Monday, May 1, 1989 / University Daily Kansai
The Stull Cemetery is a target for practical jokes and vandalism
Legends lure ghost-seekers to cemetery
and Candy Niemann and Cynthia L. Smith Kansan staff writers
Daylight reveals vandalism.
Dyglory. A wonderful spectrum of shattered glass litters the cemetery and abandoned church on Emmanuel Hill, in Stull.
The church's walls have been defaced with spray paint and engraved graffiti. A black cross has been spray painted. To the lower left of the cross, someone then "Vampire" in red ink and soil.
Lt. Bill Shepard, spokesman for the Douglas County sheriff's office, said Stuart was under investigation and asked about vandalism and noise at night on the hill.
"It's really sad because some of the tombstones have been out there for a hundred years," Shepard said. "They were buried when you wouldn't want someone out there drinking beer and parting."
The vandals come in the night, lured by the legends about Stuart and his murder. They are situated on county road 442 about 15 miles west of Lawrence.
There are as many stories about the area as there are storytellers. Some say it is one of three gateways to hell. Others say that it is haunted by the ghost of the minister of the church; it is a meeting place for devil worshippers, witches and white supremocrats.
Some Stull residents said local children started the rumors as a prank. Others said a KU professor related the legend to a class.
According to "Ghost Towns of Kansas" by Daniel Fitzgerald, Stull Gemetry is one of the two places where the devil appears on Earth. He visits Stull on Halloween and the spring equinox.
The devil tries to make ghosts out of those who were murdered and buried in the cemetery, according to Fitzgerald.
Only one person buried in the cemetery was murdered, according to Iona Spencer, Douglas County genealogical society member. George Edson, the victim, was shot to death by his brother-in-law in 1913. Both men are buried at Stull Cemetery.
The ghosts then haunt their murderers, according to Fitzger-
ald's book.
But Mina Bidinger, a Stull resident since 1983, said she was more worried about vandals than the devil or ghosts. Family members of the Bidengers are buried at the cemetery.
"We respected our dead when we were young," she said. "They are showing complete disrespect."
Shawn Wooten, Overland Park sophomore, said he learned about the legend at a KU fraternity rush party when he was a high school senior. Wooten said he break against that glass wall in church's walls and one no one had been buried at the cemetery in more than 70 years.
Wooten said that someone had told him to sit quietly outside the church so that a ghost would appear.
He was surprised to see fresh graves.
"We sat down for a while to see if that ghost thing was true," he said. Wooten said no apparitions materialized.
The church was in use until 1922, when a new Methodist Church was built across the street. Today there are holes in the ceiling and the
walls of the old church. Three trees, each more than 10 feet tall, grow from the dirt floor.
Catherine Nichols, Stull resident, said the disturbance of tombstones bothered her more than defacement of the church.
Alfred Rake, cemetery board member, said that many tombstones had been tipped over or broken. The Stuart community owns the tombstones but family members are responsible for replacing tombstones.
A tombstone stolen from the cemetery was found in a KU residence hall during Spring Baller, who drove the ballet Bailey. KU police spokesman.
Edwin Hildebrand, whose grandfather donated the land for Stull Cemetery in 1869, said the vandalism was disgraced.
"It's a dirty act to do." he said.
"Someone ought to be prosecuted."
Hildebrand said the vandalism angered him because his family members were buried at the cemetery.
"The entire Hildebrand clan is buried there," he said. "I imagine I'll be buried there, too."
Speech, workshops focus on problems of children,famliy
by Scott Achelpohl Kansan staff writer
Rise in child abuse causes concern
Limited resources for social work organizations and declining attention to child abuse issues have combined to fuel an increase in child abuse in the 1980s, said a panelist at Friday's Social Work Day.
The panelist, Alinda Dennis, director of the Kansas City Metropolitan Child Abuse Network, said child and neglect were increasing daily.
social workers, KU social welfare alumni and faculty gathered to hear guest speakers and conduct work on the project. The meeting Friday in the Kansas Union.
The keynote speaker was Robert P. Stewart, director of the department of clinical social work at Timberlawn Psychoiatric Hospital in Dallas.
Stewart discussed the need for more help for children from social workers.
An afternoon of workshops dealing with children's issues followed the speech.
speech. One of the workshops dealt with child abuse and neglect.
Dennis said that knowledge about child abuse was increasing daily, but that work still was needed to apply knowledge to children in need of shelter.
"Just when we think we know something, the walls begin to rumble." Dennis said.
Crumle. She said the state of today's American family was dismal.
"Twenty percent of the babies born at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City are born to cocaine-addicted mothers." Dennis said.
James McHenry, executive director of the Kansas Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, said social workers needed to talk to legislators to find permanent solutions to the problem.
We tend to go for the quick fix," McHenry said.
Another workshop dealt with ways to help children caught in abusive families where chemical dependency was prominent.
Marie Cooke, assistant coordinator of the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in children, is a children's education coordinator, choreographed a
11
Just when we think we know something, the walls begin to crumble.'
- Alinda Dennis
- Child Nurses
skit between workshop participants illustrating alcoholism within a family.
Each person portrayed a different member of the family. One participant played an enraged, alcoholic father, while another played a mother trying to control the husband's rage. Others played children who were emotionally affected by their father's alcoholism.
Tim Switzer, a 1985 KU social welfare graduate, social worker in Topeka and observer at the work place, skilt a powerful display of tension.
"As a person sitting here watching it, it seemed like turmoil," Switzer said.
Another workshop focused on children and AIDS gave social workers a look at the lives of AIDS-afflicted children and those in families where the disease had been contracted by family members.
Bob Shaw, a person with AIDS on the workshop's panel, spoke about the pain of life as a victim of the disease. Shaw said that some victims of guilt would have been discovering that his son had the disease.
Fortunately, he said, his son tested negative for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Other workshops at Social Work Day included those dealing with homeless children, child day care and social work courses. Total of 12 workshops convened total of 12 workshops convened
In his closing address, Stewart said social workers had a mandate to protect children, the most vulnerable members of society.
"Social work has a long commitment to children and families," Stewart said "We need to focus our attention and advocacy on children."
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