The Valley Falls Vindicator April 23, 2020

Out-of-the-Past PhotosValley Falls junior high school, have been notified that they have won honorable mention ratings with entries in the sev-enth and eighth grade section of Lawrence Theta Phi creative writing contest. Joan Baker, Valley Falls, Kansas Federation of Repub-lican Women president, was a member of the Kansas del-egation to the first Republican National Leadership conference at Washington, D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Merle Strole have chosen the name Rod Alan for their son born April 14 at the Holton hospital. Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Strole and Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Spielman, Valley Falls. Mrs. Ellen Strole, Birming-ham is great-grandmother.

35 years ago ...April 25, 1985 Laura Elliott sold Valley Car Wash, located on highway 16 in Valley Falls, to Henry and Gay Hobbs, Valley Falls, who have taken over the operation of the business. The car wash was built in 1975 by the late Mike Elliott and has been operated by Mrs. Elliott since his death in 1983. Bob and Linda Schneider, Nortonville, purchased the Western Auto store in Valley Falls. The Schneiders are currently farmers and will continue their diversified grain operation. Ruth Leu, Nortonville, was honored at the Jefferson County Extension Unit Spring Tea on April 11 for her 50 years of membership in the Dunavant Extension Unit. Pat Herring, Jones, La., grandson of Tony Heinen, Valley Falls, has been moved from in-tensive care unit at University

of Louisiana Hospital, Shreve-port, La. He underwent his last sur-gery April 10 and will begin therapy. Pat is the son of Lee and Mary Heinen Herring, Jones, La. Navy Airman Recruit Kev-in P. McAlpine, son of Danny McAlpine, Perry, has completed recruit training at Navy Re-cruit Training Command, Navy Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Kent Wohlge-muth, Lincoln, Nebr., have cho-sen the name Keith Michael for their son born April 13, at a Lincoln hospital. Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Don Wohlgemuth, Effing-ham, and Mr. and Mrs. Keith Atlakson, Atchison.

20 years ago ...April 27, 2000 Jurors began hearing testi-mony in Jefferson County Dis-trict court in the case against Floyd Scott Bledsoe, 23, Oska-loosa. Bledsoe was charged with the first-degree murder of Ca-mille Zetta Arfmann, who was 14 at the time she was reported missing Nov. 5. After six decades, the Valley Falls women of the Kanza Club are going to bring down the curtain on their club when the current year ends. In all, the Kanza Study Club has had 94 members in its 60-year history. Sunni Evans, Perry, was selected in local dance competi-tion to perform at the Starpower National Competitions in Or-lando, Fla., and Branson, Mo. Sunni is the daughter of Mark and Denalyn McMillin, Perry, and Kenny Evans, Law-rence.

District Court— Traffic: Brandon Troy Rodewald, 87 mph/70 mph zone, guilty, $87 fine and $108 in costs. Courtney Layne Coker, 75 mph/55 mph zone, guilty, $105 fine and $108 in costs.

Marriage licenses— Gregory A. Kramer, 26, and Victoria A. Martinez, 26, both of McLouth. Robert Kellogg, 31, and Jamie Huddleston, 30, both of Lenexa.

Register of Deeds— QC: Robert Jay Gillam aka Rob-ert J. Gillam and Susan M. Gillam, co-trustees of The Gillam Family Living Trust, to Robert Jay Gillam and Susan M. Gillam, co-trustees of The Gillam Family Living Trust, the NE1/4 of the SW1/4 of 5-11-17. WD: Justin D. Dubos et al to Jen-nie A. Lazarus, a tract of land in the N1/2 of the SE1/4 of 11-10-18. WD: Mark R. Scherer to Michael A. Brey et al, Lot 3 and the W1/2 of Lot 2, Block M, Academy Addition to the City of Winchester. WD: Peter M. Buel to Christo-pher J. Foulk Sr. et al, a tract of land in the W1/2 of the NW1/4 of 10-9-17 (Survey 2/496). WD: Mary Michele Sunshine, trustee of The M. Michele Sunshine Declaration of Trust, to Mary Mi-chele Sunshine, trustee of The Mary Michele Sunshine Revocable Living Trust, the NE1/4 of 8-9-20, with an exception. WD: Craig Steven Pruett aka Craig Pruett to Tucker I. Pruett et al, Lot 1, Stone House Creek Subdi-vision. QC: Craig Steven Pruett to Craig Steven Pruett, Lot 2, Stone House Creek Subdivision. WD: Laura E. Mills et al to Trev-or Wallace et al, Lot 230, Lakewood Hills Unit I. TD: William P. Karl and Charles Paul Karl, co-trustees of The Sarah Elizabeth Karl Estate Trust, to Ken Ottensmeier et al, the S1/2 of the North 80 acres of the SW1/4 of 18-9-20. WD: Kyle Newell et al to Justine Kimmi, Lot 7, with an exception, Lot 8 and the S1/2 of Lot 9, with an exception, all in Block 25, Newell’s Addition to the City of Oskaloosa. WD: Douglas J. Spencer aka Douglas Spencer et al to Kyle New-ell et al, Lot 4, Chanel Subdivision. QC: Arletta R. Anderson to Ar-letta R. Anderson et al, a tract of land in the SW1/4 of 7-11-17 and a tract of land in the SE1/4 of 7-11-17. WD: Brandi Swafford to Anthony James Lederer et al, Lots 14 and 16, Block 3, Original Town of Rock Creek.

Sheriff’s reports— April 9: Officers responded to a report of — a theft in the 10300 blk. N. K-92 Hwy., rural McLouth.

— a disturbance in the 400 blk. 12th St., Valley Falls. — trespassing in the 4300 blk. Wallace Rd., rural Oskaloosa. — illegal trash dumping in the 9900 blk. Village Ln., rural Ozawk-ie. April 11: Officers responded to a report of — trespassing in the 19300 blk. Stairstep Rd., rural McLouth. — trespassing in the 6000 blk. West Lake Rd., rural Ozawkie. — trespassing in the 6000 blk. Republic Rd., rural Oskaloosa. — a theft in the 600 blk. S. Fre-drick St., McLouth. — a theft in the 600 blk. S. Union St., McLouth. — a disturbance in the 700 blk. Walnut St., Oskaloosa. — a theft in the 200 blk. S. Palm-berg St., Meriden. — shots heard in the 6000 blk. Ferguson Rd., rural Oskaloosa. April 12: Officers responded to a report of — a theft in the 2400 blk. K-4 Hwy., rural Grantville. — a theft in the 2400 blk. K-4 Hwy., rural Grantville. — a theft in the 2400 blk. K-4 Hwy., rural Grantville. April 13: Officers responded to a report of — threats made in the 4800 blk. Saratoga Dr., rural McLouth. — shots heard in the 1200 blk. Nemaha Rd., rural Oskaloosa. In addition, officers recovered lost or stolen property at Devil’s Gap, Perry Lake. April 14: Officers responded to a report of — a burglary in the 10700 blk. Perry Park Dr., rural Perry. In addition, officers recovered stolen property in both the 2700 blk. N.E. 35th St., Topeka, and the 4300 blk. 39th St., rural Grantville. April 15: Officers responded to a report of — forgery/fraud in the 6600 blk. Kimberly Dr., rural Ozawkie. — a theft in the 8500 blk. 142nd St., rural Valley Falls. Officers also responded to the following calls for service. Abandoned vehicle, 1; alarm, 5; animal call, 7; check welfare, 6; citi-zen assist, 19; domestic disturbance, 3; felony arrest, 1; juvenile call, 1; keep the peace, 1; misdemeanor ar-rest, 3; suspicious activity, 6; traffic problem, 4; vehicle check, 2; 911 hang-up, 5.

Accidents: April 5, evening hours: Faith N. Becker, 21, Meriden, escaped injury when she lost control of the 2014 Polaris she was operating “on the loose gravel” on 86th Street, causing the eastbound utility task vehicle to overturn in the south ditch. The accident, which occurred just east of Village Greens Road, was not reported until 5 p.m. the following day. April 7, 8:27 a.m.: Amos E. Yoder, 47, Perry, the driver of a 2014 Chev-rolet Silverado, was attempting to make a left turn into an alley behind a business in Perry so that he could drop off a mower when the trailer carrying the mower struck a 2018 Chevrolet Colorado legally parked in the 100 block of Main Street. The

owner of the Colorado is James A. Arend Jr., Perry. April 11, 5:53 p.m.: Karen L. Hypse, 66, Everest, was heading south on K-4 in a 2009 Subaru For-ester when the sport utility vehicle veered to the right and went off the highway, at which point she was able to bring the vehicle back onto the highway. But she overcorrected after the Forester crossed the center line, causing the vehicle to again veer to the right, and it skidded off the highway and traveled about 50 feet before hitting and damag-ing a utility pole owned by Evergy, Topeka. Hypse refused medical at-tention at the scene. The accident took place a quarter of a mile south of 74th Street.

Jail bookings— April 9, 8:55 a.m.: Lisa Buch-anan, 39, failure to appear. April 9, 10:50 a.m.: Patricia Perkins, 34, driving while a ha-bitual violator, driving while license suspended (third or subsequent conviction) and interference with law enforcement officer. April 9, 4:15 p.m.: Shannon Bickford, 33, domestic battery and aggravated endangering a child. April 14, 3:40 a.m.: Travis Walk-er, 39, burglary, three counts of felony theft of property/services and two counts of felony criminal damage to property.

Courthouse records

Out of the PastReprinted from the files of The Valley Falls Vindicator—Compiled by Bridget Weishaar

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Any information about these and other photos that have run in this section is encouraged and welcome. We love hearing from you. Please email responses to: vindicator@embarqmail.com

65 years ago ...April 27, 1955 Mrs. Sam Leu, Boyle Boost-ers; and Mrs. Leo Hiebsch, Grayson 4-H Club, Oskaloosa; accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Har-old Gottsch, club agent, to the Annual State Conference for adult club leaders and Exten-sion agents in Hutchinson, April 18-20. Mrs. Leu, who completed her 15th year as community leader of the Boyle Boosters 4-H Club, received a scholarship to attend this state convention, and was honored at the banquet. Mrs. L.O. Howard, who has operated the Hotel here for many years, retired this week and will make her home with her sister, Dr. Edna Snyder, in the apartment recently vacated by Charles Marsh. The Boy Scout Troop held a court of honor April 20 in its meeting room. Badges were presented by G.K. Lowry, rep-resentative of the Rotary Club, which sponsors the Troop. John Griffith was presented the second class scout award. Terry Marsh received the Ar-chitecture Merit badge. Kem Lowry received the Railroading Merit badge. Dean Hatfield and Loren Cain were invested as Tenderfoot Scouts.

50 years ago ...April 23, 1970 The Perry Lake Association has a newly established office located in the Meriden State Bank and will be an informa-tion office for visitors and a coordinating office for the Aug. 15 dedication of the lake. Rick Ward has been pro-moted to Lance Corporal while serving with the Marine Corps in Vietnam. Elaine Hefty, Tina Shrimplin and Ken Besancon, students of

Trial . . .(Continued from page 4)

See Trial Page 6

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KWPT Commission to hold virtual meeting Due to concerns related to COVID-19, the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commis-sion will conduct its next public meeting through a Zoom video conference April 23. The public is invited to par-ticipate in the meeting, which will begin at 1:30 p.m., recess at 5 p.m., and reconvene at 6:30 p.m. for a public hearing. Time will be set aside for public com-ment on non-agenda items at the beginning of both sessions. Interested parties may par-ticipate in the meeting through one of three following meth-ods: A) Log Into Zoom Visit https://zoom.us/meet-ing/register/u5QtcOmqrT-MqyhP2Ri9OYP3Kq4X-ZBqf0g.Register by entering your first and last name, and email ad-dress. Once registered, you will be provided a link to “join the meeting.” Visitors will be muted upon entering the meeting. To comment or ask a question, type into the chat area. B) Call In: 1-877-853-5257 1. When a meeting ID is re-quested, enter: 600702380# 2. When a participant ID is requested, enter: # 3. For comments or ques-tions, email: kdwpt.kdwptinfo@ks.gov C) Watch Live Video/Audio Stream Individuals may watch a live video/audio stream of the meet-ing on https://ksoutdoors.com/commission-meeting The afternoon session will begin with an agency and state status report, as well as a 2020 legislative session update. A general discussion will take place on electronic records for fur dealers and falconry regula-tions. Workshop topics – items that may be voted on at a future com-mission meeting – will follow, with furbearer regulations and deer seasons on Fort Riley being presented. Commissioners will then recess by 5 p.m. and reconvene at 6:30 p.m. to vote on the fol-lowing: •Sandhillcraneseasondatesand management unit boundar-ies •2020-2021Waterfowlsea-son dates •Duckhuntingzones •Antelopeseason •Elkseason •Quarteringofbiggamecarcasses •Theuseoflock-drawdevic-es during the archery season •Deerseason

In the interests of the people of Jefferson county and of justice a general protest is in order. “Judge Gephart rules ac-cording to the supreme court decision. The attorney for the defense apply that decision to every juryman—the whole proceedings are blocked and the people foot the bills. “There is little hope of se-curing a jury this week. As we go to press jury men are still being challenged for cause and if twelve men are obtained the defense has twelve peremptory challenges and the whole thing must be done over again. It seems doubtful now that any jury can be obtained under this pernicious law.” Because of what amounted to “the adult nature,” if you will, of the proceedings, once the trial had commenced, Judge Gephart wouldn’t allow anyone under the age of 16 to be present in the courtroom, and on one occasion he “ordered the officers to clear the court room” of everyone who had laughed at something they had heard, quoting here from the April 6 issue of The Tribune. Was it men who laughed? Or women? Or both? In any event, each gender was well repre-sented in the gallery. From the aforementioned ac-count of the trial in the March 30 issue of The Independent: “There has been a large at-tendance on the trial through-out the week, nearly all the standing room even, being tak-en up yesterday. About 50 to 75 women were in attendance yesterday afternoon.” It was left to W.B. Cop-pinger, Louis Stoeffler, Crocket McBride, N.W. Housh and B. Noll, all of Winchester, G.A. Allen and O.C. Dewey, both of Ozawkie, S. Green and J.L. Corkadel, both of Valley Falls, W.O. Wright, Grantville, A. Re-ichart, Half Mound, and Jas. M. Vanatta, Nortonville, to decide the fate of Kirby, who was in his mid-40s. They got the case the

afternoon of April 3 and deliber-ated for six hours before they were taken to a local hotel and sequestered for the night, their rooms guarded by the bailiff. According to the aforemen-tioned account of the trial in the April 6 issue of The Tribune, when the first vote was taken in the jury room, eight of the men voted in favor of declaring the crime to be murder in the first degree, two voted for murder in the second degree, and the remaining two voted for man-slaughter in the second degree. After deliberating the case for two more hours the morning of April 4, the jurors arrived at a compromise verdict: Kirby was guilty of murder in the second degree. Here is how the decision was reported in the April 13 issue of The Independent: “T.C. Kirby was found guilty of murder in the second degree for killing G.A. Foley, Union Pacific agent at Perry. Foley boarded at Kirby’s hotel, and he was accused of having caused the downfall of Kirby’s daugh-ter.” In the aforementioned ac-count of the trial in the April 6 issue of The Tribune, it was reported that “the verdict is a popular one and the jury are to be commended,” but that “a great many” think Kirby should have been found guilty of first-degree murder. The reporter (i.e., the edi-tor and publisher) went on to write that “the sentence in our opinion should be for not less than 20 years,” noting that a “colored man” by the last name of Hayden had recently gotten 20 years for stabbing a man during a fight while intoxicated. “Kirby planned this murder for a week,” he wrote. The verdict in, Morse and Casebier wasted no time in filing a motion with the court asking for a new trial, and that motion was considered May 3. Second affidavits for either the state or the defendant were

received at that time, and after hearing from the attorneys on the two sides, Judge Gephart denied the motion that Kirby be retried. Here is how the decision was reported in the May 4 issue of The Times under “District Court Notes.”: “The motion for a new trial in the Kirby case came up yes-terday and was overruled. Kirby was then sentenced to 25 years at hard labor in the peniten-tiary.”

The Rest of the Story

Determined to win their client another trial, Morse and Casebier were able to get the Kansas Supreme Court to take a look at the Kirby case, and in February 1901 the high court reversed the district court’s earlier decree and ordered a new trial. This development was captured in the following story, which was published in the Feb. 15 issue of The Valley Falls Vindicator: “Thomas C. Kirby formerly of Perry, who was tried a year ago for killing G.A. Foley, Union Pacific agent at Perry, and con-victed of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the penitentiary for 25 years, has, through the masterly and pre-sistent efforts of his attorneys, Messrs D.H. Morse and H.H. Casebier secured a new trial. The decision of the supreme court reversing the district court reached here Wednesday and was the cause of much rejoicing among the family and friends of the defendant, and was a strong testimonial of the ability and ingenuity of the at-torneys for the defendant. The