Dime Novel Dreams End in a Sheriff's Custody
Two young runaways who escaped the state reform school find their dreams of an outlaw life cut short by the law.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Wahlquest and Thursting, the reform school boys who escaped Saturday, were caught by Sheriff Barnett near Mossy Rock last night. They had stolen two horses from Henry Urquhart and ridden the horses so hard that they were nearly ruined. When captured they were planning to break into a store for clothing and revolvers, where they proposed to pursue a life of dime novel adventure. The sheriff turned them over to the school authorities this morning.
“When captured they were planning to break into a store... where they proposed to pursue a life of dime novel adventure.”
In the 1890s, 'dime novels' were the sensationalized media of the day, blamed for corrupting youth and inspiring delinquency. Today, we see similar moral panics regarding the influence of social media and violent video games on the youth of Washington.
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