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Note: divorced 6 Sept 1883 in Union County Illinois Leath BIDWELL v. Alonzo BIDWELL, granted 6 Sep 1883 (Circuit Court Book Ppp 461-462).
United States Census, 1900 for Alonzo Bidwell
Name: Alonzo Bidwell
Titles & Terms:
Residence: Carthage city, Jasper, Missouri
Birth Date: May 1867
Birthplace: Illinois Relationship to Head of Household:
Spouse:
Spouse's Titles & Terms:
Spouse's Birthplace:
Father:
Father's Titles & Terms:
Father's Birthplace: Illinois
Mother:
Mother's Titles & Terms:
Mother's Birthplace: Illinois
Race or Color (expanded): White
Head-of-household Name:
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Years Married:
Estimated Marriage Year:
Mother How Many Children:
Number Living Children:
Immigration Year:
Enumeration District: 0061
Page: 1
Sheet Letter: B
Family Number: 16
Reference Number: 64
Film Number: 1240866
Image Number: 00806
Household Gender Age T W Wright M
Emma Wright F
Harry L Wright M
Mettie Wright F
Hazel E Wright F
Wm H Chinn M
Elizabeth Chinn F
John Chinn M
Geo E Robb M
Belle Sumpter F
Irvin Depew M
Seal Depew M
Dollie A Gillum F
John Gilstrap M
Earnest E Cooper M
Frank H White M
Wm R Haney M
Edward Mcclintock M
Wm S Clayborne M
Wm S Shallenbarger M
Alonzo Bidwell M Norvil Griffin M
Birth: 1868
Du Quoin
Perry County
Illinois, USA
Death: Jun. 15, 1900
Carthage
Jasper County
Missouri, USA
CARTHAGE EVENING PRESS
JUNE 15, 1900
A FATAL FALL
PAINTER'S SCAFFOLD GAVE WAY WITH ALONZO BIDWELL
SKULL CRUSHED ON THE PAVEMENT
He Was Painting the Caffee Block and Only Lived Half an Hour After theFall - Little Tom Davey Also Hurt - Man of Many Talents
Alonzo Bidwell fell to his death at close to 8:30 o'clock this morning.He was engaged in painting the south side of the A. H. Caffee & Companydrug building, at the corner of Third and Main streets and was working ona scafford made of a board laid across a ladder,the whole suspended byropes fastened at the top of the building. One of these ropes broke,sending the unfortunate man crashing to the pavement below.
Little 7-year-old Tommie Davey, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Davey, whohappened to be passing, had a narrow escape from fatal injuries also. Acorner of the board struck him over the right eye, but fortunately notinjuring it, making a wound only skin deep, though painful. Mr. Bidwell'sskull was fractured by contact with the sidewalk, both arms dislocatedand broken, and he lived only about three-quarters of an hour. He was atthe time working for H. A. Montague, who has the contract for paintingthe building. The first coat had been previously put on and they wereapplying the second.
The scaffold consisted of a ladder hung horizontally by ropes at eachend, with a board laid the full length of the ladder, forming a platform.These ropes ran over pulleys at the top of the wall and extended to thesidewalk below for manipulating the scaffold.
Mr. Montague, with the assistance of Dr. A. H. Caffee, who had beenrequested to lend a hand, had just pulled the scaffold, by means of theropes, to the top of the second story windows. Mr. Bidwell sat on theladder close to the end at which Mr. Montague's rope was located. Bidwellwas a careful man and tested the scaffold by jumping up and down on itbefore giving the word to be hoisted up.
Just as they got the scaffold to its place the strands of the ropenearest Mr. Bidwell parted, that end of the scaffold dropped and theunfortunate man pitched out into the air head foremost with nothingwithin reach to cling to. He fell twenty-five feet and lit on the stoneflagging out not more than four feet from the base of the building. theright side of his face, his right shoulder and his two hands extended,palms downward, receiving the full force of the fall.
The two men who had been pulling the scaffold up, and people in everydirection on the streets who had seen him fall, rushed quickly to hisside. He seemed lifeless, but was carried to Dr.Chester's office near byand all that was possible was done to save him. He soon began breathingbut in a spasmodic fashion, which indicated that the brain was affectedin a way which would prove immediately fatal. He never regainedconsciousness.
It was found on examination that a gash in his forehead over the righteye was a very deep on, not only cutting into the skull, but crushing inthe bone. His right arm was dislocated at the elbow, broken a few inchesbelow the elbow, and again broken just above the wrist. The left arm wasboth broken and dislocated at the wrist. The flesh and ligaments weretorn loose on the inner side of the wrist, so that the hand was held onby only the skin and ligaments at the back of the wrist.
When Bidwell struck the flagstone blood gushed from his nose and ears andfrom the cut on his forehead, mingling in a great pool with the paintfrom the overturned bucket. the bleeding at the ears indicated, to quoteprofessional opinion, that the base of the brain was injured. This wasconfirmed by the character of his spasmodic breathing. the back of thehead was not struck in the fall, but, as is often the case in suchaccidents, the inner plate of the skull at the base of the brain waslikely fractured as a result of reaction from the impact in front.
After his death the remains were taken to Knell's undertaking room to bekept until his friends could be reached.
Tom Davey's Experience
Little Tom Davey, as he passed, was looking up watching the operation ofraising the scaffold to place. Suddenly the rope broke and quick as aflash the whole thing was upon him. He doesn't know what hit him, but itappears to have been the corner of a board. It did not even knock himdown. He screamed out lustily, and the first man or two who got therecarried him hastily to Dr. Gould's office for treatment, before anyattempt was made to do anything for the fatally injured man by his side,who was apparently beyond help.
Tom was nervy and sat in a chair in the doctor's office with a wash bowlof water on his lap for the blood to run in.
"O, hurry up, doctor, and stop this bleeding. Am I hurt much?" said thelittle fellow, crouching over the bowl. "I'll know better than to foolaround near such places again. I will go on the other side of the streetnext time. I was just looking up to see how they did it."
But the doctor was too busy getting out his instruments and appliances tohave time to reply more than a conforting word or two to his patient'sremarks.
"Will you have to put me to sleep, doctor? continued Tom. "Don't put meto sleep. You won't have to sew it up, will you?
"I don't know about that," said the doctor, "do you think you can standto have a needle stuck into your skin?"
"I can stand anything, said Tom. "I am not afraid of anything; go aheadand get started."
And the little steel instruments rolled out of the doctor's case andrattled in a way to make a person shudder while the plucky boy chattedon, with one eye so full of clotted blood one could not see whether theeyeball was in or out. He pluckily sat still while the wound was beingdressed and sewed up, without the use of anesthetics at all. It was aragged cut requiring a number of stitches. There was a horizontal cutnearly the full length of his left eyebrow, which met another at the baseof the nose running up an inch on the forehead. The three-cornered flapthus formed was peeled away from the skull. It was, of course, not knownat first how deep this gash was, nor that it had not cut into t he bone.It was a comfort to doctors and onlookers to find it was no worse.
Word was sent out to Paul Davey's residence as soon as the accidenthappened, and Mrs. Davey reached the doctor's office in themidst of theoperation of sewing up the wound. In a little over an hour after theaccident happened the boy was at home bandaged up in good shape forspeedy recovery.
Alonzo Bidwell's Life
Alonzo Bidwell came to Carthage on April 12, last, and began boarding atMrs. Wright's boarding house at the corner of Sixth and Main streets,while engaged in painting here.
He stated that he was to be married next August to a Miss Estella J.Nickel, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and was planning to build a house inCarthage at once. He had picked out a lot, but had not bought it yet, andlast night he submitted specifications to Wm. Emery, the stone cutter,who was to have given figures tonight on a foundation for a moderatesized house.
Miss Nickel, at Shawnee, Oklahoma and a brother at Ft. Scott, Kansas werethe only persons known of this morning who should be notified Telegramswere sent them at once. A fine album was delivered at his boarding housethis morning, to be sent to his Oklahoma sweetheart, as he announced inadvance.
He was a versatile man and had many plans, and big ones. As an inventorhe had secured patents on valuable appliances as follows: Bidwell steelrailroad cross-tie, self-registering ballot box, attachment to bicycle torun on railroad track, Bidwell rotary window, and the Bidwell pneumaticmattress.
The metal railroad cross-tie has been particularly successful, andrecently netted him $1,500 in selling the patent. He had it in the handsof the Bidwell Metalic Tie Manufacturing Co. of El Dorado, Kansas ofwhich he was president, and the capital stock of which was $150,000.
He was a poet of some ability, and had written several poems used assongs, among them being "Another Has the Ring," "The battle of Manila,""Sampson's Fleet at Sea," "Cast From Her Own Father's Door." He had aninterest in the Bidwell Music Co., along with his brother at Ft. Scott,KS., which was his former home. This company published his pieces insheet music form, the music being written by others.
He was also a dramatist and has been operating the Bidwell Dramatic Co.,of fourteen people of which he was proprietor. Most of the company wasscattered around Webb City and Joplin for the summer, and was gettingready to start on the road again next fall. Mr. Bidwell had been gettinghis advertising paper ready for next winter's tour with his company, andhas two or three kinds of letterheads printed, blank contracts, tickets,etc., all ready for use.
He was the author of a history of the Spanish War, which was published byJ. S. Hyland & Co., a Chicago publishing firm.
He owns a 200 acre farm in Kentucky, a brick block in some Oklahoma town,as well as other property. A document among his papers shows that A. J.West, grand marshal of the Atlanta, (GA.) peace jubilee invited him to beone of the aides on his staff for that occasion.
He was a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and carried apolicy in that order. He was a quiet, modest man but not withoutconfidence in himself and his possibilities. He drank none whatever,smoked very little and was saving every cent he could make to put intohis enterprises. It was for this reason he took up painting. He wasespecially this summer in his pneumatic mattress scheme, expecting to putup a factory as soon has he could, probably within a year, to manufacturethem in Carthage. Socially he was liked by all his fellow boarders, wherehe stayed, and by all who had come to know him in his brief stay in thecity.
Probably a Divorced Man
Coroner Whitely arrived this afternoon to hold an inquest. Two letterswere opened by him which arrived by mail since Bidwell's death. One ofthese indicates that he had a wife and three children living atMiddletown, a little country town off the railroad near Fredonia, Kansas.
It is supposed that they have been divorced, as the letter is a veryformal one. It gave him some particulars about clothes wanted for thechildren, the eldest of whom is a boy of 10 years.
The message to his brother, sent to Ft. Scott, was returned with theinformation that the brother was no longer in business there.
Miss Nickel telegraphed from Shawnee, Oklahoma this afternoon that shehad sent his brother a telegraph message, so it is supposed his relativeshave got word of his death. He is said to have several sisters in Kansas,but their addresses are not known.
The inquest being held at the hour of going to press.
_____________________
CARTHAGE EVENING PRESS
JUNE 16, 1900
MRS. ALONZO BIDWELL ARRRIVES
There Was No Divorce - Coroner's Jury Blames No One
The coroner's jury impaneled to inquire into the death of Alonzo Bidwell,the painter who fell to his death from the scaffold yesterday, brought ina verdict yesterday evening about 5 o'clock attributing death toaccidental causes, in accordance with the facts published yesterday, andfound no one responsible for this accident.
The jury was composed of C. C. Catron, foreman; David Damon, D. A. Innes,I. C. Koontz, D. S. Siebert and S. B. French. Coroner Whitely presided atthe deliberations.
Mrs. Alonzo Bidwell arrived this morning, accompanied by her uncle W. J.Little, a farmer of Fredonia, who lives out nine miles from that town.The dispatch sent Dr. McCoy, who seemed from letters here to be thefamily physician, was what brought them. He hurried word out to Mr.Little and Mrs. Bidwell in time for them to catch a train at Fredonia andget here this morning. Mrs. Bidwell's children were at an uncle's but sheherself was working out for a living, near the little town of Middletown,seven miles from her uncle's.
Mrs. Bidwell informed a PRESS reporter this morning that she and Mr.Bidwell were not divorced. "We had lived together until the middle oflast November when he left, and I have not seen him since," said Mrs.Bidwell. "We had some friction before that time, on account of hisflirtations with girls at Ft. Scott, where we lived, carrying theflirtations to extremes. He had been away a good deal since May of lastyear, but was at home occasionally to provide for us, until the time heleft in November. Since then he has done nothing to support the family. Ihad to go to my uncle for support. Mr. Bidwell was a member of Castle,No. 72 of Knights and Ladies of America at Ft. Scott, and carried a lifeinsurance policy in that order for $1000 but he was expelled from thatlodge and his policy canceled for deserting his family. He may haverenewed it since; I do not know. He had been writing to me lately that hewanted us to come to him; that he was going to build a little house forus here; that he would do better and we would have no trouble. Hepromised faithfully that some things which had happened before wouldnever happen again.
"I was getting ready to come down here in two or three weeks, and wasvery happy over the prospects. I wish now I had not come at this time forI find he had given people a different impression of his plans and Ishould have preferred to leave those impressions unchanged if I could. Wehave four children aged 10, 7, 5 and 2 years, respectively, two boys andtwo girls. Mr. Bidwell was 37 years of age and was born in Du Quoin,Illinois. His mother died when he was an infant and he had no brothers orsisters. He had only some half sisters, but I do not know where they allare."
Mrs. Bidwell is a small, frail woman. She is quiet, unassuming, andintelligent and seems nearly heartbroken over the whole affair.
The 200 acres of land in Kentucky is, Mr. Little say, unencumbered. It istimber land, and was taken in on a patent right trade. The deceased wason the point of trading it for Oklahoma property, and he thinks that theonly claim he had to any Oklahoma property at all.
Death's Last Breath
In the scrapbook of Alonzo Bidwell is found the following poem, writtenby him at some time in a playful mood, when death seemed in the fardistant future. It is reporduced from a clipping from an El Dorado (KAN)paper, where it was published over his signature;
When the bugler has blown his last breath,
the final blast
And when the shoemake then dies,
he breathes his very last;
The jeweler borrows his last tick, and his
time does not go,
And the baker's cake, then, is surely
dough.
The chimney-sweep goes up the flue, and
the tailor's name is pants;
The banker passes in his checks; an old
maid's lost her chance.
The eye doctor winks out; the undertaker
passes away;
The engineer makes his last run, and the
potter turns to clay.
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Burial:
Park Cemetery
Carthage
Jasper County
Missouri, USA
Plot: Traditional Sector Bl 5 Lot 7 Sp 10
Created by: I remember when
Record added: Oct 15, 2009
Find A Grave Memorial# 43161477
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