The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 4, 1903

This is Not a Pat Crow Letter

But is Apparently From a Reformed Kleptomaniac Desiring to Make Restitution

An Anonymous Communication

Manager P.D. Johns, of Johns Dry Goods Co., Receives $2 in a Strange Way

Manager P.D. Johns, of the Johns Dry Goods company, hardly knows what to make of an anonymous letter which he received a few days ago, containing two bills, of $1 each. After mature deliberation, Mr. Johns h as about decided that he is in receipt of an epistle from a reformed kleptomaniac of the fair sex, who has repented of her misdeeds and has taken this way of atonement.

The letter is written in a small, well formed hand, on good stationery. The words are well chosen, the spelling good, and the grammar almost correca (sic). Apparently the unknown person who wrote the letter is a lady of some education.

The envelope, which Mr. Johns unsuspectingly opened in his morning’s mail a few days ago, is postmarked La Crosse, and was mailed on January 29. The letter itself is undated. All Mr. Johns’ detective ability has been brought to bear on the solution of the problem, but he is now almost constrained to give up the puzzle as one which is beyond solution, and to rest content with the $2 which dropped down on him so unexpectedly.

The letter as received by Mr. Johns, reads as follows:

Johns Dry oods (sic) Co., Fort Dodge, Iowa. – Inclosed please find $2 for indebtedness which I owe your firm for some time past. This is no mistake, so please enter it as cash, as there is no charge made of it.

(Editor’s note: I believe “Pat Crow letter” refers to a ransom note. Pat Crowe was involved in a kidnapping for ransom in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1900 – according to Wikipedia, it was the first successful kidnapping for ransom in the United States. More on the kidnapping here.)

Tags: 1903, Johns