July 14, 1908 PUBLIC LIKES THE PAY-AS-YOU-ENTER
FIRST DAY'S TRIAL ON TROOST LINE IS SATISFACTORY.
Cars Make Better Time and Much Inconvenience to Passengers Is Overcome -- Bad Layout for the Deadbeats. HOW YOU PAY IN THE PAY-AS-YOU-ENTER CAR.
Pay-as-you-enter cars began running in Kansas city yesterday, the new system being inaugurated on the Troost avenue division. At the end of the first day every report made to the general offices was approving. The public took to the new system at once. Those conductors who were questioned by the company inspectors all said they had not found anyone objecting to the new rule of requiring fares to be paid when passengers board the cars.
The rush hour test proved that the system delays the cars at the main points about 50 per cent longer than the old custom of collecting fares from the interior of the car, but ten blocks out, meaning as far as Troost avenue on the Troost avenue line, the time lost in taking on passengers was more than made up by the quick way in which conductors could dispatch their trains.
There was not a single accident reported during the day, even of the most trivial sort.
An hour's observation at Tenth and Main streets and at Tenth and Walnut, between 5:20 and 6:30 last evening, when travel is heaviest, showed, what the company had not promised, an even distribution of the load. As cars would fill so that it was necessary to allow passengers to ride on the rear platforms, the conductors would close their gates and go without allowing any more to crowd on their cars. To the man who was left standing on the street this looked discriminating, but a watch showed that in six instances where this occurred cars followed within half a minute, in two instances within a few seconds, as two Troosts were running together. Under the old rule the first of the delayed cars would have been packed to suffocation, to the great discomfort of the passengers, while the car immediately behind would have run either with empty seats or at least with its aisles empty.
IT'S A LITTLE SLOWER.
A watch showed that it took eight seconds to take nine passengers on one of the old style, wide platform cars, but twelve seconds to take nine on the Troost avenue cars. It required eighteen seconds to unload five and take on six passengers from and on a Jackson avenue car. No Troost avenue car unloaded more than three passengers at Tenth and Main during the rush hour, but at no time did it take longer than two seconds to take on and seat a passenger.
There was no confusion in the matter of making change. Not having to watch his rear step from the front of his car, the conductor was able to handle his fares with alacrity. Taking twenty-seven passengers on one car at Tenth and Main in thirty-two seconds, the last to board had paid her fair and entered the car before it crossed Main street.
TWO CONDUCTORS TO A CAR.
Two conductors were on all cars during the rush hours -- one to block the exit door from incoming passengers and to start the car, the other collecting fares. The extra men worked only in the downtown district.
"It will be a week, perhaps," said Assistant General Manager W. A. Satterlee, "before the public is familiar with the new system. Accordingly we are putting extra men on to show them. The main difficulty now is to keep passengers from getting in the wrong door. Nobody complains, as there is another within two inches, which is open to them . The front door is closed, so, of course, the public understands it cannot board at that end of the car. We have had several messages telephoned in complimenting us on the innovation."
Ordinarily there are twenty cars and eight trailers on the Troost avenue line during the morning rush hours, and twenty-seven cars with eight trailers at the evening rush time. Yesterday the evening service was augmented to thirty-three cars, making a difference of half a minute between cars. The extras were put on to guard against any delay which might arise through the delay required in making change, the rule being that the car shall not start till the last waiting passenger is taken on, and yet everybody past the conductor shall have paid fare.
NO MORE DEADBEATS.
One of the old conductors laughed as he pointed out two men whose fares he had got. "I have carried them for a year and do not think I got a nickel out of them in all that time," he said "They used to give me a stare that I dare not question, bluffing me out of their fare If I had asked them where they got on they would have said Eighth and Wyandotte, most likely. I suppose they n ever paid the other conductors. They paid me tonight, though. This is pretty tough on the deadbeat."
An inspector, whose attention was called to the small crowd at Tenth and Grand, had a curious explanation.
"The deadbeats are gone," he said. "We known them by name, almost. they go to points like this, where cars always arrive loaded, and then force themselves on the end which the conductor is not working. This class did two things -- they beat the company out of their fares and they crowded passengers The paying passengers suffered from them in the annoying way of having them clock up the aisles. They never wanted seats, preferring to stand, on the alert, ready to leave the car in a natural way the moment they would see the conductor getting close to them. I am certain we carried a front platform load of these deadbeats from Tenth and Grand every night. Their disappearance makes room for ten people to get out of the aisle into the front platform, which is something the other passengers will approve."Labels: Eighth street, Main street, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, streetcar, Tenth street, Troost avenue, Walnut Street, Wyandotte street July 4, 1908
MAYOR COULDN'T REMOVE "SPELL."
STROUD STILL UNDER INFLU- ENCE OF THE "EVIL EYE."
SEEKS A REAL HYPNOTIST
K. U. GRADUATE STILL BEING HELD BY POLICE.
Will Not Be Given Liberty, as They Fear He May Be Seized at Any Moment by Homi- cidal Mania. 
JOHN EARL STROUD, A. B.
Kansas University graduate whose mind
is deranged and is being detained
by the police.
Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., put aside everything for a time yesterday and repaired to the police matron's room, where, with mystic signs, a few words, a wrinkled brow and a queer look in his eye, he attempted to remove a hypnotic spell which John E. Stroud of Howard, Kas., says has been upon him for now just three months and six days.
Stroud called on the mayor Thursday afternoon and insisted on having an audience with him at once. He said that he was laboring under the spell of a "snake-eyed hypnotist," which might cause him to jump in front of a street car at any moment, and that he had made a special pilgrimage here to see the mayor, believing that only he could undo the spell. The mayor called Captain Walter Whitsett to his office and Stroud was placed in limbo.
There was a brief session of the police board yesterday, and at its close Stroud's case came up for discussion. "Why don't you go in and remove the spell then?" the mayor was asked. "If the man believes you can, it might help him."
"I have never been a success at removing spells," said his honor, "but I'm game to try my hand at it."
The police board adjournd to the matron's room and Mayor Crittenden was formally introduced to Stroud, who sat with bowed head in a cell. He seemed pleased when told that the mayor had come to cast off the spell and shook hands cordially.
IT PLEASED THE VICTIM.
"All but myself and the doctors will please leave the room," said the mayor in a commanding voice. When the room was cleared the cell door was unlocked and the mayor entered with Dr. J. P. Neal. Taking Stroud by the right hand, placing the left upon the man's brow and looking as much like a real spell-removing wizard as possible, the mayor said in a slow, firm voice:
"By the authority vested in me by the great state of Missouri and this beautiful city, I here and now peremptorily command the hypnotic spell which has been upon you be permanently removed."
The mayor finished his solemn duty with a motion of the hands as if flinging something from the ends of his fingers. Stroud grinned and looked as if he felt better.
"You'll be all right now," said the mayor on leaving. "I have called the spell all off."
The unusual duty was performed at just 4:13 o'clock. Two hours later Stroud was asked if he didn't feel better and if the spell had been cast off.
"SEND ON A HYPNOTIST."
"I guess I was wrong in my surmises," he said dolefully. "It will undoubtedly take a hypnotist to undo the work of one of his kind. Send on a good one and I think he can do it."
"How do you know the spell has not been removed by the mayor?" he was asked. "He has removed hypnotic spells before and should not have failed in your case."
"Because I can hear the hypnotist talking to me," was the reply. Then he cocked his head to one side to listen. "I didn't quite catch what he said then," he said. Once more he took a listening attitude and laughed. "He says, 'You can do as you please.' Now that isn't true, for my whole life is guided by his suggestions. I see it now in everything I do. I may be looking at a person passing along the street there and want to change and look at someone else, but I can't. Again, when I feel like looking at an object a long time, the hypnotist compells me to change and look at something else."
Dr. Neal said yesterday that Stroud's condition is much worse than when he was first detained. Then he was only receiving suggestions at intervals, but now he regards every move he makes a coming from the mysterious person whom the thinks has him in his power.
DANGEROUSLY INSANE.
"That class of insanity is the most dangerous kind," said Dr. Neal. "Suppose the suggestion to kill should come to him and he believed that he had to act on it? What would be the result?"
Thursday night Captian Whitsett wired the unfortunate man's father, R. L. Stroud, the proprietor of the Stroud hotel, Howard, Kas., and the reply said, "Have written by this mail." The letter had not ben received last night Colonel Greenman notified the father again yesterday. Stroud said he had been here since June 15 and had been stopping at 314 West Fourteenth street. He will not be released except to relatives who can care for him, as he is now regarded as a dangerous man to be at large.Labels: Captain Whitsett, Col. J. C. Greenman, Fourteenth street, Mayor Crittenden, mental health, police board, police matron, streetcar, visitors July 2, 1908
OVERHEAD FUSE SET CAR AFIRE.
PANIC AMONG PASSENGERS FOL- LOWED EXPLOSION.
CORINNE TALIAFERRO HURT.
SEVERAL OTHERS WERE IN- JURED, BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY.
Trolley Car in Flames Ran Wild Through Wyandotte Street Un- til Pedestrian Turned Off the Current.
When the "overhead" blew out on a Grand Central depot bound car at Twelfth and Wyandotte streets at 9 o'clock last night, half a dozen passengers were momentarily shrouded in flames. Miss Corinne Taliaferro, 1747 Pennsylvania avenue, became hysterical and jumped from the car w hen released by a passenger who had removed her from immediate danger from fire Her back and shoulder were wrenched, and she was so hysterical when taken to emergency hospital that an examination of her injuries could not be attempted.
A. L. Perry, 513 Locust street, who made a brave attempt to save the women passengers who tried to jump from the car, was treated at the emergency hospital, and Edward H. Bly, 5617 East Ninth street, who set the brakes on the car after it had been deserted by the crew, was burned severely. An unidentified woman passenger whose ankle was inured sent for a carriage and was taken home.
E. G. Combs, motorman of the car, No. 713, says he was thrown from the front vestibule by the explosion. The car had just crossed the Twelfth street tracks when the overhead blew out and the motorman left his brakes. Immediately the front of the car was enveloped in flames and the passengers fled to the rear vestibule. The first of the passengers, eager to leave the burning car, which was then under ordinary speed, pushed the conductor into the street and the car was left running wild.
It was then that Perry and Bly, the latter with an ambition to be a motorman, and with his application for a job placed with the Metropolitan Street Railway Company earlier in the day, attempted to rescue the passengers While Bly aided the two women to the rear of the car, Perry braced himself on the steps and refused to allow them to jump from the car.
Mrs. Taliaferro, who had been touched by the flames, stooped low and leaped straight into the street under Perry's outstretched arm. The rest of the passengers crowded upon the young man with such force that he was pushed to the pavement and his right ankle was twisted and his left shoulder bruised. The car, running wild and burning, had passed Eleventh street.
Bly, who could no longer aid the passengers, turned his attention to the brakes. The front vestibule was full of smoke and fire but he stepped in and fumbled for the levers. He brought the car to a stop near Ninth street, just as the insurance patrol company swung into Wyandotte from its Eleventh street station. The flames were soon extinguished The car was pushed to a switch in the North End.
The conductor and motorman, bruised, went to their barn and Bly sought a physician, while Perry went to the emergency hospital. Miss Taliaferro for two hours was too hysterical to receive treatment and was given opiates to quiet her nerves and brace her for examination . In the meantime Jack Bell, a traveling man acquaintance, had reached the emergency hospital and later D. H. D. McQuade was summoned. At midnight Miss Taliaferro was removed to the Wesley hospital, Eleventh and Harrison streets.
D. H. D. McQuade stated last night that the injuries may prove more serious than at first indicated by the examination. He thinks the girl has been injured internally and that several bones have been broken. A further examination will be made today. An opiate was given her last night in order that she might get rest and recover from the nervous shock sustained at the time of the accident.Labels: doctors, explosion, Fire, Grand Central depot, Harrison street, hospitals, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, Ninth street, Pennsylvania avenue, streetcar, Twelfth street, Wyandott street July 1, 1908 CHILDREN REIGN IN SWOPE FOR A DAY.
WOMEN ENTERTAIN 300 LITTLE GUESTS THERE.
Gathered From All Parts of the City and Carried to the Park in Spe- cial Cars -- Day of Feast- ing and Games.
Pathos was interwoven with the pleasure of almost 300 poor children on the occasion of their first annual outing under the auspices of the Federation of Women's Clubs at Swope park yesterday, but the event probably will be remembered by all participating as one of the most enjoyable of their lives.
Children of many nationalities were there from every section of the city. The majority had been arrayed for the occasion, but a few went as best they could. Sunday behavior, too, accompanied the merrymakers, and the ladies in charge had little or no difficulty.
At designated meeting points in various sections of the city the little ones, whose ages ranged from 6 to 13 years, were met by special cars at an early morning hour, and later were unloaded at the gates of the park with baskets of good things, hammocks, swings and other articles designed to add to the pleasure of the day, all of which had been provided by ladies of the various city clubs, shortly after which a large shaded spot was taken possession of and the fun began.
Until noon there was singing, dancing, racing for boys and girls and other sports appealing to little folk in which all participated and enjoyed, but the principal event of the day was the feast, a feast the like of which probably never had been dreamed of even by the most daring of those present.
THE ABSENT ARE REMEMBERED.
When the word was given to unpack the baskets the task was accomplished in record time by the girls, during the course of which many a luscious cookie or lump of sugar mysteriously found its way into watering mouths and not over-fed stomachs. Within a short time spreads had been laid on the grass, all were seated and the signal given to "pitch in," which was done immediately.
Some ate slow, others fast, but all ate with relish. Before long much of what had been provided had disappeared, but not all into the mouths of hungry children. There were thoughts of loved ones at home who could not attend the feast, and many a dainty morsel was hidden under skirts or in coat pockets to be taken to hard working mothers, sick brothers or sisters or unfortunate fathers. Indeed, there were many instances of children eating sparingly so that they might be enable to take baskets home, hence the pathos.
After the feast, playing was resumed until at such time as all were gathered together to indulge in singing many of the familiar national songs, the accompaniments to which were rendered by Mrs. Dr. J. A. McLaughlin and Miss Margaret Hart, and for a time the woods rang with song from almost 300 throats.
ENDED IN SONG.
The singing stimulated the children as nothing else during the day had. Boys who probably had never before made an effort because of bashfulness, stood arm in arm with each other or with girls, their mouths open and singing at the top of their voices. The singing, which was heard all over the park, proved contagious and within a short time many other picnic parties had been attracted and joined in. Probably never before had there been such a gathering, and it is exceedingly doubtful if ever there will be a repetition.
When evening came the crowd was found tired and ready to depart. No difficulty was experienced getting all together, and on schedule time the cars left the beauty of the country for the conjested sections of the city.
The clubs whose members participated in the day and who were responsible for the outing are: Eternal Progress, South Prospect Study, History and Literature, Anthenaeum, Portia, Women's Reading, Women's Progress Reading, Bancroft, Central Study, Tuesday Morning Study Class, Every Other Week, Alternate Tuesday, Council of Jewish Women and the Melrose Fortnightly.
The arrangements of the day were in charge of Mrs. Harry Kyle, district chairman, and Mrs. H. N. Ess, state chairman of the Federation of Women's Clubs.Labels: charity, children, organizations, picnics, streetcar, Swope park, women 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, Colonel Van Horn, death, Highland avenue, immigrants, Independence avenue, Leavenworth, Main street, ministers, railroad, Senator Warner, streetcar, Tenth street, Twelfth street, veterans June 19, 1908 IT'S THE LARGEST GOOSEBERRY.
John Costello Puts in a Claim for the Prize of the Season.
The largest gooseberry raised in Kansas City this year, according to gooseberry experts, was picked yesterday from a bush in John Costello's yard at No. 3522 Bell street. Mr. Costello, a Roanoke line conductor, spends his spare time with his garden and caring for his small fruit, so the vine may get more attention than those in other yards. The sample brought to town by Mr. Costello is an inch long, three-quarters of an inch in diameter and a trifle over two inches in circumference. The vines are two years old and loaded with the berries.Labels: Bell street, food, streetcar June 18, 1908 CITY IN MOVING PICTURES.
Films Will Be Exposed in the Retail Section Today.
If your wife's new directoire is finished, dress her up and parade her in the downtown district this afternoon.
That is a duty a good citizen owes Kansas City today, of all days in the year, for today the town goes on the motion picture films to be exhibited all over the world.
A special street car carrying the phenomenal machine which puts you and your smile on the films will start at 1:30 o'clock from Thirteenth street and Grand avenue. If you chance to be strolling from the postoffice about this time the face you turn toward the machine will be exhibited in Hale's Tours in amusement places in many countries.
Here is the route of the car: From the start at Thirteenth street and Grand avenue the first run will be on Grand avenue to Fifth street, west on Fifth street to Walnut street. The car will start south on Walnut street at 1:45, 2 o'clock it will run north on Main street to the city hall and at 2:30 o'clock it will run from Wyandotte and Eighth streets east to Oak street. This will end the first day's film making.
Of course this is going to be done only provided the weather is clear. Next week, probably Saturday or Sunday, the machine will be placed on an automobile and pictures made of the boulevards. When the flood waters recede pictures will be made of the manufacturing district in the West Bottoms and later interior views of the banks and other large institutions will be made.
The films are made in sections. As the Kansas City film will appear it will show Kansas City from an inbound Wabash passenger train, giving a glimpse of the intercity viaduct.
The pictures will be made and exhibited by the International Publicity Company.Labels: arts, automobiles, Fifth street, Grand avenue, Main street, Oak street, post office, streetcar, Thirteenth street, Walnut Street, Wyandotte street June 15, 1908 PAY AS YOU ENTER CARS CAUSE SOME TROUBLE.
People are Getting Slowly Educated to the New Way -- Woes of the Conductors.
"These pay as you enter cars are causing lots of trouble just now," remarked a conductor on one of the new kind of cars the other day. "A great number of people don't know just how to take them. And even those that do always stop in the doorway and ask me my opinion on the way they are going to help out in the crowded hours.
"Sometimes I get a fellow on the car who comes up with his little nickel all ready in his hands, and he stands in the doorway holding it out for me to take, while the rest of the crowd that's trying to get on have to wait. Now and then a man will hand me a $2 or $5 bill as he enters and expect me to make change, while everybody else is pushing forward trying to get on. These fellows are all traveling men; those that have had experience with the pay as you enter cars in Chicago and New York.
"They see the car all fixed up like I was ready to take the coin just as the passenger gets on the step and tries to get in the door, and so, being wise to the kind of car and the principal which they are worked on, they try to have their money ready for me. It would be surprising to see how many of that kind get on my car every day.
"The company is running many of these pay-as-you-enter cars now so as to educate the people as to how to get off and on; but say, do you think they are getting education fast? Not much of it. You ought to see the women crowd and squeeze, all trying to get off and on through the same little door. It was bad enough when they had the wider doors in the cars, but with these half-doors, two women and two Merry Widows don't mix at all.
"When they do get to running these cars in the way they are planning to run them, it's going to be easy sailing for us conductors. We can just sit back on our little stools in the curve of the railing and take it easy while we are shoving the nickels into our money changers.
"It is said that all of the pay-as-you-enter cars will be put on the Northeast car line July 1, and then the conductors expect to have a great many amusing experiences to carry home to their wives at night."Labels: streetcar May 26, 1908 THAT WAS A SHOCKING RIDE.
Taken by William Becker and His Wife on a Northeast Car.
William Becker and wife, 413 Prospect avenue, were suffering yesterday from a most unusual injury received Sunday night on an eastbound Northeast-Rockhill car. The accident occurred on one of the new cars, and in one of the long seats running parallel at the rear of the car. Just as the car rounded the curve into Maple avenue, Becker and his wife, from some source unseen by them, received such a terrific shock of electricity that they were thrown across the car to the opposite seats.
Becker was at work in the city market yesterday for C. L. Reeder, a fish merchant, but his right arm was practically useless and his right let was also in bad shape. He said his wife was shocked on the right side below the waist.
"I can't imagine where the shock came from," said Becker, "but I know that it was so strong that it almost blinded me for a moment. The conductor told me afterwards that his shoulder was almost dislocated when he grabbed me as I was thrown from the seat. I have heard of cars being charged with electricity on damp nights, and as it was very damp Sunday it may be that this car was in that state.Labels: Maple avenue, Northeast, Prospect avenue, streetcar 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 16, 1908 IT ISN'T ALL HONEY.
The Umpire's Life Not a Happy One When the Home Team Loses.
Oh, it's great to be an umpire. Steve Kane is an umpire. Things didn't go just right, from the fans' point of view, at the baseball park yesterday and it looked as though a reception committee might greet the umpire as he left the park by the big gate after the game. At least, the police thought so and they hovered conveniently near until Kane had safely boarded a trolley car for down town.
Last night Steve Kane refereed two wrestling matches at the Century theater. The principals were introduced and then the announcer said:
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to introduce to you the referee of these matches, the very popular and affable baseball umpire, Mr. Steve Kane."
Enter Mr. Kane, R. U. E., bowing and smiling.
Siz-z-z! Wow! G-r-r-r! Zip-p-p!
For five minutes the audience hissed its opinion of Umpire Kane and then it settled back prepared to roar its disapproval of his decisions in the wrestling matches. But he was so manifestly correct in his decisions that the crowd was forced to acknowledge that he at least knew the wrestling game.Labels: sports, streetcar, theater May 11, 1908 FATHER SAW HIS BOY GO TO DEATH.
CARL RUEHLE FALLS FROM RAP- IDLY MOVING CAR.
CLOTHING CAUGHT IN FENCE.
UNFORTUNATE LAD DRAWN UN- DER HEAVY WHEELS.
Parent Tried to Save Him, but the Boy's Coat Gave Way and His Life was Quickly Crushed Out.
While returning with his father after an afternoon spent in Fairmount park, Carl Ruehle, a 16-year-old boy, was dragged from the front step of a crowded car by his coat catching in a picket fence beside the track at Twelfth street and Mersington avenue last evening about 7 o'clock, and thrown beneath the rear trucks, and instantly killed.
The approaching rain caused a rush to the incoming cars at the park, and young Ruehle and his father, G. C. Ruehle, a blacksmith at Twelfth street and Highland avenue, had been barely able to force their way on the car, the father standing upon the platform, and the boy gaining a foothold on the step. Irvin Menagerie, the motorman, put on full speed soon after he left the park, and the boy leaned far out to get the breeze full in his face, saying that he enjoyed it.
"Be careful, Carl," the father said when he leaned particularly far out. "You might hit your head against a post or fall off. Perhaps you'd better get up here on the platform with me."
"There's not room on the platform," the boy replied. "I'll be careful."
This conversation took place but a minute before the accident. Between Myrtle and Mersington avenues the street car track goes through a cut about four feet deep, and on each side is built a fence to deep persons from driving into it from the road. The car was going rapidly, and young Ruehle once more leaned out to catch the breeze, bystanders say, and before his father could again warn him the car had reached the cut.
The boy's coat was not buttoned, and the wind caught it in and bellied it out. Before young Ruehle could draw his coat back one of the pickets had caught in a fold of the cloth, and was dragging him from the step. He cried out, and clung to the rail with all his might but could not keep his hold.
At his son's cry the boy's father grasped at him, and succeeded in getting hold of part of his clothing. He clung until the cloth parted, the back of his right hand being deeply cut and bruised from striking against the sharp corners of the car in trying to hold on.
The boy was instantly killed. He was an employe of the Hallman Printing Company, and lived with his parents at 1313 Lydia avenue. The body was taken to Newcomer's morgue after an examination by the coroner.
The father was taken to D. V. Whitney's drug store, at Twelfth street and Cleveland avenue, and his wound dressed. Lynn Turpin was the conductor and Irvin Menagerie the motorman on the car, which is No. 234.Labels: blacksmiths, death, fairmount park, Highland avenue, Lydia avenue, Mersington street, Myrtle avenue, printers, streetcar, Twelfth street, undertakers May 11, 1908 BIG CROWD AT FAIRMOUNT.
And It Was Busy Enjoying Itself Un- til Driven In by the Rain.
There was one of the biggest opening day crowds that Fairmount park ever saw at the amuseent place yesterday -- until about 7 o'clock last night. Then the crowd suddenly dwindled because of a rain that insisted on falling in quantities almost large enough to drown one.
A few minutes before the heavy rain came a slight drizzle began to fall. But the crowd wouldn't go The ticket sellers remained as busy as ever, the merry-go-round music box kept up the same familiar tunes and the man at the boathouse almost wept as he looked at the crowd waiting for boats and then remembered that every boat was out on the lake. Then the big excitement came. It didn't fall gradually, that rain. It insisted on coming down with a sloshing sound that resembled the overturning of thousands of barrels of water And the crowd scattered. Those near the pavilion made a rush for shelter and stayed there while others ran to the roller rink, the hotel, the annex -- anywhere to get out of the rain. Every place with a roof on it had all the person it could hold. For a few minutes the concessions that were enclosed did about as big a business as they'll ever do. At the car loop there was a crowd that reached fro the tracks to the fence of the park, a crowd that jostled and scrambled -- almost fought to get on cars.
But outside of that everything was lovely. The management was pleased, even if the crowd did have to leave about four hours too early -- pleased that the park should be attractive enough to draw the crowd it did after the rain of the morning. During the sunshiny hours of the afternoon the concessions, the walks, everything was crowded.
H. O. Wheeler's American band was enjoyed by many yesterday. Mr. Wheeler is one who does not believe in playing only classical music. On all his encores he plays music of a light character that goes well after a classical number.
And every one said that the park was prettier and more capable of furnishing amuseent than ever before -- even when they were coming home, wet and tired, after the rain.Labels: amusement, fairmount park, streetcar, weather May 9, 1908 RUNAWAY GIRLS ARE CAUGHT.
Returned to Smallpox Hospital After a Jaunt About Town.
The two girls, Edna Sickler, 12, and Grace Kaufman, 13 years old, were returned to quarantine at St. George hospital near the Milwaukee bridge late last night. Edna Sickler was the first to arrive at 9 p. m., in company with her father, Edward Sickler. At 11:15 o'clock Grace Kaufman was taken back by the guard, Morris S. Sharp. Both girls escaped from quarantine where smallpox patients are confined and were gone thirty-four and thirty-six hours, respectively.
While the police were supposed to be looking for them a citizen who had seen their descriptions in Friday's Journal called up the smallpox hospital and told Dr. George P. Pipkin, in charge there, that he believed both girls were with the Kaufman girl's father at Twenty-ninth and Spruce streets.
The girls reported that they walked from the smallpox hospital to the end of the Fifth street line -- both had previously begged a nickel from their mothers -- and transferred until they had reached the vicinity of Twenty-ninth and Prospect. There, as if by prearrangement, they met Frank Kaufman, Grace's father. He took the girls with him to cut grass on Prospect avenue between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth and took them home with him in the evening.
Dr. Pipkin said that Kaufman would be prosecuted for harboring a person with a contagious disease without reporting the fact. Kaufman told Sharp that the girls said they had been discharged.Labels: children, doctors, hospitals, Prospect avenue, smallpox, streetcar, The Journal, Twenty-eighth street, Twenty-ninth street May 4, 1908 RISKS LIFE TO RECOVER CAP.
Small Boy Pulls Red Wagon in Front of Street Car.
A toy wagon, a 10-year-old boy and a blown-away cap looming up before a Grand avenue street car just before dark last night, made things look suddenly black for the motorman.
"You didn't stop for me," the boy said, indignantly, after he had been shunted off the track, his back sprained and his left thigh lacerated.
"I thought you'd stop when you saw me, for I had to get my cap," he went on. The boy was David Marcus, son of Aaron Marcus of 42 McClure Flats. His play had taken him to Twentieth street and Grand avenue. On a street car he was taken to a physicians office Four hours later he was still suffering, and Dr. Carl V. Bates from No. 4 police station was called. He says the boys injuries are only superficial.Labels: children, doctors, Grand avenue, No 4 police station, streetcar, Twentieth street March 29, 1908 ONE LITTLE ENGINE BALKED.
And All the Cars in Town Stopped as a Consequence.
Just because a small engine in the power house at Thirty-first and Holmes streets went out every car line in the city was "tied up" yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock. It was just at the time when traffic is the heaviest for the Metropolites, when business men and shoppers have begun to turn their faces homeward, and these unfortunate ones found themselves in a place where they had to wait an indefinite length of time, or walk the indefinite number of miles to their homes Many of them chose the latter course but were very careful to do a lot of their waling along the route of their "homegoing car."
When the engine at Thirty-first and Holmes streets got "lost" it affected the machinery in the large power house at Second street and Grand avenue. This power house, directly or indirectly, controls every line in the city and when its machines stopped, so did all of the cars throughout town. Emergency treatment was given to the engines at the power houses and within fifteen minutes the wheels began to turn and the cars started. Just how the engine in the Holmes street power house "went dead" will not be known until an examination is held today.Labels: Grand avenue, Holmes street, Second street, streetcar, Thirty-first street March 28, 1908 MOTORMAN KILLED IN WRECK.
Rex Hawkins Loses Control of His Car, Which Strikes Another.
Rex Hawkins, the motorman on southbound Indiana car No. 643, was killed in a collision which occurred between Thirtieth and Thirty-first street on Indiana avenue at 11:15 o'clock last night. Hawkins lost control of his car as it was descending the hill toward the end of the line and the switchback at Thirty-first street. Indiana car No. 636, which was standing on the east track at the terminus, was telescoped and completely demolished by the southbound car when it jumped the track.
Hawkins was caught in the vestibule of his car, his left leg broken and his body crushed. He was extricated from the wreck and carried into McCann & Bartell's drug store at Thirty-first and Indiana. Dr. H. A. Breyfogle attended the injured motorman, who died a few minutes after being carried into the drug store. Hawkins lived at 2424 Tracy avenue. Isaac Pate and William Lamar, the trainmen on the car that was telescoped, were bruised and shaken up but sustained no dangerous injuries. E. J. Hanson, the conductor on the runaway car, was uninjured. Hawkins's body was taken to Eylar Brothers' undertaking rooms.Labels: accident, doctors, druggists, Indiana avenue, streetcar, Thirtieth street, Thirty-first street, Tracy avenue, undertakers 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 15, 1908 CAR CRUSHED OFF CHILD'S ARM.
Three-Year-Old Was Wandering in the Streets Alone.
Louis Wagner, 3 years old, 562 Charlotte street, fell under an eastbound Northeast car at Independence avenue and Charlotte street about noon yesterday and suffered the loss of his right arm near the elbow. The child was taken to emergency hospital.
Motorman J. J. Howe and Conductor John Gordon were arrested by Patrolman Lorraine Mastin and taken to police headquarters. Captain Whitsett booked them for investigation, but the men were later released to appear before the prosecutor when wanted.
Witnesses said that the little 3-year-old was running across the street with the unsteady step of a toddler. As he gained the center of the tracks he looked back. Just at that moment the car came. The child fell under the front trucks.
The mother of the injured boy said that he left home in search of his brother, Ezra, 7 years old. She said that her children often went out alone. The father of the boy, Joseph Wagner, is an itinerant locksmith.Labels: accident, Charlotte street, children, emergency hospital, Independence avenue, streetcar March 10, 1908 BABY HAS NOT BEEN FOUND.
Mrs. Pansy Gaulter Says Husband's Mother Made the Trouble.
Mrs. Pansy Gaulter, whose baby was snatched from her arms by her husband, Loren Gaulter, at Sixth and Central streets Saturday afternoon, said last night that no trace had yet been found of either Gaulter or the child. The last she saw of him was when he ran down Central street to Fifth street and through a building at 306 West Fifth. He is said to have met a woman at Fourth and Broadway and to have later taken a Leavenworth electric car The kidnaping was reported to the Humane Society, and W. H. Gibbbens has a warrant for Gaulter.
It was a mistake to say that my mother caused any trouble between us," said Mrs. Gaulter. My mother-in-law caused all the trouble and she had made trouble before. Finally I told y husband I would not live with his people any more, and he then wanted me to live with his uncle. When I refused that also caused trouble. It was his people, not mine, that caused our separation."Labels: Broadway, Central street, Fifth street, Fourth street, Humane Society, kidnapping, marriage, Sixth street, streetcar March 5, 1908 WIDOW OF PIONEER DIES.
Mrs. Mary Egan Leaves Twenty-Two Granchildren.
Mrs. Mary Egan, widow of Thomas Egan, one of the pioneer residents of Kansas City, died last night at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John F. Ward, 3037 Main street. Mr. Egan died about three months ago.
Mrs. Egan was 70 years old and had lived in Kansas City for the last forty-five years. Her husband was interested in the building of the first street railway lines in Kansas City and was a prominent figure in the early days. She is survived by three daughters, twenty-two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, every one of whom lives in Kansas City. The three daughters are Mrs. John F. Ward, Mrs. Michael Gormon and Mrs. John Gorman.Labels: death, Main street, pioneers, streetcar March 4, 1908 WESTPORT CAR 'SPLIT' SWITCH.
At Thirteenth and Grand Avenue, and Motorman Was Injured.
In a street car collision last night that wrecked the front vestibule of a southbound Fifteenth street car, Clarence Oliver, motorman, was stunned and, it was thought at the time, seriously injured.
The accident happened about 9:30 o'clock at Thirteenth street and Grand avenue. Oliver's car was going south on Grand avenue across the switches that turn into Thirteenth street when a northbound Westport car "split" the switch. That is, the switch refused to work, and the car that should have continued straight north on Grand avenue took the curve, and was thrown across the front of the Fifteenth street car. Dr. Will Inen, who attended Oliver at the University hospital, believe he sustained a slight concussion of the brain. Oliver lives with his family at 1803 Jackson avenue. None of the passengers on the car was hurt.Labels: doctors, Fifteenth street, Grand avenue, Jackson avenue, streetcar, Thirteenth street, University hospital March 1, 1908 MET THE DEATH HE HAD FEARED.
WILLIAM BRENNAN IS CRUSHED BETWEEN STREET CARS.
YEARS WITH THE METROPOLITAN.
WAS SUPERINTENDENT OF FIF- TEENTH STREET LINE.
Caught Between Two Cars at Fif- teenth and Prospect While Mak- ing a Coupling -- Death Quickly Results. 
WILLIAM BRENNAN.
Meeting the death which he daily feared during the twenty years of service for the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, William Brennan, division superintendent for the Fifteenth street line, was crushed to death between two cars at Fifteenth street and Prospect avenue about 7 o'clock last night, while making a coupling.
After the rush hour the trailers are taken from the cars at Fifteenth street and Prospect avenue, and in strings of two or three are hauled to the barn by a work bar. One trailer had already been coupled to the work car by Brennan and a negro assistant and Brennan was stooping over working with the rear coupler when the second trailer struck him. His breast bone was crushed and he lived only about fifteen minutes after the accident.
It was no part of Brennan's regular duties to assist in coupling the trailers to the work car, the negro who was helping him being employed for that purpose. But in order to keep the lines in his division clear, he frequently took charge of the work in order to hurry it and get the trailers out of the way as quickly as possible.
The cars with which Brennan was working were empty, and there was no one to warn him of the danger, the negro being on the rear end of the second trailer and not seeing Brennan's plight in time to cry out.
It was said last night at Brennan's home, 3815 Dixon avenue, that ever since he began work for the Metropolitan Street Railway Company twenty years ago as a gripman he had feared that he would meet his death in a street car accident.
"He aways said that he was going to die while at work, and I have been afraid for him every day while he has been on duty," said the widow, Mrs. Mary Brennan, last night. But when he was promoted to be assistant division superintendent and didn't have to be on the cars all the time I hoped that the danger was over."
Mr. Brennan had been division superintendent for four years, and was known as one of the hardest working men in the street railway company's employ. He was 50 years old, and leaves a widow and three children, May, Queen, and Harvey. The coroner took charge of the body, and ordered it taken to O'Donnell's undertaking rooms.Labels: accident, death, Fifteenth street, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, Prospect avenue, streetcar, undertakers March 1, 1908 ROSES BEGIN TO BUD.
Leaves on Shade Tree Also Indicate Approach of Spring.
Occasional frosts are keeping fruit trees back, but flowering bushes are in peril. Most roses are already budding, and along the lines of the stret cars shade trees are throwing out their leaves. One, at Seventeenth and Troost, has leaves measuring an inch across. Horticulturists say that while the flowers are almost certain to be destroyed by frosts sure to come, fruit trees may not be advanced far enough to get where the frost can reach them.Labels: flowers, Seventeenth street, streetcar, Troost avenue, weather February 22, 1908
WOOLF WINS IN THE THIRD WARD.
IN SPITE OF EFFORTS OF HIS BENEFICIARIES.
MORRIS VICTOR IN TENTH
CARY DEFEATS HARTMAN AND GREEN BEATS LORBER.
Had it not been for the contests for aldermen to the lower house of the council in the Third, Eighth, Tenth and Thirteenth wards yesterday, the Republican primaries to elect delegates to the city convention next Monday would have been pretty tame. The total vote in the fourteen wards was but 3,322, and of this total about 2,800 votes were cast in the four wards where there were contests for alderman. The result shows the renominations of Morris Green and Woolf, and the defeat of Hartman in the Thirtenth by Dr. W. E. Cary.
The outcome was no surprise, for in the Eighth, Tenth and Thirteenth wards there is a preponderance of officeholders, both city and county, and they were out in force personally working for the success of Morris, Green and Cary, and wherever and whenever necessary spending their money. A similar fight was put up in the Third against Woolf, some of the officeholders leading the insurrection, being men who owe their jobs to Woolf's personal efforts. But they found in Woolf a bulwark of strength and popularity with the rank and file of the voters, and he beat his opponent, Sommerfield, nearly three to one. Notwithstanding the vigor of the contests, everything passed off smoothly and there were no disturbances. The workers for the respective candidates put in their best licks, and went about it with vim and without demonstration. Alderman Hartman had been for days assailed and derided as the candidate of the corporations and street car company, but the unfairness of these attacks was demonstrated by the fact that in the precinct where the bulk of the Thirteenth ward street car employes live he lost by a 79 majority. Labels: doctors, Kansas City council, politics, streetcar February 12, 1908 CARS COLLIDE ON PROSPECT.
Two Motormen Are Injured in Early Morning Accident.
Car 158 on the Prospect line dashed into the car ahead of it at Thirty-third street and Prospect avenue last night just after 1 o'clock. Something was wrong with the motor of the fist car and the trolley was off while repairs were being made. Both cars were headed south on a down grade.
The rear car was not seen in time to be flagged, and in spite of every effort of the rear motorman, James Turney, to stop his car, there was a crash that entirely demolished the front vestibule of the car, knocking out both front and rear motors and breaking one of Turner's ankles.
On the front car the rear vestibule was crushed in and W. C. Forest, the motorman, suffered a broken thumb.
Both men had their injuries attended by Dr. A. W. Davis at his home, 3306 Prospect. Few passengers were on the cars and none was hurt.Labels: accident, Prospect avenue, streetcar, Thirty-third street February 5, 1908 HUMILIATES THE MOTORMAN.
To Hit an Automobile and Not Even Scratch the Paint.
A new way for the motor car driver to confound and humiliate the helpless street car motorman came out last night at 11 o'clock when Holmes street car 443 on Walnut at Fourteenth street stuck its nose into the touring car of W. C. Goffe, only to lay itself out without so much as scarring teh automobile or spilling any of the five occupants.
Mr. Goffe, family and negro chauffeur were spinning homeward on Fourteenth street when the street car loomed up hard aport and took its medicine.
"Was running slow, and always run slow, crossing the car lines, so I can stop," explained Mr. Goffe to the crowd that gathered.
"Yes, and that's what was the matter. You did stop," put in the street car motorman, L. Hayter, not concealing his animosity for automobiles. "I didn't hit you till you'd stopped. That's the way you chauffeurs have got to doing -- running onto our tracks and stopping, and we go back to the barn with our fenders on the platform."
A close examination of Mr. Goffe's car failed to reveal any damage done. The family was driven to the home, 2125 Brooklyn avenue, without dismounting.Labels: accident, automobiles, Brooklyn avenue, Fourteenth street, streetcar January 29, 1908
HUNT GERMS IN STREET CARS.
City Chemist Has Been Making Tests With Culture Plates.
Are the street cars a menace to public health, and do they carry germs that are producers of disease?
With a view of determining this point the city pure food department and City Chemist Cross have been making tests with culture plates. During the rush hours on the street cars, morning and night, these culture plates have been placed in the Brooklyn, Vine, Rockhill, Troost and Indiana cars. The plates are of glass, and floating germs adhere to their surface.
The exposures show the glasses to be completely covered with atoms of variuos descriptions, but whether these are impregnated with disease germs it will take from three to five days to develop. The plates exposed in the Vine street cars showed the greatest accumulations.
Dr. W. M Cross, the chemist, says that the air is filled with disease-carrying germs which settle on the clothing and shoes of passengers and in that way are carried into cars, and if cleanliness is not maintained that the germs enter the systems of passengers and cause fevers and illness of various degrees.Labels: City Chemist Cross, health, streetcar January 22, 1908 TRAMPLED OLD MAN IN PANIC.
Passengers Rushed From Vine Street Car Over His Prostrate Body.
The burning out of the controller of a Vine street car at Nineteenth and Vine streets last night, at 8 o'clock, resulted in a severe trampling for A. T. Gehn, 60 years old. He was on the front platform. The passengers were stampeded by the burst of flame and sound, and knocked Geha from the car to the ground. Then all stumbled over him. His face was tramped and cut and his back severely sprained. A police ambulance was called and took him to his home, 2310 Vine street, where later in the evening he was able to sit up. It was impossible last night to determine the extent of his injuries.Labels: accident, Nineteenth street, Seniors, streetcar, Vine street January 20, 1908 RAN AROUND IN SCANT ATTIRE.
Peter Mettlach Raced the Streets in Unseasonable Raiment.
Running races with automobiles and street cars in his underclothes was the strange pastime of Peter Mettlach of 901 East Eighteenth street last night. Mettlach was placed in a sanitarium at Thirty-first street and Euclid avenue about two weeks ago.
Last night about 7 o'clock he told a nurse that he wanted to go home. She refused to give him his clothes, telling him that he was not in condition to go home yet. Mettlach, however, took a different view of the situation and went on back into his room on the second floor of the house, opened up a window and climbed down the fire escape and to freedom. He then entered his wild gambols over the southeast part of the city.
Patrolmen from No. 9 and No. 5 police stations were detailed to pick him up. After several hours he was seen by the motorman of a Swope park car, running by the side fo the car. Seeing the man in his underclothes, bareheaded and barefooted, the motorman stopped the car and urged the man to get in the car. When the car arrived at Forty-eighth and Harrison streets two policemen took the man on up to Thirty-first and Troost avenue, where his relatives met him with some clothes and took him home.Labels: clothing, Eighteenth street, Euclid avenue, Forty-eighth street, Harrison street, mental health, police, streetcar, Thirty-first street, Troost avenue January 19, 1908 LODGED BETWEEN THE TIES.
And That Fact Saved Iowa Man's Life on "L" Road.
Scott Lewis, who says his home is at Osceola, Ia., was struck by a car on the "L" road at the State line station last night at about 9 o'clock, sustaining serious injuries. He had been taking in the "Wet Block" just east of the State line on the Missouri side and was standing on the elevated structure waiting for a car when the accident occurred. He was removed to No. 1 police station in Kansas City, Kas., where his injuries were dressed by Police Surgeon Tenney.
While Lewis's injuries, which consist of several wounds on the head, are not considered dangerous, his escape from instant death is regarded almost miraculous. The car struck him while he was standing on the trestle which is about thirty feet above the street level. He lodged between the ties.Labels: accident, alcohol, State line, streetcar, visitors |
