The Vanished Prize
A glass jar filled with cash, intended for a public guessing contest at a downtown shop, was plucked from a storefront window in a clever, late-night heist.
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 glass jar containing an unknown sum of money, which had been standing in the window of Hyams, Pauson & Co., at Front and Columbia streets, to be given to the customer who guessed nearest to the amount, was stolen early yesterday morning. Julius Redelsheimer, the manager, discovered the theft after a patrolman notified him. The thief left behind a chisel and screwdriver belonging to a carpenter named H. L. Mosher. Evidence at the scene suggests the thief climbed up a step-ladder, crawled out through the store's transom, and possibly used the weight of their body to force the gap open. Police believe the robbery occurred around 4 a.m. during the shift change of the police patrol.
“A man must have broken in about 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon and taken them, as there was a hole in the wall at that time.”
This is a classic 'Main Street' crime of 1892, occurring right at the heart of the retail district on Front Street (now First Avenue). It illustrates the casual vulnerability of early storefront displays and the investigative methods of the time, involving local merchants and patrolmen rather than a centralized detective force.
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