The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-06-10
WONDERFUL DEN.
Thieves Nest With Many Under
ground Rooms Found in st. joe

ground Rooms round St Joe.
st. Joseph, Mo-, June 1O-The most
wonderful house in st. Joseph is oc-
cupied by Edward Ross, at the corner
of Sixteenth and Sylvanie streets. This
structure, which is used rooming
house for negroes and as a rendezvous
for the tough element of that race is
built in the side of a hill and is a maze
of apartments, many of which are dug
out of the hill and extend far into the
bowels of the earth.
A case in the police court against
Ross, charging him with maintaining a
house for Illegal purposes, has been on
the docket for several days. 1t was
called up this morning, but on account
of the absence of Ross attorney it was
again continued and will be heard next
Monday. The peculiar nature of the
case, rising out of the threat made by
members of the police department some
time ago to arrest the owners of dis
orderly houses as well as the inmates,
makes it one of test Importance and
City Attorney Heyde had the company
and assistance of City Counselor Cas-
teel when the case was read from the
docket today.
The fact that all sorts of sights and
sounds may be seen and heard in this
house and that it is a favorite gather
ing place for a small army OF negroes
and low whites whose deeds are dark,
is not the remarkable feature of the
place. Police officers who have partic-
ipated in more than one raid on the
place say it is impossible for one who
is not acquainted with the place to go
| through it without either getting lost
or winding up where he started, after
having made deceptively circuitous
| journey through the bewildering sue
Cession of stuffy rooms and dens.
ct is a dime museum maze without
| the Mirrors said a secret service Off
| the superlative signifying filth and dirt
must be thrown in beside. great
! cave could not be more confusing in lis
| network of alleys and rooms and mar
| row passes. No one but Edward Ross
and those who are his intimate asso-
| ciates know the number of rooms in the
| house and under it.
| The great hill against which it rests
| has been tunneled out until it is a net
| work of apartments that are foul and
| Ioud-smelling. Far under the ground
rooms have been followed out and
| away back under the bosom of the high
| clay hill small dugouts lead to others
and the excavations multiply into an
| interminable confusion. 1t is said to be
| a safe estimate that there are at least
| so rooms in the house and hill COM
| bined.
| A number of the police officers have
| participated in raids on the place and
| they are satisfied they have never seen
| one-ffth of the rooms When raid is
made one of the occupants may lead the
| police a chase through a series of doors
and small openings and the officer will
find himself going round ana round,
utterly bewiidered as to his bearings
! and completely at the mercy of the one
he is trying to catch.
| There are said to be many rooms that
| have never been entered save by those
| who are a part of the shady circle of
| crooked friendship that surrounds the
| place and makes it a refuge for those
| who are seeking to avoid capture. With
| the exception of one white man, whose
wife is a negress, the regular occupants
| of the place are colored. White peop'e
visit it many times, but there is only
| one regular Eoomer there whose skin Is
| not black.