This is an unknown boy, possibly from Elk County.
Unknown Girl
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Richard Asten
KANSAS CITY – On Thursday evening, June 11, 1998, Police Sergeant Richard J. Asten was killed when he was struck by a stolen vehicle being pursued by another officer. Asten was on duty in northwest Kansas City when he learned of the pursuit and realized that the vehicle was headed his way. After parking in a median, he stepped out of his car to deploy Astop sticks intended to disable the vehicle. At that moment the vehicle approached and the driver swerved to strike Asten, who died as a result of the collision. Officer Asten was forty-six years old and a thirteen-year veteran of the Kansas City Police Department.
Virgil Schmidt Murder
Preliminary Hearing Set In Two Marion County Murders
MARION, KS – Preliminary hearings have been set in two Marion County murder cases, one after a finding last week that the defendant was competent to stand trial.
Barbara Moore, 35, Conway Springs, is set for a preliminary hearing Aug. 11, Marion County Attorney John Johnson said Monday, and hearings for Joseph W. Brigman, 21, Fort Riley, and Michael L. Keffeler, 27, Marietta Okla., have been set for Aug. 18.
Mrs. Moore is charged with the first-degree murder of her ex-husband, Virgil Schmidt, 44, Burns, who was shot at his home April 16 with a small-caliber handgun.
Her hearing had been delayed on a defense motion to determine the defendant’s competency. She spent about two months at the State Security Hospital at Larned undergoing mental evaluations.
Thursday in a District Court hearing, she was ruled competent to stand trial and assist in her own defense. She remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.
The hearings for Brigman and Keffeler, two of four persons charged with the Aug. 29, 1977, murders of Dennis Armstrong, 31, and his wife, Evelyn, 28, Tampa, were continued for a month. They had been scheduled for last week.
Brigman and Keffeler also had undergone evaluations and were ruled competent last June. They remain in jail in lieu of bonds set at $100,000 for Brigman and $250,000 for Keffeler.
The bodies of the Tampa couple were found in the living room of their home almost a year ago by their children when the youngsters returned home from school.
Also charged are Terry Dwaine Allen, 33, Boulder, Colo., and his wife, Carol, 30. The Allens, in custody in lieu of $75,000 bonds, are fighting extradition from Colorado. An extradition hearing had been set for earlier this month, but was continued. Johnson said he had not been informed of a new date. The Salina Journal, Salina, Kansas. Tuesday, July 25, 1978. Page 36. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for Kansas Old News.
Dennis Armstrong Murder
Probation Denied For Alleged Slayer
ABILENE, KS – To no one’s surprise, Joseph Brigman’s application for probation on a burglary charge was denied Monday in Dickinson County District Court by Judge William D. Clement.
In the time between when Brigman was returned from the Kansas State Reformatory in Hutchinson for his probation hearing, and when he appeared before Judge Clement, new charges had been filed accusing him of the Aug. 29 murders of a Tampa couple.
Count one of the petition alleges Brigman committed the premeditated murder of Dennis Armstrong, 31. Count two alleges premeditated murder of Evelyn Armstrong, 28.
The Armstrongs’ bodies were found by their 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter when the children returned home from their first day of school last fall. Another daughter, 2, was found unharmed in another room. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were seated on a living room couch. They had been shot several times, each at least once in the head, with a .22 caliber weapon. The Salina Journal, Salina, Kansas. Tuesday, February 7, 1978. Page 12.
Preliminary Hearing Set In Marion County Murder
The hearings for Brigman and Keffeler, two of four persons charged with the Aug. 29, 1977, murders of Dennis Armstrong, 31, and his wife, Evelyn, 28, Tampa, were continued for a month. They had been scheduled for last week.
Brigman and Keffeler also had undergone evaluations and were ruled competent last June. They remain in jail in lieu of bonds set at $100,000 for Brigman and $250,000 for Keffeler.
The bodies of the Tampa couple were found in the living room of their home almost a year ago by their children when the youngsters returned home from school.
Also charged are Terry Dwaine Allen, 33, Boulder, Colo., and his wife, Carol, 30. The Allens, in custody in lieu of $75,000 bonds, are fighting extradition from Colorado. An extradition hearing had been set for earlier this month, but was continued. Johnson said he had not been informed of a new date. The Salina Journal, Salina, Kansas. Tuesday, July 25, 1978. Page 36. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for Kansas Old News.
Rawson Reunion
WAMEGO, KS – Eighty-year-old twins Henry A. Rawson, Marquette, and H. Alfred Rawson of Wamego, enjoyed a reunion with their oldest sister, Mrs. Ellen Lattimore, 87, of Mt Clemens, Mich., their youngest sister, Mrs. Paul Cobb of Los Angeles, and a brother, Paul Rawson with his wife of Hope, Ark., at the home of Mrs. John Rawson and Henry Rawson at Marquette. The other living brother, Frank Rawson, called by telephone from his home at Wollaston, Mass., to visit with his brothers and sisters. Another sister, Mrs. Mabel Dutro of Karval, Colo,. was unable to be present because of illness in the family. Two sisters -in-law, Mrs. Leonard Rawson, Wamego, and Mrs. John Rawson, whose husbands have passed away, were present. The Rawson family of 10 children including two sets of twins was born and raised at Wamego. The identical twins Henry and Alfred, have not lived together since 1903 and have only visited occasionally. Neither has married. Each has made his home with an older brother and their family these many years. The Wamego Reporter, Wamego, Kansas. May 27, 1965. (c) Transcribed by Janeice Crosson for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.
Joshua Simmons Lies In Unmarked Grave
LINCOLN CENTER – Officials in Washington now are considering what to do about the unmarked grave of a Civil War veteran in Lincoln County, E. J. Klag said. The head of the Veterans Administration office in Wichita said his file in the case has been forwarded to VA in Washington.
The grave is that of Joshua Simmons, a rifleman in Co. 3, 13th Iowa Infantry, who drowned while fording the rain-swollen Saline River near the county seat of Lincoln in 1878—13 years after his discharge from the Army.
Klag said Art Rose, administrative assistant for the Kansas Veterans Commission, called the unmarked grave to his attention. He said Rose was contacted by Bill Headley, coorespondent for the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, county seat weekly. A descendant of Simmons’ widow, who remarried, had told Headley the story.
Klag said Rose told him bodies of three of Simmons’ children are buried beside that of their father, in a small plot on the Wilton Markley farm. Small headstones marked the graves of the children. Headley has put a temporary marker at the veteran’s grave. The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, Kansas. Wednesday, June 11, 1958. (c) Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.
Arthur Sammons Killed By Train
Car Hit By Train, Mail Carrier Killed
BURRTON, KS – December 28 – A 73-year-old substitute mail carrier was killed today when his car slipped off the railroad station platform in Burrton and was struck by a passenger train.
He was Arthur James Sammons, a retired Burrton grocer.
Dr. M. C. Martin, Harvey County coroner, said Sammons was killed instantly.
Sammons had loaded his car with mail and was driving it off the platform when a wheel slipped off the platform, throwing the car onto the tracks. Before he could get out, the vehicle was struck by the westbound train.
The Joplin Globe, Joplin, Missouri. December 29, 1954. Page 2. (c) Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.