Display of Dead Wife's Ashes Angers Former Ballplayer

1915

Mike Donlin Demands Revenge in Court

Mike Donlin, who forsook the New York National League baseball club for the stage, asked Magistrate Simms in a New York court to punish Ray E. Frye for alleged desecration of the ashes of Mabel Hite, Donlin's deceased wife, an actress, who died in 1912.

The former baseball star charged that the employees of Campbell's undertaking establishment were guilty of disorderly conduct by utilizing the urn containing the actress' ashes as a "prop" in a "press agent frame-up" staged one night recently at Murray's restaurant in New York.

According to the testimony of Jack Best, coat room boy at the cafe, Frye came in for supper on the night in question, and left the carefully wrapped urn in his care with the admonition that he "Be careful of it because it may explode." Visions of concealed bombs prompted the boy to tell Patrick Kyne, manager of the restaurant, what Frye had told him. The urn containing the ashes was placed in a bucket of water and the police notified. Detective Egan got it and found it harmless and returned it. In the meantime Frye had left the restaurant without Mabel Hite's ashes.

Magistrate Simms dismissed the defendant after hearing the full testimony. Frye said that he was taking the urn to a new repository where it was to be left until Donlin gave orders for its disposal and that he had forgotten it when he left after his supper. He admitted having told the coat boy that it might explode, but said that he had done so to insure better care of it. Donlin and Kyne nearly came to blows in the corridor of the courthouse after the case had been tried.

Commits Suicide By Exploding Dynamite Between His Teeth

1917

Fargo, June 30. — Adolph Peterson, 35 years of age, unmarried, a farm hand employed by E. O. Studlein, near Moorhead, Minn., killed himself early this morning by exploding a stick of dynamite between his teeth. NO cause for his action is known. Peterson was injured in an accident several years ago, and at times has been irrational.


Runaway Team Grind 18-Months Babe Into Dust of Barn Yard

Ryder, N. D., June 30 — The 18-months-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Johnson of Rice Lake was instantly killed while playing in the barnyard of his home by a runaway team, which took fright on the prairies, and in their mad dash for the stable ran over the little one, grinding him to pieces under their hoofs.


Cromwell's Last Words

Of the great Oliver, who brought Charles I to the scaffold, Thomas Carlyle has written a notable book, and in the fine description of the death scene Cromwell's last words are recorded. When, being restless, he was offered something to drink, he said: "It is not my design to drink or sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone."

—The Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, June 30, 1917, page 3.

Amateur "Fixes" Gas Tank

Hot Iron-Then Neighbors Called the Police Reserves and the Fire Department.

New York.-"Now then, doggie, we'll have this thing fixed in a jiffy," said William S. Grey to his dog, as he placed a hot soldering iron on a partly filled gasoline tank in the kitchen of his home.

The tank on his auto had been leaking and he decided to fix it.

He had scarcely finished the sentence when the top of the tank went up to the ceiling.

Tenants on the three upper floors rushed to the street, police reserves, firemen and detectives were called and Inspector Callahan of the bureau of combustibles, who was in the neighborhood, ran to the house.

The police entered the apartment to take charge of a corpse, but found only a broken window, a dismembered tank and a perfectly healthy man.

--The Bessemer Herald, Bessemer, Michigan, April 9, 1921, page 2.

Small Boy Thought It Was a Giant Fire Cracker

A small boy, whose name was not disclosed, found a dynamite bomb weighing two pounds on the bank of Indian Creek, near Frank Street, Council Bluffs. The stick of dynamite was encased in a steel tube, and at the fuse end there was nearly half a pint of blasting powder.

The boy, under the impression that it was a giant firecracker which he had found, took it to the news stand of C. Kringle, on East Broadway, for the purpose of selling it. Kringle, recognizing the dangerous character of the thing, notified the police and the bomb was taken in charge by Deputy City Marshal Leuch.

Who manufactured the bomb or how it came to be lying on the bank of Indian Creek are matters which the police department is now investigating.

--The Sioux County Bee, Rock Valley, Iowa, July 10, 1903, page 1.



Harry T. Spotts Suicides

Harry T. Spotts committed suicide by hanging at Battle Creek. He attempted suicide several weeks ago by poison, but failed, owing to prompt action on the part of his relatives in summoning a doctor in time to save his life. He has been suffering from sunstroke for the past two years and to this cause is attributed the determination to end his life.

--The Sioux County Bee, Rock Valley, Iowa, July 10, 1903, page 1.
(Battle Creek is a town in Iowa, near Ida Grove and Correctionville.)