The Thief With Two Left Feet
A burglar targeting a downtown clothing store learned the hard way that his loot was perfectly useless.
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.
The thief who broke a pane of glass in the show-case which stands before W. H. Udall's clothing store, 912 Commerce St., last night, was undoubtedly greatly surprised when he examined his loot. The show case was filled with shoes, but it happened that every shoe in the case was a "right." The value of the shoes will not exceed $20, and the police are today looking for a man wearing two "right" shoes.
“The show case was filled with shoes, but it happened that every shoe in the case was a 'right.'”
A small-time crime from 1909, but it highlights the precarious nature of small business retail security on Commerce Street, a block that has shifted from high-end tailors to a mix of historic lofts and niche businesses.
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