Appendix One: Four Versions of the Shooting from Four Kansas City Newspapers (excerpts)
DIVINED TROUBLE, IT CAME
WYANDOTTE FARMER SHOT HIS WIFE --SAYS IT WAS ACCIDENTAL.
"We went to market yesterday morning, leaving the farm about 3 o’clock," Keene told James M. Meek, prosecuting attorney. "We took a revolver in the wagon. Ethel had brought it in the house when we got back, and laid it on the sideboard. I noticed the hammer was not down, and took it to lower the hammer, when it was discharged. Ethel was sweeping and the bullet struck her."
Mrs. Hollox said that Keene took the revolver from the dresser and said, "Some day I am going to try this and see if it still works."
"I stepped out of the room. Then heard a shot, and Ethel called to me that she had been shot," Mrs. Hollox said.
"I guess it was an accident," was all Mrs. Keene was able to say.
R. L. Hinch, sheriff, and Dr. J.A. Fulton, county physician, responded to the call for aid. After questioning Mrs. Keene the sheriff decided to hold Keene pending a further investigation.
The Kansas City Times, Missouri
Oct 30, 1915, Page 5
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-keene-shooting-art/139990341/
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LEE KEENE SHOOTS WIFE.
Was It Accidental Is the Question County Attorney Meek Is Asking.
Keene says he and his wife had been to the market leaving the farm about 3 o’clock in the morning and the revolver was taken along for protection. They returned yesterday afternoon after makting a shopping tour of the city and were changing clothes when the shooting occurred. He says that he had placed the gun on the dresser and noticing that the hammer of the gun was on "half cock" was in the act of lowering the hammer when the gun was discharged, the bullet striking Mrs. Keene in the abdomen in an upward course. Keene’s statement is denied by Mrs. Holix who says that she had just left the room previous to the shooting. She says that the gun was on the dresser and that she overheard Keene remark that he was going to use this some day. Shortly afterwards she heard the shot and Mrs. Keene cry that she had been struck.
The Kansas City Globe, Kansas
Oct 30, 1915, Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-globe-lee-keene-shoots-w/153072695/
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FARMER IS HELD FOR SHOOTING WIFE
Leon Keene Declares Revolver Was Accidentally Discharged in Hand.
Keene said a revolver was discharged accidentally when he went to let down the hammer. Mrs. Keene refused to make a statement.
The shooting took place on the farm of Mrs. John Hollix, mother of the young woman.
Mr. and Mrs. Keene a short time before the shooting had returned from the Kansas City, Mo., market. The revolver, Keene said, was in their buggy and he took it out and placed it on the dresser.
"I noticed the hammer was up and started to let it down when it was discharged," he said. "Ethel was sweeping at the time. It was an accident."
Mrs. Hollix said she heard Keene say, as he was handling the weapon: "I’m going to try this sometime."
She said that after the shooting Keene told her he knocked the revolver off the dresser by accident.
The Kansas City Post, Missouri
Saturday, October 30, 1915, Page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-globe-lee-keene-shoots-w/153072695/
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WOMAN MYSTERIOUSLY SHOT, PROBABLY DYING; HUSBAND UNDER ARREST DECLARES REVOLVER WAS DISCHARGED ACCIDENTALLY.
Mrs. Ethel Keene, the Victim, Refuses to Make Statement Before Undergoing Operation.
Mrs. Keene was given an opportunity to tell of the shooting before she was placed under an anaesthetic. She positively refused, however, saying she did wish to make a statement. Her husband says the shooting was accidental. He says he was attempting to release the trigger of an old muzzle-loading revolver when it was discharged. The ball entered Mrs. Keene’s abdomen and took an upward course.
QUARRELED, SAYS RELATIVE.
Keene's statement was denied by Mrs. John Hollix, Mrs. Keene's mother, on whose farm the couple have resided for three months. While Mrs. Hollix was not in the room when the shooting occurred she says the trigger of the revolver was not cocked and there was no occasion for Keene handling the weapon for the purpose of releasing it.
Mrs. Hollix says Keene was married twice before he married her daughter, and that they frequently quarreled. Mrs. Hollix further says she has heard her daughter say that she would prefer to die rather than be continually abused and misjudged.
Kansas City Journal, Missouri
Sat, Oct 30, 1915, Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-woman-mysteriously-s/153075207/
Appendix Two: Kathryn’s Name Changes
1887 Baptized: Anna Louisa Wilh(elmina) (surname: Kreft)
1900 Census: Minnie Hibbeler (her stepfather’s surname)
1905 Marriage License: Minnie Kraft [Kreft] (marriage to William Morgan)
1910 Census: Minnie Morgan (written as Minie)
1914 Divorce Petition/Decree: Minnie Katherine Morgan
1924 Marriage License: Kathryn L Morgan (marriage to Leon Keene)
1930 and 1940 Censuses: Kathryn Keene
1944 Headstone Application (for Leon Keene): Kathryn Louise Keene (her signature)
1945 Marriage License: Kathryn L. Keene (marriage to Fred Slover)
1950 Census: Kathryn L Slover
1980 Death Certificate: Kathryn Louise Slover
Appendix Three: Some Notes on William’s Date of Birth and His Middle Name
Minnie Morgan’s divorce petition says her son was born August 31, 1907 and his name was William Carl Morgan Jr. William’s WWII draft card, his entry in the Social Security Death Index, and his death certificate all say he was born on August 30, 1906.
The St. Louis birth registers for January-September 1906 appear to be missing from the digitized microfilm collections at Ancestry and FamilySearch. So in January 2025, I contacted the Missouri State Archives to inquire about these missing 1906 St. Louis birth registers.
They responded by sending me a copy of the page from the birth registers that included William’s birth. Here’s a summary:
Name of Child: Morgan, William Byron
Father: W., born Mo.
Mother: M.K., born Mo.
Place of Birth: 3812A Labadie
Name of Informant: L Christiansen
Remarks: “11/22/41, file” (and a hand-drawn arrow)
It appears the names William and Byron were added later in pencil, probably at the same time as the remarks. It could be that William later applied for a delayed birth certificate, and his original birth register entry was amended by adding these details (in 1941). It seems that after arriving in Houston, William’s father decided to change his son’s middle name from Carl to Byron. Many of the Texas records I have for William show his middle name as Byron or they have the initial B.
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