100 Year Old Weblog: Fourth street

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May 23, 2025 ~ DRUNKEN CHICKS CAUSE FINE.

May 23, 2025

DRUNKEN CHICKS CAUSE FINE.

Fowls Sample Hidden Supply of Whiskey.

Drunken chickens -- the fowl variety -- were responsible for Lester Richardson, 474 Fourth street, being fined $500 by Police Judge Brady yesterday morning. A state warrant was also issued against Richardson charging him with operating a liquor nuisance.

After finding no liquor in the residence occupied by Richardson the police noticed chickens in the rear yard staggering about. Investigation resulted in the discovery of a large jar containing whisky sunk in the ground. The chickens had uncovered it by scratching and had sampled the contents.

April 16, 2025 ~ HALTS RUNAWAY AT MARKET.

April 16, 2025

HALTS RUNAWAY AT MARKET.

As Negro Saves Boys Employer's Motor Car is Stolen.

The north side of the city market was the center of excitement at 7 o'clock last night when a frightened horse ran from Wyandotte to Walnut streets on Fourth street. The heroism of a negro probably saved the lives of two little Italian boys who were in an express wagon behind the runaway animal.

The horse passed police headquarters at great speed. Paul Weitkam, a police chauffeur, made an attempt to seize the bridle of the horse, which swerved to one side and continued toward the market. A Holmes street car was unloading passengers at Fourth street at the time and a large crowd had collected at the market.

A negro, Jesse Morrison, employed at a stand in the market, was loading potatoes into an automobile. he saw the danger of the boys and in the swaying wagon and seized the horse by the bridle. The negro was dragged twenty-five yards but was uninjured. The horse came to a stop within a few feet of the street car. The father of the boys, who sprinted to the market from Wyandotte street, arrived and drove off without giving Officer A. A. Given his name.

Carl Swanson, Morrison's employer, was the real sufferer in the affair. He was one of the crowd who ran to the wagon and he was gone from his stand only a few minutes. When he returned his automobile had disappeared. He caught a glimpse of the machine, which was loaded with several sacks of potatoes and oranges, traveling south on Walnut street.

ZONES OF CONTAGION NEAR THREE SCHOOLS. ~

December 4, 2025

ZONES OF CONTAGION

NEAR THREE SCHOOLS.

SCARLET FEVER AND DIPH-

THERIA IN SEVERAL SECTIONS.

Tin Drinking Cup Blamed by Medi-

cal Inspectors, Especially at

Benton -- Several Parochial

Schools Involved.

The medical inspectors going the rounds of the public schools have unearthed diphtheria and scarlet fever zones within the confines of Benton, Washington and Karnes schools. They are also learning from the daily returns of practicing physicians, of the existence of the two maladies among pupils of two or three of the parochial schools, but as the authority of the inspectors does not extend to schools of this description Dr. W. S. Wheeler, sanitary commissioner, has not felt justified in taking any voluntary official notice or action.

Of the parochial schools the worst afflicted is St. John's Parochial school, 534 Tracy avenue. This school, located in a district largely inhabited by Italian children, is conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Yesterday Sister Superior Monica appealed to the health authorities to make an investigation. Dr. H. Delamater, chief inspector, made a personal visit to the school and was informed that ninety of the 160 pupils are detained at home by sickness. Within the last six days cases of scarlet fever have developed among the pupils, and Dr. Delameter fears that many who are home at home may have it. He will have an examination made of the school building as to its sanitary condition, and will have class rooms fumigated.

Washington public school is at the southwest corner or Independence avenue and Cherry street, and the Karnes school is at the northwest corner of Troost avenue and Fourth street. Large numbers of the pupils have scarlet fever, the majority of victims predominating among those attending Karnes school. The diphtheria is not as epidemic as scarlet fever. The attendants of these two schools live in the territory bounded on the south by Admiral boulevard, north by the river, west by Grand avenue and east as far as Lydia avenue. The majority of the cases are north of Fifth street and scatter as far to the east as Budd park. As an assistance to the health authorities in keeping in touch with the exact location of the disease, a large map of the city has been prepared, and when a case of diphtheria develops a green-headed pin is driven into the map, designating a particular territory, and when one of scarlet fever is reported the map is perforated with a red-headed pin.

MAP RAPIDLY FILLING.

The map describing the Washington and Karnes school districts is rapidly filling up with the pin indicators, but not as noticeably as the district in which Benton school is situated. At the latter school diphtheria is the most prevalent, and is giving some alarm. The infection is spreading with rapidity. Benton school is at the southwest corner of Thirtieth street and Benton boulevard, in a fashionable and well-to-do neighborhood. There are from twenty to thirty cases of diphtheria among pupils going to this school, and it is feared that the disease got its start from the drinking cups in use there.

"The drinking cup in the public schools is a menace to health and is a communicator and spreader of disease," said Dr. Delamater yesterday. "Its frightful possibilities were fully described by Dr. W. S. Wheeler in his last annual report, and he advises that it be relegated and sanitary fountains installed in the schools. The health of no child is safe when the tin cup is in use. While I am not directly charging the appearance of diphtheria at Benton school to the drinking cup, still there is plenty of room for that suspicion as the school building is new and should be sanitary."

PROPOSE $14,000 HOME FOR THE CRITTENTON MISSION. ~ Fireproof Building at Thirtieth and Woodland Will Be Ready by Next Summer.

November 18, 2025

PROPOSE $14,000 HOME FOR

THE CRITTENTON MISSION.

Fireproof Building at Thirtieth and

Woodland Will Be Ready by Next

Summer.

Captain J. H. Waite, at the head of the Florence Crittenton mission and home, located in an old dwelling at 3005 Woodland avenue, made the statement last night that by next summer the institution hopes to be in a new fireproof building. It is to be erected, he said, on the corner of Thirtieth street and Woodland avenue, where they own 156 feet fronting on the latter street.

"The foundation should be laid within the next ninety days," said Captain Waite, "so that work on the super-structure may begin in the spring. We have planned a building to cost between $10,000 and $14,000. As we want to make it absolutely fireproof and of reinforced concrete, we anticipate that the cost will be nearer $14,000. It is a grand institution and has done and is doing the noblest kind of work."

The Florence Crittenton Mission and Home for unfortunate girls was started in this city on February 4, 1896, with an endowment of $3,000 from Charles N. Crittenton, the millionaire philanthropist of New York, who died suddenly in San Francisco Tuesday. It first was situated on the northeast corner of Fourth and Main streets in a large three-story brick building which now has been torn down to make space for a city market.

After being at the original location for a short time it was decided to abandon the downtown mission work and establish a home. The institution then moved to Fifteenth street and Cleveland avenue into rented property. In June, ten years ago, the property at the southeast corner of Thirtieth street and Woodland avenue was purchased for the home.

"A debt hangs over our heads for some time," said Miss Bertha Whitsitt, superintendent of the home yesterday, "but now we have 156 feet frontage on Woodland avenue on which we expect soon to erect our new building.

"Since the beginning of the mission and home," continued Miss Whitsitt, "we have cared for 582 young women, the majority of them with children. Just during the last year we cared for twenty-eight young women and twenty-three children. When totaled the number of days spent in the home by all of them amounts to 4,612, which we record as so many days of charity work."

Captain J. H. Waite, who has been at the head of the home for many years, said that Mr. Crittenton had given the home and mission $3,000 to start on. When the property at 3005 Woodland was purchased the National Florence Crittenton Home at Washington gave about $1,500 toward buying and improving the property.

CITY'S UNEMPLOYED TO HAVE NEW HOME. ~ HELPING HAND INSTITUTE ACQUIRES ADKINS HOTEL.

November 5, 2025

CITY'S UNEMPLOYED

TO HAVE NEW HOME.

HELPING HAND INSTITUTE AC-

QUIRES ADKINS HOTEL.

With Aid of Four Story Building

1,000 Men Can Be Cared For --

Plenty of Light, Baths --

Has Disinfecting Room.

NEW QUARTERS AT FOURTH AND WYANDOTTE STREETS.

With the acquisition of the old Adkins hotel at the southeast corner of Fourth and Wyandotte streets, the Helping Hand Institute has solved the problem of taking care of the city's unemployed. Carpenters are now at work overhauling the four-story structure and by the beginning of cold weather it is believed that the building will be ready for occupancy.

With the old building at 408 Main street, where the main offices are located, the Helping Hand institute will be prepared to take care of more than 600 men without the least crowding. In extremely cold weather little difficulty will be experienced in caring for 1,000 men.

PRESENT HOME OF THE INSTITUTE.

But the new building will have many features not possessed by the old quarters on Main street. Plenty of light, the best of ventilation, high ceilings, a laundry, shower baths and disinfecting room will make it very little inferior to the municipal lodging house in New York city. On the north side of the building are forty-one windows which makes the light and ventilation problem easy.

INSTALLING SHOWER BATHS.

But the main feature is the shower baths and disinfecting room. On the lower floor the plumbers are at work installing baths that will accommodate twenty-five men at one time. No one will be allowed to go to bed without first taking a bath and allowing his clothes to be placed in the disinfecting room, where they will remain over night. The laundry in the basement will keep the linen clean and eventually save the institution hundreds of dollars. Particular care will be exercised in guarding against tuberculosis. Before the year is over it is hoped that a physician will examine every man who applies for a bed.

Without doubt Kansas City will have as good a system for taking care of her unemployed as any municipality in the country. It is true that many of the large cities in the East, particularly New York and Philadelphia, have larger municipal lodging houses but they suffer disadvantages. In most cities bread lines are formed and the man without employment does not feel obliged to work for a night's lodging. In Kansas City, however, the city and county have made the Helping Hand an official charity institution.

WORK IS PROVIDED.

Men are not allowed to sleep in saloons or in other public places where the conditions are not sanitary. There is no other avenue for the unemployed man but to go to the Helping Hand institute, where he is given a chance to work for his meals and lodging. The mere fact that he must work keeps the professional "moocher" from making his headquarters in Kansas City.

The credit for the acquisition of the Adkins building belongs mainly to William Volker, one of the directors of the institute. Mr. Volker clearly recognized the need of more room for the institute, and believing that the employment system is the best, he used his influence in getting the building. E. T. Brigham, superintendent of the Helping Hand, is directing the work.

HEADS BOW, PENITENT STEALS. ~ New "Mourner" Asks for Prayer, Grabs Offering and Runs.

November 4, 2025

HEADS BOW, PENITENT STEALS.

New "Mourner" Asks for Prayer,

Grabs Offering and Runs.

The Gospel Mission on Fourth street opposite police headquarters had conducted a successful service last night. The offering had been taken and the presiding elder had called all repentant sinners forward to testify. One young man, in particular, was vehement in his protestations of conversion to a better life.

"Brothers, I was a drunkard -- yes, at one time I was a thief, but all that is changed now, and I desire your prayers for my complete redemption."

The congregation bowed their heads in prayer and while they were so occupied the hand of the professed penitent slowly moved across the wooden table until it reached a pocket book which contained the nightly offering of the score of faithful.

In a flash it had gone, and with a laugh the man ran down the aisle and out into the street.

The police department was notified by Mrs. I. Hanson, 1406 Grand avenue, the owner of the pocket book. It contained about $5.

FIFTEEN SLEEP IN CHAIRS. ~ Helping Hand Institute's 500 Beds Not Enough for Cold Nights.

October 25, 2025

FIFTEEN SLEEP IN CHAIRS.

Helping Hand Institute's 500 Beds

Not Enough for Cold Nights.

Every bed in the Helping Hand Institute was occupied at 1 o'clock yesterday morning and fifteen men, for whom the officers could find no accommodations, slept in the chairs of the assembly hall. The drop in temperature Saturday night was responsible for the large number of applicants.

Indications now are that the plan to add 600 more beds will fall through. At present there are accommodations for 500 men. The officers expected to double the number of beds. The officers had gone as far as to order some new equipment.

The building on Fourth street between Walnut and Main, owned by the city, the officers expected to get. The city, however, has refused to donate the use of this building. Consequently the plan of increasing the number of beds has been abandoned.

FOR CITY'S TRIBUTE TO SWOPE. ~ Relatives in Letter to Mayor Thank Kansas City People.

October 21, 2025

FOR CITY'S TRIBUTE TO SWOPE.

Relatives in Letter to Mayor Thank

Kansas City People.

In a communication addressed to Mayor Crittenden, Mrs. L. O. Swope, sister-in-law of the late Colonel Thomas H. Swope, yesterday formally thanked the citizens of Kansas City for the public funeral tendered him. Mrs. Swope's letter follows:

"I wish to express to you, and to all of the city officials, on behalf of the Swope family, our high appreciation of the most beautiful tribute of honor and affection shown our dead. We feel that not a stone was left unturned to show him honor and gratitude.

"The services at the church were all that could have been. All the singing was sweet, but the solo, "One Sweetly Solemn Thought," was almost a voice from heaven. Once more thanking you for your great kindness, I remain, very sincerely, MRS. L. O. SWOPE. October 15, 1909."

It is said that the last legal transaction performed by Colonel Swope was the signing of a deed to a piece of property to the city on the north side of Fourth street, between Walnut and Main. It is a part of the square bounded by Walnut, Main, Third and Fourth, to be used for market purposes. There is a three-story brick building on the land, and this will be razed together with the four remaining buildings which the city will soon get posession of. there has been a delay in the formal transfer on account of the city having to deal with heirs.

TO BUILD NEW GREEK CHURCH. ~ Priest's Ambition Is to Have Handsome Place of Worship.

August 2, 2025

TO BUILD NEW GREEK CHURCH.

Priest's Ambition Is to Have Hand-

some Place of Worship.

A Greek church, the finest in the country, is the ambition of the Rev. Father Harlton Panogopoules, of Kansas City, who, with a delegation of members of his parish, departed yesterday afternoon for Topeka, where the first steps will be taken toward raising the money to this end. In the party were James Maniaties and G. Alexopoules. They act as Father Panogopoules's secretaries and interpreters.

The present church is at the corner of Fourth and Locust streets and has about 400 communicants. In a few months, however, it is said there will be more than 2,000, and perhaps twice that many, due to the coming of the Greeks who work as section hands and as laborers in mines and other places. It is with the assistance of these men that the priest expects to build his church. Father Panogopoules came to Kansas City from Athens two months ago. Since that time he has endeared himself to the local Greeks, and they are enthusiastic over his plans for a fine edifice.

To attain this end it will be necessary for him to communicate with the Greeks who are now at work in the railroad territory contiguous to Kansas City, and his first step is to go to Topeka, where there is quite a colony of Greeks, and interest them in the project.

Father Panogopules was attired in a long black cassock, with high felt turban. A great cross was suspended on a heavy chain from his neck. He and his party attracted much attention at the Union depot, where they were met by some of the Greeks who live in that section and to whom Father Panogopoules gave his blessing before he departed.

HELPING HAND PLANS BATH FOR NORTH END. ~ Public Showers From Fire Plug Will Be Suspended Over Gutter -- Is Superintendent Brigham's Idea.

July 3, 2025

HELPING HAND PLANS

BATH FOR NORTH END.

Public Showers From Fire Plug Will

Be Suspended Over Gutter -- Is

Superintendent Brig-

ham's Idea.

The "Brigham Bath" for North End Youngsters.

Large numbers of children living in the North End have been without necessary baths for many moons. With the approach of hot weather the demand for some place where the youngsters of Little Italy and adjoining districts can get enough water to clean and cool their skins has become an imperative, and the Helping Hand institute proposes to come to the rescue with a novel device for free public baths on the street corners.

"The old swimmin' hole is a thing of the past," said E. T. Brigham, superintendent of the institute, last night. "The river is too swift for swimming and free public baths for the North End exist only in the minds of theoretical social workers, as yet, so that some substitute must be found. I have conceived the idea of putting up a half dozen public shower baths where the little ones can get their skins soaked nightly and have a great deal of pleasure besides."

Mr. Brigham has in mind a contrivance which he hopes will answer all the purposes of a miniature Atlantic city for Little Italy. An inch iron pipe will conduct the water from a city fire plug to a point seven feet over the gutter, where a "T" will be formed, the branches containing five horseshoe-shaped showers.

One of the portable baths has already been constructed and will be tried out tonight at Fourth and Locust streets.

Bathers will be expected to wear their ordinary dress, that is, a single garment, which is the mode for children in the North End. Thus the shower will serve the double purpose of a recreation and a laundry.

For years something in the line of this free, open-air public bath has been in operation at Nineteenth and McGee streets in the vicinity of the McClure flats. Nightly during the summer the children collect when the fire plug is to be turned on to flush the gutters, and stand in the stream. The stream is too strong for them to brave it for more than a second at a time, but many of them manage to get a bath which they probably would not get any other way.

"Children are naturally cleanly," said Mr. Brigham. "Although they like to get dirt upon themselves, they also like to get it off. I think the shower bath on the street corner should prove one of the most popular institutions in the North End."

PALE ALE AT AUCTION. ~ Customs Officials Also Will Sell Herring and Garlic Saturday.

June 30, 2025

PALE ALE AT AUCTION.

Customs Officials Also Will Sell Her-

ring and Garlic Saturday.

Loyal Britons may be expected to rally when eight and a half casks of pale ale is put up, and Scotland ought to be heard from when fifteen kegs of Glasgow herring are cried at a government rummage sale scheduled for Saturday morning at 10 o'clock at No. 228 West Fourth street. C. W. Clarke, surveyor of the port, is sending to the hammer imports which were not cleared during the present year.

The customs officers find that the ale arrived without any manifest and, though it is a knock to admit it, the herring were "abandoned," whatever that may mean.

Great Britain is not to have everything her own way. Two hundred and nine pounds of Garlic will tempt the Italians. "Coke" fiends will get a chance at two dozen hypodermic syringes. Six rolls of Japanese matting and 12,000 Japanese postal cards and some jute from India complete the offering for the grown ups.

The surveyor also will put up for sale a case of souvenirs, brought to Kansas City by a globe trotter, who evidently went broke buying the toys, for he could not or would not pay the duty on them. In this lot are four dolls, a cuckoo clock and twenty-five pieces of carved wood representing Santa Claus, bears, dogs, deer, cows and jumping jacks.

Some of the bears, so says the custom house list, are smoking, one is playing a piano, a quartette are gambling and one is painting a picture.

Helping Hand Committee, Looking for Location, find it Unavailable.

June 13, 2025

CAN'T USE NELSON BUILDING.

Helping Hand Committee, Looking

for Location, find it Unavailable.

After a thorough inspection of the Nelson building, Missouri avenue and Main street, the committee from the Helping Hand institute passed unfavorably upon it for the institute's use.

George W. Fuller, one of the committee, said last night:

"We found the Nelson building of such a style of construction as to render it unavailable for our use. The executive board of the Helping Hand institute muss pass upon the matter as yet, but our report will be an unfavorable one.

"There are two or three other places which we have in view for a new location, but there is nothing definite about them as yet. We are very anxious to get the Pacific house, Fourth and Delaware streets, but we have been unable to do so."

FOOD WAS WELL COOKED. ~ Street Lunch Car Destroyed by Fire in North End

March 29, 2026

FOOD WAS WELL COOKED.

Street Lunch Car Destroyed by

Fire in North End.

A large lunch wagon which is hauled to the corner of Fourth and Main every night by William Elliott, a negro, teaming contractor, caught fire and the heat scorched the paint on the buildings on each side of the street last night. Elliott unhitched his horses and drove them down the street to a safe distance. The fire department was notified and a hose wagon responded. The lunch car was in ashes when the water was turned on. The fire originated from the lighted gasoline stove in the wagon.

WILL GET THE SQUARE NOW. ~ One North of the City Market Is to Be Acquired.

February 2, 2026

WILL GET THE SQUARE NOW.

One North of the City Market Is to

Be Acquired.

Both houses of the council last night authorized the city comptroller to spend $250,000 acquired from the sale of bonds for the purchase of the square bounded by Main, Walnut, Third and Fourth streets. The buildings will be razed and sheds erected for the use of farmers having produce to sell. It was stated that an arrangement had been perfected with the several owners of the property to dismiss court appeals from the verdict of the condemnation jury.

LEADER OF FANATICS SUGGESTS A COVENANT. ~ WILLING TO 'FORGET AND FORGIVE HIS ENEMIES.'

January 31, 2026

LEADER OF FANATICS

SUGGESTS A COVENANT.

WILLING TO 'FORGET AND FOR-

GIVE HIS ENEMIES.'

Reviews the Killing of Policemen

and Asks Permission to Locate

Followers on Govern-

ment Lands.

"Adam God" wants to make a covenant. Since December 10 the bearer of this title, whose real name is James Sharp, has been in the county jail awaiting trial on a charge of murder. It was his band of fanatics that participated in the city hall riot nearly two months ago.

Now, after thinking matters over, Sharp is prepared to forgive anybody who may have wronged him, provided everybody forgives him. He is ready to take his followers and with them colonize vacant government land, to live there annoyed by no one and annoying nobody.

The offer of Sharp is contained in a letter which he mailed Friday to the judge of the criminal court. Judge Ralph S. Latshaw received it yesterday. The entire document is unique, considering only its import and not the grotesque manner in which Sharp treated the English language.

HIS VERSION OF THE RIOT.

A number of versions of the riot are given by Sharp. Once he says "they began to shoot at me and I became absent-minded." That was just before he began to fire. In another place he says that he now knows why he was "shooting straight up in the air." Again he writes that he does not remember "shooting up in the air," and calls the whole riot a "foolish dream." Still in another place he says he acted in his "blindness."

Sharp also denies the right of officers in Kansas City to interfere with the children of his band. He says he is not a resident of the city, county or state, but that his home was on "government waters." This refers to the habit held by his band of traveling on a houseboat on the Missouri.

The letter, stripped of grammatical and orthographical errors, as nearly as possible, is as follows:

HIS TERMS FOR PEACE.

"I wish to make a covenant of peace with my brethren, as I am heartily sorry of the affair that has happened. As to my part, I have not killed anybody, neither can they prove that I have. I have been honest before God and man in my faith. I did not carry guns to do evil with, but to defend myself. If I carried a gun to defend myself in doing evil deeds, it would be altogether different -- and the Humane Society officer that came to take our children away from us, he came contrary to the laws of the land, because I was a non-citizen of this city, or county, or state. My home was on government waters, traveling doing the work of evangelistic preaching of the Bible. We were paying our way, asking for nothing. We did not take up any collections, nor tell people that we were even in need of anything, and the police told us we could preach along Fourth and Main streets, or about there, any time we wanted to.

"The police had moved us from other places where the Salvation Army would hold their meetings, and we moved without a word. We had done all we could to get along with the officers and do the will of the good Lord. We have been misused and mistreated in different places, contrary to the law. When an officer of the law breaks the law to persecute you, he is not an officer of the law, but a violator of the law. When the riot started a man dressed in citizens' clothes did not say, "Consider yourselves under arrest," neither did he say he was an officer. He pointed a gun in my face and at that my partner -- which was Louis Pratt that got killed -- he shot him, and then they began to shoot at me, and I became absent minded. There were two of my friends killed, and the greater sin is for those who were against me. So the covenant that I wish to make is this:

WILL COLONIZE HIS FOLLOWERS.

"That I will quit street preaching and stop my followers from street preaching and colonize them in a colony to ourselves. There are lots of government lands in the West to be taken as homesteads. As we are a strange people, but we can't help it. We are of your brethren chosen out from you. We are a working people, do not believe in harming anyone. We mean to do good. So if we can make a covenant of this kind we would like to do it. And if the Lord don't send signs of approval the faith will come to naught as all false prophets do. And if I am a prophet that God has sent He will prove me as He has proved all prophets that He has sent. So if we can live in quietness it looks like it would be much better. As for me I am done fighting with instruments that men have made. What I have done was done in my blindness. As it is written, 'who is blind but my messenger that I have sent.'

"So I will heartily forgive my enemies for their mistake if they will forgive me for my mistake. Though I meant no harm, I broke the peace, as they well know.

WILL TRUST IN THE LORD.

"Well, I hope and trust to the Lord you will ponder this over in your heart and judge with righteous judgement. Since I have been in prison I have seen why I was shooting straight up in the air. It was because the Lord did not want me to be a bloody man. Although I don't remember shooting up in the air. The whole thing was like a foolish dream that a man could not remember. If we made a covenant of peace through righteous counsel then the Lord will be with us. We are all brethren here; can't help being here. We are born, not at our will. So if we can't forgive one another in a case of this kind, how can God forgive us? If you can see where I have done evil, it would be a different matter. If a man wants to be a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Catholic, let him alone. Don't prosecute him on account of his belief; that is my motto. The Lord has asked me to write this letter, asking a covenant to be made with my brethren. Then their blood will not be required at my hands. I don't know the lot that the Lord has laid out for me, but that which the Lord shows me I am required to show to my brethren.

"Well, I will close, hoping and trusting that my enemies will become my friends, as I am willing to become their friend. May the Lord be with you. Amen. -- JAMES SHARP."

Accompanying the letter is a note, a sort of preface to the longer epistle. It makes an attack on a witness who testified at the coroner's inquest.

As the judge who probably will preside at the trial of Sharp and Melissa Sharp, his wife, Judge Latshaw will, of course, take no official cognizance of the letter. The Sharps will be arraigned in the criminal court, probably this week, on new informations which have been prepared since the first arraignment. Both will be charged with murder in the first degree.

In jail, Sharp and his wife are model prisoners. They spend much time reading the Bible, finding in it, so they say, passages to back up their strange doctrines of things spiritual.

TWO JOHNS IN TROUBLE. ~ One Finds Way to Hospital and the Other to Police Station.

January 23, 2026

TWO JOHNS IN TROUBLE.

One Finds Way to Hospital and the Other

to Police Station.

"You are jollying, John, John Jones said to John Birmingham last night as the two sat in a store at 250 West Fourth street. For some reason the insinuation was objected to by Birmingham and he swung one of his crutches against John Jones's head. The crutch broke and so did Jones's head. Jones was taken to the emergency hospital and Birmingham to Central station. Both men were later arrested and charged with disturbing the peace.

"ADAM GOD'S" MARKED BIBLE. ~ Shows What Passages Influenced Religious Fanatic.

December 22, 2025

"ADAM GOD'S" MARKED BIBLE.

Shows What Passages Influenced

Religious Fanatic.

A little Bible belonging to James Sharp, "Adam God," the religious fanatic, who with others of his kind started a riot in the North End two weeks ago, is now in the possession of Police Captain Walter Whitsett at headquarters. It is much worn and looks like a book that had been carried by a soldier through a four years' campaign. Throughout the two testaments dog and pot hooks indicated the paragraphs upon which the peculiar sect of which "Adam God" was the head based its belief.

One of the quotations underlined is from the first book of Corinthians and says:

"But I say that the things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye would have fellowship with devils. Ye can not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils."

In the third chapter of James this verse is underscored heavily:

"From whence comes wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that was in your members? Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask amiss. Submit yourselves, therefor, to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you."

The following verses in the twenty-second psalm were enclosed. Above them also was a cross made with a lead pencil apparently to signify their importance:

"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies; thy right hand shall find out all that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. Their fruit shalt thou destroy. For they intended evil against thee' they imagined an evil device which they are unable to perform."

"Adam God," as he is known to his followers, apparently was not able to read Roman numerals, for every chapter in the little Bible is numbered with a lead pencil or in ink.

"Sharp was sure a close reader of the scriptures," said Captain Whitsett yesterday. "I notice nearly all of his favorite quotations are of a morbid nature and calculated to cause a weak minded person to do something rash.

"As a founder of a sect, believing himself to be God, the verses probably would appeal to his sense of divine power to an extraordinary degree. No one can read them without understanding the reason for the vicious fight put up by the fanatics at Fourth and Main streets."

RIOT GUNS FOR POLICE STATIONS. ~ BATTLE WITH FANATICS EXPOSED DEPARTMENT WEAKNESS.

December 17, 2025

RIOT GUNS FOR

POLICE STATIONS.

BATTLE WITH FANATICS EXPOSED

DEPARTMENT WEAKNESS.

To Be Available When Needed, and

Not Locked Up, as Were the

Rifles During the Re-

cent Riot.

The board of police commissioners yesterday decided that it had been taught a lesson by the riot of December 8 and that it wound never again be caught unprepared. When riot guns were called for on that day, not knowing the magnitude of the trouble or how many men might be encountered at the river, a key to the gun case first had to be sought. Then there was no ammunition for the old Springfield rifles in store there, and there was another twenty minutes' delay until loads were secured from a vault in the commissioners' office. If the trouble had been more serious the town could have been sacked before police were properly armed.

Yesterday the board examined the latest make of riot gun, a weapon that shoots six loads, nine buckshot to each cartridge. It is worked the same as a pump gun, and one alone will do fearful damage, if handled properly.

It is the intention of the board to purchase a sufficient number of these guns and place them in glass cases in stations Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Those stations are situated at headquarters (Fourth and Main), 1316 St. Louis avenue, 906 Southwest boulevard, 1430 Walnut street and Twentieth street and Flora avenue, respectively. They are regarded as the most likely districts in which riots might break out.

The glass cases containing the riot guns are to be built near the floor so that, in an emergency, they may be broken and weapons, loaded for just such an occasion, may be found ready for action.

The question of a reserve force of men to be kept on hand at headquarters all the time, was also taken up. It was decided, as a nucleus, to assign two men on duty there from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. who, with the "shortstop" man, would make three who could get into action on a moment's notice. Had that number of men been sent out to deal with James Sharp and his band of fanatics, the board believes that the result would have been different.

"We have been taught a terrible lesson," said the mayor, "and the fault should rest on our shoulders if such a thing should ever occur again and find us unprepared. Henceforth we intend to be ready for any situation that may arise."

INTENDED TO TAKE THE CITY. ~ And After That "the Whole World," Said Mrs. Sharp -- Didn't Believe "Adam" Was Shot.

December 11, 2025

INTENDED TO TAKE THE CITY.

And After That "the Whole World,"

Said Mrs. Sharp -- Didn't Be-

lieve "Adam" Was Shot.

MELISSA SHARP, "EVE."

When Sharp was safely landed in a cell at police headquarters a reporter called to see his wife who was incarcerated in a cell in the women's quarter. She was asked:

"What would you think if you were told that y our husband had lost faith in the belief that he was the reincarnation of Adam and you of Eve?"

"Have they got him?" she asked. "I didn't think he would ever be caught."

"If he has forsaken the faith what will you do?"

"I guess there's nothing for me to do but forsake it, too," she said, rubbing her head in a bewildered fashion.

"Did you think bullets would strike him?"

"Of course, not. And he didn't, either. If we had, we never would have been so foolish as to go into a fight like we did. l We believed, and believed firmly, too, that while our bullets would take effect in the bodies of the officers, nothing could harm us. We believed that after we had started the fight, those who tried to oppose us would become paralyzed and their weapons fall useless to the ground."

"Then it was your intention to take the city?"

"To take the city? Yes, to take the whole world. We intended to do that from the moment the fight started."

"Do you realize, Mrs. Sharp, that you could have been killed at any time during that fight, but that the police refrained because you were a woman? Do you know that the big policeman, Mullane, whom you shot and who died today, could have killed you at any time he chose?

SHE DIDN'T BELIEVE IT.

"I have thought a little of that since I have been here. I guess they could have killed me, all of us, maybe. It's strange they didn't. I don't see how I came out alive."

She seemed to waver on the forsaking of her faith. She said she did not believe it when told that "Adam" had even been struck with a bullet. She didn't see how it was possible. When asked if she would go back to her old faith, as had Mrs. Pratt, she said: "I had no faith when I took up this. My mother and father down in Texas country were Methodists and when I was little I, of course, was prejudiced toward that denomination. Now it's hard for me to think. I don't know whehter I am receiving new light or the world is getting darker. I don't know what is the right thing to do. I wish I did. I would be more at rest."

When asked about her shooting of Patrolman Mullane, and the fight by the wagon on Fourth street was described to her, she rubbed her brow in a bewildered fashion again and said: "I remember seeing a big officer; remember seeing a wagon, too, but it is not clear to me. All is in a haze now. It's all like a dream, a bad dream."

She was asked if she recalled the time when her husband ran a saloon and a poker room in Texico, N. M., and if it was after he embraced the faith.

"Yes, I recall when he played poker and when he had something to do with whiskey, but it wasn't a saloon. He just sold it at the room. I don't know if it was after we had the faith. He quit drinking when he got the faith."

HE DRINKS NOW.

"Does he ever drink now?"

"Once in a while. We believed that it was not went into the mouth that defiled. It was what came out of it."

Anticipating trouble of some sort a detail of about thirty police spent the night in and about police headquarters. Every entrance to the city hall even was guarded and every person who approached was scanned and asked his business.

Sharp was photographed by Lieutenant Harry E. Stege soon after his arrival. Then his wounds were dressed by Dr. Fred B. Kyger in the matrons room, the police not caring to take Sharp to the emergency hospital. As he was being led to his cell in the holdover he was asked if he didn't think the devil had him. "No, you fellows all look like angels to me," was his quick reply.

'ADAM' SHARP IS TAKEN IN KANSAS. ~ JOHNSON COUNTY SHERIFF CAPTURES RELIGIOUS FANATIC.

December 11, 2025

'ADAM' SHARP IS

TAKEN IN KANSAS.

JOHNSON COUNTY SHERIFF CAP-

TURES RELIGIOUS FANATIC.

IS WOUNDED IN BOTH HANDS.

BROUGHT TO KANSAS CITY AND

LOCKED IN HOLDOVER.

Offers No Resistance and Declares

He's Glad That His Fight Is

Over -- Abjures His "Faith."

City Hall Guarded.

JAMES SHARP,
Religious Fanatic Who Styles Himself "Adam God."

After fifty hours' search by the local police and officers of nearby towns, James Sharp, who styles himself "Adam" and "King David," was captured three miles south of Zarah, Johnson county, Kas., yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock. It was James Sharp who started a riot at Fourth and Main streets Tuesday afternoon, resulting in the death of Patrolmen A. O. Dalbow and Michael Mullane; bystander A. J. Selsor; and Louis Pratt, one of the religious band, and his 14-year-old daughter, Lulu.

News of Sharp's arrest reached police yesterday afternoon about 5 o'clock and Chief of Police Daniel Ahern sent Captain Walter Whitsett and Inspector Charles Ryan to Olathe, Kas., after the prisoner.

A farmer named W. C. Brown living eight miles northwest of Olathe telephoned to J. S. Steed, sheriff of Johnson county, about 11 o'clock yesterday morning that a man resembling the description of the fanatic, James Sharp, had been seen in that neighborhood Wednesday night and yesterday morning. He said that the suspect had spent the night at the home of Joseph Beaver, a farmer living about two miles from him. Beaver, he said, was in Olathe and the sheriff could talk to him and get a good description of the man.

Sheriff Steed found Beaver and after having him describe the stranger who had stayed at his home decide that the man was Sharp and drove to the Brown farm, leaving Olathe about 1 o'clock yesterday. When he reached the Brown farm he deputized a young man who worked on a nearby farm, and the two men started a search for the mysterious stranger.

ASLEEP IN STRAW STACK.

A large wood pasture was first gone over, and then the officers separated and searched the ravines for several miles. A straw stack in the middle of an old wheat field was seen by the sheriff's deputy and, going around it, he found a man sleeping under the straw.

When Sheriff Steed reached the straw stack the man was called and told to come out. As he rolled from under the stack the men noticed he kept his hands in his pockets, and when they made him take them out they saw that he was wounded in both hands. After being searched by the sheriff, Sharp was placed in a buggy without being handcuffed and driven to Olathe.

Sharp told his captors that he was praying and contemplating while he was in the haystack as to what he should do. Weary with the long tramp from Kansas City and exhausted for the want of food, Sharp welcomed arrest and surrendered without any show of making a fight.

He was taken into the office of the county jail and his wounds, which had not been treated, were washed and bandaged by Sheriff Steed. He was then given a supper, which he devoured with eagerness.

ANXIOUS TO GO BACK.

While he was eating his meal the police officers from Kansas City arrived. Sharp greeted them and said he was anxious to go back with them. After finishing eating he told of his trip from Kansas City to the place of his capture.

"I shot five times at the police and when I had emptied my revolver I went into the saloon there on the corner and gave my pistol to the bartender. I told him that I was through, that I was not sure of the Lord, and asked him to take me to a policeman.. The man seemed to be frightened and did not move. I then tried to load the gun, but my two hands were wounded, so I could not do it. The cylinder would not turn. I was going to put the barrel in my mouth and blow off the top of my head."

Sharp said he then walked outside and stood in the crowd and watched the police and citizens gathering around Pratt across the street. Continuing Sharp said, "God then directed my steps south on Main street to Fifth street, and west up Fifth street. I went on down Fifth street to the bottoms. When I reached a barber shop I went in and had my hair clipped. I told the barber that my hands were frozen. Leaving the shop the Lord's will seemed to take me farther away from the shooting scene and I walked and walked.

"I WAS LOSING FAITH."

"I was losing faith in my religion because things had not come about as the revelation made it out. I continued walking all that night. In the morning I slept in the woods. That evening I went to a house and asked for something to eat and a place to sleep. The people gave me my supper, but said they did not have any place to put me for the night. They directed me to a house about 300 yards distant, to a cousin's. I stayed there all night and had my breakfast there.

"I could not use my hands and the man fed me. They asked me what was wrong with my hands, and I told them that I was paralyzed. I told them I was a peddler and that my partner had left me. I was afraid they would suspect that I was wanted in Kansas City and left as early in the morning as possible.

"After leaving that house, which was the Beaver farm, I went to that straw stack and hid. At first my only intention was to get away, to escape. Then I began to fear that I had done wrong and was debating whether I should go to some farmer and pay him to take me to a town and give me up. I had money to pay the man for my trouble.

"When the officer arrested me it seemed like I was going to heaven. I was so worried and had lost such a quantity of blood. I told the sheriff that I was glad he had me and the j ail would not be a bad place for me."

HAD PLENTY OF MONEY.

When the officers searched Sharp he had a number of cartridges in his pocket and a large knife, which he carried in his left hand and cut Sergeant Patrick Clark in the eye with. A large roll of bills containing $105 and a purse with $4.92 in it was also found in his pockets.

A large crowd of persons gathered in the jail yard at Olathe, and attempted to get into the room where the prisoner was. Everybody in the city wanted to see the man that caused so much grief by inciting his followers to murder and riot.

Captain Whitsett and Inspector Charles Ryan left Olathe and Sharp at 9 o'clock last night over the Frisco railroad, and arrived in Kansas City at 10 o'clock. The officers with their prisoner left the train at Rosedale and took a street car to Fourth and Wyandotte streets. They were afraid that friends of the dead and wounded officers who might have heard of Sharp's capture would attempt a demonstration against the prisoner. When the officers and prisoner got off the car he was placed between the two and hurried to police headquarters, where a large force of policemen and detectives were inside the station and also guarded the doors.