July 31, 1907
Whittier
Despite the pleadings of well-situated friends, Eugene Parks, Junior is bound to face a Superior Court judge and answer to the charge of attempted theft of nearly a whole wagonload of lemons from the Whittier Citrus Association’s railway siding. Parks and his pal Kirchner were caught in the act by Superintendent Greeley of the State School, and all the lemons were saved.
In court today, the youngsters begged the judge to accept as an extenuating circumstance the fact that they were looped to the gills on strong beer, half a dozen bottles a piece, and to recognize that they were at heart honest boys from good homes. But he would have none of it. For if a little beer would make thieves of them, then thieves they were, and only a higher court could determine an appropriate punishment.