Youths Sentenced to Penitentiary Following Wild Ranch Chase
A trio of young men who terrorized farms and sheep ranches near Walla Walla are headed to prison after a dramatic Christmas Eve pursuit.
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.
“Doc” McMinn, Cecil McMinn, and Frank Smith, the youthful thieves, will now have an opportunity for repenting at their leisure for the many bad deeds that they have performed within the past few weeks. This morning Judge Brents sentenced “Doc” McMinn to serve eighteen months in the state penitentiary for burglary; Cecil McMinn to pay a fine of $200 and serve two months in the county jail and Frank Smith to serve four months in the same place and pay a fine of $200. These are the young men who have been committing so many depredations among the farms and sheep ranches west of Walla Walla and who were arrested Christmas Eve by Deputy Sheriff Kees and Constable Byrnes after a hard chase of nine miles. The boys were taken before Judge Brents this morning to answer to the charges. The oldest McMinn boy was charged with the crime of burglary, and the other two boys were charged with larceny on two counts. When arraigned they all pleaded guilty and Judge Brents imposed the above sentence.
“The youthful thieves will now have an opportunity for repenting at their leisure for the many bad deeds that they have performed.”
The tension between rural property owners and those accused of theft on the outskirts of Walla Walla remains a potent civic issue today, echoing contemporary concerns over rural property crime and the socio-economic conditions that drive it.
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