The Wealthy Thief of Cheney
A wealthy woman from Cheney, Washington, is arrested in Spokane for shoplifting, revealing a hidden life of compulsive theft.
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.
A singular case of kleptomania developed in Spokane when police arrested Mrs. Thomas Willis, a wealthy woman visiting from Cheney, Washington. She was caught stealing a cloak from a dry goods store. Despite owning a fine residence in Cheney and possessing a reported net worth of $90,000, she was identified as a repeat offender. Officers have been sent to her home in Cheney, which investigators suspect is filled with other stolen goods.
“She owns a fine residence in Cheney and is worth $90,000, but is said to be an old offender.”
The reporting on 'kleptomania' as a psychological condition rather than mere criminality reflects 19th-century attitudes toward 'moral' failings in wealthy citizens compared to the poor.
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