Omaha daily bee., 1906-07-08
NO one WILL Be PROSECUTED
Such is Official Statement After Two YER
diets in Kursaal Disaster
sARPY COUNTY INQUEST IS CONCLUDED
Finds deaths Due Solely 90 Gross,
wanton and Criminal Careless
ness of MANAGEMENT and
Owners of Resort"

With a Jury empaneled at Papillion, Dr. I
r. r Armstrong. coroner OF Sarpy county, /
Nebraska held the second inquest at the
kursaal at Lake Manawa yesterday after
noon over the victims OF the Fourth of
July disaster these comprised the jury:
Ernest r. RingO, attorney; g. p. Miller,
county superintendent Of schools and ed
itor Of the Papilion Times; P. d. McCor-
mick county clerk; 1. II. Mcdaniel. clerk OF
the district court; F. Z. bowling. barber;
r ID. Rhode, contractor and builder, all
residents Of Papillion.
The following is the full text OF the YER
dict returned by the jury:
At an inquest held at Manhattan Beach
in Sarpy county. Nebraska. on the 9Th day
of July, 1905, before me, Robert b. Arm
strong, coroner Of said county, upon the
bodies Of Bessie Hyland, Scott r. Hum,
Mary Looney, Mary Sheehan, Mary West
and Lena Roscnblum lying dead, by the
Jurors whose names are hereto subscribed,
silld Jurors upon their oath do say that
raid persons met their death on the even
ing OF July I, 1906, by drowning in the
aforesaid. and that said drowning was
occasioned by the collapse OF a portion OF
the floor of the VCranda OF the bath house
OF "Kursaal' located on the south side OF
said lake.
we further find that the deaths were due
solely to gross, wanton and criminal care
| lessness OF the management and owners of
said resort in permitting thousands OF
| construction Of which was entirely made
| quate and insufficient to sustain the great
weight thereby imposed upon IT.
| We further find that no effort was made
! to Prevent the overcrowding of said We
randa and that no attention was given IN
| proper and efficient attention OF sufficient
! number of capable employees in restraining
said crowd from going. upon said platform
! I'm large numbers would in all probability
! have prevented said accident and saved
| the lives Of the persons drowned
| Testimony same Before.
| w. r. Patrick, county attorney OF Sarpy
county; Ed c. Brown. deputy fish and game
warden Of Council Bluffs and j. w. Kirk,
deputy sheriff, employed at the kursaal,
were the only witnesses at the inquest yes
terday afternoon, although the testimony
of George r. Abbott of Omaha and Samuel
Dobson of Council Bluffs. as given at the
first inquest Friday afternoon, was read
to the jury. The testimony Of the three
witnesses examined was substantially the
same as that given by them Friday after
noon.
! No criminal prosecution will be had of the
management of the lake resort, despite the
finding of the Sarpy county jury. County
| Attorney Patrick stated after the inquest
that under the Nebraska statutes criminal
! negligence" did not constitute a crime and
that there was no law providing for a
penalty in a case where a person met death
| through the carelessness or negligence of
| another person. As it appears to be taken
for granted that the Iowa authorities have
no jurisdiction over that portion of Lake
Manawa in which the Kursaal is located,
there will be no prosecution in that state
either.
The verdict Of the jury yesterday after
pared in Papiion before the hearing of evil
dence. 1t was typewriter and there was
no typewriter at the Kursaal or on the
other side OF the lake.
Crowd at Miss I.Ooney's Funeral.
The funeral of Miss Mary Looney Sat-
urday morning was the largest ever held
at St Agnes church at South Omaha. Be
| fore the time of the ceremony the church
was packed to the doors and before the
body was brought from the residence the
stairs were crowded and many were forced
to remain in the streets. According to Rev.
Father James Aherne, it was the largest
funeral he had conducted since the date
Of his coming He was assisted in the cere-
mony by Father p. A. Flanagan and Father
T. O. Callahan. The solemn requiem mass
was pronounced over the body OF the be-
loved young woman After the ceremony
OF the mass fdlutI AntIHt save a SHUT du-
dress Of eulogv, which affected his hearers
to tears.
Three fraternal orders were out to give
her homage Her own sodality, that Of the
blessed Virgin Mary marched at the head
of the funeral procession. Following came
the henderson, the Ladies' Catholic Order
OF Foresters The knights and Ladies of
Security were in carriages. In the process
sion there were over forty carriages in
line. According to prearrangement the
funeral procession on leaving the church
was Joined by that of Miss Mary Sheehan
Of Omaha, fully as large Miss Looneys.
at Twenty-fourth and Q streets. The
funeral Of that young woman was held
at st. Patricks church and was fully as
imposing as the first. On joining the two
professions moved abreast across the VIA
duct and so to st. Mary's cemetery al
Thirty-sixth and Q streets Here the short
burial rites were pronounced by the fathers
Miss Looney. being the older OF the two
cousins, was buried first, and while the sex
tons were silently filing her grave the
body OF her cousin, Mary Sheehan, with
whom she died, and in whose arms she was
found in the water OF Lake Manawa, was
lowered to her sleep.
stTI Under Doctors Care.
Miss Robina Kammerer, Ills Frederick
street, aged II, who was one Of the persons
involved I'm the Manawa accident is still
under the care OF doctor at her home
Miss Kammerer is a daughter of Frank
Kammerer and IL a saleswoman at the Bos-
ton store notion counter. She saved
from the water by a pmcky man whose
name is not known. He first tried to res,
cue her by means of a chair, but this
broke and he was forced to swim out and
drag her 10 a safe landing. Her face
right arm and body were bruised and she
has suffered severely from the exnosur,