100 Year Old Weblog: September 2009

CARRIE INVENTS AIRSHIP. ~ Mrs. Nation Declares She has Aeroplane at Sterling, Kas.

September 30, 1909

CARRIE INVENTS AIRSHIP.

Mrs. Nation Declares She has Aero-

plane at Sterling, Kas.

An aeroplane is said to be housed in an airdome at Sterling, Kas., and will soon be given a trail flight. The inventor is Carrie Nation of hatchet fame. The temperance lecturer was at the Union depot yesterday morning and amused a large gathering in the depot with a description of the machine. The police finally had to disperse the crowd so that passengers could pass back and forth in the station.

KLING BEATS WESTON IN OPENING OF TITLE MATCH. ~ Pool Champ Plays Out of Form and the Local Aspirant Wins 202 to 155 Victory in a Walk.

September 30, 1909

KLING BEATS WESTON IN

OPENING OF TITLE MATCH.

Pool Champ Plays Out of Form and

the Local Aspirant Wins 202 to

155 Victory in a Walk.

Johnny Kling had much the best of "Cowboy" Weston, champion pool player of the world, in the first of a series of four matches for the championship title at Kling's pool and billiard hall, 1016 Walnut, last night, winning the match 202 to 155 with apparent east Weston did not seem to be in form and Kling won as he pleased.

In the first frame Kling took the lead and was never headed. From the twelfth to the seventeenth frame he gained such a margin that Weston gave up all hope and the finish was not in doubt.

The play will be resumed this evening at 8 o'clock. The tourney is 800 balls. Wagers are being freely made that Kling will win from the champion. A gallery of more than 100 pool enthusiasts witnessed last night's game.

DYING YOUTH WANTS MOTHER. ~ Asks Kansas City Police to Locate Mrs. Mattie Newberry.

September 30, 1909

DYING YOUTH WANTS MOTHER.

Asks Kansas City Police to Locate

Mrs. Mattie Newberry.

A Nebraska youth on his deathbed in Ashland believes that his mother and brother live in Kansas City, and that he may see them before he dies, he induced one of his neighbors to write the following letter to the Kansas City police department, asking that his mother be found:

"Chief of Police, Kansas City, Mo.

"Dear Sir -- Will you please try to locate Mrs. Mattie Newberry in your city. Her son is dying here, and wants to see his mother before he passes away. Milton Newberry, the other son, also lives in Kansas City, but we do not know the address. Thanking you for any kindness that you may show, I am very truly yours, MRS. L. G. PETERSON. Ashland, Neb."

Though Chief Snow gets many letters of similar nature every day, and his time is generally occupied, the took a personal interest in the matter. A woman by the name of Mattie Newberry had lived at 2421 Locust street, but the patorlman who investigated found that she had moved away three weeks ago. None of the neighbors could tell her present location.

HAD DYNAMITE ON STREET CAR. ~ Four Months in County Jail for Two Men.

September 30, 1909

HAD DYNAMITE ON STREET CAR.

Four Months in County Jail

for Two Men.

Four months in the county jail was the punishment meted out yesterday afternoon by J. J. Shepard, justice of the peace, to Edward Sanford and Joseph Monroe, charged with carrying dynamite upon a street car.

The two men were arrested the night of August 26 by Patrolman E. C. Kaiser and S. D. Harrison of the Westport police station. A valise carried by one of them when searched was found to contain a quantity of dynamite. Sanford also carried a double barreled derringer. To Lieutenant O. T. Wofford the defendant Sanford said they were to blow up a scab job.

They were defended by Bert Kimbrell. Thomas Higgs, assistant prosecuting attorney, represented the state.

Sanford was tried on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon and held to the criminal court.

STEPS IN FRONT OF TRAIN. ~ Bonner Springs Man, Dodging Freight, Killed by Passenger.

September 30, 1909

STEPS IN FRONT OF TRAIN.

Bonner Springs Man, Dodging

Freight, Killed by Passenger.

While walking along the Union Pacific double track about nine miles west of Kansas City, Kas., between Edwardsville and Bonner Springs, Roy McGee of the latter place stepped from one track to get out of the way of a passing construction train and was killed by a passenger train coming from the opposite direction. He was 22 years old.

Dr. J. A. Davis, the coroner, was notified and he instructed Dr. Heath of Edwardsville to assume charge of the body, which was taken to Bonner Springs.

TWO WEDDINGS, ONE GOLDEN. ~ Daughter Married on Fiftieth Anniversary of Parents.

September 30, 1909

TWO WEDDINGS, ONE GOLDEN.

Daughter Married on Fiftieth An-

niversary of Parents.

A double wedding, one of them a golden one, took place at the home of Miss Alice Francis at 1410 Campbell street last night at half past 7 o'clock. At the same time her sister, Miss Jeanette Francis, was married to Norman H. Korte, agent for the Illinois Central at Paris, Ill, her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Franois of Clinton, Ill, were presented with their golden wedding gifts, and Rev. J. L. Thompson blessed their union of fifty years.

Mr. Francis is 77 years of age and his wife 68. Half a century ago yesterday they were married at Clinton, Ill.

KLING HAPPY BECAUSE PIRATES WON PENNANT. ~ SAYS HE IS SATISFIED NOW THAT CUBS LOST OUT.

September 29, 1909

KLING HAPPY BECAUSE

PIRATES WON PENNANT.

SAYS HE IS SATISFIED NOW

THAT CUBS LOST OUT.

He Helped Pittsburgh by Holding

Out Because Murphy Cheated

Him Out of Good Deal

in Cincinnati.

Probably the happiest man in the United States over the fact that the Chicago Cubs lost the National League pennant is Johnny Kling, the world's champion catcher, who has been in this city all season tending his billiard business. He refused to join the club last spring because Charles W. Murphy had cheated him out of a chance to manage the Cincinnati team and also own a big billiard hall in Cincinnati, which would have been financed by Gerry Herrmann if Kling had taken hold of the Reds.

After he found that Pittsburgh had cinched the pennant yesterday Kling said:

"Well I am tickled to death. That suits me exactly. At the beginning of the season I was pulling for New York, but I am glad Pittsburgh won it and not Chicago. Murphy did not treat me right when he cut me out of that good billiard business in Cincinnati and a chance to manage the Reds. I would have done anything to have beaten Murphy out of the rag. I quit the team and while they might not have won with me there I am, satisfied that I helped Pittsburgh a little anyway. I am satisfied now to lose my season's salary as long as the Cubs have not broken all records. I can play my pool match with Weston now and win. It is the best news I have heard this year. If Murphy had not treated me as he did I would have been glad to have played with the Cubs."

Kling is confident that he will beat Weston in the pool match for the championship of the world, which starts in his billiard hall tonight. He says he is in better shape than he ever was for a pool match and believes Weston is not in shape to beat him at the present time. The match will be for 800 balls, 200 each night.

KANSAS CITY BUYER A SUICIDE. ~ Joseph Adler, Wholesale House Employe, Drinks Poison in New York.

September 29, 1909

KANSAS CITY BUYER A SUICIDE.

Joseph Adler, Wholesale House Em-

ploye, Drinks Poison in New York.

NEW YORK, Sept. 28. -- Joseph Adler, who was a buyer for a wholesale house in Kansas City, Mo., committed suicide in his room in the Hotel Gerard this afternoon by drinking carbolic acid. No reason for the act is known.

According to the police Adler, who is about 40 years old, had been at the Gerard for about a week and occupied a suite of two rooms. This afternoon one of the hotel maids knocked at Mr. Adler's door, wishing to enter the apartment. She received no answer. Later she returned and when again she received no response she tried the door and found it unlocked. She looked into the room and found Adler lying in the same position. The maid hastened to the office and gave the alarm. A clerk went to the room and discovered the suicide.

In the room the coroner's physician found three letters, one of them addressed to "Whom it may concern" in which Adler requests that he be given a simple burial by the nearest undertaker. He also requests that two other letters, which were sealed, one addressed to Hiram Adler of Evansville, Ind., and the other to D. L. & W. P. Haas, 152 State street, Hartford, Conn., be mailed without being opened.

The physicians found nothing in the room that would serve as a clue to Adler's reason for death.

FAINTS AS "CHECKERS" WINS. ~ Strain of Racing Scene Too Much for Girl in Audience.

September 29, 1909

FAINTS AS "CHECKERS" WINS.

Strain of Racing Scene Too Much

for Girl in Audience.

Just as "Checkers," the gambler hero, cashed in his ticket for $5,000 on the horse Remorse, through which he is to win the hand of Pert, his Arkansas sweetheart, Miss Lulu Johnson, 2331 Belleview avenue, clutched at the occupants of the seats alongside her at the Grand theater last night.

The house was excited and calls brought the curtain up several times and the persons clutched by Miss Johnson did not for the moment pay any attention to her.

It was not until the lights in the auditorium were flashed back on that the people around Miss Johnson realized that the excitement had been too much for her nerves and that she had fainted.

It took but a moment for half a dozen pairs of masculine hands to pick up the limp form of the girl and pass her over the backs of the seats to the aisle and then carry her to the foyer. Here she was placed on one of the big couches which was rolled up alongside the window.

Physicians were secured a few moments later and she recovered consciousness. She rested on the couch until after the theater closed and then was assisted home by friends.

Miss Johnson is 18 years old and has big black eyes and dark hair. She told the doctors that she was subject to attack of "nerves," but had not fainted before. the excitement of the horse race, which was also the race for the girl, was too great for her, she said.

MIDGET RESEMBLES A DOLL. ~ Little May Trogdon Attracts Attention at the Union Depot.

September 29, 1909

MIDGET RESEMBLES A DOLL.

Little May Trogdon Attracts Atten-

tion at the Union Depot.

Many of the passengers at the Union depot last night took her for a bisque doll as she lay asleep in her mother's arms and the women took particular notice of her long, yellow curls and remarked about them. When she woke up, however, and walked through the station with the stride of a child sure of herself, everyone sat up and took notice.

Inquiry developed the fact that the diminutive one was little May Trogdon, known to her parents and friends as "May the midget."

Little May is 5 years old, weighs sixteen pounds and is an even twenty-four inches high. She sits in a little rocking chair, formerly the property of a doll. It had to be cut down to little Miss May. It stands a bare four and one-half inches from the floor and the midget rocks in it with comfort. This speck of humanity is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Trogdon. She was born in Northern Idaho and is now on her way with her parents to Bois d'Arc, Mo.

"While up town today," said the mother, "we brought May a pair of shoes. You can see that they are too large but they were No. 0, the smallest baby shoe made. She wears what is known as a No. 10 doll shoe but we couldn't get any here. Her foot is just three inches long."

From the wrinkle in little May's wrist -- and she is very plump -- to the ends of her tiny fingers, is just two and a half inches and her longest finger reaches the width of a 5-cent piece.

The Trogdons have two other children. Virgil, 3 years and 6 months old, is a normal boy, weighing thirty pounds. Oda, 10 years old, is a "husky" product for that age.

J. L. NORMAN, SCHOOL BOARD PIONEER, DEAD. ~ SERVED WITH PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR TWENTY YEARS.

September 28, 1909

J. L. NORMAN, SCHOOL

BOARD PIONEER, DEAD.

SERVED WITH PUBLIC EDUCAT-

ION FOR TWENTY YEARS.

Appointed Secretary Year Ago After

Retirement From the Abstract

Business -- Funeral Arrange-

ments Not Made.

THE LATE JOSEPH L. NORMAN.

Joseph Lafayette Norman, civil war veteran, compiler of the first set of abstract books in Kansas City, member of the school board for twenty years and its secretary for the last year, died at his home, 816 West Thirty-ninth street at 10:15 o'clock last night after an illness of two months. The funeral arrangements probably will be announced today, by which time a son who is in Mexico, and another who is in California can be heard from.

Joseph Lafayette Norman was born at Hickory Hill, Ill, October 21, 1841. In 1857, the year following the death of his mother, the family moved to Greeley, Kas., and took up a homestead there. A year later Mr. Norman and his father returned to Illinois. In the fall of 1859 Mr. Norman and his father came back West and located at what was Westport, Mo., one mile west of what is now Fortieth street and State Line. The deceased conducted a private school in Westport, and he had to close it at the outbreak of the civil war, August 14, 1862, the day of the battle of Independence, Mo.

ONE SON AN ARMY OFFICER.

Mr. Norman closed his school and with five of his pupils reported at Fort Union on the west side of the city and tendered their services to the government. He served for three years as a member of company A of the Twelfth regiment of Kansas volunteer infantry. At the battle of Westport on his twenty-third birthday, Mr. Norman was aide to General S. R. Curtis and carried across the field of battle an important message under an extremely dangerous fire. His first wife, Miss Martha Jane Puckett, a native of Virginia, died January 1, 1901.

They had five children, the oldest of whom, Captain Trabor Norman, is at present in the infantry, in Southern California. Another son, Joseph L, Jr., is in Mexico. Fred, Frank and Miss Jennie Norman are the other children.

OF A MILITARY FAMILY.

On June 25, 1903 Mr. Norman married Miss Katherine Gent of Kansas City. A son, Howard, was born of this union. Mr. Norman was a member of Farragu-Thomas Post, G. A. R. No. 8, and was also a Mason. H e was the first quartermaster of the Third Regiment N. G. M. In politics he was a Republican.

All of his ancestors were inclined to the military life. His brother, Calvin M., his father, Jones, and his wife's father, William E. Plunkett, all served in the civil war.

His paternal grandfather, Joseph Norman, served in the war of 1812, and his great-grandfather served in the revolutionary war, enlisting from North Carolina.

Mr. Norman commenced the work of getting up a set of abstract books at Independence, Mo. In October, 1865, and in the spring of 18657, with Lafayette Trabor he opened an abstract office. Later the Trabor interests were sold to Richard Robertson. Mr. Norman retired from this business a year ago.

SHOT A NEIGHBOR, THEN ACTED GOOD SAMARITAN. ~ German Woman Gardner Attempted to Frighten Victor Marten With Gun That Wasn't Loaded.

September 28, 1909

SHOT A NEIGHBOR, THEN

ACTED GOOD SAMARITAN.

German Woman Gardner Attempted

to Frighten Victor Marten With

Gun That Wasn't Loaded.

MRS. MARY WILSDORF.

After emptying the contents of a shotgun into the left thigh of Victor Marten, a gardener, Mrs. Mary Wilsdorf, 46 years old, wife of a gardener at Seventy-seventh street and Walrond avenue, yesterday afternoon got on a Marlborough street car and came to the city and gave herself up to Chief of Police Frank F. Snow.

Before leaving her home she gave the wounded man a glass of water and left him lying on the ground near her house in charge of her husband, Carl Wilsdorf, who was later arrested by Mounted Patrolman E. B. Chiles.

Mrs. Wildorf and Marten are neighbors, each owning a ten acre tract of land.

From the facts elicited from the woman through Dr. George Ringle, surgeon at the Emergency hospital, who acted as interpreter for the police, the shooting followed a quarrel, about Marten's horses getting into the truck garden of the Wilsdorf's.

She said the horses frequently trampled the vegetables. One of them wandered over from the Marten field yesterday to the Wildorf land and was locked up in the barn.

When Marten went to the Wilsdorf house to get his horse he was asked to pay a small amount of money for alleged damages. A dispute arose and Mrs. Wilsdorf said that Marten held aloft a potato digger and threatened to kill her.

She said she then ran into the house and got her husband's shotgun, and returned to the yard. When within five feet of Marten the gun was discharged and the contents of one barrel entered the left thigh of Marten. He fell to the ground and asked for a drink of water which was given to him by Mrs. Wilsdorf.

Her husband told her she had better go to town and give herself up to the police, which advice she took. when she first entered police headquarters she was a little excited, and, not being able to speak good English, was misunderstood. The patrolman she met believed her to say a man shot her in the leg, so he directed her to the Emergency hospital. At the hospital Dr. Ringle took her in charge, and, learning that she was the person who did the shooting, took her back to the police station. She was turned over to Chief Snow.

Mrs. Wilsdorf informed the police that the man was still lying in the yard at her home and needed medical attention. Dr. George Todd, 4638 Troost avenue, attended to the man's injuries. Dr. Todd called an ambulance from Freeman & Marshall's and had the man taken to the University hospital.

The woman told Captain Whitsett that she had never before handled a shotgun and did not know exactly how to use it. The one she got in the house was broken at the breech and as she was running with it toward Marten she was trying to replace it. Suddenly the gun snapped into place and was discharged. She said she really did not think it was loaded, but was only trying to scare Marten. She was locked up in the matron's room.

NOTES IN SPLIT POTATOES. ~ Two Men Accused of Smuggling Missives to Women Prisoners.

September 28, 1909

NOTES IN SPLIT POTATOES.

Two Men Accused of Smuggling

Missives to Women Prisoners.

For throwing split potatoes, said to have contained notes for women prisoners, into the cellroom of the matron's department at police headquarters, Patorlman Arthur Dorset, who saw the occurrence yesterday afternoon, arrested Earl Lee and James Hastings of Liberty, Mo.

The girls held in the matron's room denied knowledge of any notes. The men were locked up.

MADE HIS ROUTE IN 2 HOURS. ~ Independence Rural Route Carrier Used an Automobile.

September 28, 1909

MADE HIS ROUTE IN 2 HOURS.

Independence Rural Route Carrier

Used an Automobile.

Daniel Riske, a rural route carrier at Independence, started out with his auto yesterday to deliver route No. 3. He made the trip in two hours. With a horse it takes a carrier six hours to make the trip. The auto is a light one and built especially for the work. The route is over some of the best rock roads in the country and if it is successful as a carrier other autos will be placed in commission.

JOB FOR THE KAUTZ BOY. ~ Meanwhile Probation Officer Investigates His Story.

September 28, 1909

JOB FOR THE KAUTZ BOY.

Meanwhile Probation Officer In-

vestigates His Story.

Dr. E. L. Mathias, probation officer, has written to St. Louis, Mo., and Coffeyville, Kas., to investigate the tale related by Theodore Kautz, 14 years old, who fell into the hands of the police Sunday.

Kautz sticks to his story that he ran away from the Christian Orphan's home, 2949 Euclid avenue, St. Louis, and came here in search of his insane mother, who, he says, was left here six years ago when he and his brother, Arthur, two years older, were taken on to the orphanage. He also insists that his mother's insanity was caused by the fact that a nurse girl, left at home alone, placed his 3-months-old sister, Violet, in the stove oven.

Kautz is an unusually bright boy, and well behaved. Yesterday afternoon a call was received at the Detention home that a boy was wanted at the Frisco freight offices to act as office boy at $15 a month. George M. Holt, who looks after that end of the work, took young Kautz to the factory inspector, got him a permit, and escorted him to the freight office.

He will board at the Boys' hotel, 710 Woodland avenue.

A REMINDER OF HIS TRIP. ~ Mayor Crittenden Receives Framed Picture of Montreal Scenes.

September 28, 1909

A REMINDER OF HIS TRIP.

Mayor Crittenden Receives Framed

Picture of Montreal Scenes.

A pleasant reminder of his visit to Montreal was received yesterday by Mayor Crittenden -- framed pictures of several of the more important buildings of that city, and a separate frame containing the offical badge of the recent convention of American municipalities and a large, highly burnished key, supposed to indicate an invitation to again visit Montreal. The identity of the sender is not known, but the mayor believes it was from E. R. Carrington, manager of Thiels' Detective agency for the Dominion of Canada and the province of Quebec. Mr. Carrington some years ago was connected with the Kansas City police department, and was tireless in his efforts to make the visit of the Kansas City delegation to the convention enjoyable.

NEW INSTRUMENT TO HER. ~ Fiddler's "Ma" Begged Him to Learn to Play on "Comedy."

September 27, 1909

NEW INSTRUMENT TO HER.

Fiddler's "Ma" Begged Him to

Learn to Play on "Comedy."

"Mother was an old-fashioned darkey with the ideas which prevailed before the war," said Harry Fiddler of the team of Fiddler and Shelton, negro entertainers at the Orphem last week.

"She was a devout Baptist of hard-shell kind and tried to bring me up in that belief, as well as in the ways with which had been taught her by the family of white folks to whom she once belonged. Moreover, it was her opinion that a good darkey could not be other than a barber, a porter or a groom.

"I was of a different opinion, however. I wanted to be an actor and go upon the stage. This inclination on my part got me many a good licking, my mother remarking: "Yo's the debbil's own; he shore g'wine get you yit.' The lickings didn't affect me a bit. I practiced all the time.

"When I wasn't doing that I was hanging around the stage door, importuning managers to give me a chance. One day it came. Billy Kersand's minstrel troupe came to town. He wanted a man to take the place of one who had quit the troupe. I heard him ask the house manager if he knew of anyone. I pleaded for a chance.

"The manager took me back on the stage, saw my work, and said I would do. I was to receive $25 per week. 'If you make good, I'll give you a contract for the season,' he said.

"Oh, I made good, all right," chuckled Fiddler. "I got my money Saturday night, and as we were not to leave until Sunday night, I went home and handed mother my salary. It was the first money I had ever earned.

" 'Whah you git dis money, chil'?' she asked.

" 'At the theater,' I replied.

" 'How you git it?'

" ' Danced for it.'

" 'Fifteen dollars for dancing?' incredulously, for this was more money than father earned each week.

" 'Yep,' I replied. But mother couldn't see it that way. Something was wrong. She picked up a hickory club lying in the corner, and, advancing toward me, once more asked:

" 'Look me in both eyes, chil'. Whah yuh git dis money?'

" 'Got it for dancing in Billy Kersands's minstrels. Why, that isn't anything, mother. Billy Kersands gets $250 a week for fifteen minutes' work each night,' said I.

" 'What he do?' she asked.

" 'He plays comedy parts,' I replied.

" 'An' he gits $250 a week fo' playin' dat?' she asked. Turning to my aunt, who was present during the conversation, mother exclaimed:

" 'Yah hear dat, M'riar? Didn't I tole you dat boy was de debbil's own. I dun beg him all his life to learn to play on dat instrument.' "

KANSAS CITY STEAK REGULAR LONDON BILL. ~ WHAT HENRY GARLAND FOUND IN EUROPE.

September 27, 1909

KANSAS CITY STEAK

REGULAR LONDON BILL.

WHAT HENRY GARLAND FOUND

IN EUROPE.

Surprised to Hear Home Town Men-

tioned in a Dinner Order But

Found Meat Actually Came

From Here.

Seated in a historic eating house in London three weeks ago, Henry Garland of this city heard a man specifically direct his waiter to bring him "a Kansas City steak." Mr. Garland had written out an order for something else. He tore it up, looked in vain on his card for the "Kansas City steak," but could not find it. When his waiter arrived he duplicated the order of his neighbor, and was surprised that the waiter was not surprised.

"What do you know about Kansas City steaks?" Mr. Garland asked. The waiter replied they were the special steaks of that particular eating house.

"I found," said Mr. Garland, "that 'Kansas City steaks' were as well established as Maryland terrapin is in the East. And why shouldn't they be? I never got a better steak in England than the "Kansas City steak' I got in that London eating house. I told my man why I specially wanted a Kansas City steak, being from there, and that interested him. He told me the steaks actually came from Kansas City. It was like a trip home for dinner to get one of those steaks. Incidentally, the waiter proved so intelligent that I asked him why on earth he did not pull up his pegs and come over here where he could make dollars instead of shillings. He told me he had a wife and five children and could not get started. He would not leave the kiddies, and that was a good failing on his part."

Mr. Garland went to stay six weeks in England. He had two all-sunny days out of the six weeks.

"Rain and the German war scare are the principal features of touring in England this summer," said Mr. Garland. "They are no more afraid of Germany then they are of Iceland, but that is the way they scare the people into higher taxes. We got up a Japanese war scare here four years ago to get money to the Dreadnoughts we are now building. England is playing the same game now, very effectively.

TELLS A WEIRD LIFE STORY. ~ Waif Picked Up by Police Gives Account of Himself.

September 27, 1909

TELLS A WEIRD LIFE STORY.

Waif Picked Up by Police Gives

Account of Himself.

To justify his presence in Kansas City, Theodore Kautz, 14 years old, picked up yesterday by the police in an alley between Walnut and Main streets, Tenth and Eleventh, and placed in the Detention home, told a weird life story of melodramatic interest.

While the family, consisting of his parents, his baby sister and himself, lived in Coffeyville, Kas., eight years ago, Theodore said, a woman nurse left in charge of the baby, angered because the child would not sleep during the mother's absence, shoved it into the oven of the kitchen stove, put on her bonnet, left the house, and was never heard of again.

The mother, he said, drew the baby out of the oven alive, but it died after a few days., and the woman within a year was a maniac. The father, he said, placed her in the asylum and disappeared, leaving the boy to drift.

Coffeyville officials, he said, sent him to the Christian orphans' home in St. Louis, where he lived until a short time ago when, dissatisfied with the treatment, he ran away.

Theodore told the police he rode most of the way from St. Louis to Kansas City in the caboose of a freight train, coming in here on top of the cars. He was ill clad and suffering from cold and hunger. Mrs. Joan Moran, the police matron, gave him an overcoat.

Theodore says he came to Kansas City because he heard his mother was here in an asylum. Probation officers will investigate his story.

BOY FLOATED SIX BLOCKS. ~ Miraculous Escape From Drowning by Harry Palmer.

September 27, 1909

BOY FLOATED SIX BLOCKS.

Miraculous Escape From Drowning

by Harry Palmer.

Harry Palmer, a nine year old Argentine boy, yesterday had almost a miraculous escape from death by drowning in the Kaw river near that city. while fishing with a number of companions near the foot of Olive street the boy dropped his pole into the water. In an effort to regain it he lost his balance and fell into the river. The current at this point is very swift and although the boy was unable to swim he was carried out into the middle of the river, while his frightened companions stood screaming on the bank. In his fall the boy had graspsed at his fishing pole and succeeded in catching the line. His struggles in the water wrapped this line again and again about his body.

The screams of the women and children who witnessed the accident, attracted the attention of Sam Taddler, a grocer's clerk, who lives at 230 Mulberry street, Argentine, and also George Brown, a laborer. These boys were standing near the river about two hundred yards below the Twelfth street bridge. As the boy was seen coming down the river, the rescuers threw off their clothes and sprang into the water. Taddler succeeded in reaching the boy, who was lying on his back and struggling with the current. He was carried to the bank and, almost unconscious, was removed to the home of his father, Dudley Palmer, an employe of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, who lives at 225 South Olive street, Argentine. A physician was summoned and at a late hour last night the boy had apparently recovered from the effects of the accident. When asked how he managed to stay above the water, he answered:

"I just shut my eyes and mouth and kicked my feet and worked my elbows."

It is estimated that the boy was carried at least six blocks down the river from where he entered it.

PIE THIS BURGLAR'S UNDOING. ~ Stopped to Eat After Getting Jewelry and Was Detected.

September 27, 1909

PIE THIS BURGLAR'S UNDOING.

Stopped to Eat After Getting Jewel-

ry and Was Detected.

A home made custard pie may be the innocent cause of William Miller spending several years in the Kansas penitentiary. Miller, according to his own story, yesterday afternoon entered the home of Fred Herwig, a farmer living near Barker station about seven miles west of Kansas City, Kas., on the Kansas City Western electric line. After securing three watches, a gold locket and chain and about $7.50 in money, he prepared to leave before any member of the household should return from a neighbor's home where they were visiting.

Had Miller carried out his original intention of leaving the house at once he might have escaped detection, but the sight of a fresh custard pie on the table proved his downfall. He stopped long enough to wash his face and hands and then sat down and ate the pie. On his way to the car after leaving the house, he was seen by Mr. Herwig. Upon discovering his loss, Mr. Herwig telephoned the police in Kansas City, Kas., to be on the outlook for the thief. An officer entered the car at Sixth and State avenue and arrested Miller. Most of the stolen goods were found in his possession.

JOHNSON NOT GUILTY VERDICT OF JURY. ~ REPORT AFTER NEARLY FIVE HOURS DELIBERATION.

September 26, 1909

JOHNSON NOT GUILTY

VERDICT OF JURY.

REPORT AFTER NEARLY FIVE

HOURS DELIBERATION.

Defendant in Buckner, Mo., Assault

Case Says He Was More Affec-

tionate Toward Wife Than

Ordinary Husband.

After being out from 7:35 until midnight a jury in the criminal court last night returned a verdict finding William A. Johnson, charged with an assault on his wife in Buckner, Mo., August 20 of last year not guilty.

In all likelihood the case would have gone over until Monday, had not the jury made a request of Judge Ralph S. Latshaw to allow them to finish last night. the jurors have been kept locked up the greater part of a week and they were anxious to be at their homes Sunday.

The testimony yesterday, as presented by the defense, was largely that of Johnson himself. Johnson was on the stand the greater part of the afternoon. He said he was 57 years of age, had been born in Ohio and come to the Buckner neighborhood about the time he reached manhood. He said he was married 31 years ago and that he was unable to read and write, except that he could sign his name. This lack of education he attributed to the fact that he had to shift for himself from the time he was 15 and also because school conditions were rather unsettled at the time he was a child, it having been the time of the civil war.

Johnson first rented the farm he later came to own. He built the house in which he and his wife lived 20 years. His farm comprised about 800 acres and was encumbered for about $47,000. He testified that he lost money in two ranch deals, in one of them, $10,000. He said that whenever he had money in the bank, he allowed his wife to draw checks herself.

AFFECTION FOR WIFE.

"What was your feeling toward your wife?" he was asked.

"It was good, as much as that of any man and better than that of any number of men I see around," replied the witness.

This was true both at the time Mrs. Johnson was hurt and now, said he. Recounting the events leading up to and immediately upon the injury of Mrs. Johnson, the witness said:

"When we came home from church that evening (about eight hours before the assault), my wife read the paper to me and then we went to bed. I went to bed first and fell asleep almost immediately after taking some medicine I need for asthma. My recollection is that the light was burning when I went to bed. The next thing I heard was my wife calling, 'O, Dode!' a nickname she used for me.

"I jumped up and saw her on the floor, sitting down. I asked her what she was doing there and at first she didn't answer. Then she said she was sick. I wanted her to get on the bed, but she said she was too sick and asked me to lay her down. I got some pillows from the bed and laid her head on them. I don't remember whether I lit the light or not. I asked her what hurt her and she did not answer. Then I ran downstairs to call the Hilts. When they came upstairs with me, we put my wife on the bed and I called a doctor. I saw no blood until I laid her back on the pillows.

"Did you, that night, get up and go downstairs and up again or anywhere else in the house until you called the Hilts?"

"I did not."

"Did you know until the doctors made an examination how badly your wife was hurt?"

"No."

"Have you knowledge of who hurt your wife?"

"I couldn't look it in the face if I killed an animal, much less my wife. I didn't do it and have no knowledge of who did."

Johnson's testimony was not materially changed by cross-examination.

Mrs. C. F. Harra, who lives near Buckner, testified that she had asked Johnson the day after the assault if he was going to make an investigation. The witness said he replied:

"There is no need to investigate. There are no clues."

Other witnesses put on by the defense were Whig Keshlear, a detective, and his assistant. Thomas F. Callahan, an attorney, who acknowledged a deed made by the Johnsons. Depositions were read from Catherine Elliott, a washwoman, and Martha Shipley, a nurse. Both said the Johnsons seemed fond of each other. Henry Johnson, a nephew, also was called. He slept in a room adjoining the Johnsons the night of the assault.

Late in the afternoon Mrs. Johnson was recalled to the stand by the state. She said that, while she was recovering, she often talked to Johnson, but never about the injury. There was long argument over whether this answer should be admitted, but it was finally allowed to go in.

"I called for Mr. Johnson frequently to talk to him to give him a chance to ask me how it all happened."

The jury was withdrawn for a time while this testimony was being debated by counsel. James A. Reed, for the fifth time during the trial, moved the discharge of the jury while Mrs. Johnson was on the stand, but Judge Latshaw overruled.

PART OF BARNUM'S FIRST FREAK SHOW. ~ PECULIARITIES OF THE LUCASIE FAMILY, ALBINOS.

September 26, 1909

PART OF BARNUM'S

FIRST FREAK SHOW.

PECULIARITIES OF THE LUCASIE

FAMILY, ALBINOS.

Burning of Museum in New York

Sent Joseph to Kansas City,

Where He Died of Dropsy.

JOSEPH LUCASIE.

Joseph Lucasie, the Albino, who died of dropsy at the General hospital Friday morning, had in addition to an exceptional gift of harmony the distinction of having been one of the original exhibitions of P. T. Barnum, the pioneer showman.

It was in 1858 that Barnum heard of the strange family in Holland.

The fact that an Albino named Lucase had married an Albino wife and that both had abundant silken hair was in itself nothing remarkable. Barnum could have placed his hand on at least a dozen such couples in different quarters of the world.

It was the phenomena of two white-haired, pink-eyed children, a boy and a girl, born of this union, that made the Lucasie family worth having. The offspring of Albinos are almost without exception normal in every way, and the condition of being an Albino is said not to be hereditary.

HERALDED FROM MADAGASCAR.

When the Lucasie family was brought over from Holland, Joseph was 8 years old and his sister a few years younger. They were assigned to Barnum's New York city museum in 1859-60, where they were featured as having come from Madagascar and being the last of the great race of Albinos made famous by the writings of H. Rider Haggard. In this role they excited immense interest in the metropolis, attracting large crowds daily.

FAMOUS ALBINO FAMILY THAT WAS SHOWN BY THE LATE P. T. BARNUM.

When the Barnum museum in New York burned the Lucasie family started out on its own resources and made money. They were picked up by the W. W. Cole circus and taken to Australia, where they were featured with success in a country popularly thought to be the home of the Albino.

After their return to America they hired out to the Lemen Bros.' circus, touring the West with it until 1898. Then, Joseph's father, mother and sister died in quick succession, leaving him practically alone in the world. The disruption of the family, which had been such a drawing card as a whole, left Joseph Lucasie in rather poor circumstances. He had, however, one recourse which stood him in good stead up to the time of his death.

EXPERT VIOLINIST.

During the years he spent with Barnum in the museum business he had learned to play the violin. Later he had improved his talent by constant practice, so that when his father died here ten years ago he was able to go into vaudeville and make good. It is said that there are few professional violinists in the west who are not personally acquainted with Joseph Lucasie.

Mr. Lucasie at his death was large and thick-chested. His luxuriant growth of white hair had been shorn a year previous because it made his head ache and there was little of the Albino distinctions left about him apparently, with the exception of his pink eyes. He was very sensitive and disliked to be alluded to as "the Albino" or have any name applied to him indicating that he was different from other men.

His memory of P. T. Barnum was very vague, owing to the great lapse of time and his extreme youth when he was in the great showman's museum, and he could tell few anecdotes about him. Since 1894 he has lived at 1117 Norton.

NEW ACTS AT HIPPODROME. ~ East Side Place of Amusement Opens for the Season.

September 26, 1909

NEW ACTS AT HIPPODROME.

East Side Place of Amusement Opens

for the Season.

The Hippodrome, at Twelfth and Charlotte streets, opened for the season last night and nearly 5,000 persons attended, the roller skating rink and the dance hall, both remodeled and redecorated, drawing the most patronage. Last night's visitors saw a brand new Hippodrome. There was a greater floor space, better illumination and a bigger variety of attractions than ever before. The new ball room, which has been latticed and banked with satin roses and artificial shrubbery, aroused the admiration of the Hippodrome dancers.

Last night's visitors found plenty outside the dance hall and the skating rink to interest them. There was the Vienna garden, a new permanent feature, which seems destined to meet with favor. Free continuous vaudeville is offered in the Vienna village, which is laid with tanbark and inclosed by lattice work. Elston's dog and pony show was another new attraction that offered many novelties.

The Great La Salle, one of the most daring of roller skate experts, was the big arena attraction last night. La Salle makes a thrilling descent on a 60 per cent incline from the roof of the Hippodrome, and his exhibition belongs in the division of hair raisers.

Numerous concessions along the Hippodrome "Boardwalk" offer plenty of diversion. The place will open this afternoon at 2 o'clock and the performance will be continuous until midnight.

FOR FREE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS. ~ ROOMS PREPARED IN ASSOCIATED CHARITIES BUILDING.

September 26, 1909

FOR FREE TREATMENT

OF TUBERCULOSIS.

ROOMS PREPARED IN ASSOCIAT-

ED CHARITIES BUILDING.

City Will Furnish a Nurse and

Bacteriological Examination

of Patients Is to Be

Made Daily.

Three rooms have been fitted up in the building of the Associated Charities, 1115 Charlotte street, as a free dispensary for scientific tuberculosis research and the treatment of persons afflicted with the disease. Daily consultations will be conducted at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, beginning with tomorrow by Dr. Charles B. Irwin, assisted by Dr. Logan Clendening. Mrs. Kate Pierson, George Damon and William Volker volunteer their services in the management of the department which will receive its support from the Provident Association.

Dr. Irwin said last night that all of the rules set out by the National Tuberculosis Society would be observed.

Bacteriological examinations will be made of the expectoration of patients, who will be instructed how to treat themselves and how to prevent or minimize the extent of infection to others.

CITY TO EMPLOY NURSE.

Medicines will be dispensed and a trained nurse will visit the homes of patients to ascertain the sanitary conditions of their respective abodes.

This nurse will be employed and paid by the city, and Dr. W. S. Wheeler, sanitary superintendent, will furnish instruments and necessary appliances.

Those exhibiting early symptoms of the disease will be sent to the sanitarium at Mount Vernon, Mo., supported by the state, or to the one built on the old general hospital grounds by the Tuberculosis Society. There are accommodations at the latter place for twelve patients, and it is contemplated that later its management may be taken over by the city. Patients with whom the disease has reached an advanced stage will be sent to hospitals or probably treated at their own homes if the surroundings and conditions permit.

CARD OF WARNING.

Cards bearing this warning will be distributed among afflicted suspects:

"If you are in a run down condition, languid and suffering from night sweats, you are in danger of contracting consumption readily. It will be greatly to your interest to consult the physicians at the dispensary. Everything is to be gained by early treatment."

The dispensary has issued a printed list of suggestions to consumptives indicating the kind of exercise they should take, the kind of clothing they are to wear and what they are to eat. Eggs and milk are recommended in cases of fickle appetite and these will be supplied by the Tuberculosis Society if the afflicted one is too poor to provide them.

FATHER O'DONNELL'S SILVER SACERDOTAL. ~ LONG SERVICE IN THE PRIESTHOOD IN KANSAS CITY.

September 26, 1909

FATHER O'DONNELL'S

SILVER SACERDOTAL.

LONG SERVICE IN THE PRIEST-

HOOD IN KANSAS CITY.

Friends to Commemorate the Event

on November 1 -- Came From

Tipperary to the West on

Advice of a Friend.

Roman Catholic Priest Father Patrick J. O'Donnell.

FATHER PATRICK J. O'DONNELL,
FOR 25 YEARS A PRIEST HERE.

In 1885 St. Joseph's hospital was an unpretentious structure, a building which now forms a small wing to the greater buildings constructed adjoining it. In one corner of the hospital grounds there stood a little frame building which was used by the druggist attached to the hospital.

In addition to the hospital buildings the grounds now contain a finely appointed church. The priest is the Rev. Father Patrick J. O'Donnell. He has been there twenty-four years. The church building has succeeded a modest chapel in which Father O'Donnell first celebrated mass when he was given charge of the chapel. It was his second charge in the priesthood.

On November 1, Father O'Donnell will celebrate his silver sacerdotal. At least, his friends have advised him that they will celebrate it for him. They have arranged a reception with Father O'Donnell as honor guest in the chapel hall at Eighth and Penn streets for the night of the day which will mark his twenty-fifth anniversary as a priest of the Roman Catholic church.

Father O'Donnell was born in Tipperary in May, 1862. He left Ireland when 14 years old and lived for four years with an aunt in New York. In 1880, he returned to Ireland and attended St. John's Theological seminary at Wexford. He completed the course of religious instruction there in 1884 and came direct to Kansas City.

The reason for his choosing Kansas City as a field for religious work was that a classmate in the Irish school had been ordered to the St. Joseph diocese and had written Father O'Donnell of what a fine country the Western part of the United States is. Kansas City at that time was a part of the St. Joseph diocese. The Right Reverend John J. Hogan, now bishop of Kansas City, was bishop of the St. Joseph diocese. Afterward, when the Kansas City diocese was created, Bishop Hogan became spiritual head of the Kansas City diocese and administrator for St. Joseph.

Father O'Donnell's first religious work in Kansas City was as an instructor in the parochial school of the Cathedral near Eleventh street and Broadway. He taught in the school for several months. In November, 1884, he was ordained as a priest in the Cathedral.

The first charge given Father O'Donnell was in Norborne, Mo. At the time of his ordination, Father O'Donnell was too young to be admitted to the priesthood, but a papal dispensation was granted. He remained in Norborne, Mo., until 1885, when he was appointed chaplain to St. Joseph's hospital and celebrated mass each alternate Sunday at Lee's Summit. He retained the Lee's Summit charge for two years.

Father O'Donnell was asked to build a church in Sheffield. He worked for several years to bring it about. After the church was built he celebrated mass in it. Two years ago it was made a separate charge. In the meantime, the new church at the hospital building was erected. It now serves many parishioners in addition to the convalescents at the hospital.

Father O'Donnell is of genial disposition. He is known as "a man's priest" because of the strong interest he invariably has held in athletics and his liking for the society of men. He is a member of the Kansas City lodge of the Elks, being the only member of the order among the priests of Missouri.

Father O'Donnell's family lives in Kansas City, they having removed from Ireland several years after he was assigned to the charge at Norborne. His various charges in Jackson county have given him a wide acquaintance here, while he is one of the few priests ordained at the Cathedral who has retained a parish in the city. As a result of his long residence here, the reception planned for him is to be made notable by his friends.

POLICE TO ISSUE NEWSPAPER. ~ It Will Contain Only Matters the Officers Should Know.

September 26, 1909

POLICE TO ISSUE NEWSPAPER.

It Will Contain Only Matters the

Officers Should Know.

Beginning with the first of next month the printing plant will be in operation for the police department. Two bulletins with all the news of police interest will be issued each day. Instead of the policeman being compelled to listen to a description of a crook fugitive, which he is liable to forget in a few minutes, he will have a printed description of the man in his pocket.

The new bulletin will copy the St. Louis and Chicago plan with the added advantage of being printed twice each day. In the morning the record of all arrests, crimes, robberies and miscellaneous matters of interest to the officers will be printed. In the evening all similar events that have happened during the day will be printed.

The big complaint against the police department in the past has been the slowness with which the department acts. The bulletin will expedite matters at least twelve hours. An officer can consult this list for a complete description of all crooks that have been wanted for the past thirty days.

CATTLEMAN KILLS PARTER IN HOTEL. ~ SEXTON BAR TRAGEDY FOLLOWS QUARREL OVER RANCH.

September 25, 1909

CATTLEMAN KILLS

PARTER IN HOTEL.

SEXTON BAR TRAGEDY FOL-

LOWS QUARREL OVER RANCH.

Eugene Hayes of Elgin, Kas., Puts

Three Bullets Into Brain of

Edward Hayes of Paw-

huska, Ok.

EUGENE HAYES.
Kansas Cattleman Who Killed Edward

Hayes, His Partner, in the Barroom

of the Sexton Hotel Last Night.

Following a quarrel concerning the affairs of their 40,000 acre ranch in Osage county, Oklahoma, Eugene Hayes of Elgin, Kas., a cattleman reputed to be worth half a million dollars, shot and killed his partner, Edward Hayes of Pawhuksa, Ok., in the bar of the Hotel Sexton at 7:45 o'clock last night.

Edward Hayes was shot three times, almost in the center of the forehead. He died instantly Eugene Hayes, who is held at police headquarters, says he shot in self defense.

The shooting was witnessed by Edward Lewis, and Lewis Weisenbacher, bartenders; Lee Russell, a millionaire cattleman from Ft. Worth and Lee Rogers, a Kansas City real estate dealer who is an ex-cowman.

L. C. Thompson, another Kansas City real estate man and former cattle raiser, was in the crowd, but says he did not see the shooting.

The five men entered the hotel together about 7:30 o'clock last night, and sat around a table in the front end of the saloon. About fifteen minutes later Eugene and Edward Hayes went to a table in the rear and against the wall opposite the bar.

THREE BULLETS INTO BRAIN.

Before dinner was served they began quarrelling about business affairs, but the conversation was not overheard by anyone unless it was Lee Russell, who is said to have been standing near the small table at which the partners were sitting.

Suddenly Eugene Hayes, who was facing north, leaped from his chair and running around the end of the table began firing. The first shot struck Edward Hayes in the forehead. Two more were effective, almost in the same spot.

Edward Hayes fell back in his chair, dead, and Eugene, taken in charge by a friend, walked towards the front door after placing his pistol, an automatic gun, in his hip pocket. As he rounded the glass screen at the end of the bar Patrolman Arthur Kennard arrested him.

Edward Lewis, the bartender who saw the shooting, said Edward Hayes reached towards his hip pocket first. As he did so, Lewis said, Eugene got up and pulled his pistol, and began firing as he stepped toward Edward. Edward Hayes did not succeed in getting his revolver out of his pocket. The coroner removed it, and took charge of it until an inquest is held. It was a Luger rapid fire gun, the magazine holding seven cartridges.

"I BEAT YOU TO IT."

"I beat you to it," the witness declared Eugene Hayes said as he put away his revolver.

Inspector E. P. Boyle sent Detectives Ralph Trueman and Denver D. Mitchell to the hotel as soon as he was informed of the killing. Detectives Keshlear and McGraw followed.

Deputy Coroner Harry Czarlinsky was notified, and after viewing the body had it removed to Stewart's undertaking rooms, where he performed a post mortem.

Immediately after the shooting the hotel management called Dr. A. L. Porter, who lifted the dead man out of the chair and laid him on the floor.

Eugene Hayes was taken to police headquarters by Patrolman Kennard. He gave the patrolman his pistol while on the street car.

When taken before Lieutenant James Morris to be booked for investigation Hayes was recognized by Patrolman "Jack" McCauley, who asked him what he was arrested for.

"Just killed my partner, Ed Hayes, up at the Sexton hotel.

"What for?" asked Lieutenant Morris.

QUARREL OVER RANCH AFFAIRS.

"Well, he was going to kill me if I didn't. I had to do it. That's all."

To Captain Walter Whitsett, and Norman Woodson, assistant prosecuting attorney, Hayes made no attempt to conceal anything except details of the shooting. He refused to say anything more until he could see John Hayes, former chief of police.

"He's a relative of mine, you know," he kept saying during the conversation. "I'm a ranch owner in Oklahoma," began Hayes. "I'm a pretty well known man, and John Hayes, who was formerly chief of police, is a cousin of mine, and he comes down to the Territory and hunts on my place. This man Ed Hayes is no kin of mine. I simply took him into a partnership wit me and he owes me $5,000. He didn't pay anything into the place.

At police headquarters last night the police took off of Eugene Hayes a diamond ring which is valued at $1,000. Deputy Coroner Czarlinsky took possession of a gold watch, a gold pen, $5.50 in money, and a a revolver taken from Edward Hayes. He wore a Knights of Pythias watch charm.

Ex-Chief John Hayes denied last night that he was any relative of the prisoner. "He is not even distantly related," Hayes said. "I have known him for years and have hunted on his place down in Oklahoma. I don't know why he should claim to be some relative of mine."

BY SOME ONE IN THE HOUSE, SAYS LATSHAW. ~ DECLARES MRS. JOHNSON WAS NOT ATTACKED BY BURGLAR.

September 25, 1909

BY SOME ONE IN THE

HOUSE, SAYS LATSHAW.

DECLARES MRS. JOHNSON WAS

NOT ATTACKED BY BURGLAR.

Court Overrules Demurrer to Evi-

dence Introduced by State -- Im-

portant Testimony Allowed in

Record -- Defense Begins Today.

"This crime was not committed by a burglar, but by a member of the household. The evidence here is that whoever came down stairs soon after the crime went up the stairs again. Burglars do not return to a place where they have committed a crime. They leave the vicinity.

"As to motive, there is an unexplained forgery of Mrs. Johnson's name to a deed. There are quarrels between the couple to help in establishing motive. For these reasons, the demurrer is overruled."

The ruling here quoted was made by Judge Ralph S. Latshaw of the criminal court yesterday after attorneys for William A. Johnson of Buckner had argued half an hour that the state had not presented sufficient evidence to allow the cause to go to the jury. The court held that there was evidence. The introduction of testimony for the defense will be begun this morning.

Mrs. Mina Johnson told her story on the witness stand yesterday. Tired to the point of exhaustion by the many questions put to her, she answered all of them quickly Facing her, at a distance of twenty feet, sat her former husband, charged with assaulting her. She looked in his direction as she testified, but he did not lift his eyes from the table at which he sat.

TESTIFIES TO ASSAULT.

After she had exhibited to the jury the place on her head where she was struck, Mrs. Johnson related the happenings on the night of the assault. She and Johnson had come home from church, and retired. He went to bed first and she blew out the lamp. In the course of the night she awoke. The light was burning and brown paper had been put about the glass. She fell asleep again, seeming to be helpless.

Her next recollection, she said, was after the blow had been struck. She remembered kneeling by the side of the bed, blood streaming over her clothing. She looked about the room for her husband, but not seeing him, called. Then, she said, he came up and took hold of her arm, asking what was the matter with her. She told him she did not know, and asked him to let her lie on the floor.

Then he took pillows from the bed and put her head on them. Mrs. Johnson said Johnson did not ask her how she was hurt, either then or at any time since, in fact, that he had never asked any questions about the affair.

While Mrs. Johnson did not call it a quarrel, she testified to an argument she had with Johnson a few days prior to the assault. He was then planning a trip to New Mexico, and she insisted that she was going with him.

"I told him only death would keep me from making the trip," said the witness.

WAS ABSENT THREE MONTHS.

Mrs. Johnson testified as to her marriage thirty-two years ago. She was Mina Alderman, a school teacher. She taught Johnson to read and write after they were married. They rented a farm near Buckner and prospered, so that they came to own the place in a few years. Everything seemed to go nicely until seven years ago.

About that time, she testified, he became less cordial. Three years ago Johnson intended to buy a ranch in New Mexico, and on this deal was absent form home for three months. He seemed even less cordial on his return from that trip, said the witness. In one of his pockets she found a receipted bill from the Savoy hotel, Denver. It was for $46.50 on account of "W. A. Johnson and Mrs. M. B. Howard."

"It's a mistake," the witness said Johnson remarked when she questioned him.

Not long afterwards Johnson told her, she said, of buying a house and lot in Kansas City. He did not explain the deal to her satisfactorily, the witness testified.

SAYS HE BOUGHT EXPENSIVE HATS.

After the finding of the hotel bill Mrs. Johnson made search and learned the address of Mrs. Howard. She wrote Mrs. Howard, requesting an interview, but was refused. Mrs. Howard said in the letter, according to the witness, that she had met Johnson in a business way. She accused Johnson of dictating the letter, said the witness. Mrs. Johnson also told of coming to Kansas City once with Johnson, who would not or did not ride on street cars, so that she was soon very tired and unwilling to make another trip.

Lillian Short, a milliner in the employ of B. Adler & Co., said that she had seen Johnson come to the store three times with a woman who on each occasion purchased a high-priced hat. The woman was not Mrs. Johnson, the witness said. Mr. Adler testified to the same effect.

IMPORTANT TESTIMONY IN.

John F. Cox, Prescott, Kas., testified that Johnson told him on one occasion that he was very well acquainted with two women in Kansas City.

Edward H. Hilt, who testified Thursday, was recalled by the defense and further questioned. He was asked whether Keshlear and another detective who investigated the alleged assault did not talk to him. The witness said he could not remember.

Hilt was allowed to testify only after the objection, raised Thursday as to part of his testimony and again yesterday morning, had been overruled by Judge Latshaw. Hilt had testified that he was awakened by a groan and that, soon afterwards, he heard the footsteps coming down the stairs and almost immediately retrace their course. Fifteen minutes later he again heard footsteps and this ti me Johnson came to his door. The defense objected to any statement of the witness that the sound of the footsteps was similar.

It was one of the most important points that could be raised in a case in which, as in the one on trial, the evidence is wholly circumstantial. The testimony of Hilt was allowed to remain in the record.

ESTATE WORTH $15,000.

This concluded the state's case.

The defence then submitted its demurrer, which was overruled.
The assault on Mrs. Johnson was committed in the morning of August 20 at Buckner. The Johnson were at one time wealthy, but in the settlement of their affairs which followed the divorce given Mrs. Johnson last spring, only about $15,000 could be saved from the wreckage. Mrs. Johnson was given half of this. There was property sufficient to carry mortgages aggregating about $50,000.

SAYS TOWN IS A DIVORCE MECCA. ~ Independence People Claim Many Suits Filed There Give Outsiders Wrong Impression.

September 25, 1909

SAYS TOWN IS A DIVORCE MECCA.

Independence People Claim Many

Suits Filed There Give Out-

siders Wrong Impression.

Independence people are getting tired of mismated Kansas Cityans going there to file divorce suits.

"Every day," said R. W. McCurdy of Independence yesterday, "a raft of divorce suits are filed, and the papers mention the fact that the suits were filed at Independence.

"I am a traveling man, and a fellow asked me on the cars: 'What's the matter with you Independence men? Can't you get along with the women?' The impression gets abroad that Independence is worse than Pittsburgh."

The matter was mentioned recently at a meeting of the Independence Commercial Club, and that organization probably will take some steps to stop the influx of proposed divorcees or give every Independence man a clean bill of health.

JEWS OBSERVE YOM KIPPUR. ~ Period of Fasting and Prayer Began at 6 O'clock Last Night.

September 25, 1909

JEWS OBSERVE YOM KIPPUR.

Period of Fasting and Prayer Began

at 6 O'clock Last Night.

The Jewish citizens of Kansas City have been fasting and praying since 6 o'clock last night. They are observing Yom Kippur, or the day of atonement, and their fast and prayers will continue until 6 o'clock tonight. Services appropriate to the event were held in all the Jewish churches last night.

The services at the church of Dr. Max Lieberman, 1415 Troost, were especially solemn and impressive and they will be resumed at 7 o'clock this morning and continue throughout the day. The male choir of twelve voices sang several selections at last night's services.

HIS MOTHER TO A HOSPITAL. ~ So 10-Year-Old Son Starts to Walk to Clinton, Mo.

September 25, 1909

HIS MOTHER TO A HOSPITAL.

So 10-Year-Old Son Starts to Walk

to Clinton, Mo.

Ernest Wolf, 10 years old, weak from typhoid fever and just out of a hospital, started out last evening to walk from his home in the rear of Holmes and Twelfth streets, from which place his mother is to be taken to a hospital today to his father's at Clinton, Mo.

The little fellow expected to follow the railroad tracks. When he got to the Union depot he saw so many tracks that he became frightened and began asking questions.

According to Ernest's story which Mrs. Everingham verified through the authorities, his mother, Alice, has been so ill that she has not been able to work for almost a month and arrangements were made yesterday to take her to a hospital.

Mrs. Everingham arranged last evening with the Associated Charities to take care of the boy until his mother is able to support him again.

JOHNSON COMPLAINED OF WIFE, WOMAN SAYS. ~ MRS. HILT TESTIFIES IN BUCKNER ASSAULT CASE.

September 24, 1909

JOHNSON COMPLAINED

OF WIFE, WOMAN SAYS.

MRS. HILT TESTIFIES IN BUCK-

NER ASSAULT CASE.

Three Times Court Denies Motion of

Defense to Dismiss Jury -- Wit-

nesses Tell Events Night

of the Attack.

While Mrs. Mina Johnson did not go on the witness stand yesterday to testify against her husband, William A. Johnson of Buckner, Mo., now on trial in the criminal court on the charge of having assaulted her the day was replete with incidents even without the wife's story.

Three times counsel for Johnson moved that the jury be discharged, stating that matters prejudicial to a fair trail had occurred, and s harp exchanges between attorneys on both sides were not infrequent.

Mrs. Johnson will testify today. Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney, informed the court during the afternoon session that he would not call Mrs. Johnson to the stand until today, as he had excused her because she complained of feeling sick.

Of the witnesses examined yesterday, only Mrs. Cornelia Hilt and Edward H. Hilt, her husband, were at the Johnson home in Buckner the morning of August 20, 1908, when Mrs. Johnson was hurt. For six years prior to her marriage Mrs. Hilt lived at the Johnson home. Mrs. Hilt was married ten years ago. At the time of the assault she and her husband had been two weeks at the Johnson home, Mrs. Hilt working about the house and Hilt doing farm work. They live in Buckner.

HUSBAND GAVE ALARM.

"The night Mrs. Johnson was hurt we had been at a Baptist meeting," she testified. "Early in the morning Mr. Johnson came to the room where my husband and I sleep and roused us. He said: "Jump up, quick, Nella, quick.' He said it several times. I got up and followed him up the stairs part of the way. As we were going upstairs he said: 'Mina's hurt.' Then I passed him on the stairs because I began to run. He said: 'Mina's hurt. I'm afraid she's hurt bad.'

"I found Mrs. Johnson on her back on the floor. I can't describe how bloody she was, for there was blood all over her. I could not see the wound, she was so bloody My thought was that her throat had been cut, there was so much blood."

"Did you notice the bed?"

"Yes, I noticed there was blood on it when we lifted Mrs. Johnson from the floor. The blood looked dry compared to that on Mrs. Johnson's clothes and on a corset cover that was lying on a chair by the bed. Mr. Johnson said his wife had wiped blood from her face with the corset cover.

"There was a light in the room. I stepped over and turned it up, although Mr. Johnson told me not to do so. Mr. Hilt said we must have a doctor and I offered to call one, but Mr. Johnson said he would. Mr. Johnson asked no questions nor did he tell me where the wound was. I stayed in the room only a few minutes, then my husband and I went downstairs to heat some water to wash Mrs. Johnson. When we returned, the doctor was there."

Mrs. Hilt said she had heard no unkind words between the Johnsons during her residence at the house. She said that two days before the assault she had driven to Buckner to meet Mr. Johnson and bring him home from the train. On that occasion, said the witness, Johnson had said to her:

" 'Nella, what am I going to do with Mina?' I said: 'I would not do anything to hurt her feelings, Mr. Johnson.' He said" 'She quarrels with me all the time and I don't say anything back.' "

Edward H. Hilt, husband of the previous witness, was then called to the stand. He said:

"While I was at the Johnson home I was in the habit of getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning and going home to do the chores there, then returning to the Johnsons. The morning of the assault I was awakened at about 3:30 o'clock. I was sleeping in the east room downstairs.

"The first thing I heard was a groan from above and southwest from where I lay. Then I heard footsteps or 'footpads' coming down the stairs toward the north. Then I heard a doorknob turn. I cannot say which knob it was, except that it was not the knob to my door. Almost immediately the footsteps returned the same way.

SAID WIFE HAD FALLEN.

"Fifteen minutes later those footsteps came again, just as the first time. My door opened and Mr. Johnson came by and said: 'Jump up.' My wife went out at once, but I waited to dress. I found Mrs. Johnson on the floor, with pillows under her head. Johnson meet me at the foot of the stairs as I started up and said: 'Mina has fallen and hurt herself.'

"We picked Mrs. Johnson up and laid her on the bed and then my wife and I went downstairs to heat some water. There was a dim light in the room when I came in."

PHYSICIAN ON STAND.

Dr. M. G. Ravencroft of Buckner, who was called to attend Mrs. Johnson after the assault, was the first witness. He identified six pieces of bone taken from Mrs. Johnson's skull in the course of an operation . He was asked whether the wound on Mrs. Johnson's head did not look as if the blow which caused it had been struck from the rear and forwards, but the court would not allow him to answer.

The physician said he asked Johnson how Mrs. Johnson was hurt. The latter replied, "I don't know." Mrs. Johnson also was unable to give an account of the happening, said he.

Dr. J. W. Robertson of Buckner testified that it would take a heavy blow to cause the injury received by Mrs. Johnson.

There was a craning of necks when Samuel H. Chiles, four years a marshal of Jackson county and the most renowned fox hunter in the county, took the witness chair. Mr. Chiles has lived forty years in Buckner and has known the Johnsons for a quarter of a century. Mrs. Johnson lived with his family when she was a little girl.

Two days after the assault Mr. Chiles went to the Johnson home. Johnson met him at the gate and said he wanted to talk to him.

" 'I want you to help me out in this trouble and help me ferret out who did this.' I said I would help all I could and asked him to tell me who was at the house at the time so that I would have something to work on. He told me who was there and I suggested that perhaps these people could tell, but Johnson said:

" 'No, they can't tell anything. I heard my wife say, 'Oh, don't,' and saw her on the floor and saw a light. I know I blew out the light when we went to bed. I saw my wife on the floor groaning and wanted to put her on the bed, but she said no.'

"The Johnson took me into the yard and said: 'Have you heard anybody talk about this?' I said: 'Yes, everybody is talking about it.' 'What is the impression of the people to whom you have talked,' he asked and I said: 'The impression is that you did it.' "

About four days later, said the witness, Johnson came to his house, with Clint A. Winfrey, a banker at Buckner. Johnson took him aside and out of Winfrey's hearing, said the witness, and spoke about getting a lawyer and employing a private detective. Whig Keshlear, a relative of Chiles, was mentioned, and Chiles said Keshlear would do as well as anybody.

In his opening statement for the state I. B. Kimbrell said that quarrels with is wife over a period of years were the cause of the assault and that Johnson struck his wife. The defense said that the blow was struck either by an intruder or that Mrs. Johnson fell and hurt herself.

GET DOGS TO CATCH THIEVES. ~ Police of K. C. K., Hope to Stop Telephone Wire Stealing.

September 24, 1909

GET DOGS TO CATCH THIEVES.

Police of K. C. K., Hope to Stop

Telephone Wire Stealing.

W. W. Cook, chief of police of Kansas City, Kan., has a new scheme which he will use in an effort to catch the wire thieves who have been making life miserable for persons in the outlying districts whose telephones are rendered useless by their depredations. From reports made to the office of the Missouri & Kansas Telephone company since last March, it is estimated that more than 1,000 pounds of copper ire has been stolen.

The chief recently secured the services of two English bloodhounds which he will use in an effort to trace the thieves who have been cutting the telephone wires and selling the copper. Every attempt to catch the wire cutters who operate in the early morning has been fruitless, but the chief hopes to stop the practice with the aid of the dogs.

A BARNUM ALBINO DYING. ~ Joseph Lucasie Imported by Showman Fifty Years Ago.

September 24, 1909

A BARNUM ALBINO DYING.

Joseph Lucasie Imported by Show-

man Fifty Years Ago.

Joseph Lucasie, who was one of the Albino family which the late showman P. T. Barnum imported from Belgium to his museum in New York city, over fifty years ago, is dying of dropsy at the general hospital. It was thought last night that he could not survive through today. His hair is white as wool and his eyes are pink.

In his show bills, Barnum advertised the Lucasie family, consisting of four members, as being the last of a famous tribe of Albinos of Madagascar. They were Joseph's father, mother and sister. Joseph was 9, and his sister 12 years old. All were musicians.

Joseph was taken suddenly ill Wednesday afternoon at his home, 1117 Norton street.

CLEANING UP M'GEE STREET. ~ Eight Rooming Houses Must Move by October 1.

September 24, 1909

CLEANING UP M'GEE STREET.

Eight Rooming Houses Must Move

by October 1.

Notice to move before the first of October was served by Lieutenant C. D. Stone of the Walnut street police station yesterday, to eight women now conducting rooming houses between Thirteenth and Fourteenth on McGee street.

The order is direct from the police commissioners and is a movement, Lieutenant Stone said last night, to clean up districts in the line of travel to the new Union station when it is erected.