June 9, 1908
FIND WATCHCHARM ON MASON'S BODY.
ONE CLUE AGAINST WIX DIS- PELLED IN HIS FAVOR.
NEW LIGHT ON WATCH DEAL.
FRIEND OF DEAD MAN SAYS HE TRADED WITH HIM.
Warren W. White Positive That the Timepiece Taken From a Pawn- shop Was Once His.
The police case against Clark Wix, charged with the murder of John Mason on January 26, seems to be weakening. Yesterday it developed that the watch charm Wix had been wearing and which had been positively identified as the one worn by Mason on the day when he was last seen alive, was not Mason's an had never belonged to him. When the coroner, Dr. G. B. Thompson, was making an examination of Mason's body the watch charm which Mason had worn fell from some part of the clothing on the body to the floor. The police had based a great part of their theories upon the identification of the watch charm which Wix had been wearing and the discovery of the true charm by Dr. Thompson completely put the question of ownership of the charm beyond question.
Yesterday Warren W. White, an embalmer at Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms, went to Central police station to identify the watch which was taken from the pawn shop as having been the one which had belonged to Mason and which Wix is charged with having stolen from the dead man. Mr. White was the original owner of the watch in question and knew that he could identify it beyond all question.
Captain Walter Whitsett refused to let him see the watch. Mr. White put his request to the captain directly, but with no further result than gaining the permission of the captain to describe it. He did so, after which Captain Whitsett informed him that his description the watch did not tally with the article.
Mr. White said last night that he had traded his own watch for the one which Mason was wearing about ten days previous to the time he was supposed to have been murdered. He said it seemed to him that it would not have been probably that Mr. Mason, from whom her husband had been separated, could have seen the watch, at least closely enough to give a minute description of it.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Mason did give a complete description of the watch which is in the hands of the police and which Mr. White believes is not the watch he traded to Mason.
Mason and White had been in the habit of making trades of jewelry, seeing each other often during the week. When one of them would get a new article of jewelry it was the custom for him to display it and then to begin a dicker for trade. This accounts for the way in which he and Mason traded watches, says Mr. White.
It is on the watch and the watch charm, it is asserted, that the police base most of their charges against Wix and it would seem from the statements of Coroner Thompson and Mr. White that these two articles of evidence have been changed to a most useful weapon in the hands of Wix's attorneys. Coroner Thompson has no hesitancy in saying that he doubts greatly the guilt of Wix. He has made some study of the body and of matters which pertain to the evidence against the accused man.
Captain Whitsett still refuses to discuss the Wix case, saying only that he is positive that the accused man will be convicted of murder.
The grand jury will consider the charges against Wix today.
Wix was visited at the county jail yesterday by many of his friends, who cheered him up with their kind words and presence. Among his visitors were the prisoner's wife and father, who spent some time with him. Several floral offerings were sent to him.
The police say that they have not lost confidence in their evidence against Wix, but are positive that if the grand jury hears all of the testimony now in the possession of the police that Wix will be indicted.
Mrs. Wix said yesterday that after her husband had been arrested she had been to the pawn shop of L. L. Goldman, 1207 Grand avenue, and to Silverman's pawn shop, 1215 Grand avenue. She stated that two pawn tickets which had been on top of a writing desk in her room disappeared after her husband had been arrested.
Believing that the tickets had been stolen by someone, who would attempt to get the jewelry out of pawn, she visited the store where they were pawned to warn the proprietor against allowing anyone to have them. She said she knew the watches had been pawned at Silverman's, but she did not know where this place was. She went to Goldman's pawnshop and asked Mr. Goldman where Silverman's place was located. When she was told at Siverman's that the police had the watches she did not ask any further questions. At Goldman's and Silverman's Mrs. Wix's statement regarding her visits were corroborated. In the search for evidence Mrs. Wix said the police had not left even a strand of hay in the barn untouched. It was suggested that the pawn tickets she supposed were stolen, were in the possession of the police, although the latter will not discuss them.Labels: Captain Whitsett, flowers, Grand avenue, murder, pawn brokers, undertakers June 7, 1908
POLICE REFUSE TO GIVE INFORMATION.
"NOT TRYING WIX IN THE NEWSPA- PERS," THEY SAY.
As in All Cases, They Are Seeking Evidence Against the Accused, Only, and Not That Which Would Free Him.
"The police will give no more information concerning the Wix case. I think we have given out too much of our side already. We do not intend to try the case in the newspapers."
So said Captain Walter Whitsett at police headquarters last night when asked if there was anything new in the case. By "Our side" he meant the prosecution. He said further that the publication of too much of "our information gives the other fellows a chance to get busy." In other words the police department, a public institution, is run solely to prosecute men. When a man is arrested, charged with a crime, it is a well known fact that the police set to work to get all they can against the man and seldom take notice of anything in the prisoner's favor.
If Clark Wix is convicted for the murder of John Mason as he now stands charged, it appears that it will have to be solely upon circumstantial evidence as, so far, the police have no positive evidence.
The man's watch found in pawn in Wix's name at Silverman's pawnshop, 1215 Grand avenue, and later identified by Mrs. Lizzie Mason, widow of the murdered man and Maude Wilson, was yesterday proved beyond a doubt to be the property of Wix. In his statement Wix said that the watch was his and the woman's watch was his wife's.
When J. B. Schmeltz, 1231 Grand avenue, was seen he said that Detective Fred Bailey called him up about the watch. His mark in the watch was 10232107. The 102 Schmeltz places in all his watches and the 32107 when separated means 3, 21, 07, or March 21, 1907, when the watch sold. The works number is 14160503 and the case 6219763. It is a Waltham, size 16.
WIX BOUGHT A DIAMOND.
When Silverman's pawnshop was visited it was learned that the watch pawned by Wix February 10 last bears exactly the same numbers. Schmeltz also said that he recalled Wix bringing a diamond stick pin to him to be set in a ring and said that he believed he sold him a small diamond ring within the last year, possibly the one Wix gave to Maud Wilson.
The numbers on the works of the woman's watch in pawn are 10437364 and the case 67074. That watch is claimed by Mrs. Mason, who said that her husband was carrying it when he disappeared. She said that the watch was brought second hand, so it would be hard to trace the numbers in that case. Wix says the watch is his wife's and she confirms him. Her description of the watch is identical with the one in pawn. Her nurse friends used to use it when she was a nurse at the general hospital, and they all describe it as a large-sized woman's wath, engraved case, with a diamond in the back. Captain Whitsett says that the watch is being held as evidence and no one not connected with the police or the prosecution shall be allowed to see it. Harry Way, Mrs. Wix's father, said yesterday:
"That watch was given to Harriet by her uncle, Cyrus Way, fifteen years ago. It was brought from Roscoe Smulk, a jeweler at Shelbina, Mo, who is now dead. An effort will be made to get the numbers there, but I don't think they keep them."
If the watch was ever cleaned or repaired by a jeweler here, the numbers will be found here, and the defense is working along those lines now.
WHEN HE WAS ELEVEN YEARS OLD.
Some of the new information received by the police yesterday that, twelve years ago, while hunting near Ottawa, Kas., with a man named Alvin Keller, the latter was supposed to have been accidentally shot by Wix, and that the belief was that it was not accidental. Wix is now 23 years old, so, if that is true, he was only 1 years old when the informant seems to cast suspicion upon him.
It was learned yesterday that on Sunday, January 26, when Mason disappeared, he was about the barn of W. A. Marshall, 1417 Walnut, during the morning. He took John Nevins out and drove him through Penn Valley park in an effort to sell him a horse. Nevins, who is a horseshoer, did not take the horse. Then Mason called up George Coleman, a liveryman, and tried to sell him the buggy and harness. He was turning all his property into cash, as his wife had sued him for divorce.
While Coleman was looking at the buggy Mason left the barn. That was about noon. About 2 p. m. he called Marshall and said:
"I will be over pretty soon with Clark Wix, and I want you to knock that trade with me."
"I asked him what he meant," said Marshall, yesterday, "In his broken German he had used knock for boost. I don't see how he could have been talking in the presence of Wix, to whom he wanted to sell a team."
DISPLAYED HIS MONEY.
Detectives "Lum" Wilson and J. L. Ghent were assigned on the Mason case yesterday, and they took a new tack. They found out where Mason had often showed his money, that he did not choose his company well, and was often known to have shot craps with negroes. Any of that class may have known that Mason carried a large sum of money, and he might have been killed by them.
The police had several men in the office of Captain Whitsett last night, sweating them and taking their statements. Some of them are believed to have been men who worked for Wix at the time of Mason's disappearance. It is known that an old man named Barslow, a barn foreman, was told to be there at 8 p.m. One of the men who worked about there at the time and who knew Mason and his habits well is now being looked for by police with two different warrants for swindling transfer men and others for whom he worked. That is he collected C. O. D. money and decamped. That man's name is Gale Chaney, and his brother Tom also worked there. Another man now driving a newspaper wagon may be questioned by police.
Every person who ever knew Wix is now rallying to hi support in his hour of trouble. The verdict of many seen yesterday was, "He was the hardest worker I ever saw, and at the same time a man of jolly disposition. I can't conceive his committing such a crime and feel that he will come out all right."
Funeral services of John Mason, the murdered man, will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at Freeman & Marshall's undertaking rooms, 3015 Main street.
Burial will be in Mount Washington cemetery.
Prosecutor I. B. Kimbrell and the grand jury were ready at 10:30 yesterday morning to examine Clark Wix and the evidence in the case against him, on which he is held in the county jail for the murder of John Mason, but Inspector M. E. Ryan telephoned that he did not have his evidence in shape to present. The grand jury then adjourned until Monday.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, Grand avenue, Main street, pawn brokers, Penn Valley park, police headquarters, Prosecutor Kimbrell, undertakers, Walnut Street May 25, 1908 BOY'S HEAD CUT OFF BY TRAIN OF CARS.
Either Rolled Onto Tracks or Fell While Catching Ride in the Burlington Yards.
Mangled beyond recognition, and the head missing, the body of Martin Pretzel, aged 17 years, a son of Joseph Pretzel, and employee of the C. H. Conklin Ice Company, residing at 1657 Washington avenue, was found on the Burlington tracks, directly under the Fourth street viaduct, at 4:30 o'clock yesterday morning by Louis Hommold, a laborer. He reported the discovery to the No. 2 police station. Patrolman James McGraw was sent to make an investigation but could find nothing by which to base the identity of the body and ordered it removed to the Eylar Bros. undertaking establishment.
At noon yesterday the parents of young Pretzel became uneasy about their son's absence, and hearing of the finding of the body investigated. Harvey E. Bailey, a son-in-law residing with the Pretzels, identified the pantaloons as the ones which he had given the boy a short time ago, and the father thought the coat and vest were the same as worn by his son when he left home. Beside the body as it lay on the track, was found a hat which belonged to Lee Ganders of 413 Landis court, the dead boy's companion. The two boys, who worked at neighboring grocery stores, left home after work Saturday night, saying they might go to St. Joseph on a fishing trip.
Lee Ganders reached his home at 4 o'clock yesterday morning, and explained to his mother that he had gone to the Fourth street viaduct with young Pretzel, that from there they had intended catching a train for St. Joseph. While waiting for the train the boys stretched themselves on the ground beside the track and fell asleep.
"About 3:30 o'clock in the morning," continued young Ganders, "I was awakened by the noise made by a passing passenger train. As the cars passed by I missed Pretzel, who had substituted the hat he wore for the one worn by myself. Thinking that he had either caught the train or gone home, I started for my own home."
The inference is that while asleep young Pretzel may have rolled on to the tracks and was run over or he might have attempted to mount one of the platforms of the moving cars and fell under the wheels. No part of the $1 given the deceased by his mother was found in his clothing.Labels: accident, death, Landis court, No 2 police station, railroad, St.Joseph, undertakers, Washington avenue May 21, 1908 COW DRAGS CHILD TO DEATH.
Boy Forgot Mother's Warning and Tied Rope Around Him.
"Henry, be careful now, and don't wrap the rope around your body," was the warning given 10-year-old Henry Smith by his mother, when the lad left yesterday morning to take the family cow to pasture.
A half hour later the boy was found unconscious near a greenhouse on the Spring Branch road. His skull was crushed and his body covered with bruises. The cow's stake rope was wound around his body. He died a few minutes later without regaining consciousness.
Persons who saw the boy taking the cow to pasture say he led the animal for some time and then tied the rope around his body. A short time later the cow, probably frightened by something along the roadside, began to run, and before the lad could free himself, she jerked him off his feet. The frightened animal ran about a quarter of a mile. The boy's screams were heard as he tried to loosen the rope.
The body was removed to the Carson morgue in Independence. Henry was a son of Perry Smith, a house mover, who lives at 306 East Lexington avenue, Independence.Labels: animals, children, death, Independence, undertakers May 17, 1908 HIS CHILDREN SAW HIM DROWN.
Hector Bonne, a Belgian Gardner, Lost His Life in the Blue.
In the presence of his family of four children, Hector Bonne, a Rosedale gardener, was drowned while fishing in the Blue just south of Dodson last evening about 7 o'clock. He had taken his children for a day's visit at an uncle's, Charles Cula, near the Harrisonville bridge, not far from where the accident occurred.
Several men were fishing there and some were intoxicated. Bonne waded into the water banteringly with his clothes on, and all seemed to think when he dropped out of sight that he was making fun for the children. But he had stepped off a ledge and was drowned without coming up. In a few minutes the dead body was recovered by R. H. Hopkins, a farmer, who was there fishing. Bonne was a Belgian. Deputy Coroner O. H. Parker sent R. V. Lindsay, a Westport undertaker, for the body. With his wife and children, Bonne lived just beyond the end of the Rosedale car line.Labels: Blue river, children, Deputy Coroner Parker, Dodson, drowning, fishing, immigrants, Rosedale, undertakers May 16, 1908 BODY OF JOHN FAHEY IS FOUND IN MISSOURI RIVER.
Farmer Near Sibley Discovered It Thursday -- Missing Since January 31.
The body of John Fahey, missing since January 31, was found in the Missouri river near Sibley, Mo., Thursday afternoon by a farmer, James Finn, while fishing. A Buckner undertaker was called to take charge of the body, and some of the stationary of the Kansas City waterworks department was found in a pocket. From this Fahey was quickly identified, as his disappearance became widely known about February 17, when to gratify the man's wife a waterworks trench at Twelfth and Main streets was re-excavated on the theory that workmen might have buried Fahey alive while he was inspecting the pipe connections on the work there the night he disappeared.
At midnight on the night of his disappearance he called up the waterworks department to say that he had just inspected the job, and the hole was ready to be filled. A gang of eight men was sent to do the work.
Sergeant M. E. Ryan, at police headquarters, a brother of Mrs. Fahey, went to Buckner yesterday and identified the corpse positively. There was 75 cents in the trousers' pockets. The body was taken to O'Donnell's undertaking rooms, and Deputy Coroner O. H. Parker held an autopsy. No marks of violence were found which, taken with the fact that he was not robbed, would seem to indicate that the man, either by accident or suicidal intent, got into the river.
There will be private funeral services at O'Donnell's undertaking rooms this morning at 10 o'clock, with burial in Mount St. Mary's cemetery.Labels: Buckner, cemetery, death, Deputy Coroner Parker, drowning, farmers, Main street, missing, Missouri river, police headquarters, public works, Sibley, Twelfth street, undertakers May 12, 1908
MURDERED WIFE IN JEALOUS FIT.
SHE DIED IN HER AGED FATHER'S ARMS.
STABBED ON PORCH OF HOME.
E. C. FLETCHER, THE MURDERER, IS CAPTURED BY POLICE.
E. C. Fletcher, a teamster 37 years old, after being separated from his wife for one week, called at the home of her father, John Harlow, 630 West Eighth street, last night about 8:30 o'clock, ostensibly to talk over going to Oklahoma. In the house was a man named Edward Lewis, another teamster, who had gone to the house to see Harlow about putting him to work. Fletcher asked his wife to come down stairs to talk. When they reached the porch she was heard to scream for help. He had stabbed her just above the heart. She died an hour later.
Fletcher ran south to Ninth street, chased by a negro who had witnessed the act. He was seen at Ninth and Holmes streets a few minutes later, running east. The aged father ran to the porch and held his daughter in his arms until the police ambulance arrived. She sank so fast that Drs. J. P. Neal and R. A. Shiras deemed it necessary to give her a transfusion of salt solution at the emergency hospital to take the place of the blood she had lost. She did not regain consciousness and died without making a statement or even telling her name. The knife blade entered the left side just above the heart and is believed to have severed the aorta.
HE IS CAPTURED.
Detectives Keshlear and McGraw were on the scene soon after the murder and went to work on the case at once.
Patrolmen Holly Jarboe and J. P. Withrow, headquarters men, learned that Fletcher roomed at 211 West Fifth street and went there to watch for him. At 12:15 o'clock they were joined by Detectives Brice, Murphy, Boyle and Walsh. As they stood talking, Walsh exclaimed:
"Here he comes now," and ran toward a man who had just turned the corner. It was proved to be Fletcher. He surrendered without resistance.
Fletcher was taken to police headquarters and Bert Kimbrell, assistant prosecuting attorney, was sent for to take his statement. The murderer had been drinking and was not told that his wife was dead until he had finished his statement. He expressed hope that he had not hurt her.
"I don't know why I struck her. I love he so. I don't know what I was doing," was the sum of his declaration to Kimbrell.
The knife with which he killed his wife was found in his pocket. It was a common clasp knife, with a three-inch blade.
HE OFTEN BEAT HER.
Mrs. Emma Fletcher was 33 years old and a pretty woman. She had been married to Fletcher for seventeen years, but had no children. He was a drinking man, the father says, and often beat his wife and as often left her. Her mother died about the time of her marriage and she and Fletcher had always lived with Harlow.
"He left Emma the last time a week ago while we were living at Thirteenth and Summit streets," said Harlow. "We have often had to move on account of his treatment of her. Tuesday we moved to 630 West Eighth street. Ed Lewis came to see me tonight about getting me a job and we were all in the room on the second floor when Fletcher knocked at the door.
" 'What do you want?' Emma asked him.
" 'I just come to talk to you about going with me to Oklahoma,' Fletcher said. 'I've got the money to take you if you want to go.'
"Then he saw Lewis sitting there and his eyes flashed fire. He told Emma to get her shoes and come outside and talk the matter over. As she left I heard him say, 'I'd rather see you dead than with another man.' I heard them walk quietly down the stairs to the porch and then my daughter screamed. I just thought he had beaten her again as he had so often and ran to her side I could see he had been drinking."
"I WANT TO DIE, TOO."
While the father, grey and feeble, was telling his story to Captain Whitsett he did not know that his daughter was dead. HE would up his sad narrative with: "When I put her white face on my arm I thought she was dead, but I guess he's just cut her. Can any one tell me how she is?" he asked, looking from one to another.
"She is dead," Captain Whitsett informed him in a low tone.
"God be merciful," cried the old man, tottering backwards into a chair. "If she is dead, I want to die, too."
He found that her body had been taken to Freeman & Marshall's morgue and left for there, saying he wanted to be with her during the night.
OTHER TOWNS NOTIFIED.
Fletcher has been working for James Stanley, a contractor, who is building a church at 752 Sandusky avenue, Kansas City, Kas. Surrounding towns had also been telephoned to be on the lookout for him in case he should catch a train out. He was believed to be making for the Belt line tracks when last seen.
P. W. Widener, from whom Harlow rents at 630 West Eighth street, told the police that he had just entered his home about 8:30 p. m., when he heard a knock and saw Fletcher at his wife's door talking to her.
"I heard them go down stairs together," he said, "and almost immediately heard her scream. She was lying on the porch, stabbed, when I reached her. Fletcher was chased to Ninth street and lost sight of."
Widener related that when Harlow rented the rooms he said his son-in-law often raised "a little rumpus when drinking," but did not pay any attention to it. He said it had often caused him to move.
Fletcher has a brother, Arthur Fletcher, living somewhere in the city. Harlow has one more daughter, Mrs. Clara Coleman, who lives in the West bottoms in Kansas City, Kas., but he did not know where.
Coroner George B. Thompson said that an autopsy would be held today and an inquest later.Labels: Captain Whitsett, Coroner Thompson, detectives, doctors, domestic violence, Eighth street, emergency hospital, Fifth street, Holmes street, marriage, murder, Ninth street, teamster, undertakers 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 April 21, 1908 SHE FELL THROUGH THE SKYLIGHT.
Lizzie Stewart Paid Sensational Visit to Undertaking Rooms.
Lizzie Stewart, 18 years old, dropped into Carroll-Davidson's morgue yesterday afternoon through a skylight. But as if to display some charm against death she went through wonderful gyrations in her downward flight. An open stairway to the basement yawned steep and wide, squarely beneath her skylight entrance. To avoid this stair shaft Miss Stewart had to sail at an angle of 45 degrees between a long horizontal stovepipe seven and one-half feet from the floor and a guard rail along the stair opening. This was two and one-half feet above the floor. Some twist she gave; her body turned her so that, with face forward, she alighted with arms across this rail and feet on the floor.
All her limbs were somewhat bruised, but she was not seriously injured. Had she struck the stairs the fall would have been about twenty feet with an eight-foot roll to the bottom.
The young woman and her mother were hanging out washing on a back roof on the second floor. In attempting to fix a clothes pole she stepped backward upon the skylight, although it was raised above the roof.Labels: undertakers, women April 6, 1908 IT IS THE BODY OF WEALTHY COOK.
YOUNG WOMAN KILLED ON BELT LINE IDENTIFIED.
HER HOME IN SPRINGFIELD.
WAS STAYING WITH AUNT AT TENTH AND BELMONT.
Peculiar Actions of Late Made Neigh- bors Believe Her Demented. Left Home Wednesday, Killed Thursday.
With the reason for her tragic death still shrouded in mystery, the body of the young woman who was crushed under the wheels of a Belt line engine Thursday afternoon was yesterday afternoon positively identified as that of Miss Wealthy Cook, aged 21 years, daughter of A., Cook, a painter who lives at 2136 North Benton street, Springfield, Mo.
The identification was made at Newcomer's morgue yesterday by Mrs. Tom Davis, 6028 East Eleventh street, and further substantiated by Mrs. Edith Green, 6003 East Tenth street. It is believed by all that the young woman came to her death through an accident, as she had no cause for suicide so far as is known here.
Miss Cook had lived in this city about three months, coming here from her home in Springfield to nurse her aunt, Mrs. J. J. Ritchie, Tenth and Belmont streets, with whom she made her home. She was last seen Wednesday morning by Mrs. Green, who lives next door to Mrs. Ritchie, and just where she was between then and the hour she met her death is a mystery. Miss Cook is believed to have wandered around through all of Wednesday, Wednesday night and Thursday, and was probably going back to her home when killed.
Of late, so the neighbors say, she had acted strangely on more than one occasion and it is believed by them that her mind was imbalanced. Certainly, some of her actions would lead to this belief, and it is the generally accepted theory that in a fit of temporary insanity she left her home and simply wandered around until she met her tragic fate.
HER STRANGE ACTIONS.
It is stated that Miss Cook frequently took long walks and would be gone from the house for hours, never telling a soul where she was going. On one occasion she left home before dawn and walked to the city. She returned about 11 o'clock in the morning and stated that she had walked to and from the city and was not a bit tired. The distance from her home to the business portion is no less than sixty blocks, and to accomplish this feat would make even a strong man think twice.
Last Wednesday morning Miss Cook stood on a street corner near her home for over two hours. She never moved from her position during the entire time and when spoken to by one of the neighbors became angry. She was asked why she stood there during all that time, and if she was in trouble.
"DON'T SPEAK TO ME AGAIN."
"You are attracting attention by your strange conduct," she was told.
"Well, if that is so, I will move on, but don't you ever speak to me again," was her reply, and with that she started off down the street.
A very unusual feature of the case, and the reason that the body was not identified earlier, is that Mrs. Ritchie told no one that the girl had gone away until late Saturday night. Mrs. Ritchie has been in failing health for some months, and sufferers from heart trouble. Saturday night she suffered a severe attack, and her mother, Mrs. Hannah Westmon, aged 87, who lives with her, sent for Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Green. These women asked about the girl, and were surprised to learn that Mrs. Ritchie did not know where she was.
"We had been reading in The Journal about the strange young woman who was found dead," said Mrs. Green, "and we at once came to the conclusion from the description given that this was Wealthy. Mrs. Davis went to the undertakers' this afternoon, and sure enough, it was she. Had we been told earlier, we could have identified the body at once."
Mrs. Ritchie's condition is critical, and she has not been told that the body of the young woman is that of her niece, for fear the shock would end her life.
WHERE DID SHE GET IT?
Those who know the girl are at loss to explain why and how Miss Cook got the Sunday school leaflet which bore the name of Loretta Kurster. So far as is known she never attended the Forest Avenue Methodist church, where the leaflets were distributed.
It is thought by some that perhaps she quarreled with her aunt and started to go back to her home at Springfield. She carried all her money with her and as the body was warmly dressed, three skirts and other extra clothing being worn, it is not unlikely that she meant to go to her home and took this method of carrying her extra clothing rather than excite suspicion by packing it in her suit case.
A. Cook, the father of the girl, has been notified by Mr. Newcomer and has advised the undertaker that he and the girl's mother will arrive here today.Labels: Belmont street, Belt line, churches, death, mental health, railroad, Tenth street, The Journal, undertakers March 30, 1908 OUT OF WORK, TOOK POISON.
Jacob Kohn, Sick and Discouraged, Ends Life With Acid.
A man, believed to be Jacob Kohn, committed suicide in room fourteen at the Plaza hotel, Missouri avenue and Delaware street, Saturday night, and the body was found at 9 o'clock yesterday morning by Sara Ridgeway, the housekeeper. Coroner George B. Thompson says that during his term of office no other Jew has taken his own life in Kansas city and that the crime is almost unknown among men of Jewish belief
Kohn, in a farewell note, directed that the Jewish Society of Kansas City take charge of his remains. The society will bury the body, but it cannot be laid in a Jewish cemetery.
Kohn's farewell note, which he wrote just before drinking carbolic acid, as the pencil left on the table bears witness, reads:
"To whom it may concern -- This is my second attempt at suicide. I
think I shall succeed this time. I am in poor health, am unable to get
work and have no friends and no money. Give my body to the Jewish
Society. -- Jake Kohn."
Mrs. Ridgeway says that Kohn came to the hotel Saturday night late and registered as John Johnson. She had never seen him before. He paid for his room. Shortly before 9 o'clock yesterday morning when a maid was unable to get into the room to tidy it, Mrs. Ridgeway, who was called in, was informed from a man who had spent the night in room 15 adjoining, that he had heard the man in room 14 groaning and rolling around during the night. Upon that statement Mrs. Ridgeway called the police, who forced the door and found the body.
Coroner Thompson was notified and sent the body to Freeman and Marshall's morgue. Not a penny was found in the clothes. There was nothing to identify the man, excepting the signature on the note. In the pocket were cards from business houses and factories in many Kansas and Oklahoma towns. Kohn was evidently a laborer and had been in these towns looking for employment.Labels: Coroner Thompson, hotels, laborer, poison, race, Suicide, undertakers March 28, 1908 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 13, 1908 IT MAY BE CLEMENS'S BODY.
Exhumed Body Shows Scar Over Right Eye.
New evidence that it was Francis Patrick Cemens who died here February 19 as Herbert Donnekin was received yesterday by British Vice Consul McCurdy from Charles Clive Bayley, British consul in New York. Through this channel the missing man's brother, Lord Leitrim, sent a description similar to that received yesterday by British Vice Consul McCurdy from Charles Clive Bayley British consul in New York. Through this channel the missing man's brother, Lord Leitrim, sent a description similar to that received by the Salvation Army, with the added feature that there should be a scar over the right eye. This was found to show on the body now exhumed and lying at the Carroll-Davidson morgue.
A cablegram from the British family, too, sent through the Salvation Army yesterday, asked how long the body could be kept for identification. The answer sent that it could be kept indefinitely, it is believed, will probably bring a representative of the family.Labels: death, immigrants, Salvation Army, undertakers March 10, 1908 CHINAMAN DIED SUDDENLY.
Funeral Services Will Be Held an Entire Week -- Burial Sunday.
Quong Sue, a Chinese laundryman, 31 years old, was found dead in his bed at 309 West Fifth street Sunday. Coroner Thompson held a post mortem yesterday at Carroll-Davidson's morgue, and found that death was due to a ruptured vessel. The Chinese colony will take a week to prepare for a fitting funeral. The ceremonies will end next Sunday at Union cemetery.Labels: cemetery, Coroner Thompson, death, Fifth street, immigrants, undertakers 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 February 29, 1908
PAINTER IS KILLED BY A FALL.
Judson Walsh Strikes Floor, Fractur-ing His Skull.
While doing some interior decorating in a home at 803 Osage avenue, Armourdale, at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, Judson Walsh, a painter, fell from his stepladder, striking his head violently on the floor. Other laborers in the building heard the noise and ran to the spot to find Walsh unconscious gasping in the throes of death. The police ambulance was called. Police surgeon D. E. Smith was quick in arriving, but found the man already dead. He was taken to the Butler undertaking rooms. Death was foud to have resulted from skull fracture.
Walsh is survived by a wife and baby. He was 52 years old and lived at 326 South Boeke street, Kansas City, Kas.Labels: Armourdale, death, Kansas City Kas, undertakers February 19, 1908 AMBULANCES RACE FOR A "DEAD" MAN.
Floater Taken From River Turns Out to Be Alive.
A real "live" floater caused a neck and neck race along the river front yesterday afternoon between the emergency hospital ambulance and an undertaker's "dead wagon." The race attracted a great deal of attention and caused no end of excitement in the North End. The ambulance is painted gray and the dead wagon, of course, was black. It brought to mind the famous race between the "bob-tailed horse and the gray", but this time the "gray ambulance" won by a hame string.
The cause of the race was John Reich, 45 years old, a laborer of 1011 Cherry street. Reich was taken out of the river for dead. The emergency hospital was notified. Secretary Ebert called Coroner Thompson and the coroner detailed an undertaker to get the "dead man."
In about 20 minutes the telephone at the emergency rang again, and a trembling voice said, "Say feller, that floater ain't no floater 'tall. He's come to. That is, he's turned over onct. Better send the avalance and a doctor 'stead 'o the coroner."
It was then that the ambulance was dispatched and it was too late to call off the undertaker. That was the reason both vehicles met on the way to the river. The first one noticed of the other's presence. They were neck and neck on the river's sands and were "going some" to the east.
Undertakers have been known to race before and it may have been that this one thought a rival was after the body. The driver of the police amulance took up the race in a spirit of fun.
First one would forge ahead, then the other would come up fast and pass at a gallop. The police had the better team, however as it does nothing but run, and the driver was sport enough to win only by a hame string, when he could easily have outdistanced the dead wagon.
Lying on the bank, blue and cold, was Reich. When the undertaker's man saw the "floater" squirm and kick, he said things in "dead languages," reversed his team and slowly drove back home.
Reich was taken to the emergency hospital, where he was pumped out and artificial respiration used to get his lungs into working order. He was put to bed amid a bevy of hot water bottles and bags. In a couple of hours the "dead one" was in a condition to talk.
Reich recalled taking a drink a place down near the Winner piers. After that he said that he just "passed on" He did not know where he got into the water, how he got there, how long he was in, who got him out or where he was taken out.
"All I know is that I can't swim no more than a rock, and I got the derndest coldest duckin' a man ever got -- at least that I ever got. When I get out of this I'm goin' down there to look that ground -- or water -- over."
While Reich appears to be recuperating rapidly, Dr. W. L. Gist, who resuscitated him at the emergency hospital, said that the great danger now was pneumonia.Labels: Cherry street, Coroner Thompson, Dr. Gist, emergency hospital, laborer, Missouri river, telephone, undertakers January 28, 1908 WIFE WANTS PUGH'S MONEY.
But Finds That Suicide's Mother and Brother Have It.
The suicide of W. A. Pugh at 721 East Eighth street, Saturday evening, threatens complications regarding the disposition made of his money and jewelry by the emergency hospital authorities. The brother, W. G. Pugh, went with the mother to the hospital and was given the $234 in money and diamonds amounting to several hundred more.
Yesterday the wife returned from Waterloo, Ia. She was told that W. G. Pugh had made affidavit that the suicide had never been married and had no wife, thereby obtaining the property. Dr. J. P. Neal, however, who was in charge of the hospital and after searching the body took charge of the valuables, said that W. G. Pugh gave no affidavit but only a receipt for the articles. Coroner Thompson, who, by virtue of his office, ordinarily takes charge of a victim's property, says that the custom is, where the emergency hospital people have searched a body before death, that he does not receive the property from them.
The wife insists that she and Pugh were married six years ago. She came direct from her train to Stine's morgue to view the body, and found the mother and brother present. The three conversed, the wife telling the others that she had written him she was coming back. It was later, at the emergency hospital, that she learned that his valuables had been turned over to his family.
Mrs. Pugh, before marriage, was employed in a restaurant and studied two years to be a trained nurse. W. G. Pugh, the brother, has remained single and lives with the mother at 3622 Independence avenue.Labels: Coroner Thompson, Eighth street, emergency hospital, Independence avenue, probate, Suicide, undertakers January 25, 1908 DEAF MUTE FUNERAL SERVICE.
Body of James Jarrett Buried in Elm- wood Cemetery.
A deaf mute funeral service was held at Stine's chapel yesterday afternoon. It was for James Jarrett, a shoemaker, who lived at 3615 Independence avenue with his wife, who is also a mute, and a son almost grown. Rev. Jensen of the German Lutheran church officiated, delivering his sermon audibly at the same time as with the sign language of deaf mutes. About forty of them attended and a number of other friends. A deaf mute congregation worships every other Sunday afternoon at a church at Sixteenth and Cherry streets. The body of Mr. Jarrett was buried in Elmwood cemetery.Labels: cemetery, Cherry street, churches, Funeral, hearing impaired, Independence avenue, Sixteenth street, undertakers January 6, 1907 MAIL CLERK DRINKS ACID.
Despondent, F. A. Dunn Kills Himself at His Forest Avenue Home.
F. A. Dunn, a railway mail clerk, 32 years old, committed suicide by drinking three ounces of carbolic acid at his home at 3417 Forest avenue yesterday noon.
His act is said to have been the result of depression following the protracted use of intoxicants. Mrs. Dunn was in the house at the time but supposed her husband had gone upstairs to lie down. Soon after he had left her she heard a heavy fall upon the floor above and and rushed to the stricken man's side, only to find him already breathing his last. Dr. J. W. Kyger was hastily summoned by the man was dead many minutes before he arrived. The body was turned over to Freeman & Marshall.Labels: doctors, Forest avenue, Suicide, undertakers December 31, 1907 DOCTOR DIES IN DRUG STORE.
R. J. Gibbons Is Overcome by Heart Failure While Going Home.
Heart disease probably was the cause of the collapse last night on a Troost car of Dr. R. J. Gibbons, resulting in his death almost as soon as he was removed from the car to the Wirthman drug store, Eighteenth street and Troost avenue.
Dr. Gibbons had for years conducted a school for the cure of stammering in the Missouri building. Early last evening he left his home at 1010 East Eleventh street to meet some patients who were expected at the railway station. At 9:30 o'clock he boarded the Troost car at Tenth and Wyandotte streets.
The conductor noticed that he was very pale. Probably he became partly unconscious soon, for he did not ring for the car to stop when he was near home, and yet nothing wrong was noticed about him till at Sixteenth street he bent his head forward and leaned on the back of a seat. Conductor Wade was alarmed and two blocks farther on he and the motorman removed the then unconscious man to the drug store.
Dr. Gibbons was still alive when taken into the store, but he gasped only a few times and was dead before any physician could reach him.
Coroner G. B. Thompson came and viewed the body. He thought heart failure was probably the cause of death, but will hold an autopsy this morning at Freeman & Marshall's morgue.
Dr. Gibbons came to Kansas City sixteen years ago from Kentucky and was 54 years old. Only a wife survives him.
Dr. Gibbon's success in curing stammering was considered by many physicians to be phenomenal. Many high in the profession sent patients to him. Difficult cases, it is said, were cured by him often in one session.
No funeral arrangements had been made.Labels: Coroner Thompson, death, doctors, druggists, Eighteenth street, streetcar, Troost avenue, undertakers November 26, 1907 MADDENED BY LOVE
CRAZED SUITOR THREATENS THE LIFE OF MISS PEARL SMITH.
FORCES HER TO LEAVE HOME
AFTER DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE SHE MANAGES TO ESCAPE.
Clay Fulton, the Lover, Is Arrested, and His Sanity Is to Be Investi- gated -- He Is a Printer and Has Had Trouble.
Through fear of immediate death from a pistol in the hands of a half-crazed suitor, Miss Pearl Smit, daughter of Dr. E. O. Smith, 212-14 Wabash avenue, and well known in local society, was compelled to leave her father's home and walk twelve blocks in the cold of last Friday night before an opportunity of escape presented itself. Even then she was forced to seek refuge in a stable and hid in a wagon for over an hour lest the defeated suitor should be in hiding outside and shoot her upon sight. Clay Fulton, the man in the case, has been placed under arrest and has admitted to police his share of the weird affair.
The young woman was for two days prostrated from the nervous shock, but recovered sufficiently yesterday to tell of the remarkable experience she had undergone. In the presence of her father, Dr. E. O. Smith, she told the story graphically too newspaper men.
Fulton and the girl had been acquainted for several years. The young man had repeatedly paid court to her. Finding his advances were not encouraged, it appears that he brooded over the matter and Friday night determined to take things into his own hands. He purchased a revolver in the afternoon, and that night went to the girl's home without warning her in advance of his intended visit.
The home of Dr. Smith is a large double house fronting upon Wabash avenue. One side of it is the family residence, while the other is used by the physician as his office. When Fulton appeared the girl was in the office, while her family were in the residence side of the house. The man rang at the office door and Miss Smith went to let the visitor in.
WANTED TO MARRY HER.
According to her story, she did not know it was Fulton until he was incide the reception hall. He was wearing a heavy overcoat, with his hat drawn down over his eyes. No sooner had he entered, she avers, than he drew his revolver and pointed it at her.
"Don't make any noise," he is said to have exclaimed, "or I will shoot. I am tired of being put off and I want you to go with me. I want you to marry me. If you make any alarm I shall kill you."
"I was too astonished and scared to scream," said Miss Smith last night. "I believed he was desperate and would do as he said. So I tried to temporize. I told him I had no wraps, and asked him to let me get a cloak. He was excited and refused to allow me out of his sight. I thought it best to go along wiht him and take my chance to escape. I believe he would have killed me if I had cried out there in the house So I went out with him."
"I was wearing only a light house dress, which had short sleeves, and a thin pair of shoes. It was pretty cold out on the stret, and I began ot suffer almost as soon as I was outside. When I wished to go into some place and get warm, the man refused me, saying he would not let me go into any place in that part of town where he was unknown for fear of outside interference. He talked wildly about my refusing to marry him, and said I would have to marry hinm right away. He warned me repeatedly not to make any outcry. We walked on Wabash avenue to Ninth street and then turned west. I kept asking him to let me go into some place and get warm, but he insisted that I wait until we should get to Twelfth and Paseo, where, he said, he was known. At Garfield, I persuaded him to go into a restaurant and telephone to his sister to bring me some wraps, telling him I would be gettin gwarm while he did the talking As son as I saw him busy with the telephone I ran out of the place and went to Newcomer's undertaking rooms.
HID IN A WAGON.
There I found David Newcomer and Mr. P. M. McDaniel, whom I knew, and I asked them to hide me. I felt sure the man would come looking for me and would shoot me if he found me. The men at Newcomer's led me into a shed adjoining the office and I climbed up into a wagon and lay there until I was sure there would be no further danger. Then I went back home in a carriage. I think I must have been in there an hour, and," smilingly, "it was the longest hour I ever passed."
Immediately the police were notified of the affair and Detectives Oldham and Boyle were detailed upon the case. Yesterday they arrested young Fulton and locked him up in a cell at police headquarters. When questioned about the matter by Captain Whitsett last night, he gave a rambling, incoherent account of troubles which led him to the action he took Fridaynight. He frankly admitted that he had threatened Miss Smith with a revolver. Asked if he would have shot her had she refused to accompany him, he answered simply: "I do not know."
Young Fulton lives with his mother and two sisters at 1438 East Fourteenth street. He has been employed as a printer in a number of shops about town. About three weeks ago he left the employ of Hallman's printing establishment in the Gumbel building at Eighth and Walnut streets. It is the theory of the police that the man has been brooding over troubles, real or imaginary, until his mind has become temporarily disordered and that his strange deed of Friday night was the result. An attempt will be made by the girl's father, Dr. Smith, to have his sanity investigated today.Labels: Captain Whitsett, detectives, doctors, Eighth street, Fourteenth street, Garfield avenue, mental health, Paseo, romance, Twelfth street, undertakers, Wabash avenue, Walnut Street November 16, 1907 FOUND DEAD IN A HOTEL.
Mrs. Taylor Refused Yesterday to Be Re- moved by the Humane Society.
Mrs. Augusta Taylor, 34 years old, was found deat at 9 o'clock yesterday morning in a room at the Grand hotel, 1997 Grand avenue. She rented the room Wednesday night and was ill at the time, but told W. R. Cook, the owner, that she did not want to go to a hospital. Mr. Cook notified the Humane socdiety of her condition. She refused to leave the hotel when a representative of the society called yesterday afternoon to see her.
Cook found the door of her room locked this morning. When he succeeded in opening it he found that Mrs. Taylor had died. Dr. O. H. Parker, deputy coroner, was notified. He said the woman had been dead several hours. The body was removed to Anderson & Lindey's undertaking rooms, where an autopsy will be held this afternoon.Labels: death, Deputy Coroner Parker, Grand avenue, Hotel Baltimore, undertakers November 16, 1907 BANKER SHOT AT MIDLAND.
WITH A BULLET J. B. THOMAS OF ALBANY, MO., ENDED HIS LIFE.
Found in the Bath Room of His Apart- ment of the Hotel Yesterday -- Well Known as a Mason and to State Politics.
J. B. Thomas, cashier of the Bank of Albany of Albany, Mo., committed suicide in the Midland hotel this morning by shooting himself through the right temple with a revolver. Mr. Thomas's body was found in a bathroom at 2:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Coroner Thompson was called and said the man probably had been dead several hours. He ordered the body taken to the undertaking rooms of Freeman & Marshall.
"Mr. Thomas came here last night," T. B. Bishop, the clerk at the hotel said. "He went to his room at about 8:30 o'clock. This morning the maid found his door locked when she went to the apartment to arrange it. About 2 o'clock she went there again and received no response when she knocked.
"No response was made to repeated knockings and the carpenter forced the door open. Mr. Thomas was found dead in the bathroom."
Mr. Thomas was fully dressed. The revolver was still clutched in his right hand and contained one empty cartridge. On his left hand was a Masonic ring. Engraved inside was "J. B. Thomas, Consistory No. 2, From Nicholson."
He wore a gold watch and a chain with a Knight Templar charm attached. In his pockets was found $3 in change and a bunch of rings.
"I can conceive of no reason for his act," Judge Thomas Morrow, who is a close friend of Mr. Thomas, said yesterday. "He was one of the leading citizens of his town. He was a prominent Mason."
T. B. Bishop telephoned the Bank of Albany at once. The officers of the bank could give no reason for the act. Mr. Bishop told them the body would be placed in the care of the Kansas City Masons subject to advice from his relatives.
Mr. Thomas, who was apparently about 60 years old, was a Kentuckian by birth. He came to Missouri as a young man and at first was a village blacksmith. He was elected circuit clerk of Gentry county in 1876 and re-elected in 1880. He was made cashier of the Bank of Albany soon after he retired from office, and had held that position ever since. He was elected grand master of the Masonic order of the state about six years ago and his Masonic ring was the first identification when his body was found. Mr. Thomas accumulated considerable money and invested most of it in mining properties around Galena and Baxter, Kas.
He left one son, Claude Thomas, cashier of a bank in Gravity, Ia., and a daughter, Mrs. Dr. Stapleton at Ha Harpe, near Iola, Kas. His wife is living.
Mr. Thomas was a familiar figure at nearly all Democratic political gatherings of importance. He wore a heavy beard which in recent years has been changing from a dark brown to gray.Labels: banking, blacksmiths, Coroner Thompson, Judges, Midland, politics, Suicide, undertakers November 1, 1907 SAID HE STOLE COPPER PLATES.
The Secretary of an Enbalming Society in the West Side Fined $25.
A. H. Peterson, 540 Washington avenue, Kansas City, Kas, was before John T. Sims, police judge, this morning.
"What is he charged with stealing?" asked Judge Sims.
"Coffin plates, Your Honor," replied an officer.
"How's that?"
"Coffin plates," again answered the officer.
"Coffin plates?" echoed the judge.
"Yes. Peterson is accused of stealing eight coffin plates on which names are inscribed. They are valued at $1 each."
Peterson pleaded guilty and was fined $25. He is secretary and assistant demonstrator of the Institute of Embalming and Sanitary Science in the West Side.Labels: crime, Judges, Kansas City Kas, undertakers, Washington avenue October 20, 1907 ONCE, ANYWAY, THEY WORKED.
County Employes, at Varying Sal- aries, Answered Telephones.
Inquiries from shopkeepers who wanted to know what they might do and what commodities they might sell today without laying themselves liable to arrest, flooding in over the telephones in the criminal court building yesterday, kept four employes of the county busy all day. Two men sat by the telephones in the county prosecutor's office and two in the city marshal's office answering or trying to answer questions. They are men who draw salaaries from the county of from $75 to $150 a month. Questions of all sorts were asked.
"I run a barber shop. I won't shave anybody tomorrow, but may I turn the water on in the bathtubs?" inquired one voice.
"I pass that," replied Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kimbrell, who was on the telephone. "Cleanliness in next to Godliness, as I have heard, but I don't know what Judge Wallace will say about your selling a bath on Sunday."
"I am an undertaker and there is a man in my office now who wants me to furnish a hearse and carriages for his wife's funeral tomorrow. Will I be arrested if I do so?"
"When did the lady die?" replied Jimmy Moran, for this question floated into the county marshal's office.
"Friday, " replied the undertaker.
"That's a very unlucky day to die on," Jimmy said. "Especially since the lid is on. If you think the body won't keep until Monday, go ahead with the funeral Sunday."
The afternoon papers had not been on the street more than five minutes when the four county officers who served as telephone boys got into real trouble. The earlier instructions of Judge Wallace exempted the sellers of candies, bread, ice, milk, and other necessities of life from arrest. But the grand jury told police to report all kinds of business transacted excepting the sales of drugs and service of meals.
Candy store keepers, florists, and bakers, who thought they were exempt, began calling in to find out whether they should obey Judge Wallace or the grand jury. The men on the answer ends of the telephones were up against it and said so frankly.
"Judge Wallace last night wouldn't discuss the change which the grand jury made during his absence from the city, other than to say that he would look into the matter Monday morning. Men who know him, though, believe that promises which he made to bakers and others, many by personal word, will not be violated. If the jury should decide to go beyond the judge's instructions and close everything in the city excepting drug stores and restaurants, however, the judge will, perhaps, back it in enforcing the rules after today.Labels: barbers, Judge Wallace, Prosecutor Kimbrell, retailers, telephone, undertakers September 23, 1907 DIED IN AN AMBULANCE.
John P. Johnston Attacked With a Hemorrhage That Resulted Fatally.
"Boys, I'm bleeding to death," announced John P. Johnston, 35 years old, to a party of friends whom he approached at Twelfth and Highland last night. He was subject to hemorrhages from the lungs, and had just returned from a picnic held in the country. While his companions waited outside for him to return from the interior of the saloon, Twelfth and Highland, he was attacked with a hemorrhage. An ambulance was called, and in it Johnston was being conveyed to emergency hospital when he died.
Johnston lived at 1701 East Twelfth street, and was a member of the Eagles. Coroner Thompson sent the body to Raymond's morgue, Kansas City, Kas.Labels: Coroner Thompson, death, Highland avenue, picnics, saloon, Twelfth street, undertakers September 19, 1907
NERLING SHOT HIM
MACK ROGERS DEAD FROM SA- LOON MAN'S PISTOL. Mack Rogers, 50 years old, a carpenter, living at a rooming house on Osage avenue, in Armourdale, Kas., was shot and almost instantly killed about 11 o'clock last night by Bert Nerling, proprietor of a saloon at 1525 Main street. The shooting occurred in an alley back of Nerling's saloon, and was witnessed by George T. Maloy, of 3335 Charlotte, a friend of Nerling. It followed a free-for-all fight in a house at 1527 Main street. Nerling at once surrendered to the police. It seems that Rogers got into a fight at 1527 Main street in which a number of persons were involved. In the course of the disturbance beer bottles and other missiles were hurled around promiscuously, some of them striking and breaking windows in the rear of Nerling's place. Someone, presumably a woman, fired two shots with a small pistol, at which Nerling armed himself with a revolver and went out to investigate. Maloy followed him to see what the trouble was all about. FIRED AFTER BEING MOLESTED.
According to a statement made by Maloy, when Nerling stepped into the alley in the rear of his saloon he saw Rogers and others throwing bottles. He shouted to Rogers: "What the hell are you doing, trying to smash up all my property?" Rogers, it is said, immediately turned upon the saloon man and hurled a beer bottle at his head. Nerling drew his pistol and fired point blank at Rogers. Then he turned and went into the saloon. Rogers staggered some twenty or thirty feet and fell dead. A bullet from a 38-caliber pistol struck him full in the breast, almost directly over the heart. Nerling was taken at once to the Walnut street police station, where he made a statement to Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Hogan and Police Captain Morley. Captain Morley ordered the arrest of all the people at 1527 Main street and those living in a rooming house over Nerling's saloon. Maloy made a statement to the prosecuting attorney which was substantially the same as that given by him to the police. ROGERS WAS 50 YEARS OLD.
Coroner Thompson was notified and ordered the body removed to Eylar's morgue. An autopsy and inquest will be held this morning at 9 o'clock. Rogers was nearly six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. The police this morning locked up a woman who goes by the name of Maud Nerling. She is said to occuply rooms over Nerlin's saloon, and the authorities believe she will prove a valuable witness. Labels: Armourdale, Charlotte street, Coroner Thompson, Main street, murder, No 4 police station, rooming house, saloon, undertakers September 15, 1907 IT'S A MORGUE MYSTERY
WOMAN ASKS TO SEE BODY OF JOHN W. GUMLEY.
Hurried Away, Promising to Report Later on -- By Telephone Informs the Undertaker That Gumley Is a Lost Brother.
The murder of John W. Gumley by his wife at their home, 1319 Liberty street, Friday night, developed a mystery yesterday which the police expect to clear up today at Stine's undertaking rooms, where the body awaits burial. Gumley, 44 years old, and a teamster, may prove to be the long lost brother of a well-to-do family living in the vicinity of Nineteenth street and Troost avenue.
Late yesterday a young woman, heavily veiled, called at the undertaking rooms and asked to see the body of Gumley. The caller declined to identify herself when questioned by an attendant, but stated that her residence is near Nineteenth street and Troost avenue. The unknown woman was escorted to the undertaker's private morgue, and the body was drawn out for her inspection. Immediately she showed great agitation and asked to be taken out of the room.
MYSTERIOUS CALLER DISAPPEARS.
"I would almost swear it," she was saying to herself as the attendant led her back to the private office of the undertaker.
Then the mysterious caller, who had declined to tell her name and exact address, told those about her that she is confident Gumley was her brother, who had been lost to her family for many years.
"When I read his description in The Journal," she said, "I at once t |
