1892 Two Young Girls Killed by a Fast Train at Downtown Knob Noster, MO

Jennie Mitchell and Sylvia Guinn, two little girls were run over and killed by a train at Knob Noster, Mo. May 4, 1892

Two Little Girls Killed. Warrensburg, May 5.— At Knob Noster, just east of here, Jennie Mitchell and Sylvia Guinn, two little girls aged 7 and 6, were run over and killed by the east-bound passenger train on the Missouri Pacific. The accident happened where the track crossed the main street of the town.

1892 - MoPac Train Killed the Young Girls Here, Knob Noster, MO

STRUCK DEAD.

The Fate of Two Young Knobnoster Girls

Whirled to Death at an Instant's Warning by a Missouri Pacific Train.

As the Number 2 through mail and express train, on the Missouri Pacific railroad, whirled through the little town of Knobnoster today about noon, the whole community was alarmed by the loud and terrified screams of half dozen little girls, followed by two of their number being mangled beneath the ponderous weight of the locomotive. Knobnoster is situated about 25 miles west of this city (Sedalia) and the train was due at Sedalia at 12:35 noon.

A MoPac Train

The ill-fated children who were undoubtedly taken unawares and while off of their guard, were returning from school to their homes, it being the hour when they were dismissed for dinner.

En route lay the railroad tracks which it was necessary for them to cross.

"Knobnoster"  Knob Noster Missouri Train Station
Little Girls Killed Just to the side of the Station When Crossing the Tracks onto State Street.

ALL IN AN INSTANT.

They tripped along in high glee, merrily conversing and laughing, naught reminded of the danger ahead. On the track which lay nearest to their route was a freight train which was slowly moving towards them. The train was a long one, and is said to have concealed from view the mail and express train which was approaching with considerable speed on the opposite track from the same direction.

This train, according to those who survived, the children did not see but started in a run to cross the track before the freight train came upon them. They crossed the first track in safety when they were startled by the quick shrill alarm of the engineers' whistle and in an instant there was death among them.

MISS MITCHELL KILLED.

Unknown Year - Missouri Pacific Train Engine

As certain death, stated one or more of their number, is the face consternation spread among the young girls, each of whom made an aimless dash for safety. Little Miss Mitchell the 10 (7 actually) year old daughter of Mr. William Mitchell, an old and respected citizen of Knobnoster, uttered one scream which was her last. She was struck by the locomotive and fell prostrate on the track, the iron wheels mangling her form into a mass of bleeding flesh. She never spoke.

Jennie Mitchell Born August 23, 1884 Died May 4, 1892   Killed by a Train at Knob Noster, MO Buried at Knob Noster Cemetery.
Gravesite

Miss Sylvia Guinn, daughter of Mr. John Guinn, also of Knobnoster, received injuries after the same manner, which it is said will necessarily prove fatal. She was still alive at 2 o'clock.

TWO BARELY ESCAPED.

The escape of two others of the party was so narrow that their garments were whisked by the machinery of the engine. News of the sad accident spread rapidly, and the scenes over the bodies of the two young girls who had been so suddenly and ruthlessly struck down, are said to have been heartrending in the extreme. Passengers on the train describe the scenes which followed as agonizing. The companions of the child that was dead and the child that was dying bent over them and wept, while parents and relatives sought to embrace their limp and bleeding forms.

Young Girl's in the1890's

THE ENGINEER'S STATEMENT.

Engineer John McClure, who had charge of the train states that when the children came into view, he blew his whistle at once and reversed his engine, but that it was then too late to avoid the accident.

Knobnoster Schoolhouse

It is not known the exact rate of speed at which the engine was going, but the fact of the engineer not being able to check it, would indicate that it was going very fast.

Street Scene Knobnoster, about 1910?

The Bazoo 's Knobnoster informant states that the train was going at an unusually fast rate of speed, it is also stated that this train at times passes through the town at the (normal) rate of from 10 to 20 miles per hour.

Mr. Wm. Mitchell, the father of the dead girl, is a railroad engineer, and stays a portion of the time in Sedalia. Gravesite Link

How the site of the tragedy looks today....

2003 Warrensburg Art Club Calendar - Drawings of Old Homes and Places

Thank you to these wonderful, talented artists, their amazing instructors Jayson Meyer, Guy Albert and John Willard. Thanks  to the Club Officers; Matt McKim-Louder, Evan Schick, Laura Tierny, Megan Johns, and Anna Watson.

Special thanks to Carolyn Watson James (class of 73) for collecting these pictures recently, what a treasure.

Derrick Caldwell

Sarah Cunningham

Jennifer Woods

Adam Coffey

Ross Cleveland

Alan Lau

Matt McKim-Louder

Jackie Boling

Janine Appleton

Josh Hanrahan

Brett Kesinger

Angela Martin

Chad Meador

Drew Dillon

John Bailey

1873 Mings Hotel 101 South Holden Arson Fire Kills 4 Guests One Saved by Jumping from the Third Story with An Umbrella

West Pine Street Fire Station No.1  Today the building houses Those Were the Days.

SAVED BY An Umbrella- Ming Hotel Fire

There was not even a rope fire-escape in his room on the second floor which Felix Kraemer, a salesman for Steinway & Sons, of New York, occupied; and had it not been for Kraemer experience at hotel fires and an umbrella he probably would have been numbered among the victims. Had not I had a strong umbrella I should either have been burned or killed by jumping," said Mr. Kraemer. I have been burned out at hotels three times now. I was burned out at a hotel at Warrensburg, MO., and also at Elsworth, Kan., and I learned something about how to act when at a fire on those two occasions. At the fire in Warrensburg a guest escaped by using an open umbrella to ease his plight from an upper story window I never forgot the way in which he escaped and since have always been provided with a strong umbrella for emergency. 

As soon as I reached the window I opened my strong umbrella and carefully put a shawl strap over it to prevent it from turning inside out then I made a leap. I did not go sailing gracefully out into the air and landed lightly on the ground beneath, but I landed without any broken limb and am alright now. The umbrella partially turned Inside out just before I reached the ground and I got something of a jar, but I should think myself lucky if I had escaped with a broken leg.

Warrensburg Fire Department about 1900

James Lester Prouty, b. Nov. 13, 1851. James, was burned to death at the age of twenty-two years while on his way to attend the Normal School he perished in the fire which destroyed Mings Hotel, Nov., 1873. 4 people died. Warrensburg Missouri, 101 South Holden Street.

THE WARRENSBURG FIRE TRAGEDY. 

Warrensburg, Mo., Nov. 13, A serious conflagration occurred in this city last night, commencing at '9 o'clock, and burning the Mings Hotel and two brick buildings belonging to H. F. Clark, and the Johnson County Savings bank. The fire originated in the lamp room of the hotel, from the explosion of a coal-oil lamp, and soon the flames enveloped the whole building. Sad to relate it was the fire devils preying upon human bodies. Three bodies were taken from the burning embers last night. Another body is missing. 

THE DEAD - M. E. MULVEHILL. The deaths and losses are summed up as follows: M. E. Mulvehill, proprietor of the hotel, was sitting in the hotel office at the time of the fire and at the alarm of fire hastened to the scene, and in making his exit was smothered or choked to death by the smoke and flames. His body was taken from the debris charred and crisped at 1 o'clock A. M. It was found in the ruins of the hotel office.

J. W. POLAND. The next body recovered was that of J. W. Poland, an artist from Kansas City. His body was found in the debris of the hotel saloon. The unfortunate man occupied a room over the saloon. 

J. L. PROUTY. J. L. Prouty of Clintonville, Mo. arrived on the evening train with the intention of joining the Normal school. A few bones of his remains only were found. Another guest of the hotel is missing. 

LOUIS ROISTER. On the register appears the name of Louis Roister, Sedalia, Mo. This body is supposed to have been completely burned, as no trace can be found. 

BADLY INJURED. Allen Durmeit, the steward of the hotel, is badly burned and scarred, and hopes of his recovery are doubtful. Thos. Higgius, a stone cutter, received a broken ankle and burned face while escaping. Geo. Crone, the clerk, was internally injured by inhaling fire.

Similar scene in Seattle. Warrensburg lost a hotel and two brick buildings 1873.

NARROW ESCAPE. Other inmates of the house barely escaped with their lives, many jumping from the second and third stories of the building and sustaining slight injuries. 

THE BURNED BUILDINGS. The hotel building was constructed of pine and was built in the spring of 1865. The building was soon consigned to the flames. It was insured for contents for $4,000. The adjoining building, belonging to H. F. Clark, and the Johnson County Savings bank were totally burned. Clark's building was insured for 3,700, and the saloon contents for 1,500. The bank building was insured for 1,000. The books and papers in the safe are saved. The hotel barber shop was an almost total loss. Peter Kuitz, tailor, was insured for 500, Ruthraff, jeweler, saved his entire stock. Considerable money was deposited in the hotel safe, which was taken from the debris this morning in a good condition. Great exertion was made to save the contiguous building and fortunately, the wind favored it. Even the stable buildings of wood were saved from the scorching elements.

Mings Hotel Site, Warrensburg, Missouri

Ming Hotel Fire - 1873 ARSON

It is believed at Warrensburg that the incendiaries who set fire to and destroyed the Ming Hotel in that city last month have been identified and captured. On Thursday last Capt. Filley, City Marshal of California, received a letter from L. Collins. Marshal of Warrensburg, giving a description of two men who had escaped from the Warrensburg jail about six weeks ago, and who were believed to be the parties who fired Ming's Hotel. Capt. Filley of course was on the lookout for developments and was rewarded for his sagacity by the discovery of two men stopping at California exactly answering the description given in Collins' letter. The names of the suspected parties were David McGonnoghny and Frank Pago; they had escaped from jail in Warrensburg about the first of December and came to California on Wednesday last in company with two women of questionable character. They had rented rooms and "done the town" two days before being "gobbled up" by the City Marshal. It is believed they are notorious thieves, and that evidence convicting them to burning Ming's Warrensburg Hotel will lie forthcoming. 

The state journal. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1872-1886, January 16, 1874

PREVIOUS FIRES. 

There is a chapter of fires in this prosperous town. The town has been burned and built again, but this last calamity is the most appalling one in its brief history. There, is a deep gloom cast over us this bright Sunday morning. It is the charred remains of the unfortunate who perished as if by magic. A coroner's inquest is now being held. 

MINOR LOSSES. 

Of other losses, we mention J. M. Shepherd, lawyer, books and papers; Griggs and Cress, dentists' materials, W. P. Ashbury, justice of the peace, books, and papers, D. W. Reed and G. Will Houts, books and papers. They occupied rooms over the bank. These statements are briefly and correctly detailed and we shall apprise you of further particulars. 

J. D. MORRIS. 

Of the many citizens who diligently labored to prevent the progress of the devouring elements, we make special mention of Jas. D. Morris. He was the first one to rescue the charred bodies from the fire, and while it was raging did his work nobly and heroically.

M. E. Mulevehill, J.W. Poland, J. L. Prainty, Louis Roister  Died in Mings Hotel Fire
101 South Holden,
1873 Warrensburg, Missouri

Mr. M. E. Mulvehill, Warrensburg, Mo, also Pine
Township, Indiana County 1873

1866 Mings Hotel Opens, just two years after the railroad comes to Warrensburg

1868 Ming's Hotel was a stagecoach stop.

1947 Holden Chiefs Baseball Team Whitey Herzog player - Hart's Cub's Warrensburg - Brown's Tennessee Rats

Holden Chiefs Semi-Pro 
Baseball Team

Batboy Mike Roberts, Ralph Vossen, Jim Bodenhamer, Vick Wilde, Hank Geritz, player-manager, Verle "Stub" Roberts, Alex Zych (KC Royals HOF Equipment Mgr), Jack Pickett, Pete Vitale, and batboy Gene Hyatt. BACK - Jack Bodenhamer, Jim Griffin, Bill Delick, Ray Uniak Jim DePalo, Everett Burton, Tom Mainey, Russ Swingle, and Bill Ralahan. Holden, Missouri Chiefs 1954
From the Johnson County MO Historical  Society Bulletin

The team played in the 1954 national tournament at Wichita, Kansas. The success of the team was due to Verle J. "Stub" Roberts and his wife, and the many fans of the team. Holden built a baseball field which was the best illuminated field of its size in this state. The first game under lights was played May 29, 1947.

In 1949, the second annual baseball tournament was played in Holden with 15 teams participated and 1,000 in cash prizes. In 1951, the Holden Chiefs were in second place in the state district tournament. The team had had such a winning record that they were invited to participate in the national tournament in Wichita, KS in 1954 and 1955. They finished in 4th place in 1954, and seventh out of 53 championship teams in the the nation 1955. They were awarded three trophies; Sportsmanship, Best Dressed Team and Best Town team under 5000 population.

Through the years the Holden Chiefs played over 74 different teams. Some of the teams were the San Francisco Sea Lions, New York Black Yankees, Kansas City Giants, negro team, Kansas City Monarchs (Satchel Paige, pitcher), Detroit Stars, over 60 Missouri teams.

Whitey Herzog, former KC Royals manager played for the Holden Chiefs. Among the Johnson County Boys playing for the Holden Chiefs were Jack and Jim Bodenhamer, Dale Honey, Galen Marr, Kenny Jones, Ab Kane and Verner Shippy.

Sedalia Democrat Aug. 10, 1954

During the 19th annual Missouri State Semi-Pro baseball tournament there have been, up to the present time. 29 home runs in the 32 games which have been played. Whitey Herzog of the Holden Chiefs is leading in the home run department with four. Jerry Lumpee, former Sedalia Ban Johnson Chiefs player, now playing with the Springfield Generals, has the distinction of having hit the first circuit drive of the tournament and has two to his credit. Griffen.

Lawrence, KS World Journal July 24, 1952

The Sedalia Democrat July 30, 1954 

In the second game of the evening, the Holden Chiefs moved closer to the semi-finals by defeating the Grandview Base 5-3. The victory gives the Chiefs a 2-0 record and the loss puts Grandview down to 1-1 standing. Herzog of the Chiefs put the wood to the ball in the third inning for a home run to score Uniak ahead of him after he had singled. Griffin walked as the next batter and then scored the third run on Mainey’s single. The Grandviw Bears tallied one in the top of the sixth, added two more in the seventh to knot the score. The tie was snapped in the bottom of the eighth when Griffen walked and scored on Vossen’s single. Vossen then scored on a wild pitch, to get the leading run.

July 25, 1955 Southeast Missourian
First baseman C.W. Suedekum of the Capahas pulls into third base with his second triple of the game as Holden Third-Sacker Mainey backs up for the throw from the outfield. It was during the Missouri State Semi-Pro Tournament second-round game at Capaha Park in which the Capahas defeated the Holden Chiefs, 10 to 7. (G.D. Fronabarger photo)

The Sedalia Democrat June 23, 1950

Cubs to Seek Win Tonight Over Holden in Sedalia to Meet Strong Semi-Pro Rivals at Park The Sedalia Cubs will face the Holden Chiefs tonight in a game at Liberty park scheduled to start at 8:15 o'clock. Two weeks ago the Chiefs defeated the Cubs at Holden during a pitcher's duel which ended 1 to 0. Lefty Pickett, of Kansas City, and Bob Newbill, of the Cubs, who opposed each other in the previous game between the two clubs will probably, meet again tonight. It will be up to the Cubs to snap, the Holden six game winning streak and to avenge their recent blanking by the Chiefs. Both pitchers in that 1 to 0 game gave up only four hits. In the Sedalia lineup, Slocum, leftfielder, is leading the team in hitting with a .410 average while Barr has .340 and Hume .318. Ken Ditton, 20-year-old rookie. who played his first game with the Cubs recently will be included in Sedalia's line-up tonight. 

Former K. C. Blues In Holden Line-up. 

The Holden line-up is composed of Sedalians, Kansas Citians and players from many other nearby communities. On third base, for example, is Jimmy Taylor, an ex-Cub. Roberts and Bodenhamer, of Sedalia. are key men on the Holden club. Griffin, an ex-K. C. Blues catcher, will be behind the plate. Uniak, husky six feet, four inch first baseman from Kansas City, is one of the team's power hitters. Pitching assignments will not be confirmed until game time.

TRIBUNE COLUMN 

Boone County’s Frank Graham, J.C. Penney share ties to 4-H 

By BILL CLARK

Published Monday, May 9, 2005

What do J.C. Penney and Frank Graham have in common?

Both came from small Missouri towns, and both are members of the National 4-H Foundation Hall of Fame. In fact, they are the only two Missourians in that shrine.

J.C. Penney grew up in Hamilton, moved to Wyoming and eventually turned a small mercantile store into a multibillion-dollar mail-order and superstore empire. He developed a love affair with 4-H and became one of the youth program’s major benefactors.

Frank Graham was born and raised in Fair Grove. He was an agricultural educator who spent 50 years on the Missouri 4-H Foundation’s board of trustees and was one of the state’s outstanding amateur baseball pitchers for nearly two decades. His right arm was sought for years by the top semipro clubs for big-money games.

Frank was not one of ol’ Clark’s heroes as I grew up in Clinton. He was the hated right-hander of the Holden Chiefs, one of the Midwest’s great nonpro clubs and a rival of the Clinton Chicks, our semipro club, so named not because the Chicks were women but because Clinton was the "Baby Chick Capital of the World" with its 16 hatcheries.

The Chicks couldn’t hit Frank, who combined a live, overpowering fastball and a hard three-quarter curve. Not many could.

Frank’s early background was not with Little League but with creek gravel and jack rabbits.

The lane from the main road to his farm home was covered with the smooth, round gravel from Ozark streams, and the stones were perfect for throwing. A kid with no baseball and no catcher, even if he had a ball, developed arm strength and accuracy by throwing those smooth rocks at a knothole in the side of the barn - much to his dad’s dismay.

Jack rabbits were a tougher target. Yes, there were jack rabbits in Greene County in the 1920s.

"I threw a quarter-mile of gravel at those rabbits and haven’t hit one yet," Frank says.

When he was 16, his strong, accurate arm led to his recruitment by semipro clubs in Buffalo and Springfield, and he soon became the phenom to beat at such gatherings of Ozark talent as the Stockton Fox Hunt.

By the time Frank graduated from Fair Grove High School in 1938, he was a pro prospect who turned down an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals. He chose education first and came to the University of Missouri, where his creek gravel training was turned into Big Six championships in 1941 and 1942.

When Frank graduated in 1942 with an agriculture degree, he turned down a St. Louis Browns contract to take a position as the extension agent in Wright County. He was on his way to the big leagues, but it was not to be in baseball. Try 4-H.

After two years in Wright County, he did a yearlong tour of duty as an Army lieutenant, and he returned to the extension service in 1946, becoming the agent in Johnson County. He pitched the baseball at every stop, and it was during his three years in Warrensburg that he harassed my Clinton Chicks.

It was fun, though, watching him pitch for Holden and beat the big-city guys at places such as the Urich Reunion and Deepwater Picnic. Not even the Kansas City Monarchs or the House of David could beat him.

Frank returned to Columbia to stay in January 1949. Old-time Central Missouri baseball fans remember him as the ace of the Armstrong Merchants. Kids from all corners of the state remember him as director of the state 4-H program. Boone Countians remember him as the presiding county commissioner who was involved with major changes in county government.

The 4-H program aims to teach leadership, citizenship and life skills to both rural and urban kids between ages 8 and 18. Today there are 27,400 4-H members in Missouri, 710 of them in Boone County. More than 105,000 are enrolled in 4-H-sponsored programs statewide. Nearly 75 percent of the participants are either farm kids or come from towns of 10,000 or fewer residents.

4-H is administered by land grant universities through extension divisions. Before 1914, land grant schools were resident research and teaching institutions. In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which mandated those land grant schools to extend resident programs to people who could not attend those schools. The first Missouri 4-H club was formed in 1918 in Ironton, and within a decade, 4-H was in every county.

Frank spent 17 years directing the state program, 28 years as a trustee of the national 4-H board, six years as chairman of the Missouri Council of Children and Youth, a term as chairman of the National Extension Commission on Policy and 50 years as trustee of the state 4-H Foundation. Today he lends his name to the Frank Graham Volunteer Fund to help 4-H around the state.

J.C. Penney was a benefactor of both 4-H and the University of Missouri. Among his gifts to the university was the Foremost Guernsey Farm on Highway 40 West. He had great respect for a program that helped young folks learn by doing.

When the National 4-H Youth Conference Center opened in 1970 in Chevy Chase, Md., Penney was a major financial contributor. He received the Friend of 4-H award from MU in 1960.

Penney and Frank proved to be quite a team.

After Frank retired from the extension division in 1975, he simply shifted his organizational abilities elsewhere. From 1987 to 1990, he was presiding officer of the Boone County commission and involved with three major projects: renovating the county courthouse, building the new county corrections complex and leasing Boone County Hospital.

He was president of the Boone County Historical Society from 1996 to 1999, served on The Senior Center board of directors, has held season football and basketball tickets for more than 50 years, and owns MU lifetime pass No. 630 as a three-year Tigers letterman.

His last major pitching assignment came in 1951 when he led Mendon to the National Baseball Congress championship tournament in Wichita, Kan. In his final start, he beat Arkansas. His next start came 51 years later when he threw the first pitch at the 60-year reunion of the 1942 Big Six champs.

Frank had actually returned to the diamond - the softball diamond - several seasons earlier to catch in an old-timers league with such "younger" local stars as George Hulett, Kent Kurtz and Jim Estes. He retired a second time at age 80.

Frank’s wife of four decades, Emma Jean, died in 1985. A year later he married Olive, a former 4-H member from Illinois and a retired operating room nurse. Their combined families total five children, 17 grandkids and 19 great-grandkids.

Now you know where throwing creek gravel at a knothole can take you: to a full life and the 4-H Hall of Fame alongside J.C. Penney.

Too bad that’s not good enough to get a guy into the MU Athletic Hall of Fame as well.

HART'S CUBS

Another local baseball team before the Holden Chiefs.  This team was sponsored by Hart's Cafe at 123 East Pine Street, Warrensburg, MO. A famous hamburger hangout.  Today known as the Stone House East Pine Street Pub.

and another famous team from Holden Missouri
Brown's Tennesse Rats story link