Monadnock Moment No. 186

Era 8: Great Depression and World War II - 1929 to 1945

The Hand Sled Robbery

A newspaper article concerning a local robbery indicates that perhaps criminals were less sophisticated in the 1920s than they are today. One day in February of 1929 deputy sheriff Charles Knight of Marlborough was alerted that a robbery had occurred at a summer cottage in Spofford. Knight and three Spofford police officers investigated and found a trail in the snow where a sled had been pulled from the crime scene.

Deputy Knight and one of the officers followed the trail of the sled runners on foot for eight miles that lead them to West Swanzey. Along the trail they found a handkerchief marked with the letter "G", the first letter of the name of the family who owned the Spofford cottage. At West Swanzey the officers were told that two men had been seen pulling a heavily loaded sled into Keene.

The officers drove toward Keene as fast as they could on the icy roads. On Winchester Street in Keene they came upon the two men with a sled. Deputy Knight pulled alongside and invited the two men to ride to the police station with him. The officers had their hand guns ready for action. The two men accepted the invitation and were taken into custody. The contents of the sled included several old tools and clothes, 250 shotgun shells, an alarm clock, sugar bowl, cream pitcher, three razors, a razor strap, and four decks of playing cards.