100 Year Old Weblog: Nineteenth street

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May 22, 2025 ~ FOUR RUN OVER BY AUTO; ONE IS DEAD

May 22, 2025

FOUR RUN OVER BY AUTO; ONE IS DEAD

Picnickers Jolted Out of Truck Are Victims of Following Car

OFFENDERS SPED AWAY.

Accident Occurs Near Martin City as Party Is Returning to Kansas City.

The Dead
JOHANNA FRANKLIN, 15 years old, 1514 Myrtle avenue; left hip broken; succumbed from internal injuries at the General hospital at midnight.

The Injured

   Ruth Madick, 19 years old, 2040 Cypress avenue; right leg wrenched, bruised on the side of the head and internal injuries; condition serious.
   Edward Relford, 17 years old, 1803 Kensington avenue; right hand bruised, back sprained and nervous shock; not serious.
   Robert Ayers, 19 years old, Nineteenth street and Myrtle avenue; bruised on face and body; may have internal injuries; not serious.

Two young men in a motor car, believed to be students of Missouri university, early last evening, near Martin City, Mo, ran over several of a party of picnickers who had been jolted from a motor truck, seriously injured four, one of whom died later, and then plunged down the road in their big black touring car without offering assistance or disclosing their identity. The accident happened at about 8 o'clock.

All of the injured were brought to General hospital in Kansas City. Miss Johanna Franklin, 15 years old, of 1514 Myrtle avenue, was the most seriously crushed by the wheels of the car. She died at midnight of internal injuries and shock. She was a student at Central high school, and is said to have been a talented musician for one of age.

Miss Ruth Madick, 19 years old, 2040 Cypress avenue, was also dangerously injured but she may live. She sustained a wrenched hip, head bruises and internal injuries, the seriousness of which had not been determined that night. Edward Relford, 17 years old, 1803 Kensington avenue, was bruised about the hands and body and is suffering from nervous shock, and Robert Ayers, 19 years old, Nineteenth street and Myrtle avenue, sustained face and body bruises and possibly internal injuries.

Spent Afternoon Picnicking

According to a story told by the injured boys, fourteen boys and girls yesterday "chipped in" and hired a motor truck to take them to a grove beyond Martin City where they spent the afternoon picnicking. After they had lunched, the party, composed of nine boys and five girls, started home and near Martin City they were approached from behind by a large touring car. Two young men who said they were college students and lived at the Densmore hotel were in the front seat. They began to "jolly" with the girls in the motor truck.

"Get out of that old wagon and give us a chance," they called. "We'll show you a better time than you can have with that bunch." Then they produced a camera and took snapshots of the van and its occupants. The picnickers soon tired of these attentions and the van driver was told to "speed up." He did so. Suddenly as the truck encountered a rough place in the road, the end gate became unfastened and two boys and two girls were spilled out almost under the front wheels of the pursuing touring car.

"Went Right Over Us."

"It went right over us," Edward Relford said last night, as he lay swathed in bandages at the hospital. "The girls screamed. I guess I yelled, too. We were all jumbled up in a mess. The car wobbled around, I think, as it went over us. A fellow gets kind of rattled being run over that way. When I came to, some of the boys had me out on the grass working over me. But Glover got the number of the touring car. It was their fault, crowding us from behind. The old truck wasn't intended to to keep ahead of a high speed automobile. That's how we got jolted out. I am lucky not to have had any bones broken."

The injured were given emergency treatment at Marten City and attended to by Dr. B. M. Colby at the General hospital. Parents of the injured and other members of the party visited them last night. No trace of the occupants or of the car had been found last night.

Car Drivers Speed Away.

All of the injured members of the party said the boys, whom they took to be students of Missouri university, from remarks they made, cut around the van after bumping over the bodies and disappeared down the road in the direction of Kansas City.

The police made an effort to locate the youths and the car last night, but were not successful up to an early hour this morning. The Missouri statutes make it a penal offense for a motorist to run away without disclosing his identity after injuring a person.

LONG AND SHORT MEN BUSY. ~ Victims of Highwaymen Report to Police the Loss of More Than $300 on Sunday.

December 6, 2025

LONG AND SHORT MEN BUSY.

Victims of Highwaymen Report to

Police the Loss of More Than

$300 on Sunday.

J. S. Hubert, a member of the United Brewery Workers of America, living at 2518 Charlotte, was felled by a blow from behind and robbed of five $20 bills, ten $10 bills and five $5 bills at Twenty-first and Locust at 9:30 o'clock last night by two men, one of whom, he says was very tall and the other extremely short. He says he saw the same men in a saloon at Nineteenth street and Grand avenue Saturday night. Hubert immediately reported the case to police and he was taken to his home by Officer Sherry. Upon examination of his head no signs of where he had been slugged could be found.

WILL FURNISH POWER FOR AIRSHIP BY HAND. ~ J. D. DOUGLASS MACHINE IS SHAPED LIKE A BAT.

November 1, 2025

WILL FURNISH POWER

FOR AIRSHIP BY HAND.

J. D. DOUGLASS MACHINE IS

SHAPED LIKE A BAT.

Craft Is Designed to Actually Fly by

Movement of Planes Like

the Wings of a

Bird.

In a sign painter's establishment at 214 West Nineteenth street suspended to the ceiling is a motley array of bamboo poles, cogwheels, chains and strips of fine steel, apparently jumbled in such a way as to have the appearance of several umbrella frames thrown together.

When strips of cloth are attached to the bamboo poles, giving the apparatus twelve planes, it will have the appearance of a multiple winged bat. It will be, according to the inventor, J. D. Douglass, his first successful model of an actual flying machine, not an aeroplane.

For nine years Douglass has worked on flying machines. One after another he has knocked to pieces after he has found fault with parts considered by him to be important. This last machine, he declares, has exemplified every previous idea and it has been built so that these ideas will be carried out and their value easily ascertained.

When the machine is given a trial, which will be in a few weeks, Douglass will furnish the motive power with his hands and feet.

"If I succeed in rising from the ground I will be satisfied," said Mr. Douglass, "for then I will be sure my ideas as to aerial navigation and flight are compact. It will be an easy matter then for me to build a larger machine and to attach an engine which will give me the motive power."

The machine which will have the general sh ape of a bat will be twenty feet wide and about fifteen feet in length. Complete it will weigh less than 150 pounds and it will have twelve planes. These planes are all employed in the duty of raising and propelling the machine.

At the top of the machine will be two propellers which will revolve in opposite directions. These will give the machine the first lifting power. Once in the air, the planes come into motion and with the movements patterned after those of birds in flight, give the craft its propelling power.

Mr. Douglass is a retired farmer. Aviation has been a lifelong study with him. He thinks a great deal of the monoplane as well as the biplane, but also believes that when he has completed his aerial craft that his experiments will mark an epoch in the airship industry.

CLOSE CALL FOR WATCHMAN. ~ Police Pull Charles Brown From Bed in Burning Barn.

September 15, 2025

CLOSE CALL FOR WATCHMAN.

Police Pull Charles Brown From Bed

in Burning Barn.

In a fire that destroyed a sales stable conducted by John Kirby and H. A. Thompson at Nineteenth and Main street early yesterday morning, in which forty-eight horses perished, Charles Brown, a night watchman who was asleep in the building barely escaped being burned to death.

Patrolman Cummings and Duteman, whose beat is in the neighborhood of Nineteenth and Main, passed the barn at 2:30 o'clock yesterday morning. At that time they did not notice a fire. About five minutes later they passed the corner again and noticed a small blaze near the ground on the south side of the barn. They turned in an alarm and returned to awake Brown. Cummings fired three shots in the effort, but only succeeded by breaking in his door and pulling him out of bed. By that time the fire was well under way, and it was too late to save any of the horses. Several buggies were also destroyed.

The building was a one-story frame valued at $2,200. John P. Lynch of the Lynch-Watkins Lime and Cement Company, owner of the building, said it was insured for $800.

Mr. Thompson estimated his loss at $10,000, partly covered by insurance. The barn will be rebuilt.

WITH 5,000 NEGRO PYTHIAN DELEGATES. ~ SUPREME LODGE WILL OPEN THIS MORNING.

August 24, 2025

WITH 5,000 NEGRO DELEGATES.

SUPREME LODGE WILL OPEN

THIS MORNING.

Every State in Union Wil Be Rep-

resented on Roll Call -- Recep-

tion at Second Bap-

tist Church.

With a delegation of 5,000 negro men and women from every state in the Union, the supreme lodge of negro Knights of Pythias opens this morning in Ivanhoe hall, Nineteenth street and Tracy avenue, and continues until Friday night. It is the largest gathering of its kind ever held in Kansas City. Among the delegates are doctors, lawyers, bankers, merchants, clerks, porters, barbers, teachers, editors, farmers and every other profession, trade and business followed by negroes.

A reception was held last night at the Second Baptist church, Tenth and Charlotte streets. Grand Chancellor A. W. Lloyd of St. Louis presided and music was furnished by the choir of the Second Baptist church.

Nelson C. Crews, chairman of the local committee, made an address of welcome.

A solo by Miss Ennis Collins followed.

Welcome to the state was extended by Professor W. W. Yates, who represented Governor Hadley. His address was short and cordial. A selection by the Calanthian choir then followed.

S. W. Green of New Orleans, supreme chancellor, responded to this address.

S. C. Woodson represented Mayor Crittenden in an address of welcome.

There was a solo by Wiliam J. Tompkins and a selection by the choir, "The Heavens Are Telling." Other addresses were made by Prof. J. R. Jefferson of West Virginia; Dr. J. E. Perry, E. D. Green, of Chicago; Dr. W. P. Curtiss, St. Louis; Dr. J. A. Ward, Indianapolis; Mrs. Janie C. Combs and A. J. Hazelwood.

The Supreme Court of Calanthe will be presided over by John W. Strauther of Greenville, Miss. The session will be held at the Hodcarrier's hall. In this meeting every phase of the negro's home life will be discussed. Strauther is one of the most noted men of his race in the country.

At 2 o'clock this afternoon a band concert will be given at Cap Carrouthers by the Bixton, Ia., band, and dress parade at 5:30 p. m. by the entire uniform ranks.

Rev. B. Hillman of Terra Haute, Ind., made the opening prayer last night.

GIFT OF $50,000 TO FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. ~ Thomas H. Swope Offers $25,000 in Cash and Ground on Campbell Near Sixteenth Street for New Building.

August 4, 2025

GIFT OF $50,000 TO

FRANKLIN INSTITUTE.

Thomas H. Swope Offers $25,000

in Cash and Ground on Camp-

bell Near Sixteenth Street

for New Building.

Thomas H. Swope, already Kansas City's manifold benefactor, has given $50,000 to Franklin institute, half in land, half in cash. Unless the donor should extend the time limit the gift will be forfeited November 1 if an additional $50,000 is not raised by that date.

A noon meeting of the directorate of the institute was held yesterday and the members decided to supplement the donation by $5,000 or $10,000 to be raised among their own number. No city-wide campaign for funds will be made, but a quiet effort will be put forth to obtain the money from friends of the social settlement.

Little apprehension that the required amount cannot be raised is entertained.

Henry f. Holt of the architectural firm of Howe & Holt, is one of the directors of the institute. He will set about at once planning the building which the Swope gift makes possible. The site donated lies on the west side of Campbell street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth. Its dimensions are 105 x 142 feet.

Established six years ago, Franklin institute has grown amid adverse conditions. It is now located at Nineteenth and McGee streets, in a two-story frame house which is rented from month to month. In spite of the obstacles which had to be overcome, the work of the settlement has attracted the substantial attention of many Kansas Cityans interested and informed on matters of charity.

For some time Mr. Swope has entertained a strong interest in the results of institutional work, and after acquainting himself with the philanthropic activity of Franklin institute made known his intention to help it to the extent of $50,000. His gift was made with absolutely no solicitation on part of friends of the institute.

Ralph P. Swofford is president of the institute, and J. T. Chafin is head resident. The other officers are Henry D. Faxon, vice president; Fletcher Cowherd, treasurer, and Herbert V. Jones, secretary.

The directorate is made up of William Cheek, Henry F. Holt., R. H. McCord, Rabbi Harry H. Mayer, Howard F. Lee, Benjamin B. Lee, H. J. Diffenbaugh, W. J. Berkowitz, George T. Vance, I. D. Hook, D. L. James and E. L. McClure.

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."

OFFERED COFFIN HANDLES. ~ Young Man, Who Tried to Make Sale, Held for Investigation.

May 27, 2025

OFFERED COFFIN HANDLES.

Young Man, Who Tried to Make

Sale, Held for Investigation.

A young man entered Leo J. Stewart's undertaking rooms at 1212 McGee street yesterday afternoon and offered to sell two boxes containing a dozen cheap coffin handles. The suspicions of William Stewart, junior member of the firm, were aroused, and when the man returned with three more boxes he had him arrested by Officers Lucius Downing and J. C. W. Dyson. The prisoner gave the name of Ed McBride and his residence as 521 East Nineteenth street.

The coffin handles were identified by H. R. Miller of the Wagner undertaking firm as some that had been taken from their warehouse. In McBride's pockets were found a Chicago street car transfer dated April 9, a St. Louis transfer dated April 8 and a paper back copy of "Fetters That Sear." He was held for investigation.

BATH COSTS A NICKEL NOW. ~ Personal Ablutions Almost Prohibitive Luxury in McClure Flats.

May 24, 2025

BATH COSTS A NICKEL NOW.

Personal Ablutions Almost Prohibi-

tive Luxury in McClure Flats.

They're bathing less in the McClure flats. Private bathtubs have always been an unknown luxury there. Personal ablutions formerly were performed by most of the residents at the bathhouse provided by the United Jewish Charities at 1820 Locust street. There a child could get a bath, including the use of a towel, for the sum of one penny. An adult might bathe for a nickel.

More aristocratic people went to a private bathhouse at 310 East Nineteenth street, where children paid a nickel and grown ups 15 cents. Each of the bathhouses had five tubs, but only the penny shop was ever crowded, for there are few in the neighborhood that can afford to pay a nickel to have their children washed.

Since the opening of the beautiful new Jewish charities building on Admiral boulevard, the bathhouse on Locust street has passed into private ownership. Free baths are furnished at the new charities building, but it is very far from McClure flats.

With the passing of communal ownership of the bathhouse passed the penny baths, and now the price is a nickel for every child, and 15 cents for adults.

Therefore is McClure flats abstaining from baths, and is likely to partake of them sparingly until the completion of the free public bathhouse in Holmes square.

Yesterday afternoon a member of the park board stated that it would be August 1 at t he earliest before the bathhouse at Holmes square is completed. Work has been delayed from unavoidable reasons.

"A few of the children more strongly imbued with the gospel of cleanliness than others make an occasional pilgrimage to the bathhouse on the Paseo when it is warm," said Mrs. J. T. Chafin, wife of the head resident at the Franklin institute. "But for most of them the walk is too long, and many who need the bath most are too young to march such a distance."

In the McClure flats district there are not half a dozen private bathtubs. An investigating committee last summer estimated that there were approximately 10,000 people in the city who had not the use of a bathtub.

ADAM GOD TO DROP PLEA OF INSANITY? ~ EARLY TESTIMONY INDICATES SELF-DEFENSE.

May 22, 2025

ADAM GOD TO DROP

PLEA OF INSANITY?

EARLY TESTIMONY INDICATES

SELF-DEFENSE.

Sharp's Mental Condition Is Not

Seriously Considered -- Witnesses

Describe the City Hall

Riot Scenes.

That the defense of James Sharp, the religious fanatic, charged with the killing of Patrolman Michael Mullane, is to be self-defense was made evident on the first day of the trial, which opened yesterday in the criminal court.

It had been announced and it was the theory of the state that insanity would be pleaded. but during all the evidence heard yesterday there was no mention of Sharp's mental condition save alone in the statement of Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney, in which he outlined what the state expects to prove.

Perhaps it was because through Mr. Conkling's statement, reciting incident after incident of Sharp's life, from his religious doings in Oklahoma and Canada, through the city hall riot here December 8 and the subsequent flight of Sharp, ran the suggestion that Sharp was not insane, but, on the contrary, sane and exceptionally acute of mind. Out of every action on the part of Sharp the prosecutor deduced a refutation of the insanity idea.

THE MAYOR A WITNESS.

At the rate of progress made yesterday, it is likely that the trial will consume a greater part of next week. It is the practice of Judge Ralph S. Latshaw to open court early, to take one hour at noon for recess and to adjourn at 5 o'clock. Much time was spent yesterday over each witness.

It was while Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., was on the stand yesterday afternoon that the defense showed its change of front. In arguing for permission to ask the mayor certain questions, A. E. Martin of counsel for the defense said to the court:

"We propose to show that the police and the probation officer incited a riot at the city hall and followed the same persons who participated in the riot and killed one of them in a boat on the river."

The court refused to admit testimony as to what happened on the river front, as happening there were fifteen minutes later than the fight which resulted in the death of Mullane.

DEFENSE'S STATEMENT LAST.

Touching elbows with John P. Mullane, brother of the man with whose death he stands charged, Sharp heard George M. Holt, probation officer, give his testimony. The defense took advantage of its right to reserve its statement until the state shall have finished with its witnesses.

Holt gave his age as 46, his address as 3027 East Nineteenth street and his occupation as probation officer. At noon of the riot, he said, he saw Mrs. Sharp and the children of Louis Pratt singing on the street at that point. He watched them about five minutes, when they started north on Main. Mrs. Sharp, during the meeting, was inviting the public to a gathering at the Workingmen's mission that night. There was a hat on the sidewalk and coin in it. Mrs. Sharp took the hat.

"I followed the band and inquired about whose children they were," said Mr. Holt. "She went into the Workingmen's Mission and I followed about a minute later. Sharp was there talking to his wife when I came in.

"I asked him if this was his wife and children and he said yes. He told me he was Adam God, the father of Jesus Christ."

Hot told Sharp that he would have to keep the children off the streets if he meant to keep them in Kansas City.

THREATENED TO KILL.

" 'What authority have you?' Sharp asked me.

" 'I am an officer,' said I.

" 'Well, you blue coated -----,' said Sharp, 'I'll kill you or any other ----- blue coat that comes in here and interferes with my work in this city.'

"Immediately afterwards, Sharp pulled out a pistol from under his vest. Louis Pratt, who also was there, pulled out a revolver and so did Mrs. Sharp. Her husband put his pistol under my face and forced me out of the mission and as I went out hit me on the head. He called to someone to come out. Then I went to the police station to report. Before I had finished reporting, the shooting had begun."

"What part of the shooting did you see?" asked Mr. Conkling.

"All I saw was someone in the chief's office shooting at Louis Pratt, who was on his knees on the street. Pratt fell."

"How long did the shooting last?"

"Less than five minutes. About twenty-five or thirty shots were fired."

TO REVOLUTIONIZE THINGS.

The Rev. Sherman Short of Clarence, Mo., was at Fifth and Main streets when he heard the children sing and stepped up close enough to hear Mrs. Sharp say:

"The prophet will preach tonight at the Workingmen's mission."

Dr. Short testified yesterday that his curiosity was aroused.

"I went up to the mission and there was Sharp," said Dr. Short. "I asked him if he was the prophet and he said:

" 'My name is Sharp. I am supposed to be King David in the spirit. I am the Lord of the Vineyard myself and the people will soon find it out, for I expect to revolutionize things around here.' "

"Did he talk to you about force or violence?" asked Mr. Conkling.

"No."

"What happened then?"

"While we were talking the Pratt children and came in and said to Sharp: 'The humane officer is after us.' Then Holt came in and asked Sharp if these were his children. Sharp said yes and Holt told him they would have to be kept off the streets, if Sharp proposed to remain in Kansas City. I saw Sharp hit Holt and put him out of the mission. I saw him have a knife and a revolver.

"Sharp then waved his revolver and called out: 'Come on, children!' Mrs. Sharp and Louis Pratt and the two oldest Pratt girls all took out revolvers. They went on the street and formed a circle, facing the west sidewalk on Main."

"What did you do?"

"I went to the police station. I saw police coming out of headquarters. Patrolman Dalbow shook hands with Sharp and they stood there a minute. Then some other man came up. He was in citizen's clothes and he pulled out a revolver. Then there was shooting."

PRATT FIRED FIRST.

"Who fired the first shot?"

"Louis Pratt."

"And then what did you see?"

"I didn't stay long after that. I ran across the street. As I turned around I saw a man lying on the car track, shot. I learned afterwards that it was A. J. Selsor. Later I saw Mrs. Sharp and one of the Pratt girls brought into the station.

"When they formed their circle in the street Sharp, his wife, Pratt and the two oldest Pratt girls had revolvers in their hands. Sharp also had a knife."

Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., said that he was in a council chamber on the fourth floor of the city hall when the riot began. He saw Louis Pratt kneeling, steadying his aim with both arms, shooting at Mullane. There was a little girl near Pratt, holding toward him a revolver, loaded with fresh cartridges. The mayor saw Pratt fall over, as if shot. Then the mayor went downstairs to police headquarters and out on the street.

"My purpose of going towards the river was that I had heard talk of lynching and wanted such an action to be avoided," said the mayor in explanation. He was not allowed to tell what happened at the river front.

MULLANE'S WIDOW ON STAND.

Mrs. Hannah Mullane, weeping quietly on the witness stand, told how her husband had left home on the morning of December 8, 1908, at 6 o'clock, in good health. Mullane died Decemberr 10, two days after the riot.

There was some delay when court opened in the afternoon, while attachments were served on physicians who were state's witnesses, but who failed to be on hand at the proper time.

Dr. William A. Shelton, 3305 Wabash avenue, was the second witness. He is a police surgeon. On the day of the riot he was called to treat Mullane at the city hall and later attended him at St. Joseph's hospital. Mullane, he said, had a bullet wound through his left hand and one through his chest just above the heart. The latter bullet struck Mullane in the back. Dr. Shelton probed for it, but could not locate it. He finally found the bullet on the operating table. The bullet was shown to the jury over objections of Sharp's attorneys.

Dr. Eugene King, surgeon at St. Joseph's hospital, examined Mullane at police headquarters and at the hospital. He testified as to the wounds and said he found the bullet in the patorlman's underclothing on the operating table. The course of the ball, he said, was from front to back. Dr. Shelton came from in a few minutes later, said Dr. King.

THE MORNING SESSION.

The dramatic incident of the morning session yesterday occurred while Mr. Conkling, in his opening statement, was arraigning Sharp as a religious grafter. While the prosecutor was in the middle of the sentence, Sharp jumped up and said:

"Your honor, these words this man speaks he will have to get witnesses to prove."

"Sit down, Mr. Sharp," said Judge Latshaw. "If you have any objections to make, do so through your counsel."

"I want this jury to hear the truth," persisted Sharp. "I didn't take up collections at my meetings."

Then sharp started to leave the court room but was brought back by a deputy marshal.

A short time afterwards, while Mr. Conkling was telling of the death of Patrolman Albert O. Dalbow, Mrs. Dalbow fainted and was carried from the courtroom. With her were a son, 8 years old, and a baby of fourteen months. She sat near the jury, close to a son and daughter of A. J. Selsor, who was killed in the riot.

Before Conkling began his address to the jury, there were brought into the courtroom gruesome reminders of the December tragedy. A rifle used by Mrs. Pratt in her fight on the river when she, with her daughters, Lena and Lulu, tried to escape. Lulu was killed by bullets fired from the bank. Then there were five revolvers, Sharp's large knife and ammunition. Also there was a shotgun and a rifle found in the houseboat of the band. the whiskers Sharp left in the Mulberry street barber shop, neatly garnered into an envelope, also were put on the table in plain view of the jury. In the afternoon the display of weapons was removed.

SHARP MAY TESTIFY.

With a changed plea, it is not so certain now that Adam God will be put on the witness stand. It was the first intention to make him back up the plea of insanity, but with a changed method of attack, this plan may be altered. Sharp is firm in declaring that he will be a witness, and as he seems at times to be not under the control of his counsel, he may make his statement before the evidence closes.

The riot of December 8, it will be remembered, occurred on the northwest corner of the city hall. There were wounded and subsequently died the following: Albert O. Dalbow and Michael Mullane, patrolmen; A. J. Selson, a spectator; Louis Pratt, a member of the religious band. Patrick Clark, a sergeant of police, was slashed on the face by Sharp and lost his right eye.

The trial will be resumed this morning.

At yesterday's trial the bible, which is his constant companion, lay on the table before Sharp, who sat facing the east windows, and therefore with his profile to the audience. From time to time he glanced curiously about him, but if it was with an y emotion, the feeling was not depicted by expression. Most of the time he sat with hands folded, elbows close to his side. Occasionally he stroked his beard or with his fingers combed tangles from his long moustache.

COURT ROOM WAS CROWDED.

Not an any trial since Judge Ralph S. Latshaw has taken his place has there been such a throng to see a trial. Not only all the chairs in the courtroom, but also the aisles, already narrowed by extra seats, held their capacity. Conspicuous among the number were a dozen or more well dressed women, who followed every step of the proceedings with interest. Among these was Miss Selsor, daughter of A. J. Selsor, killed in the riot. As the day wore on the crowd tended to increase rather than diminish.

The orderly quiet of it all was not lost on Adam God. Accustomed for years to rough treatment from crowds and officers of the peace, he seemed to feel the different attitude of the spectators in the court room where he is on trial for his life. Defiance of the law and its officers seemed to have passed from his mind, leaving him although perhaps not resigned to his fate, yet with the feeling that he was among those who meant to treat him fairly. At noon he told the deputy marshal who took him to his cell:

"That's a fine judge. He certainly will see that I get a fair trial."

DEATH BY CARBOLIC ACID. ~ Unidentified Man Commits Suicide Near Centropolis.

May 14, 2025

DEATH BY CARBOLIC ACID.

Unidentified Man Commits Suicide

Near Centropolis.

The body of an unidentified man was found in a lot between Drury and Hardesty avenues on Fifteenth street yesterday morning by Mrs. Della Morris, who lives in the vicinity. Harry Czarlinsky, deputy coroner, said death was due to carbolic acid poising.

The name Henry Patterson was found on a piece of paper in the man's pocket. The underclothing bore the letters J. E. C. and the initials J. C. were upon a signet ring which he wore. H e was about 50 years old, five feet five inches in height, weighed 140 pounds and wore a dark suit, patent leather shoes and a soft hat. His eyes were gray and his hair brown.

ENDED LIFE WITH SHOTGUN.

Morgan Jones, a farmer who lives near Dallas, Mo., killed himself with a shotgun early yesterday morning. He had been ill for a number of years and it is thought by his friends that it caused despondency. He was 30 years old and unmarried. He had been formerly employed as a bookkeeper in Kansas City.

TRIED TO DIE, BUT FAILED.

In a saloon at 1025 East Nineteenth street F. D. Miskelly of Excelsior Springs attempted to kill himself by drinking chloroform. He was taken to the general hospital. He is in precarious condition.

ATTEMPTED HOLD UP MAY END IN MURDER. ~ VICTIM DOES NOT OBEY ORDERS AND ROBBER SHOOTS.

May 8, 2025

ATTEMPTED HOLD UP

MAY END IN MURDER.

VICTIM DOES NOT OBEY ORDERS

AND ROBBER SHOOTS.

Charles Zondler, Saloonkeeper, Seri-

ously Injured by Outlaw, Who

Is Captured by Police-

man After Chase.

"I want your money. Hold up your hands."

Charles Zondler, alone in his saloon at Eighteenth and Cherry streets last night at 10 o'clock, looked up into the muzzle of a 38-calibre revolver. He reached for his own gun beneath the bar and the stick-up man shot him twice in the face. The assassin fled from the saloon and darted south through an alley. Zondler fired twice, but missed.

Jerry O'Connell, patrolman on the beat, heard the shots when he was at Nineteenth and Charlotte streets, and caught a glimpse of the flying figure. He cut across lots and headed the man off in the alley. Putting his left hand over the robber's revolver he jammed his own gun close to the fellow's car and brought him to a stop. Then, with the assistance of Patrolman George Brooks, O'Connell marched his prisoner to the Walnut street station.

Zondler, who is an elderly man and has owned the saloon but a few months, was taken to the general hospital in the ambulance from the station. Examination showed that one of the bullets had entered his mouth and passed out through the right cheek. The other bullet entered the left side of the neck and passed out through the right side. He is in a precarious condition.

Lieutenant Michael Halligan put the prisoner through a searching examination at the station. He gave the name of Henry Horton, but a card case had the name of H. S. Seward upon it, and he acknowledged that he sometimes went by that name. Horton admitted to Lieutenant Halligan that he had been arrested in this city before for petty crimes, but said that this was his first attempt at the stick-up game. He had only recently arrived in town, he said, and needed money. A dime and a stamped postcard were in his pockets. Horton asked permission to send the postcard to his mother. He addressed it, "Mrs. W. H. Strain, 3001 Cisna avenue, Kansas City, Kas." On the card he wrote:

"I guess I am gone for good. Come over and see me, Scott."

Horton said that his mother's name was different from his own because she had married twice. He said that he lived at the Kansas City, Kas., address when at home, but had only recently come from Omaha. He made no attempt to deny the act.

Jerry O'Connell, who made the arrest in sensational fashion, is known as the best sprinter in the precinct, if not on the force. He was complimented by Lieutenant Halligan on his capture.

Zondler lives with his family at 3220 East Twenty-third street.

WRONG MAN WAS SERVED. ~ Lawyer's Blunder Causes Needless Annoyance for James H. Armstrong.

January 6, 2026

WRONG MAN WAS SERVED.

Lawyer's Blunder Causes Needless

Annoyance for James H. Armstrong.

Through the mistake of a lawyer James H. Armstrong, present of the Enterprise Foundry Co., 114 West Nineteenth street, has been considerably annoyed by deputy sheriffs who insisted that he was James Armstrong, vice president of the American Recording Company. He has been well and favorably known in Kansas City for twenty years. When he called attention to the fact that he is not the Armstrong connected with the American Recording Company the attorneys hurried to the courthouse and had the summons issued for James Armstrong, explaining their mistake. This was done yesterday and Mr. Armstrong was relieved of further annoyance because of a similarity in names.

FIGHTS FOR PRICE OF DRINK. ~ Man Attacks Frank Irons and Severly Injures Him.

January 3, 2026

FIGHTS FOR PRICE OF DRINK.

Man Attacks Frank Irons and Sever-

ly Injures Him.

While walking in an alley from Grand avenue to McGee between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets last night about 8 o'clock, Frank Irons, who lives at 215 East Tenth street, was accosted by a man who asked for the price of a drink. Irons refused and the man struck him and clinched with him.

In the course of the struggle Irons received several cuts on the back of the head. The assailant ran, and the wounded wan was taken to the general hospital, where his cuts were dressed. He was very weak from loss of blood last night, but has a good chance for recovery.

NEGRO EDUCATORS WOULD TEACH AGRICULTURE. ~ Want Money For Such a Department at the Lincoln State Normal School.

December 31, 2025

NEGRO EDUCATORS WOULD

TEACH AGRICULTURE.

Want Money For Such a Department

at the Lincoln State Nor-

mal School.

The twenty-fourth annual session of the negro branch, Missouri State Teachers' Association, opened at the Lincoln high school, Nineteenth street and Tracy avenue, Tuesday morning. Several important papers were read and discussed that day.

Supplementary to the regular programme of yesterday was a lecture on the prevention of tuberculosis by Dr. W. J. Thompkins of this city. There were three meetings of the association yesterday and there will be only two today, morning and afternoon. This evening there will be a reception tendered the visiting teacakes by the local committee. That will close the session.

The most important work was done at the meeting yesterday afternoon. The matter under discussion was the establishment of an agricultural department in the Lincoln state normal school at Jefferson City. A committee was appointed to draft a petition to the incoming legislature, asking for an appropriation to that end.

"There are about 600 pupils in attendance at the state normal," said R. L. Logan of Columbia, Mo. "About forty to fifty of them are graduated each year, most all of them as teacakes. The field for negro teachers is small, and many of them regard it as a sacrifice, after spending four years at school, to go out into the rural districts and take schools which only pay from $25 to $45 per month.

"You would be surprised to know the number of men in this city, St. Louis and St. Joseph, all graduates of the state normal, who have gone to waiting tables in the best hotels. Why? Because they can earn more money at that. We feel that with an agricultural department at our state normal many a negro boy who comes there from the farm will be willing to go back there better equipped, as he will have learned practical farming. As it is, if they can't get schools, they drift to the cities and have to take what is offered to them. There are so few chances offered to the negro that we feel that the state ought to do this much to aid those who can and will profit by it. We know that the branch of the work, agriculture, will be taken up by many as soon as it is opened to them."

GENERAL HOSPITAL IS ALMOST INACCESSIBLE. ~ Roadway Is Muddy, Narrow and Dangerous, Almost Impossible to Traverse at Night.

December 19, 2025

GENERAL HOSPITAL IS

ALMOST INACCESSIBLE.

Roadway Is Muddy, Narrow and

Dangerous, Almost Impossible to

Traverse at Night.

The new general hospital is a great thing. The wards are large and airy, the sanitation is perfect, the nurses and doctors are first class and the facilities for treating emergency cases excellent -- in the emergency cases could reach the hospital. In other words, the matter with the new hospital is that it is almost inaccessible, especially after nightfall.

A complaint comes from the police. The ambulance from the Walnut street station takes a case or two to the hospital every night. Last night a man with a broken leg was taken there. The ambulance spent about a minute getting from Nineteenth and Main streets, the scene of the accident, to Twenty-first street and Gillham road. Then it took fifteen minutes to get the last 100 yards of the journey.

There are only two ways by which vehicles can get to the hospital. One was is by Twenty-fourth and Cherry streets, and the other is by the Gillham road entrance. The ambulance entered by the latter way, because it is closer and safer. There are no lights in the vicinity of the hospital and the whole hill is in darkness. The entrance is by a winding mud road and it is so narrow, twisting and dark that a policeman was compelled to walk in front of the horses to pick out the way and prevent the animals from falling in one of the many ditches. Meanwhile the man with the broken leg was suffering excruciating agony.

If the ambulance had gone around by the other entrance it would have been necessary to climb the Holmes street hill, which the horses are compelled to take at a walk. In either case the vehicle would be in danger of overturning several times.

"It seems strange to me," said a police officer last night, "that a couple of hundred dollars could not have been subtracted from the thousands that it took to build the hospital and used to make the place accessible. It is a strange anomaly to see a dozen doctors waiting inside the hospital in the operating room for the patient, who is meantime stuck in the mud outside and possibly dying for lack of attention.

"Within a block of the place is Gillham road, one of the finest thoroughfares to be found in the city, and half a dozen other streets that are kept in good condition. The new hospital has been built several months now and there has been plenty of time to build suitable approaches. I would like to know who to blame."

THIEVES MUST KEEP WARM. ~ Perhaps That's Why So Many Clothes Were Stolen Last Week.

October 26, 2025

THIEVES MUST KEEP WARM.

Perhaps That's Why So Many Clothes

Were Stolen Last Week.

Overcoats and winter clothes were the most important articles stolen during the last week. The cold rains made it necessary for the thieves to dress warmer and they proceeded to get the clothes. The heaviest loser was the Paris store, 312 East Twelfth street, which was entered Saturday night. The goods reported stolen included two hats worth $70, and nineteen large plumes, total value, $226. A reward of $25 is offered for the recovery of the plumes.

Glazers' tools were stolen from the Baltimore hotel Saturday afternoon. An Eskimo dog was reported stolen Saturday from Mrs. A. B. Hunt, 3235 East Seventh street. Arthur Dunlap reported to the police yesterday that a friend took a horn belonging to him and failed to return it. Six pairs of pants were stolen from the store of H. Segelbohm & Co., 1307 Main street. An overcoat and umbrella was stolen by a sneak thief from C. T. Gable, while he was at t he Meridith apartments. A set of double harness was stolen from the barn of A. B. Shumway, 1007 East Twelfth street. Lead pipe thieves made their appearance Saturday after a brief period of rest. They cut the pipe out of a new building at 1525 Cherry street. W. A. Robertson, Leavenworth, Kas., reported that a serge suit was stolen from his room, 1100 East Nineteenth street. Five dollars in one of the pockets went along with the pants.

SAW A BOY BUY COCAINE. ~ Then Bert Stregel, Druggist, Was Arrested and Arraigned in Court.

September 27, 2025

SAW A BOY BUY COCAINE.

Then Bert Stregel, Druggist, Was

Arrested and Arraigned in Court.

Bert Stregel, a druggist at Fifth and Central streets, and his clerk, E. C. Ellis, were arraigned in police court yesterday charged with selling cocaine to Willie Smith, a 15-year-old messenger boy who was tried before the juvenile court Friday. Both asked for continuances, and they were granted until Tuesday.

The boy testified that he has been addicted to the cocaine habit for the last four months. He named three places where he bought the drug, Charles Gidinski's, Nineteenth and Grand, Dudley & Hunter's, 1303 Grand, and Bert Stregel's, Fifth and Central. Edgar Warden, a probation officer, went with him to Stregel's and watched the boy buy a box of cocaine.

PRIEST ENTITLED TO LEGACY. ~ Will of Katie McGinty is Held Valid by a Jury.

June 4, 2025

PRIEST ENTITLED TO LEGACY.

Will of Katie McGinty is Held Valid

by a Jury.

At the second trial of the suit of the brothers of Katie McGinty to break her will, by which she gave all of her property to Father Andrew G. Clohessy of St. Joseph's church, the jury last evening found that the will was valid and that the priest is entitled to the money. The verdict in the first trial, three months ago, was in favor of the brothers. The second trial was in Judge E. E. Porterfield's division of the circuit court.

Katie McGinty was employed for fourteen years prior to her death in St. Margaret's hospital in January, 1907, as a domestic in the parish house at 1007 East Nineteenth street. She began service at $2 a week, was advanced to $6, and out of her wages saved $1,161. The day before her death she summoned to her bedside Father Clohessy, for whom she had worked the many years, and asked him to accept her earnings. He refused. Later, while he was absent, she drew up a will, giving it all to him.

The priest had spent all but $200 of the $1,161 before the suit was brought by Jim McGinty and Patrick McGinty and the children of George and Bernard McGinty, Katie's brothers. He devoted $400 to a funeral, $75 for a lot in St. Mary's cemetery, $260 for the gravestone and $200 gave to other priests for the saying of mass for the repose of her soul.

POLICE FIND OWNERS OF CANNED JEWELS. ~ BOY'S DISCOVERY BRINGS GLADNESS TO ONE HOME.

May 5, 2025

POLICE FIND OWNERS

OF CANNED JEWELS.

BOY'S DISCOVERY BRINGS GLAD-

NESS TO ONE HOME.

Porch Climber Had Stolen Watches

on December 26, 1906, and

Buried Them in a To-

mato Can.

By a thorough search of police records Fred G. Bailey, secretary to the inspector of detectives, yesterday located the owners for most of the jewelry which was found Saturday night at Nineteenth and McGee streets. The valuables were found by John E. Linings, 317 East Nineteenth street, a boy who was digging for worms. It was all safely planted in an old rusty tin can which, according to the record, had been in the ground just one year, four months and two days when found. The can, which was delivered to Lieutenant Hammil at the Walnut street station, contained four gold watches, one gold cross, one gold cuff button, two brooches, one an old came; one gold and one enamel heart, and one string of three-strand gold beads.

Bailey began at January, 1906, and it was not until he reached December 26 of that year that his efforts were rewarded. On that night porch climbers entered the home of E. H. Stimson, 3145 Broadway, while the family was in the siting room below. The thief or thieves secured two ladies' gold watches, one an open face watch, with E. A. S. on the case in big letters, and the other marked "Emmett to Olive." They also got a long gold watch chain and five gold rings.

On the same evening the home of C. M. Gilbert, then living at 3129 Washington street, was entered, probably by the same "climbers" as it was in a similar manner. There three gold watches were stolen. One, an open face watch, had "1876" engraved on it and there was a long chain to it. Another was engraved "Annie B Gilbert" and the last was undescribed. The thief also got a black seal card case and $40 in cash.

The gold engraved cross, the cuff button, two brooches and two hearts have not yet been identified. Detective Ralph Trueman was sent out to locate the robbed families and tell them of their luck. He found Mr. Stimson still living at the same number but Mr. Gilbert, he said, had left the city. Neighbors said the family had moved to Ohio. They believed it was Dayton. Secretary Bailey will endeavor to locate Mr. Gilbert and make him happy.

Mr. Stimson, who is a real estate man, was very much pleased when told of the find. "I recall the night we were robbed," he said. "It was the night after Christmas and about 8 o'clock. The thieves climbed the front porch and ransacked the two front rooms. The watch marked 'E. A. S.' is the property of my daughter, Edith Aileen Stimson. She will be more pleased than anybody as she was broken hearted over her loss."

Many conjectures have been made as to how and why the can of jewelry was buried in the ground and especially why it was left there. Many police believe that the thief, after burying his loot, fell into the hands of the law and may now be doing time in some prison. Others think the man who put the can there must be dead.

It is not an unusual thing for burglars to bury plunder, especially watches and other jewelry which is easily identified. After it has been buried long enough for the police to cease to look for the lost valuables they can easily be dug up and either sold or pawned with less chance of detection. If the thief is in prison the police believe he would have some day returned and disposed of his loot.