The Cook's Revenge: A Hotel Burglary in Newport
Left unpaid when the diner's lessee skipped town, a former Newport Hotel cook allegedly stole the hotel's dishes and utensils—until a watchful neighbor tipped off the constable.
A man named Bradley, a cook formerly employed at the Newport Hotel, has been arrested for burglarizing that hostelry. Bradley had been working for the lessee of the diner, and as that individual had left the town, leaving nearly everybody in the lurch, including the cook, the latter decided to have his revenge on the owner of the hotel. On Tuesday night he entered the kitchen through a back door and proceeded to carry away all of the dining and kitchen dishes and utensils. He carried them to the vaults on the Vane and Larson properties and disposed of them. Wm. Vane happened to see the man at work and watched him until he found out what he was doing, and then notified the officers, who arrested him. He will probably be bound over to the superior court.
“The latter decided to have his revenge on the owner of the hotel.”
A wage dispute that curdled into a burglary charge feels familiar: workers left hanging by an absent employer, and a small-town justice system sorting it out. The story also shows how thin the line could be between employment, debt, and crime in Newport's railroad-era economy.
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