A 13-Year-Old Stole $7. He Got Five Years in Reform School.
A Springdale meat cutter's missing change led to a child's five-year sentence — a window into early-1900s juvenile justice.
On returning from dinner last Friday noon, Wm. Barton, meat cutter for the Stevens County Meat Co. at this place, discovered that some person had entered the shop during his absence and rifled the cash drawer of $7 in silver change which had been in the till when he closed the shop. Suspicion pointed to Albert Turosky, a 13-year-old lad, as the guilty party, and upon being accused of the theft he admitted it and returned all the money taken, with the exception of 25 cents, which he had spent. Having acknowledged his guilt and returned the money, Mr. Barton was disposed to be lenient with the boy, but as the youngster had something of a previous reputation for being light-fingered, it was decided that it would be best for his own good and the welfare of the community to make this case a lesson, and Mr. Barton accordingly swore to a complaint against him and he was taken in custody by Deputy Sheriff B. H. Taylor, of this place and taken to Colville to jail, later entering a plea of guilty before the superior court, receiving a sentence of five years—or until he is 18 years of age—in the state reform school at Chehalis. —Springdale Reformer
“it was decided that it would be best for his own good and the welfare of the community to make this case a lesson”
A $7 theft and a five-year sentence read like a grim fairy tale, but Washington still argues over how harshly to treat children in the justice system. The boy's age and the reform-school term make this an early case of the 'school-to-prison pipeline' in miniature.
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