Johnson county, Kansas Newspaper Articles

ARREST OF AN ALLEGED KANSAS MURDERER IN PORTLAND, OREGON

Arrest of an alleged Kansas Murder in Portland, Oregon - A dispatch from Portland says: A young man named Henry W. Grayson was arrested on Tuesday, by detective William K. Cherry on a requisition from Governor Anthony of Kansas. Grayson is charge with the murder of Allen G. Potille, in Johnson County, Kansas on the 1st of November, 1867. Although the murder was committed ten years ago, Grayson has managed to escape arrest until now. Detective Cherry has been on the track of the alleged murderer for some time. Grayson is 29 years of age, of pre-posacasing appearance, and very reputably connected. He asserts his innocence. The officer and the prisoner will leave on the steamer Idaho. (San Francisco Bulletin, January 10, 1878, Page 3)

SKULL FOUND IN A CAVE

OLATHE, Kan.,, March 3.—A cave, apparently of vast proportions, was accientally discovered on a farm three miles west of here to-day ard thirty feet below its' surface has been found a human skuIl. On the wall close to where the skull was found in illegibly written what is supposed to be a story of the fate of the person who died there. Nothing but the figures 1873 can be read. At the landing, about thirty feet below the surface, seams extend in several directions and at one place there
is an opening several feet In diameter, which is apparently a bottomless pit. (The Indiana Journal, March 11, 1896, Submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer)

TRUE CONFESSIONS

In his class on confessional literature, Thomas J. O'Donnell gives his students an optional assignment: Write a letter discussing what they see as their sins.

The students who choose to do that, after reading the confessional letters and texts of T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, Jean Jacques Rousseau and St. Augustine, come up with some strange, frequently anguished tales of abuse. O'Donnell acts as their confessor.

Beginning about 12 years ago, O'Donnell ventured out from his classroom and into the courtroom to investigate a sensational murder trial in Johnson County. Instead of 20-year-old Kansas University students telling him what they did wrong, a broken family began to tell him their secrets how stepbrother had slain stepbrother, and how a mother possibly conspired to kill her stepson.

The results of 12 years of research and taped confessions can be found in "Crazymaker," O'Donnell's first true-crime narrative that was published July 1 by Harper Collins.

"I think the hard part for me was to get up the guts to go talk to people," said O'Donnell, an associate professor of English at KU. "I think they wanted somebody to talk to, and I was the only one they talked to. For some reason they chose me."

O'Donnell's book describes in detail the death of Chris Hobson, a learning-challenged youth in the Shawnee Mission School District. His mother had died of cancer, and his father, Ed Hobson, met and married Sueanne Crumm, a divorced mother of two. The family then moved in together.

On the evening of April 17, 1980, Chris' stepbrother, Jimmy Crumm, and Paul Sorrentino drove Chris out to a dead end in extreme northern Miami County. There they told Chris to start digging a ditch. When he was several feet deep, the two teen-agers shot Chris to death and then buried him.

The body was discovered, and the two youths were arrested. Then the other shoe dropped: Sueanne Hobson, Jimmy's mother, was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. Jimmy told the court how is mother, unable to control what she perceived as Chris' threatening behavior, convinced Jimmy and her daughter, Suzanne, that Chris needed to die. Sueanne was convicted, and she, Jimmy and Paul are still in prison.

At about the same time as the killing, O'Donnell had it a tough spot in his life. He failed in a bid to become a full professor, and the roadblock made him start to think of traveling down a different path.

"I got frustrated," O'Donnell said in a Tuesday interview. "I decided that year to try for a promotion, and I didn't get promoted, so I decided to do what I wanted to do. What I did was I read a newspaper and I saw a woman's face in a photograph, and I thought she was beautiful. She's one of those people who are more beautiful in photographs than in other things. Then I saw that within a day or two she was charged with murder."

The facts of the case began playing on O'Donnell's mind. He followed news accounts and collected facts. He sat in with reporters at Sueanne's trial in 1982, and he became convinced he would pursue the story wherever it went. Individuals connected with the murder, including the suspects, the detectives, the district attorney and assorted relatives and friends, began to talk to him. Finally, he waded through thousands of feet of tape and stacks of notes to pull his chronological narrative together.

The resulting book, written from a highly objective viewpoint, weaves first-person accounts of events together into a compelling narrative. O'Donnell said he set out to write more of a work of art than a work of journalism, where he captures the spirits behind the key individuals.

"The detectives were very vivid," he said. "They have a very special way of speaking. Sueanne is very verbal, Jimmy is very eloquent, as is Ed. They just really have their own way of speaking. I wanted their voices to come through. They were all very wired, by which I mean intense."

Throughout the book, witnesses and family members contradict each other. Sueanne still denies her guilt, and Ed, after divorcing her, came to believe her. Paul's and Jimmy's accounts of the slaying don't match. O'Donnell said he wanted to keep the contradictions in the book to make readers realize just how much material lies in the gray area between truth and invention.

"The only thing that's certain is that there was a dead body out there in the ground," he said.

Now that the book is published, O'Donnell reluctantly faces a series of telephone interviews and television appearances, including as-yet-tentative dates on "Sonya Live" on CNN and on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show.

O'Donnell grew up in central Illinois and earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois. He has been teaching at KU for 20 years, and his previous book was on "The Confessions of T.E. Lawrence."

He is a parent himself and he felt tremendous emotional attachment for Chris, the victim. He talks about a photograph of the body he describes as beautiful that didn't end up in the paperback, and he said he cried when he got to the chapter where Jimmy describes the killing.

Now, however, like a priest who is fond of the sinners who enter the confessional, O'Donnell says he thinks Jimmy should be set free when he's eligible for parole. The purpose of his book was not to punish these people any further than the law has already done. He just wants to present the evidence.

"I never judged them," he said. "I don't judge them. The one thing I didn't want to do in this book is judge. I think (Jimmy) is a hell of a guy, and I don't feel like judging him."
(Lawrence Journal-World ~ July 12, 1992)

SHOT ON LONELY WAY

Herbert Woodruff, Garage Owner, Murdered in Johnson County, Kansas, Early Yesterday

ANOTHER DEEP MYSTERY

Business Partner of the Dead Man Says Negro Highway Fired Fatal Shot

Declares Black Then Robbed Him and Forced Him to Flee, Leaving Body Behind

HAD BECOME LOST IN DARK

Murdered Man's Companion Says They Were Searching for Wrecked Car at Time

Another tragic chapter to the criminal annals of that corner of Johnson County, Kansas, which joins Kansas City, was added early yesterday morning. A short distance from a lonely, slightly traveled highway, in a place where wilderness abounds for a radius or more than a mile, a Kansas Citian was murdered within fifteen feet of his companion and partner in business.

The circumstances and evidence in the tragedy recall the murder of Fitzroy K. Simpson at Fifty-sixth Street and High Drive less than a week ago. Mystery surrounds the whole affair, as it did in the case of the Simpson murder. However, evidence that the motive of the slayer was highway robbery is more apparent. Again, as in the Simpson tragedy, there are no clews of consquence that have been found by the authorities.

STARTED AFTER WRECKED CAR

About 10 o'clock Saturday night the telephone rang in the garage at 2705 East Eighteenth Street. Herbert G. Woodruff and Emmett L. Thomas, partners in the garage business, were in their shop and Woodruff answered the telephone, according to Thomas. Woodruff, Thomas said yesterday, told him that he had a call to go out on the Olathe road to bring in a wrecked motor car.

They worked about their shop for almost an hour before leaving to bring in the wrecked car. About 11 o'clock they started out through Westport. Neither of the two partners being familiar with the country they had difficulty in finding their way. Later they turned off onthe Belinder Road, believing they had found the Olathe Road. They traveled on this road, looking for the wrecked motor car they had been told to come after, Thomas said.

TURNED OFF MAIN ROAD

Going south on Belinder Road they crossed Brush Creek. At this point it occurred to the two men that they had been driving on the wrong road. They continued to about where Sixty-first Street and Belinder Road would be. Here there is a small graded stretch that they thought was a road leading off from the rough Belinder Road, and possibly one that would connect with the Olathe Road.

Thomas told of turning their touring car in the small graded stretch and of dicovering that it was not a road. Woodruff, he said, who had been driving, got out of the motor car and looked around to see where they were and to direct Thomas in turning the car around so as to get out into the road again.

HEARD SHOT, NEGRO APPEARED

Thomas said, "Herb told me to turn around." Thomas said that Woodruff, standing on the ground about fifteen feet from the car, was directing him in making the turn, when he (Thomas) heard a shot. Woodruff, Thomas said, at this time was standing slightly back and to the north of the motor car.

Almost immediately after hearing the shot, Thomas told the Johnson County authorities and C. W. Gorsuch, porsecuting attorney of Johnson County, a large, yellow negro came from behind and told him to give up what he had and then leave or he would "get what your partner got."

Thomas said that the negro took a watch and about $7 in cash, and then told him to leave in a hurry. Thomas said the he compiled with the negro's request, going north on the Belinder Road and notifying the Rosedale police.

HEARD WOODRUFF CALL; DIDN'T STOP

"As I heard the shot I believe I heard Herb utter a mournful call," Thomas told the authorities. "But I was afraid to hesitate for I realized what had happened and took the negro's warning."

With th aid of several police officers of Rosedale and a small posse of private citizens, Thomas searched in vain for the place where he had been forced to leave his partner.

At 3 o'clock the party gave up the search and returned to Rosedale, where Thomas got in communication with his uncle, H. A. Beedle, 2640 Bales Avenue, and Harry Woodruff, a brother of the dead man. Beedle secured a taxicab and rushed to Rosedale police headquarters. Harry Woodruff awakened Ernest Boruff, 3026 Baltimore Avenue, and the two men started out in Boruff's car. Mrs. Boruff is a sister of the Woodruff boys.

The party searched in vain until 9 o'clock yesterday morning, when they finally came upon the lonely spot where the body had been found earlier in the morning. After telling his story to the Johnson County coroner and deputy sheriffs, Thomas was taken home by Boruff. Beedle proceeded to Olathe with the body of Woodruff, in the Buick car used by the two men.

FISHING PARTY FOUND BODY

Shortly before Saturday night, R. H. Kritchen, 218 D Street, Frank and Bud Elne, 202 F. Street, and Frank Corbin 214 F. Street, all of Rosedale, who had started out for a fishing trip near Paola, Kas., were forced to stop to repair a tire on their motor car. They decided to stay there for the night.

About midnight, a motor car, possibly a truck, they said, containing about eight persons, men and women, passed them near Brush Creek on the Belinder Road. The party was going south. They said that they heard two gun shots just before 1 o'clock. Then they told neighbors yesterday morning that the same motor car with the party came back about the time the shots were heard.

They said they paid no heed to the shots, but that yesterday morning at daylight when they started on their journey again, they were driving slowly southward when they noticed Woodruff's body laying on the ground about fifty feet east of the Belinder Road, where he had been shot. They immediately drove to the home of M. R. Linscott, Sixty-third Street and Belinder Road, where Dr. R. L. Moberly, county coroner, and Sheriff Steed and J. H. Scott, deputy sheriff, were notified.

BULLET PASSED THROUGH HEART

When the Johnson County authorities arrived they found the body and other circumstances just as the four men from Rosedale had discovered them, they said. Woodruff's body was laying face down, a bullet wound through his heart, and a well burnt cigarette in his left hand. An examination of his pockets revealed only forty-three cents.

Thomas said he is sure that his partner had his watch with him and also a billbook, in which he had some currency, when they left their garage together late Saturday night.

A short distance from the body were the tire marks of the car the two men were in. Approximately seventy-five feet to the east and slightly to the south of where the body fell was found an old blanket, resembling closely one that had been used for a horse. The blanket had been carefully spread out and rolled up at one end as though to form a pillow.

A WOMAN WITH A MURDERER?

Three feet to the north of the blanket was found a pair of woman's shoes and a handerchief. Prosecutor Gorsuch said that he found many foot and shoe prints around the body. The shoe prints fit the shoes found, he said. There were many imprints of men's shoes.

It is believed Woodruff was shot from close range, as his shirt showed powder burns. Thomas told the Johnson County authorities that there was no struggle between his partner and the negro that he saw. Woodruff's neck bore deep indentations and finger marks as though he had been choked. His clothing also looked as though some one with heavy shoes had jumped on his body.

When Thomas and his relatives located the spot where the murder happened at about 9 o'clock, Thomas reenacted the tragedy and told his version.

HAD NO TOOLS TO REPAIR WRECKED CAR

Thomas said that he remembers of hearing only one shot. The four men from Rosedale who discovered the body early yesterday morning said that they did not see any negro or anyone else all through the night. Thomas was asked whether he saw a negro woman, in which question he answered in the negative.

The amazing circumstance to Prosecutor Gorsuch is that there were no repair tools or equipment in the touring car driven by Woodruff and Thomas with which they could work on a wrecked car or tow one into their shop.

Thomas told of seeing a motor car filled with a boisterous party of men and women at the point where they turned into the narrow graded stretch. He said this car stopped as they turned off the road, then the other car went on north. It is believed that this car with the party of men and women in it was the same one seen by the four men on a fishing trip.

Thomas and his wife, Mrs. Leta Thomas, live with Beedle. After Thomas was taken home he became hysterical. He required the attention of two doctors, who finally induced him to sleep by administering an opiate.

Thomas regained consciousness early last night and was able to recognize his friends and relatives at the home of Beedle. Soon after regaining consciousness two doctors worked with him. He showed great improvement, but was again put to sleep after a few minutes.

"FLASHED" ROLL OF BILLS

Woodruff Carried Considerable Money -- Partners Were Fast Friends

H. G. Woodruff and E. L. Thomas, proprietors of a motor car accessory and repair shop at 2705 East Eighteenth Street, closed their shop earlier than has been their custom on Saturday nights, according to neighbors. At about 10 o'clock they drove away from the shop in a touring car. Persons who live over the shop were awake in a room just above the entrance to the garage between 11 o'clock Saturday night and 1 o'clock Sunday morning. they said that no motor car entered or left the shop between those hours.

Earlier in the evening Woodruff went to the shop of Harry Ross, a tailor at 2704 East Eighteenth Street to pay a small debt. In paying his account Woodruff displayed a large roll of bills, according to the tailor.

The two men leased the rooms in which they operated their shop two months ago from Mrs. Desmoina Lucky, owner of the building, who lives over the garage. According to Mrs. Lucky, the two men had always paid their rent regularly. Rent due yesterday, however, was not paid. Mrs. Lucky and other neighbors said the two men did not have a large trade and were endeavoring to establish a more flourishing business.

When the men leased the rooms they bought the accessory stock from James Lucky, husband of the owner of the building, who formerly operated the garage. They had contracted to buy the machinery in the repair shop next month.

Persons who saw the two men depart from the shop did not believe they were answering a road trouble call. The men drove a touring car, which they own, and apparently had no tools or "dollies" for hauling a stranded motor car.

According to neighbors and the owner of the building, the men were inseparable friends, being distantly related by marriage. Woodruff and his partner did not deal in used cars, it was said.

Harry Arthur and Harry Bezzell, detectives assigned to look after the Kansas City end of the murder case, called at the Beedle home yesterday afternoon. Young Thomas was asleep. The detectives declined to disturb him and listened to Thomas's version of the shooting as told by Mr. Beedle. Thomas told Mr. Beedle the story while the search for the body was being made.

Mr. Beedle's recital of the night's misadventure correspond exactly to the story Thomas told the sheriffs as he re-enacted the shooting. Since becoming business partners the two men, eager for success, worked from twelve to sixteen hours a day and always had been the best of friends, Mr. Beedle said. They had known each other about four years.

Woodruff was 35 years old. He was said to be an expert on gas engines. He is survived by hismother, Mrs. Ella Woodruff; his widow, Mrs. Edith Woodruff; a sister, Mrs. Hetta Boruff, and his brother, Harry Woodruff. He attended the public schools here. He came here two months ago from Tulsa, Ok., where he had been engaged in cement construction work.

Thomas is 26 years old. His specialty is electrical work, although he held several positions with the New England National Bank. Prior to the signing of the armistice he was engaged in shipyard work, but was obliged to quit because of a severe attack of influenza. He has a high blood pressure and was thoroughly exhausted yesterday afternoon.

Woodruff's body was taken to the Duff & Julian undertaking rooms at Olathe. An inquest will be held at the Olathe court house at 2 o'clock this afternoon.
(Kansas City Star ~ July 28, 1919)

KANSAS CITY CRASH KILLS 11 PERSONS

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 26---Eleven persons were killed and five injured, none critically, late Saturday when a transport plane attached to the headquarters of the naval air primary training crashed at the Olathe Naval Air Station shortly after taking off.

One officer, three WAVEs and seven enlisted men were killed. Two officers, the pilot and copilot, and three enlisted men were thrown clear. The plane burst into flames when it struck the ground.

Navy witnesses said the plane took off in normal manner and then began to settle. They emphasized that there was no engine failure.

The injured, all residents of greater Kansas City, were Lt. James La Dagnara, Lt. Robert L. Abbott, M/Sgt. Robert R. Tomlinson, P3/C William Blau and AMM3/C Earl E. Bandlow
(Dallas Morning News ~ February 27, 1944)

A KANSAS FARMER'S WIFE KILLS HERSELF

Olathe, Kas., May 18---Mrs. Lizzie Moll, wife of Julius Moll, a young farmer six miles northwest of here, committed suicide yesterday by shooting herself with a heavily loaded musket. The only reason assigned is ill health. She was only 25 years old and had been married three years. Her father, S. Baumgartner, is one of the well-to-do farmers of this county.
(Kansas City Star ~ May 18, 1898)

KANSAS ACRES FOR A HOME

G. W. Webb Will Live Across the State Line at Fifty-Eighth

G. W. Webb, president of the Webb Belting Company, bought an irregular tract of land at the southwest corner of Fifty-eighth and State Line Road in Mission Hills, on the Kansas side, for $16,000 today. The tract contains several acres. Mr. Webb will begin the erection of a residence upon this tract immediately. The sale was made by J. C. Nichols.
(Kansas City Star ~ July 10, 1914)

BIZARRE ACCIDENT KILLS KANSAS WOMAN

KANSAS CITY, KAN., A young Kansas woman was killed when the exhaust pipe of another car smashed through the windshield of her car and struck her in the throat.

The victim of Monday's accident was Vicky R. Hanley, 22, Olathe.

A witness said the pipe, about six feet long, fell from a car on an overpass onto Miss Hanley's car on an expressway below.

Police said the pipe might have come from a passing car on the expressway.
(Trenton Evening Times ~ November 30, 1971)

MERCHANT DROWNS HIMSELF

Olathe, Kas., July 31---J. H. Dow, for more than thirty years one of the leading merchants of Eastern Kansas, drowned himself in the Memphis Railroad lake, near here, last night. His body was not found till this afternoon. Ill health is the cause given. Mr. Dow was a thirty-second degree Mason and was wealthy.
(Omaha World Herald ~ August 1, 1901)

A RESIDENT OF KANSAS RIDDLED BULLETS OF BLOOD THIRSTY NEIGHBORS

KANSAS CITY, Mo., No. 5---A gentleman who is in the city today relates the details of a terrible murder which occurred last Monday noon, near New Santa Fe, Johnson County, Kansas. Near the above place reside a family named Curley, and one named Wyatt. Monday noon old man Curley, his son, son-in-law and daughter, all got together and went to Wyatt's house, a short distance away. They meant to have certain charges cleared up and revenge. They went to Wyatt's house and called for him three times. Wyatt was reluctant to answer the demand for some time, but finally got his pistol and made his appearance. Young Curley at once started toward Wyatt with a drawn pistol. The latter fired and started to run, when the other three men followed him, firing. Pierced with a ball or two he fell, and the Curley gang, running upon him, stood over him, and riddled his body with bullets. The affair created great excitement throughout the neighborhood, but, strange to say, no arrest had been made up to last night.
(Inter Ocean ~ November 6, 1880)

A KANSAS FAMILY STRICKEN

"Sore Throat" Kills Two and Makes Four Others Ill

Two sons dead, another son and a daughter ill and two daughters convalescent are the results of a throat disease in the home of Mrs. Patrick Sheridan, a widow, two miles south of Merriam, Kas.

The disease is pronounced by the family physician, Dr. E. P. Chase, "infectious sore throat," but some of the residents of Merriam call it black diphtheria. These children of Mrs. Sheridan have been affected by it:

Benjamin Sheridan, 88 years old, died Wednesday night, buried yesterday

Patrick Sheridan, 28 years old, died last night

Margaret Sheridan, 36 years old, dangerously ill

Thomas Sheridan, 26 years old, now contracting the disease

Kate Sheridan, 84 years old, convalescing

Mary Sheridan, 28 years old, convalescing

Doctor Chace said this morning that blood poisoning resulted from the sore throats of Benjamin and Patrick Sheridan and caused their deaths. He did not believe any of the others affected would die. Although Margaret Sheridan has been ina dangerous condition, she was much improved today. Doctor Chace said the disease was not malignant diphtheria, but was a species of sore throat that was infectious.

Mrs. Sheridan is the widow of Patrick Sheridan, a prosperous Johnson County farmer, who was killed by a train on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad three months ago. Mrs. Sheridan and two married daughters, Mrs. Matthew Grace and Mrs. Robert Mills, have not contracted the disease.
(Kansas City Star ~ January 15, 1910)