Theft in the Evening Star, 1900 & 1920

In the 1900s, the gender of the alleged victims of males reached 13 cases. In retrospect, this makes senses since the stolen properties and items were mostly livestock and chain watches, to which a majority were in possession of men. The rest were 6 female victims and a few unlisted gender victims relating to stolen jewelry and money. As to the gender of the alleged offenders, 11 of the 20 cases were male offenders with the other half being comprised with female offenders and unknown offenders. This correlates perfectly to what was stolen as the males focused on livestock whereas the female and unknown gender suspects focused on jewelry and dollar bills.

            In the 1920s, the gender of the alleged victims of males has noticeably decreased compared to 1900. The amount of male and female victims in the 1920 cases are exactly the same with both being 13 with the rest being unlisted gender victims. As to the gender of the alleged offenders, more than half of the offenders’ gender are unknown with the rest being split between male and female offenders.

            So given the finding of our 40 cases of theft from 1900 to 1920, about half of the thefts were men in the 1900s with women slightly lagging behind that amount. Only two cases were the offenders not identified given that they were able to escape before being apprehended by law enforcement. As the 1920s approaches, the number of thefts has increased comparatively from 1900s. The offenders’ actions were stealthier as we seen that many escape the law and were not arrested nor identified, hence the increase of unknown gender offenders in 1920s.