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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)