Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1903 — Young Boys Tried for Burglary. [ARTICLE]

Young Boys Tried for Burglary.

Two 12 year old boys from Fair Oaks, Orville Strain and Guy Potter, were tried in circuit conrt Monday, by Ju?ge Hanley, on charge of burglary. On the evening of Feb. 13tb, while a danoe was in progress, the Strain boy asked several other lads to go and help him break into Dr. Proudly’s drug store, to raid his tobacco and cigar stock. They refused but the Strain boy went and out the putty out of a window and helped himself to a quantity of cheroots and smoking tobacco not probably to exceed one dollar in value. Whether he carried out the enterprise alone was a disputed question. He swore the Potter boy was with him . and stood guard. The Potter boy swore he wasn’t there at all. The Potter boy had some of the “swag/’ but he swore the Strain boy gave it to him. The Potter boy took some of the stuff to the home of his grand-father, Frank Goff, and it was through the latter’s enquiries that the Strain boy was caught up

Another disputed point was whether the Strain boy crawled into the store bodily, or only reached in and swiped the smokers. He swore he only reached in. Other boys said be told them he was clear in and tried to tap the till, but couldn’t because he was not on to the combination. Dr. Proudly also,_ said that things had been thrown about in the store showing someone had been clear in. Anyhow, it was a clear case of burglary, under the law, against the Strain boy, but owing to the severe penalty the law preoribes for that crime, and the fact that this was the boy’s first bad break, the state voluntarily dismissed the burglary charge,'and the court found the boy guilty of simple larceny, and sentenced him to 30 days in jail and a fine of one dollar and costs The jail sentence was suspended during gdod behavior. The Potter boy was acquitted