The Rev’d. Henry David Jardine traveled from New York to Kansas City in 1879 to serve as Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. At that time, the parish was located in a wood frame building at the corner of 8th and Walnut near the center of the town that had been founded on two decades earlier. The Gumbel Building now stands on the site occupied by the church building. Not long after Jardine’s arrival, the name of the church was changed to St. Mary’s. The change was made in order to take advantage of a bequest from the estate of a local heiress, Mary Gillis Troost, whose uncle, William Gillis had been a founding member of the church. Mrs. Troost offered a parcel of land at the corner of 13th & Holmes for the construction of a church with the name St. Mary’s. The parish acquired the land and held it for future use.
Fr. Jardine was an activist. Under his leadership, St. Mary’s opened schools for boys and girls and engaged a group of local philanthropists, several of whom were members of the parish, to provide funds for the construction of a new hospital in Kansas City. All Saints Hospital was the parent organization of what would eventually become St. Luke’s Hospital and Health System.
The liturgy of St. Mary’s followed the Anglo-catholic tradition of the Episcopal Church: ornate ritual using incense, bells and elaborate vestments on Sundays with the celebration of Mass every weekday as well. This practice was not entirely foreign to Kansas citians, but it posed a challenge to some parishioners who were accustomed to simpler forms of worship.
Fr. Jardine appears to have been a man of high standards and uncompromising attitudes and opinions. He was regarded with great affection by many of his parishioners, and with loathing by others. The latter group included local newspaperman, John Shea, editor of the now defunct Kansas City Journal.
Anecdotal information indicates that Shea arrived for worship one Sunday morning in an intoxicated state. When he presented himself at the altar rail for communion, Fr. Jardine refused to give him the sacrament. Shea was furious and vowed revenge.
Not long afterward, a two-page center spread entitled Jailbird Jardine appeared in the Journal. It was illustrated by a caricature of Fr. Jardine wearing prison stripes with a ball and chain attached to his ankle. Shea had discovered information about Jardine’s past: a conviction for burglary at the age of 18 followed by a two-year prison term. This revelation was a serious blow to the clergyman’s reputation which intensified the conflict between members of the parish.
Jardine filed suit against John Shea for libel, but the court decided in Shea’s favor because the information published about Jardine was true. The conflict between the two men intensified, resulting eventually in accusations that Jardine had engaged professional misconduct. Specifically, he was accused of improper behavior toward several young women of the parish. A trial before church authorities was held. Contemporary accounts of the evidence given suggest strongly that the accusations were unfounded. Nonetheless, Jardine was found guilty and stripped of his priestly office in the fall of 1885. Opinion among parishioners continued to be divided. Some, including Miss Mary Ursula Miller remained steadfast supporters of Jardine.
In January 1886, Fr. Jardine traveled to St. Louis to meet with the Bishop of Missouri to request reinstatement. A committee met to review the evidence presented at his trial on January 9. Their decision was to have been announced on the afternoon of the following day. But on the morning of January 10, Jardine’s body was discovered by the friend with whom he was staying. A handkerchief with traces of chloroform covered his face, not surprising since Jardine had used chloroform to treat insomnia and a facial tic throughout his adult life. But the forensic science of 1886 was not capable of determining whether the cause of his death was an accidental overdose, suicide or a very clever murder.
The inquest that investigated Jardine’s death ruled it a suicide. He was 41 years old at the time of his death. His body was returned to Kansas City by rail. A contemporary newspaper account notes that a grieving crowd of parishioners and local residents gathered to meet the train carrying his coffin. Newspaper coverage of his funeral included the description of a funeral procession stretching from the entrance to Union Cemetery near what is now 27th and Grand all the way back to the church at 8th and Walnut.
January temperatures had frozen the ground and prevented a grave from being dug immediately, so Fr. Jardine’s body remained in the cemetery’s holding vault. Ordinarily it would have been buried as soon as the ground thawed sufficiently for a grave to be dug, but as spring came to Kansas City, the Vestry was making plans for the construction of a new church building at 13th and Holmes. The construction of a building on the land given by Mary Troost had been Jardine’s vision. His supporters in the parish were determined to realize it and equally determined that his body would be laid to rest within the church.
Others opposed the idea, some because they didn’t like Jardine and others who believed that a suicide should not be buried in consecrated space. The controversy continued through the two years of construction. A crypt was built in the basement below the floor of the church to receive Jardine’s body and an altar was commissioned with an inscription in his memory. But the crypt remained empty and Jardine’s body remained in the holding vault at Union Cemetery for seven years.
In 1893, parishioner Mary Ursula Miller purchased two graves in Kansas City’s Elmwood Cemetery and gave instructions for the burial of Jardine’s body in one of them. She intended the other to be used eventually for her own burial. Miss Miller had been a friend and faithful support of Fr. Jardine throughout his time as Rector.
She continued to be a generous benefactress of the parish for another half century after his death. Jardine’s remains were buried at Elmwood but were exhumed in the early 1920s and taken to the the parish burial ground in what is now Forest Hill Cemetery at Gregory and Troost. By that time, most of the parishioners who had known him had died and the controversy that had surrounded him was long past.
The first experiences of a ghostly presence in the church were in the late 19th century. A newspaper account of a Sunday service quotes a worshipper as stating that she perceived a ghostly figure. He was dressed in priest’s vestments and walked at the end of the procession of choir and clergy into the church at the beginning of the service.
Various other experiences of a ghostly presence have occurred through the years. Unexplained shadows appearing in photographs taken in the church, a cold draft on the stairway leading from the nave to the third floor offices, books and other objects falling inexplicably from shelves, the figure of a man in an upstairs window observed at a time when no one was inside the building and the sound of voices in conversation are examples of the experiences of the ghost.
The legend grew that Jardine’s ghost had returned to the building that had not existed in his lifetime. His tragic life story and untimely death at what should have been an especially productive point in his working life contributed to the legend that Jardine returned to complete the unfulfilled purpose of his life and to vindicate his name in the building that he had envisioned but not lived to see or enter.
In 1999, on the eve of All Saints Day, Fr. Jardine’s remains were finally returned to St. Mary’s. His body was exhumed from his grave in the parish cemetery. Fragments of bone, wood from his coffin and heavy metal chain were all that remained in the grave. He had worn the chain around his waist throughout his adult life as an act of penitence. The remains were gathered into a small box and placed below the altar of the church at 13th and Holmes in what is hoped will truly be his final resting place.
Jardine’s uncompromising personal morality, strict piety and energetic approach to community service have come to be understood as a lifelong commitment to atone for the crime committed in his youth. The story of his conflict with John Shea is remembered as an example of the destructive potential of unresolved conflict both in the lives of individuals and community.
St. Mary’s offers occasional special events to educate the public about the history of the parish and its place in the life of Kansas City. For information about upcoming events see the calendar on our main page.
