The Drop of a Bad Hat

Wednesday, April 19, 1871

While the driver of a horse and buggy is making a call at the corner of Washington and Ann (now Racine) streets in the West Division, a thief steals his rig.  It is recovered within fifteen minutes.  It turns out that the horse was too much for the robber to handle; it threw him out of the buggy at Halsted and Milwaukee.  When a policeman, unaware that he is witness to a crime, comes to the aid of the thief, the latter makes a break for it in so much haste that he loses his hat.