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Embezzlement in the Evening Star, 1880 & 1900

A Colored Countryman Robbed of Forty Dollars While Asleep

Item

Title
A Colored Countryman Robbed of Forty Dollars While Asleep
Source
Evening Star (DC)
Date
1900-01-12
page
5
Identifier
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1900-01-12/ed-1/?sp=5&q=theft&r=0.177,0.012,0.916,0.331,0
Crime
Theft
Subject
Horse stable; theft; money; asleep
Race of alleged offender
White and Black
Gender of alleged offender
Male alleged offenders
Race of alleged victim
Black
Gender of alleged victim
Male alleged victim
Law enforcement involved
police
Stage of the Legal System
arrest
Location
In-state; Georgetown, DC
Length of story
250
Description
AFFAIRS IN GEORGETOWN. A Colored Countryman Robbed of Forty Dollars While Asleep. Theft Occurred Last Evening in an M Street Livery Stable - Jokers Cause Excitement. Noah Lee, a colored man, came into Georgetown yesterday with his employer, Mr. Charles Viers, whose post office address is Rockville, Md., and who lives several miles outside the town on the Darnestown road. A load of hay was brought in, and the employer, after arranging for its sale, left it in charge of Lee, with instructions to unload it and receive the money, which amounted to $40. When Lee finished the work he went to a livery stable on M street to remain over night. About 11 o’clock he took the money from his pocket, counted it and placed it on the inside of his vest pocket. He elevated his feet on a desk and started to sleep, forgetting to button his vest. In the office with him were Herbert Heflin, a young white man from Loudoun county, Virginia, and William Hunter, aged twenty-one, a colored laborer. About 3 o'clock this morning Lee was awakened by a horse breaking loose in a stall, and, getting up, he found his money was gone. The two others in the office protested their innocence of the theft. About 7 o'clock this morning policeman Will Hess was informed of the robbery and he took both Heflin and Hunter into custody. They were locked up on a charge of suspicion, but the money was not found on them.