Theft Attempted During Church Service
Two young boys are caught trying to steal an usher's coat during a church service, only to be arrested by a member of the congregation.
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.
Charles Brown and A. Malone, two boys of 14 and 15 years of age, but much older in iniquity, went to Clark Davis' church last evening, and remained there until they saw an opportunity to get away with an overcoat belonging to one of the ushers. Unfortunately for their success in this, however, they were detected as they were about to leave the sanctuary with the purloined ulster. Captain John Kelley, of the chain-gang, who belongs to this congregation, was present as usual at the service, and put in a little extra time by discontinuing his devotions and marching the youthful candidates for bedlam to police headquarters, where they were locked up.
“Captain John Kelley... put in a little extra time by discontinuing his devotions and marching the youthful candidates for bedlam to police headquarters.”
This reflects the Victorian-era focus on 'juvenile delinquency' and the tendency of civic authorities to use the church as a site for monitoring social behavior. It serves as a reminder of how the boundary between 'church' and 'state' was frequently blurred through the intervention of city officials in religious spaces.
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