News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

January 26, 1910

GENTLY SLAPPED WITH A KNIFE.

Then Fork Is Used in Restaurant

Quarrel Over "Profits and Loss."

Angus Harding and Frank Barber are owners of a restaurant at 2600 Independence avenue. Monday they quarreled over "profits and loss," and Barber is alleged to have used a fork. A complaint was filed yesterday by Norman Woodson, an assistant prosecuting attorney, charging Barber with felonious assault.

"When the argument came to the boiling point," said Harding yesterday, "Barber grabbed a butcher knife. I thought I was cooked, sure, but instead of stabbing me, he gently slapped me on one cheek and then on the other with the flat side. I made a dive for him. Then he grabbed up a fork and jabbed me in the forehead." Harding exhibited a long gash cut the breadth of his forehead.

Labels: Independence avenue, restaurants, violence

December 23, 1909

THREE FIREMEN INJURED.

Early Morning Run Disastrous

Both to Men and Horse.

Three firemen were painfully hurt and one horse injured so badly that he had to be shot yesterday morning when hose wagon No. 3 was making a run to a fire at the city market. The fire started in the kitchen on the second floor of Julius J. Blake's restaurant, 25 city market.

As No. 3 hose wagon with two horses attched was making the turn at Tenth street and Baltimore avenue the wagon bounded into a five foot excavation. The great speed caused the wagon to bounce out again with such force that Captain M. E. Gaffey, Lieutenant George Monahan and W. L. Grooms, the driver, were thrown from the wagon. The horses were badly frightened, and ran east on Tenth street to Main where they collided with a trolley pole, which threw both to the ground. One horse was uninjured, but "Buffalo," who had been in the department since 1901, suffered a broken leg, and had to be killed.

Captain Gafffey was cut on the forehead and Lieutenant Monahan's right leg was sprained while Grooms, the driver, got off with a sprained shoulder. The injured men were helped back to the fire station where they were attended by Dr. C. E. Wilson. All are expected to be able to resume their duties within a few days.

It was estimated that $1,500 would cover the damage to the fixtures and loss on the building.

Labels: accident, animals, city market, Fire, restaurants

October 18, 1909

UNCONSCIOUS ON STREET.

Henry Sustzo Picked Up in Front of

Willis Wood Theater.

A man giving his name as Henry Sustzo, proprietor of a restaurant at 920 Paseo, was found unconscious early yesterday morning in front of the Willis Wood theater and sent to the Emergency hospital.

The physicians worked on him until 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon before restoring him to consciousness. He was dazed and could not give a coherent account of what happened to him.

The physicians say he will be able to leave the hospital this morning.

Labels: emergency hospital, Paseo, restaurants, theater

September 13, 1909

ARM SCALDED; BLAMES COOK.

Boy Helper in Restaurant Causes

Arrest of Kitchen Boss.

Because Marion Bell, 18 years old, upset some water in the kitchen of a lower Walnut street restaurant where he is employed, yesterday, he claims Fred Geddes, the cook, shoved him so violently he fell, his right arm being immersed in a pail of scalding water. He says he was then kicked from the building.

Dr. Fred B. Kyger, surgeon at the Emergency hospital, found that the boy was dangerously burned, and advised him to report the matter to the police. After hearing his story, Sergeant Robert Smith ordered the cook's arrest. He was released on $101 bond for trial in the municipal court tomorrow.

Labels: doctors, emergency hospital, restaurants, violence, Walnut Street

September 12, 1909

FINEST WEST OF CHICAGO.

Kansas City Women's Athletic

Club's New Home Ready.

The Kansas City Women's Athletic Club expects to be in its new quarters, 1015 Grand avenue, by next Wednesday, and a formal opening has been planned. The rooms will be open all day and in the evening a ball will be given for club members and their friends.

The club formerly occupied quarters at 1024 Walnut street, but on the second floor of the new Mancuitt building, 1015 Grand avenue, it will have what are said to be the finest club rooms west of Chicago. Its magnificent tea room will be a feature in the new quarters.

Labels: Grand avenue, organizations, restaurants, sports, Walnut Street

July 25, 1909

CHINESE DON JUAN

ARRESTED IN CHICAGO.

CLAIMED GAW WING ELOPED

WITH MRS. ETHEL GORDON.

Celestial of Many Love Affairs

and Woman, Who Is Said

to Be From Kansas

City, Fine.

White women have a strange fascination for Gaw Wing, a Kansas City Chinese. Gaw has been arrested in Chicago in company with a woman who gave her name as Mrs. Ethel Gordon, also of Kansas City. The two eloped recently, it is claimed, and Chicago was the destination.

Gaw at one time, so it is said, went to Topeka where he fell love with a white school teacher. He flashed his bundle of bills and the school teacher became Mrs. Wing. She was at the police station in Kansas City yesterday looking for her recreant husband.

About a week ago, having forgotten his school teacher wife long since, it is claimed, he and Mrs. Gordon, both known to the police in the person of inspector Edward P. Boyle, left Kansas City. It was common gossip among the Chinese of West Sixth street that Gaw left a wife in Kansas City. This wife to who they refer says she was Mrs. Charles Wilson before she married the flighty Wing. She and the Mongolian also eloped to Chicago and were arrested January 26 of this year and were fined in the municipal court of that city. Mrs. Wilson has a child 2 years old.

Gaw's friends in Chicago paid his fine and he and Mrs. Wilson were released.

They came back to Kansas City and their domestic bark suddenly ran upon breakers. Mrs. Wilson Wing dropped out of sight.

Wing and Charlie Chu, a restaurant keeper at 125 West Sixth street, were fast friends and Gaw spent much of his time at the restaurant. White women came and went and from the lot Wing, it is alleged, selected Mrs. Gordon, who the police say lived at the Madison house, Independence avenue and Walnut street. Gaw, it is said, took up his abode at the Madison house and a rapid courtship followed. Gaw and his new spouse left for Chicago about two weeks ago and from that city last night came the news of their arrest.

Gaw was passing under the name of Charles Foy and Mrs. Gordon was registered as his wife. Inspector Boyle says that he is certain the eloping Chinaman is Gaw Wing. Mrs. Gordon told the Chicago police that she had been living in Chicago for over a year with her brother at 516 North Ashland avenue.

The Chinese and the woman were arrested by Chicago detectives after having been seen to enter a questionable hotel together and register as Charles Foy and wife. They were fined $200 and court costs there yesterday morning.

Labels: Chicago, Independence avenue, Inspector Boyle, marriage, race, restaurants, Sixth street, Walnut Street

July 13, 1909

FOUGHT OVER 10-CENT MEAL.

Railroad Man and Restaurant Pro-

prietor Land in the Holdover.

A free-for-all fight occurred yesterday afternoon in Main street in front of the city hall, when Harry Fox, a railway laborer, was thrown out of Peter Scando's restaurant, 420 Main street.

The police took all the participants in the fight to headquarters.

Fox, who had been out of employment for several days, as standing in Henry Miller's saloon at 402 Main street when he saw John B. Davis, a clerk for the Burlington camp near St. Joseph. He had worked for Davis two years ago.

"I haven't had anything to eat for two days," declared Fox as he shook hands with Davis. "My pal hasn't had anything either."

Davis consented to buy the two men "the best 10-cent meal in the city," and stopped at 420 Main street. He paid the cashier, and Fox and his friend proceeded to eat.

Both started to leave when they had finished. Alex Feandos, the cashier, halted them at the door.

"Pay me," he said. "Not a step until I get 20 cents."

Fox started to remonstrate when the proprietor jerked off his hat and refused to return it.

"You've eaten about 50 cents worth of food anyway," he said.

Fox picked up a chair and was starting for the cashier when a bottle of ketchup struck the wall near his head. Then Scandos chased him into the street with a double barrel shotgun when the cashier threw him to the sidewalk. He had cocked both barrels of the gun, when Charles Chadwick, a fireman from the station across the street, interfered and took the gun away.

Fox had received a severe beating and was locked up with the proprietor of the restaurant.

Labels: charity, food, guns, Main street, North end, police headquarters, railroad, restaurants, saloon, violence

July 3, 1909

AGED "CABBY" A SUICIDE.

Dan Marvin Kills Himself to Join

Wife Who Divorced Him.

Love for his wife from whom he had been divorced for four years, and who died a week ago, caused Dan Marvin, 68 years of age, to commit suicide at his home, 405 1/2 East Fifteenth street, early this morning. Marvin used a revolver and shot himself through the heart, death resulting instantly For the past week Marvin has been disconsolate and bemoaned the death of his wife to many of his friends.

"She was the best pal I ever had," he was wont to say, "and I am ashamed of the way she has been treated. She is dead now, dead."

Dating form the death of his wife, who had remarried and was deserted by her second husband, Marvin had not been in a cheery frame of mind. He made continual threats to join her and to repair the wrong which he had done her.

After his body had been removed to an undertaker's the following note was found:

"Friend Will: Please pay Egan $50 to put me away decent and oblige, D. A. Marvin."

The Will referred to is Will Mayberry, at whose liver stable Marvin stabled his horses. Marvin has been a cab driver for many years and for the past eight years he has stood out in front of McClintock's restaurant, on Walnut street.

Labels: Divorce, Fifteenth street, guns, restaurants, Suicide, Walnut Street

June 27, 1909

ORIENT INN INCREASES.

Breakfast and Evening Dinner Add-

ed to the Service.

So complete has been the response of the Kansas City public to the novel and very delightful service provided by the new Orient Inn at Tenth and Baltimore that the Kroger brothers have added morning and evening service. This will start tomorrow and will be conducted a la carte or in full restaurant style, as distinguished from self-service, which prevails at noon. The hours for breakfast will be 6 to 10 o'clock, the popular noon-day luncheon 11 to 3, and supper or evening dinner will be served in family style from 5 until 8.

The new Orient Inn is located in the Orient building at Tenth and Baltimore avenue. It is the largest eating establishment in Kansas City, in fact west of New York, and the deliciousness of its foods and novelty of its service have created a delightful impression among the business and society people of this community. In addition to the new features mentioned, a spacious smoking room, very elegantly equipped, will also be opened for the convenience of the gentlemen guests of the house.

Labels: Baltimore avenue, food, restaurants, Tenth street

June 6, 1909

NOVELTY IN NEW EAT-

ING ESTABLISHMENT.

ORIENT INN UNLIKE OTHER

KANSAS CITY RESTAURANTS.

Every Man His Own Waiter, but

There's Greater Variety and

Better Food Than Is

Had Elsewhere.

In the opening of the "Orient Inn," a new form of restaurant in the Orient building, Tenth and Baltimore avenue, a St. Louis man is giving actual demonstration in Kansas City of the reason for the much-talked-of "Drew question." The Orient Inn is an innovation. Incidentally it is the best of its kind to be found anywhere, and the business acumen which chose Kansas City as the site for an eating house planned on such magnificent proportions gives attestation of the spirit of progress which flourishes here.

Everyone who lunches at the Orient Inn becomes his or her own waiter. As you enter the door, you are given a silver tray and a coupon check. You take for yourself knife, fork and spoon, also a napkin, and then wander along at will, viewing the tempting displays of cold meats, salads, crisp pies, delicious jellies, fruits, vegetables. Everything is shown in glass cabinets or showcases. There is no spurring of jaded brain to choose from a bewildering bill-of-fare. You SEE the food. It looks delicious. the prices are low, and when you have taken what you want, the fair attendant who presides at that particular counter asks for your purchase slip and clips off a coupon.

The Orient Inn will seat comfortably 500 people, and one may elect to sit almost anywhere. There are fetching little stalls all along the side walls, divided one from another by green curtains and lighted by individual electrollers.

The new Orient Inn is the largest eating establishment in Kansas City -- in fact, in any city west of New York. Its two main dining rooms occupy the entire lower floors of the Orient railway building and the Shubert theater. In addition there is a spacious ante-chamber to be known as the "gentlemen's smoking room."

A special "rest room" has been provided for the ladies, containing easy chairs, desks and other conveniences.

The Orient Inn is owned and operated by the Orient Catering Company, with which the two brothers, John and George Kroger, are most actively connected. John Kroger, president and general manager, has been prominently identified with the restaurant business in Chicago, and for the past two years has operated the Pierce Lunch room and the Victoria Lunch of St. Louis. In coming to Kansas City, Mr. Kroger felt that he was bringing an establishment so radically different and far in advance of anything yet done here that it would meet with instant recognition and approval. That this is true is evidenced by the fact that Kansas City's most prominent business men are already regular patrons of "The Inn.," and professional people and women who find it necessary to lunch down town are enthusiastic in their description of it as "the most delightful place in Kansas City in which to eat."

Labels: Baltimore avenue, Chicago, restaurants, St Louis, Tenth street

May 28, 1909

UNKNOWN MAN TRIES TO

KILL ROBERT M'CLINTOCK.

Attacks Him With Knife in Front

of Twelfth Street Entrance to

His Restaurant.

While standing in the front of the Twelfth street entrance to McClintock's restaurant, Twelfth and Walnut streets, Robert McClintock, son of the proprietor, was stabbed three times by one of three passersby, who attacked him without provocation or warning. Hundreds of people were on their way home from the theaters at the time.

Mr. McClintock's stiff hat broke the force of the first blow, but the blade cut a long gash in his scalp. The second cut also was in the head, near the first. McClintock, weak from the loss of blood, then grappled with his assailant, who cut him again on the forehead and broke away, pursued by a dozen men, but eventually escaping.

R. S. McClintock, proprietor of the restaurant, was standing in front of the Walnut street entrance when he saw a man run panting past him. He wore no hat and several men were chasing him. A moment later his son was led into the restaurant with the blood streaming down his face.

"I'm sure I would know the man if I saw him again," said Mr. McClintock last night. "Had I known what he had done, I could have knocked him down as he ran past. I don't know of an enemy Robert has. I will give $100 for his assailant's arrest and conviction.

Young McClintock remembered that he had an altercation a year ago over the payment of a check with a man to whom his assailant bore a strong resemblance.

The assailant left his hat. In the sweatband were the initials "D. D." It bore the brand of the "Lid," and evidently had been worn several months.

A cashier in the restaurant declared that three men a half hour before had come in and asked the whereabouts of Robert McClintock. Without thinking anything peculiar in their actions, she told them that he was likely in the office on the Walnut street side. Satisfied that he was inside, the men waited until he appeared.

Labels: restaurants, Twelfth street, violence, Walnut Street

May 21, 1909

ROBBED AT STATION DOOR.

Bold Holdup Pulled Off in Front

of Police Headquarters by

Two Highwaymen.

Two highwaymen with a sense of humor searched a man in front of police headquarters last night, took all his belongings and then told him to run. The victim, who thought the two strangers were plain clothes officers, got away and didn't even report the matter to the police. Had not several witnesses told Lieutenant M. E. Ryan, the commanding officer at headquarters, no one would have been the wiser.

J. J. Blake, proprietor of the market restaurant, as well as several of his customers, saw the incident. James Baker, proprietor of an ice cream stand, followed the men as they dragged the victim toward the station.

"See what he's got on him," said the larger of the two, as he searched the victims pocket.

"Guess we had better take him in," suggested the other.

In front of the door the two men stopped.

"Might as well let him go," said the large one. The man needed no bidding and ran around the corner. The two crooks leisurely walked up Fifth street.

Labels: crime, Fifth street, highway robbery, police headdquarters, restaurants

April 20, 1909

TRIED TO SHOOT A RAT.

But In His Eagerness Waiter Shot

Off Finger.

Quick work with a 38-caliber revolver while shooting rats in the store room of the Brooks restaurant at 108 East Twelfth street yesterday afternoon cost Edward Billeison, a waiter, the index finger of his left hand. Billeison had been watching a particularly elusive rodent several minutes trying to get a shot but always the rodent got his head down a hole in the nick of time. finally the waiter, tired of waiting in a manner not prescribed in the restaurant rules, took a sporting chance. He forgot to remove his finger from in front of the gun and while the rat escaped again Billeison had to consult a surgeon. He was attended by Dr. W. S. Wheeler.

Labels: animals, doctors, guns, restaurants, Twelfth street

April 18, 1909

THE NEW MORTON'S.

Down Town Eatery Gets New Look.

THE NEWLY REFITTED ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MORTONS AT 1024 MAIN STREET.

After two months of constant labor, both day and night, the charmingly appointed downtown place of the famous Morton firm is now ready for inspection.

The decorations, in their daintiness, present such a pleasing effect in color and detail that have in them an atmosphere all their own and something decidedly unique in Kansas City.

A complete transformation has been wrought, the finished effect suggesting the refinement of the Marie Antoinette period, the woodwork having been worked by in the more simple straight lines of this period and finished in the French gray enamels, contrasted with Du Barry pink in the decorations.

The only details of ornament consist of simple ribbon and bow knot motif. The section allotted to the confectionery has been separated from the luncheon rooms by a beautiful built-in screen, consisting of graceful columns and arches and very charmingly arranged small plate mirrors. The arches are hung with velvet in Du Barry pink, following the lines of construction and completing the beauty of the screen.

On each side of the rear lunch room large plate mirrors draped at the tops with decidedly handsome Marie Antoinette wreaths and festoons specially molded and finished in powdered gold have been installed, lending pleasing perspective to the room. The large skylight and new exhaust ventilators in ceiling have been artistically treated with wood lattice covered in trailing pink and crimson Rambler roses, bordered with soft lighting effects. At the rear are three quaint latticed windows with flower boxes set in front of each, the boxes filled with moss, with hanging pink ramblers, primroses, pink sweet peas and other plants. These flower boxes furnish delightful detail.

Features of particular beauty are the center lighting fixtures. They are of special design in hand carved wood, finished in rich gold with the fruit detail glazed in natural colors. Seven lights drop from the central body of fixtures suspended by pink silk cord; the entire fixture is hung on a pink silk rope in harmony with decorations. The old gold furnishes a rich contrasting note in the general decorative scheme.

The general ensemble of the rooms have an atmosphere of beauty, and it affords considerable pleasure to announce their successful completion.

And a cordial inspection and enjoyment of the rooms is invited.

This place, together with their Hyde park place, also on Main street, gives to Kansas City institutions in a confectionery and catering way that would be a credit to much larger cities.

Labels: Main street, restaurants

March 5, 1909

CHILD OF 4 KILLED

BY NORTHEAST CAR.

MANY FRANTIC MOTHERS TRIED

TO IDENTIFY THE BOY.

Each Woman Thought Little Leo

Cassidy, Decapitated and Mangled

Beyond Immediate Recogni-

tion, Was Her Own.

Leo Cassidy, aged 4 years, was run over and instantly killed by a Northeast car yesterday afternoon while playing in the street with two other small boys. The boy lived with his aunt, Mrs. Anna Reddick, at 613 Forest avenue. Excited mothers who thought the unfortunate child might be one of their own, thronged the street, pushed and crowded each other in a mad endeavor to identify the mangled body under the trucks of the car. The accident occurred at Independence avenue and Holmes street.

Mrs. Reddick was in the habit of leaving the child with Mrs. John Davis, 557 Holmes street, during the day while she was at work in Blake's restaurant at the city market. The child slipped out of the house unnoticed. Johnny and Teddy Trent, aged 5 and 3 respectively, who live in the same house with their parents, greeted Leo with a childish welcome.

RAN IN FRONT OF CAR.

Leo ran directly across the street in front of a fast approaching car, the two Trent boys behind him. As the car struck Leo, the others turned and ran screaming to the house. Within the shortest possible time every mother in the neighborhood was on the scene of the tragedy where a crowd had gathered.

Though several persons had seen the accident, none was able to give a concise account of the tragedy. Maud Mahoney of 543 Holmes street was an eye witness. She said that she saw the three children run across the street and a moment later one was run down by the car. Mrs. Gus Berkowitz, who lives over the grocery store at 706 Independence avenue, looked out of the window in time to see the children start in their chase. She thought one of them was her own and was in the act of leaping out the window when she was caught by her husband. All the witnesses said that the car was going at a moderate rate of speed.

POLICE TO CLEAR STREET.

When Mrs. Davis reached the scene her agony knew no bounds, and her screams attracted persons for blocks. D. M. Armstrong, the motorman of the car, was leaning back in the vestibule, his face deathly pale, and Charles Perkins, the conductor, was taking down names. The trunk of the body lay under the car. The head, under the trucks, was beyond recognition.

Passengers from the blockaded cars began to alight when Sergeant John Ravenscamp arrived with a squad of policemen. It took their united efforts to clear the street. Excited mothers would rush up and try to identify the child as their own.

The scene of the accident is one of the crowded parts of the city and is within a block of the proposed North End playground. The Washington school is a block away and all motormen are supposed to run their cars slowly at that point.

Immediately after the accident, the crew of the car were placed under arrest by Detective Ben Sanderson. They were arraigned before Justice of the Peace James Richardson last night, and were released on a $500 bond, furnished by the street railway company. Neither would make a statement.

Labels: accident, children, city market, death, detectives, Forest avenue, Holmes street, Independence avenue, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, police, restaurants, streetcar

February 8, 1909

KANSAS CITY JAPS

HAVE NO FEAR OF WAR.

NOT A CHANCE, SAYS CHIEF

COOK OKAMOTO.

Japan Not Prepared Financially and

Anyhow, She's Not Looking

for Trouble

Little fear of a war between the United States and Japan is expressed by George Okamoto and Frank Morimytseu, two Japanese of Kansas City who own a restaurant at Ninth street and State Line. They have been keeping in touch with the developments of the trouble in California and other Pacific coast states.

It is only a war in the newspapers," said Okamoto yesterday afternoon. "The Japanese and the United States are friends and friends do not fight. Japan is not ready for a war, even if she wanted one. The people of Japan are not going to become greatly offended by what one state has done. They will not hold the whole country responsible for the acts of one state's legislators.

"In the first place, there will be no war between the two countries because there is no cause which has yet been seen. The bill before the California legislature would exclude the Japanese from the public schools cannot become a law. That is the only thing which the newspapers of this country can base a cause for war upon. As to the feeling in Japan upon the question, those high in authority and the higher class of people do not consider it possible. It is the lower, laboring class which is trying to stir up war and which is very much excited over the reports which come from the United States.

NOT SCARED A BIT.

"We think nothing of the fact that militia is gathering in California, nor do we think that the fleet in the Pacific is to be used against our country. A little fuss don't mean a fight. Of course, our people are keeping their eyes and ears open and their mouths are shut."

Morimytseu agrees with his associate in regard to the probability of war, calling it all newspaper rot.

"Japan hasn't the resources for war at this time," said he; "she has not recovered from the losses of the Russian war either financially or sociologically. Japan wants peace and is going to keep it as long as she can possibly do so. President Roosevelt is with us and is trying to keep down the disturbance in California. Our people do not want war and it's foolish to talk about such a possibility."

Labels: immigrants, Ninth street, restaurants, State line

February 1, 1909

HUNGRY AMID PLENTY.

GUEST AT PROMINENT HOTEL BE-

WILDERED BY FOREIGN NAMES.

Unused to Metropolitan Hotels and

Cafes, Oklahoman Longs for

Plain Ham and Eggs of

Home Hostelry.

In the Hotel Baltimore for twenty-four hours, surrounded by all the luxuries and lavishly furnished cafes and dining rooms, with the most tempting good things to eat in store, and with plenty of money to satisfy his every want, a young Oklahoma business man meekly submitted to the gnawing pain of hunger because he thought it was necessary for him to speak at least one of six different foreign languages before he could order what he wanted to eat. The young man arrived at the hotel Friday evening, his friends say. He registered and was assigned to a nice room with bath. When he came down yesterday morning he asked a friend where was the best place to eat.

"In the automobile room," the friend told him.

"I have no automobile; what do I want to go into the automobile room for a meal for," the young man from Oklahoma soliloquized. He asked another guest of the hotel whom he saw walking through the lobby with a toothpick in his mouth, where he could be served with the best meal.

ON EUROPEAN TOUR.

"In the Egyptian room, of course," the guest told him. Again the young business man was stumped. He couldn't speak the old Egyptian language and he just knew he couldn't make the waiters in that Egyptian room understand what he wanted. He studied over the situation for an hour or so and asked another guest for information.

"The Italian room is the best if it is open," he was advised.

That was no better than the automobile and the Egyptian rooms. He couldn't speak Italian and hoped he never would.

"By heck, I must be dreaming," the young man said to himself. "Am I on a trip around the world." He felt his pockets and found he had spent none of his money for a trip of that duration. He pinched himself and found he was awake. He decided to make another break. He encountered a round-faced, good natured traveling man and asked to be directed into the best place around the hotel to get a meal.

BLOW ALMOST KILLED FATHER.

"The Pompeian room has just been opened and the German room is a good place if it hasn't been abandoned," was the information obtained.

"Dad bat it, if I was to go into either of those rooms and couldn't speak the languages they are just as liable to serve me with roast mummies or sauerkraut as anything else," remarked the exasperated young man, almost helpless with hunger and rage. He made one last desperate effort and asked one of the employes of the hotel where he could get a quiet dining room where plenty of plain eating would be served.

"The Japanese or the Chinese tea rooms are the best for private dinners, the employe informed him.

That was the severest blow yet administered. H e knew just about as much about Japanese and Chinese as an ordinary Oklahoma cow puncher knows about Broadway.

GRILL ROOM SAVED HIM.

He pulled himself over into one corner of the lobby and sank himself deep down into one of the upholstered leather chairs, pulled his hat over his face and dreamed over the juicy beef steaks, delicious coffee and the well cooked dishes served in a plain dining room in the Oklahoma hotels, where every one speaks English in the American style.

"I will go into the basement and kick myself," the young man said, as he picked himself up with some exertion and wandered down the stairway which leads to the grill room.

"Come this way," a negro waiter said, as the young man landed in the grill room, and was led to one of the tables, was seated and had placed before him a bill of fare printed in plain English.

"Saved," was the only sound he uttered until he began working on that meal as only a hungry man can work. It was then 6 o'clock in the afternoon and he hadn't had a thing to eat since the evening before.

Labels: Hotel Baltimore, hotels, oklahoma, restaurants, visitors

January 27, 1909

TRIES SLEEP FROM A BOTTLE.

Waitress, After Quarreling With Hus-

band Cook, Attempts Suicide.

Because she had quarreled with her husband and feared that he meant to leave her, Dollie Duchaine, 26 years old, 1321 Cherry street, attempted suicide last night by inhaling the fumes from a handkerchief saturated with chloroform. Dr. J. W. Hayward of No. 4 police station attended to the woman.

Duchaine is a cook at Roarke's restaurant. H is wife is a waitress at the same place. James Love, 1000 Independence avenue, who had seen the woman early in the evening, said she told him her husband had become angry over some orders she had given him.

"Words followed," Love said, "and it seems that Duchaine told his wife he was going to leave her. She was down-hearted and depressed when I left her."

A note written by the woman before she took the chloroform was found by Officer Fraser. It was as follows:

"Well, Johnnie if you do what you said you would tomorrow, I don't care what happens to me, so I will take a little sleep from the bottle under my pillow. Your as ever, 'D.' "

Labels: Cherry street, doctors, Independence avenue, marriage, No 4 police station, restaurants, Suicide

January 11, 1908

STICK-UP MAN ROBS

RESTAURANT AT 2 A. M.

Takes Money From Cashier of Chi-

nese Eating House While

Patrons Look On.

A quiet little Chinese restaurant, patronized by those of Bohemian inclinations after the theater, the King Joy Lo, 1217 Grand avenue, was held up and robbed at 1:30 o'clock yesterday morning by one lone robber, who got $164 and exchanged pistol shots with F. G. Lee, the Chinese manager. The robber escaped.

A party of four persons was in the restaurant at the time of the robbery, besides the restaurant attaches. The dainty Chinese midnight luncheon had been served the guests by one of the waiters, when the door was pushed open and a young man about 25 years old entered. He walked across the dining room to the cigar case and stood there.

The cashier inquired of the man what it was he desired. In answer the stranger pulled a pistol out of his pocket and, pointing it at the cashier, told him to hold up his hands. His order was obeyed and the robber then walked around behind the showcase and, opening the cash register, took out $164 in paper money. A large amount of silver was left undisturbed.

Shoving the currency into his pockets, the robber started to leave the restaurant after warning the guests and waiters to keep quiet. The guests had no knowledge of what had transpired. As the robber was leaving the showcase F. G. Lee, the manager, entered the restaurant from the private office. Taking in the situation, Lee ran to the showcase and took a revolver from a drawer.

The robber found some difficulty in getting the door open. Before running down the stairs the robber fired a shot into the room, which was returned by the manager. Lee followed down the stairs, but the fog was too heavy for him to see far. He fired two shots into the air to attract the attention of the police, and after waiting several minutes he again fired twice. Twenty minutes later Sergeant Henry L. Goode and Patrolman A. L. Meizinger arrived. They succeeded in finding the robber's hat, which had fallen on the floor in the restaurant.

The lone robber did not disturb the guests.

Labels: crime, Grand avenue, police, restaurants

December 30, 1908

ITALIANS WILL HOLD A

MASS MEETING SUNDAY.

To Raise Money for Relief of Stricken

People -- Many Have Rela-

tives in Sicily.

Local Little Italy, which might more specifically be called Lesser Sicily, since most of its residents come from that stricken island, received the news of the earthquake that killed scores of thousands with an expectant stoicism that utterly belies what books say about the volatile Italian nature. It was expectant, in that the Sicilians and Calabrians of Kansas City are bravely awaiting the horrible details which only days can bring forth. Accounts at best are but meager and the fate of the members of their families cannot be known for a fortnight.

They are not wringing their hands in anguish. Instead, they are occupied with a demonstration much more to the purpose.

"We must get together and raise some money for them," said Dr. L. Laurenzana of 522 East Fifth street, last night. With that he stepped to the telephone and called up the Italian consul, Pietro Isnardi. A business-like conversation in Italian ensued.

MASS MEETING CALLED.

"A mass meeting of all Italians in Kansas City will be held at the hall adjoining the Church of the Holy Rosary at Missouri avenue and Campbell street, Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock," said the doctor as he turned away from the telephone. "We raised nearly $400 for the earthquake sufferers in Calabria, three years ago, and we ought to do better than that this time."

Dr. Laurenzana has a cousin, Anello Alfano by name, who is a railroad contractor at Pizzo on the Calabrian toe of the Italian boot, only four miles and a half from Reggio, where so many thousands were killed Monday.

Walter Randazzo of 104 East Fifth street, too, has a cousin, Cologero Randazzo, who held a government position at Messina, where 12,000 people are said to have lost their lives.

"I came from Palermo," said Mr.Randazzo, "and, as I understand it, the western part of the island, where the city is located, was not badly affected by the quake. Palermo is a long way from Messina. You leave there on the train at night and don't reach Messina until the next morning."

MANY OF THEM HERE.

S. J. Tremonte, proprietor of the Italian Castle cafe at Fifth and Oak streets, comes from Gibbellins, a town of about 15,000 inhabitants, lying forty-four miles from Palermo. His parents and brothers still live there, but he is not apprehensive, as they are not in the affected district.

Pietro Berbiglia, who operates the Milano restaurant at 7 East Eighth street, has been in this country for ten years, and comes from Piggioreallia in Trapani province, not far from Palermo. He served in the Italian army and in 1898 was stationed at Catania, which is almost at the very foot of Mount Aetna, and which with Messina and Reggio suffered perhaps more heavily thatn any of the other cities.

"Catania is a beautiful place," he said last night, "and carries on a large shipping trade with Malta and other points on the Mediterranean. It has about 150,000 inhabitants and the Universita di Catania, with many students, is located there. It has a long and beautiful street which I think is more magnificent than anything even in Rome, called the Corso Garibaldi, running for about four miles along the seashore from Catania proper to Porto Garibaldi. There is also a large garden or park called the Villa Stema d'Italia, that is one of the prettiest in Italy."

Labels: Campbell street, churches, Eighth street, Fifth street, immigrants, Missouri avenue, Oak street, restaurants

November 20, 1908

CARBOLIC ACID IN THE SOUP.

Warrants Out for Two Former Cooks

in Scarritt Restaurant.

Carbolic acid in the form of disinfectant containg a large portion of the poison was put into a kettle of soup and a lard can in the Scarritt building restaurant some time between Wednesday afternoon and yesterday morning. It was discovered as soon as the force of cooks got to work in the morning, for the odor was so strong that it could not be mistaken. All the food to be served at the restaurant was then inspected before the first customer was served, but no other poison was discovered.

W. S. Waterman and G. J. Teck, proprietors of the place, at once made complaint to the prosecuting attorney, with the result that warrants were issued from the court by Justice James B. Shoemaker for R. A. Bell and Fred Gaddis, who formerly worked at the place. The proprietors said the men, both cooks, were discharged yesterday afternoon. Bell and Gaddis are charged in the warrants under a statute which makes it a penitentiary offense to mix poison with food with the intent to kill human beings. Five years is the maximum sentence which may be inflicted under that statute.

About half a gallon of the disinfectant had been poured into the soup and lard, so the owners of the restaurant reported.

Labels: poison, restaurants, Scarritt building

October 7, 1908

NEW CAFE OPENS.

"Johnston's" to Be a Show Place of

Kansas City.

Just in time for lunch today will be opened one of the finest cafes in the United States -- "Johnston's" at 1008-1010 Walnut street. Most people remember the famous "Johnston's" as it was formerly, but this new cafe is far and away ahead of the other, ranking among the best known in point of general equipment.

One may take the elevator or the marble stairway down. The cafe is remarkably well lighted and ventilated; the walls beautifully decorated by hand, and the fixtures, which are of rich Circassian walnut, were made expressly for the establishment. Large beveled mirrors add to the apparent size of the place.

It has always been a hobby with J. A. Johnston to have his kitchens scrupulously clean. that of the new cafe would delight the heart of the most fastidious. His chef is one of the best in this community. at 11:30 today the noonday a la carte lunch will start, closing at 2:30, and a la carte dinner will be served from 6 to 8 at night. A delicatessen bill, as toothsome as only Johnston can provide it, will be in effect daily from 11:30 in the morning until the closing hour.

This new cafe caters exclusively to gentlemen and contains many conveniences such as telephone booths and so forth. Two hundred people can be seated at one time in the care, and the entire room holds about a thousand people.

Labels: food, restaurants, Walnut Street

September 15, 1908

SHOULD A SANDWICH BE BREAD.

No, Biscuit, Said the Cook, and

Slashed Off Waiter's Fingers.

Following a dispute as to whether a sandwich should be made out of biscuit or bread, John H. Koester, 24 years old, a waiter in a restaurant at Twelfth and Mulberry streets, was struck with a butcher knife by James Dalton, a cook, and lost the third and fourth fingers of his left hand last midnight. He was taken to the emergency hospital, where Dr. Ford B. Rogers dressed the wound and Dalton was locked up at the St. Louis avenue police station. Koester lives at 810 East Tenth street, but his home is in Chicago. The cook contended that biscuit was the proper planking for the sandwich; the waiter contended for bread.

Labels: Chicago, doctors, emergency hospital, food, Mulberry street, restaurants, Tenth street, Twelfth street

September 14, 1908

"I'LL KILL MYSELF," SAID HE.

But James N. Allen's Fellow Work-

men Laughed -- He Is Found Dead.

For three years James N. Allen had worked as a dishwasher at the Manhattan restaurant. Saturday night he packed up all of his clothes at the restaurant and bid his fellow workers goodby. He informed them that he would commit suicide that night. Believing that Allen was joking, the men suggested various methods of suicide and jested with him until he left the place.

Going to the Henry house, on Walnut street near Fifth, where he roomed, Allen passed through the office, went to his room and locked the door. Then he sat down and wrote a note to his only friend, Sam Grassberger, a cook at the Manhattan restaurant, 420 West Ninth street. The note said: "I am going to end it all by killing myself. God bless you."

Before going to his room, he had purchased a bottle of morphine and the supposition is that he took the contents before going to bed. A maid found his door locked at 10 o'clock yesterday morning and the manager broke it down and found Allen dead.

Labels: Fifth street, narcotics, Ninth street, restaurants, rooming house, Suicide, Walnut Street

August 11, 1908

TAUGHT IT TO DRINK BEER.

"Bottles" Was a Model Dog Until a

Vagrant Canine Came Along.

This is the story of a dog that was tempted and fell into bad ways. Henry Miller, a Kansas City saloonkeeper, owns a fox terrier named "Bottles." For two years Bottles was all that any self-respecting fox terrier should be. Then one night a dog of uncertain breed walked into a saloon and from appearances was nearly starved to death. Miller fed the dog, which stayed in the saloon from then on. She was named Rags and developed an abnormal appetite for beer, drinking all of it that was given to her. She would become so intoxicated that she could not walk. Within six month' time "Bottles" had acquired the hait of drinking beer and the two dogs would get "gloriously full" together.

Recently Miller purchased a saloon in the North End and Rags was taken to the new location, but not being acquainted with the patrons she refused to spend all of her time there. She goes out to the corner of Fourth and Main streets about noon every day and boards a Vine street car and rides to Nineteenth and Troost avenue, where she gets off and goes over to Eighteenth and Troost avenue, where she has lived for some time. "Bottles" is also an old street car rider. Each morning "Bottles" boards a Troost avenue car and rides to Twelfth street, where he transfers onto a Twelfth street car and rides down to a restaurant near Holmes street. The waiter in the restaurant gives the dog a meal, after which "Bottles" makes the return trip, including the transfer at Twelfth street and Troost avenue.

Not long ago Miller started out to attend a circus on the east side of town. He took "Bottles" with him, but the dog became separated from his master at Eighth street and Grand avenue. The owner retraced his footsteps, believing that he would find "Bottles" playing with other dogs on the street. When he reached Tenth street and Troost avenue he boarded a car to go to Eighteenth street and Troost avenue to his saloon. When the car arrived at Twelfth street he saw "Bottles" get off a Twelfth street car and run and jump on the rear end of a Troost car on his way home. "Bottles" has a son known as "Booze," but so far "Booze" has refused to partake of intoxicating liquors, nor has he learned the art of using the street cars in his travels around the city.

Labels: alcohol, animals, circus, Eighteenth street, Eighth street, Grand avenue, Holmes street, North end, restaurants, saloon, streetcar, Troost avenue, Twelfth street

August 6, 1908

TOOK POISON WHILE

EATING HIS SUPPER.

Fred Guy Died in Front of

"Saffire" Restaurant.

Frequenting regularly the "Saffire" restaurant, 908 Walnut street, where his divorced wife, Frances, was employed as a waitress, Fred Guy, 31 years old, about 9 o'clock last night ended his troubles by drinking nearly two ounces of carbolic acid and dying a few moments later on the sidewalk just outside of the restaurant door, where he had been removed by the proprietor, J. W. McCracken.

Guy entered the restaurant about 8 o'clock last night and was given a seat near the center of the room. He ordered a light meal from Mrs. Belle Smith, a waitress, and then motioned to his wife to come to his table.

When she reached his side she smelled the carbolic acid, which he had evidently drunk before entering the restaurant. She asked him what he had done and he replied by shaking his head, but did not speak. She ran to the front of the restaurant and informed Mr. McCracken that the man had taken poison. The manager said he believed the man was drunk and led him out of the restaurant. On reaching the street Guy dropped a bottle which had contained the acid, and then McCracken summoned the ambulance.

Dr. George H. Pipken of the emergency hospital gave emergency treatment to Guy on the street where he had fallen, but he was beyond relief when the doctor arrived. Mrs. Guy said last night that she had married Fred Guy in Leavenworth, Kas., nearly three years ago, but had obtained a divorce from him about four months ago.

She said that he daily importuned her to return, but that she had refused to listen to his peleading.

Labels: Divorce, doctors, Leavenworth, poison, restaurants, Suicide, Walnut Street

July 27, 1908

FLED IN HER NIGHT ROBES.

Essie Waldron Ran From Rough Hus-

band and Was Arrested.

A clerk named Shields and two women were the only ones in Bolen's candy store at 112 East Twelfth street last night about 10 o'clock when the rear door opened and a young woman, clad only in a nightdress, rushed in calling for help. Her feet were bleeding and her arms were begrimed from climbing over the roofs. Mr. Shields promptly blushed and turned his back, and the women took off some of their own clothing and gave it to the woman. Then she explained.

Her name is Essie Waldron, and she is the wife of Vergil Waldron, a cook in the Saffire restaurant. They have been married three years, but separated three weeks ago. Mrs. Waldron first moved to 311 East Fourteenth street, but when her husband found that she was there, she moved to the Canadian hotel, Twelfth street and Grand avenue. There her husband found her yesterday and went up to her room last night and hid behind a curtain. Then, according to the story Mrs. Waldron tells, he waited until she had disrobed and then jumped out and choked her. She broke away from him and leaped out of an open window, landing on a rear porch. Crazed with fear she made her way to the ground in some manner she cannot explain and ran into the nearest doorway, which happened to be that of the candy shop.

A patrolman arrested both the husband and the wife and took them to the Walnut street police station, where the man was locked up and the woman released on bond. A charge of disturbing the peace will be placed against them in police court this morning.

Labels: domestic violence, Fourteenth street, Grand avenue, hotels, restaurants, Twelfth street, Walnut street police station

June 9, 1908

TWENTY ESCAPE WHEN

BUILDINGS COLLAPSE.

NONE WAS INJURED IN GRAND

AVENUE WRECK.

Roof and Second Floor of Two Old

Structures at 1403-1405 Grand Ave-

nue Fell to Basement -- Were

Condemned Yesterday.

Twenty persons had a miraculous escape from being crushed to death at 11:45 o'clock yesterday morning when the front section of two buildings, located at 1403-1405 Grand avenue, collapsed and the walls fell inward carrying the roof and second floor to the basement. The buildings were condemned yesterday by the building inspector and ordered torn down. Adolph Dose conducts a saloon in the building at 1403 Grand avenue and there were ten men in his saloon when the collapse came. All escaped without injury. Henry Carter, a porter employed by Mr. Dose, was in the basement when he noticed a section of the sustaining wall on the south side of the building had fallen out. He went upstairs and reported the matter to Mr. Dose, who telephoned John E. Lach, a furniture dealer, the owner of the building. When Mr. Lach reached the saloon he and Mr. Dose went to the basement to examine the wall and had returned to the main floor when a rumbling noise was heard and the patrons in the saloon ran out.

The bartender, Charles Wedlick, was behind the bar at the time. He said he was walking towards the front end of the bar and noticed that as he got nearer the front end he was sinking below the bar. Wedlick ran from behind the bar and down into the basement, where he stood beneath a large girder in the center of the building. He was not struck by any of the flying bricks and timber, but the lime dust nearly suffocated him.

In the saloon at the time were Adolph Dose, Charles Wedlick, Peter Fielding, a contractor; Fred Hay, and insurance agent; John Baird, a constable; Henry Carter, the porter, and John E. Lach, the proprietor of the building, besides three strangers.

Above the saloon Kim Ying Woy conducts a chop suey restaurant. He was in the rear of his place with his cook. They were not hurt and walked down to the yard in the rear.

When the wall of the building at 1403 Grand avenue gave way the roof and second floor of the building at 1405 caved in. In the latter building Louis Lustig conducted a grocery store and the second floor was used as rooming house, occupied by Mrs. Edna Cooley. Persons in this place failed to get out when the first rumbling noise was heard. When the front wall fell to the sidewalk Mrs. Cooley and Flora Everest, a roomer, were in the front room and were dropped to the sidewalk with the falling walls. Mrs. Cooley was in bed at the time of the accident. Two men were also pitched out the front part of the building Charles Graham, a hack driver who was in the house, ran out the back way.

Only the clerk, J. B. Routh, was in the grocery store. He escaped through the rear door when he heard the crash. Mr. Lustig was standing in front of his store and his driver, Clinton Smith, was in the yard in the rear. The building at 1405 Grand Avenue is owned by A. P. Thurman.

Mr. Dose estimated his loss at about $3,000. He did not know whether his insurance covered accidents or not. He said his stock of goods was not damaged, but the bar fixtures are a total loss. He erected a small frame shed in the rear of his saloon and will continue in business there until he can secure a location. Mr. Lustig could not estimate what his loss would be.

Forty-five years ago two frame buildings collapsed in the same block in which the buildings fell yesterday. In one of the buildings was Josephine E. Vaughn, sister of the desperado Vaughn, who was caught among the falling timbers and killed. Those buildings were erected in 1857, and their collapse was occasioned in the same manner which ruined the buildings yesterday afternoon. At 1302 Grand avenue a frame building collapsed about eighteen years ago. No one was injured in the accident.

Labels: Grand avenue, grocers, restaurants, saloon

June 7, 1908

POLICE RAIDS FOLLOW

JONES'S MIDNIGHT TRIP

THIRTY WOMEN ARRESTED AND

RELEASED ON BOND.

Cafes That Made a Specialty of Serv-

ing Drinks to Women and

Their Escorts Visited by

Plain Clothes Men.

The recent midnight visit of Police Commissioner Elliot H. Jones to the wine rooms in the vicinity of Eighth and Central streets resulted in wholesale raids last night, in which the police gathered in thirty women, took them to police headquarters, wrote their names on the "arrest" book, and then turned them loose on bond. Four wine rooms were raided in less than an hour after 10:30 o'clock, when the first swoop was made by policemen in plain clothes. The thirty women were secured at three of these places, commonly called cares, while at the fourth place, the Bull Dog care, at Eighth and Wyandotte streets, the raids had been tipped off, and a number of women and their escorts had disappeared.

Captain Walter Whitsett led the raid at Levy's cafe at 123 West Eighth street. It was just 11 o'clock when he and Patrolmen J. F. Murphy and J. F. Brice and D. C. Stone walked into the care and announced that the place was "pinched." The women were ordered out into a waiting patrol wagon. A second trip was made before twenty of them were safely transported to police headquarters.

Women only were arrested in these raids In some instances the escorts were allowed to go to police headquarters in the patrol wagon bu they went only to give bond for the women. Of the twenty women arrested at Levy's cafe, escorts gave bond for six of them, while Levy gave bond for the other fourteen.

IN A HOTEL CAFE.

The first raid was made at 10:30 o'clock at the Hotel Moore cafe at 206 West Ninth street. Patrolmen C. E. McVey, J. F. Brice and J. F. Murphy were the arresting officers. Three women fell into the clutches of the law in this cafe. They were sitting at the tables drinking with their escorts when the men in plain clothes walked in and arrested them. Simultaneously a raid was made on the Aldine cafe at the southwest corner of Eighth and Central streets. Patrolmen Ben Sanderson, John Julian and D. C. Stone conducted this raid. When they entered the place they found seven women and their escorts and as in the other cafes, they were drinking. The escorts of the women who were arrested in these places went to police headquarters and put up a bond for them.

Immediately after these raids the sortie was made on Levy's place. This is a favorite restaurant-wine room for the men and women who frequent such places, and there is always a crowd there. Especially is this true on Saturday night. Last night was no exception.

BLOCKED THE CARS.

The operations of the raiding squad were soon made known in the district. By the time that the squad had reached Levy's place and the patrol wagon had been backed up to the main entrance, a large crowd had gathered. East bound street car traffic was tied up while the women were being loaded into the wagon. Passengers on the cars had an excellent opportunity to see the raid and they availed themselves of that opportunity.

The raid on Levy's place was conducted with so much publicity that the news ran over the district like wildfire, and ten minutes afterward every one of these places was deserted by women. The programme had included a raid on the Bull Dog cafe over Harry Lunn's saloon at the southwest corner of Eighth and Wyandotte streets. This cafe has been growing in favor with the class of people who frequent such places, but the tip had gone out and when the raiding squad arrived they found the place practically deserted.

JONES LOCATED THEM.

All of those places raided last night were visited by Mr. Jones Wednesday night. Clad in motor car togs, he drove around over the district in his motor car, stopping at every place that gave evidence of being frequented by women. His was not a perfunctory examination of these rooms. Invariably he stepped inside and surveyed the scene. He also made not of the fact that invariably the rooms were connected with the bar room by an open doorway, a direct violation of an order of the police board.

Thursday night came and there was no cessation in the patronage. The word has gone out that the visit of the commissioner was simply a bluff or something to that effect, and Friday night sufficient confidence had been restored to enable the proprietors of such places to practically insure protection to their patrons. If there had ever been a scare there was no evidence of it last night until the raiding squad swooped down upon the unsuspecting proprietors and patrons. Contrary to precedent, the escorts of the women who frequented these places, were not arrested. The police gave no reason for this action. All the women were subsequently released on bond.

Labels: alcohol, Captain Whitsett, Central street, Commissioner Jones, Eighth street, Ninth street, police, restaurants

May 31, 1908

NEW CAFE VALERIUS OPENS.

The First Meal Served Yesterday.

Rich in Furnishings.

The new Cafe Valerius opened yesterday and was visited by hundreds of patrons. It is the swellest place in the city by all odds. The new cafe is in the basement of the Victor building. The mahogany used in the furnishings is of the finest. There will be a seating capacity of 125, with individual tables for parties. The mahogany is in its natural color, except the chairs, which are of darker finish. The glassware has been imported and is of the colonial style, while the ceiling decorations are simple but rich in design.

The comfort of patrons has been carefully guarded in every detail. The room will be ventilated by the latest devices. Fresh air is brought in from the roof and, passing under the floor, makes it exit at the roof again on the opposite side of the building.

The bar fixtures are as elaborate as the balance of the furnishings. All the wines and liquors are kept in refrigerators, the refrigerator being supplied by a local corporation and is carried into the building in pipes. All the metal parts of the bar are made of German silver.

The kitchen is supplied with every idea that possibly can add to the preparation of foodstuffs, with big ventilators reaching to the roof, through which the odors and smoke of the room are carried off.

The new cafe is splendidly lighted and represents the ideas which Mr. Valerius says he has been working out.

Labels: restaurants, Victor building

April 20, 1908

BOWDEN WILL STOP

THE 'BOOZE' JOINTS.

CHIEF IS DETERMINED TO DRIVE

THEM OUT OF BUSINESS.

Three Arrests Were Made Yesterday,

and the News Caused Other

Blind Tiger Operators

to Close.

The police of Kansas City, Kas., are prosecuting the crusade against the keepers of "blind tigers," and individual "drunks" vigorously. Between midnight Saturday night and sunup yesterday morning three "blind tigers" were raided, in which the alleged proprietors and eleven patrons were taken into custody and locked up at No. 3 police station. In addition to the arrests made in these raids twenty-six individuals were arrested and locked up at the different police stations on the charge of drunkenness. All of these offenders will be arraigned before Judge J. T. Sims in police court this morning, an it is more than probable that the court will follow out the administration's policy in its efforts to rid the city of this particular class of lawbreakers.

"I propose to make it my personal duty to see to the elimination of all 'blind tigers,' petit gambling games, and the like, which now infest the city," said Chief of Police Bowden last night. "I was out until 1 o'clock yesterday morning with a squad of patrolmen in plain clothes, and I propose to keep the good work up until the town is cleaned up of this class of offenders. Police Judge Sims is tendering material assistance to the department in showing those convicted but little mercy, and we hope to put a stop to the illegal sale of 'booze' on the Kansas side of the state line."

The chief says he will work every night for an indefinite length of time with the plain clothes squad, and visit every section of the city. In the raids made early yesterday morning, Jim Pullum was arrested in his place of business, across Kansas avenue from the Swift Packing Company's plant. Seven male frequenters and two women were taken into custody, the men being taken to jail and the women allowed to go home. Nealie Butler, who conducts a restaurant near Kansas and Packard, was taken in tow along with four frequenters.

The raids of Saturday night and early yesterday morning were noised around the city yesterday, and many of the proprietors of "blind tigers" closed. The crusade, however, is being kept up, so the chief states, and those who shut their doors yesterday figuring that the closing would only be a temporary move, may expect trouble the minute they resume business.

Labels: alcohol, Kansas City Kas, Police Chief Bowden, prohibition, restaurants

April 14, 1908

JEWELED BOX

HELD CIGARETTES.

DINERS IN HOTEL BALTIMORE

CAFE GIVEN A SHOCK.

WOMAN BREAKS

HOUSE RULES.

SMOKE WREATHS THAT CHECK

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION.

Waiters, in Panic, Appeal to House

Detective, and He Tells Inof-

fensive Citizen That Wife

Mustn't Smoke There.

A faultlessly dressed couple occupied seats at a table in the main dining room of the Hotel Baltimore cafe last night. It was plain to be seen that they were English.

The dining room was well filled with men and women. The orchestra was playing a piece in waltz time. Jewels gleamed beneath the many lights.

Suddenly the buzz of conversation died away. All eyes in the dining room became centered upon the table where sat the English man and English woman.

With graceful ease the woman had extracted a cork-tipped cigarette from an exquisitely jeweled case and lifted it to her lips with dainty fingers. A moment more and a thin wreath of smoke curled above her head and -- Kansas City received its first touch of the Continent and the Orient.

What to do?

The whites of the eyes of the waiters grew larger, whispered words passed over the adjoining tables and the orchestra played on.

The waiter at the table where sat the English hurried to the side of the head waiter. Everybody except the man and the woman watched the conference of waiters. The cause of the commotion apparently saw nothing of what was transpiring about them. The head waiter hurried to the lobby. He conferred with the house detective.

"Sure," said the detective. "I'll fix that."

The head waiter returned to the dining room. He looked as though he had just received a liberal tip. The diners eagerly awaited the outcome.

They were not kept long in suspense. Soon the form of the house detective loomed large in the doorway. He really looked the imposing majesty of the law as he crossed the threshold. The head waiter moved his head to one side. The detective veered his course in that direction. Then he did the most detective like thing imaginable. He walked up to a well-known private citizen of American extraction who, with his wife, had just finished a light meal and said:

"I wish you wouldn't let your wife smoke in here. It's against the house rules."

Did the private citizen laugh? Indeed he did not. He didn't even smile over the detective's blunder. What he said was direct and to the point, and when he had finished saying it the house sleuth apologized and cast his eagle eye over the dining room for the real offender. Then he made the same request of the Englishman that he made of the professional man. There was a hearty:

"All right -- very sorry -- we didn't know it was against the rules."

And that ended it. The lights still shone brightly, diamonds glistened, the orchestra passed from adante doloroso to allegro furioso.

The Englishman was Mr. C. Murray, secretary of the colonial office, London, and the lady was his wife.

"It was embarrassing," said Mr. Murray afterwards. "We didn't intend to break any of the house rules and when the man came to me and asked my wife to desist she did so at once. I asked the man if it was against the law of your country for a lady to smoke in a dining room. He said it was not, but that it was against the house rules."

Secretary Murray said it was the custom for ladies to smoke in public dining rooms in London and nothing was thought of it. This is his first visit to America.

Secretary Murray said his wife is prominently connected in England, but declined to divulge her name before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have been traveling through Mexico.

"We have been over your city," said the secretary, "and I consider it a well laid out city, capable of great extension and a very progressive metropolis, but," he added, "you have not progressed to the point where ladies are allowed the freedom that they are in the old country."

Mr. and Mrs. Murray will depart for Chicago this evening.

Labels: Chicago, detectives, England, Hotel Baltimore, hotels, jewelry, restaurants, tobacco, visitors, women

March 31, 1908

TOUGHS BEAT AN OFFICER.

Sheffield Policeman Is Called Into a

Restaurant and Disarmed.

Patrolman Charles Seright of the Sheffield station was beaten and robbed of his revolver and club in a restaurant at 7208 East Fifteenth street before daylight Sunday morning.

Arthur and Harvey Leopold, Jr., and Frank Clay, who brought the officer's revolver and club to the police station, said that two other men had come across the officer jollying the divorced wife of the Leopold boys's father in the restaurant and had beaten him for it.

The officers in charge of the Sheffield station and Seright insist that Seright was called into the restaurant and set upon by five men, three of whom brought the revolver and club to the station. The assault, they claim, was for the purpose of settling an old grudge. Harvey Leopold, father of the two young men, at one time ran a saloon of Fifteenth street in Sheffield, and Seright arrested Frank Clay and Arthur Leopold on a vagrancy charge. They were released in police court Saturday morning. Seright was on duty as usual last night.

George Winkler, a dishwasher, was beaten unconscious in the fight and is in the general hospital.

Labels: Fifteenth street, general hospital, police, restaurants, sheffield, violence

March 27, 1908

HE SHOT A MESSENGER BOY.

Charles Greenburg Fatally Wounded

by Restaurant Keeper.

Fearing that he was about to be mobbed, as he claims, J. A. Quinlan shot and fatally wounded Charles Greenburg, a messenger boy, in the restaurant conducted by him at 105 East Thirteenth street, at 12 o'clock last night. There are several different versions of the shooting, each one who witnessed the affair having a different story to tell. The one which seems the most probably, however, is that Greenburg entered the restaurant with the intention of securing change for a quarter which he had borrowed from a fellow messenger boy, Joe Kelly.

Quinlan says that Greenburg became boisterous and drew a dangerous looking knife, threatening to cut up everything and everybody in the place. What caused Greenburg to show signs of violence is not known.

At any rate, Quinlan says he threw the boy out of the back door, and that Greenburg immediately returned, brandishing his knife and starting towards Quinlan. Quinlan then drew a revolver and fired three shots, one of which struck the boy in the stomach The police ambulance was called and the boy taken to the general hospital, where he was operated upon. The doctors express small hope for his recovery.

Just before he was placed upon the operating table one of the surgeons told him how serious was his condition and asked if he wished to make a statement. Greenburg told him that he did not know the man who had shot him nor why it was done. He gave a description of the man and it tallied with that of Quinlan.

Quinlan was arrested and taken to the Walnut street police station, where he admitted that he shot the boy.

Greenburg lives at 1827 Oak street, and was out on parole from the workhouse where he was sentenced a year ago to work out a $500 fine imposed for carrying concealed weapons. He is 19 years of age.

Labels: general hospital, Oak street, restaurants, Thirteenth street, violence, Walnut street police station

January 16, 1908

BOGUS NOBLEMAN

ARRESTED HERE.

POLICE MAY HAVE MAN WHO

SCANDALIZED PITTSBURG.

SOLD ENTREES TO SOCIETY.

POSED AS A TITLED ENGLISHMAN

AND REAPED A HARVEST.

Many Smoky City Millionaires Paid

Him Large Sums in Hope of

Gaining Admission to the

Court of St. James.

The police believe they had a foreign nobleman for a guest last night. If they are not mistaken their prisoner is none other than the person who recently set Pittsburg ablaze by collecting money from those funny Pittsburg millionaires on promises to introduce them into real British society.

For two weeks, the police say, this supposed nobleman has been in Kansas City part of the time visiting an East Twelfth street hotel. Ostensibly he was here to seek a profitable business investment, and was negociating for the purchase of property on Troost avenue. For some reason the suspicions of the police were aroused, and he was watched by detectives. Among others, Detective Ghent was working upon the case and he came to the conclusion that the man was none other than the Pittsburg celebrity. Tuesday night the detective traced the suspect to the Coates house, where, with a woman, he registered as from St. Joseph.

NO CHARGE AGAINST HIM.

Yesterday Detectives Boyle and Oldham were put upon the case. They traced the man and woman from the Coates house yesterday evening about dinnertime to the Morton Restaurant on Main street, and from there to McClintock's restaurant in Walnut street. As the two were entering McClintock's, the detectives placed the man under arrest. He was taken at once to police headquarters, booked for "investigation" and locked up in the holdover. Before he was locked up, he is said to have admitted that he was J. R. Spaulding, and that he was the man concerned in the Pittsburg scandals of last December. "Investigation" prisoners cannot be interviewed by reporters.

It is said no charges will be placed against the man. He will be presented at "show up" this morning and if he is the Pittsburg nobleman, will be ordered to leave town at once. The woman was not held.

MILLIONAIRES HIS MARK.

Reginald Spaulding, alias George Frederick Spate, alias Oscar F. Spate, by all of which names he was known, created a sensational scandal in Pittsburg last fall, when it was discovered he was an imposter, masquerading under pretenses of noble English birth. One of the most picturesque adventures of modern times, he readily won his way into the confidence of Pittsburg's millionaires by pretensions that were, to say the least, romantic. He offered, for a monetary consideration, to use his "social position" to obtain the introduction into the court of St. James of Pittsburgers who were able to pay the price. When it was discovered he was an ex-convict, a high-class confidence man and a bogus nobleman, Pittsburg was scandalized as much as it is possible for Pittsburg to be scandalized.

Investigation of his record disclosed some remarkable enterprises. Once as a representative of a fake South African trading company, he appointed a number of "agents" who were required to deposit $100 with him to secure their commissions in a promising get-rich-quick scheme. For this he was convicted and served two years in an English prison. That was 1903.

In 1902, he was married to Muriel, daughter of Lord and Lady Suffield, who had left her home because of a difference with her parents, and gone to South Africa as a Red Cross hospital nurse. Her name was removed from the records of the British nobility.

Spate, who is said to be of a younger son of a noble English family, had served as a subaltern in the British South African army. It was then he met and married the Lady Muriel. Later he is said to have interested his wife in a "salted" diamond mine, by which he realized a neat profit. Then he is said to decoyed the lady into the heart of Zululand, where he "lost" her. In order to find her, he made himself chief of a new Zulu kingdom and was starting out to avenge the disappearance of his wife, when she herself appeared in Johannesburg. It was after this he was sent to the British prison.

When the story of these adventures reached Pittsburg, the man was arrested, sat for his picture in the rogues' gallery and was ordered out of that city. Since then he has been lost. If the man arrested last night is really he, the police will be interested to know whether he was contemplating some other business coup in Kansas City.

Labels: Coates house, con artist, detectives, hotels, Inspector Boyle, nurses, police headquarters, restaurants, Twelfth street, visitors

Special Report -- C. W. ANDERSON

WHERE ANDERSON HAS BEEN..

Details His Life Since Escape

From Leavenworth Penitentiary.

LEAVENWORTH, KAS.--(Special.) Charles W. Anderson, late this afternoon, in the presence of Warden R. W. McClaughry, of the United States penitentiary, covered in detail his career from the time he escaped from prison in October, 1898, up to the time he was arrested in Kansas City a few days ago. This is the first statement Anderson has made covering his nine years of freedom and it was made for Congressman Ellis, of Kansas City, who wrote Warden McClaughry today that he would present Anderson's application for pardon to the president and he wished to get all the facts possible concerning the man.

In the first place Anderson said his right name is John W. January. He said he and Walter Axton, upon their escape from prison on the night of October 9, 1898, went to Atchison, where they parted next day. He went from there to Winfield, Kas., and secured work in a rock quarry. In a few days Axton showed up there and he also took a position in the quarry.

About two months later Axton was found dead, but it was never determined whether he committed suicide or died a natural death. Anderson continued to work in the quarry another month, when he took a position, going from house to house, selling tea and coffee. He continued at this work about a year, when he went to Kansas City.

Upon arrival in Kansas City he became an insurance solicitor, but did not work on that long, as he did not like the work. Then he began selling tea, coffee and spices on his own account. He followed this a while, when he became a street car conductor and remained in the service until he started in the restaurant business.

This he sold out a few weeks ago and was seeking another location when arrested.

Warden McClaughry is satisfied that Anderson covered his record exactly as it occurred and he believes the prisoner's statement will go a long way toward securing executive clemency for him. Warden McClaughry said tonight that Anderson's chances for getting a full pardon from the president were exceedingly bright.

Labels: Charles Anderson, Congressman Ellis, Leavenworth, restaurants