The Mud-Bound Stash
After stealing hundreds of dollars from a mess house in Cosmopolis, a thief uses a clever ruse involving a fake fall to bury his loot.
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.
Chin Wa, a man living in Cosmopolis, was arrested Thursday by W. H. Pearson, city marshal of Aberdeen. Wa had stolen $300 and $100 worth of clothing from the mess house in Cosmopolis and traveled to South Aberdeen to board a train. When arrested, he was handcuffed and marched toward Cosmopolis for trial. During the journey, he fell off the sidewalk. After a search at Cosmopolis, he was found to have only $40 in cash and four suits of clothes. Marshal Pearson, suspecting the fall was not accidental, returned to the site of the incident. Groping in the mud, he found $240 of the missing cash, which the prisoner had managed to bury despite being handcuffed.
“Pearson, suspecting that the fall had not been accidental, returned to the place and groping in the mud found $240 of the missing cash.”
Petty crime reports in historical papers often focused on immigrants, mirroring how local news today frequently centers on individuals caught in the intersection of poverty and the justice system.
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