Chalfant: Sedalia, scene of the crime(s)

Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 12:00 am | Updated: 9:49 am, Wed Sep 5, 2012.

Sedalia, according to the December 1881 issues of The Sedalia Democrat, fell victim to a wave of criminal activity. Reports of muggings and thefts appear daily in the newspaper, as do stories of con games perpetrated on the unsuspecting. The city police and county sheriff worked diligently to apprehend the perpetrators, but with little success. The Dec. 17, 1881, Democrat notes two such crimes.

One began on the train. Michael Shea, a quarry worker at Rockville, was en route to his home in Warrensburg when he met two men and began drinking with them. By the time they arrived in Sedalia, Shea was “pretty well under the influence of liquor.” The men went from the depot to Cohn’s pawn shop, where Shea bought a watch. They then proceeded to the train yards, where Shea’s new-found friends convinced him they could hop a freight train and save the fare to Warrensburg. The three men found an empty boxcar, got on board, and the two men jumped Shea, robbed him of $33 and his newly purchased watch. They fled, leaving Shea to sleep off his liquor. The next morning, Shea awoke, hung over, and went to the police station to report the theft.

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