The Midnight Schoolhouse Heist
A persistent, one-legged burglar left a trail of cane marks and cork-foot prints across the Kennewick High School, making off with hundreds of pencils and pens.
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.
Kennewick’s high school building was forced to give up its treasures last Friday night. The building was entered through a rear window and every desk in the building was ransacked. The night’s work netted the burglar four hundred penholders, four hundred lead pencils, a dollar and a quarter in change, a small check, a kodak, and some other miscellaneous articles. There is little doubt the burglary was the work of a 'cork-leg' cripple who was arrested here last week by Chief of Police Copeland for begging. The man was released Friday upon the promise that he would get out of town. Police were able to track the suspect by the distinct cane marks and slanting imprints of his cork foot found outside the building.
“The police are certain the cripple is the right man because of the tracks at the rear of the building where the cane marks are plainly discernable.”
While school security has advanced significantly since 1917, the story highlights a desperate era of vagrancy and economic hardship. The thief’s focus on office supplies suggests a transient individual looking for items to trade or sell, a stark contrast to modern digital school environments.
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