GEORGE RICE.

Arkansas City.

FROM THE NEWSPAPERS.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 15, 1882.

Geo. Rice, who was taken in the act of burglarizing O. F. Godfrey’s billiard hall last week, had a preliminary examination, and was bound over to the next term of Court, which he is now awaiting in the Winfield jail. He felt his disgraceful position very keenly, we should judge, for when last seen he was playing a mouth organ for the balance of the birds in the cage to dance to.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 22, 1882.

Geo. Rice will spend five years at the Reform School for the burglary upon Godfrey’s billiard hall in this city, so said Judge Torrance at an adjourned term of Court last week.

Cowley County Courant, February 23, 1882.

For some time it has been suspicioned that certain boys in our city [Arkansas City] were pilfering for a living, but who they were, and where to place the hand of correction was not fully settled until about a week ago, when Wyckoff & Son’s store window was broken in and a number of small articles taken out, that could be easily reached through the hole in the glass, and followed in a night or two by the taking of a few dollars from Godfrey’s billiard hall, which stamped George Rice, a boy about seventeen years of age, as leader of the gang.

Constable McIntire and Marshal Sinnott were informed of these facts, and kept a strict watch of nights for nearly a week, and finally, last Tuesday night, captured the lad. They mistrusted by movements during the day that he intended making a raid on the billiard hall that night, and as soon as it was closed, concealed themselves in close proximity to the money drawer and awaited developments.

But they did not have long to wait, for in a few minutes they heard a pane of glass shatter and soon steps were heard approaching the place where they were concealed, and in another moment George Rice loomed up from behind the counter, but before he had time to gobble any of the coveted wealth, he was confronted by a dark lantern and “British bull dog,” and compelled to give in. Wednesday he was brought before the ’Squire, who placed his bond at $500; but not being able to give the required bail, George Rice was committed to the county jail to await his trial at the next term of the District Court. We believe George was the leader, but that there are other boys in our city who are as deep in the mire as he, and will come to grief if they do not carry themselves straight in the future. Arkansas City Democrat.

[COMMENTS BY COURANT EDITOR.]

We are sorry to say it, but there are about a half dozen boys in this city [Winfield] whose natural guardians are educating them for the penitentiary in a remarkably rapid manner. These boys go to school only when they can’t think of any other place to go to, and spend their evenings into the middle of the night “bumming” around over the streets, cutting up all sorts of deviltry, starting “fires,” and conducting themselves as industrious candidates for the penitentiary do. These boys are from twelve to sixteen years of age and are classed with that American production called “hoodlums.” The older they grow the worse they become. Their parents have abandoned all government of them and left them to run at large like wild beasts. When these parents see their darling sons with steel bracelets on their wrists and in company with the sheriff, or see them the central figures in some public hanging exhibition with black caps on their heads and rope knots under their ears, they may wonder why providence allowed their sons to become so hardened. The names of these boys are known and they are watched. There is a strong suspicion that the fire last night was caused by these examples of a certain parental education, and in all kindness, we would advise these boys to lead respectable lives, be gentlemanly, brave, and manly, and if they have never learned at home what those qualities are, if they will call at the COURANT office we will, in all humility, try and explain to them what a beautiful thing a young “gentleman” is.

Winfield Courier, February 23, 1882.

Geo. Rice, the boy who broke into a store at Arkansas City, was sentenced to the state reform school until he is twenty-one years old. The boy is sixteen years old.

[COWLEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT.]

Cowley County Courant, April 20, 1882.

CRIMINAL DOCKET: STATE OF KANSAS VS. GEO. RICE.

Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 6, 1884.

Police Court. REPORTED BY JUDGE KREAMER.

Thos. H. Fitzpatrick was fined $5 for being loud, boisterous, and disorderly on the street.

George Rice fined $5 for the same offense.

Jim Morrison and Billy Scharites for the same offense, on a refusal to pay a fine of $5, were committed to the calaboose, but afterward paid up and were released.

Wm. Krebs for assaulting a boy, was fined $2.50.