The Unlucky Burglar of the Indian Reservation
A habitual offender is caught in the act at the government Indian school.
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.
Richard McBride, a tramp, was captured at an early hour this morning by Special Watchman O. McDaniel in the act of breaking into the government Indian school on the Indian reservation. McBride had a sack full of vegetables and meat that he had stolen about the neighborhood, and was about to plunder the school house when the watchman caught him. He was arrested a week ago by Officer Angus and Jailer Sipe, after running about the lumber piles of the St. Paul mill for nearly an hour, crazed from morphine. A charge of burglary has been preferred against him.
“McBride had a sack full of vegetables and meat that he had stolen about the neighborhood, and was about to plunder the school house.”
This entry reflects the era's criminalization of addiction and the harsh, often predatory, treatment of individuals experiencing homelessness. The mention of the 'Indian reservation' and the 'government Indian school' serves as a stark reminder of the assimilation policies that dominated the region's relationship with Indigenous communities at the time.
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