringing in St. Aloysius church, which is located only a few doors west of the Crowe home, Father J. C. Kelly, four Catholic sisters, Mrs. Crowe and her family were gathered at Morris's bedside. They sank to the floor on their knees in silent prayer, only to arise and find that life had left the child's body while the angelus was calling the parish to evening prayer.
John W. Crowe, the father of Morris, is a conductor on the Santa Fe railroad and was in Texas at the time of his son's death. Mrs. Crowe telegraphed the train dispatcher of his district and received the assurance that her husband would be released from duty as soon as he could be informed of his son's death. He is not expected until tonight.
Morris and Marion Green had been fast friends. Both of them were in the same class at St. Aloysious school. Almost every day the boys of the neighborhood would gather at the Green home for games of some sort, and Morris and Marion were the favorites of the crowd.
CAUSED A CONCUSSION.
They boys who were playing ball at the time of the accident said that the ball which struck Morris was thrown with such force as to rebound from his head and strike a tree some feet distant. After striking the tree the ball again rebounded and rolled quite a distance away. The physician who attended Morris last said that the blow on the head caused a concussion of the brain and it was from the hemorrhage that death resulted.
When the news of Morris's death spread in the neighborhood, the little friends of the boy visited the Crowe home, each expressing with unmistakable sincerity, his sorrow.
Morris was one of three children in the Crowe family. He is survived by an older brother and a baby sister.Labels: accident, children, churches, death, Eleventh street, Prospect avenue, railroad, schools, sports June 26, 1908 DROWNED WHILE SWIMMING.
Little Henry Hall Disobeyed His Mother and Was Lost.
Henry, the 12-year-old son of Joseph F. Hall, 512 Tenney avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was drowned in the backwater of the Kaw river at the foot of Reynolds avenue yesterday morning. The boy had been sent on an errand by his mother, but instead of doing his mother's bidding, he met some other boys that were going swimming in the backwater that fills the hulls in the northern part of the Cypress railroad yards. Young Hall got in over his head and was drowned in the presence of a number of young companions.
Yesterday's drowning occurred within a few hundred feet of where two other small boys met death in the water last week. The body of the Hall boy was recovered and taken to the undertaking rooms of Daniels and Comfort. Coroner J. A. Davis decided that an inquest was not necessary. Joseph F. Hall, father of the boy, is employed at the Cudahy packing house, having charge of the boiler rooms there.Labels: children, drowning, Kansas City Kas, railroad June 25, 1908
FORMER MAYOR HUNT DIES IN LEAVENWORTH.
HE WAS QUARTERMASTER OF NATIONAL SOLDIERS' HOME.
In 1879 He Served This City as Mayor and Began Many Improvements. His Experiences Here in the Early Days.
After two weeks' illness from uraemic poisoning, Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Hunt, a former mayor of Kansas City, died at the Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth yesterday morning. Colonel Hunt was 68 years old, and up until his last illness he had been a man of marked vitality.
About one year ago Colonel Hunt was appointed from private life to the post of Quartermaster at the Soldiers' Home, and he was serving in that capacity when he died. Colonel Hunt was a widower and is survived by two nieces. They are Mrs. John Stearns of Kansas City and Miss Mamie Hunt of St. Louis.
Funeral services will be held Friday morning in the chapel at the Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth. The burial in the national cemetery will be attended with regular military honors.
Special cars will be run to the Soldiers' Home tomorrow morning to carry friends to the funeral. The cars will start from Tenth and Main streets at 8 o'clock.
Robert H. Hunt was born in Shannon, Kerry County, Ireland, in 1839, and came to America at the age of 10 with his father. Kansas City was reached even in very early days, and the spirit of individuality which all his long life afterwards made him conspicuous, asserted itself in the father and son, for they left Kansas City for Western Kansas to get where they could not see slaves. The father soon went on about his business, leaving the boy to make a living for himself.
This he first did by carrying the water pail on a section for the construction of the railroad. Twenty years later, he was working 2,000 men himself, one of the big railroad contractors of the West. Between the time of his carrying the dipper and building part of the Rock Island, the Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific, young Hunt went to a college. He worked his passage through it, and got out in time to go into the war to serve with Rosecranz, Thomas and Grant; to join Ewing and to become chief of staff under General Samuel R. Curtis.
IN LOCAL BATTLES.
Most of his service with the colors was on the border between Missouri and Kansas. Hereabouts, with General Curtis, he directed the artillery movements of the fights of the Little Blue, Big Blue, Westport, Osage, Newtonia and Mine Creek. It was at this last battle that General "Pap" Price was crushed and General Marmaduke was captured.
Colonel Hunt enlisted in a Kansas regiment, but left it during the war and became a staff officer. Afterwards he got back into a Kansas regiment, the Fifteenth cavalry, of which he was Major. The regiment had two colonels, C. R. Jennison and afterwards Colonel Cloud, while George W. Hoyt, afterwards a brigadier, was the lieutenant colonel. Robert H. Hunt was the senior major of the command.
There is a book published on "The Battle of Westport" by Rev. Paul B. Jenkins, formerly of this city, in which no mention whatever, in the slightest word, is made of Colonel Hunt.
"But he was there," said Colonel Van Horn yesterday, "and directed the artillery. I was related by marriage to General Curtis, commanding the Union forces here. He appointed me to his staff and directed me to prepare fortifications for the city. In that way I located and had the rifles ready and the encroachments dug. I saw a handsome young officer riding in and about, coming frequently to general headquarters for orders or with supports, and, struck by his magnificent bearing, asked his name. I was told it was the chief of staff, Colonel Hunt. What began as an acquaintance has lasted until now. As there is no battle in which the artillery is not the objective point, and as Colonel Hunt was commanding the artillery at the Battle of Westport, as I know from my own observations then, I know that he was in the fight; yet Mr. Jenkins made no mention whatever of him in what he declared to be a record of the battle."
The obscuring of Colonel Hunt by the Jenkins book is not unique. Other leaders in the engagement were similarly treated by the local historian.
A PRIEST HIS TUTOR.
The end of the war saw Colonel Hunt located in Kansas City, to engage in contracting. When first young Hunt landed in this country the priest of the parish they settled in took him up and began training him for service on the alter.
The good priest in this way taught him Latin. To the last days of his life Colonel Hunt kept his Latin fresh and, by means of a dictionary he would read Latin books. He regarded it as an accomplishment and was proud of it. But he never boasted of it. Reading Latin, born a Catholic and Republican in politics though an Irishman. Colonel Hunt made the acquaintance of the Rev. William J. Dalton, native of St. Louis, child of Irish parents, a Latin scholar and a clergyman of the church of Rome. The two remained friends to the last.
Father Dalton is a Republican in politics. Father Dalton came to Kansas City just as Colonel Hunt was closing his term as mayor, "but I was here early enough," said Father Dalton yesterday, "to hear the whole town commending him for his tremendous strides. Energy had marked every week of his administration, and today we have substantial evidence of it. With but little to do anything at all with, Mayor Hunt did much. He was at the very forefront of everything, calculating on the future warranting all his energy."
HE STOPPED A HANGING.
"At the very forefront of everything," says Father Dalton, and so it would appear. There walks about town today a little old man with a scar on the back of his neck. He built the retaining wall which keeps Bluff street from sliding into the Missouri river. There was trouble one Saturday afternoon about the pay, and the men undertook to lynch the contractor. They actually got a rope around his neck and started with him to throw him over his own retaining wall.
The city hall then was where it is now, only in a one-story brick that might have been a country feed store. Mayor Hunt got word of the crisis, picked up a pamphlet he had in his scant library, jumped into a saddle that was not his own and soon was in the ob. He literally rode into it and from the back of his horse read the riot act. That constitutional performance made him a summary marshal and there was no lynching. If there had been there would have been a wholesale killing by the force of twelve marshals Kansas City then had, old "Tom" Speer their chief.
During Colonel Hunt's administration Kansas City was the head of the Fenian movement. "No. 1," a mysterious Irish patriot, and Captain "Tom" Phelan, well remembered here and today alive in a home somewhere, were to fight a duel with broadswords over the troubles of Ireland. Colonel John Moore and Colonel John Edwards, both newspapermen, were to act as seconds. The principals went into training in rooms in a store on West Twelfth street. The morning the duel was to have been fought Colonel Hunt personally smashed in the doors of the training rooms and arrested the belligerents. There was an encounter, but he mayor, being a peace officer and a fighter himself, won. There was no duel.
HIS RIOT ACT AGAIN.
The forum of Kansas City in those days was Turner hall, afterwards Kumpf's hall, standing as late as 1886 where Boley's clothing store now stands. A political row there sent Mayor Hunt to that place with his copy of the riot act. He would tolerate no mob law while he was mayor. He always asserted his authority to the utmost.
When the figures are all totaled up it will not be found that Colonel Hunt left much of an estate. He married a Miss Hoyne of Chicago. In the '70s Colonel Hunt was worth so much money that he was able to borrow $50,000 from the late Thomas Corrigan for a period of ten months. He was able to pay it back within two weeks. He might have been worth $200,000 or $500,000. Estimates made yesterday ran from one to the other of these figures. He built a mansion at Independence and Highland. The house is there now, a pastel in dull red of what it once was. The plot has been nibbled down to next to nothing.
BRILLIANCE OF HIS HOME.
Colonel Hunt's father had been a small farmer in Ireland. All of his days in this country had been spent in railroad camps or in the field with troops. When Colonel Hunt opened his mansion on Independence avenue he did so with the brilliance of an hereditary aristocrat. Handsome in person, he had handsome ways. There was a wine cellar where it ought to be, and the drawing room, and from one to the other of the Hunt mansion was complete. Kansas City has never seen brighter scenes than those witnessed while Colonel and Mrs. Hunt kept open house on Independence avenue.
Nobody knows where Colonel Hunt's fortune went. It went like the summer wind that sinks with the sun. There was no speculation, no wheat end to the story, no boom collapse, no expensive household bills. The fortune simply disappeared, though Colonel Hunt always, to his intimates, lately insisted that he held valuable securities which would in a few years put him on his feet. But he did not get on his feet.
Times did not prosper fast enough Colonel Hunt stood in need of a billet and Senator Warner gave it to him. He had him appointed quartermaster at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, near Leavenworth, a position he held for about a year. Within a year of three score and ten, Colonel Hunt walked like a youth. Almost six feet in height, no man in his forties and of similar physique walked straighter, faster nor further. His hair and long beard were merely turning gray. He could pass for a man of 55. He lived as he moved, energetically. He liked young people; old people with old stories troubled him. The young people would not take him up because they did not know about the things he knew most of, and the old ones -- his own years -- were too old to take anybody up. So Colonel Hunt was neither here nor there. That was why he had to ask an asylum at the hands of his old military, political, professional and personal friend, Senator Warner.
TOO SLOW FOR HIM.
"It killed him," said Father Dalton. "The life was too dull for him. He wanted to beat sixty times to the minute and he found himself in a clock which had a pendulum going twenty to the minute.
"Where he was accustomed to moving cannon, they set him buying buttons, and able to move troops all up and down the border with the celerity of Forest, they put him to watching veterans crawl across their parade ground. Mops and counting cases of blouses to the tune of a droning beat made Colonel Hunt settle back in a chair that most men look for at sixty, and conserve themselves till riper in years, and so he collapsed. I saw him on Monday, and then he showed he was going away.
"He entered the army at Leavenworth in his young life, left the Fort and the army in his middle age, and went back to Leavenworth and the army to die in his old age. May his soul rest in peace."
And so he is to be buried in Leavenworth, in the military grounds there. Only members of the home may be buried in the military cemetery, excepting by express permission, and that permission is granted sometimes in the instance of officers. Yesterday application was made to Senator Warner, one of the board of managers and it was promptly given. Internment is to be made on Friday, at ten o'clock. Those desiring to attend the funeral will have to leave Kansas City by the 8 o'clock trolley car. President C. F. Holmes has arranged to run a special car at 8:01 Friday for the accommodation of Senator Warner, Surveyor C. W. Clarke, General H. F. Devol, Brevet Brigadier General L. H. Waters and a number of other high officers of the civil war.Labels: Bluff street, Civil War, death, Highland avenue, immigrants, Independence avenue, Leavenworth, Main street, ministers, railroad, Senator Warner, streetcar, Tenth street, Twelfth street, veterans June 18, 1908 SPECIAL TRAIN FOR DEMOCRATS.
Kansas City Man Named as Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms.
Kansas City Democrats have passed the special train stage for their Denver convention. Steve Sedweek, who is organizing the party, saying that up to yesterday noon 146 had signed contracts for transportation. One hundred form a train load. George Kingsley, an attorney, yesterday received notice from Thomas Taggart, chairman of the national Democratic committee, that he had been appointed an assistant sergeant-at-arms at the convention to be held in Denver next month. Labels: Denver, politics, railroad June 16, 1908
TWO LIVES LOST IN BLUE RIVER.
ALFRED G. BUCHANAN AND MISS NITA EWIN DROWNED.
THEIR CANOE STRUCK A SNAG.
YOUNG MAN TRIES TO RESCUE HIS COMPANION.
His Efforts Rendered Futile by the Struggles of His Companion. They Go Down to Death Together.
MISS NITA EWIN AND ALBERT BUCHANAN.
BLUE RIVER CLAIMS TWO MORE VICTIMS.
While boating on the Blue river in Sheffield yesterday afternoon, Alfred G. Buchanan and Miss Nita Ewin were drowned. The canoe in which they were rowing caught on a hidden snag and turned turtle. Both Mr. Buchanan and Miss Ewin lived in Independence. Each was about 20 years of age. Miss Ewin was the daughter of Mrs. Bertie Ewin, a widow, of 412 North Liberty street, while young Buchanan was the son of J. F. Buchanan, an abstracter and loan agent in Independence.
The young couple secured a canoe at the Blue River shortly after noon yesterday, saying that they would return in a short time. They immediately paddled off toward the mouth of the Blue. The accident occurred just above the Belt line bridge.
Witnesses say the boat struck a hidden snag or the limbs of a big tree that overhung the river. Both the occupants of the boat were thrown out by the shock and the boat itself capsized. The two young people struggled in the water for a short time and then went down. Mr. Buchanan was an expert swimmer but, according to those who witnessed the accident from a distance, he was hindered in his efforts to save himself and the young woman by the struggles of the latter.
Two Missouri Pacific firemen stationed with their engines near the scene of the accident saw the young people drown. They left their engines and immediately began to dive or the bodies. Their efforts were fruitless.
The police department was then notified and Lieutenant M. J. Kennedy of the Sheffield station led a rescue party consisting of Marion Bollinger, owner of the boat, and a fisherman. Both bodies were drawn from the water by hooks nearly an hour and a half later.
Mr. Bollinger found the body of the young man first and the fisherman found the body of the young woman. Lieutenant Kennedy had telephoned the father of the young man and he was present when the bodies were removed. Dr. A. C. Mulvaney and Dr. Connelly Anderson, who had been called by Lieutenant Kennedy, tried to resuscitate the two but failed. It was 6 o'clock before the bodies were sent to Independence in an ambulance.
Miss Ewin was the only daughter of Mrs. Bertie Ewin. Seven members of the family have died in the last five years. Alfred is the second son of J. F. Buchanan.Labels: Belt line, Blue river, boats, death, doctors, drowning, Independence, police, railroad, sheffield June 15, 1908 CAPTURE AN ALLIGATOR.
Big Catch of Kansas City Boys In a Louisiana Swamp.
Five Kansas City boys had quite an exciting experience in the Louisiana Swamps about a week ago with a nine-foot alligator, which they finally subdued, lassoed, dragged to a log car and wheeled it into camp ten miles away. Now they have it penned up at the camp, Carson, La. If they can get the railroad to "deadhead" it to Kansas City, they are willing to donate it to the Swope Park zoo as the nucleus for an alligator colony.
Fred Cutler, Charles Gibbens, Walter Sergeant, Peter Burn, and "Bud" Nichols are the boys who throttled the "gaiter." They have been down at Carson, La., learning the lumber business. Recently they have been felling trees in the forest about Carson. They boys were out some ways from the log car railroad, just rambling through the forest seeing what they could find. Suddenly young Cutler stepped upon what he believed was an old log. It moved, however, and so did Cutler. Gibbens, who was close behind and was just in the act of stepping onto the "log," felt the swish of the "log's" tail. Then the howl went up -- "It's an alligator. Run. Chase yourself. He's a fierce one."
When the boys had removed themselves to a safe distance, and they saw that the alligator had again become calm, they grew bold and began to figure on the capture of "big game." Many plans were suggested but all were argued down as not practical. When lassoing the pachyderm was suggested it was at first laughed at. But the one who suggested it insisted, and in a short time he was on hand with a rope, on the end of which he had arranged a lasso.
Then the question of how to throw the rope came into question. Noises were made so the alligator would stick up his head, and the rope was thrown. Many times it missed but after several trials, the rope-thrower made a hit. All hands and the cook then dragged the monster up to a tree and held it fast until another rope could be placed over the head. Knots in both ropes kept them from slipping down and choking the animal.
Then the march to the log car began. Two men had a rope on one side and two on the other. That was to keep the alligator from making a dash at anyone and compelling him to climb a tree. If it started toward the two on the left the two on the right would stop its progress with a yank. The fifth boy was kept busy teasing the animal from the rear to prevent its taking a seat and refusing to go. After a long and tedious pull the boys got the monster to the log car, loaded it successfully and gave it a swift railroad ride into camp -- but it was tightly roped to the car. In camp they built a pen of stout lumber, and Mr. Alligator is there now, sunning himself and anxiously awaiting free transportation to Kansas City.
Fred Cutler is a son of Dr. W. P. Cutler, pure food inspector, and Charles Gibbens is the son of W. H. Gibbens, field agent for the Humane Society. All of the boys live here, however.Labels: animals, Dr. W. P. Cutler, Humane Society, railroad June 14, 1908 ROBBER SHOOTS FLOOD VICTIM.
Fred Liggett Meets Double Disaster. Condition is Serious.
Compelled to leave home on account of the flood, Fred Liggett, 3412 Guinotte avenue, and his brother-in-law, P. Donohue, have been sleeping in the Kemper elevator in the East bottoms. Last night at 11 o'clock the two men were on their way to the elevator when two strangers confronted them with drawn revolvers. Donahue ran when ordered to hold up his hands.
Fred Liggett fought the robbers and was shot in the groin. After the shooting the robbers went through Liggett's pockets, but did not get anything. The holdup occurred on the Chicago & Alton tracks one-half mile east of Heim's brewery. Liggett was taken to St. Joseph's hospital for medical aid. His condition is considered serious.Labels: crime, flood, Guinotte avenue, railroad, violence June 13, 1908 CARRIED HIM HALF A MILE.
Wounded Lad Taken to Place of Safety by Herculean Comrade.
Sheriff J. S. Steed of Johnson county, Kas., brought to this city last night for treatment O. C. Oberman, 18 years old, who had been shot at Corliss, Kas., yesterday morning. With him is Mike Stanislauski, 23 years old.
The youths left Topeka yesterday, and when they reached Corliss, Kas., it was raining. They were on foot and, as the depot there was unoccupied, they raised a window and entered.
"We had been in there but a few minutes," said Oberman, "when a young man whom I later learned was the son of a local merchant, came to the depot and ordered us out. He drew a revolver and struck me over the forehead. With the blood streaming down my face we made haste to get out. We had not gone ten feet, when he began to shoot at us, and the bullet went through my right knee."
Oberman said that Stanislauski carried him over a half mile through water up to his knees to where the ground was dry. Stanislauski was afraid to leave Oberman in the town. While Stanislauski was seeking aid a work train came along and the crew picked up the wounded boy and took him to Wilder, Kas., a station beyond where he had left Oberman.
While sitting on the station platform there debating what he would do Stanislauski said a constable came in a buggy two hours later and drove him to De Soto.
Sheriff Steed says he received word from the Santa Fe Company at Topeka to take the two men into custody. When he heard the story, however, he arrested the man who did the shooting and lodged him in jail in Olathe, Kas., the county seat. The sheriff said the man gave the name of Paul.
Oberman was taken to emergency hospital last night, where he was treated by Dr. J. Park Neal. Dr. Neal said that the wound was a serious one, as it involved the knee joint. This morning he will be removed to St. Joseph's hospital. He has an uncle in Detroit, Mich., who will be notified.Labels: doctors, emergency hospital, Olathe, railroad, Topeka, violence, visitors June 10, 1908 SMALLPOX PATIENTS REMOVED.
St. George Hospital Now Stans in Five Feet of Water.
High water invaded the grounds shrouding St. George's hospital, the city's pest house, located on the banks of the Missouri river near the bridge of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, yesterday afternoon. When the outbuildings began to float Dr. George P. Pipkin,in charge of the hospital, became concerned for the thirteen patients in his charge, and telephoned to the city for ambulances. The sufferers were loaded into these and transferred to the ward for the insane at the general hospital, Insane patients were distributed in other parts of the building.
At a late our last night St. George's hospital, which is a frame structure, was still intact in about five feet of water.Labels: doctors, flood, general hospital, mental health, railroad, smallpox June 9, 1908 ARGENTINE TERROR STRICKEN.
Three Hundred and Fifty Families Moved Out of West End.
Argentine was in a state of terror because of the high water there last night. That section of the city known as the West End was well covered with murky water at 6 o'clock, and a great crowd of people stood about on the higher ground watching the progress of the overflow. The actual damage done up to a late hour last night was nominal.
At noon the whistles on the city water works in North Argentine blew a shrill, long blast, and thereafter for an hour people were without water in their hydrants, the encroaching water had found its way through basement windows to the fires under the boilers and the water works was without power.
At 1:10 o'clock, the hydrant began to work again, much to the delight of the housewife, who found herself without water to wash the dinner dishes. The supply came from the water works of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company's plant, and it was something of an improvement, it is said, on the product of the city pumps.
Along Strong avenue and in the West End the water was five feet deep at 10 o'clock last night and the buildings in that vicinity were almost without exception deserted. In the West End a number of men and boys took advantage of the rise and appeared on the streets early in the evening armed with pitchforks to spear the fish which could be plainly seen thrashing about in the shallow water.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company employed all of its available help yesterday in loading scores of cars with lumber, machinery and implements of the shops onto flat cars, to be hauled to higher ground.Labels: Argentine, railroad June 6, 1908 BRIDE WAS ELOPING WITH THE BEST MAN.
Italian Romance Is Shattered by Hus- band and Four Lusty Detectives.
A romance of Little Italy was spoiled last night by the inerference of the police, and Nick Salardino and Joe Bolarchine and their co-wife, Carrie, retired with heavy hearts. The eloping couple was caught at Union depot by detectives.
Two days ago Nick Salardino married Miss Carrie Bisbee, who lived at Fifth and Cherry streets. Their marriage was solemnized with the usual Italian ceremony and the best man was Joe Bolarchino. Then the honeymoon began.
It lasted -- well, until Joe, the best man, happened to gain private conversation with the bride Then the elopement was planned and two tickets were purchased for Van Buren, Ark.
At the Union depot last night just before 10 o'clock, Nick, the bridegroom, who was wise to the fact that his wife was eloping with the best man, appeared and demanded their arrest. Detectives Sanderson, Julian, Lyngar and Harvey were on hand and the whole big four swooped down upon the eloping couple. They found Joe and Carrie in a Missouri Pacific train and placed them under arrest. Detective Sanderson asked the bride for her ticket and she produced a Missouri Pacific ticket for Van Buren, and told the officers taht she was going away with Joe because, she said, he was the only man she ever loved and she didn't care much for her husband, Nick.
Joe and Carrie, the eloping couple, were locked up at the West Bottoms police station. A charge will be filed agasint them today. The bride, the only one implicated who can talk English, declined last night to discuss he affair other tahn to say she loves the man she tried to elope with to Arkansas.Labels: immigrants, railroad, romance, Union depot, wedding June 2, 1908 CLAREMORE WANTS CHILDREN.
Oklahoma Town Sends for Kansas City Boys and Girls.
The Chamber of Commerce of Claremore, Ok., has offered to care for a number of Kansas City children free in order to demonstrate to the people of the West that the noted mineral waters there have curative properties superior to any in the West. The following letter was yesterday received by Mayor Crittenden;
June 1, 1908
Hon. T. T. Crittenden, Mayor, Kansas City, Mo.
Dear Sir; -- The fact has never been extensively advertised, but at the city of Claremore, Ok., there flows from artesian wells the most wonderful curative water yet discovered in the world for the cure of skin diseases of all kinds, eczema, rheumatism and stomach trouble. In ever city in the United States there are hundreds of poor children suffering from skin diseases and afflictions of the eyes, whose lives are torture and misery. The parents of these children cannot afford to send them to this watering place for treatment, consequently, knowing the hundreds of cures that have been performed by this wonderful water, the Chamber of Commerce and the good women of Claremore, Ok., desiring to relieve the suffering of these little ones, make you the following proposition:
Through the Young Woman's Christian Association of Kansas City, the Chamber of Commerce of Claremore, Ok., desires that you select twenty poor children, afflicted by any form of skin disease, eczema, sore eyes, rheumatism or stomach trouble, send them to Claremore, Ok., and the Chamber of Commerce and the good women of Claremore, Ok., will take care of them, see that they are given every are and treatment of this wonderful curative water.
God, in His infinite wisdom, having sent us this wonderful curative, we firmly believe that it is our duty to place it at the disposal of as many of the suffering and afflicted as possible. It is our intention to make this same offer to every large city of the United States, and we respectfully request that you place this matter in the hands of the Young Women's Christian Association of Kansas City and that they at the earliest possible date make known to the Chamber of Commerce at Claremore, Ok., their desires in co-operating with us in this humane work All we ask is that the city sending these poor children pay their railway fare between their home city and Claremore, Ok., and return; the citizens of Claremore will do the rest.
Claremore, Ok., is on the main lines of the Rock Island-Frisco railway system and the Missouri-Pacific Iron Mountain route direct from Kansas City. I am, sir, your obedient servant,
P. C. LAVEY,
Secretary Claremore Chamber of Commerce, Claremore, Ok.Labels: charity, children, health, Mayor Crittenden, organizations, railroad May 28, 1908
HAS NITROGLYCERIN BURIED IN A ROAD.
SAFEBLOWER WILL LEAD THE POLICE TO IT.
That Is, if Some Wagon Wheel
Don't Set It Off Before This Morning -- One Sends Money to His Mother.
Safe blowing is not a lucrative business, according to G. W. Hart and William Riley, the two yeggmen who were arrested Tuesday night after having blown a safe in the Metzner Stove Supply and Repair house, 304 West Sixth street. The two burglars made a complete confession before Captain Walter Whitsett and other police officers last night, telling somewhat of their past and present record, also giving an interesting account of how they pulled off their jobs.
The two men met each other on the streets several days ago and their acquaintance grew steadily. Both lived in a low rooming house at 507 Grand avenue and it was there that they perfected their plans for the safe robbery which they perpetrated Tuesday night.
For several days past Hart has made a hiding place of the Hannibal bridge. In that locality he kept his tools and prepared the nitroglycerin which he used to blow the safes. He said that had he been successful in his robberies here he intended taking his loot to that place and burying it at the roadside, where he has now over a pint of nitroglycerin stored away.
The only other safe blowing job which Hart has tried in Kansas City was Sunday night when he attempted to blow open the safe in the Ernst Coal and Feed barns at Twentieth and Grand avenue. At that time, however, he was interrupted by police officers and barely escaped arrest. He was not successful in this attempt. Two or there days previous to this Hart entered and robbed a wholesale house located near Fifth and Delaware streets. He got only a few dollars in currency.
WHERE HE HAS WORKED.
In tell of his work at the safe-blowing, Hart said: "I have been at this business for the past year or two, and in that time I have robbed safes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri. The biggest haul I ever made was from a bank in some town in Oklahoma. I had to get through four large front doors which were loaded with concrete, but was successful, and sent the money I made in that deal to my mother. I often sent her the biggest part of my makings. She thought I got it honestly. No, I won't tell you her name or where she lives," he replied to a question from the police captain.
"Sometimes I would bank the money I got from the safes," he continued, "but it never got me anything. I am worse broke now than I was when I was living honestly. The job we pulled off last night was to get me money to pay my board.
"When I got the safe all soaped and ready to blow," he said in reply to a question of where he went when the explosion took place, "I usually stand just on top of the safe. There is no danger of any hurt up there, for the explosion always blows out, not up. If it has made too much noise, I most always have time to jump down and pull out the money boxes before anyone gets there, and then make my getaway."
Hart is a man of thirty or more names. He refused to tell his right name to police officers, saying that G. W. Hart was just as good as any. Among the names given were Maycliffe, Miller, Pope, Brown and Simpson. Hart has served a term of years in the Ohio state penitentiary, having been sent there on the charge of assault with intent to kill. He shot a brakeman who tried to eject him from a freight train on which he was stealing a ride. The brakeman was not seriously injured. With this exception he has had no other prison record, being only 26 years of age.
HE'S GREEN AT IT.
William Riley, the other yeggman, was more reticent about his part in the affair of Tuesday night. He claimed that it was his first attempt at safe blowing and admitted that he was rather amateurish about the business. Though he has not done much along the yegging line, he has a much longer prison record than his partner. Most of his matured life has been spent behind prison bars. He is now 47 years old. He was first convicted of highway robbery in Jackson county and sentenced to five years in the state prison. He had not been released from that term many months before he received a sentence at Springfield, Mo., for a term of two years, charged with grand larceny. Besides this he served four years more in the Missouri penitentiary for grand larceny, having been convicted at Sedalia.
When the two men were arrested Tuesday night the woman who keeps the rooming house in which they lived, and Ernest Vega, a Mexican roomer, were also arrested. Hart and Riley have both testified that these two were entirely innocent of the affair, and have asked for their release. It is probable t hat they will be released this morning, as the time limit for investigation of prisoners is over.
Hart will accompany a squad of police officers to his hiding ground at the runway of the Hannibal bridge this morning, when the nitroglycerin, which he has buried there, will be removed. It is lying on the roadside, just under the surface, and it is feared that the wheels of some farm wagon might accidental cause an explosion if it is not removed at once.Labels: Captain Whitsett, crime, Delaware street, Fifth street, Grand avenue, Hannibal bridge, highway robbery, immigrants, penitentiary, railroad, Sedalia, Sixth street, Twentieth street May 25, 1908 BOY'S HEAD CUT OFF BY TRAIN OF CARS.
Either Rolled Onto Tracks or Fell While Catching Ride in the Burlington Yards.
Mangled beyond recognition, and the head missing, the body of Martin Pretzel, aged 17 years, a son of Joseph Pretzel, and employee of the C. H. Conklin Ice Company, residing at 1657 Washington avenue, was found on the Burlington tracks, directly under the Fourth street viaduct, at 4:30 o'clock yesterday morning by Louis Hommold, a laborer. He reported the discovery to the No. 2 police station. Patrolman James McGraw was sent to make an investigation but could find nothing by which to base the identity of the body and ordered it removed to the Eylar Bros. undertaking establishment.
At noon yesterday the parents of young Pretzel became uneasy about their son's absence, and hearing of the finding of the body investigated. Harvey E. Bailey, a son-in-law residing with the Pretzels, identified the pantaloons as the ones which he had given the boy a short time ago, and the father thought the coat and vest were the same as worn by his son when he left home. Beside the body as it lay on the track, was found a hat which belonged to Lee Ganders of 413 Landis court, the dead boy's companion. The two boys, who worked at neighboring grocery stores, left home after work Saturday night, saying they might go to St. Joseph on a fishing trip.
Lee Ganders reached his home at 4 o'clock yesterday morning, and explained to his mother that he had gone to the Fourth street viaduct with young Pretzel, that from there they had intended catching a train for St. Joseph. While waiting for the train the boys stretched themselves on the ground beside the track and fell asleep.
"About 3:30 o'clock in the morning," continued young Ganders, "I was awakened by the noise made by a passing passenger train. As the cars passed by I missed Pretzel, who had substituted the hat he wore for the one worn by myself. Thinking that he had either caught the train or gone home, I started for my own home."
The inference is that while asleep young Pretzel may have rolled on to the tracks and was run over or he might have attempted to mount one of the platforms of the moving cars and fell under the wheels. No part of the $1 given the deceased by his mother was found in his clothing.Labels: accident, death, Landis court, No 2 police station, railroad, St.Joseph, undertakers, Washington avenue May 23, 1908 MAIL FROM BRITISH ISLES IN ONE WEEK.
LUSITANIA'S FAST TIME MAKES THIS RECORD POSSIBLE.
Pouches Which Left London Last Saturday Are Due Here at 6 o'clock Today -- A New Record.
Considerable interest is manifested in the postoffice over the chances of getting the Lusitania's mails in at 5:30 tonight. If this is done, it will be the first time one Saturday's British post has got this far West by the following Saturday.
"I think it will be managed," said Postmaster J. H. Harris yesterday, after consulting his schedules. "The Lusitania made the port of New York at 3 o'clock this morning, giving her five hours to transfer her mails. Those mails left for the West at 8 o'clock this morning. They are due in this postoffice at 5:50 Saturday afternoon. It will be a record for trans-Atlantic pouches."
American mails from England, Scotland, and Wales have an exciting time of it. They may not start from the big centers, such as London, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, where the curtains are made; Edinburgh or Glasgow till the very hour that the steamers are sailing from Liverpool, yet they catch the boat. While the ship is making her way down the Irish channel leisurely, so as to get off Cork harbor, for the Queenstown passengers, in daylight, as those passengers go out to the liner on board a small tender, the mails are rushed to Liverpool by fast trains, hurried directly over the comparatively narrow channel to Dublin, and then sent South as fast as trains can rush them.
In this manner they get to Queenstown before the tender shoves off to steam out to the big liner. On arriving at this side fast tugs meet the liner about ten miles down the bay from New York. The mails are thrown overboard to the tugs and these little vessels, able to make short cuts over shallow places and dodge in and about shipping, have the mails either in the general postoffice at New York or on the Western bound trains long before the liner is docked. In that way it is expected that mails which left London last Saturday at 6 o'clock in the evening may reach here tonight at about the same hour.Labels: boats, post office, railroad May 22, 1908 GAME LEG SPOILED HIS FUN.
Fireman Says He Can't Dance in Time With It.
"I used to go to all the dances, but I can't hit a lick with my game leg. The last dance I attended was in Lamar in the winter of 1907. I was so awkward that I couldn't get a partner. So I quit for good."
J. B. McQuillen told this to a jury in Judge E. E. Porterfield's division of the circuit court yesterday afternoon. McQuillen was a locomotive fireman for the Kansas City Southern until February 24, 1906, when his hip was crushed while he was at work. He is suing for $10,000.Labels: circuit court, dancing, Judge Porterfield, Kansas City Southern, Lawsuit, railroad May 20, 1908 AIR LINE TRAIN STRUCK CAR.
Motorman and a Passenger Injured at Second and Holmes.
An Independence Air line passenger train struck a Holmes street car at Second and Walnut streets at 4:40 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Charles Bradley, 2318 Holmes street, the motorman, received a cut on the back of the head, his right elbow was bruised and it is believed he was injured internally. Fred Heible, an old man who lives at Third and Kansas avenue, Kansas City, Kas., was the only passenger on the car. He was cut on the head and generally bruised about the body.
At the Walnut street crossing of the Kansas City Southern track there is no regular watchman, it being the agreement that the conductor on the street car shall precede his car across the tracks and signal when the way is clear. The car yesterday was struck at the rear vestibule just as it was clearing the tracks. The conductor, A. T. Jackson of 3030 1/2 Holmes street, witnesses say, was just alighting when the collision came and had to jump to save himself. Bradley, the injured motorman, is a new man, having been on the line only three weeks. Heible was seated in the rear of the car when the accident happened and was thrown down.
J. C. Courtney, conductor, Walter Williams, fireman and C. E. Cabeen, engineer of the accommodation train, were held for a time by Sergeant John Ravenscamp until he was informed that no one had been fatally injured. Cabeen said that the street car seemed to appear right in front of his engine. He saw no one flagging it.Labels: Holmes street, railroad, Second street, streetcar, Walnut Street May 10, 1908 SAYS HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE.
James Rowland Revises His Story Now That He Is Well.
James Rowland, 14 years old, 1516 Harrison street, was discharged from the general hospital yesterday afternoon as out of danger. He was taken to his home by his father.
Young Rowland is the boy who, late last month, was knocked from the north approach of the Hannibal bridge and fell thirty feet. A step on the baggage car of the Rock Island train which struck him fractured his skull on the left side and the fall broke and dislocated his right arm. Drs. J. P. Neal and H. R. Conway trephined the lad's skull at the emergency hospital an hour after the accident, and to that quick work the boy owes his life. They removed several pieces of bone which were pressing on the brain.
On the night the boy was injured, he was walking across the bridge from Harlem when James Knowlden, a farmer, called to him and said, "Look out! There's a train coming across the bridge."
Not seeing the train himself, and, being of a joking turn of mind,, Rowland called back: "Oh, I don't care. I want to die anyway." On that account it was believed that the boy had tried to commit suicide. He says now that he made the remark just in fun and did not see the train until it was upon him.
Rowland said that on that day he played "hookey" from school and was induced by a boy called "Rusty" to go to Harlem. After reaching there, Rowland changed his mind and concluded to go home. He had only 5 cents left and intended to go home by way of the toll bridge. He walked onto the trestle approach instead of the wagon road below.Labels: children, doctors, general hospital, Hannibal bridge, Harlem, Harrison street, railroad, Suicide May 7, 1908 HIS MOTHER'S ERRAND TOOK HIM TO HIS DEATH.
Eugene Lane, 7 Years Old, Killed by Santa Fe Train on Belt Line Trestle.
While returning to his home at 3810 East Fifteenth street yesterday evening about 6 o'clock, Eugene Lane, age 7 years, was caught on the long trestle of the Belt line railroad near Thirteenth street and Jackson avenue and killed. The boy was struck by an eastbound Santa Fe passenger train while midway on the trestle and the impact of the engine threw him against one of the iron uprights, crushing his skull.
Eugene Lane was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lane, who live at 3810 East Fifteenth street, and had ben sent to a neighbor's house on an errand for his mother. The boy had been in the habit of using the trestle in making journeys to and form the neighborhood to which he was sent, but had forgotten that a train was due when he attempted to cross the trestle yesterday afternoon.
Edward Lane, the father of the boy, has a blacksmith shop at 3406 East Fifteenth street. The boy was an only son.Labels: Belt line, blacksmiths, children, death, Jackson avenue, railroad, Thirteenth street April 13, 1907 ZIMMERMAN HAS A FAD.
Traveling Man Who Has a Big Col- lection of Pullman Car Receipts.
"There are few traveling men who do not have some fad or another, said C. D. Zimmerman, a salesman traveling out of New York, and a cousin of Florence Zimmerman, who married the Duke of Manchester.
"I have mine," continued Mr. Zimmerman, "and I believe it is the only one of its kind in existence. It is nothing more nor less than a collection of sleeping car receipts." He explained that he had been traveling constantly for sixteen years and had several copy books full of the receipts. They number into the hundreds and represent a wonderful mileage. He says he has been offered some tempting sums by the Pullman company for the collection, which is desired by the corporation for advertising purposes, but so far Zimmerman has refused all offers.
This traveler also bears the distinction of having made five complete trips around the world following his line in every instance.
"When you talk of it being hard to get about in the world and see the country," said Mr. Zimmerman, "I would say that it is the easiest thing in the world. I believe I could start out from Kansas City selling toothpicks and make my way -- and still keep on collecting Pullman receipts."Labels: railroad, visitors April 6, 1908 IT IS THE BODY OF WEALTHY COOK.
YOUNG WOMAN KILLED ON BELT LINE IDENTIFIED.
HER HOME IN SPRINGFIELD.
WAS STAYING WITH AUNT AT TENTH AND BELMONT.
Peculiar Actions of Late Made Neigh- bors Believe Her Demented. Left Home Wednesday, Killed Thursday.
With the reason for her tragic death still shrouded in mystery, the body of the young woman who was crushed under the wheels of a Belt line engine Thursday afternoon was yesterday afternoon positively identified as that of Miss Wealthy Cook, aged 21 years, daughter of A., Cook, a painter who lives at 2136 North Benton street, Springfield, Mo.
The identification was made at Newcomer's morgue yesterday by Mrs. Tom Davis, 6028 East Eleventh street, and further substantiated by Mrs. Edith Green, 6003 East Tenth street. It is believed by all that the young woman came to her death through an accident, as she had no cause for suicide so far as is known here.
Miss Cook had lived in this city about three months, coming here from her home in Springfield to nurse her aunt, Mrs. J. J. Ritchie, Tenth and Belmont streets, with whom she made her home. She was last seen Wednesday morning by Mrs. Green, who lives next door to Mrs. Ritchie, and just where she was between then and the hour she met her death is a mystery. Miss Cook is believed to have wandered around through all of Wednesday, Wednesday night and Thursday, and was probably going back to her home when killed.
Of late, so the neighbors say, she had acted strangely on more than one occasion and it is believed by them that her mind was imbalanced. Certainly, some of her actions would lead to this belief, and it is the generally accepted theory that in a fit of temporary insanity she left her home and simply wandered around until she met her tragic fate.
HER STRANGE ACTIONS.
It is stated that Miss Cook frequently took long walks and would be gone from the house for hours, never telling a soul where she was going. On one occasion she left home before dawn and walked to the city. She returned about 11 o'clock in the morning and stated that she had walked to and from the city and was not a bit tired. The distance from her home to the business portion is no less than sixty blocks, and to accomplish this feat would make even a strong man think twice.
Last Wednesday morning Miss Cook stood on a street corner near her home for over two hours. She never moved from her position during the entire time and when spoken to by one of the neighbors became angry. She was asked why she stood there during all that time, and if she was in trouble.
"DON'T SPEAK TO ME AGAIN."
"You are attracting attention by your strange conduct," she was told.
"Well, if that is so, I will move on, but don't you ever speak to me again," was her reply, and with that she started off down the street.
A very unusual feature of the case, and the reason that the body was not identified earlier, is that Mrs. Ritchie told no one that the girl had gone away until late Saturday night. Mrs. Ritchie has been in failing health for some months, and sufferers from heart trouble. Saturday night she suffered a severe attack, and her mother, Mrs. Hannah Westmon, aged 87, who lives with her, sent for Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Green. These women asked about the girl, and were surprised to learn that Mrs. Ritchie did not know where she was.
"We had been reading in The Journal about the strange young woman who was found dead," said Mrs. Green, "and we at once came to the conclusion from the description given that this was Wealthy. Mrs. Davis went to the undertakers' this afternoon, and sure enough, it was she. Had we been told earlier, we could have identified the body at once."
Mrs. Ritchie's condition is critical, and she has not been told that the body of the young woman is that of her niece, for fear the shock would end her life.
WHERE DID SHE GET IT?
Those who know the girl are at loss to explain why and how Miss Cook got the Sunday school leaflet which bore the name of Loretta Kurster. So far as is known she never attended the Forest Avenue Methodist church, where the leaflets were distributed.
It is thought by some that perhaps she quarreled with her aunt and started to go back to her home at Springfield. She carried all her money with her and as the body was warmly dressed, three skirts and other extra clothing being worn, it is not unlikely that she meant to go to her home and took this method of carrying her extra clothing rather than excite suspicion by packing it in her suit case.
A. Cook, the father of the girl, has been notified by Mr. Newcomer and has advised the undertaker that he and the girl's mother will arrive here today.Labels: Belmont street, Belt line, churches, death, mental health, railroad, Tenth street, The Journal, undertakers 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 5, 1908 MAY HAVE USED CLOROFORM.
Thief Took Mrs. Prouty's Money, but Missed Watches.
It was reported to the police yesterday morning that a burglar had entered the home of Mrs. W. F. Prouty, 3842 East Tenth street, and after attempting to chloroform Mrs. Prouty, had stolen a chatelaine bag containing $40.
The burglar entered at a kitchen window and made his way to the room where Mr. and Mrs. Prouty slept. Not twenty feet away in a room with only portieres between slept Grover Cook, a son-in-law, and his wife. She thought it was her husband, but found him asleep beside her. Then she called her daughter. As she did so a chair was overturned. Then she aroused the household with her cries. Her pillow and night dress were wet with a liquid which all took to be chloroform.
Physicians say that a sleeping person can not be chloroformed, the odor of the anaesthetic being so pungent as to awaken one at once. It is only on the stage that it is a success. The burglar left a valuable watch belonging to Mr. Prouty, who is a Missouri Pacific engineer, and another belonging to Mrs. Prouty.Labels: crime, railroad, Tenth street April 3, 1908 UNKNOWN WOMAN KILLED BY TRAIN.
RUN DOWN ON BELT LINE NEAR PARK AVENUE.
DIES IN GENERAL HOSPITAL.
REFUSES TO GIVE ANY INFORMA- TION ABOUT HERSELF.
Carried Sunday School Tract With Little Girl's Name on It, but the Owner Does Not Know Her.
A young woman who was crushed by the wheels of a Belt Line engine last night at 7:30 o'clock, died tow and a half hours later at the city hospital, without being identified. The scene of the accident was where the Belt tracks are fifteen feet below street level, half way between Brooklyn and Park avenues. It is near Nineteenth street.
The woman was walking eastward and must have entered the cut three blocks west, at the street level.
To avoid the Santa Fe local No. 59, westbound, she stepped upon the other main track, and a Milwaukee engine, eastbound, struck her. Pilot Al Williams was riding to work on the engine but neither he nor the engineer, James Spencer, saw her, nor did the fireman But the flagman on the freight train did.
She lay by the track, her left arm almost severed at the shoulder, and with a contusion, possibly a fracture, on each side of her head. A broad leather cushion from the car was brought and she was carried to Eighteenth street and Brooklyn avenue to the office of Dr. I. E. Ruhl, who saw that she was dying. The police ambulance from No. 4 police station, in charge of Patrolman Smith Cook and Dr. C. V. Bates, arrived and she was taken to the general hospital.
She seemed conscious, but could not be induced to talk. The only article she carried was a Sunday school quarterly bearing the name of Loretta Kurster, 1509 East Eighteenth street.
Drs. R. C. Henderson and T. B. Clayton, who operated on the woman at the hospital. said she seemed bright and could use her vocal organs, but evidently was suffering from a skull fracture so such an extent that she did not really understand what was said to her.
Asked if she knew how she had been hurt, she replied, wonderingly, "Hurt? Why, I didn't know anything was the matter." But questions as to her identity she did not attempt to answer, and there was nothing about her person to disclose this, besides the booklet.
In the meantime it had been discovered that Loretta Kursler is a 12-year-old girl who was uninjured and busy in her mother's bakery at the address given in the book. She thought it might be a Sunday school teacher she had met at Central Baptist church, Miss Blanche Wade, but Miss Wade was found safe at her home. She at once, however, went to the hospital to see if she could identify the woman. The quarterly was found to be one pushed by the Christian denomination.
The Kursler child having recently become a pupil at the Forest Avenue Christian church, Miss Wade called Rev. J. L. Thompson of the Forest Avenue church for aid in identifying the woman. Loretta Kursler said her Christian Sunday school teacher was called Grace, but she did not know her last name. The minister accounted for every Sunday school worker by the name of Grace and everyone who teaches girls of that size. Then the chance of discovering before morning who the woman was seemed very slight.
Apparently the woman was 32 to 35 years of age. She was slightly above medium height, was fairly well fleshed, was brunette with abundance of dark hair, had delicate hands, blue-set earrings worn tight to the ear, and wore a tan jacket and a fur neck piece. No hat was taken with her to the hospital. Around her waist was fastened a package containing $8.70.
Dr. Ruhl, who first saw her, thinks it possible that the woman may have been demented, or if an employed woman may have been making a short cut home from work. In the latter case he would believe her hearing defective.
The Kursler family is at a loss to know how a Sunday school book bearing the little girl's name would come to be found in the possession of anyone not her teacher.Labels: accident, Belt line, Brooklyn avenue, children, churches, death, doctors, Eighteenth street, Forest avenue, general hospital, ministers, No 4 police station, Park avenue, railroad, women April 3, 1908 HOUNDS TO TRACK CRIMINALS.
Chief of Police Secures Two From Mississippi Breeder.
Chief of Police D. E. Bowdon of Kansas City, Kas., yesterday closed a deal for a pair of bloodhounds to be used in the city in running down criminals. The hounds were secured from Mississippi and are all well trained. The owner of the dogs has consented to turn them over to the local authorities on the latter's agreement that they are to be placed in the hands of some one competent to take good care of them, the only compensation being the rewards offered for the capture of all fugitives brought to justice through the working of the hounds. Special Agent Crews of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company has consented to take charge of the dogs and keep them in training.Labels: animals, Kansas City Kas, Police Chief Bowden, railroad March 22, 1908 HE WENT HUNTING THE CARS.
And Little Leo, Just a Baby, Wan- dered Into Railroad Yards.
"What are you doing down here?"
"Oh, des tum down on treet tar to see choo-choo tars."
The foregoing dialogue took place shortly after noon yesterday in the yards of the Kansas City Southern Railroad Company between a railroad man and a tiny "Buster Brown" boy 2 1/2 years old.
The little wanderer was taken to police headquarters and turned over to Mrs Joan Moran, matron. When asked where his mother was he indicated that she had gone on a "treet tar." His name could not be understood.
After the baby boy had been at the station a couple of hours a frantic mother, followed by two other boys, appeared at police headquarters looking for a lost boy. She was directed to the matron's rooms The police told her that a boy of her description was there.
"Oh, Leo, Leo, where did you go?" the mother cried as she snatched the little Buster Brown boy to her breast.
"Oh, mamma," he replied gleefully, "I seen all big choo-choo tars an' a man took me away."
The mother, Mrs. Abraham Rubenstein of 1417 Harrison street, said that shortly after noon she was entering the Jones dry goods store with her three boys -- Harry, 7; Marion, 5 1/2, and Leo, 2 1/2 years old. When she reached an elevator she missed Leo, the baby.
The little fellow is believed to have taken a street car to Third and Main streets, from where he walked down into the railroad yards. When found he was in among box cars and engines, but looking with wondering eyes at all that was going on. It was then that a railroad man found him and took him in charge.Labels: children, Harrison street, Kansas City Southern, Main street, railroad, streetcar, Third street March 9, 1908 POLICE WANT A. OMAYARA.
Japanese Cook Stole Money From Camp.
While the Japanese in the steel gang on the Missouri Pacific railway at Cominsky, Kas., were sleeping Saturday night, A. Omayara, the camp cook, forced open the money chest of the camp and rifled its contents. He secured $320 in money and two gold watchs. The money and watches belonged to K. Sakaweads. It is thought that Omayara left for Kansas City, and N. Tsuda, who is the agent for the labor gang here, has been notified. The police are looking for Omayara. Labels: crime, immigrants, railroad March 4, 1908
THOUGHT THEY HELD BOMBS.
Shopkeeper Summons Police to Take Away Brakeman's Battered Grips.
Anarchist activities recently in Chicago inspired the household of Barbara Bapp, a confectioner at 2309 Holmes street, yesterday, to believe they were harboring bombs in two grips left there. Some unknown man asked to leave a disreputable looking suit case and satchel, and at dusk he hadn't come back. The more the Bapps thought about those prize packages the more firmly they became convinced that there were infernal machines inside. Touch them they would not, and the part of the store where they sat was deserted.
No. 4 police station was appealed to and Lieutenant Heydon sent out Patrolman Klusman to see about it. What he carried back to the station was a lot of wearing apparel belonging to a Missouri Pacific brakeman, including a cap, a large collection of slightly used decks of cards, presumably left on trains by players, and a personal supply of medicines and nostrums, none of them suggestive of any power to explode. From the letters it appears that the owner's name must be Will Nash.Labels: Holmes street, No 4 police station, railroad, retailers February 25, 1908 CONSTABLE SETS PRISONERS FREE
POLICE MELODRAMA IN WHICH CASEY IS COMEDIAN.
TWO CONFIDENCE MEN ESCAPE.
THROUGH CONSTABLE'S MED- DLING, AFTER ONE IS SHOT.
Two confidence men, who had fleeced J. W. Burrows, and Oklahoma ranchman, out of $1,000, were captured last night after an exciting chase, in which several shots were fired, and then, after being in the safe custody of two officers, made their escape at Eighth and Delaware streets through the alleged interference of Roy Casey, a constable of Justice Remley's court.
Both confidence men were arrested by Detective Lyngar, who captured the smaller of the swindlers as he was emerging from a Leavenworth car at the Junction. The larger of the confidence men jumped through the car window and fled down Delaware street. Lyngar, dragging the smaller prisoner with him, gave chase and finally fired at the escaping prisoner. The bullet entered the right arm and the man fell exhausted near the rear of the American Bank building.
Lyngar, determined to catch his man, turned the uninjured prisoner over to Patrolman Regan, and then grabbed the second man. The officers and prisoners then started for the call box at Eighth and Delaware streets and it is here, witnessees say, that Casey interfered.
STOPS THE POLICEMAN.
Casey, in company with David S. Russell and C. E. Reckert of the city engineer's office, pushed through the crowd that had gathered and stopped Lyngar. Casey's explanation is that he did not know Lyngar was an officer and thought that he was going to shoot Patrolman Regan, who was marching in front with the injured prisoner. O. P. Rush of 3015 Olive street and L. R. Ronwell of 1902 East Thirty-first street witnessed the affair and told the police that they heard Lyngar tell Casey that he was an officer.
At any rate an arguent ensued. Patrolman Regan, who was holding his prisoner by the collar of his overcoat, turned around to ascertain what the trouble was. In an instant the inured prisoner slipped out of his overcoat and dived into the crowd. Regan pursued him, firing three shots at the criminal as he ran west on Eighth street. None of the bullets seem to have taken effect.
These shots created fresh excitement and Lyngar, furious with Casey's interruption, loosened his hold on the other man. In an instant the prisoner had jerked away from the officer and was lost in the crowd.
RAPPED CASEY'S HEAD.
The only satisfaction Regan and Lyngar got was in arresting Casey. Regan rapped him twice over the head and Lynar took the constable to the Central station, where he was released on $26 bail. Casey had been attending the Republican convention.
The inured thief not alone lost his overcoat, but in plunging through the crowd lost his hat and undercoat as well. He was traced as far as Second and Wyandotte streets, where he purchased a new hat and coat. Then he ran toward the Kansas City Southern yards.
STOLE $1,000 FROM BURROWS.
Upon the complaint of J. W. Burrows, Oklahoma ranchman, that he had been swindled out of $1,000 by the two confidence men, Detectives Lyngar and Lewis were assigned to the case. Lewis was called away, so Lyngar accompanied by Burrows, made the investigation alone. At the Junction, Burrows espied the two men inside a Leavenworth car at about 9 o'clock. Lyngar went after them. The larger of the men, finding the front entrance of the car shut off, jumped through a window. The smaller attempted to brush by Lyngar, but the detective grabbed him It was following this that the chase began, which ended in Casey's intererence and the escape of the men.
The coat lost by the injured prisoner contained a book which indicates that he lives in the vicinity of the Union stock yards in Chicago.
About 1 o'clock this morning police officers found the coat of the smaller of the two confidence men, from which he also slipped when he escaped from the officer's grasp. It was in Brannon's saloon, on Delaware street, near Eighth.
When the smaller "con" man squirmed out of the garment it fell in the crowd, which parted to allow him to pass. It is not known who took it to the saloon. It is the theory of the police that the $1,000 stolen from the ranchman was in the pocket of the little man's coat when he was captured. It wasn't there when the coat was found.Labels: Central station, clothing, con artist, Delaware street, detectives, Eighth street, Leavenworth, Olive street, railroad, saloon, Second street, the Junction, Thirty-first street, Wyandotte street February 17, 1908
HER LOVE DREAM NOT SHATTERED.
COUNTRY GIRL CAME TO WED MAN SHE MET ON TRAIN. |
