The Sedro-Woolley Auto Thieves
Two youths sentenced to the reformatory after a desperate joyride across the state.
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.
After stealing a Buick in Sedro-Woolley a few days ago and driving it across the mountains, the proposed bandit career of Lee Johnston and Wesley Martin, two beardless youths of Sedro-Woolley, ended when they were arrested at Spokane. The young men were taken before Judge R. M. Webster and pleaded guilty to grand larceny. They were each sentenced to serve from six months to 15 years at the Monroe reformatory. The car, owned by C. B. Ogle, was returned to Sedro-Woolley.
“The young men were taken before Judge R. M. Webster and pleaded guilty to grand larceny.”
Car theft remains a perennial issue in Washington, though the sentencing guidelines and the state's approach to youth incarceration have evolved significantly since the era of the Monroe Reformatory.
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