Horse and buggy thievery in Chariton during 1907

For as long as there have been vehicles, there have been those intent on stealing them --- and that seems to have been in the case in Chariton during the autumn of 1907.

The first theft occurred during late August, when The Chariton Herald in its edition of Thursday, Aug. 29, reported that Elmer Thomas, a young man from Russell, had rented a horse and buggy from liveryman Reuben Huston and driven into Chariton where he hitched to a rack on the northwest corner of the square and went into Whittlesey's cafe. When he came out two hours later, the horse and buggy as well as a saddle from  a horse hitched nearby, were missing. After an all-night search, the horse was found in west Chariton and the abandoned buggy, in the bottoms south of the cemetery. The saddle and harness, apparently the thief's targets, were missing, however, and never recovered.

That theft came to mind when The Herald of Oct. 3 had two additional thefts to report, as follows:

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In addition to the buggy and harness stolen from the square a few weeks ago, two more buggies were stolen last week.

On Thursday afternoon, Lawrence McCann's sons, Ed and Tom, drove up from Derby in a new buggy and left it at the McGinnis feed barn, near the Baptist church. In the buggy they left their overcoats, one a gray and the other a dark cloth, and also the lap robe. Before dark some thief hitched a horse to the buggy and left with it, and although Mr. McCann went to Des Moines, Osceola and other points and searched all the livery barns there, he was unable to find any clue to the thief or the buggy. He offers a reward of $25 for information leading to the return of the buggy and the capture of the thief.

On the evening before, Arch Shore's horse and buggy, from Pleasant township, were stolen from the hitchrack on the square, and were taken south of town, where the horse was turned loose and the harness and buggy have not yet been recovered.

There must be some organized band committing the thefts, as good buggies and harness have been taken systematically for some time. It probably will not stop until some of the thieves are caught or given a load of buckshot, or both.

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There were no further reports of buggy or horse thievery during the balance of 1907, so if an organized band was at work here, its members apparently moved on. There's no indication either the McCanns or Mr. Shore ever recovered their buggies.

Tom McCann's granddaughter, Jan Herald Conradt, along with her husband and pups hitched their buggy a couple of weeks ago at Braden Place, on the north side of the square, while spending the weekend in Chariton on a visit from their Illinois home. I'm happy to report that no attempt was made to hijack it.