Kansas Charlie's Unexplained Theft

A Crime Gone Bad and Forgiveness

Aug 28, 2006 Mary Trotter Kion

Kansas Charley steals two watches from his landlady and is caught.

Kansas Charley, in 1890, was anxious to get to New York City and collect the inheritance he believed he had waiting for him. However, he made a brief stop in Lyons, New York and took yet another newspaper job. There, due to the very low wage he made, he was forced to take lodgings in the home of Rosa Pohl. Since he was unable to live on his own, he now faced the certain possibility that his bedwetting would again cause him problems and more shame.

A Dastardly Deed

Charley, as in previous instances when he took a job and seemingly made an attempt to settle, saw things go very wrong. But this time it appears that the only person that was to blame was Kansas Charley, him self.

One night, while the Pohls and boarders were slumbering, Charley crept downstairs. He stole two gold pocket watches that were sitting on the mantel. Why he did this is a mystery. One theory is that, as an orphan, he had few things to call his own and little means of acquiring 'things.' Perhaps it was just another quirk in what some folks would call 'bad blood.'

After pilfering the watches Charley hid one watch outside the house, but kept the other one and returned to bed. The next morning the absence of the watches was noticed, as surely they would have been. Was this theft merely an attempt by Charley to draw attention to himself, subconsciously realizing that the theft would indeed be noticed? Surely Charley realized that the absence of the watches would not go unnoticed. He was not stupid. In fact, he was rather intelligent.

A Narrow Escape

When the Mrs. Pohl sounded the alarm Charley attempted to flee. However, he was caught by the Pohls who found one of the watches in his pocket. It was the intention of Mrs. Pohl to turn him over to the authorities, but Charley put up such a convincing plea to be forgiven that Mrs. Pohl instead sent him and his few belongings on his way.

The Pohls kept the theft secret until later. When stories of the "Boy Murderer" were splashed across newspapers nationwide they told of the dastardly deed he had done.

Kansas Charley and an Unexplained Theft: A Crime Gone Bad and Forgiveness , continues with Kansas Charley Becomes the Victim: Jail, Gang Rape, and a Pistol Bought.

Previous: Kansas Charley and a Deadly Obsession: Clothes Makes the Man or so He Thought.

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