Guilty Conscience Returns Satchel
A thief in Bellingham experiences a change of heart, leaving a stolen satchel full of cash and checks in the victim's yard.
Bellingham, Jan. 22.—Stricken by a guilty conscience, the unidentified person who appropriated a hand satchel containing, among other articles, a silver dollar and $2,800 in negotiable checks belonging to a Mrs. John Kienast, tossed the receptacle into her yard yesterday afternoon. The satchel was returned a few hours after its loss was reported to the police. On investigation it was found that not an article in the satchel had been disturbed.
“Stricken by a guilty conscience, the unidentified person who appropriated a hand satchel... tossed the receptacle into her yard.”
While crimes of property are common, the narrative of the 'guilty conscience' remains a perennial human-interest trope that appears frequently in local news reporting as a rare, satisfying resolution to petty theft.
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