BEAM, EVA

Miss Beam's Trial
Federal Authorities Will Begin Today to Try to Convict of her Theft
Wichita, Kan., Sept. 16 - interest in the United States court now in session in this city is centered in the case against Miss Eva Beam of Hutchinson. Miss Beam was employed in the post office at Hutchinson and a large sum of money which was in her charge disappeared. The citizens of Hutchinson are almost a unit in believing Miss Beam innocent, and a number of them are here as witnesses. The case is surrounded with mystery and its outcome is watched with a considerable degree of interest.

The case is set for trial tomorrow morning and will probably consume several days. The government will try to show where the money went, while the defense will try to do the same thing. However, there are two theories, the government thinks Miss Beam got the money, and Miss Beam will try to show that she had nothing to do with it. (Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital, September 17, 1897)

Miss Beem's Reception
All Hutchinson Turns Out to Greet the Popular Postoffice Clerk

Hutchinson, Kan., Sept. 24 - The news of the acquittal of Miss Eva Beem of this city, who was charged with the shortage in the postoffice discovered December 28 last, was received here yesterday, a few minutes after the jury had returned the verdict in the United States district court at Wichita. There has perhaps never been a trial that has engrossed the attention of the people of this city as much as this, and there also has never been as unanimous an opinion on any subject as the people here have entertained as to the innocence of Miss Beem. This unanimous feeling found expression last night, when Miss Beam returned over the Missouri Pacific from Wichita. The evening paper announced that she would be home on that train, and the crowd that greeted her has seldom had an equal of Hutchinson people. The street was packed with carriages of every description for six blocks around the depot, while the sidewalk and the depot platform were crowded with people. The Second Regiment bank struck up a lively air just as the train pulled in and as soon as Miss Beem could be gotten to a carriage, she in company with her sister, Miss Jessie and a couple of lady friends, with the band heading the procession, marched down Main street, off on Second avenue to the Beem home, the crowd cheering and laughing all the way. Upon arrival at her home she was called for with loud cheers. She responded, simply thanking her friends for their kindness.

The citizens here will demand her re-instatement in the government service.

Though all of the pressure of the post office inspectors brought to bear on her throughout the trial, she never has uttered a word regarding her belief as to where the money went. She simply had said, as she did on the witness stand, "The money is gone, but I know nothing about who got it." The demonstration last night was a worthy tribute to an upright life. (The Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital, September 28, 1897)

COYLE, ARCHIBALD
Mystery About Man with Fractured Skull
Detectives Seek Roommate of Victim Found Unconscious in Hotel

With a skull fractured and numerous body lacerations that may result fatally, a man was removed early yesterday morning from his room at the Merchants' Hotel, at Third and Callowhill streets, to the Roosevelt Hospital. Suspicious circumstances surround the case.

Detectives of the Third and Fairmount Avenue police station began to search for his roommate, who is suspected of having inflicted the man's injuries while attempting robbery. The victim is Archibald Coyle, 24 years old, of Wichita, Kansas.

He was unconscious when found by hotel employees. He signed the register at the place on Sunday night as an arrival from New York. The same evening "Frank Murphy," of New York, arrived. He and Coyle were frequently seen together.

Coyle, when found, was lying on the floor. The rooms showed evidence of a struggle, although no quarrel had been heard by other guests. Coyle has failed to regain consciousness and the police have not been able to throw any light upon the tragedy. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 3, 1919, page 5)

McCAIN, HENRY
Wichita, Kan., January 6 - In the Peterson school district, in this county, was a teacher named Henry McCain, who thinks his powers limitless and whose arbitrary rule has led to a bitter neighborhood fight. McCain recently laid down rules governing his scholars during play hours, among which was one instructing them not to leave the school grounds. A dozen or more of the pupils are young men of 17 to 20, and these objected to such constraint. Yesterday afternoon John Fawbush, one of the big boys, was ordered up to the teacher's desk to receive a whipping, for disobeying this order, and when he refused to submit a pistol was pointed at his head. The boy quickly walked up to the teacher and took the gun from him and then knocked McCain down and hit him with his own birch.
The directors who appointed McCain were called together and J. T. Worthington, the chairman, announced that the teacher had authority to shoot a scholar and declared that had he been in McCain's place he would have killed Fawbush. The boy was then dismissed and as the people of the section have taken sides in the fight there is yet expected to be trouble. (The Kansas Weekly Capital, January 14, 1892)

MYERS, GRANT
Wichita, Kan., January 8 - Grant Myers of Mulvane, a young man who has been suffering from grippe through not confined to the house, called his father about 5 o'clock this morning and asked him to light a lamp. As the father rose young Myers passed out of the room in his night clothes and presently out of the house. Alarmed by this unusual action, the father hurriedly dressed himself and followed him but could not and no trace of his son. By 7 o'clock all the town was out searching but not till noon was any trace of the missing man. Two boys from the country reported seeing the dead body of a man near the river bank and it turned out to be that of young Myers. The supposition is that the grippe must have suddenly affected Myer's mind. The night clothes he had on showed evidence of having been in the river and the bitter cold evidently did the rest as Myers had frozen to death. (The Kansas Weekly Capital, January 14, 1892)

SHEA, PADDY
Paddy Shea Convicted
Wichita, Kan., Jan. 7 - the trial of Paddy Shea on the charge of shooting James Dawson with intent to kill, on the night of November 14, resulted in a conviction. Shea has been on trial for three days and the case attracted great interest. Dawson's lower limbs are paralyzed as the result of Shea's shot. He is a comparative stranger here and is believed to have belonged to a gang of bank robbers. (The Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital, January 11, 1898, page 2)

SNAPP, DOC
Couldn't Convict Snapp
The Trials of the Men Accused of the Wichita U.S. Express Wagon Robbers
Wichita, Kan., October 23 - Doc Snapp, who has been on trial in the district court for ten days, charged with being an accomplice in the robbery here last July of a United States express wagon, from which $87,500 was stolen was tonight acquitted.

Hancher, the express messenger and self-confessedly one of the robbers, tried hard to convict Snapp with the affair.

The cases of the four others concerned, Hancher, Vittrell, Greer and Beck will be called tomorrow. All of them have made more or less damaging admissions. (The Kansas Weekly Capital and Farm Journal, October 26, 1893)

FEMALE HORSE THIEF "TOM KING" ESCAPES FROM JAIL
Wichita, Kan., Dec 8 - "Tom King" the female horsethief, known all over the west for her daring exploits, escaped from the jail at El Reno, O.T., tonight and got clear away.
Officers have gone to Yukon after a pair of bloodhounds and they expect to trail the woman down by morning. The prisoner was evidently aided from the outside, as a horse was in waiting for her. (December 14, 1883, Kansas Weekly Capital & Farm Journal)

Wichita, Kan., Dec. 9 - A visitor from El Reno, O. t., from the jail of which "Tom King," the notorious female horse thief escaped last night, brings a story from these to the effect that Under Sheriff Williams of Canadian county, who was seen about the jail a few minutes before the escape, has disappeared and that a couple of his horses are also missing. It is hinted that Williams was smitten with the charms of the comely "Tom King" and a great many believe that he aided in the escape and is now with her.

LAW AND ORDER LEAGUE WANTS TO CLOSE SALOONS
Wichita, Kas., Dec. - The most intense feeling is beginning to manifest itself among all classes of citizens again the Law and Order league of Sedgwick county, the members of which have announced their intention of closing the saloons of Wichita and of commencing on Tuesday next by bringing injunction proceedings against every whiskey mar in town.
The leader of the league's corps of nine spotters, a stranger named Thomas Jackson, was assaulted on the streets three different times this afternoon, one of the leading taxpaying business men of the city being among his assailants, and the last attack on him being with a revolver with which his skull was split open.
The city's saloons pay a revenue of $2500 a month, more than enough to maintain the police force and the taxpayers feel unable to stand the extra strain the cessation of this revenue would mean.
A delegation of business men have already protested to the attorneys of the league. The police are anticipating very serious trouble. (The Kansas Weekly Capital and Farm Journal, December 14, 1883)

Was it George Gould? An Interesting Railroad Story from Wichita
Wichita, Kan., December 7, - According to the story told here tonight, there is going to be a north and south road built through Wichita to the Gulf of Mexico next year, even though the plans of the Interstate and South Railroad conventions should come to naught and the Dakota, Wichita and Gulf railroad, now long talked up by Richard George of New York as the representative of an English syndicate, should fail to materialize.
The story is told by a man who is intimately associated with the railroad world but who desires his identity concealed, and is to the effect that a few days ago George Gould was here in person in a private car and passed himself off as a minor official of the Missouri Pacific, and that while here he was met by one of the most trusted of his engineering corps to whom he gave instructions to proceed forthwith by buggy over a direct route he had laid out between Wichita and Galveston, and to return on a different route also marked out for him. This tour completed Gould's instructions to his engineer were that unless he received notification to the contrary he should select whichever of the routes he deemed best and at once put a corps of surveyors in the field and that as soon as one hundred miles of the line shall have been surveyed and no contrary orders shall have been issued meanwhile, the work of surveying right of way and of grading shall be proceeded with out further delay.
The narrator said Gould's secrecy was prompted by a desire to present the field before the English Syndicate now talking of building the Dakota, Wichita and Gulf road could occupy it.
That a Missouri Pacific official was here recently in a private car is true and a gentleman who tells the above story is an excellent authority. . (The Kansas Weekly Capital and Farm Journal, December 14, 1883)

BODINE, WILLIAM
Wichita, Kan., December 7, - William Bodine of Jolly, IA, died suddenly on a Rock Island train near Lost Springs, Kan., this afternoon. He was on his way to spend the winter here with a brother who was at the depot to meet him and who knew nothing gof the fatality until he saw the corpse being lifted from the train.
The cause of death is unknown. . (The Kansas Weekly Capital and Farm Journal, December 14, 1883)


HAYS, SON
Wichita, Kan., April 23, - Ex Sheriff Hays' 2 year old baby was probably fatally burned today. The tot was playing with matches and set its clothes on fire. (Topeka Weekly Capital, April 28, 1892)

WRIGHT, GEORGE W. MRS.
Wichita, Kan., April 20 - Mrs. George W. Church, a young woman of 20, whose husband went away a couple of weeks ago in search of work, and from whom she has received no news, attempted suicide late last night by swallowing a big dose of laudanum, but by hard work her life was saved. Church went from here to Cherryvale, but is not there now. (Topeka Weekly Capital, April 28, 1892)

DIPHTHERIA SCARE AT WICHITA
Wichita, Kan., Nov. 3 - Wichita is enjoying the sensations of a diphtheria scare. There is no sensations and only six cases have been reported this fall, but four of the six proved fatal. The board of health have taken hold of the matter and will circulate instructions so that prompt action may be taken when a case is found. Parents have been negligent about reporting cases and many have been exposed. That is what causes the scare. Some of the doctors expect and epidemic unless great care is exercised. (Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital, November 4, 1898)

WICHITA CASE DISMISSED AGAINST AUGUST SCHMIDT AND J. B. GANO
Wichita Kan., Sept. 25 - The case in the district court against August Schmidt and J. B. Gano, merchants of Medicine Lodge, who were charged with obtaining goods from the Wichita Wholesale Grocer Co. under false pretenses, has been dismissed by the county attorney. The defendants paid the company for the goods fraudulently obtained and all the costs in the case. (Kansas Semi Weekly Capital, September 28, 1897)

WICHITA OVERRUN BY THIEVES
Wichita, Kan., Sept. 20 - Wichita is now overrun with thieves and thugs from all over the country. They were drawn here by the Wichita state fair, twenty of them were arrested last night and will be kept in jail until after the crowds leave town. Several were caught today, and more will be landed tonight. So far but two burglaries have been committed and but little was stolen either place. Some of the men arrested may be held to be turned over to the authorities in different places where they are wanted for past offences. (Topeka Weekly Capital, July 29, 1898)

KANSAS GIRLS WORK IN FIELDS
A Woman Farmer's Rye Shocked by Valley Center Volunteers
Wichita, Kas., June 20 - Because Mrs. John Shirkey, living four miles north of Wichita, could not obtain harvest hands to cut and shock her rye six Valley Center girls volunteered their services and shocked fifteen acres of the grain Tuesday. These girls are members of the Baptist Sunday school at Valley Center, who have formed a "twilight brigade" for harvest work. They are: Miss Della Jacobi, Miss Lois Schualser, Miss Virginia Fitzgerald, Miss Elsia Pittman, Miss Marie Miles and Miss Ernestine Wilson. Although the girls were able to work only one day, they are ready to aid any farmer with his harvest should he be unable to procure men. (The Kansas City Times, June 20, 1918, page 11)

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF MERE MAN IN KANSAS
Valley Center, Kan., May 7 - The dominance of women in the municipal rule of Valley Center was completed today when Miss Avis Francis, who, with an entirely feminine council recently was elected, finished her appointments by naming Mrs. William Goodrich as city marshal and Mrs. George Bright as street commissioner. There is now no men in the employ of the city. The municipal program, as announced by Miss Francis, is that streets and alleys must be cleaned and all ordinances observed. (The Wyoming Tribune, May 7, 1917, page four)

VALLEY CENTER ROBBERY
Santa Fe Station Entered Some Time Wednesday Night
Wichita, Kan., Feb. 1 - The Santa Fe station at Valley Center was raided last night by burglars who go t considerable money and some express matter and carried off a sack of mail.
The mail bag was found today some distance from town cut open and with the contents distributed over the ground. All registered matter had been "carried off." The robbers got away in a buggy stolen from a barn near the depot.

A VALLEY CENTER FAMILY LOST
Friends Searching for William Bastow, Travelling to Washington
Wichita, Kas., July 17 - The friends and relatives of William Bastow and family of Valley Center are worried over the mysterious disappearance of the family since its departure for the northern part of the state five weeks ago. The family left overland for Washington. At Abilene the members wrote letters to relatives, but no word has been reached from them in the four weeks since and all efforts to get in touch with them by letter or otherwise have been fruitless. The trip north from Abilene was made during the period of extremely heavy rains in that section and most of the rivers in that part of the state were at floodtide at the time. It is feared that in attempting to ford some of the streams the entire family may have been swept away. (Kansas City Times, June 17, 1915, Page 2)

TRIED, CONVICTED AND EXECUTED FOR SLAYING JESSE HIBDEN, WHO NOW TURNS OUT TO BE ALIVE AND IN PRISON

Wichita, Kan., April 20---About three years ago Jesse and Charles Hibden, cousins, and a cook named George Jones, left their homes in Pauls Valley, I. T., and went to Arkansas to buy cattle.

They never returned and foul play has always been suspected. When no sign of them could be had Jones was arrested, tried and convicted of the double murder, and was hanged a year ago.

Greatly to the surprise of every one, Jesse Hibden, one of the supposed dead, has just been located in a territorial prison, where he is held for selling whisky to Indians.
(Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital ~ 23 April 1897)

H. H. HOLMES' DOUBLE

Identity of Frank G. Pratt Is Again Put to Test

Sensational Talk Revived by the Death of His Wife in Wichita Yesterday---How Riches Brought Ruin

Wichita, Kan., April 21---Mrs. Frank G. Pratt died today from pneumonia and her death revives interest in the story of her domestic troubles which were newspaper sensations several years ago.

Her husband was a bright young man who was devoted to her until he inherited a fortune from his father. Then he gave himself up to dissipation and a few years ago disappeared mysteriously. He was heard of in Texas, Colorado, and other states and then dropped out of sight again.

When H. H. Holmes, the notorious murderer was arrested, the sensational story gained wide circulation that Holmes was none other than Frank G. Pratt. The men strongly resembled each other and investigation showed that both had been in various cities at identically the sme time. The whereabouts of Pratt are not known yet. (Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital ~ April 23, 1897)

THE RED HOUSE, ONE-TIME SHOW PLACE, WILL DISAPPEAR FROM WICHITA SCENE

The Red House, perched on the east bank of the Little Arkansas River for nearly 80 years, is being torn down to facilitate the sale of the property.

In its heyday, the elite of society rode up its doors at 821 N. Waco, and hitched their horses and buggies while they attended the gay affairs put on by its mistress, Mrs. Finlay Ross.

Ross, one-time mayor, banker, and father of the Wichita Park system built the house for Mrs. Ross as an anniversary present in 1886. They moved into it from a three-room house in a downtown-alley.

Ross came to Wichita in 1877. He had been a pioneer in Indian Territory and had served in the Indian Wars. It was during his term of mayor (he actually served three terms, from 1897 to 1899, 1899 to 1901, and 1905 to 1907) that he fought for and got land for Central Riverside Park.

There was a great deal of opposition to the project but Ross turned aside all complaints with good natured stubbornness. What is now gracious recreation area once was mud, thickets, and waste land.

A Variety of People

Mrs. Ross entertained governors and their wives to memebers of the Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club.

"It was a very busy place", recalls Mrs. W. G. Haun, 7 Hampton Road, daughter of the Rosses.

"Two of the children were born there. My engagement party was there."

Constructed of brick and wood, the three-story house contained 14 rooms, including a magnificent ballroom, complete with bradd chandeliers nd "smooching corners."

Each room contained different wood flooring. The parlor was mahogany, the sitting room, cherry-wood, the dining room in oak.

Each room had a fireplace and mantel.

Ballroom on Third Floor

Main feature inside the house was the spacious third-floor ballroom, with its balconied dormers, its inlaid wood flooring, many chandeliers and love seats called "smoochers."

Resting as it did on the bank of the river, the house could have been used as a summer place instead as a year-round dwelling, as it was. In the old days several boats lined the dock.

The Ross house remained in the family until the death of Mrs. Ross in 1945. Then it was sold to Mrs. L. J. Pracht, who lived downstairs in it during the past seven years and rented upstairs to tenants.

Recently the old heating unit which had been the main source of heat fell into ill repair and a plumbing system was badly in need of revamping.

Mrs. Pracht decided that the house had "had its day" and ordered wrecking crews to dispose of it. The razing began a month ago. It will near completion soon.
(The Wichita Evening Eagle and Beacon ~ Wednesday ~ April 10, 1963)

PROUD SHOCKER

A proud University of Wichita alumnus can take it no longer. He wants everyone to know where he obtained his college degree.

Gene H. Looper, security manager for the Sears Roebuck and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, recently asked personnel at the WU bookstore to mail two sweatshirts beraing the school emblem to his address.

"Since WU defeated Cincinnati and Loyola in basketball games, I have found it difficult to walk down the halls without revealing my alma mater to my co-workers."

His order called for two sweatshirts, any color---one a medium and the other a large. One presumably for his wife.
(The Wichita Evening Eagle and Beacon ~ Wednesday ~ April 10, 1963)

PILOT WINGS WON

A graduate of the University of Wichita, 2nd Lt. Harry B. Lancelot III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry B. Lancelot II, 1003 S. Market, was awarded USAF pilot wings following graduation from pilot training at Reese AFB, Tex.

Lt. Lancelot flew 737 and T33 jet trainers, and received special academic and military training during the course. He is being assigned to Westover AFB, Mass., and will fly KC135 aircraft for the Strategic Air Command.

His wife is the former Shirley A. Gilley, 1950 S. Main.
(The Wichita Evening Eagle and Beacon ~ Wednesday ~ April 10, 1963)

HONOR WON

Gary L. Thesing, 3246 Chatfield, teacher at Chaplain Kapaun Memorial High School, has been chosen in national completion to be a member of the 1963-64 Academic Year Institute for Mathematics Teachers.

Held at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind., the institute and scholarship is sponsored by the National Science Foundation as a part of its program to train science and mathematics teachers.

The Institute will extend from June, 1963, to June, 1964.

Thesing, who has taught physics and mathematics for two years at Kapaun High School, is a graduate of St. Mary of the Plains College, Dodge City, Kan.
(The Wichita Evening Eagle and Beacon ~ Wednesday ~ April 10, 1963)

BRICK FUNERAL SET FOR FRIDAY

Clothing Dealer Resident 50 Years

Funeral services for Adolph H. Brick, 53, of 154 N. Edgemoor, who took his own life at the Allis Hotel Wednesday, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Byrd-Snodgrass Funeral Home.

Rabbi Benjamin Bernfeld of Temple Emanu-El will have charge of services. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery.

According to police, Brick, a Wichita clothing merchant, shot himelf in the hotel room about 12:26 p.m. Before firing the fatal shot, he called the police department "to report a suicide in room 1015 of the Allis Hotel."

The man's body was found by a patrolman who was investigating the phone call.

Brick reportedly purchased the .25 caliber automatic pistol, from which the fatal shot was fired, Wednesday morning at a local pawnshop, police said. After buying the pistol, Brick reportedly checked with the police to see if he could keep a weapon in his place of business, Brick's Men's Wear, 127 W. Douglas.

Despondency over ill health was believed to have brought about the tragedy.

Mr. Brick was born March 29, 1902, at Kansas City, Mo. He had been a resident of Wichita for 50 years. The clothier married Ellen Gorden here in 1942.

He was a member of Temple Emanu-El and B'nai B'rith.

A graduate of Wichita High School and Fairmount College, Mr. Brick was widely known for his oratorical abilities.

He took over management of the clothing store in 1940 after the death of this father, Herman, who founded the firm in 1916.

Mr. Brick is survived by his widow; a son, Robert J. Brick of the home; and one brother, Sidney Brick, 331 N. Parkwood.

Friends wishing to pay their respects have been asked by the family to send contributions to Temple Emanu-El.
(Wichita Eagle ~ Thursday ~ November 24, 1955)

TRAGEDY ON ROAD STRIKES HOME

Tuesday night, Joi Higgins gaily sang a song called, "The Champions" as she drove her three sons and two friends home from a junior-high wrestling match in Haysville.

Wednesday morning, Mrs. Higgins, 36, and two of those sons, Garth, 7, and Gregory, 4, were killed when her stationwagon skidded out of control on snow-covered 199th St. West, a mile south of Goddard. The car slammed broadside into an oncoming wrecker.

Her surviving son, David, 12 was aboard a school bus which passed there a few minutes later. Bruce Musitano, 14, who was also in the bus, said David and other riders looked out the windows and saw the accident scene.

Mrs. HIggins and Garth were thrown from the car. Gregory's body was in the back seat. All were dead at the scene.

The bus driver stopped and asked David if that was his mother, Bruce said. David shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn't know.

"He put his head down and started to cry," Bruce said.

Bruce, a neighbor, also was one of those celebrating as a the car traveled home Tuesday. David, who will be 13 Saturday, had won his wrestling match. His mother told David she was glad for him, Bruce said, and she sang, "We are the champions."

"I just felt good," Bruce said.

For Bruce and others who knew Mrs. Higgins, her son was an example of how much she loved children.

That love had brought another heartbreak to the Higgins family.

Mrs. Higgins and her husband, Dr. Ronald G. Higgins, a Clearwater dentist, adopted a Vietnamese orphan named Belinda, then age 7, in 1975. The adoption followed months of waiting and unsnarling of Vietnamese red tape.

But their hopes for the girl turned to sadness. Because of Belinda's adjustment problems, the family voluntarily parted with her two months ago.

"No matter how bad a situation could be, Joi could always find a bright and humerous side," Jo Musitano, Mrs. Higgins' neighbor and best friend, said Wednesday.

Mrs. Mustiano said Mrs. Higgins also loved animals.

"She found a dead mother possum in her front yard," Mrs. Musitano said. "There were 11 baby possums. She felt so sad that she brought them in (to her house) and tried to nurse them with an eyedropper. She was getting up every three hours at night to feed them. It was the love in her."

Mrs. Musitano said Mrs. Higgins like the company of Trina, the family Great Dane. Trina accompanied Mrs. Higgins as she jogged around Lake Waltana, a housing development south of Goddard. The family lived there, at 6 Lakewood Drive.

Since springs Mrs. Higgins and done less jogging because she returned to Wichita State University to complete studies for a bachelor's degree in psychology. She also had returned to work as a dental hygienist, joining the staff of Drs. Lies and Squire, 825 S. Hillside.

In the mid '60's, Mrs. Higgins was a higienist for Dr. Tonk Mills.

"She was a sparkler," Mills said Wednesday. "The patients just loved her. We're saddened by it all."

Rev. Thomas W. Gray, the family's priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, said, "Joi was an extremely vivacious, outgoing gal. She was very attractive."

The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark's. Downing and Leahy Mortuary Downtown is in charge.

A vigil will be held at St. Mark's from 10 p.m. Friday to 12 p.m. Saturday.

The truck drive in the accident, Leroy Neise, 28, of Goddard, was treated and released at St. Francis Hospital. He suffered minor injuries to his face, wrist and mouth.
(The Wichita Eagle ~ Thursday ~ February 16, 1978 ~ Submitted by Lori DeWinkler)

MARRIED IN THE PEN

Romantic Wedding Takes Place in the Kansas State Prison

Wichita, Kan., Dec. 8---Ex-Senator Bentley of this city returned tonight from a romantic wedding at the Kansas State penitentiary, the contracting parties being Arthur Winner and Miss Charlotte Moore. Winner was sentenced to a life imprisonment in this county twenty-two years ago for arson, murder and robbery. It was the most famous murder case ever tried in Kansas. Miss Charlotte Moore was convicted ten years ago as accessory to the murder of Major Johnson of Junction City and her case was also very famous at the time. When she arrived at the pentitentiary Winner fell in love with her and she reciprocated. Marriage seemed to be hopeless, but Winner was released last May and Miss Moore was released in July. Since then they have corresponded and they agreed to have the marriage ceremony performed at the penitentiary, the scene of their first love and all the troubles of their life. Winner is now traveling salesman for the shoe made at the penitentiary. Some distinguished visitors who played a part in the release of both parties attended the wedding.
(Kansas City Times ~ December 9, 1894)

JUMPED INTO A WELL

Mrs. Mary Ellsworth Takes a Novel Method of Committing Suicide

Wichita, Kan., Nov. 7---Mary Ellsworth, a lady 84 years of age, living near Colwich of this county, took her little grandchild in her arms today and jumped into a thirty-foot well. She was killed, her brains being dashed out against the stone lining of the well, but the child was uninjured and was rescued. The old lady has been considered insane for some time but never before attempted suicide.
(Kansas City Times ~ November 8, 1895 ~ Submitted by Lori DeWinkler)

JOHN B. BUNN KILLS HIMSELF

A Former Kansas Cityan Takes Poison in Wichita With Fatal Results

WICHITA, April 27---John B. Bunn was found dead in his boarding house about 1 o'clock this afternoon. It was an evident case of suicide after a spree, the poison taken being bromilia. He left a note disposing of his possessions and leaving his body to a surgeon. Bunn was employed as shipping clerk for the Wichita Wholesale Fruit and Cold Storage Company.

John B. Bunn until a few months ago lived here, being employed by the Drevius Commission company. He had no familiy and did not seem depressed by trouble.
(Kansas City Star ~ April 27, 1893)

KANSAS AUTO DEALER DROWNS IN GULF SURF

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas---A prominent Wichita, Kan., automobile dealer drowned in the Gulf of Mexico surf on this South Texas resort island.

William J. Thill, 44, who owns the Wichita District dealership for Jaguar, MG, Triumph and Subaru, was caught in the undertow.

Witnesses said the man's son, Bill Thill, 16, almost drowned while attempting to rescue his father.

Justice of the Peace Bud Emmons of Port Isabel ruled Thill's death accidental drowning.
(Dallas Morning News ~ June 11, 1976)

An Oklahoma Suspect Arrested

Wichita, Kan.—Harry L. Pearson, husband of Mrs. Pearson, who was murdered In Oklahoma City, September 16. arrived here Wednesday night from Oklahoma City and positively Identified F. L. Mingle, being held here as Harry Parker, whom Mrs. Pearson said, while dying, had shot her. (Alma, Wabaunsee County, Kansas October 9, 1908 Page 2, submitted by Barbara Ziegenemeyer)

OTTO BURKETT'S WIFE

What She Says of Her Married Life and The Dead Babe Left in a Car

WICHITA, Kan., March 9, 1890---I had an interview this afternoon with Mrs. Dora Burkett, the wife of young Otto Burkett, who, with his mother, Mrs. Frances Burkett, abandoned the infant in a Santa Fe car on Thursday, and who will both be tried on this charge two weeks hence.

Mrs. Dors Burkett, who is very pretty and not quite eighteen, said she had read the statement of her husband that he was not married and had come from Hutchinson to show herself. She had also seen the statement of his father in which he contradicted his son and said he was married "to a woman of loose character." This latter assertion she proposed to disprove in court. As to the dead infant she knew nothing of it, but suggested it was very probably the offspring of a servant girl fomerly in Dr. Burkett's house, with whom she alleged her husband had been intimate, and who, she understood, had been sent out to California.about three months ago, when it was discovered she was about to become a mother.

She said she left her husband nearly a year ago because of his excesses and bad treatment, after a year of unhappy married life, and had instituted divorce proceedings immediately. She was but fifteen years old when she first met the Burkett family, and she and Otto's elder brother, Frank, soon fell in love and would have been married b for the machinations of the cousin of her lover, who wanted him herself. This cousin made her believe Frank was false and she broke the engagement, in consequence of which he committed suicide.

According to her story, she has considerable means, and Dr. Burkett, after the death of his oldest son, invited her to his home. There she met Otto, then sixteen. She was persuaded by his parents to marry the boy. During her year of marriage, she alleges, Dr. Burkett induced her to part with $1,500 and tried to get more.

She is highly indignant at the Doctor's version of the story and avers she will make him repent his utterance.

Dr. Burkett, wife and son left for Kingman this morning before the young wife's appearance.

MRS. BURKETT HAD NO BABY WHEN SHE LEFT GRASS VALLEY

GRASS VALLEY, Cal., March 9, 1890---Mrs. Dr. Burkett, mentioned in despatches from Kansas City as leaving a dead baby on a seat in a railroad car at Wichita, left Gras Valley on the 1st or 2nd inst., with her son Otto, for Kingman, Kan., after a visit here of some weeks to her brother, G. W. Stevens. She took no baby from here, but her idea while here was to get a baby from some foundling home in San Francisco to adopt and raise.
(New York Herald ~ March 10, 1890)

CARRIED OFF BY AN EAGLE

The Sad Fate of a Kansas Baby

WICHITA, Kan., Sept. 24---Wm. Beattie, a farmer living on Cimmaron river, Saturday went to work, leaving in his dugout his two children, one five year old and a baby aged two months. The older child took the baby into the yard and left it while she went into the house. Soon she heard a cry and the baby "flying away," as she told her father on his return. The father knew that an eagle had visited his home, and summoned his neighbors to the wooded banks of the river. In an hour one of the men found and shot an eagle, breaking its wing. He had a hard fight with the bird, using his gun as a club. The eagle fluttered into the bush. Beattie found his infant dead, the body horribly lacerated and partly gone.
(St. Albans Daily Messenger ~ September 24, 1888)

KANSAS PIONEER A SUICIDE

WICHITA, KAS., May 30---William Riggins, one of the earliest settlers in Barber County, committed suicide here this afternoon by hanging himself from a tree in the orchard at the Kansas Sanitarium. He tied a strap about his neck and had to kneel to choke himself to death, the coroner said. Riggins, who was 62 years old, came to Kansas in the '70's. A son survives.
(Kansas City Star ~ May 31, 1914)

AFTER THE JOINTISTS AGAIN

WICHITA, KAN., April 19---On warrants issued by Assistant Attorney General Halowell the sheriff today arrested Herman, who was indicted with Steward the drug clerk given a sentence of seventeen years for selling beer, but by the strange wording of the charges got free, J. . Jenning, Dr. Casleton and eight others of less note, and an injunction was served on the Oklahoma club. The fight in the prohibition camp seems little abated and the result yet seems doubtful.
(Kansas City Star ~ April 20, 1888)

Daniel Bonner, a stockman, of Lexington, Ky., was found dead in his room at the Stock Yards Hotel at Wichita, Kan., yesterday morning. Morphine was the agent of destruction.
(New York Herald ~ December 30, 1890)

SEVEN DROWN IN KANSAS

Woman and Six Children Go Boating and Never Return

WICHITA, Kan., Aug. 4---Mrs. Lewis Steinbuchel, together with her three children and three children of Mrs. D. F. Lynch, a neighbor, are all believed to have been drowned in Little River, near this city, this afternoon. The party went out boating shortly after noon, and at 2 o'clock this morning had not been found.

Mr. Lynch is pastor of the First Methodist Church of this city.
(Oregonian ~ August 5, 1905)


CAREY HOTEL

The Carey hotel at Wichita, has been purchased by B. L. Eaton, for $70,000. Mr. Eaton will make changes and additions to the hotel.
(Sedan Lance ~ January 4, 1900)

               

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