The Would-Be Holdup Man Who Left a Debt Behind in Sandpoint
A Newport saloon shooting killed the gang's ringleader. In Sandpoint, neighbors remembered Robert Hackworth as a family man who stuck a friend with a $300 note.
Robt. Hackworth, the ringleader of the would-be holdup gang which entered the Dougherty Wilcox saloon in Newport last week and who was later shot by Mr. Wilcox, one of the proprietors, dying the following night, is well known by several of Sandpoint's citizens, he having lived with his family near the Great Northern depot there.
Harry Flatt, especially, has occasion to remember him, as he endorsed a note to the Traders State Bank for $300 which the desperado later refused to pay. Mrs. Hackworth, however, made a payment of $150 on the note; the balance, which at the time it was paid amounted to nearly $200, had to be cared for by Mr. Flatt. Mr. Flatt tried for some time to locate the party after he had been notified that the note was not paid, but was unable to do so until the killing occurred last week. He states that the family are all of good repute and deserve the sympathy of everyone.—News.
“He states that the family are all of good repute and deserve the sympathy of everyone.”
Small-town crime reporting still runs on the same tension: the public wants a villain, but the people who knew the family often see only the debts and dependents left behind. Hackworth's Sandpoint story is a reminder that a sensational shooting can leave ordinary neighbors holding the bill.
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