St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 7, 1909

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; ee ~ A . are my * eS alee oA ¥, Spore Stel dete . miss I> AN ~ x « BS es i ad Only Evening Paper in St. Louis With the Associated Press News Service ane ST. LOUIS, “MONDAY ‘EVENING, JUNE z "1909.

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“VOL. 61. ‘NO. “291. PRICE ONE CENT | Pps ——

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“YELLOW KID” MOHRLE SLAIN IN FOUR C Thomas Kane Kills Him With Revolver Owned by Sam Young

Man Sh th in the Four Courts, Constable C "Who Kilied H im and Photo- Diagram a Trdgedty FIVE SHOTS j IR ee a he te le te te eX a ead PPPs rrr ooy YOUTH THREATENS

Loetoetocteagnesrecoesoesoece ese ecoe lee soe swe ceesoes oeSoegoriregoesnetoece neteetestnetoatnesnetoe’: oafoesoece 4 Soetoegeatoes

DEATH: ASKS $2000 OF MRS. WRIGHT

hn es ie) Society Woman of 33 Westmore- land Place Gave Letter to Authorities.

WRITER CAUGHT WHEN HE CALLED AT POSTOFFICE

Admits His Guilt and Declares He Wanted Cash to Use in Supporting His Mother--Mrs. Wright’s Son to Wed Virginia Frew Today.

Jesse J. Felchlin, 19 years old, confessed Monday that he was the writer of a threatening letter demanding $2000 from Mrs. Vir- ginia B. Wright of 33 Westmoreland place, whose son, Thurston Wright, is to be married in Pittsburg Monday afternoon to Miss Virgina Frew, daughter of a steel multimillionaire. “It will cost the life of one who !s dearest to you,’’ wrote the youth, in warning Mrs. Wright of the -conse- quences of failing to send him, by mail, the sum he demanded. Mrs. Wright is the mother of Mrs. George W. Simmons and of Mrs. Charles Parsons Pettus, two of the wealthiest young matrons in St. Louis society. Thomas H. Wright. a clubman of the most exclusive set, is her elder son. All the members of the family are now in Pittsburg, Mrs. Wright and Thomas Wright having left St. Louis last Wed- nesday and her daughters and their husbands two days earlier. Young Felchlin,, a shoe worker, told postoffice inspector Monday that, when poverty had driven him to the verge of suicide he chanced to read in a news- paper of the coming Wright-Frew mar-

LETTER DEMANDING $2000 OF MRS. WRIGHT ST. LOUIS, 5-29, ’09. Keep your mouth shut and keep this from the public. Mrs. R. B. Wright, 33 West- moreland place, City: I want $2000 mailed to the general postoffice at Ninth and Olive streets. Must be in envelopes, each con- taining $500, with bills from $10 to $50. 1 want it without fail the 6th day of June, or it will cost the life of one whe is dearest to you, 2, e a ee me a >, © . a a a A aX & te ~- ?, oan eee 2. 2. 2. & © } pO O09? * 6 > 2. © + Oe See Mee, ng Lees + o*; oe aoe? So ' S " 4 “— . *» — “~ “ 4) * o% . _ oe $ P . Pe » 8 7 » o~ ~ PI A o ” ~ oe%,”, Ke z ‘ i. Op Ee Me lat sin Pulta ale’ COC I Oy NED BOY INTO HIS BACK

Trial for Shooting Former ‘ E Constable. ©

‘(VE BURNED THE YELL KID,” EXPLAINS -_

Latest Victim of Gang Ethics Had Often § That He Would Be Shot to Death- : Five Bullets Fired Rapidly in © Crowded-Corridor.

LAWYER SLAPS AIS OPPONENT AT COURTHOUSE Ex-Senator Matthews Resents Wellston Anti-Incorpora- tion Leader’s Remarks. Former State Senator Buell L. Mat- thews, attorney for the Wellston incor- porationists, ‘“‘took a poke at’’ G. H. Foree, an anti-incorporation leader, on

MOHRLE’ S PROPHECY OF maaSis _ WHICH KANE'S BULLET PR b§ (AJ OW they're going to get me. I’ve had word three days to live. The 'time’s up tomorrow. — am of them. I.won't run. I won't leave town, I wae Be raised here and I'm going to live and die here. But they may in the back. I've got my eyes open. . They..can’t get: me. from the fro —Mohrle’s statement ta OREN ti renee: “Apel reas :

When Fred H. “Monrle: known as’ “the Yellow Kia," a | Canstable Sam J. Young, stepped. into. the Four Courts ¢ Monday, while his attorney, former Licut.-Gov. Charles , Jol fwas preparing to ask that the charge of second d against him be continued, he was shot and killed by Thomas ( | Kane, formerly a deputy under Young in Justice O'Halloran © Cou now a deputy under Constable Mike Kinney. Kane is. know r ' ) member of a gang called ‘* Egan’ s mais, "* The shopting wi was | fulfillment of a gang vendetta. © ; Mohrle left Judge Fisher’s court room after being: w ‘to do so by Gov. Johnson and others, to smoke. a cigarette. shot with Sam Young’s revolver, a big weapon with a n e% Roetoeseeseetoetoesonte If you refuse, you will lose a lifelong loved one. It won’t do you any good to put the police the Clayton Courthouse lawn. at noon Monday, following the midday adjourn- ment of.the County Court. master, Herman Vordenberg, who lay dead in Sycamore Slough, near the club- house of the Horseshoe Lake Fishing Club, 38 miles east of Belleville, late Sunday afternoon. Vordenberg, who was 56 years old and unmarried, for seven years past has been watchman and caretaker at the clubhouse. The club is owned by Belle- ville sportsmen. Sunday afternoon Herman Wagemal and other members of the club went out there to fish. Sycamore Slough, which riage. He then. conceivec the idea of obtaining the money by threats from Mrs. Wright, who, he concluded, must ade heal ae ev ese, neo raad integrity upon me when. I demand the jury to one of her family. He said he money at the Postoffice, for I had no particular member of the won't call for the four letters. family in mind when he wrote, “If you ‘refuse, you will lose a lifelofhg loved one.’’ He had no intention, he said, of any reprisals if the letter were not answered. He wrote and mailed his letter Satur- day night, May 29. It was received at Kane ran across Clark avenue to a shed back ot Pelee Hi Mntinedateiick Fores with he sadn ee where he was arrested. Mohrle was put ni ps bam: hand after a short discussion of re-| lance and taken to the City Hospital. He died-on the marks which Foree had made at thé] the Fourteenth street bridge, and from the mop the b hearing, and which Matthews took as a reflection on himself. taken to the Morgue. Mobrie, William Wright of 2006 Franklin avenue, who was ms 2 *

Seeeetey I will get some innocent young man to go and get it for me. If he fails, or is disturbed, while getting it, it will mean death for the one spotted. oe “T’ve stood your abuse long enough,”’ ndic amet eae yi Pre ec aed him on a second degree murder charge growing out of the Young wl sharply. and Attorney Johnson went to the Four Courts before 10 a. mm. Foree marched over to Justice Werre-| took seats at a big table reserved for attorneys: and their etignte mevyer’s court and swore out a warrant! the Judge’s desk. 5 ae oe *, * @. “ 2¢ + Known as the “Yellow Kid.” | Sorsorteete retoetoetoetoetoate sioatonsosSoetesivecvecontotiosipecaronte Lecgecloalnate oatontwasente etoesoateetoete oetodie ioateeloetialotis peleetedtoate ize

the Wright home the following day. and Monday, May 31, Thomas H. Wrighr turned it over to Postoffice inspectors. The inspectors easily trapped Felcl.- lin by writting letters such as he di- rected, and waiting at the general de- livery window Sunday, the day when his letter stated that the letters would be called for. Mrs. Wright, who is the widow of Richard B. Wright, is generally known by her given name. But the newspaper item which young Felchlin read men- tioned her as ‘Mrs. R. B. Wright,” and he addressed her by that name. Decoy Letters Mailea. ' _ Following the directions in his let- ter, Inspector Dickson prepared four letters, each having a bulky appear- ance, but containipg only blank paper. These were addressed, according to - @irections, to “Mr. Clearnce Tubbon,”’ the inspector copying the peculiar spell- ing of the first name, which was ap- parently intended for “Clarence.” The letters were mailed and post- marked at 9 a. m. Sunday, and Inspec- tors Lewis and Daniel, detailed to watch for the writer, had to wait only half an hour. At 9:30 the clerk at the general deliv- ery windew, who had been instructed in advance, signalled to the inspectors, @nd they stepped forward and arrested Feichlin, woh had just claimed and re- ceived the four iectters. Denies Gullt at First. The young man was taken upstairs, and the inspectors, together with In- threatening letter to Mrs. For @ moment the prisoner protested innocence and ignorance. “A fellow asked me to come down and get these letters for him,"’*We said. “Come, come,” said Sullivan, ‘we know all about that. You thought . pou'd get.out of it by putting a line in “pour Jetter about sending another fel- ; as That’ e very thin. a aia write we youth after a pause, Mail the letters, not money or- ders nor registered, simply in four business letters, Address to MR, CLEARNCE TUBBON. Beware! Demanded by the Three. $2000 or death. but think in our favor. Bm. A. A. Think,

hadn't been so desperate I was almost crazy. “My father doesn’t work, and I've been supporting him and my mothe, too. We had small, dark rooms at 2012 Franklin avenue for a home, and we could only afford the poorest and cheap- est of everything. “Week before last I got to thinking that things were not going to get any better Saturday, May 29, before } went to work, I left $4 with my mother to buy provisions and things she needed for the house. When I got home in the evening she told me my father had tak- en the money, and had spent it for him- self. “That made me resolve to kill my- self, and I went out on the street, in- tending to buy a gun, or some acid, or maybe to jump into the river. “Then I got to thinking that it would be cowardly to abaridon my mother that way. I had a newspaper in my pocket, and I pulled it out and read about this Mrs. Wright, whose son is going to mar- ry a rich young Woman, and I wondered if she wouldn’t send me some money. Wanted to Frighten Her. “Then I thought of trying to frighteo her into sending it, and I went home, wrote the letter and went right out anu mailed it. “I did mean to send someone else ty the Postoffice, but when the Une canio I couldn't think of anyone I could get ty do it, or could trust. So I went myseit. “tT have hardly siept since I wrote the letter, 1 guess it worried me a jot more than it did Mrs. Wright.” rover statements were put by a into the form of an aff;- hich was signed by the prisoner,

RA SS Medea: Rt: ae ey eee ee Pe # aS as at tes sg SES ae x m $03 se © - se iS 4 a] is eomnacted. with tied Gat ieee 7 eee neem stated ttstada death dad tatata litte laden close by the road which the clubmen travel from the railroad depet to the clubhouse. Dogs Yelp and Whig In passing the slough the fishermen noticed Vordenberg’s dogs, Brownie and Prince, running up and down on the bank and yelping excitedly. Now and then the yelp would become a distress- ful whine. The clubhouse docr was found open. Inside were Vordenberg’s shotgun and fishing tackle, laid out as if the owner had intended to do some hunting and fishing. The club members made in- cuiries of the neighbors, but could find no trace of Vordenberg. They fished on the lake during the afternoon and ate supper at the clubhouse. While they were eating, the dogs came and barked and whined near the door, then ran back to Sycamore Slough. Herman Wageman followed them. Lying in the willows near the bank of the slough he found Vorden- berg’s body. The watchman’s skiff Was near by. Though Vordenberg passed much of his Mfe on the water, he could not swim. It is believed that he went out on the slough Saturday night and fell out of his boat. -_<-—<—s— oo TABLE MANNERS OFFEND INDIAN NEW YORK, June 7.—Chief Shooting Star of a Wild West show went on strike today at a near-by park. Shoot- ing Star is the stage name of Walter Pau!, a full-blooded member of the fast- dying race of Pequods, and when he solicited a job at the park yesterday rorning he was put to wopk to im- personate a Sioux. Shooting Star went through the afternoon performance all right and appeared to be the most bloodthirsty of the band. The Indians are served with meals on the show ground. It was because of this feature that Shooting Star threw up his job. As he expressed it. “You know, I cannot bring myself to dine with people, even of my own race, who are addicted to such shocking table man-

ners ag are these Sioux gentlemen, hee -_— -_—- + - - ne ee

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ST. LOUIS, June 7, 1909.

BULLETIN 114 (One Hundred and Fourteen)

For 114 consecutive Sundays. covering a period of two fullyears and 10 Sundays, The Sunday Post Dispatch Has Beet’ First in Sunday Advertising (Excluding Republic Centennial Number.) Less cheap legal. x*«* Yesterday's ( Sunday) figures : - Post-Dispatch Globe-—Democrat ... . Republic © tye ines Sunday Post-Dispatch Excess Over Republic. 6) 6" % Over Globe-Democrat. ... 26 The above meagurements are all on a column for column basis. 239 Cols. ann...“ —— . 116 Cols. x *& x" “The supreme test of the advertising value of a newspaper is —does it carry the préponderance of the local advertising? A newspaper which prints the most advertising, month after month, ’ year after year is always the. best advertising medium.” (Extract from a New York expert’s opinion.) Yesterday’s (Sunday, June 6) circulation figures: 256,793 EE

= Circulation Books Open to. All 4 “First in Everything.”

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charging Matthews with assault. Most of the discussion at Monday morning’s hearing was over the signa- ture to the incorporation petition. The ‘antis’’ have attacked the validity of some of the signatures. SHOWERS AND COOLER IS TONIGHT’S BILL AT THE WEATHER BUREAU THEATER THE .TEMYERATURES. Midnight 74 12 (

Ye Officer Gilhooly is ‘on trial for smoking a cigar on his beat. President Laird: What have you to say for yourself, officer? Githeoly: I saved a life, yer honor. Laird: How was that? Gilhooly: Well, a citizen was about to smoke that cigar when I induced him to give it to me. The cigar would have <iled a citizen, Laird: Put down wo merit marks for Officer Gil- heoly. You will win 4 jalo on police parade day if you keep UP this record, officer. .You are an honor to the force. The Board adjourned, The official forecast: Showers and ecoler tonight and ‘Tuesday; variable winds. HERE S$ HOPING BUP DOZIER LANDS OW

lesouri—Showers tonight and Tuesday: ee “in south portion

At 10 a. m. Gov. Johnson iedmed over and whispered t Mohrie: ing to move for a continuance in this cage...Whatever you do, don’t courtroom. You know that gang. You know you're ini grave oe “ Deputy Sheriff Tom Hauek also warned Mohrie. But at 10:15 “the ¥ Kid” left his seat, walked out of the courtroom and rolled a 4 door. CHATTING WITH FRIENDS IN CROWDED CORRIDOR. Judge Fisher's court is in the east wing of the Four Courts, cigarette, Mohrle walked across the hall, past the broad steps leading second floor, and anereedhed the aon ee Jailer Wolff's office. There he met two friends and they chatted One stood on either side of Mohrie about a foot from him.) © § © ~ 77 The corridor was filled with the ustal Monday morning ¢ wort z witnesses, court attaches, sightseers and policemen. aid Five shots in rapid succession rang out over the hum of « Mohrle fell face downward to the floor, His two friends ran ay in the corridor scattered, men seeking shelter bebind column, tors, wherever they could get behind anything. ‘ Kane, with Sam Young's big weapon in his hand, was seen to @ ash a few steps of the broad staircase and across Clark avenue. Every | oli in the corridor drew his revolver, but none dared to shoot be | ed masses of humanity shrinking against the wall. No one Kane. ath Me arb ye ah os