Part Five: The House of Cards Begins to Fall
In mid-January 1924, Dr. Kenneth Uhls quickly and quietly returned to Overland Park after a warrant mix-up in Hutchinson allowed his release. Uhls wasted no time engaging additional legal counsel as well as a bail bondsman, assuming a warrant ordering his return would be forthcoming in a matter of days. But he faced another immediate challenge upon his return to Johnson County – his preliminary hearing in Olathe on charges of orchestrating the robbery of $500 in Liberty bonds from Louis Breyfogle, Jr. on January 3.
At the opening of the hearing Uhls’s attorneys, Chauncey Bundy Little, former city attorney of Olathe and L.K. Ferguson of Kansas City, made three motions. The first motion was for a change of venue, which was overruled by Justice Ed Ripley. The second motion was a request that an associate justice be appointed. Ripley consented and promptly appointed Justice John J. White of Merriam to become an associate judge for the hearing. The third motion was to allow Uhls and co-defendant Frank Leonard to be tried separately. That motion was overruled. With the preliminary motions behind them, everyone proceeded to the main district court room into which more than 100 spectators had crowded to hear the testimony. As Dr. Uhls entered with his wife, he spotted his co-defendant Frank Leonard, already seated. Leonard smiled and nodded to Uhls, who offered only a passing glance before taking his seat.
As the hearing began, Louis Breyfogle, Jr. was first to be called to the stand. He recounted the events of the evening of January 3 when he was held up and robbed of the Liberty bonds he had been given just fifteen minutes earlier by Dr. Uhl’s private secretary, Dr. Emma DeVries, who was also called as a witness. Prior to this particular evening, Breyfogle testified, he had always been paid by Uhls with a check. Other witnesses for the state included Louis Breyfogle, Sr.; sanitarium employees Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Nohel, J.E. Edsel and J.S. Steed; and John New.
Dr. Uhls’s wife, Charlotte, would be the lone person to testify on behalf of her defendant husband. Johnson County Deputy Sheriff, John Steed, testified that Uhls told him, upon learning of the theft of the bonds, that he suspected some of his patients were involved in the holdup. He said he would attempt to recover the stolen bonds. Later that same night, Uhls returned the bonds to Breyfogle. He told Steed that he had called a meeting of all patients and staff and demanded the bonds be returned to his desk. He stated he left the room for ten minutes, during which time the bonds were returned. However, Dr. DeVries, Mr. & Mrs. Nohel, and J.E. Edsel all contradicted this story, as none of them recall any such meeting taking place. Edsel testified he had seen Leonard and Joe LaSalla, another patient, leave the sanitarium “about the time of the holdup” in a Ford touring car. Mrs. Nohel testified she had observed their return about twenty minutes after the time at which Edsel said they left. Nohel then asserted that LaSalla appeared in the Nohels’ room at the sanitarium shortly after the time of the holdup and left a revolver there. “What’s the trouble?” Nohel said he asked LaSalle. “I’ll tell you later,” he testified the patient had answered. “Doc is in trouble.” Mrs. Nohel testified further that shortly after the holdup she saw Uhls talking with two men on the porch of his cottage at the sanitarium. She testified that she recognized one of the men as Frank Leonard. This testimony was enough to convince the state that the charges against Dr. Uhls and Frank Leonard warranted a full hearing, which was scheduled for January 29.
Dr. Uhls appeared calm but incredulous upon learning the hearing would move forward. He was in a state of disbelief that the state’s case against him on the robbery charge had progressed this far. His co-defendant, Frank Leonard, was ushered back to his prison cell where he had been held since his arrest the week prior. Dr. Uhls’s attorneys and bail bondsmen arranged to post bail for the doctor in the amount of $5000, and he and his wife left the courtroom.
Greeting him as he left was another sheriff, this time informing him that he was in fact ordered to return to Hutchinson to face a preliminary hearing on January 31 for the theft of $102,000 in Uhls Sanitarium stock from murder victim William Gibbs. As he stood in the Kansas City, Kansas police headquarters, handcuffed to Reno County Sheriff Jesse Langford, Dr. Uhls fumed.
“This is an embarrassing business. Dozens of my friends have seen me here, but none has spoken to me. This changes things a bit, doesn’t it?”
Another nearby detective, Charles Costello, interrupted.
“How is it, doctor, that the stock Mr. Gibbs bought from you was issued on one certificate, although the stock consisted of 100,000 common shares and 1200 preferred shares? Is there anything strange about that?”
“Nothing strange,” Dr. Uhls smugly replied.
“Where are the account books of the sanitarium?” quizzed Costello.
“They may be a number of places – my office, the office of my attorney, a bank vault – how should I know?”
Uhls then again claimed he came into possession of the stock through a mysterious man named Charles Westerhaven of St. Louis, who arrived at the sanitarium presenting a power of attorney document signed by William Gibbs, along with a request for the transfer of the stock to Westerhaven. What Uhls was not aware of at this time was that detectives were able to confirm there was no such person as Charles Westerhaven, and that the signature on the power of attorney was a forgery. Uhls, perhaps realizing he was talking too much, decided to remain silent as the group boarded an 8:45 p.m. train bound for Hutchinson.
Meanwhile, George Davidson, the stock salesman from Ottumwa, Iowa, who was also charged with the stock theft, learned there was a warrant out for his arrest. Communicating through his attorney, Davidson indicated he had been unaware of the warrant until just recently. He had not been home when detectives appeared at his doorstep and spoke with his wife weeks prior. He had been in Kansas City the entire time. He agreed to surrender to the arrest warrant and travel to Hutchinson as soon as he could get a bail bondsman lined up to post the $10,000 bail tied to the warrant. He also offered that he had done nothing illegal and was simply the salesman who sold Gibbs the stock, with no knowledge they would soon be worth only the paper on which they were printed. After 4 weeks of questioning, Davidson would be completely vindicated of any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson authorities kept a watchful eye on co-defendant Frank Leonard in his jail cell. A confirmed narcotic addict, they believed that by denying the alleged slayer his daily potion he would be forced into divulging what connection if any he and Uhls had with the murder of William Gibbs.
On January 25, Lawrence W. Powers, another major stockholder in the Uhls Clinics, asked the United States District Court in Topeka for a receivership for the Uhls Sanitarium. Other owners of Uhls Clinic stock gathered for an emergency meeting with attorneys and filed lawsuits against Dr. Uhls. These were quickly followed by similar lawsuits from vendors who supplied the sanitarium with ice and dairy products and who were also owed sizable amounts of money. Indeed, it appeared the doctor’s house of cards was beginning to collapse.
Click Here for Part 6
In mid-January 1924, Dr. Kenneth Uhls quickly and quietly returned to Overland Park after a warrant mix-up in Hutchinson allowed his release. Uhls wasted no time engaging additional legal counsel as well as a bail bondsman, assuming a warrant ordering his return would be forthcoming in a matter of days. But he faced another immediate challenge upon his return to Johnson County – his preliminary hearing in Olathe on charges of orchestrating the robbery of $500 in Liberty bonds from Louis Breyfogle, Jr. on January 3.
At the opening of the hearing Uhls’s attorneys, Chauncey Bundy Little, former city attorney of Olathe and L.K. Ferguson of Kansas City, made three motions. The first motion was for a change of venue, which was overruled by Justice Ed Ripley. The second motion was a request that an associate justice be appointed. Ripley consented and promptly appointed Justice John J. White of Merriam to become an associate judge for the hearing. The third motion was to allow Uhls and co-defendant Frank Leonard to be tried separately. That motion was overruled. With the preliminary motions behind them, everyone proceeded to the main district court room into which more than 100 spectators had crowded to hear the testimony. As Dr. Uhls entered with his wife, he spotted his co-defendant Frank Leonard, already seated. Leonard smiled and nodded to Uhls, who offered only a passing glance before taking his seat.
As the hearing began, Louis Breyfogle, Jr. was first to be called to the stand. He recounted the events of the evening of January 3 when he was held up and robbed of the Liberty bonds he had been given just fifteen minutes earlier by Dr. Uhl’s private secretary, Dr. Emma DeVries, who was also called as a witness. Prior to this particular evening, Breyfogle testified, he had always been paid by Uhls with a check. Other witnesses for the state included Louis Breyfogle, Sr.; sanitarium employees Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Nohel, J.E. Edsel and J.S. Steed; and John New.
Dr. Uhls’s wife, Charlotte, would be the lone person to testify on behalf of her defendant husband. Johnson County Deputy Sheriff, John Steed, testified that Uhls told him, upon learning of the theft of the bonds, that he suspected some of his patients were involved in the holdup. He said he would attempt to recover the stolen bonds. Later that same night, Uhls returned the bonds to Breyfogle. He told Steed that he had called a meeting of all patients and staff and demanded the bonds be returned to his desk. He stated he left the room for ten minutes, during which time the bonds were returned. However, Dr. DeVries, Mr. & Mrs. Nohel, and J.E. Edsel all contradicted this story, as none of them recall any such meeting taking place. Edsel testified he had seen Leonard and Joe LaSalla, another patient, leave the sanitarium “about the time of the holdup” in a Ford touring car. Mrs. Nohel testified she had observed their return about twenty minutes after the time at which Edsel said they left. Nohel then asserted that LaSalla appeared in the Nohels’ room at the sanitarium shortly after the time of the holdup and left a revolver there. “What’s the trouble?” Nohel said he asked LaSalle. “I’ll tell you later,” he testified the patient had answered. “Doc is in trouble.” Mrs. Nohel testified further that shortly after the holdup she saw Uhls talking with two men on the porch of his cottage at the sanitarium. She testified that she recognized one of the men as Frank Leonard. This testimony was enough to convince the state that the charges against Dr. Uhls and Frank Leonard warranted a full hearing, which was scheduled for January 29.
Dr. Uhls appeared calm but incredulous upon learning the hearing would move forward. He was in a state of disbelief that the state’s case against him on the robbery charge had progressed this far. His co-defendant, Frank Leonard, was ushered back to his prison cell where he had been held since his arrest the week prior. Dr. Uhls’s attorneys and bail bondsmen arranged to post bail for the doctor in the amount of $5000, and he and his wife left the courtroom.
Greeting him as he left was another sheriff, this time informing him that he was in fact ordered to return to Hutchinson to face a preliminary hearing on January 31 for the theft of $102,000 in Uhls Sanitarium stock from murder victim William Gibbs. As he stood in the Kansas City, Kansas police headquarters, handcuffed to Reno County Sheriff Jesse Langford, Dr. Uhls fumed.
“This is an embarrassing business. Dozens of my friends have seen me here, but none has spoken to me. This changes things a bit, doesn’t it?”
Another nearby detective, Charles Costello, interrupted.
“How is it, doctor, that the stock Mr. Gibbs bought from you was issued on one certificate, although the stock consisted of 100,000 common shares and 1200 preferred shares? Is there anything strange about that?”
“Nothing strange,” Dr. Uhls smugly replied.
“Where are the account books of the sanitarium?” quizzed Costello.
“They may be a number of places – my office, the office of my attorney, a bank vault – how should I know?”
Uhls then again claimed he came into possession of the stock through a mysterious man named Charles Westerhaven of St. Louis, who arrived at the sanitarium presenting a power of attorney document signed by William Gibbs, along with a request for the transfer of the stock to Westerhaven. What Uhls was not aware of at this time was that detectives were able to confirm there was no such person as Charles Westerhaven, and that the signature on the power of attorney was a forgery. Uhls, perhaps realizing he was talking too much, decided to remain silent as the group boarded an 8:45 p.m. train bound for Hutchinson.
Meanwhile, George Davidson, the stock salesman from Ottumwa, Iowa, who was also charged with the stock theft, learned there was a warrant out for his arrest. Communicating through his attorney, Davidson indicated he had been unaware of the warrant until just recently. He had not been home when detectives appeared at his doorstep and spoke with his wife weeks prior. He had been in Kansas City the entire time. He agreed to surrender to the arrest warrant and travel to Hutchinson as soon as he could get a bail bondsman lined up to post the $10,000 bail tied to the warrant. He also offered that he had done nothing illegal and was simply the salesman who sold Gibbs the stock, with no knowledge they would soon be worth only the paper on which they were printed. After 4 weeks of questioning, Davidson would be completely vindicated of any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson authorities kept a watchful eye on co-defendant Frank Leonard in his jail cell. A confirmed narcotic addict, they believed that by denying the alleged slayer his daily potion he would be forced into divulging what connection if any he and Uhls had with the murder of William Gibbs.
On January 25, Lawrence W. Powers, another major stockholder in the Uhls Clinics, asked the United States District Court in Topeka for a receivership for the Uhls Sanitarium. Other owners of Uhls Clinic stock gathered for an emergency meeting with attorneys and filed lawsuits against Dr. Uhls. These were quickly followed by similar lawsuits from vendors who supplied the sanitarium with ice and dairy products and who were also owed sizable amounts of money. Indeed, it appeared the doctor’s house of cards was beginning to collapse.
Click Here for Part 6
