Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-10-09
CONFIDENCE GAME.
Grand Avenue Fence Outrage Is De-
nOnccd" I'm the Upper House
of the Council.

nOnced" i'm the Upper House
of the Council.
At the meeting of the upper house of the
council last night Alderman Johnston had
a word to say about the Grand avenue
fence outrage.
MIR. President. 1 would like to know by
what authority certain private parties are
fencing up Grand avenue between Ninth
and Tenth Streets he said. Il have been
absent from a number of meetings, and I
am not informed as to just what has been
done by this council while l was away.
Since my return to the city many persons
have come to me and complained about the
fences that have been put up on Grand
avenue by these parties. They are blam-
ing me and all the other members of the
council for granting to these parties the
privilege of fencing up the street. What
l would like to know is what privileges
this council granted to these men,.
President Graham asked If any of the
members desired to inform Alderman
Johnston of the action of the upper house
in the matter. Alderman Seddon said:
John Sullivan and some other parties
came to this house and by pretending to
represent the Karnival Krewe secured the
passage of a resolution authorizing the
Karnval Krewe to erect the grand stands
and arch on Grand avenue between Ninth
and Tenth streets, but they were not given
authority to fence the street. The resolu'
tion which was also adopted by the lower
house. permitted them 10 use a part of the
sidewalk between those streets. When we
passed the resolution We supposed We were
expense of the fall festivities. and we didn't
know that we were granting these privi-
leges to a private moneymaking enterprise.
But since then we have found out that we
were the victims of a confidence game.
am frank to say that in my opinion II was
nothing more nor less than confidence
game played upon the council / under
stand that the Karniyal Krewe will not
get a dollar of the receipts"
thing on the subject. but he was prevented
by Alderman Morgan, who asked if the
matter was in the budget of the council,
for the evenings meeting. He was told
We'll. then said he. you can't consider
it. Any action we might take here tonight
in the budget"
Alderman Morgan had been the victim of
a ruling earlier in the meeting that pre-
fore the house because 1t was not in the
budget. and he was feeling sore.
Despite the universal indignation CT the
people, Grand avenue was fenced up again
last night ard sixty policemen were on
guard at each fence keeping the people
Oll lTtiT OWn street. Inc responsibility
for this abuse of the police authority rests
with the high officials of the department,
who seem to have been hypnotized by the
individuals who are running the Official
grand stands as private speculation.
Many of the police officers openly de-
nounced the orders they had received to
keep the people Off the street. AS one of
| them expressed it during the evening:
IF it came to a showdown. 1 don't be-
lieve we could have kept the people off
| the street. 1t belongs to them
Yes rOnld - said
on 9" '''e 10" anu We 'O''' Aeep 'ne'"
indignant citizen. you only are employed
| to enforce the law. and there's no law to
keep them people off the street under any,
| such circumstances"
| The crowd which gathered to witness tho
| display of tn fire department was not as
large as on former occasions. probably for
be barred off the street. Hundreds of peo-
| pie came and looked at the high fence and
then went home in disgust
| FINALLY. after the spectators with tha
active assistance of the police had got all
| the money out of the people possible tho
renee was taken down and the people were
Sraciously permitted to occupy the street
1t was one of the best -nat,ired crowds or
Carnival week that gathered from curb to
curb curb, outside s @ The fence and waited pa
| gin. hoping to catch a glimpse of the fire
fighters through the chinks in the fence
Ihe Tenth street crowd was restless but
SeIe any oiuefi! II extended from Wall
nut to MCGEE and the people except those
wedged in at the intersection of Tenth and
| Grand. generally shifted about in an ef-
| fort to obtain better view.
| Shortly before the run the crowd made
| a rush on the west section of the fence and
| Ii was with difficulty that the police main-
tanned It.. The crowds In the rear pushed
! those In front forward and the police used
! their clubs sparingly. There We're a num-
Der OF women in the rush. These were taxi
en- out by the police and sent through tho
| gates into the enclosure. After the run
| ton.
remarkable escape from accident oc-
| CURED Just before this When the fence
| was removed for the department's RIM two
| sections had been leaned against the railing
OF the official stand Several men climbed
| on top of 1t and the railing broke precipi-
tating them to the ground but none was