The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-12-30
MORE THEFTS.
Many Stores Raided by the Gang
of Boys.
When Placed in the "Sweat Box" the
Youngsters Tell OF Each Others
Wrong Doing.


Polchnw IN the "sweat box Fri
day afternoon, and under the skillful
questioning Of the officers the boys
were drawn cut until they began 70
accuse each, other. Then the whole
facts in their recent piilasing tours
came out. They implicated two
other young lads named Larson an'
hasl!p. These six. it seems, compose
a fang t;4at has nunR together for
some lime, and / hall that they tel
nm aa,h oIner 5 true ali of them
onght IN have been in the state train
Ing school long ago.
y The tactics Of the gang has been to
rNSxIo a store in crowd on the pre-
textof wanting to buy something or
to wafBf II the proprietors or clerks
are bu8with other customers, they
will crowd around certain counter
and one of the boys in the center will
slip an article or two into his pockets
Then the gang will gradually draw
ont Of the store and the i'll gotten
Gains will be divided If a clerk
stems up to wait on them, one or two
will want to be shown some article In
some other part Of the store, while
the rest pillage a counter Of some OF
its goods.
The thefts in most cases have not
amounted to very much in value, and
the most of the store keepers were
unaware Of how they had been plum
dered until after the boys had con-
fessed. Nearly all Of them remember
having seen the gang in their stores
within the past week, and in most
cases they remember, having ordered
the boys out.
AT Z, W, W%rwick's store, box OF
oans and small bottle Of gold dust
were stolen. The gold dust ard some
OFT e pens were recovered. Mr..
Warwick remembers the visit Of the
hoys Tuesday evening. One or two Of
them claimed that they wanted to
buv something, but when ne asked
them to snow their money they were
unable to do SC. Rot liking the looks
ofthe crowd. he ordered the boys out
out OF Tie store.
4 pair Of mittenS was stolen from
Joseph Ruerup's store The boys
were there several times, and were
promptly expelled each time.
At Martin Walser'S the gang took
some mouth organs aud some whistles.
Mr.. Walser remembers putting the
boys out Of his store.
Two pairs OF mittens and some
cookies were stolen from Fred Kron's
store. Mr.. Kron ordered the boys
away as he did net like their looks.
Two pairs Of mittens and hand
kerchief were stolen from the Glass
Block. besides the four purses men
toned in these columns yesterday.
Some candy was stolen from F. G..
Heinze's store, and some cigars from
cigar factory. Possibly other places
were visited.
Tommy Oglesby claims to have
found 81 in an envelope near theuni0n
depot recently. He says that he did
not know what was in the envelope
and gave it to Herman PolchoW.
They used some Of the money to buy
marbles, an air gun and other things
There are different stories told as to
how the boys came by this money.
One is that a drunken man was asleep
near the Milwau ee freight depot and
that when be awoke he found his
money gone The boys claim that he
told them that if they found his
money they could have it. The boys
claim that there was no name on the
envelope containing the money and
that they tried to find the owner.
The Oglesby boys claim that an
otter boy entered their fathers house
some time ago and stole their fathers
revolver. They say that the boy went
across the river and pointed the re
volver at man and afterwards threw
it into the river. These two boy!
were found sleeping in the City Hote
bus at 300 a. m. Sunday morning bl
Officer BienaItl, who took them tt
the city hall where they remained
all day Sunday. They were poorl.
clad and hungry. 1t is said tba
they have frequently slept GU
in Railways over stores. Thei
father, who is on til
city pay roll, states that they hav
been out only two nights since tn
slfeetfaiI aud that he and his oldts
son, sixteen years old, hunted for tn
boysunlil Saturday night. H
says mat the oder boy wants to tax
tarccf the younger ones.
The two boys claimed that the rea
son they slept in the bus Saturda
night was because the door to To
-. l. 80, nm, li,nlr.d AFTER thew ivan